Adam Savage of Mythbusters basically busted the myth of RFID security – and the Discovery Channel wouldn’t air the segment. Here he talks at the HOPE conference about the experience. → Read More
MultiTouch, a company specializing in, you guessed it, multi-touch technology, today launched the world’s first modular multi-touch LCD screen, which will allow owners to create screen tables and walls to their desired size.
Dubbed The MultiTouch Cell, each LCD screen unit is available in both 32- and 46-inch sizes and offers Full HD capability. The Cells can be positioned in portrait or landscape modes and can be turned into huge multi-touch screens or a multi-touch coffee table for those who don’t need something so grandiose.
The MultiTouch Cell is the company’s response to Microsoft’s Touchwall, which we wrote about earlier this year. Touchwall uses three infrared lasers that scan a surface, and a camera, which feeds information back to Microsoft’s Plex software after something breaks through the laser line. In contrast, the MultiTouch Cell uses an LCD display and according to the company, bests current projector-based systems by improving durability — MultiTouch claims users will get 50,000 hours of use compared to 3,000 hours for projector-based offerings — as well as improved image resolution, contrast, and color quality. → Read More
Just a couple more pics for you guys before we enter the belly of the beast again. These TF2 cosplayers were all over the place, but I didn’t see any Heavies. Well, there were some heavies all right, but to be precise I didn’t see anybody dressed as a heavy from TF2. → Read More
As long as we’re talking about certain people who should be kicked in the balls for making bad movies about technology products, let’s add Aaron Sorkin to the mix. He’s thinking of making a movie about, you guessed it, Facebook. If Sorkin goes through with this wonderful (eye-roll) idea, I’m sure it’ll be a really great movie (double eye-roll). He sounds like he’s just the guy to make the film, too (triple eye-roll) as he says on his own Facebook group “I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I’ve started this page. (Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she’s been dead for 33 years.” In other news, I’ll be writing a movie about break dancing after I learn what “popping and locking” means. To be fair, Sorkin has been behind some pretty dynamite shows; The West Wing and Sports Night, to name a couple. And the movie will apparently be about the story behind Facebook, which I guess could be kind of interesting. Hopefully they’ll tap Dustin Diamond (Screech on Saved by the Bell) to play Mark Zuckerberg. [via PC World] → Read More
Google may be the leader in the worldwide search engine market, but in Nippon, it has some catching up to do: In 2007, Yahoo Japan saw a whopping 76% of the nearly 350 billion search engine and portal-related pageviews registered in the country, clearly outperforming Google (second with 5.4%, according to Nielsen Japan). More recently, ComScore shows that in July, Yahoo Japan had ten times as many monthly pageviews (21.9 billion versus 2.2 billion for Google) and nearly twice as many monthly unique Japanese visitors (46 million versus 26 million).
The Japanese web market is just too big to be shrugged off: The country boasts one of the highest Internet penetrations worldwide (74%, compared to 70% in the USA), a $5.7 billion online advertising market (out if one estimated to be worth $45 billion globally) and is ranked No. 3 in terms of total web population (94 million, about as many as Germany and the UK combined).
So how does Google challenge Yahoo’s position as the hub of the Japanese Internet? → Read More
If FriendFeed displayed only video, it might look like Utagoe Live 100. The service lets you track live video streams from all of your friends on one screen. Tokyo-based Utagoe just launched it as a hub for broadcasting and watching multiple, free live video streams simultaneously (from sites like Qik, Ustream, Justin.tv etc.), video-based chatting and conferencing. Aiming mainly at the U.S. and European markets, the service is available in English.
Utagoe Live 100 is browser-based and, as its main selling point, requires just a 400 kbps Internet connection to display around 100 different live streams on one screen (settings can be individually adjusted). The underlying technology, dubbed “traffic controller”, is self-developed. → Read More
It’s not enough that you watch the political party conventions on TV, read the political coverage in newspapers, and the reactions in blogs. Some people are not reacting on blogs, they are reacting on Twitter. But how do you follow all of that raw political discourse, and do you even want to?
Stephen Taylor, a Canadian blogger and political analyst, has hacked together govtweets, a site that constantly updates with the latest Tweets that mention any of the political candidates (McCain, Obama, Palin, and Biden). He also created a Facebook app. The Tweets automatically update and scroll down the page. There is no way to search for past Tweets, and once a Tweet scrolls off the page there is no way to find it again. So Govtweets is nothing more than a snapshot of the national conversation, but it is still fascinating to watch it unfold. → Read More
Are you confused about Net Neutrality? Who isn’t? Some people argue it is necessary for continued innovation on the Internet, and point to Comcast’s bandwidth metering as a sign of things to come. Others claim that it is unnecessary regulation that will create unintended consequences in its wake. Opposing Views, the debate site that pits experts against each other to argue the pros and cons of the big questions of the day (read our launch review), last night put up a page on Net Neutrality. The page lays out the arguments pro and con for Net Neutrality, and then links to fuller arguments. → Read More
Update on the TechCrunch Tablet: A humble (and messy) beginning. Prototype A has been built. It’s in a temporary aluminum case that a local sheet metal shop put together for us that’s at least twice as thick as it needs to be, but the hardware has been defined and is nearing lockdown. We booted the machine in the case for the first time today, accessed the Wifi network and were able to navigate a web page via the touch screen.
Most of the work is transitioning to software and UI, and real industrial design work on the case is beginning. → Read More
Our former writer and good friend Mike Kobrin now lives in New Orleans. Keep him and NOLA in your thoughts tonight. → Read More
At some point we are going to run into the issue of media players just cutting their way out of our pockets. You’ll have to buff the edges so you don’t slice your fingers off while changing tracks. I guess we’re not quite at that point, but 4.5mm is pretty damn thin. This thing doesn’t have much branding, and I’m not sure I can count on a place called “Component Warehouse” for support if my player snaps in half during shipment, but it’s all worth it to take off that last 2mm. → Read More
We have here what appear to be some actual, big-boy shots of the impending T-Mobile HTC Dream. You know, the Android phone? As always, take these types of things with a grain of salt, although these photos do look pretty convincing. The shots were grabbed from a Chinese-language forum and sent to Engadget. My Chinese isn’t all that good, considering I’ve never been there, spoken the language, or learned to read the many and varied symbols. These photos should be worth a couple thousand words in any language, though. → Read More
Behold! PAX in pictures. There will be more later, I’m taking a photo every other step. There are cosplayers, nerds, enforcers, classy ladies, and everything in between. Click through for our first batch of PAX-y stills. → Read More
