Category: Tech news

The geeks are getting pretty excited about the upcoming sequel to the 1982 hacker movie Tron. Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges in both movies, is the protagonist. The soundtrack for the sequel is by Daft Punk, and the website that has been put up for the soundtrack contains an excellent easter egg – an ascii image of Flynn/Bridges from the first movie.

See TronSoundtrack.com and view source, you’ll see the image. Note that we haven’t actually confirmed that this is an official site for the movie or the soundtrack, but it looks legitimate and it’s cool either way.

Thanks for the tip Raffel.

French designer Evan Roth has made a ten minute music video consisting of popular gifs vs. the typical fragmented Girl Talk tomfoolery (from the 2006 album Night Ripper). While Roth’s cleverly titled “Cache Rules Everything Around Me” is absolutely not the first time someone has combined Internet culture imagery and music (see: Paper Rad) it is perhaps the longest and most monumental I’ve seen.

Want to prove that you’re the ultimate Internet hipster? Tell your friends you actually saw this three days ago. Please fullscreen for full effect.

Via: Fat Labs

Yesterday I wrote about how all web services could possibly be more useful with some “Instantization”; Scottish engineer Tam Denholm had the very same idea, and built Instantise to house the recent outcrop of Google Instant-inspired services on one URL (The American usage “Instantize” also redirects).

On the Instantise homepage you can find original instant search gangster Google, YouTube Instant, Maps Instant, Images Instant and the Denholm-created Hacker News Instant, Twitter Instant, and even PHP.net Instant. Hacker News Instant is especially delightful.

Denholm holds that the concept was “inspired/stolen from Michael Hart who got inspired/stole from Feross Aboukhadijeh who got inspired/stole from Google [and boredom]“, once again proving that especially in coding,  good artists copy, great artists steal.

Update: Denholm has added Techmeme Instant to Instantise’s roster of homebrew services.

Vaguely related video, below:

Years ago, I came to the conclusion that bundled software — those applications that piggyback alongside the applications you’re actually trying to install — are the spawn of the devil. They often trick users into installing software they don’t want (they’re the reason millions of people installed WeatherBug years ago when they really didn’t mean to). So when I first heard about OpenCandy, a startup that actually facilitates the distribution of bundled software, my initial reaction was, “Yech“.

“No, we’re the good guys!” they said, explaining that they were only distributing high quality software, and that users would always have to opt-into downloading a piggybacking app, which meant that there wasn’t a chance that they’d accidentally install something. And I warmed up to them, watching as they worked with a number of respectable companies and eventually closed a $5 million funding round from Google Ventures. Alas, it seems that they’re trading in their halo for a bigger market.

For those that aren’t familiar with it, OpenCandy is a service that lets application developers generate more money from their apps. Developers add a small piece of code provided by OpenCandy to their install process. Then, when a user installs the developer’s software, they’re prompted to install a second, promoted application that’s served up by OpenCandy’s recommendation algorithm. Before now a user would only install this promoted software if they explicitly clicked a box indicating that they wanted to — there was almost no chance of it happening accidentally, which is what shadier app bundles rely on.

This week OpenCandy is announcing that it’s going to offer developers the option to make these bundled app installs opt-out. In other words, if the developer chooses to make an opt-out offer in their installer, it will be up to the user to manually uncheck a box if they don’t want to install whatever software OpenCandy is hawking, which is exactly what OpenCandy said it wasn’t doing. Ugh.

I spoke with OpenCandy CEO Darrius Thompson, who says that the company had the same reaction when it first considered the idea. Asked if OpenCandy is doing this to make more money, Thompson claims that the answer is “no” — he says that OpenCandy is making the change because the data supports it as a fair thing to do. Here’s a portion of the explanation he’s posted on the company blog:

We are a metrics driven company and data strongly influences our decisions. When we started OpenCandy, we assumed that users who opted-in to software offers were more likely to use that product than users who did not opt-out. It’s an assertion we’ve been trying to validate since day one. We’ve studied this carefully and, with the help of our partners, we’ve found that users who opt-in are only slightly more likely to use the software than those who do not opt-out. It’s a little confusing but essentially means that even though more users get software through opt-out than opt-in, they still end up using it at about the same rate. This is not what we expected, but it is what the data has shown, and has various implications for our business.

Numerous developers have asked us to support opt-out so they could earn more money and advertisers have asked the same so that they could reach more users. By allowing our partners to choose opt-in or opt-out, we can help them do this in the best way possible. Keep in mind that opt-out offers are enabled only when both the advertiser and the developer involved with a given offer chose to do so. We have always held ourselves and our partners to a high standard when it comes to transparency and protecting users. Our Network Policy (link) is one of the ways we enforce this. http://www.opencandy.com/software-network-policies/

Despite what Thompson says, this will obviously have a positive impact on OpenCandy’s bottom line, and it’s hard to believe that the company based its decision independent of that fact. This will expand OpenCandy’s potential market to a new set of developers, and it will generate more revenue as more users install bundled software.

That said, OpenCandy isn’t really evil (at least, it’s no worse than its competition). The stats OpenCandy has reported are certainly counterintuitive and seem to indicate that these opt-out installers may not be that bad. Users can cancel the OpenCandy download manager if they accidentally agree to install an application (provided they click ‘Cancel’ before the app is finished downloading). More noble developers out there can still elect to make their installs opt-in (advertisers can also choose to only allow their apps to be opt-in). And plenty of big companies offer their software in a similar opt-out fashion.

Finally, in the hopes of retaining its “good guy” status, the company says that it’s keeping the Opt-in/Opt-out dialog clear (see the screenshot above), and it’s exploring ways to make sure users don’t accidentally opt into software they don’t want (for example, they are considering defaulting to ‘opt-in’ if the user is obviously just rapidly clicking through the installer).

If you think back to 2005, you’ll remember that the Motorola RAZR phone was all the rage. Not entirely unlike the iPhone today, it was the sleek phone that everyone wanted. But if you happened to be on the largest carrier in the U.S., Verizon, you couldn’t get one. Again, sound familiar?

It wasn’t until just about a year later that a version (the V3c) finally came to Verizon. It was a long wait, but I was excited to finally have access to the device, I pre-ordered one the first day I could. When I finally got it, there were some surprises in store. Rather than having the same colorful user interface that my friends’ RAZRs (on other networks) had, it had some god-awful red proprietary UI made by Verizon itself. It also came with the added bonus of having Bluetooth file transfer capabilities disabled by Verizon. And it was loaded to the brim with Verizon’s V CAST garbage.

So while part of the wait was undoubtedly due to Motorola getting a CDMA version of the device ready to sell, a bigger part was likely Verizon negotiating and working to load the device up with their crapware. That doesn’t speak well for the supposed Verizon iPhone.

Rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon are louder now than they’ve ever been. There is no doubt that Apple has been working on a CDMA version of the device (codename: N92) for some time now, and perhaps is even in the process of manufacturing it as we speak. But whether that device is destined for Verizon or Sprint (the other U.S. CDMA provider) remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, Apple wants their device on the largest carrier in the country (Verizon), but they’ll also undoubtedly will have to make sacrifices to make that happen. And Apple doesn’t like to make sacrifices.

Much has been written about how Apple will probably have to take a lower subsidy from the other U.S. carriers if they move beyond their exclusive deal with AT&T (which gives them an outrageous subsidy that adds billions of dollars to their bottom line). But there’s not a lot of talk about the more fundamental thing Apple may have to give up by putting the device on Verizon: control.

Remember, when Apple first launched the iPhone in 2007, the first carrier they went to talk to about a deal was Verizon. The two sides could not come to an agreement at the time, and the main issue was undoubtedly control. Apple had basically no leverage at the time as they were the new player in the space with zero market share. Verizon knew that and probably laughed at some of Apple’s demands. So Apple went to AT&T, and the rest is history.

Those Apple/Verizon discussions have undoubtedly been had many times since the massively successful launch (and subsequent updated version launches) of the iPhone. Both sides know that it makes sense for the most popular smartphone to be on the most popular network. But the question remains: who is willing to give up something to make that happen?

The past week, I’ve written a number of posts with the same basic refrain: the carriers suck. Each of those posts was in the context of Android, and specifically how the carriers are taking advantage of the openness of that mobile OS to take us back in time 5 years where they had complete control over the U.S. market — the time before the iPhone. Verizon is the worst perpetrator so far. Is there any doubt they want to do the same thing with the iPhone?

Back in 2007, Verizon probably thought Apple’s ideas of an App Store and user experience completely controlled by them but run on Verizon’s network were insulting. If there was going to be an app store, it was going to be a Verizon app store. If there was going to be a new user experience, it was going to be a Verizon new user experience. AT&T probably wanted those things too, but they saw what Apple had done with the iPod and were likely willing to take the chance — provided they got the exclusive on it. No less than Apple CEO Steve Jobs has credited AT&T with having this foresight.

Verizon can no longer laugh at Apple’s ideas, but instead the prospect of the iPhone as it is currently constituted on their network probably scares the hell out of them. Sure, they’d add billions in revenues from new contracts, but they’d essentially be a dumb pipe for this device. As they’ve proven with all of their other devices — including the RAZR and now their Android phones — they don’t want to be that. They want to be in control of not only the network, but at least some of the content on that network.

So now the question in my mind is whether or not Apple is willing to make any concessions to Verizon? Would Apple allow them to include a V CAST app standard on every iPhone, for example? One that couldn’t be deleted? What about apps in the App Store that only work with Verizon iPhones and not AT&T iPhones (just like Skype for Android)? What about interface changes (either software or hardware) that show more prominently that this is a Verizon phone? Or what about a cut of all apps sold and all music/movies/tv show downloaded?

It’s hard to imagine Apple allowing Verizon to do any of that. But they may have to if they want to deal.

All I’m saying is that I’m still not sold on the rumors of an iPhone on Verizon’s network being a slam dunk. It certainly might come, but I suspect Apple will have to make some concessions they would never make in normal circumstances to make it happen.

If they’re not ready to do that just yet, might we see a T-Mobile and Sprint version of the iPhone first? That would certainly give Apple some more leverage by making Verizon the only carrier in the U.S. without the iPhone. And Verizon is probably okay with that right now as they watch Android sales explode and watch their power over that OS — which they can control — expand.

Apple gets a lot of shit for not being as “open” as Android. But as always, things aren’t as black and white as they seem. Verizon’s repurposing of Android is starting to show this very clearly. That level of outside manipulation, wrapped in the faux cloak of “openness”, is something that Apple is never going to allow on a device that they make.

And no matter how badly we all want the Verizon iPhone, we don’t want that.

[image via TiPb]

A few weeks ago, Yahoo updated Groups, the company’s online discussion board and forum offering, with a UI makeover, chat funcionality, easier photo sharing and more. The result ended with a more sleek, Facebook-like interface for each Group that resembles a Facebook news feed. Apparently, Yahoo’s millions of Groups users (which is surprising, by the way), aren’t happy with the changes.

New features include a stream-like view of messages and updates in a group, and a “Post Something” box, which resembles the Facebook status update box. According to the 400-plus comments on this Yahoo forum, users hate the new interface for a number of reasons, but the most apparent complaint was that the interface resembled a social network. Here a few choice comments from the forum:

Hate this already, I checked out the new format and its horrible. I don’t want facebook, I don’t want all this stuff, it isn’t why I love Yahoo! Groups or what I want from the groups. If there isn’t a classic group option I will without a doubt leave. I need a group description section for one thing. The new format is horrible, please let us keep the original format if we choose too. I don’t want to go through this change at all, it isn’t that I am not for updating, but you’re giving up everything that makes Yahoo! Groups a great place to meet online and making it into every other piece of crap already available to me elsewhere on the internet.

Unfortunately, Yahoo in their drive to become a “social network” and integrate with Facebook, have failed to understand why people use Yahoo groups and the function Yahoo groups play. If they insist on going ahead with this integration, they will destroy one of Yahoo’s best assets. If they are smart they will sit up and listen, and leverage this difference with Facebook. Yahoo needs to ask itself – Why did Yahoo group moderators/members not set-up/migrate to Facebook but instead stayed on Yahoo?

I run a swap group for miniaturists. That is what we use the group for; not for general social networking. And in particular, we use the database tables for organising our swaps. It seems that these are likely to go. Without these, I cannot run our group. We don’t need a social networking site; we want one with the tools that we need to organise our group’s specific interests. And we have that in the group as it is. Please don’t make these huge changes.

Yahoo has been making a considerable effort to make its products more social, outsourcing this to Facebook at times. But clearly not all users are ready for this transition to social-at what point does Yahoo have to forgo its strategy for certain products to please users?

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of war. Better choose your side soon, too. The tablet wars are going to get nasty.

Apple’s army is prepped, already backed by over 3 million zealous iPad owners. But the Google Android horde is quickly banding together and will soon offer countless weapons from several major CE houses and dozens of smaller camps. Google is also quietly forming the stealthy Chrome OS platoon that will likely enter the battle a bit late, but shouldn’t be forgotten, ether.

Then there’s the suit & tie brigade with their trusty BlackBerry holstered on their hips, ready to be tethered to the coming BlackPad. Don’t forget about the wildcard: The HP-produced, webOS-powered PalmPad no doubt has a couple of tricks, enough to put up a decent fight. Then there’s the battle-tested Windows that might still be able to fire a few direct shots.

The tablet wars are coming and not everyone is going to survive. There simply isn’t enough market share to support the five or more upcoming tablet platforms.

Recommendation engine Hunch usually asks you a few questions and can then help you decide things like whether or not you’ll be happy with a porsche. Or they can look at data another way, and show that TechCrunch readers tend to be optimists, for example.

But sometimes Hunch likes to show off a little and prove that they know you even before you answer those questions. Their Twitter game was one example. Now they’ve released a Facebook game. Hunch will predict your answer to questions like whether or not you like comic books (it nailed it, I just don’t like them). And that’s without any tuning to start – Hunch just looks at your Facebook likes and makes its predictions from there.

Play Hunch Predic-o-matic on Facebook here.

It’s eerily accurate. During beta testing with 30,000 or so users they’ve seen 83% accuracy for U.S. users and about 75% for non U.S. users. The data, says Hunch CEO Chris Dixon, comes from 400,000 Hunch users who’ve logged in via Facebook Connect and have answered around ~150 questions each. That’s created the Hunch “taste graph” and served as a starting point for their prediction engine.

“As more people use Hunch (either on hunch.com or via our API) we collect more data and the system gets smarter. The Predictor Game is meant to be a tech demo but we can also use the same technology to recommend practical things like restaurants, movies, clothing, gifts, travel destinations, daily deals, etc.” says Dixon.

The best thing about the game is when you subconsciously lie, answering what you want to be true about yourself, and Hunch comes back with the actual answer. Sure I like to think of myself as the kind of guy that’s passionate about hiking. But in reality, not much hiking actually ever happens, and Hunch knew it. Oh Hunch. You just get me.

Heading off to college? Here’s my suggestion: buy a used laptop from Craigslist and install Ubuntu onto it. Seriously. You don’t need a new computer for college. If you’re pursuing a liberal arts degree, you really don’t need a brand new computer just to write all the papers you’ll write. If you’re pursuing an engineering degree, the chances are high that your department’s computer labs are better than anything you can buy for yourself.

Editor’s note: Engineers love to take things apart to learn how they work. They call this a teardown. In his ongoing series of TC Teardowns guest author Steven Carpenter takes apart popular business models to see how they work. He’s done this with Groupon, Chegg, and Zynga. This time, he looks at handmade goods marketplace Etsy.

A few weeks ago, Etsy, the New York-based marketplace for handmade goods around the world, raised $20 million in new capital at a $300 million valuation—3 times the valuation of its last round in January, 2008. In contrast to the meteor-like rise of Groupon and Zynga, Etsy’s revenues have grown consistently since its launch in 2005, while establishing a trusted brand and international platform for makers of all kinds of wares to sell their products. Based on my analysis, Etsy will do $380 million in gross merchandise volume (GMV) and generate $30 million in revenues this year, up from $180 million in GMV and $15 million in revenue in 2009. This implies a 10X revenue multiple in the company’s latest valuation, compared to EBay’s 3.6 multiple.

The two key questions for Etsy are: How big is the market for handmade products? And can it continue to take share from eBay’s marketplace business?

Let’s take a look at how Etsy makes money and how it can reach $100 million in revenues.

What is Etsy?

Etsy provides an online marketplace where artisans can sell their wares to people looking for one-of-a-kind, handmade goods. Unlike sites such as eBay, Etsy does not run any auctions. All goods are for sale at a fixed-price.

Based on data from Compete, 5.6 million people visit the site each month, up from 4.4 million a year ago, and that is after rebounding from a rapid fall-off in traffic following the holiday shopping season. (Click on charts to enlarge). The good news appears to be that Etsy is able to retain new buyers and sellers who try it out, presumably due to a great shopping experience.

Etsy has over 6.7 million products listed for sale, half of which fall into just three categories: jewelry, art supplies, and vintage. Jewelry alone, with 1.5 million listings, accounts for nearly 25% of all of Etsy’s products.

While this is trivial compared to eBay’s 117 million listings, Etsy’s 6.7 million products are more than double eBay’s 3.2 million listings for similar handmade goods. Ebay’s largest crafts categories appear to center more on hobbies such as sewing and scrapbooking, suggesting Etsy is attracting new sellers into the market.

In a little over four years, Etsy has firmly established itself as the place to buy and sell items such as art, glass, jewelry and art supplies, among others. This suggests further that eBay continues to be vulnerable across other categories where 1) community is a core part of the selling-buying experience, and 2) the company has been unable to attract higher-end sellers.

For a company of its age, Etsy has gone international exceptionally fast. It has sellers in over 150 countries and supports 23 currencies. It is rare for a startup to have garnered international demand so quickly and it is operationally very difficult to support. This is a huge competitive advantage.

How is Etsy Doing?

Etsy makes money in two ways: it charges sellers $0.20 to list a product for 4 months, regardless of the price of the item, and then it receives a flat 3.5% commission for each completed transaction. This contrasts starkly with eBay’s complex listing and commission structure.

I compiled and analyzed the data Etsy releases in its monthly “Weather Report” since 2008. Based upon my projections for the upcoming quarter, Etsy will do close to $30 million in revenues this year, up 80% year-over-year. (This is on the low end of the $30 million to $50 million range CEO Rob Kalin himself projects)

When you look at my estimates of where Etsy derives its revenue from on a monthly basis, two interesting things emerge. One, similar to other retailers, Etsy generates a disproportionate percentage of its revenues during the fourth quarter, suggesting the company is largely seen as a site for gifts. And two, while the business is driven by commissions, Etsy is seeing incremental revenue by keeping listing fees low so that sellers keep products on the system longer (ie, “Legacy Listing Revenue”).

Let’s look a little deeper at each of Etsy’s revenue components. Gross merchandise value (GMV) is the total value of goods sold. Looking at this metric each month since January, 2008, this has been steadily growing, with December witnessing the largest sales volume. Last December, Etsy achieved its highest total of $25.6 million. After reaching a new plateau, the company sold $25.6 million worth of good. This holiday season should see 2X-2.5X last year’s sales.

Etsy is achieving these gains by increasing both the volume of transactions as well as seeing a higher average price point. The number of items sold each month has risen steadily from under 400,000 in January, 2008 to 1.4 million in August, 2010. Meanwhile, Etsy’s average sale price has increased from $12.25 to $18.16 in that same time period

Etsy is also seeing steady growth in attracting new listings. As evidenced in the data, new listings are growing at a much faster rate than new members joining the site. This suggests that legacy sellers are continuing to value Etsy as a sales platform, but that it has to do more to attract both newbie sellers and buyers. Once consumers interact with the site and find something to either buy or sell, they seem to become loyal customers.

In terms of the team and profitability, Etsy has not had to spend resources on advertising and marketing. Etsy is an engineering and support-driven company, 90% of the people are either building the platform or supporting buyers and sellers. To put a fine point on this, Etsy has more people dedicated to its community (12) than it does to marketing (8). This suggests the company should be able to scale the business profitably without an outsized investment in customer acquisition.

If you look at Etsy’s online marketing efforts, it spends next to nothing on customer acquisition.

Etsy’s Growth Opportunities

While eBay saw its marketplace growth stagnate at just over $1 billion, I see several areas Etsy must optimize just to pass $100 million in business:

1. Expand Internationally with localized platforms. Etsy experienced unusual organic international demand from the outset. While the majority of usage still occurs in the US, Etsy needs to take a page from Groupon and get into the local markets and establish a strong local presence quickly. Scaling and supporting an international platform is difficult so if it can figure it out over the next 12 months, it will provide a strong competitive advantage
2. Attract More Sellers and Listings. As I discussed above, new users are not keeping pace with new listings. The company is already running local meetups, which is a smart strategy to take from eBay’s playbook. I am not sure if Etsy yet has an annual awards ceremony or eBay Live equivalent but there are many incentives the company could employ to encourage current power sellers to bring in new sellers and perhaps get a cut of their sales.
3. Increase Merchandise Value. Etsy has done a good job of providing a trusted platform for sellers, which will naturally lead to higher-priced goods. It needs to continue in this direction and explore additional categories than are consistent with its brand position.
4. Better matching of local supply-demand to avoid shipping charges. One of the biggest challenges to additional sales is expensive shipping rates. Etsy has to match local supply and demand and act as a matchmaker for similar or related products by geographic area.
5. Improve Discovery On Site and Personalization. Etsy has a common problem for marketplaces in that it is very difficult to find certain products. I anticipate that the company will continue to improve in this area as well as in personalizing product and artisan recommendations. Last December, the company acquired a company called Adtuitive to presumably spearhead these efforts.
6. Leverage Community Self-Selling and Sellers Groups. Etsy’s competitive advantage is that it has now reached the inflection point of a community of artisans. The company needs to allow those artisans to form collective seller’s groups and merchandise and advertise their wares together. The more Etsy can distribute its marketing efforts to the sellers themselves, the more it reinforces the community ethos and its economics.
7. Address Seasonal Nature. With nearly 50% of gross sales come during Q4, Etsy needs to merchandise products around other gift-giving occasions, such as birthdays and holidays, and have its sellers market them.
8. Create Additional Value and Revenue Streams. In May, 2008, Etsy launched a compelling service called Alchemy, that allows customers to put out a bid for custom-made goods. I looked at two random days over the past 2 weeks and counted 193 and 192 respective bids for goods. Right now Etsy allows this to be done for free, but this is an area where I can see a lot of promise. Furthermore, at some point in the near future it might make sense, given its international footprint, to create its own payment method.

Bugatti teardown photo credit: Flickr/David Villarreal Fernández

So Gmail Instant would actually be useful, but seriously what’s next, Google Calendar Instant? Google Image Search Instant? Okay, maybe those would be helpful too. In fact it’s really difficult to think of a Google service that wouldn’t benefit at least slightly from Instantization.

Inspired by Google Instant and the story of engineer Feross Aboukhadijeh, who got a YouTube job offer via his YouTube Instant experiment, Alabama-based developer Michael Hart used jQuery and the Google Maps API to build Google Maps Instant, a pretty nifty Google Maps updating search for anywhere in the world. Much like Feross, Hart is also looking for a job.

According to Hart, the Instant interface, which “instantly” travels to the place it auto predicts you’re looking for, was created in 193 revisions and 4 hours (he’s still working on the Maps pins and the iPhone/Android functionality). But, while being able to instantly watch the permutations of where you’d like to go is kind of cool, I don’t think Google Maps Instant has the potential for YouTube Instant-level moments of serendipity, yet. My most recent YouTube Instant “moment,” below.

Fitness technology startup and TC 50 finalist Fitbit just raised $8 million in funding, judging by this recent SEC Form D filing. According to information gleaned from the document, the $8 million looks to be part of a Series B round that the company hopes will eventually top out at $9 million.

The filing also lists The Foundry’s Brad Feld as joining the board as part of the financing, but has no details as to the extent of the The Foundry’s involvement. With no major milestones since its last $2 million round of Series A (lead by True Ventures) in October of 2008, one can only speculate about the driving force behind Fitbit’s latest bit of financing.

The company’s current key product thrusts are the Fitbit Tracker and its web-based fitness data aggregation technologies that track weight, nutrition, exercise schedules and other health related data.

Update: We’ve found Brad Feld’s FitBit profile, and it looks like he’s been using it everyday this past month.

Thanks: FormDs.com

It’s ironic that Microsoft chose the day before the anniversary of the 9/11 disaster to announce the shuttering of Vine – the service was built to help people in exactly those types of situations. We first wrote about Vine in April 2009 – it was an ambitious new service to help keep friends and family in touch during emergencies:

Vine is designed to keep family and friends in touch when other communication methods are either broken or not particularly efficient. Times of crisis usually involve a breakdown in mobile phone or other key communication infrastructures, and Vine is designed to be as hardy as possible to keep people connected. Vine can be accessed via a desktop client (Windows only for now), text message or email.

Here’s the email Microsoft sent out announcing the shutdown of the service on October 11:

Subject: Important Notice: Microsoft Vine beta service will be available only until October 11, 2010

Thank you for your valuable collaboration and participation in the Microsoft Vine beta program over the past year.

Releasing products and services in beta form gives us a way to learn and adapt our technologies in a real world environment, to gather valuable feedback from our customers and partners and ensure that new models are sustainable. And more specifically, the Microsoft Vine invitation-only beta program was designed to garner participation and subsequent feedback from consumers, communities and governments about the challenges they face today and explore how technology can improve and enhance communications.

Despite positive feedback from customers like you over the course of Vine’s private beta, Microsoft has made the decision to discontinue Microsoft Vine effective October 11, 2010. After this date, you will no longer be able to access Microsoft Vine. We suggest that you record any contact information currently stored in Vine, prior to October 11th.

The decision to discontinue future development of Microsoft Vine was not easily made. Multiple options were thoroughly explored and evaluated with rigor and in the end it was determined that Microsoft Vine is not sustainable as a standalone offering.

Thank you again for your valuable feedback on this product. The key learnings acquired over the past year from the Vine beta will be used to inform and strengthen future product concepts and offerings. If you have any questions or concerns, please email [email protected].

We’ve added Microsoft Vine to the TechCrunch DeadPool.

As you’ve probably heard, Apple has been taking steps to make whole iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app development process a bit more orderly. They actually now have some (quirky) guidelines in place to help developers, and they’ve un-banned the use of some third-party development tools. It appears they’ve also quietly done something else: ended App Store name squatting.

This issue was talked about quite a bit last October, when a developer learned someone had secured the rights for the name he wanted to use for his app in iTunes Connect, but hadn’t actually made an app to go along with it. The situation, as described by PC World last year:

But a developer doesn’t need to actually go through the entire process of developing an application in order to register a name. The submission process can be completed only halfway and left pending pretty much forever, leaving the name stuck in limbo. Plus, you can do this multiple times for different names, without ever having to write a single line of code.

But now, Apple has begun emailing developers if they’ve failed to upload their binary for 90 days after first starting the app creation process. Apple warns the developer that they have another 30 days to do so, or the record will be deleted from iTunes Connect. And the key point: “The app name will then be available for another developer to use.”

Now, name squatting wasn’t without a barrier to entry before — you still needed to pay the $99 yearly fee to be an official developer. But that $99 ensured you could basically squat on as many names as you wanted (though Apple would take back names that were proven to be trademarked).

This is a long overdue good move to stop such behavior. Below, find the email Apple is sending out (names of people and apps have obviously been changed).

[photo: flickr/psd]

[thanks Peter]

Product: EyeTV HD

Manufacturer: Elgato

Wired Rating: 7

We’ve all been in this scenario before: You’re stuck at work and aching to watch the World Series, or that episode of Mad Men you missed last night. You could just catch a live stream on your office computer, but that’d be conspicuous. What’s a TV-loving nerd to do?

For Mac users, Elgato’s EyeTV HD is a possible solution. The set-top box creates a bridge between your cable receiver and Mac to turn your computer into a DVR. On your Mac, you can schedule programs for recording straight onto your hard drive, or you can just watch live TV.

The kicker is you can watch live or recorded programs on your iPhone or iPad with a complementary app available in the App Store. Yes, that means while you’re “working” you can catch that soccer game or FOX drama on your discreet, puny iPhone screen, or the iPad sitting in your lap where your nosy bosses shouldn’t be looking.

Aside from enabling you to veg out anytime and anywhere, being able to watch TV on your iPad in any room is also very liberating. If your living room is being hogged by kids playing Grand Theft Auto, just take your iPad to your bedroom and launch the EyeTV app.

Note that we said complementary app—not complimentary—as the EyeTV app costs $5, which we found to be pretty annoying. The EyeTV HD box alone costs $200, and the iOS app can’t work without the hardware at all, so it should be free.

Our Scrooge-ish sentiments aside, the EyeTV box + app combo is a breeze to use, though the setup process is somewhat inelegant. While setting up your Mac and the EyeTV to broadcast to an iPhone or iPad, you must be painfully realistic about the limitations of wireless. On Wi-Fi, both high and standard definition TV programs streamed smoothly and looked great, but over a 3G connection the video skipped a lot, and sometimes it just froze.

Given that iPhone and iPad customers are stuck with AT&T, we had to make generous adjustments to bitrate settings inside the EyeTV app on the Mac in order to get TV shows to stream smoothly over 3G to our iOS devices. The end result is not pretty—but point fingers at the broadband provider, not Elgato.

WIRED Modern-looking, intuitive EyeTV interface makes TiVo and Comcast look pathetic. Slick integration with iOS devices.

TIRED IPhone and iPad app should be offered gratis. (Free is the radical price of the future!) 3G video degradation makes everybody look like Whoopi Goldberg.