The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill

Archive for the 'Irvine' Tag

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

WoW players raise $1.1 million for Make-A-Wish

February 17th, 2010, 12:02 am by

When Blizzard Entertainment asked gamers inside the World of Warcraft to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation, players responded.

By the thousands.

On Tuesday, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime handed a $1.11 million check to the charity that grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

“We’re very happy with the amount,” said Mike Morhaime, president of the Irvine game developer.

Was he surprised?

“We stopped making predictions about WoW a long time ago.”

The proceeds came from the sale of a Pandaren Monk, a virtual pet for the game. The creature sold for $10 between Nov. 4 and Dec. 31. Half the price was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That means 222,000 players bought the pet.

“I was shocked. That’s a lot of virtual pets,” said Frank Pearce, the game’s executive director.

Morhaime believes players wanted to help out the charity and not just score another virtual pet.

“If you read a lot of the comments in the forums, they indicated that people were really excited about Make-a-Wish and having the proceeds benefit the foundation,” Morhaime said.

In fact, Blizzard released two other virtual pets at the same time that weren’t as big sellers.

“People were definitely drawn to the Pandaren,” Pearce said.

The company has granted eight or nine wishes, including that of Ezra Chatterton, whose tale I documented starting with his May 2007 visit to Blizzard’s headquarters. Chatterton had brain cancer and played WoW with his father as an escape. His story inspired hundreds of readers and WoW players to write in and wish him the best. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • • • • • • • | 11 Comments »

Cable TV (really) does want to offer multi-room DVRs

February 12th, 2010, 6:42 am by

Broadcom MoCA chipChances are high that your next TV set-top box will have features like a multi-room DVR, Internet access and home networking — even if you’re a cable TV customer, says Michael Inouye, a TV industry analyst with ABI Research.

In a new report, Inouye projects that there will be 15 million next-generation set-top boxes in the market by 2014. These 15 million boxes will have MoCA, a technology that uses existing coaxial cables to send video to devices throughout the home. While other home networking technologies like Powerline (uses electrical lines)  and HomePNA (uses phone lines), are gunning to be in the next set-top box, Inouye said that MoCA is attracting the TV companies that actually provide the hardware to consumers.

My first thought? Cable companies have long offered set-top boxes with advanced features. But they haven’t enabled them. The USB and eSATA ports on my cable TV box don’t work so I can’t add a hard drive to store more TV shows or view photos. I asked Inouye to tell us what really might happen with future set-top boxes.

“Indeed, you are spot on in regards to cable providers’ previous practices of limiting STB (set-top box) functions. But in many cases just because it’s not ‘active’ doesn’t mean it’s not there, so when we established the forecast we focused on estimating the number of boxes that could support MoCA (e.g. hardware in place) but not necessarily active,” Inouye said in an e-mailed response.

Ahh… so, no MoCA features for cable customers. No, not quite, Inouye said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • • • • | 15 Comments »

Boost Mobile turns Super Bowl ad into ringtone for charity

February 10th, 2010, 4:55 pm by

Boost Mobile won’t say how much it spent on its 30-second Super Bowl ad, which stars aging members of the 1985′s Chicago Bears redoing their “Super Bowl Shuffle.” But it has figured out how to help offset expenses: Sell the song as a 99-cent ringtone.


Boost Mobile’s Super Bowl 2010 ad

Why you might want to consider buying it? The Irvine prepaid wireless carrier is donating all proceeds to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, a nonprofit led by legendary coach Mike Ditka. The money goes to help former NFL players who aren’t doing very well.

Yes, that may not sound like much of a sob-story charity, but not every football player makes a million bucks. According to the Gridiron site, there are plenty of retired players who never got the benefits or pensions that players do today. Some lack basic services, such as health insurance. The charity lists a bunch of stories about players it has helped, including an unnamed former San Diego Charger who was living in his car.

You can buy the ringtone at www.boostmobile.com/shuffle.

Recent Boost Mobile stories:

Posted in: Cell phones • Gadgets • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Sprint still losing customers but prepaid Boost added

February 10th, 2010, 9:04 am by

Boost MobileSprint continued to lose wireless customers during the fourth quarter of last year but at least it lost fewer than before. What helped? Boost Mobile, the Irvine prepaid mobile service, which celebrated its success with a Super Bowl commercial.

According to the numbers, Boost’s national unlimited plan added enough customers in the quarter that parent company Sprint was able to winnow its prepaid customer churn rate — or customers coming and going —  down to 5.56%, compared to 8.2 % a year earlier. But Boost wasn’t alone in Sprint’s praise. Virgin Mobile, which Sprint acquired in November 2009, was noted for its low churn rate that, on average, was lower than Boost’s.

Boost’s main push last year was unlimited plans, which still allowed customers to pay when they needed service but required a month-long commitment. That helped Sprint make an average of $31 per customer, compared to $30 a year ago. However, before Virgin Mobile joined the prepaid group, the unit made $35 per customer.

Overall, Sprint lost about 200,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter, ending the year with 48.1 million customers. Approximately 10.7 million of those were prepaid subscribers. The company also posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $980 million on revenues of $7.9 billion. Comparably, the company posted a net loss of $1.6 billion on revenues of $8.4 billion in the prior year.

Sprint also updated the world with its 4G rollout, which promises faster wireless data speeds. Sprint 4G is now in 27 markets serving 30 million customers. That should reach 120 million people by the end of the year. This year, 4G will launch in Boston, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Matt Carter, president of Boost Mobile in Irvine. Image courtesy of Boost Mobile.While not available yet in Orange County, former Boost Mobile president Matt Carter, pictured on right, was tapped in December to lead Sprint’s 4G division. He is still based in Orange County.

Read the full 4th quarter earnings release HERE.

Earlier on Boost and Sprint:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Broadcom not just iPhone supporter, likes Google’s Android too

February 9th, 2010, 2:45 pm by

Broadcom Corp.Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. has fully joined the Android camp and said today that its wireless technologies fully support Google’s mobile operating system.

What does that mean? Conceivably cheaper phones because Broadcom likes to cram several features into one chip. In this case, the company said its series of wireless chips that offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and VoIP, are now available for Android phones.

While most Android phones already have these features, manufacturers can now purchase one chip instead of three separate ones. That could decrease the cost of making the phone and/or free up space inside the phone since multiple chips are no longer needed.

On top of the full Android support, Broadcom points out that its chips offer the latest Bluetooth technology, previously unavailable for in Android phones. Broadcom offers Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, which means faster connections of up to 24 mbps. That will come in handy for those who like to share videos, photos or other files between phones or any other mobile devices. Broadcom’s new Android push isn’t just for phones but also tablets, which it will demonstrate next week during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Android manufacturers who add the Broadcom chips will be the first with faster Bluetooth.

Broadcom, of course, has long supported the iPhone and was among the first to provide chips for the revolutionary phone. But now, with analysts expecting Android to be the second most popular mobile software by 2013, Broadcom decided to expand its support.

The company isn’t new to Android. It previously demonstrated support for Android on personal navigation devices; Android chips that combine Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio; and support for an Android HD camcorder, video player and 12-megapixel camera.

Previously on Broadcom:

Posted in: news • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

Ouch! Backlash for Vizio Super Bowl ad

February 8th, 2010, 11:31 am by
[brightcove width=350 height=250]65100383001[/brightcove]
Did you get Vizio’s Super Bowl 2010 ad? Comment

It was hard to avoid Vizio at the Super Bowl yesterday. The Irvine HDTV company was obviously a major sponsor of the football game with its sponsorship of the pre-game show, the field camera and several commercials.

But the big Super Bowl spot starring musician Beyonce failed to resonate with many critics, though it definitely wasn’t the worst of the bunch.

Vizio hired Wally Pfister, the cinematographer for “The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins” to create a commercial for its new VIA TVs, short for Vizio Internet Apps TVs.

The spot shows a mechanical arm handpicking familiar Internet “content” — from the Twitter bird to the Flickr logo to the Internet celebrities like the overweight guy lip synching “Numa Numa,” Youtube Tay Zonday singing “Chocolate Rain” the Dramatic Beaver and others. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 32 Comments »

Watch O.C.’s Super Bowl 2010 TV commercials

February 7th, 2010, 10:12 am by

It’s a big year for Orange County’s tech-minded companies. Three are involved in Super Bowl ads, airing today. We got them ahead of time and have set them up to be available once they appear on TV. Until then, you’ll just see some blank spots below and will need to satisfy yourself with the extra filler.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vizio, HDTV company in Irvine
[brightcove]65100383001[/brightcove]

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

O.C. Agency’s Super Bowl ad mixes The Who, hip hop and Haiti

February 5th, 2010, 3:35 pm by

Peter AddertonWho could forget those crazy Boost Mobile commercials with senior citizens dancing and talking “10 kinds of nasty.” Thank Peter Adderton for that.

The Australian native, (pictured on right) who founded and later left Boost, says that Boost was all about marketing a new brand aimed at the untapped youth market. Branding and marketing is his expertise.

Adderton, who never left Orange County, is at it again on Sunday with Super Bowl XLIV. This time, with his new advertising firm Agency 3.0 in Newport Beach, he developed three TV commercials for some other company: Flo TV, the mobile TV service from San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc (see earlier story, “Qualcomm’s tiny 3.5-inch TV coming this holiday“). The goal is to get consumers familiar with the service, which offers TV shows in a moving car, on your phone and out shopping when you’d rather watch a football game.

“That’s where our strength is. We launched the brand (Boost) and used wireless to push that through,” said Adderton, explaining how he went from founding mobile phone companies to an ad agency.  ”Flo TV is an extension of our expertise in that area.”

Added Feb. 6: Peek at Flo TV’s “Moments” Super Bowl ad with Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am remixed “My Generation” by The Who:

YouTube Preview Image Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline