HDMI adds internet to its audio-video cable
HDMI - the one-cable alternative to the spaghetti of audio and video connections behind home theatre set-ups – is adding ethernet to its capabilities as the internet comes to the television and living room.
A new proliferation of wires threatens, with internet-connected games consoles, set-top boxes and even TV sets linked by ethernet cables. However, HDMI ‘s 1.4 specification, announced today, means such data requirements can now be absorbed in its next-generation cable instead. Read more
Joseph Menn, San Francisco-based technology correspondent, reports from AllThingsD, the annual tech conference put on by News Corp in Carlsbad, California:
Yahoo’s Carol Bartz, who took over as CEO in January, impressed a tough crowd, getting more sustained applause after her onstage interview than the two young men who run yesterday’s New New Thing, Twitter.
Bartz came across as sensible and plain spoken, the logical sort of manager to straighten out an inherited organisation chart that appeared made of spaghetti. Read more
Google forces the pace towards next Web platform
Watch out Microsoft: Google is trying to up the pace in its attempt to turn the Web into a platform for applications that fully matches today’s computer operating systems.
That was the clear message today at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco, which attracted 4,000 people.
The focus of Google’s pitch: HTML5, the next version of the internet markup language, which should exploit more of the capabilities in browsers to produce richer applications and experiences. Among the things Google showed off today were 3D graphics running inside a browser, a way to parcel out computing resources more efficiently so that browsers can handle much heavier workloads, and tools to make browser-based apps continue to function even when offline. Read more
New York media correspondent Kenneth Li reports:
Not all subscribers are born equal.
Imagine my surprise when I, a faithful subscriber to The New Yorker on Amazon’s Kindle, was denied full access to the NewYorker.com.
That’s what happened yesterday after I tried to pull up a copy of the much-discussed Carlos Slim profile in the latest edition of The New Yorker from its website, but was denied access. It is restricted to print subscribers.
Like other periodicals eyeing a bleak print advertising future, The New Yorker has begun restricting full website access to those who pay for the print copy or pay specifically for the right to access the site. Read more
German MPs under fire over Twitter leak
Chris Bryant, our correspondent in Berlin, reports on how an inquiry began today into the leaking by German MPs of last Saturday’s presidential election result on Twitter. (Psssst! Horst Köhler (pictured centre) was the winner.)
Continue reading “German MPs under fire over Twitter leak” Read more
Skyfire aims high in battle of mobile browsers
While François Truffaut harshly argued that Britain and cinema were incompatible terms, the same condemnation could justifiably apply to mobile phones and web browsers.
The two just haven’t mixed well. Displaying a standard web page on a small screen has often meant unacceptable squinting and scrolling. Data connections have tended to be slow and problematic, while the lack of multimedia plug-ins has ruled out video and audio being played. Read more
Facebook: the Russian connection
Unlike a certain other internet mogul we could name, Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t actually been to Russia – though not for lack of trying.
When we caught up with him to talk about Russian firm DST’s $200m investment in Facebook (our earlier coverage is here and here), he confessed to having tried – and failed – to get into Russia when he took time off last year to travel around Europe.
Mr Zuckerberg’s description of what happened sounds like something that any other 20-something ex-college student on a European backpacking tour could relate to (even if they don’t own their own internet companies.) Read more
Today’s $200m investment in Facebook by Digital Sky Technologies values the companies preferred stock at $10bn. That’s just two-thirds of what Microsoft valued Facebook at in late 2007, when it invested $240m. The FT’s Lex column examines the difficulty inherant in valuing a private company:
Privacy is a wonderful thing. With a straight face one can say that a company is worth several billion dollars having not produced a single fact to back it up. Similarly the debate about Facebook’s valuation is somewhat futile. There are simply not enough numbers to construct a meaningful picture of the social network’s finances. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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