BlackBerry has shucked the oyster to reveal its latest smartphone: the Pearl. Many features make the new BlackBerry much more phone-like, in answer to the common complaint that previous models were great for on-the-go email, but terrible phones. The Pearl is smaller with a full-color display, a 1.3 MP camera with flash, software for checking and writing e-mail, instant messaging, browsing the web, and, of course, easy navigation by the centrally located "pearl-like" trackball.
Bored frat boys dancing in their boxers…brought to you by Google. The WSJ broke the hot rumor of the week: is Google considering buying YouTube? In a short time the free video-sharing website has attracted a huge number of users but has struggled to turn that traffic into high profit. Hmm, isn't that what Google does best?
Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites for high-school and college students, has teamed with nonprofit RockTheVote to allow voter registration through its site: "The problem with young people is not apathy. Once you get them registered to vote, they vote." (However, RockTheVote isn't just for the kiddies. Ahem. Registration deadlines are approaching. (Register to vote online or change your registration information online!)
Following AOL's shift away from ISP to free content provider, the company has released new software to replace the former dial-up interface. Dubbed OpenRide, the free software acts as a portal to a user's online world, where he or she can check email, IM, surf the web, and search. Part of the overhaul is a "breakthrough four-panel design" that automatically resizes to fit the user's current activity.
Score one for the evolutionists. This week two American scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics for a their discovery of "blackbody radiation," which advanced the Big Bang theory. Said Per Carlson, chairman of the Nobel committee for physics: "It is one of the greatest discoveries of the century. I would call it the greatest. It increases our knowledge of our place in the universe."
Samsung has a new take on the MP3 player: share it. The new K5 slides open to reveal an embedded speaker. What it lacks in bass it tries to make up for in slick appearance.
Though they mostly sell coffee, Starbucks also sells a substantial amount of music via its hand-selected CDs available at nearly all locations. Now the largest espresso-slinger may team with the largest digi-music store, as they complete talks with Apple to have their own iTunes mini-store. "Starbucks will offer its Hear Music CD titles on the site as well as other customized offerings."
Daniel Williford is our TowleTech correspondent.
You can visit him at his blog, Until Today…
