By Paul Thomson :: 8:57 AM
Yahoo yesterday announced the acquisition of Astrid, a mobile application that provides personal assistant functions and offers to-do list management.
The deal includes both the technology and Astrid’s staff. Yahoo did not disclose a purchase price for the company.
Jon Paris, CEO of Astrid said, “when we set out to build Astrid, we sought to help as many people as possible become happier, healthier and more productive. We’re really excited to join the mobile team and continue this work with Yahoo!’s goal of making the world’s daily habits more inspiring and entertaining.â€
Astrid claims that the application, available on both iPhone and Android, had been downloaded by 4 million users. It will continue to function as normal for the next 90 days, but Astrid will no longer sell premium subscriptions for the product during that time. Yahoo will provide refunds to Astrid customers who have already purchased yearly subscriptions, or add-ons for the service.
“We’re excited to welcome Astrid to Yahoo!’s mobile team,” a Yahoo spokesperson said in a release. “Their background in personalized mobile experiences is impressive, and we know they will be a huge asset to as we continue to re-imagine our products.”
Yahoo has not outlined exactly how the Astrid acquisition will fit into the company’s overall mobile strategy yet. Yahoo has been busy making other deals lately, too – including Summly, a news summarization app, and Alike, a location discovery application.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 11:34 PM
Rapper Chris Kelly, better known as “Mac Daddy,” and half of 90s rap duo Kriss Kross, has died in Atlanta at 34.
The Fulton County Medical Examiners office released a statement saying that Kelly was pronounced dead at 5:00 PM on the campus of the Atlanta Medical Center. A cause of death has not yet been reported.
Kelly and his sidekick Chris Smith, who went by “Daddy Mac,” were introduced to the rap scene in 1992 by music producer Jermaine Dupri. Dupri, also a rapper, discovered the two while they were performing in an Atlanta mall.
Kriss Kross is probably most well known for their hit song “Jump.” The tune, off their debut album “Totally Krossed Out,” became a No. 1 song in the United States and across the world, and was one of the most popular songs of that year.
The video for Jump is below.
By Gilbert Falso :: 10:35 PM
Residents of West Omaha, Nebraska, will be the latest recipients of super fast fiber Internet service. This time however, the broadband speed is not being delivered by Google’s Fiber product.
Internet service provider CenturyLink announced today it will introduce a 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home network to West Omaha. The monthly cost for residents will range from $80 to $150, depending on how they purchase the service. Discounts will be provided to customers who buy a package or bundle from CenturyLink.
The company is expected to start introducing the service later this week. West Omaha has approximately 48,000 residents.
News of the fiber introduction in Omaha comes on the heels of Google’s fiber announcements in Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah. Those two cities are the latest recipients of Google’s superfast Internet service, after it made it’s nationwide debut in Kansas City last year.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 4:37 PM
Apple has announced that it will no longer offer support for a number of older devices after June 11, 2013, including the original iPhone handset.
The company sent out product sunset information to its stores and support partners with a list of hardware that included the iPhone as well as older models of iMacs, MacBooks and PowerBooks. This process is a customary one for Apple, however this time it is notable as the product list includes Apple’s very first smart phone.
Because these products are now considered “obsolete” in the eyes of Apple, they will no longer be eligible to be repaired by the company or its authorized repair outlets, and will also be ineligible to receive replacement parts or service through AppleCare.
The new Apple rules apply to all products except for customers who live in California. Due to California law, customers in the Golden State will continue to be able to get service and parts for their obsolete Apple products.
By Gilbert Falso :: 9:12 PM
Google today introduced a tutorial video for its wearable computer eyeglass product, Google Glass.
The minute-long video provides an introduction to the Glass platform, and shows potential users what they can accomplish with the product.
Viewers are introduced to the gadget first by showing the basic setup of Google Glass. The video demonstrates where the controls are, how Glass reacts to certain taps and touch motions, and how to perform simple tasks with Glass.
In the Google Glass display, events appear as a timeline. Future events are towards the left of the timeline, past events towards the right. The video explains the timeline idea, and shows users how to tab through the timeline to interact with events and content.
Clearly, Google can’t get far in just a minute, but the video does provide a glimpse into what the world will look like with a Google Glass unit sitting on the bridge of your nose.
Below – Google Glass introductory video.