Podcasting
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So, what happened this week in the world of tech? In this week’s Talking Tech podcast, Kevin Restivo (aka my partner in crime and the solicitation of evaluation units) talk about the launch of Vista (is anyone really that excited); the coming out party for BlogTV.ca (Canada’s version of YouTube), super high-speed Internet access from Videotron using technology from Cisco; and a new blog from Nortel CTO John Roese.
Written by Mark Evans on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Another Friday, another Talking Tech podcast featuring yours truly and my trusty sidekick, Kevin Restivo. In the wake of CES, it was a fairly quiet week but there was lots of buzz in the online video market with the official launch of Joost, Netflix getting into the movie and TV download business, and Brightcove raising $59.5-million. Both Kevin and I are impressed with Joost, which we think will be a success as long it can get content owners onboard. I also think Joost will be another entrepreneurial success for Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friss, who appear to have the Midas Touch in the wake of Skype’s sale to eBay.
In Canada, the big tech news of the week was Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s admission that its Talvest mutual trust subsidiary had lost a backup file that contained the personal data of 470,000 investors. Of course, this pales in comparison to TJX Inc. having its network hacked and as many as 40 million credit card numbers exposed.
We wrap up the podcast with a look at a week in the life of telecom entrepreneur Terry Matthews, who saw one of its investments, Ubiquity Software, acquired by Avaya for $144-million, while another, March Networks, had its stock drop 40% after revealing that one of its large customers (Wal-Mart) is buying less of its digital surveillance technology.
Technorati Tags: Wal-Mart, Terry Matthews, Video
Written by Mark Evans on January 20th, 2007 with no comments.
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After a two-week hiatus, Kevin Restivo and I are back with another Talking Tech podcast - along with a guest appearance by Duncan Stewart. Since Kevin spent the week in Las Vegas attending CES - all work, no play apparently! - we spent some time focusing on some on the more interesting products and trends. In particular, Kevin said there was a huge focus on the home entertainment market as consumer electronic makers come up with new toys for the living room.
Not surprisingly, we spent some time talking about the iPhone. Duncan has his reservations about its prospects given the iPhone is entering a competitive market with a lot of cool devices already battling for attention. This environment, he argues, contrasts with Apple’s move into the MP3 market where there was only modest competition, and the iPod blew its rivals away. Kevin is far more enthusiastic, while I’m somewhat in the middle and do not see the iPhone as a Blackberry-killer. For more see, David Pogue’s iPhone FAQ.
We end the podcast with something different, we ended with chip maker AMD, which posted disappointing fourth-quarter results due to fierce competition with Intel.
If you want to drop us an e-mail, please do so at heytalkingtechATgmail.com. Thanks again to our production team of Neil Johnson, Ed Lee and David Jones.
Written by Mark Evans on January 13th, 2007 with no comments.
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Another week, another Talking Tech podcast. This week, we've actually got a live guest - technology analyst Duncan Stewart, who has been part of Canada's tech landscape for the past decade as a fund manager and equity analyst. In a spirited roundtable discussion (fueled by some Starbucks java), we talked about Nortel's decision to end a 92-year-old auditing relationship with Deloitte Touche; Yahoo's decision to appoint Susan Decker as chief operating officer; the start-up landscape within Canada's technology industry, and the hottest holiday gifts (Wii, Zune, Xbox, etc.)
Written by Mark Evans on December 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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So how keen are you about Microsoft Vista? Keen enough to be among the first people to embrace the new, much-anticipated and much-delayed operating system? During this week's Talking Tech podcast, Kevin Restivo and I both advise smart computers users to wait on Vista until Microsoft fixes any of the inevitable bugs that will emerge despite years of development and billions of dollars of R&D. After all, we're talking about an operating system with 40 million lines of code.
That said, when I think of Vista, I think of those old Fram oil filter commercial in which a mechanic tells a customer, "you can pay me now or you can pay me later". For computer users, it means you can migrate to Vista now (not recommended) or do it later but at some point, you'll probably have to do it to take advantage of new software and Web services designed specifically for Vista. While everyone is focused on Vista, people and investors shouldn't overlook the launch of Office 2007 given Office accounts for 30% of Microsoft's sales and 50% of profits.
Earlier this week, the Toronto Sun laid off 16 more employees - reflecting the newspaper industry's continued struggles. The question is if you owned a newspaper, what would you do to fix it? USAToday's Kevin Maney had an interesting column exploring the idea earlier this week, while I was inspired to write a blog post with my take.
Finally, Kevin (Restivo) and I looked at BitTorrent's $20-million venture capital deal. We're not sure how BitTorrent is going to spend $20-million given it doesn't have a P2P network to operate. Perhaps it's a sign investors believe the music and movie industries will start to capitalize on P2P rather than fight it like the music industry has insisted on doing. It could also suggests BitTorrent's investors believe consumers may be willing to pay for an online service that provide high-quality downloads at reasonable prices (much like iTunes). Then again, the problem with the P2P world is even if you have a legitimate player emerge, there will always be new ones offering free content...such as DailyMotion.com, which has a library of commercial-free TV shows.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Newspapers, P2P, Video
Written by Mark Evans on December 3rd, 2006 with no comments.
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After a brief one-week hiatus (did you miss us?), Kevin Restivo and I are back with another Talking Tech podcast. Obviously, the story of the week was the launch of the Nintendo Wii, which had people lining up in the middle of the night outside stores for the "privilege of buying one - a supply-demand phenomena I have a difficult time getting a handle on. Speaking of supply and demand, Google shares cracked through $500, and with people like Jim Cramer frothing at the mouth, is it only a matter of time before $750 starts to loom on the horizon? (Motley Fool has a column looking at whether it's time to buy, sell or hold) Kevin and I also get into the wireless market in the wake of a two-part feature run by the Globe & Mail, which looked at Canada's lucrative market where the players are filling their boots amid a rational pricing environment and limited competition (can anyone oligopoly?). Finally, we touch upon the steady growth in the popularity of podcasts - according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project study more than 17 million people downloaded a podcast in the six months ended Aug. 30, compared with 10 million in the previous six month period. Obviously, Talking Tech must be a factor in this growth...:)...if only!!
Written by Mark Evans on November 26th, 2006 with no comments.
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During last week's wonderful mesh meet-up, Leesa Barnes worked the crowd with her digital recorder and microphone doing a series of podcast interviews. She did a terrific job talking to a whole bunch of people about what they were excited about on the Web these days. We've posted some of them on the mesh Web site for your listening pleasure. Thank you, Lisa, for being so enthusiastic. You really added an amazing component to the evening. And thank you for your very nice blog post the other day.
Written by Mark Evans on November 24th, 2006 with no comments.
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There's lots of talk about online advertising, plenty of growth, and lots of repercussions among the media landscape as more readers and advertisers move to the Web. There's also many advertisers still unclear about what to do and where to go online - something Kevin Restivo and I discuss during this week's Talking Tech podcast. We also spend some time talking about the strategic dilemma facing Cinram, which is scrambling to figure out if there is life in the digital medium beyond the making of CDs and DVDs. The last time, Cinram really ventured online it entered into an agreement with MP3.com to make custom-made CDs in 2000 - a deal that failed to gain any kind of traction. Finally, Kevin and I touch on NTP's lawsuit against Palm. As many people know, NTP sued Research in Motion for patent infringement, and walked away with a settlement of more than $600-million. The question is whether NTP is really that much different than Qualcomm, which generates huge amounts of fees from companies using its technology. (Thanks again to David Jones, Ed Lee and Neil Johnson for their production work, as well as Amber MacArthur for doing the show's voice intro.)
Written by Mark Evans on November 11th, 2006 with no comments.
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How much is the Web impacting newspaper readership? It's a question that was thrust into the spotlight again earlier this week when many newspapers in North America posted sharp declines in paid circulation for the six months ended Sept. 30. Kevin Restivo and I spent a lot of time on our Talking Tech podcast looking at whether newspapers are being impacted by the Web, iPods, PVRs, satellite-radio, etc. We also discuss how the income trust dreams of Telus and BCE were burst by the Canadian government, which is freaked about the loss of tax revenue. Finally, Kevin provides some "colour" on a launch party (open bars, models, beautiful people) put on by LG to unveil the Chocolate phone. It caused both of to look back fondly to the go-go party days of the dot-com era.
Written by Mark Evans on November 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Not surprisingly, a good chunk of this week's Talking Tech podcast is focused on the Maclean's cover story (apparently being positioned as a position piece now) that the "Internet Sucks". Of course, Kevin Restivo and I passionately disagree with this thesis, which seems more rooted in causing a stir (which it did judging by all the chatter in the blogosphere) and selling magazine subscriptions than making a legitimate argument. Perhaps the story's biggest flaw is the complete lack of balance. There are no pro-Internet voices that can counter the story's claim the Internet is all about pornography, gambling, fraudsters, sexual predators and academic plagarists. Steve Maich, who wrote the story, wrote a guest post on by blog to explain why the article was done. After dismissing the Maclean's story, we talk about Google shares edging up to its record high of $491.86 in the wake of strong third-quarter results. (By the way, Red Herring has a cover story coming out Monday that asks "Is Google Still Hot?"). Finally, Kevin and I talk about Cisco's new videoconference technology that promises to jump-start a market that has never quite taken off. You can send feedback, suggestions, etc. to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.
Update: Talking Tech is produced by David Jones, Ed Lee and iStuido's Neil Johnson. As always, thanks for your terrific behind-the-scenes work!
Written by Mark Evans on October 28th, 2006 with no comments.
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Twenty months after raising $5-million of venture capital and several strategic mistakes later, Odeo's founder has decided to buy back the company from investors, and rename itself Obvious Corp. What's particularly interesting about Odeo's move is whether this is just the beginning of a trend in which Web 2.0 entrepreneurs will take control of their companies again after interest from investors disappears due to a lack of progress. The silver lining within the Web 2.0 environment is start-ups can be fairly low-cost operations if you eliminate the frills (marketing, traveling, major application upgrades, etc.). This makes it easier for a start-up to survive when its VCs bail on the idea - rather than having to shut down. Odeo's founder, Evan Williams, obviously believes there is lots of potential in the podcasting market and the company's prospects can improve with some strategic tweaks. Don't be surprised to more entrepreneurs refuse to walk away from their creations even when "the money" disappears. The unwillingness to concede defeat is another thing that separates today's Web landscape from the dot-com days when many companies had little choice but to close their doors when the investors checked out. For more, check out GigaOm and Ben Metcalfe.
Written by Mark Evans on October 26th, 2006 with no comments.
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Another week, another
Talking Tech podcast. We've gone high-tech, migrating from an Olympus digital recorder (which mysteriously locked up and remains so until someone from Olympus returns my e-mail) to Apple's
GarageBand (sweet!). Anway, where was I? Oh yeah, Talking Tech. This week, Kevin and I take a look at Apple's stellar
fourth-quarter results, including the fact more than 39 million iPods were sold in fiscal 2006. We also explore the "new and improved"
Internet Explorer 7, and take a skeptical look at the virtual world/Second Life phenomena. If you have suggestions, comments, etc., you can
e-mail us.
Written by Mark Evans on October 23rd, 2006 with no comments.
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The lead story in yesterday's Globe & Mail was about a senior management shake-up at the Toronto Star, mostly prompted by a sharp decline in the company's stock price and the controlling shareholders' unhappiness with the newspaper's editorial direction. It makes for a good story but it's just another sign of the newspaper industry's struggles as the Internet changes how people consume information and how advertisers are reacting. This process has seen many newspapers slash costs by laying off reporters, close bureaus, and rely more on wire services for out-of-town sports coverage. So, let's look at what the newspaper industry needs to do to survive using the traditional five "W"s: who, what, where, why and when.
Why do newspapers need to change?: Frankly, they have no choice. Circulation is declining as more people, particularly 15-to-25-year-olds, use the Web to get the news. Many newspapers in North America and Europe are also being hurt by free dailies such as Metro that appeal to commuters with a low-cost mix of wire stories and colour graphics and photographs.
What must newspapers do?: Experiment, innovate, focus on and engage the community. Clearly, newspapers need to embrace the Web, but it's not just a matter of migrating stories from paper to the digital world. They need to encourage interaction with readers by soliciting comments about stories, providing links to external resources, launching blogs, podcasts and video blogs, and driving traffic between the newspaper and the Web site. There also needs to be more focus on the local community given national and international news is a commodity available in a wide variety of places. Fast Company, for example, has an excellent profile on the Naples Daily News, which has become the poster-child for local coverage with a Web site that offers news, including a daily video blogcast, and tools such as the ability to compare house prices, and receive text alerts about the weather. (Hat tip to Jeff Jarvis)
Where is the newspaper industry going?: As a starting point, let's assume a growing number of consumers get the news fairly quickly from the Web, all-news radio and 24-hour TV stations such as CNN and NewsWorld. I'm talking about the major news such as accidents, natural disasters, political issues, business earnings, sports scores, etc. It means by the time a newspaper hits the front door in the morning, you're probably aware of a good chunk of the news inside. So what does this mean? Well, newspapers - and this sounds strange - need to abandon the "news" because it's become a commodity. Instead of telling people what happened (which they already know), they need to explain why it happened and what it means. It's about perspective and context, which is difficult to find in a 300-word story on the Web. Among newspapers, the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall St. Journal lead the pack, which is why they also tend to be cited so frequently in the blogosphere. There is one exception to the "news" argument: newspapers need to provide strong local news coverage given they have the resources to provide coverage not widely available on the Web.
Who's going to write the news?: There are two schools of thoughts: one, hire young, aggressive reporters for peanuts, and leverage their enthusiasm until they start to demand more money. Then, you let them go and hire a new crop of cheap talent. Rob Curley, who heads up the Naples Daily News online operations, has used this approach to provide extensive coverage with a skeleton staff. This low-cost approach will likely be embraced by more newspapers as a way to control costs. The question is whether there is room within this landscape for experienced, high price talent, and, if so, how many do you need? The other side of the coin is using some young talent to run around town to do the "grunt stuff" while having a small, but talented, group of senior reporters to write columns, news features and analysis pieces. Either way, the end result is you will end up with lower-cost and likely smaller newsrooms.
When do newspapers have to change?: Easy answer: now. Anyone who got caught with their pants down by the Web's emergence as a news resource needs to adopt an aggressive, risk-taking approach. This will mean mistakes will be made, experiments will blow up, and pet projects will fail. It means newspapers have to stop being afraid of the Web cannibalizing the print product; they have stop thinking about the Web as a separate entity; and they need to stop thinking the sky is falling. As REM frontman Michael Stipe sings: "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine". Well, the Web means it is the end of the print world as the newspaper industry knows it but that's okay. For newspapers that embrace change, experiment and dramatically change how they operate, they'll likely survive and thrive - much like radio survived TV, and movie theatres survived the VCR and DVD.
(Note: I spent 18 years as a newspaper reporter, including nine covering the Internet, so my view of the world is very Web-biased.)
Written by Mark Evans on October 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
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In this week's
Talking Tech podcast, Kevin Restivo and I discuss the impending disappearance of BCE and the decision to convert Bell Canada, the country's largest carrier, into an income trust (the
Globe & Mail has a huge feature series today on the rise of income trusts). We also touch upon Google's proposed $1.65-billion acquisition of YouTube, including the copyright issue that has everyone in a tizzy. Finally, we look at how legal digital music downloads doubled in the first half of the year. Of course, this doesn't mean illegal downloads have disappeared. One of the big questions in the music industry is whether Russia's
AllofMP3.com, which sells CDs for between $1 to $2, is legal or illegal.
Written by Mark Evans on October 15th, 2006 with no comments.
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After a one-week hiatus, Talking Tech is back. Not surprisingly, I "hi-jacked" the show to talk about my decision to jump from the world of journalism to the blogosphere by becoming vice-president of operations with b5media, which operates a global new media network with more than 150 blogs that attract two million unique visitors a month. In response to a few inquiries, I'll continue to write my blogs and, hopefully, keep my hand in journalism a little bit. As for the rest of Talking Tech, Kevin and I spent quite a bit of time talking about Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie's purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins for $175-million. It also gave us an excuse to talk about the Blackberry Pearl, which became available in Canada earlier this week. Finally, we touched up on the Google-YouTube rumours, which picked up steam after a Wall St. Journal story and a TechCrunch post. Notes: The show notes for Talking Tech can be found here, the podcast is here. Thanks again to Fleishman-Hillard's David Jones and Ed Lee for their production magic - and their decision to keep working with Kevin and I even though we're no longer daily technololgy newspaper reporters...:)
Written by Mark Evans on October 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Another week, another reason to talk about YouTube...and the new Nintendo Wii and the Blackberry Pearl. This week, Kevin and I look at whether copyright issues will change how video-services operate and/or affect the amount of traffic they attract. We also touch upon Microsoft's new video-service service called Soapbox, which was described by one analyst as "YouTube for middle-age people". You can find the podcast and show notes here. My column in this week's National Post explores the copyright and YouTube's recent licensing agreement with Warner Brothers Music.
Update: If you're looking for more podcast material, three guys named Malik, Scoble and Arrington got together recently.
Written by Mark Evans on September 24th, 2006 with no comments.
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Welcome to another edition of Talking Tech. This week, Kevin Restivo and I take a look at two interesting hardware announcements - Microsoft's Zune MP3 player (although we didn't touch on some issues raised by MediaLoper about Zune's music sharing capability) and Apple's much-hyped iTuve device that will apparently offer wireless connectivity between a TV and Mac. We also chat about Apple's new movie downloading service, and why the Toronto International Film Festival should introduce a download service to give people a chance to see movies that will probably never appear in theatres or the local video store. Finally, we talk about Telus, which had a chalk-a-block weeks of exciting news.
This week's podcast notes can be found here. Thanks again to David Jones and Ed Lee at Fleishman-Hillard, as well as Neil Johnson and Steve Coppola at iStudio for their work on all the behind-the-scenes production, including the new logo! By the way, here's the podcast's RSS feed.
Written by Mark Evans on September 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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Armed with brand new name - Talking Tech - for our
weekly podcast, we're
introducing a bunch of cool bells and whistles. Among them a new logo. Rather
than arbitrarily pick one ourselves, Kevin and I want yours feedback about four
different designs. Let us know what you think. By the way, the people behind the
new and improving podcast are
David Jones and
Ed Lee from
Fleishman-Hillard, and Neil Johnson and Steve Coppola from
iStudio. Keep in mind, this is a work in
progress project. If you're looking for our first new and improved podcast (complete with show notes, you can find it
here.) For more details on other features on the horizon for the podcast, check out
David Jones' post.
Written by Mark Evans on September 14th, 2006 with no comments.
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After going on summer vacation, our weekly podcast (new and improved is back). We've come up with a new title - Talking Tech with Mark Evans and Kevin Restivo - and started to give the podcast a little polish thanks to some behind the scenes work by David Jones and friends (more about all their help in next week's show). This week's show kicks off with a discusson about Kevin's decision to leave the National Post to become a senior analyst with the Seaboard Group, one of Canada's leading telecom consulting firms. We spend quite a bit time talking about the Blackberry Pearl, before touching on the launch of Toronto Hydro's municipal Wi-Fi network. Thanks to David's behind the scenes efforts, you'll find the show on iTunes - complete with show notes (Thanks, David and friends!).
Update: In putting together this week's podcast, I used a couple new tools. The first is a free WMA to MP3 converter made by Jodix.com, which was needed because I use an Olympus digital recorder that - for whatever reason - uses WMA. I also used Yousendit.com, a very useful Web-based service that lets you send large e-mail files such as podcasts. By the way, if anyone has a tool to easily create a one-lick iTunes subscription button, it would be much appreciated.
Written by Mark Evans on September 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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Now that
Amanda Congdon has left the video-blogging world (at least temporarily), the medium's new star is
Ze Frank, whose in-your-face (literally), smart, rapid-fire commentary has become a must-see for many people (
Rob Hyndman calls Ze Frank one of his first stops on the blogosphere). Ze Frank's star should burn hotter now that
Blogspotting has put him on its radar. Not sure where the guy gets his inspiration each day but his video blog is darn good.
Written by Mark Evans on July 29th, 2006 with no comments.
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So,
Rocketboom is finally back featuring
Joanne Colan. So what's my take on the Rocketboom 2.0? It's pretty good. First off, Colan is attractive and the English accent doesn't hurt. I thought Andrew Baron handled Amanda's departure with some class, even telling everyone where to find her (if they didn't know that already!). Despite all the attention on Colan's role as "interim" host, the key to Rocketeboom's future will not be Colan but the content. If the stories are engaging and keep Rocketboom's edgy humour, it'll be alright. Nice job, Andrew. Now, what's up for day two?!
Written by Mark Evans on July 12th, 2006 with no comments.
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Apologies for the
Rocketboom obsession but it's become my online soap opera. Anyway, it's supposed to come back to life in an hour but it can't be a good sign when you hit the site, and get a "Site Temporarily Unavailable" message.
Written by Mark Evans on July 11th, 2006 with no comments.
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Hmmmm....
11 a.m. 12:30 p.m.. 2:30 p.m. and still no sign of the new and improved Rocketboom - presumably featuring interim host
Joanna Colan, a VJ with MTV Europe. I wonder if Andrew Baron, who spent a good chunk of his weekend in Toronto, is reloading strategically. For some interesting insight into the split between him and Amanda Congdon, check out this
YouTube video featuring Baron at the
CaseCamp conference a few days ago.
Update: Here's a
short blog post by Baron on his contribution to Rocketboom.
Written by Mark Evans on July 10th, 2006 with no comments.
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I may not have much time for blogging this weekend given preparations for a World Cup BBQ but here's
this week's podcast. Not surprisingly, Kevin Restivo and I looked at the ongoing
Rocketboom soap opera, and whether it deserved anywhere near the attention it received. We also talked about
Microsoft's much-speculated move into the MP3 player market - a development we think will expand the market rather than be an iPod-killer. Finally, we delved into
Open Text's takeover bid for Hummingbird, which appears to be yet another sign of consolidation in the Canadian software market.
Update: If you want some more Rocketboom "stuff",
check out this YouTube video (the video has been pulled off YouTube) of Andrew Baron, who appeared yesterday at
CaseCamp in Toronto. It's an interesting PR strategy for him to talk about the split with Congdon but perhaps Andrew thinks it's better to get his message out after watching Amanda control the message for much of the week. His take is he and Amanda were having problems but they were in the process of trying to work something out that would have let her move to L.A. and continue to do Rocketboom. Here's a quote about Rocketboom's future
"On Monday, Rocketboom is going to be back, and I know what it's going to look like but I am having a hard time imagining
what everyone else thinks it will look like. My point for bringing up my confidence in all this is I can see in the long-run - say three weeks from now, a month from now - is people will be back. It will so much greater and stronger and people will be back in the swing of it, and this will put behind me. However, getting to that point is the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my
life and I am not prepared for it. I don't have that kind of experience
to deal with that kind of stuff. All I have is consulting with people while keeping it together creatively."
As much as everyone appears to be siding with Amanda, Andrew comes across in the video as sincere and genuine. (Disclaimer: I've met Andrew a couple times, and like him. He strikes me as very Canadian: modest, smart, funny, nice guy). One thing that does come across if you read between the lines is Rocketboom
is not flush with cash.
Update: Mathew Ingram watched the video as well today, and you can find his thoughts
here.
Leesa Barnes, who attended the CaseCamp event, also has some thoughts.
Written by Mark Evans on July 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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School is out but the high-tech world is as busy as ever. (Do these people ever take vacations?) During this
week's podcast, Kevin Restivo and I talk about:
1. The ongoing Nortel Networks soap opera, which featured news about a 1,100-person reduction in the workforce (35K vs. 95K at the peak of the telecom boom), and Nortel's AGM, which saw CEO Mike Zafirovski declare he wasn't
looking for a merger or a sale. Instead, Mike Z. plans to stay the course with a restructuring plan. We shall see.
2. Research in Motion's strong
fiscal first-quarter results, which suggest a couple things: consumers have put RIM's legal battle with NTP behind them; and despite all the talk about growing competition, the Blackberry still rules the mobile e-mail market.
3. Richard Branson drops into
Toronto (literally, as he made his entrance by rapelling from a helicopter to a restaurant patio). Much to a lot of peoples' surprise, he said
Virgin Mobile Canada has 250,000 customers and aims to have 400,000 by year-end. By the way, there will be another MVNO player in Canada soon with the launch of
Amp'd Mobile, which is doing a deal with Telus Corp.
Written by Mark Evans on July 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
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In this week's
podcast, we look at Nortel's
strategic options in the wake of Nokia and Siemens' decision to create a
joint venture with their carrier network equipment units. Does this force Nortel to make a major move of its own, or will CEO Mike Zafirovski stick with his restructuring plan and avoid the temptation to complicate matters?
Speaking of complicated, Vonage continues to go from bad news to bad news (
class-action lawsuits,
patent infringement allegations,
stock price threatening to hit rock-bottom). Is there hope on the horizon for Vonage? If the stock keeps on dropping, will it eventually become a tempting takeover target?
Finally, a quick look at
Bill Gates' decision to step down as Microsoft's chief software architect. It's a win-win situation: Gates stays involved while
Ray Ozzie gets the chance to move Microsoft more aggressively into the Web-based services world.
Written by Mark Evans on June 24th, 2006 with no comments.
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I recently had a chance to do a
podcast with
Bill St. Arnaud, senior director of advanced networks with
CANARIE, a federally-supported not-for-profit company with a mandate to promote the widespread adoption of next-generation high-speed networks in Canada - sort of our version of
Internet 2. Among some of the things we touched upon were some interesting high-speed projects happening in Sweden, including one that involves consumers buying a 100mbps "last mile" connection, as well as developments in Canada's high-speed market.
Written by Mark Evans on June 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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