Yeah ok it isn't that Apple Tablet. But this is a picture, taken around 1990, of the Apple Pen Mac, a little known and never launched Apple tablet project. As far as we can tell there is no other image of this device anywhere on the Internet, and very few references to it at all.
The Pen Mac was a fully functional Mac computer (it even played the Mac startup chime) with a pen based touch screen. The screen itself was identical to the Mac Portable, but with the addition of pen touch. And of course the case was a lot smaller than the Mac Portable. The Pen Mac was supposedly not much more than one inch thick. Users could plug in a keyboard and mouse or easier input.
Holding the Pen Mac in the picture is Glam CEO Samir Arora, who told me about the device over dinner a couple of weeks ago. Arora worked at Apple on the project, eventually going to a spinout company, Rae Technology, which was designing applications for the Pen Mac. Rae Technology eventually morphed into NetObjects.
The Pen Mac project was led by Paul Mercer but was eventually axed in favor of the Newton. Then Apple CEO John Sculley wanted a PDA, not a tablet. From a 2006 NY Times article:
Google's major developer conference, Google I/O, went down this week. Was it a bit of a letdown? Probably. Did cool stuff still come out of the event? Eh? Maybe? We discuss these topics and more this week on the TC Gadgets podcast. In fact, we even had Frederic Lardinois join as a guest, along with John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook (that's me!), Romain Dillet, and Darrell Etherington as Bob McKenzie.
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Snapchat, DAS Keyboard, and the wild Amazon phone. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Jordan Crook as Michelle Tanner. Enjoy!
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Acer (WTF, Acer?), Disrupt, and Bitponics . This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Michael Seo as the Beaver. Enjoy! We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific. Click here to download an MP3 of this show. You can subscribe to the show via RSS. Subscribe in iTunes Intro Music by Rick Barr.
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about the Blackberry Q10, The HTC One, and the Fitbit Flex. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Chris Velazco, and a tiny thinger that won't fit into the bracelet. Enjoy!
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Google Glass, the Galaxy S4, and the magic of Ubuntu laptops. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Jordan Crook, Greg Kumparak, and a pair of underwear that vibrates in Australia. Enjoy!
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we celebrate episode number two of everyone's favorite audio file! We also talk about 3D printing, the Ouya console, and the Facebook Fone AKA the FF.
We're back! After a long hiatus, we've started up the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast, our weekly review of everything hardware. We'll be talking about hardware startups, flagship gadgets, and the wild and wooly worlds of Apple, Samsung, HTC, and all the rest.
WordPress just launched version 3.5 of its self-hosted blogging and CMS platform. This new version, called "Elvin" in honor of drummer Elvin Jones, mostly changes how WordPress users interact with images and includes a number of smaller tweaks to various other parts of the application, too.
The next generation of apps will require developers to think more of the human as the user interface. It will become more about the need to know how an app works while a person stands up or with their ams are in the air more so than sitting down and pressing keys with their fingers.
Smule is on fire. Just take a look at the work these guys have done since their 2008 launch: $25.5 million in funding, more app releases than I can keep up with and a pretty sweet acquisition.
And the latest app, AutoRap, is seeing some incredible early success. After less than a week on the App Store, AutoRap has seen over 2.5 million downloads with over 12 million raps created.
Yes, raps. Like, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Eminem style raps.
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and sometimes you'll bust your tail without so much as a "well done!" to show for it. Deep down though, who doesn't want a little bit of ego-stroking every once in a while?
That's exactly what prompted the folks at iDoneThis to team up with AwesomenessReminders -- with the new partnership in place, they're spicing up their task-tracking service by giving their users a heaping dose of self-esteem.
This week we bring you the Fujifilm X10, the Galaxy Tab 8.9, and my new standing desk. The standing desk, incidentally, is my second desk, which puts me firmly in the 1% camp when it comes to home workstations.
Welcome to another exciting episode of the TechCrunch Gadgets Webcast. This week we talk about the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet, the Nexus, and SOPA. Plus, we have a special surprise for all those who prefer sound to moving pictures.
In the mad rush to push out more and more Android slate products, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are like a calm port in the storm. Their devices are touted as ereaders but, after a bit of digging, you find that they are now considerably more interesting - and compelling - as tablet products for an entry level market. They are not threatening nor are they particularly difficult to grasp. In short, they are the perfect neophyte's tablet, a cross between the simplicity of an e-ink ereader and a fully-featured mobile device. It's good enough at both that people buying it for one purpose will be pleased with the device's other strengths; depending on what you want, it's either an Android slate in ereader's clothing or vice versa.
As it stands, the Nook Tablet is an impressive bit of machinery. It is a solid slab of electronics designed to do a few things exceedingly well and - sadly - a few things quite poorly. As a color, touchscreen ereader it is one of the best and, for those with an adventurous bent, I can imagine this becoming a useful media and app device.
The sun has set on our first ever TechCrunch Disrupt conference outside U.S. soil. The Beijing event ended this past Tuesday, as OrderWithMe won the Disrupt Cup. With the 12 to 15 hour time difference between the U.S. and China, watching it live wasn't the easiest option. We produced more than 60 videos. But here's a look at some of the highlights you might have missed:
OK, Nokia, we get it: you want to be cool. The Nokia/Monster headphones spotted a few days back was a start, but what better way to attract a hip young crowd than to jazz up your iconic jingle with some dubstep?
In fairness, Nokia didn't actually design the thing themselves. Instead, they launched a contest last September where they asked people to submit fresh takes on Grande Valse, the Spanish guitar tune that's been burned into every Nokia user's brain since 1994.
It's hard out there for a goat. You're relegated to the background in many RPG games, chewing morosely while adventurers and soldiers light out for the darkened corners of the World, fighting dragons, the hellborn, and coprophagic demons. But now the goats are taking on the world's vilest enemy - the Nazis - and they mean business.
GOATS vs NAZIS is an indie NES game by Jim Welch that should take about a year to finish. Welch is asking for $14,000 to help feed and clothe him while he works on the game (where the heck does he live?) and he's offering the game for free once he's done.
Joyent has revealed the winners of Node Knockout, the annual Node.js hacking competition it hosts. This year's hackathon, which encourages developers to build apps using the increasingly popular server-side JavaScript environment Node.js, included over 320 teams with more than 700 people competing. That's a big jump from the 100 teams and 250 participants seen in 2010.
The resulting winners are a diverse bunch, including everything from games and YouTube battle parties (we'll explain...) to practical tools aiding in website design and game development.
It's testament to the enthusiasm of the Uber fan base that we've gotten multiple tips this afternoon about the service being live in Seattle. Via a quick phone call with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, I've confirmed that Uber has soft launched in the Pacific Northwest's largest city, with an initial three black cars in its test fleet.
Perhaps because of general cost of living is lower, Seattle Uber pricing is less than its counterparts in New York or San Francisco -- At a $7.00 base fare with a $12 minimum versus an $8.00 base fare and a $15 minimum. Uber costs more than a cab obviously (the company is currently experimenting with pricing) but totally worth it if you need to get somewhere fast, safely or just want to impress someone with your uncanny ability to summon a black car at will.
Qualcomm has bought certain technology assets from GestureTek, a well-known developer of gesture recognition technology. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
According to a release, Qualcomm is buying IP assets related specifically to gesture recognition technology, as well as "engineering resources." GestureTek is retaining other assets in that relate to its gesture-controlled public display and digital signage business.
While searching for music gadgets here at the Summer NAMM conference in Nashville TN, I was reminded of one of the bright stars that garnered “Best In Show” rating from the winter version of this bi-annual conference. While the MB 800 has been anticipated since its announcement last winter, I heard today that the item is planned to ship within the next 4-6 weeks, and possibly as early as August 15th.
What is the Gallien Krueger MB 800 you ask? It is 800 watts of bass amplification housed in a 4.9 pound case. Let me just say that again...800 watts in a 4.9 pound case. As someone with vivid memories of carrying fragile and heavy tube laden amp heads to-and-fro, I find this form factor impressive. And it sounds good too. I coaxed GK Sales Manager Jason Finley into playing it a bit, so I could capture a few sounds.
After warning people about it for weeks, Google began enforcing its ban on all Google business profiles this morning, to much consternation from, well, businesses. Yes Google did warn people at the launch of Google+ that any non-human pages would be killed and that people shouldn't be surprised that the pages were killed...
But of course, like when anything is axed on the Internet, people were up in arms. Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan wrote an "Open Letter To Google+ On The Subject Of Brand Pages" and, emboldened, my colleague MG Siegler wrote the elegantly titled "Fucktard+."
We've gotten a lot of requests for our Disrupt conference theme music. Some conference attendees and webcast viewers apparently can't get the music out of their heads and want to hear it some more. Instead of picking music from a music production library, this year we created custom tracks.
The music came to us all the way from New Zealand from a company called Smith & Keats Music. They have a background in creating pop hits and have earned a reputation for specializing in music for the tech industry. Other clients have included Nintendo and Sony-Ericsson.
The composers say living in New Zealand gives them exposure to a broader range of artists from around the world. In the US and other countries, the music charts are dominated by local artists. Not so for New Zealand, where they claim only the best of the best makes it to their shores.
1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
We don't know where you take your iPhone. We're not Google evil.
After talking to Conan a few weeks ago, and CNN's Piers Morgan last night, Biz Stone made an appearance on another mainstream media show today: Howard Stern. You can access the interview here.
Unlike many of Stern's interviews, this one was mostly PG-rated. One of the most interesting tales revealed in the interview was the backstory behind Facebook's offer to acquire Twitter back in 2008 (the story is at the 16 minute mark in the interview). As we know, Facebook reportedly offered Twitter $500 million to acquire the company in the fall of 2008. Biz tells Stern that he showed up at work one day and Twitter employee Jason Goldman (who is no longer with the company) told him that fellow co-founder Evan Williams was waiting for him downstairs in a car.
For those of us who know nothing about football, The Super Bowl is more about what the huge brands who buy ads chose to do with their $3 million in ad dollars and prime eyeball time, paying to play with a captive audience in the hundreds of millions. And the technology industry always steps up to the plate; Last year Google debuted its "Parisian Love" ad and we had quite a few tech firsts this year, including the first ever Twitter hashtag within an ad.
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series earlier this evening and of course the fan celebration has at this point devolved into multiple riots, which you can now follow on Twitter at the hashtag #SFRiot.
According to the Twitter stream, several thousand people have taken over 5th and Mission Street, and there are currently multiple bonfires at 3rd and King Street. I'm also seeing reports of people throwing beer bottles at police as well as a stabbing at 4th and King Street, which police apparently have under control.
Making things go viral on the Internet is an elusive art, one that Jonah Peretti has studied and tried to perfect for more than a decade. He once got on the Today show for an email exchange he orchestrated with Nike asking them if they would customize a sneaker for him with the word "Sweatshop" on it. That email was forwarded millions of times. Later, he created the Rejection Line, a phone number women could give to guys at bars which went to an automated rejection recording ("Unfortunately, the person who gave you this number does not want to talk to you or see you again"). He also co-founded the Huffington Post.
Today, as CEO of BuzzFeed, he is making a business out of making things go viral. At a meetup last night at BuzzFeed's New York City offices, he gave his five rules for making things go viral, which I made him repeat in the video above (yes, that is 4Chan's Moot in the background). The rules are:
WordPress, the world's most popular blogging software, has just released WordPress 3.0, codenamed Thelonious — the software's thirteenth release in its history. Beta releases have been available for the last few months, but now it's official. To give an idea of how popular WordPress is, version 2.9 was downloaded 10.3 million times.
Among the features listed in the official blog post: a default theme called Twenty Ten (the old default was looking quite dated), a lighter interface, and 1,217 bug fixes. Theming has gotten quite a bit of attention, with APIs that make it easier for theme designers to allow for customized menus, post types, headings, backgrounds, and more).
If you are a business podcaster looking for more listeners, you've come to the right place. Update your RSS feeds using our specs and effectively syndicate your podcasts to AOL, ABC, CBS, Fox, MNG, Hearst and other leading media outlets. For more information, please email us at info@streetiq.com.
Are you creating a special series or covering an event? Submit links to your podcasts and photos along with captions and shownotes to buzz@streetiq.com.
Google's major developer conference, 
This week on the 
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Acer (WTF, Acer?), Disrupt, and Bitponics . This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Michael Seo as the Beaver. Enjoy! We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific. Click here to download an MP3 of this show. You can subscribe to the show via RSS. Subscribe in iTunes Intro Music by Rick Barr.
This week on the 
This week on the 
This week on the 
We're back! After a long hiatus, we've started up the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast, our weekly review of everything hardware. We'll be talking about hardware startups, flagship gadgets, and the wild and wooly worlds of Apple, Samsung, HTC, and all the rest.
WordPress just 
The next generation of apps will require developers to think more of the human as the user interface. It will become more about the need to know how an app works while a person stands up or with their ams are in the air more so than sitting down and pressing keys with their fingers.
Smule is on fire. Just take a look at the work these guys have done since their 2008 launch: $25.5 million in funding, more 
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and sometimes you'll bust your tail without so much as a "well done!" to show for it. Deep down though, who doesn't want a little bit of ego-stroking every once in a while?
That's exactly what prompted the folks at iDoneThis to 
In the mad rush to push out more and more Android slate products, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are like a calm port in the storm. Their devices are touted as 
The sun has set on our first ever TechCrunch Disrupt conference outside U.S. soil. The Beijing event ended this past Tuesday, as 
OK, Nokia, we get it: you want to be cool. The
It's hard out there for a goat. You're relegated to the background in many RPG games, chewing morosely while adventurers and soldiers light out for the darkened corners of the World, fighting dragons, the hellborn, and coprophagic demons. But now the goats are taking on the world's vilest enemy - the Nazis - and they mean business.
We've gotten a lot of requests for our Disrupt conference theme music. Some conference attendees and webcast viewers apparently can't get the music out of their heads and want to hear it some more. Instead of picking music from a music production library, this year we created custom tracks.
The music came to us all the way from New Zealand from a company called 
After 
For those of us who know nothing about football, The Super Bowl is more about what the huge brands who buy ads chose to do with their $3 million in ad dollars and prime eyeball time, paying to play with a captive audience in the hundreds of millions. And the technology industry always steps up to the plate; Last year Google 
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series earlier this evening and of course the fan celebration has at this point devolved into multiple riots, which you can now follow on Twitter at the hashtag 
Making things go viral on the Internet is an elusive art, one that Jonah Peretti has studied and tried to perfect for more than a decade. He once got on the Today show for an 
