Tencent, China’s largest Internet portal mostly known to us for its hugely popular instant messenger product QQ, published an updated report on the user numbers of its social networking service QZone last week. The report was only available in Chinese, but the folks over at Web2Asia were kind enough to translate it.
And if the self-reported numbers are not too much of an exaggeration, they’re nothing short of mind-blowing.
Even taken with a healthy grain of salt, the stats Tencent are presenting deserve a mention: the report claims more than 200 million people were using QZone as of January 31, 2009, surpassing international players like Facebook (which recently announced 175 million registered users) and MySpace. → Read More
Another day, another lawsuit. This time, a Texas company called Wall Wireless has accused several companies, including Nintendo, Sony and Nokia, of infringing on one of its patents pertaining to wireless communication. None of the accused companies have responded to the complaint just yet. → Read More
The REDFLY Mobile Companion embiggens even the smallest of compatible Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs. In light of this, the Memphis police department just threw down for 12,000 of the devices and deployed them in their cruisers, saying, “The REDFLYs save hardware costs while increasing productivity and also improving the quality and accuracy of the officers’ field reports.” → Read More
It makes no sense to have a bulky microSD card reader for the tiny flash media cards. The best solution is still proabably a docking SD card that slips into a notebooks SD card reader but this reader by Elecom isn’t that bad either. → Read More
We all know ThinkPads are pretty great. They’re rugged, easily upgradable, and fully-featured. Now you can even freeze the buggers or push them around in the dust. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200, X301, X200s, X200 Tablet, T400, T500, R400 and SL300 machines just passed Mil Spec tests for “semi-rugged” computing which means you can use them in extreme conditions for all of your computing needs.
Low Pressure – Tests operation at 15,000 feet
Humidity – Cycles 95 percent humidity through the environment
Vibration (operational and non-operational) – Jostles and jolts the laptops to make sure they can withstand shocks
High Temperature – Simulates high heat conditions by baking the laptop up to 140°F
Low Temperature – Tests operation at -4°F
Temperature Shock – Fluctuates between -4 and up to 140°F to test operation
Dust – Blows dust for an extended amount of time
Hah! And we thought the LG watch phone was expensive at the paltry price of $1,400. Showing how absurd pricing should really be done, Gresso has announced the Skeleton Gold, a sub-par spec’d candybar they’re looking to peddle for a cool $4,400. → Read More
When Reunion.com and Wink announced their merger in early October 2008, the company indicated that it would be relaunching under a different brand name and with a completely overhauled website in early 2009. That day has finally come, and henceforth the merged companies will live on as MyLife.
The website for Reunion.com already redirects to MyLife.com, while dedicated people search engine Wink still has its own web presence. MyLife, however, already integrates Wink’s technology, which means the new hybrid social platform is now a full-fledged search engine which not only finds people—thanks to aggregated search across social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace—but also helps visitors connect with them all on the same site. On its company presentation page, MyLife boasts that it can locate over 750 million online profiles via its search index today. → Read More
Sony Japan has announced the GXD-L65H1 today [JP], a 65-inch LCD TV that’s supposed to be extra-sturdy. The company hopes the rain- and dustproof TV (that fulfills the IP54 standard) will be used in rain stations and sports stadiums. → Read More
Happy happy! Safari is 4 and Steve Jobs is 54. The beloved head of Apple is eleven years away from retirement (hang in there!) and hopefully he’s going to make it through to another 54 years – he’s probably got a great health plan, after all.
All kidding aside, it’s rare to find such a galvanizing figure in business. When they write the history of the 20th and 21st centuries, expect him and Bill Gates to be in there – everyone else is just a footnote. → Read More
Is there anything in particular that you want to know? First, check out this and this then leave your questions in comments. Thanks! → Read More
plaYce which showcased at last year’s Techcrunch50 is today announcing the beta launch of its Game-Platform-as-a-Service, aimed at assisting game developers bring high-quality 3D game play right into the browser. Games in plaYce are based on 3D renderings of real cities such as San Francisco and New York.
500 private beta invites for both users and developers are available exclusively to TechCrunch readers here.
Casual games on the Web are quite bland when compared to “Tripple-A Games”—high budget titles typically produced by game studios such as EA. The type of games developed and/or distributed by the likes of Zynga, SGN, Kongregate or Oberon just don’t cut it for “real” gamers which are used to superior high-quality game play and graphics.
plaYce tackles this matter by allowing high-quality games to be streamed into the browser. The company claims it delivers quick-engagement by initiating play within a minute for games ranging from 300MB up to a few gigabytes in size. → Read More
Attention Vudu owners-
You now have the privilege of downloading and owning HD movies from an on demand online distributor. There are roughly 50 titles that you can download in both HD and HDX. Magnolia, Kino and FirstLook are among the indie studios who have films available at the moment including “Man on Wire.” → Read More
The iPhone is a wonderful little gaming device. It can play computer games, like the classic SimCity as well as classic arcade games like PacMan. It’s also breeding a whole class of new games, like the inimitable DuckDuckDuck. But I’m not going to talk about any of those now. Instead, I’m going to talk about Fieldrunners! → Read More
One thousand nine hundred ninety-two – what a year: Bush, Sr. booted in the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap; Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would no longer (publicly) target the United States with nuclear weapons; the Washington Redskins (Go Hogs!) beat the sad Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI; Microsoft released Windows 3.1, complete with Minesweeper; EuroDisney opened in France; Wayne’s World and Basic Instinct hit the silver screen (among other “classics“); the Mall of America was built; William Jefferson Clinton was elected 42nd POTUS; and, last but not least, Dr. Dre released The Chronic. → Read More
(This is the picture we use when we talk about the LG watch phone, because LG staffers made things difficult.) Would you want a watch phone? Of course you would. It’s a little tiny wrist worn box of the future. It’s a childhood sci-fi idea made real. Oh, but do you have over $1,400 bucks to drop on one? Anyone? Hello? → Read More
If you’ve been waiting patiently for an Apple netbook – something the company’s not even close to announcing – you might want to pass the time with an MSI Wind loaded up with OSX and modded with an honest, glowing Apple logo from an old iBook lid. → Read More
The other day I asked somewhat tongue-in-cheek whether Tom Friedman had ever visited Silicon Valley. Today, I’m wondering if Lady Greenfield has ever used a social networking site.
The professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln College, Oxford and the director of the Royal Institution has the United Kingdom up in a tizzy about the idea that Facebook, Bebo and Twitter are warping their children’s minds.
She warned that social networking sites “are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilized, characterized by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize and a shaky sense of identity.”
I’m not a psychologist, nor am I a parent, so let me start by saying she might be right that these sites are harmful in some cognitive way. But I think she’s wrong to assume social networking is devoid of a “cohesive narrative and long-term significance.” I can see where she’s coming from, but like a lot of people who don’t actually use these sites, she’s missing a fundamental shift from Web 1.0 chat room days to Web 2.0 social networks: Real identity. → Read More
12seconds.tv, the ‘video Twitter‘ that allows users to send brief video clips counting twelve seconds in length, has announced that is now fully integrated into popular Twitter client Tweetdeck, which will now allow users to both record and receive 12seconds messages (previously they had only been able to receive messages).
The site is also going to begin allowing third party sites and applications to integrate 12seconds recording functionality through an API (as with TweetDeck, they previously had been unable to record messages). Developers will need to request a key to access the API, and will gradually be allowed to access the system over the next two weeks. → Read More
Lord Carter’s Digital Britain interim report made waves earlier this month, and not in a good way. Cory Doctorow roundly thumped it; Charles Leadbetter deconstructed it in the context of what he calls mutual media, reaching the rather damning conclusion in his report (PDF) that Digital Britain can be saved, so long as Lord Carter rethinks his entire approach (not kidding). This morning Lord Carter gives his first major speech since the report was published; he’ll be joined by Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media; media expert Peter Bazalgette and the discussion is chaired by NESTA’s Jonathan Kestenbaum. None of these luminaries are on Twitter yet (to my knowledge – tell me if they are). Here we go… Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:32 AM: Not a good start – we’ve just been asked to turn off our phones. Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:33 AM: Kestenbaum says that Digital Britain interim report strikes a balance between the importance of users in content and network creation and the difficult economic times we find ourselves in. Has he read the report? Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:38 AM: Livestream here. Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:38 AM: Carter’s up. He has a prepped speech, but will just talk off the cuff. Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:39 AM: Drawing the distinction between reports to government and reports of government, saying Digital Britain is the latter, because it’s meant to be implemented in the real world for the purpose of making a real change. The goal is to get the people to debate the issues as objectively and analytically as possible. Slating the public nay-saying sentiment that prevails at the moment – I’m thinking he’s read the backlash since the report was first published. Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:43 AM: @dominiccampbell points out people can tweet their feedback on the report to @innovationedge Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:44 AM: Carter’s going through the list of key focus areas in Digital Britain, starting with infrastructure.Media misunderstands how public policy and private sector markets can work together to create the infrastructure which will drive demand for higher capacity networks. (Above: A word cloud generated by the Twitter feed during the debate) Tue 24 Feb 09 @ 8:50 AM: Legal protection, online safeguards – third area of interest. Admits is the area where report’s ideas are least formed, and the area on which → Read More
