Oh! Gizmo

It’s not that I think I have a great voice or anything. Far from it. But I’m actually digging subjecting y’all to my melodious intonations; to make sure you get in on the fun, I’m going to prod you with a little giveaway. The below voice post contains a secret word. Email that word to “ogcontests at gmail DOT com” and get one chance to win a $25 gift certificate to ThinkGeek, everyone’s favorite geek store.

Aside from that, what can you expect to hear? A quick blurb on Steorn, the free energy nuts. And a sad tidbit on Richard Branson’s tragic incident in the desert a few hours ago.

By David Ponce

Not for a long time have people’s panties gotten up in bunches of this magnitude over an upcoming gadget release. But word is that come June 29th (the day the iPhone hits the market), massive hordes of bespectacled geeks lusting after the coveted phone will swarm AT&T stores nationwide in such a frenzied scale that it prompted the company to hire an extra 2,000 employees just to handle the rush. To put a little more perspective, here are a couple more fun fact about the launch:

-1,800 AT&T retail stores exist and will all be selling the iPhone.
- AT&T sales staff have received a total of 100,000 hours of training to sell the device, with each employee receiving about six hours of individual training.
- AT&T stores will close locally at 4:30 p.m. on that Friday to prepare for the launch, then reopen at 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. that night.

[ Read More ] VIA [ Crunchgear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Even though the record industry claims to be in a slump as a result of ‘rampant piracy’ it looks like an old player is returning to the game but with some new tricks. For those who don’t remember in 1938 the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS had bought Columbia Records but ended up selling it years later (in 1988) to Sony for about $2 billion. This sale also included CBS’ own label, CBS Records.

However Sony’s license to CBS Records has since expired and in December of last year the network announced that they’d be relaunching their label. But in order to be competitive they decided to embrace modern digital distribution methods instead of fighting them tooth and nail. In fact the label doesn’t even plan to press a physical CD for an album unless the digital sales indicate there’s a market for it. This is no doubt far cheaper than producing millions of albums that could end up being a flop and not selling.

The reborn label has also committed themselves to be extremely artist friendly. In fact they just signed their first four acts including the power-pop band ‘Señor Happy’ who recently told the Boston Globe the contract they signed with CBS was “…very, very fair. Far better than a standard major label deal.” They also said their share of the profits from digital downloads were equivalent to what a band might get from an independent label and lacked many of the ’strings’ usually required from the other major music companies.

The new label will of course also benefit CBS who currently licenses a lot of popular music for use in their TV shows. With their own roster of bands and talent signed under CBS Records the network will have greater flexibility and access to that music. But that synergy will also benefit the artists with more publicity since these shows typically draw in millions of viewers. I sincerely hope that these new tactics work well for CBS Records since it will show all the other labels that these new methods of distribution aren’t something to fear.

[ CBS Records Returns VIA Stereophile ] – Thanks Stuart

By David Ponce

Didn’t even take a day and Apple managed to get itself sued. Here’s what happened.

Apple doesn’t own the rights to the name “iPhone”. Cisco does. They acquired the rights back in 2000, when they bought Infogear, a small Redwood City, Calif., start-up and now use the name through a Lynksys line of VoIP handsets. Up until 8PM, Monday evening, Cisco and Apple representatives were in negotiations over the use of the name. Seems Cisco was (reluctantly) open to letting Apple use the name, but only if they made their iPhone compatible with Cisco products.

Cisco made it clear they did not want Apple to announce the phone until negotiations were done. So, of course, on Tuesday, the iPhone is announced.

Not even a day later, and Cisco’s filed a lawsuit seeking temporary injunction against Apple to stop them using the name, and seeking damages. Apple’s defense? “Plenty other companies use the name, and Cisco’s claim to it is ‘tenuous at best’”.

Them’s fighting words, Apple…

[News.com ]