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AT&T's Mobile TV Debuts. How Does It Really Work?

AT&T Mobile TV is launching today in San Antonio, where I live. 

Think  traditional multi-media cell phone meets TV programming.   Currently, AT&T is offering  continuous streaming, full-length live TV programming and sporting events to mobile phones from leading sources: CBS Mobile, CNBC, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX News, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go, MSNBC, MTV, Nickelodeon, CNN Mobile and PIX.

My review is a bit different.  I asked my buddy, George Kauss, whose previous company, Vesuvius owned the patents to make the technology work. (Their patents were sold to Qualcomm.)   George is now with a new company, Vulano Group.  Here's George's review of the service and how it works.

The service is available on four AT&T handsets: Samsung Access, Samsung Eternity, LG Invision and LG Vu.  For the purposes of this review, I was given the Eternity to try out. 

I like it alot and found myself leaving the phone on and watching CNBC during the day, watching yesterday's  Senate Hearings with the Automobile Industry.  (I am against a bail-out).

Aside from traditional programming  the service includes two channels exclusive to AT&T:

•    CNN Mobile Live provides users with access to 24 hours of breaking news with live streaming anchored coverage from CNN.com Live as well as CNN’s most popular programs, including “American Morning,” “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” “CNN Election Center,” “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 360º” and “CNN International.”
•    PIX, from Sony Pictures Television, offers a variety of contemporary films, including comedies, cult classics, action films and family favorites from the studio’s vast library.

Costs...
Monthly access packages for AT&T Mobile TV begin at $15 per month for the basic package, which includes unlimited access to Mobile TV. AT&T also offers a Mobile TV plus package for $30 per month, which includes unlimited Mobile TV, unlimited mobile Web browsing on MEdia NetTM and unlimited CV mobile video. Programming is delivered to mobile phones over MediaFLO USA’s own dedicated multicast network, meaning AT&T customers do not incur additional data or voice charges.

In addition to new availability in San Antonio, AT&T Mobile TV is also available in roughly 60 markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Very Cool Application for Your iPhone: Mobile Google Apps

With Mobile Google Apps for the iPhone you can...

Search with your voice so you don't have to type. New!
Search with My Location makes finding business, weather, and movie info easy. New!
Suggestions appear as you type to save you time.
Launch Gmail, Google News, and more from one place.

AT&T / Yahoo's Partnership Forgets to Include U-verse Channel Guide

As the phone company as we no longer know it reaches 1,000,000 home subscribers to U-verse, you would think that they would provide a Channel Guide within the Yahoo TV listing to include U-verse. 

Anyone care to chime in?  So why no channel guide for U-verse?

AT&T Unveils Public Beta for Innovative Online Video Search Application

AT&T Inc. today announced the public beta of VideoCrawler, an innovative new Web application designed to provide a better way for people to search for, organize and share online videos and other multimedia content.

Developed in collaboration with Divvio, VideoCrawler indexes hundreds of millions of video clips from thousands of sites, with new sites and millions of clips added every day. Enter a search term and you'll receive consolidated results from across this vast index. From there, you can organize your favorites into collections, which you can choose to keep private or share with others via the VideoCrawler site or social networking widgets.

The Phone Company is Embracing Social Media - A Hint of Where U-verse is Going?

The VideoCrawler public beta is the latest example of AT&T initiatives to enable customers to get the most out of social media and networking applications. The company has introduced multiple social networking and media applications in recent months for its mobile and Internet customers, and it also delivers the blue room, an online sports and music destination.

VideoCrawler is a free Web application, supported by banner advertising. The site features a modular, customizable layout that includes a video player window, a collection of some of the most popular videos among VideoCrawler users and a view of search results, including content thumbnails. Users can organize VideoCrawler's layout to best match their individual preferences.

VideoCrawler's unique and powerful combination of features allows consumers to search across the entire Internet index or within the public collections of other VideoCrawler users to find relevant content that has already been identified by others as "the good stuff." People have full control over their collections, so they can keep them private or share them with friends, family and other VideoCrawler users. The site even enables portability of collections, so users can create and share them across multiple social networking sites via VideoCrawler widgets.

VideoCrawler does not host content; it quickly traverses the Internet to organize results and enable consumers to view content streamed directly from the source. The site offers a "safe search" feature that helps users avoid objectionable content.

The public beta continues AT&T efforts to develop and deliver new social media and networking applications. The company recently announced a strategic investment in Zvents, a local search engine and advertising network that enables users to find, contribute, share and promote local businesses, entertainment, sports, restaurants, events, performances and sales and weekly specials. Zvents currently provides this search service for the popular YPmobile iPhone application that was developed by YELLOWPAGES.COM, a subsidiary of AT&T.

BlackBerry Bold Available from AT&T on Tuesday - iPhone vs BlackBerry? Get a BlackBerry and an iPod Touch?

The new BlackBerry Bold goes on sale Tuesday (don't forget to vote for Obama - I  mean, McCain)  and is available at the AT&T stores in your neck of the woods.

My "review" is not a traditional review.  It's a series of hopefully unbiased interviews with friends and colleagues that I knew had either a a BlackBerry or an iPhone.  Since the Bold is brand new, I was really looking for first impressions.

For a thorough review see this one on Gizmodo, or this one from Howard Chui, and this one from CNet. For really great comparative review of the Bold vs. the iPhone, see the iPhoneBlog review here. 

The Bold is a wonderful piece of hardware. The screen is superb.  The keys, I must admit are superior to my iPhone.  But having been a long time previous BlackBerry user, I still lean towards my iPhone, mostly because of the Apple ecosystem that I have embraced.  

As a stand alone single purpose device, the BlackBerry reigns supreme.  Yes, I know you can get on the web, take a few photos and even import music, but as an overall device, coupled and integrated with the Mac, the the iPhone is the better choice.  

Or, if you must have both, get the Bold and an iPod Touch.