Much is being made of the fact that the Electronic Privacy Information Center has called upon the FTC to investigate Google for tying its Google+ social network to its search results. Some of the more excitable members of the hackery seem to have leapt to the conclusion that if EPIC writes a letter then inevitably an FTC investigation will follow. From the hysterical tone of some articles, you’d think the government has already filed a lawsuit, and that Google had already been found guilty. But one letter from EPIC does not an antitrust case make. For one thing, EPIC’s director, Marc Rotenberg, has long had an erection for Google — he hates Google even more than MG Siegler, and that’s saying something. What you also might not know is that Rotenberg has a long history of bitching about tech companies invading privacy, and that one of his most curious crusades was against Caler ID. Rotenberg’s argument was that before Caller ID, you were the one who controlled whether to give out your number, but with Caller ID the phone companies had taken that control away from you. EPIC’s Web site has a page devoted to Caller ID. Here is an article from the LA Times from 1990 where Rotenberg…
Learn MoreSeriously, this is outrageous. I ordered a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon and it just arrived today. Here’s a photo of the box next to the box for the iPhone 4S that I got a couple months ago. Can you tell which one is which? I know I can’t. (I’ll just tell you. It’s the one on the right.) Things only get worse when you open them up. Look at this shit. Samsung, have you no shame? How do these people keep getting away with this…
Learn MoreIt’s a theory anyway, laid out in an article I just did about Google’s “Search plus Your World” on The Daily…
Learn MoreCheck out the video below or view it on flickr. It’s from CES in Las Vegas. A guy from Samsung is showing off a window display that turns a glass window into a computer display. With the touch of a finger you can flip the “blinds” open and shut, change the color of the blinds, pull up marketing reports, play video and so on. It’s pretty amazing stuff, and may be related to a breakthrough that Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology announced last October which involves “single crystalline Gallium Nitride on amorphous glass substrates.” Samsung has been tinkering with this idea for a while and showed off something sort of similar back in 2008 and showed more transparent display stuff in November 2010. Now — view the video…
Learn MoreBusiness Insider: “Samsung is Already the Big Winner at CES.” Business Insider: “Wow, Samsung Beat Apple to a Voice-Controlled TV.” TechCrunch: “Why Samsung is the new Apple.” Funny, because supposedly Apple was going to “win” CES without even…
Learn MoreThat’s a friend, who is on his way to CES, describing the show. Sounds about the same as my experience, which is why I stopped going a few years ago. It’s too crowded, you can’t get anywhere, you spend all your time schlepping around, wandering through halls gazing up at flat-panel TVs or standing in endless cab lines. The executive briefings you get are useless — 15 minutes in the back of a booth with some guy running through a canned script that he’s already run through a hundred times with other filthy hacks who got there ahead of you. Then come the dinners hosted by some big company where you have to sit next to a marketing guy who has been trained in the skill of talking and talking without saying anything. As for the nightlife: I don’t gamble, don’t drink, and have seen enough naked ladies that the novelty has worn off. So, thanks but no…
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