Looks like President Obama isn’t the only one resorting to Facebook as a way to reach constituents. In a first for an American President past or present, former President George W. Bush will hold a discussion and Q&A live from Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto in about 20 minutes.
Bush will be talking to Facebook employees about his new book Decision Points, and those of us not employed by Facebook will have the opportunity to watch it on the Livestream above. → Read More
Guys are easy to shop for. We’re pretty much content with anything — even socks. But don’t buy an outdoorsy guy a tie for Christmas. Sure, they might need one church and/or court appearances, but the seven gifts after the break are guaranteed to be on the top of their Santa wish list. There’s something at nearly every price point so, please, don’t drop the ball and give your guy some camo slippers. No one wants those. → Read More
Txtr, maker of the txtr Reader, Germany’s answer to the Kindle, is partnering with bol.com, Netherlands’ largest online retailer, to power its newly launched eBook store pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy tablet and Android-based smartphones. In addition, an iPhone/iPad version will be available for download from bol.com.
Similar to Amazon’s multi-device approach, with various Kindle apps complementing its own dedicated e-Reader, txtr employs what it calls its “buy once – read anywhere” strategy (up to 6 different devices per eBook purchase) and targets Apple iOS, Android, PCs running Windows, as well as web and dedicated e-Ink based eReaders. → Read More
It’s impossible to throw a rock at a media outlet today without hitting a story about Wikileaks. And to make the rock throwing even easier, the subject of this week’s Why Is This News is: Wikileaks – ‘enemy of democracy, just plain fact of life… or both?’
In it, Sarah argues that, for good or ill, the leaking of several hundred thousand diplomatic cables simply reflects today’s reality that no information is ever truly secret in the Internet age. The US government, like major companies before them, simply need to adapt to that reality – improving their behaviour, but also getting better at locking down the truly secret stuff. Paul, on the other hand, just hates everything about Wikileaks, describing it as one man’s pathetic ego trip which reveals almost nothing useful and which, if anything, will massively set back the site’s stated goal of ‘transparency’.
In many ways, we’re both arguing the same point from different angles. But, hey, at least we’re arguing – which always makes for a fun episode. Video below. → Read More
It’s the Internet contest that anyone can play! Yes, Ron and Fez‘s Search Search Hurry Up And Search returns, now with plenty of prizes just in time for your holiday shopping. Why leave the house? Why spend all day browsing Web sites looking for deals when you can Search Search Hurry Up And Search your way to success? → Read More
If you were one of those people that watched the iPhone4 v. HTC Evo Xtranormal videos made by Brian Maupin and caught yourself thinking that today’s mobile phones are just downright overcomplicated, you’re definitely going to like Lëkki. The brand new Paris-based startup launched in September is looking to bring back the good old simple portable phones of the 1990s – but in an environmentally friendly and stylish way.
Forget Facebook, Foursquare, email and all those other time-consuming applications out there. If you don’t want to spend your life on your phone (which also happens to be a clock-camera-calculator-garage door opener-microwave-in-one), Lëkki’s “Back to Basics” approach offers telephones that make calls and send texts – and do absolutely nothing more. → Read More
Glancing at my Twitter stream of an evening, I’ve been surprised at the number of Geeks watching The X-Factor TV show (in the UK) . But then I guess it lends itself extremely well to witty asides on Twitter. This actually makes the show worth watching, much more for the social media discussions around it than the show itself. It’s like being at a football match where the crowd’s chants are more entertaining than the game. If there is a business model for bland, manufactured TV I guess this is it.
So we make no apology for passing on the news that social media monitoring company Brandwatch is claiming that it can predict who is about to exit The X-Factor TV “musical competition” based on what’s being said about it on Facebook and Twitter. I asked what else they track, but sure enough, Twitter tops the list as a data source. → Read More
Black Friday is behind us, but we’re currently in the midst of its pale imitation of a sibling, Cyber Monday. (Not to say that the Cyber Monday deals aren’t worth your time, but the name grates on my soul.) Great, great… but not as great as Nintendo’s sales! Yup, the company has revealed just how well it did during the week. Spoiler: 1.5 million consoles in total were sold. Not too shabby, no. → Read More
From what we can tell from a brief Reuters report, Microsoft is in talks with HBO and Showtime to broadcast and sell a la carte video through the XBox. Microsoft already offers ESPN through XBox Live.
For years pundits have been blathering on about the “Trojan horse” that is console gaming. The Playstation 2, arguably, was the first DVD player many of us ever had while the PS3 is probably the first Blu-Ray player many of us ever used. These devices were also some of the first to stream Netflix and, with this new deal, they’ll start replacing the cable box entirely. Imagine – a full complement of content available 24/7 from a box you already own. That is amazingly compelling and, dare I say it, kind of exciting.
Presumably you’re not going to sit and watch HBO’s regular programming through this service. Instead, you’ll watch a la carte versions of their original shows and exclusive movies, which is definitely compelling to some. The issue, obviously, is the cost associated with this service versus the cost tacked onto your cable bill for the actual channels. → Read More
The geolocation wars are well underway. If you need any proof of that, simply look at this thread in Quora. A startup posted a question wondering which place database they should use for their new check-in app. The responses? Foursquare: Us. Gowalla: Us. SimpleGeo: Us. Factual: Us. Locationary: Us.
Each of these companies, along with a few other big ones not practicing the art of self-promotion on Quora (Google, Facebook, Skyhook) are all in the midst of what is sure to be a drawn-out battle to become the underlying location layer that lets a thousand other startups bloom on top of it. → Read More
Okay this is just awesome. Internet marketer John Boyle has taken creative liberty with the rumors circulating about a Google Groupon acquisition and mocked up a meta “Groupon for Groupon,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
So far the counter says “0 bought” but that might change in the coming weeks. And at negotiation prices reportedly reaching upwards of $3 billion, the search engine could probably use the discount. → Read More
Social gaming is an international phenomenon. While Zynga is the leading social gaming company in the U.S., in Brazil it is a company called Vostu. The company has been growing rapidly and just closed a $30 million series C financing led by Tiger Management, with Accel Partners joining the round. Accel partner Jim Breyer, who sits on Facebook’s board, will take a board seat on Vostu. Previous investors Intel Capital and General Catalyst partners also participated. Investors purchased about 10 percent of the company in this latest round, giving Vostu a post-money valuation of roughly $300 million, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Including previous rounds, Vostu now has raised a total of $46 million.
Vostu boasts 20 million active players a month, a tenfold increase from the beginning of the year. With only 40 percent Internet penetration in Brazil, that means that about a quarter of all Brazilians who are on the Internet play a Vostu game. Vostu currently has six social games (including a farm game, poker game, as well as soccer and crime role playing games) which are played on Brazil’s largest social network, Google-owned Orkut. Almost all the revenues comes from virtual currency, which players spend inside the games. → Read More
At this point, there’s not much we don’t know about Verizon’s upcoming Android piece, the HTC Merge. We know what it looks like from just about every angle, have seen it both rendered and real, and we’ve even got a pretty good idea of what the specs will be. If you want one, you probably know it by now — and you’re probably waiting on the edge of your seat.
Unfortunately, this update isn’t going to make the edge of your seat any less painful. → Read More
Now that Wikileaks has everyone in the US angrily jumping up and down, there’s one story that’s bound to die a death: the TSA. It’s pretty clear that the so-called Opt Out Day was a failure of XFL proportions, but the reason it was a failure may actually because the TSA simply wanted to avoid a scene. Twitter was full of reports saying that those silly machines were turned off just to expedite holiday travel. → Read More
Good news, everyone! Google’s going to keep working on Android after the upcoming Gingerbread (v2.3) release! Oh, we knew that? Oh, well they’re probably going to codename the next build Honeycomb! Oh, we knew that too? Here’s one you probably didn’t know: an early build (or two) of Honeycomb just got spotted in some logs whilst someone (presumably a Google engineer) was testing its Adobe AIR performance. → Read More
Simfy, a sort of German equivalent to Spotify, has signed an exclusive partnership with VZ networks, Germany’s largest social network and operator of the so-called Facebook clone StudiVZ.
The deal will see VZ’s 16 million users being given access to simfy’s ad-supported and free on-demand music streaming service, which comprises a catalog of more than 6.2 million songs. In addition, simfy is launching a new student rate for qualifying VZ users offering premium features, such as offline playback and mobile access, starting at €6.99 per-month – a first of its kind, says the company, and fully supported by the major labels. → Read More
Yup, Wikileaks did, in fact, leak yet another series of documents at the weekend, just as many had predicted. This time around the documents are more of a diplomatic nature, that is, their leak has the US Department of State looking quite foolish. Der Spiegel writes: “Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information—data that can help paint a picture of the foundation upon which US foreign policy is built.” It turns out that there’s at least one bit of information in the leak that would be of interest to y’all, and it has to do with Google’s relationship with China. → Read More
Sorry, Apple. These deals just don’t cut it. Your so-called Merry Monday deals makes a mockery of the whole Cyber Monday institution. Edifier Prisma 2.1 Speakers $116 instead of $129. Intense! Micheal Kors Wallet Clutch $71.95 rather than $79.95. Epic! Twelve South Compass Portable Stand for iPad $35.95, down from $39.99. What a deal!
Where’s the iPad deals? Can we not get a few bucks off a MacBook? You did get the memo that today, Cyber Monday, is the biggest online shopping day of the year so you’re supposed to mark down all your wares in order to propel your holiday sales into the stratosphere, right? You did Black Friday right, but today is Cyber Monday~! HP has the right idea. They have great deals on notebooks and desktops today. Newegg got the message and dropped the prices on a bunch of products just for today. So what’s your deal, Apple? Do you hate us? → Read More
BREAKING: We just heard from Web2Asia in China that users there, when opening Google.com, find that the search box is completely missing. This has been the case for the past 30 minutes we’re told. More to follow…
Just last week, we were watching as Sprint rather suggestively compared the size of their “pipe” to the size of their competitors “pipe” as part of their prep work for 4G in LA. Today, all that pipe-laying comes to fruition; Sprint 4G has just launched in Los Angeles — and they went ahead and flipped things on in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Washington D.C, and Miami as well, just for good measure. Tucked into the announcement was some good news for San Franciscan’s, as well — hop behind the jump for that bit. → Read More
