Monday, October 09, 2006

Why does Apple mistrust Asia?

Dear Steve,

Maybe you can explain something to me, because your folks here in Asia sure can’t.

Every time somebody asks them why the iTunes Store won’t sell songs or movies to consumers in Asia, all we hear are vague and mumbled remarks about “the issues that still need to be resolved.” This is invariably followed by another sentence saying they are not authorized to say more.

Here is what your marketing director for Asia told the Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong when you launched your movie service in the United States in September.
“We cannot comment on the specifics but it is true that iTunes is not available in Asia. That goes for music and movies.”

Is that any way to talk to your customers?

Read the full story.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Now showing on the ‘Net

IF you’re like cable subscribers who feel they’ve got 500 channels with nothing to watch, fire up your browser and see what’s showing on the Internet.

Over the weekend, I watched Stephen Colbert roast President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, a documentary about cursing and profanity by the magicians Penn and Teller, and some really strange stuff that’s floating around in cyberspace, like a nine-second clip of some woman at a PTA meeting getting punched squarely in the face by another woman.

None of this would have been possible in the old days of dial-up, but with broadband connections becoming more common, video streaming on the Internet has become not only technically feasible, but also increasingly popular.

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Friday, April 07, 2006

Where not to blog, la

If you’re thinking of creating a political blog, one place you shouldn’t do it is Singapore, where all political party Web sites and political blogs have to be registered with a media regulator. What’s more, podcasts cannot be used for campaign purposes. These restrictions were recently criticized by the press watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

Read the full story.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Nerd TV

Hosted by technology columnist Robert X. Cringely, “NerdTV” is a weekly hour-long interview with a single guest from the world of technology. With names like Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, computer mouse inventor Doug Engelbart and the father of Linux, Linus Torvalds coming up, NerdTV is must-see TV for anyone who has an abiding interest in computers. 

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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Radio reborn

The biggest obstacle to Internet radio is that it’s not portable. You can’t listen to it while you’re jogging, or while you’re in the john. More importantly, you can’t listen to it while you’re driving to work. To date, Internet radio is still tethered to the PC. But that too, may change sooner than many people think.

Read the full story.