July, 2008 — Tech News and Analysis

Archive for July 2008

http://www.youtube.com/v/Dtr6-PiUb-w&hl=en&fs=1 The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind experience and not just for us. I think we’ve had more reader comments generated today than any other day prior, so we know you’ve been busy too. Of course, we’re talking about joining the GigaOM team … Read More »

Hurricane Dolly has landed, fortunately much to the south of Houston to the delight of those of us here.  Hurricanes are a way of life for those on the Texas Coast and … Read More »

 
 

Certain publications are all a-flutter today with talk that Google and YouTube “could one day enable content owners to insert ads into unauthorized video clips wherever they might be posted online,” an assertion made in a report at CNET. We even picked up the … Read More »

Xantrex's Inverters Are on the Block

Shares of power electronics maker Xantrex closed up 19 percent Wednesday after the power electronics maker announced that it’s in exclusive negotiations to be acquired. CleanBreak estimates that a deal for the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company, which makes solar power inverters, … Read More »

For as long as I can remember, folks have been looking for calendar sync options between various services and devices. Calgoo is one of the many options, but … Read More »

Options for Cleaning Keyboards

Is there anything more disgusting than a computer keyboard that’s been in use for a year? Between dust, shed skin cells, and random spills, I know mine end up looking pretty bad. Fortunately, there are some options for dealing with the … Read More »

It’s pros before average Joes when it comes to online video ad revenue. That’s the word from a study just released by The Diffusion Group, which forecasts that professionally produced content will grab most of the $590 million video ad market today and the $10 … Read More »

Live From f8Con

I am hanging out here at the Facebook developer conference, just generally taking in the sights and sounds. The venue is getting crowded, even though we’ve still got over an hour to go before the Facebook executives take the stage. You can check out my … Read More »

Content Offerings Only Reach a Few Million TVs

Over the past few weeks, there have been a flurry of announcements from Microsoft, Netflix, TiVo, YouTube, Roku and others detailing how their devices can be used to play movies and other video-based content, delivered via the Internet, on the TV. Industry insiders are speculating that … Read More »

Content Offerings Only Reach a Few Million TVs

The recent flurry of announcements regarding devices that can be used to play movies and other video-based content, delivered via the Internet, on the TV, has many in the industry believing that the tide is finally turning. The numbers, however, tell a somewhat different story. Read More »

Cloud computing has matured a lot and many folks like Kevin are happily working in the cloud and loving it.  I have not moved to cloud computing so far but … Read More »

OK, so today is a bit hectic but it just became a wee bit easier. Aside from responding to tons of e-mails about our latest news, I’m filling out HR forms … Read More »

More Must Reads

I have a 32″ Westinghouse HDTV sitting right next to my computer which I often hook up to use as a secondary monitor or an external display. Up until now I had no idea how to make Quicktime full screen on it while using it … Read More »

How to Watch Porn on YouTube; during an FCC hearing, David Eun, vice president of content partnerships for the video-sharing site, says that if you’re quick enough you can catch it after it’s flagged but before it’s taken down. (Reel Pop) Xbox to Get Comedic Horror … Read More »

There are times when it makes sense to write a message now to be delivered in the future. Reminders are the classic case: if I need to remember the book sale Friday, I can put it on my task list today … Read More »

In its second-quarter earnings call this morning, AT&T highlighted the awesome growth of its wireless business, which surged 14.8 percent to $11 billion and accounted for roughly a third of its $30.9 billion in revenue for the period. The company also said that the 3G … Read More »

Vysr took another step forward in their development of the “user-centric Web” earlier this week as they announced the opening of their RoamAbout platform to 3rd party developers. I’ve covered RoamAbout in … Read More »

After weeks of speculation about its autoplay view-counting policy and at least one high-profile news story, YouTube has revealed that the company purposefully does not count video autoplays. “Autoplaybacks are not counted toward the visible ‘views’ numbers displayed on the YouTube site because autoplaybacks are not … Read More »

Battery startup ActaCell wasn’t the only recipient of funding from Google.org’s RechargeIT program. Last night at the Plug-In 2008 conference, Google.org’s Director of Climate Change & Energy Initiatives, Dan Reicher, announced a $2.75 million investment in green vehicle startup Aptera Motors and ActaCell. … Read More »

I watch a lot of videos on various sites including Youtube, Google video, etc., and one of my main gripes with the sites is that video does not make your mac think it is busy so it constantly falls asleep while playing a single clip. In … Read More »

Like a corporate career, web work can also be prone to seemingly irreparable damages. Whether it’s personal problems that affect the quality of your work, difficult clients who give you bad publicity, or the lack of strong business sense, you might get hurled down from … Read More »

Ever since we heard about the Sharp Willcom D4, I’ve been waiting to see how it would work in the real world. After all, device specs on paper … Read More »

Andy Grove, the former chairman of Intel turned plug-in vehicle advocate, challenged the attendees of the Plug-In 2008 conference on Tuesday to put 10 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the roads in four years. Those plug-ins should be retrofitted from vehicles with poor mileage … Read More »

D’oh! I just bought an iPod Touch and didn’t realize that I could get any iPod for only $50-$100 more than retail and have some sweet, sweet laser engraved Simpsons characters all over it. The laser engraving on the back of the iPods comes in three … Read More »

Calgoo, whose calendar-sharing products we’ve written about from time to time, have made a major change in their strategy: all of their products are now free. The announcement covers their whole line, including the free desktop Calgoo Calendar, the … Read More »

Netflix is shutting down Red Envelope Entertainment, its department that invested in low-budget and documentary films. The company said it was shuttering the unit, which employed four people, because it competed with Hollywood studios (Netflix’s bread and butter). This is good news; Netlifx … Read More »

Last month, Google.org’s director for climate change and energy initiatives, Dan Reicher, told us that Google would be making investments in green cars this summer through it’s plug-in hybrid program, RechargeIT. Well, here it is: Austin-based lithium ion battery start ActaCell said … Read More »

Sprint customers that own a Palm Centro have another "to do" on their list today: the relatively inexpensive smarthphone gets a firmware update today. Of course, maybe you could … Read More »

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  OK, that’s a pretty old cliche but like many of them it rings true in this case.  I should start off by thanking all of the good folks who have reached out since the Read More »

The first time I heard about Neil Tagare was back in the go-go ’90s, when he was the man behind the international fiber network FLAG Telecom. FLAG went public in 2000, but by then Tagare was already onto his next big idea: building a $1.5 billion … Read More »

Israeli chip startup Animon, which is pushing a form of whole-home, uncompressed wireless HD, has teamed up with Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and Motorola to create the WHDI special interest group. Animon already has products out on the market to offer wireless HD … Read More »

Google’s got a handful of plug-in electric hybrids that it’s been testing on the roads for over a year now through its employee car-share program. But since many Googlers just take the cars out for a local spin, the search engine giant recently decided to complete … Read More »

An Israeli chip startup pushing a form of whole-home, uncompressed wireless HD has teamed up with Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and Motorola to create a WHDI special interest group. The company, Amimon, already has products out on the market that offer wireless HD using the … Read More »

Andy Grove, the former chairman of Intel turned plug-in vehicle advocate, set a goal at a conference on Tuesday that the U.S. should have 10 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the roads in four years. Those plug-ins should be converted from vehicles with poor mileage … Read More »

Episodic, a startup we’ve been eagerly anticipating, took the wraps off its service today in order to launch a feature for content creators to create their own iPhone-compatible sites. Episodic’s greater vision is to be a video hosting platform for web publishers of episodic, … Read More »

When Om Malik asked for my input on a piece he was doing on our network’s favorite blogs, it was easy to give him my pick. Through my love affair with Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and now iPhone, jkOnTheRun has been a constant in my … Read More »

Updated: Now that Facebook has announced its redesign, which features a new improved news feed, what will Mark Zuckerberg, the enigmatic and somewhat shy CEO of Facebook, announce when he gets on stage at the f8 conference in San Francisco tomorrow, on July23rd? No, … Read More »

OptiSolar is a thin film solar maker with massive claims, like a 550 MW photovoltaic farm in San Luis Obispo County that it says is in the works. And the Hayward, California-based startup appears to be raising loads of cash to try to implement its … Read More »

Joost launches a Chinese version today as a joint venture with TOM Online, the Chinese media conglomerate that’s majority-owned by Joost investor Li Ka-shing. TOM is providing local advertising and content — some 16,000 hours of programming from CCTV, China Record Corporation, BTV … Read More »

jkOnTheRun joins the ranks of GigaOM Today Kevin and I are incredibly excited to bring you some great news about jkOnTheRun!  Our little tech blog has been acquired by the great Giga Omni Media group, home of GigaOm blog among others.  Giga Omni Media is one … Read More »

British PM Wants to Be “Electric Car Capital of Europe”: Gordon Brown announced he wants to electrify England’s car and is talking to a number of companies, including GM and Project Better Place, to get more electric cars and infrastructure to come to the UK – … Read More »

When YouTube user lamedust needed a haircut, he took to the streets, implementing a wiki-style approach to grooming by offering passing strangers a shot with his scissors. The results? Judge for yourself… And how do you top blending random objects? By … Read More »

As part of growing our company and increasing our footprint into the mobile domain, we have acquired jkOnTheRun blog, a nifty and intelligent resource for all things mobile. It is first of the many efforts on our part to grow the company into complementary and adjacent … Read More »

Coulomb Technologies just announced a partnership to deploy smart charging stations in the city of San Jose, and already the Campbell, Calif.-based is looking for its next locale. During a demonstration of the startup’s charging system (video embedded below), VP of engineering and software … Read More »

Most of us rely on Google when we want to search for information, but standard Google searches don’t always return the most timely information. Blogs, of course, are excellent at delivering timely information, and you can easily set Google to search blogs only (select Blogs from … Read More »

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