Sprint is my mobile phone provider and I have iPhone-envy.  This envy is not enough for me to switch to AT&T and pay large sums of money for minutes and data.   I’m still sporting the Moto Q, a phone built with  Windows Mobile and was released in 2006.   The biggest difference between the Safari and the iPhone and Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile is rendering capabilities.

Internet Explorer is inferior to Safari in terms of loading the full websites of Wordpress’ admin, YouTube, Hulu, Digg, etc.  Many of these websites are building Windows Mobile Internet Explorer friendly services, but have scaled back tremendously on the full features of the site.

Enter Skyfire, a browser that is able to load everything that your PC or Mac browser can.  Skyfire is able to load Flash, Silverlight, Ajax, and QuickTime.  If anyone were to ask me which two applications are must downloads for Windows Mobile, I would say Skyfire and Google Maps.

This software is a big deal because it makes Windows Mobile users not feel obsolete anymore.

Skyfire was started by Nitin Bhandari (CEO) and Erik Swenson (CTO) in April 2006.  Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and Trinity Ventures invested $17.8 million in Skyfire.

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) is constantly battling with the nimble Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).  Blockbuster has been trying several strategic moves in an effort to regain investor confidence.  These moves includes setting up a mail order rental service and making an offer to acquire Circuit City.  Blockbuster’s stock price is continuously dwindling and now their market cap is a mere $229 million.

Blockbuster’s next move is a movie and TV show direct download service.  Anyone that signs up for 25 movies in advance for the cost of $99 will receive a free MediaPoint Digital Media Player.  The Digital Media Player will allow users to directly download movies and TV shows and watch them on a computer or TV.

Movie rentals are $1.99 and the movies are DVD quality.  The MediaPoint player has an HDMI output connection for crystal clear video enthusiasts.

“The MediaPoint digital player, featuring BLOCKBUSTER ONDEMAND, is entertainment made easy. We are bringing Blockbuster, and the thousands of movies in our digital library, straight to customers’ televisions,” stated Blockbuster Chairman and CEO Jim Keyes. “The player is simple to use, delivers DVD quality video, and there’s no monthly subscription commitment. We are delighted to team with 2Wire to give consumers this great entertainment product.”

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) are supposedly in talks once again.  Microsoft is rumored to be wanting to buy out Yahoo!’s online search business for $20 billion.  The acquisition would bring a Microsoft management team to take control of Yahoo!  Jonathan Miller, former AOL CEO is believed to be brought on the combined management team.

Carl Icahn recently bought an additional 7 million shares of Yahoo! this past week which indicates that something big may be happening soon.  Jerry Yang also recently stepped down from the CEO position and is searching for a replacement.

Microsoft would setup a $5 billion facility for Miller and Ross Levinsohn, former President of FOX Interactive Media to run Yahoo!  These two would also raise an additional $5 billion from external investors.  Microsoft would have operating control of the search business for 10 years.  Microsoft would also be given a two-year call option to buy Yahoo!’s search business for $20 billion.  Yahoo! would be left with it’s e-mail, messaging, and content services.

[Source: Times Online UK]

The tragedy that took the lives of about 150 people in Mumbai, India is the second time I’ve heard of a time where terrorists planned such a sophisticated act of destruction, the first being 9/11.  Terrorists coordinated a series of 10 attacks in India’s largest city.  The attacks have lasted 3 days thus far.  The locations of the attacks includes the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, two five-star hotels, the Oberoi Trident, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Café, a restaurant in Colaba, the Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, Metro Adlabs movie theater, and police headquarters.

Throughout the news coverage investigations of this event, users on Twitter have been anxiously tweeting away what they have heard using the symbol: #mumbai.  This makes it easy for users to search the most recent events on Twitter Search.

Anytime a major event occurs in the world, Twitter is one of the first social media sites to break the news.  I’ve seen people report an earthquake in California before any other major news agency.

Twitter plays an important role in globalization.  I did not really get it before, but now I do.  “This is where social media grows up,” wrote ZDNet’s Jennifer Leggio.

Carl Icahn, board member of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has decided to buy millions of additional share in the search engine company.  Now Carl Icahn owns 75.6 million shares.  According to paidContent, Icahn “acquired 3,697,181 shares at $9.7988 per share Monday, 2,704,780 shares at $9.9678 Tuesday, and another 376,843 shares at $9.9988 Wednesday.”  Icahn now owns 5.5% of Yahoo!

Three Possible Reasons Why:
Why would Icahn buy so many shares when so many people are wanting to cash out as Yahoo!’s stock is steadily declining?  AllThingsD believes that the investment may be related to an upcoming CEO selection that Icahn favors.

Another theory is that Icahn believes in the long-term prospects of the search engine company.  Even without a Microsoft acquisition and a Google partnership, Yahoo! could still turn around.  Icahn is still on a quest to strike some sort of deal with Microsoft even if it is a search engine partnership.  Yahoo! has been through a lot of downs this year, perhaps we’ll see them become more aggressive.

And then of course there is the basic rule of finance: Buy low, sell high.  Icahn bought all of the additional shares at under $10.  When Microsoft made the bid to acquire Yahoo! earlier this year, the stock jumped up to nearly $30.  Today Yahoo! closed at around $11.51 so the investment is already starting to pay-off.

News Corporation (NYSE:NWS.A) subsidiary MySpace and Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) have seen a large number of downloads of the MySpace for BlackBerry application.  In the first week of availability, the MySpace for BlackBerry application was downloaded by over 400,000 people.  Through the application, over 15 million messages and 2 million statues have been updated in the first week as well.

“We established an innovative and collaborative partnership with RIM to address a key desire of consumers to have greater mobile connectivity and interaction with their friends and the global community at large,” stated Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of MySpace. “This record shows just how much of a force in the mobile consumer space RIM and MySpace have become.”

The application can be downloaded from www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com from a BlackBerry phone browser.

“This rapid adoption is a reflection of an evolving consumer lifestyle where social connectivity and information access are more important than ever,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Research In Motion. “This powerful new mobile application combines social networking and mobility in a highly personalized and empowering manner and we are very excited to see such a positive response in the first week.”

1. Apple 1984 commercial

2. Steve Ballmer Pitching Windows 1.0

3. Apple vs. Mac featuring Gisele Bündchen

4. Microsoft – I’m A PC

5. eBay.com.au – Make Shopping Exciting

Justin.tv, the live streaming video web service is being investigated by police in Florida.  The police is determined to find out what Justin.tv’s role was in the suicide case of a teenager last week.  Abraham Biggs Jr. wrote that he was going to kill himself with prescription drugs on a live webcam streaming on Justin.tv.

Several members of the discussion board called the police.  The police showed up about 12 hours after Biggs posted his first note on bodybuilding.com.  After Biggs died on live video, some of the most disturbing comments started appearing and Justin.tv deleted the video.  The Pembroke Pines Police Department are looking into the role that the members of Justin.tv played in the suicide case.

“We regret that this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time,” stated Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel.

InformationWeek also points out that in several cases, including in the state of New York, “anyone who advises someone to commit suicide can be charged with manslaughter.”

According to Kara Swisher, Facebook wanted to buy Twitter for $500 million in stock.  But the talks ended about 3 weeks ago when Evan Williams, founder of Twitter turned them down. Zuckerberg stated that he’s “really impressed by what they’ve done” at Twitter at the Web 2.0 Summit. Twitter is “a very elegant model.”

Some of the concerns regarding the transaction included how much Facebook’s stock was actually worth.  Another concern was how the integration and cost structuring would work.  Twitter also still does not seem to have a revenue plan.

Zuckerberg is also impressed with how Twitter has been able to take over the “status update” market.  Many Facebook users update their status via Twitter, including myself.

To date, Twitter has raised $20 million in funding giving them a $98 million valuation.  Twitter’s investors include Union Square Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital, and Bezos Expeditions.  Marc Andreessen and Ron Conway are also investors in Twitter.  Andreessen currently serves on the Board of Directors at Facebook.

The $500 million offer would have been based on Microsoft’s $15 billion valuation of Facebook.  This figure was based on Microsoft’s $240 million investment in the social network.

Federated Media is an advertising broker partner for many top tech tier sites.  They power the advertising for TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, Mashable, You’re the man now dog, AppleInsider, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, TechDirt, etc.  To date, Federated Media has raised $57.5 million.

Federated Media (FM) has lost a number of partners to acquisitions and poaching.  Digg was a partner of FM before Microsoft signed a deal with them.  Ars Technica was a partner of FM before Condé Nast bought them out.  Another Federated ad partner, Sphere was picked up by AOL.

Now GigaOm will be stepping down from FM to sign with IDG Group.  IDG’s Network includes CIO, Computerworld, JavaWorld, Linuxworld, Macworld, PC World, etc.

In related news, Federated Media is also slashing advertising rates in order to adapt to rough economic advertising conditions.  TechCrunch’s CPM has been dropped from $36 to $23.40.  Silicon Alley Insider’s weekly square button ads have been dropped from $630 to $409.50.

Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) had an opening successful day selling their new BlackBerry Storm phone.  The Storm is the first touch-screen phone made by Research in Motion.  While the Storm doesn’t seem to have the same hype as the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, those who have Verizon Wireless will have a comparable alternative.

Over 200 people waited in line at the Verizon store in Manhattan.  Many people were turned away after the phones ran out.  Verizon stated that they will be adding more shipments to meet the demand.  For those who ordered the phone online, they will start coming in about 5-7 days.

The Storm costs $200 with a two-year contract.  In San Francisco, over 100 phones were sold before 7AM.

“If a store has already run out, it’s evidence of pent up demand,” stated Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon. “We don’t normally have people line up.”

The Storm has GPS, a YouTube video player, high-res display at 480×360 pixel display, 0.34 lbs. in weight, and 1GB of onboard memory.

The Storm has 5.5 hours of 3G talk time, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with built-in flash.   The phone is available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Although the iPhone has the advantage by offering third party applications through the App Store, Research In Motion is supposedly planning on opening a similar service sometime next year.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) bought Kelkoo on March 26, 2004 for $579 million. Kelkoo is a France-based shopping price comparison engine. As Yahoo! begins to transition into a new phase, they will need some capital to get back onto their feet. Therefore Yahoo! has now sold Kelkoo to a private equity firm called Jamplant Ltd.

Although the selling price is not known, one of TechCrunch’s sources believes the price is less than $125 million. Pierre Chappaz, the former CEO of Kelkoo announced the sale on his blog.

Yahoo!’s stock price has gone south since Steve Ballmer stated that Microsoft is still no longer interested in acquiring the search engine company as a whole even though Jerry Yang stepped down from the CEO position.

Leader Technologies, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio has filed a patent infringement against Facebook.  The complaint was filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Delware.  The patent at stake is 7,139,761 invented by Michael T. McKibben and Jeff R. Lamb.  The patent was filed on December 10, 2003 and issued on November 21, 2006.

Below is the abstract of the patent:

A data management tool. The tool is a unified, horizontal system for communications, organization, information processing, and data storage. The tool operates seamlessly with existing platforms, and is a common workflow layer that is automated with a scalable, relational database. The tool uses one or both of a relational and object database engine that facilitates at least many-to-many relationships among data elements. The highest contextual assumption is that there exists an entity that consists of one or more users. The data storage model first assumes that files are associated with the user. Thus, data generated by applications is associated with an individual, group of individuals, and topical content and not simply with a folder, as in traditional systems.

Leader Technologies was founded by Michael McKibben and they specialize in web-based collaboration platforms.  Leader’s four core products are Leader Phone, Leader Dialog, Leader Alert, and Leader Meeting.

“We have spent a great amount of time and effort in procuring our intellectual property,” stated McKibben, “and have taken the steps necessary to protect our proprietary and inventive ideas [MarketWatch].”

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has struck a deal with T-Mobile USA for OneSearch to become the preferred search engine.  OneSearch is Yahoo!’s mobile browser and this is the second telecomm deal that Yahoo! has one.  AT&T brought Yahoo! on board as their partner for the default search engine for new customers.

Google has a dela with Sprint Nextel.  Verizon is currently in talks with both Microsoft and Google.  Between T-Mobile and AT&T, Yahoo! will be able to reach 105 million subscribers in the U.S.  This deal does not affect the T-Mobile partnership with Google for the G1 smartphone.  T-Mobile and Yahoo! will share advertising revenue generated by the partnership.

Microsoft and Google’s battle for the Verizon Wireless deal is rumored to be worth about $550-$650 million.

About 4 months ago Google launched a Linden Lab competitor called Lively.  It failed to gain traction and Google did not even support it in their own Chrome browser.

“Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it’s the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people’s lives,” stated the Lively Team on the Google Blog. “But we’ve also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.”

Lively will be fully shut down by the end of December. Google encourages users to take screenshots of their rooms and avatars to keep for sentimental value.  Linden Lab now has one less competitor to worry about against their Second Life software.