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Amazon Vs. Hachette: Fewer Middlemen Equals A Better World | Josh Breinlinger | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | By now everyone is well aware of the ongoing battle between Amazon and publisher Hachette. The thing is, we all know how this story ends; we just don’t know when it will be over. This one does not have a David vs. Goliath ending. Goliath is going to win — and that is a good thing for the world. An investor in oDesk once said, “Two middlemen seems like one too many.” It was a pivotal statement that solidified the early focus on providing direct connections between employers and freelancers anywhere in the world. Everything we did in the early days of oDesk to support and benefit these direct connections paid off. Everything we did to accommodate other middlemen in the process was a waste of time. I’ll be the first to confess that I know basically nothing about the book publishing industry and look forward to being enlightened by readers’ comments. Until then, this is how I see it as a marketplace investor with Sigma West. Hachette is a middleman. So is Amazon. There should be only one. The arguments for Hachette go something like this: without great publishers, there will be fewer great writers, and emerging talents will have a harder time establishing themselves. For , this is a scary proposition Publishers do provide valuable services of talent discovery, quality control and distribution. But let’s look at each one of these points and see how things could be better with fewer middlemen. Take a look at Apple’s App Store. They’ve effectively destroyed the old guard of video game publishers. It’s only in the last few years that an independent game developer from Vietnam could end up with the . That developer probably never would have been discovered by EA. A platform like Amazon will get data about user conversion rates and user ratings much faster than anyone else and can let the cream rise to the top. Granted, they will not discover authors before they ever write a book, but as soon as a title is available for sale, Amazon can take care of the rest. An aspiring author that self-publishes a title that resonates with readers will rise to the top of the charts in a meritocratic platform like Amazon. We should be embracing meritocratic platforms. Others have argued that Hachette and other publishers are necessary for quality curation. They do have many great editors. However, I can assure you that platforms like Amazon and all other marketplaces consider quality curation a top priority. Amazon demonstrated this priority in 2005 when it acquired a company called BookSurge, which provides editing and printing services to independent authors. BookSurge has since merged and rebranded as . CreateSpace may , but as with many things at Amazon, they start with an experiment and improve the service over time. Platforms like Amazon want to make it easier and cheaper for anyone to publish great quality content. They have a long way to go to improve the service, but either they will get there or a new marketplace for high-quality editors or independent publishers will spring up. Amazon is unquestionably the best distribution platform for authors. Nobody else is even close. The value of being able to distribute across various different brick-and-mortar bookstores is diminishing every day and the ability to intelligently optimize digital distribution is now of paramount importance. The bonus for authors increased earnings over time. This is critical – great authors must have the incentive to work with fewer middlemen. Increased efficiency in the process means that prices can come down and authors can make higher earnings overall. They will sell more and retain a higher percentage of earnings since there are fewer big hands in the cookie jar. See for a review of Amazon from a small independent publisher and their payment policies. The bonus for the world is that eliminating middlemen makes the world more economically efficient and maybe even more educated. Prices come down and the amount of reading goes up. The lessons for other marketplaces here are straightforward. Align the incentives of the buyer and supplier and, if possible, ignore the incentives of other middlemen. Provide the tools necessary for individuals to thrive and help them achieve their full potential. Empower aspiring professionals, lower barriers to entry, let the cream rise to the top, and make sure you’re the only middleman left standing. |
How The Digital Revolution Can Fix Scientific Publishing And Speed Up Discoveries | Daniel Marovitz | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | Scientific, Technical, and Medical (STM) publishing is big business. It generates $19 billion in revenue per year, the majority of which is earned by a few powerful publishers that enjoy profit margins of up to 40 percent. Inflated subscriptions sold to academic libraries keep them moving ahead because the librarians feel they have no choice but to buy. These companies add little value to the actual publishing product but they are entrenched. Many forces are now at work to change the status quo which has existed for more than 100 years. The primitive publishing model employed by these publishers is actually a detriment to science. Research paid for by taxpayers is often restricted behind pay walls, major breakthroughs that could potentially save lives languish in articles whose publication is delayed for no reason. In some cases, published findings that have passed a traditional peer review process are subsequently found to be fraudulent. Performed behind a smokescreen of anonymity, these publishers are the master puppeteers pulling the strings of scientific research to no one’s benefit but their own. The issue is that science publishing is not an esoteric academic silo with no impact on the world. Scientific findings ultimately affect every human being on the planet. Something has to change. Until now, despite moving from paper to pixels, the publication of scientific research had not harnessed the full potential of the internet. Most journals still use a system that’s rooted in the pre-web era of print and its associated rhythms and rules. Although solving some of these problems requires a significant cultural shift in academia, many of them are solvable using existing technologies that are already standard in other industries and in the culture of the web at large. It normally takes months – even years – before a submitted article is published. This delay is not only frustrating for researchers, but it limits scientific progress and there is no defensible reason for it. Part of the delay is caused by journals rejecting papers they don’t find interesting enough, but the major factor delaying publication is the academic peer review process. Traditionally, journals only publish articles after they have been approved by other researchers in the field. The idea that an article can only be published this lengthy process is completely outmoded given the immediacy of the Internet and the culture of social media and blogs. We can, and should, post new insights immediately. Pre-print servers such as , where authors can upload manuscripts directly, are already popular in physics and are now starting to be used in biology, as well. There is now a new breed of journal that takes this idea one step further, and arranges formal, invited peer review for articles that have been published online before review, thereby allowing access to information usually months before a traditional journal. Another issue with peer review, aside from the enormous delays it causes, is its anonymity. Most journals use a system where the peer reviewers know who wrote the article, but the articles’ authors and readers do not know who reviewed it. All sorts of potential for abuses arises from smoky rooms. Expert peer reviewers are by default working in the same area which may also make them competitors, creating incentives to be overly critical, or even to deliberately try to hold back a study that competes with their own work. That never serves the interest of science and is completely at odds with the increasing transparency seen in most industries and across the Internet these days. In 2000, publisher started publishing the names of reviewers for the articles in their medical series of journals, and since then, a growing number of journals have made reviewers and/or referee reports public. This helps foster a culture of transparency and dialogue, which are fundamental to good science. Scientists try to publish in the top journals in their field to compete for a small number of jobs. These journals, by design, exercise a very selective approach to what they publish — what appears to be the most “exciting” work. The tragedy is that people are very poor judges of what will ultimately prove to be important — and often more radical but important findings may be discounted or ignored for decades before being “discovered.” As a side effect, scientists don’t publish work that will not directly advance their career. Think of experiments that didn’t show the expected outcome, half-finished projects by people who left the lab, or even small – yet interesting – findings that are not part of their main research project. Collectively, these unpublished studies and data form a big body of knowledge that can advance scientific knowledge and represent a significant percentage of all research and billions of dollars of research money. Any insight that has been gleaned should be published. A small number of journals do encourage the publication of negative results, and even allow “research notes,” which can describe just a single experiment rather than a complex study. Researchers can also upload slide decks to Slideshare, and deposit data in repositories such as Figshare, or topic-specific databases. The underlying data behind published studies are also typically kept hidden while researchers try to build their careers by maximizing the number of new discoveries they can get out of the data they produced. When it is released, it is often so poorly presented that it is impossible for anyone else to reuse it or understand it, and the code used to analyse it is missing. Taken together, this leads to bias in the scientific record, makes it hard for others to try to reproduce new discoveries or build on their findings, limits the reproducibility of research findings and slows down scientific discovery. If you make a claim, you should be forced to prove it by showing your full data set, something that would have greatly benefitted the published in and proved beneficial when the data was included in . Journals like F1000Research and PLOS are now requiring authors to include the underlying data and the analysis code with each published article. With an increasing number of repositories available for scientific data — topic-specific databases, institutional repositories, or services like Figshare or DataVerse — there is no shortage of places to deposit research data. But even with available tech and incentives, not all researchers like the idea of sharing their data: What if someone uses their data to make their own discoveries and scoop them in the next step of the project? This mindset is especially pervasive in the biomedical sciences, which are connected to the huge industries of medtech, biotech, and pharma. There are few commercial applications for cutting-edge mathematical research so those fields don’t suffer from the same pressure for secrecy. The culture of scientific publishing is complex. Some problems need technical solutions, but others require a cultural change within academia. Just a few examples of solutions that are still needed: Tech companies, publishers, academics, funders and other stakeholders all need to work together to find these solutions. The first steps have been made and we’re looking forward to seeing scientific publishing become faster, fairer and transparent. |
Intel’s CEO Envisions A Future Where Wearables Don’t Look Like Wearables — And It’s Not That Far Away | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | Intel CEO Brian Krzanich foresees a day when a wearable is no longer seen a one-size-fits-all device that you put on your wrist. That day could be coming sooner rather than later, as Intel-based wearable products will likely be shown off in the coming weeks at . “Wearables” is still a nascent product category, but one that Intel has a vested interest in. After all, the company for around $100 million earlier this year. Intel isn’t alone, however. Everyone from major consumer electronics manufacturers like Samsung and LG to startups like Pebble and Meta, are seeking to create “smart” devices that users can wear. For the most part, wearables have been split into one of two camps — those targeted at users who want to better connect with and get notifications from their mobile phones and other devices, and others for tracking their activity and fitness levels. Basis is in that latter category. It is best known for making a smart-watch looking device that tracks a wide range of fitness data, including steps, sleep quality, heart rate, and amount of time spent active during the day. As a result, it generally produces a much more comprehensive data set than most competing wearable products on the market today — after all, the Fitbit Flex, Nike Fuelband, Misfit Shine, and others mostly focus on counting steps and leave things at that. The $150 Basis B1 had a , however. For one thing, it was bulkier than most of the other fitness trackers out there, and it also had issues with battery life. The biggest issue with the Basis device, however, might just be that it wasn’t exactly attractive to anyone who cared very much about the fashion of what they wore on their wrist. Unlike the sleek design of the Fitbit or Misfit products, it was too obtrusive to be seen as an accessory. Meanwhile, anyone with a love of watches would dismiss it as a possible replacement due to its design aesthetic. Intel didn’t buy Basis for its design chops, however. The company was interested in acquiring the smarts built into that device, and making it available to others. At a dinner last week with a handful of press, Krzanich explained the company’s plans to unleash the technology beyond its existing hardware and open up a whole new generation of wearables with partners. “If you take a look at [the Basis B1], the sensor technology is superb. If you look at their hardware data relative to any of the other hardware data out there, it’s fantastic,” Krzanich said. “They’ve spent a huge amount of time engineering all of the motion of steps and whatever you want to do, and it’s done a very good job of doing that.” There will be another version of the Basis device coming later this year, Krzanich confirmed at the dinner. The bigger opportunity for Intel and for the industry as a whole, however, could come from working with partners to get that technology embedded into new and different form factors. “We have a great back end, and a great set of sensors, and all of those things are transferrable to almost any device,” he told attendees. And, well, making its technology available to third parties is what Intel does best. “I still don’t want to be in the device business. We always do best when we partner,” Krzanich said. So what kind of partners are we talking about? Surprisingly, it might not be the type of deep-tech consumer electronics brands that you might expect. Instead, it seems like Intel is working with a number of partners that could make wearables more like fashion accessories. Krzanich said to expect some things from Intel at New York Fashion Week, which begins next weekend and extends through the following week. And Krzanich teased that whatever products are put on display will look more like a fashion accessory than what most users have come to think of as wearables today. “Watches are like clothes. And all of these wearables, they’re not that different from clothes. So there’s not going to be one pattern or style that fits all,” he said. That’s important to keep in mind, especially as Intel thinks about opening up a broader market of consumers to buy these products. Most women might scoff at the idea of wearing a Basis watch in its current incarnation, but Krzanich notes that women wear a lot of jewelry — like necklaces and bangles — in which the same sort of “smart” technology could be embedded. It’ll all depend on the form factor of course, but it seems like only a matter of time before wearables are no longer synonymous with wrist bands. And Intel wants to be there when that happens. |
Lessons From The Sharing Economy | Raj Kapoor | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | Companies everywhere are jumping on the sharing economy trend. From sharing skills to houses to cars, the sharing economy is transforming many industries. Technology has lowered the barriers so that anyone can provide services blurring the line between “personal” and “professional.” The consumer peer-to-peer rental market alone is worth $26 billion. Private investors are noticing as Airbnb recently received a $10 billion valuation, and startups like Lyft, Poshmark, fitmob and Uber, which received a $17 billion valuation in its last round, are gaining traction while consumers benefit from lower prices, higher quality, and unprecedented convenience. But this model doesn’t work for every industry. From my years investing in and running companies in the sharing economy, I’ve noted several necessary ingredients for a company built on this model to succeed: Sharing economy models work great when there is a high degree of consumer pain. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In a lot of markets, consumers are happy with the status quo, and it will be hard to get user adoption. A good example of this is Cherry, which started as an on-demand car-washing service. There wasn’t a high enough pain point and frequency for the consumer to change their habit and adopt it – despite the convenience. A sharing economy business works best when it’s hacking an everyday pain point and is something that the average consumer would realistically use multiple times a week. For ridesharing and fitness, the consumer pain is more obvious. Until Uber and Lyft, it was impossible to hail a taxi in most cities, a huge pain to force drivers to accept your credit card, and an all-around unpleasant experience in the car. When you look at the fitness industry, it’s generating $75 billion each year on gym fees, yet 60 percent of people who belong to gyms don’t even go and our nation’s growing obesity and inactivity problem are evidence the solution isn’t working. Lyft and fitmob hack these pain points by creating an experience that is fun, accessible with the push of a button, and affordable giving consumers clear benefits that are lacking in traditional services. While it’s great to have a beautifully designed app for a sharing economy marketplace, the offline service experience is harder to master and the most impactful. The consumer remembers the service experience far more than the buttons they pushed to make it happen. The quality and safety risks are high in a sharing economy model as the supplier is not a brand or a professional. For that reason, it’s critical that the offline experience be highly curated to delight consumers, feel safe and be consistent – especially in the early days when word of mouth is critical. Until the culture and brand of the service is set and there are abundant ratings, each supplier needs to be picked carefully and monitored. It’s tempting for a sharing economy marketplace to simply open its doors and allow any supplier to provide services to consumers and let the market decide. However, this results in a variable consumer experience and may cause negative word of mouth to go “viral” – a vicious cycle. With Lyft, there is a deep focus on the quality of the offline experience. When Lyft evaluates drivers, they ask themselves – would I hire this person to work at the front desk of a top hotel? So much of what makes the sharing economy work is based on human connections and community, not technology. One of the biggest challenges in the sharing economy is regulatory laws that either significantly slow down or outright don’t permit these new services. Our current regulatory structure is geared toward professional, large-scale businesses and didn’t contemplate consumers becoming providers in their spare time or the use of public assets to provide these services. What makes it even more challenging is that the regulations are rarely at the national level – they are often at the city or state level which can be expensive and time consuming for a startup to navigate. Companies rarely succeed in ignoring these regulations. They may start that way (you have more leverage if you can show consumer support before petitioning to change regulations), but eventually they work hand in hand with the government and regulators to create a win-win for all parties – the business, consumers and regulators. Laws need to change to keep up with the new technology, such as what California did for the ride-sharing industry – the first state to create a new regulatory framework for these startups. Companies also have the responsibility to proactively engage with the city officials to decrease the amount of shutdowns and suspensions that we’ve seen across the country in ridesharing to the current battle with Airbnb and New York. At fitmob, we faced a challenge in using the public parks for residents to have workouts. The park system didn’t contemplate that outdoor fitness would be so popular and it presents challenges in a balanced use of parks. After casually using the parks and hearing of complaints, we reached out to SF Recreation and Parks to work out an agreement that allowed us to work collaboratively. By creating a relationship early we were able to foresee issues and propose solutions that benefit both parties. The common misconception that the sharing economy requires very little capital and just requires some good code and design couldn’t be further from the truth. Airbnb, Lyft and Uber have all raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Just to launch fitmob and prove product market fit we raised over $9 million in equity and venture debt financing. Why? First, in the early days it’s critical to curate and have the best “supply”. Often times the platform needs to subsidize the best providers to have them forego their current opportunities and solve the “chicken or egg” problem. Lyft, Uber, and fitmob all had to pay providers some sort of “floor” initially to make it worth their while when consumer demand was not predictable. Second, these are hyperlocal businesses that require very targeted seed marketing to get the flywheel going. Once you’ve nailed the business in one market and move to a new city, it’s like building a new company from scratch. Third, like other startups, there is a war to hire the best talent but these businesses require broader expertise than just tech – they need local marketing, logistics, market experts and regulatory firepower. It may be cheap to build a marketplace app, but not to provide a consistent high-quality service and scale it across multiple locations. While several companies are on the fast track to successful global businesses in the sharing economy, many entrepreneurs are still figuring out what types of businesses do and don’t work running on this model. One thing is certain – the future of the sharing economy will be exciting. |
Cultural Realities Of Latin American Entrepreneurship | Derek Footer | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | One of the brilliant things about tech leaders and pundits in Silicon Valley is their true passion for entrepreneurship and their belief in the power of the human spirit and intellect. Surrounded by the sight of so many motivated and talented founders in the Valley itself, they assume that this optimistic sensibility can override nearly any obstacle for a dedicated entrepreneur. However, outside of the Valley and particularly in the rest of the world, the reality is more nuanced. Truthfully, as a means of understanding startup culture in the rest of the world, this viewpoint does international entrepreneurs a disservice. Brilliant, hyper-motivated foreign founders inevitably find their way to the Valley, shaping this misperception. But the reality of entrepreneurship outside of the Valley is shaped by culture and policy in ways that add myriad challenging layers to the dream of founding a company and bringing it to success. Valley culture has been maturing for nearly five decades and it was founded in a culture that already exalted individualism – cultural underpinnings that nurtured entrepreneurial culture. Elsewhere, this is not the case. My experience has been with Latin America, but I think many of the structural impediments apply everywhere. In Latin America, the fundamental cultural impediment to creating a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem is lack of individual risk-taking. While this is true at the entrepreneurial level, it is not a crucial element due to other factors compensating – primarily the attraction of the Silicon Valley lifestyle. However, this is not true in the investor layer, and thus a crucial piece of the infrastructure – the post-startup financing – is severely underdeveloped. The cultural factors here are clear: lack of comfort with technology, group decision-making, long decision-making cycles, desire for control and severe discomfort with failure result in an anemic investment community. Consequently, the investment infrastructure necessary to sustain risk-takers is missing – beyond mostly government-funded accelerators, there is little further investment until Series A. And the Series A funds are also often beneficiaries of government funding. Even then, few deals get funded, resulting in a handful of positive outcomes via local funds or even fewer companies finding funding in the U.S. The rest die or become zombies. But the commentary on non-U.S. entrepreneurship lacks this awareness. At a private breakfast for investors, I heard a very prominent partner at a leading Valley fund say to his audience of Latin American investors that there will be no more Facebooks or Googles from the States — that the next one would be from Latin America. While he had positive intentions, this investor drove home his ignorance of the region. The quality of founders in Latin America is high enough that there will be potential multi-billion-dollar companies (and besides the obvious reality that the next Facebook or Google will likely be from the Valley), but it is unlikely any will – Latin America has had so few medium-sized successes that no founder is going to turn up a decent exit at the early stages. This isn’t the Valley, where investors and entrepreneurs alike have the resources, confidence and passion to take the chance Mark Zuckerberg did. This is a region where risk-aversion and caution are prominent values. More to the point, a Latin entrepreneur is overwhelmingly incentivized to take the short-term windfall, as a multi-million-dollar exit would make one a rock star locally and ensure funding for their next venture. There is a real and substantial cost to the Silicon Valley hype that spirited entrepreneurship overcomes all obstacles. The strategies that work in Silicon Valley – particularly the drive for growth over early revenues – are often fatal to new startups elsewhere. The best accelerators and institutions at the foundation of Latin American startup culture are following the Silicon Valley model – and incubating and accelerating great companies into a void with a very low chance of further financing – too early for substantial traction and out of cash. So let’s keep the Valley spirit, but focus on developing appropriate local practices, as follows: There is no all-encompassing solution, but taken together the above points will extend the runway for companies to reach a level of traction that will enable them to survive through revenue, giving them time to succeed. A more sensitive approach to the cultural realities of investing in foreign ecosystems, better cooperation between the players in those ecosystems, a longer-term vision and a willingness to ignore at least some Valley “wisdom” in favor of local knowledge would certainly result in more frequent positive outcomes. |
Former Teacher And Current Entrepreneur Walter Duncan Offers Advice On Getting Things Done | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | In honor of we’re talking to creatives, VCs, and, in this case, entrepreneurs about what it takes to succeed. Walter Duncan is a really nice guy and dedicated “teacherpreneur” who has created a test-taking app. His start-up has taken in hundreds of thousands in funding and the accolades from teachers are never-ending. We asked him what it took to be a beginning entrepreneur. Duncan: My name is Walter Duncan, and I am a Teacherpreneur. I have spent 15 years of my life in the classroom, many of those years spent in severely under-resourced schools. My passion is helping to close the achievement gap. Though as a society we have come a long way with technology, in many ways it is increasing the gap between rich schools and poor schools. For instance, many schools that are fully resourced and fully funded are able to give each of their students a device or a computer. This ensures that student progress can be easily tracked, and teachers can intervene when necessary to improve student outcomes. In contrast, resource poor schools like the ones I taught in, simply don’t have the budget or infrastructure. My Co-Founder Isaac Van Wesep and I invented Quick Key Mobile out of this context. I needed a way to get data on how my students were performing each day, and use it to ensure that they were mastering each day’s critical concepts. Doing it by hand was a recipe for teacher burnout, so we created an app to solve this problem. Our app, Quick Key Mobile, turns a mobile device into a scanner that allows teachers to grade assessments in paper based classrooms with or without an internet connection. It then gives teachers the student performance data right away. This tool allows a dedicated teacher to improve student performance, irrespective of their school’s infrastructure and budget. I needed this tool, I could not find it in the market, so we created it.
WD: There are many great programs that are supporting students in developing entrepreneurial skills. One such program, The Junior Achievement program, has been doing this for quite some time to great effect. But ultimately it comes down to students working to motivate themselves to realize their out of the box ideas. Teachers help best by creating the space and offering encouragement, but the burden of the tasks must be carried by the students. When I speak with young people in classrooms around the country about this very question, I encourage them to start small. I encourage them to make T-shirts and sell them at their church, or make a lemonade stand. The principles of business are all present in those small ventures, and it is a great way for students to get started and acquire experience. WD: Leading multiple teams toward a common goal on a tight deadline is challenging! And then there is the testing, no matter how much you test, you always miss something.
WD: You must be willing to work harder than you ever imagined. Be heartened, you are capable, your capacities expand, the work transforms you. Also, be kind at every opportunity, no one likes a jerk.
WD: Trial and error are the best teachers. Students must have a growth mindset, be willing to fail and try again. Each new attempt drives them relentlessly towards mastery. In terms of tools, all you need is an iPhone, the world’s knowledge is actually at your fingertips. |
Five Factors In Building Giants Of The Big Data Era | Navin Chaddha | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | As we enter the second half of 2014, it would be fair to say that big data has gone mainstream, attracting , , applications, and large amounts of . Having seen many technology cycles during our 45 years in venture capital — including the birth of the PC era, the transition to client-server computing and then web-based computing, and the emergence of the cloud and SaaS models — we have pattern recognition on what it takes for a company to go from startup to leader. Here are some observations we’ve made about what it would take to build a lasting big data company: One of the clearest ways to see whether a technology platform is taking hold is to look at how fast the ecosystem is growing around it. For example, in the SaaS era, Salesforce rapidly became a giant because of its expansive ecosystem. Big data will be no different. One thriving big data company that is transitioning from platform to ecosystem is . It is the only distribution for Hadoop that combines the benefits of open source (community innovation, portability and flexibility) with unique architectural enhancements that provide enterprise-grade dependability, security, and performance. The MapR ecosystem embraces both the flourishing Hadoop open source community as well a rapidly expanding portfolio of partner solutions in the . This enables enterprise customers to easily expand and implement their big data initiatives with ready-made, big data utilities and applications. Another example is , an open-source and leading NoSQL database used by companies for a wide variety of applications. MongoDB is building a significant ecosystem of partners across industries. This is not a particularly glamorous part of the big data world; however, we believe that many big companies will be built doing this work. In the client-server era, data integration pioneer became a giant by tackling tough data integration challenges and has maintained its edge by being positioned as a leader in the Gartner Data Integration Magic Quadrant eight years running. An example of a company to watch in this space is , which enables both technical and non-technical analysts to access and transform raw data into actionable data. Companies such as that empowered line of business executives to gain insights grew into giants in the client-server era. We believe that a similar class of big data companies are in the making with companies such as , which are built natively on Hadoop and rapidly deliver insights visually and iteratively. Ensure that valuable expertise from your specific domain is embedded into your analytics application so that it cannot be dislodged. SAP became a giant in the software industry using this strategy. We see this valuable domain expertise in big data analytics companies such as which provides human-driven, machine-assisted solutions for specific use cases like anti-fraud and cybersecurity as well as to vertical industries like defense, insurance, healthcare, & law enforcement; and which transforms machine data into insights. Give your IT and line of business customers compelling interfaces to interact with their data. Understand how users interact with your application and invest in the details of the user experience to make it intuitive and delightful. For example, Dropbox became a giant after creating a simple, intuitive approach to file sharing that is now shared by more than users around the world. Big data companies with intuitive interfaces include , which can create visualizations to help enterprises easily see, understand and derive insights from their data, and , the open-source solution that offers a fast and rich search experience. And one more thing, keep your eye on how the Internet of Things will transform the landscape by serving up data in all kinds of new forms. Today it’s thermostats, phones, watches, even drink glasses… tomorrow data will come from places we have not yet dreamed of. The whole idea of data ownership, lifecycle and ingestion will have to be rethought, spawning new companies. This will give rise to a wave of innovation and companies creating new products and services never thought of or possible before, and existing ones re-imagined. |
Gillmor Gang: Summertime Blues | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | The Gillmor Gang — Dan Farber, Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. This one seems more like an AA meeting for Apple addiction, as the Gang stumbles around pretending to be interested in Twitter tinkering with the Favorites model while just killing time until September 9. The reason we’re in reasonable humor is that we know we’re in for a holiday treat, as visions of iWatches and weightless 20-inch iPads dance in our heads. We know we’ve been good, busy curating our feeds and pruning our Friends lists and all the right social moves. Now give us our big phone and prime the Apple TV with apps. It’s Black Friday on the first Tuesday in September. @stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @jtaschek, @dbfarber, @kevinmarks, @kteare Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor |
DrinkMate Is A Tiny, Plug-In Breathalyzer For Android Devices | Natasha Lomas | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | Devices that plug into smartphones to augment the built-in sensors with additional smarts are continuing to make their way to market, many fueled by crowdfunding. Here’s another contender aiming to extend the capability of Android smartphones: a teeny breathalyzer called DrinkMate, currently seeking $40,000 on to make it to market by December. The 1.8-inch long device is designed to plug into a powered Micro-USB port and, when used in conjunction with its companion app, displays a blood alcohol content (BAC) rating after the user has breathed over its semiconductor-based sensor. DrinkMate does not require a mouthpiece, the user just blows into an air inlet, which helps keep the design compact and the device hygienic. We’ve seen smartphone breathalyzers before, such as the hefty for iPhones, which we covered last year. But the DrinkMate is a lot smaller and a lot cheaper, following a Moore’s Law trajectory. It also claims to be able to deliver on the accuracy front — which is obviously the key aspect here, and a claim that remains to be tested given this is still a prototype — claiming BAC measurement levels at an accuracy of +/- 0.01% BAC at a BAC of 0.02%. DrinkMate’s sensor maxes out at 0.20% BAC but if you’re that drunk you’re unlikely to be enough to use this gadget, let alone find your car keys. In addition to accuracy levels, it remains to be seen how DrinkMate’s performance holds up in rugged, real world environments when the drinks are flowing and users may not be following best practice testing procedure. A savvy companion app that steps users around potential pitfalls, such as by ensuring they wait long enough after their last drink to avoid an inaccurate rating (based on alcohol in the mouth), is going to be required to avoid misleading readings. DrinkMate’s Washington, DC based makers say the basic idea behind the device is to generate a visible, shareable BAC rating as a way to pile more peer pressure on groups of drinkers so they keep each other safe. That’s a laudable aim, but there is of course a risk of encouraging opposing behavior — so again the tone of the app is important. The current app designs are pretty basic but the makers say they are adding more features weekly. While ever more mainstream interest sensors, from location sensors and motion/health focused hardware, are being embedded into phones, more specialist and/or targeted sensor hardware — such as the DrinkMate’s BAC analyzer — is something that makes sense as a smartphone supplement. Bottom line: not everyone is going to want or need this type of sensor embedded in their phone but there will be people who see value in having various specialized gizmos hanging off their keyring which, after being plugged in, extend the utility of their mobile device. (Or indeed which they wear on their person and connect to their mobile via Bluetooth.) Price wise the DrinkMate is currently being offered to Kickstarter backers starting at $25. The hardware is guaranteed compatible (tested) with the following Android devices: The makers’ say they are planning an iPhone version but only if their Kickstarter campaign for the Android version is successful. At the time of writing they have raised just over half of their $40,000 target with another 25 days left to run.
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In Defense Of Square Smartwatches | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | All the smartphone hype is currently around round watches. When LG and Samsung announced their first Android Wear smartwatches earlier this year, most pundits had a heard time getting excited about them — in part because everybody was still waiting for the round Moto 360. Since then, we haven’t heard all that much about the square watches from those two manufacturers, but everybody is still waiting for the Moto 360 and now LG has joined the fray with its own round . The G Watch R looks very nice in — almost like a mechanical watch. I somehow doubt it will look this good in person (it’s screen only has a slightly higher resolution than the current G Watch, for example). It’s nice to see LG step up its design game, but I don’t quite get the hype around these round watches. Sure – they look more like “real” watches, but if they work anything like today’s Android Wear watches, the round face isn’t going to be half as cool as you may think. My main problem with these round watches is that while round faces were great for mechanical watches — what else could you do to display the time before digital watches anyway? — but smartwatches are about so much more than just showing the time. A round screen is simply an inefficient way of displaying the kind of notifications that Android Wear is designed around. On a round screen, you just end up with a lot of wasted screen estate and a slightly awkward look on the actual notifications, because they are often squeezed into the lower part of the circle. Also, remember that in order to get enough battery life from their tiny batteries, the screen has to dim to the point where you can barely read the time when you are not using the watch. Because of that, glancing at a regular round watch face without large digits is almost impossible on these watches — and if all you are doing is showing large digits on a round face, then what’s the point of a round watch? The only watch faces I’ve found useable on the current LG G Watch, for example, are the ones that use huge numbers. None of the round ones are legible enough when you just want to glance at the watch without doing the full arm gesture that turns on the display. The OLED display on the G Watch should some of those issues, but I doubt it’ll be awesome. We’ll get our hands on the final production version of the Moto 360 in the next week or so and see how well the round face works in daily use. More so than a round watch face, I think a square but curved (or even flexible) screen that follows the contours of your arm is a better solution for smartwatches. If all you want a watch to check the time, after all, there are . As always, feel free to tell me I’m an idiot in the comments (and also don’t forget to remind about that site your friend uses to make thousands of dollar while working from home — I keep forgetting to sign up for that ). |
Disney Conquers Physics, Uses 3D Printing To Create Impossible Spinning Tops | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Have you ever been sitting around bored and found yourself trying to get some random household object — a battery, a pen, whatever — to spin around like a top? has taken that idea to a pretty grand extreme. Combining the power of 3D printing and some damned clever physics work, they’ve worked out a way to make just about any shape spin for ages. The idea: if you have near-perfect control of an object’s distribution of mass, you can also control its center of gravity. In other words: if you can pick-and-choose which areas of a semi-solid object are heavier than others, you can make all sorts of weirdly shaped objects spin like a top when they’d otherwise flop right onto the table. Want a spinning teapot? Okay! A nameless “ ” action figure that can spin on one finger? Sure! Disney just passes in the 3D model and plugs in their spinning axis of choice, and their algorithms figure out what sections of the model’s internals need to be made hollow (or, in some cases, use a heavier printing material) for optimal balance. The bad news: this project was built by Disney’s Swiss research team for the SIGGRAPH 2014 conference, but it doesn’t look like they’re releasing any of the tools they built for others to tinker with. You can [Via ] |
How Siri’s Founders Could Have Built The Next Google | Dan Kaplan | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | It always breaks my heart a little when the startups with the most radiant potential hit their troughs of disillusionment and then cash out to a deep-pocketed buyer. This is not because I begrudge the founders of these startups the personal wealth or success that comes with their exits. Indeed, the wallets of everyone involved usually get a lot fatter, and that’s fantastic. But these cash-outs make me sad because when rocketships get picked out of the sky by sharp-eyed acquirers, they rarely achieve the heights that had been in front of them. So it was with Siri, which started its life as an incredible but unusable app for the iPhone 3GS, but could have been the next Google. At the time that Apple acquired Siri (less than six months after it launched), the Siri iPhone app wasn’t close to taking off, and it may have seemed to its founders and investors that this situation was not about to improve. This is because when Siri was merely a standalone app, it made you jump through an unreasonable number of hoops to access its magic: Like a small handful of observers, I was blown away by the tech that made Siri possible and the promise that it held, but even with my degree of excitement: . It seemed obvious that for Siri to achieve its world-changing potential, it had to be integrated with the OS, and there was no way that was going to happen on the iPhone if Apple didn’t own its underlying tech, right? Ah, but not so fast. It is somewhat widely known, but never publicly acknowledged, that a company called Nuance has powered iOS’s (and OSX’s) voice-recognition capabilities since Siri went live. Unlike many of the things Apple builds into iOS, it does not own Nuance, which has a solid (if fairly boring) business selling voice recognition appliances to enterprises — and a less healthy business selling dictation software to consumers. To own Nuance, Apple would have had to shell out a few billion dollars and inherit 10,000+ employees and a boring business to boot. For Nuance, Apple just became another customer, licensing its voice recognition tech and integrating its appliances into those data centers Apple was busy building at the time. It’s not obvious why a similar arrangement couldn’t have been made between Siri and Apple, had Siri been in a different position when Apple came calling. Indeed, though it may not have looked like it the day Steve Jobs showed up to buy Siri with $300+ million in Apple’s cash, there were a number of paths that could have taken Siri along a much more impactful route—transforming it from an app to be opened on an iPhone into a platform to be integrated into every connected human-computer interface in the world that wanted to come along for the ride The particular alternative trajectory for Siri I came up with for the purposes of this post goes like this: Instead of pursuing this or any of the other potential paths to glory and independence, Siri’s founders and/or investors seem to have lost faith when version 1.0 didn’t get traction and decided to take Apple’s cash. Given the pressure and uncertainty and size of the offer, it was not a crazy call. But making the call to cash out, the minds behind this incredible tech lost control of its destiny. If Steve Jobs hadn’t died when he did, maybe his vision and his furious desire to get revenge on Google might have led Siri along a path to ubiquity, but this was not to be. Had they played their cards differently, there’s a meaningful chance that Siri’s creators would now be operating a multi-billion-dollar company. Meanwhile, Siri herself would be shaking up the world, changing the way we interact with the internet, and posing disruptive threats to Google. Instead, it looks like it will live out the rest of its days as a once-hyped feature of iOS: the beauty that could have been, a glimmer of brilliance — faded out and dulled by neglect and the passage of time. One can only hope that with Viv, , the dream will be reborn. |
Online Anonymity Will Soon Be The Only Kind We Have | Jon Evans | 2,014 | 8 | 30 | Anonymity: it’s all the rage– , –and it’s rage-inducing. A Brazilian court has that Secret must be removed from app stores there, and existing installs must be remotely wiped. The UK’s House of Lords has essentially of online anonymity. As usual, judges and politicians don’t understand technology. Anonymity can used for , yes; but it’s incredibly important. Why? Because cameras keep getting cheaper, and better, and more ubiquitous, as does facial recognition software. As The Economist recently : “the idea that anyone will be able hide for long in Nepal, or anywhere else, looks quaint.” Have you ever in your life been photographed doing something embarrassing? Get your explanations ready now: you can expect picture (or video) you’ve ever appeared in to eventually be connected with you. Traffic cameras, dashboard cameras, police body cameras, drone cameras — every time you pop up in any of those, your identity, location, and activity will be identified, indexed, and stored. Planning to wear a hoodie? : “it is predicted that gait recognition technology will be released in a functional state within the next five years, and will be used in conjunction with other biometrics as a method of identification and authentication.” Do you expect your government to prevent all this data from being collated and cross-indexed, in the name of privacy? Oh you poor naïve thing. It’s true, particularly enlightened governments may all this cross-indexing; but nobody will it. Eventually, ubiquitous public surveillance–a de facto –will become too easy, and too cheap, to resist. Eventually, there will be so many cheap cameras, and so many cheap servers processing their data, that you’ll hardly be able to set foot outside of your home without everything you do in any public space–what you do, where you go, and with whom–silently logged on your permanent record. Valuable data which the powers that be (you know, the insurance companies) will use as they see fit. Online anonymity is important because it’s the only kind we can save. The obligatory Oscar Wilde quote: “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Yes, anonymity is frequently–in some contexts, even usually–misused. But eliminating it will not eliminate online vileness. Story on women "paying price for internet's culture of anonymity" mostly cites comments people made under real names. — Kashmir Hill (@kashhill) There’s also an extremely important place for , for people who want to maintain a consistent identity without revealing their so-called wallet name. “We need space to experiment and risk-tolerant environments where people can learn,” Lydia Laurenson in . But let’s not confuse the issue; pseudonymity is important, but it is no substitute for true anonymity. For the moment, consider Whisper and Secret, and this by Austin Hill, who about online security and anonymity. Short version: they both have a lot of work to do. As Noam Chomsky once said, “If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” Anonymity isn’t extraneous to free speech; it’s a crucial component. That doesn’t mean app or forum has to support anonymity. But there have to be ones that do. Banning all anonymity apps, and requiring all online users to register their identities, are the two worst ideas I have heard in some time. Image credit: Ben Fredericson, |
When Payment Processing Becomes A Commodity | Christoffer O. Hernæs | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | One of the big subjects of discussion in the banking industry earlier this year was the publication of the , stating that millennials view banks as irrelevant and placing traditional retail banking at the highest risk of disruption compared to other B2C industries. confirms this and draws a parallel to the challenges the telecom industry faced 20 years ago and states that non-banks will take a third of incumbent banks revenues by 2020. With the rise of mobile wallets, peer-to-peer payment, micro lending and various personal finance tools, the banking industry faces a new breed of competitors from the technology industry. Notable examples include eBay which has been in the payment space for a long time with PayPal, and is now strengthening its foothold in mobile payment by into PayPal. Google has tried entering the payment space with the discontinued Google Checkout and . Amazon is targeting the mobile payment space , as well as challenging Square with a planned launch of a . Facebook, on the other hand, is targeting the . The common denominator for the challengers is that the majority of the companies are targeting the payment processing space. Both Bank of America and Capital One say not to worry, since this is old news and it only disrupts the But the real implication as with any form of value chain disruption is the probability of payment processing becoming a commodity. A catalyst for a commoditization of payment processing is the introduction of cryptocurrencies and new payment protocols like and , which renders clearing obsolete and dramatically lowers the transaction cost for merchants. As a comparison, the transaction cost for payments through Visa/Mastercard/PayPal is ranging between 3-5 percent depending on the transaction size. The transaction cost for bitcoin on the other side is as low as 1 percent with continuing efforts to reduce transaction fees from the . To accelerate the development recently announced removed the transaction fees on the starter plan, offering to merchants accepting BitCoin. With and Apple reentering bitcoin wallets like cryptocurrencies as a default payment method becomes an alluring option for profit-seeking merchants looking for cost effective solutions. This places the challengers in a sweet spot somewhere between the banking and the retail industries through digital wallets and disruptive payment platforms. A commoditization of payment processing will require new business models where cash no longer is king, but analysis of the information gathered through transactions is the new competitive advantage in the digital payment processing space. predicts that loyalty and analytics is the primary growth driver for mobile payments. It states that this will require new partnerships between payment providers, merchants and third-party analytics vendors like Oracle and IBM, in order to deliver cloud-based mobile solutions for the financial services industry. Starbucks is one example of the business potential in combining loyalty programs and payments and reports that mobile payments stands for , and is considering selling its software to other merchants. These changes to combined with increasing sector complexity due to industry convergence, , industry consolidation and poses great challenges for banks in the years to come and creates a perfect storm seemingly favoring new entrants and the technology industry’s inherent ability to experiment and willingness to try and fail. Despite an entrepreneurial spirit and independence from antiquated legacy systems, barriers to entry are rising. Glen Fossella states in an interview with that regulatory complexity and compliance demands will become such a growing burden for new entrants, that it is both faster and cheaper for incumbents to acquire or partner with startups. learned this the hard way and was . He also advises banks to invest in startups, acquire and hire entrepreneurs or hire talent from technology companies. The leading example when it comes to preparing for the rise of digital payments is Visa. CEO Charles W. Scharf stated that the leading payment network is , although Visa presented an from global payments. One of these initiatives is the creation of Visa Digital Solutions with a wide array of offerings. This includes the launch of Visa Checkout, the successor to V.me, Visa Cloud Payment Solutions and, more exciting, the that substitutes traditional credit card numbers with a digital token. Visa also opens up for collaboration with developers and technology companies with these new services. In addition Visa revealed an , a mobile payments solution accepted at the majority of point-of-sale terminals. Through these initiatives, Visa sets a leading example for incumbents in the payment ecosystem by showing a try-and-fail mentality, as well as long-term commitment through repeated mobile wallet initiatives, willingness to invest in promising startups as well as collaborating with partners to encourage open innovation. Banks and financial institutions should view Visa as a leading example in order to secure a position in the digital payment ecosystem. And let’s face it. A bank will never be viewed as cool for the millennial generation. But banks represent safety for the consumer, and it is possible to make banking somewhat less boring through adapting new technology and acquiring new innovations. |
Female Entrepreneurs Want To Inspire Young Girls With Miss Possible | Cat Zakrzewski | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Looking around their engineering classes at the University of Illinois, and noticed something was missing — other girls. And so like good engineers, they set out to solve that problem. The recent graduate and college senior invented , a doll and accompanying app aiming to spark an interest in math and science among young girls. The Miss Possible dolls are based on real women who have been trailblazers in the fields of math and science. The first Miss Possible will be , the famed chemist and physicist who remains the only person to win the Nobel Prize in multiple science fields. In the app that will accompany the Miss Possible doll, girls can learn about the famous woman’s story, do hands-on activities with materials found around the house or play in-app games. [vimeo 100524346 w=500 h=281] from on . Hobbs and Eaves have created an for the 21st century. Like me, Hobbs said she played with American Girl dolls growing up. Those dolls brought a message of female empowerment to ‘90s kids using American history and arts and crafts. Miss Possible does it with science and an app. As after releases diversity reports that show women are underrepresented in tech positions, that might just be the kind of doll girls need. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen attempts to attract girls to STEM fields with dolls. Mattel made headlines just a few months ago with its Entrepreneur is an important addition to Barbie’s list of careers. Running a startup was the next logical career move for a woman who’s traveled to space, gotten her medical degree and modeled in fashion shows. But is special because she’s not a plastic blonde with unrealistic body proportions and pointy feet. She’s based on a real woman with a real life who young girls can look up to. After Marie Curie, and have plans to make dolls based on the first African-American female aviator, , and the first programmer, . “There’s research showing role models matter,” Hobbs said. “Early exposure to these fields makes a difference.” Hobbs’ mother, who has a background in science, has been her lifelong role model. From the time Hobbs was a young girl, she has only considered jobs in the math and science field — first planning to become a doctor and then shifting to engineering as she got older. But she realizes this isn’t the case for all girls. “I think studying engineering is a deliberate for women, but for some male students in college, it’s a default decision,” Hobbs says. Hobbs believes at least in her experience at University of Illinois, support networks were in place for female engineers once they chose to take those classes. The problem starts before college. Hobbs and Eaves were inspired to create the dolls after volunteering to help with science courses in schools while at college. They in July to fund the project. Hobbs said the campaign’s goal of $75,000 is the absolute minimum amount the girls need to launch the project. Hobbs and Eaves hope to surpass that goal and encourage supporters who like the idea but don’t want to purchase a doll to still contribute, and they will donate the doll to a charitable organization. In the past, efforts to get young girls interested in coding or math and science fields using dolls or shopping games have been criticized. “People say why do we have to do anything special to get girls interested in these fields, but […] clearly what we’ve been doing hasn’t panned out,” Hobbs said with the confidence you’d expect from the founder of a doll called Ms. Possible. “I say try everything we can.” |
Tech Companies Praise The President For Speaking Out In Favor Of Net Neutrality | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | President Barack Obama spoke in favor of net neutrality this week, pushing back against the idea of paid prioritization, which many call Internet “fast lanes.” Following the president’s comments, a number of technology companies joined cultural and privacy groups in praising the American leader. The corporations and organizations citing the president’s comments directly, and saying that in the wake of his remarks that they are “counting on [the president] to take action to ensure equality on the Internet.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler painted himself into a corner of sorts when he advocated for net neutrality rules that would allow for some edge providers — video companies, etc. — to pay ISPs for prioritized access to consumers. Those arrangements would be contingent to the test of “commercial reasonableness.” The plan has few fans. It isn’t clear what Wheeler intends, or even if he has the votes on his commission to pass his plan. Discontent extends from the White House to Congress to Silicon Valley. President Obama does a decent job at explaining the stakes: One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That’s the big controversy here. So you have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more and also charge more for spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet so they can stream movies faster. I personally, the position of my administration, as well as a lot of the companies here, is that you don’t want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to different users. You want to leave it open so the next Google and the next Facebook can succeed. That’s correct. The FCC has so far on the issue, making net neutrality the most-commented-on proposed rule-making ever. Chairman Wheeler wants to move on the issue this year, so we should reach the chrysalis moment in short order. Getting the Internet right is a pretty big deal. Having the most powerful human alive on the side of keeping it safe is a pretty good thing. Your move, Chairman Wheeler. |
Middle Schoolers Learn About Startups By Launching Their Own | Cat Zakrzewski | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | In the tech world, we’re used to seeing young entrepreneurs, from to . But not this young. A group of four middle schoolers from Torrance, California, spent their summer vacation building , a simple game inspired by . Their parents wanted them to learn what it was like to be part of a startup, from designing and developing an app to marketing it. To get the full startup experience, each child took on a different role in the startup, which they called after their initials. Seia Watanbe, 14, was the app’s designer, and Yua Watanabe, 12, ran product management. Kai Macken zie, 11, was the programmer, and Sho Mackenzie, 13, led the marketing plan and bravely emailed TechCrunch. BankIt, now available in the and app stores, isn’t too complicated. It has a ball that you swipe toward the top of your phone. You get points each time you bank it off the top before you make it into the white goal box at the bottom. The game keeps track of your top scores, and I found trying to beat mine a little addicting. But the point of SKYS Studios isn’t the game. It’s to spark an early interest in the technology sector. As after releases diversity reports, we debate how we can get more girls and minorities to study computer science and apply for jobs in the tech sector. and other initiatives to bring programming to the classroom are crucial to these efforts, but I like that SKYS went beyond that, showing that working in the tech field can be more than just coding. “One of the main things I told them during the whole startup camp is that even though it might fail, just try and build something that you are proud of and see what happens. I was happy that they all embraced that message and actually got their app in the Apple and Google app stores,” Harold Mackenzie, the father who oversaw SKYS Studios, wrote in an email to TechCrunch. I had the chance to interview the young entrepreneurs, who were a bit shy even though Harold Mackenzie tells me seconds before I Skyped in they were throwing things at each other. Sho Mackenzie, a future Silicon Valley spokesman, told me his favorite part of working on the project was testing different settings, like how the game would be different with multiple balls or different parameters. Although the app is finished, the kids’ work isn’t done. They have a back-to-school marketing campaign planned in a few weeks, when they’ll use Instagram to promote the app to their classmates. What’s SKYS Studios’ next move? All four kids excitedly told me that they would want to work on an app again, even though they’re not quite sure what they want to be when they grow up yet. |
Stellar, Uber, And The Rise Of Computational Trust | Danny Crichton | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | How do you feel about letting strangers into your home? Our homes act as a kind of sanctuary from the outside world, a highly personal and exclusive refuge. They should be safe. While it is a commonplace in cultures throughout the world to be gracious hosts to guests, such warmth rarely extends to complete strangers at the door. The notion that we would provide a room to those outside our kin seems remarkably alien, and yet, Airbnb would seem to have successfully changed this social norm. Today, as the company’s valuation can attest, it has found a way to facilitate these sorts of transactions on a global scale, across social classes and cultures. A closer examination of this dynamic though, shows that there is more complexity here than meets the eye. Airbnb didn’t approach this situation by resolving to make people more trusting, but instead, by making guests more familiar to their hosts, and vice versa. It developed reputation systems with symmetric feedback mechanisms so that guests and hosts can get to know each other before ever meeting, and it offers an insurance policy to limit any failures of its credibility model. Rather than creating a new culture of trust, it simply evaded the issue of trust entirely. The story of Airbnb is a great parable about the changes happening to trust in our society. Driven by technology change, formerly untrusted transactions are easier to conduct than ever. A Bitcoin transaction doesn’t require any information about the payer at all, unlike credit card transactions, and an Uber driver can be sure that a passenger is going to pay a fare with limited bad behavior. More than almost any other social change driven by startups, the invention of a “non-trusting” infrastructure is one of the most notable in the history of the internet. Unfortunately, our heady delight at this increasing power for abstract commerce belies a challenge to the very culture that holds together human societies. In using products like Airbnb’s reputation systems and Bitcoin’s blockchain, we are increasingly relying on technology to facilitate trust between humans, rather than developing our own individual capabilities for fidelity. That may have limited short-term influence on the way our economy is structured, but in the medium to long-term, this transition risks undermining not just traditional commerce, but also areas like decision-making, politics, leadership, and normal social interactions. Trust is about expected behaviors, an assumption that another party is going to take actions as we would expect. The very concept of agriculture that allowed civilization to flourish was built around trust – trust that food was going to be produced, trust that it would be distributed and not hoarded, and trust that there was some way of procuring that food in a consistent manner. The history of economics, and really, the history of civilization, is the creation of institutions that allow us to increasingly abstract away that trust and minimize risk. Perhaps the most prominent example is currencies. When someone hands me dollars to pay for something, I only have to trust that this system of payments is going to work, irrespective of the payer’s credit or trustworthiness. Court systems and regulations work similarly to reduce risks of conducting business by (theoretically) making outcomes more predictable. We have only talked about physical exchanges, but services have even more risk. When a taxi driver takes on a passenger at the curb, that driver is literally taking on a financial risk – will the person who just entered the cab be able to pay at the destination? When a software consultant finishes up a phase of a programming project, will they receive their income? Through social trust, laws, and regulations, our system has adequately worked to make these services possible. The passenger believes the driver will take him or her to their destination in the shortest way possible, while the driver expects that the passenger will pay and behave. Similarly, the software developer expects to get paid as the terms of their contract dictate. Unfortunately, our society’s stock of trust has been declining. For Americans, our trust in institutions, measured through long-running polls like those at Gallup, in our levels of trust. Such faith in institutions is decreasing elsewhere in the world as well. Perhaps even more ominously, levels of social trust also seem to be decreasing throughout the world, , who also happen to be the heaviest users of technology. Startups, often without directly saying so, are entering this fray with their own solutions. Startups like Airbnb and Uber are not just about facilitating a transaction, but rather about facilitating trust to allow for a transaction. They have two-sided reputation systems to remove bad actors, and to provide information to both parties to make a transaction easier to make. Even more broadly, Bitcoin and are attempting to entirely do away with trust in our existing commerce. By trusting a simple protocol and the blockchain, we no longer need to have faith in a consumer’s ability to pay, or even in the stability of a single fiat currency. If the currency is located in a Bitcoin account, it can be transacted without any knowledge of the account holder, no human trust required. As I mentioned before, much of the development and flourishing of human civilization has involved the abstraction of elements of our economy. If we think along this line, these new technology systems are not nearly as disruptive as they first appear, but rather merely the next logical phase of abstraction in the economy. If it is possible to take human-based trust out of these transactions and replace it with a computer — which presumably we trust more — isn’t this progress? Indeed, there are truly incredible advantages to the creation of anonymous trust. Commercial transactions that may never have occurred under our previous economic infrastructure may now have a framework for trade, which is almost certainly a positive for economic growth. Those same improvements also apply to services, where computational trust systems can facilitate more work and a greater volume of wages. The challenge is that trust isn’t just the bedrock of our economic system, but also the core architecture of our political and social systems. When a country raises tax revenues to pay for institutions like schools, we are trusting that the government is using such funds judiciously and in a way that fosters the development of the country. This compact is based on trust, and it isn’t simple to replace with a computer. Given the option of having more information about a transaction, most rational agents in an economy would prefer to receive it. We would rather know if the person we are offering our services has the ability to pay or has had serious issues with other professionals. Since computers can increasingly provide us with robust reputation systems, it seems inevitable that such systems will enter into more of our daily transactions. But if a greater number of our daily transactions are mediated by computational trust systems, we may be withering out ability to handle trusting transactions. When a non-profit asks for donation, are we going to Venmo it so we know that it wasn’t stolen by the solicitor? Will we continue to give our kids allowances in cash, or instead replace it with online currencies that are strictly regulated by parental controls? The more computers provide us with the capability to avoid issues of trust, the less practice we will have in basic human-to-human interactions. Perhaps this is too cynical a view. Even if Airbnb mediated the transaction, it is still the case that I allowed someone into my home who I have never met. Nonetheless, I think it behooves us to be watchful for how our technology influences our culture. Trust is too important to merely leave to machines to do. We need to make sure that our ability to trust others doesn’t atrophy like our ability to write using a pen. |
Taking A Wait-And-See Approach With Disruptive Innovations | Matt Marx | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | There’s been quite the brouhaha lately about disruptive innovation. On one side is Harvard Prof. Clay Christensen (author of The Innovator’s Dilemma) and his long-prevailing theory about how disruptive innovation drives incumbents out of the market. On the other side is Jill Lepore and her attack of Christensen’s theory in . It’s an interesting issue: Do disruptive innovations almost always lead to the downfall of incumbent companies? Is their only hope to “disrupt” themselves? Along with Joshua Gans of the University of Toronto and David Hsu of Wharton, I conducted a study on the speech recognition industry over the last 58 years. We found a surprising pattern among entrants that adopted disruptive technologies: Instead of always going head-to-head with incumbents, they often adopted a dynamic commercialization strategy in which they started out competing against them, but later switched to cooperating with them (e.g. by licensing their technology). To understand how this can happen, we need to review what it means for a technology to be “disruptive.” While the word has taken on many meanings (as Lepore’s article notes), Christensen’s original definition includes two characteristics that show up in sequence. At first, the technology performs worse than alternatives on performance criteria that mainstream customers care about. At this point, we can only say that it is disruptive. Only if its performance later improves can we say that a technology is disruptive. That’s why startups with potentially disruptive technologies start out competing instead of cooperating. Incumbents can’t tell whether their technology is any good, so they decline to license it. Now, if the technology improves its performance and actually becomes disruptive, those companies become more attractive for incumbents to cooperate with. Our analysis of the speech recognition industry shows that when the initially worse technology later achieves a trajectory of improvement, companies that started out competing against incumbents then switched to cooperating with incumbents 2.4x as often as others. A takeaway for startups with disruptive technology is to consider using a dynamic business plan. Far too often, startups create a static document in which it’s an “either/or” proposition to go it alone or focus on licensing. Our research shows that many succeed by initially entering the market as a competitor, but then adopting a cooperative strategy with incumbents. Note that this is different from the popular notion of “pivoting” where startups run a series of experiments trying to figure out their strategy. Our view is that a new company with a potentially disruptive technology might explicitly plan to switch its strategy from competing against incumbents to cooperating with them once the value of its technology has been proven. For incumbent companies, our research suggests that it may be wise to take a wait-and-see approach when disruptive innovations emerge. Christensen’s theory supports creating a separated, internal organization to pursue disruptive technologies, yet this can be a risky strategy. It may seem obvious in hindsight that an incumbent should have set up a skunkworks project for a technology that eventually turned out to be disruptive, but there may have been several similar technologies that were disruptive and turned out not to work. There’s a far better chance that the answer is out there among one of the other startups. It may be smarter to play the field, but aggressively work to partner with a startup once its technology shows some promise. Of course it’s possible that the entrant may have become quite valuable and expensive for the incumbent to either cooperate with or acquire, but the speech recognition industry suggests that disruptors frequently end up cooperating with incumbents following an initial period of competition. |
CrunchWeek: Carpooling With Lyft And Uber, Twitch Cracks Down On Copyright, Foursquare’s New App | Colleen Taylor | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Today, Alex Wilhelm, Ryan Lawler, and I gathered around the big white table to talk about the new carpooling offerings from and (and the PR tactics that went along with their respective announcements), Twitch on copyrighted music amid the ongoing that it’s in acquisition talks with Google, and Foursquare’s . |
FCC Chairman Dismisses Verizon’s Defense Of Throttling High-Bandwidth Customers | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Verizon that it would start throttling the 4G data speeds of customers on unlimited data plans who are among the top 5 percent of their users when it comes to consumption of mobile data, and were “connected to cell sites experiencing heavy demand.” The wasn’t too pleased. The commission stating that “‘reasonable network management'” was not “a loophole designed to enhance [their] revenue streams.” The FCC was irked that Verizon would slow the speeds of its customers not for “legitimate network management,” but what appeared to be direct targeting of customers with unlimited data plans. It’s in the obvious business interest of to get unlimited customers off of their unlimited plans, and onto tiered plans that have overage fees. Customers love unlimited plans because they allow them to live in the future, a time in which all mobile plans will come with unlimited data. By slowing the data speeds of unlimited customers past a certain data threshold, Verizon kneecaps unlimited plans, making them in essence un-unlimited. Since customers are paying for unlimited data, there is tension present. Verizon , saying that the practice wasn’t uncommon among mobile carriers. Today FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler , saying that: “All the kids do it” is something that never worked with me when I was growing up, and it didn’t work for my kids. We have to be careful about attempts to reframe the issue. Chairman Wheeler has been under withering fire in the past few months following the introduction of his that have proven unpopular. I wouldn’t be surprised if taking up the Verizon complaint is something akin to a motion to recapture some public standing. |
An Interview With Josh Garza, CEO Of GAW Miners, On His $1 Million Purchase Of BTC.com | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | On Monday GAW Miners CEO Josh Garza announced the purchase of . , which now points to a landing page, is to be a beachhead on the war to make bitcoin a household name and, like sex.com before it, the purchase garnered a lot of attention. But why BTC.com? And why $1 million? I spoke with Garza about his purchase.
Garza: I launched my first company while I was in still in high school, and sold it when I turned 19. I sold my first company, Great Auk Wireless, a broadband ISP that delivered hi-speed internet to rural households using wireless signals instead of coaxial cables, when I was 22.
G: was born after someone ripped me off during an ASIC purchase. I already owned the successful , and decided to quickly launched GAW Miners in March 2014 to sell ASICs with fast shipping, reasonable prices, and compensation for any delays or downtime. The company was an overnight success and achieved over $10M in sales during its first month and is on schedule to do $100M in this first year.
G: I think so, just not the “easy money.” Now it just takes some planning and math. But, like with most things, with hard work there is a ton of money to be made. But small-time miners hitting positive ROIs are a thing of the past. Mining will always be profitable (that’s how the network difficulty algorithms adapt) but as more people and investors pour into the space, only the bigger dogs will win. You can still make money at home with the right hardware, but not for long. Soon, you’ll have to buy (or buy into) large hyper-efficient ASIC units run in data centers where electric costs are cheapest. Mining is following the same path the Internet took. At first the world wide web existed mostly in desktop units people ran in their basements. Now the internet is mainly housed in servers that are run in massive data centers where management, storage, and electricity costs are low. It’s simply uneconomical to run a server at home anymore. The same is happening here.
G: Cloud-hosted miners. Data centers cut energy costs in half, maximize uptime, and don’t take up premium residential space in homes. People are already buying their hardware from distributors like us and running their units remotely with a service like ZenMiner (which we are acquiring this week).
G: We’re bringing the two together for the first time and making it much easier for merchants and consumers to interact with cryptocurrencies. Its got to be simple.
G: There wasn’t much brand awareness behind the domain itself. But if your mission is bringing crypto currency to the world, owning the domain name that stands for the currency is a natural extension. |
Your Lost Android Phone Can Now Call You | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Did you know that Android has a built-in mechanism for locating or locking your lost phone? Google hasn’t done the best job marketing it, but it’s actually been baked right in since the release of Android 4.4*. Today that feature gets even better, thanks to the addition of a trick that seems so obviously great in hindsight: your lost phone can be set to call you — and only you — as soon as someone finds it. If you lose your phone, just head over to Google’s browser-based . Tap the lock button, toss in a “Recovery Message” (read: a plea to whoever finds the phone to not be a jerk) and an unlock password, and add a phone number where you can be reached. Bam! Whoever finds the phone now has a way to instantly reach you with the press of a button — but since the rest of the phone is locked down behind a password of your choosing, that’s the thing they can use your phone for. One catch: even if you’ve got an Android phone that comes with the locator functionality out-of-the-box, you’ll need to update to the latest build for the phone-the-owner functionality to work. You can [via ] |
Scott Stanford, Shervin Pishevar And Tina Sharkey Will Join Us At Disrupt SF 2014 | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | A year-and-a-half ago, Menlo Ventures partner and Goldman Sachs banker decided to quit their day jobs and . That firm, , has since to invest in early-stage startups. Next month they’ll be joining us on the Disrupt SF stage, along with SherpaFoundry CEO , to talk about how the new venture is going so far. Pishevar spent a decade as a serial entrepreneur building companies like Webs.com, Social Gaming Network, and Hyperoffice before moving into venture capital and joining Menlo Ventures. There he invested in peer-to-peer marketplaces like TaskRabbit and Getaround, and also led Menlo’s Series B investment in Uber, well before it was worth $18 billion. Stanford was also in that Uber deal, as part of Goldman Sachs, where he was part of the Global Internet Investment Banking practice. The firm invested about $600 million into startups like Facebook, Uber, DST and LinkedIn while he was there, and Stanford’s team also had a hand in pretty much every big tech IPO over the past few years, including Facebook, Zynga and Groupon. In addition to founding SherpaVentures, the pair also created a digital consultancy called SherpaFoundry and to run it. To date, they’ve been pretty about what SherpaFoundry is up to, except to say that the consultancy will be working with major corporations and brands to help incubate ideas and connect them with startups building interesting technologies. All three will be on stage to field questions about what they have in store, why and how they were able to raise so much money for their first fund, and maybe even to get a little less vague about what the hell SherpaFoundry actually is. We’re thrilled to have them and hope you can join us at Disrupt, which will be held in San Francisco from September 8-10. Tickets are , with early-bird pricing now through Sept. 1. |
TurboRoo Wants You To Come To Hardware Alley | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | want to see you in San Francisco for Disrupt SF 2014, our annual celebration of all things startup. It’s a great time. You get to meet great founders and VCs, and I’d love to meet you. Hardware is my favorite thing in the world and you’re some of my favorite people. What is ? It’s a celebration of hardware startups (and other cool gear makers) that features everything from robotic drones to 3D printers. We try to bring in an eclectic mix of amazing exhibitors and I think you’ll agree that our previous We’d like you to register as a Hardware Alley exhibitor. You’ll get to exhibit on the last day of Disrupt SF, September 10 (or take a full, three-day package), to show off your goods and get access to some of the most interesting people (and most interesting VCs) in the world. All you need to demo is a laptop. TechCrunch provides you with: 30″ round cocktail table, linens, table-top sign, inclusion in program agenda and website, exhibitor WiFi, and press list. You can reserve your spot by purchasing a . If you are Kickstarting your project now or bootstrapping, please contact me at john@beta.techcrunch.com with the subject line “HARDWARE ALLEY.” I will do my best to accommodate you. Hope to see you in SF! |
Judge Rejects Comically Low $324.5M Settlement To Tech Workers Who Were Cheated Out Of Fair Wages | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | The between Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe and tens of thousands of their workers has been rejected by Judge Lucy Koh. The Judge “falls below the range of reasonableness.” When the proposed agreement broke, TechCrunch “paltry and an embarrassment.” Judge Koh’s decision is the right choice. The case involves agreements between giant technology companies to not hire each other’s employees. This distorted the labor market, lessening fair competition for talent, and thereby suppressing the compensation of the impacted tech workers. It’s hard in the current Silicon Valley climate to bemoan the plight of well-paid technology employees. But all the same, workers deserve a fair competitive environment, and efforts by their employers and competitors to stifle their mobility and income isn’t reasonable. The $324.5 million sum was ludicrous. As I wrote at the time of its proposal: With 64,000 plaintiffs, the dollar amount per aggrieved, not discounting for lawyers’ fees and the like, is just a touch over $5,000. After fees and taxes the real remuneration to harmed will be essentially zero. That’s just not reasonable. A figure as high as $9 billion was floated. It isn’t clear yet what the final tally will be, but at a minimum it should be more than the pittance the rich firms initially agreed to. Watching companies with billions in cash attempt to pay the lowest dollar amount to their own staff that they harmed is irksome and sad. Wage suppression: It’s the latest Silicon Valley perk. |
Vine Competitor Groopie Lets Vloggers Create TV-Style Shows Together | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | YouTube stars are more popular among today’s U.S. teens than Hollywood celebs, . Hoping to capitalize on this trend, a new social video network called has just launched on iPhone, allowing the next generation of vloggers to record video shows with friends, which may include both scripted and unscripted content. The L.A. and San Francisco-based startup was founded by , whose entrepreneurial drive was influenced by his father Andre, a longtime tech startup founder, who IDS Software Systems for $50 million in 2003, and later co-founded companies with his son, including , makers of an early -like mobile assistant, and audio ad network . But is Fuad’s first solo effort, he says. The idea for the app came to him in the pre- days, he says, after watching reality TV and realizing the similarities between that style of programming and today’s social media. He envisioned a service that would let vloggers create video “episodes” together, which would be like independently produced reality TV shows. An early prototype of the Groopie application allowed multiple users to record video from different locations (even flipping between front and back cameras seamlessly), then merge those videos into one. But unlike competitors who offer mobile video “stitching” apps, or apps like Vine which ask you to start and stop your video shoots in order to tell your story, Groopie works a bit differently, says Hawit. “Every other video editing tool is doing it like film-style, where they’re stitching multiple shots together,” he explains. “You have to be a director or script writer to be able to tell a story through multiple video shots…and the rest of those guys come from a desktop video ideology,” says Hawit. Competitors are offering tools to do effects with video, or overlays, stitching tools, and more, he says. “We kept it really simple…it’s not technically stitching. It’s real-time synchronization. You’re merging two real-time perspectives.” That is, with , friends can shoot the episode at the same time, then merge their videos together with a built-in editing tool where you can select which camera angle and audio source you want to use for each shot in order to create one continuous video. Despite the slight learning curve involved, the process is simple enough for Groopie to already have kids as users, as with the 2nd-grader Alex whose “The Little Alex Show” is already 21 episodes deep. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOCLMLnXiBs] The company has been running a private beta for the past 6 months, and has signed up 100 testers (Apple’s limit). These include a dozen or so YouTubers, and a couple of reality stars (from the shows “Shahs of Sunset” and “Bad Girls Club”). The current lineup of shows includes reality-style video programming as well as few more scripted shows. Groopie users each get their own profile which lets them feature their shows, each of which can have an unlimited number of episodes. This setup lets viewers follow the individual shows they like, as opposed to a vlogger’s whole channel. Shows can be shared to Facebook and Twitter, but not published to YouTube, which is by design for this startup itching to become the “YouTube of mobile.” Hawit doesn’t really see as being disruptive to YouTube, however. But he could see it becoming more like Vine as another place for vlogger stars to grow their audiences. These video creators already know each other, record Vines together and do shout-outs on YouTube, he says. “They already work together…with Groopie, they can combine followers. That’s going to be stronger than a broadcast channel,” he says. “You take users who have 1 million followers each and you put them together on a TV show – that’s going to be extremely powerful.” Groopie is backed by $350,000 in funding, from unnamed Zynga, PayPal and Apple angel investors, and others. The app itself still feels a little rough around the edges in terms of its design, and the content itself is nowhere near as polished as what you’d find on YouTube. But it’s still the early days. Groopie is free . |
This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Food And Sex | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | As the end of summer sends people on vacation and essentially stops time as we know it, a couple good distractions for this slow time include food and sex. That said, we take a look at the before awkwardly chatting about the new and . We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of the featuring , , , and . Have a good Friday, everybody!
We invite you to enjoy our every Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific. And feel free to check out the TechCrunch Gadgets Flipboard magazine right .
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Intro Music by . |
Is Activision Trying To Revive Its Legendary (But Long Dead) Gaming Brand, Sierra? | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Just a quick heads-up for everyone else who spent far too much of their youth tapping around and to friends that they hadn’t used a walkthrough: Sierra Entertainment seems to be prepping for some sort of comeback, after shutting the doors back in 2008. Word of the potential revival comes from the company’s , which now hosts an all-too-brief (and detail light) teaser trailer: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzIoQLAmEs0&w=866&h=600] Besides the trailer, the only thing on the page is a promise that more details will be shared at Gamescom, a gaming convention happening in Europe late next week. The original Sierra built some of the most loved series of ’80s and ’90s — titles like Leisure Suit Larry, Mixed Up Mother Goose, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, and the aforementioned King’s Quest. By the mid-90s, they were primarily a publisher, helping games like the first Half-Life reach the light of day. By the mid-2000s, after major financial woes and massive layoffs, the company was a shadow of its former self. What was left of the company was merged into in 2008, with rumors suggesting that Activision was considering selling the brand. Considering the “© 2014 Activision Publishing, Inc.” at the end of the trailer there, it looks like they hung on to it. The biggest lingering question: can this really be “Sierra” in anything beyond its name? While that name alone is enough to strike the chords of nostalgia in anyone who grew up at a keyboard through the 80s and 90s, it’s important to remember: people move on. Sierra has been gone for almost half a decade now — and many of the company’s most iconic members (including co-founders Ken and Roberta Williams) had stepped away long before then. |
TurboRoo, The Chihuahua With No Front Legs, Can Walk Again Thanks To 3D Printing | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Is there any cute animal 3D printing can’t save? Just look at TurboRoo, a tiny Chihuahua born without front legs, who has been given a new “leash” on life thanks to a and a 3D designer from . , president of 3dyn, saw and designed a small wheeled cart, estimating the size from . He printed the model in bright orange, slapped on some Rollerblade wheels, and sent the cart to TurboRoo’s owner. Now the wee doggie is scooting along on a free, fully hackable set of super-legs. Why is this cool? Because, before 3D printing, TurboRoo’s owners would have had to build something out of ready-made pipes, cloth, and other materials at great cost. Now, however, the cart can be custom-fit to TR’s body, reprinted at will, and even modified by other designers. Best of all, they can make multiple carts for almost nothing and in almost no time. This isn’t the first time 3D printing has made animals’ – and peoples’ – lives better. that are now helping handicapped kids grasp objects. On the front, in January and there are currently . But there’s nothing quite like seeing a little dog scoot to warm the heating elements of my heart. |
Weave Adds Groups And Events To Its ‘Tinder For Networking’ App | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | Professional networking app wants to help professionals find others that they’d like to meet with, through a double opt-in selection process. Now it’s making it easier for users going to events or part of professional organizations to find one another with a new feature being added to the app. takes the model of swiping left or right to indicate which people you’d like to meet with and applies it to professional networking. Like Tinder, it takes into account a user’s location to ensure that people who get matched up are actually able to have coffee or otherwise meet with one another. You just download the app, link it to their LinkedIn account, and it will use the data there to generate a profile page. After that’s done, you can go to town swiping left and right and then message the folks you have mutual interest in meeting. It’s a pretty useful little tool that I’ve used to meet up with a few investors and founders that I wouldn’t have otherwise come across. Fun! According to Weave co-founder Brian Ma, the app is generating more than 1,000 matches each week, mostly in early tech hubs. To date, it’s mostly being used for job hunting and hiring, but also for things like co-founder dating, fundraising, and business development. The only restriction is that you’re tied to people in your relative proximity. So for stuff like events, it’s only soooo useful due to the limited amount of time that people spend around each other. It’s even less useful for professional organizations, since members could be based in various different cities but only cross paths every now and then. With the latest update to Weave, the app hopes to solve some of those issues. Now Weave will enable users attending events or part of alumni networks or other organizations to surface others who share those common connections. That will allow attendees to connect prior to an event happening and meet on-site. It will also allow people in similar organizations to connect even if they are not in the same city, but make plans to meet up when they are. But people can’t just opt in to any network or event… Instead, they have to enter in a private invite code to get added and interact with others in that group. The app also added specific groups to organize and highlight members on the app. Weave was founded by Decide.com founder and early Buzzlabs employee , and is in the current batch. The app was self-funded but, along with everyone else at YC Demo day in a few weeks, it will probably be looking for funding soon. |
CrunchWeek: Andrew Mason’s New App, Diversity In Tech, And Twitter’s Big Quarter | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | It’s a warm, relaxed Friday, making it the perfect moment for an episode of CrunchWeek. This week , , and sat to discuss the biggest news from the week. What happened? Former Groupon CEO touched down, an interesting sat amidst a cadre of predecessors, and Twitter’s drove the company’s shares higher. As a small aside, Cat is our summer intern here in San Francisco, and I put her on the spot at the end of the video. I’m not that nice, it would seem. Now, watch the clip, and then we’ll see you at the August Capital party. Till next time! |
Microsoft May Be Readying A New Service Called Sway | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | A day after news that , it has emerged that has registered some domain names that use the term CDN — pointing either to Redmond also readying some kind of new CDN service, or possibly a service that will be based around a CDN. Jamie Zoch at Dot Weekly has that Microsoft has registered the Sway.com domain, along with several variations that point to what could be used for. They include sway-CDN.com, sway-CDN.net, sway-INT.com and sway-INT.net. All of these, including Sway.com, currently redirect to Bing pages with search results for the terms. Along with this, Microsoft has registered a for “Sway” with a fairly wide brief, covering computer software; computer application software; online computer software and software as a service. We have reached out to Microsoft for comment, but the company says it cannot answer any questions with a fast turnaround today (hello, August). “I’ve connected with my colleagues and we’re unable to meet the tight deadline on a Friday afternoon,” a spokesperson told me by email. In other words, no comment. it is August. Chill. 😊 soak up some rays. Read a book. Play titanfall. — Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) There are a few guesses for what might be behind this. First, there is the example set by the likes of Apple and Netflix to move content on to their own CDN services and away from those provided by third parties to improve content streaming to improve and better control the quality of service. As Dan Rayburn, an EVP at Streaming Media, put it when describing Apple’s move to turn on CDN services, “While Apple doesn’t own the last mile, paying to connect directly to it (in some places) and delivering content from their own servers allows them much more control over the user experience, especially for cloud based services. Over time, this is something that will make the experience and performance for consumers even better – and Apple’s only just getting started.” All fine and well, but problem with this is that it doesn’t quite make sense to apply this concept to Microsoft: the company already has its own CDN services, described by Rayburn even as a model for what Apple may be going for in its own CDN roll out. Microsoft even already offers this as a , via its Azure platform. That brings us to another guess: perhaps Microsoft is planning a new marketing push — to “sway”, so to speak, more developers to its platform and away from the likes of Amazon — which has its own CDN service, . A third option might be that there is actually a new class of streaming service in the works. Coincidentally, I came across a call today for Microsoft to launch . When it comes to gaming and streaming, Twitch is currently in Xbox, but with a $1 billion acquisition of by Google all but confirmed, perhaps this is leading Microsoft to rethinking what it’s doing here. Whatever the product may be, whether it will ultimately be called “Sway” is another matter. Recall that in internal tests before its official launch. (Ironically, Kumo today looks like it will be a content delivery network of another sort — a startup of the same name, still in stealth, is to “break the TV bundle,” as Jordan put it.) |
Facebook Takes A Stand With Free Access To Women’s Rights Info In Africa | Josh Constine | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | No one should be denied understanding of their human rights just because they can’t afford a mobile data plan. Now women in Zambia won’t be, as Facebook and gives them free Internet connection for accessing women’s rights resources like MAMA (Mobile Alliance For Maternal Action), WRAPP (Women’s Rights App), and Facts For Life by UNICEF. worked with Zambian carrier Airtel and local governments to identify the need for these resources and bake them into . But as the app gets rolled out in more countries around the globe, Facebook could cause tension with governing regimes that have historically oppressed women. And that’s a fight worth fighting. “’Women’s access to technology – and their ability to use it to shape and drive change in their communities – is critical to gender equality” says President and CEO . “This technology will give voice to millions of people, including women, in Zambia, Africa and the whole world, and empower them to share ideas, drive innovation, and build more inclusive and democratic societies.” The in Zambia, its first country, as a standalone Android app, a tab in the Facebook for Android app, and as a mobile website available on the feature phones most Zambians carry. It gives free access to a limited set of Internet services including Facebook, Wikipedia, and Google Search, as well as local info on weather, jobs, government, and human rights. Airtel subsidizes this free access because the app proves the value of the Internet to people, some of whom may buy data plans through it to reach the rest of the web. provides critical health information to new and expectant mothers. offers tactical tips for handling pregnancy, childbirth, childhood illnesses, and childcare. And , what legislation protects those rights, and what to do if their rights are violated. For example, a woman could find out that she has equal rights to education, as protected by the Education Act of 2011 [Cap 1, Section 22], and can contact The National Legal Aid Clinic For Women if that right is violated. The former US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer says that “Through Internet.org, women in Zambia will have greater access to vital information and needed services to improve their lives and the lives of their children.” The Zambian government has been supportive of the project, but Internet.org could face friction in other parts of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, or the Middle East where gender discrimination is more institutionalized. Facebook has endured censorship in the past by governments that oppose social media and some types of content due to “moral concerns”, including Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia as well as China. Some have lifted their bans, but purposefully giving free access to information that could encourage women and other disadvantaged groups to call for more freedom could potentially invoke governmental ire. These situations could draw a fine line for Facebook to walk, where it doesn’t want to get its social network banned, leaving users in the lurch, but wants to empower people through the Internet. Hopefully Facebook will do everything it can to make sure these human rights resources are available in the places they’re needed most. Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, says “This technology will empower countless women to make a positive impact on their societies and the world.” Mark Zuckerberg pushed to start Internet.org because he says “I believe connectivity is a human right.” Empowerment through information can cause temporary destabilization and hardship, as we saw with the Arab Spring. But while these may be the growing pains of humanitarian progress, access to knowledge should help us emerge as a more just species. |
Eaze Promises Pot Delivery Anywhere In San Francisco | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | Several states are starting to ease up on marijuana use, or even outright legalizing it (Colorado, Washington State). Now, a new SF-based startup, , promises delivery right to your door in less than 10 minutes. This is a real conversation I had with a friend I roped in to test the service: Me to friend over text about Eaze: Did you know there’s an SF startup promising to deliver medical marijuana right to your door?
Her: Wuuuut??? That’s a first.
Me: I don’t have a license to buy that sort of thing.
Her: Which is why you turn to me.
Me: Obvi. Mind checking it out? Eazeup.com
Her: WaaS Weed as a Service. Brill. Should I get Berry White or Mango Kush?
Me: OMG!
Her: Okay, app verified I’m legal.
Me: So what now?
Her: Now my ETA is 4 mins??? But I didn’t order anything yet and it’s weird.
Update from her: Wait, I’m still pending?
Her: Site is frozen.
Her: You know there’s a lot of excitement about this at the office right now. No one’s going to lunch until our delivery is here. I’m getting some phat nugs.
Her: Now it’s 6 minutes
Me (a few minutes later): Where is delivery now?
Her: 5 mins. I’ve emailed support. I have no idea what I ordered or that I checked out.
Her: Wait now it seems I’m verifed, “Congratulations! We have successfully verified your Medical Marijuana eligibility and you can now order Medical Marijuana through Eaze.”
Her: Now it says 4 mins. The tension is running high in the office.
Her: Says he’s a block away.
Me (14 mins later): Okay now?
Her: The dolphin is in the jacuzzi.
Me: Okay then… Started by former sales director Keith McCarty, is an Uber-like medical marijuana delivery service with an app that tells you when your “caregiver” (that is, delivery driver) will arrive with the goods at your door. The drugs can only be delivered to those with a legal medical marijuana card. Once a user is verified that they have a legal license to buy in the state of California, they can choose from a variety of strains and quantities. “When I told my parents about my idea for , they accused me of becoming a glorified drug dealer,” McCarty says. He told me he actually started the service because of a marijuana strain called “ ” intended to treat children with epileptic seizures. “Medical marijuana can be used to treat health conditions,” says. “These are real people with real medical conditions that need this medicine, and it has been really exciting and gratifying to talk with them, and know that we’re doing something to help.” Eaze spokesperson Caroline Vespi says choosing to make this a delivery service rather than a dispensary helps make taking the medicine more convenient to patients. She says Eaze has partnered with dispensaries around town for now and that prices through Eaze are comparable to those you might find in those dispensaries. An 1/8 is about $50, for example; there’s no additional fee for delivery to a patient’s door. The plan, says Vespi, is to carry out the service in SF for now and then later roll it out (heh) in Southern California as well as Colorado and Washington. “We’ll deliver both medical and recreational marijuana there, according to the laws in those states,” she says. So those in Colorado will have to be at least 21 years old in order to become Eaze customers. “I get why people might have a negative initial view of the marijuana business. It’s been that way in our society for a long time, but times are changing,” says McCarty. The New York Times editorial board just this week. While the ask, there’s for legalization than there ever has been in the U.S. A recent also indicates that the majority of Americans (54%) now favor the legalization of marijuana. Support for legalization is even higher (69%) among Millenials. |
Y Combinator Mixes In Smoothie Startup LivBlends | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | It really didn’t make sense to me why let a smoothie delivery service go through his startup incubator. Were the Fresh Mint Immunity and Cafe Mocha Energizer flavors delicious? Yes. But I scratched my head at how the next Jamba Juice had anything to do with tech. The two young founders of , and went into how much less sugar was in their product (14 grams as opposed to 56 in Naked Juice or 50 in Odwalla), how they planned to deliver smoothies sans pasteurization to the SF market, the process, the ingredients and which tech startup chefs were currently ordering from them. But how was a service like this possibly scalable and what was it doing in ? And then they showed me “the machine.” It doesn’t have a name yet, but it promises to be a Keurig-like smoothie maker without the messy cleanup of most juicers. Designed by a team of MIT engineers, including Udomphol, the machine is a self-cleaning blender that can process fruits, seeds, veggies and nuts within 30 seconds. While Udomphol didn’t want to go into too much detail about the tech, he and co-founder Polezel did say the machine will come with pods of smoothie-making ingredients that you just pop into the open compartment and let the LivBlends magic take care of the rest. LivBlends is just smoothie delivery to SF-based tech startups and individuals who for now. It’s $3.25 for the 8 ounce bottles and $6 for the 16 ounce size. Polezel says Twitter, Dropbox and Stripe chefs are all currently ordering the smoothies for tech workers. Her goal is to add more smoothie blends every three weeks. will be demonstrating the machine at the upcoming this August 19. |
137 Ventures Co-Founder Kathy Chan Becomes An Operating Partner At Khosla | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | , the secondary investment firm that recently raised (naturally) a $137 million second fund, is announcing that co-founder and partner is stepping back from her full-time role at the firm, although she will continue to be involved as a advisor. Chan will be spending most of her time at — a spokesperson for Khosla confirmed that she has joined the firm as an operating partner. ‘s investment model involves helping founders and early employees get liquidity before their companies get acquired or go public. Its services include loans that use company stock as collateral, as well as buying employee stock outright. Apparently the model was based, in part, on Chan’s experience at Facebook (a company whose stock was while it took its time to ). “ intimately understands entrepreneurs and has always been focused on building companies and marketing new products, including 137 Ventures’ investment model,” managing partner Justin Fishner-Wolfson told me via email. “She was integral to establishing our fund, and we are pleased that she will continue to advise the firm.” The firm’s includes , , , and many others. It says it has no plans to hire addition partners. (The current investment team consists of Fishner-Wolfson, Alex Jacobson, Andrew Laszlo, and Alda Leu Dennis.) |
Flappy Bird Returns As A Multiplayer Game… But Only For Amazon’s Fire TV | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | NOBODY PANIC! FLAPPY BIRD IS BACK. Kind of. Back in February, developer pulled his game from the store, citing his guilt for making what he considered an “addictive product”. He later promised that the game , but with a few tweaks. It’d intentionally be “less addictive”, and would have a new multiplayer element added into the mix. It’s August — and sure enough, it’s back. But it turns out there was another twist he didn’t mention before: at least for now, it’s exclusive to Amazon’s Fire TV box. Now rebranded as “ “, the game tries to focus on a two-player mode that pits players against each other in a race to a pre-set finish line. In a strange move, Dong has opted to complicate the game a bit — instead of only having to worry about pipes, the game now has roaming enemies (like the little ghost dude pictured below) that try to get in your way and wreck your progress. The decision to go exclusive to the Fire TV is also a strange one. Unless Amazon kicked down a small mountain of cash for the exclusivity, tying your game to a weird psuedo-console that not many people own doesn’t really make it less addictive — it just makes it less likely anyone will care. So did Amazon shell out? If so, how much? We’re asking around — if you know anything. |
12 Years After Its Debut On Hacked Xboxes, XBMC Changes Its Name To Kodi | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | Back in 2002, a small group of developers whipped together an app that was meant to turn a hacked Xbox into a full-fledged media player, capable of playing all sorts of video and music content that the Xbox couldn’t handle out of the box. Reasonably, they dubbed the project “Xbox Media Player”. They’ve spent the last decade moving away from that name; today, the last trace of it dies. Over time, the name started to make less and less sense. Their little project turned into a hit amongst hardware hackers, and its functionality grew. As their userbase exploded, the project found itself on all sorts of platforms beyond the original Xbox — places like Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, and Linux. It was spun off into projects like Plex. “Xbox Media Player” became “Xbox Media Center”. Then, dropping Xbox from the name altogether, “Xbox Media Center” became just “XBMC”. Today, the name changes again. Ending any hint of its Xbox legacy, “XBMC” is now “Kodi”. Why? The team behind the project gives two reasons: You can find their . Not mentioned, but certainly worth considering: if the team is thinking about trying to expand to a more mainstream audience (be it with dedicated hardware, licensing it to others, or whatever that might entail), “ ” is a whole lot more marketable than “XBMC”. |
Looks Like HTC Is Building A Windows Phone Version Of Their Best Android Phone | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | Word around the ol’ rumor mill was that was working on a version of their flagship HTC One (M8) that ran Windows Phone instead of Android. Sure enough, an (as ) seems to confirm it. Thats certainly the face of the HTC One, and that’s most certainly Windows Phone. The name of the image itself is even “HTC_M8_Windows”. No word yet on when the device would actually ship, though our brothers-from-another-mother-though-maybe-its-really-the-same-mother-because-we’re-all-a-part-of-AOL over at that VZW was aiming for September at the latest. HTC has a press event scheduled for August 19th. Hopefully this wasn’t the (sole) focus of that event. |
Google+ Photos Could Soon Become A Standalone Service Outside Of Google+ | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | It looks like it’s time for some good old at Google. First, Hangouts started to take its earlier this week and today, that the company is also planning to separate from Google+. That rumor has swirled around for a while and it really wouldn’t come as a major surprise if Google decided that the time to take this step had come now. Photos is probably the best feature of , which was always pretty image-heavy to begin with and that only increased after Google bought two years ago. It uses the company’s massive data centers to your images, stitch together panoramas, make GIFs and built automatic “ ” around your trips . In many ways, Google+ Photos is exactly what a modern web-based photo storage service should look like. “Over here in our darkroom, we’re always developing new ways for people to snap, share and say cheese,” told in its response to this report. Chances are, Photos will always remain deeply integrated into Google+ — something the Bloomberg post also notes. Given that Google+ isn’t a (and yes, feel free to tell me how I’m wrong and how much you love it in the comments), features like Photos simply can’t reach the huge audience they deserve. For the most part, Photos and Hangouts are the only Google+ features that are getting regular updates anyway and it sure feels like those are the services the company is focussing on most. Google+ itself has been lingering in the shadow of these two services and now is as a good a time as ever for them to step out of Google+’s shadow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm4aKZ0NpFM |
null | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 8 | 8 | null |
Unlocking Your Cell Phone In The U.S. Is Officially Legal Again | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | For the past 2 years, unlocking your cell phone without your carrier’s permission has, for absolutely ridiculous reasons, been illegal in the United States. Not anymore! As we covered at , the US Congress and were both in agreement that unlocking a cell phone should be an illegal act (punishable by up to 5 years in jail, no less!) The only thing left was for the President to put his stamp on it. The bill is set to be reviewed every 3 years so things may very well change moving forward — but for now, you’re good. So go! Be free! As long as your phone is paid in full (read: you can’t just go grab a phone at a deep discount then disappear into the ether), you’re free to unlock it without that lingering fear that you might be that one person who actually gets busted for something so dumb. |
Internet Companies Berate Microsoft’s Recent Loss In Email Privacy Case | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | Yesterday challenging to command access to data stored abroad. The case, in which U.S. authorities demanded email content of stored on servers in Ireland, has attracted considerable attention in the technology industry. Apple and Cisco filed , among others. Microsoft has vowed to appeal. , senior executive vice president and general counsel, said the company supported Microsoft. “There is nothing more critical than protecting the privacy and information of every single AT&T customer – no matter the country in which they reside,” Watts said in a statement. “That’s why we’re extremely disappointed with today’s U.S. District court decision in favor of the U.S. government’s extraterritorial search warrant. We will strongly support Microsoft’s pursuit of a stay and subsequently a successful appeal of this decision.” Verizon also disagreed with the court’s decision. “These matters are very fact-sensitive, and while we have not received a request like this one before, if we were to receive a warrant from the United States Government compelling us to produce data stored by an overseas customer in our overseas data centers, we would challenge the warrant in court,” the company . It isn’t surprising that companies who don’t see eye to eye on other issues — net neutrality, for example — are unified on this matter. Data storage and delivery is a global, cloud-based business by definition. As such companies that have an international client base want to be able to segregate their data storage to best protect the information of their locationally diverse clientele. And if their technical home country can demand access to any data they store, regardless of where it is stored, companies can offer little protection to citizens with different colored passports, especially when their home government may have little regard for the privacy of foreigners and thus might make outsized demands. The United States has taken repeated recent knocks for not only abrogating the privacy of foreign citizens, but also the privacy of closely allied leaders of friendly governments. Microsoft, it appears, will appeal this case until it either runs out of courts, or wins. |
This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Xiaomi, Sony, And 3D Printers | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | This week, we took a hard look at , as well as the new . And as usual, we’re still fascinated with the . We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of the featuring , , , and . Have a good Friday, everybody!
We invite you to enjoy our every Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific. And feel free to check out the TechCrunch Gadgets Flipboard magazine right .
You can subscribe to the .
Intro Music by . |
Senior Citizens Are The Latest Group To Protest Tech Commuters | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency more than tripled fees for tech buses from $1 to $3.55 per stop today. The Agency says the increase is to . However, this fee increase is not a solution to collective activist groups who would like to stop the shuttle buses from using Muni stops altogether. Multiple groups representing seniors and the disabled claim that these tech buses increase rent rates near each stop, forcing them out of their homes. Those groups, which include Senior and Disability Action, the Grey Panthers, Eviction Free San Francisco, and the San Francisco Tenants Union, staged a protest at 24th and Mission to get that point across this morning. Several seniors and group members held up two unmarked buses that were scheduled to take tech workers from San Francisco’s Mission district down to Silicon Valley. A recent report from the says 69 percent of no-fault evictions have occurred within four blocks of private tech bus stops in the last three years. They also say rent has increased by at least 20 percent in proximity to private tech buses. Under city rent control laws, landlords are only allowed to increase rent by approximately 1 percent each year, however, those laws don’t apply to new leases. The collective action committee says this makes it impossible for these marginalized groups to find affordable housing once forced out of their original dwellings. Mary Elizabeth Phillips, , was threatened with eviction under a legal loophole called the . The Act provides landlords in California with a legal way to “go out of business” short of selling the property to another landlord. According to the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project numbers, . Phillips for now, though her caretaker and friend, Sarah Brandt, is being from the building, which would leave Phillips without anyone to look after her. Patricia Kerman, a senior from her home at 20th and Folsom by landlord Kaushik Dattani explains, “What’s happening to seniors and the disabled and other displaced residents of the city is immoral and criminal. And this is not the city that I knew and came to love.”
Update with comment from SFMTA spokesperson Kristen Holland: The SFMTA’s Commuter Shuttles Policy and Pilot Program aims to minimize impacts of commuter shuttles on San Francisco’s transportation system, especially Muni, while supporting the beneficial operations of shuttles. The pilot addresses commuter shuttles that operate within San Francisco and between San Francisco and jobs in other cities. While some are engaged in a larger public policy discussion on the presence of commuter shuttles in San Francisco, and more specifically their use by tech companies, the focus of the pilot is improving management of our city’s transportation system. |
MakerBot Launches A European Branch | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | wants to take over the world, but you can’t take over the world without leaving home base. This morning, MakerBot announced that they’re formally launching a European arm of their company. It’s called… wait for it… MakerBot Europe. Rather than start from scratch, MakerBot acquired the assets of one of their largest European resale partners, Germany’s Hafner’s Büro. Hafner’s Büro president Alexander Hafner will manage the new European division. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. As of this morning, the old . For the curious: MakerBot’s stuff seems to be quite a bit pricier in Europe, at least for the time being. The MakerBot Replicator Mini, for example, goes for $1,375 in the states, but will set you back $2,148 (€1,599) through their European wing. The massive MakerBot Z18, meanwhile, goes for $6,499 on this side of the Ocean, but $9,385 (€6.990,00) over there. A $48 spool of filament goes for closer to $80 (€59.) Hopefully those prices can come down a bit in time, now that they’ve started cutting out the middle man. |
Facebook Is Down For Many | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | appears to be down right now . If you load the website, you will get an error like the one you can see below. The website has been down for around 10 minutes now. Similarly, you get a network error in the mobile apps and your content won’t refresh. Some TechCrunch writers could load the website, but when they clicked on something, they got the error message. So if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to load the homepage, but you won’t get any further. When it comes to the developer platform, I can’t even load the to see if third-party apps are affected. Instagram appears to be working, at least partially. You can’t like a photo or follow someone. So, how is your productivity doing? In the meantime, if you really don’t want to work, here are a few interesting TechCrunch stories that you don’t want to miss: has been down for 30 minutes now. The developer platform status page now loads and says that Facebook’s platform has experienced problems for the last 25 minutes. After around 45 minutes, Facebook seems to be slowly recovering. Pages load very slowly. A few more minutes and everything should be back to normal. Attention world: . Please remain calm and do not attempt to interact with human beings. — God (@TheTweetOfGod) THE YEAR IS 2016. FACEBOOK DOWN FOR TWO YEARS NOW. AMERICA'S NEW MOMS ROAM THE STREETS. IS MY BABY PRETTY? THEY SAY. PLEASE LIKE MY BABY. — Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) https://twitter.com/rharpe/status/495246876241707009 |
Here’s One Of The First Useful Android Wear Smartwatch Apps | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | I have a and really like getting notifications on my wrist. It’s useful to see if it’s an important notification without having to look at your phone every time it buzzes. So that’s why I didn’t see why I should get a heavier watch with a barely acceptable battery life, like the . But ‘s new smartwatch app showcases why an watch can be useful. As a reminder, is a French startup that is all about . The company wants to make the most efficient ticket booking experience in Europe. It relies a lot on a well-designed user experience and engineering. It’s not a sexy industry, but after having used the service a few times, there is no way I’m ever switching back to a cumbersome, slow ticket booking , which tries to upsell me with car rentals. Capitaine Train Android engineer has been working on an extension of the company’s Android app for smartwatches. Instead of just showing notifications, the app does more than that. The smartwatch app doesn’t try to fit every feature of the Android app on your wrist, it focuses on three core features. First, when you arrive at a train station with your heavy bags, your watch will buzz to send you your train information. Train number, carriage and seat are all available on your wrist. Then, when you need to show your digital ticket to a train inspector, you can just swipe the screen to get a barcode and show it to the train inspector. Finally, if you really want to see more information, you can open the Android app in one tap. It all makes sense in the video embedded below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJDiIfynbXw It isn’t revolutionary, and very few people will actually use it, but it’s a nifty little use case. A can’t do this. In fact, this is where Android Wear excels. It perfectly pairs an Android app with a tiny little watch display. To get a full-fledged app, you take out your phone. If you only need a couple of key features that are actually useful when you’re on the go, chances are that the Android Wear app will help you. Android developers already know how to code for watches. Another good example is Google Maps instructions. You can see turn-by-turn directions on your wrist. It could be useful when you are riding a bike for example. So it’s still early for Android Wear, but if manufacturers can release better watches and developers adopt the platform, Android smartwatches could become useful for more than a few early adopters. |
Phantom Brings Self-Destructing Photos To Facebook, Twitter And More | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | A new mobile application called is offering a way to post personal photos and videos to blogs and social media sites, like Facebook or Twitter, which “self-destruct” like they do in Snapchat, while also offering controls that limit the number of people who can view the content, and more. The idea to allow for ephemeral sharing on Facebook and other sites is interesting, though the number of controls Phantom offers makes it a bit more cumbersome to share that content in the first place. The app, available on both iOS and Android, lets you snap a photo or record a video, or select an item from your smartphone’s gallery, then mark it up with commenting and drawing tools that are very similar to those found in Snapchat. But instead of just offering a timer function to control how long the image or video is visible to a friend after it’s shared, Phantom also lets you configure how long the content will live, , as well as how many viewers it can have. That way, you can set the content to expire after a certain amount of time, no matter how many people have seen it or not. And by limiting the number of viewers, you have more control over how widely a piece of content spreads. Of course, Snapchat does this too, in its own way – by sending your photo or video just to a selection of contacts, you’re already indicating how many people should see the content you’re sharing. But Phantom big difference is that it’s designed to work with more public networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WordPress and Blogger. And via a “More” option, you can also share to Tumblr, Pinterest, Whatsapp, LINE, Telegram, Movable Type, iMessage/SMS or email. It’s sort of like a Snapchat that works everywhere else. However, because of the many settings offers, there’s a learning curve to using the app, and that can slow things down. The uploading process of saving the media to Phantom’s servers is a little slower than I’d prefer to see, too. But the end result delivers. Recipients are given a link along with a mosaic image preview. But to open the image, they have to use the Phantom iOS or Android application. “It’ll be impossible to copy or save the image, because those functions will be disabled while viewing, and user has to keep touching the screen while viewing the image,” explains Phantom’s creator of Phantom’s privacy settings. “Furthermore, the screenshot function will be disabled on an Android devices while view is in progress.” Phantom also takes a harder line against taking screenshots of other users’ images. Those who do will be automatically banned from Phantom, and will be reported to the user whose privacy was violated. The idea for Phantom comes from “ ,” a big name for what’s really a one-person, bootstrapped startup out of Tokyo, run by founder Date. The app was actually launched a few months ago, but hasn’t really done much press it seems. My guess is that they’re having a hard time reaching the international audience, thanks to language barriers and other communication differences. The is in Japanese. And the email I received suggested I contact Date, “Representative Director of LinX Corporation,” which doesn’t exactly sound like a startup. But I decided to reach out anyway, because I was interested in this idea of controlling the exposure of your content before publishing to big-name social media. The app is not as polished as it should be to compete in this space, but some of the more viral social apps, including Snapchat and also Yik Yak, have started out a little rough around the edges. The bigger problem for Phantom is not the app’s functions or look-and-feel, but whether or not it can gain the users it would need to stay afloat as a business. Phantom is a free download and . |
JukeDeck Creates Music, Automatic For The People | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | George Orwell once wrote about “an instrument known as a versificator” which composed words for songs without any human intervention. Heaven knows we are probably close to that with any Justin Bieber song these days, but the music sometimes still requires a human touch. But not any more, if new startup has anything to do with it. creates music automatically. It might be based on the actions inside a video or a game, without any human intervention. But before you musicians light your torches, read on. The idea is that it’s “responsive music software”. It doesn’t use loops, but writes the music note by note, as a composer would. This means it can – say its makers – create an unlimited amount of unique, copyright-free music, and users can choose the music’s style and what should happen in the music at various points. Founder Ed Rex tells me that the first market will be user-generated videos. Videos on Instagram, Vine or YouTube could use music often, but copyright laws mean you can’t use most music from your iTunes library. No copyright on the music? No problem. And if you don’t like a track, you can hit refresh and generate a completely new track. That’s the tantalising offer from JukeDeck. Key to all this will be JukeDeck’s API, for which the company has filed a patent. Rex says: “We’re working on an API that will let developers put our responsive music into their products. We want to make it really easy for developers to integrate copyright-free music that reacts to the action in, say, their games.” This is based on algorithms that understand the building blocks of music and can use these to create their own tunes in the cloud or on a device. At the moment there’s a Jazz style, a more electronic sounding style, and a couple of others. The team of three comes from a music background (Rex studied Music at Cambridge University) and Google. Rex had the idea that while he was at university. While visiting his girlfriend at Harvard he went with her to one of her computer science lectures and got into coding. He first experimented with dice and turning random numbers into music – and from there started building and refining a bunch of processes that made the initially random music sound much better. After a few months, when the dice method got too slow, he started learning to code, and spent a year building a prototype. When that was ready, he took it to investors and got a seed round from . People have been trying to get computers to write music for some time. Ada Lovelace herself wrote that Charles Babbage’s computing engine one day “might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent”. In more recent times, David Cope has done great work with his Experiments in Musical Intelligence, Brian Eno has released various generative music apps, and apps like RjDj have explored the way inputs from an iPhone can alter pre-existing music in realtime. However, the idea here is not to compete with human composers but to produce machine-made music which is listenable and eventually malleable by real musicians. More recently, others have looked at this space. And familiar names. Sean Lennon once said of Sean Parker (in a 2010 Vanity Fair article): “He’s always talking about the potential of computers to generate algorithms for likeable melodies, and we have this ongoing argument: he believes it’s only a matter of time before computers will be able to create listenable tunes.” Meanwhile, here’s a reminder of from your other TechCrunch writer, George Orwell. From Nineteen Eighty Four: Under the window somebody was singing. Winston peeped out, secure in the protection of the muslin curtain. The June sun was still high in the sky, and in the sun-filled court below, a monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron strapped about her middle, was stumping to and fro between a washtub and a clothes line, pegging out a series of square white things which Winston recognized as babies’ diapers. Whenever her mouth was not corked with clothes pegs she was singing in a powerful contralto:
The tune had been haunting London for weeks past. It was one of countless similar songs published for the benefit of the proles by a sub-section of the Music Department. The words of these songs were composed without any human intervention whatever on an instrument known as a versificator. But the woman sang so tunefully as to turn the dreadful rubbish into an almost pleasant sound. He could hear the woman singing and the scrape of her shoes on the flagstones, and the cries of the children in the street, and somewhere in the far distance a faint roar of traffic, and yet the room seemed curiously silent, thanks to the absence of a tele screen. |
Clear Ear’s Products Are Safe Alternatives To Cotton Swabs | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Ear wax might not seem like a big deal, but for people who are hard of hearing or have issues with their middle ear, a build up of the substance can seriously impact their quality of life. Many people use cotton swabs to clean ear wax, but that can cause irritation and push wax deeper into ears, leading to blockages and infections. Others with more severe buildups depend on regular visits to the doctor. Now a startup called wants to make it easier for people to keep their ears healthy with two products. One, the Oto-Tip, is meant for basic daily cleaning. The other, called TEC Home, is designed to remove ear wax plugs. The company is currently raising money for both in a . Backers can also donate to Clear Ear’s Here and There program in Varni, India, where it is partnering with and the Community Center for Development (CCD) to hold a health screening camp for students. Clear Ear started as a class project at the , where co-founders Lily Truong, a biochemical engineer, and Dr. Vandana Jain, an eye surgeon, met. “Together we discovered that the number one cause of treatable impaired hearing worldwide is ear wax buildup. I’ve had firsthand experience with hearing impairment after my mother went deaf in her left ear years ago and have seen that ear health is a space that hasn’t seen a lot of innovation,” says Truong. Ear wax buildup occurs when an ear canal’s self-cleaning mechanism is interrupted, she explains. Causes can include wearing ear buds or hearing devices for long periods of time. Some people also produce too much ear wax. Children have smaller ear canals and elderly people’s ear wax changes in consistency, making them more susceptible to buildup and ear wax plugs. “For most people without ear wax plug problems, proper ear cleaning is still a big deal just because of the frequency that people clean their ears with harmful objects whether they have buildup or not,” Truong adds. Clear Ear aspires to become the “Sonicare of ear cleaning.” The Oto-Tip has a soft, flexible spinning tip that directs ear wax out of the ear canal, instead of deeper into it (as cotton swabs tend to do), and is designed to protect the ear drum with a blue cap that prevents it from being pushed too far. Unlike cotton swabs, the Oto-Tip does not dry out ear canals. The TEC Home is designed to be an alternative to deep ear cleanings at doctors, during which water jets are injected into the ear canal with a metal syringe. The device heats up water to body temperature to prevent dizziness, sprays water to the sides of the ear canal, and then suctions out water and wax. “The idea is that if you can clean your ears at home every so often, that will make the larger buildups less likely,” says Truong. The Here and There program’s goal is to “promote better ear health both at home and across the globe.” “In my travels abroad, I met a student who thought he had been deaf for two years, but it ended up just being an ear wax plug. Once it was removed, he could hear again. I’ve previously seen people use really dangerous methods to clean out ear wax like safety pins, ear candling, and bobby pins. I remember meeting one student who cleaned his ears with a piece of chalk that broke off in his ear, blocking his hearing until it was cleared out,” says Truong. In addition to hearing, the Healthy Scholar’s Health Screening Camp will also focus on thyroid, vision, dental, and girls health. Backers of Clear Ear’s campaign can chose to contribute to Here and There–$20 will provide a ear health screening and cleaning for a student in Varni. The Oto-Tip is $30, while the TEC Home is $100. Both devices have an estimated delivery date of December 2014. For more information, check out . |
When Wearable Health Trackers Meet Your Doctor | Ben Heubl | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | How interested is your doctor in health data that you’ve tracked yourself? Wearable health and fitness devices are now hugely popular, and they certainly appeal to people who want to tot up their paces. But many people who have invested in trackers like the , bracelet, or the want to know: Can this data be used to give me more serious healthcare insight? Could it help my doctor to give me better advice? There’s certainly going to be no shortage of raw data. With tech giants Google, Amazon and Samsung heavily committing to this space, ever more wearable health devices are going to be connected to your life. Samsung’s smartphone, for example, has a built-in heart-rate sensor, a pedometer feature, and the . Apple, meanwhile, , an expression of intent to take the tech war in health to the next level with a platform that, rather like the App Store, will support lots of independently created applications in tracking health and wellness. But does that mean we’ll soon walk into our doctors’ office and find that the first thing they want to see is our statistics? Dr. Dush Gunasekera, Co-founder & Director at the myHealthcare Clinic in London thinks so. He said he hopes that wearable health technologies will help doctors to work with patients more effectively, leading to better treatments and outcomes. “In our clinic, we welcome and embrace innovation and online health access,” says Gunasekera. “Generally the more accurate data we have on our patients, the better we can help with their health problems. Sometimes a snapshot can be just enough to give us the indications of a problem, or to prevent us missing one. Systems like Apple’s HealthKit might be one of the answers to providing a better patient-doctor partnership. Also in our job, timing is everything and the more the patient supports our work, the more we can provide better treatment and advice.” However, Gunasekera and other medical professionals also see challenges that will need to be solved if wearables are going to achieve credibility with the medical profession: Samsung’s tech has been shown to be inaccurate in its health readings while also delivering a user experience. This doesn’t feel good to the scientist in every general practice. Worse still, regulators are taking an interest: Inaccurate instruments affect patient safety. Practitioners may not need additional advice on interpreting the results, but they will need new skills to work effectively in a wearable world. It’s not just a case of dealing with a swathe of new technologies; wearables will change the doctor-patient relationship. How, for example, will the breaking of bad news change when a patient already has ample evidence on their wrist? Privacy is a big concern for consumers, and companies like Apple have worked hard to respect the privacy of customers, particularly in a field as sensitive as healthcare. But we do need some benchmark rules for tracked data. At the very least, tracked data should not be shared with third parties, and patients should be reminded that they take full responsibility if they bring their data to an office and share it. Build it and they will come! The wearable health field needs to find new ways in which wearables can make a direct impact. For example, the largest group of people calling in to the 111 helpline are mothers with young children looking for health advice or reassurance. Perhaps a big future wearable health application is the monitoring of children. Maybe we’ll soon be buying wristbands for whole families. Data visualization provided by UK health technology startup has on their online health booking platform. It asked some of their private doctors how they would feel about patients turning up for an appointment with a suite of data in tow. “We have spoken to many of our private general practitioners in London and the majority of them welcome the new opportunities offered by wearable health devices,” says Lloyd Price, founder of Zesty. “Some of our practitioners, like Dr. Gunasekera, are truly passionate about the opportunities presented by wearables and we want to help more practitioners to explore the potential. We also intend to approach companies like Apple and Samsung, so that patients can book healthcare appointments on their smart watches while presenting their tracked health data to health professionals at the same time.” Apple just revealing that the company has actually been developing a smartwatch similar to the much-rumored and eagerly anticipated iWatch. Dr. Bayju Thakar, founder of UK’s virtual health consultation startup, , says that virtual GP consultations could benefit from additional tools such as wearable health devices. A doctor himself, he says that virtual GP consultations will soon reach a tipping point when late adopters understand and trust the service. With trust increasing towards wearable health technology from the doctor’s front, this point may come sooner than we think. A recent UK report found that patient complaints to the had doubled in five years. Like all horrible headlines, this can be interpreted in many ways. In fact, part of the reason for the increase is that there are now more opportunities to feedback on GP services, including simple online methods. Certainly, the doctor-patient relationship is in flux. Wearables will be another influence on that relationship, although even Dr. Gunasekera says that the technology has a long way to go. Wearable health won’t fix the NHS, but it can help remove uncertainties and keep patients motivated to participate in their own care. The sector just has to achieve the same degree of professionalism as the rest of clinical practice in order to gain true acceptance. |
JustPark Releases iOS App, Secures Funding From Index Ventures | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Founded in 2006 when was just 23 years old, ParkatmyHouse seemed ever so slightly crazy at the time. Who would rent out their unused private drive way or church car park over the Internet? It turned out plenty of people would, and long before smartphone apps came along to make the whole process simpler, Eskinazi was plugging away at his vision, making it the UK’s first ‘sharing economy’ business. Recently rebranded as , this parking marketplace now has 500,000 drivers who choose from over 100,000 parking spaces in the UK, and it has plans to expand abroad. But unlike such as , and ParkModo, probably won’t attract the same level of controversy, given that it allows private venue owners to sell parking, not other drivers who just vacated a spot on a public road. Today that vision pays off with a vote of confidence from the UK’s most active early-stage VC and the launch of its first app that lets drivers find parking, and an in-car integration with a major car marque. The fund has invested an undisclosed amount in the company. Although the amount is not known, we do know it is from the main fund, not Index Seed, so it would be a small number. Robin Klein, partner at Index Ventures, will be joining JustPark’s board. He said, “Index aims to invest in companies that we believe have the potential to transform entire industries. Parking has suffered from a lack of innovation. We believe JustPark can change that.” JustPark has previously taken a £250,000 investment from , the venture capital arm of BMW that invests in startups working to improve mobility in urban areas. BMW i Ventures took a strategic stake in JustPark in 2011. It’s therefore no surprise that Mini, the BMW-owned car brand, will be the first to integrate the JustPark app, with plans by BMW to roll out the app across its entire range later this year. Of course, you can also download the JustPark app to an . The in-car app for Mini has been designed to be used while on the move, having undergone safety testing by BMW laboratories in Munich, Germany. The release of the JustPark in-car app follows the and Google’s , with the GSMA (the trade body for mobile operators). It’s estimated that there will be over 60 million connected cars on the road globally in the next five years. Using the JustPark app, drivers can find, book, pay for and navigate to a parking space instead of circling around. Its 100,000 parking spaces across the UK include car parks, hotels, domestic driveways and pubs. Once you choose and pay for a space, you are given a map directly to it. JustPark work with owners of spaces in different ways. “Sometimes we will lease spaces up front and rent them out through our platform (these will be sign posted) or we will work on more of a pay as you go basis. For instance, car parks will give us 10 spaces and ensure that there are always 10 spaces available for justpark customers,” says Founder Eskinazi. Parking remains a big pain. JustPark estimates that in the UK alone the average driver wastes 106 days of their life searching for a parking space, costing the UK economy approximately £6.3 billion every year in lost productivity, and adding 30 percent to road traffic. Eskinazi says he hopes to make finding parking as easy as using “apps to order taxis and takeaways.” |
Lessig’s MAYDAY Reports Donations From Tech Magnates To Get Money Out Of Politics | Cat Zakrzewski | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | The self-proclaimed has . The organization recently of donors that gave more than $10,000, including some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest players who gave the committee millions. One of the tech sector’s most active political donors, Sean Parker, topped the list with a donation of $500,000. Prior to his MAYDAY donation, and . Since MAYDAY’s launch, TED director Chris Anderson, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and venture capitalists Fred and Joanne Wilson and Brad Burnham have been critical supporters. , matching the $1 million MAYDAY raised in its first 13 days. Anderson contributed $250,000, Hoffman and Thiel gave $150,000 and the Wilsons and Burnham donated $100,000. Other notable members of the technological community on the big donor list included , , , , and . As of August 2, the Super PAC had raised $7.8 million. The Super PAC launched a fundraising campaign to raise $5 million by July 4, that would be matched by a group of tech executives. Because the August 2 report does not include the matching donations MAYDAY promised, these numbers are fluid and will likely spike once includes the additional $5 million in its reports. Thiel, Hoffmann, Burnham, the Wilsons and Anderson agreed to donate $1 million apiece. Despite the rollout of big donors, the Super PAC doesn’t seem to be following through on its commitment to transparency. On July 23 the Super PAC released what it called an “unprecedented” transparency plan, promising to post the names of all donors giving more than $200 every two weeks, rather than waiting until the FEC filing deadlines. However the PAC has since hedged on that decision, instead only listing the donors breaking the $10,000 mark to protect others’ privacy. , but feel posting that information publicly on its own website was different. Lessig thinks the tech community has been so invested in the PAC because rather than play into the system of campaign funding, they want to change the rules. “They (and we all) should see that the nation need innovators innovating in the market, not innovating on K St (the home of lobbying),” Lessig . “They should be focused on finding new and better iWidgets, not new loopholes to add to scam the tax code.” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was notably missing from the list and the PAC’s most recent FEC filing, despite explaining why campaign finance law reform matters to the tech industry. He highlighted several areas he thinks big money in politics has failed the tech industry, ranging from net neutrality to the “overreach of the NSA.” The heavy donations from the tech set have not seem to govern the races MAYDAY has decided to back. The two candidates MAYDAY has announced do not have robust backgrounds in technological issues. Despite committing to release the names of the candidates it would back in the midterm elections by mid-July, MAYDAY still needs to release the names of three more candidates it will support. TechCrunch will track how these donations influence election outcomes in November. |
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood And The Viral “Oops” | Nir Eyal | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Recently, I started looking into the explosively popular new game . The game has ranked at or near the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store charts for the most downloaded free game. say the app could gross $200 million annually and net Kardashian a of the game’s profits. My line of work is researching what makes some products so compelling and in the case of the Kardashian game, I wanted to know what was behind the app’s phenomenal growth. I soon discovered that one potential driver of all of its installs is a rather sneaky tactic that exploits user error and can unwittingly post messages to players’ Twitter accounts. It’s called the “ .” Unlike viral , which are actions users take in the normal course of using a product to invite new members, viral rely on the user ‘effing-up. A classic example of a viral loop can be found in a product like Paypal. If one user wants to send cash to another, the receiver generally opens a Paypal account to redeem the funds. Conceivably, when the new user wants to send money themselves, they’ll usher-in more new members and the loop continues. However, in the case of a viral oops, the user doesn’t realize what they’ve just done. A viral oops isn’t necessarily a deception by the company — in the way sending messages without the user’s permission might be — rather, it is more of a digital sleight of hand. Like a magic trick, when retracing the steps to figure out what just happened, it’s obvious how the viral oops occurred and the user most often blames themselves rather than the company for allowing the misstep. In the case of , the game begins innocently enough. The app is a classic role-playing game where players take the part of an up and coming Hollywood celebrity determined to climb the ranks up to “A-List” status. To get there, players must pass through lower levels of stardom on the E, D, C, and B-Lists. Moving through these levels requires completing tasks like posing for magazines, going on dates, and as best as I can tell, shoplifting for Kim Kardashian. My avatar shoplifting for Kim Kardashian’s avatar Finishing a task requires repetitive thumb tapping that uses-up energy points. Energy is replenished by waiting for a period of time or by paying real dollars to get back into the game. This is how the millions are made, but that’s not the sneaky part. Here’s how the viral oops works: The game features a “feed update,” which pops-up occasionally to provide news and gossip like a Twitter account. Fictitious characters in the game like Paris Hilton lookalike @WillowPape update their feeds with hashtag-filled 140-character bursts — just like on Twitter. A constant count of “fans” hovers on screen, further giving the impression that the game has it’s own version of Twitter. When the game asked me to follow a news reporter named Ray Powers by his handle @StarNews_Ray, doing so felt like part of game play. Naturally, I assumed that the Twitter in the game isn’t the real-world Twitter. How could it be? In the screen shot below my avatar reads tweets between @WillowPape and @StarNews_Ray, both fictitious characters in the game, right? Not exactly. Can you tell the difference? Unbeknownst to me, when I followed @StarNews_Ray in the game, my real world Twitter account also began following @StarNews_Ray and apparently I’m not the only one. The real-world Twitter account of fake has racked-up over 400,000 followers. Now the trap was set for the viral oops. During my first session of play, the app offered points for sharing news on (what I assumed was) in-game Twitter. However, what I thought was fake Twitter turned out to be real Twitter and the tweet was sent to thousands of my followers’ streams. The game automatically posted, “I’m now an E-list celebrity in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Come join me and become famous too by playing on iPhone!” and included a link to download the app. A search on Twitter revealed multiple similar tweets posted every minute. It is unclear how many of these tweets were sent by people unaware of what was happening but in the month of July over were sent. One of those tweets which was certainly not intentional was from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, which quickly deleting the post after realizing the error. The EPA’s “oops” It appears all these mistakes were no accident. However, according to Glu Mobile’s CEO, Niccolo de Masi, cases of people mistakenly tweeting from the game are rare. “There is always .0001% of people who get confused,” de Masi told me. “When you have this many people installing the game,” de Masi said during our call, “you’re going to have a lot of people playing that haven’t played games before. It’s a symptom of tremendous success and popular appeal.” Perhaps as de Masi argues, the people making this mistake are tech novices. However, even Sarah Buhr, a reporter for TechCrunch and conceivably one of the most tech-literate people around made the very same error, , “What the game neglected to tell me is that it would tweet out to all my followers in real life that I, a grown woman, was playing Kim Kardashian Hollywood.” De Masi was quick to point out that, “this is the best reviewed game in the app store” and that the company has not heard significant complaints from players. He credited Kardashian’s celebrity and massive social media following for the game’s popularity. insists there is no intent to deceive but De Masi would not comment on what percentage of installs came from Twitter. De Masi believes the game is growing through word of mouth — people just want to tell others about it. Regardless of whether the tactic is something the company is doing consciously or not, it appears to be benefiting from all the tweeting. De Masi said, “Glu as a company doesn’t spend as much money as competitors [on user acquisition] … We spend 15% whereas our competitors spend 40%.” As is with the viral oops, I wasn’t sure if even the game maker wasn’t fooled into thinking all that tweeting was authentic. When I asked De Masi whether the company had any plans to change the game, his response was that the problem was “not an issue” and “not on our radar as far something that has been a concern to millions of fans.” Clearly, the players have spent in the game is a testament to its appeal. However, how much of the game’s growth is a result of real player endorsements versus a technological sleight of hand called the viral oops, is still an open question. |
Pinterest Rolls Out Messaging So Pinners Can Have Conversations Around Shared Pins | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | today is a new way users can communicate, collaborate and share with one another. With the launch of a new messaging feature, users will be able to keep discussions going on Pinterest around their favorite Pins without having to leave the site or apps. Last spring, launched its , which enabled users to share interesting Pins with their friends on and off the site. Users that were connected on Pinterest would receive a notification that would point them to the shared pin. And others would receive emails about the content that was shared. Since then, the feature has become incredibly popular with users — which Pinterest like to call “Pinners” — with more than 2 million Pins sent each day. But it wasn’t all that useful. While sending a Pin was a good way for users on Pinterest to pass along content that users had common interest in, there wasn’t much that users could do with those pins after they were sent. Many users ended up responding to email notifications as a way to continue the conversation around things that were shared with them. The hope is that the new messaging feature will enable Pinners to keep conversations going without having to leave the site. Believe it or not, the messaging feature has been only a few months in the making. According to Product Manager the messaging feature was the result of a prototyping session that took place over the course of a week in Portland. A team of five made the trip north to work with Product Designer Tom Watson, formerly of Facebook. They lived out of an and worked out of the for five days. On Friday, they had the first Messaging prototype. That was about two months ago. Since then, Pinterest has been working internally with employees and so-called “Power Pinners” to refine the product. That meant working out the kinks, and to ensure that the user experience wouldn’t take away from what users come to the service to do — which is to Pin stuff. Pinterest’s take on messaging is similar to what you’ll see on other social networks, but there are some key differences. One of those differences is that unlike Facebook, Pinterest’s messaging feature doesn’t have a persistent contact list that follows you around everywhere. That’s by design. Pinterest doesn’t want its service to become about messaging, but wants messaging to empower the way people use its platform. “We’re not a communications service,” Yamartino said. “We’re not trying to be the place to say ‘What’s up?’ or ‘When are you coming home?'” When users choose to Send a Pin, they are shown a list of contacts to choose from. Once that Pin is sent, the conversation appears in the lower left-hand corner of the website or tablet app. (Mobile users will be treated to an entirely separate dialogue screen for messages.) The avatars of users that you’ve exchanged messages with look kind of like and conversations can be selected by clicking on them. They can be just as easily shut down by clicking the “x” in the corner of each. On the website, avatars and conversations only partially cover the frames behind them, allowing Pinners to scroll through and still see the content shared in their global feed. There are a few nifty features that could lead to messaging blowing up. For instance, Pinterest has introduced its directly into the messages field, so that Pinners can search for, discover, and share content that is relevant to the conversation they are having on the fly. That means new ways of sharing and collaborating on things via Pins. Let’s say you’re working on a home remodeling project with your wife, for instance. Now you can swap ideas back and forth without sharing in your global feed. Or let’s say you’re planning a trip with a group. Now the entire entourage can use Pins as a way to collaborate on places to go and set an agenda. Which reminds me… Pinterest Messaging is available for groups, in addition to one-on-one conversations. Up to 10 people can share Pins with one another. “We think that a lot of the projects people take on… they do this with friend or partner,” Yamartino told me. “Being able to have that conversation on Pinterest is convenient for them.” For Pinterest, it also means keeping the conversation on its platform. That will lead to more Pins being shared, and more engaged users. For a network like Pinterest, where user engagement is its most valuable currency, that’s a very, very good thing. |
The GOP Is Using Support For Uber As A Fundraising Pitch | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | The GOP is cool, guys, and they want you to know it. Out today from the Republican party is a in support of Uber. The petition is predictably partisan, blaming “liberal government bureaucrats” alongside “taxi unions” for “setting up roadblocks” and “issuing strangling regulations” to the detriment of Uber. Cities, according to the GOP, “need Uber.” I don’t disagree. Why is the GOP pushing for Uber now? Aside from the petition being a pretty simple attempt to collect email addresses and dollars (after you sign, you are presented with a large donation page for the GOP) there is on the desk of Illinois governor Pat Quinn that would restrict ride-sharing services like Uber in the area. So the call to support by the GOP, cynical and self-serving as it undoubtedly is, does fit into the narrative of a Democratic governor faced with a of real import. All the same, Uber likely doesn’t mind the push. TechCrunch has learned that the transportation company was not aware of the stunt before it was launched. I reached out to Uber asking if it was aware of the petition. The company hasn’t gotten back to me. There is something ironic in the GOP pressing forward in support of Uber, given that I was previously unaware that use of ride-sharing applications was in fact a partisan litmus test. I think it’s better to view the GOP’s decision to support Uber as a form of outreach. I’ve pinged a few technology-savvy Democrats to see if they want to go on the record in favor of Uber, as well. Consider politics a new front in the transportation wars. |
Vogogo Raises $8.5 Million To Bring Crypto Payments To The US, EU | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | isn’t a new company. The payments processor has been around for about 13 years and is currently processing $75 million in payments in the last 10 months from their . Now they’ve raised $8.5 million to help bring their expertise in payments and cryptocurrency to the U.S. Cormark Securities Inc. led the round which included Salman Partners Inc., Clarus Securities Inc., Beacon Securities Limited and Canaccord Genuity Corp. Founded by Geoff Gordon and Rodney Thompson, the company has long been Canada’s go-to payments provider. However, as they expanded into and other cryptocurrencies, they found their skills worked well for Canadian customers. They are now seeing $6 to $10 million in crypto payments a month. “We had been watching Bitcoin and crypto currencies closely. As a payments company we were very intrigued by the potential of Bitcoin,” said Gordon. “We watched several crypto groups enter the Canadian market, have a lot of success only to then be shut down by their bankers due to payment related fraud and/or no compliance structure. We put the Vogogo platform in front of a few crypto groups to resounding success in Canada. We are now adjusting our platform to scale these services and we will be replicating the service in the US, EU and other target markets.” The team hopes that the investment will help legitimize bitcoin in the payments space. “Bitcoin has a huge amount of potential but it needs interoperability with the banks and the banking system to realize that potential,” said Gordon. The U.S. expansion is expected to go live in a few months and they will further expand into the EU. What does a -powered payment systems look like? It’s basically custom-made for each customer and, thanks to their cross-border skills, they can make it easier for large web-based business to accept along with credit cards and other currencies. While the company isn’t quite a household name in the States, these moves could add one more payment player to the bitcoin pantheon. |
Path’s Dave Morin Will Hit Up Disrupt SF 2014 To Talk About How Social Has Changed | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | As August sets in and the tech world goes on vacation, it signals the return of the best part of every year: TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014. This is the big show, folks. This is the main stage. And luckily, we’ll have a true star of the tech world up on our stage in the form of Path founder . built Path as a way to fundamentally change the way we do social media. The obsession with numbers (of friends, likes, retweets, plusses) resulted in a less meaningful connection with more people. Instead, built its network with family and close friends in mind, treating social media more as talking around an intimate dinner table instead of shouting in a town hall with a bullhorn. We’re thrilled to announce that Morin will be joining us for an onstage interview this September at . But while Path’s vision for social media resonates with a lot of people — Path has over 20 million registered users — the company has struggled to break into the mainstream. Whether people were overwhelmed by too many social networks or didn’t agree with Path’s friends-and-close-family philosophy, the company simply failed to take off in the way Morin and his team had hoped it would. In October 2013, Path in an attempt to realign the company, and a round of the following month left critics wondering how Path could stay relevant. The social network market was already pretty saturated, and it became clear that the company would need to pivot in order to stay alive. And pivot it did. In June, Path and retroactively made all messages last only 24 hours. Also that month, the company released Path Talk, a standalone messaging app with ambient status updates that lets friends know when you’re traveling, when you’re nearby, and even when your phone’s battery is running low. Like the new Path app, Path Talk messages automatically disappear after 24 hours, and you can send text, voice, pictures or video messages to your Path contacts. With these changes came an updated Path app, and version 4.0 most prominently removed the 150 friend limit, symbolically giving in to the notion that the way we connect with others has fundamentally changed. At the same time, business text messaging app TalkTo, which facilitates communication between consumers and businesses, and will work that technology into a future version of the Path app. co-founded Path in 2010 with and , and currently serves as the company’s CEO. Morin also sits on the Board of Directors at Eventbrite, and on the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the US Ski and Snowboard Association. And he stays active in the startup scene, personally investing in and , and he advises companies like and . We’re obviously thrilled to have Morin join us on stage. Tickets are , with early-bird pricing now through Sept. 1. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, for more information. |
OneDrive Touches Down For Amazon’s Fire Devices | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | . |
Three Ways For Retailers To Survive The Amazon Fire Crusade | John Haro | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | On July 25 Amazon its , which , software that instantly recognizes products you can directly purchase on Amazon. Hot on the heels of this announcement was the news that Amazon , Amazon Wallet, which will allow users to save gift cards to their devices. For traditional retailers, Amazon has long been the 800-pound gorilla in the room, looming large over retailers trying to survive in this fierce battle. So both of these launches have been met by concern among many of them. Showrooming emerged as early as 2011, when Amazon offered consumers up to Clearly, the purpose of both Firefly and Amazon Wallet are to make it even easier for consumers to purchase items from the e-commerce giant. Amazon understands where the fight for the future of commerce lies: Making the retail experience as frictionless as possible on the mobile device. While mobile-influenced commerce is estimated to be a , shopping cart abandonment on mobile devices is a staggering because retailers have failed to adapt to the small screen. With Firefly and Amazon Wallet, Amazon seeks to fix this problem, taking a shot at both brick and mortar online retailers. As Amazon gets ready to enter the mobile shopping battle, the competition needs to respond. Here are three things retailers can do to stay alive: Retailers can tap a number of mobile marketing tools to increase engagement and reduce friction. While of consumers see the benefit of mobile wallet apps, many brands are not fully leveraging Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet – the two existing players in the mobile wallet market. This chasm will only expand if the rumors prove true that Apple will soon release its own integrated wallet system for the iPhone. Utilizing these apps to distribute mobile wallet content is a great way to counter the Amazon takeover. Distributing offers and loyalty cards via mobile wallet allows customers to instantly save them to their smartphones for easy redemption in-store. As inboxes get smarter and email open rates drop, retailers should invest in building mobile directly into marketing databases, using Push and SMS — technologies that provide marketers valuable access to the mobile lock screen. This could give you an edge in the market as still rely on email, with only 28 percent using mobile messaging and 40 percent using mobile applications. Push and SMS boast a 98 percent open rate (email only has a 22 percent open rate). They also have the added benefit of showing up on a phone’s lock screen, so consumers will even if they don’t open it. This approach is the more direct, frictionless way for you to engage with your mobile customers. (We all know that consumers will almost always take the path of least resistance to get what they want.) Loyalty is harder than ever to earn. Consumers have so many choices that they can simply go for whoever offers the lowest price, which is largely why Amazon is taking over. One way to combat this is through mobilizing your loyalty program. According to , 50 percent of consumers who participate in loyalty programs want mobile gift cards and reward certificates. If your brand has an existing program, creating a mobile wallet version simplifies the loyalty experience. It also adds value to your loyalty program by giving marketers additional opportunities to engage, recognize and reward their best customers. It deepens the connection that consumers have with the program by incorporating perks like location awareness and the convenience of never forgetting a loyalty card at home. Of course the has its share of critics — , CEO of , Amazon’s e-commerce rival in Asia, recently stated that Amazon is misguided and should focus more on pushing content to the mobile channel via messaging. And whether or not retailers go rushing toward their known enemy to participate in Amazon Wallet through anything other than gift cards remains to be seen But to win on the mobile battlefield, retailers should spend less time worrying about Amazon and spend more time learning from them. Amazon’s Fire phone, Firefly and Wallet are strong indicators of its commitment to and focus on the mobile customer. For brick-and-mortar and online retailers to survive this battle in the market, they must embrace mobile. Let the battle begin. |
null | Jonathan Shieber | 2,014 | 8 | 1 | null |
Incubated: Capital Factory Leverages Austin’s Startup Scene To Lead Companies To Success | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Austin-based is one of the jewels of the city’s startup scene, offering up an accelerator program and space for community events and workshops. The accelerator has a flexible, rolling application process that allows startups to join and use its coworking space for generally as long as they need. was founded five years ago by , one of the local entrepreneurs in Austin. He teamed up with a couple of other founders in the area to develop a program for helping startups that were based or wanted to be based there. Part of the appeal of the program is the office space: Located right downtown, the accelerator’s office has stunning views of the city and plenty of desks and available conference rooms for meetings. The space also serves as a place for various startup events and workshops that its portfolio companies can take part in. In fact, that’s one of the best ways to get in. For startups that want to join, being a part of the Capital Factory community before applying is a good way to get noticed and get to know the partners there before submitting an application. Check out the video above to learn more. Check out all the episodes of Incubated here: |
Google Acquires Directr, An App For Shooting Short Films On Your Phone | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Directr, an app that we’ve a since its launch back in 2012, has just been snatched up by . In an age of ultra-brief videos, Directr existed to help users and businesses shoot videos that were a bit longer than your average Vine — think ads, or promo clips, or family holiday videos. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the pieces fit together like that of a smaller purchase/acquihire: the Directr product will live on (now free) under its own branding, but the team behind it is joining YouTube’s video ad team. Directr’s approach was clever: to encourage users to shoot better video, Directr would provide templates (or “storyboards”) that explained how a scene might best be framed/shot. The user would just fill in the blanks with their own clips, and Directr would piece it together, add music, and prep everything to be shared across your myriad Facebooks and Twitters. Directr came in two forms: one for personal use, and one for business. The former focused on videos you might shoot to share with friends (travel videos, family holiday gatherings, etc), while the latter focused on teaching companies to shoot things like testimonials, product demos, etc. The personal edition was free but downloading a finished video cost 99 cents; the business version cost $250-$500 a year, depending on what features you needed. had raised around $1.7M to date |
New Study Shows The Decline Of Startups And America’s Geriatric Economy | Danny Crichton | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | A few months ago, : “Can Google ever be beat?” The query was less about Google itself, and more a question about the potential of startups to disrupt the largest companies in our economy. Do we have the talent and capital infrastructure needed for nascent companies to grow and compete against mature incumbents? I argued strongly that we do not, but I based my analysis on conversations and impressions from my interviews and experience in Silicon Valley rather than from economy-wide data. looking into the issue of business maturity in America. The results are, unfortunately, deeply disturbing for those who care about the future of the startup industry. The authors, Ian Hathaway and Robert Litan, used U.S. Census data to investigate the age structure of firms in the economy and how that structure has changed over time. Their results show clearly that America’s firms are getting older on average. Take a look at this graph of the changing percentage of firms at different age levels. The proportion of firms greater than 16 years of age has increased significantly over the past two decades, appearing to be mostly at the expense of startups with less than five years of operations. Another angle the authors study is the percentage of the labor force that works at mature companies compared to startups. Again, the results are not positive. As the second graph above summarizes, older firms are now employing a greater percentage of Americans than they were in 1992 — 77% of all workers, in fact, if you include government employees into the analysis, up from 67%. Hathaway and Litan note that this observation is not limited to a single market or industry. “Perhaps more surprising is the sheer pervasiveness of this trend, which is occurring in every U.S. state and nearly every metropolitan area, across all firm size categories and broad industrial segments; even in high- tech.” That last comment may be surprising walking around San Francisco these days, given that it seems like every building, nook, and cranny has some sort of startup working out of it (a dentist’s office I visited even had a startup working from the closet). That makes it a bit harder to swallow the study’s conclusion that entrepreneurship is declining in America. The authors plotted the number of new firm formations over time, and noted a continuing decrease in the formation rate as can be seen in the final chart included above. This is less the case in Silicon Valley than it is in the rest of the economy (from CrunchBase data or other local data sources), but even here the trend is quite visible. With the exception of Facebook and Salesforce (which is 15 years old), nearly every major Silicon Valley company is older than 16 years. Companies act like humans when it comes to these sorts of population statistics. The more young companies that are launched and incubated, the more mature companies that will be in existence in ten to twenty years, mediated by a failure rate (or the death rate in the case of humans). If there are less firms being created, then over time we would expect that the average maturity of firms to increase. Indeed, the study observes the interesting parallel between the age structure of firms and the same age structure of people in the United States. Of course, older firms are going to be bigger and hire more employees. Scale takes time, with the typical firm taking almost a decade to go to an initial public offering or other liquidity event if it doesn’t fail along the way. It therefore shouldn’t be surprising that older firms employ the bulk of workers compared to smaller startups. The challenge here, and what we should be worried about on several fronts is that the proportion of older firms is . At a time when technology-driven disruption is supposed to be demolishing older firms, we are instead seeing a greater percentage of the workforce joining mature companies instead of younger ones. Part of the challenge here is that we have a strong in our community. We write far more about the success stories than we do about the failures, and so our impression of the age structure is mediated by our intense focus on a handful of top startups. While everyone knows there are a thousand startups for every Facebook (if not more), we rarely make the connection that such a high failure rate means that the typical firm may be aging. That attention on a handful of winners in Silicon Valley from investors, engineers, and journalists also prevents more resources from going to startups in other areas of the country. One reason that new firm formation may be decreasing is simply that founders have more knowledge of the challenges of starting a business, with greater awareness of the steep obstacles to success in some places or sectors. One answer the authors don’t address is that the efficiency of startups may be disproportionately greater than older established firms. Tens of thousands of people work at , but employs just a fraction of that number. Back in 2012, the media loved to mention that had less than two dozen people when it sold to Facebook, compared to the tens of thousands who worked at . Due to the limitations of the Census Bureau’s data, the study only considers the number of firms at different age levels, and not the economic power of those firms. That may provide a much more insightful answer on whether the United States is becoming more or less entrepreneurial. It may well be the case that while fewer firms are forming, those firms are efficiently building greater levels of wealth, but simply with fewer workers. I believe deeply in the ideas behind Joseph Schumpeter’s conception of creative destruction, of firms that quickly grow up and break up while innovation moves quickly forward throughout the economy. It is the core of what great innovation regions do, which is why the data around firm age structure is so disconcerting. Action here is the only antidote. We need to do more to make entrepreneurship a viable career option. We need to ensure that the world’s brightest have a pathway to build a startup in America, and we should do more to spread Silicon Valley’s resources to places where innovation exists but is not well nurtured. A geriatric economy is not a dynamic one, and we need to ensure that the next twenty years are just as innovative and progressive as the last two decades. |
Facebook Data Privacy Class Action Now Oversubscribed | Natasha Lomas | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | A civil class action lawsuit being brought against on privacy grounds by campaigner Max Schrems has hit its current maximum of 25,000 participants less than a week after the action was announced. The class action was submitted to a Vienna, Austria court last Thursday and attracted over the weekend. It’s now hit its initial limit of 25,000 — imposed by the organizers because of the associated admin burden. Additional participants wanting to join the action are being asked to register their interest, via a , in the eventuality of the case organizers being able to increase the number of participants. “If we can join more people for whatever reason (good feeling in courts, easier handling than we expected, more capacities after proceeding the first 25.000, …) [we will],” Schrems told TechCrunch via email. “The cut was just necessary to not have expectations that we might not be able to meet in the future. We want to be straight-forward with the people joining.” “The current maximum has nothing to do with [legal] costs (as we are insured via the procedure financing company), but with the administrative burden that e.g. 100.000 class members would mean to us. Mind that we are consumers that invite other consumers to join an existing case. I don’t get a single cent more than any class member,” he added. Schrems is the only named claimant in the case, so there are no risks of any costs for participants in the class action. The case is being financed by Austrian law firm ROLAND ProzessFinanz AG, which will net a fifth of any winnings. Damages have been set intentionally low — at “a token €500 per user” — but given there are now 25,000 participants if the case prevails and those full damages are granted that’s currently a €12.5 million toll for Facebook. Earlier today, when the suit had reached 21,000 participants, the top 10 countries joining the action were as follows: 1. Germany — 5.287
2. Austria — 3.712
3. Netherlands — 2.438
4. Finland — 1.179
5. Croatia — 1.106
6. United Kingdom — 913
7. Belgium — 894
8. France — 736
9. Serbia — 588
10. Poland — 415 In all, individuals from more than 100 countries have signed up to participate in the suit, according to the case organizers. At peak times the case was registering up to 7,000 participants per day. Schrems said the response had exceeded his “most optimistic expectations”. “With this number of participants we have a great basis, to stop complaining about privacy violations and actually do something about it. If we are successful, the outcome will of course have a positive impact on all users,” he added in a statement. Specifically the suit targets the following — as the case views it — “unlawful” acts on Facebook’s part: |
Why The Gmail Scan That Led To A Man’s Arrest For Child Porn Was Not A Privacy Violation | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | No one will argue against the outcome of a case which , after Google tipped off authorities about illegal images found in the Houston suspect’s Gmail account. But the nature of how the discovery came about led some to questions about the methodologies used behind the scenes. Was Google actively scanning Gmail for illegal activity? Was Google overstepping its role as a service provider by tipping off authorities about the data hosted in a user’s Gmail account? – or so shortly following the incident. Those questions, however, seem to misunderstand the technology Google used to help make this arrest. Today, customers generally know that Google uses a type of automated technology that scans your email for keywords and phrases in order to display relevant advertising to support the free service, and that no human ever actively reads your personal email. Similarly, Google engineers were not reading through this man’s email account in order to spot the illegal images being shared. Nor does Google actively or passively (through automated means) scan users’ email accounts for other types of criminal activity, like planning a robbery, for example. This case, and the technology that allowed for the arrest, is only focused on child pornography identification. Child porn is a problem major internet companies, including both Microsoft and Google, have been tackling for years. In fact, one of the technologies used to identify and help stamp out the sharing of these illegal images online was originally developed by Microsoft. Here’s how it works: Microsoft’s “PhotoDNA” technology is all about making it so that these specific types of illegal images can be automatically identified by computer programs, not people. (That’s an awful and psychologically draining job, after all.) PhotoDNA converts an image into a common black-and-white format and size the image to a uniform size, Microsoft explained last year while its increased efforts at collaborating with Google to combat online child abuse. The technology then divides the image into squares and assigns a numerical value that represents the unique shading found within each square. Combined, those numerical values represent the “PhotoDNA signature” of an image file. That unique signature can then be used in comparison with other images online. Microsoft today uses the technology on Bing, Outlook.com and its cloud storage service to identify child abuse images and stop them from being redistributed online. The technology itself grew out of a partnership between Microsoft, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Dartmouth College. And in 2009, Microsoft also donated PhotoDNA to NCMEC to aid in the fight against child exploitation. When Microsoft finds an image signature match, it reports it to NCMEC in the U.S., or, in the U.K., (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre). In 2012, Microsoft also began partnering with others, including law enforcement, to integrate PhotoDNA into tools used in child abuse investigations like , software often used by Swedish law enforcement agencies. In addition, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children also has a program underway with various law enforcement agencies known as “Project Vic”, which uses PhotoDNA to help law enforcement automatically sift through the massive number of images in their child sexual exploitation investigations to ID new criminals. In addition, Microsoft, Google, (Internet Watch Foundation), and CEOP announced a joint program last year to take down images of abuse, including things like the blocking of torrent files by Microsoft’s Bing search engine which would have otherwise pointed to the illegal content. But while Microsoft has made, perhaps, more public noise about the use of PhotoDNA technology, other technology companies, including Google, and , also use this system. For instance, Facebook said that PhotoDNA can, in some cases, even prevent illegal images from being uploaded to its site, and called the program amazingly accurate. Meanwhile, Google itself developed an equivalent to PhotoDNA, with a similar hashing technology that can identify and help remove child abuse photos and videos. Google declined to comment on the specifics surrounding the Houston arrest, but pointed to , shared by Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond last summer. In the post, Drummond says that Google has co-funded IWF for nearly a decade, and works with Interpol and NCMEC in U.S. to fight child pornography. And while his post didn’t call out Microsoft by name, it did reference Google’s use of “hashing” technology which it had then begun to incorporate into a cross-industry database, he said. That is, Google was to collaborate with others in the industry, like Microsoft, as Microsoft’s later that year more clearly stated, explaining how the video tech and PhotoDNA would be used together. However, in this particular case of the Houston arrest, PhotoDNA was not involved, although from what we’re hearing, something similar was. Google has its own hashing technology, in use since 2008, which is used to detect sexual abuse imagery online. Google, Microsoft and other technology companies share technology like this to combat this sort of illegal activity. And while PhotoDNA may not have been the one to point to this specific arrest, its development and other hashing technologies are designed to make abuse image detection a more automated activity. Microsoft previously went into detail about what sort of content is blocked and where, and to some extent, Google has now offered us the same, telling us that Google “actively removes illegal imagery from our services – including search and Gmail – and immediately reports abuse to NCMEC.” This evidence is then used regularly to convict criminals, the company noted. What’s interesting here, and probably what caught the tech press’ attention this go-around, is that it wasn’t well understood that Google had introduced this technology to be used within Gmail. This may be a more recent addition, as it turns out. unofficial Google blog Google only a few months ago changed its terms of use from to the . The changes include added text about Gmail’s position on child abuse imagery, calling it “zero-tolerance” and warning of disciplinary actions: Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse imagery. If we become aware of such content, we will report it to the appropriate authorities and may take disciplinary action, including termination, against the Google Accounts of those involved. This is not the first time Google has made the press for helping law enforcement catch those involved with child pornography, and it seems like each time it does, . But those questions don’t seem to understand that Google isn’t playing cop inside users’ Gmail inboxes, it’s using an automated detection system that looks specifically for child pornography, and is part of a larger international effort to remove these images from the web. Frankly, that’s something that no sane person should be against. And if you’re okay with Google automatically scanning your Gmail to help display better ads so you can use the service for free, it’s not exactly a big leap of faith to allow it automatically scan your Gmail to identify images of child abuse. |
SocialTables, A Collaborative Event-Planning Service, Raises $8 Million Series A | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | DC-based has announced its latest raise, an $8 million Series A round led by with joining. previously raised $1.6 million to help streamline event planning with collaborative tools. Founded by a programmer and event-planner, we’ve been following this company since when I was impressed by their clever seating arrangement software (really!). now has 2,500 customers and 30,000 users. Two-thirds of those are venue owners including the Hyatt Hotel Corporation and Caesar’s Entertainment, and one-third are party planners. “SocialTables is a hospitality SaaS company,” said Berger. “Our platform delivers sales and operations tools to hotels and event planners. We will be using the new capital to focus on better serving our current customers and building additional hospitality products to realize efficiencies in an industry that very much need new technology solutions.” SocialTables was one of the coolest — and only — high-tech events planning solutions I’ve seen in which growth has been solid and steady. While wedding season has come and gone, it’s nice to know there’s an app out there that can ensure Uncle Steve doesn’t have to sit next to Ex-Aunt Stacey. |
Unclouded App Lets You See What’s Eating Up Your Cloud Storage | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | Back when the PC was king, a number of software programs were available that would let you analyze your hard drive utilization, allowing you to delete and relocate files in order to free up more storage space. But now that we’ve moved to using cloud services, where overuse isn’t just an annoyance, but incurs additional monthly charges, gaining that same sort of visibility is more important than ever. A new application called , launching today, helpfully analyzes, explores and assists you with cleaning up your cloud storage in an easy-to-use app offering a level of insight into your online storage usage that you may have not had before. After all, it’s not in tech companies’ best interest to help you clean out and save space on their cloud platforms, when that storage is a revenue-generating business. Though the cost of keeping files in the cloud seems to be coming down all the time, the jump from one tier to another, and the use of multiple paid storage sites can add up. And this is especially true if you use the cloud to store larger files, like audio collections or videos, or are backing up entire photo libraries, for example. With , you can not only how much storage you’ve used on a cloud drive – the tech companies themselves will tell you that – you’re also able to drill down and see the largest files and folders, group them by category and time, locate duplicates, and more. The app will also work offline. Unclouded’s creator is Lisbon-based , a computer science engineer, , and longtime Dropbox user, whose account had grown to host an unorganized mess of around 170,000 files. “I needed software to tell me which files and folders are using my space, what type of files – photos, music, etc. – [they were], when they were created or modified, and I also needed to clean my duplicates,” he explains. “Nothing like this was out there, so I decided to create it,” he adds. The application at launch currently supports and because they provide the necessary API to make possible. The app is being offered as , however it will only function in read-only mode unless you upgrade to a premium tier. Göllner says the idea is to present the information about files for free to users, and when they realize they then want to take an action – like removing duplicates – they’ll be encouraged to pay to upgrade in order to delete the files from within Unclouded. (Of course, you simply go back to the cloud storage service itself, armed with the information provided by Unclouded and take the necessary actions, but it’s more convenient to do so within the app.) Premium users will also be able to upload files, share files or links with others, rename and move files, and create folders. The cost to do so is $1.99, available via an in-app purchase. Overall, the app itself is simple to navigate and use, with thoughtful design touches like being able to toggle between grid and list layouts, or using gestures – like being able to press and hold to select items for deletion or relocation. Unfortunately for iOS users, you’ll just have to be jealous of an app (for a change!): says he only knows Android development for now. |
Microsoft Offers Chinese Workers A Free Windows Phone To Quit | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | News broke today that is offering employees in China a Lumia 630 device to leave the company voluntarily. Microsoft’s mass layoffs are not going over smoothly in China. Reports of protest with workers reacting in anger about the that will eventually . When Microsoft purchased most of hardware assets, it acquired tens of thousands of workers. Losses from the purchase weighed down its earnings, causing the company to report a . The company is working to trim expenses to get its financials back in line with market expectations. According , Microsoft is offering the deal to up to 300 employees per day. Gifting in-kind hardware on their way out the door is surprisingly close to the dividing line between gauche, and tone-deaf. Microsoft’s planned layoffs will heavily impact its hardware group, while leaving its main corporate campus generally unscathed. Sources around Redmond, Wash., where the company is headquartered, have indicated to TechCrunch that morale and home is intact. Elsewhere, that isn’t the case. Investors were with Microsoft’s cost-cutting measures — the short-term profit decline that the hardware assets will induce isn’t a problem as long as the losses end. Microsoft has promised that they will in 2016. Layoffs also lessen immediate profit impairment by allowing for a stronger cost makeup. That doesn’t take the massive human impact into the picture — more than ten thousand lives are about to be tossed into turmoil in a difficult global economy. But at least some will walk away with a shiny new smartphone. |
Yahoo Snags Netflix Exec To Be Its CIO | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | this morning that it has hired formerly of , to take on its chief information officer role, along with the title of senior vice president of infrastructure. Kail’s background in video is fitting, given Yahoo’s . Yahoo also to be its chief information security officer. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer that Kail will start today. Yahoo remains a company in transition. Its efforts are broad, with a mobile push fitting next to a broader content effort. The company’s effort to of the year underscores its video goals. Kail, presumably, was picked up to ensure that Yahoo’s technical backing can support its new content efforts. A source close to the company lauded Kail’s technical background. What impact Kail will have on Yahoo’s strategy isn’t clear. In its most recent quarterly report, by reporting lackluster revenue figures. Yahoo is up a fraction today, sporting a value of just over $36 billion. |
LibraTax Looks To Solve Bitcoin Tax Accounting-Related Woes | Kim-Mai Cutler | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | on taxing crypto-currency trading, it can be a bit complicated for Bitcoin enthusiasts to figure out how much capital gains and income tax they owe. Losses and gains are subject to a capital gains tax, which means you have to remember Bitcoin’s valuation at the point you bought the currency and at the point you sold it. That leads to a complicated year-round exercise in bookkeeping. Then, people that mine their own Bitcoins face two different kinds of taxes: one is an income tax based on the fair market value of the currency when they mined it. The other is the capital gains taxes on any changes in the valuation of that currency once they sell it. This, of course, makes for a nice market opportunity for out there to create something like TurboTax for Bitcoin. Enter , a fresh startup that lets individuals and businesses keep track of their earnings from Bitcoin, Ripple and other crypto-currency related transactions. “The new IRS rules create this huge accounting nightmare,” said LibraTax founder . “You not only have to realize gains and losses, but you have to remember what you paid originally for the Bitcoin.” LibraTax automatically retrieves a person’s historical sales and purchases of Bitcoin from the blockchain, or the public ledger of transactions, and reconciles them with whatever the value of Bitcoin was at that time. It should work with transactions that even date back to earlier years in case people who filed tax returns want to make amendments. The company is aiming to have a two-tiered model, with one kind of software for consumers that should largely be free unless they want premium services like additional wallets. They’re also looking at a model that will target tax professionals and accounting firms, who will pay a licensing fee and can join an affiliate program. They are also in the process of building a product suite for small businesses. LibraTax has funding so far from accelerator CrossCoin Ventures, which is associated with the crypto-currency Ripple. |
Man Builds A Suit To Turn Himself Into A Human Fireworks Display, Lives | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | Ever wished you could see what it’s like to be a fireworks display? You could and fly it through the fireworks… Or, if you’re mostly bonkers, you could build a big terrifying metal suit, cross your fingers, and stand right in the middle of the action. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA46WFX7jWA&w=640&h=390] You might recognize the guy in the video as Colin Furze, one of our favorite people (or, at least, our favorite mad scientist) on the whole internet. Remember those crazy, fully functional Wolverine claws? Or the shoes that let their inventor walk on the ceiling? The wrist-worn flamethrows? Yep, It goes without saying, but: don’t try this one at home. Really, you probably shouldn’t try that Colin Furze does in his spare time. |
Gillmor Gang: WineQuake | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, Dan Farber, and Steve Gillmor — woke up and fell out of bed in what was the most dramatic quake for most of us since ’89 and in my case LA in the ’70s. For the wine industry, this will have major impact, coming as it does as the Napa Valley goes to harvest what is called 25% of the US market. The major social networks continue to do their job, with Twitter supplying immediate context and Facebook a rolling visual system of record. As Dan Farber recounted from his closest proximity to the epicenter, the blinking glow of the broadband router was the most welcome touch point in the immediate aftermath. Twitter — we love to turn you on. @stevegillmor, @dbfarber, @scobleizer, @kevinmarks, @kteare Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor |
Kdan Mobile’s Cloud-Based Apps Are An Alternative To Adobe Products | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | wants to fill the space between Adobe’s mobile products and Evernote by providing cloud-based creativity and productivity apps for iOS and Android, like and , that are targeted toward amateur users and students. allows users to access their content on different devices and in the near future founder CEO Kenny Su says the startup, which is currently raising closing its Series A, plans to parse data from all of its apps to help people organize their content more quickly based on file formats. “Currently our marketing position is to try to complete the whole mobile content creation experience between Adobe and Evernote. Evernote’s business strategy is to help people keep everything in the cloud, but if people create something more, they don’t have the tools. Adobe has always been targeted to professional users, not mobile users who are amateurs,” say Su. Two of Kdan’s apps, NoteLedge and Animation Desk, have gained traction through a partnerships with Samsung and Microsoft. The apps are currently pre-installed on several of Samsung’s mobile devices, including the Galaxy 3 and Galaxy tablet, in 13 Asian countries, as well as Microsoft’s Lumia series in Taiwan. Now Kdan faces the challenge of striking additional partnerships, getting additional users outside of those partnerships, and convincing existing users to sign up for Kdan Creative Cloud. Su says Kdan has already signed partnerships with carriers in North America, but can’t currently talk about them because of a non-disclosure agreement. In total, Kdan’s suite of apps Kdan Creative Cloud currently has 100,000 registered members and adds an additional 2,000 to 3,000 users per day. The company’s goal is to have one million subscribers by the end of 2015. Su says the company plans to encourage people to subscribe the Kdan Creative Cloud by offering promotions as well as special features to unlock. Currently eight apps are connected to Kdan’s cloud: , , , , , , , and . Of these, Kdan Mobile considers PDF Connoisseur, NoteLedge, and Animation Desk its flagship products. Animation Desk, which lets users turn drawings into animations on their iPads, is meant as an alternative to Adobe’s Edge Animate for students and amateurs who don’t need all the features of pricier software. It supports four frame rates (or FPS, frames-per-second) from 3FPS to 24FPS and includes pre-loaded dynamic or static backgrounds, so users don’t have to draw their own. Animation Desk is optimized for use with Adonit, Ten One Design, and Hex3 styluses. PDF Connoisseur includes a scanner that turns documents into PDFs, a PDF reader, a file converter, downloader, and file transfer tool. Additional features include a text-to-speech reader that supports six languages (English, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean); an optical character recognition (OCR) tool that recognizes 12 languages and turns text from scans into a searchable .txt file; and a PDF editor. NoteLedge is an EverNote competitor, but geared towards younger users with options like different notebooks, stylus styles that include crayon and watercolor, and in-app sticker purchases. Like EverNote, NoteLedge also supports audio and video recording. A subscription to Kdan Creative Cloud currently costs $2.99 a month or $9.99 a year for individual users, and $5.99 a month or $29.99 a year for businesses. |
PlayStation Network Suffers DDOS Attack, Hackers Claim To Have Grounded SOE President’s Plane | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | PlayStation Network is currently experiencing mass outages for North American users, and the reason behind the downtime is a DDOS attack for which hacker group Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility. Sony says there , but the rolling outage persists in various locales, some ten hours or more after the attack began. What’s unusual about this attack is that it also includes a security threat against the plane in which Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley was traveling today. The plane was diverted to Phoenix and is currently having its cargo inspected, following claims on Twitter posted by the Lizard Squad group that claimed the same flight had explosives on board. Of course, it’s still possible the plane was diverted for another reason and the claim by Lizard Squad is just a coincidence, but it would be a very convenient one given the timing on all the parts involved in this convoluted story. Suffice it to say, this isn’t your typical DDOS attack. We’ll provide more information if any becomes available. |
#Love: My Biggest Digital Faux Pas | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | Our attachment to computers can play tricks on us. With the ability to navigate anywhere, order anything, calculate any math problem, and answer any question right in the palm of our hands, it would be easy to feel god-like. Infallible, even. But oh, if that were the case! While our computers, and the internet, make us instantaneously more knowledgable (and even correct our misspellings ), the code can only do so much with the mess we throw at it. In fact, our constant access to social media and other people probably opens us up to even greater possibility of screwing things up. We’ve all been there, whether it’s an accidental CC instead of a BCC or leaving yourself signed in to the wrong account on the wrong computer. So in honor of our grandest mistakes, and as a reminder to use the 15-second-rule and to resist the urge to text while drinking, we’ve compiled some of the best digital disasters we’ve heard. As you can expect, we’ve changed the names of those involved. For a while, I was dating two girls that I met on J-Date with the name Emily. I had taken the first Emily to brunch on Saturday morning and the second Emily to drinks on Saturday night. On Sunday, I woke up pretty hungover from the night before but thinking about brunch with Emily #1. So I fired up my iPhone to text her, but saw that I had a message from the other Emily, Emily #2. She had thanked me for last night. I got up and grabbed a glass of water and then returned to my phone to message both of my Emilys. I carefully typed out my message for Emily #1: “Had a great time at breakfast. Today’s cereal pales in comparison. When can I see you again?” As soon as I sent that off, I opened up the other Emily’s text conversation and hurriedly sent: “Ya last night was fun.” Unfortunately, I had texted the wrong Emilys. Emily #1 sent me a “?” in response, and instead of realizing that I was talking to the wrong Emily, I proceeded to describe in some graphic detail some of the fun I had had with Emily #2, who was also pissed. Neither ever talked to me again. In eight grade I had a crush on a girl who would barely talk to me in real life, but sometimes I could get a pretty good chat going over AIM. She was one of the popular girls at school. I told her I had a friend named Jason who played soccer at the public high school in the next city and “introduced them” on AIM. He wasn’t a real person, just some dude that I had made up. But after talking a few times, I started flirting with her as this other guy on this fake account. It was totally weird but it gave me the chance to flirt with her and have her flirt back. The lying started getting difficult, especially when she wanted to hang out with me so she could meet him in real life. Eventually, she asked to come over to my house and bother me about meeting him or going to see him. I had hope for a few hours. Until I realized she had snook onto my computer while I was in the bathroom and found out that “Jason” was me. The whole school found out. Eight grade was hard. I was studying overseas for a while and started a pretty wild affair with a professor there. We would communicate a lot via email, and in one of our conversations he had sent me a “lesson plan” full of incredibly inappropriate and also very sexy things he planned to do with me. I was editing an email to one of my exes, and somehow pasted in this “lesson plan list.” When I realized what I had done, it was the strongest rush of anxiety, embarrassment and horror. My heart was racing because I could only anticipate how shitty; it would be for him to read something like that. It was truly awful. This isn’t the story of biggest digital mistake, but the one that affected me the most. Many years ago, I was on a business trip and exhausted from jet lag. I woke up in the middle of the night to my phone buzzing, and see that a client has sent me an email. I normally would just go back to sleep, but this was a new and very important client, and if she was sending me an email at 1AM, I felt like it was probably urgent that I respond. What I saw when I opened it was very much the last thing I wanted to see. She was posed before a mirror in some horrid red lace thing but still naked in all the parts that count. We’re talking full frontal. And not to sound judge-y or awful, but she was many years older than I was and… just, not at all what I wanted to see in the middle of the night. A few minutes later I got a separate email from her that said “I’m so sorry that wasn’t meant for you. Please please please delete it. PLEASE.” I wrote back and said it was no sweat, and that this never happened. But yes, I had to see her again and yes, it was super awkward. The biggest mistake I ever made on the internet was snooping through my ex’s Facebook. She left herself logged on on Facebook on my computer, and even though we were happy together for a really long time… like, seven years, I still couldn’t resist looking. Clicking into the messages was a huge mistake, mostly because there were a bunch of messages to a guy she was cheating on me with. I obviously needed to find out, but finding out like that was definitely a mistake. It’s not funny or all that exciting, but it was definitely the biggest mistake I ever made on the internet. Totally regret it. In college I was dating a guy that I was totally obsessed with and after we broke up, I kept his email password saved on my computer. I checked it all the time, for months, very carefully checking the “sent” folder instead of opening up new emails in the inbox. He never suspected me at all, until one day I came back to my computer, opened up my email, and absolutely forgot that I was using his account. I sent off only two different emails before I realized what I had done: The first was to my sister, who I could immediately alert to not write back and simply delete the sent message. No harm done. Unfortunately, the second email was an invite to a smallish party that was sent out to about a dozen of our closest mutual friends. Confused by the fact that they had received an email from his address that was signed “XX, Olivia” they all pretty much thought I was a psycho for a little while. One night at dinner with Andrea (current girlfriend) and another couple, I felt a sudden urge to check Brenda’s (ex-girlfriend) Facebook. Under the table, I managed to guide my fingers and navigate my phone to my Facebook app. I was so proud of myself for being able to do this blind — what a thing to be proud of! In my glory, I fumbled the next step. Instead of clicking the search button where I was planning to write Brenda’s full name and click on her profile, I found myself in the “Update Status” box. I typed in “Brenda Carlson.” Before I had a chance to peruse what I thought would be her Facebook page, the conversation turned to something pertaining to my work and I reengaged in the dinner, an- swering a few questions. A few minutes later, my phone buzzed. It was my friend Amy. “Kim—wtf are you doing re Facebook?” I had no idea what she meant but I was suddenly dizzy with anxiety. I looked down at my phone. My pro- file’s most recent update, which appeared in all 1,022 of my friends’ feeds (including Andrea’s), read “Kimmy Stolz is Brenda Carlson.” I quickly deleted it. I think I got lucky be- cause Andrea never brought it up. But I assume, given the frequency with which we all check our Facebook accounts, I shared my transparent stalking with at least four hundred to four hundred fifty friends during the ten minutes it was up before I managed to delete it. |
Gillmor Gang Live 08.24.14 | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | – Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, Dan Farber, and Steve Gillmor. at Facebook here |
Niche Founders (Plus Vine Star Robby Ayala) Talk Marketing, The Risks Of Social Media, And More | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | I recently interviewed the co-founders of social marketing startup , when they with Robby Ayala, who leads creative partnerships for the company and is also one of their resident Vine stars (with ). I first covered Niche last fall, after the company . The team has a built an online platform that connects users who are popular social media with brand marketers so that they can collaborate on ad campaigns. In the 30-minute video above, co-founders Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman (whose cousin, by the way, is TechCrunch writer Josh Constine) talk about how they created company, recount how they convinced Ayala to quit law school and join the team, and show off some of the actual ads. One thing that comes through, I think, is the opportunity that social media offers for creating fun, creative ads, but I was also curious about the risk that it presents for putting your foot in your mouth. Asked how Niche might be affected if one of its creators get embroiled in some kind of scandal, Fishman acknowledged that it is “part and parcel and working in this space,” especially since many of those creators are teenagers. “One of the decisions we made in the begining was not to represent anyone,” he said. “We’re not a talent agency, we do not have formal ties with any of the creators in our network, other than that we provide them software and we work with them on a campaign-by-campaign basis. So for us, when someone on our network, there’s some faux pas or they slip up or they do something unprofessional, that doesn’t mean that we are cutting ties with them, it just means hey, maybe we’re not going to work on campaigns with them in the near future.” And if you’re a creator who’s posted something that seems to piss everyone off, Ayala had a simple piece of advice: “Just delete it.” |
LG Is Already Launching A New Smartwatch – And This Time It’s Round | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1STW7LQXONo] Android Wear isn’t even a year old, but LG is already ramping up the hype cycle for its second smartwatch based on Google’s wearable software platform. The design for the new device centers around a circular face, a trick that Motorola is pioneering with its , but which is one of two default screen configurations for Android Wear built-in natively by Google. The LG watch appears to be looking to one-up the Moto 360 right now, with a perfectly circular face that, at least according to the teaser, emphasizes the fact that it doesn’t have to leave a small window at the bottom that makes one hard, flat edge, as does Motorola’s wearable. The design also looks to feature a more traditional case with external lugs, vs. Motorola’s design, which might be more appealing for those looking for something that more typically resembles your average, innocuous Timex or Casio. LG will be showing off whatever this is at IFA 2014 next week, so we won’t have to wait long to have the full device specs revealed. If it ships shortly following its unveiling, then we could have a lot of Android Wear hardware to choose from come fall – though whether consumers are excited about having any devices in this category to choose from at all remains to be seen. Via |
E-Businesses In Africa Have A Responsibility To Help Alleviate Internet Poverty | Johan Nel | 2,014 | 8 | 24 | In Soshanguve, a township just north of Pretoria in South Africa, there was a small kiosk that sold fruit, cigarettes and snacks to passersby. The owner of the kiosk had recently installed Wi-Fi and, soon after, placed tables and chairs out front. And then her customers soon began to linger. They bought more items; they socialized. Her business became a hub, transforming from a corrugated tin to a kiosk and then to a cafe, growing 800 percent. The Internet anchored passersby to her business and made her — and the community — see things differently. differently. differently. Access to the Internet should be a basic human right. In today’s world, you are at a considerable disadvantage without it. Considering that most companies — even in the developing world — only accept scholarship and job applications via email, not having access to the Internet is tantamount to not having the means to dig oneself out of poverty. Elon University asked 1,500 experts to compile their about what the Internet will look like in 2025. What emerged — judging not just by their predictions, but also by past behavior — is that access to the Internet is essential . If we can’t get people connected, we are leaving them behind. Everything will be affected: our economy, our social environs, our education system. Better schools, more government assistance and reforms are mere stop-gaps compared to the online world that has endless, up-to-date information, tips and self-instruction. The Internet doesn’t discriminate; it doesn’t have borders; it doesn’t antiquate. That doesn’t mean we tackle connectivity as a charitable initiative. In fact, we shouldn’t. Any business with an e-commerce or web-based community can draw a direct benefit when the unconnected are connected – if of course, you are willing and able to provide them with the tools they need. Connecting an unconnected operating environment should be part of your long-term business strategy. In developing nations, we can only go as far as our (relevantly) small, connected market can take us. When you find yourself ranking at the top of your game, it’s time to change the game. The Internet is boundary-less, unlimited and full of potential — if your business plays in the online space, it should be too. When you are expanding a network of Internet users, you are directly or indirectly expanding your own market. For sites such as our own, that already own the bulk of the Internet population, we cannot grow if the Internet population doesn’t grow. That has to factor into our long-term business decisions. Ultimately, providing another business with Internet access benefits everyone, placing a stamp of goodwill and knowledge on a community that is priceless. Perhaps being a market leader in 2014 and the coming years is also being a connectivity leader. Maybe it’s not the responsibility of governments and nonprofits to provide that connectivity. Perhaps, waiting for someone else to provide your customers with the connectivity they need to transact with you is the worst business decision companies are making. E-businesses in Africa have a responsibility to alleviate Internet poverty, and the responsibility is to themselves. |
A Look Back At Yahoo’s Flickr Acquisition For Lessons Today | Tomio Geron | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | When Yahoo offered to buy Flickr in early 2005, co-founder and his team had a tough decision to make. There were many reasons to sell. But there were also many reasons to wait for a larger exit. Today, deals like and to Facebook, as well as to Google, can make it seem like massive exits are easy or common. But they’re often complicated and provide some lessons, according to Butterfield — now co-founder and CEO of — and Cal Henderson who was head of engineering at Flickr and is now co-founder and VP of engineering at Slack. Vancouver, Canada-based Flickr launched in February 2004 and started to take off in summer of that year, drawing the attention of Yahoo and other large Internet companies. While it held some meetings with these companies, the startup didn’t receive any offers. But six months later, with usage doubling every month and showing no signs of slowing, Flickr started to talk to venture capital firms such as Accel Partners about a substantial funding round. Until that point it had received angel funding from Esther Dyson, Reid Hoffman, James Currier and others. It also began receiving real acquisition interest. Yahoo was the most serious, flying to Vancouver to make a full pitch to the Flickr team. There were good reasons to take venture funding and keep going. The site was exploding in growth and had no real competition. Even the popular blog platform Blogger used Flickr for photo uploads on its site. In social networking, Facebook was still an on-campus phenomenon – so Flickr could have taken some of what Facebook eventually gobbled up with social photos. But there were also compelling reasons to take the deal, as many of Butterfield’s advisers said. Yahoo was still the top search engine. And there wasn’t much confidence in consumer Internet startups, as many investors and entrepreneurs still had the dot-com crash fresh in their minds. There hadn’t yet been consumer Internet exits since the crash, with the exception of Blogger, which Google in 2003 for a small sum. And the risks of some unknown financial crash seemed significant. In addition, technology storage and bandwidth was expensive, and open source technology was not as mature as it is today. Flickr had to rack its servers and build much of its technology. Joining Yahoo would supposedly solve some of those problems. Flickr decided in January 2005 to take the Yahoo offer — reportedly for $35 million. There were too many compelling reasons to take the offer during what was still an uncertain time. Because it was early in the growth of tech startups after the dot-com crash, Flickr missed some of the up-tick in the market, as others sold for more when the market took off: Myspace sold to News Corp. for $580 million in July 2005 and later YouTube, which Google in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock. “We definitely made the wrong decision in retrospect. We would’ve made 10 times [what we did]. But it’s not like I regret it,” Butterfield says. How can something be a mistake and also be completely correct? The sale left potentially 10 times more on the table. But Butterfield doesn’t regret it because he believes they made the right decision knowing what they did at the time. And he and other team members have all gone on to do well at other ventures. It was one of the first significant consumer Internet acquisitions after the dot-com crash, and it illustrates the tough decisions that entrepreneurs have to make — particularly when facing acquisition offers. Making a decision to sell is a tough call for any founder or CEO. Many have invested valuable time, money and energy for years. There is no simple right or wrong answer. Butterfield suggests that first-time founders with a strong offer from a good buyer — a similar situation he was in — should probably take it. “I’d say most should take it. Everyone wants to be Zuck, keep independent and go all the way. But there’s only one Zuck or Bill Gates. It’s such an individual choice.” For founders worried about being acquired by a big company, he says there are benefits to working at one. You can get access to many more resources from the acquirer to build the product, which can make it easier to just focus on building it. You can also gain much wider distribution from the acquirer to reach a broader audience for the product. And on a personal level, founders can gain liquidity for an illiquid asset – your private company stock.And no matter what, you should have many options even if you don’t like the big company. That said, it’s not always easy for an acquired startup to integrate into a large corporation. It can be the toughest part of an acquisition. Many acquisitions fail to live up to expectations for both the buyers and sellers. “M&A in general is super dangerous,” Butterfield says. “There’s always a high risk.” Flickr, which had seven people move to Yahoo, faced a number of issues. Many departments in Yahoo wanted to use Flickr photos for everything from dating apps to cars to maps. Much of Butterfield’s first year was spent meeting with different Yahoo departments while trying to keep Flickr focused on growing itself as a product. For startup teams, this can be distracting from their focus on building a product. Often these discussions end up with the other department head telling the new startup team, “Tell us what you do and convert to our roadmap.” That can be a shock. An acquired startup team also often has to deal with corporate politics, for example, with different VPs battling each other. The acquired team can get caught up in these battles, Butterfield says, even when the ultimate target of these battles is not the startup itself but some other larger goal. Today, Butterfield is often on the opposite side of the table as a potential buyer of smaller startups. just $42.8 million led by Social + Capital Partnership along with Andreessen Horowitz and Accel Partners. While building Slack, Butterfield and Henderson took some lessons from their past startups. Previously, their team created Glitch, an online game that was well-reviewed but never took off as a business. The team shut down the game but the company (Tiny Speck) eventually became Slack. The idea came from the team’s communication methods while building Glitch. Half of the Glitch team was in San Francisco and half was in Vancouver. The team had hacked together a way to communicate with messaging and file sharing on top of IRC. “We got to the end of the game and thought: whatever we do next, we want to use the same system,” Henderson says. When looking at acquisitions, Butterfield generally looks for startups that can fill a need on his company’s roadmap in areas like communication, collaboration and scheduling. But Butterfield is operating in a different environment than the one Flickr was in at the time of its acquisition. In today’s market, startups are raising venture capital funding at high valuations with seemingly little trouble. There is also much more competition on the buy side from private companies with billion-dollar valuations, such as Uber, Dropbox Pinterest and Airbnb. “The challenge now is by the time it’s apparent something is a good idea — team or product — and successful, everyone is all over them,” Butterfield says. The competition for acquisitions is similar to the competition for hiring, Henderson adds. Strong candidates have multiple offers with strong salary packages. Meanwhile, founders see a big upside to starting a company with billion-dollar potential (realistic or not), so hiring companies have to pay up. “There’s some unrealistic expectations of how easy it is [to start a company],” Henderson says. “Even if they acknowledge how unlikely it is to succeed, they reasonably want to try it, because the upside is so big. If it doesn’t work they can go back to a big company.” Butterfield’s biggest lesson learned for founders is to be clear about the post-acquisition terms. This still can’t guarantee everything will go as planned, but it can help. Both sides having a well-defined agreement about what will happen to the team and product post-acquisition is key. These are some baseline questions to start with: If you just assume the answers to these questions and don’t agree, don’t be surprised if people aren’t happy with the outcome. And for founders, asking for a firm commitment from an acquirer on resources and timelines is key. While not always possible, the best way for a startup to become successful post-acquisition is to remain independent, he says. Butterfield says there’s no magic bullet for a successful integration, but keeping clear on the many details can prevent a number of problems. |
Why Everyone Is Obsessed With E-Mail Newsletters Right Now | Klint Finley | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | E-mail newsletters are so hot right now. Some of the best known are by , , and . There’s a , but really the best newsletters are secret. The authors encourage readers to share the subscribe link with other people who might be interested, but request that no one share the subscribe link on social media or the open web, creating a sort of darknet of semi-underground dispatches. But it’s more than just individual bloggers. Two or three years ago every site on the web was doing all it could to coax readers into “liking” them on Facebook. Today much of that focus has shifted towards getting readers to sign-up for an e-mail subscription. Just look at the prime screen real estate e-mail subscription forms are given at Mashable, The Verge and, of course, TechCrunch. Upworthy — the most “social media native” publication to date — goes so far as to put a huge sign-up form below the first paragraph of every story: Quartz has a daily e-mail blast (though the sign-up form is oddly buried in a pull-down menu) and sports news company is going so far as to . And it’s not quite the same as a digital newsletter, but the likes of Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Medium are all sending daily or weekly activity summaries to give people an overview of what’s been going on on those sites, and try to entire people to interact. Just last week Madrigal declared that . So why all this effort to herd readers into a medium that is supposed to be dying? And why are we, as readers, so willing to invite even more e-mail into our lives? that e-mail newsletters give writers a greater sense of intimacy with their readers than today’s social media services, while suggested the end of Google Reader as a driving factor in sending more people into the arms of e-mail. I think both of these are part of something bigger: sending e-mail gives publishers a greater sense of control over how they reach their audiences. Facebook is sending less traffic these days thanks to its algorithmic tweaks and . Twitter isn’t filtering content à la Facebook yet, but many fear it’s only a matter of time. And that’s to say nothing of the other problems of not having much control over the platform on which you share information. You could be kicked off the site for violating its terms of service. A site could do a massive redesign that renders your work moot, or pivot into a different market. Or, like Google Reader, it could just disappear. E-mail gives publishers a bit more control. Yes, your newsletter could end up in a spam trap, and things like Google’s Priority Inbox and its smart labels do affect where your e-mails will be seen. But if you’re sending mail that your readers legitimately signed up for, it will probably find its way to them somehow, and that’s more than you can say for a Facebook status update these days. And you can own your own mailing list, more so than you can own just about anything else online. Governments can seize your domain name. If you forget to renew it, some squatter will snap it up and try to sell it back to you for $1,000. But your mailing list is yours. Even if you’re using a service like or , you can back-up your mailing list and use it with another program. And if you use a self-hosted mailing list like , or , you have even more direct ownership over your lists. Author Warren Ellis, who has been doing the e-mail newsletter thing for years, has written that his has a 5,000 out of 6,865 open rate. That’s exceptional, but shows how powerful email can be. The newsletter for my personal blog has only around 320 subscribers. But according to Mailchimp, each e-mail has about a 20 percent open rate. That’s about 64 readers per e-mail. I have over 7,000 Twitter followers, but a very successful post will tend only to be clicked by about 20 people, according to Bitly, which works out to less than 1 percent of my followers. So while it might be harder to get people to fork over their e-mail addresses than it is to get them to like or follow something, once you do, they’re much more likely to actually pay attention, and you can reach more people in the long run. Marketing types have known this for a long time, hence all the get-rich-quick spammer websites that try to entice you into swapping your e-mail address for a free e-book. E-mail is great way to reach mobile readers without having to talk them into installing yet another pointless app. It works on everything from tablets to feature phones to Commodore 64s with dial-up Internet access. That helps explain why publishers want us to sign-up for newsletters, but why do readers actually do it? I think a big part of it is social media fatigue. Other things try to replace e-mail, . My inbox is a nightmarish hellscape. But I’d rather visit one nightmarish hellscape per day than a dozen. And while there’s no way I would want to get an e-mail newsletter from every single person I follow on Twitter, those e-mail digests of what’s been happening on Twitter are pretty handy. From a reader’s standpoint, I’d often rather just get a daily or weekly digest than try to follow yet another Twitter account or RSS feed. For years, those of us who have advocated the or have called for social networks to be more like e-mail, but it turns out e-mail itself is a pretty good social media platform. And while getting people to sign up for a Diaspora or Identica account was always a tough sell, just about everyone already has an e-mail address. And e-mail has social features like “reply” and “share” (aka “forward”) baked right in. But beyond all that, it feels like an admission that the Internet went horribly wrong somewhere along the way. Google+, Tumblr and Facebook Groups felt like a tacit admission that the web had taken a wrong turn somewhere around Friendster and was finding its way back to LiveJournal. But now with the rise of newsletters and Snapchat and “right to forget” legislation, it feels like we’re going back even further, perhaps admitting that this whole web thing, with its search engines and caches and screenshots, were perhaps a bad idea to begin with and it’s not to rip it up and start again from e-mail on up. |
Clean CRM Data Starts With A Great Mobile Experience | Andy Byrne | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | There is no doubt that Salesforce is one of the most widely used customer relationship management systems. However, the shift to BYOD is changing the game for sales and marketing, and we need an immediate infusion of technology in CRM. Data science is certainly a key piece of the puzzle. hile data science is vital to the future success of CRM and sales productivity, a CRM revolution will take more than that. Your analysis is only as good as the data that goes into your system. And to ensure that sales reps input quality data, they need a platform that marries a powerful back end with an experience they love. Executives know that bringing the convenience and productivity of mobile to CRM and Salesforce is the next frontier for sales productivity. A found that 33 percent of global executives plan to invest heavily in internal mobile apps over the next three years. Yet we have a long way to go. Only 15 percent of these executives have actually invested at this point. More than any other enterprise worker, sales professionals are blazing the mobile trail. So why doesn’t every sales team look to mobile to deliver breakthrough productivity and effectiveness? Many other industries have adapted; in the world of mobile payments, the painstaking process of entering billing information has been replaced, in some cases, with a single touch. And those looking to catch a ride on Uber or Lyft need only one click. But enterprise solution providers have been slow to deliver such simple and natural user experiences. And this is a big pain point for CRM. CRM data entry can be a time-consuming, laborious process. Most sales reps sacrifice a . Reps are starved for a mobile solution that allows them to easily enter data on the go. And more so, one that actually helps close deals and make them money. While there are some options out there now, most enterprise apps are far less user-friendly than their consumer counterparts, preventing adoption and perpetuating the problem of lag-behind, inconsistent data entry. On top of that, companies are rapidly adopting cloud-based CRM and business intelligence technologies to fuel selling decisions, but those decisions are only as good as the underlying data. Fixing the process of data entry is a good start. But putting mobile to work to fix data entry is only the first step. Actionable sales data is located across many silos: CRM, calendars, and email are only the start. Successful reps use LinkedIn to identify decision-makers; tools like Evernote for notes; Box, Dropbox, Sharepoint and other online storage systems for reference material; and many others. A typical rep uses a dozen apps to manage the pipeline. They use these tools to be more productive, but they know the lack of integration means a time-consuming dance as they sort through each app individually. These silos contain interrelated information most useful when analyzed as a whole — opening the door for innovative data science to help reps and managers focus on the most effective next steps for the most promising deals. An effective sales productivity platform needs to tie data silos together, reorganizing the content around deals and relationships to give sales reps and managers a complete picture of their opportunities. CRM systems are not going away. They provide the data infrastructure and tools they need for reporting and forecasting. But work needs to be done to derive value from these investments. Data science is definitely part of the equation, but without a and an eye toward productivity, the “science” isn’t going to do much for you. |
Why Are PC Sales Up And Tablet Sales Down? | Peter Yared | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | When iPads first came out, they were hailed as the undoing of the PC. Finally, a cheap and reliable computing device for the average user instead of the complicated, quirky PC. After a few years of strong growth for iOS and Android tablets and a corresponding decrease in PC sales, the inverse is suddenly true: PC sales are up and What happened? The tablet slowdown shouldn’t be a surprise given that tablets have hardly improved beyond relatively superficial changes in size, screen resolution, and processor speed. The initial market for tablets is now saturated: grandparents and kids have them, people bought them as Sonos controllers and such, and numerous households have them around for reading. People that want tablets have them, and there’s just no need to upgrade because they more than adequately perform their assigned tasks. Businesses and consumers alike are , and year-over-year. Businesses in particular are forced to upgrade older PCs now that Windows XP is . When purchasing a new PC, the main driver to choose a PC versus a tablet is fairly obvious: If you are creating any type of content regularly, you need a keyboard, a larger screen, and (for most businesses) Microsoft Office. For the tablet category to continue to grow, tablets need to move beyond what Chris Dixon calls the “ ” and become more like PCs. The features required for a tablet to evolve into a super tablet are straight from the PC playbook: at least a 13” screen, 64 bit processor, 2GB of RAM, 256GB drive, a real keyboard, an actual file system, and an improved operating system with windowing and true multitasking capability. Super tablets form factors could range from notebooks to all-in-one desktops like the iMac. Small 7” and 9” super tablets could dock into larger screens and keyboards. The computer industry is littered with the detritus of failed attempts to simplify PCs ranging from Sun Micrososytems’ Sun Ray to Oracle’s Network Computer to Microsoft’s Windows CE. But this time, it’s actually different. The power of mass-produced, 64-bit ARM chips, economies of scale from smartphone and tablet production, and — most importantly — the vast ecosystem of iOS and Android apps have finally made such a “network computer” feasible. As the former CIO at CBS Interactive, I would have bought such super tablets in droves for our employees, the vast majority of whom primarily use only a web browser and Microsoft Office. There will of course always be power users such as developers and video editors that require a full-fledged PC. A souped-up tablet would indeed garner corporate sales, as Tim Cook would like for the iPad … but only at the expense of MacBooks. The cost of managing PCs in an enterprise are enormous, with Gartner estimating that the total cost of ownership for a notebook computer can be as . PCs are expensive, prone to failure, easy to break and magnets for viruses and malware. After just a bit of use, many PCs are susceptible to constant freezes and crashes. PCs are so prone to failure that ServiceNow — a company devoted to helping IT organizations track help desk tickets — is worth over $8 billion. Some organizations are so fed up with problematic PCs that they are using expensive and cumbersome desktop virtualization, where the PC environment is strongly controlled on servers and streamed to a client. And while Macs are somewhat better than Windows, I suggest you stand next to any corporate help desk or the Apple genius bar and watch and learn if you think they are not problematic. The main benefits of super tablets to enterprises are their systems management and replaceability. Smartphones and tablets are so simple and easy to manage that they are typically handled by an IT organization’s cost-effective phone team rather than more expensive PC technicians, who are typically so overwhelmed with small problems that they cannot focus on fixing more complex issues. Apps can be provisioned and updated by both IT and end-users without causing conflicts or problems. If a device is lost, it is easy to remote wipe data and to provision a new device with all of the same settings. Programs like BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) just accentuate the fact that smartphones and tablets are so easy to manage that enterprises are comfortable letting their employees pick the devices themselves. Users also get great benefits, including instant-on, long battery life, simplicity, and access to legions of apps from the iTunes and Play app stores. Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée has long pointed out that Apple is gradually and will likely replace . However, Apple is steadfast in maintaining a separation between the tablets and PCs and is bridging the divide with its new Continuity features. While Microsoft is willing to hack a touch interface onto a desktop experience, Apple will understandably not go there until the experience is perfect. Apple will have to make this switch at some point soon, however, as users are increasingly expecting . Tim Cook claims that he is not afraid of but Apple seems reticent to cannibalize its growing $20 billion Mac business. Google’s Chromebook is essentially a PC that can only run web apps. As many commentators have puzzled, Google should be focusing on a desktop version of Android rather than Chrome OS. The market has decided that it wants native apps on smartphones and tablets, so clearly users are going to want native apps on their PC replacements, as well. Android has a huge advantage with its large app store and developer community. The Chrome OS has an inherently flawed mission – why try to compete with Windows whilst Microsoft itself is moving beyond Windows? The based on ARM chips closely matches the specs of a super tablet – there just aren’t any apps because of the Chrome OS constraint. The hardware is right, but the operating system is wrong. Microsoft is actually very well positioned for a super tablet world with its Office 365 for iPad and Android, since as a subscription product it can draw revenue long after a manufacturer cashes in the thin margins on the hardware itself. This is an opportunity for Microsoft to make more money on a Mac than Apple does, as Microsoft did in the 1990s. Microsoft has already written off on low-end hardware and is setting itself up for a around devices and services under Satya Nadella’s leadership. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is a somewhat valiant attempt to reinvent the PC as a super tablet; however it is expensive and has a small screen, a subpar keyboard, a power hungry Intel processor and all of the headaches of managing Windows. The much-panned Surface 2 with Windows RT is ironically a step in the right direction, but its 32-bit ARM processor is underpowered and there aren’t many apps in the Windows Store. Microsoft coincidentally offered Windows CE devices in the late 1990s that were actually quite close to super tablets, but like with Windows touch tablet, they entered the market far too early. The ecosystem around building, distributing and maintaining PCs is massive and Apple, and the PC companies are understandably reluctant to cannibalize their sales. Lenovo offers a and HP is reportedly , but these are intentionally small and underpowered in order to not compete with notebooks. This vacuum presents an opportunity for companies like Sony that have exited the PC business but continue to sell smartphones and tablets. Samsung in particular is , and must be evaluating how to grow its tablet business now that its smartphone sales have slowed. Samsung could offer up Office 365 bundling in exchange for royalty-free device sales in its next patent conflict with Microsoft. An interesting side note is that large enterprises typically run numerous legacy web applications that do not work on modern web browsers, with some legacy web applications only working on ancient browsers like Internet Explorer 6. Many of these applications were built in the first wave of the Internet to enable “employee self-service” and have not been touched since that era. Perhaps the move to a simpler, cheaper PC replacement will finally shift the cost/benefit equation such that these web applications will finally be upgraded or replaced with SaaS solutions. Here’s hoping that the Apple, Google and Microsoft can soon move into a super-tablet future where most businesses and consumers will be able to manage and customize their PCs as easily as they manage their phones and tablets … and us techies can move on from our part-time tech support jobs. |
Is Burning Man Just Work? | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | It’s that time of year again. Summer is over for most people and has just begun for San Francisco. And this week, the city becomes emptier than a VC parking lot at 5 p.m. as many of SF’s denizens head to , a festival that celebrates human expression — importing over 70,000 people to Black Rock City, Nevada, to party. And because many of these “burners” work in the tech industry, notably Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Drew Houston, the festival has a hoard of tech press attending this year. Nick Bilton, from his at New York Times Fashion & Style, has already written about how the tech nouveau riche are using the conference as Versailles. He referred in that article to a $25K per head posh camp that boasts a suspect 2:1 servant-to-camp member ratio. Because the attendee line-up is better than your average tech conference, Re/code is sending someone to cover it, VentureBeat is sending someone to cover it, Valleywag is sending someone to cover it, and we, in addition to the who attend of their own volition, are also sending someone to cover it. One of our writers is in a camp with three other tech bloggers. “Great. You all can write about each other,” I said when she mentioned it. Gore Vidal (or perhaps Leonard Cohen?) once said that you need to try drugs to be able to write convincingly about them, so I was a burner a couple of years ago just so I could one day express a well-informed opinion on the subject — and have fun. I didn’t see any of the crap that Bilton wrote about even though I had a relatively fancy, at least upper-middle class, experience. As ridiculous as it seems, there is a rationale behind the pile on of investors, founders and executives that use the festival as a networking opportunity: Yes, you can win “deals” at Burning Man. Yes, it’s easier to ace a job interview when you’ve glowed and tripped and watched a burning effigy of Wall Street with the hiring manager. After all, Eric Schmidt got his Google job Don’t hate the Playa, hate the game. Think about it this way, startup people: Have you taken something that was supposed to be a spiritual experience, an opportunity to commune with nature and your fellow man, and turned it into work? I’m not talking about legitimate work like the thousands of hours spent building art cars or icebergs or cheese sandwich restaurants in the desert, or the months of coordination and planning it takes to set up a well-functioning camp, I’m talking about work like positioning yourself in front of your bosses and/or deal flow and trying to build sources. Networking is networking, whether you’re exchanging business cards or Ecstasy. So ask yourself as you push your bedazzled bike across the white sands of Nevada: Am I here to party or am I here because I think it’ll benefit my career? Could I justifiably expense this? If your answer to the latter is yes, consider not going. Go to Hawaii instead. |
BiiSafe Buddy Is A Bluetooth Keyfob For Item-Tracking And Location Alerts | Natasha Lomas | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | Forgetful folk who regularly misplace stuff are spoilt for a techie fix these days. Connected item trackers that link your valuables to your mobile phone have been crowding onto the market thick and fast, fueled by the rise of the less battery-thirsty Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity tech, and promising to put an end to your ‘where did I put my keys?’ woes. Just a few that spring to mind include , , … the list goes on. Well here’s another: Finnish made , which was , offers item tracking via Bluetooth and a location-sharing alerts feature geared towards families by turning the gizmo into a physical button that lets you quickly share your location on a map with your chosen circle of loved ones. I gave the BiiSafe Buddy a road test for a few days to see whether the concept lives up to the promise. [gallery ids="1047308,1047307,1047306,1047304,1047305,1047303,1047301,1047300,1047320,1047315,1047314,1047313"] The hardware design of the buddy is pleasingly tactile and non-slippery, given its rubbery face, although this material does attract dust so if you’re sticking it in a bag or pocket expect it to gather some lint. There’s a metal ring running around the edge of the device which offers a secure place to easily attach it to your keys or to the zipper inside a purse/bag. The buddy is not at all heavy — akin to the average key-fob in weight — and its tapered shape means it slips into even a small jeans pocket without adding unpleasant bulk. Set up is relatively straightforward. First you need to download the companion iOS or Android app. You’ll also need to create your usage circle within the app — which means the group of people (or just yourself) who will able to locate a buddy and receive alerts from it. This is done by entering an email address and a password, both of which will be the shared login credentials for all other people in your circle. That’s a bit awkward but again it’s clearly geared towards families who are likely to be used to sharing login credentials. NB: Only one circle can be linked to an installed BiiSafe Buddy app at a time. And all the others in the circle have to have the BiiSafe Buddy app installed — with the same username and password credentials inputted — in order to get alerts on their mobile device. After setting up your circle, next you link and configure each individual buddy by tapping on the add new buddy icon in the app and holding one buddy near your BLE-capable mobile device and pushing the buddy button (up to five buddies can be linked per app installation). Each buddy can be named within the app and a display icon chosen for it, such as keys or a bag, to help manage multiple buddies. And that’s the set up done. The app offers other settings you can play around with, such as changing how loud the alert sound is (although the loudest setting is not very loud at all so there’s probably not much scope or need to make it any quieter). Operation of the buddy is also pretty straightforward, although the interface does have some niggles. If you want to locate a lost buddy you open the app, tap on the particular buddy you’re after and its last known location is plotted on a map. You can also tap on ‘find buddy’ to trigger a short audio alert and a radar style interface that shows if you’re getting nearer to that buddy as you move around looking for it. Neither lasts very long (probably to save battery life) so unless your lost item is not actually very lost you’re likely to need to trigger this multiple times as you go a-hunting. If you want to use the buddy to share your location — say with a family member who’s coming to meet you — a short press on the button will share your location to the circle. This type of location share is signaled on the buddy by a short burst of green light. Although, in daylight, the light is easily missed and if you press and hold the buddy button for too long (around 2 seconds) it will send the same location share but this time badged as a safety alert (meaning the app will mark your location with a big red circle). The buddy flashes red lights when you’ve triggered one of these safety location alerts. The specific message that’s sent when you share your location with your circle can be configured to something of your choosing from within the app. Given how easy it is to trigger the safety alert by mistake — say when someone only meant to share their location, or accidentally because of items pressing against it in your bag — it seems likely that a lot of false alarms are going to be triggered and sent to your circle. So it’s a shame they didn’t make the two trigger functions more distinct. Or the safety alert a little harder to trigger. Another feature of the buddy is that it can alert you when you and your mobile device have moved more than 50 meters away from a connected buddy (you can disconnect individual buddies when you want to disable this feature). I found this less useful, because 50 meters is actually quite a distance — and you’re likely to have locked yourself out of the house long before the app gives you a warning that you’ve left your keys behind. Currently the trigger range for this feature can’t be configured but the buddy’s makers say they are looking at ways to integrate that. It would certainly be a lot more useful if the range could be user-defined, given that the size of people’s houses vary — and a shorter trigger might make sense for your keys than for another item you want to keep tabs on. As it stands, 50 meters is only really going to help you if you drop your keys in the street while jogging. Or leave your bag on a park bench. The buddy has a few other tricks up its sleeve. For instance the hardware includes a temperature sensor so you can view the temperature of individual buddies in the app, should you be curious about how warm it is where your keys are. Plus there’s a motion detection feature you can enable to trigger alerts when an item is dropped from a particular height. That’s neat if you worry about your keys falling out of your pocket, say, or if your child won’t leave the house without their favourite teddybear but always drops and loses it when they do take it out. If you’re the sort of person who loses their keys in their own house the Biisafe Buddy has got your back, although if your household is generally noisy you may have trouble tracking down where its gentle beeps are coming from. But at least you’ll know for sure that the errant keys are somewhere near so you can be all the more zen as you peek under piles of washing. The location sharing feature is also neat, if that’s useful to you. Families with teenage kids to pick up from clubs and events may find it helpful, although teens may be less keen to have their whereabouts tracked and mapped. Privacy considerations are an issue with any tracking tech that can be used to keep tabs on people as well as insentient things. Ironing out those sort of disputes is likely to be more troublesome than dealing with the app’s more minor interface niggles. |
Buying Stuff Within A Tweet Is Reportedly Coming To Twitter Via Stripe | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | Soon you’ll be able to buy something straight from a Tweet, if the rumours come true. Tech site Re/code says sources that Twitter is working with payments startup on the launch of its ‘in-tweet’ commerce project. Twitter is reportedly planning to add buttons within tweets that say “Buy”, or similar, allowing users to enter payment information without leaving Twitter. Apparently, businesses that want to sell inside tweets will have to sign up with Stripe for all this to work. Although Stripe is supposedly the only company in the frame right now, who knows if that exclusivity will last. It would seem unlikely, and I should imagine Paypal would be one of those Twitter is also taking to. The news follows that Twitter is looking at building a marketplace on its platform that is similar to what Square offers in the Square Market, with listings for goods across different categories. Any partnership with Twitter would be a big deal for Stripe, a venture-backed company run by twenty something brothers Patrick and John Collison. It’s known that Twitter has considered integrating shopping into its service for several years now, and would significantly ad to its revenue base which currently relies heavily on advertising. |
null | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 8 | 6 | null |
HBO’s “Silicon Valley”: Behind The Squirm | Scott Adelson | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | HBO’s “ ” is more than your average breakout series that had audiences praying for a second season even as the credits on the pilot began to roll. The show has clearly hit a cultural nerve, both inside and outside the tech community. For insiders, it holds up a mirror that reflects both the attractive and ugly sides of the startup world, with an accuracy that simultaneously brings on nods and squirms. For outsiders, the series offers a fictionalized look at the esoteric community, eliciting cheers along with copious amounts of schadenfreude. I chatted with Co-Executive Producer about how the show approaches both cultural and technical accuracy, and how a love-hate relationship with Silicon Valley makes for great television. At the concept development and early writing stages, did you go in thinking about accuracy in terms of both technology and culture? Was it a critical component? If so, why? Well, the concept for the show was created by , who I’ve worked with for many years on the feature side, and his two long-time producing partners, and , who are geniuses. They wrote the pilot. When John and David couldn’t actually do the show, I came on, as did our show runner . And from conversation one our priority was to get things right. Mike had heard some comment from , I believe, where Dre said, “If it plays in the hood, it plays everywhere.” That meant to us that if the people who actually know this world deem it accurate and genuine and funny to them then so will everybody else. It’s the effect. Nobody loved Spinal Tap more than rock bands. (I know. I played in .) They knew it got the shit right and it was a joy to see it on screen. I’d had no interest in tech, actually. But the more I learned—the more everyone doing the show learned—the more it became glaringly clear to us that we had to be as accurate as possible. It’s a fucking crazy world as it is. That’s the point. So you can’t take shortcuts or liberties. It really is a matter of trust that you build with an audience. And if you’re bullshitting them every once in a while or, worse, if you’re getting things wrong, then why should they believe anything you do? Personally, I’ve written many feature scripts based on “worlds.” From hunting to barbershop singing to surfing to basketball. And the strange thing is the real details are always funnier than a bunch of shit a comedy writer would think up. The deeper you dig the more interesting things get. Furthermore, one of this show’s biggest strengths, I think, is the satire. And maybe satire means something different to other people. But to me it means showing things for how they are by looking at it through a different lens or different point of view. Accuracy and authenticity are critical to pulling that off. Did you have a strategy regarding accuracy? What did you do upfront to approach the challenges from these two angles? Mike worked in Silicon Valley years ago. He knew the world really well. And while it’s changed a lot since he was an engineer, the type of people he encountered stayed the same. Also, Alec’s brother worked in tech. So he’d had more familiarity with it than I did, that’s for sure. But it was clear to all of us that we needed to do as much research as we could. We toured incubators. We went to . We brought people in, read books, all that stuff. But the main thing was to get on our team. He’d had some tech type ventures with our producers at , and he just became our resident expert. So we’d just think of an idea and pitch it to him. He’d come back and say, “Hey, I think I know what you’re going for, but that doesn’t hold water. Maybe something like this?” And he’d generally send us off into a better direction. There was a lot of push and pull. Sometimes the research would give us great story idea. Sometimes a story idea would push us to dig deeper into the real scenarios. What about case by case, as you’re writing each script? What structures have you set up to handle this as you go along? One of the most critical things we had to figure out was how big the scope would be for the first season. Are they billionaires by the end of it? Do they get nowhere and this thing is just a workplace comedy that happens to be in an incubator? I think maybe the best decision while creating this show was deciding to have each week really be something. Something . The story pushes forward each week. It’s not just some network show where they have to shoot 22 episodes and end up setting a fire and putting it out every week. So we started with pretty basic questions of “What would really happen if you were building a startup? What would be the challenges?” And we started pulling from all the famous Silicon Valley stories about the early days of businesses. We heard that the Google guys couldn’t cash their first check for two weeks because it was written literally to “Google” and they hadn’t cleared the name. We heard about the street artist that Facebook hired. They couldn’t pay him in cash, so instead they gave him stock options that are now worth 50 or 100 million bucks. Stuff like that. So we’d take that kernel of lore and build a story around it. Then we’d go to Dotan and ask about the reality of each little turn in the story and go from there. What was challenging to get right? Can you give some specific examples? One of the biggest challenges is that by its very nature, coding isn’t particularly cinematic. It’s just guys sitting at computers with headphones on typing at computers. It’s easy to get that part right, but hard to make it entertaining. And yet, as I said, we wanted the drama of building a startup to be genuine. So whenever we could we’d try to make it about people and characters. Like that name idea. We had a sprinkler company already have the name Pied Piper and that guy became a part of that episode. The other big challenge is that the whole thing rides on our lead character’s big innovation: a . Again, it’s easy to just say it. But to see or feel how it is important to the world was very difficult. I think another critical key to the entire season was having his former company, Hooli, try to his algorithm and rush to market with it. That seemed realistic and gave us the conflict we needed. It became a race. It was the Bad News Bears vs. the Yankees. There are some thinly veiled real-life characters in the show. How do you handle this? What are you trying to stay true to in these cases? What liberties do you feel comfortable taking? They were less thinly veiled than you might think. Mike, John, and Dave based all of them on character elements, but not individuals. There was never a one-to-one ratio. For example, a lot of people assume Peter Gregory . Not true. Sure he’s anti-college and is building his own island. But we wanted to show a character who’s brilliant, immensely curious and yet terribly awkward with people. A lot of tech billionaires seem to have this vibe and we wanted him to personify this. You can see elements of a lot of big names in him. Honestly, I think the real magic of that character came from the actor , who died during filming. I think his take on it was wholly original and just a joy for us all to write for. In fact, one day we asked him how he came up with the character, his mannerisms, his way of talking. (The actor was nothing at all like [the character] Peter Gregory.) Was basing it on Peter Thiel? He had never heard of the guy. He just built this character based on how interior he thought his brain would be and let the awkwardness reign from there. To see him do it up close was something I’ll never forget. He was amazing. The depiction of the Disrupt conference was a hit. I heard some comments wondering if you actually filmed it there. How did you nail that? We went to it for three days—Mike, Alec, my fellow writer Dan O’Keefe and I. So did the production designer, , who was key. We all just soaked the details in. Drew comedy from it. (The HumanHeater was loosely based on a wireless power source that the judges were skeptical of.) When we shot it in L.A., Richard did an amazing job of recreating it on set. We even brought down a lot of companies that were actually sitting at booths there. We had the video that they play on the floor from the actual event feeding through monitors on set. It was all so seamless people thought we’d filmed the video, too. As a writer, dialogue and language has to be as great a concern as plot. How do you approach crawling inside the characters’ heads and getting it right in terms of their culture? Is there a “method”? Is it difficult for you? To me, it’s always more funny if it comes from the world. So that’s an opportunity not a concern. That place has such a unique and ridiculous way of talking—the lingo, the attitude, the fallback terms. All the inside baseball shit. I love it. We all do. And there are so many “jokes” that aren’t jokes at all. I was a big advocate of that opening speech the CEO gives at the party in the opening of the series. The one where he says something like: “I have seven words for you. I love Goolybib’s cross platform integrated functionality.” Or whatever it was. That was a joke that could only appear on our show. I think it really established the right vibe right off the bat. Then for the second episode we realized we didn’t know what everyone in the company did. And if we needed to figure that out, so did the characters. And that became the story. For example, we had Dotan give us the language of the bitter and underappreciated coder, Gilfoyle. Jesus Christ, it was gibberish to us. But we knew it was right. It just right. And , the actor who plays Gilfoyle, just absolutely killed it. He was fantastic. Especially since he’s basically speaking an “alienese.” To this day, I honestly don’t know how the actors memorize lines sometimes. What’s the “carrot” of accuracy? Why should writers concern themselves with it as opposed to leaning into the pure fiction of it all? It’s absolutely crucial. You have to sense this stuff is right, otherwise the whole journey you’re asking the viewer to go on is kind of meaningless. What’s happening in the tech world right now is interesting enough on its own. It affects our lives, I think, more than movies or TV or music. Tech is the thing that is defining our age. There’s no reason to make this stuff up. It’s real. Okay, the white paper. “ .” Why’d you do it? That was a Dotan thing. He’s truly committed to showing what would really happen. And I think that’s so great. He literally had compression experts at Stanford write it. They claim we’re onto something. That if this could be actually figured out we’d all be rich. In the [Showtime series] “ ,” the main character was a writer and the show released the actual book he’s portrayed as having written in the show. I heard it even sold okay. Do you see more meta-stuff coming out of “Silicon Valley”? Is there an audience “community” developing? Other than the white paper, our guys built a really solid website. Danny O’Keefe wrote all the character bios, which only he could do. They’re pretty genius. I’m sure we’ll do more stuff like that as it comes up. I know that [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg wore a Pied Piper T-shirt to work one day. That was a highlight. Final question. There’s clearly a love-hate thing going on regarding the people and the technology that inhabit the show, and there are no pure good guys or assholes. Can you tell me about what drew you to the subject and how you feel about its heroes and villains? Well, the more I know about the world—and, again, it was before I started writing on the show—the more I’m fascinated by the people who inhabit it. I love that these are all smart, creative people, and they’re from all over the world. There is an ethic of open-mindedness, freedom of expression, free thinking, etc. If you have a good idea, I truly believe you can be heard there. You can be a 50-year-old Indian woman and if you’re on to something people will hear your pitch. There’s still some hippie ethic that survives somehow in the Valley. And I think that’s great. On the other hand, it’s ruthlessly capitalist. As hard core as it gets. And yet no one really wants to admit it. They turn themselves into pretzels in order to avoid admitting it. That’s why they shroud all their capitalism in “we’re making the world a better place.” And clearly a lot of the lucky few—talented, sure, but luckiest motherfuckers in the world to have lived during this unprecedented boom—believe their own hype. The billionaires are obviously out of touch and have apparently no idea they’re out of touch. They haven’t really been called on the culty shit they’re peddling. That’s what our job is and I love being a part of it. |
11 TechCrunch Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week (8/22) | Anna Escher | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | This week had our writers investigating new engineering, aerospace and NASA hires for Amazon Prime Air, self-reflecting on social media involvement and getting drunk with robots. 1. typewriter app for iPad, and it soared to the top of the iTunes App Store charts ranking first in the Productivity section, and Overall. 2. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stepped down from the company’s board, we give you a . 3. to third-party developers, allowing app creators to integrate the ride-sharing service into their apps. 11 API partners have already committed to introducing Uber to their users, including OpenTable, TripAdvisor, United Airlines and Starbucks. 4. Updates from the music front: , Spotify adds the and an . 5. John Biggs reflects on his relationship with social media and after deleting social networking apps. 6. Instagram just got more ad-friendly, offering brands for tracking their performance that includes business tools like insights and analytics. This might help attract more brands to start using the platform. 7. Amazon Prime Air is getting serious about their project goal of delivering packages within 30 minutes to customers using unmanned drones. While the company continues to dodge setbacks from the FAA, former Microsoft research engineer Paul Viola, Keyhole Inc. (which later turned into Google Earth) co-founder Avi Bar-Zeev, and NASA astronaut Neil Woodward . 8. Our team took a trip to the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino to visit Botlr, a robotic butler made by Savioke. The service robot is programmed to bring items to the doors of hotel rooms. In this case, . 9. The – the startup tech community to be specific. Up to the challenge were Emi Gal of Brainient, Peter Vesterbacka and Ilkka Paananen of Supercell. Samsung, on the other hand, . 10. Microsoft’s Windows 9 has been leaked, and has been said to unveil on September 30. , while Alex Wilhelm argues that the . 11. Kim-Mai Cutler from Paul Graham at the beginning of the year. For the first time, Y Combinator is supporting biotech companies, including a , as well as . In other news, Anna Escher and John Biggs put together a that could make you the coolest kid in town. Jon Evans poses the question of whether or not, and Jordan Crook gives you the , designed to alleviate the anxiety that comes along with not having a phone (but really, phone separation anxiety is a real thing). |
Amris Acquires Social Recruitment Platform Zao | Steve O'Hear | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | You’re acquired! L.A.-based , the social recruitment platform that lets employees and a company’s wider network get rewarded for making job referrals, has been bought by legacy UK e-recruitment company (owned by The Internet Corporation Limited). Terms of the deal remain , though my understanding is that Amris is acquiring the full Zao product and technology, while only part of the Zao team will be staying on. Meanwhile, founder and former CEO, Ziv Eliraz, will be sticking around to the extent of joining the company’s advisory board. Founded in late 2011, Zao aims to solve the problem in which the main source for company hires — referrals — are often managed in a very manual way, whereby someone from the HR department sends an email to all staff describing a job opening and staff are left to figure out how to leverage their networks to find and attract suitable candidates to apply. Instead, Zao’s platform provides a step-by-step and gamified process that automatically matches job descriptions with suitable Facebook and LinkedIn contacts to make it easier for employees (and ex-employees) to become recruiters, along with other trusted partners. It also tracks these social referrals so that should they lead to a successful hire, the referrer gets a kick-back. In June 2012, the startup raised a $1.3 million seed round led by Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Orens Capital and former General Partner at Apax Partners. Other investors included Oren Dobronsky (Founding Partner at Orens Capital), Zohar Gilon, Gary Ginsberg (EVP, Corporate Marketing and Communications at Time Warner), and Donald Katz (CEO of Audible). As we at the time, Robin Klein and Saul Klein also participated. Amris says Zao’s social referral product will be offered as a “fully integrated” and optional module for existing Amris users, but will also remain available as an independent offering. |
San Francisco Open Exchange Aims To Be The E-Trade Of Bitcoin | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | Y Combinator-backed startup (SFOX) is an online trading platform that helps people find the best bitcoin prices at various exchanges. In other words, it would like to help you buy, sell and invest in bitcoin exchanges kinda like and investor buys and sells stock on . Co-founder Akbar Thobhani left his job at Airbnb to create this platform. However, he soon found that using bitcoin was even more expensive than using credit cards. This is because there’s not a lot of transparency. So he started thinking that if he could find a way to compare prices this would help drive widespread adoption for the bitcoin market. There are similar systems that directly buy and sell. , based in Atlanta, is one of many hundreds of exchanges out there that allow buying and selling. Although, Thobhani says CampBX is a different business because it’s just one exchange on a closed system. “Our goal is simple – find our customers the best price for their bitcoin. To do this, we work with multiple exchanges and use our algorithms to route the transactions,” Thobhani explained in an email. The key thing to understand here is that SFOX does not actually allow you to buy or sell bitcoin directly, like or other exchanges. Rather, it is a platform which facilitates finding the best price on these exchanges. Prices can vary wildly, depending on the exchange used. One bitcoin could be $508.58 on Coinbase but $507.90 on Coindesk or $508.50 on Bitstamp. There’s also the app for iOS. However, this app merely shares information about the different prices on different exchanges. It does not allow someone to actually buy or sell bitcoin. This is what makes SFOX unique in the market. It actually finds the prices on different exchanges and then, like a stock exchange platform, facilitates the trade. It also allows you to use standard equity trading features like limit orders, just like someone might find on a platform like E-Trade or Charles Schwabb. Another thing that SFOX attempts to solve is the location of where the exchanges exist. According to SFOX, 90 percent of all bitcoin trades are done in the U.S. However, the most popular exchanges like and are based outside of the U.S. The problem is some exchanges have failed to adhere to U.S. currency regulations. The now infamous Mt. Gox was one such exchange that has faced this very issue. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security account with payment processor Dwolla in 2013. The Tokyo, Japan-based exchange was at one point handling 70 percent of all bitcoin transactions. But then it announced that around 850,000 bitcoins had gone missing and were likely stolen. The amount of missing bitcoins was valued at more than $450 million at the time. Mt. Gox didn’t register in the U.S. as a money transmitting company, which is a requirement for U.S. money services and Dwolla had no choice but to comply with handing over the money. SFOX, which is based in the Bay area, claims to be in line with U.S. regulations. Thobhani and his co-founder George Melika’s idea was pretty well received at last week’s , too. We asked around to a few investors during the breaks which company they were most impressed with. Many of them mentioned SFOX. The company is now in several talks with potential investors. Thobani hints at possibly adding other cryptocurrencies such as dogecoin and litecoin to the platform. He also says SFOX could go international at some point. Trading in SFOX is currently by invitation only. |
Women In Tech: It’s Not Just A Pipeline Problem | Jon Evans | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | Why are there ? Repeat after me, robotically, defensively: “It’s a pipeline problem!” So says , echoing many others, e.g. and . But come on, folks. We’re kidding ourselves if we pretend that’s the only obstacle here. The pipeline problem is very real; but so is the trapdoor problem. It’s true that it would be better if more women went into technology to begin with, but it’s disingenuous to turn a blind eye to the fact that many women who enter the industry subsequently drop out of it. Why? Well, let’s just look at a few recent headlines, shall we? “ ” (TechCrunch) “ ” (Forbes) “ ” (Polygon) “ ” (Daily Dot) “ ” (VICE) That’s just the last two months. Too anecdotal? OK: here’s a 2008 (PDF) on women in science, engineering, and technology, which : Between ages 25 and 30, 41% of the young talent with credentials in those subject matters are female … [but] 52% of this talent drops out … The most important antigen is the machismo that continues to permeate these work environments … 63% of women in science, engineering and technology have experienced sexual harassment. I haven’t found any comparable studies from the last five years, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks things have gotten much better since 2008 — until, maybe, just this last year, when more people seem to have become willing to at least discuss the issue. As long as you don’t suggest it’s anything more than a pipeline problem. But guess what? If you create an environment wherein a whole class of entrepreneurs and employees goes unnoticed by industry-wide “ ” heuristics, and/or one where they have to be , and must pretend not to notice all the myriad that make them feel vulnerable and uncomfortable and out-of-place… No Google, no I didn't. — Emily McManus (@emilymcmc) Things men don't have to worry about while heading to a biz meeting: "She wondered about the impact of lipstick." — Colleen Taylor (@loyalelectron) …then many of those entrepreneurs and employees will decide, rightly, that the tech industry is not worth the hassle and grief. And so: “ .” That’s the trapdoor problem right there. Still want to talk about the “pipeline”? OK, let’s. Consider (PDF): “Fewer women pursue STEM careers than would be expected based on the number of girls who earn very high math scores.” Or : “In 2012, 18 percent of computer science majors were female; in 1985 it was 37 percent.” Maybe, just maybe, a perception of the tech industry as a toxic environment for women has had something to do with that decline. Maybe the pipeline problem is not independent of the trapdoor problem. Now, for all the hand-wringing about predatory investors and brogrammers, it’s fair to say that the industry has finally taken a in the of late: Points I was trying to get across: 1. Sea change for women in tech in the last year. This is inspiring and incredibly important. — Elissa Shevinsky (@ElissaBeth) Also, brogramming is a small piece of tech culture. It's not like, everywhere you go there's brogrammers with beer & porn. — Elissa Shevinsky (@ElissaBeth) But we’re still a long way from nirvana here. Pretending that it’s only a pipeline problem does no one any favors. Please stop saying that. It’s not true. What’s more, the trapdoor problem is one we can collectively work on without having to wait for a new generation to filter through; and the first step towards solving any problem is admitting that it exists. . |
Apple Opens Battery Replacement Program For Affected iPhone 5 Units | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | Apple has created an iPhone 5 battery replacement program after saying that it had discovered a “very small percentage” of units “may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently.” This iPhone 5 battery replacement program is the second to arrive. Late last year, Apple for iPhone 5s units with battery life issues. Apple says the affected iPhone 5 units were sold between the month of it’s launch, September 2012, and January 2013. The features a tool to check if your serial number belongs to a faulty iPhone 5. The replacement program is available at Apple Retail Stores, Authorized Apple Service Providers, and via AppleCare, in the US and China first. Those outside those countries will have to wait till August 29th. As per us usual, you’re advised to backup you data, Turn off Find my iPhone, and Erase all Content and Settings before arriving to get the battery replaced. If you had already paid to get your battery fixed (and you’re eligible for this replacement), Apple is offering refunds. The program is available up to March 1, 2015 and it does not extend your iPhone 5’s warranty. |
German Regulator Backs Google Over Publishers, As Europe Gets Embarrassing | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 8 | 23 | German regulators will not pursue a complaint brought against Google by a group of publishers for giving users access to their news articles. A number of German publishers, including Axel Springer and Burda, brought the action under a group called VG Media to demand Google pay them for making their articles available to the public on the search engine without paying them. But Andreas Mundt, president of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, said in a statement on Friday that: “Sufficient suspicion is always necessary to initiate an abuse procedure. The complaint from VG Media did not establish this.” In other words, there’s no suspicion of abuse – Google is just doing the job of a search engine. Duh. German legislation came into effect a year ago stating that publishers can stop search engines from using their news articles beyond very short excerpts. The cartel office has ruled that the scope of that legislation is not entirely clear, but it would continue to monitor Google’s treatment of publishers’ and launch anti-trust proceedings if that was warranted. In contrast, Spain has passed a law requiring news aggregators such as Google News to pay publishers a fee if they link to their content. Supporters say it will prevent copyright infringements. Opponents say it limits freedom of expression. However, no-one is quite sure how the Google Tax will work. And guess – what? Spain was where the “right to be forgotten” began, with the European Commission recently ruling that individuals can demand Google remove unfavourable links about them from search results displayed in Europe. The ruling does not apply to Google.com, which is where I find myself search much more these days… Frankly, some European countries’ attitude to the Internet is becoming embarrassing. I’m sure George Orwell would be shaking his head right now. As least this German regulator seems to get it. |
Pokémon Will Finally Come To The iPad, As A Virtual Card Game | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 8 | 15 | Pokémon, the game franchise that I love more than most real things in the actual world, is coming to the iPad. I would weep for joy were the news not watered down somewhat by the fact that the first game arriving on Apple’s devices isn’t the actual monster collection and battling game that makes up the core franchise, but is instead the Pokémon trading card game. Now I own some Pokémon trading cards, and they’re fine, but this is kind of like getting a Mars bar when what you want is a Snickers; I’ll eat the damn chocolate bar, and I’ll enjoy it, but I’ll only enjoy it around 70 percent as much as I’d enjoy the Snickers. of the game’s arrival on iOS, which was leaked originally by Pokémaniac Josh Wittenkeller on Twitter. The blog confirmed with The Pokémon Company that the leak was indeed legit and that the game was coming to iPad, but didn’t provide any solid info on when it would arrive. https://twitter.com/TheJWittz/status/500350510403432448/ The Pokémon Trading Card Game is already available on Windows PC and Mac, so bringing it to mobile devices isn’t a huge leap, but this is the first time we’ve seen an actual, proper Pokémon (not the , which is a cruel tease) make it to an Apple portable device, so it’s understandably making waves in the community of adult professional tech journalists like myself who enjoy this video game designed for children. A parting request to The Pokémon Company, which is a subsidiary of Nintendo (which has resisted bringing its IP to actual games for iOS and Android, ): Bring the main franchise to the iPad and iPhone soon and you can have all my money and I will build a (small) temple to your everlasting greatness. |
Google Buys Jetpac To Give Context To Visual Searches | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 8 | 15 | Google just acquired the team behind , an app that utilizes public Instagram data to determine things like the happiest or drunkest city. Jetpac launched in 2012 as a social travel guide on iPad but later to its Instagram-driven data on its iphone app, “Jetpac City Guides.” Google will most likely use the Jetpac team to improve search around location information using photo data. Google already announced that to let you search your own photos for things like sunsets, food and flowers. is a computer vision expert and a natural fit for a Google acquisition here. Jetpac’s system looks for visual cues like the amount of pictures with mustaches in them to determine the fashion style or how many hipsters are in a certain location. This provides unique contextual information about an area where the photo was taken. It can tell you whether a coffee shop is actually chill like the reviews say or help you find bars women in their 30’s love, for instance. This goes beyond just a Yelp or Google Maps review to visual information about what is actually happening in a given location. Jetpac has also achieved real-time local object recognition on video from a phone’s camera. This technology could possibly enhance . Jetpac will be pulling the app from the App Store in the next few days and ending support on September 15. Details behind the acquisition and the amount are not being released at this time. |
The Bolstr Bag Is A Gadget Toter’s Best Friend | John Biggs | 2,014 | 8 | 15 | We rarely talk about bags on TC these days (except during ) but here’s a crowdfunding project that I think would be perfect for all of us multi-phone, laptop-toting nerdotrons. Call the , this U.S.-made bag is small enough to be unobtrusive and not fancy enough to rank as a true murse. Created by Cleveland native Jay Yoo, the thin back features pockets for all your gadgetry including a hidden back pocket for tablets and documents. The cross-body bag even includes a belt to attach it around your waist like a holster, thereby allowing you to pull off all sorts of action moves like “Running Through The Airport” and “Jumping To Catch A Falling Beer.” Yoo was featured on where he described his design philosophy as “less-is-more.” “Most of us do not want to lug around an oversized laptop bag, strap on a fanny pack, or carry some funky man purse, just to accommodate a few more every day carry items,” he said. After years spent on the road, Yoo formed an intimate understanding of the travel wear market and wanted to create something cool. His first project, a jacket with iPod controls in the lapel, failed but this one is already overfunded to the tune of $67,000 and still has 14 days to go. Pricing starts at $45 for a single bag. It will eventually retail for $75. It looks like a fun product created by a guy who knows the space well and, at less than $50, it might be just the thing to replace your worn Pepsi-branded fanny pack (looking at you, Uncle Paul).
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