Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?

Philip K. Dick wrote that story back in 1968. Google are launching the sequel tomorrow.

Dick was a visionary. Big G used to play that tune.

To tell you the truth, I don't care about the 2008 Android Dream.

Maybe T-Mobile's HTC will have a hipper IP than the iP. Maybe its UI will be "cuil". Maybe its future lies in feature. Maybe its apps will kill (Bill, Steve, Olli-Pekka...?). Who knows ? Who cares ?

Not me.

I told you : I don't care about the September 2008 Android Dream.

But I'm worried sick about the November 2008 Electric Sheep.

You know, the people who cast the wrong ballot, punch a card the wrong way, push the wrong button on a Diebold voting machine... my kind of nightmare, in a clam- sorry nutshell.

PS : Cathy, I saw the future of Google Mobile TV - screens are smaller than the zeppelins in "Blade Runner", but they too broadcast a lot ot Asian content !
;-)

Meet Al Gore's Granddaddy

According to Carly Fiorina, McCain cannot run a company.

According to himself, McCain cannot even run a HP laptop.

But according to his aides, McCain invented the BlackBerry.

Meet Al Gore's Great Grand Dad : "his" Commerce Committee created the new US telecom landscape.

Before, US players used to rule the world. Now US operators are minor league players and techno giants who dominated the first generation of mobile communications let Europeans win the second and Asia the third.

The BlackBerry is a great technological and commercial success, though, but for... Canada (the Lords of the RIM, frequent visitors to this excuse for a site, are based in Waterloo, ON).

PS : according to me, John McCain cannot run a company, nor a laptop, but furthermore, he should run, period. Because he can't hide who he's running for.

IPTV wars and WiBro truce ?

The Korean telecom regulator awarded IPTV licenses to KT (mega TV), Hanarotelecom (HanaTV), and LG Dacom (myLGTV). Trials start next week, and negociations with broadcasters are still raging.

Up to now*, the trio mostly competed on VOD exclusivities (price for myLGTV), but after an intensive summer of lobbying, they expect to propose real-time TV from major broadcasters from October on.

Korean authorities are also considering Voice over WiBro, the very day KT announced a MOU with a Japanese player.

But UQ Communications Inc is not likely to roll out WiBro : it is supposed to launch a WiMAX service next year, and recently inaugurated its first WiMAX trial base station. Besides, Intel owns part of its shares (other investors : KDDI Corporation, Kyocera, East Japan Railways, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the Bank of Tokyo, and Daiwa Securities Group).

The MOU is about finding roaming solutions at the hardware and middleware level, so that WiBro users (mainly pro users) can somehow use the same device when they travel to Japan.

Korean players making the first move, and the regulator giving a push to the techno... combined the same day, these two pieces of news don't sound that positive for WiBro


* see "IPTV in Korea" (20080508)

Google Chrome : more open source, less open space ?

Enough piggybacking on IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera & Co : Google Chrome beta for Windows is launched tomorrow (see "Fresh take on browser" on the Google blog).

What can be said of it ?
- many things that could have been guessed : Chrome is based on Open Source, suggests websites, and leverages on browsing history...
- some non-disruptive user friendly innovations : Google Chrome puts the tabs on top of the search box, allows to split tab series
- the brand is a disaster. Chrome is about showing off, not about substance. More SUV than Prius. A heavy leaded browser rather than an agile tool. The only comic part of the comic book released as a teaser : don't worry, there won't be too much Chrome. To kill a mockingbird ?

Last week, IE8 Beta announced an intimate space for the user. Today, Google suddenly shrunk our Google-free space.

More than IE, Chrome threatens other competitors, and first of all the main innovator Firefox / Mozilla. This new Google platform is less likely to boost diversity than to endanger it.