Latest News

QuickPlay Media has reached a deal with Bell Mobility to power their live and on-demand services – such as live TV and radio.

This is available to Bell customers who have video enabled devices. Streaming live TV on our mobile phone is getting more popular these days…Let’s hope this is a smoother process than it was for Bell when they first announced a live events TV channel for the Beijing Summer Olympics (only 1,000 or so actually signed up for the $8 flat rate charge).

Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media said “QuickPlay is excited that Bell Mobility has chosen us to power its mobile TV services and to build on our long-standing relationship, which now enables Bell to provide subscribers with the option to watch both live and on-demand content on most video-enabled mobile devices. With our flexible mobile video solutions our customers are equipped to not only meet the demands of their customers today, but to accommodate changing mobile content demands and associated service requirements in the future.”

There has been a plethora of concept phones recently and one designed by Mac Funamizu caught my attention.

His design called “Lupa” is pretty stellar. It is your basic candy bar style phone that swivels to reveal a touchscreen. Kinda looks like a iPod/iPhone of sorts, or even very similar to the Motorola Aura. The cool aspect of this design is that it’s so simple and can possibly be made. I would imagine if you are watching video or surfing the internet the transparent screen would somewhat be like a hologram.

Lots of options seem to be available on this concept phone – E-mail, Video, Internet, adjusting your pictures…

More pics here from Design Launches

Markham-based Unify4Life is set to announce “Garage|Shadow” at upcoming CES 2009 this week. Garage|Shadow turns your BlackBerry into a garage door opener. See the video here

David Pogue, the weekly tech critic of the NY Times, spoke at the Entertainment Gathering 2008 a couple weeks ago and has put together a funny into to his Cellphone  Trends for 2009. Imagine a world with no Apple or gadgets… see the video here

In an open letter to the Apple community (basically the entire world with the popularity of the iPhone) Steve Jobs gives insight into his health… sending shares soaring over 3 1/2% this morning already.

“Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.”

Steve

[Apple]

The BlackBerry Storm has been out for a few weeks now in Canada (more shipments are arriving today at Bell and Telus) and some of the feedback has been mixed.

To name a few likes: users enjoy the style, screen resolution, music player and camera features. Some of the main dislikes are the weight, some users are finding the screen has pixel problems and the accelerometer sometimes lags.

A free app from CellAvant has made its way to help with another frustration of Storm users. “TalkLock” is still in beta and it basically puts a lock on the touchscreen when you’re on a call so other programs won’t accidentally start.

Here is the description from their website:

Are you annoyed by the BlackBerry Storm touch screen remaining active during a call? Frustrated with accidental screen presses activating programs while you talk?

CellAvant has the answer… TalkLock. This free utility automatically engages a few seconds after a call is connected, and intercepts touch screen actions. This prevents screen presses from launching programs or invoking functions while you talk.

When the call ends for any reason, TalkLock releases control of the screen until your next call. You can also disable the lock and return to your normal phone behavior at any time by swiping your finger across the screen from left to right.

Features include:
* Automatically runs after installation, and on each reboot
* Automatically activates after phone calls are connected
* Automatically hides when phone calls are completed
* Manual unlock with “slide to unlock” function
* Menu item to re-engage lock after unlock
* Customizeable backround image (uses /home/user/TalkLock-Background.png if it exists under Device Memory)

[BerryReview]

Now that the holidays are over and us Canadians are officially back in the office chair… we can concentrate on pretending to work and surf the internet all day. I did and found Best Buy is joining the “we need to clear our inventory fast” group and decided to have a $0.00 sale on some of their mobile phones.

The Source did this last week with some Rogers devices. In the Best Buy sell off you can find both Rogers, TELUS, Koodo and Fido phones ranging from the BlackBerry Pearl 8220 Flip, BlackBerry Curve 8330, LG KEYBO all phone the rock bottom sale price of $0.00. FutureShop also has the BlackBerry Curve 8330 for $0.00 but that’s about it.

By the end of January we’ll see more clearance sales happening as new devices are launched.

More here at Best Buy and The Source

Palm expected to introduce its Linux-based operating system (code-named Nova) at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. Analysts are saying that this is Palm’s best and last chance to gain any sort of market share in the smartphone market.

Jack Gold, analyst for J.Gold Associates said “The bottom line is this is Palm’s last gasp. They have to come out with a new OS to make themselves relevant again. Their old OS is a geriatric case. It’s been around for a long time and has been marginally improved, but it hasn’t kept pace with the iPhone or (Google) Androids of the world.”

Remember when the “iBeer” iPhone app was cool? Well, it’s now a reality with “Serv O’ Beer“. A little bit of engineering, Contstrux, HTML coding and your iPhone you too can have the perfect pour. Video here

Globalive is ramping up fast – they have plans to open a new customer service centre in Windsor which will create approximately 100 jobs. (75 full time positions and 25 part time).

If you live in Windsor, or simply want to work for Globalive they’re having a job fair on January 7th and looking to hire Customer Service Representatives, a Call Centre Manager, and Call Centre Supervisors. First week of training will start as early as January 12th.

This is big for Windsor and here is a standard press release response: “Locating in Windsor gives us access to a workforce with a reputation for quality, which is essential to our business,” said Ezio D’Onofrio, President of Globalive Communications Corp. “We look forward to having Windsor be a part of our growth.”

Windsor does have a great reputation for quality (in the auto industry)… Most likely this was the most affordable place to put a new office in these economic times.