CUE

Editor's note: This live event has concluded. For a brief rundown of what was announced, check out this summary post. You can also review the transcript of the live blog below or replay it in the Cover It Live module at the end of the transcript.

There hasn't been this much buzz about a News Corp. digital product since the heyday of MySpace, but we're sure that the people behind The Daily--a highly anticipated daily news publication designed for the iPad--are hoping for better long-term sustainability.

On Wednesday, after weeks of delays, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--A speedy launch of an iTunes cloud music service hasn't materialized the way many at the large record companies expected.

After Apple acquired Lala.com last December, the thinking among some music insiders was that Lala's streaming-music technology could easily be plugged into iTunes--once Apple obtained the proper music licenses. Lala.com, a music service launched in 2006 and shut down by Apple last May, possessed technology that scanned hard drives for existing music libraries and then enabled users to play back the same songs from Lala's servers via Web-connected devices.

But eight months after the … Read more

Today, BoomTown gassed up the MINI and headed down to see one of the coolest new start-ups I have encountered of late.

That would be a new social magazine concept called Flipboard, which is attempting to make the social networking universe more accessible, consumable and, perhaps most importantly, visually arresting via a rich app on the Apple iPad.

Co-founded by longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mike McCue and former Apple iPhone engineer Evan Doll in January, Flipboard decloaked itself tonight, announcing both a $10.5 million funding from top Silicon Valley power players and also the acquisition of Ellerdale, a relevancy … Read more

There was a time when table radios didn't get any respect.

That's no longer true now that some radios come jazzed up with iPod/iPhone docks, CD players, Internet radios, and all sorts of features. But they still sound like table radios--even the ones featured in full-page ads in magazines and newspapers that sell for $349 or more. The sound isn't bad, just inoffensive, and they make do with fake stereo. True, they may sport two speakers, but since the radios are just 15 or so inches wide, stereo imaging isn't part of the plan.

Enter the Cue Radio Model r1 Outlaw Audio Signature Edition; it's a table radio that aims higher, and mostly hits the target. It's the best-sounding table radio I've tried at home.

Styling is iPod-inspired and elegant, with a black high-gloss body and large backlit display. The Cue radio sports a built-in iPod/iPhone dock, dual alarms, remote, etc. Stereo? It's an unabashedly mono affair, with a single two-way, tweeter/woofer driver hunkered down on the right side of the cabinet, but you can add Cue's matching Model s1 speaker and get bona-fide stereo. That feature alone elevates it over most of the competition, and automatically ups the Cue radio's hi-fi quotient by a few notches.

Cue's 3/4-inch silk dome tweeter is mounted on a waveguide, strategically centered over a 3.5-inch woofer. The combined driver is a proprietary design, and it's a honey. The Cue Radio is "bi-amplified," meaning one 25-watt amplifier drives the tweeter, another 25-watt amp drives the woofer. The radio has two more 25-watt amps standing by for when you run stereo speakers. There's a 3.5 mm stereo Aux input jack on the rear panel for connecting CD players, MP3 players, computers etc. It's too bad a headphone jack didn't make the cut. The radio is 10.5 inches wide by 4.25 high by 6.5 deep and weighs six pounds.

I'm reviewing the Cue Radio Model r1 Outlaw Audio Signature Edition, which sports a couple of features missing from the standard Cue Radio Model r1, but both models retail for the same price, $399 for the radio, or $479 when bundled with the stereo speaker. In either case, the radio is assembled by hand and tested by Cue in the U.S..… Read more

REDMOND, Wash.--Remember the CueCat--the quirky bar code reader that was going to connect magazine readers with digital material?

Well, apparently Microsoft does too. And while the CueCat meowed into obscurity, the software maker thinks that the idea made sense--that is, using a digital scanner to link printed materials with online content.

You can think of Microsoft Tag as CueCat 2.0, though this time, it doesn't require a special device. Instead, Microsoft tags use a cell phone camera for scanning the bar code, and the digital content can pop up right there on the phone.

Over the … Read more

Cue Online is a realistic pool game you play on your computer. It supports several different styles of pool and features detailed and colorful graphics. Create a username and password at the game manufacturer's Web site, view the detailed tutorial, and you're ready to play.

The design and interface of Cue Online is detailed and sophisticated. The backgrounds and various viewing angles are impressive. There's a Help file and an Options menu for customizing the game and your playing experience. Opening the program prompts you for a username and password. After a moment of confusion, we visited … Read more

On September 9th Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced some new iPods and a new version of iTunes. iTunes 9 has some significant new features including the ability to share media files around the home, a new "Genius Mix" and "iTunes LP" which offers liner notes, videos and other extras along with the music.

The day after the announcement, Larry Magid talked with Eddy Cue, Apple's Vice President of Internet services. We also discussed some other issues with iTunes indcluding how to get maximum sound quality from iTunes downloads.

Mike McCue was a bit choked up Wednesday after announcing he will leave Microsoft next month, two years after the software giant acquired Tellme Networks, where McCue was a founder and chief executive.

"It's kind of an unusual feeling to leave a company you've started," McCue said in a telephone interview, following a meeting with his staff. "It is a big change. There is no question about it. It was an emotional all-hands meeting."

McCue said that he wants to get back to "his entrepreneurial roots."

"I haven't really thought … Read more

Mike McCue isn't the only Tellme veteran who is leaving Microsoft. Also departing is McCue's fellow Tellme co-founder Angus Davis.

Davis told the troops of his departure at a recently concluded staff meeting.

"Just told my colleagues of 10 yrs I'm leaving company I founded," Davis said in a Twitter posting. "What a wonderful journey. Thank you, Tellme!"

The Tellme unit will become part of a "speech center of excellence" to be led by Zig Serafin, a 10-year Microsoft veteran. That unit will also include Microsoft's separate Speech Components Group. … Read more