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The Telecom Digest for November 11, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 229 : "text" Format
====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
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Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:17:19 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: How Teen Nick D'Aloisio Has Changed the Way We Read
Message-ID: <p06240820cea59826a9f2@[10.0.1.6]>
WSJ. MAGAZINE 2013 TECHNOLOGY INNOVATOR
How Teen Nick D'Aloisio Has Changed the Way We Read
When a Hong Kong billionaire emailed a London tech startup to inquire
about investing, he didn't realize its entire workforce consisted of
a single kid working in his bedroom. Meet the 18-year-old WSJ.
Magazine Technology Innovator of 2013 who became an overnight
millionaire by inventing an app that may revolutionize how we read on
the go
By SETH STEVENSON
Nov. 6, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303376904579137444043720218
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:16:21 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: All Is Fair in Love and Twitter
Message-ID: <p0624080ecea58b0a9745@[10.0.1.6]>
All Is Fair in Love and Twitter
By NICK BILTON
October 9, 2013
Right in the center of South Park, a large, grassy oval near San
Francisco's financial district, there is a rinky-dink playground with
slides, ladders and firefighter poles, all dented and dinged,
connected by gritty brown pylons. Yet for many in Silicon Valley,
this playground is hallowed ground. It was here, one breezy day in
2006, according to legend, that Jack Dorsey ordered burritos with two
co-workers, scaled a slide and, in a black sweater and green beanie,
like a geeked-out Moses on Mount Sinai, presented his idea for an
Internet service that would allow users to update their current
status and share what they were doing. "That playground right up
there is where I first brought up the idea," Dorsey, whose
present-day uniform is a white Dior dress shirt and tailored dark
blazer, told CNBC earlier this year.
"The idea for Twitter?" the interviewer asked him.
"Yep," Dorsey replied.
In Silicon Valley, ideas are not in short supply. At every coffee
shop, beer garden and technology conference, there are legions of
start-up founders, like screenwriters clutching their scripts,
desperate to show off an app or site that they believe will be the
next big thing. Yet around 75 percent of start-ups fail. Usually it's
not simply because the ideas are bad (although some certainly are),
but because of a multitude of other problems. They are either ahead
of their time or too late. Some have too much money and collapse
under their own weight; others have trouble raising the capital they
need to survive. Still others implode because of the poor management
and infighting of founders who have no experience actually running
companies.
For the ones that make it, success often comes down to a lot of luck.
YouTube was one of dozens of video-sharing sites in existence when it
was purchased for $1.7 billion by Google. Instagram wasn't the first
app on iTunes to share photos, yet Facebook still paid $1 billion for
it. Twitter wasn't the first place to share a status online; it was
certainly the luckiest. Celebrities joined the service, then a queen,
presidents, news organizations and, of course, Justin Bieber. Seven
years after it was founded, the company with a catchy name had more
than 2,000 employees, more than 200 million active users and a market
value estimated at $16 billion. When it makes its initial public
offering, many of Twitter's co-founders, employees and investors are
going to become very, very rich. Evan Williams, a co-founder who
financed the company out of his pocket during its first year, is
expected to make more than $1 billion. Dorsey, the company's
executive chairman and putative mastermind, will make hundreds of
millions.
But in Silicon Valley, luck can be a euphemism for something more
sinister. Twitter wasn't exactly conceived in a South Park
playground, and it certainly wasn't solely Dorsey's idea. In fact,
Dorsey forced out the man who was arguably Twitter's most influential
co-founder before the site took off, only to be quietly pushed out of
the company himself later. (At which point, he secretly considered
joining his biggest competitor.) But, as luck would have it, Dorsey
was able to weave a story about Twitter that was so convincing that
he could put himself back in power just as it was ready to become a
mature company. And, perhaps luckiest of all, until now only a
handful of people knew what really turned Twitter from a vague idea
into a multibillion-dollar business.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/magazine/all-is-fair-in-love-and-twitter.html?pagewanted=all
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 18:17:44 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Conquering Android's World of Themes
Message-ID: <p06240830cea5c47b0df1@[10.0.1.6]>
Conquering Android's World of Themes
By DAVID SEGAL
November 6, 2013
A few weeks ago, I ditched my iPhone 4S for an HTC One, and now I
think the difference between the world's most popular smartphone
operating systems - Apple's iOS and Google's Android - can be
explained with a metaphor about home decorating.
The iPhone is a mansion designed by experts with superb taste. It's
beautifully laid out, and all the rooms, wiring and plumbing work
together seamlessly. But once you move in, you can make only the
tiniest of alterations.
The designers of Android, and companies like HTC, which modify that
operating system in different ways, don't have the same skills. But
you can trash just about every aesthetic choice they've made and
renovate to your heart's content.
Big fan of "Breaking Bad"? Trick out your Android phone with
"Breaking Bad" imagery, with icons from the periodic table, as
featured in the opening of the TV show. Love Scrabble? Your phone can
look just like a Scrabble board. An Android phone is endlessly
customizable, down to the last pixel.
The problem is that creating the most striking and novel Android
looks is a baffling chore, one that requires mastery of software that
seems lifted from that Russian space capsule in "Gravity." Take a
look at the many how-to tutorials on YouTube, where Android theme
designers - or themers, as they are known - offer step-by-step
instructions so you can replicate their handiwork. It's so confusing
that it's hard to get to the part that's confusing.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/technology/personaltech/embracing-androids-dazzling-world-of-themes.html
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