Latest News

Steve Jobs, Apple Co-Founder, maker of the iPhone and creative genius, is alive and there has been heavy speculation about his health recently. More now as Bloomberg accidentally posted his obituary online yesterday. Gizmodo has it and you can see it here

Toronto-based SilverBirch (video game and mobile markets) has reported Q3 results of $1,955,000, an increase of 498%. SilverBirch President and CEO, Derek van der Plaat, said “I am very pleased with our results this quarter. With our acquisition of Lighthouse, proposed acquisition of Red Mile and the pending launch of CrossFire, the Company anticipates continuing to generate significant revenue gains.”

No doubt this will be a big seller, if not a #1 NY Times bestseller…

Looks like accessing the Internet is harder than we thought. “Mobile Internet For Dummies” has been released and all 296 pages can be yours for $23.99 (CDN). We believe this money can be better spent by increasing your data plan for a month and learning yourself, however, if you are the bookworm type the learnings from this book are:

• Find your mobile phone browser
• Use the Mobile Internet to surf, shop, blog, watch movies, and more — on the go
• Send and receive e-mail from your mobile device
• Locate other mobile applications
• Watch TV on your mobile phone
• Manage your kids’ access to the Mobile Internet
• Secure and name a mobile Internet site and acquire mobile Web development tools
• Build your own made-for-mobile Web site
• Use your Mobile Internet site to promote your business and generate revenue

To give you a taste the publisher has tempted us with 3 exepts from the book. Enjoy:

• Read Excerpt 1 (PDF)
• Read Excerpt 2 (PDF)
• Read Excerpt 3 (PDF)

If you take a look at this PDF chart provided by the CWTA (Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association) you will see that Telus has dramatically increased their number of subscribers this year by adding 264,000. Rogers has added 168,000 subscribers and Bell 117,000 new additions. The report is based on Q1 & Q2 internal data and as a whole, including SaskTel and MTS, the total number of new subscribers was 562,998. We believe the number for Telus increased due to new discount carrier Koodo Mobile.

With all the hype on the recently released BlackBerry Bold, it seems that our buddies over at EngadgetMobile have uncovered a nice piece of artwork. RIM’s entrance into the touchscreen market will be coming up and the devise is now labelled in the US as the “Storm 9530″. This comes loaded with a SIM card and 8GB SanDisk microSD card preinstalled. The name “Thunder” will be for us Canadians and released by Rogers.

“It’s certainly been a difficult year but buying out a partner is never an easy thing.” said Sony CEO Howard Stringer about the joint venture with Ericsson. “We have to work together again as we did two years ago. Or the joint venture will have to find its own solution. You’re always engaged in discussion and negotiation. We and Ericsson are always discussing ways of making Sony Ericsson as successful as it possibly can be.”

Imagine one of those days at work that you just feel like punching something or someone… well, you now can with the one of the first fighting games for the iPhone. No it is not like the real thing or watching UFC, but it certainly comes close and might help release some pent up energy.

It was created bt Solus Games and is available at the Apple App Store for $7.99.

The developer said “FUNKY PUNCH, one of the first fighting games for iPhone/iTouch. Run, Jump, Kick, and Punch your way to victory in this action packed, 3D fighter. Train and test your fighter in a tutorial mode, then go to battle against other funky phenoms using Special and Super Attacks and power up your fighter in battle through dynamic.”

Check out the video here:

Social network Hi5 launched a mobile version of massively popular website: m.hi5.com. If you are a member, the mobile version allows you to send and receive messages, add and request new friends, view your friend’s profiles and make comments. In addition the mobile version will be in real-time so you will have the ability to see is your friends are online. Or, you can just pick up your phone and call or text! More here

AdMob has released their July stats for ads served to mobile devises worldwide. Looks like Nokia is the dominant manufacturer with 32.8% of market share. Motorola is next with 16.2%, followed by Sony Ericsson with 11.2%. In regards to countries: United States lead with 39.6% requests, then Indonesia and India…Canada is nowhere on the map. Read the whole report here (PDF). Now that we have the iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold we might show up

This goes under the “weird mobile ideas” catagory. MobileMoment.ca is an idea dreamed up by Samsung & Koodo. (This is for the ultra shy Torontonian). The object of the site is to post messages and hope to connect with that special person you saw, but did not have the confidence to approach. You can either leave a comment or text to your “moment” via 56366.. oh yes – they are having a “gathering” tomorrow at The Social on Queen West at 9:00pm. Time to get your game on.