[MobileRatty] tag: million

1.5 million T-Mobile G1s already pre-ordered

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:26:00 +0000

T-Mobile sold right out of its original allotment of G1 pre-orders quick, fast and in a hurry, and even the second round has been claimed in a flash. What's it all mean? It means that someone at T-Mobile and Google are sitting in a fancy restaurant in France sipping on the good stuff, and it also means that 1.5 million G1s have already been reserved for eager early adopters. In addition to that, another couple of million are all set to take the retail scene by storm later this month. In other words, folks are genuinely stoked about the possibilities of Android, and scads of 'em have already committed to the OS (and HTC's design, by extension) before even having a chance to toy around with it in person. No pressure at all, Google.

[Via Pulse2]

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Microsoft Sues DHL Over Xbox-Busting Train Crash [Microsoft]

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Microsoft is suing delivery service DHL for their refusal to compensate the boys in Redmond for the destruction of over 21,000 Xboxes in a Texas train derailment. The consoles were due for Hong Kong when the train, carrying two large containers of Xboxes, went off the tracks, sustaining a substantial amount of water and impact damage and, interestingly, "pilfering." Microsoft is seeking $2 million in compensation for DHL's negligence. That the phrase "fiery train wreck" is missing from the report makes me think it wasn't as exciting as it could've been. Imagine the headlines! [PC World]

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Abused by Britney Spears in New Video [Product Placement]

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:30:00 +0000

Thanks to about a million tips, I've been forced to sit through the new Britney Spears music video for "Womanizer" because the flashy Nokia 5800 XpressMusic 'Tube' makes an appearance. The phone is used to take a picture of a ridiculously be-wigged Britney before she violently attacks the photographer and slams his face into a photocopier, sending the poor phone flying. But that's not the end of the technology in the video!

I won't get into any depth on the song, because this is Gizmodo and when a song only has two words and both of them are "womanizer," it's tough to glean any gadget connection. But the Nokia first makes an appearance at breakfast, when Britney's antagonist checks his calendar to see what kind of womanizing he'll get up to today.
It's pretty obvious product placement when the words "Nokia" glimmer for no reason, but I was too distracted by what he was eating to care:
Okay, a square egg is easy, you can just cut the white into whatever shape you want. But the YOLK is square too! Britney should stop singing and open a restaurant, because that's goddamn amazing. Luckily, all this happens in the first minute so you don't need to sit through the awful inane screeching for too long. [- Thanks, everyone who sent this in]

Deal Alert - Mio Moov 200 - $99 At Staples

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:46:05 +0000

Starting tomorrow Staples will be selling the entry level Mio Moov 200 for $99 after instant rebate and a mail in rebate. Pretty good price point for a basic GPS, one that I think we will continue to see more of as we get closer to Black Friday and the extended holiday shopping season.

The Mio Moov 200 is a basic GPS with turn by turn directions, standard 3.5-inch screen, maps of the US, but also has text to speech - says street names, and comes loaded with 3.5 million Points of Interest - a good middle of the range number

For an idea of how the Mio Moov 200 will work, check out my full review of the widescreen version the Mio Moov 300.

Deal starts tomorrow and runs through 10/18 at Staples

Microsoft sues DHL over Xbox train derailment

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:32:00 +0000

Filed under: Gaming, Transportation

You know who Microsoft hates? No, not Apple. It really hates DHL. Apparently, the delivery service has hit the folks in Redmond where it hurts: in the Xbox. It seems that 21,600 consoles were totally messed over by "impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage" when one of the company's freight trains derailed en route to Long Beach, California. The big M claims that DHL refuses to compensate for the lost goods, and has filed a complaint at a US District Court in Seattle, calling for $2 million in damages and stating that the shipper "negligently breached its duties as a common carrier, handler, bailee, warehouseman, agent, or in other capabilities." Harsh words, but really, who's to blame for this mess? Next time we suggest going with G.O.D.

[Thanks, Andrew S.]

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Sesca launches iDial Mobile Community for mobile phone users

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:08:00 +0000

Finland-based Sesca Mobile Software Oy, a leading developer of customized software for the mobile telecommunications industry, has launched iDial Mobile Community for mobile phone users. Users can download and install a free, mobile-operator independent iDial Mobile application to their compatible mobile handsets from www.my.idial.fi website. Users who are registered to the website can create mobile communities and communicate within the community by using iDial Mobile application’s rich communications tools.

With iDial Mobile application community members can:

•share mobile handset’s calendar, presence and location information automatically
•use chat and poke functionalities
•place free VoIP calls over the Internet in 3G or WLAN networks
•engage in multiple simultaneous chat sessions
•build easy to use internet phonebooks with contacts’ calendar, presence and location details
”Sesca provides mobile software and development services for mobile phone operators and manufacturers and for enterprise customers. By giving iDial Mobile application to users for free, we hope to receive plenty of user experience, feedback and ideas for further development of the application. Our intention is to offer iDial Mobile Community solution with support services to enterprise customers”, says Juha Sumelahti, the Managing Director of Sesca Mobile Software Oy.

The iDial Mobile application enables users to share their availability, presence and location information automatically. The application is able to fetch calendar and profile information from the user’s mobile phone. The application shows if the user is in a meeting or if they are available, and the mode of their mobile phone (shut off, meeting or mute mode). iDial Mobile application also identifies automatically the nearest WLAN and GSM network and shares the location of a community member. Users can also write personal messages in a status field, an option used widely in web communities.

Members of the iDial Mobile Community can place free VoIP calls over the Internet in WLAN or GSM networks. They can also send and receive chat messages and engage in multiple simultaneous chat sessions. With a poke functionality users can send and receive vibrating poke alerts to mobile phones. The features of iDial Mobile application include automatic updates of new versions and diverse options for user settings.

The user manages different functionalities of the iDial Mobile application through a personal web page. Users can update the internet phonebook, which also shows contacts’ calendar, presence and location details; invite new members to the community; engage in a chat session with an other user’s mobile phone; and send poke messages to a mobile phone. The personal web page includes also real-time calendar, presence and location information of the user.

”Sesca iDial Mobile Community is a future showcase of rich communications tools and web communities built by integrating web 2.0 and mobile phone technology. To become truly popular, a web community has to offer multiple tools for seamless communication. We also believe that enterprises will also implement mobile communities in the near future”, says Andreas Paschinsky, the product manager of iDial Mobile Community.

The iDial Mobile application is currently available for Nokia mobile phones running on Symbian S60 3rd Edition operating system.

Sesca Group Oy

Finland-based Sesca Group delivers and integrates ICT and automation solutions and services for the telecommunication, energy production and process industries. Sesca employs approximately 670 professionals in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Czech Republic and Romania. Company turnover was 32 million euros in 2007. Company headquarters are located in Vaasa, Finland. www.sesca.com

Sesca Mobile Software Oy

Sesca Mobile Software develops customized software for the mobile telecommunications industry across Symbian, Java, Microsoft and Linux. Sesca has multinational operations servicing mobile operators, mobile handset manufacturers, corporate enterprises, semiconductor and cellular chip-set vendors and OS software companies. Sesca’s offering covers the full development cycle and any stage can be outsourced to Sesca. Project management and consultancy support is offered in addition to highly skilled and experienced developers. Sesca Mobile Software Oy is part of Sesca Group. More information is available at http://www.sesca.com

Nuance Mobile Care Available for T-Mobile USA Customers

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:05:00 +0000

T-Mobile Deploys Nuance Mobile Care Solution to Deliver Improved Customer Experience, Operational Excellence in Customer Self-Care

BURLINGTON, MA, – Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN) announced that T-Mobile USA, one of the fastest growing providers of wireless voice and data services, is deploying Nuance’s Mobile Care solution on select T-Mobile handsets.

The new application will enable T-Mobile to provide its customers with a more intuitive, user-friendly experience, allowing them to automatically resolve common problems. T-Mobile customers can now address such issues as diagnosing and repairing configuration problems, along with making account and billing inquiries – all on their mobile phones. Pilots and trials in both the U.S. and Europe have proven customers’ preference for on-device self-service.

“T-Mobile works toward delivering exceptional service to every customer, every day,” said Warren McNeel, vice president of product development at T-Mobile USA. “Nuance Mobile Care gives us the ability to provide a superior customer service experience and offers our customers an easy way to learn about and use advanced services, right from the screen of their phone.”

“The growing complexity in devices and data service technologies has made it challenging for wireless operator customer support and made it more difficult for subscribers to discover beneficial services,” said J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., vice president and chief analyst, Mobile & Wireless Communications at Frost & Sullivan. “Nuance Mobile Care represents an excellent solution for T-Mobile that enables their customers to solve – right on the device - many of the common problems they encounter, from checking their account balance and paying bills to upgrading their data plans and setting up email.”

“T-Mobile is known for its great service, which reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of their customers.” said Mikael Berner, vice president and general manager for Nuance Mobile Care. “With our Mobile Care solution, the bar has been raised for quality customer service, helping companies reach the next plateau in customer satisfaction. Devices can now solve problems and answer questions more quickly and easily than ever before.”

Nuance Mobile Care solutions can be embedded on a customer’s mobile device over-the-air (OTA) or installed by the manufacturer. The interactive experiences, such as paying a bill, new feature tutorials or relevant service discovery can be created by the operators and pushed OTA to any device that supports Nuance Mobile Care. The product suite enables the delivery of interactive promotions, the resolution of most customer support problems, and allows operators to deliver a branded service experience to their subscribers.

About T-Mobile USA
Based in Bellevue, WA, T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. operation of Deutsche Telekom AG’s Mobile Communications Business, and a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, one of the world’s leading companies in mobile communications. By the end of the second quarter of 2008, 125 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 31.5 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM, the world’s most widely used digital wireless standard. T-Mobile’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit www.t-mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Cowon O2 portable media player launched

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:50:17 +0000

Cowon has just rolled out its O2 portable media player in its home market, Korea. This flashed-based PMP will be out next Monday there, featuring a bunch of specifications taht would make it a suitable replacement for an iPod nano in these times of economic distress since you won’t have to fork out too much money for it compared to Apple’s overpriced products. Some of the features include :-

4.3″ 16 million color touch screen LCD display
Supports H.264 video codec and HD video playback (720p)
Voice recording capability
Built-in electronic dictionary
T-DMB and DAB support
119mm x 73mm x 18mm
200 grams
8 hours video playback time
18 hours audio playback time

You can choose from white, black and pink colors in a choice of standard, T-DMB or Dictionary models.

Source: AVing

GM - Bankruptcy is not an option

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:50:46 +0000

While GM and Ford’s stocks are plummeting to the bottom(the worst since 1950), GM states that “bankruptcy is not an option” as they still have billions of cash in hand. (which is washing away rather quickly)

Here’s an excerpt from LA Times:

“We face unprecedented challenges related to uncertainty in the financial markets globally and weakening economic fundamentals in many key markets,” Renee Rashid-Merem, a GM spokeswoman, told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “But bankruptcy is not an option GM is considering.”

According to Clark, a bankruptcy filing would probably have terrible effects on the residual value of cars and their warranties, making it even harder to sell new cars as consumers gravitate to other, more stable carmakers. That, he said, means that carmakers would choose to stay out of bankruptcy far longer than companies that might normally see it as a way out of untenable financial straits.

I think it’s a good thing that GM is trying to outlast this economic disaster, but I wouldn’t want to see any of my tax dollars going to fix their problems. As a owner of a GM car, I am sure my replacement parts and warranties would really be gone into the thin air, but this shouldn’t be a reason why Uncle Sam should help the big car companies.

My thoughts are still clear that business financials should not be paid for my U.S. citizens. It’s an outrage when that happens as I too, should be getting my expenses paid by the government.

I don’t think helping the car companies will do a great deal other than keeping them alive little bit longer (in case we happen to see Depression-era here in the U.S.). Better way would be to let them go bankrupt, let’s focus our attention on the other 90% of U.S. economy and all the people who have lost jobs as of lately.

GM should help others before they ask the government for help, otherwise, it’s a bad business anyways.

Do you want to pay $20 billion to auto-makers out of your tax dollars? Heck no, I worked too hard for the last couple years paying those ridiculous taxes that went into wars because of Bush. Yes, I do deserve money before those big corporations, don’t you?

via autoblog

Brought to you by: Zedomax.com

GM - “Bankruptcy is not an option”

The Power of Post-its

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:49:32 +0000

It’s Friday. Time for something completely entertaining, no thought required! Watch what happens when you take over a quarter of a million multicolored Post-its and create paper slinkys. Mesmerizing.

via Gizmodo

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