This morning, Google officially unveiled its Voice/Gmail integration, which will allow users to make Google Voice calls from the browser. It’s a pretty nifty service that is gaining traction in the TechCrunch SF newsroom. Another product we’re eyeing? That shiny London-esque phone booth with the “vintage” 1957 phone that makes free domestic and long distance Google voice calls.
I dropped by Google’s SF office to get a full tour from Jason Toff, the product marketing manager for Google Voice who spearheaded the phone booth project. (See video tour ahead). According to Toff, Google has already manufactured five phone booths and is zeroing in on several high-trafficked venues. No contracts have been finalized yet but he expects Arizona State University will be one of the first (with its student body of 54,000 strong).
Free Goog-wear alert: Google has also given us 7 Voice T-shirts for readers who have always wanted to look like a living, breathing Google icon. We have several tees in size M and L. → Read More
So you’ve finally moved into the corner office, and you’re looking for that special decorator piece that really says “I’ve made it” in the corporate rate race. Well look no longer, because I’ve found the perfect product for you – the dinosaur lamp. You know you want one. → Read More
When looking at the current incarnation of Apple TV we find a tragically flawed device that overshot and underperformed at the same time. Essentially an iPod Classic with HDMI out, the Apple TV had a pitiful hard drive and a useless OS unless hacked. In the end, it was more expensive and more underpowered than anyone liked and competitors quickly filled the niche, offering format agnostic streaming boxes with Netflix support and devices like the Xbox 360 that allowed UPNP access to content on your network.
In the end, I got rid of my Apple TV even after hacking it to oblivion. I tried to love it. I really did. Unfortunately, however, I probably won’t be going back to the platform, even if the $99 mini-iTV Apple TV thinger appears on September 1st. Here’s why. → Read More
Some Boxee news for you, as we all sit back and watch the Barcelona-Milan friendly. (Good to see Ronaldinho get such a nice reaction from the Camp Nou crowd. I haven’t seen him this happy in years!) The company has decided to add a Movie component to its much celebrated TV-watching interface. The gist is, just as you can watch TV programming with Boxee, you’ll be able to watch movies. Boxee has initially teamed up with EZTakes, Indie Movies Online, MUBI, and Openfilm. → Read More
Some companies keep a playbook of product tips, tricks and trade secrets. Zynga has an internal playbook, for instance, that is a collection of “concepts, techniques, know-how and best practices for developing successful and distinctive social games”. Zynga’s playbook has entered the realm of legend and was even the subject of a lawsuit.
SCVNGR, which makes a mobile game with real-world challenges, has a playdeck. It is a deck of cards listing nearly 50 different game mechanics that can be mixed and matched to create the foundation for different types of games. I’ve republished the accompanying document below, which should be interesting to anybody trying to inject a gaming dimension into their products. → Read More
OffiSync, a startup that lets you collaboratively edit documents using Microsoft Office and Google Docs in tandem, seems to be doing well — the company’s plugin is the third most downloaded on the entire Google Apps Marketplace. But it also has a new challenger approaching: Google itself. Back in March, Google acquired OffiSync competitor DocVerse, and there’s little doubt that Google will soon leverage their technology to begin offering plugins for Microsoft Office. So where does that leave OffiSync?
Today, the company is launching some new features and a new pricing plan that it hopes will keep it competitive with whatever Google eventually launches. Given that we don’t yet know what Google will be launching it’s difficult to give an accurate prediction, but CEO Oudi Antebi says that from what he’s heard from various Google partners and customers, OffiSync will have a few key differentiators. → Read More
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/video_embed.php?id=3645 I’m going through a bit of the new Metroid game by Team Ninja, the same guys who made Ninja Gaiden and I’m pleased to report that the game, although a departure from the tamer Metroid games, the injection of real emotion and a bit of (non-bloody) space horror adds considerably to the game. → Read More
For those that remember when Google Voice was GrandCentral … Other than missing Like.com’s acquisition on August 20th and having the DoubleClick grab plotted when Google revealed its intent to acquire in April 2007 and not when the official acquisition was announced in March of 2008, this is pretty much a comprehensive record of the search giant’s ploy for world domination, or whatever they’re calling it these days. → Read More
You’ve got your camping gear packed, and a full night’s supply of coffee prepped. You’re all ready to camp out on the sidewalk for what may very well be the first Windows Phone 7-powered phone in the US: the LG C900 for AT&T. There’s only one problem: you don’t know when to show up. Now we might! → Read More
In my hands right now, ladies and gentlemen? The latest version of the Amazon Kindle, known colloquially as the Kindle 3. Here’s what’s what. → Read More
You may not be familiar with Modu, the Israeli mobile company that specializes in making very, very small phones. The latest model, which runs Android, is probably about as big as the screen on your phone. It’s an intriguing concept, but unfortunately it hasn’t taken off like they hoped, and $100 million in funding has evaporated over the last couple years. So, they’re going to try to raise a few more bucks by becoming a publicly-owned company — hopefully enough that they can launch their latest line and perhaps make a dent in the market. I like the little things, but I’m not sure they’d sell here right now. We’re in a “bigger is better” phase, and minimalism has never really been the American way. → Read More
Probably should have mentioned this yesterday, but such is life. Valve is running a fun little content wherein you get to DESCRIBE HATS~! in Team Fortress 2. The name of the contest? “The First Ever Hat Describing Contest.” Two thumbs up. → Read More
According to a blog post today on the company’s site, Facebook is revamping its Chat feature to be faster, more stabilized and reliable.
Facebook says that Chat, which launched two years ago, is now one of the most widely used communication features on the network. In the next few weeks, Facebook will “be making important improvements in the way connections are established and messages are sent.” → Read More
The Literati, shown here, is an e-reader with a full color display. MechSource, the creators of this e-reader, are hoping to get a jump on the color e-reader market with this device. It does not have a touchscreen, it does not allow you to browse the web, and it does not run any applications. It’s simply a $159 color e-reader. It uses the Kobo platform, and will come bundled with 25 public domain works for your reading pleasure. → Read More
Lumenergi a Newark, Calif. business closed a $12.7 series B funding round led by Braemar Energy Ventures the company announced today.
It plans to use the capital to take its flourescent and LED lighting control systems — which are like dimmers on steroids and smart pills — from small to mid-sized commercial sites such as schools, courthouses and stores, to large scale commercial and industrial sites.
It will especially seek projects in “energy intensive” regions where the power supply may be limited, or strained by harsh weather for example. → Read More
The Internet is one giant resume, Stephen Colbert posits in yesterday’s The Word: Control-Self-Delete. Colbert brings up Eric Schmidt’s now infamous “every person will be entitled automatically to change their name” statement and argues that an identity change is not enough to guarantee privacy, because of Google’s new photo recognition tool and Google’s tracking of search and Gmail keeping track of your emails and so on and so forth.
Aside from getting surgery and avoiding every single person you used to know, Colbert does bring up another solution: → Read More
Fun Fact #1: Every September for the past few years, Apple has held a press event in San Francisco. More often than not, this event has focused around music, media, and the iPod line.
Fun Fact #2: Invites just went out for this year’s September happening, and we’re on the list. → Read More
We’ve just received an invite to an Apple event taking place on Wednesday, September 1. Yes, next week. The event will be at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10 AM PT.
While Apple will only say that this is a “special event,” the image above makes it clear that just as with their events every September, this one will be mainly about music — or at least the iTunes ecosystem. At this event, Apple is widely expected to unveil (or at least talk about) their new iTV device — the next-generation Apple TV. And they may have a thing or two to say about an iTunes television show rental service. → Read More
I personally love OpenDNS, at least as much as you can love a DNS service. It offers a number of admin features that are usually reserved for bigger and badder ISPs and the service is free, fast, and fun (not really, but I liked the alliteration). If you’ve never used it, it essentially replaces your current ISPs Domain Name Server which is like the Internet’s phone book. To use it, all you have to do is type in two sets of numbers into your network preferences. If you want to get really fancy, you can create an account to control access to certain sites, add shortcuts to sites (typing “cgmail” will get me to CrunchGear mail, for example, in my setup), and stats. It also warns you about malware attacks. → Read More
The Beeb: not a fan of 3D TV. Well, not a fan of the confusion surrounding its deployment. The BBC, in a recent interview, said that it’s not sure which direction 3D TV is heading, so it cannot commit to anything, much less a full deployment, any time soon. → Read More
