Google Maps lets you “Click-to-call”

From ZDnet

Google is about to announce their "Click-to-call" functionality on Google Maps for the United States. Ordering pizza is as easy as searching for "pizza" and clicking "Connect for free" — hopefully in version two they will pay for the food too.

Much more coming to Zune??

From ArsTechnica:

See, Zune was designed to connect to the Zune Marketplace wirelessly, it just doesn't do so at the moment. We were admittedly skeptical of such claims, until Bryan Lee, corporate vice president for the entertainment business at Microsoft, decided to get mysterious with the New York Times. Asked if the Zune will ever connect to the Internet, and if it will ever be possible to buy a song that way, Lee responded: "Probably, one day."

Transformer Halloween constume

Movie studios selling $1.25 DVDs in China to Combat Piracy

From ArsTechnica:

The first studio to announce such a strategy was Time Warner, which said in August that it planned to start releasing cheap DVDs in China in an attempt to fight piracy. The movies were to be released on DVD soon after their theatrical release for about 10 yuan (approximately $1.25) apiece. 10 yuan is close to the typical price for a pirated movie in China. Time Warner hoped that the move would lure customers to buy their DVDs instead of illegal alternatives. The short amount of time between theatrical and DVD release in China was also meant to try to beat pirates in getting the DVDs out as quickly as possible.

Zune: welcome to the anti-social

From ZDnet:
In less than 24 hours, Microsoft will release its latest 'iPod killer' into the wild. The Zune's 'killer' feature being, of course, the ability to share music wirelessly. Where Sony's original Walkman (and subsequently, Apple's iPod) are distinctly anti-social - the bearing of white earbuds being a symbol of solitude - the marketing slogan for the Zune declares, 'welcome to the social'.

However, despite what Redmond would have us believe, the music sharing features of the Zune are anything but social.

David Pogue in his review for the New York Times, hits the nail on the head:

You can play a transmitted song only three times, all within three days. After that, it expires… This copy protection is as strict as a 19th-century schoolmarm. Just playing half the song (or one minute, whichever comes first) counts as one “play.” You can never resend a song to the same friend. A beamed song can’t be passed along to a third person, either.

That's right, 'a beamed song can’t be passed along to a third person', which, in my mind, is as social as telling a friend about a great place to eat out, on the sole condition that they don't tell anybody else. According to Pogue, Microsoft is marketing the viral 'potential' of the Zune, as a way for unsigned bands to promote their music:

What’s really nuts is that the restrictions even stomp on your own musical creations. Microsoft’s literature suggests that if you have a struggling rock band, you could “put your demo recordings on your Zune” and “when you’re out in public, you can send the songs to your friends.” What it doesn’t say: “And then three days later, just when buzz about your band is beginning to build, your songs disappear from everyone’s Zunes, making you look like an idiot.”