CrunchGear |  |
- Toshiba Japan Dates And Prices Its 55-Inch Naked-Eye 3D TV With 4K Resolution
- Daily Crunch: Thunder
- Verizon And RedBox Planning Major Partnership For Early 2012 Launch
- Onlive Now Beaming Console Games From The Cloud To iOS/Android Devices (Hands-on Video)
- Quick PSA: MacBook Air For $699? Don’t Fall For it
- CompactFlash Announces XQD Medium For High-Performance Cameras
- Transistor Tech Startup Takes On Intel With Powerful New Chip Creation Technique
- ChaLearn Challenges You To Teach A Kinect Instant Gesture Recognition
- UK’s “Domesday Reloaded” Archives On Touch-Table At Bletchley Park
- HP Is Reviving The $99 TouchPad Firesale! Refurb Models To Hit HP’s Ebay Store On 12/11
- Xbox 360-controlling “Xbox Companion” App Now Available For Windows Phone 7
- 2011 Gift Guide: 6 Hot PC Accessories To Keep You And Yours Warm This Holiday
- The Behringer iNuke: The 8-Foot iPhone Dock For The Oligarch Who Has Everything
- Nintendo President Iwata Says The 3DS Is Back On Track
- The TouchFire Chronicles: Still Life With Engineers
- Netflix Gets In On The Kinect Magic, Reveals New Xbox 360 Experience
- Down From Olympus: What’s Going On At The Beleaguered Camera Company?
- Evernote Launches Two New iPhone Apps: ‘Food’ And ‘Hello’
| Toshiba Japan Dates And Prices Its 55-Inch Naked-Eye 3D TV With 4K Resolution Posted: 08 Dec 2011 01:43 AM PST  Do you remember that 55-inch monster of a naked-eye 3D TV Toshiba unveiled back in October? The company now announced [JP] a date (December 10) and confirmed the final price (US$11,700) for the device. But there’s a drawback: Toshiba has still to decide if they will release the TV outside Japan, too. To recap, the TV features 3,840×2,160 pixels resolution in 2D mode (that’s four times the resolution of full HD) and a solid 1,280×720 resolution in 3D mode. Users are not required to use glasses, just with the smaller naked-eye 3D TVs Toshiba started selling in Japan late last year. Other features include a 5,000:1 contrast ratio, LED backlight, the "REGZA Engine CEVO Duo" engine, a face-tracking function to enable high-quality 3D pictures for viewers, REGZA LINK, five digital tuners, support for video recording on external HDDs 10W×2ch+10W speakers, four HDMI ports, and two USB ports. My guess is that Toshiba will only consider selling this TV outside Japan when it performs significantly better than its smaller predecessors.
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| Posted: 08 Dec 2011 01:00 AM PST  Here are some recent stories from TechCrunch Gadgets: 2011 Gift Guide: 6 Hot PC Accessories To Keep You And Yours Warm This Holiday The Behringer iNuke: The 8-Foot iPhone Dock For The Oligarch Who Has Everything ChaLearn Challenges You To Teach A Kinect Instant Gesture Recognition Transistor Tech Startup Takes On Intel With Powerful New Chip Creation Technique
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| Verizon And RedBox Planning Major Partnership For Early 2012 Launch Posted: 07 Dec 2011 06:30 PM PST  Yesterday, it was reported that Verizon was planning a Netflix competitor and in talks with various content producers to provide the streams and downloads. TechCrunch has obtained additional information on this story that makes the concept a bit more realistic and should alleviate some of the concerns noted by critics and consumers yesterday. Our source says that Verizon is in fact planning a major partnership with RedBox, whose fast-growing business of $1 (now $1.20) DVD-rental kiosks has made it a major player in the content distribution game. They aim to debut a TV and movie streaming and download service this coming May. The service is called Project Zoetrope internally, and will be a subscription, streaming, and downloading service for TV and movies that will be available on a broad variety of platforms: they plan support for iOS, Android, Google TV, Xbox, Roku and other streaming boxes, and browsers. “Set-top boxes,” by which they mean more traditional digital cable boxes, are not supported; this is an internet service, not a broadcast service. It will stream in SD or HD to all of these devices, and local storage of video will be enabled for mobile devices and tablets. It is still in talks with content providers and will be following their lead on blackouts and release timing; this won’t be a quick-release channel for new movies or live TV, for instance. Launch is planned for May 28th, with a beta starting in late April. Pricing is expected to be monthly and credit-based, e.g. $5.95 per month for 6 credits, which could be used to rent X movies or Y shows. There will be several tiers and some will include physical disc rentals, and of course there will be ways to purchase more shows if necessary. For those who were skeptical of yesterday’s rumors, this should come as some kind of reassurance. Verizon has little to no branding in the on-demand movies and TV world, while RedBox is immediately recognizable and synonymous with simplicity and value. Redbox, however, has little in the way of TV shows, so Verizon is probably doing much of the heavy lifting on that side, and of course on the delivery infrastructure front.
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| Onlive Now Beaming Console Games From The Cloud To iOS/Android Devices (Hands-on Video) Posted: 07 Dec 2011 06:00 PM PST The claims are magnificent: “The latest, top-tier, high-performance games…on over 500 million mobile devices.” The results are slightly less than spectacular, but still impressive enough to completely shake up the mobile gaming scene. For the first time, you can play real games (as in titles previously only available on full-fledged gaming consoles) on a relatively low power device such as a tablet or smartphone. Thanks to Onlive’s just-launched mobile app, DiRT 3, Assasin’s Creed Revelations, L.A. Noire and many more titles are now playable on most recent Android devices including the Kindle Fire, iPad and soon, the iPhone. Onlive is by nature gaming done different. Instead of relying on local media, games are streamed thanks to today’s generous bandwidth. Available starting today, Onlive is no longer restricted to a TV or computer. The entire system and its ever-growing library of games (currently around 200 titles) are now playable on a select number of mobile devices. I found that it’s almost true console gaming on the go. Like the traditional Onlive service, it’s not perfect but still pretty neat. Current Onlive gamers should feel right at home. It’s the exact user interface used on the company’s original MicroConsole. All the games playable on the traditional system are also playable through the mobile app. Graphics are dependent on the available bandwidth. I was told that anything above 2-3 Mbps will result in HD graphics (more like HD-ish) but the games are playable even when the throughput is as low as 1 Mbps. WiFi is of course preferred over 3G but Onlive’s relatively low requirements should allow for gaming while on a cell network. The company was careful to note in the press release that the system is also compatible with 4G networks as well. At launch, 25 games including Defense Grid and LA Noire will be playable with just the device’s touchscreen. Those two particular games were optimized for Onlive’s tablet app and include new controls including pinch to zoom. Others yet like DiRT 3, Lego Batman and Darksiders are playable with just a virtual gamepad overlay. All of the games, however, work with the new $49.99 Wireless Controller that’s also compatible with PCs, Macs and Onlive-enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray players through USB. The app itself is free, but users will still need to pay for Onlive games which are available per title or through Onlive’s PlayPack Bundle. It seems most top-tier Android devices are officially supported — but as with most Android apps, other (unsupported) devices will probably get in on the fun as well (see official list below). The app currently works for the iPad with support for the iPhone coming later. As always with Onlive, games are played in the cloud therefore allowing players to pick up where they left off on a different device. Since the app doesn’t cost anything additional, there’s really no reason for Onlive gamers to avoid it since they can now resume games on their phone or tablet. It should be available in both the Android Marketplace and Apple App Store as soon as today. As demonstrated in the video, the Onlive app is a functional but often disappointing affair. The graphics can be choppy and blocky. Games are completely playable, but I always encountered at least some lag even when on a reliable WiFi connection. Games that rely on twitch controls like a FPS shooter are out of sync just enough to frustrate seasoned gamers. Other titles (such as the LEGO games, Bastion and even DiRT 3) that do not rely on precision controls seem to be a better fit for the streaming system. At launch this extension of Onlive should be considered more of a proof of concept than a legitimate gaming experience. Still, it’s an incredible feeling to play a real game like Batman Arkham City on a tablet or smartphone, especially with the Onlive wireless controller. Forget smashing green pigs during bathroom breaks, you have Arkham City to save. Supported Android tablets · Acer Iconia Tab A500 · ASUS Eee Pad Transformer · HTC Flyer · HTC Jetstream · Motorola Xoom · Samsung Galaxy Tab · Sony Tablet S · Toshiba Thrive Support Android Phones · HTC Nexus One · HTC Rezound 4G · HTC Sensation · HTC Sensation XL · Motorola Droid 2 · Motorola Droid X2 · Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G · Motorola DROID RAZR 4G · Motorola Photon 4G · Samsung Galaxy S II 4G
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| Quick PSA: MacBook Air For $699? Don’t Fall For it Posted: 07 Dec 2011 04:53 PM PST  Apple has just reduced the price of the lowest tier of refurbished MacBook Air to $699 — I’ve just seen it pop up on a couple news sites. One would think that the option of getting for such a low price what was a year ago an object of envy would make it a no-brainer. But it is the old version of the famously flat laptop, and although it may seem superfluous to point this out, I feel I should warn our readers that to take advantage of this deal is to buy yourself some grief. This version of the MacBook Air debuted in October 2010, and it has a Core2 Duo processor that has roots going back to 2008 and before. It was outdated when it first showed up, and it’s a dog now. For $700 you should be getting a modern computer, and these MBAs ain’t one of those. Only the most recent update makes the laptop worth using for “serious” computing like managing big photo libraries or editing video. If you want to browse the web and watch movies, $700 will buy you a giant screen, modern processor, 4 gigs of RAM, and maybe even a Blu-ray drive. And if you have your mind set on a MacBook Air (and I don’t blame you, I’m using a new one now and they’re solid), avoid the old ones at all costs! The new ones will be all over the place used and for sale prices around the holidays, so don’t fall for fire-sale prices on junk inventory that would have been overpriced a year ago.
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| CompactFlash Announces XQD Medium For High-Performance Cameras Posted: 07 Dec 2011 04:32 PM PST  In most consumer cameras, an SD card is used for image storage. But it wasn’t so long ago that CompactFlash (CF) cards were the standard for anything better than a point-and-shoot. Many cameras still use the format, despite the higher capacity and lower price of SD, but such models have grown fewer and further between as CF’s lead on speed has narrowed. The CompactFlash Association isn’t going to take it lying down, though: they’ve just produced a new format, called XQD, with a new form factor and interface. It’s thicker than SD but has a smaller footprint than CF, which to me sounds perfect: I’m always afraid SDs are going to snap or be crushed, and CF feels bulky and cheap. The association calls the cards “durable and robust,” though I doubt they’re waterproof or anything like that. XQD uses the PCI Express interface, and the target for real-world write speeds is 125MB/s. The theoretical maximum is 5Gb/s, or around 600MB/s, but that’s not likely to ever be hit. Still, 125MB/s is more than enough for high-speed, high-resolution RAW photography and HD video. The cards should be shown off at CP+ in Yokohama this coming February. No partnerships or cameras were announced, and if anything were forthcoming before February (at CES, for instance), we would have seen a debut then. But it’s an attractive technology and pro shooters may appreciate the reduced write times and improved build quality, so adoption by a few of the majors seems likely.
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| Transistor Tech Startup Takes On Intel With Powerful New Chip Creation Technique Posted: 07 Dec 2011 03:43 PM PST  One of the true giants in the tech industry is Intel. Despite the ascendance of their rival, ARM, in the mobile sector, Intel is unmatched in processor and molecular-level computing R&D. They are years ahead of others in the business and likely will be for some time. But that doesn’t mean that an occasional upstart can’t stand up to them in a small but significant way. SuVolta, a new company based in Los Gatos and only in the public eye for six months, has created an alternative to a certain Intel chip-making technique that could improve the system-on-a-chip production and significantly decrease power consumption. Their partner, Fujitsu, has just demonstrated the technology in a super-low-voltage SRAM chip, showing that the technique is very far from vaporware. It’s always extraordinary when a small company (SuVolta has around 50 employees) can take on a multi-billion dollar one, even more so when the larger company maintains its dominance by its immense spending on research staff and facilities. But SuVolta is lucky in the respect that their invention does not require such a high level of investment. Or not lucky, rather, but very shrewd. Their tech, in brief, is a new technique for producing transistors called Deeply Depleted Channel, and it’s a different material stacking method that allows for an even lower voltage to be used to reliably power the gate. In Fujistu’s demonstration, a small SRAM cell that would normally take 1V to power successfully ran with just 0.425V. Power savings of over 50% on such a low level are hugely significant. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, the DDC method of producing transistors is compatible with existing chip-creation infrastructures and designs. This means that SoC manufacturers won’t have to spend billions refitting their factories to create bigger dies or accommodate smaller transistor sizes; after all, reliably producing structures 25 nanometers across is no easy matter, and the machinery necessary to do it is incredibly expensive. By allowing for this huge improvement in power consumption rates but minimizing the cost of deployment, SuVolta is saving companies billions and nullifying to some extent some of the billions spent by Intel. DDC only goes so far, but it’s an extremely valuable and powerful asset for a young and small company like SuVolta to have. They’ve branded it Powershrink, but there’s no indication of when products built on the technique will hit the market.
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| ChaLearn Challenges You To Teach A Kinect Instant Gesture Recognition Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:37 PM PST  There’s seemingly no end to the clever things that people can do with a little know-how and a Kinect camera, and now it seems like the machine learning enthusiasts at ChaLearn want to use the Xbox accessory to change the way computers deal with gesture controls. In short, they’re challenging the world’s data tinkerers to develop a learning system that allows a Kinect to recognize physical gestures in one shot. Why one shot? The way ChaLearn looks at it, if gesture-based control is ever going to become a staple of how we interact with our technology, there can’t be an overly-complex process to define those gestures. What ChaLearn wants teams to accomplish is a way for a gesture to be defined and subsequently recognized after it’s been performed only once. After all, if a human can do it, why shouldn’t a machine be able to? The competition is being run using Kaggle, the data modelling competition platform that just wrapped up an $11 million funding round not long ago. The gesture-learning challenge is one of nearly 30 that Kaggle hosts, which run the gamut from asking users to determine if a car bought at an auction is a lemon to predicting which patients will be admitted to a hospital by parsing claims data. As you can imagine, only the hardiest of data crunchers need apply. Competitors are given a Kinect’s RGB video and spatial depth data of a subject performing a series of gestures, and are tasked with finding a way to predict the identity of those gestures as defined in a separate “truth file.” Here’s a brief snippet from the challenge’s description that should give you an idea of the sort of work involved:
It’s going to be a lot of work even if you’ve boned up on your Levenhstein distances, but the winning teams will be handsomely rewarded. Thanks to the prominent use of Kinects in the challenge, Microsoft has thrown the competition their support in the form of $10,000 to be split among the top three teams. What’s more, if Microsoft is fond of your solution, they have the option of licensing your work in exchange for a payout as large as $100,000. The solution development period starts now and runs though April 6, 2012, and the last chance to upload your learning solution comes 4 days after that. Better get cracking if you want to take home that prize (oh, and potentially change the course of human-computer interaction).
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| UK’s “Domesday Reloaded” Archives On Touch-Table At Bletchley Park Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST  Among the forward-thinking digital projects of the computing silver age was the Domesday Project, which aimed to preserve mid-eighties life in the UK by means of digitizing slide photos and text describing day-to-day life. The text was on floppies mailed in to the project’s headquarters. The final product took up two laserdiscs. Forward thinking in concept, I should say, not necessarily in execution. But this invaluable cultural document has been in the process of revivification for several months, and the final product is about to be opened to the public at the UK’s famous National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. The original desktop version (on a BBC Micro PC) will be usable, but they’ve also put together a touch-enabled version for a Surface-like touchscreen table. It’s not actually a Surface; the 52-inch screen is larger than the latest Samsung-based Surface 2.0, and probably uses a traditional capacitive detection layer. But it’s a great match for the data: maps and pictures and captions are natural companions for hands and fingers, and of course the collaborative, in-person sharing that’s so fun on large displays like this is also very appropriate with this content. The “modernization” of this data set (which, at under two gigabytes, would fit easily on nearly any new handset or tablet) makes one think: what will people be doing 25 years from now to modernize our data? Will our public contributions, say all of YouTube, fit in our future selves’ palms? Will we have interaction methods more powerful and elegant than anything available now? I certainly hope so. The exhibition at Bletchley Park will open Thursday.
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| HP Is Reviving The $99 TouchPad Firesale! Refurb Models To Hit HP’s Ebay Store On 12/11 Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:11 AM PST  Get your clicking fingers ready! These boys are going to go fast. Starting Sunday, December 11th at 6:00 p.m. Central time, 16GB and 32GB Touchpads will be available on HP’s ebay store. A $79 accessory bundle will also be available, which includes a case, charging dock and wireless keyboard. Look for them in the laptop section. As you would expect, there are some caveats with this deal with the main disappointment being these are refurbished TouchPads rather than the brand new models sold during the first firesale. The refurbished 16GB and 32GB models will be available in an unannounced quantity. Sales will be limited to just two SKUs per ebay member and PayPal must be used to complete the transaction. All sales are final and the product only comes with a 90-day warranty. HP wants these things gone. HP employees also have a chance to snag a TouchPad but they’re going to have to wait in line as well. An internal HP memo received announced the sale to employees. It states that the TouchPads will be available starting at the aforementioned 6:00 p.m. time but the public announcement will not be made until a little later, allowing employees first shot at the discontinued tablet. Guess I messed that up, eh?
This might conclude the TouchPad’s sad story. The product was pulled after just two and a half months on the market. HP quickly turned around and sold most of the available inventory while promising more were on their way. This supply slowly appeared at retailers but were only available with the purchase of an HP computer. But with this sale, HP is making good on its promise and likely closing the book on the TouchPad. Its development will likely be in just the hands of the TouchPad’s capable fanbase. Good night, sweet TouchPad.
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| Xbox 360-controlling “Xbox Companion” App Now Available For Windows Phone 7 Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:08 AM PST  Microsoft’s wonderfully shiny new Xbox 360 dashboard is now available to most, and, while it’s a bit of a letdown in some ways (more on that later, probably), it has plenty of very, very cool new features. Cloud storage for game saves! New Netflix! HBOGO (Eventually!) One of the niftier features, however, is being saved solely for those rockin’ Windows Phone 7 phones. Called Xbox Companion, it allows you some degree of control over your 360 from your handset (as opposed to a standard controller), and it just went live. Now, don’t go throwing out your dedicated controller just yet, (Master) Chief. While the Xbox Companion lets you fire up and control media and set beacons (alerting you when friends are playing certain games, so you can drop everything and get some headshots), it’s by no means a replacement for your actual controller. It is, at least in its current state, mostly a rather neat trick and an occasional excuse to not get up and grab the controller. Still: if you’ve got a Windows Phone handset, a 360, and a Live account, give it a spin.
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| 2011 Gift Guide: 6 Hot PC Accessories To Keep You And Yours Warm This Holiday Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:11 AM PST  Most of us eat, sleep and drink at our desk. It’s our live and we can do with it whatever we please. If your loved one spends more time at a desk in front of a computer than anywhere else, the following gifts will likely light up their face. There’s something here for everyone from the Mac fanboy to the retro gamer. Retro NES USB Controller If the gamer in your life fires up emulators more than modern games (or even if it’s an occasional thing), this $29.99 controller is a great gift. It will certainly invoke memories of nights attempting to beat Castlevania. The classic NES controller is still one of the best form factors of all time. Real games do not need 32 buttons. Give the gift of simplicity this year. The controller is available at ThinkGeek for just $29.99 where they also sell a USB joystick that’s even more retro. Both are safe bets, though. iLaunch Thunder These USB rocket launchers are nothing new, but this model now supports direct control via an iPhone or iPad, allowing you to remotely aim and rain down hellfire upon unsuspecting office mates from outside of the room. Casual Body Armor Friday will never be the same. The launcher connects to your phone via Bluetooth and you can aim remotely. Sadly, there is no built-in camera for aiming more precisely and at $82 it's a bit expensive, but it may be just the thing you need to unleash hell on accounting — or your mother-in-law Christmas morning. USB aromatherapy oil burner Simply plug this little guy into a horizontal USB port and drop a bit of the included lavender oil into the receptacle. That’s it. In a few short moments, your cube will transform from an institutionalized torture chamber into a relaxing room at the finest spa. All for $5.99 plus shipping from ThinkGeek. There are no drivers to install and it really doesn’t require a computer. The adventurous among us will try this with wall wart USB chargers and the like. But no matter how you butter the toast, the result will be a more pleasing area to be in as aromatherapy is often just a fancy $10 word for a pleasing smell — something most people could use at their desk. FitDesk X Compact Pedal Desk The modern office will likely lead to the rise of apes and the collapse of society. You better do your part this holiday season and ensure that your loved ones do not waste away in an office chair. The FitDesk X Compact Pedal Desk is just what it sounds like: a desk with pedals. That way, you know, office workers can tone their calves and strengthen their core while avoiding work by browsing Reddit. With an MSRP of $289 (Amazon sells it for $229), it’s not the cheapest gift available. Plus, it would be mighty tough to wrap. But giving the gift of a better tomorrow cannot be ignored. That might be the greatest gift of all. Neatdesk The Neatdesk is just a fancy scanner. It knows that and so will the gift receiver. However, they will be pleasantly surprised once they discover that this novel device will actually clean up their desk and organize their life. Because it will. The scanner is quiet, quick and effective. The software is a bit confusing at first but the user should be able to overcome the learning curve by News Year’s. The little scanner takes everything from business cards to receipts and quickly organizes the lot. It’s not as exciting as a puppy, but this is a gift that will continue giving throughout the year. $379 at Amazon. Twelve South PlugBug All-in-One Dual Charger It’s hard to improve upon the design of Apple products. But Twelve South managed to do just that. The PlugBug All-in-One Dual Charger piggybacks on a MacBook charger, adding a full-power USB charging port to the power brick — charge an iPad, charge an iPhone, heck, it would even work with that silly USB aromatherapy oil burner above. Better yet, it works as a stand-alone charger. The novel product will likely warm the heart of any MacBook owner who also owns a smartphone that charges via USB (that’s everyone).
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| The Behringer iNuke: The 8-Foot iPhone Dock For The Oligarch Who Has Everything Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:10 AM PST  While I’m fairly certain that this is a publicity stunt tied into the upcoming CES season, BEHRINGER (their caps, not mine) has announced the iNuke, an 8×4 foot, 700 pound iPhone/iPad dock. It costs $30,000 and pumps out – no joke – 10,000 Watts. This is part of their Eurosound brand, a higher-end range of 50 products that is cashing in on the newfound popularity of expensive but horrible headphones (see: Beats). To be fair, Behringer has always made good audio gear and mixers, so why can’t they dip a toe into the CE market? It’s a free planet, right? Anyway, look for the iNuke at an aircraft hangar near you, because I doubt most houses will be able to withstand its onslaught of pure, unadulterated power.
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| Nintendo President Iwata Says The 3DS Is Back On Track Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:25 AM PST  Nintendo caused a huge splash in the video gaming world earlier this year, when it announced a drastic price cut for the 3DS (which was meant to be an answer to disappointing sales). But it looks like pushing down the price from 25,000 to 15,000 Yen helped, at least in Nintendo’s home market of Japan. According to big N’s president Satoru Iwata, the 3DS has sold a solid 3 million times so far, a number it reached two weeks earlier than the predecessor of the console, the DS. In an interview with Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Iwata said the device has “regained its momentum” and that sales started picking up (in Japan) around October. Nintendo now expects to pass the four million unit mark in February next year, fueled by the launch of first-party hit titles and higher sales during the holiday season. In fact, Japan’s biggest video game magazine Famitsu is reporting that between December 1 and 4, Mario Kart 7 was sold a whopping 450,000 times, making it the fastest-selling 3DS title so far. In the same week, Nintendo Japan sold 216.350 3DS consoles. For the US and Europe, Iwata said he expects improved numbers in the near future, too, and added that the Mario series is actually selling better in these regions than in Japan. Nintendo hasn’t revised its (pretty negative) financial forecast for the current fiscal year, however.
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| The TouchFire Chronicles: Still Life With Engineers Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:50 AM PST  Editor’s Note: This week we’re running a three part series by Steven Isaac, a programmer with an amazing resume including stints at Sun, Microsoft, and even a hardware start-up that brought the first (non-portable) tablets. For years he’s dreamed of an easy-to-use device with a full keyboard that slides out when needed and, together with a designer, he built the Touchfire, a fully funded Kickstarter project that has only 10 days to go before production begins. We asked him to create a series of short posts about his experience with the Kickstarter process and offer you, the hardware hackers out there, some advice and best practices. The entire series appears here. Brad and I are sitting in his office, waiting for the FedEx guy to arrive with our B39 prototype. The fate of our company lies in the balance. FedEx comes at last, and we rip open the package. Jubilation! Not just one but several B39 keys had the required behavior. They also feel really good to type on. Is that a tear I see in Brad's eye? He did it, TouchFire lives! Every key design we have made since descends from one of those B39 keys. Fast forward a few weeks. Apple announces the iPad 2 with the Smart Cover, and we are back in the depths of despair. Our complex retraction mechanism is clearly not in the spirit of the minimalist iPad 2. The iPad 2 launch day finally arrived. I spent the day camped out on the floor of the Bellevue Square mall, waiting for the Apple store to start selling iPad 2s. My wife Dena dropped by periodically with snacks. "At least we haven't shipped anything yet", I thought. "We are actually in better shape than the accessory makers who are now stuck with obsolete designs on their shelves." The Apple store opened and I bought my allotment of iPad 2s and Smart Covers. I raced over to Brad's office and we unpacked our prizes. Apple had once again designed a brilliant product. Magnets were used throughout the tablet and the Smart Cover. We looked at each other: "What about magnets for TouchFire?" I immediately ordered a huge assortment of magnets in various shapes and sizes, and we spent the next few weeks immersed in them. We realized that we could use the magnets in the iPad to attach and align TouchFire over the on-screen keyboard, and the magnets in the Smart Cover would allow us to store TouchFire in the Smart Cover. We also realized that TouchFire could be quickly retracted and held in position below the screen if we put magnets in all four corners. There was still a lot of work to do, but we now knew what was necessary to optimize TouchFire. Completing the new design would keep Brad busy for months. But I could see that we would ultimately succeed, so I started thinking about how we would fund the launch and initial production of TouchFire. There were really two choices – the traditional angel/VC route, or crowd-funding via Kickstarter. I decided to pursue both in parallel, and then see which one was the better option. We prepared for Kickstarter by making a video that included TouchFire user tests. No small undertaking, but I felt it was important for people to see TouchFire in actual use. I also approached several Silicon Valley investors that I knew from my GO days. Interestingly, none of the investors wanted to pursue TouchFire, because it was not a software project. Well, that made it easy. We'd just go with Kickstarter. I submitted our Kickstarter application on October 13th. And heard back the next day that Kickstarter had rejected us. Time was running out. Thanksgiving and Christmas were looming, and we really needed to get launched. But I waited until our video was ready before applying again, and included a link to it. That did the trick, and TouchFire was approved shortly thereafter. Whew! I learned that Kickstarter's Design category is especially hard to get into. Just having a good idea doesn't cut it anymore. Be prepared to show a live Web site, a video, previous products, or other proof that your project is real. Now it was time to build our Kickstarter page. Before doing so, I looked at a lot of Kickstarter projects, both successful and unsuccessful. This was a good way to get a sense for what works and what doesn't. The Kickstarter crowd is very detail oriented, and not everyone will look at your video. Make sure the key features of your project are shown on your page as well as clearly demonstrated in your video. The trajectory of a Kickstarter project is also very interesting. All of the really successful Kickstarter projects hit the ground running from the very first day. This is not simply good luck. It is up to you to get the word out about your project before it launches, so that you will get off to a great start. Once your project has momentum, all sorts of good things start happening. Kickstarter starts to feature you. Backers feel confident that your project will succeed. The press will begin to take notice. Brad and I let everyone we knew about our upcoming Kickstarter launch. We reunited with long-lost relatives, resolved old feuds, and talked to as many people as we could. If your project is in a niche like amateur photography, be sure to let that community know what's coming. After we launched, I would make sure that I did something every single day to spread the word. And respond you must. Besides Twitter, you will get a constant stream of messages and comments that you need to be on top of. Not to mention creating regular updates. Writing a short, sweet but meaningful update is an art form, like crafting a haiku. We are now in the final week of our Kickstarter project, and the intensity level is off the charts. Successful Kickstarter projects end with a bang, not a whimper, as people realize that they cannot put off a backing decision much longer. Kickstarter is a mirror. Whatever you put in is immediately reflected back as signups or lack thereof, happy or unhappy backers, being noticed, or being ignored. Kickstarter is an amplifier. Your backers will unerringly point out the smallest flaws in your project, but will also get behind you en masse and be the wind beneath your wings (did I really just say that?). But most of all, building the TouchFire has been a whole lot of fun!
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| Netflix Gets In On The Kinect Magic, Reveals New Xbox 360 Experience Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:37 AM PST  Surprise! The big Xbox 360 update started hitting consoles late last night and brought along with it a new Netflix app. This overhauled user experience incorporates the new Kinect voice and gesture controls with a swanky new UI. It nearly turns the Xbox 360′s Netflix app into a movie selection device worthy of a staring roll alongside Tom Cruise in a modern sci-fi adventure that rhymes with Sinority Beport. The redesign puts a lot more content in front of the viewer. The Recently Watched tabs, Instant Queue, and recommended lists now display three times more titles. Plus, when a video ends, a screen will appear display three related titles (think YouTube). Most of the user elements including related titles, rating, subtitles, and audio settings now occupy similar buttons at the bottom of the screen, eliminating menu overload. The app also gets in on the new Kinect actions. Users can control nearly the entire app with just voice controls and motion gestures. Of course a Kinect is required. The updated Netflix app is ready to rock and roll, but users need to initiate the download after applying the latest system update. Several users took to YouTube after stumbling upon the app last night. Below is the best video demonstrating the new features I could find. Now that Netflix made the new experience official, I’m sure more will pop up.
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| Down From Olympus: What’s Going On At The Beleaguered Camera Company? Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:30 AM PST  Riding high from a series of mid- to high-level successes in its 2010 and 2011 camera line, Olympus execs could be excused for feeling good. However, as 2011 winds down, Olympus is not in the news for medical imaging devices or micro 4/3s lenses. Instead, it’s in the news for a scandalous affair that threatens to sink the company and has already claimed the company’s board. It was a cover-up, and a huge one at that, and some are calling it the the biggest corporate scandal in Japan since the 1990′s. And while the technical illegality of what went down is certainly not up for debate, the word “scandal” deserves a closer look. After the sharp rise of the yen in 1985, then President Toshiro Shimoyama introduced what is known as the “zaiteku” (or, speculative investment) strategy to Olympus and began conducting “aggressive financial asset management,” according to an independent panel’s report. But as many of you know, the bubble economy in Japan burst in 1990, and losses began. To try and stop the bleeding, Olympus started investing in high-risk high-return products, and eventually the losses grew to JY$100 billion (US $1.2 billion) by the end of 1990. To cover up those losses, Olympus started making acquisitions, including the 2008 purchase of Gyrus, with incredibly inflated acquisitions advisory fees, and also participated in what’s called a Loss Separation scheme, which basically keeps losses out of Olympus’ consolidated financial statements. In October of this year the company appointed its very first non-Japanese CEO in Michael Woodford, who only spent two weeks at his post. Upon suspicion of covered-up losses, he made allegations that the company may be up to some shady business and was promptly relieved of his position. At the time reports circulated that the cover-up may also involve “yakuza,” or the Japanese mafia. Today an independent six-person panel unrelated and unaffiliated to Olympus, the same one that first “discovered” the scandal, has released a lengthy report that finds just what was expected. Olympus was in fact covering up losses, however there is nothing thus far that links any of the shady dealings to organized crime. That’s the story, in so many words. And when you look at the facts, it seems obvious that Olympus (specifically ex-EVP Hisashi Mori, auditor Hideo Yamada and former Olympus chair Tsuyoshi Kikukawa) was “wrong” in covering up the scandal. In almost all the ways, that’s true. A number of companies sustained horrible losses during their zaiteku phase, returned back to their core business, and regained their position as powerful, upstanding organizations. But Forbes contributor Stephen Harner brings up an interesting point on the notion of honor within this mess. When I think of the term corporate scandal, I imagine some fat cat running away to some Caribbean island with a lifetime of cash that doesn’t belong to him. At the very least, I imagine the same fat cat sitting on a stand before a judge and the rest of the world feigning any form of a conscience. But Harner points out the fact that the motives of the executives involved were that of trying to save the company, not to make themselves rich. “Olympus incurred such huge losses in its zaitech transactions in years past that at almost any time, had it chosen to recognize the losses, it very likely would have been bankrupted.” He goes on to say that these final acquisitions (between 2006-2008) and their bogus advisory fees were likely the end game, and that Olympus may have succeeded in covering up the losses entirely had it not been for Michael Woodford. It’s also speculated that other Japanese companies are hiding losses from their zaiteku transactions and that “more often than we choose to think, company managements can and do exercise judgment and discretion on loss recognition, asset valuations, and disclosures,” according to Harner. At this point, we’re waiting to see whether or not Woodford’s call for justice will lead to any legal action against those involved. Then there’s the matter of whether or not Olympus will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The WSJ reports that its only chance is correcting its past financial statements by December 14, a tough deadline when you factor in getting an auditor’s signature. Even if it succeeds, there’s still a chance the company will be delisted anyways for lies already told. Here in the States, being delisted means one of two things: the company is either doing so poorly that its entering bankruptcy territory or the company must move itself to one of the smaller exchanges, like the OTC and Pink Sheets markets. The difference there is that outside of the massive primary Stock Exchange (whether it be the NYSE or the Tokyo Stock Exchange), the regulations that make companies palatable to large investors and mutual funds no longer apply. The company is soon considered untrustworthy. After nearly two decades of falsified financial reports, perhaps that fate is a fitting one for Olympus.
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| Evernote Launches Two New iPhone Apps: ‘Food’ And ‘Hello’ Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:21 AM PST  Today at the Le Web conference in Paris, Evernote is debuting two new applications for iPhone and iPod touch devices. The first one is called Food, and is designed to help people easily save and ‘relive’ all of their favorite meals and food experiences. The second app is dubbed Hello and basically wants it easier for users to remember people after meeting them, as well as recording thoughts about and experiences with those people. Evernote Food (download link) The Food app is essentially giving users ways to document dishes and drinks they’ve had, build a catalog of custom recipes, review restaurants and record food experiences in their neighborhood or abroad, and even manage their diets. It also comes with handy sharing options, of course. The application lets people capture all aspects of a meal through pictures, location, text and photo captions. All this information about the meal is automatically synchronized with Evernote, making it easy to track down later. More information is available here. Evernote Hello (download link) The Hello app is a tad more sophisticated. Basically, the mobile application aims to make it easier for people to remember everything about encounters, shared experiences and impressions they have when meeting other people. More information is available here. From the pitch:
Sounds really cool, save for maybe the ‘exchanging phones’ thing … As with the Food app, people and encounters are automatically synched to Evernote. Both applications are available on the App Store now and free of charge. Also read: Evernote Clearly Knows How To Make Web Reading, Clipping Easier
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