New Gates and Seinfeld ad: do you get it yet?
Microsoft has released its latest installment of the much-discussed advertisements featuring former CEO Bill Gates with comedian Jerry Seinfeld, revealing a tiny bit more of what the company is aiming to achieve with its abstruse ad campaign.
Last week, I recorded my immediate reactions to Microsoft's $300 million ad campaign with a mix of confusion and reproach. One week later, Microsoft has released the second installment in its ad series. While its intent remains on the vague side, Microsoft's serial ad campaign has engaged viewers with its esotericism.
Interview with Aza Raskin, Part 2: Making Ubiquity ubiquitous
Continuing BetaNews' interview with the user experience chief of Mozilla Labs, we discuss whether it's possible, even with an estimated quarter-billion Firefox users, to build a semantic functionality network on the strength of volunteerism.
Of the billions of people linked together through the modern Internet, and the tens of thousands of services available to them -- a great many of which are operated by folks who believe they have the capability to serve the Web's principal application -- the number of institutions formed among them that we talk about on a daily basis, that command Web users' everyday attention, and that promise "solutions" to these users' needs, can be counted on two hands.
Virgin Mobile USA launches its first Helio handset
After acquiring Helio only three weeks ago, Virgin Mobile USA has launched its first device from its new subsidiary: an EV-DO handset by Personal Communication Devices, LLC -- a spinoff of UTStarcom -- called the Shuttle.
Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio has passed hands several times in the last year. Earthlink and SK Telecom were joint founders of the service, but Earthlink later backed away from the project, placing the financial burden on SKT. Earlier this year, Virgin Mobile, a similarly youth-oriented MVNO that leases bandwidth from Sprint PCS, expressed interest in acquiring the brand.
Yahoo tackles Google with iPhone apps, cross-platform mobile tools
On one front, Yahoo is introducing a new tool that can synchronize address lists between social networks and Apple's iPhone. But maybe more importantly, a new Yahoo SDK may enable this and other apps to find their way to Symbian and WM6.
Extending its battlefront against Google to the mobile playing field, Yahoo this week rolled out plans to build its own applications for Apple's iPhone, as well as to produce new tools for outside developers that will enable their applications to migrate more easily among various smartphone environments.
RIM, Microsoft agree to bring Live Search to BlackBerry
After agreeing to allow access to Live Messenger and Hotmail in May, Microsoft's addition of search to its RIM partnership further signifies the company's embrace of Blackberry.
Under the terms of an extended agreement announced this morning, Microsoft's Live Search will be given prominent placement in the Web browser and mapping applications of RIM BlackBerry handsets.
AOL and Nullsoft relaunch Shoutcast
After a brief delay, AOL and Nullsoft's Internet radio service Shoutcast has launched its overhauled and upgraded site, in addition to receiving a number of goodies.
Shoutcast has received an official team blog, site skinning, and an embeddable widget, as well as an upgrade to its popular Winamp portal.
Google releases a cleaned-up Mobile App for BlackBerry
Though the Web browser has become a popular BlackBerry feature, users on the go don't have time to fiddle with browsers. For them, Google has released a mobile version of its basic services that skips the formalities and gets down to basics.
If you're a BlackBerry user, chances are that you've already noticed Google's classic, plain vanilla screens and menus often seem more suited for the PC than for the handheld. There's a much greater chance that a mobile user will need to see a map of nearby restaurants or a list of incoming e-mails than, say, the proper spelling of "esophagus."
More ad troubles for AOL, but are they self-inflicted?
Ad revenues at AOL are no longer 'growing like a weed,' a Time Warner exec admitted at a conference this week. The CFO didn't mention, though, that AOL had just intentionally canceled some of its contracts with advertisers.
Advertisers are now starting to pull back from AOL's Platform-A ad platform, acknowledged Time Warner CFO John Martin, speaking this week at Merrill Lynch's investors conference.
Apple tries to put options scandal behind it with settlement
A shareholder lawsuit accusing Apple and its executives of improper accounting as a result of its stock options practices will yield a $14 million payout to the plaintiffs.
As a result of a settlement in a shareholders' derivative action, liability insurers will pay Apple a total of $14 million, effectively restoring to the company -- and, in the "derivative," to its shareholders -- what executives of the company allegedly took for themselves through options backdating practices.
US gov't cannot use cell phone IDs without a warrant, court affirms
How much does your cell phone say about who you are and where you are? Last year, the US government wanted the authority to use the information cell phones put out naturally in its own investigations. Yesterday, a judge said no.
Pennsylvania US district court judge Terrence McVerry late yesterday denied the US government's appeal of a federal magistrate's order last February, that effectively prohibited the government from acquiring location information from individuals' cell phone location tracking devices without a warrant.
BlackBerry-controlled TiVo is on its way
A partnership between TiVo and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) was announced today, promising a future synergy between the popular smartphone and DVR products.
Unfortunately, we are not yet seeing the ability to stream TiVo to BlackBerry handsets, like Sling Media promised earlier this year. Instead, TiVo subscribers will first be given access to their program guide and scheduling functionality on their BlackBerry.
Analysis: US text messaging is way up, despite higher pricing
Voice calls by US wireless subscribers are getting shorter this year, but Americans are spending more of their time texting, playing games, and browsing the Web on their cell phones, according to a wireless industry group.
Although average local cell phone bills will drop to $48.54 per month this year, US wireless carriers will rake in nearly $144 billion in yearly service revenues, with about 20 percent of this total going for data services such as text messaging, games, Web browsing, and ringtones. This according to a new survey from the CTIA industry association.
Apple denies it caved in to NBCU's requests on iTunes pricing
It didn't even take 24 hours for Apple and NBC to begin arguing again. The latest dust-up? NBCU's claims that it only came back to iTunes after the Cupertino company agreed to variable pricing.
Many news outlets -- including BetaNews -- took Tuesday's announcement as an indication that Apple had agreed to allow NBC Universal to use a variable pricing structure like it had been demanding.
Opposition mounts to bill enabling US to prosecute suspected IP thieves
With the recording industry reportedly prosecuting tens of thousands of cases of intellectual property theft, the federal government is considering whether it should appoint a new agency head to take care of that job instead.
As the US Senate prepares to debate a bill introduced last July that would enable federal law enforcement agencies to seek, arrest, and prosecute suspected traffickers of intellectual property -- including unauthorized file-sharers -- a cavalcade of trade, industry, and advocacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, and Consumers Union, began a joint counter-offensive against the legislation.
Alcatel-Lucent grants more time for Motive to make up its mind
Alcatel-Lucent has extended its tender offer to purchase US software company Motive yet again, stretching the offer into its fifth month.
In early August, Alcatel-Lucent had collected approximately 27 million shares in Motive, but its tender offer was set to expire, and had to be renewed if any deal was to proceed.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.