Hasta La Gadget!

CloudCar, a startup still in stealth mode that was the subject of rumors earlier this month when Robert Scoble reported that Andy Rubin would leave his job at Google to join it, has filed a Form D with the SEC indicating that it has raised $11.5 million in a Series A round.

The startup may not be Rubin’s next place of employment, but he is connected to it: after the rumor hit, and then he denied it on Twitter, he further clarified in a Google+ post that CloudCar “are a group of friends who I give free office space to in my incubator in Los Altos.”

The Series A, the Form D notes, comes in Series A Preferred Stock; Warrants to Purchase Series A-1 Preferred Stock; Series A-1 Preferred Stock issuable upon exercise of Warrants; Common Stock issuable upon conversion of Series A and Series A-1 Stock, with the only stated purposes of the funding being “Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, executive salaries.” (Not atypical for a stealth-mode fundraising.)

While there were some questions over what exactly CloudCar was doing when the Rubin rumor hit, it actually has a website with more detail on the company.

It looks like it will be doing something in the area of bridging in-car services with the kind of wireless content that we are now getting on smartphones and tablets — using cloud-based storage to do it: “The explosive growth of smart phones has raised consumer expectations for the connected in-car experience,” the site says on its jobs page. It notes that ABI predicts that within five years, 90 percent of new cars will ship with connected car features. “Yet market penetration for Connected Cars is in single digits because the current industry technology base prevents rapid innovation.”

Its CEO is Konstantin Othmer, who had previously been the CEO and founder of Core Mobility, a wireless enterprise service that worked with device manufacturers and wireless operators on visual voicemail, voice SMS, wireless backup, and push-to-talk services that shipped on 40 million mobile devices in four countries, according to the site. Core Mobility was purchased by Smith Micro Software. Prior to that he founded CRM startup ePeople, and before that had been an engineer at Apple.

The COO, Brue Leak, and CTO, Peter Barrett, both have experience in web TV services: Leak at WebTV and Barrett at Microsoft TV. Jim Wickett, head of business partnerships, also has extensive experience in media technology companies, most recently at Macrovision/Rovi as EVP.

The company is currently hiring engineers for “new consumer experiences that broaden the scope of current market leading mobile platforms.”

We are contacting CloudCar to see if it can provide some more detail on this funding round and what we might expect next from the company — and whether Rubin has increased his involvement in any way.

Despite the fact that Nintendo’s 3DS is an excellent hand-held console, 3DS sales haven’t been on par with what the company was expecting.

But perhaps Nintendo’s brand new Nintendo 3DS XL will turn the tides. It’s very similar to a regular 3DS, but with 90 percent larger screens. According to Nintendo’s official release, it comes with a 4GB SD card, better battery life, and both Blue and Red color flavors. Access to the Nintendo eShop is obviously available, but users will also be able to pick up Super Mario Bros. 2 on launch day, August 19.

We’ve seen a huge trend lately with OEMs increasing screen size on smartphones, where gaming has grown to be more and more prevalent, slowing chipping away at Nintendo sales. It only makes sense that Nintendo would take a hint and offer more screen real estate on their portable gaming devices.

The Nintendo 3DS XL will be available August 19 for an MSRP of $199.99.

[image via Reddit]

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The modern man is clearly embarrassed by tablet computers. It’s a common trend to disguise the slate computing device as a book. I guess it affords owners an air of class and sophistication as it appears they’re toting around a well-loved tome rather than a dull, lifeless computer. Twelve South has taken this practice to the extreme with redesigned iPad and iPhone cases.

The BookBook is one of the finest iPad cases ever tested by TechCrunch. The construction and materials are top-notch. And thanks to a zipper and relatively thick sides, it wraps the device in a fair amount of protection, too. It feels fantastic in the hand. The vintage-looking leather adds a good amount of character and seems to age well. Inside, the iPad is secured with a leather sleeve that also features a kickstand that props up the device at a 30 degree angle.

The iPhone case isn’t as impressive, though. It uses the same overall design but this doesn’t seem to translate well to the smaller form factor. The material is equally nice and the iPhone version sports an ID window and credit card slots on the backside of the front cover. But the BookBook for iPhone lacks any sort of closure mechanism (like a zipper or snap), leaving the opposing side to essentially flap open willy-nilly. This is made worse by the fact that in order to talk on the phone with the case, users have to fold the front cover behind the phone, warping this side of the flap.

The cases are a bit pricey at $79 and $59 for the iPad and <a target="_blank" href="The modern man is clearly embarrassed by tablet computers. It's a common trend to disguise the slate computing device as a book. I guess it affords owners an air of class and sophistication as it appears they're toting around a well-loved tome rather than a dull, lifeless computer. Twelve South has taken this practice to the extreme with redesigned iPad and iPhone cases.”>iPhone versions, respectively. That’s par for the course though. The other options from DODOcase, Pad and Quill and XHiBT are priced similarly but the BookBook actually features a bit more protection. Plus, it feels better in the hand than the other cases I’ve tried. I hesitate to recommend the iPhone version for the reasons outlined above but the BookBook for iPad is fantastic.

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Although the form factor and actual size are still unknown, TechCrunch has independently verified that Apple is working on adding a 19-pin port, replacing the current 30-pin port, to the new iPhone. It is a move that will surely send shocks through the iPhone accessory ecosystem.

The new port, partially shown in this Mobilefun post as well as in this video, is similar in size to the Thunderbolt port available on many MacBook devices but I’ve been told by three independent manufacturers that the pin-out will be different.

Apple’s 30-pin ports have been the standard since Apple released the third generation iPod. The connectors offered structural stability when connecting to most accessories but it’s clear – especially with the introduction of the MagSafe 2 port – Apple is more concerned with space savings inside each device.

Three independent manufacturers all agreed that the 19-pin dock port is in the works and many accessory manufacturers are facing an uneasy few months as they wait for official news of the standard to be announced.