MichaelArrington
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Nuance reportedly buying Swype for $100 million
It's only been about a year since Nuance traced Swype's finger gliding input method with QuickType, but it seems like the firm is ready for the real deal: Michael Arrington says it's nabbing the Seattle-based startup to the tune of $100 million. With competition heating up in the voice command space after Apple's Siri assisted iPhone upgrade, Nuance could be stocking up on more traditional input methods, or at the very least edging out the potential for more competition. There's no word just yet if Swype will replace or fade away in lieu of the firm's own traceable input brand, but we'll be sure to let you know if we hear something official.
Joojoo lawsuit shocker! Court rules Fusion Garage and TechCrunch were business partners, tosses most everything else
It's been a few blissful months since we've thought about or had to interact with the Joojoo, but the court case Michael Arrington and TechCrunch filed against Fusion Garage just reached a significant milestone: the judge threw out several of Arrington's claims while importantly holding that TechCrunch and Fusion Garage were in fact business partners with legal obligations to each other. Here's the basic timeline so far: since there was (unbelievably) never a contract between TechCrunch and Fusion Garage to develop the CrunchPad / Joojoo, TechCrunch had to rely on a variety of alternative arguments in its initial complaint, which reached a zenith of optimistic fabrication in something called "misappropriation of business ideas." (We ran down the whole list way back in December, and also broke down Fusion Garage's subsequent motion to dismiss in February.) The court didn't buy most of those arguments and dismissed everything but the breach of fiduciary duty claim in this latest ruling, which is both a significant loss and a significant win for TechCrunch: breach of fiduciary duty has always struck us as TechCrunch's strongest argument, and the court's now effectively ruled that Fusion Garage and TechCrunch were indeed involved in a joint business venture with legal obligations to protect each others' interests. That's not a bad position from which to proceed -- although TechCrunch now has to prove that Fusion Garage actually violated its duty by releasing the Joojoo on its own, which is a whole new fight. (The court also gave TechCrunch 20 days to try and amend some of its other claims, but "misappropriation of business ideas" was basically thrown out the window entirely.) So what's next? We're guessing another few months of cheerfully hostile motions accusing the opposing party of thwarting discovery and some firecracker depositions, all culminating in a matched pair of snippy motions for summary judgment. The suits, they dine well tonight. P.S.- How or why either company continues to pay for all these legal bills is beyond us, but we've actually heard rumors of a Joojoo 2, so things could get even crazier. And potentially even less responsive to touch-based events.
Fusion Garage files to dismiss CrunchPad lawsuit
It looks like Fusion Garage is out to remind people that there's more than one $499 tablet in the world today: CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan is talking up the Joojoo tablet's pre-orders, and the company's lawyers have filed a delightfully snippy motion to dismiss TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's lawsuit over the device formerly known as CrunchPad, saying his claims are "legally barred, facially flawed, and fatally imprecise." As we predicted from the outset, the argument boils down to the fact that there was never any contract between Fusion Garage and Michael Arrington or TechCrunch -- and Fusion Garage also points out it can't have stolen an idea that Arrington posted "all over the Internet." Snap. It's a little more complicated than that, though -- we've broken it down after the break, grab the PDF and follow along.
Joojoo tablet gets its first batch of press shots, $30 dock accessory
Up until now, the only official shot of the Joojoo tablet was that seductive snippet of the corner. 'Course, you got a pretty good look of the thing if you bothered to watch our sit-down with Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan, but it's still a pleasing sight to see the company push out a nice gallery of press shots to really tickle the senses. We aren't exactly sure if these guys have Cameron's approval to use Avatar screen shots to promote their product, but at this point, we wouldn't put anything regarding the Joojoo beyond the realm of feasibility. Oh, and if you were wondering how you'd eventually use this thing as an at-home movie viewer, the $29.99 dock accessory pictured above is the answer. One word of caution, however: given all the drama surrounding this thing, use that pre-order button at your own risk. P.S. - Our good pal Chippy is suggesting that the only possible CPU / GPU tandem that could result in the claimed 1080p support and 5 hours of battery life is the Atom Z530 and the GMA500, both from Intel. Hopefully we'll hear something official in short order. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] %Gallery-80151%
Engadget talks Joojoo, Arrington, 3G, and more with Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan
We had a chance to sit down and talk with Chandra Rathakrishnan of Fusion Garage yesterday for a more in-depth discussion than our previous meeting provided, and we learned a few interesting tidbits about both the Joojoo, as well as the company's highly public troubles with Michael Arrington (before the latest move). Amongst the more juicy items discussed, we got further technical info on the Joojoo itself, including the fact that the system has 1GB of RAM, a separate GPU for graphics processing (which Rathakrishnan says is capable of at least iPhone level gaming), and an interesting slot along the side. Just what kind of slot, you ask? Well apparently there are plans for a 3G equipped version of the Joojoo on the horizon. Chandra says we won't see it in Q1 2010, but the second version will appear on the market during the next calendar year. Additionally, the company is supposedly in talks right now with media publishers -- an interesting note considering that the Joojoo looks surprisingly like those Time Inc. and Condé Nast digimag demos we've seen recently. Chandra also claims that the company is working on deals that could lead to subsidized versions of the tablet, even without the inclusion of 3G. Of course, given the current legal status of the device, you can add all this speculative talk to a growing list of question marks. There's plenty more in the video, including some further insight into the confusing situation with Michael Arrington over the creation and ownership of the device, and more clarity on how exactly that rumored Atom CPU is handling 1080p playback without stuttering. It's pretty darned interesting, actually. Check out the full chat after the break!
TechCrunch sues Fusion Garage over the Joojoo -- we break it down
Okay, well here we go. Michael Arrington says he filed a lawsuit yesterday against Fusion Garage over the CrunchPad / Joojoo situation, and he's helpfully provided a copy of the complaint, which alleges false advertising, breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of business ideas, fraud, and unlawful business practices. You'll notice that list doesn't include any breach of contract or intellectual property claims -- a fair departure from what Michael said he'd be suing over, but not entirely surprising since it doesn't seem like there was any contract here at all. Let's take a quick skim through the rest of the complaint, shall we?
Joojoo tablet hands-on (video)
Marked more by its story than its design, the Joojoo tablet is somewhat of a mythical (and controversial) beast. So when we got a phone call to see it for ourselves with Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan, we jumped at the opportunity. Turns out it's quite a capable little device, and chief among its feats so far seems to be smooth 1080p YouTube playback. Seriously, we were quite impressed with just how crisp and lag-free it was, at least for the Avatar trailer we tested. Throw in a Webkit-based browser with Silverlight and Flash support (why hello there, Hulu), and yeah, we're pretty pumped. Read on for more impressions. %Gallery-79825%
Fusion Garage Joojoo tablet rises from the ashes of the CrunchPad
Fusion Garage has finally come clean with its side of the story in regards to the CrunchPad debacle, and just unveiled its new Arrington-free version of the device: the Joojoo. The way Fusion Garage tells it, the device was already in the works at the time of the original TechCrunch post about the idea, and that Michael Arrington and co. made zero contributions to the development of the device -- and apparently don't have any sort of contract to prove otherwise. The device is much along the lines of what we'd been hearing: it runs a UNIX-based OS, boots straight to a web browser (otherwise no apps at all), weighs about 2.4 pounds and features a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen. There are no physical buttons on the slate outside of the on-off switch, which taps into a 9 second boot time. Under the hood there's a 4GB SSD, WiFi (no 3G), an accelerometer and about 5 hours of battery life. Pre-orders start on December 11th, with a dream-shattering $499 pricetag bringing this thing back into the realm of reality. We're supposed to see demos of the Joojoo in the wild this week, and another shot of the device can be found after the break.
Fusion Garage CrunchPad video conference liveblog
We're just getting settled in for Fusion Garage's CrunchPad webcast -- we've been promised CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan's version of the 12-inch tablet's bizarre saga, and we've certainly got quite a few questions of our own to ask. We'll start updating just as soon as it starts, so make sure you're up to speed on what went down over the weekend and get ready for some fireworks.
Michael Arrington says CrunchPad litigation is 'imminent,' provides more details -- but where's the contract?
The strange saga of the CrunchPad is getting even stranger: although Fusion Garage has a press conference scheduled for Monday, the company's apparently been hinting to some members of the press that the split with Michael Arrington was no surprise, and that TechCrunch didn't actually contribute anything of value to the CrunchPad. As you'd expect, that's got Arrington on the warpath. In a post titled "CrunchPad Litigation Imminent," he offers up an email from Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan and two letters dispatched from his lawyers to both Fusion Garage and would-be CrunchPad ODM Pegatron that paint a much different picture: Chandra calls the split "out of the blue," Pegatron won't produce anything without TechCrunch's "explicit approval," and there was apparently even talk of merger between Fusion Garage and Arrington's CrunchPad, Inc. That certainly puts the timeline into dispute, but Mike's various CrunchPad intellectual property claims are far less solid, and unexpectedly weak -- even if you completely accept Arrington's side of the story, his CrunchPad dealings don't reflect his reputation as a bulldog Silicon Valley attorney. Let's break 'em down: Arrington claims he's the "outright owner of the CrunchPad trademark," but that's simply not true: the CrunchPad trademark was only applied for on November 17, the same day Arrington says Fusion Garage notified him of the split. Oops -- and even stranger because Arrington's said the CrunchPad was due to be launched on November 20. Why wasn't this sewn up months ago? Assuming there isn't some secret CrunchPad patent application we don't know about, the only major IP rights we can see TechCrunch asserting to the CrunchPad device have to do with the copyright to the code , and that's a total mess. Since Arrington apparently didn't draw up a contract giving him sole copyright to the CrunchPad's code, he and his lawyers are arguing that TechCrunch and Fusion Garage are "joint owners" to any rights, and that's just about the weakest position Arrington can be in. Joint copyright owners are legally considered to have equal rights to the entire product, and unless there's a written agreement (see how that keeps coming up?) saying they both have to sign off, each joint owner is allowed to non-exclusively sell the entire thing without the other's approval. In our experience it's pretty rare for joint copyright ownership to be an ideal business arrangement, and we can't imagine how Arrington got to within three days of launching the CrunchPad without hammering out the details of who owned what. In fact, the most notable thing about the letter from Arrington's lawyers to Fusion Garage is that it doesn't contain any contractual language whatsoever -- it only references emails and conversations between the two companies. That's particularly odd because the letter to Pegatron says TechCrunch will be suing for breach of contract, so you'd think Arrington's attorneys would be laser-focused on his contractual rights if he could assert them. Then again, you'd think Arrington would have known better than to start this project without doing the appropriate paperwork first, so really anything's possible. Now, we could be totally wrong about all of this: we haven't heard anything directly from Fusion Garage, and there very well could be contracts we haven't seen. But for right now, we're absolutely mystified as to how Michael Arrington -- who, again, is an attorney -- found himself in this position, and we're still mildly convinced this is all some kind of stunt. We're sure there's more drama to come, stay tuned. %Gallery-79654% %Gallery-79709%
FusionGarage plans media event to tell its side of the CrunchPad story
Michael Arrington may have declared the CrunchPad dead, but that's not stopping his former partners at FusionGarage, who've scheduled a video conference with CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan so he can "share his side of the story." Chandra will also be demonstrating the 12-inch capacitive web tablet -- which, somewhat amazingly, will be the first time we've ever seen proof that the elusive device actually even exists and functions. We're definitely curious to hear what Chandra has to say and how he rebuts Arrington's grandiose and melodramatic tale of woe, but let's be honest -- we're also at least mildly suspicious that this whole mess is just a calculated PR stunt. Stay tuned.
The CrunchPad disappears in a puff of vapor
Michael Arrington's CrunchPad has never had a particularly firm basis in reality, and although we'd been promised that the inexpensive browser-based tablet would be launching soon, the sky's come crashing down: Mike says Fusion Garage, the company he hired to build the CrunchPad, has reneged on their deal, and that he's about to file "multiple lawsuits." What happened? Well, it's not exactly clear: according to Mike, the CrunchPad was ready to be launched on November 20, but on November 17 Fusion Garage decided to cut TechCrunch out of the deal and sell it directly. Oh, it's a sad tale, especially since Arrington claims a wide variety of industry heavyweights were lined up to support his tablet -- including development assistance from Intel complete with sweetheart pricing on Atom CPUs, a "major multi-billion dollar retailer" who offered to sell it at "zero margin," and even venture capital firms "waiting to invest in the company." Making matters worse, Mike's no longer buds with Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan, who he thought he'd be friends with "for the rest of our lives." Tear. Now, we're not sure we've heard the last of the CrunchPad -- if anything, Michael Arrington is irrepressible -- but we can't say we're surprised the first chapter has ended in such fantastic fashion. We're assuming several major Hollywood studios are already lining up to buy the rights, and we've heard unconfirmed reports that George Clooney has signed on to star for free because he believes in the project so deeply.
CrunchPad is 'steamrolling along,' will cost between $300 and $400
We're not super familiar with the term "steamrolling along" as it applies to device launches, but apparently it's good news for Michael Arrington's CrunchPad tablet. Mike dropped the news on a recent episode of Steve Gillmor's "Gillmor Gang" podcast (like "Gilmore Girls," but with less inter-generational drama), saying that he's not sure where the rumor of cost being too high came from, since costs continue to come down. The "$300 to $400" price range he's quoting is a bit higher than we'd heard previously, but it still sounds pretty good for a 12-inch touchscreen device. He also made mention of "soft revenue" and "sponsorships" on the device, akin to the revenue Firefox gets from its Google search box, and added that it won't impact the user experience. Outside of those tidbits Mike says they're working on making it "perfect," and that there should be some big news about the device coming shortly. Video is after the break, CrunchPad discussion starts at the 39 minute mark.
Michael Arrington's CrunchPad still not available, maybe never will be?
Here's a report mixed with a cold hard fact and some wild speculation. We'll start with the factual bit: despite promises of an August unveil and November availability, and despite lots of leaks over the summertime, Michael Arrington's CrunchPad MID tablet thing still isn't upon us, and on top of that we haven't heard a thing about it in months. The wild speculation relates to the question of why, with Silicon Alley Insider conveying a string of possibilities ranging from the likely (wildly escalating hardware costs making the product unprofitable) to the somewhat less likely (it's waiting for Chrome OS). We wouldn't be the least surprised if the promised sub-$300 price-point just isn't feasible, but neither would it be a shock to learn that it's simply on hold until this whole economy thing finally picks up some steam. Or maybe it's the Illuminati; you never know just what they're up to.
CrunchPad coming in November with built-in 3G connectivity, says Straits Times
Last we heard, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington wasn't ready to talk about a timeframe for the release of his self-proclaimed "science project," the CrunchPad tablet. That's not the case for The Straits Times, however, who've published an article claiming that developer Fusion Garage is aiming to get the device out to the masses by November of this year, just in time for Christmas shopping. The Singapore newspaper got a sneak preview of the device, as well as some new specs. The tablet reportedly about 2.64 pounds, has a 1.6GH Intel Atom and 1GB RAM (which we knew), a USB port for keyboard and / or mouse, built-in WiFi and 3G connectivity, and a port for mobile broadband. Price is estimated around $400, a little bit more than the $300 he pegged in April, but it's still being filed in the "unconfirmed" category for now -- hopefully it comes out a little leaner when this thing goes official. [Thanks, David]
First working CrunchPad prototypes a few weeks away
Michael Arrington's little experiment with consumer electronics is about to get real. The image above is the "near-final industrial design" of the man's CrunchPad with "first working prototypes" expected in another few weeks. Changes include a display now flush with the bezel and an 18-mm overall thickness thanks to the switch from plastic to aluminum. Inside we've got a Linux-based OS that boots direct to a Webkit-based browser. Michael says that the next public appearance will be at a special press event in July. However, as a man (in)famous for leaking other people's details ahead of official announcements, we wouldn't be surprised to see his vision of the ultimate couch computer make its way to the Internets before the big unveiling.
Michael Arrington drops science on CrunchPad, still won't sell us one
In case you missed it (we all have our off days, it's fine) we got our hands on a mess of leaked CrunchPad photos yesterday, and we have to say -- the device looks pretty damn good. Now that the cat's out of the bag, a certain Michael Arrington has shed a little light into what's going on over there at CrunchGear HQ. He says that the "significant step forward" for the device has been in regards to the software stack -- it's now entirely customized, including the (Linux) OS and browser. It also sports an Intel Atom chip; previously, the device has been running Ubuntu on a VIA chipset. "The total software footprint is around 100 MB," he writes, "which is a solid achievement." And last but not least, the industrial design and hardware for this bad boy is being done by an outfit in Singapore called Fusion Garage. It looks like the project is in good hands. But anything beyond that -- including, sadly, a timeframe -- is still anyone's guess.
Leaked pics of the CrunchPad make it look dangerously close to availability
Thanks to a slip of the fingers on Posterous (and Robert Scoble's serious Twitter addiction), new images of Michael Arrington's pet Internet-tablet project -- the CrunchPad -- have shown up looking very, very close to a finished product. As you can see in the gallery below, the (supposedly) $200, WiFi enabled pad has gotten dressed up in multiple colors and been shoved into some fairly handsome looking packaging. There's no telling if this means the device is any closer to a buy-able reality, but one thing is for sure: a microblog is no place for secrets. [Via Scoble's Twitterfeed, Arab Crunch]
TechCrunch's internet tablet gets a new prototype
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has pulled together a squad to make this whole simple, cheap, internet tablet thing he started talking about in July, 2008 happen for real. Their goal is to make a tablet that browses and plays flash videos really well (pretty simple stuff) that costs around $200. Built by a team led by Louis Monier -- former CTO of Alta Vista -- "Prototype B" is a 12-inch touchscreener with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Internally, the "CrunchPad" has a Via Nano CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of flash memory, a 4-cell battery, and WiFi, plus a camera. In terms of software, the prototype runs a full install of Ubuntu with a custom browser. They estimate the total cost of the device at just over $200 to produce, and that a commercial model would realistically cost about $300. They don't seem to be heading toward production anytime soon, so don't cross your fingers, but you'll undoubtedly want to see if it's any good for yourself in the breathtaking video after the break.[Via jkkmobile]
