Let’s just be nice and feign surprise , okay? Good. With that out of the way, Microsoft has announced a 64GB version of Zune HD, due out April 12th via the Zune online store (and later via other retailers) with a handful of color options and a strapping $349.99 price tag. Not to be outdone, the 16GB and 32GB will each receive a $20 cut on the MSRP, to $200 and $270, respectively — whatever Amazon and Newegg slash beyond that is up to them. It seems “as soon as possible” is the motto for when the price drop is taking place, so if your favorite online / brick-and-mortar retailer isn’t yet honoring the extra Andrew Jackson in your pocket, have patience. So now we’re left with a v4.5 firmware release date as the remaining piece in this puzzle, but Microsoft promises to solve that riddle wrapped in an enigma “in the coming days.” Right. Press release after the break. Continue reading 64GB Zune HD launching April 12th for $350, current models reduced $20 64GB Zune HD launching April 12th for $350, current models reduced $20 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink    |   |  Email this  |  Comments

A new analyst report from private secondary market SharesPost values Twitter at around $750 million, which is less than the $1 billion valuation it got in its last round of funding and less than the $1.5 billion valuation private shares of Twitter are trading for on SharesPost itself. The report notes that the $1 billion valuation was based on preferred shares, whereas it is looking at common shares. The analyst report (embedded below) comes up with an enterprise value for Twitter based on projected revenues, margins, and comparisons to other companies. Depending on the method, it comes up with a range of valuations from $656 million (by comparing Twitter’s estimated enterprise value to comparable companies) to $751 million (by estimating revenues, margins, and a discount rate). It is all pretty much guesswork since Twitter still doesn’t know where the bulk of its revenues will come from. But the report makes a stab at projecting revenues of $45 million in 2010 going to $170 million in 2014. It notes various sources of potential revenue in order of decreasing likelihood, starting with licensing its data feed to search engines (which is where most of its revenue is coming from today) and creating premium accounts for businesses (something else it has already dabbled in). Other options for making money: charging third party apps based on how much API data they use, premium accounts for heavy individual users (limited potential), Web ads on user profiles, or ads in Tweets (these could alienate users). The best bet for Twitter to make money, says the report, is to continue to become a marketing channel for businesses and start charging for leads. The opt-in model of people following businesses and brands should result in much higher sales per lead than other marketing channels such as email marketing, telemarketing, or bulk SMS marketing. Businesses who use Twitter for social media marketing purposes tend to have many more followers than normal users and also Tweet more often. Another nice chart in the report show how Twitter’s uptime has improved since its early days (other than when it is under a denial of service attack), And the report confirms that most Twitter users are passive readers rather than active posters. As I’ve long suspected, people on Twitter tend to consume more than they Tweet. About 68 percent of users login at least once a month, but only 17 percent Tweet. (Although, they do tend to start Tweeting more once they’ve been on the service for 9 months or longer). [docstoc-embed docId="32285851" mId="274918" width="630" height="550" slideMode="false" showRelatedDocs="true" showOtherDocs="true" allowdownload="true" url="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/32285851/Sharespost-Twitter-Valuation-Report"]Sharespost Twitter Valuation Report[/docstoc-embed] CrunchBase Information Twitter SharesPost Information provided by CrunchBase

If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably been keeping pretty close tabs on EATR , the biomass-to-power robot that’s been making people nervous for some time now. Well, EATR’s engine — which is being built by Cyclone Power Technologies — is complete, and the drone is now one giant leap closer to living in actual reality with us. The completed steam engine, called WHE, is a six-cylinder external heat engine which can generate up to 18 horsepower of mechanical power. As previously clarified by EATR’s makers (a project that’s getting help from the University of Maryland and DARPA), the robot will not feed on things like animals… or humans. No, this is no zombified drone — EATR will harvest only plant matter for energy — which, if you ask us, makes the whole thing much more mundane. Regardless, we’ll be keeping our eyes on this project as it moves forward. The full press release is after the break. Continue reading EATR’s engine officially complete, and this robot’s one step closer to reality EATR’s engine officially complete, and this robot’s one step closer to reality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink    |   |  Email this  |  Comments

Over the past few months, Automattic’s popular blog platform WordPress.com has taken an in-depth look at their blogging ecosystem, and realized that one of the major pain points for the 12.1 million users who self-host their WordPress.com blogs is security and restoration. WordPress.com backs up all of the blogs that it hosts, but those users who self-host their WordPress.com-powered blogs need to download outside plugins, such as this one, or use backup services like Mozy or Backupify to protect their data and content. Today WordPress.com is changing that with the launch of its own blog protection and restoration service for self-hosted blogs, called VaultPress. Currently in private beta, VaultPress is a plugin users can download that acts as a backup service for your blog. Not only will the software help keep your blog up and running, but it will also soon monitor your site to alert you if their is suspicious activity or a hacking. Alternatively, VaultPress will eventually update your blog with security hot-fixes automatically. VaultPress will be a paid service and will probably be in the ballpark range of $15 to 20 per month, according to Automattic VP of User Growth Paul Kim. At first VaultPress will be extended on an invitation only basis and will eventually be open to the public in the near future. While users can still use outside services or WordPress.com endorsed plugins, VaultPress will be the only WordPress.com branded offering. And the plugin is tightly woven into WordPresscom’ infrastructure, promising greater operability, says Kim. WordPress.com founder Matt Mullenweg says VaultPress is one of the most advanced technologies that he’s seen interact with WordPress.com. The vision of the service is to ensure that every piece of content on WordPress.com-powered blogs and sites are safe, with WordPress.com-aware, real-time, multi-cloud backups. VaultPress as a product makes sense for WordPress.com and frankly, I’m surprised that the blogging platform didn’t roll this out earlier. Disclosure: TechCrunch uses the VIP hosted version of WordPress.com. CrunchBase Information Automattic Information provided by CrunchBase

MySpace’s former GM International Travis Katz left the company shortly after the big executive shakeout in the Spring of 2009. He spent a few months in Hawaii recharging, and then moved his family to Silicon Valley. Since January he’s been working on a new startup, he says, and he’s teamed up with Ori Zaltzman , the former Chief Architect of Yahoo Boss. That’s enough of a team to make things really interesting. Particuarly Zaltzman’s deep infrastructure background. Katz isn’t saying what the new startup will do. When pressed he said “consumer Internet.” When pressed further he said “social infrastructure product.” He says he’s not saying anything else until the fundraising is closed. “Fundraising? What VCs are you talking to?” “No comment.” Etc. My goal is to find out all about the new startup, and share it with you, before Katz wants me to. But until then that’s all I’ve got. This is now the third startup to spring from the loins of former MySpace execs. Back in March 2009 a trio of MySpace execs – COO Amit Kapur, SVP Steve Pearman and SVP Jim Benedetto – left to begin working on a new startup called Gravity . And MySpace cofounder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe recently unveiled MindJolt . All look promising. Perhaps more promising than the company they left behind. CrunchBase Information Travis Katz Ori Zaltzman Information provided by CrunchBase