Thursday, July 17. 2008

SAP, Oracle Increase Software and Support Prices

The Wall Street Journal reported today that SAP and Oracle will increase fees on software and support fees. SAP will be increasing maintence fees from 15% to 22% of the cost of the initial software license. Oracle will raise software license fees from 15% to 20% in the U.S. while prices in Europe held steady and some regions experienced a decrease in price.

Arrington: Facebook, MySpace Blow it on iPhone without Location

Michael Arrington at TechCruch (via Washington Post) chastises the two social networks because while they offer effective and popular apps for the iPhone, neither added in location, something he says is the only way to draw new users.

But while both applications are useful for heavy users, they won't drive new users to the services because they failed to leverage the killer iPhone feature - location awareness.

He acknowledges privacy concerns, but seems convinced these can be managed. It does seem these and other players are simply "late to the party" giving Loopt, Whrrl and others a jump on the mobile platform.

Loopt Privacy Issues - Not Location Related

To my amazement this kruffufle is not about sharing one's location, but rather unintended invites going out, per an InformationWeek blog. To Loopt's credit, it addressed the issue, apologized and fixed the problem.

Disposable LBS Apps

Stan Schroeder over at Mashable write on his idea: Location-Aware Disposable Apps For The iPhone. The iPhone part is just obligatory hype since any mobile with location sensing could support the concept.

So, what is the concept? It's not really disposable, but location-activated installation for apps. One example: when you are near the train station an app would "pop up" for installation with train times. Or, when you walk by restaurants, you'd see pop up installs for menus or reviews.

The comments tend toward, "don't pop up things I don't want" and are worth reading. The real answer in my mind is a broker for such services. The end user would select what sorts of apps they might find interesting and have the broker only pop those up. The categories might be: business, food, transportation, entertainment, etc. The other half of the story is the "disposable" part. Would it be possible for the app to "uninstall" automatically when the user "leaves" the area of interest? That'd be ideal for those who forget to dump unused apps.

Quote of the Week

"Digital cameras now come with built-in global positioning system receivers that note the exact longitude and latitude of each picture taken, data that are readable by map services, called neogeography."

- Bill Sones and Rich Sones Ph.D. in the Deseret News in a Q & A column question about the new geographers.

Going hyperlocal

I've watched the hyperlocal news discussions with interest, but rarely do I feel the need for local news beyond a subscription to the local paper and signs and banners in the square (Davis Square). Today however, I needed, ok wanted, the hyperlocal news. The small restaurant across the street, Supreme Kitchen, had crime tape on it and a broken window when I left to have dinner with my Dad at about 5:30 pm. This is not the sort of place that would be robbed or where there'd be a fight. It's across the street from the hospital and just a few blocks from the fire station.

When I got home I planned to find out what happened. Before I could I listened to the message on the answering machine. It was from the police. Apparently on Saturday there was a hit and run two blocks from me. (The nine year old who was stuck will fully recover, thankfully.) The police, using our reverse call out tool no doubt, were asking neighbors for any information to help track down the perpetrator.

So, how did I find out what happened at Supreme Kitchen? I thought about the hyperlocal sites I'd heard of (Boston and surrounding are not a prime candidate yet) and immediately went to Google News. No luck. Then I went to Google's blogsearch. Bingo. The "other" local paper's blog had the story with cheeky headline ("Do you want eggs with your reckless driving?") and photographs.