Earlier today, there was a lot of hubbub over Facebook supposedly enabling HTML5 video playback on their website. This would, of course, allow Facebook videos to be played natively within the browser on the iPad and iPhone. More significantly, it would be another big blow to Adobe’s Flash format. The only problem? These Facebook videos aren’t using HTML5 at all.
Yes, videos on Facebook do play when clicked on from the iPad or iPhone, but only ReadWriteWeb noted that this was through an h264 player (which both the iPhone and iPad have always supported), and not actually any sort of HTML5 implimentation. We’ve since confirmed this with Facebook which says, “You are correct, this is not html 5. All new videos are encoded in h264 format, so we’re playing videos natively in the iPad since it supports h264-encoded videos.” → Read More
Steven Frank’s Internet Technology Podcast is serious business. Click through for his first unboxing, oh so many moons ago. → Read More
WePay, a startup that’s meant to help take the pain out of managing payments for groups like fraternities and soccer teams, has landed a big new hire: Rasmus Lerdorf, the man who originally created the programming language PHP. Lerdorf, who left Yahoo last November, will be leading development of WePay’s API. The API will begin rolling out to a small number of developers this summer (you can ask to take part by emailing API@wepay.com ).
WePay’s platform is built to facilitate payments in group situations, where you often have to collect money from multiple people (as opposed to systems like PayPal where 1-to-1 transactions are more common). Founder Bill Clerico says that so far the service has gotten a lot of traction with fraternities, and is also catching on with roommates who regularly have to share bills. Since launching a month ago, Clerico says that the volume of transactions has been growing 50% each week. → Read More
Uh oh, sounds like the tablet that Steve brought down from the mountain might be susceptible to attack. A recent campaign by malware spammers has been targeting users of the much hyped iPad, inviting users to download an updated and improved version of iTunes. The update promises to provide more compatibility and better performance, and is completely fake. → Read More
Well well well, look what Benheck has come up with. It’s a PS3 Slim laptop. It’s everything you need to play God of War III in one handy package. And, if you’re a wealthy person, Mr. Heckenorn will happily construct you one! → Read More
It’s a brave new world of health and technology, coming together to keep you as healthy as modern medicine allows. The Senate Committee on Aging was witness to a show-and-tell of sorts last week, getting a first-hand look at some of the hi-tech innovations that promise to annoy people who cringe at the idea of universal healthcare. Because keeping people healthy is pure, pure evil, apparently. → Read More
I sat down with August Capital partner David Hornik at the TechCrunch TV studio to talk about the tech issues of the week: The Age of Facebook, Our mutual love of the iPad, and a discussion of companies who’ve stumbled recently: Twitter, Blippy and Foursquare.
We also explore Hornik’s strange obsession with Alice in Wonderland. If you’re pitching him for an investment, try bringing him a first edition. It’ll only set you back a few hundred thousand dollars.
Video below: → Read More
One thing you’ve got to hand to Jason Calacanis, he always tries to turn lemons into lemonade. A few days ago a private email between him and one of his employees was published where he accepted a resignation less than gracefully. His response today is to give people advice on how to resign properly so as to, we assume, avoid getting flamed by your boss in response.
Here are Jason’s six tips for a proper resignation, along with a handy script. You can read his whole post on calacanis.com. → Read More
Okay, this isn’t even funny anymore. Why the hell isn’t the black Wii available in the states? It has been available in Japan for almost nine months and about six months in Europe. That’s just crazy. Previously Nintendo even stated that it had no plans on releasing a Wii in any other color besides white in America. But that stance might have changed. → Read More
Few people even have USB 3.0 ports on their PCs at the moment, but that shouldn’t stop peripheral-makers from preparing for the demand. Let’s be honest: as cool as Light Peak sounds, it’s really not going to sucker-punch USB 3.0, which is already well on its way to being a standard. So I’m perfectly happy to report that LaCie is upgrading its Rugged line of hard drives to support it, with a $20 premium for the privilege. That’s really all there is to say. → Read More
WorldMate has partnered with American Express Business Travel to power the new AmEx BlackBerry app. WorldMate’s mobile apps is similar in theory to TripIt, and is catered specifically for business travelers.
The app sends push alerts to your phone about flight cancellations, sudden meeting changes, and last second booking requirements. Services including in the American Express Business Travel app includes automatic itinerary synchronization, pop-up flight alerts accompanied by suggested alternative flights when necessary, calendar synchronization to add business meetings into the itinerary, and the ability to share itineraries with colleagues and business contacts. And you can search for and connect with LinkedIn contacts in the app. → Read More
Lost iPhone prototypes aside, most Apple leaks tend to come from partners companies tasked with helping to build something Apple needs for a particular product. After all, Apple can’t do it all, itself. Well, not yet anyway.
A report today in the New York Times confirms earlier rumors that Apple has purchased Austin, Texas-based chip company Intrinsity. And yes, it appears that company is the one largely behind the new A4 chip found inside the iPad. An analyst put the price at $121 million, but again, he’s an analyst, so who knows. → Read More
I truly have seen everything now. Apparently Chikara, the Philadelphia-based pro-wrestling promotion that mixes lucha libre, puroresu, and general tomfoolery will be releasing its very own video game, Rudo Resurrection. (“Rudo” means “bad guy” in lucha libre lingo.) Absolutely zero details have been announced other than that it will be available for “multiple platforms.” → Read More
Nvidia wants to help out you laptop gamers. How nice of them. From now on, the company will release both desktop and mobile drivers at the same time. This isn’t such a big deal for desktop users, what with their fancy GTX 480s, but laptop users won’t have to wait for the Dells and HPs of the world to release updated drivers. Nvidia’s got you covered. → Read More
Opera has always been a bit of a curiosity to me. Nearly everyone seems to tout its speed and adherence to web standards — and yet, no one seems to use it. Well, at least not in the United States anyway, and really not that many people worldwide either. Why is that?
Today, Opera announced a new version (10.52) available for OS X. The promise is that it’s ten times faster than the last version I used (10.10). In fact, they’re saying it’s the “world’s fastest browser for Mac.” So I decided to try it out as my primary browser the entire morning. → Read More
Last week, Facebook launched some major new products, including social plugins, its Like button for the web, and its Open Graph API. It also launched a product that has some serious privacy issues: “Instant Personalization”, which automatically hands over some of your data to certain third-party sites as soon as you visit them, without any action required on your part. I’ve previously discussed at length why I think this could lead to a major backlash. And now four Democratic US Senators — Charles Schumer, Michael Bennet, Mark Begich and Al Franken — are calling on Facebook to change its policies.
This morning the senators sent a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg that details these issues (they’ve also separately reached out to the FTC, urging it to establish more rules around social networks). Here are the senators’ three main concerns, along with my own commentary: → Read More
10 months. That’s how long its been since Adobe first demonstrated Flash on Android — and that’s pretty much a lifetime in the mobile world. And yet, official Flash support for Android is still nowhere to be seen*. Do these people not understand that I have virtual fish to feed and e-crops to tend? While we still don’t have an exact date, we do know which version of Android it’ll be coming in: the next one. → Read More
There’s a small market for Bluetooth headsets that come with auto-pairing dongles. Some peeps need a quick and reliable way to use software like Microsoft Office Communicator and Skype and so I tested out the Jabra GO 6430 a few weeks back. While I found the audio superb, it didn’t fit right in my ear. Plantronics heard my cry and sent me the Voyager PRO UC. This boy is comfy. → Read More
For the low, low price of $50,000 you can have your very own Nintendo Virtual Boy TV. Originally used by developers to output their games on a TV (for testing purposes!), you can re-live all the fun you had playing Mario Tennis at Toys R Us, but at home, and on TV! → Read More
