There are plenty of apps that provide a social ‘second screen’ experience to watching TV, allowing users to check-in to TV shows, share commentary with friends, earn badges and more. But these apps don’t actually combine their social functionality with your TV guide or remote control. Enter BlinQ, a new mobile iOS app that reorders the channel lineup on your cable system into most to least popular by your location.
The app, which was developed by Ryz Media, basically reorders your channel guide from numbers to what are the most popular shows on. You can click the channel on the phone and change channel immediately from the app itself. Ryz previously launched My TV Remote, which was a earlier iteration of BlinQ. → Read More
Citrix today announced two investments. The company is backing Graymatics, a stealth startup that is building a cloud platform for content-based analysis of video and other digital media, and Gizmox, the developer of the Visual WebGui web, cloud and mobile delivery platform.
The Graymatics investment marks the fourth funding commitment for the Citrix Startup Accelerator, the company’s Silicon Valley-based seed investment initiative, which launched in December 2010. The Gizmox investment is of greater strategic importance to Citrix. → Read More
Calling all closet Henri Cartier-Bressons: buy you a PEN E-P3, a packet of Gauloises and start shooting people kissing in the street. This new camera, part of Olympus‘ extended PEN line, is probably one of the most solid and capable micro 4/3s cameras I’ve used and with a solid alloy 12mm lens and a Gallic sensibility you can grab some excellent shots. → Read More
Olympus just announced the new PEN E-P3, PEN E-PL3, and PEN E-PM1. Why so many, you ask? Well, this is a full range of M4/3s cameras in various sizes – the granddaddy P, the “light” PL, and the mini PM. The E-P3 costs $899 with 12.3-megapixel Live MOS Image Sensor and 14-42mm lens. Only the E-P3 has been priced but here are some specs on the other, smaller cameras. In all, we’re looking at a fairly complete family of M4/3s cameras with big boy chops. The question? Will someone pick this up over an entry-level DSLR. → Read More
ANSYS, which offers simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, has agreed to acquire Apache Design Solutions, a simulation software provider for low power solutions in the electronics industry. The purchase price is approximately $310 million in cash. The price includes an estimated $29 million in cash on Apache’s balance sheet. ANSYS intends to fund the transaction with cash on-hand from the combined organization.
The agreement also includes retention provisions and incentives for certain members of management and employees, earned over a three year period, including an additional $13 million of performance equity awards. → Read More
Robot Hanako, the Japanese dental patient simulator we have shown you last year, just got an upgrade: Hanako 2 still behaves, in many ways, like a human patient, and she still lets dentists practice “real-life” procedures on her before they do the same on human patients. But the new version has been improved. → Read More
Thanks to an update of Skype’s Android application, you can now make one-to-one video calls over both WiFi and 3G connections. You can download the Skype app from the Android Market or point your browser to Skype.com/m from your phone.
Note that your smartphone needs to be running Android Version 2.3 (or above) and have a front-facing camera. Supported handsets include the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S. → Read More
StockTwits, the mobile finance community currently available on the iPhone, is taking its experience to the Android today.
Like StockTwits for the iPhone, StockTwits for the Android retains many of the same functionalities as the StockTwits community its, allowing users to access realtime stock quotes, financial news and the ability to bookmark stocks on a “Watchlist” or the ability to access stocks on the go. → Read More
MConcierge rolls out Guest Relationship Management solution for hospitality sector Art Lebedev Studio’ Optimus Mini Six Hits Production, Will Land On Desks Later This Year Whiteboard Wall Clock Is Minimal And Practical The Nissan Leaf Review: A Fun And Practical Electric Car For The Masses Review: The HP Palm TouchPad → Read More
There are plenty of cables out there that are essentially just long pieces of metal protected by a rubber sheath. Their job is to carry a voltage, and they do. Thunderbolt (and presumably other, non-branded versions like Sony’s) is a little different. It seems that not all the horsepower is in the port; some has to be offloaded onto the cable itself. This teardown at iFixit shows it’s not just the Apple Tax that makes the cables expensive, though what exactly is going on in those little chips is still mostly unknown. → Read More
The only way I could like this cool little whiteboard wall clock better is if there weren’t even any numbers on there. And maybe if there was a little more space to write on the top an bottom. Do they think nothing happens between 12 and 6? [via 7 Gadgets] → Read More
Last night, I wrote up my initial thoughts on Google+ after using it for a day. Overall, I find it pretty compelling so far. While there is a bit of a learning curve, after about 15 minutes, I found myself at home using the service. And little things (namely notifications) kept bringing me back. But let’s be realistic, it has only been a day. The new car smell has yet to wear off. And I have also noticed a few other things that may spell trouble down the road.
Right now, almost every single post I see on Google+ is shared with the Public. Perhaps this is to be expected since the initial roll-out yesterday was very small. People don’t have a lot of friend in their Circles yet, so they’re posting everything to the public in the hopes of seeing some interaction, I imagine. I have been doing this too.
But tonight, Google started dishing out invites for early users to spread around as they see fit. As far as I can tell, the service is seeing a massive influx of new users right now — a lot more than yesterday. And while Google’s servers appear to be handling the new load just fine, I do wonder what this will mean for the underlying principles of the site. Namely, will people start using Circles in the correct way? → Read More
Impatient for those new MacBook Airs we know are coming? It’ll be a couple more weeks, if whispers heard by 9 to 5 Mac are to be believed. The upcoming earnings call on the 19th corroborates this; Apple was rumored to be waiting until they could ship with Lion, and it may be that they’ll just have nailed down that date come mid-July… but not quite yet. → Read More
A picture on Flickr (which I can’t find and therefore can’t confirm) has apparently been spotted by PocketNow with “motorola Droid HD” listed as the camera. Oh my god, it’s a new Droid with a 1280×720 screen, like that in the Nexus Prime and other upcoming superphones! Or… someone has been messing with EXIF data, or (as the picture was taken near the Motorola campus in Illinois) it could be a test platform for new Droid-standard HD camera hardware. One data point isn’t much to go on. [via Droid-Life] → Read More
It’s hard to keep up with all the developments in the bionics and cybernetics worlds: so many universities and private institutions are working on so many projects that by the time you report one, another has leapfrogged it. PBS News Hour has put together a nice little survey of the current tech, interviewing Dean Kamen and a number of other inventors and researchers in the field. Feeling out of date? Watch away. → Read More
A year ago today, we predicted that Cisco’s enterprise-focused 7-inch Cius tablet would never ship. It was a reasonable prediction at the time, but it turns out we were wrong. In fact, the Cisco Cius tablet did ship in late March, barely making its promised release date of “Q1 2011.” Today, Cisco unveiled its latest product for Cius, the AppHQ application storefront, hoping to gain a little more traction with potential enterprise customers. → Read More
Background checks are now fully mobile, thanks BeenVerified‘s new app for Android and the re-release of the app on iOS. The Background Check App does exactly as you might expect: It pulls data from BeenVerified’s site and allows you to check up on the people you know through name queries or email addresses. Users can check up on their contacts with one click, allowing you to see how many times the person in the cubicle next to you has been arrested. Luckily, I have a spotless record, or else I wouldn’t be writing this. Right, BeenVerified? → Read More
While most of us are satisfied with pressing the shutter release button on our cameras in order to take a picture, creative photographers use many methods to do it, from remotes to time-lapse rigs to tethered laptops. But many of these methods are complex, expensive, or both. This Kickstarter project aims to provide an affordable, hackable, and universal tool for telling your camera “now!”. → Read More
A Colorado cleantech venture, Luca Technologies, filed an S-1 today revealing its intention to go public, and raise up to $125 million (though that number could vary with the receptivity of the market by the time they actually go public).
The company stimulates microbes with a “proprietary formulation of nutrients,” in already-drilled natural gas wells, which enables the wells to produce more methane, the primary component of natural gas. Luca Technologies owns and operates wells and infrastructure, then sells natural gas into existing markets. Its end users include power utilities, and government entities that use natural gas for power production.
Today, Luca’s chief executive Bob Cavnar explained… → Read More
