Motorola has released a new ad for the Motorola Droid that likens the iPhone to a “tiara-wearing digitally clueless beauty pageant queen.” Although the commercial does not specifically mention the iPhone by name, it shows images of an iPhone-like device being admired by superficial stereotypes such as a blond woman holding a phone in front of her as she crosses the street and applies lip gloss. The ad contrasts this with the Droid by suggesting that the phone is a robot rather than a princess and trades “hair-do for can-do.” This advertising blitz appears targeted primarily toward a male audience, with recent studies showing increased interest in Motorola among men of ages 18 and up. (via AppleInsider).
Apple has once again launched a “12 Days of Christmas” promotion on the UK and across the European iTunes Stores. The 12 Days of Christmas offers a selection of free downloads each day from December 26th, 2009 through to January 6th, 2010.
Last year the offer included rare singles, live tracks and free music videos from such artists as Katy Perry and Lily Allen. This year, iPhone apps, TV shows, and movies are also expected to be included in the free offerings. users can also sign up at http://www.itunes12daysofchristmas.co.uk to receive daily e-mail alerts for each offer. (via Macworld UK).
Students in a computer-science course at the University of MIchigan are preparing to put on a live concert with an ensemble consisting entirely of iPhones.
The course, “Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble” instructed the students in the basics of iPhone programming for multimedia and culminated in having the students code their own musical instruments for the iPhone using the standard Apple SDK. The course was taught by George Essl, an assistant professor of computer science and music who notes that rather than treating this merely an “an engineering exercise” he wanted students to go through “the whole process where we start from nothing and then we go to performance next week in a live concert where people can come and listen to the outcome of what students have learned in the course.” Essl notes that iPhone is a unique device to work with as it starts out as a sophisticated blank slate with multiple sensors that can be used to create music in different ways. The Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble will perform Dec 9th at 8pm in the university’s Britton Recital Hall. (via Wired).
Microsoft Bing program manager David Raissipour confirmed yesterday that they are working on a mobile version of their Bing search engine for the iPhone platform that will not only facilitate searches through Bing but also combine a number of additional features, although Raissipour would not indicate exactly what those features are or when the application would actually be ready.
