Maybe software can make American kids less fat, USDA opens voting on candidates
In March, First Lady Michelle Obama's "Lets Move" initiative for childhood health and fitness launched a contest called "Apps for Healthy Kids," offering $60,000 in prizes for software that encourages children to choose healthier foods and more active lifestyles. Today, the US Department of Agriculture has announced 95 finalists in the contest, which the public can test, and then vote on.
The applications are not limited to any single platform, and range from standalone Windows applications, to iPhone apps, to games within Linden Labs' Second Life. The styles, likewise, differ greatly from app to app. There are tools to aid in meal planning, games to teach about the food pyramid or caloric intake, and applications for building exercise routines.
Intel declares 'best quarter ever,' after 34% annual jump in revenue
Chipmaker Intel Corp. has posted its earnings for the second quarter of 2010, and with revenue of $10.8 billion and a net income of $2.9 billion, declared it to have been the company's best quarter ever.
Strong demand from corporate customers for our most advanced microprocessors helped Intel achieve the best quarter in the company's 42-year history," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Our process technology lead plus compelling architectural designs increasingly differentiate Intel-based products in the marketplace. The PC and server segments are healthy and the demand for leading-edge technology will continue to increase for the foreseeable future."
Comcast/NBC Universal merger talks extended another 4.5 months
The move to form a joint venture between cable company Comcast and content network NBC Universal has been extended by 135 days.
Today, William T. Lake, of the FCC Media Bureau announced that the application process, which was originally slated to take no more than 180 days, has been restarted at Day 45 after Comcast and NBCU submitted renewed responses. This means the bureau's review period will last nearly four and a half months before the merger can progress.
Microsoft announces Windows Phone Live, integration with Zune
There is more Windows Phone news coming from Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference today, and this time, instead of focusing on developers, it is focused on the consumer experience. Microsoft's Senior Vice President of Mobile Communications Andy Lees introduced a couple of major consumer-facing enhancements to Windows Phone today that extend functionality off of the phone's various "hubs" and into other connected services.
First, there will be a new addition to the Windows Live suite of Web services dedicated strictly to Windows Phone, appropriately named Windows Live Phone. Integration with Windows Live services has always been a strong aspect of Microsoft's mobile strategy, and was executed well even with the much derided Windows Mobile 6.5.
Blackberry Tablet confirmed, will support Flash
Rumors of a BlackBerry tablet have been circulating for months, and statements from Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar on Friday have rekindled the discussion with a little bit more accuracy.
A source close to RIM confirmed to Betanews that Kumar's statements were accurate, including the screen size, and the dual camera setup. But they gave us a bit of additional information that the rumors haven't covered yet: Flash support.
Microsoft's Windows Phone Developer Tools get a major update ahead of dev phone launch
At MIcrosoft's Worldwide Partner conference today, Andy Lees, Senior Vice President of Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft announced the beta of Windows Phone Developer tools has begun.
Back in March, the suite of Windows Phone development tools was launched as a Community Technology Preview (CTP) which included Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7 Series Add-in for Visual Studio, a Windows Phone 7 Series emulator, XNA Game Studio 4.0, and a CTP release of Expression Blend 4. The CTP received an update in April, shortly after it was launched.
Fring calls Skype 'cowards,' Skype says Fring is damaging brand and reputation
Popular Social/Messaging/VoIP application Fring made serious waves last week when it launched a new version that supported two-way video calling over 3G for the iPhone 4. Apple's FaceTime iPhone 4 video chat, by comparison, only works while the device is connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Very shortly after launching, however, support for the face-2-face video chat was halted. Fring said the feature's unavailability was the result of a blockage by Skype.
Google provides a look at Android's highly customized future with App Inventor
For anyone with an Android phone and a great idea for an app but no experience with writing code, Google has announced the ultimate solution.
Today, Google began the beta phase of App Inventor, a graphical tool in Google Labs for designing custom Android applications. Users of the tool do not need to know anything about programming to be able to create an app, package it, and upload it to their USB-connected Android phone.
After five years, 64-bit editions of Windows make up nearly half of install base
64-bit editions of Windows have been available to OEMs and consumers for five years, and they have finally begun to exhibit command over the PC market, Microsoft reported today.
By June 2010, 46% of all PCs running Windows 7 were running the 64-bit edition. Three and a half years after Windows Vista launched, only 11% of users have installed the 64-bit version, considerably fewer than Microsoft claimed in 2008 when product manager Chris Flores told us "20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to the Windows Update were 64-bit..."
Ericsson: 70% of the entire world subscribes to a mobile service
Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson is responsible for all kinds of wireless equipment, from cell site infrastructure to consumer premises equipment to mobile broadband chips. So when they talk about the industry, it would behoove you to pay attention.
Today, Ericsson announced its estimate that the global mobile market contains over five billion subscribers, growing at a rate of 2 million per day.
Google is staying in China with 'unfiltered' services
Google's license to offer search services in China has been renewed after months of restructuring and negotiations with the Chinese government.
In 2005, Google first won a license to operate within China, but to remain available, it had to adhere to strict government oversight and censor search results. Queries related to human rights topics, or to Tibet and the Dalai Lama, for example, would redirect searchers to Government-run sites.
Android gaming to get big boost from popular OpenFeint social platform
Android's unabated growth has been a hot topic recently, and comScore's smartphone market share breakdown released today shows that from February to May 2010, it was actually the ONLY major mobile platform to experience positive growth.
Among this growth, a complaint about the Android platform has persisted: it has no good games. While this may be a bit of an overstatement, users frequently compare the Android platform with Apple's iOS in terms of functionality, features, and apps; and iOS simply has more high quality games.
Increased mobile Web demands at the heart of new mobile YouTube
Mobile Web consumption is growing at an explosive rate according to reports from both the PEW Internet and American Life Project and Morgan Stanley, and in as few as five years, our mobile devices could be our primary connection to the Web.
To address this explosion in mobile Web consumption, YouTube last night unveiled a new mobile site with all the features of the traditional YouTube.
RIM rolls out BES 5 Service Pack 2, preps admins for new BlackBerry 6 features
Today, Research in Motion's middleware for managing BlackBerry devices in enterprise networks, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), was upgraded to service pack 2. The upgrade directly addresses the problem presented to IT when an increasing number of users are using their personal BlackBerries for corporate communications.
"People are buying smartphones for that rich personal experience, but then looking to bring that smartphone into the office to take their work with them as well," Santiago Carbonell, Handheld Software Product Manager at RIM said two weeks ago. "What we're working on is building a platform of coexistence between these two lives on one device...However, this means that in the interests of corporate security, some BlackBerry smartphone users can't add their personal email accounts, access Facebook or download third party applications."
Developers get a crack at first complete Symbian^3 Product Development Kit
Today, just shy of a month after the first functionally complete version of Symbian^3 was released, the first complete Symbian^3 Product Development Kit (PDK 3.0.0) is available for download, including the full build of the platform and complete source code under the Eclipse Public License.
PDK 3.0.0 contains all of the APIs of Symbian^3, and is the first release to support a full UI ROM execution on ARMv5 platforms.
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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