> As business models go, there are currently two dominant ones: either people like your product enough to purchase it or they don’t care enough to buy it but will overlook its deficiencies if it’s “free” in exchange for their personal browsing and purchasing info sold to advertisers. The former model is Apple’s, the latter is Google’s. via [counternotions.com](http://counternotions.com/2010/12/28/the-unbearable-inevitability-of-being-android-1995/)Great article, as usual, from Counternotions. Amazing to me how few people understand this fundamental difference between Apple and Google.…

> [Google](http://topics.sfgate.com/topics/Google), stepping up competition with Amazon.com, will open an online store for electronic versions of books in the [United States](http://topics.sfgate.com/topics/United_States) this year and internationally in 2011, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans. > > The Mountain View company is working with book publishers to sell hundreds of thousands of e-books, said the person, who asked not to be identified because details of the project haven’t been made public. > > Google intends to use its…

> So this latest report, in which Gene apparently just polled the families living on his block, seems beyond disingenuous. The margin of error on a group of 65 people is so high that it makes the results of the iPad vs. Galaxy Tab study all but meaningless, and further demonstrates the insidious, dangerous power of some analysts and their fantasy football stock manipulations. The moral of the story? Next time you see the names Gene and Munster in the same sentence, don’t just take the news with a grain…

> **Sony’s price slashing promotion for its new Blu-Ray Google TV appliance indicates additional trouble for the Android-based device, following a content blockade imposed by television broadcasters, a rash of unenthusiastic reviews, and the fragmentation issues endemic to Android.** > > Sony announced a promotional $100 price cut on its $399 Google TV device, an unusually deep discount for a brand new product, especially for Sony. While the company offered a variety of Black Friday discounts on other Blu-Ray products, none approached the 25 percent off fire sale of its new Google…

> German home-owners > who have chosen to opt out of Google’s Street View service appear > to have become the unsuspecting victims of anti-privacy > vandals. > > Local media report that homes in Essen, west Germany have been > pelted with eggs and had ‘Google’s cool’ notices pinned to their > doors. > > The properties involved have all chosen to be blurred on > Google’s Street View service. via [instapaper.com](http://www.instapaper.com/text?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftechnology-11827862&article=98272763)And people say Apple fans are zealots?…