In a turn of events that has sent the blog world into a frenzy, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington said on Monday that the CrunchPad tablet computer that he announced more than a year ago is officially dead.
According to Arrington, Fusion Garage, his company's manufacturing partner, said that it would take over full control of the CrunchPad project and cut TechCrunch out just days before its debut.
"Bizarrely, we were being notified that we were no longer involved with the project. Our project," Arrington wrote on TechCrunch. "[Fusion Garage CEO] Chandra [Rathakrishnan] said that based on pressure from his shareholders he had decided to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without our involvement."
Fusion Garage, according to Arrington, wanted to offer him the opportunity to "assume the role of visionary/evangelist/marketing head." The company would also acquire Arrington's rights to the CrunchPad name and brand. Arrington said that Fusion Garage and his company "jointly own the CrunchPad product intellectual property," but Arrington's firm solely owns the CrunchPad trademark.
For now, we only know Arrington's side of the story. (Disclosure: I wrote for TechCrunch in 2008.) He claims that he was ready and willing to launch CrunchPad with Fusion Garage. He said that he is "enraged, embarrassed, and just...sad." He plans to unleash a flurry of lawsuits on Fusion Garage.
But as you might expect, TechCrunch isn't providing the only word on the matter. Blogs across the Web are giving their two cents on where they stand on Arrington's announcement and the CrunchPad itself. Some support Arrington and still hope the CrunchPad will hit store shelves. Others aren't so sure.
Let's take a quick look around the Web to find out what others are saying.
Supporters
Gizmodo: "The whole situation is lousy, and FusionGarage certainly doesn't come out looking all that smart in it. I can't imagine anyone wanting to work with them again after this, but I guess we'll have to wait and hear what their side of the story is."
OSNews: "This is all very sad. The CrunchPad had a lot of promise, because it was driven by the very best incarnation of the Hacker Ethos. Talented and driven people, who surveyed the marketplace and failed to find a device that met their wants and needs, pulled together hardware and software talent to bring their dreams to reality, and designed a very appealing-looking device. It's a thin, light, open, relatively inexpensive device for "couch computing," and because the designers were motivated by a desire to have the device for themselves and make it available to as many others as possible, there were no hidden agendas or app stores or value-added nonsense or artificial limits on use, such as exist in the iPhone or Kindle or Sony eBook ecosystems."
Slashgear: "Away from the production wrangles, it's disappointing news both for anybody interested in portable electronics and for those to whom the CrunchPad project represented the potential for individuals and small companies to come up with an idea and make it reality."
Techland: "It seems as though Fusion Garage was being pressured by shareholders to ditch Arrington and co. They seem to forget that Arrington is a former lawyer and a pitbull at that."
Ubergizmo: "Of course, we haven't heard both sides of the story yet, but based on what we've heard (from TC), it all does seem a little sad. At least it has generated its fair share of marketing and publicity for TC, and that's worth something."
Detractors
JKOntheRun: "A basic on-screen keyboard for a 12-inch slate simply won't cut it for most people. It's too large to thumb-type on, which means you'll be holding the device in one hand while pecking with another. And the price is another issue. $300 buys you what I'd consider an equally portable, yet far more function device in either a Netbook or a smartphone. Unless there was a subsidy model in play, a web-only tablet isn't what folks expect for $300 or more."
Technologizer: "Arrington has always said that the CrunchPad sprung from his own desire to have a "dead simple" tablet he could use to get online from his couch. I get his desire. Well, mostly: I've never been entirely clear why the CrunchPad would be a better couch computer than a more typical, versatile cheap portable computer."
Wired: "Arrington's earlier promises regarding the CrunchPad never panned out, and his latest missive only points to his inability to walk the talk."
So while it seems that the Web is split over where they stand on Arrington and the CrunchPad, it's arguably John Gruber over at Daring Fireball who best summed up the CrunchPad news: "No word from Popular Mechanics yet on whether they get to keep their product of the year award."
Now it's your turn. Share your thoughts on the death of the CrunchPad below.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Earlier Wednesday, we brought you live coverage of Apple's rock 'n' roll-themed event, which kicked off in San Francisco just after 10 a.m. Pacific time. The event has concluded, but for more iPod-related coverage, click here.
9:55 a.m. PDT: Good morning. We're inside and seated, just waiting for the event to begin. There's quite a crowd in here with some notable names already appearing. Greg Grunberg from TV's "Heroes" is sitting right behind us, and Herbie Hancock and Google's Eric Schmidt have also been spotted.
The crowd awaits Apple news inside the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)9:59 a.m.: Now playing "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" by the Rolling Stones, also the title of the event per the invitation. It looks like we'll be starting momentarily.
10:01 a.m.: Steve Jobs walks out. Standing ovation.
10:02 a.m.: People are still clapping.
He encourages everyone to be an organ donor, and extends a heartfelt thanks to the Apple community. Also, on Tim Cook: "He ran the company very ably during that time." "I'm back at Apple, and loving every day of it," he says.
10:03 a.m.: "I'm very happy to be here today with you all," he says. "As you may know I had a liver transplant. I have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash. Without that, I wouldn't be here without that person's generosity."
10:04 a.m.: Today we're talking about music. Phil Schiller and Jeff Robbin will join him. First, iPhone stuff. "Thrilling to report that in two years we've sold 30 million iPhones."
10:05 a.m.: In the last year, the reason is the App Store, he says. There are 75,000 apps. 1.8 billion apps downloaded by users, he reports. That doesn't include updates, though.
10:06 a.m.: Today: iPhone OS 3.1. Some bug fixes and new features are coming. The Genius playlist technology is now going to work for apps in the App Store. It will recommend apps to you based on the apps you already own. The recommendations will get better as people say what they like and buy, he says.
Steve Jobs announces iPhone OS 3.1.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:07 a.m.: Also: as Greg Sandoval previously reported, there will be ringtones for sale for $1.29 each. You can buy them the way you'd buy music.
10:08 a.m.: iPhone OS 3.1 is free for iPhone and iPod Touch users who have 3.0. It will be made available today. Update 2:58 p.m.: Earlier, it was reported that it would cost iPod Touch users $4.95. The update only costs money to those who had not yet upgraded their iPod Touch to 3.0 or higher.
10:08 a.m.: Now on to iTunes: Steve says iTunes is the No. 1 seller of music in the world. 8.5 billion songs have been purchased and there are 100 million accounts.
Jobs says the iPhone is popular internationally.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland)10:09 a.m.: Today, iTunes 9 is out. A new look. Cleaner-looking, better navigation.
10:11 a.m.: In iTunes 9: Genius Mixes. Like Genius Playlists, Genius Mixes is like a DJ that plays mixes of songs that go together from your own library. Will make up to 12 mixes at a time.
Steve Jobs takes the stage.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:12 a.m.: He says syncing will be better now, too. When syncing playlists you can also sync particular genres or particular artists. Also specific photo albums or specific faces from iPhoto, and specific movies from iTunes. You can also manage your apps syncing in iTunes.
10:13 a.m.: Also something called Home Sharing. With it, you can copy songs, movies, TV shows to up to five authorized computers in your house. Can see what's in all the other authorized computers right from your iTunes account.
10:14 a.m.: The iTunes Store also gets a new look, along with improved artists, movies, and TV pages--a "cleaner" layout, Jobs says.
10:15 a.m.: Another new feature: iTunes LP. "Some of us here are old enough to have bought LPs," Steve says. You can get album art, videos, liner notes, credits, etc. This is clearly the "Cocktail" we've been hearing about. The artists and labels can now have access to adding extras to their albums now.
10:17 a.m.: Jeff Robbin, vice president of consumer applications and lead software designer for iTunes, is now demonstrating the new iTunes. He shows how to drag and drop apps in iTunes to rearrange how they appear on an iPod Touch or iPhone. You can check and uncheck which games or apps you want on the device.
10:19 a.m.: He also shows us how Home Sharing works. You can drag a song or series of songs from other authorized computers to your own library. Can sort by songs that others have that you do not, and can set it so that when others buy new content from iTunes it can be automatically transferred to your library.
10:21 a.m.: There's a new navigation bar in the iTunes Store: music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audio books, etc.
10:22 a.m.: Can also preview songs directly in the Top Charts section. When browsing the store, you can click an "i" button for a preview of the songs on the album which will allow a quick listen without going to the actual artist or album page. You can also Twitter info and post to Facebook about songs you find in the iTunes Store.
Album view in iTunes 9.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:24 a.m.: Now Jeff is showing us iTunes LP. He picks a Doors album. You can see all the songs, all the lyrics, and lots of photos.
10:25 a.m.: There are also videos that he says are exclusive to iTunes LP. For example, Ray Manzarek is talking about how they decided to name the band The Doors.
10:27 a.m.: There's also something called iTunes Extras. Using the movie "Wall-E," he shows there are extra features like short videos, and a way to navigate chapters in the movie.
You can see lyrics with the album view in iTunes 9. Shown here are Dave Matthews lyrics.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland)10:28 a.m.: Jobs is back on stage. He says iTunes 9 is free and ready to download today. Phil Schiller will come up to talk iPods now.
Twenty million of those sold are iPod Touch, he says.
Schiller mocks Dell's non-pocketable small PC.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:29 a.m.: First Schiller's going to talk sales numbers. 220 million iPods sold to date, he says. He says they have 73.8 percent of the market, "with Microsoft pulling up the rear with 1.1 percent." There are a few giggles.
10:33 a.m.: Now Schiller's talking up the computing aspect of the iPod Touch, with Wi-Fi, browsing the Internet on Safari, e-mail, etc. "It fits in your pocket. Not everybody can say that," he says. And he shows a picture on screen of a Dell Netbook. More giggles from the audience.
10:35 a.m.: He says the iPod Touch is a better gaming platform than the PSP or Nintendo DS. He points to $30 game titles on those devices and the buying experience as "too expensive" and "not a lot of fun." He says there are 21,178 "game and entertainment" titles on iPhone OS, compared to 3,600 on Nintendo, and 600 on Sony.
Phil Schiller brags about the iPhone as a gaming platform.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland)10:37 a.m.: A few developers of those games are going to come up on stage now. Ubisoft is up first. Ben Mattes from Ubisoft is talking about Assassin's Creed II and how it's coming to the App Store. It'll be out November 11.
10:42 a.m.: Now, Bart Decrem, founder of Tapulous (maker of Tap Tap Revolution) is up. Riddim Ribbon is their new game built "especially for iPhone and iPod Touch." It's a DJ game where you race down a rhythm of a song, Guitar Hero-style. You can remix the song by going different directions down the "ribbon."
10:44 a.m.: Mark Hickey from Gameloft, one of the more prolific App Store game makers, is up. He's showing a new first-person shooter called Nova, where you have to defend humanity against an alien attack in space.
10:47 a.m.: Only one more game developer, Schiller promises. It's Travis Boatman from Electronic Arts. He's talking Madden NFL 10, which is coming to the App Store for the first time.
10:49 a.m.: You can draw plays right on the screen, which draws lots of applause from the audience. Madden 10 is available today in the App Store, Boatman says.
Travis Boatman from Electronic Arts shows the new interface to control the Madden game.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:52 a.m.: "$199 is a magic price point in the iPod market," Schiller says. As of today, the iPod Touch is $199 for 8GB and $299 for 32GB. It now also comes in a 64GB model for $399.
10:53 a.m.: OpenGL ES 2.0 is also on the iPod Touch now, so games are faster--except for the $199 version, which will not have that.
Phil Schiller shows new prices and memory configurations for the iPod Touch.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)10:54 a.m.: Now Schiller is discussing the iPod Classic. Now it will be 160GB for $249, which is up from 120GB.
10:57 a.m.: The iPod Shuffle gets its turn. Now it will come in more colors. Pink, green, and blue in addition to the silver and black. It's also now $59 for 2GB and $79 for 4GB. There's also a special edition in stainless steel for $99.
Phil Schiller talks new iPod colors.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET )10:58 a.m.: Steve's back up. One more thing...a video camera.
10:59 a.m.: "Video has exploded in the last few years," he says. All those streams are coming from solid-state video cameras. He shows a picture of the Flip Video and its 4GB $149 price point. "We want to get in on this," he says. There will be a video camera in the back of every iPod Nano. There's also a mic and a speaker inside.
11:00 a.m.: He says it's just as thin as before, and shows a quick demo video from the device's camera. The videos will sync back to your iPhoto or to YouTube, with one click (another feature of the Flip Video camera).
11:02 a.m.: The voice-over feature from the iPod Shuffle will also be in the Nano, as well as Genius Mixes which were discussed earlier. The Nano will also have an FM radio, a voice recorder app, and pedometer. The pedometer will sync online with Nike Plus.
Jobs shows new iPods.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)11:04 a.m.: It will come in a variety of colors: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, silver, black. 8GB for $159 and 16GB for $179, both will be available today.
Jobs touted brilliant new iPod colors.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)11:04 a.m.: We're getting a preview of the new ad, which highlights the video feature and colors of the Nano--with a cutesy pop song as backing, of course.
... Read more
Apple wrapped the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with its trademark iPod look Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday's music-related event at the San Francisco venue.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)After a long summer of swirling rumors, Apple's now-annual September music event is finally just around the corner.
It's happening Wednesday at 10 a.m. here in San Francisco, and CNET will have full, live-blogging coverage for you. I will be joined by CNET Reviews' Donald Bell, who will be offering his own commentary on all the music-related product announcements. What exactly that will be isn't a complete mystery, but Apple could have a few interesting surprises for us.
It looks like we won't be seeing a touch-screen tablet at this event, but there's plenty left to speculate about. The event, as per the invitation above, is obviously about iPods. Our money is on an updated iPod Touch with a camera, and ready-made ringtones. Plus, we've also heard that the new interactive album format--referred to as "Cocktail"--will also get a lot of play.
But what else? Some are saying there could be cameras in the iPod Nano as well, and even an update to the seemingly forgotten Apple TV. Then there's CEO Steve Jobs. Will he or won't he make an appearance? If he doesn't, the buzz about why he wasn't on hand, when he's been officially back at work since July, could threaten to get louder than whatever his stand-in does end up announcing.
We'll be there to chronicle it all, of course, so be sure to come back to CNET News Wednesday at 10 a.m. PDT.
So many blogs, so little time. If you feel like the blogosphere is passing you by, check out Regator, a new app that culls the Web's best posts.
An offshoot of the eponymous Web service, Regator (agg-regator, get it?) differs from traditional RSS feed readers in that it doesn't rely on you to choose the blogs you want to follow.
Instead, the app employs "qualified human editors" to bring you "topical, well-written, frequently updated, and relevant" posts. In other words, the cream of the blogosphere crop, at least according to these guys.
You can browse the posts any number of ways, starting with "popular" items from the Web at large or looking within a couple dozen specific topics (from Academics to "What the?").
Regator also provides a full directory of more than 500 topics, so you can really drill into the areas that interest you most. (Beekeeping? Check. Museums? Check.)
... Read more
(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will open this morning with a keynote address from Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing. We'll be live-blogging the event from Moscone Center in San Francisco starting at 10 a.m. PDT, so head over here to follow our up-to-the-minute coverage of Apple's announcements at the show.
The conference has become one of Apple's highest-profile events, and this year there promises to be much discussion of the new iPhone OS 3.0, as well as a peek at Mac OS X 10.6, also known as Snow Leopard.
And, you know, maybe even new iPhone hardware. Be sure to join us live at 10 a.m. to find out!
(Credit:
Screenshot by Matt Hickey)
I'm the first to admit that we as gadget bloggers love good rumors. Without them, many of you readers wouldn't be hovering over that "refresh" button for hours when new Zune phone or iPhone speculation starts circulating. But sometimes the rumors are ridiculous.
Enter GadgetNugen, a new blog that roasts gadget rumors with speculations and complete falsehoods that are literally too good to be true.
The latest post, for example, features a rumor that Tesla is working on a giant electric SUV that can fit 24 people and has a 103-inch plasma display instead of a windshield, a very Star Trek notion.
We're not sure who's behind it, but it's funny. We're happy someone's out there with this perspective to keep us grounded. Heaven forbid we post about every rumor we hear about Microsoft buying blip.TV or whatever. (I just made that up. See? Fun!)
Update: The Palm announcement pertains to the Pre SDK--no additional details on pricing or availability.
You got to love when Palm preannounces an announcement for its Pre smartphone.
That's exactly what it's doing with a tantalizing teaser on the official Palm blog. And it claims no April foolery.
The post states: "We thought about running a harmless little April Fools' Day prank on the blog today...but instead, we thought we'd give you a heads-up (for reals) to check back later today (or follow palm_inc on Twitter) for an update direct from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco."
Everybody, of course, is hoping for pricing or a release date for the much-anticipated Pre, a Sprint exclusive. But there's also a high probability that Palm will simply announce the free, general release of the Mojo SDK.
Naturally, we'll bring you the news, large or small, whenever Palm does provide details.
(Via the official Palm blog via Engadget).
Assistive tech for the disabled is an important topic people may not give much thought to, even though an estimated 54 million Americans are considered to be physically or mentally disabled. That's about 19 percent of the U.S. population.
AbledBody is a new consumer tech-focused site just for this segment. On it, news of trends and gadgets that can aid the disabled at work and home are reported on daily through original and sourced news, personal commentary, and contributors' expert opinions. It's a great idea for a tech blog and one we're happy to share.
Suzanne Robitaille, co-founder and editor
The site, which officially launched Thursday, covers not just hardware and software of interest to the disabled community, but also information on how the disabled can make general gear more accessible.
For example, the blog has a post up criticizing Amazon's Kindle 2 for not using all the text-to-speech options it could have from its partner in the technology. That's something I wouldn't have thought of, but it's the kind of thing we can expect AbledBody to cover.
Editor in chief Suzanne Robitaille--who lost her hearing at age 4 due to meningitis and now has a cochlear implant--has covered disability topics for The Wall Street Journal and is the author of a forthcoming book, "The Illustrated Guide to Assistive Technology." Other stories currently appearing on AbledBody cover a new touch technique that lets blind consumers use smartphones; Bookshare rebuilding its talking books library; and a new Apple iPhone app that manages diabetes.
The site isn't just about informing the disabled about their options, but also about the growing disability market. Many companies make their money on health care products, and disabilities are a big part of that. AbledBody tracks the innovations from both sides, which is interesting. It's a new site, but definitely one we'll be keeping an eye on.
(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)
CNET News Apple reporter Tom Krazit and CNET Reviews editor Kent German are both at Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 event at company headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., right now. They're live-blogging the announcements as they happen, so head over here now. The event begins at 10 a.m. PDT.
And be sure to stick around here afterward where we'll have a full recap and analysis of what Apple's announcement means for iPhone developers and users.
If you're interested in live updates from tomorrow's Macworld keynote, we've got you covered.
We'll report live from San Francisco's Moscone Center as Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller gives the show's keynote address. That should kick off at 9 a.m. PST. You can get to the live blog here (link will be live as soon as the blog is live). Bowing to popular demand, we'll post those in order as they come in, rather than the reverse chronological order we've used on past live blogs.
Tuesday's Macworld should still be an interesting event even without CEO Steve Jobs making his usual address to the Macworld crowd. A new MacBook Pro, new Mac Minis, and a thorough discussion of the upcoming release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard are expected.
Later in the day we'll have tons of photos, lots of video, and the initial reactions of CNET Reviews staff--before they jet off to the desert for CES--to whatever new products Apple has on tap. So stick around all day; it's not like anybody's getting much work done the first week back from the holiday break anyway, right?
