Google Knol, which we’ve likened to a monetizable Wikipedia upon launch, has quietly released three international versions today, enabling French, German and Italian speaking experts (or people who like to think they are experts) to contribute so-called ‘units of knowledge’ to the site.
The success of Google Knol has been less than stellar (traffic is stagnating). To be fair, Knol has only been… → Read More
Project Playlist sure is on our radar lately. The service, which lets users search for music on the web and build embeddable playlists, has 9.3 million unique monthly visitors and a whopping 822 million monthly page views according to Comscore.
But the company has been acting very strangely. First, the service has been down since at least Monday along with the message “We are doing some upgrades. → Read More
Last month AOL began releasing parts of its new tear-down-the-walls home page strategy, allowing users to view email from Yahoo and Gmail.
Today they launch the rest of the new features (we had a leaked screen shot here). Users can log into social networks (Bebo, MySpace, Facebook and AIM) to view news feeds and update status. Bookmarks can be added to the top left of the page, and a feed reader… → Read More
Pinky-impaling Caps Lock key aims to curb shouting Can we get it over with and declare Blu-ray dead already? Build the Enterprise from stuff laying around the office Food pyramid lunch box should help American fatties Review and Contest: Penguin United 4X Quad Charge Station for Wii → Read More
RADUS (pronounced “radius”) is a new media hub that serves as an aggregator for content that includes RSS feeds, videos, photos, and music. And while the site certainly isn’t the first to bring all of these together, it does so in a very slick way and makes for great eye candy.
The site’s interface consists of a large media viewer on the left situated next to a smaller panel for browsing file… → Read More
Where isn’t Netflix anymore? It looks great on the 360, it’s ending up in set-top boxes and media players from multiple makers. Now, if you had the foresight to buy a Series 3, HD, or HD XL you can now stream all of Netflix’s 12,000 streaming titles. The service will use the same interface used by the 360 and the Roku box. You select films on Netflix.com and then add them to your… → Read More
One time I came back to my apartment in LA after a party and tried to go to sleep. Not happening. So I went outside, fired up the Dreamcast, and played Robotron 2084 for two solid hours. I’ve also done some of my best Soul Caliburating under the influence. But I have never racked up four full hours that I could not remember in a game like Oblivion, wantonly killing every NPC, guard… → Read More
I’ve aimed a lot of criticism at human powered search engine ChaCha over the last couple of years. The service lets users ask questions, just like a normal search engine. But instead of a computer spitting out answers (see Google, etc.), real human beings answer instead.
The ChaCha service was absurd in its original web version, which has since been discontinued. The mobile version is actually… → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1863410&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 It doesn’t get much more easy to relate to than this, folks. This endearing team, Mr. Chow and Mr. Lau, will show you a super easy way to tether your iPhone after jailbreaking it. Of course, most people who know to jailbreak their phones… → Read More
Since we started our Gift Guide I’ve been leaning towards ever more esoteric yet thoughtful gifts for the nerd in your life. That said, I present to you the Black & Decker Smart Driver, one of the coolest little drills you’ll ever own. → Read More
Virtual goods have massive monetization potential, but many sites simply don’t have the resources to build a virtual goods engine or to produce assets that its users would be willing to pay money for. Boston startup Viximo, launched earlier this month, is looking to offer sites a turnkey solution.
The company has built an embeddable gift store and showcase that can be integrated into any site… → Read More
http://www.liveleak.com/e/bf7_1225306490 See how the robot points to that cup? It’s actually looking for human blood to power its internal engine. When he’s at full power there will be no more buy-backs. via BBG → Read More
This is part two of our coverage on today’s Downturn RoundTable hosted by VentureBeat. For Part One, which details the Venture Capitalist panel, click here.
The Entrepreneurs
In a panel moderated by Kara Swisher, Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic (the company behind WordPress), led off by saying that he wished this kind of “panicky” advice had been around for the last bubble, explaining that… → Read More
That is, get one if you must. I hadn’t seen this Reverie movie until about a minute ago, but I assumed it was okay because of all the coverage it got for being shot on a DSLR (partly). Unfortunately, it’s awful, and I don’t think it’s because he didn’t have a shoulder mount for his cameras. Anyway, if you’re trying to shoot in HD and you’re so budget that… → Read More
If instant messaging, and now mobile IM is a commodity market, then UK-based mobile startup Trutap has decided to try and become the aggregator of choice for the mainstream consumer. The TechCrunch40 finalist from 2007 now supports a host of IM protocols, accessible from within a slick Java interface. However it’s in a race with startups like Mig33, Nimbuzz, eBuddy, Palringo and MXit. Trutap… → Read More
I’ve been fawning over this little netbook since last week and I can’t wait to get one, but I’ll have to wait until January for the MIE version. Hopefully I’ll get it in time for CES because lugging this 15-inch MacBook Pro is getting old. Spec-wise it isn’t very powerful, but it isn’t meant to be a desktop replacement either. The UI on the MIE version is very… → Read More
Cramming a 14.7-megapixel sensor into something the size of a deck of cards is no small feat, but that’s exactly what Samsung’s done with the TL34HD digital camera. Add to that the ability to record 720p high-definition video at 30 frames per second, a three-inch touchscreen, and an MSRP of $329.95 and you’ve got a camera that appeals to people who want to get a little more out of their… → Read More
There’s nothing wrong with playing World of Warcraft occasionally. It’s when you start to picture yourself—not your character, but you yourself—as The Defender of Azeroth or some nonsense that we have a problem. Take the recent Zombie Infestation. In order to goad players into hating the Lich King (he’s the main antagonist in Wrath of the Lich King) and wanting to… → Read More
Today at VentureBeat’s Downturn RoundTable, two panels of Silicon Valley’s elite – one made up of Venture Capitalists, the other of experienced entrepreneurs – offered a roomful of startup CEOs their advice for weathering the economic crisis. And while the two panels differed in some respects (with the VCs saying that they’re open for business and the startup veterans calling this a falsehood)… → Read More
Stockholm -based Stardoll emerged from a simple Geocities page in the early part of the century, to “Paperdoll Heaven” in 2004. As Stardoll it took $4 million in Series A funding from Index Ventures in February 2006, and $6 million in a B Series round lead by none other than Sequoiain June the same year. Now it’s about to enter the Middle East after seeing growing traffic there. → Read More
I was just talking in the podcast about how much I’d prefer Plastic Logic’s slick eReader as an alternative to the Kindle. Well, my post last month had little more than some announcement info and a cool video, so I thought maybe you guys would like to know more. It’s about half an inch thick, 8.5″x11″, and it supports all kinds of text and office files, as well as… → Read More
It’s a fact that America weighs more than any other country on earth. We are fat and love our free tacos, but this pyramid lunch box should help the weight loosing cause. It, of course, is just a concept but next time you are packing your sack lunch full of fatty food, think back to this novel idea and repack accordingly. via swissmiss → Read More
MySpace has offered MTV Networks’ EVP Digital Music and Media Courtney Holt the top job at the newly launched MySpace Music, CNET reports. We’ve confirmed this through our own sources, and we believe Holt has all but accepted the position and is in the final stages of contract negotiation.
The hunt for a CEO is nearly a year old. Earlier this year we reported on some of the early candidates. Last… → Read More
Facebook blew past MySpace in visitors from across the world back in April, but the global gap continues to widen. According to the latest figures from comScore, Facebook attracted 161.1 million unique visitors worldwide in September, compared 117.9 million for MySpace. For Facebook, that number was up from 4.7 percent from the 153.9 million people who visited the social network in August. … → Read More
Once again AT&T is offering free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks and McDonald’s hotspots in the US. The system is fairly simple: just type in your AT&T phone number when you fire up your mobile browser get 24 hours of connectivity automatically. → Read More
That “flappy” OLED screen from this morning has a bigger, more rigid counterpart. This 40-inch OLED is the largest yet shown to the general public and sports an impressive 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio rather than previous Samsung model’s of 5,000:1. Plus, it has a 1080p resolution and probably a hefty price tag if it was going to market. Commercial production, however, is still… → Read More
Below are the latest jobs and classfied ads on CrunchBoard. Every week we showcase the top ads from the board to TechCrunch UK readers. Here’s the CrunchBoard UK RSS feed and you can subscribe to the email newsletter here. Post your ad up today for the limited special offer of £20 per ad. Senior Web Developer London Social Media/ Web 2.0 leader seeks Technical Delivery personalities!! → Read More
This week on the CrunchBoard we want to welcome BeenVerified, Design About Town, and Span to the the new services and sales directories on the CrunchBoard. The directories are an easy way to reach the start-up community.
While you are checking out these new directories, make sure to look out the latest job listing on CrunchBoard. → Read More
Go ahead and read this court transcript. It’s a 35-page PDF of the London-Sire Records. Does 1-4 copyright infringement case. It’s the same song and dance you’re all familiar with: RIAA catches someone downloading a song, which entitles it to thousands upon thousands of dollars in remuneration. Only this time, the presiding judge, Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court for the… → Read More
Getting people to use your Web app is all about lowering the barriers to entry and making it as dead-simple as possible. The idea of uploading documents to the Web and embedding them YouTube style is still a foreign concept to many people. Docstoc just made that process as easy as sending an email.
If you have a Docstoc account registered to your email address, all you have to do is send the… → Read More
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