GigaOM

Update: Our sister blog, OStatic live blogged the event. Their and my summary of the event with photos to follow soon. Thanks for coming to the event. As you might have guessed we are all a little tired this morning :-) Continue Reading

Broadband service providers looking for ways to upsell higher-speed (more expensive) connections now have the perfect come-on: same-day downloads on Apple’s iTunes store from most of the major Hollywood studios.

While the news doesn’t cover rentals, it’s good enough. Others, like VUDU, are already offering similar same-day download services. Given its history, the odds of Apple replicating the success it’s had with music in the movie download business are pretty high. The near ubiquity of its iTunes software and easy download process render it a good candidate for making a habit out of downloading movies. There is, of course, one problem when buying and download movies online: It takes forever. Continue Reading

Here’s the metaverse mystery of the week: This strange new private island with a very familiar name recently emerged on the server grid of virtual world Second Life. Spotted yesterday by Second Life blogger Tateru Nino (and confirmed when I checked the world’s dynamic map today), we have to assume it’s an official Nintendo property. When someone buys a virtual island from Linden Lab, they also get to name it. Given Linden’s DMCA enforcement policy, it’s unlikely they’d let just anyone dub an island “Nintendo.”

But that just adds to the puzzle. Unlike console competitors Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has few properties directly tied to the PC market, and last February, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said they had no interest in adding an MMO to its Wii system. Nintendo’s U.S. president, Reggie Fils-Aime, said they wanted the Wii to appeal to crossover demographics “very much like the Second Life audience,” so maybe it’s just a virtual marketing site, like Microsoft’s Xbox island.

Here’s a more tantalizing possibility: A German firm has created a Wii-to-SL interface for the treadmill, and developers with Japan’s Softbank have created a Wii-like accelerometer game in Second Life, so maybe Nintendo is cooking up some interesting new product feature. Neither Linden Lab nor Nintendo’s PR firm replied to our queries by publication time, however, and the island’s off-limits to outsiders. For all we know, the Hanso Foundation is involved.

AT&T, after months of waiting, is finally launching its MediaFLO mobile broadcast television service. The Vu service, which is based on Qualcomm’s MediaFLO technology, will roll out May 4th in 58 cities across the country. Much like Verizon’s V-Cast service, which is based on the same technology, AT&T’s service will require new handsets capable of receiving the broadcast signals. AT&T will launch with two.

The need for additional hardware — and the additional fees, which range from $13 to $25 per month — may be what’s keeping MediaFLO down in the U.S. While neither Qualcomm nor Verizon break out numbers for the service, data from firms such as M:Metrics and Qualcomm’s financials indicate that the adoption rate so far is slow.

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My doctor says I shouldn’t get angry, that I need to let things go. But how do I keep my cool when some idiot discount phone company spams me incessantly? In the last 12 hours I have received about a dozen calls from Startec. The bastards are so desperate for business that they call me and pretend to be “Om Malik” and speak to me in Hindi and Urdu, hoping that I’ll talk to them.

I told these idiots that I don’t want anything, and that if you’re going to bother someone during work hours, you’re only going to alienate them as a potential customer. That hasn’t stopped them from calling back — again and again. They are calling my mobile number, which is what makes the whole thing so aggravating. I am surprised that a buyout firm like Platinum Equity is involved with this piece-of-shit operation. I interview Tom Gores for Red Herring during the heyday of the telecom boom. I guess there are slim pickings for telecom buyout guys these days, hence investing in Startec. Sorry for ranting!