From the category archives:

Mobile

Verizon Handsets Continue To Suck, Passes On The Palm Pre

by Jason Wilk on September 24, 2009

Verizon has decided it’s going to pass on the Palm Pre, if reports are to be believed. Their stock took a 5% hit today after an impressive week long rally that saw shares rise to $17 after Nokia showed legitimate interest in acquiring the handset maker. This certainly would have been a boost in sales for Palm, who has only cleared about 500,000 handsets this year, in no way threatening the iPhone.
Many think that Verizon is holding out for the iPhone and wouldn’t want a phone like the Pre to confuse new customers looking for a new smart phone. Let’s face it, if Verizon wants the iPhone, they are going to have to clear a ton of them to make it wake the expensive deal worthwhile. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens at the end of the year with Apple and AT&T to see if this is true.

by David Heyerman on September 4, 2009

Oh no folks, this could be bad. T-pain just dropped his new iPhone app, appropriately titled: I am T-Pain
The app allows you to sing along with T-pain’s songs in your own auto-tuned voice. You’re even able to record your own custom track and share it with your friends on Facebook & Myspace.
App costs 3 bucks. Go cop it, then you can be exactly as talent-less as he is ….respect though, he did help make auto-tune pop, so there’s something to be said for that.

by Jason Wilk on September 3, 2009

Today is one of Sony’s biggest achievements in the digital music player market in the last 5 years. They have managed to outsell the iPod lineup with its latest version of the Walkman. According to Tokyo-based research firm BCN Inc., for the week ending August 30th, the Walkman series had a 43 percent share of the personal music player market versus 42.1 percent for iPods. Congrats Sony, but BCN forgot to tell you that iPhones don’t count as iPods, so they title will be forever left with an asterik. The iPhone 3GS is currently the best-selling phone in Japan, so if you combine those figures, Apple is sure to have their crown back. Congrats to Sony though, this is not something that should go unnoticed. I didn’t even know they were still making a walkman. (Engadget)

by Jason Wilk on August 27, 2009

Major Chinese news portal 163.com is reporting that Apple has finally signed a deal with China Unicom to bring the iPhone 3G to mainland China in October. China’s market contains 700 million mobile phone users, the biggest in the world. We have around 270 million here in the US. Expect an announcement tomorrow. CG

by David Heyerman on August 24, 2009

iphone-energy-management

Since Google started hyping up its home energy management tool, PowerMeter, people have started to get really excited about having the ability to personally control their energy consumption. Even further, companies are developing ways in which consumers can manage their energy when they’re not even in their house. Here are 6 iPhone energy management apps in development or currently available that you should definitely check out.

Tendril Vantage Mobile: Based out of Boulder, CO, the company’s already brought in $30 million in funding. Although the app won’t be available until 2010, the company is promising to offer real-time consumption stats and the ability to remotely control your appliances and thermostat.
Energy UFO: Developed by Palo Alto based company, Visible Energy, the Energy UFO is already free on the app store. Visible Energy produces energy management gadgets and power strips upon which the Energy UFO interfaces with. Unfortunately, the app isn’t of much use yet considering their hardware won’t start shipping until Christmas this year.
Ecobee’s Smart Thermostat: Ecobee, out of Toronto, already developed a thermostat that communicates through WiFi. The company is planning to launch an iPhone app allowing consumers to remotely turn their thermostats up and down.
My House UI: Developed by digital home startup, Control4, the My House UI app allows users to control heat, lighting, and air conditioning. The iPhone app, however, is useless unless you own Control4’s in-home devices. The company’s already raised $17.3 million.
Meter Readings, MeterRead, and Wattulator : All three are $0.99 apps allowing consumers to manually enter electricity, water, and gas data. Although they don’t directly communicate with your system at home, they’re good for finding out how much energy specific appliances in your home are using.