StumbleUpon has just launched their official Google Chrome Extension.
In their official post about the release, StumbleUpon has this to say:
“We’ve also heard some claim the Chrome extension is no different from web stumbling. Actually, Stumbling via the Chrome extension is quite different from web stumbling in a number of important ways. For one, you can receive shares directly in Chromebar; for another, you can add your own discoveries. Also, frame-breaking sites do not remove the Chrome extension; and the overall Stumbling experience is faster and more responsive. Good stuff, huh?”
True, submitting new stumbles and receiving shares is a big part of the experience — but it just feels to me like “something” is missing.
There has been so much talk about the iPad, but I dont think the upcoming release of Windows 7 Phones has received enough press. Anyways, here is a Windows 7 Phone Tablet concept that just great. I must admit it does seem quite similar to a big iPhone, but its still cool.
The Kindle app for Mac OS X 10.5 and above is finally available without calling for a glitzy press conference, where this free application weighs in at 22MB. Most folks have been looking out for it since its announcement last October, when the iPad was but vaporware at that point in time. With this app, you can download Kindle books that are under your possession, reading them at your own pace on your Mac. Synchronization of progress is fully automatic, so you can switch between your Kindle and iPhone on-the-fly without missing a beat.
Backpack mogels Eastpak teamed up with design studio Quinze & Milan to create this catch-all, carry-all sofa that’s part of their ‘built to resist’ collection. Although at first glance it seems a little strange, we think it’s a great idea for an all in one home office. No really! Think about it!
Techcrunch is reporting that since Viacom is currently in a legal battle with YouTube, they were able to work out how much certain people or companies received from the YouTube sale to Google.
YouTube CEO – Chad Hurley = $334 million
Co-Founder – Steve Chen = $301 million
Co-Founder – Jawed Karim = $66 million
Interface Designer – Christina Brodbeck = $9.09 million
The VCs did even better. Sequoia Capital, YouTube’s venture backer, turned a $9 million investment into $516 million (or about 31 percent). And Artis Capital turned a $3 million investment into $85 million.
Another notable stat from the legal docs: in the past five years, more than 500 million videos have been uploaded to YouTube overall.
Reuters have reported that Spring will launch their first WiMax Phone next week. Sprint will be showing country’s first 4G handset at a press conference during CTIA. The event will take place on Tuesday, the 23rd.
The phone is said to be manufactured by HTC and named the Supersonic. The phone will operate both on Sprint’s CDMA network and its WiMax network being run by Clearwire. Neither Sprint or HTC commented for the story.
Last month, reports circulated that Sprint would launch a dual-mode HTC phone running Android by this summer. This certainly sounds like it.
Sprint’s 4G network is currently available in 27 cities around the country. Sprint has detailed plans of extending that network to eight+ more cities by year-end.
According to the NY Times, Google, Intel and Sony are developing a new product called Google TV. It appears that Google wants to develop a new tv platform and roll it out in a set top box. Apparently, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, etc. etc. are all lonely because Google is working on a Google Web TV platform that will be rolled into televisions and, you guessed it, yet another set-top box. Logitech has also been tapped for its expertise in remote controls and accessories. Last week, the WSJ reported that Google was privately testing a set-top box with Dish Network.
Google intends to use the same open approach to Web TV that it has to Android and hopes that TV apps will see the same type of enthusiasm from the developer community as cell phone apps, thereby expanding the Web-on-TV concept exponentially. Google plans to get the development tool kit out within a couple of months.
The hardware will use Intel Atom chips. For its part, Sony will likely launch some of the first TVs and other devices with the Google TV tech built in. The technology will be based on Android and will use Google Chrome for browsing.
The project is still being kept tightly under wraps and spokespersons for all companies except for Sony declined to comment for the NY Times piece. Sony’s spokesperson stated that he hadn’t heard of the project.
Patently Apple has reported that Apple is currently working on their own location based service. Location is the buzz word at the moment and its great to see that Apple are looking to do something in house. The Apple social networking app is called iGroups.
The app is likely to tie in with your iPhone and MobileMe and will make it possible for groups of users to share information around events. Events could include concerts, tradeshows, conferences, business meetings, weddings etc..
This kind of service is likely to compete somewhat with Gowalla and Foursquare, but they seem to have the who geo-location gaming angle sorted out.
Interestingly, AppleInsider has also uncovered news that Apple is working on a Walkie Talkie like feature for use with the iPhone. The technology “could allow iPhone users to transmit data — such as simple text messages — to each other over voice channels, forgoing a reliance wireless carriers’ backend servers, in a manner similar to Nextel’s walkie-talkie feature.” This would fit neatly in with plans for a geolocation based group discussion service.
It was reported yesterday that the pricing the new Motorola CLIQ XT on T-Mobile would be quite cheap, but at todays launch that just hasnt happened.
Available on Even More plans for $129.99 and Even More Plus for $329.99, the CLIQ XT is still attractively priced considering some the rather positive early reviews it received. Of course, there are naturally going to be some stragglers who hold out on the CLIQ XT until Motorola delivers the Android 2.1 update it promised for all MOTOBLUR handsets back in January (the CLIQ XT ships with Android 1.5), but that can’t be too far away now…
Sony’s VP of Realistic Movements Kevin Butler is at it again, this time in a video ad for the PlayStation Move. He’s back from the future to thank us all for the success of the motion control device, and make a few jabs towards Nintendo and Microsoft for their efforts. Here’s a few choice quotes.
“Because real boxers don’t hit like this [flails arms exasperatingly]“
“It’s also got what we in the future call buttons, which turn out to be pretty important to those handful of millions of people who enjoy playing shooters, platformers, well, anything that doesn’t involve catching a big red ball.”
“C’mon, who wants to pretend their hand is a gun. What is this, third grade? Pew, pew, pew.”
Strings is a new startup that aims to help users filter meaningful content across the web. After heading to the Strings site and signing up you are able to download their software for either PC or Mac. Once the software is downloaded you are able to add Trackers to your site, Trackers make it easy to curate everything from the songs you play, to movies you watch, and products you buy.
Strings also has a great sharing option in which you can see what your friends have been purchasing, playing or watching.
Im all for filtering tools that run through the huge amount of internet content and break it down so it only provides you with something that is useful. However, Strings just seems to be a little too complicated and not really well explained. I can see my Dad for example logging on and using this service, cause it just doesnt simplify itself. Its a shame because the design and idea behind the site is pretty sound, its just the execution.
Another Tuesday, another beta…and wait one second! Today’s not Tuesday, is it? Regardless, a spankin’ new hot beta awaits you at the Apple iPhone dev center (developer credentials needed). As usual, the new release is under NDA. Please consult the dev center for release notes and other details.
