Up here in Seattle there’s a band called A Gun That Shoots Knives. That’s a good idea, but until we get the technology for that ultimate weapon worked out, we’re going to have to use A Crossbow That Shoots Machetes. → Read More
Mobile payments are finally taking off right now. But it is not mobile wallets for consumers with NFC-chipped mobile phones leading the way. It is payment apps for small merchants like those made by Square and Intuit’s GoPayment. Tonight at an Intuit showcase in New York City, I got a sneak peak at several new Intuit products still in development, including an upcoming GoPayment tablet app that aims to replace the cash register for small businesses, Intuit 401k, and an iPad Check-in app for doctor’s offices.
The GoPayment app will work on both the iPad and Android tablets In addition to taking credit card payments with a swiper that plugs into the headphone jack, it also lets merchants set up a cash register with their own products and prices. They can even take pictures of the products with their iPad 2 and the picture is placed on a virtual button to make it easy for any employee to ring up the items. It will also have the ability to take pictures of checks and deposit them from the image. → Read More
I wish every Canon could come in shiny colors like these T3s. But no, they are only limited editions, and tomorrow Canon will release them with matching camouflage straps and protective wraps. The special editions are a part of Fashion Week, where Canon will be hosting some events, during which four of these cameras auctioned off to benefit Japan. → Read More
I love that there are tons of tinkerers out there just putting together robots for no other reason than “hey, this might work.” Home hacker Lars Kristian Roland made this one, a simple rover bot with a gripping claw (it runs on modular hardware and an Arduino, naturally) — but the twist in this case is that it’s controlled by a Chronos watch that has a built-in accelerometer and antenna. → Read More
Whoa! It’s a huge day for the big-name mobile games. Just a little while ago, the universally known Doodle Jump got its long-awaited multiplayer update. Hours later, another massively popular title is gettin’ a big new feature: Tap Tap Revenge, a title so popular that it lead Disney to snatch up the company that built it, is now available on Android. → Read More
I’m in the middle of building a new desktop computer, and for the last couple weeks have been frustrated by the recall of Intel’s new P67 (Sandy Bridge-supporting) motherboards, since those are exactly what value-conscious buyers like myself would be going for. Well, the wait is over — the replacements have arrived. It’s safe to build! → Read More
Doodle Jump. Ever heard of it? If you’re an iPhone owner — or at least, someone who’s ever gone anywhere near the iOS App Store — you probably have. While it’s hovering somewhere around the 10th place slot these days, Doodle Jump’s addictive gameplay and near-constant updates had it locked into the #1 spot for months.
Today, the folks behind Doodle Jump are pushin’ out an update with a feature that might just help it win back the throne: multiplayer. → Read More
One of the biggest gripes Android developers have about the ecosystem has been Android Market — it was slow to add support for paid apps internationally, and it’s taken ages for it to support in-app payments. Today, it’s finally fixing the latter issue: Android Market now supports in-app billing.
The news doesn’t come as a big surprise, as Google pre-announced the feature’s impending launch last week so that developers could prepare for it. But it’s still a big deal. In-app purchases have proven to be very lucrative for developers on Apple’s iOS (which launched in-app payments back in 2009). → Read More
Last August, we broke the news that a new startup incubator was about to launch that was run by seven ex-Googlers, AngelPad. By November, the initial class of eight startups were ready to launch. Today, barely four months later, class number two is ready to be unveiled. And this time there are thirteen of them. At this rate, to quote the best line in Jaws, they’re “gonna need a bigger boat”.
The fact that the class was whittled down to even thirteen is impressive, as the AngelPad team had several hundred applications to go through this time, co-founder Thomas Korte tells us. And while many in the initial class also featured fellow ex-Googlers, this group is more diversified (though the Google blood still runs deep with a number of them). → Read More
We’ve always been impressed with Element Case; the build quality on their products is always outstanding. Sure, they’re expensive, but you’ve heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for.” Element Case hasn’t abandoned this notion, even for their new $150 iPad stand.
Which we are giving away. Details after the break. → Read More
Google’s chief economist Hal Varian took the stage today to break down the value of Google to users. He spoke about two elements of value: The value of Google to users and the value of Google to advertisers.
In order to estimate the value of Google to advertisers, Varian used a model to estimate the value vx – c(x) (where v = value per click, x = number of clicks and c(x) = cost of clicks) and then did some “back-of-the-napkin” math. The bottom line? Google’s value to publishers and advertisers is $54 billion.
In order to calculate the value of Google to users, Varian cited a the “A Day Without A Search Engine” study, which plotted students searching for the answers to questions in a library, as opposed to those that used Google to get their information. Students who searched in the library ended up averaging 22 minutes where students using Google took an average of 7 minutes, saving 15 minutes. → Read More
As we confirmed yesterday, Evan WIlliams is taking a step back from his day to day duties at Twitter. Williams just published a post, titled ‘An Obvious Next Step’ on his personal blog explaining the reasoning behind his decision.
From his post: The reason I left Blogger/Google when I did is that I felt it had reached a place where it was on solid ground and in capable hands (at the time, Jason Goldman’s as product manager). Though still an independent company, I realized Twitter may be at a similar point today. So, as was reported in various places yesterday, I’ve decided to scale back my role at the company. (I’m still involved, but it’s no longer my full-time job.) → Read More
Today at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly gave the first keynote of the day. His topic? The six trends he believes are most important for the connected world we live in going forward. Specifically, he broke these down into six verbs.
“In general these are the long term trends as we look forward over the next twenty years,” Kelly says. So what are they? → Read More
No, we still have no idea what the Air Force is doing up there with the X-37B, but at least now we can track its movement. Amateur skywatchers—a delightful phrase&mdashl have discovered the whereabouts of the spacecraft. There’s even video of it in orbit. → Read More
Remember back in the early days on instant messaging when people figured out that they could set up chatbots that users would interact with? Yeah, they were fun for like 20 minutes. But don’t tell Google that — they’re bringing one back today!
Google Talk Guru is an “experimental” Google Labs service that allows you to chat with a bot to get information you’re looking for. What kind of information? Sports results, weather, definitions, translations, etc. → Read More
If you’re a MobileCrunch reader, it’s probably because you’re an early adopter. Or you’re just awesome. Well, we’ve got something new for you to be an early adopter of (or that’ll just make you more awesome): the brand spankin’ new MobileCrunch page on Facebook. Yeah, I know: we should have built a Facebook Page ages ago. To be honest, it’s been sitting on our to-do list since back around the time man discovered fire — we’ve just been busy. As an apology of sorts for our tardiness (but primarily because we like to give stuff away), we’re going to start things off with a giveaway tomorrow, exclusive to our Facebook fans. What’ll we be giving away? It’s a secret, for now — but unless you want to forget about the giveaway, you better hit that Like button. Oh, and don’t think that tomorrow’s giveaway is going to be the only one. If I have my way, we’ll be hookin’ our readers up on a regular basis. → Read More
Some people love the hot coffee. Love the hot. People order their americanos “extra hot” so the baristas will put out water at higher than the 180 degrees they aim at. Madness! Personally, I have to let it cool down a bit — but ideally, you want to drink the coffee as soon as possible to get the full flavor. Enter the Coffee Joulie. → Read More
Whenever some corporate entity releases their new piece of hardware into the wild, iSuppli outs their obligatory cost analysis. As novel as iSuppli’s research may seem, knowing the real costs of the gadgets we’re addicted to is more frustrating than newsworthy. And, thanks to iSuppli, we learn that the Nintendo 3DS enjoys almost 60% margins, similar to the DSi. → Read More
Gmail is in the process of rolling out a new ad system that could prove to be quite powerful: ads that learn what you’re interested in based on your email habits. The feature first showed up in my Gmail account earlier this afternoon (there’s a prompt informing users about the new ads), and a Google spokesperson has confirmed that they are indeed in the process of rolling this out worldwide. Here’s the full information page describing the feature, found by clicking the ‘Learn More’ button.
Google says that while this notification will be rolling out to users gradually over the coming days, the personalized ads won’t actually go live for around a month. In the mean time, users can opt-out of the new system through Gmail’s settings panel (the default is that you’re opted-in). → Read More
