15-year-old analyst sparks storm after trashing Twitter

by Barry Collins, pcpro
A report on teenagers' media habits written by a 15-year-old schoolboy at Morgan Stanley has become an overnight sensation.
Intern Matthew Robson was asked to write a report about his friends' use of technology during his work experience stint with the firm's media analysts.
Team leader Edward Hill-Wood said the report was "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen," according to a report in the Financial Times, and so decided to publish it.
The report generated "five or six times" more interest than the team's usual reports, according to Hill-Wood. "We've had dozens and dozens of fund managers, and several CEOs, e-mailing and calling all day," he told the newspaper.
The 15-year-old poured scorn on social-networking site of the moment, Twitter, claiming that teenagers don't use it because "they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are
He also claimed that teens were deserting traditional media such as television and newspapers in favour of advert-free music on sites such as Last.fm and online news sources.
Robson also had bad news for the mobile phone operators, claiming that games consoles have become a more attractive medium for chatting to friends than their phones.
Morgan Stanley points out that Robson's assessment of the media landscape doesn't have the statistical rigour of its regular reports.

How secure are Netbooks?

by Cara Garretson, itworld
Is a netbook less secure than a notebook? Not necessarily, although one security vendor is warning that it may take more work to ensure that a Netbook is as secure as a notebook.
In a recent blog post, security giant McAfee said that because most users don’t get the distinction between lower-end, less functional Netbooks and traditional, full-featured notebooks, they might end up disappointed when purchasing the former. The vendor quotes survey results from research firm The NPD Group that says 60 percent of consumers who purchase netbooks expect them to perform and behave like notebooks.
IDC predicts 26.4 million Netbooks will be sold around the world in 2009. McAfee urges Netbook vendors to effectively manage buyers’ expectations by position these devices as companions to full-fledged notebooks in the first place.
Why is McAfee weighing in on the issue? The vendor says Netbook buyers expect their applications – such as McAfee’s security suites -- will run as fast on these new machines as on traditional notebooks.
“From a security perspective, netbooks running on a Windows OS need the same level of protection as regular notebooks running on Windows. However, the challenge is to deliver the same level of protection on these netbooks without any significant performance impact,” reads the blog.
Sounds like the company is defending itself in advance should someone complain that its software runs slow on netbooks.

Bing According to Microsoft: Unique Visits Up 8% in June

by Frederic Lardinois, readwriteweb
We already knew that Bing, Microsoft's new search engine was doing quite well, but today, Microsoft released its own data about the state of the service. Bing launched just a bit more than one month ago, and since then, we have seen reports from numerous third-party web analytics firms that Bing was indeed doing quite well. According to Microsoft's own data, Bing saw an 8% growth in unique users in June compared to the previous month. The company also noted that the number of users who would be "likely to recommend" Bing to others doubled in June.
Shopping and Travel
In addition, Microsoft also announced that Bing Shopping saw a 300% increase in visits and Bing Travel saw its traffic grow by 90% month to month (though Bing Travel's image is a bit tarnished by a recent controversy about its design).
Advertisers
Overall, the numbers Microsoft cites for Bing's traffic compare well with data we have seen from various web analytics firms, so we have little reason to believe that Microsoft doctored them (though the latest data from Compete is slightly less encouraging for Bing). Microsoft, however, also detailed some data about the results advertisers are seeing on Bing, though we will have to withhold judgment here. It is hard to find hard data about this, and while Microsoft announced that TigerDirect saw its sales and order volume triple, and its conversion rates and average order size "increase significantly," we just don't know if this was a special case or something advertisers saw across the board.
Developers
According to Microsoft, developers are also taking a liking to the Bing API. The number of registered developers doubled last month, and incoming API requests are up 50% since launch.
What's Next?
While Microsoft didn't specify any exact numbers, the fact that far more users are likely to recommend Bing than they were likely to recommend Live Search must be an encouraging sign for the company.
Microsoft didn't specify any future plans in today's post, but we know that Microsoft's biggest challenge is to overcome Google's momentum and to keep users on its service and from switching back to Google.

Cisco grabs London Olympics contract from Nortel

by Ian Williams, itnews
Company breakup means it can no longer fulfil requirements.
Cisco has revealed that it has nabbed the prestigious contract as Official Network Infrastructure Partner for the London 2012 Olympics from ailing rival Nortel.
With Nortel selling off parts of its business to the likes of Radware, the company can apparently no longer fulfil its tier one partnership with the London Organising Committee and amicably decided to bring the current agreement to an end.
"We continue on a path to deliver the most connected Games possible. We part with Nortel on good terms," said Paul Deighton, chief executive officer of London 2012.
"Nortel acknowledges our fixed deadlines and our desire to have a single supplier for our entire network infrastructure have been impacted by Nortel's decision to move towards standalone businesses. This is in no way a reflection of their capabilities – this is all about meeting our fixed deadlines," he added.
Following the decision for Nortel and the Committee to go their separate ways, Cisco was invited to bid for the infrastructure contract, which it then went on to win.

Netbook sales to rise as notebooks fall flat

by Lance Whitney, cnet
Demand for Netbooks has been hot and is likely to get hotter, as sales of their big brother, notebooks, are set to remain steady this year.
Netbooks are projected to grab a 20 percent share of the worldwide market for 2009, according to a report released Monday by researcher DisplaySearch, an NPD Group subsidiary. Consumers are expected to scoop up almost 33 million Netbooks this year, marking a sales gain of close to 100 percent from last year's 16 million.
But notebook sales are set to be flat this year, with 129 million units shipping, virtually the same as in 2008, according to DisplaySearch's Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report. This would make the first year ever that the notebook market showed no sales growth. DisplaySearch defines notebooks as laptop computers with screens measuring 12.1 inches or larger.
By region, this year's Netbook sales are forecast to jump 260 percent in China, 137 percent in North America, and 88 percent in Latin America.
The affordability of Netbooks, which typically have fewer features and are less powerful than notebooks, has fostered their growth around the world, the report noted. Last year, 45 percent of Netbooks were shipped to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), winning a larger market share over notebooks.
The availability of Netbooks has also boosted sales, DisplaySearch said. Telecommunications providers such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Communications have marketed low-cost, subsidized Netbooks to their customers.
The notebook market itself has been hurt by reduced IT spending, stalling purchases on new units. If Windows 7 takes off at the same time the economy revives, notebook demand among enterprises could shoot up next year.
Notebooks also have carved out a large chunk of the global portable PC market, and they are not being replaced by Netbooks at this point.
"It is clear that buyers want a lightweight device but that they also want a bigger display," said John F. Jacobs, director of notebook market research at DisplaySearch and author of the report. "While (Netbooks) have certainly created a new market, our research indicates that they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers and are not replacing notebooks."

It's Not TV, It's HBO Everywhere

By Glen Dickson, BNA
HBO is the latest programmer to announce its participation in cable operator Comcast’s “On Demand Online” trial, which will allow 5,000 homes nationwide to stream cable programming online that they already receive as part of their cable TV subscriptions.The premium programmer will make content from both HBO and Cinemax available as part of the Comcast trial, which is based on Time Warner’s “TV Everywhere” initiative , and will use authentication technology to make sure that only paying subscribers are able to see the broadband content. While broadcast networks have widely made their content available for free through sites like Hulu, cable networks, particularly premium programmers like HBO, have taken a more cautious approach to broadband in order to preserve their existing subscription business model.The HBO and Cinemax broadband services will initially provide a combined total of 750 hours a month of programming to the Comcast trial, which already counts TNT, TBS and Starz as partners. Featured shows will include HBO series like True Blood, Entourage and The Sopranos, hit movies like Transformers and The Dark Knight, classic films like Rosemary’s Baby, and HBO Family fare such as Harold and the Purple Crayon. A number of the programs will be offered in the high-definition formats, and some new programs will be available online immediately after they air on TV.“On the heels of the TV Everywhere agreement between Time Warner and Comcast, we’re pleased to be partnering with Comcast to deliver our HBO and Cinemax broadband services on a national level,” said Eric Kessler, HBO Co-President, in a statement. “The broadband services are the latest in a line of digital offerings that have dramatically changed the viewing experience for our subscribers, providing them with more access, choice, and even greater value to their subscriptions." “HBO is an iconic brand with award winning original programming and exclusive feature films and we are thrilled they are joining us in our mission to make our services available online to our customers,” added Matt Bond, Executive VP of Content Acquisition for Comcast. “For the first time HBO and Cinemax customers around the country will be able to watch their favorite shows and movies online at no additional cost. This agreement is an important milestone in our long-term strategy of enabling customers to watch popular television and movie content when and where they want it.”
Broadcasting & Cable Copyright © 2008 Reed Business Information A division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Microsoft drops Windows 7 discounts

by Gregg Keizer, computerworld
As promised, Microsoft ended the deep discounts on Windows 7 pre-orders Saturday and immediately bumped up the new operating system upgrades to their suggested list prices of between $119.99 and $199.99.
The company's retail partners, including Best Buy, Amazon.com, Office Depot and others, also raised their prices for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade from $49.99 to $119.99, and for Windows 7 Professional Upgrade from $99.99 to $199.99.
Big box discounter Costco, however, continued to undercut list prices and on Sunday was selling Home Premium Upgrade for $114.99 and Professional Upgrade for $189.99.
Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade, which was not discounted in the sale that kicked off June 26, sells for $219.99.
Dropping the discount didn't seem to hurt Windows 7's sales on Amazon.com. Home Premium Upgrade had the No. 1 spot on the e-tailer's software bestseller list as of 1 p.m. ET, with Professional Upgrade at No. 2. Amazon updates its bestseller lists hourly.
Although the discounts have been discontinued in the U.S., Canada and Japan, Microsoft will launch a similar sale in the U.K., France and Germany on Wednesday. Those discounts -- €49.99 for Home Premium and €109.99 for Professional -- will represent discounts of 58% and 61%, respectively. The European discounts end Aug. 14.
When it debuted the pre-order discounts, Microsoft said that it had allocated a limited supply of copies for the sale; Apparently that cap was never reached. Late on Saturday, just hours before the midnight deadline, Microsoft's own online store and those of its U.S. partners were still taking orders.
Some analysts have criticized Microsoft for its Windows 7 pricing. Interpret Analyst Michael Gartenberg, for example, noted in June that "the 'real' upgrade pricing is way off for what the market will likely bear, especially during these economic times."
Consumers may get another shot at cheaper Windows 7 upgrades if leaked reseller prices for the expected Family Pack are accurate: Several online dealers listed the three-license product at prices ranging from $136.95 to $144.95. The Family Pack, which reportedly will list for $149.99, lets a household upgrade three PCs to Windows 7 Home Premium, a savings of at least $210 over the purchase price for three separate Upgrade packages.