Remember last year when that massive blizzard hit the east coast? I do. My wife ended up trapped in Washington D.C. for 6 days while waiting for a flight out. It could have been worse though, at least the hotel she was staying at didn’t lose power, and she was able to keep in touch via her cell phone. But what if this had gone from bad to worse? What if the infrastructure hadn’t kept running, and the power had gone out? Her phone — a smartphone — would have been the first thing to go. With big ol’ screens and radios galore, it’s tough to keep these things away from the wall for too long. So what do you do to make sure you don’t lose communication? → Read More
As you all know, any chance I get to mix soccer and tech is a chance I will absolutely take, and with zero hesitation. On today’s edition: Real Madrid! Yes, the 31-time Spanish champions, and nine-time European champions (a por la décima and all that) have something in the works that may interest those of you keen on Apps of all shapes and sizes. In the near future, you’ll be able to bring los galácticos with you wherever you travels may take you. → Read More
Twitter has been open about its desire for advertising to be a pillar of its revenue strategy. The company has launched a number of experiments with advertising on the site, rolling out Promoted Tweets, which serves up ads based on keywords in Twitter search queries; and Promoted Trends. But Twitter cracked down on in-stream advertising on third-party clients; which was thought to be a direct attack on some of the Twitter ad networks in the space, such as 140 Proof, Ad.ly and others (it turned out that the new TOS didn’t kill these companies). However, now it looks like Twitter is actually partnering with Twitter ad networks to sell its inventory on Promoted Tweets.
We’ve learned that Twitter has ‘informally’ partnered with 140 Proof, a Twitter-based ad network that launched earlier this year, to allow the ad network to sell ad inventory for Promoted Tweets along side 140Proof’s own inventory. 140 Proof allows 3rd-party Twitter clients, like Echofon, Hootsuite and UberTwitter, to sell space on the network to advertisers. → Read More
When it comes to online video, there is YouTube and then there is everyone else. Increasingly, videos on the service are getting a million or more views and some stars (like that Bieber kid) are getting made. So just upload a video to YouTube and became the next big thing, right? Well, not exactly.
While there are an increasing number of massively huge videos on YouTube, there’s also just more videos in general. And despite what you may think, not all of them can be watched every second of the day by everyone on the planet. In fact, there are plenty of — and very likely more — videos on the service with very, very few views. And believe it or not, there are some with zero views. Thankfully, there is a Tumblr blog to highlights those. → Read More
Earlier today I reported on a class action lawsuit against Facebook which argued that when it comes to teenagers, the social network should not be able to use their name or likeness to promote either Facebook itself or on behalf of advertisers without parental consent. “If you don’t like the law, change the law, John C. Torjesen, one of the lawyers bringing the suit, tells me. “But I think people like that law.”
There are two main ways he says Facebook is using the names and likenesses of minors for commercial endorsements. One is through search. If you search for a teenager on Google, supposedly you will find a link to their Facebook profile, which brings you to a landing page enticing you to sign up or sign into Facebook to get the full profile. But Facebook says this is just not the way it works. A Facebook spokesperson provided the following screenshot at left (click to enlarge), which I will call Exhibit A. → Read More
Last fall Zynga sued rival gaming developer Playdom (recently acquired by Disney) for an array of issues including misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and breach of the duty of loyalty.
In short Zynga accused Playdom of stealing its confidential ‘Zynga Playbook‘.
The case continues, but the drama has reached its peak. The court today held one former Zynga and Playdom employee, Raymond Holmes, in contempt and sentenced him to ten days in county jail and a $4,000 fine. Fortunately for Holmes, Judge Mark Pierce then suspended the sentence. That means Holmes won’t do the time unless he continues to, well, piss off Judge Pierce. The full order is embedded below. → Read More
The iPod revolutionized the portable media player market. The iPhone shook up the smart phone market. The iPad is setting the standard for the revived tablet market. What is it about Apple that makes these products so great? In part it’s Apple’s dedication to user experience; but I’d argue that the larger factor in their success is Apple’s end-to-end control of the product. They make the hardware and the operating systems, and build the two to work in near-perfect synchronicity. A lot of CrunchGear commenters say they’re really waiting for a Windows 7 tablet to compete with the iPad, but I say they’ll be waiting for a long, long time: Windows 7 on the multitude of tablet hardware options will be just like Windows 7 on desktop PCs: an appeal to the lowest common denominator, thereby hobbling both hardware and OS advances. (And I actually like Windows 7, so belay the Apple fanboy comments for a moment.) But what about an Ubuntu tablet? The svelt, modular Linux kernel has breathed new life into many aging PCs, and Canonical has been working on a netbook-specific interface for Ubuntu for some time. They have multitouch support, now, too, so couldn’t they pretty quickly roll out a wonderful Ubuntu-powered tablet? → Read More
Earlier today, Erick wrote about Windows Live Sync becoming Windows Live Mesh. Basically, it’s a service that allows people to sync files between PCs and with the cloud. As a product, it sounds great — as Erick says, there’s definitely a huge need for someone to do this right. But as usual with Microsoft, I have to ask: what on Earth is up with the branding?
Yes Microsoft needed to combine Live Sync and Live Mesh as they were similar products. But doesn’t “Sync” make a lot more sense than “Mesh”? What the hell is a mesh? I had to Google it. → Read More
Another day, another leaked Android handset to lust over. This one looks like it just might dethrone the Droid X as Verizon’s flagship Android device — or at least give it one hell of a fight. The Droid X isn’t the only handset in danger of taking some damage from this one, though; this things a near one-to-one match with the Sprint EVO 4G, both in looks and specs.
Hear that rumble? That’s everyone that works at Sprint letting out a collective groan. → Read More
Jeroen Domburg, aka “sprite”, has written an excellent step-by-step security analysis of the iStorage DiskGenie. The DiskGenie is a hardware encryption solution for portable hard drives that operates completely free of client-side software. The hard drive inside the DiskGenie is unlocked by way of a keypad built into the casing. I’m always a little skeptical of the real-world security of consumer encryption products like this: if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that physical access to a device means almost complete control over that device. Domburg delves into some nitty-gritty hardware attacks in his evaluation of the DiskGenie, further reinforcing that physical access is usually complete access. → Read More
While at Basel I got to meet with RSW and check out these watches first-hand. You should know that the collection started life as the RSW Outland from a couple of years ago. You can see how the watches share the same case and strap. The Outland was a bit of a wild timepiece that was interesting all over and demanded attention. What it didn’t demand was too much of the avant garde market share. People liked the case more than the dial (which was interesting but certainly demanded an acquired taste). They also may have not been thrilled with the price. So while the Outland wasn’t a failure per se, it was more of a niche item. RSW had something special with the Outland case and wanted to have a more mainstream product. The disc based time-telling system has merged into a simple three-hand dial (why the watch is called the “3H” – for three hands), and it is being offered with a big variety of colors. I actually think there are too many color options to start. You can easily like so many of them that you won’t known which to buy if you like the watch – this often leads to people not buying anything. A condition known a “choice paralysis.” What RSW should do (and I told them), is release just a few colors at a time. Each 6 months to a year release some new colors to keep things fresh and lure potential buyers who have been hovering around the idea to buy. Again, I digress. RSW is really making my thoughts wander. → Read More
Later this year, California residents will be voting on Proposition 19, a measure that would legalize marijuana in the state. And, given how much controversy revolves around the issue (think of the children!), we’re bound to see plenty of ads in the run-up to the November 2 election. Thing is, you won’t be seeing ads in favor of legalization on some of the web’s most popular sites, because their parent companies are afraid of being associated with a pro-marijuana stance.
The issue has come to a head over at Reddit, which reported to its users earlier today that its parent company Condé Nast would not allow it to accept paid ads in support of Prop. 19. Redditors predictably rebelled, voting up numerous stories in favor of the law (see screenshot below). And now, in a daring move, Reddit is fighting back too: it’s announced that it will begin running ads supporting Proposition 19, free of charge. → Read More
StockTwits has built a business out of people tweeting their thoughts and actions around various public stocks. SecondMarket has built a business out of people interested in the buying and selling of various private stocks. It seems only natural to shove the two together. Which is exactly what they’re doing today with a new partnership.
As you may be aware, to send a tweet to StockTwits, you have to append the “$SYMBOL” syntax to your tweet. The same idea will now work with these private stocks that SecondMarket tracks. For example, if you’re interested in TechCrunch stock, you’d tweet your thoughts with “$TCRH” appended on to the tweet. For Facebook, you’d use “$FBOOK“. For Twitter, “$TWIT“. And so on. → Read More
The entire Internet (aka Facebook, Google, Apple AOL, Facebook, eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube) has just been served with a vague and vast patent violation suit from Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen. As patent suits are notoriously unpopular, the response from tech pundits has been apprehensive. Now the companies named are starting to hit back, a representative from Facebook told TechCrunch, “We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously.” → Read More
If you like reading Wired, and odds are if you read this website you do, you’ll be interested to know that you can get a 1-year subscription for $3.99. Just hop over to Discount Mags, and enter the coupon code “WOOTDEALS” and you can pick up 12 issues of geeky goodness. [via DealNews] → Read More
Years ago, the music industry could have blamed falling album sales on piracy. “Nobody’s buying the latest Chingy because they’re just downloading a 128CBR rip from Suprnova~!” What’s the excuse now when people have loads of legitimate digital options—iTunes, Zune, Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, etc.—at their fingertips? Oh, right: it’s still piracy. Please update your act. → Read More
How crazy is this Chilean mine story? Guys have been trapped down there for three weeks! And despite that, they seem to be in pretty good spirits. I mean, they’re far more cheery than anyone I know, that’s for sure. → Read More
Anyone who thought Sony was simply going to sit back and allow that “jailbreak” dongle to be sold with impunity, ja! Sony, in Australia, has convinced the courts to place an injunction on the sale and importation of the dongle there. No homebrew and/or piracy for you, Australia. → Read More
Google has just bought TechCrunch50 startup Angstro according to a post on the company’s site. The company’s founder, entrepreneur Rohit Khare, has joined Google to work on the company’s social networking product Google Me, according to an L.A. Times report.
Angstro launched in 2008 as a newspaper for people in your professional network. The site skimmed through content across blogs, news sites, and a number of other sources to look for material that is related to the people you know and work with. → Read More
When Microsoft launched Windows Live Sync in beta at the end of June, it merged it with its long-awaited Windows Live Mesh, but both still kept separate branding. The product will take on the Windows Live Mesh branding in the next couple of months. There are a few other changes coming too.
Right now Windows Live Sync, which is already being used by 240,000 people in beta, syncs files between PCs or between PCs and the cloud (mobile will be added later, but that is the ultimate vision). Syncing between PCs is unlimited, but syncing to the cloud up till now has been capped at 2 gigabytes per account. That will soon be increased to 5 gigabytes. → Read More
