dylan tweney

Steve Jobs, the cofounder and former chief executive of Apple, has died. He was 56.

Jobs was a visionary leader who, more than any other single person, reshaped the face of consumer technology.

He was often quoted as saying “we’re here to put a dent in the universe.” He did exactly that.

From his earliest computers, co-developed with Steve Wozniak, to the smartphones and tablets that his company developed, Jobs showed a singleminded dedication to building products that were easier to use, better-looking and more intuitively useful than what had gone before.

He liked to say that Apple’s products were “magical,” and if that’s the case, he was the marketing and technology magician behind the curtain.

And if they weren’t exactly magic, Apple’s products were certainly a sufficiently advanced technology.

Read the story: Steve Jobs made a dent in the universe | VentureBeat.

Software is eating the world, storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently wrote — and from his perspective, it certainly looks like it. But that’s only part of the picture.

It’s true that the fastest-growing companies in a variety of markets are driven by their deep understanding of software. Andreessen cites Amazon, Netflix, Skype, Pandora and Zynga as examples.

… And yet, if you’re concerned about the long-term shape of technology, software is only one dimension of many. Arguably, hardware makers and service providers exert far more control over the future direction of technology. When I look at the companies that will make a difference to my future (and my children’s), I’m more concerned about the latter.

Read the full story: Dylan’s Desk: Software is not eating the world | VentureBeat.

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Apple fans who expected an iPhone 5 today were disappointed.

Instead, all Apple unveiled was a phone that’s 2 times faster, with 7 times faster graphics rendering. It’s got a battery that’s good for a full day of talking, almost, and more than 3 solid days of listening to music. The camera is substantially improved, with a faster, f2.4 lens and an 8 megapixel sensor, and it records 1080p HD video. It’s a worldphone, meaning it will work on just about any cellular network around the world, both CDMA and GSM.

Oh, and you can talk to your phone, and it will answer your questions, thanks to a new feature called Siri.

Full story: It’s not the iPhone 5, but the iPhone 4S looks pretty amazing | VentureBeat.

More great coverage of the iPhone 4S launch from VentureBeat:

• Live at Apple’s iPhone 5/ iPhone 4S event
• So long iPhone 5, hello iPhone 4S: Same exterior, powerful new internals
• Apple is now shipping greeting cards (seriously)
• Apple debuts Siri, a voice assistant for iOS
• 10 things you need to know about the iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4S coming to Sprint, not an exclusive deal
• Apple updates iPod line with cheaper Nano and Touch

The arrival of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, a $199 tablet, in a market dominated by $500 models looks like an obvious case of price disruption.

Not so fast, says Horace Dediu, an analyst at Asymco: Amazon’s margins are too thin to allow it to compete on the tablet’s core technology. It’s an interesting counterpoint to the arguments that most observers have made in the wake of the Kindle Fire’s launch.

The Kindle Fire, announced earlier this week and shipping November 15, costs just under $200. For that, you get a dual-core processor, a 7-inch LCD screen, a modified Android operating system, and some enticing cloud-based features that let you access your books, music, movies and more via an internet connection. There’s even a promising-sounding browser, called Silk, which uses Amazon’s cloud infrastructure to speed up browsing by pre-fetching and cacheing pages you are likely to click on.

Continue reading: Can the Kindle Fire disrupt the tablet market? Not so fast | VentureBeat.

A small Detroit-based company has plans to reinvent the way restaurants, cafes and stores take money from customers.

Own is aiming to make a point-of-sale (POS) system that doesn’t just reinvent the cash register, it turns it into a node on a web-connected information system. Its solution combines the slickness of tablet hardware, the optimization of a custom operating system and the flexibility of a cloud-based infrastructure to make it all happen.

That is, if it works. The company has been testing its system with about 20 beta customers in the Detroit area. It just secured an $850,000 investment round led by Detroit Venture Partners, and plans to move the engineering team to Silicon Valley by mid-October.

Full story: Own takes aim at point-of-sale with ambitious hardware, software and cloud product | VentureBeat.

We’ve pulled this story down after talking further with the startup involved. We apologize to the startup and to TechCrunch.

via How TechCrunch’s back-room deals destroy its credibility | VentureBeat.

Amazon’s announcement of the Kindle Fire today threw down the gauntlet for both tablets and e-book readers. At just $199, it’s not much more expensive than previous e-readers, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than competing tablets.

In fact, you might be asking yourself: Why would I want a drab, monochrome E Ink reader when for a little bit more money I could get an awesome 7-inch tablet?

Conversely, why would I spend $500 and up for an iPad or Galaxy Tab when I could get a slightly smaller tablet for a fraction of the price?

We’re glad you asked. We can help you answer both questions. Here are the features, pros and cons of a number of tablets and e-book readers, sorted by price from low to high.

Read the whole roundup: Kindle, Nook, Kobo or iPad: Which tablet or e-reader should you buy? | VentureBeat.

Each week, I’m writing a column on business and technology called Dylan’s Desk. Subscribe here, and you can read my columns a whole day before they appear on the VentureBeat website.

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Like a backroom brawler, Apple’s iPad has taken on one tablet challenger after another, and kicked the ass of every single one.

Now comes a new contender: Amazon.com, which we expect will be launching a $250 tablet on Wednesday, September 28. Will the new tablet, rumored to be named the Kindle Fire, have what it takes to knock out the champion?

Full story: Dylan’s Desk: Amazon’s Kindle tablet is ready to take on the iPad | VentureBeat.

Entrepreneur and hacker Nik Cubrilovic reports that Facebook can track the web pages you visit even when you are logged out of Facebook.

According to Cubrilovic’s tests, Facebook merely alters its tracking cookies when you log out, rather than deleting them. Your account information and other unique identifiable tokens are still present in these cookies, which means that any time you visit a web page with a Facebook button or widget, your browser is still sending personally identifiable information back to Facebook.

Full story: Facebook tracks what you do online, even when you’re logged out | VentureBeat.