I reported Tuesday that the BlackBerry Pearl had a prelaunch status on the Cingular site. Well the sexy BlackBerry candybar is now available to the masses. It carries a $199.99 price with a two year contract. You can get it online now. Or if you prefer brick-and-mortar, a limited but expanding number of retail stores will be carrying the Pearl. Good luck finding one though. Also announced is that the Pearl will support Cingular’s TeleNav GPS. The TeleNav system allows for the routing of 10 trips per month for a fee of $5.99 or $9.99 for unlimited trips. Possibly useful in a pinch, but definitely not as good as something like the Helio Drift. Product Page → Read More
Yahoo! redesigned their TV listing site this week. Certain bloggers have expressed their displeasure with the makeover. I think it looks good but certainly could be more functional. Most Yahoo! pages are getting Flash-ier so it was time for the TV listing page to go under the knife. Some complaints have been that the Ajax interface slows it down but that wasn’t my experience. The problem is not the “cool” new color scheme. The problem is the design placement. The most pertinent information is not close enough to the top. I have to scroll down too far from the Scrubs, Ugly Betty, and Grey’s Anatomy promos before I get to the “My TV” grid, which is the reason I would go to this site in the first place. They’ve also placed “TV News,” “Juicy Gossip,” and “Latest Recaps” before the actual listings. I’ll go to the PerezHilton blog if I want that crap. I don’t think this is another example of Yahoo! spreading its peanut butter. I think this is Yahoo! giving itself the makeover it needs but maybe trying to hard to be cool. Function before fashion, Yahoo! Learn from Meevee. Update: Apparently Yahoo has had seen the backlash themselves on their own blog regarding the TV listings page. It’s not pleasant. Hopefully they’ll take note. → Read More
Well, AMD officially launched its 4×4 platform and three new FX-series processors: 2.6GHz FX-70, 2.8GHz FX-72 and 3GHz FX-74. Or is that six processors? Each one is a set of two, dual-core CPUs. And according to Tom’s Hardware Guide, the platform and processors add up to a whole lotta “meh.” Which, by the way, took them 13 pages to get to. It’s not that the setup doesn’t have its perks: Good enthusiast power, well priced, big bandwidth, dedicated memory for each chip and the ability to upgrade to two quad-core CPUs later next year, giving you eight cores to process your ones and zeros. But THG just doesn’t see the point because of huge power and cooling demands, high platform costs (only one motherboard is available from Asus and isn’t in retail), and the benefits aren’t immediately accessible with today’s programs. And all just to get about the same performance as Intel’s quad-core processors. AMD’s 4×4 Platform & Athlon 64 FX-70 – Brute Force Quad Cores [tom's hardware] → Read More
When you walk into a gym, you see the same gear you saw 10 years ago, with little or no innovation. Sure, some equipment now features music or some kind of TV but there is little that would really make the sedentary crew of CrunchGear want to leave their comfy chairs. Until now: Expresso Fitness has released an innovative virtual reality-enhanced fitness bike, the S2. The fitness bike features a 17-inch LCD screen, heart rate sensors, steering mechanisms, a shifter and a Pentium PC with built-in TV tuner and video card. Ready for your cardio workout? → Read More
Jingle’s free 411 service has announced that users have now placed over 100 million 411 calls. The company, which we profiled in October 2005, has raised over $60 million in capital to date, has taken over 3% of the U.S. 411 market. We interviewed Jingle Networks CEO George Garrick and investor Josh Kopelman back in October at TalkCrunch. Jingle isn’t creating a new market – they are destroying an entrenched, $8 billion market with a free product. → Read More
We could tell that there was some real excitement over at Yahoo HQ yesterday – four separate Yahoo PR folks emailed to make sure we knew that Google had announced the closing of their Answers product. While the announcement was the final nail in the Google Answers coffin, in reality, the “Answers” war has been over for months now. Google Answers launched in 2002, at a time when the desire for cheap user generated content wasn’t valued much because the advertising market was in a slump – monetizing page views was much harder than it is today. They adopted a for-pay model, where experts received a fee for answering questions, and Google took a 25% cut. By Google’s own admission, just 800 people participated in Google Answers over the last 4+ years (note: see the first few comments here regarding the 800 users number – it’s unclear exactly what Google is referring to). In contrast, Yahoo Answers launched less than a year ago and with a much different model. Asking a question is free, and user responses are rated by the community and ranked. Users clearly like the model. By August 2006, people had written over 30 million answers to questions, and it had become one of Yahoo’s bigger properties. Yesterday, Yahoo said that Yahoo Answers had over 60 million unique worldwide monthly visitors, who have written 160 million answers to questions. This wasn’t a war, it was a massacre, and a case study in why all this “Web 2.0 stuff” actually has legs when applied properly. Google went for a direct revenue stream, a business model that made sense in 2002. Yahoo, launching much later, launched a free product and used the ideals of community participation to remove friction from the process and get out of the way of users. This incentivized use and has created a massive number of page views that Yahoo is now monetizing. The network effect kicked in big time. This was a much needed win and morale boost for Yahoo, which is in the midst of executive turmoil and is struggling to remain an independent entity. Their excitement, which I’ve witnessed only indirectly over the last 24 hours, is palpable. The challenge now is whether Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, who seems to have one foot out the door, or some other Yahoo executive, can leverage this win to help turn Yahoo’s business around more → Read More
We’re all about the holidays at CrunchGear this week. We have a full DSLR round-up as well as an amazing look at some high-end audio gear for those with a bit of cash to burn. We also take a look at the Nikon D40, the Helio Drift, and the Expresso S2 Exercise Bike for burning off those Thanksgiving calories. We’re also running a Commenter Appreciation contest for our loyal readers. Care to join them? → Read More
A report from Frank Magid Associates states 53% of consumers are buying HDTVs for video games and DVD playback. Last year, 63% of consumers were buying HDTVs for high definition TV shows, the percentage has now dropped to 47%. Consumers are having trouble with HD subscription with their cable providers and feel that there just aren’t enough high definition TV shows out there, which is true. As a Comcast customer, I get about 10 channels in high definition, and a few of those are HBO and Starz, not standard programming. Consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are high definition ready right out of the box. At this point, consumers can choose between high definition and standard definition without losing much. I feel that in the next year, once HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray fully enter the market, it may force studios to slowly stop releasing DVDs altogether, forcing users to buy a HDTV. Of course, that all depends on how successful HD DVD and Blu-Ray are, but I really see the market pushing towards HD, mainly because if forces consumers to buy new products. We’re already starting to see this with video game consoles&mdash if you don’t have a HDTV, you’re really not getting the experience you could be getting out of your game. Only time will tell, we’ll keep you posted. Forget HDTV, We Want HD Gaming [joystiq] → Read More
Meet my new favorite phone. The Samsung Blackjack from Cingular is a veritable wunderkind amongst the sea of comparatively ordinary competitors. Not only will it turn heads every time you whip it out, but it’ll outperform any other smart phone in the building, block, neighborhood, etc. → Read More
Since the original classic controller peripheral for the Nintendo Wii was announced, I was instantly wondering what the hell we would use it for. Then, Nintendo talked about the Wii’s “virtual console,” which lets you download NES, SUPER NES, N64 and Genesis games onto your Wii. At that point, it all made sense, until I took another look at the controller. The controller actually has two Z buttons on the bottom, meaning there is one more button on the classic controller than the GameCube pad. Chris Kohler over at Game Life also has noticed this problem, and decided to try and use the classic controller with GameCube games, which would really make a lot more sense seeing as how the classic controller is better designed for GameCube games over classic games. As it turns out, the classic controller doesn’t work for GameCube games. So, what the hell are all the buttons on it for? → Read More
Zoho, the online Office suite company, will launch a Microsoft Office plugin today that will allow users to save documents directly to their Zoho account from Microsoft Office and Excel. The company is also announcing open APIs and a partnership with Desktopize to create virtual folders that allow users to save files to their Zoho account directly from their desktop. Raju Vegesna, who calls himself the evangelist of Zoho, discussed the news with us last night and said that the company is essentially beating Microsoft to what it should have already done with Office Live, which is bridge the gap between offline and online office applications. “Office Live has no web-based spreadsheet or word processor,” Vegesna said. “So I can send you the plugin so you can just put in your Zoho account details and you can use it as if you’re using the Office itself.” The new plugin will enable users to save and collaborate from Word or Excel (but not PowerPoint yet – that is in the works), as well as open existing Zoho documents in Word or Excel. Vegesna said that Zoho did not have to work closely with Microsoft to build the plugin because Microsoft “documentation is fairly open.” It is compatible with Office 2000, 2003, and 2007. Saving documents to two places is a hassle so the plugin, as well as the “desktop icons” will allow users to avoid visiting the Zoho site quite as often. “People are asking for this,” Vegesna said. “Currently they have to go to Zoho.com, login, and upload documents. We have them doing this an average of five times per day. This will let them go straight to Zoho without having to go to Zoho.com, upload, etc.” Zoho’s decision to open APIs was so that other developers could integrate Zoho into their applications, such as storage Web sites like Omnidrive or Box.net. When Zoho last spoke with TechCrunch, the company had approximately 100,000 users. Vegesna estimates that the number is closer to 150,000 now. → Read More
Microsoft received a lot of bad press when it first launched the Zune a couple of weeks ago, making the Zune seem like it wasn’t going to be the big iPod-slaying product that we were waiting for. It turns out that the Zune was actually the second highest selling portable digital player in the first four days of its release. The numbers were generated by market research firm NPD Group, which also stated the Zune had a very good first-week showing. The numbers only correspond to major U.S. electronic retailers, as online sales of the Zune placed it behind both Apple and Sandisk portable digital players. It’s no surprise the Zune isn’t doing so well online as consumers who are more likely to buy a product online probably caught on to all of the bad press and reviews Microsoft had received regarding its new product. Henry Chen, of Current Analysis, stated Microsoft needs to come up with an improved Zune with touched-up features to be a strong competitor in the portable digital player market. I have to disagree with Chen, I feel that the features on the Zune are already there and Microsoft needs to figure out a way to utilize them better. We don’t want Microsoft to release a new Zune every few months the way Apple does its iPod. The Zune is still fresh, and if Microsoft fixes the little problems the Zune faces, we may very well have a strong contender against the iPod. Edit: I should point out that being the number two ranked player is less impressive because all of Apple’s sales are spread out across several iPod devices. Zune May Stand A Chancel [cnn money] → Read More
Opera arguably reinvented the mobile browser with the original release of Opera Mini. The innovation of Opera Mini was to be able to fit four quarts into a one pint jug. By putting most of the guts of the browser into a smart proxy layer, they were able to create a smart browser that could be downloaded and installed on most phones, not just so-called smart phones. Opera’s new Mini, announced this week, isn’t just an incremental upgrade. The new Opera Mini plugs directly in to the phone camera to allow photo blogging directly from within the browser environment. See here for an example of this (Charles McCathieNevile snapped this at the W3C Advisory Committee meeting here in Tokyo – I think he got my good side). So why is this revolutionary? Of course, it allows users to bypass MMS and other operator-sanctioned photo sharing mechanisms, but that’s no big news. Other downloadable applications have enabled photo upload and mobile blogging, but in integrating this function into the browser, Opera has turned Mini into a read/write application. The browser, traditionally the tool used to consume information, becomes a sophisticated content creation mechanism as well. Users who otherwise might not go through the trouble to download and install a photo blogging application will suddenly find they have this capability. Of course, desktop browser users already enjoy this kind of capability through Ajax applications and browser plug-ins but these capabilities have not been present on the mobile platform. And by the way, photo blogging isn’t the only new feature. The new Mini also allows users to directly access RSS feeds and enables secure Web site access. → Read More
CoolIT Eliminator: Gets Rid Of CPU Heat, Not Raw Sewage The Sign of the Times: MP3 Doorbells Lucid Dreaming for the Poor NEC Develops Prototype Phone To Cater To Gumby Commenter Appreciation Begins → Read More
Video circulated on email and generating viral buzz, for years considered not worth tracking, is gradually taking its place among the TV show ratings universe in the form of Unruly Media’s viral video chart which we previously reviewed here on TechCrunch. Last week they did a deal with the Guardian, syndicating their weekly viral video chart. Unruly’s Scott Button says the Guardian will carry a Top 20 News & Current Affairs listing of videos this Friday morning. Deals with other media companies appear to be on the cusp of being signed as well. → Read More
Spokeo wants to be your home page. They want to bring you your favorite blog feeds, MySpace updates, new YouTube videos, and friends’ photo albums all in one eyeful. Spokeo combines the top 20 social networking destinations with any RSS feeds you like into one glimpse through a multimedia RSS reader. But you can’t actually navigate within the networks. It just gives you a run-down. Sort of like My Yahoo! for Web 2.0 sites. “The problem with start pages like My Yahoo! is the personalization part,” said Harrison Tang, founder of Spokeo, in a phone conversation on Wednesday. “People don’t really know how to add content. It takes like ten steps and a lot of people don’t know how to do it. So we’re assuming that most people are interested in reading online information on the same page that tells you where your friends are, what pictures they’re taking, and what your favorite blogs like TechCrunch are saying.” [I swear he said TechCrunch!] This is a great idea but it needs some work. For starters, (and here is the woman in me speaking), it’s just not pretty. And it could learn from My Yahoo! and at least give me my local weather. Also, it’s not easy to import information to the site. I tried to get it to feed my MySpace info and somehow ended up with MySpace buddies and information for someone named Gnatalie instead. Shouldn’t I need a password to do that? Consequently, I had a pretty hard time figuring out how to get Gnatalie off of my page and get my own MySpace information on. Your Spokeo home page is organized into three categories on the side bar: Me, My Friends, and Featured Users. Users can then navigate what their friends or popular Spokeos are up to based on their tags or activities. Spokeo was started by four Stanford buddies who love MySpace and Flickr and quite obviously TechCrunch and were tired of not having all of their info in one place. The site was funded through “angel investors” so far…meaning their parents. → Read More
It may not be a multi-million dollar venture-backed startup, but Lev Walkin has an elegant solution to a common feature of the social web, commenting. JS-Kit is an entirely free little javascript embed that allows you to add threaded comments to any web page in one line: “<script src=”http://js-kit.com/comments.js”></script>” JS-Kit works by running Lev’s javascript code, which along with the website’s referral, fetches the appropriate comment data from his server. The comments are fully customizable by CSS and multiple comment instances can be displayed on the same referring URL by changing the “path” attribute of the comment. That way you could have a photo page with unique comment threads for each picture. However, while JS-Kit allows for a lot of customization, it still lacks some of the more advanced administrative features of fully integrated comments, such as those of our WordPress blog. Lev Walkin is a Cisco Security Engineer out of Santa Clara, and originally came up with the idea as a way to help he wife, a web designer, easily add comments to her sites. Feel free to test the script after the jump… → Read More
TiVo está viniendo a las gracias de México a errr I mean TiVo is coming to Mexico City thanks to Cablevision. The company will distribute Spanish-speaking TiVo-based DVRs to Mexico City customers beginning in the first half of 2007. Zatz scooped the story, but current information is limited. So no word yet on pricing or how fast service will spread beyond Mexico City. It is at least interesting to see TiVo creating a presence amongst our neighbors to the south. TiVo Heads South Of The Border [Zatz] → Read More
As CrunchGear enters its fifth month of existence, we wanted to start something to honor you, the readers, who continue to make this possible. So I’d like to announce our new ongoing commenter appreciation series. The concept is much the same as our CrunchRace 2000 contest, except this one will be ongoing. Prizes will be given at random on a weekly basis. All you have to do is comment and use a valid email address. And since I don’t think this would be a very good announcement without a winner. CrunchGear commenter webonics has been selected as the very first winner of the series for his continued commenting. He will receive a brand new 2nd Gen iPod Shuffle. This is just the first of many, many prizes though. So lets get those comments rumbling. → Read More
Single-lens reflex cameras were a hugely important innovation upon their release. It provided photographers with the ability to view their subjects directly through the lens. This was different from previous cameras that often used a separate viewfinder that didn’t see exactly what the lens was viewing. The proliferation of these new SLR cameras offered a reasonable method of avoiding the motion parallax, the bane of many would-be-photogs. Also, because of the wider apertures of SLR lenses, pictures can be shot in lower light settings with no flash. This allows for pictures with better ambiance. As 35mm wanes into specialized oblivion, it’s no surprise that we’re now beginning to see a significant number of digital SLR cameras. DSLRs offer the same advantages as their 35mm brethren, except they contain things like CMOS sensors and rather than storing their infinite-pixel pictures on film, pixelated images are stored on increasingly infinite flash cards. → Read More
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