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In a private note to several of his colleagues (including your truly) Dave Burstein of DSL Prime reports this morning he has found out that Verizon is about 12 to 18 months away from executing a plan to open the set-top box to all Internet video. This woud be done by means of Verizon FIOS, their broadband video service.
And by all Internet video, not just the video content provided by Verizon content partners, but all of it.
Mobile phones to go, go Moto! Indeed!
Not to be outdone by the likes of other gadgets companies that hve gone the kiosk route, Motorola now plans to sell cell phones and accessories in vending machines.
Motorola has begun selling phones and accessories through "Instantmoto" vending machines at such well-trafficked locations as airports and department stores, including San Francisco International Airport and Macy's on State Street in Chicago. The first stage of the roll-out will be completed by November.
Everybody loves a format war; by "everybody" I really mean the media. Format wars are no fun for the companies backing each format, the companies manufacturing the competing products and the consumers who must ultimately vote (with their pocketbooks and wallets) to determine which side is the winner.
Now, according to a press release, the war is over -- maybe -- before it has begun.
Holy flaming laptops Batman!
Crazy stuff just keeps on happening in the saga of explodiing notebook computers. Now we have Lenovo pledging today that public safety "will be the company's first priority" following an incident in which a Lenovo ThinkPad T43 laptop (with a Sony battery; any surprise there?) caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport recently. That's the culprit pictured at right.
It would be a wonderful world (apologies to Louis Armstrong) if we didn't have to load up our computers with all kinds of software to protect us from worms, viruses, Trojan horses and other computer nasties that keep bombarding our computers.
(Don't these people have anything better to do?)
While we can only hope that these folks will curb their evil ways, we have to take all of the necessary steps to protect ourselves.
Now, I've already blogged about my great affection for Norton Internet Security, and now I want share my great like for another fine, very fine Norton product, the simply named SystemWorks.
Such an incident raises the eyebrows of those watching and reading from the sidelines wondering if the telecoms really are looking out for the protection of the public or their dwindling profits. Sure, the men did violate a national Act and thus, broke the law. But, for the monitoring to come from the national telecom, it almost sounds like tattling...<snip>
The legal issue is pretty cut and dry if these men indeed were operating without a license.
Have really liked MobileEdge's backpacks for quite some time now; they are really built well and can stand up to some tough abuse -- how about a ton of school books, for example!
Now, they have introduced a new backpack with an ah-ha! idea -- if security is an issue (and with a backpack of course it is!).
The idea (please) you say?
It's beginning to look a lot like HD around here, with Microsoft's announcment today at the Tokyo Game Show 2006 that is has a library of 110 HD Xbox 360 games that will be available this holiday season in Japan, including the highly anticipated Blue Dragon.
(Look for a lot of those to be headed our way, too.)
Also, Microsoft is going "old school" with a tribute to “Pac-Man” with the announcement of the first “Pac-Man” World Championship will be held in early 2007 using Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade.
The Xbox 360 games showcased included:
If this isn't enough, read the complete press release on the Microsoft web site.
The Olevia 5 Series LCD HDTVs include a bunch of models in the most popular sizes -- 27-, 32-, 37- and 42-inch models designated, respectively, the 527V, 532H, 537H, and 542i.
Having had my eyes on the 537H for a number of weeks, now, it provides good video and audio quality as well as HD at an affordable price. It may not be the screen featured in your high-end home theater, but funs well in a less critically demanding environment.
If watching reality TV and playing "reality" video games like all of the permutations of The Sims wasn't enough, MTV plans to launch its new show, Virtual Laguna Beach, on Wednesday.
Not just any old MTV-type show, according to reports (like those in today's New York Times), Virtual Laguna Beach lets you not just watch TV, but live TV.
(Not sure if I really want to ...)
The introduction of Virtual Laguna Beach is apparently the first of three virtual worlds that MTV plans over the next year as part of an effort to gain back mindshare from such popular Web sites as MySpace and YouTube.
Griffin Technology offers oodles of products for the iPod -- not a bad way to run a business!
The PowerBlock Travel is the ultimate travel pack; it can charge your iPod wherever you go. The twin flat-blade, non-polarized prongs fit into any twin-prong outlets -- ideal for international use, but, more importantly (or "at least"), the package includes adapters that cover every kind of AC connection you'll encounter in your globe trekking. PowerBlock handles voltages from 110 to 240 AC, converting seamlessly to the 12 Volt DC that you (actually your gadgets) need.
What's more, the PowerBlock Travel includes a Griffin dock connector cable for your iPod.
Memory companies hold a funny place in the world of gadgets -- they provide an essential component to PDAs, MP3 players, smart phones, digital cameras and the like -- yet they are essentially invisible.
And while branding does play a role in consumer's purchasing decisions in this area, very often price is the determining factor when faced with competing products in clam shell cases hanging from retailers' display racks.
All this leads to a note about Crucial Technology celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Don't count TiVo down and out just yet.
The new high-end TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder is the first stand-alone TiVo product that is HD-compatible. It's also the world's first THX-certified digital video recorder (that means awesome audio).
Dual tuners allow subscribers to record two different shows in HD at the same time, while watching a third pre-recorded show. With the front-panel display, the TiVo Series3 will show what is recording, even when the television is off.
Five years is a long time.
Yes, it's easy to take everything we have for granted, from the large to the small, but five years ago today being in New York City meant being on your own -- there were no means of personal communications; the infrastructure needed to support wireless and wired technologies had been suddenly blown apart.
It was a return to the days of mass communications solely -- there was no such thing as personal communication. And being unconnected on the street really meant not knowing what was going on -- word of mouth ruled and that lack of knowledge fueled speculation on what was occurring and how to react to it.
Really like the fact that my (Randy's) favorite newsaper, the New York Times, has just launched a web site optimized for mobile phone users. They even released a press release about it.
The site, http://mobile.nytimes.com, provides access to news and information from NYTimes.com via mobile devices including Web-enabled phones and PDAs.
As if we haven't already had enough (too much! actually), now Matsushita is recalling 6,000 notebook PC batteries that could overheat when subjected to a strong impact.
According to published reports (thank you, Reuters and VARBusiness for the news ...), a Matsushita spokesperson declined to identify the supplier of the batteries in question, but said that neither Matsushita (best know here for its Panasonic brand) nor Sony had made them.
This is NOT a blog about women, or even necessarily about women who use VOIP services – I mean how boring is that. I called it The VOIP Girl because well I'm a gal.
Epson's upcoming high-resolution displays, featuring something called "Photo Fine Vistarich technology" produce crisp, beautiful images even when viewed from a sharp angle — up to 180 degrees from the top, bottom, left, and right — with hardly any changes in contrast or color. (Yes, you read correctly.)
What does this make possible?
Behind Photo Fine Vistarich's broad viewing angle is advanced technology that gives contrast ratios of more than 100:1 from ±80 degrees (500:1 when viewed head on). Conventional LCDs have contrast ratios from ±80 degrees that are usually only 10:1.
