TechCrunch Founder Forms CrunchPad, Inc.

Topic: Technology News

TechCrunch Founder Forms CrunchPad, Inc.

Have you ever looked at an overpriced tablet PC and said, "Man, I could make something WAY better than this."? If so, you've got something in common with Michael Arrington, founder of the TechCrunch blog network. He's about to form his own hardware company, CrunchPad, Inc., and release a whole new type of media device.

The first CrunchPad Inc. Press release will come at the end of this month, and we can probably expect to see a demonstration of the CrunchPad prototype there. The CrunchPad is a 12" touchscreen tablet that is capable of video chatting and Internet browsing. It's got a virtual keyboard, a Linux OS, and a solid state drive. This thing is built to be fast, responsive, and quick-booting.

Posted on Fri, 3 Jul 2009 13:35:19 CDT | by Robert Evans

Marketers Threaten Twitter Over Spammers.

Topic: Technology News

In a short span of time, Twitter has gone from a brand-new idea to a worldwide phenomenon. From Iranian revolutionaries to mourners of Michael Jackson, it seems like everyone has a Twitter account these days. Websites, celebrities, politicians, industry insiders, and normal people alike have fallen in love with the idea of Twitter.

Big corporations have also started to discover Twitter. They use it for advertising, customer feedback, market research, and even to leak new information about products. Corporate use will probably end up playing a big role in whether or not Twitter becomes profitable in the near future. That means they've got to pander to the big businesses that use their product, even when they start making ridiculous demands.

Posted on Fri, 3 Jul 2009 11:35:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Google Voice: Now For Small Businesses

Topic: Technology News

Invites have only been out for a few short days, and already Google Voice has an add-on. Google Voice is a service that consolidates all of your phone numbers (including Skype) together under one number. It's free (you'll have to wait a long while for invites though) and you can even pick vanity numbers.

That's an especially attractive proposition for small businesses, as it would allow them to have a custom number for their company that links multiple cell, in-office, or sky numbers together. Unfortunately, Google Voice currently lacks any ability to allow you to differentiate between which number which call goes to. This would be a major limiting factor for the service, if the good people at On-State hadn't stepped in.

Posted on Wed, 1 Jul 2009 17:30:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Insider Trading Allegations Rock Pirate Bay Sale

Topic: Technology News

Yesterday we learned that The Pirate Bay was being sold to the Global Gaming Factory (GGF). Ever since then I've been wondering just why GGF would want to purchase the Pirate Bay. Sure, they get millions of unique viewers every day, but it's pretty obvious that all of those people are only there for illegal torrents. Once GGF makes the Bay go legit that traffic is going to dry up faster than...something that dries up very quickly.

Now it all makes sense. Insider trading provides the first logical reason for the sale that I've heard yet. Tuesday was the first day in a week that Aktietorget, the independent equity marketplace where GGF is listed, allowed any shares of the small gaming company to be traded. It was also the day that they made their big announcement about the Pirate Bay.

Posted on Wed, 1 Jul 2009 12:25:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Voice Translation Software for iPhone/BlackBerry

Topic: Technology News

Everyone who has ever traveled overseas wants a Babelfish. The ability to instantly translate your words and the words of others in a way that both parties can understand would be the greatest breakthrough in communications technology since the birth of the Internet. Unfortunately, we're probably still years away from that breakthrough. But Sakhr technologies, a contractor for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, has made big progress towards that goal.

They've just come out with an app for the BlackBerry and iPhone smartphones that can translate English into Arabic and pronounce the translation correctly to avoid confusion. Unfortunately this app is NOT, I repeat NOT publically available at this moment. It was built for military purposes, and it'll probably be a good long while before we see it available for civilian use. That said, military innovations (like the Internet) always end up filtering down to the civilian market eventually. It might be a few years, but eventually we'll see the Sakhr app available for mass market use.

Posted on Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:15:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Twitter Dislikes 3rd Party 'Tweeting'

Topic: Technology News

The developers behind TweetMeme, BackTweets, TweetDeck, and any other app with the word 'tweet' in its name had better watch out. Twitter does not like it when 3rd party developers use Twitter's 'trademark' word in their product. If it comes as a surprise to you that the word 'Tweet' is trademarked, join the club. Twitter has applied for trademarks in both the U.S and Europe, and they're starting to take their signature words seriously. They even sent this letter out to a 3rd party developer who used the word 'tweet' in their product.

“Twitter, Inc is uncomfortable with the use of the word Tweet (our trademark) and the similarity in your UI and our own. How can we go about having you change your UI to better differentiate your offering from our own?”

Posted on Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:00:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Firefox 3.5: Out Now

Topic: Technology News

If you're reading this on Firefox right now, stop. Go to this website and download the Firefox 3.5 update. I'll wait right here for you.

As scheduled, Firefox 3.5 came out on time today. 3.5 is supposed to be twice as fast as Firefox 3, with improved security, faster JavaScript, and a whole bunch of other cool features. Grab it, and let us know what you think about this latest update.

Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:20:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

The End of The Pirate Bay: A Victory Against Piracy?

Topic: Technology News

The Pirate Bay is soon to be no more. We all knew this day would come eventually, and to anyone who knows anything about the Internet this shouldn't come as too huge of a surprise. Napster and Kazaa have both gone down this road as well. The fact that TPB is getting out of the illegal file-sharing game and seeking legitimacy shouldn't be seen as anything out of the ordinary.

Of course, that doesn't stop people from making bold statements like, “...this is a massive victory against online piracy” (emphasis theirs). In the coming days and weeks, I expect we'll hear statements like that from a wide variety of news sources. It's an understandable reaction to such momentous news, but it's still wrong.

Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:05:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

The Pirate Bay: Sold to The Man?

Topic: Technology News

Tortuga is burning. News has spread like wildfire all around the Internet that The Pirate Bay has been bought out by Global Gaming Factory X (GGF). This is huge news; the Bay is by far the largest file-sharing website on the Internet, with more than 90% of its torrents containing illegal, copyrighted material. If illicit torrents have a hub, it's The Pirate Bay.

And now, apparently, they're throwing in the Jolly Roger. The site is closing down its BitTorrent tracker and ceasing to host torrents. According to TPB, these changes are out of a desire to further decentralize the Torrent world and make users less dependent on the Bay's server uptime. The company that currently owns TPB, Peerialism, has also been acquired by GGF. They claim that they have a new P2P distribution system that will replace their old methods.

Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:10:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Users Like Bing More, But Still Prefer Google

Topic: Technology News

Microsoft's unprecedented advertising campaign to turn Bing into a household name continues on unabated. With Google weathering slings from the government and consumer advocacy groups, now is the perfect time for Microsoft to start making inroads. Right now, Bing holds steady as the third most popular search engine in the U.S, right behind Yahoo and miles away from Google. The question is, will it ever get big enough to yank the #1 spot out from under Google?

A new study from the Catalyst Group says...no, no it won't. They studied the surfing habits of 12 users and found that, after trying several search engines, 8 out of 12 wanted to stick with Google, primarily for reasons of comfort. The users were also asked to rate the search engines they used. Most of them rated Bing as the superior engine, but that didn't make them want to switch.

Posted on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:20:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Is Google Too Big?

Topic: Technology News

There is a fine line between being an extraordinarily successful corporation and a monopoly. Some people in the justice department (not to mention competing corporations like Microsoft) think Google crossed over that line long ago. They argue that the search giant, which is responsible for about 2/3rds of all online searches and now owns YouTube as well, is so big that it is now unfair to consumers. Watchdog groups are quick to bring up Ma Bell and Microsoft when they cast their accusations at Google, but does the little-search-engine-that-could really deserve it?

Dan Wagner, senior competition counsel at Google, doesn't think so. And he's spent the last few months tirelessly defending his employers in a series of speeches targeted at reporters, politicians, and members of the tech industry. The New York Times reported that groups like Consumer Watchdog and corporate rivals like Microsoft have wasted no time in attacking Wagner's assertions.

Posted on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:25:00 CDT | by Robert Evans