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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Don't get ahead of us here, Intel isn't building full-featured Second Life and World of Warcraft apps for handheld Mobile Internet Devices. Instead they're using a new "Interactive 3D Streaming" tech to control and view the game remotely -- similar to some to that Telekinesis app we saw playing WoW on the iPhone last year, but Intel seems to be much further along. Their Xeon 5400 server can handle 14 clients simultaneously, but we're guessing this won't be cost effective for Blizzard anytime soon -- though we can imagine quite a few addicts rigging up similar systems for themselves. The sad news here is that Intel might've just discovered the best use for a MID yet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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It’s Father’s Day in most of Europe. In a few minutes…in the US too. And so, a social media experiment…blog, Twitter, Flickr or YouTube a message to the Big Guy, then post a link to it in the comments of this post.

My friend Kara Swisher at All Things D seems convinced that Microsoft has shelved its offer for Yahoo for the last time, since a number of senior Microsoft executives “close to the dealmaking” told her they have walked away from the table for good, and have no interest in acquiring the troubled Internet giant — not even if Jerry Yang is ousted as CEO, or the stock drops below $20. I have no doubt that sources told Kara that, since her contacts are usually impeccable. But I think they (even this guy) are still bluffing, and are ready to pull the trigger on a Yahoo deal.

Why do I think that? Unlike Kara, I have no inside sources at Microsoft with knowledge of a deal. But I can’t help but think that if an acquisition of Yahoo made any sense whatsoever at $33 a share, how could it not make even more sense at $23 a share? (I’m not the only one who thinks so) Presumably Microsoft saw synergies between Yahoo’s search business and its own that made a takeover look worthwhile, or it wouldn’t have pressed so hard to get a deal done. So what has changed? Not much — except that Yahoo’s stock has tanked and the company needs Microsoft more than ever.

Yes, Yahoo has cozied up to Google and sold the soul of its search business. But the Google search deal isn’t exclusive, and there isn’t even a “kill fee” if Microsoft acquires Yahoo and then tells Google to take a hike. And I have to think that seeing Google get its hooks into Yahoo has to make Microsoft want the company even more.

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The basic Internet e-mail standard provides for the destination server to send back an error message if a message cannot be delivered — but even in this case, mistakes do happen.

After each major event, MacRumors provides a wrapup of rumors to reveal the sources of the most accurate (or inaccurate) information.

iPhone 3G

As widely expected, Apple released the iPhone 3G at WWDC 2008 at $200 with 3...

The NYT's Joe Nocera takes a cane to Jerry Yang:

Dear Jerry,

Congratulations - you pulled it off. You got Microsoft to walk away from your beloved Yahoo for good. The final word went out on Thursday. There isn't going to be any megamerger. No smaller deal to sell your search business, or take a minority stake, either. As Yahoo's co-founder and chief executive, you're undoubtedly thrilled. But your shareholders sure aren't.

Yes, it's true, you did try to salvage something by announcing a Google deal just a few hours after you and Microsoft revealed that your talks had officially ended. According to your press release, Yahoo will soon begin running ads sold by your archrival.

Well, good luck with that. First off, the deal presents clear antitrust hurdles - hurdles you yourself used to talk about back before fending off Microsoft became your primary concern. Senator Herb Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat who is chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, has already announced that the Senate will 'scrutinize' the deal. Besides, even if the deal does win federal approval, you've chosen to become a pawn of the most dominant company on the Internet. How exactly is that going to lead to a brighter future for Yahoo?

It's completely understandable that you wouldn't want the company you and David Filo founded 14 years ago to fall into the clutches of Microsoft. You both loathe and fear the Evil Empire, as you Silicon Valley types used to call Microsoft. You don't want Yahoo swallowed up into the Microsoft bureaucracy. You hate the thought that Yahoo, which once was every bit as cool as Google is now, would lose its status as an independent company. Let's face it: you and Mr. Filo still think of Yahoo as your baby.

Here's the problem, Jerry. It's not your baby. It hasn't been since 1996, when Yahoo went public. At that moment, you suddenly had to answer to your new owners: your shareholders. In fact, Jerry, as a board member since Yahoo went public, it has always been your job to look out for Yahoo's shareholders. But we sure wouldn't know that from the way you've acted these past months. I haven't seen this much contempt for shareholders since Robert Nardelli ran Home Depot.

Continue at NYT

Mike’s been busy this week, breaking the news of the Yahoo/Google deal and then expressing one or two opinions on Yahoo’s business judgment as well.

If you’re still unsure about how he feels about the deal, check out the clip below where he talks to Gabriel Slate on KRON4, the Silicon Valley NBC affiliate.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Peripherals

Sony Ericsson is having a bit of trouble keeping its newest lineup on the down low, but we suppose that's the price of fame. Most notable of the new crew is the F305 (pictured), which isn't exactly feature-packed, boasting of mere EDGE speeds, a Memory Stick Micro slot, a 2-inch 176 x 220 display and some music playback features. What sets it apart is a built-in accelerometer for motion controlled games. The game-oriented face buttons are also a perk, but we hope this thing has enough processing power to handle something actually entertaining. The S302 Snapshot is camera-oriented, but only just barely, with a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera, a flash, and PhotoFix software. You can also shoot video, with 20MB of built-in storage, and Memory Stick Micro expansion. Both phones come with A2DP and will be announced on the 17th, according to whoever leaked all this info. The F305 should hit Q3, with the S302 to follow in Q4. Sony Ericsson will also be busting out three stylish but cheap-seeming Bluetooth headsets to accompany these two.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Sony Ericsson F305
Read - Sony Ericsson S302
Read - HBH-PV-715, 720, 740

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Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Peripherals

Sony Ericsson is having a bit of trouble keeping its newest lineup on the down low, but we suppose that's the price of fame. Most notable of the new crew is the F305 (pictured), which isn't exactly feature-packed, boasting of mere EDGE speeds, a Memory Stick Micro slot, a 2-inch 176 x 220 display and some music playback features. What sets it apart is a built-in accelerometer for motion controlled games. The game-oriented face buttons are also a perk, but we hope this thing has enough processing power to handle something actually entertaining. The S302 Snapshot is camera-oriented, but only just barely, with a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera, a flash, and PhotoFix software. You can also shoot video, with 20MB of built-in storage, and Memory Stick Micro expansion. Both phones come with A2DP and will be announced on the 17th, according to whoever leaked all this info. The F305 should hit Q3, with the S302 to follow in Q4. Sony Ericsson will also be busting out three stylish but cheap-seeming Bluetooth headsets to accompany these two.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Sony Ericsson F305
Read - Sony Ericsson S302
Read - HBH-PV-715, 720, 740

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Interoperability between instant messaging (IM) clients is something a lot of users have wished for. More specifically, we wish it was standard and provided right out of the box instead of having to turn to third parties such as Adium, Digsby, Trillian, or Pidgin. Yet there seems to be a problem with the concept of interoperability for the companies of the more popular IM clients.

Yahoo Chat and Google Talk To Get Cozy?

Recently Yahoo and Google announced a partnership for advertising. Yahoo will run advertisements provided by Google alongside the companies own advertisements. However, what was overlooked was the statement that both companies "agreed to enable interoperability between their respective instant-messaging services, bringing easier and broader communication to users".

The Problem

Companies like Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft try to do things that are beneficial for their entire community and not just for small portions of it. Stephan Shankland noted that:

"AOL said in a statement, in effect, that I am indeed an anomaly. "We have no evidence that interoperating with other consumer IM services is of great interest to AIM users," the company said."

This may come as a huge "ouch!" to early adopters, social media fanatics, and generally those that network online 24/7. Such users only represent a small portion of these immense networks. While they may be the users that push the envelope and can help the tools that these companies produce become better and more productive, AOL understands that the average users probably won't care.

In acknowledging this, interoperability becomes more of a distant dream than a reality. In laments terms, it seems interoperability won't happen unless there's a major push from the majority of users or it's somehow beneficial financially for any of the parties involved. This may be a sad conclusion for some.

What it Could Mean

If Yahoo and Google do open up their respective clients to one another, this will be a very beneficial move to both parties because they have already integrated other platforms: Yahoo with Live Messenger and Google with AIM. Also, If it does happen users will at least of the option to pick between the two and get the best of the majority of these networks. If you have the majority of your contacts on Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger would be the best platform for you with the added benefit of Google Talk interoperability. If you have more contacts on Google and AIM, then Google Talk would be the better choice with the benefit of integrating your Yahoo contacts too.

However, is this really enough? I don't think it'll keep users from using third party clients that enable interoperability between all of these networks and more. Digsby is poised to take a serious amount from the market share of the standard clients because of its interoperability not only with IM clients, but also because of the integrated social networks and even email. It makes me wonder if maybe Digsby is poised to be the "Firefox" of instant messaging if the dominating players aren't careful. What do you think?