Greg Kumparak is the Mobile Editor at Techcrunch. Greg has been writing for the TechCrunch network since May of 2008.
Greg was born just outside of San Jose, and now lives in the East Bay of California.
When you’re in charge of getting people to rent a move like Abduction, with its Metacritic score of 25 and a truly remarkable 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, what can you really do? The answer: whatever the hell you want. Short of stuffing free money into every box, few things could really help this one take off — so you might as well experiment, right?
And experiment they shall. Throwing Abduction to the sharks for the sake of testing their teeth, Lionsgate is releasing the film on DVD and Facebook simultaneously. → Read More
As I noted earlier this week, I’m not a fan of all of the “Company X Won CES!” jibberjabber that goes on around this time of year. It’s posturing for the sake of posturing, with the “winner” generally determined by anecdotal evidence and perceived mindshare.
If only someone could find a way to graph the show! To chart each company’s buzz (be it good or bad) over time, using cold, hard numbers to extrapolate trends from the barrage of tweets fired off during the show. Oh! Here we are.. → Read More
CoverItLive, the Demand Media-owned liveblogging platform used by many outlets to cover major events in real time, has just alerted their users of a potential data compromise. → Read More
While there wasn’t much to say about the recently announced Droid RAZR MAXX to begin with (it’s essentially the Droid RAZR with a bigger battery and more storage), Motorola and Verizon decided to leave out one key bit of detail: the launch date. That, it seems, has been fixed. → Read More
You’ve just got to love the timing. First, Apple announces their education-focused media event smack dab in the middle of CES. Now, just as CES is winding down, Bloomberg has “three people familiar with the product” spilling purported details on the next iPad. Whether or not Apple won CES without even being there, they’re certainly trying. → Read More
From a great distance, a massive waterfall is a beautiful thing. From a lesser distance, it’s deafening. Directly beneath it, it’ll crush your bones to salt.
Each year, we make our voyage through the waterfall that is CES. Each year, the noise gets a bit louder, the water a bit more torrential. This year is the first in which I’ve felt my bones begin to give.
Enough metaphor? Fine: CES, which has long been the biggest consumer tech show in the world, has gotten too big for its own (or anyone else’s) good. → Read More
“So I pay… to eat with strangers? And I don’t even pick my food? …Why would I do this?”
The idea behind GrubWithUs can seem strange at first — but once you’ve had your first meal with them, everything just sort of clicks. You pay, you sit, you eat, you meet people, and you leave. They handle all of the annoying bits (the check splitting, the tipping, the … finding people for you to eat with) and you handle the eating. Easy. → Read More
Just two years ago, everyone at CES was asking one question: Where are all the Android phones?
If anybody asked that same question this year, they’d be met with blank stares and guffaws. This show has been jammed with Android phone after Android phone since before it even officially started.
The latest one off the line is T-Mobile’s Galaxy S Blaze 4G (bit of a mouthful, eh?), which is the third device to play friendly with T-mobiles 42Mbps HSPA+ network — which, by the way, just saw a bunch of expansion. → Read More
After a day of roaming the show floor in search of all things shiny and new, we thought it’d be a good idea to gather up the crew and do one big ol’ recap of everything we’ve seen so far. We’ve got gadgets, we’ve got guests — and, because we know how much you guys love free stuff, we’ve got a bunch of (really, really great) giveaways.
→ Read More
While we’ve been running around Vegas like mad to cover all of the pre-CES happenings, the main event starts… now.
We’re streaming live from the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the biggest companies in the world have gathered to show off their best and brightest new toys. All of the chaos of the show floor, beamed right to your house. Live! Oh, how wonderful the future is. Join us! → Read More
After a day full of press conferences and jamming around Vegas like we were running for our lives, we’re streaming live from the last pre-CES press gathering of the year: Pepcom.
I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be on the air (we’ve already been roaming for quite a while), but tune in for a quick sneak peek of everything new and noteworthy that all of the big guns brought out to the show.
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Remember the exceptionally long-named Droid RAZR MAXX that got spotted in Verizon’s inventory system a few weeks ago?
It’s real now — and so far it seems to be… pretty much the same as the Droid RAZR, save for extra storage space and claims of a super long battery life. → Read More
It’s been but 5 months since the Droid 3 hit the shelves — but hey, who doesn’t like a bit of rapid obsolescence in the morning? Meet the just announced Droid 4 for Verizon; it’s got all of the staples people know and love from the Droid line (the slide-out keyboard, the 4 inch display) with one big perk over its predecessors: 4G LTE support. → Read More
Over at WindowsITPro, Paul Thurott outlines some details of Microsoft/Nokia’s (purported) marketing plans for Windows Phone in 2012. Amongst them: a $10 to $15 commission for retail sales people who sell Windows Phone handsets over Android or iOS.
In turn, John Gruber asks: “If this strategy was on the table, why didn’t Microsoft start this a year ago?”
Here’s why: because it’s an admission of failure. → Read More
It’s not a bad day for Instagram. First came the announcement that they were 2011 Crunchies Finalists. Shortly thereafter, they finally figured out how to push fullsize Instagrams to your Facebook Timeline. Capping off the day, automatic video slideshow service Animoto has launched full, built-in Instagram support. → Read More
Watch the video up above. Note the end:
“Truly Unlimited Data for your iPhone. The only national carrier with no throttling, no metering, no overages”
We already knew the wireless industry’s definition of “Unlimited” had changed — hence Sprint’s ad. Now even the definition of “truly” has changed. → Read More
“Hey, can I see your phone real quick?”
Oh, crap. What tabs did you leave open in Safari? Did you delete those photos (you know, those photos. The ones you promised her you’d delete?) That My Little Pony app that you totally-installed-just-to-test-your-download-speed-seriously-shut-up… is it still there?
Quick, hand it over before you pique their curiosity! Or say “no” and be the weirdo who wouldn’t hand their phone over to a friend for a second. If only there were some sort of on-the-fly middle ground — a “Guest Mode”, if you will. → Read More
In the gaming world, there are gamers, there are hardcore gamers… and then there are flight sim players. These guys exist on a plane of dedication that they reside on almost exclusively, with a degree of commitment matched only by their spiritual brothers: the train sim players.
Alas, no level of dedication can pay to keep the lights on if the fan base simply isn’t big enough… hence the layoff of Microsoft’s entire Flight Simulator team back in 2009. Looking to start afresh and bring new blood (and new wallets) into the fan base, Microsoft’s taking a different approach with their latest game, Flight: it’s going freemium. → Read More
After a decade of iPods, Apple’s little white charging cable seem to be pretty much everywhere these days. Open a random drawer, there one will sit. Ask a pack of strangers, “Hey — anyone got an iPhone cable?” and half a dozen will be thrown your way. At this point, it’s almost hard to not be within reach of one… until you actually need one. Then the damned things seemingly don’t exist.
Looking to make sure no iThing owner is ever caught out-and-about without a charging cable in tow is the Cord-On-Board, a (rather cleverly named) shock-resistant iPhone case with a 9.5″ charging cable tucked inside. → Read More
As TechCrunch’s resident Super Meat Boy fanboy, I feel like it’s my duty to pass on the good news: Team Meat’s rage-tastic, “Just five more tries. Seriously. Maybe Six.”-inducing twitch platformer has officially cruised through its 1 millionth sale.
→ Read More
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