Tuesday, October 30, 2012

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Here's To Another Crazy One: Microsoft's Steve Ballmer Narrates Windows Phone 8 Ad Top
Photo 29-10-2012 18 10 06Microsoft is really pushing the personalised angle of Windows Phone 8 -- so much so it's co-opted sometimes crazy over-enthusiastic CEO Steve Ballmer into showing off his own Windows Phone and voicing one of the new ads. The move deliberately (or otherwise) echoes that of another tech CEO called Steve narrating a commercial (albeit, Apple's Jobs' The Crazy Ones ad never actually aired).
 
The Square-like iZettle Launches In Germany With DZ BANK And Deutsche Telekom, Puts Heat On Payleven Top
iZ+DT-1iZettle, the Square-like app and mini chip-card reader, has partnered with DZ BANK and Deutsche Telekom to launch its payments service in Germany. Jacob de Geer, iZettle CEO and co-founder says their ambition is to "become the undisputed market leader in Germany and given the partnerships with DZ BANK and Deutsche Telekom we believe we are very well positioned." That may also be code for 'well positioned' for a buy-out by US-based Square which has yet to launch in Europe, but has already signalled its intention to do so and may also have the cash if its turnover is to be believed. iZettle goes up against the Samwer-backed swipe-card clone Payleven.de.
 
U.K.'s First 4G Network, 4GEE, Goes Lives In 11 Cities; 700 Orange, T-Mobile Stores Rebranded; 10,000 Staff Trained To Sell 4G Top
Screen Shot 2012-10-30 at 08.14.26Today EE, which owns the Orange and T-Mobile carrier brands, has flicked the switch -- turning on 4G services in 11 U.K. cities. EE has also rebranded more than 700 Orange and T-Mobile stores as EE stores, on high streets across the country to start selling the new services to existing and new customers.
 
Are Flexible Mobile Data Plans Finally Here? Andreessen Horowitz Leads $15.5M Round In ItsOn Top
Screen Shot 2012-10-29 at 9.00.59 PMEven as data usage has skyrocketed, U.S. carriers have remained stubbornly wedded to post-paid plans that offer users a surprisingly limited menu of pricing options. Yes, we're talking about those monthly subscriptions that easily reach above $100 a month -- even if you hardly touch voice calls or if you always come in far beneath your monthly data limit. But this may be about to change. Andreessen Horowitz just led a $15.5 million round in a company that's been in stealth working on this exact problem for the past four years.
 
Google Adds Power Outage Information To Its Hurricane Sandy Crisis Map Top
photo (1)As we brought to your attention last night, Google set up what it calls a "Crisis Map" as we waited for Hurricane Sandy to make land-fall. It has, and damage has been done, including massive power outages in all affected areas. Tonight, the company has updated this map to include that information. Here's what the Maps team had to say:
 
Conan Takes On The iPad Mini And Apple's Increasingly Crowded Tablet Lineup Top
ipad-mini-mega-conanApple introduced the iPad mini last week, which hits shelves this Friday. In a video airing later tonight on his show, Conan O'Brien takes a look at Apple's ever-expanding range of tablet iOS devices, and provides some suggestions for where we might be headed next. Best part? The slogan at the end, which Cupertino might want to consider officially adopting.
 
Reports Claim Forstall And Browett Were Asked To Leave Apple Following Crucial Missteps Top
iOS Scott ForstallThe Wall Street Journal has released a report with updated information about why Apple decided to part ways with two senior executives, including former iOS SVP Scott Forstall and former SVP of Retail John Browett. The WSJ says that both executives were in fact asked to leave by Apple, following "missteps and management tensions" in their roles at Apple.
 
Hands-On With LG And Google's First Smartphone Collaboration, The Nexus 4 Top
n4-1After having seen its mug plastered all over the internet in the days leading up to its release, actually playing with LG and Google's new Nexus 4 seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean, when you've seen a device like that cracked open and posed for your pleasure, it felt like there wasn't much I didn't already know about the thing. Oh how wrong I was.
 
Hurricane Sandy Attacks The Web: Gawker, BuzzFeed and Huffington Post Are Down (UPDATED) Top
3307416622_899778bf4c_zIf Hurricane Sandy wasn't scary enough, it's newest victims are in the blogosphere. We've just learned that Gawker's fleet of sites, including Gizmodo are down. Also Hurricane Sandy victims? The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed.
 
Amazon Reveals How It Views Google's Cloud Efforts In Suit Filed Against Former Employee Top
Amazon Web Services LogoAmazon has revealed a bit of detail for how it views Google's cloud efforts in a lawsuit filed against a former employee on grounds he violated a non-compete clause. Amazon filed the lawsuit on behalf of Amazon Web Services, claiming Daniel Powers, its former vice president of sales, has violated a severance agreement by taking a new job at Google as a director of cloud platform sales.
 
Oh, Snap! Case-Mate Blends An iPhone Case With A Snap Bracelet Top
Screen Shot 2012-10-29 at 5.18.02 PMCaseMate, along with every other case maker out there, is launching a new wave of products alongside the iPhone 5, for both the new phone and the iPhone 4/4S. In (what I can only assume is) an attempt to differentiate creatively, CaseMate has blended a normal rubber case with a snap bracelet. You know, the kind from when you were a kid that you won at some sort of school fair for not sinking your English teacher in the dunk tank. Oh, snap. At face value (as in, looking at it from the front), the Snap looks like your typical iPhone case. It seems to be made of silicone and slips on the iPhone. On the back, however, there’s a slab of extra rubber with a button on one side. When you press the button, the rubber snaps out into a multi-directional kickstand. Just check out the video: It’s a cute take on a kickstand case, if nothing more. The case comes in five different color flavors and is available for the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4/4S. Grab it at CaseMate for $35.
 
Riots With iPads: When SF Won The World Series Top
iPad BonfireBonfires in the street, people dancing on cars, body-armored cops, and...tablet computers? Last night was not your typical riot. Only one thing distracted people from the celebratory carnage caused by the SF Giants winning the World Series. It wasn't the fear of arrest or injury. It was the desire to document the beauty of the chaos with mobile devices. Here's what it looked like.
 
Hands-On With Samsung's ATIV S: A Windows Phone 8 Whopper That's Got Galaxy SIII-Style Top
Photo 29-10-2012 18 47 00The Samsung ATIV S is a whopper of a Windows Phone. Indeed it looks like Samsung has repurposed the Samsung GSIII's generous form to accomodate Microsoft's latest WP8 OS. The phone is very thin and light which certainly helps keep the heft down, and it felt polished rather than plasticky. But if you're not a fan of reflective surfaces then its all-over glossy sheen might get tiresome/distracting.
 
YouTube Is Testing Out A New Design For Pages With More Navigation Options Top
4481461680_4273d06822_zMost companies tend to test new features and product designs in the wild with a small subset of people. The great thing about that is on the Internet, the world is a tiny place. A few tipsters have sent in some screenshots and a video of a new design that YouTube is testing out, and we've confirmed that it's legitimate.
 
Scott Forstall, John Browett To Leave Apple As Ive, Cue, Mansfield And Federighi Take On New Roles Top
Scott ForstallApple has just announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple as of early next year, ending his tenure as SVP of iOS Software. As part of the management change, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will take on new responsibilities. Forstall will remain on as an advisor to Tim Cook between now and next year, but appears to be departing the SVP role immediately.
 
Pandora's New iOS And Android Apps Get The Facebook Treatment: Listening Timelines, Activity Feeds And Social Sharing Features To Do Battle With Spotify (And Perhaps Apple) Top
pandoraPandora is one of the older and more established internet radio services out there, with 150 million registered users, 58.3 million active listeners and 115 million registered users on mobile. Now, with a lot of competition crowding its space from Spotify, (possibly) Apple, I Heart Radio and more, Pandora is looking to that mobile base for growth. Today, it is releasing new apps for iOS and Android devices with extensive social features, improved navigation and deeper integration with Pandora's music and artist database.
 
Why Android Jelly Bean 4.2′s Multiple User Account Switching Is Tablet-Only? (Hint: Nokia Patented It For Phones) Top
multi-userOne of the coolest (and most useful) features of Google's Android Jelly Been 4.2 update is multiple user account switching, offering up the option to have several users share access to a device, while keeping their settings and content walled off from each other. It's something we've been used to on PCs forever, so it's bound to be welcomed by Android users. However, we've learned that the new feature will likely only apply to tablets, certainly as far as Google's Nexus range is concerned. Phones need not apply. The reason -- and this is purely an educated guess on my part -- could well be that back in the day Nokia already patented the idea (via its acquisition of Symbian).
 
Study: Startups Led By Stanford, Harvard Grads Lead The Way In Scoring Venture Capital Funding Top
stanford-university-palo-alto-ca438Anyone who's spent any amount of time in Silicon Valley notices the prevalence of Stanford graduates at every level of the tech industry, from the engineers who build web startups to the financiers who fund them. A new study out of CB Insights found that Stanford's power is not just something that seems big anecdotally -- it can actually be quantified.
 
Ticketing Startup SeatGeek Just Turned Profitable, Saw $2.5M In Ticket Sales Last Month Top
seatgeek logoSeatGeek, the ticketing startup that launched at the TechCrunch50 conference back in 2009, tells that it had its first profitable month in August. That wasn't just a temporary blip either, said co-founder Russell D'Souza. September was profitable too, and he expects to the company maintain its profitability into the future: "Revenue drivers are just growing so much faster than any sort of expense that we have."
 
Why Wireless Charging In The Nexus 4? Why Now? Top
200px-Qi_logo.svgGoogle likes to skate to where the puck might be next game. They were first in the U.S. with a viable NFC payments solution (that isn't very popular) and they've been at the forefront of AR with Glass (which is too expensive for the average consumer) and now they're one of the first to market with a wireless charging solution for the Nexus 4.
 

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