Google introduced the term “superphone” to the world yesterday when they unveiled the Nexus One Google phone . Right from the beginning of the hour+ presentation, Google execs were referring to the Nexus One as the first “superphone,” a term not previously widely used (of note – GigaOm has a reference to the term last summer). So what’s a superphone? It’s a marketing term and nothing else. Google VP and Android founder Andy Rubin talked about the term at length in the Q&A session, and we’ve grabbed the relevant parts of the video from the ustream archive and embed it below. Here’s part of the transcript (bolding added): The definition of a superphone…the difference between superphone & smartphone…the evolution of the platform is such that the openness, coupled with these marketplaces and these app stores, that makes it really easy for people to download 3rd party content; an ecosystem by which 3rd party developers can participate in the ecosystem; the Ghz processors; the more memory; the gigabyte storage…. these are all things that didn’t exist 2 years ago . So we thought that the industry needed another term to refer to these innovations . And again, this is a s powerful as your laptop was 4 years go . If anything, you’re carrying these around in your pocket, they’re with you all the time they’re always on… these are all new. So we wanted to refer to it by something and we think that “superphone” is the right way to refer to it. The bar is raising…These superphones are getting more and more sophisticated…everybody knows about Moore’s law…today’s superphone is tomorrow’s smartphone… “Today’s superphone is tomorrow’s smartphone,” says Rubin. I immediately thought of Highlander and the “there can be only one” quote (the immortals in the movie had to kill eachother until there was just one left). As soon as a new superphone comes out, any previous superphone is relegated to being a mere smartphone. There can be only one superphone. But what Google is really doing is making a not-so-subtle jab at the iPhone and other competitors. The Nexus One, he implies, is as powerful as laptops were four years ago. All those smartphones from two years ago (iPhone) aren’t superphones. Presumably even the iPhone 3GS, which may have been a superphone last summer when it launched, is a mere smartphone today. Only the Nexus One is a superphone. And soon, it will only be a smartphone as new devices are launched. It all makes my head spin. But that’s ok. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s phone. The Super-Duper-Phone ( too late, I already registered it ). It’s tomorrow’s superphone, when today’s superphone has become a mere smartphone. And today’s smartphones are something icky and untouchable. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

The only good thing about the deadline for this week’s TechCrunch round-up falling on Christmas Day is the absolute certain fact that you won’t be reading the results. After all, with the holiday season in full swing, no one in their right mind will be reading TechCrunch. I certainly won’t. Safe in that knowledge, I can pretty claim anything I like. That this week’s top story was Mark Zuckerberg being eaten by zebras , for example, or Al Qaeda investing in Twitter . Hell, I could probably claim that Spotify is profitable and it would still pass entirely without remark. Who would know? Just me and Google’s spider. But I’m a professional – which is why I only missed my Christmas Day deadline by 24 hours – and as such I take seriously my responsibility to bring you this week’s top stories, regardless of whether you care or not. Hell, I’ve even come up with a festive theme in a vain attempt to keep you reading. Even though I know you’re not. Here we go then… On the first day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you…. One billion dollar exits Sarah rounded off her South American research trip by profiling Wences Casares and examining the difference between billion dollar exits and what it means to feel “success”. On the second day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Two out of every ten companies suffering from “stealth disease” Vivek tells stealth start-ups: Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets. On the third day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Three years of Crunchies The first tickets to the third annual Crunchies sold out very quickly, but there’s still plenty of time to vote for the winners across 18 categories before voting closes on January 6th. On the fourth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Four screenings of Avatar Or at least that’s how many Arrington has attended since the movie launched this week and he described it as ‘The iPhone Of Movies’. On the fifth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Five hundred and fifty million dollars Over half a billion dollars; the price that Yelp turned down when they walked away from selling to Google. On the sixth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Six -ty thousand nooks will be shipped by Barnes & Noble this year …despite issues with shipping pre-orders. On the seventh day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Seven million more dollars raised by ChaCha ….despite issues with their entire business being a joke. On the eighth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Eight million dollars raised by Livemocha …in a round led by August Capital to allow the online language-learning community to build new partnership deals and work on product development. On the ninth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Nine ‘rock-star’ names associated with WePay’s new group payments services Levchin, McClure, Conway, Y Combinator… On the tenth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Ten IPO Candidates for 2010 ….and, from Europe, ten disappointing tech stories of 2009. On the eleventh day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Eleven billion valuation for Facebook Up from the company’s $10billion valuation earlier this year. And finally. On the twelfth day of Christmas, TechCrunch gave to you… Twelve (at least) religions that I’ve certainly offended by suggesting that the entire world stops for Christmas. I look forward to the comments. Not that I’ll be reading them – after all, it’s Christmas! Have a good week! Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

I’ve seen Avatar twice now, which is saying something when you’re talking about a nearly three hour movie that was released 36 hours ago. But we lined up on Thursday night for the first midnight showing. And then I saw it again yesterday at the TechCrunch screening in San Francisco. What do I think? I think I’m going to go see it again this weekend at an IMAX theater. Because the movie is awesome in 3D, but I want to see it in 3D on a 50 ft by 70 ft screen. Movies will never be the same after Avatar. Like the iPhone in the mobile world, this movie disrupts an entire industry. I didn’t know much about the movie until I read an article about it in Wired on a flight to Europe last week. A movie James Cameron has been working on since 1994, but he had to wait until technology caught up with his dream, and he invented a new kind of camera along the way. The amazing thing about Avatar isn’t the story – it’s simply a passable tale that’s part Pocahontas, part Dances With Wolves. But it’s a story played by ten foot tall blue people with tails who fly around on miniature dragons and generally kick ass. And suddenly the special effects in every movie you’ve ever seen seem trite in comparison. Jurassic Park type special effects, which seemed so awesome in the 90s, are now laughably dated. There’s no point in the movie where you can really tell the difference between real imagery and CGI. You become completely lost in the world of Pandora, the setting for Avatar. And if you thought Zoe Saldana was amazing in Star Trek earlier this year, wait until you see Avatar. An entire generation of teenagers are now going to have a lifelong crush on a huge blue woman with a tail named Neytiri. The movie grossed just $27 million in its first day at the box office, which pales in comparison to Twilight Saga: New Moon ($72 million) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($62 million). But don’t forget that Cameron’s Titanic made just $28.6 million on opening weekend. And that movie did ok in the end . Avatar, like Titanic, is one of those movies you’ll want to see over and over. But don’t wait for the DVD. This is a movie that has to be seen in 3D. And for that you have to go to the theater. Go see it, you’ll thank me later. See the high definition trailer here . Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Viewsonic was showing this one off way back in July alongside a slew of other gear, but it’s just now gotten fully official with its VPD400 MovieBook media player, which is apparently available right away for $129.99. That will get you a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 display, 8GB of internal memory, a micro SD card slot for more, an AV out port for some bigger screen viewing (not HDMI, it seems), and a promised 12 hours of battery life for audio and six for video — not to mention your choice of black, pink or white color options. Not too shabby, just don’t go expecting anything fancy like WiFI or a touchscreen. Filed under: Portable Audio , Portable Video Viewsonic offically launches VPD400 MovieBook media player originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

This is a crazy fun demo of the new Avatar toys by Mattel. Each toy includes a little card that is scannable via webcam and creates an on-screen augmented reality robot or character. While this is old hat for most of us, Mattel is quite proud of being ahead of the curve and for good reason. You can see more demos at AvatarItag.com . Total Immersion made the technology and even added a little “button” system to the cards. When you touch a spot on the card, the onscreen character pulls a knife, shoots a gun, or recounts part of the story. The added information and data will change over time, up to the release of the movie on December 18. Obviously this requires a computer and a patient kid but it’s still an exciting addition to an already interesting movie. We’ll have some of these toys in next week and we’ll stage mock battles for you all. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could put two cards on the table at once and have them fight? OMG! Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0