We7, the UK music streaming service, has announced that its catalog now exceeds 6.5 million tracks. That in itself may not seem like such a big deal but consider this: at the same time last year, the music platform, which competes with the likes of Spotify, had around 3m tracks, under half of what is available today. Go back another year and a half and you’ll find that We7 didn’t have a single major label on-board so it shows how far things have come.
It’s also worth remembering that We7, which is backed by Peter Gabriel, Eden Ventures, and Spark Ventures, didn’t start out with a streaming model, although it was a pioneer in ad-supported music. Its original offering focused on downloads, with each MP3 containing the ad itself. After a set duration and, therefore, number of ad impressions, users could re-download a clean and ad-free version of the song. Back then users were very accustomed to ‘owning’ their music and so it seemed like the right way to go. → 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
Fancy a new pair of speakers? Logitech’s upcoming Speaker System Z623 could be worth a punt when it’s available this fall. It’s like a three piece suit: left speaker, right speakers, and omnidirectional subwoofer. THX certification, too. → Read More
Dragontape is a new web app that lets you create ‘mixtapes’ of your favorite YouTube videos and easily show these with friends.
The site’s functionality isn’t unique – its numerous competitors include vodpod.com, worldtv.com, and yubby.com – but creating a mix tape couldn’t be much simpler as Dragontape utilizes a familiar (and fun) drag ‘n’ drop timeline-based User Interface similar to video editing apps like Apple’s iMovie, for example. → Read More
Google wants to get you hooked on Google Voice, and it’s got a new weapon in its arsenal: charming red telephone booths inspired by the sort that litter the UK. Today at a press event where it announced the launch of phone calls and Google Voice integration into Gmail, the company disclosed that it’s going to begin installing Google Voice telephone booths into universities and airports. Step into one, and you’ll be able to make domestic and international calls, free of charge.
The purpose? To get people to try Google Voice and see how the voice quality compares to alternatives (and old-fashioned phones). Google wouldn’t say how many phone booths would be distributed, but said they should start appearing in the next few weeks (when they’ll reveal more details). → Read More
In April of this year, signs started pointing to Google getting serious about gaming. That was when they hired gaming industry vet Mark DeLoura (formerly of Ubisoft, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Nintendo and others) to be their developer advocate for games. At the time of his hiring he told gaming blog Gamasutra, “I personally feel that Google hiring someone specifically to focus on games is a signal from the company that they recognize the growing importance of games as a medium.”
Well guess what? Just four months later, he’s gone. → Read More
UK startup Tripbod has signed tourist body Visit Britain as a major distribution partner for a new unannounced product the startup will be launching with them.
Tripbod works by connecting people who want to go on trips with local experts. The experts are paid direct to come up with a personalised day-by-day trip itinerary, complete with maps, to print at home. Prices are based on length of trip, and start at £16 for a one day trip or £50 for a week. Personally if I was really busy (which I am) that would be money well spent, especially on something tailor-made. → Read More
Look, we get it: some folks been able to source iPod Touch 4G screens from creepshow contacts in Asia. We’re well aware that there will probably be a front-facing camera, the screen will probably be better, and it will probably be available on September 7, just in time for Apple’s back-to-school event. In all honesty, I’m kind of over it. → Read More
We were excited when we got our hands on an unlaunched version of Google Voice for the desktop, which let users make and receive calls via a soft phone on their computer. We hear that software is still on ice, though, and won’t be launched any time soon. But it probably doesn’t matter – today Google Voice is being integrated right into the browser via Gmail. It’s amazingly good – I know because I’ve been testing it for the last few days.
Just download the Google Talk plugin for your browser and you can then make calls to any U.S. or Canadian phone number. And if you already use Google Voice you can make those calls anywhere else, too, for a very low per minute charge. The feature is fully integrated into Google Voice, which means you can set Google Voice to receive calls in Gmail, and use your Google Voice contact book. Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.
Call quality is very, very good – comparable to Skype. See video below of test calls we performed. And more screenshots below: → Read More
Kari Byron, everyone’s favorite woman on a show dedicated to blowing things up, is getting her own show dedicated to science on, well, the Science Channel. It will run every day from 4-5pm (!!) with no commercials and feature Kari talking about fun science stuff like spiders, egg shells, and how to be cool and into science when your central pop role models are Lady Gaga and the cast of Jersey Shore. Good on Kari. → Read More
The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but StreamingVideoProvider, a UK-based platform for on-demand and live streaming video services, is launching a Pay-Per-View Playlist. This is a service where you can upload video and then charge as little as 20 pence per play. The service costs producers for £9 / €10 / $14 per month.
As we know, the bulk of video growth is largely in the free market (YouTube etc) but it’s interesting to find a company heading in the other direction. → Read More
Ever wanted to buy a friend a drink, but couldn’t because it was 2 in the afternoon and you were at work? Or because they’re half-way across the USA? Or because you’re so slammed you lost your wallet 3 bars ago? Well, now you can Bartab them a drink coupon. Bartab is a new iPhone, Web and Android app that lets you buy friends/girls/randoms-you’ve-never-met a drink. With Bartab, the first app from Webtab, you pay $1 and send a friend a virtual coupon for a drink. Yes, a real drink with real alcohol. Not a Facebook gift that sits on your profile or a virtual drink you can put on your Twitter background. Hard, cold, liquor. → Read More
Silicon Valley-based Vsee has just announced the launch of it’s low bandwidth video conferencing solutions in Europe. The company founded in 2003 and backed by the CIA’s In-Q-Tel now has an engineering team in the Netherlands and a sales team in France.
Obviously the product runs neck-to-neck with competitors like WebEx, Skype, Polycom or Citrix’s GoToMeeting – but Vsee likes to think that it offers even more collaboration tools than the rest; the video conferencing platform currenltly displays up to 12 people at a time, including features like chat, document sharing and the ability to write, highlight, etc. on another user’s screen. You do the math. The platform is only in English for now, but a majority of the functions are really very intuitive. And, like everything nowadays, installation can be done in pretty much a single click from the website. → Read More
Having those BDXL Blu-rays with 100GB capacity is nice, but they’re useless with all Blu-ray recorders that are currently on the market (with one exception in case of the Japanese market). That’s why Panasonic Japan yesterday announced [JP] a total of six new DVRs that come with HDDs and Blu-ray recorders on board that actually support the new format (and three of the devices are 3D enabled). → Read More
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