Astro adds History Channel and Bloomberg into b.Player
During our early discovery of the Astro b.Player iPhone app, we mentioned that the only other channel available for live viewing was Hitz.TV. Now, Astro has added two more channels to the player – History Channel and Bloomberg.
Both channels offer the same content as from the normal Astro feed via decoder, all live.
This is interesting because History Channel is parked under that Astro Learning package and Bloomberg is a part of the Astro News package which are all paid channels if you were to view it on a television set.
With the Astro b.Player these channels are offered for FREE!
We did mention that we see the b.Player being something more than just a World Cup one off special. Could Astro and Maxis be on the verge of offering paid mobile TV service?
We have a inkling that it might be.
TIME calls Farmville — one of the most addictive Facebook games — as one of the 50 worst inventions, but that’s not stopping Zynga, the developers of Farmville, to work with Apple on an app for the iPhone.
Apple considers the Farmville app for iPhone to be an important addition to the iPhone app ecosystem, so much so that Steve Jobs gave Zygna CEO, Mark Pincus a speaking slot at the WWDC10 keynote prior to the iPhone 4 announcement.
Both Apple and Zynga seems to be optimistic about the Farmville app and for the millions of Farmville addicts out there who have iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches, it’s going to be a big deal when it launches.
Apart from a demo of how Farmville plays on the iPhone, not much else was mentioned during the presentation. No solid date on when it will be available on App Store and no indication on whether it will be free or not. Pincus did drop a clue, saying that the app will be available in time to celebrate Farmville’s release date which is 19 June.
In the meantime head on over to after the jump for a short video demo of Farmville on iPhone as seen at the WWDC10.
Maxis releases World Cup app for iPhone
As the official mobile broadcaster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Maxis is going all out delivering extras to its customers.
The live streaming of all the 64 World Cup matches is something really special and it’s exclusive to Maxis subscribers only. There’s also a whole heap of football and World Cup related content on offer including a contest that offers trips to see Frank Lampard and Lionel Messi in London and Barcelona. You can’t help but feel special being a Maxis subscriber during this World Cup month.
And it doesn’t stop there, Maxis has upped the ante with the release of a World Cup app for the iPhone so that the rest of the non-Maxis iPhone users don’t feel left out not being ablt to watch World Cup games live on their device.
If you have a Gmail account try creating a label called “voicemail” and see what happens.
You’ll be greeted with an error massage “Sorry, you can’t create label named “voicemail” (it’s a reserved system label). Please try another name”.
This, ladies and gentlemen is the basis of the latest rumour that’s emanating from Googleplex. Word has it that Google is getting ready to release a VOIP service that runs from Gmail.
With the service, you can make VOIP calls right from Gmail and apparently, the release of this service is not too far away.
At the moment Google has something like a voicemail service called Google Voice but that’s only available in the US and even then, it’s by invitation only.
What this means right now, we’re not too sure. If there is an impending VOIP service coming from Google, will it be available for people outside the US? We can’t really tell.
Only way to know for sure is to get the word from Google direct. For that, we’ll have to wait – hopefully, not for long.
Head on over to after the jump to see a video about what Google Voice is all about.
More areas to get UniFi soon
TM has just issued a release saying that it will expand availability areas for UniFi to include Penang, Johor and more areas in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor from July 1
Specifically, TM will extend UniFi to Kulim Hi-Tech Park (Kedah), Bayan Baru (Penang), Senai and Permas (Johor) industrial areas and residential areas in Wangsa Maju, Sungai Buloh, Melawati, Kepong, Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Damansara.
Currently, the UniFi FTTH service is only available in four urban areas within Klang Valley – Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Bangsar, and Taman Tun Dr. Ismail.
TM claims that UniFi can now serve over 375,000 premises in its coverage areas with over 3,200 customers currently using the service. By the numbers, it looks like UniFi’s uptake is worryingly slow considering that the service has been available since March. With just 3,200 subscribers, you’re looking at just over 1,000 subscribers a month, less than 40 subscribers a day.
With over 375,000 premises within the service’s availability areas, the total number of subscribers on UniFi is less than 1% of that number.
We’re not sure what’s going on here. Is it that Malaysian’s don’t want or need high-speed broadband or that TM’s not promoting the service enough.
We suspect it’s a bit of both further compounded by security risk UniFi customers are exposed to when using the service.
More alarming, TM has spent a whooping RM2.3 billion on UniFi to date. If you do the math, with just 3,200 subscribers using the service right now, that equates to a cost of about RM7.2 million per subscriber.
Fast internet is definitely not cheap people.
Motorola Droid 2 leaked photos and videos
The replacement for the popular Motorola Droid or Milestone is becoming less of a rumour now. Droid-Life has exclusive photos and videos of what appears to be the Motorola Droid 2.
It looks pretty much the same as the original Droid except for the obvious revamped keyboard layout. Perhaps Motorola doesn’t want to mess up something that people already like and the Droid 2 stay true to its original design which is a good thing in our opinion.
Specification details & boot video after the jump.
iPhone 4, stiffer and harder but still breakable
Tom Dickson from Blentec hasn’t blended the iPhone 4 just yet, but an iPhone 4 had its glass broken by iFixyouri.
Despite what Apple claims to have engineered the iPhone with its chemically strengthen glass that is 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the beautiful iPhone 4 is still breakable.
The iPhone 4 was given the 3.5 feet drop test and the glass just shattered on its 3rd attempt.
According to iFixyouri, they discovered a design flaw which actually places the glass on top of an aluminum frame as opposed to iPhone 3GS which the glass is recessed and surrounded by a chrome bezel.
[ Source ]