Links for December 17th through December 28th

I’ve been on vacation for Christmas; the links have been building up. Here’s a long list of links for your holiday reading pleasure.

• I’m the mayor! So what?
  More for the Better Junk Mail file. The comments are good for attempts to explain the value of location-based services, and tech-nerd sentiment: "The only beneficiaries of these systems [like Foursquare and Gowalla] are the owners of their vast user-compiled consumer databases." — they're like "loyalty cards" and coupons: artificial devices to allow companies to track you and control your spending.
• Sunday Reading for 2010
  A dark view of 2010 to throw along side those more rosy, Western re-caps.
• My Last Day at Microsoft – On to New Adventures in SF!
  "I received and accepted an offer last week to work at Juniper Networks as their Director of Community Evangelism."
• TUAW's Daily App: The 7th Guest
  It came from The CD-ROM!
• More Detailed Patterns In Status Updates Found
• TIBCO’s 2010: maintaining momentum, branching out
  "Earlier in December Robin Bloor at The Virtual Circle pointed out that as a company whose market cap has grown around 140% over the past year, TIBCO is currently one of the fastest-growing technology companies of significant size (that is, discounting startups which – if they’re attractive – typically grow in value very fast from a very small base). This annual result shows that the company is doing a good job of maintaining momentum."
• He who controls the screen controls the universe! The grand plans of Steve Jobs reach far beyond the smartphone wars.
• October 5-6, 2010
  Minutes of the meeting were the final nail was put in the ASF's coffin at the JCP: "and finally concluded that Apache Harmony sets the stage for an inevitable fork. Even if Apache Harmony itself strictly complied with the TCK there is no ability to enforce compliance downstream (Apache cannot guarantee that either Apache communities or downstream users will strictly comply with compatibility requirements.) Consequently, Oracle has concluded that they cannot grant Apache a TCK license."
• What Makes Red Hat Tick?
  They take market share from (mostly legacy) accounts, the piece proposes.
• My Software/Hardware/Services of 2010
• Austin's Appconomy raises $1M
• Katz's is closing Jan. 2
• You Reap What You Sow
  "So if I were talking to a young writer, I would recommend the cultivation of extreme indifference to both praise and blame because praise will lead you to vanity, and blame will lead you to self-pity, and both are bad for writers."
• Great Man Theory
  nothing is new: "The student of history is like a man going into a warehouse to buy cloths or carpets. He fancies he has a new article. If he goes to the factory, he shall find that his new stuff still repeats the scrolls and rosettes which are found on the interior walls of the pyramids of Thebes."
• Adobe declares glittering results as CEO says Apple’s Flash ban has no impact on its revenue
  Nice, quick break-down of Adobe revenue.
• US not interested in protecting Europeans' data, says EU
  Data wars – totally cyberpunk, man.
• Help Map the Austin Mobile Scene
• Apple to drop app downloads from Mac OS X site next month
• Lonely Planet Drops App Prices To Get Noticed At Christmas
  I like the idea that the app store model allows you to play with pricing – have sales – in an interesting way. It's hard to have a sale on a service (a SaaS) or something that's free.
• The Mac App Store: Who Wins, Who Loses In the Apple Channel?
  Apple going for the desktop windmill.
• Microsoft – More than 1.5 million Windows Phone 7s sold to date
• BP taps HP for IT ops
• Gmail’s Holiday Gift: Another Year Of Free Calling To The U.S. And Canada
• Amazon EC2 ramps up cloud offerings with Oracle apps
• Foursquare Checks In Comments And Pictures; Instagram, PicPlz, Foodspotting On Board
  I have to tell you: personally, I don't care about geo-crap like checking in…but professionally, it's fascinating and important.
• Cash Cow Disease: The Cognitive Decline of Microsoft and Google
  Dark view on companies wasting share-holder money on things like "20% time," ruining the fun for developers of leisure, but probably right: "Sure, Google and Microsoft can hire the smartest minds in the business — but cash cow disease keeps that brainpower derailed into projects that don’t have to stand the test of the marketplace (new programming language, anyone?)."
• Analyst technology predictions 2011
  A wrap up of lots of analyst predictions.
• Nokia and W+K: The disconnect between developer marketing and outreach
  Make sure developer events are, you know, technical, of not deeply so: "I do hear about these kind of things all the time. Really good marketing, but rubbish actual ‘connectivity’ — so it’s great if you’d like a free drink, but rather frustrating if, like Simon, you actually want to get things done."
• Former Dell, AMD managers accused of insider trading
  The Justice Dept. has it out for insider trading in tech now-a-days!
• My travel sucked more this year. Thanks TripIt.
• Role of Automation in Cloud Computing by CA Technologies
  A webinar I recently did about automation and the cloud.

Disclosure: see the RedMonk client list for clients mentioned.