Another one bites the dust. Mobile ad exchange Mobclix has been acquired by London-based mobile marketing agency Velti, we’ve heard from a source with knowledge of the transaction. We originally reported the rumors of a Mobclix deal last week. While terms of the deal have not been disclosed, we hear the size of the acquisition is north of $50 million. UPDATE: We’ve confirmed the acquisition with Mobclix; here is the release.
Mobclix’s exchange allows app developers to sign up with their ad inventory and ad networks, like Millennial Media and Jumptap, bid for the spots based on age, gender, location, and other factors. The ads being served change automatically, based on which ad network is bidding the highest to reach the users of that particular app. → Read More
If you own a Samsung Epic 4G, then you were probably aware that there was meant to be an update released today that solved the terrible 3G upload speeds that you were experiencing. Well, you may have noticed that the update didn’t actually come… but why?
Sprint have posted an explanation in their community forums, and blame it on administration issues on Google’s end.
Follow the jump for all the details. → Read More
Last week I told you how Windows Phone 7 handsets will probably begin shipping on November 8. Well, Microsoft aren’t about to start trying to sell handsets without at least a little hype before release.
And now it’s seeming more and more likely that the hype will begin on October 11.
The Wall Street Journal today reported that Microsoft will “formally unveil a lineup of smartphones using the revamped version of its mobile operating system on Oct. 11, and AT&T Inc. will begin offering them four weeks later”. → Read More
Good news for you non-us Android developers today, as Google now supports paid apps in 20 more countries, bringing the total up to 29 countries where developers can accept payments in the Android Market.
According to the Android Developers Blog, developers in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan can now sell apps on the Android Market.
Also, over the next two weeks, the Android Market will open itself up to a further 18 countries, bringing the total number of countries able to access and purchase Android apps through the Market to 32. → Read More
We’ve tried the avoid the majority of iPad mounting solutions, but this one is just too good to pass up. The iArm car mount keeps your iPad where you want it at all times: blocking your view of the rest of the world. → Read More
Hot on the heels of the bulk Verizon leak today, comes a bucketload of images of the Samsung Continuum. You remember the Continuum, don’t you? The one that grabbed your attention as being “a dual-screened Android-powered monster”.
I know that sparked my curiosity, so I’m rather happy that BGR now have a bunch of (quality) images showing the device and it’s handy dandy ticker-style secondary display.
When the main display is turned off, the secondary display shows updates from IM, email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, and others (hopefully customisable like on LauncherPro). When the main screen is on, however, the ticker shows the current time and weather.
More images after the jump. → Read More
I’d like to believe that if Facebook changed the order of “Developers” and “Careers” in the footer of their site, it wouldn’t lead to a huge user backlash. But history suggests otherwise. Okay, maybe I’m slightly exaggerating, but I’m honestly not sure. It seems that if Facebook does anything to change their site, it’s grounds for user backlash. And yet, these past couple of weeks, Twitter has been drastically changing their site, and we’re seeing almost no backlash. Why?
I asked Twitter’s VP of Product Jason Goldman that very question backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt a couple days ago. His response? Twitter needed to execute on a new experience that was still Twitter-like, and they did that. It was about taking the core experience and extending on top of it. → Read More
The image accompanying this post is encoded with JPEG compression, a standard which, while it has been improved somewhat, has been more or less in its present form for almost two decades now. Over those two decades, images have changed their role on the web dramatically, and consequently the number and quality of images on the web have been increasing exponentially. Yet the way we make those images easy to share and transmit hasn’t caught up with the times. → Read More
The Internet is rife with Google Translate failures, but this is the first we’ve seen on Google Maps. Apparently the Rio De Janeiro = Landfill issue on the newly launched Google Maps Brazil is known within Google and is caused by a mixup between a landfill site near Rio and a poor Portuguese to English translation, where the Portuguese is okay but the English is um, suspect. → Read More
Yesterday, we reported on the leaked press images of the HTC Mondrian, but today, Engadget are reporting that some hands-on images of the very same WinPho7 device have leaked, and it’s clearly labelled as the HTC Spark, aka the HTC Trophy.
The most notable feature is the inclusion of HTC’s Hub, which is HTC’s attempt at differentiating themselves from a crowd of very, very similar phones.
We’ve not heard much about the HTC Spark/Trophy, but, while it looks a lot like the Mondrian, we believe it to be a model stationed slightly lower in the pecking order. Of course, not that much lower, as it still rocks a 1GHz processor, and 8GB storage, but its screen is smaller at 3.8″.
More images in the gallery after the jump. → Read More
Let no one say that the people who attend Burning Man are not creative. This particular individual decided to “pimp his coat” with various electronics and LEDs. The end result is striking to say the least. Check out the video after the jump. → Read More
A senior Capcom guy recently said in an interview that he believes retail will always have a place in game sales. It seems like an unwise thing to say when online distribution volume is growing like crazy, but I think he has a point. → Read More
Instructables has an excellent how-to on building your own six cheese hexagonal fountain. Why would you want to do this? God only knows. → Read More
HP has just named their new CEO. No, it’s not Todd Bradley — a popular guess out of the current ranks (and clearly he was thinking about it as well). Instead, HP’s Board went outside and picked Léo Apotheker, the former CEO of SAP.
In February, Apotheker abruptly left SAP after only seven months in the CEO position – well, the sole-CEO position. He had been co-CEO with Henning Kagermann for almost a couple of years before that. But he had been with SAP for over 20 years. → Read More
Supercars are as important as space programs. They are a hotbed of technology development and these incredibly expensive platforms allow designers and engineers alike to run wild. Sometimes even when the vehicles are sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, they do not directly make the companies money. But yet supercars are built over and over again because they are just that important. The vehicle industry is at a turning point right now. Suddenly stuffing a lightweight high-output engine into a F1 body tweaked for the road isn’t enough. Well, it is right now in 2010, but that design won’t cut it three, four, and especially five years from now when the vehicle finally moves from development to retail. Nope, the Paris Auto Show is showing the world is going green and that includes the next generation of supercars. The term green is used loosely here. It doesn’t mean these 200+ MPH cars will suddenly see 50mpg numbers. No, some will still suck down fuel faster than a Ford F350, while others will use no gasoline. Both types however will employ foward-thinking technology that will eventually trickle down to your next Corilla or Malibu. This is why supercars are so important. → Read More
We’ve had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with Jonathan Mann over the past year. It was August 2009 when Mann (who is sometimes also known as “therockcookiebottom” or “songadaymann“) wrote his jingle about Bing. I called it the “worst jingle ever” but Microsoft clearly disagreed as it won their competition. Mann responded by writing a song about me which was actually pretty good. And then he went on a streak of awesome.
There was the song about Microsoft brainwashing kids with his Bing jingle. There was the Steve Jobs song. And there was the song about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, which Apple even played at their “antennagate” event. And now he was kind enough to write a song about our acquisition by AOL. → Read More
OK, so a few minutes ago I got a press release from Valve talking about the latest Team Fortress 2 update. I read the subject line and was like, “Oh, I bet they added a bunch of stuff. Neat.” But then I read the press release. → Read More
We sat down with Digg co-founder Kevin Rose after TechCrunch Disrupt yesterday to talk about the recent Digg Version 4 launch and the user revolt and media circus that ensued. Rose addressed the lessons he had learned during the tumultuous redesign, including what he would have done differently if given another opportunity.
Rose, who was recently replaced as CEO by Matt Williams, also went in to future product plans for Digg, such as “Interests” pages for different verticals, a product that Rose says will be launching in the next couple of weeks, with the eventual goal being a Digg that allows you to jump into niche interests and form communities around those interests. → Read More
Facebook has established itself as the biggest photo sharing service on the Internet — by far. But until fairly recently, the maximum size of uploaded photos was a frustratingly small 604 pixels, doing nothing to take advantage of the increasing ubiquity of high-resolution cameras. And that’s a problem when your friends are using Facebook as the primary way to share memories of special events like weddings, graduations, parties, and chubby bunny contests.
Things started to improve in March which it boosted the maximum resolution 20% up to 720 pixels. And now the Photos app is getting much, much better: Facebook is boosting the maximum photo size by 8x, up to 2048 pixels. Now you won’t have to squint when you go to relive your memories a few years (or decades) down the line. → Read More
Here’s a fun story out of China, the home of fun stories. It’s also the home of, like, many, many grey market iPhone re-sellers. It used to be that Apple had a two-iPhone limit at its Beijing store. Used to be? Yes, Apple removed the limit, and then chaos ensued. → Read More
