Adobe CEO says he has no plans to sell

Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen (pictured with chief technology officer Kevin Lynch) today denied reports that he has been negotiating with Microsoft about a possible acquisition.

The New York Times reported last month that Narayen met with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to talk about an alliance against Apple, which might include an acquisition. Speaking on-stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Narayen said the discussion really focused on “how we can be a … Continue Reading

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook blazes past Apple's iPad in browser speed tests (video)

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is a little web browsing speed demon, especially compared to Apple’s iPad, according to a video test released by RIM yesterday.

When it comes to simple web page rendering, the PlayBook manages to load sites like UEFA.com and CBS.com before the iPad even renders a single element of the page. The video also demonstrates the PlayBook’s Flash compatibility, which appears to be surprisingly fast given how much Flash slows … Continue Reading

Who needs Facebook? Zynga launches first two games on Yahoo

Following through on a plan to diversify beyond Facebook, Zynga has launched its first two games on Yahoo’s network of web sites.

The previously announced move is part of Zynga’s plan to generate more revenue from its popular social games by taking them beyond Facebook to web sites where it can find new audiences. The expansion is the first major move by Zynga in some time.

For Yahoo, the new games — Mafia Wars and … Continue Reading

Clarian's box o' solar rides on Kleiner Perkins love to nab GE win

The latest winner in GE’s $200 million Ecoimagination smart grid contest is Clarian Power, a startup that makes what’s essentially a home solar kit in a box.

Clarian makes a plug-and-play solar solution that it plans to sell for under $1,000. For that price, Clarian founder Chad Maglaque says, you get a few solar panels that can be mounted within an hour or two — either on your own or with the help of a … Continue Reading

Pay with your phone: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile announce Isis mobile commerce network

We’ve previously reported that AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile were gearing up to have your cellphone replace your credit card — now it’s official. The companies today announced the Isis mobile commerce network, which uses near-field communication (NFC) technology to let you make purchases with your phone.

The news seems fitting, since just yesterday Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed off a prototype Nexus S Android phone with NFC technology built-in. The carriers say the technology will … Continue Reading

PapayaMobile releases tools to help developers create Android mobile games

PapayaMobile is launching a set of tools today that will make it easier for developers to make Android games.

The Beijing-based company already makes a social game platform that developers can use to make their Android titles more social with features such as friend lists, leaderboards and multiplayer challenges. Now it is releasing the Papaya Game Engine for Android, a tool that lets developers create games with cool 3D graphics, said Si Shen, chief executive … Continue Reading

Beatles songs to sell on iTunes for $1.29 each

Ending a long and winding negotiation with record company EMI, Apple confirmed today that it will begin selling Beatles songs today for $1.29 apiece.

Songs from all 13 Beatles albums are available for purchase individually or by album. The entire collection, dubbed The Beatles Box Set, is available for $149. The pricing isn’t that different from Apple’s usual iTunes prices, which range from 69 cents to $1.29. That is a victory for Steve Jobs, chief … Continue Reading

Google launches local business-recommendation engine Hotpot

Google today announced on its blog the release of Hotpot, a recommendation engine for local businesses based on you and your friends’ ratings. Hotpot is an addition to the company’s Google’s Places initiative, a campaign to get local business owners to claim their venues, verify information and engage with customers.

Hotpot is a pretty simple concept, but when connected with a business directory of more than 50 million places, it can be a powerful consumer … Continue Reading

PayNearMe goes mobile, lands $16M to enable online payments with cash

Cash payment service PayNearMe, formerly known as Kwedit, announced today that it has grabbed another $16 million in funding and is launching a new mobile payment option.

Directed at consumers who don’t have access to credit cards, PayNearMe lets users pay cash for online goods and services. PayNearMe’s new mobile option lets you make online purchases simply by providing your phone number to an e-retailer.

After submitting your phone number, you just need to grab … Continue Reading

God comes to the smartphone: Bible app YouVersion grabs 10M users

It turns out that the world’s best-selling book, the Bible, has now produced one of the smartphone world’s most popular apps: YouVersion, which added its 10 millionth user Tuesday.

Launched in April 2008 by Oklahoma megachurch LifeChurch.tv, the free YouVersion has experienced wildfire growth, becoming the leading free Bible app in iTunes from 2008-2010 and achieving a 5-star app by 50,000+ people.

The company said its stats show that someone new is installing the app … Continue Reading

Here comes the Sun: Apple expected to announce deal to get Beatles songs on iTunes

Update: Apple has just confirmed that the Beatles will be on iTunes.

The dispute between Apple and the Beatles over how much to charge for digital versions of the Fab Four’s songs might have been a little thing, easily solved by lawyers for both sides. But instead, the argument went on for years and years, turning into a big target of media attention.

Now the dispute is finally over, as media reports from the Wall … Continue Reading

Oh Pre, we barely knew ye: Sprint axes the Palm Pre

It seems like it was just yesterday that Palm made a last-ditch effort to take on the iPhone with the Palm Pre. What we got was a pretty slick phone with multitasking and a mobile operating system, WebOS, that wasn’t quite a match for the iPhone but which would go on to do much greater things.

Now things have come full circle, and Sprint — which at one point heralded the Palm Pre as its … Continue Reading

City Labs energizes long-life battery business with new funding round

City Labs, a long-life Tritium battery manufacturer, has closed its first round of funding from founder of high-end computer hardware company Alienware and LCS Ventures. The South Florida-based company develops batteries that can last for more than 20 years.

City Labs’ batteries are powered by the decay of Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium is the same isotope commonly used to illuminate Exit signs in buildings. City Labs’ products are used in situations when … Continue Reading

Can the internet bring down the TSA's new enhanced pat-down search, also known as "touch my junk"?

Would-be traveler John Tyner has become a cause célèbre on the internet because he refused to subject himself to what he considered to be invasive body searching at the San Diego airport on Saturday. He had heard about the full-body scanners that the Transportation Safety Administration had installed that can give airport screeners an extremely detailed X-ray image of a traveler’s body.

The TSA’s alternative for those who refuse the scans is an “enhanced pat-down” … Continue Reading

Twitter eyes global expansion through local trends and translations

In an effort to increase global outreach, microblogging platform Twitter has added 13 countries and 6 cities to its localized trending topics list today and announced plans to roll out integrated translations within tweets.

Twitter’s trending list tracks keywords within tweets and promotes topics that appear at a high frequency at any given moment. The list has given users a useful way to keep up with the pulse of the platform, but when specialized to … Continue Reading

Baidu CEO: We tried harder than Google in China

Robin Li, the chief executive of Chinese search engine Baidu, made a rare US appearance at the Web 2.0 Summit today, where he answered questions about his success — and about why competitor Google failed to make any real headway in China.

One of the common explanations is that China’s government backs Baidu and created obstacles for Google, but Li said that it’s a “misperception” to believe that “Baidu is the only game in town.” … Continue Reading

With 320M users, Zynga chief wants the company's icon front and center on all platforms

Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, wants a “dog activated world.” That means he wants to see Zynga’s dog logo everywhere. If you see the Zynga logo on an iPad app, for instance, you can launch it to see all of your Zynga social games.

In this future world, Zynga’s games won’t be tied to just a single platform such as Facebook. They will be wherever users want them to be. As you can see … Continue Reading

Nissan to deliver only five Leafs this year, more delays look imminent

Uh-oh, Nissan. There’s been word a-brewing on car forums for that the carmaker is experiencing delays in delivering the much-anticipated all-electric Leaf, which is slated to start arriving next month.

But only five Leafs will arrive in the U.S. next month — one for each of the five states the Leaf is initially launching in, according to Ray Ishak, fleet sales manager at the Campbell Nelson Nissan dealership in Seattle. VentureBeat first reported in September … Continue Reading