• July 28th, 2010

    Toolbar Developer Wibiya Takes On Meebo As Traffic Soars

    Watch out Meebo, there’s a new kid on the block. Israeli startup Wibiya, which publicly launched its web-based, customizable toolbar to publishers in January of this year, is seeing impressive traffic for a year-old company.

    According to Quantcast, Wibiya is seeing 151 million monthly visitors to its toolbars. In contrast, Quantcast also reports that Meebo is currently seeing 143 million monthly… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Map My Tracks partners with Team Sky to deliver iPhone app for cyclists and fans

    When we first profiled Map My Tracks, a web service which provides real-time GPS tracking for cyclists, runners and other sporting types, we liked the concept and user experience but were critical of the subscription model employed. That was back in February 2008 and since then the service, developed by UK-based digital agency Tinderhouse, has ditched premium for a combination of free for… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Motorola Droid X ad fires back at Apple: "No Jacket Required"

    The back-and-forth jabbing between Motorola and Apple is like the Cantina gunfight between Han Solo and Greedo — depending on who you talk to, who shot first seems to vary.

    The way I saw it unfold: Motorola ran a full page ad in the New York Times proclaiming that you can hold the Droid X “any way you like“. Apple responded by adding the Droid X to the list of phones they demonstrate as being… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Apple, Time, Inc. Fighting Over Ability To Sell Digital Subscriptions?

    Time, Inc. and Apple are going through a rough patch. Time wants to be able to sell digital subscriptions of its properties, including Sports Illustrated, via the iTunes Store, but Apple won’t let that happen. This puts Time in a weird spot: it can either sell its magazines like any company would sell any widget on the iTunes Store (giving Apple complete control in the process), it can negotiate… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    REGZA ZG1 And F1: Toshiba Announces Another Five (And More Affordable) 3D TVs

    You can’t say Toshiba isn’t following up on its announcement in April to enter the 3D game. Apart from the pretty awesome (but pricey) CELL 3D TVs the company showed today, Toshiba is also ready to roll out [JP] some more affordable 3D LCDs for the rest of us. There will be a 46- and a 55-incher in the REGZA F1 series and three models (42, 47, and 55 inches) in the REGZA ZG1 series. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Samsung Pumps Out Two Cameras

    Need a camcorder or a Wi-Fi camera? Samsung has you covered. Sadly, these two bog standard cameras come from our friends at Samsung look a little plain but both record in HD and the camera supports Wi-Fi uploads. The camera, the ST80, costs $249. The camera, the HMX-E10, costs $199. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Patent Trolling Doesn't Pay: Intellectual Ventures Shows A Negative 73 Percent Return

    You can always count on Hunch founder Chris Dixon for interesting Tweets.  He just sent out this one:

    turns out patent trolling might not pay. Intellectual Ventures has negative 78% return.http://bit.ly/bSfamC

    The link is a PDf download of a document from the University of Texas Management Company listing all of its private investments in venture funds and private equity funds, along with their… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Victory For Nintendo As R4 Cards Made Illegal In The UK

    The importation, sale, or advertising of the R4 card, sometimes (often?) used to pirate Nintendo DS games, is now illegal in the UK. Defendants tried to argue that the R4 shouldn’t be demonized, much less made illegal, because it can also be used to play homebrew software. The High Court disagreed. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Weebly's ImagePerfect Gives Users Drag-And-Drop Image Editing

    Weebly, the startup that lets you build a website with an easy drag-and-drop interface, is looking to help you give your site a little extra flair: they’ve just launched a new image editor called ImagePerfect that allows users to craft nifty custom header images with a few clicks. It may not be a Photoshop killer, but it took Weebly CEO David Rusenko all of one minute to build the Mustang image… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Toshiba Busts Out Three CELL Regza 3D TVs

    The 3D TV boom isn’t ending. As announced back in April, Toshiba Japan today showed [press release in English] a total of three new Cell Regza LCD TVs, and all of them are 3D enabled and full HD. These are the “CELL REGZA SLIM” 46XE2 (46 inches) and CELL REGZA SLIM 55XE3 (55 inches) plus another 55-inch model, the CELL Regza 55X2 (pictured). → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    As Mobile Advertising Heats Up, Millennial Media Prepares For An IPO In 2011

    Mobile advertising is currently a billion dollar market and we’ve witnessed tech giants like Google and Apple move into the space with the acquisitions of mobile ad networks AdMob and Quattro Wireless, respectively. AdMob is now part of Google’s mobile advertising business and Apple is using Quattro to power its new ad format, iAds. But there is another player that has silently been growing its… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    GoodData Secures Another $6.5 million In A Round Led By Fidelity

    GoodData is rapidly becoming a key example of the technology innovation emerging from Central Europe – and laying a bet on Europe seems to be paying off for Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, the venture and growth equity investor, which backs European entrepreneurs exclusively.

    It’s invested $2 million in the startup, the second investment for the £100 million fund, leading an overall $6.5… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Vodafone Launches Mobile Clicks Startup Competition, Dangles €150,000 In Prizes

    Vodafone has launched Mobile Clicks 2010, a competition to identify and reward innovative mobile Internet startups. Now in its third year, the competition will be open to any fledgling mobile Web startup – provided your market is The Netherlands, Portugal or the UK.

    Vodafone has set aside a prize fund of €150,000 (2/3 of which will go to the overall winner, the remaining €50,000 to the… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Video: Nexus One meets Wiimote and bike handlebar holder, do the sexy dance together.

    Is there any happier place on the internet than Make? Don’t answer that. Just watch this video.

    What you’re looking at is a self-proclaimed “svelt and neatly pocketable” option for playing old-skool ROMs on-the-go (ah, I remember the days when these romz were nü skool, and were known as cartz, not romz. That’s right, I put 3 ‘z’s and an umlaut in that sentence) made from a bicycle handle holder… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    First images of the myTouch 3G HD leaked?

    Details are pretty light on this one, but it looks like this may be the successor to the cheap-n-cheerful myTouch slide.

    Android Central — who sourced the images — also say that there is a fair chance that this will be T-mobile’s first HSPA+ phone, bringing with it noticeably faster download speeds (in compatible areas). → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Video: DIY Lego Drum Machine NXT-606

    In 1998 Lego introduced the MINDSTORMS product line. The NXT is a brick-shaped computer that can take in sensory input, control motors and most importantly in this case, play back sounds. The NXT-606 drum machine is based on this unit and I must say it sounds pretty good. You can even get a set yourself and build your own. And why shouldn’t you do that? Click for the video → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    HDC-TM650: Panasonic Announces Another (Japan-Only) 3D Camcorder

    Panasonic caused a splash in the blogosphere yesterday when it announced the world’s first consumer 3D camera, the HDC-SDT750, for the American market (release in October). The device was announced [JP] today in Japan as well, but Panasonic made some changes. And it showed another model, too, the HDC-TM650 (pictured), which hasn’t been announced for other markets thus far. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Froyo for HTC Incredible leaked

    Just in case all you Droid Incredible owners were jealous of the Galaxy S Froyo leak I wrote about earlier, I thought I’d better let you know that you can has Froyo, too.

    Those wonderful guys n gals over at XDA Forums have managed to source a ROM based on the upcoming OTA release for the Droid Incredible, and it’s a wee ripper, with a whole heap of new additions, outlined after the break. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Mobile Roadie Goes Pro; Launches New Version Of Customizable App Builder

    Mobile Roadie, a startup that helps anyone develop and create iPhone and Android apps, has launched a more customizable version of their app builder today, called Mobile Roadie Pro.

    The idea Mobile Roadie Pro is to offers clients more creative control over the development of their app, offering customization of menu layout, colors, buttons, and fonts. Pro also supports multiple categories of… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Nick Bilton Lives In A Future Where There Are No iBooks (Video)

    The future, as William Gibson once said, is already here. It is just unevenly distributed. You can find the future in new technologies and the people who wade into them early on—people like Nick Bilton, the chief blogger for the New York Times. (His official title is lead technology writer because the New York Times doesn’t like to admit it employs bloggers, I guess). Bilton, who previously… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Safari 5.0.1 Lands, Comes With Extensions

    Fresh off the heels of launching a slew of new products yesterday, Apple this morning debuted Safari 5.0.1, switching the flip on Safari Extensions and formally introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery, a directory of available extensions across categories.

    The company had introduced extensions support in Safari 5 last June, giving developers the opportunity to start creating browser add-ons… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Tinychat Boasts 500 Million Minutes Of Usage And 300,000 New Users Per Month

    Not so tiny after all: Tinychat, a simple text, video and audio communication platform, is growing by leaps and bounds.

    First launched in February 2009 as a simple way to create Web-based chat rooms, Tinychat today is a full-blown chat system with lots of bells and whistles.

    And the service is gaining traction, fast. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    eWise Raises $12 Million For Online Payments Technology

    Online payments company eWise has raised $12.1 million in funding led by Balderton Capital with Total Technology Ventures, and Allen & Co. participating in the round.

    eWise develops an technology, called Secure Vault Payment, to allow users to automatically deduct a payment from their bank account without disclosing their personal information to online businesses. Payments are processed via… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Froyo for Samsung Galaxy S leaked

    Samsung’s Galaxy S isn’t due for an upgrade to Froyo until September, but the pre-release builds have already begun to leak onto the ‘net. Now, this isn’t the final build, so don’t expect this to be bug-free, but if you like to live dangerously, then you can get it here. Usual disclaimer applies: it aint my fault if you brick your device. Not much else to say, really. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    European VC Funding Bounces Back, Information Technology Is "Star Performer"

    European VC funding has bounced back. That’s according to Q2 figures produced by Dow Jones VentureSource which reports that investment is up by 50 percent compared to the record low of this time last year. €1.1 billion into 289 deals against 252 deals, which raised just €735 million.

    But specifically, says Dow Jones, the Information Technology (IT) industry, which apparently accounted for… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Hungry For Growth, Search Marketing Startup KENSHOO Raises More Funding

    Search engine marketing startup KENSHOO has secured an undisclosed late-stage round of funding from Sequoia’s Growth Fund, the Israeli company announced this morning.

    This marks the fourth time Sequoia Capital has injected capital into the company, which claims it is now profitable and has doubled in valuation since 2009. → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Daily Crunch: Butterfly Board Edition

    Replica Nikon Lens Mug Now Available Playstation logo licenced for clothing, “lifestyle” products ChouChou: Amazing robot butterfly in a jar (videos) Voilà! Apple’s Magic Trackpad Appears. Multi-Touch On Any Mac For $69 Apparently, You Can Still Solder Together Your Own Computer If You Really Want To → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Short Notice: PayPal Removes Electronic Withdrawal Option For Indian Users

    PayPal, the eBay-owned electronic payments company, continues to run into operational issues in India. Earlier this year, the company had to suspend personal payment transactions from and to India, albeit temporarily, when the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) concluded that PayPal was not in compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements.

    This morning, an email was sent to Indian users… → Read More

    July 28th, 2010

    Panasonic Wants You To Take Pictures In 3D

    Along with the other announcement Panasonic made today, they also told us about a new lens for their LUMIX G camera. You’ll remember that the LUMIX G is their micro 4/3 line, of which we reviewed the G10 back in May. The new lens is first to give the ability to take a 3D image using a camera with only one CCD, by using a stereo optical system in the barrel of the lens. Details are sparse… → Read More