I sure hope this works because I haven’t been able to use one of my Sprint dongles for months. Sprint has updated their drivers for Novatel EV-DO Rev. A devices (S720, U720, EX720 and U727) to play nice with Leopard and its WWAN framework. Sprint is even allowing your dongles to be used as GPS devices free of charge. High five, Sprint. Version 2.0 is a hefty 12MB and I hope it’s worth the time to download. Just wish I brought my U727 with me. Of course, it’s not all peaches and cream. It appears that the WWAN interface doesn’t want to show you signal status, which is a real bummer consider that’s the only thing I really care about. Update: Looks like this was released earlier in the month. Better late then never, I suppose. Download Page → Read More
Not really bedazzled, but I was just listening to Dane Cook and he was talking about his sisters bedazzling his jean jackets when he was a kid. Umm. Ok. Awkward. Asus is looking to cash in on the popularity of the Eee with a handful of accessories for the new year. Whatever shade of vomit you decide on for your Eee, if you don’t have one, can be accompanied by a mouse with the same shade. The noise-isolating headphones, unfortunately, only come in white as well as the power adapter and extra battery. Product Page → Read More
From TechCrunch UK: 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. CrunchBase Information Hooja Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Verizon customers are expected to send over 300 million text, picture and video messages this New Year’s Eve between the hours of 12 p.m. and 4a.m. ET New Year’s Day. During the third quarter of 2007, customers exchanged more than 721 million picture and video messages over Verizon Wireless’ nationwide network and sent or received nearly 36.5 billion text messages. Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “During holidays such as New Year’s Eve, text, picture and video messages allow our customers to personalize their communications with friends and family. Last New Year’s Eve, our customers sent and received more than 284 million text messages and nearly 4.75 million multimedia messages, so we fully expect to surpass the 300 million mark tonight.” Other carriers are also expecting an increase in traffic as the clock moves closer to midnight. As more cell phones include cameras and quick editing features, friends and family will be able to celebrate the New Year together even if they are separated by great distances. So hit the party circuit tonight, quaff some spirits and exchange a gaggle of messages you’d rather not remember in the morning. → Read More
I haven’t been playing much in the last week or so, but I know there were some issues and everything seemed to have been resolved over the weeekend. I remember having difficulty signing in and gave up after a couple attempts. I thought it was just my network connection. But I guess not. Anyone still having problems with XBL? What should MS do to make this up to us? Is the Zune marketplace working? Doesn’t want to work for me. Microsoft, what’s going on? → Read More
I’m not really looking forward to CES next week, but LG.Philips has me frothing with the announcement of multiple LCDs ranging from 32- to 84-inches with multi-touch interfaces, handwriting recognition and transreflective backlighting. Can you imagine what your TV viewing experience will be like with any of new sets? It’s going to be mind boggling. Oh wait, i forgot to tell you one thing. They’re all being used as public displays. *sad clown* I guess you’ll have to weather the storm of teeny boppers and d-bags at the mall to really get a hands on with one. Does it even matter what the specs are on these? I didn’t think so, but in case you feel like geeking out then check out the PR. Press Release → Read More
It appears the rumored touchscreen BB is just a myth if you believe what first time poster Cooper over at BB Forums has to say. This photo was purportedly taken in Waterloo at the RIM campus. The 9xxx line won’t see a touchscreen for a long time and it seems as though it’s a myth internally, too according to Coops. I have a hard time swallowing this one. If anything, this looks like a redesign of the Curve. A couple characteristics of this particular RIM device stand out; its rounded corners and keyboard. The photo also appears in an eBay auction located in Texas so that is a testament to Cooper’s credibility or lack there of. The backwards B is also a clear indicator. He/she goes on to give tid bits about 3G devices and HTML e-mail being tested. Whether they will appear on the 9xxx line or not is up for debate and will allegedly be coming out in six to eight months. Blackberry 9000 [BB Forums] → Read More
A picture of what may or may not be the next-generation Blackberry 9000 popped up in an online forum. The device does not appear to have a touchscreen, but it does sport a black iPhone-like sheen. Again, this could be the real deal, a hoax, or some unrelated prototype. But one thing is for sure: iPhones and Blackberries are on a collision course. As iPhones gain more enterprise-class e-mail capabilities, Blackberries will add more consumer-friendly design to its devices. → Read More
Internet calling company Vonage announced today that is has settled three patent disputes with telecommunications equipment manufacturer, Nortel. The settlement involves a limited cross license to three Nortel and three Vonage patents and will not call for any monetary payments by any party. Vonage has settled other patent disputes in the last few months with AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Communications. The patent lawsuits caused Vonage stock to drop from an initial offering of $17 a share to as low as $0.89 a share in September of this year. As of this morning, Vonage shares sell for $2.16. Vonage Nortel → Read More
Okay, final list for 2007. Here are the top-25 bookmarked or shared posts from the year, as determined by people who used the “Add This” bookmark button at the bottom of each post (see also our other year-end lists: Popular, Headlines, Launches, Deals, Deadpool): 1 The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos 2 Forget YouTube: Go To These Sites If You Want Hard Core Copyright Infringing Content 3 Eventbee: AdSense for Events Has Busy Plans 4 Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday 5 If You Don’t Use Del.icio.us, You Will Now 6 Google To “Out Open” Facebook On November 5 7 The New Portals: It’s the Bread, Not the Peanut Butter 8 Google Earth’s Easter Egg: A Flight Simulator 9 Google Tops Feed Reader and Social Bookmark Rankings 10 9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Network 11 34 More Ways to Build Your Own Social Network 12 Google Launches Free 411 Service 13 Could Facebook Become The Next Microsoft? 14 I Want This In Photoshop Immediately 15 Google’s Response to Facebook: Maka-Maka 16 Facebook Source Code Leaked 17 Digg Surrenders to Mob 18 AOL One Step Behind Again: New Home Page Identical To Yahoo 19 MySpace v. Facebook: Its Not A Decision. Its an IQ Test 20 Adobe Open Sources Parts Of Flex Platform 21 Fotowoosh Will Turn Any Picture Into 3D Image 22 Kaltura Wins Spot as 40th Company at TechCrunch40 23 Breaking: Google Spends $3.1 Billion For DoubleClick 24 $100 Million Payday For Feedburner – This Deal Is Confirmed 25 Bubble 2.0: The Video → Read More
Rounding out our year-end lists—see also the Most Popular Posts of 2007, the Year in TechCrunch Headlines, the Year in Deals, and the Year in Deadpool—here is a selection of some of the notable startup and product launches TechCrunch covered in 2007: Ribbit Pulls Back the Covers On Its Voice 2.0 Master Plan (And Raises $10 Million B Round) December 10 Office Live Workspace (Beta) Finally Goes Live. Still Needs Work. December 10 Health Search + Patient Social Network = iMedix December 10 Adroll: The Social Ad Network (Beta Invites) December 3 Zopa To Launch In U.S. November 30 Kindle: First Impressions November 19 Attributor Launches Service to Track Copyright Infringement Across the Web November 4 The New York Times’ Blogrunner—A Techmeme Killer? November 1 Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday October 30 Hulu Launches Private Beta, Makes Very Good First Impressions October 28 Twine Launches A Smarter Way To Organize Your Online Life October 19 Stealth Startup Kango Working on Semantic Search For Travel October 11 CNET Founder Shelby Bonnie Unveils His New Startup: PoliticalBase October 9 FriendFeed To Aggregate Social Network Data Into A Single Feed October 1 Bitgravity Officially Launches The Content Delivery Network Than Everyone’s Been Talking About September 30 Polar Rose Debuts At Gnomedex August 9 Amazon To Launch Payments Services; Will Compete With PayPal and Google Checkout Aug. 1 Ooma Launches Free Consumer Phone Service July 18 Kevin Rose’s New Startup: Pownce June 27 Virgin Charter Launches: Private Aviation Marketplace June 12 Movable Type 4.0 Beta Launches, Platform To Be Open Sourced June 5 Lala Launches On-demand Free Streaming Music Service June 4 Jason Calacanis Launches Mahalo Today: Human Powered Search May 30 Justin.TV Network Launches: More Shows to Come May 22 Truemors Launches May 15 Silverlight: The Web Just Got Richer April 30 Kyte Launches: More Rich Media Streaming Presence April 23 Kongregate Gets $1M, Launches User Generated Games. March 22 Adobe Apollo Launched. So Go Build Something. March 18 PowerHype at PowerSet. February 12 Yahoo Launches Pipes. February 7 Geni Launches January 16, 2007 Venice Project Launch Name: Joost. January 15 Use WeatherBill To Bet On The Weather January 2 → Read More
Hairy DIY mouse responds to your caress Stop with the ‘Tattoo Designs’ already What did you get? Optimus not prime for shipping on time CrunchDeals: Refurbed Slingbox AV on Woot → Read More
Another year has passed us all, and 2008 beckons tomorrow. For those not out and about this New Years Eve, here’s a few places you can join the experience online: Video Streaming Sites Sites such as Ustream, Kyte, Justin.tv and others will have many users live stream the new year from where ever they are. Twitter Twitter will provide a rolling text version on NYE around the world. The first off the mark are two new Twitter friends I met today, Eli and n8duke, who are both located in Antarctica. I did a brief interview today with Eli, one of the two most remote Twitter users on the planet: how long have you been down there? I’ve been living (and working) at McMurdo Station (on Ross Island) for 3 months, and I’ve got about 6 more weeks to go before the end of the summer season. How long have you been using Twitter? my first tweet was posted on 07/07/07 and i’ve really loved it from the very beginning. Do you find Twitter helps narrow the distance to the rest of the world? definitely. i have friends all over the planet (US, Europe, etc) using twitter right now and it makes it so easy to stay in touch. it is especially helpful for me down here because the internet connection is pretty terrible, so it’s nice to just hope on to twitter, type a few characters, and be done with it. What are you doing for new years eve? will you be watching others on the net? well, it’s 10:45pm on new years eve for me right now, so in a few minutes i’m going to suit up in me ECW (extreme cold weather) gear and hike to the top of Observation Hill with some friends. there’s about 6 inches of snow on the ground (in the summer!) and it’s still snowing. we’re going to bring in the new year in true antarctic fashion! There’s also live streaming cams as well. Earthcam is streaming NY NYE live, -5 GMT. MSN is promising a live NYE feed as well, but just don’t try to open the link on a Mac, or not in IE…ouch. If anyone else has some NYE live links let us know in the comments. Update: BlogTV has a live zone here. → Read More
There you have it, the first VoIP call made on the Touch. Software should be out tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for our very own hands on video. → Read More
http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?tabType4=guide&tabUrl4=http%3A%2F%2Fendscore%2Eblip%2Etv%2F%3Fskin%3Drss&tabTitle4=End%20Score&tabType3=guide&tabUrl3=http%3A%2F%2Funboxing%2Eblip%2Etv%2F%3Fskin%3Drss&tabTitle3=Unboxing%20Live&tabType2=guide&tabUrl2=http%3A%2F%2Ffilmcrunch%2Eblip%2Etv%2F%3Fskin%3Drss&tabTitle2=FilmCrunch&tabType1=guide&tabUrl1=http%3A%2F%2Fbleedingedge%2Eblip%2Etv%2F%3Fskin%3Drss&tabTitle1=The%20Bleeding%20Edge&logo=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egearlive%2Ecom%2Fvideo%2Fgearlivewatermark%2Epng&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Ffile%2F569644%2F%3Fskin%3Drss&fullscreenpage=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Ffullscreen%2Ehtml&fsreturnpage=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fexitfullscreen%2Ehtml&linkfromdisplay=false&showfsbutton=true&brandlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egearlive%2Ecom&brandname=Gear%20Live%20Video&showguidebutton=true&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf → Read More
The Australian Government has announced that they will be joining China as one of the few countries globally that broadly censor the internet. The Labor Party’s policy was announced prior to the Australian Election in November (release here) and was justified on the basis that the previous Government’s policy of providing free copies of NetNanny to all Australian households who wanted it didn’t adequately protect children. As recently as the week prior to the election, Labor Party candidates were telling those concerned about the proposed law that the censorship wouldn’t be compulsory, and that the “clean feed” would be opt-in, not opt-out. Today’s announcement by Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy states that the censorship regime will be mandatory, although people will be able to opt-out of it. The problem of course then becomes if you opt-out questions will be asked as to why you want out, which in itself may lead to Government monitoring. To be censored by the Australian Government is “pornography and inappropriate material.” X rated pornography is illegal online in Australia, as are casino style internet gambling, certain forms of “hate” speech and R rated computer games. BitTorrent would be a possibility, even if certain downloads for personal use may be legal under Australian law, sharing those downloads would not be. How far “inappropriate material” may extend was not made clear, for example questioning Government policy where it comes to Aboriginal people could be deemed to be discrimination under Australian law and hence blocked by the censorship regime. Worst still, bloggers or those (such as forum owners) who allow users to comment or post could find themselves blocked under this proposal should someone say or post the wrong thing. If there is one certainty in any country that implements broadscale censorship, once they start blocking content it doesn’t stop, and certainly every do-gooder group and special interest lobbyist will be wanting the Government to add to the list. There is also a potential cost involved to Australian Internet users. The previous Government regularly cited feedback from ISP’s stating that the cost of implementing a “clean feed” would be passed onto internet users, who already pay some of the highest internet access costs in the Western world for on average slow services. Notably Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was a former Australian Diplomat in China, and speaks fluent Mandarin; given Australia’s boom is fueled by mineral exports to China, → Read More
Omnipresence was another big theme in 2007 with Twitter brining always on, always available communication to the masses. Whether this is merely the beginning of a broader trend, or something that will pass in 2008 is still to be seen. Certainly I’m not sure if I want to see lot of people live twittering births, like we saw from Robert Scoble this year, but perhaps overall we’re all the richer for the networking Twitter delivers. NC Winters at Freelance Switch sums it up nicely; Twitter fans can substitute Twitter for blog. For our coverage of Twitter this year, click here. CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Online application provider 8Apps has announced that it will be shutting in January. 8apps offered collaborative online tools not dissimilar to those offered by 37signals. According to a post by Download Squad reviewing the site back in July the site was on the market then, but it appears there were no takers. Probably not helping the service was its failure to ever open to the public; even today it’s still an invite only service, great for initial buzz but not a great way to build up a user base over the long term, unless of course you’re Google. 8Apps rounds out the TechCrunch Deadpool for 2007. See a full list of this years Deadpool entries here. → Read More
Some poor kid was expecting to receive a new iPod (Touch or Classic not specified) but instead received what appears to be a viral message from either a filthy commie or Adbusters. The note instructed her to reclaim her mind from the “media’s shackles” and read a book. It doesn’t say which book, but I’m guessing not something from Oprah’s Book Club. It also directs directs her to claim her “capitalistic garbage” at her nearest Apple store — problematic, since she bought it at a joint in Maryland called Germantown. I guess with things like this happening there, they should change their name to East Germantown. Zing! Girl Gets Bizarre Surprise Instead of iPod [My Fox] → Read More
An XBL user has reported that his account has been hacked for apparently the third time just recently. The hacker actually responded to a message from the hackee with the message above, pleading ignorance of the previous hacks, and from his complex grammar and use of elaborate codes (“eevr” and “neevr”) we may deduce that these people are highly educated, organized and extremely dangerous. Actually, there’s probably just some tool script kiddies are passing around so they can jack special achievements, armor, etc, but the problem is that Microsoft is doing nothing about it. The guy called support and was given the runaround (meticulously detailed in the post). With a subscriber base of eight million gamers, Microsoft can’t be expected to respond like lightning to every threat, but an apparently critical flaw like this should probably be investigated. We’ll keep you updated, and in the meantime be safe out there kids! Forum Threads at Team-vBi and Bungie.net → Read More
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