Archive for September 2008
It is October and they are still playing Baseball in Boston and Chicago and L.A. and Philadelphia. Just not in New York, where even a combined payroll of $335 million doesn’t buy a playoff birth. The only team(s) more incompetent is in Washington DC, playing football … Read More »
We’ve said it before and we’ll probably say it many more times in the future. Netbooks can easily do the majority of the tasks that people mostly do on their computers. Also: people like netbooks because they are highly mobile and very cheap compared … Read More »
Led by Germany and the UK, broadband subscriptions continue to grow faster in Europe than any other region in the world, trade group Broadband Forum said today, rising to almost 120 million out of the worldwide total of 380 million, in the second quarter.
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Today, an Adobe exec speaking at a Flash developers’ conference confirmed that Adobe is actively developing a Flash Player for Apple’s popular phone.
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From a blog post that launched a thousand rumors, comes confirmation that Adobe is, in fact, creating a way to bring Flash content to the iPhone.
Here is an excerpt from their official statement during a recent “town hall”:
“Upon a direct question from the audience, … Read More »
I’m killing time before Barb gets home from running some errands, so I figured I’d make use of a spare memory module I have lying around the house. I don’t know if mainstream consumers are going to mod or upgrade netbooks, but another possible differentiator … Read More »
What looks to be the footprint of a business card, weighs two ounces and can hold up to 60GB of your data? Hands up, who said the “MiniStation Shinobi“? *looks for hands* OK, props to the uber-geek in the back of the room with … Read More »
YouTube has developed a new analytics feature called Hot Spots to help video creators see, on a second-by-second basis, when they’re losing their audience and when people are especially tuned in. The tool was released today as part of YouTube’s “Insight” dashboard.
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More Must Reads
By Samuel Dean
Sep. 30, 2008, 4:00pm PT
Here are three open-source software applications that you may not use, but may even be preferable to proprietary alternatives. They’re all available for the Mac, Windows or Linux.
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By Craig Rubens
Sep. 30, 2008, 4:00pm PT
The office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said today that it has received 19 responses to its request for information to electrify the city’s fleet. The responders include electric car players, like Better Place and ZAP, huge consultancies, like Booz Allen Hamilton, and a number … Read More »
By Kevin C. Tofel
Sep. 30, 2008, 3:03pm PT
Three full weeks before T-Mobile’s Google-powered G1 handset is due to arrive, the wireless carrier has lit up its high-speed wireless spectrum in San Francisco.
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Nokia quietly announced yesterday it is refocusing its business mobility business by stopping development and marketing of the "behind-the-firewall business mobility solutions".
“We have very strong relationships with industry leadingenterprise technology partners such as Cisco and Microsoft, as well asa broad range of operator and retail … Read More »
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Sep. 30, 2008, 2:00pm PT
Batteries are the barrier to more buildings having wireless sensor networks that can help cut energy consumption, GreenPeak CEO and founder Cees Links says. Sensor networks need power to run, but batteries have a limited life and need regular maintenance, which adds to the … Read More »
After a restful, blog post-free vacation, I was finally able to catch up on all the TiVo’d shows that were missed. Among them was last week’s episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in which Charlie and Sweet Dee try to make a viral video. But … Read More »
I am sick, I admit it. It started a long time ago but I had suppressed it for a good while. I started getting the fever again when I played with Kevin’s MSI Wind in San Francisco. So small and light yet a real fighter. Still … Read More »
As expected, Hollywood is none too happy about RealNetworks’ new RealDVD DVD copying software. So unhappy, in fact, that the Motion Picture Association of America has filed a lawsuit to block it from being sold. The major studios claim that RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium … Read More »
By Craig Rubens
Sep. 30, 2008, 12:39pm PT
We still haven’t seen exactly how secretive EEStor’s ambiguously named Electrical Energy Storage Unit (EESU) works, but the Cedar Park, Texas-based startup has been racking up the technology partners. Light Electric Vehicles Company (LightEVs) says it has signed an exclusive agreement with EEStor to use … Read More »
If you had just written a book about the Apocalypse, how would you promote it? Well, if you’re Daily Show writer Rob Kutner, maybe you’d call in a favor owed to you by correspondent John Oliver and create what will probably be the first and … Read More »
By Stacey Higginbotham
Sep. 30, 2008, 12:05pm PT
The blogosphere yesterday was in an uproar over the network management practices Sprint disclosed on its web site in conjunction with its launch of the Xohm WiMAX service. But the issue is about more than Sprint throttling traffic on its network during times of congestion; … Read More »
Well, as spectacular as a netbook can be if it shares 95% of the features and components of its brethren, that is. Wired caught a glimpse of the Read More »
Sure it’s not safe to surf the web and drive a vehicle in the first place, but I’ve actually been productive with wireless broadband as a passenger in the … Read More »
By Craig Rubens
Sep. 30, 2008, 11:11am PT
Today, Xcel Energy said it intends to convert a coal-fired power generator in Wisconsin to burn gas derived from biomass. The Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland, Wisc., has three generator units, two of which burn biomass generating 46 megawatts of power while … Read More »
By Mike Gunderloy
Sep. 30, 2008, 11:00am PT
FairSoftware, one of the TechCrunch 50 finalists, is up and running and accepting alpha participants (although it’s marked as alpha, registration is open to anyone). The company hopes to give entrepreneurs … Read More »
HealthiNation Raises $7.5 Million; online video network gets second round led by Intel Capital and existing investor MK Capital. (paidContent)
Joost Picks Up Wizzard Media Content; catalog of video content from the podcasting network including Tiki Bar TV headed to the P2P online TV service. (Read More »
Most of us who travel for business end up developing a routine we employ when we get to the hotel. This practice is to get the environment ready for working … Read More »
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Sep. 30, 2008, 9:24am PT
The financial crisis will likely hurt the cleantech sector in more ways than one — access to capital, more risk-averse investors, the need for cheaper power, and declining oil prices. But one industry could be particularly hard hit: ethanol. Bluefire Ethanol CEO Arnold Klann, who previously … Read More »
RealNetworks announced the availability of its RealDVD DVD “storage” software, and doubled-down on the sure-to-be controversial product by pre-emptively announcing a lawsuit against the major Hollywood studios.
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By Kevin C. Tofel
Sep. 30, 2008, 8:00am PT
Is it too early to start that letter to Santa or did you already start? You might want to add a line item for the UMPC in your life because December … Read More »
By Stacey Higginbotham
Sep. 30, 2008, 7:07am PT
Today Broadcom said it will add Wi-Fi-enabled geolocation sensing to its portfolio of GPS chips, which use satellites to determine where a device is. The move expands Broadcom’s location-based services portfolio and highlights the importance of location-tracking as a feature on phones, laptops and … Read More »
Open source has come to the forefront of the mobile space this year in a big way. Nokia spun off Symbian and created the Symbian Foundation to put the mobile OS into open source to drive development. Google’s Android made a big splash with its … Read More »
Drowning in data? Palm is curious how just how much. They won’t throw you a liferaft, but they will enter you for a chance to win one of … Read More »
By Kevin Kelleher
Sep. 30, 2008, 6:30am PT
After Monday, the belief that Silicon Valley is going to remain immune from the Wall Street fallout is gone. While some tech companies had been saying they weren’t worried that the credit crunch would hurt them, I don’t believe them.
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T-Mobile has shown without a doubt how excited the market is getting over Android with the buzz generated from their press event announcing the G1 phone. Other handset makers have noted the interest too but a couple of the biggest ones are going to be … Read More »
During one of the Mobilize interviews, I spent a few minutes with Ivan MacDonald, the CEO of Dial2Do. After chatting off-camera about his native country of Ireland and the … Read More »
By Om Malik
Sep. 30, 2008, 2:00am PT
Beginning on Wednesday, Comcast is going to start capping the total amount of data you can transfer using their broadband connection, to 250GB per month. In order to give you a better understanding of the issues at hand, I have teamed up with my old friend … Read More »
The Olympics may be fading off the radar screen, especially for anyone concerned with, say, government or finance. But they were still one of the biggest events of the year. A month out, exclusive U.S. Olympics broadcaster NBCU is releasing more numbers tallied across different … Read More »
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Sep. 30, 2008, 12:00am PT
eSolar, the startup that says it’s using computing and algorithms to produce low-cost solar thermal gear, says it has signed a commercial contract with Sundrop Fuels, a young solar startup backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. eSolar, which was recently backed by $130 … Read More »
