New Windows Phone 7 Apps Demo-ed (Netflix!)

Microsoft isn’t expected to officially release its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system to consumers, via new handsets, until October. But the developer tools for WP7 went final this week, and they’ve been showing off apps built for the new mobile platform left and right. The folks behind the Seesmic social networking client for Facebook and … Read more

NY Times Rips Vulkano A New Caldera

The New York Times took a look at the multifunction Vulkano digital media device … and the results are not pretty. Some of the review lowlights: “it’s a train wreck” “head-banging limitations” “so many problems” “recruited as a paying beta tester” Basically, “the Vulkano box is nowhere near ready for prime time” Devastating!

Of course, I’m not entirely surprised having had a unit in my possession a few weeks. I’ve held off formally evaluating the loaner Vulkano while awaiting some significant software improvements. One update was pushed out last week and I’m told “radically” improved firmware should be available soon. As it currently stands, when I last looked, folks merely looking to placeshift their home TV programming to various desktop and mobile platforms probably won’t be disappointed. But those interested in the Vulkano’s additional features (recording, apps, etc) will want to wait on making a purchase until Monsoon improves the situation.

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Justin.tv Adds Live iPhone Video Broadcasting

Justin.tv has launched a new version of its iPhone app with support for broadcasting live video from an iPhone. Up until now you could only use the company’s iOS app to watch live streams broadcast by other Justin.tv users. The company launched an Android app for broadcasting live video a few weeks ago, and the iPhone version … Read more

The TiVo Updates of the Week (Samsung, MoCA)

I’m not sure either of the recent TiVo (pre)announcements warrant an independent post, given the company’s typical long lead between partnership revelations and tangible products. However, given the pings and forum chatter, they’re probably worth touching on briefly as part of a larger ‘week in TiVo’ post. First, at IBC TiVo and Samsung announced that … Read more

Sneak Peek: Slacker’s On-Demand Music Service

Tonight at the annual Pepcom holiday event in New York, Slacker will preview its new on-demand music service, a major upgrade to the existing application available on the Web, and on Android, Blackberry, and iOS phones. As long-time Slacker fans here at ZNF, we couldn’t be more excited about the launch. In addition to caching stations and enabling downloads of favorite tracks (available with today’s Slacker premium service), the new on-demand service will let users call up and play specific artists and songs at will. The new genre stations, pre-programmed by Slacker DJs, will provide details on the top station artists and songs, with an option to jump around to those tracks and others at any time. The search function will also provide more information on artists and songs, including what stations they’re programmed on, associated albums, etc. You’ll also be able to sort and play favorites easily, and there will be significantly more functionality for programming your own custom stations from any mobile interface.

Slacker is planning to roll out the on-demand upgrade in October. The company will continue to offer a free service tier, and users will be able to unlock higher tiers for a monthly fee: Slacker Plus at $3.99 per month and Slacker Premium (full on-demand functionality) at $9.99 per month.

I’ve always believed Slacker has the best feature set of any online music service. From the revolutionary offline caching function, to its customization capabilities, Slacker, in my opinion, outperforms the competition. However, its mobile implementations haven’t quite lived up to the browser experience, or to my dedicated Slacker hardware. And the interface has needed an update for some time. Assuming the new upgrade adds the necessary polish, along with the new features, Slacker should have itself a killer mobile music app.

UPDATE: The older Slacker Premium service, which I originally linked to in this post, is no longer available. If you’re interested, just hold out another month, and Slacker should have you covered with the new version.

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Bitbop Now Streaming TV to Android ($10/mo)

Bitbop is a service that lets you stream TV shows and movies to a mobile device. The company launched a BlackBerry app earlier this year, and today Bitbop unveiled software that will let you access the service on a Google Android device. The company offers commercial free content from a variety of networks including CBS, … Read more

Blockbuster Imposes 105 Day Game Rental Waits

Silly me, I had assumed Blockbuster’s 12/28/2010 ship date for Halo Reach was merely a typo. As it turns out, their mail-order rental service imposes a 105 day waiting period on new release games. Which means I’m Halo-less this week (thus far). It also means that Blockbuster’s recently enhanced rental service ($9/mo) won’t work for … Read more

Ojo Video Phone Lives! Er, Again!

I doubt I’ll ever tire of covering Ojo video phones. Why, you ask? Because I have a history with these puppies. But more on that in a moment. Today, WorldGate has announced general availability of the Ojo Vision digital video phone with bundled calling plans. Sign up for a two-year contract, and you can get … Read more