Vlingo today added voice support to Foursquare on Android handsets, allowing Foursquare users to checkin, find friends and send shouts through speech-to-text. The updated version of Vlingo, available in the Android Market, can also be used to update a user’s social status on Facebook, Twitter or both at the same time.

The implementation of the new voice feature is well done and takes advantage of Android’s ability to use home screen widgets. And from a hands-free perspective, Vlingo requires a minimum of button presses, although in the future, I’d love to see the app simply stop listening once it detects silence for a second or two — much as Android’s native voice-to-text features work. All in all, the use of voice for even short bursts of texts often trumps pecking on a software keyboard, so the new Vlingo version will appeal to many. And as mobile broadband latency decreases with next-generation networks, voice apps like Vlingo are sure to get faster.

Although the voice-integration with Foursquare is only for Android devices now, Vlingo says that versions for Symbian S60, BlackBerry and iOS are coming soon. Vlingo is based in Cambridge, Mass. and has raised $26.5 million in funding since 2006 from Charles River Ventures, Sigma Partners and Yahoo!

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Twitter launched the first native app it’s built from scratch Wednesday night: Twitter for iPad. Aimed at fostering content consumption, the app is designed for new users and power users alike.

In an interview at Twitter headquarters Wednesday, Leland Rechis, Twitter’s mobile product manager, said the iPad app indicates the direction all Twitter-designed apps will be heading. “It’s not about timelines; it’s about consuming information and encouraging exploration.” The iPad app, he added, “is a great place for us to show how important the content is in the tweets.”

Rechis created the app with Loren Brichter, who joined Twitter when it controversially purchased his iPhone Twitter app, Tweetie (which is now Twitter for iPhone, and is actually the same app as the one released tonight, but with different features expressed in the iPad environment).

Twitter for iPad makes use of the device’s touch interface and big-screen real estate by letting users see multiple cascading panels of information. So, for instance, you might click on a person’s twitter handle, open a panel of information about them, then click on one of their tweets, and open another panel that shows the full text of a linked article from the tweet. If users are new or not signed in, the first panel is a list of recommended users they can scroll through. There are also nice multitouch features, like pinching to see a user’s profile and swiping to see the rest of a thread of a conversation.

At launch, web pages are the only content format fully supported, but Rechis said to expect support for other inline media, such as videos. He said Twitter’s mobile group is highly focused on the goal of connecting the Twitter experience to the real world in whatever ways it can. That could be something like location, but it could also be connected to helping a phone or iPad user who’s fiddling with the device on her sofa while watching television.

Twitter for iPad is free; it’s available in all regions; and it should be live tonight. At this point (like other Twitter apps), it doesn’t contain Twitter’s version of advertising (Promoted Tweets).

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Apple announced on Wednesday a cornucopia of new hardware and software: sleek iPods, a brand new Internet-enabled video streaming device and new versions of its iOS software and iTunes 10. However, the most impressive to me by far was Ping, the music-only social network that Apple is opening up its 160 million existing iTunes users.

No, I’m not blown away by the 160 million number. What I’m impressed by is the thinking behind Ping.

Ping may function like a cross between Facebook and Twitter for iTunes by allowing you to follow celebrities, create social cliques and get artist updates via an activity stream. I think it could have tremendous impact on social sharing and commerce.

From a content perspective, there are three different types of media we love to talk about:

* movies we see
* music we listen to
* books we are reading

These are accepted social norms. In fact, many relationships are made on the basis of collective love of a movie and many friendships have started with mixed tapes. It makes perfect sense for a music service to be social. I’m not alone: The popularity YouTube, the fast-growing MOG and the sadly defunct iLike and Imeem show that people gravitate towards music as a common, collective experience. Thievery Corporation turned me on to The Broadway Project and Chris Joss, which I ended up buying on the iTunes store or via Amazon’s MP3 store.

This click-and-go-somewhere-to-download model of affiliate links can never match a unified experience. Amazon, for example, encourages bloggers and others to link to things they like and then get a piece of the action. This separates social from commerce and treats them as two discrete activities. On the post-Facebook Internet, I don’t think anyone can afford to keep these two actions distinct.

Ping, from what little I saw during Steve Jobs’ demo, allows a similar level of social interaction. It can tell me who my friends think are cool and the top 10 favorites of people in my social graph. Some of my friends are famous deejays. Others just have eclectic musical tastes. They can collectively sift through over 10 million songs and help with the discovery of music. This social-powered discovery is part of the biggest theme of our times: serendipity. About two years ago, when I wrote about serendipity, I said:

The problem is that there’s too much data coming online too quickly, and the traditional method of search that involves first finding and then consuming the information is not going to work for much longer. There just won’t be enough time for us to do that and still have a life. It’s a problem, and therefore solving it is an opportunity — a very big opportunity.

My belief has only been affirmed by growth in the amount of data available. With 12 million songs and 250,000 apps, the best way for Apple to enhance the iTunes store – aka its shopping experience — is through the use of social. Back in 2007, I argued that social networking was merely a feature that had to be embedded into applications to enhance their value. Apple has done a great job of that, but it’s also gone one step further, not only by adding a social networking layer to iTunes, but by meshing it with its commerce engine, the iTunes Store. And it’s made this experience available on both the desktop and its devices.

Apple received much of this social capability with the acquisition of Lala, an online music service, which as a standalone company used sharing of social objects to drive folks towards paid music downloads. Now Apple is only closing the loop by further sharing what users bought. I wouldn’t be least bit surprised if sales of music on the iTunes store rocket upwards, thanks to social discovery.

Amazon, which recently started experimenting with Facebook Connect, has similar ideas, but its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. On Amazon, I’m reduced to reading reviews from absolute strangers for music. I have a handful of friends who have impeccable taste in non-fiction business books, are all members of Amazon, and they already use email to share new book suggestions with me.

What if they too could share their likes and dislikes via a social layer inside Amazon.com? Or what if I could follow my favorite authors and get updates on their books? Much like Apple, Amazon owns book-based social service, Shelfari, and should find ways to embed the social layer inside of all Amazon products and connect its tens of millions of users.

Like Apple, Amazon too has a lot more data about its customers and their behaviors and could create a compelling discovery experience. I believe with tens of thousands of products in its store, the retail giant needs to figure out ways to surface content and other offerings smartly.

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After extracting a deal from Research In Motion that appears to give state authorities the ability to monitor messages sent over the company’s BlackBerry network — similar to a deal that RIM agreed to with the government of Saudi Arabia — the Indian government has suggested that it may go after both Google and Skype in an attempt to get similar kinds of security concessions.

India’s threat means that this is no longer just about Research In Motion and its specific network or security controls; it’s about gaining widespread and potentially unlimited access to a whole range of cloud-based services. In other words, it means that our growing use of the “cloud” — whether it’s web-based email or web-based voice calls such as those recently launched by Google, or mobile email and data from companies such as Research In Motion — is colliding headlong with the demands of foreign governments to control those services and applications, or at least their demands to monitor them whenever they wish.

It’s not just India and Saudi Arabia making these kinds of moves either. Lebanon, Algeria, Indonesia and several other countries are said to be watching closely what’s been going on with RIM, with an eye towards pursuing similar deals with the company, and with other web and mobile service providers. There have also been unconfirmed reports that RIM has already handed over some form of monitoring ability to the federal authorities in both Russia and China, although it’s not clear what level of access those governments have received. If India goes after Google and Skype for access to its email, instant messaging or other communications, China and plenty of other countries are almost certain to demand the same kinds of access.

India has focused on targeting Skype because of the government’s belief that terrorists and other anti-government forces routinely use the VoIP service as a way of communicating without having their phones tapped — something that could also be a risk with the new voice services that Google has launched. According to reports from Bloomberg and other news sources, the government wants both Google and Skype to set up servers in that country that can be monitored by security agencies, or to provide a means for tracking voice and instant messaging data.

The U.S. government has the authority to subpoena content from the BlackBerry network, but it doesn’t have explicit decryption boxes running on RIM servers inside corporate premises, which is what it sounds like India and Saudi Arabia want: to be able to simply turn on their eavesdropping devices and collect whatever they wish. Will India or Saudi Arabia or China abide by the same rules as the U.S., and provide full legal justification for doing this if and when it happens? Perhaps. Or they might just conveniently forget about such niceties (although the U.S. sometimes goes outside the legal boundaries as well).

Either way, your data could be at risk. If you send messages over the BlackBerry network, use Skype to call overseas, or send email or use the new voice-calling options from Google, theoretically what you say could be monitored by a foreign government, if India gets its way. There’s no reason to believe that these efforts are going to stop with India, or with just RIM or Skype or even Google; Amazon, Facebook and others could be the next to face such government demands for access to their servers and the information stored there. Living our lives in the cloud is appealing in many ways, but how much freedom do we have to give up in order to do so?

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Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr users AndyRob and Chrissy575

Space enthusiasts who follow information coming out of NASA with excitment should download the free NASA HD app for the iPad right now. This app aggregates all of the happenings at NASA with a gorgeous interface that is tailored for touch operation on the iPad.

Freelance work is on the rise, according to a new survey by Elance — a service that helps freelancers connect with employers for part-time employment — and more workers are choosing to live the life of a freelancer, as opposed to finding themselves in the position while looking for a “real” job. The Elance report, which will be released in full next week, found that 70 percent of freelancers surveyed are happier working independently than when they were full-time employees, and more than 60 percent said they would prefer to remain a freelancer rather than take a full-time job. Over 60 percent also said their income has increased in the last year.

According to the Elance report, the economic downturn is no longer the primary force driving professionals to start a freelance career. Less than 5 percent of those surveyed said they were working as a freelancer until they could find a full-time job, and less than 25 percent said they became freelancers after a layoff. Over half of those who responded to the survey said they began freelancing to be their own boss and work on projects they loved, and almost 80 percent of respondents said the ability to have control over their own work schedule was their favorite part of working independently.

The typical online freelancer is between 25 and 54 years of age, Elance says, and is more likely to be female and educated. About 80 percent of freelancers surveyed by the company have a professional degree or designation of some kind, while just 4 percent have only a high-school diploma. About half of those who took part in the survey (which sampled more than 700 freelancers who have connected with employers through Elance) said freelancing was their sole means of income, while about 30 percent said they do part-time work online in addition to other full-time or part-time employment.

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Free? Forever? Hmm.... Credit: Malthe Sigurdsson

Skype is apparently up for sale, with Cisco the likely buyer. True or false, Cisco makes a great deal of sense as a buyer, because it can monetize Skype’s user base in a way that Skype never could. With 560 million registered users (124 million of which are active), but only 8.1 million paying customers, Skype could use some help.

This may sound like heresy to acolytes of Silicon Valley economics. After all, the new economics of software go something like this: Give great stuff away, then charge for advanced features for the few who need them.  In open source we call it “Open Core.” For Silicon Valley Web entrepreneurs, it’s “freemium.”

In both cases, it’s sub-optimal.

No, it’s not because of skewed ideas of user freedom, but because it ends up being difficult talking out of both sides of one’s mouth. A marketing message that reads “This is a great product! (Just not for you…)” is tough to articulate and maintain.

Yes, it can be done. However, it’s very hard.

Now consider Cisco and Skype. Cisco doesn’t have any problems getting paid for its software, hardware, and services. It sold $40 billion worth of both last year. What Cisco doesn’t have is a low-cost/free option to drive adoption of its technologies.

Enter Skype.

Skype, as stated, has lots of user adoption. While Skype is no chump at $406 million in annual sales — and it seems to be getting better at up-selling its user base– it will be easier for Cisco to negotiate an “upgrade to x” deal than it will for Skype with its new Connect services.

At Alfresco, my previous employer, the company was highly distributed, and we used Skype extensively to connect our home workers and remote offices. While I paid to use SkypeOut when I needed to call home while in London, I may have been the only one in the company to pay Skype any money.

Net income to Skype for our company of 100 employees, all of whom were active users of Skype? Maybe $2.00 per month.

Skype was good enough for 99 percent of the employees, so why would we pay?

Cisco can offer plenty of reasons. Companies like Alfresco grow up. When they do, they need more sophisticated video and phone conferencing solutions than Skype can provide. Cisco has them covered. Start with Skype, then move to Cisco gear.

It becomes even more interesting if Cisco finds a way to integrate Skype calls with its more expensive hardware and software solutions: something like Vidyo, which does just that. (Another possible acquisition, Cisco?)

This blending of free services, both open- and proprietary, with separate, paid offerings is the winning business model going forward. Google does it. Facebook does it. Red Hat does it.

Cisco looks likely to do it, too, with a Skype acquisition. Cisco-plus-Skype appears to be the perfect example of how to accelerate a business using a free complement. “Free” can mean a great deal of cash, done right.

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During today's press event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the iTunes store has sold 450 million TV episodes. How will its newly announced 99 cent rental program change the marketplace, especially with Hulu Plus around? It depends on what's on offer.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is poised to take action on “white spaces” — the wireless frequencies between those used by digital television broadcasters – through the implementation of a database designed to prevent interference between wireless device use of white spaces and digital television broadcasts. This could remove the final hurdle for use of white spaces, says the Wall Street Journal, enabling wireless hotspots with far greater range and coverage than today’s Wi-Fi networks. Proponents of such unlicensed wireless availability include computer and tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Dell and HP, while the broadcast industry is still concerned about potential interference that white space devices could bring to digital programming.

Part of the FCC’s agreement to allow for white spaces initially included the formation of a central geo-location database of licensed spectrum use by broadcasters around the country. Such a database would help mitigate potential interference between unlicensed spectrum use and licensed broadcasts. Essentially, it would ensure that white space network access on a smartphone, for example, would have zero impact on any digital television broadcasts nearby. Although far more television content is provided by wired methods — think cable and fiber — over-the-air digital television is still watched by many, so the FCC can’t allow for potential interference issues. Other details have to be addressed as well: The level of transmission power, for example, may require FCC guidelines, else devices become confused by a wireless shouting match.

The white space situation arose a few years ago as part of the transition to digital television in the U.S.; certain frequencies were freed up for non-television use. Indeed, the 700 MHz spectrum auction netted nearly $20 billion as Verizon, AT&T and others took advantage of the freed-up wireless resource. However, not all the spectrum is in use, which means there’s opportunity. Spectrum Bridge (see disclosure below) is one of those seeking to offer unlicensed wireless access with the unused channels and has successfully trialed the use of a white space network in a rural area of Virginia: a typical place where a cellular 3G signal may not be available. The white space spectrum in this case covers the final few miles from wired backhaul, enabling residents to wirelessly connect to the web over a range wider than that of Wi-Fi. The unlicensed nature means consumers have the freedom to set up their own networks, just as they do today with Wi-Fi.

If the FCC does remove the final roadblocks for white space network use as expected, an entirely new industry could rise, similar to that of the Wi-Fi market over the past dozen or so years. New and updated baseband chips to support such frequencies will be needed for smartphones and notebooks. Municipal wireless projects could see new life because the greater range of white space spectrum could reduce implementation costs of city-wide hotspots. Web-connected devices like e-book readers, media players, smart meters and even vehicles might rely less on 3G or 4G networks for connectivity due to free or lower-cost white space network access. The future isn’t written yet, but white spaces could reduce the hunting and seeking of that short-range hotspot.

(Disclosure: Spectrum Bridge is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.)

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After nearly a decade, iTunes is getting a new icon with the release of version 10. Jobs also introduced Ping, a social network Apple created specifically for iTunes. Ping allows users to share activity with their friends, and follow their favorite artists to receive updates.

As expected, Apple today came through with a few major device updates it will be shipping this fall. It revised its entire iPod line, and gave the iPod Touch many features previously only available on the latest iPhone, such as FaceTime video chat and the highly detailed Retina display. The company also added a social dimension to iTunes called Ping (available today) that will help the music software’s 160 million users share songs and artists.

These announcements touch on many of our GigaOM channels, so we had much of the team contributing. Here’s our full coverage:

• GigaOM: Blow-by-blow live blog by Om
• GigaOM: Akamai Powering Apple Live Stream (And I Can Prove It)
• JKontherun: Half of Macs Sold in Apple Stores to First-Time Buyers
• TheAppleBlog: Apple Challenges Android On the Numbers
• TheAppleBlog: iOS 4.1 Update Next Week, 4.2 in November
• TheAppleBlog: Apple Announces New iPod touch
• TheAppleBlog: iTunes 10: Out With the CD, In With the Social Network
• NewTeeVee: Tiny New Apple TV Costs $99, 99-Cent TV Rentals Confirmed
• GigaOM: Why Apple’s FaceTime Is a Huge Opportunity
• NewTeeVee: How Could Cheap iTunes Rentals Change Television Online?
• TheAppleBlog: Apple Updates iPod shuffle, Brings Buttons Back
• TheAppleBlog: The New Nano: Camera for Touchscreen, Good Trade?
• NewTeeVee: Comparison: Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Boxee Box

Apple today announced that the new iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch arrives next week, and among the new features is Game Center, Apple’s gaming platform. Aside from the impressive demo of Game Center and a 3-D multiplayer game, Steve Jobs surprised everyone by saying the iPod touch is the number one handheld gaming device in the world. According to Jobs, the touch is now outselling game devices from Sony and Nintendo — combined.

The iPod touch sales figures — it’s the most popular iPod ever for Apple — lend credence to our thought that traditional game powerhouses are facing vastly increased competition. By leveraging its popular mobile products and app store economy, Apple is opening the doors for game developers to target the 120 million current iOS devices in the market. Additionally, with a now-annual refresh cycle, iPod gaming devices are likely to gain new capabilities faster than competing handheld game hardware: a key advantage as developers try to further push the envelope for games.

That envelope is already getting pushed, based on today’s demo of Project Sword from Epic, a game coming soon for iOS devices. Aside from multiplayer matchups with two iPod touches and Game Center, Project Sword offers an immersive 3-D world due to use of the Unreal Engine. Apple’s A4 chip — now in the new iPod touches — handled the high-resolution game flawlessly on the new retina display of the device. Based on the demo, Apple’s handheld runs the Unreal Engine at least as well, if not better, than Nvidia’s (s nvda) Tegra 2 chip, which I saw first-hand earlier this year, and surpasses performance of any handheld I’ve seen yet.

Another company that might be worried by all this isn’t Sony or Nintendo though; it’s Microsoft and its hopes for Windows Phone 7. The new Microsoft mobile platform will leverage the huge Xbox Live user base for similar social gaming aspects, but as I watched Game Center and the software demo, I shook my head. I saw yet another example of Apple beating others by getting a new feature to market, even though, in this case, Microsoft had a lead in this space by a number of years. I’m not predicting the death of Xbox Live, Windows Phone 7 or competing handheld gaming platforms, for that matter. But the ability of Apple to out-maneuver companies in markets they initially established continues to be a key strength for Apple’s future. It’s a game that Apple continues to win.

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It’s a packed room, with more than 200 people at the Yerba Buena Center here in San Francisco, Calif. Steve Jobs arrives to a standing ovation. Scroll down for the latest updates at the bottom of the live blog:

10:00 a.m.:  Steve says, “My partner in crime, Steve Wozniak is here.” (Big ovation.) Talking about the cool stuff.

10:02: Steve is giving an update on Apple retail stores. A second store has opened in Paris near the Opera House [Ed note: Palais Garnier]. It’s a gorgeous store that’s fantastic; the company spent 18 months restoring it. Apple is really excited about the event. A second store opened in Shanghai, China: a landmark in glass engineering, with curved glass entrance. The third big, new store is in London, where the company restored a complete building in the heart of Covent Garden; the old and new work beautifully.

10:03: Apple has 300 retail stores in 10 countries and is soon going to open in Spain to make it 11 countries. On some days, over a million people visit the retails stores. That happens several days a month. Retails stores hold over 80,000 one-on-one sessions.

10:05: iOS is a revolution in touch and apps. Over 120 million iOS devices have shipped since launch, with 230,000 iOS new activations every day. Jobs says “some of our friends are counting updates in their activations,” a possible dig at Google Android. 200 apps are downloaded every second, and the iTunes Store has 25,000 iPad apps and 250,000 total apps.

10:07: He’s now introducing iOS 4.1. Lots of bugs have been fixed, including proximity bugs and performance issues using iOS 4 on 3G devices. The update includes new High Dynamic Range photos and HD video upload over Wi-Fi. TV show rentals and Game Center is making a debut today. HDR photos are pretty awesome, and are essentially a way to give photos a HD-type face lift.

10:09: Game Center is an app as well as an API for app developers, designed for multiplayer games. Functionality includes challenge games and finding friends, with notifications for game invitations – pretty exciting. EPIC games is going to introduce a new game. Mike Capps, president of EPIC, introduces the new game — Project Sword — a role-player multiplayer game. The game is pretty stunning and visually awesome. It is powered by Unreal technology, an aptly named company, since the game itself is unreal in terms of execution.

10:12: On a phone! It’s pretty remarkable.

10:15: iOS 4.1 is downloadable next week. Now, for a sneak peek about iOS 4.2: It’s about the iPad, and brings everything to the iPad. Apple is adding wireless printing to iOS 4.2, as well as something cool called AirPlay. The multitasking can show you the Print Center. It’s very powerful, and the next generation of what was AirTunes. Apple is changing the name from AirTunes to AirPlay, and now you can stream audio, video, and photos over Wi-Fi. iOS 4.2 will come out in November, and will be a free update.  The company couldn’t be happier with the iOS devices.

10:20: iPods. This is the entrée event. Over 275 million iPods have been sold, but Jobs says Apple has never rested on its laurels. The company has tried to make them even better for users, and “went wild” this year. There are all new designs for the iPod.

10:21: He’s showing off a new iPod shuffle, with the click-wheel returned, as well as voice over and playlists. It’s tiny, but supports Genius mixes and has 15 hours playback.  It’s 2GB, costs $49, and comes in five different colors. (Jon Stewart is going to love this one.)

10:23: iPod nano is already on the fifth generation, and Apple is making it smaller and better by eliminating click-based operation. The new iPod touch nano is Multitouch. It’s also super tiny: 46 percent smaller and 42 percent lighter than its predecessor. The new nano has a 24-hour battery and comes in seven colors: the same five as the shuffle, plus Graphite and a Project RED tie-in. The 8 Gb iPod nano retails for $149, and is available today.

10:31: The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portable game players, and has 50 percent of the market. Over 1.5 billion game and entertainment products have been downloaded on the iPod touch, but Apple is going to change the iPod touch as well. It’s even thinner, but more remarkable: the new iPod touch has Retina Display, featuring 4X pixels, 326 ppi, 24-bit color and LED. It has Apple A4 chip, 3-axis Gyro and FaceTime with front camera. The touch will have 40 hours of music playback time. You can edit videos on the phone touch, and also do FaceTime between iPod touch devices and iPhones. It will also have Game Center, and Apple is excited about this product. Three iPod touch models will be available: 8 GB for $229, 32 GB for $299, and 64 GB for $399. All will be available next week.

10:37: iPod is the great duet with iTunes. 11.7 billion songs have been downloaded from iTunes, along with 450 million TV episodes, 100 million movies, and 35 million books on 160 million accounts with credit cards using one-click purchasing in 23 countries. The next version of iTunes is iTunes 10, and it has a new logo.

Jobs says it’s time to ditch the CD in the iTunes logo because its going to surpass CD sales next year. iTunes is more streamlined and focused on discovery; with over 12 million songs, how do you find new stuff? By knowing what friends are listening to, and what concerts are friends are attending. He’s announcing a new thing: PING, a social network for music. It’s like Facebook + Twitter for iTunes, and it’s built right into iTunes. You get a customized top ten chart to see what people you follow are downloading. Follow comes to iTunes.

10:43: You can be as private or public as you want with Ping. It is super smart, has 17,000 concert listings, and is open to over 160 million iTunes stores users immediately. Ping will be available on iPod touch and iPhone as well. It’s available today.

10:49: Jobs says he has “One more thing. Actually it’s one more hobby.” He references introducing Apple TV four years ago, but notes it wasn’t a big hit. People who do use it, love it. In last four years, the company has learned there are three things people want in the way they consume Hollywood movies and TV shows:

1. They want professional content; they want everything in HD.
2. They want to pay lower prices for content.
3. They don’t want a computer for a TV.

People don’t want to manage storage, don’t want to sync with their computers, and want hardware that is silent, cool and small. The new Apple TV is here; it’s small and one that you can hold in hand. It has built-in Ethernet, HDMI and Wi-Fi. You plug in and just go for it. It has a beautiful aluminum finish. There are no purchases, only rental, so you don’t store anything. You can stream music and photos from your computer.

10:56: First-run HD movies will be available the same day as DVDs for $4.99, or rent HD TV shows for 99 cents. Not all networks want to take this step with Apple. So far, only ABC and FOX will offer their content. Others studios will follow, he’s sure. Netflix subscribers can stream to the Apple TV and you can watch YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, and stream music from your Mac & PC.

11:02: Steve has demoed the new service/TV and it’s pretty simple and easy to use: Streaming made easy and simple. Not surprisingly, he says this is the best implementation of Netflix, and it actually looks pretty good. Now you can stream content from an iOS device to Apple TV. Apple has content on iTunes in six countries, and will add more later this year. It’s going to be $99 for the device, shaving $200 off the price of the old device, and it will be available in four weeks.

Apple started doing this music stuff because it loves music.The company is a little more successful, but still loves music. Chris Martin of Coldplay is coming out to play.

Apple has queued up Akamai to power today’s highly anticipated live stream of of product announcements by CEO Steve Jobs in San Francisco (which Om will be covering live on GigaOM). Contrary to reports the company would use its new North Carolina data center for the event, the stream will in fact be outsourced to Apple’s long-time CDN partner.

I know this is a battle of various reporters claiming their sources are right, but if my reporting is correct you’ll actually be able to see it for yourself. Akamai displays a real-time visualization of its active streams, and breaks out live streams specifically. I’m expecting we’ll see a significant bump from the current total global live streams powered by Akamai — currently a bit under 600,000 — right at 10 a.m. PT.

A source familiar with Apple’s streaming plans said that not only is the North Carolina data center not yet online, but one single facility could likely not handle such an event; large, distributed global audiences are exactly what CDNs are built for. (As a side note, apparently one of Apple’s major concerns about executing the stream was the level of demand coming from its own employees watching from the network at its Cupertino headquarters.)

Though Apple isn’t geoblocking the stream, it is limited only to Apple devices. That’s because Apple has yet to port its HTTP streaming technology to QuickTime for Windows. The company considered using traditional RTSP streaming for Windows users, but according to the source, decided the quality wouldn’t be sufficient. I suppose they could have also enlisted Microsoft’s Silverlight HTTP streaming, but considering it’s Apple, that was probably out of the question.

This is Apple’s first live video feed of an announcement in a long time; Macworld keynotes used to be streamed, but for the last five years fans have had to rely on live-blogging from reporters attending the closed-door events.

Apple’s HTTP streaming is an adaptive bitrate technology, meaning it can detect a watcher’s bandwidth and CPU capabilities in real time and then adjust the quality of a video stream. This requires encoding a single video at multiple bitrates and switching to the most appropriate one on a moment-by-moment basis (something companies like Inlet Technologies have pioneered). The result is very little buffering, fast start time and a good experience for both high-end and low-end connections.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

The Next Big Thing in Online Video: Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

Even before Steve Jobs announced the fourth generation of the iPhone, people had confirmed the phone would ship with two cameras: a standard one on the back for taking pictures and a second one on the front for something more novel: mobile video chat. As Apple dissenters are more than eager to tell you, a front-facing camera is nothing new; phones in Europe and Asia have been doing it for years and the EVO 4G from HTC shipped months before the iPhone 4 with one. However, Apple did include something with every iPhone 4 they shipped that set it apart from other devices with front-facing cameras: FaceTime.

FaceTime is Apple’s software and protocol for video chatting between devices. There’s no setting the phone up by creating a username or logging in; you can just try to start a video conversation with someone, and if the person has an iPhone 4 and is on Wi-Fi, it will work. There’s nothing fancy about the software; it’s just a straightforward video conversation, but that’s all it needs to be. It does what it needs to perfectly.

There was a lot of excitement about this feature when the phone came out, and Apple has marketed it heavily. However, there’s been noticeable cynicism about the staying power of FaceTime as an actual form of communication from many of people in the technology space. The most common reasons given are that people don’t want to video chat most of the time, the need to be in a WiFi-enabled area to use FaceTime, and not everyone has an iPhone 4 to FaceTime with. However, most signs point to Apple addressing these issues. FaceTime represents a huge opportunity for Apple to finally democratize the video conversation like we’ve all seen in countless science fiction films. The keys will be ubiquity and simplicity.

Apple already has the simplicity with the iPhone 4’s version of FaceTime, and they seem to be poised to get the ubiquity.

Apple is holding a press event Sept. 1, and most people will tell you this is their yearly iPod event, where they refresh their iPod products, and it’s almost a given that Apple will announce a new version of the iPod touch at this event with a front facing camera that will be FaceTime-capable. The iPod touch will likely work with an email address instead of a phone number, but hopefully Apple will try to keep the simplicity of the product intact.

This move would allow anyone who doesn’t want to be locked into a two-year exclusivity deal with AT&T (or get a new smartphone) to use FaceTime. It would also put FaceTime in the hands of millions of consumers by creating a device that will likely start at a sub-$200 price point, destroying one of the biggest disadvantages of FaceTime: the limited population of users.

Another big argument is the fact that FaceTime currently needs Wi-Fi to work, although this will hopefully be fixed in the coming months, as noted by Steve Jobs during the unveiling of the iPhone 4.

Consider being able to buy your Mom or someone who doesn’t want a data plan an iPod touch and having a simple, elegant solution to video chatting, with no set-up, no “why is my microphone not working” or “I can’t see you,” blending easy software with simple hardware. This will probably be the biggest catalyst for FaceTime in becoming a viable form of communication.

If I believed more people have FaceTime, I’d be inclined to try it more often, instead of wasting my time trying to FaceTime with friends and asking the questions, “Do you have an iPhone 4?” and “Are on Wi-Fi?” When Apple releases this iPod touch and enables 3G FaceTime, I won’t have to worry about those questions, and I’ll likely use FaceTime a lot more.

Apple is also uniquely placed because it can integrate FaceTime functionality into many more of their products. iChat is a likely next step when Apple’s next version of OS X is shipped, and would allow for phone-to-computer video chat. Another place for the functionality would be on the rumored iTV. If you could hook up a webcam to the device, then do some sort of group video chat integrated with televisions shows, there could be some really interesting possibilities. A developer could create a video-chat-based discussion during a show, or a a video-based game. Admittedly, it does sound farfetched given FaceTime’s current state, but it would be wrong to assume these types of interactions can’t be commonplace in a few years.

This isn’t to say that video chats are going to completely supplant voice conversations. There are definitely times I don’t want to be seen by the person on the other line, but there are also times I wish I could easily video chat with a friend anywhere I am. I want to show them a cool new couch I bought or an awesome street performance. I want to be able to see their reaction live, and I want them to be able to see me. This, also, isn’t to say that FaceTime will be the end-all-be-all version of video chat, but it seems to be taking the lead compared to its competitors, notably Fring and Skype.

Video chat has been something that people have been waiting for years to be easy and simple. Apple has done it before with iChat’s video chat capabilities; iChat easy, high quality and stable. Millions of people use it, and at least anecdotally, many of my friends bought Macs instead of PCs to simply have the ability to chat with friends using iChat. Skype added similar functionality and is now growing in popularity. FaceTime could likely go the same way as iChat and be supplanted by Skype, but either way, it seems to be making important steps in the right direction. Apple has the opportunity to incorporate FaceTime into all of their upcoming product lines and spur the innovation that seems long overdue to finally make the video chat a ubiquitous form of communication.

Related GigaOM Pro Content(sub req’d): Report: The Consumer Video Chat Market through 2015

Target will become the first brick-and-mortar retailer to carry Facebook Credits, the social network’s virtual currency, the chain announced today. The virtual currency will make its real-world debut on Sept. 5 in the form of Facebook Credit gift cards, which will be available in $15, $25 and $50 denominations at the retailer’s 1,750 stores. The $15 version was created specifically for Target, the retailer said. The cards can be used to buy goods in more than 150 different Facebook applications and games such as FarmVille and Bejeweled.

This isn’t the first deal that will see virtual currency related to Facebook make its way into the real world. Last month, the social network signed an agreement with MOL Global — the giant Malaysian company that acquired Friendster — which allows Facebook users to buy MOLPoints through the chain’s network of more than 500,000 outlets, including cybercafes, convenience stores and banks. The points can be used to buy virtual goods on Facebook in a variety of applications and games. Offering such deals is a way for the social network to connect its online offerings with people’s real-world lives and potentially expand its user base.

Zynga, the social-gaming giant whose Mafia Wars, FarmVille and other games depend heavily on the Facebook platform, has also been doing a virtual-currency related promotion through the 7-11 chain of stores under a deal announced earlier this year. Gamers who bought specific products in the chain’s 7,000 stores could get redemption codes for virtual goods inside one of the company’s Facebook games such as FarmVille.

Google is getting into the virtual currency market too: Earlier this month, the search giant — which has acquired a series of social-gaming related companies such as Slide and SocialDeck, as part of its strategy to compete with Facebook in the social-networking market — bought a company called Jambool, whose main business is a virtual currency platform for games called Social Gold.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

IBM today announced that it has developed a computer chip that has a record-breaking clock speed of 5.2 GHz. The chip — dubbed z196 processor — is going to be used in a new IBM mainframe system, the zEnterprise 196. IBM developed the chip for big honking computers whose primary job is to crunch copious amounts of data, especially for banks and retailers who are seeing a big shift in their business with the rise of mobile.

The new chip, which packs 1.4 billion transistors on a 512-square millimeter surface, combines dense caches of embedded DRAM with high-speed microprocessors. All that power will help enterprises consume and make sense of the data generated by the increased and continuous digitization of our society. The data deluge has become so huge that everyone is trying to think of ways to tame it it. Others, like Lyric Semiconductor, a startup making probability-based processors, are looking for a something other than brute force.

Yesterday, Hewlett Packard announced it will be making a new kind of memory chips in partnership with Hynix. These Memristor memory chips are seen as inheritors to the Flash memory and DRAM memory. While it will show up in our smartphones and laptops soon enough, it’s a type of memory that operates in fashion similar to biological synapses in the human brain. Large data crunching computers (much like our brain) can certainly use these chips.

From software to server systems to core chips, big data is the big opportunity.

Related Research from GigaOM Pro (subscription required): Pushing Processors Past Moore’s Law

Alcatel-Lucent today said it has acquired Open-Plug, a software provider focused on mobile platforms, for an undisclosed amount. The purchase provides AlcaLu with a cross-platform development framework that supports handets running iOS, Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile and variants of Linux. Traditionally a network and telecom hardware provider, AlcaLu’s purchase of Open-Plug signals a software value play — the “write once, run anywhere” benefit of Open-Plug will appeal to AlcaLu’s enterprise customers who write in-house software for various platforms. The bigger benefit may come from carriers however; using Open-Plug, a carrier can potentially build a branded app one time and have it support many or all of the handsets it offers.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2

No matter what you think about iTunes, the seamless way it syncs with the iPhone is very convenient. Android phone owners wanting a full-featured program that provides a similar syncing experience should look no further than doubleTwist. It is like iTunes for Android, and it's free.

For the first time in a long time, an Apple press event will be live-streamed to the public. Tomorrow Apple.com will host a stream of the rumored and expected announcements of a new iPod Touch, iTunes rentals, and an overhaul of the Apple TV.