Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Cellphones, iPhone, LG Electronics, Mobile phone, Reuters, Today Show, Wall Street, Zumobi
NBC’s Today Show launched an iPhone/iPod Touch app powered by Zumobi delivering audio and video segments and photos from the show as well as additional info and expert columns about food, travel, fashion and relationships. (Cynopsis 4/21)
LG Electronics predicted further improvements in its mobile-phone sales going forward as the company said its cell phone sales proved especially resilient in the first quarter. It reported a 6.7% operating profit margin among its handsets, compared with 5.2% in the fourth quarter. LG said it expected to increase mobile-phone sales 10% in the second quarter, compared with the previous period. Reuters (4/21) , The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (4/21)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE, Feature, ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Boxee, Facebook, Interactive television, Marie-Jose Montpetit, Media Lab, MIT, Mobile phone, Myspace, Social TV, Television, User-generated content, YouTube
IS TV SOCIAL?
Photo Credit: Sangrea.net
Guest Writer: Dr. Marie-Jose Montpetit
You can add ratings in YouTube, tell your friends in Boxee what you are watching, update your Facebook from your TV. So TV is truly connecting you with your social network. But is it a new hit thing or the rediscovery of a common TV experience?
Mass events were and remain always social: natural catastrophes, major sport events and popular shows are always better when watched together and discussed the next day. They also define a “group’s brand” – who watches what. With multiple TVs per households TV viewing has become more isolated but still many shows are better consumed in a group. The new social TV redefines the living room and the water cooler of the 50s on a global scale; re-defining who is “close” to you. With tools that create your personal TV listings and DVRs to record them, you can share and rate them socially.
Photo Credit: Jobing.com
Interactive TV has been around for a while, albeit without a real uptake. Are social networks finally giving it it’s sought after market? It surely seems so. There is a convergence in the TV world right now with the emergence of online video and user generated content favoring a more “connected” TV experience. To enable this experience, devices like mobile phones are getting better screens and set top boxes are becoming higher quality in performance. In addition, the focus is now on user experience and personalization and of course integration with Facebook, MySpace and other social networks.
But the nature of Social TV has also evolved. From adding IM to a football match to adding widgets to tell you the weather, social TV is morphing into a much more rich set of interactions. As a colleague of mine, Kevin Brooks said recently, it’s about defining “identity” and “proximity”: implemented well Social TV can combine the “lean back” experience of watching with the “lean forward” of interaction.
This isn’t only limited to just TVs but on any device: mobility is about people too. Some pundits have claimed TV is dead. Maybe it is just changing for the better: TV is now connected, mobile and of course social.
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Google, Handhelds, iPhone, Mobile phone, Smartphone, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
Apple has released a third beta version of its iPhone 3.0 software with new enhancements to the push-notification system and Spotlight search feature. The software remains on schedule for release around the summer Worldwide Developers Conference and reportedly could be accompanied by an announcement of a new iPhone. InformationWeek (4/15)
The Wall Street Journal is rolling out an app for the Apple iPhone, offering news and video for free. The move may surprise Journal subscribers who pay more than $100 per year for Web access. But it puts the app on an even footing with the New York Times’s free app. (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10220680-233.html 4/15)
HP is backing a new mobile video start-up dubbed Gabble that is positioning itself as a private communal video portal for mobile phones. The idea is to allow users to send goofy videos only to friends in their network rather than post them to a sharing site for the world to see. (Cynopsis 4/16)
Google introduced some changes to the user interface in the newest version of its Android mobile operating system, as seen here in screenshot posted on the Android developer website. Upcoming Android 1.5, codenamed “Cupcake,” will sweeten the OS with several new anticipated features including video recording and playback – enabling instant uploads to YouTube, a screen based keyboard and a bunch of new widgets for the home screen including a music player and photo album. (Cynopsis 4/16)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: AT&T, Atlanta, BusinessWeek, Mobile phone, Netbook, Philadelphia, Verizon Wireless, WIRELESS
AT&T said it was “very pleased with the early results” of its 2-week-old trial of selling laptops in Atlanta and Philadelphia, a further sign of how aggressively cell phone operators are moving into the traditional bailiwick of retailers such as Best Buy. AT&T said it was considering expanding the program nationwide, while Verizon Wireless plans to begin offering netbooks to customers before July. BusinessWeek (4/13)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Blackberry, iPhone, Mobile phone, QuickPlay, Smartphone, Sprint Nextel, Wi-Fi, WiMAX
Samsung has introduced its new WiMAX-enabled device, Mondi SWD-M100, which features a 4.3-inch touch-screen display, optical mouse and a QWERTY keyboard over Windows Mobile 6.1 software. Samsung, which also announced a new version of its Instinct smartphone for Sprint Nextel, said the Mondi would include an upgrade of its TouchWiz overlay that uses widgets to give users one-touch access to an array of applications on their home screen. PCWorld (3/31) , MobileBurn (3/31
QuickPlay Media plans to deliver full-length television shows to BlackBerry smartphones via Research In Motion’s applications store after forging agreements with networks including NBC, CBS and MTV. QuickPlay will charge a monthly fee of $7.99 for the service. (Iwantmedia 4/1, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE5300S420090401 4/1)
As wireless capabilities drive the sales of high-end products such as the iPhone, more and more phone makers plan to include Wi-Fi in their product lines. According to ABI Research, 90% of smartphones will have Wi-Fi by 2014, compared with just 44% today. Computerworld (4/1)
Research shows mobile-phone makers are betting features such as music players, GPS systems and full keyboards will lure consumers back into the flagging mobile-phone market. ABI Research says 35% of new phones have full keyboards, while 85% have music-playing capabilities. InformationWeek (3/31)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: AT&T, Consumer electronics, DreamWorks Animation, Mobile phone, Sprint Nextel, Television, Verizon Wireless, WIRELESS
Theater owners are completing 3-D technology upgrades for Friday’s opening of “Monsters vs. Aliens,” the new DreamWorks Animation movie. Hollywood will release more than a dozen 3-D films this year, hoping to offer “something that cannot be achieved at home.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aw5HkD.dtnDY 3/26)
Viacom’s Nickelodeon cable network is asking its young audience to unplug their hand-held gadgets, games and cell phones for a minute on Earth Day to symbolize a commitment to helping the environment. The “unplugged minute,” however, doesn’t extend to television sets. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gX39rdF0RVQBZXsbi3HuFIKNKqoAD9754V301 3/25)
Best Buy Co. reported that profit fell 23% in its fiscal fourth quarter because of depressed consumer demand coupled with overly steep cuts in inventory levels. On the bright side, the consumer-electronics giant beat Wall Street forecasts and picked up market share in the wake of Circuit City’s liquidation. The Wall Street Journal (3/27) , Reuters (3/26) , Financial Times (3/26)
Samsung has started producing a new breed of liquid-crystal-display TV panels that are about a quarter of the thickness of conventional models. The new panels also use an edge-lighting system that is designed to be more aesthetically pleasing and more energy-efficient. Electronista (3/26)
RaySat Broadcasting, which has taken over development work on AT&T’s new CruiseCast in-car satellite-TV service, has retained a handful of vendors to work on key technological aspects of the platform, RaySat said. AT&T, which has not disclosed when the 42-channel service — 20 audio and 22 video — will launch, is said to be finalizing programming contracts that its U-verse IPTV group has been negotiating with content providers. Telephony Online (3/26) , CED Magazine (3/2009)
Ford has begun shipping trucks and vans to dealers with touch-screen PCs installed in their dashboards that house Sprint Nextel CDMA-EVDO network links, the carrier said Tuesday. The system, which runs Windows CE 6.0 software, will cost $50 a month for the wireless service on top of the $1,195 Ford is charging for the PC option. Computerworld (3/24)
Verizon Wireless will enter the laptop business, possibly by next quarter, according to a Bloomberg report, which says the carrier will join AT&T in selling netbook computers, inexpensive PCs designed largely for users to access the Internet. The carrier is expected to work with more than one PC maker, according to the report. Bloomberg (3/26)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Blackberry, iPhone, Microsoft Windows, Mobile phone, Smartphone, Time Warner, Windows Mobile
The iPhone now accounts for 50 percent of mobile Web traffic from smartphones in the U.S., according to an AdMob Mobile Metrics report released this morning. Over the past six months, the iPhone has taken share from Blackberry and Windows Mobile. In August 2008, the iPhone made up only 10 percent of mobile Web traffic from smartphones. During the same time, Blackberry’s share has gone from 32 percent to 21 percent (with the Curve and the Pearl coming in stronger than the Storm), while Windows Mobile has taken an even bigger hit, declining from 30 percent to 13 percent. Palm is also down to 7 percent from 19 percent six months ago. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/24/iphone-now-50-percent-of-smartphone-web-traffic-in-the-us/ 3/24)
Time Warner’s AOL is releasing a version of its online coupons service, Shortcuts.com, optimized for mobile phones. Registered users will be able to redeem the coupons in-store without a paper receipt. Competition among mobile coupon purveyors is said to be growing. (http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10202079-12.html 3/23)
Dell will have to go back to the design table after cell phone carriers showed little interest in the PC maker’s attempt to compete with the iPhone and BlackBerry in the smartphone market, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. Wu said the pending Palm Pre, however, is already being viewed as a viable rival to the market leaders. vnunet.com (3/24) , InformationWeek (3/23)
Are iPhone app developers getting paid on time from Apple? Not all of them. On this iPhone developer forum
, there are numerous threads from developers who are complaining about delays in payments for January and not being paid the amount of money the developers are in fact due from sales. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/24/iphone-app-developers-gripe-about-payment-delays-and-dismal-customer-service/ 3/24)
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