Tech News: Bing Maps Beta, AT&T/Verizon Not Suing, Blue Sky of Life for Microsoft & Cheap Apple Tablet?!
More fun from the tech world! Sometimes it is hard to keep up!
- Bing Maps Out Your Tweets with Revamped Bing Maps
“Microsoft has been trying to take down Google Search by not only advertising like mad, but by launching feature after feature. Now Bing is looking to outdo one of Google’s best features: Google Maps. And it’s making its attempt with its own version of Street View, integration with Microsoft Photosynth and a Silverlight interface.” (Source: Mashable)- HTD: The browser wars have been going strong for a while. Recently, the search engine wars are really heating up. And, Google and Microsoft are really gunning for the #1 position. Google has long been the “default” search engine for Firefox users. Now Microsoft is “paying” some large corporations to deploy the latest version of IE with Bing as the default (unchangeable) search box BHO (Browser Helper Object). Now with Bing going after Google maps, I believe the way to win is to be the most innovative within the space. A good example is how Bing Maps will use a “mashup” of sorts to use Twitter’s geolocation to find “tweeters” near you. We should see some good stuff in the Search Engine wars next year!
- AT&T, Verizon Drop Suits
“On Wednesday, AT&T asked the court to dismiss its lawsuit that sought to prevent Verizon from continuing to run the commercials. Verizon also dropped the suit it filed against AT&T in response, according to an AT&T spokesman.” (Source: PCWorld)- HTD: I guess the old “I’ll sue you if you sue me” strategy just isn’t worth more than filling the wallets of corporate lawyers. I think the whole lawsuit deal was a bit silly. Usually, competitive advertising is a marketing no-no and you don’t normally do it (uh wait, what about Microsoft-Apple). I personally like these mud-slinging ads (I don’t like the political ones during elections though). But when the parties move it to the courts, it ends up eventually costing the consumer more (someone has to pay the legal bills, right?). There are obvious differences between Verizon and AT&T and there always will be. I think it’s fine that the point it all out to the consumer, provide it doesn’t confuse them. But come on, making a judge decide if a company can or cannot say something that could be the truth? It’s just silly. If they flat out lied and defamed the other company, that is another thing completely.
- Security firm retracts ‘black screen’ claims, apologizes to Microsoft
“The U.K. security company that started a firestorm after claiming recent Windows security updates caused a widespread “black screen” lock-out of users’ PCs has retracted its claims and publicly apologized to Microsoft.” (Source: ComputerWorld)- HTD: Oh well, I reported this earlier this week (as did a bunch of other tech news sites). While I do believe that some critical updates from Operating System companies (e.g., Microsoft or Apple) can cause issues to users occasionally, the “black screen of death” was simply hype, it seems. So, now we can see the blue skies through Windows now. It seems that Microsoft basically said to the Prevx guys – “prove it” – and it turns out that the blog post was taken out of context. Lessons learned!
- Apple tablet rumored to be ‘shockingly’ inexpensive
“Internet and television personality Alex Albrecht claimed to have insight on the price of Apple’s rumored tablet during the latest episode of Diggnation, which also featured actor John Hodgman from Apple’s “Get a Mac” commercials.” (Source: AppleInsider)- HTD: Whatever Apple comes out with will be a killer, IMHO. They take their time and really think things out (for the most part). But “inexpensive” is a very subjective term. For me, a $200-300 price point is “inexpensive” for a tablet in general. However, Apple’s products are notoriously much higher in price. But they typically are much better designed, last longer and really do some cool stuff. So, “inexpensive” using an “Apple filter” is probably more like $500. If they start selling books on iTunes like I think they will, they will make their money there and may not need to have a super expensive tablet (think razor & razor blades). But this is a subject for a stand alone post entirely!
HTD says: Just trying to keep a pulse on the latest and greatest tech news!
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