If you’re looking for a movie or boxset as a gift for someone of a geeky persuasion, you’re in luck — 2012 was a bumper year for film and TV geekdom. There were hugely anticipated superhero and sci-fi releases at the cinema, while classic geeky TV shows continued to go from strength to strength. I’ve …
Read More »
You want to watch some telly on the Internet — but where do you start? Netflix? Blinkbox? iTunes? LoveFilm? A nifty service called Oric aims to cut through the confusion, making it easy to find your favourite shows like Homeland, Peep Show and The Big Bang Theory, often for free and all in one place. The folks behind Oric started …
Read More »
A former Apple exec, who worked on the first 18 generations of the iPod and was also involved with crafting hardware for the first iPhone, has said sacked software chief Scott Forstall “got what he deserved”. In an interview with the BBC, Tony Fadell, a former vice president of Apple who now works on the Nest thermostat, said Forstall’s departure from the …
Read More »
More bad news for AT&T. Consumer Reports has released its annual carrier ratings. And just as it had in the last two years, AT&T landed in last place, far behind the top major carrier in the roundup, Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless fared somewhat well in the study, earning relatively strong marks on voice and data. The only bright spot in …
Read More »
AT&T’s rough ‘n’ tumble “Rugby” team gets another player in the Samsung Rugby III, a durable flip phone that will feature AT&T’s enhanced push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities. Starting December 14, the Rugby III costs $99.99 with a two-year contract, but free for organizations with an AT&T business account. Preorders begin November 30. Intended to be a simple, sturdy handset, the Rugby …
Read More »
San Francisco startup Basis Science confirmed pricing and availability for its Basis health tracker today. The $199 watch-style gadget hits the market in early December, continuing the evolution of wearable fitness technology for everyday consumers. With a complement of four sensors at its disposal, the Basis device is capable of measuring a wide range of biometric data in real time. …
Read More »
Research in Motion (RIM) is gearing up for its massive BlackBerry 10 (BB 10) launch in January next year, and it’s pitching its reasons for you to jump on the BlackBerry bandwagon this week at BlackBerry Jam Asia in Bangkok, Thailand. (Credit: Joe Hanlon/CNET Australia) The message from the bevy of RIM execs that we’ve heard from at the event …
Read More »
Following Verizon and AT&T, regional carrier C Spire will soon let customers share a pool of data among multiple devices. C Spire’s shared data plan follows Verizon’s model of charging a fee for devices to access the data allotment, in addition to a monthly charge for the data itself. Up to 10 devices can draw from the data pool. $20: …
Read More »
Can a mobile browser be better than the one on your desktop PC? The new BlackBerry 10 browser is, according to its designers at Research In Motion (RIM). A slide used during RIM’s BlackBerry Jam keynote, illustrating the browser’s HTML5 test result. (Credit: Joe Hanlon/CNET Australia) That is, when you’re measuring HTML5 compliance. “We have a more [HTML5] standards-compliant browser …
Read More »
A new BlackBerry has been revealed — but it’s not for you. Unless you’re a developer that is, because the new Qwerty-packing phone is a prototype for people to test their apps with the next-generation BlackBerry 10 software. Unveiled by BlackBerry-builder Research in Motion at a developer event in Bangkok, the testy phone has a Qwerty keyboard and will be …
Read More »
RIM’s stock climbed today in reaction to some rare positive news. Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski increased her rating on RIM stock to “Buy” from “Neutral” today after saying that there’s a “30 percent chance” the company’s BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be successful, the Associated Press reported. A one-in-three chance isn’t all that much to cheer about, but Jankowski’s opinion …
Read More »
Sprint will begin charging Nextel iDEN customers who do not upgrade to Sprint’s CDMA push-to-talk service an extra $10 a month starting in January. The move is apparently designed to encourage customers migrate from the iDEN network, which Sprint plans to shut down on June 30, 2013. The charge will not apply to CDMA customers. “Customers that migrate prior to …
Read More »
Be warned: the smart TV you bought this year will be well and truly obsolete by 2015. And the new ones will be running Android. (Credit: LG) Andrew Ladbroke is an analyst with Informa Telecoms and Media, and one of the authors of the recent smart TV forecast. He took to the Informa company blog with some very interesting predictions …
Read More »
Sony will “loan” an Ultra HD player with 10 movies loaded to anyone in the US who buys its $24,000 TV. (Credit: Sarah Tew) We reported recently that Sony had promised the “world’s first 4K Ultra HD delivery solution” to anyone buying its 84-inch Ultra HD TV. Then we reported that it was for people purchasing in the US only. …
Read More »
The Aussie video-on-demand service has sacked one third of its workforce as it awaits an announcement about new funding. (Credit: Sony; Quickflix) The Australian Financial Review is reporting that Quickflix — the closest thing we have in Australia to Netflix — has slashed one third of its staff as it hits a cash crunch, with just AU$2.2 million in the …
Read More »