Daily Bits

Sony Feels the iPad Heat, Lowers Price of its E-Reader

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Over at 901am, I’ve been covering some hot news about the Apple iPad which as you all know by now is about to be released on April 3.  Lately, the iPad has been getting some news mileage with emphasis mostly on how good the iPad would be as an e-book reader. Yes, that’s despite the fact that it was not made solely for the purpose of reading e-books.

But then, it’s inevitable especially since Apple is also prepping  up its own e-bookstore of sorts, the iBookstore app. Once the iPads land on the hands of those who pre-ordered since two weeks ago, I’m pretty sure e-book distributors will start pouring in.

So, if you’re Sony who has an e-book reader which is not really doing well, what would be your best move to compete with the likes of the iPad and Kindle?  Of course, reduce the price of your e-book reader to make it more competitive.

And that’s what Sony just did – lowered the price of its basic e-book reader the Sony Pocket  Reader from $199 to $169.  That puts the Pocket Reader at $90 cheaper than the least expensive model of the Kindle. And of course way cheaper than the iPad which is currently selling for $499 for the cheapest version.

Actually this was predicted by Forrester analyst James McQuivey – that is single purpose e-reader device such as the Pocket Reader will have a price drop of as low as $99 by next year.  This is to make these device competitive enough against multi-purpose devices such as the iPad.

So, are you most likely to get the Sony Pocket Reader instead of the iPad or Kindle now?

TV is Not Dead! Americans are Still Using it Together with Internet and Mobile Phones

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Here’s a rather surprising findings by Nielsen which debunks the myth that TV is on its way to extinction in favor of the Internet and mobile phones. According to Nielsen’s report, Americans have in fact increased their overall media usage and media multitasking activities by using TV simultaneously as they connect to the Internet and use their mobile phones.

The Nielsen report called “Three Screen Report” tracks consumption across TV, Internet and mobile phones.  The report showed that in the last quarter of 2009, TV consumption and Internet use combined have reached three and a half hours monthly. This is a 35% growth from the third quarter of 2009.  In addition, 60% of  TV viewers are watching TV while using the Internet at the same time.

Nielsen Company media product leader Matt O’Grady says that using the Internet while watching TV have given TV viewers a unique on-screen and off-screen relation with TV programming.

“The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different,” said O’Grady.

The study also found that on the average, Americans watched 35 hours of TV per week and two hours of timeshifted TV via DVR. This is attributed to the fact that DVR provides them with added convenience. At the same time the growth of HD programming and flatscreen TVs have also contributed  the renewed interest with watching TV programs. The availability of more channels and choices due to digital delivery be it via cable or satellite are also contributing factors.

Other findings of the study include – increase in online video consumption as well as increase in the active mobile video users courtesy of the booming smartphone market.

ChaCha Adds Social Dimension to its Q&A Service

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I’m not really sure whether you have heard or at the most used ChaCha.com, a question and answer service that provides quick, accurate answers to millions of question everyday.  Regardless, you might be interested to know that the online Q&A service  is adding some social aspects to its service by launching the new ChaCha.me social platform.

The ChaCha.me platform allows you to build a profile. But once your profile is up, practically all those who’ve created their own profiles as well can start asking you various questions.  Likewise, you are free to ask questions to them too.  It’s like building a social network based on the Q&A format.

To kick off its launch, ChaCha.me is featuring David Guetta who recently won a Grammy Award and currently has two songs on the Billboard Top 50. Guetta will be among the first celebrities who will be featured on ChaCha.me. Once on the featured page, fans can ask questions and hopefully get answers from celebrities.

In addition, ChaCha.me will soon be making its way on mobile platforms, specifically on iPhone and Droid handsets. An SMS functionality is also being planned.

ChaCha’s CEO Steve Jones has this to say about the launch of ChaCha.me:

“One of the most fundamentally appealing qualities of social sites like Twitter and Facebook is the notion that people care about what celebrities and friends are doing and sharing. ChaCha.me provides this forum for users, but also takes it to the next level with intimate Q&A interaction. These ChaCha.me answers may flow into ChaCha’s broad database so that those who are asking for answers from ChaCha will receive, in effect, certified answers directly. For example, ChaCha will now be able to return certain answers about David Guetta, directly from David himself,” said Mr. Jones.

RIM to Roll Out BlackBerry Internet Service IS 3.0 on March 28

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If you own a BlackBerry device you either have it connected with your company’s BlackBerry Enterprises Server to access your email or on BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) to connect your IMAP, POP3 email accounts.  If you’re BlackBerry is tied up with BIS, expect some downtime to happen during the wee hours of the morning as RIM will be upgrading BIS to version 3.0.

The scheduled BIS network maintenance will happen 0500 CT/0600 EDT on March 28 and will last for four hours. All BIS customers will be affected by the upgrade – meaning you may be unable to send or receive messages, view email attachments, and activate email service. In addition, wireless service providers and device resellers may be unable to create subscriber accounts or provision services for subscribers.

And what do you get after the upgrade? The BIS  version 3.0 promises the following new features:

  • enhanced Google Mail integrations through synchronization of read, unread, and sent email message status for new Google Mail integration
  • enhanced Google Mail Plug-in to allow you to create and delete labels
  • additional language support for Basque, Catalan, Galician, Romanian
  • increased attachment compatibility – OpenDocument Presentations, OpenDocument Spreadsheets, OpenDocument Text, Open Document Text Templates, Windows Media Audio
  • Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (xHTML) Support for non Thick Clients for richer user experience
  • Device Switch Revalidation to optimize email setup and deactivation experience
  • Hosted Email Address Passwords
  • Send Delivery Receipts

Via CrackBerry

WordPress for BlackBerry Updated to 1.1 with Geotagging, Notifications and More Features

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When I first tried WordPress for BlackBerry app, I was pretty amazed at how it simply gets the job done. I mean despite its simplistic approach to a mobile application, that is minus all the fancy interface, it’s really commendable that the app works fast. Perfect for mobile blogging.

And guess what, making  WordPress for BlackBerry even more efficient are some new cool features that extend the app’s blogging functionality. WordPress for BlackBerry 1.1 is now out and it’s really loaded with great new features including the following:

  • Comment Notifications
  • Geotagging of Posts
  • Improved UI interaction on Touch devices
  • introduction of Touch Gestures:
    Sliding a finger to the left or right quickly on the Comment screen displays the next or previous comment.
  • Photo Resizing improvements with user defined dimensions
  • New File Browser with thumbnails support
  • Overall enhancements to the speed and stability of the app

I was going to point out its greatest features but then as I was scrolling through the list, all new features are very important in making the app a great mobile blogging app. But yeah, the comment notifications is a much needed feature. While the geotagging of posts makes the app at par with the current location-aware feature of most mobile apps.

Wait, there’s more. The app also now supports several languages including English, Italian, Finnish, French, Indonesian, German, and Portugese.

You can snag the WordPress for BlackBerry 1.1 from the BlackBerry App World. It’s free to have, download, install and use.  Or you may fire up the old app from your BlackBerry and you will be prompted to update to the new version.

Digg Supports Twitter @Anywhere and Other OpenID Standards

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In the “socially-induced” tech world that we are living in, the old adage that “no man is an island” doesn’t hold true anymore. No matter how geek and anti-social you are, now is the right time foresake all habits, get out into the open, connect and socialize. Even for the pioneers of web 2.0 applications and tools this is now an SOP. If you want to stay cool and relevant to the social world – open up to other online sites even if they use to be your rival.

Such is the case with Digg.  Digg is struggling to stay relevant. After all, it used to be one of the pillars of the web 2.0 phenomenon. It won’t definitely not yield to competition easily. So the Digg folks are rolling out a couple of integration features with popular online services.

First, Digg will definitely support Twitter @anywhere framework which was just announced a couple of days ago. It’s Facebook Connect integration was pretty successful, giving Digg increased in user engagement and a registration increase of around 20-30%.

And after surveying around 14 thousand of its users, Digg is now ready to roll out some more integration with other third party site based on survey responses. So, aside from Facebook Connect, soon you will be able to log in to Digg using your Google, Yahoo, and Twitter accounts. These three plus Facebook are the ones identified by Digg users which they want to use when logging in to Digg.

In addition, Digg will continue to support OpenID accounts. So if a third party site is supporting OpenID accounts, you can use them also for logging in to Digg.