During the World Cup, particularly during the England-Germany and Mexico-Argentina games, there was a lot of debate over the role of video replay in the sport. FIFA responded, in typical fashion, by banning video replay inside stadia. Head in the sand, etc. Well now Italy broadcaster RAI has embraced that very same mentality. Starting with the upcoming Italian season it will not show “controversial” replays during games. So, if there’s a dodgy offside call during the Derby d’Italia, or perhaps a contentious penalty between the war-masked-as-sport between Lazio and Roma, well, RAI won’t be showing any of that. → Read More
Easily the most interesting thing Apple unveiled today is the new Magic Trackpad. Essentially, it’s a larger version of the trackpads that ship with each MacBook and MacBook Pro. But it’s a stand-alone product, meant to be used with desktop computers. So why did Apple feel the need to make such a product? It’s about trends and the future.
“Looking at the big picture, more users are using our trackpad because there are more notebook users than desktop users,” an Apple representative told me today when discussing the Magic Trackpad. Laptops have been Apple’s best-selling computers for some time now. And as time goes on, despite some of the new desktop products unveiled today, we can likely expect the gap between laptops and desktops to increase. This will mean an increasing number of users who are accustomed to using their computers via these trackpads. So this new product makes sense for users who are interested in buying Apple desktops as well. → Read More
Alright. Either this is the beginning of the end for the Apple brand as they start draining their fanboys dry or Apple has something special here. Either way, the Apple Battery Charger is real and ready to charge AA batteries. The Magic Trackpad joins the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse’s AA-powered club. That’s where the Apple Battery Charger comes in. → Read More
The Cinema Display has always been a top-tier LCD monitor option and this new model is no different. The 27-inch sports an actually astonding 2560 x 1440 resolution – that’s 60% more pixels over the 24-inch model. Of course LED is tasked with the backlighting and connectivity is done though Mini DisplayPort connector. There’s also three rear-facing USB ports, stereo speakers and a built-in iSight located in the top bezel. The only downside, however, is the price. Yeah, all this fun doesn’t come cheap. → Read More
As you may have noticed, Apple’s online store has been down the past few hours. The reason? New products. Most people seemed to be aware that new Mac Pros and iMacs were coming, but something new was just released to. Meet: the Magic Trackpad.
As anticipated last week thanks to an FCC filing (and rumored months before that), the Magic Trackpad is basically a trackpad that you would find on a MacBook or MacBook Pro, reworked as its own stand-alone Bluetooth product. “Why should notebooks have all the fun?,” Apple notes. → Read More
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming. It seemed like each day there was another random source or sign that Apple was preparing to update the iMac and Mac Pro. Well, most of the rumors were right. The changes aren’t really all that special and simply evolutionary in nature. Still, we’re not one to turn away new components. → Read More
No idea how this will fly in court, but here we go. Apple says that jailbreaking your iPhone, while now as legal as can be, will still void your warranty. Besides, said Apple, the number of people who actually go to the trouble of jailbreaking their iPhone is so small that it’s really not worth getting too excited over. → Read More
Japan is a huge market for electronic dictionaries, even though a good number of cell phones in this country come with decent dictionaries pre-installed. While most Japanese e-dictionaries are designed like micro-notebooks, market leader Sharp today announced [JP] a model of a different kind. For reasons unknown, their PW-AC10 looks much like a Blackberry (or a knock-off). → Read More
Apple unleashed a range of new and updated products earlier today — everything from new Mac Pros to new iMacs to a new Magic Trackpad device. Lost in the shuffle was a tiny new product Apple also unveiled: the Apple Battery Charger.
But just because it’s not as big or a pricey as Apple’s other new toys, don’t think Apple loves it any less. In fact, when I spoke to Apple today about their new products, they made sure to dedicate some time to talking all about this new battery charger. → Read More
Collaboration software developer 37signals has bought Ember, an iPhone app for Campfire, according to a blog post. on the company’s site. 37signals develops Campfire, which is a popular real-time group chat tool used by developers and businesses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
37signals founder Jason Fried says that Ember’s iPhone app, which was developed by app developer Overcommitted, lets you chat, view transcripts, jump between rooms, share pictures in a Campfire chat. The app caught Fried’s eye earlier this year and the company decided to buy the developer and re-launch Ember as Campfire for the iPhone. → Read More
CloudMade, which provides collaborative data and tools to developers and OEMs for mapping and navigation applications, has raised $12.3 million in series B funding led by Greylock Partners with existing investor Sunstone Capital participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to $15.7 million.
CloudMade’s platform allows third parties to create applications with stylized and customized map tiles, fully featured turn-by-turn navigation, in-app advertising, local search and data sets relevant to thousands of consumer activities. CloudMade distributes its collaborative mapping, package maps, geo services and advertising to developers and businesses; its main customers are mobile developers, OEMs and network operators. Some of the 12,000-plus developers using CloudMade’s API include Skobbler, OffMaps, Geocaching, Trails, Ride the City, GayCities, and Dopplr. → Read More
Following the success of 3D technology on films like Avatar, Break Media, a social video and entertainment site for guys, is moving into 3D programming today with the launch of a 3D video channel on Break.com. Video content, which will include action sports videos and a series of 3D mini-shows, will both be curated in-house and aggregated from across the web, so viewers have a one-stop-shop for 3D content online. See our in-depth guide to 3D technology here.
Break Media’s has nine branded properties, which include Break.com, MadeMan, Chickipedia, Cage Potato, Holy Taco, Screen Junkies, and All Left Turns, and also operates an ad network. While the Break’s CEO CEO, Keith Richman says that there isn’t a wealth of 3D content on the web at the moment, he believes that demand will steadily increase and wants to get into the game early. → Read More
As you may have heard by now, Apple unveiled a whole range on new products today from new iMacs to new Mac Pros to a new Magic Trackpad product. Alongside those, Apple also unveiled a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display. I talked with Apple a bit this morning about the new products, and one thing that may not have been clear about the new monitor is that it will actually be the only one Apple offers going forward. Again, just this one 27-inch display.
Apple is discontinuing both the 24-inch LED Cinema Display as well as the older 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays they had been selling. When asked why, an Apple representative said this new 27-inch version was seen as “ideal for the uses we see most people having.” It was also noted that the 27-inch model features 60 percent more pixels than the 24-inch one, and because of its 16×9 ratio, it actually has the same number of pixels horizontally (2560) as the older 30-inch model (though slightly less vertically: 1600 versus 1440). → Read More
Lookout, a company that offers security data backup services for smartphones, is announcing the results of its App Genome Project, a continued effort to map and study mobile applications to identify security threats in the wild, and determine how apps are using users’ personal data.
The App Genome Project has already scanned nearly 300,000 free applications, and fully mapped nearly 100,000 applications available in both Android Market and the App Store.
Early findings show differences in the sensitive data that is typically accessed by Android and iPhone applications and a proliferation of third party code in applications across both platforms. For example, results found that applications on Android are generally less likely than applications on iPhone to be capable of accessing a person’s contact list or retrieving their location, with 29% of free applications on Android having the ability to access a user’s location, compared with 33% of free applications on iPhone. Of course, this isn’t a huge difference in the percentage of apps, but again this is early data. → Read More
Is it new Mac Pro, iMac, and Magic Trackpad day? Sure smells like it. → Read More
Two pieces of news for all you Streak Freaks out there:
First up, you can breathe a sigh of relief as, according to Android Central, Dell have now confirmed that the 5 inches of hotness will, indeed, get an over-the-aether upgrade to Android 2.2 later this year.
It’ll still launch with Android 1.6, but you can feel safe in the knowledge that your device won’t be abandoned in the ancient halls of obscurity.
But what’s this? Dell have now also confirmed that the Streak won’t run on T-mobile’s 3G network. Uh-oh. This is clearly bad news for the T-Streak Freaks in the audience. → Read More
Yahoo just put out a press release calling out comScore for seriously underreporting the site’s U.S. page views and duration metrics in its June report.
Yahoo says an error skewed the numbers in the June 2010 publication pretty badly – the company claims comScore underreported its U.S. page views by more than one billion and its duration metrics by more than 850 million minutes. Based on the corrected numbers, on a month-over-month basis, Yahoo!’s U.S. page views were down 4.7 percent versus the reported 7.4 percent, Yahoo says. → Read More
Video game and software retailer GameStop is buying Kongregate, a social gaming destination and community site for gamers. The purchase price was not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close within a week, subject to customary closing conditions.
Kongregate co-founders (and brother and sister) Jim and Emily Greer will retain ownership over the site, as the company will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of GameStop and keep its San Francisco offices. Oh, and nice rickroll there at the end, Jim. → Read More
As you may have noticed, Apple’s online store has been down the past few hours. The reason? New products. Most people seemed to be aware that new Mac Pros and iMacs were coming, but something new was just released too. Meet: the Magic Trackpad.
As anticipated last week thanks to an FCC filing (and rumored months before that), the Magic Trackpad is basically a trackpad that you would find on a MacBook or MacBook Pro reworked as its own stand-alone Bluetooth product. “Why should notebooks have all the fun?,” Apple notes. → Read More
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