RingTunes: 2007

Indie filmmakers can score Moby freebies online

Dance musician Moby has launched a Web site that gives his music away--to the right people, of course.

He is licensing his music for free via mobygratis.com to help out indie and student filmmakers.

"I was a philosophy major and I had a minor in film," he says. "Ever since then, I've had a lot of friends in the world of independent and nonprofit film production. Their recurring complaint is that it's really difficult to license music for movies that have no budgets, so I thought I would start this Web site which very simply provides free music to nonprofit indie films."

Will iLike users like Thumbplay's ringtones too?

Thumbplay announced a deal it just wrapped up with iLike, a music recommendation service big on Facebook, to exclusively stock iLike's virtual shelves with ringtones.

Thumbplay's ringtones are disguised on iLike.com by the generic command to "get ringtones," and placed alongside iTunes links. They'll also be sprinkled throughout the iLike Challenge game on iLike's site and will be available for purchase through the iLike Facebook app.

This is a definite win for Thumbplay. The mobile content distributor's limp Facebook app, a Photo Portal that pushes pictures uploaded from a Thumbplay locker to a mobile phone, has so far only grossed 10 active daily users. By teaming up with iLike, Facebook's big cheese music discovery app, with nearly 600,000 active users, Thumbplay has jumped on a better angle for getting their products to Facebook users, and dropping coins in their pocket as well.

Beyond IPhone

The 2007 mobile music market could be summed up in one phrase: "It's the device, stupid."
And though no mobile music service or associated innovation gained even a fraction of the attention that Apple did by unveiling the iPhone, that story certainly helped shine a spotlight on other mobile music developments, if only by means of comparison. And believe it or not, there were other milestones in mobile music throughout the year.

AT&T finally joined competitors Sprint and Verizon Wireless by launching its own full-song music download services. Its strategy is one of partnership, tapping eMusic and Napster to create mobile versions of their digital music services so users can buy individual tracks or track bundles directly from their phones. The operator also became the exclusive U.S. provider of the iPhone, which sold more than 1 million units in less than three months.

Verizon sells a "Don't tase me, bro" ringback tone

Top AT&T Ringtone For 2007

The top AT&T ringtones for 2007

1. "Party Like a Rockstar" by Shop Boyz
2. "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims
3. "Crank That" by Soulja Boy
4. "Rockstar" by Nickelback
5. "Don't Matter" by Akon6. "Buy You A Drank" by T-Pain
7. "A Bay Bay" by Hurricane Chris
8. "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston
9. "Pop, Lock & Drop It" by Huey
10. "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie

That is hot, a gucci phone

With the LG Prada phone continuing to be hot property in the mobile phone world, the appearance on Flickr of this ‘Gucci mobile phone’ image has been received with less incredulity than it might have four months ago.
However, with no details forthcoming other than one very well mocked-up image posted on a photo-sharing site, our eyebrows are currently fixed, Roger Moore-like, in a state of mild disbelief.

Join the Lily Allen mobile club

She’s at it again. Having proved that MySpace can be your passport to pop stardom, now Lily Allen’s rocking the mobile frontier, with her very own WAP site. The Lily Allen Mobile Club has news, tour dates, and a photodiary, which will all make you, ahem, Smile.

read more

Free Calls with T-Mobile

If you use grand central (http://www.grandcentral.com/) and add your contacts to there and you have a myfaves with tmobile you can have grand central call your cellphone then connect you to the other person through their website. it is always the same number that calls your phone so if you add that as one of you 5 numbers then you can call anybody for free. you just need to be near your computer. can also work if you dont have long distance because you choose the area code of the number that calls you.

Something other then ringtones :MoCaGoGo

MoCaGoGo is a mobile service which enables users to discover, subscribe and exchange user-generated online media. Through subscription to user-generated content, a user can automatically download media files from other mobile phones by using peer-to-peer technology. Users can search, browse and tag casting feeds directly on mobile devices. There are groups for the users, who can rate, comment and discuss within groups.

http://itp.nyu.edu/show/detail.php?project_id=1111

Now included in Webster's Dictionary : Ringtone

New technology words, guess what's included in the new Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition?

Technology and Computers
mouse potato
ringtone
spyware

http://m-w.com/info/new_words.htm

Ringtones fall under copyright law

Ringtone Decision (PDF; 120 KB)

Source: U.S. Copyright Office

“The U.S. Copyright Office issued a memorandum opinion that ringtones qualify as digital phonorecord deliveries subject to statutory licensing under Section 115 of the Copyright Law.”

So in short, you are breaking the law when you have unauthorized ringtones play on your cell. What next? - they issue a memorandum opinion regarding the cracking sound of eating chips??

Cellular-News top 25 stories of 2006

Cellular-news posted the top 25 stories of 2006. The top 5 stories are:

1 - Cingular Patenting the Emoticon :(
The USA based mobile operator, Cingular Wireless has managed to get a patent on the concept of using emoticon on mobile phones. While the aim of the patent is to enable the displaying of MSN style graphics on handsets, they also managed to patent the delivery of text based emoticon - so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in future.

2 - AWS Auctions Set Off Backhaul Reshuffle
The planned August 2006 advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum auctions in the USA will be accompanied by specific backhaul challenges, according to industry experts at wireless solutions group, Radio Frequency Systems (RFS). While the 'new' 1700 and 2100-MHz spectrum will provide bandwidth for commercial mobile phone carriers hoping to deploy 3G services, the story will be different for incumbents already using these bands for wireless backhaul applications. They must find new backhaul routes - and quickly
- to allow them to vacate the spectrum without disrupting existing services.

3 - Telescopes for Mobile Phones
The handset accessories firm, Brando has developed a "telescope" for some Nokia handsets, which the company says offers a 6x zoom facility for the camera phone. The design does need the back of the handset to be replaced - to provide a securing mechanism for the telescope - so is currently only available for the Nokia 6230, 6230i and the 6680 handsets.

4 - Hurricanes Lead to Tax Rebates on Cellphone Accessories
To help Florida residents better prepare for the 2006 hurricane season, mobile phone batteries and chargers will for the first time be available tax-free during the state's hurricane preparation sales tax holiday, May 21 to June 1.

5 - A Fatwa Against Ringtones
An imam at a Mosque in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa against mobile phones after one rang during prayers on Saturday. A report in the local newspaper, Al-Watan said that the imam had begun the Taraweeh prayer (Taraweeh is an Arabic phrase referring to extra prayers given by Sunnis at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan) when the sound of Arabic pop music began playing from the audience.

The rest of the Top 25 stories in 2006

Strange funeral request

Sunday mail reports that sometimes sometimes people request the Crazy Frog ringtone to be played during the service.

"It may seem a strange choice but it obviously has great emotional attachment for somebody."

The Co-op claim pop music is now played at 40 per cent of funerals but hymns including The Lord Is My Shepherd and Abide With Me are still popular. The Church of Scotland said: "People select music which expresses what life and death means for them.

"Popular music is part of our musical background but many ringtones sound
frivolous."

Scots' top five funeral tunes: 1. Wind Beneath My Wings. 2. My Way. 3. Angels. 4. When You Say Nothing At All. 5. Sweet Child Of Mine.

RingTunes