Sunday, October 29, 2006

Apple Macintosh Should Be Made by Dell – Analysts. Gartner: Apple Should Quit Hardware Business

7:45 am | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Through its history, Apple had its ups and downs, but recently the company managed to secure its position on the market of portable digital media players and desktop computers. But, according to Gartner research firm, in order to sustain the current success and ensure long-term growth, Apple needs to quit the hardware business and license Macs to other computer makers.

“Increasing component costs and pressure to cut its prices mean Apple’s best bet for long-term success is to quit the hardware business and license the Mac to Dell, analyst firm Gartner claimed on Tuesday,” writes ZDNet UK web-site.

In a surprisingly ambitious report, called Apple Should License the Mac to Dell, Gartner says Apple should concentrate on what it does best - create software - and make use of Dell’s production and distribution infrastructure.

“Apple should leverage its close relationship with Intel and team up with Intel’s closest ally, Dell. We recognize that this move would surprise and even shock many. We are aware that Steve Jobs cancelled previous Mac licenses when he took over at Apple and that he guards the Apple brand zealously,” the report states.

Apple increased its share of the PC market to around 4.6% in July this year, according to analyst figures.

• ZDNet UK: Gartner: Apple Should Quit Hardware Business.

Legal YouTube Copyrighted Content Sharing. Music Companies Grab Share of YouTube Sale

7:44 am | Yaroslav Lyssenko

YouTube’s young founders may have been the biggest beneficiaries of the recent’s $1.65 billion deal with Google, but they have some unexpected “co-partners” – old-line media companies that had been considered YouTube’s biggest legal threat.

According to a news-story by The New York Times, three of the four major music companies - Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony and Bertelsmann’s jointly owned Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and the Warner Music Group – each quietly negotiated to take small stakes in YouTube as part of video- and music-licensing deals they struck shortly before the sale. The music companies collectively stand to receive as much as $50 million from these arrangements.

“Because a significant portion of the videos posted to YouTube contain copyrighted songs or video material, the Web site had been considered a litigation land mine. Last month, Doug Morris, the chief executive of the Universal Music, called YouTube and MySpace “copyright infringers” and said the sites “owe us tens of millions of dollars,” says the article.

The companies’ deals with YouTube call for them to share revenue from ads that will run alongside their music videos. As part of the deal, YouTube will use new technology to identify copyrighted material that users have uploaded to the site without permission.

“It was Bronfman, now chief executive of Warner Music, who struck the first deal with YouTube. Universal and Sony BMG followed suit. Details of the stakes that the music companies received as part of those revenue-sharing and content-licensing deals could not be learned at the time. Of the four major record companies, only EMI did not strike a deal with YouTube,” explains

YouTube’s deals with Universal and Sony BMG came hours before it announced its deal with Google.

• The New York Times: Music Companies Grab Share of YouTube Sale.

Vigorous Information Management – The Future of IT Industry. Enterprise Architects to lead the Industry – Analysis

7:44 am | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Since its foundation, the focus of the information and technology (IT) evolution has not been on information, but on the technology. But this is going to change: according to Peter Drucker and Allen Brown, the next step in the evolution will ask about the meaning of information and its purpose.

“The next information revolution is well under way. But it’s not a revolution in computer hardware, semiconductors or software, per se. Instead, it’s a revolution driven by the need to put the right information in the right people’s hands at the right time. This new kind of information flow without boundaries requires a technical infrastructure built on open standards – one that is designed to enable individuals as well as their distinct IT systems to all work together,” writes Allen Brown, the president and CEO of The Open Group.

While innovation is suppose to deliver better and easier solutions, in the beginning it is also important to have people, leading the process, who can develop and implement a new architecture.

“We’re talking about people who can adopt the city planner view of the enterprise. This new breed of professionals must be able to communicate effectively with each level of their organizations. On the one hand, they will have to communicate the big picture as well as the detailed steps necessary to align IT with tangible business goals. Not surprisingly, these so-called enterprise architects are now rated more highly than developers when measured by the value they can deliver to their companies,” an article over Cnet News.com points out.

“However, to continue the enterprise architect’s professional evolution, four things are necessary: high standards of expertise; recognized best practices; skills and experience certification; and a forum for practitioners to come together and share knowledge. Fortunately, all of this is happening,” underlines the author.

Allen Brown is the president and CEO of The Open Group, a not-for-profit consortium that works toward enabling access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global interoperability.

• Cnet News.com: Perspective: The Next Information Revolution.

House of the Future Costs $5.5 Million to Build. Leading Edge Technologies Enable “Innovation Home”

7:43 am | Yaroslav Lyssenko

The “house of the future” was a popular theme in the sixties and seventies: all the major exhibitions at that time demonstrated how people’s living space will look like in a decade. Although some innovations are yet to be seen even after thirty years, some engineers and designers have come up with a fresh revision of the “house of the future” idea.

Popular Science magazine as well as several leading designers have built a house in California equipped with the most advanced materials, cutting-edge technologies and incredible household devices available today.

“Just east of San Francisco, on a hill overlooking the picturesque Mt.Diablo, sits a $5.5-million luxury home that Popular Science helped create. Working with architecture fir Dahlin Group and Sunset Magazine, which builds “Idea Homes” annually to showcase residential trends, we filled this Innovation House with our favorite technologies – cutting-edge hardware and gadgetry that is available but which also suggest the trajectories of the tech your home will hold tomorrow,” an article by Popular Science reads.

On the web-page covering this project, Popular Science describes different aspects of the technologies used. The web-site also offers virtual tour around the house.

“You’ll find a detailed vision of that in this microsite, from robotic household help to an entirely new paradigm for home construction,” invites the web-site.

• Popular Science: Popsci House of the Future.

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