LTW and From Wire Reports

RIM answers Apple iPad with ‘BlackPad’

NEW YORK, N.Y. – BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is preparing to launch an iPad competitor in November, and it will be called the BlackPad, according to a report citing two people familiar with the company’s plans.

Bloomberg reports that the RIM tablet will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, offer WiFi and Bluetooth, and give you the option of tapping the Web through the company’s BlackBerry handsets.

According to whois records, RIM has acquired the rights to blackpad.com.

Bloomberg sources also say that the tablet will be priced "in line" with the iPad, which sells for $499 and up, and one analyst – citing sources at suppliers in Asia – says that it will offer both front and rear cameras for videoconferencing.

But it will not, according to Bloomberg’s sources, offer cellular network access the way the iPad does.

Next week, RIM is hosting a press event in New York, and the word is that it will unveil a new BlackBerry 9800 slider phone, which will offer an iPhone-like touch screen as well as a pull-out physical keyboard.


AT&T U-Verse TV Customers gain new benefits

RALEIGH, N.C. – If you could watch any four of your favorite channels at one time on your TV screen, what would they be? AT&T U-verse TV customers can now make their choice.

AT&T launched “My Multiview” this week. It is the latest TV app from AT&T U-verse that lets customers choose the channels displayed on screen in their Multiview.

Want to watch the news, baseball, reality TV and a cooking show at the same time? You can create your own Multiview by selecting up to 55 channels as favorites. You can watch up to four of your favorite channels on your screen at one time, and control which channel appears as the main picture with audio.

Instead of browsing through the program guide or surfing one channel at a time, you can tune to My Multiview to scroll through the picture-in-picture screens to see all your selected favorite channels.

My Multiview is customizable for each U-verse receiver in the home, so each family member can create and save their own Multiview based on their personal preferences. You can access the app by selecting menu on your remote while watching live TV, and scrolling down to select My Multiview.

AT&T has also introduced an offer that gives new U-verse TV customers a $25 monthly discount on U-verse TV packages for six months. The app is rolling out on a market-by-market basis to all U-verse TV customers at no extra charge.


Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ downloaded 6 million times

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Black Eyed Peas have more proof of the ubiquity of "I Gotta Feeling."

Their No. 1 hit has become the first song to reach the 6 million mark in digital downloads.

The milestone was announced Friday and confirmed by Nielsen SoundScan. For the group’s leader, will.i.am, the moment is about much more than the song.

"We came out in ’98 and our career, if you would look at it on chart, there’s no dips in it," he said in a phone interview Thursday. "For our career to still be healthy and vibrant and doing things like 6 million downloads, it’s pretty significant."

It’s also significant, he said, in a time when illegal downloading is the norm.

"That means that they chose to support the group, support the art," he said. "God knows how many people listened to it online and didn’t buy it, downloaded it for free and didn’t think about it."

The song was one of the hits from the group’s multiplatinum "The E.N.D.," which was released last year.

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