Q3 Produces Flat PC Shipments in U.S.
IDC said that PC shipments in the U.S. were flat in the third quarter, following more than 5 percent growth rate for the first half of 2006 and a 10 percent rate for the years spanning 2003 to 2005.
Not surprising given Intel’s warnings to the street.
While unit volume is low, I’m looking forward to seeing the last half of 2006 numbers from Apple. Given the strong gains Apple made during the back-to-school season, I’m looking forward to seeing the final result.
YOU-ser Generated Content
By now, you’ve probably seen Time Magazine’s Person of the Year is all of us who contribute content into the web. Whether it’s to Flicker, Blogs, YouTube, Digg, or one of many other Web 2.0 site, we’re the ones doing all the work. And the content collection has made a few billionaires and even more millions of those that setup these new social systems.
I think back on how my use of computers has changed. My computer used to open with a flashing cursor. I had to insert disks to load programs just to “begin” to create something — mostly word processed documents or spreadsheets. Now I turn on my computer to connect to the web. To read or experience what others are creating. If the web isn’t there, my computer is less valuable to me.
Today my computer is a communications hub. I post to my blog and read others. Create podcasts and update my podcast subscriptions. IM an associate sitting as his/her desk in another city. Check on email — although I do more and more of this on my phone. Google for items. I even join conference calls through Skype.
I like the computer of today much than yesterday (and that’s not just because it a 5lb sleek aluminum Apple laptop). I like to be both a publisher/creator and a consumer of content. Networking with others has made my computer far more valuable.
Cisco get the iPhone before Apple
Couldn’t wait any longer for a new phone. After ditching the E61 a few weeks back, I had to move on a new gadget. I picked up the BlackBerry Pearl. And reading the news today about Cisco launching their own iPhone (apparently, they’ve owned the trademark since 1996 — smart move by someone at Cisco or one of their many acquisitions), but this one doesn’t require a carrier. The Cisco iPhone will on WiFi.
Oh how I can’t wait ’til we have an option for picking devices based on an open network protocol like WiFi. Will it be WiMax? Maybe. But I’m ready to get away from the current carriers as soon as I can since I’m always waiting for them — and they are months or years behind.
Moving from HouseofBaldwin to BradBaldwin.com
For those of you who subscribe to my blog, please note that I am switching my blog from HouseofBaldwin.com to BradBaldwin.com (wanted to get my SEO up). HouseofBaldwin will be converted to a Family site effective Dec 15. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Corresponding for Reuters, this is Brad Baldwin
It only seemed like a natural extension. This is what Robert Scoble and I spoke about a couple of weeks ago. Yahoo and Reuters have publicly reached out to the world and invited everyone to be a correspondent.
As reported today in the New York Times:
Starting tomorrow, users will be able to upload photos and videos to a section of Yahoo called You Witness News (news.yahoo.com/page/youwitnessnews). All of the submissions will appear on Flickr or a similar site for video. Editors at both Reuters and Yahoo will review the submissions and select some to place on pages with relevant news articles, just as professional photographs and video clips are woven into their news sites today.
….
CNN, which is owned by Time Warner and introduced its I-Reports section for user-submitted material on its site in August (www.cnn.com/exchange/), accepts text, images and video. Some submissions are included in its news broadcasts.
Guess it was invite or face the reality that the news would be reported underneath them. Cool. Can’t wait to submit a story and get published!
Pfizer cutting sales by 20 percent (OUCH)
I interviewed with Pfizer and Merck out of college. I was thinking of going into sales. I still think about my decision to go into technology. I’ve experienced some great ups and some big downs after dotcom bubble.
Now for the first time, I’m seeing that some of my pharma sales rep friends (from Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, TAP) are about to enter my world — layoffs, job cuts, downsizing, pick slips. As the Wall St. Journal puts it: The End of an Era. Of course my buddies said that the end started about 5 years ago when their golf budgets were hacked to zero.
In an attempt to get more time with a doctor, I know my buddies have described how their role has changed to include the selling of multiple drugs so that the doc can get updated on the odd chance that one of the reps get into the back office.
Sad thing is that I’m not sure that these cuts will go towards lowering the astronomical costs of prescription meds here in the USA. But I’m encouraged by Intel, Wal-Mart, and BP’s plan to intercede and take steps to save us all costs by first saving money for themselves.
Abby Vacuums Up Honeycomb
More iPhone smack
Rumors are turning into buzz. It’s now the marketing machine starting it’s engines to create mass anticipation and frenzy. PC Magazine’s report today includes a quote from Shaw Wu:
“From a technical standpoint, the phone is pretty much done,” said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. “It’s a big endeavor and we believe it’s beyond speculation.”
Carriers….they’ll slow anything down. Still hoping to see a smart phone.
PodCamp West 2006 Wrap-Up
It was cool to hang with the early west-coast podcasting experts at Podcamp West in San Francisco. There was a lot of media and entertainment representation at the event (music, movies, reviews, etc.). Interesting for me was the age of the audience. It was filled with more 30-40 somethings than the younger hipset. I got the impression that the people with content ideas and artists were the driving the west coast podcasting movement.Victor Podcast, the lead organizer and podcaster behind Hot from Silicon Valley, and his recruits did a lot of work to pull off this UnConference. Thanks for all your work.
It was fun to connect with Doug Kaye, the original IT Conversations podcaster, one of the first podcast subscriptions. It was even more cool to hear that he had listened to my Podango podcast that was syndicated on PodTech. Doug and I spoke with Michael Geoghegan, CEO or GigaVox and co-author of “Podcast Solutions,” about working with Phil Windley, the current Executive Producer of IT Conversations, to pull off a Podcast Academy event at BYU.
I hooked up with a few of the PodTech team that attended. Robert Scoble arrived with video camera in tow.
Also connected with Steve Sloan from San Jose State University who teaches a course on new media. Steve was an early podcaster (circ 2004). We discussed educational use of podcasts and course management systems like Blackboard and WebCT.
I would have like to spend time on Sunday listening to more of the experiences of others. It’s still a new frontier. Tech challenges like RSS feed management are common concerns. Pretty much everyone uses a different production model (some record directly in GarageBand–others use Audacity–still others use some “other” recording equipment). However, I made some good contacts with whom I can share best practices.
Until next time.
Technorati Tags: Podcasting, PodCamp
45 Minutes with Robert Scoble — Advice for News Publishers
Robert Scoble, one of the most recognized voices on social media, shares his opinions on how traditional newspapers, like the Mercury News, and news outlets, CNN and BBC, must change to absorb the new “on-the-street” journalist. These new field correspondents can leverage their own blog, Flickr, YouTube, or yet-to-be-invented social media solutions to provide real-time news. Scoble relates a personal example of living in the bay area during the earthquake of 1989. At that time, the news was too centralized to the “hot” news spots, while the thousands of other locations around the bay did not get covered — both good news (like, hey we’re okay in this part of town) and other trouble spots. Digital photos, cellular communications, broadband web connectivity, WordPress and Blogger.com are challenging news outlets. Scoble gives his recommendation of how these outlets — and the journalists struggling to keep their own jobs — need to change to include this new type of field correspondent. Between cell calls, Brad Baldwin talks to Robert while driving from San Francisco to PodTech‘s new offices in Menlo Park.