Apple pipped

From Economist.com:

The iPhone may already be outdated

THE mobile-phone industry’s recent jamboree in Florida was a brutal reminder of how fast innovations come and go these days. A bare three months ago we were drooling over Apple’s forthcoming iPhone, with its ingenious touch screen that responds to pinches, pokes and other pawings. But though not available until June, the $500 iPhone is as mouth-watering today as yesterday’s cold pizza. The phone that stole the show at CTIA Wireless 2007 was the “Ocean” from Helio, a youth-oriented newcomer to the cellular business.

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Slacker's new wavelength for satellite radio

For a company calling itself Slacker, its business plan is awfully ambitious.

Debuting this week at the South by Southwest multimedia festival in Austin, Texas, Slacker is a distinctive new Web music service and portable music player from the San Diego-based company of the same name. Slacker calls its concept "personal radio," based on the idea that a majority of music player owners don't organize or update their music collections as often as they might like because the process is too technical, too time-consuming or both (hence, the "slacker" moniker).

The device-plus-service combines satellite radio, standard portable music player and Wi-Fi-enabled gadget with 10,000 custom music channels that users can tailor according to their taste, covering virtually every possible genre. The end result is essentially portable radio with video instead of audio ads--or, for a price, no ads at all--with content that refreshes automatically based on personal preference.

Read the whole story on CNET

See also Slacker's ambitious music product