In Time For The Holiday Shopping Rush, Fab Debuts Free Shipping As A Permanent Feature

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Design-focused e-commerce site Fab has been steadily trying to decrease the amount of time it takes from when a purchaser hits purchase on the site to when they actually receive the purchased item. Via new warehouses and shipping models, Fab has been able to get items to users within a few days as opposed to a few weeks. And today, Fab is debuting a new feature–free shipping.

Fab says that this is definitely not a holiday promotion, and free shipping will be a permanent offering on the site. “Free Fast Shipping” is now available from fab on orders of $75 or more. But Fab says that 98% of all products on Fab qualify for free shipping. Users can see whether a product qualifies for free shipping via a truck icon next to the product.

As we reported a few weeks ago, Fab wants to build a long term brand (a la Zappos) that will be iconic with design and customer service. Part of this is putting the customer first, and offering valued-added services for purchasers. Free shipping is one of those incentives.

Fab, which just raised $120 million in new funding, now has nine million members.


Brightcove Adds Native Plugin Architecture To Its App Cloud, Improving Cross-Platform, Hybrid App Development

brightcove

Brightcove expanded beyond video content management and rolled out its platform for mobile app development about 18 months ago. It then released an update to the platform, which included a free version under an open source license, just a few months ago. Now, it’s updated the platform again, adding improved features for mobile app developers who wish to create hybrid mobile apps.

Hybrid apps have gotten a bit of a bad name in the development community recently. While having some basis in HTML5 enables app makers to easily reuse common elements between device platforms without writing too much native code, the downside is that those hybrid apps tend to not perform very well when compared to native apps. The best example might be Facebook’s clunky old iOS apps, which were based on a hybrid infrastructure before scrapping the whole thing and going native.

But talk to Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire, and you get the impression that the war between different mobile platforms is overblown, that developers don’t have to pick between building for either Android or iOS, or building native apps versus building those based on HTML5. That’s what App Cloud hopes to accomplish, at least. According to him, developers gain by being able to reuse code on the front end while having platform-specific plugins to provide native code on the back end.

The new App Cloud will have the same web-based WYSIWYG-type development tools, allowing publishers to quickly and efficiently roll out apps that work on iOS and Android with little duplicate development. Brightcove is hoping to speed up development and provide better performance and more flexibility to developers trying to reach Android and iOS devices by introducing a new plugin model for certain types of native app functions. That includes integration with technology from companies like Google and comScore, as well as integrated support for push notifications.

All developers have to do to install a plugin is copy a directory into their App Cloud project and include a JavaScript file. The platform then adds that functionality into the application. Plugins that Brightcove has created for the tool include a native media uploader, a native audio player, and an in-app email composer, as well as those that connect with third-party sources like Google Analytics. The company also has future plans for plugins like a native video player, DRM, and in-app purchasing.

While Brightcove is best known for its video management platform, the company clearly sees a future with app development. And as developers try to reach more devices and operating systems as they come online, there’s clearly a need for this type of capability. The question isn’t if this part of the business will grow, but how quickly.


Steve Ballmer: Android Ecosystem Is Wild And Uncontrolled, Apple Is High Priced And Highly Controlled

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Tonight during Reid Hoffman’s interview with Steve Ballmer, the two talked about everything Microsoft. Now that Ballmer is talking about his competitors he let out a few bonzo words when it came to Google and Apple and the state of their phone ecosystems, especially when it comes to apps.

Ballmer called the Android ecosystem “wild,” “uncontrolled” and susceptible to malware.

He called the Apple ecosystem “high-priced” and “highly controlled,” further noticing that iPhones cost upwards of $1,000 internationally.

He truly believes that Microsoft can wedge itself between the two to be successful with diversity and organization. As Ballmer describes Windows 8, Surface and Phone, he says that the products have been done right and the company is working very closely with developers, unlike his counterparts at Apple and Google. Sure, Ballmer has said these types of things before, but he’s losing his mind tonight in only the way he can.

Have a listen (see the two spots I marked):

The Windows Phone is actually really nice, and there’s definitely a market for them.

At one point he said of Windows: “Wow, it just works!” And words don’t really describe his excitement. In the next breath, he got a jab in at the “Maps debacle,” clearly pointing at Apple.

Regarding the cloud, Ballmer said, and I quote: “Woooooooow” (listen to above audio clip). I honestly don’t even know how to spell what he said. He’s happy and I’m glad that Reid Hoffman is interviewing him. This all might sound like sour grapes, but I really want to understand Microsoft’s strategy and what it stands for as a company. I just don’t get it.

When Steve Ballmer discusses enterprise and the consumerization of it, he is completely calm and sounds like he knows exactly what he’s talking about. This is what Steve Ballmer knows. But when it comes to consumer products, it just sounds like he’s trying too hard. I wish he’d just be calm, cool and collected, talk about success and failure, and leave the crazy yelling out of it. And that’s coming from someone who loves crazy yelling. Basically, it went a little something like this gem from the archives:

Also, it was a cash bar tonight. I can’t wait to watch this show again next week.

In the words of Steve Ballmer this evening: “Yeah baby!”


Steve Ballmer During Reid Hoffman Interview: People Are Having Their “Oh” Moment With Surface

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At the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, two tech titans sat down to have a conversation. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman interviewed Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer at an event with “tech influencers and innovators,” and a bunch of of us press folk. Ballmer is riding on the release of Windows 8, Surface and the Windows 8 Phone, so there is plenty to talk about.

I love when Reid Hoffman asks questions, as I saw him speak with Newark Mayor Cory Booker last year, and it was great.

Hoffman asked Ballmer what the future looks like at Microsoft and he said “We’re happy with the spectacular start we got off to with Windows 8 and we’re always innovating, but from a strategy perspective we’re all in. We’re off to a very good start, and we have a great team.”

On Sinofsky’s recent departure, Ballmer said: “Sinofsky’s departure was his decision. We wish him well.” Hoffman clearly got this question out of the way, as some of them came from the audience before the event.

On the Surface and Windows 8, Ballmer says that Microsoft has found the best of “both worlds — work and play.” On the Surface specifically, Ballmer says that many people have had that “Ooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh, I get it moment.” Hoffman then pressed and asked if Ballmer feels like it makes a dent in the tablet market, and Ballmer brought up the Asus model for Google and others. He does give in by saying that Microsoft is still in early days. ”Diversity of form factor matters, and not compromising either form factor. You need diversity of price point. That’s quite important.”

We recently reported that Surface sales were “modest” at best.

Ballmer went on to discuss the Surface UI, which he described as “Different.” Also, Ballmer made it clear that Microsoft wants to control its hardware creation, as not to give in to competition. “If we see an opportunity in the software/hardware seam, we’re going to take it,” Ballmer told Hoffman.

On Xbox, Ballmer says that it’s very hard to share the economics, therefore handling the hardware itself. As far as phones, it made more sense to go along with partners and open innovation. Interestingly, when asked if Microsoft would ever ship a PC, Ballmer asked Hoffman “What is a PC?” This defense sounds very familiar, as Microsoft clearly wants to move along with the pack when it comes to blurring the lines between laptop, computer, phone and tablet. Microsoft has no plans on making laptops, or “clamshells” as Ballmer calls it, any time soon.

Back to this “Oh” moment, Ballmer really didn’t get too much into that, but did say that his son uses it “all day, every day.”

The best moment of the night was when Ballmer discussed Halo 4′s “200 something, I don’t know, copies sold on the first day, or whatever.” Yes, it’s a popular game. Huge for Microsoft.

Have you had your “Oh” moment?

Read what Ballmer had to say about Apple and Android.


From Switzerland With Love

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

For his first couple of decades on the silver screen, James Bond was a Rolex Submariner kind of guy. Since the mid ’90s or so, he’s been an Omega Seamaster man. There were a few Casios and a Breitling in there somewhere, too. Even though he tends to favor timepieces costing thousands of dollars (and that shoot poison darts out of the crown), my guess is he’d feel right at home wearing Victorinox’s Night Vision watch.

By day, it’s an unassuming and elegant Swiss-styled stainless steel quartz watch with a cleanly designed analog face. But by night, its stealthy Swiss Army functionality is hard to miss: integrated into the case is a clever illumination system comprising a trio of low-energy but extremely bright LEDs.

Integrated into the case is a clever illumination system comprising a trio of extremely bright LEDs.

A quick press of the button on the side of the watch activates an eye-pleasing blue LED glow that lights up the watch face. Even though the Night Vision sports luminescent hands and numerals, I found the blue light atop the 12 mark really does maximize legibility in any light. But it’s particularly striking in a dark setting.

But here’s the cool factor: push the same button two times in rapid succession and a second, white LED on the outside perimeter of the watch case bursts to life. It’s as bright and powerful as a flashlight. Victorinox claims the light is visible up to one kilometer away. Quite the boast — I didn’t get to test against it, but I can tell you it came in handy when reading a menu in the bat cave-like restaurant I ate in the other night.

For the next trick, press the control button three times. It causes the flashlight-style white LEDs to go into an emergency strobe mode — they flash quickly, and will continue to do so for up to seven days. This could prove especially handy when you need to signal the rescue helicopter as you tread water after disarming the nuclear warhead and escaping the evil genius’ island fortress and blowing the hatch on the secret micro-sub. Or, when your Buick ends up in a ravine and you want the tow truck guy to find you. (Hey, you never know.)

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

The third LED is a red pilot light at the 6:00 position, right below the date indicator. Blinking at 12 second intervals, its does double-duty — it helps you find the watch in the dark, and it serves as a battery end-of-life warning.

The uniqueness of these triple illumination features is that they are assimilated into a handsome, if a tad heavy at 5.7 ounces, Swiss-made watch. The LEDs and the time mechanism are each powered by separate batteries. Available with a white or black face, and with either a stainless or leather band, the Night Vision watches were tested with a German team on the latest Siberian Black Ice Race. The team praised its illumination-producing and location-finding prowess during the dark nights on the tundra. It also held up in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Still, it’s not likely James Bond is going to ditch his Omega — or the product placement dollars that put it on his wrist — anytime soon. But hey, if 007 doesn’t want it, I’ll take it.

WIRED Handsome stainless steel Swiss quartz watch. Ingeniously incorporates three LEDs to illuminate watch face; act as a flashlight and emergency beacon; and to help find the watch in the dark.

TIRED It’s heavy, nearly six ounces. The otherwise useful blinking red pilot LED can be disconcerting.

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Sometimes My Screen Bends Back

Photo by Alex Washburn/Wired

Slates, sliders, convertibles…. The jury’s out on exactly what type of Windows 8 tablets the market is going to embrace (if any). Lenovo figured this out early, and it’s releasing Windows 8 portables in no fewer than four different form factors.

The most promising of these is arguably the IdeaPad Yoga. At first blush, this laptop looks like any old 13-inch ultrabook (and its core specs follow suit – 1.7GHz Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, and a scant 18mm of thickness). But bend the Yoga’s screen back and it goes completely flat. Now keep going. The screen goes past 180 degrees to 270, then 360, until the back of the screen is resting against the underside of the laptop. Now flip it over and you’ve got a slate tablet in your hands. It’s a neat trick and one you can have added fun with by “breaking” the laptop over your knee in a mock show of frustration while in the presence of your fellow gadget fiends.

The screen goes past 180 degrees to 270, then 360, until the back of the screen is resting against the underside of the laptop.

While the Yoga offers no surprises on its benchmarks — integrated graphics mean Angry Birds is about as fancy as you’ll want to get — it does feel surprisingly spry, fast, and agile in regular use. The keyboard works well (though a row of keys to the right of the normal end of the keyboard make some buttons, like backspace, difficult to find without a bit of a hunt), and the touchpad is a knockout. The 13.3-inch 1600 x 900 pixel touchscreen is reasonably bright and responsive, though sharp-eyed readers will note that, unlike most of the Windows 8 tablets coming out, the Yoga does not quite have a 1920 x 1080 HD screen. I’m still on the fence about how serious a flaw this is. On one hand, it’s a bummer not to have full 1080p resolution, but on the other hand it’s difficult enough to navigate the Windows desktop as it is on a 1600 x 900 screen. Higher resolution would make those icons even smaller and tougher to tap accurately. In the end, most of the time the resolution difference didn’t impact me at all.

What is more problematic is the sheer size of the Yoga. At 3.4 pounds, the Yoga 13 is well over twice the heft of an iPad and it feels truly gargantuan when in slate mode, making you feel a bit like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai when you wield it with the appropriate gravitas. It is really pushing the limits of comfort and usability for a slate. (Note that a 2.8-pound 11-inch Yoga is also available.)

Photo by Alex Washburn/Wired

Of course, a design this new means there are some natural growing pains to deal with. The biggest of these can be found in the hinge system. The double-hinge design makes the 360-degree fold possible, but when you use the Yoga as a standard laptop, the hinge just isn’t tight enough. If you like to touch the screen directly instead of using the touchpad periodically (like most Windows 8 users do), the bounce and jitter that erupts from even light taps and swipes is enough to make you seasick.

Connectivity options are sparse. The two USB ports — one 2.0 and one 3.0 — feel a bit stingy. HDMI and an SD card slot are your only other options. (That other rectangular port is for the A/C adapter, so don’t try wedging a thumb drive into it.)

Overall this is a thoughtful and very usable hybrid, with an abundance of both little touches, like a motion-control system that works via the webcam, and big ones, like the keyboard automatically disabling when the Yoga’s in slate mode. While I’m not sure that anyone really wants a tablet that’s quite this big, at the very least it’s a solid contender for the laptop user who just wants the occasional touchscreen experience available.

WIRED Lenovo motion control system lets you manage audio and video, hands free. Stays fairly cool, even under load. Solid battery life (4.5 hours) versus the competition. Special sleeve covers the underside keyboard when in slate mode so you aren’t feeling the buttons …

TIRED … but it’s sold separately for $40. Fan tends to run constantly. SSD bizarrely partitioned into 7 chunks, leaving just 44GB of usable space on C drive. New rectangular power port easily mistaken for USB. Hinge needs tightening.

Photo by Alex Washburn/Wired

Photo by Alex Washburn/Wired

Microsoft Drops Yammer Prices, Sends Message To The Market That It Is All In On Social

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Microsoft has issued a roadmap for Yammer that includes a drop in pricing and deeper integration with Sharepoint and Office365. The news comes as Microsoft holds its annual Sharepoint conference in Las Vegas this week. Jared Spataro, senior director of the Office Division at Microsoft, wrote a post on the topic explaining the role Yammer is having on the company.

The Yammer service can still be purchased as a standalone product, though it’s clear that Spataro sees making Yammer part of a unified communication strategy that packages Skype, SkyDrive and Office products into one experience.

Yammer has historically offered four different options. Microsoft has reduced them to two: a free version called Yammer Basic and a paid version called Yammer Enterprise. Yammer Enterprise, which will be offered with Office 365 Enterprise, will drop from $15 per person per month to $3 per month.

Like Salesforce.com and others, Microsoft is talking about unified identity. That’s a fancy way of saying Microsoft will make Yammer, Sharepoint and other tools accessible through a single identity. We heard a bit about this at Build. The idea is to make it possible to log in, use Yammer as an activity stream, Skype for calls, and Office365 to manage documents.

Striking is how important Yammer has become to Microsoft. In an interesting revelation, Spataro talks about the claims Yammer made when Microsoft pursued the purchase:

When we first started our discussions with Yammer, one of the things that caught my attention was the claim that their customers were “transforming their businesses” with social networking. It’s not uncommon for technology vendors to make claims, but what surprised me was that they had clear evidence that something extraordinary was happening to the companies that were embracing social. After spending more time with the team, I learned the secret. Customers were driving real business results with Yammer, but it wasn’t because there was some inherent magic in a newsfeed. It was because they had embraced the idea that open conversations and personal connections could help them with their most important strategic initiatives.

Keep in mind that Microsoft bought Yammer less than a year ago. Prior to that, social networking apps like Yammer had boomed in popularity, largely driven by Twitter, Facebook and other apps that use activity streams as the main basis for how people use them.

But now Microsoft is prioritizing social. It will take some time to make the shift, but the news is wake-up call to the market that Microsoft is now more in the game and will invest all resources necessary to build its market share.


FTC Puts The Pressure On Google To Settle Over Antitrust Talks, Or Face Formal Complaint

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According to Bloomberg, the FTC is turning up the heat on Google over ongoing antitrust talks about the company’s practices. In fact, the FTC wants to settle the issue, or it will move forward with a formal complaint. This could turn into a long, drawn-out legal proceeding that would be expensive and time-consuming for both, to say the least.

The current talks have gone on for over two weeks, but have been completely private. The issues stem from the FTC feeling that Google is “abusing” its dominance on the Internet, specifically when it comes to its search engine.

A formal complaint could come within two weeks, a source told Reuters.

A spokesperson for Google, Adam Kovacevich, had this to say:

We continue to work cooperatively with the Federal Trade Commission and are happy to answer any questions they may have

Google has settled with the FTC in the past, specifically regarding its practices when it came to bypassing privacy settings in Safari.

The FTC says that Google is ranking things that it owns higher than its competitors, on its search engine. For example, Yahoo! and Bing are crying foul, because marketers and advertisers can’t see who performs better, due to these alleged Google practices. In addition, Google’s Android arm has been accused of “misusing” patents it owns to block other companies from launching smartphones.

At what point does disruption and innovation turn into something illegal? We’re going to learn soon.

Keep an eye out for more on this, it’s getting hot.

[Photo credit: Flickr]


This Facebook “All” Link Lets You See An Unfiltered News Feed, But It Might Get Shut Down

News Feed Unfiltered

Facebook filters the news feed so you only see the 15% or so of stories it thinks you’ll find most interesting. But a newly discovered “All” link shows you almost everything posted by your friends and Pages you Like. Facebook confirmed to me that http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf_all ”is an old link that allows you to access your news feed operating on an earlier version of our ranking algorithm.”

First spotted by Tom Waddington, the All feed could make sure Facebook addicts never miss a photo or funny status update, and get marketers more eye balls. However, Facebook stresses that “This feed does not show all posts”, and since it’s an “old link”, there’s a good chance it could get shut down soon.

Years ago, Facebook offered a near-firehose real-time stream you could toggle to from the home page called “Most Recent”. Based on Facebook’s statement, that might be what this link brings up. But since it didn’t deliver as compelling stories to the average user, Facebook ditched it in favor of a heavily filtered feed. That’s great for making sure you see the most Liked updates by friends since you last logged on. However, it can show the same updates over and over again to people who visit Facebook all the time.

Facebook tried to appease power users by returning the “Most Recent” toggle switch, but it actually still filters out a lot. So if you can’t get enough of what your friends and favorite brands are doing, check out ” https://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf_all “.  You better do it quick, though. Since this just seems to be something Facebook uses internally and that wasn’t meant for public consumption, it might not be around long.

Though it doesn’t automatically refresh with updates, it will show you a reverse chronological stream of almost every news feed post by friends and Pages starting with a few seconds ago. Judging by my initial scans of the All feed, you’ll also see plenty of wall posts, new friendships, Page Likes by friends, Event RSVPs, “Trending Articles” boxes, and more.

You’ll see some stories from apps, like a friend Liking photos on Instagram, or two friends listening to the same artist on Spotify. However, the All feed won’t show you every song every friend listens to, and you won’t see every time a friend Likes or comments on someone’s status. Otherwise it’d be so cluttered that real posts to the feed would get drowned out.

There’s been a ton of controversy about Facebook Pages not being able to reach their fans with every update they post. Brands might not dig it, but that filtering makes the feed better. If people want to see more of the posts by Pages they Like, they can try the separate Pages feed which shows the best ones but not every single update, or the new All feed. Both those options could excite marketers who get big traffic and awareness boosts when people see their news feed posts.

Most important, though, is the potential for the All feed to draw even more time-on-site/app from hardcore Facebook users. It means you don’t have to worry about browsing a feed of reruns. Some people might use it as a dashboard to keep up with everything going on in the lives of friends, while others could use it as a real-time news source that could even compete with Twitter.

Why wouldn’t Facebook just make this easily accessible? Because each story in the unfiltered feed is less likely to seem interesting to the average person. It could also confuse Facebook novices. I think hiding it in the drop-down news feed sorting button on the web and the gear icon on mobile would be a nice hat tip to Facebook’s hungriest users.

For now, the social network might be content letting those people discover and bookmark it themselves. However, it could be quite taxing on Facebook’s servers, and not what Facebook wants people to see, so like a broken fire hydrant sprinkling water in the street, play with it now because it might get shut off.


Experience Time Warp With MIT’s New Special Relativity 3D Educational Game

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Ever wonder what it would look like to travel at the speed of light? The folks at MIT’s education games lab have created a simple 3D simulator to teach the masses about the counterintuitive principles of one of physics’ most important concepts: special relativity. The professionally-designed, yet simple first-person game places users in a Lord of the Rings-looking town and slows down the speed of light as scattered light “orbs” are collected throughout the level (video below). The goal of the project was to make something familiar that was very unfamiliar: the laws of special relativity. What would they look like in a familiar setting?,” says Sonny Sidhu, A Slower Speed of Light’s Game Producer.

As the 100 orbs are collected, gamers increasingly experience counterintuitive principles of traveling near the speed of light

  • The Doppler Effect – objects become more blue, red, or rainbow colored in accordance with the light spectrum
  • Length Contraction – objects warp and bend in space
  • The Searchlight Effect – “increased brightness in the direction of travel”
  • Runtime Effect – the ability to see the past through the light that is yet to hit the eyes of those in the future

In total, the game took me about 14 minutes to play and seems like a worthwhile introduction to any serious discussion about special relativity. The educational value of the game, itself, seems more in motivating students who would otherwise dismiss a physics lesson as too abstract, or to attract creative-types to science. The math and concepts of space-time aren’t tackled, nor are the implications for scientific experimentation.

Staying true to MIT’s origins in the open information movement, A Slower Speed of Light will encourage other game designers, “targeted for release as a free, open-source package in 2013, to allow others to produce more simulations and games about traveling near the speed of light.”

If you don’t understand special relativity already, don’t expect to become educated after playing the game. But, if you’re interested in experiencing special relativity, the game will certainly satisfy that itch. Readers can download the game here.


Shipping Times For iPhone 5 Improve To 2-3 Weeks Via Apple’s Online Store

iPhone 5

Shipping times for Apple’s iPhone 5 have improved from 3-4 weeks, to 2-3 weeks as of today. Times are now one week better for all models of iPhone, including 16 through 64GB of storage and on all carriers. The iPhone 5 expected ship times had dropped to 3-4 weeks as of Tuesday, Sept. 18, a few days after pre-orders began, and remained there until today.

The improvement in ship times indicates that either A) initial demand is dropping off, or that B) Apple has managed to improve its supply chain yield in order to meet demand. Some recent reports suggest that the latter might be more likely, like the Wall Street Journal’s article from mid-October that described the reasons behind iPhone 5 shortages, and suggested progress was being made towards improving the process.

Apple’s iPhone 5 continues to be hard to find in retail stores, and Reuters reported last week that Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said to continue expecting constrained supplies because of continued problems meeting demand, but analyst estimates last week suggested we’d see supply and demand balance improve. An jump to to 2-3 weeks, while still not ideal for those hoping to get their hands on a device quickly. should come as a welcome surprise to anyone who was hoping to have the device delivered in time to wrap it up as a holiday gift this season.


Google And Acer Debut $199 C7 Chromebook, Leave Us Wondering How Low They Can Go

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Google and Samsung recently unveiled a $249 Chromebook, which seemed like a new pricing floor for a capable, light computer that’s designed for users who spend most of their computing time on the web. Today, Google announced the new Acer C7 Chromebook on its website, which ups the ante (while lowering some specs) with a $50 cheaper Chrome OS notebook which also features an 11.6-inch display, but also boasts an Intel Core processor and a 320 GB hard drive.

The Acer Chromebook might appear more to the traditionalists out there looking for a Chrome OS-based notebook computer, since the Samsung Chromebook is a ARM-based computer that also has extremely limited onboard storage, which it supplements by shipping with 100GB of free Google Drive space. The $199 C7 also comes with that cloud storage, but has a platter drive, too, and takes a hit on battery life (eking out only 3.5 hours, compared to around 6.5 for the Samsung Chromebook).

The computer is also slightly bulkier than its $250 sibling, at 1 inch thick and weighing 3 lbs, compared to just 0.7-inches and 2.4 lbs for the Samsung. As for ports, it has HDMI and VGA out, along with three USB 2.0 ports (no high speed here), an audio/input 3.5 mm jack and an Ethernet port for wired networking. It has dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity, and an HD camera for video communications.

I’ve shared my opinion that Google’s goal with its branded device collaboration projects is to get more eyeballs on its products by providing cheap, capable devices with Internet connectivity that works across a wide variety of geographies, and this netbook-inspired Chromebook is a perfect example. It’s not going to get anyone necessarily all that excited, but it’s a practical design that offers everything needed for a decent Internet experience in a very affordable package.

The C7 goes on sale tomorrow in the U.S., on Google Play and Best Buy’s website, and in the U.K. on Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World and Curry’s. Google promises to bring it to more countries in the near future.


LaunchRock CEO Unveils Big Revamp While Being Pelted With Garbage

luanchrock

LaunchRock, the company that helps other startups acquire customers, is announcing a new, more customizable version of its service today.

The initial version of LaunchRock was focused on helping startups create a launch page where they could recruit beta testers. That’s still a core part of LaunchRock’s features, but the company has broadened into a service that helps startups build their relationships with users, with tools like social sharing, email messaging, and analytics.

The latest changes are outlined in a company blog post, which says the product code was rewritten from scratch. Customers can now choose themes to meet the specific goals of their launch pages. They can customize things even further by actually rewriting their LaunchRock code with the new Advanced Code Editor. And there’s a new Insights dashboard that displays a company’s users and how they were acquired.

Co-founder and CEO Jameson Detweiler told me that the redesign’s big theme is “flexibility”:

We’ve really cleaned up everything to give you more options so that no matter what your needs, there should be something for you. If you’ve got a new mobile app, we’ve got a theme for that. If you’ve got a demo video, another theme. Want a different type of design, you’ve got multiple options. You can also dig into the code and write a completely custom page with custom content and fields and still keep the incentivized sharing features that we offer.

LaunchRock is also announcing that it has helped customers sign up 5 million users, including 300,000 in October, and it’s launching 250 new sites a day.

When the company made its last big announcement, the acquisition of Giftiki, it also released what Detweiler claimed was “the most epic team photo ever.” (He might have been right.) It seems like he’s trying to top himself with a new video, where he outlines the new features while his employees “launch” random crap at him.

It’s kind of nuts, but I admire his dedication.


Welcome To The TechCrunch Gadgets 2012 Gift Guide

giftguide12

Sure, it’s a bit early but we’ve been saving up gadgets and gizmos a-plenty for you all and we’re ready to share some of the coolest hardware, gear, and geegaws with you and yours. The goal is to get up a few mini-reviews per day of the things we liked the most this year including indie hardware from small manufacturers.

Instead of the typical list of TVs, MP3 players, and electronic detritus we’ll also feature books, music, and fun stuff for all.

While we’re pretty much full right now, if you have anything you’d like us to feature email [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do. Otherwise, feel free to take a break from your regular diet of web services news and hard-hitting examinations of Groupon’s demise with the Werther’s Originals of tech news – gadget reviews.

We’ll have giveaways for the next month so keep your eye on our posts over the next few weeks. Ho, ho, ho, as they say.


AT&T To Launch Samsung’s $499 Galaxy Camera On November 16

SamsungGalaxyCamera-FINAL

Regardless of how you feel about the concept, Samsung’s Galaxy Camera is finally making its way to the United States. AT&T has just announced it will it launch the curious camera on November 16 (i.e. this Friday), and that it will cost Google-devoted photographers $499 — that’s with or without a data plan.

In case you haven’t yet heard of the Galaxy Camera, think of it as a standard 16-megapixel point-and-shoot camera with a neat twist — it runs Android 4.1 Jelly bean, and sports a large 4.8-inch 720p LCD touchscreen that lets users fire up Android apps (ahoy there, Instagram!) and browse the web over Wi-Fi or a wireless data connection in addition to just framing shots. Under the proverbial hood lurks a 1.4GHz quad-core processor of unknown make (an Exynos chip wouldn’t be a surprise), and a 21x optical zoom lens rounds out this peculiar little package.

A curious combination for sure, but it’s not one that hasn’t already been seen before — Nikon beat Samsung to the punch with its Coolpix s800c.

It’s about time that AT&T came forward with availability — the Galaxy Camera made its first appearance last August at IFA in Berlin, and AT&T announced that it would carry the device early last month. At the time, the carrier found it prudent to keep quiet when it came to price and launch timing, though I have to wonder how many people were actually waiting on the edge of their seats for this thing to hit store shelves.