Sony Ericsson has revamped its basic phone lineup with three new GSM models that eschew digital cameras. The Z300a flip phone comes in a sleek, aerodynamic form factor and offers such simple features as text and multimedia messaging, a wireless Web browser, standard organizer applications, and Java (J2ME) games. If you don't like the gray color scheme, a purple version has been planned as well. The J220a has most of the same features in a Spartan candy bar design. You'll find it in black and sky blue. For the more demanding caller, the J230a promises a more midrange package with the addition of a speakerphone and an FM radio. The J230a comes in white, red, and blue (though not all three at once). All phones are dual band and include the GSM 850 and either the GSM 1800 or 1900 band.

Permalink | Post a comment

• Read also: Cell phones
• Email to a friend | Print this post

We've become familiar with LaCie's high-end LCDs that are geared toward graphics professionals. But today LaCie went for a broader market in announcing a line of LCDs geared toward business users.

These new 100-series LCDs will have height-adjustable stands, as well as panels that tilt and swivel. And since these monitors are made for business uses, they advertise a high 1,000:1 contrast ratio but a slow 20-millisecond response time.

We've looked at the LaCie 319 and the LaCie 321 and were very pleased with the image quality (though they're very expensive monitors). We're hoping that this new line will deliver a good balance of price and performance. The 19-inch LaCie 190 will cost a reasonable $429, while the 20-inch will cost $699. They'll be available from retailers in late November.

Permalink | Post a comment

• Read also: Peripherals
• Email to a friend | Print this post

The vaunted $100 laptop is almost here, but I'm sorry to disappoint you. It's headed into the hands of schoolchildren in poor countries and not to a Best Buy near you. I know, I know, it's hard to take. Just be grateful for what you already have, OK?

Permalink | 10 comments

• Read also: Buzz
• Email to a friend | Print this post

News.com has uncovered some internal research at Microsoft that shows the company may be at least considering making some desktop applications free (ad-supported, of course). Microsoft didn't comment. Which means they'll launch the program a day after Google launches theirs.

Permalink | 4 comments

• Read also: Buzz
• Email to a friend | Print this post

So, U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia. Do you really want to be the ones to take BlackBerrys away from the federal government? Weighing in on the patent battle between RIM and NTP, the feds noted simply that they love their CrackBerrys (and they know how to make people disappear).

Permalink | Post a comment

• Read also: Buzz
• Email to a friend | Print this post

Is there something wrong with Sony? Now the company's been accused of fixing consumer electronics prices at online distributors in the U.K. Then again, Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, and Hitachi are also being investigated, so maybe I should ask what's wrong with the world.

Permalink | 4 comments

• Read also: Buzz
• Email to a friend | Print this post

There's nothing more important to a business than its customers, and dealing with your business's goofs and foul-ups can be one of the thorniest problems.

A joke video making the rounds of the Internet recently showed Microsoft engineers being zapped and poked by users frustrated with its software or applications.

Six Apart, a company that makes the TypePad and Moveable Type platforms for some of the most popular blogs, has taken a novel real-world approach, letting its users, its customers, decide how much to punish it for real. The company yesterday sent e-mail to customers saying that they could decide, based on the inconvenience caused them by recent outages, how many days of the service to get for free, from 0 to 45, like this:

So I asked the Google folks why the terms of service on their new free Web analytics product says it's not for commercial use. Here's the response:

"Thank you for your email. You should feel free to use Google Analytics on for-profit commercial sites. We are working to correct the unclear language during the signup process that suggests that Google Analytics cannot be used on commercial sites. Thank you for your patience."

Nice folks, and the answer that small-businesspeople want.

Meanwhile, I think this could be big in the space: lots of folks who could benefit from Web analysis but are hesitant to drop chunks of change on it can now get it. So I asked my friend Eric Petersen, an analyst at Jupiter what he thinks, whether folks will still pay. His answer: Yes, for service.

His answer is so cogent, that rather than paraphrase, I'm posting the whole thing here:

"Small-business owners who are interested in trying to figure out what is working and what is not on their Web sites but who have little or no previous investment (of time, money, etc.) in analytics will definitely benefit from Google's announcement. Free is good.

"Still, based on Jupiter Research's Framework for Business Success with analytics, the investment chasm is only the first hurdle that must be overcome. Companies who are serious about their online presence will still need to staff for analytics and figure out how to get the organization to use Web data to look forward, not backward. Historically speaking, these chasms are more easily crossed with vendor support--some hand-holding to answer questions and get dedicated resources (e.g., staff) up to speed.

"It's unlikely that Google will provide this level of hand-holding, I suspect. Their immediate problems are all about application support, not business analysis.

"The Google announcement lowers the bar and certainly puts more pressure on the existing (for-fee) analytics vendors, but I don't believe it wipes the industry out. When it's appropriate, I suspect that small-business owners will still see the value in contracting with a for-fee analytics provider to get more specific expertise and support than Google is likely to provide."

Permalink | 3 comments

• Read also: Work
• Email to a friend | Print this post