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YouTube's Three-Plus Year Copyright Battle With German Music Rights Agency Rumbles On, As GEMA Breaks Off Negotiations
Jan 11, 12:43PM
A copyright dispute that has blocked German YouTube users' access to certain music videos continues to rumble on with little sign of a resolution -- despite being ongoing for more than three years already. Today GEMA, the German music royalties collection agency at the centre of the dispute, announced it has broken off its latest round of negotiations with YouTube.Hands-On With The Lockitron, The Easiest Way To Control Your House's Locks With A Smartphone
Jan 11, 6:43AM
Lockitron's Cameron Robertson stopped by our CES booth for a little demo. It doesn't take much to demo the Lockitron. It's a little wireless device that slips onto a deadbolt and can be controlled by a smartphone. Put it on your house. Put it on a rental property. Put it on your cat. To be honest, the story of Lockitron is much more interesting than the Lockitron itself.Bad Dog Tools Demos Drill Bits That Cut Through Basically Everything There Is [Video]
Jan 11, 6:35AM
The CES show floor was packed with tons of companies that you’ve probably heard plenty about this week, such as Panasonic, Sony, LG, etc. But the hidden gems and oddballs among the consumer electronic giants were the real treat for world-weary attendees who felt it was hard not to stifle a yawn at yet another 4K TV. Bad Dog Tools, a company demonstrating its super-hard drill bits, is one of those gems. While I had trouble understanding exactly why there was a tool-making company on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show, I had to admit that what they had to show off was impressive. We got to see their drill bits undergo all kinds of stress and strain, and come out working perfectly fine on the other side. I’m not exactly a handy guy, but I’ve used a drill enough to realize that bits that can endure the kind of punishment these were facing are something special. I liked when they got so hot they gave off smoke. Not enough things at CES gave off smoke.Sphero And Augmented Reality: Made For Each Other
Jan 11, 6:12AM
Sphero had a big 2012, but it's clear that 2013 will be even bigger for the company. This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the makers of a phone-friendly robotic ball launched a handful of augmented reality games, expanding the breadth of the little sphere's functionality. The first game is inspired by possibly the best meme of 2011, Nyan Cat. Nyan Cat Space Party lets you navigate through outer space, collect lollipops and fire off bacon to defend against enemies. You can either play it on your Android or iOS device, or use the Sphero as a controller.Refinery29 Raises $3.5 Million Through A Private Offering, According To SEC Filing
Jan 11, 5:58AM
According to a recent SEC filing, fashion news and e-commerce site Refinery29 has raised $3.5 million in a private offering from a total of seven undisclosed investors. The Web site, which focuses on trends and independent designers, has grown rapidly since it launched in 2005 in New York City.With 15K Businesses On Board, BetterCloud Lands $5M To Help Accelerate The Adoption Of Google Apps In The Enterprise
Jan 11, 5:40AM
For years, Microsoft has been the king of the world's offices, as its own Office productivity suite dominating the market. If you've worked in an office in the last 20 years -- preferably at one with computers -- chances are good that you've used (or at least familiar with) Word, PowerPoint, Excel or Outlook. But, in taking off, Google has been slowly eating away at Microsoft's lead. Today, Google's productivity suite, Google Apps, is used by over five million businesses and, while small businesses has long been its core customers, adoption is increasing up the chain -- in the world of the enterprise.Google+ Hangouts On Air Now Have A Full-Screen Option For Your Broadcast
Jan 11, 5:21AM
When you’re using Google+ Hangouts to broadcast, say, a live concert, there hasn’t been a way to make it full-screen for your wonderful viewers. Basically, it would show a big window with you in it, along with a smaller window under it. A full-screen option has been a long-requested feature, and the Hangouts team announced today that this has been added due to popular demand, much like the recent pan and zoom feature for photos. Hangouts On Air take your live streaming Hangout and push it to an embeddable YouTube player, which records for later viewing as well. If you’re a band, a teacher or any type of performer, you’ll be happy to know that your one-camera show will now have a gorgeous viewing option. Here’s the before and after, as shared by Google’s Dori Storbeck: This feature is now the default. It’s a pretty important one to have for professional musicians or news organizations, as the original display was kind of, well, amateur. Attracting these types of users helps Google build out a social platform that integrates with all of its products, as Hangouts On Air demonstrates by working quite nicely with YouTube. When you think about it, the service takes a lot of the hard work out of shooting live video, recording it and then sharing it to places like YouTube. It’s done seamlessly. Hangouts have been the breakout feature of Google’s social suite, Google+, since its launch. As we noted before, it uses extremely complex technology to stitch participants together into one chat, with seamless camera switching. It’s still easy to use, though, which is the magic. If you have more than one participant, you can still go full screen by using Google’s Cameraman app to put the main speaker in the background. Incremental changes, small tweaks, and improvements: This is the Google way. [Photo Credit: Flickr]Apple Not Focused On Developing Cheaper iPhone, Says Marketing SVP Phil Schiller
Jan 11, 5:14AM
Earlier this week, reports that a cheaper iPhone is in the works caused plenty of buzz as observers speculated about how such a device could help Apple target emerging markets, including China. But an interview Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller gave to the Shanghai Evening News (link via Google Translate) seems to refute the rumors. (TNW confirmed with Apple that this was an official interview).Talking To Your TV, Your Car, Maybe Your Fridge? Maluuba Is Connecting Users To Their Favorite Devices By Voice
Jan 11, 5:00AM
You might remember Maluuba from TechCrunch Disrupt, where the company launched its Personal Assistant app for Android last year, combining voice recognition and natural language processing with search to create a really smart way to easily find the things you want quickly. If you've already forgotten: It's kind of like Siri, except it works.Samsung Says It Will Not Release Its Windows RT Tablet In The U.S.
Jan 11, 4:33AM
Samsung's Windows RT tablet, the Ativ Tab, will not be sold in the U.S. Mike Abary, head of Samsung's PC and tablet business in the U.S., told CNET at CES that it will not release the device in the U.S. because its retail partners do not see enough demand. (Abary did not specify if the Ativ Tab will be launched in non-U.S. markets).ScottEVest Shows Off Their Latest Pocket-Ful Travel Jacket
Jan 11, 4:25AM
As geeks, it's hard for us to carry all of our geek accoutrements to our various geek events. That's why I, for one, love ScottEVest: they're durable, fun, and pocket-ful pieces of clothing for the nerd on the go.
Samsung Fined By Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission For Misleading Advertising
Jan 11, 3:54AM
Samsung has disclosed that Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined it NT$300,000 (or about US$10,389) for an advertisement that featured "misleading" information about the Samsung Galaxy Y Duos GT-S6102, reported Taiwanese news agency CNA (link via Google Translate). According to the FTC, the South Korean company said in online and catalog advertisements that the phone has automatic focus and flash functions, which it doesn't. Samsung has deleted mention of those features from its ads.Want: LG's Pocket Photo, A Tiny, NFC-Friendly Photo Printer
Jan 11, 3:30AM
LG and CES are made for each other. The company may not make the best smartphones (with the exception of Google's Nexus 4), or get the most attention all year round, but when they whip out the big screen TVs at their massive CES booth, it's easy to get on the "Life's Good" bandwagon. Unfortunately, TechCrunch is one of the few attendees at the show that isn't all that interested in television, which is why we were so pleased to stumble upon this cute little NFC printer, the LG Pocket Photo.Withings Shows Off Its New Smart Scale And Smart Activity Tracker At CES [Video]
Jan 11, 3:25AM
Withings was one of a pretty busy section of the CES 2013 show floor demoing health, fitness and lifestyle monitoring apps, and it had a couple of new things to add to its line of Wi-Fi scales and monitoring devices. One was the new Withings Smart Body Analyzer, which is a version of its Wi-Fi scale that, for the first time, measures heart rate. The other was the Smart Activity Tracker, a FitBit-style device for keeping track of your activity.The YotaPhone Has An E-Ink Display On The Back And That's Simply Awesome
Jan 11, 3:11AM
Okay, hear me out. The duel-sided YotaPhone is not a gimmick. It makes sense. On the back of the YotaPhone is an e-ink display that can mirror anything displayed on the main screen. And because e-ink screens do not require battery life, these images are available even if the phone battery dies. Get it? Probably not yet.Tim Cook Meets With China Mobile, Says China Will Soon Become Apple's Most Important Market
Jan 11, 2:35AM
Tim Cook would like to get Apple on a faster boat to China. On his current visit to the country, it looks like the Apple CEO has focused on smoothing the rollout and distribution of Apple products there. In an interview with Chinese news site Sina (link via Google Translate), Cook said that he believes China will become Apple’s most important market in the “not too distant future.” He also sounded an optimistic note over his latest talk with China Mobile, but would not divulge further details about whether or not he has managed to ink a deal with the world’s largest carrier, which the Cupertino company has been stuck in negotiations with for years. Earlier this week, Cook also met with Miao Wei, minister of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the agency responsible for approving Apple products before their launch in that country. The China launch of Apple products lags significantly behind their U.S. debut, which is due in large part to the wait for approval from government authorities. For example, the iPhone 5 was not available in China until nearly three months after its U.S. debut. Not only that, but Apple has been stuck in talks with China Mobile for years, wrestling over network and revenue sharing issues. Apple’s lack of a distribution deal with the world’s largest carrier by subscriber means that it’s market share in China has been chipped away by less expensive, more easily attainable devices by competitors like Samsung and Lenovo. It is crucial for Apple to cement a deal with China Mobile if it wants to increase its market penetration. Cook met with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua on Thursday, as confirmed by the carrier to QQ TEch (link via Google Translate) and reported by Reuters. Though both Apple and China Mobile have refused to disclose what issues were on the table, it’s almost certain that Cook’s aim was to finally gain access to the carrier’s 700 million subscribers. Discussions between the two companies have dragged on for about four years, weighed down by both network issues and disagreement over revenue sharing models. While China has constantly been one of the latter countries to receive new Apple products, Cook told Sina that it is a “top priority” of his for China to become one of the first regions in each rollout, and that he has been working diligently to cooperate with the government approval process for each new device inAn Interview With Eric Migicovsky, A Product Designer Who Had To Ramp Up From $0 To $10 Million In Funding In A Month
Jan 11, 2:22AM
The Pebble Smart watch is one of the best-known Kickstarter projects. A compact e-ink device designed to work with almost any smartphone, the Pebble grabbed attention when it hit $10 million and sold 85,000 watches after expecting to sell 5,000 units.Oculus Shows Off Its Virtual Reality Goggles For Genuinely Immersive Gaming
Jan 11, 2:22AM
As someone who devours way too much science fiction, I've always secretly believed that I'll be wearing giant VR goggles at some point in the future. (I'm patiently waiting for my jetpack, too.) Now it looks like I might not be crazy after all — Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, is hoping to take VR goggles out of the lab and put them into the hands of gamers at an affordable price. The company held a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign for its Oculus Rift headset last year, raising $2.4 million (nearly 10 times the original goal) from 9,522 backers. The company plans to ship its first developer kits in a couple of months, and Luckey dropped by the TechCrunch booth at the Consumer Electronics Show with an early version of the goggles.Lemmy From Motorhead Answers Questions About New Motorheadphones
Jan 11, 2:00AM
I can tell you that the very, very last place I expected to see Lemmy Kilmister, from the band Motorhead, was at CES 2013. However, the metal pioneer emerged from the chaos with his new line of headphones — Motorheadphones, that is — to sell to the masses.Facebook + Kayak: Flights With Friends Launches To Take The Pain Out Of Group Travel Planning
Jan 11, 1:43AM
Over the last few years, the travel industry has begun to undergo significant change, as startups and incumbents have fought to bring the disparate parts of a highly regulated industry online. Much of the attention from consumer web businesses has focused on making travel more "social," improving discovery and helping travelers figure out what to do at destinations of choice. Today, there's a laundry list of options when it comes to finding information about travel destinations, and sites like TripIt and Kayak (now part of Priceline) have changed the way we search for and book travel -- for business and pleasure. However, while the travel space (especially the social side) begins its inevitable consolidation after a flood of activity and launches, as Semil pointed out, there's still plenty of opportunity "closer to the top of the decision funnel" -- the moments after we decide where it is we want to go. Flights With Friends, a San Francisco-based startup that launches out of beta today, is willing to bet there's a big opportunity at the top of the funnel in one of social travel's less-explored segments: Group travel planning.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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