Here’s one of the easier projects I’ve seen on Make in a while. Take an Ikea “Ivar” ladder, lay it on the floor, and use it as a camera dolly. Just the thing for shooting video, I could have used one of these while we were in Vegas. The best part about this project? It’s cheap. You’re looking at roughly $30 worth of parts to build this. → Read More
MySpace Records, the indie record label that’s a joint venture between the social network and Interscope Records, is going through some changes. Not to be confused with MySpace’s popular MySpace Music free streaming portal, MySpace Records is a small record label designed to help promising new artists get early exposure. Earlier this evening, LA-based radio station KROQ reported that MySpace Records may have been disbanded. We’re hearing from multiple sources that that isn’t entirely accurate: A handful of people were let go from the label’s small team, and the label’s GM Jay Scavo has returned to Hollywood Records. But all artists currently signed to MySpace Records will remain on the label, and the partnership with Interscope remains.
That’s sure to be good news for the label’s artists, which include Pennywise and Nico Vega. The label has also previously featured a handful of artists who were eventually promoted to the main Interscope label, including Kate Voegele and Mickey Avalon. However, while the current artists are safe, we’re hearing that the direction of the label and its future structure are still up in the air. → Read More
Back in 2008, we wrote about a startup called NewsCred, which looked to help identify the most trustworthy news sources using a combination of community voting and algorithms. That didn’t really take off, so the company is now heading in a new direction: it wants to help users build their own custom online newspapers in a matter of minutes, offering a professional-looking site tailored to include the content you’re interested in. And using NewsCred premium features, you could potentially create a combination news aggregator/opinion site in the same vein as The Huffington Post.
Using the site is simple: you choose the title of your new virtual paper, then specify which topics you’re interested in following. The site includes a number of categories to choose from, including tech and politics, but you can also generate one based on a keyword if you’d like. Once you’ve chosen your topics, NewsCred will generate a virtual newspaper containing the latest stories from each area. Stories are drawn from popular relevant news sites and blogs, and you can specify a RSS feed if it isn’t in the NewsCred directory. → Read More
Sir — let me shake you by the hand. There. This is a most marvelous accomplishment. Most pleasing. What’s that you say — it’s not in production yet? The devil! Good day, sir! …I SAID GOOD DAY! [via Gizmodo] → Read More
People are continually looking for new pieces of information. We go to school, read articles on a variety of subjects, have free websites such as Wikipedia, and use search answer engines such as Aardvark and Quora for the sole purpose of quenching our never-ending thirst for knowledge. But how do you find and access wanted information which people are unwilling to divulge, at least for free, except to their closest confidants? Enter GenApple, an information brokerage company who hopes that their website will help to facilitate the exchange of such knowledge. By creating a marketplace for information, GenApple, just entering public beta, hopes that those who would normally withhold certain privy information will be less reticent to disclose it when monetarily incentivized.
Those with information to sell can create a listing similar to one you would find on any classifieds page. Postings are listed on the website immediately after submission. When creating a listing, the seller has the ability to hide any or all of his personal information which he used during sign-up: all that will show is the username. Conversely, he can show all of his information if he thinks it will aid in the process of a buyer purchasing his information. Potential buyers are able to post listings as well in the “I want to know” section. → Read More
The readers of this blog are probably far to well-informed to take part in the “electromagnetic allergy” FUD and NIMBYism. I’m sure it’s clear to you guys that we’re all saturated with various forms of radiation all the time, and having a radio tower by your house isn’t likely to do anything other than mess with your reception. But the residents of Craigavon, a town in Northern Ireland South Africa, seem to think otherwise. In fact, they directly attributed lack of sleep, headaches, rashes, and a whole swath of vague complaints to a wireless broadband tower set up by iBurst.
The usual ignorance and hysteria, yes, but here’s the fun part. After confirming that the residents had been having the same symptoms over the last couple months, iBurst revealed that the tower had been turned off the entire time. I would have liked to see their faces. → Read More
Every so often, some company comes along and tries to get us to change how we type, or what kind of keyboard we use. The MiniGuru is the latest example of this phenomena. → Read More
So there is this podcast, Fear the Boot, and I accidentally stole their logo for this post involving boots. The resulting ruckus on that post’s comment thread is currently out of control and I am truly sorry that I unleashed this cancer on all of you, my dear, dear readers. → Read More
I just wanted to put a little attaboy in here for Google. The quake in Haiti will of course prompt a humanitarian response, and accurate aerial imagery will help get it to where it needs to be most. Helicopters are probably occupied ferrying passengers and supplies, so I’d imagine few can be spared for reconnaissance; satellite imagery is the best way to go for a snapshot of the area, and Google contracted GeoEye to shoot some shots for just that purpose. Check out Google’s Haiti relief and imagery page here. It’s good to note every once in a while that the technology we take for granted can actually be used for things other than finding the nearest coffee shop. This kind of quick and helpful response (thanks as well to the mobile companies and their texting donations) is heartening. If you want to help, and I know you do, then text HAITI to 90999 to donate ten bucks to the Red Cross. → Read More
Matt: The color display is psychedelic, man. Devin: Featuring the hit game “Super Mario Tweakers” Dave: “In that moment, Steve realized that buying a game system off of e-bay wasn’t the best idea in the world” Nicholas: Screw Leno [via imgur] → Read More
Experiencing Assassin’s Creed blues now that you’ve finished the game, unlocked Altair’s armor, found all the glyphs, and have collected all 100 impossible-to-find feathers? Don’t fret friends. According to Ubisoft’s financial release this morning, Assassin’s Creed III will be released in fiscal year 2011, which begins in April 2010.
It was previously thought that this would only be an expansion to Assassin’s Creed II, but Ubisoft has confirmed it is a new title featuring Ezio, and will have an online multiplayer mode. → Read More
One of the reasons text messaging is so popular is because it’s so simple. Anyone with just about any kind of mobile device can do it. And that’s why it was ingenious when the Obama administration set up a special number and got the major U.S. carriers on board to allow people to very easily donate $10 to the Red Cross to help with the disastrous situation in Haiti following a major earthquake. So far, that program has raised over $5 million from over a half million different mobile phone users, someone from the U.S. State Department confirmed today.
As of the last update, the number stands at $5.2 million. Of that, more than half have apparently come from AT&T users ($2.63 million), the company told us today. If you’re still interested, simply text HAITI to the number 90999. A $10 charge will be attached to your next cellphone bill. → Read More
This test is no doubt neat. I mean, automakers test the exterior to make sure every piece can withstand extreme temperatures and they should. But how about the test where the Volt‘s battery is heated up to 200 degrees. Where is that video? I’ve sat in a few cars after they baked in the sun all day long and the exterior was cool to the touch but were at least 200 degrees inside. What’s that going to do to the lithium-ion battery pack? I have so many questions. → Read More
MySpace is obviously a social network, but in terms of being talked about these days on the social web it has lost a lot of steam in recent years. To help with that, they’re bringing in Sean Percival to be the service’s new Director of Content Socialization.
Percival, who was apparently one of the first 3,000 people to ever sign up for MySpace, had previously been consulting for the company and has written a book about what he’ll now be preaching: MySpace Marketing: Creating a Social Network to Boom Your Business. He’ll report to Angela Courtin, the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Entertainment & Content for MySpace, and will work with the editorial and content teams to try to help kickstart talk about the service on the web. → Read More
If only Casio’s new FH100 was rugged as well! Then I would only need one camera in my life. Well, maybe two. And another for backup. At any rate, the waterproof and angular EX-G1 is available for purchase now, from Amazon for $275 or everywhere else for $300. → Read More
There was plenty of talk ever since Lehman Brothers exploded in mid-2008 about how would consumers cope. Would they keep buying widgets in the face of insane job cuts? Would they keep buying, but only at a fraction of what they had in the past? Let’s take PC sales, a pretty good barometer of where the average person is. (It’s a big purchase, but not like buying a car or house.) Shipments of new PCs jumped 15 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. That’s worldwide, by the way, and much higher than the people who expect things expected. This is good news. → Read More
Social finance company Cake Financial has just been acquired by E*Trade. The company launched in 2007 at the first TechCrunch50 conference (when it was still TechCrunch40). Cake Financial has just posted a note to its homepage announcing the deal and to inform users that the site will no longer exist as an independent service. Instead, its features will be incorporated into E*Trade’s website.
We’re hearing that there was a bidding war for Cake, and that The Motley Fool was also in the running. CEO Steven Carpenter declined to comment on the details of the deal.
We’ve included the full text of the notice below:
To All Members and Users of Cake Financial-
I am excited to announce that as of today, Cake Financial is now a proud part of E*Trade Financial Corporation and aspects of the Cake service will be incorporated into the E*Trade website. As of January 14, 2010, the Cake Financial website will cease operation as an independent service. We are honored to be a part of the E*trade family and believe that E*trade can make the vision we had for all investors a reality.
With no fanfare to speak of, Segway Inc, the company behind the gyroscope-powered, self balancing scooters, has been acquired by a UK-based firm. The news was first reported this morning Mass High Tech, and has since been confirmed on Segway’s official blog. Segway has also confirmed that CEO James Norrod is no longer with the company. According to a forum post, the new CEO is Tricia Laidler.
Segway’s post indicates that the company is now owned by a UK-based firm backed by an investor in Segway U.K., which is independently owned.
Segway Inc. is pleased to announce that in connection with a merger that occurred on December 24, 2009, Segway was acquired by a company that is based in the United Kingdom. The acquiring company is backed by Jimi Heselden, a prominent U.K. businessman and the Chairman of Hesco Bastion. Mr. Heselden is also an investor in the independently owned Segway U.K. distributorship.
Additionally, Segway also received funding that will be used to support the continued growth of the company.
For the past several weeks I’ve only used one web browser: Google Chrome for Mac. Sure, it’s still in beta, but it’s fast and generally bug-free. That said, there have still be a couple of annoying issues. One was that there was no extension support (aside from Chromium builds), but that changed last week in the Chrome for Mac dev build. The other was that you could not manage your bookmarks. That changed today.
The latest dev channel release of Chrome for Mac, 4.0.295.0, released today, brings with it a bookmark manager for the first time. While you’ve been able to import bookmarks from Safari for a while, you had no way to manage them. Basically, it meant that you had to use Safari to manage them and to make the change in Chrome, go into your file system, delete the Chrome bookmarks file, and re-import anytime you wanted to make a change. With this new Bookmark Manager, Chrome for Mac is now at full systems go for me. Yes, it’s still missing a few other features such as full-screen mode and application shortcuts, but for day-to-day usage, it’s solid. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
