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Samsung Level Box Review: An All-Metal Bluetooth Speaker That’s Easy On The Eyes | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | Samsung is making its own portable Bluetooth speaker as part of its new Level line of audio accessories, and the product goes on sale today online at its official store for $199. The device is definitely compact, and it’s an all-metal product, which is unusual for a Samsung piece of kit, but can it hold its own with the plethora of existing products on the market, including those just acquired by Apple in the form of the Beats Pill? The Samsung Level Box is a well-designed piece of hardware. It features an all-metal enclosure with a metal grille to protect the speaker components too. Even the buttons are metal, which bets the question: why so much plastic on the phones when you can deliver a portable speaker with this kind of quality of build? [gallery ids="1009901,1009902,1009904,1009905"] The design feels a little like something Bose might put out, with an understated look that fits in around the house in virtually any setting, from sitting room to kitchen counter. It’s solid-feeling and heavy, too, both of which point to a quality of build and design that should stand up to some light knocking about, too. The four buttons on top give you access to most of what you need, but the play/pause button looks a little like alien script until you realize what they’ve done. Overall, this is actually one of my favorite looks for a portable speaker, and I’m impressed Samsung was the one to pull that off. Connecting to the Level Box with a Samsung device (or other Android equipped with NFC) was easy enough, thanks to the NFC panel on the side. It was only slightly less convenient to pair with my iPhone 5s, however. The connection is solid and doesn’t waver at all in my testing, too. On the speaker, the buttons let you control volume and also answer and end calls, as well as play or pause tracks. These also worked well, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that notifications from your phone interrupt the audio even when you’re using it hardwired via the 3.5mm line in jack on the back. As a speakerphone, it performs well, too, delivering audio that was easy for those I called to understand. But for music, the sound quality wasn’t all that great. It’s lacking compared to the top performers in its price range, like the Jambox, as it’s a bit tinny at times. But it’s still a very capable speaker, so long as you’re not heavily into base, and that makes sense for a small device like this. Battery life performed as advertised, and I was able to use the speaker for at least 15 hours without recharging, with a mix of wireless and wired usage. Samsung has created a line of audio devices that make it seem like it was prescient regarding the Apple Beats acquisition, and this speaker is a good first effort out of the gate. The design advantages trump any minor audio defects, especially at this price and size range, where you’re not going to get the best sound no matter where you look. Most impressive here is definitely the build quality; you’re going to make your phone envious with this hardware if you’re a Samsung device owner already. |
Meet One Of The Tech Dudes Who Dated Those Women Flown In From NYC To Meet Tech Dudes | Sarah Buhr | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | The very idea of it was – an online dating site, the Dating Ring, was shipping women from New York City to date San Francisco tech dudes. Greg Benson was one of those tech dudes. And he says, after meeting the women who came all that way, he wasn’t that interested. At a strapping 6’4″, the 34-year-old Bay Area-based app developer who actually wants a relationship, is an on-paper catch. But Benson, who finally got to meet up with these women this last weekend, says he didn’t actually go on the dates to find love. “There’s always the chance you’ll meet someone and totally crush on them. But long distance is not something I’d wanna do,” Benson says. Benson waffled on what he actually wanted. Sometimes in our conversation he was looking for “the one” but then he’d say he was “just looking for fun right now.” And that’s what this event was for him. But why wasn’t he impressed? These ladies not only flew all the way across the country to meet him, but were rumored to be drop-dead gorgeous, highly educated and multi-talented. One was even a . He pauses for a bit, not wanting to admit it and then says, “Well, there just wasn’t a spark.” According to Lauren Kay, founder of the Dating Ring, it was also pretty hard to even get the guys to commit to coming out and meeting up with these ladies. Benson says they made him give this iron-clad promise that he would definitely show up. As for the women, they were handed travel kits full of lip balm, condoms and makeup remover, before taking off for their trip. And while airfare was taken care of, they still had to pay for their own hotel and food. After all that, it was still easier for Kay and team to recruit them! What gives? There’s a plethora of guys in San Francisco. are about three men to every one woman. Still, the complaints about the men here are multitudinous. “SF is like Never Never Land. You can get away with hooking up well into your 40s and a lot of guys don’t want to give that up,” according to Benson. SF psychologist Christina Villarreal actually sees a lot of tech dudes in her practice. She says the majority of them talk to her about how to date women. “They tend to not have the social awareness to understand what’s wrong. A lot of the time they lack a filter or say inappropriate things to women on these dating apps online before the date even begins.” Things like, “Are you really a C cup?” or “How sexually freaky are you?” might be questions too close to home for many single women in SF. And, true to what Kay mentioned earlier, there’s the problematic lack of effort on the part of the dudes, too. That’s more of a generational thing, according to Villarreal. It could also be that a lot of the guys in tech jobs are mostly socialized around other socially awkward men; which is why Villarreal ends up doing a lot of gender translation. “It’s a male-dominated climate they are in so they are often blind to how women operate.” Still, Benson said he did appreciate the effort these New York women put in. But if roles were reversed? He admits he probably wouldn’t have done it if he was asked to go meet the women in New York. Kay would like to make this SF/New York pilgrimage an annual thing anyway, though there’s no plans to ship any boys or girls to New York to do the same thing. As she clarified with me, “We’re not a traveling, bi-coastal dating site.” |
Microsoft Launches Files Tool For Windows Phone 8.1 | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | This afternoon, , a file management tool for that it had previously . The app is simple, but then again so is local file management. Users of Files will be able to access content that is stored locally, as well as on SD cards. Folder creation is supported, along with normal tasks like moving and deleting content. In the Reddit AMA session during which Microsoft Windows Phone guru Joe Belfiore announced the coming Files tool, he that it would land by the end of May. So, this thing is right on time: Windows Phone 8.1 users can snag the thing . Most Windows Phone users are , as Windows Phone 8.1 was first rolled out to developers. The fresh mobile operating system is in the process of a paced roll-out to the mass market. Files hasn’t yet cropped up on App Annie’s — and it might not for some time, given that it is tied to Windows Phone 8.1 — so it’s hard to tell how well it is performing in its first moments of life. Why the hell would Microsoft want to bring a file manager at all to Windows Phone? Because Windows Phone is merely another platform where OneDrive and Office sit, and Microsoft wants those to fire on every possible cylinder. Oh, and . |
Don’t Freak Out You Guys, But Twitter.com Has Switched To A New Font | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | Apparently Twitter has switched its web interface from the Helvetica Neue font to Gotham Narrow SSm. Honestly, I barely have any idea what that sentence means, but that is what people who seem to know what they’re talking about yesterday. And judging by the current consternation on Twitter, the change has now gone live for everyone. Also, if I squint at the different fonts on , Gotham Narrow does seem to be the one that’s now live? Anyway, some users are already — well, freaking out is maybe a strong word for it, but let’s say they’re . every senior level person at twitter has quit so now the interns are fucking with the fonts — matt (@mattbuchanan) Yeesh RT : yo twitter, fix your font. my hearts need to look like hearts, not like this: <3 — Tim Carmody (@tcarmody) Also, it looks like users who hadn’t upgraded to the new profiles are , including . (We actually asked Dorsey a few weeks ago why he hadn’t switched over, but he never got back to us.) (Look, it was a Saturday and there wasn’t much going on.) We’ve sent Twitter a semi-embarrassed email asking for more details about the “news” and will update if we hear back. ! |
Infoblox’s Stock Drops 36.84% After Its Earnings And Forecast Disappoint | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | Shares of fell sharply today, to the . The networking company reported after the bell yesterday, along with the coming . How bad were the earnings? The company reported $61 million in revenue for its fiscal third quarter (2014), up a mere 5% on a year-over-year basis. The company lost $7.4 million the period on a GAAP basis, a larger deficit than the year-ago period. The company’s non-GAAP earnings also slipped, from $6.0 million to $3.8 million. Nearly flat revenue, widening GAAP losses and falling adjusted profit isn’t great for a company valued on growth. Shares in Infoblox closed today at $12.96. The company’s 52 week high is a stunningly different $48.97. That peak was reached in October of last year, a period in which a number of other technology firms saw their share prices skyrocket, only to come back to earth in the new year. The company has seen massive losses in its value tied to its earnings in the preceding quarters as well. In short, for the past three consecutive calendar quarters, Infoblox hasn’t impressed the street. The company released preliminary results for its second fiscal quarter on the 10th. A third-party press release indicates that an “investigation” into “possible violations of federal securities laws and focuses on the Company’s business and financial performance” is being undertaken by an external legal group. The company’s guidance doesn’t inspire either, with expected fiscal fourth quarter revenue commensurate with the recently reported period. The company gets what’s wrong: “Clearly, our top priority is to reaccelerate top-line growth and we are taking actions to improve sales execution.” Yes. The company’s GAAP gross margin of 77.4% is holding steady, implying that if the firm can get its growth engine back track, the company could be profitable in the future. However, to get growing again, Infoblox may have to spend heavily, increasing short-run losses that could spook investors. The company’s roughly $260 million in cash and short term investments mean that it has plenty of cash-on-hand to pursue a variety of growth scenarios. However, it will due so under new leadership. Instead of being forced out, CEO Robert Thomas is leaving of his — reportedly — own volition. The company’s Chairman of the Board stated in the company’s release that it “would be pleased if he would continue as CEO.” He’ll stick around until a new leader is found. Hundreds of millions of dollars in market cap were lost today. Not the best day for Infoblox, or its formerly high-flying stock. |
Gillmor Gang Live 05.30.14 | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | – Robert Scoble, Dan Farber, Keith Teare, Doc Searls, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session . Find us on |
Banners Go Up Suggesting That, Yes, Apple Will Debut iOS 8 at WWDC | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | In case there was some worry in your heart of hearts that Apple was going to mix things up and show iOS 8 at WWDC, let it be cast away. A few new banners went up at SF’s Moscone center today, including one that literally says nothing but “8”. So, unless Apple has collectively decided to thoroughly muddy up their product line by launching something called “8” when everyone is expecting , we can consider this a pretty rock solid confirmation. got a shot of the banner being unfurled (via ), complete with cameo from a not-super-pleased-looking guard: Of note, perhaps, is the banner’s background: it’s the ocean! Let the wild speculation as to why they went with that begin. Was it just because it’s pretty? That’s not very… Apple-y. Could it be a nod to iOS 8 getting better integration with OS X (where each successive update’s name is ocean/beach/California-themed) with features like the rumored iOS-to-OS-X Airdrop? Before you get too excited, remember: most of the more well-sourced whispers floating about are suggesting that iOS 8 will be a fairly mild update. From everything I’ve heard, the initial release of iOS 8 is largely meant to bring in much of what didn’t make it into iOS 7 before they locked down the feature set. Things like public transport directions in the Maps app, for example. |
Stanford Asks Students To Learn From Snapchat Founder’s Mistakes. We All Should. | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | Following the leak of , the university’s Provost to students imploring them to “learn something from this.” “We can choose to turn a blind eye to such statements and chalk them up to youthful indiscretion,” Etchemendy wrote. “Or we can be more courageous, and affirmatively reject such behavior whenever and wherever we see it, even — no, — if it comes up from a friend, a classmate, or a colleague. Only if we choose the latter will we create the kind of university culture we all can be proud of, all of the time.” You can see a screenshot of the email below, or read the full thing . Stanford University is responsible for , not just Silicon Valley. Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Ballmer, and Reed Hastings were all Cardinal at one point or another, most of them dropping out just like Evan Spiegel did to build Snapchat. Because of this, and because of its , Stanford attracts many aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of becoming one of Silicon Valley’s elite, making Stanford a coveted place for kids to grow into self-sustaining, business-building adults. Rightfully so, Etchemendy seems to understand the responsibility of the school, the students, and the community as a whole to hold each other accountable. And so I think it’s important that we take a look at the people who go on to foster those same individuals after their time at school, which is, well… ourselves. The press. The incubators and accelerators. The big corporate companies like Google and Facebook who hunt through these schools for potential hires. And the venture capitalists, who hand these young, bright (and sometimes sexist) minds , perhaps without thinking about what kind of role model they’re catapulting into the public eye. And finally, the users. Users of these services, , which seem to be led by some of the most successful “bros” of all time, have a choice in this. We can turn a blind eye, or we can choose to be a part of a fundamental shift in the technology industry, which surely has the most influence over our future as a society. This isn’t meant to be a tirade against Snapchat or Evan Spiegel. I did this week. And in reading the reactions to , I feel it’s important to make something clear. Despite my opinions about Evan’s insecurity, cockiness, or his (hopefully) former attitude towards women, I am still thoroughly impressed by the work he’s done on Snapchat. I believe, genuinely, that he is learning, and will continue to learn and grow with every step he takes to build Snapchat into a truly revolutionary and long-lasting business. Rather, the entire reason for pointing any of this out is so that we look at where we are as a community of people excited about changing the world through technology. It sounds like a cheesy thing to say, given how cliché that line actually is, but it’s also very true. A decade ago, there was no way to keep track of all of your friends from every chapter in your life. But with Facebook comes very real psychological issues, like Facebook Depression. The man at the helm of this company, Mark Zuckerberg, was . Leaked IMs revealed he thought of his users as “dumb fucks” for handing over their private info to him. Maybe we all still are? But today, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife to the Bay Area education system, which is just a small slice of the philanthropic work he’s done and continues to do. And though it’s silly and naïve to think that part of Mark Zuckerberg isn’t motivated by money, it’s also narrow to not look at the changes he’s making in the world and give them their due credit. He’s matured from that guy, writing IMs admitting that he doesn’t understand the “business stuff,” to using the “business stuff” to bring the Internet to the rest of the world, giving billions of people access to limitless information and connectivity. No one is perfect, but we can all grow, and we can all help each other grow. We’d be wise to take on the same attitude as Provost Etchemendy when he asked “that each of us choose the more difficult path whenever we encounter such attitudes. It does not take many strong and vocal objections to communicate what we consider acceptable and what we do not. Members of our community should learn , not many years from now, how abhorrent those attitudes are, whether real or feigned.” [h/t to ] |
Indian Fashion Discovery Site LimeRoad Lands $15M Series B | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | has closed $15 million in funding, which it says is one of the largest Series B rounds secured by an online commerce company in India. Investment was led by Tiger Global, with participation from returning investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India. LimeRoad, a social discovery platform targeted to female shoppers, says that it plans to use the capital to grow its site, as well as its Android app, which launched today to reach India’s nearly 100 million smartphone users. Other major Indian sites that are focusing intently on mobile commerce include and . The latter company , up from just 5% nearly a year earlier. About 45% of Snapdeal’s mobile transactions come from its native applications, while the remaining 55% come through its mobile site. In India, LimeRoad’s major competitors include , and . As TechCrunch reported then, e-commerce in India is growing rapidly and fashion products are able to attract a premium. In a statement, LimeRoad CEO and founder Suchi Mukherjee said, “India accounts for 20% of the world’s manufacturing of lifestyle products and we are convinced that conquering the discoverability of that wide array needs new thinking and a fresh socially architected approach. Ninety percent of our 1,500,000+ products and looks are unique and user generated, and this is growing 30% to 40% per month.” The company’s mobile traffic is growing 45% month on month and that the new Android app, which was designed to work quickly across the wide array of smartphones used by Indian consumers, has style updates every 30 seconds, said co-founder and CTO Prashant Malik. “LimeRoad is leading the social commerce revolution in India with a focus on winning the two biggest drivers of future online commerce marketplaces-women and mobile. The community of scrapbookers on LimeRoad is zealously passionate about the platform and reminds one of similar communities in scaled marketplaces like eBay,” said Avnish Bajaj, managing director of Matrix India. |
As Square Struggles, European Payments Rival iZettle Takes Another $55.5M In Funding | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | As mobile payment startup that it’s delaying an IPO amid and other pressures, , the Swedish mobile payments company that has been referred to as the Square of Europe, has raised another €40 million ($55.5 million). In an interview, CEO and founder Jacob de Geer said the funding will be used to continue building out its business, namely through acquisitions to fill out its small-merchant service offerings beyond payments; and more expansion in Latin America and Europe, the two regions where iZettle is currently active (in nine countries in total: Mexico, Brazil, the UK, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland). The Series C round was led by Zouk Capital, with participation from a couple of other new investors, Dawn Capital and Intel Capital, as well as previous backers Creandum, Greylock, Index, Northzone and SEB. Prior to this, iZettle has raised , with investors in previous rounds also including three financial services giants: American Express, MasterCard and Banco Santander. iZettle is not disclosing its valuation, except to note that it is nowhere near the billions that Square has been valued at in its most recent rounds. “Our valuation is not even close to Square’s,” De Geer told me in an interview with a little laugh. When iZettle first launched its service in 2011, the mobile payments business was in a different place. Coming off the back of a number of false starts from mobile carriers and banks, the rapid growth of smartphones opened up a new opportunity. A small card-reading device that plugged into a smartphone’s headphone or charging ports could turn that handset into a card payments terminal. Combine that with a simple payments app and a commission structure that undercut the incumbents, and the tech world had a new business model on its hands. It was the perfect sell to merchants that traditionally had too little turnover to make investments in card services worth their while, but happened to own an iPhone or Android handset. Square was the first to really break ground in this market, but many — including other startups like iZettle but also bigger companies like and — followed. Fast forward three years and the market has matured. The low commissions meant that companies needed very high volumes of sales to make the model work, so services have all added more services on top of the basic payments, and expanded to new markets. But even so, it’s not clear that early movers in those first markets have been followed by rapid wider adoption from recalcitrant small businesses. iZettle estimates that their addressable market still has “millions” of businesses yet to accept card payments. iZettle, following others in its field, has expanded to like full-fledged cash registers and enhanced apps, along with , and it has gotten more aggressive on expanding to new markets, with a big move into last year in with Banco Santander. “We are not the companies that we used to be,” de Geer says. “The hype has now led to a more mature approach.” That said, de Geer goes to lengths to explain how, while iZettle and Square may have both evolved, they are not the same kind of company today. “We’re not focused on e-commerce at all,” he says. “We’re extremely focused on offline businesses and offline merchants at their point of sale,” pointing out Square’s push into e-commerce activities that move away from physical stores altogether. De Geer points out that the two have taken different approaches to the idea of how to tackle growth. While we have heard people in the European tech world complain that startups in the Old World are undervalued compared to their U.S. counterparts, this could be one moment where that might come in handy: it means that iZettle has had less pressure to deliver at a certain level, and frankly less money to go full throttle. “We come from the European perspective where typically we are not as well funded,” de Geer says. “We are 150 employees spread across nine markets. They have 700-800 largely for one market, the U.S.. “It’s not that Square is doing the wrong thing and we are doing the right thing. They may even turn out to be winners, even if right now it is a tough situation.” Then there is the core of iZettle’s technology. It is built around chip-and-pin services, which have yet to really become common in the U.S. but are the standard in Europe and elsewhere. The reason this is significant is that chip-and-pin tends to see significantly less fraud than mag stripe-based services. “We operate on a 2-basis-point fraud level,” he tells me, meaning that for every 100% of transactions, on average 0.02% are fraudulent. The offline average for chip-and-pin is between six and eight basis points, he says, and U.S. companies using magnetic stripe and swiping services typically operate on a 30-basis-point fraud level. For the next stage of growth, iZettle plans to focus on more of the same, except with some twists. De Geer says that Latin America and Europe are “good bets” for the company since it’s already active in those regions. In terms of acquisitions, the idea will be not to move into new product categories like e-commerce but to add value to the basic, low-margin payments service by way of more services that enhance the experience. “There are so many different layers on top of payments,” he says. “It’s the backdoor to merchants.” Targets, de Geer says, will include loyalty services, or CRM software — startups that are promising “but may not be well funded or able to find effective enough distribution channels. They can add value for our merchant customers.” This strategy also appears to be at the heart of Zouk’s interest in iZettle. “At the core of Zouk’s investment thesis is the emergence of what we call resource intelligence: recognising that not only should we be doing more with less, but that resources, process and systems are more connected than ever,” said Nathan Medlock, a principal in Zouk’s Growth Capital Team who is joining iZettle’s board. “iZettle is a great example of this concept in action.” For all the contrasts, however, Square — by virtue of its mindshare in the industry — has had an impact on iZettle. De Geer says that closing their fundraising took a lot longer — some four to five months — compared to its Series B, and he says the reason was down to the reports of Square’s growth problems. “That stalled things a bit, and it look longer than we expected,” he says. How did they close the round? “When we started drilling down to the numbers, we are fundamentally different,” he said. |
Google Said To Be Planning Android TV Launch At I/O In June | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 5 | 30 | Google has long been rumored to replace Google TV with Android TV, a new crack at the home media market with more roots in its mobile OS and less of a separate focus, but a new report from ; in fact, it’s apparently set to make its debut at the I/O developer conference taking place at the end of this month. The Android TV platform isn’t a specific piece of hardware, GigaOM reports, but is instead a software effort that will work with gadgets from OEM partners including LG and others. The Android TV platform will focus on bringing online media services to televisions, the report claims, as well as Android-based gaming, at least initially, rather than concentrate on the ‘apps for TV’ angle that it espoused with Google TV. Android TV sounds like it could have similar goals in mind to Amazon’s Fire TV; namely, it aims to be a single source platform for media regardless of the service where it’s found. A new UI layer called “Pano” internally is the core of the product, says GigaOM, and it presents show episodes and movies in a card-style interface right away when an Android TV device is launched. This means that content is foregrounded, rather than apps, so that users can get watching immediately instead of having to select a service first. The idea seems to be that service providers take a back seat to the actual content they house, which makes sense, given that those shows and movies are what consumers are after to begin with. The gaming focus is also something that Google’s Android TV effort would share with Amazon’s approach, if this report is accurate. Overall, it really seems like Google is building an approach to television that incorporates the same kinds of lessons that Android itself said it learned about the current crop of smart TVs from users reviews on its site when building its media streamer. And of course, Android TV would extend the reach of the company’s mobile OS, into a medium where it’s easy to imagine the potential for advertising and search-based revenue. Google has some advantages, including a likely willingness to work with OEMs to build this kind of thing directly into television sets as well as inexpensive Internet-enabled dongles. It’s interesting to see it move away from the app paradigm instead of embracing that, given Android’s software advantage there, but if the failure of smart TV devices to really take off before now indicates anything, it’s that users don’t want their TVs to be giant smartphones – they’re looking for something unique to the medium, and perhaps Android TV is exactly that. |
Apple’s Beats Purchase Could Have Saved HTC | Matt Burns | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | : Apple on May 28th. In what would have been a truly strange storyline, Apple would have effectively saved one of its chief rivals from collapse — had HTC held onto its controlling stake in Beats Electronics. The is that Apple is close to acquiring Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, its largest purchase to date. HTC used to have a controlling position in Beats Electronics but since sold off its stake while watching its smartphone marketshare and stock price collapse. Had HTC held onto its stake in Beats — and assuming Apple still purchased Beats — HTC would have profited a tidy $1.29 billion. And HTC desperately needs $1.29 billion. In 2011 HTC bought 50.1 percent of Beats Electronics for $309 million. At that time HTC was still riding on its early embrace of Android. It was one of the premiere smartphone makers in the world. And Beats was clearly transforming the headphone market. Apple’s white earbuds were no longer ubiquitous; colorful Beats headphones (and countless copycats) began to replace them. Beats Electronics was kept a separate company despite HTC’s controlling stake. In 2012 the headphone maker’s exclusive manufacturing deal with Monster Cable ended, allowing Beats to manufacture its own hardware from then on — and pad the healthy margins on these expensive headphones even more. Since 2011, HTC has imploded. Its stock price is down nearly 80% since its 2011 levels. Its marketshare is evaporating thanks to Samsung and Apple. HTC offloaded Beats Electronics in two chunks. The sale of the first stake resulted in a $4.8 million net loss, the second one generated $85 million in profit. But that 50.1 percent stake would now be worth $1.6 billion. In other words, HTC could have returned 318% on its original investment and made $1.29 billion in profit from the Apple acquisition. But alas, HTC jumped off Dr. Dre’s Beats yacht to save its aging ship. Of course, Beats might not have been as attractive an acquisition target for Apple if purchasing the company would have meant injecting so much sorely needed cash into HTC’s coffers. Apple could have pursued other headphone makers and music streaming services. If the FT’s report pans out, Apple is on the verge of buying its way into two lucrative and established markets, music streaming and gaudy headphones. And HTC could have once again been a contender. |
An Interview With Mink CEO Grace Choi, Who’s Taking On The $55 Billion Beauty Industry With A 3D Makeup Printer | Colleen Taylor | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Though that took home the winning “Cup” from the Disrupt NY 2014 Startup , there’s no question that is the company that hit the biggest nerve this past week with a . , a personal 3D printer for making custom cosmetics, is such a strikingly clever yet simple idea, just like the greatest products and — something that seems so simple that you wonder why you didn’t come up with it yourself. The Mink (which is currently in early prototype form) is a $300 device that will purportedly let anyone create completely customized makeup shades any time they want, from the comfort of their own home. In a world where an eyeshadow compact can cost anywhere from to a pop and color trends change each season, the Mink is a pretty disruptive thing. So on the sidelines of the Disrupt NY conference yesterday, I pulled aside Mink’s founder Grace Choi to get a closer look at the Mink and ask her a bit more about the device and what inspired her to create it. At the moment, Mink is a one woman band, with Choi as the sole founder and employee. So while she tells me she’s already retained an intellectual property law firm and filed patents around Mink’s technology, there are a lot of things she is currently holding close to the chest. The cosmetics industry is worth $55 billion and dominated by very powerful incumbents, so Choi’s reticence is understandable in a lot of ways. I would have loved to have gotten a deeper dive into the hardware and materials in this interview, and we’ll work to get more details as soon as we can. That said, it was still a big pleasure to talk with Choi and hear about the ultimate vision behind the Mink and how she hopes to positively influence young womens’ perceptions of themselves and their personal tastes. In person, Choi’s passions for entrepreneurship, hardware creation, and creating a new kind of cosmetics industry are palpable. You can watch our chat in the video above. |
SCiO Shows Off Its Molecular Food Scanner In TechCrunch Disrupt’s Hardware Alley | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Dror Sharon, the CEO of , was showing off a prototype of his handheld “food scanner” at TechCrunch Disrupt NY’s Hardware Alley this week, called the . The device is a pocket-sized spectrometer that analyzes the molecular structure of an object by first shining a light on the item in question, then identifying the food based on its unique wavelength’s signature. What makes the product interesting are its cost and size; it’s cheaper and smaller than most spectrometers on the market today. That makes it affordable to consumers who could potentially use something like this to scan food to help determine its caloric content or to see if a pill was real or counterfeit, for example. To use the device, you press a button that causes a near-infrared light to shine on the sample. An accompanying Bluetooth-connected app then takes the data and compares it to a cloud-based database to analyze the content and send data back to the user’s phone. The Tel Aviv-based startup’s science is plausible, as spectrometer technology currently exists and can do what this device already does. The technological leap that SCiO claims – something they’ve been working on for three years – is that they’ve miniaturized the spectrometer using lower-cost optics combined with advanced signal processing algorithms. In doing so, it’s possible that the SCiO has sacrificed sensitivity for size, . That’s hard to tell from the demos given at Hardware Alley, since they used some pretty basic foods during like apples, tomatoes, and blocks of cheese (which it could read even through plastic wrap, we should point out). The app would ID the food and return the basic caloric and sugars info fairly quickly. Whether the SCiO would be able to truly and accurately determine a food’s or ripeness, for example, as their Kickstarter project page claims, would require further testing. But the company has been benefitting from the buzz around its Kickstarter launch, where the project has now topped over $1 million in funding – going well over its $200,000 goal. Even Sharon was surprised, he admitted, saying that he thought the SCiO would only appeal to hardware hackers and tech geeks. The funding, though, proves otherwise. Pocket-sized, Star Trek-like tricorders are on the way, it seems. |
Subscription E-Book Service Oyster Crosses 500K Titles, Plans An Android Launch This Year | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | , a startup that offers offers unlimited access to its collection of e-books for $9.99 per month, has crossed a nice milestone — it says its library now includes 500,000 books, compared to 100,000 when . The company also said it recently expanded its partnership with HarperCollins, bringing 10,000 more of the publisher’s titles (including by Jess Walter, by Gretchen Rubin, and by Neil Gaiman) into Oyster. And it has signed new deals with publishers including McSweeney’s, Chronicle Books, Grove Atlantic, and Wiley. The challenge for isn’t just getting a lot of books but getting the new, popular titles. Oyster and its competitors are often compared to Netflix, and when , they care less about how many movies are available total, and more about whether Netflix has the specific movies that they’re looking for. Oyster co-founder and CEO Eric Stormberg told me that he isn’t focused on new releases, but instead on “recent releases.” In other words, he’s hoping to get books into Oyster about three months after their initial publication. Stromberg declined to provide any subscriber data, but he argued that the fact that the company is expanding his deals with publishers and bringing on new ones is a sign that the numbers are good. I also asked Stromberg about the emergence of competing services . He responded that the team is staying focused on two things — having the best selection and providing a well-designed reading experience. On the selection front, Stromberg noted that when he looked at the 100 most popular titles on Oyster, about half of them aren’t available on competing services: “That’s a really great signal to us that our titles are unique and appealing to our subscribers.” Oyster is currently available for iOS devices, but Stromberg said it will launch an Android app later this year. |
Apple In Talks To Acquire Beats For $3.2 Billion, Says FT | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | : Apple on May 28th. This could be Apple’s largest acquisition to date. According to the , Apple is close to a deal to acquire Beats Electronics. Beats is the maker of the popular Beats headphones, as well as the music service, . If it closes, the deal should be announced next week, the FT reports. The two companies have yet to agree on some financial details. The most surprising thing about this acquisition is its size. Apple has had a very shy strategy when it comes to acquisitions. It doesn’t like to spend a large amount of money to acquire a company. It doesn’t mean that the company is averse to acquisitions. In the last 18 months, Apple has 24 companies. One of the largest recent deals for Apple was the — for which Apple only had to pay around $350 million. In the most recent earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company was ready to spend a large amount of money on an acquisition if it made sense. It turns out that it makes sense for Beats. It could be the first company in a series of big acquisitions — in that case, a culture shift is happening at Apple. As the Beats brand is very popular, Apple will probably retain the branding to sell audio accessories. Apple could even use it for other devices. Beats was created by rapper Dr. Dre and chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine. The first Beats headphones, branded as “Beats by Dr. Dre”, came out in 2008. At the time, the company’s products were exclusively manufactured by Monster Cable. This deal expired in 2012 — since then, the company has self-manufactured its products. While Apple’s devices have always come with earbuds, headphones have become more popular over the past few years. Even though audiophiles tend to dislike Beats’ headphones, the company managed to capture a significant market share. It’s a very lucrative market as these headphones are widely considered overpriced. That’s why it makes a lot of sense for Apple to own this segment of the portable music market as well. And then, there is the music service. In July 2012, Beats music streaming service Mog. Later, the stand-alone Mog service was shut down. It was relaunched as in January 2014. Beats Music is still a newcomer and has very few users. The acquisition price is very high because of the headphones business, not the music service. It competes with well-established services Spotify or Rdio. There are a few extra features. Overall, the browsing experience is much more visual, with an emphasis on typography and gestures. The service also puts more emphasis on music recommendation. When you first sign up, you tell Beats what music you like. Then, you receive song recommendations based on your tastes. You can browse music with a Songza-like experience by selecting your mood and activity. When Apple another music service (Lala) in 2009, the service was shut down and the team was put to work on Apple’s projects. It’s unclear whether Beats Music will live on or be shut down as well. But there is one thing for sure — Apple has a growing problem with music downloads. The music market is definitely shifting toward all you can eat music streaming services. In the Recording Industry Association of America’s 2013 , streaming was by far the fastest growing segment of the music industry, up 39 percent year-over-year. In comparison, downloads only grew by 1.1 percent compared to 2012. If Apple doesn’t do something, Spotify and other services will eat the company’s lunch. It’s unclear whether the deals with the music labels will be carried over to Apple. In any case, Apple will have to renegotiate with music labels at some point. With the Beats acquisition, it would be acquiring a team that knows how to do a music streaming service. Apple has already experimented with streaming services on its own — but these experiments weren’t very successful. First, it launched iTunes Match. For $25 per year, you can store up to 25,000 songs in the cloud. The service syncs all your MP3s and your iTunes Store purchases so that you can stream this catalog from your iPhone or iPad. While it’s very practical, it doesn’t really change the model of Apple’s music business. You still have to buy the songs. In June 2013, Apple unveiled , a laid-back radio experience. It works a lot like Pandora — you create a radio station based on your music tastes. It’s very different from unlimited streaming services — you still can’t search for a particular song and play it. Finally, there is one loser in this acquisition — HTC. In 2011, HTC 50.1 percent of Beats for $309 million. Later, the company sold back its stake in two chunks. The first stake resulted in a $4.8 million net loss, the second one generated $85 million in profit. But that 50.1 percent stake would now be worth $1.6 billion. In other words, HTC could have made $1.29 billion in profit from the Apple acquisition. It would have greatly helped the phone maker, which has shrunk precipitously for the past few years. |
SuperSummit Launches Its Network For Live Events And Online Courses | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | , a London-based startup, today launched its platform for online live video interviews with experts out of beta after testing the service for a few months in Italy. During the beta, the company built a community of about 50,000 members and created over in English and Italian with the likes of Brad Fed, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin. All of this content can currently be accessed for free. The early focus on Italy doesn’t come as a surprise, as founder Marco Montemagno is Italian. He previously hosted an interview show on Sky News for 12 years where he interviewed everybody from Jeff Bezos to Al Gore. Before that, he was a professional table tennis player, ranking third in Italy during his heyday, but it’s an easy guess that his experience with TV is what shaped the idea behind SuperSummit. The company says its ultimate goal is to add disruption to the education market, but it also wants to offer an alternative to what it calls the “coldness and insularity of webinars” and the lack of interactivity associated with pre-recorded video courses.” The team is mostly going after the lifelong learning sector market. The company believes it has found a gap in the market between basic online videos and massive open online courses (MOOCs). While SuperSummit doesn’t offer courses or degrees, it does give its users instant access to information from experts in a live conference format. Besides the videos themselves, the team is also focussing on building a community around the content through live Q&As and discussions around the content that helps users interact with the videos in real time. Looking ahead, SuperSummit aims to add content from businesses and advertisers to its platform as well. They will be able to host their own events on the platform (for a fee) and tap into the existing network of SuperSummit members. In return, the service will take care of the landing page, archiving, payment collection and video. The company is hosting later this month — with a focus on presentation techniques — and will start hosting more of these live events at a regular pace after that. |
Japanese Man Arrested For Printing His Own Revolvers | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Police arrested 27-year-old Yoshitomo Imura, a university official from Kawasaki City, after he posted a video of himself firing a 3D-printed six shooter called the Zig Zag revolver. Imura was employed at the Shonan Institute of Technology and owned a $500 home 3D printer. The trouble started when Imura printed and fired the . In the video we see him assemble the primitive gun and fire blanks. Imura wrote: It appears that Imura raised hackles in Japan back in March when the Zig Zag first appeared on . This week police raided his home and found five 3D-printed guns as well as his cheap 3D printer.
Japan has long upheld the Japanese Firearm and Sword Act which essentially outlaws guns in the country. The : Unless otherwise provided by a specific provision, the Law prohibits the following: possession of a firearm, handgun part, handgun ammunition, imitation handgun, or a mock arm with intent to sell; import of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition;” conveyance of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition; receipt of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition;’ the firing of an Article 3-4 Handgun in a public place such as a public road, park, station, theater, and department store or on or at public transportation; the carrying of a sword with a blade length of greater than six centimeters, or an imitation sword; What does this mean for the future of 3D-printed guns in Japan? Clearly the police see the manufacture of any firearm to be an offense and the same goes for the 3D-printed models. In short, the police treated Imura as if he had manufactured a firearm using more traditional methods. Regardless of medium and material, then, a gun is a gun. |
BitPay Is Raising $30M At A $160M Valuation From Index, Richard Branson | Kim-Mai Cutler | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | We’re hearing that , a platform that processes payments in bitcoin for merchants, is raising the field’s biggest round yet. The company is raising $30 million on a roughly $160 million valuation in a round led by Index Ventures, with Richard Branson and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang participating. BitPay declined to comment. With BitPay’s previous funding round, the company’s financing tops the combined $26 million that Boston-based rival Circle has raised from Accel Partners, or the $31 million that San Francisco-based Coinbase raised from Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures or the $20 million round that Benchmark led for Xapo. It’s yet another sign that the bitcoin ecosystem is maturing with big chunks of funding coming from top-tier venture firms. While there have been high-profile collapses like Mt.Gox’s bankruptcy, it feels like every major fund wants at least one bet in the space in case bitcoin does live up to the hype. Back in December, They recently scored backing through his Horizons Ventures vehicle. BitPay has also had some high-profile tests and Branson already. BitPay earns revenue via different tiers of accounts for smaller, medium-sized and enterprise clients that range from $30 to $300 and then a custom level. They also have a starter kit that charges 1 percent of all transactions. The Atlanta-based company has previously raised funding from Founders Fund, along with angel investors including WordPress’ Matt Mullenweg and bitcoin regulars Roger Ver and SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert. |
Kamino Offers Crowdsourced Walking Tours On Your iPhone | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | In Startup Alley this week, we came across Roger Obando and Louis Huynh, co-founders of , a new mobile app offering crowdsourced city guides. Unlike the recommendations found in professional guidebooks, Kamino instead offers what they call “urban hikes” — guides created by locals and plotted on a map that help to introduce visitors to the best their neighborhoods have to offer. The idea with Kamino is to take a walking tour of a given part of town, while getting pointed to various attractions, restaurants, shops, other businesses and hidden gems while on the way, as if you had a local showing you around. These “hikes” are plotted on a map in the Kamino mobile app, and include photos and other details about why these spots were recommended. The hikes are also often thematic in nature, letting you choose from things like “pet-friendly” hikes, hikes that are great for kids, hikes for going out with friends, and more. The hikes, which are also viewable on the web, can be saved, shared and rated from one to five stars. You can also see basic info, like how many stops each urban hike offers, how many miles long they are, and how long they’ll take to walk from beginning to end. For example, this “ is just over half a mile and includes 11 minutes of walking time (not including the drinking time, of course!). Bootstrapped Kamino now offers hikes in 50 cities across the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, including New York, San Francisco, L.A., Paris, London and Tokyo, thanks to its community’s efforts. To date, users have created over 500 guides, according to Huynh. You can grab the free app . The company may choose to eventually charge for premium features, like offline access to its tours and maps. |
Highway 1 Is Ramping Up Their Search For Startups With $50,000 In Seed Money | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Brady Forrest’s is looking for a few good hardware startups. The accelerator that brought us and the are working on their Fall 2014 program and they’ve increased their seed investment amount from $20,000 to $50,000. We first spoke to when they opened a new headquarters in San Francisco and thus far they’ve sent almost a dozen solid hardware startups to store shelves. “PCH and Highway1 will help entrepreneurs build a company, not just a product,” said Forrest. Entrants can . Highway1 is part of PCH International, a manufacturing and logistics firm that acted early to grab small makers entering the hardware space. Not unlike HWTrek and Dragon Innovation, Highway1 is part of a larger manufacturing network that is looking for smaller companies who want to manufacture a few thousand – not million – pieces of hardware, at least at first. By grabbing hardware makers early, PCH hopes to build new and bigger businesses over time and corner the maker market – which they are, by all rights, about to do. PCH recently made news when they acquired Canadian hardware service . They also partnered with , a . Highway1 has graduated 11 startups and will be holding events around the world to gather applications. The program includes two weeks in China as well as four months in San Francisco at their headquarters. They will hold a Demo Day in San Francisco on June 18. |
The Pressure On Enterprises To Transform Intensifies | Ron Miller | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Business is under intense pressure to transform these days whether it’s finding ways to capitalize on mobile, social, the cloud or big data or taking it a step further and becoming a truly digital enterprise. That was the message this week at the Gartner Portals, Content and Collaboration Summit in LA –and as I listened to this lesson, I wondered how many people in that room were ready to hear and accept the overall premise, never mind execute on a vision to drive meaningful change inside their companies. Some enterprises have begun exploring ways to exploit these technologies while others are caught in the headlights of the high speed train of change, not knowing where to begin and hoping they don’t get run over by a younger more flexible upstart that’s unencumbered by legacy technology. While Gartner analysts Jeffrey Mann and Susan Landry danced around the idea of digital transformation in their opening keynote, their message began to come into clearer focus in some of the sessions when we listened to real-world implementation stories and learned what happened when companies truly embraced change. The promised transformation actually materialized and that had to be comforting to companies feeling rudderless in a time of intense change. For instance, Deutsche Bank, as buttoned-down and conservative an institution as you’re likely to find–we’re talking a German bank here–changed the way they communicate internally after implementing Jive as an enterprise social network and built it up to 40,000 users in two years. How about Sony Pictures Entertainment which implemented WatchDox as part of a mobile initiative that would allow their various stakeholders to carry scripts and other movie IP on mobile devices protected in a Digital Rights Management (DRM) wrapper. This tool provided a way to control who can print, edit or even forward a document. It also allows them to expire documents or remotely remove access privileges. And for a company with tens of millions of dollars at stake with each script, this was an essential capability that allowed them to take advantage of one of these key technologies –in this case mobile –while providing some level of protection as the content moved through the world. As one panel member speaking on the cloud put it, you need to explore how to convince people who might otherwise reject some or all these technologies to say “Yes.” He explained when you begin to dig into objections to change, you often find they are making assumptions without real data to back them up. You also have to be willing to accept good enough. Deutsche Bank’s John Stepper said his team was willing to make certain compromises to get the project off the ground through pilot to the point they were building numbers and affecting meaningful change. They had a perfect vision of how their project should look, of course, but in the end they didn’t go for perfect. They went for good enough and adjusted as they went along. There were other examples of companies switching from on-premises software to Office 365 or Google Docs and the world did not stop. When Toyota put their documents in Box, people loved it. In spite of warnings to the contrary, the companies that changed not only survived the transition, they thrived. In the process, they delighted their users, who had been using clunky software and were more than willing to replace it with something that helped them work better and faster in a modern context using tools similar to the ones they had been using at home. These were valuable lessons for participants to hear because these success stories provide proof points that they can take back to their companies and as they argue for a similar change in their organizations, they can answer the naysayers with real-life examples. Gartner spoke of managing change at the various organizational levels –technology, people and systems –and all of these need to change in lock-step for this to work. That means you need to not only switch out the technology, you have to make sure people are on board with the change, or at the very least understand why you’re doing it, and finally you have to change your systems to take advantage of the new way of working the technology provides I think people heard what they needed to hear and although change is hard and what companies are being asked to do has to be daunting in many cases, they can achieve digital transformation they need to reach one project a time. And that could be a sound approach. |
Snapchat Settles With FTC After Being Dishonest With Users About Privacy | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Snapchat has with the FTC to address concerns over the company’s privacy policy, app description, and in-app notifications after the ephemeral messaging service was at the center of a huge data breach last year, exposing 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers. According to the FTC, the security breach was in direct contradiction to promises made by the service around security and disappearing messages. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez had this to say: Snapchat’s failure to secure its Find Friends feature resulted in a security breach that enabled attackers to compile a database of 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers.” If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises. Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks FTC action. Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel has always been up-front about the fact that Snapchat pictures, while ephemeral, are relatively easy to capture and save, whether by taking a photo with another camera, screencapping it, or through more deceptive means. However, the description of the app on the App Store and within the company’s privacy policy didn’t necessarily make that crystal clear. This comes in response to a filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center last year. Here’s what Snapchat had to say in an on the matter: When we started building Snapchat, we were focused on developing a unique, fast, and fun way to communicate with photos. We learned a lot during those early days. One of the ways we learned was by making mistakes, acknowledging them, and fixing them. While we were focused on building, some things didn’t get the attention they could have. One of those was being more precise with how we communicated with the Snapchat community. This morning we entered into a consent decree with the FTC that addresses concerns raised by the commission. Even before today’s consent decree was announced, we had resolved most of those concerns over the past year by improving the wording of our privacy policy, app description, and in-app just-in-time notifications. And we continue to invest heavily in security and countermeasures to prevent abuse. We are devoted to promoting user privacy and giving Snapchatters control over how and with whom they communicate. That’s something we’ve always taken seriously, and always will. Following Snapchat’s big data leak, the company came under fire for not responding to warnings made by security researchers and experts who had found a way to access Snapchat’s user data. Hopefully Snapchat has learned a lesson about being honest with its users, growing and keeping their trust, and protecting their information. Re/Code reports that the FTC settlement prohibits Snapchat from “misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users’ information.” It also requires that Snapchat re-draft its privacy program, as well as undergo independent monitoring for the next 20 years. |
Intuit Buys Lettuce Apps For $30M To Add Inventory And Order Management To Quickbooks | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Some consolidation afoot in world of cloud-based enterprise services. has made another acquisition to help position itself as the go-to place for small and medium businesses to run their offices in the cloud: it has bought , a platform for companies to manage both orders and inventory online. Lettuce is not disclosing the terms of the deal in its , but we have confirmed with sources that the price tag was $30 million, a figure first reported in . A spokesperson for Intuit said the company was not releasing terms of the deal “as it isn’t material to their business.” This is the company’s . Unlike some acquisitions that see the buyer shut down the newly owned product, either in a talent acquisition or with the intention of using some of the tech in a new service altogether, in this case Intuit will be continuing to operate Lettuce as a standalone app. It will also integrate it further into its flagship SMB office accounting product, Quickbooks (there had already been an integration; now it gets deeper). “While this is a big step for Lettuce, it doesn’t mean that much will change,” he writes. “Since the beginning, we’ve worked hard to improve the way you manage your orders and inventory so you can eliminate time-consuming, tedious tasks and spend more time doing the things you love. We plan on continuing down this path and once the transaction is closed, with Intuit’s support, we plan to accelerate this tremendously.” When we wrote about Lettuce’s back in 2012 from investors like 500 Startups and Crosscut Ventures, we noted that the company had by that point processed some $2 million in orders. What the sale and subsequent product extension implies is that not only will Intuit have another service to expand the usefulness of Quickbooks, with more mobile-friendly features to boot (so crucial these days) but it will also be tapping into an existing SMB customer base at Lettuce as potential customers for its other services. Mobrem says that it will be continuing to develop Lettuce as a standalone product “for at least a year”, if not more. Lettuce charges businesses in three different tiers starting at $39/month and going up to $179/month. The sale opens up the question — a pertinent one for other startups in the enterprise space — about consolidation in this vertical. Are the margins for services in the cloud strong enough to support lots of standalone businesses, or will we see others, such as Lettuce competitor , also go the M&A route in the long run? Mobrem says, despite the direction his own company has taken, the answer is an emphatic yes. “Before the Internet it was hard to connect one thing to another,” he says, and that meant that big was nearly the only way to go. “But besides a few companies like Intuit, you will see a lot of smaller companies connecting to each other and growing into substantial companies. It’s almost like a partnership for marketing.” Indeed this is the same trend that has played out with companies like Box and Huddle, using APIs, creating webs of multivendor services. “For us specifically the reason we sold to Intuit is that we built Lettuce to solve our own problems (at another startup) and saw others that could use what we created. We weren’t romantic but we were realistic. And this helps us get to more people faster.” Image: |
Amazon Goes Big With Sunday Delivery Expansion | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Amazon has just a huge expansion for Sunday deliveries with 15 new cities slated to learn the pleasures of receiving shipments on the weekend. So far, Amazon has only offered Sunday deliveries . Amazon has partnered with the United States Postal Service to make Sunday deliveries a reality. The new cities joining the program include Indianapolis; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Philadelphia; Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Waco and College Station, Texas. Amazon had previously mentioned that Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix were high in the list for expansion, so Arizonans can probably expect to be next on the list. Here’s what Amazon’s VP of North American Operations Mike Roth had to say about it: So far, the most common items delivered on Sunday include baby supplies such as newborn apparel, books and toys — Sunday delivery is clearly crossing errands off the weekend to-do list. |
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Build An Event Crew Qwerkly With Werkly | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Finding workers in this economy sounds like it should be easy. But what if you’re searching for someone with a very particular set of skills, skills they have acquired over a very long career? Skills that make them useful to marketers, events planners, and designers? Those people are a little harder to find and that’s why Eric Bernstein built . Designed as a peer-to-peer work marketplace, the site allows experts in various fields including runway events, concerts, and hospitality to post their availability and then accept jobs as they appear. Bernstein created the site when he realized how often he had to build teams of workers at a moment’s notice and how hard it was to get them together. “I have been a freelancer working in production since I was 15 years old,” he said. “After years touring with rockbands like Les Claypool, Phil Lesh, and The Disco Biscuits, I began producing runway, concerts and events for luxury brands and hotels. But the biggest problem I had was the waste of time in booking crew. These events on average lasted 2 hours, but it took nearly 6-10 hours to book a crew.” By treating every worker as a gun-for-hire and creating solid matching systems, Bernstein makes it easier for creatives to find skilled help. The profile creation process is a few clicks long and focuses primarily on creative jobs like media and technology and event planning. There are some “Yes” and “No” questions including “Do you have your own tools?” and “Are you an animal handler?” which can help figure out where you’d fit on the crew. “Until now we are 100% self funded. We are currently looking for our first round of seed funding. We may be able to continue bootstrapping, but I’m hoping for $500,000 in this first seed round,” said Bernstein. The company has gained 400 users since SXSW and they’re expecting about 1,000 this month. Bernstein, who is based in New Orleans, sees himself as an for skilled workers. “Most of the companies in the employment sector, such as , and target only high level digital, creative, and content specialists,” he said. “In the labor world there is Craigslist, taskrabbit, and Thumbtack. Those are bidding wars. Werkly is a direct marketplace for the consumer and the producer.” When I spoke to Bernstein before launch he made it clear that this wasn’t a service for finding day laborers and the like. Instead, he hopes to be able to help folks fill out the ranks of events and productions that require specific experience at a very specific time. Need someone to fix your boiler? You probably don’t want to use Werkly. Need a make-up artist for ferrets for a fashion shoot? This, as they say, is your place. And as the Albanians say if you’re looking for work: |
Apple Patents Optical Image Stabilization For Higher Resolution iPhone Pics | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Apple has been working on optical image stabilization tech for use in their iPhones and other devices, according to a new patent application filed with the USPTO (spotted by ). This could allow future devices to boost image resolution considerably by stitching together multiple exposures for each picture. This isn’t exactly how others use optical image stabilization, which is usually designed to compensate for small amounts of camera shake by moving around internal camera parts (vs. digital, which fixes it via post-processing). This new system would use the same kind of OIS movement to change the angle slightly on multiple exposures captured in quick succession, and then patch those together for an image that’s “super-resolution” image with better color rendering, detail capture and more. At the same time, the OIS components can also perform traditional functions for regular image stabilization while building their super resolution pastiche, too, so you get the best of both worlds. This could be yet another way Apple excels in its efforts to be the industry leader in mobile photography, should it makes its way to shipping devices. |
TechStars Alum AdYapper Raises $1M, Receives Accreditation From The Media Rating Council | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | , a startup allows marketers to see how often their online ads are viewed, has raised $1 million in new funding from angel investors, including movie producer Jack Giarraputo. The company says it will use the new funding to expand into new markets and explore emerging media. The TechStars alum also gained accreditation from the for real-time measurements of viewable display ad impressions. The MRC, a non-profit industry association that ensures advertising measurement services are valid, on viewable impressions for display advertising at the end of March, which AdYapper says will allow it to begin transacting on the metric for the first time. The company’s newest product, called Viewable Consumer Behavior (vLayer), builds on its MRC-accredited viewability measurements with new data points that look at click-through rates, granular geographic viewability, and audience reach, among other pre-set and custom metrics. The TechStars alum last fall, bringing its total raised so far to $2.2 million. AdYapper’s technology focuses on ad viewability, or letting marketers analyze exactly who is seeing their ads. This is especially important because three out of 10 ads are never seen, . AdYapper told TechCrunch when it received its seed funding last year that its platform is able to measure viewability on 95% of all ad impressions, compared to the traditional geometric approach, which only measures viewability on 50% to 60% of ads. This is how AdYapper seeks to differentiate from competitors like and . AdYapper says its technology can offer accurate real-time measurements for advertising buyers and sellers even through cross-domain , or HTML documents within another HTML document, which are often used to embed online ads. The company says it processes “billions of ads on a monthly basis,” and that it enables marketers to increase revenue or customer engagement by up to 450% for the same advertising budget. In a statement, founder and CEO Elliot Hirsch said, “The MRC accreditation validates that AdYapper’s technology and methodology is sound, consistent with the latest standards, and in alignment with the industry. Now, brands, ad networks, demand-side platforms, publishers, and technology providers will be able to confidently bring viewability to their organizations.” |
8tracks Launches New iPhone App To Take On Pandora | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | Music startup just released a major new version of its iPhone app. The 3.0 version comes with a completely redesigned interface, a simpler user experience and a new advertising strategy. At its core, it remains a laid-back radio service like Pandora or Songza, but with human-generated playlists. After launching the app, the music experience is slightly different. You are presented with a horizontal timeline of human-curated playlists. If you swipe right, you see your playlist history and you can listen once again to a playlist that you liked. If you swipe left, you can see what’s coming up based on your current music search. It’s a beautiful design. One of 8tracks’ core features remains the ‘Explore’ screen. Every playlist comes with multiple tags. These tags can be a mood (happy, love, etc.), an activity (workout, study, sleep), and of course a music genre. You can combine these tags together to find the perfect playlist. For example, you could do a search for “study + indie + summer”. I’ve used the service for a few years. After a while, you tend to use the same tag combinations because you know that they work well together. That’s why you now get shortcuts to play trending playlists with these tag combinations. “If you think about what’s different about 8tracks is that it’s fundamentally a community,” founder and CEO David Porter told me in a phone interview. This is the service’s key strength and weakness. Overall, 8tracks has suffered from being to complicated. Compared to Pandora, you actually have to think about what you want to listen to. You can’t just hit a play button. Yet, you can see that the monthly active users who get it enjoy the service a lot more than Pandora. A Twitter search for 8tracks and Pandora that. In the coming months, the company will focus on simplifying the user experience. The new tag shortcuts are a good first step. But it’s still not dumbed down enough for mainstream adoption. Moreover, when people tend to write about digital music, they often forget 8tracks. Yet, the startups has been around since 2008, and is bigger than Songza, Rdio and other press darlings. “We’re three times the size of Rdio,” Porter said. On the revenue front, the company raised $1.2 million in 2011 and has been profitable since July 2012. It will now get into direct advertising sales. “We hired our first ad sale person in October. We’ve been stepping up our game,” Porter said. The company recently signed its first advertising deal with Victoria’s Secret. The new app will also help on that front. Brands will be able to sponsor playlists, or purchase more traditional ad units. All mobile ads will now be native. When you search for a genre, you will see in-feed ads like on Twitter or Facebook. When you swipe horizontally to skip a playlist, the app will also show an interstitial ad from time to time. These are the three challenges right now for 8tracks: getting the word out, simplifying the service to boost growth, and ramping up direct ad sales. In that regard, the 3.0 version, which will come to Android in the coming weeks, is not just an app update — it builds the foundation for a more efficient service. [slideshow ids=”1000197,1000196,1000194,1000195,1000198,1000200,1000199″] |
Puzzle Piece’s $19 Tablets Help Children With Autism Learn Social Skills | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Almost as soon as the iPad came out, parents and therapists began incorporating apps into autism therapy. The devices have been found to be . Many parents, however, . New startup hopes to make tech ubiquitous for all families with autistic children by making and selling an Android tablet for just $19. Instead of monetizing off hardware, Puzzle Piece sells subscriptions for educational apps that also cost $19 per month. Puzzle Piece launched just a month ago, but it already averages 80 new sign-ups per day and has 1,000 active users. The site also includes an online community where parents can talk to co-founder Andrea Macken, a board-c three times a week, and meet other families with autistic children. Last year, the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that an estimated one in 50 children between the ages of 6 and 17 has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Puzzle Piece’s tablets and apps are aimed at children aged three to 10 years old, with plans to create material for specific ages and ranges of the autism spectrum. Puzzle Piece’s other co-founder wishes to remain anonymous for now because he still works full-time at major tech company. He talked to TechCrunch, however, about the inspiration behind Puzzle Piece, which came while he was consulting for an applied behavior analysis (ABA) home therapy program that serves children with autism. “They are constantly having to hire and train new people to be therapists. They go through a three-week training program, and the requirement is that they have some sort of undergrad degree. It’s very loose and there is a high turnover because it’s hard to work with kids who have autism,” he explained. “It’s the classic question of how do you scale something once it has plateaued? I kept looking at the problem and what they were doing in the training.” Puzzle Piece’s goal is to make technology accessible for all families affected by autism, regardless of their income level. The company found manufacturers who would be able to create cheap but reliable 7-inch Android tablets. Though each costs $32 to make, Puzzle Piece sells them for just $19. Each device has a dual-core processor, 4GB of memory, a memory card slot, front and back cameras, and a durable build. An app subscription, which also costs $19 a month, includes 10 new educational apps each month for kids at different reading levels. The initial payment is $39.95 for a tablet and a month of apps. After that families can cancel their subscription if they wish but keep the tablet. Puzzle Piece’s games are built to mimic the kind of interaction and work children do with ABA therapists and board-certified behavior analysts, since many families cannot afford the , which can cost hundreds of dollars each month even with insurance. Much of ABA focuses on character-based stories to help children learn social skills, like how to interact with other children or teachers and deal with frustrating situations. Some stories teach kids how to cope with bullying. Puzzle Piece plans to launch customized programs in a few months that will give parents 20 new apps per month that are tailored to their child’s needs. The app applies a correction and reward system, similar to the ones used by ABA therapists. Instead of toys, however, Puzzle Piece rewards children who complete a story with games they can play on their tablets. Though the core of Puzzle Piece is its ultra-affordable tablet and apps, the company also places an emphasis on building an online community. In addition to regular online chats and seminars with Macken, parents can also connect with each other for daily support and advice. For more information about Puzzle Piece, visit its or ask questions on the company’s . |
Meet AltSchool, The Startup That Is Going To Reinvent Primary Education | Leena Rao | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Education is one of the last industries that is still going through massive change and disruption with the introduction of technology. In particular, we’ve seen the rise of iPads, the introduction of learning technologies and educational games enter the classroom, but we haven’t actually seen the physical classroom change for children. a new startup aiming to transform K-8 education and schools, is hoping to . Founded by Max Ventilla, AltSchool is a new school that focuses on child-centered education supported by a technology platform. The school is also predicated on the belief that most students vary in skill level in subjects like math, reading, science, art, physical education and social studies, and “grades” are confining. Enter highly customized “playlists” that serve as a personalized curriculum for each child. As you can see from the video above, AltSchool’s first classroom is in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, and currently has around 20 students between the ages of five and 10. They are split into two main learning groups, 5-7 year-olds and the 8-10 year-olds. There are generally eight students to one teacher but for some activities the entire group learns together. The actual building has one large room sectioned off into areas for play and learning. “If a time traveler came back from the early 1900s, and looked at schools, they would look relatively the same. And there’s something wrong with that, because children and our world have changed,” Ventilla has said. Check out our video above to get an inside look into the classroom, teachers, and students at AltSchool. And we also talked with Ventilla about his vision, and what’s next for the startup. And we’re super excited that Ventilla and CEO of Amplify, and former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education Joel Klein will be on stage with us at next week. |
Fab May Suffer Yet Another Round Of Layoffs | Leena Rao | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | We’ve heard that design-focused e-commerce site Fab is planning another round of layoffs. At an internal meeting today, sources tell us that the company said it would be making a decision on the final number of people to be let go by June 1. One rumor floating around is that the company could reduce headcount by another 60 employees. Fab currently has 305 employees worldwide. The company has had a difficult 12 months as it has struggled to find its place and profitability in the e-commerce world. Over the past few months, Fab has of COO Beth Ferreira and co-founder and design chief Bradford Shellhammer among many others. Fab, which has raised more than $330 million in venture capital, was valued at $1 billion last year, seemed to expand too soon, too quickly. The company has had to close offices around the world, as it continues to focus on achieving profitability. Last fall, it and suffered of . It’s unclear what Jason Goldberg’s next step is — for now he’s still the CEO of Fab, and it appears there are no immediate changes on that front. A spokesperson for Fab declined to comment. |
Vine Launches A Six-Second YouTube | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | When Vine , all you could do was view your stream and check out profiles for individual users. The desktop version came with TV Mode, too, which was admittedly addictive with its constant stream of full-screen content. But today Vine is , bringing a number of the navigation and discovery features you’re used to in the app straight to your desktop. Plus, all of the content is accessible to anyone on the web, with no sign-in required. Alongside your Vine feed and user profile streams, Vine will now show a featured section that includes Editors Picks, cool playlists, and special featured videos. You’ll also have access to channels, trending tags, and a popular page, just as you do in the app. Perhaps more importantly, users don’t have to be logged in to Vine on the web to surf through these channels or featured Vine videos. Previously, to use Vine on the web, you had to be signed in or hunt down the URL for a user profile. Now, simply hitting up Vine.co will give you access to all of the best content on Vine, complete with TV mode, which plays them one after the other in full-screen. This is a refreshing update considering that most mobile-first companies have limited and poorly designed web counterparts to keep people active in the main (mobile) experience. Instagram.com, with its limited feature set and crappy performance, is perhaps the most shameful example. The future of Vine as it exists within Twitter’s long-term plan remains unclear. Since launching over a year ago, two of the co-founders have left the company, but it seems that the app continues to enjoy an active user base. This move, however, is a clearer step away from competing with Instagram on a mobile consumption level and focusing more on how mobile video creation and true video consumption play into each other. In a way, Vine is inching closer and closer to being a YouTube competitor, where users can create short videos on mobile and yet still experience all the wonders of the laid-back YouTube-style consumption experience. To be perfectly honest, video creation nor consumption is where it needs to be for it to take off in the way that mobile photos have, and part of the problem is inherent in video itself. A photo requires perfection or correctness or whatever for a single moment in time, and can be enhanced beyond that. Video, however, requires that perfection or correctness to extend for seconds and seconds. A lot more talent, creativity, and attention to detail goes into creating an enjoyable video, and just as Twitter did with its own product, the company has used restriction to force quality content out of its users. Vine actually stands a chance at being the place where we finally enter into a world of mobile video immersion and addiction, and herding people over to the web to consume is a surprisingly smart way to start. To check out the new Vine.co in all its glory, head on over by clicking . Though, be forewarned, it looks like it might not be up and running quite yet. |
LinkedIn Beats The Street In Q1 On Sales Of $473M, EPS Of $0.38, Raises Outlook | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Amid a market correction that has seen many tech stocks lose value, , the social network for the working world, today that beat analyst estimates. Sales came in at $473 million, with EPS of $0.38. Those sales beat both First Call and its own guidance — $467 million and $455-$460 million, respectively. “The first quarter was strong for LinkedIn in terms of our member engagement and financial results,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, in a statement. “We made significant progress against several strategic priorities, including expanding internationally with our China launch, extending our shift to content marketing, and furthering our goal to make LinkedIn the definitive professional publishing platform by giving members the ability to publish long-form content.” LinkedIn is incidentally now before the call takes place — although in my experience with these things the really good stuff only ever usually comes in the unscripted Q&A portions of these calls. Last month the company reported hitting , a milestone as it looks to widen its reach to segments of the market beyond the white-collar professionals that it has traditionally targeted. LinkedIn estimates the global workforce numbers to be some 3.3 billion people. At the time, it noted that some 100 million members were coming from the U.S. But when it comes to revenues, as with comparable businesses like Facebook and Twitter, those U.S. users remain the chief revenue drivers. LinkedIn says that sales from the U.S. were $284.9 million or 60 percent of total revenue. Conversely, revenue from international markets was $188.3 million, or 40 percent of total revenue in Q1. That push has seen the company expand its platform in a number of directions in the last quarter, including expanding its recruitment to , , and expanding its , which had originally been limited only to selected users. Mobile is a significant part of the company’s strategy going forward. In the previous quarter mobile devices accounted for 41 percent of the site’s unique visitors. As it looks to expand in countries like China, where PCs play second fiddle to smartphones and tablets, it will push mobile even more so. In terms of how the company’s different business lines performed, the basic message is growth, but also stability: that is to say, no single division is suddenly breaking out as an unexpected revenue driver, but remaining much in the same proportions as before. Talent Solutions, which includes the company’s job recruitment business, brought in $275.9 million in revenues, up 50 percent on a year ago. Talent Solutions is the biggest part of the company’s revenues, at 58 percent of total revenue, up one percentage point over a year ago. I’d argue that this is a sign that the recruitment expansions that LinkedIn has made have yet to bear fruit, however. Marketing Solutions, at 22 percent of revenues, brought in $101.8 million. That’s down slightly on a year ago one percentage point — a sign that advertising is also still something the company will need to work on longer term. Premium subscriptions remained stable at 20 percent of the company’s revenues; it brought in $95.5 million, up 46 percent on a year ago. Premium subscriptions, for the average user, are perhaps one of the most noticeable aspects of the company: LinkedIn, as one , has been reining in full data access to users who are not premium members but regular enough visitors for the site to recognise them — a way of making a bet that if you’re finding the site useful enough to visit regularly, you may be someone potentially interested in upgrading. The company gave some brighter guidance also for the next quarter: It expects Q2 to see sales of between $500 million and $505 million and full-year revenues of between $2.06 billion and $2.08 billion. As a point of comparison, the company’s previous full-year estimates were between $2.02 billion and $2.05 billion — an indication of its optimistic outlook. Still, perhaps given the general trend with tech stocks at the moment, LinkedIn’s share price is currently trading at just above , at the lower end of its 52-week range. More to come. |
Sleevely Tells You How Much Milk Your Wee Bairn Slurped All Day | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | The bairnies cuddle doon at nicht
Wi muckle faught and din.
“Oh try an’ sleep, ye waukrife rogues,
Your faither’s comin’ in.”
They niver heed a word I speak,
I try tae gie a froon,
But aye I hap’ them up an’ cry
“From yer ye’ll drink it doon!” Babies, sweet bairns or waukrife rogues alike drink from bottles. But how is a poor parent to know how much the wee ones drank, how fresh the formula was, and how much more they should imbibe before going doon? That’s where comes in. Designed to fit over a standard baby bottle, the rechargeable system measures the weight of a bottle when full and then notifies you how much baby has eaten and how much more eatin’ is to come. It also measures the temperature of the formula to ensure it’s still good and not too hot. Created by Ike Ofner and Dan Gilai, the product just launched on and is looking for $85,000. The sleeve, which will ship in December, costs $29 for early bird units. Ofner and Gilai have worked for Motorola, Dell, and Groupon and have extensive experience in consumer products. The device aims to replace written food logs and to help harried new parents deal with feeding times and the like. “Sleevely combines a hardware device and a mobile app. Using Sleevely is easy: Install our mobile app, prepare your baby’s food in your normal routine, slide your bottle into Sleevely and start tracking. Sleevely’s patent pending technology uses smart sensors in its flexible arms to measure the volume and temperature of the baby’s food,” said Ofner. “Sleevey uses Smart Bluetooth (BLE) to transmit the data to the Parent’s mobile device.” The team built the sleeve when Ofner began dealing with nutrition tracking for his newborn son. He realized the only solutions were paper based. He and Gilai began work on a prototype and are now ready to ship. It’s a very robust device and is battery-operated and dishwasher safe. “The Sleevely project is our attempt to offer parents peace of mind, as nourishment is one of the most important foundations for healthy lives,” said Ofner. While, for centuries, humans have gotten by feeding their babies without Bluetooth-enabled devices, it’s interesting to see this Internet-of-things sleeve changing the way mothers and fathers deal with the muckle of early nutrition.
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Flipt Wants To Help You Make Smarter Home Investment — And Flipping — Decisions | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | While the U.S. real estate market is still experiencing its ups and downs, the number of online real estate startups continues to increase quickly. The latest entrant in this business is , which aims to take some of the emotion out of real estate purchase decisions and replace it with a more data-driven approach. Flipt analyzes available residential properties in an area and then ranks them according to what the potential buyers are looking for: to fix and flip the house, buy and keep it, or to rent it out. Using its proprietary algorithms, the company scores every property according to these three possible outcomes. “Moving beyond a basic marketplace, Flipt doesn’t just display real estate data – it makes sense of it,” is how the company describes its approach. The company says today’s buyers want access to more than just basic home listings and instead also need facts and data-driven analysis to make their decisions. To render its verdict on a home, Flipt looks at public data about a property, as well as some proprietary data. Based on this analysis, Flipt then assigns a value between 0 and 100 to every property to rank it according to its investment potential. For potential rental properties, for example, the service estimates the rent and cash flow based on local demographics, locations and other data about the house. For houses you may want to flip (always a sign of a recovering housing market and a contributor to the last crash…), Flipt will try to determine the value of a home based on its foreclosure status, condition and age. If you just want to buy a home, the service will look at its appreciation over time and data about other homes in the neighborhood. In addition to the consumer-facing service, Flipt also offers tools for real estate agents who can use the service as a lead generation tool. For most home buyers, real estate decisions are still driven by emotions, and services like Flipt can’t take everything about a home into account (view, neighbors, renovations needed, etc.). Still, the more information home buyers have, the better. Many aspects of the service itself still need a few tweaks, however. It barely offers any filters, for example (at least that I can find), so you will see houses within a very wide price range whenever you perform a search. That’s not very useful given that few people look for houses between $150,000 and $2 million. Its geographic search is also often off, and even though you provide the service with a ZIP code, it seems to look far beyond your original constraint. Most people look in specific neighborhoods, so data about houses 50 miles away isn’t very interesting. There is also no way to filter searches by number of bedrooms, bathrooms or other features. Once the company changes this, it’ll be a bit easier to recommend this service. Until then, it’s probably most useful as a tool when you’ve already narrowed your search down using Zillow, Redfin and other services. Flipt was founded by Andrey Nokhrin, whose previous startups include (a tool for contractors). BuildersCloud received $1.1 million in angel funding from Dave McClure, in addition to Facebook’s former legal counsel Rudy Gadre and other angel investors and funds. Flipt is funded off this same round. |
Box IPO Delay Wouldn’t Be Without Compromises | Ron Miller | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | It hasn’t been a great couple of weeks for Box. First came word that Intralinks bought DocTrackr, an information rights management vendor that . Then last night, and others were reporting that . What’s happening here? It could be a case of simple bad timing or even misinterpretation. For what it’s worth, Box spokesperson, Ashley Mayer told me last night in an email that the company will not be commenting on the timing of the IPO. That changed today when a company spokesperson issued an official statement in response to the spate of articles on their IPO: “Our IPO has never had a set date. Since filing, we’ve planned on going when it makes the most sense for the market. That plan hasn’t changed.” And a person close to the company told me he was amused watching the tech press trip over itself over this story (guilty as charged) because no tech company is on the road right now due to the current market volatility. As this person said somewhat exasperatedly, “A delay would imply there was a schedule.” So what we have is a classic case of conflicting stories. Tim Walters, who is partner at Digital Clarity Group also thinks it might be a non-story for many of the reasons last night regarding the sorry state of tech stocks in general these days, but Walters says a delay would not be without risk. “It *could* hurt sales efforts, and revenue (and so eventually the IPO) insofar as competitors will (or should) start spewing FUD about Box possibly being sold, or struggling, or lacking management vision, etc. But that just means that tomorrow’ FUD will have a slightly different composition than yesterday’s — and it’s up to Box’s hired-gun, enterprise-experienced sales executives to figure out how to deal with that,” Walters wrote in an email. Geoff Bock, principal at Bock & Company, who has been writing about content management for many years says this may force Box to look at where its value proposition lies and that may not be a bad thing in Bock’s view because much of Box’s offering has become commoditized. “It’s important to remember that Box got started as a networked file sharing service for the mobile revolution — providing easy access to files from any device. Yet these capabilities are now commodity features, available from a multitude of vendors large and small,” he explained. Bock sees the market battleground transforming to developing and deploying mobile apps that have smart access to backend enterprise resources and he believes if Box can exploit this they can evolve past the commodity services model. “It’s clear to me that Box provides important services. The company seems to be investing in metadata management and APIs to integrate with existing enterprise resources. Box may well become the mobile middleware that powers these third-generation experiences. The jury’s still out and I am continually looking for proof points,” Bock said. Bock’s vision is actually in line with comments that Box CEO in March in an on-stage interview with Jessi Hemple from Time’s Brainstorm Tech. Levie said that in five years he sees his company transforming to one where customers build applications on top of the Box platform, rather than using the Box app directly as they do today. Lawrence Hawes, who is principal at Dow Brook Consulting and has been covering the cloud collaboration space for a long time, says the biggest risk with a delay is that potential investors might get spooked. “Potential investors may have another look at Box’s finances and growth prospects, and then decide to not participate or to do so at a lower share price,” he said. Hawes added, ” Box may well have to price their initial offering lower and raise less capital than they wanted; they will get a better sense of that when they finally start their road show and talk to prospective institutional investors.” For Hawes, the big, unanswered question is whether Box will still be able to raise enough money with this IPO to gain a couple of years worth of operating funds. “If not,” he says “they may have to agree to be acquired by a larger firm to make an exit that satisfies current investors.” But Bock has different advice for investors. “I would advise investors to follow the metadata and the middleware as they try to value a third-generation platform. There’s much more at stake than securely mobilizing access to shared files.” Whatever the outcome, it seems that Box is at a crossroads and what happens over the next few months could define the future direction of the company, one in which they continue as an independent though publicly traded company or one in which they are sold and absorbed into another organization. |
Ambient Proximity Is The Next Phase Of Location Sharing | Josh Constine | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | It’s not where your friends are, but how close they are that matters. After years of exact coordinate checkins, both Foursquare and Facebook are now focusing on ambient proximity — constantly and automatically sharing your approximate distance from close friends. Ambient proximity lets you know if a friend is near enough to meet up with, yet without the creepiness of seeing their every move on a map. That balance could finally make location sharing appealing to the masses. Foursquare’s new ambient proximity app Swarm was and will become available in the coming weeks. It creates a feed of your best friends lumped into groups based on how far away they are, like around 500 feet or about a mile. launched earlier this month and is rolling out to iOS and Android users in the U.S. Inside Facebook’s main app, the shows the vague distance of any friends who’ve opted in, such as 1/2 a mile or 1 mile. If you want, you can send them your ongoing, real-time, exact location for a few hours. Suddenly, after years of stagnation, there are new ways to get together offline. Image via Checkins and exact ambient location sharing certainly never caught on with the general public. The space is a graveyard, with apps like Loopt and Glancee being acquired, while Sonar, Banjo, Highlight, and even Google’s Latitude have failed to gain major traction. Facebook launched Places for checkins, but location-tagged photos and status updates have proven more popular. And while Foursquare has been at the center of the location app sphere, it only had 45 million registered users as of December. Plus, many of those use Foursquare primarily for Yelp-style discovery of local places rather than sharing where they are. The issue is that exact location is only really useful when you want to rendezvous with someone. Most of the time, either you or your friend is busy and you can’t have spontaneous meetup, Knowing precisly where they are feels a bit like spying. If you are available, it’s hard to tell whether your friend actually wants you come join them just from their checkin or moving map beacon. See they’re down the street or checked in at the local coffee house? They could be on a date, in a meeting, hard at work, or just trying to get some alone time. Dropping in can lead to awkward situations. You’re best off contacting them first to make sure. And by then, knowing their exact location ahead of time isn’t helpful because you could have just asked them. Ambient proximity solves many of these problems. Knowing someone’s current neighborhood or approximate distance from you indicates if they’re close enough to make joining forces convenient. Then you can just ping them with SMS, a messenger app, or directly through the app (in the case of Facebook Nearby Friends) to ask specifically where they are and if they’d like to get together. You can’t surprise them by showing up unannounced. Most imporantly, since ambient proximity feels less creepy, more people are likely to opt in to sharing it. These apps thrive on network effects. They get much better when a critical mass of your friends use them instead of just your most privacy-progressive, early-adopter buddies. Swarm and Nearby Friends could make it simple to join friends in the park, see who else is at a concert, find people to grab dinner with, or gather after the bars close. There will still be two major hurdles to adoption. Most quantitatively, Swarm is a standalone app that will start with zero users, and Nearby Friends is buried deeply in Facebook’s main apps. Foursquare and Facebook will have to find ways to promote them without seeming pushy. On the more fuzzy side, these companies will have to convince users this isn’t the Big Brother-esque, invasive, always-on exact location sharing of yore. And it isn’t the cumbersome checkin process either. Perhaps one day our perception of privacy will evolve to make Latitude-style, non-stop broadcasting of our exact locations feel natural. That could take a while if it ever happens, though. Ambient proximity gets the job done in a way that feels safe. After a decade of social apps suckering us into staring at screens all day, getting out on the town thanks to ambient proximity could be a literal breath of fresh air. |
Netflix Accidentally Pulls Popular Shows Off The Service | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | , which can only mean one thing: Netflix has experienced technical difficulties that are keeping people from their favorite TV shows. Hell hath no fury like the scorn of someone halfway through a HIMYM marathon. Alongside reports on Twitter, Netflix has also confirmed the issue on Twitter and is telling everyone not to panic. See, the issue isn’t that Netflix is down, per se. However, many of the popular shows that have been available for a long time on Netflix Watch Instantly were suddenly removed. These shows include Dexter, House, Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Suits and I’m sure many, many more. Behold the rage: hey how exactly am I supposed to continue procrastinating studying for my exam tonight when you took down seasons 1-3 of TheOffice? — Vanessa (@vaduro) if takes down episodes of i will fight reed hastings — Andrea (@victorinosbeard) thank you for taking down literally IN BETWEEN episodes…looks like I'll go find some sketch site to continue my binge — Caitlin Pinkerton (@Kaleidosc0pe13) netflix taking down skins was bad enough, but now gossip girl? im so done — ☹ (@forxst) Netflix tweeted out their white flag and asked for some patience. Kind of. Don't worry, your show is not gone! Some members are having issues accessing certain content. Our engineers are working to resolve the issue — Netflix US (@netflix) In other words, don’t freak out. Read a book. We’ll update you as soon as your shows are back. We haven’t heard back from Netflix, but the service seems to be back up and running. |
Screw It, Yelp Should Do Three Apps | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | that Foursquare will become Eightsquare in order to be a “true Yelp-killer,” we have the following advice to give competitor Yelp: “Screw it. Do three apps.” As The Verge , location sharing is never going to be as popular as “sharing a selfie, sharing a link, or firing off a tweet.” In order to remain competitive with Foursquare’s new brother , Yelp should pivot its core reviews product into “Twitter for restaurant reviews,” allowing most of the reviewing activity to take place on the microblogging social network. Then it should develop a tandem selfie app, Selfood, to appeal to the modern teenage foodie, and an anonymous app, Snuff, to further take advantage of web trends. Yelp, too, needs to grow out of its “one app approach.” I mean, why stop at 3? Snapchat an app update today so it’s also a potential threat. Boom: SnapYelp. , because gotta keep up with the , brah. Quick Foursquare’s badges and checkins, Yelp needs to get on the unbundling bandwagon if it ever wants to justify its $4.6 billion market cap. now means twins or triplets. It’s the future. |
null | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 5 | 8 | null |
TechCrunch Giveaway: Ben Horowitz’s “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” | Elin Blesener | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Ben Horowitz’s story is nothing if not empowering, fascinating, and — to many in our community — relatable. In his new book, , he goes into detail about everything he knows and has been through, and he offers advice for entrepreneurs about what to expect. As Mark Zuckerberg states: “Ben’s experience and expertise make him one of the most important leaders not just in Silicon Valley, but in the global knowledge economy. For anyone interested in building, growing, or leading a great company, this book is an incredibly valuable resource and a funny and insightful read.” Larry Page calls it an “inspiring read,” and Dick Costolo says Ben’s “results are simple, thorough, and compelling.” My colleague Leena Rao , and Horowitz told her in an interview: “I would have never wanted to write another management book. There are so many of them and everybody says the same thing about them, and they are all the same — they give the exact same advice. It’s like a diet book, they all say eat less calories, exercise more, and every single book has the same conclusion. So I didn’t want to write another one of those. But having been on the other side I really felt like there was a missing book, which was what happens when everything goes wrong, and you have set it up all right.” We are lucky enough to have 10 copies of the book, signed by Ben Horowitz, that we want to give away to 10 lucky readers. All you have to do to enter for a chance to win one of the autographed copies is follow the steps below: 1) 2) Please only tweet the message once or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our 10 winners next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. PT. Good luck! |
Meet The Vanhawks Valour, A Connected Bike With GPS Navigation To Help You Get Around | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Cars have gotten really smart over the years: Nowadays they can provide their drivers with directions, answer phone calls, and even occasionally drive themselves. By contrast, bicycle technology is still stuck in the 20th century, with the biggest advancements coming mostly from electric bikes that make it easier to bike up hills and whatnot. seeks to make bicycles smarter, and is starting with a bike called the Valour that is Bluetooth-enabled to connect with smartphones and other devices. That connectivity also provides the ability to get guided directions while biking and to get notifications when vehicles are in the bike’s blind spot. The Vanhawks bike was designed to make biking safer for riders. To do that, it connects with iOS and Android phones, and can get navigation directions from them. Those turn-by-turn directions are then relayed to the bike’s handlebars, where a set of LED lights indicate to the rider when she should turn. That reduces the need to check a phone or be distracted while riding. It also has a set of sensors in the rear of the bike to let riders know when a vehicle is creeping up on her blind spot. To alert the rider, the bike has a set of handlebar grips that provide haptic feedback if someone is getting too close to the bike. All of those sensors monitor where the bike travels and can provide real-time statistics about a ride. It also has a mesh network, so that it can connect to other nearby Vanhawks bicycles. That’s cool and all, but check out the actual bike! It’s pretty slick, and with a carbon-fiber frame, it’s also ultra-light. Vanhawks is seeking backing for the bike through a . Backers can sign up to purchase a single-speed version of the bike, which will sell for $999, with a geared version available for $300 more. |
Microsoft Acquires High-Performance Cloud-Computing Company GreenButton | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Microsoft today announced that it has , a U.S.- and New Zealand-based high-performance cloud-computing company that has long had with Microsoft’s Azure group. GreenButton allows industries that need large amounts of compute power (science, engineering, media, finance, etc.) to more easily to run their compute-intensive workloads – no recoding required. To do this, the company has developed a number of integrations with existing software products that allow them to offload their compute-intensive workloads to the cloud. The service currently supports the likes of bioinformatics platform , Pixar’s and NVIDIA’s out of the box. It also offers developers an SDK for integrating its services with their existing applications. The launched in Wellington, NZ, in 2006 as InterGrid. In 2011, the company signed an alliance agreement with Azure that meant Microsoft would help promote GreenButton’s technology on its Azure platform. While it does have this close relationship with Microsoft, its service also supports using HP’s Cloud Services, OpenStack, VMWare and Amazon Web Services. Going forward, Microsoft will no longer sell GreenButton’s services to new customers. Instead, it will launch a new service that integrates GreenButton’s technologies with Azure later this year. It’s unclear if the service will still support any competing platforms at that time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_KEt-xeLAc |
Microsoft Patches Latest Internet Explorer Security Flaw — Even For XP Users | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Microsoft is to Internet Explorer that patches a very serious security issue in its browser. This issue came to and what made it especially problematic was that it involved every version from IE 6 forward. Windows XP users, however, can’t update their browser beyond version 8 and Microsoft isn’t patching XP anymore at this point in its life cycle. For this bug, however, Microsoft has made an exception and it is patching IE on Windows XP as well. “The security of our products is something we take incredibly seriously. When we saw the first reports about this vulnerability we decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers. The update that does this goes live today at 10 a.m. PST,” said Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing in a statement today. The update will take place automatically and users will not need to take any action themselves to get this patch. The security issue allows hackers to execute code on an affected machine remotely if users visited a malicious site. IE 10 and 11 users were relatively safe thanks to the enhanced Protected Mode these browsers offer. Older versions of IE, which are still widely used, don’t offer this feature. |
Robocoin Is Leading The Way With The First ATM-Based “Bitcoin Banks” | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | bitcoin ATM provider, is announcing that they’re upgrading all of their ATMs to turn them into full service “banks” complete with account control, payment systems, and a method for handling multiple wallets. The ATMs will still support deposits and withdrawals into private Bitcoin wallets as well as manage transfers. According to a release, the ATMs will include three important features: What does this really mean in practice? Well, first the language around bitcoin access will change from wallets and transfers to accounts and deposits/withdrawals, thereby reducing some of the fright factor of standard BTC systems. Because you will be able to control multiple wallets (now called accounts) you can create one for a point of sale system, one for savings, one for checking, etc. It’s a perception thing that will improve adoption. Given that the nearest Robocoin kiosk to me is currently in Texas I doubt I’ll be hopping up to slap my palm on an ATM. However, it’s an interesting move that could legitimize the platform for many bank users. |
SpaceX Wins An Injunction Against United Launch Alliance’s Purchase Of Russian Rockets | Darrell Etherington | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | After announcing last week that it would be filing suit against the U.S. Air Force over the government agency’s decision to award a contract for national defense-related rocket launches exclusively to the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint-venture between aeronautics industry leaders Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, without entertaining competitive bids. Last night, SpaceX won a small but significant victory (via ) in its efforts to fight the sole-sourcing of defense space work, by winning an injunction against the ULA regarding its purchase of Russian rockets. ULA was using RD-180 rockets for its U.S. government launches with the Atlas V launch vehicle, one of two employed in its space launch operations. SpaceX’s complaint argues that these rockets, manufactured by NPO Energomash, is in fact a corporation wholly owned and operated by the Russian government, and as such, purchase and use of its rockets are in violation of America’s recently imposed sanctions against Russia over its aggressive action in the Ukraine. The court order says that any dealings with NPO Energomash are forbidden by the ULA, until either the US Treasury Department, as well as the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce, state that doing so would not be in violation of Executive Order 13,661, which is the order in which the sanctions are contained. During the original press conference, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ” and generally cast doubt on the appropriateness of the use of Russian rockets in the American defense program. |
MakeSpace, The Dropbox For Physical Storage, Packs Up $8 Million Led By Upfront Ventures | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | NY-based , the Dropbox for physical objects, has today closed an $8 million Series A funding round led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund, OATV, and follow-ons from existing investors Lowercase Capital, High Peaks Venture Partners and Collaborative Fund. This round brings the company’s total funding to $10.1 million. MakeSpace started out last year with the goal to bring the same organization and convenience of cloud storage services, like Dropbox and Google Drive, to the physical objects in your home. In big cities like San Francisco and New York, dealing with storage issues is a fact of life, and usually a painful one. Not only can the prices be painful, but the customer experience is difficult, at best. In most cases you’re responsible for taking your stuff to and from the facility, and if you’re not compulsively organized, finding something in your storage unit can be a nightmare. MakeSpace aims to change all that. Users pay $25/month to get four bins worth of storage. But the key here is that users have on-demand delivery and drop-off of all those items, not unlike a download or upload to a cloud storage service. You can keep track of your stuff on a bin-by-bin basis, through pictures and lists within the app, and request a single bin delivered or your entire stash. , an investor in the service, it as the reverse of Amazon. While Amazon blew away existing physical distribution channels to deliver products to you, we are blowing away existing physical infrastructure to help you store the things you want to keep – just not at your home. We have been offering van pick-ups in our storage vans at your apartment in NYC for just under a year and already have an enormous client base – demand has exceeded our supply as we’ve had to onboard more pickup vans & drivers to add pick-up capacity. To check out MakeSpace for yourself, . |
First Class Graduates From Data Elite Big Data Lab | Ron Miller | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | Stamos Venios, Managing Partner of Data Elite says his company had a vision when they conceived of Data Elite, a lab of sorts, providing a support system for people with ideas for big data companies. This week, the first seven participants are moving onto the next stage. Venios said from the beginning they conceived of a place to provide more intensive support than startups normally get from a VC. And they wanted to be different from the classic incubator. The idea was to bring in really smart people with mature ideas who needed more than money to transform their visions into a viable business that solves real big data problems. As Venios pointed out, Silicon Valley is awash in venture capital cash, but in his view, “the early stage model is broken.” It’s not just about getting cash for him, it’s about providing a true support system for companies to build, test and refine their concepts. “What is important isn’t money, but support,” he told me. Shivnath Babu of Duke University, who is a co-founder of one of the graduating companies, , said as academics, they have access to business advice and even funding, but what Data Labs gave them was access to experts at the biggest companies like Facebook and Netflix, people who are working with Big Data on a daily basis and have an acute understanding of what products should do and not do. Unravel describes itself as “an enterprise-grade operations and performance management platform. People immersed in Big Data have a unique perspective on what their needs are and they can tell people like Babu that their product solves a pain point or it doesn’t. Having that kind of feedback proved invaluable to Babu and his co-founder Kunal Agarwal and they were able to adjust the product so that when they go to market, they can have greater assurance they are delivering a product customers want and need. It’s precisely this level of help that Venios said he and his co-founders, which include , , Ron Conway, and Anand Rajaraman envisioned when they launched this project. They have also assembled a who’s who of advisors including Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn and Netflix to work with their clients. Venios said they were extremely choosy when selecting this first group, starting with 200 applications, narrowing it down to around 80 and eventually choosing these seven companies, graduating this week. |
Kamcord, The SDK That Allows You To Record Mobile Games, Raises $7.1M From TransLink Capital | Leena Rao | 2,014 | 5 | 1 | , the SDK that allows gamers to record in-game video on mobile, has raised $7.1 million in Series A funding led by TransLink Capital with participation from SV Angel as well as DeNA, KLab, and M&Y Growth Partners. Existing investors Innovation Works, XG Ventures, and Mark Williamson also participated in the round. Kamcord’s SDK enables developers to add a feature that will let players record, share and watch videos from their mobile games. Riding on the for gamers, Kamcord has tapped into a huge growth area for gamers — mobile. Users now share one video every 2 seconds with Kamcord, with over 1 million videos being shared in the last month alone. In addition to the 5 million videos users have shared, the company also announced that over 3 billion videos have been recorded since its as the world’s first mobile gameplay recording solution in 2012. Asia is a market where Kamcord sees potential massive growth — and with TransLink and DeNa on board, Matt Zitzmann, CEO and Co-Founder of Kamcord, says that the company can start making inroads with developers in these markets. In particular, TransLink specializes in helping startups partner with companies in and expand to Japan, Korea and Taiwan. As for the future, Kamcord says it will be looking at more ways to help discover mobile gaming content, including in the company’s . What’s in the company’s favor is that Twitch has seen impressive uptake over the past few years. We’ll see if Kamcord can pick up the same traction. |
Alibaba’s IPO Means Consumer Tech Innovations From Asia Can’t Be Ignored Anymore | Catherine Shu | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Asia’s tech companies still have a reputation in the West for being copycats. But Alibaba’s is proof that consumer tech innovations from Asia can no longer be ignored. Alibaba this afternoon. The IPO is widely expected to surpass the $16.4 billion raised in 2012 by Facebook. The public offering means several big Silicon Valley players , most notably Yahoo, which owns a 24% stake in Alibaba. Media coverage of the IPO, however, has been relatively quiet. That may be because Alibaba is still best known abroad for its unglamorous flagship product, , a business-to-business wholesale site. Over the last 18 months, however, perceptions of Asian consumer tech companies have begun to shift. Alibaba’s tech peers in Asia, including , , and still face challenges as they build an international user base, but the IPO of the world’s largest e-commerce company is a positive sign. First, let’s take a look at several of Alibaba’s own innovations before moving onto other Asian tech companies. Founded in 1999, Alibaba Group’s success stems in large part from its executive chairman Jack Ma, who combines a wide-ranging vision with pragmatism. In 2007, that Alibaba Group’s success was because, “We had no money, we had no technology, and we had no plan. Every dollar, we used very carefully.” Alibaba Group’s early success in e-commerce was due to several factors. Instead of just focusing on one vertical, Alibaba Group immediately went with a business model that promoted a flagship site (B2B wholesale site Alibaba.com) while also focusing on other properties that combined features from , , and to appeal to the taste of Chinese consumers, Tan wrote. One critical reason for the company’s rapid growth is that the e-commerce platforms of Alibaba Group, including C2C platform , have allowed small-to-medium sized businesses to flourish. “By helping [small business] people make money, we [Alibaba] are making money,” Ma told Tan. Alibaba is also busy creating a , including the so-called third-tier cities in its western provinces. That is a savvy move because many e-commerce companies tend to hone in on large cities, like Beijing and China, in the east. Though between China’s inner provinces and its coastal cities, Alibaba is making a longterm bet that will ensure its continued position as the country’s largest e-commerce player. But Alibaba Group isn’t just an e-commerce company anymore. Along with other Chinese Internet companies like , which is known mainly for its search products, Alibaba Group is also becoming a pioneer in China’s finance industry, which is . , An Alibaba Group affiliate, makes it easy for consumers to purchase goods online, while Alipay’s microfinance site (“leftover treasure” in Chinese), which launched in June 2013, lets users to invest tiny amounts of money — as little as one yuan (about 17 cents) — into a money market fund. By the end of last year, Yu’e Bao had become the biggest single public fund in China, with 43.03 million users from more than 31 provinces who had made deposits of 185.3 billion yuan (about $30.4 billion). , public data shows that “medium-sized and small enterprises account for 98% of Chinese enterprises, create 85% jobs, develop 75% new products, invent 65% patents, fuel 60% GDP and pay 50% taxes in China.” “The emerging and fast growth of Alibaba Financial will speed up the competition between financial trade organizations and therefore motivate the innovation and development of the traditional financial system,” said the report. The decision by Alibaba Group and several of its competitors to move into the financial sector appear to be a big enough threat to state-owned banks that the government recently blocked new online payment services by Alibaba Group and Tencent. In March, the People’s Bank of China asked that mobile payments made by scanning a barcode be halted, citing security concerns. The Chinese government Despite that hiccup, Alibaba’s financial initiatives are a sign that the company will continue to innovate in a wide range of areas, and some of their initiatives may eventually influence companies outside of China. Now let’s take a look at other Asian companies that are having a worldwide impact on consumer tech. Back in January 2013, M.G. Siegler , striding alongside Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google as “companies that pretty much everyone agrees will shape the foreseeable future of the tech sector.” At that point, many U.S. consumers were still dubious that Samsung, which started in 1938 as a local produce trading company before becoming known for making sturdy but boring household appliances, was going to be a major mobile player throughout the world. But now (though it’s important to note that the company’s mobile sales are slowing and its margins are tight thanks to heavy spending on marketing). Samsung’s mobile success stems in part from its willingness to offer consumers a wide range of pricing and hardware options instead of just focusing on a few flagship models. Strong sales of the super-sized Galaxy Note validated the trend for phablets. (a portmanteau of “phone” and “tablet”) were expected to hit 120 million units shipped by 2018, a marked increase from the estimated 20 million phablets shipped in 2013. Samsung’s first Galaxy Note, which launched in late 2011, sold 2 million units in the first four months, while its most recent version of the device, the Galaxy Note 3, sold 5 million units in one week. Though Apple has yet to put out a phablet, rumors suggest that the next two ). Other companies that currently sell phablets include LG, Nokia, and HTC. If Samsung is eventually toppled from the Android throne, it will be most likely by another Asia-based competitor. In China, for example, was the most popular phone sold in the first half of 2012, followed by Samsung’s Galaxy 4. This is extraordinary because at that time, was still seen as a Chinese hardware upstart led by a –or at least that’s the way it was painted in much of the Western media. In fact, Xiaomi is actually led by Lei Jun, one of China’s most influential and successful tech entrepreneurs. When Xiaomi , however, its pedigree became indisputable. The firm , including selling phones directly from microblogging platform (similar to a ), which has 400 million members, and an approach to developing its Android skin that takes into account feedback from its most dedicated users. Xiaomi is now quickly building its own ecosystem of other tech products, including , and is expanding outside of China by . This is a savvy move because mobile adoption in Southeast Asia is especially high and many countries there are multilingual, giving Xiaomi a chance to see how its branding works in different languages (for example, it recently to just Mi.com, making it easier to pronounce for non-Chinese speakers). Tencent is currently one of . Though it is best known abroad as the maker of messaging app WeChat, it has been , the founder of Snapchat. The Wall Street Journal that Tencent is one of the companies that Spiegel talks to the most. In fact, Tencent in the ephemeral messaging app. Spiegel said that last year’s Disrupt SF that he in particular admires Tencent’s monetization strategies and experiments with WeChat’s feed. Tencent, however, sees itself as more than just an Internet services provider. At the recent GMIC Beijing conference, as a “connected company” that brings together people, services, and products. Ren added that Tencent plans to begin collaborating with more companies to provide online-to-offline services. WeChat brings us to messaging apps, which first , but have become much more. For example, , too. As TechCrunch’s Kim-mai Cutler and Josh Constine wrote in February, the record-setting $19 billion Facebook paid for WhatsApp (a U.S.-based company) . WhatsApp currently dominates in countries like India, Brazil, and Mexico. One of the reasons Facebook probably acquired WhatsApp, Cutler and Constine wrote, is that it was impossible for the social networking giant to buy Asian competitors like WeChat. In fact, Credit Suisse , than WeChat is valued at $60 billion or more. It’s important to note, however, that Asia’s messaging app market remains highly fragmented, with other major players including Japanese company Naver’s and , which is based in Korea. While these messaging apps may be relatively obscure in the America, they have set many new trends for in-app revenue, including stickers, which many U.S.-based apps, including Facebook Messenger, . Another Chinese Internet company that is set to make waves abroad is Baidu, which is often referred to as the “Google of China” because it is the country’s top search engine. But Baidu’s reach stretches far beyond search. Its innovation center, based in Beijing and Silicon Valley, is developing new ways to use big data and artificial intelligence. According to a , Baidu’s R&D center, called The Institute of Deep Learning (IDL), in Cupertino is “exploring computer systems that can learn in much the same way people do.” Like and , two companies that may eventually find themselves competing directly with Baidu in the near-future, areas the company is focusing on at IDL includes deep learning algorithms and speech- and image-recognition. IDL “could be a way for Baidu to attract top talent and let creative engineers explore all sorts of blue-sky innovations–stuff akin to Google Glass and other projects gestated at Google’s secretive X Lab,” wrote Daniela Hernandez in Wired. To be sure, Asian tech companies are still fighting a reputation that pegs them as OEMs at best and copycats at worst. But Asian companies need to take initiative to change that perception, Ma told Tan. “Innovators learn by discussing in forums, through engaging in conversations, and seeing new things,” he said. “As a leader, having foresight and staying broad-minded is critical. Travel and see New York and Tokyo. If you are perpetually in one city (like Hangzhou), how do you converse with your large clients?” |
The 6 Disrupt NY Finalists: Boomerang Commerce, ISI Technology, Mimi, Mink, Showkit and Vurb | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Oh ! In the past two days, 1600 people have passed through the Manhattan Center for in hopes of seeing or being the new new thing. We’ve seen Fred Wilson, Brenden Iribe, Mike Judge and many more grace our stage. Tomorrow we’ll get to see interviews of Marissa Mayer, Sophia Amoruso, Whisper’s Michael Heyward and get a surprise visit from WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg. In addition to the above tech superstars and more, twenty-five startups have presented on our stage in Startup Battlefield. And now our judges (and the TechCrunch team) have judged and we’ve got our five finalists picked out. These finalists will move on to the lightning round tomorrow, competing for a chance to win the $50,000 grand prize and a really big cup. Finals judges include the esteemed John Borthwick (Betaworks), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), Chris Dixon (Andreessen Horowitz), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Brian Pokorny (SV Angel) and Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures). And here are the finalists! “A prettier Google,” Vurb hopes to be your go-to for visual, contextual web search. |
Digital Publisher Inkling Lays Off Consumer Staff To Focus On Enterprise Business | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | is shutting down its consumer business and laid off part of its workforce yesterday. We first heard the news from a source who said the layoffs represented 25 percent of the company’s workforce. CEO Matt MacInnis confirmed the cuts, but he said the number we’d received was a little high. Founded in 2009, Inkling is best known as a publishing platform for iPad digital textbooks. MacInnis said the company ended up with two parts to its business, with an enterprise side (selling its technology to publishers and to large companies who want to create content for employee education and reference) and a consumer side (selling digital books). The enterprise side continues to do well, and will continue hiring, he said. For example, Inkling today, and there’s supposedly another announcement coming tomorrow. The decision to eliminate the consumer business was about “focusing our team,” MacInnis added. “Yesterday’s change primarily affected people who were in jobs that supported our consumer retail business,” he told me via email. “It was a very difficult decision for me personally, because even though they were in roles we no longer needed, they were all fantastic colleagues.” The company has also been expanding to non-textbook content, as signaled by from Open Air Publishing. And it recently . The company has raised a total of $48 million in funding, with announced last summer. |
An Awkward First Date Shot Through Google Glass | Josh Constine | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | We as humans are terrible at expressing our desires. You never quite know what’s going on in someone’s head. We’re not so different from Google Glass in that way. It’s tough to tell what’s someone’s doing in that little prism screen. This short film combines the awkwardness of dating with the overly-intimate nature of Google’s face computer. But it also proves that despite the frequent jeers of Glass for being creepy, its ability to put you inside a film’s protagonist could open new realms for art. Check out the video’s premiere, embedded below on TechCrunch: [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS31lH2SAPY] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – So the guy wasn’t actually wearing Glass on this first “date”. Co-director and star tells me “ The result actually makes you feel sheepish and uncomfortable in a way that watching an actor from the third-person perspective can’t. You recoil as he says boneheaded things about her beauty, and you embody his regret as things go sour. I wish I could watch it through Oculus so I could really be transported onto that New York street. “As a filmmaker, [Glass is] entirely different. You’re not behind the camera. You ARE the camera. Part of the action, no longer an observer. You are an actor and cameraman at the same time. It removes barriers and is more participatory.” So while Glass might stick out when worn in everyday life, it also has the potential to record it more authentically than a camera you can hide in your pocket. Glass might need to slim down and feel more covert before it gets mainstream adoption. But until then, it presents opportunity to capture life just how it looks. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPNAD-RanBI] |
Smore Raises $1.7M Seed Round For Its Single-Page Website Builder | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | , a platform for easily creating single-page promotional websites and TechStars Seattle alum, today announced that it has raised a $1.7 million seed round (including converting notes) led by Founder’s Co-op, with participation by Greylock Israel and various angels. The service, which mostly targets non-technical users, says it currently has over 500,000 registered users, who have published over 1 million flyers. Usage and revenue currently growing at about 15 percent to 20 percent per month. Besides the basic online flyers for mobile and desktop (which can also be printed), the company also offers its users tools for managing Facebook pages, promoting their content online and more features for managing mailing lists on the service. To allows users to design their flyers, Smore gives users access to templates and WYSIWYG online editing tools. In addition, the service offers its users a comprehensive set of easy-to-read analytics about how their pages are doing, including pageviews, social stats and data about inbound links. Going forward, the team wants to use this new round of funding to expand its business into new markets — it already offers special plans for and — and improve its current set of tools. Specifically, Smore wants to simplify its ability to push paid promotions to different platforms and to improve its existing mailing list products to be able to better compete with existing solutions for this. In addition, the team plans to enable content creation on mobile soon, too. Smore offers a basic free plan. The cheapest paid plan starts at $19/month and allows users to publish up to five flyers and send 2,500 emails per month, while the most expensive plan ($99/month) comes with 30 monthly flyers, 30,000 emails, email tracking and additional support options. |
Codeanywhere, The Google Docs For Developers, Rocks Startup Alley At Disrupt NY | Billy Gallagher | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | , a self-proclaimed Google Docs for coders, wants to become the defacto standard for code development on the go. Co-founders and presented on stage at Disrupt NY today after the audience voted them the best company in Startup Alley. Jukic came up with the idea when he worked as a freelance developer; he didn’t want to have to take his laptop with him constantly, and found there was no good solution for coding or fixing bugs in the cloud. Codeanywhere offers iOS and Android apps in addition to a web option. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkfM-koQvM] The company, which is home to the two co-founders and five additional engineers, has raised $635,000 in funding to date. Burazin says Codeanywhere sees 400 new users sign up every day, growing their total user base past 200,000; of those users, around 50,000 log in at least once a week. CodeAnywhere uses a freemium model in which users can pay $5 a month or $50 a year for upgrades like unlimited FTP, FTPS, and SFTP servers. In the coming months, Burazin and Jukic say the team will be working on shipping offline capabilities and integrations with third-party services like Github. [gallery ids="999199,999212,999211,999219,999216,999215,999214,999213"] |
Buzzstarter Provides A Platform For Brands To Do Programmatic Content Marketing | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | , which is launching today as part of Disrupt NY’s Startup Battlefield, wants to make it easier for brands to reach specific demographics audiences in the places where they can be found — that is, on various blogs and social networks. But it doesn’t want its messages to look like display ads. Instead, it’s trying to make it easier for brands to do programmatic buying for its content marketing to appear in-line at any number of publisher sites or social feeds. “We’re doing this today because online advertising is becoming a bidding war,” Alex Gold said. Instead of using typical display ads that customers don’t look at, Buzzstarter offers a higher degree of audience reach. Buzzstarter works in a similar way to more traditional ad networks: It enables brands to build content marketing and social campaigns and distribute them out to a wide range of distribution sites. The platform then provides real-time, advanced analytics that can be used to optimize those campaigns. Brands and agencies designate target demographics and how much they are willing to spend, and the platform does the hard work of matching places where those messages appear. All of which enables Buzzstarter to do content marketing at scale. Customers already include brands like Degree, Axe, Clear, Absolut, and Aeropostale, with more in the pipeline. The company has been growing at a rate of 42 percent each month. Buzzstarter was founded by Ken Zi Wang, an engineer who has a special interest in growth and distribution and created the Growthathon hackathon, as well as Alex Gold, who previously worked on distribution and business development for Vuguru, Discovery Communications, and other companies. [gallery ids="999200,999199,999197,999196,999195,999194,999193"] People who are tweeting, are they disclosing that? Yes, they’re shown as sponsored posts. There are other competitors now in this space. How do you differentiate going forward? We see this going as pay-for-performance. |
Alibaba Dominates Mobile Commerce In China, With 76% Of All Sales And 136M MAUs | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Mobile is mentioned a grand total of 254 times in Alibaba’s — underscoring the influence that phones and tablets have on Alibaba’s business today and will have in the future. While companies like Amazon, eBay, Groupon and Square are all targeting the mobile commerce opportunity, for Alibaba is already a powerhouse through services like its Taobao e-commerce mobile app, and its Alipay mobile payments service. Mobile also has an indirect impact on Alibaba’s bottom line. Like Amazon, Alibaba has a strong presence in cloud and web services, in its case through Alibaba Cloud Computing, which is used by a number of mobile developers to host their apps and offer a number of other database services. In the three months ended December 31, 2013, mobile gross merchandise volume — the amount of aggregate sales made on its platform — accounted for nearly one-fifth, or 19.7%, of its total GMV, a strong increase from 7.4% of GMV in the same period in the previous year. That works out to $16.7 billion. Alibaba says it accounted for 76.2% of all mobile retail GMV in China in the year to December 31, working out to $37 billion in mobile GMV. Although Alibaba does not break out mobile revenues specifically in the F-1, it that total revenues for the nine months that ended December 31, 2013, were $6.511 billion. It’s not a completely accurate picture, but roughly speaking if you apply that 19.7% GMV figure that is attributed to mobile, that works out to $1.28 billion in mobile revenues. Of course that could lower if people are making less or smaller purchases on mobile but it’s a rough guess. When you look at the wider growth (and slight contraction) on wider GMV, mobile has been in a constant upswing: But the opportunity is still fairly untapped. Right now China is approaching nearly as many mobile internet users as it does fixed internet users overall: 500 million versus 618 million. Alibaba is already a go-to platform for over one-fifth of those users, with 136 million mobile monthly active users. “A significant portion of our customers have begun transacting on our mobile platform, and we are focused on capturing this opportunity,” the company writes. “We believe that the increased usage of mobile devices will make access to the Internet even more convenient, drive higher online shopper engagement and enable new applications. China has the world’s largest mobile Internet user base with 500 million users as of December 31, 2013, according to CNNIC, and mobile usage is expected to increase, driven by the growing adoption of mobile devices.” Alibaba, focused on commerce in China first, dominates mobile commerce in China by a wide margin. In inthe year ended December 31, it accounted for 76.2% of all mobile retail GMV in the country, not including virtual goods, according to figures from iResearch cited by Alibaba in the report. “Our Mobile Taobao App has been the most popular mobile commerce app in China by mobile MAUs every month since August 2012,” the company writes. That app has been out since 2010. There are also a number of investments that Alibaba has made in other mobile services. They include UCWeb, a Chinese developer of mobile web browsers in China. “We currently hold approximately 66% of the economic interests of UCWeb in the form of convertible preferred shares, which we had acquired over several years through several rounds of investments, the last of which was completed in April 2014,” Alibaba says. Similarly, it has taking a large stake in the social media platform Weibo, which has also had a strong mobile play. That includes a strategic alliance for social commerce and marketing (using Alipay); as well as a $586 million investment for an 18% equity stake, which Alibaba increased after Weibo’s IPO last month. Then it purchased another $449 million in shares, taking its stake in the company to 30%. And it has started to get more involved in mobile messaging, taking a 20% stake in one of the bigger contenders called Tango, for $200 million in March 2014, adding another $17 million to keep its 20% stake in April 2014. |
Online Consignment Store For Luxury And Designer Goods The RealReal Raises $20M | Leena Rao | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | an online consignment store for luxury goods, has raised $20 million in Series C funding from DBL Investors, Canaan Partners, InterWest Partners, eVentures, Greycroft, and Expansion Capital. This brings the company’s total funding to $43 million. The service lets consignors sell their designer goods online and get up to 70 percent of the sale price, while customers get brands like Chanel and Burberry at lower prices. And The RealReal authenticates all of its designer goods so that customers know they’re getting the original. Categories include women’s and men’s fashion, fine jewelry and watches, and even home decor like fine art. Each sale lasts for 72 hours, and members can also pay to shop 24 hours in advance of sales ($5 per month). Currently The RealReal has 2.4 million members, processes more than 40,000 luxury items per month, and has shipped more than 450,000 luxury items to date. The site expects to do more around $125 million in revenue this year. This funding will be used towards operations and infrastructure, explained CEO and founder Julie Wainwright. Consignment marketplaces, which are going head to head with eBay, are growing fast of late. Poshmark, Twice and others allow you to sell your clothes and more online. But where TheRealReal differentiates itself from some of the others is its exclusive focus on designer goods, similar to It’s worth pointing out that this focus caters to a specific audience. But TheRealReal has been working on expanding to other verticals in the luxury market including fine art, and the company says more verticals are in store for 2014. It’s also worth noting the other recent big funding round for which raised $66 million last week. |
Notivo Wants To Be A ‘Google Now’ For Everything Else | Sarah Perez | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Founders Nic Barker and Sebastian Kim, who knew each other from computer science classes they took together at the University of Sydney, only began working on Notivo late last year. Explains Barker, both of them had been facing the same sort of frustrations, though in different areas. Barker had been trying to keep up with tour dates for favorite bands, while Kim was scouring a ton of websites looking for a deal on secondhand iPhone. They began to think to themselves that there should be an easier way to do this, via some sort of centralized tool. And when they couldn’t find one, they began to build it for themselves. Using a combination of public APIs plus web scraping techniques to retrieve information not provided through programmatic means, Notivo today offers an iOS app where users can enter in their queries, then sit and wait back for new information to come to them in the form of mobile push notifications. The company pulls its information from a variety of sources, including Forecast.io (for weather alerts), IMDb, Blockchain (for Bitcoin rates), Steam (for game sales), Songkick (for tour dates), Yahoo and ESPN (for sports schedules), and many others. The app is very early stage, but it gives you an idea about the future possibilities. This idea of a “better Google Alerts” type of service has been tried before, it’s worth noting. For example, way back in 2009, a handful of startups like were making the rounds, each offering personalized web scouts that would scour sites across a number of categories, similar to what Notivo proposes today. But these were designed as web-based services only. They were also introduced at a time when the iPhone was still relatively new. In fact, Barker notes that one service he came across during his research had launched and closed before the iPhone was ever released. In other words, they may have been too soon, he believes. “I think one of the keys to this technology is if it’s time-sensitive information, you really need to use mobile push notifications – there’s no substitute for that,” Barker says. Still, building the backend for such a service is a big undertaking for this team of two, he admits. “This is a very ‘pie-in-the-sky’ sort of idea. We’ve got a huge roadmap of all these really cool things we want to do with this product,” Barker adds. But for now, the company’s goal is to create something that’s powerful, but also simple to use. At launch, Notivo works to cover around 15 major product areas (e.g. weather, movies, tour dates, sales, price of bitcoin, etc.) with information pulled from maybe two dozen online resources. The goal, of course, is to expand this over time. For now, you have to choose events to track from a list, but the company is working to support custom events which you could enter in using natural language queries. In addition, the startup is also working to invite businesses on board, allowing them to reach their local customers with time-based information. (Currently, they’ve been focusing on South Korea, where Kim is based.) The company is pre-seed and “very, very early.” But Barker hopes they can make it work. “For the first 30 years of the internet, the biggest aim everybody had was just gathering as much data as possible and putting it all online as fast as possible,” he says. “That was great for a while, but now people are starting to realize there are trillions of database rows just out there – it’s time to start consolidating stuff in a way that’s actually useful for people.” Notivo is . [gallery ids="999171,999177,999175,999174,999173,999172"] Judges for this session included: Thomas Korte (AngelPad), Erik Lammerding (N3TWORK),
Kathryn Minshew (The Muse),David Pakman (Venrock); Answered are summarized for brevity. TH: How are you going to acquire (consumer) customers?
A: We’re launching with an enormous database that’s very useful to people. We also have a bunch of clever SEO techniques?
TH: SEO for a mobile app?
A: One thing we’re doing is if you type into Google, “when is next Game of Thrones novel coming out?” A link will take you to our website where you can track it. EL: What’s the on boarding experience, and other examples of use cases?
A: Our killer use case is that everybody’s different, so it’s infinitely customizable. You could set up notifications for band tickets, putting your garbage out, weather warnings, stock prices. EL: I like the idea, but you set it so broad it’s a detractor. People like to be told what to do. Would like to see some examples when you sign up.
A: Right now, you can see example in a list. It’s location-centric and sorted by popular stuff in your area. DP: Is there enough value in being an aggregator of utility alert services?
A: The market is extremely fragmented today. Almost all services require customizations – like fashion sale alerts for example, you have to configure what brand, what size, etc. It turns people off. |
Alibaba Files For Massive IPO With 9-Month Revenue Of $6.51B | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | This afternoon Alibaba filed for its hotly anticipated IPO, detailing its recent financial performance, including revenue for the first nine months of its fiscal year 2013 of $6.51 billion and net income of $2.85 billion for the same period. Alibaba intends to sell around 12 percent of its shares, according to sources, which means that the IPO could bring in around $20 billion. That would value Alibaba at more than $165 billion. The company’s indicates that it could raise $1 billion in the IPO. The final figure, TechCrunch understands, will be far, far higher. (At that price, in Alibaba is worth $39.84 billion. Marissa Mayer’s upcoming talk at TechCrunch Disrupt NY just got more interesting.) The company grew its top line from a full fiscal-year revenue of $5.55 billion, and net income for that year of $1.39 billion. The company ended December 2013 with $7.8 billion in cash and equivalents. The company has a total of 8 million sellers on its platform. The IPO, the hottest of 2014, will be underwritten by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse. Most of the major players of Wall Street are getting a slice of this deal. The company has 8 million active sellers, accounts for 76.2 percent of all mobile e-commerce sales in China, and had peak one-day shipments of 156 million packages in a single day in 2013. For the three-month period concluding December 31, 2013, Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) totaled $84.96 billion. For comparison, eBay’s GMV for the comparable period was just over . Mobile accounted for 19.7 percent of that, a figure that is quickly rising. That growth comes on the back of 136 million mobile MAUs. Why is the company going public? Because these charts are incredibly beautiful: And finally, here’s the company’s line item detailing the $90 million that it made from its “ That’s just cool. |
AirHelp Lets You Claim Money For Messed Up Flights | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Airline websites are terrible. It’s hard to book flights, so imagine how hard it must be to claim compensation for delayed, canceled or overbooked flights. Meet , the startup that will save you all the hassle and claim money for you. Today at , the company unveiled a major new feature, making the claiming process much easier. “Before today, you had to go to our website or app to give us your flight information. Then, you could see how much you could claim — but there is still a bit of friction in that,” AirHelp CMO Nicolas Michaelsen told me in a phone interview before Disrupt. “Now, you connect your Gmail account, we search for your flight itineraries and figure out how much you can claim. If you’ve been on a delayed flight for the last three years, you can claim money for that.” But how much exactly can you claim? For a delayed, canceled or overbooked flight in Europe, you can get up to $800 per flight. In the U.S., you could end up with $1,300 for an overbooked flight. That’s why airlines will fight you very hard to give you your money back. According to AirHelp, only 0.1 percent of eligible passengers get their compensation. Not only AirHelp will do the hard work for you, but it will also generate some substantial revenue at the same time. And this is AirHelp’s secret sauce — every time the company goes through the compensation process, it takes a 25 percent cut. If there is nothing to claim, the startup doesn’t take anything. It bets that passengers are willing to give up that much because they wouldn’t have gotten any compensation without AirHelp. “If passengers try and claim themselves, they’ll have to send tons of documents, they’ll experience dead links. And if you get through that hurdle, you’re likely to be rejected by the airline saying that it’s an extraordinary circumstance,” Michaelsen said. “We auto-generate the legal documents that you should send to the airline.” Digging through all your email could take a while. So after connecting to your Gmail account, you can just close the window and do something else. You’ll receive an email with interesting stats and potential claims a few hours later. After that, you have to give AirHelp the rights to handle the claims, and it’s done. It can take a few weeks to get your money back. Finally, the startup will ask for your bank information to transfer the money. But even though this sounds like a cumbersome process, 90 to 95 percent of it is automated. So far, 25,000 people have used the service. AirHelp raised a $400,000 seed round from business angels. The startup also participated in Y Combinator’s latest batch. With its 25 percent cut, the company is already doing very well. The team of 16 will turn profitable within a month or two. “We’ve been making revenue since day one,” Michaelsen said. ( ), ( ), ( ), and ( ). Can you attack other areas, like class action claims?
You’ll see more delays and more cancelations. This is our space. What’s the reaction from the airlines?
Some of them are very friendly, it’s the law after all. But we’re proud to be hated by the leading airlines in the world. Could you mine data and make recommendation about being smarter about travel?
Definitely, we could move into that space. Do you have a success rate that you can share?
10 percent of the claims are rightfully rejected. That could be extreme weather situations, an ill passenger, or a strike at the airport. It sounds great, free money. It sounds a little too good to be true. What’s the secret sauce?
We are being copied every day. But this is not something you do overnight. One thing is that it’s hard to know that your flight is delayed. It comes from multiple sources, it takes time to build that coverage. You have to submit a lot of claims to see what is working and what is not working. This is something that looks very simple on the outside. When did you start?
We’ve been working on this for more than a year. How many flights have been submitted and how many have been paid.
We’ve handled 25,000 flights. Most of them have come over the last month after our launch. On average, it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get your money. That’s why many requests are pending. [gallery ids="999139,999140,999141,999142"] |
Check Out Media And Entertainment In Startup Alley At Disrupt NY | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | We took a walk around the Media And Entertainment Pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York. Companies this year are as diverse as ever, but mobile remains a continuing theme. Check out the fast-paced 10-minute video above and you’ll get them all. |
Epson and Metaio Get Us Back On Track For Wearable Augmented Reality | Jay Donovan | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | One of the big promises of a smart-glasses approach to wearable tech was always augmented reality. Context-specific augmented reality was the most interesting though — meaning that the AR content was actually overlaid on the object you were looking at directly and not up in the corner of your eye so you had to look away like in Google Glass. . Google Glass seemed to be a move away from that. Looking at the many new products out there like and now , I think we are back on track. In fact, today, Epson announced that their new Moverio BT-200 glasses are now shipping for $699. Instead of having a small screen you look at for content like Google Glass, these glasses project content up onto the see-through lenses so they are inline with the real world you are viewing. What interests me most though is that Epson has partnered with AR firm and utilized their superior Augmented Reality SDK, bringing the BT-200 closer to the concept I mentioned above. Now, I wouldn’t bust these out for your next cocktail party just yet. In terms of style, they have a long way to go (something Google had a clear vision for and that planning obviously helped win the minds of consumers and the media). Additionally, remember that this version actually has an external companion touchpad device and battery that is attached by wires to the glasses. But because of this approach, these glasses have some clear advantages like longer battery life and heat reduction. Metaio, which has been pretty early to AR software market for wearables ( ), capitalized on the hardware advantages of the Epson glasses. The longer battery life allows Metaio’s software to work longer and harder to show more complex content. Typically, the processing power it takes to do AR on Google Glass can empty those smaller batteries in about 15 minutes. The full-field transparent form factor is really what lets the software work optimally though, offering the best UX. While the glasses aren’t the most stylish thing you’ve ever seen, Epson isn’t necessarily going after the consumers in the first iteration. They are first targeting the business and manufacturing world and then rolling the tech out to future AR hobbyists and designers. It’s a fascinating move away from the “heads-up display” style of AR interaction. |
Koala Band Is An App That Motivates My Kids To Play Piano, And That’s Music To My Ears | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Luis Sampedro Diaz, an engineer hailing from Spain but now resident in Silicon Valley, cut his professional teeth at Volkswagen, where he wrote code for “things that didn’t exist yet” in cars and picked up seven patents along the way. He left that job a few years ago — borrowing a well-worn phrase of the tech world — to look for something difficult to do. So he turned his attention to children’s apps. , the startup he founded, is launching its latest and most ambitious project yet today as part of the TC Disrupt Battlefield: , an iPad app that’s based on a virtual world where kids aged 6-12 years old can go to learn more about music through games. Sampedro Diaz says that this is just stage one: the same platform will be used to introduce a variety of other educational apps down the line. Designing apps for kids can be deceptively hard to do. When content is geared at a younger audience, there is this implication that the consumer will be less discerning, easier to please. But that isn’t the whole story. On a general level, there is the fact that there are a million apps vying for kids’ attention. More specifically, for those who are aspiring to create something beyond a bit of fun, do the apps manage to achieve what they set out to do? Sampedro Diaz and his team at Pluto are set out to tackle the latter of these challenges. “When we looked at the social worlds that have been build for kids already, the biggest are things like Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters, not aimed at education — just mindless, if entertaining, games,” he tells me. “We wanted to fix that problem by making every single one of our games educational.” He says that they wanted to build their apps on a basic premise: that if the app encourages a user to lean forward and create, that will inherently children learn better than an app that does not. He cites an unexpected influence here. “Minecraft has been used to teach so many things,” he says. “And that is because you use it to build.” In Koala Band, kids earn “notes” by playing music games with others, and those notes can then be used to customise songs. Social features also come into play: users take on a koala identity and can only “friend” other koalas who are friends in the real world: they do this by exchanging their koala handles — or their parents doing so — outside of the app and then finding each other within the app. With others, they can only interact with pre-selected phrases. The app itself is very cute: lots of different games arranged in order of complexity that help kids “create” melodies through gameplay. The melodies are from well-known childrens and folk tunes, and excerpts from well-known classical music compositions. As a real-world marker of how effective the app was, I downloaded it and got my six year-old son and eight year-old daughter — both in the target demographic — to try it out. After they stopped arguing about who would play first (we have only one iPad in the house), they settled down to business. After a while, I had to forcibly remove the tablet from their hands to get them to stop playing the “Ode to Joy” out of bubbles. Later that evening, out of the blue, the sound of “Ode to Joy” banged out on the piano in our living room. The next day, I found them playing the app again, before breakfast. My daughter Eve’s verdict: “Brilliant. And something that makes me want to go to the piano to play after I put it down.” Which is music to my ears. Sampedro Diaz doesn’t have any kids — so often the impetus for people taking an interest in content or technology for younger people. But he calls his younger brother his “inspiration.” “I was always in charge of him, making sure he was fine,” he says recalling his childhood. “It’s given me a nurturing instinct.” There is another reason for his interest in the area of music specifically. When he was still a child in Spain, Sampedro Diaz was a serious student of both piano and flute. He started composing when he was eight years old and found some fame in the process. “My first arrangement aired on TV when I was 13,” he tells me. “But I never saw it as a profession, just something that was fun to do, an enriching thing.” Prior to this Pluto Media had launched two other children’s apps, and , both also music apps but more limited in scope than Koala Band and its beginnings of being a bigger virtual world. Pluto Media, which was originally as part of Peter Relan’s YouWeb, has to date raised from Relan, Correlation Ventures, Jennifer Carolan from New Schools Ventures, Revolution Ventures, Rob Hutter from Learn Capital and others in of . [gallery ids="999091,999095,999094,999093,999092"] |
DocSend Is The Analytics Tool For Documents We’ve All Been Waiting For | Romain Dillet | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Meet , a comprehensive toolbox for your documents. It doesn’t sound sexy, but it could rapidly become a major part of your workflow. A successfully raised $20 million by taking advantage of DocSend’s data — it’s powerful. The company is launching today at . “When you send a document to someone, you always wonder: did they look at it, did they forward it to someone else?” co-founder and CEO Russ Heddleston told me in a phone interview. “We know all that, and we also know if they switched tab. We give you really nice controls if you want to set a password, allow downloads, update your documents and more.” Now, every time you send a document to someone, you will know if he or she didn’t look at it for weeks. In other words, DocSend is an extensive analytics tool, but for documents. How does it work? First, you upload a document from your computer. The company will add integrations with Dropbox and Box soon. For now, the platform only supports PDF files. Then, you can share your document. It works pretty much like sharing a document on Dropbox. You select your file and create a link. You can create multiple links for a single file if you want to track different people or groups of people. Every time someone clicks on this link, it opens the document in DocSend’s HTML viewer in your browser — and of course, it also collects data. You know if the recipient went through all the slides or pages, and you even know how much time he or she spent on every slide. You know if he or she forwarded the document to someone else as DocSend collects email addresses of people who opened the document. What if there is a typo? You can update your document and keep the same links. You can also revoke access to a document. It can be useful if you send a confidential document and you notice that many people are actually opening it. If you know how analytics tools work, DocSend is not groundbreaking — but using this technology for documents is very useful. And it’s not just for salespeople. Existing beta users also include business development professionals, management teams, investors, marketers, startup people and more. You could use DocSend when you are fundraising, recruiting people, updating your investors or reaching out to the press. The company has raised $1.7 million late last year from , , and multiple angels. When I asked about the company’s business model, Heddleston told me that the startup is really opening its doors at Disrupt. It’s been in closed beta before that, and the company has yet to develop a paid offering. “In terms of business models, we’ll always have a free component. But we’ll add features around teams and analytics,” he said. ( ), ( ), ( ), and ( ). You’re like 15 missing features in Google Docs.
More or less. You have investment, you have a bunch of users. So what are you looking for?
We discovered a lot of problems with our first version. We came out with a new design, and we’re now ready for the next step. It’s a little like spying. What do you think of that?
There is no privacy issue. It’s a tool, like any tool you misuse it in some scenario. It’s a tool for business people, for business relationships. I think it’s great, it’s a missing piece. A bit of feedback, I think people have a certain mindshare when it comes to dealing with documents.
We are going to integrate with Box, Dropbox and Google Drive. We are going to integrate with your CRM and your email client. When I receive a document, is it a link?
Yes, it’s a docsend.com URL. Won’t you get backlash?
When someone gets a docsend link, you can email back and ask for a PDF, or you can click and go through the document. It ends up just saving people time in the end. [gallery ids="999073,999075"] |
Sedicii Aims To Better Protect Your Passwords And Information | Billy Gallagher | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Sedicii uses a mathematical algorithm to verify your information or password without actually sending it to a website for verification. On the front end, things look the same for the user entering a password, their address or other information. Merchants can add a few lines of JavaScript on a payment page or registration form to communicate with Sedicii’s servers. Sedicii then runs a series of tests against the site, which can confirm if the password is correct or incorrect without actually passing the password to a merchant’s website. Thus, if that company is hacked, your password is not on their servers and your information cannot be stolen. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTB2ELvcNZw] Founder and CEO launched Sedicii onstage, demonstrating how an online shopper can place an order and have their bank information verified with Sedicii. “Identity is enormous. It underlies every transaction,” Leslie said. The company will sell its authentication technology under an enterprise license and charge a transaction fee for real-time identity verification. Sedicii, which raised $75,000 from the Oxygen Accelerator in London, is looking to raise a more substantial round of capital soon. [gallery ids="999052,999058,999056,999055,999054,999053"] |
Aol Buys Marketing Analytics Company Convertro For $101M (Memo) | Ingrid Lunden | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | A day before its quarterly results, , owner of TechCrunch, has announced another acquisition to beef up its ad tech operations. It is buying , a marketing optimization platform, for $101 million — $89 million in cash, $2 million in converted stock awards and a $10 million earn-out over 17 months. AOL says that it will be integrating Convertro’s service — which lets a marketer look across different ad channels, formats, segments and so on to figure out things like which ads influenced which kinds of users and when — into AOL Platforms, covering services like Adap.tv, AdLearn Open Platform (AOP) and ONE, The deal is an interesting one in that it points to how AOL has been gradually shifting its business not just to one based on ad revenues, but on making those revenues more high-margin and more intelligent — no surprise, since competing against the likes of Google or Facebook as a volume play with lower margins is a losing game. Convertro, based in Santa Monica, had raised some $5 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, DAG Ventures and MHS Capital and Founders Collective. To date, this is AOL’s , with the latest (before this one) being content personalization app Gravity for just under ; and . The full memo from Tim Armstrong, AOL’s CEO, is below: We are continuing our momentum in programmatic advertising with another strategic acquisition. Today, we’re announcing that Convertro, a leading provider of multi-touch attribution modeling technology for brands and agencies, will be joining AOL Platforms. In short, multi-touch attribution modeling is all about helping marketers and agencies maximize return on their advertising spend across online and offline media channels with granular insights into each channel, format, ad creative and audience segment. For example, a fashion brand can better understand which part(s) of their marketing campaign (i.e., a TV spot, an online video ad, a catalogue) influenced a customer’s purchase and to what extent, allowing them to adjust their ad spend accordingly and in real-time. Convertro gives AOL’s Adap.tv, AdLearn Open Platform (AOP) and ONE By AOL customers the ability to manage the consumer journey across the entire purchase funnel and across all channels, driving economic efficiencies and media effectiveness. Shortly after we introduced our plans for ONE by AOL in March, Jefferies Equity Research analyzed the ad platform space and ranked AOL and Google at the top of the heap – far outpacing the rest of the industry in capability and service. Earlier today Google announced its acquisition of Adometry – a primary competitor to Convertro – in yet another affirmation of our position as one of two primary platform competitors. Our acquisition, combined with our commitment to fostering an open, global ecosystem, will let us offer an enterprise solution that is not only comparable, but a stronger option for brands, agencies and publishers around the globe. Convertro CEO Jeff Zwelling and his team will report into Toby Gabriner, CEO of Adap.tv and ONE by AOL. Convertro’s engineering organization will report to Seth Demsey, CTO of AOL Platforms. Please join me in welcoming the Convertro team to AOL! TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha spoke to Demsey (the Aol Platforms CTO mentioned in the memo) to learn more about the deal. He said that after looking at the market, he was particularly impressed by Convertro’s ability to attribute purchases to the right ad, particularly across channels. ( a couple of years ago.) Demsey added that Convertro is tackling “a classic machine learning, big data problem” by using this attribution data to help advertisers find “the best path” in allocating their ad spending. Aol was partnering with the company even before the acquisition, Demsey said, but “by bringing the data platforms closer,” it can use the technology with fewer delays and more automation. At the same time, Aol’s ad platforms will still be open to other attribution technologies as well. “This is a key piece for us taking our programmatic ad platform really to the next level,” he added. |
Unglue.it Sets Books Free After Authors Get Paid | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Giving away your books is easy for fancy guys like , but what about the rest of us poor hacks? While the impetus to release books into the Creative Commons is noble, a writer needs to get paid. That’s what . It’s a service that allows authors to post ebooks and then give them out for free after a certain amount is reached. The books can be sold for any price and you can donate any amount to each book. Once they hit a certain level, the book becomes free. The service just added a new feature, called Thanks-for-Ungluing, that allows people to donate to a book author even after it’s “unglued.” Author has made his latest book, , available on the service alongside a book for The premise of adding work to the Creative Commons is, arguably, quite compelling. There is a certain expectation that all digital content should be free (and, thanks to piracy, it usually is) and there’s no reason to fight it but, instead, route around the damage by enabling micro payments. I, personally, would love to get my titles out there for free. However, the prospect of getting money is also quite compelling. This, in the end, is the problem Unglue.it is trying to solve and, barring a few issues with title quality and design, it could be a very interesting tool for indie writers. |
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HealthCrew Makes Your Doctor Scalable With Online Patient Mentorship | Josh Constine | 2,014 | 5 | 6 | Getting medical advice online can be terrifying. Who knows if the information is true and safe, or just someone’s crackpot opinion? People want guidance from their own doctor. Unfortunately those doctors are so busy, they see patients infrequently and only for a few minutes at a time. But wants to give you a legitimate digital way to connect with your doctor online Today at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, HealthCrew launched its private online forum for chronic disease patients and their primary care physicians. For now it supports diabetes and heart disease patients, but HealthCrew plans to expand to other conditions eventually. Here’s how HealthCrew works. First, a doctor signs up for the service. Then when they diagnose patients with diabetes or heart disease, they can prescribe them HealthCrew and send them an invite. The patient signs up, and fills out a survey about their conditions, age, and other personal information. Or if the doctor uses the enterprise version of HealthCrew that’s hooked into their electronic medical records, this info is auto-populated. Once patients are all signed up, they can access to a personalized portal to information provided by their doctor. The includes general tutorials about managing aspects of their disease, but also an asynchronous question and answer system for getting advice about specific issues. For example, a 60-year-old diabetes patient might see sections about diabetes for seniors, low-impact exercise routines, insulin, or diabetes & high-blood pressure. They could also ask their doctors or nurses questions about whether new medications might cause problematic side-effects. But HealthCrew isn’t just doctor-to-patient. It also creates a horizontal community of patients who share a doctor and condition. They can support each other, exchange stories, and provide advice. HealthCrew is free for both doctors and patients. How? Because the Affordable Care Act incentivizes hospitals to focus on maximizing healthy patients instead of the number of procedures and visits. By paying for HealthCrew, the company believes hospitals can reduce extraneous in-person patient visits and lower their costs to earn ROI. Eventually, HealthCrew may also monetize by helping drug companies find test subjects that match their criteria. If patients sharing with each other and “scalable doctors” sound a bit strange, know that HealthCrew is based on an important breakthrough in medical care known as the group patient visit. Studies show that doctors whose patients have similar ailments are better treated through one long group session with their doc than short private sessions. Rather than spending 10 minutes with each of their 12 patients and wasting time parroting redundant info, they’re better off spending 2 hours with all 12 patients at once. The result is happier and healthier patients, and happier doctors too. [gallery ids="999040,999044,999043,999042,999041"] HealthCrew knows this because its co-founder Sohan Japa is an M.D. and MBA from Stanford. He stumbled upon the problem when he decided to log his time and see how much he actually spent face-to-face with patients. Over a 14-hour day where he saw 7 patients, he only spent a combined total of 10 minutes giving in-person care. Japa and his co-founder and CTO Bansi Shah, who has a BS in math and computer science from Stanford, decided to build HealthCrew to let doctors spend more time with patients, even if it was only asynchronously over the web. They’re bootstrapped, but have the support of Stanford student incubator StartX. could give chronic disease patients online medical help they can trust. |
The Promise, Progress And Pain Of Collaboration Software | Jason Green | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Truly effective enterprise collaboration applications represent one of the most promising opportunities for cloud computing. Over the last decade, several SaaS companies have emerged that improve workplace collaboration, including well-known companies like and , as well as newer companies such as , , and . Given my board roles with several of these companies, I am often asked about what is working and what is next. I want to share my thoughts on the promise and the progress in collaboration software while also touching on the areas of opportunity or the pain. Emergence Capital Partners started with a thesis that software as a service would change the way that employees collaborated. We anticipated that connected employees would increasingly rely on always-updated cloud solutions to interact with each other, reducing the communication challenges of modern distributed work environments. These challenges, documented in 1988 by sociologist Johansen in his ground-breaking , require different types of solutions depending on whether communication is happening at the same time or is asynchronous, and whether communication takes place face-to-face or remotely. Cloud solutions have been particularly effective at tackling the challenge of helping employees who work together remotely. For example, Yammer built a business social networking platform to help employees feel more connected to each other, no matter where they worked. Box has dramatically simplified the previously complex task of working on a set of shared documents from multiple devices across multiple locations. Google Hangouts and Skype offer multi-device, real-time video conferencing applications at a fraction of the previous cost. We are also starting to see a new set of mobile-first collaboration tools that offer mobile messaging in a work environment such as and . Applications such as Cotap enable one-to-one or one-to-many texting, which is particularly effective for time sensitive information for distributed employees. The good news is that these cloud collaboration companies are reducing friction in employee engagement, particularly for distributed employees. The bad news is that we are all dealing with information overload (“noise”) as an unwanted byproduct of increasingly friction-free communication. Given the explosion of communication, conversations can take place simultaneously over several competing channels, creating confusion and inefficiency by requiring multiple changes in context. In addition, the ability to access prior content easily and seamlessly across all these communication channels becomes more challenging. When I think about areas of pain, I see several obvious opportunities: Most knowledge workers will tell you that their biggest challenge is extracting the signal from noise amidst all of the communication and collaboration options. Employers that deploy these solutions in a workplace need confidence that the highest priority items are breaking through the clutter. I can envision new solutions that help filter communication at both the individual and organizational levels. Here are some examples: I get excited about entrepreneurs who are using cloud technology to solve big problems for the enterprise. Consumer adoption of new communication applications are a great leading indicator of what professionals in the workplace will desire in the future. As VCs, our job is to find those applications that truly enhance corporate productivity and are amenable to the security, privacy and compliance needs of the enterprise. We have just uncovered the tip of the iceberg of the new forms of collaboration enabled by the cloud and mobile, and we can’t wait to work with the emerging enterprise leaders that will help solve these challenges. |
Amazon Keeps Fighting Big Publishers But Authors Pay The Price | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | It’s Amazon’s world and we’re just living in it. As the company continues to flex its muscle against big publishers – this time against – the average author could be excused for feeling a bit of schadenfreude. Publishers have run the show for a long time and their efforts at cultural curation have resulted in million dollar deals for Snooki and bupkus for smaller literary writers. Luckily, the world’s slushpile is slowly flowing around the big houses, moving directly to on-demand publishing and epubs. I should know. I use Amazon as my primary sales channel for my book . But when Amazon flexes, authors get hurt. Amazon is essentially squeezing the big houses for more profit. They are not entirely blameless and the company is as far from the little old bookseller in the village square as possible. To Amazon, books are another product. Some books are as popular as tooth whitener and Rogaine and other books languish on the shelves like a . But Amazon carries them all and makes a few pennies per shipment. And publishers know that if they don’t sell their wares on Amazon then they’re dead. Barnes & Noble stores should be gone by 2015 (my own prediction) and independent bookstores offer a respite but not relief. Wal-Mart stores don’t want much of the publisher’s back catalog – they just want that Snooki book – and they can’t find any way to really control digital distribution without Amazon or Apple. In short, they’re stuck. At the same time, I foresee a renaissance in writing. Being able to upload and is a boon to self-publishers and writers. Any author formerly on Hachette could, in the future, bypass the the house entirely like who calls publishing a “button” not a job. He writes: Publishing is not evolving. Publishing is going away. Because the word “publishing” means a cadre of professionals who are taking on the incredible difficulty and complexity and expense of making something public. That’s not a job anymore. That’s a button. There’s a button that says “publish,” and when you press it, it’s done. In ye olden times of 1997, it was difficult and expensive to make things public, and it was easy and cheap to keep things private. Privacy was the default setting. We had a class of people called publishers because it took special professional skill to make words and images visible to the public. Now it doesn’t take professional skills. It doesn’t take any skills. It takes a WordPress install. But here’s the rub: publishing is hard. Marketing is hard. Distribution is hard. It’s not an impossible task by any stretch – there are plenty of independent writers (see ) who made it big for whatever reason – but the vast majority of these self-published pieces will languish. That’s what Hachette and Random House are good at: running an engine of commerce that will ship millions of books a year. Seen in that light, Amazon is just a part of that engine and not even an integral part. If the publishers decided to go it alone, they could probably sell a few million books and ebooks on the backs of their best sellers. But the problem is that they need big sellers all the time. And that means fewer smaller books. And that means fewer important books. Then, finally, we have the authors. As giants fight above, the authors are stuck in the mud. It may seem like no one needs to shed a tear for . After all, he got a nice advance and he’s a famous writer. But Amazon briefly cutting his title on their site, as they did yesterday, means that Stone gets to sell fewer books. He gets lower royalties and he drops in the rankings. While I’m fine with Hachette getting a kick in the shin, I don’t like that Stone gets a kick in the chest. Writers and publishers shouldn’t be enemies. Publishers are the gatekeepers while writers are the stewards. But, thanks to Amazon, these gatekeepers will become more selective and more mercenary. Amazon hurts them both in unequal measure. The publishers rewrite the contracts and keep making money. The authors get lower advances and the art in writing declines. It shouldn’t be this way. Not everyone can be a self-published author. Writers have always depended on the kindness of strangers. The sad thing is that those strangers are getting hungrier and more callous thanks to Amazon’s efforts at squeezing a few more points out of the business of culture. |
Hands On With Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Microsoft’s newest Surface, the , is an interesting gadget. Akin to its predecessors, it sits somewhere between a tablet and a laptop. In Microsoft’s estimation, the Pro 3 can replace your laptop while providing the utility of a tablet. It’s a big claim. TechCrunch got its hands on a Pro 3 here in San Francisco, and sat it next to its predecessors and competitors. The Pro 3 something like a Surface Pro 2’s guts shoved into an outstretched Surface 2. It’s certainly more compelling than the Microsoft devices that came before it. But the chief question is simple: Can it in terms of price, and utility? The answer, it turns out, isn’t binary. The Surface Pro 3 offers different use cases. I think that the Macbook Air still offers a better pure-laptop experience, but the Pro 3 allows for other input options that might, in your use, more than compensate for that deficit. The Surface Pro 3 is the first Surface device that meets Microsoft’s initial vision for the line. Will consumers react well to it? We’ll know soon enough when Microsoft reports new revenue numbers for its nascent OEM business. |
Don’t Believe Anyone Who Tells You Learning To Code Is Easy | Kate Ray | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | One of the most dangerous things I’ve seen happen to people who are just starting to code is being told that it’s easy. Here’s what your brain does: Drawing by me. (I am better at coding than drawing.) Most programming doesn’t require a special brain, but it’s more frustrating and messier than anyone lets on. There are thousands of enthusiastic blog posts, classes and apps that aim to entice you with the promise of a slick, unequivocal procedure for learning to code. They rarely mention the tedium of getting your environment set up (which, trust me, even the nicest of your programmer friends don’t want to help you with, because that stuff is mad frustrating and nobody remembers how they did it). They don’t tell you that a lot of programming skill is about developing a knack for asking the right questions on Google and knowing which code is best to copy-paste. And they don’t let you in on a big secret: that there is no mastery, there is no final level. The anxiety of feeling lost and stupid is not something you learn to conquer, but something you learn to live with. This winter I decided to learn iOS. I’d taught myself how to code the summer after college, so I was pretty cocky about my ability to pick up a new language. I forgot how hard it is. After getting over my resentment of Xcode ( ), I launched into a series of projects that were too advanced for me. iOS turns out to be different from web development; everything I expected to be hard was easy and everything that should have been easy was hard. I was impatient and annoyed with myself. What I forgot is that the most common state for a programmer is a sense of inadequacy. As a programmer, there is a limitless amount of stuff to learn. You can become a specialist in one language or framework, but if your job is to build things efficiently, you will constantly need to be learning new tools and constantly feel out of your depth. It helps to be mentally prepared for feeling stupid. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi came up with an insightful way of visualizing the learning process (for any discipline): Adapted from an image in “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” I’ve found my experience to follow that line closely, and came up with this Recursive Recipe for Learning to Program: I’m a big fan of tutorials. During this process, I made an app for collecting the recommended by programmers who’ve used them. Hopefully it will shorten the stumbling-around period before you get into the groove of learning and help you find the good stuff faster. As long as you learn to grind through the frustration, you’ll come out on the hillsides and get a good view of your progress. Be okay with not understanding everything, trust that you are getting better even when you can’t see your progress, and . Good luck. |
Deciphering The Economics Of Venture Capital | Matt Oguz | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | When developed his popular theory to explore way-out-of-the-norm surprising events, he outlined three characteristics of a : The black swan events are popular in venture capital, a unique asset class that historically has all three characteristics as Taleb outlined in his colorful book. What makes venture capital different from other asset classes is its complex qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The qualitative attributes are widely covered. The quantitative characteristics, not so much. Numerical analysis had been more predominant in liquid assets such as stocks where historic returns are available. For example, if you put $50 in last year, you’d end up with $100 this year. You can see the same for AAPL or GE. From there, you can do a number of calculations such as overall returns in a portfolio made up of stocks or comparing their returns to a bundle of them, i.e. indexes. Understanding returns and portfolio management concepts in liquid markets are quite clear thanks to Nobel Prize-winning economists such as . Unfortunately, Markowitz’s portfolio theory won’t work for venture capital because it turns out that VC returns are not normally distributed, a requirement for Markowitz to work. For private companies, particularly in their early stages, numerical analysis is complex. The frame in which you look at startups is completely different from the one for liquid assets. Several years ago . Taleb in his book calls the bell curve “that great intellectual fraud” and explains the situations that don’t demonstrate a bell curve. Unfortunately, he doesn’t dig deeper into what the non-bell curve looks like, and leads us to believe in a mystical situation that eventually leads to another cognitive bias: “nothing, particularly outliers, can be predicted, so let’s just focus on what we know.” On the contrary, non-Gaussian distributions are well-studied. So a closer look at the distribution of returns in venture capital looks something like this: Traditional VC targets home runs to compensate for early losses. This looks quite like what’s called a . The distribution actually resembles more of a log-levy distribution, a variant of lognormal but let’s stick with lognormal for simplicity. Here’s the : A X is said to have the lognormal distribution with parameters μ∈ℝ and σ∈(0,∞) if ln(X) has the with mean μ and standard deviation σ. Equivalently, X=eY where Y is normally distributed with mean μ and standard deviation σ. The log of the random variable is normally distributed. The lognormal distribution is used to model continuous random quantities when the distribution is believed to be skewed, such as certain income and lifetime variables. Only positive values are possible for the variable, and the distribution is skewed to the left (Gibrat, 1931). Limpert et al. has a great paper in this field named . In that paper, Lambert et al. describe the characteristics of lognormal distribution beautifully and provide examples of lognormal events. Some of those are as follows: Income distribution (quite a popular subject these days): A random variable X is said to be lognormally distributed if log(X) is normally distributed. Lognormal curves describe the 80/20 situations better. One may argue that the examples cited above don’t demonstrate extreme cases, i.e. black swans. But even in cases where “black swan” events exist, , renowned professor of mathematical sciences at Yale, argued that log-levy distributions with longer tails are more appropriate. The mathematical implications of the lognormal nature play into questions such as: provide a good introduction to portfolio theory when investment relatives are lognormally distributed. If we assume that the returns are normal, and turns out they are not, then all of our calculations will be way off, including check size, re-ups, and dry powder. Analyzing returns based on their lognormal distribution characteristics provides great guidance to us and leads us to more rational decisions in how we deploy capital. As we start investing and realizing returns or losses, we’ll have a much better understanding of where the overall fund returns will end up. From there, we can adjust the size of our investments or bets. The late a Nobel Prize winner and professor of economics at Harvard, showed in his earlier work that security and portfolio returns are better modeled by a lognormal distribution than a normal distribution. Levy, Bawa and Chakrin later showed that for lognormal distributions investors would choose their portfolios from a mean logarithmic variance efficient frontier. The lognormal nature of the returns provide good guidance for the downside of a portfolio as we construct the probability distribution for the entire portfolio by computing a series of convolution integrals. The check-size problem for instance is common in venture capital. Let’s say a company is raising a $10 million round. How much do you participate? $2 million, $3 million, more? The real problem here is how to maximize gains based on the the assumption that we’ll make more of these investments, the size of our pool of capital and the probability distribution of returns and failures. John Kelly, who worked at Bell Labs, developed Kelly Criterion in 1956 to tackle long distance telephone signal noise issues. Kelly later teamed up with , who is famous for having founded information theory, and design theories. Ed Thorpe, an MIT math-professor-turned-blackjack-player turned multibillion dollar hedge fund manager utilized Kelly Criterion to optimize his investment sizes in both blackjack and then in a “safer” gaming environment, the Wall Street. Thorpe’s blackjack adventure became the basis for the MIT blackjack team and made it to the big screen in . Unfortunately, Thorpe’s much more successful hedge fund did not receive popular coverage. PIMCO’s Bill Gross is also a huge proponent of Kelly Criterion and his accomplishments are stellar. Since we understand the nature of the returns, expanding Kelly to venture capital is quite possible. Solving a Kelly variant assuming a lognormal distribution helps drive rational answers to questions such as check size or dry powder calculations. One major implication of the return multiples resembling a lognormal curve is that the more errors we make early in the game, the less likely we are to hit a homerun. On the qualitative end of this analysis, to get to better returns we must somehow cut the “excess fat” from the top of this curve and add it to the tail. It seems like if we can do that: a. our returns will improve and b. we’ll end up better prepared for a home-run. Using decision models to have a disciplined selection process helps minimize cognitive errors. The VC industry is prone to events due to its high propensity for cognitive biases, one of the three characteristics of a black swan. Avoiding decision errors would certainly improve our returns, or “add alpha” as jargoned in finance. , I outlined a number of errors generally committed in venture capital such as anchoring, availability bias, recency, unit bias — accepting valuations as “universal,” group thinking (bandwagon effect) — following the herd, cognitive inertia — unwillingness to change thought patterns, irrational escalation — re-upping investment even though one knows it’s a bad one, and overconfidence. The presence of decision biases is one of the three characteristics of a black swan event. The other two are large impact of the event and not being able to model the probability of the event. So if we’re after a black swan, on the upside, avoiding cognitive errors earlier on should lead to thicker tails thereby increasing the chances of a home run. Key venture capital decisions using analytics vs. (popular) heuristics. The events on the end of the lognormal tail are where big return multiples are and their returns are substantially higher than average returns. Even though cognitive biases are common in venture capital decision-making, particularly in capital deployment, the benefits of a disciplined approach are clear. As we see looking at past returns, “soft” characteristics of fund management such as deal-flow, value-add, etc. have not delivered the 3x+ returns on a consistent basis regardless of the VC firm. A comprehensive study of the economic nature of venture capital is a must in every VC firm from here on out. In our case, understanding the statistical distribution of returns provides guidelines around how we deploy capital instead of arbitrary rules-of-thumb. As John Arbuthnot said, “Mathematical knowledge adds vigour to the mind, frees it from prejudice, credulity, and superstition” and as we build companies based on math and engineering every day, that is exactly where venture capital needs to be. |
For Better Or Worse, Anonymous Apps Allow Us To Be Ourselves Online Again | Frederic Lardinois | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Anonymous apps like and are all the rage right now and maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise. This feels like the inevitable reaction to all the major social networks wanting to own our identities — preferably with our real names attached. What they are getting, however, is the completely boring and sanitized version of us. The one where everybody is happy and is on an eternal, Instagram-friendly beach vacation. Where the kids are always happy, all the babies are cute and the party never ends. Because we don’t want to create any controversy, we mostly keep our real thoughts hidden and just publish photos from airports, beaches and birthday parties. In the early days, the Internet promised us anonymity, but now we know that all of our moves are tracked by somebody. If it’s not the NSA, it’s Google or another advertising company that wants to create a profile of our every move. Whenever you know you are being tracked, you will inevitably change your behavior, even if it’s just subconsciously. When you know your family members and all of your friends will see what you’re doing, you definitely change your behavior and think about every word in your status update. And that’s why there is this fascination with anonymous apps. They give us the kind of experience we expect from modern social networks without any of the social baggage. They let us say something we know people will disagree with and we still have a job on Monday (or we may just find others agree with us, too). They let us talk about our depressions, illnesses, bowel movements and bedroom habits, and will provide us with honest feedback — even if it hurts. Of course, there is a dark side, too, and it’s pretty dark. In schools, anonymous apps are making it easy for even the most outwardly shy student to become a bully, and even the best discussion can be undermined by anonymous trolls. and we (and the developers behind apps like ) will have to figure out ways for dealing with this or this whole phenomenon is going to be very short-lived. The reality, of course, is that you are not anonymous to the anonymity apps. They may even end up knowing more about you than anybody else and they will inevitably try to cash in on this. Thankfully, none of these apps have made blackmail their business models yet, but there is a treasure trove of data for advertisers in their databases. Unless you want to risk going to 4chan, though, this new breed of apps allows us to be our online selves again — and leaving aside all the other (and very real) concerns around bullying and false gossip, that feels pretty freeing. Google, Facebook and all the other players in this field want to own our online identities and have made us sanitize our feeds. There is some use for that, but it’s only natural that there is a pushback now. |
5-Tiles Keyboard Targets Wearables To Hunt The Post-Qwerty Holy Grail | Natasha Lomas | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Meet the , (yet) another contender taking aim at disrupting Qwerty — and hoping to increase its chances by first targeting smaller wearable devices, such as smartwatches. The rational being that’s a more realistic way to drive a wedge between Qwerty and its users’ fingers. As challenges go, disrupting Qwerty is akin to attempting to pass Yahweh’s tests in the at the end of Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade. The alternative keyboard playing field is littered with the carcasses of those that haven’t made it. Yet still startups continue to fling themselves at this impossible chasm. (Ok, it might not be impossible but it’s going to require a near miracle to shift ingrained Qwerty habits in the short term). So many attempts to reinvent the keyboard have failed — or are grinding away without really going anywhere — with good reason. They are trying to overthrow what’s approaching 150 years of muscle memory. Qwerty is, after all, just a quirk of the mechanical design of typewriters from the 1870s, as we’ve But that quirk (and its regional variants) is now embedded in the minds of countless tech users — with more being indoctrinated into its tip-tappety ways every day on their smartphones and tablets and laptops and so on. Still the monumental scale of the challenge hasn’t stopped startups trying. Because Qwerty is undoubtedly imperfect. It was optimized for little metal arms to fly speedily, not for fleshy fingers. And it takes up a whole chunk of screen real estate for no good reason. The rise of the touchscreen does also open up the possibility to disrupt Qwerty. Much harder to reconfigure people’s plastic keyboards than to get them to try a new bit of software (well, on the Android platform at least; Apple’s iOS remains firmly in the Qwerty Preservation Society camp). And, of course, the startup that does, surpass Qwerty with a better alternative that gets enough traction to become a new standard is undoubtedly going to become as immortal as Indiana Jones and his dad after they supped from the Holy cup. And so we come to the 5-Tiles Keyboard: an alternative touchscreen typing interface for Android devices that ditches Qwerty in favour of a roughly alphabetic layout. That’s not the big difference here though. The startup’s key (ha!) innovation is to reduce the number of keys displayed on the keyboard to five (hence the name), and to switch the letter selection mechanism to a mixture of taps and gestures. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHZcXkhSQ1E&w=640&h=360] Using gestures allows for individual letter selection to take place, without having to display 26 different keys on the screen. So it can save a lot of screen real estate — something that’s especially pressing on the relatively small screens of smartwatches or indeed other wearables. It reckons its interface could even work on Google Glass. The use of gestures for inputting characters allows 5-Tiles to incorporate numbers and special characters onto the same keyboard as the alphabet — provided, of course, you can memorise all the hieroglyphs required to squiggle out the different characters. 5-Tiles says its main advantage — aside from taking up less space — is that it can fit a lot of input permutations into that small strip. So it’s small but potent. It’s not, however, the only alternative keyboard taking aim the smartwatch. Canada’s for its alternative keyboard which squishes the entire Qwerty layout into a fraction of the screen space, and uses an auto-correct algorithm to push word suggests at the user, and gesture controls to cycle through suggestions. Minuum is attempting to make Qwerty work for it. 5-Tiles, on the other hand, presents its users with a much steeper learning challenge since they not only have to learn gestures to input things like numerals but also have to rethink the entire process of they type. If you set aside the learning curve challenge, 5-Tiles is undoubtedly offering an elegant solution to the problem of small screens plus Qwerty keyboards — even supporting handy functions like copy and paste within its spectrum of gestures. But convincing people to make the leap of faith to a new way to type remains a formidable obstacle. So how exactly does the 5-Tiles Keyboard work? The letters of the English alphabet are divided into groups of five which are displayed on each tile (it’s four letters plus space for the last tile). On each tile, the letter that’s most used is underlined. This means you just tap the tile to type that letter. For all other letters a swipe is required. Either a swipe to the right or the left, depending on the letter in question and its relative placement to the underlined letter. So, for instance, the first tile on the keyboard can either be tapped on, to type the letter ‘e’, or becomes the start point of a swipe right which can extend one tile to the right, to type the letter ‘a’, or all the way to the fifth tile in the row, to type the letter ‘d’. Most of the tiles also holds shortcut functions for an up swipe or a down swipe — so, for instance, swiping down on the first tile will delete a word, while swiping up will delete a letter. Shift, enter, left and right cursor keys and even a shortcut to a 5-Tiles cheatsheet (which details all the gestures the system supports) are housed as up or down swipes elsewhere. But, once again, the presence of that cheatsheet points to the thorny learning issue. Learning 5-Tiles is not the work of five seconds, five minutes, or even five hours. It’s going to take a heck of a lot longer than that to forget your Qwerty muscle memory and get fast enough for 5-Tiles’ gesture based typing interface to start feeling useful, not annoying. Certainly if you’re trying to use it on a smartphone, anyway. TechCrunch witnessed the startup’s co-founder and CEO Michal Kubacki, who came up with the original concept for 5-Tiles way back in 2004 (see below for the full backstory), using the keyboard on his Samsung Galaxy handset and can attest to the fact that he was indeed very quick. But he’s been beavering away on this project for well over five years. The same could not be said of TechCrunch’s attempts to use 5-Tiles. Painstaking was a more accurate description. Every letter you type has to be individually sought out, and additional gestures — such as a hyphen — can require substantial and rather fiddly paths to be traced over the tiles. Our fingers were certainly not flying o’er the keys. However, it is undoubtedly true that the speed issue is likely to be less of an irritant on a smartwatch — where the user is unlikely to be typing an epistle anyway. Text input needs on smartwatches are going to be bite-sized, so the learning barrier for 5-Tiles may well be less of a pain point there than elsewhere. An analogy could be the old school nine-key keypads of first gen mobile devices which spread the alphabet over those keys and required users to multi tap each button to get to the letter they needed. Mobile users managed to learn to type that way, despite how fiddly it was. Needs must, and all that. So now this startup just needs the smartwatch/wearables category to seriously uplift to drive demand for its alternative keyboard interface. Which is of course another challenge it’s business is facing. If your business is tied to the success of a wearable such as Google Glass you may be hanging around twiddling your thumbs in the short-term. The backstory to 5-Tiles is typical of an entrepreneur first and foremost wanting to scratch their own itch, but will also resonate with anybody armed with an idea who doesn’t have the technical skills to bring it to fruition. The brainchild of co-founder and CEO Michal Kubacki, who has a background in creative writing — spanning scriptwriting, poetry, song lyrics, and authoring short science fiction stories in his native Poland, 5-Tiles inception goes back as far as 2004. “I was spending all day in excavations (being at the bottom of an unsecured 5 meter hole does miracles to your creative thinking, but you can’t recall much when you’re out of it) or trying to write something in the back of the truck. I started to use the mobile phone to write down some things and I’m still not sure what was harder, cutting through the rock all day to lay a water pipe in it, or trying to write about it on my Nokia N70.” But, despite these frustrations, Kubacki remained convinced the mobile phone was “potentially the best writing tool ever created”, and when rumours of the iPhone began to surface, with its “fantastic, new, never-seen-before keyboard”, he was hopeful Steve Jobs had solved his problem. “I’m a trained typist, I love to touch type on the computer and I wanted to have exactly the same experience while writing on a mobile phone — the feeling that your thoughts somehow appear on the screen without you focusing on the process. Anyone who touch-types knows what I’m talking about,” he says. Instead, the solution Jobs unveiled on January 9th 2007 — a nicely designed on-screen Qwerty with a sprinkling of autocorrection — left Kubacki wanting. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I was,” he says. “I started to think about a better solution. I knew it had to be compact, but the keys should be bigger than on a Qwerty. The only way to do it was to reduce the number of the keys.” There was only one problem: Kubacki didn’t know how to code, nor did he know anyone else who could develop his idea for him. Undeterred, however, he set about teaching himself ActionScript, the scripting language behind Adobe Flash — good enough to build an early prototype running on a desktop computer. “It was far from being usable, but what I found encouraging was the speed at which I could learn the combinations. I was expecting that a few weeks would be needed to memorise the alphabet, based on my experience of learning to type on Qwerty. But it appeared that with only 5 keys I could memorise all the combinations in less than 30 minutes,” he recalls. The next logical step was to build a version of the 5-Tiles keyboard running on a mobile phone, but Kubacki was clueless how to go about it and was forced to put the project on hold for another 3 years. Kubacki then did what many a fledgling entrepreneur does when they think they are on to something, he began telling anybody and everybody who would listen about his invention. “I had this crazy idea that everyone in the City understands how to deal with these kinds of projects and has Steve Jobs’ number on their phone, so I was pitching my idea to everyone while making lattes,” he says. Following advice from a customer, who told him he should probably patent the idea before talking about it too much, Kubacki did just that, before relentlessly pitching again. This led to co-worker Fabio Carta (now 5-Tiles CTO) asking to borrow his phone so that he could try building a proper version for Android. “Two days later he brought my phone back and there it was!” says Kubacki. “The first version could only write in capital letters, with no numbers or punctuation, but boy it was fast! In few minutes I was typing faster than on stock Android Qwerty and I knew we were onto something big.” Additional functionality was added, such as a full set of numbers, symbols, and Polish and Italian characters, before publishing a version to the Google Market app store. “[We] were making preparations for not going back to work after the weekend, figuring we’ll be rich by then,” says Kubacki. A few weeks and a mere seven downloads later, they realised it wasn’t that simple. Rather than making money, what they did get, however, was potentially more valuable: feedback from actual users, and lots of it. This led to Kubacki ditching the keyboard’s “exotic layout”, based on the famous ETAOIN SHRDLU phrase, and quitting his day job at the cafe to work on the project full time. He then began networking like crazy, including attending Science Hack Day for Citizen Cyberlab where he teamed up with organiser Margaret Gold who is now helping to steer the business side of 5-Tiles. Since those early versions, the product has changed dramatically, says Kubacki, and now boasts an improved keyboard layout, based more closely on the alphabet, and multiple dictionaries and word prediction. Work that hasn’t gone unnoticed. The startup won second place at the 2013 Droidcon Demo Camp, where Kubacki met smartwatch maker “ ” and verified the usability of the 5-Tiles keyboard on smartwatches. The startup was also a finalist in the SMART UK competition and has won two UKTI sponsored competitions, providing exhibition space at MWC in Barcelona and CeBIT in Hannover. 5-Tiles also won first place at , a regular pitching event held near London’s Tech City, which is where TechCrunch first learned of the company. |
The ROI Of iCloud Photo Storage | Matthew Panzarino | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” That’s Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in February, after a representative of conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research asked a question related to a shareholder proposal that would have Apple disclosing the exact costs of its environmental sustainability programs and industry participation. Cook would go on to say that the sentiment applied to environmental issues, worker safety and other areas, of The Mac Observer. Cook then directly addressed the representative, saying bluntly, “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.” The whole account is actually pretty telling when it comes to the way Cook thinks about how Apple uses its resources — and it’s a bit refreshing, to be honest. But it got me thinking about other areas where Apple could stand to “not consider the bloody ROI” when it comes to serving their customers. One that jumped to mind immediately was iCloud storage — specifically with relation to photos. Currently, you get a very meager 5GB for free when you purchase an iOS device. You can then upgrade it (for a fairly hefty sum) all the way up to 50GB for $100. Back when the shareholder meeting happened, Cook should perhaps ignore whatever return on investment that Apple hoped to get from iCloud storage, and got a pretty strong response. Many good points were made in the comments, including the fact that you can’t even buy enough storage to back up a single 64GB device — and Apple already sells units with as much as 128GB of storage. But, even more than backups of anything else, this is really about photos. Ask your average iOS user what is taking up the most storage on their device and it’s almost guaranteed to be photos. Apple has spent billions making the iPhone one of the best and most-used pocket cameras in the world — but its storage policies punish the most prolific photographers. Consistently, when I speak to users about their iOS device woes, it comes down to running out of space for photos and video. And photos differ significantly from other data in that there is an intense emotional and mnemonic attachment to them. These are fragments of life, not just packets of data. That’s why I think that this year would be a really fine time for Apple to start ignoring the ROI of iCloud storage. Here’s what might be a good move: Now, I am not blind to the fact that cloud storage is not free, not even for Apple. There will be a significant cost factor to implementing these measures. But that’s where ‘ignoring’ the ROI comes in. But, if any company is capable of making a decision that prioritizes intangibles in the service of customer delight, it’s Apple. And they’ve consistently benefited from those kinds of decisions over the past decade with real, tangible sales and repeat business. If it’s a matter of money, I think it’s hard to argue that the ongoing costs of server maintenance, power and upkeep are eating into Apple’s still-growing cash piles. And the way I see it, this fits in with moves like making OS X and iWork free for purchasers of Apple hardware. If it’s purely a matter of storage capacity, well they’re building data centers like crazy, so they’ll have enough space soon enough. Even so, serving the first item right now might actually be more feasible than the second item. So, photos now, which are the most important items, and everything else once they have enough capacity. I’ve been hearing that Apple is working on photo-related announcements for WWDC, and that all of the teams working on Photos, iPhoto and Aperture are finally unified under one group now. Hopefully this means that photos, and iCloud storage, will get some nice face time during the keynote next month. I have no idea if they will for sure, but they should. |
Kill The Hamburger Button | Josh Constine | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | That little three-lined button is the devil. Whether you call it a side menu, navigation drawer, or a hamburger, hiding your features off-screen behind a nondescript icon in the corner is usually a poor mobile design choice. Interaction theory, A/B tests, and the evolution of some of the top apps in the world all support the same thesis: The hamburger button is bad for engagement, and you should probably replace it with a tab bar or other navigation scheme. Even if you’re not a designer, I highly recommend reading brilliant, GIF-filled deep-dive: . Here’s the summary of his analysis studies and some context about how this is playing out across the most popular apps. There’s debate about web hamburgers, but I’m focusing on mobile with iOS as the examples, and much of this applies to Android. Essentially, . Any navigation options you hide behind the hamburger will be forgotten, or at least used a lot less. It doesn’t help that the button is often placed in the top left corner — the hardest place to reach when using the phone with just your right hand. Hamburger buttons are , since you have to tap once before you’re even allowed to see the option you want. They clash with the navigation patterns of many mobile apps, forcing you to swipe or ‘back’ through multiple screens just to arrive at the hamburger button. And they’re less glanceable, preventing you from seeing notifications about specific areas of an app such as notifications, messages, or new content without first opening the side menu. Yet despite these shortcomings, many apps still use the hamburger because it’s an easy way to cram a ton of functionality into an app. They’re especially tempting if you’re trying to translate a full-featured web app into a mobile one. But in the end, they obscure what’s special about your product. The tab bar is a row of persistently visible buttons typically at the bottom of the screen that open different parts of the app. Instead of hiding the navigation options in a drawer, you splay them out. This keeps users from forgetting they exist, makes multiple pieces of core functionality available with one tap, allows rapid switching between features without the need to retreat to the app’s homescreen, and lets you display notifications on each tab. What you sacrifice is a bit of screen real estate, but it’s probably worth it. An A/B test by mobile app show just how damaging these drawbacks can be to an app’s engagement rate. Six months ago zeebox tried switching from a tab bar to a hamburger, and saw its metrics drop. Recently, it ran a simultaneous A/B test on the two navigation schemes and found , and an 8.7 percent higher average daily frequency. There are also clever ways to make the tab bar disappear when it’s not in use. If the home screen is a scrolling feed, the tab bar can be hidden when people flick it up to unfurl new content, and revealed if they start pulling down trying to get back to the top. In an interface like a map where maximizing screen real estate is key, the tab bar can be hidden when a user taps or drags. It’s not perfect for all situations, but many information architectures are better conveyed this way. Users seem to want single-purpose mobile apps that nail a specific use case quickly. That’s why we’re in the midst of “The Great Unbundling Of 2014”. Big, bloated apps are trying to slim down and speed up by pushing some functionality into standalone or companion apps. and are two prime examples. But if the goal is unburying core features so they’re more prominent and easily accessible, ditching the hamburger button is a wise move. When Facebook launched Messenger, it was still using a hamburger button. Luckily with the shift to iOS 7, after a ton of testing showed it was the way to go. Left: Facebook’s old hamburger button navigation. Right: The new tab bar style Facebook has more features than it can fit in five buttons along the bottom, so it still uses the last tab bar space to house a “More” hamburger revealing your profile, events, groups, and more. But that’s a much better compromise. A horizontal-scrolling tab bar with more tabs than fit on-screen is another option. Other popular apps sporting tab bars on iOS include Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Uber, Skype, WordPress, Quora, and the App Store. Many of them used to be saddled with hamburgers but came to their senses. Gmail, Google Maps, Pocket, TechCrunch’s own app, and many more still use the dreaded icon . Occasionally, if an app is pretty much single-purpose already, hiding truly extraneous features in a sidebar can make sense. Take Lyft, where mostly you’re just booking a car, and very rarely need to visit your profile, payment info, or send invitations. But Spotify is shooting itself in the foot by hiding its important Browse, Discover, Radio, Playlists, and Inbox behind the hamburger. So do it for your engineers, who work too hard building features for you to stuff them in the closet. Do it for your business team, which needs the engagement you lose because people don’t even remember what your app offers. But most of all, do it for your users. They downloaded your app because they had problems. Don’t banish the solutions to a side menu. |
Watch This DJ Pound The Default iPhone Ringtone Into A Crazy Catchy Dance Track | Greg Kumparak | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Happy Saturday! Ready for your semi-regular reminder that some people are just too damned talented? You know that one iPhone ringtone? Yeah. Some call it “Opening”; others call it “That one damned song thats woken me up every morning since iOS 7 came out.” A DJ out of New Delhi, India, cut together a catchy mix of iOS 7’s default ringer — and to make things a bit more interesting, filmed himself pounding the track out live on a Native Instruments Maschine board. Dig it? The DJ behind the mix, who goes by , put the mix up for free Make sure you stick around ’til the end. SURPRISE GUITAR SKILLS! |
Gillmor Gang: Hollywood & Vine | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | The Gillmor Gang — Alexia Tsotsis, Keith Teare, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — kick off the holiday weekend with a primer on cloud politics. Techcrunch co-editor Tsotsis in her maiden appearance in the clubhouse wastes no time putting @scobleizer on the spot, but Robert does a Seinfeld by saying nothing in a revealing way. Then we’re off to the land of Beats and Minecraft, where the kids ignore the networks and get their kicks from Netflix, Instagram and Philip DeFranco. Google Glass gets no respect and Wearables are top of mind but a rounding error in the face of the looming iPhone Godzilla. @stevegillmor, @Alexia, @Scoblizer, @kevinmarks, @kteare Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor |
Twitter Closed At $30.50 Today, Its Lowest Conclusion So Far As A Public Company | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Twitter closed out regular trading this afternoon at $30.50 per share. That’s its lowest end-of-day tally yet in its history as a public company. The company traded below the $30 mark earlier this month, but managed to end May 7 at $30.66. The decline of Twitter’s value is impressive. The company ‘s 52-week high — it hasn’t been public that long, keep in mind — is $74.73. Its 52-week low — same caveat — is $29.51. So it closed regular trading today ahead of its , but still at a fresh low for that timing. How does this impact you? The answer is somewhat simple, as TechCrunch in the face of a decline in the price of technology stocks: The fall in value of so-called “momentum” technology stocks lowers the implied valuation at which other, still-private technology companies can go public. The less that Weibo is worth, the less, implicitly, valuable analougous firms are that haven’t gone public — their private valuation may be static due to a lack of liquidity, and a recent but past equity sale, but that doesn’t shift the decline in their potential market value. My favorite venture capitalist likes to say that the venture capital market is just the NASDAQ on steroids, and he has a point. And at the moment the NASDAQ is taking a pause. The gist here is that the decline in the value of currently public technology stocks lowers the implicit value of private technology companies — the firms that are incredibly illiquid and are owned by a host of founders, investors, employees, and, of course, family members. A decline in that asset pool could therefore impact everything from rent in San Francisco to the price of homes in Sunnyvale. So this trickles down in the Reagan sense. Why cover Twitter foibles like this decline? Simple: Twitter matters as it’s a recently public technology that isn’t valued on its ability to generate GAAP profits. Sound familiar? Precisely. |
The Internet Is Burning | Jon Evans | 2,014 | 5 | 24 | Online security is a horrifying nightmare. . . . . . . . . Whatever security cataclysm erupts next, probably in weeks or even days. We seem to be trapped in a vicious cycle of cascading security disasters that just keep getting worse. Why? Well — “Computers have gotten incredibly complex, while people have remained the same gray mud with pretensions of godhood … Because of all this, security is terrible … People, as well, are broken … Everyone fails to use software correctly,” the great Quinn Norton in a bleak piece in . “We are building the most important technologies for the global economy on shockingly underfunded infrastructure. We are truly living through Code in the Age of Cholera,” security legend Dan Kaminsky. Most of which is objectively true. And it’s probably also true, as Norton states and Kaminsky implies, that a certain amount of insecurity is the natural state of affairs in any system so complex. But I contend that things are worse than they actually need to be, and, further, that the entire industry has developed towards software security. We have been conditioned to just accept that security is a complete debacle and always will be, so the risk of being hacked and/or a popping up in your critical code is just a random, uncontrollable cost of doing business, like the risk of setting up shop in the Bay Area knowing that the could hit any day. What’s more, while this is not actually true, most of the time it is no bad thing. I’m pleased that I was a Heartbleed hipster, (i.e. ten days before Heartbleed emerged into the light) but I don’t pretend to be a security expert. I do write software for a living, though … and recent events remind me vividly of the time I attended DefCon just after Cisco . You can read the details behind the link; it’s quaint history now. But in particular, I am put in mind of this slide from his censored presentation; Those details are largely obsolete now, but I remember that as a lo-and-the-scales-fell-from-my-eyes moment: To be fair, Lynn’s talk was about exploiting a bug that existed anyway; and as Norton , “things are better than they used to be. We have tools … that keep the idiotically written programs where they can’t do as much harm.” But who are we kidding? We live in a world in which people still write security-critical code in C, , and release . This is a world that has not much prioritized software security. I contend that online security is so bad not because it to be, but because there has been no systemic incentive to make it any better than it is. Sure, credit-card companies would like to reduce fraud — hence their incompetent hacks like “Verified by Visa” — but they’re still enormously profitable. Sure, eBay would they hadn’t been hacked; but most people will just sigh, change their passwords, and move on. And while it’s to build much-more-secure systems, A lot of people don’t really understand the incredible amount of detail and attention to every possible outcome that needs to be made, because one mistake in the entire library can bring a system down. And that’s a flaw of the type we’re seeing with Heartbleed. to Seth Hardy of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. (Disclaimer/disclosure; Seth’s a friend.) Or — : Professor Matthew Green of Johns Hopkins University recently commented that he’s been running around telling the world for some time that OpenSSL is Critical Infrastructure. He’s right. He really is. The conclusion is resisted strongly, because you cannot imagine the regulatory hassles normally involved with traditionally being deemed Critical Infrastructure. A world where SSL stacks have to be audited and operated against such standards is a world that doesn’t run SSL stacks at all. There’s actually quite a tricky implicit tradeoff here. We can slowly, carefully, write more secure (though still imperfect!) systems; or we can damn the torpedoes, steam full speed ahead, innovate like crazy, and treat security as an afterthought or a nice-to-have. The reason massive security disasters hit almost weekly these days is because for twenty years virtually the entire industry has, tacitly or explicitly, chosen the latter course. …And, , for 95% of the Internet’s population, that has arguably been the right decision. Oh, it’s been awful if you’re an activist, a dissident, a journalist, a victim of identity theft, a specific target of the NSA, etc; but most people aren’t. Secure software — and it — is still written by a tiny minority for a tiny minority. Sad but true. That’s one reason why it’s so often so hard to use. The good news is that we seem to finally be nearing the point at which the Internet collectively decides that much stronger online security would probably be a good idea. The bad news is that the most powerful entity on Earth appears to be , to any such development. But there is no natural law requiring that software be as fragile and vulnerable as most of it is today. We as an industry allowed that to happen — and if we want to, we can fix it. : yours truly, on , of Helix by . |
What Google’s Favorite Bay Area Nonprofits Would Do With A $500K Grant | Kyle Russell | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | , Google announced its finalists for the Bay Area Impact Challenge, its latest effort to assist nonprofits in the region through grants and support from Googlers willing to volunteer their time. The company is . On June 3, it will announce which four received the most votes, and offer them each a $500,000 grant and access to a co-working space in San Francisco, and will encourage employees to volunteer for their causes. I’ve spoken to the finalists to find out what the community would get out of Google’s grants and support. If you’re unsure who to vote for, this should help guide you to the nonprofit that will benefit the cause you care about most. – Among its efforts to enable healthier living, Health Trust operates food carts in SF that are strategically placed to let kids pick up healthy fruits and vegetables on their way home from school instead of stopping by a 7-Eleven and picking up a snack. With studies showing that nearly one-fourth of kids is malnourished, Health Trust’s goal is to double the number of youth it reaches through its cart program by increasing the number of carts and strategically placing them on common routes between schools and residential neighborhoods. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlbhXEJmaCU&w=560&h=315] – The Community Music Center aims to make music accessible to people of all ages. With its application to the Bay Area Impact Challenge, it’s hoping to bring the benefits of music and community participation to those above the age of 60. In August 2012, the CMC partnered with the University of California, San Francisco, to research and document benefits of singing in community choir, starting with 12 different community choirs. If given the $500,000 grant, their choir program will be able to continue for a minimum of two years, impacting 400 choir participants and thousands of performance attendees each year. In addition to the grant, Google has offered to provide online marketing and analytics for the choir’s performances and assistance in the form of employees volunteering. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIiqXdTmfLg&w=560&h=315] – BUILD targets schools with high drop-outs rates, low graduation rates, and low college acceptance rates. It provides mentors who, through deep engagement, teach entrepreneurial skills that help to not only get students through school but come out prepared for the real world. With the $500,000 grant from Google, the nonprofit would like to expand to San Francisco and San Jose from their current locations in Redwood City, Oakland and East Palo Alto. Currently, they serve 825 high school students in the Bay Area — their planned expansion would increase that 300 percent to 3,000. In addition to the grant money, Google has promised the nonprofit greater exposure to its employees, a huge promise considering the fact that the vast majority of its mentors come from corporate sponsors. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBhk6fYTIAE&w=560&h=315] – With the grant from Google, SubArt wants to use art to bring “themed connectivity” to BART and MUNI stations throughout the Bay Area. It would put the money towards engaging the public in a dialogue, including hosting large workshops and paying research firms for polling and to conduct focus groups to identify which cultural factors bring residents of the Bay Area together. The benefits aren’t just aesthetic: Studies have shown that people will walk farther to/between public transit when they have engaging public art to consume as part of their commute. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Gzc6hyLsc&w=560&h=315] – Hack the Hood is a six-week summer program that teaches at-risk students technical skills and puts them to work for local businesses who can’t afford to hire technical employees full-time. The students receive $1,000 for their participation. Google’s grant would let the program expand from 20 to 100 students and let the nonprofit offer the program year round. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH7AGr2lrnU&w=560&h=315] – According to CEO José Quiñonez, the Mission Asset Fund currently partners with nine nonprofits in San Francisco and Alameda County to “formalize informal loans” — basically, reporting loans between friends to credit bureaus so that a small loan to help buy a bike can improve one’s credit score. Mission Asset Fund plans to use the $500,000 grant from Google to expand its partnerships to a total of 28 nonprofits and improve the technology behind its “Social Loans Platform,” built on Salesforce CRM. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUzJU36nPdY&w=560&h=315] – Beyond 12 seeks to improve the higher-education outcomes of students across the country through a combination of data collection and mentorship. With the $500,000 grant from Google, the nonprofit would increase the number of students whose progress it tracks from 32,000 to 100,000 and the number of students it coaches from 2,000 to 10,000 in addition to rolling out a new mobile platform that will better facilitate both sides of its effort. In addition to the financial aid Beyond 12 would receive, Google would help by providing mobile developers (on a volunteer basis) to improve the mobile experience provided by its platform. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbjkgVFqolI&w=560&h=315] – Parks are an important cultural center in any city. They give those who live in urban areas a place to get some fresh air; children, a place to run around and play; and Millennials a place to walk their French bulldogs. Pogo Park plans to use the grant from Google to improve the parks and playgrounds in Richmond’s Iron Triangle in order to improve the health and well-being of thousands of at-risk children. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEMM9Yx1OnY&w=560&h=315] – One of the biggest keys to improving life-long academic success is instilling a love of reading at a young age. Bring Me A Book plans to use the grant from Google to provide libraries in the Bay Area with high-quality children’s books and read-aloud workshops for disadvantaged children. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBy78tD7Wb4&w=560&h=315] – CEO helps those who have been incarcerated break from the vicious cycle of the penal system and unemployment by providing “transitional employment” and job placement. With the grant from Google, the nonprofit would like to expand its employment program to 300 employees in Oakland and 200 in San Jose over the next two years, as well as place another 280 into paid jobs. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WhANy0H2XI&w=560&h=315] |
If Jawbone Were For Sale, Who Would Buy It? | Ryan Lawler | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Is Jawbone in play? That’s a question that has been bounced around the rumor mill lately, likely driven by a few other huge recent acquisitions in the hardware space. Over the last few days, the TechCrunch tips line has lit up with anonymous notes about Jawbone being acquired by Google in a multi-billion-dollar deal. (For what it’s worth, we’ve heard we’re not the only ones getting these tips.) And while that by itself is not a sign of a deal being done, or even being close, it could be an indicator that someone out there — maybe a banker, maybe an early investor or an employee — is interested in boosting the valuation of the company.* So far, our sources have been unable to confirm a purchase is happening, but we’re not the only ones hearing about Jawbone being in active discussions. For whatever reason, there’s been quite a bit of chatter going around about the company having acquisition talks, if not with Google, then at least one of the other big tech giants. Why now? Well, for one thing, everyone is trying to . And with and , it’s a frothy time for independent hardware companies looking to be gobbled up. After 15 years as a standalone company, now might be the best time for Jawbone to exit and return some of its cash to investors. That is, provided that it can find the right buyer. On that front, things might be more complicated than they seem. Google has , and while we’ve heard that he gets along with Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman, it’s not clear how that company’s product portfolio and engineering team would fit into the broader organization. There’s also the question of how much overlap there would be between its ongoing wearables product team and what Google has been building as part of its experimental Google X division. While Google Glass currently , it’s clear that the search giant is very interested in creating computing products that consumers would wear on their person. Apple, meanwhile, has never wanted for product design talent the way that Google had prior to its Nest acquisition. Even its rumored acquisition of Beats, which makes a number of audio products that compete with Jawbone’s, has been rather than a purchase of products or IP. All of which leaves Microsoft. The software giant has been aggressively expanding into hardware recently, with the launch of its Surface line of PCs and tablets, its XBox game console, and its . Could Microsoft pick up Jawbone? Like any other wealthy technology firm, it is a potential suitor. At the same time, it’s hard to square the purchase with Microsoft’s current vision: Where do pricey speakers and headsets fit into a company straining to build out its key operating system platform, both mobile and not? Microsoft has both the dollars and need for design talent, but that alone doesn’t make a $6 billion or $10 billion pickup sensible. It has activist shareholders after all. Unless Jawbone can directly further Microsoft’s platform or services play, expect Redmond to ignore the hype. Or it could be no one. Who cares? It’s Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. Jawbone declined to comment for this story. Also, wrote that Microsoft bit. ==
* It’s probably worth noting here that while the anonymous TechCrunch tips line does a really bad job of predicting actual buyers, it’s very good at letting us know who’s in play. In the weeks leading up to Google’s acquisition of Nest, for instance, the tips line floated multiple anonymous rumors that the company was in talks with Apple. |
A Paralyzed Teen Will Kick The First World Cup Ball Thanks To A Robotic Exoskeleton | John Biggs | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | The 2014 World Cup begins next month in Brazil and will feature something truly amazing: the plan is for a paralyzed, non-ambulatory Brazilian teenager to stand up and kick the first ball of the first game using a motorized exoskeleton and special 3D-printed helmet. Created by an international team of designers and engineers, the video shows Colorado State University’s design for the custom trode helmet that will keep the leads in place and protect the kicker’s head. First announced in , the exoskeleton is finally coming together and should be ready for the kick-off. Called the at Duke University, the kick will be one of the first massively public demonstrations of a human controlling a robot with neural signals. The CSU researchers, led by , built the helmet while other teams built the exoskeleton and the neuro interface for the robot. They’re using a 3D printer to extrude a foam structure that is soft and squishy and that will be able to keep the electrodes in place while in motion. The kicker will also train in a VR environment to get used to walking with their new nervous system. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBl7uTHyXJE#t=121] |
A Badass Darth Vader Is Running The Internet Party Of Ukraine | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Who here wouldn’t like to live life like Darth Vader? And wield political power at the same time? Look, just go with it. For this is what a local politician in the Ukraine likes to do. A lot. Darth Vader ( ) is, (almost) quite literally, a candidate for mayor of Kiev and Odessa, and has even had a crack at running for the presidency. He has his own political party, the perfectly named and you can follow him and . to Wikipedia, the party claims to be the first Internet party in the world; its slogan is “electronic government against bureaucracy” and it wants to “create an electronic government in Ukraine.” It was formed by “alleged” Ukrainian hacker Dmytro Golubov. He tried to run for president this year but his registration was refused because his real identity could not be verified. Which seems dumb to me. He’s Darth Vader. Obviously. But there’s a snag. Two men named Darth Vader are candidates at the 25 May 2014 Kiev mayoral election and the Odessa mayoral election of the same day for the party. Go figure. Here is our mayoral candidate taking down a few Jedis in an Odessa car park. As you do. |
Priori Data Rakes In $1M To Build A Bloomberg For App Data | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | , an app store data and analytics provider, has secured $1 million in seed financing to build a kind of Bloomberg-style platform for mobile industry professionals and analysts. The cash was raised from unnamed sources but, says the company, includes the Berlin angel investor community, private individuals from New York private equity and hedge fund circles. It has a large database of app information and tracks the performance of over 2 million apps from 300 thousand publishers across 30 countries. Its main competitors are App Annie and Mattermark and may eventually include S&P Capital IQ. Its data gets quoted in the Washington Post and Quartz, among others. The company was founded by Patrick Kane, a former analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York. Kane says Priori Data’s focus comes from both the commoditization of app data and the increasing number of companies that rely on apps for the bulk of their revenue. So for instance, King.com is a public company whose data is publicised quarterly and derives over 70 percent of its revenue from mobile — 95 percent of which is from three games. Investors in King.com can use Priori Data’s data around download and revenue estimates as a real-time data feed into King’s performance. See? “King’s data is a commodity. It’s the modern day equivalent of standing outside the supermarket and checking what’s inside the shopping cart of everyone who walks out,” says Kane. “It beats the information inefficiency of the public market – it is legalized insider trading.” That may well be, and the emergence of startups like Priori Data shows that this trend will continue as more mobile companies IPO and their app data becomes important to retail investors. |
Writers And Editors Call Out Amazon For Going After Hachette, But Will It Matter? | Anthony Ha | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Amazon.com appears to be flexing its muscle against publishers once again. that Amazon had removed preorder options for upcoming titles from publisher Hachette (which owns the imprints Grand Central Publishing, Little Brown, Orbit, and others), a move that affected books, including , the latest mystery by J.K. Rowling (writing under the pen name Robert Galbraith) and the paperback version of Brad Stone’s book about Amazon, . It’s not exactly clear what happened here — Amazon declined to comment, and Hachette has not responded to my email. For some readers, this might not seem like a huge deal, since it’s focused on upcoming books, not ones that are already available. Nonetheless, the news has prompted some critical commentary from writers and editors. For example, editor a link to the NYT story and said that Amazon is “evil,” while author Lilith Saintcrow (whose novel was affected by the changes) this as an attempt to “blackmail” a publisher in a way that also hurts writers and editors. president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and author of the novel (I studied with him at ) emailed me a comment about why this is a big deal. To be clear, this meant to be a personal statement, not an official comment from SFWA. Anyway, here it is: If Amazon were one of many comparable online distributors of goods, the Hachette/Amazon dispute (like the Macmillan/Amazon dispute of a few years ago) would not be significant. However, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer with revenue that’s 58 billion dollars a year more than their nearest competitor so their actions have huge impacts on the viability of publishers and the careers of their authors. I am sadly reminded of “Too Big Too Fail,” in our recent economic downturn. A healthy industry needs retailers, lots of them, in both the digital and physical realm. Even before, it looked like Amazon’s negotiations over e-book terms had affected Hachette’s books, with Amazon charging higher prices to consumers, shipping books at a slower pace, and recommending other titles. A couple of years ago, The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta offered a of the complicated relationship between publishers and Amazon. (At the time, Amazon, Apple, and the publishers were embroiled in a legal battle over publisher’s attempts to ally themselves with Apple and become less dependent on Amazon, with .) This isn’t the first time that Amazon has changed listings as part of its negotiations with publishers, either. As Gould alluded to, back in 2010, the company stopped selling Macmillan titles directly. The moves against Hachette thus far haven’t been quite as aggressive. Will the criticism against Amazon make much of a difference? Well, , and Gould’s comment is colored with almost a sense of helplessness — it may be unhealthy for one book retailer to be quite so dominant, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is. It’s also worth noting that after Amazon’s dispute with Macmillan, we declared that , but that bookseller’s fortunes . On the other hand, it’s been interesting to see . Perhaps more importantly, Amazon probably doesn’t want to be painted as anti-author, particularly since it works directly with authors through initiatives like Kindle Direct Publishing. And . I don’t think readers, publishers, or writers (aside from a few one-offs) will be abandoning Amazon anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean the company can’t be pressured into taking a different approach. [image ] |
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CrunchWeek: Secret’s Massive Expansion And Why Apple Wants Beats | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | This week our inimitable boss took to the with , one of our , and your to dig into the intersection of technology and the personal. Secret, an application that and the whole world, is controversial given its consistent dose of public vitriol it fosters. . Our small crew also dug into why Apple might want to buy Beats, with the least number of Dr. Dre-forgetting jokes we could muster. Thanks for tuning in. Next week I’ll iron my shirt. |
E-Book Platform Bookmate Secures $3M To Target Emerging World | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Betaworks-style ‘startup studio’ – based in Moscow – has raised a $3 million Series A round from retail giant Ulmart (in Russia) to develop its subscription-based social reading service . They plan to take the startup international out of Moscow, starting with Turkey, Scandinavia and Latin America. The funding is part of a $6.5 million package from Ulmart to Dream Industries, with the balance of the raise going to other Dream Industries projects, which include , , , and . Bookmate is a subscription “social reading” service covering mobile, tablet and web. It claims to have 1.5 million active monthly users in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other Russian-speaking markets, including Turkey, and a conversion rate of 7 percent to paid subscribers accessing 400,000 books, and from 300 publishers globally. The e-book market is big in the U.S. and U.K., but e-book consumption is just starting out in emerging markets. So Bookmate is focused on those developing markets where the competition is mainly local. Bookmate connects publishers and authors with new markets and makes money by partnering with MNO, device makers, online retailers and local government. Unlike Amazon, Google Books or iBooks, Bookmate is an open platform that connects publishers and readers directly. So publishers get access to user behavior analytics and have promotion tools for direct marketing. It means they “own” their relationship with their readers – very much unlike the big players we all know. This is a very interesting move, especially as emerging markets are largely untapped by the biggest players as they really on a lot of infrastructure that doesn’t exist in emerging markets. |
Croatian Incubator ZIP Poised To Raise A Fund Via Seedrs Crowd Equity | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | , a startup program based in Croatia, has decided to dump the idea of raising a fund via Limited Partners and has turned instead to equity crowdfunding. And it’s poised to hit its target ( ) of £50,000, raised through the UK-based Seedrs platform. ZIP is co-founded by entrepreneurs and angels Ivo Spigel, Mihovil Barancic and Sasa Cvetojevic and Damir Sabol, who successfully exited Croatia’s first ISP. They say they used the Seedrs platform because of its single nominee structure. Their campaign is the first start-up programme outside of the UK to raise investment through Seedrs, and may well be the harbinger of things to come. Raising venture funds in Europe is notoriously difficult, so crowd equity could be a route for smaller accelerators and incubators. |
Gillmor Gang Live 05.23.14 | Steve Gillmor | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | – Robert Scoble, Alexia Tsotsis, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. |
Farmeron Raises Another $2.65M To Disrupt Dairy | Mike Butcher | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | , a SaaSstartup aimed at the agriculture industry (run your dairy farm in the cloud instead of grappling with Excel etc), has raised an additional $2.65 million in funding from agricultural investors Matt Swanson, Andrew Murphy, SoftTech VC and NextView Ventures. The funding will be used to go after enterprise sales. Farmeron focuses on the data-complex dairy industry where you need to manage 50 to 5,000 cows. That’s a lot of production data and you can’t call them all Daisy. Swanson (of Virtus Nutrition) is a serial entrepreneur with background in the California animal feed industry through Associated Feed & Supply, Virtus Nutrition and other companies. While Murphy (of MFE Tech) is a former owner and CEO at Innovative Livestock Services, one of the largest beef producers in the US. , Farmeron closed a $1.4 million seed round. It competes with old guard farm record-keeping solutions like DairyComp305 and DHI-Provo, which are in the herd/animal data management space. In the animal economics and farming ERP software space on-premise ERP companies like Infor and SAP and Oracle are starting to take an interest in this livestock space – but they haven’t done any real development yet, and none of them are SaaS platforms. |
This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Bug A-Salt, And OnePlus One | Jordan Crook | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | It’s been a wild week in the land of gadgets. Microsoft unveiled its latest and greatest generation of the , while Matt discovered to help him conquer summer bugs in the house. Meanwhile, Darrell takes a closer look at the , which offers premium Android specs at an affordable price. We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of the featuring , , and , and . Have a good Friday, everybody!
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5 Questions For Beacon Providers | Mark DiPaola | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | From concert venues to your neighborhood grocery store, beacons are ushering in an age of touchless, context-based mobile experiences for savvy consumers. There have been plenty of exciting announcements touting beacons in 2014, and enormous interest in the field. However, there is also confusion about how to actually use these devices at scale. With that in mind, here are five critical questions to ask “before you beacon.” A beacon network without an app ecosystem is like a radio station with no listeners. In fact, beacons themselves are just little radios attached to a watch battery — they don’t “do” anything without apps (and users) tuned in to listen to them. Before you go out and buy 1,000 beacons, make sure you have an app network in place to make the program work. Because some percent of users may have Bluetooth off, opt-out, or have an old phone, 10 million-plus installs is a good rule of thumb to begin seeing meaningful activations on a national campaign. Local campaigns should have more. If this is beyond the scale of your own app distribution, consider one of the emerging SDK networks that leverage other apps to listen for your beacons or locations. And don’t forget about compatibility. There are a lot of Androids out there — does your provider offer an Android beacon solution? And does that solution actually use beacons, or does it simply use GPS? There’s nothing wrong with using GPS as a backup for devices that aren’t beacon-compatible, but make sure you understand what you’re actually paying for. The basic concept behind beacon marketing is not new: Target a consumer at the perfect moment on the path-to-purchase. Since the advent of GPS, mobile marketing firms have successfully reached shoppers based on their locations. However, it just wasn’t as accurate, often fired at the wrong time, or ate through your battery. If your goal is to reach shoppers, a company with a track record in microlocation solutions may be better suited to help you than a company that simply sells beacon hardware. Watch out for vaporware, and the dreaded asterisk that appears subtly on more than one analytics page: “Please note the following examples are for illustrative purposes only.” A beacon provider should come to you with a demo, point you toward a nearby location with the technology installed, and demonstrate how their content management system works. Demand more than mockups and evaluate the actual experience. Beacons piggyback on existing consumer behavior: Using apps in certain places to add value to real-world experiences. A smartphone becomes smarter when it acts like a concierge and helps you effortlessly. So how does your beacon campaign add value for the consumer? The idea of sending multiple messages to consumers as they walk down the street is a request we’ve encountered from more than a few brands. But will today’s consumers tolerate 1999-style popup ads on their phones? No way. Delighting the user is paramount, and apps that annoy get the app “death penalty” — deletion. However, when deployed correctly, there is a great reward: We’re seeing that consumers who receive a location-based message are 16 times more likely to use an app in-store than those who do not. And since consumers who use apps while in-store buy 14 percent more than those who don’t, that’s money in the bank. Marketers who dream up responsible user experiences that surprise and delight consumers are in for a treat. Three broad pricing models have emerged: We’re still in the early innings of beacon adoption, so the jury is still out on pricing models. Select the solution that makes the most sense for your application. Beacon hijacking — listening for beacons that other people have placed — is an important issue depending on your application. WikiBeacon is among the first sites to begin collecting “naked beacon” IDs and addresses — 32,000 so far — and posting them for all to see. Physical competitors are already beginning to use this data to target retailers who have been unfortunate enough to deploy naked beacons, and it’s not hard to imagine a world in which online competitors could target users, too. The good news is that security exists. Ask a potential partner’s provider if their beacons are locked down and protected so that only you can use them. As beacon technology becomes more common, we’ll see an evolution in all five of these categories. The key for today’s adopters is to ask the right questions. Watch out for vaporware, know exactly what you’re paying for, and make sure you’re adding value to the consumer experience. |
Microsoft Confirms Windows With Bing | Alex Wilhelm | 2,014 | 5 | 23 | Surprising a grand total of zero people, Microsoft the existence of Windows with Bing today, and its post on the matter is deliciously vague. The core bit, in keeping to earlier reports, is that Windows with Bing will ship on low-cost devices — Paul Thurrott that devices under $250 will be eligible — bringing Windows 8.1’s cost profile better in line with dropping price points for touch-based hardware. The gist is simple: If Windows kept its OEM fees static as hardware prices fell, the percentage of the cost of a device built on Microsoft costs increases. Windows with Bing appears to answer that concern by allowing cheap devices to forgo some part of normal Windows fees in exchange for pushing Microsoft services. Microsoft makes money either way, of course. The only question is if pre-loading Bing can make up for the OEM fee delta. Microsoft, however, isn’t likely looking for complete parity. Why? The company is determined to grow its mobile market share. So, it is willing to forgo Windows OEM fees on devices smaller than 9 inches running either Windows Phone or regular Windows, for example. This product is an extension of that work, lowering the cost of Windows-based devices not based on their screen size, but on the size of their price tag. One day, Microsoft will stop charging consumers for Windows altogether. That day is a long time coming. These are steps in that direction. In its blog post, Microsoft comments on the potential inclusion of Office 365 in devices that run Windows with Bing: This new edition will be only be available preloaded on devices from our hardware partners. Some of these devices, in particular tablets, will also come with Office or a one-year subscription to Office 365. The end result is that more people—across consumer and commercial—will have access to an even broader selection of new devices with all the awesomeness that Windows 8.1 provides, and get Office too, all at a really affordable price. Additionally, as reach expands, the opportunity for developers and their apps also increases. I have a call into the company to get more clarity on the situation. For now if I had to guess, Microsoft is willing to sacrifice up-front Windows OEM fees to push not just Bing, but a sheaf of its services. The cost of Office 365 for regular consumers is either larger, or roughly commensurate to the fee it would juice from Dell for a new image of Windows, after all. Give it away for a year, something that won’t impact its earnings, let’s be clear, and then get them on-board after the ‘trial’ year ends.
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