Wednesday, October 3, 2012
HP. What are they going to do?
HP's 2013 outlook sorely disappoints
By Julianne Pepitone @CNNMoney October 3, 2012: 1:51 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman has spent her first year on the job attempting a turnaround, but it's clearly not happening anytime soon. The company on Wednesday released a grim outlook for its 2013 fiscal year.
HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) is trying to overcome severe weakness in the hardware business, as PC demand continues to slump and buyers shift to newer devices. HP called the current climate "a challenging environment" -- and it's one that will dent financial results.
HP expects to earn $3.40 to $3.60 per share for the fiscal year that ends in October 2013. That's much lower than the analyst consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters, which had forecast earnings of $4.18 a share.
Shares of HP fell more than 7% Wednesday on the news. The stock is now down more than 40% in 2012, making HP by far the year's worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU).
Whitman inherited a long list of problems when she took the CEO role at HP in September 2011. Predecessor Léo Apotheker lasted only 11 months in a tenure marked by disaster, including the ill-fated TouchPad tablet -- pulled after only 49 days on the market -- and public waffling over whether to spin off HP's PC business.
But HP's problems began before Apotheker, who was the company's third CEO in less than seven years. Like its top rival Dell (DELL, Fortune 500), HP has struggled to stay relevant in a mobile world that's being led by Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and other phone/tablet makers. HP bought Palm in 2010, but essentially shut it down two years later.
It's a mistake HP doesn't plan to repeat. Asked in an interview earlier this week whether HP would consider buying Research in Motion (RIMM), Whitman gave a one-word answer: "No."
While it deals with its weakness in hardware, HP is trying to beef up its software and services business to compete more effectively against rivals like IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500).
HP executives discussed those and other "strategic priorities" on Wednesday at its annual meeting with Wall Street analysts. The company has a lot to prove to investors and customers -- and Whitman has to hope they'll give her enough time, after HP gets through its dismal 2013, to turn it all around.
First Published: October 3, 2012: 1:51 PM ET
Ode to Steve Jobs.
How will Apple enjoy the last product input from Steve Jobs in the development of the iPhone 5?
iPhone 5 Was Reportedly The Last Apple Smartphone Which Received Input From Steve Jobs
By Ben Reid | October 4th, 2012
It has been suggested over the past year or so that the iPhone 5 was the last device to receive input from late Steve Jobs. Moreover, it has also been said that it was Jobs’ last project, which he worked on as the rest of the company focused on the largely unchanged iPhone 4S, and a feature-length post over at Businessweek sheds some light on this.
The article mulls over the changes made over at Apple post-Jobs, many of which have been well-documented in the public domain, and while the focal point of the feature is the vastly different styles of management of Jobs and his successor, Tim Cook, it also taps into how the brand-new iPhone 5 was the last Apple smartphone to get Jobs’ approval before being produced.
In the piece, Businessweek cites a couple of folk “familiar with the phone’s development,” both of which are said to claim the hottest gadget on the planet was the last iDevice to get any detailed input from the late Jobs. Further sources, which Businessweek naturally neglected to name, indicate Apple hasn’t yet released a product Jobs “didn’t personally bless,” which adds extra fascination to the Cupertino company’s next product, which looks as though it’s going to be the iPad Mini later this month.
The next iPhone will be the very first not to have been blessed by Steve Jobs, and it will be intriguing to see how much different the device is without the input of the Apple co-founder and former CEO.
It’s natural the company will change slightly given the hierarchal shift from a dogmatic leader in Jobs to the placid character of Tim Cook, but what remains to be seen, is how the products will change without the influence of Jobs.
Will Apple manage to keep up the momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets? It’s a question yet to be answered, although so long as Apple keeps Sir Jony Ive on board and designing its products, one suspects the traditions and ethos of Jobs’ Apple will not be lost. Jobs once described Ive as the man with the most power and influence within the Cupertino company “besides himself,” and from within his mysterious lair at Apple HQ, the British national will undoubtedly be plotting features of the next iPhone.
iPhone 5 Was Reportedly The Last Apple Smartphone Which Received Input From Steve Jobs
By Ben Reid | October 4th, 2012
It has been suggested over the past year or so that the iPhone 5 was the last device to receive input from late Steve Jobs. Moreover, it has also been said that it was Jobs’ last project, which he worked on as the rest of the company focused on the largely unchanged iPhone 4S, and a feature-length post over at Businessweek sheds some light on this.
The article mulls over the changes made over at Apple post-Jobs, many of which have been well-documented in the public domain, and while the focal point of the feature is the vastly different styles of management of Jobs and his successor, Tim Cook, it also taps into how the brand-new iPhone 5 was the last Apple smartphone to get Jobs’ approval before being produced.
In the piece, Businessweek cites a couple of folk “familiar with the phone’s development,” both of which are said to claim the hottest gadget on the planet was the last iDevice to get any detailed input from the late Jobs. Further sources, which Businessweek naturally neglected to name, indicate Apple hasn’t yet released a product Jobs “didn’t personally bless,” which adds extra fascination to the Cupertino company’s next product, which looks as though it’s going to be the iPad Mini later this month.
The next iPhone will be the very first not to have been blessed by Steve Jobs, and it will be intriguing to see how much different the device is without the input of the Apple co-founder and former CEO.
It’s natural the company will change slightly given the hierarchal shift from a dogmatic leader in Jobs to the placid character of Tim Cook, but what remains to be seen, is how the products will change without the influence of Jobs.
Will Apple manage to keep up the momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets? It’s a question yet to be answered, although so long as Apple keeps Sir Jony Ive on board and designing its products, one suspects the traditions and ethos of Jobs’ Apple will not be lost. Jobs once described Ive as the man with the most power and influence within the Cupertino company “besides himself,” and from within his mysterious lair at Apple HQ, the British national will undoubtedly be plotting features of the next iPhone.
When will Twitter get it together?
Twitter increases hold on dev's access but does nothing to protect its user base.
The epic hack and subsequent dismantling of Wired writer Mat Honan's digital life in August shined a bright light on both the resourcefulness of the hacking community as well as the lax security policies of many integral digital services. Both Apple and Amazon quickly closed the loopholes that led to Honan's hack, but Twitter accounts (the ultimate prize Honan's hackers were after) remain surprisingly vulnerable to unsophisticated hacking efforts. That vulnerability was on display this past weekend as a desirable group of "OG" Twitter handles — the short, memorable, one-word names that got snapped up when the service launched — were brute-force hacked by a group of kids looking to make a little cash and impress their friends.
This past Saturday morning, Daniel Jones (known as @blanket on Twitter), got an email saying that his account's email address had been changed, a disturbing message to get if you haven't actually made any changes to your account. Sure enough, his password didn't work, and his tweet and follower accounts were at zero. Jones quickly realized that hackers gained control of his account and changed his handle from @blanket to something far more obscene, and then quickly grabbed the now-available @blanket account with an email address under their control.
Keep a tight grip on those "OG" Twitter handles
Jones has been on Twitter for longer than most — his first tweet went out on March 22, 2007. "I signed up with @blanket because I had a production company and still have a production mantle known as Blanket Statement Productions," Jones tells me, "so I went with @blanket because it was short and sweet." One of the benefits of being an early adopter was getting a desirable, unique, single-world handle, but the downside is that handles like his are a high-profile target.
After a day of research, Jones "got to the bottom of a little ring of kids who crack passwords to gain access to handles" - he found a number of other short, memorable handles like @hah, @captain, and @craves had also been hacked. Judging from the conversations he saw over Twitter, these hackers were not sophisticated social engineers, but just a group of teenagers trying to sell the names they had collected. Eventually, Jones had a long Skype conversation with a 14-year-old hacker who goes by Mason — he wasn't the one who stole @blanket from Jones, but he was part of the young crew grabbing and selling these desirable names.
This hack was hardly the result of sophisticated social engineering
Jones told me that Mason and his friends weren't advanced hackers — in fact, Mason told Jones he had only been hacking Twitter accounts for a few weeks. As to how they cracked these accounts, Jones says that the hackers "run a dictionary list against the usernames they want and brute-force a password out of it." He went on to say that he was using "both a word and a number, so their list is a little more sophisticated than just running through a dictionary."
While Mason wasn't entirely forthcoming as to how exactly he's been breaking into accounts, Jones did manage to learn that a custom program which used a proxy list of different IP addresses kept Twitter from autoblocking the many attempts needed to brute force hack a password — and he also noted that Twitter's security is much more lax than YouTube, which Mason found to be "insanely difficult" to breach. The whole firsthand experience of getting hacked left Jones rather disturbed at how little security Twitter has in place to prevent hacked accounts like @blanket from being quickly stolen.
Unlike Facebook (and any number of other online services), Twitter users cannot add a second email address to their account for extra security. They also can't use a cell phone number for password retrieval or authentication when switching the Twitter account's email address. Once the hackers are in your account, it's trivial to remove your email address and change it to a new one not under your control — the only verification step is sending an email to the new address. This means that if someone compromises your account and changes your password and email address, it's too late to do anything about it by the time you're notified by Twitter.
It's time for Twitter to beef up its security measures
Of course, Twitter isn't unconcerned with security — the company has used HTTPS by default for a year and a half now, and users can add a cell phone number for password authentication to their accounts. Unfortunately, that phone number can only be used for password changes, not authenticate email address changes. Once hackers have a password (like they did in the case of Jones' @blanket account), they can change the email address, remove your associated phone number, and then change the password without needing any outside authentication. And while Twitter is always looking to make their security systems stronger, sources say that there aren't any plans to add backup email addresses or more advanced two-step authentication at this time.
Despite the successful hack, Jones' conversation with Mason reinforced his belief that he wasn't dealing with a crack squad of hackers using advanced social engineering tactics, like Mat Honan's attacker. Mason's a high school student looking to make some cash by selling Twitter handles — Jones said that Mason "knows what he's doing is wrong, he doesn't want his family to find out, and so he's doing his best to stay under the radar." Mason admitted that he "wouldn't know how to respond" to someone who confronted him about his practice of stealing names, and also said that he had made about $300 from selling Twitter handles. Obviously, this isn't a high-profile circle of black market Twitter names, but $300 is a lot of cash for a high-school kid.
"It was so easy just to change the email on the account... maybe that should be harder."
Fortunately for Jones, his @blanket handle was eventually restored, though it took over two days and a good amount of back-and-forth with Twitter security. He first reached out directly over Twitter to the @support account and pinged some friends of friends who work for the company, but found that submitting a claim through Twitter's support pages was the preferred way to get things resolved. The first response he received over a day and a half after the hack was frustratingly unhelpful, not to mention rather delayed. the Twitter employee who reached out said that they couldn't do anything, because the email address didn't match the account in question — a fact that should have been obvious, as that was the entire crux of the hack.
Some eight hours later, order was restored, and while Jones wishes that he had control of his account earlier, he said that "the bigger issue is that the security was so lax in the first place that an account can be so easily cracked." Thinking about how things could be improved, Jones said,"it was so easy just to change the email on the account... maybe that should be harder." And while Jones acknowledged that, on a pure manpower basis, Twitter isn't in the same league as Google or Facebook, he also said that "for a social network that is as highly targeted as Twitter, you'd think they would have instituted something by now or they would have encountered this problem enough that they'd want to take it more seriously."
While Daniel Jones isn't a high-profile user, the unfortunate fact is that plenty of people just like him have to deal with having their accounts hacked for no particularly good reason. Most modern, internet-savvy human beings know they need to be more vigilant than ever about maintaining good security hygiene, and that they should take advantage of every account protection feature available to them. Unfortunately, that isn't always enough to keep an online accounts secure. Twitter hears about stories like this pretty frequently — hopefully, more complex verification options will soon follow. A little bit of extra security could go a long way towards reducing the headaches brought on by hackers.
The epic hack and subsequent dismantling of Wired writer Mat Honan's digital life in August shined a bright light on both the resourcefulness of the hacking community as well as the lax security policies of many integral digital services. Both Apple and Amazon quickly closed the loopholes that led to Honan's hack, but Twitter accounts (the ultimate prize Honan's hackers were after) remain surprisingly vulnerable to unsophisticated hacking efforts. That vulnerability was on display this past weekend as a desirable group of "OG" Twitter handles — the short, memorable, one-word names that got snapped up when the service launched — were brute-force hacked by a group of kids looking to make a little cash and impress their friends.
This past Saturday morning, Daniel Jones (known as @blanket on Twitter), got an email saying that his account's email address had been changed, a disturbing message to get if you haven't actually made any changes to your account. Sure enough, his password didn't work, and his tweet and follower accounts were at zero. Jones quickly realized that hackers gained control of his account and changed his handle from @blanket to something far more obscene, and then quickly grabbed the now-available @blanket account with an email address under their control.
Keep a tight grip on those "OG" Twitter handles
Jones has been on Twitter for longer than most — his first tweet went out on March 22, 2007. "I signed up with @blanket because I had a production company and still have a production mantle known as Blanket Statement Productions," Jones tells me, "so I went with @blanket because it was short and sweet." One of the benefits of being an early adopter was getting a desirable, unique, single-world handle, but the downside is that handles like his are a high-profile target.
After a day of research, Jones "got to the bottom of a little ring of kids who crack passwords to gain access to handles" - he found a number of other short, memorable handles like @hah, @captain, and @craves had also been hacked. Judging from the conversations he saw over Twitter, these hackers were not sophisticated social engineers, but just a group of teenagers trying to sell the names they had collected. Eventually, Jones had a long Skype conversation with a 14-year-old hacker who goes by Mason — he wasn't the one who stole @blanket from Jones, but he was part of the young crew grabbing and selling these desirable names.
This hack was hardly the result of sophisticated social engineering
Jones told me that Mason and his friends weren't advanced hackers — in fact, Mason told Jones he had only been hacking Twitter accounts for a few weeks. As to how they cracked these accounts, Jones says that the hackers "run a dictionary list against the usernames they want and brute-force a password out of it." He went on to say that he was using "both a word and a number, so their list is a little more sophisticated than just running through a dictionary."
While Mason wasn't entirely forthcoming as to how exactly he's been breaking into accounts, Jones did manage to learn that a custom program which used a proxy list of different IP addresses kept Twitter from autoblocking the many attempts needed to brute force hack a password — and he also noted that Twitter's security is much more lax than YouTube, which Mason found to be "insanely difficult" to breach. The whole firsthand experience of getting hacked left Jones rather disturbed at how little security Twitter has in place to prevent hacked accounts like @blanket from being quickly stolen.
Unlike Facebook (and any number of other online services), Twitter users cannot add a second email address to their account for extra security. They also can't use a cell phone number for password retrieval or authentication when switching the Twitter account's email address. Once the hackers are in your account, it's trivial to remove your email address and change it to a new one not under your control — the only verification step is sending an email to the new address. This means that if someone compromises your account and changes your password and email address, it's too late to do anything about it by the time you're notified by Twitter.
It's time for Twitter to beef up its security measures
Of course, Twitter isn't unconcerned with security — the company has used HTTPS by default for a year and a half now, and users can add a cell phone number for password authentication to their accounts. Unfortunately, that phone number can only be used for password changes, not authenticate email address changes. Once hackers have a password (like they did in the case of Jones' @blanket account), they can change the email address, remove your associated phone number, and then change the password without needing any outside authentication. And while Twitter is always looking to make their security systems stronger, sources say that there aren't any plans to add backup email addresses or more advanced two-step authentication at this time.
Despite the successful hack, Jones' conversation with Mason reinforced his belief that he wasn't dealing with a crack squad of hackers using advanced social engineering tactics, like Mat Honan's attacker. Mason's a high school student looking to make some cash by selling Twitter handles — Jones said that Mason "knows what he's doing is wrong, he doesn't want his family to find out, and so he's doing his best to stay under the radar." Mason admitted that he "wouldn't know how to respond" to someone who confronted him about his practice of stealing names, and also said that he had made about $300 from selling Twitter handles. Obviously, this isn't a high-profile circle of black market Twitter names, but $300 is a lot of cash for a high-school kid.
"It was so easy just to change the email on the account... maybe that should be harder."
Fortunately for Jones, his @blanket handle was eventually restored, though it took over two days and a good amount of back-and-forth with Twitter security. He first reached out directly over Twitter to the @support account and pinged some friends of friends who work for the company, but found that submitting a claim through Twitter's support pages was the preferred way to get things resolved. The first response he received over a day and a half after the hack was frustratingly unhelpful, not to mention rather delayed. the Twitter employee who reached out said that they couldn't do anything, because the email address didn't match the account in question — a fact that should have been obvious, as that was the entire crux of the hack.
Some eight hours later, order was restored, and while Jones wishes that he had control of his account earlier, he said that "the bigger issue is that the security was so lax in the first place that an account can be so easily cracked." Thinking about how things could be improved, Jones said,"it was so easy just to change the email on the account... maybe that should be harder." And while Jones acknowledged that, on a pure manpower basis, Twitter isn't in the same league as Google or Facebook, he also said that "for a social network that is as highly targeted as Twitter, you'd think they would have instituted something by now or they would have encountered this problem enough that they'd want to take it more seriously."
While Daniel Jones isn't a high-profile user, the unfortunate fact is that plenty of people just like him have to deal with having their accounts hacked for no particularly good reason. Most modern, internet-savvy human beings know they need to be more vigilant than ever about maintaining good security hygiene, and that they should take advantage of every account protection feature available to them. Unfortunately, that isn't always enough to keep an online accounts secure. Twitter hears about stories like this pretty frequently — hopefully, more complex verification options will soon follow. A little bit of extra security could go a long way towards reducing the headaches brought on by hackers.
Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo hybrid.
Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo dazzles hybrid ideas
Posted on October 3, 2012 - 11:01 by Nino Marchetti, EarthTechling
Porsche has unveiled a sleek concept the automaker says "unites the next generation hybrid drive with new ideas for an evolutionary, sporty body concept."
It is also quite the little green vehicle monster under the hood. Indeed, the Panamera Sport Turismo has 416 hp (306 kW) of peak system power that can be driven in pure EV mode up to 80 miles per hour over distances of almost 19 miles.
In addition, the vehicle boasts a good fuel economy based upon the NEDC standard as noted in its technical specs, with a combined fuel consumption of less than 3.5 liters per 100 km and CO2 emissions under 82 g/km.
Under the hood of this concept is an advanced version of the hybrid system already in use by Porsche today in its Panamera S and Cayenne S hybrids. The electric motor produces around 70 kW (95 hp), which is almost double that of the current in production offering, and is mated to a three-liter, V6 supercharged engine that produces 245 kW (333 hp).
Acceleration of the Sport Turismo hybrid concept from 0 to 62 miles per hour is a zippy under six seconds. Its lithium-ion battery pack, which can be externally charged within 2.5 hours depending upon the power supply, can also be internally refueled via a special e-charge mode that makes use of the internal combustion engine by load point shifting.
Turning to the interior of this technologically loaded down plug-in hybrid, the vehicle sports a large central TFT color display instead of a classic instrument display. It can call up a wide array of information, such as the tachometer or navigation. It is supplemented by two monitors, one on each side, that show images from exterior mirror cameras.
A press of the touch-sensitive color display starts the hybrid, noted Porsche, while a "completely new type of touch display in the ascending center console" incorporates other controls. And just in case all of those displays aren't enough, two additional ones in tube form provide information on hybrid specific driving states.
As this is a concept, you won't likely see a production model actually hit the roads. Still, this plug-in hybrid is yet another interesting study in what's possible in making green cars more alluring - and very pricey.
* Nino Marchetti, EarthTechling
See more about: SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES HYBRID PORSCHE PANAMERA SPORTS TURSIMO
Toyota posts record time in an electric car
Some perspective is required. This, the electric Toyota EV P002, is quicker around the Nürburgring than Walter Röhrl in a Porsche 911 GT2. In fact, it's quicker than Walter Röhrl in a ruddy Carrera GT.
You might recall this little silent wonder. Last year, it raced around the Green Hell in a record time of just 7m 47s - record time for an electric car, that is. Now, we have just been duly informed that Toyota has somehow managed to shave off 25 seconds from that time, because the EV P002 has just set a new fastest ‘Ring time of 7m 22s.
According to The Internet and its infallible sources of Facts*, this is on par with a Corvette Z06 and Dodge Viper ACR. It trumps a Ferrari 458 Italia, for crying out loud.
Except of course, it's not loud. It's...silent. Jochen Krumbach had just the thoughts in his head to accompany his seven minutes of action, what with there being no actual internal combustion engine to make any noise. It's powered by two electric motors and a lithium ceramic battery in a package weighing just 970kg, to deliver around 375bhp and a top speed of 162mph.
This time around, it was charged overnight from the back of a Toyota Hiace van with a ‘Quick Charger', something the company reckons will help electric motorsport flourish. It might also be useful for powering mobile barbeques, but that's another story.
Ludwig Zeller, TMG general manager, seemed more chuffed with the mobile electric charger, rather than slicing 25 seconds off the time: "This is an aspect of electric motorsport which has not been discussed at length but it is very significant: electric race cars need to be charged and it is a challenge to have the right infrastructure at race tracks."
Yes, it's a racer, and 'Ring records are meant for road cars blah blah blah. But, Ludwig, isn't it a bit more exciting that something which sounds like a London Underground Tube can punt around the Nürburgring quicker than a ruddy Carrera GT?
*Many of them could actually be quite wrong
Nokia to sell its main hub?
Nokia mulls selling its headquarters
HELSINKI | Wed Oct 3, 2012 2:21am EDT
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Struggling cellphone maker Nokia is seeking to sell its headquarters in Espoo, Finland as part of a drive to dispose of non-core assets.
"We are evaluating different options for non-core parts, such as real estate holdings, and that includes the headquarters," spokeswoman Maija Taimi told Reuters.
The glass and steel building by the Baltic Sea is valued at 200-300 million euros ($259-388 million), according to a report by Finnish newspaper Iltasanomat.
Nokia, which has been trying to improve its finances through large job cuts and other measures, told investors in July it was it was also looking to sell properties.
(Reporting by Helsinki newsroom; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)
HELSINKI | Wed Oct 3, 2012 2:21am EDT
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Struggling cellphone maker Nokia is seeking to sell its headquarters in Espoo, Finland as part of a drive to dispose of non-core assets.
"We are evaluating different options for non-core parts, such as real estate holdings, and that includes the headquarters," spokeswoman Maija Taimi told Reuters.
The glass and steel building by the Baltic Sea is valued at 200-300 million euros ($259-388 million), according to a report by Finnish newspaper Iltasanomat.
Nokia, which has been trying to improve its finances through large job cuts and other measures, told investors in July it was it was also looking to sell properties.
(Reporting by Helsinki newsroom; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)
The web, Google Wallet and you. Great idea or ill timed fad?
Google poised to let users buy Web content with Google Wallet
by Casey Newton October 2, 2012
Micropayments, a long-discussed way of supporting content on the Web that has yet to catch fire with users, is about to get a big boost from Google.
The company confirmed today that users will soon be able to pay for Web content using Google Wallet, buying individual articles for an average of $0.25 to $0.99 each. Once users buy the page, they will own it forever, Google said. The project is expected to launch later today or tomorrow.
A draft post announcing the new project appeared briefly in the RSS feed for the Google Commerce blog, where CNET found it. The company later confirmed details of the launch and unveiled a web page for the product.
"Users love free content, and so we expect that advertising will remain the most effective monetization model for most content on the Web," the company said in the post. "However we know that there is more great content that creators could bring to the Web if they had an effective way to sell individual articles that users can find with search."
Google calls the project an experiment -- one "designed to help content creators bring more of this high-quality content to the Web."
If it works, it will mark the first significant success in a space that has seen countless efforts come and go. As Walter Isaacson wrote in Time in 2009: " If you remember Flooz, Beenz, CyberCash, Bitpass, Peppercoin and DigiCash, it's probably because you lost money investing in them."
Theories for why micropayments have failed to date run the gamut. In the past, they have required users to install new software, hand over sensitive credit card information, navigate complicated interfaces, and make uncomfortable bets on whether a given article will be worth the dollar they have been asked to pay for it. There's also the fact that in a world where the vast majority of content is free, getting users to pay is difficult.
Compared to its predecessors, at least, Google starts from a position of strength. Google Wallet already has thousands of users, and offers a suite of services that could lure millions over time. (Although it has been slow going to date, as Bloomberg noted earlier this year.) Paying for Web content gives users one more reason to sign up their credit card with Google Wallet -- and gives existing users a new way to use the product.
To encourage readers to shop, Google built an "instant refund" into the product. Users who aren't happy with the articles they purchase can get a refund within 30 minutes of their purchase. The company said they would guard against individual users seeking excessive refunds.
Publishers can create long previews of their articles, with the remainder made opaque so as to still give readers a sense of what they will get with their purchase. They can also continue to run ads with the content, so they get credit for ad impressions even if users don't purchase the article.
For publishers, enabling Wallet payments requires installing some code on their servers. Readers with Google Wallet accounts can purchase articles by clicking the Wallet button on the page.
For starters, Google is hand-picking the partners it is working with on micropayments. In time it expects to open it up to many more publishers, and release plug-ins for popular content management systems. Publishers who are interested in participating can visit this page.
Partners announced for the launch include book publisher Pearson and Oxford University Press, which will post 80,000 reference articles available for purchase. Web sites GigaOm and Motley Fool also plan to sell content using Wallet, the post said.
Presumably, Google is taking a cut of these payments, but the company wouldn't disclose what their fee is.
by Casey Newton October 2, 2012
Micropayments, a long-discussed way of supporting content on the Web that has yet to catch fire with users, is about to get a big boost from Google.
The company confirmed today that users will soon be able to pay for Web content using Google Wallet, buying individual articles for an average of $0.25 to $0.99 each. Once users buy the page, they will own it forever, Google said. The project is expected to launch later today or tomorrow.
A draft post announcing the new project appeared briefly in the RSS feed for the Google Commerce blog, where CNET found it. The company later confirmed details of the launch and unveiled a web page for the product.
"Users love free content, and so we expect that advertising will remain the most effective monetization model for most content on the Web," the company said in the post. "However we know that there is more great content that creators could bring to the Web if they had an effective way to sell individual articles that users can find with search."
Google calls the project an experiment -- one "designed to help content creators bring more of this high-quality content to the Web."
If it works, it will mark the first significant success in a space that has seen countless efforts come and go. As Walter Isaacson wrote in Time in 2009: " If you remember Flooz, Beenz, CyberCash, Bitpass, Peppercoin and DigiCash, it's probably because you lost money investing in them."
Theories for why micropayments have failed to date run the gamut. In the past, they have required users to install new software, hand over sensitive credit card information, navigate complicated interfaces, and make uncomfortable bets on whether a given article will be worth the dollar they have been asked to pay for it. There's also the fact that in a world where the vast majority of content is free, getting users to pay is difficult.
Compared to its predecessors, at least, Google starts from a position of strength. Google Wallet already has thousands of users, and offers a suite of services that could lure millions over time. (Although it has been slow going to date, as Bloomberg noted earlier this year.) Paying for Web content gives users one more reason to sign up their credit card with Google Wallet -- and gives existing users a new way to use the product.
To encourage readers to shop, Google built an "instant refund" into the product. Users who aren't happy with the articles they purchase can get a refund within 30 minutes of their purchase. The company said they would guard against individual users seeking excessive refunds.
Publishers can create long previews of their articles, with the remainder made opaque so as to still give readers a sense of what they will get with their purchase. They can also continue to run ads with the content, so they get credit for ad impressions even if users don't purchase the article.
For publishers, enabling Wallet payments requires installing some code on their servers. Readers with Google Wallet accounts can purchase articles by clicking the Wallet button on the page.
For starters, Google is hand-picking the partners it is working with on micropayments. In time it expects to open it up to many more publishers, and release plug-ins for popular content management systems. Publishers who are interested in participating can visit this page.
Partners announced for the launch include book publisher Pearson and Oxford University Press, which will post 80,000 reference articles available for purchase. Web sites GigaOm and Motley Fool also plan to sell content using Wallet, the post said.
Presumably, Google is taking a cut of these payments, but the company wouldn't disclose what their fee is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)