Anyone that has used Skype knows that the service is a good alternative to using international calling cards, but using headsets aren’t clear. This is why the eBay subsidiary company has designed a headset of their own called the FREETALK Everyman. The headset is USB-powered. The device does not cost much: $22.88 and it ensures good Skype sound quality. To buy the headset, click here.
There are a number of airline companies that are now supporting in-air WiFi connectivity. U.S. Airways is now joining in on the fun. In select U.S. Airways planes, there will be WiFi powered by Gogo starting early 2010. WiFi will be added to about 50 A321 aircrafts. Consumers that are interested in using WiFi in mid-air will notice the icon placed next to the travel reservations when booking tickets.
“Gogo Inflight Internet will allow our customers to make the most of their flying time by catching up on work or relaxing and surfing the Internet. This is an exciting new option for our passengers that we believe will enhance their travel experience,” stated Andrew Nocella, SVP of Marketing and Planning at U.S. Airways.
With over 65,000 apps in the App store, finding new and interesting apps is becoming increasingly difficult. Apple’s Tim Cook said there is room for improvement in the current store. He said that Apple is looking for new ways to categorize software in the App Store. He said that Apple has some ideas to improve the experience.
During the Apple earnings call, Cook also said that one of the issues of the App Store is that developers are not sure how to price their applications. And customers do not have enough information to tell whether an application is worth buying.
He said that the popularity of $0.99 cent apps has created a wasteland of mediocre applications.
“In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric, More ominously. it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.”
The App Store is now 1 year old. Its popularity is a key driving factor in iPhone sales.
By next year, over half of HTC’s phones will be Android powered. This is not good news for Microsoft. A majority of HTC’s current phones are Windows Mobile OS powered. HTC has manufactured 80 percent of all Windows Mobile phones to date.
This is however excellent news for Google. Android phones have not caught on mainly because of hardware issues. Consumers are eager to see more Android phones coming out.
Today Amazon announced that it is acquiring online footwear retailer Zappos for $885 million. Zappos has been around for 10 years. It did over $1 billion in sales last year. The deal is mostly in stock.
Zappos is known for its excellent customer service. It also offers free shipping and returns on all items. The company has 1,300 employees.
Zappos had raised roughly $60 million total from Sequoia Capital, Venture Frogs, ZVest, and Tony Hsieh. The investors will see a health return
Xoopit has been acquired by Yahoo. Xoopit makes applications to help people share content over email. Yahoo plans to integrate Xoopit with Yahoo mail to help users organize and share photos they send and receive over Yahoo mail.
The amount of the acquisition was not disclosed but is rumored to be at around $20 million. Xoopit had raised $5 million from VCs.
Xooped won a Hack Day event at Yahoo last year for its email photo organization application. Xoopt powered My Photos is the third most popular application at Yahoo Mail.
Apple has dropped it lawsuit against Bluwiki. Bluwiki is a free wiki site that contains mostly anonymously authored pages. Apple got angry when someone created a wiki page that explained how to sync the iPod and iPhone using software other than iTunes.
The wiki page talked about reverse engineering the iTunesDB file format that Apple includes in its devices so they only sync with iTunes.
The lawsuit did not go well for Apple. The Electronic Frontier Foundation pressured Apple to drop the suit. It even issued a lawsuit against Apple.
Microsoft said today that the Windows 7 code has been finalized. Windows 7 is set to launch on October 22. Windows 7 has had largely positive feedback. Microsoft is working hard to release Windows 7 on time because Vista was never popular with manufactures and consumers. Many businesses did not feel comfortable upgrading to an unreliable operating system.
Windows 7 fixes many of the compatibility and performance issues Vista had. According to Microsoft, It is also not as resource intensive as Vista.
Microsoft will also offer a Windows 7 family pack that can be legally installed on up to three PCs. The family pack means it will be affordable for an entire family to upgrade to Windows 7 without purchasing multiple licenses. A family pack may also discourage individuals from sharing (pirating) Windows.
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