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Google has finally announced its long-rumored TV efforts at Google I/O. The experience will be search-driven, which is unsurprising given that, well... it's Google we're talking about. Users can enter search terms and get results from the Web and what's currently being broadcast on TV, as well as videos from YouTube and other sites. There will be a "home screen" where you can add bookmarks to your favorite channels, shows, websites, music, photo albums, and so on. Users are forced to choose between accessing the Web or TV, which is a loss for users. Google wants to combine the two into a "single seamless experience" by allowing users to turn their TV into an interactive experience with the Web As usual, Google is not making any of the hardware itself. In typical Google form, the company has instead implemented a remote control protocol that will allow third-party developers to build their own software for controlling Google TV from other devices.

Even though Second Life is no longer in the headlines, virtual worlds and networks, with virtual currencies being used when paying for virtual goods are well alive and growing. It is evident that innovation is not only about products and services, but also experience

An interesting article on the battle being fought by Apple and Google, arguably the companies that are more likely (maybe with Facebook) to shape the future of IT and media. The article shows the two competing visions and philosophies, with Google focused on information management and Apple on user experience. Not by chance, the once dominant Microsoft is not even taking part in this game.

Tablet PCs have been recently been proposed as the big innovation in the PC arena. But the problem - as usual - is going beyond technology and into usability. Will people really accept something that is larger and more expensive than a handheld, smaller than a notebook, with a touchscreen but no keyboard? Will the devices be attractive per se, or will it be necessary to integrate them into a wider ecosystem? Of course, past experience tells us this last question suggests different potential winners (the PC camp in the former case, Apple in the latter).

TV sets are exhibiting a technological revolution after another. Flat screens (LCD and plasma) have overcome CRTs, and now 3D TVs seem likely to define a new paradigm over the next few years. Of course, this heavily depends on the availability of 3D content and on consumers' desire to experience it beyond movie theaters. 

HP and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors. The combination of HP's global scale and financial strength with Palm's unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP's ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm's unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications. "Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market."

Today, Yahoo! and Nokia, announced a worldwide strategic alliance to extend the reach of their industry leading online services and offer people rich experiences that keep them connected to their world and the world around them. Building on more than five years of collaboration, Nokia and Yahoo! will leverage each others' strengths in e-mail, instant messaging and maps and navigation services, to provide consumers with access to world-class experiences on both PC and mobile devices. As part of the alliance: Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo!'s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties, branded as "powered by Ovi." Yahoo! will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia's Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services branded as "Ovi Mail / Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo!" Nokia and Yahoo! plan to work on ID federation between their services, beginning by making it easy for people to use their Ovi user IDs across select Yahoo! properties to easily access the online content and services they need.

Same as in the previous post... the changing nature of the TV set as product, user experience and... business model

Quite thought provoking. TV sets are being deeply changed by enabling technologies such as 3D and Internet access. However, what is the product, the viewing experience and the business model that will become dominant, based on these enablers?

Now that all phone makers have left Symbian, Nokia is doing the only sensible thing, i.e. taking full control of the operating system, creating a stronger integration between hardware and software, possibly improving customer experience and quickening development

Mr. Joshi (the head of Hewlett-Packard's $24 billion printing empire) has spent years disputing the notion that people will print less as they do more on their hand-held devices. This week, he will see his ideas put into action as H.P. introduces a fleet of printers with Web access, their own e-mail addresses and touch screens. These products should open up new ways for people to print from Web services like Google Docs, and from smartphones and devices like the iPad from Apple. Mr. Joshi is going back to his roots as an engineer - as a young H.P. researcher, he figured out a way to make ink cartridges fire 45 million drops - and relying on new technologies, not slick marketing. But still, he will have to prove that customers will change their behavior and print more if given the right tools. That, Mr. Reitzes said, is crucial to how investors will evaluate the long-term prospects of H.P. "Investors are worried about printing," he said. "It's really important that they get this right." As the world's largest technology company, H.P. sells a wide variety of products but got much of its profit from printers and their pricey ink. More recently, H.P. has built up a large technology services arm as well, which has helped round out its business. But the printing division accounts for about a fifth of its revenue and a third of its profits. The new printers - which build on a limited experiment last year - will range in price from $99 to about $400. Every one will come with what H.P. executives billed as a breakthrough feature - its very own e-mail address. H.P.'s engineers hit on the e-mail address as an easy, familiar way for people to send print jobs to the Web-ready printers. You can, for example, take a photo with a phone, e-mail it to your printer's address and have the printout waiting for you at home. Or, you can share the printer's e-mail address with family and friends. This means that someone can buy Grandma a Web-ready printe

As the row between Apple and Adobe over Flash on the iPhone OS continued to grow, we thought circumventing the issue entirely might be disruptive. If we could seamlessly deliver a site that uses Flash in Mobile Safari without installing any additional apps there'd be tons of potential uses, especially for large organizations trying to leverage existing content. Today, we're sharing a few videos of an early proof-of-concept. One of the best parts of this implementation is that there's nothing Jobs can do about it without castrating the web experience on the iPad/iPhone altogether. It's not jail-broken and it doesn't require an app or a plug-in: Just the default Safari browser.

In a statement, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said: "RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of QNX Software Systems and we look forward to ongoing collaboration between Harman, QNX and RIM to further integrate and enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems. In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals, adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio and providing long-term synergies for the companies based on the significant and complementary OS expertise that exists within the RIM and QNX teams today."

Inventions sometimes remain dormant for decades. This is the case for Stirling engines, once considered a funny desktop gadget and now making a comeback because its peculiar features fit into an emerging market need.

Google has announced that it will soon bring an end to its online sales of its Nexus One handset. The company will still show off Android phones on its site, but purchases will be done the old-fashioned way: through mobile service providers. Google's direct sales model was an attempt to radically alter the business model for mobile handsets. Instead of buying a phone from a carrier, with a contract and a subsidized up-front cost, the company was hoping to cut out the network. Customers would buy the phone directly from Google, paying the full fee up-front, and then putting in a SIM of their choice. This, however, ignored the realities of the phone market, as the company soon discovered. Its approach to tech support-send an e-mail and maybe get an answer eventually-was always doomed to failure. Given how important phones are to our lives and our lifestyles, that was never going to be acceptable. Customers might not like calling call centers, but if there's one thing worse than being stuck on hold waiting for the muzak to end, it's not being stuck on hold at all, because there isn't even anyone to call. A month after launching the phone the company relented, giving its customers the ability to talk to someone. But this was not the only problem with its sales model. As it wrote in the announcement, "it's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone." A phone is something that people want to touch, to see how heavy it is, what it looks like in person, how good the screen is, if it fits nicely in their pocket-for many of us, the phone is an extension of ourselves, which is why we see so many different shapes and styles of handset on the market. So expecting people to be happy buying a handset that they cannot even touch, much less play around with, was a bridge too far.

An interesting article on the way with which pharmaceutical companies are now paying attention to the design of drug delivery devices. Economic value is probably easier to achieve in this neglected area than in looking for the next blockbuster drug?