Apple's App Store hits 100K apps: News or rhetoric?
Apple today announced that its App store has more than 100,000 apps available for download and use on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The number of applications available on the platform has been a major selling point for Apple's iPhone, and the company has made sure to keep the public informed when its catalog grows. In July, the company announced when it had hit 65,000 available apps; and In September, it let us know when it had exceeded 85,000.
For those who missed Google Voice beta, Ribbit Mobile opens in beta
Some of us missed the boat and never got in the Google Voice beta test group. With all the controversy the service stirred up among the media, the public, telecommunications companies, and the FCC, there's a distinct possibility that Google Voice as we know it could end up in regulatory limbo after being politicized and thrown into the "net neutrality" conflict.
Today, a beta of an alternative has opened up: Ribbit Mobile from Ribbit, an independent British Telecom subsidiary often billed as "Silicon Valley's first telephone company."
CinemaNow streaming movies coming to Best Buy
It was a short couple of weeks ago that Best Buy announced it had partnered with Netflix to equip its in-house brand of Insignia connected Blu-Ray players with support for Netflix Instant streaming like Sony, LG, and Samsung all had done to their own players.
Now, Best Buy is following the lead of companies like TiVo, LG, and, Pioneer by partnering with Sonic Solutions to include CinemaNow streaming in more devices. The company says CinemaNow will become a standard feature in "connected consumer electronics devices sold throughout US Best Buy retail stores," and online.
The new face of Android: No face
Early this morning, Sony Ericsson took the wraps off of its first Android-based handset, the 1 GHz Snapdragon-powered Xperia X10. With a huge 4" touchscreen, an 8.1 megapixel camera and the elegant custom user interface named "Rachael," Sony Ericsson moves the Android platform a step further by giving it almost no mention in announcements and commercials.
Sony Ericsson mentions the Android Market, and notes in the spec sheet that the operating system is Android Donut 1.6, but otherwise it does not ride the point, and strives to make the device stand out as a distinct product.
With beefed up 3G, more networks to get 'Droid'
Here in the US, excitement has been high over Verizon's first Android handset, the Motorola Droid; so high, in fact, that it has actually begun to make an appreciable dent in iPhone favoritism.
This is partially due to the fact that a large number of iPhone users were Verizon customers before they got the iPhone, and still consider Verizon's wireless network to be superior to AT&T's. Verizon's "There's a map for that" advertising campaign has also added to the company's reputation for having a more robust network than AT&T.
Sprint and Clearwire's 2009 WiMAX rollout almost complete
Clearwire and Sprint have been working hard to complete the planned WiMAX network deployment for 2009, and with the addition of a handful of new major markets this week, the project has nearly fulfilled its promises for the year.
Today, Sprint announced it has launched WiMAX services in the North Carolina cities Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point and Cary; in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; and in Chicago, Illinois.
Nokia's N-Gage can't survive against iPhone, will be shut down
According to Reuters today, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia will reportedly be shutting down its N-Gage gaming service. The shutdown will come six years after the mobile phone and gaming system hybrid concept debuted and was quickly retired; and nearly four years after it was re-invented as a part of Nokia's smartphone ecosystem, and later integrated with the Ovi platform.
Nokia intends to stop publishing new N-Gage titles and eventually wind down the service by the end of next year. Games will still be a major part of the Ovi platform, available in the Ovi Store under store.ovi.com/games, but the dedicated N-Gage brand is finally being scuttled.
Sprint quietly locks down Xohm WiMAX network while it awaits Clear takeover
Without any notice to current customers with or those early adopters with dormant accounts, Sprint has locked down the Baltimore Xohm WiMAX network and is not letting inactive hardware be turned back on to allow free upgrades to Clear hardware.
Sprint's Xohm network was one of the first two WiMAX deployments in the United States. We watched with excitement as the towers were raised in Baltimore and the ceremonial ribbon was cut on the new high speed wireless network.
Unconvinced by Windows 7? Ubuntu 9.10 debuted today!
The latest version of Canonical's popular Linux distribution Ubuntu (9.10 "Karmic Koala") was officially released today and is now available for download.
Among numerous performance improvements (Upstart native jobs, Intel video driver acceleration switched from "EXA" to "UXA", GRUB 2 boot loader by default, ext4 filesystem by default) and upgrades to the architecture (Linux Kernel 2.6.31, Gnome 2.28, X.Org 7.4, X.Org server 1.6.4, Xsplash and Compiz Fusion 0.8.4), Ubuntu 9.10 has thrown in a couple of compelling new products to make Karmic Koala worth a second look for those still apprehensive about Linux operating systems and largely unfamiliar with all the architectural and environmental upgrades.
Nintendo makes DSi screens bigger than competitors
This morning, Nintendo announced the third upgrade to the DS family, the DSi LL (or DSi XL), will be released in Japan on November 21, one year after the DSi debuted, for ¥20,000 (approx. $220). The LL's main improvement is the size of its screens, which have been increased from 3.25" to 4.2" with a moderate increase to the size of the chassis. The device also includes a much bigger stylus, which looks to be the size of a ballpoint pen, and battery life has reportedly been increased to five hours at maximum screen brightness.
Handheld gaming has been a strong suit for Nintendo since the early '80s, and it has consistently led the category despite the constant string of capable competitors touting higher quality or more innovative portable gaming platforms. Of Atari, Sega, NEC, Tiger, Bandai, SNK, and a handful of other notables, few video game and toy companies have been able to engage the handheld market for more than a single generation.
Google answers the FCC: Google Voice blocks fewer than 100 numbers
While most of the tech world today is reveling in the introduction of Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 and its first host device, the Motorola Droid, there's still plenty of Google left to talk about.
Earlier this month, Google Voice was subject to yet another inquiry by the US Federal Communications Commission -- specifically the Wireline Competition Bureau. Its intent is to re-examine what Google Voice exactly is, evaluate whether it is unfairly blocking certain connections and how, and to determine how it should be regulated.
Motorola and Verizon unveil the Droid, Google Maps navigation
After a long period of rumors, leaks and teaser marketing campaigns, Verizon and Motorola have officially announced Droid, Verizon's first Android smartphone, and the first Android device running Eclair. It will be available on Friday, November 6, for $199 with a two year contract and mail-in rebate.
Motorola's Contribution:
Symbian Dev program tries to limit fragmentation
Though Symbian Foundation Executive Director Lee Williams publicly deemed Google's approach to spreading Android the "perfect storm of fragmentation," yesterday the Foundation launched the beta of its developer program for what looks to be a pretty fragmented app store architecture in its own right.
Here's how it works: The program is called Symbian Horizon, and in this program, developers have their applications approved through the Symbian Signed identification process. This process adds one of four kinds of "tamper-proof digital certificates" to an app, one of which involves the app's stamp of approval from one of three independent testing facilities. Each of these facilities charges the developer a different amount, and each runs a different test.
Android 2.0 features revealed
It's undoubtedly been a huge quarter for Google's Android mobile operating system, and exciting developments are all falling into place.
Two weeks ago, the ceremonial giant foam pastry was planted on Google's front lawn. This time it was an eclair, and it signified the readiness of Android 2.0, codenamed "Eclair," which we get a first look at today.
All the right moves: Roku's Netflix streamer branches out
One of the major attractions of the Netflix Instant streaming service is its low cost of entry. For $9 a month, subscribers have access to a substantial and ever-growing library of content on their PC, available whenever they have a connection and some time to spare. And if a subscriber wanted to view that content on his HDTV, he can do so through game consoles, DVRs, connected optical media players, and of course, through the branded Netflix player by Roku which debuted in spring 2008.
The $99 streaming device certainly proved to be a breakout hit for Roku, providing the simplest, cheapest, and most elegant way to access Netflix Instant in the living room.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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