Facebook isn’t just messing around with a few European language translations any more. They’re using their new user-powered translation engine to get Facebook into 22 more languages, on top of English, French, German and Spanish. It will take some time for users to translate the sites, and Facebook likes to stagger launches to maximize PR. If you want to help out with the project, the application is here. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
It seems to be a day for shutting down. ScribbleSheet, a citizen journalism portal which only launched in September last year, is no more. It turns out there are a lot of other places on the Internet where people could write about politics, technology, business and culture. The London-based self-funded startup from co-founders John Ndege (22, formerly with Accenture), and Brian Oula (22, former IT consultant, was a brave, but I’m afraid naive, attempt to reproduce the success of OhMyNews or Newsvine. As I wrote on their launch “I fear they will get nowhere near those sites”. Ndege told me then that Scribblesheet would be a better alternative than all the “dead blogs” people create and then let die. He appears to have been quite prescient. [Update: He blogs about the experience here]. If we had a deadpool on TechCrunch UK I’d put this ScribbleSheet there. Definitely not mothballed… I also have to say (sorry guys!) that ScribbleSheet felt like one of the frothy companies that appeared last year where just about anyone was trying to launch a social media site. I would not take it as indicative of a ‘slump’ in the UK startup space by any stretch. However, it’s clear the bar is getting higher to winning investment, especially for first-time entrepreneurs. → Read More
Sony is partnering with AT&T to bring its back catalog of movies to wireless phones. Using the newly announced MediaFLO network AT&T is rolling out this month, customers will be able to browse, rent, and watch the films on their mobiles. No word yet on pricing or why anyone would want to watch a movie on a 1.5×2.5-inch screen, but we’re guessing they’re targeting people stuck on tarmacs for hours at airports that don’t care if you live or die. → Read More
Seattle based wiki-startup Wetpaint has been talking to a number of big content sites about a new product they’ll be releasing soon, we’ve heard. The screen shot above is a mock-up that Wetpaint is using to pitch potential partners. The product is an embeddable wysiwyg wiki. That alone is interesting, just because there aren’t any easy ways to embed a wiki into third party sites today. Google Sites doesn’t yet allow embeds, for example. PBWiki, a popular wiki startup, does allow embeds via their API, but it isn’t as simple to use as most widgets. But what we’re hearing is that this isn’t a simple javascript or Flash embed. It’s a deeper integration that requires an insertion of code into a site’s back end application files. That allows the wiki to be created at the server level, not simply rendered in the user’s browser like most widgets. The idea is a pretty straightforward way to go about doing this, although we haven’t heard of any products doing this before. Why is that interesting? It’s interesting because it pulls the Wiki content directly into a site’s HTML and allows it to be indexed by search engines. That means partner sites will get the SEO benefits of the wiki, a major plus for these partners. That’s all we know for now. The product is being called Balco, although that may be an internal project name, not the name of the to-be-launched product. If Balco is as useful as we’re hearing, it’s definitely something we’ll use here at TechCrunch. Update: PBWiki’s David Weekly adds something related to this in his API documentation (scroll to bottom). When/if Wetpaint launches Balco, we’ll do a side by side comparison. CrunchBase Information Wetpaint Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
BlackBerry fans take heed for the BGR has learned a few things about the upcoming BlackBerry 9000. Everything we reported was true. 624MHz processor, 480×320 screen, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G, etc. The web browser flies. “Loads web pages in 3-4 seconds.” The BlackBerry 9000 in its current state runs OS 4.5 Early launch date was slated for a consumer AT&T launch on June 18th. Remember that we predicted the device was delayed. See below. The battery lasts around 4 hours with straight phone calling. “Battery sucks, to be honest. With Wi-Fi on, I only got a little less than two hours browsing the web,” and all testers are reporting huge battery issues which could be why we’re all hearing it is delayed. We’re not sure of the next part, but he said that the device either has 256MB of internal memory or 128MB. Don’t ask why we couldn’t tell the difference. → Read More
Blancier is a custom watchmaker. You can go to the site, pick out all the components, and get a handmade watch delivered to your door in a few weeks. I personally reviewed one and I loved it — they used Molnia movements and huge cases and have a neo-classical look that is just amazing. Well, they now have a few other “limited edition” pieces including this model, the Crazy Planet, with the hand drive gears hanging out on the face of the watch. Note: the speed at which this model is running is not quite accurate. I suspect they had an issue in the rendering. Regardless, take a look if you’re into mechanicals. No price or availability yet. → Read More
The very-businesslike MOTO Q9c will be available this summer to Alltel subscribers in lime green or “licorice” colors. I certainly don’t mean for anyone to take this personally, but it’s my opinion that lime green is a ridiculous color for a business-oriented cell phone (or any type of gadget, for that matter). That’s just me, though. That’s just me. I’m guessing that the “licorice” version is a little more subdued, although Motorola’s press release didn’t indicate whether it was red or black licorice. If it’s blazingly bright red in color, you’re going to have to decide which is the lesser of two evils for you. Luckily, it’s black licorice. Trust me. The Q9c for the Alltel network will be available sometime this summer for $99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and two-year service agreement. → Read More
When we hear from Aviary it’s bound to be something entertaining and fun. The New York based company remains in private beta but adds to its suite of image manipulation products regularly. The newest tool is called Dodo, a web-based time machine. A video demo is below. You upload an image to the service and it will “age” it based on user input. An example: upload a picture of yourself, tell it how many years out you want it to age you, tell it how much you drink and smoke, and not any planned plastic surgery. It will then show you what it thinks you’ll look like down the road. Aviary says the tool isn’t just for fun – that it may also be useful for “tracking down long missing children,” and “determining if a girlfriend will end up looking like her mother.” Demo video below. What’s the technology behind it? Well, it’s pretty close to magic. Anything is possible in early April, it seems. CrunchBase Information Aviary Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Publish2, the stealth Digg-Clone-For-Journalists that announced a fundraising this morning, is being very quiet about exactly what their product is and how it works. In an interview last week they told me only friends and family were testing it. Well, it turns out “friends and family” is fairly expansive term in their book, and includes a lot of people who are quite willing to talk about it. As we said, Publish2 is a Digg-like site where anyone can submit links but only journalists can vote those links up and down. It also has a private research feature that lets journalists bookmark items without sharing them. “It’s like Delicious,” said one person testing the service, adding “I would never use the public part of the service, I’m too competitive to share my research with other journalists.” So Publish2 looks to be a little like Digg and a little like Delicious. The only problem is that it may not be as good as either of those products. CrunchBase Information Publish2 Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Sony Ericsson’s HSDPA Z750a just dropped on AT&T. It will cost $50 after rebate and comes in purple, grey, and pink. It has a 2.0-megapixel camera and runs on AT&T’s 3G network. Sure it’s no X1 or even one their latest UIQ phones, but it’s nice that Sony Ericsson is launching phones in the U.S., right? I’m actually quite upset. S-E used to be a giant and their phones used to change the game on a regular basis. Now they dump a 3G clamshell every year and call it a day. They’re like my lazy uncle who talks about his days playing college ball. → Read More
We are moving closer and closer to the social inbox—email that talks to your social networks. Today, Xoopit launches in private beta. Not to be confused with Xobni (another email 2.0 app), Xoopit is a plug-in for FireFox that lets you easily view all the photos, videos, and files buried in your e-mail as attachments and sent to you as links from across the Web. The first 700 TechCrunch readers to sign up here will get in. CEO Bijan Marashi explains: We are building an index of your personal information across the Internet. Email is the most important repository of your personal data. Xoopit processes the social media you have been piling up for years and transforms it into a fun application. The application indexes your Gmail (other email services will be added in the future) and lets you view attached files (photos, videos, etc). It also fetches any images that friends might have emailed you from Flickr, Picassa, Shutterfly, Kodak, or YouTube. It is an attempt to turn your email inbox into a dashboard for managing all the pictures and videos everyone emails you all the time. In turn, you can post your own photos, videos, and other media directly to Facebook, your blog or email from the application. Xoopit is also announcing a $5 million A round from Accel and Foundation Capital. It previously raised $1.5 million in an angel round from Foundation Capital, Michael Dearing, Jeff Ralston, and Eric Telenius. CrunchBase Information Xoopit Xobni Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
It’s only been a few months since MWC 2008 but that doesn’t mean US carriers can’t get in on the new cellphone act. Peter and Doug are winging their way to Las Vegas for CTIA Wireless 2008 as we speak, promising to cover a number of new “cellular telephones” including R.I.M’s new “Blueberry” electronic mail phones and Motorola’s hot RAZR phone that promises to replace the StarTAC. If you’d like to meet up with us on the show floor or at a floor show, drop us a line at tips @ crunchgear.com. You can read our coverage right here. → Read More
If you are going to be anywhere near Amsterdam this Thursday or Friday, you should go to the Next Web conference. It is one of the best gatherings of European Web 2.0 startups and entrepreneurs. Nine days ago, I had no plans to travel to Amsterdam. But tomorrow I will be flying over there to moderate the two-day event. (Don’t ask how this happened, but it involved a late-night phone call interrupted by the Amsterdam police). TechCrunch UK’s Mike Butcher will also be attending. TechCrunch is a media partner, which means TC readers can get 200 Euros off the 750-Euro ticket price by entering the promotion code “tc08″ when you register. The speakers include the usual suspects, like Garret Camp, Robert Scoble, and Kevin Rose. An episode of Diggnation will be filmed and streamed live from the stage. But the real draw is a series of rapid-fire presentations from 24-and-counting startups (including eBuddy, Fav.or.it, Empressr, CoComment, and Radionomy—each one gets five minutes) and all the Euro 2.0 networking you can handle. The organizers are a trio of crazy Dutchmen who are themselves Web entrepreneurs and started the conference a few years ago for themselves and their friends. These are the same three entrepreneurs who once famously showed up one morning at TechCrunch headquarters (aka Mike’s house) in white suits. One of them, Patrick de Laive, explains how they try to make the Next Web different: The conference is cool because we don’t focus much on making money but more on content, networking, and fun. We’re Internet entrepreneurs, not conference organizers. We make sure we have the best speakers in the world talking about the future of the web and not about their companies. We don’t have sponsors on stage or CEOs telling us how well they did last year. → Read More
Microsoft has reportedly inked a deal with Hollywood producer Peter Safran to produce entertainment content for Xbox Live. Safran’s been tapped to produce genre-specific short episodes (less than 10 minutes) that appeal to 14- to 34-year old males. His client list includes Sean Combs, Nia Vardalos, and filmmakers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. I know — I’m excited too! Look for the new content later this year, around fall. Microsoft’s expected to ink similar deals with other content producers as well. → Read More
Like the depths of my soul, the Palm Centro from AT&T now comes in obsidian black. While this won’t change the fact that this is a Palm Centro, it’s nice to know that you can now get a Centro in black or white (aka glacier) for $99.99. → Read More
Here’s an interesting development: Kyocera is building a new KJ4 series print head that can print at 150 meters per minute at 600×600 dpi, which equates to about 1,000 sheets per minute. Check your box for your current printer’s speed and be amazed. The head should go into printers next month. Kyocera uses ceramic piezoelectronics to make this 4-inch head squirt out ink faster than a squid at a calamari festival. Sorry for that last joke. It’s early. → Read More
UK startup i-Together last night said it was closing its Facebook application BlogFriends, an RSS feed sharing app which had attracted upwards of 27,000 users and was growing. i-Together failed to attract a second-round of seed funding for the project which was designed to give greater exposure to non-A-List, “long-tail’ bloggers – funding which was required to improve the offering. However, they seemed to struggle to wrap a definable business model around the idea, notionally advertising-based, and fell short of the 100,000 users they’d aimed for. In a statement iTogether said: “Blog Friends is actually an unusually complex and resource-intensive application to maintain and grow. It also is pretty original in the way it combines your extended, fuzzy social network and your interests as filters for your blog recommendation River. Because Blog Friends was so original and quite ambitious, we had no way of projecting accurately just how many users we could welcome before our solution began to creak.” A “sister” service to Blog Friends, Buzzspotr, which creates a “buzz” around locations like cafes, and hooks into Twitter’s API, has also not attracted backing, although it has yet to leave closed alpha stage, and has received an enthusiastic welcome form UK geek observers. The team that built both projects – Luke Razzell, Benjie Gillam and Jof Arnold – plan now to re-focus on consultancy work at Brainbakery and Weaverluke, a move which will effectively mothball the company they created, i-Together. They hope to launch Buzzspotr to the public at some point in the future. My analysis is this: Blogfriends was a nice idea, and had it reached 100,000 users could well have been a Facebook application with a future, perhaps inserting keyword advertising into blog feeds inside Facebook. But the project did not gain traction amongst Facebook’s rather non-blogger crowd, and felt for a long time like a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must have’ application. People who read blog RSS feeds tend to use full-blown RSS readers, and there are very few examples of attempts to ‘mainstream’ RSS which have worked outside well-funded giants like Google. Buzzspotr (reviewed here), however, has a lot more potential and it’s a great shame that the simple lack of a small amount of funding has halted its development for now. The team that built both these projects is widely known in London as being amongst the best in their field – and → Read More
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