Filter looks at the day's top technology news through snapshots and analysis of what the world's media outlets are covering. Washingtonpost.com's new Mon.-Fri. feature is penned by technology reporter Cynthia L. Webb. If a technology story breaks, a company falters or triumphs, or there's a new trend in technology, Filter wants you to know about it.
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Calling All Companies
Despite the higher corporate cost for VoIP, companies are expected to keep buying in. The Merc noted that "business spending on Internet phone gear is expected to rise from $2.9 billion this year to $7.7 billion by 2007, said market leader Cisco Systems, citing Synergy Research." Boeing is among the companies shelling out dough on the technology. "With 157,000 employees and operations around the globe, the Chicago-based firm is the biggest company to embrace so-called voice over Internet protocol technology, which allows it to transmit voice, data and video on a single network. Boeing employees are unlikely to notice the difference. Their phones still will ring, and they'll continue to talk on what look like regular phones," the Chicago Tribune reported. "'This is a trend we've been awaiting for some time,' said Richard Wilkus, president of Schaumburg-based ISI Telemanagement Solutions Inc. 'Boeing has done its homework and determined this is the way to go, which gives this credibility for others to do the same.' ... Watch for: Other large companies to take the plunge for VoIP technology, now that Boeing has led the way. But many will continue to go slow, letting other pioneers suffer with the inevitable glitches," the article said.
• Chicago Tribune: Boeing Co.: Calls To Connect Via The Internet (Registration required)
Good Enough for Government Work
Uncle Sam is also looking at VoIP. The Department of Commerce is one agency that is using the technology, particularly to boost emergency communications capabilities, Federal Computer Week reported today. "This technology is ready for prime time – it's not just for geeks anymore," Karen Hogan, deputy chief information officer of Commerce, told the publication. "Users are delighted because they're seeing some real productivity enhancers." Among the possibilities for VoIP? The article said "some VOIP proponents envision a network that could send a question concerning a particular ZIP code to a postal carrier delivering mail in that area. Or if a public safety issue arises, such as the anthrax scare of 2001, government employees can work from home after setting up the IP network to forward calls to their residences."
• Federal Computer Week: VOIP's Second Act
Apple of My iPod
Apple is expected to release new iPods today, but the specs wound up on the Internet over the weekend. The "weekend of leaks about the gadgets compromised the often-secretive company's desire to keep the lid on the news until the last minute," the Los Angeles Times reported. "The iPods will be cheaper than their forebear and their batteries will boast longer lives, according to Newsweek, which had been briefed on the new players by Chief Executive Steve Jobs and others at Apple for a cover story that was scheduled to be on newsstands today. But by early Saturday, the website MacRumors.com had tracked down a photo of the Newsweek cover on a server for MSN.com – which has a news-sharing agreement with the magazine – and had posted a link to that and to the full text of the story. On Saturday night, the story and a sidebar were posted at Newsweek.com. By that point, details about the new iPods were ricocheting around Apple-watching websites including Slashdot.org, iPodlounge.com and MacObserver.com," the newspaper said.
Here's an excerpt from a companion article in Newsweek: "The top-of-the-line iPod, holding 10,000 songs (40 gigs, as geeks will tell you), now costs $399. The lower-capacity model, with room for 5,000 songs (20 gigs), costs $299. That's a $100 price reduction for each. (There's no more 15-gig model.)," the article said. As for color for the new gadget? "Despite rumors to the contrary, the wide-bodies are still as pure as the driven snow," Newsweek said. CNET's News.com picked up on the details from Newsweek's article.
• Los Angeles Times: Web of Rumors Takes The Lid Off of New iPods (Registration required)
• CNET's News.com: Apple Hatches Fourth-Generation iPod • Newsweek: iPod Nation • Newsweek: The New iPod
Apple so far is the king of the pay-for-play Internet song download market. But the company is surely watching its back and will have to stay on the defensive. The New York Times today said "[w]ith the arrival of new competitors in online music this year and powerful new threats from the Microsoft Corporation and others, Apple is going to have to come up with a lot more than contests to keep market share. The company is focusing on making its music service as much an experience as a store, and is enhancing features to turn casual browsers into repeat customers."
• The New York Times: ITunes Shores Up Its Defenses as Rivals Prepare to Invade (Registration required)
Venturing Out
Venture capital firms that made it through the bust of the dot-com boom were expecting a protracted VC investor dry spell, but that's not been the case. Major Silicon Valley VC company Sevin Rosen got a flood of interested investors for its new fund, the New York Times reported yesterday. "On July 8, the firm announced a new $300 million fund, but [partner John Jaggers] said it could have raised at least five times that much. Potential investors, many from Europe and Asia, called out of the blue; some even provided references in the hope of persuading the partners to take their money," the article said. "Sevin Rosen, which has offices in Silicon Valley and Dallas, is hardly the only venture firm to be deluged lately with offers of money. After a hiatus, other top-tier venture funds have also started raising new funds in recent months, and some are turning away hundreds of millions in potential investments. That may seem a happy turn of events for the tech industry, in sharp contrast to the jittery pronouncements of pundits over the last couple of weeks, wondering if climbing inventories and an assortment of other bad news portend harder times. Yet even the venture capitalists seem a bit nervous. 'Everybody wants into venture capital, but we'll have to wait to see if that's a good thing or a bad thing,' said Ted Schlein, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Like Sevin Rosen, Kleiner Perkins rejected far more money than it accepted when it closed on a $400 million fund earlier this year.'"
• The New York Times: Why Venture Funds Don't Want Your Cash (Registration required)
Here's a note of caution: "More than a dozen technology companies have warned that they missed their earnings targets for their recent quarter, raising worries that the industry's long-awaited recovery may turn out to be a dud," the Associated Press noted. "I think the collective psyche is very fragile," Mark Zandi, chief economist for Economy.com, told the San Jose Mercury News, according to the AP. "And no one wants to get caught being too optimistic again."
• San Jose Mercury News: Silicon Valley Worries That Tech Recovery If Fizzling (Registration required)
Other Positive Signs
Some tech firms in and around the nation's capital are feeling somewhat flush again. Nearly 400 techies gathered at the home recently of Bobbie Kilberg, president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a technology trade group, to honor some rising tech stars. "I think everybody's really excited," Howard Freidman, chief executive of telecom firm Aptela, told Ellen McCarthy of The Washington Post. "Freidman, his silver sunglasses perched on his head throughout the evening, angled one hand up in the air and pointed to the base of his wrist to indicate the upward trajectory of the tech economy. 'I think we're right there. ... The market feels like 1995.'" More tech gloating: "I think we're finding a resurgence of the boom days, of the dot-coms. You can feel it in the air," Robert Dinkel, senior vice president of Computer Associates, told McCarthy.
• The Washington Post: Party Time For Tech Sector (Registration required)
Another Post piece today covered the surge in Washington-area companies going public, but wrote that these companies can learn from their predecessors that went bust quickly after the dot-com flame-out. "Among the surviving IPOs of 1999, the most successful – Corporate Executive Board Co., Trex Co., XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and United Therapeutics Corp. – have one thing in common: limited dependence on the Internet. Most have old-fashioned business models. They offered tangible products or services, and they collected tangible payments in return," said the article, which surveys a number of successful companies and others that failed as a blueprint for the new spate of companies eyeing IPOs. Another noteworthy observation from the article: "The IPOs of 1999 that failed lacked one feature: paying customers."
• The Washington Post: Who's Still Afloat? Who Went Under? And Why? (Registration required)
Back on the Beat
Another sign that technology is en vogue again: Publications that withered during the dot-com boom are readying their second acts. "John Battelle, former chief executive of The Industry Standard, has a media product up his sleeve, one that he is not ready to talk about. The new owners of Red Herring, a brawny emblem of Silicon Valley's might that died a slow, painful death and crept along as a Web site, have announced plans to bring back the publication. Technology Review, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology magazine, has hired a former editor of Red Herring and is aggressively expanding coverage. And Business 2.0 and Wired, magazines that suffered mightily after the market collapse, are posting their first advertising gains in four years," the New York Times reported today. "Publications may be coming back, but the billions that sloshed around for a few brief years have not come with them. This time, the cheerleaders of all things digital hope to hedge their bets by using the Web, and magazines more sparingly, to reach both a mass audience and the advertisers who seek them."
• The New York Times: Storytellers of 90's Innovation Plan Comebacks, However Modest (Registration required)
A Date With Google
The proposed price range for Google's upcoming IPO could be released this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. "The Internet search-engine company will unveil a proposed per-share price range for its initial public offering as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The sneak peek at the company's potential value will be disclosed in an updated IPO document to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, these people said," the paper reported. "The development signals that Google is moving closer to its IPO, which could come as soon as next month. People familiar with the matter said the time frame for the deal is fluid and could yet slip until September. Google is providing the range even though it plans to go public through an unconventional auction in which investors will play a role in determining the share price. That is because the SEC requires companies to provide pricing information."
• The Wall Street Journal: Google to Unveil Range For Its IPO Price Soon (Subscription required)
Filter is designed for hard-core techies, news junkies and technology professionals alike. Have suggestions, cool links or interesting tales to share? Send your tips and feedback to cindyDOTwebbATwashingtonpost.com. (Yes, those spammers have been having a lot of fun with my e-mail address lately.)
