http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/ Eye of the Needle - Insights from Silicon Valley and beyond. en-us 2009-11-20T17:56:21-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/11/google-laughs-off-osborne-effe.html I’m guessing not many folks at Google are old enough to remember Adam Osborne (though CEO Eric Schmidt is one). Back in the ’80s Osborne’s namesake Osborne Computer Corp. introduced the first popular portable computer. In those days, a 25-pound... David Needle 2009-11-20T17:56:21-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/11/zoho-takes-pride-in-microsofts.html When the big boy kicks sand in your face, you can either go home and sulk or make jokes about what big feet the bully has. You’ve gotta love upstart Zoho for taking the second course of action. An early... David Needle 2009-11-05T19:03:14-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/this-tech-news-is-not-embargoe.html Embargoes — can’t live with them, can’t live without them. That was one of several themes running through a spirited discussion among tech journalists and PR people last night. For the uninitiated, embargoes are the controversial process where a tech... David Needle 2009-10-30T18:51:44-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/last-chance-to-see-worlds-ugli.html Oddly enough, there’s a company eager to stake the claim of World’s Ugliest Web site. “Over the past few months, our team has visited thousands of Web sites, and none is as ugly as Guidezilla,” said Ryan Duques of WD... Off The Beat David Needle 2009-10-14T21:01:07-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/data-intelligence-firm-lands-i.html Atigeo will have its formal coming out party next week at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. CEO and co-founder Michael Sandoval is a former director of partner strategy and general manager at Microsoft where he worked for ten... David Needle 2009-10-12T18:30:24-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/why-steve-ballmer-now-digs-hig.html Remember Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s famous jab at the iPhone when it first came out at a $500 price? “…that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a... Smartphones David Needle 2009-10-12T15:10:21-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/is-gps-that-talks-to-cars-a-sa.html The next great car safety breakthrough could come from outer space. Ford Motor Company and Auburn University said a joint research project shows global positioning system (GPS) satellites that “talks” to cars could help prevent accidents in the future. The... David Needle 2009-10-09T18:23:00-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/10/whats-the-future-of-advertisin.html Google and the Wharton School think it can help provide some of the answers. The two are teaming up on “Fast. Forward” a new YouTube channel that features short, 30 sec - 3 minute videos from industry and academic thought... David Needle 2009-10-02T00:52:32-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/hp-says-goodbye-to-eds-name.html The name EDS, long synonymous with high end, IT outsourcing and consulting services, is going away. Today HP brought the consulting giant further into its fold with the announcement that EDS has been renamed HP Enterprise Services. Hewlett-Packard bought EDS... David Needle 2009-09-23T15:20:34-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/oracles-larry-ellison-unplugge.html Too much good stuff for even a lengthy blog post about last night’s Larry Ellison’s event. In my earlier blog I focused on his comments regarding Oracle’s purchase of Sun. “We’re keeping everything,” Ellison said in rousing affirmation of his... David Needle 2009-09-22T19:01:42-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/ellison-sun-losing-100-million.html SAN JOSE, Calif. — Larry Ellison was on fire Monday night. Steve Jobs is the unquestioned master of the pre-rehearsed, carefully choreographed event speech complete with new technology props, but for off-the-cuff, tell ‘em like I see ‘em, entertaining bluster,... David Needle 2009-09-22T02:49:06-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/team-wins-1-million-for-helpin.html When Netflix decided to try and make significant improvements to the system it uses to recommend movies, the company took a unique approach to getting the job done. Rather than hire more staff, it banked on a unusual form of... Off The Beat David Needle 2009-09-21T19:31:54-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/tech-insider-says-plan-b-is-a.html Imagine you’re a tech startup with a great new Web service or product idea. You get enough funding to build out the staff and start developing the product in earnest. A year later, you realize the market’s changed; another company... David Needle 2009-09-18T15:34:14-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/oracle-goes-on-a-sun-offensive.html Enough already. After being bashed by vulture-like competitors for months about its commitment to Sun, Oracle is starting to fight back. As my colleague Andy Patrizio noted in several recent articles, HP and IBM have rolled out the red carpet... David Needle 2009-09-14T04:04:26-05:00 http://blog.internetnews.com/dneedle/2009/09/the-android-announcement-you-m.html SAN FRANCISCO — Motorola and T-Mobile had the big news at last week’s Gigaom Mobilize conference. Motorola finally unveiled its strategy for a line of Android-based mobile devices and T-Mobile unveiled the first model, the Cliq, due out in the... Smartphones David Needle 2009-09-14T03:48:40-05:00