Over the years, software development has ping-ponged between server-centric and client-centric designs. Today, with dominant mobile platforms like iOS and Android, apps have entered a hybrid client-server architecture.
What this means for developers is that they have to juggle more technologies than ever before. And in response, we’re seeing the rise of developer platforms that handle functionality that has never been outsourced before—everything from databases to sending email to providing user authentication. As more software moves to the cloud so too does the development tools used to make the final product. → Read More
You wanted an Android tablet for Christmas… and you got one! Alas, it’s a Kindle Fire. Whoops! While the Fire is technically well within the realm of “Android tablet” (and a mighty fine tablet, for the price), it’s not quite the tried-and-true vanilla Android experience you were looking for.
Wait! Don’t go requesting that return label just yet: if a gang of goodhearted hackers have their way, Amazon’s wonderfully wallet-friendly tablet will be running the latest builds of straight-up Android (as in Ice Cream Sandwich) before too long. In fact, they’ve (sort of) already got it working. → Read More
Once upon a time, the iPhone was a simple thing. You flipped it on, slid the unlock switch, and what you saw was what you got.
Since then, things have gotten a bit more… layered. That’s not to say they’ve gotten any harder to use; iOS just has a ridiculous number of hidden bonus features now that are in no way immediately obvious to the untrained eye. Given that yesterday was Christmas, I’d wager that the number of untrained eyes out there is at an all-time high. This list is for them. → Read More
On December 5th, 2011 TechCrunch Europe came to Moscow again. Co-organized by TechCrunch Europe, Digital October and Kite Ventures, the second TechCrunch Moscow showcased several early stage startups and hosted panels on emerging technology trends in Russia and abroad.
The event, held in English, proved to be a smashing success, bringing together over 700 participants and attracting several thousand viewers online. Videos of the event can be found below including the amazing interview between Andrew Keen and Anton Nossik (media director of LiveJournal) on a pivotal day for Russian politics following the Russian Duma elections of the previous day. It’s a must watch. → Read More
You know who got a lump of coal in their PR stocking this year? Domain registrar GoDaddy. Its most recent stumble? The company’s presence on a SOPA supporter list sparked an impromptu user exodus last week, with already tens of thousands of domains being transferred in the fall out.
Sensing a communications disaster (GoDaddy has gotten really good at this) the new CEO Warren Adelman then reversed the companies official position on SOPA, well kind of.
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As online retail sales continue to soar, brick and mortar stores are seeing margins dissipate. Online holiday sales are expected to grow 15 percent to $37.6 billion this season while retail sales in physical stores are only expected to increase by 3.8 percent to $469.1 billion. Best Buy recently reported a 29 percent drop in profits because of discounts and sales of top grossing electronics. The fact is that the electronics retailer was probably forced into offering deeply discounted deals in order to compete with e-commerce giant Amazon. And it doesn’t help that Amazon is now offering discounts to consumers on any product purchased via its price comparison mobile app, another huge blow to physical retailers.
Brick and mortar retailers need to figure out a way to compete with Amazon and other e-commerce giants that doesn’t eat into margins. Deals and coupons simply aren’t enought. And as former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson has said, retail isn’t broken, stores are. So how are retail stores going to survive? While mobile may be the technology e-commerce companies are using to jab physical stores, it is also the technology that may save these stores. Personalization and data are the two key factors that could save retail stores; and the vehicle by which these technologies can be utilized is via the mobile phone.
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Apps have taken over the world. If you doubt that just take a look at this app map by Horace Dediu at Asymco which shows the 123 countries in the world where iPhones are available. Of course, anywhere you can get an iPhone, you can get an iPhone app. Like the Web, apps are distributed globally.
But when it comes to “media” like books, music, and movies, the distribution is much more limited on digital devices. Again, only looking at Apple, Dediu counts only 51 countries where music is available through the iTunes store, and only 6 countries where TV shows are available (see map below). My first reaction is that Apple really needs to broaden its licensing efforts internationally. But remember, iTunes started going international in 2004, and there are still more countries where you can get only apps (72) than both music and apps.
Except there already is a global market for digital media. They are called apps, and they represent the future of media in many ways. Apps are media. Not only are they a form of media in the way that consumer software and games have always been considered media (they compete with TV, books, and music for consumers’ time and attention). But increasingly, they are also subsuming other forms of media. → Read More
The topic around the olives and cheese plate last week at an extended family Christmas gathering was, interestingly enough, Microsoft distancing itself from CES. My family, not ordinarily given to tech gossip, was alarmed, thinking that perhaps there was a grand re-ordering of things that they should know about. It’s a remarkably straightforward move, far from the conspiracy theories the last few days have spawned, but when you’re dealing with bruisers like Microsoft and CES, everything is swathed in diplomacy as would be ostensibly amicable divorce proceedings. But Microsoft’s grievances are legitimate and the move is a smart one.
“Our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.” How true that is, and as others have pointed out, their product news generally didn’t align with products, either. And they’re aware that their news is propagating in a completely different way than it used to. → Read More
In 2011, the long-promised ubiquity of video—on-demand anytime, anywhere—started to become a reality, driven by mobile (smart phones, tablets). While this may seem obvious, remember, it was not so long ago (a couple years, really) that most doubted that consumers would ever watch anything other than short-form YouTube-like video clips on the small screen. Consumers are now beginning to watch premium long-form video (TV, motion picture content) on their most important screen on a massive scale, despite the frequent paucity of compelling content offered by service providers. Yet, we are still in the early innings of this video revolution—so, we truly haven’t seen anything yet. With this in mind, here are my predicted “big stories” for video in the coming year: → Read More
Netflix and Hulu are the two leading video streaming services on the Web when it comes to mainstream TV shows and movies. More people watch Netflix online than Hulu, and have since about 18 months ago. In November, 2011, comScore estimates that Netflix.com attracted 26.6 million unique visitors, versus 20.2 million for Hulu
But a better metric to compare the two is how much time people actually spend at each site. And there Netflix trounces Hulu by two to one. U.S. visitors spent 1 billion minutes on Netflix.com in November, 2011, versus 480 million minutes on Hulu, according to comScore. (One caveat here is that people also go to Netflix.com to manage their DVD accounts and browse movie titles in addition to streaming videos, but the growth in time spent is most likely coming from streaming). Netflix has an edge over Hulu in that it streams more movies than TV shows, and those tend to be longer. But if that was the only factor, you’d expect to see the same ratio over time. Yet back in November, 2010, the two services were almost neck-and-neck in time spent, with Netflix users logging 750 million total minutes versus Hulu users logging 690 million. → Read More
Most of the big name Android smartphone vendors have already laid out their Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans, but LG has been notably absent from the list of companies offering an update schedule. Well, a brief announcement on the company’s official Facebook page has remedied that — Android 4.0 will be coming to select LG handsets as early as Q2 2012. → Read More
Cooklet, a Poland-based cooking site founded by Grzegorz Trubiłowicz, features a lot of what you’d expect – lots of recipes, a few pictures of happy-looking skinny people who you know don’t eat much food, and some international flare. However, the rise of sites like Cooklet point to a change in the way people find recipes and make food. It’s a transition from the standard cookbook-based economy of yesterday’s kitchen to a more plugged-in experience we are now embracing.
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Radionomy, which enables people to create and listen to radio stations online, is preparing the launch of a new service dubbed Streamonomy, which will essentially open up its platform to external radio stations, whether they broadcast online or the traditional, simulcast FM way.
Streamonomy will also be available to online radio stations not produced with Radionomy, although the option to do so will of course remain available, free of charge. → Read More
While gift cards are certainly a useful and practical gift, the act of giving a gift certificate to a store can be construed as impersonal. One startup is trying to change this. Tango Card, which offers a gift card program for consumers, is launching a new personalized experience, called ‘What I Got.’
For background, here’s how Tango Card works. A purchaser can buy a Tango Card, and give this to a recipient via email. The recipient can then exchanges the value for the card for one or multiple retailer gift cards (Amazon, iTunes, Target, Starbucks, others) or they can donate any portion of their gift card to one of 9 non-profits (National Park Foundation, World of Children, Habitat for Humanity, etc.). Any unused value can actually be redeemed for cash. Basically, it provides a more flexible gift card option which allows recipients to choose and then stagger the proceeds of a gift card across various retailers or charities. → Read More
On December 5th, 2011 TechCrunch Europe came to Moscow again. Co-organized by TechCrunch Europe, Digital October and Kite Ventures, the second TechCrunch Moscow showcased several early stage startups and hosted panels on emerging technology trends in Russia and abroad.
The event, held in English, proved to be a smashing success, bringing together over 700 participants and attracting several thousand viewers online. Videos of the event can be found below including the amazing interview between Andrew Keen and political commentator Anton Nossik on a pivotal day for Russian politics following the Russian Duma elections of the previous day. It’s a must watch.
→ Read More
We’ve been waiting for large-sized OLED TVs at least since Sony rolled out the cool (but too small) XEL-1 in 2007. Various bigger OLEDs and “breakthroughs” have made the news in the years after that, and now LG says it’s ready to showcase the world’s biggest OLED TV at CES 2012 (which kicks off on January 10).
Sized at 55 inches, the panel has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 and has been developed by using the Oxide TFT technology, according to LG. The company has been working on bigger OLED devices for quite a while now, for example a super-thin 31-inch model (which was shown last year). → Read More
Although GoDaddy’s new CEO, Warren Adelman, no longer supports SOPA (after supporting it), a mass movement (of critics is gathering pace.
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S-LCD Co., the joint venture for making LCDs for TVs between Sony and Samsung, will soon be history. The Japanese company today announced it will exit the 50-50 venture by selling its share to the Korean rival for US$940 million, after seven years of collaboration.
After inking a final agreement, Samsung is ready to absorb the South Korea-based joint venture into its existing LCD business and turn it into a 100% subsidiary. Samsung’s LCD business will then be the second-largest in the world by revenue, trailing only LG Display. → Read More
When I visited Google.com this morning, I was as excited as the kids sprinting from bed to tree. But all I found was a lump of sonic coal. Oh joy, after months of Christmas music, I get to hear a crummy elevator music version of “Jingle Bells” one more time? *sigh*
But wait, is it a game where I guess how to play the song on the colored keys? No. → Read More
Tell someone they’re special, remind them you care, share a memory, say “I love you” — it’s easier than ever. Thanks to mobile devices and social networks, love is becoming more scalable. Tweet or status update how you’re thankful for their friendship. Text, Skype, message, or email how their support has meant the world to you. Wall post, @reply, +1, upvote the people who make your life more fun. In just a few seconds, you’ve strengthened your relationships and made someone’s day. Today, everyday, take a moment and tell them.
We stand above a bottomless well of gratitude… → Read More
