If you’re an eBay seller or buyer, this is good news for you. Today, Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of Blackberry smartphones, announced a new, integrated eBay application for its platform. The creatively-named eBay Application for Blackberry will all users to:
“…search, bid, buy and check their eBay buying and selling activity virtually anywhere. The application leverages the BlackBerry® Push Service to allow users to be wirelessly notified of the status of eBay listings in real-time.” (Source)
If you’re bidding on auctions all the time or selling lots of stuff on eBay, this probably means you will be happy. Unless, of course, you are already way too obsessed with watching the clock tick down to the end of an auction, in which case this means your addiction can now be mobile in nature. The value add with this application will be the integration with native features of the Blackberry, such as contacts and calendars, plus the ability to have this at your fingertips without toting around a laptop.
The bigger picture here is that RIM knows the Blackberry must, must, must make the transition from business use, which it dominates, to the fun side of life where the iPhone and Android phones are more prevalent. This is a stab in that direction. I tend to think of antique dealers when I think of eBay, as well as thinking of the cheesy look of the site. So combining eBay and Blackberry seems somewhat off, but I get it. What would be interesting shopping integration would be Amazon integration for Blackberry, complete with media downloads. Hm.
As we said earlier today, the W in WSG is for World Cup these days. So much so, that I felt compelled to purchase one of those awesome horns you hear in the background at all the matches. That’s right -- my very own vuvuzela!
For about $13, inclusive of shipping, I have in my hands a little piece of the World Cup. If I blow it in my house, my wife is sure to send me straight to the proverbial dog house, but it just might be worth it. I wonder how people would react if I tooted the horn in a pub, or other public place? Perhaps that will follow in an upcoming blog post.
What do you think? Is the vuvuzela annoying, or fun? Leave me a comment to let me know!
If you don’t know what this piece of red plastic is all about, Wikipedia says it best:
The vuvuzela (English pronunciation: /vuːvuːˈzeɪlə/, also known as lepatata (its Tswana name) and stadium horn, is a typical 65 cm (2 ft) plastic blowing horn that produces a loud, distinctive monotone (B♭3, the B♭ below middle C) note. A similar instrument, known as the corneta, is used in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Many types of vuvuzela, made by several manufacturers, may produce varying intensity and frequency outputs.[1][2] The intensity of these outputs depends on the blowing technique and pressure exerted.[1]
The vuvuzela is most used at football matches in South Africa.[3] It has become a symbol of South African football as the stadiums are filled with its loud and raucous sound that reflects the exhilaration of supporters.[2][4] The intensity of the sound caught the attention of the global football community during the 2009 Confederation Cup in anticipation of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup.[4]
Vuvuzela 101 from Goal.com:
We’re all keeping up with Team USA’s run in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and it is fair to say that we’ve caught the fever. So if you hear some loud cheering or noise coming from the conference room at 4 Interstave, it might be in moments like Landon Donovan’s dramatic game-winner in the 91st minute today.
Google Voice numbers are no longer invitation only. The big G announced today that the service would be available on demand for Google ID holders. I’ve had a GV number for a while, and we were just able to beg/borrow/steal an invite for a client to use on their new site.
What’s Google Voice, you ask?
Before you click through to this story on the business success of ICanHazCheezburger.com founder Ben Huh, try and guess the amount of money the guy makes and how many sites are a part of his Cheezburger Network. I can haz some moneys, Mr. Huh?
