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Posted by Anna de Paula Hanika, Android Product Marketing Manager
Not only does the just-announced Nexus One have a beautiful display, snappy processor, and five megapixel camera complete with flash and geotagging, but you can also buy it online with or without a service plan. Plus, it runs Android 2.1, which adds a couple of new features to the native Gmail application:
Quick contact badge: Press the contact status icon within Gmail, and a handy box shows all of the ways you can reply to a contact — including email, chat, SMS, and Facebook.
Voice input: Swipe the keyboard, then just speak to select contacts or write an email, complete with punctuation. Period!
Nexus One also features the Gmail updates of Android 2.0, including:
Multiple Gmail accounts: Sync multiple accounts to the same device and switch between them without leaving the app.
Undo: A handy 'undo' link makes it easier to retrieve messages when you hit archive or delete by mistake. (Note: you can't yet undo send as you can with the desktop version of Gmail).
For more information on Nexus One visit google.com/phone. To learn more about Gmail on this and other Android devices, check out the Gmail page on mobile.google.com/android, or watch this video:
Nothing official yet, but this looks like a pretty good leak. Panasonic loves to do this kind of thing, announcing several cameras at once to distract from the other manufacturers.
Obviously someone made a mistake and leaked this, but it’s bound to happen now that CES is here. No word on pricing or availability yet, but when we see the official release we’ll let you know. And without further ado:
Lumix FP3:
4x Zoom, 3.0″ touchscreen LCD, 14.1 MP, and HD video.
Lumix F3:
4x zoom, 12.1 MP, Face detection, and HD video.
Lumix FH3/FH1:
12.1 MP, 5x zoom, HD 720p video
The original rumor came out of Asia, and was dug up by Photo Rumors.
Apple's iPhone is rather popular for a few reasons, and one of those is 'jailbreaking'; that is, freeing your device from Apple's limitations and installing any software desired. However, it's not all good news, as a hacker has recently broken into some phones and demanded a ransom. The hacker broke into a few unwary Dutch iPhone users' phones, after they made the mistake of leaving their SSH password default, as initially discovered in this thread (in Dutch). According to Ars Technica, the hacker then sent SMS messages from the phones in question stating, "You iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked [link seems to have been taken down now] and secure your iPhone right now!
Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday. Make no mistake, this is Android's flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple's iPhone. And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.
MobileCrunch has been tracking the phone, which has also been called the Tao or Sholes, for some time. Just about anyone who has come in contact with the phone can't stop talking about it. And from what we hear, they have good reason.
The phone is a three-way effort between Motorola, Verizon and Google. It looks a lot like the iPhone, and may even be as thin or thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It also has two key advantages over the iPhone - a slide out physical keyboard, and use of the Verizon network.
Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11 based Android phones that exist today (Engadget has a great overview article on mobile CPUs).
Did Apple swerve us, or are we just a bunch of nincompoops? (I vote for the latter.) So, so many people were expecting to see The Beatles finally show up on iTunes, if not the event itself, yesterday. Nearly 24 hours later, you’re still unable to buy “Help!” from Steve Jobs’ little store. Huge deal, or should we all just move on with our lives? And is the band making a mistake in ignoring the largest music store on Planet Earth?
You all know my opinion when it comes to The Beatles and the iTunes Store: it doesn’t matter to me (and I’d imagine to many of you, too) because I could very easily rip Revolver (or download it from What.cd) and put it on my device of choice. That’s what I said in our live podcast yesterday, that the move to the iTunes Store would be done merely to get a mention on NBC Nightly News at 6:30pm. “In other, non-healthcare news, The Beatles are now available on iTunes. Ask your children and grand-children what that means. We’ll be back, after these messages.”
So, personally, The Beatles not being on iTunes doesn’t affect me in the least. Again, I’m not anti-Beatles, it’s just that I’ve known how to rip a CD for at least 10 years now. (And look, if you’re considering buying The Beatles off iTunes, then you’re obviously not too concerned with sound quality, as you listen on your iPhone in the subway or at the gym. So what if the CDs were terribly processed, you’ll be listening on a cheap portable device on cheap headphones. Real audiophiles would have ponied up for the vinyl ages ago.)
What I would be concerned about, though, is: Is the band making a mistake? The Beatles probably are never going to be hotter than they are this week (save some sort of tragedy), what with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band and that super awesome re-mastered collection. Why not score the hat trick, and put your albums up for sale on iTunes to go along with those other two major releases? My guess is that the band didn’t want to cannibalize sales of the physical album by finally going digital. How horribly short sighted.
Picture this: some 15-year-old kid plays The Beatles: Rock Band with his friend. Do you think this kid has $180 (or $260 at retail) to spend on that re-mastered collection? Nope, but I bet he received an iTunes gift card or two for his birthday.
Amazon is making good after killing copies of 1984 for the Kindle. As you recall, Amazon had to recall the electronic version of the book for copyright reasons.
Purchasers will receive a copy of the book for the Kindle or $30 in credit for Amazon products or a check. So either you can get one book or cash for two or more books.
Giz has the full text of emails being sent to folks who bought the book:
Hello,
On July 23, 2009, Jeff Bezos, our Founder and CEO, made the following apology to our customers:
“This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.
With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com”
As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made. You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30.
Please email Kindle customer support at kindle-response@amazon.com to indicate your preference. If you prefer to receive a check, please also provide your mailing address.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
The Kindle Team
Well that’s nice! Amazon made two mistakes here - they didn’t pay attention to copyright ownership and they didn’t pay attention to the implications of destroying copies of 1984. If this were My Life in France or a Clive Cussler novel, I doubt it would have created such a buzz. However, the irony and newsworthiness of the destruction essentially made this explode. Amazon will probably send flowers next time they have to delete a book like this - and I know they will - in order to head all the outrage off at the pass.
I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but I knew it would — it’s the danger of an always-on, always-connected society. Today, Kindle users found themselves a few books short; Amazon had, with no warning, pulled a kill switch on a set of books which a publisher wanted to no longer offer. The books were sucked out of the devices and customers were credited the ten bucks or whatever they paid — like it never happened. Scary, isn’t it? Orwellian, in fact.
The “kill switch” has been brought up in other circumstances — most prominently with the iPhone. While Apple already holds sovereignty over the App Store’s contents, they also reserve the right to deactivate programs (or, one may extrapolate, activate programs) on any or all phones if they feel it’s necessary (or expedient). I never wanted an iPhone because I didn’t want to have any devices under the control of anyone but myself — and now I’m never going to buy a Kindle.
It’s certainly the publisher’s right to say “Actually… we’re going to stay out of the e-book business for now.” Fine by me, so am I! But they don’t get to come to my device and take my data that I paid for. Sorry, it’s mine now. If, in a physical book, there was to be a typographical mistake on page 45, or royalty issues preventing further printings, I would not allow the publisher to enter my house and take that book without my consent. Maybe they could say “There was a mistake, please send it back and we’ll give you credit, or a replacement book” — and they could have said that this time.
Clearly Amazon was in a tight spot or they wouldn’t do this, but they could have at least kind of done the right thing. Publishing rights are certainly complicated, but they put their head into that lion’s mouth and they’re going to have to make it right for their customers. Here’s their response so far:
The Kindle edition books Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) & Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) were removed from the Kindle store and are no longer available for purchase. When this occured, your purchases were automatically refunded. You can still locate the books in the Kindle store, but each has a status of not yet available. Although a rarity, publishers can decide to pull their content from the Kindle store.
Italics mine.
Unless there is a reckoning here, this sets a truly frightening precedent for the cloud-based, streaming media world we are entering. What about a movie you bought at the store, and made an official licensed back-up copy of on your computer? Can they nab it? What about an app for your phone that you paid $2.99 for, which adds some functionality that you need but Apple doesn’t like? Can they block it, and if you acquire it elsewhere can they remove it remotely? Telescreens are real, pals, and you bought one with a two-year contract.
It was an ugly, ugly thing Amazon did — and, I might add, extremely ironic considering the author they pulled was George goddamn Orwell. But we’d better get used to things like this if we don’t fight to keep what’s ours. This capability is the wet dream of every media lending (as I like to call them) company on the web, and if there’s one thing we teach them during this honeymoon period of beta tests and startups, it’s that this is not allowed.
The Grant Building in downtown Pittsburgh has been spelling out the city’s name in Morse Code via a flashing red light on the top of the structure since 1929. Except that a local grad student recently decoded the message to spell out “PITETSBKRRH” instead.
The building’s owners don’t know how long the message has been flashing incorrectly “or how and when the lights might be reset,” but they’re at least aware of the problem now.
The mistake was spotted by Tom Stepleton, 29, “while waiting to see the city’s Fourth of July fireworks show.”
This week’s deal on Xbox LIVE is Ikaruga, one of the best and most sophisticated shooters ever made. If you’re a Gold member, you can get it for 400 points, equivalent to five American dollars. If you’ve never played what some consider Treasure’s masterpiece, check out the skill-play videos on YouTube. I could beat the game, but barely — there are people doing it playing both players at once, ambidextrously, and never making a mistake.
At any rate, I paid full price for it on Dreamcast (and still have it), so you should definitely shell out a fiver for it on XBLA.
Whoa, Dell, that’s some aggressive pricing on the Wii and Wii Fit. Assuming it’s not a price mistake, you can get — today only — the Nintendo Wii for $199.99 and Wii Fit for $71.99 with free shipping.
The free shipping on Wii Fit is for when it’s bundled with the Wii — otherwise it’s $13 if you buy Wii Fit on its own. Might make a nice way to get in shape for the summer. Oh, and play video games all day long too.
Microsoft blogger, Ed Bott, has uncovered the prices for both the Windows 7 Family Pack and Anytime Upgrade options. According to Bott various retailers have leaked the prices by mistake, which isn't the first time in the history of Windows releases. Retailer Expercom still has the prices live on their site (at the time of writing), University IT Computer Sales also had similar pricing but pulled the information - Google cached copy. Both companies are small resellers and both have assigned official Microsoft part numbers to the products. Expercom valued the Windows 7 Family Pack at $136.95 whilst University IT Computer Sales listed it as $144.95.
Put on your “WTF?!” hats, friends, as we watch this preview of Don’t Copy That Floppy 2. As you might imagine, it’s an anti-piracy video that’s supposed to teach people that Copyright Infringement is very, very wrong. It is a load of liquidy garbage.
The video opens with a scene from the classic comedy Don’t Copy That Floppy. “Hey, I’m too young for a life of crime.”
We’re then whisked into the present day. Some punk kid is on “The Pirate Palace,” presumably downloading Hit Songs and Hit Movies, wily nilly. But the, before you know it, soldiers (or is it police officers? Same difference, right?) burst through the front door, attack the kid’s mother (who attempts to fight back); the family is dragged away in handcuffs; the punk kid is then thrown into prison, where he has trouble making friends with the rest of the prison population.
Look, just because you download Relapse off some Torrent site doesn’t mean a death squad is going to break into your house, beat your family members senseless, then drag you off in handcuffs. (Who would want to live in such a country?)
The video, which was apparently produced by the SIIA, makes the mistake of trying to equate downloading a song with, I don’t know, first degree murder. You know, they’re both crimes and all.
The Fitness Fairy just dropped off the Perfect Pushup V2, from Perfect Fitness. So consider this a quick hands-on, not a full review. (Give me a few days for that.) My first thoughts, compared to the mobile unit I reviewed a few months ago: my God the handles are a lot more comfortable.
So yeah, the main differences here between the first version of the Perfect Pushup (and the mobile one I reviewed) deal with the comfort of the handle and the “spinnyness” of the twisty part. (Technical jargon, I know.) I used it a few times today and the handle is wider than the aforementioned models. It’s pretty helpful, believe me; I’ve been using the mobile unit for months now, and having a wider handle makes grabbing it much easier. The handle itself is softer (like a foam-type material) with grooves, like a Pringle Ruffles. (Edit: I’m a fool, yes. What an odd mistake to make, too, since I always hated Pringles and loved Ruffles.) Now your hands, theoretically, should slip less (but that was never an issue for me).
The other big difference is that it’s a lot more “spinny” this time ’round. That taps into the whole idea behind the Perfect Pushup: as you push up and down, your muscles also have to “fight” all the wobbliness caused by the rotation. The smoother the rotation, the harder your muscles have to work.
The Perfect Pushup V2 came out earlier his month. It’s $40. That’s less than what you pay for your iPhone plan, lol!
Oh, and here’s a pic of the new Perfect Pushup XP that I saw last week. It’ll be available this autumn. The handle detaches and you can use it as an easy access free weight. The handle, as you can see, is also more ergonomically-minded, with contours for your hands, rather than just a straight bar as in the V2 and other models.
When Nokia launched its Ovi Store for mobile applications a month ago, it was clear that - despite its less than stellar launch - it would be a mistake to simply dismiss the Finnish mobile juggernaut’s efforts as meaningless. The company may be struggling to stay relevant on the software and services side, but with a reach like Nokia’s on the handset distribution level I think it goes without saying that a lot of eyes are firmly fixed on Nokia’s initiatives in the field.
Nothing official yet, but this looks like a pretty good leak. Panasonic loves to do this kind of thing, announcing several cameras at once to distract from the other manufacturers.
Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new 
The Grant Building in downtown Pittsburgh has been spelling out the city’s name in Morse Code via a flashing red light on the top of the structure since 1929. Except that a local grad student recently decoded the message to spell out “PITETSBKRRH” instead.
This week’s deal on Xbox LIVE is 
Whoa, Dell, that’s some aggressive pricing on the Wii and Wii Fit. Assuming it’s not a price mistake, you can get — today only — the Nintendo Wii for $199.99 and Wii Fit for $71.99 with free shipping. 
When