If there’s been a question I’ve been asked more than “do you have any Google+ invites?”, I can’t remember it. And it’s only been a day! Sadly, I haven’t had any invites to give out. Google has decided they’re going to roll out the network very slowly.
Or that was the plan.
It now appears that early Google+ users (meaning the one who got access just yesterday) now have the option to invite other people. And as far as I can tell, it’s unlimited. → Read More
We’ve heard many things about Lenovo’s tablet plans, but they’re a bit hard to parse. After all, Lenovo is among the tablet faithful, and their convertible Windows machines have been selling steadily for years. We’ve heard they’ll be bringing a new Android tablet (the Ideapad) to the US, but whether it’s just a revamped LePad, a resurrected U1-type device, or something more interesting, we can’t exactly be sure.
It’s got to be coming soon, though, as Lenovo’s Jaison Patrocinio had one in hand at a recent event in Brazil. Like so many coy directors of product, though, he kept it under wraps except for one quick peek. → Read More
Startup accelerators are mushrooming all over Europe, but generally in capital cities.
An exception to that rule is the new Oxygen Accelerator, a Birmingham, UK, based investment programme which recently launched.
The 13-week programme will take applications from around the world and has attracted slightly bemused attention for offering an “evergreen soft loan” of £20,000 to start with, in return for a 6% equity stake. But teams don’t need to ‘pay back’ the loan until the startup raises more investment or the business can afford to repay it. After which that £20k is designed to re-circulate back into the programme and keep £200,000 fund, which covers 10 teams, re-circulating for the next year. Word on the streets say VCs are comfortable with the arrangement, so long as the programme creates dealflow. → Read More
HTC’s line of Evo phones have long been Sprint exclusives, and are arguably the number three carrier’s shining stars.
Interestingly enough, Sprint’s most recent (and also most awesome) phone, the Evo 3D has been spotted passing through the FCC sporting T-Mobile’s AWS bands. A trip to the FCC doesn’t necessarily mean that T-Mobile is for sure, without a doubt picking up the Evo 3D, but it does give a little hope to T-Mobile customers who aren’t keen on the pink carrier’s current front-runner, the Sensation 4G. → Read More
As a non-ashamed Windows user and straight up Rdio fan, this makes me happy. Rdio has expanded its product suite with a native app for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
To be fair, I’m likely not going to use the desktop app much, as I’m mostly using Rdio on my mobile phone and iPod touch, as well as via my Sonos system.
But it’s great to have options – I have always lamented Spotify for not having a browser-based application. → Read More
As Mike Arrington wrote back in April, it can sometimes feel like certain photo-sharing websites have more of a hostage-taking approach to their business models than a “lets-please-the-customer” model. The photo-sharing experience then effectively becomes synonymous with platform lock-in — if you try to leave, you may not be able to take your images with you. Or, if you do, you’ll have to pay the price, Budnick. (But, wait, whose photos are they again? Oh, right.)
It’s for this reason that Jaisen Mathai is building an open source photo-sharing service called, you bet, OpenPhoto. → Read More
While the nuances of this enormous, enormous business deal are certainly lost on this poor tech blogger, I thought it worthwhile to mention that three major Japanese tech companies are considering merging their LCD production divisions, presumably to compete more effectively against major rivals like Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, and big Chinese OEMs. What would the result be? Probably even more price-fixing. But the Japanese government would be investing a lot, so maybe that would add a bit of trustworthiness to the new company. Maybe. → Read More
Back in March, Google officially started rolling out the +1 Button in its search results, allowing users to vote up the pages they found most useful. Two months later, on June 1, it launched a widget that lets website owners integrate the button into their pages, just like they do with Facebook’s ‘Like’ and Twitter’s ‘Tweet’ buttons.
But, err, it wasn’t really clear what the point was. People kept clicking the button, but the effect — better search results for our friends — isn’t really tangible. And it isn’t really clear to site owners how much of an impact the button’s having, either.
Today, that changes: Google has just announced that +1 data will be displayed in Google’s Webmaster tools, allowing site owners to see exactly how much of an effect +1 is having. → Read More
Andreessen Horowitz is announcing today that economist, former US Treasury Secretary and former President of Harvard Larry Summers is joining the firm as a special advisor.
Beyond his well known academic and political credentials, Marc Andreessen was quick to point out that Summers has nerd cred too: He was admitted at MIT at the age of 16 to study physics. → Read More
Who said Japanese players don’t appreciate video games made outside their home country? I just went out to buy the newest issue of the Famitsu, Japan’s leading video game magazine (which came out about 3 hours ago/it’s currently 3am Thursday over here), and saw what you see above: L.A. Noire, one of the biggest game titles this year, missed the perfect review score by just one point. → Read More
You know what isn’t cool? $35 million isn’t cool … So in a move that makes truth stranger than fiction, Justin Timberlake, who played Facebook president Sean Parker in a movie called The Social Network, has taken an ownership stake in a real life social network as part of the Myspace sale. → Read More
The fact that HP is considering licensing webOS isn’t exactly news — HP head honcho Leo Apotheker said as much in an interview weeks ago. What is news, however, is that such licensing deals might already be in their early stages. At least, that’s what we’re gathering from this Bloomberg piece, where Apotheker is quoted as saying HP is already in talks with “a number of companies” regarding putting webOS on their devices. My only question: Why the heck would anyone want to? → Read More
If the road is smooth enough, you can hear birds chirping while you’re going 35 mph. With the windows up. The Nissan Leaf is that quiet. When going less than 30 mph there’s just a slight electric whine from the powertrain and above 45 mph the wheels produces a steady hum. But there’s this special spot between 30 and 45 where the two combine in a way that they cancel each other out and you find yourself moving along listening to Mother Nature’s soundtrack. The Nissan Leaf has been in my life for the past week. I’ve put hundreds of miles on the tires and ate several meals behind the wheel while trying to figure her out. You see, as much as this pains me to say (more on that later) the Leaf is a real car. It doesn’t feel like a glorified golf cart or tool used just for transportation. It’s a car and with this comes quirks, flaws, but most importantly, a personality and soul. → Read More
Behold, the winner of the Linux Foundation‘s “20 Years of Linux” t-shirt contest! “After twenty years of hard work, this penguin has managed to take off,” says artist Kim Blanche, creator of the winning image. “Tux is now sailing smoothly above the competition into a very bright future.” Kim has won a free trip to Vancouver to attend LinuxCon in August. Her design, aptly entitled “Flying Penguins”, will be the basis for the official LinuxCon t-shirt and will soon be available for purchase from the Linux.com store. Congratulations, Kim! → Read More
If you are part of the Tumblr Nation, and a growing number of you are, then you will want to download Tumblr’s new iPhone app, redesigned from the ground up with a new interface. It loads up your Tumblr Dashboard stream, but the post button brings up six simple icons for each post type: text, photo, link, quote, audio, and video.And then, of course, you can post photos or videos right from your phone.
New features include support for multiple Tumblogs, landscape editing, replying to messages, and saving drafts. It also taps into your address book on your phone to help you find other people to follow on Tumblr. And new users can sign up right from the mobile app. → Read More
The first time I ever wrote about carpooling service Comuto was when Iceland’s unpronounceable volcano first errupted in Sping of 2010 (at least this last volcano that errupted in May had an almost pronounceable name). At a time when most of Northern Europe was freaking out – with canceled flights and sold-out trains leaving travelers with little or no hope – Comuto stepped up and saw a massive surge in the use of their carpooling platform; stranded travelers realized that their next best option was to catch a ride in a stranger’s car rather than wait for space to free-up on trains and planes.
Comuto’s platform – which had previously been available in France and Spain – recently launched in the UK under the name Blablacar. The company blog explains that this name is meant to reflect chatty (but not annoying) passengers – but so far, the team has noticed that the average UK driver prefers to carry fewer passengers than their Spanish or French counterparts. Thus, hopefully the name will help inspire British drivers to fill up their cars with more people. → Read More
Due to a sales tax measure recently passed in CA state legislature and on its way to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, Amazon has sent all participants in its California Amazon Associates program the below email, warning of the termination of the program.
Amazon’s Associates program allows site owners to monetize off of referral links to Amazon, paying Affiliates if readers click on a link and subsequently buy an Amazon product. If the law passes, California will treat Amazon Affiliates the same as retailers with brick and mortar stores, and impose sales tax. → Read More
The next phase of growth for local deals will be mobile. Groupon knows this, and so does Yelp, which today is rolling out Yelp Deals to its iPhone and Android apps. An update to its mobile apps that is getting pushed out today will add a new deals icon to the app. When you click on it you can see a list of nearby Yelp Deals for discounts at restaurants, spas, and other businesses. (These are in addition to Yelp Special Offers and Check-In Offers, which already appear on mobile).
With Yelp Deals on mobile, you can search for nearby deals when you are walking around, and they are instantly redeemable. You get a redemption code that you can show the merchant right from your mobile phone. This is similar to what Groupon is trying to do with its Groupon Now mobile app, which is only available in a handful of cities (fewer than Yelp Mobile has out of the gate). → Read More
GateGuru, the iPhone app that’s been called the Yelp for Airports, is expanding to Android phones today with the launch of a new app.
The company is also announcing that it has raised $800,000 in funding from Brad Harrison, Allen Morgan, Chamath Palihapitiya, Tom Glocer, Thomas Lehrman, and Matt Daimler. → Read More
Myspace CEO Mike Jones just sent out this mass internal email and press release confirming the company’s sale to Specific Media earlier this morning. Kara Swisher is reporting that the sale was for $35 million.
From what I’m hearing it’s been a rocky morning at the social network, which was bought by Newscorp in 2005 for $580 million. → Read More
