Daily Links: (24.05.2010)

• Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more
• Broadcast TV's Youth Market Starts at 44
• Apple removes 'Get a Mac' ads from site, finalizing end ...
• Google tries where others failed: shaking up TV biz...
• Logitech To Create First Google TV Set-Top Box In Fall 2010 - HotHardware

Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more Considering the UX on some parts of Yahoo's Mail/Maps & IM , this really saddens me. I think Nokia has put out some of the more amazing things (outside of Apple) in terms of usability for the mobile market, but this can't bode well for continued success.

Broadcast TV's Youth Market Starts at 44 "Older masses are better than none at all" seems to be the sentiment about US broadcast TV within the article and I agree with the sentiment, but not the idea. Upfronts are a great idea of illustrating how a traditional media channel buying system is being shoe-horned into a new media world. Until a fleshed out, cross platform, buying system (and more importantly sales culture) is fully implemented, it seems that buying for reach without full efficiency will continue to be a fact of life.

Apple removes 'Get a Mac' ads from site, finalizing end ... It had to happen sooner or later, but I'm surprised that the ads won't still be hosted by Apple. Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads will go down as a brilliant entry to the recent history of advertising, but it seems like a combination of time, Microsoft's Windows 7 ad approach (actually the subject of my 1st post last year) & an orientation towards the iPad's promotion finally did them in. Good on Apple for not running a successful idea into the ground, but its also amazing how many were actually made and what they achieved.

Google tries where others failed: shaking up TV biz... I waited a few days after first hearing about this to post, as I believe my knee jerk reaction to Google TV may be wrong. In a world filled with Boxee's which can't access Hulu (meaning content still isn't as platform free as hardware is currently allowing) & Microsoft Xbox media extenders (who's implementation was bad enough that open soure X-box media center & a cracked Xbox destroyed them functionally), its easy to look at the Google TV idea and scoff. Perhaps this initial reaction will end up being true, but for the moment, I'm optimistic that Google may march through this particular elephant grave yard and place the flag where others have failed. With 3rd party support, a true content across mult. platforms approach and a clear, non-dilluted value proposition, Google may actually succeed where others have failed miserably.

Logitech To Create First Google TV Set-Top Box In Fall 2010 - HotHardware [See Above] If more 3rd party hardware makers like this can get on board, the risk can diffuse off Google a bit for the Google TV scheme. Integration across multiple platforms is key for this to work, since Web over TV is only one aspect of an all encompassing media solution. Selling anything less will begin to seem cheap and unappealing in the long run, regardless of short term benefits. 25 Most Attractive Black & White Websites I don't normally include a ton of web design examples in the blog, but the way addition and subtraction of color was used in these was really inspiring. Its always useful to keep up on what people are doing in web design, even if one isn't directly related to it, and these serve as a reminder of what a good designer can do while still staying simple.