Aug

21

Google Phone is a reality

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Here’s an interesting article from the Washington Post in the US of A apparently our friends at Google are developing a phone, read on to find out the rest.

Google has developed a prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications, according to a story published today in The Wall Street Journal.

Google is showing the prototype to cell phone manufacturers and network operators as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products, the story said.

The move would echo another recent product launched by a phone industry outsider, Apple Inc.’s iPhone. But Google’s product would draw its revenue from a sharply different source, relying on commercial advertising dollars instead of the sticker price of at least $499 for an iPhone and $60 per month for the AT&T service plan.

Negotiating the fairest way to split those advertising revenues with service providers could be a big hurdle for Google, one analyst said. Another problem is the potential that consumers could be scared off by the prospect of listening to advertisements before being able to make phone calls, said Jeff Kagan, a wireless and telecommunications industry analyst in Atlanta.

“I don’t know how successful it’s going to be. The model of an ad-supported wireless Web has not been successful over the past 10 years,” he said, referring to municipal Wi-Fi networks that offer free Internet connections to users willing to view advertisements while they surf the Web.

“The average adult who can afford a cell phone is not going to want to listen to ads. So this is mainly for teenagers, twenty-somethings, high schoolers or people who can’t afford a phone,” said Kagan.

Industry watchers have long heard rumors that Google was designing its own mobile phone. Google added fuel to that speculation in July when it announced it was willing to spend $4.6 billion to buy wireless spectrum in a U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction.

At the same time, an increasing number of industry newcomers have made bids to enter the market, such as Apple with the iPhone and The Walt Disney Co., which launched a wireless version of its ESPN cable sports channel that ultimately failed.

“We see the cell phone industry continuing to evolve,” Kagan said. “We’re still going to see traditional handsets, but the Apple iPhone was a brand new category in wireless, and it wasn’t from a handset vendor and wasn’t from a network.”

Google’s success in its venture will depend largely on the details it is still defining with its manufacturing and network partners, and whether customers are willing to trade user fees for intrusive advertising, he said.

“There are a lot of unknowns, but generally speaking, it hasn’t worked yet,” said Kagan.

Aug

20

Introducing the iTent

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* Intel Up to 2.8GHz dual-core Intel processor (for cooking sausages on)
* 20- or 24-inch glossy widescreen display (so the kids can watch telly when it rains)
* Wireless Icon Built-in wireless technologies (for your walkie talkies)
* ATI Radeon Logo Advanced graphics from ATI (to make your iTent look nice)
* Harddrive Icon Larger hard drives — up to 1TB of storage (for storing your tins of beans/ pot noodles in)

Feb

23

2gb Chapstick USB Drive

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Friday Afternoon.

The Pub is calling…….

Feb

19

USB Sellotape dispenser

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How’s this for the most useless gadget award of the day. It’s the Scotch USB Sellotape dispenser!  It also doubles as a handy 4-port USB hub. Quite why you would need a Sellotape dispenser attached to any USB hub is anyone’s guess.

But here it is in all its glory.

Obviously we’ve ordered 4.  We’d have ordered 20 if they would have stuck an apple logo on them.