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01 Aug 2010 11:49

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Biz, Tech: The best way to get around patents? Focus on emerging markets

  • Want to build your own iPhone? You may run into patent trouble in the U.S. if you get too far, but if you pick the right emerging market, you may be able to pull it off without running into patent trouble. Indian-American scholar Vivek Wadhwa throws out this knowledge – the “Patent-Free Zone” – to budding entrepreneurs on TechCrunch. Put simply, you could go to Mexico – where Apple doesn’t have many patents filed – and create a similar product there without much legal trouble. And it extends to any number of products. It’s actually a smart approach – as long as you have the right product and the right market. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2010 15:43

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Tech: TechCrunch gets on on the hilarious Woot.com AP baiting mess

  • Meanwhile, AP staffers across the Gulf region and in Washington continue to provide comprehensive coverage of the oil spill.
  • AP Director of Media Relations Paul Colford • Using the oil spill as a scapegoat for the whole faux-fight with Woot.com and TechCrunch. TechCrunch, thank God, has a little bit of fun with the whole thing, posting a whole AP story on their site just to be stupid and childish. To which, we say, why the heck not! It’s AP who needs to change, not TechCrunch. One of the best TechCrunch posts in months. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 May 2010 10:00

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Tech: Facebook drops a major security ball, and then some. Holy crap

  • We’re looking at your Facebook chats now. We got curious. TechCrunch noticed this major flaw in Facebook’s Gibson this morning, one so massive that Facebook’s chat mechanism is already down for maintenance. In the social networking world, this is equivalent to a zero-day exploit, so we’re very glad that Facebook is at least being quick in fixing it. But still. WTF guys? This is incredibly bad form. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 10:19

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Tech: Is Facebook’s Open Graph the new Microsoft Windows?

  • Their vision of an open graph of people and things (with Facebook at the center) is becoming reality, and debates by technologists won’t change that. Facebook is taking over our identity and we are going along with that happily. It will take a new technology paradigm to disrupt what Facebook is doing.
  • TechCrunch king Michael Arrington • Discussing why Facebook is in a dominant position in the industry, and why they’re in a position to convince everyone to use their Open Graph and like button mechanism. He compares what Facebook is doing to Microsoft Windows, and suggests that, despite complaints about various details of the concept, they’ve got the market lynchpinned. “Someday, maybe a decade from now,” he writes, “some new technology will rise and allow other companies to threaten Facebook. But until then there is little to stop them. Their march to dominance has just begun.” Do you guys think this is true? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

11 Apr 2010 11:43

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Tech: The JooJoo costs as much as an iPad, does half as much

  • Bring up YouTube or Hulu clips and they look fine in a small window, but click into the full-screen mode and you’ll get more stalls and sputtering than a health care bill moving through Congress.
  • Wired reviewer Priya Ganapati • Discussing the JooJoo, formerly the CrunchPad. Beyond the immense amount of drama around the former TechCrunch-sponsored device, they say it sucks, especially at its $500 price point. The key point to take from the review? “Twice the weight of an iPad with half the usability. … You’re going to charge $500 for this thing with a straight face?” (In Michael Arrington’s defense, he wanted to charge less than half that price, but then Fusion Garage got a little greedy.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Apr 2010 23:33

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Tech: Engadget doesn’t know what to do with this JooJoo tablet

  • In terms of dumb tech moves, this ranks up there with Palm releasing the Pre the same week as the latest iPhone revision. The CrunchPad JooJoo hit Engadget’s desk today like a lump of coal, and while they want to review it and stuff, they also kinda hit on one of the busiest tech weeks of the year. Something about a tablet computer backed by a Silicon Valley guy with more cred than Michael Arrington. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2010 16:19

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Tech: TechCrunch proves that tech gossip blogs have ethics, too

  • In some way or another, a line was crossed that should have never been. At this time, I do not want to go into details, but I will publicly say that I am truly sorry to my family, friends, TechCrunch, and especially the tech community.
  • Former TechCrunch writer Daniel Brusilovsky • Regarding an ethical error he made as an intern for the site. TechCrunch reports (in an apology) that Brusilovsky reportedly tried to barter coverage on TechCrunch on multiple occasions, which is a definite no-no when it comes to journalistic behavior. TechCrunch chose not to reveal his name at first due to his age, but Brusilovsky apologized for the matter himself. Good idea. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Jan 2010 10:21

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Tech: The Apple iPad: Is the target audience the already-converted?

  • When it launches, the iPad’s initial target audience is iPhone and iPod touch users. Why? Because they are already very comfortable with the way you need to interact with this device.
  • TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler • Regarding the iPad’s initial target audience. It’s something Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself hinted at during his keynote address, saying, “If you have an iPhone, you already know how to use this.” And ultimately, that’s who’s going to be buying this, according to Siegler. It’s not perfect – it’s probably closer to a first-generation iPod than a first-generation iPhone in terms of completeness – but many users can already see its potential. It’s a CrunchPad on steroids. (Sorry, TechCrunch.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2010 21:08

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Politics: Caving in to the TSA: Should bloggers fight to protect sources?

  • Anyone working with Frischling now knows that he’ll respect your confidentiality, just so long as it’s not inconvenient to his liberty. And that’s not respect at all. He let all bloggers down the other day when he willingly handed over his computer to the government.
  • TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington • Regarding travel blogger Steven Frischling, who caved to TSA investigators regarding documents that he released in the wake of the underwear bomber last week. Arrington feels that Frischling let down a lot of bloggers by not fighting the subpoena and instead caving in. The situation has been resolved, with the TSA dropping the subpoenas (fellow travel blogger Chris Elliot didn’t cave), but Arrington feels that bloggers need to fight to protect their sources in cases like this – and as a tech blog on the front line of situations like this (although not as life-or-death), he has some experience with this. We’re with him, but would like to point out that there’s not a lot of institutional support for many bloggers in the same way as traditional journalists. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2009 22:29

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Tech: SEO, Demand Media, “fast food content,” and the loss of quality

  • These models create a race to the bottom situation, where anyone who spends time and effort on their content is pushed out of business. We’re not there yet, but I see it coming. And just as old media is complaining about us, look for us to start complaining about the new jerks.
  • TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington • On the rise of “fast-food content” – information that’s turned into commodity, with no thought put into quality but focus put into SEO alone. Don’t believe us? It’s already here, kinda. It’s called Demand Media. Where everything is recycled so many times that the good content goes away and we’re stuck eating crappy, good enough media burgers. With genetically modified URLs. (ReadWriteWeb also noticed this trend.) Our thoughts: Wouldn’t it be great to know you’re surfing the Web and getting more than snake oil? Because, hey, SEO is nice and all, but content with a clever approach is even better. Also, we’re convinced that Google and Microsoft will fix the SEO problem someday and figure out quality-based algorithms to curb the rise of crap content. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 
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