In case you missed it, Apple announced the long-awaited iPad yesterday. And while there’s been no shortage of coverage by just about every technology-related blog on the planet, perhaps you’d like to be able to use Google Reader without every third post being about the device. If so, there’s a very simple search trick you can use to filter out all the iPad-related hoopla. → Read More
I’ve used VoIP apps on the past few iterations of of the iPhone as well as a number of other devices including some from Nokia, HTC, and Samsung. Those apps always only worked over WiFi and have mostly worked as advertised. Experience shows that if there’s one thing cellular companies are good at it’s ensuring a call can get from point A to point B (although AT&T has been sucking wind lately). It’s what they’ve been doing for almost two decades.
Now that Apple has lifted the ban VoIP over 3G – note it is Apple lifting these restrictions, not AT&T – you have to wonder what’s going on. Won’t 3G tear down the network around our ears? Won’t dogs and cats start living together? → Read More
The rumor: Activision is looking to bring DJ Hero to mobile devices. You can assume the iPhone would be among the platforms supported. The facts: DJ Hero didn’t do too well, but Activision put a hell of a lot of money into it, so it wants to make as much of that back as possible. → Read More
This just in: Woz reads magazines. And he wants to read them on the iPad. → Read More
Come on, who’s had a tech boner over the red and white Panasonic Lumix GF1? Be honest. Maybe their attraction all this time over the standard black model was that they were always hard to come by here in the States, available only from shady ebay sellers. But no worries, Amazon finally has them available for purchase — through a shady 3rd party reseller. → Read More
While everyone is raving about the iPad, one person who doesn’t like it is Hitler. The YouTube parody above takes the now all-too-common final scene from the movie Downfall and replaces the subtitles with a rant against the iPad. It’s the meme that will never die (there are at least 50 Hitler parodies using the same scene with different subtitles, here’s one about Facebook buying FriendFeed).
So what exactly does Hitler have against the iPad? Watch the video after the jump. → Read More
Sanyo Japan announced [press release in English] the LP-WL2500 today, an ultra short-focus projector whose newly developed filter and lamp makes it possible to use the device for long periods without maintenance. To be more specific, Sanyo says they boosted lamp life by 30% (when compared to the previous model) to 4,000 hours. The hybrid filter has the main lifespan, which was 20 times lower previously. → Read More
Editor’s note: Ever since yesterday’s debut of Apple’s iPad, the debate has been raging about what it means for Amazon’s Kindle. Will it kill it? Will it not? Is comparing the two like comparing a computer to a typewriter? To add fuel to the fire and, well, because we love top 10 lists, we present this guest post from Ben Elowitz, who comes down very firmly on the Kindle-is-kaput side of the debate. Ben is co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, a media company with an audience of 10 million monthly unique users; and author of the Digital Quarters blog. Prior to Wetpaint, he co-founded Blue Nile (NILE), the largest online retailer of fine jewelry.
1) The multi-functional capability. Buy a Kindle and you get… a reader. Another dedicated device to carry. Buy an iPad, and you get a whole new companion that can do pretty much anything. Games, movies, browsing, documents, and more—all in one. And zillions of iPhone apps. It’s sooooo much more than a reader, it’s a whole-life device.
2) The screen. Full color, multi-touch screen, gestures, and more. It’s a pleasure to look at it – and we all can rely on Steve Jobs’ aesthetics to know that it’s a pleasure to hold as well.
3) The compatibility. iPad supports ePub out of the box, overcoming publishers’ resistance to having to support a proprietary format such as Kindle’s; and creating compatibility with books sold through a leading standard format through any channel. (Something tells me Amazon will be making an announcement about ePub support real soon…) → Read More
ThisNext has raised $1.2 million in funding according to an SEC filing. This brings the startup’s total funding to nearly $9 million.
Launched in 2006, ThisNext’s social shopping site combines browsing for items online with comments, tagging, social recommendations, comment ratings and a wish list. Users can also create a website widget to show products they like to others via any website. The site faces competition from Polyvore, Kaboodle and Like.com. → Read More
Yes, yes, it’s an overdone Internet meme, but it also precisely sums up nearly everyone’s reaction yesterday to the iPad. Enjoy. → Read More
LED-backlit panels are becoming more and more mainstream, with nearly every 16:9 laptop coming out lately boasting that feature. Apple said as early as 2008 they would start using LED backlights for every one of their notebooks (and the iPad has those, too).
LED-backlit LCD TVs are catching on, too, providing greater dynamic contrast compared with CCFL-backlit LCDs and making it possible to design slimmer bodies. Today, Sharp in Japan announced [JP] another four models (LC-52SE1/pictured, LC-46SE1, LC-40SE1 and LC-32SC1) from their LED AQUOS series, and all have (white) LED backlights. → Read More
Once the iPad SDK is released, many developers will be in a mad rush to create apps optimized for Apple’s tablet device. Already, developers are flocking to update their apps with the new iPhone SDK optimized for the iPad. But it’s not only the developers of games and apps who are participating in this gold rush. Motally, a startup that provides analytics on mobile devices, is launching the extension of their user-action tracking services for mobile web and apps to include content developed on Apple’s iPad. Their analytics will automatically work for iPhone apps accessed on the device with further support to be released specifically for the iPad SDK once it is available from Apple.
Motally’s offering allows developers to receive daily reports, web-based dynamic reports and user statistics such as unique users, page views, engagement time search keyworks, average pages/visit, etc. Currently using the iPhone SDK, Motally will support the iPad SDK once it rolls out. → Read More
Buried in Nokia’s earnings release from this morning (PDF) is an interesting revelation about the Ovi Store, the centralized application shop for programs fit for Nokia devices that the Finnish giant debuted – not so stylishly – in May 2009.
The company now officially acknowledges that the Ovi Store is seeing more than 1 million downloads a day on millions of handsets around the world, after cautiously mentioning that it was approaching that milestone earlier this month at CES. → Read More
Nokia, still the world’s top mobile phone maker, reported a stronger-than-expected 65% rise in fourth-quarter net profit this morning. The Espoo, Finland-based company reported net profit of €948 million for the quarter or 26 eurocents a share, up from €576 million a year ago.
What caught our eye was the volume of devices the company shipped in Q4 2009: the total mobile device volumes of Devices & Services were 126.9 million units, representing an increase of 12% year on year. The overall industry mobile device volumes for the same period were 329 million units (based on Nokia’s estimate), representing an increase of 8% year on year. → Read More
Startup incubators such as Founders Institute and TechStars, are popping up outposts in various metropolises in the U.S. and even in internationally. Today, VC firm DFJ Frontier, an affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the City of Ventura, California, are partnering to launch a new incubator in the region, the Ventura Ventures Technology Center.
Designed to help encourage technology startups to base or relocate their companies in the Southern California region, the fund will invest anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million in each startup. The venture will not be limited to investing in a particular sector . As a condition of the investment, the companies have to be based in Ventura. In return, the incubator has set up a technology-centric office center for startups that offer steeply discounted rents. → Read More
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak paid a visit to California State University of Chico yesterday after the official unveiling of the iPad, and while there he was asked by the audience how he sees the device affecting the entertainment industry.
Videomaker caught his response on video, posted it to YouTube and voilà, one of the first official opinion of the Woz finds it way to us and more broadly, the Internet. → Read More
It’s too early to say whether Natal will be a hit — too early to really even say if it works or not, really — but we know it’s captured the imaginations of gamers and developers alike. But apparently it didn’t impress Nintendo when they were (allegedly) pitched with an early version of the tech back in 2007. To be fair, it was in a rougher state than we have seen it, and of course Nintendo already had a working motion control technology and another in the works.
Still, it’s interesting to think what might have happened if the big N had snapped it up instead of the big M. → Read More
