Logitech launches two cool goodies for work and play on an iPad

Logitech is launching a couple of cool expansion items for the Apple iPad: a joystick for games and a fold-up keyboard for the iPad 2.

These add-ons show that it’s not so hard to come up with clever extras that extend the functionality of an iPad so that it can be better used for work or play. If you can extend the versatility of an iPad in this way, you’re less likely to need a … Continue Reading

Zynga expands its game cards to distributors in Europe and Turkey

Zynga‘s quest is to get the whole world to play social games. To make that happen, the company has to set up payment mechanisms in countries where credit cards aren’t the norm. So the company is announcing today that it has cut deals to distribute its prepaid Zynga Game Cards in Europe and Turkey.

In Europe, the epay division of Euronet Worldwide will distribute the Zynga prepaid cards in 18 countries across Europe. Zynga’s games … Continue Reading

Jawbone introduces LiveAudio to deliver 3D audio to Jambox speakers

Jawbone has announced an update called LiveAudio, a new spatial 3D sound technology, for its Jambox Bluetooth speaker.

Most of the time, we wouldn’t care about a new speaker. But Jawbone has a gift for making innovative audio technology, as evidenced by its Jawbone line of cell phone headsets. The Jambox speaker is a platform which can be updated via software for innovations such as LiveAudio.

LiveAudio is available as a free update via MyTALKjawbone.com, … Continue Reading

Facebook’s new HQ will have a BBQ pit and a bike doctor. Beat that, Googleplex.

Facebook is about to have a high-value bargaining chip when it comes to luring engineers to its ranks. The company has unveiled plans for a “West Campus” in Menlo Park, Calif., which, when combined with the existing “East Campus” in Palo Alto, could rival the Googleplex and Apple’s planned flying saucer as one of the largest, most awesome places to work.

Menlo Park City Council will get an update on the approval process for the … Continue Reading

Launchpad Toys aims to be a “Creative Suite for kids”

When you and I were kids, we played with (and learned from) toys like Lego and handmade puppets. These days, kids are turning to digital gadgets like the iPad.

Launchpad Toys wants to create a suite of creative play tools to reach kids on those devices: touchable, fun games that help kids learn to use digital platforms to accomplish digital tasks.

In a presentation at Y Combinator’s Demo Days today in Silicon Valley, we talked … Continue Reading

Sorry, Mr. BabyMan: You can’t use your pseudonym on Google+ (video)

No matter how popular or widespread your online nickname is, Google+ won’t let you use it. Now a humorous video explains why.

“Nym Wars” is the clever nickname several bloggers are using to describe the conflict between Google+ members and Google’s policy of requiring all account holders to list their real names, since using a pseudonym or nickname is against the company’s terms of service.

If you’re wondering what would possess Google to adopt such … Continue Reading

Startup MarketBrief instantly analyzes & summarizes SEC filings

Going through page after page of SEC filings is our idea of a fun time on a Saturday night. For the rest of you, there’s MarketBrief, which turns complicated SEC filings into short, simple news articles in about a second.

This Y Combinator startup launched last week with the promise to programmatically organize SEC filings the instant they’re made public and deliver the information to you as a plain-English summary.

Today, around 19 firms around … Continue Reading

French investor pours money into Online Warmongers at $50M valuation

Paris-based Cybergun, a maker of fancy toy guns, said today that it has acquired 50 percent of Online Warmongers, the maker of the free-to-play online game War Inc. Battlezone.

The company didn’t say how much it paid for the transaction, but we heard from two sources it was based on a pretty large valuation of $50 million, which would mean Cybergun paid $25 million for its stake.

War Inc. Battlezone is a third-person online shooting … Continue Reading

Foursquare wins major victory with death of Facebook Places

While Facebook was rolling out some changes to its privacy policies today, the company also quietly announced it was killing off the Foursquare-like Places function inside of its mobile app.

The Facebook Places feature was unveiled a year ago and let users “check-in” to various locations. Many saw this as a serious threat to other social location services like Foursquare and Gowalla because Facebook has an incredible number of users. But by October you could … Continue Reading

Y Combinator’s Interstate lets you share your roadmap with the world (or your employees)

Interstate, a new application that launched today at Y Combinator‘s Demo Days, is a simple tool that allows company founders, project managers and others to share their future plans with customers, clients and even employees.

The tool works for developers working on their own as well as for larger companies — any entity that needs to communicate its roadmap to an audience. Interstate lets you do project management and share “the bits that are really … Continue Reading

Social incubator YouWeb raises $2M

Technology company incubator YouWeb has spawned incredibly successful social and mobile game companies. Now the Burlingame, Calif.-based incubator has raised $2 million in funding for itself.

YouWeb is raising the money from existing investors to help fuel its expansion. The company has also hired ex-Walmart executive and tech veteran Michelle Yee Sangster (right) as senior vice president of business development. Peter Relan, chairman of YouWeb, said in an earlier interview that he was accelerating the … Continue Reading

Samsung cites Kubrick’s ’2001′ as legal defense in Apple patent battle

Samsung has cited a scene from the science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey as a legal defense against Apple in the continuing patent battle between the two companies.

In a brief opposing Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction on Samsung’s devices, Samsung asserts that the tablet-like devices featured in a clip from 2001 predate the iPad. Apple says Samsung “slavishly copied” the design of the iPad when it made its own Galaxy Tab tablets, … Continue Reading

Here are some pretty sweet earthquake apps

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake based in Virginia just scared the heck out of millions of people. Tremors shook from Washington, D.C. to New York City and many buildings were evacuated. Standing in the streets, waiting to find out details on what was going on, most people probably called home to check in. Then they read the news on their mobile devices. And then they probably hit app stores for earthquake apps.

“Sales of the app … Continue Reading

Brightkite founders launch Forkly, a fun app for foodies

A new food-focused app called Forkly brings the discovery of delicious dishes to center stage — and it’s a beautiful stage, indeed. The app, which is currently on the iPhone but coming soon to Android, is the latest venture from Brady Becker and Martin May, formerly known as the founders of location-based service Brightkite.

Becker’s goal in creating Forkly is to give foodies a way to take pictures of good meals, describe specific items they … Continue Reading

New iPhone 5 to land on Sprint

Wireless carrier Sprint will launch Apple‘s latest smartphone, the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4 simultaneously in mid-October, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal cited sources familiar with the matter that indicated the phone would arrive in time for Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter. The Wall Street Journal’s “people familiar with the matter” line is typically code for an inside source that is feeding the Journal information about a new product or company news.… Continue Reading

United Airlines buys 11K iPads to help pilots go paperless

United Airlines on Tuesday announced it has purchased 11,000 Apple iPads to and will be giving one to all United and Continental pilots.

The airline wants to replace massive paper flight manuals in the cockpit with a more versatile digital solution. The first iPads started being deployed this month, and all pilots will be using iPads by the end of the year.

“The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying,” said Captain Fred … Continue Reading

Facebook’s new in-line privacy tools sound a lot like Google+

Social networking site Facebook today announced that it is adding new tools to let users share content with specific groups of friends, rather than publicly with all of their friends.

The site is also moving most of its privacy settings so that they appear alongside what is actually going on in the site. For example, you can approve or reject a photo tag from the actual photo rather than having to open up privacy settings … Continue Reading