Six years late, Google now lets you turn off Gmail's conversation threads

If you’re one of those people who could never get used to Gmail’s method of collapsing email conversations into threads, it’s time to rejoice. Google announced today that it will let you disable Gmail’s Conversation View, which will make emails appear individually — like they do in most other email platforms.

Gmail’s Conversation View was one of the most defining features of the service when Google first introduced it in 2004. Like Gmail’s complete lack … Continue Reading

Microsoft shows off Bing on Internet Explorer 9 (video)

As Microsoft brags about the upcoming version of its Internet Explorer Web browser, one talking point has been improvements to the company’s Bing search engine: Thanks to Internet Explorer 9′s support for the HTML5 format, Bing can do more to incorporate animation and rich media.

Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of online audience business at Microsoft, demonstrated how IE9 will improve Bing at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco today. In the video below, … Continue Reading

Snap a wine label to find where to buy that wine

Snooth just launched an iPhone application which uses image recognition to do something genuinely useful (as least to me). If you take a picture of a wine label, Snooth finds the stores closest to you that stock that wine and the prices in each store. You can also read reviews of the wine and find similar bottles by winery, region or varietal.

The app uses a specialized image-recognition technology from Canadian startup TinEye. Most wine … Continue Reading

Search engine Ask.com has no value within IAC, says Barry Diller — and maybe he doesn't, either

Search engine Ask.com, an early competitor of Google’s that has since faded slightly into obscurity, doesn’t have any value in the framework of its parent company InterActiveCorp, according to IAC CEO Barry Diller. He made the comments today at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

Ask.com might possess some value if it were spun off into a standalone company outside of IAC, but it hasn’t gained any significant ground in the search engine market since it … Continue Reading

Groupon's next big challenge: Making babies

Just in case getting coupons for big discounts hasn’t won you over to group buying site Groupon, chief executive Andrew Mason announced some extra incentive today: The company is offering to send your kid to college.

To make that happen, Groupon has launched Grouspawn, a dating site based around Groupons. The idea is that you and the mother or father of your future child must use a Groupon for your first date, as proved by … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Amyris weathers first day of trading, California to double solar capacity

Biofuels and biomaterials company Amyris’s stock held up in its first day of trading, closing last night at $16.50, up three percent from its opening price of $16. The stock peaked at $17.44, the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The report estimates about 2.4 million shares were traded yesterday. The stock was reportedly priced below range. Earth2Tech deemed the IPO a “decent exit” for investors, estimating the worth of investors stakes: $67 million for Kleiner … Continue Reading

Linkedin cuts down the noise on its news feeds with 'Signal' feature

Linkedin, a social networking site for people looking to connect with other professionals, is launching a new feature, called Signal, that will help users manage their news feeds on the main website. Jeff Weiner, the CEO of Linkedin, announced the launch of Signal at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco today.

The revamped news feed allows users to show links and content from people in specific networks, companies and other filters. Users can also type in … Continue Reading

Ron Conway, Mike Arrington and company stop for some Hammer Time

Google Ventures wasn’t the only fresh face at the TechCrunch Disrupt after-party last night —  funk master MC Hammer also brought his talents to Silicon Valley in celebration of TechCrunch’s recent acquisition by AOL, dropping his tunes for TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and company.

Even angel investor Ron Conway was too legit to quit as he and the TechCrunch staff went on stage to dance alongside MC Hammer to the tune of “can’t touch this” … Continue Reading

HP officially drops Android plans, focusing on "PalmPad" webOS tablet for early 2011

Even though Hewlett-Packard just announced a printer with a curious 7-inch Android tablet, the company has officially given up plans on releasing a stand-alone Android tablet, or an Android smartphone, according to former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein.

Now the head of HP’s gadget business, Rubinstein said that the company is aiming to deliver a tablet in early 2011 running webOS — Palm’s mobile operating system for its Pre and Pixi smartphones — in an interview … Continue Reading

Can clean energy companies close India's energy gap?

A new report from the World Resources Institute and partners claims that the market for clean energy products among India’s rural poor is potentially worth $2.11 billion per year. $2.04 billion of this market is for decentralized renewable energy such as that produced by biomass kilns or small-scale hydro-electricity plants. The clean energy enterprises surveyed in the report have also seen annual gross revenue grow by an average of 36 percent per year since 2004.… Continue Reading

Facebook finds a VoIP and video chat partner in Skype

Facebook and Skype are teaming up for extensive integration of the social network in the next version of Skype’s software, sources tell AllThingsDigital.

The partnership will allow Facebook users to easily log into Skype using Facebook Connect and will give users the ability to text message, voice chat, and even video chat with their Facebook friends from within Skype. It’s expected to appear in Skype’s upcoming 5.0 version, which will emerge from beta testing in … Continue Reading

SolFocus powers up U.S.-Mexico border with concentrated solar

SolFocus announced today it has installed a 16.8-kilowatt concentrated photovoltaic solar system in Juarez, Mexico.

The system is at the offices of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), which fosters environmental infrastructure projects on the U.S.-Mexico border.  It includes two solar arrays that will produce 43 megawatt-hours per year, providing about one-third of the BECC’s office building’s energy needs. This installation marks the first concentrated solar installation in the Northern Mexico border region, according to … Continue Reading

Nintendo to release 3DS game handheld in February, too late for holiday buyers

In a blow for holiday video game sales, Nintendo said it would delay the launch its 3DS handheld video game system until February, dashing hopes that the highly anticipated product would be on store shelves this holiday season.

The company also cut its forecast by more than half due to the stronger yen and the delayed 3DS, which lets users see stereoscopic 3D images without requiring them to wear 3D glasses. The system was rated … Continue Reading

Major broadcasters sue Ivi for streaming TV over the web without permission

When Ivi launched a way to stream TV broadcasts over the web earlier this month, it had a premonition that it was going to get sued. On Sept. 20, the company filed a pre-emptive suit in federal court in Seattle as it sought to get legal clarification that its service didn’t violate copyright law.

Today, its premonition came true as the broadcasters piled on. Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, CBS, News Corp.’s Fox, General Electric’s NBC … Continue Reading

Redux gets $1M to help users find and watch online videos

Redux, a platform for watching videos online, has raised $1 million in a third round of funding. Existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Alsop Louie Partners led the round, according to a filing with the SEC.

The site, which allows users to share, discover and watch video content, announced a partnership with MySpace earlier this month. The deal allows users to embed a video player powered by Redux into their MySpace page.

Formerly called Facematch … Continue Reading

Big surprise: RIM's PlayBook tablet QNX OS will replace BlackBerry OS in phones

Surprising no one, a Research in Motion vice president confirmed this morning that the fancy new QNX operating system in its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will eventually replace the traditional BlackBerry OS in its smartphones, Intomobile reports.

Speaking to attendees of RIM’s Developer Conference over a breakfast event, the VP said that the transition to the new operating system will take time. He said that BlackBerry OS 7 — which doesn’t have a release date and … Continue Reading

HP executives predict worldwide population growth, but no CEO yet

Hewlett-Packard executives said today that they predict more revenue and profit growth in the coming year. But they said little about who would be the next chief executive in an event for financial analysts today.

Cathie Lesjak, interim chief executive, said the company had good insider and outsider candidates to replace Mark Hurd, who resigned under pressure from the board because of his failure to disclose a close personal relationship with a former HP marketing … Continue Reading

AOL snaps up Brizzly creator Thing Labs, web video company 5min

Acquiring TechCrunch was certainly AOL’s biggest announcement today, but the company didn’t stop there: This afternoon, news spread that AOL has also purchased Thing Labs — creator of the Brizzly social media reader — for an undisclosed amount, PaidContent reports.

AOL also officially announced this morning that it has acquired web video syndication company 5min Media. Terms of that deal weren’t disclosed either, but sources familiar with the deal say that it’s close to $65 … Continue Reading

MobilePay lets you pay by card, without your card

MobilePay offers consumers a way to pay by credit or banking card without having your physical card on hand by linking it to an iPhone app that automatically authenticates with vendors to transfer payment. The service is going into closed beta today after operating in stealth mode for the past couple of months, it announced today at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

Vendors can partner with MobilePay and allow users to pay directly through the … Continue Reading