<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Screen-shot-2009-10-13-at-2.15.17-AM-215x184.png" width="215" height="184" />Do you like sounding like an idiot? Does the thought of doing so in front of millions of people appeal to you? Then Yahoo has just the thing for you (or, rather, Y!ou). Yahoo has just launched <a href="http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com/us/index.php">Yodel Studio</a>, a site for you to yes, record yourself yodeling. The idea is for Yahoo users to remix the service's signature sound for a chance at recognition, most notably, on Yahoo's homepage which is visited by tens of millions of people each month. Yahoo is also <a href="http://ycorpblog.com/2009/10/13/yodel-like-you-mean-it/">pledging</a> up to $130,000 for local and global charities on behalf of each yodel submitted.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35. DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109506 2009-10-13T02:27:36-07:00 M DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : G Siegler

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mobile-ad-revenues-215x93.jpg" width="215" height="93" /><a href="http://www.codarc.co.uk/reports.htm">Coda Research Consultancy</a> in a <a href="http://www.codarc.co.uk/reports.htm#newsusmobilebroadband">new report</a> forecasts mobile broadband search and display ad revenues in the US to grow to $4.2 billion in 2015, up from $1 billion in 2010. The firm predicts that 70% of those revenues - or nearly $3 billion - will come from search advertising, and sees a bright future for local search in particular. SMS revenues on the other hand are forecasted to drop to a mere 3% in the next 5-6 years, down from 55% in 2010.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunc DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : h.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109548 2009-10-13T05:15:58-07:00 Robin Wauters

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/touchsmart-215x172.jpg" width="215" height="172" />Hewlett Packard <a href="http://www.techmeme.com/091013/p2#a091013p2">refreshed</a> their <a href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=comp DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : uter_store&#038;category=desktops&#038;a1=Category&#038;v1=All-in-One+PCs&#038;series_name=IQ800t_series">TouchSmart</a> line of computers today. If you're not familiar with these, imagine an iMac all in one computer that has a touch screen, and you're most of the way there. I really like the TouchSmart line, and use a second generation machine as my main Windows test computer. The touch interface is done via infrared, which is a very cost effective way of creating a touch interface on a large screen. Microsoft, in fact, uses it in their experimental <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/14/microsoft-touchwall-can-inexpensively-turn-any-flat-surface-into-a-multi-touch-display/">TouchWall</a> product that can make a touch screen of virtually any size wall (<a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/14/hands-on-with-the-microsoft-touchwall/">more TouchWall footage</a>). Overall I give the TouchScmart top marks - the only drawback is that it is inexplicably heavy at something like 60 lbs., and no one seems to know why. But since it sits on your desk, it's not like you're lifting it very often, so it doesn't really matter. But the machine is still all wrong. Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn't because of the software or touch technology - both are fine. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26 DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109474 2009-10-12T23:27:12-07:00 Michael Arrington

<center><img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/20 DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : 09/10/vivu-215x105.jpg" width="215" height="105" /></center> <a href="http://vivu.tv/vivuweb/">ViVu,</a> an online video conferencing platform, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/inventus-capital-partners">Inventus Capital Partners,</a> with <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/draper-fisher-jurvetson">Draper Fisher Jurvetson,</a> <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/quest-venture-partners">Quest Venture Partners</a> and entrepreneur Bill Carrico participating. The company says that the new financing will be used for sales and marketing efforts. ViVu's "video as a service" lets anyone create a live video webcast that can be used for online meetings and events, sales presentations, demos or training sessions. ViVu's cloud-based technology can be enabled via a PC, Mac or smartphone and provides an auditorium like-view within the browser (see above) making it ideal for large conferences. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : ; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109457 2009-10-13T05:54:02-07:00 Leena Rao

<center><img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cliq2-214x144.jpg" width="214" height="144" /></center> We recently <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/30/cliqsets-social-identity-platform-gets-a-real-time-makeover/">wrote< DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : /a> a DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : bout the real-time update and redesign of <a href="http://cliqset.com/">Cliqset,</a> a Friend-Feed-like online identity platform that lets users merge and share a vast variety of social information, including status updates, location, photos, and more, onto one platform. Cliqset aims to be a one-stop-shop for social communications, pulling in content from close to 70 social networks and services, including MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and more. Users can also update their status, and share photos, bookmarks, reviews on Cliqset and push them out to wherever they choose. Today, Cliqset, which is exiting private beta, is launching two external applications of its platform—a <a href="http://www.boxee.tv/homepage/">Boxee</a> app and an Adobe Air-powered desktop app. Cliqset's Boxee app lets you comment on any videos you are watching within Boxee. The app lets users chat with their friends or any other user in real-time while watching TV episodes, movies or other video content on Boxee. While the stream that will appear while watching a video only includes Cliqset users who are watching and commenting on the same content, you can also access your comprehensive Cliqset stream from within Boxee as well. Boxee has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/23/boxee-swings-for-the-fences-windows-support-mlb-digg-tumblr-and-current-all-launch-tonight/">partnered</a> with other social media platforms such as Digg and Tumblr, to incorporate each site's functionality within the streaming software. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__z DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : oneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109359 2009-10-13T09:52:23-07:00 Leena Rao < DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : /item>

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Screen-shot-2009-10-13-at-12.52.28-AM-215x141.png" width="215" height="141" />Hopefully you just read Michael's post about <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/why-touch-screens-on-the-desktop-dont-really-work/">Why Desktop Touch Screens Don’t Really Work Well For Humans</a>. The answer is so simple that a lot of people overlook it: No one wants to hold their hands at monitor-level all the time, you'd get tired very quickly. If you're looking for a quick answer as to why many touch screens like the TouchSmart line haven't seen success in the past, that'd be it. But that's not good enough. We need a solution, because as much as some people would like to hold on to the past, <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/29/touching-all-rumors-point-to-the-end-of-keysbuttons/">we're not going to be using a keyboard and mouse forever</a> to interact with computers. Certainly, having a touch screen computer that sits at an angle like an architect's desk is one solution. The issue there is that you need the screen to be big enough so that your hands don't completely obstruct what you're doing. Hopefully Microsoft will unveil some version of the Surface that works like that. But another potential solution comes by way of a brilliant proof of concept video for something called <a href="http://10gui.com">10/GUI</a>.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : ; height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109489 2009-10-13T00:53:48-07:00 MG Siegler DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED :

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mob-215x142.png" width="215" height="142" />A class action lawsuit brought in 2006 by several Yahoo! pay-per-click search advertising customers has been settled, one of the parties involved who received an e-mail about the settlement informs us. In the e-mail, administrator <a href="http://rustconsulting.com">Rust Consulting</a> lets the concerned parties ("all persons that purchased, directly or indirectly, Yahoo! pay-per-click advertising in the U.S. marketplace") know that the court has granted preliminary approval of the Settlement and has provisionally certified the Settlement Class. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/technology/documents/yahoo_may2006.pdf">The lawsuit</a> (PDF) alleges that customers contracted for targeted ad placements through two products, “Sponsored Search” and “Content Match” (and predecessor products provided by Overture and GoTo.com) and that Yahoo! <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/05/class_action_targets_yahoo_ove_1.html">breached its contract</a> with its customers by allowing Yahoo! ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (bulk registration sites), pop-ups, pop-unders and typosquatting sites. According to the message, which is reproduced <a href="https://secureweb.rustconsulting.com/inreyahoosettlement">on a dedicated website</a> about the case, plaintiffs brought claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, and unfair business practices. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fir DEBUG BABYLON: RECEIVED : onscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109510 2009-10-13T02:27:57-07:00 Robin Wauters DEBUG BABYLON: PARSED : http://feeds.feedburner.com/TechCrunch 200 2009-10-13T11:13:25-07:00 5XPfmkGtZXs6iMHo4BKxXMZB8lo 7 198101 bytes fetched in 0.47626s 2009-10-13T18:14:26Z 2009-10-13T18:14:26Z

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Screen-shot-2009-10-13-at-2.15.17-AM-215x184.png" width="215" height="184" />Do you like sounding like an idiot? Does the thought of doing so in front of millions of people appeal to you? Then Yahoo has just the thing for you (or, rather, Y!ou). Yahoo has just launched <a href="http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com/us/index.php">Yodel Studio</a>, a site for you to yes, record yourself yodeling. The idea is for Yahoo users to remix the service's signature sound for a chance at recognition, most notably, on Yahoo's homepage which is visited by tens of millions of people each month. Yahoo is also <a href="http://ycorpblog.com/2009/10/13/yodel-like-you-mean-it/">pledging</a> up to $130,000 for local and global charities on behalf of each yodel submitted.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109506 2009-10-13T02:27:36-07:00 MG Siegler

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mobile-ad-revenues-215x93.jpg" width="215" height="93" /><a href="http://www.codarc.co.uk/reports.htm">Coda Research Consultancy</a> in a <a href="http://www.codarc.co.uk/reports.htm#newsusmobilebroadband">new report</a> forecasts mobile broadband search and display ad revenues in the US to grow to $4.2 billion in 2015, up from $1 billion in 2010. The firm predicts that 70% of those revenues - or nearly $3 billion - will come from search advertising, and sees a bright future for local search in particular. SMS revenues on the other hand are forecasted to drop to a mere 3% in the next 5-6 years, down from 55% in 2010.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109548 2009-10-13T05:15:58-07:00 Robin Wauters

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/touchsmart-215x172.jpg" width="215" height="172" />Hewlett Packard <a href="http://www.techmeme.com/091013/p2#a091013p2">refreshed</a> their <a href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=All-in-One+PCs&series_name=IQ800t_series">TouchSmart</a> line of computers today. If you're not familiar with these, imagine an iMac all in one computer that has a touch screen, and you're most of the way there. I really like the TouchSmart line, and use a second generation machine as my main Windows test computer. The touch interface is done via infrared, which is a very cost effective way of creating a touch interface on a large screen. Microsoft, in fact, uses it in their experimental <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/14/microsoft-touchwall-can-inexpensively-turn-any-flat-surface-into-a-multi-touch-display/">TouchWall</a> product that can make a touch screen of virtually any size wall (<a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/14/hands-on-with-the-microsoft-touchwall/">more TouchWall footage</a>). Overall I give the TouchScmart top marks - the only drawback is that it is inexplicably heavy at something like 60 lbs., and no one seems to know why. But since it sits on your desk, it's not like you're lifting it very often, so it doesn't really matter. But the machine is still all wrong. Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn't because of the software or touch technology - both are fine. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109474 2009-10-12T23:27:12-07:00 Michael Arrington

<center><img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/vivu-215x105.jpg" width="215" height="105" /></center> <a href="http://vivu.tv/vivuweb/">ViVu,</a> an online video conferencing platform, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/inventus-capital-partners">Inventus Capital Partners,</a> with <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/draper-fisher-jurvetson">Draper Fisher Jurvetson,</a> <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/quest-venture-partners">Quest Venture Partners</a> and entrepreneur Bill Carrico participating. The company says that the new financing will be used for sales and marketing efforts. ViVu's "video as a service" lets anyone create a live video webcast that can be used for online meetings and events, sales presentations, demos or training sessions. ViVu's cloud-based technology can be enabled via a PC, Mac or smartphone and provides an auditorium like-view within the browser (see above) making it ideal for large conferences. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109457 2009-10-13T05:54:02-07:00 Leena Rao

<center><img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cliq2-214x144.jpg" width="214" height="144" /></center> We recently <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/30/cliqsets-social-identity-platform-gets-a-real-time-makeover/">wrote</a> about the real-time update and redesign of <a href="http://cliqset.com/">Cliqset,</a> a Friend-Feed-like online identity platform that lets users merge and share a vast variety of social information, including status updates, location, photos, and more, onto one platform. Cliqset aims to be a one-stop-shop for social communications, pulling in content from close to 70 social networks and services, including MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and more. Users can also update their status, and share photos, bookmarks, reviews on Cliqset and push them out to wherever they choose. Today, Cliqset, which is exiting private beta, is launching two external applications of its platform—a <a href="http://www.boxee.tv/homepage/">Boxee</a> app and an Adobe Air-powered desktop app. Cliqset's Boxee app lets you comment on any videos you are watching within Boxee. The app lets users chat with their friends or any other user in real-time while watching TV episodes, movies or other video content on Boxee. While the stream that will appear while watching a video only includes Cliqset users who are watching and commenting on the same content, you can also access your comprehensive Cliqset stream from within Boxee as well. Boxee has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/23/boxee-swings-for-the-fences-windows-support-mlb-digg-tumblr-and-current-all-launch-tonight/">partnered</a> with other social media platforms such as Digg and Tumblr, to incorporate each site's functionality within the streaming software. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109359 2009-10-13T09:52:23-07:00 Leena Rao

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Screen-shot-2009-10-13-at-12.52.28-AM-215x141.png" width="215" height="141" />Hopefully you just read Michael's post about <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/why-touch-screens-on-the-desktop-dont-really-work/">Why Desktop Touch Screens Don’t Really Work Well For Humans</a>. The answer is so simple that a lot of people overlook it: No one wants to hold their hands at monitor-level all the time, you'd get tired very quickly. If you're looking for a quick answer as to why many touch screens like the TouchSmart line haven't seen success in the past, that'd be it. But that's not good enough. We need a solution, because as much as some people would like to hold on to the past, <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/29/touching-all-rumors-point-to-the-end-of-keysbuttons/">we're not going to be using a keyboard and mouse forever</a> to interact with computers. Certainly, having a touch screen computer that sits at an angle like an architect's desk is one solution. The issue there is that you need the screen to be big enough so that your hands don't completely obstruct what you're doing. Hopefully Microsoft will unveil some version of the Surface that works like that. But another potential solution comes by way of a brilliant proof of concept video for something called <a href="http://10gui.com">10/GUI</a>.<a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109489 2009-10-13T00:53:48-07:00 MG Siegler

<img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mob-215x142.png" width="215" height="142" />A class action lawsuit brought in 2006 by several Yahoo! pay-per-click search advertising customers has been settled, one of the parties involved who received an e-mail about the settlement informs us. In the e-mail, administrator <a href="http://rustconsulting.com">Rust Consulting</a> lets the concerned parties ("all persons that purchased, directly or indirectly, Yahoo! pay-per-click advertising in the U.S. marketplace") know that the court has granted preliminary approval of the Settlement and has provisionally certified the Settlement Class. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/technology/documents/yahoo_may2006.pdf">The lawsuit</a> (PDF) alleges that customers contracted for targeted ad placements through two products, “Sponsored Search” and “Content Match” (and predecessor products provided by Overture and GoTo.com) and that Yahoo! <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/05/class_action_targets_yahoo_ove_1.html">breached its contract</a> with its customers by allowing Yahoo! ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (bulk registration sites), pop-ups, pop-unders and typosquatting sites. According to the message, which is reproduced <a href="https://secureweb.rustconsulting.com/inreyahoosettlement">on a dedicated website</a> about the case, plaintiffs brought claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, and unfair business practices. <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=214__zoneid=43__cb=90f88b287a__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.StrataScale.com%2Fironscaleservers" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/71a7ba935d5cf5e8dba355aa787fcd35.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://d.techcrunch.com/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=213__zoneid=43__cb=c5ab92f32f__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubetree.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtechcrunch%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_content%3Dfirstad%26utm_campaign%3Dbenchmarktest" target="blank"> <img src="http://i.techcrunch.com/67301164d96328d1db32a36554564b29.gif" width="300" height="250" border="0" /></a> <div id="beacon_80fc344a86" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top:0px; visibility: hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=214&campaignid=31&zoneid=43&cb=80fc344a86" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div> <div id="beacon_c5ab92f32f" style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;visibility:hidden;"> <img src="http://d.techcrunch.com/lg.php?bannerid=213&campaignid=177&zoneid=43&cb=c5ab92f32f" style="width:0px;height:0px;" /> </div>

http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=109510 2009-10-13T02:27:57-07:00 Robin Wauters