services Archive

  • Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA goes global with iPhone social network MiniNation

    Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA goes global with iPhone social network MiniNation

    Japan has two listed mobile gaming companies with a multi-billion US-dollar market capitalization, GREE ($2.7 billion) and DeNA ($4.2 billion), with both companies offering services in Japan only. But DeNA just yesterday rolled out MiniNation on the App Store, a social network for the iPhone based around games and avatars that targets a global audience. MiniNation started out with a total of four (free) games in English [iTunes link], all of which are based on popular titles found on DeNA's Japanese social gaming portal, Mobage-town (which boasts 18 million members). The avatar system is already in place, and according to DeNA, the first four games (Bandit Nation, Mini Solitaire, Mini BalloonHunt and Mini NumberPlace) are just the beginning.

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  • Review: SugarSync for the iPad

    Review: SugarSync for the iPad

    I've been wondering how, exactly, I'll be able to do work on my iPad. With the assistance of programs like Dropbox and SugarSync, it is possible to cobble together a workflow that doesn't drive me crazy. When I last looked at SugarSync the service was in it's infancy and I found it slightly lacking. All of my concerns, two years ago, have been address and now you have a fully versioned storage system that you can use to feasibly upload a plethora of files including, but not limited to, MP3s, videos, and documents. Audio and video files, for the most part, played natively on the iPad. However, if you need to transfer odd formats or edit Office or iWork documents (you can view them just fine) you'll need to email the files to yourself and them open them in Pages. This two step process, while upsetting to those afraid of more than one step, is frustrating at worst and a non-issue at best.

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  • Who needs the Droid? T-Mobile G1 hacked to run Google Nav

    Who needs the Droid? T-Mobile G1 hacked to run Google Nav

    I like to imagine that a special place exists somewhere on the Web where a bunch of unassuming “ordinary” folks get together to solve world technology issues. A brotherhood (that allows women too, of course) of sorts that uniformly scream, “HACK3RS UNITE!,” and then figure out how to stick it to the man. I’m not [...]

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  • Vimeo begins to play nice with iPhone, Android devices

    Vimeo begins to play nice with iPhone, Android devices

    The lack of Flash support on the iThings (i.e. phone, touch) and all but one Android device has made it rather difficult for Flash-based video sites to penetrate the ever-expanding smartphone video-consuming market. While YouTube has implemented a workaround for this problem (by encoding each uploaded video in both Flash AND as .mp4 files), other [...]

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  • Clearwire raises an additional $1.5B to continue building its nationwide WiMAX network

    Clearwire raises an additional $1.5B to continue building its nationwide WiMAX network

    Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks (to name a few) continue to bet big on Clearwire’s WiMAX nationwide wireless network. The foursome have just pumped an additional $1.494 billion into Clearwire’s coffer, with another $50 million coming from Intel and $20 million from Eagle River Holdings. CHA-CHING. More specifically, Sprint, which owns 51 [...]

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  • This is the end, my only friend (for MSN Direct wireless data service)

    This is the end, my only friend (for MSN Direct wireless data service)

    It's the end of an era. MSN Direct has announced that their wireless data service will be shut off on January 1st, 2012. The service supplies a data feed to wristwatches, GPS units, and other portable devices. But if you've got an MSN Direct device, don't worry. You've got two years to replace it before they shut off the service.

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  • Google Analytics adds mobile reporting, iPhone/Android app tracking

    Google Analytics adds mobile reporting, iPhone/Android app tracking

    The ability to keep tabs on mobile visitors is becoming increasingly important as more and more users surf the web via mobile browsers. With that said, there are a variety of website tracking / analytic reporting tools available across the Net that include mobile reporting. However, one of the more popular (and free) apps, Google [...]

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  • WordPress.com Blogs: Now more mobile friendly

    WordPress.com Blogs: Now more mobile friendly

    I’m a big fan of WordPress, be it their free blogging service (WordPress.com) or their free blogging platform (WordPress.org). Heck, the entire TechCrunch Network and my personal blog run on the stuff. As of yesterday, two mobile themes, a modification of WPtouch and an updated version of the WordPress Mobile Edition (both shown above), became [...]

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  • United States Postal Service goes mobile

    United States Postal Service goes mobile

    Sometime yesterday, the one and only United States Postal Service launched a mobile-friendly website – m.USPS.com – for any web-enabled mobile device. Hooray! The new mobile site sports the USPS’ most “popular [online] functions” including Track & Confirm, Post Office locator, and everyone’s favorite application (according to the USPS itself), ZIP Code lookup. So why go [...]

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  • Astronomy service Slooh will let you watch the LCROSS impact live on October 9

    Astronomy service Slooh will let you watch the LCROSS impact live on October 9

    Slooh, a service that offers unfettered access to two huge earth-based telescopes, is inviting folks to watch the LCROSS impact on Friday at 4:30am PDT or 7:30am EDT. The feed begins at 3:30am PDT. The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite will hit the moon to created a crater 14 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. The resulting analysis will help assess how large bodies will damage planets along with an assessment of current water levels in the moon. Plus it involves blowing holes in the moon.

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  • Sony Ericsson partners with Comverse for visual voicemail

    Sony Ericsson partners with Comverse for visual voicemail

    Earlier this morning Comverse announced a new partnership with Sony Ericsson to bring visual voicemail to future SE handsets. Ever since a certain mobile device (hint: starts with “i” and ends with “phone”) hit the mobilesphere, consumers have been clamoring for visual voicemail on other cell phones / carriers. Slowly, but surely, the incredibly convenient [...]

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  • Vonage Mobile released for iPhone and BlackBerry

    Vonage Mobile released for iPhone and BlackBerry

    Vonage, the once almost-zombie VoIP company, has roared back from its flirtation with the deadpool (er, from being sued into near oblivion for patent infringement by Verizon et al.). Its latest product, Vonage Mobile, will surely continue to ruffle all the big telecoms’ feathers because it allows consumers the ability to circumvent their mobile carriers’ [...]

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  • TXTBlocker allows parents to block kids from texting while driving

    TXTBlocker allows parents to block kids from texting while driving

    Texting while driving is incredibly unsafe (and making calls, for that matter). Even more so than drinking and driving, which YOU SHOULD NEVER DO, EVER. California knows it. The Obama Administration knows it. And apparently, the folks responsible for TXTBlocker know it. What is TXTBlocker, you ask? It is a new service that “lets parents [...]

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  • Comcast plans to take On Demand Online mobile

    Comcast plans to take On Demand Online mobile

    Yesterday, cable behemoth, Comcast, announced plans to make its emerging On Demand Online service available to cable subscribers on their mobile devices in the near future. At first glance, this news seems a bit odd. However, Comcast has recently begun to offer consumers wireless Internet access in select areas across the country as a result of [...]

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  • Jajah Brings Voice Calls To Twitter

    Jajah Brings Voice Calls To Twitter

    Starting today, Jajah is rolling out a brand spankin’ new service – Jajah@call, a Twitter user-to-user phone call solution. That’s right, ladies and gents. Jajah, the self-proclaimed “world’s most innovative IP communications company,” is bringing this new feature to the wildly popular microblogging service. This is not too much of a surprise, really, in light [...]

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