Monday, February 28, 2005

 

new gameboy in 2005

cnn reports on rumors of a new gameboy handheld ready for holiday 2005. according to the article, the new handheld will be aimed at the $99 price point and be an evolution of the current GBA platform, not the DS platform.

 

AOL: You've got VoIP | Tech News on ZDNet

according to cnet, AOL is readying VoIP services for its customers. the new service will allow existing subscribers to place VoIP calls through their pc with a standard headset. no word on who their tech partners are but they are expected to compete with other household VoIP subscribers.

"They already have customer service people plus a brand name," said Paul Kim, an analyst at Tradition Asiel Securities. "It's a no-brainer for any ISP."

 

i told you it wasnt a hi-res video phone :)

mtv.com confirms that fred durst's sex video wasnt taken with a mobile phone, nor was it ripped off from a t-mobile server. its nice to know that fred keeps these files tucked away on his computer.

as for those of you who called me over the weekend to find out where you can get one of those phones, well... i told you so :)

Friday, February 25, 2005

 

Nintendo DS Download Service - Feb 26 - Joystiq - www.joystiq.com

nintendo is to begin a retail system in japan where japanese gamers who own a nintendo ds can have new game demos downloaded directly to their ds devices in the story. in addition to game demos, players can also receive bonus game content, etc. game demos will expire when the user turns his/her ds off.

 

Rumor: PSP to Get 50 GB Hard Drive?

joystiq reports that a second generation psp is in the works that would boast a 50gb har drive. said unit is supposed to enter production sometime next year in order to have an appropriate amount of time to piss off purchasers of the first generation psp.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

 

'Friends fear' with lost mobiles

a recent study show that people are becoming more and more reliant on their mobile phones as their single source directory of contacts. the poll shows that more than half of the respondents do not have an alternative address book to their mobile phone, so when their phone is lost or stolen, the contact infomation is gone.

whats funny about this is that we have become such a speed dial culture, that we don't even recognize the vital phone numbers of our closest friends and/or partners. the survey found that 62% of respondents had no ideas what their partner's phone number was.

the survey was obviously done with hopes to promote online backup and synchronization tools.

 

Josh Rubin: Cool Hunting: Shuffle Art

josh rubin has a nice find today with vinyl stickers for customizing your ipod shuffle. he also posts links for users to make their own via a downloadable template.

 

mobile + mp3

t-mobile and sendo are partnering up for a spring release of a new smartphone that emphasizes digital music playback and supports the mobile music lifestyle.

the new sendo x2 features "rich" playback and a 1.3 megapixel (which should become the new common denominator for picture phones) camera. in addition, the sendo x2 (unline the sendo X) operates on the nokia series 60 os platform.

Monday, February 21, 2005

 

watch out apple, sony is planning?

here is an odd story from the register. according to the story, sony is planning on putting out a product at the end of the year which will be their "ipod killer."

the device will be a full featured, portable digital music player. no other details were given, but its likely to play back mp3 files (as opposed to ATRAC only), which most current sony digital media players do not (however the PSP plays back .mp3).

according to the story, sony has begun manufacturing minidisc players that can play back .mp3 along with ATRAC formatted files.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

 

how many did you have?

Mobile PC magazine has just posted "The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time." this is a great listing and its nice that all things are considered, not just tech toys.

how many in the top 20 did you have? i counted 9...

 

paris hacked?

here is a good one. apparently, someone got a hold of paris hilton's password for her t-mobile account and subsequent sidekick 2 access tools. whoever did this was able to download her contacts, calendar, messages, and best of all, her photo album (which is displayed in the article referenced above).

for those of you who have never used a sidekick, its a completely synchronized device. all of your data resides on the t-mobile servers. make a change on the device, and its reflected on the server (via the web site) and vice versca.

according to the report referenced above, its believed that she gave someone her password as it would be a shame to hear that the sidekick online service can be hacked.


Saturday, February 19, 2005

 

ipod mini product update expected immediately..

think secret reports that a refreshed ipod mini will be announced within the next week. what's new about the refreshed ipod mini? a color screen and a possible larger hard drive.

according to the report, the move to the color display is nothing more than apple looking to maintain the product's contemporary look especially when a lot of the mini's competitors are now using color displays for their products. the article also mentions that the price of small tft displays is rapidly decreasing, so its easier for apple to move its entire ipod lineup to color screens over the course of the year.

does this mean that we could see broader integration of photo features in future ipods? it certainly sounds possible. in my opinion, things are getting a bit complicated from a brand and product line perspective. there are currently 4 categories of ipod: ipod, ipod mini, ipod photo, and ipod shuffle.

remember when steve jobs came back to apple and his immediate focus was to cut the branding fat and eliminate all of the unnecceasry product lines and brand names? it sounds like this may become a problem again if its not maintained...but perhaps the integration of color displays will lead to future full integration of photo features and the elimination of a "photo" line of ipods...

ok, off the soapbox now. :)

Friday, February 18, 2005

 

Random House aims at cell phones

random house has purchased a minority stake in Vocel, a startup company that aims to deliver educational content over mobile phones.

in addition to the equity purchase, random house has licensed two of its brands to vocel for mobile phone delivery. of the two brands, one of them is prima games, the publisher of strategy guides for popular video games.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

 

an update on the itunes phone

as i had speculated earlier this week, it isnt surprising at all that apple isnt behind the announcement of the motorola itunes phone. it turns out that all of the reports from 3GSM conference labeled the E1060 motorola phone as "the itunes phone" when in fact, the phone model was used simply to demonstrate the iTunes mobile application.

a mobiletrackerstory highlights the erroneous coverage and offers some insight:

"In an Apple-like fashion, Motorola is keeping the first iTunes enabled phone under very close wraps. While Motorola wanted to show off the software, it appears the company wanted to keep the device secret."

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

 

anoyone checked out videoblogging yet..

i just stared checking out some videoblogs, and there's a lot of weak stuff out there. i stumbled across Momentshowing and this is one of the better sites i have found. in addition to some videos, there are also references to some aggregators and applications to enhance the experience if it catches your fancy.

will we soon see the marriage of moblogging and videoblogging. videos from next generation phones uploaded directly to blogs?

 

Hackers sued for tinkering with Xbox games

you dont see this often. xbox gamers have been decompiling the xbox code from tecmo games and recompiling the game files after they have modified the appearances of the characters. tecmo is suing these "hackers" as they look to "uphold the integrity of [their] work. apparently, the big reason behind their unhapiness are the actual modified game character skins..many of the skins, that are now publically tradeable, involve naked bodies for the character models. it should be noted that tecmo has quite the reputation for scantilly clad characters.

 

sony readies walkman branded phone

according to this report from the register, sony is readying a "walkman" branded mobile phone with room for 6 to 10 CDs worth of MP3 or AAC encoded music. no word yet on whether or not the phone will support the ATRAC format, however, the article mentions that Sony's Connect music service will offer downloads for the handset. currently, connect only offers music encoded in the ATRAC format.

looks like sony connect is about to expand in a big way..content for beyond the computer and dedicated portable digital music player..content for the phone and the PSP.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

 

motorola + apple = bff, also new RAZR phones..

just in time for valentine's day, motorola unveiled the long awaiteditunes phone. the itunes player is a mobile java application which will also acts as the defauly player for music files. while the itunes player will be the predominant embedded player within the os, the phone will still support players from other developers such as the realplayer from real networks.

"We're committed to have iTunes as the default music client, but we'll also continue to support other music players such as RealPlayer (from RealNetworks), Husaini said."

one thing that is very interesting about the itunes phone is that it will be a UMTS phone for next generation networks that will also features a 3 megapixel camera. interesting for 3G customers.

is it just me, or has this whole motorola/apple alliance underdelivered. it just doesnt seem very "apple like" to watch one of their partners lead in the announcemnt of a product or alliance. to me it appears as if apple is simply working with motorola as a licensing partner (which they are) and not as a marketing partner. the phone looks nice, but its clear that apple did not control the design process.

in other news, the growth of the RAZR phone platform has been confirmed with 3 new models. there will be a black razor, called BLZR which will be a high end elite model for celebrities (and very available after the oscars - this reminds me of the initial black starTac elite from way back), a bar shaped model called the SLVR which will come out in, yes, you guessed it silver, and then a round model called the PEBL.

Monday, February 14, 2005

 

google employee fired for blogging details..

tonight i stumbled across this blog posting while searching for information on metadata capability of the ipod shuffle (more on this another time).

its an interesting posting as it tells the story of a google employee who was fired from google because of his blog. apparently he had been posting "inappropriate content" about the company on his personal blog.

when will we see blogging policies become part of the human resources process?

 

apple to exhibit at e3

according to think secret apple is planning to exhibit at the annual e3 (electronic entertainment expo - video games and interactive entertainment) convention held every may in los angeles. apple has exhibited at this show in the past.

what will they exhibit? initial guesses point towards their film/video and motion software products. whatever they demonstrate, they are guaranteed to be drowned out by all three console manufacturers who will be either unveiling their next generation consoles or demonstrating them to the public for the first time.

 

a great perspective on the psp

for those of you who have had enough of me boasting about the psp, here is a review from "trusted reviews," published by the register.

 

give it up to the reg for putting the shuffle into perspective

The Register has a simple, classic review of the ipod shuffle today. they do a great job of putting it all into perspective and take advantage of the opportunity to take a shot at apple marketing execs at the same time.

Apple's marketing people insist that the lack of a display grew out of campus tests, that somehow it didn't seem necessary. But they're muppets.

ahh, its all good clean fun. but speaking as an owner of the shuffle, you cant go wrong with this $99 investment. a lot of people i know havent picked up their monolithic ipod in weeks...

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

 

earlier than anticipated ps3 launch announcement?

according to a story fromthe register, we may get a glimpse of the what the playstation3 has in store for us all well before the may 2005 e3 trade show in los angeles. sony may be looking to get some clear air and stay away from the multitude of product announcements that are anticipated during the show (nintendo's "revolution" console and the possibility that ms will hold off and announce the xbox xenon at the show).

the earlier than anticipated announcement makes sense considering the recent announcements and unveilings of the Cell processor details.

 

text messages help teenagers to connect

according to the telegraph a new study shows that sms/text messaging is a helpful mechanism that allows teens to connect.

The growth of text messaging has offered a lifeline to shy teenagers who would otherwise struggle to communicate, a study has found.

an interesting observation:

More than half of mobile phone users prefer to send text messages to friends than talk to them, according to a study of 1,000 people carried out at Plymouth University. Most say they prefer texts because it allows them to compose their messages carefully.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

 

sony preparing downloadable music service exclusively for psp?

according to this report sony is preparing a specialized music download site, equipped with micropayment capability, for musc downloads on the psp.

the psp north american launch is getting more and more exciting with over 24 titles promised by launch time. in addition, the psp stands to be the first console to support online gaming from day 1 with 3 confirmed titles ready for immediate internet play available on launch day.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

 

i got me a psp

So I broke down, and what better place to break down then the streets of hong kong. During this trip to asia I decided that if I get a chance to pick up a psp in japan, I would. According to reports in japan, the psp is still a tough item to get, so I decided to bypass chance and pick one up on the streets of hong kong.

I figured the ideal place to go would be the new retail store for lik-sang so I travelled to the electronics district to pick one up, after being told that I needed to pay cash because lik-sang is not authorized to sell the psp, I walked away heartbroken.

I boarded the train back to the central area and when I walked out I ventured into an electronics store of the nyc 5th avenue variety. It was there where I was able to pick up a psp value pack and ridge racer for about $400 total - definitely $100 over the retail price, but hey, I now have a psp.

Simply put, the device is gorgeous and without a doubt the best feeling and perfoming multimedia device I've ever used. Its small and the screen is super bright and very high in resolution.

In addition to purchasing the psp, I also picked up a 512mb memory stick duo pro. I loaded up the memory stick with photos, music, and movies courtesy of "iPSP". This app auto syncs specific albums and playlists whenever you connect the psp to your mac.

Gameplay is great and when combined with the multimedia features, nothing beasts this device.

Will it defeat the ds? Its all about the games and nobody can beat nintendo at that, but with exclusive 3rd party support and interest, the psp can pull away - especially with such strong personal multimedia capability

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