From the FT’s beyondbrics blog
In India, some 600m people own mobile phones but just 60m have access to broadband internet. Hewlett-Packard is aiming to bridge that gap with apps that can access the web from any cell phone using voice and text messaging.
Continue reading “Can the world’s poor text their way out of poverty?” Read more
Web autumn colours @Twitter, Google, IE9
The web has been getting a makeover this month with the introduction of Internet Explorer 9, Google Instant and a new Twitter.
Richard Waters covered the beta introduction of IE9 and the launch of Google Instant and @Tim – Tim Bradshaw – had some thoughts on the new Twitter website. All of these developments are wrapped up and reviewed in this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section Read more
AMD warns as Android tablets loom
AMD has followed Intel in warning that revenues suffered in the third quarter due to slackening consumer demand.
The news on Thursday reinforced the view that PC makers and their microprocessor partners have suffered a tough “back to school” season. With tablets, eReaders and smartphones exciting the consumer imagination more than laptops, it could be an equally tough holiday season ahead. Read more
New Roku boxes take on Apple TV
Roku is a feisty and fleet-footed Silicon Valley company that has been running ahead of a flood of internet-connected devices threatening to engulf its tiny set-top box.
With its new lineup just launched, Roku stays out in front on price and content and gets in just ahead of its biggest challenger to date – Apple TV, which is due to go on sale by the end of the month. Read more
From the FT’s beyondbrics blog
Chinese entrepreneurs like to talk about ‘Win-Win’ – deals or situations that benefit both sides. But Jack Ma, one of the country’s most iconic business leaders, is finding himself stuck in what can only be described as a lose-lose situation. Read more
HP reaches out further with Touch line
HP is extending its platform for touch-enabled computing with the release of its fourth-generation TouchSmart software and the launch of an Apps Center for free and subscription-based applications.
Owners of its TouchSmart all-in-one PCs will be able to get the upgrade later this year and it is installed on a new version of its TouchSmart PC, the 310, available on Wednesday in the US. Read more
Facebook Phone has a familiar ring to it
Techcrunch reported over the weekend that Facebook is working on its own mobile phone, which will tightly integrate its social networking features into the device.
Facebook has said that it is “not building a phone”.
But Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington is standing by his story, noting that Apple doesn’t directly operate its own mobile manufacturing equipment either.
If the idea of a Facebook phone sounds familiar, perhaps you read FT Tech Blog’s post from February. If Techcrunch’s story is true, our crystal ball seems to have been working particularly well back then. Read more
Seeing Me Seeing You, Aha vidphone moment?
The brief surge of interest in Chatroulette this year suggests we’re all a little intrigued at what a person might look like on the end of a connection.
But does that mean video calling on phones, the subject of this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section, is finally going to catch on with the mainstream consumer or just become another passing fad? Read more
Facebook Places is going places
Facebook has today launched its check-in feature, Places, in the UK.
In keeping with Facebook’s cookie-cutter approach to international product rollout, it’s identical to the US version, albeit using a local provider of location information.
But the social network’s ambitions for location-based information don’t stop there. Read more
Bump uses car plates to make connections
Of the 16 social and media technologies making their debut at the Demo conference in Silicon Valley, Bump.com was perhaps the most intriguing and original idea.
It’s social networking through your US number plate, or license plate as it’s called here – with possibilities for dating, car talk, safety messages and receiving offers all wrapped up in your bumper. 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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