Archive for August 13th, 2009

We guard the final 50 new products and startups that launch at TechCrunch50 closely, and don’t let anyone know the final list until the day of the event (not even press gets the list). But we also generally pre-announce one of the presenting companies to give the audience a taste of what’s to come.

And this year, I’m very proud to announce that Penn & Teller will be launching a new consumer tech product at TechCrunch50.

The duo has worked together for 30 years, and in September they’ll be celebrating their fifth year as headliners in their own theater at the Rio All-suite Hotel & Casino, as well as two Emmy nominations for one of my favorite shows, their Showtime series “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” (I even embedded a clip of their show in this post about bottled water).

Plus, Penn Jillette will be on stage showing their new product for the first time to the 2,000 or so people who will be at TechCrunch50. And I think you’re going to love it.

CrashCorp, the joint venture between former Digg Lead Architect Joe Stump, and former co-founder of Socialthing, Matt Galligan, have released two videos of a proof-of-concept app developed for the iPhone.

After speaking Matt Galligan, he mentioned that CrashCorp is changing the direction of their company. He also notes:

Right now, there’s a gap in the market, as it relates to making it easy to add persistent location to mobile apps. We’re simply addressing that gap by providing an end-to-end location solution for app developers. Part of that solution will include developing SDK’s for mobile devices, that will allow app developers to quickly add new ways to view location data.

You know, we like to get a little crazy some times. Test the waters. Mix it up. You know, all that hyperbole. At any rate, if you’d like to mix it up with us… we’re broadcasting live on USTREAM right now. Check out the embed after the break — and wish us luck!

Update: Well, that was certainly a rockin’ good time — we’ll have to do that again real soon! Thanks to everyone who listened in, and check back tomorrow if you missed it, we’ll have our regular podcast post up. (Nilay’s audio will be louder on the archived version, there were some issues streaming his mic.)

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget Podcast — live on USTREAM… right now! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure why we didn’t hear more about this way back at RIM’s WES conference way back in May, but it was apparently mentioned by VP Antoine Boucher at the time that they’re working on a Bluetooth-enabled watch. Furthermore, it’s said to be more advanced than the models Sony Ericsson has put forth so far, featuring streaming audio (3.5mm jack on the watch, perhaps?) and Twitter / Facebook updates in addition to the usual things like caller ID and text messages. Note that the image floating around today of this thing isn’t real — it’s just a Sony Ericsson MBW-100 with a swapped logo — so it remains to be seen what this magical wrist accessory will look like, assuming it’s real and coming to retail. It seems Boucher also mentioned a high-end Bluetooth headset codenamed “Alpha 1″ that’ll allow you to stream music and get navigation directions through some sort of totally awesome silicone earpiece boasted to possibly be “the best solution on the market.” It’s pretty hard to pique a lot of interest these days with something as vanilla and ubiquitous as a headset, but at any rate, it’s interesting to see the depth of RIM’s apparent commitment to the accessory market right now.

[Via techfresh.net]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

RIM working on Bluetooth watch, other spellbinding accessories? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In its developer Google Group, Twitter has just made the announcement that it is releasing an early preview of a brand new API: The retweeting API. And that’s not all, Twitter is in the process of completely revamping its retweet functionality.

From the looks of it, this could mean some pretty big changes on Twitter. As you can see in the mock-ups above and below, the retweet (written as “RT” in most tweets) is no longer a part of the actual tweet itself, but rather is a link below the tweet. While that certainly is a cleaner way of doing things, it will be interesting to see if this makes retweeting less or more enticing. And it could potentially help users find new people to follow (more on that below).

But as co-founder Biz Stone notes on the Twitter blog, the current method of retweeting on twitter.com is a cumbersome process of copying and pasting. They want to change that. He calls this “Phase One” of “Project Retweet,” and notes that it is going out to developers first so they can be ready for the change, and indicates that it’s not quite ready for prime-time:

We’re hearing “multiple sources” are now reporting that Apple is most likely planning a keynote event — possibly for the week of September 7th. There’s also the requisite murmuring that one Steve Jobs may make an appearance — though of course, there’s also nothing more solid than wishes and fairy dust to back that one up. As far as possible product launches go, well, there have been significant whisperings about upcoming iPod / iTunes developments as of late, including the company’s reported dealings with major record labels. This would fall in line with Apple’s habit of releasing iPods every fall, and we’ve heard plenty about upcoming iPod touches which boast, among other things — a camera and microphone. Daring Fireball has also reported that these bad boys will come in 16, 32 and 64GB varieties running $199, $299, and $399, respectively. In more salacious gossip, there’s the possible Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about, but there’s no solid word on any products for now. We’ll be watching this one closely, we assure you.

Read - Here it Comes. But what is it, exactly?
Read – Daring Fireball on Zune HD and new iPod touch

Filed under: Portable Audio, Tablet PCs

Apple might be planning keynote for week of September 7th, might have new products on offer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At this point, it seems like people are just talking themselves in a circle about the rumored Apple Tablet. Everyone is so excited for it, not matter what it actually is, that they’re starting to convince themselves that it could drop as soon as next month. Rumors of that date started after an all-over-the-place report last month by the Financial Times, that seemed to suggest the tablet was both being prepared for September, and for the latter holiday season at the same time. As we said at the time, it seems unlikely that either are true.

And today brings more people backing that up. Sources tell The Loop that the tablet will definitely not be a part of the September event (which is likely to focus on music and the iPod, just like all other Apple September events do).

I recently had the pleasure to help out on a music video shoot here in the northwest, noteworthy not just because a great video resulted, but because we were shooting with two RED One cameras plus a custom RC helicopter for aerial shots. It was interesting being behind the scenes and I thought I’d share a little of the fun. The video itself, for Mt St Helens Vietnam Band’s “Albatross, Albatross, Albatross,” can be viewed in HD over at Vimeo.

The opportunity to see a group of local freelancers and entrepreneurs coming together to make such an incredibly professional product was extremely valuable — technology has democratized and accelerated the independent film and music community to a degree I hadn’t realized. I was brought on because I had access to some special locations (most of the aerial and forest shots are near some family property in the San Juans) and so I could shoot a little behind-the-scenes video of the production. More details, video, and production stills below the fold.

Now that everything Zune HD is official and available for pre-order, Microsoft has seen fit to loose official specs, putting to rest — at least until we can do a full hands on — questions about what to expect from the OLED touchscreen packing device. From dimensions (52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9 mm, 2.6 oz) to battery life (24 hours for music with wireless off, up to 4 hours of video) and charge time (3 hours, 2 hours to 90%.) While the offical site (incorrectly) currently lists max video res at barely-better-than-DVD 720 x 480, we contacted Microsoft and received the official specs on video support, and if for some reason you needed to hear it again: the Tegra chip is a beast. Ready for HDTV playback when it’s plugged into the AV dock, the Zune software supports up to 1280 x 720, 30 frames per second at a max 14 Mbps bitrate for WMV HD and h.264 sources. Confirmed still a bummer? No wireless video streaming from the Zune Video Marketplace, though the specs do indicate that purchases and rentals will work across all three screens, PC, Zune and Xbox 360. Check the corrected specs after the break, now all that’s left is getting some alone time with one.

Update: Microsoft has hit us with the corrected & updated spec list with a slight change to battery and charge specs: 33 hours of life playing music with no wireless, up to 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from PC, 2 hours via AC adapter. Hopefully that’s long enough to cover your one man rave in the woods far away from A/C outlets. Check the PDF for yourself, but beware, as Microsoft has informed us one typo remains, as the Zune HD can hold up to 22 / 48 hours (16GB / 32GB) of video optimized for the device, no matter what the official sheet says.

Continue reading Zune HD specs fill in the blanks on video format support, battery life and more – Update: now with more, better!

Filed under: Handhelds, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Zune HD specs fill in the blanks on video format support, battery life and more – Update: now with more, better! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are ads, and the there are ADS. Dictionary.com now features the latter, in what I can only describe as the most in-your-face advertisement I have ever seen on the web. About the only thing that could catch your eye more is if its next ad is for a porn or dead kittens.

Very clearly, the washing detergent Cheer is now sponsoring Dictionary.com’s homepage, but I’ve never seen a site with an ad so big that I’m not sure there’s actually a service being offered at all. Bing features huge pictures on its site too, but they’re tasteful images that provide a nice backdrop, this is just God-awful. And worse, the entire thing is clickable, to take you to Cheer’s page.