Filed under: Feature | Tags: Apple, Big Sur, Handhelds, iPhone, River Inn, San Francisco, San Francisco California, Santa Cruz
CAMPING AND THE IPHONE: RE-GENERATIVE SUPER POWERS
What happens when you take this. . .
… and combine it with a little of this. . .
Two weeks ago, I rode my bike into LA after spending 8 days and 525 miles on the road from San Francisco to LA. We camped at night and rode during the day. What I learned, is that even in camping situations when people should be getting in touch with nature, they crave their gadgets. Observe the scene on the first night at the power cord.
What I also learned, is that I will never leave home without my iPhone. On the first day, my riding partner Shaun and I got lost after 85 miles on the road from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Instead of freaking out, I located our position and fetched directions back to camp from my beloved iPhone (still running on Edge btw).
But more amazing than that is what happened when we rolled into Big Sur and made a stop for beers before the camp site at a hotel called The River Inn.
Big Sur River Inn
Here’s the deal. You grab a beer, sit in these wooden chairs in the river, and dip your toes in while chatting with friends about the mind-boggling 5,000 ft you climbed on your bike that day. Awesome right? Awesome. . .as long as you don’t drop your iPhone in the river.
The Aftermath
So, this will most likely shock those of you who know me: this situation didn’t happen to me. It happened to a friend. The day after this happened, predictably the phone didn’t work. On the next day, we rode out of camp after I promised my friend that the phone would work by the end of the day. That night at dinner over the glow of flashlights, he showed me the phone (a 3G) which was now all automated-like albeit with a cloudy background. I was amazed he even got the brick’s screen to glow. Day 3, the phone had fully re-generated and was working just fine.
To Re-Cap
Phone submerges in river. Phone re-animates into a fully functioning unit. I stand amazed. I may have complained about the phone in the past but after this trip, every time my phone drops a call, I’ll smile with the knowledge that it knows how to re-grow itself just like a Starfish. Can your phone do the same?
If you’re interested in learning more about the ride, click here.
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: A&E Network, Academy Award, Barack Obama, Fox News Channel, John McCain, Television, United States, Warner Bros.
Nielsen reports the total estimated viewers for the second live Presidential Debate between candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain Tuesday night from 9-1030p reached 63.2 million total viewers. Nielsen’s combined total viewer number includes 11 networks: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel and MSNBC. ABC did the best again with 13.2 million viewers, followed by NBC at 10.8 million, CBS 9.4 million, CNN 9.2 million, FOX News Channel 8.7 million and MSNBC 3.7 million. (Cynopsis 10/8)
Adding to its growing development slate, Cartoon Network has approved production of “Tiger’s Apprentice,” a live-action/CGI movie about a teenager in San Francisco who is aided by a shape-shifting tiger. The movie, which is based on the best-selling novel by Lawrence Yep, is scheduled to debut in 2010. Variety (10/8)
A&E Network hits the streets with new police officers as new series Rookies premieres October 21 at 10p with two back-to-back 30m episodes. Shot on location in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and Tampa, cameras will go along with rookie officers in squad cars as each patrol their beat for the first time. (Cynopsis 10/8)
With only a few legal dramas currently on TV, David E. Kelley is sticking with this genre, writing a new legal drama spec script for Warner Bros. TV, reports THR. Kelley, who moved to Warner Bros. last May after having been with 20th Television for twenty years, is taking this 60m project to the broadcast networks this week and perhaps will snag a commitment. At this time, Kelley’s legal dramedy Boston Legal on ABC is completing production on 13 episodes. (Cynopsis 10/8)
On Tuesday, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences voted to lift the ban on movie commercials during the Oscar telecast. This ban on movie ads has existed since the early 1950s when the award event first began on TV. For the 81st annual Academy Awards airing February 22 on ABC, the board will now allow a limited number of ads to run promoting movies opening the last week of April at the earliest. (Cynopsis 10/8)
FOX News Channel re-upped with Sean Hannity to keep the co-host of Hannity & Colmes with the network through 2012. Hannity also hosts the Sunday show Hannity’s America on FOX News and just inked a new $20 million deal for his syndicated radio show that is heard in 500 markets. (Cynopsis 10/8)
U.S. cable operator Comcast is offering special deals of free television for a year in a bid to win new subscribers ahead of a government-mandated digital television switch-over on Feb. 17. New customers who sign up for Comcast Internet or phone service will receive free basic cable. (Iwantmedia 10/8, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE497BMZ20081008 10/8)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Yahoo
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Here is a one-month stock chart comparing Apple
(down 40 percent), Google (down 20 percent), Yahoo (ditto), and Microsoft (down about 10 percent). Microsoft is holding up best. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/09/brutal 10/9)
Yahoo’s stock closed at $13.76 today, down another 5.6%. And this isn’t just part of the market’s overall meltdown – the Nasdaq fell just 0.8% today, and Google, Yahoo’s main direct competitor, was down just 2.3%. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/08/yahoo-closes-at-1376-what-a-train-wreck 10/8)
Netflix will tack an extra $1 onto its monthly subscription fees for unlimited use of Blu-ray titles, the DVD rental company said Wednesday. The new charge reflects the discs’ higher costs, Netflix told its customers in an e-mail alert. Reuters (10/8)
EMI.com is launching a consumer-oriented digital download site featuring audio and video downloads from EMI artists. The company views it as more of a “learning lab” to study how users interact with and discovery new bands rather than as a legitimate rival to iTunes or Amazon, according to the FT. (Cynopsis 10/8)
Video clipping service 1Cast launched in beta as a perspective legal alternative to Redlasso.com, the blogger-focused news clipping site shuttered earlier this year to due copyright pressures. Striking agreements with news broadcasters and programmers, 1Cast offers licensed clips enabling users to create personalized video-clip playlists on specific topics, viewable via PC, smartphone or by using 1Cast’s embeddable widget. (Cynopsis 10/8)
Naughty America, a porn production company based out of Southern California, is building an Adobe Air-based storefront called Naughty America Direct that is basically an iTunes for porn. The app includes full-length DRM-free scenes for $1.99 each that are available in formats compatible with the iPod and iPhone, and requires no subscription. To grab an invite to the app’s ongoing private beta, go here and enter the code “techcrunch”. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/08/come-and-get-it-naughty-america-is-building-an-itunes-for-porn 10/8)
A new study from Veoh Networks, an online video site, indicates that viewers who watch programs online are more engaged than those who watch on television. Significantly for marketers, the study showed engaged viewers are twice as likely as other online video viewers to remember the advertising they have seen. TVWeek.com (10/8)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: CBS, Chumby, Comedy Central, Internet radio, MTV, Music, Pandora, Tim Westergren
Pandora‘s indispensable iPhone app has helped the service double its growth rate from 20,000 new users/day to almost 40,000/day according to an interview with Pandora founder Tim Westergren on DWM. Pandora has about 1.5 million users on the platform to date. (Cynopsis 10/8)
Qualcomm’s mobile FLO TV service, available to AT&T and Verizon subscribers, is capitalizing on the two of the big fall TV events this year – the Presidential Debates and the primetime network premiers. Tuesday’s debate was delivered live on six FLO channels: NBC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC and CNBC, not to mention CNN for AT&T subscribers. Nickelodeon will also offer an election-themed Q&A for kids on the service on Oct. 12. FLO TV is also featuring its most comprehensive line up of prime time shows yet this month from NBC, CBS, Fox, MTV, Comedy Central. (Cynopsis 10/8)
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Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 3, Sony, Video game, Video game console, XBox, Xbox 360
Sony, which has lost some ground recently to rivals Nintendo and Microsoft in the game-console market, said it would introduce an 80-gigabyte PlayStation 3 console by the end of the month in Japan for about the same price as its current 40-gigabyte model. The company already offers an 80-gigabyte PS3 player in North America and Europe. Reuters (10/9)
In Microsoft’s latest attempt to penetrate the Japanese video game market, the company will sell software for its Xbox 360 console written by Japanese designers, a Microsoft executive said today. “We believe Xbox 360 is the platform best equipped to help Japanese publishers succeed on a global basis,” said John Schappert, a corporate vice president, adding that game developers who had produced hits for their home market had projects in the works for the Xbox. The Washington Post/The Associated Press (10/9) , CNET (10/8)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray Disc Association, HD DVD, HowardStringer, Sony, Sprint Nextel, WiMAX, Xohm
TECHNOLOGY
The trade group representing Blu-ray discs said “sell-in indicators” were pointing to a strong holiday sales season for the Blu-ray products. Movie titles in the new HD format are selling four times greater than a year ago, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association. Pocket-lint.co.uk (10/8)
Notebook PCs with WiMAX capability built into the machines will hit the market in short order as Lenovo Toshiba, Acer and Asus all announced immediate plans Wednesday to sell laptops compatible with Sprint Nextel‘s new Xohm network. Sprint seems to be placing the embedded laptop at the core of its distribution plans: Four more computer makers said they would follow suit as Sprint predicts a total of 20 models will be available by year-end. Telephony Online (10/8) , American City Business Journals/Kansas City, Mo. (10/8)
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