Turkcell subscribers looking to make a purchase from their favorite Istanbul bazaar now have one extra payment option — if they’re a BlackBerry Bold owners, that is. Research In Motion and Turkcell have announced the availability of touchless NFC payments for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 via Turkcell’s Cep-T Cüzdan mobile application. Interested parties can visit their local Turkcell retailer to trade-up to an NFC-compatible SIM, load the Cep-T application and begin swiping their Berry wherever (worldwide) MasterCard PayPass is accepted. Purchases under 35TL (around ) won’t require any additional verification, though procurements over that threshold will require you to enter a PIN on the handset or tender your signature. Hopefully, with MasterCard, Visa and Google all aboard the NFC bandwagon, 2012 will see a major push towards the technology here in the US.

Continue reading RIM and Turkcell partner to bring NFC payments to Bold 9900, Turkish pazars

RIM and Turkcell partner to bring NFC payments to Bold 9900, Turkish pazars originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
Engadget

Softbank customers in Japan can simply get an NFC sticker to add some contact-less payments to their iPhone 4, but most folks don’t have it quite so easy just yet. There are some alternatives while you wait for Apple to hop on the NFC bandwagon, however, like this solution from Unplggd‘s Vivian Kim. It uses one of the smaller NFC-equipped credit cards now available from some banks, which is apparently just small enough to fit under the back cover of an iPhone 4 (a clear one, in this case, to show off your cleverness). And, yes, it apparently still works just fine under there — even if you add a case on top of it.

iPhone 4 gets upgraded for NFC payments the hard way originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Unplggd  | Email this | Comments
Engadget

This isn’t the first time Toshiba has showed up fashionably to a party. Back in 2009, long after most every other consumer electronics maker big and small had jumped on the netbook bandwagon, the company belatedly released its first mini, the NB205. And it was fantastic. So we were optimistic when the outfit finally got around to releasing the Thrive, its first Android tablet for the US market. Surely, we thought, it’s learned a thing or two from everybody else’s mistakes.

And in that regard, at least, this 10-inch tablet doesn’t disappoint. It has full-sized USB and HDMI ports, an SD card slot, and a removable battery — all features you’d sooner find on a laptop. It comes with a raft of practical apps already installed, so that you don’t have to go hunting for them in Android Market. It’s one of the first out of the gate with Android 3.1, an undeniably improved version of Honeycomb. Oh, and it starts at 9, undercutting many of its competitors. Right there, in less than a paragraph, we’ve laid out why you might want this over any of the other umpteen tabs crowding the market. But should you get one? Well, folks, we’ll need more than a paragraph to tackle that. Join us after the break, won’t you?

Continue reading Toshiba Thrive review

Toshiba Thrive review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
Engadget

Phil Harris was a well-known musician and comedian who could be heard on the old time radio in many different shows including The Fitch Bandwagon that later became the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.

Phil grew up in Nashville, TN and was born in Indiana. Starting out in the 1920s as a drummer, he later went on to start his own band the following decade.

His career transcended many areas including the film industry. So This is Harris is a film that he made for RKO in 1933. His film went on to win the Oscar for best live action short subject.

In 1936, just a couple of years later, the Jack Benny Show received a new musical director, Harris. He sang and led the band. But he also had a speaking role as a comic Southern character. It was at this time that he became as well known for his comedy as for his musical talent. It wasn’t long before he recorded musical numbers too, using a varied mix of musical styles to help his music get noticed and stand out from the crowd.

His marriage to Alice Faye began from 1941, and he would remain married to her for over 50 years. While it was the 2nd marriage for the couple, they knew in each other that this time they found the right person. Soon enough, the two joined the Fitch Bandwagon.

The show’s original concept was a focus on swing music, but Phil and Alice became successful in their own right and so the show became their own, the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.

This version of the show was a comedy that featured one song from the couple each episode. The show was incredibly popular and ran for six years. In 1954 it aired the last episode. Old Time Radio were soon being dropped in favor of their television counterparts.

As a musician, he kept with his musical career upbringing. He starred in many TV shows and provided the voices of popular Disney characters, such as Baloo the bear in the Jungle Book, and Little John in Robin Hood.

The places where Harris grew up and had his first big breaks were not forgotten by Harris, as he donated a lot to the students of his hometown Linton, and even Palm Springs, where he grew up as a young aspiring performer. To this day, his donation of memorabilia to the Linton Public Library has been maintained as a piece of history. He had a heart attack at the age of 91, and passed away in 1995. His wife Alice lived another 3 years after his death.

There are a lot of writers that are loving the freedom they have to write and share their ideas on the internet. They really feel like they are sharing a part of their minds when they publish their posts so others can appreciate, just like when they share their ideas in podcast interviews. That is reason other people are really looking for tips on blogging for beginners so they can join the bandwagon soon. Are you one of them? If so, then here are some quick hints that can help you start blogging soon:

Think of your niche. Yes, this is your blog’s focus, according to Mike Koenigs Interview. Decide on what you really want to talk about in your blog. This is the most important step to think about so other people can easily remember you, and associate that you are talking about this topic well. Just focus on the topics you know by heart and so it would be a breeze for you to follow the rest of the quick tips after this first step.

Write informative and original articles according to John Carlton interview. This is a breeze for bloggers who already know their topics very well. See, this is going to be a lot useful for you to just share the knowledge that you already have. Your readers will also greatly benefit from all these first hand information that they can get from you, being their credible source regarding this topic. This will also elevate your credibility among fellow bloggers as you retain your focus in your niche.

Learn how to set up your blog using different available tools, according to Ken Evoy Interview. You can get assistance from reading daily blog tips and to access step by step ways to get your blog up and running. You can choose to begin with free platform and and use the tools available or go with the paid option. Although this will definitely need more of your time to prepare your blog but it is all worth it after you are done in setting it up.

Let the people know about your blog. Spread the word out that you already have it. Tell it to your family and friends. Encourage them to participate by leaving comments in your posts. Then acknowledge their efforts by answering their comments back. This is another tip in blogging for beginners, announce this on your social bookmarking profiles. You can expect more visitors to come if you do this consistently.

Assess your blogging experience. You can do this after a month or two. You can quickly check on your blogging skills and how did you go about it. What are some of the good things that you did and what are the things you can work on. Just do this on a fixed intervals and you can immediately concentrate on the things that can easily make your blogging experience a better one.

Now you have it. These are just some of the quick tips that you can refer to so you can have a good base on how you can start publishing your thoughts on the internet. Just remember that blogging for beginners does only work for those who have already started but also for those who are in need of a reference on how they went with their blogging through the years. So please remember these hints as you start posting your thoughts today.

The grapevine did already hint at the timing of the Verizon iPhone 4 pre-orders, but now, to be absolutely sure nobody misses them, we have a countdown! Eager iPhone bandwagon jumpers will have to stay up till 3AM EST on February 3rd to get their orders in from a “reserved quantity” of handsets, which will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis — presumably to be delivered on that February 10th launch date everyone’s been anticipating for so long. Sadly for Verizon newcomers, a contract with the network will be a prerequisite for signing up when the countdown expires.

[Thanks, Jarrett and Anthony]

Continue reading Verizon turns on iPhone 4 pre-order countdown, existing customers can order on February 3rd at 3AM

Verizon turns on iPhone 4 pre-order countdown, existing customers can order on February 3rd at 3AM originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 01:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Verizon Wireless  | Email this | Comments
Engadget