Averatec is testing the aluminum notebook waters with the 13.3-inch N3400, a 3.8-pound ultraportable with a $799 pricetag. → Read More
It hasn’t even been 24 hours since we wrote about the impending launch of TweetMeme competitor ReTweet, and already TweetMeme founder Nick Halstead is threatening ReTweet with a lawsuit. He takes being king of retweets very seriously.
It is not so much the apparent flat-out copying of TweetMeme’s Website design (ReTweet has not even launched in private beta yet), that bothers him. After all, TweetMeme itself was highly “inspired” by another news aggregator, Techmeme. What bugs him is what he claims to be almost exact copying of code. Halstead writes on the TweetMeme blog: → Read More
This is probably the last piece of the puzzle concerning the iPhone suicide incident. The NYT is stating that Foxconn gave the man’s family more than $44,000 and his girlfriend got an Apple notebook. That’s all, folks. Come up with your own conclusions and/or morbid jokes. This sad event makes us sick. → Read More
Friendster, one of the oldest social networks, is actively looking for a buyer and has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to find a party interested in acquiring the company or at least some of its assets.
According to documents obtained exclusively by TechCrunch, it looks like Morgan Stanley is shopping Friendster around in Asia, which makes sense considering almost its entire user base is located in the Asian-Pacific region. In the main document (embedded below), it says that 75 percent of its registered accounts are in Asia. The docs come from a credible source, are time-stamped ‘July 2009′ and carry a number of interesting nuggets about the influence Friendster still has in the social networking sphere, even if mostly in Asia. → Read More
Panasonic sure knows how to market their stuff. First the company made its cute Evolta robot hoist itself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon last year to show off the power of the Evolta batteries. Now the little guy (Mr. Evolta) turned into a tricycling robot and is ready to take on [JP] the famous Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in France. → Read More
Scout Labs, a SaaS dashboard that makes it easy to keep track of what people across the internet are saying about particular topics or brands, has added a new focus group-like feature that is worth a look.
The product, which we first reviewed in December 2007 while still in private beta, now includes a “Quotes” section which pulls in real-time quotes from people who are chattering or Tweeting about a brand or topic on the web. The feature scans the quote for sentiment, and breaks quotes down by positive, negative or neutral undertones. The algorithm that deciphers the quotes also categorizes them as “wishes,” “recommend,” “issues,” or “caveats.” Caveats indicates comments that include the word “but.” For example, a caveat quote would be “I like Netflix but…” And you can filter quotes from Twitter exclusively. → Read More
Can Apple save the music industry again? The rumor is that Apple is currently in secret talks with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group on project “Cocktail.” The major labels are once again looking to Apple to revive the slumping industry with a full-featured tablet that’s a bit of a throwback to the golden era of record sleeves, artwork, liners, etc. → Read More
Straight from the horse’s mouth, friends. T-Mobile G2 Touch available to buy online from tomorrow and in stores over the next few days. T-Mobile UK [Twitter] → Read More
I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of a 256GB SSD to replace the dying Hitachi 250GB HDD in my MacBook Pro, but Western Digital has me thinking twice about going leaner and meaner. WD announced two new 2.5-inch mobile drives this morning in ridiculous capacities. Maybe not ridiculous, but who wouldn’t want a 750GB or 1TB drive in their laptop?! → Read More
AT&T has made even more people than usual angry when it started blocking/filtering parts of 4chan late last night. The popular message board, famous for being able to brew online (and offline) shitstorms like no other web property could, saw portions of its publication – including /r9k/ and the infamous /b/ – blocked for AT&T customers across the United States. Quickly enough, there was a lot of rallying going on, with 4chan members and fans virtually gathering to plot digital riots and all-round mayhem.
An update on the situation as of 8 AM Eastern Time: access to 4chan has apparently been restored, with AT&T reportedly confirming the hours-long block of portions of the site, “following the practices of their policy department.” AT&T went on to say that they contacted (or at least attempted to contact) the owners of 4chan, which Moot vehemently denies. → Read More
How awesome is this? All credit goes to MeetTheBoss for creating this visualization (better quality image available when you click through), but it was too good not to share it with you.
It’s a visual representation of Amazon’s acquisitions and investments from 1998 until its most recent purchase of Zappos for a reported $928 million. → Read More
Breaking Now: Streaming music service Spotify has release a video of the iPhone app which they’ve just submitted to Apple, which means it could be out in a few weeks. They’ve also revealed more of their business model – mobile access on any device will require a premium subscription.
Interestingly, you’ll be able to use the app when there is no wireless connection. The application has an offline mode that allows users to temporarily cache playlists to their phone for use when there is no connection. → Read More
An interesting report hit the Financial Times today, indicating that Apple is working with all of the major music labels on a way to boost album sales. But the report is confusing in a number of regards, and is propelling new rumors that Apple’s new large form iPod touch, or tablet (which itself is naturally still a rumor, though an increasingly likely one), could be rushed to be out in time for the holidays — this year.
But let’s take a step back for a second here. FT seems to go back and forth between tying this new Apple/music label effort, which is apparently code-named “Cocktail”, with this new device. At first, it indicates that it’s separate (emphasis mine): → Read More
“Archive video has clearly exploded all over the internet, but live video hasn’t. We think it’s because more flexibility is needed that no single product can meet, but an open platform can.” That’s what Justin.tv VP of Marketing Evan Solomon tells us in announcing the opening up of the service’s API.
The API, which has been in closed testing for about a month now, will now be available to anyone who wishes to use it, for free. Justin.tv can do this because they’ve made live video cheap to serve. Their internal network has capacity for some 100 million hours of video viewing per month, we’re told. For some perspective, that’s roughly 2.5% of media giant Comcast’s capacity, but Justin.tv is run at a fraction of the cost. → Read More
Not to be outdone by Gamestop, Walmart is now offering one free Wii title with the purchase of a Wii system for $249. But are the games any good? Hit the jump to find out. → Read More
