Silicon Valley venture capital powerhouse bets on iPad
SAN FRANCISCO — A major Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has backed Internet stars such as Google and Amazon on Wednesday doubled a fund to support software tailored for Apple gadgets.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) said it was pumping another 100 million dollars into an iFund established in 2008 to invest in applications for Apple’s iPhone, the iPod Touch and now the new iPad.
The move comes as excitement builds for Saturday’s US debut of the iPad touchscreen tablet computer.
“We expect all ventures to have an iPad strategy. We will fund many more ventures for iPad, and the iFund will accelerate their success,” said KPCB partner John Doerr.
Chechen rebel group claims responsibility for Moscow metro bombings
A Chechen militant group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for Monday’s twin bombing attacks against the Moscow metro system.
The claim was made through an online video clip, in which Doku Khamatovich Umarov said Monday’s twin suicide attacks was revenge for the killing of civilians by Russian security forces.
Umarov, former underground president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, is now self-proclaimed emir of the Russian North Caucasus.
The rebel leader is wanted by the Russian security forces for alleged crimes of terrorism, kidnapping, murder and treason.
Umarov’s online video was posted after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had vowed to drag “out of the sewer” the terrorists behind the attacks that killed 39 people and injured 60 others.
Putin told a televised cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the same militant group could have planned another attack in the day in Dagestan where 12 people were killed and 23 others were injured.
Apple’s IPad Targets Kindles, Might Hit Macs: Rich Jaroslovsky
Forget about whether the iPad turns out to be a Kindle-killer. The real question is whether it will prove to be a Mac-, PC- and netbook-killer, too.
Apple Inc. has largely pitched its new tablet computer as being all about consuming media in all its many forms. Books, games, movies, magazines — step right up, folks, we’ve got it all for you in one magical device!
But being revolutionary — Steve Jobs’s word, not mine — requires a lot more than just building an e-book reader that provides a better experience than Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle. The real promise of the iPad is that it has a chance to redefine what we think of as personal computing. And that has implications not just for Apple’s own personal computing business but for Microsoft’s, Google’s and just about everyone else’s.
Unboxing the Apple iPad
After months of patient waiting, the iPad has finally landed on PCMag’s doorstep. Before you dive into our lab-tested review, check out the unboxing pics.
Quite possibly the most highly anticipated product of the century, the Apple iPad has finally landed. Many believe that the Apple’s tablet marks the birth of a revolution in portable computing. So like any good parent, we wanted to document the arrival of our bundle of tablet joy. Before the iPad was quickly dispatched to the labs for testing for our full hands-on review with video, we managed to snap a bunch of photos of the unboxing, so you can see exactly what you’ll be getting if you buy an iPad on April 3rd.
Retro but approachable: Ars reviews Mega Man 10
When Mega Man 9 came out in 2008, it had the luxury of being the first game in the original series to be released in over a decade. Mega Man 10, released this week on Xbox Live Arcade (and already available on WiiWare and the Playstation Network) doesn’t have that luxury. But instead of simply being a rehash of old ideas wrapped up in a nostalgia-driven package, the tenth entry in the venerable series ends up being a refreshing, and surprisingly approachable, outing for the Blue Bomber.
Mega Man’s latest adventure sees him joining up with long time foe Dr. Wily in an attempt to find a cure for robotenza, a mysterious virus that’s been plaguing the robot population. As you’d expect, finding the cure involves finding and defeating eight robot masters and, like every other game in the series, you can tackle these foes in any order you choose, and finding the correct sequence is the key to success. One of the more controversial additions to MM10 has been the inclusion of an easy mode. With the difficulty turned down, enemies become weaker and levels themselves are actually altered, with platforms placed over spikes and pitfalls. It also makes the boss battles significantly easier, and, in many cases, removes the need to use any special weapons. Instead, you can simply blast your way through most boss battles without relying on much strategy.
Google bakes Flash into Chrome, hopes to improve plug-in API
Google announced Tuesday that its Chrome Web browser will integrate Adobe’s Flash plug-in. The latest version of Flash will ship with Google’s Web browser, obviating the need for end users to download and install it separately. Google will also start regularly deploying new versions of Flash through Chrome’s update system in order to ensure that users always have the latest version.
Google has also revealed that it will be working closely with Adobe, Mozilla, and other players in the Web ecosystem to improve the API that browsers use to support plugins. Such improvements could potentially help ameliorate some of the technical deficiencies that have plagued Flash and other plugins.
A new version of Chrome with the integrated Flash plug-in was rolled out yesterday to users of the Chrome developer channel. The Flash integration is not enabled by default because it is still highly experimental. It can be turned on by activating Chrome with the —enable-internal-flash parameter at the command line. The new developer version of Chrome also has a new plugin management interface that can be used to toggle which plugins are active.
LG INFINIA 55LE8500 LCD HDTV Review
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LG INFINIA 60PK750 Plamsa HDTV Review
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It’s an app world, and it could swallow all computing
Meet Barbara Place. She’s an app-aholic. One look at her smartphone explains her condition.
She has an app to wake her, a few to provide the day’s news, one to check her bank account, another to make a grocery list, two to track her diet and one to get the weather. She has an app for baseball scores and an app for movie data. One app lets her program her DVR from afar. Another helps her unwind with quizzes about famous artworks. And that’s just a portion of her daily intake.
“My husband is jealous of my iPhone,” says Place, 58, an educational software writer from Phoenix. “I try hard not to use it in bed.”
Such stories of dependency are growing as apps — shorthand for the ubiquitous software applications that live on iPhones, iPod Touches and an array of mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system — continue their inexorable march from cellphone novelties to virtual personal assistants.
More than 100,000 apps now populate Apple’s App Store, which opened for business two years ago. Since then, more than 2 billion apps have been downloaded at prices ranging from free to $900 (for iRa Pro, which links a phone to a surveillance camera network).
Tech specialists estimate the annual app market at $2 billion. That probably will grow once Apple’s iPad, which arrives Saturday, gets going with a new breed of apps aimed at redefining the user experience.