A tribute to Bob Moog, sonic doodler
In the mid-1960s, Dr. Robert Moog unleashed a new universe of sounds into musicdom with his invention of the electronic analog Moog Synthesizer. The timbre and tones of these keyboard instruments (true works of art in and of themselves) would come to define a generation of music, featuring heavily in songs by The Beatles, The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk and many others. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
A world of opportunity at the G(irls)20 Summit
We’re pleased to have Farah Mohamed join us today to talk about her organization, the G(irls)20 Summit, of which Google is a proud sponsor. The mission of the G(irls)20 Summit is to showcase how girls and women can impact a country’s economic prosperity, political stability and social innovation. - Ed. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
We’ve acquired Motorola Mobility
The phones in our pockets have become supercomputers that are changing the way we live. It’s now possible to do things we used to think were magic, or only possible on Star Trek—like get directions right from where we are standing; watch a video on YouTube; or take a picture and share the moment instantly with friends. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
In Nashville, the sweet sound of entrepreneurship
Nashville and Silicon Valley have a lot in common. They're both filled with smart, creative people building businesses together. Nashville's start-up scene may be less well known, but it's bursting with energy and creativity like the rest of the city, and on April 19, we brought our Google for Entrepreneurs program down to the home of honky tonks to learn more about how we might help out. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
Software downloads in Syria
Free expression is a fundamental human right and a core value of our company—but sometimes there are limits to where we can make our products and services available. U.S. export controls and sanctions programs, for example, prohibit us from offering certain software downloads in some countries. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
A faster, simpler Google Search app for iPhone
Starting today, when you use the Google Search app on your iPhone, you’ll see a completely redesigned interface that gives you faster results, beautiful full-screen image search, and a simple way to access all your Google apps in one place. Read more...
The Official Google Blog, Today, 2:18pm
Relive Your Childhood with These Nostalgic Wallpapers from Your Youth [Wallpaper Wednesday]
Lifehacker, Today, 2:00pm
Will The Cloud's Brand Suffer From Outages?
Box.net is the latest cloud player to suffer an outage, having told users on Tuesday that its service was down. While consumers may be somewhat more foregiving about outages, with Box positioning itself for business, can they afford to have outages? And can the cloud as a brand afford outages? Read more...
Wired Top Stories, Today, 12:21pm
Seagate to buy controlling stake in storage rival LaCie
"To the cloud!" they said -- and everybody followed. Seagate-LaCie deal shows accelerating consolidation in the consumer storage space.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 12:13pm
YuMe Adds Another $10 Million From WestSummit Capital
Online video advertising startup YuMe has picked up another $10 million in financing from WestSummit Capital, closing out a $22 million strategic round that was originally announced last November. The round was led by Samsung Ventures and also included Translink Capital.
YuMe founder Jayant Kadambi confirmed the raise, and told me by email that the funding will be used primarily to expand into more connected devices. YuMe provides a platform for delivering ads against online videos, but has recently been adding... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 12:12pm
Samsung Galaxy Appeal boosts AT&T's prepaid Android options
AT&T fortifies its prepaid Android roster with the $149.99 Samsung Galaxy Appeal.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 12:02pm
New York Hardware Buffs Weigh In On China, Embracing Niches, And How To Start Making Things
Earlier this morning, our own John Biggs was joined on stage by a handful of New York-based makers who have made a name for themselves by building physical things (or in one case, building something that builds other things). Biggs kicked off the panel with a simple question: — can we bring manufacturing back?
Bre Pettis, CEO of Makerbot Industries, has two shifts of workers putting together all of his Makerbots in Brooklyn, and had a bit of advice for hardware creators looking to shift production to China. He recommended that until makers need to produce runs of 50,000-100,000 units, they’re much better off keeping the production process in the United States.... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:58am
Adventures of Apollo Astronauts Now Tracked in 3-D
Researchers have used new lunar satellite images to pinpoint exactly where the Apollo 17 astronauts took their iconic photographs of the moon's surface. That data has in turn allowed planetary scientists to build the most precise 3-D maps yet of the Apollo 17 mission site. Read more...
Wired Top Stories, Today, 11:45am
Combat 'Burn Pits' Ruin Immune Systems, Study Shows
Since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, an untold number of soldiers have come down with puzzling health problems. Many of them are pointing the finger at a single culprit: The open-air "burn pits" that incinerated trash -- from human waste to computer parts -- on military bases overseas. Now, a new study is offering up some the most damning scientific evidence to-date that links burn pits to serious, and ongoing, health problems. Read more...
Wired Top Stories, Today, 11:43am
Facebook, Zuckerberg Sued Over IPO
Section: yro, Department: death-taxes-and-lawsuits
Slashdot, Today, 11:40am
MIT Sloan CIO Symposium takes on mobile, data, clouds
This year's symposium highlights the challenges of dealing with legacy while embracing new computing approaches.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 11:37am
Amazon Partners With Paramount, Brings Hundreds More Movies To Prime Instant Video Service
Amazon is continuing to grow its collection of streaming video titles at Amazon Prime Instant Video, and is today announcing another new agreement with Paramount Pictures bringing "hundreds" of new movies to the service. This deal isn't as large as March's partnership with Discovery, which saw some 3,000 new titles added, but it does introduce what are arguably more big-name movies. Included in the deal are titles like Mission: Impossible 3, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Mean Girls, Nacho Libre and Clueless, to name a few, and Amazon... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:35am
WhosHere Launches Anonymous Video Chat
As evidenced by the success of Chatroulette, people get a kick out of seeing each other (anonymously) on video. Taking that to heart, WhosHere - an app that has allowed countless people to meet and greet each other in meatspace - has launched a video chat service that lets folks connect when and where they want. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:30am
Retro Beer Company Churchkey, A New Tech Investor Darling, Will Expand To San Francisco Next Month
Beer may or may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about TechCrunch Disrupt, but today, CrunchFund's MG Siegler took the stage at our New York conference to talk to Churchkey's founders: Adrian Grenier, who is well-known for his role in the TV series Entourage, Justin Hawkins and Ryan Sowards. Churchkey, which was founded in 2010 and is based in the Pacific Northwest with offices in the beer-loving cities of Seattle, Wash. and Portland, Ore., recently attracted a number of tech... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:29am
Silicon Valley big shots to pay $36,000 for dinner with Obama?
According to several reports, President Barack Obama will be attending a fund-raiser in his honor at the home of Silicon Valley philanthropists tonight.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 11:24am
KDE Announces Partner Network
Section: linux, Department: building-infrastructure
Slashdot, Today, 11:20am
Garmin?s Multi-Controller Concept Talks to the Hand
With more technology being shoved into the dashboard of cars, drivers are being bombarded with information. So automakers and suppliers are trying to figure out the best way to manage this growing sensory overload so drivers don?t become distracted, say, by their Facebook feeds on an in-dash display.
For its part, Garmin plans to employ some ... Read more...
Wired Top Stories, Today, 11:12am
Rovio’s FB App, Angry Birds Friends, Flies Out Of Beta With Tournament Mode, New Levels & More
Well, well, well. As if you couldn't get your fix of sling-shotting irascible fowl on every other mobile and social platform known to man, Rovio announced this morning that Angry Birds for Facebook (officially known as Angry Birds Friends) has finally done flown the coop and left the warm nest of its beta. Avian double-speak aside, what does that mean exactly?
It means that, having gone through the requisite user testing, tweaking, and multi-billion-dollar IPO-ing, Rovio's Facebook app is ready... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:11am
U.S. Launches Digital Roadmap To Open Up Government Data And Court Developers
There's all sorts of data that the government has, but very little of it is actually accessible by developers. But the U.S. Government is trying to change that: Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel announced a new initiative within the government to open up data that was previously locked up in government documents and arcane backend systems. That will allow developers to create new applications and services based on that data.
With the launch of the new digital road map, the U.S. government is hoping to increase the way that users can access data in many different ways. It's also designed to decrease inefficiency in... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:07am
Qwiki Launches A Publishing Platform For ABC News And Others
Qwiki, the startup that won Disrupt in 2010, is announcing a new platform today for bloggers and other online publishers.
The company's initial product basically assembled a multimedia "story" around Wikipedia articles, with images, videos, maps, and more. But the vision was bigger — to present a new kind of information experience. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 11:05am
How to Find and Get Involved with A Hackerspace In Your Community [Video]
Lifehacker, Today, 11:00am
Better Fish Forensics Will Flag Illegal Catches
Up to 25 percent of the planet's catch comes from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. A new DNA-based method to identify contraband fish, however, may curb the expanding problem. Read more...
Wired Top Stories, Today, 11:00am
Mint.com App Update: Now Split Transactions
Mint.com iOS users now have the ability to create and (more importantly) edit budgets directly on their iPad/iPhone. Previously, editing functionality was only available at the main Mint website. Additionally, users can also split transactions, giving them a better more granular look at their financial picture.
The main thrust of this update includes:
Create and edit a budget while out and about: Set up budgets from your iPad or iPhone and edit them — wherever and whenever you want. Also, the new budget slider lets you set more realistic budgets in increments for more... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 10:59am
ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi’s Advice To Startups: Stay Lean, Don’t Listen To The Nay-Sayers & Hire The Right People
This morning at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012, Chris Dixon, co-founder and partner at Founder’s Collective (and co-founder of SiteAdvisor and Hunch, acquired by McAfee and eBay, respectively), sat down with ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi to talk about ZocDoc's road to success. The company, for those unfamiliar, is a professional booking platform for doctors. Users go online to search, find and book a doctor, dentist or other health care professional, and can even make same-day appointments thanks to ZocDoc's real-time access to doctors' schedules.
Although ZocDoc has now raised $95 million in... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 10:58am
Worried About Information Leaks, IBM Bans Siri
Section: search, Department: dave-what-are-you-doing
Slashdot, Today, 10:58am
Browser choice: A thing of the past?
Devices using iOS and the future Windows RT hobble third-party browsers. Despite some good reasons for doing so, the change could undermine browser competition.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:48am
Amazon Prime acquires access to Paramount films
When it comes to offering popular movies over the Internet, Amazon continues to close the gap with Netflix.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:40am
Startup Alley Is Doin’ It, And Doin’ It, And Doin’ It Well
Every time I think TC Disrupt's Startup Alley can't get any better, it does. TC Europe Editor Mike Butcher and I ventured into the chaos, accosted at every turn by startups from across the world. We even had a startup, iLiftOff, fly all the way in from Mumbai on a 21-hour flight.
It's almost a shame that we can't have all the Startup Alley companies in the Battlefield, but at the same time, the beauty of the alley is that we can talk to them for far longer than six minutes. And we often do. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 10:34am
Options For Good (Not Expensive) Office Backbone For a Small Startup
Section: it, Department: office-with-small-o-is-fine
Slashdot, Today, 10:33am
Tablet power is in the platform
Analyst James McQuivey calls Apple's iPad an "unprecedented example of platform power," a conspiracy among devices makers, software and service providers, and consumers.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:27am
Get a 500GB portable USB 3.0 hard drive for $79
Finally, a drive that can take advantage of that lonely USB 3.0 port on your new laptop. This slim, speedy Seagate is perfect for backups.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:12am
Chrome Browser Usage Artificially Boosted, Says Microsoft
Section: technology, Department: depends-who's-counting
Slashdot, Today, 10:11am
Rubicon Project Acquires Mobsmith To Expand Into Mobile Ads
Online advertising company Rubicon Project just announced that it's getting into the mobile market by acquiring a startup called Mobsmith.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the initial announcement. I've asked Rubicon for more details and will update if I hear back. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 10:04am
Target Rolls Out Shopkick Integration Nationwide
shopkick, the location-based shopping app backed by Greylock and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is having its biggest rollout yet — Target says it's making the service available in its stores nationwide.
Target was already announced as a shopkick partner, but until now, it was limited to testing integration in seven cities. Now, thanks to what the company says were "rave reviews," it's expanding its shopkick integration to all of its 1,764 stores in the United States, making it the largest shopkick retailer. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 10:00am
Nokia shakes up Nokia World: 'Less CES, more SXSW'
The mobile company says that it will no longer hold a single, large-scale event each year. Instead, Nokia World will be made up of several smaller events.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:00am
Lego for girls, this time hardware-hacker style
One hacker has her own idea of what a Lego set for girls should be. If 10,000 people agree with her, the toymaker could find itself producing her hacker-focused design.
[Read more] Read more...
CNET News, Today, 10:00am
McAfee: Mobile Malware Explodes, Increases 1,200% In Q1 2012
Security and anti-spam firm McAfee today reported that it saw a massive uptick in mobile malware last quarter. Mobile malware has "exploded," the company said (PDF), "with a significant increase on Android devices. In addition, McAfee also found a slight increase in malware targeting the Mac, but the report notes that this trend was not "extreme." Despite the increase in mobile and Mac malware, as well as password-stealing Trojans, the good news in today's report is that... Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 9:50am
Welcome To Hardware Alley At TechCrunch Disrupt NYC!
For the past two days, web companies and mobile apps have peppered our Startup Alley here at Disrupt NYC, but today we're doing something a little different. Those startups have cleared out for Disrupt's first ever Hardware Alley, where we turn the spotlight onto some wonderful hardware projects.
There's plenty of great stuff on display here today, and all these devices run the gamut -- the folks from MakerBot Industries have set up shop here, as well as the makers of the MicroStylus. Read more...
TechCrunch, Today, 9:44am