April 30th, 2008

BlackBerry Kickstart: RIM's first clamshell

The rumors are true, RIM does have a clamshell BlackBerry and it’s said to be coming soon. Most likely by the end of the year. The Kickstart as it’s being dubbed at the moment has a SureType keyboard, external LCD and has the same trackball we’ve all come to love or loathe. I don’t know about this one. I’m not that big a fan of clamshells, but it is a BlackBerry. → Read More

April 30th, 2008

eBay Vs CraigsList Complaint Released

document.write(”); http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=2763891&access_key=key-qccx84bmybapelweq62&page=1&version=1 Read this doc on Scribd: eBay Craiglist Complaint var scribd_doc = new scribd.Document(2763891, ‘key-qccx84bmybapelweq62′); scribd_doc.addParam(‘height’, 500); scribd_doc.addParam(‘width’, 560)… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Watch out for virus-laden, third-party "recertified" iPods

This isn’t as weird as the girl who got a cryptic, anti-capitalist note instead of her iPod, but it’s potentially far more damaging. This guy bought a refurbished iPod Touch through Buy.com for $99 — what a deal, right? As it turns out, not so much. It was infected/infested with a trojan that quietly installs a backdoor on your Windows system. Nasty. He contacted Buy.com and they… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Vintage video game themed cutting boards cut straight through to my geeky heart

Are we as citizens ready for icons from our 8-bit pasts to make their way into our kitchens? Yes, yes we are. Take this Triforce cutting board. It’s fully usable and will remind you of your quest against Gannon every time you dice onlines. It’s sold out, but you can get your hands on a Space Invaders villian for only $125. If I was really into cutting boards, I’d get one. → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Video: Keyboard cum guitar truly rocks

/ I’ll admit it, I was in a laptop pop band in the 90s called ABC/DefG. We used the keyboards on our laptops to play music live shows. We were laughed at, but the guys in this video make me feel better. That being said, the truly geek half of me thinks this is badass cool. Could you imagine doing this with an Optimus keyboard? via Make → Read More

April 30th, 2008

New Relic to Monitor Performance of Rails Applications

New Relic is looking to capitalize on the growing number of Ruby on Rails application deployments, having recently raised $3.5M from Benchmark Capital for their Rails Performance Management (RPM) product. RPM is a combination of installed software and cloud services that helps developers understand performance problems in their RoR applications. A Rails developer first installs a standard plugin… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Adobe's Open Screen Project: Write Once, Flash Everywhere

Adobe is making a big play to make Flash the de facto viewing environment not only for Web apps on your PC, but also on your mobile phone, your TV, and any other screen you can think of. It is announcing the Open Screen Project to make it easier to develop applications across devices—using Flash, of course. David Wadhwani, general manager of Adobe’s platform business (which includes… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

It's Official: Meebo Raises $25 Million From Jafco, Time Warner and KTB

Update on our post from earlier today – Meebo is now confirming that they have raised a $25 million third round of financing from Jafco Ventures, Time Warner Investments and KTB Ventures. Previous investors Sequoia Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated. Meebo was looking for a buyer through their investment bank, Montgomery & Co., but moved to a fundraising round earlier this… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Chinese Facebook Clone Xiaonei Raises $430 Million

Chinese social networking site Xiaonei has raised $430 million in funding from Softbank, according to a report from VentureBeat. Xiaonei was founded in December 2005 by Qinghua University graduates Wang Xing, Wang Huiwen, Lai Binqiang and Jacky, then was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive in 2006 for an undisclosed sum. As of November 2007, the site was said to be the most popular social… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

T-Mo's big 3G roll-out is voice-only? Pretty weak, guys

Why even bother rolling something out when its primary purpose is not present? It’s be like releasing a car without wheels, or a console without games (oh wait, Sony did that). But that is exactly what T-Mobile is doing: the first phase of the rollout, however long it may be, will only be using the 3G network for voice. You’re stuck with EDGE for data. Well, if you’re lucky… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Time Warner thinking of selling Time Warner Cable

In an earnings call today Time Warner reported that it was planning to spin off its Cable holdings, “under the right circumstances.” No specifics were noted but Time Warner Cable is obviously bolted on to the weak AOL and TW media holdings and not quite the best fit for a media company in the first place, synergy be damned. TWC had a $771 million in profit last quarter, which is pretty… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

The young, the aged to use Samsung charging stations

Two ladies lookin’ to get their charge on. Samsung is pleased to announce the addition of charging stations in the LaGuardia and Orlando Airports and what better way to show off their huge, penis-shaped chargers than by featuring underaged girls and their grandmother rocking out to some free power, straight outta Seoul. “At Orlando International Airport we continue to look for ways to meet… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Crytek dropping PC exclusivity thanks to piracy

In an interview with PC Play Magazine, when asked about the current state of PC gaming, Crytek president Cevat Terli said: “We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy.  To the degree PC Gamers that… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

GTA IV vs. Iron Man: It's on this weekend

We talked back in March about how all of you nerds spending your time on GTA IV could mean a lull in sales for the opening weekend of Iron Man. Besides spending your weekly allowance on a $60 DVD, you’ll also likely be holed up without food or water, to engrossed in virtual drunk driving to go out and see a movie. This weekend we’ll find out. Iron Man opens on Friday nationwide, and by… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Sharp to sell really thin TV with wireless HD, candy buttons

Sharp is partnering with AMIMON — who I believe was the god of thin crust pizza in ancient Roman mythology — to offer wireless HD streaming to its ultra-thin TVs. The X-series TVs come in 37-, 42-, and 46-inch screen models and work with an optional transmitter unit. We’re taking a meeting with these folks to figure out what exactly this technology will and will not do. → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Xobni Walks Away From A Microsoft Deal

After negotiating over the past few weeks with Microsoft and signing a letter of intent to be acquired, e-mail startup Xobni has walked from the deal, according to a source close to the negotiations. The deal would have been a natural for Microsoft, which was offering to buy the two-year old startup for somewhere in the $20-million range. (The company has raised less than $5 million so far in… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

And the award for best new company name goes to…

There’s a company in the UK called SuperMario Plumbing and Heating. The owner, Mariusz “Mario” Gruzka, though likely not Italian, could perhaps pass as a real life version of the Mario that most of us know and love. He’s no Captain Lou Albano from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (remember Zelda Fridays?), but he’ll do. There’s some loose talk going around the… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Microsoft Says They'll Pay More

Microsoft is leaking that they are willing to increase their Yahoo bid to as much as $33 per share, up from the original $31/share offer. That original offer, which included payment in Microsoft stock, has fallen in value to just $29.12/share. This is a surprise since Microsoft has previously stated they wouldn’t increase their bid. Analysts largely expected them to either walk from the deal… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Sony DAV-F200: Small footprint home theater

STYLE AND SOPHISTICATION. That’s one way to describe Sony’s new Bravia home theater setup, the DAV-F200. Another, less boisterous way to describe it is by calling it what it is: a virtual surround sound, um, home theater setup. While “virtual” surround setups have gotten better over the years (so says one of the guys who calls into Leo Laporte’s radio show… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Mirrors on the Moon? Those craaazy scientists!

I’m all in favor of far-reaching, ambitious projects like the colonization of Mars and stuff, but covering the Moon with mirrors to increase the chances of aliens seeing us? I’m more than a little skeptical. Aside from the very idea being totally insane, it’s a ridiculous notion that it would help aliens find us. Any alien race that has the power to contact or visit us almost… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Autonomous killer robots to patrol Israel

Is it possible to write a full post on deadly military robots without making a snarky joke about SkyNet? Nope. The foot soldiers in the future super-computer overlord’s army aren’t the Terminator series robots, but mechanized drones, like the Israeli killer robot its army has just developed, called the Guardium. This isn’t just a remote controlled killbot, though; the Guardium is… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Sorry, world: No more XM on AOL Radio.

AOL and XM are no longer friends, right, (the contract expired) so you can no longer listen to XM Satellite Radio via AOL Radio. For us in the promised land of North America, big deal. We can either pony up and get a dedicated satrad, or we can listen online with XM Radio Online. Others outside of the majesty of North America, however, are, shall we say, le screwed. And they’re complaining… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Meet HawkEye, the sobriety-determining handheld

Because police don’t have enough ways to ruin my weekend, a company called AcuNetx (I spelled that right) has developed a device called the HawkEye, a non-invasive device that scans the eyes of drivers to tell their intoxication levels. It’s not meant for field stops so much as checkpoints, which are illegal in many states, and requires a laptop and hand-held device to operate. It… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Meebo Closes Big Funding Round

Web chat startup Meebo has closed the funding round they’ve been working on with investment bank Montgomery & Co., a source tells us. Expect an announcement shortly. The best information we’ve been able to gather says the company raised $25 million or so on a $200 million valuation. Earlier this month they abandoned efforts to sell the company, focusing instead on raising money. → Read More

April 30th, 2008

HUGE meet-up sponsor shout out post: You're our everything

Tomorrow we welcome those with emailed invites to Red Sky at 47 E. 29th Street between Park and Madison. We’d like to thank our sponsors again. If you got an email for the wait list spots, congratulations. If you didn’t, there’s always next time. See you tomorrow! Hopefully Marvel doesn’t shut us down. After all, Matt Hickey is coming dressed as No-Pants Spiderman. Gold… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

MADD: Drunk driving content should result in Adults Only rating for GTA IV

GTA IV fever is far from over, and the controversies are still pouring in. But for one organization, it’s not the sexual content or graphic violence of the game that they find objectionable, it’s the in-game drunk driving. MADD, or Mothers Against an Average Weekend, released this statement today: Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and another half a million… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Man installs EVDO on his MacBook Air

When Devin skewered the MacBook Air some time ago, he was summarily insulted and burned in virtual effigy; we all laughed at him in the chat room. Far from being useless, however, one valid criticism against the MacBook Air was that it wasn’t portable enough. How could Apple leave out built-in EVDO, no one said? Rather than complain about, one Jordan Bunnell took the Apple by its core or… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Zero Punk on Chains of Olympus

http://update.videoegg.com/flash/proxy.swf?jsver=1.4 Fingering a robot prostitute for all of us. → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Samsung's new next-gen laptop batteries to HP, Dell

Samsung’s developed a new battery for small form factor laptops that it’s going to be selling to American PC manufacturers, likely to HP and Dell, according to rumor. They’re using a new technology that gives the battery a 10% longer charge than previous generation batteries as well as a faster charging time. No word yet on if, like Sony’s, the batteries will explode and… → Read More

April 30th, 2008

Free Team Fortress 2 this weekend on Steam

Valve is having another Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend to celebrate the latest big map release and achievement/unlockable pack. What this means is you get to use a state-of-the-art digital distribution system to play a fantastic game all weekend, for free. It’s super easy and it’s a lot of fun. If you haven’t tried using Steam yet, you’re in for a treat. This is the future of… → Read More