Toronto-based Quickplay is set to stream full length TV shows from networks, including CBS, MTV, and NBC. The PrimeTime2Go package will be offered for $7.99/month and will only stream over Wi-Fi to the Bold and 8900. Sorry, Storm owners, but Verizon hates you and crippled Wi-Fi, so you won’t be getting 30 Rock, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory or Nitro Circus. I have no idea if those shows will be apart of the package, but they’re some of my favorites. No word on when Quickplay will go live, though. via Reuters → Read More
And the most downloaded app at the moment is Shazam. Mankind is doomed. → Read More
Not sure what to make of this. FX company Artem have taken it upon themselves (likely with a little cash incentive from Sony) to create an object out of Sony products that… beats. It doesn’t really look like a heart, though, does it? And it’s related to soccer how? → Read More
I just saw this app the other day, and now — it’s gone! How shocking! It looks like “Wifi tether for root users” was in violation of T-Mobile’s terms of service, and Google has shown its cards by removing it. No one really thought the Android Marketplace was going to be a Wild West of G1 apps, but it’s a little disappointing to see just how locked-down it really is. → Read More
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is slated to take the stage later today in Las Vegas at the CTIA show and all eyes will be focused on RIM’s answer to Apple’s App Store. While we wished that RIM had held off on the launch of BlackBerry App World until Lazaridis’ little talk, there’s nothing that could have prevented this announcement from hitting at midnight. So, ladies and germs, I present to you BlackBerry App World. Please ensure that you have a PayPal account, OS 4.2 or higher and a trackball or SurePress touch screen (aka Storm) BlackBerry before proceeding. → Read More
Ruh roh. Hitachi exec Sakae Someya along with other unnamed conspirators have just been charged in the global price fixing LCD scandal that rocked the tech world. OK, it didn’t really rock the tech world, but it was a pretty big deal and I’m sure Dell wasn’t too happy about it. → Read More
This guest post is written by Larry Chiang, a co-founder of Duck9 who also regularly blogs for for BusinessWeek. In this post, he discusses some of the pros of organizing events as a means to increase your own exposure and make connections.
My party mentor, Susan Roane, the author of ‘How to Work a Room‘, once told me, “Larry, there are two types of people in this world: hosts and guests”. She argues that hosting gets you more influence and adds value at a party. I believe her.
I took it a couple steps further because partying and social engineering intrigue me. I see how people in positions of power use parties to further grow their influence. In this post, I boil down my knowledge and reveal how hosting and producing events can boost your visibility, increase your deal flow and help you sway people. → Read More
Imagine you’re a serious Final Fantasy XI player. You might be afraid of someone stealing your store of Phoenix Down, or maybe that Coral Sword you’ve worked so hard for. You might be wanting to take steps to protect your investment. Luckily, SquEnix has you sorted out. It may be a bit overkill, but their new “security token” is probably as secure as you’re going to get. Bonus! Free “mog satchel” with every purchase. Your guy can now hold more items. → Read More
Hewlett-Packard has made its mark in the cloud computing space with today’s rollout of HP Cloud Assure, a new SaaS designed to help businesses adopt cloud-based services in a secure platform. HP Cloud Assure is made up of a suite of the company’s software, including HP Application Security Center, HP Performance Center and HP Business Availability Center. HP will also provide enterprises with a team of engineers to perform security scans, test performance, and monitor availability. The purpose of HP Cloud Assure’s platform is three-fold. The software will maintain security in the cloud by scanning networks, operating systems and web applications. Second, the software will ensure performance by making sure cloud services meet bandwith and connectivity requirements. And lastly, HP Cloud Assure will monitor cloud-based applications for performance issues and ensure increased service uptime and visibility. HP Cloud Assure works in three types of cloud service environments: infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service. HP is officially throwing its hat into the cloud computing rink with the release of this software. Here’s what Scott Kapur, VP of SaaS for HP said about the potential of cloud computing for HP. “There is no question that cloud computing is providing a new set of opportunities for businesses, but it presents new risks as well. With over nine years of SaaS experience and a leading portfolio of solutions in security, performance and availability, HP is uniquely positioned to help assure our customers can leverage the promise of cloud while removing risk from the equation.” CrunchBase Information Hewlett-Packard Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Unless you’re like me and buy all your EA games via Steam, you’ve got some serious DRM. And once you uninstalled the game, you’ve still got DRM. While EA has released a few game specific tools for removing said DRM, they haven’t exactly made it easy have they? Well good news – EA released a tool today that will help you manage the DRM from any game you’ve uninstalled from your system that was released after May 2008. → Read More
Google AdSense is eliminating its video units feature, which allows publishers to show YouTube content and video ads on their pages. Google says that by the end of April, the feature will be fully eliminated for existing AdSense clients and that new clients of the revenue sharing ad program will no longer be given the option to place video ads on their pages through the program. Publishers can still display video content on their pages by pulling embed codes directly from YouTube.
Unsurprisingly, Google says it eliminated the video ads because of poor performance. It is difficult to figure out a sustainable ad model for video, which is why pre-rolls remain more common. But the problem with video ads may not be the ad unit itself but but the underlying content. Brand advertisers don’t want their names associated with random words spoken in videos. You simply cannot efficiently and consistently target ads based on three words in a video. For instance, if someone is watching a clip of “Snakes on a Plane,” it’s probably not the best place to put a travel ad. And search marketers can find better places to put contextual ads. → Read More
TechCrunch reported on the Mozilla Labs Personas work, allowing you to theme your Firefox web browser. I share Robin’s opinion that Mozilla should maybe, just maybe, focus on making Firefox a kick ass web browser, and leave the doodads and geegaws for other folks. Enter Brand Thunder, a company in Columbus, OH looking to “offer companies a compelling, patent-pending solution for creating a more persistent presence with their internet consumer.” → Read More
Samsung just unleashed the powerhouse that is the Mondi. This massive handset comes packing with speedy WiMAX support in a big daddy slider form factor. Winmo 6.1 powers the device and it seems that Samsung has big hopes for the huge device as it’s got just about everything possible in a mobile computing platform. Check it: MS Office, WiFi, BT 2.1, GPS with preloaded maps, 4 GB of internal memory, support for push email, instant messaging support, 3.0 MP camera and camcorder, Opera 9.5 browser, HDMI out, and a huge range of supported video and audio player formats. → Read More
Samsung is rolling out some new products this spring, and they want you to know all about it. We’ll be looking at three basic product lines: their mp3 players, Blu-ray players, and LED-backlit televisions.
We saw some of these back at CES, but now they’re priced and coming out at a store near you. Lots of info after the hump. → Read More
Sprint and Samsung have just taken the wraps off the Instinct s30 aka Mini Instinct at CTIA. It launches on Sprint April 19th in two colors – Cobalt Metal or Touch of Copper. The s30 doesn’t deviate too much from the original Instinct, but developers can now jump on the s30 with open access to core Java APIs like, Multimedia, Messaging, Bluetooth, Contacts/Calendar and File Access. The Instinct s30 will cost $130 with a two-year contract extension. You can preregister now at the Sprint Instinct s30 page. → Read More
I just saw this app the other day, and now — it’s gone! How shocking! It looks like “Wifi tether for root users” was in violation of T-Mobile’s terms of service, and Google has shown its cards by removing it. No one really thought the Android Marketplace was going to be a Wild West of G1 apps, but it’s a little disappointing to see just how locked-down it really is. The question raised is this: will apps have to comply with all carriers’ terms of service once Android is on AT&T, Sprint and the like? That could lead to a lot of confusion. At the moment it’s hard to say since only T-Mobile’s terms apply, but it had better get hashed out soon or developers are going to get antsy. If you’re savvy, you can still get the app and code here. → Read More
This is a guest post written by Carol Kravitz, a former fashion executive and the founder and CEO of Kravitz & Associates, an upscale and exclusive matchmaking service. Kravitz is working on a personal project with Michael Arrington and is enlisting TechCrunch readers for their help:
Finding that special someone is serious business (I know, I make a great living by finding lost souls and matching them with that special someone). But I’m not here to pitch my business today – we only take private referrals and frankly if it wasn’t for this terrific opportunity to help out TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, I wouldn’t have agreed to expose my business to this much publicity. But the sheer volume of TechCrunch readers out there means there is a stastically relevant chance that one of you will know someone who might be willing to help.
To be blunt, we’re looking for your help in finding a wife, or at least a serious girlfriend, for Michael. Or even just a dinner date.
Michael hasn’t had a long term girlfriend in years. About six months after he started TechCrunch in 2005 his then serious girlfriend of four years dumped him hard. Apparently blogging for 20 hours a day doesn’t allow for much personal interaction with a significant other. Even today, a restraining order prohibits Michael from visiting parts of Los Angeles. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
