Looks like Sony now finds itself on the business end of a class-action lawsuit. You’ll recall that a recent PS3 firmware update removed the “Other OS” option from the console, preventing owners from installing Linux (which was one of the selling points when the PS3 first came out in 2006). The removal upset one California gentleman, who filed suit with the note “Sony’s decision to force users to disable the Other OS function was based on its own interest and was made at the expense of its customers.” → Read More
Once upon a time there were two little boys, Apple and Adobe. Back when they were kids, they used to hang out, play kick-the-can, and generally lived in harmony. But one day Apple got sick and Adobe met some new kids and the two drifted apart. Now that they’re all grown up, Apple wouldn’t spare Adobe the steam of his coffee and their interests, though not divergent, are no longer really friendly. Think of it as A Separate Peace but with multi-national conglomerates.
That’s how Steve Jobs sees his company’s relationship to Adobe and, in an odd letter to the world he lays out what he thinks of Flash. He begins:
I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.
One of Apple’s famous minimalist design principles is to get rid of buttons whenever possible. With touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPad, almost all of the buttons appear when needed on the screen. But what about Macbooks with aluminum casings? A new patent application titled “Disappearing Button or Slider” shows that Apple is at least thinking about how to bring elements of touch computing to all devices by replacing buttons and other controls with capacitive controls which appear only when needed.
The patent describes a way to create backlit micro-perforated holes on the aluminum casing of a MacBook or other device which could be used for buttons on the lid when the laptop is closed or below the keyboard when it is open. The buttons could serve as simple displays for WiFi signal or battery strength, control playlists and volume for iTunes songs or movies, or even replace the trackpad. → Read More
Now that our US Senators are ready to roll-up their sleeves and mud wrestle their way to financial reform (debate has now commenced), now is a good time to pause and take stock of what the ultimate bill could mean for investment and technology. If you’re suffering from financial reform overload and words like Blankfein, Dodd, and collateralized debt obligations induce nausea, please avert your eyes. But for those who are still paying attention, the outcome of Capitol Hill’s latest circus could have major ramifications on Silicon Valley’s investors and by extension the whole community of start-ups. As The Funded’s Adeo Ressi puts it, if the tide turns against angel investors and VCs, “basically funding as we know it, in all stages, is done.” → Read More
Many of you may have heard of or played the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, which is a trivia game based on the idea that any actor can be linked to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps through roles in movies. Of course, this game is based on an actual philosophical theory, Six Degrees of Separation, which refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person in terms of relationships. Today, social media monitoring and analytics startup Sysomos has released a report examining the interconnectedness of Twitter users and has uncovered a number of interesting results.
First, Sysomos examined the 5.2 billion Twitter friendships (the number of friend and follower relationships) to determine how connected users are with each other. And based on this, Sysomos discovered that Twitter is mostly a network with only five degrees of separation, with nearly everyone on Twitter just five steps (or friends, i.e. people you follow) away from each other. → Read More
Look out, Sony is actually trying something new and might announce Intel Atom-powered TVs next month at Google I/O 2010. A new Android released dubbed Dragonpoint is said to run on these TVs and will be just the beginning of Sony’s venture into the so-called Smart TV market.
The report comes from Bloomberg who sources two people familiar with the matter. The timing is certainly right. Sony hasn’t been in the top TV spot for years, constantly losing marketshare to others like Samsung, LG, and even Vizio. Something needs to be done and so Sony is said to be testing a whole line of home entertainment devices that will bring the wonders of the Internet to TVs and Blu-ray players through Android. Logitech is even said to be in on the venture and will contribute a wireless keyboard that will work as a remote.
But as sweet as an Android TV sounds, it might not be the right solution — at least not for the North American market. This could either be a huge win or a fail whale. → Read More
Wow, this woman knows how to hate. She could write a book on hate that would outsell the classic Guide To Proper Hating by Brandon Barbee. 10 bucks says she loved Dancing with Wolves, though. → Read More
I haven’t written about Marvin yet but these guys make some striking, classic pieces at prices that are actually astounding. Take this <a HREF="“>old girl here, the M103. This is a Valjoux 7750 chrono movement with day and date register and it costs $1,790. This is the same movement that is in almost every watch you see out there including a lot of the stratospheric $6000+ brands.
The watches are assembled in Switzerland and shipped out of the U.S.A. → Read More
Polaroid is back, baby. But don’t run out to Walmart just yet. First I don’t even know if Walmart is selling this kit, but if it was, you might want to pass. Living in the past isn’t cheap. The Polaroid 300 carries a $90 MSRP with 10-shot film packs going for $10. That’s a lot of cake. → Read More
Not to be outdone by Nook, Amazon has released the Kindle 2.5 firmware. The new software adds a number of interesting features including the ability to share passages of books with your Facebook and Twitter friends providing that, unlike mine, yours are literate (don’t worry, they won’t be able to read this).
The firmware will launch later next month and includes the following features:
The 2.5 software update for Kindle and Kindle DX is coming soon. We are rolling out the new software update to a limited group of Kindle users and plan a broad release in late May 2010. Check back here for updates on the release schedule.
Here’s a list of the coming enhancements:
Collections: Organize your books and documents into one or more collections.
PDF Pan and Zoom: Zoom into PDFs and pan around to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics.
Back in February, Skyfire (makers of the popular, Flash-enabled smartphone browser of the same name) announced that they’d snatched up Kolbysoft, the company behind the well-established Steel browser for Android. Today, we’re seeing the first fruits of that purchase coming to the market: Skyfire for Android is here. Skyfire’s flagship feature is that it supports Flash video playback, so you’d expect their Android port to do the same, right? And it does! It just does it… a bit differently. → Read More
Japan-based accessory specialist Sanwa Supply hasn’t reinvented the wheel with their newest device [JP], but this power strip, which features an integrated wattage meter, doesn’t look like a bad idea. It basically helps you to keep track of the power consumption of any electronic device that’s connected to either one of its five outlets. → Read More
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c <td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'Appholes www.thedailyshow.com http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:307953 Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party Wow. It’s like Jon is in our head. Just watch and be amused as Jon nails every detail about the Apple 4g saga. It’s great. → Read More
Translating a website isn’t an easy task, especially if you have limited internal resources, a complex site structure, or multiple languages to deal with. Usually, the process requires manual work and coordination, for example managing translators or keeping track of texts in various languages. This is where myGengo, which we recently described as “Mechanical Turk for translations”, comes in. The Tokyo-based startup today rolled out an API that allows developers to plug on-demand human translation directly into websites, apps, widgets, social networks, etc. → Read More
One of Apple’s famous minimalist design principles is to get rid of buttons whenever possible. With touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPad, almost all of the buttons appear when needed on the screen. But what about Macbooks with aluminum casings? A new patent application titled “Disappearing Button or Slider” shows that Apple is at least thinking about how to bring elements of touch computing to all devices by replacing buttons and other controls with capacitive controls which appear only when needed.
The patent describes a way to create backlit micro-perforated holes on the aluminum casing of a MacBook or other device which could be used for buttons on the lid when the laptop is closed or below the keyboard when it is open. The buttons could serve as simple displays for WiFi signal or battery strength, control playlists and volume for iTunes songs or movies, or even replace the trackpad. → Read More
Thinking Screen Media, formerly Frame Media, has raised $2 million in funding from Scala. This brings Thinking Screen Media’s total funding to $7 million. The startup provides a platform for delivering content to to digital frames and other screen devices wirelessly. As part of the deal, Scala has acquired the digital signage division of Thinking Screen Media, the SignChannel platform.
Thinking Screen Media’s FrameChannel platform allows screen owners to select, program and deliver personalized content to a variety of consumer devices, selecting from a library of over 1000 content widgets. The library includes integrations with leading photosharing and social networking sites along with news, weather, sports scores, stock quotes and hyper local content. FrameChannel is available today on devices from over 20 consumer electronics providers including Tivo, Roku, Samsung, Sony, Philips, Motorola, Kodak, Toshiba, Viewsonic and Apple. → Read More
Security software giant Symantec has acquired two email and data encryption companies this morning. Symantec purchased PGP Corporation for approximately $300 million in cash and acquired GuardianEdge for approximately $70 million in cash. The deals are expected to close in June. → Read More
Now here’s a turnaround I never expected. According to a recent results filing, Motorola is working its way back into solvency and is turning a profit and shipping devices like crazy. The company took a slight loss in mobile sales – about $192 million – but that’s far lower than $550 million last year. → Read More
I had the chance to sit down with Joe Stump, former Lead Architect at Digg who recently co-founded a startup called SimpleGeo, at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam.
We’ve covered the company he started with Matt Galligan (of Socialthing fame) a number of times in the past, but I was interested to learn how things were working out for the fledgling startup, which is looking to capitalize on the location craze (some call it a war, Stump calls it a gold rush) by delivering relevant infrastructure services. Think Amazon S3 for geodata. → Read More
A reader, Derek, writes: Not with a bang, but a whimper? I’m @ the VZN store with the earliest opening time in a major metro region, and I am the line. I feel a bit silly. Did you wait in line? Do you want us to get you coffee? → Read More
