According to 9to5Google, an “extremely reliable source” has confirmed that Google plans to build standalone retail stores in the U.S., with major metropolitan area flagship outlets opening in time for the holidays by the end of this year. The goal is to get new Google Nexus, Chrome and other upcoming products into the hands of customers, similar to the approach taken by competitors Apple and Microsoft. Continue reading Will Google Look to Compete with its Own Retail Stores?

Google and Disney have teamed with UK app and Web developer Unit 9 to launch a Chrome Experiment to promote Disney’s upcoming film, “Oz the Great and Powerful.” Wired describes it as “Hollywood marketing machine meets tech evangelism in the future of online storytelling.” The project illustrates “the sort of immersive experiences possible when using Web technologies such as WebGL, CSS3, WebAudio, WebRTC, and other HTML5 tools.” Continue reading Disney and Google Launch Stunning Immersive Chrome Project

Industry analyst Tim Bajarin offers his perspective on the leading tech trends we can expect in the coming year. Bajarin, who has been writing an end-of-the-year prediction column for 23 years (and says he has been “reasonably successful”), predicts some interesting developments, including: Augmented Reality going mainstream, increased consumer attention for Google’s Chromebook, a new interest in hybrids and convertibles from IT managers, a dramatic increase in mobile malware, and more. Continue reading Tim Bajarin Details Top Six Tech Trends Expected in 2013

Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal hosted the D9 (D: All Things Digital) conference May 31 to June 2 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The annual event featured compelling interviews and demonstrations from an array of top media and technology executives representing companies such as HP, Twitter, AT&T, Nokia, Netflix, Disney, Adobe and many more.

The D conference was established in 2003 by columnists Mossberg and Swisher as an annual showcase for technology innovators and big names from the worlds of business, entertainment and occasionally politics. This year the title was “D9” (indicating its ninth year). The conference is known for hosting influential heavy-hitters and its somewhat exclusive nature. Typically, attendance is limited to about 500 guests.

ETCentric readers were quick to forward relevant news items and announcements that emerged during this year’s show. The following is a collection of links to articles and videos submitted by our readers, accompanied by their comments:

D9 Video: Eric Schmidt Highlights

• Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook are successfully exploiting global platform strategies.
• Challenge working with entertainment companies since taking content from scarcity to ubiquity.
• Also need to deal with disintermediation and piracy. On privacy, Google will remain a place where you can do anonymous searches. And committed to insuring you have control over information they have on you.
• We’re seeing the consumerization of IT that will lead to the death of IT as we know it.
• There are not sufficient resources to develop for more than the two largest players: Google and Apple.
• Search is moving from link-based answers to algorithmically-based answers using artificial intelligence.
• Concerned about a balkanization of the Internet, which will lead to an Internet per country.
• If you’re concerned about security, use the Chrome browser and use a Mac.

Google Shows Off Its Groupon Killer, Launching Tomorrow

• Video of Eric Schmidt’s demo of Google Wallet and Google Offers.
• Google is not charging a processing fee but is taking a share of the offer.
• Credit card companies are willing to upgrade the POS terminals to get benefits of higher security.
• Lookout Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.!!!

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on Google, Clones and Hubris – But Not on an IPO

• CEO sees Groupon evolving in three phases so far: One – the Daily Deal, Two – Personalized Deals, and Three – a technology company where they become more integral to a person’s daily life (i.e. wherever they are and whatever they want to do, they can get a deal right now based on the inventory of available deals).
• Could you use Groupon to sell media?

D9 Video: Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky on Windows 8

• 95 percent of how the world gets on the Internet is through Windows.
• Windows 8 will be a “modern” rethink to enable PCs and tablets to satisfy “things they say are solved in an iPad” and still bring all the benefits of Windows.
• Video demo of Windows 8 showing touch-based UI (can still use mouse too), live tiles.
• Targeting 2012.

D9 Video: Fanhattan Demo

• Free video discovery app Fanhattan launched at D9 this week.
• The iPad app serves as a directory and discovery engine, sourcing reviews and ratings from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, while organizing related content from the likes of YouTube, IMDb and Amazon.
• Also shows pre-release version running on an Internet TV which is capable of creating a branded movie page in this case for Pirates of the Caribbean.
• It connects to iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and the ABC Player to view TV and movies.
• CNET review: “This free iPad app sounds simple–it finds stuff about movies and TV shows you want to watch–but the depth of the content, utility of what the site does, and clarity of the interface just puts this app on a different level than anything else I’ve seen.”

D9 Video: Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker

• WebOS will be available to other companies and enterprises for their own use.
• Goal is to create an end-to-end ecosystem that figures out on a single device in the Cloud whether you’re doing enterprise or private work.
• HP can create a large ecosystem of printers, PCs and tablets amounting to 100 million devices a year itself. They hope to interest others as well.

D9 Video: Reed Hastings Highlights

• On Netflix’s virtuous cycle: the more content they get, the more members they get and they can pay more for content.
• Consumers want all the new stuff but that’s very expensive.
• At $8/month, they’re a compliment to the new stuff.
• The news stuff will remain pay-per-view since has higher margin for content owners.
• Can grow from 24 million subscribers currently to capture Internet TV and tablet viewers plus a share of the 5 billion active mobile phone users worldwide who like video.
• Need to stay innovative.
• Focus on talent density, which is the fewest number of talented people.

D9 Video: Twitter CEO Dick Costolo

• Took three years to send the first billion tweets. Now sends a billion tweets every SIX days!
• There are over 600,000 developers who have downloaded over 900,000 API tokens.
• Will look to TweetDeck (recently acquired) as the professional UI.
• Rolling out a native photo sharing app, relevance sorted search results and web intents which allows you to add a Twitter client into your website. 80 percent of advertisers using promoted tweets renew.
• Advertisers are experiencing very high engagement rates (VW’s ad: 52%).
• Focused on success of business, not IPO.

DARPA – The Coolest Agency You’ve Never Heard Of: Regina Dugan at D9

• Regina Dugan’s DARPA t-shirt says “Impossible, Improbable, Inevitable” which describes the progression of their programs.
• Developed Internet, GPS, stealth, night vision, UAV, MEMS technologies.
• DARPA’s Mission is the “prevention and creation of strategic surprise.”
• Encourages programs to have the big success.
• So that means they can’t fear failure. Fear of failure is the limiting factor.
• Talks about growth in need for cyber security, new computing architectures, explosive detection system.

D9 Tech Demo: Inkling

• Inkling reinvents the college textbook for the iPad that is both interactive and social.
• Rather than paying $200 for a book, you can buy it a chapter at a time for far less cost since the content is not re-sold like a physical book.
• See impressive video demo.

Anxious to promote its new Web-based Chrome operating system introduced this week at Google I/O in San Francisco, Google announced its plans to begin selling netbooks based on the Chrome OS starting June 15. The devices, aimed primarily at enterprise customers, will use Web-based applications rather than storing software.

The new “Chromebooks“ will initially take the form of Wi-Fi- and 3G-based laptops from Acer and Samsung that will start at $350 (available from retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy). Verizon will offer 3-year 3G contracts priced at $28/month for up to 100MB of wireless data usage.

Google also announced a new feature to the Chrome Web Store that will enable developers to configure one-touch in-app purchases. Google will reportedly take only 5 percent of the purchase price (comparatively, Apple takes 30 percent).

According to InformationWeek: “The pricing of Google’s subscription plan is modest: For $28 per user per month, businesses will receive Chromebooks, Web-based administration controls, enterprise-level support, a warranty, and hardware replacement upon subscription renewal. Schools and governments have access to the subscription package for $20 per user per month. Access to Google Apps for Business is not included; it will continue to be offered for $50 per user per year.”

Related CNN Money article: “Google makes push for the Enterprise with Chrome” (5/12/11)

Related PC Magazine article: “Hands On: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook” (5/12/11)