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
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
Mobile entertainment startup mSpot is launching its Mobile Movies site, which will let users stream full-length movies on their mobile phones. Movies will be available on 30 different smart phones, including the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices and via all four major U.S. carriers.
To access mSpot Mobile Movies, users can go to mSpot’s mobile site on their phone, and use a credit card to rent individual movies for $4.99 each, or subscribe to a monthly membership at $9.99 (for four movies), $12.99 or $15.99 per month. Based on the movie, rentals could last anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days. The movie will launch within the browser and is powered by the phone’s native media player. → Read More
Product reviews, both from users and experts, are an integral part of the shopping process. Generally, I scour the web for both negative and positive reviews, across multiple sites before purchasing ant type of gadget. Product recommendation research engine Wize has launched a redesigned version of its platform that aggregates reviews from across the web. Launched in 2006, Wize lets consumers search for reviews on electronics, home goods, video games, health products and more. It searches shopping sites with user reviews, such as Amazon and BestBuy, as well as expert reviews from traditional product review sites.
Wize’s technology has been tweaked to read reviews across the web and then analyze what people have said is good, bad or important using real everyday language (i.e. Very Portable, Great for sports!). So shoppers can indicate in their product review search that they are looking for a camera that is “very portable” or “good for vacations” and they will receive recommendations with that language. → Read More
This is the third installment of our exclusive interview last week with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In the first article we showed an overview and video footage of the main subject areas we covered: Big Opportunities, Operating Systems/Browsers, Mobile, Search and Developers.
In the second post we did a deeper dive on his thoughts on big business opportunities for Microsoft in the next 5 – 10 years.
Here we focus on his thoughts on the competitive landscape around operating systems and browsers. And Ballmer has lots to say on the subject. Particularly because Microsoft has fresh browser and OS products in the pipe: IE8 launched earlier this year and Windows 7 launches on October 22. → Read More
Finovate2009, an event centered around the future of finance, is on today in New York City so expect a couple of interesting announcements from the online money management industry this morning and later this week. We had previously covered Billshrink’s new offering and Outright.com opening up its beta to the public.
Later today, content recommendation and discovery software builder Strands will announce that its personal finance subsidiary moneyStrands has teamed up with Savings.com to bring personalized online coupon recommendations to the company’s personal budgeting & online money management platform. → Read More
