Ajax Girl

Apple’s online store just went down, a definitive sign that they will be launching a new product overnight. It could be the iPhone App Store, which will launch sometime this week (developers had to submit their apps by noon today to be considered for the launch), or it could be a rumored new Macbook/Macbook Pro product.

Apple loves to launch products on Tuesdays. Expect whatever it is to go up around midnight PST. Our guess is this is not the new App Store, because there’s no obvious reason to take the store down to launch new software. A new computer? Definitely.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329485275/

With only four days to go until the launch of Apple’s App Store, which will feature 3D games that push the iPhone to its limits, most developers would consider releasing a browser-based iPhone game a bad idea. Throwing common sense to the wind, ad agency Hello Viking has just released Viking Smackdown, a Safari-based iPhone game that manages to take advantage of the phone’s built-in accelerometer. You can access the game by visiting VikingSmackdown.com from your iPhone’s browser.

The game itself is very simple: your goal is to make a cartoony-looking viking throw his axe as far as possible. Tilt your phone to the side and you are presented with a meter that indicates how forcefully you’ll throw your mighty blade. Then, once the meter is full, tilt the phone right-side up to send the axe flying. The farther it goes, the better.

While there have been a number of motion-sensing apps made for “jailbroken” (i.e. hacked) iPhones, few Apple sanctioned web-apps can make use of the phone’s accelerometer. Using some clever scripting, Viking Smackdown takes advantage of the web browser’s orientation detection to create this simple (but surprisingly fun) game. It’s a shame it will be totally obsolete in less than a week.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329418344/

New Zealand, land of LotR and high-priced data plans

Over at CG we’ve been watching the iPhone pricing plans whiz by, from the onerous Rogers tariff to Vodafone New Zealand’s $200 per month for 1 GB data plan. A lot of folks have been complaining about these prices but in light of these international plans, including nasty plans from Europe, AT&T’s pricing isn’t that bad.

Another interesting point: all of us expecting to waltz into AT&T stores and pick up an iPhone for $199 will be sadly surprised. The $199 price is for new contract-holders only. If you’re an AT&T subscriber you’ll be paying $399 and $499 for your iPhone - about $100 less than the non-contract price. AT&T’s thinking behind this - although a bit mercenary - is clear: there’s not much else in AT&T’s line up that will bring in new customers the way Jobs’ space phone will.

CrunchGear’s Peter Ha gets a bit more forceful in his defense of the pricing.

I’ve been hemming and hawing about doing this post since last week when AT&T revealed all the pricing info for the iPhone 3G. With the release of Vodafone NZ’s pricing today, I can no longer keep my mouth shut. The Kiwis are paying $190 for 1GB of data, 600 minutes, and 600 texts! Not to mention the fact that if they opt for the cheapest plan ($60), they’ll have to shell out $415 (8GB) or $527 (16GB), respectively. I really want to know what you people are bitching and moaning about over AT&T’s plans? As far as I can see, it’s cheaper than every other country that’s getting the iP3G in every respect. Of course, you might be hammered if you’re ineligible for an upgrade, but you should have known this was going to happen.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329403719/

Gmail has introduced a new privacy feature that will let users see how many computers their account is open on, and also allows them to sign-out remotely. Basic information is displayed as part of the page’s standard footer, and users looking for more detailed information can view a log that displays the most recent IP addresses to access the account, along with the type of access (Mobile, POP, etc.)

The new feature will be especially useful for monitoring email accounts for privacy intrusions, as well as for users who like to use Gmail from public terminals and may forget to manually log-off. Google says that the feature is being rolled out as part of the latest version of Gmail, but it appears that not all accounts are active (I couldn’t access it from my account).

The new Gmail features are the latest in a string of privacy-related announcements to come from the search giant. On Thursday we reported on a judge’s mandate for Google to turn over all YouTube user records as part of the Viacom/YouTube lawsuit, which has been met with widespread outrage. Since then, Google seems intent on demonstrating its concern for privacy, having moved its privacy policy to its homepage (after months of opposing the change) and releasing the enhanced Gmail security.

You can read more details at the Gmail Blog.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329305297/

Twitter may buy Virginia-based Summize, a Twitter search engine, says Jason Calacanis. A source close to Twitter says that the two companies have been in discussions around a merger over the last couple of weeks, but won’t comment on whether an actual sale has occurred, or the terms.

The deal certainly makes sense. Unlike rival Friendfeed, Twitter still lacks a search feature. And Twitter has relied on Summize in the recent past to help reduce load on the Twitter API. Summize is also one of (or the only) Twitter partner that has access to their XMPP stream.

Summize employees have recently been spotted at Twitter HQ as well, although that could be explained by the close working relationship.

Summize has raised just $750,000 in an angel round of financing. Twitter has raised over $20 million.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329255180/

This story is hilariously, beautifully, far-fetchedly awesome and heart warming. See also the MeFi thread.

Pixar proves it’s one of those great companies that is run by unabashedly human people, and it’s no wonder why their work is so personal and touching. When you engage yourself with your customers and your audience on a level that reminds them you are the same, the experience is far greater than just using a product or just seeing a movie. Humanity is desperately missing in our age of megacorporations and big box stores.

People love robots, but they’ll love you if you’re human, too.

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1126-the-human-side-of-pixars-robot

My Yahoo, the leading customized homepage provider, has finally rolled out its redesigned interface to all of its users. Yahoo has allowed users to upgrade to the new interface for over a year, but has taken its time in rolling it out to everyone.

New features in this release include:

• More modules from content providers (New York Times, WSJ, etc.)
• More modules that integrate content from other parts of Yahoo’s network (Flickr photos, Calendar, Movie Showtimes)
• Better support for Third party email (Gmail, POP) and other services (Netflix and Facebook)
• More layout options, tabbed browsing, other navigational improvements

The interface has been in need of a facelift for some time, as Yahoo has watched its userbase dwindle from 56.9 million users last November to 41.6 million in June. Comparatively, iGoogle has has seen increase from 23.8 users in November to 24.3 million unique visitors in May. Google performance isn’t exactly stellar, either (maybe iGoogle could use a refresh too), but at least it hasn’t been losing users. So where did My Yahoo’s 15 million lost users disappear to? We’re guessing Facebook, which has gone from 92.7 million visitors to 123.9 million in the same time period.

Also notable is Yahoo’s announcement that they intend to allow external developers to create their own applications and modules for use on My Yahoo, along with other parts of the Yahoo network.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329175616/

Facebook now has vaporware. After a lot of huffing and puffing at the beginning of the year, Hasbro and Electronic Arts are finally getting ready to unveil their official version of Scrabble on Facebook. Today, they announced that the Facebook app EA has been working on for more than six months will be launched later this month, although a version on Pogo (EA’s online casual gaming site) is available today.

There is a Facebook Scrabble app in private beta (see screen shot at left), but the company is still testing it. It is not clear what is taking EA so long. After all, this is just a Facebook app, not a fully-featured video game like Spore.

It is also not clear what will happen to Scrabulous, the unofficial version of Scrabble that has become one of the most popular apps on Facebook. Scrabulous, which was developed by two brothers in India, was almost shut down earlier this year because Hasbro claims that it infringes on its trademarks. Scrabulous was in acquisition talks with many different companies, including Electronic Arts (which has the domestic license to digital versions of the game) and Real Networks (which has the international digital rights), but everyone balked on price.

Rather than force Facebook to shut down Scrabulous immediately, however, Hasbro and Electronic Arts realized that they would suffer an extreme backlash if they took away everyone’s favorite Facebook game without offering up an alternative. Now that the alternative is almost here, it remains to be seen whether they will try to eliminate the competition. In response to question about what Hasbro now plans to do about Scrabulous, spokesperson Gary Selby respondsl:

Hasbro has been consistent in stating that Scrabulous infringes upon our intellectual property, and we are keeping our legal options open. Today we are focusing on the coming launch of EA’s legitimate social networking version of SCRABBLE. We have no further comment at this time on Scrabulous and our legal strategy going forward.

What is clear is that if Hasbro and EA allow Scrabulous to live, the official version of Scrabble will have a hard time gaining any traction. Real Networks launched an offical version of Scrabble for Facebook members outside the U.S. and Canada a while back, and it has attracted a grand total of only 5,643 daily active users, compared to the 451,107 people who play Scrabulous every single day.

Because of the licensing issues, the EA version of Scrabulous will also be geographically hobbled. Only Facebook members in the U.S. and Canada will be able to play each other. If you live in the U.S. and want to play a friend in London, forget about it. Then there is the simple inertia of people who may see little point in installing the official version if they and all their friends already have Scrabulous installed.

What this means is that EA’s official version of Scrabulous, which it has committed resources to develop, may have little chance of success unless EA can get rid of Scrabulous first. But if EA and Hasbro try to push players to their version of the game by forcing Facebook to shut down Scrabulous, they will still have to deal with a lot of angry Scrabulous fans. Do people love Scrabble so much that they don’t care whose version they play, or will they boycott the game in solidarity with two developers in India? We may soon find out.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/329052987/

Are you exhausting all your potential revenue streams?

We stalled launching our Job Board for a while because we felt we had bigger fish to fry. Once we got around to it, we couldn’t believe we had waited so long. It was easy to set up, a great resource for our community, and has generated lots of cash for the company.

There’s more than one way to skin the revenue cat:

If you sell web software, you can also write a book. Or put on a conference.

If you’re a design firm, you can also sell jewel case packaging. Or start an ad network.

If you’re a site that collects funny videos, you can also sell tee shirts.

If you’re a popular local blog, you can operate a flea market.

If you’re a computer company, you can reinvent the music business.

Etc.

Your self-imposed limitations on how to make money are often just that: self-imposed. Seek out other routes to your destination.

It’s one of the big advantages that small, agile companies have. They can experiment and change directions quickly. Plus, multiple revenue streams help you diversify so all your eggs aren’t in one basket.

Do you have an example of a company that has come up with an interesting or unorthodox way to make money on the side? Tell us about it in the comments.

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1123-theres-more-than-one-way-to-skin-the-revenue-cat

Dan Morrill doesn’t like JavaScript 2. His reasoning is a little like the folks who don’t want Java.Next to try to copy features from every other language, but to just be the best static language, and let other languages like Scala, Groovy, JRuby (and the hundreds of others like Fan) go in different directions on the same Java platform.

You could argue the same for the browser platform. Why push JavaScript 2 further than cleaning it up, and instead allow other languages to augment it.

This is where technology such as IronMonkey come in, as well as the work that Scott Peterson is doing, written up here:

Scott Petersen from Adobe gave a talk at Mozilla on a toolchain he’s been creating—soon to be open-sourced—that allows C code to be targeted to the Tamarin virtual machine. Aside from being a really interesting piece of technology, I thought its implications for the web were pretty impressive.

If I followed his presentation right, Petersen’s toolchain works something like this:

1. A special version of the GNU C Compiler—possibly llvm-gcc—compiles C code into instructions for the Low Level Virtual Machine.
2. The LLVM instructions are converted into opcodes for a custom Virtual Machine that runs in ActionScript, a variant of ECMAScript and sibling of JavaScript.
3. The ActionScript is automatically compiled into Tamarin bytecode by Adobe Flash, which may be further compiled into native machine language by Tamarin’s Just-in-Time (JIT) compiler.

The toolchain includes lots of other details, such as a custom POSIX system call API and a C multimedia library that provides access to Flash. And there’s some things that Petersen had to add to Tamarin, such as a native byte array that maps directly to RAM, thereby allowing the VM’s “emulation” of memory to have only a minor overhead over the real thing.

The end result is the ability to run a wide variety of existing C code in Flash at acceptable speeds. Petersen demonstrated a version of Quake running in a Flash app, as well as a C-based Nintendo emulator running Zelda; both were eminently playable, and included sound effects and music.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/328895888/llvm-and-running-c-as-well-as-python-in-the-browser