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OpenTable seats its 2 millionth table

February 10, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

If you live in any major metropolitan area, you’re probably familiar with OpenTable. The restaurant reservation service seated its millionth reservation this past October, a year since the iPhone application launched. The company has since branched out to other smartphone platforms and seated another million restaurant-goers – quite a feat for four and a half months.

The news came alongside an earnings report, which showed $19.2 million in revenue for Q4 2009. Those are some damn fine numbers for an internet startup. The company is about more than just reservations, though. It also offers management software to restaurants for a monthly subscription. The company increased its number of participating restaurants by 17% this past year and estimates it has helped generate more than $100 million in sales for the restaurant it serves.

Apps, iPhone, Mobile, News

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Panasonic’s first 3DTV comes in under $6,000

February 9, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Behold, Panasonic’s very first 3DTV. Most display makers have been reluctant to talk about price when it comes to their 3D sets, and for good reason. They’re damn expensive. Take this 54-inch model, for instance. Though the price has only been announced in Yen, a simple conversion puts it at $5,900 USD. Ouch.

You might be thinking, “hey, that’s not so bad – that’s what I payed for my plasma eight years ago.” That may be true, but look at prices now. A solid 40-inch LCD or better can be had for under a thousand bucks. Are you willing to pay six times that for a technology that won’t see a decent amount of media for several years? I thought not.

Obviously prices will come down, and Panasonic already has plans to release 3D sets as small as 50 inches this year. It’s going to be some time, though, before home-theater-quality set breaks the $2500 barrier.

Source: Gizmodo

News, Video

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Nook is back in stock with free shipping

February 8, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Barnes & Noble has finally gotten its Nook production to catch up with consumer demand, and it’s just in time for Valentine’s Day. The company is using the holiday of love to help market its Kindle competitor, throwing in some extra goodies just in case you weren’t already sold on the device.

When you order you’ll get access to the “More in Store” content from Barnes & Noble, which includes a short story from Adriana Trigiani, a red velvet cupcake recipe by Anne Byrn, aka Cake Mix Doctor, and access to a regular feature called “Read Between the Wines,” which is about pairing your books with your vintage of choice.

If you order online your Nook will be shipped for free. If you prefer the in-store experience, the device will be available starting February 10th.

Source: Engadget

Digital Media, ebooks

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Linus Torvalds joins the Nexus One ranks

February 7, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Yes, that is Linus Torvalds in a Speedo. And yes, he got naked because he’s so excited about the Nexus One (that’s how I imagine things happening, anyway).

Actually, Torvalds just picked up a Nexus One. He’s notorious for his criticism of any and every cell phone, but he seems to love the Nexus One, so much he was willing to call it “a winner.” He doesn’t like that it’s a fun, rather that it has pinch-to-zoom capability and some GPS. Here’s what he said in his blog post:

I no longer feel like I’m dragging a phone with me “just in case” I would need to get in touch with somebody – now I’m having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead. The fact that you can use it as a phone too is kind of secondary.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that the phone runs Linux. Official Nexus One sales: 80,001.

Mobile, News

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Wolfram Alpha’s still trying to sell that iPhone app

February 7, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Wolfram Alpha recently released an update for its overpriced iPhone app. The update includes some new keyboards, graphics, and tables. The one thing it didn’t improve on was the price. The app still runs $50, back up from the $19.99 it cost during the holidays.

It’s not that the app blows everything else out of the water. An app called BarMax runs a full thousand dollars. But BarMax isn’t available on the web. Wolfram Alpha is. All of it. They removed the iPhone-optimized version of the site some time ago, presumably to encourage sales for the app. You can still get everything out of Wolfram Alpha, though, if you just visit the website on your phone. The only thing you’re missing is screen specific formatting.

If you really need that kind of formatting and have $50 laying around, maybe this is for you. Personally, I’ll keep my Wolfram calculations on my laptop.

Source: TechCrunch

Apps, iPhone, News

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