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Is There Still Hope For Google's Disappeared Android@Home And Nexus Q?
Mar 24, 9:00PM
Two years ago, Google’s Vic Gundotra keynoted the company’s 2011 I/O developer conference, and one of the big surprises of the day was the launch of Android@Home, Google’s attempt to corner the home-automation market. At the keynote, Google also showed the first prototype of what would later become the Nexus Q “social streaming media player” that it gave to every I/O 2012 attendee. Fast forward to today, just a few weeks before the next I/O, and home automation is still clunky and dominated by the same players as before, with the possible exception of Nest. Google has barely mentioned Android@Home since 2011. The Nexus Q never even made it to market after Google “postponed” it just before it was scheduled to launch. Unlike other Google products, both Android@Home and the Nexus Q currently live in no-man’s land where forgotten Google products wait before they are either resurrected or put out on the curb with the rest of its failed products at the next spring cleaning. While most neglected Google products disappear sooner or later, though, the Nexus Q, which got mostly negative reviews, still lives on an unlinked page on Google Play. The Nexus Q was Google’s first attempt at designing its own hardware, and while the Q was a great hardware product, it felt like it was intentionally held back by its software, which was extremely limited. The hardware still looks great today, so maybe it will make a return at I/O this year, but hopefully as a fully featured media player with app support that’ll let you run the majority of your Android apps on a TV. I don’t have very high hopes for this, but it’s definitely a possibility, given that its internals were essentially those of a high-end Android phone. When it “postponed” its launch and gave a free Q to everybody who pre-ordered one, Google said it did so because it wanted to make the Q better – and what better time to show how much it has improved it than at I/O 2013? The Nexus Q was just one piece of Google’s larger Android@Home home-automation vision. Android@Home was supposed to revolutionize home automation and turn Android into the operating system for your home. It would let you control everything from your heating system to your washer and dryer, alarm clock, lightbulbs (Google even had a partner for this “launch”), entertainment system and every otherHow Facebook Could Fix Its Forgettable New Features
Mar 24, 8:02PM
At least Facebook didn't break anything, but the extra feeds and search box it recently launched have yet to drastically improve my experience. The homepage redesign is pretty, but I keep forgetting the Photos and Music feeds exist since they're buried in the sidebar. And Graph Search is great when I need it, but I rarely do. With some design tweaks, Facebook could unleash their potential.West Virginia Lawmaker Seeks To Ban Drivers From Wearing Head Mounted Displays Like Google Glass
Mar 24, 6:29PM
I don't see any problem with this. In short, a West Virginia lawmaker wants to make wearing head mounted displays while driving against the law in his state. The devices would join other banned electronic communication devices like cell phones. The bill, while perhaps a bit laughable at first, is logical and smart. It makes a lot more sense than banning the use of Google Glass in dive bars.CrunchWeek: The Dongle Debacle, Game Of Thrones Comes To SF, And Who Wants A Smartwatch?
Mar 24, 6:00PM
Happy Sunday! I hope you'll agree with me when I say TGICW (Thank goodness it's CrunchWeek) -- that very special time each week when a few of us writers gather around the TechCrunch TV cameras to shoot the breeze about the biggest and most interesting stories from the past seven days.Apple Acquires Indoor GPS Startup WiFiSlam For $20M
Mar 24, 5:20PM
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Apple has acquired WiFiSlam, an indoor GPS startup that enables a smartphone to pinpoint its location -- along with that of your friends -- in realtime up to 2.5 meters in accuracy.Iterations: "We [Lucky] Few"
Mar 24, 5:00PM
For this week's column, I wanted to write about something entirely different than the normal market trends and product analysis you'd see on "Iterations." When I moved back to California in the middle of 2010, I had just spent the previous 18 months consulting and trying to get a life sciences company off the ground in Cambridge, Ma. I moved here and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do or could do. Little did I know how dynamic and competitive it is in the Valley, even though I lived in San Francisco in a previous life before my years in Boston, I wasn't in the technology world at that time. I try to remind myself every day that this is a very special place and that I'm lucky to be here, to not take anything for granted.Foundation Capital's Young Entrepreneur Program Lets Students Become VCs
Mar 24, 4:00PM
We sat down Foundation Capital General Partner Paul Holland and one of participants in the firm's Young Entrepreneurs Program, which offers MBA hopefuls and graduate students an opportunity to essentially act as a VC. We were lucky to meet Theresa Johnson, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford.As Obama Visits The West Bank, Palestinians Reach For Their Tech Startup Future
Mar 24, 3:49PM
Sitting in Snobar, a cool bar shaded by fir trees in deepest Ramallah, George Khadder is practically thumping the table as he speaks. A Palestinian who has worked in Silicon Valley, he talks passionately about his desire for Palestinian entrepreneurs to control their own destiny. "I came back from Silicon Valley because I believed I could affect change," he tells me. It's a sentiment that has been echoed during President Obama's visit to Israel and the West Bank. This week Obama specifically spoke about programs designed to stimulate the Palestinian technology ecosystem and build bridges with the large and well-developed Israeli tech community. "Over 100 high-tech companies have found a home on the West Bank, which speaks to the talent and entrepreneurial spirit of the Palestinian people," he said. Back in Snobar, you could easily mistake my conversation with a group of tech entrepreneurs to be happening in some hip part of Europe - perhaps a Berlin 'beach' bar by the river Spree. But this is no ordinary party of the world, and these are no run-of-the-mill entrepreneurs shooting the breeze about raising VC or launching a startup.Report: CA Technologies To Buy Enterprise App Deployment And Management Company Nolio For Over $40M
Mar 24, 2:32PM
According to Israeli publications The Marker and Calcalist, IT software giant CA Technologies will purchase Israeli app deployment and management company Nolio. The acquisition price has been reported between $40 and $42 million.Recent YouTube, Veoh Copyright Infringement Rulings Help To Unpack Safe Harbor Guidelines
Mar 24, 2:00PM
Editor's note: Sid Venkatesan is an IP partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. James Freedman is an associate in Orrick's IP group and a recent Stanford Law School graduate. Online content providers and aggregators are well aware of the potential penalties that can result from a copyright infringement lawsuit. In addition to being expensive to litigate, a copyright lawsuit can result in statutory damages (which can range between $750 to $30,000 for each infringing work found on a website), some or all of an infringer's profits and even steeper penalties for willful infringement.What Games Are: 'Twas The Night Before GDC
Mar 24, 1:00PM
The annual Game Developer's Conference rolls into San Francisco next week. The event is always worth attending if only to see what the future will bring. This year's, more than most, will be a real bellwether for what shape the industry will take over the next five years. And perhaps that shape will have much to do with microconsoles.Sony Patent Reveals Google Glass Competitor With A Head Mounted Display For Each Eye
Mar 24, 12:52PM
Watch out, Google. A recently published patent application reveals that Sony's head mounted display glasses are progressing down the evolutionary path rather nicely. What once amounted to just wide-eyed concepts, this latest patent filing, a continuation patent filed on November 14, 2012, shows that Sony, with perhaps a bit of inspiration for Google Glass, is nearing a practical model. And unlike Google's take on HMDs, Sony's has information displays for both eyes.The Crowd's Money Can Dominate Early-Stage Investing, But Only If The VCs Get Their Cut
Mar 24, 10:00AM
Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part guest column by Zach Noorani. Is angel capital an attractive asset class? Is the crowd capable of being good investors, willing to spend 20-40 hours doing due diligence per investment? These are critical questions to help determine just how big equity crowdfunding will become, right? I say no.To Grow Or Die In The Cloud
Mar 24, 6:00AM
Editor's note: Byron Deeter is the lead cloud specialist at Bessemer Venture Partners. A few years ago, most people couldn't tell you what the cloud was, let alone anticipate a market in which the sexy, highly anticipated consumer Internet IPOs were flops while the seemingly nerdy sectors of cloud and enterprise computing ended up driving the technology market returns.Backed Or Whacked: Baubles For Your Bike – Part 2
Mar 24, 4:00AM
Editor's note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Each column will look at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals. Last week's Backed or Whacked column looked at a trio of small, easily attached bicycle accessories that could beef up your ride's horn, assist in toting shopping bags, or add more secure footing to your pedal. This week's column looks at some larger accoutrements that can help bicyclists with their burdens. Unfortunately, none of them could get over their fundraising hill.The Evolution Of Google Reader Started With A Crash
Mar 24, 1:00AM
Editor's note: Jason Shellen is a former Googler and founding product manager of Google Reader. He is now co-founder at Boxer and advisor at Tapedeck. As part of Google's recent announcement that it is shutting down Google Reader in July, I thought looking back at the history of how our beloved but beleaguered Reader came to be, why we'll miss it and what we really want in the future.August Capital's David Hornik On How To Find 'Smart Money' For Your Startup [TCTV]
Mar 23, 10:00PM
Startup founders just getting their projects off the ground can be so focused on finding money, period, that they don't think about being choosy about who it comes from. But according to August Capital partner David Hornik, founders should think just as much about the "who" as they do about the "how much" before inking a VC deal: Finding compatible investors personality-wise is just as important to the success of a startup as the dollar figures on the check, he says.Bloomberg: 'We're Going To Have More Visibility And Less Privacy,' Drones And Surveillance Coming
Mar 23, 8:17PM
“We’re going to have more visibility and less privacy. I don’t see how you stop that,” admitted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a surprisingly candid interview about the future of the surveillance state in the Big Apple. While admitting that increased surveillance was “scary” and that governments will have to be thoughtful with their laws, he seemed to side with prioritizing radical transparency, especially through the use of automated drones, “but what's the difference whether the drone is up in the air or on the building? I mean intellectually I have trouble making a distinction.” This puts Bloomberg squarely at odds with the growing number of states and congress members either enacting or proposing moratoriums on the use of drones. Indeed, he went on to imply that the fears against drones were somewhat unjustified, especially since security cameras already exist: “The argument against using automation, it’s this craziness– oh, it’s Big Brother. Get used to it. When there’s a murder, a shooting, a robbery of something the first thing the police do is go to every single building in the neighborhood and say let’s see your security camera.” The NY Daily news notes that the New York Civil Liberties union has identified roughly 2,4000 cameras already affixed on Manhattan buildings–a presence that is likely to increase if Bloomberg’s most recent interview is to be believed. Lest Bloomberg be labeled as a surveillience hawk, the interview took on a tone of inevitability, rather than advocacy: “Everybody wants their privacy, but I don’t know how you’re going to maintain it.” Listen to part of the interview with WOR-AM host John Gambling, below. We’ll have more analysis soon.(Web) Castles Made Of Sand
Mar 23, 7:00PM
If there is one sliver lining in the Google Reader shutdown that has enraged the blogosphere (OK fine, the tech blogosphere), it's the fact that Google offers a way for Reader users to export their RSS subscriptions using its Google Takeout service. Actually, Google Takeout lets users of most major Google services remove their data from the Google ecosystem at any time. This is how it should be done.My Phone And I Are Never Getting Out Of Bed
Mar 23, 5:01PM
Our beds used to be finite. A limited range of activities took place there. We'd sleep, or try to, make love, eat, and maybe read a paperback. But we could only hide from the world for so long. The nagging puppet strings of our desire to learn and experience would pull taught. Eventually we had to rise. Then we found someone to cuddle with.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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