Author: Stuart Dredge
Palm cans the Foleo, but promises Foleo II
There’s been negative buzz around Palm’s Foleo ever since it was announced, including the recent reports that it was being delayed due to problems synchronising with Treo smartphones (which was its USP). Now Palm has announced that it’s canning the Foleo before its release, taking a $10 million hit for its trouble.
Tried to make Amy Winehouse go to rehab, she said 'No, no, not unless it improves my search engine ranking'
It’s not much fun being Amy Winehouse at the moment, what with the dodgy husband, the parents asking people to stop buying your records, the paparazzi popping out from behind bins, and the continual reports claiming you have a drug habit that makes Pete Doherty look like a lightweight.
You’d think the silver lining would be a search engine ranking going through the roof, but not according to Yahoo’s Buzz Index for musicians.
Opinion: Why music geeks won't replace their iPod with a mobile phone just yet
Stuart Dredge writes…
We’re all set for Apple’s latest product launch tomorrow, with rumours about new iPods at fever pitch. There’ll be fat Nanos, touchscreen iPods with DAB tuners inside, and a Winehouse-branded model with a plug-in beehive speaker and trackmarks on the side. Well, some of those.
The point is that people are genuinely excited about the prospect of all-new iPods. Wasn’t the iPhone supposed to kill this sort of thing off? MP3 players, I mean. What with the iPhone, Nokia’s new Music Store, and Sony Ericsson’s success with its Walkman phones, you’d think standalone MP3 players were old news.
Google gets into mobile payments with Gpay patent
Y’know what the smart thing about Google’s corporate policy of allowing employees to work on their own projects? Any time information leaks out about something top-secret, the company can say ‘well, people work on lots of personal projects…’ and sidestep the speculation.
That’s what appears to be happening following reports of a patent filed by Google for Gpay, a potential text-message based payments system. In part, it’s the age-old ‘buy a can of coke from a vending machine using your phone’ idea, with added person-to-person payments to tip the greengrocer. I’m loving the accompanying illustrations on that score.
After closing Connect, Sony rumoured to be plotting new PS3 / PSP / Bravia downloads store
Sony’s recently-closed Connect music downloads store is unlamented, to say the least. Yet the timing seemed a bit strange, given that everyone from Nokia and Amazon through to Wal-Mart is getting into the music downloads market. Now they’ve been joined by… Sony?
Gordon Brown wants Citizen's Jury to discuss game violence
Gun-toting teenage gangs on the streets of Liverpool? You could blame Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto, or you could look at the wider issues around Britain’s emerging gang culture, look at how the adults who arm these children are getting hold of drugs and guns, before tackling the socio-economic reasons why so many kids are turning to petty crime in the first place.
Anyway, Gordon Brown is plumping for Plan A…
ViaPost's big idea for snail mail: 'Post-over-Internet Protocol'
Imagine if you could ditch boring old letters in favour of something more electronic? Y’know, using your computer to send documents to other people, without having to lick a stamp and find the nearest postbox. If only someone could invent such a technology. They could call it… email!
Oh, hang on…
Okay, so it’s tempting to snort at ViaPost, a UK startup that’s seemingly reinventing the e-wheel with its promises to ‘post’ mail over the internet using (in their words) ‘Post-over-Internet Protocol’.
Friends Reunited adds video feature: too little too late?
Remember Friends Reunited? Course you do (assuming you’re a Brit) – it’s the site you used to use to see what old schoolfriends were up to, in the days before MySpace and Facebook. Despite its sale to ITV for £120m in 2005, its thunder has since been stolen by those newer social networking sites.
NBC Universal pulls TV shows from iTunes: no more Heroes for iPod owners
It’s just a few days since Apple finally started selling TV shows on the UK iTunes Store for £1.99 a pop, but it’s now facing a serious hiccup over in the US.
NBC Universal has just announced that it won’t be renewing its deal to sell shows like Heroes (pictured), The Office and Battlestar Galactica through iTunes. NBCU apparently is responsible for 30% of digital video sales through the iTunes Store, so it’s quite a blow for Apple. Although in fairness, it’s also a bunch of own-nose-biting lost revenue for NBCU.
Opinion: Britney Spears' Gimme More single shows the positive side of internet leaks
Stuart Dredge writes…Heard Britney’s new single yet? It’s ace. No, really. It’s called ‘Gimme More’, and it’s just leaked onto the internetweb, via the website of a New York radio station.
It’s already all over YouTube. Not too long ago, this would’ve sent her record company bananas with piracy-fearing rage, threatening lawsuits on anyone who ever came into contact with the track. But ‘Gimme More’ is actually a prime example of the importance of these ‘leaks’ to the music industry, especially when it comes to Big Comebacks.
Why? Well, Britney is benefiting from ‘Gimme More’s online ubiquity for several reasons…
