IT'S FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29TH, I'M NATALI DEL
CONTE AND IT'S TIME TO GET
LOADED.
[*]
GOOGLE IS PULLING THE PLUG ON GOOG-411, THE
VOICE-POWERED DIRECTORY
ASSISTANCE THAT LET YOU FIND BUSINESSES IN
THE U.S. AND CANADA. WE ALL
THOUGHT GOOGLE WAS USING THIS TO BETTER LEARN
SPEECH-TO-TEXT BUT
NOW THE COMPANY SAYS IT WANTS TO FOCUS ON
ITS MOBILE SEARCH APPS
THAT ALSO ALLOW VOICE SEARCHING. GOOG-411
WILL SHUT DOWN ON
NOVEMBER 12.
[*]
FACEBOOK LAUNCHED SOMETHING CALLED "FRIENDSHIP
PAGES." IT LETS YOU
SEE THE INTERACTION BETWEEN YOURSELF AND INDIVIDUAL
FRIENDS OR
BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS. FOR INSTANCE, WHAT ARE
THE POSTS FROM WALL-
TO-WALL, THE EVENTS RESPONDED TO, THE PHOTOS
WITH BOTH PEOPLE. THE
PAGES ARE LIVE BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE
YET. ALSO, I'M NOT SURE
THIS IS A HEALTHY WAY TO STICK YOUR NOSE INTO
OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS.
[*]
IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON GETTING A WINDOWS 7
PHONE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO
READ YOUR KINDLE BOOKS ON IT. AMAZON HAS ANNOUNCED
THAT IT WILL
HAVE A MOBILE KINDLE APP FOR WINDOWS PHONE
7 THAT WILL LET YOU READ
YOUR BOOKS AND SYNC YOUR PLACE ACROSS DEVICES.
AMAZON HAS KINDLE
APPS FOR ANDROID, BLACKBERRY, AND IPHONE ALREADY.
[*]
TWITTER HAS ALSO ANNOUNCED A WINDOWS PHONE
CLIENT. IT HAS ALL THE
TWITTER FUNCTIONS: TIMELINE, SUGGESTED USERS,
LISTS, ETC. ITS AVAILABLE
NOW.
[*]
T-MOBILE'S FIRST 4G PHONE WILL HIT SHELVES
NOVEMBER 3, THAT IS NEXT
WEDNESDAY. THE MY-TOUCH 4G USES HSPA-PLUS
14.4 NETWORKING WHICH
GIVES SPEEDS OF UP TO 7 MEGABITS PER SECOND.
THAT'S FAST. AS FAST AS
YOUR HOME DSL IN SOME CASES. THE PHONE ALSO
HAS WI-FI VIDEO CHAT, A
FRONT-FACING 5 MEGAPIXEL CAMERA, 720P VIDEO
CAPTURE, AND A 1-
GIGAHERTZ SNAPDRAGON PROCESSOR. IT COSTS $199
AFTER A $50 MAIL-IN
REBATE.
[*]
FLICKR HAS GONE OPEN-ID. THIS MEANS THAT YOU'LL
BE ABLE TO LOG INTO
FLICKR WITH YOUR ONLINE ID FROM OTHER COMPANIES.
FOR STARTERS THIS
ONLY WORKS WITH GOOGLE SO YOU CAN LOGIN TO
FLICKR WITH YOUR GOOGLE
ACCOUNT. SURELY FACEBOOK AND OTHER MAIL ACCOUNTS
ARE CLOSE BEHIND.
[*]
THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY AND THAT
WRAPS UP YOUR WEEK OF
GETTING LOADED. I WILL SEE YOU ON MONDAY.
I'M NATALI DEL CONTE FOR
CNET.COM, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.