In the run-up to the releases of the Volt and the Leaf, there was some talk making the rounds that the designers were having some trouble deciding what noise these new cars should make. After all, they’re naturally almost silent, and this presents a serious risk not just to unwary pedestrians but to also to blind people, wildlife, and of course other cars.
The question is whether you make EVs… → Read More
Recently, Wikio has been picking up the pace. The European media group merged with Nomao and Overblog in the fall of 2010 and hasn’t been been slowing down since. Rumors of a hefty round of funding are yet to be confirmed. And even though the company may’ve taken a hit from Google’s Panda, it’s just announced yet another merger; Trigami is the latest addition to the Wikio family.
Founded in 2007… → Read More
Following in Twitter (T.co) and Overstock’s (O.co’s) footsteps, Amazon has picked up the domains A.Co, Z.Co, K.Co and interestingly enough Cloud.co in a deal made with Colombia-based domain registry .Co.
While .Co originally gave Twitter the T.Co domain name for free in order to spread awareness about the brand, Amazon has actually purchased these from .Co for an undisclosed price. In… → Read More
Yesterday, in a massively botched press launch, Bing released some new features that begin to really tap into the huge amount of social data exposed through its partnership with Facebook. The alliance isn’t a new one — the companies have had a friendly relationship ever since Microsoft made a $240 million investment in Facebook that valued the social network at $15 billion in 2007, and Bing… → Read More
I can’t speak for everyone, but no matter how much I want to become more earth-friendly, it never really happens. It’s always too expensive, or too inconvenient, or too much work, and I blow it off. Luckily for me (and other would-be-greeners), T-Mobile is giving you a way to go green and save a little green. → Read More
It’s not every day you see a massive BAE Systems Mk 38 chain gun firing off the bow of a Naval vessel, but here you go. This thing is completely remote controlled and features infrared sights and laser aiming systems so you can pick off booby-trapped boats from miles away. → Read More
One of many things that make Y Combinator special: They hold regular “office hours” with startups where entrepreneurs can get advice on any topic, from business strategy to design issues.
What we talk about at office hours also depends on the startup and where we are in the cycle. Usually we talk about whatever is the most urgent question right now. Sometimes, especially early on, the most urgent… → Read More
<quick story> Did you read the headline? Yep, that’s the story. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer and Acer Iconia Tab A500 are reportedly getting Android 3.1 next month via an OTA update. </quick story> → Read More
Best Buy will open up their in-store wireless networks to allow kids (and kids at heart) to download games in their stores. They will also, obviously, sell the 3DS and will provide a “firsthand look at the platform with experts” in store.
While it’s certainly magnanimous of Best Buy to open their Wi-Fi to the masses, I wonder how much of this will end up being an upsell? “Pair your 3DS with Wi-Fi… → Read More
From Google I/O to Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, last week was a huge one for tech news.
In this episode of OMG/JK, my colleague MG Siegler and I do an in-depth look at what happened at Google’s annual developer conference, which saw the launch of Google Music Beta, Android’s @home project, and the first Chromebooks. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about the Skype acquisition next time, there was… → Read More
When you plan a vacation, you likely have a destination in mind. Location plays a considerable role in our travel plans, but really what makes or breaks a good vacation is what you do when you get there. Your trip to Hawaii last summer was enjoyable simply because you were in Hawaii and not at the office, but really what you remember is the scuba diving — and backpacking through volcanoes. These… → Read More
Back in March, we saw a project using a head-mounted Kinect to sense and alert the user to obstacles in their path. Researchers at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden are working on a similar system, but building it into a wheelchair. → Read More
Online retail spending reached $38 billion this quarter, up 12 percent from a $33.8 billion a year ago according to Comscore — Due to an increase in the number of buyers (7%), transactions per buy (9%) and tempered by a decline in spending per transaction (4%).
According to a ComScore report released today, nearly half of those orders included free shipping, at 47% versus 53% for Q’1 ’11, 49%… → Read More
A month has passed since I stood on stage and announced Spotify as winner of The Telegraph newspaper’s inaugural Startup 100 Awards. Since then, something has been playing on my mind, and I just can’t remain quiet on it any longer.
Despite being named the winner, Spotify didn’t win the Startup 100 Awards. Wonga did. I reached out to The Telegraph an hour ago for comment, they say they will get… → Read More
As our upcoming review of it will posit, I’m a pretty big fan of the AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G. It has its quirks — but overall, it’s one of the finest Android experiences around.
Samsung’s not quite done tinkering with the idea just yet, though — at least, not if this latest rumor pans out. According to word around the rumor mill, they’re taking the look and feel of the Infuse 4G, cranking… → Read More
OpenLogic, makers of open source license compliance scanning software, have released some stats about open source license proliferation and popularity and it makes for some interesting reading. The big takeaway is that developers generally prefer the GNU General Public License while their enterprise employers prefer the Apache Software License. There are a number of ways to interpret this data. → Read More
During investment presentations, Intel CEO Paul Otellini admitted that the company’s old strategy for mobile needed a makeover, but was optimistic about their prospects come 2012. → Read More
Dragontape, which lets users create ‘mixtapes’ of their favorite YouTube videos and SoundCloud recordings, has landed on Apple’s iPad, a device which benefits the service’s realtime editing functionality.
As other video editing or remix style apps on the iPad have shown, a large touch screen device and accompanying OS has the potential to make the cutting, editing and rearranging of clips… → Read More
<img src="http://www.mobilecrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/samsunghawk.jpg"June 8 is to June 8 is to T-Mobile as May 26 is to Verizon. Three Android phones, one carrier, all launching on the same day. What was once referred to as the Samsung Hawk, now the Samsung Exhibit 4G, is set to hit T-Mo shelves on June 8, along with the HTC Sensation 4G and the Samsung Gravity Touch 2. → Read More
I think there’s a deep message somewhere in here….I just want a Nerf Nuke. → Read More
Another day, another slate aimed at the education market. The Brainchild Kineo is an education-only device aimed at grade-school kids. It runs Android, sure, but the whole thing is locked down like Gitmo and the teacher has full control over the lessons displayed on the screen. → Read More
May 26 is shaping up to be a hectic day over at Verizon, as the carrier has seemingly planned a device-launch hat trick for a week from Thursday. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is already confirmed for a May 26 release, and current rumors suggest that the Motorola Droid X2 will hit shelves that day, too. Now, a leaked photo of Best Buy inventory information suggests that the retailer will receive… → Read More
From Google I/O to Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, last week was a huge one for tech news.
In this episode of OMG/JK, my colleague MG Siegler and I do an in-depth look at what happened at Google’s annual developer conference, which saw the launch of Google Music Beta, Android’s @home project, and the first Chromebooks. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about the Skype acquisition next time, there was… → Read More
Diggin’ that AT&T HTC Inspire, but want something a little bit more… spicy ? Maybe somethin’ to go with those candy red kicks you bought for your next salsa class? If this rumor pans out, you might be in luck: according to our amigos over at AndroidCentral, the ol’ Radio Shack should be slingin’ the Inspire 4G in the crazy cherry red hue you see up there before… → Read More
As I’m writing this the perky blue box on my iPhone has lit up with a “Groupon: 64% off Papa John’s pizza” message, in the same format as I receive texts from friends — This is why these things are so manipulative, it’s almost like your BFF has texted you to go grab discounted pizza, which is comforting and unsettling at the same time.
According to comScore’s State of Retail webinar, these… → Read More
Today at the Reuters Global Technology Summit, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang threw out a prediction for the future of the tablet market that isn’t too far removed from that of the smartphone market over the past few years. Huang said that Android will surpass Apple’s iOS-powered iPad in market share over the next 2 1/2 years. → Read More
Simfy, the so-called German Spotify, has raised an additional €10m from existing investors, including Earlybird, NRW Bank, Dumont Venture and Klaus Wecken. That brings its funding to date to €18 million.
The new funds will be used to consolidate its leading position in German-speaking countries – the music streaming service operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – as well as for… → Read More
Two years ago, Tumblr founder David Karp shared some impressive numbers. In July 2009, Tumblr had 50 million visitors, 255 million pageviews, and 650,000 new posts per day. A year later, we noted that they were “on fire” with 6 million users and 1.5 billion pageviews. If that was being on fire, it’s hard to know how to describe them now.
On their staff blog, Karp has just shared that Tumblr did… → Read More
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