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- PoketyPoke Dials Into Conference Calls For You (100 Beta Invites)
- No Flirting! Social Network Badoo Is Banned In Iran
- Research Consolidation: Gartner Acquires Burton Group For $56M In Cash
- State Of The Vlogosphere: 70% of Video Blogs Are Hosted On Five Sharing Sites
- Apple’s App Store: From 2 To 3 Billion Downloads In Just Over 3 Months
- Spring Design Strikes Deal With Google To Bring More Books To Its Alex eReader
- Google Nexus One Product Page Briefly Live, Featuring An Android 2.0 Video?
- MMORPG Operator Claims World Record For Most Expensive Virtual Object ($330k)
- Executive Shuffles At The Top For Opera And Brightcove
- Songbird Lands Deal With Philips, To Come Bundled With Millions Of Portable MP3 Players
- 4chan Presents: YouTube Porn Day (NSFW)
- JPMorgan Forecasts A 10.5 Percent Rebound In U.S. Display Advertising in 2010
- The Pricing Smoke Around The Tablet Fire
- Denied AdMob, Apple Buys Competing Ad Platform Quattro Wireless For $275 Million
- SnapTax From TurboTax Will Let You File Your Taxes From Your iPhone (If You Live In CA)
- Pearl Jam Gives A Song Away For A Tweet
- Mobile Ad Impressions On Android Double Since October
- An Inside Look At A Twitter Style Guide: 140 Characters
- SocialToo Attempts To Go Viral With Twitter-Based Affiliate Program
- Confirmed: Critical Path Buys ShoZu – Price Unknown, But Here Are The Terms
- Jason Calacanis’ Top Tech Products (And A Political Rant)
- On Formspring.me, Anyone Can Ask You Anything. And You’ll Love It.
- Apple Tablet shipping in March
- Eric Schmidt: The Baddest Man On Twitter
- Photocheck.in: A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Foursquare Check-Ins. Or At Least One.
| PoketyPoke Dials Into Conference Calls For You (100 Beta Invites) Posted: 05 Jan 2010 08:30 AM PST
Invariably, whenever you dial into a conference call, someone is always late. Everyone waits until the last minute to call, and then it takes forever to find the email with the dial-in number and the passcode, and by the time you get through the voice prompts, you’ve already wasted five or ten minutes. A new service launching today from Ditech Networks called PoketyPoke tries to make conference calls easier to join. The first 100 people to sign up at the website will be invited into the private beta. All you do is forward the conference call email invites with all of the dial-in and calendar information to PoketyPoke. It will then automatically dial into the conference call at the right time and simultaneously place a call to your phone, bridging the two calls. So instead of you dialing in, it calls you. PoketyPoke also works for two way calls. You can record and transcribe the calls as well. PoketyPoke uses the PhoneTag/Simulscribe voice-to-text transcription service which Ditech Networks licensed exclusively for $17 million. The service comes out of Ditech Networks Labs, which is run by Simulscribe founder Jamie Siminoff, and will be free during the private beta period. PoketyPoke is meant to showcase some of the Ditech Networks APIs, which could be used to build the feature directly into conference call services. On the backend, PoketyPoke uses a combination of automation and humans to make sure the calls get through. It can automatically dial through the major confernce call systems. If it encounters a new conference call service, the call gets kicked to a human operator who will dial through the prompts to train the system. The next time PoketyPoke encounters that system, it should be able to handle it automatically. The same approach is taken for extracting the dial-in and calendar information from the email. If PoketyPoke’s computers can’t figure it out, a human takes over.
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| No Flirting! Social Network Badoo Is Banned In Iran Posted: 05 Jan 2010 07:51 AM PST
Badoo runs a fine line between a social network and a dating or (more accurately) a flirting site, but it is not at all political. It may be this flirtatious aspect of the site which has inflamed the ire of the strict Islamic authorities – however, there has been no official reason given. In January 2008 Badoo pulled in $30m from Russian investor Finam for a 10% stake. The money was to build the service in Russia and other emerging markets. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Research Consolidation: Gartner Acquires Burton Group For $56M In Cash Posted: 05 Jan 2010 06:35 AM PST
Burton Group is a Midvale, UT-headquartered research and advisory services firm that focuses on providing advice to IT professionals. According to the statement, Burton Group has approximately 41 research analysts, 40 sales and client service associates, and projected 2009 revenue of $30 million. Gartner expects the acquisition of Burton Group to be accretive to its revenue, earnings and cash-flow over time. On a GAAP basis, the transaction is expected to be dilutive to income per share by ($0.12) – ($0.10) in 2010 and accretive to income per share by at least $0.00 – $0.03 in 2011. Gartner’s stock is up a bit in early trading on NYSE. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
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| State Of The Vlogosphere: 70% of Video Blogs Are Hosted On Five Sharing Sites Posted: 05 Jan 2010 06:25 AM PST
No surprises there, but since MeFeedia’s video search engine self-reportedly tracks over 30,000 video sources across the Web, the company slapped some interesting numbers on the most apparent trends. How many vlog? While MeFeedia tracked about 20,000 unique vlogs back in 2007, it’s currently keeping tabs on over 110,000, which represents an increase of more than 500% over the past 3 years. International vlog numbers are growing faster than the U.S., with Spanish-language video blogs leading the way. Turns out all those vloggers are less keen on setting up an independent video blog and rather flocking to the major online video hosting and sharing services to try and attract an audience and make some money off their videos. Where do they vlog? Unsurprisingly, the most popular platform is YouTube with 36%, up from 9% based on MeFeedia’s 2007 findings. After YouTube come Blip.tv with a respectable 14%, Vimeo with 9%, MySpace with 7% and the only European service, DailyMotion, with 3%. About 13% uses other video sharing platforms, although I find it surprising that Facebook didn’t make this list. Independent publishers, meaning vloggers who set up their own websites and video hosting platforms, make up 18% of the pie. The most popular tool for them: WordPress. Pro vloggers Professional vloggers (i.e. producers of Web series) tend to follow a dual strategy: posting content on their own websites while syndicating videos to popular video hosting platforms simultaneously. According to MeFeedia, the average pro-vlogger syndicates their video to 3.6 sites. Their top choices are YouTube, Blip.tv and MySpace Video. Syndication trends MeFeedia also spotted some trends in syndication and says Google’s FeedBurner is no longer the "default" syndication mechanism, as MRSS tools have become much more sophisticated over the past few years. They’re also being offered by YouTube, DailyMotion and also Videopress as a built-in feature. MeFeedia also says automated posting and tracking tools such as TubeMogul and Hey!Spread have gained popularity as they provide content creators a "produce once, post everywhere" model that saves them time. Video consumption According to MeFeedia, 1024×768 is most popular screen resolution (40%), followed by 1280×800 (20%), 1280×1024 (10%). The most popular for TV viewing is the Playstation 3, followed by the Nintendo Wii. The report also states the watch time for short-form videos is 1:15 minutes and 8:50 minutes for long-form content, on average. Unsurprisingly, people are watching more short-form than long-form video content. The growth in video consumption on mobile platforms was one of the fastest, particularly on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices (in that order). The iPhone was the fastest growing mobile device for video consumption (by 6x), which MeFeedia correctly deems largely fueled by the built-in YouTube support of the Apple phone. (Image credit: Flickr / Clintus McGintus) Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Apple’s App Store: From 2 To 3 Billion Downloads In Just Over 3 Months Posted: 05 Jan 2010 05:56 AM PST
No doubt, the holiday season helped increase the number of downloads so rapidly. But still: 1 billion additional downloads in 3 months and one week is just incredible. When the 2 billion mark was reached, Apple also said 85,000 apps were available in the App Store at the time, but the company chose to stick to download numbers only for this announcement, although they said 100,000 apps were published to the store separately at the beginning of November 2009. Steve Jobs in a statement, said:
Nice jab there, Steve, and excellent timing with the official announcement of Google’s Nexus One phone just around the corner. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| Spring Design Strikes Deal With Google To Bring More Books To Its Alex eReader Posted: 05 Jan 2010 04:38 AM PST
The device will feature a Google Android-based platform with full Web browsing capabilities, Wi-Fi connectivity, audio and video playback and image viewing in a variety of formats. The Alex eReader will also be able to run a number of Android apps. The Alex eReader boasts a 6" EPD (Electronic Paper Display) screen which allows users to browse the Web in full color while simultaneously searching for and reading digital books. Users can thus click on hyperlinks within online books that lead to relevant information or multimedia content found online in order to enrich their reading experience. EPUB digital books can be searched and downloaded using Google API applications provided by Alex's eReader. Spring Design made headlines late last year when it sued Barnes & Nobles for alleged infringement by stealing trade secrets and copying features from the Alex eReader for its Nook product. Google, meanwhile, is still caught up in litigation with authors and publishers over its Book Search product, although preliminary approval of a settlement was reached on November 19, 2009.
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| Google Nexus One Product Page Briefly Live, Featuring An Android 2.0 Video? Posted: 05 Jan 2010 04:11 AM PST
According to TmoNews, the page where the information about the Google phone aka the Nexus One will be put live today around the time of the official announcement at Google’s offices in Silicon Valley, was briefly up earlier this morning only to be taken down moments after. Provided the above is not a fake screen capture, the unofficial T-Mobile news blog got a great early peek at several product pages, including Terms of Sale (with little surprises at first glance). Curiously, as TmoNews notes as well, the page that was briefly live this morning featured a video of Android 2.0, while the Nexus One has Android 2.1 on-board. Presumably, this was a live test run of the site but with an embedded video featuring a previous version of Android as there isn’t yet an official one for Android 2.1 (at least not one publicly viewable). Google is set to start its Android Press Gathering event at 10 AM PST today. We’ll be right there to keep you informed in realtime.
- Google cache of the support page linked above Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
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| MMORPG Operator Claims World Record For Most Expensive Virtual Object ($330k) Posted: 05 Jan 2010 03:14 AM PST
First Planet Company, a subsidiary of the MindArk Group that develops and markets the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Planet Calypso, which is based on the Entropia Platform and part of the Entropia Universe (still with me?), claims that the world record for most expensive virtual object ever to be sold has been smashed into thousands of virtual pieces. First Planet Company about a month ago announced the public auction of the Crystal Palace Space Station, according to the release ‘an extremely popular hunting destination that is in orbit around Planet Calypso’. The lucky winner of the auction, Erik Novak (aka “Buzz Erik Lightyear”), ended up winning the bid with a $330,000.00 USD offer. It’s 2010, so it’s no longer surprising for most people to see this kind of money being spent on virtual objects, and I doubt this world record will stick around for long. Novak puts it this way:
For the record (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), the previous world record as registered by the authorative Guinness World Records book in 2008, was also a sale of a virtual property in Planet Calypso. The amount paid for that property was much smaller though, with a reported $100.000 USD being spent on a Virtual Space Resort and Nightclub now dubbed Club Neverdie. Do you spend money on virtual goods? What if it would concern a significant investment that you’re confident would generate a great return down the line? Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Executive Shuffles At The Top For Opera And Brightcove Posted: 05 Jan 2010 02:43 AM PST
Norwegian developer of desktop and mobile browsers and related technologies Opera Software has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, while Brightcove has managed to steal away a long-time Adobe and Macromedia exec to become its new President and Chief Operating Officer. Opera Software has replaced Jon S. von Tetzchner, who co-founded the company in 1995 and has served as CEO since that time, with Lars Boilesen as head honcho. Boilesen previously worked for Opera from 2000 to 2005 as Executive Vice President, Sales. In 2005, Boilesen joined Alcatel-Lucent as CEO of the Nordics and the Baltics only to rejoin Opera a year ago as Chief Commercial Officer. Formerly Vice President of Opera’s Board of Directors, he will be leading the company from this point forward while von Tetzchner will continue to serve Opera full-time as a strategic consultant. Online video platform provider Brightcove announced earlier this morning that it has appointed David Mendels as its new President and COO, assuming responsibility over driving Brightcove’s global expansion strategy and operations. Mendels comes to Brightcove most recently from Adobe where he was served as Executive Vice President and general manager of Adobe’s Enterprise Software and Business Productivity division, a billion dollar business that includes Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Connect, LiveCycle and Flex. Mendels will also continue to be a member of the Brightcove Board of Directors, which he joined in late 2008. (Image credit: Flickr / ccarlstead) Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| Songbird Lands Deal With Philips, To Come Bundled With Millions Of Portable MP3 Players Posted: 05 Jan 2010 01:38 AM PST
Songbird will be releasing a Philips-branded version of its software with a few key differences, most important of which will be the application’s native support for each GoGear device. While Songbird offers support for some portable music devices (they recently upgraded their support last week), the experience for users isn’t always as seamless as they typically get from the ubiquitous iPod/iTunes combo. The Philips-branded version of Songbird will be custom tailored for the GoGear devices, which means it will recognize exactly which device you plug in and which features that device supports (the same way iTunes knows if you plug in a Nano vs an iPhone). The application can be used for song purchases and playlist management, as well as firmware updates. The Songbird software will come as a self-extracting install with some devices (you plug the device into your computer and it will install onto your Windows machine automatically). For other products it will ship on a disk, or users will be directed to download the software from a website. The Philips-branded software is only available on Windows for now, but Macintosh support is in the works. The Philips devices should still be usable using the standard Songbird application on the Mac, but you won’t be able to install firmware updates. This is a big win for Songbird. The company had a very rough 2009, which included the departure of the company’s founding CEO Rob Lord and a struggle to raise new funding to remain afloat (though it eventually did complete a round at a significantly lowered valuation). Songbird’s core product, which offers song management alongside a deeper integration with web services than iTunes does, remains the same, but it’s now targeting a broader audience than it was before. The partnership with Philips is Songbird’s first major step in this area. And we’ll likely see more deals like this as Songbird tries to to appeal to electronics manufacturers as a content manager that isn’t owned by Apple. Songbird isn’t alone in this space though — another impressive product looking to offer an alternative to iTunes is doubleTwist. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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| 4chan Presents: YouTube Porn Day (NSFW) Posted: 04 Jan 2010 11:58 PM PST
It looks like 4chan has found its first major target of 2010. In a message sent to what is presumably a huge amount of undisclosed receipients, 4chan is announcing that this coming Wednesday, January 6, is going to be a very special event: YouTube Porn Day. The move comes in response to one account, Lukeywes1234, being suspended by YouTube. Apparently this was just a regular YouTube user who caught the eye of 4chan and they proceeded mass follow him and make tribute videos to him — like these (and the one below). I’ll let you read on the poster above for what they’re asking you to do for this special day. We’re not condoning this, we’re just as confused as the rest of you. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
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| JPMorgan Forecasts A 10.5 Percent Rebound In U.S. Display Advertising in 2010 Posted: 04 Jan 2010 10:57 PM PST
In the advertising industry overall, revenues generated by direct and brand advertising are roughly split 50/50. But in the online world, where direct advertising is represented mostly by search and email ads and brand advertising by graphical display ads, the split is closer to 70/30 in favor of direct ads. Last year, with the economy down, the display portion of the U.S. online advertising industry had a particularly rough time. Total revenues in 2009 were down 5.2 percent to $7.5 billion, estimates JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan in a new Internet industry report. But he forecasts that in 2010 U.S. display advertising will rebound 10.5 percent to $8.3 billion, buoyed by a rising economy and actions to reduce the glut of display ad inventory for higher quality sites and content. For instance, both AOL and CBS are making moves to remove their premium ad inventory from ad networks where prices get beaten down to the lowest common denominator. As the industry moves away from plain-vanilla CPM ads—which lead to banner blindness—and towards a variety of better-performing ad formats (including sponsorships, behavioral targeting, and more timely display ads), that should help lift revenues as well.
Khan expects U.S. search advertising to grow an even brisker 13.2 percent pace in 2010 to $16.6 billion, after virtually flat 0.8 percent growth in 2009. To get a sense of the disparity in the economics between display and search advertising look at JPMorgan’s estimates of display RPM (revenue per 1,000 impressions) and search RPS (revenue per 1,000 searches). The average display RPM is forecast to be $1.92 this year, while the average RPS is forecast to be $70.14. Which side of that equation would you rather be on? Which has the most upside?
In mobile advertising, both display and search are puny compared to text messaging ads. Total U.S. mobile advertising for 2009 is estimated at $2.6 billion, up 62 percent. But $2.3 billion of that was from text messaging. Only 178 million was mobile search, and $140 million was display (both up 80 percent last year). In 2010, mobile advertising is forecast to grow 45 percent to $3.8 billion, with the breakdown being $3.2 billion SMS advertising, $253 million mobile display, and $321 million mobile search. One of the biggest reasons to be hopeful about the outlook for the continued growth of the Internet advertising industry is that when you look at the time U.S. consumers spend on the Internet versus the amount of ad dollars which go there, the proportions are out of whack. As recently as 2008, U.S. consumers spent 38 percent of their media consumption time on the Internet (29 percent if you exclude teens and young adults), but it attracted only 8 percent of advertising dollars. Whereas consumers spent 37 percent of their media consumption time on TV, which captured 32 percent of advertising dollars. If you believe that time is money, advertising dollars should continue to flow towards the Internet.
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| The Pricing Smoke Around The Tablet Fire Posted: 04 Jan 2010 09:12 PM PST
The big news today comes from a Wall Street Journal article which definitively states in the title: Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March. You’d think WSJ would be opposed to using such a title unless they were sure that it is accurate. But early in their own story, the two authors note that “the device’s ship date hasn’t been finalized and could still change.” Still, I guess that’s forgivable if the company’s current plan is to ship in March. Regardless, this would seem to be yet more fuel to the fire that the device is actually real, and is coming soon. But things get a bit stranger as the article goes on. The article as it appears now has been rewritten from when it first appeared earlier. I know this because I read both versions, and a simple Google search turns up a number of sentences and phrases that are no longer in the story, but are being quoted by multiple other sites and blogs. It’s not uncommon for blogs to write something quickly if there is a breaking story, and then flesh it out and perhaps even alter it a bit later, but again, this is the WSJ, and not their blog — this presumably is an article that will run in the paper tomorrow morning. Still, they had one version, and then changed it. So what changed? Mostly it has been fleshed out more, but the wording of a few passages have been altered as well. For example, originally the article had this line in it:
That line, which originally was featured prominently (high up) in the story, no longer exists. Instead, farther down we get this new wording:
And below that, we get:
It would seem that the WSJ wanted to make it more clear that it was specific analysts, and not them, suggesting the $1,000 price tag and the nationwide Wi-Fi idea. And that’s understandable since literally dozens of blogs and traditional media outlets are reporting right now that the WSJ is stating the price is “about $1,000″ with some also noting the WiFi idea as coming from WSJ. And it’s hard to blame any of these sites, since that’s exactly how I read it originally. And tweets like this, from the main WSJ account, didn’t help:
Nor did the one from their community Twitter account:
You’ll notice the main WSJ Twitter feed tweeted the story again, presumably after it was altered. Here’s what I’m wondering about all of this: Is Apple itself behind some of this information? Of course, there’s no real evidence to prove this, so this is all speculation, but hear me out for a minute. Back in June, you may recall that the WSJ broke the story about Steve Jobs’ liver transplant. The news sent shockwaves around the tech community because Apple had done such a good job of keeping it a secret despite the fact that Jobs had to go live in Tennessee for a few months to get it done. And the timing of that story was suspicious, to say the least. The news broke on June 19, a Friday, at night no less, after the stock market had closed for the weekend (leaving the whole weekend for investors to settle down and realize that Jobs was now okay). It also broke two months after the actual transplant had occurred. Oh, did I mention it also broke on the day of a huge and hugely successful new launch for Apple: The iPhone 3GS? Yep. Curious. And guess who was the lead author on that article? None other than Yukari Iwatani Kane, the lead author of this latest article as well.
Second, CES starts this week. Normally, Apple would be attending the Macworld Expo around now and holding a keynote event to unveil some new products which in recent years have almost completely overshadowed CES. This year, Apple will not be participating in Macworld for the first time, and the event has actually been moved to a later date. Apple is also expected to hold its own event later this month (to presumably show off the tablet), but leaking some of this news now continues the tradition of overshadowing what its rivals are doing at CES. Third, and most importantly, Apple leaking any information about the tablet in the weeks leading up to the event helps to set expectations — and if they’re doing that, they’re meaning to set them realistically, or maybe more likely, low. The amount of hype surrounding the tablet right now is incredible. About the only thing you can compare it to is the hype leading up to the iPhone three years ago. And this may be getting even bigger. If it gets too big, and Apple underwhelms with what is announced, it will obviously look bad for them. While it’s certainly possible that the WSJ decided “about $1,000″ was a good price to quote from analysts, there are at least as many people out there suggesting the device would be more like $600 – $800 — a price that would be much more attractive to consumers. With that in mind, and going along with my little thinking-out-loud-speculation here, I don’t think it’s impossible that Apple could have nudged WSJ towards the $1,000 predictors to temper expectations a bit. The fact that the wording was odd, and it seemed like the WSJ itself was saying the thing would be “about $1,000″ is even better. It’s in people’s minds now that this is how much it will be, and they can ponder that for a few weeks leading up to the event. That way, if the device actually is around that price, people will have been prepared for it when it’s officially announced. It will put the product’s features back into the spotlight, rather than the price, which will have been already known. Let’s remember, above all, Apple loves its high margins. If this tablet device is really as great as many of us are expecting, it has got to be expensive to build. Apple is not going to sell a device at low margins, they’re just not going to do it. So I certainly would not rule out a $1,000 price tag depending on what it costs to make. These next few weeks, analysts and pundits will go on and on about how a $1,000 tablet will be a total failure. Of course, they’ve been saying that about iMacs in a time of cheap PCs, MacBooks in a time of cheap netbooks, iPhones in a time of cheap cellphones, etc, for a long time now. Apple has a great track record of defying those rules. Even at $1,000, I would not bet against this device. And if there is any truth to this WiFi subscription service idea (which, again, is a bit odd that WSJ would randomly mention), the thought is that it would be baked into the price of the device — something which Apple would undoubtedly play up. This is similar to how Amazon bakes the cost of wireless service into the Kindle (which has been selling very well despite what many to believe a price tag that is too high). That said, Kane’s statements in her video follow-up to the article are interesting as well. She notes that “the price could come down really quickly if Apple decided that that’s what they wanted to do.” This is of course what happened with the original iPhone in 2007. Apple launched it at $600 but shaved a few hundred dollars off the price just a few months later to spur sales. And that seems to suggest that Kane, for whatever reason, really believes the device will be around $1,000. Are we really to believe she’s that confident in one analysts’ guesswork? And there is a flip-side to all of this: Again, going along with my scenario, maybe Apple pointed towards the $1,000 price to set expectations very low in the weeks leading up to the event. That way, if they announce the device at $800, the public will erupt in applause, overjoyed that it’s not $1,000. Classic under promise, over deliver. This is of course all just speculation, but I’m not so sure it’s that far out there. Certainly, I wouldn’t put any of the scenarios I laid out past Apple, which has a masterful hand when it comes to manipulating the media. One more thing: A lot of sites are also re-reporting the WSJ saying the tablet will be 10 or 11 inches, with some even saying it could come in both sizes. What they actually said was that it would be 10 to 11 inches. Again, in the video, Kane makes this more clear. That presumably means the tablet will come in one size that is between 10 and 11 inches. Though who knows what they’re talking about with the two different possible finishes. Maybe one aluminum and one plastic, like the various stages of the iPhone and Macs? Hopefully, all of these things will be answered at the end of this month. [photos: flickr/tombothetominator and myuibe] Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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| Denied AdMob, Apple Buys Competing Ad Platform Quattro Wireless For $275 Million Posted: 04 Jan 2010 08:51 PM PST
The news comes only two months after Quattro competitor AdMob was snatched away from an Apple acquisition at the eleventh hour by Google. The move is at once unsurprising and strange for Apple. Unsurprising, because Apple has ventured into this territory before with its negotiations with AdMob and has made it clear that it wants a cut of the soon-to-explode mobile advertising sector. At the same time, this is wholly unfamiliar territory for Apple. The company has long focused on selling high quality devices and the polished software that accompanies it. Yes, it distributes a vast amount of media through iTunes, but it is almost never involved with actually creating this media. Nor does it typically have a sales force selling advertising. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| SnapTax From TurboTax Will Let You File Your Taxes From Your iPhone (If You Live In CA) Posted: 04 Jan 2010 05:30 PM PST
Nobody likes doing their taxes, which is why an upcoming iPhone app from Intuit called SnapTax is so genius. As you can see from the exclusive sneak peek demo video below, the app lets you snap a picture of your W2 form with your iPhone and automatically fills in your tax return. The app uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to translate the images into words and numbers, which it then uploads into a light version of Intuit’s TurboTax software. The tax filers then correct any mistakes, enter additional data not on the W2 (such as interest income), answers a few more questions, and they are done. They can even file electronically from their iPhone. The app should be available in the iTunes store in mid-January, and will cost $9.99. It is only for people who file simple tax forms, such as the 1040EZ, which is about 70 percent of Americans who file taxes. “I think we are more limited by the iPhone numbers than the EZ return numbers,” says TurboTax product manager Barry Saik. Although, this year the app will only work for California residents, who will serve as Intuit’s beta testers. Next year, versions will be available for many more states (TurboTax files both federal and state tax returns for users, and uses the same information to fill them out). The OCR technology works better on newer 3GS iPhones than on 3G iPhones because they have more sensitive camera lenses. The app is about 80 percent accurate on 3GS iPhones versus 60 percent accurate on 3G iPhones, according to Intuit. The app takes you through all the data it captures and lets you correct any inaccuracies. And as you go along, you see your refund (or tax owed) tally up with each step. If only they could do this for people with more complicated taxes (people with mortgages, kids, and businesses). What if you could take a photo of every receipt and taxable event throughout the year, and then add your W2 and other tax statements at the end of the year, and be done? Hopefully, this is a first step in that direction. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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| Pearl Jam Gives A Song Away For A Tweet Posted: 04 Jan 2010 05:07 PM PST
The band has teamed up with the digital media house Culture Jam to launch a new site that easily allows you to tweet about about the Pearl Jam song “Just Breathe.” This site is actually a simple application that gets your Twitter credentials via OAuth. In exchange for the tweet, you’ll receive a code that will allow you to download the song on iTunes for free. Specifically, it’s a live version of the song that was recorded at Austin City Limits this year. This free song isn’t without a slight catch. Not only will you obviously have to send the tweet, but in small print on the site, you’ll see that by tweeting the message you will also automatically follow the @pearljam account on Twitter. Of course, if you’re tweeting this, you’re probably into Pearl Jam, and won’t mind following the account. On the site, there is also a way to buy a digital copy of the single and you can enter to win a limited run copy of the new album on White Vinyl LP (there are 15 of them available). Culture Jam does these types of promotions for a number of musical acts. The use of Twitter in this regard is smart because there is a very low barrier to entry. As we discussed yesterday, a growing number of brands and venues are using Twitter to trade free goods and deals for promotion on the service.
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| Mobile Ad Impressions On Android Double Since October Posted: 04 Jan 2010 04:20 PM PST Mobile ad network AdMob has just released its latest stats tracking the rise of Android, and it’s clear that Google’s mobile platform is quickly gaining steam. AdMob writes that between October and December, the number of ad requests worldwide from Android devices increased a whopping 97% to over 1 billion ad requests. In other words, the number of requests from Android devices doubled in just two months. Much of the growth was clearly driven by the release of the Motorola Droid. Before the Droid’s launch, HTC devices accounted for 98% of Android requests. In December, that fell to 56%, with 39% from Motorola (which also offers the CLIQ) and 5% from Samsung. Some more stats from AdMob’s latest post:
Of course, AdMob is not exactly unbiased any more — the company was acquired by Google in November. That said, as the largest mobile ad network, it certainly has a wealth of relevant data. Look for Android to get another big push tomorrow, when we’ll likely see the release of the Nexus One.  Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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| An Inside Look At A Twitter Style Guide: 140 Characters Posted: 04 Jan 2010 04:00 PM PST
We’ve all seen Twitter grow into the company that it is now, but what was it like when it first started — back when it was still called Odeo, and Twitter wasn’t in existence. As we know, Twitter was spun off from Evan William’s company Odeo, into what we know now as Twitter, the social networking service where you post short messages in 140 characters or less. Dom Sagolla was one of the employees who worked at Odeo, transitioned to Twitter, and was subsequently laid off in the early days of the company. He recently wrote the book 140 Characters, which is mainly a style guide for the super-short form writing, and a concise field manual that will help you be more effective when communicating in small spaces, like on Twitter. The book also has a foreword from Twitter creator and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey. Sagolla is also using Square to sell his book on the go with his iPhone as well. Sagolla is the founder of DollarApp, an iPhone development company that makes applications for $0.99. He is also the co-founder of iPhoneDevCamp, an international iPhone development conference which is coming up on it’s fourth conference this year. What’s interesting about the book is that it comes with a companion iPhone application developed by Sagolla’s company, DollarApp. [iTunes link] The application lets you read the book on your iPhone, as well as a comment on the book via Twitter. I’ve read the book now, and I have to say — it’s a really interesting read. It goes in depth about different styles on Twitter, and how different styles really affect the way we read tweets. For example, different styles go from comedy tweets that entertain, all the way to drama and poetry. For instance, @TheEllenShow is known for her one-liners. These different styles reflect on how different users tweet, and distinguish themselves from others. Oh, and I found out one of my tweets is quoted in the book! You can get on the app on the App Store today, and buy the book on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Borders and of course, online. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| SocialToo Attempts To Go Viral With Twitter-Based Affiliate Program Posted: 04 Jan 2010 03:50 PM PST
SocialToo, a startup that lets you manage your personal connections on Twitter and Facebook, has launched an affiliate program to allow users to reap a profit from referring other users to the service. For each type of service you refer people to join on SocialToo, the startup will pay you 20 percent of the cost of that service via PayPal-powered TwitPay, right through Twitter. SocialToo, which launched a universal Facebook to Twitter posting feature earlier this year, provides tools for managing your Twitter and Facebook accounts such as auto-following, auto-unfollowing, auto-messaging, along with daily stats surrounding new follows and unfollow and the ability to conduct surveys from followers. Its plethora of features are ideal for marketers and brands who want to learn the most they can from those they follow. SocialToo’s features range anywhere from $5 for following back everyone who follows you to $25 to unfollow everyone who you’ve ever followed before. Using Twitter-based payment system, TwitPay, users can Tweet and share links with friends on Twitter, Facebook, blogs or websites. Here’s what the message and link will looks like:
When someone clicks the link, they'll be taken to SocialToo, but a special, customized overlay will pop over the main page welcoming them to SocialToo with the referring user’s Twitter profile image next to the welcome message. The will tell the visitor about the type of service the referrer has recommended and will invite them to provide their screen name and enter the purchase process. For every affiliate link where a user purchases a SocialToo service, affiliates collect 20 percent of the fee. At the end of each month, SocialToo will send out a payment to each affiliate via Twitpay. It’s fairly easy. This is definitely an interesting idea to get viral growth but the affiliate program is sure to raise some eyebrows in the Twittersphere. Sponsored Tweets from Ad.ly, a platform that links up high-profile advertisers with Twitter users to disseminate marketing campaigns (and produce a revenue stream for Twitter users), have been criticized as a viable advertising model. Advertising in your stream and then monetizing off of other users could be construed in a negative way. Tweetbucks and even Amazon also allow users to collect affiliate fees from their Tweet streams. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Confirmed: Critical Path Buys ShoZu – Price Unknown, But Here Are The Terms Posted: 04 Jan 2010 03:25 PM PST  Our earlier report about Critical Path buying mobile services startup ShoZu turns out to have been right on the money. Tomorrow morning, both companies will jointly announce that they have come to an agreement for Critical Path to acquire all of ShoZu for an undisclosed sum. We're trying to get a hold of the price the London company, which was backed by $36 million in venture capital, sold for. The release is below, but here are more details, including some deal terms: (after the jump)
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| Jason Calacanis’ Top Tech Products (And A Political Rant) Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:43 PM PST
Inspired by Mike Arrington’s (my partner on TechCrunch50) fifth annual list, I thought I would liberate his format and list the ‘Tech Products @jason loves and uses every day.” SIDEBAR/DISCLOSURE: As of the start of 2010, I’ve set a five year goal for myself: be the most sought-after, and value-added, angel investor in the world. It’s a lofty goal and it’s going to create a massive amount of conflict for me as an pundit, but you know what they say: “no conflict, no interest.” As you look down this list of top products, please be aware of the fact that I’m probably trying to invest in ALL OF THEM. It would stand to reason that, if I love a product enough to put it on this list, I would love it enough to invest in it. My strategy for becoming the most sought-after angel investor on the planet is five-fold: 1. Produce media that is helpful to entrepreneurs (This Week in Startups, this post, etc). Now, on to my list of the “my favorite technologies I use every day for 2009!” 1. Chartbeat: Chartbeat is Google Analytics on crack. This real-time analytics tool shows me exactly who is on Mahalo, what pages they’re looking at and where they came from. This allows me to focus our editorial efforts based on popular stories on a given day or a new trend. For example, two days before New Year’s Eve, one of our how to articles, “How to Make Jell-O Shots,” started trending on Chartbeat. We doubled down on that page and made it even better–in real time. I almost don’t want to tell you about this product because I’m so in love with it and consider it one of Mahalo’s secret weapons. I’ve recently joined their board of advisers and I’ve been begging my pal John Borthwick of BetaWorks to let me be the first investor in this brilliant product coming out of his brilliant incubator (the same on that brought you Bit.ly and Summize–purchased by Twitter). 2. Security Spy & Remote Patrol: Security Spy is a $300-400 software product that allows you to connect dozens of IP-based cameras to your home network. I’ve put six cameras in my home and I’m adding another four this week. In Month One, I’ve become a combination of the over-protective father and Scarface, sitting in my loft office with a big screen TV displaying video cameras from around the compound. The iPhone application, Remote Patrol, lets me pull up the same security cameras over AT&T’s (horrible) 3G network. At $10, this software gives my wife and I the ability, for example, to zoom in on our daughter and watch her sleep while we are out watching “Avatar” or at a New Year’s Ever dinner with friends. We are the envy of our social set because, while other folks show photos of their kids, we can pull up live video of our daughter on our crib cam. It cost me under $5,000 to install a 10-camera system which just two or three years ago would have cost me $50,000 to $100,000. I know because I’ve priced these things out, and many of my Brentwood neighbors have shown off their proprietary systems, which cost 20x our open source commodity hardware systems, and have less features. Epic WIN! 3. Sonos with Rhapsody: Sonos is a home sound system that allows you to place a wireless speaker or amplifier in each room of you house. These system connect to each other over wifi, creating a multi-room sound system for about $400 a room. I now have 11 sound “zones” in my house which I can control with my iPhone, iTouch, computer or the overpriced but delightful Sonos proprietary remote. The system allows you to integrate Pandora, thousands of categorized radio stations, Napster, iTunes, Sirius and my favorite, Rhapsody. For $15 a month, Rhapsody allows me to pull up every Frank Sinatra song ever recorded, hip-hop stations from Seoul or Paris, WFAN from NYC or my Rilo Kiley station on Pandora. At Christmas, I was blowing out Christmas music in the driveway, backyard, living room, kitchen and other zones. Once again, I was the envy of the entire neighborhood, and isn’t that what technology is all about: making people insanely jealous at how blown 4. Tesla Roadster: For over a year now, I’ve had the privilege of driving the world’s only in-production electric car and it is the most delightful and exciting driving experience of my life. RANT: For over a year, I haven’t visited a gas station and have been able to give the finger to the bastards in the Middle East who believe that women and gays are about as valuable as dogs, and that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are the root causes of all evil. If Obama had any leadership ability, as opposed to his consensus-building nonsense, he would have taken the billions we’re going to spend in Afghanistan and simply spent that money on electric car and solar subsidies in America. We have to stop wasting our money building schools and bridges for backwards societies that don’t appreciate them and start spending that money on energy independence. There is no reason we couldn’t put solar panels on every rooftop in America, and electric cars in every driveway, instead of spending money fighting enemies that don’t want the freedom we’re promoting. Sorry about the rant, but I’m really frustrated that Obama, who I voted for, is such a disappointment. He was supposed to bring some innovation to politics and his policies feel no different than the failed strategies of Cheney/Bush (in that order). If I was president, I would cut our losses in the Middle East and stop sending any money there, instead investing it in nuclear, solar, wind and EVs. This is such an obvious solution to everyone except the idiots we put in power. Shame on all of us. END RANT 5. GoWalla/FourSquare: I’m so in love with location based services like Gowalla and FourSquare that I tried to invest in both companies, and was actually able to make a tiny angel investment in GoWalla. These two services are amazing, and I could write and entire article on why they are so important. In fact, I will do that! For now, why don’t you go ahead and sign up for both and tell me what you think! 6. Posterous: Every day, I try and share a dozen thoughts, photos or videos, as well as sneak in three or four how to articles or buzzy stories from Mahalo, and Posterous is my go to application for this. I simply take a video or photo of Taurus and Fondue, for example, and email it to post@posterous.com. That video will then be posted to Calacanis.com, my Twitter account, Facebook, Flickr and a half dozen other services. One email, 10 posts. You gotta love it! I’m absolutely in love with this company, and I even interviewed one of the founders on This Week in Startups: 7. BlackBerry: I’m still addicted after all these years. My fifth or sixth curve is still 99.999% rock solid for the most importantapplication in my life, email. I love you RIM, and I always will. Really. Don’t pay attention to #8 below. :-) 8. iPhone 3G/Android: I’ve got a jump-ball, love and hate relationship with these two phones. They are my backup phones to my Blackberry, and while I do all my email and 90% of my twittering on my Blackberry Curve, I do 90% of my web surfing on these two phones and their larger screens. 50% of the time, I have three phones with me, and 100% of the time, I have at least two. I’ve got OCD when it comes to connectivity, and given my day job and side projects, the cost of having three phones is MUCH less than the cost of being out of touch. In 2010, I’m going to try and make a decision which one of these phones wins and it’s not going to be easy. Steve Jobs had the lead, but Google’s Android is much more open and snappy than an iPhone. I’m loving watching Google and Apple fight it out…My money is on Google in the 9. Flip MINO HD: About $200 to have HD video in your glove compartment, purse or laptop bag. Buy them three or four at a time and give them to everyone in your family. Nothing is easier to use and provides as much long-term value per dollar as this product. The best Christmas gift you can give to your parents and siblings–period. 10. Audible: Ohhhhhhhh….. Audible. Mmmmmmm….. Audible, I love Audible. I get two credits a month and fill my iPhone with audio books. Spending hours a day on a computer makes my eyes too strained, on average, to read. However, putting on my noise canceling headphones and listening to books like “Shadow Divers,” “The Road” and “The Post-American World” while running or playing poker is my guilty pleasure. Have I read that book? Of course I have, you take me for an illiterate? I “read” two or three books a month (wink wink!). Seriously, feed your brain with Audible goodness. Disclosure: for three years I’ve been talking about Audible on This Week in Tech. After three years of my making love to the brand, the fine folks at Audible decided to sponsor This Week in Startups for a couple of months last year. Too kind of them, but I wanted to point out that they have sponsored my media recently. 11. Mozy: Mozy online back up is a wonderful off-site backup system that provides unlimited service for $15 a month for five computers. I’m taking the absurd number of videos from my Security Spy camera and backing them up to Mozy. This will result in Mozy backing up a terabyte of information for $200 a year for me. That’s absurd. I love this company and service. 12. Amazon & Amazon Prime: Amazon is one of the ten greatest companies ever built. Jeff Bezos is, perhaps, the entrepreneur I admire most–certainly in my top three. However, at the end of the day, it’s Amazon’s perfect service and user experience that I love most. Amazon Prime, which basically gets you products super-fast without worrying about shipping, is a MUST for anyone who orders from Amazon more than five to ten times a year. I buy everything from Amazon (or Zappos, now part of Amazon), with rare exception–even when they are NOT the best price (which is about 20% of the time). Why? I like shopping with them. The experience is flawless, and few things in life are flawless. Oh yeah, Amazon owns #10 on this list as well: Audible. Two flawless services, and more evidence that Jeff Bezos might be the best entrepreneur of our generation. (Sorry Steve Jobs and Bill Gates!). 13. Samsung BluRay with Netflix On Demand: Watching movies at home has never been so good. Netflix On Demand is flawless and with the exception of not enough high-def options it’s basically a “game over” solution for on demand. Netflix is about to become to movies what Sonos+Rhapsody is to music for me. We now watch more Netflix on Demand than Netflix in the mail. Enough said. 14. Samsung 55″ LED TV: This TV is so real that most folks who look at it say “that looks like real life, not a movie.” LED technology is so clear it makes LCDs and Plasma’s look like tube TVs. Well, maybe not that bad, but close. Combined with a BluRay player and surround sound there is little reason for me to visit a theater for anything but the top movies. Also, the TV is about one inch thick and lift as a feather. I have folks put the width of the TV between their eyes and look at me on the other side of it to show how thin it is. You can literally fit the TV between your two eyes and move it with two fingers. 15. Tricaster: The Tricaster by Newtek is a complete digital studio in a box. This amazing device allows me, and Leo Laporte, to create multicamera shoots without spending $100,000 building a studio and having a half dozen engineers on call for a show. Instead you drop $10,000 on this box and have one editor man the Tricaster and you’re done. Leo has used the Tricaster to create a $2M a year podcasting business with a half dozen employees and This Week in Startups is making over $250,000 a year in advertising after only a couple of months. The podcasting/video show revolution is powered by Tricaster. I love this product. More: a) Service that I’m playing with that might make the 2010 list: Canon 7D, Blippy.com, Backupify, Drobo. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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| On Formspring.me, Anyone Can Ask You Anything. And You’ll Love It. Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:11 PM PST
The site’s core functionality is incredibly simple. You invite people to ask you any question they want (they can opt either to leave the question anonymously or leave their user info). Then, the next time you log into the site, you’re shown a list of pending questions in your inbox. You select which questions you want to answer and delete the ones you don’t. Your answers can be a word long, or you can write a few paragraphs if you want to. The result is a stream of questions and answers that let your friends and fans learn about you — think of it as an ongoing interview, where you get to act as both the interview’s subject and moderator. The site makes it easy to connect your Formspring.me account to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Blogger, allowing you to immediately publish your answers as you write them. Of course, given the fact that you get to choose exactly which questions you want to answer, you can tailor this ongoing interview to be totally self-serving. Given that many of the questions are likely to be submitted anonymously, you could even ask yourself questions that you really want to answer (”Why yes, I do regularly contribute to charity and promote world peace”). That said, it will be pretty easy to spot people who do this, and the most interesting (and popular) users will likely be the ones who are most willing to leave their comfort zone. Popular users are likely to draw a lot of spam and negative questions. You’ll have some control over this — you can require people to log in before they submit a question (though their question will still be anonymous if they wish). But most people with a significant following can probably expect some hateful or meaningless questions. Of course, people can @reply you on Twitter with whatever they want, so this isn’t a new problem, and you’re not obligated to answer any of these questions.  There have been similar applications available for both blogs and Facebook before, but what Formspring.me lacks in originality it makes up for in execution. The site is clean and easy to navigate, and makes it easy to connect with multiple social networks and blogs. It’s currently throwing some DB Errors, but I suspect that might be because the site is quickly gaining steam. And it’s not hard to see why people are calling the site extremely addictive. Formspring.me was created by Formspring, a company that provides tools for building web forms. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| Apple Tablet shipping in March Posted: 04 Jan 2010 02:04 PM PST  This just in: the WSJ is reporting that an Apple Tablet device thinger will ship in March after a January announcement. The announcement should come on the 27th the 28th, according on various sources. Apple Inc. plans to unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but doesn't plan on shipping the product until March, people briefed by the company said.
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| Eric Schmidt: The Baddest Man On Twitter Posted: 04 Jan 2010 01:31 PM PST
Stop what you’re doing right now (reading this) and go look at Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s latest Twitter profile picture. Now look closer. Yes, it appears he’s wearing a flak jacket, also known as a bullet-proof vest. As the New York Times’ Nick Bilton points out, this picture likely comes from a recent trip Schmidt took to Iraq. That makes sense, but the fact that Schmidt put the effort and the thought into changing his picture from a bland old corporate profile one, to this badass one, is pretty awesome. Just as with Facebook profile pictures, Twitter profile pictures are becoming a defining characteristic of everyone’s online identity. And because of that, Schmidt may just be one of the baddest men on Twitter (in a good way, like Shaft). Schmidt made headlines last month when he finally signed up for Twitter after seemingly dismissing it as somewhat trivial earlier in the year. However, when he first joined, he was stuck with the awful AOL-era generic name, @eschmidt0. Within a day, he had secured the more appropriate @ericschmidt moniker. And while he still may not be tweeting a whole lot (he’s currently up to 8 tweets in just about a month of tweeting), the profile picture just bought him a lot of Twitter cred, in my book, at least. Unless that’s a lead jacket you put on when you’re about to get an x-ray at the doctor’s office. If that’s the case, forget everything I just said.
[via Brian Lam] Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Photocheck.in: A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Foursquare Check-Ins. Or At Least One. Posted: 04 Jan 2010 12:37 PM PST
Thanks to the release of the Foursquare API, third-party developers are already starting to take advantage of the location-based service’s data, and building things on top of it. Jon Steinberg, who recently joined Polaris Venture Partners as an Executive-In-Residence, and before that worked at Google, helped create one of the first third-party apps using this API, SocialGreat. And now he’s at it again, hiring an elancer to create Photocheck.in, an app that allows you to check-in on Foursquare simply by sending out a picture. Here’s how this works: Once you visit the Photocheck.in site and give the service permission to access your Foursquare data via OAuth, you’re given a unique email address where you will mail your pictures to. Assuming you have a smartphone that tags your photos with EXIF data that contains location information (such as the iPhone and a bunch of Android phones), when you email this photo to the address, it will pull the location information and send it to Foursquare, checking you in where the picture was taken. This is then sent to Twitter (assuming you have Twitter linked up to tweet when you check-in on Foursquare) with a link to a Photocheck.in page that includes the picture, the date and time, and a Google Map embed showing exactly where it was taken. The subject of the email you sent is then added to the “shout” area of Foursquare. One downside is that currently, the app is unable to guess the name of your location from this EXIF data. Instead, it simply puts in that you’re at a specific address. That means that in your Foursquare stream, you will see an address rather than a place name (and obviously, that won’t help you earn mayorships or get points). Steinberg says that he hopes to be able to eventually guess the name of the location you are at based on the data you send, perhaps even using SocialGreat data to do so. As for the address information itself, it seems to work pretty well. In my initial tests, it was a little off, but not by much. “I think accuracy is a strongsuit,” Steinberg says. He also notes that eventually he hopes Foursquare will support hyperlinks so that they can send a link to the Photocheck.in page right to the Foursquare stream too. Regardless of the few minor downsides, this is a very cool new way to check-in on Foursquare. And it shows the potential of Foursquare’s API, as eventually, it should become more common place to do things such as tag pictures to locations you are at. As Steinberg notes in his post on the service, other services such as Flickr and Posterous have been utilizing location data in images for a while, but none currently tie in with Foursquare. That would seem to make Photocheck.in the first “TwitPic for Foursquare.” Note: Steinberg wanted us to point out that the service, which again, was built by an elancer may not be able to hold up to the pressure a post like this one may put on it, so please be patient.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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Big news in the research world today: 
Media search and discovery site 
Update: commenters have been finding more stuff:
New year, new faces as two of the most innovative technology companies on the planet are making some changes in their management team. 
Don’t count 
Just when you thought 
So, why would Apple leak some information now? Well, there are a few possibilities. First, Google is holding a big event tomorrow that is presumably for its new Nexus One Android device. The device is widely considered to be the best Android phone yet, and brings the platform closer in terms of hardware to Apple’s own iPhone. The 
We’re hearing that Apple is buying mobile advertising company 
Regular readers may know my affinity for Pearl Jam. The band, which released a new album, Backspacer, last year had a 
One of the greatest things to rise out of the existence of the Twitter ecosystem has been all the picture services that allow you to quickly and easily send out images to your social graph. And now here they come for Foursquare too.
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