BufferBox is a Canadian startup that offers shipping lockers for consumers who aren’t available during the day when their packages arrive. Now with Amazon’s expansion of its Lockers service, BufferBox is looking at new competition and the possibility of acquisition.
BufferBox is based on a simple idea. “There will be a locker at a certain retail location, which will become your address and you can ship your packages there,” explains GigaOM. “Once you get your package, you get an email with a PIN number and that is what you need to open the locker and get your package. BufferBox takes a cut of the delivery costs.”
The company faces competition from similar startups such as ShopRunner, Kiala, MissNev, and now Amazon’s Locker program. Amazon has already teamed up with Staples, RadioShack, 7-Eleven and Albertsons for its Lockers.
“If you are wondering why these retail chains are sleeping with the enemy, the answer is foot traffic,” the post states. “If people are coming to stores to pick up their packages, there is some likelihood that they might pick up other goods. Groceries or Big Gulps, sure, but paper goods and electronics, too.”
As Amazon looks to offer locker locations at retailers, it would seem that BufferBox might be edged out.
“However, fear of Amazon is enough to get Google or some other giant galvanized into snapping up this startup,” GigaOM suggests. “Google, which is pushing hard to get traction for its Google Checkout service, could use something like BufferBox as a way to get more businesses to use its service. For retailers, the lure of foot traffic is pretty strong.”
Researchers have recently used Twitter to forecast election results, changes in stock market prices and box office revenues. Now, researchers are turning to Wikipedia for similar forecasting.
Marton Mestyan of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary and his team of researchers have used Wikipedia behavior patterns to predict box office revenues a month before films are released, writes Technology Review.
Number of views, number of human editors, number of edits, and a factor known as collaborative rigor all contribute to the predictions.
“We show that the popularity of a movie could be predicted well in advance by measuring and analyzing the activity level of editors and viewers of the corresponding entry to the movie in Wikipedia,” explains Mestyan.
One problem with the system is that it only seems to work for high-revenue films. Mestyan says the Twitter predictions have similar problems predicting revenues for films that do not do well at the box office.
He says that his method works up to a month in advance, while Twitter only works after the film has been released.
Technology Review cautions that making “predictions” about the past (creating correlations between data sets) is one thing, and actually making accurate predictions about the future is another.
Tone in various forms of electronic communication has often led to confusion between friends, colleagues and family members — especially when the intended tone is sarcasm.
“Now, as more people are sharing their opinions with casual acquaintances and strangers on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook — rather than in private text messages to people who know their senses of humor — the sarcasm disconnect is even greater,” notes the Wall Street Journal.
Data miners are increasingly met with this challenge. “Sarcasm is proving to be an obstacle for the academics and marketers who create computer programs to analyze massive pools of online chatters to gauge public opinions about products and politicians,” explains the article.
USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab has launched a Twitter Sentiment Analysis project that “unites linguists, sociologists and computer scientists to try to build a modern-day lexicon for computers to read and interpret huge chunks of data provided by the millions of people who share their opinions online,” reports WSJ.
The project has turned to politics to analyze data. For example, the lab’s computer has analyzed more than 40 million tweets involving candidates and hot-button issues. Additionally, more than 50,000 tweets have been manually analyzed to determine sentiment.
“Many of the ETC member companies are using sentiment analysis from companies like Crimson Hexagon to guide their marketing and social media efforts,” explains ETCentric contributor Phil Lelyveld. “This USC research program will improve the accuracy of the analytics that they use.”
AT&T had previously limited Apple’s FaceTime video chat service to Wi-Fi or customers with new — generally more expensive — shared data plans. The carrier recently announced that it would open the service to more iPhone and iPad users, but digital rights groups are saying AT&T is still violating net neutrality regulations.
“Net neutrality rules prohibit DSL and cable companies from unfairly blocking services they don’t like and require them to be transparent about how they manage their networks during times of congestion,” Wired explains. “The regulations do allow for certain kinds of mobile network management during periods of congestion, but these cannot unfairly target services that compete with the carriers’ own services.”
“AT&T in August said that the main reason why it was not breaching the FCC’s net neutrality rules was because the FaceTime application comes pre-installed on the iPhone and iPad,” the article continues. “The company said it was not blocking the app, but that it reserved the right to enforce ‘some reasonable restrictions’ to manage expected traffic congestion of the data-hogging app.”
Now, AT&T allows the iPad 3 and newer models as well as the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 running iOS 6 to use FaceTime over cellular networks.
“But despite the change, Public Knowledge said that, until AT&T begins offering the service on all of its cellular plans like Sprint and Verizon do — including for AT&T customers with unlimited data — the company will be violating net neutrality rules,” Wired writes.
Public Knowledge and other digital rights groups have threatened to take up the issue with the Federal Communications Commission if AT&T doesn’t open up FaceTime to all plans and all compatible devices.
Multiple anonymous sources are saying that Microsoft is discreetly building a 7-inch Xbox Surface gaming tablet, locking down buildings and factories to keep the project under wraps.
“The Xbox Surface will likely include a custom ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM designed specifically for gaming tasks,” reports The Verge. “We’re told these specifications could be altered to accommodate an unannounced Intel SoC and that the Xbox Surface is being developed independent of specific hardware architecture.”
“Microsoft’s Xbox Surface won’t run a full version of Windows, rather this 7-inch tablet will run a custom Windows kernel,” explains the post. “Messaging and other tablet functions may be supported, but the focus is on gaming.”
Microsoft has reportedly created a secret hardware production process for the Xbox Surface separate from its traditional manufacturers for its Xbox console.
Additionally, the company has limited employee access to buildings in Silicon Valley that are related to the Interactive Entertainment Business.
“The lock down is likely related to Microsoft’s increased testing of the tablet, providing a way for other parts of the Xbox team to build games and software for the device,” suggests The Verge. “Providing the project doesn’t get killed in favor of a full 7-inch Windows tablet, in the same way Microsoft axed Courier, expect to see the Xbox Surface debut ahead of Microsoft’s future Xbox console.”
After using Microsoft’s Surface tablet for more than a week, Slate writer Farhad Manjoo concludes the tablet is no competitor for Apple’s iPad.
“It’s too slow, it’s mercilessly buggy, and the add-on that’s supposed to set it apart from the iPad — its touch-cover keyboard and trackpad — is nice but far from revolutionary,” Manjoo writes.
“At $499 for the base model, plus $120 for the almost-required touch cover, the Surface is also not very competitive on price: You can get the newest standard iPad for the same $499, the still pretty good iPad 2 for $399, and the new iPad mini for $329.”
The tablet feels heavy, he writes, and it takes extra half-seconds to do anything. Switching the orientation is also very clunky and the tablet responds slowly to inputs.
“Perhaps it’s just hobbled with an inadequate processor and too little RAM,” Manjoo suggests. “Maybe we can expect future versions to pack more power and, consequently, to feel less frustrating. After all, Apple’s original tablet was a bit lethargic, too.”
“[The first iPad] may not have been perfect, but it was unquestionably the best tablet of its era. The Surface is hitting the shelves in 2012, when, in addition to Apple’s tablets, you can now get Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 or one of Amazon’s super-cheap Kindle Fires,” Manjoo writes, adding that Microsoft has no room for error as Apple did when releasing the first tablet.
The Surface “promises that you’ll be able to type faster, to use a pointer, to actually get things done and not feel like there are certain things your device just can’t do,” he concludes. “The iPad may not allow you to do everything, but Apple has made sure that it’s great at what it can do. The Surface, by contrast, will let you do everything you want. The problem is that you’ll have no fun doing it.”
As part of its strategy to “channelize” its popular video site, YouTube has so far helped fund about 160 “channels” that feature original content and, in some cases, celebrity talent.
“And just like the TV world, YouTube isn’t going to renew all of last season’s programs,” reports AllThingsD. “This week, Google’s video site will start offering new contracts to some of the channel programmers/creators it signed up in the last year. But not all of them: YouTube figures it will end up re-investing in up to 40 percent of its original channels by the time the renewal process is done.”
YouTube plans to address the renewals in batches, beginning with the first group of channels it launched in January.
New deals are expected to reflect the ones originally established last year, in which content creators received up to $5 million to produce content exclusively for the site. Channels that are not offered new deals will not be bounced from the site. YouTube hopes the producers will continue to provide content.
“Jamie Byrne, YouTube’s director of content strategy, says the site is most concerned about engagement — primarily the total ‘watch time’ a channel has generated — and cost — how efficient programmers have been with their programming budget,” explains the article.
Financial performance is not expected to be a deciding factor in the new deals, since the advertising model remains a work in progress.
“We’ve had some really great response from the advertiser community. As we continue to talk to advertisers and marketers, there’s a real sense that they’re looking at YouTube differently,” Byrne says. “But as we look at this initiative, we are taking the long view here. It’s not necessarily about immediate results.”
A federal judge in California ruled last week that broadcasters did not prove they had sustained enough damage from DISH Network’s ad-skipping Hopper DVR to warrant a preliminary injunction.
“U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles refused to grant Fox Broadcasting’s first attempt to block DISH Network’s advertising-skipping DVR services known as ‘AutoHop’ and ‘PrimeTime Anytime,'” explains The Hollywood Reporter.
However, Fox says it is “gratified the court found the copies DISH makes for its AutoHop service constitute copyright infringement and breach the parties’ contract.”
“The satellite company is asserting that AutoHop (aka the Hopper) is really just an improvement on existing recording devices that have been accepted by the industry and judicially blessed as ‘fair use’ going back to the Supreme Court’s 1984 ruling on the Sony Betamax VCR and continuing through the Ninth Circuit’s 2008 ruling on Cablevision’s remote-storage DVR,” explains THR.
“Fox dismisses DISH’s contention that the technology is merely a ‘souped-up DVR’ and disputes that the freedom to time-shift is at stake here,” notes the article.
The court ruling is currently sealed from public view until both parties have the opportunity to remove any trade secrets. Fox said it intends to appeal the decision.
At least one patent battle in the smartphone wars is finally over. Apple and HTC reached a settlement over the weekend to dismiss all current lawsuits the companies have against each other.
Additionally, the companies have inked a 10-year cross-licensing deal that grants rights to current and future patents held by each party. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Apple sued HTC in 2010, claiming that the Taiwanese manufacturer infringed on patents related to the iPhone. HTC, in turn, accused Apple of infringing several of its mobile technology patents.
“The deal was the first settlement between Apple and a maker of devices that use Android, an operating system that has rapidly swallowed most of the smartphone market and threatened Apple’s position in the mobile business in the process,” reports The New York Times. “Other patent lawsuits continue around the globe, including far more significant ones between Apple and Samsung, by far the biggest maker of Android smartphones.”
While the deal may suggest that Apple CEO Tim Cook is eager to end the distraction and risks of patent fights, it may not necessarily be a sign that Apple will settle its fight with Samsung.
“The stakes in Apple’s dispute with Samsung are far higher than they were in its battle with HTC,” notes the article. “Samsung ranked No. 1 in smartphone market share during the third quarter of this year, shipping 56.3 million of the devices, while Apple was second with 26.9 million smartphones, according to estimates by IDC. HTC, in contrast, was fifth, shipping 7.3 million phones.”
China is looking to be a top supercomputer competitor with its Tianhe-2, which expects to run at 100 petaflops and be released in 2015.
The U.S. launched a 20-petaflop computer, the world’s fastest supercomputer. China’s latest machine looks to increase those speeds by five times.
“Tianhe-2 could help keep China competitive with the future supercomputers of other countries, as industry experts estimate machines will start reaching 1,000-petaflop performance by 2018,” notes ITworld.
“The Tianhe-2 is not China’s first attempt at building a world-beating supercomputer. It briefly took the top spot on the world’s list of most powerful supercomputers in 2010 with the Tianhe-1A. That computer is now ranked fifth in the world with a theoretical peak speed of 4.7 petaflops, and uses processors from Intel and Nvidia.”
Last year, China built the Sunway Bluelight supercomputer with a domestically developer processor. “This was like a trial,” says Chen Dexun, a senior engineer at the supercomputing center where the 1-petaflop Sunway Bluelight machine is housed.”Before, we were always using U.S. chips, and so we wanted to see our abilities in making these processors,” he says.
China is not, however, the only country looking to make a 100-petaflop computer by 2015. The European Union, Japan and U.S. have also expressed intentions to work toward that goal.
In addition, China has plans to build a 1-exaflop (1,000 petaflop) computer by 2018.
People already use Bluetooth while driving to stay connected to the outside world, but soon cars could become another connected device on a shared data plan, suggests GigaOM. The obvious concern — and reason this has not already happened — is safety.
Cars could benefit from increased connectivity because drivers could receive real-time data on traffic. “That stream, obviously, has to be segregated from the music and podcasts that the driver or passengers are streaming or downloading to entertain themselves,” explains the article.
Ford currently provides some connectivity through Sync, a system that allows for voice control.
“Right now, the connectivity with Sync is through your mobile device, so you’re using your regular data plan for that but I like the idea of the car being another device on a shared data plan,” suggests Paul Mascarenas, CTO and VP of research and innovation for Ford. “That might give us flexibility to provide a user experience where your car is like your second home or second office where you seamlessly share content.”
Eventually, cars will probably be linked to the cloud and the rest of consumer electronic devices, but companies must first work out the safety kinks that come with driving and accessing data at the same time.
For more information on the services and user experience possible with the connected car, check out the 19-minute session video from RoadMap 2012.
“E-commerce has been on fire since its inception and it still continues to grow and outpace the overall retail economy,” says Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, who predicts online shopping will amount to $68.4 billion this holiday season, a 15 percent increase over 2011.
Although the rate of increase will stay the same (sales rose 15 percent last year as well), the number of online shoppers in the U.S. is expected to grow 3 percent.
Additionally, the average shopper will spend an estimated $419 online this holiday, which represents a 12 percent increase over 2011.
The report suggests three reasons for the shift to online shopping: 1) customers want to get deals and avoid crowds; 2) while mobile conversion rates remain low, mobile commerce will account for 40+ percent of retailers’ online traffic with improved mobile technology; and 3) consumer confidence in the economy has risen and holiday retail estimates are high.
“Still, the trend largely benefits online-only retailers, like Amazon, which means that physical retailers must come up with a plan to keep consumers coming to the stores or their Web sites,” suggests AllThingsD.
Brick-and-mortar retailers have made efforts to fight back with price matching and same-day delivery, but Mulpuru expressed doubts that the maneuvers will dent Amazon’s sales.
Google is experimenting with a new social feature for Chrome that allows users to interact with others by creating and sharing instrument tracks.
“For those who want to play music with friends across the country — or down the street, for that matter — Google is testing a new interactive Web app that lets you rock out with others in real time,” reports Mashable.
The JAM with Chrome app operates via HTML5 and allows up to four people to interact online with 19 virtual instruments, including drums, keyboards and acoustic and electric guitars.
The app has two approaches: “easy mode,” featuring basic instrument functions and autoplay capabilities — and “pro mode,” which gives users full control over their virtual instruments.
“If you ever dreamed of playing in a band, now’s your chance to be a rock star,” explains Google in a blog post. “No matter what your level of talent — from daydreaming air guitarist to music pro — you can JAM together in real time over the Web.”
“Google has been upping its music profile over the past few months,” reports CNET in a related post. “It announced last month that it would soon be rolling out its scan-and-match feature for the company’s music service in Europe and in the U.S. shortly after. Scan-and-match is a feature that lets users store music on computer servers of a host service. The service can then stream songs over the Internet to the user’s choice of Web-connected music players.”
The pay TV industry as a whole lost 127,000 subscribers in the third quarter, according to a report from Sanford C. Bernstein. While some providers blame prices, programming disputes and even the housing market for subscriber drop-offs, recent results raise concerns that consumers are opting for online services instead.
“Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems Corp. and Dish Network Corp. collectively lost 102,000 video customers in the latest quarter, based on information contained in their quarterly reports on Tuesday,” notes the Wall Street Journal. “That is better than their combined loss of 193,000 a year earlier, but it isn’t a reversal.”
“The results followed Time Warner Cable’s report on Monday that it had lost more video subscribers than expected,” the article continues. “Including the numbers from previously reporting publicly held pay TV providers, the industry grew by 25,000 video subscribers, down from 148,000 a year earlier.”
Nielsen reports that at least 90 percent of U.S. homes pay for subscription TV from cable, satellite or phone companies. In the past, cable has lost subscribers to satellite and phone companies. Today, cable can offset these losses with broadband growth.
Some satellite companies including DirecTV and EchoStar (Dish’s sibling company) are looking to also diversify their offerings by expanding into Latin American markets via partnerships or acquisitions.
For the most part, the broader pay TV market has grown in recent years. “But in the past year or so, the market has seen slight shrinkage in several quarters,” explains WSJ. “That has sparked concerns that consumers might be disconnecting their pay TV services in favor of cheaper options, like online video.”
Digital video piracy has declined because of the availability of streaming video services, especially Netflix, suggests Business Insider. While streaming services as a whole have contributed to the decline of piracy, Netflix controls 33 percent of North American peak traffic (according to a new report from Sandvine).
“The real alternative to Netflix is BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing protocol through which users upload and download copies of movies and TV shows,” explains the article. “Because it’s a technology for file sharing rather than a centralized service or piece of software, BitTorrent has proven very hard for movie studios to shut down.”
But BitTorrent traffic has declined to 12 percent of traffic in North America, in part because of Netflix’s low monthly prices and expansive offerings. Netflix is also less complex and downloads more quickly than BitTorrent.
BitTorrent traffic currently comprises 16 percent in Europe — and 36 percent in Asia, where video services are not as available.
Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo predicts that by 2015 peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic will dip lower than 10 percent of network use.
“It’s not a given that BitTorrent use indicates illegal downloading of a video file — some game developers use it to distribute legal copies of their software, for example — but it is heavily used for video downloads,” writes Business Insider.
