Today AT&T announced the launch of an over-the-air music download service with eMusic, the largest retailer of independent music. This new service will AT&T subscribers the ability to preview and purchase music via their mobile handsets from a catalog of 2.7 million songs. This new service, which is par of the AT&T Mobile Music Platform, is among the nation’s largest wireless music catalogs. Songs purchased from eMusic Mobile are immediately sent to the user’s wireless handset, while a duplicate copy is available for download to the user’s PC at no additional charge. AT&T customers can subscribe to download five tracks a month for $7.49, while additional packages of songs are available for the same price. “eMusic Mobile is not your typical over-the-air service,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data Services for AT&T’s wireless unit. “This service, which is as unique as the independent artists found in the eMusic catalog, differentiates itself from the competition through its ease of use, subscription pricing model and the ability to play these tracks in any MP3 player.” The eMusic Mobile service will be available on select AT&T music devices, with future models added in the future. These phones include the Samsung a717, a727 and the Nokia N75, as well as the new version of the Samsung SYNC. AT&T eMusic → Read More
Bloglines has created the “Ultimate Pro” edition of iBloglines for the iPhone audience. It’s got added functionality like a “pin” to save posts or feeds until you’re on the fixed Web, the ability to e-mail articles, search for content, auto-refresh, personalized preferences and it automatically hides images to compensate for EDGE’s slogginess. I swear by Bloglines, and am happy to see any sort of mobile version. But it does hurt just a bit that Bloglines actually took away functionality from its simple mobile feeds a while back. It now takes at least three clicks to get to your feeds. And even with EVDO speeds, that’s still a timely process. The rest of the features — save the auto refresh function — still exist in the basic mobile version. But we at Mobile Crunch feel like we’re using the Web version on our Blackberry, when the iPhone is more capable of sizing down Web pages to the big, small screen. Please Bloglines, bring back (and enhance) a mobile version. Bloglines → Read More
Calling in to a conference call has been easy enough from a mobile phone – and nothing beats soaking in the rays on a roof garden while listening to a long boring call (just don’t tell my editors). But now foonzMobile from RPM Communications will let mobile users take part in a conference call that will cost nothing other than the minutes sued for a regular call. Users simply send a short text message (“START”) to FOONZ (36669) to get the ball rolling. foonzMobile then replies with a text message with the instructions, allowing you to initiate the call. Additional text messages are sent to the other parties with a number to call, and participants simply the dial that number and foonz does the connecting. “Conference calling isn’t just for business anymore,” said Michael Bayer, CEO and co-founder of RPM Communications, Inc., the parent company of foonz. “People who want to share news, get a group of friends together, or let team mates know that practice is cancelled can forget about phone trees or calling people one-by-one. foonzMobile makes group voice communication as immediate and easy as text and IM, and it’s available to every one of the 230 million people with cell phones in the US. And of course, it’s available to businesses too.” Additional features are available to registered foonzMobile users, but anyone can try out the service by text messaging. We’ll give the service a spin soon and let you know what we thought. foonzMobile RPM Communications → Read More
Calls between EU countries may just get a little cheaper this week. Under new EU rules, telecom companies have until the end of July (as in today) to offer customers a new pricing structure that means cheaper “roaming” fees. And users have two months to say whether they want to move to the new plans or stick with their existing contracts. The European Commission calculated that mobile phone carries made about 8.5 billion euros profit a year from roaming charges! Makes you want to always stay in network doesn’t it! [Via BBC] → Read More
Budgets are something that many college students have to deal with, and students will look for ways to make ends meet. This week Mobile Campus, a provider of mobile communications, information and transactional services for university students, announced the findings from their recent Vizu poll. According to the survey, students frequently look to save money by utilizing the exclusive discounts offered to them as students. The Internet remains the preferred channel for accessing these discounts, but a small minority are already receiving discount offers via text messages to their mobile phones. Of course we have to take some of these findings with a grain of salt (or possibly several grains of salt), as text messaging is channel of delivery that already being used by Mobile Campus to target college students. But with many college students relying on mobile phones as their primary — and often only phone — it is no surprise that marketers will seriously target college students via text messages. Mobile Campus → Read More
Yesterday we reported that according to a recent Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) study, very few mobile handsets are actually being recycled. So what is happening to them? Well, landfills are probably where a lot of them are ending up, making for a future environmental disaster. Even if, as the report suggests, people are actually keeping the phones as backups for now, what is going to happen when users have numerous backups? With the average phone being replaced in 18 months, there are millions of phones that have no where to go. And Jeff Angel, the director of the Total Environment Center (TEC) claims that industry efforts to reclaim disposed phones isn’t working with just three percent of all mobile handsets being recycled. So what is the solution? Well, one program that has been started is an industry-partnered program with Landcare Australia, where a tree will be planted for every handset recycled. The “Old Phones, New Trees,” program should get the tree-hugger lot involved, but that’s still a long way to go. Another option is a $10 refundable deposit on mobile phones. And there have been other programs suggested such as having to turn in an old phone to keep your number when buying a new phone. Australian efforts are to boost collections of old phones by 200 percent and halve what goes into landfills within the next three years. That’s a good first step, but there is still a long way to go. And if you think this is bad. Where do you think those used 50-inch plasma TVs are going to end up in another decade? [Via PC World] → Read More
Last week we reported that Oxygen Media was working on mobile game based on the reality TV series The Bad Girls Club, and this week additional details were announced. The game, which is being developed by Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, Inc., will be able for the 3G platform later this August. In addition to the 3G game, Oxygen and Artificial Life will also launch several other 2G games based on The Bad Girls Club in the coming months. In the 3G version players will take the role of a new member of the club, and will have the usual agenda: to gain fame and win notoriety in the tabloid world. Players must prove to be a scandalous and notorious bad girl and win a spot on the cover of the Tabloid! “Gaming is so huge with women, and Oxygen has been looking at how to break into this arena,” said Oxygen senior vice president Cynthia Ashworth. “This game presents the perfect opportunity to take our most popular television series to a new level by creating a mobile game that is on brand with the show and also connects with our young, tech-savvy female audience. This is only the beginning for Oxygen in the gaming arena.” Bad Girls Club 3G Mobile will be available via download at the end of August for an initial price of $3.99. Oxygen Media: Bad Girls Club 3G Mobile → Read More
Inter Milan Launches New Home Kit On Second Life Futurama Makes Its Triumphant Return November 27 Dimple: The DAP With A Dimple Instead Of Buttons Another Reason To Stay In Bed: The Voice-Command Universal Remote Control Help-Key: How To Travel Less Douchey, More Geeky → Read More
Amp’d Mobile is most likely shutting down today, July 31, and a list of assets for sale shows where the $360 million in VC went that caused the MVNO to file for Chapter 11. Of course, there’s the additional $100 million Amp’d owes Verizon, but that’s beside the point. It seems a big chunk of change went towards the production of porn, which is prevalent when zooming through the Amp’d catalog. It’s soft-core at best, but you don’t exactly see other carriers offering such risqué content now do you? UPDATE – We’re getting word that it may or may not have been porn. TC writes: A correction printed at Venture Beat notes that these might not have been DVD’s, but some sort of X rated content Amp’d produced, they look like DVD’s and certainly we are unwilling to repeat the names of them here to prove the point. Aside from the still very valid questions about how Amp’d blew $360million in funding and ran up $100million in debt, there are now some interesting questions as to why a company primarily marketing to teens was producing X-Rated content. It’s also been reported that the Amp’d CEO was gallivanting around in a black helicopter at the company’s expense as well as being extremely lax on credit checks for customers just to boost numbers. Pretty sure Adderton is screwed out of any upcoming jobs. Asset List (PDF) [Venture Beat] → Read More
More news on the rumored Xbox 360 price drop due to happen on or around August 8th. According to a source at Best Buy, the $50 cut doesn’t include the Core model because it’s apparently being phased out altogether. Word out of Redmond is that nothing’s set in stone regarding the Xbox 360 Core’s fate. So Microsoft’s either waiting to make an announcement, Best Buy has decided to drop the Core regardless of whether or not it’s going away, or the whole thing is a clever ruse worthy of the smarmiest of mystery dinner parties. Rumor: Best Buy done with Xbox 360 core model [Joystiq] → Read More
StreetAdvisor will today launch a range of new upgrades that will give homeowners, renters, and buyers a more complete picture of where they could live. The new StreetAdvisor provides a real-life “insider” view that provides users the ability to learn and share vital details about where they live, including noise levels, traffic, neighbors, entertainment, and public services in a similar way to travel review sites. Recommendations and negative experiences about local businesses, entertainment and services will also be supported. StreetAdvisor’s street based reviews have been expanded to include cities, states, and countries. Upgraded guidebooks now include four broad categories with the ability to create additional topics in a similar fashion to a Wiki. Other new features include a member recognition system, “local expert program” and StreetAdvisor Billboards, a service that offers the ability to secure exclusive “run-of-street” advertising opportunities on a per city basis. The site is currently in public beta and offers coverage for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Previous TechCrunch coverage here. → Read More
iPhone envy is still abound throughout the US, but more so outside of the country and it’s quite evident by the video showcasing a virtual touch-keyboard on the Nokia N800. Coded in Python, the keyboard lacks predictive text, but chicks won’t know the difference if your pawing your N800 uncontrollably in public. You know you want it! → Read More
Microsoft has released the new version of Microsoft Works as a free, ad supported office package that will compete directly with Open Office and Google Docs & Spreadsheets. The Works package offers word processing, spreadsheet and slide (powerpoint) functionality partially based on code from older versions of Microsoft Office. The move by Microsoft to offer a free office suite comes as online office packages including Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Thinkfree Office and Zoho continue to grow market share due to increased broadband penetration, online convenience and lower costs. It was not disclosed whether the new version of Microsoft Works would sync with or support Microsoft’s online services under the Live brand. Whilst the version was said to be released July 27, it was not clear where it could be downloaded from or accessed. Microsoft Works first launched as a Mac application in 1986. (via ZDNet) → Read More
Symantec has put out a warning to Mac users that an unpatched exploit found in Samba, an open-source file-and print-sharing software included with OS X, could leave your Apple open to hackers via the Metasploit hacking framework. The Samba community released a fix the day after the exploit was found, which was May 14, but Apple hasn’t released any fixes to Samba since March 2005. A hacker can gain root access to a Mac if the user has checked off “windows file sharing”. Symantec recommends mac users uncheck this option until Apple releases a fix. Hey Apple, wake up! *Goes to shut off Samba* Attacks Likely Against Unpatched Mac OS Samba Bug [via Macenstein] → Read More
In conjunction with the launch of two HD camcorders earlier today, Panasonic announced the launch of a 8GB Pro High Speed SD memory card today that features both high speed and high capacity. The RP-SDV08GU1K has a Class 6 Speed spec that equates to data transfer speeds of 6MB/s and it’s compatible with the SD memory card v2.0 standard. You can expect to store about two hours of HD content in AVCHD normal mode or somewhere in the range of 3,080 images. Look for the 8GB model in September for $159.99. → Read More
RingCube Technologies has announced the release of the MojoPac Enterprise Edition software that allows telecommuters, contract workers and road warriors the ability to store a virtual desktop onto a USB drive. I’m sure you’re thinking that this isn’t special in anyway and that Citrix does the same thing, but this is where you’re wrong. MojoPac is distinctly different in that you don’t have to be connected to the network to run your applications. You don’t necessarily even need a USB drive because the software even works on your iPod, so anything that connects via USB is acceptable. It also runs on any Windows XP or Vista machine as a guest, so the host computer is oblivious to anything going on. All your corporate secrets are safe in the event your laptop is stolen, but that only holds true if you keep your USB drive someplace else when not in use. Desktop on a USB drive ready for enterprises [Yahoo! News] → Read More
Retrevo, one of a number of automated, aggregate review sites we previously covered, is releasing an alpha version of a new product comparison feature called “Product Snapshot”. The feature helps find the greatest “bang for your buck” by visually displaying how a product’s price and features stack up against others in its category. CEO Vipin Jain will demo the feature at tomorrow’s Stanford Summit. The feature will go public at the end of September. “Product Snapshot” maps a product’s place on a price/feature graph relative to other products in the category. The mapping of the product is based on a statistical analysis of a number of major features and prices drawn from across the web. Products with fewer features for their price fall at the bottom left of the chart, while products with high prices and many features are placed toward the upper right. For example, this search for a Samsung LN-S4696D shows where the LCD TV places relative to other mid-range TVs. The snapshot also includes links to products with better features, similar products, and cheaper products. These features will be released at the end of September when the full feature is pushed live. Retrevo distinguishes itself by focusing on consumer electronics and finding a great deal of auxiliary material on products. Searches return PDF product manuals, aggregate user ratings, product previews, written reviews, forums & blogs, and shopping links. The data is pulled from thousands of sites including those of manufacturers and retailers. Retrevo’s depth of information makes it best suited for initial product research instead of quick price comparisons. → Read More
This fall will see many conventions around the country as companies gear up for the holidays and other fun times. This means a lot of travel for a lot of people, and you could be one of them. And that sucks. Not that you have to take a trip — indeed, visiting new places should be a pleasant experience — but rather that air travel in America sucks. I was going to try to write this article without invoking the term “post-9/11″, but the sad fact is that since the “War on Terror” started, airports have sucked. But we’ve got a few tips to help you get through your day in style and comfort. → Read More
I believe I’m on the verge of taking back every bad thing I said about the PS3 with news that Sony has signed an exclusive deal with Rockstar Games for the ‘next great franchise’. This is very exciting news, but let’s face facts for a moment. Any game that is developed for the PS3 from the ground up is going to be amazing. It will utilize all the amazing capabilities that we’ve heard about, but it’s still a long time away from now. If I were in the market for new console I really wouldn’t bother looking at the PS3 because of the lack of content and I’m not going to wait around another year to see what happens. According to Gaming Target, the Wii has 113 exclusive titles while the Xbox 360 has 96 and the PS3 comes in at 47. It’s no surprise that the figures reflect the current state of popularity either. Also worth noting is that the PS3 does not have one game in the top 10 as reported by the NPD Group. The Nintendo Wii holds four, the DS holds two, the Xbox 360 boasts three and the PS2 has one. I just don’t understand why Sony would think it could compete in the current state it is in. Sony could really use a Red Bull right now. Sony Inks Exclusive Rockstar Deal for PlayStation 3 [News Factor] → Read More
Beta testers are an unruly bunch that rarely adheres to the rules. MS beta testers are the worst and it’s quite evident with the premature release of the Vista Performance and Reliability Pack and Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack that officially launch August 14. The quasi service packs are said to fix a handful of bugs reported through the Error Reporting Service and product support. Maybe I’ll fire up that Vista laptop now, but downloading unauthorized software is wrong, so tell me how it is. → Read More
