February 13th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 
1 Comment
According to at least one source, Netflix has been conducting some very specific market research with regards to its Internet TV service being delivered on Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s XBox 360.
An online survey asks: “If as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your PS/3 or XBOX 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?”
Our answer: pretty darn likely. Continue reading »
February 13th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | No Comments
I’ve been waiting 330 days for this. With the release of the AppleTV Take 2 software update, the original AppleTV finally resembles the device it should have been on Day 1, the day I purchased it.
Since then, I’ve put up with the jeers of friends, home entertainment enthusiasts, HD TV and movie nerds, and less-than-pleased media pundits. I knew when I bought the AppleTV it wasn’t a perfect device, but I purchased it on the belief that Apple would nurture it along and improve the limited set-top box because it had to.
The device was Apple’s entry into the lucrative-but-cutthroat living room, the heart of our digital lifestyle. The battleground is fierce: Microsoft’s Media Center, TiVo, DVRs, cable and teleco video-on-demand, game consoles, laptop computers (and YouTube, Joost, Hulu), Vudu, and so many more are bashing it out for our attention and entertainment dollars.
Except for ease of setup and use, the AppleTV has been a disappointment — I readily admit it — and I’ve watched as competitors continue to improve their offerings. Meanwhile, Apple was messing around with something called the iPhone and gaining entrance into the wireless world.
With the release of AppleTV Take 2, Apple is arguably on near-equal footing with everybody else, but before we go comparing apples and oranges let’s take a brief look at the “new” AppleTV. Continue reading »
February 12th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | No Comments
U.K. music download provider Omnifone has expanded its MusicStation program by offering a new service, aptly named MusicStation Max, where cell phone buyers can download an unlimited amount of music from all four major labels for “free.”
Free, of course, means handset manufacturers will build the cost of the MusicStation Max plan into their devices, sell them to the carriers, who will resell them to consumers along with a special music, voice, and data plan. We can assume that “special” means more expensive as music is added to voice and data. Continue reading »
February 12th, 2008 | Posted in Comms, Mobile | 1 Comment
Android has landed. And it looks like, well, some sort of space alien.
Several companies at this week’s Mobile World Congress unveiled prototypes of Android, Google’s highly anticipated, open-source operating system. But rather than showing off sleek, sexy cell phones, with a super-fast OS running groundbreaking applications, attendees were treated to reality.
Android, for now, is mostly a bunch of circuit boards, displays, solder, prototype “phones”, and “alpha” applications intended to show the mobile world that yes, in fact, Android and the so-called Gphones do exist and, to some degree, work. They’re not vaporware.
“It’s not fair to laugh at the huge circuit boards: These are design prototypes and will of course be shrunk down to a fraction of this size,” Charlie Sorrel writes for the Wired’s gadget lab.
“But despite the fugly appearance, these Android phones are the buzz of the show. At the NEC booth, the guy pointed me straight past the other boards saying, ‘This one is the Android. That’s the only one anybody is interested in.’”
So, without further ado, here’s Android in all its, uh, splendor. Continue reading »
February 11th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | No Comments
Netflix likes to boast its hybrid offering — DVDs by post and Internet streaming — so it seems appropriate that someone would develop a Windows Media Center add-on to manage both.
Andrew Park has done just that. His MyNetFlix plugin for the Vista version of Media Center enables many aspects of a Netflix account to be accessed from within Media Center’s “10-foot” User Interface (suitable for viewing on a television) including browsing Netflix’s DVD library, editing your Netflix queue and viewing your rental history and DVD recommendations.
The ability to access Netflix’s Internet TV service “Watch Now”, however, will be of most interest to users who have a Vista Windows Media Center hooked up to their television or are using a PC as part of a home theater setup. Continue reading »
February 11th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | No Comments
Long before Apple’s iPhone, another Silicon Valley-based company pioneered the consumer-friendly smart phone. That company was Danger Inc. best known for its T-mobile branded Sidekick (the Paris Hilton smart phone of choice) and its user friendly mobile OS and Internet applications.
As of today, Danger is no more. Instead, the company is being gobbled up by Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, responsible for overseeing the Zune, XBox, Windows Mobile and Microsoft TV product lines. Of note, Danger was founded by Andy Rubin, Google’s recently appointed Director of Mobile Platforms, following the search giant’s acquisition of Android. Continue reading »
February 11th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | No Comments
It’s a big week coming up in the Mobile Web world. The annual Mobile World Congress is being held in Barcelona, 11-14 February. The early buzz is around Google’s much (and oft) rumored GPhone. According to the Times Online, Google “is expected to produce a prototype mobile handset” at the show. Even if Google itself doesn’t unveil a phone, there will be plenty of Android prototypes on display (Google’s open source Mobile Operating System).
CNN is reporting that “as many as one dozen handset makers and chip companies are expected next week to unveil mobile phone prototypes designed to operate with Google Inc.’s (GOOG) new Android software platform”. Continue reading »
February 11th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 2 Comments
One of my favorite times of the year are the first two days of the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships, better known as March Madness. I sit on the sofa in a stupor, watching games from morning till midnight.
This year, not only can I watch the games on television but I can also sit with my laptop and watch any game on the ad-supported March Madness on Demand — with no blackouts, according to paidcontent.org. (FAQ.)
Until now, CBS Sports has protected local affiliates by maintaining similar blackout rules online as it has on air, keeping the “local” games TV-only. It also stopped coverage after the first 56 games, focusing all attention on the TV broadcast. Continue reading »
February 10th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | 4 Comments
Microsoft and Sony Ericsson shout “Enough is enough!”
For much of the past eight months, the world’s mobile attention has focused on Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android open-source mobile operating system, Blackberry’s continued success, and Nokia claiming 40 percent of the world’s cell phone market.
Microsoft and Sony Ericsson haven’t been left out, per se, but they certainly are not gaining much attention. In fact, the Windows Mobile OS has been much maligned lately, especially as the iPhone has taken over the No. 2 spot behind Blackberry in the sale of smart phones in the U.S.
Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft and Sony Ericsson announced — somewhat surprisingly — they are teaming up to put Windows Mobile on a new premium phone, the XPERIA X1. Continue reading »
February 9th, 2008 | Posted in last100 weekly wrapup | No Comments
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:
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.
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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!