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| Apple said building $1 billion server farm
May 23, 2009 at 7:45 pm
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|  North Carolina's government is reportedly promising tax breaks to Apple in return for building a large server farm, eventually worth $1 billion, within the East coast state. A "state official" has told the Charlotte Observer that a bill nearing approval that would bend tax rules for a single, unnamed company are actually meant to accommodate a specific Apple project, which might otherwise be located in another state.  Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.  IBM is announcing today that it is stepping up its investment in Vietnam as part of a bid to improve the country's innovation and grab a foothold in an emerging territory for technology consumption.  Yahoo CTO Ari Balough told the Reuters tech conference crowd this week that the company is looking at acquiring social media startups and smartphone application-makers.
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| Susan Boyle Sings with Adam Lambert
May 23, 2009 at 7:26 pm
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|   Oh, social media: we had such high hopes for you! From helping non-profits to saving newspapers to getting us back into employment. Alas, your paradigm shift turned out to be a revolutionary new way to gossip about reality TV shows. Despite our woefully incorrect prediction that he'd win American Idol, Adam Lambert still dominates Kris Allen in web search (go figure, we couldn't) and YouTubeYouTube reviews star Susan Boyle is back in the headlines tonight after proceeding to the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals.  American Idol came to a conclusion tonight with an upset result. Clearly the voting system doesn't work (indeed, how can I possibly have voted wrong!), and technology should provide a solution.  Last week, BoomTown paid an economically-minded visit to the Redwood City, Calif. offices of BillShrink, a Silicon Valley start-up aimed at helping consumers find cheaper prices on gas...  Stats are everywhere these days. From ballot measures to the economy to health issues to baseball - there are statistical points and counterpoints enough to confuse almost any topic.  Starbucks already has a strong presence in social media. The company's Twitter account has more than 180,000 followers, its Facebook Page has nearly 1.5 million fans...
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| Another Blanket Denial By Last.fm
May 23, 2009 at 6:37 pm
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|   Well, we asked for a denial, and they're giving us one. Russ Garrett, a Last.fm developer, issues another blanket denial of the Last.fm user data fiasco: Last.fm cofounder Richard Jones, the author of the "TechCrunch are full of shit" post from February, also quipped "busy sending data to the RIAA… Oh wait, no, that's still nonsense."  Twitter's management seems to have mixed feelings about advertising - but here's some anecdotal evidence that those text ads it has been running lately are worth something.  Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson has now gotten involved in two more file-sharing lawsuits, including the Jammie Thomas retrial in Minnesota. But it's in the other...  The Free Software Foundation, home of the "copyleft" movement, doesn't often square off with the music business. When it does so, one thing becomes clear: the two sides really, really don't like each other.  Twitter cofounder Biz Stone wants us to know that Twitter isn't as opposed to advertising as it sounded earlier this week. Enough to write an entire blog post explaining...
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| Susan Boyle is Back: Proceeds to Semi-Finals
May 23, 2009 at 6:36 pm
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|  YouTube sensation Susan Boyle is back: tonight she proceeded to the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent, putting the unlikely Scottish internet phenomenon one step closer to performing in front of Her Majesty the Queen.
Oh, social media: we had such high hopes for you! From helping non-profits to saving newspapers to getting us back into employment. Alas, your paradigm shift turned out to be a revolutionary new way to gossip about reality TV shows.  The Pré smartphone will launch on 6 June, Palm has officially confirmed. Palm said this morning that North American customers will be charged $200 (£129/€146) for...  If CraigslistCraigslist reviews is your go to site for NSFW extracurricular activities, then listen up, because Craigslist just put you and your naughty behaviors on shout.
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| ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 23 May 2009
May 23, 2009 at 6:29 pm
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|   Time again to see what excellent events are happening around the world that you can participate in and network at. In this feature on ReadWriteWeb, we provide a weekly roundup of upcoming social Web events. We'll publish it every weekend, as good a time as any to review your conference plans.
 A few days ago, the social web browser Flock released version 2.5 of their software, integrating Facebook Chat, improving Twitter functionality, and adding a new broadcasting feature called "Flockcast.  FlockFlock reviews's tagline is "the social web browser," and as such, it has to continually adapt to wherever the social web is heading next. In new version 2.5, their...  There are plenty of social, web, and technology tools to help you with your commute. Whether you have a TomTom or constantly whip out your iPhone, you can find driving directions, locations, general traffic information, and even speed traps.
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| Systemax relaunches Circuit City's website, this time with feeling
May 23, 2009 at 6:11 pm
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|   After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity.com is back and better than ever, carrying on the legacy of a name that became synonymous with overpriced consumer electronics for nearly six decades...  If you're looking for a novel way to represent and visualize your online persona, Geek Chart takes your activity on popular sites and turns it into an interactive pie chart.  It's no surprise that Twitter, the current darling of social media and one of the fastest growing web sites, is now becoming the subject matter of entire conferences....  Circuit City closed its doors earlier this year following a last ditch effort to stay afloat that just didn't pan out. Some, such as the 35,000 or so people left without a job...  If you're like us, you thought the Wall Street Journal's Twitter rules for employees were ridiculous. Remember 'Business and pleasure should not be mixed' ? Well, wait till you see Bloomberg's rules, obtained by Gawker. Twitter's management seems to have mixed feelings about advertising - but here's some anecdotal evidence that those text ads it has been running lately are worth something.
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| How to Buy a Suit Online
May 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm
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|   Buying a pair of jeans online? Yeah, jeans seem like pretty safe territory. Buying a business suit online? Seems like a pricey uncertainty, unless you know what to look for. Several of the tips in the suit-buying roundup put together by Dealnews you're probably already aware of, like the importance of having accurate measurements before ordering clothing online, or making sure the store has a liberal return policy. Other tips are less obvious to the average consumer, like this bit of advice from fashion writer Michael Lubarksy: Oh, social media: we had such high hopes for you! From helping non-profits to saving newspapers to getting us back into employment. Alas, your paradigm shift turned out to be a revolutionary new way to gossip about reality TV shows.  A disc that never leaves the case can never be scratched. Save your Wii games to an external hard drive with this handy tutorial for speedier and scratch-free playback. Well, we asked for a denial, and they're giving us one. Russ Garrett, a Last.fm developer, issues another blanket denial of the Last.fm user data fiasco: Last.fm cofounder Richard Jones... After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity.
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| Wolfram Alpha Approaches 100 Million Queries
May 23, 2009 at 5:53 pm
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|  Last Friday, Wolfram Alpha had its soft launch via live video. Since then, the Mathematica-based tool has skyrocketed in traffic. We've covered how Wolfram Alpha is different to Google and discovered a handful of easter eggs (of which you, the readers found more), but you all still had questions about how the engine works, its relationship to social media, and its future. So in order to get the answers to these questions, we went straight to the source: Dr. Stephen Wolfram himself.  Android, the mobile phone platform launched by Google last year, is still ramping up, but it's already caused ripples throughout the smartphone world. We think it's going to be a major player in the space so to that end...  A few days ago, we reported that Facebook turned down an investment term sheet that placed their value at $8 billion. But it was apparently the board seat the investors wanted and not the valuation that was the hold up.  Last year we called on Google to let users have the option of making Google Analytics data public. Today they've done that, in a fashion. They aren't aggregating the data...  Sometimes there are many ways to get from point A to point B, whether you are walking or driving. Until now, Google Maps' directions feature has given you the route they consider the best and allows you to drag and drop the route to change your path.  The hype around Twitter's utility as a real-time search tool has even rubbed off on Google, but there are signs that the startup's plans to turn search into a revenue stream could be more difficult to attain than first thought.
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| "Foul-Mouthed" Walt Mossberg Startles Four Seasons Guests
May 23, 2009 at 5:27 pm
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|   The downside of global gadget-guru fame... Walt Mossberg reportedly startled guests in the Four Seasons Carlsbad dining room this morning with a passionate sermon on a number of tech topics. A non-tech-industry hotel guest who happened to be eating breakfast at the same time described it this way: Sitting at breakfast at Four Seasons hotel in Carlsbad, CA. Mossberg at nearby table. Kind of foul-mouthed. Has referred to a couple of people as "assholes". Kind of inappropriate with all the kids around.  Think you've found the ultimate fitness regime to attain the body of a Greek god? ZodBod, a new fitness startup that launched last month, wants to help you share your secrets to success - and possibly make some money in the process. After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity. Last Friday, Wolfram Alpha had its soft launch via live video. Since then, the Mathematica-based tool has skyrocketed in traffic. We've covered how Wolfram Alpha is different to Google and discovered a handful of easter eggs (of which you...
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| Back Up and Play Your Wii Games From an External Hard Drive
May 23, 2009 at 5:00 pm
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| A disc that never leaves the case can never be scratched. Save your Wii games to an external hard drive with this handy tutorial for speedier and scratch-free playback. Lifehacker reader Mike put together a tutorial on enabling hard-drive-based playback on your Wii. It isn't as simple as just plugging in an external USB drive, but if you're comfortable messing around with your Wii, it also isn't an impossibly geeky task. You need to have the Homebrew Channel installed. We've covered how to install the Homebrew Channel here before,  US consumers are more likely to have played video games over the last six months than gone out to see a movie, though neither activity is as popular as listening to music.  I thought the revelation that video gamers outnumbered cinema goers was old news, but maybe only partly so. According to a new NPD Group report, 53 percent of U.S. consumers have been to the movies in the last six months...  Good news, netbook users: There's a reasonably easy way to install the Windows 7 Release Candidate, even if you don't have an external DVD drive. As you may recall from yesterday...  When you live in a little studio apartment, you have to make the most of every bit of space. Today's featured workspace packs a ton of storage and a desk into the corner.
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| Facebook Zombies Wow Cannes Film Festival
May 23, 2009 at 4:29 pm
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What can Facebook, MySpace, and less than a hundred dollars get you? The answer: a film that wows the movie critics and brings movie agencies to your door.  Jumbo-Sized soda and intricate plots are a dangerous mix. Get relief, and the most out of your movie-going money, with RunPee.com, a site that's like a friend who's seen every flick out there and knows when the bathroom break moments are.  Tickets for our Star Trek screening in Tel-Aviv are now available, get em' while they're hot right here. This Thursday the 21st at 7pm we're taking over the main screen...  Could we be saying goodbye to the BlackBerry Storm sooner than expected? BlackBerryOS forum moderator BlackBerryOS , who has a relatively good track record where early info is concerned...
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| Kinetic's HD:Hub HTPC now shipping, HD DVD still a selectable option
May 23, 2009 at 4:16 pm
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|  We've got to hand it to 'em -- these guys aren't ashamed to be clearing out excess inventory, and honestly, we're still fond of the choice. Sure, HD DVD may be defunct, but what's the harm in having the capability in your HTPC should an old friend pop over with a disc to watch? All that aside, Kinetic UK's trio of media center PCs are now shipping after being introduced initially in March, with Blu-ray / HD DVD compatibility, up to 6TB of storage space, Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Quad / Core i7 processor choices and a healthy array of CTO options elsewhere...  AOL wants its blog network MediaGlow to be a Hearst or Time Inc. for the 21st century, executives tell us. Now the Time Warner (TWX) online subsidiary is asking a former Condé Nast writer to help them get there.  We already knew MSI's Atom N280-powered Wind U123 netbook was grabbing placeholders at e-tailers across the web, but now we're assured that they're actually shipping to eager Americans.  Good news, people with Dads or Dad analogs! Show Pop you care with Shapeways custom cufflinks. Shapeways can offer two winning CrunchGear/TechCrunch readers each a pair of the custom 3D printed metal cufflinks as a Father's Day gift.  Philips has always pushed OLED lighting concepts, and it looks like the company's Lumiblade products will be the first to start shipping. The folks at OLED-Info got to play with some pre-production samples...
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| The Rogers handset that came locked in a safe…
May 23, 2009 at 4:09 pm
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|   We're not going to lie - BGR definitely has its perks. One of them means that our pals from FedEx routinely drop off a lot of packages at our office doors and today was no exception. Although it's a Saturday, the FedEx truck pulled up and handed us one heavy ass box (12lbs of heavy). Once we checked the shipping address and saw that it was from Rogers Wireless, we couldn't help but tear away at the packaging. Inside we found an envelope containing a key, a compass and safe box labeled "Join the Revolution: 02-06-09″. Hit the jump for a sneak peak of what's inside.  Modu may be down, but unlike one Ricky Hatton, it ain't out. We haven't heard a whole heck of a lot from the niche handset maker since it handed out pink slips to around one-forth of its workforce...  An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.  While it won't be the first handset to capture 720p video (hello, OmniaHD!), Hitachi's Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Woo is still apt to garner quite a bit of attention. As the leaked images hosted down below show...
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| HOW TO: Create Branded Promotions on Facebook
May 23, 2009 at 4:07 pm
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|  You cannot expect your brand to gain traction in social media by simply setting up a blog or a FacebookFacebook reviews page. You have engage your audience by participating in the conversation, providing value, and reaching out to potential customers. On Facebook, this is especially true - a good campaign push can take your brand a long way.  What a difference a month makes. In early April, we reported how Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) Music had opened up its artist pages to third-party services from companies like Pandora, Last.  CBSSports.com has become one of the top sports sites around by developing a broad community of users, establishing important partnerships, and beefing up promotions of efforts such as live streaming to increase viewership.  Intel has unveiled the next-generation user interface of Moblin, the company's open source Linux platform for netbooks and mobile Internet devices. We tested it on real netbook hardware so that we could give you a detailed hands-on look.
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| Witch Hazel Treats Sunburns and More
May 23, 2009 at 4:00 pm
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|  Witch Hazel is a drug store staple with a host of therapeutic properties. One of them, the soothing of sunburns, might come in handy if you fail to slather on the sunscreen this weekend. Derived from the witch-hazel shrub, pictured here, witch hazel extract is an inexpensive fix for a variety of ailments. You can use witch hazel for everything from soothing razor burn to reducing swelling and bruising, as the Wised Bread blog notes: Well, we asked for a denial, and they're giving us one. Russ Garrett, a Last.fm developer, issues another blanket denial of the Last.fm user data fiasco: Last.fm cofounder Richard Jones... Think you've found the ultimate fitness regime to attain the body of a Greek god? ZodBod, a new fitness startup that launched last month, wants to help you share your secrets to success - and possibly make some money in the process. After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity. The downside of global gadget-guru fame... Walt Mossberg reportedly startled guests in the Four Seasons Carlsbad dining room this morning with a passionate sermon on a number of tech topics.
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| Got Biceps To Spare? Sell Your Secrets To Bodybuilding Success On ZodBod
May 23, 2009 at 3:52 pm
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| Think you've found the ultimate fitness regime to attain the body of a Greek god? ZodBod, a new fitness startup that launched last month, wants to help you share your secrets to success - and possibly make some money in the process. The site invites users to write up and sell their own fitness guides, in which they can instruct visitors on diet and exercise regimes designed to whip them into shape. Well, we asked for a denial, and they're giving us one. Russ Garrett, a Last.fm developer, issues another blanket denial of the Last.fm user data fiasco: Last.fm cofounder Richard Jones... After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity. Last Friday, Wolfram Alpha had its soft launch via live video. Since then, the Mathematica-based tool has skyrocketed in traffic. We've covered how Wolfram Alpha is different to Google and discovered a handful of easter eggs (of which you...
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| Atlantis homecoming delayed again
May 23, 2009 at 3:33 pm
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|   Space shuttle Atlantis will land tomorrow following the second postponement of its homecoming due to bad weather. NASA explained that "the weather did not permit a Kennedy landing today". Capsule Communicator Greg Johnson elaborated: "There's a chance for a landing at Kennedy [space center] tomorrow, and we're going to keep that option open. Edwards [air force base, California] remains good for tomorrow and Monday, if needed."  Mike Massimino, an astronaut on space shuttle Atlantis, is going to have to do some explaining to the Twitter community when he lands today at Kennedy Space Center. Turns out Massimino wasn't really tweeting from space on the @Astro_Mike account.  Google has announced several changes that are coming soon to Google Suggest, the feature that suggests search queries as you type. The two most interesting to me are the inclusion of ads and direct URLs in the search suggestions.  Two NASA astronauts ventured out of space shuttle Atlantis today for the mission's second of five spacewalks to repair and upgrade the Hubble Telescope. "Trained my whole life for this...
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| Russian Firm DST offers to Invest in Facebook — and buy out employees too
May 23, 2009 at 3:21 pm
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|   Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian Internet-investment group, has offered to invest $200 million in Facebook, the WSJ is reporting, and which our own sources close to the company have since said is "accurate." However, the company itself has declined to comment. The offer was for preferred stock, and values Facebook at $10 billion...  As with all things Facebook, yesterday's WSJ story about a $200 million offer from a Russian firm at a $10 billion valuation triggered a violent debate. Some saw it was... Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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| Weird Science flees food poisoning, ends up in Hawaii
May 23, 2009 at 3:04 pm
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|   Thieving cetaceans, ill Polynesians, and the backpack effect—all part of this week's edition of Weird Science. Let's not eat at that island again: What prompted the greatest migration in human history? Food poisoning, if we're to believe one recent publication. Well, we asked for a denial, and they're giving us one. Russ Garrett, a Last.fm developer, issues another blanket denial of the Last.fm user data fiasco: Last.fm cofounder Richard Jones... Think you've found the ultimate fitness regime to attain the body of a Greek god? ZodBod, a new fitness startup that launched last month, wants to help you share your secrets to success - and possibly make some money in the process. After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity. The downside of global gadget-guru fame... Walt Mossberg reportedly startled guests in the Four Seasons Carlsbad dining room this morning with a passionate sermon on a number of tech topics.
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| Geek Chart Graphs Turns Web Activity into a Pie Chart
May 23, 2009 at 3:00 pm
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| If you're looking for a novel way to represent and visualize your online persona, Geek Chart takes your activity on popular sites and turns it into an interactive pie chart. Geek Chart surveys your activity on the services and social networks—specifically, that's Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, any blog with an RSS feed, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and Last... After shelling out some $6.5 million, you had to know that Systemax planned on doing something with Circuit City's trademarks and internet domain names. As of today, CircuitCity. It's no surprise that Twitter, the current darling of social media and one of the fastest growing web sites, is now becoming the subject matter of entire conferences.... FlockFlock reviews's tagline is "the social web browser," and as such, it has to continually adapt to wherever the social web is heading next. In new version 2.5, their...  The FBI is willing to do just about anything when it comes to tracking down bad guys. They did the widgets thing last year. And today they announced that they've "set up shop in several social media websites.
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| Microsoft clarifies Windows Marketplace for Mobile application sharing policy
May 23, 2009 at 1:32 pm
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|  Earlier this week, news broke about the new sharing policy for applications purchased on the upcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile...
 With the App Store, App Catalog, App World, Ovi Store, and all shades of third-party mobile software stores out in the wild, Microsoft's undoubtedly looking at Windows...  One step forward, one step back: just as we were getting ready to celebrate Microsoft's decision to remove the three-app limit from Windows 7 Starter Edition, we're hearing... Twitter's management seems to have mixed feelings about advertising - but here's some anecdotal evidence that those text ads it has been running lately are worth something.
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| Top 5 Ways to Share Videos on Twitter
May 23, 2009 at 1:27 pm
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| There are a number of useful ways to share video on TwitterTwitter reviews. Pretty much every social site across the web has enabled a quick, no brainer way to tweet your content out to your Twitter network. At the rate Twitter is growing, we can certainly understand why. Since we're seeing a lot of healthy competition in the "TwitPicTwitpic reviews for video" space, we thought that we'd give you the lowdown on five different services that you can use to upload video to Twitter... If you're like us, you thought the Wall Street Journal's Twitter rules for employees were ridiculous. Remember 'Business and pleasure should not be mixed' ? Well, wait till you see Bloomberg's rules, obtained by Gawker.  Venture Capitalist (Union Square Ventures) and blogger Fred Wilson gave a talk a few days ago at Google's headquarters in Mountain View. The key point of his talk was... Twitter's management seems to have mixed feelings about advertising - but here's some anecdotal evidence that those text ads it has been running lately are worth something.  The underscore in his username should've made us wary. Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Massimino, known as @Astro_Mike on Twitter, drew a third of a million followers for what most presumed were Massimino's real-time tweets from space.
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| Infinity Ventures Summit Launch Pad in Japan
May 23, 2009 at 1:06 pm
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|  The Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS) in Sapporo/Japan, one of Asia's most important web industry events, is a wrap, and we were there to witness a total of 12 startups presenting at the launch pad. The judges awarded 3D model maker MotionPortrait with the top prize. Graph sharing service Vizoo [this and many of the following links are in Japanese], recommendation engine Deqwas, photo management service Cerevo and virtual world Ameba Pigg came in second to fifth. You can read about all winners here.  I am currently in Sapporo/Japan, attending the Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS) [this and many of the following links are in Japanese], a two-day event that takes place twice a year.  It wasn't without a lot of warning signs, but still we're sad to see the hammer drop. It looks like Model 2+ maker OQO has officially closed up shop, and according to a statement on the OQOTalk forums...  When you think of phone companies, Linden Lab's Second Life virtual world doesn't come to mind. But the company is announcing today that its users have used its web-voice...  Navigating the laws of cyberspace is getting ever more complex as virtual worlds themselves become mirrors of the real world. That's one clear message from a Stanford University event on legal frontiers for digital media that I attended today.
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| Microsoft wants you to share WinMo apps with yourself; others, not so much
May 23, 2009 at 12:58 pm
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| With the App Store, App Catalog, App World, Ovi Store, and all shades of third-party mobile software stores out in the wild, Microsoft's undoubtedly looking at Windows Marketplace as being one of the more important features it's bringing to the table in the fanfare surrounding WinMo 6.  What silliness. Microsoft and the European Commission have canceled a face-to-face hearing in an antitrust case pending against the company over a scheduling dispute, of all things.  Upendra Shardanand is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Daylife, which helps publishers add content and inventory without additional staff or engineering. He also co-founded Firefly Network...
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| Week in gaming: Sims 3 leaked, inFamous is great, Punch-Out! returns
May 23, 2009 at 12:50 pm
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This week in gaming has Sims 3 being pirated, a new kiosk that wants to buy your used games, and an in-depth look at an online game show for Xbox Live.  There are many things about Apple (AAPL) that Microsoft is jealous about. But Apple's home entertainment business is not one of them. Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360 and its...  Good news, Vista Media Center PC users will soon find a new option under the TV+Movies tile, as Netflix Watch Instantly streaming access is added directly to the interface.  These leaked photos of the ZuneX (ZX-1000) may or may not be Microsoft's handheld device that combines the Zune with the Xbox. But we do have specs. And it may be a phone.  As we highlighted last week, social gaming is on the rise. A big reason for this is because playing video games is often a social activity that relies on teamwork, collaboration, and a shared experience.
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| Why Don't You Love Flock?
May 23, 2009 at 12:05 pm
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| A few days ago, the social web browser Flock released version 2.5 of their software, integrating Facebook Chat, improving Twitter functionality, and adding a new broadcasting feature called "Flockcast. Modu may be down, but unlike one Ricky Hatton, it ain't out. We haven't heard a whole heck of a lot from the niche handset maker since it handed out pink slips to around one-forth of its workforce...  A Russian investment firm has offered to buy $200 million of preferred stock in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation, the WSJ's Jessica Vascellaro says. Facebook has not yet responded to the offer. A few days ago, we reported that Facebook turned down an investment term sheet that placed their value at $8 billion. But it was apparently the board seat the investors wanted and not the valuation that was the hold up.
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| Google vs. the Real-Time Web
May 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm
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|  Just how big a threat is the real-time web to Google? As Om has pointed out, real-time content marks a still-amorphous but important new phase of evolution in the web, allowing for the instantaneous discovery of newly added information. And Twitter and Facebook are emerging as an alternative to the traditional engine, which presents a big challenge to Google's core business. As Larry Page admitted this week, the company finally gets that. The underscore in his username should've made us wary. Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Massimino, known as @Astro_Mike on Twitter, drew a third of a million followers for what most presumed were Massimino's real-time tweets from space. Mike Massimino, an astronaut on space shuttle Atlantis, is going to have to do some explaining to the Twitter community when he lands today at Kennedy Space Center. Turns out Massimino wasn't really tweeting from space on the @Astro_Mike account.  Google CEO Eric Schmidt loves to talk up a potential partnership with Twitter. He did it again yesterday, reports the Telegraph: Speaking to reporters following the annual Google Zeitgeist conference...
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| inFAMOUS Review: City of Saints and Madmen
May 23, 2009 at 11:53 am
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|   Sucker Punch's inFAMOUS has an unexpectedly earth-shattering "start" button. Literally. Other start sequences pale by comparison. They load looping feature demos or narrative clips that play like movie trailers without the thunder-throated Don LaFontaine voiceover.  The demo was good, and the full game is a powerful experience in what it is to be a hero, or a villain. With strong characters, beautiful graphics, and a good selection of things to do and see...  As demos go, Sucker Punch's PS3-exclusive inFAMOUS feels a little short, but awfully promising. It propels you — an electricity-spitting semi-clueless super-dude — off a rooftop and through an urban debris field toward a dusk-lit public square...
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| Week in Microsoft: Office 2010 leaks begin
May 23, 2009 at 11:53 am
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Making up the week's top Microsoft news were Office 2010, the latest Laptop Hunters ad, and Microsoft Surface's first service pack.  You didn't think Microsoft was going to ship Windows 7 with that same tired Vista-esque branding it's been using on the betas and RCs, did you? No way, man -- and if those crazy-cool wallpapers didn't prove it to you...  In the next few months four smartphones are going to battle it out. The Palm Pre, the iPhone 3.0, the BlackBerry Storm 2 and the Nokia N97 are all going for the crown title this summer.  More evidence of the Apple Tablet surfaced today. We first wrote about the device at the end of last year when OEMs in China started hearing about the device. Details are still thin, although probably not because of a lack of leaks.  NEC just rolled out a pair of 26- and 30-inch monitors for graphics professionals earlier this year, and it's now kicked out a slightly smaller 24-inch model that hangs onto the same nondescript looks and many of the same specs.  As we reported earlier this month, Craigslist, after a slew of negative press and and pressure from various political organizations decided to revamp its 'erotic services' section.
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| Air-fuelled STAIR battery could last ten times longer than traditional cells
May 23, 2009 at 11:48 am
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|  It's funny, really. We've figured out how to put men an women on the moon and repair an orbiting telescope, but we can't concoct an AA battery that lasts more than four days inside a Teddy Ruxpin. Thanks to a revolutionary new design from the labs at the University of St Andrews, all that could be well on the way to changin'. Researchers at said institution have teamed up with partners at Strathclyde and Newcastle in order to design an air-fuelled STAIR (St Andrews Air) cell that could theoretically last up to ten times longer than current batteries.  Guard your retinas, fashionistas -- this one's bound to burn. Data Ltd has just loosed its latest ultra-rugged tablet PC, and it's quite clear that the gains in rigidity come at a severe cost to style.  Leccy Tech Further details have emerged about the design of the would-be European e-car plug standard currently being championed by Germany-based energy company RWE. The...  Just a few months ago, you were lucky to squeeze much more than a couple hours out of netbooks such as the Acer Aspire One and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. But tiny little netbooks are growing more robust, at least as far as their batteries are concerned.
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| CircuitCity.com resurrected
May 23, 2009 at 11:35 am
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| Circuit City closed its doors earlier this year following a last ditch effort to stay afloat that just didn't pan out. Some, such as the 35,000 or so people left without a job, were pretty sad to see the company go - there isn't much competition these days as far as brick and mortar electronics mega retailers go. While Circuit City's physical locations have all been retired at this point, their spirit lives on in the newly revived CircuitCity.com. Earlier this week, Systemax completed a deal to purchase various Circuit City assets and the company wasted no time in relaunching the website,  Trusera, a health 2.0 community where users can share their stories about how they've dealt with health conditions, is officially closing its doors on May 27, according to a blog post on the site.  In news that should come as a surprise to no one, troubled news aggregation site Tailrank is officially headed to the Deadpool, as its parent company looks to sell off its assets.  While Wal-Mart will always be our hot spot of choice for picking up a mixed assortment box of granola bars and meeting other thrifty, outdoors-loving singles, the retailer is on a course to upping its electronics game...
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| Week in Apple: iPhone rumors, Java vulnerability, iPhone app piracy
May 23, 2009 at 11:06 am
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Rumors about a new iPhone continue to multiply like rabbits while Apple is apparently ignoring "critical" vulnerabilities and iPhone developers grapple with the new push notification system and piracy. Come on in to catch up on this week's top Apple news.  Remember yesterday's good news that the Palm Pre's $100 mail-in-rebate would be automatically deducted at Best Buy and Radio Shack stores? Well, now it's time for the bad news...  The Palm Pre, one of our favorite tradeshow announcements from last year, will step into the smartphone fray by going on sale June 6, two days before Apple's iPhone 3.
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| CryptoZoo alternate reality game gets your heart pumping
May 23, 2009 at 11:00 am
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|  CryptoZoo aims to get gamers off the couch and into the streets, letting them find clues about mythical animals in the real world and exercising in their spare moments. It is an alternate reality game - mixing computer fantasy with real world tasks - and was designed with health goals in mind by a team led by Jane McGonigal, (right and bottom) director of game research at the Silicon Valley think tank Institute for the Future. It was commissioned by the American Heart Association.  I spend most of my workday typing and clicking into a browser window. I hate it. When I see the catchphrases "cloud" or "hosted" or "as a service," my brain rewites it as too damn slow.  Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer at design firm Schematic, spoke today at the XML Auckland conference. Herigstad worked with Steven Spielberg on the conceptual design for the film Minority Report...  One of the web trends we're noticing this year is more location-based mobile phone applications - i.e. apps that know where you and/or your friends are and utilize that data in some way.
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| How Facebook, MySpace and YouTube Killed eBay
May 23, 2009 at 10:40 am
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|  Editor's note: This is a guest post by Keith Rabois, vice president of strategy and business development for Slide, the social entertainment company. Prior to Slide, Keith was a VP at LinkedIn and an EVP at PayPal in charge of among other things, competitive strategy vis-à-vis eBay. He also worked at eBay for three weeks following its acquisition of PayPal. Keith currently serves on the Board of Directors of Yelp, Vendio, Xoom and FanIQ. Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Cosmetics giant L'Oréal is 0-5 in its legal cases against eBay (EBAY) over the counterfeit perfumes and face creams listed on the auction site. Today the High Court...  When it comes to auctions on the web, users rarely have any kind of control beyond setting the maximum price they're willing to pay. If, for example, you wanted to buy a power supply on eBay...
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| Modu's next handset to sport a touchscreen?
May 23, 2009 at 10:23 am
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| Modu may be down, but unlike one Ricky Hatton, it ain't out. We haven't heard a whole heck of a lot from the niche handset maker since it handed out pink slips to around one-forth of its workforce, but now that things are looking a bit brighter, it seems as if innovation is back in full force. Android, the mobile phone platform launched by Google last year, is still ramping up, but it's already caused ripples throughout the smartphone world. We think it's going to be a major player in the space so to that end... An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.  Sure, EOS Utility will let you control the Canon DSLR of your choice from the comfort of your PC, but what if you want to add one more enticing level of indirection to the equation? Well...  Palm's innovative Pre handset will launch on Sprint's Now Network on June 6. Pricing is competitive with the iPhone and Blackberry Storm, but the $100 mail-in rebate seems like an unnecessary hoop to make customers jump through.
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| Windows 7: The Complete Guide
May 23, 2009 at 10:00 am
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|   We've covered Windows 7 from rumor to release candidate, which you can currently download and install for free. Now, it's enchilada time: Here's everything of value that we learned about Win 7, packed in a complete, easy-to-read guide. BONUS CHAPTER: All the Release Candidate 1 Details You Can Eat • Where to get it for free (For general installation instructions, see Chapter 1, below) Android, the mobile phone platform launched by Google last year, is still ramping up, but it's already caused ripples throughout the smartphone world. We think it's going to be a major player in the space so to that end...  If you've got an iPhone, there's a good chance you've got Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge installed - the game is ranked as the iPhone's most popular game of all time. Tonight the latest update to the game lands...
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| Live images of the BlackBerry Curve 8530 "Aries" emerge
May 23, 2009 at 9:58 am
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|  Another day, another up and coming BlackBerry spotted in the wild. Today's device is the BlackBerry Curve 8530, codenamed Aries. A CDMA variant of the T-Mobile bound Curve 8520 Gemini, the Aries features the same QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, dedicated media keys, microSD support, rubberized body, metal battery door and oh so nice optical trackpad. As for whether or not the Aries will share the same pre-paid fate as the Gemini remains to be seen, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it become a BlackBerry in a Box. Hit the jump for a couple more pics. Android, the mobile phone platform launched by Google last year, is still ramping up, but it's already caused ripples throughout the smartphone world. We think it's going to be a major player in the space so to that end...  Messaging phones are hotter than Hansel right now and apparently Mobiado is targeting nouveau riche as the next demographic to jump on the bandwagon. BlackBerry Bold?...  What you are looking at here is the very first image ever taken of the surface of Mars. It was acquired by NASA's Mariner 4 using a television camera, and rendered using crayons.
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| Russian Investment Offer Proof Of Facebook's Desperation?
May 23, 2009 at 9:51 am
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| As with all things Facebook, yesterday's WSJ story about a $200 million offer from a Russian firm at a $10 billion valuation triggered a violent debate. Some saw it was a sign of the company's desperation: "Scraping the bottom of the barrel…SURE they don't need the money…" texted one former insider. A Russian investment firm has offered to buy $200 million of preferred stock in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation, the WSJ's Jessica Vascellaro says. Facebook has not yet responded to the offer.  Just in time for your weekend perusal, Palm Goon (which we half suspect might be a viral site from Palm itself) has uploaded three tours and a FAQ chock-full of new Pre / webOS screens and details...  Want an Asus Eee PC 1000H to run Mac OS X? New Russian hackintosh supplier RussianMac is now offering just that. It's not clear whether the Atom-based netbook - or, indeed...
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| Gawker Buys Another Bloody Blog -- BloodCopy
May 23, 2009 at 9:29 am
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|  Gawker Media announced last night that it acquired BloodCopy.com. It's a blog about vampires. Really. Here's the about section from the site:  It's official: Not only are YouTube comments generally worthless, but they're also the target of malware authors trying to make a quick buck from fake anti-virus software. AOL wants its blog network MediaGlow to be a Hearst or Time Inc. for the 21st century, executives tell us. Now the Time Warner (TWX) online subsidiary is asking a former Condé Nast writer to help them get there.  Talking about AOL with a top exec at one of the big media companies, we asked something like: "Aren't they just Gawker Media wrapped in costly corporate trappings?" And this exec basically said, "Woah, Gawker is nothing to sneeze at.  We were curious about this little tidbit that appeared in one of our stories yesterday: Gawker Media owner Nick Denton is bored and he's finally looking for an exit, somebody who likes to gossip with him told us the other day.
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| Android This Week: Cupcake Delayed, Rosie Revealed and a Possible Tablet Launch Planned
May 23, 2009 at 9:00 am
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| Android, the mobile phone platform launched by Google last year, is still ramping up, but it's already caused ripples throughout the smartphone world. We think it's going to be a major player in the space so to that end, we will be taking a weekly look into the world of Android. Topping the list of Android-related developments this week was T-Mobile's delay of the rollout of Android 1...  The sharp-eyed writers at iPhone Buzz pointed out that the T-Mobile Austria site was showing a placeholder for a 32GB iPhone earlier today -- at least until someone at T-Mobile pulled the item.  Mobile searchers have another resource at their fingertips, this time in the form of Yahoo's updated iPhone app, which now includes voice-recognition search capabilities.
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| Kobe, LeBron Dream Showdown May Slam NBA Sponsors
May 23, 2009 at 7:00 am
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| CHICAGO-The National Basketball Association could just be headed toward a dream Finals matchup between its two most marketable stars, one that will result in massive buzz, bigger TV ratings -- and a nightmare for two of its biggest sponsors, Adidas and Gatorade. The problem for NBA's official merchandise and uniform supplier, Adidas, and its official sports beverage, Pepsi's Gatorade, is that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and Cleveland Cavaliers stalwart LeBron James are the two most prominent endorsers of their archrivals, Nike and Coca-Cola's Glaceau, neither of which paid nearly as much to the NBA for the privilege of sponsoring the league and its playoffs...  AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP's Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit's Neo platform. We've already heard what the so-called professionals think... Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.
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| How would you change HP's Pavilion dv2?
May 23, 2009 at 5:25 am
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| AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP's Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit's Neo platform. We've already heard what the so-called professionals think, but we're interested to hear from the folks who really matter -- the consumers. Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The hype around Twitter's utility as a real-time search tool has even rubbed off on Google, but there are signs that the startup's plans to turn search into a revenue stream could be more difficult to attain than first thought.  Democratic nerves are running high that the Senate will kill the so-called "Climate Bill" that just made it out of committee in the House. But a 9-13 vote yesterday in...
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| Roundup: Facebook snares $1 billion? Craigslist wins injunction, eBay beats L'Oreal
May 23, 2009 at 2:54 am
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| Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Court backs Craigslist in South Carolina injunction - A federal judge blocked the state's attorney general from filing criminal charges against Craigslist related to prostitution charges. A Russian investment firm has offered to buy $200 million of preferred stock in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation, the WSJ's Jessica Vascellaro says. Facebook has not yet responded to the offer. A few days ago, we reported that Facebook turned down an investment term sheet that placed their value at $8 billion. But it was apparently the board seat the investors wanted and not the valuation that was the hold up.  Yahoo just made it official; CFO Blake Jorgensen will resign from the company effective June 30. Along with his walking papers, Blake gets a nice $1.8 million check in a lump sum severance payment.
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| North Korea to allow limited access to "the internet" on cellphones
May 23, 2009 at 2:52 am
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|  Looks like North Korea -- a place not known for its liberal attitudes toward communication of information -- may slowly be taking another baby step toward the 21st century. The country, which only began allowing limited access to cell phones last December, has announced that now, limited access to the internet will be available on mobiles as well...  Idle grid computing - applying unused computer time to a task - is a great solution in need of a problem. Hundreds of millions of computers sit unused two-thirds of the day.  On Wednesday I showed you kid-friendly search engine Quintura, and yesterday we looked at the kid-friendly Web browser KIDO'Z. Today it's time for the big gun: OpenDNS. US consumers are more likely to have played video games over the last six months than gone out to see a movie, though neither activity is as popular as listening to music.
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| Deny This, Last.fm
May 22, 2009 at 10:53 pm
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|  A couple of months ago Erick Schonfeld wrote a post titled "Did Last.fm Just Hand Over User Listening Data To the RIAA?" based on a source that has proved to be very reliable in the past. All hell broke loose shortly thereafter.
 Celebrities get impersonated on the web. They're famous - everyone is anonymous - it happens. Most celebrities just ignore it; but some get pissed off. Kanye West got mad as hell about Twitter users pretending to be him last week.  When machines behave deadly, they are forced to spend eternity tortured by robots like these 10 monstrosities. SimMan 3G: Intended as an instructional aid for aspiring doctors... Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson has now gotten involved in two more file-sharing lawsuits, including the Jammie Thomas retrial in Minnesota. But it's in the other...
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| Dell dumps Della, just wants to be friends
May 22, 2009 at 10:48 pm
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|  Looks like someone's gonna have to explain why there's a "no longer in a relationship" status update on her Facebook profile...
 It turns out that people are following more than just their friends online. Look at the comScore chart above comparing unique visitors in the U.S. to FriendFeed versus Twine.  Brian Ussery noticed Google has changed the way you can share your SearchWiki notes in the search results. If you are logged in to Google and you have notes on search results, you can share those notes with friends.  Sony Ericsson's finance team may figure that it needs a wheelbarrow full of cold, hard cash in order to steamroll through the next decade, but we know better than that.  Google Friend Connect is now integrated with one of Europe's fastest growing social networks, Netlog. Netlog, which has more than 45 million users worldwide, just implemented Google's alternative to Facebook Connect...
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| 32GB iPhone listed as AT&T trade-in; Rogers in launch prep?
May 22, 2009 at 10:15 pm
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| An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release. Apple's attempts to keep its iPhone plans silent may have become that much harder on Friday through a potential discovery of the larger-capacity iPhone in AT&T's system. Remember yesterday's good news that the Palm Pre's $100 mail-in-rebate would be automatically deducted at Best Buy and Radio Shack stores? Well, now it's time for the bad news...  A fresh report from Gartner is good news for Apple, bad news for Nokia. iPhone sales keep climbing, even as the overall mobile phone market shrinks. "Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 269.
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| Cartier sues Apple over third party iPhone watch software
May 22, 2009 at 9:40 pm
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| Luxury watch maker Cartier International filed suit against Apple today for allowing a third party iPhone developer to post an application depicting a watch image which Cartier claims infringes on its designs. The watch maker insisted that it has never authorized Apple to use images that appear similar to the company's watches, despite the fact that the iPhone title, named Fake Watch, was only a software representation of certain famous watch designs. An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.  Just as Google surprised surfers with a faster, yet more sophisticated set of search suggestion tools this week, Apple watcher John Gruber cut through the clutter of prognostication around the company's presumed iPhone upgrades...  If you visit Ask.com today, you will see what looks like a huge ad, in form of what is called (I believe) a skin ad, engulfing the home page. The ad, at least to me, shows a sign of desperation for Ask.  Last night we reported that BillShrink, a scrappy startup that helps users lower common household bills, scored a major marketing deal: T-Mobile is promoting them in shops and via a national television commercial in a huge way.
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| PureDepth ramps up production of "Multi-Layer" 3D displays
May 22, 2009 at 9:39 pm
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|  PureDepth has been talking up its "Multi-Layer" 3D display technology for quite some time now, but it looks like the displays should finally be rolling out en masse, with the company announcing that volume production of its new 12. AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP's Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit's Neo platform. We've already heard what the so-called professionals think... Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.
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| Tap Tap Revenge 2.5 Hits Tonight, Takes Steps To Consolidate Popularity
May 22, 2009 at 9:00 pm
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| If you've got an iPhone, there's a good chance you've got Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge installed - the game is ranked as the iPhone's most popular game of all time. Tonight the latest update to the game lands, adding a handful of new features including themes, "battles", and a new song import feature. The features are part of the latest update of Tap Tap Revenge 2, which you can download for free here (if you already have the app you can just update it). Here's the latest action: From Russia With Love– Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, is preparing to put $1 billion into Facebook, raising its valuation to $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. An AT&T upgrade program for BlackBerries has listed a 32GB iPhone as a trade-in option. Simultaneously, Canadian cellular provider Rogers may be preparing for another summer iPhone release.  This week, we revisit some classics from your (and your grandfather's) childhood, iPhone browsing gets upgraded, and I play what it probably the best 3D multi-animal hunting game available for the iPhone.  She did it again! After having her phone's address book cracked a few years ago, Famous-for-being-famous heiress Paris Hilton lost her BlackBerry Thursday night at this week's Festival de Cannes film convention in the south of France.
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