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At Wal-Mart, Black Friday comes early

It's happening again.

If you thought one minute past midnight the day after Thanksgiving was too early to choke out your fellow shoppers in the name of a great deal, you were wrong.

Following last year's decision to offer a $398 laptop several weeks ahead of the traditional Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), Wal-Mart is planning on slashing prices on five items--in its stores, not online--beginning at 8 a.m. this Friday. One of them will be a $348 Acer laptop with 1GB of RAM. The other four items and their prices will be kept secret until … Read more

If the data is open, is it free game? (Palamida vs. Black Duck)

Black Duck has admitted to "borrowing" Palamida's database of open-source projects/licenses, without giving attribution or any other indication that it had taken the data from Palamida. Legal? Yes. Wrong? Seems like it to me.

After two days of intense investigation, we have confirmed that most of our database has been copied directly--word for word and misspelling for misspelling, with very few original additions to our initial work," said Palamida spokeswoman Melisa LaBancz-Bleasdale.

Just because one can do something doesn't mean that one should.

Black Duck argues that it only uses a "small slice&… Read more

Palamida: Rival snitched open-source database

Unfettered sharing is one of the hallmarks and touted virtues of open-source programming, but even companies closely allied to the movement can grow uncomfortable with such liberal principles.

Case in point: Palamida and Black Duck Software, two rivals that offer software and services to help companies ensure open-source and proprietary software aren't inappropriately intermixing.

On Monday, Black Duck announced its Open Source License Resource Center, described as "an online guide of particular interest to companies developing or deploying software that includes code governed by version three of the GNU General Public License (GPL) or Lesser General Public License (… Read more

Facebook made easy for BlackBerry

SAN FRANCISCO--BlackBerry's users, often referred to as "CrackBerry" addicts, will now have easy access to the popular social-networking site Facebook.

The two companies, which have been working in secret for the past six months, announced Wednesday that they have integrated the Facebook Web application with Research In Motion's Blackerry smartphones.

Mike Lazaridis, founder of RIM, joined Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook, to formally unveil and demonstrate Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show here.

T-Mobile USA will be the first mobile operator to provide the software application to subscribers, the companies … Read more

Samsung BlackJack II makes official debut

Well, well, guess who decided to show its pretty little face at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote address this morning--mmm hmm, the Samsung BlackJack II. Today, Samsung and AT&T officially introduced the successor to the BlackJack, but it won't be available till "later this year"--you guys are such a tease! A majority of the changes are on the hardware side. You now get a slightly larger 2.4-inch QVGA display (previously 2.25 inches), the scroll wheel on the right side has also been removed in favor of a front jog wheel, and … Read more

Digby: Impulse shopping app for BlackBerry

Digby has partnered with well-known retailers like Barnes & Noble and Fossil to create a downloadable shopping app that lets you purchase goods from your (RIM 4.1 or above) BlackBerry smartphone.

Digby has done a good job minimizing typing and fast-tracking purchases with select retail partners. Simply scroll through the brand list, clicking deeper within the stripped-down interface to see items and special deals. You can set the alert function to nag you to buy a gift before an important occasion. You'll have to do much of that buying on faith, though--there's no built-in functionality to preview an item or research product ratings for items, at least none that I perused.

When the purchase is nigh, enter your locally-stored password and Digby will do the rest, passing the transaction along to the vendor to process. Credit card information is password protected and stored, encrypted, on the device.… Read more

Episode 588: Touche Tuesday

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AT&T opts for RIM BlackBerry Curve 8310 with GPS, not Wi-Fi

Today, AT&T announced the immediate availability of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8310, which adds the mighty powers of integrated GPS to the original BlackBerry Curve. Priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates, the 8310 is available in red or titanium and allows you to turn your smartphone into a personal navigation device with a location-based service like TeleNav GPS Navigator. This will allow you to get voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, 3D maps, local business search, and more, right on your handset; just be aware that TeleNav is an add-on service that costs $9.99 per … Read more

First sightings of Samsung BlackJack numero dos

Details are a little sketchy at this point, but it seems the sequel to the Samsung BlackJack is baking in the oven. The folks over at Mobile Phones Reviews and Tips (via Engadget Mobile) have some specs and images of the Samsung SGH-i617, which has actually passed FCC tests. The Windows Mobile 6 smartphone keeps a similarly sleek form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard, upgrades to a 2-megapixel camera, works on the HSDPA 850/1900 networks, and looks to be AT&T-bound. Let's just hope they've corrected the battery issues, eh? Not much else is known … Read more