What’s so bad about Amazon and Google Books having a duopolistic stranglehold on the online book-reading industry? That’s what I’d like to know, after the chairman of the Association of American Publishers, speaking at Princeton, said that a recent court ruling between publishers and Google would effectively create a duopoly in the market—Google Books and that “click the read inside” thing on Amazon. I need someone to tell me if I should be outraged, or if I can safely say “eh, whatever” and move on with my life. → Read More
Unlike most of the other writers here at CrunchGear, I’m not a 20-something. I have a kid, and that means that I get to give the parent perspective on things. Things like Roller Bears. → Read More
A camera strap is just one of those things; you have to have the “right one” that works for you, or you’ll go crazy. I bought a new Nikon not too long ago, and during a trip to the San Francisco Zoo discovered that what was a minor irritation, turned into a major pain in the neck with extended wear (pun intended). By the end of the 2 hour walk-through the strap had rubbed my neck almost raw, and I was definitely ready to try something different. → Read More
While the concept of a “universal” dock for your portable computer is certainly a welcome idea, the actual execution has been limited to what are essentially glorified USB hubs with so-so external video capabilities. Still, these docks shave seconds off of hooking up a regular USB hub, plugging a VGA cable and an Ethernet cable into your laptop, and connecting an external microphone and speakers. → Read More
Oh man, I would really like to once again be able to play some ping pong on a regular basis. My kingdom for a larger apartment, money for a ping pong table, and at least one friend in real life! On a somewhat related note, this weird-ass ping pong paddle is intriguing. You wear the entire thing on your hand, which I’d assume makes it an almost spiritual extension of your body. → Read More
Peter Chernin, the long-time president and COO of News Corp, is leaving the company after protracted negotiations over his contract could not be resolved. Chernin’s salary was $28.8 million in the last fiscal year, which was $1.3 million more than even Rupert Murdoch’s take-home pay. Chernin helped Murdoch build and oversee his vast media empire over the past 20 years, and his departure no doubt will raise all sorts of questions about the future of the company. He will be leaving when his current contract expires on June 30.
For instance, what will happen to Fox Interactive Media (FIM)? This particular corner of the Murdoch empire is where News Corp keeps all of its Web businesses: MySpace, Photobucket, IGN, Scout, Chernin was its biggest supporter and internal sponsor. Peter Levinshon, the leader of FIM, was considered to be within Chernin’s camp. Although Chernin and Murdoch worked hand-in-hand, they are also very much opposites and a competitive rivalry always existed between the two. News Corp executives often identify with one boss or the other. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, for instance, is considered a Murdoch guy.
With Chernin gone, perhaps this is as good a time as any to take another look at FIM and what purpose it serves. Its original purpose was almost as an internal M&A fund for Internet startups. But now those businesses have grown up. Other than MySpace, which contributes the vast majority of FIM’s revenues and profits, it is not really clear what the point of FIM is. → Read More
If you were vacillating over which entry-level DSLR to get this year, your decision was just made a little more difficult by Pentax. Their K20D, which is by all accounts an excellent camera, has had its price dropped by two bills. Those are some serious savings, kemosabe. $800 recommended means you can get it for a song once the big e-tailers start undercutting each other. They did this already with the K2000, but I think this is a better deal. → Read More
Break out the siren.gif! One of those security research types demonstrated last week how he was able to get around SSL authentication, enabling him to collect private information—Gmail login/passwords, credit card numbers, and the like—with very little trouble at all. It’s not a flaw in SSL itself, but a flaw in the way people use the Web. → Read More
And so the economic crisis hit America’s largest digital camera retailer: Ritz Camera. The retailer just filed for Chapter 11 thanks to lower than expected sales during the ’08 Holiday season. Thankfully for everyone involved, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is simply a reorganization which means they will probably stick around for a bit. That is if a judge approves $85 million in financing. Hopefully the retailer will make some changes; lots of ‘em. → Read More
First, Kodak sues Samsung and LG for some patent infringement, then Samsung sued Kodak. Now LG is suing Kodak. Bloops! → Read More
This evil-looking boombox is definitely what Vader would have had in his room as an surly teenager — which is to say, during Attack of the Clones. The best part about this AT-AT stereo is that it’s pretty much cassette-only. After all, that was the business in 1980 when the AT-AT was at the height of chic. → Read More
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has confirmed that it plans to shut down Go!Messanger, a VoIP application that was technically only available in Europe. (Hence, the SCEE confirmation.) There’s a silver lining, though: no jobs will be lost as a result of the shutdown. → Read More
I don’t quite know what to make of this monster watch – it’s basically a “mini” Arduino board inside a case attached to a cute woven strap. Then you have one button that controls the whole thing and the wonkiest external connector you can find. The best thing? The very best thing? It plays Pong.
Click for video. → Read More
A wee bit ago I took a spin in the Ford Flex here in NYC. While it’s not a geek’s dream, it does have a few high tech goodies that kept my interest. That’s what we’re going to focus on with these Test Drive features going forward since we’re not an auto blog. → Read More
If you somehow managed to avoid all the hype, you might not know that the Academy Awards were handed out this weekend. There were preview shows, review shows, and Oscar-related goings-on all over television all weekend long. The Free Art and Technology Lab threw their own little Academy Award party this weekend by making all the nominated films available to anyone with a USB drive. → Read More
Attention fans of the website CrunchGear. I have two Spotlight Flashlights to give away to two lucky commenters. From now until noon Eastern tomorrow you, too, can try to win one of these teeny-tiny flashlights. → Read More
Apologies for the bad pun in the title of this post, but QuickPod, makers of camera extension arms, have added a couple new products to their portfolio: the QuickPod Explorer and the QuickPod Pro+ Precision. In case you weren’t previously familiar with QuickPods, they’re telescoping poles to which you attach your camera, to allow you to take a better picture of yourself than you could otherwise do just holding the camera at arm’s reach. → Read More
An experiment, if you will. Place two sets of headphones in opposite corners of an empty room and leave for 15 minutes. When you return, you’ll find them both in the middle of the room, tangled together into a knotted mess. For extra fun, try this experiment when you’re running late for an important meeting. You’ll find that they’ve doubled the knots and tied them extra tight! If you’ve got an old contact lens case, though, you may be able to avoid this problem. → Read More
It’s no secret that the iPhone is one of gaming’s hottest new platforms, and while many of the games on the App Store leave something to be desired, every once in awhile we stumble across a game sporting very high production values that rival dedicated videogame systems. This weekend, Resolution Interactive unveiled a new game called Aqua Moto that is strongly reminiscent of Nintendo’s classic game Wave Race 64, allowing gamers to race Jet Skis through a variety of 3D environments. You can grab a free ‘Lite’ version of the game here, but at only $3 the full version (which includes far more tracks) is a bargain. → Read More
Here’s some consumer electronics heartache for you. A couple in Boston bought an $1100 Samsung TV from Circuit City’s liquidation sale, only to find out that, once they got home and opened it up, it was shattered. Why didn’t they inspect it at the store, you ask? Well, apparently the signs in the store say “DO NOT OPEN THE MERCHANDISE” alongside other signs that say “ALL SALES FINAL” and “CHECK YOUR PURCHASES,” among others. → Read More
