Uh oh! Looks like the Motorola Sholes isn’t the only Android-totin’ kid hanging around on Verizon’s block. According to BGR, Verizon’s cracking away at an HTC-made Android handset called Desire, which they plan to launch shortly after the standard approvals and regulations are dotted and crossed. And what do you know? Both the FCC and the Wi-Fi Alliance just gave it the thumbs up. Expect more news sooner than later. → Read More
Let’s see… a robot that responds to the thoughts of its master (is “master” the right word here?). Pretty sure that we (humans) will bring about our own downfall, either by blowing each other up, or by inventing a robot that says, “You guys are idiots, so we’re going to kill you.” → Read More
Fresh off their new $100 million funding round, Twitter continues to scoop up talent from around the web to expand operations. The latest catch is Mark Trammell, who had spent the last two years working on user experience for Digg. Trammell will start his new job at Twitter in a week on the design team working to build a user research program.
Trammell is the latest in a series of long-time employees to leave Digg in recent months. In May, former lead architect Joe Stump announced he was leaving to do a new mobile location startup (now called SimpleGeo) with former SocialThing founder Matt Galligan. A couple of weeks ago, Digg’s design lead Daniel Burka, announced he would be joined Tiny Speck, the new social gaming startup led by former Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield. → Read More
Genius! The Mountian Hardwear Refugium Jacket is simply genius. The winter jacket has a battery pack by Ardica that – get this – heats the coat and can charge your gadgets. Amazing! Too bad it’s eff’n expensive. → Read More
In Japan, Nintendo has been experimenting with offering content other than just games for quite a while now. Japanese DS owners have been able to download anime movies and digital manga for over a year. And in May this year, Nintendo teamed up with the world’s biggest ad agency, Tokyo-based Dentsu, to introduce a video distribution service for the Wii. Needless to say, this service is Japan-only, too. But that will change soon. → Read More
With more and more developers building services on top of Twitter, more and more are also using Twitter’s avatars as the primary icons for their services. That’s great because for the user it means one less image to upload to yet another service. The problem with this is that if a user changes that avatar on Twitter, it could break it on the new service without you realizing it. So former Digg lead architect and current SimpleGeo (formerly known as Crash Corp). co-founder Joe Stump has created a simple service to get around that problem.
Called Tweetimag.es, basically the service allows developers to replace their calls to Amazon’s S3-hosted Twitter images and instead use a shorter img.tweetimag.es URL that will always pull your most recent Twitter avatar. So something like this: → Read More
Now, now. Don’t get too excited. Verizon tends to put stuff into their inventory months and months earlier than they need to. You can, however, get a little bit excited: this more or less confirms that the low-end (but still Wi-Fi enabled!) BlackBerry Curve 8530 is coming to Verizon.. you know, eventually. In fact, it look like it’ll be coming in two colors: one black, the other lavender. [Via CrackBerry] → Read More
Electronics retailer Newegg plans to raise $175 million for an IPO, according to an SEC filing. The online retailer sells IT products, including computer hardware and software; and consumer electronics through its website. In the filing, the retailer says that it has been profitable every year since 2001 and posted sales of $2.1 billion in 2008.
Newegg’s net income increased 55 percent in 2008, to $28.4 million. Sales increased 13 percent to $2.1 billion in 2008, and have just more than doubled since 2004, when sales were $982 million. As a retailer, NewEgg’s's profit margins are slim. It was only 1.4% in 2008. Amazon’s profit margins are around 3.3%, which is double Newegg’s margins. Reaching a 3.3% margin may the best Newegg can hope for. And while Newegg is seeing decent revenue growth, retail is tough, especially when your biggest competition is Amazon. → Read More
Given how much people depend on their mobile phones these days, it’s pretty much catastrophic when they stop working. Most these days don’t have a traditional land-line, so when your phone stops working, you lose touch with the world. So which carrier has the best customer service? Who can you depend on to help you in your hour of need? → Read More
Good then. Netbook manufacturers will be able to preload any version of Windows 7 onto their machines – not just Windows 7 Starter Edition. And while we found out in May that the arbitrary three-application limit had been removed from Windows 7 Starter (thereby making it virtually indistinguishable from Windows 7 Home Basic), the lack of other features like not being able to change your desktop wallpaper or use some of the cooler Aero stuff felt more than a bit underwhelming. → Read More
There’s not too many gadgets out there that I’d spend money on. There’s the Zune HD, which, while totally unreadable in direct sunlight, is still otherwise a fine portable media player. So that’s one. Another one would be that Philips Wake-up Light (though that will have to wait till next month; stupid Zune HD was expensive!) I bring this up only, and I do mean only, to segue into a brief discussion of this here video of the Philips Lumiblade OLED, um, thing. Get it, Philips, lights, OLED, etc. Very high-concept. → Read More
Victor JVC seems to finally have realized how well the Flip sells over in North America. The company has now announced the Picsio GC-FM1 [JP], a mini camcorder recording video at 2.03MP and shooting pictures at 8MP. The Picsio offers 1080p output at a 4:3 ratio (1,440×1080, 30fps). Alternatively, you can go for a 720p, VGA or QVGA mode. → Read More
YouTube is trying to create more incentives for media partners to keep content on the video-hosting site. Today, YouTube announced the integration of Content ID, which is an advanced set of copyright policies and content management tools, with YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload. One way to look at this is that YouTube is trying to offer this extra data and analytics to keep partners on board.
According to YouTube, over 1,000 partners are using Content ID to reveal user-uploaded versions of their videos on YouTube. The partners can then determine whether they to want block, track or make money from them. YouTube Insight shows stats, video rankings, demographics, discovery sources and other metrics for videos, giving partners a broader picture of how viral the content is. For example, YouTube says Sony Music learned that the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video is the music label’s 8th most popular video on YouTube via the Content ID and YouTube mashup. → Read More
Starting next Sunday, October 4th, you’ll be able to pick up the Gateway LT2016U through Verizon for $150 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a two-year data plan. The machine will come preinstalled with a 3G Gobi chipset from Qualcomm, which will work here in the US and abroad as well. → Read More
Ah – there we are. Just as the long rumored Motorola Sholes started to slip off the radar after failing to make an appearance at Motorola’s big (read: somewhat underwhelming) Android announcement earlier this month, it has moseyed its way right through the FCC. Now that the FCC has verified that the Sholes wont melt your brain or ruin all nearby radio equipment, when can we expect it to launch? Well, these things aren’t exactly definite by any means – we’ve seen plenty of devices clear the FCC only to launch as much as 6 months later – but we’d imagine the Verizon is anxious to get their first Android device out the door. With the Sprint Hero and Motorola’s other Android device, the Cliq, going on sale on T-Mobile come October, it wouldn’t be a bad time for Verizon to hop in and throw down. [Via IntoMobile] → Read More
Friends, it’s been a long, hard weekend. You’re back in your cubicle – or maybe you’re just really, really hungry – but you guys have come out of the wringer and are ready for a breath of fresh air. And so we present a small man in glasses rapping about MacBooks and, more importantly, ladies. → Read More
The one major draw of having GPS navigation software on your smartphone is that the phone is probably connected to a network that can give more info than just directions, but the screen is just so damn small. TomTom knows this and just launched its second Internet-connected GPS device, the 4.3-inch XL 340S LIVE. This guy uses AT&T as its data provider and can update the users on a whole range of info: fuel prices, weather, traffic levels, traffic incidents, and more. But there’s a small catch. → Read More
A well-meaning law, yes, but one that just misses the mark. I refer to, of course (as if you have any idea what I’m talking about), the Road User Amendment Rule 2009 in New Zealand. It would make it illegal to use a cellphone as a navigation device while inside a car. → Read More
Never underestimate the power of two-way sync and large social networks. A week ago, MySpace turned on two-way sync with Twitter, allowing members to post their status updates to Twitter directly from MySpace. Those updates appear in Twitter with a short link back to MySpace, using MySpace’s own link shortener, “http://lnk.ms/.”
MySpace status updates are now flooding Twitter. Those MySpace short links account for 17 percent of all passed links on Twitter, according to Tweetmeme, making it the No. 2 link shortener after bit.ly, which rules with 68 percent. The day of the launch, lnk.ms accounted for 8.56 percent of all passed links on Twitter. MySpace has had its own short URL for about six months, but it’s only now taking off with two-way sync. → Read More
Earlier this summer live video streaming service Ustream scored a big win as it was endorsed by Facebook as its preferred live video service. The app gives celebrities and brands a way to create their own live streams without having to build custom Live Stream Box applications, which also launched in June. Ustream on Facebook is only available to brands and celebrities at this point (you have to apply to the program if you want it), but it’s already seeing some impressive stats — to date, the app has seen nearly 4 million total viewers and more than 6 million hours streamed.
The app’s growing roster of celebrity users includes Miley Cyrus, CBS Mountain Dew, The Jonas Brothers, Ashton Kutcher, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Honors Society, Ashley Tisdale, Reba McEntire, Diddy’s White Party, Hurley Pro and U.S. Open surfing competitions, Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Global Summit, as well as a number of other live concerts and even Duke University’s office hours. Facebook executives have used the app as well, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg streaming from Brazil during a talk and COO Sheryl Sandberg using it for her Advertising Week keynote. → Read More
