The first round of iPhone reviews are in, and they're very good. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Newsweek all like Apple's sleek new device, particularly the touch-screen. However, the biggest gripe, which again was almost unanimous, came down to AT&T's wireless network, described as "pokey" (meaning slow). That's right, 2G just doesn't cut it for something this cool, and hopefully the limitations AT&T's network imposes on the iPhone will be a call to reform in the larger wireless industry. Wireless industry execs like Verizon's John Harrobin, senior vice president, marketing and digital media, contend that …

MySpace founders Chris De Wolfe and Tom Anderson plan to hold Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation hostage once their current contracts expire in October. According to the blog, the pair seeks $25 million over two years each, plus a development fund of $15 million to invest in Internet companies. Not that News Corp. is blinking. MySpace and its Fox Interactive Media siblings may be the key to the media giant's future, but it's also one of the cheapest companies on earth when it comes to executive compensation." However, the company is understood to have made a counter offer of …

About two years ago now, millions of MySpace users began uploading YouTube clips to their profile pages, which helped drive the YouTube movement to its eventual $1.65 billion conclusion. YouTube videos drove both companies, but since Google scooped up the online video giant last fall, MySpace hasn't known what to do with its partner/competitor. MySpace has now decided to challenge YouTube on its own turf by setting up an independent Web site for its video service. Called MySpace TV, the site will launch in 15 countries and 7 different languages. A few weeks ago, YouTube announced a similar …

The iPhone may boast a dazzling array of new features--from wireless Internet to 8 gigs of music and photo storage--but it all comes with a price tag every bit as hefty as Sony's flopping PlayStation 3, the world's most powerful video game console. It also does not work on AT&T's faster 3G network, which will make Web browsing slower when consumers aren't connected to a Wi-Fi network. Kate Rockwood, 24, a graduate student at Northwestern University, wanted an iPhone, but won't be getting one, citing a desire for a faster network speed and a longer battery life. She's happy …

"Flying blind," says the biz mag, "is the unavoidable consequence of coming to terms with today's most important demographic group: the digital elite who are in the vanguard of a fast-emerging global youth culture." But the risk-reward is very high. Just ask Unilver's Axe deodorant, whose marketing team was quaking in its boots when it green-lighted the catchphrase "Bom Chicka Wah Wah" created by its agency BBH. That catchphrase was for a largely traditional media campaign; even trickier is the prospect of reaching the digital generation on its own turf: the Internet. Social networking and other Web 2.0 …

Social networking penetration is at a whopping 96% among those 9-17, according to Alloy Media & Marketing. That figure refers to teens who connect to a social network at least once a week--they even use them to connect with their parents in many cases. In fact, report author Samantha Skey encouraged parents to become engaged with and involved in social networking. "This generation of teens isn't embarrassed by" talking with their parents via networks; doing so would make them feel more "comfortable" about their teens using them. If there were a theme to the responses of those …

Google and Apple, whose stocks are hovering at all-time highs, have long been the darlings of the tech-heavy Nasdaq, partly because both companies have an uncanny ability to generate buzz. The operative word is cachet, and Apple at the moment trumps Google in that category. As Google struggles with privacy issues and mounting speculation over its "don't be evil" ethos, Apple hardly gets a bad word in the press. Its customers happily lap up its expensive products. In the last six months, Apple's stock has been riding the iPhone wave, starting with the January announcement at Macworld, followed by …

Apple's new mobile phone may be Wi-Fi enabled, but most hot spots are either pay-for or password protected, which means iPhone content will still mostly run on AT&T's 2G wireless network. If it's widely adopted, WiMax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) technology could soon change the Internet and mobile wireless industries. Compared to DSL service and mobile carriers' 2 and even 3G networks, WiMax allows more data to travel faster over a much more expansive territory. Imagine having high-speed wireless Internet everywhere without needing to switch networks every few hundred feet. Sprint Nextel, having invested some $3 …

At Google's press day in Paris last week, CEO Eric Schmidt dropped several hints that it would be furthering its partnership with Apple, especially the company's forthcoming iPhone. Earlier in the week, Google said it would make YouTube videos available for free on the iPhone, which would sync to Wi-Fi networks. That announcement stoked speculation that the companies would seek further integration, which was affirmed at the press event by Schmidt. "You should expect other announcements between the two companies over time," he said. "The iPhone is a powerful new device and is going to be particularly good for …

The rise of social networks has pushed providers of organizing software to the margins somewhat. These sites also provide tools like calendars and bulletin boards, so friends can keep themselves up-do-date. In light of this consumer shift, Plaxo, one of these address book organizers, is fighting back. On Monday, the 6-year-old company created a new Web-based program which lets users open up their online datebooks to build their own social networks. Called Plaxo 3.0, the new, free service lets friends synchronize information locked inside programs from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google Apple, Mozilla and many mobile phones. The free service …