Doug Aamoth…

Are we looking at HTC’s next GUI? Could be! It might be called “Manila” too. Doesn’t it give you goose bumps? Oh really? It didn’t give me goose bumps either. I just said that because I figured there was something wrong with my feelings again.

Here’s some more info from the::unwired,

I have zero information if this screenshots are legit or just a simple PhotoShop result but according to Swiss Windows Mobile fan-site “Mobile-Devices.ch”, bellow you see some screenshots of HTC’s upcoming/next TouchFLO GUI which is code-named “Manila”.

No further information given so it’s not clear if it is real (really from HTC), an HTC development environment or really HTC “TouchFLO 2.0″; also Mobile-Devices.ch hasn’t mentioned where they got the information from but from what you can see from the screenshots, it could be real indeed.

So there you have it. Grains of salt and all that good stuff.

LEAK: Is this a new HTC TouchFLO GUI called Manila? [the::unwired]

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About a year ago, I learned that just because you don’t store copyrighted materials on your server, “facilitating the transfer or consumption” of said material is still a no-no.

I was considering building a sweet video player web app (using SopCast) that streamed the Sunday NFL games simultaneously next to each other in a clickable grid that would allow someone to watch all the games at once and then click on each one to maximize that game.

Alas, I never did anything with it because I found out that even though I wasn’t hosting the games, I would have been making it very easy for people to watch them without the express written consent of the National Football League.

The Pirate Bay does something very similar. It provides a relatively easy-to-use interface for downloading copyrighted material. Now four of the head honchos are in big trouble with Swedish authorities (where Pirate Bay servers are located).

According to BBC News,

“The operation of The Pirate Bay is financed through advertising revenues. In that way it commercially exploits copywrite-protected work and performances,” prosecutor Hakan Roswall said in a statement.

There’s somewhat of a gray area if you were to do something like this but NOT profit from it via ad sales, but it’s still a pretty risky proposition. The Pirate Bay absolutely does profit from ad sales, so this case is a bit more cut-and-dried.

If convicted, the four men (Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde, Carl Lundstrom, Frederik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg) could face up to two years in prison.

Pirate Bay hit with legal action [BBC]

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Big surprise here. The wonderful “multitouch” interface used by the iPhone, iPod touch, and new MacBook Air is; A) not Apple’s invention, B) famous because of Apple, and C) will begin appearing in more and more devices.

Says Walt Mossberg,

Apple didn’t invent the multitouch concept. Academic and commercial researchers, and small, obscure companies, have been working on it for years. Apple is adapting the concept, adding its own ideas and popularizing it — just as it did in the 1980s with the mouse and the graphical user interface, which had also been invented elsewhere.

Synaptics is scrambling to release a multitouch trackpad for non-Apple laptops, Microsoft has the whole Surface thing, and, if you recall, HTC built and released it’s own phone (called the Touch) before the iPhone was released.

The big question will be; can these devices work as well as Apple’s devices? I have the HTC Touch and I have the iPod touch. The iPod touch’s interface makes the HTC Touch seem silly and gimmicky. Granted, it was released almost a month before the iPhone so let’s not hold that against HTC. Manufacturers releasing devices from now on, though, have no such excuse. If they’re going to put multitouch into their devices, it’s gotta work and it’s gotta work well.

Multitouch Interface Is Starting to Spread Among New Devices [Wall Street Journal]

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Amazon.com will reportedly purchase digital audiobook provider Audible.com in the second quarter of this year for $300 million. Smart, smart, smart.

The purchase will allow Amazon to offer up Audbile’s 80,000+ audio programs (mostly books, newspapers, and certain radio programs) for download to its digital content customers. Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader has an audio jack that would likely be put to good use with such an acquisition.

Audible files are already compatible with Kindle and, if you remember way back when, Audible.com used to subsidize the purchase of certain MP3 players when you signed up for a year-long audiobook subscription for around $15 per month. It’d be nice if that same strategy was implemented again to drive down the price of the $400 Kindle.

Amazon.com buys Audible; March into digital content distribution continues [ZDNet]

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I’ve been using GameFly for the past few months and I can characterize it as, and I quote, “nice.”

The company’s just announced that it’s added a third distribution center in Tampa to complement the ones in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

I live in Boston and haven’t had much trouble getting games relatively quickly (generally takes two days from when GameFly receives the game I sent back) but this might improve times along the east coast and in the south as well.

We’re Expanding! Now More Shipping Centers for Faster Delivery! [GameFly.com]

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This video clip needs very little introduction, as it’s pretty much exactly how it sounds. Might not be safe for work, so proceed at your own risk.

Star Trek Orgasms [Double Viking]

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Well how do you like that? Lenovo has cell phones — another reminder that the United States isn’t the only country in the universe (or world, for that matter). Lenovo had cell phones, I should say, as its recently announced that it’ll sell off the mobile phone unit for $100 million in order to concentrate on computers.

Good for you, Lenovo. It’s hard enough having a job while you’re in college, for instance. I can’t imaging having your own computer AND phone business. You must be exhausted! Get some sleep or take a little vacation with the money from the sale, eh?

Lenovo Sells Phone Unit [New York Times]

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Want to know what in the hell’s taking the pizza guy so long? Order from Domino’s from now on. You can use the new Pizza Tracker feature to keep an eye on your pizza’s location, accurate to within 40 seconds (which in pizza time is an eternity).

You’ll also be privy to your driver’s first name and you’ll be able to rate that driver. But why do drivers need ratings? Here’s a system; He gets an A if the pizza gets to my house, and an F if he doesn’t. I’m not expecting him to be pleasant, outgoing, or female so I’d only rate him on whether or not the pizza gets from point A to point B.

Domino’s Pizza Tracker [Dominos.com] via Consumerist

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Dell and Google, eh? They’re apparently maybe, sorta, potentially going to make a phone together. An iPhone rival, to be certain (maybe).

The announcement is supposed to come at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona next month even though “Google insiders deny an announcement is due in the near future,” according to Marketing Week. “Senior industry sources” say that it’s gonna happen, though.

Is it possible that Dell might just make it’s own Android-compatible phone? Yes, sure. Will it be an actual Google-branded phone? Who knows. Seems like kind of an odd choice since Google’s not often too interested in dealing with hardware.

If this is true, though, it’ll be big news. And Dell did grab someone from Motorola last March. And Dell does need something big, according to Marketing Week.

Dell already produces personal digital assistants (PDAs) and strategy analytics director Neil Mawston says: “It makes sense for Dell to have a high-profile entry back into the market because its last effort with PDAs pretty much flopped.”

We’ll keep an eye on this one and Biggs will be at 3GSM to cover it (if it happens).

Google and Dell tipped to reveal iPhone rival plans [Marketing Week]

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Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster (who used to work with my dad, went to the same high school as me, and is or was dating my friend Ross’ sister) thinks that Apple might put out some newer, cheaper iPod touch-like devices.

“We believe that the iPod touch is the first of several Internet-connected iPods that Apple is currently developing. With 70% market share, we believe Apple is in the driver’s seat in terms of transforming the portable music market into a portable computing market,”

Munster says that the MP3 player market is slowing and that for Apple’s stock to hit its $250 price target (it’s currently trading at around $130 or so) it’ll likely “introduce cheaper, innovative iPods with Wi-Fi and multi-touch technology,” according to Thomson Financial News.

Apple gains in premarket; Piper Jaffray reiterates buy, $250 price target [CNN/Thompson Financial News]

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