Archive for November, 2007
For all the pundit opinions about the Kindle, Amazon.com’s just-introduced e-book reader, MarketIntelNow is offering up the voices of consumers in a new report that drills down into reasons why these devices might or might not take off.During the first week of November, MarketIntelNow polled 5,000 online consumers about the buzz-making gizmo. The overarching conclusion: E-books will take off when the right device is introduced. Could that device be the Kindle?
Peeking into the survey results, 38 percent of respondents chose “lack of a cool design” as their main objection to buying a handheld e-book device. Only 21 percent cited cost as the barrier. Twenty-one percent also noted reading on a screen was an objection.
Click here to read the rest of this story on Sci-Tech today.
November 26th, 2007
Mozilla launched a new beta of Firefox this week, essentially a developer preview of the features and functions promised in the third major point release of the popular open-source browser. Firefox 3 Beta 1 is available for testing so Mozilla can gain feedback before the software advances to the next stage in the release process.”Much of the work leading up to this first beta has been around developing the infrastructure 
to support a bunch of exciting new features,” Mozilla noted. “With this first beta, you’ll get a taste of what’s coming in Firefox 3, but there’s still more to come, and much of what you’ll see is still a bit rough around the edges.”
Rough edges include the fact that Firefox add-ons don’t work properly with the beta version. Those add-ons include applications such as ad blockers, search engines, and dictionaries in other languages. Mozilla did not offer a final release date, noting only that the final version will be launched “when we qualify the product as fully ready for our users.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on CIO Today.
November 23rd, 2007
On Monday, Amazon.com launched the Kindle, an e-reader that the company hopes will spark a Book 2.0 revolution. The book-reading world hasn’t stopped buzzing about the new electronic device all week. But will it kindle an e-book fire?Amazon.com didn’t step into the e-reader arena lightly. The e-tailing giant worked on developing the Kindle for three years before introducing its attempt to usher in the next era of book publishing to the masses.
“History is littered with the bodies of players in this space who came up with e-book readers that no one wanted or no one wanted to use,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. “They were all marred by flaws. The Amazon device, while not perfect, really differentiates itself from devices of the past.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on CIO Today.
November 23rd, 2007
In its latest online advertising play, AOL launched video ticker ads, following BrightCove and YouTube with an interactive advertising system that serves as an alternative to preroll ads.Developed in conjunction with PointRoll, AOL’s video ticker is essentially a graphic banner ad that is integrated within a streaming video but does not obstruct viewing. The ads will run across the AOL Network of video content within the newest version of the AOL Video media player platform.
“With these ads, advertisers can target users who are consuming video with a clickable video or an interactive Flash ad, creating a deeper, longer brand dialogue that isn’t passive,” Curt Viebranz, president of AOL’s Platform-A, said in a statement.
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
November 20th, 2007
A German court has ordered T-Mobile to change its marketing campaign for Apple’s iPhone and has issued a restraining order prohibiting the company from selling the Mac-maker’s handset.Vodafone’s German unit is behind the action. The company petitioned the court to block sales of the iPhone in Germany until its complaints about an exclusive agreement between Apple and T-Mobile are addressed.
“We’re not taking any plans to replicate these actions anywhere else, or in the UK,” a Vodafone spokesperson was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying. “It’s a different regulatory environment. We believe it’s more to do with a breach of local German laws.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on CIOToday.
November 20th, 2007
On Monday, Sony slashed the price of its software development kit for the PlayStation 3 console. The electronics giant is hoping to encourage third-party game developers to make new software titles for its struggling platform.In addition to reducing the cost of the kit, Sony is introducing new software development features, including debugging tools and support for applications such as SN Systems’ ProDG development software. The moves come just in time for the PlayStation 3′s first birthday.
Prices for the PS3 development package have been cut in half. The new price in North America is $10,250, while the price is $11,250 in Europe and $8,600 in Japan. The price reduction for the development side of Sony’s gaming equation comes at the heels of the company’s PS3 console price cuts last month.
Click here to read the rest of this story on Sci-Tech Today.
November 19th, 2007
On Monday, Amazon released an electronic device the company hopes will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become a key step on the path to Book 2.0. The device is called Amazon Kindle.Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos said the company has been working on Kindle for more than three years with the top design objective being that Kindle would disappear in the consumer’s hands so people can simply enjoy reading.
“We also wanted to go beyond the physical book,” Bezos said. “Kindle is wireless , so whether you’re lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book and have it in less than 60 seconds. No computer is needed — you do your shopping directly from the device.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
November 19th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts
