Jason Kottke on How to hold an Apple press conference:

Steve Jobs will come out on stage and will sit in front of a large olde tyme cash register. He will immediately begin taking questions from the assembled journalists and bloggers. As the first-question scrum begins, Jobs will start madly ringing up purchases on the very loud register while pointing to his ears, shaking his head, and shouting “gosh, I’m sorry I can’t hear you guys over the sound of the register”. This will continue for several minutes and then the press conference will be over.

From Electronista:

Microsoft revealed the pressure it feels from the iPad today as it has posted an open call on Facebook for a study of iPad owners. The Windows developer’s User Research team hopes to have two-hour focus groups at its campus between July 16 and July 21 asking owners how they use the Apple tablet. It didn’t provide any particular clues as to the direction of the research.

Google: Taking off with ITA

Today, almost half of all airline tickets are sold online. But for many people, finding the right flight at the best price is a frustrating experience; pricing and availability change constantly, and even a simple two city itinerary involves literally thousands of different options. We’d like to make that search much easier, which is why I’m pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement to acquire ITA, a Boston-based software company specializing in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.

It’s getting scary how hungry Google is for information. It seems there’s never an industry they it doesn’t make sense to be in for Google. Search, news, email, maps, office applications, blogs, video, web browsers and most recently, their own competitor to Facebook. Check out their product page.
When you get as big as Google is getting, staying true to the don’t be evil mantra is impossible.

MacNN: Nokia exec “obsessed” with retaking lead from Apple, Google

Nokia’s new Mobile Solutions head Anssi Vanjoki today launched a renewed effort to improve Nokia’s standing in smartphones. He acknowledged that the company had lost its technical lead but said he was “obsessed” with getting the company back to the top spot.

I’d recommend he become obsessed with designing a great product, not “getting back on top”. If he does that, he might find his company in a better position in the market.
There’s room in the market for more than iPhones and Androids. I’d love to see Nokia get their mobile act together, but I’m not confident they can.

This was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw my coworker Victor‘s mouse:

I’m just waiting for a little Batman to bust out of the mouse on a little mouse wheel Bat Bike and drive across my keyboard.

NYTimes: The Evolution of the World Cup Ball
My favorite? 1962’s “Mr. Crack”

Cisco plans an Android-based business tablet:

…will offer multiple networking capabilities, keyboard and mouse support, and the ability to do videoconferencing. Cisco says it will cost less than $1,000, or about the same as an iPad. The Cius will come with a front-facing high-definition video camera that can record 720p video at 30 frames per second and a 5-megapixel camera at the back that can capture high-quality video and still images. Users will be able to engage in live video calls [most likely via WebEx] when the tablet is docked or being held. Some units will be available this fall, though general availability is not expected until early 2011.

This is what I hate about the tech press. Outside of the subtitle, no where in the original article that Slashdot is paraphrasing do they mention the iPad. Everyone loves to instigate a good fight don’t they?
“Hey Apple, Cisco was talking about your mother.”
Next big headline will be something along the lines of, “Cisco Declares Tablet War on Apple”.
Someone also needs to mention to Slashdot the iPad is a consumer product, and what Cisco has announced is a business product, so unless Cisco plans on integrating media consumption and gaming applications, I don’t see competitive factors (Unless, and this is crazy talk, the iPad also appeals to business people).

What’s going on with LinkedIn these days?
Can someone tell me what value it brings to the site by allowing people to like and comment on alerts that your connections have updated their profiles?
Are there seriously people out there with enough free time on their hands that after they’re done trolling through Facebook they go over to LinkedIn and say, “Ooooh look! Jimmy updated his Experience to include ‘wasting work hours watching the World Cup.’ I LIKE that! I’m going to click the LIKE link. Big ups, Jimmy! You da man!”
You’re not even seeing the actual Profile update on this screen either. So how are you going to react to something you need to drill down into to understand?

I’m all about the cross-pollination of ideas between different industries and trades, but some things just aren’t appropriate.

Today from Apple:

Apple® today announced that it has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone® 4 through Saturday, June 26, just three days after its launch on June 24. The new iPhone 4 features FaceTime®, which makes video calling as easy as one tap, and Apple’s new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in stunning text, images and video.

“This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

Adobe has announced the Adobe Museum of Digital Media.
From the blog of Stephen Gates:

The mission of museum was stated as showcasing and preserving groundbreaking digital work and expert commentary to illustrate how digital media shapes and impacts today’s society.

I find it interesting Adobe has decided to launch a digital museum at a point in history where we’re seeing Flash lose relevance on the mobile devices and to a lesser extent the desktop web experience (I know, Android is now shipping with Flash).
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, while at the D8 conference, said, “Flash looks like a technology that had its day, but is waning”. There are a few factors contributing to the opinion that Flash is fading. As Jobs said, desktops are becoming the “trucks” of computing, still highly useful but not used nearly as much as smaller mobile devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets – and the desktop era is where Flash hit its peak.
We’re into our third year ‘post-iPhone’ and only within the last few months had Adobe been able to showcase a version of Flash that works well on mobile devices. Not to mention Apple has sold close to 100 million Flash-less, iOS devices (this includes iPods, iPhones and iPads).
So as we move past Flash, Adobe reasserts it’s history of excellence.
Re-living old glory days on the football field, if you will.

from SeattlePI.com:

Windows Phone 7 apps will be able to send users information, news and offers from their favorite brands, effectively turning Microsoft’s next mobile operating system into an “ad-serving machine,” a representative said.

Way to make consumers feel special, Microsoft.