Launching in 2008 are software enhancements that will give DirecTV DVR users with built-in Series 2 TiVo a Recently Deleted Folder and Overlap Protection as well as Remote Booking. No need to upgrade now is there? Press Release → Read More
It looks like the new 20- and 24-inch iMacs will be making their debut next Tuesday at an exclusive press event at Apple HQ in Cupertino. Unlike past events where e-mails were sent out it seems phone calls from Apple’s marketing department were informing the press of the Mac exclusive event. The new slimmed down keyboard should also be making its debut along with demonstrations of iLife ’08 and iWork ’08. The event begins at 10 am PDT. Apple to host Mac event next Tuesday [Apple Insider] → Read More
Social travel network TripUp has announced the launch of CouchSwap, a new social travel application developed specifically for Facebook. CouchSwap gives Facebook users the ability to offer their couches to friends and other travellers, as well as being able to find available couches offered up by other members. CouchSwap features include a ratings service that allows users to rate couches like a hotel room, and a credit system for swapping couches. Users must offer a couch in order to take advantage of other people’s couches; a Bartercard style system of sorts for cheap accommodation. CouchSwap will compete directly with the Couch Surfing Project, a stand alone site that has over 270,000 members. Counchswap’s parent company TripUp was acquired by Sidestep July 9. → Read More
NASA would sooner launch the iPhone into outer space than issue them to astronauts according to meeting minutes from July 10. ODIN (Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA) project manager, Jeff Stephens, deemed the iPhone unacceptable for NASA. Thanks Jeff, we weren’t sure if it was enterprise ready, but you’ve just reaffirmed our prior beliefs. Alert the masses! RIM and Palm are basking in the glory as BlackBerry 8800s and Treo 750s are the weapon of choice for America’s astronauts. Apple iPhone Out, BlackBerry 8800 In At NASA [Information Week] → Read More
Geek Squad, the computer repair company married to Best Buy, is looking for big thinkers. It’s looking for big thinkers in order to solve problems. Big problems. Big problems that require big thinking. So it’s sponsoring a (big?) contest to go along with its annual IdeaFestival, where it’s offering the biggest thinkers the chance to go to Louisville, Kentucky to meet other, bigger thinkers. You’ll meet Geek Squad’s Robert Stephens (a nice guy when I met him last year), Steve Wozniak (if you’re on CG, then you certainly know who Woz is) and Tiffany Shlain, founder of the Webby awards. The contest is broken up into three separate parts: Solutions for eWaste, Power Conservation and Maximizing Untapped Resources. Get your entries, er, ideas, in before August 31. That’s Fabio dipping the aforementioned Robert Stephens on a cold Louisville autumn morning. I’m not even joking. Geek Squad IdeaFestival [Geek Squad] → Read More
Really, there’s nothing I like better than writing about something when only the most basic information is known. Take this Hacha PC20 PMP. I can tell you that it has a 3-inch screen and that it’s fairly slim at 7.7mm. So I’ll save you from all the clever witticisms and just leave you with one more picture. → Read More
A new study being published by the University of Texas and Chitika says that the top 50,000 blogs may have generated around $500 million in aggregate 2006 revenue. The data behind the study is rather thin – They are looking at the Chitika blog advertising network, which includes 12,000 blogs, and estimating that most blogs would have three distinct revenue sources. Blog rankings are determined by Technorati rank. The study results are embedded below. An interesting conclusion is that blog revenue may defy the “80/20 rule”, with even more revenue going to top blogs than usual, with 20% of total revenue going to the top 1% of blogs. “Upon closer observation, it was found that model tends to overestimate the revenue at less popular blogs, but underestimates it at more popular ones” the study says. And: Summary of Findings: Ad revenue in a blog is more sensitive to the rank of the blog than what one would expect in a typical Zipf Law 80/20 curve situation. One reason for this may be the social value of advertising in a blog. If online advertising is like advertising in a mall, advertising in the blogosphere is like advertising in a country club. The top 1% accounted for approximately 20% of the total revenue. The top 5% accounted for approximately 50% of the total revenue. The top 10% accounted for approximately 80% of the total revenue. The top 15% accounted for approximately 90% of the total revenue. Again, the data behind the study is very thin, and using Technorati to determine the top 50,000 blogs may not be a perfect indicator either. http://static.scribd.com/FlashPaperS3.swf?guid=kzokqwfbzk254&document_id=219285&page=1 → Read More
Do people still play Laser Tag? Enjoy a round of hot Halo action? If so, then prepare yourselves because Halo Laser Pursuit is getting ready to launch. You, too, can wield a Covenant Plasma Rifle or Pistol and frag away. Both weapons are highly detailed to match what you see in the game and they replicate the same characteristics the weapons in the game have such as blinking lights, sound effects and recoil vibration. There’s also a ‘super shot mode’ on the pistol that inflicts more damage to your opponents. Look for the Covenant weapons at Hot Topic and other retailers in October. A Covenant Energy Sword is expected sometime next year. → Read More
“Street style community” StyleMob will go public Thursday with a product that is part Hot or Not, part fashion magazine and part MySpace. Like Hot or Not, StyleMob encourages users to upload photos to be scored by other users. The concept is that users share their fashions with other users, be that store clothing, created clothing or a combination therein. StyleMob also takes on aspects of social networking sites such as MySpace. Users have profiles, comment walls and friends. StyleMob members can post advice questions (examples provided include “Should I keep plucking my eyebrows?” or “What should I wear to my interview?”) to their own personal “StyleCouncil”, a team of personal stylists made up of friends and Specialists they find on StyleMob. Co-founder Sasha Cagen describes StyleMob in a way that I can’t possibly do as a man, “Our early members tell us StyleMob is more than a website, it’s a mindset and a way of life. StyleMob is about injecting creativity into getting dressed every morning. It’s about getting inspiration from other people whose taste and budgets match their own.” See our previous coverage of other sites in this space here. → Read More
We all have iPods and Hickey already told us what to do if it breaks. But, say, you hate Hickey and don’t believe a word he says. Fair enough, but your iPod could still die an untimely death. Sad, yes, but WindSolutions has released CopyTrans Doctor iPod, software that’s still in beta that may, just may fix your hosed iPod. It sounds like DiskWarrior et al. in that it attempts to fix disk errors. It also will attempt to fix holes in your iPod-iTunes library. (Songs listed in the iPod but not actually there, in other words.) Windows-only, but Macs are perfect so iPod-owning Mac users won’t even have to bother. CopyTrans Doctor [WindSolutions via iLounge] → Read More
Anybody know who the guy in the blue shirt with blond hair is below (looking left, with glasses, back to camera)? Someone saw him at TechCrunch 9 and wants to meet him. See Scott Beale’s post and the related “missed connection” post on Craigslist. hi! this is crazy. thought you’re cute. you’re the tall blond guy with your back to the camera, wearing glasses, 3rd or 4th person from the left, in picture number 11? on laughingsquid. wish i’d talked to you. I’m seriously thinking that we need to launch some sort of dating site. → Read More
Apparently the brand Tascam is “big” in the music community, as Vince just went off in our chat room on how great it is. Tascam designed this DAP, the MP-VT1, with musicians in mind, which is while you’ll find a line out and a microphone jack there. It has other features only musicians could appreciate, like Variable Speed Audition, which slows songs down without changing their pitch; songs can configured to have looping sections, which is good for DJs; and you can alter the pitch of playing music. All this pitch talk is making me thirsty. → Read More
The fate of the Xbox 360 core system is still up in the air, but this Circuit City ad all but confirms the price cuts across all 360 systems. Beginning August 12, the Elite gets a $30 drop to a more affordable $449.99 price point, the Premium edition drops to $349.99 and the Core system now competes with the Wii at $279.99. If the price cuts weren’t enough to get you in the store then how about a free copy of Rockstar’s Table Tennis? Circuit City flyer shows Xbox 360 price drop on all systems [Joystiq] → Read More
Honestech has an entire suite of software programs that are cheap, do what they’re advertised and easy to use. I’ve spent the last few weeks dabbling with VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe, DVD Player 3.0, Claymation Studio, and Rapid Video Blogger. I wouldn’t normally use any of it, but given the chance to test them out, I just couldn’t resist. → Read More
The FCC released the auction rules on the 700 MHz spectrum today. Google formally requested (and we supported) that the new bandwidth have four requirements: open applications, open devices, open services and open networks. Together these rules could quickly make the U.S. wireless space competitive with European and Asian markets that we have long trailed. The auction rules include much of what Google requested, including open devices and open applications. But open services and open networks are out, meaning third parties may not get access to the networks at fair wholesale rates. Will we see a tidal wave of innovation in the space? It’s too early to tell. The FCC hedged its bets to keep AT&T, Verizon and other incumbents happy. New players like Google may or may not participate. This is clearly a compromise decision. History will decide if the FCC commissioners made the right choices. Perhaps their feeble attempts to stand up to AT&T, Verizon and their army of lobbyists will have been enough to get the U.S. back in the race with the rest of the mobile world. Or perhaps not. Just for record keeping purposes, Kevin Martin (Chairman) and commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps are willing to fight for openness. Commissioners Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell, who are parroting much of the nonsense that AT&T spewed last week, are clearly lining up with the incumbents. → Read More
Nokia’s BH-604 Bluetooth stereo ‘phones are two months from hitting the market, but CrunchGear was lucky enough to receive a pair of sample models. I’m a firm believer that Bluetooth headsets/earbuds are the most ridiculous looking gadget anyone can wear around, but Nokia’s DJ-like headphones have me painting a different picture after the week I’ve spent with them. Was I impressed? Yes. Was I disappointed? Yes. Huh? It was a good disappointment, so keep your pants on. → Read More
The Anti-Tracker GPS jamming gadget from China is perfect for spies or paranoid individuals who think they’re significant other is tracking all their movements. It’s powered by your car’s lighter socket and claims to knock out GPS logging or tracking devices on your car. The Anti-Tracker puts out 200mW of jamming power! There’s no price yet, but check back often. *sigh* Product Page [via Navigadget] → Read More
The BlackBerry Curve is a hot piece of Canadian machinery, but the 8320 we have here in the States lacks the GPS that everyone and their mother seems to crave. You could opt for the 8800 series if you really want GPS, but it’s slightly bigger and doesn’t have a camera. What’s a geek to do? RIM announced today the 8310 Curve in Germany. How could you, RIM? How could you release a GPS-enabled Curve in Germany and not in the U.S.? At least we can take solace in the fact that the 8310 might show up on our shores sometime this year. This sudden onslaught of new RIM devices has me running in circles, but it’s saving me money because I know there’s something new coming out down the road. Ugh. For the German Vodafone subscribers in the audience, you can pick up an 8310 for 99 Euro now. Press Release → Read More
BGR strikes again with hot news regarding the launch dates for the Moto RAZR 2, Q9, BlackBerry 8820, Pantech C810 and the AT&T SMT5700. Having seen both the RAZR 2 and Q9 in person, I can say they’re well worth the wait. The duo from Motorola will launch August 24. The Pantech C810 won’t be out till September 9th and BlackBerry 8820 is slated for mid-August, around the 13th or 14th. And the AT&T SMT5700 QWERTY device is slated for August 24th or the 28th. BGR → Read More
We try, however implausible as it may seem, to say we’re anti-piracy here, step-by-step how-to articles notwithstanding. That will not stop me from, once again, pretending to be anti-piracy. These collection of ads tell us, in so many words, that supporting piracy in its myriad forms will bring about the Death of the West and the collapse of representative democracy. → Read More
