What I’m Reading: Friday

The Samsung Saga launches on Verizon December 1st:

HTC Touch HD reviewed:

American Airlines is getting into mobile boarding passes.

Hey Google, nobody is going to do this because nobody wants to look like they’re talking to themself.

Regional wireless player Cricket is growing, going national

Watch out for these guys.

Kobe Bryant is fielding offers of $30 million to play pro ball in Greece and possibly Italy, where he was born.

The new MacBook is now $1099 at Fry’s on Black Friday. You know where I’ll be at 5AM that morning.

What I’m Reading: Thursday

MySpace for BlackBerry has launched. Most market-less app ever. The Facebook BlackBerry app makes, but MySpace doesn’t fit: people who own BlackBerries are classy enough that they wouldn’t ever think of being on MySpace. Prove me wrong.

HTC launches GSM/WiMax handset in Russia. This is HOT:

Samsung has learned that simple design (no branding) means beautiful devices, like their P3 PMP:

The Plus Bike, designed in Italy by Dovetusai:

It even has a flashlight built into the tube frame on the front.

“The casual thing is a bit of a disappointment,” says Barneys’ Tom Kalenderian.

What does Tom expect, that Obama sport skinny-ties and 60′s cut jackets, and look super European? Come on, this guy is a manly president — don’t expect him to start shopping at Barney’s anytime soon.

Area Codes Are Dead. Thank VoIP For It – GigaOM

Worldwide local access is becoming a reality, thanks to the absolutely area-code free internet.

In Apple news: the new Taylor Swift album is only $3.99 at Amazon, and $11.99 through iTunes. Yet it’s still the top-selling album on iTunes. Is there anything which would prompt consumers to desert iTunes for a better and cheaper alternative?

Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Mobile will be out soon with better AJAX support and full desktop rendering. Too little, too late.

Red’s cameras have leaked out

Verizon is requiring all smartphone customers to pay $29.99/month for a data plan. That’ll keep consumers happy!

Catholic bishops to fight Obama on abortion, lose

Idiots.

What I’m Reading: Wednesday

BlackBerry Curve 8900 annouced for T-Mobile Germany (P.S. everyone, this is the JesusPhone. It is perfect.)

It has a hi-res 480 x 360 display, microSD support to 16GB, WiFi, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, and integrated GPS. The only thing it lacks: 3G. I guess that doesn’t matter if all you’re using this for is messaging/emailing/light web browsing, but they should’ve at least thrown it in there…it’s 2008 for God’s sake!

Skype is dead, long live Gmail: Gmail now does video chat:

Once Gmail allows you to see your Facebook contacts’ presence and videochat them, we’ll all have the best communications system/an epic timewaster on our hands. Imagine if ALL your contacts could see you were available for videochat at any given time whenever you’re logged in to Facebook or Gmail.

Here’s the installation link to enable Gmail video chat: LINK.

The United States may be downgraded, default on its debt

EEE PC’s are now $280 at BestBuy

What I’m Reading: Tuesday

Scott is in Rio, snapping away:

(click to enlarge)

Via The Sartorialist.

Dart Coat-Hooks (via Uncrate):

AK-47 Ammo Ice Tray (and the trays look like 30-round clips!):

The D**che Card. Next time that guy with spiked hair tries to cut in front of you at a bar, give him one of these so he knows what kind of man he is:

Seth Blixseth/Yellowstone Club = PWNED.

Superbowl ads in trouble, need government assistance

Sprint is rolling out an app that uses your phone’s camera to scan barcodes that send you to websites with more info. Nice move, if only Japan hadn’t rolled this out 3 years ago.

“Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader economic stimulus package if Obama and congressional Democrats dropped their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia,” claimed the TIMES.

Is Bush really in a position to be bargaining, considering the Dems will control Conress AND the White House come Jan. 20? (For the record, I’m WAY pro-free-trade with Colombia, and other nations).

What I’m Reading: Monday

The iriver wave (the first cellphone from iriver, who usually only make PMPs) will debut in Korea next march, sporting a 3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen, WiFi, multi-format media playback, an FM radio, an e-book reader, an electronic dictionary, and a miniSD slot.

Election results by county:

It’s pretty funny how the urban areas vote Dem, and the areas with less-educated/lower-wage-earning people vote GOP. We live in a purple nation…

What would a real world Photo Shop look like?:

Grand Perspective shows you what your disk usage looks like, so you can find big files you thought you’d lost and save disk space:

The Ferrari Scuderia Spyder 16M will sport a custom iPod Touch install in the dash:

New iPhone app tells surfers the conditions at their favorite breaks:

Last Call for iPhone tells you if you’re sober enough to drive. If not, it’ll call a cab. If you don’t take a cab, it’ll look up DUI lawyers for you:

Some users of T-Mobile’s G1 phone found that typing any word on the phone’s keyboard — in any application — sent whatever they typed to the phone’s command line shell. Those commands were then executed with root user privileges, meaning there were no limitations on what the commands could do to the phone. For instance, texting the word ‘reboot’ would actually cause the phone to do so.

The iPhone 3G is now the top-selling handset in the nation

Debian Linux now runs on the HTC/T-Mobile G1

BestBuy is selling the Nokia N95/N96/N71 unlocked on T-Mobile. Smart, but a little too close to my startup’s business model for comfort.

I made a cake, in a mug, in the microwave. I used a packet that they sell in Japan. Now you can make the mix yourself!

BlackBerry Bold Hands-on (this will be my next phone if I don’t get an 8900 or a Storm)

Nokia’s internal roadmap revealed

Guerrilla Gardeners, a group of avid and dedicated amateur horticulturalists have taken it upon themselves to ‘illegally’ plant and spruce up public land where vegetation/trees could grow and/or is not maintained properly. What these planters do is find abandoned parcels of land (public or private) that need some loving, find suitable plants/flowers/trees that would grow in the environment, and in the middle of the night commit their ‘crime’. End result? An aesthetically better looking plot of land.

What I’m Reading: Sunday

Microsoft just rolled out 46 SICK new Zune designs. A step in the right direction:

Obama’s presumed FCC head wants to institute racism into our telecommunications system

Sorry, you’re white, no spectrum licenses for you! Ditto if you’re male. This is shocking.

The morning after:

The party’s over.

Is this the bottom?:

Michael Creighton on global warming:

Via LoSC.

What I’m Reading: Friday

99 Bricks = Tetris + Laws of Physics

Change.gov = Government 2.0 – Why didn’t this kind of innovation come from our leadership 5 years ago? (via Jason Preston)

New AT&T Quickfire. Sick device.

JDPower survey: Apple tops in customer satisfaction among business users

Apple is now ahead of RIM in market share

Every November 4th, Spain celebrates the bankers’ patron saint, San Carlos Borromeo

Colleges are borrowing huge sums of money to buy stocks

Dear OPEC:

The United States, China, and Europe

General Motors is bankrupt.

Classic books designed to look like cigarette packs. Awesome.

Tax Facts:

Top 1%
If you are lucky or hard-working enough to have earned $364,657 in 2006, the last year for which data is fully available, you are in the top 1% of earners.

That group earned 22% of all income and paid 40.4% of all taxes levied on individuals.

The top 1% paid almost as much as the lower 95%! The percent of taxes paid by the top 1% has increased from 19% of all tax to the current 40% over the last 25 years.

$145,283 in earnings landed you in the top 5% of earners, and the top 5% paid 60% of all taxes.

$103,912 was needed to qualify for the top 10%, and that group paid 70% of all taxes.

The top 25% of incomes (over $62,066) paid 86% of taxes.

Non Tax Payers
It’s estimated that, in 2009, well over 40% of American earners will pay no Federal tax.

Exit-Poll Vote By Top Issue:

Exit-Poll Vote By Income:

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(click to enlarge)

Both via The Sartorialist.

This describes at least 100 of my friends (rabid Obama fanatics):

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Now you know what it’s like to live in the Pacific Northwest:

Nissan 370Z:

Wireless carriers don’t care about customers, example #398 (Verizon is choosing an exclusive search partner, and it’s between Google and MSFT Live Search. Why not let customers choose? Why lock them in? Preload the best app that customers like, not the app you’re being paid to push. Fools.

Samsung is now #1 in cellphone market share in the US. Motorola, who basically invented the cellphone, are now #2.

iPhone data tethering confirmed

What I’m Reading: Wednesday

NTT DoCoMo’s got some new phones out:

CNN interviews holograms broadcasted from other locations:

Good.

Even robots love Obama:

obamican (n.): A Republican who crossed party lines to vote for Barack Obama in 2008.

The Nokia E71 has been praised in reviews, but do consumers care? Perhaps Research In Motion should take the E71 and put a BlackBerry logo on there and it’d sell like hotcakes.

McCain raised less in 2008 than Hillary Clinton: Obama $659.7m, Clinton, $249m, McCain $238.1m.

Cool Banking app hits iPhone:

The S&P 500 is down 29.53% from Bush’s election in 2000 to now.

The BlackBerry bold was launched yesterday at a price of $299 (after rebate), and now it’s free on contract at Walmart.

What I’m Reading: Monday

RED teases some more in preparation for November 13th:

RED is coming out with some crazy pro HD DV cams, and probably a DSLR that also shoots 1080p video. Crazy.

The winners of oil-prices’ fall? The USA. The losers? Iraq.

The Peek Email device was just named top gadget of 2008, OVER the new MacBook!:

Vertu has announced a new Ferrari themed Ascent Ti:

Ryanair is planning €10 transatlantic flights

You’ll be hearing a lot more of ZTE in the coming years (think of them as the Hyundai of mobile phones)

Amazon.com launching ‘Frustration-Free Packaging’ initiative to make it easier to open products you buy through them, and create less waste. Awesome.

The laptop has turned 40.

Digging these designs (and she‘s local!):

(click to enlarge)

What I’m Reading: Halloween Edition

Ritholz: we shouldn’t bail out people who are underwater in mortgages because real-estate prices need to fall further.

“The problem with this current rescue plan is that it is designed to “prevent the continued downward spiral of the housing market.” But that is EXACTLY what the housing market needs — overpriced homes that are not selling need to come down in price. We had a normal price increase from 1996-2001, and then a near vertical set of price gains from 2002-06. Any framework for systematically modifying loans that fails to comprehend that is doomed to failure.”

Jessica is 60′s supermodel Twiggy for Halloween:

BlackBerry Bold pricing in Canada drops from $399 to $299 to $199 (now $100 cheaper than American BlackBerry Bold on AT&T).

How long could you last chained to a bedpost with a Velociraptor? (Quiz)

JVC’s Sound Garden Concept Speakers:

Verizon neutered the BlackBerry Storm’s WiFi because it might motivate users not to pay big bucks for Verizon’s data plans. When will they learn that they’ll make more money in the long-term by giving consumers choice?

Conservative publication The Economist endorses Barack Obama:

My uncle Jeff told me about all the young men he knew in Seattle in the 90′s who earned $400,000+/year and were in debt, or spending more than they earned. It was hard to believe. Now there’s a good name for them: HENRYs (High-earners, not rich yet).

The USA goes all protectionist on Deutsche Telekom’s 30% stake in T-Mobile USA.

New BlackBerry Curve 8900 hands-on/review. Verdict: Best BlackBerry EVAR.

What I’m Reading: Thursday

MasterCard Mobile Introduces Quick, Secure Set-up for MasterCard PayPass on Mobile Phones

Why didn’t this come out in the US 3 years ago?! It’s 2008 here!

HP considering netbook / wireless broadband bundles in USA

Looks like that $349 netbook you were eyeing might be free/$100 if you get a wireless data contract!

Softbank introduces Sharp Aquos Fulltouch slider with quasi-XGA resolution:

Japan-only for now. : (

GMail Chat now allows you to SMS your friends. This will go over well.

I didn’t watch it.

OpenOffice.Org (the free Office suite) is now in the cloud

Poll finds 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim. Did we ever think Texans were intelligent? Just checking.

Barack Obama’s propaganda special, if you missed it being broadcast on every channel last night:

What I’m Reading: Wednesday

Pantech just threw out some hot concepts:

Ill Willcom handset sees the light of day:

The North Face makes…trenchcoats. With a purple label. For Japan.

Stylish Atom-powered mini-computer for €299:

The Godfather of Bangalore – Wired Magazine (MUST READ!)

YKK on your zipper? Get to know Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha, its namesake.

HD Netflix streaming hits the Xbox 360, your living room wants it

One of the guys at GigaOM seems to think that the new BlackBerry Storm isn’t an iPhone copy running BlackBerryOS, he seems to think it’s a full-on iPhone killer in stealth-mode

Christian-Science Monitor, which is, oddly enough, one of the best and most objective/independent news organizations on earth (up there with PBS and the BBC), is going all-digital, meaning you won’t be able to pick up a copy at newsstands or Christian Science Reading Rooms. Wave of the future.

George Soros: American must lead a global bailout

Who said the Russians don’t know bailout? When Mikhail Fridman (close ally of Putin’s administration) got himself on the wrong side of Deutsche Bank and friends to the tune of $2 billion, the Kremlin simply wrote him a check, which he steadfastly refused twice before finally giving in. In Former-Soviet Russia, bailout begs for you. Via Dealbreaker.

Radio Shack giving out cold, hard cash for your used gadgets

Documents To Go, the mobile Office suite I use daily on my Motorola Q9, is coming out for the iPhone

Just as we’d predicted, WiMAX is growing fastest in emerging markets, like India

HP announced some sick netbooks

What I’m Reading: Tuesday

BlackBerry users can now get ultra-cheap international calling

Great news for Boeing (and its employees)!

The Perfect Storm of Investment Theses [humorous] – Long or Short Capital

Both sides of aisle rip MSNBC at media luncheon

Awesome! — liberal rag MSNBC should be treated just like FOXNEWS.

Pelosi says don’t be afraid of Democrat control

“Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan,” said Pelosi.

Yeah, right. More bipartisan under complete Democratic Party control.

Dean: One-Party Rule Would Rule

Howard Dean weighs in on one party domination: surprise, surprise! He favors a Dem lock! Fool.

An acquaintance of mine from Bellevue High School, Olga S., has just won a prestigious t-shirt design contest — check her design out

Senator Stevens (R-AK) guilty on 7 counts

Looks like Google has clipped Feedburner’s wings after acquiring it, and ad-revenue for member bloggers is down 75-90%. Potential opportunity for old-school competitor to resurrect Feedburner’s business model and do it right? I think so…

This isn’t a surprise. In fact, over dinner last night, my great aunt and great uncle mentioned that they believe Obama would be assassinated if elected. They also repeated the false accusation that he’s a “communist” because they heard the false charge on the radio from Dan Savage. Fail.

POLITICO: DON’T BLAME US FOR THE BIAS, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN SUCKS…

New Sharp Aquos W64SH TV phone hits KDDI in Japan:

3.5″ screen, mobile TV, 5.2MP camera, and a dictionary.

BlackBerry Storm set to launch Nov. 15th on Verizon

Casio’s 8.1 megapixel W63CA with 480 x 800 pixel OLED flips out in Japan

480 x 800 pixel 3.1-inch OLED display, 8.1MP camera, flip/swivel, 30fps VGA video recording. Hot.

the Nikkei 225 is currently trading at its lowest levels since October 1982

“…the Nikkei 225 is currently trading at its lowest levels since October 1982.”

Dell is going to start selling white-label smartphones

John Kerry wants New Deal II