Archive for February, 2011
Amazon Prime Members Get Free Streaming
Posted by Joe on February 22, 2011 · Comments Off
Amazon is offering free streaming to Prime members:
We’ve been hearing about additional perks coming to Amazon Prime members for some time, and here it is: the Netflix-style Instant Video service launched on Feb. 22, and gives Amazon Prime members unlimited, commercial-free access to 5,000 (for now) movies and TV shows, at no extra cost.
Unfortunately, members who got Amazon Prime free through the Amazon Mom or Amazon Student offers will need to ‘upgrade’ to a paid membership.
Continue reading on Examiner.com
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Iphone Nano – Rumor Underwhelms
Posted by Joe on February 14, 2011 · Comments Off
Apple’s rumored ‘iPhone Nano’ sounds like a very limited device, according to Cult Of Mac:
The iPhone nano will have no memory for onboard storage of media, our source says. It will have only enough memory to buffer media streamed from the cloud.
“I’m talking strictly storage memory here,” said our source.
The iPhone nano will pull ALL it’s content from MobileMe. When users buy a movie or TV show on iTunes, it’s available to stream to their iPhone or iPad. The service is based on technology from LaLa.com, a streaming service that Apple bought last spring and then shut down.
Presumably, [...]
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Guitar Hero is officially dead
Posted by Joe on February 9, 2011 · Comments Off
The Guitar Hero video game franchise is officially dead:
According to publisher Activision, which will close its music game division and cease development of existing Guitar Hero titles, they’re ending the series in order to refocus efforts online.
“Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011,” the company said in its most recent financial statement. “These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company [...]
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HP TouchPad Tablet Unveiled
Posted by Joe on February 9, 2011 · Comments Off
HP unveiled the TouchPad today, a new WebOS tablet computer:
…the HP Touchpad has a 9.7-inch screen very reminiscent of Apple’s tablet. The device runs on an updated WebOS 2.1 and has a resolution of 1024 x 768. It weighs 1.5 pounds and is 13.7mm thick. Under the hood is a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor with a choice between 16GB and 32GB of internal storage.
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E-Readers Gain Acceptance Among Young Readers
Posted by Joe on February 5, 2011 · Comments Off
The drop in e-reader prices have pushed the devices into younger hands:
In 2010 young-adult e-books made up about 6 percent of the total digital sales for titles published by St. Martin’s Press, but so far in 2011, the number is up to 20 percent, a spokeswoman for the publisher said.
Good trend. I’m trying to convince my daughter to take my old Nook, but so far she prefers dead tree books.
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Google Gets More Than 75,000 Job Applications in One Week
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Google received more than 75,000 job applications worldwide last week, setting a record for the company as it embarks on a hiring spree.
The company is stepping up hiring as it pushes deeper into mobile services, display advertising and Internet applications. Google also faces steeper competition from Silicon Valley rivals Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. for users and engineering talent. The company aims to hire more workers in 2011 than any year in its history, exceeding its 2007 record.
More from Bloomberg
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Internet Officially Runs Out of Addresses
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Via Wikipedia, the IPv4 well has run dry, as expected:
IANA’s primary address pool was exhausted on February 3, 2011 when the last 5 blocks were allocated to the 5 RIRs. Several RIRs are expected to run out of IPv4 addresses before the end of 2011; once the first RIR has run out, the end-to-end routable IPv4 Internet will be officially obsolete.
IPv6 deployment has been slow, but will be ready to meet future addressing needs.
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Nuked Flickr Account Back From The Dead
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
The Flicker account accidentally deleted by an employee of the site has been fully restored:
Flickr accidentally deleted a member’s account–comments, favorites, and thousands of photos–but now has given the photographer a 25-year Pro-level subscription and all his photos back.
And more importantly for others who fear the same might happen to them, Flickr is working to update its system to prevent such a mistake from happening again and to make such draconian moves easier to reverse.
Read more at CNET.
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Google and Twitter Thwart Egypt’s Net Ban
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Egyptians with access to a telephone can tweet via voice message using the new @speak2tweet channel:
As the Mubarak government turned Egypt into Gypt (everything “e” was cut off), Twitter quickly joined hands with SayNow (a Google company, yes,) to work around the ban and created @speak2tweet. This amazing new “channel,” created for the people of Egypt, is a game changer. It allows for anyone with access to a telephone line to leave a voice message –- which is instantly converted to a tweet.
[via AdAge]
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Canada to reverse metered Internet decision
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Canada will quickly reverse the controversial CRTC metered Internet decision, reports the Toronto Star:
A controversial CRTC decision that effectively imposed usage-based Internet billing on small service providers will be reversed, the Toronto Star has learned.
“The CRTC should be under no illusion — the Prime Minister and minister of Industry will reverse this decision unless the CRTC does it itself,” a senior Conservative government official said Wednesday.
“If they don’t reconsider we will reverse their decision.”
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Google Previews Android 3.0 OS, Honeycomb
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Android 3.0 OS (Honeycomb) preview:
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Apple Clamps Down On In-App Purchase Rules
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
Apple never claimed iOS was an open platform, and they’re reminding us of that reality this week.
Some application developers, including Sony, say Apple has told them they can no longer sell e-books within their apps unless the transactions go through Apple’s system. Apple rejected Sony’s iPhone application, which would have let people buy and read e-books from the Sony Reader Store.
This move could have a big impact on what content is available on the iPad and iPhone, and what it ends up costing. If Amazon has to pay Apple 30% of the price of a book just because it was bought within [...]
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MySpace Up For Sale
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
In an earnings call Wednesday, News Corp. publicly revealed plans to sell struggling social media site MySpace. The site has been re-designed and repositioned over the last year to focus on media promotion rather than social networking. However, the overhaul into an entertainment portal has yet to turn the site into a successful enterprise.
The once popular social media site now struggles in the shadow of the Facebook juggernaut. News Corp. bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. Almost half of MySpace’s employees got pink slips last month.
More from Google News
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Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Fan Page Hacked
Posted by Joe on February 3, 2011 · Comments Off
TechCrunch reports that the following message appeared on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook fan page today:
Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? http://bit.ly/fs6rT3 What do you think? #hackercup2011
Facebook has taken down the page — but TechCrunch has a screenshot.
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