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“Integrated innovation” was a Bill Gates mantra, and may leave the building when he retires. But even without Bill’s blessing, outsiders often imagine Microsoft quickly stitching different products together into a more coherent whole. For example, why can’t Microsoft operate a single download marketplace offering music, video, and games, and make that marketplace accessible from the Media Center interface,
Xbox Live,
Zune PC software, and its Mediaroom IPTV system? And come to think of it, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined Microsoft’s board of directors last year–why not offer movie rentals as well?

(Credit: Microsoft)

Meanwhile, we haven’t seen Microsoft trumpet any NPD figures for the holiday season, which leads me to believe that Zune 2.0 didn’t sell very well, and is probably not in the No. 2 spot that Microsoft was aiming for.

Two fellow Microsoft-watchers, Todd Bishop of the Seattle P-I and Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, have both commented on the move of former Media Center leader Joe Belfiore to the Zune team, which Directions on Microsoft noticed in our latest tracking of the Microsoft organizational structure. (Todd called me for comment and quotes me in his blog posting, but I haven’t talked to Mary Jo about this, and am not the anonymous source she cites–I have no knowledge of the initiative she’s blogging about.) Belfiore oversaw Microsoft’s eHome initiative, which created the Media Center PC, and his background in video could indeed mean that Microsoft is considering building a video marketplace for Zune.

The trouble with such scenarios is that they’re easy to draw on a whiteboard but complicated to execute. Say you combine the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Zune Marketplace–how do you cut the 10 million current Xbox Live customers over to the new service without interruptions? How do you tailor the interface and featured content to the device accessing it? How do you convince owners of movies and downloadable video games, who thought they were licensing content to a relatively closed system (Xbox Live) to offer that content to millions of Internet-connected PCs, where the risk of piracy is higher? Worse yet, if you decide to take the tough road of integration, by the time you’ve coordinated development between all the different product teams, alerted partners and the sales channel to the new strategy, and finished the long march, the market may already have moved on to the next big thing.

In other words: Zune as a music-focused player is not competitive, and Microsoft has a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to make something new out of it. We could see a bunch of Zune-branded devices with slightly different feature sets–the “traditional” Zune might add video content and simple games, but we could also see Zune-branded devices focused on portable gaming (competing with the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS) and with telephony functions (competing with the
iPhone), but all featuring music playback and using the Zune software. Or, the brand might disappear entirely and be replaced by the next greatest thing ever. Whatever the precise brands and products look like, Microsoft isn’t giving up on the portable entertainment space, and music will continue to be a part of that initiative.

Then again…Rick Thompson, who at one time worked in the same broad business group as Belfiore (looking at “advanced scenarios” for Windows PCs) and has a background in the Microsoft Hardware division, is also a vice president in the Zune group, having moved there last October. Does that mean that Microsoft wants more hardware expertise on the team? Xbox guru J Allard continues to be involved as well, and we know that Microsoft’s looking at developing games for the Zune. Then there’s the whole Danger acquisition and rumored Zune phone.

Lots of cooks in the Zune kitchen these days.

(Credit:
TestandDestroy.com)

The Sonim XP1 has been lauded as a “tough and strong” phone. CreativeFeed, a digital marketing agency, has decided to put it to the test.

It’s launched a Web site that features “The Destroyer”–a machine-operated hammer that will pummel the phone 24 hours a day live over the Intertubes until it breaks.

Visitors to the Web site have a chance to win the Sonim XP1 handset if they can correctly guess how long it will take for the phone to break/crack/explode, and how many hits it will take before that happens. The site includes a hint line that you can call to get tips on how high you should place your bets.

While this is an interesting way to promote a phone, personally I would love to have seem them hire a body builder, give him a huge mallet, and let him go to town. I guess then the contest would be over in less than a minute. Imagine how fun that would be to watch though.

Kevin McCabe, senior product manager of PubCenter, announced the move at the AdSpace conference Wednesday. People can sign up for the beta service at the PubCenter site, though it’s only open to people in the United States at present.

Via LiveSide.net

Microsoft on Wednesday opened its PubCenter advertising service up for public beta testing, providing more of an alternative to Google’s AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network technology that places ads on publishers’ sites.

Click-through rates on such services typically are far lower than for ads on search engines. But the technology still is significant, particularly during the recession, in part because advertisers can bid for keywords and limit their investments only to areas where they see a return.

All the services scrutinize the content on a Web site and place advertisements the service deems to be relevant to that content. As with ads on search sites, the advertiser pays only when a reader clicks on one of the ads, and revenue is shared with the publisher and the company operating the ad service.

–Setup menu
Entertainment: Off
Energy saving: Off

One more note: Longtime readers of my reviews have come to expect them to be accompanied by picture settings that enable viewers to set up their TVs as I did for the review. Unfortunately, a (hopefully temporary) glitch prevents the publication of settings for the LN46A950 I reviewed. So, I’m including my picture settings below instead, and hopefully we’ll get that glitch cleared up soon.

White balance submenu
R-Offset: 26
G-Offset: 27
B-Offset: 26
R-Gain: 25
G-Gain: 19
B-Gain: 15

The extremely expensive A950 series, which also includes a 55-inch version, earns the right to charge so much because it employs LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to create the light behind the screen, whereas most flat-panel LCDs use florescent lights. The difference is that LEDs can be dimmed or turned off in dark areas of the screen.

As anybody who pays attention to the ubiquitous Samsung ads that run in CNET’s home theater section can tell you, last year I called the picture quality of the company’s LN-T4681F a “breakthrough” for flat-panel LCDs. I didn’t resort to such highly descriptive language in my review of its successor, the LN46A950, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t impressed. It can produce the deepest shade of black of any flat-panel LCD I’ve reviewed so far.

Last year I noted that the LED-backlit Samsung, while capable of producing some very deep black levels of its own, suffered from some blooming effects–where especially bright objects on dark backgrounds are surrounded by a dim glow–and worse-than average off-angle performance. So did the company correct these issues in its second generation?

The following product is available:

On Sale Now: $1,479.95 – $1,599.89
View the latest prices for Samsung LN46A950

Picture options submenu
Color tone: Warm2
Size: Just Scan
Digital NR: Off
DNIe: [grayed out]
HDMI black level: [grayed out]
Film mode: [grayed out]
Blue only mode: Off
Auto motion plus 120Hz: Off
Smart LED: On

Below you’ll find the settings we found best for viewing the Samsung LN46A950 in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080p, film-based source. Your settings may very depending on source, room conditions and personal preference. Check out the Picture settings and calibration FAQ for more information.

Detailed settings submenu
Black adjust: Off
Dynamic contrast: Off
Gamma: +1
Color space: Auto
Flesh tone: 0
Edge enhancement: Off
xvYCC: Off
LED Motion Plus: On

–Picture menu
Mode: Movie
Backlight: 10
Contrast: 97
Brightness: 44
Sharpness: 0
Color: 53
Tint: G50/R50

Read the full review of the Samsung LN46A950.

New or relatively obscure artists might have to turn to an organization like ArtistShare or Sellaband to get listeners to fund a professional-level recording project, but established artists have an easier way: they can ask their fans. (Or have their mothers do it.)

That’s what Jill Sobule has done. She’s best known for her minor 1995 hit “I Kissed a Girl,” but has released several albums since then. Unfortunately, she’s had a lot of trouble with her labels–two have gone bankrupt, and another two have dropped her. So to fund her next recording, she’s soliciting fans on her site jillsnextrecord.com, and offering them exclusive perks based on how much they give: $25 gets you an advance copy of the CD, $200 gets you into all her shows for a year for free, and $5,000 gets her to play your party. Before the AP published a story about her earlier this week, she’d received more than $54,000 since mid-January; now, she’s at more than $66,000.

(Credit: Jill Sobule)

Would you pay $500 to have this singer mention your name on her next CD?

My only question is: 75,000? She explains that she wants to create a record that “kicks ass”–think big-name producer, professional studio musicians–plus do some serious promotion on it, but that seems pretty expensive for a recording by an independent musician. Money can’t necessarily buy a great recording–I’ve heard amazing full-length LPs recorded with SM-57s and 58s into a Roland VS-880, and we can all think of terrible recordings by artists with enormous budgets. Then again, if she can get that kind of money up front without capitulating to a label, more power to her.

Upon closing, Mubadala will:

• Commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden and construction of a new facility in upstate New York.

Advanced Micro Devices is shedding its cost-intensive chip-manufacturing operations in a bid to stay afloat financially.

• Have a right to designate a representative for election as a member of the board of directors of AMD.

Upon closing, The Foundry Company will:

• Elect a Mubadala designee as a member of its board of directors.

Here are the full details of Tuesday’s announcement, as listed in the press release from AMD and ATIC:

• Have a board of directors whose membership is equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC.

(Credit:
AMD)

Upon closing, ATIC will:

• Have its principal headquarters in Silicon Valley, and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems in New York, Dresden, and Austin, Texas;

• Own 44.4 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis.

• After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi.

• Be consolidated with AMD for purposes of financial reporting.

• Own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis.

The overall deal is expected to close at the beginning of 2009, the companies said.

• Expect to increase capacity through completing the 300mm conversion of a second state-of-the-art facility in Dresden in 2009.

• Purchase for an aggregate of $314 million 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares, giving it a total stake in AMD of 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis.

• Have equal voting rights with ATIC in The Foundry Company.

• Invest an initial $2.1 billion, of which $1.4 billion will be invested directly in the new company and $700 million will be paid directly to AMD.

AMD's Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany.

• Excluding its consolidation of The Foundry Company for financial reporting purposes, improve its net cash position by $2.1 billion, through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.1 billion in debt (net of approximately $100 million cash transferred by AMD to The Foundry Company) and cash payments from ATIC and Mubadala aggregating $1 billion.

• Begin construction of the Fab 4X manufacturing facility in New York in the middle of 2009, directly employing more than 1,400 workers in upstate New York when the facility is in full operation.

• Announce its permanent corporate name and identity.

• Improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company, and Mubadala’s purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares.

• Tightly focus on the design and development of the next generation of innovation based on the fusion of computing and graphics processing.

• Join the IBM technology development alliance for both SOI (silicon on insulator) and bulk silicon technology, greatly expanding the addressable market of The Foundry Company.

• Have only AMD and ATIC as stockholders, each of which at the closing will have equal voting rights.

• Have a total enterprise value of $5 billion, consisting of AMD’s contribution of manufacturing assets and intellectual property (including its fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany), intellectual capital and employees valued together at $2.4 billion; ATIC’s contribution of $1.4 billion in new capital; and $1.2 billion of debt assumed by The Foundry Company from AMD.

• Have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company.

• Have an exclusive supply agreement with limited exceptions to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products.

ATIC, which is based in Adu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, was formed this year. According to its Web site, ATIC is a tech investment company “wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.”

Artist's rendering of the planned Fab 4X in New York.

• Have the option, but not any requirement, to provide additional capital funding to The Foundry Company in response to future capital calls.

• Have an exclusive supply agreement with The Foundry Company, with limited exceptions, to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products.

Upon closing, AMD will:

In addition, Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development will increase its current investment in AMD to 19.3 percent. According to its site, six-year-old Mubadala’s “sole shareholder is the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.”

On Tuesday, AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Co. announced a broad restructuring plan that centers on the creation of a new entity, temporarily titled The Foundry Company, that will take over the manufacture of processors for AMD. Early word of the restructuring came Monday night.

• Be owned 44.4 percent by AMD and 55.6 percent by ATIC on a fully converted to common basis. ATIC’s economic ownership will increase over time based on the differences in securities held by AMD and ATIC, and depending on whether AMD elects to invest proportionately with ATIC in future capital infusions to support The Foundry Company’s growth.

(Credit:
AMD)

Here are the questions he answers:
A) How many wackos do you hear from in a day?
B) How do you handle said wackos?
C) Do you use elaborate file/folder systems?
D) How much of your day is spent on replying to e-mails?
E) How do you determine who gets a reply?
F) How often do you check e-mail?
G) What advice would you give to a public figure about what to watch out for if you publish your e-mail address?”

Over on the NY Times, David Pogue explains how he deals with the deluge of daily emails he receives.