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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Former CBS DJ Adam Carolla Gets a New Gig: CBS Podcast Host

carolla-shotAdam Carolla, the former CBS radio host who started a podcast once he lost his job, has figured out how to turn his talent and Internet audience into money. He’s going back to work for CBS.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

The “Good Enough” Test: Flip vs. Apple iPod Nano

When Apple added a video camera to the iPhone last summer, the digerati declared that Flip, Cisco’s cheap digital video camera line, was dead. When Apple added a video camera to its cheap and tiny Nano iPod last week, the digerati heaped dirt on the camcorder’s grave.

You know what? I think the conventional wisdom is right on this one. Take a look at this clever side-by-side test.

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Friday, September 11, 2009

All the Music You Can Eat, on Your iPhone? Wall Street Snoozes.

yawncatThe announcement from RealNetworks that Apple had approved its iPhone app–all you can eat music, to go, for $15 a month–gave the company’s stock a brief jolt yesterday. That’s over now: Wall Street seems to have thought about it and concluded that people won’t pay a monthly fee for music, even on an iPhone.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Rhapsody Beats Spotify to the Punch. But Will You Pay $15 a Month for an iPhone Music App?

rhapsody app

Okay, all you Spotify coveters who say you can’t wait to get the much hyped app on your iPhone, here’s your chance: Pony up $15 a month and you can get Rhapsody’s app, which does exactly the same thing.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

What, Exactly, Is Foursquare? And Why Are Investors Clamoring for It?

Dennis Crowley FoursquareOne of the hottest start-ups of 2009 had to fend off investors this summer–even if many people don’t understand exactly what the service does or who is supposed to use it. Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley explains.

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Study: Everyone Wants a Kindle–For $50

cheapThe Kindle gets plenty of attention, but the e-book reader is still a niche device. When will that change? When it gets cheaper. A lot cheaper, says a new Forrester study.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Napster: Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting for Our Awesome New iPhone App

truckNapster says it has an awesome new iPhone app that will let you stream music directly to your phone–just like the one Apple approved for Spotify, the superhyped service you can’t even get in the U.S. yet. But Napster says you won’t be able to use its app anytime soon, and it blames the big bad music labels.

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Friday, August 28, 2009

Coming Soon to Your iPhone: Major League Baseball for a Dollar a Game

mlb-iphone-appIf you’re out of town and on the move and still want to watch your favorite baseball team, Major League Baseball is about to make you a very interesting offer: The ability to watch a game streamed live to your iPhone, for 99 cents a pop. That will make baseball the first pro sports league to sell mobile access to live games on an on-demand, a la carte basis.

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Apple Finally Hops the Great Wall: China Unicom Announces Three-Year iPhone Deal

iphonechina-150x150Apple’s long-awaited entry into the Chinese phone market is finally here. Or at least it will be by the end of the year: China Unicom says it has struck a three-year deal with Apple to sell iPhones in China that will kick in during the fourth quarter.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

Barnes & Noble Lands Irex, Another Would-Be Kindle Killer

booksHere’s another company choosing a side in the coming e-book war: Irex Technologies, a Dutch company that plans on selling a Kindle-like reader in the U.S. this fall, has allied itself with Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore. Earlier this summer, would-be Kindle rival Plastic Logic announced a similar pact. And in other “e-book reader made by someone other than Amazon” news, Sony has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow.

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hottest. Smartphone. Ever.

cell-phone-ovenSure, your iPhone may be cool. But can it turn your oven on, against your will? That feature, apparently, is only available on certain Sony Ericsson models.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I’ll Take One Smartphone and Two Dumb Ones: High-End Handsets Grab More Marketshare

romanian-phoneFrom the “that makes sense” file: Smartphones like the iPhone and the BlackBerry now account for almost one in three phones sold in the U.S. And if they keep getting better and cheaper–remember when iPhones sold for $600?–that share is only going to increase.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mediocrity Rules! Why the iPhone’s Crummy Camera Is Flickr’s Favorite.

iphone-cameraFlickr is one of the Web’s most popular photo-sharing sites. Flickr users’ camera of choice? The iPhone–even though the image isn’t great, the flash is nonexistent, and the only way to zoom is to move your hand closer.

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Here It Comes. But What Is It, Exactly? Apple Plans Keynote Event for September.

jobsTime to get the rumor mill kicked into high gear: Multiple music industry sources say Apple executives have told them the company is planning one of its famed keynote events for the week of Sept. 7. But in true Apple fashion, the company has been noncommittal about the exact date of the event and what it will be showing off.

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Online Survey: The New BlackBerry Tour Is a Hit With the Matlock Set

cocoon-trioBlackBerry’s new Tour has garnered fairly positive reviews from the geek press. But you know who really loves it? Oldsters in the 35-49 age bracket. Or at least that’s what a new online brand survey says.

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About Peter

Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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