analysis
Phones
Is This Really the iPhone 3G 2009?
1:30AM Jesus Diaz | Most of the rumours and speculation say that there wasn’t going to be video-conferencing in the new iPhone 3G 2009. However, a last-minute batch of images point to the contrary. Or do they? Update
Robots
Asimov’s Laws of Robotics Are Total BS
9:00AM Wilson Rothman | When people talk about robots and ethics, they always seem to bring up Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics.” But there are three major problems with these laws and their use in our real world.
Regulars
Giz Explains: Why Kindle 2 Isn’t a Big Step For Voracious Readers
5:00AM Wilson Rothman | Now that we’ve seen Amazon’s Kindle 2, unveiled by Jeff Bezos today in New York, I can’t help but conclude that the more powerful machine provides only a slim additional reader benefit. Here’s why: More »
Online
Radiohead, Saul Williams and the Inevitable Rise and Liberation of the Music Industry
10:30AM Matt Buchanan | While Radiohead basked in adulation for dipping its toe into the digital future with the pay-what-you-will In Rainbows pre-release, it wasn’t the first major act to toy with the internet model, and certainly wasn’t making a genuine move toward disruption. Had it truly boldly gone where a few have gone before, it potentially stood to lose boatloads of revenues the traditional distribution model guarantees an A-list act. On the other hand, Saul Williams, someone with a lot less to lose, took a dive into the deep end with his release of the Trent-Reznor-produced Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. Pearl Jam and The Doors have been offering direct DRM-free MP3 downloads of material for a while now in a mix-and-match format, though not with the highest ease of use factor; Prince just gave his last album away (though not digitally); and Public Enemy’s giving away How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul for free on P2P networks, albeit loaded with ads. And loathe as I am to credit Phish for anything, they directly sold MP3s way back in the Stone Age of 1999. More »
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An Australian bank is using the price of …
11:25PM Wilson Rothman | The Commonwealth Bank is using the price of 4GB iPod nanos in 55 countries as an economic indicator. In Brazil, it costs $369.61; in France it costs $225.82, and in the US it costs $149. Supposedly this shows a weak US dollar; all I see is that Brazilians are getting the shaft. [Reuters] More »
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What the Hell is a Zune Pad?!
9:36AM Brian Lam | Zunepad?! That’s the name of the new square/circle control? Is that the branding effort to combat Apple’s well-known clickwheel or multitouch interface? Bad idea, Microdudes, bad idea. Here come your blog wedgies. [zunepad?!] More »
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Product Spam Makes Tech Shopping Confusing, Painful
1:00AM Wilson Rothman | Canon sells 7 different Digital Elphs, 9 different A-series cameras and 15 different all-in-one printers. Samsung’s US website lists 31 LCD TVs—plus another 9 plasmas. Garmin currently promotes 32 different models of in-car portable GPS navigator. I’m sick of writing up 14 products from one company that all sound the same, and I’m sick of staring at the “Compare Models” tool on a manufacturer’s website just so that I can finally, in good conscience, tell my friend/family member/colleague, “Just buy the cheaper one.” We call this product spam and yeah, it’s getting to be a problem. More »
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Why Universal Shut Out iTunes on DRM-Free Music
3:30AM Matt Buchanan | Universal Music’s decision to deliver DRM-free tracks to pretty much everybody but iTunes in its “test”—Amazon, Google, RealNetworks, Wal-Mart and other smaller stores—continues its wary, passive-aggressive stance toward Apple. Officially, a Universal rep told us in an email that it’s “a scientifically designed research study over the next six months” that’s using iTunes (their “Apple sales”) “as a standard control group” to serve “as the baseline for comparison.” But, what’s really being tested is the viability of non-iTunes online sales. More »
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Vast Majority of iPhone Owners Deliriously Happy, Cured of All Ailments
1:15AM Seamus Byrne | Despite our verdict of “wait,” a survey by the market research firm Interpret says 90 percent of iPhone owners are “extremely” or “very” satisfied with it, which the firm’s chief strategy officer interprets as ” pretty much off the charts.” (See what I did there?) Some of the other numbers are kind of interesting, if unsurprising. Miserly coveters-but-not-owners who were surveyed grumbled they’d only pay an average of $180 for an iPhone, for instance. One shocking number is that over a third (35 percent) paid an average $167 to break their contract with another carrier, adding at least another $100 to the iPhone cost-of-ownership calculus. Impatience much? Also slightly unexpected is that of those surveyed, almost 30 percent were total Apple noobs, while 40 percent had never owned an iPod before. If you bought an iPhone on launch day and you’re one of the 10 percent of defective humans not totally enraptured with it, just a reminder that today’s your last day to make the worst mistake of your life and return it. [USA Today/Yahoo!] More »
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