1st
iPhone came out and was priced for purchasers at $499. New iPhone comes out and I can buy it at $199. In Macland this is more expensive…

Now, dear readers, you know why the Macalope drinks.

Or, better yet, please, for the love of God, just stop writing about the iPhone.

Sure, some are still going to “fall off of a truck” in the Bronx every now and again and it might be possible to still get phones out of the store without a contract in other countries — all of which have different hardware and plan prices which the Macalope won’t go into because we’re just talking about the U.S. here — but if you are buying an iPhone 3G from Apple or AT&T in the U.S. it will be more expensive than its predecessor.

Got it? You won’t be able to leave the store without a contract. A two-year contract. One you must pay for. Contractually. For two years. With money.

Todd starts by rightly dinging the horny one for failing to note that he did say Jobs did not actually go so far as to literally say iPhone purchasers were suckers, even though Todd put it in quotes. So the Macalope will agree he shouldn’t have bothered making an issue of that particular point.

Also
Mac, what about the 1/4 to 1/3 of iPhones purchased that are eventually unlocked? Aren’t they stunningly cheaper, or are we just ignoring them because they do not fit our argument?

But depending on your data usage plan with AT&T, you may end up spending about the same or $100 or so more AFTER TWO YEARS.

(See, that was all obviously ironic as opposed to not obviously ironic, so… oh, never mind.)

It’s like beating your antlers against a brick wall.

Here is where he plays with facts. The phone IS $300 cheaper.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s still $40 more. The math is not that hard here, Todd. Read Gizmodo’s chart.

No, not “may”, “will”. The data plan for the 3G starts at $10 more. You must buy a data plan to use the phone. OK, if you use no SMS, the Macalope supposes you don’t have a charge there, but even without that it’s still $40 more expensive after two years than the original iPhone.

Actually, those would be cheaper, obviously… if you can actually get out of the door with one without being tasered by AT&T’s jack-booted thugs. See, Todd, AT&T has wised up and will be forcing customers to activate their phones before leaving the store.

“Dad, can I get a zeppelin?”

If you are not a heavy text user, the phone and its plan are CHEAPER.

[Commenter colonelpanic points out that Todd is calculating off a different base by going back to the iPhone's original price, so his number don't jibe with Gizmodo's or the Macalope's. Some of this may be confusion over the Macalope's use of "original iPhone" to mean the original hardware at the May 2008 price. The Macalope has already conceded that the price drop from the iPhone's launch price to the price as of three weeks ago was necessary to stay competitive, the point is that Steve Jobs effectively announced no real price drop at WWDC, contrary to Sullivan's posts of last Monday. Todd's trying to reset the goal posts to justify his contention that the iPhone 3G is "cheaper". Sure, it's cheaper than it was last July, but it's not cheaper than it was three weeks ago.]

You’re right, again, Todd. The iPhone 3G is cheaper… assuming you don’t want to actually use it. As a paperweight, it is $300 cheaper.

“A zeppelin? I don’t know. Sounds expensive. How much is it?”

The rest, however, is like getting sprayed in the face with a bottle full of carbonated stupid.

“Free?! Well, sure, honey! Have fun! And watch out for cell towers! Ha-ha! Kids!”

Todd would have you ignore the total cost of the iPhone and focus solely on what you shell out to get the device in your hand. Who makes decisions like this? The Macalope can only imagine what life is like at the Sullivan house.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)

Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Attention advertisers: a promised change to Google’s AdWords quality-judging method will take effect in coming days.

The change adjusts Google’s calculation of advertiser’s quality score–a key factor in determining how much the advertiser must bid to ensure ads are placed next to search results. With the new system, quality is calculated at the time a Google user performs a search, though historical data such as an advertiser’s click-through rate still factor into the equation, Google’s Trevor Claiborne said on its AdWords blog on Monday.

Given the size of the industry that’s grown up around Google’s search-ad system, any changes can cause indigestion in the search-engine marketing (SEM) business. Google tried to encourage people to look at the big picture, though: “These improvements are part of a continuing effort to deliver relevant ads to our users, and also to provide you with more control over your bidding and more insight into the quality of your ads and keywords,” the company said.

“Queries with a high level of advertiser competition may have significantly higher first page bid estimates, because you’ll likely need to bid above the old minimum bid to rank higher than your competition and show on the first page,” Google said. “Remember that you can bid less than your first page bid estimate and still show on subsequent pages–as long as your keyword is relevant to our users.”

Look no further for the ultimate in all-in-one remotes. The S70 from Nevo has taken the term “luxury gadget” to a whole new level. While the S70 got a sneak preview at September’s CEDIA show, Nevo has now laid out all the details on the $1,200 beast.

One remote to rule them all

The S70 will feature a 3.5-inch LCD touch screen and 19 programmable hard keys. In addition to controlling all the AV components in your home via infrared or Z-wave, it has the ability to connect to most devices enabled with an IP address and Web server (such as PCs, Web-based cameras, and media servers) via Wi-Fi. That online link can also be used to access Web-based information, including news, sports, and weather. Got your gear tucked away in a cabinet or closet? Add an NC-50 base station to convert the S70’s Z-wave controls to infrared, and you won’t need to worry about pesky line-of-sight issues.

(Credit:
Nevo)

(Credit:
Nokia)

“Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices,” Bob Iannucci, chief technology officer for Nokia, said in a statement. “The Morph concept shows what might be possible.”

Nokia says the concept device demonstrates handset features that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering, including flexible materials, transparent electronics, and self-cleaning surfaces.

Nokia and the University of Cambridge are showing off a new stretchable and flexible mobile device of the future called Morph.

(Credit:
Nokia)

The new concept phone is part of an online display presented in conjunction with the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition underway through May 12 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The device, which is made using nanotechnology, is intended to demonstrate how cell phones in the future could be stretched and bent into different shapes, allowing users to “morph” their devices into whatever shape they want. Think Stretch Armstrong for cell phones. Want to wear your cell phone as a bracelet? No problem, just bend it around your wrist.

Microsoft was hoping to get the green light for a “fast track” voting process at the ISO and lobbied national standards bodies of many countries who have a vote in the process.

The EU is now looking into whether Microsoft violated its market dominance in office software in the months leading up to the vote, according to the Journal.

The measure to fast track Open XML at ISO in September failed to pass. Microsoft and other backers of Open XML are now gearing up for a technical resolution meeting at the end of this month where technical feedback regarding the specifications is meant to be addressed.

In September, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted on an accelerated schedule to make Office XML a standard.

European Union antitrust officials are looking into whether Microsoft violated regulations in its pursuit of making Open Office XML a standard, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Powerset iPhone Web App Demo from officialpowerset on Vimeo

Semantic search tool Powerset has put out a new
iPhone app this week. Those looking to search on the go can now use the service’s plain English searching capabilities to scour the entirety of Wikipedia and Freebase (coverage). The app comes after months of Powerset staff fumbling while trying to use their own product on the popular mobile device.

I expect the company to come out with its own native app that will save past searches and let you store local content depending on how popular this version becomes. I’ve embedded some screens below. Also embedded after the break is a demo video of it in action.

The new tool will pull up everything the desktop version does, although I found performance to be a tad slower–even over Wi-Fi. Outline, one of my favorite Powerset features that gives you quick links to each section in a Wikipedia article, has also made its way into the pocket version. While not as convenient as the desktop version which sits beside the actual Wikipedia article, it’s a great way to skip down to a lower section of an article, which is normally an activity that makes you look like a complete idiot while you continuously drag your finger up and down the screen of your phone. There’s also a much needed search function, something the iPhone’s version of
Safari is lacking from its desktop sibling.

(Credit:
DFT)

Locate the problem with imagery-enhanced GPS, monitor it via digital remote surveillance, chew it over on low-Earth orbit sat-phone, but sooner or later there’ll be a boarding, and that’s when you’ll need the T-PLS pneumatically launched grappling hook.

Digital Force Technologies makes and markets all of the above, but it’s the T-PLS air-propelled tactical line-throwing system with standard titanium grappling hook and 7mm Kevlar line that you want in the trunk of your
car when you’re called to the next Vegas hotel fire.

On its Web site, OAuth is likened to a valet key given to a parking attendant–the key only allows access to, say, drive the
car, but doesn’t enable the trunk to be opened. “You give someone limited access to your car with a special key, while using your regular key to unlock everything…While OpenID is all about using a single identity to sign into many sites, OAuth is about giving access to your stuff without sharing your identity at all (or its secret parts).”

In June, Google announced OAuth support for sharing data through its Google Data interface, then some months later said it would also adopt the standard for widget platform Google Gadgets.

Twitter’s OAuth interface is now open to all developers, enabling more secure access to the service via its application programming interface from third-party Web sites. Alex Payne, Twitter’s API leader, made the announcement in–what else–a tweet Monday.

OAuth is an open standard for online authentication. It enables a user who stores information such as a password on a particular Web site to then authorize yet another site to access that data, all the while not sharing the user’s identity with that site.
Twitter OAuth had been offered to some developers in a closed beta a few weeks ago, according to Twitter’s OAuth FAQ.

(a) Mr. Ellison, our Chief Executive Officer; Mr. (Jeff) Henley, our Chairman of the Board; Ms. (Safra) Catz, a President and our Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. (Charles) Phillips, a President, will each receive an award based on Oracle’s improvement in its pre-tax profit on a non-GAAP basis from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing:

Such a cap is interesting, considering how little the maximum bonus may serve to motivate Ellison, who topped the Forbes list of the best-paid tech CEOs in 2007, with his $1 million base salary and $182 million in exercised and vested stock options. In 2008, Ellison’s compensation package again included a $1 million base salary, but the value of his exercised and vested options was a staggering $543.8 million.

As Oracle heads into 2009, CEO Larry Ellison has a $13.6 million carrot dangling in front of him.

Under the Bonus Plan, participants will be eligible to receive awards based upon the attainment, in fiscal 2009, and certification of, certain performance criteria established by the Compensation Committee. For fiscal 2009:

That’s the maximum bonus award the billionaire will be eligible for under the company’s 2009 bonus plan, which was approved by shareholders during Oracle’s annual meeting last week.

But no matter how Catz, Phillips or any other executives perform under the plan, it is based on a fixed multiple of their target bonus and is less than the maximum $13.6 million Ellison is eligible to receive under the plan.

It’s no secret that many in Silicon Valley regard eBay’s 2005 acquisition of the telephony service as a $2.6 billion misstep. But new rumors, reported late Tuesday night on TechCrunch, suggest that eBay may be negotiating Skype-related partnerships with Google or even selling it outright.

This post was updated at 9:45am EDT with comment from Google.

And while Skype may have seemed like a sweet buy for eBay back in 2005, a $900 million write-down and a CEO resignation later, eBay is in a tight spot, and the Skype purchase has likely grown a little sour.

Henry Blodget of the Silicon Alley Insider figured that Skype could sell for as much as $5 billion to $6 billion.

But a Google-owned Skype would make a whole lot of sense. Google already operates a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service through its Google Talk messaging client and purchased communication management start-up GrandCentral last year. With its open-source initiatives like Android for mobile phones (especially considering Skype’s vocal desire to make a splash in the mobile market) and OpenSocial for social networks, Google would be in a much more ideal position than eBay to turn Skype into a “hackable,” developer-friendly product.

Will eBay sell Skype to Google?

“We do not comment on market rumor or speculation regarding acquisitions,” a Google representative told CNET News.com in an e-mail. “Generally speaking we are constantly in discussions about potential partnerships in cases that will be mutually beneficial for users, advertisers, and publishers.” Representatives from Skype were not immediately available for comment.

There was very little detail to the rumors, except that Google’s “core team” for voice operations is reported to be suspiciously absent from this week’s CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas. So at this point, it seems to be Valley gossip at its finest.