Boom! Looks like Moto CLIQ pamphlet that leaked out a few days ago was spot on. The pamphlet claimed that pre-orders for Motorola’s first ‘Droid handset would begin on Oct. 19th – and sure enough, T-mobile just started the official countdown. There isn’t much in terms of new information, but hey – at least now we know when we’ll be able to throw some money at T-mobile! [Via TmoNews] → Read More
Panasonic’s Let’s Note (aka Toughbook) series is the favorite choice among many Japanese hackers. And today the company announced [JP] two new notebooks from the series with Windows 7 on board. Panasonic says their 16 hours of battery life is unmatched in the industry. → Read More
Dogster has never been a Web 2.0 darling. At first glance a social network for pets isn’t the most innovative idea, and its audience is limited to the kinds of wackos who make name tags for their dogs at conferences or create elaborate fictional personalities for their cats.
But with the benefit of hindsight, Dogster has done two things very, very right: It never raised venture funding and never relied on an ad network for revenues. The result is its network of sites– Dogster, Catster and Snuzzy– that focused on maximizing revenues early on instead of aiming for user growth for the sake of user growth. While many other Web 2.0 names are struggling to raise more money to stay in business, Dogster has been profitable since the second quarter of 2007 and is solidly in control of its own destiny. (Full disclosure: Michael Arrington was a very early angel investor. His statement about his investments is here.)
But there’s a problem. Dogster is still a small site and even happy advertisers will only continue to pay so much to reach the same users. So Dogster has solved that by deciding to become in essence the thing that it always argued startups shouldn’t work with: Ad resellers. → Read More
Damn it, LG. We found comfort in chalking you up as that phone manufacturer who, though they managed to sell a bajillion phones each month, didn’t do anything awesome.
Then you went and made the BL40, a phone which has a soft-spot in our hearts for being absurdly long. (Really. If you get shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean, you could use one BL40 as a raft and another as a paddle.)
Then you went and started that insanely clever serial number campaign.
And now… now you’ve done this: → Read More
And here I thought the megapixel race was over! Guess not, what with Samsung showing off, for the very first time, the SCH-W880, the world’s first cellphone with a 12-megapixel camera. Because how many times have you said to yourself, “Man, I want to take a photo of this unusual drink, but only have the iPhone’s rubbish camera”? → Read More
Windows Home Server might say “home” in the product name, but its low maintenance cost makes it an ideal choice for small businesses. A simple, little WHS can provide comprehensive back up, remote access, and centralized storage for a workgroup. However, businesses don’t need all the fancy-pants media programs that come on HPs MediaSmart line. Enter the HP StorageWorks X510Data Vault. → Read More
What do you get when you mix Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony, and Toshiba together? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not NokSamSilSonTosh. Give up? The Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group, that’s what! → Read More
This is a guest post written by a London-based VC. For the purposes of them being able to speak plainly without jeopardising their fund or their career, I’ve allowed them to post anonymously. Why are we doing this? Well, while the startup eco-system is long in the tooth and highly developed in the US, the European scene is still a spotty, shy teenager, sometimes making a few mistakes. And as a result startups need educating. Make no mistake, LondonVC is a genuine VC and TechCrunch Europe has met them face to face. Over the next few weeks they are going to offer a unique insight into the VC and startup world in Europe. I hope it’s enlightening for European startups. Read and learn. One reason I started this column is because I see a lot of “injustices” in the VC-start-up universe, and while I’m obviously aware that we don’t work in the charity sector and that business is business — and we’re here to maximise investment returns! — I do think we should let market forces determine what’s reasonable or not for business practices and deal terms. However, this works only if entrepreneurs actually have access to experience and insight into what really has been “standard” or acceptable in the past. → Read More
Partigi almost sounds like a board game, and it maybe fitting, since they’re a new social network geared toward helping indecisive movie-holics chose their next flick or tv series, whether online or through their mobile phone (iPhone app coming). According to Partigi, they’ll simplify your selection process by going through your tastes, taking into account your favorites, as well as suggestions made by your Partigi friends, making sure that you discover obscure titles as well as popular ones. Partigi is also responsible for the well known Spanish blogging platform, La Coctelera, is beating with a Spanish heart, but they already have most of the site translated in English. We’ve arranged a sneak preview for 100 Techcrunch Europe readers into their private beta before they launch. → Read More
Dell’s got something for the business set today in the 16-inch Latitude Z, a $2000 notebook that measures just over half an inch thick, weighs 4.5 pounds, and charges wirelessly. → Read More
YouTube has just held a conference call to announce that it has negotiated a deal with Warner Music Group, the major record label that pulled off the world’s most popular video portal after feeling shortchanged by the revenue its videos were driving. Many details of the deal have been rumored for the last few days, and were confirmed accurate: WMG will be putting its full catalog back on YouTube and will have the ability to sell its own advertising against both its premium music videos as well as user generated content that features a WMG song. Revenue will be shared with YouTube but most will be going to WMG. The deal also includes rights to Warner’s Chappell Music publishing arm.
The deal could prove to be a sign of things to come for YouTube’s premium content, especially since the site has left the door open to special branding on Warner’s music pages that would make it clear who the content owner is. YouTube says that it’s working with WMG to define the optimal experience for the user and the artist, and this may well wind up looking significantly different from YouTube’s standard viewing page. → Read More
Okay – either LG accidentally plopped military secrets onto a handful of devices, or they’re looking to start a Golden-Ticket-esque hunt for their handsets. The Korean manufacturer has just offered up $10,000 to anybody who can bring them a handset with any of the following serial numbers: → Read More
Right now it’s somewhat of a chore getting a Blu-ray-equipped notebook. That might change in 2010 though according to a report at Digitime. The report suggests something most of us already know that once the price drops on the slim Blu-ray drive – which will happen in the second half of 2010 – we will start seeing the option become standard. → Read More
Few things get a phone geek’s blood boiling like leaked box art for an upcoming handset. It’s like a strip tease where the dancer starts out wrapped in 10 layers of clothes, and you’re primarily interested in looking at the stitching of the fabric. Leakdroid has managed to unearth the box for Motorola’s first stab at Android, the Moto CLIQ, along with a few new details: → Read More
When Google Wave was unveiled at Google I/O back in May, we noted that it was one of the most ambitious projects we’ve ever seen. Started as a side project in Google’s Sydney, Australia offices, it had the potential to significantly alter the way online communication was carried out. And Google was betting big on it. Google’s VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra devoted the entire keynote of day two of I/O to the project, and no less than Google co-founder Sergey Brin showed up to talk about it afterwards.
Ambitious as Wave was, there were still some rough edges. We were granted access to the developer’s preview shortly after Google I/O, and it was clear that while the basic frame of all this great promise was there, there were no shortage of bugs to be ironed out. And that’s exactly what the Wave team has been doing the past four months, developer Lars Rasmussen tells us. And now they feel the product is ready to be given to a much bigger audience, as they will open it up to over 100,000 new users starting tomorrow. → Read More
Sharp has announced four new LCD TVs with some impressive specs for the Japanese market today [press release in English]. The TVs will be available in four sizes: 40, 46, 52 and 60 inches. All models are full HD and feature LED backlight for improved picture quality. → Read More
With the new Yahoo homepage that was previewed last July and is now rolling out more broadly as part of Yahoo’s new “It’s Y!ou” branding exercise, the main Yahoo homepage is taking on more of the personalization features on MyYahoo. There are all sorts of handy widgets in the left-hand column ranging from Facebook status updates to Gmail to any news feed (just type in a URL like Techcrunch.com and it will add the feed). When you hover over any of the widgets, a box opens up covering most of the homepage with information from that widget.
Today, Yahoo is making it possible to add applications made on the Yahoo Application Platform (YAP) to that sidebar as well. One of the first apps it is launching with is from personal finance tracker Mint, with its Budget by Mint widget. Other YAP apps launching today on the homepage include A-Z Wine Pairings from MyRecipes & Snooth, Books weRead by WeRead, Brain Trainer by Lumosity, a social version of the Flood-it game by LabPixies, kaChing’s virtual stock portfolio app, Movies by Flixster, and WordPRess QuickPress. YAP is part of Yahoo’s Open Strategy that it kicked off last year. → Read More
Approximately 37 years ago, John, Peter—PLEASE COME BACK, PETER!—, and I attended a Garmin press conference where it announced some sort of touchscreen phone. There was genuine interest—I’m hesitant to call it “excitement”—for a few days, but just as time heals all wounds, time also makes you forget; we’ve since forgotten all about said Garmin phone. Until now! Yes, Garmin just announced that the phone, officially the nuvifone G60, will be available on AT&T beginning on October 4. It’ll set you back $299 with a two-year contract and a $100 rebate. Nuviphone Premium costs $5.99 a month. You do see what the Palm Pre is going for these days, right? Just sayin’. → Read More
