A new feature wherein All Things Digital looks at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.
This week: We caught up with Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies at the San Francisco NewTeeVee Live conference. Elemental Technologies hopes to become a major player in the future of online and over-the-air video through its high-performance encoding technology.
by Lorraine Luk, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
China Mobile Ltd., the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, is pinning its hopes on new third-generation services such as mobile television and mobile readers to drive growth amid increasing competition and falling voice revenue.
Washington policy makers, long concerned about how marketers use consumers’ personal data to their guide sales pitches on the Internet, have stepped up scrutiny of the increasingly sophisticated ad-targeting techniques used in other media, ranging from mobile phones to TV commercials to the ads consumers get in their mail boxes.
Two high-profile electronic-book readers seeking to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle could be scarce under the Christmas tree.
Sony Corp. Wednesday said orders for its new Daily Edition Reader–which the company said in August would arrive in time for the holidays–are now expected to ship Dec. 18 through Jan. 8. It added that the actual delivery date can’t be guaranteed.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
As the temperature drops, some cold-weather commuters are trying out an iPhone app that lets them climb in to an unlocked, pre-heated car.
Directed Electronics, the company that sells the Viper car-alarm system, has developed an accompanying app called SmartStart that lets customers use their phone to lock or unlock the car, or turn the alarm on and off.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Matching a recent move by Wal-Mart, Amazon.com has unveiled a new promotion on Research in Motion BlackBerry phones, giving buyers of certain models who sign up for new 2-year plans free $100 “e-gift cards.”
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The biggest concentration of developers for Apple’s iPhone is in Northern California, as a story in The Wall Street Journal’s San Francisco Bay Area section points out. But the ubiquity of the Internet makes it possible for a software developer anywhere in the world to make apps.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Google plans to buy back $750 million of its common stock to offset dilution from shares to be issued in the pending all-stock acquisition of AdMob, CEO Eric Schmidt told Bloomberg yesterday.
Statistics tell us that there are already more than two million iPhones in China, and the number is expected to rise (at least a little) following the recent official launch of Apple’s iPhone 3G in the country through local telecom carrier China Unicom.
by Daisuke Wakabayashi, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo Co., is a self-proclaimed Apple Inc. fan. He carries an iPhone and uses a Mac laptop. So when Mr. Iwata says Nintendo and Apple aren’t competitors, he should know what he’s talking about.
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