Businesses using Twitter; there’s something to this idea. Even Twitter itself realizes it, as it’s expected to be a part of its own business model launching soon. In the meantime, other companies continue to jump into the ring. The lastest is American Express, which today unveiled Pulse, a Twitter stream focused on small businesses.
Pulse, which is a part of American Express’ Open Forum site, uses Twitter’s API to display the public tweets from small business owners. This stream can also be broken up into different small business industries, such as auto dealers, cleaning services, restaurants, and many others. → Read More
At least 2 million Xbox Live users have logged into Facebook this past week, which I guess means the feature is a bit of a success. (You’ll recall that Microsoft launched Facebook and Twitter to so much enthusiasm last week.) Mysteriously, Microsoft didn’t reveal the number of people who logged into Twitter. Is this the end of Twitter? → Read More
Gmail is furthering its offline strategy today with the announcement of the ability to include attachments in composed emails when offline. Google says this was one of the most requested features for Offline Gmail and starting today, you be able to attach files in offline mode the way you would in online Gmail.
You’ll be able to attach all types of files except inline images, which are images in the body of the email. When you have Offline Gmail enabled, Google says that mail now goes through the outbox when you’re online or offline, allowing Gmail to capture all attachments regardless of internet connections. → Read More
Yeah, I know this Horgan Becket media cart is incredibly sexy, but don’t get too attached. It costs $12,000. → Read More
It’s not all N900s and lollipops in the Nokia kingdom, folks. Nokia has made a big chunk of their piggy bank with the entry level stuff, and they’ve got two new ones for that market today. → Read More
Space Battleship Yamato is the name of a (rather short-lived) Japanese science fiction anime series that was aired on TV in countries other than Nippon some 20 to 30 years ago (outside Japan the anime and the movie versions are also known as Star Blazers or Space Cruiser Yamato). And now, the series’ very cool, eponymous spaceship gets a very pretty model version [JP]. → Read More
While they’ve been selectively displaying them for a little while now, Google today took the time to talk about and show off its new search ads. The general gist? Bigger, bigger, click me, bigger. Or, in Google’s own words, “Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information.”
That can be true, I suppose, but each of these additions also make the ads units significantly bigger, and as such, much more in-your-face. More often than not, that doesn’t equal a better experience for the user. Of course, Google’s unstated hope is that you’ll be more likely to click on these bigger ads, especially now that many contain visuals. → Read More
If there’s one thing I’ve always missed about MacBooks it’s the lack of gut-thumping bass. I mean the kind of bass that curdles your insides and causes them to blow out in a wet, pink slurry. I’m talking about bass that will make your parents come down into the basement and ask just what do you think you’re doing and then when they come down they’ll be all like “GLARGGLE!” and then they’ll melt like the Nazi’s in Raiders of the Lost Ark. That’s what I’m looking for. Will you get it with the $80 BassJump subwoofer from TwelveSouth? Probably not, but it will add a bit of bass to your woefully under block-rockin’ MacBook’s speakers. → Read More
Distinguishing feeds on Google Reader can be a little hard. Since every feed has the same default blue RSS icon, it requires reading on your part to tell them apart. Reading is hard. Pictures are easier. Today, Google Reader takes a step in that direction by finally adding favicon support to feeds.
The new feature certainly livens up Google Reader quite a bit. The only problem now is that you have a lot of feeds, like I do, it’s not exactly easy on the eyes with zillions of colors bombarding your peripheral vision. But hey, no doubt some people will like this, and most importantly, it’s opt-in. → Read More
Seth at PopMech went wild and started dipping a bunch of phones in liquid nitrogen. The resulting -55 degree bath cause phones to freeze, LCDs to dim, and buttons to stop. But, interestingly, it was hard to completely destroy a cellphone in liquid nitrogen. → Read More
This little controller is butt-ugly and crude, but I still want one really bad. Maybe Santa will bring me one. → Read More
Numbers don’t lie and it’s pretty clear the that the Nintendo DSi LL won the first round against the PSPgo. And it’s only been two days. → Read More
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is starting a new startup called Asana to solve enterprise collaboration, and he just closed a $9 million series A round from Benchmark Capital and Andreessen-Horowitz. this follows $1.2 million angel round last spring from investors including Ron Conway, Peter Thiel, Mitch Kapor, MySpace CEO Owen van Natta, Sean Parker, and former Facebook Director of Mobile Jed Stremel.
Moskovitz, who was Facebook’s first CTO, founded Asana with another former Facebook (and before that, Google) engineer, Justin Rosenstein. Matt Cohler, also a former Facebook executive who is now a partner at Benchmark, will be taking a seat on Asana’s board. And two of its investors, Marc Andreesen and Peter Thiel, currently sit on Facebook’s board. → Read More
Chances are if you, or your spouse, is the type that gets excited about gadgets covered in Swarovski crystals, then you probably don’t care that Peter found the Olympus E-P1 to be just an average performer and nothing special. You also probably have the disposable cash to pay a $2,000 premium over the sticker price. → Read More
AOL may be brushing up its brand image in preparation for its spin-off IPO in December, but brushing up its underlying business will take a little longer. Barclays analyst Douglas Anmuth released a report on AOL today complete with an earnings and revenue model going out to 2014 (see below). He projects absolutely no growth in revenues over the next five years, and only a one-time bump in profits in 2011, due to cutting one third of its current labor costs, before declines set in again.
In other words, investors who buy AOL stock will do so because it is a cost-cutting and turnaround story not a growth story, and that will determine what kinds of investors will buy the stock. Anmuth outlines some of the key factors which investors should be paying attention to. → Read More
http://www.mevio.com/widgets/mwm/MevioWM.swf Here’s the latest HourTime podcast, my little side project with Ariel Adams. Note, there’s a special surprise near the middle of the show so take a listen. Remember, head over to HourTime to drop your comment. → Read More
Wanna know if there is a Mario-style dungeon under the outer layer of the huge Nintendo DSi LL? Spoiler: There isn’t. → Read More
Tokyo-based Cube Works, whose products regularly find their way outside Japan (example: the humping USB dog), has announced a mini Yoda figure (the little green guy from Star Wars) that you connect to your computer’s USB port. The power is needed to make Yoda’s cheeks blush and illuminate his light saber. → Read More
It stands to reason that a general purpose mobile computing platform, like the iPhone or iPod Touch, will engender a host of special purpose niche applications. Pet Acoustics is one such application: “Pet Acoustics music has been specifically designed for the hearing sensitivities of your pet, both in frequency, volume and rhythm to calm and soothe your pet anytime, anywhere.” This $1.99 app includes music for dogs, cats, and horses, and includes a timer feature for scheduled playback. → Read More
