The ability to multitask got a lot of press when iPhone 4.0 OS was first announced. But less attention was given to some of the more subtle things this will allow, such as always-on location for third-party apps. This feature could actually make a service like Google Latitude useful on the device. So it’s coming, right? Maybe.
I asked Google senior product manager Steve Lee (who is in charge of Latitude) whether Google would build a native app for the iPhone now that it includes background location. “From the start, we’ve made Latitude available across platforms. Supporting iPhone with a great Latitude user experience is extremely important to us, and we’re evaluating the best way to deliver that on iPhone OS 4.0 now, so we don’t have anything to announce just yet,” Lee answer (emphasis his). → Read More
Augmented Reality may not be super practical yet. But it sure is cool, and a lot of fun. And a new Android game looks to make it even more fun.
Space InvadAR is a new Android game by Zenitum. It’s the world’s first “vision-based” AR game, according to the team. And it looks awesome — watch the video below. → Read More
http://media.rockstargames.com/products/rockstar/mediaplayer/RockstarMediaPlayer.swf?skin=reddeadredemption/EN/embed&vidID=4801&legacy=no Can we all agree that Red Dead Redemption is one of Rockstar‘s finest games? It’s probably one of the best games of this generation, too. A 30-minute short film based on the game, directed by the guy (John Hillcoat) who directed The Road (good) and The Proposition (great), debuts tomorrow night on the Fox network at midnight. Set your DVR. Here we have a short trailer (that I should have posted yesterday). → Read More
The idea of putting iPhone apps on the Apple TV has been something some of us have been thinking about since at least 2008, when the original App Store launched. When rumors were swirling about Google TV, it became an even better idea as the living room was likely to be a new battleground for Apple/Google. And with the unveiling of Google TV last week, it became clear that this would be a next major fight — provided Apple started taking it seriously. Soon, they will be, if Engadget’s sources are correct.
The gadget blog says that a tip they’ve since confirmed with “a source very close to Apple” suggests that Apple has been working on the next version of the Apple TV. The goods according to them: it will be a very small box (smaller than the current one) with perhaps only outputs for power and TV-out cables. It will run on Apple’s new A4 chip (the one found in the iPad and soon the new iPhone). It will still do 1080p video, but may have as little as 16GB of flash memory. That’s because the thing will be based around streaming over the cloud (or from other computers in your home) rather than local storage. Most significantly, it will run the iPhone OS. → Read More
Facebook is not evil, despite the disproportionately loud grumblings of its critics — which (as Mark Zuckerberg recently pointed out) is a small fraction of its 400-million-plus user base. But Facebook is also not a non-profit despite Zuckerberg’s claim that they’re not in “this for the money.”
On Wednesday’s press conference, Zuckerberg said: “It might seem weird, we’re not doing this to make more money. For all the people inside the company, that could not be more true. It’s such a big disconnect that we’re doing this for the money.”
Methinks the Zuckerberg doth protest too much.
Zuckerberg is not a saint and he’s also not the same 19-year old who allegedly mocked his users for trusting him with their information, but somewhere in between lies reality. → Read More
Say hello to Microsoft Tag. It’s a brand new service (I guess you can call it a service) that envisions a world filled with tags. The tags, almost like barcodes or QR codes, are placed all over the place. On merchandise at the mall, on statues at the parks, and so on. You scan the tag with your phone, then all sorts of info pops up. → Read More
Short Version: The Sony Vaio Z-Series is a thin and light with a mission: to prove that a tiny – but expensive – laptop can run Windows 7 and almost anything you throw at it like a champ. → Read More
Awesome. Simply awesome. How could I have gone through my childhood not knowing that I could have played my Sega Genesis games on the Sega Action Chair. The beauty here is that the chair itself is the controller with a joystick pad located on the chairs single mounting point and controller bars holding the buttons. Amazing. → Read More
The UK has been gripped by the launch of the iPad if the Twitpics are to be believed. As you can see from the below ( thanks jasonlan and joanikin) there was a large crowd queuing outside Apple’s flagship London store on Regent’s Street, in a line which literally snaked around the corner into Hanover Square. Believe me, that is a long line.
Some estimates have put the crowd at around 500 people outside, waiting to grab the iPad. → Read More
Safari on the iPhone is by no means a bad mobile browser — in fact, it’s arguably the best one out there. Just because people have something good doesn’t mean they don’t want to peek at what else is out there, though. Even if someone’s dating the finest supermodel in all the lands, they’ll still sneak casual glances at other potential mates. Its just human nature. People like having options. For quite some time, Apple blocked third-party apps that challenged those that came on the handset out of the box, citing “duplication of functionality”. When Opera submitted the Opera Mini browser to the App Store, much ado was made over whether or not it would be approved. It was — and naturally, people looked. 2.6 million of them, in just 2 weeks. → Read More
This is a guest post by Danvers Baillieu, an associate solicitor at Winston & Strawn and co-founder of Bootlaw.
The day before the UK General Election, Techcrunch EU ran this post highlighting the taxation policies of the Liberal Democrat party and suggested that plans to raise capital gains taxes could be damaging for UK based start-ups. Whether or not the disappointing results for the Lib Dems were directly connected to this withering attack is yet to be proven but nevertheless, having the balance of power and entered into coalition with the Conservatives, it would appear that the Lib Dems are to get their way on capital gains tax.
At this point, I should declare an interest as a card carrying member of the Conservative Party and I have been enthusiastically supporting the new coalition through my personal blog. I also happened to comment on the earlier Techcrunch EU post along the lines that the cut in capital gains tax by Labour was not all it was cracked up to be, but on balance was pretty good for the tech sector. → Read More
The iPed? Well that’s fine then. If it had been iPid, well, then I would have thrown a fit—that’s my idea! It’s in China, of course. You know, the land of bootleg electronics. → Read More
The EVO 4G is coming on June 4th, and you’re all prepped for your pre-launch camp out. Your lawn chairs are in the truck, you’ve got your windbreaker and beanie at the ready, and your alarm is set to have you at the front of the line by the time the doors open at 10 a.m. Go ahead and roll back the alarm a few hours. → Read More
Well well well! Sirius XM just released its Android App. As you can see here, I’ve downloaded it and it works. Channel 202 = the only channel that matters. → Read More
The Microsoft Courier might be dead at Microsoft, but Sony just filed a patent that describes almost the exact same thing — but better. → Read More
Hon Hai Precision Industry, the anchor group for Foxconn, is offering its workers a 20% increase in pay as part of a regular third-quarter cycle. It’s important to note that this is a cyclical was planned months in advance the suicides are ancillary to the eleven suicides thus far. → Read More
http://www.hulu.com/embed/wafhIIpriq0Oq-doAeNLsA/672/1127/i966 Clearly her knowledge extends beyond sex robots to the ways of back country folk. Who knew? Oh, she’s also featured on TimeOut New York’s 100+ hot summer singles. → Read More
In two weeks on June 11, TechCrunch will celebrate its fifth birthday. We want to celebrate it with as many people as we can all around the world. So we are using the new Meetup Everywhere platform that Scott Heiferman announced on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Wednesday to organize TechCrunch Meetups on June 11 all around the world. Already there are almost 150 meetups planned in places including New York City, San Francisco, London, Hyderabad, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Jakarta, and Sophia.
We will be throwing our own party in the Bay Area (more details on that coming soon), but for those who can’t fly to California, these meetups are a great way to gather with other people who obsess about technology and startups near where you live. We really think of this as a celebration of the last five years of technology and all that has happened on the Web since then. So join one of the 150 meetups already organized or start your own. To get some regional rivalries going, we will offer 50 free tickets to the next TechCrunch Disrupt (airfare and hotel not included) to each of the 50 largest meetups so that one person from each meetup will win a ticket. We will be in touch with the organizers of each of the 50 largest meetups with more details. → Read More
The idea of putting iPhone apps on the Apple TV has been something some of us have been thinking about since at least 2008, when the original App Store launched. When rumors were swirling about Google TV, it became an even better idea as the living room was likely to be a new battleground for Apple/Google. And with the unveiling of Google TV last week, it became clear that this would be a next major fight — provided Apple started taking it seriously. Soon, they will be, if Engadget’s sources are correct.
The gadget blog says that a tip they’ve since confirmed with “a source very close to Apple” suggests that Apple has been working on the next version of the Apple TV. The goods according to them: it will be a very small box (smaller than the current one) with perhaps only outputs for power and TV-out cables. It will run on Apple’s new A4 chip (the one found in the iPad and soon the new iPhone). It will still do 1080p video, but may have as little as 16GB of flash memory. That’s because the thing will be based around streaming over the cloud (or from other computers in your home) rather than local storage. Most significantly, it will run the iPhone OS. → Read More
Have you ever tried to check into a place on Foursquare or some other geo service only to find that there are 10 names for the same location? For instance, Foursquare has tons of different “places” that are all inside Grand Central Terminal in New York City. There is Grand Central Terminal itself, but there is also Track 32, 34, 108, and so on. You can also check into the Blimpies or Hudson News inside the terminal, or the “5:22 Express To Grand Central Terminal” which is not a single place so much as it is a moving train (literally). While there are times you want to have the granularity of being able to say, “I am in front of the central ticket booth with the clock,” nine times out of ten simply checking into Grand Central Terminal is sufficient for most people.
The Grand Central problem is replicated across many popular places in Foursquare and other places databases. According to mobile marketing startup Placecast, location datasets show similar mismatches up to 40 percent of the time. → Read More
