Elfin Pixi is a Palm for your palm
Apparently robotic hamsters are the cute must-have gift this Christmas, but, as they’re in short supply, the Palm Pixi might make a good alternative.
Palm’s newest smartphone, made available on November 15 on the Sprint network in the US, has a cuddly form factor you can almost fit in your palm and an interface to coo over. Continue reading "Elfin Pixi is a Palm for your palm"
FT techtalk - We’ve been Scobleized!
On this Friday’s FT techtalk, we were joined by Robert Scoble, one of the best known tech bloggers and social media evangelists.
Robert has more than 50,000 subscribers on Friendfeed and 100,000 plus followers on Twitter. He works for Rackspace, is constructing an internet community at Building43 and writes at Scobleizer.com.
We discussed the week’s tech news, social media trends and the latest gadgets. There’s an archived transcript of the chat after the jump. Continue reading "FT techtalk - We’ve been Scobleized!"
Sonos enters cheaper zone with music system
Sonos, maker of wireless multi-room music systems that most people can’t afford, now has a one-room option that may seem a bargain to iPhone and iPod touch users.
The Zoneplayer S5, available worldwide from today, costs $400 in the US and can be controlled by a free app available for the Apple devices. Continue reading "Sonos enters cheaper zone with music system"
Vitamin D Video sets brain theory in motion
Working from home on Friday, I noted 17 cars, 10 people and a squirrel come and go in our small cul-de-sac.
Not that I spent most of the time looking out of the window - I was just trying out new motion-detecting webcam software from Vitamin D, inspired by the way humans recognise patterns. It has been released in a free public beta from Monday. Continue reading "Vitamin D Video sets brain theory in motion"
Droid - the good, the bad and the ugly
Droid, the most hyped Android phone to date - even Google promoted it on its home page today - is finally available to buy in Verizon Wireless stores.
More than 100 people queued at midnight outside a midtown Manhattan store to be among the first members of the public to get their hands on one.
I’ve been lucky enough to have one on loan for more than a week now, so here’s my assessment after the jump of whether it has been worth the wait and queues. Continue reading "Droid - the good, the bad and the ugly"
FT techtalk - the boys in the bubbles
In this week’s FT techtalk, we discussed how the dotcom world is bubbling along again, the tech industry is rebounding and the video game sector is about to be lifted by a rocket-propelled grenade or two.
We also took a peek at a new Twitter device, looked at the newest phones and brought you the breaking news on the resolution to the Skype dispute. Read our multimedia transcript below and join us next time live for FT Techtalk. Continue reading "FT techtalk - the boys in the bubbles"
Qualcomm sees falling phone prices in 2010
The growth of the smartphone category is causing intense competition among operating systems, handset makers and the chipmakers that supply them.
Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, the biggest wireless chipmaker, sees that competition intensifying over the next year in smartphones and other handsets, which will translate into lower prices. Continue reading "Qualcomm sees falling phone prices in 2010"
Android Market remains baffling bazaar
Backers of the Android mobile operating system today acknowledged they needed to do more to promote applications, as Apple extended its lead with the iPhone to more than 100,000 apps now available in its App Store.
That’s 15,000 more than the last update of 85,000…and the growth is more than the total number of Android apps - 12,000 - created in the past year.
At the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco today, Cole Brodman, T-Mobile chief technology officer, said discoverability of apps on Android represented a challenge for consumers. Continue reading "Android Market remains baffling bazaar"
Linden Lab’s work-Second Life balance
The Second Life virtual world has suffered the reality of company firewalls in its attempts to break into the corporate world.
But not for much longer. Second Life Enterprise, announced on Wednesday, is a version of the virtual world for business, packaged as an appliance that can be plugged easily into a corporate network.
This behind-the-firewall product should give a second enterprise life to Second Life, satisfying the reservations of businesses who feel the consumer-driven open world does not have enough security, controls and content for their needs. Continue reading "Linden Lab’s work-Second Life balance"
Alex v Nook, legal duel for dual-screen eReaders
We did wonder about the timing two weeks ago, when the first eReader with dual screens, one of them colour, appeared 24 hours before another eReader, also with dual screens, one of them colour.
Draw your own conclusions, but Spring Design, which launched the Alex on the eve of Barnes & Noble’s Nook, now says it has filed a lawsuit alleging “Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties’ non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex’s features into its recently announced Nook e-book.” Continue reading "Alex v Nook, legal duel for dual-screen eReaders"
David Gelles, Joseph Menn, Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters in the FT's San Francisco bureau upload their views - plus tech insights from writers in New York, London and Tokyo
FT Techblog's comments
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
David Gelles, a California native, has been hanging around and reporting on Silicon Valley for several years. He joined the FT's San Francisco bureau in 2008 and writes about social networking, clean tech and artificial intelligence.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is facinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Joseph Menn writes about tech security and privacy, digital media, and the computer industry from the San Francisco bureau. He spent a decade covering tech for the Los Angeles Times and therefore remembers the days when pre-revenue dot-coms handed out free bottles of champagne at their launch parties.
Robin Harding is the FT's technology correspondent in Tokyo, following the fortunes of Japan's videogame, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. Before that, he was an FT editorial writer in London, having previously worked for various banks and asset managers.
Robin Kwong is the FT's Taipei correspondent and writes about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent. Based in London, he has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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The latest gadgets and gizmos, reviewed by Jonathan Margolis in How To Spend It.
Paul Taylor, the FT’s personal technology expert, answers your gadgetry questions