gum

Just Mobile Gum Pro powers, recharges iPhones

Are you an active iPhone user? Or a Twitter and e-mail addict? Does your iPhone battery never lasting as long as you would like it to? Want emergency backup power? Regardless of the circumstances, you need a battery pack.

Just Mobile's Gum Pro, which I tested this week, gives an iPhone a little more than two additional full charges. I have no complaints about it and I'll never leave the office without it.

The Gum Pro offers some advantages that other battery extenders (such as the Mophie Juice Pack Air or the Energizer AP1500) do not. For starters, … Read more

Social media's uphill advertising climb

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Reality check: half of the social media start-ups at Tuesday's Under the Radar Conference won't exist next year.

That was the dour prediction of an advertising executive after a day of start-up presentations from a tongue-twisting list of tech companies--including Verismo, Mytopia, Loud3R, Jacked, Sometrics and PutPlace.

Not that the start-up pitches were boring or hard to swallow. It's just that similar to the dot-com heyday (and eventual bust), the success of many social media companies is tied to online advertising spending. And guess what, after nearly 10 years of hand-wringing over Internet advertising … Read more

Hunting for a new Web publishing giant

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--News aggregation, licensing rights, and user-generated content. Every publisher has grappled with one or all of these issues as they've built online operations in the age of social media.

They're also potentially ripe markets for innovation. Or at least that's the hope of four Web publishing start-ups that presented business models here Tuesday at the Under the Radar Conference, a one-day confab on social media.

Four companies--AudioMicro, GumGum, Keibi, and Loud3r--delivered a six-minute elevator pitch to an audience of executives and three judges. Judges included Charlene Li, vice president at Forrester Research; Rob Hayes, … Read more

Gas guzzler? This Hummer's a gum-guzzler

Even if they involve Optimus Prime, we're sick of geeky cakes.

The convergence of the automotive and confectionary industries reached a fever pitch quite some time ago, in that South Park episode where Satan demands to have a "Ferrari cake" at his Halloween party, after all. But that doesn't mean there's no room left for innovation in the field of tooth-rottingly-sweet edible homages to technology.

We are, for example, totally loving this masterpiece by artist Heidi Hesse. has created a wire frame shaped like a Humvee (the military vehicle that inspired our wonderful, beloved Hummer) … Read more

A toothbrush to light up your mouth

We're not fond of cliches here at Crave, but this really is one idea that's so crazy it just might work. Making it even more interesting, the product is made in China and distributed by company based in Chile (definitely un-cliche).

It's a lighted toothbrush. Don't laugh. We're not talking about just any blinking gizmo toy, but a toothbrush with a "high-intensity LED white light" and a built-in mirror on the back of the bristles that distributor Ribalderrama says can make brushing and oral self-examination much easier.

The Chilean company isn't stopping … Read more