Seeing the results of the Google Android Developer Challenge today was like being told what you’re getting for Christmas … in July. Worse yet, what’s under the tree is mostly socks and underwear.

Google announced the 50 round-one winners in the worldwide search for the best Android-developed applications. For using Google’s open-source mobile operating system, each winner will receive $25,000 to further fund their apps.

For a list of the winners, you can go to several places on the Web:

• The Android Developers Blog
• Phandroid, an Android fans blog, which provides some links and descriptions of the winning applications, and
• Silicon Alley Insider, which also provides links but no descriptions

It’s not that the winners are unworthy and their applications unimaginative and useless. Quite to the contrary. These point to the future of mobile applications.

Continue reading “It’s like Christmas in July: Google announces winners of Android Developers Challenge” »

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As we’ve noted before, Apple isn’t the only company putting the full Web in your pocket. When Opera released version 4 of its Java-based Opera Mini browser last June, we suggested that features such as ‘desktop view’, tiled zooming, and the use of a proxy server to speed up browsing, meant that it went along way to addressing any iPhone-envy.

With the release of version 4.1, Opera isn’t resting on its laurels. New features include the ability to search for text within a Web page, auto-complete of URLs as you type based on your bookmarks and browsing history, and — as long as your phone supports the higher spec JSR-75 version of Java — you can now upload files and save Web pages for offline browsing. The ability to handle uploads means that Opera Mini can, for example, be used to share photos with sites such as Flickr, Facebook or a personal blog, all within the browser. Additionally, Opera claims that improvements to its proxy servers means that Web page requests are now up to 50% faster, resulting in “desktop-like speeds”.

Check out the company’s own video tour of Opera Mini after the jump…

Continue reading “iPhone who? Opera Mini gets speedy update” »

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A quick update to the iTunes-HBO post from yesterday. Six of HBO’s most popular shows are now available for purchase on iTunes, ranging from $1.99 to $2.99 an episode. They are:

• “The Wire”: $1.99
• “Flight of the Conchords”: $1.99
• “Sex and the City”: $1.99
• “Deadwood”: $2.99
• “Rome”: $2.99
• “The Sopranos”: $2.99

(Apple release)

This translates to considerable savings, especially for those who 1) don’t subscribe to HBO; 2) are interested in the series but are not sure if they want to spend the money on the boxed sets; 3) would buy the boxed sets if they were a little cheaper.

Continue reading “HBO offers six shows on iTunes; even with higher prices, savings are considerable” »

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Apple and Home Box Office will be achieving a couple of very important firsts when HBO content comes to iTunes in the next few weeks.

For Apple, it will be the first time the company will allow variable pricing for content on iTunes in the United States. According to Josh Saul of Portfolio.com, sources indicate that Apple has agreed to a separate price structure to bring HBO content to iTunes.

No details were given, but it’s expected that HBO shows will sell for more than $1.99 a episode. Apple has held steadfast to its philosophy of fixed pricing — $0.99 cents per song, $1.99 for TV shows, $2.99 to $4.99 for movie rentals and $9.99 to $14.99 for movie purchases.

Apple has been so adamant about fixed pricing that NBC to pull its shows from iTunes at the end of last year after a loud, public dispute over, in part, variable pricing demands.

For HBO, the expected agreement marks the first time the cable station’s content will be available online. This content includes current shows such as “John Adams” or “Entourage” as well as old favorites like “Sex in the City,” “The Sopranos,” and “The Wire.”

Continue reading “Something is going on at iTunes: Apple reportedly agrees to variable pricing to get HBO shows” »

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Apple and Sony are fierce competitors, but that hasn’t stopped the PlayStation 3 playing nicely with Mac OSX computers. Thanks to some great third-party software, and Sony’s decision to add support for the UPnP AV standard, the PS3 has, in some ways, become a better solution than Apple’s own offering to the problem of streaming content - audio, video and photos - from a Mac to the TV. Here’s our quick guide to creating a Mac-supported PS3 media center.

Step One: Turning the Mac into a PS3-friendly media server

Assuming that your Mac is already on the same local network as your PlayStation 3, the first thing you’ll need to do is install a UPnP AV-compliant media server. In fact, this will need to be done for all of the Macs that you want to share media from.

Continue reading “How-to: Stream media from a Mac to PlayStation 3″ »

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Here’s a summary of the week’s digital lifestyle action on last100. Note that you can subscribe to the weekly wrapups, either via the special weekly wrapup RSS feed or by email.

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Internet TV news on last100

iTunes same-day movie releases reportedly a loss leader, yet prices remain too high

In striking a deal with Hollywood to offer new movie releases for purchase on iTunes the same day as their DVD equivalents, Apple is making a loss, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to a “person familiar with the matter”, Apple is paying the movie studios a wholesale price of $16 per movie while maintaining its current retail price of $14.99.

Take that, Apple: Zune update adds TV shows from NBC Universal, among others

The Zune Marketplace (U.S.-only) has begun selling downloads of major television shows, including content from NBC Universal — a move that sticks it to Apple, following last year’s public spat between the iPod maker and major television studio, which resulted in NBC pulling its content from iTunes.

Continue reading “Weekly wrapup, 5 - 9 May 2008″ »

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I’m going out on a limb here because I’m more of a casual gamer than hardcore. But lately I’ve been wondering, with the coming iPhone 2.0, third-party applications, and expected mobile games, might Apple return to the game-console market?

I know: That’s crazy talk. Apple’s last foray into console gaming was 1996’s Pippin, named as the 22nd worst tech product of all time in a 2006 story in PC World magazine. Since then, we’ve seen the advent of Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, a slew of Nintendo consoles, and no new attempt by Apple to introduce a game console.

But Terrence Russell of The Industry Standard wonders, like I have, that maybe Apple might be following a different path into gaming — through the mobile market.

“Consumers are already ga-ga over Apple’s mobile devices to begin with,” Russell writes, referring to the success of the iPhone and iPod line of products, “so whether they should be re-imagined as gaming gadgets is more of a marketing issue.

“But with the developer community in a tizzy to create the next great Apple-friendly game, it’s only a matter of time before Cupertino announces that it’s ready to connect the dots.”

Maybe.

Continue reading “What if Apple re-enters the console gaming market through the iPhone?” »

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Davis Freeberg over at Zatz Not Funny provides some great analysis on the history and future strategy of DivX. On the company’s historical success, Freeberg notes the importance of creating an eco-system around the DivX codec, both in terms of becoming the preferred format for “grey” content on P2P networks, but also the way in which the company reached out to consumer electronics manufacturers — DVD players, media streamers, PMPs, and more recently Sony’s PS3 — through its DivX certification program. The result is that DivX has become the consumer facing brand for MPEG4, despite rival offerings from Apple and Microsoft, for example.

“I still prefer DivX files because I know that I’ll be able to play them on the hardware devices that I own”, writes Freeberg. “By creating an eco-system that supports portability, DivX has been able to lock me into their format in the same way that Apple has been able to use iTunes to keep their customers buying iPods instead of MP3 players.”

However, the advent of H.264, and other more efficient codecs, means that DivX faces a new round of competition.

Continue reading “The history and future of DivX” »

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It’s certainly not the best quality video, and the show selection is severely limited, but it’s a start and — maybe — a hint at what’s to come.

As Silicon Alley Insider and Saul Hansell of The New York Times note today, you can stream NBC shows to an iPhone or iPod touch, completely bypassing iTunes. As everybody knows, NBC and its network properties pulled their shows off iTunes late last year over a pricing and copy protection spat.

NBC is streaming full episodes of “The Office” and “30 Rock” to the iPhone in unprotected Quicktime format. The files are split into four small segments with no advertising (Update: I watched the whole Office episode again, and at the end of each segment there is a super brief ad — in this case, one for the Toyota Carrolla). The quality is fuzzy at best, but the shows are watchable in portrait and landscape modes.

Unfortunately, only one episode of “The Office” is available — the one where Michael puts his face in cement and Pam is wearing glasses. There’s also one episode of “30 Rock.” The NBC site hints that there may be more shows coming.

Continue reading “A hint at what’s to come? NBC streams “The Office”, “30 Rock” to iPhone” »

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Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff calls the Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks WiMax joint venture announced today “the most complex deal anyone has ever done.”

No kidding. Get out your scorecards kids, you’re gonna need ‘em.

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the United States, and Clearwire, a Kirkland, Wash.-based startup company founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, are pooling their wireless broadband spectrum and engineering resources to create a $14.55 billion communications company that will retain the Clearwire name.

Clearwire’s purpose is to continue developing a nationwide mobile network based on WiMax, one of two next-generation wireless broadband technologies that promise Speed Racer-like performance. Clearwire’s other goal is to build this “4G” network as fast as it can ahead of the U.S.’s two largest wireless operators, AT&T and Verizon, which have chosen (at least for now) to build LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.

Along for the ride are outside investors, including Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. They will kick in a total of $3.2 billion to give them a 22 percent stake in the new company.

Sprint holds the majority of stock at 51 percent, with Clearwire holding 27 percent.

All in all, the joint venture and formation of Clearwire is pretty darn impressive and a sign that the battle for control in the U.S. mobile industry is far from over. In fact, it’s still heating up and getting more interesting by the day.

“The agreement enables us to get to market faster and reach a broader audience than we could have if we went it alone,” Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call.

Continue reading “Despite complexities, Sprint, Clearwire band together to build WiMax network” »

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Piece by piece, Sony’s PS3 has the potential to be one of the best, if not the best, media centers on the market.

Ability to stream content from a Windows PC (or Mac) to a television? Check.

DivX support? Check.

Blu-ray player? Check.

USB device support? Check.

Portable integration? Check (via the PSP).

DVR functionality? Announced.

Movie download store? Coming soon.

It’s just that most consumers don’t know it.

Perhaps that will change this September, in Europe at least, when the PS3’s DVR add-on finally goes on sale.

Continue reading “Sony’s PS3 DVR PlayTV launch date and price confirmed” »

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It’s about time. Well, sort of.

Taiwanese smart phone manufacturer HTC launched the Touch Diamond today and, as expected, it’s small, sleek, sexy, very iPhone-esque, and promising.

Unfortunately for those of us in the U.S. or Latin America, the Diamond will not be available until the second half of 2008. If you’re in European markets, the phone begins shipping in June, followed by Asia and the Middle East.

As you know, much has been said about the iPhone since its launch last June. Ever since then, any phone released by any manufacturer is compared with the iPhone.

But so far, no one has come close to the iPhone’s design, interface, usability, user experience, and overall satisfaction, although Nokia’s offerings are popular. One “phone” promised to take on the iPhone, but the so-called Gphone, running Google’s mobile operating system Android, hasn’t been released by any manufacturer yet, it isn’t expected until the fourth quarter, and is completely untested in the market.

Continue reading “HTC launches first true iPhone competitor just as Apple is about to take its phone to next level” »

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