INQ working on a mass market 'Twitter phone'

by Steve O'Hear

June 2nd, 2009 | Posted in Mobile, Social | CommentsNo Comments

Hutchison-owned INQ, makers of the Skype phone and INQ1 – dubbed the Facebook phone – is said to be targeting Twitter next, according to a Reuters report. That’s hardly surprising considering the rise in popularity of the ‘micro-blogging’ site and the large amount of media attention the service has garnered here in the UK, one of the primary markets for the INQ1 via mobile network “3”, which is also a subsidiary of Hutchison.

“This can really help open up and drive Twitter use on mobile when usage becomes part of your data package like on the PC”, Frank Meehan chief executive of INQ tells the news service. One again the proposition to carriers is that a low cost ‘Twitter phone’ would help to drive data usage and retention amongst mass consumers not just those who can afford a traditional ‘smart phone’. Continue reading »

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XBox 360 to support Twitter and Facebook. Who's the biggest social network on TV now?

by Steve O'Hear

June 2nd, 2009 | Posted in Net TV, Social | Comments2 Comments

Facebook on XBox 360

Facebook on XBox 360

For a long time now, Microsoft has made the rather lofty claim that the company’s XBox 360 was the biggest social network on TV. For the most part that was in reference to XBox Live – the games console’s online service – and its integration with Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft’s cross platform Instant Messaging service (Windows, Mac and mobile). Yesterday, however, Microsoft announced at E3 that the XBox 360 will soon be adding support for two competing social networks – Twitter and Facebook – making the XBox 360 undoubtedly the most socially networked set-top box, but not necessarily a Microsoft-owned social network the biggest one on the television. I’m not sure how Windows Live Messenger user numbers and Facebook’s compare in terms of cross-over with XBox Live membership but it’s nonetheless significant that Microsoft has chosen to embrace two competitors. Continue reading »

Smartphone and Netbook, meet Smartbook (but haven't we met before?)

by Steve O'Hear

June 1st, 2009 | Posted in Mobile | Comments1 Comment

Netbook or Smartbook?

Netbook or Smartbook?

On the day that Intel secured the right from Psion to legally use the trademarked term Netbook, rival chip designer Qualcomm is pushing a “new” category of mobile device, which the company is calling a Smartbook. As a marketing term, like the Netbook before it, the Smartbook definitely has legs. It’s new, catchy and yet derivative enough of existing product categories so as not to scare off consumers.  But beyond marketing, what exactly separates a Smartbook from a Netbook and other ultra-mobile laptops before it?

Here’s Qualcomm’s own definition:

Smartbooks are a new class of devices running mobile operating systems that bridge the functional divide between smartphones and laptops, delivering the best aspects of a smartphone experience on a larger-display form factor. Constantly connected via 3G, Wi-Fi  and GPS , smartbooks are ultra-portable, personalizable, easy-to-use and last all day on a single battery charge.

In other words a Smartbook is similar to a Netbook, except it runs a mobile operating system rather than a conventional desktop OS, such as Windows or one of the various desktop flavors of Linux. Continue reading »

Weekly wrapup: Hulu takes on Boxee, Sky and XBox 360, Spotify on Android, Nokia Ovi app store, Zune HD

by Steve O'Hear

May 31st, 2009 | Posted in last100 weekly wrapup | CommentsNo Comments

Here’s a summary of the last 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

Hulu takes on Boxee (sort of) with its own desktop app

Hulu have made available their own desktop application (Mac and Windows) that features a “ten foot” user interface designed specifically for operating with a remote control, providing a much better experience when viewing Hulu content via a PC connected to a TV. Continue reading »

Friday's Internet TV news links: Flip, Sony Ericsson, HDMI, Android, and more

by Steve O'Hear

May 29th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Here are few links for some Friday/weekend reading. All Internet TV-related.

  • Next-gen HDMI Turns your TV into an Internet Hub. New HDMI standard to carry Ethernet connectivity meaning that an Internet-connected TV could act as a hub: “Instead of a having tangled mess of cables behind your TV, the HDTV itself will act as an Internet hub for all those wired goodies in your living room.” (PC World)
  • Video recording on G1 (Cupcake update). New version of Google’s Android mobile OS adds video recording capability, paving the way for support for live video streaming services, such as Qik. (Digitalwerks)
  • Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow Arena movie download service ready for June launch. “Direct on-phone downloads over WiFi or 3G would be awesome, but as most of these services tend to operate, PlayNow Arena will require that users select and download movies on their PCs, cable up their phones, and transfer the media the old-fashioned way…” (Engadget Mobile)
  • The Streaming Content Is There, Just Not Enough People Watching It — Yet. Dan Rayburn gives a great overview of the limited penetration of Internet TV services and hardware. (GigaOm)
  • D7 Video: Pure Digital Demo. Pure Digital (Flip) have demoed a new online video sharing site that aims to be easier to use than YouTube for sharing and viewing home videos with friends and family. A range of playback devices are said to be supported not just a PC. (AllThingsD)

Rupert Murdoch's Sky bringing interactive TV to XBox 360

by Steve O'Hear

May 29th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Image credit: CNet UK

Image credit: CNet UK

Microsoft has long talked up its Internet TV prowess (they’ve been in the space for a very, very long time), with a combination of its consumer led set-top box a.k.a. the XBox 360 and its telco IPTV solution dubbed Mediaroom.

One of the advantages of the company’s connected vision was supposed to be the advent of interactive television based on what the Internet could bring to the table. Think: live instant messaging through the TV with friends while watching the same channel or accessing additional information pulled in from the web, for example. With yesterday’s announcement that satellite broadcaster BSkyB’s broadband TV service ‘Sky Player’ is coming to XBox 360 users in the UK and Ireland, that vision is now a lot more tangible. Continue reading »

Hands-on impressions of Nokia's N97 [video]

by Steve O'Hear

May 29th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile | Comments17 Comments

Nokia's N97 flagship phone

Nokia's N97 flagship phone

I’ve been pretty excited ever since Nokia announced it’s soon-to-be-released Nokia N97 all the way back in December. However, it wasn’t till earlier this week that I was actually able to get my hands-on the company’s new flagship device courtesy of Nokia Design Day, an all day press event held at Nokia’s design offices in London. I got to spend about ten minutes playing with the N97 and overall I was very pleased with the device, both hardware build and looks, along with the newly revamped touch UI based on Symbian S60 5th edition. Overall, Nokia appears to have provided exactly what I and many users have been calling for: a phone with the Nseries media production and playback features combined with an Eseries-style QWERTY keyboard and build quality. Continue reading »

Hulu takes on Boxee (sort of) with its own desktop app

by Steve O'Hear

May 28th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Hulu Desktop

Hulu Desktop

You’ll remember when Hulu decided to block desktop Internet TV browser Boxee for having the audacity to provide a better user experience for playing back the online video site’s content on a television. Content that originates on TV in the first place! At the time Hulu defended the decision, citing the requests of content owners not the policy of the site itself. And yet today, Hulu have made available their own desktop application (Mac and Windows) that features a “ten foot” user interface designed specifically for operating with a remote control, providing a much better experience when viewing Hulu content via a PC connected to a TV.

Hulu Desktop is a lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer. It features a sleek new look that’s optimized for use with standard Windows Media Center or Apple remote controls, allowing you to navigate Hulu’s entire library with just six buttons.

You can download the Hulu desktop app from the site’s new “Labs” section. Don’t think about running Hulu Desktop on anything other than a PC, however, such the AppleTV set-top box, unless you’re cool with breaking the software’s terms of service (via NewTeeVee).

Music streaming service Spotify demos Android app, off-line syncing included!

by Steve O'Hear

May 28th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | CommentsNo Comments

Spotify on the Google phone

Spotify on the Google phone

Music streaming service Spotify already offers a very compelling desktop experience. The Mac and Windows client features the familiar iTunes-esque User Interface, a fast growing music catalogue and the ad-supported free-ness that is so popular with users who otherwise might source their music from P2P filesharing networks. That’s all well and good but ad revenue alone is unlikely to generate enough revenue for Spotify to stay in business. Instead, the company is hoping that over time enough users will opt for the monthly paid-for subscription version and it’s here that mobile could be key. Continue reading »

Microsoft takes on iPod touch with Zune HD

by Steve O'Hear

May 27th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | CommentsNo Comments

zunehd

New Zune HD

Microsoft today announced its latest Zune portable media player designed to go head to head with Apple’s iPod touch. Dubbed the Zune HD, the device features a 3.3″ 16:9 widescreen capacitive OLED with multitouch, WiFi, and a built-in web browser, along with existing Zune media playback features. Talking of which, the “HD” moniker refers to both HD Radio (offering higher quality audio and additional track and station data), along with support for 720p HD video playback. Interestingly, the device itself only offers a screen resolution of 480 x 272, meaning that High Def videos played back on the device are downscaled, which shouldn’t matter all that much on such a small screen. To view content in its full HD glory, the Zune HD features a HDMI-compatible docking station for plugging into a high definition television.

Of course to really take on the iPod touch, not only will the Zune HD’s web browsing experience need to up its game compared to existing Windows Mobile devices, but it would need to foster its own third-party software eco-system. Something that Microsoft hasn’t yet announced and it’s unclear if the company plans to do so, although I’m not ruling it out. Remember Apple doesn’t call the iPod touch a media player, instead referring to the device as the “first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform, running all kinds of mobile applications.”

(via Gizmodo)

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