If the San Francisco Department of the Environment gets its way, starting as soon as next month Bay Area residents might start noticing the radiation levels of cellphones displayed prominently next to their respective price at retail outlets. This is, of course, despite no definitive research that the handsets cause harm and the FCC’s insistence that the devices sold to consumers are safe. The proposal is being endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who as it’s noted is not about to stop using his iPhone anytime soon. Not to worry, Maine, you’ll still keep the top spot for most ridiculous cellphone warning label.
Six months ago I wrote about a startup called Shopkick (it was then called MOBshop). The company won’t disclose much of what their eventual product will be, but they’ve attracted some of the most high profile investors in Silicon Valley: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Reid Hoffman.
Here’s what CEO Cyriac Roeding will say about Shopkick which is scheduled to launch in 2010: they aim to aims to bridge the gap between the mobile phone and the physical shopping worlds.
We know you’re itching to get your hands on a Nexus One — Google’s managed to build buzz here the way only a couple companies in the world know how. Unfortunately, it sounds like you’re going to need to cross your fingers (or pull out that eBay emergency stash) to get one out of the gate, because we’ve got some intel here suggesting that it’ll be available only by “invitation” at first. Our tipster doesn’t have information on how those invites are going to be determined, other than the fact that it’s Google doing the inviting — if we had to guess, current registered developers are a strong possibility — but the good news, we suppose, is that T-Mobile will apparently sell the phone directly at some to-be-determined point in the future.
Oh, but that’s not all — we’ve got specs, too. Lots of them. Here are the highlights, but follow the break for the whole shebang:
“The Atom is dead, long live the Atom.” The long awaited upgrade of Intel’s netbook platform is gathering pace, and latest to join the ranks is Samsung with its 3G and GPS-equipped N150. Powered by Qualcomm’s Gobi 2000 chip, the connectivity on this lite laptop will not go lacking, though Sammy disappoints with the rest of its specs. According to a very early listing on Neobits, the 10.1-inch screen sticks with a now barely acceptable 1,024 x 600 resolution, while RAM and storage are limited to the eons old 1GB and 160GB, respectively. Windows 7 Starter Edition, a 4,400mAh battery, and the typical 3 USB ports, 802.11b/g/n wireless and a 3-in-1 card reader fill out the rest of the unremarkable data sheet. Still, the presently listed price is under $374, which is right on par with the N140, meaning complaints are allowed (but should be kept to a low hush of disgruntlement, ya dig?).
Remember that Mini 210 mentioned in HP’s leak from a few months back? Looks like it’s on the comeback as the Pine Trail-powered replacement for the Mini 110 (noticing a trend here?). Logichp has some fancy press pics, and additionally, online retailer eCost lists the little guy for $321 and claims 1GB of RAM, 160GB to 250GB HDD, 802.11b/g/n, card reader, and Windows 7 Starter Edition, a.k.a. the new norm for netbooks.
[Thanks, Tim]
The wait is finally over. Over a year after its memorable (and zany) debut at TechCrunch 50 2008, Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera iPhone application is now available worldwide. The augmented reality (AR) app has already established itself as a huge hit in Japan, and now Tonchidot is taking its shot at world domination. Or, at least, at getting everyone to start leaving each other geo-tagged virtual Post-It notes. You can grab Sekai Camera here, free of charge.
The premise behind the app is quite simple: as you go about your day, Sekai Camera invites you to leave text messages, photos, and audio recordings that will appear as floating bubbles wherever you created them. You can also fire up Sekai Camera to look at the world around you to see what kind of content has been left by other users. As you spin the camera around, you’ll see new messages pop up as floaty icons. Click one, and you’ll see the content that was shared previously. It’s a bit like Twitter in that everything is publicly available, but everything is built around location — if you aren’t near a message, you can’t see it.
Some Mac users just don’t want to be limited to one monitor, but would like two… or three… or more.
Having only one display port on your Mac can put a real crimp in your plans to be the master of the monitor universe, so NewerTech has launched the USB 2.0 Display Adapter. The adapter, with a suggested retail price of US$96.00, lets users add an extra HDMI, DVI, or VGA display to their Mac. Up to four of the bus-powered adapters can be hosted on each Mac, and each adapter can support a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1152. The device also supports Windows, and can be used with Boot Camp.
There’s no shortage of wine-focused iPhone apps that help users access listings, varietals and recommendations on the go. Wine.com, a popular wine retailer with a fantastic domain name, is launching it’s own free iPhone app to help wine lovers everywhere find the perfect bottle.
You can research and buy from Wine.com’s database of 45,000+ wines, save them to your “cellar” to keep track of what you like and buy, create wish lists and more. The app also provides nifty recommendation lists, such as “90+ Point Rated Wines Under $20.” There are definitely practical uses of the app, which could be useful when you’re out at a restaurant and need more info on a particular wine, or want to compare prices and see how much the wine has been marked up.
Last night a bunch of us from TechCrunch went to see the midnight first showing of Avatar. Sure, we’re hosting a screening in San Francisco today at 4, but we just wanted to see it right then.
Verdict: Flawless. Epic. Awesome. I can’t wait to see it again in three hours.
Handmade item marketplace and community website operator Etsy, which is backed by $31.6 million in venture capital funding, has acquired New York-based advertising startup Adtuitive for an undisclosed sum.
The small acquisition was mentioned on a company blog post published yesterday, although the announcement was pretty scarce on details.