We’ve known about it for weeks (despite Netscape’s claims that our post was innacurate), but now it’s confirmed: AOL has announced the end of Netscape as a social news portal. In a statement, Tom Drapeau spun the decision as being AOL listening to its customers and as part of their “desire to better serve our community.” On the decision itself, Drapeau stated: We received some feedback that people really do associate the Netscape brand with providing mainstream news that is editorially controlled. In fact, we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn’t expect to find it on Netscape.com. The new (old) Netscape home page is not live quite yet, but can be viewed at netscape.aol.com. All traffic to Netscape.com will shortly be redirected to this site. Drapeau claims that the social news service will go on at a new site, but failed to name the site or when it would be launched; certainly not a good sign for the current Netscape editorial team. → Read More
Orbitz TLC Traveler Update is a new service from well known online travel company Orbitz – it provides quick, P2P generated travel reports. That means travelers can get information on delays, cancellations, weather and other issues way before official announcements are made. Traveler Update starts with the basics; users have access to TSA wait times, weather information, traffic (pulled from Google Maps), and general information including WiFi access and parking details. Where the service is trying to be different is with the remaining feature: user generated advice. People using any airport in the United States are encouraged to submit airport advice to the site from the airport itself. Tips can be made anonymously or by registered Orbitz members, and the service also includes a mobile version for easy access via cell phone. Like any service that relies in user generated content, it’s only ever as good as the number of users contributing to it; the service went live Monday so it’s not extensive yet, but it is already seeing contributions from airport hotspots. Earlier today there were delays at Chicago O’Hare Airport and there were several pages of user advice direct from the airport, including details of flight delays and cancellations, where Taxi’s were readily available, security delays and other information that someone heading for the airport, or at the airport might find useful. It’s a good idea, and if it builds user numbers it will become an even better service. Worth a look the next time you are flying in the United States. → Read More
Ah, PayPerPost. The controversial Florida-based startup that is leading the effort to tarnish the blogosphere makes another PR blunder. And this one’s a whopper. The company has been chronicling their startup days on a video blog called RockStartup. There have been some embarrassments before with the video blog – such as when a viewer noticed that the company had purchased $700 chairs for employees with investor capital and then yelled at a painter for standing on one (CEO Ted Murphy, pictured above, later said the chairs were purchased used). But the most recent episode is where the company really takes the cake. All employees of the company were taken on an all-expenses-paid trip to Club Med, where as far as I can tell they spent their time getting drunk and dressing up as Native Americans, complete with lots of red face and body paint (something many Native Americans find both racist and offensive, and which has been equated to Blackface). The company also hired something called a “Creative Thinking Coach” to guide them through the whole experience. The only question I have is…Did Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the main VC behind PayPerPost, really greenlight this debacle? → Read More
Social network Multiply has taken $16.6 million in Series B funding. The round was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners with Point Judith Capital and Transcosmos Investments also participating. As part of the deal ex-Chairman of Intermix Media (the original owners of MySpace) David Scott Carlick will join Multiply’s board. Multiply previously took $6million Series A in July 2006. Multiply is one of the older social networking sites (it launched in 2003) and has flown under the radar while first MySpace, then Facebook soared; we last covered the site in November 06. Whilst getting little attention Multiply has continued to grow, and at least according to Alexa is now more popular than Bebo, although lower than Orkut or Hi5. Like many of its competitors it appears to have carved out a strong presence outside of the United States, ranking in the top 10 sites visited by internet users in the Philippines (5) and Indonesia (9); 39% of the sites traffic comes from the Philippines. → Read More
Joel over at BBG has confirmed that the iPod Touch does not have bluetooth. Bummer. The photo we saw earlier today was not an official Apple image. Sucks. Big time. Update: Apparently the picture above is legit and it’s still on the US site while it’s been taken off the German site. Who knows what will happen, but we’ll find out once it hits store shelves. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are typically on one chip and some snooping over at the FCC tells me that they only tested Wi-Fi. If Bluetooth is present and if Apple decides to activate it then the FCC will undoubtedly inform the masses. On a side note, some predict that a refresh will come just before Christmas with a bump in size. At least that’s what I’m hoping for. I’m not paying $400 for a 16 gig. That’s the bottom line. Confirmation: No Bluetooth in iPod Touch [BBG] → Read More
I just returned from our party in central London to celebrate Seedcamp Week and the relaunch of TechCrunch UK & Ireland. Robert Loch, who’s famous for his London parties, generously agreed to have the event at his penthouse London flat in Soho. His parties are so notorious (and I use that word intentionally) that we had to keep the location secret and only email it out to attendees who’d registered. Even so, 50 or so people showed up “off list” and were able to get in. Total attendance was about 250 people, including most of the venture capitalists in London who invest in the Internet, most of the Seedcamp attendees and a ton of other entrepreneurs. Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis also dropped by for an hour or so. One thing I need to remember for our next party – Londoners drink a lot more and stay out far later than their Silicon Valley geek counterparts. We actually ran out of alcohol completely at around 10:30 but Heather soon had another shipment brought in. I left at 1:30 am to get back to my day job. As far as I know the party is still going strong. TechCrunch UK & Ireland Relaunches The primary reason for the party was to celebrate the relaunch of TechCrunch UK & Ireland, after a nearly year-long hiatus. I am very pleased to announce the return of Mike Butcher as the editor of the site. Mike knows everyone in London – seriously – and he has deep experience writing about startups at The Financial Times, The Industry Standard and The Guardian, among other publications. We are very lucky to have him rejoin the TechCrunch team. Look for his coverage of Seedcamp on Friday morning London time. See more coverage of the relaunch at The Guardian. Thank You To Sponsors Heather put the party together in a week after we nearly canceled due to a lack of an appropriate venue. Still, a number of sponsors stepped up to cover costs of the event and supplied excellent food and drink. Thank you to all. And special thanks to the Seedcamp team for working with us to organize and promote the party. Event Sponsors: Olswang is a leading law firm renowned for its work in media, communications, technology, real estate and more recently, biosciences. Founded in 1981, the firm has grown to a staff of more → Read More
This guy sounds like a real genius. Some dude on the Se7enSins.com forums posted screens of his TV. It seems he got banned from Xbox Live for violating the Terms of Service agreement. Understandable, but when he rebooted his Xbox 360, he got an image that said: You have been suspended from Xbox Live. You will not be able to sign in to Xbox Live until 12/31/9999. Ouch. Turns out the guy was playing an early copy of Halo 3. Hmm, let’s see. Guy plays unreleased game on networking service, guy gets banned. Makes sense to me. No word on how the guy got a copy of Halo 3 so early. Hit the jump for a pic of the painful permaban screenshot. Official Forum Thread → Read More
Here it is, folks. An unboxing of the hot, new, tiny, iPod Fat Nano™. Enjoy. → Read More
I’ve tried several Internet-based movie services such as Vongo, Movielink, Netflix and Amazon Unbox. Each has its own pluses and minuses and require a Windows PC in some way (though now you can get some movies from Unbox directly through a TiVo). VUDU’s device and service beats them all with its excellent interface, great video and audio quality, ability to immediately view movies, large—and good—selection of content and no subscription fee. It’s not perfect, but it’s damn close. → Read More
Remember yesterday we told you that if you’re a recent iPhone customer, you’re due for a refund? That left a lot of people outside of the 14-day return window pissed off. Those people wrote emails to Steve Jobs, and he read them. And he feels for you. So he’s making Apple do something fairly unique for those of you who feel spurned: Apple will offer all iPhone customers a one-time $100 store credit to either the Apple store or to AT&T. This is a fantastic move by his Steveness, and almost unprecedented. While the price did drop $200, those users have had their iPhones now for a couple of months (at least most have), so it’s more than fair. Kudos to Mr. Jobs for this idea. While many will think it’s still unfair, don’t forget that they didn’t have to do anything at all, Apple’s doing this because it can. To all iPhone customers: [Apple Hot News] → Read More
Here’s a little story about heavy metal. Back in the 1980s a band known as Metallica was busy kicking out troublemaker Dave Mustaine. It’s a long story but the end result was that Mustaine made it a goal of his to lead a band that would be exponentially more successful than Metallica. He called this band Megadeth. Well Megadeth released some pretty good albums in the 1980s and sort of kept up with Metallica’s success. Then, in 1990 Megadeth released Rust in Peace, an album so great that many people thought Mustaine and company had finally surpassed Metallica. Shortly thereafter, however, Metallica released its “Black” album which went on to sell a bajillion copies, leaving Mustaine feeling like he’d been punched in the stomach. That’s how I imagine Microsoft might have felt yesterday. → Read More
Aqua Power System, from Japan, has unveiled the NoPoPo batteries that are rechargeable via liquid that’s injected into the battery chamber. Yes, it will run off your urine if that’s where you thought this was going to lead. But let’s try and be mature about this. The rechargeable batteries come in AA and AAA and the basic principle behind the pee-powered NoPoPo’s is that a mixture of magnesium and carbon reacts with the liquid you choose to inject, which in turn produces up to 500 mAh of life. Not the greatest battery life, but it’s a start. Fly on over to Japan and pick some up for me. Please. Pee-Powered Battery Unveiled [Spluch] → Read More
if you look to your left you’ll see what appears to be a normal remote control with an LCD. But that assumption is incorrect. The Acoustic Research Wi-Fi universal remote syncs with your DVR, DVD player, receivers and any other component you have in your entertainment center. That’s not that big of a deal, right? How about news, weather and sports headlines being beamed to the remote so you can view on the LCD? It even comes with its own charging cradle. The ARRU449’s electronic program guide automatically updates through Wi-Fi so you can continue to watch TV, but browse for other stuff to watch on the LCD. It also reminds you of when your favorite program is about to come on and the aforementioned news, weather, sports and programming is based on your zip code. Look for it next month for $399.99. → Read More
Social bookmarking site Delicious launched a limited, invite-only preview of version 2.0 of the service this afternoon. The new site can be accessed at preview.delicious.com, although only invited users can actually get in. The Delicious service (no longer “del.icio.us” and now residing at delicious.com) boasts 3 million registered users and 100 million unique URLs bookmarked. If you are invited, all of your existing bookmarks are imported to the preview, although any changes you make will be lost when the new service launches – so it’s just for trying out and giving feedback. Del.icio.us is saying that there is no guarantee that the final product will look exactly like the preview, since they are taking user feedback very seriously. The preview shows a substantially different interface than the current Del.icio.us site, and a number of new features. Founder Joshua Schachter says this is a complete code-rewrite of Del.icio.us. More details below. → Read More
Ask anyone who lives in the Seattle area (like Matt Hickey) or who used to live in the Seattle area (like me) how traffic is and you’ll be treated to the sight of a bulging forehead vein. It’s bad. Many of the cars on the road could very well belong to Microsoft employees and, starting September 24th, Microsoft’s new regional bus service will “take 240,000 cars off [the] roads per year.” → Read More
You’ll have to forgive John and his meanderings about last night’s HP announcement. He was busy ordering his iPhone. The Ipaq line was already old news by the time the CG crew hit the event. However, the Blackbird 002 was quite special. I think. I was too busy chasing Shaun White and crew from Orange County Choppers and making fun of the dude dressed up as Master Chief. Who doesn’t want a 64-bit AMD X2 Dual Core PC? I sure as heck don’t considering it costs about $7,000 when it’s all said and done. But in case you need more details then check out Computer Shopper’s review. Video after the jump. → Read More
Sony announced a home entertainment server yesterday, so forgive me for getting this news to you a day late. Some other company by the name of Apple decided to release some touch, widescreen, music/video playing device. I’m not sure what all the fuss is about, but all the cool kids are high on it. → Read More
Last week we began talking with a independent programmer who ran into a bit of trouble with Facebook over a snippet of code he developed and published that allowed users to update their Facebook status without visiting the site. Christian Flickinger, who runs the blog Technologist for Hire, posted some PHP code here last April that took advantage of Facebook’s mobile service to perform this simple task. While Facebook offers an RSS feed to export status updates, unlike Twitter it fails to provide a way to import status updates. Christian’s code was meant to fix this shortcoming and consequently help others innovate with the way Facebook status updates are handled. He did not use the code to create a website for updating Facebook statuses; he simply made it available for others to modify or run as is on their own servers. One such way to use Christian’s code was to incorporate it into a program that takes status updates and pushes them out to multiple status handlers such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Adium, and Quicksilver. Another use could be to take information from a music player, instant messaging program, or blogging platform and automatically make Facebook status updates from any activity (such as newly played songs, away messages, or post headlines). After publishing the code, Christian indeed found that several other developers used his code to create programs around the idea of “federated status”. This past Thursday, however, Christian received an email from a Facebook engineer that requested he take down the code from his blog. While recognizing that Christian was simply trying to provide something useful, the engineer insisted that the code was, and had always been, against Facebook’s terms of service (see “User Conduct” section, bullet #3). As a way of explanation, he suggested that allowing people to automate against Facebook from outside of the site would create a “slippery slope”. The engineer backed up his request by insinuating that he would disable Christian’s Facebook account and/or take legal action if he refused to remove the code. After Christian stood by his post, Facebook demonstrated on September 4th that it wasn’t bluffing and shut down his account. Christian soon realized that Facebook meant more to him than fighting this out and took down the code; Facebook has since reactivated his account. Several others who had used his code also caved and took down their enhancements. While Facebook certainly → Read More
Finally, Virgin Mobile has a Bluetooth handset in its lineup of phones. The Super Slice is actually produced by UTStarcom and has all the basic features – VGA camera, Bluetooth, MMS, etc. Know what else is nice about the Super Slice? It’s cheap. $59.99 and you’re good to go with that dope Penny Messaging that Virgin is always advertising. Look for it in stores sometime in the next 2 weeks. Virgin Mobile USA Bows First Bluetooth Phone [BGR] → Read More
http://www.channelfrederator.com/embed/player As a lighthearted aside from all the iPod news banging about today, I thought you Internet people might appreciate a little animated tribute to the the Internet phenomenons that get us all out of bed in the morning. It’s called “Internet People!” Enjoy. → Read More
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