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Get a refurbished Sony Reader for only $99

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:14 AM PDT

$100 has long thought been the magical price point for ebook readers and we’re kind of already there — with refurbished models at least. This Sony Reader deal undercuts the Kindle refurb by a 10 spot and gets us away from three digit prices. However, you should probably opt for the Kindle deal as long as its available. Unless of course you’re against having wireless access to the Kindle Book store and for some reason need to save the $10.

HIDEOTO: Stylish gadget to digitize your old cassettes

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 04:22 AM PDT

Remember cassettes? In case you are one of the people who still owns tapes and now wants to digitize the content for eternity, the so-called HIDEOTO might be the right thing for you. It’s not the first gadget out there that can get the job done, but it’s certainly the most compact and stylish we’ve shown you so far.

Made by Japan-based Tec [JP], the HIDEOTO can help you digitize tapes by plugging it into your PC via USB and using “cassette mate”, a special piece of software (for Windows XP/Vista/7) that comes with the device. The music can be saved on your computer’s hard disc in MP3/WAV or WMA (32kbps〜320kbps bit rate).

The HIDEOTO doubles as a cassette player (it comes with a stereo mini plug) and is powered via USB or three AA batteries.

Tec plans to start selling the device in Japan next month (price: $57). If you're interested but live outside Japan, I suggest you contact import/export specialists like Rinkya, Geek Stuff 4 U or the Japan Trend Shop.

Via AV Watch [JP]

Apple to open Apple Store in Hong Kong

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 04:11 AM PDT


More of Apple’s China plans are coming to light. The first Shanghai store opened last week in light of news that the company plans on opening 25 new retail outlets in the country. Apparently that includes Hong Kong, too. The expansion is set to be complete by the end of 2011.

The retail expansion is a huge strategy shift for Apple. Up until last week’s opening, there was only one Apple Store in all of China — Beijing, which opened in 2008. The company has traditionally ignored the Chinese market, thanks in part to the rampant hardware piracy. But it’s hard to ignore the billion potential customers living within China. Apple is in the business to make money.

Light Pool: Japan gets a new designer cell phone

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 12:20 AM PDT

Japan's second biggest cell phone carrier KDDI (over 30 million subscribers) rolls out quite unique handsets from time to time, mostly under their iida sub-brand. The company today in Japan introduced [JP] another "lifestyle" cell phone, the so-called Light Pool. Technically, the device isn't anything special - but it's rather pretty. Read the rest on MobileCrunch.


Daily Crunch: The Wave of the Future Edition

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 12:00 AM PDT

Windows XP still going strong: 74 percent of work computers use it

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:59 PM PDT

Ah yeah, XP. You continue to be the man, nine years later. I’m still rocking XP myself, and see no reason to do otherwise, though I have heard fine things about Windows 7. And despite that OS’s popularity, a huge number of business PCs still use XP. Sure, why not? Who wants to retrain their employees and roll out thousands of new PCs? Better to run the old ones into the ground — an expected behavior. But even Microsoft didn’t plan on XP’s durability.

At the rollout, Microsoft originally planned to let people buying OEM-installed Windows 7 machines “downgrade” to Windows XP for up to six months. Then they extended that deadline for a year. And now they’re extending it for ten years. Will anyone still be running XP in 2020? Other than me, I mean.

Actually, I should probably admit that I hardly got any work done today because I was too busy fending off a TDL3 rootkit. Ironic? Yes. Tragic? Also yes. Pathetic? Hey, buddy, come here and say it to my face!

Canon 60D to be revealed in August?

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:44 PM PDT


There were some rumors swirling that the mythical 60D, supposedly a prosumer DSLR situated between the T2i and 7D, would be announced tomorrow. That doesn’t seem to be the case after all, but with all this chatter, when else could it be? Oh I don’t know, how about at Canon’s once-every-five-years Canon Expo event, happening September 2nd-3rd? If I had any money, that’s the date I’d put it on… or perhaps even before. Yes, I’m going with before (with my imaginary money).

Curious about this 60D thing? Canon Rumors (who called attention to the Expo) has been publishing rumored specs on it practically every day for months now. Take your pick.

3DS game producer hints at what’s in store for us

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:32 PM PDT

Hideki Konno, the game producer for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS platform gave a rare interview at E3, and shared some very interesting information about how exactly the new handheld device will work. It was interesting to read that Nintendo has been considering 3D gaming for years, but only now (excepting the failed Virtual Boy) felt that the technology was ready.

Apparently, the new 3D display is based on some rather old technology — what’s commonly known as a lenticular sticker, which changes appearance depending upon the angle you view it from. Obviously, the 3DS will be more advanced then a sticker, but that’s where the basic concept comes from. Konno also revealed that game data will be stored inside handheld, instead of in the game cartridge as has been done previously. Mr. Konno revealed that both he and Miyamoto were insistent that the new device have an analog control, which has been missing from Nintendo’s previous portable devices.

Get ready for motion with the 3DS as well, since the device will contain both an accelerometer and gyroscope, allowing for games similar to the Wii MotionPlus device. Mr. Konno suggested that they could be used for games such as first person shooters, allowing the user to move the device to maintain line of sight, without losing the 3D experience.

[via Wired GameLife]

Blackberry Tablet information leaked, no release date

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

We heard a few months back that RIM was looking at building a Blackberry tablet, and it's looking like the rumors may be true. On Friday the rumors got a whole new life due to analyst comments, and today it was more or less confirmed by "a source close to RIM".


Microcopters working together making lifting blocks fun and easy

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 07:30 PM PDT


“Cooperative grasping” sounds kind of like what goes on at the sleazier clubs around here, but we’ll give these seasoned roboticists a pass on that one, because let’s be honest, every roboticist deserves a break. These little quadrotor micro-copters can grab and maneuver bricks all on their own, but they can also lift and move in concert. Making this kind of cooperative behavior work can be hugely important for practical applications — multiple standard units can combine to do a larger job…

Wait a second, why does that sound so familiar? Nooo, it’s DEVASTATOR!

[via Botjunkie and Gizmodo]

Carbon fiber iPad case makes me want to put a turbo in my iPad

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 07:00 PM PDT


At least, it would make me want to trick out my iPad if I had one. And this case is really making a pretty good case to get one. Too bad I’d spend all day looking at the back of the iPad instead of the more functional touchscreen part.

It’s called the HoverCoat, by monCarbone, and it costs $90. Man, do they think I’m made of money? Makes a guy want to rob a bank.

[via NotCot]

HP’s got a flexible display of its own

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 06:15 PM PDT


The flexible display is a kind of “keeping up with the Joneses” thing in technology right now. Everybody’s racing to create a display that’s durable, bendable, and responsive enough to use — even though there’s no real demand for it. I mean, there will be demand as soon as they make a sweet device that uses a flexible display properly (come on folding phone!), but in the meantime I feel like it’s just an arms race. Our screen is the flexiest! Oh yeah, well we printed ours on Mylar!

In HP’s case, the display (shown by Phil McKinney at MobileBeat today) is still way out on the horizon. Even the prototypes of things we see at CES all the time are way further along in development than this stuff. It’s not durable, for one thing — and there’s no manufacturing process, for another. But it works, and it’s full color, which is pretty great. Except that’s pretty much what the other guys have, too.

Ah well. I guess we’ll just have to satisfy ourselves by watching these jokers compare R&D budgets. I’ll be sure to let you guys know when something really sweet comes along.

[via SlashGear]

OpenPandora will take your order now

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:45 PM PDT


The powerhouse open-source handheld we’ve been waiting on for about two years now has entered its second run of production. The first run of 4000 units sold out, so if you were on the fence, you likely got shafted. This time, jump on it, you fool! Yeah, at $350 it’s a bit expensive, but if you’re at all interested in open-source hardware or just want a sweet handheld gaming platform, it’s going to be worth it.

Check out the device or buy it over at OpenPandora.

LG announces new 3D TVs, networked Blu-ray player

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 03:21 PM PDT

LG just announced their new 3D televisions, and they look tasty. Available in multiple sizes, all of the new models include the networking features that are making TVs so much more then just a plain old display these days.

There’s several new models, but they all use LG’s NetCast system. NetCast gives you access to online content like Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, and Picasa directly to your TV. The new televisions also claim to save you energy, something that LCD televisions have been criticized for in the past. The new TVs have an “Intelligent Sensor” that claims to automatically calibrate and optimize brightness, contrast, white balance, and color based on the ambient light in a room. The TVs also also for a “day” and “night” mode, letting you set optimal levels for viewing in your living room.

So let’s talk pricing. Of course, there’s multiple sizes available, at different price points. All of the pricing we have now is MSRP of course, so the street price may be a bit different. The 55-inch, model 55LX9500 is $5,400; the 47-inch, model 47LX9500 is $4,300. Both of these models are 480 Hz, and THX certified. Next we have the 55-inch model 55LX6500 priced at $3,499; and the 47-inch model 47LX6500 at $2,699. These two models are not THX certified, and run at a lower 240 Hz.

LG also announced their latest Blu-ray player today, the BX580. This new player supports both 2D and 3D discs, and also supports LG’s NetCast. The BX580 supports wifi, Blu-ray and DVD disc playback, upscaling, and HDMI 1.4a output. Expect to pay $349.99 for this new model.

View the full press release for the TV’s, and for the Blu-ray player.

Competition for Flickr: Snapfish buys Motionbox, Posterous courts Flickr users

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:35 PM PDT

Snapfish, the photo sharing and printing site from Hewlett Packard, announced today that they’ve acquired the Motionbox video platform, allowing Snapfish to expand its video offering. Current Motionbox users will have their content migrated to their new Snapfish account, and the current Motionbox site will remain online until August. In related news, Posterous is wooing Flickr users as the latest salvo in their Switch To Posterous campaign.

Here’s the press release about Snapfish’s acquisition of Motionbox:

Snapfish by HP Acquires Video Platform Technology from Motionbox, Inc.

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 12, 2010 – Snapfish by HP today announced an agreement to acquire the video technology platform from Motionbox, Inc., the video sharing site with over 2.8 million members worldwide. This acquisition will enable Snapfish to expand its online video offering.

“Video is a critical component of digital memory sharing today, and Motionbox’s technology will enable our Snapfish customers to create great personal video memories,” said Helen Vaid, General Manager of Snapfish. "With today’s announcement, we are very excited to start integrating the video platform Motionbox has developed into our popular Snapfish Home Video product."

Motionbox customers will now be able to experience a seamless photo and video sharing experience as their digital assets will be in one place when they set up their Snapfish account.

“We think Snapfish's integration of the technology acquired from Motionbox will be a great way to take personal video sharing to the next level”, said Josh Grotstein, CEO of Motionbox and an early backer of the Company. “Our vision has always been to make sharing personal videos as easy and affordable as sharing digital photos. No other photo sharing company is nearly as well positioned to bring our platform to a wide, global market.”

Snapfish by HP is the No. 1 online personal publishing service in the world, with more than more than 85 million registered users in 22 countries and more than 10 billion unique photos stored online. The current Motionbox.com site will continue operating until August 10, 2010.


“Transform” your HDTV into an iPad for some reason

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:10 PM PDT


Do you have an Apple sticker on the back of your car? Is there a classic Apple logo tattooed on your ankle? Do you adamantly proclaim the iPhone 4 the best phone ever made even though the death grip issue is real? Do people ask if your first name stands for ‘Machine Gun’? If so, this one is for you.


The iTVPad is simply a set of decals that give your HDTV the look of an iPad. The bezel gets wrapped with a vinyl overlay and even the on-screen buttons are represented. It’s just a concept right now from DarkDesignGroup, but at least a few enterprising Apple fanboys will likely make one themselves even though it’s about as dumb as the G4 Cube. [Yanko via Gearfuse]

Rumor: Verizon Droid Eris to get a software update on July 16th?

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 01:45 PM PDT

Man, its been a long time since we’ve had an episode of Good news, Bad news around these parts. You know what that means?

IT’S GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS TIME!

The Good News: After a few months of radio silence, Droid Eris owners might have an update to look forward to!

The Bad News: ….

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

BRDA: Blu-ray doing just fine, comments from Steve Jobs notwithstanding

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 01:40 PM PDT


If you follow Jobs-related news closely (and I have reason to believe that you do, dear reader) then you might have chuckled with cruel mirth at that man’s recent comparison of Blu-ray to “one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD.” Those with extensive SACD collections will consider that a compliment, but the other 99.9% of us felt the sting. The music industry underestimated how easily its product would move on the internet, and the humbling process is well underway for them. But high-definition video is not so easily traded and stored — need Blu-ray fear the same fate?

The Blu-ray Disc Association doesn’t think so; when asked about the Jobs comment, a spokesman for them expressed optimism (naturally) and quoted figures showing that it’s seeing lots of adoption. Unfortunately for me, they expressed it in Italian, one of the many languages I do not know. Here’s Google’s translation, with a little smoothing (I do speak English):

According to market analysis, the Blu-ray Disc format has a rate of adoption very similar to that of DVD at the same seniority (18 million U.S. homes with Blu-ray in Q4 ‘10, the same numbers as the penetration of DVD to Q1 of the fifth year on the market of that size, Adams Media Research), we agree that the Internet will increase its importance to both stream that content to be scarce (?) streaming and downloadable content, nevertheless we believe that the physical media like Blu-ray Disc will continue to dominate for many years, due to unbeatable ease of use, high durability, and certainly the ability to deliver high definition experience and quality available anywhere.

I don’t want to make too much out of a machine translation (particularly the “content to be scarce” part that I cannot for the life of me figure out — mystery, thy name is idiomatic Italian (update: Better translation, thanks Giorgio and Niccolo)) but this statement is as good an excuse to pontificate as any. The meaning is clear: “we’re doing fine, thank you very much, and streaming/downloadable media will remain a rarity compared to our physical media for many years.”

Okay, okay. Calm down, wipe the tears from your eyes, and get a little perspective here. The fact is we here at CrunchGear and TechCrunch tend to telescope the future of products quite a bit, and project the death of this or the rise of that a bit prematurely. It’s because, all modesty aside, we (readers included) live and work at the bleeding edge of technology, and not only do we see farther down the road, but we like to speculate about what’s there. In the mean time, there are literally hundreds of millions of people who care very little for the newest technologies, and simply want to watch 2012 in HD on their new TV. They are the hope and pride of the Blu-Ray Disc Association.

Now, before we condemn the BRDA as a myopic, deluded dinosaur of an organization, let’s at least acknowledge that they’ve got a pretty good reason to be that way. They serve a dinosaurish crowd, and although Blu-ray is probably going to be the last of its kind, I personally think it’s going to have a good run.

There are plenty of reasons to buy Blu-ray, for instance if you:

  • …care about image and audio quality
  • …think computers are only for checking email and Facebook
  • …enjoy the behind-the-scenes stuff and menus
  • …like actually owning your media and/or don’t trust Apple or the MPAA
  • …don’t get adequate broadband in your area
  • …own a PS3

So it’s no use saying there’s no reason to buy Blu-ray.

On the other hand, the list of Blu-ray features doubles as a to-do list for streaming media and digital distribution companies. I don’t need to tell you how quickly advances in the business put advantages like image quality behind them. There’s nothing wrong with putting out the product and then perfecting it; you pick up users the whole time as their pet objections get addressed.

And what about Apple? If there’s anything they can do to speed up the demise of Blu-ray, they might do it (no first-party Blu-ray support, eliminate optical drives altogether, make sneaky deals with content providers), but I get the feeling they’re happy to just sit there and watch the disc format bleed out.

Everyone invested in Blu-ray right now is just trying to gather up as much treasure as they can before the ship sinks. I disagree with Jobs that Blu-ray is just a satellite technology to DVD — the benefits of increased visual bandwidth and storage capacity are too real to ignore. But advantages and all, it’s going to end up treading water while streaming and digital distribution go full steam ahead. But enough with the nautical metaphors already.

That said, I can’t blame the BRDA for a little short-term optimism. For the next two years, I’ll say, there will be legitimate reasons to buy Blu-ray discs. After all, Blu-ray is a relatively small addition to a home theater system that will eventually support streaming and internet functions — and when the disc people finally give up the ghost, all the financial backers will be scrambling to convert Blu-ray owners with things like trade-ins, conversion tools, free content, and so on.

It feels a little weird defending Blu-ray, but there are millions of people for whose media consumption needs it is absolutely the best choice. That will change as broadband-based entertainment makes inroads into luddite living rooms — but until that happens, disc-based media will live a happy, stupid life.

Update: Thanks to the readers suggesting translation changes.

[via 9to5 Mac]

RIM releases another BlackBerry OS 6.0 video — what do you think?

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 01:35 PM PDT

With just about everyone else in the smartphone world churning out handset after handset, RIM has been relatively quiet lately. They’re not trying to hide the reason, though: they’re working hard on BlackBerry OS 6.0, and they want people to know it.

They’ve just released a second preview video of their brand new operating system, and this one is just oh, oh so much better than that last one. Why?

A) No Black Eyed Peas soundtrack.
B) No accidental homages to the iPhone.
C) You can actually see what the heck is going on.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Remembering the 2010 Fifa World Cup

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 12:45 PM PDT

Spain now have a star on their shirt. I’m not exaggerating when I say that my limbs were numb and my mouth was dry during yesterday’s World Cup final. I was truly a hot mess. Moving on… It’s now time for all publications to run their World Cup retrospectives, and since we barely qualify as a publication it’s time for ours. Well, mine; nobody else on staff could name a single player from yesterday’s final. But, of course, I’m taking a more technological point of view. Because if there’s anything I excel at, it’s writing about marginally relevant topics right here on CG.

Jabulani

How many of you knew the name of a World Cup ball prior to World Cup 2010? None of you, correct. Now, how many of you are sick of hearing about the Adidas Jabulani? I’m certainly tired of writing about it every other day. Person A hates the ball, Person B loves the ball. Study A says the ball is garbage, Study B says the ball is fine. Lather, rinse, repeat. For World Cup 2012, I’d like to see FIFA return to the ball that Ferenc Puskás used to kick about. PROBLEM SOLVED.

Goal-line technology

Long overdue, but we may have reached the moment where Fifa, world football’s generally incompetent governing body, has finally recognized the necessity of goal-line technology. There’s still probably no chance in Hell that Fifa will adopt video replay anytime soon, which is fine by me. Baby steps and all that. But if the 2014 World Cup doesn’t have goal-line technology, well, that would be very stupid. Maybe Conmebol will use next year’s Copa América to test out a form of goal-line technology.

Apps

There were plenty of Apps to chose from this time around. I used Goal.com’s App quite a bit, but that was only to check the game schedule. ESPN on TV had a knack for showing their broadcast time instead of game start time. I want to tune in when the players are walking down the tunnel, not when Alexi Lalas is pontificating about this or that topic. That said,
Roberto Martínez, Ruud Gullit, and Jürgen Klinsmann did a fine job when I saw them.

ESPN & ESPN3.com

Despite the fact that the games broadcast live on ABC weren’t on ESPN3.com weren’t streamed live, ESPN really outdid itself with ESPN3.com. You have to figure that Disney paid through the nose for the broadcast rights for the World Cup, so it’s good to see the games promoted and shown on TV and on the Internet. Proper ESPN, too, not like ESPN 800 or anything like that. And with actual commentators who know that game! Really, ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup this time around was very, very good. Yeah, the network was a tendency to make EVERY SINGLE SECOND terribly overdramtic, but I think that’s a problem with American broadcasting as a whole.

Paul the psychic octopus

Paul is about as far away from technology as you can get, but I still love the idea of a psychic octopus. The world needs more psychic animals making sports predictions.

BRAND WARS

In the end, the best player of the tournament wasn’t wearing Nike or Adidas, but Puma (though Puma and Adidas share a common lineage). Diego Forlán, a great man, won the Fifa Golden Ball, the award given to the tournament’s best player. (He was also on my fantasy team, so there.) The final came down to an epic battle between Nike (The Netherlands) and Adidas (Spain). Now, I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone on the Spain team had those fancy Adidas TechFit kits (the tight-fitting kits where you cold see straps on the back.) Does that fact mean anything? Well, no, it was just something I noticed. (Arjen Robben wore a TechFit kit in the Champions League final last May. He lost, of course.) TechFit kits will be used in the upcoming domestic leagues across Europe.

On the whole, I’d have to say that Adidas’ kits looked better than everyone else’s (favorites includes Germany home and away, Mexico away, Argentina home, and France home.) Other standouts were Portugal’s away (Nike) and Holland’s home (Nike; anybody know what font typeface they used?). The color of the Urugauy (Puma) home kit was great, too.

So, that’s it. I now need to find some other way to occupy my time. Well, until the European leagues kick off again.

And how great would it be if the Vuvuzela catches on all over the world? All vuvzela, all the time.
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