iampowered: February 2006 Archives

Jeeves retires after a decade of service

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

After a decade of being known as "Ask Jeeves," the search company has finally retired its Jeeves character and rebranded to be simply Ask.com.

The change happened Monday with the front page seeming to take the Google approach of simplicity and function.

Visiting Ask.com now presents you with a search entry field and a toolbar. This search toolbar feature can be minimized to display just icons or edited to offer users customized access to the links they want in the order they want them

Ask has also been doing some work behind the scenes to improve its tools. The route planning and maps tools have been overhauled to offer more flexibility in selecting destinations and adding locations to existing routes. Search results can also now be tailored to link directly to Web information databases such as Wikipedia and Houghton Mifflin.

The other main difference--and one Ask hopes will make it stand out from the crowd--is its stance on ads. The clear message is fewer ads displayed above search results as a way of reinforcing the company's committment as a serious search engine.

Coalition to fight AOL e-mail certification

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

A coalition of more than 50 organizations representing more than 15 million members will release an open letter to the AOL today asking it not to implement a planned e-mail certification system.

AOL (with Yahoo! to follow) is working with Goodmail Systems to implement a charge-based system for companies that send business e-mails to AOL e-mail addresses.

The system will charge businesses US$2 or $3 per 1,000 messages to allow marketing e-mails past an improved filtering service.

Only messages from certified sources will include the "digital token" that will ensure proper delivery. The certification system is expected to go into effect in March.

The coalition seeking to stop this system is made up of groups from all backgrounds and political persuasions, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and MoveOn.org.

These organizations are balking at the idea of paying to send e-mails to subscribers, especially since they regularly send as many as 10 million messages out each week; AOL can't ensure that non-certified e-mail will get through the filters, and the coalition is very worried about that.

The group has written an open letter to AOL that will be available online at 1 P.M. EST today at DearAOL.com.

Googles posts update on payments

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Last week, Google decided to update the public on what it was doing regarding online payments.

The move is fueling speculation that Google may soon offer an online payment service in direct competition with PayPal.

In its blog, the company emphasizes how it already has experience billing advertisers and portioning out those payments to advertising partners.

The company also says it already has a standard way for users to pay for online Google services through their Google Accounts.

The most striking comment from the blog, which may indicate a desire to offer a service such as PayPal, says, "We expect to add payment functionality to Google services where our users need a way to buy online."

CNET has already pointed out in its CNET Google Blog at at least two analysts believe the Google Payments service is already here.

MTV to add more content to Sprint TV

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

Sprint TV is getting a boost in content thanks to a new agreement with MTV Networks.

The agreement will bring popular cable brands such as CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1 to Sprint's service.

Select video and audio clips will be offered to subscribers from popular shows, including Comedy Central's "South Park" and "The Daily Show with John Stewart," and MTV's "Beavis and Butt-Head," "Punk'd," and "Viva La Bam."

MTV also plans to offer an original live-action and animated made-for-mobile series.

Sprint TV also becomes the first carrier to offer streaming audio from the popular music networks CMT, MTV, and VH1, which will each have its own channel (46, 36, and 26, respectively). You might want to choose which ones you prefer since they go for US$5.95 per month per channel; data usage charges also apply.

The per channel price seems a little steep, but at the same time we are still in the infancy of mobile television. As the technology improves and more subscribers utilize the service I am sure prices will drop. Sprint seems to be doing its part to attract new subscribers to its Sprint TV service by continuing to add content.

Sony delivers Blu-ray in May

This entry was posted in the following categories: Entertainment, News

Sony Pictures on Tuesday said it aims to deliver its new Blu-ray Disc DVD format to U.S. stores on May 23 to coincide with the entry of compatible disc players, a new step in an industry war for control of home movie viewing.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight Blu-ray titles, followed by another eight in mid-June.

The first movie titles include "50 First Dates," "The Fifth Element," "Hitch" and "House of Flying Daggers."

Blu-ray is locked in a multibillion-dollar standards war against a rival DVD format known as HD DVD. The technology companies supporting HD DVD, championed by Toshiba, plan to start rolling out movie titles and disc players in March.

Each side hopes to reignite a sagging $24 billion home video market with new players and discs that offer greater capacity and interactive features.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, a division of Japan's Sony, earlier this month disclosed pricing for Blu-ray format discs, which amounts to a premium of about 15 percent to 20 percent to the current DVD standard.

The company said on Tuesday that its target delivery date would coincide with the launch that day of the first commercially available Blu-ray Disc player by Samsung Electronics. Other Blu-ray players are scheduled for release from Sony and Pioneer.

National Archives and Google team up on history videos

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

The National Archives, the official collector of historical information and records regarding the U.S. Federal government, has teamed up with Google to place some of the Archives' video content on Google Video.

The pilot program is a non-exclusive deal between the two entities with the goal of fleshing out possible future agreements.

There are 101 films available from the project, from a diverse selection of topics in 20th century history.

The list includes the earliest film in the Archives, NASA spaceflight documentaries--including one on the Apollo 11 moon landing--documentaries from the 1930s about the national parks system and related issues, and government newsreels from World War II.

The pilot program could possibly lead to an expanded online library from the National Archives on Google Video, as well as the possibility of making the Archives' historical documents Web-accessible.

Microsoft's official Vista lineup

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Productivity

Microsoft has finally finalized its Vista product line. Instead of 8 versions, there will be 6, with three of those for home users, two for business, and one for emerging markets.

Microsoft is also required to release a couple of European versions without Windows media player installed due to court ruling issues.

Microsoft likes to point out that XP already ships in 6 flavors with Vista versions organized by what people plan to do with their computer, not what kind of hardware they have.

So, here's the official rundown:

Vista Starter -- Streamlined version meant for low-powered PCs in developing nations.

Vista Home Basic -- For those content to browse the web, use email, and create and edit basic documents from their PC. Includes desktop search and security tools.

Vista Home Premium -- Includes everything in Basic but also includes the Aero graphical interface, Media Center functionality, and ability to connect to Xbox 360. The version most of us will own at home.

Vista Business -- The basic version for companies of all sizes with tools to help organizations manage their PCs.

Vista Enterprise -- Includes everything in the basic business version with improved encryption and BitLocker system to keep data from being read on a stolen computer.

Vista Ultimate -- All the features of Home and Business in one.

Microsoft Unfolds Origami

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

All indications are that Microsoft is planning to introduce a mobile device that will offer a third handheld option to smartphones and PDAs as early as Thursday.

News of the planned device surfaced this weekend on a web site promo that promises to change lives.

The dramatic 40-second promo, which runs on www.origamiproject.com, asks visitors to “touch” an image that looks like the structure of a cell.

It then asks questions such as, “Do you know what I can do and where I can go?”

The promo promises more information on Thursday and Microsoft has an analyst event at its Redmond headquarters planned for Thursday. In addition, Microsoft mentions an Origami Project on its mobile developer site, along with sketchy details about a planned wireless, tablet-style PC.

Visitors seeking additional information about the Origami Project are sent to the promo web site.

The only real details about the device that one can glean from published information on Microsoft’s web site is that it is a mobile, touch-screen device. Whether it is closer to a mini notebook or a PDA is not clear.

It is unclear whether Origami will come equipped with Windows Mobile or Windows Vista. It is also unclear whether it will come with a wireless phone, a feature that would put it in competition with smartphones rather than notebooks.

A Five Ring iPod

This entry was posted in the following categories: Entertainment, Mobility, News

Even the Olympic gods are smiling on the iPod. Apple is not an official sponsor of the Olympics, but that isn’t stopping them from getting great publicity.

There are plenty of examples of where iPods have appeared at the games—starting with snowboaders.

The U.S. snowboarding team's pinstriped uniforms are already wired for the machines, with a nifty iPod-size pocket, speakers in the hood and a control panel on the left sleeve that allows the athletes to select son

Snowboarder Gold medalist, Shaun White, uses an iPod-equipped helmet, which - according to newspaper accounts - frequently pipes in Led Zeppelin or, during his recent gold medal routine, AC/DC's "Back in Black."

"One of the lasting images of these games is going to be these snowboarders with their iPods," said Abraham Madkour, executive editor of SportsBusiness Journal, a trade magazine that covers the sports industry. "It's the perfect form of subconscious marketing."

An article in the Baltimore Sun talks about the great exposure Apple has gotten during the Olympics—even beyond the snowboarding community.

Mac OS X threats not as bad as it seems

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, News

At first glance, the past two weeks have not been good for the image of Apple's Mac OS X.

Public descriptions of two worms and a trivial exploit for a serious software issue in the operating system appeared on the internet.

However, the three programs are hardly a threat to systems running Mac OS X, according to security professionals.

One worm, known as OSX.Leap.A and assigned CME-4 by the Common Malware Enumeration Project, requires too much user interaction, hobbling its attempts to spread.

A second worm, dubbed InqTana, and its two variants are actually proof-of-concept programs that were not discovered on the internet but were instead sent to anti-virus vendors and Apple by a researcher to prove that worms can spread through Bluetooth.

And while the release of code for a vulnerability that could be exploited through Safari and Mail is a bit more serious, no incidents of websites exploiting the flaw have yet been reported.

The two worms and the exploit could also give would-be malicious coders encouragement in their attempts to create programs for the Mac OS X platform. Mac users should take the convergence of the three threats as a signal to inspect their defenses against online attacks.

New Blog Syndication service - BlogBurst

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

BlogBurst is a brand-new syndication service that gets blogs placed on "top-tier" websites. If your blog is deemed a "high quality, topic-focused blog," you will be invited to join their service.

We can assume that this means they're not taking just anyone. The company screens their applicants before allowing you to join.

According to BlogBurst, once accepted, a blogger will gain visibility, audience reach and traffic, while publishers weave the rich and diverse fabric of the blogosphere into their sites.

In other words, major websites are going to syndicate your content... sites like washingtonpost.com, for example. Sounds intriguing.

From the web site:

How does BlogBurst work?

BlogBurst is an opt-in wire service for bloggers and publishers.

You sign up and tell us about your blog, then blog as usual
We promote your blog in our publisher workbench
Our top-tier publishers display your blog content on their sites
Clicks on your byline drive new traffic to your blog

What do you get out of this?

Visibility and exposure on major news and portal sites
Traffic through attribution and links back to your blog
Performance based compensation (after our beta period)
Authority and credibility within your topic area
New readers who wouldn't normally find out about your blog

What kinds of blogs are we looking for?

Our partner publishers are most interested in blogs that are updated frequently and contain well written, topically focused content — stuff that would be appropriate to appear on a major online destination.

FasTrak For Fries -- Coming Soon to a Ballpark Near You

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Productivity

Venturing to the concession stand at the ballpark can seem to be a daunting task. For sure, you don’t want to be missing any action while waiting for all the transactions ahead of you are being processed.

You figure, at a ballpark, the food is pretty much ready-to-go. So the bottleneck happens when it comes time to pay.

According to a recent story in The San Francisco Chronicle, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover are now promoting the tap-and-go cards for use when buying something quick and cheap. Yes, “contact-less” credit cards.

With this type of card, after the cashier rings up your sale, all you need to do is hold your card (or cell phone or key fob) an inch or two above a radio-frequency reader, which quickly flashes green and beeps to indicate that you've paid. For purchases of less than $25, no signature is required.

Sounds pretty cool. Approximately half the registers at the San Francisco Giant’s ballpark will have these terminals up and running on opening day in April. They may be ready before consumers are. To be able to take advantage of this contact-less approach, credit cards will need a special strip that differs from the magnetic strip currently used.

This article is an interesting read for sure.

Also from the article: Need for speed?

Contactless cards work when you hold them 1 or 2 inches from a special radio-frequency reader. Because you don't need to show them to a cashier, swipe them, sign a receipt or enter a PIN, they speed checkout.

-- Cash: 34 seconds

-- Standard credit card: 24 seconds

-- Contactless credit card: 15 seconds

Source: Visa research

Not Exactly How They Pictured It

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

eMarketer reports that a recent survey by A. T. Kearney/University of Cambridge – Judge Institute of Management, reveals that camera phones are used by 15% of mobile phone users in North America, up from 5% in 2004.

We all know that most of the latest phones include a camera, whether we need it or not. And many providers tout how awesome the camera is—using it as a selling point.

However, according to David Chamberlain, analyst for market research company In-Stat, "People who haven't yet purchased camera phones are very enthusiastic about all the uses for their images. However, once they start using their new phones, they are turned off by perceived poor picture quality, slow network speeds, and the difficulty of creating and sending pictures."

In a survey conducted by Sprint, camera phone users are more likely to use the pictures they take with their phone as a background image or for caller ID than to send them to other's phones.

This is a classic example of wireless service providers promote (in a very convincing way) a feature we don’t truly need (or desire to pay extra for). Oh well. It will be interesting to see if some clever company can come up with a useful (and easy-to-use) service or application that’ll make all of us take a second look at our cell phone’s camera.

Let Go of My iPod -- Tech-Savvy Kids Crave Cool Gadgets

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

It’s interesting how iPods are truly multi-generational. And that kids are more and more tech-savvy (as if "tech" was the second language spoken).

The trend is one that manufacturers ducked for a period of time (perhaps due to false starts in the past). However, thanks to the iPod, this need for gadgets among the nation’s youth is quite real.

At the recently concluded American International Toy Fair trade expo held in New York City last week, companies demonstrated many iPod-friendly products, aimed at preteens. The toys ranged from electronic drumsticks and other musical instruments to chairs and electronic playmates that act as speakers.

There’s no doubt that iPod-related items will crowd the market in the months to come.

Blackberry Safe. At Least For Now.

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

A U.S. District judge chastised both RIM and NTP for not settling out of court, but refused to order an immediate shutdown of the BlackBerry service.

The ruling, while good news for RIM, does not mean the service would necessarily avoid being shut down at a later time.

Judge James Spencer took time after hearing nearly four hours of arguments to remind RIM that it had already been found guilty of patent infringement, and told the company "the simple truth, the reality of the jury verdict has not changed."

Spencer also said that he doubted a BlackBerry shutdown could disrupt public services, noting the company had already found a way to workaround the problem. The judge's decision is not final, however, as he promised both sides that he would consider the arguments and rule "as soon as reasonably possible."

Earlier in the day, NTP had asked the court for an immediate injunction with a 30-day grace period for BlackBerry users to find other solutions. The patent holding company also asked the judge to order an immediate payment of $126 million from RIM.

The figure was calculated using the same formula the 2003 jury used in awarding $23 million in damages to NTP, updated to extend through November.

A possible BlackBerry shutdown has even worried the U.S. government, which expressed concern in November that it could adversely effect day-to-day operations. NTP has said that any halt to BlackBerry service would only apply to non-government users.