Cloud storage and document sharing startup Box.net is the latest startup to adopt HTML5. The startup is announcing today that it is incorporating a broad implementation of HTML5 drag and drop functionality that supports native interaction with desktop. So basically, you can drag and drop files from the desktop right into your Box.net web application.
The feature works on Firefox 3.6 and Chrome for PC (with support for Safari and Chrome on all platforms coming in the next few weeks). Box’s CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie says that Flash didn’t allow this at all due to security issues. While this is a small addition in terms of functionality, he believes that HTML5 provides a much richer user experience when it comes to enterprise applications and the interaction between the browser and the operating system . “HTML5 is the nail on the coffin of desktop applications because we can create this rich interactive experience that acts like a native app.” Levie adds that HTML5 is also appealing because it works on every device. → Read More
According to the WSJ, Motorola president Sanjay Jha said that “We will introduce new Droid products in the Verizon franchise.” This probably means something like the Droid Shadow that “appeared” in a toilet recently. → Read More
New Rock Band to feature the keytar – because as we all know, everyone loves keytars Black Kindle spotted and (barely) pictured Why haven’t our clichés been updated to better reflect today’s technology? Video game addiction: The same as getting high on cocaine? Exploded Andy: A t-shirt for Android fans → 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
A certain founder of a certain hot startup made the mistake this evening of posting two messages to Twitter that he clearly didn’t intend to. They were sent via text message – and my guess is they were meant for a friend, not public consumption.
Cleaning it up a little, it reads:
…But the investors are already rich so this doesn’t change their lives like it does mine…[It will] come down to [investors] getting a high enough offer than the investors can [say] let’s take it.
From Silicon Valley to New York, from India to South Africa one question keeps popping up in the mind of Web and mobile Web entrepreneurs: What the hell is going on in Indonesia?
Having matured from its early 2000s Internet obsession with Friendster, it seems Indonesia has become something of a Web force, embracing everything from Facebook to Foursquare catching people off guard with some uncommon swarms. We wrote about an obscure Indonesian awards show taking over Twitter back in March, and on May 6, Indonesians flocking to see Iron Man 2 won their first Super Swarm badge on FourSquare—something US Web addicts usually only earn at large events like SXSW.
I’d like to say I hunted down some impressive Internet entrepreneurs during my current trip to Indonesia to ask them exactly what was going on here, but really they found me. (Just another sign of their Web savvy.) I grilled them on some basic questions to bring you a Web-in-Indonesia primer. → Read More
New online photo and location service Picplz, being developed by imeem execs Dalton Caldwell and Bryan Berg, is still far from being fully baked. But people who are determined to get an early look at the new service will soon have a way to do so – if they have an Android phone.
Think of picplz as a photo-based foursquare. You can use it as a simple publishing tool for a photo stream – think Twitpic or Posterous – but it really shines when you access the service via a mobile device. Picplz is integrated tightly with Foursquare to assign a location to your photo and then check in. Your photos are then published on the Picplz site and, optionally, Twitter. Facebook publishing is also coming soon.
The company has built an unpublished Android application as its first mobile app, which I tested earlier today. The app will be added to the Android marketplace sometime soon, and once it is anyone can download it and test the service. It will be the only way to actually create an active account on the service for now, but once you have an account you can use the picplz website as well. → Read More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/external/player.swf I’m not familiar with the vagaries of UK politics, specifically the new “coalition” government and the implications of the latest election, but this is a good move no matter what party you’re in. The national ID cards, a grievously flawed part of a crippled program, are to be completely abolished within 100 days. For a state that has invested so heavily in surveillance, this about-face comes as rather a surprise — though a pleasant one, to be sure. Rejoice, UK cousins! The lady in the video has the most inscrutably satisfied tone towards the end, there. Cracks me up. → Read More
The One Laptop Per Child program’s leader, Nicholas Negroponte, showed off some renderings of the XO-3 tablet, and announced several new details. The occasion for the presentation was a partnership with Marvell, whose extremely low-cost Moby tablet design surfaced a few months ago. They’re working with Marvell (and Pixel Qi, reportedly) to produce this new tablet, which they are hoping will cost only $75. → Read More
With sales of music games dropping at alarming rates, the savvy game designers at Harmonix (or more likely, the desperate marketers) have decided that in order to revive their flagging franchise, they needed something truly mind-blowing. “I know! How about a keytar?!” → Read More
An anonymous tipster has confirmed the long-whispered rumors that Amazon will offer a Kindle that isn’t white. A mystery unit, described by our tipster as “exactly like a Kindle DX but black,” was being photographed at a Seattle coffee shop (with a 5D mk II, he or she notes) and Mr/Mrs Tipster had the presence of mind to snap a picture before they put it away. → Read More
A 79-year-old man from Utica, NY entered an AT&T store with a hit list of names and a 357 Magnum. He opened fired, hitting one employee, before an off-duty police officer who was shopping at the store pulled his own gun and shot the attacker dead.
The shooter, Abraham Dicken, had held a grudge against the store’s employees for months, even threatening them with a gun once before. His hit-list contained the names of six employees. → Read More
Where is everyone checking in to Foursquare in London? Ok, there’s admittedly an app for that. But here’s a very interesting infographic instead (hat tip via alextroll). Click on the graphic for a bigger image. Thanks to Advertisingaphasia. → Read More
We don’t normally post about events here, and there are better resources available for tracking those, like the increasingly handy Startup Digest. But we do make an exception about our own events and those we collaborate and partner with around Europe. To that end European entrepreneurs need to be aware of a major change in the format of the Seedcamp startup programme this year.
Normally Seedcamp takes applications for its main, annual Seedcamp Week from all over Europe. But now Mini Seedcamp London will be the last chance to get a slot for the main week. Applications are open now. → Read More
NewVoiceMedia, which offers a cloud-based contact centre solution, has raised £4m in VC funding from Eden Ventures and Notion Capital, the fund established last year by Jos and Ben White, founders of Messagelabs.
NewVoiceMedia says it will use the new investment to further develop its ContactWorld product and take it global.
The company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution claims to offer “sophisticated contact centre technology at a fraction of the cost of traditional models”, opening up call centre functionality to companies of a smaller size for whom it would otherwise be out of reach. → Read More
In July of last year, Twitter Search usage was exploding. As such, Twitter hired a new high-profile engineer, Doug Cook, to take over as the new “Director of Search.” Cook has now left the company, we’ve learned.
When reached for comment, Twitter confirmed the departure, but would not give a reason for the split. We had also heard that the reason Cook is out is that the search team is being split into at least two different groups now. Twitter’s comment on the matter seems to confirm that: → Read More
TweetDeck, the popular Adobe Air desktop app for social networks (though an HTML5 version is on the way), has now integrated Foursquare into its latest release. The move represents the latest from the startup to grab the “social dashboard” crown against the likes of Seesmic and others, although Tweetdeck seems to be heading towards a kind of “Pro User” space more than anything else.
Now, adding your Foursquare account into Tweetdeck adds a location column. This has the handy benefit that Foursquare tweets can now be filtered out of your “All Friends” twitter column. A lot of people will probably welcome this as they tend to polute Twitter rather than adding anything to it. Now, the location column has a map button at the bottom. Clicking on this lets you view a live map of friends checking into Foursquare. Tweetdeck plans to extend this map shortly to be available in a separate view on a check-in item in the location column. → Read More
“We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” Thank you, finally! See, Blizzard gets it. The company’s co-founder, Frank Pearce, recently told the good folks at Video Gamer that he thinks the fight against DRM is misguided. Not that he supports end-users going around torrenting his games till the end of time, but that the way to “beat” piracy is to embrace gamers and treat them like complete jerks. → Read More
After three full days, our first TechCrunch Disrupt conference is now over. By all metrics it was a big success — and that includes on Twitter. The #tcdisrupt hashtag was a Trending Topic in New York City (where the conference was) basically the entire time it was going on. And many of the individual startups that launched appeared on the list too at points. The Twitter and Facebook analytic company RowFeeder ran some numbers about the show — they’re pretty interesting. Below, find some of their data.
To get this info, they looked at both the hashtag “#TCdisrupt,” and the phrase “Techcrunch Disrupt.” The first chart below shows huge spikes during certain parts of the show. Obviously, Carol Bartz’s fireside swearing session got a lot of play, but so did the “Lean vs. Fat Startup” debate between VCs Fred Wilson and Ben Horowitz. The startup battlefields each day did well, as did the final competition. → Read More
Our clichés need updating. “Axe to grind”? How many people still regularly use axes, axes that need grinding? Why not something like “hard drive to defrag”? “Best thing since sliced bread”? Why not “best thing since the iPad”? We are surrounded by technology, but our language still reflects life on the farm. Let’s do this! → Read More
