Google planning massive “Experience Center” and secret test labs at Googleplex

There are big changes ahead at the Googleplex, Google’s Mountain View headquarters

The company is developing a huge 120,000 square foot “Google Experience Center,” which will serve as a sort of private museum and meeting center, as well as labs for secret projects and the company’s @Home automation endeavour, reports the Mercury News.

The new buildings are big part of Google’s $120 million constructions efforts at the Googleplex, and they show how the company is … Continue Reading

Spotify takes music quality to the “extreme” on iPhone

If you’re a Spotify user with an iPhone, it’s time to pump up the volume.

The popular music streaming service has added support for extremely high quality 320 kbps music streaming and offline synchronizing — just about the best sound you can get from compressed music files.

Spotify originally offered low quality (96 kbps) and high quality (160 kbps) settings for streaming and syncing on its mobile apps, but an update over the weekend has … Continue Reading

The DICE Summit in pictures (photo gallery)

Here’s our photo gallery from the DICE Summit 2012. This year’s conference drew more than 700 game industry luminaries to a wide variety of talks on the art and science of making video games.… Continue Reading

Jay-Z and Beyonce sidestep the paparazzi with a Tumblr for baby Blue Ivy Carter

It’s an empire state of mind. The world’s most famous musical couple has turned to New York’s Tumblr as the blogging platform of choice for showcasing the first photos of their new baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter.

Tumblr, founded by Manhattan’s David Karp, has defined itself as the best service for bloggers who want to showcase their creativity, especially through photos.

On their Tumblr, Jay-Z and Beyonce are clearly trying to nip the paparazzi in … Continue Reading

Along with CIA takedown, information compromised at Homeland Security by Anonymous

The pace of attacks by cyber vigilantes seems to be increasing in 2012. Yesterday news broke that the website of the CIA was down, an attack for which Anonymous claimed responsibility. Today CNN is reporting that attacks also hit government agencies in Mexico and Alabama, and that “information was compromised” at Alabama’s Department of Homeland Security.

In a release, Alabama Department of Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier said that his agency was conducting a forensic … Continue Reading

DEMO leaves Boulder, hits Boston, Chicago, LA, Austin, Singapore and more (photos)

As part of our mission to find the most exciting, disruptive tech for this season’s DEMO, we recently stopped off in Boulder, Colorado to check out the coolest startups in the region. Below are some photos from the meetup we had there.

Then we flew back to SF on Thursday, where we invited some exciting new companies to pitch at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, and found several we expect to invite to launch at … Continue Reading

Prepare for MacBook Pros that look like MacBook Airs

After sticking with a fairly consistent unibody MacBook Pro design for some time, Apple may be gearing up to bring design elements from its popular MacBook Air line into its more powerful models later this year.

The company is preparing a “top-to-bottom revamp” of the MacBook Pro lineup that will result in thinner unibody cases and solid-state hard drives and the loss of optical disk drives, sources tell AppleInsider.

This isn’t the first time we’ve … Continue Reading

How sites like MegaUpload make millions from pirated video

This story originally appeared on CNET and is republished with permission.

For the scope of this article, I am leaving all of the commentary on SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, and such aside for others much more well-versed than I to discuss.

A lot of people have been asking me the same question lately: Just how do file-sharing sites like MegaUpload — recently taken down by an international collection of law enforcement — make hundreds of millions … Continue Reading

TaskRabbit gets fruitful, mulitplies with new open API

Local-labor locating service TaskRabbit is opening up its tools and network to developers with a new API (application programming interface), the company announced on its blog Friday. This will allow third-party developers to integrate TaskRabbit features directly into their own apps and web sites.

With TaskRabbit, you can hire someone local (called a “Rabbit”) to run errands or do small bits of random work for you, including grocery shopping, data entry, and transporting all kinds … Continue Reading

Shopping site Sneakpeeq raises $2.67M

Social daily deals and shopping website Sneakpeeq announced Friday is has raised $2.67 million in funding.

Sneakpeeq is attempting to replicate the shopping experience you’d have in a physical store. What type of experience? Well, think about walking into a fancy shop, picking an item off the shelf, turning it over, and checking the price tag. Sneakpeeq recreates that by, for example, making you click a “peeq” button to see a price rather than blatantly … Continue Reading

Ninja Gaiden’s creator Itagaki pleads for game designers to create titles that change lives

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tomonobu Itagaki was at the top of his game. The legendary Japanese game design leader of Team Ninja, known for his sunglasses and leather pants, was making top-selling games in the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden fighting series.

Itagaki left Tecmo-Koei, the owner of Team Ninja, in mid-2008 and got into a bitter lawsuit with his former company over royalties. It was a wrenching separation, and Itagaki … Continue Reading

Call of Duty Elite: It’s not a douche move — Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg

Eric Hirshberg, chief executive of Activision Publishing, talked about the role that creative people should play in  making decisions about running a video game business. Too often, he said, creative people leave it to the business experts. But creative people shouldn’t sell themselves short, as Hirshberg learned in the last 18 months running the division that includes Call of Duty franchise.

With the launch of the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision Blizzard … Continue Reading

Iran ‘celebrates’ 1979 revolution anniversary by blocking encrypted websites

Most modern governments celebrate the anniversary of a national revolution day by making it an official holiday where people routinely get off work, eat food that probably isn’t healthy, and spend quality time with family and friends.

If you live in Iran, however, the government celebrates by blocking access to all websites using the “HTTPS” protocol, which includes sites from Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and basically any banking web service. Essentially, this means the internet is … Continue Reading

Tesla’s new Model X is the electric car of your dreams

Electric car maker Tesla unveiled its latest electric vehicle last night, the Model X, a cross-over that offers more space than the company’s Model S sedan and original sporty Roadster.

For those waiting for a semi-affordable electric car that offers plenty of space, power, and versatility, the Model X looks to be the best option yet.

Like other cross-over vehicles, the Model X sits somewhere between a sedan and a SUV. But Tesla couldn’t help … Continue Reading

500M cheap VoIP calls propel Rebtel to 15M users

Rebtel, the second-largest voice-over IP calling company behind Skype, announced major milestones today that prove consumers just can’t get enough of cheap phone calls.

The company says that it has surpassed 15 million connected users (it’s unclear how many of those are active) since its launch in 2006. Rebtel users have made over 500 million calls on the service and have chalked up over two billion minutes of international calls.

Rebtel offers mobile and desktop … Continue Reading

In wake of online protests, Germany refuses to sign ACTA anti-piracy treaty

Some big news this morning from the front lines of the debate over how to regulate online piracy. Germany, which had said it would follow along with the rest of the European Union in support of ACTA, (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), has decided not sign the treaty, according to an Armenian news website citing government sources.

Much like the response to SOPA in the United States, online activists in Europe have been able to generate vigorous … Continue Reading

As social games boom, Spark Capital hires former Zynga exec as first venture partner

Zynga’s rise to a social gaming juggernaut traded on the public markets—which now boasts a market cap roughly equal to long-established companies like Electronic Arts—highlights the rapid transformation of the gaming industry.

Boston’s Spark Capital, eager to tap the next wave of startups in that space, has added Nabeel Hyatt, a general manager who helped founded Zynga Boston, as their first venture partner.

Hyatt has a long history as a tech entrepreneur. He trained as … Continue Reading

Amazon exec: standalone Prime streaming video service isn’t likely

Despite an aggressive push to increase its variety of TV shows and movies, Amazon isn’t planning to split off its Prime streaming video service into a standalone subscription offering, according to the company’s management team. At least not anytime soon.

Currently, Amazon offers its streaming video service as an added perk for members of its Prime membership, which costs $79 per year and includes free two-day shipping on lots of items sold on the online … Continue Reading

Double Fine Adventure shatters Kickstarter record with $1M raised in first 24 hours (updated)

Updated at 4:30pm PST for record $1 million amount.

Earlier this week, crowd-funding site Kickstarter set a new record when the Elevation iPhone Dock became the first project to close in on the $1 million dollar mark. But that milestone has officially been bested. In its first 24 hours, gaming studio Double Fine Adventure’s Kickstarter project has raised more than $1 million and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Double Fine’s Tim Schafer tweeted … Continue Reading