What might be taking a page out of the Microsoft play book, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, tells Silicon.com reporter Natasha Lomas, the new Blackberry Bold is not “inspired” by the iPhone, after all. In regard to very iPhone-like exterior with very similar glossy-black-front-with-silver-bevel-edge on the upcoming BlackBerry Bold:

This is three years in the making. So I’m sorry but this wasn’t a response to another device. Either that or we have a time machine somewhere, or some kind of magic crystal ball or something. This was actually designed three years ago and the actual physical design of this product — I have the original models from 2006.

Really, how long does it take RIM to design a device anyway? Lets face it the Blackberry Bold is a nice Blackberry, but has little in the way of innovation from the current Blackberry. Maybe Apple copied the iPhone design from them when it shipped a year ago?

Continue reading You Got To Love The So-Called Killers Reaction!…

Shouldn’t a product be at least available to purchase before it is said to be a “killer” or beating the competitor’s product? I think so. Maybe you are like me and are tired of reading about supposed iPhone killers.

RIM (Research in Motion) has shown the new Blackberry Bold 9000 with no launch date or price yet and the pundits are all gasping it to have somehow beaten Apple to the punch for a 3G iPhone that they anticipate may arrive next month. The Blackberry Bold 9000 looks like a nice mobile device, but it will excite only the “crackberry” user.

UPDATE: This unit is delayed and will not ship until August 2008 or later due to bugs that need to be ironed out. Well after the iPhone ships on July 11, 2008.

RIM clearly has tried to copy Apple’s iPhone’s exterior look. They also made their icons less cartoonish. There is where the similarity basically ends.

Continue reading When is a Killer Not?…

There is an old saying “Lies, Damn Lies, and then there are statistics.” Microsoft however goes waaaay past this in the latest reported numbers and their own predictions.

I think they must be handing out some of Albert Hofmann’s meds in Redmond these days. Fuzzy math and crazy predictions rule the day at Microsoft. In the space of about a week the drum beating coming from Microsoft is a bit ridiculous.

Continue reading Microsoft’s Fuzzy Math and Hallucinations?…

Contrary to their FCC testimony, Comcast is blocking BitTorrent traffic pretty much all the time according to new data being reported by TorrentFreak. Now “that’s Comcastic!”

According to both companies, BS has signed an agreement to acquire CNET Networks in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and about 200 million users worldwide.

If you want to have some fun with one of your Mac using friends install this kernel panic screensaver, wait until it kicks in and watch their face. If your friends use a Windows box, try the BlueScreen Screen Saver. Both a free.

“Comcast’s ambition is to make more and more content available to consumers across all platforms,” said Samuel Schwartz, executive vice president for strategy and development at Comcast Interactive Media, in an interview. “When you add the social dimension to these products, you can navigate through those platforms based on what your friends are doing.” See more at the NY Times Bits Blog.

WSJ Tech Reporter Walt Mossberg has his say on two of the newest Bluetooth wireless headsets – new $130 Jawbone, and the $150 Plantronics Discovery 925. I have the original Jawbone and thought this was interesting.

Apple has announced officially that they have sold out WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) that is scheduled to start with Steve Jobs widely anticipated keynote on June 9th.

Developers still interested in the conference are being asked to wait for the immediate aftermath, at which Apple will upload the videos of events to iTunes. Some clips should become available with a free developer account; others, however, will require a paid membership.

WWDC runs June 9th to the 13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and will for the first time have three separate development tracks: iPhone, Mac and IT.

onOne Software’s Essentials 2.1 for iPhoto, $59.95 is a collection of four easy-to-use tools to help you correct color, add depth of field by realistically blurring the background, add creative borders and resize your photos to get a larger print.

onOne Software has brought some of the power of their Photoshop plugins to iPhoto and have included some built-in tutorials.

equinux has released The Tube 2.7, a free update to its Mac TV software that adds live-streaming of content via iChat.

Place-shifting, allows users to share what they are watching with friends using iChat Theater allowing the receiving person to even record the show.

Continue reading Tube 2.7 Brings Placeshifting via iChat to the Mac…

I saw this on YouTube and just thought it was cool! Song is “Again & Again” by the Bird and the Bee [iTunes link]. Here is the link to the actual music video [iTunes link]

HP will become and instant technology service giant to rival IBM with the $13.9 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems. EDS will form the basis of a new division within Hewlett-Pachard, branded “EDS – an HP company,” headquartered in Plano, Texas.

If the next iPhone does get 3G support as we all expect, it may be just fine on AT&T in my area. At least according to ComputerWorld who took Verizon, Sprint and AT&T’s 3G data services for a spin all around the tri-state area in NY, NJ and CT shows any indication.

Using data cards from each carrier and a Lenovo ThinkPad X300 at over 500 points in order to determine the king of 3G. Surprisingly, AT&T was the snappiest of the bunch in both average (755Kbps) and top data speeds (1.6Mbps).

Continue reading ComputerWorld: AT&T is the Fastest 3G…

The Google Reader team has announced a new beta version of Google Reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Go to http://google.com/reader/i/ or when you are just in Google Reader on your iPhone or iPod touch (it will default to the classic view) go to the very bottom and choose the “Mobile” view.

Apple ads new Mac – PC ads. See them on the Apple website.

Bee Documents has released Timeline 3D, a new edition of its timeline creation software. This software can create amazing “timelines” for presentations, print and video productions. You can import easily from Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, iTunes, RSS, etc.

In addition to the features of the Standard Edition, the 3D Edition can create and display three-dimensional interactive timeline charts. It can also export timelines as full motion video to the iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV and as HD quality video for other video projects. Slideshow presentations can be created through integration with Keynote. Timeline 3D Edition is $65 for Mac OS X 10.5. Standard version is $40.

Apple has confirmed that CEO Steve Jobs, along with a “team of Apple executives,” will deliver the keynote at this year’s WWDC conference. The event is scheduled for 10AM PT on Monday June 9th, at Moscone Center, San Francisco. Apple notes that it will focus on Mac OS X Leopard, and “OS X iPhone,” as it is now branding the iPhone’s firmware.

Much is in anticipation on the iPhone front with supplies of the iPhone seeing shortages and most analysts thinking a 3G iPhone with GPS is looming.

Continue reading Steve Jobs to Keynote WWDC 2008…

Microsoft has seen sales of Office 2008 soaring as Macs surge in sales. Microsoft is releasing Service Pack 1 for the Mac version of Office later today. You will be able to update later today as a download from Microsoft’s Web site or via Microsoft Auto Update.

Continue reading Microsoft Releases SP1 for Office 2008…

HBO content just joined the iTunes family. Tony Soprano and his crew must have had a “sit down” with Steve Jobs as the HBO shows have variable pricing.

Episodes of The Sopranos, Rome and Deadwood are selling for $2.99 while The Wire, Sex and the City and Flight of the Conchords have the iTunes “standard” pricing of $1.99.

While these prices may seem high, in the case of the Sopranos at least, they are still cheaper than what Amazon sells the season on DVD.

With the variable pricing more content should follow in the iTunes Store.