Author: Jason Kincaid

  • Over Six Months Later, Google Finally Closes AdMob Acquisition

    Over six months after announcing its plans to acquire leading mobile ad network AdMob, Google has finally closed the deal. The news comes a week after the FTC unanimously approved the deal, after holding it up for months as it decided whether or not to block it on antitrust grounds.

    When it finally reached a decision, the FTC pointed to Apple’s recent entry into the mobile ad market with iAds as evidence that there would still be plenty of competition in the nascent mobile advertising space (an argument that we made before, as did many others). The FTC may have also been swayed by blog posts from developers questioned during the FTC inquiry who felt that the deal should go through. Some developers also wrote that they felt like the FTC had an agenda and that they were being pressured to say things that would hurt Google’s cause.


  • Facebook Launches Android SDK

    Today, Facebook is releasing its first official SDK for Android, offering developers on Google’s mobile OS an easy way to tie their Android native apps to Facebook Platform. As AllFacebook noted last week, this SDK is actually more advanced than the iPhone SDK because it features Facebook’s Graph API, which was unveiled at its f8 developer conference last month.

    According to the post on Facebook’s Developer blog, the SDK also uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and the ability to publish stories to Facebook using Feed forms.

    I spoke with Facebook’s Steven Soneff about the SDK at Google I/O last week, where Facebook was offering a developer preview. Soneff said that there have been ways to integrate Facebook into Android applications before now, but that these have really been hacked together from the iPhone SDK, and weren’t officially supported by Facebook.

    Hopefully this is a sign that Facebook is taking Android a bit more seriously. Facebook’s iPhone SDK launched over a year ago. And the official Facebook application for Android has always felt inferior to the iPhone version — it has been improving, but it still has a ways to go.
    [crunchbase url=”http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook,http://www.crunchbase.com/product/android” name=”Facebook,Android”]


  • UJAM Turns Whistling, Humming, And Even Tone-Deaf Singing Into Musical Masterpieces

    We all have them: those brief, spontaneous little melodies that pop into the back of our heads, undoubtedly destined for greatness if only we had an ounce of musical talent or a five piece band at our disposal. Well, now you wannabe-maestros have your chance. UJAM is a new startup making its debut today at TechCrunch Disrupt that can turn your humming, whistling, kazoo-playing or not-so-in-tune vocals into something people might actually want to listen to. And it’s really, really cool.

    There’s plenty of advanced technology working in the background, but to the user, the site really seems like magic. Whistle a few notes of ‘Ode to Joy’, and in seconds you’ll hear your tune played back by a grand piano. Or an electric guitar. Or a full orchestra, complete with sweeping crescendos that somehow fit your tune perfectly. You can swap between these options in a few clicks, tweaking the results until they suit your fancy. If you happen to sing a few notes out of key, UJam will fix them for you. And if you play an instrument (or at least, try to), you can also use this to quickly turn your one-man show into a full band.


  • Apple Holding Special Event To Preview iPhone OS 4 This Thursday

    Apple has just sent out invites to press inviting them to a special event where they’ll “Get a sneak peek into the future of iPhone OS”.

    The event, which obviously comes just after the launch of the iPad, will showcase the new features coming with the latest release of the iPhone/iPad operating system, giving developers time to plan for and integrate the new features into their apps. There have been rumors for months that this new update will include the ability for certain third party apps to run in the background.

    Apple has been holding these developer preview events since before the App Store launched — there was one in March 2008 where the iPhone SDK was announced. And last March Apple gave a preview of the iPhone 3.0 software update. Historically (by which I mean, the last two years) these updates have been released alongside new iPhones in the summer (the iPhone 3G came out July 11 2008; the 3GS was released June 19 2009).