Mari Silbey Looking for free or cheap Wi-Fi while traveling? Thankfully there are a number of ways to get it now. And while cheap wireless Internet isn’t available everywhere, it is easier than ever to plan ahead for your connectivity needs. Let’s start with airports. Several airports offer free Wi-Fi some or all of the time. (Just … Read more
Microsoft has promised IPTV on the Xbox for nearly four years now, and while the mothballs have collected on that pledge over time, Microsoft has dusted off the concept to roll out the Xbox-as-set-top here in the US starting on October 15th. As Dave described it back in January, the Xbox in this scenario acts as a … Read more
The retransmission battles between content owners and pay-TV providers typically get covered in two ways. There’s the angle about how consumers might miss an important football game because of corporate bickering, and the one about about how higher programming fees are translating into higher cable bills. What doesn’t get covered as often is why retransmission fights … Read more
Since Dave quoted me in his last post, I figured I’d better weigh in officially on the Google TV debate. First, I’m surprised everyone is so taken aback by the price. Given the amount people are willing to spend on new iPads, smartphones, and game consoles, $300 (Logitech Revue) doesn’t seem unreasonable to me for … Read more
A federal jury in Texas has ruled against Apple and in favor of the company Mirror Worlds in a patent case that could bring damages of more than $625 million. The jury found that Apple willfully infringed on three patents related to how files are displayed on iPods, iPhones, and Mac computers. Mirror Worlds created … Read more
The boys over at Engadget posted a slew of Verizon leaks, including news that Motorola plans to launch its Stingray tablet on Verizon in Q1 of next year with a 10″ screen, Android 3.0, and a hardware upgrade option to add LTE. I should say right off the bat that I work for Motorola, but … Read more
Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled its iPad competitor yesterday, the BlackBerry PlayBook. My early take is that there’s a lot to love about this 7″ tablet, but I also have some concerns. In the good column, the PlayBook promises Flash compatibility, video conferencing, portability advantages (very slim and light), a 1GHz dual-core processor, and 1GB … Read more
Online rabble-rouser and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced back in May that several new Comcast markets would start carrying the HDNET channel this year. Now, reports on several user forums suggest the launch is likely to happen this week in Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle. (The Chicago area reportedly started seeing rollouts … Read more