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Master of the one-day-one-deal sites, Woot.com, is selling this Siemens HKW-700 Bluetooth Car Kit for $19.99 + $4.99 shipping.
The HKW-700 plugs into your car's cigarette lighter and once it's paired for the very first time, it'll automatically connect to it as soon as you enter your car. The power of Bluetooth, baby.
I can't remember the last time I heard the term "@Home" for Comcast's cable internet service, but it appears that a new agreement between Comcast and T-Mobile could be the start of something big. iPhone big.
Seriously. In scenes reminiscent of last November's Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii launch, thousands took to the pavements in anticipation of Apple's iPhone launch.
Outside the Apple Store in New York City, eager iPhone-ists have waited since Monday. On the opposite side of the country, fans started lining up as late as Thursday.
The iPhone will be released on Friday at 6 pm in each time zone, and will be available at Apple Stores and AT&T retail stores in two different configurations: one with a 4 gigabyte hard drive, and another with double the capacity.
Annoyingly coy as usual, Apple did not release any information as to how many iPhone units would be available.
Quote of the Day regarding the iPhone:
"Steve Jobs has delivered the hardware and now Hugh Hefner has delivered the software."
-Playboy, on the new iPlayboy downloadable content pack that includes wallpapers, photo albums, and videos.
Quote from Motley Fool article: "I'm really starting to feel bad for Palm."
After reporting lower earnings today which were mainly due to crappier sales of Palm's palmtop computers, one just has to wonder: is this company ever going to mount a comeback?
The company also lowered expectations for the next quarter, pinning some of the blame on the iPhone launch. According to CEO Ed Colligan, "They will have 30 days to return (iPhone) so we hope we'll benefit from that, if that happens." Right. Like anyone would want to return their iPhone for a Treo!
Meanwhile, the Motley Fool also passed along a rumor that said many of the engineers responsible for putting wi-fi in the next Treo are now gone - and when competitors such as Nokia (and possibly Research in Motion) have started integrated wi-fi as standard in many higher-end products - the timing couldn't be worse.
And did we mention the Foleo?
Source: "Treo Tries, Wi-Fi Dies" - Motley Fool
After a reorganization that shifted priorities from crappier, low-end "emerging market" phones to multimedia smartphones, Nokia is back and ready to mess with the US market, among others.
That's right: Nokia finally got off its lazy butt and revamped the Nokia USA site to look more like the Euro sites. I'm still not a fan of those funky green tabs, but it's a heck of a lot better than the previous incarnation which could've handily won the Most Boring Web Site Competition.
More randomness inside.
What luck! I managed to stumble on a site selling some of our favorite fakes, but this one takes the cake! Meet the iClone. (actually, it doesn't even have an official name)
This lipstick-shaped device is the BH-803, which I believe officially clocks in as Nokia's Most Expensive Headset. Not counting Vertu, of course.
The European Union will be recommending the DVB-H as the mobile TV standard in, well, Europe, when it publishes its findings in July.
Currently there are three competing mobile TV "standards" in Europe: Nokia's DVB-H, Qualcomm's MediaFLO, and South Korea's T-DMB. However, DVB-H has been more widely accepted by EU member countries - not to mention that Nokia is the only European country on that short list.
So just how important is this decision? Pretty big or pretty small, depending on how much of a future you think there is in mobile TV. The EU's influence is potentially enormous: thanks to the European Commission (part of the EU), Europe went whole-hog GSM and never looked back - and look where GSM is now. According to the commission, mobile TV will generate 4-5 billion Euros ($5.36-6.70 billion USD) in global sales in the next 2 years.
In the United States, MediaFLO is the de facto standard and will probably retain its head start on the competition, at least until DVB-H actually goes live. (it's in a trial period right now in certain regions)
What I find funny and just a tad bit ridiculous at the same time, is the fact that the European Union "contributed $54 million to developing the DVB-H standard." Of course they're not going to recommend MedioFLO or T-DMB! Honestly, the whole thing reeks of fishiness, but then again, Qualcomm isn't exactly on my list of favorite companies.
So I think I'll just go with the flow. (not MediaFLO)
Source: "EU Suggests Nokia's Mobile-TV Standard" - Forbes
With a new software patch from Qualcomm, it looks like Sprint Nextel won't be affected by the ITC phone ban on all wireless phones that carry Qualcomm's infringing chips. Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless are two of Qualcomm's biggest customers due to their use of EV-DO chips, but it seems that only Sprint got the workaround. Then again, maybe that's because Verizon is spending more time trying to most recent ITC ruling ">convince President Bush to veto the phone ban.
You'd think that this would be good enough news to raise Sprint's depressed stock price, but no - Sprint fell .13 cents (mostly due to after hours trading) to $21.89.
Source: "Sprint using Qualcomm patch to workaround ITC ban" - Reuters
After trying to get around the ITC phone banning, Qualcomm hit another snag as a judge declined to grant a stay for the ruling. (a stay would postpone the ban while the company appeals in court)
So that means, phones that use Qualcomm's chips (at least the ones that infringe on Broadcom's technology) cannot be imported into the USA. In other words, Qualcomm and its customers could be in for a world of hurt.
In a last-ditch effort to resolve the problem, Qualcomm will also ask President Bush to veto the ITC ruling. However, The President has used his veto power a mere five times out of the last 600 court cases that went through the commission.
Broadcom has stated that it would be willing to start licensing negotiations, but for now all Qualcomm can say is that Broadcom's new terms are too steep.
Companies that could be in a world of hurt include Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Sprint Nextel, Samsung Electronics, and LG.
On the other hand, Nokia executives are probably dancing the happy dance right about now.
Source: "Qualcomm's request for stay on ITC order denied" - Reuters
SmartMoney did a short review on four text-messaging services that are supposed to be the new 411 - texting you back with local listings or general information. The winner? Google. (no surprise there)
Usually I don't write about generic Bluetooth headset devices because there's just so many of 'em. But the HCB-100 caught my eye because I had absolutely no idea what it was. It looked like (and still looks like) a piece of unidentifiable plastic. It could've been a plain-paper copier. Or a weighing scale. Or a million other things.
Apple is now offering "Guided Tours" of the iPhone on its web site, a week before launch. The tour consists of a hella-long video (more than 20 minutes) of some guy showcasing the iPhone's controls, features, and pretty much everything else that you could possible wonder about it. (who is this guy anyway? Steve Jobs, 20 years from now?)
You can also download the entire video that, at 175 megabytes, is not going to be a fun wait.
The only useful tidbit I gleaned from the video was actually a little box on the web page that said the iPhone's coming June 29, 6pm to all Apple Retail and AT&T Wireless stores, and the online Apple Store.
Link: Apple iPhone Guided Tour
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