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Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 ‘Rockstar’ contest wraps up, neat apps ensue

Chris Ziegler — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0000

The success of Windows Phone 7 as a commercially viable mobile platform will ultimately depend on a great many things, but one of the biggest factors might be its chops as a gaming setup -- so naturally, we're excited to see each and every WP7 game that gets previewed right now. In March, Microsoft kicked off its so-called Rockstar competition, where student teams competed to make awesome apps (games or otherwise) for the platform in their choice of Silverlight or XNA -- and the results of the competition are finally in. Two of the top three winners were games, and the grand champion was a game by the name of -- wait for it -- "Droid." Members of the team are receiving $8,000 plus a Windows Phone, and while none of these apps are the most polished things in the world, it's a promising sign that these students were able to come in fresh on a brand new platform and produce solid version 1.0 software in less than three months' time. Hit up Microsoft's Windows Blog for the full list of winners.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 'Rockstar' contest wraps up, neat apps ensue originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AdMob CEO responds to Apple’s new advertising rules: ‘not in the best interests of users or developers’ (update: Greystripe responds)

Donald Melanson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:32:00 +0000

We had a pretty good idea what Google and its AdMob division would think of Apple's new rules on outside advertising companies collecting analytics, but AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui has now spelled it out himself. In a post on the company's blog today, Hamoui says flat out that if the changes are enforced as written, they would "prohibit app developers from using AdMob and Google's advertising solutions on the iPhone." That, he says, would "not in the best interests of users or developers," noting that "in the history of technology and innovation, it's clear that competition delivers the best outcome," and that "artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress." As for what Google and AdMob are going to do about it, Hamoui would only say that they're going to be "speaking to Apple to express our concerns about the impact of these terms." We've also reached out to Greystripe for comment -- which would also seem to be affected by the new rules -- but have yet to hear back.

Update: We just got a statement from Adobe's partner Greystripe, which says Apple's new rules won't prevent it from operating on the iPhone and iPad.

"We are pleased that Apple's new terms and conditions explicitly allow Greystripe, an independent ad network, to operate on the iPhone and iPad platforms. It confirms the value of 3rd party ad networks in enabling developers to earn great revenue with their applications."

- Dane Holewinski, Director of Marketing for Greystripe

AdMob CEO responds to Apple's new advertising rules: 'not in the best interests of users or developers' (update: Greystripe responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will The iPad Land In China Next August?

Robin Wauters — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:12:36 +0000

Pan Shiyi, an affluent Chinese businessman and real estate mogul with a large following on social networking sites, has accidentally shared the news of an impending China launch for Apple's iPad come August, writes DigiCha. It appears mr. Pan got the news straight from Apple China head honcho Lu Lei, posted about it on a micro-blogging service to an audience of close to a million followers, and immediately removed the message after realizing that he shouldn't have shared it the world. Shiyi later apologized for the whole ordeal on his blog.

AT&T apologizes to the guy they threatened to C&D for e-mailing their CEO

Greg Kumparak — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:05:27 +0000

If you spend any more than a few minutes a day on the Internet, you've probably already heard the story of Giorgio G.: Upset with AT&T about his iPhone eligibility dates, he e-mails the company's CEO. A few days later, he e-mails again for a different (albeit related) matter. Within a few days, AT&T responds... with a threat to send him a formal cease & desist letter unless he stops e-mailing the CEO. 'Twas the voicemail heard around the blogosphere. Within a few hours, just about every gadget-oriented blog and news network had mentioned it, none of them too happy. Undoubtedly looking to save a bit of face in the situation, AT&T has publicly apologized to Giorgio.

Video: Japanese doctors use iPad during surgery

Serkan Toto — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:21:12 +0000

As we all know by now, the iPad can be used in many ways, and we know it's a hit product. The Japanese seem to embrace the device, too (it came out in that country a few days ago). And for some strange reason, Japanese doctors in particular love the iPad. Last month, we reported about one living in Fukuoka in Southern Japan who x-rayed his device and posted a picture on his blog.

Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

Vladislav Savov — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:10:00 +0000

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Dell_Streak_has_an_indestructible_screen_video'; So we've been hearing rumors about the Dell Streak being some kind of a rugged bad boy. Word is, the Gorilla Glass display on this 5-inch slate is good enough to withstand pretty much anything a human would care to throw its way. Them's fighting words where we come from, so we did the only thing a responsible tech blog can do -- we put them to the test. Should you be brave enough to follow us after the break, you'll come upon our best efforts to destroy our own Streak prototype, albeit with little success. Then again, the end result might be less important than the journey there, which is not to be missed.

Continue reading Dell Streak's Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

Dell Streak's Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Apple Prepping Cheap, Cloud-Based Apple TV For War With Google

MG Siegler — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:52:47 +0000

The idea of putting iPhone apps on the Apple TV has been something some of us have been thinking about since at least 2008, when the original App Store launched. When rumors were swirling about Google TV, it became an even better idea as the living room was likely to be a new battleground for Apple/Google. And with the unveiling of Google TV last week, it became clear that this would be a next major fight -- provided Apple started taking it seriously. Soon, they will be, if Engadget's sources are correct. The gadget blog says that a tip they've since confirmed with "a source very close to Apple" suggests that Apple has been working on the next version of the Apple TV. The goods according to them: it will be a very small box (smaller than the current one) with perhaps only outputs for power and TV-out cables. It will run on Apple's new A4 chip (the one found in the iPad and soon the new iPhone). It will still do 1080p video, but may have as little as 16GB of flash memory. That's because the thing will be based around streaming over the cloud (or from other computers in your home) rather than local storage. Most significantly, it will run the iPhone OS.

Google officially acquires AdMob

Ross Miller — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:15:00 +0000

It was only a (brief) matter of time once it cleared the FTC's final approval last week (with a special thanks to Apple's iAd): Google is now the proud owner of one AdMob. According to Product Management VP Susan Wojcicki, the company is now integrating all the teams and products together. Full details are at the Official Google Blog, and after the break, check out an email purportedly from AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui.

Continue reading Google officially acquires AdMob

Google officially acquires AdMob originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook Launches Android SDK

Jason Kincaid — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:43:37 +0000

Today, Facebook is releasing its first official SDK for Android, offering developers on Google's mobile OS an easy way to tie their Android native apps to Facebook Platform. As AllFacebook noted last week, this SDK is actually more advanced than the iPhone SDK because it features Facebook's Graph API, which was unveiled at its f8 developer conference last month. According to the post on Facebook's Developer blog, the SDK also uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and the ability to publish stories to Facebook using Feed forms.

Firefox Home ‘coming soon’ to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser

Ross Miller — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Continuous client functionality, you say? Sounds like Mozilla might be just what the doctor ordered. The company has announced that its upcoming Firefox Home app is coming soon to the iPhone. The program will sync up with your desktop client so that you can go mobile with all your browsing history, bookmarks and "the set of tabs from [your] most recent browser session" going along for the ride. Not only that, but there's an "Awesome Bar" -- Mozilla's words, not ours -- that'll let you search through everything and predict options based on the available data. While not a "full" Firefox browser, according to the blog post (with the addendum, "either technically or due to policy"), the pages still load from within the app itself. No solidified release date yet -- it's still being polished for app store submission, but Opera's luck give us hope for a smooth approval. In the meantime, you can get a quick preview in the video after the break.

Continue reading Firefox Home 'coming soon' to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser

Firefox Home 'coming soon' to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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webOS App Catalog, Palm Developer Center down leaving ‘install failed’ messages in their wake

Richard Lawler — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:34:00 +0000

Just a day before the Pre Plus launches on AT&T, current Palm owners are experiencing all kinds of problems related to the App Store and their Palm Profiles. Reports indicate the problems started last night, since then users haven't been able to download new apps or update existing ones from the catalog, while those unlucky enough to have tried a reset have had trouble signing back into their Palm profile in the cloud, and have lost some information like call logs and had to resync their various accounts in webOS. The Palm Developer Website is also down, tossing a "back in a few hours" sign in the window and going out for a few afternoon mimosas. For now, PreCentral posters recommend taking the device off of network time and resetting it to any day prior to today which will allow apps to install and update without issue. A post on the official Palm blog indicates things should be back to normal "soon" so AT&T customers can hopefully avoid any date/time trickery just to get their Foursquare checkins going.

[Thanks, William]

webOS App Catalog, Palm Developer Center down leaving 'install failed' messages in their wake originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hulu not switching to HTML 5 for the iPad

Dave Freeman — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:30:40 +0000

VP Eugene Wei might have overstepped recently when he posted to the Hulu company blog that they are looking at HTML 5, but don't expect it to meet their needs any time soon. This is disappointing to iPad users since the current Hulu player won't work for them.

CrunchDeals: Evernote Premium for free when you buy a ScanSnap scanner

Scott Merrill — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:00:36 +0000

From now until July 31, if you buy a SnapScan S1500 or S1500M scanner and sign up for Evernote Premium, Fujitsu will send you a check for $50, basically reimbursing you for the cost of Evernote Premium. If you've been looking for a reason to upgrade to Evernote Premium, or if you're in the market for a new scanner anyway, this is a pretty good deal.

Video: Android running on the iPhone… 3G!

Simon Chester — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:51:37 +0000

You may recall a video last month that showed an iPhone 2G running Android. If not, let me refresh your memory. Needless to say, all of us here at McCrunchables thought it was pretty freakin awesome. Well, you know what's awesomer? Android running on an iPhone 3G! That's right, the buy-that-man-a-beer hacker responsible for the 2G Android port, David Wang, has managed to get Android running on the iPhone 3G.

Sprint Hero getting Android 2.1 by May 7th, according to Best Buy

Greg Kumparak — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:27:30 +0000

And our never ending quest to pin down the exact date on which the Sprint HTC Hero will get its long-awaited update to Android 2.1 continues.

A picture tour of the just-opened Shanghai World Expo

Matt Burns — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:24:20 +0000

The Shanghai World Expo looks to be a spectacular sight and these photos probably do not do it justice. Still, they are worth your time to see just a glimpse of the wondrous pavilions and attractions. Forget about attending the Olympics before you die, a World Expo should be higher on your bucket list and [...]

Google Updates Its Image Search for Android 2.1 and iPhone 3.0+

Simon Chester — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:10:16 +0000

Google today announced on its blog that they have upgraded the mobile Image Search on Android 2.1 and iPhone OS 3.0+ devices. It's a typically Google update, in that the revamp will provide more speed and less clutter -- two things that are always welcome.

iPad innards exposed via X-ray

Serkan Toto — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:42:22 +0000

We here in Japan have to wait until next month for the iPad. For reasons unknown, that didn't stop a doctor living in Fukuoka (Southern Japan) from X-raying one he apparently imported from the US and posting the picture on his blog [JP]. See the result on the left.

Subtitles starting to show up on Netflix instant viewing

Dave Freeman — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:00:23 +0000

There's always been a few annoying little issues left to be addressed on Netflix Instant viewing. I mean, you can't get 1080p, there's not 5.1 sound, and most importantly, there's no subtitles. As someone show has family members with hearing disabilities, I've been keenly aware that Netflix has been lacking in that regard. There's good news though, Netflix has been working on that particular issue, and just started rolling it out to the public.

Live from Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0 announcement

Greg Kumparak — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:35:58 +0000

It's that time again, folks. The day that is looked upon with excitement by fan boys and cynics alike: it's an Apple announcement day. Apple has already made it perfectly clear that today's announcement will bring details about iPhone OS 4.0 - but what ever will they be? Will it multitask? Will there be interface overhauls? Will this new OS singlehandedly eliminate world hunger, disease, and flash floods? We're in Cupertino to find out - join us after the jump for a constant stream of updates from our live blog.

Upcoming Live Blogs: Apple’s iPhone OS 4 tomorrow, Microsoft’s Project Pink on 4/12

Greg Kumparak — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:00:39 +0000

Start the countdown, folks. Tomorrow at 10 A.M. sharp, Apple will finally be dropping the curtain on iPhone OS 4.0 – and we’ll be there, reporting live. We’ll get to the ol’ Infinite Loop bright and early, armed to the teeth with laptops, cameras, an array of 3G USB dongles, and all the other gear [...]

Tearing down the Apple A4 processor

John Biggs — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:30:19 +0000

Kyle at iFixit and his buddies at Chipworks straight up tore into the A4 chip that appears in the Apple iPad. The chip is an ARM processor with a small RAM package made by Samsung. The processor itself is made entirely by Apple although it is based mostly on the original Samsung processor made for the iPhone. Other interesting points include the possibility of an onboard GPU, the same one powering the iPhone, namely the PowerVR SGX 535. This means while the screen is bigger the graphics aren't much faster. The iPad also has 256MB ram and, most important, the CPU "sips" power.

April Fools Shenanigans: The 2010 Definitive List

Guest Author — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:53:40 +0000

Time to live blog April Fools 2010! Some of us got a jump start on the time-honored tradition (not to name any names here), but we still have about 24 hours of shenanigans left. As the new hire, I have the dubious honor of managing the TechCrunch April Fool’s Scorecard.

So that’s what my universal remote was missing

Frank Zhang — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:23:48 +0000

Looking for more ways to go green? Powerplus just introduced the Leopard, a solar-powered universal remote that can charge its internal lithium-ion battery using either direct sunlight or artificial light. Basically, if you keep it facing up in a lit room, you will never have to worry about running out of batteries again.

Battlefield 1943 coming to the PC “soon”

Matt Burns — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:00:48 +0000

Battlefield 1943 is now the quickest game in Xbox LIVE's history to reach 1 million games downloaded. But PC gamers don't care. We want to play Battlefield 1943, too. It is after all a remake of classic PC game.

Wherein the LOTR Blu-ray is compared against HD broadcasts and deemed inferior

Matt Burns — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:00:12 +0000

The Lord of the Ring Blu-ray discs will be released on April 6, but a few lucky nerds already have access to it. And they don't like what they see.

Peek has some “big stuff” in the works even though it’s short on cash

Matt Burns — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:39:11 +0000

"Big stuff that will blow away folks. Not just an awesome “Peek for Life” promo. But really, truly big stuff. So stay tuned for Project Big Stuff." That's a direct quote from Peek's official blog after stating flat out the company is short on cash even though they make a decent amount of revenue. Of course Peek could probably raise a bit more if absoulity necessary, but we're curious what the company that brought us the email-only, and more recently Twitter-only, device is working on.

Nexus One with AT&T (and Rogers!) 3G now on sale

Greg Kumparak — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:19:22 +0000

A new challenger has appeared! The Nexus One may not have sold all that well, but it’s still the beastiest Android handset available on US carriers. Speaking of US carriers, add one more to the Nexus One’s supported list. Since day 1, the T-Mobile version of the Nexus One has worked with AT&T — as long [...]

Add Samsung to Greenpeace’s hate list (for now)

Nicholas Deleon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:39 +0000

Greenpeacenow officially hates Samsung. The environmental organization has taken issue with Samsung's inability to remove Brominated Flame Retardants, or BFRs, from its products. BFRs have been linked to environmental damage, and specific types have been banned from Europe altogether because of the potential for human harm.

Moosshiqk electric motorcycle goes fast, looks silly

Dave Freeman — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:30:58 +0000

Here's an interesting DIY project: Santosh apparently felt that the current generation of electric pocket bikes were just a little too large, so he built his own version. While Santosh's bike is quite small, it is capable of running at almost 10mph.