A look at Xtranormal, the company that makes those sardonic robot videos, and how they plan to be the Zynga of intentionally bad online animation.
By Chadwick Matlin, contributor
Screengrab from the Xtranormal Geico commercial
You've likely been sent an Xtranormal video by now. You know the one—it probably skewers your profession, government, or general outlook on life. They usually feature two 3-D characters—animals, robots, or people, usually—talking to one another in MORE
Dec 23, 2010 3:00 AM ET
(Not this kind of smartphone growth.) Image by @boetter via Flickr
Ever-improving networks and a big hardware announcement that will send handset prices plummeting both point to smartphone growth in 2011 that could totally eclipse anything we've seen before.
Smartphones have been growing at an unbelievable clip over the past year but they still account for only around a third of all phones in the US and an even smaller percentage MORE
Seth Weintraub - Dec 22, 2010 2:50 PM ET
Rumored for weeks, the sale gives Google a permanent home in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
111 8th Ave. via 1118thave.com
First reported in October and again earlier this month, Google (GOOG) has finally closed on its biggest real estate purchase to date: the 111 8th Avenue building.
The 18-story Chelsea giant is almost 3 million square feet and covers an entire city block, between Eighth and Ninth avenues from 15th and 16th streets. MORE
Seth Weintraub - Dec 22, 2010 1:08 PM ET
Apple (AAPL) broke through resistance levels in mid-day trading Wednesday to hit $325.72, a new all-time intraday high. Its closing price -- $325.16, up $0.96 (0.29%) for the day -- was also a new record.
With seven trading days left this year, the stock is up 54.3% so far in 2010.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 22, 2010 12:41 PM ET
Puts a spike through the heart of the SJ Action Figure resale market on eBay
Source: iPhone Savior
"Your item was removed because of a request we received from Apple, Inc., a member of our Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO), asking us to remove the item for: Item(s) violates a celebrity's right of publicity."
That, according to iPhone Savior, is the text of a message received from eBay (EBAY) MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 22, 2010 12:16 PM ET
The plaintiff's original trademark, Android Data, was also canceled.
Imagine Paul Specht's surprise and delight in 2008 when Google (GOOG) announced that it would be calling its new phone operating system "Android" (Google bought Android in 2005, Andy Rubin bought the domain years earlier). Specht previously had a company called "Android Data" a decade ago, which at the time he trademarked with the USPTO. The trademark was granted in 2002.
But 2002 was the MORE
Seth Weintraub - Dec 22, 2010 9:14 AM ET
Source: Asymco. Click twice to enlarge.
Asymco's Horace Dediu describes his latest graphic as "Apple's growth, cost structure, product-level and overall profitability in a self-explanatory chart," although judging from our experience and his readers' comments, the chart is not totally self-explanatory.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 22, 2010 6:48 AM ET
A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.
Palm's iPad competitor. Photo: Fox News
HP and Palm may introduce three models of the PalmPad, a tablet aimed squarely at taking down the iPad, at this January's CES. All three will run a new version of Palm's WebOS, and a fourth student edition, will be showed off later on. Other features will include: a weight MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Dec 22, 2010 6:00 AM ET
A YouTube holiday gift to Apple (AAPL) and Verizon (VZ).
Tenor: Nick P. Pianist: Sam Barsh. Music & lyrics by Ljova.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 22, 2010 5:43 AM ET
A trademark filing reveals what would be the likely name of the upcoming PSP Phone from Sony.
We're likely to find out much more about Sony's Playstation phone next month at CES or at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the following month in February. Today, however, PocketNow found what is likely to be the trademark name for the device in the EU.
The name "Xperia Play" suggests that the phones will stick MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.24 | -0.06 | -0.86% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.26 | -0.48 | -3.75% |
| Frontier Communicati... | 4.22 | -0.25 | -5.59% |
| Juniper Networks Inc... | 21.62 | -0.75 | -3.33% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 19.59 | -0.24 | -1.21% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,663.49 | -71.14 | -0.56% |
| Nasdaq | 2,812.82 | 7.54 | 0.27% |
| S&P 500 | 1,315.83 | -2.60 | -0.20% |
| Treasuries | 1.91 | -0.02 | -1.09% |
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