Infinity Watch Concept : MP3, Video, Curves-A-Plenty

When you design a gadget that tries to do everything under the sun, it invariably both sucks and blows. At the very least, this 3D render of the Infinity doesn't hurt our eyes. To the contrary, it soothes them. The wristwatch has a display on the front that you can use to show off digital photos and video clips. That, and it plays MP3s. Since it's still just an artist's rendering, we'll likely never see it in the local Wal-Merde anytime soon. 'tis a shame, since they're so many quality wristwatch review sites out there. – Nicholas Deleon

Swatch Infinity, Mp3/Video/Photo Player Watch [Yanko Design]

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Pixsy multi-repository image search

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Ringtone/Mobile Game Retailer Playphone Does Big Round

from alarm:clock by BT

PlayPhone strikes us as another startup whose core strength is not technology but deal making. The company has done deals on the content side to bring in famous name brands and then gone out to do the distribution deals.

PlayPhone.com drives traffic to its own destination site and powers mobile destinations for SEGA, ABC, Bandai, Lycos and RealNetworks. Regarding a recent Bandai deal, PlayPhone and Bandai expect to sell 100K units of their pre-paid Tamagotchi phone within 12 months of its July launch in the US.

PlayPhone has secured $18.75M in Series C funding led by Scale Venture Partners and joined by existing investors, Cardinal Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures. The startups says the funding will allow PlayPhone to expand into additional international markets this year.

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B and C List VCs Sucking Wind

from alarm:clock by BT

The New York Times today provides more reportage on the woes of the venture capital sector. Unless you are a top 40 venture firm, you are in a world of hurt.

“It’s been almost a decade,” said Eric Doppstadt, director of private equity for the Ford Foundation, which invests in venture capital firms. “I find it shocking that an asset class that has provided so little payback continues to attract so much capital.”

Read - Some Unrest Is Bubbling Beneath the Top Tier (NY Times)

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Odd iPod Patent Shows Dual Screens, Rear Touchscreen

from TechCrunch by John Biggs

The Interweb is all a'flutter about an odd iPod patent filed by Apple that describes a device with screens on both the front and the back of the player. An amalgam of Sprint's UpStage and the iPhone, this patent describes an interface in which a rear touchscreen accepts input and reflects that input on the front screen. Confused yet?

It works like this. Because a Nano-sized device would be too small to allow for a real front touch interface, the rear touchscreen would sense your finger position and show a cursor where your finger or thumb would be on the front screen. This frees up front real estate and could potentially allow for an onscreen keyboard and other goodies. Possible? Yes. Will it happen soon? Probably not.

This is all pie-in-the-sky conjecture, but it does show a potential design for a future Nano-sized iPhone and makes for great Apple rumor-mongering.

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