Apple:World’s Most Valuable Brand

Image via CrunchBase

A new survey on the value of brands has placed Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, ending Google’s four-year reign at the top of the list. The ‘Brandz’ survey, done by global brands agency Millward Brown, found that the Apple brand is worth an estimated $153 billion, which was an 84% increase from last years survey.

Global brands director of Millward Brown, Peter Walshe, said that Apple’s pointed to a number of factors that has led to Apple’s rapid rise in brand valuation. He said that their meticulous attention detail and presence in corporate environment were two of the reasons that they have behaved differently to other consumer electronics manufacturers and went on to say:

Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model. It’s doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire. Obviously, it has to be allied to great products and a great experience, and Apple has nurtured that.

Technology and telecommunications companies generally dominated the list, with Apple (1), Google (2), IBM (3), Microsoft (5), AT&T (7) and China Mobile (9) holding six of the top 10 spots, sharing it with the old-heavyweight brands of Coca-Cola (6) and McDonalds (4). Meanwhile Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 this year, with a valuation of $19.1 billion.

The survey is done by Millward Brown essentially observing the value that the companies put on their own brands in their earnings reports and analysing it in conjunction with the results of a survey of more than 2 million consumers.

Topicmarks Summarizes Long Texts For You

Ever come across a lengthy Malcolm Gladwell New Yorker essay that all your unemployed friends will probably  be talking about later, but you simply don’t have time in betweentweeting working to read?

Well Founder Showcase winner Topicmarks was made for the case of Gladwell and even denser documents like research papers and legal texts, breaking them down into digestible pieces when all you really need to read is an executive summary.

Using semantic text extraction and personalization technologies, Topicmarks extracts text from the .pdf, .doc, .html and .txt documents that you upload, copy/paste, email in or enter the URL of. The service then gives you the option to view the “Overview,””Facts,””Summary” and”Keywords” of the document as well as “Properties” where you can see the original source. You can also interact with the “Overview” in a multitude of ways, including searching by key word and adding more or less text to the summary as needed.

Topicmarks is like a more-fleshed out TL;DR, with an “an enormous breadth of possible applications across various use cases and verticals” says co-founder Roland Siebelink. It has the same aspirations as enterprise solutions Autonomy and OpenText but available for free to consumers within a certain usage amount.

When given the criticism that the Topicmarks.com site sure had a lot of text on it for a service that summarized text (specifically, “Maybe you should run Topicmarks through Topicmarks?”) Siebelink told me, “Up to now the site has been geared particularly towards power users who understand how the technology works, now we’re focused on polishing the interface for the general audience who does not want to know how it works.”

Ambitiously, Roland says his future plans are to make the summarization technology readily available across all devices, “wherever people read digital information.” Topicmarks is currently raising a 500K seed round.

Article courtesy: TechCrunch.com

The Google self driving car

Google revealed a few hours ago about their secret project, a self driving car. What’s really incredible is that they’ve already let it loose into the wild, so experimental as it may be, the system pretty much works.

According to the Google Blog, they gathered some of the best engineers from the DARPA challenges and made a team to build this awesome car, which amazingly looks quite normal (except for the velodyne LIDAR on top… at least that’s what I think it is).

The vehicles (more than one apparently) drove by themselves a total over 140,000 miles (about 225,300 km) with a trained driver and software operator on board monitoring the car and ready to jump in at any time. As far as I know, Google has not released any videos of the cars, but they have been spotted on the road and the guys at Tech Crunch have updated a couple of videos of them.Judging by the fact that the car was actually out on the road, I’d say it shouldn’t be to long until they are available to the public at exaggerated prices, but would they actually be useful? would they actually save lives? I mean yeah, if you take out crazed speeding human behavior out of the equation you should avoid accidents, but these cars should have to be deployed on a HUGELY MASSIVE scale and I doubt people being willing to pay for them or even wanting to use them, because I suppose they would abide to legal speed limits, an attribute I can hardly acknowledge it in ANY driver I know.

DTH in Pakistan, Major Impact and Considerations

Image via Wikipedia

For last few years, we have been hearing about DTH (Direct to Home) and its expected launch in Pakistan. However, it seems that DTH is overlooked in past fiscal years and people are still waiting for something to come in especially after Digital Cable TV system.

As per PEMRA’s annual report, penetration of Digital cable TV system is still under penetration. It says still phase-I is in-process, which is expected to be completed soon i.e. in December, 2011 and that too at metropolitan level.

Concurrently, district level penetration of digital cable TV system was planned to be launched in January 2010 and to be completed by the end of December 2015.

We have already enlightened our readers in past about Digital Cable TV system and its benefits to end users and operators. Without expounding into specifics of digital cable TV system let us analyze the DTH, its impacts and contemplations.

DTH technology is capable of transmitting audio/video signals to subscriber’s premises by using geo stationary satellites. The small dish antennas are used to receive signals by using STB (Set Top Box) with much better audio and video signal and other on demand active and pay per view services.

The DTH is being delayed due to several reasons, while officials may know the exact reasons for its pending status, but what we can measure by viewing current market trends is that its demand is at highest level as of now.

Moreover, government is also overlooking the chance of better execution of electronic media regulations through DTH.

Major Impact of DTH Launch on current cable TV market:

Existing Cable TV market is high revenue market while DTH would be big time threat to existing Analog and Digital Cable TV systems, especially due to its proximity and low cost penetration in rural areas. Resultantly emergence of DTH could be revenue shrinking for existing cable TV operators.

How to overcome this impact?

As every difficulty comes with an opportunity, Digital cable TV system can be a major competitor to DTH service and it will create benefits for customer’s w.r.t tariffs. Digital cable TV system operators can be benefited with their increased ARPU’s w.r.t its value added services.

Existing cable TV operators can easily manage DTH’s competition by having digital cable TV system and launching different active services including Education learning portals, active games, rss feeds updates, pay per view and on demand movies services.

Is it right or wrong to delay the launching of DTH?

Time will answer this question, but officials must not ignore the benefits of DTH, uproar in the current Cable TV market revenue streams and possible threat to existing cable TV after DTH.

If any, PEMRA can play major role in avoiding any revenue disturbance for any segment of the market.

If in five years as planned, PEMRA completes the digital cable TV penetration in Pakistan (metropolitan and district level), and later on or concurrently DTH service is launched, this may create intense competition for both segments, while handling this competition may go tough for PEMRA.

With that, PEMRA also needs to regularize and plan content development for such services on Digital Cable TV system before penetration is completed. Workshops and seminars can play major role in educating benefits of digital cable TV system to existing licensees. It may nurture in Digital Cable TV operators to launch services more appropriately and proven to be money-spinning.

This read is taken from http://www.propakistani.pk

The $35 Indian tablet

Given India’s chequered history of non-deliverable low-cost devices, it’s easy to believe the sceptics of India’s $35 tablet.

But this device might just turn the tables.

While the media disses and dismisses the ultra low-cost tablet, Microsoft and Google are apparently fighting a pitched battle to place their operating systems on the device aimed at school children of the world. Microsoft has come forth and offered its Windows CE OS to run on the device which currently runs Google’s open source Android OS.

Striking a confident pose during a TV interview on Wednesday, India’s incumbent Human Resource Development minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, said that he was all set to deliver 1 million tablets to students in India’s colleges and universities in 2011 at the promised $35. He also reiterated his aim to bring down the price of the tablet to $10 a piece, riding on falling hardware prices.

Interestingly, the minister claimed that education content for the device had already been developed in India’s premier technology institute, the IIT, and was open source just like the Android OS the device runs on.

Both the presenters, who have reviewed tablets of all shapes and sizes (and cost) before, and were aware of India’s earlier failed attempts to make handheld computers, like the Sakshat and the Simputer, were impressed by the device’s built quality, and acknowledged that their efforts to “crash” the device were unsuccessful.

Tablet features

The device has Wi-Fi, and 3G connectivity, and a slew of add-ons as well. You can slot in a miniSD card to complement the 2GB memory, add in a SIM card, and plug in USB devices via the mini and full USB ports, with a video-out, and headphone jack for multimedia.

Ignoring the rock-bottom costs, compared with other tablets, the only negative the reviewers could find with the device was its resistive touchscreen, as opposed to the capacitative touchscreen which would surely add to its price. But then just to get a touchscreen at this price point is a major achievement in itself.

Although I still awaits a point-by-point reaction to the OLPC project’s open letter, Mr Sibal reflected Nicolas Negroponte’s belief that the device is a vehicle for knowledge and that it can’t be limited to a particular region.

But get this before you reach for your wallet. Of the $35, which equates to INR 1500, INR 750 is government subsidy. Without going into details, the minister said that if the tablet was in the retail market, something for which he has no plans for at the moment, there’ll be added cost to the device which will jack up the price.

The minister, a decorated lawyer, also offered advice to the world media: “Never be sceptical of the government. There are times when the government really delivers.”

2011 isn’t all that far away, and although it may be a while before we get this device in the open market, its mere existence has the potential to lower the prices of tablets globally.

Microsofts latest antivirus

Microsoft® Security Essential (MSE) is Microsofts latest antivirus (and antimalware) program.

Its works similar to other antivirus , but with the speciality that It uses very less resources  like CPU, RAM and the latest Windows® OS.

Also, the User Interface of this antivirus is very good.

MSE virus/malware alert:-

-Microsoft Security Essentials tray icon alert that a potential threat
is detected but may not be critical.

-Microsoft Security Essential tray icon alert that virus infection found
and this is critical.

Cleaning  viruses with MSE:-

It’s very easy to clean your computer from viruses with MSE since it
is just few mouse-clicks are needed.

Microsoft Security Essential providing thread (virus) details.

Microsoft Security Essential demanded user actions are been taken.

Microsoft Security Essential updating the user with information that the virus has been removed.

MSE can easily detect viruses thanks to virus signatures, however, MSE uses
the heuristics technology as well. MSE also adapts components from
Microsoft Forefront Client Antivirus program.

You can Download this Antivirus from here.

New Gmail Design Leaked

A version of Gmail used by Google employees has been revealed in a screenshot included with a Chromium OS bug report, and the image reveals more than a half dozen changes to the Gmail most of us are using today.

Savvy Gmail users immediately picked apart the screenshot looking for new features and interesting changes. Most notably, Mail, Contacts and Tasks have all been featured in the top left as the three pillars of the user experience. Right below those, you can see that “Compose Mail” is now an actual button, not just a text link. That’s simply an aesthetic change, but it’s an interesting choice regardless.

Following that theme, there are no longer text links to actions such as “Select All” or “Select None” — those appear to now exist under a textless drop-down box above the Inbox. Drop-down boxes are ubiquitous in general, actually. Note that the e-mail address at the top menu is accompanied by a drop-down box — could that be the Gmail account switcher that Google promised?

Look in the chat window and you’ll see a new “Call Phone” button. That might be Google Voice  integration. You’ll also see two little buttons in the top-right corner of the Google Talk window; one of those could be a rejiggered settings menu, but it’s hard to tell for sure.

Google Earth Now Displays Real-Time Rain and Snow

The latest version of Google’sGoogle 3D map application, Google EarthGoogle Earth, now has the ability to display real-time rain and snow in certain parts of the world.

To see it, you must first enable the clouds layer, and then zoom in to a location where it’s raining or snowing. Google Earth displays rain and snow only in certain parts of North America and Europe; to see where exactly the new feature is available, enable the radar layer.

The weather simulation adds another layer of coolness to the already mesmerizing Google Earth application. Since it displays rain and snow in real time, the feature can actually be useful as a precise visualization of what weather is like in a certain place. It may, however, render all of those weather-related chats you have with friends and relatives over the phone even more meaningless.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on when this feature might be enabled in other parts of the world.

Is Google at Risk of Becoming the Next Microsoft?

Note: The following post is by Peter Sims, co-author of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership with Bill George. His next book, Little Bets, debuts with Simon & Schuster next spring, with previews on www.petersims.com

In late April, JP Morgan invited me to a “thought leaders dinner” to discuss the latest goings on in Silicon Valley and digital media. In a private room at the swanky San Francisco restaurant Kokkari, there were about 20 of us seated around a long rectangular table, including venture capitalists from prominent firms, highly successful entrepreneurs, and a handful of people from J.P. Morgan, including Jimmy Lee, the firm’s well-known Vice Chairman, who sat at the head of the table. (I was, like Kevin Costner’s character in Bull Durham Crash Davis, “the player to be named later.”)

Anyhow, after about an hour and a few glasses wine, Jimmy raised the main question he was curious about: “I want to know from each of you: which company would you go long on and which would you short?” We could pick any timeframe. And, as it turned out, while the long picks varied widely from Amazon to Yahoo!, 12 of the 15 ‘thought leaders’ shorted Google. Jimmy was surprised, virtually astounded: “Wow!” he exclaimed, “You guys are really negative on Google, huh?”

I, too, was surprised. Google has been, after all, the most successful company in recent history (in terms of churning out growth and profits), led by Eric Schmidt, a well-respected CEO. And, we’ve seen book after book about why everyone should be more like Google. I admire Google, its people, and what they have been able to accomplish enormously. It’s astonishing. But the opinions in that room were not based on the company’s past performance. They were based on insights about Google’s future. Below are the reasons people cited for shorting the company (which, interestingly, were fairly diverse):

• Google has experienced a severe talent drain over the past several years, losing some of its most entrepreneurial and innovative people. Although Google’s has high retention rates, Google’s talent challenge is not in terms of numbers, it’s the type of people who are leaving and why they are leaving. The talent drain from Google has been well documented. Venture capitalists in the room (without a vested interest in the companies) argued that Facebook and Zynga are currently considered hot places to work in Silicon Valley. Google has, for example, seen a stream of people leave for Facebook including, more recently, the likes of Erick Tseng, the senior product manager of Android, Google’s critically important mobile initiative.People close go Google say upward management is slowly replacing the company’s early culture of innovation. Entrepreneurial types and thought leaders who feel confined or unmotivated are moving. People will even say that it reminds them of Yahoo back in 2004-2005, not the meritocracy they once joined.
• The company has run out of easy growth opportunities and must now find big chunks of new revenue. With the core search business maturing, Google increasingly seems to increasingly feel the need to make some “big bets.” That is a problem that maturing companies face that CEOs call “the tyranny of large numbers.” Even mobile search, which is seeing impressive growth numbers of a small base, is still too small to make a material difference for the company. The company is obviously trying like crazy to find growth pockets, knowing that mobile is a ways off. The recent $700 million ITA acquisition is a great case in point of how it is going to spread out some medium-sized to big-bets to see what sticks. That is, companies must find bigger and bigger chunks of revenue to maintain growth rates. This problem is documented well by innovation researchers Professor Clayton Christensen in The Innovators Solution, and Jim Collins in How the Mighty Fall.
• The company lacks a coherent strategy, especially in mobile. As Schmidt and other Google execs have stated, mobile is core to future growth. A number of people around the table that night had unique insight into Google’s mobile efforts. They argued that growing nascent mobile revenues will take significant time, especially since there aren’t many sizable acquisition targets available in mobile after Google’s purchase of AdMob. Instead, the recent purchase of ITA Software was an indicator of how the company might make some medium to big bets to see what sticks.
• It’s about people, people, people. Google’s engineering-dominated culture isn’t news to anyone. But As Peter Drucker opined in his landmark book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, “Successful innovators…look at figures, and they look at people.” The company has long recruited people who fit a very specific profile.

Product manager candidates, for example, are told they must have computer science degrees from top universities. But while Google’s core algorithm was a brilliant feat of engineering innovation, a growing chorus of voices question whether it can be sustained. That cookie-cutter approach to people misses important opportunities for diversity and creates glass ceilings for non-engineers, both of which stifle innovation. Cultural hubris, another pattern Jim Collins in particular raises, is of foremost concern. It is often said that at Google the engineers lead engineering, product, and even marketing decisions. But when the company has failed, such as with Google Wave or Google Radio, critics have questioned whether the company really understands people.

For these reasons and more, perhaps the question that “in the know” Silicon Valley observers are now increasingly asking is: Could Google be the next Microsoft? That is, much like Google revolutionized search, Microsoft was a pioneer with its market-dominating operating systems and Microsoft Office. But outside the Xbox, Microsoft has struggled severely to produce new innovations. Deeper cultural problems were hidden by amazing performance and success.

One thing is for certain: it’s a pivotal time in Google’s history. If the company does not put these types of issues on the table, the chorus of short sellers will increase. But with mountains of cash, access to great people and big problems, I see the moment as an opportunity. It’s a chance to reflect, ask some tough questions, openly discuss the challenges, and incorporate some fresh thinking and people, so that this great symbol of global innovation can evolve and grow.

What do you think—are you long or short? Is Google at risk of becoming the next Microsoft or on the verge of a creative explosion?

Microsoft launches beta of free website development tool WebMatrix

July 6, Microsoft has begun beta testing a free and lightweight development tool for the ASP.NET web application framework called WebMatrix.

WebMatrix includes all of the essential tools for building, installing, and running a website in Windows for free and in a package less than 50MB in size. These tools include IIS Developer Express for building and testing ASP.NET sites and applications, SQL Server Compact Edition 4 database engine (which works with .NET-based data APIs and ASP.NET Web apps,) and the ASP.NET programming framework.

Sites can then be built from existing open-source applications such as WordPress and Drupal or Joomla, from a site template, or

purely from scratch. WebMatrix then installs everything you need on your machine, lets you tweak your code, and then deploy the site to your host.

While there is a learning curve to the software, it is intended to be used by developers of any skill level, and can serve as a stepladder up to the fully featured Visual Studio.