The latest from TechCrunch
- Apple's New Tablet To Be Baptized iSlate? Let's Dig A Little Deeper
- Polyvore's Virtual Styling Tool Aims To Be More Social With Facebook Connect
- Indiagames To Launch New Cricket Gaming iPhone App
- Skout Studies What Happens When Dating Goes Mobile
| Apple's New Tablet To Be Baptized iSlate? Let's Dig A Little Deeper | Top |
| Nice scoop by MacRumors , which reportedly retrieved historical evidence that Apple has acquired the domain name islate.com back in 2007. Apparently, the Cupertino company registered the domain through brand protection firm Mark Monitor to conceal the fact that the domain name is theirs, as usual, but was briefly listed as the owner at some point in the past nonetheless. If correct, that means we can add a rumor to a rumor: that the unconfirmed, unannounced but most definitely coming (maybe) Apple tablet device will be named iSlate. That would be in line with earlier connections of the ’slate’ term to the elusive tablet computer, based on New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller calling it something to that effect in a speech. Let’s dig a little deeper. Other iSlate Domain Names There’s a lot of islate-related domain names with different TLDs that Apple most definitely does not own (islate.org, islate.net, islate.be, islate.nl, islate.es, and so on) but I did find a couple of interesting things trolling whois servers. A search for islate.co.uk lists Mark Monitor as the owner, just like islate.com. This could be meaningless, but we know for sure Apple works with Mark Monitor for other domain names and the United Kingdom is a key market for the company. Registration date: 17 November 2006 . Unfortunately, the whois server for German TLDs (whois.denic.de) is currently down, so I can’t look up who secured islate.de at this point. Update: owned by Innovative Dynamics GmbH since December 2007. But look up who the owner of islate.fr (country TLD for France, a third key country for Apple in Europe) is: a Paris-based IP property attorney firm called Wilson & Berthelot . Guess who the technical contact for the domain name registration is? Mark Monitor. And doesn’t Apple work with law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in the States? Coincidence, or not? Other related domain names that were secured through Mark Monitor: islate.info and islate.biz, both of which were registered on the same date as islate.co.uk: 17 November 2006 . Update: islate.jp (Japan) was registered by Mark Monitor on 29 November 2006 , while islate.cn (China) was registered through the company on 18 November 2009 . The plot thickens. The ISLATE Trademark (United States) On November 21, 2006 a company called Slate Computing (registered in Delaware) filed for a US word mark for ‘ISLATE’. Notably, that was right around the time at least three islate-related domain names were registered. You won’t find any information about any company called Slate Computing online, although according to the filing these are the goods and services they offer: Computers; computer software, namely, database management software, electronic mail and messaging software, Internet browser software, paging software, database synchronization software, software for accessing, browsing and searching online databases, software for creating spreadsheets, tables, graphs and charts, software for organizing and analyzing data, software for word processing, software for creation and display of presentations including text and graphics, software used for image editing, image processing, image acquisition, image file management, image viewing, image sharing, and the creation of documents incorporating images, software for use in developing websites, software to help users create, edit, organize, search, transfer, publish and subscribe to weblogs, blogs, podcasts, web broadcasts and news and information feeds on global and/or local computer and telecommunications networks, software for use in authoring, downloading, transmitting, receiving, editing, extracting, encoding, decoding, playing, storing and organizing audio, video and still images, software for authoring digital content, software for personal information management, software for DVD authoring, software for the electronic storage and retrieval of electronic calendar files, software with clock and alarm clock functionality, telephony management software, character recognition software, application development tool software for personal and handheld computers, software for the redirection of messages, Internet e-mail, and/or other data to one or more electronic handheld devices from a data store on or associated with a personal computer or a server, and software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device; computer operating system software; computer utility software; computer peripherals. notebook computers; laptop computers; tablet computers; computer servers; handheld computers; mobile computers; hard drives; audio speakers; speakers for computers; radios; cameras; video cameras; telephones; mobile telephones; personal digital assistants; electronic personal organizers; electronic notepads; blank magnetic data carriers; computer gaming machines; microprocessors; memory boards; computer monitors; keyboards; computer input devices, namely, touch screens, styluses, mice, trackballs and shuttle dials; computer cables; modems; printers; computer accessories, namely, computer battery chargers, battery packs, docking stations, adaptors, computer wired and wireless remote controls, audio headphones and earphones, and replacement parts for all the aforesaid goods. That’s quite a list for a company that doesn’t even have its own website, but it matches exactly what Apple’s business is all about. Is Slate Computing just a shell company created by Apple, or is someone trying to play a number on them? More on that later. Either way, the USPTO record shows that an opposition was filed on June 10, 2008. In case you’re interested, the domain name slatecomputing.com is owned by a company called “Cayman Ninety Business” – with an office address on the Cayman Islands – which according to Domain Tools owns over 11,000 other domain names (all the marks of a savvy domainer and/or cybersquatter at play). The ISLATE Trademark (Europe) I did a search for ‘islate’ on OHIM , and found out that same Slate Computing has filed for a trademark for the term in the European Union as well. It was filed in 21 November 2006 , on the same day the filing for the ISLATE word mark was registered in the US. Listed as legal representative on the form: UK-based Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge , the same law firm Apple worked with for securing the EU-wide trademark for the term ‘Macbook’, for one. Then I noticed something else on the record for the European ISLATE trademark: the priority country that was registered is Trinidad & Tobago. Why that matters? Because Apple has a history of listing Trinidad & Tobago as the priority country for European trademarks – just look up ‘iphone’ on OHIM and you’ll see I’m right. Conclusion Here’s what I think happened, based on the evidence presented above: Apple decided on the name iSlate for a new product it was working on, whether it will ultimately turn out to be for their new tablet computer or not, in November 2006. That same month, they moved to file for a trademark for the name in the United States and Europe under disguise, setting up and using Slate Computing LLC as a shell company, and securing a couple of available domain names through Mark Monitor (islate.co.uk, islate.biz and islate.info). Then, they acquired the domain name islate.com from whoever owned it at that point. MacRumors reports that the domain name was under ownership of a company called Data Docket, Inc back in 2006, and a search for that company turns up this interesting article on that company. They’re either a shell company for Google (unlikely), or professional domainers/cybersquatters. I’m told Data Docket is in fact affiliated to Mark Monitor, which would make sense. Either way, Apple reportedly got a hold of the domain name early 2007, right about the time they also secured islate.fr. The evidence is overwhelming: if there’s going to be a new tablet from Apple coming out next month, chances are that it’ll be christened iSlate. Feel free to start lauding or ranting on the chosen name. (Original image: MacRumors , who worked with Mark Gurman for the story) Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 | |
| Polyvore's Virtual Styling Tool Aims To Be More Social With Facebook Connect | Top |
| As “Fashion 2.0″ sites continue to innovate, the social component of these style-focused sites becomes an important tool for viral growth. Weardrobe, a site focused on capturing and sharing the street style of web users, was recently acquired by Like.com And we’ve written about Polyvore, the startup lets web shoppers pull their favorite items any online store and mix and match to create personalized outfits online. Users can then share their creations on the site and can then buy the items shown. The site is seeing rapid growth, with over 6 million unique visitors per month thanks to new branding efforts and the launch of Facebook Connect. Polyvore’s virtual styling tool allows people to mix and match products from any online store to create fashion collages, called “sets,” and collections that can then be embedded in other sites. Armed with $7 million in funding, Polyvore has recently forged partnerships with brands like Calvin Klein, Barney’s, Lancome, Zappos Marc Jacobs, and the Gap to create branded collages that the Polyvore community of users can then share and buy from. Many of these brands use Polyvore’s technology to create contests for users.The startup collects revenue in these partnerships and also sees returns from affiliate fees when users buy And users can now share their branded “sets” via Facebook and Twitter, serving as social advertisements for designers and fashion companies. Polyvore says 30,000 sets are created daily on the site. Launched in 2007, the startup just raised $5.6 million in funding. Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. | |
| Indiagames To Launch New Cricket Gaming iPhone App | Top |
| One of India’s most popular gaming platforms Indiagames is launching a nifty new Cricket iPhone app, called Cricket T20 Fever. Cricket is hugely popular in India and the new app will be a feature rich gaming app that will aim to simulate the experience of playing the sport and competing against other players. The game will launch first on the iPhone and as a PC browser based game and within a few months be available on additional platforms like Symbian, Symbian, Maemo, PSP, Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo DSi. And the app will feature Facebook Connect. Indiagames has already released a number of mobile cricket apps, including its Cricket T20 World Championship app. Initially Indiagames plans to launch a free version of the game on App Store and a Paid Premium version but will also be experimenting with microtransactions with the app. While cricket doesn’t have a significant fan base in the U.S., the sport has a huge following in other parts of the world, such as India. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors | |
| Skout Studies What Happens When Dating Goes Mobile | Top |
| Over the last decade or so, the public perception of online dating has shifted from being a bit odd to something that’s pretty normal. But even as people get used to surfing the web as they look for a potential date, there’s a new trend emerging: location aware, mobile dating services. Skout , a social dating service with a strong mobile component, decided to conduct a study to see how hesitant people are to make the move from mobile messaging to in-person meetups. The company surveyed 1000 of its users 20-30 years old, with an even gender split. While everyone surveyed was a Skout user, the questions pertained to any mobile dating service. Now, obviously these stats don’t readily apply to the general public — everyone surveyed is already a Skout user, so they’re more likely than average to be inclined to use a mobile dating site. Here are some of the conclusions Skout came up with: 51 percent of the consumers surveyed have met another single person in the Real World that they initiated contact with on their iPhone. The survey findings show that: 69 percent are comfortable meeting up with someone they met on their iPhone 40 percent are using a mobile dating service while out in bars, clubs and restaurants 20 percent are only using the service outside of their homes 35 percent are using the service at work The company also concluded that most people would rather be dating than hanging out with their families during the holidays (which is kind of sad): 29 percent of the surveyed consumers would prioritize spending time with family 36 percent would prefer going on “a date or two” 20 percent would prefer at least one “hook-up” and a few dates 15 percent would prefer multiple “hook-ups” and dates before the Holidays are over Finally, in a strange twist, 20% of those surveyed already had a significant other. Half of them were participating on these social dating sites with their partner’s consent (huh?) and the other half were doing it behind their back. Of course, there are probably a good number of folks who lied on this question — I suspect the number of people who are secretly using these services is actually higher. Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 | |
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