Category: Tech news

Maybe we need a new website, IsSiriDownForEveryoneOrJustForMe.com, because it looks like Siri is experiencing an extended outage, according to several tipsters, tweets, and our own internal tests. When you try to use Siri on the iPhone 4S right now, the usually perky virtual assistant just responds: “Sorry, I am having trouble connecting to the network” and does nothing.

According to iSmashPhone, who spotted this news first, people are beginning to tweet about the Siri outage, but folks seem to be usure as to whether or not they’re the only ones experiencing the issue. It appears that the service, for some at least, has been down for a good part of the day.

Granted, Siri is still a beta product – and this is what happens to beta products – but when Apple promotes Siri as one of the best and OMG-gotta-have-it new features of its latest device through its cloying newTV ads, it’s worth noticing when the service doesn’t quite deliver as promised.

Update: Given that we don’t know how long today’s outage will last, I’m going to remove “first” from the headline until we have some hard data on the length.

Ever since I became Editor of TechCrunch in September, I’ve been looking for great writers to help fill out our coverage in Silicon Valley. And now I am pleased to announce that I’ve hired not one, but two: Josh Constine and Eric Eldon

Both come from Inside Facebook, where Eldon is the editor and Constine is the lead writer.  Very few bloggers understand the ins and outs of Facebook as much as them.  Constine even has a Masters in Cybersociology from Stanford (he’s that into it).  Not only is Constine adept at breaking news, but he also brings a level of analysis that shows the long-term impact of the latest developments. He’s young, smart, and hungry—a deadly combination for a tech blogger.

 Eldon is an old pro among tech bloggers.  He was the first employee at VentureBeat (where he first recruited our own MG Siegler, who is now our Apple columnist and a VC).  Eldon was instrumental in helping to build Inside Facebook and its parent company Inside Network, which was acquired for $14 million by WebMediaBrands earlier this year.

But I didn’t ask Eldon and Constine to join TechCrunch just to write about Facebook. Their deep knowledge of the social web will help them write about everything from startups to Google. They will be joining our editorial staff in San Francisco. Constine starts Friday, and Eldon in two weeks. Please give them a warm TechCrunch welcome. (And, yes, I am still hiring).

Today, Google announced a change to its search algorithm that the company says will impact 35% of Web searches. The change builds on top of its previous “Caffeine” update in order to deliver more up-to-date and relevant search results, specifically those in areas where freshness matters. This includes things like recent events, hot topics, current reviews and breaking news items.

Google says that the new algorithm knows that different types of searches have different freshness needs, and weighs them accordingly. For example, a search for a favorite recipe posted a few years ago may still be popular enough to rank highly, but searches for an unfolding news story or the latest review of the iPhone 4S should bring the newer, fresher content first, followed by older results.

For searches about recent events and news, Google may now show search results towards the top of the page that are only minutes old, the company says. For regularly occurring events, like the Presidential election, the Oscars, a football game, company earnings, etc., Google knows that you’re likely interested in the most recent event, even if you don’t specify keywords indicating that.

That means a search for “Apple earnings” won’t (in theory) require you to also type in “Q4 2011″ in order to see the latest information. It will be implied that you meant this latest quarter, without the need for the extra text. Of course, Google was already ranking news items and stock symbols at the top of the page when users performed financial-related searches or searches for current information, but this algorithm change has an impact on the organic search results, too, not those from the verticals (search, finance, images, etc.) which have been integrated into Google’s Universal search.

For items that see regular updates, like consumer electronics reviews, reviews of a particular kind of car and more, Google will also feature the most current and up-to-date information above the rest.

This “freshness update,” is an extension of what Google begin last year with Caffeine, an under-the-hood improvement that, among other things, helped Google index content quicker, so results were more realtime. This year, Google also brought out its Panda update, which was meant to decrease the rankings of so-called “content farms” – SEO-optimized entities that critics said filled Google with low-quality results.

Now, it’s clear that Google understands that the most relevant search result is more often the one that’s relevant now – the one that’s bringing you new information. The update’s impact on Google Search is fairly substantial, with Google claiming that roughly 35% of search results will be affected by the changes.

Google used to have a search vertical specifically for the most recent updates at www.google.com/realtime, where it was indexing Twitter updates. However, when the contract with Twitter expired, Google shuttered the site (it now redirects to the Google homepage). Google said at the time that it planned to re-open the site with Google+ search results alongside other realtime sources of information. But with the new Google search update, a specific vertical for realtime information feels less necessary.

Extreme Venture Partners, the Toronto and Palo Alto-based early-stage venture firm, today announced that it is launching a new-and-improved version of its accelerator program, Extreme University — also known as “ExtremeU”. Extreme Venture Partner’s accelerator program has been up and running since 2009 and is aimed at becoming a training ground and valuable ecosystem for Canadian startups targeting the social, mobile, and local spaces.

Extreme University graduates, like Locationary and Uken Games have gone on to raise millions in follow-on financing rounds. Jon Evans also recently wrote about Maide, a current ExtremeU participant that’s turning iPads everywhere into 3-D controllers.

Extreme University’s revamped model will consist of a 12-week program, in which five selected teams will share office space at the venture firm’s offices in Toronto, along with access to its network of founders, advisors, and developers. Extreme University will run two 12-week programs a year, each with five participating startups. What’s more, founders will also have the opportunity to participate in weekly personal sessions with experts and advisors, as well as work directly with key members of of some of the tech industry’s biggest companies.

Case in point: The accelerator is today announcing the first of its collaborating partners, which is none other than the social network of record, Facebook. Representatives from Facebook (which will include Elmer Sotto, FB’s head of growth in Canada, and his team) will work with startups to design and build socially-enhanced products in addition to offering product strategy and design mentorship, including educating founders on the best ways to leverage its Open Graph to create powerful distribution channels for their products.

Facebook reps will also enable startups to test new features on the platform and offer feedback on the tools startups create during the program before they’re launched to the public.

In addition to this awesome collaboration with Facebook, the startups chosen to participate in ExtremeU will receive $50,000 in funding. The venture firm will be taking an equity stake in the companies chosen to participate. While the exact level of equity taken has yet to be decided, it will likely be between 5 to 10 percent.

Among the mentors that will be sharing their wisdom with ExtremeU’s class of startups will be former Facebook VP (and the founder of Social+Capital Partnership) Chamath Palihapitiya as well as Albert Lai of Kontagent, Tomi Poutanen of Yahoo Answers, and more. You can check out the list of mentors here.

Extreme Venture Partners has forged (and is forging) some deep relationships with Facebook, Google, and other well-known tech companies that have significant presences in Canada. While Y Combinator, TechStars et al get a lot play in the media (and deservedly so), it’s nice to see our neighbors to the north building a valuable resource (and ecosystem) for early-stage companies — and encouraging them to stay in Canada and help to build Toronto into a vibrant tech community.

For more on Extreme Ventures, check ‘em out at home here. Startups can apply to ExtremeU here.

Everyone, stay alert. Do a barrel roll! Or let Google do it for you. No, seriously.

Go to Google and type in “Do a barrel roll” and watch, well, I won’t ruin it for you. (LMGTFY link) Alternatively you could type “z or r twice”, which is a reference to the maneuver in Star Fox.

The fun little trick is taking over twitter where it’s a trending topic. Quick, email your mom, call your dad and text your best friend because this novel Google easter egg isn’t going to be oh-so-less exciting once everyone knows about it. Do a barrel roll!

Extra dimensions don’t come cheap. If you’ve dreamed of a Sam Worthington-shaped avatar running through your living room, you know that 3-D projectors — the few that are available — have price tags in the $3,000-and-up range. (You also know that Avatar has yet to see a public 3-D Blu-ray release, but that’s another story.)

Optoma’s HD33 brings 1080p 3-D home for a 2-D price. At $1,500, it costs less than many 3-D-ready TVs, which, incidentally, can’t produce images as large as 300 inches. That’s 25 feet, in case you’re math-challenged. Eat it, local Cineplex!

Actually, don’t shred your concession-stand punch card just yet. Although the HD33 manages some impressive feats of 3-D magic, the reality is there’s just not that much material to watch at home — yet. Most cable providers offer few, if any, 3-D channels, leaving you with a smattering of movies on Blu-ray — and neither Blockbuster nor Netflix rents 3-D versions. Again, yet.

Of course, movies like Despicable Me and IMAX Space Station are worth owning anyway. All you need is a 3-D-ready Blu-ray player, the HD33, and a nice big screen or wall. Oh, right, and glasses: Optoma sells its active-shutter specs for $100 per pair, though you can also use any DLP-Link glasses you might already own. Depending on the size of your family, you’re looking at a sizable extra chunk of change for your minions to see those minions.

The painful irony is that the projector does come with an RF emitter that links to as many pairs of glasses as you can afford, and without the hassles of line-of-sight. Once the HD33 switches into 3-D mode, it takes no more than five to ten seconds for the glasses to sync up.

And when they do, you’re in for a treat. A movie like Despicable Me looks nothing short of fabulous on the HD33, with smooth and convincing 3-D that’s just shy of what you’d see in a theater. (For whatever reason, the effect isn’t quite as pronounced.) And with 2-D and 3-D movies alike, the projector delivers a blazing tableau of colors and a picture crisp enough to be the envy of any HDTV.

Only the black levels aren’t quite as deep as they could be, but that rarely detracts from what you’re watching. And despite its fairly modest 1800 ANSI lumens, the HD33 shines its images brightly, even in rooms with some ambient lighting. Optoma’s three-setting PureMotion technology helps reduce judder, but the need to manually tweak it depending on what you’re watching can be irksome.

That’s a minor gripe. For not much more than the price of an entry-level 1080p projector, the Optoma HD33 gives you a delicious taste of the 3-D life. It’s an ideal and affordable fit for any budget-minded home theater.

WIRED Half the price of most competing 3-D projectors. Superb picture quality, especially in 3-D. 3-D glasses fit comfortably, even over regular glasses.

TIRED No 3-D specs included in the box. A bit noisy, especially when switching display modes. Backlit remote is actually too bright to use in a dark room.

Photo courtesy of Optoma

There are now 7 billion people in the world, and likely enough speaker docks for every last human to pick up two.

While the sea of audio accessories has grown deep enough to make the shelves at Best Buy look like the Bangladeshi lowlands, it is, remarkably, still a chore to find a speaker dock that delivers great sound at a good price and doesn’t gunk up your decor.

That’s why we’ve always liked Soundfreaq. The company makes speaker docks that look great, sound great, and, while on the expensive side, don’t push the limits when it comes to cost.

Soundfreaq’s newest release, the Sound Stack, is the company’s third major product and, at $400, its most costly. It’s also the most versatile and the most successful ‘Freaq yet.

The design is an austere black brick — far more Mies than Gehry. Capacitive controls run along a slim lip that juts out from the base, with an iOS dock-connector in the middle. The connector can charge any Apple mobile, including iPads. On the back, there’s a USB port for charging non-Apple devices, a mini-jack for plugging in your Sport Discman. There’s also an optical-in connection — a necessity, considering the crowd spending $400 on a speaker dock care deeply about such things.

Like all other Soundfreaq speaker docks, this one does Bluetooth — a wise choice, given the ubiquity of Bluetooth and the still-not-quite-there experience of Apple’s AirPlay.

Behind the layer of stoic black speaker cloth are dual 3-inch Kevlar drivers and dual 3-inch subwoofers. One bass speaker points to the back, and one points to the front, and they operate in a push-pull configuration.

The sound is simply great. The results are crisp and well defined with very little coloring. The highs are especially clear. The mids are sharp and rather forward, but not overbearing — you don’t get that nasal, honking tone found in speakers that pump up the mids. Just the right boost is applied to vocals, guitars, horns, pianos, and any sounds that live in the middle frequencies.

The Sound Stack does lack depth on the low end, especially compared to more powerful and more expensive systems like the B&W Zeppelin Air, which doles out bass waves like a bazooka. But what it loses in swagger, it makes up for in clarity. I could hear the punchiness and definition of Paul Jackson’s finger-style electric bass in Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man,” a nuance that was lost in the bottomless low end of the Zeppelin. And even though Chris Wood’s upright bass solo in Medeski, Martin and Wood’s “Latin Shuffle” didn’t have the massive, skull-rattling weight it does on the Zeppelin, I could hear the attack of every plucked note more clearly on the Sound Stack.

In addition to the $600 Zeppelin, I also compared it to the $200 Altec Lansing inMotion Air 725 and the new $300 Sony RDP-X500iP. As far as audio quality goes, the Sound Stack slots into place among those devices exactly where you’d expect it to, given the $400 price tag.

Royal Enfield motorcycles were a favorite choice of café racers in the 1950s and ’60s. But like many other brands, the British company struggled to compete with the cheaper and more reliable Japanese bikes that arrived in the late 1960s, and it eventually shut its doors in 1971.

Sort of. In 1954, the Indian government had placed a huge order for Royal Enfield’s Bullet model to supply its border troops. To eliminate shipping costs, the company licensed the name and brand to a factory in India. Production there never stopped, and the Bullet is now the oldest continuously produced motorcycle model ever.

Now brand-new Bullets — with modern touches like fuel injection and electric starters — are being sold in all 50 states. Our 500-cc, single-cylinder Bullet Classic shone on the beach roads of Malibu, California, where the slow speeds and twisty streets suit its upright posture and light build. We wouldn’t take it on a highway, though; it’s not heavy or stable enough to do battle with semis at 75 mph.

WIRED Steel components stamped by machines that have been making them for 55 years. Timeless single-cylinder rumble. Vespa price.

TIRED Some of the hand welds look quick and messy. Charcoal filter appears slapped on.

Photo: Greg Broom/Wired

Bezzera BZ07
Photo: Greg Broom

Do you come unhinged without your daily latte? The artisanal coffee craze has given rise to a fleet of make-it-yourself machines that turn out delicious cups.—Dan Kehn

The Basics

Why are they so expensive?
Consistency. Good machines are made from durable materials like copper and steel and have a double boiler or a heat exchanger—expensive internals that allow you to simultaneously pull shots and run the steamer. Cheap machines also do a poor job of preinfusion (wetting and expanding the grounds before brewing), which results in flat, woody-tasting espresso.

What’s the deal with coffee pods?
Machines that rely on capsules (prepackaged doses of espresso) are easier to use and less expensive up front. But convenience comes at a cost—75 cents to $1 per shot—and the results lack the richness and subtlety of fresh-ground beans. There’s also the enviro-guilt that comes with throwing out a paper pod after every shot you pull.

Will I need anything else?
Don’t blow your wad on the machine. The most important piece of hardware in your home cafè9 is the grinder. Blades produce a random mix of dust and boulders that will make your espresso bitter. Metal burr grinders, like the Baratza 685 Virtuoso Preciso ($325), yield a uniform output and better crema—the prized lather that floats atop every good shot of espresso.

Buying Advice

The heavier, the better. You want a machine with a steel body and as little plastic as possible. If you’re looking for equipment that delivers consistently good espresso without a learning curve, a unit with electronic temperature control will increase your odds of getting perfect crema every time. Single-boiler designs, while cheaper, brew and steam from the same tank, so your shot can go cold while you’re frothing your milk. Double-boiler and heat-exchanger machines let you do both simultaneously for quicker and more ample output.

How We Tested

We put our beans through a professional-grade grinder, then churned out espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes with each machine, adjusting the grind, dose, and extraction to yield the best result in terms of body, crema, balance, and clarity.

Bezzera BZ07

Built around a heat exchanger—which flash-heats the brew water in a copper tube that passes through the boiler—the sturdy, compact Bezzera can produce several drinks in rapid succession, making it perfect for dinner-party cappuccinos. It also lets you shift brew temperature on the fly (higher for more chocolate flavor, lower for more fruit). Such micromanagement may appeal only to espresso aficionados, but the payoff is real: tasty quaffs that stand up to what you’d get from machines three times the cost.

WIRED Easiest brew-temperature adjustment among heat-exchanger models tested. Nifty joystick for precise steam control.

TIRED Poorly placed hot-water tap can burn your fingers if you’re not careful. Requires frequent refilling of the water tank. |

$1,368, Bezzera

Sony Bravia KDL-55NX720 HD/3d Smart TV
Photo: Greg Broom

With much-improved user interfaces and a growing arsenal of useful apps and services, today’s smart TVs are finally living up to their name. In addition to rating each TV, we also graded its software platform. — Bryan Gardiner

The Basics

Why haven’t smart TVs caught on yet?
Every manufacturer offers a different mix of proprietary services, user interfaces, and apps, presumably in the hope of setting itself apart from the pack. But as a result, many customers have been waiting on the sidelines until the chaos subsides. In fact, about 20 percent of smart-TV owners don’t connect them to the Internet.

There are apps available for these TVs?
Yep. There are now TV versions of a lot of the same apps you use on your smartphone or tablet, available through the manufacturers’ own online stores. Not all of them are ready for prime time, though. While Flickr and Skype shine on the big screen, Facebook and other major social apps are much less compelling.

Should I wait a bit longer to buy?
Nope. Manufacturers have improved the user experience, with streamlined interfaces and apps that use your smartphone as a remote. And there’s already some convergence in features: Services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video have become common centerpieces. Add wireless networking, and it’s easier than ever to ditch those cable subscriptions.

Buying Advice

Nowadays, Ethernet ports and built-in Wi-Fi command little or no price premium (unlike 3-D gear), so there’s no reason your next set shouldn’t be a connected one. If you’re just looking to supplement a steady diet of cable or satellite content, the choice is simple: Buy the best HDTV you can afford. Almost all of them now come with great backup video services like Netflix, Blockbuster, and Amazon Instant Video. If you’re in a cable-cutting state of mind, make sure your broadband speed is up to snuff, then think about the services and apps you use most — the offerings vary widely between platforms. And don’t equate more apps with a better experience: On a 50-inch plasma, using Twitter or Google Talk is about as pleasant as staring at test patterns.

How We Tested

We optimized picture and audio settings using THX’s latest calibration disc, made the necessary firmware updates, and ran each set’s video processors through a gauntlet of HQV benchmark tests. Then we spent hours wading through platform interfaces, downloading apps, and sampling every web-connected feature we could find.

Sony Bravia KDL-55NX720 HD/3d Smart TV (Bravia internet video)

If you crave variety, this 3-D set will keep you busy for days. Sony’s platform fills all 55 inches of the edge-lit screen with a wide array of apps and stand-alone services — everything from podcasts to Pandora to Sony’s own on-demand service. There’s even a “channel” that streams free 3-D movie clips. Most important, this LCD aced every processing test we threw at it, smoothing out jaggies and deinterlacing film-based 24-fps HD sources like a pro.

WIRED Built-in Wi-Fi. Fine-tuning options make it a picture tweaker’s delight. Netflix button on remote.

TIRED At least 15 minutes of registering and activating. Some clouding and screen-uniformity issues in dark scenes.

$2,900, Sony