[MobileRatty] tag: local

New AT&T BlackBerry Bold Release Date: Oct. 2 [Unconfirmed]

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Even though giddy AT&T employees gushed to us all about the BlackBerry Bold price and release date they'd been told when they caught a peek at ours, it looks like the dudes on top have decided to push the launch date back a bit, to Oct. 2—possibly to iron out some issues. But, stores will be allowed to start ordering them on Sept. 24, meaning if you're in good with your local store, you might be able to grab one a little bit before the Oct. 2 street date Boy Genius is touting. The $299 price still looks solid though. [BGR]

Buy 120GB Zune on Amazon!

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:44:53 +0000

Buy 120GB Zune on Amazon!

Now you can get the 120GB Zune on Amazon. Yey!

Music and entertainment, your way. That’s what the Zune 120 GB Digital Media Player is designed to deliver. The Zune easily connects you with your music, videos, and pictures wherever and whenever you want, and unlike the iPod, it even has a built-in FM tuner so you can keep up with local news and sports. Your Zune gives you the power to wirelessly share full-length tracks, playlists, pictures and podcasts with your other Zune-wielding friends. And when you receive songs that you just can’t get out of your head, you can easily tag the songs and buy them the next time you sync up. Whether you’re listening to music, radio, or rocking out to the latest music videos on the bright, roomy screen, the Zune allows you to tailor your entertainment, right in the palm of your hand.

via engadget

Brought to you by: Zedomax.com

Buy 120GB Zune on Amazon!

UK: Samsung to empty 5m in to Omnia Advertising!

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:35:47 +0000

We’ve known the Omnia has been coming for some time - we’ve even seen the Ads in the sunday newspaper today - but what is the total cost of all that marketing and advertising in the UK? Well, according to Mobile News, we now have an answer……

….. and the answer is nearly £5m!

The Omnia has come at somewhat an awkward time, in so much as the established competition (a certain Apple device) is selling like the proverbial ‘hotcakes’, and other newcomers such as the Nokia N96, and Sony Ericsson Xperia are looming on the horizon.

So it would appear Samsung is going to address this by dumping a ton of cash in to making sure that everyone and his mate knows about this device! Oh, and the global marketing campaign is going to hit around £24m, just in case you were wondering.

In the UK at least, Samsung has qualified their spend to say it covers advertising in the press, online, and also outdoor (in ‘the street’ so to speak), but no TV Ads. So I think once it is done, we are all going to be pretty aware of this touch-based smartphone….

I’ve still got to wonder though - does that UI layer that Samsung have added to WinMo really make it competitive with the iPhone’s native UI? Best get myself down the local mobile shop and find out!!

[Via: mobilenewscwp.co.uk]

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Morphy Richards Internet Radio

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:30:08 +0000

How many of you still tune in to your once-favorite DJs at a local radio station? Not many, I suppose, what with the advent of MP3s as well as podcasts and Internet radio. I must say that with speeds of Internet connectivity getting faster and faster all the time, Internet radio is starting to look all the more attractive to just about any and every layer of society, so one might as well keep up with the times by jumping onto the Internet radio bandwagon. But how do you get started, you ask? The answer is as simple as bringing the Morphy Richards Internet Radio home.

As long as you have a Wi-Fi internet connection set up at home, this smart internet radio automatically detects your network connection and hey presto, you have access to over 4,000 radio stations from all over the world. Tune in from the comfort of your home to a radio station anywhere in the world. You’ll find all radio stations conveniently listed by genre and country for fast browsing using the user friendly controls on the front of the Wi-Fi radio, and you can save up to six favorite stations. All the nation’s favorites are on there such as BBC Radio 1 to 5 and you can even listen to BBC Radio shows from the last couple of days through BBC iPlayer! An available line in lets you connect your iPod or MP3 player to the Wi-Fi radio and play your favorite tracks through the internet radio speakers, and a handy SD card slot can be used to play music. You can even play music from your computer through the Internet Radio via a Wi-Fi connection! Order your Morphy Richards Wi-Fi radio now and tune into any radio station, anywhere in the world.

This puppy can be yours for £54.95 a pop.

[ Morphy Richards Internet Radio copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.

Surfer's Multi-Tool

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:01:00 +0000

Featured recently in Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools (edited by Steven Leckart) so you know it must be good.

Here's Rob Kieswetter's August 19, 2008 review.
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Surfer's Multi-Tool

Since I started working in the shop about four months ago, I've been using The Tool fairly regularly, mostly to tighten or install fins with the flathead screwdriver and the Allen wrench. The little hook/prong tool is solid for jamming the string used to attach a leash to a board through a surfboard's leash plug.Though the Phillips rarely gets used in surf-related application, it's still handy to have for random, non-surfing needs.To buy all these tools separately, I guess you'd spend about 30 bucks, maybe less, so it's not a huge savings. But you have to factor in the convenience of the one-stop tool shop. That has value, to me, especially on the go, in the car, and on the beach. They're not flying off the shelves at our shop, but we have had several customers specifically request them and a few folks have been impressed after seeing them in action. I rarely use wax combs, but even if I did, I actually would hesitate to use this one, get it covered in wax, then throw it back in my pocket or bag. Once you get wax all over it, next comes sand, pet hair, you name it. Then again, carrying The Tool you'll always have a comb handy. In dire straits, you could use it and deal with the sticky aftermath.
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Added Leckart, "'The Tool' is a minimalist stainless steel multi-tool intended for surfers. It has an Allen wrench, Phillips and standard screwdrivers, wax comb and a leash hook. I asked a friend who works in a surf shop in Venice, California if he'd heard of it. Turns out he uses it almost daily."

From the Corsurf (The Tool's creator) website:
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The Tool

Finally, one tool is all you need.

It has a tool to change any fin system on the market: Allen wrench, standard and Phillips screwdrivers, a built-in wax comb and an all-new "leash hook" for those micro leash cups.

The Tool is made of high-quality, non-plated stainless steel so it will not rust or strip.

The Tool also comes with a lanyard strong enough to double as a leash string for those overhead leash snapping days.

For those far away trips or your local break, never be without again.
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Full disclosure: I haven't a clue what "micro leash cups" or "overhead leash snapping days" are — but you might.

$14.99.

Nokia UK - a selection of prices

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:22:34 +0000

Tis the season of Nokia madness, when it gets a ton of devices out there for purchase - nope, hang on, that’s all the time!

Anyhoo, just a quick round-up of “prices and devices” on the Nokia UK site right now - check out some keenly priced devices, plus one very interesting pre-order…..

First out of the gate is the E71 - the seriously good-looking emailer device that is going to bring the pressure to the Blackberry Bold. This device is much smaller than it looks, and is retailing online for the princely sum of £330. I’d have one in a hearbeat - ba-dump - oh look, I’ve just clicked on buy on the website!

Moving along swiftly, there are a number of devices that are now established in the marketplace, and hence don’t have such a premium pricetag attached to them any longer. I’d draw your attention to the former top-dog, the N95-8Gb, now retailing at £400. This is one seriously good handset, and to my mind in Top 5 of all-time devices.

But what about that hot pre-order? Well, that would of course be Nokia’s all-singing, all-data-dancing N96. On the UK website at least, it is coming in at an unashamed premium, but certainly not a price that would blow your mind…. how does £535 find you? Could you tolerate that in order to own a device that has universally been praised since pretty much it’s conception?

Part of my point here is to highlight what appears to be Nokia’s very keen pricing in the UK, but also I would imagine, on their other regional sites - it might worth an online trip to your local site to see what goodies they have for purchase. For me, I am getting just a bit excited thinking about the N96……mmmmhhhhhh……16GB of memory, just for me!

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Time to Boycott BestBuy and Circuit City during Microsofts Marketing Antics!

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:14:46 +0000

Instead of using their $300 million on customer services/refunds for wrongly-installed Vistas on brand new laptops/PCs, Microsoft is trying to copy Apple Genius strategy by having 155 Microsoft Vista experts roam around your local BestBuy and CircuitCity.

As someone who had a horrible experience at BestBuy trying to return a digital camera, (which BestBuy didn’t let me return it for whatever reason so I now have TWO identical digital cameras) I will be officially boycotting BestBuy and CircuitCity stores for the duration of this Microsoft stint.

Even without Microsoft, I have a hard time getting around the retail stores without sales people annoying me with their “Can I help you find anything” questions.

Call me bitter but Microsoft deserves it after I bought a new HP desktop PC last year and of course it came with a Vista that wouldn’t work with any of my printers, mouse, pretty much all my USB devices.

Now, Microsoft should be paying me at least $25/hour during the time I formatted my PC using a special Linux Boot CD (because harddrive gets junked when you install Vista, you need to partition it and get rid of the root Vista thingee) and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP, which took me a total of 5 hours.

Now that’s $25 x 5 = $125 + Cost of Vista = about $500.

There, what Microsoft needed to do in order to survive and turn people like me into fans is about $500 for all my troubles and $500 for every PC/laptop I buy that come with Vista.

My next operating system will definitely hang around Ubuntu or another Linux system, but definitely Microsoft needs to realize for the good of human kind that their new Vista sucks so much even with their new $300 million marketing. (Marketing...not product features or upgrades that Microsoft is spending money on)

Here’s to Bill Gates or whoever is in charge of Microsoft:

“Please stop re-selling consumers an outdated, poorly designed operating system. No matter what marketing tatics you employ, I will do my best to let everyone else know that Vista has not changed (Yes, your mojave marketing had a reverse effect on me) , it’s the worst operating system I have ever used in my life. We are smarter than you think. Just having a new Vista Period. (and there’s goes my middle finger too.)”

Interesting facts:

There’s 525,000 search results about “Vista Sucks” on Google today. (Probably more as we go on)

Brought to you by: Zedomax.com

Time to Boycott BestBuy and Circuit City during Microsoft’s Marketing Antics!

AAA Mobile Upgraded with New Features

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:46:46 +0000

AAA has announced the latest version of its wireless navigation program, AAA Mobile, with several new features including fuel prices, live traffic alerts and weather forecasts.

Find the best fuel prices: With fuel prices a worry for many motorists, AAA Mobile users can quickly find the best prices by receiving a list of gas stations with prices nearest to their current location or in a specified zip code or city. Once they find a station, AAA Mobile will provide audible turn-by-turn directions on how to get there.

Find out what’s ahead: Whether driving in out-of-town traffic or on the daily commute, AAA Mobile’s new real-time traffic feature helps motorists find out what’s ahead and alternatives on how to get there. AAA Mobile alerts motorists to traffic congestion, accidents and other new developments on their route and provides detour options to compare against their current estimated time of arrival.

AAA Mobile also allows users to take a look ahead at the weather by providing current conditions and seven-day forecasts for their current location or any city around the world.

Find things to do: Want to see the latest blockbuster movie? AAA Mobile can help find which movie theaters nearby are playing the movie, provide start times, navigate users there and list nearby restaurants to consider for dinner.

Using the mobile activity planning feature, AAA Mobile users can search for show times, critics’ ratings and other details for movies, concerts, plays, sporting events and other social events near their GPS location. Users can navigate to theaters or event venues and search for local parking, restaurants, ATMs or other points of interests near the location.

Help friends find you: AAA Mobile users can let friends know where they are with a push of a button by sending their GPS location to another wireless phone. When sending to other AAA Mobile users, friends receive the address and can navigate to you. With non-users, your location’s address is delivered via text message.

Continue to find AAA travel expertise in your phone: In addition to offering turn-by-turn audible directions with on-screen maps, AAA Mobile continues to provide users with AAA’s travel expertise in their wireless phone with AAA TourBook® travel guide information, including complete listings of AAA Diamond Rated restaurants and lodgings and points of interests. AAA Mobile also offers listings for ATMs, more than 100,000 Show Your Card & Save® merchants, AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities, AAA branch offices and other types of businesses.

For those users who are AAA members, they can send their GPS location directly to AAA and be connected to roadside assistance operators.

Current users can upgrade to the latest version of AAA Mobile at no additional charge. They will receive a prompt on their phone when the new version is available to download.

AAA Mobile, powered by Networks In Motion, will launch on several wireless carriers and be available on a variety of GPS-enabled phones during the next two weeks. For a complete listing of providers, pricing and compatible phones, visit AAA.com/AAAMobile.

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 51 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA clubs can be visited on the Internet at AAA.com.

The Laptop Bag Pillow!

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:51:54 +0000

Now you can carry your laptop and a pillow at the same time with the Laptop Bag Pillow, seriously designed for power nappers everywhere.

The Napbook is a laptopcase which also happens to be a comfortable cushion. It is designed for students and commercial people of 105 Reykjavík. Whether it be a class at LHÍ, a lengthy business meeting in Borgartún or just the odd journey home the Napbook should come in handy for the restless. It is sewn by a 105 Reykjavík local sewing room and it is available at the Apple store around the corner.

via gearlive, Design Page

Brought to you by: Zedomax.com

The Laptop Bag Pillow!

Social Media in the Workplace

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:20:17 +0000

While doing research recently I kept coming across job postings for different Social Media positions with larger companies. In between the lines a couple things got my attention.

Why does a Social Media person need to be in a Corporate office?
Are we already painting ourselves into a corner with the term Social Media?
When will Social Media intersect with the local presence of a company?

Possible answers:

I guess this could go both ways. Being in the office the person would know what was going on and have access to more information. On the other hand, if this is a large company with lots of locations, the corporate information might not be in tune with the local store (see #3 below).
Social Media seems to already bring to mind certain Internet locations, such as FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter etc… Some companies are using the term Emerging Media and that seems to elicite a broader and continually growing area.
Not sure exactly what I am thinking here, but I know what I read, see and hear online does not always match up very well in my local store. And the locals seem to be almost unaware that there is even an online presence that represents them.

And none of this even starts to scratch the surface of how smaller companies could take advantage of Social Emerging Media to help themselves.

[MobileRatty] tag: local

New AT&T BlackBerry Bold Release Date: Oct. 2 [Unconfirmed]

Buy 120GB Zune on Amazon!

Related posts

UK: Samsung to empty 5m in to Omnia Advertising!

Morphy Richards Internet Radio

Surfer's Multi-Tool

Nokia UK - a selection of prices

Time to Boycott BestBuy and Circuit City during Microsofts Marketing Antics!

Related posts

AAA Mobile Upgraded with New Features

The Laptop Bag Pillow!

Related posts

Social Media in the Workplace