Author Archive | Ed Oswald

Time Commits Big To Tablets for Its Magazines

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 3, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Time Inc. is sticking its neck out in a big way, announcing Wednesday its intention to make available tablet versions of its entire U.S. magazine lineup available by the end of the year. If the plans are successful that would be 21 titles in all, and it would also be the first publisher to bring its entire catalog online.

The company makes mention of “leading platforms,” which leads me to believe that it’s referring to iOS and Android. It has also made  some of its magazines available on HP’s TouchPad — which runs WebOS — but it isn’t clear whether Time is including that in the guarantee.

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Targus Lap Lounge: A Nifty Accessory for Couch Potatoes

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 3, 2011 at 11:03 am

Since buying my iPad 2, I’ve found myself consuming more digital video than ever. This is especially true in the mornings, as I lay in bed trying to catch up on the news of the day (and watch Al Jazeera through its awesome iPad app).

Enter Targus and its upcoming Lap Lounge, an iPad 2 stand that is meant to do exactly what its name suggests: sit comfortably in your lap when you’re lounging around in the house, on the plane, and so forth.

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Zune HD Gets A Few New Apps

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 3, 2011 at 10:55 am

Microsoft may never build another piece of Zune hardware, but Microsoft is still moving forward with software for it, at least. On Wednesday, the company released nine new apps for Zune HD users, which owners can grab by heading  to the Zune Marketplace.

The apps include eight games: Finger Paint, Trash Throw, Slider Puzzle, ColorSpill, Splatter Bug, Vine Climb, Decoder Ring, and Tug-O-War. Microsoft has also released a calendar app. Updates for Email, Echoes, Zune Reader and Penalty! Flick Soccer were also part of the update.

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Skype for iPad is Here (For Real This Time)

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 2, 2011 at 10:31 am

After accidentally being released a day early (and subsequently pulled), Skype’s iPad app is now available in the App Store for real. The release ends a long wait for those looking to Skype on their tablets: Skype with video on the iPhone has been available since the beginning of the year, and the iOS app itself for much longer than that.

Skype is playing up the benefits of video chatting on the big screen of the iPad, and I have to agree. While it’s nice to video chat from your phone, I’ve always thought video conferencing does better on bigger screened devices.

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Fugitive’s Foolish Facebook Statuses Gets Him Caught

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 31, 2011 at 10:25 am

Mark Victor Burgos up as one of the world’s most stupid fugitives. The 29-year-old apparently found it amusing to taunt law enforcement over his Facebook page, even going as far as to say in a post “Catch me if you can, I’m in Brooklyn.” Well, guess where cops found him.

Burgos, a Brooklyn resident, was wanted by the Utica, N.Y. Police for questioning surrounding charges of domestic violence and harassment against an ex-girlfriend. Seemingly thinking he could play games with the police over Facebook, he posted a series of taunts, even going as far as posting a video of him walking into what is believed to be an NYPD police station.

Police say that Burgos’ Facebook page was open when they finally tracked him down to an apartment in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. U.S. Marshals and representatives of the NYPD made the arrest, and was transferred back upstate to face a judge on the charges Tuesday.

No word on what Burgos has plead or if Facebook assisted in tracking him down, but he did delete his taunts before police busted through his door — probably realizing they could be used as evidence against him. Probably the smartest thing he did in this whole mess, don’t you think?

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Uber Rides Into Seattle

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 27, 2011 at 4:09 pm

Back in April I told you about Uber–the luxury transportation service that got its start in San Francisco–appearing in New York City. Well, the company is expanding again, this time into Seattle. As in the Big Apple, test cars are limited, and they’re not ready for prime time just yet. In other words, be a little patient.

Here’s how it works: your reservation for a car is placed through Uber’s iPhone app. You’ll then receive a text message when the Uber is expected to arrive, and when it is about to arrive at your location. No money exchanges hands because the payment (with tip included) is done via credit card stored with Uber. Fast and easy.

I can tell you from personal experience during CE Week back in June that the service is nice. In addition to the text, I received calls from the driver confirming my location on his way there, as well as also letting me know he was there in case I might have missed the text message. Pretty good customer service!

I was happy to share the ride with Mrs. McCracken herself (aka Marie Domingo) and we were both impressed with the ride. Yes, it’s more expensive than a cab. But sometimes you’ve got to step it up, you know?

The company is staying pretty tight lipped about its future expansion plans, but it’s obviously taking its time in expanding. If I could make a suggestion, I’d love to see Ubers in Philadelphia (hint, hint).

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Bing Goes Metro

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 21, 2011 at 3:54 pm

(image courtesy Within Windows)

Are you getting the impression that Microsoft is pretty proud of its tile-based, “keep-it-simple-stupid” Metro user interface, as seen in Windows Phone 7? You should. After moving both its MSDN developer site and the Microsoft Download Center to the much simpler layout, Microsoft is about to give its Bing search engine a makeover.

The tiles across the bottom of the Bing screen will show various blurbs of information including local weather, sports and traffic, as well as current trending searches. The idea follows what we’ve seen from Windows 8: that these tiles are meant to display blurbs of useful information in a visually appealing way. And it’s also well-suited for touch-screen devices.

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Apple Speeds Up Plans To Ditch Boxed Software

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 20, 2011 at 8:46 pm

No doubt, the launch of Mac OS X Lion through the Mac App Store has garnered the lion’s share of the tech headlines today. But buried deep within that news was something even more dramatic: the discontinuation of nearly every piece of boxed software Apple currently sells.

AppleInsider reports that resellers on Wednesday received “end of life” (layman’s definition: we’re not selling it anymore) notices for several boxed Apple software products including iWork ’09, Aperture 3, and iLife ’11, as well as the Apple Remote Desktop and Jam Packs for Apple’s GarageBand product.

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Music To Google’s Ears: Facebook Sucks, Say Survey Respondents

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 20, 2011 at 5:21 pm

If you’re on Facebook, chances are that you don’t think it’s anywhere near perfect. At least that’s the findings of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which released its results for 2011 yesterday. Facebook scored a 66 out of 100. While that may not sound that low, it comparison to other sites it is.

Not only is Facebook the lowest ranked social networking site, but it also scored the lowest of any company in the technology business that ACSI studied. Can you say ouch?

Leading the pack in the social media category was Wikipedia, with a score of 78. YouTube came in second at 74, and a category called “Others” at 67. I guess it’s pretty bad when you’re even losing to unnamed services. Social networking in general doesn’t garner high satisfaction overall among consumers, ACSI says. With a group rating of 70, only airlines, newspapers, and subscription television services score lower.

It’s really too early to say whether Google+ may turn the fortunes of this sector around — the survey results were compiled before the site launched. However, researchers believe it may score high. “We do know is that Google is one of the highest-scoring companies in the ACSI,” Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, creator of the ACSI said.

“An existing dominance of market share like Facebook has is no longer a safety net for a company that is not providing a superior customer experience,” he argued. In other words, 2012 could be interesting.

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Verizon Powers 32% of All iPhone 4s in the U.S.

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 7, 2011 at 2:12 pm

If you subscribe to the theory that most potential iPhone buyers on Verizon have held out on purchasing a device till the new model launches this fall, then this statistic should surprise you: 32% of all current iPhone 4 users in the U.S. are on the Verizon network.

Yep, that’s right. Research firm Localytics released data Thursday that shows the device has shown steady growth since its launch on the Verizon network in February. The iPhone 4 started out on the right foot rather quickly, quickly grabbing 20% of the market early on, but its real growth has been over the summer.

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