The closing of the Internet*

Imagine you are trying to start a news site in your community. Your competitor, part of a national chain, offers instant-on, full-screen HD video and a host of other data-intensive features that load the moment you hit “click.” But though you have a broadband connection, even simple videos that you’ve posted load slowly and play in fits and starts.
So you call your Internet provider — most likely Verizon and Comcast — and ask what’s going on. A sales person explains to you that if you want your readers to enjoy the same rich multimedia content as you competitor, then all you have to do is pay another $1,000 a month.
You can’t. You struggle on. And, within six months, you shut down.

That is a likely scenario if we move away from net neutrality — a vitally important principle that all Internet traffic should be treated the same. The FCC has been trying to mandate net neutrality, only to be shot down in the federal courts. And today the New York Times reports that Google and Verizon have been involved in negotiations to come up with a multi-tiered Internet with different levels of service and different levels of pricing. [Update: Or perhaps not. See below.]
“It’s like the end of ‘Animal Farm’ where pigs and humans sit down at the dinner table,” tweeted new-media strategist Steve Yelvington. In fact, Google at one time had been a leader in pushing for net neturality.
Please understand what net neutrality is not. There is nothing wrong with charging consumers more for better Internet service. Broadband costs more than dial-up, and fast broadband costs more than slow broadband. That’s life.

Free iPhone 4 Cases to Cost Apple $175 Million

Apple’s solution to Antennagate — free cases — is likely going to cost the company $175 million in revenue.
Apple posted record earnings this quarter. However, its recent success has been marred by controversy over the iPhone 4’s reception issues, specifically how holding it by its lower-right side can decrease reception.
Apple held a press conference last week to address the issue. Its solution to the problem: free cases for all.
Cases don’t grow on trees, though. During today’s Q3 earnings conference call, Apple revealed that it predicts that the free iPhone 4 cases and bumpers will result in $175 million in deferred revenue. It hits Apple’s books as a liability — essentially a debt or a negative balance on the bottom line. Apple says that it will expense the cost of the cases, which will help mitigate the overall cost on the bottom line.
In other words, Apple is accounting for $175 million in lost revenue on its Q4 balance sheet, all due to free bumpers and cases.
While no company wants to lose out on $175 million in revenue, the alternative — reduced iPhone 4 sales due to Antennagate — was far less palatable. And it’s important to note that this is just Apple’s cost estimate — the actual number could end up being more or less than $175 million, depending on iPhone 4 sales and how many customers take advantage of the free case offer.
Still, it looks like Antennagate will be just a drop in the bucket for a company that made $15.7 billion last quarter alone.

Japanese Author Circumvents Publishers to Release New Novel on the iPad

Well-known Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami is releasing his next novel, A Singing Whale, directly to iPad owners via Apple Japan’s App Store, circumventing his traditional publisher in the process.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Murakami is working with a software company to release the novel alongside video content and music by Academy Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Pending App Store approval, A Singing Whale will be available for 1,500 yen (about $17). Apple will receive 30% of the revenue, with the remainder to be divided among Murakami, Sakamoto and the software company.
Although the author advises publishers to “read it and weep,” this doesn’t mark the beginning of the end for the publishing industry — at least not yet. What Murakami is releasing is not an e-book in the traditional sense, but a full multimedia experience that can’t be replicated in print. In some respects, it’s similar to Alice for the iPad, an app that brings Lewis Caroll’s beloved Alice () in Wonderland to life with full-color animations and interactive features. Furthermore, the author is also still in talks with its publisher, Kodansha, about releasing a hard copy of the novel.

Apple Goes on the Offensive

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Many expected a mea culpa from Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive. Instead, he turned the iPhone 4’s antenna problems into a marketing event on Friday.

Raymond M. Jones/The New York Times

The so-called iPhone “death grip.”

At a news conference at Apple’s headquarters here, Mr. Jobs acknowledged that there were issues with the antenna, which wraps around the outside of the device.
But he insisted that the problems, which can result in dropped calls when the device is held a certain way, affect all smartphones — a claim that was challenged by some Apple competitors. And he accused the news media of exaggerating the scope of the issue, saying customers and reviewers were thrilled with the new phone.
“This has been blown so out of proportion that it is incredible,” he said.
Mr. Jobs said that to put the controversy behind it, Apple would give free bumpers — cases that wrap around the rim of the phone and seem to reduce the problem of dropped calls — to all iPhone 4 buyers who want them.

Apple shares slide as iPhone 4 concerns grow

A customer looks at an iPhone 4 at the Apple Store 5th Avenue in New York, in this June 24, 2010 file photo.

Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer/Files

By Carolina Madrid and Gabriel Madway

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:05pm EDT

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc slid more than 4 percent on Tuesday after a poor review for its iPhone 4 from an influential consumer guide underpinned mounting complaints about the hot-selling device's reception and spurred speculation about a product recall.
Analysts thought a recall unlikely but said the world's most valuable tech company needs need to move quickly to avert longer-term damage to its widely respected brand, which allows it to charge a premium for products like the iPad and iPod. The stock should recover on Wednesday, some said.
Consumer Reports said on Monday it could not recommend the iPhone 4 -- which sold 1.7 million units worldwide in its first three days -- after its tests confirmed concerns about signal loss when the device is held in a certain way.

50+ iPad Resources You Might Have Missed

Apple’s iPad is the little device that could. Any scepticism about Apple’s tablet technology was largely erased as the iPad took touchscreen technology to a larger, more robust high.
We’ve tracked the iPad through its first months in public hands with a slew of features and resources. We’ve here collected some of our best — sometimes bizarre — resources for you to get all caught up.
Whether you’re looking for the best business apps, need some decals to trick out your device, or just want to see if your iPad works in space — this collection of more than 50 iPad resources is sure to suit your needs.

10 Fascinating Facts You Didn’t Know About Apple

It can be argued that no consumer electronics company has captured the public’s fascination the way Apple has. Over the years it has morphed into more than just a company or corporation, but for many it has become a representation of a lifestyle or culture, and a status symbol complete with a larger fan base than most pop stars.
Here at Mashable (), we’re also quite fascinated by Apple and its achievements. The company is known just as much for its veil of secrecy and ability to get the Internet () buzzing with rumors, as it is for the actual products. You’re probably in on the gossip, but there are likely a few things you don’t know about Apple.
So read on for the origins of product names, factoids about the Apple logo, what Wozniak sold to finance the Apple I, and more wonders dug up from the archives of Apple’s past.

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1. The First Apple Logo Featured Isaac Newton

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Although the now-retro rainbow logo is arguably Apple’s most well known, the very first Apple logo featured Sir Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, with an apple about to hit his head. (Legend has it that he was literally hit on the head with an apple and that led to the concept of gravity.)
The Newton logo was designed by the lesser-known Apple founder Ronald Wayne (the guy who sold his stake — that today would be worth $22 billion — to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for $800 – ouch!) and was only used briefly in 1976, since its high level of detail didn’t really show up that well when shrunk down and stuck on a product.
The rainbow apple, designed by Ron Janoff, replaced Sir Isaac and remained the symbol of the company for many years until the simpler monochromatic apple logo was introduced in 1998.

Top 10 Geekiest Marriage Proposals

Will everyone please rise for the bride and geek! Here at Mashable, we enjoy a good wedding, but we also enjoy a good proposal too — especially if the happy couple show their love in the geekiest of ways.
We’ve scoured the Internet () for the finest examples we could find of the geeky marriage proposal; and they involve video games, gadgets and even Google Street View.
Take a look at our collection of super-cool geeks who made that extra effort to incorporate their passion for tech and online life into securing the all-important “yes” from the person they love. Be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments below.

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1. Super Mario

This sweet geek used FuSoYa’s Lunar Magic Super Mario hack to pose a proposal to his girlfriend spelling out “Lisa… will you marry me?” in gold coins. That’s one way to get the princess!

Augmented Worlds Video Part 1 – Recognition

I am busy consulting, commercial projects and presentations (eg: SBTUG this eve) on Augmented Reality and the near future benefits for storytellers, a range of businesses and service industries. Key questions often crop up as to the relevance of AR to their ‘bottom line’ as well as usuability issues – beyond showing a range of videos from Layar, Junaio and the like it is difficult demonstrating how ‘consumer/users’ of AR devices may be interacting with them in the near, 1 to 2 year out, future. So based on a certain large tablet released recently I created a device that gave a much ‘bigger’ experience than current AR enabled mobiles, had a cleaner interface (as in less clutter POI dots on the screen – most of the time) and fitted into a series of AR future videos ‘AUGMENTED WORLDS’. Please find below Part One looking specifically at the Business Opportunities around type 3 of my AR types - Recognition (Outline) and more on how it was made and a description of the sketch interface below…
AUGMENTED WORLDS Pt.1 - Business Opportunities: RECOGNITION.


An ‘iPad 4.0 – like prototype’ stroll around an augmented Sydney. Video, music devised & created by GARY HAYES of MUVEDesign.com
Music – BTW if you like the music please subscribe via iTunes or other fav podcast tool to download over 250 of my euphoric/progressive trance, organic real harp/guitars or cinematic soundtracks via garyphayes.com or direct feed here.

iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds

Summary:
A study of people reading long-form text on tablets finds higher reading speeds than in the past, but they're still slower than reading print.

Many companies are betting big that electronic book readers will be one of the main ways people read long-form text in the future. However, such products will succeed only if the reading experience is much better than the misery of reading from PC monitors.
Various types of tablets ought to do better than desktop computers because they offer higher-resolution screens and a more comfy reading posture. But are tablets as good as printed books?
To find out, we conducted a readability study of people reading fiction on the two highest-profile tablets: Apple's iPad (first-generation) and Amazon's Kindle 2.
In contrast to our previous study of iPad application usability, we didn't study a range of user interfaces. Instead, we tested only the default iBook app. Testing a single iPad reader let us more easily compare it with the Kindle, which has only one user interface.
Also, in contrast to our previous analysis of Kindle content usability, we didn't consider non-linear content, such as Web pages or newspapers. Instead, we specifically focused on testing linear, narrative content because it's the primary use case for e-book readers.
Finally, we didn't test the many issues related to choosing and installing reading software, nor did we test the reading UI's learnability. We taught participants how to use the readers before we started measuring their reading speeds.

How Cisco Cius stacks up against iPad

Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from Network World.

Cisco got into the tablet market Wednesday by launching its Cisco Cius, a mobile tablet computer that is specifically designed for enterprise users.

Cisco Cius

What makes this new device interesting is that Cisco has said that it doesn’t want the device to be perceived as a consumer device or as a direct competitor to the popular Apple iPad. Rather, the Cius is tailored strictly for the business user and can be seen as “complimentary” to the Apple tablet. In particular, Cisco has designed the tablet to revolve around its enterprise collaboration technology, including its TelePresence video conferencing technology and its WebEx Web conferencing and meeting applications.
So with all this in mind, let’s take a look at what the Cius offers business users and how it differs from the iPad.

Size and weight

The Cius is physically smaller than the iPad and its 7-inch diagonal screen is significantly smaller than the iPad’s 9.7-inch diagonal screen. Despite its smaller size, the Cius weighs the same as the iPad at 1.5 lbs.

Connectivity

While we don’t yet know what carrier will be supporting the Cisco Cius, Cisco has said that the tablet will feature 3G connectivity at the outset and 4G connectivity later on. Whether this means that the Cius will work over WiMAX or LTE is currently unknown, since we don’t know what carrier it will use. The device also supports Wi-Fi standards 802.11 a, b, g and n.

Exclusive: The New Touching Stories App Brings Four Interactive Films to the iPad

How many times when you've been watching a movie have you just wanted to reach out and poke an annoying character? Maybe help a fleeing victim by making them run just a little bit faster? A new interactive experience by production company Tool of North America uses the capabilities of the iPad to allow viewers to do just that as they interact with--and seemingly change the outcome of--live-action video. Part video game, part immersive entertainment, Touching Stories is available today as a free, downloadable app, and we've got an exclusive behind-the-scenes video that gives a peek into the process of making it.