Count me among the skeptics who see Google’s Chrome OS announcement this week as, first and foremost, an effort to induce pain in its longtime rival Microsoft. And a pointless one at that.

Many people writing about Chrome OS have argued that there’s a sound business strategy behind it, that of leading to more Google ads for us to click on. While I agree in principle, I also think it’s easy to overstate the benefit to Google: Isn’t most of its revenue already coming from surfers using Windows-based PCs? And yes, many PCs take minutes to boot up and hours to configure – as Google cattily pointed out in arguing how computers (read: Windows) “need to get better” — but will we really use the time saved to click on sponsored links? I doubt it. Continue »

At the Nokia World 2008 conference, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo waxed eloquent about the N97 handset, its highest-end phone and described it as “world’s most advanced mobile computer” He went on to say, “We are, in fact, transforming the Internet. Putting in your hands the power to be more in tune with the world around you.” The device has finally launched, and those bold claims by Olli-Pekkas aside, the N97 is barely making a wave in this summer of the superphone. Continue »

The biggest Android news by far this week actually dealt with the release of another platform from Google. The search giant announced Chrome OS, an operating system targeting netbooks and desktops. As part of the announcement, Google made it clear that Android will stay around and will be separate from the new OS, clearing up questions of whether Chrome would mean the end of the smartphone operating system. Android had been discussed as a platform for netbooks, but it seems that Chrome will get that role, at least next year. Continue »

While broadband service provider networks and utilities’ two-way smart grids belong together, the utilities are acting like a reluctant bride in an arranged marriage. Reasonable adults can see that combining the two is a good idea, but utilities and communications companies are oftentimes miles apart over standards, access and security. As a result, utilities are resisting any forced union that would involve hooking up their meters to customers’ broadband connections rather than a private network.

And that’s a shame, given how combining broadband and utility-provided smart meters could help consumers access web-based applications from Google’s PowerMeter to Microsoft’s Hohm, and to deliver innovative services such as tweets about home energy consumption. It’s also cheaper to use a home’s broadband than for a utility to build its own network. And data can be displayed to the customer a lot faster, too, because the speed of a normal broadband connection is generally faster than a utility’s private network. It can take as long as 24 hours to display the info back to the consumer on utility networks. Continue »

Updated with comment from Pandora: Internet radio provider Pandora Media has raised $35 million in new funding, peHUB is reporting, just two days after the company celebrated the establishment of a royalty deal that ends years of negotiation with record labels and content owners. It’s not clear whether there are new investors involved or whether the funding comes from existing backers. Stakeholders in Pandora include Crosslink Capital, WaldenVC, Selby Venture Partners and Labrador Ventures. Continue »

Rick Marini, who co-founded Tickle.com, the quiz site that Monster.com acquired for $100 million in 2004 and later abandoned, is back with SuperFan. The site, which went live this week, is a social network where people can join the fan pages of various celebrities, bands, sports teams and other pop culture icons and compete to win control of their favorites.

SuperFan has two notable things going for it: the integration of game mechanics directly into the site, and a solid team behind the scenes. The company’s board includes proven names such as Rapture’s Sean Fanning, WonderHill’s James Currier and social gaming application guru Blake Commagere. Plus, all of SuperFan’s employees came from Tickle. As for the site itself, it incorporates game mechanics and quizzes –- Tickle’s stickiest feature -– to both monetize it and augment the amount of time people spend on it, something fan pages on Facebook and MySpace don’t do. Continue »