innovative products

Facebook Tries to Buy Twitter. Are They Insane?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:10:46 -0500

There are two kinds of companies in the Valley: those that make money, and those that don't have to. As the economy worsens, the former group behaves like firms in other sectors, making cuts and revising earnings expectations. For the latter group, living in a VC-backed candyland, it's as good a time as any to spend half a billion dollars on something fun.

ChaCha's Mobile Text Search on AT&T One-Ups Google's

Chris Dannen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:01:57 -0500

AT&T [T] announced on Wednesday that it would partner with human-powered search engine ChaCha, whose natural-language search application has found its niche among text-message users. The two companies will engage in cross-promotion, but no other technological initiatives have been announced.

Oodle Brings Its "Weirdo-Filter" to Facebook Marketplace

Chris Dannen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:11:41 -0500

Classifieds site Oodle announced today that it will re-invent the Facebook Marketplace as a “social” market in which users can buy and sell with friends and community members. The new Oodle-powered classifieds are slated to launch in the first quarter of 2009, according to Oodle CEO Craig Donato. Marketplace will retain its existing look and feel, but function more like Oodle's own site.

Beauty is Better Than Brains

Chris Dannen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:56:54 -0500

It's no wonder Detroit's Big Three are failing; we hold them to a very high standard. We want cars that look good and function well, and why shouldn't we? We spend a lot of money on them, and use them constantly. But what about the other invaluable products in our lives -- our gadgets?

How the "Strip-Mall Effect" Could Destroy the Web

Chris Dannen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:20:39 -0500

Drive through many towns on the East Coast, and you'll see the same fossils of urban development: an old, blighted town center and a few miles away, a modern retail strip with ample parking, brightly-lit chain shops and, inevitably, a Starbucks [SBUX]. Take a look at new plans announced by Facebook on Monday, and its hard to escape the deja vu. Call it the Strip Mall Effect, and it's coming to the Internet.

Online Social Networks,..An Early Case Study Part 2

Sherman Mohr — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:03:15 -0400

During my last posts, I discussed the use of meetup.com as a vehicle to tie traditional business models, in this case, a Chamber of Commerce together with a robust social networking site. We learned that the methods are time consuming, one must give before they get, and the results, initially, are difficult to measure.

Google Invades Gaming; Outer Space

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:43:28 -0400

Adding to its already-formidable AdSense product-line this week, Google [GOOG] announced AdSense for online Flash games. Comscore says that up to 25% of Web surfers worldwide play these games, so Google might be tapping a sizable market: 200 million computer-users.

AdSense’s new gaming platform will allow game-writers to incorporate text, image or video advertisements within their games, likely with a similar content-related algorithm that drives regular text-based AdSense to make sure you’re getting relevant ads.

LG Camera-Phone Makes You Look Prettier

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:28:55 -0400

LG [LGERF.PK] looks as if it’s prepared to challenge Nokia [NOK] and Sony [SNE] for the title of most camera-capable mobile phone. First came the KC920, nicknamed the Renoir, and now a new little-brother model: the just-announced KC780.

Apple MacBook Release Official for October 14th

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:24:58 -0400

Not much to add to the already-reported rumors of new Apple [AAPL] MacBooks on their way in 5 days, but Apple has finally acknowledged the event by sending out an invitation to special media folks. The event will start at 10AM PST on the 14th of October, and will be held at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters.

They haven't specified that this is a MacBook release event, but the invitation has a dimly-lit photo of a MacBook Pro shell on it, so this blogger has used his intrepid skills of deduction to come to the above conclusion.

YouTube May Finally Make Money

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:32:51 -0400

It’s been years since YouTube became the jewel in Google’s [GOOG] crown in terms of usership, but it’s never made the company a dime. Now it seems the search giant is figuring out effective ways to monetize their video site, according to announcements made Monday.

Toshiba’s Refreshed “Satellite” Packs WiMAX

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:30:43 -0400

Now that Sprint [S] has announced its big WiMAX launch in Baltimore, bunches of companies are scurrying to announce products that will incorporate the wireless broadband technology. As of this week, the XOHM network in Baltimore (and a handful of other cities nationwide; the list is growing) will have a new notebook to welcome: the WiMAX-ready Toshiba [TOSBF] Satellite notebook.

Google Saves You From Your Drunk Self

Chris Dannen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:25:11 -0400

It’s the scourge of the new generation of computer-users. The ubiquity of electronic communications is so pervasive that sometimes you have access to the world when your brain has lost access to your fingers. Under those circumstances -- drunk as hell, or perhaps just high on life after seeing The Eagles -- you open up your laptop and scratch out an idiotic email that you invariably regret the next morning.

Microsoft CEO Defends Himself Against Class-Action Allegations

Chris Dannen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:58:17 -0400

All it took was one flimsy product designation, and now Microsoft [MSFT] has a class-action lawsuit on its hands. The suit charges that Microsoft certified certain budget computer models as "Vista Capable" when, in fact, they were only barely so. The machines, which were low-performing CPUs with mediocre hardware, could only run Vista in theory; in practice, they were too slow to be practically usable.

Ailing Chipmaker Divides Itself

Chris Dannen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:28:45 -0400

AMD [AMD] has been struggling to hang with Intel [INTC] for a while now, but a string of buggy chips and unimpressive offerings have made the company nearly moot in the last few years. Now AMD has announced that it will be splitting itself into two separate companies: one that can architect processors, and another that actually manufactures them. That makes Intel the last standing corporation with both in-house design and production capabilities.

Big News From BlackBerry

Chris Dannen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:17:42 -0400

Today we have the privilege of recognzing two signifcant achievements for RIM [RIMM], the maker of BlackBerry devices. Both are long in coming, much-needed, and potentially dangerous for companies trying to dominate the touchscreen device market (Apple [AAPL] and Google [GOOG], take note).

EBay Cuts 1600 Jobs

Chris Dannen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:47:14 -0400

EBay [EBAY] is shaking things up in its corporate offices after making a series of changes to its site to keep usership high. The auction site announced today that as a result of this re-strategizing, it will be cutting 1600 jobs, which amounts to the biggest round of layoffs in the company's history. The cuts will make up 10% of the company's workforce. Only about 1,000 of the jobs will be full-time positions; the other 600 will be part-time and temp positions that will remain unfilled permanently. They will not all be domestic jobs.

Apple MacBook Rumors Intensify

Chris Dannen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:48:42 -0400

As we reported last week on this blog, a number of industry rumors point to October 14th as a drop date for the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros from Apple [AAPL]. Rumors out of Nvidia [NVDA] seemed to confirm that date, as a graphics card that is said to be used in the new laptops had its official release date postponed until just after the Apple laptops are said to debut. Now more information is coming to light about the MacBook announcement.

Ford Lets Parents Control Kids' Cars

Chris Dannen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:54:31 -0400

Since the dawn of time, parents have shaken their fists at misbehaving teenagers who careen around town whilst enjoying the freedom of the open road. Ford [F] is seeking to change that dynamic and come to many a parent's aid. In the process, they'll be making driving an irritating hell for restless kids.

Best Buy Announces GPS Units With Mobile Broadband

Chris Dannen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:35:51 -0400

Best Buy [BBY] revealed the first generation of its in-house GPS units this week, which will be sold under the “Insignia” brand and will feature a surprising feature-set that might be a game changer for Garmin [GRMN] and other competitors.

Nokia Planning More Touchscreen Phones?

Chris Dannen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:34:31 -0400

Consumers that checked out a Nokia [NOK] podcast on its new S60 Symbian operating system this week might have noticed that it featured press photos of an as-yet-announced touchscreen device. On the heels of the release of the Finnish company’s first true finger-operable touchscreen phone, the Tube, this news might suggest that Nokia is investing more R&D in the touch format, and perhaps looking into a combination touch/clamshell form factor like the one seen in the press photos.

LG’s Blu-ray Player Packs Netflix

Chris Dannen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:33:23 -0400

LG [PINK:LGERF] has a doozy of a Blu-ray player up its sleeve, and as more details about it emerge, it looks increasingly cool. The BD300, as it’s being called, is a low-profile, gloss-black component that not only plays your sweet Blu-ray copy of Iron Man, but also streams Netflix’s [NFLX] instant movies directly to your TV for no additional cost, provided you have a Netflix account already.

Has NVIDIA Leaked New MacBook Details?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:58:23 -0400

Rumors have been afire that Apple [AAPL] is coming shortly with new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, the latter of which feel as if they haven't been updated in centuries. Now there's word that a MacBook event is planned for October 14, and news out of NVIDIA [NVDA] seems to support that news.

Get Paid To Use Microsoft Live Search!

Chris Dannen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:32:00 -0400

Microsoft [MSFT] seems to be in salvage mode this quarter, first with its controversial Seinfeld ads and "Mojave" project trying to reclaim users for Windows Vista, and now with a new strategy to grow Live Search. Live Search is Redmond's search engine, and its market share pales in comparison to Yahoo's [YHOO] and Google's [GOOG].

Sony PC For Music-Loving New Yorkers

Chris Dannen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:08:50 -0400

Sirius/XM Offer New Plans

Chris Dannen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:50:56 -0400