We have some good news, Trekkies. We’ve got the inside scoop that the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia will be hosting one of two traveling conventions in May. If you recall, the Franklin Institute was home to the kick ass Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit we covered last year. Hit the jump for details on Stark Trek: The Exhibition, nerd. → Read More
Now this is something that I’d like to see in the US considering that so many of us are paying ridiculous prices for our parking spaces. Park Let, the UK’s largest parking space letting agent, launched an online parking space price-guide tool today. It is the first real-time, location-specific tool available in the UK. → Read More
More news on the G19: Amazon is now taking pre-orders. No more news on the release date, other than that it’s supposed to be in May. I just hope Logitech doesn’t have to slip it again. I’m really looking forward to this sexy thing. → Read More
Psyche!!!
Originally slated to ship on the 24th, Amazon has officially said that the Kindle 2 is shipping a day earlier to meet demand. → Read More
Rumor has it that the belle of the ball at CES, LG’s videophonewatch, is going to be carried by Orange for a cool £1000, or almost $1500 in your American ducats.
I’d like our readers to join me in a collective daaaaamn. → Read More
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
WebMission09, the initiative to take 20 UK and Irish tech startups to Silicon Valley has decided on the 20 companies it will be taking. There are 18 new companies, plus 2 Alumni from WM08 (Huddle and Trampoline Systems). If you want to know what all this is about then check out our previous coverage. So the companies include: Cereproc, Concrete-media, Corebridge, Freshnetworks, Replify, Seewhy, Sosius, Tactilecrm. And the rest are: CrunchBase Information Compliance & Risks Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information Alfresco Artesian Solutions Business IT Online coClarity Corebridge Mtivity ProofHQ Sosius ViaPost Yuuguu Zemanta Huddle.net Trampoline Systems Information provided by CrunchBase → 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
