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This last week was filled with events that made me wonder how many of our leaders had sent their brains to wacky land. On the political front, the U.S. president, our president, threatened financial default and elderly folks on fixed social security incomes in order to get the U.S. credit limit raised. Threatening old defenseless folks always works so very well, and the collapse of the U.S. credit rating would do wonders (he says sarcastically) for the U.S. recovery. ...

"The weakness Amazon has is they're going to have a tough time getting them on shelves, since it's a great shopping device," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times Retail Power to the Rescue...

"In a few months, Kindles are expected to drop below $100, and that, combined with the fact that the Google library isn't very attractive, make the Iriver Story HD a non-starter except for Google employees and readers that just want a lot of old, free books," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld...

Last week, Facebook launched its video chat, and it once again reminded me that CEOs really should read the book Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, because Zuckerberg was really boring. Saying that this was going to be an "awesome" announcement and showcasing basic video chat and group text chat was, and I'm being kind, disappointing. Still, Facebook does have something amazing here -- I just don't think it's worked out yet. But I do think this is the beginning of something big. ...

"Availability doesn't equate to use," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, pointed out Facebook has "made video chat available to millions" through its tie-in with Skype, but "those same millions have been able to do desktop video conferencing on Skype and othe...

It "has relationships with music providers that rivals Apple's," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "They've been in music for years as a retailer, while Apple is a hardware provider. So Amazon has a core area of strength in music. Plus, they're not tied to any hardware product. They make sure their product works on everything. They're the Switzerland. They stay neutral, and they're very good at doing that."

"Clearly, this connection is good news for Microsoft and bad for Google in terms of share, but it isn't the same thing as Bing being favored," Rob Enderle, principal of the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times. What it does illustrate, however, is that Microsoft can get t...

I just came back from Dell's financial analyst meeting, and the firm is doing amazingly well. That wasn't the way it was a few years ago when folks were calling for a shakeup at the top. Michael Dell, along with an excellent team, turned the firm around, and he kind of did it by channeling Steve Jobs. ...

"They're trying to establish and build a preference for the Google experience so people favor their products," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, remarked This is "positioned directly against similar efforts from Microsoft and Apple," Enderle told TechNewsWor...

"Companies like General Dynamics have massive legal departments and wouldn't pay a fee if they didn't think they owed the money," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, pointed out Itronix did not respond to requests for comment by press time....

OK, last week was a really interesting week. We had AMD basically divorcing itself from Intel's model after living under Intel's shadow from inception; we had Google repeating yet another of Microsoft's greatest mistakes; we had IBM repeat a famous political debate by basically saying Oracle wasn't an enterprise vendor anymore; and we had Harry Potter's author begin to kill off publishers and book stores. ...

"The FTC called up Google and said, 'You've been naughty boys,'" Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "Now Google is going down the same path Microsoft went down. Congress wanted to look at them as well, and they thumbed their nose at Congress. They said, 'No, we're not coming.' Instead, they sent their chief counsel. You don't snub Congress. As rich as they are, they're not a government yet."

"What we're seeing is a product that has Windows Phone 7 at the core but is uniquely Nokia," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld "Think of it as a super-smartphone, a product with all of the connectivity and features of a WP7 phone, all of t...

Last week, HP started down the unfortunate path of taking Oracle to court over the statements it has made about Itanium, the technology HP shares with Intel. This is reminding me a lot of an ugly divorce -- and given that the 140,000 customers Oracle and HP share are kind of like their kids, I think some strong parallels can be drawn. ...

"Their Smart Cities initiative is impressive," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "It's a program for cities of the world, designed to make them more efficient and make their services more cost-effective. That's a major undertaking. They're looking at everything above and underneath the cities."

Apple and Microsoft are competitors, and while both companies are clearly more concerned with Google than each other at the moment, they serve as a great example of why good, well-funded marketing is important. ...

"Nintendo is the only one who is doing a console refresh for the living room," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "But the Wii U is getting called the 'P.U.' because of the difficulty players are having with the motion controller. It's been difficult for users because it's big. It has a five-inch screen."

"Just because someone posts the text of a Harry Potter book on the Web doesn't mean anyone else who copies it won't get sued for copyright infringement," Rob Enderle, principal at the Enderle Group, pointed out "This doesn't affect ownership and might actually make it easier t...

"Even the applause seemed synchronized," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld Enderle -- who watched the two announcements simultaneously -- picked Microsoft as the winner.

Last week marked the beginning of a big experiment for me: first living and then retiring outside of the U.S. I figure there are a lot of boomers like me who are exploring this idea as we become increasingly concerned about the costs of living in our chosen country and the inability of governments to balance budgets. ...