Fun fact: Richard Nixon didn’t like dancing. Cool, huh? Useless trivia aside, this video is actually tremendous. (So many videos out there are rubbish .) It helps to explain the Energy Dance Floor, which converts the leftover energy associated with dancing, and uses it to light all these lights. Bonus: the video is subtitled in both English and Spanish, so you can learn how to say “capture it” en castellano. → Read More
So Pentax announced some new cameras today, and while they aren’t going to blow anybody’s mind, I can’t do a disaffected anti-post for every point-and-shoot announcement. And besides, it isn’t Pentax’s fault. Their cool stuff is being saved up for NAB and all that; they can’t release cool lenses and DSLRs every day. So, without further ado, meet the cameras with “designs so unique that not one can be labeled as ‘just another silver digital camera.’” (PR people, you’ve outdone yourselves) → Read More
Apple has just announced its Q1 2010 earnings, and as expected, they’re very good. I’ll get to the numbers in a second, but perhaps more notable are two Steve Jobs quotes in the release:
“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
I think we all know what that means. → Read More
Are you totally one of those home theater geeks? Do you have $29.99 to burn? Then get yourself to the appery and buy the SIM2Calc app. The app allows you to tune your high-end projector for ultimate picture quality. This also assumes that your projector is one of the expensive ones from SIM2. → Read More
Trouble at HP. The Public and Commercial Services Union in the UK called for a one-day strike at HP’s Enterprise Service division. The union didn’t like that, despite record profits, the division has seen some pretty significant job cuts, as well as a pay freeze. So, strike. More than 1,000 people participated in the strike action, as strikes are commonly called in the UK. Knowledge! → Read More
Yesterday, we noted that multiple sources have heard Steve Jobs refer to the soon-to-be-unveiled Apple Tablet as the “most important thing I’ve ever done.” Today brought two statements out of Apple that are just about as close as you’re ever going to get to a confirmation of that.
In Apple’s press release for its strong Q1 2010 earnings, Jobs said the following: “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.” What’s odd is that not only does Jobs (or anyone at Apple, for that matter) usually make no comments about as-yet unannounced products, but why would he do so in a release about the previous quarter’s earnings — which have absolutely nothing to do with the tablet? He simply had no reason that he had to make that statement. I can only interpret that as he’s just that excited about what he’s going to unveil on Wednesday. → Read More
Are you a road warrior? A coffeeshop telecommuter? A co-working aficionado? If so, today is your lucky day. We want to see photos of your home away from home! Whether it’s your favorite comfy chair at the local coffee shop, the departures lounge at your favorite airport, or even the front seat of your car, take a picture of it for your chance to win a fabulous gift set! → Read More
The future is here, everyone. Let’s check out the just-announced Seagate BlackArmor PS110 Performance kit. It’s Seagate’s first USB 3.0 product and it’s noice — where noice is slang for nice, and for the sole fact that it’s the first USB 3.0 drive I’ve tested. I’m a little excited. → Read More
Question: Why make a TIE Fighter out of Charlie Brown’s head? Answer: Because it’s possible. → Read More
In a sense, the following story can be summed up thus: the US military wants new, hi-tech equipment. That’s not exactly breaking news, no, but there’s an Avatar connection, so if the world could stop rotating on its axis for a moment… It’s called Fine Detail Optical Surveillance, and the military wants Darpa to develop it. Think 3D spy cameras. Attach one to a Predator-type device and the boots on the ground—fresh-faced kids from the corn fields of Iowa—will be able to see the bad guys long before they know what’s going on. Woo! → Read More
Apple has just announced its Q1 2010 earnings, and as expected, they’re very good. I’ll get to the numbers in a second, but perhaps more notable are two Steve Jobs quotes in the release:
“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company.”
and
“The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
I think we all know what that means. → Read More
HipChat, a private business chat service that’s similar to Yammer and 37signals’ Campfire, has just launched to the public. You can find our full overview of the service’s private beta here.
HipChat looks quite a bit like Campfire, but uses a desktop client based on Adobe AIR, rather than a web-based client (Yammer, which we use extensively for internal communication around the TechCrunch offices, is based on AIR as well). Co-founder Pete Curley says that since launching its private beta, HipChat has had nearly 500 companies sign up who have exchanged over 100,000 messages. He also says that many of the companies to sign up have converted to paying customers. → Read More
Hey! Guess what? The Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus are now available for Verizon! You sure as hell wouldn’t know that from looking at Verizon Wireless’ front page today, where there’s no mention of either handset in sight. → Read More
Earlier today, the French site Nowhereelse.fr posted a video of what looks to be a commercial for Apple’s new tablet device, expected to be unveiled on Wednesday during an Apple event in San Francisco. The video led VentureBeat to wonder if it wasn’t the first real commercial for the device. Unfortunately, I’m not sure VentureBeat even ran a translation of the French post about it, because if they did, they’d see that it reads “In the meantime, here’s what an advertisement might look like…” (emphasis mine). In other words, no way is this real.
And really, that should be easy to tell just by watching the video. Does it have somewhat of an Apple look and feel to it? Kind of, but several things don’t feel right. First of all, it’s predicated around the design of the invites that went out for Apple’s event this week, decorated with paint splashes. The likelihood that Apple would use that same concept in a new ad for the device is slim. Technologizer did a good overview of the history of Apple event invites last week, and as you can see, most have nothing to do with product marketing efforts. Sure, a few use the silhouetted people design that are used in iPod commercials, but those were popular before the events. Still, it’s not impossible that Apple would use this design for a tablet commercial, but several other things are still off. → Read More
A man named Dave has cobbled together a remote car starter that uses a pre-paid phone to start the car’s engine. The launch sequence is initiated when the phone gets a call or when a particular event in the phone’s calendar comes up (he uses the calendar to start the car at specific times in the morning and at the end of the day so as not to waste minutes. Dave, I like the cut of your jib. → Read More
Tokyo-based Keio University (which happens to be my alma mater) is ready to take Sim-Drive, its eco-friendly vehicle technology, to another level. The university announced over the weekend that it will collaborate with a total of 34 Japanese companies and municipalities, including powerhouses such as Mitsubishi Motors or Isuzu, to release a new electric car. → Read More
Can we agree that Modern Warfare 2 was an average shooter, just one that happened to be backed by a gigantic marketing budget? It wasn’t bad, certainly, but the story was bat-shit crazy—Red Dawn was more plausible—and No Russian was so clearly developed to spark controversy. This is why this Mario story warms my heart so. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is now the fastest-selling game on a single console to reach 10 million units sold worldwide. The previous record holder was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. → Read More
Ah, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, my favorite TV show when I was a kid. If you find yourself searching for some kitsch to deck out your own playhouse, perhaps this replica Clocky will do the trick. It’s a real, working clock, too. → Read More
