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Anybody want to run the music division of the world’s biggest media company? Because Google is hiring: The search giant is casting about for an executive to run its music service, which doesn’t actually exist yet.

Industry sources tell me Google has talked to several digital media executives about the job, but has yet to hire anyone. I’ve asked Google for comment and will update if I get one.

At first glance, this scenario sounds a bit like the one that MySpace went through two years ago, when it built out MySpace Music, then hired president Courtney Holt from MTV after the service had launched. In this case, though, Google hasn’t formally announced the music service and doesn’t have deals with the big music labels in place yet.

It does have executives working on the service, though. YouTube has loaned out general counsel Zahavah Levine for some time, and earlier this summer Google  (GOOG) brought on another attorney, music veteran Elizabeth Moody, to help put the thing together. And I as should have pointed out earlier (thanks to a reader for the nudge), Android head Andy Rubin is very much involved, as the project is tied to his mobile operating system.

And what, exactly, is Google Music going to be? Good question. Most music executives I talk to imagine that Google would eventually like to run a cloud-based streaming music service. But my hunch is that Google’s initial plan will be a less-ambitious download store, a la Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes–which is due for its own upgrade very soon.

There’s been a bit of bloggery agonizing of late about the possibility that no one is listening to the endless stream of sharing via status updates and other social networking tools.

As in, if a check-in falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

It’s a good question to answer, given all the effort being put into the social medium.

And here is a bracing diatribe on the subject by Loren Feldman of 1938 Media, which is well worth a listen:

By Beth Callaghan

Hewlett-Packard, which seems to be losing its bidding war with Dell for 3Par, announced this morning that it has acquired Stratavia, a privately held company that specializes in enterprise database configuration and management and will strengthen HP’s offerings to automate data centers and cloud operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

In debates about online privacy, one question always seems to crop up: What’s the harm? How can harm come from a breach of privacy if there’s no fraud and the information isn’t used for, say, identity theft? When the only thing that seems to be wrong is a feeling of “creepiness,” what should that be called?

Ryan Calo, senior research fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University Law School, has been trying to answer that question. This summer, he released a draft of a paper titled the Boundaries of Privacy Harm that is set to be published in the Indiana Law Journal next year.

Calo spoke with Digits about privacy harm and how it applies in the digital world. His condensed comments are below.

Why do we need to define privacy harm?

If you look at regulations of abortion or sodomy or contraception, the Supreme Court looked at these as privacy issues. But a lot of people would say you can’t regulate sex between two people of the same gender, not because it happens in private but because it’s an equality issue. … In order to surface these values, we need to draw a line and say that not everything is privacy.

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It’s been nearly three months since Netflix CEO Reed Hastings debuted the company’s iPhone app at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, and this morning it finally shipped (iTunes link). Beginning today, paying Netflix (NFLX) subscribers can view the company’s “Watch Instantly” library on their iPhones and iPod touches, as well as on their iPads. Like its larger sibling, it’s a slick little app that extends a respectable and growing video-on-demand service to Apple’s (AAPL) smaller iOS devices.

By Beth Callaghan

This morning, Cisco Systems signaled a deeper move into digital video management and announced its intent to acquire ExtendMedia, a privately held company that provides content-management systems for video with a special focus on multiscreen offerings and IP video. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Looks like Dell has managed to fend off Hewlett-Packard in the battle for 3Par–for the time being.

This morning Dell (DELL) raised its bid for the data-storage vendor to $1.6 billion, topping the one Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) announced on Monday. Dell’s sweetened offer of $24.30 per share is 30 cents a share higher than HP’s and $6.30 a share higher than its first offer of $18 per share, or $1.15 billion. It’s also a 152 percent premium over 3Par’s (PAR) closing price of $9.65 the day before Dell’s offer became public.

In a statement, Dell said that the data-storage provider has accepted its latest offer and the revised deal is expected to close before year end.

Assuming HP doesn’t circle back with another offer. Ultimately, Dell’s latest bid is only 30 cents a share higher than HP’s. Given the cash on HP’s balance sheets–some $14.7 billion–a counter is certainly possible.

By Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

It’s Steven Spielberg’s futuristic “Minority Report” come to life.

Marketing companies are experimenting with a new wave of digital technologies to pitch to consumers while they shop: interactive dressing-room mirrors, kiosks with virtual customer-service representatives, and shopping carts and digital scanners that offer personalized discounts.

These futuristic technologies are among the interactive tools on display at Interpublic Group of Cos.’ new retail center at the advertising company’s Media Lab in Los Angeles.

There, Interpublic is testing innovative ways for marketers to connect with customers as part of an effort to better understand what makes consumers buy and to encourage companies to rethink their approaches to the role of the retail store.

Retailers are grappling with lackluster sales and consumers who are dissatisfied with the store experience as online shopping with its related interactivity becomes mainstream. Shopper satisfaction at retail stores is declining up to 15 percent a year, according to an ongoing IPG Media Lab study of more than 10,000 North American shoppers.

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With no true rival to challenge it, the iPad will likely continue to dominate the tablet market for at least the next two years. According to new estimates from iSuppli, Apple’s (AAPL) device will claim 74.1 percent of the tablet market in 2010. And while that share is certain to slip as worthy competitors emerge, it won’t slip that much. By 2012 the iPad will still hold about 61.7 percent of the market, leaving the remainder to the horde of tablets following it.

“Companies are quickly developing products that match or exceed some of the surface hardware specifications of the Apple iPad,” said iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander. “But it’s still unlikely that any of the competitors will be able to equal the overall performance experience of the iPad. Apple’s complete integration of hardware, software, operating system and applications is a major piece of what makes the device a standout. And on that basis—an integrated hardware/software design—we don’t see anything in the marketplace at present that seems likely to rival what Apple is offering in tablets today.”

But what about new products in the pipe? That Chrome OS tablet that Google (GOOG) is supposedly working on. Or Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) webOS offering?

Alexander figures the iPad’s most interesting near-term competition will be HP’s device, but she doesn’t see it appearing before 2011. And she views Google’s rumored Chrome OS tablet as a non-starter–at this point, anyway. Evidently, iSuppli sources say the initial Chrome OS doesn’t yet support multitouch. So we’re not likely to see touch-enabled Chrome devices until 2011 or beyond. “Even then, Google faces some significant challenges in premiering a new operating system and migrating directly from smart phones to tablets,” Alexander said. “More than likely, Google will take an interim step up to the smart book market before jumping into the tablet fray with the Chrome OS.”

When will Apple launch a cloud-based version of the iTunes music service that lets you stream your songs to wherever you are, whenever you want?

Probably not at Apple’s newest product launch next week. But music executives say they do expect a big overhaul of the iTunes music store. And we could see that next Wednesday. Think social, not streaming.

Industry executives tell me Apple (AAPL) has yet to approach the big labels for new license deals, which they say Steve Jobs and company would need if they want to run a streaming “locker” service. But Apple can do interesting things at iTunes without new label deals.

Apple plays its cards close to the vest even with the music labels it works with, so the people I’ve talked to are making informed guesses. That said, music sources tell me they’re expecting a lightweight, Web-based version of the iTunes store. The new version would be designed to synch up easily with the rest of the Internet and make it much easier for customers to share their musical tastes (but not songs) with friends.

Right now, you can get to the iTunes store only by using a downloaded program on your Mac or iPhone/iPod/iPad. But a Web-based version would allow buyers to get there without having to quit other applications. And if Apple makes it easier for services like Twitter and Facebook to link into the store and share recommendations, playlists and the like, then you can imagine some pretty interesting possibilities.

“There’s a reason Steve Jobs calls it an iPod–he thinks you listen to music by yourself, on your headphones,” says a label executive. “But lots of people like to share music, and if this lets you do that, that’s exciting.”

Some label executives also speculate about a wireless system that makes it easier for you to manage iTunes purchases. In theory, Apple could make it possible for you to move a copy of a song you bought on your iPhone onto your laptop without having to manually connect the two devices.

Apple’s license already allows users to synch their music on five devices at a time. So that wouldn’t require a new deal, just new technology. But it’s not the “jukebox in the sky” that many techies are eager to see.

Caveat: It’s possible, but not probable, that Apple goes ahead and launches a more ambitious locker/streaming service without the approval from labels.

That’s what small start-ups like mSpot are already doing. And subscription service eMusic has announced that it will launch its own locker service next year, and that it doesn’t plan on paying the labels any additional fee when it does.

But Apple is working very hard to persuade big media companies to let it sell their stuff. (It intends to announce a TV show rental service next Wednesday, though industry sources say most of the big networks still haven’t signed on.) Launching a new product while the labels squawk doesn’t seem to be a great way to go about it.

[Image credit: ExplorePAhistory.com]

By Danah Boyd, Social-Media Researcher, Microsoft Research

Each time Facebook’s privacy settings change or a technology makes personal information available to new audiences, people scream foul. Each time, their cries seem to fall on deaf ears.

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By Nick Wingfield, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Hillcrest Laboratories is staking a bigger claim to technologies that let consumers control games and other television content with their body movements.

Hillcrest, a maker of a Nintendo Wii-like remote control for navigating Internet content on televisions, has revealed that it designed the technology behind a motion-sensing remote control for new high-end televisions made by LG Electronics, the Korean consumer electronics maker.

Hillcrest also says it has licensed its patents on motion control technology to Sony’s videogame division. Sony (SNE) and Hillcrest spokesmen wouldn’t talk about the terms of the deal, but it’s likely to be relevant to PlayStation Move, an upcoming motion-sensing game controller for Sony’s PlayStation 3.

While it’s unclear how much Hillcrest is profiting from the deals, they’re a sign that some of the big electronics makers are taking the startup’s expertise and intellectual property in motion control technology seriously. They also show how a technology that has been used to swing virtual tennis rackets and other in-game objects is now emerging as a way to navigate other forms of content on television sets. The array of Internet video, photos and applications on Web-enabled televisions are becoming tougher to navigate with traditional button-centric remote controls.

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By Om Malik, Founder and Senior Writer, GigaOm

While perusing some Nielsen mobile trends data this morning, I was prompted to check my phone bill, and found that I’ve been using less than 500 minutes a month for past six months. Wow! We really don’t talk anymore!

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By Kate Bolick, Contributing Writer, The Atlantic

I met “S” several years ago, when she was hired by the magazine where I worked as an editor. She was an assistant in a different department, so we had very little day-to-day contact.

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By Matt Richtel, Reporter, New York Times

It’s 1 p.m. on a Thursday and Dianne Bates, 40, juggles three screens. She listens to a few songs on her iPod, then taps out a quick e-mail on her iPhone and turns her attention to the high-definition television.

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By Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Contributor, Fortune Brainstorm Tech

The second episode of The Big C, Showtime’s bittersweet hit comedy about a suburban mom with melanoma, aired Monday night at 10:30 p.m. Less than three hours later, a digital copy was posted on an Italian Web site, where it spread like crabgrass.

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If you have lousy cellphone reception in your house, you may have wished you had a cellular tower nearby. Well, now you can buy your own and plant it right inside your home.

[ See post to watch video ]

Verizon (VZ), Sprint (S) and AT&T (T) all have started selling gadgets that act as mini-cell towers, broadcasting wireless phone service just like a real cell tower does, though over a much smaller area: a single house.

I’ve been testing one of these devices, AT&T’s $150 MicroCell, in two very different homes—my own house in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and my son’s basement apartment in New York City. I chose AT&T for my tests because its network typically attracts the loudest complaints about bad coverage and dropped calls.

My verdict is that the AT&T MicroCell can, indeed, dramatically improve cellular reception and reliability, but it’s not a silver bullet. I found it works best in truly dire coverage locations, with little or no service, like my son’s apartment.

It is less useful in places like my house where the carrier’s outside towers provide some reception, even if you find that outside reception unreliable. I also ran into limitations on where you can place the MicroCell and how much of a home it can cover.

An AT&T spokesman insisted that the MicroCell is meant only for “a very small subset of customers with no or very poor coverage,” even though its Web site, at http://bit.ly/njH2s, includes videos touting the product for use in game rooms and home offices in any house. AT&T says it plans to tone down the Web pitch.

These devices, technically called femtocells, work like small versions of a cell tower. You plug them into your home broadband network, through which they acquire a signal from the carrier’s network. Then, they wirelessly redistribute that signal inside the home. Your cellphone treats this signal as if it came from a real outside tower, and latches onto it. But the signal supposedly is stronger and better, because it’s much closer and more focused.

While some people will welcome these devices as a godsend, others will resent the idea that they have to spend anything extra to get cellphone service they are already paying for.

Plus, when you make calls while your phone is connected to the MicroCell, you are still using up the minutes in your AT&T plan, just as you would on a regular outside tower, unless you buy an optional extra-cost MicroCell service plan. The company defends this by noting that you are still using its network, even though you are connected to it differently.

However, at least two of the carriers—AT&T and Sprint—are quietly giving away these devices to selected customers with terrible coverage whose patronage they presumably wish to keep. It is unclear to me how to qualify for these free devices, which appear to be handed out on a case-by-case basis.

The MicroCell, built for AT&T by Cisco (CSCO), is an 8.5-inch tall white, plastic gadget with an upside-down V-shaped base. As noted, it costs a one-time charge of $150, though AT&T will knock off $100 if you buy an optional $20-a-month plan that gives you unlimited voice minutes while using the MicroCell. It is only sold at AT&T stores.

3G-Capable

AT&T’s device is 3G-capable, meaning it can also be used for data services at decent speeds, though the company recommends you rely on Wi-Fi for data. Verizon’s rival device, which isn’t 3G-capable, is called the Network Extender and sells for $149 after a $100 rebate, with no monthly fee. Verizon is working on a 3G model. Sprint’s version is called Airave. It costs $100, but requires a monthly plan ranging from $5 to $20. It also lacks 3G capability, though Sprint has just announced a 3G model that isn’t yet being offered for sale.

In both of my MicroCell test homes, the setup, which takes about an hour, went fine. You have to specify on a Web site which phone numbers can work with the MicroCell. Up to 10 phones can be listed, though the MicroCell can only handle four calls at any one time.

Range of 40 Feet

AT&T says the MicroCell has a range of 40 feet in any one direction, and can cover up to a 5,000-square-foot house. At my house, which is considerably smaller than that, it worked fine with both an iPhone and a BlackBerry, as long as I was in the same room as the little transmitter. In those spots, calls were made and received fine, and hardly ever dropped.

But it didn’t magically give me great coverage everywhere. First and foremost, because I do have fair AT&T coverage in most of my house, my two phones kept switching between the MicroCell and the outside AT&T tower when I wasn’t close to the device. When this happened, once in the midst of a conversation, the call cut off. Also, I could only plug in the MicroCell in the two locations where I had an Ethernet jack, neither of which happens to be in the two places in my house with the worst coverage. So, in those bad spots, the MicroCell signal was weak, and the outside tower kept taking over, even though it barely covers those two places.

AT&T says you can get around this problem by using a powerline adapter to create an Ethernet jack where you’d like one. These adapters route your Internet network through your electrical wires. But, in any case, the MicroCell mustn’t be located within a foot of your Wi-Fi base station and AT&T suggests it be within 3 feet of a window—further limitations on location.

In the Basement

At my son’s basement dwelling, where he barely got an AT&T signal on two generations of iPhones, things went much better, but only after some fiddling. His only standard Ethernet jack happens to be upstairs (it’s a two-level apartment). When the MicroCell was plugged in there, the signal was very weak in his basement abode directly below, constantly battling with the almost useless outside AT&T signal.

The problem was temporarily solved with a long, snaking Ethernet cable running down the stairs, but he viewed that an untenable solution. He finally plugged the Microcell into a basement jack on an Apple (AAPL) Airport Express gadget, which he uses as a Wi-Fi signal booster. While AT&T doesn’t officially support this approach, it worked, and the MicroCell has been a dramatic improvement for him.

Overall, I can only firmly recommend the MircoCell for situations where coverage is virtually nil, you are willing to spend an extra $150, and you can locate it in a way that works. If you just want to improve a spotty signal, or a few weak areas in your house, you might be disappointed.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Q:

I’m shopping for a new Windows PC. Once I choose the processor brand and speed, the amount of memory, the brand and capacity of hard drive, etc., does it matter which PC I buy? Since none of the PC companies make their own components, isn’t price the only differentiating factor (apart from warranties and tech support)?

A:

You’re right that many Windows PCs are made from the same or similar components.

In fact, many are made by the same handful of contract manufacturers in China. But there are differences. Manufacturers mix and match parts from different suppliers, develop or select different designs, load their machines with different added software, and, as you say, offer different qualities of warranties and tech support.

On certain models, they also introduce innovative engineering from time to time. I have certainly noted differences in my testing over the years in things like battery life, keyboards and screens.

Q:

I recently purchased a new Dell Latitude laptop. The problem is irritating programs which recently began appearing on the screen, unrequested and unappreciated. One has a title of “Dell ControlPoint” and the other is titled “Windows Live Messenger.” I don’t want these programs. How do I get rid of them?

A:

These are programs that were bundled with your computer. If you don’t want them, you should be able to go into your Control Panel, to “Programs and Features” (assuming you’re using Windows 7) and uninstall them.

You should find them in the list of programs that appears there, and can then simply select them and choose “uninstall.”

In the case of Messenger, you will likely have to look for it in the list under “Windows Live Essentials.”

Q:

How would you compare the new Blackberry Torch to Samsung’s Galaxy S phones?

A:

They are very different devices. The most important difference is that three of the four Galaxy S models lack a physical keyboard, while the Torch has one. Also, the Torch has only a 3.2 inch screen, while the Samsung models have much larger 4 inch screens. In addition, the Torch, while sporting a refreshed interface, still looks and works like a BlackBerry, while the Galaxy S phones have the more modern-looking Android operating system, and access to Android’s 70,000 apps. The Torch can only use 9,000 apps. Finally, the Torch is (so far) available only on AT&T, while the Galaxy S is a family of devices that will shortly be available on all four major US carriers, albeit under different model names.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

By John Murrell

Social news-sharing site Digg unveiled its long-awaited redesign to the general viewing public today–at least to those who could shoulder their way through the crowds of the curious and successfully connect to Digg’s overloaded servers. Founder Kevin Rose says the changes represent a wholesale revision of the platform, designed to enhance speed, personalization and the ability to connect and share with friends.

By Geoffrey A. Fowler and Marie C. Baca, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal

People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows.

A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40 percent said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58 percent said they read about the same as before while two percent said they read less than before. And 55 percent of the respondents in the May study, paid for by e-reader maker Sony Corp., thought they’d use the device to read even more books in the future. The study looked at owners of three devices: Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Kindle, Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad and the Sony (SNE) Reader.

While e-readers are still a niche product just beginning to spread beyond early adopters, these new reading experiences are a big departure from the direction U.S. reading habits have been heading. A 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts caused a furor when it reported Americans are spending less time reading books. About half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure, it found.

Some 11 million Americans are expected to own at least one digital reading gadget by the end of September, estimates Forrester Research. U.S. e-book sales grew 183 percent in the first half of this year compared with the year-earlier period, according to the Association of American Publishers.

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