Are Magazines Going Digital?

With the creation of the nook, specialized to read books digitally, now magazines are similarly producing the same thing. Only two magazines had made their way into the digital world. "Esquire and GQ — have developed iPhone versions, while Wired and Sports Illustrated have made mockups of tablet versions of their print editions, months before any such tablets come to market". In result, some magazine companies are creating models of how they would look on the tablets. Sports illustrated for one, has created their model of how the magazine would look digitally.

Thomas J. Wallace, the editorial director of Condé Nast, said that he expected the design of using magazines on tablets to evolve among consumers who will use it; making it more conveinent in how people are going to accept and use it. besides GQ and esquire, other magazines are thinking about creating Iphone apps for their magazines as well. Everything that is happening with technology is only going to evolve even more. Radio, music, television, and now magazines are all in the future for more technology upgrades.

I think that magazines on tablets is not my kind of thing. I mean it's okay for anybody who is really interested in the whole digital magazine" thing. but I rather do it the old fashion way and buy or subscribe to magazines as MAGAZINES, not tablet magazines. In other words, if it is going to sell fast, then it is gong to be popular among the consumers.

Comcast Introduces Their Streaming Television Service

Comcast, who is considered the largest cable company, is now allowing customers who can stream television online. They made it is useful for those who wanted to catch tv programs that were previously not available. " It said the new service, “Fancast Xfinity TV,” was a major step toward what it calls “anytime, anywhere media.” They declared that this will make it more easier for cable programming anywhere and everywhere. This was the first time that a cable company had actually produced something like this; and it is only available to those who have tv, telephone, and internet combined.

However, the internet cable tv will determine what shows will be premiering online. Not every channel that you receive on regular cable will be broadcasted online. Hulu, the leading Web site for free TV viewing, will not be available. It was said that comcast had this idea of streaming television online since last summer; they called it 'testing the waters' and now they have decided to go along with it.

In my oppinion, I think this only makes comcast more popular than it already is. However other cable companies may try to do the same thing, since it is all about competition. Just like how every cable company is offering the triple package with tv, phone, and internet all in one. Other companies doesnt want to look bad, so they decide to try and make their package better than the other competitions. I use to have comcast, and I have to say that their quality for tv is excellent, in comparision to direct tv; which is another popular cable company as well. So I think it is up to the custmers and how well they use this streaming idea.

is Apple Heading Into the Music Business?

With all of Apple's success, one may think, "what are they going to do next?" Well Apple just may be branching off into the music business. Yes, with ipods and iphones who are specifically made ofr music and a thousand other things, and a better way to do that is to buy and own a music company. they had bought a web music company called, "LaLa', which cost them roughly $80 million to do so. It was predicted that in the future, "the digital music files on people’s computers could possibly join vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs in the dusty vault of fading music formats."

More than a decade ago, the recording industry was grossing approximately $40 million in annual sales, recently, it is only grossing in half that amount; and the total sales of digital downloading has faced a tremendous decrease. I think this could be a good idea because even though many people may have a collection of artists on their ipods or iphones, they rather stream music instead and find their favorite aritsts more rapidly. However, in order to stream their music, consumers may be asked to pay a small fee in subscription, in order to listen to music unlimitedly.

Another radio service that is widely popular among the iphones is pandora. Pandora, is a free Internet radio service, that offers an applications for iPhone, and the company says that 30 percent of its listeners connect over cellphones. in my oppinion, I havent used the internet on my ipod touch yet, but I would really interested in using the streaming of music apple has to offer.

AT&T quits on Verizon

It was said that AT&T was fed up with how verizon was supposedly stealing their catch-phrases in advertising apps. There 'We have an app for that' is verizons "We have a map for that" is what really caused this big feud among the companies. Therefore AT&T had planned to take their case to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in their attempt to sue verizion. AT&T had wanted temporary restraining order on using their advettising techniques because they felt that it was diminishing their sales, in result to the commercials. "Two weeks ago, a judge tossed out AT&T's request for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads, but scheduled a hearing to give the AT&T attorneys another chance to make their case."

In result, on wednesday, dec 2nd, 2009, AT&T decided to drop their lawsuit against verizon and decided to sign a joint agreement to dismiss the case alltogether. I think that this was a waste on both parties time because the lawsuit was dropped in the end. I mean AT&T did have a point because verizon did seem like they were taking shots at AT&T for the app commercial. But I dont think they would've won the case because verizon was is a phone company just like t-mobile and sprint, so they're all competitors with each other. I just think that cosumers are going to go with whom ever they think serves their needs properly. It may be AT&T or verizon, or neither.

Both companies are doing successfully well in what they're trying to do....sell products. For me, I have at&t, so I dont think I will be switching over to a different carrier just because the commericial looks good. Theres more to that than just one commercial in order to sell somebody. However its like the old saying goes, " to each his own".

Is Google a Worthy Competitor To Apple?

Finally, it seems that apple has met a worthy competitor among them...Google. So far, nobody couldn't beat what apple was offering year after year; with Iphones and ipods, new features was added every year to make them even more high-tech. Now google comes forth with their on smartphone in the works, which is scheduled to hit the market early next year. The new "Android" is said to be touch-screen and enables any consumer to use any carrier that they have.

I think google does have an edge over other carriers with this one because many carriers have nice phones that you can only use for that specific carrier. For example, the sidekicks were very popular and everybody wanted one; however t-mobile was the only carrier that you can get it from. According to the New York Times, "The apparent shift underscores the fact that mobile phones are quickly becoming the biggest technology battleground of the future, as consumers increasingly rely on their phones to browse the Internet and perform other computing tasks."

I think that is true because more and more people are beginning to use their phones for the internet. Not saying that computers are going to diminish, because phones may enable people to use the internet, but they can't DO everything. Although google is very successful, analysts say that with Google's success on the internet, there is no guarantee that it will carry on into it's design, marketing, and distribution of hardware. The new android could earn google some success depending on how the price the phone "Most Americans buy phones that are subsidized by wireless carriers, which recoup that cost by locking customers into contracts.

IPhones that cost consumers $199 actually cost AT&T about $550, analysts say." In my opinion, I really think this is going to be some good competition for both companies because they're both successful in what they bring to the entertainment/media world.