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"
November 6th, 2009 10:24pm in Hardware, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
Top wired telecom provider AT&T is clearly doing something right with U-verse TV, its cable-like service delivering more than 100 high-definition television channels over internet pipes to what are now more than 1.8m living rooms.
On Thursday, AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan and others came to San Francisco to show off what may be coming improvements to U-verse, among other things, from the research labs that claim 8 Nobel Prizes. Continue reading "AT&T says people still don’t want the Web on TV"
November 6th, 2009 12:31am in Consumer Electronics, Digital media, Internet, Software, Tech, Telecoms | Permalink | Comment
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"
November 4th, 2009 10:41pm in Internet, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
Ribbit, the software-based Silicon Valley phone company, has launched Ribbit Mobile, a Google Voice-type service with some useful extras thrown in.
The start-up, which was bought by BT of the UK last year, adds “social address book” features to its service and allows users to keep their own mobile number. Continue reading "Ribbit Mobile offers Google Voice alternative"
November 3rd, 2009 11:00pm in Internet, Mobile, Software, Telecoms | Permalink | Comment
From this week’s Digital Business edition:
The arrival of a giant chocolate eclair on the front lawn at Google last month had an extra significance, other than as the latest example of outlandish artwork installed at the headquarters of the world’s biggest internet company.
It joined a huge cupcake and a well-rounded doughnut, both sitting under the watchful eye of a large green robot.
Continue reading View from the Valley
November 3rd, 2009 7:55pm in Internet, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
Finding that elusive open Wi-Fi connection just got easier this week with the launch of a new application that is building a world Wi-Fi map from its users connections.
Devicescape, a Silicon Valley startup, had previously offered a simple program called Easy Wifi that enabled automatic logons to Wi-Fi networks - walk into a Starbucks and the iPhone app would immediately connect you to the AT&T hotspot there. Continue reading "User-generated Wi-Fi hotspots"
October 25th, 2009 9:02pm in Internet, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
Nvidia today launched a “GPU computing in the cloud” service that will allow designers to manipulate and check photo-realistic environments in a fraction of the normal time it takes on a PC workstation.
The graphics chipmaker is combining “iray” rendering technology, from its mental images acquisition, with its high-end Tesla chips in a new RealityServer platform. It expects cloud computing providers to offer services based on the platform to designers of cars, aircraft, clothes, homes and office buildings. Continue reading "Nvidia cloud graphics offer reality check"
October 20th, 2009 11:53pm in Digital media, Games, Hardware, Software | Permalink | Comment
Google is expected to launch its own self-branded smartphone before the year is out, according to Ashok Kumar, Northeast Securities analyst
It will follow up with a series of phones running its Android operating system, as well as launching a branded netbook running its new Chrome operating system early next year, the analyst told me. Continue reading "Google to take on iPhone with own phone - analyst"
October 20th, 2009 6:03pm in Hardware, Internet, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
The Beatles: Rock Band outsold Guitar Hero 5 in September in the US, while Sony’s PS3 console beat its rivals’ sales figures for the first time, according to the latest figures from the NPD research firm.
The “Battle of the Bands” was a key focus as the two titles were released at the same time, but both were outsold by the latest release in the Halo franchise - Halo 3: ODST - and Madden NFL 10. Continue reading "Beatles beat Guitar Hero, PS3 finally hits No 1"
October 20th, 2009 12:00am in Games, Hardware, Mobile, Software | Permalink | Comment
Seven days in tech, seven days (counting today) till Windows 7 launches. In this edition of FT techtalk, the San Francisco bureau looked back on a week of recession-busting earnings from the likes of Google and Intel and forward to the next booster for the tech industry.
Find out what Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer thinks is the best thing about Windows 7 and why his chum over at Yahoo, Carol Bartz, is in the hot seat next week, in our transcript of the conversation after the jump.
And don’t forget to join us live for FT techtalk, a multimedia chat with the FT’s tech correspondents, at the same time - 0800 Pacific (1500GMT, 1600BST) next Friday. Continue reading "FT techtalk - Your lucky number is Seven"
October 16th, 2009 4:44am in Computers, Digital media, Hardware, Internet, Software | Permalink | Comment
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