That was a long sayonara: in November 2008, Nokia decided to pull the plug on their Japan operations, at the same time announcing they will re-enter the market with their luxury sub-brand Vertu. They started offering those phones (and the services that come with them) in September 2009, but now decided to give up on this business in Japan, too. → Read More
Erick is a cruel man. Known throughout TC HQ as the “Iron Stampede,” his rages against technology products are epic and legendary. You should have heard him go off on Google+ yesterday. He was livid.
That’s why it’s interesting to see him calmly dismantle the TouchPad in this episode of Fly or Die. Gone is the red faced anger, the spittle, the curses. Instead, he tries it out and comes away disappointed and nonplussed. → Read More
Google just announced that it is teaming up with Virgin America to allow passengers to “test-fly” the search giant’s new Chromebook computers for free. Virgin passengers will be able to use the computers onboard their flight and at select airport gates from July 1 through September 30, 2011.
As an incentive, flyers who check out a Chromebook will receive a free WiFi session onboard Virgin America. Virgin says that at airport gates in San Francisco, Chicago O’Hare, Boston and in Dallas-Fort Worth will include Google “Chrome Zone” lounges starting this week, where passengers can learn more about the Chromebook and check one out for their flight. Google is also partnering with the Ace Hotel in New York to offer Chromebooks in hotel guests’ rooms. → Read More
In this episode of Founder Stories, host Chris Dixon takes a look at a 3D printer while talking to the maker behind the MakerBot, Bre Pettis.
If printing 3D objects sounds impressive, think about this. Pettis thinks “it’s early days”—drawing comparisons to early PC’s like the Altair. About the size of a mini-fridge, the Makerbot ships for $1,299 and allows users to create their own objects via CAD software (or users can select from “more than 10,000 things” on Thingiverse says Pettis) and print them out in a matter of minutes. → Read More
Thanks to an update of Skype’s Android application, you can now make one-to-one video calls over both WiFi and 3G connections. You can download the Skype app from the Android Market or point your browser to Skype.com/m from your phone.
Note that your smartphone needs to be running Android Version 2.3 (and above) and have a front-facing camera. Supported handsets include the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S. → Read More
Despite being the resident Apple fanboy, I’m not going to try to defend the new Final Cut Pro X. I simply don’t use Final Cut enough to know how good or bad it is compared to the old version. But I will say this, the backlash is very predictable.
Apple completely changed a very popular piece of software — rewriting it from the ground up. People hate change. Revolt. Some changes are made. Everyone calms down and forgets. End of story. It happens time and time again. It’s just more striking when it happens with companies like Apple and Facebook because they’re among the only ones seemingly not afraid to upset their massive user bases. → Read More
The best part of these timepieces is easily the box. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but Romain Jerome showed me a sneak preview of the Space Invaders watches back in March. The idea is to recall some of the fun and playfulness, as well as the novelty of the late 1970s video game. The box is actually a light box and you place the watch inside of it. Actually the watch is already placed inside of it and there are no doors, just a peep hole. If you want to remove the watch – consider it a fun challenge (like the game). Inside the box is a black light, then when lit illuminates the lume on the dial of the Space Invader watches. It is cool and fun, and perhaps better with LSD. → Read More
Hot on the heels of my scathing diatribe against the once-mighty Blackberry empire, Erick and I explore the current financial and development situation that has befallen our neighbors to the North. Plus, we have an extra special guest who, as Erick notes, will “build an app for any platform, even Windows Phone 7″ but bailed on BBOS.
As I wrote in my post, I wish it didn’t have to be this way. RIM has long been a powerhouse in the mobile world and their failure to adapt mirrors Nokia’s: it’s the sense that internally, the successes of the past defined the actions of the present, resulting in out-dated thinking. → Read More
One aspect of the Egyptian uprising (among the others, most ongoing) that was overpowered by the wild acclamation of social media is something that has been quietly but powerfully changing societal norms over the last decade. It is simply the inclusion, on almost every mobile phone sold, of a digital camera. When 90% of the active population can, at any time, record an event they are witness to, and transmit it to the rest of the world instantly, many rules begin to change.
It’s not new, of course: “citizen journalism” has a long history before mobiles were prevalent, and the growing trend of “you report”-style news and things like Twitter streams in live reporting are as plain as the lens on your phone. And while I regularly deride the quality of camera phones, the truth is that improvements have been made that are now promoting phone-cams from joke cameras to true documentary devices.
What happens, exactly, when every individual is not only a node connected to a worldwide network, but is also able to take anything they see and cause it to be made public and (efforts are made in this direction) unable to be taken down? The consequences are complex and far-reaching, and we would do well to start thinking about them now. → Read More
Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and Chuck E Cheese, wants to bring the video arcade into the classroom. His latest startup is called Speed To Learn, and very little is known about it. But he was just on a panel I moderated at the Venture Capital in Education Summit in New York City, where he revealed a little more of his game plan. I caught him on video after the panel (watch above).
Essentially, Speed To Learn, which doesn’t even have a website yet, is a new education startup which wants to bring video games into the classroom. Like, real, arcade-style video games. “Think Dance Dance Revolution meets step aerobics” meets education software. On the panel he talked about treadmills with screens attached where kids learn in a very active way. I joked that he was trying to make up for creating a generation of kids who sat in front of the TV playing video games. → Read More
Nintendo and Sony just announced the much-anticipated Wii U and the Playstation Vita last week at E3 and, well, we were pretty impressed. The Wii U, Nintendo’s new console, is a real step up for the brand as it adds HD game play and a unique new controller that incorporates third-screen features with Nintendo’s own paradigm-shifting controller style. The Vita is a little less exciting to console gamers as it’s a handheld, but it is definitely an improvement over the old PSP and PSP Go and looks to be a step in the right direction for the ailing Sony. → Read More
On Monday, Steve Jobs introduced iCloud to the Apple developers at WWDC, and we’ve been absorbing what it means ever since. John Biggs and I devote this entire episode of Fly or Die to iCloud, explaining what it is, why it’s important, and where it falls short. Watch the video above.
At it’s heart, iCloud demotes your computer as your digital hub and moves that hub online. This is not just for your music or photos, but potentially for all apps. And that is one of the biggest shifts for apps that run on iOS since it got started. → Read More
After having a banner #WWDC start yesterday, Apple founder Steve Jobs humbly presented his idea for a new Apple campus at the Cupertino City Council today. I’m still watching this, but what I’ve seen so far is amazing.
Jobs wants to build one building that holds 12,000 people on a former Hewlett-Packard property.”It’s a little like a spaceship,” Jobs says. No kidding. → Read More
Scott Forstall, speaking at WWDC 2011, has just announced some major numbers relating to Apple’s iOS. 200 million iOS devices have been sold, which they claim makes it the #1 mobile operating system in the world. With Android nipping at their heels, that could be a transient title, at least in the mobile phone world. The iPad, however, is another story. → Read More
We’re live in not-so-sunny San Francisco, where Apple is hosting their annual Worldwide Developer Conference — and, more directly important to the masses of Apple fans around the world, the WWDC Keynote.
We already know some of what Apple’s announcing: OS X Lion, iOS 5, and a new, mostly-mysterious product called iCloud. From what we’re seeing, though, they’ve still got at least one secret up their sleeve. Join us after the jump for all of our up-to-the-second updates. → Read More
I knew this watch existed for a while but seeing in the flesh solidified the feeling that yes, this is of the most (if not the most) steampunk timepieces in existence – and here I get to put it on. I believe it came out in 2008. Plus, unlike stuff from Cabestan and Vianney Halter, this Chronoswiss is not going to cost in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for a cool timepiece. → Read More
The debate about Windows 8 rages on in this episode of Fly or Die. CrunchGear editor John Biggs, who joins me from Las Vegas where he is attending a watch conference (don’t ask) thinks nothing has really changed because users can always switch back from the touch interface to the old Windows.
I appreciate the shell argument, but counter that desktop operating systems are also moving towards more of a touch computing UI anyway. So is this a shell, or is Microsoft trying to get ahead of the curve?
Watch the video, and tell us what you think. → Read More
Electronic Arts is today debuting Origin, a direct-to-consumer gaming platform, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. According to the placeholder website, expect Origin to go live around 9 AM Pacific time.
The platform will enable gamers to discover, buy and download more than 150 games from EA at its debut, with exclusive limited edition copies of EA games like Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 coming later. → Read More
Yesterday, Microsoft showed off Windows 8 for the first time, and it’s gorgeous (check it out in the video above). It’s also the biggest change to the look and feel of Windows since Windows 95.
Windows 8 is all designed around a touch interface, with tiles replacing icons and swiping replacing drag-’n-drop. Instead of a Start button that pops up at the lower lefthand corner of your screen, you are greeted with a grid of tiles as the new Start screen. With this new touch user interface, Microsoft is hiding the complexity of Windows, but that complexity still exists underneath. Whether or not this is a flaw or a feature will be debated. → Read More
Video conferencing company Polycom is acquiring the assets of HP’s Visual Collaboration business, including the Halo Products and Managed Services business according to a release issued by both companies this morning. The acquisition, which is valued at $89 million, is expected to close in Q3 2011.
Part of the deal, HP and Polycom have established a strategic relationship in which Polycom will be an exclusive provider to HP for telepresence, including both resale and internal HP deployments. The two companies have also agreed to make Polycom’s video applications available for HP’s WebOS platform and TouchPad line. → Read More
