T-mobile’s latest-and-greatest HSDPA+ handset, the myTouch 4G, has had us impressed since its announcement at the beginning of the month.
And what isn’t to love? Front facing camera, 3.8″ 800×480 screen, 5MP camera, 4 colours to choose from… the list goes on.
But despite some leaks, we haven’t had any solid info on a release date. Well, as you have probably guessed, that changed today, with T-mo news nabbing a super-secret document that points to a November 3rd release. → Read More
Can you imagine Sanyo without eneloop? Sanyo’s “green” sub brand is now 5 years old, and to commemorate the anniversary, Sanyo plans to roll out special batteries. They even issued an English press release to announce the so-called “eneloop tones glitter” battery pack. → Read More
There are a vast amount of product comparison sites on the web and a number of social shopping sites that allow online shoppers use their social graph to share purchasing decisions. Today video search engine Blinkx is trying to combine the two functionalities with the launch of Cheep, a social shopping service.
Through a browser add-on (which currently only works on Firefox or IE), Cheep recognizes when you’re looking at a specific product and will show you current price comparisons from around the Web, as well as reviews and ratings. Cheep will appear as a small bar at the top of your screen when you’re looking at a product page. The startup has indexed millions of products nearly 200 online retailers, including Amazon, BestBuy and Walmart, so chances are that Cheep will be able to find the product you are viewing within your browser. → Read More
Last Wednesday, I got my hands on one of the new MacBook Airs. I haven’t touched my MacBook Pro since. It’s six months old. RIP.
I know that sounds outrageous. Or like hyperbole. But it’s not. When I wrote up my initial thoughts, it was after only a few hours of usage. I hadn’t even used it outside the house yet. But now I have. I’ve used it almost everywhere I’ve been for just about a week now. There’s no question in my mind that this has replaced my MacBook Pro as my go-to machine. → Read More
Those of you on T-mobile that have been eagerly awaiting the day when you can tether your phone to your PC can now breathe a sigh of relief, as BGR received word today that T-mobile will release their “Tethering and Wi-Fi Sharing Add-On” for a mere $14.99 a month.
Aaaand what does this $14.99 net you? Comfort in the knowledge that you are doing what T-mobile want you to.
So… no extra data, then? No … and you have to pay it on top of your $19.99 data plan. → Read More
So you’re sold on the 4.1 inches of QWERTY power that is the Dell Venue Pro, but you’re not sold on the v1.0 feel of Windows Phone 7? Do you have a little more faith in the 2.x-iness of Android?
Well, a throw-away comment in an article for PC World today says that Dell have plans to release a phone that resembles the Venue Pro sometime in the future. → Read More
A recent update to the Apple Store iOS app — which allows you to reserve products at your local Apple Store — has brought with it the ability to reserve the white iPhone 4 model… or it almost has. Some astute users discovered that both the 16GB and 32GB white iPhones appear in the app, leading them to believe that the Melville-esque model was finally available… but no. When you click to reserve one, you are greeted by the message: Because of high demand, we are not currently taking iPhone reservations Its appearance probably means that the whiteness will soon be with us, but not yet my friends… not yet. [via Redmond Pie] → Read More
It seemed like it was only yesterday that I was handing the Android Market its lunchbox and sending it off to school with a kiss on the cheek, and look at it now! 100,000 apps! It’s all growed up!
Estimations of the number of apps seen in the Android Market have often been just that: estimations, but when the Android Dev team tweet out a number, it’s a number that means something. → Read More
Last week, we reported about the new cell phone line up of Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier, KDDI. The company unveiled no less than 19 new handsets, and among those, one model stood out because of its unique design: the aptly named X-Ray. → Read More
Amazon has just released a new free iPad app, called Amazon Windowshop that the company says is a complete “rewrite” of Amazon.com specifically for the iPad. Optimized for touch screen tablets, Amazon Windowshop makes it easy to swipe through the store to browse products on the iPad.
Similar to Amazon’s website, the app features product lists including “Featured”, “Bestsellers”, “Recommendations”, “New Releases”, “Most Wished For”, “Most Gifted”, and “Movers & Shakers”. → Read More
Aw. The end of an era (of sorts). Garmin-Asus today announced that they’re chucking the towel in on the navi-smartphone business, stating that they won’t produce any new phones, but will continue to sell and support the 6 models that are already out in the world. Asus will continue to make their own phones, and won’t shy away from using Garmin navigation in some of their upcoming models. Garmin plan to expand their mobile applications, and will offer navigation and other applications through “certain consumer application stores.” Now, for those of you that own a Garmin-Asus phone, you’ll be pleased to know that you will continue to receive product support, software updates and/or downloads from either Garmin or Asus, depending upon the region. The full press release is available here. → Read More
Viator, which operates a one-stop-shop for researching, planning and booking tours and activities all over the globe via Viator.com, has moved to acquire Sydney-based OurExplorer.com, an online resource for discovering and booking private tour guides around the world.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. → Read More
In January this year, I blogged about Power Loader, a power-amplifying robotic suit that enables humans to carry loads of up to 100kg. Developed by Tokyo-based robot venture Activelink, a venture spun off from Panasonic, the mecha is awesome but will not be quite ready for 2015 (as a practical version). → Read More
VeriFone Systems this morning announced a deal with electronic payments giant PayPal that sounds like bad news for Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey‘s latest venture, Square.
VeriFone, which offers solutions that enable electronic payment transactions and related services at points of sale, will extend mobile payments acceptance with PayPal and integrate traditional card payments with its new partner’s Mobile Payments products. → Read More
A small Turkish startup called lunar technologies has raised $1 million for one of its ventures, Trend.ly, managing director Ercan Yaris tells me. The money comes from undisclosed angel investors, two of them partners in one of the biggest telecom companies in Turkey.
Trend.ly is a very basic site any way you look at it. Visitors can go to the site to enter any two-element poll (live examples: love vs. sex and Jessica Biel vs. Scarlett Johansson) and have the community vote on them by ‘liking’ one of the other.
Then again, the site has been live for less than 2 months now. Yes, that’s two months. → Read More
It’s no secret that both Foursquare and Gowalla are expanding their location-based social networks past the check-in, developing other incentives for consumers to use the services. Gowalla, in particular, has focused on adding innovative features to its platform to make the social network more interactive, through photos and comments. Most recently, the startup added local highlights, which allows users to essentially tap into their social graph to not only see what’s popular in a particular location, but also provide contextual information around what are the best sights, places, restaurants and activities in a particular locale. Today, Gowalla is adding a few more features for businesses that help the network move beyond the check-in, including City Pages, Verified Businesses and Venues; and the Stamp Calendar. → Read More
I’ve been in love with the simple bookmarking service Instapaper for a few years now. The release of the iPad has made it even better. You see, my daily routine now involves using the Instapaper app on the iPad to read all of the longer articles I don’t get to while sitting at my desk. But quite often, it’s hard to find longer articles. That’s where Longreads comes in.
As a service on Twitter, Longreads has actually existed since April 2009. Over 7,000 people follow the account to get between three to five long article recommendations a day from various publications around the web. And today, the man behind the project, Mark Armstrong, is finally launching a website for Longreads. The idea, he says, is to create a sort of “Techmeme for long stories”. → Read More
It’s been over a year since we’ve last written about Photobucket, when the former News Corp. / MySpace property merged with Ontela.
Apparently, the Photobucket that came out of the merger didn’t technically have a chief executive at the helm, although CFO Tom Munro served as acting President. The company this morning announced that Munro has now been officially appointed CEO after an executive search was initiated by Steamboat Ventures, the Disney-affiliated venture capital firm backing Photobucket. → Read More
Cloudera, the startup that commercially distributes and services Apache Hadoop based data management software and services, has raised $25 million in a Series C financing led by Meritech Capital Partners with previous investors Accel Partners and Greylock Partners also participating in the round. This brings Cloudera’s total funding up to $36 million.
Hadoop is a Java software framework born out of an open-source implementation of Google’s published computing infrastructure which is fostered within the Apache Software Foundation. Hadoop supports distributed applications running on large clusters of commodity computers processing enormous amounts of data. Cloudera helps distribute Hadoop, and provides practical services around the technology, similar to what Red Hat does for the Linux framework. → Read More
In what looks like a very good fit, location-based service WorkSnug is partnering with Skype to help mobile workers locate Skype Access-supported WiFi locations in coffee shops using its augmented reality app for iPhone.
Skype Access lets users pay for WiFi on a per-minute basis using their Skype credentials and credit at 200,000 hotspots, provided by the likes of BT Openzone, Boingo, and Barnes & Noble. While WorkSnug’s iPhone app and service helps mobile workers locate potential working spaces – coffee shops, libraries, formal co-working spaces etc. – and provides ratings on such things as Internet connectivity, “community feel”, power sockets, and, more to the point, the quality of coffee. → Read More
