Archives For Mobile

sansa.jpgThe last time I quizzed my contact at Pandora on making their service portable, I commuted two hours a day and worked out of an office. With a new work-from-home lifestyle, my desire for portable Pandora has diminished… However, I still think this is a great avenue for them to explore (even being geographically challenged). I’m betting something like a “Sansa Connect with Pandora” would generate a lot of interest amongst the digerati. Mp3.com writes:

Cutting the chord between Internet radio and the PC is vital to the business, [founder] Westergren says, noting that his company is on the hunt for deals with portable devices. “It’s definitely holding us back and we’re not sitting idly by,” he says. “Our intention is to make radio, period, and to be radio with a capital R you have to be everywhere, you can’t just be on the PC.”

And speaking of mobile tunes… Once I get done with my next round of travels (Bay Area & Denmark) I’m going to give Yahoo’s unlimited music download service a spin on my Samsung Blackjack and OTTO review sample.

(via Orbitcast)

gigabeat.jpgI guess it’s really no surprise that Microsoft would kill their Portable Media Center platform, considering the continually shrinking laptops and ever more powerful smartphones. And, as a former supervisor who often mixed metaphors might say, the non-PlaysForSure OEM-hating Zune really “threw a fork into the wrench.” Microsoft’s PMC interface and functionality were decent, so hopefully we’ll see the evolution of this technology bundled into Windows Mobile 7.

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Roxio is putting out a pair of media manipulation applications this week.

First up is Crunch, a Mac app design to convert video for iTunes, iPod, Apple TV, and (hopefully) iPhone playback. Crunch ($40) will handle DivX, AVI, MPEG and even DVDs… though it won’t remove encryption. Check out the AppleInsider pre-release review.

In conjunction with the Blackberry Curve announcement, RIM and Sonic introduced a (free) Blackberry-specific Media Manger (PC only) for multimedia organization, conversion, and transfer. Pearl and 8800 owners will also be provided the software at some point. If the Blackberry Forums are any indication, an app like this is long overdue and will be useful in pitching Berries are non-business phones.

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Both Hilton Hotels and American Airlines announced this week they are ramping up programs to entertain their traveling clientele.

First up, American Airlines revealed they will be running a four month pilot (pun!) program in which business/first class customers will be loaned Archos 704 PMPs and Bose QuietComfort headsets. Don’t worry, though — us working class coach customers will have the option of renting a lower-end Archos with earbuds. (Fees haven’t been disclosed yet.) The portable media centers will be preloaded with movies, shows, and tunes.

I can’t imagine the maintenance of the devices (loading media, wiping them down) will be efficient and I wonder how well the hardware will hold up. I also wonder if folks in coach will bother paying. I know I won’t. However, I would pay big bucks for an Internet connection.

hilton_goes_high_tech_in_guest_rooms.jpgMeanwhile, Hilton Hotels is rolling out home theater accommodations in Chicago and San Francisco. The 50 rooms will each be outfitted with a 42″ plasma, Yamaha YSP-800 digital sound projector, HD DirecTV, and XM radio programming. In addition, a “connectivity panel” and Monster Cable pack will be provided to link all sorts of MP3 players and digital cameras. Paris Hilton had no comment.

Drool-Worthy Camera?

Mari Silbey —  April 16, 2007 — 4 Comments

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A press release crossed my inbox today with the announcement of a new camera by DXG USA. Now I have a great digital camera, but this release promised multimedia nirvana in one little device, all for just $199.

Before I get to the catch, here are some of the features of the DXG-589V. It’s a combination 5 megapixel camera, VGA camcorder, video game player, digital music player and video recorder that takes input from TVs and DVD players. Video is MPEG-4 with 30 frames per second at a 640×480 resolution. For gaming, the device has a flip screen and 20 built-in, full-color games. Not particularly exciting for a real gamer, but for someone like me who just likes to have something handy to do while waiting in line, it sounds great.

So why the second thoughts?

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