Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007.
Some posts he’d like you to read:
The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin
His personal website is coldewey.cc.
Apptio, which offers enterprise SaaS for managing IT and operations to large companies looking to stay abreast of the latest advances, has raised yet more money from a familiar roster of investors. This $50 million round, their fourth, was led by “certain investment strategies” at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., augmented by continuing investment from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners… → Read More
Intel is betting big on the future of human interfaces with a $21 million (143 million kronor) investment in Tobii, a Swedish company that has been working for years on eye-tracking laptops and other devices. A 10% stake, it implies a valuation of around $200 million for the 12-year-old company. In 2007 Tobii raised $14M, then in 2009 another $26.8M, and the $21M from Intel Capital continues that… → Read More
The Kinect’s powerful depth- and position-sensing sensors have been put to many a noble purpose: basic artificial vision, translating sign language, controlling humanoid robots, and real-time 3D mapping of the real world. But at last it can help you pick out a pair of jeans.
You may not be aware of the alarming fact that up to 40% of clothing purchased is returned because of poor fit. Something… → Read More
Children of the 80s will fondly remember the Neo Geo, probably as the unattainable, super-expensive console that existed only in arcades and wishful dreams. For more than two decades it has remained so, and in addition to the arcade machines littering the world still, the console has engendered a fervent fanbase of sprite-loving nostalgia hounds.
SNK discontinued the hardware years ago, but the… → Read More
Veteran tablet maker Archos has released a teaser video of a new tablet they’re going to be releasing (we presume) later this year. It’s called the G10 XS (the latest in a series of G tablets) and it has a few differentiating features that may call your name.
As others have noted, the only way for Android tablets to set themselves apart from one another is in design and specs. Archos has found… → Read More
Microsoft has just posted an overview of the Windows 8 version of Internet Explorer 10, which shows off the features you’d expect from a modern touch-based browser: navigation gestures, full-screen content, and the expected Metro-style multitasking.
The one feature that caught my eye, however, was the “share charm.” Charms are, as you must surely know, the little contextual items that appear… → Read More
In 1768, the Enlightenment was in full swing, and the printing press was being employed liberally as a method of disseminating knowledge among the (then still relatively few) literate and learned. Few general-purpose reference works existed (the earliest came only a few years before), however, with much essential knowledge split between many smaller, more specific volumes. On Optics, or On the Use… → Read More
With real-time translation of text common on the web and instantaneous speech-to-text gaining popularity, it seems that transliteration is cool again. But less obvious, and more difficult, methods of input are yet to be implemented. Case in point: sign language. The complicated and often contextual gestures form a vast visual vocabulary that isn’t easily captured or interpreted.
A team of… → Read More
Today brings some rather high-profile recruiting from Google: the director of DARPA, the Department of Defense’s research arm, is leaving after three years of heading the agency to join Google at a “senior executive position.”
The news comes from a DARPA spokesman, who reports that Dugan felt she couldn’t refuse an offer from such an “innovative company.” She has worked at the agency on and off… → Read More
To publish a “review” of the Lytro as it is today is, in a way, very premature. But it’s also only fair. The product is shipping and, to an extent, complete. But given the number of features and planned improvements in the pipes, a review today will be obsolete in a few months. Nevertheless, an initial judgment on the device must be made.
So here is what can be said of the Lytro in a form that… → Read More
Part of the long-running (and far from over) SOPA/PIPA battle was the drawing of lines in the sand by Internet companies. While most recognized the danger of that irresponsible and short-sighted bill and took action against it, some companies supported it strongly and even testified to that effect in Congress.
GoDaddy was one of those companies, and while it later tried to undo the damage its… → Read More
I have a confession to make: despite having reviewed a few e-readers, and having written dozens of articles about them, I’ve never really used one. I mean, I’ve used them enough to know a good one from a bad one, to understand the features, and to do a proper evaluation — but I’ve never made one part of my life, the way one makes a mobile phone or laptop part of one’s life. In that way I haven’t… → Read More
While for an ordinary civilian the automatic geotagging of your photos or check-ins might be convenient, in the military it can be a lethal mistake. In 2007, geotagged photos of a new fleet of helicopters allowed enemy forces to mortar the base and destroy several of them; it could just as easily have been a field hospital or barracks.
The Army has therefore published an article calling… → Read More
Most of the news around Austin this week is centered around SXSW, naturally, but Texas Governor (and erstwhile presidential candidate) Rick Perry broke some news today that’s unrelated, but still Austin-relevant. Apple, it seems, which has been slowly growing its presence in the state’s tech oasis, chose SXSW weekend as an auspicious time to announce a major new campus in Austin. → Read More
I’ve just gotten out of a quick hands-on session with the new iPad (and yes, it’s just called the iPad), and have come away with exactly the feeling I expected to have: that I need to buy one.
The first thing you should know, and also the reason there aren’t many pictures, is that as far as weight and shape, it’s almost exactly the same as the iPad 2. They wouldn’t allow comparison shots… → Read More
As 100% of our readers know, there is a major Apple event tomorrow morning here in San Francisco. We presume it will be the debut of a brand new high-res iPad (3, HD, 2X, or other), but signs have pointed to some secondary announcements as well. Apple TV (not the Apple TV) is tipped to be getting a refresh, and chances are that iOS 5.1 will be shown off in detail, if not its successor.
We’ll be… → Read More
One of the more interesting PC accessories of the last few years was the now-infamous Optimus keyboard, which replaced every key with a tiny display that could be customized for games and software. At $1500, it was kind of a stretch. More recently, Razer’s Blade laptop and an unreleased keyboard have integrated a touchscreen and LCD keys, though also at a premium. But why haven’t we employed the… → Read More
Valve, creators of (among other things) the Half-Life franchise and Steam, the gold standard for digital game distribution, are said to be getting into the hardware game. If The Verge’s tip is to be believed, the company is working with partners to establish a base PC gaming standard to sell as a packaged deal, a sort of set-top box PC that would run Steam or other download services and run most… → Read More
Random House, the world’s largest publisher of the kinds of books you and I read, has made some adjustments to the way it sells e-books to libraries. Notably, they have tripled the price of many titles. Librarians across the country are expressing their discontent.
The changes were telegraphed by an announcement a month ago that suggested prices would be going up soon, and most expected… → Read More
Paul Martin, NASA’s Inspector General, gave written testimony in a House committee earlier this week detailing the security threats faced by their IT infrastructure. The thrust of the document is that NASA needs to double down on cybersecurity but, naturally, needs more money to do so.
Their IT budget is $1.5 billion, but of that only $58 million was spent on security. Considering the enormous… → Read More
Say the Mayans are right, and a meteor or some other catastrophe strikes the Earth sometime later this year. Assuming we’re not all wiped out by the impact, emergency services worldwide are going to need to do some serious canvassing to assess damage, resources, and form a picture of the disaster.
DARPA is running a little game, called CLIQRQuest, to look into how such a network of people might… → Read More
Vocre was one of the more popular battlefield companies at Disrupt SF 2011; the automagical quality of the app and their excellent on-stage presentation made them one of the frontrunners. They haven’t been idle since then, though, and they’ve taken the advice of some critics who suggested their pay-per-use model was going to turn off users.
They’re releasing a new version of the app today with… → Read More
The new iPad, if rumors are to be believed, has an extremely high-resolution screen — better than most monitors and packed into a quarter of the display space. The result? iPhone 4-like Retina goodness. But it’s actually kind of hard to visualize this, since most pixel-dense displays are small, and we’re used to a certain level of aliasing on our bigger displays.
A research team with members from University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania has been investigating the feasibility of what they call “computational sprinting,” a technique by which existing chips could be made to operate at hugely increased speeds for short periods of time. They have concluded that “it is indeed possible to engineer such a system.”
Not the best of news to readers… → Read More
Samsung, or rather Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology, has created what they claim is the first CMOS sensor that can collect both visible light data (which you’d use for a normal digital image) and depth data (like a Kinect). It’s accomplished by mixing in depth-sensing pixels with the RGB photosites normally found on such sensors. It was presented at ISSCC 2012 and reported by Tech-On… → Read More
Unless Apple is conning the world, the iPad 3 should be announced next week. It, like its forbears, is the subject of many a rumor, some more likely than others. We’ve collected most of them here in this post with arguments for and against, for your convenience and flaming pleasure.
Of course, we’ll be there to cover the event live, and will (if past events are any indication) get a nice… → Read More
My first reaction upon hearing about Nokia’s 41-megapixel 808 Pureview was that it was an absurdity, a perfect example of the very worst of consumer electronics, and a total miss. But the more I read, the better I understood that this phone isn’t just some freak of nature with a ridiculously high number attached to it. It’s just the slightly awkward first steps of a serious move by Nokia to… → Read More
The long-running “Live” name Microsoft has placed on its many connected services (Mail, messenger, photos, etc) is coming to an end in Windows 8, as part of their ongoing, major brand rehaul. Zune, of course, has been on its way out for some time, but will receive the coup de grace in Windows 8.
Their main services are being rolled into bundled applications with a native Metro look and simpler… → Read More
Look, sometimes you just have to take a break and skim Etsy for cool iPad stuff. Are you thinking of picking up a new iPad 3 when they come out, or maybe just celebrating the release with a cool new case for your existing tablet? Check out this little round-up of cases collected by a felt-loving blogger on a Friday afternoon.
Do you like felt, and leather, and buckles, and supporting the… → Read More
The Los Angeles Times reports that The Los Angeles Times will be adopting a paywall (they prefer the term “membership program”) starting March 5th, joining the ranks of other large newspapers hoping to replace plummeting subscription revenues. Readers, naturally, are incensed, though the change was inevitable for such a large newspaper.
Although the move to a paid or at least somehow powerfully… → Read More
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