a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
The start-up company plans to show carriers a prototype of a new all-in-one Hiptop device it is developing to run its wireless software and services. [CNET News.com – Personal Technology]
Similar in size but thinner which could go a long way to getting this into my hands. I find the current model to be like a large bar of soap and too large for my daily pocketable needs…
MacJams.com is pleased to announce it has posted a tutorial on using software synthesizers from professional audio software maker Native Instruments with Apple’s GarageBand software. [PowerPage.org]
Under Terry S. Semel, Yahoo has become a big hit on Madison Avenue. But now Mr. Semel must win over a tougher audience: Silicon Valley. [New York Times: Business]
Knowledge@Wharton takes stock of Pixar’s future, after the suprise breakup of its long-standing partnership with Disney. [CNET News.com – Entertainment & Media]
A federal judge handed a huge win to the movie studios on Friday, ruling that 321 Studios must stop selling software that lets customers copy their DVDs for backup and personal use. [Wired News]
With a bluetooth phone and enabled laptop this could be avoided…
The compulsion to quote and link is too strong…. Being stuck in an airport last night without connectivity, I found myself ripping the pages out of a print magazine so that I could refer to them later and quote from them. Soon I’ll resort to creating links with scotch tape and thread. [Anil Dash: Compulsion to Blog]
Though you could probably make some good use of the Palm moblog clientbeing worked on at Six Apart…
I finished reading Cory Doctrow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom via the PalmReader. I had not actually read any full books on screen until now and to my surprise, the experience was quite good. I was able to always have a book in hand, which gave me time on the subway or at line at the post office, where I finished reading this one.
I’ve checked out short stories and actually tried to read other longer pieces before on my Tungsten C or even my m515, but on the T3 the screen is just so much better. I like having the screen in landscape mode, which give you much more of a paperback novel feel — though a very short book.
I’m now loaded up with Cory’s latest book, Eastern Standard Tribe and looking forward to getting into it.
The four top cable companies reported a slowdown in new subscribers in the last quarter, as their telecommunications rivals made inroads into the market with low-priced DSL plans. [CNET News.com]
In what on-lookers are calling advertising’s most sadistic twist to date, TiVo has hired the independent San Francisco ad agency Grant, Scott, and Hurley to create the advertising that will, if successful, ultimately end advertising as we know it. [Adrants]
Interesting, but as I know I’ve said before the money (10-12 million) would be better spent on some reasonable education of the device. Commercial skipping is just a feature… sure a big one, but really just a detail.
The real magic (to me) is in watching what and when you want. If I was them… I would look to target new parents with some good old direct marketing. As a new parent I can tell you first hand that watching television when things are on, is almost impossible. There is always something baby related that forces any hope of watching an evening show to another time or day. Sure we skip the commercials when we time-shift, but that’s not why we have the box.
We actually own a Series 1 TiVO but have basically retired it based on our use of the Scientific Atlanta 8000 from Time Warner. It’s hard to beat integrated guide functionality, and no initial buy-in. You can look at the cost of ownership as simply the addition of a premium channel or two…
TiVO has their work cut out for them. Sure they (and Replay) defined the DVR market, but never made it into a mass market…. The installed boxes are going to keep coming from the Cable Cos…. unless there is a compelling reason to upgrade and pay much more to basically get the same thing. You can’t afford to waste money promoting something your competitors (and your customers cable company can offer. Go for the heart strings in the logical target groups… new parents are just the first hit.
Like Father, like Son
: I watched Mel Gibson’s interview on ABC the other night and came to the uncomfortable feeling that Mel’s a bit crackers. He has that scary stare and set-in-stone perspective of a cultist.
Now we see that his father — already known as a Holocaust-denying nut, whom Gibson angrily protected in that interview — can’t keep his spittle-spewing yap shut.In the bizarre interview, Gibson also said Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan should be lynched and called for the government to be overthrown….
Some of his most outrageous rants focused on the millions of Jews exterminated by Adolf Hitler.
“They claimed that there were 6.2 million in Poland before the war, and they claimed after the war there were 200,000 – therefore he must have killed 6 million of them,” he said. “They simply got up and left! They were all over the Bronx and Brooklyn and Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles.”
This is actually a story from yesterday, just catching up to some news in my aggregator.
Yahoo is launching a brand new search engine today, with its own index and ranking mechanisms, casting aside its long-standing use of Google-powered search results. The move is bound to roil the industry and sets in motion a new race for the claim of web search champion. [Search Engine Watch]
“Cocktail napkins, turbo style,” proclaims the product page for Zengobi Inc.’sCurio 1.0, a new tool designed to help creative types generate, communicate, and organize their ideas. It’s available now. [MacCentral]
Downloaded and messed with this one briefly today… but without a job and projects (other than getting a job) it’s kind of hard to go that deep. It does look interesting and like something I would use in a meeting intensive work environment. One thing that should be considered though is a network connectivity mode, so you can work via phone/ichat with your colleagues.
PalmSource today announced that the Treo 600 smartphone has delivered twice the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) than the average mobile phone for leading mobile operator Orange. [PalmInfocenter]
Some photo buffs have so many pictures from their digital cameras, they don’t know what to do with them. And sending by e-mail is clunky compared with new technologies that make storing and showing as simple as pie. [Wired News]
As I’ve mentioned recently I set up a photo gallery using Gallery, but to do so needed to set up software on a server… not the most consumer friendly of processes. These new services promise to make lives easier… can’t wait for Mac installers to try them out!
“Moblogging,” or new location-based blogging technology and new RSS tools kicked off the annual DEMO show on Monday. [eWeek.com Messaging and Collaboration – Featuring Steve Gillmor]
Good stuff from Six Apart (Typepad and Moveable Type) as well as WaveMarket’s location aware WaveBlog (nice work Russ!)
Right after sitting down with my NYT and seeing that Vodaphone is the leading contender, I get an email which says that Cingular is the winner…
Cingular raised its informal offer for AT&T Wireless (AWE: news, chart, profile) by as much as 36 percent as it battled Britain’s Vodafone Group (VOD: news, chart, profile) through the weekend.
The deal, which Cingular expects to close this year pending shareholder and regulator approvals, will shrink the number of competitors in the U.S. mobile market to five from six.
Cingular will become the leading operator with 46 million customers and coverage in 97 of the top 100 markets. It expects to generate savings of more than $1 billion in operating and capital spending in 2006.
Still the price tag, a 27 premium for AT&T Wireless shares as of Friday’s close, drew gasps in London. On Friday, analysts and observers had been predicting bids around $12 a share, up from Cingular’s first indicative bid at $11 – a move that set off the auction.
“At $15 dollars a share, it shows you just how excited the bidding got,” said Morten Singleton, an industry analyst at Williams de Broe in London.
VOD shares surged 6 percent in London. AT&T Wireless surged $2.08 to $13.90. SBC was down 55 cents at $24.50 in light pre-open trade. BLS shares were not yet active, dealers said.
The deal values AT&TW at 9.9 times its underlying earnings in 2005, which is currently higher than what the market has valued each of AT&TW’s European peers.
Vodafone, the largest in Europe, is valued around 5 times underlying earnings, Christian Maher, analyst at Investec Securities in London said. [CBS Marketwatch]
Paid Content has an interesting piece about Akimbo, a new company that is launching today, with an IP TV service, centered around the TV rather than the PC.
This is how it works – the $199 Akimbo box is connected to your television/home entertainment center, and can also be plugged into your “high-speed Internet connection.” For $9.99 per month, plus additional premium options, users will be able to download up to 200 hours of content at a time onto the box. Initial content will include a lot of ‘specialty’ video—foreign films, educational content, sports events that aren’t available on satellite or cable, and adult content, reports Paid Content. The company has a partnership deal with CinemaNow for movie distribution. [GigaOm: Om Malik’s Broadband Blog]
Interesting… but one would think that you would want to highlight more compelling content than Heart and Dick van Dyke in your interactive demo to get interest going.
Comcast’s bid for Disney could be seen as a way to control costs and ensure inventory for the most mature part of Comcast’s cable business: video programming. [New York Times: Business]
A bidding war erupted yesterday for control of AT&T Wireless as Vodafone, based in Newbury, England, and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of BellSouth and SBC Communications, submitted new bids that value the company at more than $37 billion or about $14 a share, executives close to the negotiations said. [New York Times: Business]