Monthly Archive for June, 2010

The reasons for the KIN’s death are numerous, ranging from delays to infighting to poor sales, but now that it is a done deal, how does it affect Windows Phone 7?  I would argue its mainly a plus for the following reasons:

1) Microsoft is no longer competing with their OEMs.  Just like Google stopped selling their Nexus One, it was difficult for Microsoft to supply the software and also sell devices in direct competition with their OEMs.

2) No further distraction to the blogosphere who already complain about Microsoft’s numerous mobile operating systems. With one less OS we now have Windows Embedded handheld for the warehouse, Windows Phone 7 for the home and office and Windows Embedded Compact 7 for the car/fridge/ATM.

3) No further distraction inside Microsoft and competition for resources.  All consumer efforts will now focus on Windows Phone 7 instead, which should in fact help ensure the OS ships on time and as bug-free as possible.

4) Lastly of course we may see interesting technologies like KIN Studio or the KIN Spot on Windows Phone 7.

While there are some significant negatives to the cancellation of the project, not least being reducing even more the blogosphere’s confidence in Microsoft’s ability to push a mobile OS, I would argue it is a net positive.

Do our readers agree with the list? Let us know below.

TiPb and the folks from Ringtone Expressions teamed up to bring you yet another chance to win a shiny new iPhone 4. Yes, it was the third one, but we love doing it so much we simply had to do it again. Immediately.

Deal was — ringtoneexpressions.com wanted you to create ringtones for those special someone(s) in your life. You did, they chose the winners, and here they are… After the break!

iPhone 4 Winner

@pinhodaniel http://twitter.com/pinhodaniel/status/17270611246

$50 Gift Certificate to store.tipb.com

@FoxMcCloud811 http://twitter.com/FoxMcCloud811/status/17131949162 @szfebje http://twitter.com/szfebje/statuses/16976560763 @ Chile713 http://twitter.com/Chile713/statuses/17074989936

Congrats to the winners, thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned for more — we’ve only just begun!

Ringtone Expressions iPhone 4 winner is…! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The tech world is abuzz with Microsoft’s cancellation of the Kin Phone. Everyone seems to be running over each other to see who can make the catchiest headline or the snarkiest comment about the demise of the project. As  someone who thought and still thinks the Kin was great phone that was never given a chance starting with a bad monthly pricing scheme, lack of a few basic apps and an overly negative press to name a few, I may be the only person in the world who hopes that they will still follow through and provide the promised updates and relaunch it with better monthly pricing as an alternative to feature phones. Engadget has an interesting take on what went wrong.

Everyone doesn’t need a smartphone  as much we are led to believe. The Kin can make a comeback with its initial promise of a low cost phone with the features that most average people use coupled with a reasonable voice, data and text plan. It can coexist with WP7 and survive the mobile market that includes the IOS, Android and WebOS devices. Microsoft also needs to find another carrier because Verizon just ruined it on price and their sales people seem to be paid (figuratively speaking) to push Android phones IMHO.

What is lost in all this debacle is the great new features that the Kin phone had/has that I hope make it into WP7. These include, The Studio, Kin Spot and the integrated feed reader/loop. The  Kin spot would especially be helpful if it had an option to send to OneNote. As a writer, I’m finding the need to be able to quickly take clips of articles to write and comment on and having a way to quickly organize extremely valuable. Overall, I think the spot is the most intuitive method to share small bits of information on the go. The Kin studio speaks for itself and hopefully they could add some of these suggestions. With the majority opinion screaming failure, Microsoft should take  these wise words from Thomas Edison to heart.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Google confirmed that by the end of the year, YouTube will give users the option to skip the pre-roll ads that launch before a video. The online video giant will also implement an ad selection feature that will allow users to select an ad that they find appealing prior to watching a longer-format video. YouTube will only pay for ads that have been watched, so advertisers that want a slice of the growing YouTube ad revenue will have to create compelling ads that users want to watch. Free video content with high quality commercials that are relevant to you — sounds like a good compromise.

Read

In the midst of the new iPhone 4 and Apple getting ridiculed for a handful of issues, namely the “Death Grip,” Motorola decided to take out a full page ad on the New York Times today. It’s a simple, lame potshot, but damn if it’s not appropriate.

The ad showcases many of the Droid X’s features, but the ad has a few choice words at the bottom. The one to cause a stir simply states (emphasis ours):

[The Motorola Droid X] comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls.

Shazam! Ok, it’s not the best of ways to throw negative comments at the leading smartphone in the world, but the ad certainly makes its point. And Motorola wasn’t the first to take a jab at the iPhone 4, either.

Still, Jobs’ inability to put together a consumer-friendly response – flatly saying that there is no antenna reception issue – doesn’t mean there isn’t some truth behind his words. There’s talk that an iOS 4 update/software fix will allow the new iPhone 4 to reflect signal quality more accurately. On the other hand, when you add in the Retina Display issues, along with the proximity sensor problems, it’s clear that Steve Jobs has a big problem in his hands. The latter two likely won’t be fixed by a software update, either.

Motorola saw this as an opportunity, and took it. That’s the biz, and you can’t say Apple hasn’t done it’s fair share of mud-slinging, what with their “I’m a Mac” TV ads. Interestingly enough, Professor Gert Frølund Pedersen, an antenna expert over at Denmark’s Aalborg University predicted the new, shiny iPhone 4 would experience such issues about two weeks before the device hit the shelves. And if there’s no reception issue, why is Apple now trying to hire Antenna Engineers? For the iPhone 5? We think not. Hell, even CNBC used the word “lemon” when describing the new device.

In the end, though, it’s very hard to argue with the number of units sold in just three days. We’ll see what Apple will actually do about this issue. What won’t be happening, however, is “free bumpers for everyone!”

Motorola, thanks, this was a good laugh. Now hurry up and give us a 2Ghz Android phone!

[Via: Engadget]

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