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
This is a guest post written by a London-based VC. For the purposes of them being able to speak plainly without jeopardizing 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 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
We all like the idea of setting aside a nice chunk of money in a savings account and putting it to work for us, but it’s a bit easier said than done — if you want the best rates, you have to choose from one of hundreds of CDs and savings account products offered by various banks, each of which has its own rates and restrictions. BillShrink, the startup that targets a variety of verticals to help users save money, is launching a new service today that looks to help make this decision much easier.
If you’ve used any of BillShrink’s other services before — which include cost cutters for cell phone plans, gas stations, and credit cards — you’ll be right at home here. To get started, BillShrink asks you where you’re currently keeping your money, as well as the amount that’s in your account. → Read More
Although the iPod and iPhone are versatile gaming platforms, gamers have been skeptical for a number of reasons. No buttons, to start, and no room for serious assets (though recent games have really been pushing the limits). That doesn’t appear to be stopping Apple from pushing the iPod touch as a gaming device in this clever ad on IGN. → Read More
No, it’s not a physical manifestation of a computer virus. Made by Japanese artist Mio I-zawa, the mechanical tumor serves as the most biological CPU meter ever seen. → Read More
That fact that Apple has rehired Michael Tchao, one of the original Newton developers, is likely to stir up stories and posts about the Apple tablet. But the man has had a storied past in the CE field and Apple might have brought him back on board after a 15 year hiatus just because of his impressive resume. Or they need help on the Apple tablet marketing. Actually, that’s probably exactly why Apple needs him back. → Read More
The Kindle DX might be a good e-book, but the consensus among students at Princeton is that it is a very poor replacement for real books. Very poor, sir.
It’s not secret that students make a holy mess of their books, annotating, dog-earing, doodling in the margins — and none of that is easy (if it’s even possible) on the Kindle, or any other e-book at the moment. Sure, if all you need to do is read plain-text book, it’s handy. But what about diagrams? Full-color illustrations? Scratch-and-sniff patches?
The Kindle is, in its current form, “a poor excuse of an academic tool,” according to Aaron Horvath, Princeton class of 2010. (I think our Ivy League correspondent meant a poor excuse for an academic tool) → Read More
Thermaltake is one of my personal favorite case makers, I’ve owned a few of their products in my time, but this Level 10 is exceptional. Announced at CeBit in March, the Level 10 was designed with the help of BMW DesignWorks, and it is amazing. MaximumPC got one first, but they were kind enough so share some unboxing pictures with the world. → Read More
Remember the littlest drill in the world? Well it’s now available for purchase. Sure, €85 seems a bit much to pay for a drill that won’t put a hole in anything, but let’s face it, we’ve all spent more on less at some time or another. Buy it here, but expect a couple weeks for construction and shipping. → Read More
The iPhone has all the ingredients necessary to build the first popular location-based game that combines the real world with fantasy — a scenario long dreamt of by gamers. A handful of games like Parallel Kingdom have gotten some traction, but they have yet to really catch on on a large scale. And while Foursquare has gotten quite a bit of attention, particularly in tech circles, its gameplay elements are very rudimentary. Now a new game called gpsAssassin may have struck gold by fusing location and the popular campus game Assassins with the text-based games that have become immensely popular on social networks, Twitter, and the iPhone.
Founder Nicholas Holland says that he’s had some difficulty describing the game, largely because it looks very much iMob, Mafia Wars, and similar games that don’t rely on your location when you play them. And while gpsAssassin may share some of the same mechanics with these — it’s primarily text based with leveling, attack/armor ratings, and other key RPG elements — its location features turn it into a different beast entirely. → Read More
I’ve just hooked up the LifeCam Cinema to my desktop, and thought an SD comparison was in order. In a stroke of genius, I attached the LifeCam to the top of my Mac so it and my iSight were pretty much aligned — though not so much that it’s seamless. I did a little video so you can compare color, fidelity, and all that. → Read More
We’re used to seeing this message flash across the Apple Store every time Steve Jobs graces the stage – but on a random evening at the beginning of the work week? That’s a bit strange. Any guesses as to what’s in the oven? The latest whispers around the Interwebs all suggest that iMac and MacBook revisions are on the way – but they weren’t expected to trickle out for a few more days. Might they be sneaking out a bit early? Perhaps. Might Apple just be adjusting their gradient-y drop shadows and bumping some margins? Perhaps. We’ll see soon enough. Update: It was something along the lines of the second one. It just came back up and, as far as we can tell, nothing changed. Let us know if we missed something. → Read More
After Google dropped the L-bomb on Cyanogen, he reportedly opened up talks with the boys in Goo. It sounds like they may have finally reached a compromise in their little disagreement. Is it a good thing? Maybe, maybe not. → Read More
Ever since the DirecTV‘s CEO stepped down back in July, there has been talk about someone buying up the satellite TV provider. The latest analysis chatter states Verizon might pick up DirecTV to dramatically increase its marketshare overnight. The purchase would make Verizon second only to Comcast in subs when the DirecTV customer base is added to Verizon’s current FiOS subscribers and supercharge Verizon’s influence on the market. → Read More
EnticeLabs, the Provo, Utah startup behind job ad network TalentSeekr, raised $2 million in a strategic seed round led by First Advantage, a publicly traded company which a recruiting arm. Existing angel investors, including Omniture co-founders Josh James and John Pestana, also invested. The company previously raised $1.3 million from angels two years ago.
The company’s main product is an ad network for job recruiting called TalentSeekr. Employment ads are placed across the Web on social networks, industry forums, and blogs, where they are tested and optimized. It tries to target the most qualified job candidates where they naturally hang out online, instead of targeting only the unemployed on job boards. TalentSeekr is in private beta, but some companies already trying it out include IBM, GE, Dell, and Google → Read More
The latest version of the WebOS was released today, with some minor improvements to the bluetooth, email, and the calendar. They still haven’t worked out that pesky iTunes problem though.
As far as updates go, this one isn’t terribly exciting. Palm added support to phone downloads from the Amazon music store (you used to have to use WiFi), backed up your bookmarks to your profile (so you won’t lose them if something bad happens), added a location feature to the calendar function, and added the ability to search to your emails based on the folder. → Read More
