In (Reluctant) Defense of Cable TV

The New York Times’ Matt Richtel and Brian Stelter have a nice story today on the threat posed to traditional cable TV by free and low-cost Internet TV. Despite the growing sophistication of Web service, Americans still haven’t  started cutting the cable cord in droves. Richtel and Stelter point to popular content that’s not available (legally) online–such as American Idol and True Blood–as a primary explanation for cable’s continued viability.

I’ve been writing about the idea of dumping cable for a long time and am instinctively drawn to it…but I haven’t done it. In our household, we’re heavy watchers of Netflix on Demand via a Roku box. We also watch Hulu and occasionally partake of movies and TV on iTunes and Amazon on Demand. But we still consume plenty for Comcast Xfinity cable TV. (For that matter, we also buy DVDs, and I’ve been known to pull out VHS tapes.)

Continue reading this story…

Forget the Leak, Halo: Reach Was Downloadable

If you lack scruples, you might be interested to know that some hackers found an early version of Halo: Reach on Xbox Live, stole it, and put the code on file-sharing websites.

Personally, I can wait until Halo: Reach’s September 14 launch date. What piqued my interest was the means by which the hackers took the game.

Continue reading this story…

Apple’s Google Voice Pondering Goes on. And on.

TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid notes that it’s now been a year since Apple told the FCC that it hadn’t rejected Google’s Google Voice app–it was just concerned about Google Voice bypassing the iPhone’s own Phone interface, and “pondering” how to respond.

Twelve months later, Apple is still pondering–which is confusing, because it’s also approved Line 2, Skype, and other apps which let you make phone calls without using the iPhone’s phone features. Meanwhile, Google ended up releasing a Web-based version of Voice for iPhone users–not bad, but nowhere near as seamless as the native one for Android and BlackBerry. And most of the other interesting things that Google has done for iPhone users in the past year have come in the form of Web apps, not local ones. I don’t think Google is boycotting the iPhone, but it sure would be understandable if it preferred not to invest a lot of time in apps that Apple might decide to “ponder” indefinitely rather than approve.

If there’s any explanation for Apple’s permanent pondering of Google Voice at the same time that it approves other phone apps that doesn’t involve its rivalry with Google, I’d love to know what it is. And I’d love to know the FCC’s take on Apple’s explanation. Maybe it’s still pondering it.

Meanwhile, Kincaid notes at the end of his story that he, like TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, is one of the few folks who have been permitted to port their existing phone number to Google Voice, making it possible to make that number reach them on any phone. He says Google plans to roll out the feature to everyone “soon.”

20 Hilarious Google Voice Transcription Bloopers, Flubs, and Fails

If Google Voice is the Swiss Army knife of call management services, speech-to-text voicemail transcription is the questionable nail file. Google Voice’s transcription failures are well-documented around the Internet–entire Web sites are dedicated to these follies. They’re more amusing than frustrating, provided you’ve got a sense of humor. Fascinated with Google Voice’s brand of surreal humor, I set out to find the best (worst) Google Voice transcription errors. I found them around the Web, and collected more from the Technologizer comunity, including our founder. Read on for some examples of why Google Voice transcription still has a very, very long way to go.

Continue reading this story…

Technologizer Recapped for the Week of August 15th, 2010

Time for a new Technologizer feature: a handy wrap-up of the stuff we wrote about all week long. I’m cheerfully borrowing the idea from Andrew Sullivan, and hope you’ll discover (or rediscover) some worthwhile reading…

Continue reading this story…

Best Buy to Sell Tablets This Year–Yep, That’s Plural!

Forbes’ Elizabeth Woyke reports that Best Buy intends to have a variety of tablets in stock by the holidays–which means that it shouldn’t be too long until the iPad isn’t the only iPad-like device sold by the nation’s largest electronics retailer. I’m dying to know which models it expects to be available this year. Shawn Score, the Best Buy exec quoted in the story, isn’t naming names, but says there will be a “great selection.”

(Oddly enough, he also says “it won’t be 32″–which is precisely the number I rounded up last week.)

Apple’s iPad, LG and the Tablet Creation Myth

You needn’t look far to find criticism of Apple’s iPad as a device for consumption, not creation.

The latest volley comes from Chang Ma, vice president of marketing for LG’s mobile device unit, who hyped LG’s upcoming Android tablet as a productivity tool. Paraphrasing Ma, the Wall Street Journal says he likes the iPad, but doesn’t do much work on it, and that’s where the LG tablet will stand apart.

I call bull. While Ma is right that the iPad flounders with creativity in some areas — but not others — the iPad’s limitations are often inherent to its form. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s look at some other “iPad consumption vs. creation” arguments and consider whether another tablet could do better.

Continue reading this story…

HP WebOS and Windows Tablets Are Real

We now finally have confirmation that HP plans to bring to the market both Windows and WebOS-based tablets, the first time the company has publicly confirmed its plans. The confirmation came from personal systems chief Todd Bradley during the company’s quarterly results call.

HP’s on again/off again Windows Slate would be the first to appear in “the near future.” This would be followed by the release of the WebOS tablet — which some are guessing will be dubbed the PalmPad — early in 2011. There is very little detail as to the specifics of these devices, but at least we can officially put to rest the speculation on the company’s plans, no?

The acquisition of Palm led many to believe that the company would be more apt to sell a tablet based on WebOS simply because it would obviously be cheaper to use in-house code. But the company’s silence on its plans, and even some of its public statements, led some in the media to speculate that it had given up on the Windows Slate altogether.

In any case, all this apparent delay is good for one company in particular, and that’s Apple. It’s iPad continues to be the flagship device of this market segment, and the longer competitors wait, the further it will get out ahead. Time is of the essence here.

Bank of America to Test Mobile Payments

Bank of America expects to begin a test in New York City in September to see if a system the company has set up to allow consumers to pay for purchases using their mobile phones is viable. Initially, BP gas stations, New York City taxis, Burger King, McDonald’s, Home Depot, and the Walgreen’s and CVS drug store chains will accept the mobile payments.

The test would run through the end of the year, according to a Reuters report.

The system works through a specially-equipped micro SD card that is inserted into the phone. The technology was created by DeviceFidelity, and uses Near-Field Communication (NFC) to communicate with the payment device. A solution is also available for the iPhone, but involves using a special case to be installed on the phone.

Continue reading this story…

If the PS3 is Jailbroken, Can We Have Other OS Back?

Although I never found much utility in Other OS, a Playstation 3 feature that could turn the console into a basic computer running Linux, my heart went out to people who used Other OS before Sony scrapped it.

Sony said it removed Other OS in March to “protect the integrity of the console,” possibly because one hacker came too close to exploiting the feature in a way that would allow piracy. But now, OzModChips claims to have the first PS3 modchip on a USB stick. In theory, this allows people to play bootleg and homebrew games and make disc backups. Supposedly, it can also bypass firmware updates that Sony might use to banish the hack.

If Sony’s piracy safeguards have indeed fallen, I propose that Sony should bring back Other OS. After all, once the integrity of the console is lost, there’s no point in protecting it at the expense of users who did no harm.

A typical argument against draconian anti-piracy measures goes like this: Such attempts are pointless, because they eventually fail, and the only people who suffer are paying customers who have to jump through hoops. That argument didn’t apply to the Playstation 3, because it was rock solid against hackers for almost four years, and legitimate customers were none the wiser.

With the removal of Other OS, everything changed. A feature was lost, and now it appears that Sony’s previously unhackable machine is defeated through unrelated means. I’m skeptical of OzModChips’ solution, which costs $170, until it’s verified by an independent source, but if it’s legitimate, why should Sony pretend that removing Other OS keeps the Playstation 3′s integrity intact?

Gadgets, Games, and Me

Quick note: I’m going to be a guest on today’s Gadgets & Games show on FoxNews.com at 3pm ET. I’m looking forward to chatting about the week’s tech news with host Clayton Morris and fellow guests PCMag.com Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff, Laptop Magazine Editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer, and Gizmodo reporter Matt Buchanan. You can watch here–join us!

Android Photo Fun

You don’t have to go far to have a little fun with your Android phone photos. There are plenty of free apps for editing pics on the fly, with features like cropping, colorizing, graphic overlays, and word bubbles. Amazingly, this was novel stuff just a few short years ago. In the fall of 2006 I contracted briefly with a start-up company that had developed an application for adding funny sayings to your cell phone photos. You would take a picture, text it with a particular code, and watch it return a short while later with a designated caption. Sounds downright archaic in 2010.

Continue reading this story…

Bizzy, an Intriguing But Incomplete Local-Business Guide

I’ve been playing with Bizzy, a new service that feels a little bit like Facebook, a little bit like Yelp, and a little bit like Groupon. It has lots of potential, although at the moment it feels like an interesting framework that hasn’t yet been stocked with useful information.

The site–which currently provides information for San Francisco, New York, Dallas, and Shreveport, Louisiana–is one of a bevy of new companies built around the idea of connecting consumers with local businesses. More than most, though, it focuses on letting you keep tabs on your favorites rather than helping you find a place to go on one particular night.

Continue reading this story…

RIM Wants to Play in the Mobile Ad Sandbox, Too

RIM is looking to stay on even footing with its competitors, so it is reportedly shopping around for an acquisition target in the mobile space, the Wall Street Journal claims. Mobile ad provider Millenial Media has been named as a possible target, although the paper says that talks have stalled over disagreements on a purchase price.

The company believes that competitors Apple and Google overpaid for their own mobile ad acquisitions, so they are not willing to go that same route. Google paid about $750 million for AdMob, while Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless was for an undisclosed sum — although likely in that same neighborhood.

I’m not so sure that buying a mobile ad company is in the best interest of RIM at this point. The company really doesn’t have the money to be playing cat and mouse in the acquisition market with its obviously bigger rivals. And it’s own install base is shrinking as consumers increasingly turn to the Android and iOS platforms.

Shouldn’t RIM be focused on turning the BlackBerry around rather than selling ads on your phone? I think the answer there is pretty easy.

So Was This the Verizon TV Tablet?

You may remember my post earlier this month on a supposed Verizon TV tablet. Well, it became reality I guess, somewhat. Verizon on Wednesday demoed an upcoming iPad app that would allow its users to watch live television from it’s FiOS service. The app would essentially stream whatever is being played on the users home FiOS box.

According to Verizon CIO Shaygan Kheradpir, the company is in the process of getting the go-ahead from the content owners — the technology to make this app a reality is already in place. If Verizon gets it out quick enough, it could be one of the first with live streaming capabilities.

Probably not though — Kheradpir said the app is targeted for a fourth quarter release. But it could be faster if the content owners move quickly to give Verizon the go ahead, his comments seem to suggest.

Dish has announced a Sling-based app for iOS and Blackberry, but that is not slated to debut until October. Other offerings, such as AT&T’s UVerse TV app, allow for streaming but it’s prerecorded content delivered from the company itself and not the user’s set-top box at home.

Now, I’m not saying that the Verizon TV tablet as reported is not going to materialize, but it looks clear that the company is at least ready to work with already existing platforms — which is a good business move overall.

[Hat tip: GigaOm]

One Big Reason Why Facebook Places Beats Foursquare: Clarity of Identity

So Facebook has begun rolling out Places, its answer to Foursquare, Gowalla, MyTown, and every other mobile service that lets you broadcast your location by checking into local businesses and other locations. So far, I have only partial access: I can see friends who have checked in, but can’t check in myself.

Until now, the location service I’ve used most often has been Foursquare. I have fun with it. But I’ve also found it frustrating in one major way which I believe Places will address–it’s often unclear just who people on Foursquare are.

Continue reading this story…