Google to dub its mobile-payments service 'Google Wallet'?

Google, which is widely expected to unveil a long-rumored mobile-payments system on Thursday, will dub the service "Google Wallet," according to what appears to be an internal memo from The Container Store. According to the memo, which was published by Thisismynext.com, the Web giant plans to launch Google Wallet near the end of summer:

...this summer Google will launch a test of "contactless" payment through a mobile device--so customers will be able to just tap a special device and pay with their phone in stores at POS! And this Thursday, Google will announce all of the innovative retailers who will be participating in their test--and guess who is on that list? You got it right! We are! And how cool that Google thought of us, The Container Store!
Stay tuned for many more details regarding this test of Google Wallet and the participating markets. We won't start this program September 1st, but thought that we should all have the heads up on this neat opportunity now because we expect it will receive a lot of press in the upcoming weeks when Google makes its official media announcement about this initiative.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google is holding a media event in New York on Thursday in which it is expected to unveil a system that would allow users to pay for retail purchases by holding select Android-based Sprint smartphones up to a specialized reader at checkout counters (point of sales). The service is expected to tap near-field communications technology (NFC), which lets devices exchange information wirelessly with one another over very short distances, about 4 inches.

Google reportedly plans to introduce the service initially in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as partnering with MasterCard and Citigroup to allow the financial giants' customers to use their debit and credit cards to pay for purchase from their Android smartphones.

New Android based Smart Phone – HTC HERO

HTC from Taiwan has announced the release of its next smartphone HTC HERO which is based on Android platform. It has the new user interface “Sense UI”. HTC HERO is 1st of Android based devices to support Adobe Flash. In addition, the smartphone has following features;

•It is equipped with a 3.2-inch HVGA 480 x 320 resulotion display with a special anti- fingerprints coating and Teflon coated external body

•5 mega pixel camera with auto focus lens

•AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System)

•Compass

•Accelerometer

•3.5 mm output for headphone

•Customizable search buttons

•The device has 512 MB of memory, expandable through microSD card

•288 MB RAM

•528 MHz Processor by Qualcomm

•The Smart Phone HTC HERO will be available in Europe and Asia in this summer, its actual price is still un-known.

Clearwire ships Spot 4G and Spot 4G+ WiMAX portable hotspots

It's not like you couldn't snag an Overdrive from Sprint or an IntelliGo from Time Warner Cable, but if you're dead-set on nabbing your WiMAX gear directly from Clearwire, we've good splendiferous news to share. The 4G-only Spot 4G and 3G / 4G Spot 4G+ (which is just a rebadged Overdrive, shown here) were up for pre-order prior to today, but now both are available in-store and online nationwide. In case the prices have slipped your mind, the Spot 4G will run you $99.99 (or $4.99 per month on a lease) with service plans starting at $40/month, while the Spot 4G+ goes for $224.99 (or $5.99 per month on a lease) with service plans starting at $55/month. Surf on, surfers.

Samsung Galaxy i899

Samsung Galaxy i899 feature a 3.2 inch AMOLED touchscreen display with resolution of 320 x480 pixels, 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, internal memory of 4GB and expandable Memory of Upto 32GB Samsung Galaxy i899 is the first Android based CDMA handset to be launched in India and it will be launch by Reliance Communication

Duke Nukem is back! New York City is being overrun by a mutant menace and it's time to de-worm the Big Apple. This explosive 3D action game features Duke Nukem defending the city that never sleeps, and its babes, from the evil Mech Morphix across 24 levels from Chinatown to Space. A super-sized collection of weapons, enemies and bosses await. As Duke would say, "Babes, Bullets, Bombs. I love this job!"

Coming on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 to Xbox LIVE Arcade is the 3D Realms classic, "Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project".


   The cost of the game will be 800 Microsoft Points (there will be a free demo available at that time, too). This is a single player blast fest that won a lot of fans when originally released some years ago for the PC. But this summer, you'll be able to play the game on the Xbox 360, where it's found a perfect home.

Blockbuster shares plunge after financing report

NEW YORK—The depressed shares of video rental chain Blockbuster Inc. lost more value Monday, on a report that the company is exploring, among other options, a type of financing that's used to keep firms afloat in bankruptcy.


Shares of the Dallas-based company fell 6.3 cents, or 23 percent, to 21 cents in afternoon trading. Since 2002, the stock has steadily declined, and has traded below $1 since the fall of 2009.

Late Friday, The Wall Street Journal said Blockbuster is trying to line up a $150 million "debtor-in-possession" loan. The newspaper cited unnamed people familiar with Blockbuster's talks.

Blockbuster stated Friday that it's negotiating with lenders and "strategic investors," but declined to be more specific. "We continue to have ongoing constructive dialogue," the company said.

Blockbuster has already warned in regulatory filings that a bankruptcy filing is a possibility, although its management has stressed they are trying to find other ways to lighten a debt load totaling more than $900 million.

Blockbuster is exploring options as its losses mount amid stiff competition from video subscription service Netflix Inc. and Redbox's DVD-rental kiosks.

Analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Morgan said that given that Blockbuster's earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation are less than its interest payments, "it's really just a question of when the creditors force a bankruptcy." He expects the company to go through some form of restructuring this year.

A likely outcome is that creditors keep the chain going, since Blockbuster doesn't have a lot of assets beyond its movie inventory, Pachter said. Blockbuster doesn't own its own real estate, which means creditors stand to recover little if they force the company to liquidate.

"Keeping the patient alive is the best strategy," he said. A bankruptcy filing would allow Blockbuster to renegotiate its rents, which could put it back in the black, he added.

There's a chance Blockbuster has benefited recently from the demise of rival chain Movie Gallery, which is closing all its stores, Pachter noted.

Same as it ever was: you can't tether an iPhone to the iPad

This isn't so much news as it is a public service announcement: even in markets where iPhone tethering has launched, you've never been able to use it to connect to an iPad, and you won't be able to when AT&T flips the switch on tethering with the release of OS 4. That's clearly not AT&T's fault, it's Apple's -- the iPhone inexplicably supports only USB and Bluetooth for sharing its internet connection, even though jailbroken apps like MyWi prove that a WiFi connection is totally doable and countless other handsets already support WiFi routing. And iPad doesn't support using another device as a Bluetooth modem, either. And as long as you're paying the tethering fee, there's no reason why AT&T wouldn't want you tethering the iPad; you'll certainly be able to do it with any phone in AT&T's lineup that can create a WiFi hotspot, after all, and we're sure they'd be happy to take your overage cash once you hit 2GB regardless of the device you're using to gobble the data.

In the meantime, you know what you can tether to an iPad? A phone running Froyo, for one -- Google was certainly happy to show off that capability back at IO. Or pretty much any device running S60 from the last several years. Or a Palm Pre Plus... yeah, you get the idea.