It started off as an innocent marketing mistake: Microsoft photoshopped a black man out of a picture for their Polish website and replaced it with a white guy. They left the black guy’s hand in the photo, but whatever. and that monitor still isn’t plugged in to anything at all.
Microsoft apologized and changed the Polish site to the original image.
But it’s too late. We’re already getting… → Read More
Facebook has submitted v. 3.0 of their iPhone application to Apple, Joe Hewitt says via Twitter: “Just uploaded Facebook for iPhone 3.0 to the App Store for review. 
”
Hewitt also says he’ll post screen shots and more detais on this Facebook page for the iPhone app next week, and that he’s looking forward to getting started on v. 3.1 tomorrow.
We’ve been tracking 3.0 since details first became… → Read More
Tokyo-based crap gadget specialist Thanko is usually known for selling USB stuff nobody needs. Their newest hit product doesn’t feature a USB port, but the target group for their Catgirl Earphones [JP] should be quite small, too. Marketed as a gadget for the Cosplay crowd, the earphones are supposed to turn your girlfriend into a cute catgirl. → Read More
It’s only $32.99, it includes an auxiliary jack for your iPod, MP3, or CD player, and runs off wall power o one 9-volt battery. Sadly it’s only available for pre-order right now, but heck, you’re not doing anything until August anyway. Just order it and wait. → Read More
Wow. You guys wanted a Pleo. When we offered you one a few days ago I didn’t realize 707 people would comment wildly in hopes of winning a little green dinosaur. Well, there is a winner and he is… → Read More
Adobe and HTC are bringing Flash to Android on its new Hero smartphone. The implementation will support video and audio codecs familiar to users of Flash on the desktop. The HTC Hero delivers powerful, compatible video playback performance using Flash technology, and interactive content enabled by ActionScript® 2.0. Users can enjoy and navigate through Web videos using intuitive video controls. → Read More
AT&T has just released official word about the upcoming wave of iPhone 3G S device deliveries to its retail locations and directly to customers who have pre-ordered the widely anticipated phone. TechCrunch is here to make it easier for you to skim the information by breaking the press release down to the core items (no thank you required):
(after the jump) → Read More
What do you get when a Kaossilator and a Chumby mate? How about the Thingamagoop from Bleep Labs? This little bugger has an LED, a photo-resistor, and some knobs and it makes a lot of noise. What kind of noise? Noise-rock noise, which could put a damper on my plans to add this to the woodwind section in the orchestra playing my new opus, the iPhone Sonata in D Minor.
The website has a collection… → Read More
While we continue to debate the Death of RSS, another more interesting battle is taking place inside the walls of some important companies about the shape of the new realtime network. Though Google has seemed to capture the imagination of the Valley and the respect of Microsoft, it is Redmond where the impact of realtime is most sharply felt. Google’s 20 percent project has finally reached… → Read More
iLike, the popular music discovery site with a huge presence on social networks, is launching a set of new syndication services for musicians. Beginning tonight, iLike now offers extensive integration with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, allowing artists to distribute content to each of their online presences from a single control panel. In addition to these, the company is also… → Read More
TicketLeap, the Philadelphia-based provider of Internet ticketing services for event organizers, recently launched a product that turns any Internet-enabled computer with a browser into a functional box-office ticketing system. The new product, dubbed Anywhere, allows organizers of events – big or small – to facilitate the online handling of ticket sales at the venue door or when talking to… → Read More
Amazon’s third incarnation of the Kindle is here, folks. All 9.7-inches of it. Specs and info leaked about the now official Kindle over the last week and they seemed pretty much dead on. It comes packing with the larger screen, auto-rotating screen, and finally supports PDF files fully with a native PDF reader. This larger Kindle also ups the storage capacity from 1,500 books on the Kindle 2… → Read More
This episode of Laptop Hunters has been brought to you by Microsoft and Sony VAIO. Spoiler: the actors don’t buy a Mac, instead wander aimlessly around the dozens of PC models until finding a Blu-ray equipped Sony VAIO. Sorry to ruin the surprise. Video after the jump. → Read More
This may seem a little off topic for CrunchGear, but once you see the prize list, you’ll understand why we’re talking about it. Hamburger hucksters Wendy’s is holding a contest of sorts, auctioning off a few different prizes each day. → Read More
Hello CrunchGear Readers! On behalf of Kendall J. Powell and the entire General Mills team I’m proud to announce that CrunchGear, TechCrunch’s former tech blog, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Mills and will feature both tech news as well as local news relating to our consumption of Big G cereal products including, but in no way limited to, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Boo Berry… → Read More
Google has cut 200 jobs in sales and marketing, a first for the search giant. According to VWag a tipster wrote:
A friend of mine in the San Francisco office’s AdWords division (who wants to remain nameless) was laid off this morning. She also said there were 200 people total. They are still on payroll for two months and have the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the company. If they… → Read More
Online dating site Match.com is releasing a native iPhone application for its 15 million members to date on the go. The app allows users to edit their profile, upload photos, and even has an opt-in to a location based feature that allows them to see singles in their area.
The last feature seems to be the most innovative one-there is definitely a market for location based dating on iPhones and… → Read More
Expensify, the startup that took second place at TC50′s demo pit last year, has launched the public beta version of its business expense tracking and reimbursement system. Expensify has created a bigger and better version of its system, which we reviewed last fall.
Expensify still offers the “electronic payment card,” which is essentially an Expensify-branded MasterCard that is linked to… → Read More
Liftopia is an innovative ticketing system for ski resorts that brings the variable pricing structure of online airline tickets to the ski slopes. Using the system, resorts can adjust the prices of their ski lift tickets to suit demand, with customers getting an average 33% discount. It’s a great idea, but one that had largely failed to take off until this year.
Liftopia launched back in… → Read More
Hey, girls and boys! Do you have kids? Or are you a kid at heart? Or do you like free things? Then take these computer speakers off my hands. Funkeys are some sort of thing that kids like and these things unlock stuff on the Funkeys website. → Read More
Ever wonder what the little droid was really saying? I mean, C-3PO translated sometimes but you know he was always putting a politicly correct spin on it. Highlights from Episode one are above and Episode 2 are after the break. These might not be safe for work, but they’re funny as hell. → Read More
I did a quick video of Amazon Video on Demand on the Roku box and, as you can see, I really need to lose some weight. Otherwise, it’s a great service that really makes this tiny little box a real contender for a spot next to your TiVo and cable box in the TV shelf. → Read More
Publicly traded travel site Travelzoo has launched the beta version of its new comprehensive airfare search engine, Fly.com. At first glance, Fly.com is a Kayak-look alike (except that Fly.com searches are limited to airfares only). The two sites offer virtually the same feature in searches, except that Fly.com’s price comparison sites are limited to Priceline and Hotwire, whereas Kayak offers… → Read More
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld (pdf) a FCC decision finding that Verizon’s use of proprietary information of rival companies for marketing purposes violates federal law. → Read More
JuicyCampus, a website that invites students to post anonymous (and often-times libelous) messages about their peers, is headed for the Deadpool. In a blog post on the company’s website, founder Matt Ivester blames the site’s demise on a lack of revenue, despite steady growth:
Unfortunately, even with great traffic and strong user loyalty, a business can’t survive and grow without a… → Read More
CoverItLive, easily the most extensive tool one can use for liveblogging live events or other real-time stuff such as earnings calls, press conferences and the likes, has raised $1.2 million Canadian dollars (or approximately $1 million USD) more from its current investor and private equity fund Flagstone Capital and well-known investor and entrepreneur Paul Kedrosky.
CoverItLive has also quietly… → Read More
Calcalist is reporting (Hebrew only) that Modu has brought in another $7M in funding courtesy of Qualcomm which as part of the agreement will also manufacture the Modu “core”.
Modu has had a whirlwind of a year, first debuting to much fanfare at last year’s Mobile World Congress, where we had a chance to sit with the company’s CEO, Dov Moran, for a 1-on-1 for a demo. The company then went on to… → Read More
BBG has an interesting bit about how netbooks nicked 20% off of standard laptop revenue even though there was a 1% increase in revenue. Why? Because foolish laptop manufacturers have been gunning for that sub-$999 price point for years now and now that they finally hit it they can’t bring it back up to sane levels thanks to sub-$500 netbooks. → Read More
Dan “Fake Steve” Lyons appears on CNBC and basically takes down Jim Goldman, the fellow who believed everything that came out of Cupertino up to and just a little beyond the ultimate admission by Steve that he was really sick. → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
