Blog platform provider SixApart has acquired failed microblogging platform Pownce and as its first decision will put Pownce out of its misery December 15. It’s not clear from posts on both the Pownce and SixApart blogs exactly what SixApart will do with the platform, but we can only presume its an IP play and that Pownce features will appear in existing or new SixApart products next year. Pownce’s Leah Culver, more recently known as the girlfriend (or is it ex now) of excellent VentureBeat scribe MG Seigler, and Mike Malone have joined the SixApart team possibly tied into Vox....
It is true that no one can serve two masters, and slavish devotion to unrighteous mammon is indeed a road to misery. Ambition to produce and “be rich” is not necessarily a bad thing, though. And if you’re reading this, you’re likely among the richest 1-2% of people who have ever lived. Historically speaking, you’re not just rich. You’re super-rich. This means a couple of things. First, it means that foregoing generations have left us with the capital, technology, and institutions we need to produce staggering amounts of wealth (which isn’t just “stuff;” wealth is whatever people value). They...
Even if you're pouting away, scouring the intarwebz in hopes of finding even more misery to fuel your appetite for self-loathing, we can think of precisely one thing for you to be thankful for on this day: an Engadget HD giveaway! That's right kids, it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving / Black Friday time without a little giving, so we're offering up Universal Remote's recently released URC Digital R50 for the taking. For those unaware, this here remote can bring harmony to your disjointed home theater (up to 18 components), and the PC-free setup / backlit buttons should bring smiles...
Here’s one gruesome way of avoiding a tribal warfare adopted by two villages in Papua New Guinea: kill every male babies born! By virtually wiping out the ‘male stock’, tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future. ‘Babies grow into men and men turn into warriors,’ said Rona Luke, a village wife who is attending a special ‘peace and reconciliation’ meeting in the mountain village of Goroka. ‘It’s because of the terrible fights that have brought death and destruction to our villages for the past 20 years that all the womenfolk have agreed...
You may recall a case last year involving Julie Amero, a substitute junior high school teacher in Connecticut that was arrested and threatened with a 40 year prison sentence after the computer in her classroom began to display pornographic pop-ups in front of her students. Any one with even the slightest knowledge of computers could tell you that this was completely ridiculous—especially after learning that the computer system in the school was woefully ill-equipped to handle spyware and viruses. Still, officials and the police refused to admit that they had made a mistake and pressed on with their case. Now...
Several notable points came to light in the press briefing. The first of which was the handset will also be known as the LG Prada phone, the exact same moniker the first phone went under. Not LG Prada II, or LG Prada: The Next Generation. In fact nothing to separate it from the first phone which is confusing in itself. Not to mention screwing with people searching on info for the new mobile, which a CNET journo actually brought up and then added somewhat of awkward air to the conference. How they’re getting around this issue is simple, they’re...
It took two years to develop Lively–the 3D world from Google. It took less than 5 months for Google to announce it is shutting it down. …despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we’ve decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. Isn’t that basically what I suggested? …there’s a long, long way to go in perfecting...
The global economic downturn has started to take its toll on Silicon Valley, especially since the news of an emergency meeting Sequoia Capital held for its entrepreneurs, asking them to buckle up for the nausea inducing ride that lay ahead of them. In the weeks that have gone by, we have seen waves of job cuts - 20,000 or so by some estimates. Whether it is Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, eBay or Jobster — they are all shedding jobs. These news of the layoffs has a tinge of morbid glee. American writer Russell Baker once wrote, “Misery no longer loves company....
In a world of Web 2.0 and Googlemania there is almost one thing that seems to be universally accepted by everyone involved - Microsoft is uncool and evil. Plus, anyone who professes even the slightest bit of liking the company and its products is uncool and makes Homer look smart. This attitude has been around for a long time and I will be among the many that agree that Microsoft has made some serious mistakes in the past. Since the invasion of Google and their do no evil mantra the anti-Microsoft forces have had another company to gather around. After all...
