Chinese search giant Baidu has lost its CFO under mysterious circumstances, but has won a major piracy case. In a statement, Baidu said that CFO Shawn Wang had died in “an accident” whilst on holidays in China. No further details on the death were provided. Baidu shares dropped $9.07 following the news. On a more positive note a Beijing appeals court ruled that Baidu was not guilty of copyright infringement for posting links to websites that offer illegal music downloads. Baidu offers music search on its front page and the service is often cited as being one of the core reasons behind its success in China over Google, who does not offer a similar music search facility. Yahoo China lost a similar case December 21. (via AFP/ NY Times) → Read More
While this isn’t as sexy as the HTC Touch interface — dig the cube, man — this new piece of software from PointUi mimics some iPhone functionality while hiding the hard mess of WinMo6 under a pretty wrapper. As Michael points out, maybe if I had this on my Shadow I’d answer my phone more, but I doubt it. We’ll give it a whirl once the vodka passes out of my bloodstream. Until then, enjoy the video. Product Page → Read More
So it’s the end of the year and I seem to be on a bit of a retro gaming kick, so I was stoked to find the AtGames Mega Drive Portable, a 20-in-1 handheld Sega Genesis device. Alex Kidd, Golden Axe, and Altered Beast are just three of the twenty games included, and besides having a 320×240 backlit LCD to play on, the device has AV-out, meaning you can plug it into your TV. Sweet. sega genesis portable: get your retro jollies on the run [Technabob] → Read More
While TechCrunch reports that Australia has plans to censor the Internet for its citizens, the UK is keeping up its fight for freedom and justice by being ranked as the worst in Europe for privacy, much of it in the technology realm. Swarms of CCTV camera’s, government incompetence on data, and ID card schemes mean that only Chinese citizens now come under more surveillance. London-based pressure group Privacy International has produced a privacy index. The UK scored three out of five on democratic safeguards, but just one out of five on ID cards and biometrics. The UK joins the US, China, Russia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand as one of the “endemic surveillance societies”. Privacy-friendly European nations include Greece and Germany. Such fear-inducing research only helps startups in the ID data and privacy realm like Garlik.com, an online privacy firm that monitors your personal information online, and lets you know if there are any problems occurring, like ID theft. However, I’m not sure what they can do about CCTV cameras… or government snooping. → Read More
How come I don’t find things like this before Xmas? This is the Gen-X Dual station, likely the weirdest console I’ve ever met. It’s an NES and a Sega Genesis combined into one, but the thing is it doesn’t use ROMs; it uses the old cartridges you’ve got in that box in the back of your closet. Yes, this is real. Gen-X Dual station plays Sega Genesis and NES games [Technabob, via Robot Ramblings via Slippery Brick] → Read More
A new piece of software by Pointui launched this afternoon that makes Windows Mobile devices a little bit more iPhone-like. The CrunchGear team isn’t answering emails or phone calls (It’s their job to test this stuff, but I imagine they are all drinking heavily somewhere celebrating the New Year), and I don’t have a Windows Mobile device in my house (they’ve been banned), so we haven’t tested it out yet. See the video below and screen shots, and if you are able to get it up and running, let us know what you think. Why in the world all you people on Windows devices don’t just go out and buy an iPhone is a mystery to me. Yeah, Exchange Server and all that, I know. Anyway, perhaps now with Pointui you can be a little bit more like the cool kids and still sync with Outlook from the office. → Read More
Israeli search technology start-up Hooja has raised $1.5 million from some well known-investors, including Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, and an early investor in Facebook. Hooja, currently in stealth mode, is said to be developing a technology that enables content providers to access personal and social information about users, and the tech is related to text messaging. Thiel has also backed Friendster, LinkedIn and Slide, and manages the hedge fund Clarium Capital. Update: A comment on TechCrunch suggests that Hooja will be service allowing you to text your opinion of a location, like a bar or cafe, to your Hooja account and check the ratings of others. This is a very similar model to UK startup Rummble. → Read More
Bill Thompson, independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet, has spread out his predictions for the Internet. Given that Bill helped to create one of the UK’s first ISPs in the early 90s and has been a reliable commentator on the scene ever since, it’s worth noting his predictions. • Social networking: He notes that last year he wrote “we are building our lives around the network and the things it makes possible, and 2006 marks the year in which this became a sensible and indeed rather normal thing to do rather than something that marked you out as a geek”. But he notes that Facebook and other similar sites are still not as widespread as you might think. • Mobile Web: Smartphones are also not yet a mainstream, full-blown ‘mobile web’ proposition. Perhaps the iPhone will change that? “The iPhone has accelerated the process begun by Symbian, and the rollout of Google’s Android and open source phones like OpenMoko may help, but it will be a few years before the devices are completely freed from reliance on the network.” • WiFi: “The widespread availability of 3G data cards for laptops on fixed monthly rates could hasten the demise of the pay-per-use services” forcing the operators to do more deals to offer free access like the one between The Cloud and McDonalds. Bill says “I wouldn’t be surprised to see free wireless in Starbucks by the middle of the year.” • Broadband: Faster broadband services beckon as ISPs try to keep a competitve edge. • Screens: Better screens, with multi-touch interfaces appearing on bigger devices. • LBS: More and better location-based services, such as the newest version of Google Maps for mobile, and mashed-up with social networks. (Something I’ve been predicting for a while). • Web apps: More processing moving away from the user and into the ‘Cloud’, along the lines of Nick Carr’s new book The Big Switch, where he argues that computing power is becoming a utility. However, Bill says “Moving everything onto the network may appeal in the rich countries of the industrialised world but offers little to rural India or sub-Saharan African countries. And there are massive security and data management issues to be solved.” But the potential benefits are “too great to be ignored.” → Read More
According to holiday numbers released by Neilsen Soundscan, physical album sales were down 21.4 percent from last year. The drop is the latest indication of the spectacular decline of the music industry’s ability to move albums. Many in the industry will shake angry fists of blame at Online piracy, but, as Ars points out, the fact that Josh Groban’s “Noel” was the highest selling album of the year speaks volumes. In summary: the music industry needs to focus more on making better music and work on becoming more progressive so that it can better fulfill consumers’ tastes. ‘Noel’ is music’s saving grace [Variety] → Read More
The NY Times today has a piece reporting on the general state of high def DVDs. The report concludes that with about a million players in circulation (both formats combined), most consumers appear to be opting out of the battle altogether. For me, it raises a lot of questions. It’s clear that one of the formats will take the throne from the DVD, but the question remains as to which one it will be. While Blu-ray is technologically superior, HD DVD’s price point makes it more consumer friendly. I’m currently the owner of a Toshiba HD DVD player and find it to be passable, though I miss the snappiness of my old DVD player, the image quality is stellar. And it only cost $99, so it really couldn’t be beaten. It makes me curious, however, as to what the adoption rate is amongst CG readers. Have you all opted for Blu-ray or HD DVD and why? In the DVD War Over High Definition, Most Buyers Are Sitting It Out [NY Times] → Read More
It’s been a great year for everyone at CrunchGear and we’re glad you’ve been here to enjoy it with us. Just a reminder that we’ll be in Vegas from the 5th through the 10th for CES and then we’ll be in San Francisco for MacWorld the following week. Look for big things from us in 2008. Have a happy and safe NYE. → Read More
It’s the end of the year, and we’ve covered a lot of ground in the last 12 months, much of it with snarky reviews. Let’s look back, shall we, at a handful of these reviews, just for fun. We’ve seeen phones, cameras, iPods, cases, and combinations thereof. These items we liked (usually), and we think you’ll like them, too. The rest can be found here or here. → Read More
If you’ve been putting donating an OLPC, today is your last day to participate in the Give One Get One program. So after today, if you buy one, you only get one. It’ll set you back $399, but it’s for a good cause and you’ll get one for yourself, so yay. OLPC → Read More
Yes, we all know the Wii is still an elusive bugger and the DS is hot stuff (it’s outselling the PSP), but the novelty of both have warn off. I don’t touch the Wii anymore, but I am learning Spanish via My Spanish Coach at the moment on my DS. The NYT has a fancy, yet bloated, article on the success of both devices for Nintendo and the only thing worth noting from the whole thing is the following: Mr. Fils-Aime said that future DS device will be more tightly integrated with its Wii console. Complete games as well as game samplers will be able to be downloaded into the Wii using its broadband connection, and then transferred wirelessly to the DS. With Wii and DS, Nintendo Has 2 Hit Game Devices [NYT] → Read More
The LG Rumor for Sprint appears to have major issues. Big time problems. A debugging menu has been found on the device that triggers a complete wipe of the phone including its firmware. For the time being, Sprint has halted all shipments of the Rumor pending LG’s firmware update that will remove the code to access the debugging menu. The specific details on how to access the menu are unknown, so I suggest you put it under your couch cushions until the update. Heh. Current Rumor owners will have to wait for an OTA while prospects looking to pick one up should wait till the firmware has been updated. Not a Rumor, the LG Rumor has Issues [Phone News] → Read More
If there is one thing I noticed this past year, it is that companies seem to be tripping over themselves more than ever before to claim the mantle of openness. Openness is now a marketing mantra. Facebook kicked things off in May by opening up its social network to outside developers through a comprehensive set of APIs. Google responded by trying to “out open” Facebook with the launch of its own platform for social networking apps, OpenSocial (which was more open than Facebook’s APIs, but still not open enough for some people). Google also introduced its open-source mobile operating system, Android, which prompted even old-school, closed-network mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T to play the open card. And in the face of the success of open-source blogging software WordPress, Six Apart finally made its rival Moveable Type open source as well. These are just a few examples. Building a product or service on top of open standards is held as one of the highest virtues in technology. It is certainly one of the easiest ways for a company to score points with consumers, developers, or other companies. And for good reason. The Internet, after all, is built on open standards. Open-source technologies such as Linux, Apache, MySQL, and others have lowered the cost to start a Web company. More importantly, open standards (whether or not they are technically open-source) are inherently more attractive to work with for startups and other companies. The best way to build a technology platform is to make it as open as possible so that the risk of proprietary lock-in is taken off the table for other contributors. Also, compatibility can be baked right in. On the Web, everything needs to be compatible, which is one of the main drivers behind the widespread adoption of open standards. It is no coincidence that we are beginning to see a bigger push for openness in mobile networks as we start to use our phones more and more as Web devices. But don’t be fooled. Companies are very selective about the areas where they choose to be open, and they very rarely open up their core source of profits voluntarily. For all the fascination with the iPhone, for instance, one of the big knocks against Apple is that it is taking its traditional closed, controlling approach when it comes to opening up the device to outside applications. (Although, the → Read More
It appears some anti-virus software is pinging mootools — a Javascript script that is running on this site now — as a SNZ.A virus. I discovered that this has been happening recently and isn’t a virus but I have some nerds working on it so you won’t get the computer-herp. → Read More
I don’t do well under pressure so I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. Maybe I need some coffee. My only gripes are HTML e-mail and something else that I just forgot. I need some coffee. In the meantime, feel free to add to the list in comments. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
