Windows 7 SP1

In what feels like forever, Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 has finally been released to manufacturing. It seems that few new features are being bundled with the update, but security and stability tweaks are abound. It’s interesting that it’s taken this long for Microsoft to come out with SP1; I’d like to think that the initial release’s large install base, coupled with SP1′s backend nature, means Windows 7 is headed in the right direction.

Touch(pad) me baby

Wow. This is quite beautiful. HP’s dropped official word on their tablet strategy, plus two new phones. Their flagship tablet, the Touchpad (previously known as Topaz), will be coming at an undisclosed price sometime later this year. It’s running WebOS 3.0 on a 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon, and totally eliminates all traces of Palm branding. In addition to the Touchpad, the Pre 3 and Veer were also unveiled, the former being a beefier iteration of the Pre 2, the latter being comparable to the Pixi at the size of a credit card. What really excites me are the possibilities for integration between HP’s tablets and phones; the ability to sync webpages by tapping the two together was *touched* on. I think HP’s really nailed the balance between design and functionality; outside of the iPad, this would now be my tablet of choice.

Sprint and Kyocera rock some dual-screen Android

For those of us who just can’t survive without email on one screen and a browser on the other, Kyocera’s Echo device promises exactly that. Announced by Sprint at an “industry first” event, the Echo sports two 3.5″ displays on top of a 1 GHz Snapdragon. It’ll without doubt have its fair share of bugs (Android 2.2 being one of them), but the concept is interesting. The idea of a dual-screen handheld’s been around since the days of the Nintendo DS, but has never been well-executed on a phone. I’m skeptical about the design going mainstream, but it’s serving a currently overlooked niche.

Nokia ditches Symbian

In a massive victory for Windows Phone 7, Nokia has partnered with Microsoft to offer the operating system across new devices. Even though I’ve never really been familiar with Symbian (and there’s probably a reason for that), I’m glad to see WP7 gain momentum like this. I’ve always been a big believer in the concept of the platform as well as its Metro UI, and really hope it takes off.

AOL goes shopping

AOL’s been doling out the cash the past few months, most recently in their acquisition of The Huffington Post. Outside of this particular deal, I’m curious to see what AOL will be doing with HuffPo, About.me, and TechCrunch; their entire strategy seems fairly disjointed. They rebranded a while back, but I’d like to see them drop a huge bomb with one brand-new integrated experience. Deep down inside, I guess I wouldn’t hate it if AOL succeeds. </oprahmoment>

Pandora files for IPO

This one’s been coming for a while, but I certainly didn’t expect Pandora to drop an IPO at this very moment. Coming right after LinkedIn’s offering announcement, Pandora’s looking to raise $100M from stock. They’re largely unprofitable at the moment, but both their impact on the music industry and their potential advertising reach should make for a compelling investment. I’ll definitely buy a few shares.

Smartphones beat PCs in sales

In a statistic that echos the future of computing, total shipments of smartphones just eclipsed those of PCs in Q4 2010 (100.9 vs. 92.1 million units, respectively). A quick walk through Best Buy is quite telling on this trend; all the innovation and rapid change is in smartphones and tablets – not PCs. Stating the obvious? Yes, but it’s still cool to see these predictions come to light.

Lusting after a Touchpad? Could you see yourself using a dual-screen Android device? Going to buy any Pandora stock? Hit me up!

Thought I forgot? Joke’s on you! Because of some traveling, this is coming a little late, but last week was a pretty big one in terms of technology happenings. So here goes.

Sony

Sony’s really been at it recently – they’ve announced the next generation PSP, codenamed NGP. It’s running an impressive quad-core A9 processor, and is focusing on a new UI, location, and augmented reality. Their Xperia Play (aka “PlayStation Phone”)  has also found its way into the hands of Engadget’s team; I got a chance to play around with the device at their show and was pleased with where it’s headed. The UI was ambitious but rough, and on the hardware side, it’s a little less phenom than the NGP, with only a single core processor.

NFC and iPhone 5 rumors grow

Even though the Verizon iPhone’s been at the front of most iOS-related news, June isn’t that far away, and with it will likely be coming an iPhone 5. Commercial Times reported that production should start around May, and will turn the most shipments ever. Big surprise. There’s also been a decent amount of buzz surrounding Near Field Communications (NFC) and its eventual migration to the device - being able to tap your phone on a card reader to pay would be nothing short of awesome.

Verizon iPhone plan details surface

Might want to enlarge this.

Looks like $30 per month will get you an unlimited data plan for the iPhone on Verizon, although the newly-announced “mobile hotspot” feature will run an extra $20. I’m curious as to how strict Verizon will be about enforcing the use of jailbroken apps such as MyWi or PdaNet – possibly detect insane amounts of data and bill appropriately?

Oh, Zuck

In a debacle I find somewhat amusing, some sly fellow on the interwebz managed to gain control of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook fan page, and posted the following message:

Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? http://bit.ly/fs6rT3 What do you think? #hackercup2011

The page was shut down.

LinkedIn’s IPO

We’ve been waiting for this one a long time: LinkedIn has finally filed their IPO. They haven’t announced the actual date of the offering yet, and have been pretty tight-lipped about the price, though most of the details should be readily available by 2011. I’m particularly interested as to how this will influence the IPO roadmaps of other prominent web companies (I’m looking at you, Facebook).

Thoughts? Itching to get ahold of the next PSP? Going to wait in line for the iPhone 5? Comment away!

eBay is a great platform for online auctions.

Popular VoIP service Skype is currently a subsidiary of eBay , the result of a $1.3 billion deal that went down a few years ago. Now, eBay is looking to say goodbye to Skype and send them off as an individual entity. If you want the facts and details, Ars Technica has a great writeup ; I won’t reiterate the same content here.

I couldn’t be happier to hear this news. Especially with the rumors surrounding the possible acquisition of Twitter by Google, it seems that the major players are running the risk of becoming a bit too powerful. As I said in a recent tweet:

I really hope Google doesn’t acquire Twitter. I’d love to see more growth, not “Google Tweets”. Google doesn’t need to own everything.

Unfortunately, Skype won’t go straight back to the founders; they’ll do an IPO in 2010. It’d be nice if Skype’s founders could continue the vision of innovation that started the company, but if that’s not possible, at least someone else with ambition to move forward will be able to pick up where Zennström and Friis left off.

Skype will become an individual entity.

Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction. eBay’s a great platform for online auctions, but the relevance to VoIP (and content rating, for that matter) is a stretch. The Skype-powered buyer/seller communication system never really took off, and it’s been a strained relationship at best.

But why did Skype sell to eBay to begin with? Is our main goal to work hard, to put our heart and soul into a product, then just sell out? It can’t be all about the money. You have to love what you do and have the desire to stick with it. Sure, success is relative. To some people, giving up control in exchange for a chunk of cash is acceptable. I also realize that every venture isn’t going to be the investment of the century, and that you do need to have some type of exit strategy should the need arise. But Skype’s business model is largely profitable, and has the potential to thrive as an independent company. I’d like to see more specialization, improvement, and growth, not companies acquiring others simply for the sake of equity and ownership.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.