YMax Corp. isn’t a well known name when it comes to telecommunications in the United Says. And MagicJack sounds like the product in an infomercial that helps you change a tire. But the two names might become synonymous with cheap broadband calling.

MagicJack is a device about the size of a matchbox that plugs into a Computer. A regular phone can then be plugged into MagicJack so the user can make and receive calls much like using a regular landline. And it is cheap. This miracle of technology costs $39.95 and comes with one year of unlimited free calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. A second year’s service costs $19.95.

In January YMax was selling a few hundred units per pay. The company started a broad advertising campaign that month and now it is selling 8,000 to 9,000 MagicJacks per day. If the trend continues, YMax will have half a million subscribers by the end of June.

Unlike most voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, YMax is licensed as a phone company in the continental U.S. and operates a wide network of servers to carry its calls. Most VoIP providers outsource that side of the business.

According to YMax Chief Executive Don Burns, many customers buy MagicJack as a complement to a cell phone, compensating for poor cell coverage at home. When the personal is off, the service can be set to forward incoming calls to a cell phone number.

YMax’s business plan doesn’t grant for much profit from MagicJack. It charges about as much for a year of service as its rivals do for a month. To boost income, YMax plans to sell advertising that shows up on the Personal computer screen while calls are being placed. Ads would target users based on the location of the PC.

To boost sales even more, MagicJack will go on sale through the shopping channel QVC and big-box retailers.

MagicJack

Via Mobilecrunch

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Following Sony Ericsson’s C905 announcement this morning, we’d a bit of time to poke and prod at this 8.1 megapixel beast. Things were a bit chaotic, with just about every reporter in Singapore itchin’ to fondle it, so there wasn’t an chance to get an on-video hands on. Fortunately, we’ve got photos a’plenty.

As it’s obviously the phone’s key selling point, I spent most of my time toying with the 8.1 megapixel camera. The handset I handled wasn’t on the network, so anything that required voice or data wasn’t available.

Pic quality was far, far above the average camera phone’s clunker cam. For day-to-day and informal use, it’ll get the job done. There were a few times where camera quality was inconsistent, with a few shots appearing a bit washed out or exhibiting the standard camera phone blue-ish tinge. However, with Sony Ericsson having at least 3 more months to polish up the color management before the Q4 launch, they might be able to knock these issues out. For the most part, however, photo quality seemed just fine.

Unfortunately, the testing environment was far too bright to test low-light shooting. As a note, the shot Sony Ericsson chose to show as a low-light example wasn’t exactly flattering — so don’t get too excited about taking artsy shots next time you hit the club.

Jumping into the pic configuration menu was easy and straight forward. The automatic brightness balance toggle was all of 4 clicks away(Menu, down, check, confirm), and seemed to work quite well — as did the rest of the photo enhancement features.

Presumably because of the combination of a slider form factor and the hefty amount of optics, the handset is pretty deep in the chunky zone. That stated, it felt incredibly solid. The weight was well distributed, and the slide mechanism was nice and buttery.

It won’t go and dethrone your digital SLR, but it could quite easily nix the need to carry a point-and-shoot for those spur of the moment shots. Though the price and regional availability are unknown, anticipate the C905 to launch in Q4 of 2008.

Via Mobilecrunch

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Sony Ericsson showed off its new gaming phone, the F305, this day. The handset has a built-in motion sensor that lets users play games much like games are played on the popular Wii console. It won’t be long before you see people whipping their arms around like they are throwing invisible bowling balls or practicing their fly-fishing technique.

“This is our first foray into motion gaming,” Howard Lewis, vice president and head of the product business unit, stated of the F305 mobile phone launch held in conjunction with CommunicAsia, an industry convention and exhibition.
“We see gaming as a way to interact with our young customers… it’s a new area of the market that Sony Ericsson is entering into,” he said.

The phone comes pre-loaded with 11 games, all of which will have arms swinging to active the motion sensor just right. The games include, Bowling, Bass fishing, Jockey, Johnny Crash™ Stuntman Does Texas, Tropical Madness™, Racing Fever™ GT, The Sims™ 2, Jewel Quest™ 2, Lumines™, Asteroids™ and Quadrapop™ Robotics.

Nintendo’s Wii console is wildly popular, so the F305 might be too. I used to be hooked on bass fishing games, so a device that lets me play on the go would make this angler jump for joy like a large mouth hooked with crank bait. Did I mention you can make calls with the F305? When you haul in the huge one there’s nothing like calling friends for bragging rights.

Sony Ericsson

Via Mobilecrunch

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A month ago, Samsung released a viral video featuring 10 optical illusions. It was pretty good. Today, we get the video above, where the same group takes the illusiontastic dinosaur from the first video on a truck back tour of England. The people on the street were not anticipating an optical illusion dinosaur, it seems. These […]

A month ago, Samsung released a viral video featuring 10 optical illusions. It was pretty good. Today, we get the video above, where the same group takes the illusiontastic dinosaur from the first video on a truck back tour of England. The people on the street were not expecting an optical illusion dinosaur, it seems.

These guys are having a good time, and we’re happy Samsung keeps them busy.

Via [crunchgear]

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Laptop Magazine got a hands-on with the Garmin nuvifone, and this new batch of UI shots shows it may be a promising competitor in the touchscreen smartphone market. While most cellphone makers still don’t comprehend less is more when it comes to the touchscreen UI, Garmin seems to have embraced this, giving the nuvifone massive, colorful icons and buttons. Laptop Mag also stated the touchscreen was extremely responsive and the OS ran smoothly. Check out the full gallery at [Laptop Mag].

Via [Gizmodo]

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Straight out of my neck of the woods here in the Boston area, the Cambridge Chronicle is reporting that two magicians “conjured up a bar brawl” this past weekend. Apparently one magician went into a bar (this sounds like a setup to a bad joke) and stated to another magician, “Hey I know you from […]

Straight out of my neck of the woods here in the Boston area, the Cambridge Chronicle is reporting that two magicians “conjured up a bar brawl” this past weekend. Apparently one magician went into a bar (this sounds like a setup to a bad joke) and stated to another magician, “Hey I know you from the magician store.”

After that, all hell broke loose for some reason as the man from the magician store head-butted the first magician, who then punched the guy from the store several times. Now, two magicians fighting; that’s pretty funny. The way the reporter for the Cambridge Chronicle reports the event; even funnier. Here are some excerpts…

“The witching hour struck Central Square last weekend after an alleged pair of magicians conjured up a bar brawl.

Police were called to break up the wizardry-infused clash at the Middlesex Lounge — not to be confused with Middle Earth — June 15 at 1:34 a.m….

…The Woburn magician refused medical attention, but no amount of abracadabras could vanish the several head bumps and swollen nose he suffered during the fight, according to reports…

…A 26-year-old South Boston woman suffered a red left eye after she was punched during the wizardry melee. It was unclear if the woman was part of either man’s act.”

Man, I gotta see this bar. Maybe I can catch a scuffle between two trapeze artists or something. It’d be like a ninja fight but with even MORE flipping around.

Hocus pocus! Magicians war in barroom brawl [Cambridge Chronicle]

Behind the Scenes CrunchBonus!!!

Here’s a conversation that took place in our chat room concerning this post, which was originally (erroneously) titled “Magicians sustain huge hit points in bar brawl”.

Devin C.

doug

strictly talking, you don’t “sustain” hit points

damage maybe but you lose hitpoints

if i didn’t say it, some other pedant would

Nicholas A.

yes, a devin sockpuppet would

Devin C.

please, it’s a live-action plush role-playing hand character

Matt H.

actually

the hit points are both what you lose and what’s inflicted upon you

Devin C.

but they aren’t “sustained”

nono…. matt, I’d state that a weapon does 1d4 hit points *worth* of “damage”

Doug A.

okay, pipe down nerds.

I changed it to “inflict”

because they beat the hell out of each other

Devin C.

what!

Doug A.

and they are both magicians

Devin C.

they’re going to tear you apart

oh - “sustain large hit point loss”

Doug A.

wait

“Magicians lose big hit points during bar brawl”

Matt H.

yah

and they don’t have many to begin with

unless you’re some level 20 mage

Devin C.

nono

the loss is massive

hit points aren’t large

Doug A.

we only have 52 minutes!!! [until the post goes live]

Devin C.

“Magicians sustain huge hit point loss during barroom brawl”

Doug A.

“Magicians: Big loss of hit points during bar brawl”

“Magicians sustain large hit point loss during barroom brawl”

good, done

Matt H.

they wouldn’t have big amounts to lose, I mean

Devin C.

in real life pretend, yeah

or rather in real life pretend real life

but this is in just pretend pretend real life

Via [crunchgear]

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Todays Top Posts: New stylish Bluetooth headphones from Sony Wii Fit seemingly blamed for �20.1 million worth of damage in the UK, don’t believe the hype Raw-looking hard drive enclosure for 5 HDDs Why the hell not? It’s a keyboard made of leather Shock report: Teenagers have pirated songs on their mp3 players Google looking to develop tool to monitor ISP […]

Todays Top Posts:

• New stylish Bluetooth headphones from Sony
• Wii Fit seemingly blamed for

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Here’s the brand new iPhone 3G Commercial.

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As expected, Sony Ericsson has given their 8.1 megapixel C905 the official treatment at a press conference in Singapore.

Not too surprisingly, everything that leaked out last week turned out true: face recognition, a large ol’ lot of photo fix features, Xenon flash, a-GPS, Geotagging, WiFi, and DLNA support.

Its got a 2.4″ inch 240�320 screen, with up to 380 hours of standby time and 9/4 hours of GSM/UMTS talk time respectively. It’ll be available available in Q4 of 2008 - but where? Sony Ericsson is keepin’ it to “selected markets”, but with both 2100 mhz and 850/1900 mhz flavors offered, it’s safe to assume we’ll see it in North America and parts of Europe and Asia. No word yet on pricing.

Via Mobilecrunch

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Binaural sound recordings can be creepy enough, but knowing that they might have originated at this Otokinoko ear-mic might just make them unbearable. The concept of binaural microphones is elegantly simple: record sounds from the positions of human ears, creating the illusion of 3d sound at playback. This blue beast makes that concept very explicit, and like the binaural head mic before it, will rarely be able to record anything but people screaming “OH GOD WHAT IS THAT?” in glorious 3d. If that seems like something you might be interested in, the Otokinoko Binaural Mic is available now for $3,899.

If this is all foreign to you, try out a few binaural recordings here, including the famous Virtual Haircut. They only work with headphones, but are definitely worth a listen.

[Japantrend via Engadget via BoingBoing]

Via [Gizmodo]

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