john carroll

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The message from GSMA Barcelona: fragmentation

The GSMA World Congress was this week in Barcelona. Though its difficult to identify themes in a conference as large as the GMSA extravaganza, the sense I got from four days wandering its halls was that fragmentation will rule the smartphone market for many, many years to come. by...

Tags: Phone, Mobile, Palm Inc., Smart Phone, Conference, Telecom & Utilities, Smart Phones, Advertising & Promotion, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Marketing, John Carroll

Blog posts 2009-02-19

Don't give me special treatment

The US Congress wants to include "Buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill. I say "no thanks." Protected industries aren't going to pull America out of recession. by John Carroll

Tags: America, Bailout, American, Globalization, Free Trade, Government, Strategy, Management, Finance, John Carroll

Blog posts 2009-02-06

What is American?

A recent post by Brian Sommer noted that H-1B visa holders might be in for a rough ride in 2009 as the weakening economy invites calls for special preferences for the accidental citizens of the United States of America (I say "accidental," as most of us were bestowed our rights...

Tags: Massachusetts, H-1B, Productivity, Human Resources, Labor Relations, John Carroll

Blog posts 2009-01-30

Hiatus till January

Not that I think crowds of angry people will descend on my West Hollywood apartment because of this, but I am going to be off until January.  As noted three weeks ago in my last post I am a very bad blogger, a startup I co-founded recently received an important dose...

Tags: Blogging, Corporate Communications, Investment, Financial Accounting, Internet, Marketing, Finance, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-12-17

Going back to Windows Media Center

I'd been using Media Center as my primary DVR since shortly after the release of Windows Vista several years ago. At the time, my intention was to learn more about the other TV-oriented technology at Microsoft, which was of particular interest to me as I worked, at the time, in...

Tags: Channel, Windows Media, Media Center PC, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Media Center, Digital Video Recorder, CableCard, Media Center PCs, DVR, Digital Video, Cable, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Telecommunications, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-11-24

SAG follows the path blazed by the UAW

The Screen Actors Guild SAG is starting a fight over union rules as they apply to Internet-only productions. If they win, they are likely to shift even more content creation opportunities away from major studios in a futile attempt to hinder evolution in a market changed dramatically by technology....

Tags: Union, UAW, Media, Internet, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-11-21

Computers make the case for globalization

The United States has long been sliding towards trade skepticism, a process that has merely been exaggerated by the recent troubles in financial markets. Low-cost computers and its associated market size makes one of the best cases for globalization, however. Most of us wouldn't have jobs if computers...

Tags: Computer, Globalization, Productivity, Strategy, Management, John Carroll, Job, Laptop Computer

Blog posts 2008-11-14

Remedying the trade imbalance with China

Microsoft's attempts to shame Chinese users of illegal copies of Windows by turning their backgrounds black every hour is reflective of a wider problem of copyright enforcement in China. As Henry Paulson, Secretary of the US Treasury, notes in a recent "Foreign Affairs" article, it contributes to America's trade...

Tags: China, Microsoft Windows, Tools & Techniques, Operating Systems, Software, Management, John Carroll, Henry Paulson, Intellectual Property, Piracy, Strategy, Research & Development, Business Operations, Corporate Law

Blog posts 2008-11-13

Windows Azure is much more important than Windows 7

Windows 7 gets all the blogger attention, which makes sense to some extent, as much revenue and developer mindshare is bound up in the success of Windows. Microsoft, however, clearly gave Windows Azure priority at last week's PDC, which is indicative of the importance the company places on its...

Tags: Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Azure, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, John Carroll, Server, Microsoft Corp.

Blog posts 2008-11-05

Harnessing a multicore future

Last week's PDC was about more than just Microsoft's new cloud initiative Windows Azure and the next version of Windows (Windows 7). It also concentrated on what Microsoft is doing to assist programmers to tackle the big shift to multi-core computers. Harnessing the power of multi-threaded programming will...

Tags: Multi-core, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, John Carroll, Processor, Microsoft .NET, Construct, Transistor, LINQ, PDC, Moore, Windows Workflow Foundation

Blog posts 2008-11-03

Windows 7 - user interface is king

Windows 7 places user interface design at the center of the Windows 7 development effort. WPF - Microsoft's new .NET API for Windows user interface development - will also truly come into its own in Windows 7 timeframes. Oh, and WordPad in Windows 7 supports ODF. by John...

Tags: User Interface, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, John Carroll, Application, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft Corp., PDC, Wordpad

Blog posts 2008-10-30

Windows Azure defined

Windows Azure is a Microsoft hosting framework that makes it easy to scale from 10 users to 10 million users with no additional effort. Though it's a good idea, I do think they should consider allowing third party hosting providers to compete with Microsoft's Azure data farm. by John...

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Windows Azure, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, John Carroll, Application, Abstraction, .NET Services, Azure Concept, .Net, Application Servers, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software

Blog posts 2008-10-28

Happy Birthday...I've stolen $2500 from your account

Identity theft is a fast-growing problem, and I've taken it seriously for quite awhile. I pay to have people monitor my credit to ensure someone doesn't open accounts in my name, and I try to use temporary credit card numbers when I make online purchases. I shred personally identifiable information that I receive...

Tags: Bank, Security, Card, Payment, ATM, Network Technology, Networking, Financial Services, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-27

Apple the software platform company

Apple the software platform company" ... different than ..." is the give-awayQuoting:"So we're extremely comfortable with our product strategy going forward, and we approach it as a software platform company, which is pretty different than most of our competitors."[End quote]Given that, as you have observed, Apple is a luxury brand...

Tags: Desktops, John Carroll, Apple Inc., software platform company, Apple Macintosh, software

Discussion threads 2008-10-23

Apple the software platform company

A couple of days ago, Steve Jobs sat down and spoke to analysts about Apple results, and future plans. It was quite an interesting read. Jobs would never come out and say outright that he considers Apple to be in the luxury category, as that that's one...

Tags: Phone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Apple Inc., Android Phone, Microsoft Windows, Tools & Techniques, Telecom & Utilities, Operating Systems, Software, Management, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-23

Low cost is king

Analysts have recently revised downwards sales estimates for Blu-ray disc technology, a move largely related to the fact that Blu-ray hardware is comparatively rather expensive. Blu-ray always had an uphill battle, in my opinion, irrespective of the down market. The visual clarity, for most, will be non-existent barring TV sets that...

Tags: Game, Advertisement, Disc, Apple Inc., Microsoft Xbox, Blu-ray, Nintendo Wii, Game Players, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-21

The tangled web of broadcasting regulations

The FCC is preparing to approve licensing of "white space" spectrum, which is good for the public even if it poses challenges for broadcasters and mobile networks who paid top dollar for the right to have fewer competitors. Likewise, though the NAB supports a delay in the switchover to...

Tags: Web, Regulation, Broadcasting, John Carroll, FCC, Spectrum, Switchover, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment

Blog posts 2008-10-17

Open source protectionism?

I just caught a rather interesting piece by fellow blogger Dana Blankenhorn on the subject of the "value and values" found in open source ecosystems. Near the end, he references an article on InfoWorld which questions whether it is wise to "protect" open source development by mandating its use at...

Tags: Open Source, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-13

Anonymity and the Internet

A case winding its way through a court in Pennsylvania attempts to pierce the veil of anonymity that protects web forum participants' ability to say whatever they want about public figures. Though I don't agree with the conclusions of the judge, I am not fan of anonymity of the...

Tags: Anonymity, Internet, Web Site Development, Web Technology, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-09

Mono 2.0...why not Microsoft?

The release of Mono version 2.0, the open source implementation of .NET that is available for use on Mac, Linux and Windows platforms, is an achievement in itself. I often wonder, however, why Microsoft has no interest in releasing a cross-platform, fully-supported version of the .NET framework themselves. by...

Tags: Mono, Microsoft Corp., .Net, Development Tools, Open Source, Microsoft Windows, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Operating Systems, Software, John Carroll

Blog posts 2008-10-06