Last November, TechCrunch’s own Sarah Lacy sat down with Vineet Devaiah from “social streetview” startup, Phototour.in, which, at the time, had just received term sheets from a number of high-profile U.S. investors and had recently been awarded the “Top Emerging Technology Company of 2010″ by Nvidia. The startup was the first international, non-funded, under-20-member company to win the award, according to Devaiah.
Since then, Phototour added Academy Award certificate-winner and entrepreneur Bala S. Manian as an advisor (who was honored for “technical achievement” for his contributions to optical technologies used in films, including Star Wars) and has gained more than 47,000 users for the alpha version of its image and panorama crowdsourcing app, “360″, on Android. Users have logged more than 75,000 panoramas, so considering the rumor that iPhone 5 will have a native panorama app, sources tell us that 360 may well be a candidate for being the app that makes Android competitive in the space. → Read More
The old, white Xbox media remote was often a godsend. Instead of pressing odd buttons on the controller, the media remote let you control Netflix and DVD videos with ease and it was big and unique enough not to get lost. This new media remote, however, looks less like a bar of Dove soap and more like a traditional remote control.
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Well, I think we can call the 360 a hit now. The console is six years old and, according to a chart by the NPD, has never seen a down year in the states. What’s more, it’s actually increasing in sales thanks in part to the Kinect. That, if you’re to believe these stats, makes the Xbox 360 the only console in history to see such growth this far into its lifecycle. Other systems tend to peak in year two or three and then quickly fall into the bargin bin. Not the 360. It’s currently riding high on its best sales number. → Read More
If you need an official XBox 360 USB Flash Drive (and we all do), why not go down to the SanDisk store and pick up an 8 or 16GB flash drive for $34.99 and $69.99 respectively.
N.B. – You can basically use any flash drive with your XBox and, as nice as SanDisk is, this stuff is a bit pricey. → Read More
Get ready to spend some Gil – it looks like Square isn’t going to ignore the US this time. Square Enix and Microsoft just announced that they are putting together a special Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360. And while these are normally restricted to Japan, this time you’ll actually be able to buy one without have to pay to import it! → Read More
Does your Xbox 360 look out of place on your equipment rack? Does it just look too juvenile with the concaved case? Are you a boring old fart that still want the the Xbox 360 but need it to look more like a VCR than a gaming system? If so, the Xbox 360 Elegant Edition is for you. → Read More
Yes, you read the title correctly. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Up for auction on eBay is a PS360: an Xbox 360 in a PS3 case. → Read More
Now that the NXE lets users install games onto the hard drive, space is premium cause these games aren’t small. Plus, the Xbox’s standard hard drive space for the majority of the past three years was a measly 20GB so you really should know how much space these games are going to take up. Full list after the jump. → Read More
Looks like the NXE is out for those who signed up for a preview account and Netflix has confirmed that there will be 300 HD titles in the new streaming system. Looks like Christmas came early! Instead of adding another 10,000 people to the preview program like we did last week, we’ve decided to do something a little different: everyone who successfully applied to the preview program (and submitted a valid console ID) will be getting the New Xbox Experience sometime within the next few hours. That’s right…we’re hooking everyone else up with NXE a bit early. If you signed up and are not prompted, that means you did not enter your console ID properly and you’ll have to wait until Wednesday. → Read More
HD Netflix streaming just dropped on the Xbox 360 and while the reviews have so far been stellar, a little issue just appeared in the form of copy protection. It seems in order to stream the HD videos, the Xbox 360 must be connected to a HDCP-compatible display, therefore alienating most owners using DVI-equipped screens. The situation doesn’t come as much as a surprise though now that consumers have instant access to high-quality videos via a very hackable device like the Xbox 360. It just would have been nice of Netflix to give a little heads up. [Thanks for the tip, Tyler!] → Read More
A lot of people got double-screwed when there were all those 360s failing. Not only did your damn console die, but if you had downloaded content like XBLA games, chances are it wouldn’t be on your new console when you got that. Until now, recourse has been difficult, but the license transfer tool lets you consolidate any licenses you had on your last four systems that died. However, I recommend reading the FAQ, otherwise you might miss stuff like this: How often can I use the tool? The tool can only be used once every twelve months. Why can I use the tool only once per twelve months? The tool is intended to allow consumers to consolidate their licenses they purchased on multiple consoles to a primary console. It is not intended to continually move content between multiple consoles. Right. Because everybody likes artificial limitations on content they’ve paid for. → Read More
To combat the red ring of death and other problems that plagued the 360, chip evolution and improvement has been an important consideration for Microsoft. The Falcon revision, for example, has improved things slightly. Microsoft, then, hopes with this next update, codenamed Jasper, will let them put the rash of console problems behind them. Microsoft is setting up provisions to start updating the Xbox 360 with a 65nm GPU late August. This information is backed by a report from CENS, saying they already contracted with a few company’s to build the new chips. It is also known that the Falcon chips are depleted, so that paves the way for a quick transition to Jasper. Reports are also saying that the next update after Jasper will not happen for a year after its release. via dailytech.com → Read More
Microsoft has just discontinued their HD DVD players for the XBox 360. Microsoft chose… poorly. As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own. via GamerScore → Read More
Sure, they’ve been shooting panoramas since the days of sepia-tone, but it’s never been so easy, and it’s never been so def. Hi-def, that is. This new Olympus gadget shoots full circle within a vertical plane of 50°. The company explains that by optimizing the axisymmetric free-form-surface lens, which apparently is the cylindrical lens element, they were able to achieve this high definition feat. The same element is used in the Surround-video camera’s mate, the surround-video projector. It’s easy to think of uses for this little guy, from security camera to full-immersion video tourism to mounting on your car so you don’t run over so many kids. The devices shoot and project in 1080i, which looks great, but if they’re doing cool future-toys, I’d like to see them lose that “i”. And what’s with that cord hanging from the top? Olympus: Shooting and Projecting Omnidirectional Video Images in Full HD [TechOn, via Wired News] → Read More
