It’s official, there are no more free rides for smartphone data users. AT&T is phasing out its unlimited data plans (for new customers), and now Skype, just days after rolling out its first 3G friendly application will go from free to paid (sort of, anyway).
Skype confirmed that it’s free Skype to Skype VoIP calling service over 3G networks will cease being free at the end of the year. Click to Read More
In a deal aimed squarely at the evolution of Internet video infrastructure, Novato based Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC) said Wednesday that is has signed a definitive agreement to acquire video compression specialist, DivX (NASDAQ: DIVX) for $323m in cash and stock.
Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in September. If approved, it will provide DivX shareholders with $3.75 in cash and .514 shares of Sonic stock for each share of DivX stock they hold.
Smartphone use is on the rise, and along with it, consumers’ appetites for mobile data services are growing exponentially. Hoping to profit from the growth, and to stave off potential profit stifling network load, AT&T announced on Wednesday it will cease offering unlimited data plans to mobile customers.
Existing customers will be grandfathered in to their prior plans but begging Monday (the same day a new iPhone is expected to debut) new AT&T mobile customers will have to choose between two data plans.
There is a lot of video content online but watching it on your television remains a hit or miss affair. The market is fragmented as best so what you get depends on your specific hardware and the vendor partnerships that go with it. With one TV (or connected Blu-ray player) you can watch Netflix or a YouTube stream out of the box. With another you can plug into Cinema Now content or something else.
London, Paris, Tokyo. Across the globe people lined up around street corners. Some camped out. Some cheered. Hungrily, they waited for the moment – it wasn’t for tickets to some rare concert ,not for a hugely anticipated movie premier – the moment they sought was a chance to grab a bit of tech history, Apple’s latest trophy device, the iPad.
Originally intended for an earlier global roll out, Apple had pushed back the delivery date to insure there was ample inventory to supply the domestic market. The extended wait seemed to only fuel greater anticipation and more gadget lust.
Apple has grabbed a solid piece of almost every digital media market its entered, every market but one. Apple TV has never been much more than a sideshow. In nearly three years on the market, the device aimed at bridging the digital divide of the living room – the elusive TV to Internet gap – hasn’t really lived up to its promise.
That may soon be changing. It’s too soon to know but there’s an increased volume of chatter suggesting Apple will overhaul the device Steve Jobs has downplayed as “a hobby” sometime this year.
Expected changes include a shift to the iPhone/iPad operating system and a reduced price point. One of the theories behind the concept is that the modification would allow user’s to run select “Apps” through their TV platform.
From WiFi to Bluetooth, mobile technologies have begun to shift where we consume information and entertainment. Touchscreens and voice automation have similarly begun to shift how we interact with it. In the coming years, changing display technologies will likely have a similar effect on where and what we see.
Case in point – this week Sony revealed a new prototype OLED display so flexible it can be rolled and unrolled around a tube no wider than a pencil. We’re not talking a screen that can just bend, this can literally roll and unroll. (Watch the video. More After the jump)
