Dell Preloads Iron Man Movies on Computers
2008-09-30 18:05:09
Dell Computers will now be available with a preloaded movie when you buy them. Initially the only movie they are preloading is 'Iron Man'.
Dell and Paramount Pictures are in this promotion together. However it's unclear what they are trying to achieve. According to Dell, they want people to get used to the idea of digital films on their computers. 'Iron Man' is the initial offering but Dell plans to expand this concept to preloading movies of customer's choice when purchasing their new computer. Moreover, they're also thinking of putting up a service competing with Apple iTunes and this is the first step.
The whole promotion is vague, unclear and from some views absurd. First thing, nobody buys a computer for a movie. Second, the movie is not even free, oh yes, to have the movie preloaded on the brand new PC, there's a $20 fee on top of the $1200 for the purchase of the PC. Third, DRM. ...more
Widget platform Clearspring acquires social bookmarking tool AddThis.
Clearspring Technologies, the leading widget network connecting publishers and advertisers to audiences on the social Web, today announced the acquisition of AddThis, the No. 1 bookmarking and content sharing service on the Internet. Together, Clearspring and AddThis will serve over 20 billion views per month and reach more than 200 million unique visitors, creating the most widely used set of content sharing services on the Web. [Press Release] ...more
Nokia is set to buy Oz Communications, a Montreal-based company that offers mobile email and instant messaging software.
The acquisition is evidence of Nokia's strategic plan to maintain its market position as a leader in mobile technologies. With the advent of the iPhone and Android mobile operating systems, the mobile game has drastically changed with mobile phones offering more internet centered features.
Nokia has recently acquired the Symbian OS, the current leader in mobile operating systems but is still receiving threats from the Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile and most recently Google Android. Although Symbian is the leading operating system, it is because of sheer number of years in the market. Little has changed since Symbian was massively distributed across most brands of mobile devices. Now that its competitors are offering more, it's time for Nokia to up the ante of their operating system. ...more
2008-09-29 18:24:34
British Secret Intelligence Service Using Facebook to Recruit Spies
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Military intelligence for any country is always a clandestine operation. The CIA, Mossad, KGB and others all usually recruit their spies from other branches of theri military (or so we know). However, in a more practical twist, the British Military Intelligence, MI6 is keeping an eye on Facebook for possible candidates to be the next 007 James Bond or Johnny English.
The Secret Intelligence Service, which has traditionally scoured the country's elite universities for recruits, launched a series of online adverts this month as part of its attempts to attract people from a variety of backgrounds. [the Guardian]
According to an MI6 spokesperson, "A number of public channels are used to promote job opportunities in the organisation and Facebook is a recent example of this." She also continues to say that there are ads on the Telly and radio for careers in the Intelligence business. However the largest response they've received was from the Facebook ads they placed. ...more
WalMart should be hailed by the DRM-free advocates for their announce ment to today. Starting October 9th, WalMart will no longer be recognizing any DRM media bought from their online music store. This means that they will no longer be liable to assist its customers regarding DRM issues past that date.
In an email to its customers, WalMart made the announcement to no longer support any of the DRM media bought from their site. They go on to detail that users should back up the DRM'ed files on optical disks so they can access it in other computers.
Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases
We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability of Walmart's MP3 music downloads. We began offering MP3s in August 2007 and have offered only DRM (digital rights management) -free MP3s since February 2008. As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site.
If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.
Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.
Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use.
Walmart Music Team ...more
Motorola has been out of the news since it split itself into mobile and chips. The mobile division has not seen any market success since the RAZR series. Basically, Motorola has been walking in limbo with its mobile development and creating a new product using their own efforts is becoming harder with the competition its receiving from old rivals and new ones like Apple and Google.
However, there seems to be some sense of realization happening in the Motorola camp. Rumors are leaking that Motorola is increasing its Android development team to 350 engineers.
Motorola is part of the Open Handset Alliance that's been helping develop Google's mobile platform Android. Android as we know will be the next big push in mobile since the iPhone. And while Motorola has been using their own platform (which really sucks) when they aren't using Windows Mobile, the beefing up of their Android team seems that they'll be dropping their own platform in favor of Google's. ...more
It seems that Google may no longer be interested in just lording it over online search. It is beginning to look at other technologies to see what future they might hold. A prime example would be Google's Android project, which involves developing an open source operating system for mobile phones. But Google's dabbling in mobile technologies does not end there. It also has a vision for the future of wireless networks.
Yes, Google has developed a concept of what the future wireless network would someday be. The search giant even filed a patent application for their vision for it at the US Patent Office. And the concept may have a pretty good chance of becoming the future for wireless networks.
In Google's vision for a future wireless network, the mobile phones are no longer ties to a single phone network provider. Instead it operates as an open wireless network where wireless device users would be able to search for the strongest signals in a certain area that also offers the fastest connection. After given the choices, the user is left with the option which networks to use. ...more
The Getting Started manual for the T-mobile G1 is live even before the phone hits stores. It may not actually be a leak but another marketing ploy by Google, T-Mobile and HTC. However, the G1 being the first Android device to hit the market is already significant as it is and the three companies behind it are banking that it will change the mobile phone and internet market.
Whatever it is, marketing ploy or not, a copy of the 'Getting Started' manual of the G1 is good news for those waiting to get their hands on the device. Sure, the reviews have already come in from the press who were invited to the unveiling of the G1 in New York City earlier this week, but those just make the eager buyers drool some more.
With the release date in the US nearly a month away, curious lookers will have a feast on the manual as it simulates and uncovers a lot of the phone's nitty-gritty details unavailable in most reviews from the unveiling. ...more
The Yahoo-Google deal that went down back in June where Yahoo basically outsourced some of their Ad business to Google after the failed Microhoo acquisition has been under scrutiny from the beginning.
Google competitors including Microsoft have been complaining that the Yahoo-Google partnership violates antitrust regulations and promotes unfair competition. Although that case has not yet been acted upon by the US government or any other government, Google is feeling the urge to explain itself to the public and its investors and probably the government that their deal is clean and within regulations of the antitrust laws in place.
And so Google has put up a minisite for everybody explaining what exactly is going on between them and Yahoo. The site answers frequently asked questions. ...more
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