The IPG Emerging Media Lab’s Mobile Practice Lead, Josh Lovison is reporting live from the CTIA convention, also known as the Wireless Telecommunications event of the year.
Check out Josh’s live CTIA video feed on Qik, or watch his short video posts here:
What’s faster than 3G?
Tuesday came a significant announcement from the mobile world: The leader in emerging mobile technology, the Apple iPhone, announced the new features. And in “new” features, they were essentially playing catch up.
Copy and Paste has finally been added to the device, after much lamenting by users. MMS was another addition – a feature even basic handsets have had for years. The new integrated search is a clear preemptive strike at the Palm Pre, as that “quicklaunch” integrated search was a feature for which Palm received much praise.
The promised Push technology will finally make an appearance, allowing apps to run in a pseudo-background, still getting updates but not consuming as much resources. This too staves off competitive offerings, bringing functionality that most other smartphones offer.
There was little that stood out as unique when viewed individually. However, viewed in aggregate, this update does a great deal in patching up holes in the iPhone’s defenses that competitors on the horizon would have eagerly attacked. Continue reading “iPhone 3.0”
In the past two months, I’ve heard a fair bit of buzzing along the lines of “when are media no longer emerging, but emerged?â€Â Or “is xyz technology really ‘new’?â€Â And to all those asking this question, I have only one thing to say: You’re right.
In many cases, the things we call emerging media are long standing institutions. Interactive TV has been around in some form or another longer than I have. I don’t refer to myself as an emerging human, so why should we talk about Interactive TV as emerging media? Really, we’re just talking about evolving media.
Considering this idea further has some interesting connotations. If “emerging media†is actually just “evolving media,†then it stands to reason that there is no use in the differentiation of “traditional†when discussing media.
Continue reading “Emerging media under attack”
Arr matey, there be a danger on the wireless waves.
A tool was recently released for the iPhone that breaks the copy protection on the AppStore apps, enabling redistribution of any application. And it is designed to do this with a single button push. The cracking tool is only available to jailbroken phones, as would any redistributed applications, but it poses a potentially troubling scenario.
The iPhone jailbreaking community has played a large part in the development of the wireless world. Back when the iPhone was released, Apple’s stance was a staunch “no native apps.” They felt it was enough to provide tools for iPhone customized web development.
It was a ragtag grouping of a few very clever individuals who found ways to build, install, and run applications on the iPhone without Apple’s permission. Continue reading “iPhone’s pirate problem”
2008 was a record-breaking year for video game sales. Thanks to a 20% growth in worldwide sales, for the first time video game sales exceeded worldwide DVD and Blu-Ray sales revenue. However, as the industry moves into 2009, the economy threatens a business model that relies on a large initial investment followed by crossed fingers. This year may be different. Continue reading “Gaming beat DVDs, now what?”
Popcap, the casual game maker with hits such as Bejeweled or Peggle, seems to be everywhere. This appearance is actually not an illusion. They really are everywhere. Originally, I was just going to mention the news that Popcap has made a deal with Sony to syndicate five of their titles to the Playstation Network on the PS3 for $9.99 each.
Then another article caught my eye. Apparently, Popcap had been pushing their retail presence over 2008, and while the larger PC gaming retail sales were down 14 percent, Popcap’s retail sales were up 85 percent. Continue reading “Casu-core?”
There’s talk in Washington of a delay of the transition to digital TV. I can understand the reasoning – the federal program that offered $40 vouchers for those who want to buy the devices needed to pick up digital signals, ran out of money.
While I sympathize with the reasoning, delaying the transition is a very bad idea. Here are four reasons why:
(1) It turns a minor bungle (the underfunded voucher program) into a much bigger bungle. For years now, the switchover date has been drilled into our heads. To push back the date is going to cause more confusion than just biting the bullet and going through with it.
(2) Second, the transition has been, if anything, far too overhyped. According to a recent report by Nielsen, only 5.7% of households are unprepared for the transition.
It is a classic tale. A once great legend, now down and out, falls for the quirky girl who no one really notices, and with her support, stages a final comeback. No, I’m not talking about a new Hollywood release. I’m talking about Palm’s new smartphone and Sprint.
The Palm “Pre” is the newest smartphone from the company that was one of the pioneers of the PDA age. The handset is initially an exclusive release on the Sprint network, known more for its economical pricing than its sexy handset lineup. Continue reading “Can new Palm Pre compete with iPhone?”
What has got me hot and bothered here at CES in Vegas hasn’t been any booth in particular. It’s more something intangible – something in the air. Literally. I’m talking about WiMAX.
At Microsoft’s booth, I saw amazing media offerings like the polished IPTV of 2009. Next to Microsoft’s section was Intel, showcasing the strength of WiMAX, pulling in over 11 Mbps to their laptops – which is much faster than my home cable connection has ever managed. Both booths have their stories and their products but the real story is in the potential as the two meet. Continue reading “CES 2009: Hooking up in Vegas”
In making the case for Intel chips in TV sets, Eric Kim from Intel claimed that there was a consumer demand for “full internet” in their TVs. I’m not so sure about that.
The “full online experience” comes with expectations of user input that a TV just can’t match. Unless I can plug in a keyboard and mouse that fit conveniently on a lap board, surfing the web on my couch is going to be much easier to accomplish with a laptop. Which is exactly what people seem to do when multi-consuming content. The TV is a specialized device, and as such, is best to serve up a tailored experience.
LG seems to be on the right path with their announcement regarding NetflixInstant Queue availability built directly into the TV set. This is a feature that enhances the specialized function served by the TV. Continue reading “Intel challenges TVs to incorporate Internet”
