Mobile payments company mopay is launching a new technology, mopay call, that allows online merchants to allow consumer to bill purchases to their land line phone accounts. Like competitors Zong and Boku, mopay’s platform doesn’t require users to have a credit card or bank account to make a micropayment. Users enter their cell phone number, reply to a text message and then all virtual charges… → Read More
Toyota settled a longstanding patent dispute today with Paice LLC, a firm that first sued the Japanese auto juggernauts back in 2004.
The technology disputed had to do with supplying torque from both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine to a car’s wheels, according to earlier reports by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and confirmed by a Paice spokesperson today. → Read More
Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the world of gadgets, Japan churns out yet another unique device. This time it’s the Marugoto Tamachan [JP], a watermelon cooler and heater. That’s right, the machine doesn’t just cool watermelons, but for some reason it can also heat them up. And it’s portable, too. → Read More
HTC can say whatever they want regarding Apple’s handling of Antennagate — including pointing out that other cell phones have the same issue — but it’s a good thing that Gruber is around to remind them that even they warn users that holding the HTC Eris in a certain way can degrade the signal and kill the battery faster. → Read More
Just look at that beast. But I guess some iPad owners probably want a convenient bed-side way to charge and store their iPad — of course it would work well on a desk, too. The iHome iA100ZE does more than just charge, though. The dock actually comes with an app that that turns the iPad into a sleep-monitoring, weather forecast-providing, $500 alarm clock. → Read More
In a release issued today, Apple has announced that the iPad will be released to nine more countries this Friday, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. Customers in these countries will be able to buy the device through Apple’s retail stores and authorized resellers.
This availability should only add to the fast sales growth of… → Read More
Sequoia-backed Bubble Motion recently launched a Twitter-like voice blogging service and has seen considerable traction in India, where politicians, brands and actor are using Bubbly to connect with fans. Rolled out just months ago, Bubble Motion’s voice-blogging phone service, called Bubbly, has accumulated more than 2 million overall users and currently has over 1.2 million paid subscribers… → Read More
Although it’s not the world’s best mobile gaming platform, there are lots of games available for the iPhone. There are lots of iterations and variations of the same games. Would you like to try something new? How about a game of badminton? It’ll give you an excuse to say “shuttlecock” without feeling silly. And, interestingly, there is only one badminton game on the App Store: Super Badminton 2010… → Read More
Online marketplace for outsourcing Freelancer.com, formerly known as GetAFreelancer has acquired virtual content marketplace Freemarket.com and is relaunching Freemarket’s platform under the Freelancer.com brand.
Freelancer.com focuses primarily on providing a marketplace for remote workers. Freelancer.com now caters to a user base of 1.7 million small and medium-sized businesses (up from 1… → Read More
Not everything Tokyo-based crap gadget maker Thanko churns out is necessarily silly or utterly useless. The infamous company is now offering a Bluetooth wristwatch [JP] with a pretty clever concept: it allows you to detach the device’s LCD and use it as a wireless headset, for example in case you want to make calls or listen to music. → Read More
You probably remember the GoFlex system, a recent Seagate innovation that adds some versatility to their drives at the cost of you having to buy adapters from them in order to achieve said versatility. Well, the family has a new member in the GoFlex Home, which is a GoFlex-type NAS. → Read More
Well, that was fast. Only two months after launching at TechCrunch Disrupt, startup Compass Labs has already raised a round of funding. Compass Labs, which aims to provide targeted advertising on social networks like Twitter and Facebook around what users intend to purchase, has raised $5 million from NEA, Triple Point Capital, Jim Clark, Mike Ramsay and others. This brings the startup’s total… → Read More
Apple doesn’t break down country-specific sales numbers, but it’s safe to say that Japan has come to embrace the iPad, too. Case in point: ease [JP], a cafe in Marunouichi Building in central Tokyo, which offers its guests one iPad for every table. → Read More
Motorola’s slow decline was halted, briefly, by the launch of the Droid line of phones. Now, however, it looks like the company’s money-making switching subsidiary is no longer going to be making money as it’s just been sold to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion. While the company still owns its own handset and set-top box operation, the switching side was Motorola’s bread and butter and now it may be… → Read More
Sprint has announced that the Motorola i1 will be available for purchase on July 25 through direct ship sales channels, and will hit retail outlets in early August. As you may recall, the i1 is the first Android smartphone to include Nextel Direct Connect technology and sports a hardened body that meets military specs for shock, dust, and rain. $149 (after $50 rebate) for new customers and… → Read More
Proporta, case makers to the stars, is offering 20% off some of its iPhone 4 cases if you return your free bumper case to them. Why would you do this? I’m not quite sure. → Read More
To make a short story shorter: for the last three days, I’ve been one of but a handful of people carrying around a handset running Microsoft’s unreleased Windows Phone 7 operating system. This specific handset isn’t one that’s ever intended for release, and, while it’s looking pretty close to done, the build running on the handset is by no means finalized. With these… → Read More
In a release issued today, Apple has announced that the iPad will be released to nine more countries this Friday, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. Customers in these countries will be able to buy the device through Apple’s retail stores and authorized resellers.
This availability should only add to the fast sales growth of… → Read More
The first update to the spankin’ new Droid X was actually pushed to a small number of handsets before the device was even released, but whispers abound the webz today are saying the update could be making its way onto everyone else’s handsets as early as right freakin’ now. → Read More
Appstream, a simple visualisation tool to help iPad owners discover new apps via a matrix-style wall (perhaps inspired by Apple’s own efforts at its World Wide Developer Conference), appears to be resonating with users.
It’s currently hovering in the top 50 of free iPad apps in the U.S. App Store, while in France (the iPad’s second biggest market), it’s doing even better, currently sitting at… → Read More
Data center automation company Puppet Labs this morning announced that it has raised $5 million in funding, bringing the total amount of capital invested in the fledging startup to $7 million.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the Series B round, while existing investors True Ventures and Radar Partners – which participated in the Series A round back in June 2009 – also contributed to the… → Read More
Do you feel that it’s unreasonable (or simply not possible) to change the way you hold your iPhone? Do you also think that the bumper case is aesthetically akin to the Car Bra? Don’t mind a bit of Kitsch? Sweet. Listen up.
Apple, while trying to wiggle out of it, made a bit of a boo-boo with the iPhone 4′s antennae. And what makes boo-boos all better? A band-aid, of course! → Read More
If you want to look to the future, Japan is usually a good place to start. Example: 3D phone screens.
NTT Docomo — Japan’s biggest mobile provider — has shown of some 3D lenticular displays at Wireless Japan 2010. Now, you and me both will have to take their word as proof, as it’s at least a little difficult to show off 3D tech on video.
So, prepare yourselves to be amazed at the amazing 2D… → Read More
I dig concept phones. I like the way that designers can come up with ideas completely free from physical limitations, in order to inspire engineers to do new things… or something like that.
My point is that I like fresh thinking, and new (and better) ways of doing things. Like Jeremy Innes-Hopkins’ Nokia Kinetic concept.
The main idea behind the phone is a new way to receive notifications when… → Read More
DIY: Make your own glow stick fluid Giveaway: spruce up your wardrobe with $500 at ShirtsMyWay This ceramic electric kettle is elegant – and gorgeous Curbside car chargers should start showing up next year Microcopters working together making lifting blocks fun and easy We have met Antennagate, and it is us → Read More
Quicken Online users have known for some time that the product they love would be terminated this year. With the shiny new Mint.com acquisition on board it was only a matter of time before they figured out that one of the two competing products would have to go. The thought was to merge the best features of both into one new product.
By February that idea had been changed. The new plan was to… → Read More
You know, I’m just going to let the video do the talking this time. To summarize: Steve Jobs stole Bill Gates’ sweet hat, force choked Jason Chen, lopped off some fingers, stomped on some phones, and the press went wild. Sounds about right. [Thanks, David] → Read More
Like glowsticks? Wanna make your own, and put them into whatever container you prefer? The video above will show you step by step instructions on how to make your own glowstick fluid in various colors using chemicals available on the internet. As the person who made the video warns you though, it is cheaper to buy them in a store then to make your own. [via Hackaday] → Read More
This is odd. Wired predicted the iPad way back in 1999. It seems the iPad was an internal meme long before anyone could even begin to build one. via BoingBoing → Read More
Hosting company RackSpace is open sourcing the software behind its cloud storage and computing platforms on Monday, the company is saying. The company is also preparing to launch OpenStack, an open source cloud platform, and will donate the open source code to that project.
NASA is also incorporating technology from the NASA Nebula Cloud Platform into the OpenStack project, says… → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
