Microsoft Begins Windows Phone 7 Ad Push

Microsoft is beginning its advertising push for Windows Phone 7, and its first ad conjures up imagery of Lawrence of Arabia (heck, it WAS shown before a screening of the flick in London so take it as you will). As the phone appears out of the haze of the desert, a message appears in an Arabic-looking font stating “The Revolution is Coming.”

What do you think of this first ad for WP7? Feeling hyped about this yet?

Google TV vs. Apple TV: It May be War, But They’re Nothing Alike

I’m home from the IFA conference in Berlin, but the show continued on without me–and today’s major event was a keynote by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, with an extended demonstration of Google TV. You can watch it here.

The Google TV demo didn’t really involve any new news, but it was significant as Google’s first public walkthrough of the platform since Apple announced the all-new Apple TV. The names may be similar, but the two companies’ approaches to TV really are radically different.

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More and More iPadversaries: ViewSonic, Toshiba, Archos

A few weeks ago, I rounded up scads of current and upcoming tablets–ones from big companies, ones from little companies, ones that look a lot like the iPad, and ones with personalities all their own. It wasn’t the least bit shocking that my list was incomplete when I published it, or that it grows more out-of-date every day.

Gizmodo’s Gary Cutlack has a new post up about five tablets that weren’t among the thirty-two I wrote about. One’s the iPad itself (hey, it’s a tablet and it seems to have potential!). Another is the reasonably interesting Samsung Galaxy Tab, which I saw last week at IFA.

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My6sense Now Predicts What Android Users Like

Last week, I wrote a story for PC World about Gmail’s priority inbox feature, which flags unread messages as important depending on previous interactions and other cues. My hope was that the same idea — algorithmic sifting of the web’s information overload — would find its way to other services like social networking and RSS feeds.

Turns out, there’s a free app for that. It’s called My6sense, and it launched today for Android phones, though it’s been available in the iPhone App Store since last year.

My6sense connects with Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz (in Android only, for now) and RSS feeds, and tries to display the most interesting content on top. At first, the selection is a crapshoot, picking out stories and status updates that are getting a lot of responses. Over time, the app digs through everything you click on to determine your favorite publications, authors, keywords and topics. It also considers how long you spend reading a particular story, separating skimmed articles from ones that hold your attention.

I haven’t used My6sense enough to get past the initial stages of randomness, but already I can tell that the app is throwing away some insubstantial news articles and Tweets about breakfast. Even when you command My6sense to include status updates that don’t have links, it still puts a heavy emphasis on link Tweets.

This is clearly a consumption tool; you can share stories, but can’t post any original content to Facebook or Twitter from the app. In that regard, I see My6sense as part of the new breed of apps and services that distill social networking into pure content curation. But while Flipboard and paper.li rely on other people to pick the best stories, My6sense trusts the process to a computer algorithm. Which system works better is, fortunately, still left for humans to decide.

Join Me for Google’s Search Event

This Wednesday, September 8th at 9:30am PT, Google is holding an event at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. It says attendees will have the opportunity to “share our latest technological innovation and to get an inside look at the evolution of Google search.” Which is vague but intriguing.

I’ll be there in person–and will liveblog the news as it happens at technologizer.com/google-sep2010. Hope to see you then…

A Clamshellized iPhone

I’ve often said that if Apple made an iPhone with a physical keyboard, I’d probably choose it over the all-touchscreen version. So I’m sorry I missed this upcoming product at IFA: An iPhone case with a built-in keyboard. (I assume we’ll see iPad cases based on the same principle, too.)

2010: The Year We Make Contact

Discovered via Twitter, a 1964 video clip of Arthur C. Clarke talking saying smart things about communications fifty years or so in the future:

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is Going to be Pricey. Or Cheap. Or Maybe Both.

How much will Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet (which I tried at IFA last week) cost? One report says it could go for around $1000, or twice as much as the cheapest iPad. But others quote less alarming estimates of $200 to $400.

Actually, all the figures could be correct: They involve multiple countries, and some are full price while others are what you’d pay after signing up for a 3G contract. (Samsung plans to sell the tablet exclusively through carriers, so most or all of the folks who buy one will presumably get a subsidized price.)

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Portable, Stable, Fashion…

From IFA in Berlin, a handout from Taiwan’s interestingly-named Ontop Technology, which was exhibiting a tablet. (I say “exhibiting” rather than “demonstrating” because it was turned off, and nobody at the booth seemed interested in powering it up.)

I’m not sure why an iPad is shown here–is Ontop makes another tablet that looks exactly like Apple’s product (unlikely!), or saying its tablet compares favorably with the iPad, or just basking in reflected glory?

Apple TV Sets: They’re Here!

You know that venerable rumor about Apple TV sets? Well, they’re here at  the IFA tech show in Berlin. Sort of. What I’m trying to say is that I came across these flatscreens in one booth.

Of course, this particular Apple TV is from weirdly-shaped TV specialist Hannspree, and it’s actually one of the company’s less eccentric models.

I assume Apple can’t prevent Hannspree from selling an apple-shaped TV, but I do wonder about the Apple-ish logo on the larger model. Do Steve Jobs’s trademark attorneys know about this?

The Curse of 3D TV

(At Panasonic’s IFA booth: People using 3D glasses and monitors to watch the live women in front of their faces.)

If you determine the big story here at the IFA tech show here in Berlin based on raw square footage in the booths, there’s no question what it is: 3D TV is everywhere.

The massive booths of consumer-electronics giants such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and Toshiba are dominated by 3D. There’s 3D that requires pricey active-shutter glasses. There’s 3D that uses cheaper passive specs. (There’s even 3D from the Fraunhofer Institute that doesn’t need glasses.) There are 3D games and 3D Blu-Ray players and 3D soccer broadcasts and 3D LCD sets and 3D plasmas and 3D projectors and giant walls made out of 3D screens.

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Yep, Duke Nukem Forever is Happening

As rumored, 2K Games is reviving Duke Nukem Forever, the first-person shooter that was canned when original developer 3D Realms shut down last year.

2K, which says it has the publishing rights, has turned development over to Gearbox Software, best known for its recent work on Borderlands. If you don’t count the 16-month hiatus, Duke Nukem Forever is now in its 12th year of development, and if it’s actually released next year for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC, as planned, it will no longer be video gaming’s greatest example of vaporware, but rather an impressive feat of deposition.

I’ve already grumbled about how a completed Duke Nukem Forever just doesn’t seem right. I liked it better as an example of video gaming’s relentless technical improvements, and one developer’s futile attempts to keep up, than an actual product you can play. But unless you believe in curses, the game is going to be made, so now I’ve got a bunch of questions in light of all the time that’s passed.

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Apple Ramping Up iPad Production

Industry watchers typically like to use shipping times as a gauge of popularity. Under this logic, the reduction of shipping times for the iPad from several days down to less than 24 hours may lead you to believe that demand may finally be cooling. Not so fast, says Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty.

Huberty is pointing out that the company recently boosted production up to two million devices per month, double its initial manufacturing capacity. Apple is not satisfied either: it plans to ramp this up to three million a month during the crucial holiday shopping season. With a production rate like that, it’s hard to imagine Apple having any problem keeping it on the shelves.

Apple has repeatedly said it has been “surprised” by the heavy demand for the product since it launched in April. About one milion per month have sold, leading several analysts to believe that the Cupertino company could ship as many as 10 million units during 2010 alone.

It’s success is also making it that much harder for new entrants into the sector, given that Apple has a large marketshare and practically all the buzz in the tablet PC sector. Say what you want about Apple, but they certainly have positioned the iPad well to maintain its dominance for at least the near future if not longer.

Want Avatar on 3D Blu-ray? First, You’ll Need a Panasonic TV

Nine months after Avatar’s theatrical release, it’s still regarded as the pinnacle of 3D entertainment. So it’s too bad that only buyers of Panasonic 3D televisions will get the movie when it’s released on 3D Blu-ray in December.

For an undisclosed period of time, Avatar will be bundled with Panasonic’s 3D televisions, and won’t be sold through any other means, Twice reports. Panasonic wants to make the movie available to people who have already purchased a Panasonic 3D TV, but is still working out the details. Avatar could be bundled with Panasonic 3D Blu-ray players and home theaters as well, but the company  wouldn’t confirm whether this is going to happen.

Avatar isn’t the first 3-D movie to be given exclusively to a single television brand — Samsung bundles Monsters vs. Aliens, and Panasonic has offered Coraline and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. TV makers lock down these deals to convey the idea that 3D content actually exists, and Hollywood studios like the deals because they provide a guaranteed return on the 3D investment.

But as CNet points out, Avatar will likely be the first live-action 3-D Blu-ray movie available in the United States. It’s a big deal, and locking it down to one TV maker is a short-sighted move by Panasonic and 20th Century Fox, one that puts their own interests ahead of 3D’s greater well-being. The exclusive Avatar deal might boost Panasonic’s sales this holiday season, but when prospective buyers learn that almost every other 3D Blu-ray disc is also tied down to specific televisions, at the expense of having lots of movies on store shelves, they might sour on the idea of 3D TV altogether.

Your Chance at a Free Copy of Roxio Creator 2011

Last week, I wrote about Roxio Creator 2011, the new version of the do-it-all creativity software for Windows that includes video, audio, and photo editing, file conversion and sharing, disc burning, and more–including new 3D capabilities. The Roxio folks have offered to give free copies of the $79.99 software to five Technologizer readers. We’ll choose the winners in a random drawing–here are three ways to get your name in:

1) Add a comment to this post talking about the the most important audio, video, and/or photos in your life. (Be sure and provide a working e-mail address so we can contact if you win,)

2) Send me an @reply on Twitter (where I’m @harrymccracken) with thoughts about your most important media. (Follow me so I can direct message you if you win.)

3) Head to Technologizer’s Facebook page and leave a message on our wall with your thoughts about your most important media.

Whichever method you choose, do it by 12pm noon PT on Sunday, September 5th–we’ll pick winners from everyone who’s entered as of then.

Good luck! We’ll report back here once we’ve found our winners.

Twitter for iPad: Great Work, Loren Brichter! What’s Next?

Loren Brichter–the creator of Tweetie, the app that became Twitter’s official Twitter app–is a genius. Or at least one of the smartest software interface designers who’s ever coded. His latest work is Twitter’s official iPad app, and he’s done it again.

As with Tweetie Twitter for iPhone, this new program manages to be exceptionally approachable and remarkably deep at the same time–and it feels like its iPhone predecessor while simultaneously taking full advantage of the iPad. The interface uses ingenious sliding panels to let you drill down into tweets, Twitter users, and embedded content–you can look at Web pages and even watch videos without leaving the app.

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