Author: Angela West

Unfortunately, it’s only a skit at this point. But if someone out there wants to make it, we will pay MUCH MORE than $3.99 for it….

In addition to Windows Mobile 7, the platform, Steve Ballmer unleashed nine shiny new phones from various companies such as Samsung and HTC on the world today, and called them Windows Phone 7. Three of the phones will be sold through AT&T in the US next month. Stephen Fry, a self-avowed Mac fan, has this to say about the phone at a launch event in London: “When I got one of these (phones) my first feeling was it’s fun to play with. I have felt enormous pleasure using this phone,” Fry said. “Yes, I love Apple, but I’m not a monotheist. I want biodiversity in this market and all of us that love it should welcome…

Since Apple has been patent-happy lately, it should come as no surprise that trademarks for its advertising should follow suit. The news came down the pipe today that Apple has successfully trademarked it’s slogan, “There’s an app for that”. The slogan has been trademarked, according to the legal text, for: “Retail store services featuring computer software provided via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics.” No word…

Appcelerator®, a platform for mobile, desktop, and iPad applications using web technologies, and FortiusOne, a location analysis software provider, have joined forces to launch the first location-based analytics platform for mobile applications. The new Titanium+Geo platform, which is being demonstrated today by FortiusOne at the Location-Based Marketing Summit in New York City, allows enterprises, marketers and retailers to better understand where, when and how mobile applications are being used. Appcelerator’s Titanium+Geo captures, analyzes and visualizes real-time…

The general consensus following the release of the BlackBerry Torch in the tech journalism sphere was that RIM had failed to put out a competitor to the iPhone and Android smartphones, and had therefore failed. Since we’re never really about swimming with the other salmon here on Techi, I decided to hold a very unscientific poll of a few friends and colleagues who were already BlackBerry users to see if they agreed with the pundits. BlackBerry Users Are Loyal Overwhelmingly, they did not. Out of about six people, only one definitively stated that they would be switching to an iPhone. The rest were…

A team of students from the University of British Columbia hope to set the record for the fastest coast-to-coast drive across Canada in an electric vehicle – in a ‘72 Volkswagen Beetle EV, that is. The long-distance trek measures an incredible 4,000 miles and the UBC Electric Car Club’s “E-Beetle” has so far managed to stand up to Canada’s diverse geography. Within the E-Beetle is a three-phase AC induction motor mated to a lithium iron phosphate battery. This EV has a range of about 185 miles at 60 mph and over 340 miles at 30 mph. Top speed is said to be around 85 miles per hour. It’s…

When you are a social bookmarking site/community owned by a huge mega-empire like Reddit is (Condé Nast for those not in the know), eventually you will be at odds with your dark lords and masters. The big issue for the Nastmasters on Reddit at the moment is Reddit ads being posted in support of California’s Proposition 19, which is a motion to legalize marijuana in order to profit from the fat tax dollars sure to come from the consumption of the demon weed. After Ben Huh of the Cheezburger Network noted publicly that, should there be trouble in paradise, he would be interested in acquiring Reddit,…

The new Facebook geolocation feature is here, and it is called “Places”. The new service will let Facebook users tag their status updates with where they are, “like”, and otherwise interact with Places. The new service isn’t meant as a competitor for similar services such as Gowalla or Foursquare, but will integrate with them. Following along with the release announcement on the Facebook Innovations live stream channel we learned the following: -Places has been in the works for quite some time (there were titters when Zuckerberg said it had been cooking for a few months) -find out where your…

The first smartphone choice of the business world just got a little sexier with the new design of the BlackBerry Torch. Besides a capacitive touchscreen, the Torch also features a slideout QWERTY keyboard for the best of both worlds. It also comes with the BlackBerry App World preinstalled, making it easy for customers to download apps to make their lives easier or just have fun. Other inclusions, from the official press release: BlackBerry 6 – Featuring: -Context-sensitive pop-up menus for more relevant options -A new WebKit browser for faster and more robust performance -Integrated social…

There are a lot of these real time social search engines cropping up to unseat the Scooplers and OneRiots of the world, and many of them just don’t do a good job. 48ers.com, however, actually manages to both search in real time (which many of them actually don’t) and organize the results into a cohesive whole that is easy to scan. Released by three brothers from the UK, 48ers.com currently searches Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Google Buzz, and Digg in one interface. What is the point? Companies, both large and small, will find 48ers.com invaluable when trying to track real time buzz about promotions,…