Albert Heijn experiments with cash-register free supermarket

DutchNews, September 5, 2019 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn is experimenting with a new form of shopping in which ‘buying groceries is just like taking something out of the fridge’. 

The testing ground, a 14 square meter purpose-built store at the company’s Zaandam HQ, has no cash registers and shoppers do not have to scan the products they are buying either. 

Instead, customers open the door to the shop by scanning their bank card.  As they leave, the grocery bill will appear on a screen and the money they owe will automatically be deducted from their bank account. 

The Dutch market leader says it is the first company in Europe to try out such a system, which is currently only being used by company staff. Later this year the company aims to place its laboratory supermarket at a different location where it can be used by anyone.

‘We have cameras in store which register where you walk and what you are standing in front of,’ spokesman Jasper Hoogers said. ‘And this is only a trial. We are testing out lots of different scenarios to see if works.’ 

The cameras do not use facial recognition and work together with special shelving which registers if a product is removed or put back, Hoogers said. 

The company has not yet researched what customers think of the idea, but the underlying thought is to make things easier for clients, Hoogers said. ‘This would allow us to develop a store which can be located anywhere and is open 24 hours a day,’ he said.

Turkey YouTube ban violated freedom of expression: Europe court

Yahoo – AFP, 1 december 2015

A Turkish court had barred access to video-sharing site YouTube over 10 videos
 deemed insulting to modern Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
(AFP Photo/Samantha Sin)

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Turkey had violated conventions on freedom of expression when it banned YouTube for more than two years.

An Ankara court had barred access to the video-sharing site from May 2008 to October 2010 over 10 videos deemed insulting to modern Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Strasbourg-based rights tribunal said.

"Blocking without a legal basis users' access to YouTube infringed the right to receive and impart information," it said, ruling on a case brought by three Turkish law professors.

"The court also found that there was no provision in the law allowing the domestic courts to impose a blanket blocking order on access to the Internet, and in the present case to YouTube, on account of one of its contents."

The lengthy ban on YouTube -- and thousands of other websites -- had prompted widespread concern about freedom of expression under then prime minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who critics say has become increasingly authoritarian.

Before the ban, YouTube had been the fifth most popular site in Turkey.

Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been repeatedly criticised for using court orders to block critical websites, topping a Google table for content removal requests.

Last year the search engine also accused Turkey of intercepting its Internet domain, redirecting users to other sites.

The government blocked Twitter and YouTube in March 2014 after they were used to spread a torrent of audio recordings implicating Erdogan -- then premier -- and his inner circle in an alleged corruption scandal.

Turkey's parliament in March also approved legislation to tighten the government's control over the Internet by allowing it to block websites without prior judicial authorisation, sparking outrage both at home and abroad and a condemnation from the country's Constitutional Court.

Erdogan has also made no secret of his disdain for social networks, comparing them to a "murderer's knife" and once famously vowing to "eradicate" Twitter.

The European court said in its ruling Tuesday that "YouTube was a single platform which enabled information of specific interest, particularly on political and social matters, to be broadcast.

"It was therefore an important source of communication and the blocking order precluded access to specific information which it was not possible to access by other means."

Related Article:

Third Turkish journalist arrested amid fears of Ankara censorship: reports

‘Gangnam Style’ Gallops Beyond YouTube Counter at More Than 2.15 Billion Views

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Dec 04, 2014

(JG Screen Grab of YouTube)

New York. Just how big a hit was “Gangnam Style”? So mammoth that the Internet literally wasn’t ready to handle it.

YouTube said that the 2012 song by South Korea’s Psy — accompanied by a horse-riding-like dance that became a global sensation — this week reached the maximum number of views that its counter had imagined to be conceivable.

The video-sharing site shows that the official version of the video has had more than 2.15 billion views — the equivalent of one-third of the world’s population, although of course many people watched more than once.

The problem: YouTube designed its counter with what is known in computer science as a 32-bit integer, meaning that the maximum number of countable views was 2,147,483,647.

“We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer,” YouTube, which is owned by search engine giant Google, said in a posting on Google+.

YouTube engineers anticipated the problem and upgraded to a 64-bit integer. That means that “Gangnam Style” or future mega-hit videos can now go beyond nine sextillion views — a feat that, at least according to conventional wisdom, would be impossible to break.

Agence France-Presse

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Telkom Supports Jokowi’s “E-Blusukan” with Migrant Workers in 8 Countries

Jakarta Globe, Press Release, Dec 01, 2014

President Joko Widodo leads the “E-Blusukan” with Indonesian Migrant
Workers (TKI) that are stationed in 8 differents parts of the world.

Last week, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and a number of his ministers held an “E-Blusukan” (teleconference) with Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) representatives in 8 different countries. This unique teleconference was held at Situation Room UKP4 Bina Graha on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta. The 8 countries that were inspected by Indonesia’s first in command were South Korea, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

As a state-owned enterprise in the field of telecommunications, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia TBK (Telkom) provided the facilities needed for this first ever video conference. The representatives of the Indonesian Migrant Workers were connected with President Jokowi using an application called UMeetMe. Through this application the president was able to discuss many matters with the representatives, without any connection delay.

“Telkom is once again proud to be able to successfully contribute in the execution of Jokowi’s “E-Blusukan” through the UMeetMe application,” said Telkom’s Director of Enterprise & Business Services, Muhammad Awaluddin.

Awaluddin added, through the equally spread infrastructure, even to the most remote areas of the nation, Telkom is determined to always be a forerunner in supporting the governments programs in utilizing Information Technology and Communication in Indonesia.

By using 9 big screens which showed instantaneous live feeds, Jokowi and his team of Social Media Volunteers took turns interacting and communicating with each of the representatives from eight different parts of the world.

“I have heard about the many problems faced by the many Indonesian migrant workers abroad, but I would like to see for myself what exactly must migrant workers face,” said Jokowi.

The Indonesian Migrant Workers in turn expressed their problems to  the president, and one demanded revoke the use of Migrant Worker Cards (KTKLN), which according to him was just a method of discriminating Indonesian Migrant Workers.

The video conference was highly appreciated by Sonny Subrata, the coordinator for the Social Media Volunteer Team. “A big thanks to Telkom for providing the video conference facilities.”

HTC introduces groundbreaking new digital camera

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-10-11

The HTC RE digital camera, right, linked up to a smartphone. (Photo/China Times)

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is venturing into uncharted waters with its new RE high-resolution camera, reports the Commercial Times, our Chinese-language sister paper.

The RE, set for release in the US later this month, was launched in New York on Oct. 8 local time, along with the company's new midrange smartphone, the Desire Eye.

Designed to look like a periscope, the RE can be used as an independent still and video camera or as a connected device controlled via a smartphone. The device has no power switch but has touch sensors that activate when it is picked up. It has just one button, which shoots a still with a short press and a video when pressed for longer.

As a still camera, the RE has a resolution of 16 million pixels and an angle of view of 146 degrees. Video resolution is full HD at 1080p at a rate of 30fps, and a 4x slow motion mode will be accessible at a resolution of 720p. Shallow underwater shots are possible as the RE is water resistant to a depth of one meter for up to 30 minutes.

Notably, the RE is the first piece of HTC hardware that is compatible with both Android and Apple's iOS.

HTC CEO Peter Chou said at the launch that the RE is the start of the next leg of HTC's journey, adding that the cross-platform characteristic will allow more people to get to experience HTC's products and improve its brand awareness. Company founder and chairwoman Cher Wang also expressed confidence in the RE as well as the company's financial performance for next year.

The RE will be available for US$200 in the US at Best Buy, Amazon and telecommunication operators such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The camera is expected to reach the Taiwanese market by the end of the year.

YouTube introduces ‘youtube.co.id’

The Jakarta Post, Mariel Grazzella,  Thu, 06/14/2012

YouTube, the largest online video sharing community, announced on Thursday the launch of youtube.co.id, which will provide content tailored to the Indonesian market.

The site will feature content from YouTube's partners in Indonesia from the media and music industry.

The media companies are Kompas TV, Kompas Cybermedia, Viva Media Group and MyTrans.com. Meanwhile, the recording companies include Aquarius Musikindo, Nagaswara and Musica Studios.

YouTube has also signed license agreements with Indonesian musicians and composers under Wahana Musik Indonesia (WMI), which would enable the musicians to earn from advertisements that appear on YouTube while their video is being played.

Several companies, such as consumer goods producer PT Unilever Indonesia, mobile phone operator Telkomsel, Bank Central Asia and Blibli.com online shopping site will start placing advertisements on YouTube.

Online Video of Inauguration Sets Records

By ASHLEE VANCE, The New York Times, January 20, 2009 

Millions of cubicle dwellers across the country helped set records for Internet traffic on Tuesday as they watched online video of the inauguration ceremonies — or at least tried to. The overwhelming demand meant that some Web sites and data networks had trouble keeping up, forcing many people to turn to less cutting-edge forms of media. 

 “It was really frustrating to have this great technology and still not be able to watch the speech,” said Dan Robinson, who runs the box office at the Julliard School in New York. “I had to use this TV from the early ’80s and some rabbit ears to watch it.” 

Internet traffic in the United States hit a record peak at the start of President Obama’s speech as people watched, read about and commented on the inauguration, according to Bill Woodcock, the research director at the Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit organization that analyzes online traffic. The figures surpassed even the high figures on the day President Obama was elected. 

“The peak is the highest measured to date, and it appears to be mostly a U.S. phenomenon,” Mr. Woodcock said, adding that it did not appear that global records would be set. 

When people are checking for election results or the score for a big game, they tend to produce smaller bursts of traffic spread out over several hours. On Tuesday, everyone wanted to watch video, and that produced bulky streams of data traveling from media companies’ data centers out to people at work and in their homes. 

Data from CNN.com captured the uniqueness of the online surge. CNN said it provided more than 21.3 million video streams over a nine-hour span up to midafternoon. That blew past the 5.3 million streams provided during all of Election Day. At its peak, CNN.com fed 1.3 million live streams simultaneously, according to Jennifer Martin, a spokeswoman for the site. 

Akamai, which helps companies meet demand for their online offerings, worked with media companies like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Viacom to stream live video. It reported a record-breaking day, feeding up seven million video streams at one time. 

While the raw figures look impressive, people unable to access the videos felt less than ecstatic about the state of Internet technology. The snags highlighted one advantage that is still held by old-fashioned television: its viewers are not forced to compete with one another for the right to watch a particular channel. 

“I really didn’t get to see any of it,” said Daniel Wild, a Web site editor at the New York University School of Medicine. “Ultimately, I just saw frozen images of sections of what happened.” 

CNN tried to assuage those who could not access its live feed by posting a note to visitors saying they were in line to receive a working stream. 

“We built capacity for CNN.com Live to handle well above and beyond what was, to our knowledge, the most-viewed live video event in Internet history,” Ms. Martin said. 

A spokeswoman for The Times, Stacy Green, said its site served more video viewers than expected, and that there had “not been any major problems.” 

The viewing troubles may have been more a result of the limited Internet capacity coming to offices and houses, rather than a lack of overall bandwidth from the media companies, according to Mr. Woodcock. The United States continues to suffer from less-than-robust bandwidth, which Mr. Woodstock attributes to inadequate government attention and limited competition between Internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast. President Obama, in fact, mentioned the issue in the very speech that people were trying to watch. 

“We’ve had eight years of stagnation and need to get to work solving problems like this,” Mr. Woodcock said.

Related Articles:

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P&G, Google team up to swap jobs, trade knowledge

Procter & Gamble, Google team up to trade knowledge about targeting customers

By Dan Sewell, AP Business Writer, Wednesday November 19, 10:41 am ET 

CINCINNATI (AP) -- The world's largest consumer products company and the online search leader are working together to learn more about each other and about targeting customers. 

Procter & Gamble Co. said Wednesday it has done job swaps with Google Inc., and Google employees have been at P&G's Cincinnati headquarters helping with training. 

P&G spokeswoman Allison Yang said the company wants to reach more consumers who are increasingly online. 

"This is all about learning," she said. "It's about putting consumers in connection with our products in the right spots." 

The Wall Street Journal reported in Wednesday's editions that discussions on an employee swap began last year between P&G and Google executives. 

The swaps began in January, with two Tide detergent brand managers visiting Google and a pair of Google officials coming to Cincinnati. 

P&G, the nation's largest advertiser with a global advertising budget of nearly $9 billion, has been emphasizing value in marketing that says products such as Charmin toilet paper and Tide laundry detergent get more done with less than other brands. 

The company also has been expanding its online reach, including offering digital coupons. 

Yang said an early project with Google was drawing more attention to online video of Tide to Go's "Talking Stain" commercial, which made its television debut during the Super Bowl. Pampers diapers managers and a digital marketing manager were next to participate, and some 15 P&G employees from different areas spent time with Google last month. 

She said P&G has shared information with Google visitors about its consumer research, planning and operations. 

"The relationship will certainly continue, and we'll continue looking at what the opportunities are," Yang said. 

A message for comment was left with Google, based in Mountain View, Calif. Analysts have predicted slower revenue growth for Google in the worsening economy, amid signs that Internet users are growing less likely to click on advertising links. 

P&G, meanwhile, has been battling U.S. household belt-tightening, but the company last month reported sales grew 9 percent in its fiscal first quarter.

Tech firms turn to social media to reach consumers

By Gabriel Madway, Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:19pm EST  

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Recognizing the limits of traditional advertising, established technology companies are diving headlong into the sometimes chaotic landscape of social media to promote their products. 

Companies ranging from PC maker Dell Inc to storage equipment maker NetApp Inc are increasingly turning to outside blogs, viral videos and websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Digg -- and their tens of millions of users -- to reach consumers. 

These social networking sites harness the age-old power of the word-of-mouth recommendation and can be potent marketing tools. If nothing else, they demand a higher level of consumer engagement than conventional ads. 

"This is 180 degrees from that sort of advertising," said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. "Having a conversation with them (consumers) is a very new skill." 

For tech companies with big marketing budgets, the shift to social media is an implicit acknowledgment that television and print are not necessarily the most effective ways to reach buyers, particularly younger ones. 

In addition, with a recession looming, corporate budgets are being slashed. UBS has forecast global ad spending will fall 3.9 percent in 2009. In such an environment, social media could prove to be a cost-effective way to sell to consumers. 

But the strategy is not without some risk. While every company wants to generate buzz, online backlash can be brutal. 

Consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson learned that the hard way with a recent Web video ad for its Motrin painkiller. While apparently trying to be irreverent about the pain of wearing a baby in a sling, the ad offended many mothers who savaged it on Twitter, the wildly popular "micro-blogging" site where users communicate with short "tweets" of 140 characters or less. J&J was forced to apologize on Monday. 

Brian Keeler, a vice president at media consultancy VShift, said the key to social media is credibility and enlisting consumers in the act of marketing itself. But if you upset your audience, it can mean trouble. 

"With the online media, things can go viral and spin out of control really fast," he said. 

ONLINE CREDIBILITY 

Dell has a dedicated team of around 40 people that interacts with consumers through its blogs, community forums and third-party sites. The company began its social media push last year as it moved to repair its public image. 

"There's been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation," spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said. 

Dell said it has used Twitter to sell $500,000 worth of refurbished PCs. The company also took ideas solicited from its IdeaStorm site to make changes to its Latitude laptop. 

NetApp sells data storage equipment only to enterprises, so its strategy is more limited. Its employees are encouraged to blog on third-party sites about its products and the company focuses on keeping a unified message. 

Still, NetApp said that, for the first time, it is dedicating 20 percent of its PR budget to social media. 

One of the most effective social media advertising strategies, said author and blogger Dave Taylor, is to simply hand a new product over to a blogger for a test-drive. 

A bad review can hurt, but an endorsement from an established name "makes for some powerful marketing," he said. 

In a similar vein, hard-drive maker Seagate Technology sponsored prominent blogger Robert Scoble, who wrote about the company's products and took part in promotions. 

Seagate news now goes up on Facebook, pictures of products go on photo-sharing site Flickr, along with Twitter tweets. The company has even built a studio to film Web videos. 

Although some companies may balk at the idea of relinquishing control of their message, they may have no choice. 

"Historically, companies have been really focused on controlling the information they disseminate ... and the fact is that's dying, because accessibility and communication have so dramatically increased and improved," Taylor added. 

(Editing by Andre Grenon )

Gore sees transformative power of Web in politics

Computerworld

By Juan Carlos 

November 7, 2008 (IDG News Service) Barack Obama had a lot going for him already in this year's election, but his creative use of the Internet played a huge role in making him president elect, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said Friday. 

"It couldn't have happened without the Web," Gore said. 

Gore closed this year's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco by discussing the role of the Web in the election, his involvement with an Internet TV company and the dangers of climate change. The full-capacity crowd at the Palace Hotel greeted him and sent him off with standing ovations. 

Obama's innovative use of the Web during his campaign, for everything from encouraging supporters to vote to raising funds, marks a turning point in how politicians use the Internet and in how citizens can participate for social change, Gore said. 

"What happened in the election opens up a whole new range of possibilities," he said. "Now's the time to really move swiftly to exploit these new possibilities." 

Gore also talked about how his company Current TV, of which he is chairman and cofounder, is attempting to use the Internet to break television's decades-old monopolization of information, which he said has had negative consequences. 

"A reason why the political system hasn't been operating very well until this election is the deadening influence of the TV medium as it has been operating," he said. 

Asked by conference chair John Battelle if he is worried that this Web-powered social involvement among citizens will lose steam, Gore said: "No, I'm not. It's very much in its infancy, barely beginning. We aren't many years away from TV sinking into the digital world and becoming a part of it." 

"The social activism that's made possible by these new tools is just beginning to take off," he added. 

Gore, who has become a leading voice in recent years for the protection of the environment, said President-elect Obama should be bold in his goals to address climate change. For example, he should set a national goal for the U.S. to get all its electricity from renewable and non-carbon sources within 10 years. 

"We can do it," he said, amidst heavy applause from the audience. 

He cited various imminent dangers for the environment, including the 75 percent to 80 percent chance that in the next 5 years, the North Pole ice cap, which has been around for about 3 million years and is almost the size of the continental U.S., will disappear. 

"This is an apocalyptic signal from the planet itself," Gore said. 

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"Why can't I do this at work?"

Putting Facebook and Twitter to work 

By Steven Mollman, CNN, Bangkok Thailand 

Bringing Skype to the workplace is just one way companies are harnessing tech that has previously been used just for fun. 

Employees in the office used to ponder this question about corporate technology not easily available to consumers. 

Today the question, usually asked from home or a cafe, is: "Why can't I do this at work?" 

Innovative, user-friendly offerings -- Skype, Facebook, Twitter, mash-ups, YouTube, wikis, and the like -- take root and thrive as consumer offerings. 

Corporate IT departments meanwhile often seem oblivious to their potential usefulness, even as workers wonder at their absence. But increasingly such technologies are being used for business. 

Partly this is because enterprise versions have emerged with fancier security features. And partly it's because as the consumer-side versions keep growing, new users continue to come from within small companies -- or even large enterprises, often to the horror of security-conscious IT departments. 

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, has seen the emergence of small copycat services focused on businesses. 

Users, rather than answering the Twitter question of "What are you doing?" for anyone to read, answer "What are you working on?" for colleagues only to read. 

Wikis, online pages that any user can edit, surged in popularity among consumers thanks partly to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Not long after businesses hopped aboard with tools geared for them. 

One of those, PBwiki, has seen the number of individual business wikis created with it jump to well over 40,000, up from less than 20,000 a year ago and only about 5,000 two years ago. 

A Los Angeles design firm called The Groop, which uses PBwiki for creative collaboration among teams and clients, claims to have realized $1 million in annual productivity gains with it. 

On the social networking side, Facebook and MySpace became household names seemingly overnight. 

This year businesses are expected to spend more than $250 million on social networking tools geared towards them, from vendors like Awareness, Communispace, and Jive Software, according to research firm Forrester. 

And increasingly vendors offer companies suites of Web 2.0 technologies that have emerged on the consumer side. 

For instance HiveLive lets employees create and control blogs, wikis, mash-ups and so on within business social networks. 

Skype, the online phone service bought by eBay, noticed that many of its customers were small businesses. To entice more of them, it created a business version of its software with improved security and a "control panel" application for central management of Skype credit and numbers. 

Last month Google launched a YouTube-like video sharing service for businesses. The idea is that employees can share videos amongst themselves in a secure setting. A CEO could broadcast a message, for instance, or a technician could post a how-to video. 

The iPhone, inevitably, is also forcing its way into the work force. "The best phone for business. Ever" claims the typically bomb-throwing ad copy from Apple. 

Research firm Gartner foresees consumer adoption driving more technologies into enterprises over the coming years. 

Among them are desktop video-conferencing, virtual worlds, 3-D controllers, and augmented reality. 

Gartner analyst Jackie Fenn suggest IT departments should make it their ongoing strategy to take advantage of such consumer technologies, rather than bump into them on a case-by-case basis. 

Besides, there's a nice upside to this approach for IT workers, as long as security and other challenges can be overcome. 

As anyone who's played around on Facebook, YouTube or an iPhone can attest to, the consumer side is where all the fun stuff is.

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RIM BlackBerry Bold/BlackBerry 9000 makes official debut

Crave, CNET.com, May 11, 2008

World: Say hello to the RIM BlackBerry Bold. *Cue dramatic music* You may know it as the RIM BlackBerry 9000, but today, Research in Motion officially took the wraps off the highly anticipated and much-rumored smartphone, complete with a new name. The "Bold" is in reference to the smartphone's gorgeous display, but it's also bold in that it represents a number of new moves for the company. Oh, BlackBerry Bold, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.

The bold and the beautiful

As we just mentioned, the device gets its name from its screen. The BlackBerry Bold features a half-VGA (480x320 pixel resolution), 65,000-color display, and during some initial product testing, research group participants repeatedly called the screen "bold" and "brilliant." The Brilliant moniker didn't really jive with the company, thus the BlackBerry Bold was born.

So just how bold is it? Well, RIM stopped by our office late last week to show us the device, and let me just tell you, I was absolutely blown away. I can pretty much say I've never seen a better-looking display on a smartphone. Colors pop off the screen, and it's really amazing how sharp and crisp everything looks on the display. We watched a couple of videos, and for the first time, we didn't notice any of that pixelation or blurriness that you typically get with phones. In addition, the menu interface has been revamped with a much more modern look and icons.

Also, as you can see from the images, the BlackBerry Bold boasts a new design. It's more elegant than models past, with curvier edges and a silver trim that complements the black casing. If you turn it over, you'll also notice that the back has a leatherette texture. No more slick plastic and RIM will sell replaceable backplates in different colors, including blue, gray, and red, if you want to spruce up your phone a bit. Sizewise, the BlackBerry Bold measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and weighs 4.7 ounces. Kevin Michaluk over at Crackberry.com took a gamble, bought one off eBay, and posted a hands-on review. He made a good comparison and likened the device to the Motorola Q9h.

Finally, the BlackBerry Bold has a new QWERTY keyboard that RIM likened to a modernized Curve keyboard, but I'm not really seeing it. Instead it reminded me more of the BlackBerry 8830. Now, I know some of you 8800 series users had issue with the keyboard, but I tried it out and it's pretty easy to use--large-ish buttons with some spacing between the keys.

Wireless smorgasbord

There's a heaping of wireless options on the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) BlackBerry Bold, but the most appetizing and notable item is the HSDPA/UMTS (850/1900/2100) support. It's the first such-equipped BlackBerry, and we all know it's been a long time coming. RIM says the delay for bringing such a device to the market is that it wanted to make sure battery life wouldn't be sacrificed at the expense of including the 3.5G technology. Hey, whatever the reason, we're just finally happy to have it. You also get integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with full A2DP support, and built-in GPS (enhanced and assisted).

Horsepower

The RIM BlackBerry Bold is equipped with a 624MHz Intel PXA270 processor whereas previous BlackBerrys had 312MHz processors, so technically, you should enjoy smoother and faster performance. During our briefing, there were a few hiccups in performance, but we're going to keep our fingers crossed and chalk it up to the fact that it wasn't a final unit. There's also 128MB flash memory and 1GB of onboard memory, which is all supplemented by the microSD/SDHC expansion slot (supports up to 16GB cards).

Multimedia, Web, and other good stuff

You still with me? I know this post is getting a bit lengthy, but just a few more highlights to note. First, the Bold includes an improved Web browser (thank goodness) with the option to view pages in a full desktop HTML style or a mobile version, and you can now more easily navigate pages with the trackball, which acts like a mouse cursor, and zoom in/out.

As for multimedia, the smartphone is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and up to 5X zoom. The media player also continues to support numerous audio and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files, and the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack. By the way, the Bold has got some pretty powerful speakers--none of that weak, tinny junk.

Oh, and hey, what's this? It's makes calls and sends and receives e-mails you say? Yes, you'll still get all of the voice and messaging features of previous BlackBerrys, and the handset will also come preloaded with Dataviz's Documents to Go suite for document viewing and editing.

"When and where can I get one?"

Now, that we've totally built up the device and you're ready to run out and buy one, here's the letdown. The RIM BlackBerry Bold isn't available quite yet. It's currently going through carrier certification, and though RIM wouldn't officially name the service provider, based on the 3G bands, you can pretty much guess who it will be (hint: starts with an A and ends with a T&T). And while pricing will also depend on the carrier, RIM is guessing it will be in the $300 to $400 range and expected worldwide availability is "this summer."

OK, that's it! My fingers are tired from all the typing, so now it's your turn. Clearly, I'm pretty amped about the smartphone. Of course, the true test will come when we finally get it in for real-world testing, but from everything I've seen so far, the RIM BlackBerry Bold has huge potential. But what do you think? Hot or not? The commenting floodgates are open, so have at it.

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QTRAX V.2 Beta launches - sees 61,000 unique users per hour

New York, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Midem Conference - QTRAX (www.QTRAX.com) - the world's first free and legal peer-to-peer music service announced that at today's V.2 Beta launch, its ground-breaking service had approximately 61,000 unique users per hour (between 7am and 1pm EST). This translates to approximately 1,464,000 unique users per day.

QTRAX believes that a significant percentage of users were unable to access the site due to this massive demand and has now dramatically increased its download capacity.

"The response to the service is clearly unprecedented. We launched at MIDEM, the leading music industry conference, precisely because of the degree of support we have had and continue to enjoy from rights holders," said QTRAX President and CEO Allan Klepfisz.

"We believe the exact nature of that support will be publicly clarified within a very short time. As the world's first free and legal P2P service that has chosen to spend 4.5 years on licensing and not to violate IP rights, we have decided that we will provide activation keys shortly upon final execution of all pertinent contracts."

In the meantime, users will be able to enjoy all other functionalities of the QTRAX browser including importing and playing their existing music, browsing the vast and rich content, purchasing artist merchandise and tickets, and, for the first time, enjoying a fully integrated browsing and music experience.

The activation keys will enable users to experience full QTRAX V.2 Beta functionality, including search, download, access content, and play.

QTRAX has created a dynamic new music distribution model that represents a paradigm shift in the way people consume music, how the industry can monetize their catalogs and how artists get paid.

The application download is available immediately at www.QTRAX.com About QTRAX QTRAX (www.QTRAX.com) is the world's first legal and free peer-to-peer music service. Showcasing an innovative ad-supported downloading model that easily directs revenue back to artists and rights holders, QTRAX is the first P2P to be embraced widely by the music industry. QTRAX is a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation (OTC: BLLN.PK), a publicly traded technology holding company.

SOURCE QTRAX

CONTACT: Justin Kazmark, +1-212-561-7466, justin.kazmark@morris-king.com, or Jennifer Moses, +1-315-212-4408, jennifer.moses@morris-king.com, both of The Morris + King Company; or Rich Schineller of Perception Management, +1-941-726-9090, rich@prmgt.com; or Shamin Abas of Shamin Abas PR, +1-561-366-1226, Shamin@shaminabaspr.com; or Deborah Gray of Big DGPR, +1-646-247-3094, +61(0)414-911-111, debjgray@hotmail.com/

Web site: http://www.QTRAX.com

HBO to Offer Movie Download Service

Gameshout.com, Posted Jan 21, 2008, 1:31 PM ET

HBO to launch movie and television show download service this Tuesday.

HBO, a subsidiary of Time Warner will be launching a new movie and T.V. show download services for its subscribers starting on Tuesday January 22nd. The service called HBO on Broadband will feature a huge cable-based on0demand service focusing on the mobile PC user.

The offering will start out in Green Bay and Milwaukee Wisconsin as a free add-on to their HBO and HBO on-demand services. There is currently no time-line for rolling the service out to the rest of the U.S.

The goal of HBO is to target more of its subscribers who watch more content online allowing for more viewing flexibility. HBO found that the flexibility of their on-demand service reduced their cancellation rate among younger subscribers, and believe that this new service should further protect their subscriber list for those who are more travelers and prefer to watch more on their laptops.

Initially, HBO on Broadband intends on having about 600 titles available each month with about 400 of those available at any time as well as i live stream of the main HBO channel.

Update: Apple airs out 'world's thinnest subnotebook'

Jobs also touts movie rental downloads, new AppleTV and wireless backup hardware

January 15, 2008 (Computerworld) -- Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs took center stage at the Macworld Conference and Expo today to introduce what he called "the world's thinnest notebook," dubbed the MacBook Air.

The new laptop, which is priced starting at $1,799 and will ship in two weeks, was the final, and flashiest, of the new products and upgrades that Jobs touted in a 90-minute keynote at Macworld, which opened yesterday in San Francisco. He also talked up a new wireless backup device called the Time Capsule, spelled out changes to the iPhone that will be delivered later today via a firmware update, and announced the relaunching of Apple TV, which now features a lower price and movie downloads via iTunes.

"There were no surprises today," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research Inc. "But it was execution, execution, execution. Apple's listening to its customers and then executing."

None of the announcements could have come as a shock to Apple fans who had followed the rumor and gossip mill during the past few weeks, and as several analysts noted last Friday, the MacBook Air was the biggest of the bunch.

The new laptop, small enough for Jobs to pull from a manila envelope, takes the tape at just 0.16-in. at its thinnest on the keyboard-side edge, and no more than 0.76-in. at the hinge. It weighs about three pounds.

The MacBook Air is only 0.75 inches thick at the hinge.

Even Jobs recognized the big-ticket price of the flash drive.

Read More ...

Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard Eases PC-TV Link

Yahoo Tech,

Sat Jan 5, 2008 7:01PM EST

So, you've hooked up your PC to your TV a few times, maybe to watch TV shows and movies you've downloaded or to listen to music through a home theater system. It works well, but you need to access media through your laptop keyboard.

What if you had a keyboard to run your PC through the TV from anywhere in the room? You'd be able to do so much more: browse the web, check email, play PC and online games. Great idea, but you may not want another bulky piece of gear for the family room, and the wireless range would be limited.

Logitech has an answer: The diNovo Mini palm-sized keyboard, which it unveiled today. Using a Bluetooth USB connection, the handheld keyboard, about 6 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches, makes simple work of navigating your PC on a bigger TV screen. A scroll wheel that doubles as a touchpad controls the cursor on the screen; click it with your thumb when you want to select an option.

There's a full, nice-sized QWERTY keyboard that makes typing emails or IMing simple and fun for nimble hands. Backlighting makes seeing the keys easier in dim lighting.

Slide a switch, and the keyboard goes into media-remote mode (green indicator). The scroll wheel becomes a directional pad, which allows you to choose which media to access. Volume, channel, and play controls allow you to watch and adjust DVDs and recorded shows.

There are just the right amount of keys on the compact keyboard—one of Yahoo! Tech's Last Gadget Standing finalists—including some blue-outlined function keys that serve as shortcuts to Internet Explorer, iTunes, and some oft-used symbols. Of course, it's best for younger eyes but not impossible for older ones, either. I liked using it.

For Sony PS3 owners, there's a switch in the battery compartment that allows you to move between PS3 and PC controls. The keyboard works with Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center PCs. Alas, it does not work with Macs nor Xbox 360s.

It is plug-and-play easy. It worked from every angle in our family room, and Logitech says it will work up to 30 feet away from the PC. A rechargeable Li-ion battery provides up to a month of battery life, Logitech says. It makes the PC-TV family-room connection far less clunky. If you're not ready for wireless room-to-room streaming of PC media to your big-screen TV, this little $150 keyboard makes the physical PC-TV connection everyday viable.