Archive for August 22nd, 2008
Minted Invites Stationery To Crowdsourcing Party
Life has a way of knocking on your door and reminding you of your age. Yesterday turned out to be one of those days, prompted by a visit from Mariam Naficy, CEO & founder of San Francisco-based Minted, a startup that is using crowdsourced designs for stationery items. Last time I saw Naficy, I still had no gray hair, and the Internet madness (version 1.0) was still in full swing. She and her co-founder stopped by the Forbes.com offices to pitch Eve.com, their beauty online retailer. Eventu...
Why 3-D TV Technology Is All Hype
DreamWorks’ announcement earlier this week that all its films will be produced for 3-D production beginning in 2009 is the next step in a partnership with Intel that began on the processing side and aims to end up making 3-D a reality in the living room. The news really just adds the InTru3D brand name to DreamWorks’ previous announcement with Intel, but the fact that it comes just two weeks after we reported on the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology ...
Quote of Note: Robin Leach
“He probably was confused as to which homes are in his name, his wife’s name, or corporate names . . . In his attempt to be honest, he put his foot in his mouth.” Robin Leach, host of the 1990s TV show, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” explaining why presidential candidate John McCain forgot how many homes he had, quoted here. Technorati Tags: JohnMcCain, Politics, Poverty ...
Google’s Swings and Misses
The Economist has an article looking at how Lively, Google’s attempt to establish a foothold in the virtual world market, has flopped. To be fair, it’s far too early to determine whether Lively is a failure given it was only launched last month but it did get me thinking about how some projects rolled out by Google have failed to resonate with the masses. Here are some of the leading candidates: 1. Froogle: the comparison-shopping site has never had much, if any, momentum despite t...
What Gadget Are You Buying This Weekend?
It’s just about prime time for back-to-school shopping so why not add a gadget to the list of pencils, Sharpies, three-ring binders, etc., that make up the usual back-to-school shopping list? So I’m asking you: “What gadget are you buying today?” And let’s make it a lot more than a pencil sharpener (although that will come in very handy during the school year.) Tags: back to school shopping, pencil sharpener Related Entries TrackBacks | Comments | Tag with del....
Blackberry Bold - Rogers is First to Market
Just wanted to briefly share some news that will be of interest to any RIM watcher. The much-hyped Blackberry Bold was launched yesterday here in Toronto by Rogers, and is worth citing for a few reasons. I’m not much of gadget guy, but the Bold is a big deal, and I’ll just wave the flag a bit here to say that Rogers is the first operator in North America to offer it. We’re not winning a lot of medals in Beijing (although it’s been a very good week!), and it’s nice t...
From Ink to the Internet: Comic Books Evolve
The image of a bedtime-avoiding youngster huddled under blankets with a flashlight and comic book might soon be joined by that of a kid thrilling to a superhero’s latest adventures on a laptop tucked under the covers. Just like music, movies and TV shows, comic books are going digital. But unlike other media migrations, the jump from ink to bits significantly changes the nature of a comic book. “Ours is different from video because their final product looks exactly the same,”...
Give a Voice to twitter. Give Phweet a try.
Friends who use twitter on a regular basis now have an opportunity to speak with their friends on twitter. All that is needed is broadband connectivity and a visit to http://phweet.com. Yesterday I used Phweet for the first time using my Macbook and Im now a fan. It is great to see a new application promoting the End-to-end principle. The next time you see me on twitter, feel free to give phweet a try and lets talk. Tags: Social Media, Social Communications, phweet, voip, twitter, Jeff Pulv...
How Contacts Can Call You Through Your LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a powerful networking resource for individuals and SMBs alike. Unfortunately, when using LinkedIn the only obvious way for someone to contact you is by sending a message through LinkedIn’s interface. What if you’d prefer to receive phone calls through LinkedIn? What if you could do so while keeping your phone number private? Well, we want to share a LinkedIn trick using our Smart Click-to-Call technology that makes it possible for your contacts to call your directly thr...
Will Verizon Give in to Google on Mobile Search?
I was mildly surprised by the news reported in the Wall Street Journal this morning that Google was in talks with Verizon Wireless to get its search bar embedded on the home screen of Verizon’s phones. Google would love such a deal (it already has a similar one for some Sprint phones). The search engine saw significant increases in the use its search engine on mobiles once people downloaded its search bar to their devices. It also sped up Internet search and made phone subscribers more li...
Phweet bypasses airline VoIP blockade
I want to build on Jim Courtney’s post about Phweet on an airplane. Two social observations, a societal one, and a strategic one. But first, Air Skype, Skype Journal, April 2005. Skype on a transatlantic flight, with voice. Skyping to the International Space Station. Skype Air Heads, Skype Journal, June 2005. Plane-to-plane Skyping. Stratosphere Puffery, Skype Journal, July 2005. Boeing shows off their Connexion service. (RIP Connexion). Bah. Humbug. Hububaphobia (a fear of ot...
Blogging 101 ??? Comment Spam
Sometimes you will find comments on your blog which link back to commercial sites and are there to promote a product or boost the google-juice of the linked to site. Are these spam? Should you remove them all? Here are two comments which were recently posted on Fractals of Change. IMHO, one is legit and one’s not: “what a nice post Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!***[commercial name removed] Challenge” “We have recently created a free link exchange directory http://www.link-exch...
Occasional Blogging at GigaOm
Last winter, after Om Malik suffered at heart attack at New Year’s, I authored a couple of guest posts for GigaOm discussing the challenges and reality of Skype on mobile devices (here and here). Recently I was asked to provide occasional (probably bi-weekly) posts for GigaOm on a regular basis. The first post, Rogers Launches Blackberry Bold: More Anticipated Than the iPhone, Eh?, results from my attendance yesterday at the North American launch for the new Blackberry Bold. I’ll hav...
Skype on the Airplane: Chat But No Voice
I’m constantly amazed at how some inconsiderate mobile phone users insist on having their cell phone conversation take priority over social niceties such as paying attention to the cashier at a store checkout, yakking out loud in an airport (or doctor’s) waiting room, or worse still, due to the implicit safety issue, holding the phone on the shoulder while trying to drive with her head sideways. Dan York got to listen to one side of a few conversations during his train trip home to N...
OneWebDay: Giving back to the web
The web has its own holiday: OneWebDay, Monday Sep 22 2008, 30 days from today. Like Earth Day, OneWebDay’s theme is we all live here and should take care of the web. We celebrate OWD through projects that help the web. OWD’s founder, Susan Crawford, posted Ten Ways To Help The Web. In short: Use a standards-compliant Web browser and validate your sites. Edit a Wikipedia article. Learn about an Internet policy issue and teach five other people about it. Take steps to ensure th...
Rogers Launches Blackberry Bold: More Anticipated Than the iPhone, Eh?
Building on a 10-year relationship with Research In Motion, Rogers Wireless, the pioneering (and initial) Blackberry carrier partner, launched the new Blackberry Bold at a media event at Rogers’ headquarters in Toronto this morning. As result Rogers is the first North American carrier to make available the Bold; launches are also occurring this week and next in several European and South American countries, as well as Australia. John Boynton, Rogers Wireless VP and Chief Marketing Officer...
Meeting wth Digium
I had a very interesting meeting with Digium today in Huntsville, AL. Just got back to my hotel and fly back tomorrow. Stay tuned for more on what I learned. Sent from my Windows Mobile� phone. Related Entries TrackBacks | Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | VoIP & Gadgets Blog Home | Permalink: Meeting wth Digium Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog ...
Moto Looks To Get Its Mojo Back
Motorola, the world’s third-largest handset maker, has just unveiled two new low-end phones on that allow users to listen to songs and surf the Web. Facing stiff competition from handsets such as Apple’s iPhone and the Nokia line, Motorola has said it would launch 50 new devices this year, including advanced phones, trying to come up with a strong follow-up to its once-lauded Razr phone. One new handset is a music-enabled camera phone — the W388 – that sells for ...
Presto! Intel Wants To Make Wires Disappear
Intel has made progress in a technology that could lead to the wireless recharging of gadgets and the end of the power-cord spaghetti behind electronic devices. It says it has increased the efficiency of a technique for wirelessly powering consumer gadgets and computers, a development that could allow a person to place a notebook on a countertop to power it. This could bring the consumer electronics industry a step closer to a world without wires. The chip maker plans to demonstrate t...
Seinfeld To Battle Mac Guy in Ads
Microsoft, weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld. The software giant’s new $300 million advertising campaign, devised by a newly hired ad agency, has been closely guarded. But Mac-loving Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen, say people close to the situation. He will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in ads and receive about $10 million for the work, they say. (If you offer enough money …) ...
Anyone Care About the Palm?
Amid the excitement about the iPhone (despite its software woes) and the recently-launched Blackberry Bold, you sometimes forget that Palm is still alive (if not well!). Lest you forget, it wasn’t that long ago that the Palm was the hottest smartphone around. People loved the Treo. I can remember being invited to a REM concert by Palm Canada, and being excited because they gave us a Palm Zire as we headed home. Today, Palm is pretty much a forgotten entity even though it continues to come...
Flash Creator Goes Green With New Startup, Greenbox
Greenbox, a startup founded by the creators of Flash, is trying to recreate the success of their online ecosystem for graphics and media — but this time for the power that flows into your home. This week, after Flash-founders Jonathan Gay and Robert Tatsumi have spent more than a year working on their software for home energy management, Greenbox says it has scored a pilot deal with Oklahoma Gas and Electric to test its software with a portion of the utility’s customers using smar...
Don’t Miss the NTV Pier Screenings in L.A.
After the sizzling turn out at the San Francisco Pier Screenings earlier this month, we are looking forward to the first-ever NewTeeVee Pier Screenings Los Angeles edition. Join us on August 28 at Catchlight Studios for a night of online video-watching on a big screen accompanied by popcorn, beer and good people. We also have a special perk. Etchstar will be providing on-site etchings for attendees’ cell phones. NewTeeVee Screening in L.A. next week. It will be a great opportunity to me...
4b Wishlist: Do more with contacts in multichat
The new Skype for Windows 4 beta consolidates all the elements of a chat into one vertical pane on the right side of the main Skype window. The upper half shows an alphabetic list of participants in a multiparty chat or conference call. People in the room. What else can we know or do with people in a room? You can hide the list, but what else could you do with that space? Sorting compares/contrasts people in the room. Sort by: Most recently contributed to the chat/call Freshness/aging by...
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News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.