Now that Facebook has entered the space, Google appears to be ready to take it more seriously, and Foursquare is gaining some real traction, the other players in the location field need to start defining their roles. Of the other players, Gowalla has been doing some interesting stuff around check-in aggregation. But their more interesting play may be around travel. And a small change today points to that.
As you can see on place pages for various airports, Gowalla has begun connecting your travels from destination to destination. So if you check it at SFO then five hours later check in at JFK, they know that you were on a cross-country flight and create a new graphic to showcase that, complete with your miles traveled. Below that they tell your friends about your journey. And they’re even able to see if you had a layover at another airport. → Read More
Talk to any large company in Silicon Valley and they’ll be the first to tell you that they foster a culture where innovation is everywhere and engineer imaginations can run wild.
Unfortunately, that’s often just a complete fabrication from the company’s marketing department. But even at companies that really do try to encourage innovation, it’s often tough for engineers to pull themselves away from their workload so that they can tinker on a side project.
That’s an issue that faced YouTube several years ago. No, YouTube doesn’t just pay lip-service to innovation — the company, like its parent Google, allocates a good chunk of time for developers to work on their own projects. But oftentimes engineers simply didn’t take advantage of their 20% time, so YouTube came up with an answer: instead of trying to get its engineers to spend one day a week on side projects, it decided to launch a biannual event where they spend a whole week crafting whatever they can think up.
Earlier this month, YouTube invited me to talk with a few team members about this so-called New Ideas Week and how it got started. They also shared some projects that are currently in the works and got their start during the Week — things like a new version of YouTube built from the ground up for children, and a new Qik-like mobile service for live streaming. → Read More
Big shake-up in the PC industry: Yesterday, the country’s biggest PC maker NEC and Lenovo announced a plan to form a joint venture to create Japan’s largest “PC group”. Lenovo will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture (to be incorporated in the Netherlands), while NEC will own the rest. → Read More
Mail-in rebates are the pits. If you remember to send them in, you’ve gotta pray that Mr. Mailman doesn’t lose it, toss it, or take it back to his You-shrine for worship. Then you’ve gotta wait a few months for it to “get processed”, which is a fancy way to say “sit in a big pile until someone gets around to it”. Eventually (generally long after you’ve forgotten you sent the rebate form back in the first place), you get a random envelope back from a processing company you don’t recognize, and there’s about a 50/50 shot it goes in the trash unopened. It’s an archaic process, often used by retailers banking on the idea that few people will actually bother to send it in or cash the check. According to our buds over at AndroidCentral, Verizon’s tired of’em too. While phones that go for sub-$150 will still be paired with mail-in rebates, they’re ditching the rebate system for anything over that price. The good part: as long as their source is hearing right, the wallet-friendly price cuts will still be there — they’ll just be instant. Lets just hop that last bit’s true — and if it is, that it starts a trend. → Read More
So you got a new MacBook Air. Big deal, right? How have you been using it on your desk? Surely you have an external monitor, trackpad and keyboard. But, somethings missing, isn’t it? Why lie the MBA flat on the desktop, especially since there is now the BookArc from 12 South. → Read More
Show me a handmade device case like this one from Kickstarter, and I’ll show you the money. I love ‘em. The DODOcase is a prime example. High-quality material, a SanFran-based labor force, and honest marketing. Btw, we have a big DODOcase giveaway coming next week for Valentine’s Day. You’re going to love it.
The Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3 is from the same thread. This mostly wool sleeve is just that, a sleeve to hold your precious slate. But the handsome look, top-shelf materials and fair price ultimately sells the case. But there’s a catch. They need help. That’s where you and Kickstarter comes in. → Read More
John Carmack, the man behind Doom and Quake, appears to be a bit of a Sony NGP fan. That shouldn’t come as a shock to close followers of id Software, which has very much embraced mobile gaming, particularly of the iPhone variety. Shortly after Sony’s big reveal, he tweeted: “Low level APIs will allow the Sony NGP to perform about a generation beyond smart phones with comparable specs.” Is that enough to make the NGP a great success? → Read More
In Japan, where customers aren’t considered kings but “gods”, the level of friendliness your employees show can make or break your business. That’s why it’s no surprise that it was a Japanese company, Omron, which was the first to develop a high-tech “smile-o-meter” [JP] in 2009 (as previously reported). → Read More
CrunchDeals, get your Crunchdeals. Read all about it, on your new eReader/tablet. DinoDirect.com is offering up a 7-inch eBook Reader with Google Android for only $99.99 with free shipping. That’s about $100 off the lowest price we could find. → Read More
China is a win/lose situation for most consumer electronic’s companies as it’s an efficient labor force, but trade secrets spread like STDs in nursing homes. That’s why RIM is reportable requiring Quanta to manufacture the PlayBook outside of China and in Taiwan. The goal is to eliminate white-box makers from copying the tablet, although if the PlayBook hits the big time, OEMs makers will find a way to clone it. Of course there’s something to be said about the attention being a bit complimentary, but RIM probably doesn’t want to hear that. → Read More
Earlier this month, I reported on the imminent shutdown of BlueTunes, which provided a solution to upload locally stored music to the cloud. Turns out someone sorta kinda threw BlueTunes a lifeline right before it hit the deadpool.
Online storage startup MiMedia has reached an agreement with BlueTunes for its users to become subscribers of its online music storage offering, and more. → Read More
This is a fun watch to wear. Well-made, functional, bold but not blingy, this is a good one for grab-and-go-out. The 48mm case wears comfortably, and the destro crown keeps it from digging into the wrist. Impeccable Swiss quartz timekeeping, high-contrast dial and aircraft dial cues give you details to appreciate. → Read More
Disruptions can happen to any industry anywhere in the world, which is why this year TechCrunch Disrupt is going global. The conference we launched last year in New York and San Francisco is coming back to both cities, but we are also adding a third Disrupt in Beijing. All three conferences will be filled with all-star speakers, the best new startups that launch on our stages, and the coup of working WiFi.
The first Disrupt will once again take place in New York City on May 23-25, preceded by our ever popular Hackathon on May 21-22 in which pizza-fueled developers gather to hack together a product in 24 hours. Anything can happen at these events. Last year, Charlie Rose kicked off the event by interviewing legendary VC John Doerr, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz told Michael Arrington to “#@*k off,” and a real company emerged from the Hackathon—GroupMe, which later raised $10.6 million. During the main event, we launched two dozen startups, and the winner was an international startup, Soluto.
Today, we will begin taking submissions for Disrupt NY. If you are a founder building a company that is going to change the world, we want you to launch at Disrupt. Nowhere else offers the audience, investors, or media spotlight that Disrupt offers. Please submit your application HERE on our Disrupt application site powered by Producteev. We will be accepting submissions starting today and for the next eight weeks through Sunday, April 3, 2011 at midnight PT. We accept companies on a rolling basis, so please submit as soon as you’re ready for consideration. → Read More
There is a growing trend of companion applications to television shows that bring a second screen to interactivity with TV shows and movies. Apps like GetGlue, Miso, and Tunerfish all add a second platform where users can check-in to a show, earn points and rewards for participation, and interact with social networks. A new player is about to launch in the space that adds a white-label platform for audience engagement for television shows. TV Tune-In, developed by Rogue Paper, is a real-time, companion viewing and mobile app development platform for media companies to help drive viewership, conversation and interactions for television shows and content.
TV Tune-In’s CMS allows media companies to develop branded iPhone and iPad apps for television shows and channels. The apps aims to attract fans around live viewing of their favorite show, event, or sports team. Users can actively comment, Tweet and Like their favorite show, chat with friends, play trivia games, watch exclusive video content, photos and more. As users interact with the application, they can earn rewards like virtual badges. One compelling feature for TV Tune-In is the ability to time-shift interactions and commentary in case you aren’t watching a show live. → Read More
Whatever, it’s Friday: looks like American singer/rapper T-Pain (real name: Faheem Rasheed Najm) got himself a tattoo while in Hawaii.
He eloquently tweeted about the event thusly: “I get a tatt every time I come to Hawaii. I think this ones pretty sweet, unless facebook shuts down soon 0_o”
There’s really not much I can add to this, except that I’m not really impressed with his new tattoo. Lucky for me, I DON’T HAVE TO [Like] IT. → Read More
Microsoft earnings just got released 10 minutes before market close, and aside from growing revenues 5% in the 2nd quarter to $19.95 Billion, their slides reveal some interesting numbers on their entertainment and gaming unit, mainly that they sold 8 million Kinects in the two months since launch.
Said Peter Klien about the Kinect’s success, “We are enthusiastic about the consumer response to our holiday lineup of products, including the launch of Kinect. The 8 million units of Kinect sensors sold in just 60 days far exceeded our expectations. The pace of business spending, combined with strong consumer demand, led to another quarter of operating margin expansion and solid earnings per share growth.” → Read More
Has the pixel to print tipping point been reached? Last July we reported that Amazon’s Kindle eReader books had surpassed hardcover books in terms of sales, selling 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books. Now that lead also holds for paperbacks with 115 Kindle books sold for every hundred paperbacks.
The statistic for hardcover books itself has doubled, with three times as many Kindle books as sold as paperbacks in 2010. Free Kindle books are excluded from this number or it would be much higher. → Read More
In the seemingly never-ending discussions about Europe vs. Silicon Valley – how much digital ink can be spilled on ‘why Europe will never be the next Silicon Valley’, ‘why Europe will definitely become the next Silicon Valley’ and ‘Silicon Valley and Europe: a comparative look at fauna and flora’ anyway? – I’m quite amazed by how often pundits point out we could use more role models in Europe’s tech industry.
The idea seems to be that, inspired by their story of how their startup became the next Google, aspiring entrepreneurs need only look at people who’ve built or even exited companies and became fabulously famous and wealthy in the process. I disagree. → Read More
When you buy a new smartphone, is the first thing you look at what the specific absorption rate (SAR) is of the device you’re interesting in spending cash on? Me neither, but according to some health organizations, we should be paying attention to mobile phone radiation.
Rather than try and convince people to stop using their smartphones for phone calls (ain’t gonna happen), Israeli startup tawkon has developed applications that let people minimize exposure to cellular radiation while they continue using their mobile phones. → Read More
