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If at first you don’t succeed, open source the sucker. Peek has released an open source version of their Peek Mobile operating system, allowing hackers to use the all-but-obsolete little email device as a hacker platform. The Linux release is available the PeekLinux wiki and hackers are already adding new apps and functionality to the tiny device.
Peek itself has pivoted out of the hardware space to become a cloud services provider for so-called dumb phones, allowing for push email, social media check-ins, and other interesting applications. They recently scored HTC as a client and the founder Amol Sarva is now aiming squarely at developing markets in their push to add improved features to less advanced phones.
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Just as promised, the Peek 9 launched today and brings a whole new level of cool to the not-a-smartphone device. It seems nearly everything is updated from the mail service to the hardware. It’s a mighty big update for Peek, but somehow all this goodness rings up for less than the previous generation — even the service plan is cheaper now. → Read More
Peek sent out an email today announcing that a new Peek will be announced tomorrow. A bit needy, sure, but I’ll bite because they got my attention with this line, “It’s called Peek 9 and it is a major step forward — cheaper, simpler, and faster than ever.” Cheaper, simpler, and faster than the current Peeks? Nice. If that statement isn’t marketing bull, the Peek 9 might have a chance. → Read More
Big news for people who use Peek devices, although they probably don’t read CrunchGear. There’s a new device being launched tomorrow, with a MSRP of $69.99. Of course, we have no idea what the device does, but we’ll update this story when we know more. They wouldn’t even let us peek at it, but CEO Amol Sarva did confirm that there is a device coming, he just wouldn’t say what it is. → Read More
Peek might have a serious problem on its hands. There are widespread reports of users not getting their messages either in a timely manner or at all. Even worse, there are more than a few users stating they are getting other people’s emails, Twitter feeds, and text messages.
Peek was originally supposed to be a dead simple email-only handheld device — a smartphone alternative, really. But over time the company started adding more and more functions to keep it not only relevant in the social networking world, but also to justify new models. But it seems to be going horribly wrong now. → Read More
Well this is boring. At least it sounds boring. Peek announced a few weeks back that the company was working on some big stuff. Like, legitimately big stuff. Now we hear by way of the WSJ that this so-called Project Big Stuff is just a software update. It better be a damn big software update to keep our attention. → Read More
They did say that the company was working on “big stuff” but we didn’t think it would be this big. Buzz is after all everyone’s favorite social networking communication sharing thing they don’t understand. BuzzPeek is dead easy to use. There’s no setup required — just turn it on and you’ll automatically be opted in to everything. BuzzPeek works anywhere around the world (except Mainland China) and it’s always, always on so you’ll never miss a thing. Just like the iPad there’s no keyboard, but unlike tablet PCs the battery life is a full 17 days (based on average of 2 messages per day). And for power users there’s a native upgrade path to Wave. I want one but wouldn’t know what to do with it just like Buzz. → Read More
“Big stuff that will blow away folks. Not just an awesome “Peek for Life” promo. But really, truly big stuff. So stay tuned for Project Big Stuff.” That’s a direct quote from Peek’s official blog after stating flat out the company is short on cash even though they make a decent amount of revenue. Of course Peek could probably raise a bit more if absoulity necessary, but we’re curious what the company that brought us the email-only, and more recently Twitter-only, device is working on. → Read More
Get ready, India. The email-only Peek device will soon be riding on Aircell’s airwaves within your boarders and available for purchase in 1,000 different retail spots. It’s actually quite affordable too with a retail cost of Rs.2999 for the handheld and Rs.299 for the monthly service charge. That works out to be $65 USD and $6 USD, respectively. Interested? There’s a spiffy new Indian peek website with all the details. → Read More
In an effort to appeal to the nerd rage caused by the recent BlackBerry outage, Peek is offering 50% off the Peek Pronto for the next 24 hours. Use discount code BBOUTAGE5 at checkout. Full e-mail from Peek with more details below: → Read More
Simple communication gadget Peek is making its way to Europe, courtesy of Spain-based Fon, whose founder and CEO Martin Varsavsky is making the announcement later today at the Le Web conference here in Paris.
Prior to his stage appearance, Varsavsky shared the details of the distribution partnership on his widely read blog.
The price of the PeekFon will be €99, and the service will cost €12.9 per month. No roaming charges, no contract. → Read More
The U.S. press hasn’t been particularly kind to the Peek email device. It isn’t that it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do – email. The issue is more that people already have their phones to do this, and those phones can also deal with images, links to websites, etc.
But the Peek may just be the perfect device for Europe, and Spain’s FON is going to take a shot at distributing it here under the brand PeekFon.
FON CEO Martin Varsavsky hinted at the deal yesterday to me backstage at the Le Web conference in Paris. Here’s why he think the Peek is perfect for Europe – avoiding roaming charges: → Read More
Now might be a good time to lock in one of these Peek devices if you’ve subscribed to the idea of mobile e-mail and texting without the cost and complexity of an entire smartphone. Today only, Peek is offering $10 monthly service for the lifetime of the device. → Read More
We’re giving away five Peek Protos this week, one a day, and we want you to ask us nicely for one so we can give you one. What I’m basically trying to say is that you should respond to this post with a comment (using your real e-mail address) and also follow CG on Twitter and watch the Gift Guide for more special things. → Read More
We’re giving away five Peek Protos this week, one a day, and we want you to ask us nicely for one so we can give you one. What I’m basically trying to say is that you should respond to this post with a comment (using your real e-mail address) and also follow CG on Twitter and watch the Gift Guide for more special things. → Read More
If you’re a Twitter freak and think that a dedicated Twitter device is just the thing for you, read on.
This week we saw the launch of the TwitterPeek, a cute little device built by Peek that will do just about anything you want it to do, as long as all you want it to do is access Twitter. It won’t surf the web. It won’t make phone calls. It won’t support third party apps. But it most certainly does run Twitter.
You can get it in black. Or, if you want to show a little flair, you can get in in cyan.
For some crazy reason I wanted one. A friend bought me one that I will truly love forever(ish). But the company also sent me one. And while I may or may not need one TwitterPeek, I almost certainly don’t need two TwitterPeeks.
This is where you come in.
We’re giving one of these away to a TechCrunch reader. It’s the cool one, cyan, with lifetime service that costs $200. And it’s all yours. Just retweet this post and make sure to include the short URL link – http://bit.ly/3U2Yhy – as well as the #crunch hashtag. Please only tweet the message once, anyone tweeting repeatedly will be disqualified. Tomorrow we’ll sort through all of the tweets and pick one randomly for the win. You’ll get the TweetPeek device in the mail, and we’ll throw in a TechCrunch tshirt. Even the postage is on us. But please note that in this case only U.S. readers are eligible, because the device only works in the U.S. → Read More
I just got my hands on the the Twitter Peek (AKA the Tweek) and I’m trying to figure out who, specifically, this is for. First, let’s consider this my review: this device is not very good if you’re a Twitter “power user” like myself or anyone else with maybe 100+ followers and a few hundred folks you follow. To be clear, this isn’t quite Peek’s fault as they’re clearly not interested in pleasing users like me. They’re looking for folks from a different aviary, presumably new Twitter users who haven’t quite gotten hooked, but are interested in the service enough to stick with it — and have $199 burning a hole in their pockets as well. If you know any of those people, please send them to Amazon to pick this up. For the rest of us, this thing is pretty rough. I follow 2104 people and so this thing was buzzing and Tweeting all afternoon until I finally turned it off. Weird batches of tweets would come in, all from one person, for example, or weird messages like “Oh Hey, you’re Tweeting so much! We’re going to try to catch up” or something to that effect. It’s also really slow. You have to click twice to read a Tweet – once to bring up the menu and once to read the Tweet – and scrolling is really bad. And it makes a buzzing and a tweeting noise when tweets come in – which is all the time. And it’s $99 with 6 months free or $199 for life. And it only does Twitter. No email. No texting. I’m really selling this thing, aren’t I? → Read More
Remember the Twitter Peek thingie Peter Ha spotted last week? Yeah, it’s official now and is actually a neat little device if you Twitter a whole lot and don’t carry a smartphone. Wait, what? → Read More
Peek, the tiny non-smartphone smartphone dedicated to email and messaging, is now available at Blockbuster stores across the nation. Peek buyers will also receive one month free of Blockbuster Total Access, a Netflix-like service that lets you rent DVDs and BR disks by mail or in-store. You can also refer a friend and get a $15 Blockbuster gift card. The Pronto costs $59.99 with $14.99/month service. The Classic costs $19.99. → Read More
The Peek has been around for a year already and surprise, surprise, it’s still around. In fact, you can now snag one without a monthly subscription charge for $299 exclusively from Amazon. Now, I’m not saying you should spend $299 on a device that just does email now that smartphone’s monthly subscription costs are dropping, but someone out there might want a dedicated device for email, Twitter, and Facebook.
Update: Kind of ironic deal found. It’s after the jump. → Read More
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