Category: News

Mac App Store

The Mac App Store officially launched yesterday, giving you access to a bunch of Mac OS X applications for your Apple desktop or laptop. The Mac App Store makes it easy to find and install applications, but the implications of this new software distribution method are still unknown. Lifehacker tells us both why the Mac App Store sucks, and also why you might like it. Gizmodo reports that the Mac App Store has already been hacked. The crack hasn’t been released yet, but it will allow you to pirate any apps in the store. Someone has already figured out how to crack the Angry Birds application with a little cut and paste magic.

Skype Buys Qik

The most popular video and VoIP calling service in the world buys the real-time streaming video and recording service that comes pre-installed on most of the hottest new Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, and Windows Mobile smartphones. It seems like a match made in heaven. According to The Big Blog, Skype and Qik have entered into a “definitive deal” and Qik’s 200 employees will now move under Skype’s umbrella. Skype says “Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio.” They also say the acquisition will allow them to “take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.”

LinkedIn To Go Public in 2011

Reuters reports that LinkedIn, the somewhat popular social network for business, plans to go public in 2011. Sources say that Bank of America and JPMorgan are among those who may be involved with the move by LinkedIn. LinkedIn has not confirmed this, but a spokesman said “An IPO is just one of many tactics that we could consider.” Other sources say that companies like LinkedIn and Zynga need to their IPO’s done ASAP because Facebook could render them all irrelevant:

“Some of these companies want to go public because they want to beat Facebook and others out,” said one of the sources. “If Facebook went public before Linkedin, do you think anyone would pay that much attention to Linkedin? You might want to surpass the beast.”

Facebook, with more than 500 million users worldwide, was just valued at $50 billion in a deal with Goldman Sachs. This means it’s technically worth more than eBay, Yahoo, and Time Warner. It’s possible they could be forced into IPO for exceeding the 499 investors limit and the SEC could be investigating this. That puts the pressure on other companies in this space to get the lead out. Trying to go public after a Facebook IPO would be like @ChrisBrown opening up for @razb2k.

Zynga to Acquire Flock

Flock was the first social browser and has been around since 2005. Five years later, it still hasn’t captured a significant number of users, but the company is still well-respected for their engineering talent. Both Google and Twitter were also bidding. What does this mean for Zynga and Flock? Why would Flock want a browser? It will be interesting to see how this acquisition plays out. Zynga could be interested more in the talent behind Flock than the browser itself. On the flip side, they could be looking to control the browser in order to better integrate their games and keep players engaged.

Our team will help Zynga in achieving their goal of building the most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime – on any platform.

via TechCrunch, Flock

Quora Hottest New Social Q&A Site

While their actual number of users is debatable, there is no question that Quora is hot stuff. The site focuses on allowing anyone to ask everyone anything, the difference from other sites is that you may actually get an answer from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

What Cheever doesn’t say, but quickly becomes evident while clicking around Quora, is that serious heavy-hitters are answering questions there. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz offers his opinion of the movie The Social Network. Google Images product manager Nate Smith explains how color image search works. Foursquare’s head of business development talks about what it’s like to work for founder Dennis Crowley. Twitter’s Pierre Legrain explains the cost-per-follow principle for Promoted Accounts. And AOL co-founder Steve Case answers how much it cost to mail everyone those CDs back in the 1990s. – Fast Company

Relying on a requirement for real names, the site allows anyone to pretty much edit everything. A rating system allows the community to control the spam and unhelpful answers. I witnessed someone post a DO ANYBODY NO question as a joke that was almost immediately removed. Quora won’t discuss how they plan to make money or how they will keep the site from turning into another Yahoo Answers, but the service is definitely enjoying some time in the spotlight. The question of whether they will receive applause or be dragged off the stage by a tap dancing Sandman has yet to be answered.

Square Valued at $200 Million

Surely you’ve heard of Square and already signed up for your free card reader, right? To review, Square allows you to accept credit card payments on your mobile phone using a tiny card reader that plugs into your phone’s headset jack. This allows you to take payments for anything wherever you might be, a feature that could mean big money for your business, no matter what the size. It definitely means big money for Square, who are rumored to have just closed a large round of funding which values them at about $200 million. They are processing millions of dollars a week and closing in on a million a day. How much of that is yours?

via TechCrunch

Unveiled at CES 2011, the Motorola Atrix is the most powerful smartphone on the market. It sports a dual-core Cortex-A9, NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with a 960×540 screen. It has a gig of RAM (probably more than your mom’s PC), 16GB of storage, a MicroSD slot (up to 32GB), and a fingerprint reader. The hardware is definitely top-notch, but that’s not the only reason this device is turning heads. According to PC Magazine:

The Motorola Atrix is the craziest, most radical smartphone at CES. The more I think about it, the more I think it may be the single most interesting product at CES. The Atrix is an entirely new approach to mobile computing, and it’s the first smartphone to take on both the iPad and the netbook market.

How can it do that? Well, it certainly has the power under the hood, but the secret is in it’s use of dual operating systems. The Atrix runs Google’s Android 2.2 alongside a customized Motorola version of Linux. This gives it the ability to transform from a simple smartphone into a netbook or desktop.

Motorola facilitates this transformation with two different docks. One allows the phone to connect to a large LCD and full keyboard like a desktop computer. The second is a laptop form factor with a panel to sit the phone in that is shaped almost like a Macbook Air.

The custom Linux boots in just a few seconds and allows you to run three apps: Firefox 3.6.13, a file manager, and Android-in-a-window. It’s a very interesting mix of mobile and desktop computing, but is still limited mostly to web applications. Flash is also supported.

Today, Apple’s Mac App Store is open for business and boasts about 1,000 free and paid applications for your Apple computer. It Mac App Store brings the power of the App Store to your desktop or laptop, allowing you to download free and paid apps using your iTunes account.

“With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps.”

In addition to new apps, all the usual suspects are available. iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand apps from Apple’s iLife ‘11 suite are available individually in the Mac App Store for $14.99 each. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers apps from iWork will run you $19.99 each. Aperture 3, Apple’s powerful photo editing and management software, is available for $79.99.

To get the Mac App Store now, download the Mac OS X v10.6.6 Software Update or visit www.apple.com/mac/app-store. If you’re a developer and want to find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

via TechCrunch, BusinessWire

At CES 2011 yesterday, Motorola and Verizon unveiled what they are calling “the first device on Google’s new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system,” which they say is designed from the ground up for tablets. Honeycomb improves on Android’s popular features like widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization.

The tablet hardware boasts a dual core processor (each core running at 1 GHz) delivering up to two GHz of processing power. The 10.1 inch screen supports 1080p HD video and provides “console-like” gaming performance at 1280×800. There are dual cameras, a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G LTE and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video in 720p HD. Yes, there is Adobe Flash.

“Light, powerful and fundamentally different than anything else on the market, Motorola XOOM leverages the very best technology available today to redefine what a tablet experience can be,” said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobility. “The first device to feature software designed specifically for tablets, Motorola XOOM goes everywhere you do and delivers everything you need.”

One curious piece of the puzzle is that the device does not come 4G LTE ready. It will initially launch as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011. Starting in Q2 2011, you can upgrade your existing device to 4G LTE and it will officially be a 4G LTE/Wi-Fi- enabled device.

via Engadget (video), BGR

Dexim showed up at CES 2011 with a very interesting case design. The case was created for the iPad 2 and allows for a bluetooth keyboard to be magnetically attached to the front cover of the sleeve, giving you a laptop-style setup. There is also an option for those who want to keep things light and forget the keyboard.

While there have already been reports about cases surfacing for the iPad 2, this one is most interesting because it actually contained an iPad 2. Well, a machined mockup of an iPad 2. Close enough, right? Ok, not really.

The mockup is a bit slimmer than the original iPad with a taper towards the edges like an iPod Touch. It also mirrored the cutouts on the case, hinting at front and back cameras and a huge speaker. While we may not know exactly what the iPad 2 will bring, the case and mockup definitely give us a couple of big clues.

Well, there’s certainly a consistent iPad 2 make that these Chinese manufacturers seem to be designing against, and while there’s always the off chance that their info is wrong, it seems odd they’d go so far as to actually make the cases if they were unsure about their sources.

Are you looking forward to the iPad 2? More photos of this case and mockup at Engadget.

At the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), OnStar and Verizon have joined forces to demonstrate the “future of in-vehicle entertainment.” By their powers combined, they’ve shown what could be possible by dropping a high-speed Internet connection into a car:

• Vehicle Monitoring – Parked in a bad neighborhood? Monitor what’s going on with your ride from your smartphone or PC.
• Impact Detection – You’re in the club and someone just hit your car in the parking lot. You know this because your car sent you a video of the offender.
• Voice Portal – Call up YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, and music via Verizon VCAST on your in-vehicle display. Watch the road, though.
• Home monitoring and control – Forgot to turn off the AC? No need to turn around, do it from your car. Check the security cameras when away as well.
• Video chat – Oh, you thought you were doing it big using your car as a bluetooth headset? Wait until you can do video. Watch the road!

“The true broadband speed of the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network gives our engineers the freedom to re-imagine the world of connected in-vehicle services of the future,” said OnStar President Chris Preuss. “While we haven’t decided yet which of these demonstration features OnStar will offer, or when, these prototype applications show just some of what’s possible when we combine our 15 years experience in developing safe secure and leading edge connected mobility solutions with the speed and agility of Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE network. Any new future services OnStar might offer will meet our high standards for safety – making sure that drivers’ hands are on the wheel and their eyes are on the road.”

Catch OnStar’s Buick LaCrosse research vehicle  from Jan 6th through the 9th in Verizon Wireless’ CES booth (#35216 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center). Check out the video below for a sneak peek.

via Autoblog

Amazon has had their own Android app store brewing for a while now. They have just opened the store up to developers and you may wonder what the point is. How many app stores does one mobile platform need?

Currently, the Google Marketplace is the default, but the nature of Android allows for a lot of freedoms. There is no real screening process, so the user has to be careful what they install and rely mostly on ratings and comments.

Amazon is taking an approach that is more in line with Apple’s. Developers who wish to appear on Amazon’s store have to get approval (Amazon says that the process is currently taking about a week). And Amazon is going to have slightly more stringent guidelines: your application has to work properly (i.e. it can’t crash right off the bat) and it has to do what you say it does. It also has to be safe. Android Market has many of these same requirements, but the difference here is that Amazon checks apps before they’re deployed to its store, while Google does so after problematic applications are reported.

Sounds like a good deal for Android users. This becomes more apparent when you talk about app pricing. With Google’s marketplace, developers set the price. With Amazon, developers are only guaranteed 20% of the List Price they set if Amazon drastically discounts an app or offers it for free. Otherwise, developers get 70%.

Android is an open platform and this will open the door for competition. Verizon also has an app store in the works. The question is, what effects will this have on users and developers?

via TechCrunch

Love the Evo, but prefer devices with a physical keyboard? Well, the rumors are true and The HTC Evo Shift 4G gives you exactly that. You get most of the power of the HTC Evo with a slide-out keyboard attached.

The Shift has a 3.6-inch 800 x 480 LCD, Android 2.2 (with HTC Sense), and the same great 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7630 processor that’s in the G2 and myTouch 4G. Naturally there’s WiMAX 4g, in addition to EVDO Rev A., and HTC hopes to keep those radios alive with a 1500mAh battery. There’s a 5 megapixel camera around back, capable of 720p video…

I say most of the power because they took away the front-facing camera. This definitely takes the device down quite a few notches. Video calling is all the rage, but it’s going to be hard to do on this bad boy without dual cameras. Maybe Sprint did their research and people prefer keyboards to cameras. Get yours on the 9th for $150.

via Engadget

Facebook and MySpace

Research by danah boyd touched on how many teens viewed Facebook and MySpace. To put it simply, many of those involved in the study viewed MySpace as “the hood” or the ghetto while seeing Facebook as “cleaner.” With Facebook now more than 500 million strong and MySpace struggling to stay relevant, the whole “white flight” thing seems irrelevant.

These students have a variety of reasons for preferring one network over another. boyd writes, “Catalina, a white 15-year-old from Austin, told me that Facebook is better because ‘Facebook just seems more clean to me.’ What Catalina sees as cleanliness, Indian 17-year-old Anindita from Los Angeles, labels simplcity; she recognizes the value of simplicity, but she prefers the ‘bling’ of MySpace because it allows her to express herself.”

While these girls don’t mention race, others did, directly and indirectly. Another student outside Boston said, “The people who use MySpace–again, not in a racist way–but are usually more like ghetto and hip hop rap group lovers group.”

Now, MySpace has begun to focus on Gen Y and is doing everything they can to differentiate from Facebook. Their latest updates go much deeper than a visual redesign, changing the focus from a simple social network to a content discovery engine. They have even partnered with Facebook to make it easier to login, signup, and integrate your existing Facebook social activity.

Facebook has continued to diversify in the social space. They’ve made changes to your profiles to put the focus on you and your story. They’ve enhanced Groups, to make it easier to segment your activity without tedious list-building. Facebook has also branched out into location services with Facebook Places and Deals. Even after being portrayed in a negative light by The Social Network, a movie loosely based on Zuckerberg and Facebook, Time Magazine felt so strongly about Facebook’s influence that they made Mark Zuckerberg their Person of the Year. Zuckerberg also donated $100 Million to Newark schools on the same day as the movie launched.

Apple iOS, iPad, iPhone, and iPod

The iPhone and iPod saw major updates this year. The iPhone 4 brought a new design and more advanced operating system. iPhone OS became iOS, a mobile operating now featured on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Even with AT&T completely screwing up the iPhone 4 launch, Antenna design choices causing signal problems, and rumors that Apple had prior knowledge of the design flaws, the iPhone 4 was still wildly successful. Jobs handed out a few free cases and all was well.

Apple launched the iPad this year and, just like the iPhone, it changed how we see computers and mobile devices. Consumers snatched up 3 million iPads off the rip. Apple soon updated the iOS software to add features like multitasking and wireless printing, features which are also present in their latest iPod and iPhone models. Just about every publisher worth their salt has iOS applications for the iPad and it’s smaller brethren, including Ebony Magazine, The Root, and Black Enterprise. As many are still wrapping their heads around what you actually do with it, one guy used his to get Barrack Obama’s signature. Oprah also gave away an Apple iPad to each member of her O Magazine staff.

The most interesting twist on the story of iOS is how it has influenced the latest crop of Apple computers. Apple took everything they learned about interface and hardware design while creating the iPhone, iPad, and tiny iPods and applied it to their desktops and laptops. Mac OS X Lion borrows many interface elements and ideas from iOS and even has it’s own app store.

Android

In January of this year, Google finally launched the Nexus One. This would be the flagship mobile device for their new Android operating system. Many thought the Nexus One would be a major competitor for the iPhone, but it didn’t really turn out that way. The Nexus One served as the blueprint for Android devices, which exploded across most major mobile carriers. With their open approach and flexibility in what carriers and manufacturers can do with the OS, Android’s numbers grew. Android began to surpass the iPhone. After blatantly denying their would ever be a Nexus Two, Google eventually partnered with Samsung to launch the Nexus S (yes, it’s basically the Nexus Two), which features the latest Android OS (Gingerbread). The Nexus S serves the same purpose as the Nexus One, to show carriers, developers, and manufacturers what they can do with it.

Even as Android became more popular, there was talk of fragmentation of the apps ecosystem and the operating system itself. With frequent updates from Google, but carriers dragging their feet on sending updates to their customers, the problem seemed serious for developers and Android fans. Fragmentation may soon become less of an issue as more handsets are updated to the latest Android OS, but it remains to be seen what will become of the Android apps market. Tweetdeck’s founder defended Android against comments made about fragmentation by Steve Jobs.

Now, the race is on between iOS and Android as Google’s mobile OS begins to show up on about a million (ok, that could be an exaggeration) mobile phones and a plethora of tablets. While Steve Jobs continues to rule his domain with an iron fist, giving Apple fans consistent quality hardware, Android fills in all other areas. If you need a phone or a tablet with an advanced OS but are turned off by Apple’s “closed” nature of premium pricing, Android has a device for you.

Location, Location, Location

Most people still don’t understand this whole location thing, but the picture is becoming clearer. Foursquare is the most well-known location-based service out there and, through hard work and strategic partnerships, they’ve been very successful. The day after Facebook launched their own location feature with Places, Foursquare had the best sign-up day ever. Foursquare is the golden child of location, but that doesn’t mean there is no room for others. Foursquare recently added photos and comments, features Gowalla has had from jump. Gowalla continues to add new features and, most recently, made it so that you can check-in on their competitor’s networks from the Gowalla app. SCVNGR has partnered with Google to expand their location database and enhance their scavenger hunt service. The Nexus S Android phone from Samsung includes a feature that lets you check-in by simply tapping your phone on a surface. This can also be used for making secure mobile payments.

According to a “trusted Best Buy” source, Best Buy is planning to launch a Buy Back protection program. This will allow you to sell back your electronics to Best Buy at a percentage of MSRP. The plan covers phones, laptops, netbooks, tablets, and TVs priced under $5,000 and launches on January 5th.

The pricing structure for television “buy backs” will vary from that of computers, tablets, and smartphones. TVs under 6 months old can be turned in for 50% of the original full-retail price; 6 to 12 months, 40%; 12 to 18 months, 30%; 18 to 24 months, 20%; and 10% during the third and fourth years of ownership.

The company is positioning the program to their staff as a “protection against obsolescence.” This is definitely a big move by Best Buy and should become popular in a time where the fancy gadget you bought last month is now the ugly girl at the party. Best Buy isn’t giving you cash back, but I don’t think many will have a problem with a gift card.

Check BGR for more images of the leaked documents detailing the program.

According to sources close to the matter, Facebook has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion as per their Sydney bookkeepers. This makes it worth more than big names like eBay, Yahoo, and Time Warner.

This new influx of cash will allow Facebook to continue their competition with the likes of Google and others. The investment may also allow existing shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out. This could also push Facebook to go public.

Goldman is also using this deal as a testing ground for a move that seems to bypass the SEC’s rules and could cause a stir in the near future:

In a rare move, Goldman is planning to create a “special purpose vehicle” to allow its high-net-worth clients to invest in Facebook, these people said. While the S.E.C. requires companies with more than 499 investors to disclose their financial results to the public, Goldman’s proposed special purpose vehicle may be able get around such a rule because it would be managed by Goldman and considered just one investor, even though it could conceivably be pooling investments from thousands of clients.

more at NYTimes.com

It began on the first of the year, or didn’t, depending on how you look at it. Many iPhone owners found their alarms never went off and they ended up late to work or some other event. The problem continued into the second day of the year, with people around the world accidentally sleeping in. Official word from Apple is that the problem will magically fix itself beginning on Jan 3rd.

Still, many are upset that a device touted for it’s quality and ease-of-use can’t get something as simple as an alarm right. Back in 2010, iPhone’s failed to recognize daylight savings time, resulting in a similar problem for users. The problem seems to be limited to non-repeating alarms, so use recurring alarms to be on the safe side until the bug is officially squashed.

more at Computerworld

Guy Makes Money Suing Spammers

You thought you hated spam, but nowhere near as much as Daniel Balsam. He hates spam so much that he went back to school, got a law degree, and now sues spammers for a living.

Eight years ago, Balsam was working as a marketer when he received one too many e-mail pitches to enlarge his breasts.

Enraged, he launched a Web site called Danhatesspam.com, quit a career in marketing to go to law school and is making a decent living suing companies who flood his e-mail inboxes with offers of cheap drugs, free sex and unbelievable vacations.

“I feel like I’m doing a little bit of good cleaning up the Internet,” Balsam said.

Using California’s anti-spam law as a weapon, Balsam goes after companies who he says violate these regulations. Most avoid the hassle of a lawsuit entirely, settling with Balsam. He has racked up over $1 million in court judgments and lawsuit settlements.

via Yahoo

Android Will Blow Up in 2011

According to Fortune, there will be major changes for mobile in the coming year. Android has developed at a ridiculous pace since it’s launch, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Smartphone growth will continue to accelerate and Android will serve as a catalyst for that growth.

In 2011, we might see half a billion phones sold worldwide. Smartphones will likely blow by traditional computers next year as the way most of the world gains access to the Internet.

Two major factors will drive this, in tandem: Wireless infrastructure is getting better every day, and hardware is getting cheaper. Cheaper hardware will eliminate the need for subsidies and therefore will improve competition between carriers, and spur them to improve their networks. Google (GOOG) Android head Andy Rubin calls this a ‘perfect storm‘ for smartphone adoption.

Not only will Android appear on many more devices, but the availability of cheaper handsets will influence the way carriers operate and give customers more freedom.

Apple Preparing 3 Versions of iPad 2 for 2011?

According to Digitimes, Apple will be launching multiple versions of the iPad 2 to support multiple data connectivity methods. This opens the door for partnerships with just about every carrier out there. It will be interesting to see exactly what Apple’s iPad 2 strategy will be. One this is for certain: They will sell a lot of them.

Apple is expected to release three versions of iPad 2, supporting either or a combination of Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA, for 2011 with mass production to start as early as the later half of January. Apple will ship about 500,000-530,000 units to channels in January with shipment ratio of Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA models at 3:4:3, according to industry sources, citing upstream component makers.

Vizio Inc., the second-largest U.S. television supplier, will launch a low-priced Android phone and tablet that will be aimed directly at those who can’t afford Apple products.

The smartphone with a 4-inch screen and tablet with an 8- inch display will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which begins Jan. 6, Chief Technology Officer Matthew McRae said in an interview last week. Irvine, California-based Vizio will also showcase TVs and Blu-ray players that use Google TV software, he said.

Vizio is thinking bigger than just creating iPhone and iPad knock-offs. The goal is to create a unified experience and ecosystem around these Android-based devices. Something that is absolutely necessary to truly compete with Apple.

“We’re going to make sure all this stuff works well together,” he said. “You’ll see a nearly identical interface on the phone, tablet, TVs and Blu-ray players, hooked to the same application store.”

McRae says “there is a huge gap in the market for people who can’t afford the iPad or whatever else.” Both devices will be sold at WalMart and Costco, with a carrier being announced for the smartphone closer to the summer.

via Bloomberg