Mobile Technology News

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Early Tuesday morning, a new version of Mac OS X-based media center software Plex was released, called Plex/Nine, and with it came a new app for iOS.

Plex is a fork of open source media center software XBMC, which has recently risen to prominence for being the software that powers Boxee and the forthcoming D-Link Boxee Box. It organizes multimedia content on a local media server, adds online content from more than 150 video and entertainment sites, and makes it available on client devices in the home network.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

True to last week’s rumors, Hulu today unveiled a new subscription tier called Hulu Plus which allows users access to Hulu across a broader spectrum of devices, not just limiting consumption to PC screens.

Select Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players can download a Hulu Plus application from the Samsung app store and start streaming Hulu Plus today, and iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and iPad users can download the Hulu Plus app to stream content over 3G or Wi-Fi as well.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Apple apologists need to get a grip regarding a reported US Federal Trade Commission investigation. It’s not the least surprising, and Apple has a discernable monopoly around which business practices the FTC — or even the US Justice Department — would want to monitor.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Way back in 2008, Opera Software’s CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner said the company’s popular Opera Mini mobile browser was ported to the iPhone, but it could not be released because it competed with the iPhone’s built-in Safari browser.

Then, last February, Opera Software actually started showing off its version the popular browser for iPhone OS as a run-up to its submission to Apple for App store review in March.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Qualcomm’s mobile broadcast television service called FLO TV existed for about five years under different wireless carrier brand names: Sprint TV, Verizon V Cast TV, and AT&T MediaFLO TV. But the carriers didn’t push it very hard, so it did not break through into the public’s consciousness.

But then Qualcomm began advertising FLO TV on its own, with its own smartphone-sized pocket TVs made by HTC, and it looks like it is finally beginning to stick.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

The iPad cometh this Friday to an Apple Store near you — or in a pretty box delivered to your door. No doubt, this week the rumor mill will again run wild about what to expect. I’ve been wondering about rights usage for ebooks. Can Apple do better than Amazon or Barnes & Noble? That answer is best for a blog post, but not this one.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

I don’t keep my personal preference for mobile devices with physical keyboards a secret; the sensation of hitting real keys is an indivisible part of the text entry experience for me, and it’s not likely to change any time soon.

But there is one area where physical keyboards are woefully inferior to virtual ones: adaptability. A virtual keyboard can represent any alphabet or be arranged in any configuration the user or software needs, and a physical keyboard simply can’t keep up with that.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Apple kicked off its 2010 fiscal year with strong first fiscal quarterly earnings — less than two days before announcing its “latest creation” that bloggers, the news media and the tech community can’t seem to stop blabbering about.

During a conference call today, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer described the quarterly results as Apple’s best ever. However, Apple instituted new reporting rules with this quarter’s earning results. Previously, Apple deferred a significant portion of iPhone and iPod revenue under older  subscription accounting rules. The Financial Accounting Standards Board revised the rules in September.

By Carmi Levy, Betanews

We segue into 2010 with rumors swirling around the biggest mega product announcement since the iPhone. If Apple’s mythical tablet device — the “iSlate,” if insiders and analysts are to be believed — is in fact announced sometime in January, Apple fans will once again dance in the streets before lining up in the middle of the night, wallets in hand, ready to buy into the latest must-have doodad from Cupertino.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

It hasn’t been a good day for anyone working on Microsoft’s Windows Phone team. This morning, IDC made the ridiculous prediction that the number of iPhone/iPod touch applications would triple to 300,000 by end of 2010. Later, here at Betanews, Carmi Levy slammed Microsoft’s Windows mobile strategy.