New Technology News

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Google has just let us in on another tidbit about the deal it has built with Lenovo over the sale of its Motorola Mobility assets: It keeps the high-tech Q division-type stuff being developed at Motorola’s Advanced Technology Group. That means the Ara modular smartphone concept, as well as sensors you swallow and passwords you tattoo on your skin.

The Advanced Tech team is headed by one-time Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency director Regina Dugan, and has been behind some of the more sci-fi things that Google has demonstrated since acquiring Moto’s mobile biz.

Project Ara was one of those projects that garnered a lot of attention back in October. It essentially features a single base unit design that pairs with components that can swap out including keyboards, bigger batteries, memory, sensors and more. Users can easily customize the device to taste using these parts, building the perfect phone for business, or for travel, or for media consumption etc. And this isn’t something that’s still so far away as to be purely contemplative: Google said back then it would be launching a pilot beta test of the Ara soon.

Motorola’s crack research team was also working on truly wearable (and ingestible) tech, including passwords that are embedded tattoo-like beneath your epidermis and can be activated on command, and authenticators that can be swallowed in pill form. Another ingestible product discussed on stage at D11 last June was a sensor that could be swallowed to relay medical information to a user and their doctors.

One more recent Motorola Advanced Tech project revealed in a patent filing in November details a lie-detecting neck tattoo that uses embedded electronics to take in auditory information via microphones and relay that back to an attached smartphone for analysis. Lie detection is just one possible use (imagine audio recording or other types of environment sensing, too) but it’s definitely an intriguing one.

All of this stuff fits pretty nicely under the Google X division at Google, where its other kooky experiments are currently housed. Luckily this part of the deal should mean we’ll see the Advanced Tech team continue its work under that department, or anywhere at all really, since it’s too interest-grabbing to just mothball away.

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Google Keeps Motorola’s Advanced Technology Group, Home Of The Modular Phone And Password Tattoo

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Google has just let us in on another tidbit about the deal it has built with Lenovo over the sale of its Motorola Mobility assets : It keeps...

Google on Monday announced that it had hacked together five simple games that take advantage of the unique features of Glass. The company presented a brief demo of the five-title mashup as Mini Games Glassware, and it encouraged Glass developers to offer feedback.Google emphasized that voice commands could minimize the time it would take a gamer to get into the action. The sensors in Google Glass were used to create a playground for an intuitive user experience, the company said.

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This Is Your Game on Glass

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Google on Monday announced that it had hacked together five simple games that take advantage of the unique features of Glass. The company ...

Viggle, which offers rewards for checking into TV shows and listening to music, is announcing that it has acquired Dijit Media, maker of the TV discovery app NextGuide.

The financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but a company spokesperson told me the entire Dijit team will be making the move to Viggle. The plan is to integrate NextGuide (a personalized programming guide for TV and the web) and the Dijit reminder button (an embeddable widget allowing users to sign up for reminders whenever a show is about to air) into Viggle’s platform, for example by offering Viggle Points into NextGuide.

“We have had incredible growth and success since our launch and we’re excited to join with another company that shares our goals – to create a holistic marketing platform for brands and networks, while giving our users content and tools they need to take control of their daily entertainment choices,” said Dijit CEO Jeremy Toeman in the acquisition release. (Toeman has written a couple of columns about the future of TV for TechCrunch.)

Viggle was founded in 2010 by Robert F.X. Sillerman, through Sillerman’s acquisition of an public-but-inactive company called Gateway Industries (making Viggle is a publicly traded company itself).

The company recently bought online publisher Wetpaint for $30 million in cash and stock, and it previously announced an agreement to acquired social TV startup GetGlue, but the deal fell through for undisclosed reasons. (A spokesperson told me that the Dijit deal has closed, so presumably we’re not going to see a repeat of the GetGlue situation.) Viggle says that across WetPaint, Dijit, and Viggle, it reached 17 million users in December.

Prior to this deal, Dijit actually made an acquisition itself, buying social TV startup Miso last year.

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Viggle Acquires Dijit, Will Connect Its Rewards Program To Dijit’s TV Discovery App

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Viggle , which offers rewards for checking into TV shows and listening to music, is announcing that it has acquired Dijit Media , maker of t...

Smartphones have been steadily stealing shutterbugs from digital camera makers, but most of those converts are coming from the point-and-shoot snapper crowd. The next step for phone makers is to target more sophisticated photographers who use cameras with interchangeable lenses. Apple appears to be getting ready for that battle. The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple two patents that would allow lenses to be attached to a mobile device, using a plate that attaches to the back of the device or through magnets.

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iPhone May See the World Through Different Lens

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Smartphones have been steadily stealing shutterbugs from digital camera makers, but most of those converts are coming from the point-and-s...

CNN is hosting a press event today to announce a partnership with Twitter and social analytics company Dataminr to launch a new tool called Dataminr For News.

Dataminr CEO Ted Bailey said the goal is to “alert journalists to information that’s emerging on Twitter in real time.” Basically, the technology looks at tweets and finds patterns that can reveal breaking news when it’s still in its “infancy”. Those alerts can be delivered in a desktop application, via email, via mobile alerts, via pop-up alerts, and more.

The program, which was piloted with CNN, isn’t just for alerts, Bailey added. He said there’s a set of analytics that helps users see things like who broke the news and what kind of source they are.

Bailey said Dataminr for News will be available sometime this year.

Updating

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CNN And Twitter Partner With Dataminr To Create News Tool For Journalists

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CNN is hosting a press event today to announce a partnership with Twitter and social analytics company Dataminr to launch a new tool called ...

The ax came down on a number of Patch employees today. TechCrunch has confirmed that a number of Patch employees were let go this morning with another round of layoffs happening later today. We’re hearing hundreds were layed off focused mainly around editorial staffing. Employees are to pack their virtual desks and clear the premises today.

This is the second major round of layoffs in six months. 400 Patch employees were let go last August.

The effected employees are to be given their yearly Aol bonus, accrued vacation time and 2 months of severance. And of course, by taking the severance package, the employees are agreeing not to sue Aol.

“This is sad but didn’t really come as a surprise to many if not all of us. Everyone gave it their best shot, but in the end no one could make the numbers add up. They treated us well, even as we headed out the door, so personally I have no complaints,” one fired Patch employee told TechCrunch today.

As Jim Romesnesko reported this morning, Patch is being restructured in connection with the creation of the joint venture with Hale Global. Some employees will be kept on and fill unspecified roles at Hale Global.

Aol sold a majority stack in its hyperlocal news outlet to Hale Global on January 15th. Aol retained a minority stake. At the time, Aol stated that they were spinning out the brand.

Patch had long been a sore spot on Aol’s balance sheet. After it acquired the hyperlocal news site in 2009, the network failed to become profitable. Patch is estimated to have cost AOL between $200 million and $300 million to run.

In 2012 Aol CEO Tim Armstrong made a commitment to turn Patch around. In 2013, sites were consolidated or closed and staffing was cut. Still, nothing seemed to help. Despite the belt tightening, Patch remained a monstrosity of a network, spanning over 900 local blogs.

Developing…

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Patch Hit With Sweeping Layoffs As New Owner Hale Global Restructures

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The ax came down on a number of Patch employees today. TechCrunch has confirmed that a number of Patch employees were let go this morning wi...

“Tonight is about something different,” John Oliver said, opening last year’s Crunchies. “It’s about giving nerds the opportunity to do what nerds do best: Sit back and judge each other.”

We’re proud to have John Oliver host the Crunchies for the second time. Last year he talked t-shirt cannons, slashfics, and the self-absorbed tech scene we live and breathe. The highlights are below. Obviously he will have plenty of new material for this year’s hosting gig. Silicon Valley was a tad busy last year.

“I have almost no apps.” Oliver confessed last year. “I have so few apps that my wife’s niece laughed at me the other day. She laughed at me and then she was sad.”

Still, even sans apps, John Oliver is a perfect fit to host our little award show. The highlights from last year are below.

In a few short days John Oliver will take the stage at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and play host to The 7th Annual Crunchies Awards where TechCrunch, along with VentureBeat and Gigaom, will honor the best achievements, apps, founders, and startups of 2013.

We invite all of you to come out on February 10 to participate in what is one of the most exciting nights for all of us here at TechCrunch and the tech community. Tickets start at $80 and are available below.