FocuSoft Tech Blog |
- Samsung Intrepid intros Sprint to Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 11
- Photo dialing, solar cellphones, and newspapers on TV: only in Japan
- TA Associates Shells Out $200 Million For Minority Stake In AVG Technologies
- 3M’s MPro 120 pocket projector fights the good fight at CEATEC (video)
- HTC HD2 hands-on and impressions… on video!
- London Calling: Foursquare Hopping Across The Pond This Week
- Video: Some kid makes the PSP that Sony should have made 5 years ago
- Panasonic Fusion Will Make You Want to Steal an Airplane Economy Seat [Airplanes]
- Toshiba’s DMFC fuel cell seen ‘powering phones’ at CEATEC (video)
- Meebo’s Reach Spikes To Over 90 Million Users With Community IM Growth
| Samsung Intrepid intros Sprint to Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 11 Posted: 06 Oct 2009 05:05 PM PDT
[Thanks, Jay] Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Samsung Intrepid intros Sprint to Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
|
| Photo dialing, solar cellphones, and newspapers on TV: only in Japan Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:30 PM PDT
First up is this digital photo display which integrates a telephone and fax. You can see a visual address book, which allows you to dial recipients by picture. It can also display received faxes on screen, if you’re the faxing kind of person! Sharp is working to integrate Internet content into some of its AQUOS televisions, and is currently testing digital newspaper delivery. Rather than read a physical newspaper, some Japanese can read the day’s edition right on their AQUOS TV: And finally, solar powered cell phones. Not entirely solar powered, of course, but chargable through solar energy. Five minutes of sunlight provides one minute of talk time. That’s twelve minutes of talk time for an hour of solar charging. Not great, but not really terrible, either, if you’re the kind of person who consistently forgets to charge your phone. And as a bonus, I got to play with the Sharp Netwalker PC-Z1! More:
|
| TA Associates Shells Out $200 Million For Minority Stake In AVG Technologies Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:28 PM PDT
Private equity firm TA Associates has acquired a 25 percent stake in security software company AVG Technologies for $200 million. According to reports, the ownership was purchased from AVG's shareholders and investors, including Intel Capital, and Benson Oak Capital, and Enterprise Investors, which remains the largest shareholder of AVG with 34 percent of shares. Founded in 1991, AVG provides free antivirus and anti-spyware security software that is distributed through resellers and through the Web and supports all major operating systems and platforms. AVG currently has over 80 million users in 167 countries. AVG reported over $140 million in sales in 2008. TA Associates says that the investment will be used to fund global expansion and potential add-on deals. The private equity firm also will be distributing cash to shareholders and some investors, which were rumored to want liquidity. AVG’s technology was actually part of Microsoft Vista’s security essentials but the business is at threat now because Microsoft released the new security essentials which has their own free anti-virus engine, which was acquired from GeCAD in 2003 and Komoku in 2008. Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors Original post:
|
| 3M’s MPro 120 pocket projector fights the good fight at CEATEC (video) Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:23 PM PDT
 3M’s MPro 120 didn’t really add a whole lot of spice to the currently drab pocket projector lineup, boasting a simple VGA resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio and image quality suitable for presentations alone. Granted, the 12 lumens and 4 hours of battery life both trump figures on the decidedly impressive SHOW WX (which has 10 lumens and 2 hours of life), but in the wide world of beamers, it’s the picture quality that matters most. We took a peek at the latest MPro here in Japan, and while the results were less than impressive underneath the lights, the sub-$330 street price in the US is definitely admirable. If you’ll recall, the laser / PicoP-based SHOW WX is slated to retail right around $500, while this bugger can be found right now in trusted e-tailers for over a Benjamin less. ‘Course, 3M might want to inform its booth attendant of this little matter, as the (erroneous) $600 price quote we got from a certain someone definitely shocked us momentarily. Video’s after the break. Continue reading 3M’s MPro 120 pocket projector fights the good fight at CEATEC (video) Filed under: Displays, Portable Video 3M’s MPro 120 pocket projector fights the good fight at CEATEC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
|
| HTC HD2 hands-on and impressions… on video! Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:07 PM PDT
 We had a chance to give HTC’s newest darling device — the Windows Mobile 6.5-sporting HD2 — a more thorough hands-on today, and we wanted to share our impressions. Firstly, we must say that HTC has done perhaps its most ambitious skinning job ever here. So while this does run atop Windows Mobile 6.5, you rarely see the OS poking through the gorgeous new Sense user interface the company has created. If you’re used to TouchFLO 3D (or Sense on Android), this should seem old hat to you, but keep in mind there are some major changes here that dramatically affect the Windows Mobile experience. As you probably already know, the Snapdragon-based device sports a 1GHz MSM8250 CPU, a massive, 800 x 480 capacitive display (with multitouch functionality thanks to more tinkering from HTC), a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flashes, a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM tuner, and GPS chip on-board. We were frankly blown away with how slick this phone is. Mind you, WM 6.5 still shows its not-so-fresh colors here and there, but the general experience of using the device is handled mainly through the Sense interface, and it blows the hinges off of any other Windows phone experience we’ve had. Ever. From the lag-free gestures which get you around the device, to image pinching and zooming with that aforementioned multitouch, the hesitation-free jumps in and out of applications, and typing on the sprawling, HTC-ified onscreen keyboard, using the HD2 is a joy. There’s no getting around the fact that the phone is still very much anchored to Windows Mobile, but what HTC has done here is nothing short of a revelation. Why Robbie Bach didn’t bring this up on stage today at Microsoft’s open house event is anyone’s guess — though we have to imagine that when your OS is this heavily gutted (HTC has even completely removed stock apps like calendar and contacts and replaced them with its own versions, and the company had to hand-roll the capacitive / multitouch interfacing), it might not be the best example of what you’ve done. We’ll be waiting with bated breath till we get more hands-on time with this phone, but until then, we can all enjoy some lengthy video of the device in action… so check it out after the break. Update: Second video is up! Continue reading HTC HD2 hands-on and impressions… on video! Filed under: Cellphones HTC HD2 hands-on and impressions… on video! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
|
| London Calling: Foursquare Hopping Across The Pond This Week Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:04 PM PDT
Currently, London and Amsterdam (which was previously launched) are specifically the only European cities on Foursquare’s roadmap, but if the London roll out goes well, there will be others in relatively short order, co-founder Dennis Crowley tells us. Not surprisingly, at least one of those is Paris, judging from a tweet sent from the Foursquare Twitter account earlier. Every time we write about Foursquare, we get a lot of comments and emails wondering when it is coming to your city. Other services such as Gowalla, rely on crowd-sourcing much of the venue population so that they can be available in more cities. But while Foursquare has talked about using that approach more in the past, the company still feels most comfortable pre-populating cities as it wants to make sure it can scale as it grows. When pre-populating a city, Foursquare says that it tries to hit 80% of the places that people are most likely to go — obviously, that takes a lot of work out of the users hands, and instead they can simply “play” the game. So will London users take to Foursquare? Obviously, that remains to be seen, but it does tend to do well in large metropolitan cities with a good amount of nightlife, as we’ve seen in the U.S. with New York and San Francisco. Foursquare also looks poised to continue expanding its city base in the U.S. shortly. It would seem that places like Chapel Hill, NC are on the list. Chapel Hill is of course the home to the University of North Carolina, and college towns seem like a natural fit for Foursquare. Get ‘em hooked early, as they say. Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Read more from the original source:
|
| Video: Some kid makes the PSP that Sony should have made 5 years ago Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:00 PM PDT
Sony would do well to hire the man who put this PSP mod together. It’s basically what the PSP should have been since Day One: a built-in camera, 32GB of flash memory, and a second analog stick. Well, you have to stretch the definition of analog stick here; it’s that nub thing. Who came up with this? JoblessPunk, who looks like every character in Kingdom Hearts, explains the whole damn thing. Yeah, the video is a little on the "you’re kidding, right?" side, but the PSP itself is commendable. And I have a question for anyone in high school right now: is the goth look still popular, or did it die? I don’t care either way, I’m just curious as to what’s going on with America’s youth. Excerpt from:
|
| Panasonic Fusion Will Make You Want to Steal an Airplane Economy Seat [Airplanes] Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:00 PM PDT
Would you like a free touch tablet, with sleek interface, video, email, games, chat, Twitter and Facebook integration, and a USB port? Runway Girl says you may get one in your next flight. One the size of a seat. This is the Panasonic Fusion, a sleek tablet-cum-seat—or viceversa—that kicks every single in-flight entertainment system’s ass out there, including Panasonic’s own eXport cable for iPhone. In fact, this thing not only does all the things listed above, it also has a USB port that in theory will let you Don’t expect it tomorrow, however: It has been presented this week at the World Airline Entertainment Association conference, in Palm Spring. [Runway Girl]
View post:
|
| Toshiba’s DMFC fuel cell seen ‘powering phones’ at CEATEC (video) Posted: 06 Oct 2009 03:58 PM PDT
 Toshiba has been promising the world a healthy dose of fuel cell chargers for what feels like ages now, with its most recent swearing happening just two months ago. Here at CEATEC, the company’s wares were being trumpeted by KDDI. We witnessed a standard handset have its stock battery removed and replaced with an admittedly bulky fuel cell container. The booth attendant proudly juiced up the cell, clipped it onto the phone’s rear and mashed the power button. Within seconds, the device booted up normally, and a handy level indicator on the charger itself kept us in the know on how much life was left. Or — you know — maybe the whole thing was just an elaborate hoax to fool English-speaking media into thinking this stuff was really nearing its commercial release. Have a look at a brief video just beyond the break, but try not to get your hopes up too high. No need in having your heart broken again unnecessarily. Continue reading Toshiba’s DMFC fuel cell seen ‘powering phones’ at CEATEC (video) Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals Toshiba’s DMFC fuel cell seen ‘powering phones’ at CEATEC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
|
| Meebo’s Reach Spikes To Over 90 Million Users With Community IM Growth Posted: 06 Oct 2009 03:52 PM PDT
So what caused the recent spike? Meebo’s Director of Business Development Daniel Bernstein says that this can largely be attributed to Community IM rolling out to a slew of content sites (in other words, news publications and blogs) and the introduction of the service’s drag-and-drop sharing feature. Before now Community IM has been primarily deployed on social networks, which means that users usually had to log in before they’d see them. On these other sites, there’s no such barrier.  The syndicated bar has had a major effect on Meebo’s revenues. Before 2008 Meebo’s income was a big zero, and that finally changed when it finally began running ads on its portal at Meebo.com last year. Meebo declined to specify its exact revenues, but says that it expects revenue to jump 10x in 2009, in large part thanks to the uptake of its Community IM bar. COO Martin Green says that Meebo’s roster of clients has been very satisfied with the results, and that many of them have switched from running small test campaigns (the average insertion order size in late 2008 was 50k) to full fledged campaigns, with an average order size in 2009 at around 100k with some as high as 500k. Green says that the expected 10x revenue growth this year isn’t all attributed to the Community IM bar though, explaining that building relationships with brands who are now repeat buyers and a longer time existing in the market have also been factors. Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Continued here:
|
One major complaint about the location-based social network 
![Panasonic Fusion Will Make You Want to Steal an Airplane Economy Seat [Airplanes]](http://www.focusoft.biz/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/226ac3e48deus.gif.gif?eui=2226 "Panasonic Fusion Will Make You Want to Steal an Airplane Economy Seat [Airplanes]")
| You are subscribed to email updates from FocuSoft Tech Blog To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment