With Google intending to bid on valuable 700 mhz spectrum up for auction by the FCC next month, can we expect a new player in the U.S. mobile service provider space? Analysts and Silicon Valley journalists aren't betting on it. Google and advocacy groups (lobbyists) pushed earlier this year for consumer freedom to choose their own mobile device and software application for the new wireless network once it's launched by the winning bidder. Just as open source developers and startups are forcing Microsoft to evolve, Google is pressuring mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T into a more consumer-friendly business model. First Android, then the Open Handset Alliance. I'm rooting for more choice. 
Did you see the Republican presidential debate this week? Not to worry. Catch the highlights. Thirteen of the 20 most popular YouTube videos tonight as of 7 p.m. PST were from Wednesday's live broadcast of the debate on CNN (for you kids, that's a cable news network on television). This CNNTube Effect is yet another example of the Internet's growing symbiotic relationship with traditional television news media. More than 1.4 million people had viewed the 13 newly posted debate videos. YouTube is trending near the top of all sites visited on the Internet. In early 2006, it passed CNN's website, which of late has been experiencing a traffic decline, according to Alexa the Web Information Company (see graphic). Yes, CNN the television network commands a robust audience, but many of its viewers think YouTube is a merely a mispronounciation of Boob Tube. Do they vote more? We'll see. The 18-24 demographic is flexing its muscle. YouTube and CNN are a great marriage. Content is still king. And broader distribution of that content benefits everyone. Just ask Ron Paul's campaign, whose own YouTube channel counts 38,647 subscribers and 6.2 million channel views.
Google's new feature "My Location" for its mobile maps application is groovy. Because it's in beta and 85% of us don't have GPS-enabled mobile phones, we can't be too picky about accuracy. I tried it tonight on a Blackberry 8130 from my living room to learn that my house is on the freeway. OK, not quite. A shaded larger area the shape of blue circle is the best Google can do if your cellphone is not GPS-enabled. Within that circle is my house, with about 100 others. Cell towers provide signals to draw these coordinates. From a non-GPS cellphone, you'll still need to type in a real start address and destination if you want the best directions from point A to B (or ask a cabbie or concierge when on the road). Here's is one funky thing I also learned: If you're using the mobile maps to find a hospital in my neighborhood, be flexible. From the downstairs living room on the west side of the house, a search with keyword hospital produced first on the list Intellidot Corporation (not a hospital). But from the upstairs office on the east side of the house, the same search performed spot on: Pomerado Hospital appeared at the top. Progress.
In the wake of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and even the upstart Buy Nothing Day, what phraseology helped consumers make sense of last Tuesday? Call it Tally Tuesday. But how great it would be to see a breakout of data for money spent by consumers on the four days following Thanksgiving.
As a follow-up to my Nov. 17 post, I noticed that San Diego-based Slacker has posted additional Portable Player product photographs (a handful of new UI screen shots) to its website. But it still needs more to tell a great story. To their credit, the Slacker team is including a link in customer emails to video from an October segment that CNN ran on the company. 
