“ The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger. I hate it. ” - Tim Bray in his post on joining Google

“ The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger. I hate it. ” - Tim Bray in his post on joining Google

I love Italy - for vacations, that is. But the decision by a judge in Milan to convict several Google employees for the posting of a bullying video on Youtube is a serious threat to the potential of the Internet to be a force for freedom. I have been critical of Google many times on this blog, but agree wholeheartedly with their assessment of how troubling this is:European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal ...

I love Italy - for vacations, that is. But the decision by a judge in Milan to convict several Google employees for the posting of a bullying video on Youtube is a serious threat to the potential of the Internet to be a force for freedom. I have been critical of Google many times on this blog, but agree wholeheartedly with their assessment of how troubling this is:European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal ...

I got Google Buzz last night in my gmail account and have started to play around with it a bit. Here are some initial thoughts. First off, I agree with Andrew that the integration of Buzz with Gmail will turn out to be a net positive for adoption at least initially (and if it takes off there is always a way to make it available standalone). Second, this roll out at scale is a very clear example of Google’s impressive infrastructure and how it enables innovation. Buzz is a big service with lot...

I got Google Buzz last night in my gmail account and have started to play around with it a bit. Here are some initial thoughts. First off, I agree with Andrew that the integration of Buzz with Gmail will turn out to be a net positive for adoption at least initially (and if it takes off there is always a way to make it available standalone). Second, this roll out at scale is a very clear example of Google’s impressive infrastructure and how it enables innovation. Buzz is a big service with lot...

Each has more than 100 Million credit cards on file to enable 1-click purchases of content, apps, and virtual goods. When I compare doing anything involving payment on other platforms the experience is cumbersome to the point of being useless. My 10-year old son had no trouble hijacking my Kindle, finding the store and getting a book for himself. And that’s on the Kindle! On his iPod touch he blew through the app budget we had set for the month within the first two days of having it. It will ...

Each has more than 100 Million credit cards on file to enable 1-click purchases of content, apps, and virtual goods. When I compare doing anything involving payment on other platforms the experience is cumbersome to the point of being useless. My 10-year old son had no trouble hijacking my Kindle, finding the store and getting a book for himself. And that’s on the Kindle! On his iPod touch he blew through the app budget we had set for the month within the first two days of having it. It will ...

I have been carrying around a Nexus One for a couple of weeks (in addition to my somewhat nervous feeling Blackberry). There is a ton to like about the Nexus. It works fantastically well with all of Google’s services. The setup is a cinch – just sign in with your Google account and let the phone and the cloud do the rest. The screen looks great and transitions between apps are fast. It can run multiple apps simultaneously. The turn-by-turn directions are awesome. Given all that, I find it sur...

I have been carrying around a Nexus One for a couple of weeks (in addition to my somewhat nervous feeling Blackberry). There is a ton to like about the Nexus. It works fantastically well with all of Google’s services. The setup is a cinch – just sign in with your Google account and let the phone and the cloud do the rest. The screen looks great and transitions between apps are fast. It can run multiple apps simultaneously. The turn-by-turn directions are awesome. Given all that, I find it sur...

I have worried on and off on this blog about the growing reach of Google. But yesterday I was thrilled to see Google take a determined stance on the issue of censorship and – by implication human rights – in China. I very much hope that the team there has the fortitude to stick to its plan, even if that means a rough road ahead for one of the world’s largest markets. Now lets see if any other Internet and IT companies will follow suit. Many of them have lower margins and more competition in t...

I have worried on and off on this blog about the growing reach of Google. But yesterday I was thrilled to see Google take a determined stance on the issue of censorship and – by implication human rights – in China. I very much hope that the team there has the fortitude to stick to its plan, even if that means a rough road ahead for one of the world’s largest markets. Now lets see if any other Internet and IT companies will follow suit. Many of them have lower margins and more competition in t...

I have written about privacy on this blog several times before. This week the topic seems to be front and center again with Eric Schmidt stating in a CNBC interview that “[i]f you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place” and Facebook introducing new privacy settings, which default to sharing with everyone. I love how this topic keeps coming around and believe it will continue to do so for a long time. The reason is that the persona...

I have written about privacy on this blog several times before. This week the topic seems to be front and center again with Eric Schmidt stating in a CNBC interview that “[i]f you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place” and Facebook introducing new privacy settings, which default to sharing with everyone. I love how this topic keeps coming around and believe it will continue to do so for a long time. The reason is that the persona...

There are a lot of posts worth reading about the potential impact or lack thereof of a possible deal between Microsoft and News Corp (and maybe other news sources as well), including Danny Sullivan, Jeff Jarvis, Andrew Parker and others. But one thing that I have missed from everything I have read (and it may well be that it’s there and I missed it) is what this is truly all about: the immense competitive pull of Google’s amazing profits! The big challenge for businesses with network effects ...

There are a lot of posts worth reading about the potential impact or lack thereof of a possible deal between Microsoft and News Corp (and maybe other news sources as well), including Danny Sullivan, Jeff Jarvis, Andrew Parker and others. But one thing that I have missed from everything I have read (and it may well be that it’s there and I missed it) is what this is truly all about: the immense competitive pull of Google’s amazing profits! The big challenge for businesses with network effects ...

As a teenager, I was a die-hard Apple fanboy. The boy part is obvious. The fan part was the result of having and hacking an Apple II. Naturally, I was hugely excited about the arrival of first the Lisa (remember those?) and then the Macintosh. While I enjoyed programming the Macintosh – all the way through college – I was frustrated with its unfriendliness towards hackers. My Apple II had been heavily modded with all sorts of extras. This was easily possible because the lid of the computer wa...

As a teenager, I was a die-hard Apple fanboy. The boy part is obvious. The fan part was the result of having and hacking an Apple II. Naturally, I was hugely excited about the arrival of first the Lisa (remember those?) and then the Macintosh. While I enjoyed programming the Macintosh – all the way through college – I was frustrated with its unfriendliness towards hackers. My Apple II had been heavily modded with all sorts of extras. This was easily possible because the lid of the computer wa...

Yesterday, Google announced something stunning: free turn-by-turn directions for Android 2.0 to be first available shortly on the Droid phones. It is stunning because the previously cheapest software only alternatives were apps such as Navigon ($89.99) and TomTom ($99.99) for the iPhone (as an aside, stand alone GPS devices with turn-by-turn directions can now be found on Amazon for as little as $139 for a Garmin nuvi 260 and that’s after 2 seconds of looking). So here we have a case of Googl...

Yesterday, Google announced something stunning: free turn-by-turn directions for Android 2.0 to be first available shortly on the Droid phones. It is stunning because the previously cheapest software only alternatives were apps such as Navigon ($89.99) and TomTom ($99.99) for the iPhone (as an aside, stand alone GPS devices with turn-by-turn directions can now be found on Amazon for as little as $139 for a Garmin nuvi 260 and that’s after 2 seconds of looking). So here we have a case of Googl...