Google updates Mobile Maps service to include your location

Google announced the release of version 2 of its Google Maps application for mobile phones. New in v2.0 is a beta version of Google's "My Location" technology, which uses cell tower ID information to provide users with their approximate location, helping them determine where they are, what's around them, and how to get there.

Location information makes mobile mapping and search faster and more convenient, but the most common source of location information to date -- GPS technology -- is supported on fewer than 15 percent of the mobile phones expected to be sold in 2007. With Google's new My Location technology, users who don't have GPS-enabled mobile phones will now be able to take advantage of the added speed and convenience afforded by location information. The My Location technology also complements GPS-enabled devices, as it delivers a location estimate faster than GPS, provides coverage inside buildings (where GPS signals can be unreliable), and doesn't drain phone batteries as quickly as GPS.

The My Location technology takes information broadcast from cell towers and sifts it through Google-developed algorithms to approximate a user's current location on the map. This approximation is anonymous, as Google does not gather any personally identifiable information or associate any location data with personally identifiable information as part of the My Location feature. The feature can also be easily disabled by anyone who prefers not to use it.

Phones with a GPS facility will display the location as a small blue dot on the screen. Where cell-id is used, then a larger pale blue zone is highlighted which shows the approximate coverage area of that cellsite.

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Sony Ericsson V640i Review

The Sony Ericsson V640i is a Vodafone exclusive mid-range 3G candybar music phone. Available in Havana Gold or Quick Black, the V640i boasts similar features to other mid-range 3G Sony Ericsson phones, such as the K530i and W660i.

The V640i gets a few extra bonus points over other mid-range 3G mobile. There's HSDPA - up to 4 times faster Internet downloads than 3G, 4 GB memory card support and there's Sony Ericsson's new Media Manager software. The V640i is also quad-band - get better coverage in USA, Australia, Canada and many South American countries.

The camera isn't a full-feature job, there's no flash or autofocus and the screen resolution is just 176 x 220 pixels (same as other mid-range phones). A 240 x 320 screen resolution would have been better, although the price would likely be increased a little.

Design

Sony Ericsson 3G candybar phones are much alike. Similar weights, similar dimensions, keyboard layouts and features. The V630i follows the same format. Made of plastic, video camera on the front (top right), volume and camera buttons on the right, connector on the bottom, and memory card slot on the left.

Keypad: The keys are oblong, big enough, and have decent spacing. The circular navigation keys are a good size - the confirmation key is big.

The memory card slot supports up to a 4 GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card - you can get one of them for about £30 at Amazon.co.uk.

The loudspeaker is the circle beneath the camera lens on the back. Sounds OK.

Music Player

Walkman Player 2.0. The music player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC file formats. View album covers, titles, browse by artists, tracks, playlists, visualization, play mode, skins, stereo widening, equalizer, loop and shuffle.

The V640i has trackID - the music recognition service, PlayNow and numerous quick links to Vodafone Live's music download service (I call them the 'money links').

Media Manager

Organise music, photos, video clips and podcasts on your PC, then transfer them to your phone. An improvement over Disc2phone software. If you lose your CD, download Media Manager from the Sony Ericsson Web site. Or download it right now to have a look.

HSDPA = Fast Internet Downloads

HSDPA stands for High-speed download packet access. The V640i press release states "... can download a track in 14 seconds". Vodafone lead the way in HSDPA mobile broadband services. Current theoretical peak speeds are "up to 3.2 Mbps". You're more likely to get speeds up to 1.4 Mbps (that's what the Vodafone Web site says) - at least 4 times faster than 3G (384 Kbps).

3G is an 'always-on' connection. Much like your home broadband connection, voice and data can be transmitted simultaneously. Yep, use data and voice at the same time - download the latest music tracks whilst you're on the phone chatting to granny Gertrude.

The V640i also has EDGE support (2.75G). At the time of writing (November 2007), EDGE isn't very widespread. EDGE is also quite slow - ask an Apple iPhone user about it. Hahahahahahahahah...

Web browsing

Speed wise, the Sony Ericsson V640i is very good. The browser is fine. Combined with fast download speeds, the V640i is fine for downloading music from online services and getting snippets of information.

Google Maps, eBay, Accuweather

The V640i has a few goodies pre-installed.

* Google Maps - useful. If you want GPS, the V640i supports the GPS enabler HGE-100 headset. Just plug the GPS headset into the V640i connector.

* eBay - a great place to buy hot mobile phones.

* Accuweather - Get weather reports for any city.

2 MP Camera

The V640i is a music-focussed phone. The camera is basic. There's no autofocus, flash, macro mode or mirror. The images are OK (very subjective - you might think they're crappy or you might think they're the best thing since Sooty).

They don't look great compared to top-end camera phones - K850i for example. Pretty obvious.

Identical options to other mid-range 3G Sony Ericsson phones. Shoot mode, picture size, night mode, self-timer, effects, white balance, shutter sound, picture quality, save settings and a few more. 2 megapixels is 1600 x 1200 pixels. Video capture is 176 x 144 (QCIF).

Other Fun V640i Features

FM radio with RDS, Video, Music and Photo DJ, 3G video calling (there's a front-facing video call camera), Blueooth, USB, USB mass storage, and a very good 9 hours 2G talk-time.

Summary

The V640i is a Vodafone exclusive handset. The V640i is great for music playing - 4 GB memory card support is good. HSDPA and quad-band earns the V640i more bonus marks. You can buy the V640i on contract, not sure about on PAYG or SIM free.

FEATURES

• 103 x 47 x 15 mm, 97 g


• Talk time (9 hours), Standby time (300 hours)


• 2-inch 176 x 220 pixel, 262k colour screen


• 32 MB phone memory, Memory Stick Micro M2 (up to 4 GB)



• Quad-band (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)


• EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, Bluetooth, USB


• 2 MP camera, video capture


• SMS, MMS, Email


• Video calling, video call camera


• Media player, TrackID, PlayNow, RDS FM radio



• Media manager


• Access NetFront Web browser, RSS feeds


• Sound recorder, voice dialling, voice control


• Organizer tools

In The Box

Sony Ericsson V640i, battery, charger, USB cable, headset, 256 MB memory card, software CD, user guide.

Buy the Sony Ericsson V640i

Cheap Sony Ericsson V640i contract deals, offers, free gifts and promotions.

• Vodafone

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Evolution of Nokia Phones

All Nokia Cell Phones from 1982 to 2007



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France's Orange comments on iPhone sales goal, unlocking costs

France Telecom mobile arm Orange said it expects to sell nearly 100,000 of Apple Inc.'s iPhones by the end of year and has also vowed to move the unlocked version of the touch-screen handset at costs well below its German counterpart, T-Mobile.

Didier Lombard, chief executive of Orange, made the comments Tuesday during an interview with Europe 1 radio. He said his firm's sales target "is a little under 100,000" units sold between Wednesday evening -- when the Apple handset will make its debut in France -- and December 31st.

With just over 30 days to reach the self-imposed milestone, Orange will need to move a bit more than 3,000 iPhones per day through a combination of sales from its online and direct retail stores.

During the interview Tuesday, Lombard also said Orange would offer an unlocked iPhone in France at a price "significantly lower" than the 999 euros ($1,485) proposed by Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in Germany, but failed to elaborate further.

French law is clear in that it requires cellphone operators to make available phones that are unlocked, and thus Orange and Apple have stated that they will comply with the mandate by offering a version of the handset to French consumers that will not be tied to Orange's network.

Less clear, however, is German law regarding the same matter. Therefore, Apple and T-Mobile launched the iPhone in the region earlier this month without plans for an unlocked version. Local T-Mobile rival Vodafone immediately challenged the terms of the German iPhone deal, winning a temporary injunction last week that has since forced sales of unlocked iPhones. However, Apple and T-Mobile set a steep price of 999 euros on that option ahead of an appeal, more than twice the cost of the standard version.

Full service plan details for Orange's 399 euro iPhone offerings will be published on Wednesday morning, though Lombard on Tuesday offered some early hints at those rates. He said that a 24-month contract would start at 49 euros a month and include two hours of communications and 50 SMS text messages.

Customers who opt for the minimum 12-month contract, however, will pay about 4.50 euros more per month for the same service.

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Mobile Web Bad, Mobile Data Good?

Mobile Web: So Close Yet So Far, a story in The New York Times gives US mobile web usage a B-minus grade. According to Rethink Research mobile web accounts for “12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent” while Yankee Group says “only 13 percent of cellphone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web.” Terrible phones, puny network speeds and WAP browsers - no surprise that in a society where people lug laptops even on vacation, mobile web as outlined by NYT isn’t doing well.

In sharp contrast, mobile data seems to be doing well for the US carriers. Here is what they have raked in from wireless data: $8.6 billion (2005), $15.8 billion (2006) and $17.7 billion for first three quarters of 2007. Assuming that the non-messaging data revenues are in the 50-60% (of the data revenues) range for the US carriers, that is pretty hefty growth.

A large push, one would guess is coming from the growing popularity of 3G cards, especially among the web worker/mobile worker crowd. There is anecdotal evidence things will change quite rapidly when we have mobile handsets with real browsers showing up in the sales isles. One such device is already showing its impact. I caught up with Omar Hamoui, Founder & CEO of AdMob, a mobile advertising start-up last week, and he said that over past 30 days the total share of traffic coming to their network from iPhone doubled from 0.4% to 0.8%. Google Maps usage went up after introduction of iPhone. Next year a whole slew of devices are coming to market situation will most certainly change.

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Mobile Phone Radiation & Health

The sped up feature of day-to-day life and increasing demand for perfection in maximum possible spheres of life along with the ultimate desire of comfort and ease has lead us to the heights of development in contemporary times. All these factors are not only the driving forces of economic development round the globe but also the speedometers of standard of living in a particular region, country or area. The only thing that deploys the essence of this development is the unavailability of sustainable growth. On one hand where we’re touching the skies of mega and cellular technology, we’re losing list of essentials, i.e. health.

Setting cellular technology the theme of discussion let’s have an overview of it. One of the major examples of cellular technology, i.e. the mobile phone system is in question for a long time. Both the technology concerns and the social scientists had agreed to differ. And it’s still a vexed question. Cellular phone services being the easiest and fastest modes of communication have billions have billions of subscribers round the world. Even in developing countries where a major part of population is striving hard to satisfy basic needs, i.e. food and clothing, use of mobile phone have become a necessity for them.

Mobile phones use cellular technology whereby the regions are covered by radio waves using a base station antenna as a transmitter and the handset as receiver. Cellular technology is the better option in a sense that it provides better coverage, increased capacity and reduced power usage. Both the digital GSM and the CDMA systems share this base. The point that’s been raised more by the social scientists and health concerns is the effect of radio waves on health. These radio waves are emitted by both handsets and base stations.

With reference to the handsets, the effect of radio waves emitted by the cell phone communication, especially with specific reference to human health, can be categorized as, thermal, non thermal and genotoxical. Thermal effect is one whereby the electromagnetic field of radio waves induces polar molecules that generates dielectric heat letting the live tissues die. For instance some part of head, while receiving the message through radio waves if happens to experience increased temperature can have damaged nerve fibers.

Next to the thermal effect is non-thermal effect, in which keeping the temperature generated by radio waves constant we discuss only the electric current that passes through the cell membrane, while transceiving messages, and finally the genotoxical effect, which has been included in the discussion in 2006. Researches by Greek scientists, Panagopoulos DJ, Chavdoula ED, Nezis IP, and Margaritis LH (2007 Jan) claimed that there’s a casual relationship between cell phone radiation and DNA damage. Later a European study REFLEX had come up with some evidences proving the claim, but all the cases were found to have an exposure to mobile phone quite more than normal.

Besides thermal, non-thermal, and genotoxial effects, there had been a long debate on ‘mobile phone radiations and cancer’. A list of studies supporting the claim and rest opposing has also been observed in this context.

The other face of picture shows the effect of radio waves emitted by base stations. This is another sensitive issue as these waves are emitted continuously, and the increasing number of towers to expand the coverage with a relatively larger bandwidth. The recent reports claim harmful effects of radio waves on peoples’ health living near by the base stations (WHO database). Besides such kind of effect there may be some occasional hazards that may be caused by the ignorance or due to the demand of extreme perfection. For instance during maintenance, the base stations are not turned of, as it may present the network as an inefficient one. This sort of mismanagements would certainly have hazardous effects on the health of people come under the range of waves.

Categorizing hazards may sort out the level of harmful effects generally but being specific to the use of mobile phones it may explore more avenues. The increased use of mobile phones due to technological progress and decreased prices as a result of low cost of production, contribute to the GDPs, but an alarming situation, ignored most of the time is children’s vulnerability to mobile phone radiations. Being an age group, which is in the process of physical and mental growth, they need extra care, but stringent work schedules of parent and the availability of mobile phones for their use may affect their mental and physical growth in any of the above-mentioned way.

Over and above the facts unveiled earlier, there’s no regulation of services in the cellular networks. The problem may persist in a very low proportion in developed countries but the developing countries though being the biggest markets for cellular networks, are not provided the health safety measures, i.e. the use of cell phone in best possible way. Another alarm may persist in the form availability of low quality handsets in these countries, which are either not passed by any regulatory authority or if so, the authenticity of authority might have been questionable.

The debate is all about the hazardous effects of cell phones on human health, but saying that cell phones are hazardous in totality won’t be fair enough. There’s nothing 100% in the world, and there’s always a room for improvement, and betterment, so is the case for cellular phone technology. We can’t leave it as well, but a fair better option is to keep a regulation and check on usage. Cell phone communication does include the emission of radio waves, which are absorbed by the bodies in one way or other, but it’s a hazard only for people with high exposure to the radio waves, i.e. extensive use.

In order to have healthy masses it’s crucial to have regulation of all cellular activities, along with insistence on sustainable growth in the sector. The precautionary principle as recommended by WHO can also be a good measure, but as the sped up life can’t exclude cellular technology from its sphere, further research on hand-off and blue tooth can be innovative and more sustainable measures.

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Orange iPhone data plans revealed

MacScoop has found the iPhone subscription plans for France by searching Orange’s iPhone website, and found unlinked pages that showed the pricing plans.

49€/mo Plan:
- 2 hours + 2 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 50 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and data

59€/mo Plan:
- 3 hours + 3 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 100 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

79€/mo Plan:
- 5 hours + 5 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 150 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

119€/mo Plan:
- 8 hours + 8 hours of voice calls:
- 1000 SMS
- 100 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

Although all the plans advertise Unlimited EDGE data, Orange warns that their will be an unofficial fair use limit of 500MB. Also, it should be noted that the low end iPhone plans all include only 10 hours of Orange’s international Wifi and only the top plan for 119€/mo includes 100 hours of their Wifi. All of these limitations, and time restrictions limit this plan, an don’t make it as desirable as it could be.

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Survey: iPhone too expensive for UK market

Apple’s decision to price the iPhone for UK residents at £269 may have reflected a serious misjudgment of the local cellphone market, according to a new survey of Christmas buyers conducted by the analyst group GfK NOP. Of the respondents, 46 percent simply refuse to consider the phone at its existing price; just over a quarter at 26 percent are interested in the phone but cannot justify the cost, the researchers say. This leaves only 2 percent actively considering the iPhone for the holidays; 5 percent are willing to consider other phones while 8 percent actively dislike the device. About 12 percent of the surveyed population does not even know the iPhone exists, GfK NOP says.



Much of this hesitation can be attributed to British cellphone culture, which unlike the US frequently subsidizes even premium phones below the £200 ($412) mark. In some cases, smartphones such as the Nokia N95 are available for free with better calling plans. The high cost of Apple’s first cellphone stands out as a central issue for most prospective UK buyers, says GfK NOP’s Richard Jameson.

“This is a highly competitive market and the mobile phone manufacturers have very strong brand loyalty,” he adds. “Apple needs more than cutting–edge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US.”

In spite of the poor standing among actual buyers, however, the iPhone is still associated most with special features on phones than other brands. The handset defines music phones for 78 percent of all respondents to the survey, while 65 percent think of it first when considering e-mail or web browsing.

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PS3 Phone Features Microsoft Operating System & Plays Nintendo Games

That’s right folks, wrap your minds around this — a phone that features Playstation buttons, has a Microsoft Windows operating system, and plays Nintendo games. Confused yet? How about the fact that the phone was made in “Koera” — No, that’s not a typo, that’s what is printed on the phone.

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T-Mobile Selling Unlocked iPhones in Germany

To be in compliance with a court ruling, Deutsche Telekom announced today that they will immediately start selling an unlocked iPhone without contract for 999 euro (US $1,477). The iPhone will still be sold, as before, with 2 year contract for 399 euro ($US $590).

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IPhone Must Be Offered Without Contract Restrictions, German Court Rules

PARIS, Nov. 20 — Last month, French law forced Apple to promise that consumers could buy a version of its iPhone in this country without having to be locked into a long-term contract with Orange, the only mobile phone operator offering the new device.

Now, the same issue is tripping up Apple’s plans to sell the music-playing cellphone in Germany, the largest European telephone market. Last week, the Vodafone Group won the first round of a legal case against T-Mobile over its exclusive deal to sell the iPhone there.

A German court ruled that T-Mobile must offer the iPhone to everyone, even without the 24-month contract that it had required for buyers of the phone, which went on sale in Germany for 399 euros ($591) on Nov. 9. T-Mobile is appealing the ruling.

Vodafone of Britain had tried to secure its own pan-European exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone. A spokesman, Simon Gordon, said the company was not trying to block the sale of the device but rather trying to level the playing field in Germany. Vodafone operates Vodafone Germany, the No. 2 German carrier. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is the industry leader there, with 34 million customers.

Various European countries have laws that protect consumers from being forced to buy something else as a condition of buying a product. Britain does not have the same kind of restrictions, allowing O2, a mobile network operator owned by Telefónica of Spain, to sell the iPhone there with an 18-month exclusive contract.

Although Apple has announced sales plans for only the three largest European markets, restrictions on whether carriers can tie or subsidize phones also exist in several other Continental countries, including Belgium, Italy and Finland.

T-Mobile’s position is that tying a mobile phone to a contract with one provider is rare but not new in Germany, while Vodafone argues that all mobile phones sold there should be available for use with any provider. T-Mobile insisted that iPhone sales would continue uninterrupted, but warned that it reserved the right to seek damages from Vodafone.

The iPhone is scheduled to go on sale next week in France. The exclusive French carrier, Orange, a subsidiary of France Télécom, has not disclosed any details of the purchase, like the minimum length of the contract for locked models, or the cost of the unlocked model. An Orange spokeswoman, Béatrice Mandine, did not return phone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

The iPhone competes directly with models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, which have the widest offerings in phones that combine digital music players and cellphones, according to an analysis released this month by the consulting firm M:Metrics. The consultancy also said that the demand for premium phones and features was stronger in Europe than in the United States.

A year ago, a French court ruled against Sony’s requirement that songs sold in its online music store be played only on Sony devices. Apple faces a similar court challenge in France over its iTunes songs, which are tied to the iPod. The iPod’s music- and video-playing features are built into the iPhone.

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Google closer to mobile airwaves bid, sources say

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. is considering bidding alone on coveted airwaves to launch a U.S. wireless network, as a deadline nears to declare bidding plans, sources familiar with the situation said.

One source underscored that Google had made no decision as of Friday on whether it would bid with partners or on its own in the auction of 700-megahertz spectrum due to begin Jan. 24.

Bidding could pit Google against top wireless carriers AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, owned jointly by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc.

Going it alone at the government auction of airwaves would not rule out later signing up partners if Google were to win the necessary spectrum to create a network, the source said.

Google executives discussed the auction last week with Federal Communications Commission officials, including FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, sources familiar with the meeting said.

At the talks, executives for the Web search leader gave the impression of “inching more towards” a bid, one source said.

Another said it is “within the realm of possibility” that partners could be brought on later if Google wins. Google has talked to a number of prospective partners, not just carriers.

Google is “making all the necessary preparations to become an applicant to bid in the auction” ahead of a Dec. 3 deadline for applying to participate, a spokesman said in a statement.

“From the company's perspective, the overriding factor is how to foster more openness in networks. That is certainly the driving factor in our thinking about bidding on the spectrum.”

The 700-MHz band airwaves, which are being returned by broadcasters as they move from analog to digital signals early in 2009, can go long distances and penetrate thick walls. The auction is seen as a last chance for a new wireless player.

Google is considering funding a bid not only from its growing cash pile but by working with Wall Street. Outside financing would reduce its need for partners, one source said.

Google has said it would be prepared to bid at least $4.6 billion for the biggest chunk of spectrum if regulators agreed to policies to promote open use of such networks.

Google won half of what it asked: The FCC imposed a condition on a large portion of the spectrum that would require the winning bidder to open up networks to allow consumers to use any device or applications that works on those frequencies.

But the FCC did not require open access to network capacity to be resold to independent mobile service providers on a wholesale basis, another Google request.

Under the auction terms, if no one meets the $4.6 billion minimum bid, the auction for the open-access portion of the spectrum would be rerun without the open-access conditions.

One strategy Google is considering is to bid on a chunk of airwaves known as “D Block” that would be shared with public safety providers, as well as the more flexible, open-access piece of “C Block” spectrum.

One source said Google has met with Cyren Call, a company charged with managing public safety agency use of spectrum.

Google unveiled this month plans to offer software for building Internet-ready cell phones in an alliance of network operators and device and software makers. The first phones to result from it are due out in mid-2008, partners say.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin said Google is likely to apply to participate in the FCC auction and pay a required deposit later in December. Such moves would not guarantee it will submit a bid, but Levin thinks the company will do so.

Even if Google does bid, Levin said, it may not be designed to actually win the auction, but rather to make sure the FCC's minimum is met and the open-access provision stays in place.

John Hodulik, telecoms analyst with brokerage UBS in New York, said Google's entry into the highly competitive market will hurt the four big incumbents: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel Corp and Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA.

But it could also prove painful for Google. He estimated it would cost an $8 billion to $10 billion more to build another nationwide wireless network, not to mention heavy capital spending to keep up with constant evolutions in the market.

Hodulik said such cost considerations could hugely depress Google's highly valued stock, which trades about 33 times what analysts, on average, expect it to earn next year. Google shares closed on Friday up $3.98, or 0.6 per cent, at $633.63.

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Google Maps Mobile updates

Google Maps has added some new ways for you to find your way using your mobile device. You’ve now got contacts integration and GPS functionality on Windows Mobile, for version 2003 or higher (download it here). There’s also GPS-Enabled Google Maps for the rest of us to use, as well as an optimized version for your Treo and your Blackberry (found here as well).



And some stuff that’s been rolled out on the web version of Google Maps and Earth that’s now available on its mobile implementation: real-time traffic conditions, favorite places and routes, and additional details for businesses marked on your maps. Google’s working so hard to keep the updates going for various handsets. Will it lose some of these options if it rolls out its own mobile network?

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The 1st Google Android Phone video, by Sergey Brin founder

The official and original version of the Google Android Phone, presented by Google founder, Sergey Brin



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Sony Expecting 'Great Deal of Momentum' with PS3

Sony has commented on its October performance and hyped the growth of the PlayStation brand for the month. Going forward, they're expecting a sizable sales spike for PS3.



Although it would appear that Nintendo has decided not to bother discussing October's NPD results (letting the data speak for itself), Microsoft has already issued its response and now Sony has chimed in.

"October 2007 was a strong month for the PlayStation brand, according to NPD data. Overall the PlayStation brand showed a 39% increase in total retail dollars generated year-over-year in the US with total sales of $353.4 million for the month. Overall, SCEA's console business remains strong with combined sales of PS3 and PS2 for the month of October at $258.5 million in revenue," commented SCEA in a release, according to Wired.

And while the PS3 sold just 121K units for October, the price cut hadn't taken effect yet. According to CEO Howard Stringer, PS3 sales have recently zoomed to 100,000 per week. "SCEA expects a great deal of momentum moving forward this holiday and beyond with the availability of new PS3 hardware and pricing. Based on internal data, the company is already seeing a great spike in sales with a 192% lift for the PS3 over the past two weeks," SCEA continued.

The company also commented on the growth of its portable: "The PSP sold 286K units at retail for the month of October. Overall sales of the PSP are up 120% year over year due to the popularity of the slimmer and lighter PSP , which includes video-out capabilities for $169. And with 24 first and third-party software titles being released this holiday season, such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of The Lions, as well as new spots for the wildly popular "Dude, get your own" campaign, the PSP will undoubtedly continue to gain momentum through the coming months."

Finally regarding the aging PS2, SCEA noted: "Seven years into its life cycle the PS2 remains the best-selling gaming platform ever released, selling 183K units for the month of October. The release of games such as BUZZ! The Mega Quiz, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and the just released limited-edition PS2 bundled with SingStar Pop will continue to make the console a perfect choice for families interested in social games and will be hugely popular this holiday season."


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Viral Web 2.0 Video from Nokia!

Nokia wrote a song about Web 2.0. Listen...



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Apple vs. Google in open source mobility

So the battle is joined (sort of).

In this corner we have Google, the challenger, with its open source hardware specification for a mobile platform.

And in this corner we have Apple, the champion, with real hardware, and a software development kit, but an iffy record in supporting open source.

Who will win? Will either?

Open Handset Alliance logoAt this point my money is on Apple. Real hardware beats imaginary hardware every time in my book. (I can’t use that thing to the left.)

Google, and its partners, need to get their orders into China or, preferably, Taiwan (the turnaround is faster there) right now. Only upon delivery can the competition really start.

What history tells me is to bet on Google. In many ways it is replicating the strategy Microsoft used over 20 years ago to take the PC market from Apple’s Macintosh.

This was not due to some genius on Bill Gates’ part, as some Microsoft acolytes may claim. It was due to the fact he let anyone sell DOS, and promised everyone they would get Windows, while Apple kept its secrets proprietary.

I was younger then, and time moved more slowly for me, so I remember it well. Comdexes came and went, Apple’s coterie of fans grew as fast as Apple could make Macs and they could find cash to buy them, while Microsoft spread promises.

I was there when Microsoft finally delivered Windows 1.0, at a 1986 Comdex roast hosted by John Dvorak himself. Gates hand-signed a copy for me. I keep it on a shelf here at home.

But that software did not do the job, and neither did its successor. It was not until several years later, with Windows 3.0, that Microsoft finally had something that met some of its promises.

Yet despite being behind by over a half-decade, Microsoft kept its market share. Why? Because it had what might later be called an open source strategy. It let anyone license its software, on easy terms, and everyone did. While Apple kept its Macintosh technology strictly proprietary.

There are indications, with the release of the SDK, that Steve Jobs may have learned this lesson. Besides, China can now supply whatever quantities of iPhones the market demands, and cheap. He doesn’t have to make them all himself. He doesn’t really have to charge a premium price for them.

So will Google Microsoft Apple, or will Apple bite back?

Who will win the open source mobility wars?

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Google’s Grand Mobile Ambitions

The Wall Street Journal’s report about Google’s big mobile plans is one that covers all bases, and leaves you where you started from: scratching your head. The Journal says Google may or may not buy a carrier; invest in a carrier; partner with a carrier, and/or may bid for spectrum. Aka, anything is possible. Most of this speculation has been already done the rounds. One new thing WSJ reports that is of interest:

Google, meanwhile, already is running a test version of an advanced wireless network at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, gaining operating experience that could come in handy if it wins the spectrum and decides to run a full-scale national mobile carrier, according to people familiar with the matter.

They are using this network, under license from FCC, to test prototype devices that use Android mobile OS. That network is interesting for sure, but to go from a tiny network to owning-and-operating a humongous nationwide consumer-centric wireless network needs a big leap of faith,especially for Google investors. But then last week, A-Fraud returning to Yankee Stadium was as likely as waking up to armageddon.

Other notable facts from the WSJ story:

* Google has invested in femtocell maker Ubiquisys
* Google has discussed possibly investing in Clearwire Corp.

So what do you think: will Google buy a carrier, bid for spectrum or do nothing?



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The SNL iPhone sketch that never aired

The tipster who filled us in on the real story behind the hacked iPhone that appeared on Saturday Night Live also linked us to this video which never aired that night, cut for another sketch that ran long. In fact, it may be the last in the series ever produced given the recent writers strike. And it's a shame, because while it's certainly funny, the clip is also educational, tutoring us geeks in advanced punch 'n run techniques. Do we smell a new chapter in Jason Chen's iPhone book? We certainly hope so.

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10 PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you

Got a PlayStation 3? For those of you that have picked up Sony's shiny black plaything, we've put together a Digital Home top ten of tips that you won't find in the user manual.

1) Play games from any country

Harbouring a desire to play Super Gaiden Ninja XI? Now you can. In fact, you can handily play any PS3 game from any country. On holiday in the States and spot the latest release at a bargain dollar-to-pound price? Help yourself. So far, at least, PS3 games aren't being region coded. That said PS2 and PS1 games are so you can't play a US title on a Euro console.

And let's not forget that Blu-ray movies are region-coded so the barriers aren't completely down yet.
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2) The secret video reset

One of the most annoying aspects of the PS3 are its video settings. Take it up to the bedroom portable or round to a friend's house and there's a good chance that you won't be able to see anything onscreen because your 'new' TV is running at a different resolution or using a different cable connection. And - because you can't see anything - you can't change it. Until now. Shut down your PS3 then restart by pressing and holding the power button. This will reset your PS3 to its most basic 480p graphics mode so you'll be able to see enough to choose RGB SCART, component, HDMI or whatever from here.

3) See how much charge is on your pad

There's no indication of how much charge is left on the pad itself. Instead it appears on screen during games. Press and hold the PS button on any joypad. An indicator will appear, showing your pad's charge as a small battery. A full battery pic means a fully-charged pad. Neat.

4) Download game saves

Chances are someone out there has already beaten that boss for you and saved their game afterwards. Why not take advantage of it? Google 'PS3 game saves'. There are hundreds of finished and half finished game saves scattered all over the internet. Download the save you want - it'll come in a 'PS3' folder that you can lift onto a USB stick and put into your PS3. Go to the Game menu, choose your stick and the game save you downloaded should be right there. Press Triangle to copy it to your hard drive.

5) Make free video phone calls

You will need a USB headset (like the one you use for PS2 Socom) and an EyeToy camera. Plug in both via USB then go to your Friends menu. Choose a friend you've signed up earlier and press Triangle. Choose Start New Chat and type a message. Something like 'Videochat?' should do the trick. Now, providing they're in front of their powered-up PS3 (perhaps you could text them to tell them to be in position?) then they'll see your message and be given the option to accept your videochat.

Now, provided they too have a camera and headset, two windows will open, one showing you (so you can make sure you're looking your best), the other displaying your mate. Best of all you can hit Triangle again and invite more people to join your chat - up to a maximum of six. And the cost? Not a bean above your usual broadband connection charges.

6) Browse multiple Internet windows

Open the browser (go to Network) and surf to a page you want. Now open up the menu with a press of Triangle and choose 'Open In New Window'. Enter another URL and then do the same again. Keep going until you've got six windows open. Now press L3 (done by clicking down the left stick). You're now in multi-page mode. Move the left stick to flick through the web pages as though they were bits of paper, then click L3 again to zoom in.

7) Upgrade your hard drive

We took the drive out of our PS3 and found it to be a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm 60Gb 2.5inch SATA drive. We swapped ours out effortlessly for a Seagate Momentus 120Gb 2.5inch SATA drive and it worked perfectly. Remove the cover flap on the bottom of your PS3 with a fingernail. Undo the blue screw and slide the drive over to the right and out of your PS3. Undo the four screws on the 'caddy' and remove the old drive.

Put your new drive in the caddy (it should be exactly the same size, of course) and re-do the four screws. Slot it back in and slide to the left to make the connections. Re-do the blue screw, pop the cover back on and restart your PS3. Say 'yes' to the message on screen and voila - new super-size hard-drive. (Go to Settings, System Settings, System Information to check).

8) Share your bought downloads

You can download anything you've bought from the store to five PlayStation 3's. This is useful if you've got more than one PS3 (of course) and also if you've wiped your hard-drive and don't fancy paying for the same download twice...

However, you can also choose to share your download with your mates. The PlayStation Store logs how many times each download has been downloaded by each user. On your mate's PS3 Create New User and log onto the store with your ID. You'll now be able to go to your download and see that you've already downloaded whatever it was that you paid for. You can now download it again, using another of your downloads and giving it to your mate for free. Or a small optional charge...

9) Force a PS3 to show your files

Put your photos in a folder called 'PICTURE' or your videos in a folder called 'VIDEO' or simply *force* your PS3 to look at your files on your stick regardless of what you called them or where you put them. Insert your stick and go to the menu option you want (Photos, Music, whatever). Press Triangle to bring up a menu and choose Display All. This will show every file on the stick. It even works for a plugged-in iPod, though the multi-folder structure you'll reveal is a bit baffling. Still, your songs are in there if you've got the patience to find them.

10) Change your album art

When you import a music CD your PS3 automatically pulls down the album art and stores it with the tracks. Occasionally it gets it wrong, however, or it may simply not be able to find the art of your hipper, less commercial tracks. This is easily fixed however. Download a pic of the art you need as a jpg on your PC and put it onto a stick (in a folder called PICTURE, ideally). Copy it to your Photo menu (press Triangle). Now go to Music and select the album folder with the offending art. Press Triangle and select Information. Go to the Photo menu and select your new picture. Bingo.

Words by: Dan Griffiths

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5 Open Questions About the Google Phone aka Android

OK, so the Google Phone is not really a phone, but instead a software stack that allows people to do cool things such as build applications and power devices that have never before been imagined. Yes, it also cleans dorm rooms and finds dates. Following the press conference call, however, here are five points about Android that remain… unclear.

1. Google (GOOG) says it’s open source, letting you download it and do whatever — except that carriers can create their own locked-down versions of the software with Android. That doesn’t seem very open to me.
2. Google says it is happy to share revenues from advertising with the carriers. Which is good news for the carriers, but if you are a Google shareholder, you want to know how much is going to be kicked back to the carriers, and if this will have a material impact on Google’s financials.
3. The first Android device won’t hit the market till the second half of 2008, and that, too, from one handset maker, HTC. Now as a developer, why would you opt for this platform when you have other options? (Apparently the browser inside the device will support desktop browser-compatible apps, which is a good thing.)
4. None of the handset partners are betting the farm on Android, but are instead hedging their bets. HTC will continue to do Windows Mobile (MSFT), an OS that makes them a lot of money. (A little arm-twisting from Redmond can go a long way). Motorola (MOT), on the other hand, is a founding member of LiMo Foundation, a rival group that has the backing of carriers looking to Linux Mobile as an OS option. So which effort are they going to put their resources towards?
5. With the exception of admitting that it is Linux-based and can work with Qwerty, non-Qwerty and different types of screen sizes, no real details are available on the tech specs of Android. For that we’ll have to wait. Andy Rubin did point out that it will need a 200-MHz ARM processor at the very least, so for some time it is going to be a smartphone-focused OS environment.

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BBC skid Nokia N95 versus iPhone

Apple's much-hyped iPhone has finally hit shelves in the UK.

Staff cheered as throngs of excited customers made their way into Apple's flagship store in London.

A small number of Apple fans keen to get hold of the handset had started queuing at stores overnight and numbers swelled to around 300 for the launch.

First out of the store with the £269 internet enabled device was 20-year-old north London student Tom Jasinski who said "It was worth the wait".

"I got here 26 hours ago," he told PA. "It is a great piece of hardware. It is a great thing and I love it."

The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones described the scene in London as "mayhem".

He said before the doors opened at the store, Apple staff were walking up and down the lines of people "whipping them into a frenzy".

The internet enabled handset has also gone on sale at more than 1,300 other stores around the UK with each customer limited to two handsets each.

The first European handsets were sold at the T-Mobile store in Cologne, Germany just after midnight on Friday morning.

T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom said it had sold over 10,000 iPhones in Germany by late afternoon.

"It was love at first sight," one 50-year-old man told Reuters news agency.

The iPhone will go on sale in France on 29 November and Asia in 2008.

Lock-down

Although the wait is over for some fans, there are concerns that consumers are only able to use the phone with the 02 mobile network.


GEEK TEST
Phone test

N95 versus iPhone

The phones can be unlocked for use on other networks but this voids the warranty and could break the device if software updates from Apple are installed.

As many as 250,000 users in the US have unlocked the device using free and paid-for software to make the phone work on different networks, and to load third-party software not supported by Apple.

Critics have pointed out that the device, while boasting an innovative user interface which makes it simple to use, lacks technology found in rival phones.

The iPhone only works on slower 2G networks, limiting its usefulness as a mobile web browser, but it does also connect to wi-fi hotspots.

In the UK, iPhone owners can connect to the net for free at thousands of The Cloud's hotspots.

Greg Joswiak, head of marketing for the iPhone, denied that the phone had sacrificed function over form by choosing 2G.

"We wanted to make sure that we had a very small device and good battery life. You can't do that today with 3G.

Talk time

"It's just too power hungry, which is why most 3G phones have nowhere near eight hours of talktime."


GEEK TEST
iPhone shopper queuing outside The Apple Store in London

Fans queuing

One of the iPhone's big rivals, the Nokia N95, has four hours of talk time on a 2G network, while Apple's device has up to eight hours, according to technical specifications provided by both firms.

Customers have to pay in advance for the iPhone and cannot get it free on a mobile contract.

The Apple phones costs £269 and the minimum monthly contract with O2 is £35.

Jonathan Arber, an analyst with Ovum, said: "In the long term it will be interesting to see how consumers will react to having to pay for this device.

"Obviously in the UK most consumers are used to getting their devices for free."

Mr Arber also pointed out that the UK mobile market is predominantly made up of pre-pay users.


I don't like be imposed upon as to which network I want to switch to
iPhone unlocker Daryl

"That's a huge section of the market that is not going to be purchasing an iPhone. In the contract segment there are a lot of people who are not going to pay £35 a month.

"But for a large group of people the iPhone is certainly an attractive proposition."

According to analysts M:Metrics 10% of 16,000 mobile phone users surveyed in the UK expressed strong interest in buying the iPhone.

Fifty per cent of the survey sample with a strong interest had not paid for their current phone and almost half were on a pre-pay contract.

'Love experience'

Apple has sold 1.4 million iPhones since it went on sale in the US and O2 and T-Mobile are expecting strong sales.
Graham Gilbert, 22, a student from Manchester, is the first person to buy the new Apple iPhone, at the Apple store on Regent St, central London
Graham Gilbert was the first to buy the iPhone at the London store
Mr Joswiak said: "People love their experience with the iPhone. They don't love the experience with other phones. That is why our sales are through the roof."

"We assume that the device will find a very good reception on the market," said Rene Bresgen, a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, owners of T-Mobile in Germany.

More than a 1,000 O2 shops, Carphone Warehouse stores and Apple shops are expected to sell the device.

Some iPhone owners in the UK have not been content to wait for the official release and have bought the device in the US and unlocked it for use on any network.

One owner, called Daryl, told BBC News he had bought 14 phones in the US for himself and friends and unlocked them.

He said he had unlocked his original phone because he didn't want to be tied to one network.

"I like the current network I am on and I'd like to stay with that network. I don't like be imposed upon as to which network I want to switch to.

"Also the actual O2 network doesn't have very good coverage where I live; Orange has good coverage where I live, that's why I chose them first, and why I want to stay with them."

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iPhone 1.1.2 downloaded!

Looks like Apple just published firmware v1.1.2 for the iPhone; hit the download link to grab it yourself because iTunes hasn't yet gotten wise to the fact that it's out. Details to follow, but don't expect jailbreak or the unactivated Safari workaround hack to still be functional, ok? (... aaaand we're watching our download speed drop as our readers are grabbing the file. Rockin'.) Update: TIFF jailbreak exploit is dead. Sorry people. More below.



Update: Ok, We're "sacrificing" an iPhone for you people. We'll let you know what we find.

* Extracting software... restarting... iTunes successfully upgraded to 1.1.2.
* The "slide for emergency" slider flashed through different languages while it was waiting to be plugged in again.
* It's activated, pulled the backup data, and restarted -- success! Officially on 1.1.2.
* Testing jailbreakme.com... looks like they broke jailbreak! Yep, it's broken alright.
* Not really finding any new features -- certainly no new icons, no voice memos, nothing obvious about disk mode. Anyone else finding anything?
* Looks like international keyboards are finally enabled! Score one for everyone overseas who can't use their now-relocked iPhone.
* A few reports are coming in that their iPhone is "much faster now" (not that we remember ours being slow at all before). Maybe Apple made some performance tweaks this update.
* Can anyone confirm whether TurboSIM is working with this update?

To those scouring the internets searching for a changelog or support sheet on Apple's site, don't keep it to yourself, ok?


Tired of spyware and viruses? Get this TrustedAntivirus



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iPhone and iPod touch 1.1.2 jailbroken BEFORE the official release

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And here is the first picture from a jailbroken 1.1.2 iPod touch, courtesy of hacker planetbeing. Congratulations to all the iPhone/iPod team, including Pumpkin, Edgan, Dinopio, Drudge, Kroo, and all the rest. Details will be forthcoming as the method gets debugged and safety-features put in-place.



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First Googlephone App Finds You Late Night Beer, Etc (Screenshots)

Remember WhatsOpen.com, the stealth search startup that piqued Google cofounder Sergey Brin's interest last month? Brin was so intrigued he told the founders to keep the company hush-hush. Now, however, a source has leaked screenshots of WhatsOpen's secret project. The company has a Web application which shows users nearby stores and their operating hours -- "what's open." But I'm told by a source that WhatsOpen has also written the first wireless app for Google's new Android operating system. (You may know Android better as the software behind the still-mythical Googlephone.) Demo screenshots after the jump.

Exclusive screenshots of first Googlephone app:



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Nokia perfects the clicky tactile touchscreen - iPhone gnashes teeth, swear

It’s taken them 10 years but Nokia boffins have finally perfected a ‘touch feedback’ touchscreen. Don’t be fooled by simple vibrational imitations folks, this is the real McCoy – you press a key on the screen, and it clicks under your finger with exactly the same sort of fingertip feedback as if you’d pressed a conventional keyboard key. Roope Takala, Senior Program Manager at Nokia’s research labs gave me a demo of the technology in Finland the other day on a hacked N770 Internet tablet.

“The basic technology is not that difficult,” he explained, “We inserted two small piezo sensor pads under the screen and engineered in a 0.1mm movement in the screen itself. What’s taken the time has been fine tuning the movement and response to mimic exactly the sensation of pressing a real key.”

The problem in perfecting the tech – codenamed Haptikos, meaning ‘to touch’ – lies in how our fingers experience a key press. We actually feel two movements, in and out, and these movements and the associated audio have to be perfectly attuned to the speed and responsiveness of a real keyboard. In use, the touch feedback on the demo device was near on perfect. Each press of a key returned a clunky click and tactile snap on the touchscreen, which made typing feel incredibly responsive and very usable on the smooth screen surface. In fact it was hard to remember that you were using a touchscreen keyboard.

“Funnily enough, although you think you’re typing faster than normal because of the feedback, in actual fact you’re not,” said Takala, “There’s just some sort of mental satisfaction that comes from typing with a tactile response.”



The new Haptikos technology will apparently be shipped with the upcoming Nokia S60 Touch phone that has been shown off at recent demos, and the team is busy working on the next challenge, which is to provide exact tactile replicas for scrolling and draw/paint programs. The problem is that while we expect and need ultra fast responses for keyboard use, navigation and things like drag scrolling require a different, slower response map, which is another hurdle for the engineers to overcome.

“What’s nice is that people who are new to handheld devices don’t even notice this technology at first,” says Takala with a smile. “But they really miss it if you take it away from them once they’ve experienced it. It’s kind of addictive.”

One thing I can say is that this is the first technology I’ve seen and played with which could genuinely revolutionise the use of handheld devices in general. The ability to touch type at reasonable speeds on a touchscreen is something which every phone, PDA and handheld computer manufacturer would give their right arm for, and it looks as though the technology is about to reach the marketplace with a bang. I can’t wait.

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LiMo (Linux for Mobiles) is Ready to Go Prime Time

Now that the Google Phone platform has been unveiled, one thing is abundantly clear: Happy days are around the corner for Mobile Linux.

As we have already reported, a special version of the Linux operating system forms the underpinning of Google Mobile OS, which will run the Google (GOOG) devices expected to hit the market sometime next year. That isn’t the only Mobile Linux OS flavor, however; over the next few months a cornucopia of devices powered by Mobile Linux are going to come to market.

ABI Research predicts that Mobile Linux will be the fastest growing smartphone OS over the next five years and that Linux-based smartphones will account for about 31 percent of such devices by 2012. Smartphone shipments during this period are expected to total 331 million, according to the market research firm. The impetus for such rosy forecasts for Mobile Linux comes from the carriers, who are looking to standardize on three platforms: Symbian, Windows Mobile and Mobile Linux.

Who’s Afraid Of Apple & Google? Not Symbian

We have been following the Mobile Linux market closely, writing about Motorola’s (MOT) efforts in China, OpenMoko, andTrolltech and its Qtopia platform. In a similar vein, we believe the Mobile Linux efforts of the LiMo Foundation will provide a major boost to the fledgling mobile operating system.

LiMo is an independent, not-for-profit entity formed back in January by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo (DCM), Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone (VOD). LiMo is developing a Linux-based software platform for mobile devices that has the blessing of two large carriers — Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo — and top-tier mobile handset makers such as Motorola, Samsung, LG, as well as several Japanese manufacturers. Motorola and Samsung kicked off the project by contributing to it their Mobile Linux-related intellectual property.

“We expect the first LiMo handset to come to the market in the first quarter of 2008, perhaps sooner,” Morgan Gillis, the head of LiMo, told me in a casual conversation last week. When I argued that the previous consortium efforts in the mobile industry haven’t been that successful, Gillis pointed out that the platform is not a technical standard, but rather a common OS platform that is being foisted upon the handset makers by carriers. “The value proposition here is that if you are a handset maker, then you get an entire software stack, and it meets the specs of major operators,” he said.

Vodafone, one of the largest mobile phone companies in the world, is pushing particularly hard for standardization, primarily because the company is interested in deploying applications quickly without having to test them on different handsets, a slow and laborious process. SK Telecom and Orange are also looking to follow the same strategy. The standardized platform strategy was first used by NTT DoCoMo in 2002, and it allowed the Japanese giant to roll out apps in a precise manner at a rapid clip.

Handset makers themselves are interested in taking the cost of maintaining different operating systems out of the equation. The reason, Gillis explained, is Apple (AAPL) iPhone. “There is general recognition that the value is now in the user experience, not the OS. Apple has demonstrated that with its device,” he said. “Handset makers now have to invest in the UI, not the underlying technology.”

Google, with its smartphone, will further change the user experience — and that is the point. Google’s mobile efforts are focused on interjecting itself between the carrier and the cell phone user and making money off mobile advertising. This model puts the search giant in conflict with the carriers, who are giving mobile advertising and other mobile services lustful glances. LiMo-based phones could help carriers at the expense of the Google Phone, but all that jockeying will come later. Meanwhile, let’s sit back and watch Mobile Linux have its day in the sun.

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Sexy Red PSP With TV Tuner And Stand Coming To Japan

“PSP Deep Red 1 Seg Pack” bundles a “Deep Red” PSP, with a widely popular “1 Seg” tuner released on September 20th, a pouch that can store PSP hardware attached with the “1 Seg” tuner, a stand to place the PSP hardware for long time TV viewing using “1 Seg” tuner, a strap, a cloth, and a 1GB Memory Stick™ PRO Duo for storing game data as well as photos, videos and music contents.

Coming December 13, 2007.



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Radar Turns Mobile Pictures Into Conversation Starters

There are plenty of mobile apps that let you snap a picture and share it with your friends or the world—Zannel, Umundo, Mocospace, Pikki, MobyPicture, Yahoo Go—but one that does an especially good job at just sharing pictures among your friends is Radar. The service is run by Tiny Pictures, a San Francisco startup that has raised $4 million from Mohr Davidow Ventures. Whenever you snap a picture you want to share, you send it via e-mail to your Radar account. It appears immediately, and everyone you’ve invited as a friend can see the pictures and comment on them—either online or on their phones. The best way to use Radar is to download the application to your phone (it just added a custom iPhone app today). Whenever you log in, you see a stream of thumbnails of every picture you and your friends have posted. The commenting interface is pretty slick (you can plug it into AIM for instant notifcations of when a new comment has been posted to one of your pics). It the key to Radar because it turns each picture into a conversation starter.

This only works, of course if you A) have friends on Radar, and B) they post pictures on a regular basis. Radar, which launched more than a year ago in the summer of 2006, has only 600,000 users worldwide. But that number has been doubling every month for the past three months. So we might be at an inflection point here, especially as more capable phones come onto the market that can take advantage of its Web-like features. Radar serves 250,000 pictures and videos a day. Eighty percent of its traffic comes from mobile devices (it also has a regular Website), and 70 percent of its users are outside the U.S.



While most of the conversations and photos on Radar are private, you can choose to make them public. And today the company is also launching a public gallery, where advertisers can try to entice Radar members to subscribe to their photo streams. Right now, there are photo streams for the upcoming movie Hitman, pictures of frivolous but funny merchandise from iWoot, top video picks from Vimeo, and CEO John Poisson’s own Radar stream. There will soon be Radar channels from Hendrick’s Gin, iTunes, and the stealth Web video series Nowhere Men (which will focus on a group people “missing” since 2002 and the audience has to help unravel the mystery). This sort of advertising will only work in so far as people don’t see it as advertising, which is why I like it.

Here is a page from Poisson’s Radar channel. Taking picture of food seems to be popular on the site:



And here is what Radar looks like on a regular Sony Ericson phone:



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Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus

Crave hangs with people in high places -- that's how we get exclusives and free food. A few weeks ago we were having a civilised dinner with our friends at Asus and angling for cool stories when we were told in a very hushed manner: "Asus is helping Apple build a Tablet PC."

We're tempted to ignore all Apple rumours because there's just so many of them, but this rings true because Asus is Apple's contract manufacturer. It's one of the companies responsible for building the iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBooks of this world, so when their guys tell us they're building an Apple Tablet, we believe them.

We checked back with our source at Asus on a different day and they confirmed that the Apple Tablet will not be based on existing Asus designs such as the R1. It will come from a completely new blueprint, possibly based on the patent Apple filed back in May 2005. We're guessing it'll be based on Intel Core architecture, a tweaked version of Leopard, and have all the multi-touch, CoverFlow goodness we've seen in the iPhone and iPod touch.

So, can Apple turn the Tablet PC into a success when previous attempts have failed? The short answer is 'yes'. Any company that can make a mobile phone with no buttons, no picture messaging, slow Web access and no video capture into the most desirable phone on the planet can easily make tablets popular.

Sadly, we've no word on when we can expect the Apple Tablet PC, nor what the final specs will be, but you can bet your bottom dollar it's being built as you read this. Mac fanboys rejoice. -Rory Reid

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Where's my Gphone?

Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we're not announcing a Gphone. However, we think what we are announcing -- the Open Handset Alliance and Android -- is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications -- all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.

We see Android as an important part of our strategy of furthering Google's goal of providing access to information to users wherever they are. We recognize that many among the multitude of mobile users around the world do not and may never have an Android-based phone. Our goals must be independent of device or even platform. For this reason, Android will complement, but not replace, our longstanding mobile strategy of developing useful and compelling mobile services and driving adoption of these products through partnerships with handset manufacturers and mobile operators around the world.

It's important to recognize that the Open Handset Alliance and Android have the potential to be major changes from the status quo -- one which will take patience and much investment by the various players before you'll see the first benefits. But we feel the potential gains for mobile customers around the world are worth the effort. If you’re a developer and this approach sounds exciting, give us a week or so and we’ll have an SDK available. If you’re a mobile user, you’ll have to wait a little longer, but some of our partners are targeting the second half of 2008 to ship phones based on the Android platform. And if you already have a phone you know and love, check out mobile.google.com and make sure you have Google Maps for mobile, Gmail and our other great applications on your phone. We'll continue to make these services better and add plenty of exciting new features, applications and services, too.

What would your phone do?



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Beware! T-Mobile Owns the Color Magenta

I’m not sure I fully understand… should that have been written the color “Magenta™”? The absurdity is probably confusing to you as well. The total hue domination by T-Mobile and its bigger Deutsche Telekom (DT) has been going on for several years, but has gained more attention lately. DT not only trademarked magenta, they also have a trademark on the use of their two 2 color logo… More can be read at servicemarks.

Don’t worry trademarks only apply to the industry sector that they are registered under and since DT applied for their trademark in the tele-communications sector you just can’t use the color magenta around anything to do with phones, digital media… oh and just about anything on the internet.

Here is a screenshot of the T-Mobile USA website with their trademark highlighted:
T-Mobile Trademarks the Color Magenta:



I found some legal text outlining the details of the DT claim of the color magenta

The plaintiff, Deutsche Telekom AG, which uses the colour “magenta” for designating its services and in its advertisements and/or commercials, has been the owner of the colour mark No. 395 52 630 “magenta” (RAL 4010) since September 12, 2000 which was registered on the basis of a proven secondary meaning (i. a. for goods and services in the field of tele-communications). Furthermore, the plaintiff is also the proprietor of Community colour mark “magenta” registered on August 3, 2000.
- VIA WUESTHOFF & WUESTHOFF



I also found an older article from 2001 where DT was suing a On-Demand book publisher for using magenta in an ad campaign.

To promote their service, my-favorite-book launched an advertising campaign in May. Its advertisements in German magazines and newspapers came in different colors - green, blue, orange, grey, yellow and magenta. It was the last one that didn’t go down well with Deutsche Telekom, nicknamed “the pink giant” because of its use of the color in Germany. “We have registered the color of magenta as a trademark in the telecom and online services sector,” Telekom spokesman Peter Kespohl says. “We have to go after infringers to protect this trademark.” Utz Karpenstein, spokesman for my-favorite-book, thinks this is odd. “So if Deutsche Post would register its postal yellow as a trademark, nobody could use yellow anymore? The world would get pretty gray if everybody did that.
- VIA 2001 Article from TheStandard.com

Share your thoughts about this and help reclaim magenta here.

Some Magenta Color Palette Inspiration

Some Magenta Color Palette Inspiration

*Only use as inspiration for projects not created in the “tele-communications” sector.

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Apple Store Sales Guy Nearing Meltdown. [Overheard + Story Description]

Overheard Conversation--about the iPhone. Arrogant Apple Store sales guy vs. confused seemingly meek customer. Turns into mini-drama. (Overheard text, plus description of front & back stories.) Not for everybody. But amusing, different. Guy seems to go through a mini-story arc in a few minutes.

[Apple Store - North NJ]

Woman 1: (Late 60s) I'm looking for a J-Phone. My grandson wants me...
Guy Clerk: (Early 20s, black clothes, designer glasses.) (Sneers.) We don't carry J-phones.
Woman 1: This is the Apple store? Yes, J-phones.
Guy Clerk: Sorry. No Js. Any other letters?
Woman 1: (Confused) Uh...
Other Woman: (Good samaritan) She means "I". What's wrong with you?
Guy Clerk: Oh. "I." Of course. iPhones. We carry them.
Woman 1: (Places her outdated phone on counter next to iPhone) Isn't a phone a phone? What's the difference between these?
Guy Clerk: You mean other than yours was made before the Industrial Revolution, before dinosaurs roamed the earth...and no one living in this century would be caught...
Woman 1: You're not happy are you? You think you're better than being a sales person at the mall.
Guy Clerk: (surprised, pauses.) No. Yes. I guess...
Woman 1: You're not. You're a sales clerk and you're rude and small. I'd like to speak with your supervisor.
Guy Clerk: (contrite) Look, I'm...
Woman 1: Now. (Sales guy still hesitates.) Not tomorrow. Now.

B-Take
[Back & Front Story]

We watched this interaction unfold kind of like a slow motion car wreck. You see the soon-to-collide elements, you know what's going to happen (or you think you do), you'd like to try to stop it but you can't; so you just pause and watch. (And in our case, try to scribble down as quickly and unobtrusively as possible the dialogue. There were 2 of us, so we think we got it; but - full disclosure -- a few of the words had to be re-interpreted from our barely legible notes.)

The dynamics were there. Angry miserable sales guy, a meltdown waiting to happen. (Minutes earlier he had told a customer basically to shut the f**k up when she insisted her iPod wasn't working. In fact, it wasn't.) And hapless customer - an older woman, apparently weak, confused, the perfect target.

Only this woman wasn't what she appeared to be. When she turned on the guy - suddenly, telling him off - it was like he heard a gun shot detonate. His head snapped back, then to the side, his eyes literally bugged out for a second or two like they do in cartoons. That's how unexpected the woman's transformation was - from clueless pathetic grandma to don't-give-me-s**t-you-a-hole tough senior babe.

The manager did quickly come out, as the woman requested. He was in the same black outfit as the sales guy. The "hip" uniform. Just like Steve Jobs. (Don't they know all black is not hip anymore; it's stupid, cliché, tacky, posing?) He apologized profusely. He then took the sales guy to the side and (not quietly) spoke to him. (We could hear sporadic words. Crazy, get help, apologize, sick, apologize or...) The woman continued standing by the counter talking to some other customers who were now laughing and congratulating her for her "heroism," the new shopping mall senior-babe super hero.

Then the sales guy came back. He looked like he'd gotten some very bad news. Or maybe he'd already gotten very bad news and it was finally hitting him. His body looked slack, he appeared exhausted. He apologized, saying (incongruously, inappropriately) to the effect, he just split up with his wife, he hasn't seen his kids in a week (he looks 20 years old, how could he have kids! - our thought), he hasn't slept, he's had unexplained digestive problems (no joke, he said this), etc., etc. Then he handed the woman a gift certificate of some kind. She looked at her new customer friends, who were nodding, then at the guy. She said (really): "Sounds like a tragedy, hon. If I wanted tragedy I'd have lunch with my ex-husband."

The sales guy nodded. He then smiled a little; then a little more, almost a laugh. He handed the woman her iPhone package. She looked at him a second or two, reached out and patted him on the shoulder. Then she left. The manager was walking across an aisle and started approaching the sales guy. The sales guy waved at him; then he gave the manager the finger, then walked out the store.

We were now in soap opera territory. Not a car wreck -- a melodrama, the middle of a story arc. Some of the customers laughed. The Manager shook his head and walked past us and he laughed.

Us? We ran out after the guy. We caught him near an ornate marble fountain. We asked him whether all his personal problems were true. He told us (after a lot of hesitating and our talking about other stuff): Yea, the problems were true, all except the kids (there he got carried away, he said); he had no kids. (We knew it!) He said he was working at the store while going to grad school. And, yes, he hated the job, it was a bore -- he hated the attitude, like selling Apple stuff was an honor; but really it was no different than selling shoes, except selling shoes paid more. He knew he was taking out his frustration on customers; he felt bad about it, but he assumed he would be fired weeks ago and that would be it. What does it take to be fired, he asked. Apple's supposed to be about customer service, yet they seemed to like he was acting like an a-hole, he said. That pissed him off even more. The hypocrisy. They wanted him to act cool, kind of above it all, it was part of the image. But not crossing the line (whevever it was that week), to the point of terrorizing the customers.

He sat on the edge of the fountain and stared at the pennies at the bottom. There were 1000s of them. (We thought, who comes to the mall with pennies?)

He asked us who we were. We told him, nobody, we had a website, part of a small media company, etc. He wouldn't tell us where he went to grad school or what he was studying. But he said that lady, just now, got to him. What he wanted right now more than anything, he said, was a big hot fudge ice cream sundae, with marshmellow. Sounded good to us.

We headed back to the Apple store - because, in fact, we were there to buy something. There was a new person - a woman, also in black - behind the counter where "our" sales guy had been. She seemed enthusiastic and was talking happily to a customer. No meltdown for her, at least for now. But maybe she was new, maybe in a few weeks; we had time, we'd be back. There was always something in the store we wanted, even if we couldn't afford it.
...overhear more

--Overheard in: Apple Store, North NJ--


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Undercover video: Why Apple only takes credit cards for iPhones

Earlier this week, in a post headlined Apple, hackenomics, and the waning anonymity (and obsoletion) of cash, I warned of how Apple’s practice of requiring credit cards to purchase iPhones wreaks of a future where our cash is no good and our privacy is sacrificed as a result of dealing in the far more trackable (and far less anonymous than cash) currency of plastic (credit cards, debit cards).

As I reported in that first piece, Apple hasn’t been very forthcoming about its reasons for requiring a credit card to purchase an iPhone. So, I came up with a list of my own possibilities, all but one of which were big brother-esque in nature. After all, why else would Apple require a credit card if it wasn’t going to retain that information which includes your identity for some reason? There is no information for a merchant to retain when you buy something with cash. Apple must want that information for something. Perhaps even more worthy of scrutiny, according to some members of the credit card industry that reached out to me, is whether Apple’s practice violates any legal agreements, standards, or laws when it comes to credit card processing.

That post drew a flood of Talkbacks; privacy is clearly a topic that people are passionate about and there’s nothing that outrages consumers more than an attempt to track them. But is it true? Is Apple not accepting cash for iPhones? And if so, are Apple Store personnel offering any explanations to customers? To find out, I paid an visit to a nearby Apple Store and we captured most of the conversation on video tape (show in the attached video). [Editor’s Note: The video is not currently available. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

So, what did I learn. First, it is true that if you walk up to a cash register at an Apple Store with $399 in cash, you will be told that you need a credit or debit card. You can see this happening to me at the cash register in the Apple Store. As I’m taking four $100 bills out of my pocket, the clerk informs me that I must pay with a credit card.

Just as interesting however is the fact that you don’t need a credit/debit card for the entire purchase. When it became clear that my $399 in cash was no good at the Apple Store (for an iPhone), the clerk that I spoke with suggested that I pay $1 of the purchase price with my credit card and the rest in cash. This of course makes it clear that Apple needs the information on your credit card for something important. But what?

As you can see in the video, I asked the clerk as well as a manager for some explanation of the policy and all they would tell me is that it’s just the company’s policy. There was no explanation. Apple stores even have a small sign at the cash register that mentions the credit card requirement when it comes to iPhones. But this is where it got very interesting. When I pushed a little harder, the manager went over to a terminal near the cash register and said that there might be something he could do for me. He had to look something up. The line behind me was growing and it was at this point that I said I’d come back.

When I went back (we don’t have this part on video), I asked for the same manager. But this time, a woman came out and I told her that the first manager I was dealing with had offered to look something up. Before I could finish, she said “Your name.” She went on to explain that I was only allowed to buy a maximum of two iPhones and that, if they could determine with some confidence that I had not already reached that quota, that they could sell me one for cash. She did not however comment on the credit card requirement or explain the point of that policy. But Apple apparently is in a bind right now. It’s in a cat and mouse game with hackers who have made it possible to divorce (”unlock”) Apple’s iPhones from the AT&T wireless service that Apple is contractually bound to keep the phones married to. Why would hackers do this? One reason is that there’s a healthy gray market for unlocked iPhones in Europe where the handsets are fetching some steep prices that are very profitable to anyone who has a supply.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots. Apple has relationships that its contractually bound to protect and must do whatever it can to eliminate the gray market. As far as unique indentifiers go, credit cards are a pretty good token for authenticating someone’s identity. At the very least, Apple is probably retrieving (from the credit card) and keeping the name of every person who buys an iPhone. This way, when you go to buy another one, they can see if an iPhone has already been purchased by someone with the same name. But then comes the question of whether they are retaining your credit card number as well. How could they not?

After all, there are lots of people with the same name and the odds are pretty good that certain names have already exceeded their quotas. But certain names coupled with certain credit card numbers. No way. The credit card number is quite unique and if Apple’s database shows that two iPhones have already been purchased by someone who’s identity was authenticated with the same credit card, that would be a red flag against selling them a third phone. Are there ways to beat the system? Probably. All you need is another credit card. What isn’t clear though is the extent to which Apple’s system tries to determine a match. For example, if it does a credit card lookup and there’s no match on credit card, will it fall back to your name and geographic area (somewhat reliable, but not totally)? But then, there are more questions about the legality of what Apple is doing.

After publishing that first blog post, I heard from the credit card industry (in that post, I wondered aloud what Visa’s policies were with respect to Apple’s practice). Although nobody has yet to go on record, as it turns out, there’s a security and privacy standard called PCI DSS that practically every participant in the credit card ecosystem is required to adhere to. As far as I can tell, the standard policy potentially yields two important results. First, it protects the privacy of cardholders. Second, it helps merchants and card issuers manage risk. It does this by spelling out in fairly detailed terms what can and can’t be done with the information that’s retrieved off a credit card’s magnetic stripe and the lengths to which IT systems must go to protect data (eg: it talks about firewalls, encyrption, etc.).

While the PCI DSS documentation is vague about what data can be retained by a merchant and for how long, the explanation I got made it clear that if Apple is using credit card numbers for reasons other than completing monetary transactions — in other words, if Apple is using credit card numbers for the purpose of tracking (as seems to be the case here) — that Apple might not only be in violation of PCI DSS, it could also be breaking some laws (some of which are based on PCI DSS) as well as breaching the terms of its agreements with card issuers and credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard, and American express (who, as you can see by the fines that Visa levied against TJX for the “worst data breach in the payment industry’s history,” guard the privacy of cardholders with relatively bloodthirsty lawyers).

Although my contacts at Visa say they’re working on it, several days have passed since that conversation began: more than enough time to answer the question of whether Apple has violated the company’s policies or credit card industry cardholder privacy standards. My educated guess is that Apple’s practices have kicked off a shitstorm of an inquisition in the credit card industry that has lawyers on both sides poring through the PCI DSS documentation, merchant contracts, and state/federal laws and that this isn’t the last we will hear of this.

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