Yet the Shopping Buddy does far more than ring up purchases. You can use its touch screen to order items from the supermarket deli; when your pastrami’s ready, the computer tells you to go pick it up. The Shopping Buddy automatically displays which aisle you’re in, what’s on sale there, and what you bought the last time you strolled through. If you can’t find an item, punch in its name on the touch screen and the Shopping Buddy will point you to the correct aisle. It’ll even display a “you are here” map that tracks you through the store like a homing device from a James Bond film. [Boston.com]
Carriers come together on common short-code service
Great news for those people looking to incorporate Mobile Messaging into campaigns… about time actually. There have been companies who have maintained a carrier specific solution which is not exactly the most idea way to manage things – unless of course you are promoting that carrier.
Twelve of the nation%u2019s top wireless carriers have joined forces to launch a common short codes, a service that will be commercially available next week.
“The program will allow TV stations, movie studios and virtually any other business to purchase a five-digit text messaging code and use it to interact with the vast majority of the country%u2019s 151 million wireless subscribers, a system widely used in Europe, reports RCR Wireless News.
The common short-code service will work through the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA), and their easy to remember URL is USshortcodes.com. Any interested business can log on to the site and purchase a short code. The codes will cost $500 per month for a randomly generated code or $1,000 per month for a pre-selected code”. [textually.org]
Bluetooth’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Recently, I’ve read several editorials discussing the death of the short-range wireless networking standard called Bluetooth. I found these to be extremely surprising, as I think 2003 will be long remembered as the year Bluetooth finally caught on. [Brighthand]
How to Take Your Number With You
Beginning Nov. 24, consumers in the nation’s top 100 markets, about 193 million Americans, will have the right to keep their mobile phone numbers when they change cellular service providers. By May 24, 2004, number portability should be available in the rest of the country. [New York Times: Business]
- If you are under contract with your current carrier, be prepared to pay a termination fee, typically $150 to $200.
- Contact the carrier you want to switch to. That carrier will start an automated process to move your number onto its system from the old carrier’s system.
- In all likelihood, obtain a new phone. The old phone will probably not work with the wireless technology of the carrier. Most carriers will provide a phone or sell one at a discount. Immediately after you sign up with a new carrier, you will be able to place calls from your new phone. However, it could take two hours to a day for your new phone to receive calls placed to your old number. During that waiting period, you can still receive calls on your old phone.
Record Industry Warns 204 Before Suing on Swapping
The recording industry announced yesterday that it had begun its second round of lawsuits against people who swap music files on a large scale. But this time, there is a difference: the industry is notifying the 204 suspected pirates before suing them. [New York Times]
No more old ladies jamming to rap I guess…
Do-Not-Spam? Don’t Bet on It
The premise sounds simple: To cut down on junk e-mail, simply submit your addresses to a “do-not-spam” list that marketers would have to check to avoid fines. With more than 50 million phone numbers already on a federal do-not-call list, many e-mail users are eager for a no-spam counterpart. [Wired News]
Cracking the Code for Tracking RSS Readers
Brian Peddle demonstrates how sites can track RSS subscribers using an image tag and a unique reader identification code. [Up2Speed]
ITMS Link Maker
New from Apple…
Welcome to iTunes Link Maker. Simpy enter a song name, album name, artist name, or any combination of the three to get started: [ITMS Link Maker]
You can also drag a link directly from the store if you are already there… For example Dave Brubeck’s Playlist
The cultural divide and the Internet’s future
VeriSign CEO Stratton Sclavos explains why he thinks it’s time for infrastructure governing the Internet to go commercial. [CNET News.com]
No holds barred for VeriSign… it’s all business
Bayesian spam filter for MT
it blows my mind how many cool things people are doing around MT these days [anil dash’s daily links]
This is pretty amazing… like an email filter, this one can learn what is and what is not Spam.
Where is the “ANY” KEY?
I bet you thought this was an urban legend.
iTunes for Windows
I can’t imagine this will be the only windows review of iTunes like this…
WOW.
I haven’t done much with it, but it improves the sound quality (somehow) of the MP3s I already have and being able to browse and play new music so easily is just mind blowing. How does the preview play so quickly?!?!! My god, I just click and poof, it’s starts playing a 20 second clip instantly!
Sooooooo cool. I need to buy a Mac so that my entire computing experience is like this. 🙂
[Russell Beattie Notebook]
It’s why we love the Mac.
Madison Avenue’s Mania for Metrosexuals Misplaced
George Simpson writes in MediaLife about Madison Avenue’s ridiculous pursuit of the so-called “metrosexual” saying “A metrosexual is nothing more than a guy who finally figured out he’d get laid a lot more with a haircut, clean fingernails, his shirttail tucked in, and thus empowered, able to entrap dates in his apartment by cooking them meals.”
He says Madison Avenue has forced us to “endure this fiction that metrosexuals are an important new marketing niche squeezed, tweezed and teased somewhere between gay men, and the “hysterical heterosexuality of tits, beer, sports, cars, and fart-lighting.” [Adrants]
The New York Times offers news for mobile phones
The New York Times has teamed up with Vindigo to offer its news service through Verizon Wireless… [textually.org]
I actually saw this today on a Samsung BREW phone as well as the other apps from Vindigo Studio: Moviegoer, Vindigo and Mapquest. Things look good, and the apps perform as you might expect, but slowly. The phone is just not as fast (no where near) as the Palm and the screen is s serious limitation. That said the resolution was excellent and you are able to leave certain aspects of content cached on the phone in order to enable it if you are not connected… Vindigo has focused on the color screen based phones so if you have an older model, time for an upgrade. This should be available through the Get It Now! menu with Verizon.
U.K. retailer tests radio ID tags
Marks & Spencer begins a trial of controversial radio frequency identification tags in clothes at one of its U.K. stores in a plan to improve stock accuracy and product availability. [CNET News.com]
Hell hath Frozen…iTunes for Windows
Apple launched ITMS for Windows today… nice work! Let’s hope it kicks some serious ass!
I am updating my iTunes, iPod and Quicktime software at the moment through Software Update and will report back…
Seems that essentially the revised iTunes is basically the same but with some nice enhancements in the music store itself. First, Allowances and Gift Certificates which I think are a great addition and make it feel more like a real store – at least the GC’s do. Allowances are clearly set up for families to allow kids to purchase but within reason…
The addition of audio books is also very cool. I am not (or have not anyway) been a big audio book user, but with everything nicely inside iTunes and the ITMS, I can’t see why I would not check it out. I’ve got at least 40 minutes of travel time daily that I could use to “read.”
I can’t speak for how the Windows version works as I am just on a Mac here. The store itself seems to have been redesigned with some additions in content, including celebrity playlists.
One additional point of interest from the Press Release:
Apple® and America Online, Inc., the world’s leading interactive services company, today announced an alliance to provide instant, one-click registration to the iTunes® Music Store for AOL’s more than 25 million U.S. members starting later this quarter. America Online will integrate links to iTunes artists, albums and songs throughout its leading music site, AOL Music, which will give members the option to link directly to the specific iTunes Music Store page to preview and buy music as they browse and read music news and reviews.
wow – that is super cool. Go APPLE!
Wifi Picture Frame
Check out the Wallflower Picture Frame which uses WiFi to load pictures onto it’s 1.2GB hard drive. It has a 12″ screen, by far the largest of any frame I’ve seen and supports 8×10 pictures at a resolution of 1024 x 768. The only negative is the price which starts at $599… though when you consider what you get, it really is not that bad. Certainly blows away my Ceiva.
3G adoption in the US…
I read an interesting article on 3GNewswire today on the adoption of 3G technologies and the different approaches each carrier is taking. One detail I found of particular interest was that Verizon allows their EVDO network customers to roam onto their extensive 1XRTT network when out of range which would be frequently if you either live or travel outside of the 4 markets into which it has been initially launched. I’m puzzled by why that would be left out as part of any real PR on the launch. This would potentially enable a greater group to try the service, knowing that they would be able to still connect to the previous service, even if it is slower…when out of range in their home markets.
This strategy worked for the launch of digital cellular and is the reason why the Verizon network is superior to many others including Sprint who also uses CDMA for their network since Verizon maintains the analog spectrum on most of their phones.
VeriSign to Sell Network Solutions
VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) , the leading provider of critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the Network Solutions business unit to Pivotal Private Equity. Under the terms of the agreement, VeriSign will receive approximately $100 million, consisting of $60 million in cash and a $40 million senior subordinated note. VeriSign will also retain a 15% equity stake in Network Solutions. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter. [CBS MarketWatch]
In case you’ve forgotten, Verisign initially acquired Network Solutions for 21 Billion!!!!!!!!
This is actually only 60 Million in cash… and for the Registrar (the seller of domains) not the Registry, the keeper. Tools like SiteFinder will most likely keep on coming as Verisign will still be able to retain control of their kingdom.
Digging for Nuggets of Wisdom
Researchers are increasingly putting computer muscle into a technique called text mining, hoping to find clues and patterns in a librarys worth of documents. [New York Times: Technology]