Samsung pre-released details of their new 3G smart phone the F700. The phone could prove to be an iPhone killer especially in all the 3G areas where the iPhone is not even on a road map to compete. Samsung will officially unveil the phone next week at the 3GSM World Congress.

Knocking Down iPhone

As a 3G phone this phone will see download speeds up to 7.2Mbps in networks where HSDPA is deployed. That means that a 4mb song could download in 4 seconds and that is much faster than the download speeds an iPhone will see over WiFi.

It has a 5 Megapixel Auto Focus camera. The iPhone only has a 2 megapixel camera.

It has a slide down qwerty keyboard. The iPhone has a touch screen.

It supports Bluetooth and is about twice as thick as a slivr. Oh and it has a 2.78 inch color display that runs a full html browser or Flash.

Taking a Lump or two in Return

Its not WiFi compatible. Its setup for a much more advanced network use, but is not backwards compatible to older WiFi systems essentially(backwards compatible isn’t exactly the right phrase, but I am taking artistic license as this device has leap frogged over the old technology).

The WiFi issue will see that this phone may not be uber popular on college campuses, but the other features could definitely make this popular with twenty somethings or older business executives.

Technorati tags: Samsung, Samsung f700, iPhone killer, 3G

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This week PayPerPost launched a new affiliate program to promote its services.

Here is how it works:

1. A blogger already enrolled in PayPerPost, includes a button in any article (related to PayPerPost or not).
2. see live example.
3. Then when any other blogger visits their blog, they can click the button to review the article in question.
4. They perform a review by writing an article in their own blog and linking to the original article.
5. If they sign up for PayPerPost, then PayPerPost will Pay them $7.50 for reviewing the post, and
6. PayPerPost will pay you $7.50 when they get paid for referring them.

So if you have a blog and you click on the button above and you meet the acceptance requirements for PayPerPost, you can then write an article reviewing this blog article. You will get paid 30 days after you publish that article and so will I! We will both receive $7.50.

The beauty of this affiliate program is partly the money, but it is more impressive for the viral nature of the enticement. It encourages new participants to review articles of other existing participants. This builds links and relationships for everyone involved, which improves the quality of the publishers working in the system. More links yields higher page rank and search engine rankings.

That means that everyone in the ad network ecosystem can benefit from the growing strength of the blog. Advertisers that previously purchased advertisements get a bigger bang for their buck as the page rank goes up. Bloggers earn more from having a higher PR, and PayPerPost gathers more writers and its existing writers grow and can charge premium rates.

Its an excellent concept and a very good execution of that concept.

Technorati tags: PayPerPost, afilliate programs, blog review afilliate hybrid

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EMI, the third largest record company with acts such as the Beastie Boys and the Beatles, has been considering scrapping its use of DRM on downloaded music tracks. EMI has been in talks with more than one online music store. Despite Steve Jobs recent plea to anyone that would listen to end DRM, EMIA and Apple have not spoken yet, but that could change as a result of their now publicly mutual interest in moving away from DRM.

It would appear according to a Wall Street Journal article today that Steve Jobs was not aware that EMI was shopping around. The article goes on to elaborate that Jobs started his letter as a result of European Union pressure for Apple to make its products work on other devices.

CD sales fell this year by 20%. They account for 85% of US sales of music and such a big drop in sales has music companies working hard to catch up and get their cash flows back on track. The new question for the music companies will be, “Is it too little too late?’

Technorati tags: EMI, Apple, DRM

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Here’s a useful site! Its called UrbanFonts and they have thousands of fonts that you can download for free to your computer whether its a Mac or a PC. They have a great selection available to choose from to Download Free Fonts, but the cool thing about their website is the simple solution they have employed to show people their fonts.

A user only needs to hover over their main menu section and a pop up image appears as they hover showing what the font looks like. I found this interface to be extremely easy to use and understand and helps you find exactly what you are looking for quickly.

(in the image above you can see the pop up image next to my hand cursor. The pop up reads OLD FASHIONED as I hover over the link to the Old Fashioned font selection.)

Plus, below this quick selection menu they also display in larger boxes many extra artistic styles and fonts that you do not find in too many other places. I found my self thinking that these fonts if captured as an image would make excellent Logos for websites, blogs and even some product labeling.

Its a great little website with a terrific selection and the interface is what makes it useful. Too often I’ve seen font sites, or discs or downloads, but if they are too difficult to navigate then they are worthless. This site is nice, clean and easy to move around and use it to full effect.

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

Technorati tags: Urban Fonts, Free fonts, download free fonts, a damn mess image

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Microsoft submitted a filing to the Federal Communications Commission. The filing suggests that the company might add some version of phone service to its ‘hand-held media players’ known as the Zune.

Microsoft will submit a prototype to the agency. The Zune already has WiFi capability and a new Phone + Zune combo Ph + une = Phune could provide a device to compete on some levels with the iPhone. It might also be an opening salvo in Microsoft’s never ending race to continually play catch up with other companies that have tested the waters first.

The filing indicates that the new device will utilize OFDM, which is a routing technology capable of moving TV and voice calls between devices. Maybe Zune will abandon the Phune concept all together and focus on the potential to virally transmit Microsoft Soapbox videos on its Zune.

That would at least spare everyone another silly sounding gadget name.

Technorati tags: Zune, Microsoft, Microsoft Phune, fcc, bad gadget names like Zune iPhone and Phune

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After getting lasik surgery about six years ago, I saw the light and realized that I needed to be more careful on my second go around at protecting my eyes. That day I went out and bought the best pair of UV protection designer sun glasses money could buy, at least money that added up to $320.

That was 6 years ago and the sun glasses lasted a long time, but I am older and wiser. These days I would look to our new sponsor CTS Wholesale Sunglasses. They provide Wholesale Fashion & Sports Sunglasses. I am not talking about some ad saying that the price is wholesale, but it really looks like a normal price. I am talking about buying a case of designer sunglasses for the price of a single pair!

See for yourself by looking at these Wholesale Fashion Sunglasses. Some of these sunglasses are less than a dollar a pair. For that kind of money I could have purchased 350 pairs of sun glasses and worn a different pair of sun glasses every week for the last 7 years!

Now I am not suggesting that you should be excessive. There is a practical aspect to this. My wife always loses her sun glasses and she usually does it when we are on the road. So she ends up spending $10-$20 for glasses at a gas station or mall to get through the trip. For $25 she could buy a dozen sun glasses and keep 3-4 pairs in the car readily available for her, any guests we have riding with us or even the kids.

My eyes steadily got worse over the years until I had lasik. Now they are holding their own and its partly because I protect my eyes. You can do the same, but it does not have to cost you a fortune.

View More info in Press release here

Technorati tags: Saving Your eyes, sun Glasses, UV protection

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This week Steve Jobs came out with a letter to the world expressing the concept that he thinks that Digital Rights Management DRM is essentially a waste of time inspired by a reactionary Music Industry. He published his letter on his website and laid out the case against DRM and as a side point against the record industry that requires DRM.

Just a couple months ago Bill Gates invited a number of bloggers for a one on one personal dialogue. He intimated his distaste for DRM then as well. Recommending that music shoppers should burn music from CD’s as opposed to buying music with DRM, like the music offered at his Zune online music store. He essentially said the same thing that Steve Jobs is saying now, but a little eloquently.

With all this talk from the head of two of the companies that are so much at the heart of DRM through their media player software and now also through their physical media players, it seems as if they are starting to publicly state their opinion and acknowledge their agreement.

In private if they were to sit down and choose a course to act together or against individually the music industry, even when consumers benefit this would be considered collusion. However, free speech is still allowed in many forms throughout the US, and so both leaders are allowed to express their opinion publicly, even though it allows them to confirm with each other that they are publicly on the same sheet of music. The end result is the same as they can choose their direction knowing the move of the other, but the record industry also benefits from seeing the telegraphed signal as well.

This might be the beginning of the end of DRM as we know it and that can definitely be a good thing for consumers wallets, what it will do to and for the record industry and the TV and movie industry remains to be seen.

Technorati tags: apple, steve jobs, bill gates, DRM, digital rights management, collusion

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Many years ago I read a story about a man that journey’s back in time to the present with gold wire wrapped around his waist as a belt. In the future gold has lost its investing appeal and is only used for engineering purposes. If that future were a possibility, then people would need to sell their gold now.

History has shown us however that gold investing is likely to continue for many years to come as people for thousands of years have demanded gold for many reasons that are not always practical. Our sponsor Monex, through their recent press release, continues to offer gold ingots and bullion for investors trusting in the human propensity to continue demanding gold for many many generations to come.

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Over the last year Maven Mapper’s Information has covered many different topics.  The focus has expanded and contracted on multiple occasions.  I have recently signed on to apply my pen and keyboard and mind to TechnoBabble owned by Raj Dash, known by many for several of his sites but also his excellent contributions to the Performancing Community.

As I write at TechnoBabble I will be refining my focus here at Maven Mapper’s Information as historically there has been a little over lap of topics.  Regardless, I will continue to deliver great articles here and spread out to focus on topics at TechnoBabble as well.

Here I will be adding to my reviews of many different products including electronics, software and web related.  At TechnoBabble I will often get more into the nuts and bolts of the industry at large.  On both sites I will work on the utilization of some great tools, processes, systems and services.  There will still be some over lap in this area but I will be segmenting out some of the industry trends and analysis here.

Technorati tags: Performancing, Raj Dash, TechnoBabble, Maven Mapper’s Information Refocussed

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