Voice Search in Russian, Polish, Czech and Turkish
Over the past few weeks we have launched Voice Search in four new languages: Russian, Polish, Czech and Turkish. Try speaking queries like “ ” (tour dates for Yulia Svicheva), “przepis na pierogi” (r...
Steve Jobs Comments on Apple's Java Discontinuation
Apple's announcement that they would be ceasing future development of their version of Java for the Mac has generated concern amongst Java developers. Apple posted developer documentation Thursday st...
Pincus: In Five Years, Connections Will Be To Each Other, Not The Web; We'll Be Dial Tones
Today at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins unveiled a new $250 million fund for investing in social applications, called “sFund”.
Online privacy: what's at stake
It is widely believed that a flourishing democracy requires an independent, diverse, and financially solvent press. With print newspapers set to disappear in the next few years, the future of quality...
President Obama meets with Apple's Steve Jobs, heads to Palo Alto fundraisers
On a West Coast swing to help embattled Democrats, President Barack Obama on Thursday stopped in the Bay Area for the one thing this high-powered region can provide: money. — Reports indicate the vi...
History in the Unmaking
Few events in human history have the scale of World War II. It's spatial breadth and temporal extent make it difficult to comprehend by those of us too young to have lived it. There are history book...
Microsoft puts PC game downloads in the browser
Microsoft wants to let PC gamers know it's still serious about delivering game software and is putting that idea to the test with a new system that places fewer roadblocks in the way of getting gamers...
Google's Piracy-Fighting Music Search Engine For Indian Users Now Live
Yesterday, the WSJ reported that Google was planning to launch a music service in India to help users search for legal online streams and downloads and fight digital piracy, which reportedly runs ramp...
Identity and The Independent Web
Are we are evolving our contract with society through our increasing interactions with digital platforms, and in particular, through what we've come to call the web? — I believe the answer is yes. ...
News Corp.'s Project Alesia Shelved for Now
News Corp. says it still believes in the notion of aggregating newspaper content and selling it online: problem is, no one else seems to be ready. — That, at least, is the word emanating from the ru...
Ballmer: Riskiest product bet by Microsoft is the ‘next release of Windows’
When you're in the on-stage interview hot seat, sometimes you may say things you regret. And sometimes you speak the truth. — My ZDNet colleague Larry Dignan covered Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer's...
Where Does Adobe Go From Here?
Its been a bit of a rough year for Adobe Systems. — The company was pummeled in a very public fight over its software with Apple and its chief executive, Steven P. Jobs. — After a number of attemp...
Creating stronger privacy controls inside Google
In May we announced that we had mistakenly collected unencrypted WiFi payload data (information sent over networks) using our Street View cars. We work hard at Google to earn your trust, and we're ac...
Facelette: On TechCrunch in Three Hours and $0
Yesterday, Apple announced FaceTime for Mac. A couple hours later, I launched Facelette, which is basically like Chat Roulette for FaceTime. Post your FaceTime ID, we'll hook you up with a stranger,...
MySpace, Apps Leak User Data
Site Sends Personal IDs When Ads Are Clicked, a Journal Investigation Finds — MySpace and some popular applications on the social-networking site have been transmitting information to outside advert...
Talent Bleed At Palm Continues As Dev Leads Leave To Battle Closed Web “Dictatorships”
Back in August, while we were in the middle of confirming an exodus of talent from Palm after their acquisition by HP, I specifically asked them about the status of two guys: Ben Galbraith and Dion Al...
Looks Like Our Friends Over At GigaOm Just Raised Another $2.5 Million
Om Malik, well-respected journalist and founder of technology news blog network Giga Omni Media and its flagship blog GigaOm, broke the news about us being acquired by AOL about a month ago now.
Twitter Employees Get Google's 20% Time... For The Entire Next Week
Well this is sort of interesting. Apparently, Twitter has just kicked off something they're calling their “Hack Week”. But instead of it being a time when various third-party developers get together...
Android Fans Rejoice: The Gingerbread Man Just Landed At Google HQ
Yes, the rumors were true: the newest version of Android, codenamed Gingerbread, is imminent. How do we know? Because there's a new, massive treat that just arrived at Google headquarters: the Ginge...
Feature: Windows Phone 7: The Ars Review
The smartphone market ain't what it used to be. Four years ago, Symbian ruled the world—it was totally dominant in every market but three: Japan and China both had strong showings from Linux, and the...
One small step for man, one giant check-in for mankind
Part of the founding mission of NASA is to inspire the next generation of explorers. While we're not exploring the solar system, our idea behind foursquare is actually pretty similar: we want to help...
History in the Unmaking
Few events in human history have the scale of World War II. It's spatial breadth and temporal extent make it difficult to comprehend by those of us too young to have lived it. There are history book...
R.I.P. Chatroulette: A Sad Tale of Missed Opportunity
Remember Chatroulette? It's hard to believe that barely eight months ago the anonymous video chat site had everyone captivated. Venture capitalists clamored to invest, journalists tripped over one a...
Apple Reaching for the Cloud With MacBook Air and N.C. Data Center
Steve Jobs says the MacBook Air is the future of the MacBook and the future of the notebook as well. But if that's to be the case, the machine-and Apple's ecosystem-needs to evolve a bit more to appe...