I’ve run out of outrage to direct at the perpetrators of anti-video-game foolishness who pervade the media worldwide. The issue has been run down many times, by far more capable people than myself, perhaps most visibly in the furor surrounding Modern Warfare 2 and its “controversial” mission in which your character is forced to kill civilians in order to keep his cover intact. We weighed in at the time. That particular teacup has a new tempest in it this week in the aftermath of the tragic airport bombing in Moscow, as Russia Today brings the game in as a potential cause for the event and training tool for terrorists, complete with absurd testimonials from “experts.” I think I’ll refrain from comment on how mind-blowingly ignorant and reactionary this “report” is. Discuss. Or, actually, no. Let’s not. → Read More
This patent, filed by Nikon in Japan, is really baffling me right now. The idea is that the viewfinder or eyepiece would serve not only as a something to put your eye to and frame shots, but also as a pico projector. Isn’t that a little dangerous? → Read More
My love for the X100 is no secret. I was excited when it was announced, ecstatic to get my hands on it, and even named it my personal best of show at CES. So I’m a little jealous (but I understand, Fujifilm, I understand) that a few photo outlets on the net are getting their units for hands-on previews. DP Review’s is practical and thorough, as usual, and Norwegian site Akam.no has put up (against Fuji’s orders) an array of sample shots showing ISO performance. That’ll probably get taken down, so check it out first. [via Photo Rumors] → Read More
Never before has an EV been European Car of the Year; this year the Nissan Leaf gets it. Similar to the North American Car of the Year, which the Chevrolet Volt won, the European COTY is chosen by auto journalists; 58 of them from 23 European countries. The contest was very close. The Leaf rang up 257 points from the journos, besting the Alfa Romeo Giulietta by only 9 points. So why did the Nissan Leaf win? → Read More
HTC’s upcoming tablets hve been peeking out from various non-official sources over the last few weeks, starting with a trademark request, then a few supplier leaks. And now someone has leaked what they claim is more or less the full spec sheet for the 7″ device. → Read More
Why is it that the coolest things are always out of my price range? Wait, don’t answer that. Let me rephrase. Why is it that the coolest things are always way out of my price range?
Case in point: this amazing Swiss wall clock from illi, which beats the seconds with its little blocks, then opens up crazily to reveal the actual time whenever you ask it to. → Read More
Three weeks into his job, Facebook Director of Gaming Partnerships Sean Ryan made bold advances to developers during the M&A panel at Inside Social Apps. When discussing what games should be built on what platforms, Ryan said, referring to Facebook, “Well if you’re building social I can’t image you not building on the world’s best social network” which drew noise from the crowd.
Ryan went on to say that single player games like the immensely popular Angry Birds “wouldn’t make a lot of sense” on the social platform, as building on the almost 600M strong Facebook platform isn’t just about an endless supply of users but about games that highlight interactions. → Read More
Abound Solar, which makes thin-film cadmium telluride solar panels, has attained certifications that will allow the company to receive feed-in tariffs in the U.K. and pursue sales there aggressively.
With a feed-in tariff, utilities agree to pay a premium, but stable, rate for power generated from renewable sources, both as the utility uses the power, or as it is fed back through the grid to be redistributed and sold elsewhere.
Often controversial, feed-in tariffs are meant to drive the rapid adoption of clean energy by homeowners and utilities alike. Critics believe they give a better payout to utilities but hurt consumers, or that they tip the scales in favor of one technology (like solar) over others (such as wind, or geothermal) unfairly… → Read More
We’ve all walked down the street and seen someone with a weird tattoo and thought, “they’re going to regret that later”. What may seem cool at the time, might not seem so cool years from now. Is it possible that the current crop of mobile photo filters will lead to the same type of regret? PicPlz clearly thinks it’s possible.
A new feature the service announced today is Dropbox integration. This nifty ability has been turned on from the backend, so iPhone, Android, and web users can use it immediately. And if you do use it, you’ll be able to automatically save both your original photo and your filtered photo to your Dropbox account in the cloud. → Read More
Earlier today, we reported on a lot of chatter that Twitter was being blocked in Egypt amid rising protests. We can now confirm that they are being blocked. Two tweets from the service tonight confirm it.
“We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8am PT today. It is impacting both Twitter.com & applications,” Twitter communications head Sean Garrett just tweeted out via their new PR account. “We believe that the open exchange of info & views benefits societies & helps govts better connect w/ their people,” he continued in a second tweet. → Read More
Hey, if I dish it out, I have to be able to take it, too. And take it today I have. We’ve put up this ridiculous interstitial ad here on TechCrunch that appears the first time you visit the site.
It’s an ad for Dell. I like Dell, and before I went to Macs I mostly bought their computers. But the ad sucks.
Anecdotally I’ve heard that interstitial ads perform well because they don’t give the visitor any choice. They view the ad, then they get on the site. Lots of impressions and clicks and stuff that the sales guys love.
But like you I don’t like them. I tend to stop visiting sites that show them. They aren’t as bad as the ridiculous ads that float over the text you’re trying to read, but they are in the same ballpark. → Read More
Today at the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco, Inside Network’s Kim-Mai Cutler sat down with Eric Chu, a group manager at Google for the Android platform. The two discussed the platform mainly from a developer perspective. And the initial question may have been the most interesting.
When asked about the status of an in-app payment system for Android, Chu noted that it was set to launch last quarter, but it was forced to be delayed. Why was it delayed? “Developers were busy with their Christmas applications,” Chu said. “So we couldn’t get enough feedback,” he continued. → Read More
So let’s just get this straight. Dailymotion, a French-born competitor to YouTube, has been bought by Orange which will acquire about 49% of the company for €58.8 million or about 160 million dollars. Orange can gradually increase its stake to 100% by 2013, however, it appears the deal is not formally signed yet. Reportedly Orange has an has option to buy the rest later, just as soon as the last half of the company has collapsed in value because no-one else will be competing for other 51%. → Read More
If you asked most folks what NFC means they’d probably mumble something about the Giants and wave you off. However, Near Field Communication is here to stay and if Google and Apple’s current and potential implementations are any indication, we’ll be using NFC devices in the next two years, at least in some specific environments. First, though, what is Near Field Communication (NFC)? At its core it’s a low-power radio system that allows short-range data transfer at distances around 3 inches, or 10 centimeters. There are multiple modes, although the most important is passive mode, in which a device acts as a programmable smart card. For example, an NFC transmitter could pose as any number of RFIDs as well as interact, albeit briefly, with security systems and payment kiosks. In short, an NFC transmitter becomes both a wallet and a personal ID. → Read More
For the last few years we have gotten a new Tissot T-Touch style watch each year. Last year it was the Tissot Sailing-Touch, and for 2011 it will be the Racing-Touch (Racing T-Touch). Here is a sneak peak as what Tissot’s new T-Touch model will be all about. → Read More
At the tail-end of Yahoo’s fourth quarter earnings conference call today, CEO Carol Bartz was asked about competition with Facebook in display advertising. Facebook has come out of nowhere to account for nearly a quarter of all display ads on the Internet.
“There is some confusion about whether Facebook leads in display advertising,” Bartz responded. “It is because they have a lot of little impressions. We actually lead in display revenue.” But in fact, the two may be neck and neck. In 2010, Yahoo’s reported display ad revenues (after taking out traffic acquisition costs, the part they give to partner sites which run its ads) were $1.89 billion. Meanwhile, Facebook’s estimated global ad revenues for 2010 were $1.86 billion, with ad revenues expected to more than double to $4 billion this year. (Earnings slides after the jump). → Read More
Home theater aficionados probably won’t be interested in this minimal setup, but I kind of like it. The five-speaker-plus-sub thing is great if you’ve got a room for it, or can afford to outfit it correctly, but for the average apartment-dweller or someone who just doesn’t care that much about surround sound, a good soundbar like this SB 16 from Harmon Kardon could be just what the doctor ordered. → Read More
Enterprise software isn’t as sexy a topic as the iPhone or consumer apps. So why do I love to cover it? The fights.
While most consumer Internet companies view their market as a warm and fuzzy place where there can be multiple winners, in enterprise software it’s a slug fest. Companies are competing head-to-head for deals and customers want as few software vendors as possible. That means scrappy founders who love to joust– especially those trained in the school of His Royal Highness of Jousting, Oracle’s Larry Ellison.
In this second segment of our sit down with Jive’s Tony Zingale, he throws down on competitors like Yammer and Salesforce and explains why he loves his competitors’ freemium model, saying “They’re the best lead gen source we have, because the moment anyone gets serious they call Jive.”(By the way, if a named competitor would like to come on TCTV and have your say, you’ve got our number.)
Only an enterprise software exec would say someone calling his sales force “ex-Mercury sons-of-bitches” was “flattering.” → Read More
In an industry first, Sony Ericsson strategic business developer Martin Essl just announced that Sony Ericsson will integrate Facebook’s Single Sign On system across all its Android phones in the next couple of months. Launched in December, Single Sign On is like Facebook Connect for mobile apps, removing friction because it allows you to log into all apps that use Facebook Connect just by logging into one.
Essl did not go into the specifics of the integration but revealed that the Facebook app will come preloaded on all phones and there will be an (optional) initial walk through process for Single Sign On as part of the phone setup. Essl also said there would be additional integrations beyond what the Facebook app can already do. → Read More
Ge.tt, the browser-based file publishing and sharing service, gets an official launch today.
The service, which on the surface competes with a plethora of filesharing offerings such as YouSendIt, Dropbox or newer entrants like Twileshare, claims its Beta version went “viral” in November, seeing 10,000 sign-ups despite the fact no sign-up is required (although doing so unlocks additional features, such as longer storage times and analytics). Three million file downloads have taken place since. → Read More
Barcelona, Spain
New York City
San Francisco, CA
