Hello and Happy Halloween from everyone here at MOGO! We hope you have a safe, fun and candy-filled evening!

Remember, Be safe, have fun, don’t do anything we wouldn’t do, and by all means enjoy yourselves.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the pumpkin I carved last night. Any and all fans of “Nightmare Before Christmas” will recognize this pretty swiftly!

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College students and young business professionals around the world…get ready to spend even MORE time Not doing your work.  That’s right, one of the world’s most up-and-coming companies is now coming to another platform that will make it even More up-and-coming, and have even More people spending even More time on it.  Facebook, my friends, is coming to BlackBerry.

You hear right, the ever-so-helpful and time consuming social networking site is now going to be accessible on your very own BlackBerry.  According to new reports,

“BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has launched Facebook software designed especially for its smartphones to make it easier for users to browse the popular social networking Web site. T-Mobile has been chosen as the first carrier to provide the new software to its customers. The application leverages the push-based BlackBerry system architecture and Facebook Platform to create a unique mobile experience for Facebook users.” 

Hold onto your hats mobile warriors because your social networking life just got a whole lot more mobile.  All you BlackBerry users are going to be reaping the benefits of Facebook, everywhere you roam.  Enjoy…now try to get something done.

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The House of Representatives voted unanimously today to ratify the law passed (also unanimously) by the Senate last week - effectively banning the introduction of taxes on Internet access to at least 2014.

The vote came just in time. The current law banning state and local governments from levying the taxes was scheduled to expire Thursday.

President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are aligned in supporting a ban on Internet taxation.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt  summed up the only disagreement the two parties have on the issue, whic is how permanent the ban should be.

As quoted in C|Net, Blunt said: “When it comes to taxing the Internet, Republicans have not wavered in our belief that it ought not happen today, tomorrow, four years from now, or any time after that,” he said in a statement. “Democrats in Congress have taken a far more ‘nuanced’ position on the matter, having decided that imposing new taxes on our digital economy right now is unpalatable, but that resurrecting the plan sometime in the future may hold greater promise.”

Taxes already in place may continue. And  the ban only covers Internet connectivity for computers.  Voice, audio, or video programming” that charges consumers a fee, like Vonage, and basically any other “products and services” delivered over the Internet and not specifically exempted by the bill.

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Happy Monday friends.  This one is not exactly New, but it is ever so relevant.  As you know, well, you should know by now at least, the wildfires in California are atrocious and have already caused so much damage.  In lieu of suiting up in fire protective suits and going down and fighting the fires yourself, know that there IS something you can do to help, right now, on your mobile phone.

That’s right, there’s a new program called Text2Help that lets you, very simply, donate $5 instantly by sending a text message saying “GIVE” to “2Help” (24357).  The $5 will just be added onto your next bill or taken out of your prepaid balance.  4 little letters and you’ll be sending $5 to where they could use a whole lot of help.

According to the article I read:

“Text 2HELP was first used to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief. The program is initiated whenever a natural disaster occurs and an American Red Cross assessment determines its relief effort will require a substantial level of support. Text 2HELP will be activated for 60 days so if you are planning to donate there is plenty of time. The Red Cross provides those in need with shelter, food, water, clean up and comfort kits, and medical and mental health services. “

Participating wireless providers include:   AT&T Mobility, Alltel, Boost Mobile, Dobson Communications Corporation, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.  So start texting, and start helping!

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Today, instead of posting about some new product announcements, some cool Bluetooth products like the MoGo Mouse, MoGo Daptor, or MoGo Headset that is coming out soon, I want to ask You, the readers, a very important question.

To put it simply, what more do YOU guys want to read about?  What kind of information do YOU covet?  Do you want more news on products?  More opinions?  More editorials?  Sound off, because we want to know what YOU want to hear.

So, a call to arms, as it were.  In the immortal words of Jerry McGuire, “Help me, Help You.”  I want to know what you want to hear, and I want to know what you think!

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Being mobile just got, um, mobiler?  Mobiler is not a word, but I am making it one right now.  At any rate, it is true, being a Mobile Warrior just got a lot easier if you happen to be a Verizon Wireless customer.  No longer do you have to take your phone in to a store, or sit around your home computer to update your phone’s firmware.  Starting soon, you’ll be able to simply update your phone’s firmware over the air.  A few pushes of the button and you are good to go!

According to the article I just read,

“Customers will receive a message on their wireless phone indicating that a new handset update is available. They will be periodically notified to download the updated software package by following simple on-screen prompts that will guide them through the process in a matter of minutes. The technology will be introduced in some new phones starting later this year, and throughout 2008.  “

Snazzy to say the least.  I can’t tell you how much it has annoyed me in the past having to go into a Verizon store, wait 2 hours to be helped on a project that takes 15 or 20 seconds.  Being Mobile is GOOD!

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Tis’ the season to be pairing, fa la la la la, la la la la.  Or something.  Actually it’s not even Halloween yet, so why am I Christmas caroling?  Because it IS the season to be pairing up, companies do it, products do it, heck, everyone is joining hands and partnering up, why shouldn’t AT&T and Napster follow suit?

That’s right, AT&T just announced that Napster’s entire 5 million song catalog will be available to to all AT&T Mobile customers.  Yep, you heard right, 5 million songs, at your fingertips.  Currently, AT&T is partnered through eMusic and this will just further extend the offerings.  According to the article I just read, “This will allow AT&T to compete with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in the music download arena. AT&T currently allows Napster subscribers to transfer music form their personal computer to their cell phone via a cable or storage card. Both companies hope to improve sales of music by allowing data to be directly downloaded to mobile phones over a WiFi network.”

Apparently songs are going to range from $1.99 each to $7.49 for 5 a month.  With Apple selling songs for $.99, it’ll be curious to see if AT&T has to eventually lower the prices for Napster’s goods.   Oh, note to self, and blunder here:  This Napster service does not work with the iPhone, despite the fact that AT&T is the exclusive carrier of the iPhone.  Blunder.

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While Ask Elizabeth will return  next week, in the meantime let’s turn again to the case of the RIAA against, well, the rest of us.

If you check out Ed Bott’s post over at ZDNet this wee  and you’ll end up asking yourself…what exactly is the RIAA fighting for?

This generation, that has grown up with ‘Mixed Tapes’ and  changing media seems to have a much better grasp on what is reasonable and right in licensing laws that the RIAA.

While the recording companies would like to control every instance of the music they publish, customers seem to know better that this isn’t the best way to promote music; nor is it feasible in an era where a song can be shared across an algebra classroom while the teacher’s back is turned.

A quote from Ed’s post;

“Personally I feel it’s fine to share media among friends and family because it’s a form of discovery and promotion. I’ve had quite a few mix CDs made for me which is obviously “illegal” yet I’ve discovered some great bands that way, bands that I’ve in turn bought their next albums, gone to their concerts or in turn promoted them to other friends. I’ve also discovered that some much hyped bands were horrible and I would have wasted $10 on a CD I’d never listen to, which is what I’m sure the RIAA is counting on as well. “

If you’re like me, you have a music directory on your computer  made of songs from mixed provenance.

This music directory has grown since I first began digitizing my music collection in 1997 onto a laptop I used for work. I traveled weekly back then, and a headset plugged into my laptop with my tunes playing was more streamlined than also carrying both a portable CD player around. And that music was the only way I stayed sane during those long spreadsheet and document rewrites, usually made while stranded at some airport.

Many from CD’s I’ve bought and uploaded to my computer. Some from mixed CD’s given to me by friends trying to ‘turn me on’ to a new artist or album. Some, I’m sure, were downloaded  in that twinkle time in the late 90’s when peer sharing was considered legal by those of us doing it.  Some I’m pretty sure just popped in from an alternate universe.

The truth is that I have 20 gig of music files, which have been scrubbed at least a dozen times.

Do I file share them? No. Do I buy every song I own these days? Absolutely. I’m an ethical person.

But that said, I also make mixed CD’s for my husband and friends, add favorites to homemade DVD’s of my son’s karate meets, and even enjoy other songs on  YouTube vids.

Should the law of reasonableness prevail at some point here?

The harder RIAA pushes to make me seem like a thief, the more angry I become. And the less I want to put mroe money in their pocket. I know this is punishing the artists, too, but I am not sure what else can be done.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

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Following on Tyler’s post, Steve Jobs gave himself a nice case of whiplash yesterday and announced that Apple will allow third-party development on the iPhone starting in February, 2008.

A letter has been posted on the official Apple Web site: “We are excited about creating a vibrant third-party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users.”

According to Yahoo’s Gadget Freak, Ben Patterson;

“It’s pretty sad that Apple took so long to decide that open development on the iPhone would be a good thing—but now that the belated announcement has arrived, I think it’s great news. The Palm, Windows Mobile, and Symbian platforms are literally swimming in great third-party apps that have added untold value to their respective handsets, and I can’t wait to see what the iPhone development community has in store.”

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I know you’re most likely not shocked over this news, especially given the fact that it’s been literally all over the news and blogs, but nevertheless, Apple is facing a lawsuit over the iPhone.

Apparently there are people out there that believe that the iPhone’s restrictions “constitute unlawful competition, which falls under the antitrust laws of the United States.” Wow, well played Law Man. That’s right, according to the article I read over at MobileCrunch, Lawyer Max Folkenflik filed a class action federal suit in Northern California against Apple for exactly that. The fact that other mobile phone companies are offering “unlocked” versions of their products to be used with other, often lower-priced carriers is a blatant example of how Apple is refusing to allow this. The fact that the iPhone comes bundled with Apple’s own software and exclusive to AT&T Wireless are going to be Folkenflik’s arguments against the company.

He actually might have a case here, especially now that he’s going to be using the fact that their latest software release purposely disabled non-Apple programs and only allows those programs that are “whitelisted” to be used.

I guess we’ll see what happens but bottom line is, people sign contracts and most likely knew what they were getting into. I understand where he’s coming from and he may indeed have a case, but I guess we’ll see.

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