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.

Top digital lifestyle news

This week saw the Mobile World Congress (MWC) take place in Barcelona, and as a result there was lots of news and announcements related to mobile. The biggest of which is that Microsoft is purchasing Danger Inc., makers of the consumer smart phone known as Sidekick. The move is a clear signal by Microsoft that, perhaps following the success of the iPhone, the company is to enter the consumer smart phone market. Whether this will be through rolling out a software platform for existing hardware partners or involve Microsoft building a device of their own is yet to be seen (Zune phone anyone?).

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

The biggest headlines were in mobile this week on last100.

The release of Software Developer Kits for Google’s mobile-OS known as Android have been delayed till April. Meanwhile the iPhone, which should see its own SDK released later this month, is now the No.2 smart phone in the U.S. but still trails significantly worldwide.

In an update on the 700 MHZ spectrum auction we reported that Verizon is rumored to be in the lead ahead of Google.

This week also saw a number of new mobile products being announced or finally seeing the light of day. Opera Mobile 9.5 was revealed, trumping the iPhone’s mobile browser on a number of features including Flash video support; Nokia relaunched its mobile gaming service N-Gage; and stealth startup Modu made public their product offering: an interesting looking ‘modular’ cellphone:

… that can be slipped into different “jackets” to give the base phone additional features and functions depending on the user’s needs.

Basic “jackets” may include an MP3 sleeve, turning the phone into a digital music player. Or a GPS device. Or a digital camera for wireless image transfers. Or an alarm clock interface. Or with a larger screen, a video playback device. The possibilities are plentiful.

More digital lifestyle news:

• Yahoo! exits music subscriptions, Rhapsody to pick up the pieces
• Rumor: Microsoft interested in purchasing startup Ustream.tv
• Through patent filing, Apple hints at rich future of AppleTV
• Archos TV+ DVR now available in the UK
• iPhone, iPod Touch get supersized
• ESPN begins opening up access to its broadband channel ESPN360

Features

In a post titled ‘Yokia! Why Nokia should buy Yahoo‘, last100 editor Steve O’Hear explains how Nokia could benefit from acquiring the dot com giant:

If Nokia is repositioning itself as a Web services company, to combat falling profit margins on its hardware, then acquiring Yahoo would help to give the company a much needed presence on the desktop (not just mobile), as well as beef up its Web offerings and Internet brand recognition in general.

—-

Alternatively, a nightmare scenario exists for both Microsoft and Yahoo: Yahoo sells it ad business to Google in return for an ad-revenue partnership. Meanwhile, the Open Handset Alliance starts to produce real results and Google’s Android becomes a widely adopted mobile OS. The result? Google dominates the mobile Web (i.e. mobile ads) as it does on the desktop.

That’s a wrap for the week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

The big news story this week was Amazon’s purchase of Audible.com, the leading online supplier of “digital spoken word audio content” (think: audiobooks, magazines, newspapers and radio programs). We noted that the move “clearly signals Amazon’s intent on placing ever greater bets on a digital future, whereby consumer demand for DVDs, CDs and “dead tree” books, will be replaced with movie downloads (UnBox), digital music (AmazonMP3), eBooks (Kindle), and now audiobook downloads too.”

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.

Note: apologies for the sparse wrapup this week. Normal service should resume next week.

Top digital lifestyle news

• YouTube Mobile is greatly improved, but not quite ready for prime time
• Warner Music sues SeeqPod, testing DCMA “safe harbor”
• FCC’s 700 Mhz spectrum auction begins today; why it matters and gives us hope
• Vudu “slashes” price again (sort of)
• BBC Worldwide adds MySpaceTV channel
• Report: Yahoo may be next to offer unprotected MP3s
• CBS, Last.fm create “communities around content”, not just another music streaming site
• Forget the usual PR schtick — what is TiVo really doing?
• Apple: iPod Touch first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform
• It’s time to kiss and make up: Put NBC content back on iTunes
• HBO dips a toe in the Internet TV waters
• iTunes movie rentals in Europe face many obstacles

That’s a wrap! Enjoy what’s left of the weekend. 

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

This week’s digital lifestyle news was dominated by the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered his traditional keynote, announcing a flurry of new products and updates: Macbook Air, iTunes movie rentals, iPhone/iPod Touch software, and Apple TV “take 2”.

In our follow-up coverage we asked how movie rentals on iTunes fare?; called for the AppleTV to be opened up to third-party developers; and looked in more detail at the iPhone/iPod Touch updates and how they point to the future.

Additional Macworld coverage:

• Netflix rolls out unlimited Internet viewing option – preemptive strike against Apple?
• Google unveils new, slicker, faster iPhone-specific interface
• Reading between the lines of Jobs’ comments on Kindle, Android
• BBC tech chief: iPlayer on iTunes now a possibility

Other digital lifestyle news:

• ESPN to cover Major League Gaming; it’s a sign of what’s to come
• NBA decides not to go it alone, partners with Turner to expand its digital offerings
• TiVo offers American indie and international films through Jaman partnership
• Report: music phones spur adoption of mobile music consumption; we say “hogwash”
• Stanford research team may have found Holy Grail of battery technology
• Pepsi, record labels team with AmazonMP3 to give away free music this Super Bowl

Features

Our feature of the week was a guest post by Aseem Kishore, titled ‘Ten mobile apps and services you should definitely check out‘. Aseem wrote: “…most cell phone companies are not necessarily giving you the best software and services for your phone. If you’re looking for some cool mobile phone apps or mobile services that are free and really useful, here are ten worth checking out.”

That’s a wrap for the week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

This week’s digital lifestyle news was dominated by the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas.

Bill Gates gave his final CES keynote before retirement, with Microsoft talking up its digital living room stronghold (XBox 360, Media Center and Mediaroom), while at the same time mocking the AppleTV.

However, Microsoft and Apple face much competition, with a flurry of products announced at CES that bridge the gap between the PC and TV, or bring Internet content directly to a television. Highlights included the SlingCatcher (Sling Media), D-Link’s newly launched PC-on-TV Player, TiVo Desktop 2.6 (TiVo), and Internet-connected TVs from Sharp, Samsung and Panasonic.

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

The big news this week was Sony BMG’s decision to, in part, ditch DRM and start selling tracks on Amazon MP3 without copy-protection. That makes four out of four, with Sony BMG joining the other major labels: EMI, Universal Music and Warner (as predicted in our Digital Music 2007 year in review). In a follow up post, Daniel Langendorf asks where this leaves Apple’s iTunes Store?

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.

Features

In our first feature post of the week, Steve O’Hear wrote an in-depth review of Internet TV in 2007: “From YouTube’s continued dominance, the television networks’ newfound willingness to experiment online, the rise of the desktop Internet TV application, and a number of new PC-to-TV devices and set-top boxes — it’s been a big year for Internet TV in all shapes and forms. In this post we look back at 2007 through the lens of last100’s coverage, highlighting some of the important stories and trends, and how they point to what we might expect for Internet TV in 2008.”

Next up, Dan Langendorf revisited the topic of eBook readers, giving a great overview of the main players, outlining their strengths and weaknesses and how eBook devices and services still have a long way to go.

Digital lifestyle news

• Hey handset guys! Look around: Consumers want smartphones
• Hulu invites
• MovieBeam closes. Bad news for Vudu, AppleTV?
• Verizon to broadcast 24 college bowl games on V Cast
• NBA teams up with Joost to provide “classic” content, highlights from current season
• MTV to premiere Britney’s latest video on Web first

That’s a wrap for the week. Enjoy the festivities.

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.

Top digital lifestyle news

Radiohead have ended their pay-what-you-want experiment. Fans can no longer purchase “In Rainbows” as a digital download from the band’s website as they gear up for a general CD release of their new album.

The pay-what-you-want model lives on, however, as comedian Steve Hofstetter is asking fans to name their own price for his latest album “The Dark Side of the Room”.

In Internet TV-related news, providing more evidence of their anybody-but-iTunes strategy, shows from NBC will be available on Fanfare, SanDisk’s newly launched Windows-only video download service. The initial content lineup will include “The Office”, “Heroes” and “30 Rock.” Meanwhile, Vudu’s set-top box (see our review) has landed some television content of its own. TV episodes from Fox are now available for purchase priced at $1.99 each (the same price as TV shows on Apple’s iTunes Store). The lineup covers twelve shows including “24″, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Family Guy”, and “My Name is Earl”.