Cellphones
by Nicholas Deleon on July 17, 2009

Apparently it’s not a matter of “if” Microsoft will bring the Xbox, in some capacity, to the wonderful world of mobile entertainment, but “when.” So says< Corporate Vice-President Shane Kim, at least; if you can't trust Mr. Kim, then who can you trust?

by Nicholas Deleon on July 17, 2009

Good news for German football fans who use T-Mobile. The company’s Bundesliga Total service is coming to cellphones. That means you’ll be able to watch every single game played in the first and second division from the comfort of your iPhone, G1 and G2. This is all live, by the way, not cheap-o highlights sent to your phone hours after the game has ended.

by Nicholas Deleon on July 15, 2009

Wow, you can totally tell when Drudge links to a news story. Take this one, which details a Colorado plan to give free cellphones to low income people. Similar programs, using landline telephones, have existed for some time, paid for by a federal tax on telephones. So it’s not like this is new money we’re talking about, you know, being used to help people. But check out these comments, alluding to the destruction of the American way of life, whatever that is—crippling credit card debt? ashelymadison.com?

by Nicholas Deleon on July 15, 2009

About a month ago you couldn’t go to Huffington Post without thinking that Iran was going to protest its way into the year 2009. That didn’t exactly happen, despite people thinking that they could tweet a government into collapse, all from the comfort of their armchair in Columbus, Ohio. (There’s actually a term for that: slacktivism.) That being said, it now looks like some of the more rambunctious elements of that whole dust-up have now set their sights on Nokia, a company they view as being too close to the current political regime.

by Nicholas Deleon on July 10, 2009

Oh this is just stupid. A Strategy Analytics study has found that some Palm Pre users are complaining about the lack of an on-screen keyboard. Unbelievable.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 25, 2009

Here’s more evidence that texting and driving is terribly dangerous. Car and Driver magazine tested to see how long it takes to hit the brake when completely unimpaired, legally drunk, reading e-mail, and sending a text message. It turns out that sending a text message adds 70 feet to your drive before you hit the break, the most out of all four scenarios.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 20, 2009

Look at AT&T, using the new social network Facebook to break news. How cute! The news: rumors of a $55 tethering plan are false. AT&T didn’t reveal, or even hint at, the actual price, so we’re left to speculate for a little while longer.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 19, 2009

You might want to know that iRiver is making Bluetooth headsets now. Granted, the don’t look anything special; does any headset? Also, the first model, the A100, is currently only set for release in China.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 16, 2009

The Garmin nuviphone G60 will come out one day, friends, most likely during the second quarter of this year. And when it does come out, there will be much rejoicing: it’s the last time the Garmin-Asus operating system will be used on a device. From there on out it’s Android and Windows Mobile all the way.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 12, 2009

Another potshot aimed at the working man, friends. The IRS is looking to collecting more taxes on your work-provided cellphone, something the wireless industry—think CTIA, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, etc.—will fight tooth and nail. The industry thinks that if companies and/or employees have to pay more for their phones, they may cancel the service altogether.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 6, 2009

As with every gadget that comes out, someone had to go and disassemble the darn thing. And even though the Palm Pre only come out today, Rapid Repair has already torn it apart, rapidly. A rough “guesstimate” of the cost for Palm to put the Pre together? Around $170; the device retails, sorta, for $199.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 5, 2009

The red hot rumor going around this hour—there will be a new rumor before lunchtime, such is our attention span—is that Apple will launch a $99 iPhone at WWDC next week. One of those highly paid analyst types said such a move, that is, a $100 price cut for the lowest end model, would increase demand by 100 percent. It’s not clear how dumbed down this cheap-o iPhone would be, if it’s even real, so it’s hard to say whether or not it’d still be “iPhone” enough to make it worth your while. But let’s assume, for the purposes of this post, that it is, indeed, “iPhone” enough, even at the low, low price of $100. Is that cheap enough to get you to buy one?

by Nicholas Deleon on June 5, 2009

This is a picture of the box of T-Mobile’s version of the HTC Magic, called the myTouch 3G. It should be available sometime this summer.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 4, 2009

The Palm Pre—you may have heard of it—comes out on Saturday, but all sorts of media “outlets” have already published their reviews; I don’t know when our review will go up. And since it’s my feeling that most of you already assume the phone is “good,” I’ve gone ahead and collected a few excerpts of the more critical points. You know, the part of the review that goes something like, “Now, the Palm Pre isn’t perfect; we found a few problems with it. And they are…” That part. So let’s get on with it.

by Nicholas Deleon on June 1, 2009

Megapixels don’t “mean” anything until you’re the first company to reach a milestone. That’s why so much attention is being paid to Samsung today, on a day when plenty of “real” news—GM declaring bankruptcy, an Air France jet going down, Carlo Ancelloti joining Chelsea, etc.—will overshadow anything coming out of the tech world. Anyhow, the South Korea company will release a cellphone with a built-in 12-megapixel camera this month. Europe gets it first when it comes out later this month. “Other regions” will have it beginning in August.

by Nicholas Deleon on May 28, 2009

The Palm Pre’s ringtone has leaked. You can listen to it now, perhaps even assign it to your iPhone 3G if you’re feeling adventurous.

by Nicholas Deleon on May 27, 2009

We’ve all heard of “sexting,” when teens send nude photos of themselves to each other via text message (well, MMS). Schools don’t like it, parents don’t like it, but, apparently, it’s all the rage among young people these days. Well, it turns out that sexting really isn’t that big of a deal; it’s merely a continuation of the age-old tradition of “exploration” and all that. A 2009 version of spin the bottle, if you will.

by Nicholas Deleon on May 21, 2009

A new survey shows that 1 in 4 Americans text while driving. That’s not good news for road safety, no sir.

by Nicholas Deleon on May 15, 2009

There’s really no need to complicate this. The HTC Magic, now in the hands of a number of lucky ducks, supports Microsoft Exchange right out of the box. Google says Android, which powers the HTC Magic, doesn’t support Microsoft Exchange without third-party applications. Conclusion: HTC included an Exchange application on the phone. Why do we need to be all, “Hey, Google, can you set the record straight here?” Just be grateful that it works and call it a day.

by John Biggs on May 11, 2009

The CDC’s report on wireless substitution – aka canceling your land line for a cellphone – is out and we discover that one in five U.S. households have cut the cable, an increase of 2.7 percent over six months ago. Another tidbit: one in every seven American homes (14.5%) took all their calls on cellphones despite having a landline.

The report polled 12,597 families for 23,726 adults total – there were 8,635 kids under the age of 18 – which makes it a fairly strong sample size. A few other tidbits:

bugbugbug