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Digg Raises An Inside Venture Round | Michael Arrington | 2,011 | 7 | 12 | has raised a new round of financing, we’ve confirmed. It’s an inside round, meaning one or more put in the money. We’ve heard the amount raised was single digit millions, probably around $5 million. CEO has confirmed the financing to us, but won’t give an exact number on the amount raised. The real question is around the terms of the deal. Digg’s last round in 2008 valued the company at post money. But that was a long time ago, and Digg’s influence has waned. One source says the valuation is probably around $35 million. But Williams told me “this was not a down round.” There are ways to structure a deal to give a better real valuation to investors while keeping the official valuation high. By increasing the liquidity preference, or using debt, or warrants. Williams wouldn’t comment further, though, on the round. The company has $1.5 million outstanding debt with Silicon Valley Bank, and one source says they were pressuring the company to raise new money to improve the balance sheet. Without this round Digg had about 6 months of runway left before they ran out of cash, says one source. Now, they have more time. |
EA Buys PopCap Games For As Much As $1.3B | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 7 | 12 | As we initially a few weeks ago, EA has PopCap Games. The acquisition price is $650 million plus $100 million stock and a multi-year earn-out. The total acquisition price is as much as $1.3 billion. PopCap Games is the company behind such hits as Plants vs Zombies, Zuma and Bejeweled. PopCap games have been installed 150 million times worldwide. Last year, approximately 80% of PopCap’s revenue was on digital platforms. EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a release: “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.” In terms of the earnout structure, PopCap sellers are entitled to additional cash bonus upon the achievement of certain non-GAAP earnings before interest and tax through December 2013. If the two-year cumulative earnings are $91 million or less, PopCap sellers won’t receive anything. If the earnings are $110 million, sellers will receive a total of $100 million. With $200 million in earnings, sellers get $275 million. And if earnings come in at $343 million or more, sellers get a whopping $550 million in earnout, making the total acquisition price $1.3 billion. EA says that it will also provide up to $50 million in long-term equity retention awards to PopCap employees to be granted over the next four years. A $1 billion plus acquisition price is huge for any company, let alone EA. But clearly EA wants PopCap badly. The acquisition will help the gaming giant break into mobile and social gaming — areas where the company hasn’t done nearly as well as it has in the console arena. Electronic Arts has many successful franchises that cater to casual users (including The Sims), but many of its popular properties appeal to the hardcore crowd. PopCap could be a away to compete with social, casual gaming companies like Zynga, Rovio and others. |
AutoUncle raises Angel funding for used-car search engine | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 12 | , a startup which is trying to disrupt the used car market initially in Denmark, has raised 1.3 million DKK (€175,000) from Hampus Jakobsson, a Swedish entrepreneur/angel who just sold TAT to RIM. The founders are brothers Johan Frederik Schjødt and Niels Kristian who have built a site which is not unlike a Skyscanner for used cars. It collects data about the used car market to extract insight, then visualizes the information to allow people to make decisions – although the crammed, messy design could probably do with a make-over. Once you click on a car it goes to the original site where the sale is made. They claim you don’t have to be a used car expert to find a good deal as site’s algorithm is supposed to find the best deals based. The business model is that private and professional users will pay for premium services and support tools. The investment will be used to develop web/mobile apps and international expansion. The site is currently available in English, Danish and German. Right now, although it offers an English version, the default is Danish, as is much of the interface. It really ought to be default English if it’s going to be international. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, Autouncle was one of the Startupbootcamp teams from Copenhagen 2010. |
Crittercism Raises $1.2 Million From Kleiner Perkins And Google Ventures For App Support | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Yesterday, at the in San Francisco, Google Ventures Managing Partner and Co-founder of Android announced that , a startup that provides support infrastructure for mobile apps, had raised an undisclosed seed funding round from , , , , and , among others. GigaOM on the startup’s mystery raise, but we’ve since learned from sources close to the deal what the actual amount was: $1.2 million. Our sources also indicated that those leading the charge were at Kleiner Perkins, at Google Ventures, of Opus Capital, who was part of the original iPhone team and is former director of worldwide marketing for the iPhone, at Shasta Ventures (who also invested in Gowalla), and at AOL Ventures. Early Facebook engineer Lucas Nealson also participated. While $1.2 million may not seem like a deal-size that is cause for a big fuss, considering and yesterday, we’re hearing that the deal was pretty competitive and Crittercism had to turn investors away to make room in this round. The impressive list of investors, combined with the fact that more money and investors may have been on the table — not to mention that the mobile application development services market is projected to grow to $100 billion by 2015 — seem to be confirmation of the serious growth happening (and coming to) mobile app development, and the potential of startups like Crittercism that provide support systems for these app developers. For this, his second startup, Co-founder and CEO Andrew Levy joined the accelerator program, raising this round shortly after the incubator’s demo day in March. As to Crittercism itself, the startup has built a platform that enables developers to diagnose mobile app crashes and to easily provide customer support to an app’s users. Crittercism’s iOS library (previously in beta) was yesterday made available to all mobile app developers and has also made its Android SDK available for limited release. While most of the growth in the mobile apps space has been among startups offering tools for speedy or custom development, there is ample room for those providing customer support and services that help developers diagnose and solve mobile app crashes and outages. Troubleshooting errors and customer support is an extremely important part of customer satisfaction and engagement, but it also eats up time and resources for developers. The startup’s solution, then, provides businesses with a library that can be added to any app and connects to a SaaS platform that monitors those apps. The solution prioritizes the most nefarious bugs as they occur, while gathering diagnostic data on hardware and software, so that developers can see what was happening on the device when it crashed. And, perhaps most importantly, developers are able to notify users when an issue has been fixed and can “specifically target users that ceased to use the application as a result of a crash or bug in the software”, according to Crittercism’s release. This feature may prove to be very important for user retention, a problem that has long beset app developers, as users often download an app once, use it a few times until a bug is spotted before dropping it. For more, check out Crittercism’s home page and let us know what you think. |
Leica Planning New Line Of EVIL Cameras For September Debut | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | CEO, Alfred Schopf, has abruptly and rather casually being planned for a Photokina debut. The new system will have “at least” an APS-C sensor and will “do things differently” from the rest of the EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens) cameras — serious competition like the NEX, PEN, and G series. The unnamed camera would presumably be a non-rangefinder camera and would likely be placed above the X1 but below the M series in price and capabilities. Whether it would use existing Leica lenses or a new mount was not mentioned, but as Photokina is coming right up in September, we don’t have long to wait. Just kidding, we do, because it’s coming up in September of . [via ] |
Stealthy Prism Skylabs Seeks To "Bring Physical Spaces Online" | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | A couple weeks ago, a stealthy startup called was formed in San Francisco. Already it’s creating buzz among angel investors. It’s site is not much more than a place holder right now with this : We are pioneering ways to bring physical spaces online, creating new places for people and businesses to understand and engage each other. A few more clues can be uncovered by looking at the two co-founders: CEO and president . Russell previously founded , a digital video security company where he is currently chairman. But Prism Skylabs is his new full-time gig. Palmeri was Halsey Minor’s right-hand man at Minor Ventures, where he backed and incubated GrandCentral (now Google Voice), OpenDNS, and Scout Labs, a social CRM and brand-monitoring service (which turned into a ) So you’ve got a video surveillance expert and a Silicon Valley investor with a background in the consumer Web and social media analytics, and they want to “bring physical places online.” My bet is that they do that through video. Beyond that, we’ll have to keep digging. But it sounds like this startup is aiming squarely for the ever-expanding market. We’ll keep our own video cameras trained on this one. has committed to invest in Prism Skylabs. |
A Reverse Priceline? SoBiz10 Tests Automated, Consumer-Driven Deals Service (With A Touch Of Charity) | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | I hope you’re not getting tired of daily deals, because I’ve got more daily deal news for you, dear reader. Among the latest trends in the evolving daily deal model are the now popular “deal wallet” and “deal resale marketplace”, which quite a few startups have begun implementing, like and , to name a few. Another area of the deal model that seems to be going through a redux is the consumer driven deals (CDD) approach, in which sites are letting consumers determine what deals they want to see offered by their favorite local merchants. Ringleadr to put consumers in the cockpit, as did Loopt . The consumer driven deal (or reverse deal, if you prefer) has been poked at by startups before, without prodigious success, but that is not to say that there isn’t room left for iteration and disruption, as the space on a whole is still relatively young. While Ringleadr and Loopt are both offering great services, one of the potential drawbacks to the structure of their models is that consumers have to wait for 15 days (in the case of Ringleadr) for the merchant to approve the deal. This is after the consumer has gotten a crowd of friends excited about the deal, enough so to get past the tipping point, and then has to wait over two weeks for the merchant to decide to approve. , a Colorado-based startup, is attempting to turn the CDD screw even further by shortening the time it takes for merchants to approve a deal. The startup is taking a “consumers get the deals they want, at the price they want, when they want” approach, not to mention it’s all completely automated. Of course, this immediacy may sound like tyranny of the consumer, but SoBiz wants to offset this potential by giving businesses the ability to generate and retain new customers for a smaller revenue share (25 percent) than is typical among group coupon sites. (The average is about 50 percent.) But, before going any further, here’s how SoBiz works: Users get 10 of their friends together to decide on a deal they want and the merchant they want to patronize. A user then posts that deal on SoBiz, at which point the merchant receives an email, text, and voicemail, alerting them of the deal. The merchant has 48 hours to accept, deny, or counteroffer. If the deal is accepted, the 10 users are immediately sent their coupons in an email and can pay for them using the startup’s secure payment system. From there, merchants have the ability to display the deal more broadly in the SoBiz marketplace, with the option to control the availability, and SoBiz in turn alerts members of the community that the deal is more broadly available. On the merchant side, SoBiz10 Director of Operations John Morgans said that the only thing businesses have to do is create a profile to become a member. After they’ve created a profile, there is a page to enable CDD notifications. Therein, merchants can create the fine print they want to appear on all of their deals as well as enter bank routing info for payment to be sent 2 to 3 business days after each deal ends. After agreeing to the terms, CDD notifications are enabled and they business will begin receiving CDDs, both those that are sent directly to them as well as those sent to their entire business category. Each time they receive a CDD they will be notified. Another selling point for the SoBiz take is that 25-cents of every coupon sold is donated to a charity of the deal-creator’s choice, adding a non-profit and feel-good element to the service, . Each of the non-profits on SoBiz has a profile. At any time, they can log on and view on their dashboard to see how much money has been donated. When they are ready to withdraw the donations, they email SoBiz, which then sends them a check. Morgans said that they are working on automating this process as well. The other interesting part of the SoBiz platform comes from the fact that Founder and CEO Marion Mariathasan and team had originally built the service to be a social network, with a daily deal component as an add-on. As you can see from the image above, users and merchants can create profiles, just as one would on Facebook, write reviews of prior deals, connect with friends and merchants, and so on. The service also includes search functionality as well as deal categorization, so that consumers can request deals by category. If a user doen’t know who the best merchant is for, say, a new pair of reading glasses, they can go into the “Vision Category” to search for eyewear merchants. Categorization is an added bonus in comparison to Groupon and other deal sites — it adds a much-needed level of organization to the frantic world of coupons. Mariathasan compares the service to a kind of reverse , except in the case of Priceline, consumers are just reacting to the deals that Priceline has already negotiated, whereas automated consumer-driven deals puts the customer in the driver’s seat. SoBiz10 has been testing its model in Denver and Kansas City, with more than 17,000 consumers and 2,000 merchants participating. The startup recently forged its first big partnership with a national coupon-ing company, but is not yet sharing the terms, or the name of company, though two more are in talks with SoBiz. More to come on that. SoBiz is currently bootstrapped and seeking venture-backing to help bring its service to other cities. Lastly, the startup is providing TechCrunch readers with 100 free keys to the private beta, which you can take advantage of by emailing the team at contact@SoBiz10.com. Mariathasan said that SoBiz plans to launch its public beta later this summer. More on SoBiz in the video below: [youtube=http://youtu.be/0pGTPl9PLTo] |
Eric Schmidt On Google's Acquisition Strategy | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Google Executive Chairman sat down and talked to reporters at the Sun Valley conference in Idaho last week, dropping all sorts of science about Google +, Google China and whether or not we are in a tech bubble, among other things. One of the most interesting nuggets of info relayed was the fact that Schmidt could envision startups wanting to build on top of the Google+ platform, which now has 10 million users in its beta but in sight. “You could image the scenario where the social platform is so successful that you’ve got startups that are building on top of Google + that are so incredibly sexy and exciting that we would pay top dollar very fast … That’s a great scenario because then you know you’re winning,” he said. According to Schmidt, Google M&A made the decision last year to accelerate the acquisitions of companies below the HSR threshold, or the amount that is subject to FTC notification requirements and a waiting period (currently $66 million). Companies like are being acquired for $10 million, $20 million and $30 million (versus AdMeld’s $400 million) in order to fill out gaps in Google’s strategy, which now includes social. Earlier in the talk Schmidt also outlined how Google the amount of money it was willing to pay for the company; Namely, the value of a deal equals the value of the team plus the value of the year it would spend a Google team to create the same product. He emphasized that M&A at Google was very bottoms up, “A product manager that has a problem and [needs to] solve that problem” is the raison d’être of a potential acquisition. You can listen to all of Schmidt’s commentary on Google M&A during the interview in the sound bites clipped together above. |
Amazon’s Tablet Is No Threat To Apple, It’s A Huge Threat To Google | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Last September, we got a tip from a source that Amazon was that would run Google’s Android operating system. The source was a good one — they had also correctly called Amazon releasing their own Android app store. It took a while, but it looks like they nailed this news as well. Today, that Amazon plans to release an Android-based tablet by October. Of course, this news has been . No less than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has hinted at the possibility in recent months. But today’s report brings some tangible details for the first time. And that’s why the conclusion (and title) WSJ has drawn is surprising. “Amazon to Battle Apple iPad With Tablet”, is the headline. But as I read it, this tablet — at least the first iteration — won’t be much competition for the iPad at all. Instead, it could step in and own a market that Google has failed to secure: Android tablets. Let’s consider the information out there. Amazon will enter this space for the first time this fall. Their tablet will apparently have a 9-inch screen (comparable to the iPad’s 9.7-inch one) and will run an un-specified version of Android. It apparently won’t have a camera. And it won’t be designed by Amazon. Instead, they’ll outsource both the design and manufacturing. In other words, it’s probably going to be cheap — at least in build quality, if not in price. Why is Amazon outsourcing the entire development? Likely because they wanted to get the tablet done as quickly as possible. WSJ also reports that Amazon is working on another version that they’re designing themselves, but that will not be ready until next year. So this first version will be a sort of placeholder until their own version is ready. The only way this sounds like it can compete with the iPad in any way is if it’s extremely cheap. Like $299 or less cheap. But can Amazon really make a 9-inch multi-touch screen color tablet for that cheap? Unless it’s an absolute piece of crap, that seems unlikely. There’s a reason why all other tablet manufacturers are having problems getting their tablets down to even the key $499 price point. Apple can do this because they have years of experience — and most importantly, component deals — thanks to the iPod, iPhone and other devices. Others do not. Amazon does not. Sure, they have the Kindle. But a full-fledged tablet is a whole different ballgame. So either Amazon releases a tablet that is around the same price as the iPad — and potentially more expensive — or they sell each one at a huge loss. As they’ve proven with their digital content stores, such as the MP3 one, they’re willing to do this. But in hardware, they haven’t done this with the Kindle. Margins are thin, but the device still generates revenue. To beat the iPad in price, I have to believe that Amazon would have to take a large loss on each device sold. Maybe they are willing to do that. After all, Apple and Amazon are in many ways the opposite. Apple pushes digital content in order to sell devices. Amazon could now be pushing devices to sell digital content. But if that really is the battle, Apple has the winning hand there. The margins are much better on Apple’s hardware sales than on Amazon’s content sales. Amazon would not be able to afford subsidizing their hardware indefinitely. But even if Amazon is able to release a relatively cheap tablet this fall, the major question will remain: why would I buy this instead of an iPad? Amazon’s tablet will have access to the same apps that current Android tablets do — and very few of those are optimized for, or work well on tablet devices. And what happens if Apple surprises everyone with a “Retina” display iPad before the end of the year? on this being Apple’s plan back in February. The latest word is that such a device may be delayed a bit by manufacturing issues, but it’s still in the plans for this year. We’ll see. They key point is that Amazon’s first tablet, any way you slice it, sounds like just as much of a threat to the iPad as all the other Android tablets have been so far. That is to say, no threat at all. Instead, it will likely be more of a threat to their own Kindle device (it’s hard to make the “this device is no good for reading” argument out of one side of your mouth while saying the opposite out of the other). And much more so, it will be a huge threat to Google. Back in March, when Amazon released their own Android Appstore, . Simply put, the process to install the Android appstore is way too complicated, Amazon needs devices they can ship with the store pre-installed. And more importantly, their pre-installed As in, any device they ship is going to be filled with Amazon to the brim. That includes the ability to sign in to your Amazon Prime account the buy things with one click. When that happens, Amazon will have an Android tablet that is more compelling than any other Android tablet on the market on day one. There are plenty of whispers of Google planning for later this year when the Ice Cream Sandwich variety of Android is ready to go, but the consumer ease-of-use that Amazon can offer will likely trump anything Google puts out there. That’s why Google should be scared shitless of this Amazon tablet. Thanks to the “openness” of Android, Google has handed Amazon the keys to the Android kingdom. Amazon is going to launch a tablet that runs Android, but it will be fully Amazon’d. It will use Amazon’s Appstore, it will use Amazon movies, it will use Amazon books, it will use Amazon music, etc. Google will have no control over this, even though it will be the seminal Android tablet. That would be terrifying for any brand. Sure, you could argue that an Amazon Android tablet will still benefit Google because it will lead to more Google searches. But who says that will be the case? If I were Microsoft, I’d go all-in when negotiating with my Seattle technology neighbor to get a Bing search deal done for this new tablet. Google has been able to control Android so far while keeping it “open” because they offer carrots to partners to stay with them for most services. Those carrots are Google apps, Google branding, early access to new Android builds, etc. But Amazon likely won’t care about those things. They could be the first major player to use Android that Google has absolutely no control over. . All I know is that if I were Apple, I wouldn’t be too concerned by this Amazon tablet. Next year, maybe. But not now. But if I were Google, I’d put down those Android carrots I’ve been offering up and go find my stick. |
Series A Whopper: Benchmark Invests $33M in New BI Company Domo | Sarah Lacy | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | A new software as a service company is formally launching tonight at a party in Salt Lake City. I have no idea how opulent or bare-bones this party will be, but theoretically the company would have plenty to spend on drinks, T-shirts and canapes. It just raised a massive $33 million series A from Benchmark Capital. Actually, counting the angel investments that were closed earlier but rolled into the same round, the company has raised $43 million. But before you cry it’s worth noting Domo has a few unique things going for it. It is founded by , the founder and 10-year CEO of , one of the very few SaaS companies out of thousands funded in the late 1990s/early 2000s that actually managed to build a $1 billion-plus company. (He’s to the left enjoying his Nasdaq moment.) He’s not a household name, because he’s not in the consumer space. But Benchmark partner Matt Cohler — who’s worked with some of the best entrepreneurs as an early executive at Facebook and LinkedIn– was salivating at the thought of backing the next Josh James company. In fact, after Omniture went public and subsequently sold to Adobe for $1.8 billion, Cohler told James, “I know you are not finished and you are going to do this again. When you do please give me a call.” When James called, Cohler dropped everything and flew to Utah. “I don’t say this about many people, but he is one of the best entrepreneurs in the world,” Cohler said. Bromances aside, Domo is also building a product for a very defined, large market space: Business intelligence is a $10 billion industry today and expected to become a $14 billion industry by 2014, according to Gartner. And although companies spend loads of money on the basic problem of trying to figure out what is going on with their business at a glance, nearly everyone is unhappy with current market solutions. In other words, it’s a classic enterprise software market opportunity. There’s a good and a bad to that. The good is people are hungry for something that works. The bad is that after decades of promises– everything from Tom Siebel saying his software could “see around corners” just before his own business tanked to the early SaaS obsession with dashboards– companies just don’t believe vendor promises anymore. In truth, this is one of those hard problems that there’s probably no single, silver-bullet solution to. Certainly the early waves of enterprise and SaaS systems have made things , even if they aren’t great. But Cohler points out that the problem itself and the expectations for what software should be able to do also keep changing dramatically. I’m about as sick of people saying “consumerization of enterprise” as I am of “gamification,” but in truth, people are considerably more Web savvy today and they have higher expectations of how any software they interact with should function. “If you add it up Facebook and Twitter’s active users are almost $1 billion people,” Cohler says. “150 million people use Amazon in the US alone.” Humanity en masse is just more tech savvy. On top of that SaaS has continued to gain acceptance within large companies, and of course data is just exploding at a rate that makes the business intelligence problem exponentially bigger and the pain exponentially worse. Even if past solutions worked back then, they’re increasingly getting obsolete. Domo isn’t talking much about its product yet aside from these broad brushstrokes, but the company is pretty far along. Part of this series A went to purchasing a company called that has helped accelerate some of the back-end development, and there are already several customers in beta. Benchmark is the only VC firm that invested, although some other VCs invested as individual angels, including powerhouse enterprise software guru Ben Horowitz. (I asked Cohler if Benchmark muscled Andreessen Horowitz out of the deal and got a “no comment.”) |
Spotify Will Launch In The US Tomorrow Morning (It's About Time) | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | After tons of , speculation and on our part, it beloved digital music service will be available invite-only tomorrow morning in the US. The pricing is now set at $4.99 a month on the web and $9.99 a month on mobile in addition to an ad supported free plan which includes a limited amount of songs. Peter Kafka is reporting that the free plan will limit users to a month. After so much backtracking, how are we 100% sure that tomorrow’s the day? The following email from the Spotify PR people: Well there you have it. Stay tuned! |
mlove – Trying to figure out the future of mobile, the universe and… everything | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | has been something of an underground movement the last couple of years. Billed as a ‘confestival’ it’s more like the kind of three-day off-the-wall workshop with a few (excellent, mind) keynote speeches that you might have found happening in the Mission district during the 1960s. There is a lot of high concept thinking about not just the future of mobile and its effects on society, but the future of society itself. In part because MLOVE entertains just 250 people (only 150 in 2010) and its 200 miles form Berlin, you get to interact with the speakers in a way you might not at other conferences. Held in an 18th century castle in the former East Germany, participants, drum to a beat set down by organiser (interviewed below), but he is a benign curator, bringing in speakers from all over the world to share their knowledge of mobile and creativity. The event covered the areas of education, health, entertainment, communication and – in part because I insisted – commerce (which ended up being a major theme). Meanwhile, a “Teen Camp” lets a group of European teenagers spin up ideas of their own separate to the main conference and present their thoughts at the end. It was a sobering dose of a teenagers eye-view of the world. Speakers included Thomas Goetz, Executive Editor of Wired Magazine, Katsutoshi Kitamura who went over the augmented reality game iButterfly (try it on your iphone – with a special MLOVE edition – for first time outside of Japan). And Grammy Award winning Musician Chamillionaire talked about his adventures in tech. A startup competition crowned Berlin based bookletmobile, which brings booklets to mobile devices based on location. The event culmates with the MLOVE Future Cubes, which have to produce 10 themes from the event. The resulting conclusion of all this workshopping was deep, though a : “The positive future of society depends on the balance between humanity, technology and commerce.” No matter, it’s the connections and the conversations that seem to be the main win at this event. |
Alternative Tablets: The Next Big Thing Or Dead On Arrival? | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | It’s hard out there for a . Not just because consumers aren’t quite sure they want to buy in just yet, but because the shelves are so crowded that it’s difficult to stand out. At CES this year, having an Android tablet seemed to be a prerequisite to reserving booth space; few major companies announce some sort of plans. I suppose they all thought they were all getting in on a gold rush of sorts. But the sameness of the various offerings has caused many a consumer’s eyes to glaze over in the aisles of Best Buy. It’s no wonder they end up going with an iPad when the other options try so pathetically to get consumers to care about trivial differences in hardware, and make vague promises of improvements coming down the line, over which they have no real control. At the same time, a few companies have been bold enough to depart from the pattern enough that you can distinguish their product without squinting. But are these non-traditional designs going to galvanize an indifferent market or are they too much, too early? I just read suggesting that these convertibles, like Asus’ Transformer, are going to be a big hit. The main points, for those too busy to look: they’re getting slim enough to be worth a look, the software is maturing to the point where it doesn’t feel sloppy, and there is an increasing number of people who can’t decide between a tablet and a laptop. Naturally they’ll choose the hybrid. While there’s something to this, I don’t think it points to adoption at large. If you look at usage patterns of things like the iPad, you see a huge amount of browsing, video-watching, casual gaming. Email, too, but as typing on touch-keyboards is a pain, it’s mainly checking, nothing serious. The point is that even the early adopters (and make no mistake, even the 20 million iPads sold are to early adopters) are interested in consumption, not creation. The tablet is a window to content, but it’s one-way glass. True, convertible tablets make it easier to type. But compared to any $500 laptop, a tablet isn’t going to perform nearly as many tasks that make the keyboard necessary. You’ll be able to do email better, and type web addresses more quickly, but is there enterprise software, financial management stuff, serious word processing and editing to be done on them? Not yet, and I suspect not for some time. is the biggest arrow in the convertibles’ quiver. A lot depends on Microsoft making that extremely promising start turn into something people really want to use. A rich interface with the ease of use of a tablet plus the power of a full-on PC isn’t an easy task, but Microsoft realizes they need this one to be a hit or they’re out of the tablet game forever. If convertibles become popular, it won’t be because of the reasons suggested above, but because Microsoft made them popular. Because Apple, Google, Asus, Acer, and the rest sure as hell aren’t going to do it. Courier, Courier, where art thou, ? O most promising of pre-iPad devices. If you’re reading this, you probably remember Microsoft’s star-cross’d Courier project, which broke out of its incubator early and was the darling of the blogging world for a few months. It showed imagination, good design, and a willingness to take risks. So it came as no surprise when it was peremptorily buried by Ballmer. Since then, we haven’t really had a dual-screen tablet to get excited about — but that doesn’t mean the form factor is fundamentally barren. The springs to mind as an example of something done partially right. Intended as a replacement for bulky, heavy, expensive textbooks, the Kno is a bulky, heavy, expensive tablet. But I don’t do it justice: it really is a very savvy piece of work and, though its size and cost ended up , shows that a ground-up approach and unique brand can do wonders for product visibility. An on-stage demo at TechCrunch Disrupt helps as well. But if anything, it was always type of device that sells units in the tens of thousands, not the tens of millions. More recently we’ve seen some rather strange designs like the , which end up being more like the worst of both worlds. Sony’s S2, which we just had a n with today, seems more promising, but we’ll look more closely at it in the gaming tablets section below. The issue here seems to be a technical one rather than a design one. The bezel width, weight, and cost of two separate displays mean that the tablet wouldn’t be able to compete in form or price. Plus, the lack of optimized apps for two screens means the benefits are extremely limited. When the technical issues are solved and a thin, foldable device no longer makes unacceptable compromises, then the software will follow. Until then, no chance. Companies have been going out of their way to laud the gaming prowess of their particular brand. Never mind that they’re all just shilling for Nvidia’s Tegra team (with the exception of Apple, whose seems to be a genuine departure from the norm). And to tell the truth, the last year or so has seen these low-power chips in phones and tablets go from anemic weaklings to true modern 3D powerhouses. The poster child for this would be the Unreal Engine and . But can a tablet get away with truly focusing on a gaming experience? Sony is making that bet with the Playstation-branded S1 and S2 tablets, which will have exclusive access to certain Sony content, though the quality of that content is far from guaranteed (think PS1 titles at first). And the serious gamers, to whom this tablet would presumably be marketed, are not easy to woo away from their platform of choice. The and are more on their minds. The problem of control rears its head immediately. While tablets are great for certain types of games, they’re just awful for others. The most popular “real” games in the world right now are shooters, and despite what fanboys will tell you, they control terribly on tablets. Accessories like the Fling joystick help, but there is no standard control overlay and settings vary greatly between titles. The thing is that any gaming experience exclusive to a tablet isn’t likely to be exclusive to a gaming tablet. It’s just going to be something like Plants vs. Zombies or Angry Birds: best played on a tablet but not limited to some sort of special gaming setup. That may change in the future as gaming leaves the casual sector on tablets and we start seeing more tablets in the hands of mainstream gamers, but in the meantime the benefits of a so-called gaming tablet are illusory. We’ve written a few times about how the iPad has gained a following in the medical and education establishments, among others. This is primarily the result of being first to market, and a magnet for specialized apps. But there has always been a market for hardened devices, the Panasonic Toughbook line being perhaps the most familiar. The military has been making noises recently regarding the need for a good standard smartphone or tablet, as well, and you better believe they need more than brushed aluminum and Gorilla Glass. My Otterbox is nice, but it’s no flak jacket. Once things have leveled out a bit, I expect that iOS will lose favor in these situations — Google is for just this purpose, and of course Windows 8 includes Microsoft’s famous/infamous backwards compatibility. Laugh it up, but when your hospital has records going back to Windows 3.1 days and you just want things to work without hiring a team to modernize your whole operation, Windows starts looking more attractive. Unfortunately, ruggedness comes at a cost, and although consumers might like the idea of a waterproof phone like the Defy, there’s no way they’ll pay the premium for Mil-spec hardening of their around-the-house tablet. Steve Jobs’ disdain for the stylus was wise in that it led to a very focused finger-optimized phone OS, but unwise in that it summarily dismisses the benefits of pen input. It’s true that you lose them, they’re kind of weird to hold, and they disconnect you from the interface. But it’s also true that they provide far greater precision, they allow for quick and complicated gestures, multiple “click” types, and a number of other things — things which were admittedly totally inapplicable to the iPhone. I recently reviewed the . Spoiler alert: I didn’t like it. Or rather, I felt like it was an interesting evolutionary step that should probably have just been kept in the labs. I felt the potential, but I also felt the extreme difficulty in designing an interface that’s accessible to both touch and pen. Yet the Courier (at least in its demo videos) seemed to show that if you worked at it enough, you could make it work. If tablets are to be used by the creative and enterprise class of users (as opposed to the consuming class), they will likely need stylus support. Fingertips are great for touching icons, but they’re not so good for circling individual words, editing photos and video, and so on. There’s a huge amount of sophisticated interpretation that goes into determining where your blob of a thumb is touching the screen, and the stylus changes the whole interface metaphor. I’d expect a well-done niche product before a consumer breakout — a creation-oriented tablet, perhaps a collaboration between two big names like Wacom and Sony, or even Adobe. It could double as a stylus surface for another computer (like a Bamboo), but work independently as well, and be provided with a few powerful tools for interfacing with standard MIDI, video, tethering, and paint programs. Windows 8 shows up again here: a stylus is a tolerable replacement for a mouse when the interface is done right. Windows 7 integrated some touch controls, but they were more concessions than true tools. Microsoft’s handwriting recognition is excellent, though, and if they’re able to combine their Surface, Metro, and Windows IP successfully, you could see a seriously versatile piece of hardware come out in mid-2012. The conclusion here seems to be that large-scale market penetration and hardware limitations are the most serious barriers to variant tablets gaining traction. Demand isn’t great enough that you can make a successful niche product. There’s a bit of a chicken-egg problem here, since you can’t make a niche product without a niche, but the niche won’t exist until you make a product for it — but all that’s needed to solve that is a little time. As tablets grow from a 20-30 million unit market to a 100 million unit market, you’ll start seeing natural fragmentation in the user base, and not just in who wants 3G or 64 gigs. The difference will be like the difference you see in computers and laptops: people who just want a laptop, and people who want a laptop that does X and not necessarily Y. The stratification of that market is well-known and prices have solidified around the $500, $750, $1000, and $1600-2000 marks. Pricing won’t have nearly such a large spread with tablets, but in a year or two, $250 will buy you a basic Android tablet, $500 will buy you a deluxe one or an iPad, and $750 will buy you a specialty device like a stylus, dual-screen, high-res screen, and so on. Professionals will gladly pay good money for a full-HD screen, real stylus interface, and enough power to use as an on-site editing device for photos or video. Timing is anybody’s guess, and it depends on a lot of things. Will Amazon push Android over the top for e-readers? Will Apple release a super-high-resolution iPad Pro? Or will Samsung? Will OEMs grow some dignity and stop making chintzy tablets with identical specs? Or will Apple diversify and proliferate? Whatever the case is, until people get their heads around what a tablet is for and how it fits into the existing ecosystem, you’re not going to see these interesting but immature form factors do anything but sit on shelves and excite idle praise from tech writers. You can expect quite a few dead-end launches, but you can also expect (if you’re charitable) that companies like HTC and Sony just might learn something from them and reuse those ideas when the time is right. : We are aware that many of the links in this article are dead at the moment due to some technical difficulties related to the redesign. They should be functional soon. |
InMobi: 78 Percent Of Mobile Ads In North America Are On Smartphones | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Mobile ads in North America are reaching an inflection point. In the second quarter of 2011, 78 percent of total mobile ad impressions on ad network were on smartphones (as opposed to older feature phones), up from 67 percent in the first quarter, according to a it is putting out. “We expect 90% of ads by end of Q4 on a smart platform,” says VP of global research and marketing James Lamberti. And half of those ads will be inside apps. Total mobile ad impressions in the U.S. grew 40 percent, driven by the 65 percent growth in smartphone ads. Globally, the percentage of smartphone ads was much smaller, only 38 percent, up from 32 percent in the first quarter. InMobi, which served 18.7 billion mobile ads in North America in the second quarter, also reports on the breakdown by OS. Android leads with 33.2 percent, but it lost share to iOS which grew to 29.3 percent (RIM has 13.9 percent, also down). In , Android had 37 percent share and iOS had 23 percent. |
InstaEarth Puts The World’s Instagram Photos On The Map | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | , a digital advertising agency focused on design and technology, claims not only to help its clients build their brands (and advertise) but also to “make and design things they would use themselves”. While this is always a good litmus for a new product or business, you’ll have to excuse my cynicism, but coming from an advertising agency, statements like these are questionable. But, that being said, it’s great to see that Modea is an agency that builds products and apps, tinkering right alongside the companies whose brands they help to hawk. What’s more, they’ve built something today, called , that Instagrammers may very well find usable themselves. Instagram is fairly popular these days; the app back in June and have been adding 625,000 users every month since launch. They seem to be doing with four people what Color couldn’t do with $41 million by focusing on providing a killer visual experience for their users. As my colleague , part of the reason they’ve been able to do this with such a small team is that they’ve focused on the mobile app and API, allowing developers to fill in the holes and help create the rest of the user’s experience. So, if Instagram is an app that allows , InstaEarth is an app that visualizes the story of Instagram users worldwide — in map form. And it’s trying to be more than just another Google maps mashup. I’ll let you decide whether they’ve succeeded in this endeavor, but so far, I’m impressed. But, how in the sam heck does it work? InstaEarth allows you to navigate and explore Instagram photos on a global map layout, showing photos on the map in the location they were taken. (Though, of course, you have to connect the app to your Instagram account for it to have real useful application.) Users can organize the visual experience based on the popularity of the photos, the proximity to their current location, their own photos, photos of friends, etc. Users can zoom into any location on the map and view photos nearby taken by any other Instagram user, or enjoy the voyeurism inherent to clicking on any Instagram user and then viewing every location in which they’ve taken a photo. Slightly creepy? Maybe. Kinda cool? Yes. Of course, Instagram users have the option in the app’s settings to decide whether or not to share publicly at scale, so if you’re not the sharing type, not to worry. InstaEarth creators and Modea creative developers and have been Instagram users since they beginning, they say, and had long wanted to see a feature that allowed a more exploratory dimension to seeing the world through other Instagram users’ eyes. They’re off to a pretty good start, though there are some tweaks needed in the web interface. But so does TechCrunch. The founders said that they have plans to add UI enhancements soon, as well as a slide show view, “official” iPad mobile web support, realtime updates, search, and deeper integration with Google Places API. Alnutt said that his young son will get up every morning, eager to follow the travels and photography of users around the map. While this may not be the motivation you’re looking for, it is fun to play with, if not to wake up to. Check it out and let us know what you think. |
Ad.ly In Play As Social Sites Look For Celebrity Connections | Michael Arrington | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | is an advertising platform that advertisers with celebrities. For $1,000 to $200,000, an advertiser can get one of a thousand celebrities to publish a sponsored message, usually on Twitter. The company has raised , has sixteen employees, and has sold 26,000 paid endorsements in the last year and a half. The company occasionally pops up in the news. They were , for example, and they were of the whole Charlie Sheen is now on Twitter thing. But for the most part, Ad.ly has been quietly operating out of their Beverly Hills headquarters without a ton of notice in the tech press circles. But suddenly there’s a lot of interest in them. And multiple sources have told us that a handful of companies are looking to buy Ad.ly. The value of Ad.ly isn’t really in the paid endorsement revenue. What buyers are looking at are the company’s deep ties with a ton of celebrities. And the fact that a lot of celebrities looking to get involved on Twitter start by calling the company and asking for advice. Those relationships are hugely valuable. To companies like Twitter, who owe much of their success to celebrities embracing the product. And to companies like Google, who are celebrities to jump start growth at Google+. Although neither are confirmed potential buyers, our guess is they and others are among those taking a look. And don’t be surprised if one of them, or someone else, acquires the company sometime soon. |
Not So Crazy Rumor: Amazon To Release An Android Tablet And Two New Kindles This Fall | Matt Burns | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | The fabled Amazon tablet: Oh how you tease us so. You come from the maker of the world’s most beloved ereader and are said to run the versatile Android OS. (hopefully skinned, though) But there’s just so much we don’t know about you. When are you coming? How much are you going to cost. What’s your name? Are you even real? The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s real. In fact they October as the release month and state new Kindle models are coming soon, too. Details are understandably on the light side, but there are some interesting specs concerning the tablet: 9-inch screen, no camera, and running an unnamed Android release. Doesn’t sound like an iPad killer to me. Chances are it won’t be positioned as an iPad killer but more as a Nook Color competitor with a major focus on the Amazon marketplace. Amazon has made a big push over the last year to bolster and better position its streaming video content. A tablet would be a great outlet for that service. The same WSJ report states that Amazon is prepping two new Kindle models. This is less of a surprise giving that the current Kindle is nearing its first birthday. Reportedly, two Kindle versions are on tap: a low-cost retooling of the current version and then a high-cost touchscreen model. ( ) Still, you may want to keep your current Kindle 3G away from ebay for the time being. As likely as this report is, it’s still a rumor until Bezos does his best Steve Jobs impression and unveils the Amazon tablet to the world. |
Hold Your Applause: Ovation Lets Your Live Audience Rate You In Real Time | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Uh oh. Now you’ve done it. You’ve lost your audience. The crowd that was once hanging on your every word and gasping for breath between laughs is now sending back nothing but vacant stares. A few people just snuck out the back door, and you’re sure that dude in the back row is snoring. Where, oh where, did things go so wrong? A new app called is trying to help productions of all sorts (both live and online) figure out where things start to suck, with a tool much like that used to gauge audience responses to TV pilots. It requires no downloads, and no sign-ups on the user’s part. Oh, and it’s totally free right now. The idea is simple. So simple, in fact, that it’s easily described in two pictures. First, you create a URL for your event. You give your audience that URL, which they load up on their smartphone. This is what they see ( ): Members of your audience then use the on-screen slider to provide feedback. If they’re loving a certain section, they slide the bar up. If they hate it? They slide it down. Simple. There’s no signup process, and, as it’s a web app, it works across a ton of smartphones and mobile devices without any sort of installation. As the event unfolds, users see a real-time time line of their feedback thus far, with a second line showing the averaged response of everyone participating. After the event wraps up, you can peruse all of the feedback data in an interactive, second-by-second plot graph ( ) like the one below: The whole thing is executed well, and the idea itself is great… if they can get people to use it. Though the horribly impolite patrons of my local theater tend to forget it, there’s quite a stigma around busting out your phone during events (mainly because that bright screen is like a little tiny flashbang grenade when used in a dark theater). Even if the folks behind the production that people provide live feedback, I’d imagine some folks would innately hesitate to do so. Another bit they might consider tweaking: it might be nice for the second line — the one that shows the average opinion of all participants — to be optional as set by the event coordinator. If user A loves something but sees that everyone else hates it (or vice versa), they might taper their response a bit for sake of going with the grain. The whole service is entirely free during this initial beta phase, but it’s also currently limited to 10 simultaneous responders per event. Need a bigger sample group? The team says they’re willing to help out. Not much of a live performer? Prefer to sit in front of your webcam with your bed sheet pinned to the wall and rant about why Ryan should have been kicked off of Ovation also has an online video version of their tool, which applies the same gauging tools to videos posted on Youtube, Vimeo, or through their standalone player. So, the big question: would you use it? |
With T-Mobile Name ID, You'll Know Whose Call You're Ignoring | Jordan Crook | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | You know what’s really annoying? Calls from numbers you don’t have stored in your contacts. If you don’t answer, you could end up missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, or getting some much-needed good news. If you get brave and answer, you could end smack-dab in the middle of a conversation that you never wanted to have in the first place. Landlines have long been spoiled with Caller ID, and now customers will be equally privileged, as the carrier has introduced “Name ID.” It’ll be available for free for the first ten days, and after that cost $3.99 per month. As of right now, the service is only available on the Samsung Exhibit 4G and the forthcoming myTouch 4G Slide. [via ] |
null | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 12 | null |
MotherKnows Raises $1.7 Million For Online Health Record Service For Parents | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | , an online health record service designed specifically for parents, has announced that it has raised $1.7 million in seed funding. The round was led by , with contributions from , , , former product manager at Google Health , and several other angels. The startup plans to use its infusion of capital to complete product development of the web and mobile products and initiate a consumer launch. MotherKnows is currently in closed beta, but its homepage is and is accepting signups. A public launch is scheduled for late summer, according to Co-founder and CEO Hesky Kutscher. Kutscher and team presented onstage at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, , and have since taken the advice of the judges and continued to iterate and expand the service, improving on design and ease-of-use. As of today, the vision for MotherKnows is to be a full-service platform, on both the Web and mobile, that gives parents 24-hour access to their children’s health records. The startup wants to be the go-to source for the aggregation of children’s health data, from immunizations and allergies to doctor visits and growth charts. All of these features can, of course, be accessed by parents, who in turn can approve the access of doctors, caregivers, camps, and schools, who can then use the data as a kind of supplemental electronic medical record. That being said, it is important to point out that a child’s personal health data is encrypted and protected and is never shared with third parties. Parents retain full control over which (if any) third party sites can access the data. MotherKnows is the team’s first product, but long-term plans, Hesky said, include the launch of products addressing “other consumer groups with specific health needs, such as home health care, extended families, and more”. For more, see our original profile of MotherKnows , or visit their website . |
Post PicPlz, Mixed Media Labs Makes Their Big Bet: App.net — About.me For Apps | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Last week, that Mixed Media Labs had spun off their initial project, , to be able to work on their next big idea. Well, now we know that next big idea: . The easiest way to think of App.net is as “About.me for apps”. At first glance, that may seem a bit lame. But the truth is that it’s a very good idea. The reason works, and why the idea is (such as for bands), is because it’s a simple idea that gives value on both sides of the coin. The companies/people creating these pages get a streamlined way to have a robust yet simple presence on the web. End users get a single place they know they can go to in order to get what they’re looking for. With the explosion of apps, this is vital. App.net offers the ability for any iPhone or Android app to create a customizable landing page on the web. “This is the bridge between apps and the web,” founder says. “This is the product I basically wish existed before when I was working on imeem and PicPlz. But it didn’t. So I had to build my dream product,” he continues. Caldwell talks about the big mismatch between apps and the web. Sure, both the Android Market and Apple’s App Store have web experiences now, but they’re not great in terms of showcasing the apps. The App Store web presence is simply a page that wants to automatically push you to the App Store within iTunes after you see a sort of half-assed re-creation of the app page on the web. The Android Market is, well, ugly. And not customizable. “If I’m doing real marketing for my app, pointing to the App Store web page is lame. You don’t point to the Amazon buy page for a product,” Caldwell says. And while plenty of companies do create their own landing pages now for their apps, that can be a pain if all you want to do is make the app and not worry about anything else. Plus, App.net comes with a big value proposition: analytics. Caldwell notes that right now, tracking clicks and actions for apps on the web is a “black box”. App.net aims to open this data up to app developers. “If you can solve this problem, it opens up such an opportunity for people going all-in on apps,” he says. Today brings version 1 of the product. It will feature landing page optimization tools, funnel analytics, and the ability to create “smarter” download buttons. These buttons let app makers spread these across the web in order to track who is coming from where with interest in the app. Dalton admits that this is another layer on top of these apps stores, but calls it “the ultimate hott ass landing page you wish you had”. And he notes that the experience is even better on mobile devices. If you’re on a mobile device, you hit the download button, and you go right to the app store (because App.net knows that it’s installed on either the Android or Apple device). “We’re not trying to solve the app discovery problem,” Caldwell says. “Consumers don’t sign up. This isn’t something like Chomp. This is giving the app developers tools to use to direct people through existing social channels to their apps,” he says, pointing out that each page can have a Facebook Like button, a Tweet button, and even the +1 button. There’s also the ability on these pages to get people to easily follow your company on Twitter and/or Facebook. And App.net already has some big apps signed up as partners. AOL Radio, Bump, ColourLovers, Evernote, Fashism, Hashable, Hypemachine, Message Party, Mindsnacks, PicPlz, Rdio, RockMelt, Shoutcast, Skimble, Songkick, SoundCloud, Sporcle, TinyZoo, and Trulia, are all on board. All of these apps will reside at “app.net/APPNAME”. In terms of pricing, if you only have one app you want to make a page for, it’s totally free. If you want to make App.net pages for up to three apps, it’s $12 a month. For up to 6 apps, it’s $22 a month. And for up to 20 apps, it’s $49 a month. Caldwell notes that if you’re doing more than one app, you likely have an app business that’s making some money, so those developers should be open to paying a fee. “This is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on in my career,” Caldwell says. “I don’t say that lightly. It solves real problems.” |
Dual-Core, Android-Powered Motorola Photon 4G To Hit Sprint On July 31st At $200 | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Hey, look at that! Just a month after Sprint and Motorola announced the beastly, dual-core, Android-powered Photon with the uber-vague launch window of “sometime in Q3”, they’re back at the well with proper launch details. If all goes as planned, the Motorola Photon (fancy kickstand an all) will be hitting Sprint’s stores on July 31st for the totally reasonable price of $200 on a 2-year contract. |
Twitter For Android Now Supports Multiple Profiles, Push Notifications | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 13 | Congrats Android owners, you now get to as us iPhone users have been reveling in for months! Yes as of today Twitter for Android supports multiple Twitter accounts and allows you to receive push notifications on your phone. Users who want to try out the sleek new features can go to Account Settings, choose Automatic Refresh and select whether they want to receive updates for Direct Messages, Tweets or @Replys. In addition to push notifications and a slight user interface refresh, Twitter for Android now supports multiple accounts, and users can switch between accounts by hitting the Option key then Accounts on their phone, then selecting their Account name from those listed. It’s seriously about time for both of these features; Android the platform share amongst smartphone users, even though almost nobody I know actually uses one. |
"Like A Toothbrush": Larry Page Live-Google+'s His Own Earnings Call | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Today, during the earnings call about , CEO kicked things off. While this was technically his first full quarter as CEO, he got some flak during the last earnings call for only saying a few sentences. This time, he went much further, even sticking around for the Q&A session. He also did something really cool: as he was on the call, . Yes, he live-Google+’d his own call. Talk about eating your own dog food. Awesome. We’ve already posted on some of the key numbers Page shared: , & , and . But there were a few other interesting tidbits in his remarks. Namely, he’s clearly enjoying the early success Google+ is seeing. He also believes his re-organization of the company is already paying off (though we can’t see all of the benefits of it yet). And he wants to make it very clear that his leadership of Google will be fiscally responsible. When talking about some of the “speculative” projects that Google is working on (such as ), Page notes, “we’re very careful stewards of shareholder money — we’re not betting the farm on this stuff.” He goes on to say that they also don’t do things they don’t think could be massive opportunities. “All of us at Google want to create services that people across the world use twice a day — just like a toothbrush!” Here were the key takeaways from Page’s remarks in his own words: |
The Roundabout Tapes – Could GoSquared put the heat on Chartbeat? (TCTV) | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Back in January arrived on the scene to on realtime analytics territory. While Chartbeat has financing with a glittering array of backers including Betaworks and Ron Conway, GoSquared has had a more modest seed funding round from Passion Capital. Founders James Gill, James Taylor and Geoff Wagstaff range between 19 and early 20s, so pretty young founders. Even so, their product has been attracting plenty of attention, especially amongst startups in London, their home turf. The startup provides real-time website analytics that lets you to see who’s on your website right now. It has two products: LiveStats and Trends. LiveStats gives a real-time dashboard of a site’s traffic information, while Trends stores all of this useful information and builds simple, easy to understand graphs and tables. I interviewed Gill and Wagstaff as part of a series of interviews with ‘Silicon Roundabout’ startups, we’re calling . And here’s our blooper video: from on . |
Groupon Releases New S-1, Adds 11 Underwriters Including JP Morgan And Allen & Co. | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Groupon has filed new from for its IPO where it is looking to raise at least $750 million. What’s changed from the last one filed on June 2nd? Well to Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, the daily deals site has added new underwriters Williams, RBC, Loop, Citadel, JPMorgan, Allen & Co, BofA, Citi, Barclays and Deutsche in addition to previous underwriters Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. As first reported by the Chicago Tribune, the filing also interestingly enough asks investors to co-founder Eric Lefkosky’s remarks that Groupon was “wildly profitable.” From the S-1: In a June 5, 2011 news story reported on Bloomberg.com, our co-founder and Executive Chairman was reported to have stated in a June 3, 2011 interview that “Groupon was going to be wildly profitable.” The story and reported statement has been reprinted in various news media outlets. Mr. Lefkofsky did not agree to be interviewed for the news story and, through representatives, requested that the statement not be published. The reported statement does not accurately or completely reflect Mr. Lefkofsky’s views and should not be considered by prospective investors in isolation or at all. Prospective investors are cautioned to consider the risks and uncertainties disclosed in this Risk Factors section and elsewhere in the prospectus. Business Insider has that Groupon has included some wording that emphasizes their losses, for example, “We had net income of $21,000 for the second quarter of 2009 as compared to a net loss of $102.7 million for the first quarter of 2011.” Seems like media pressure and fear of regulators has gotten to someone over at Groupon HQ. |
Nintendo DS Still Outselling 3DS Two To One | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | It’s probably too much to expect that a more expensive new handheld would immediately unseat its predecessor, but I doubt Nintendo is too happy that consumers are buying more than twice as many DSes as . At the same time, selling over half a million handhelds in a month isn’t exactly news either. According to a Nintendo press release: Nintendo sold more than 800,000 combined hardware units in June. This includes 386,000 units of the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, 273,000 Wii™ systems and 143,000 Nintendo 3DS systems. Each product line saw double-digit growth over the previous month, and the lifetime U.S. installed base for the Wii system crossed 36 million units. Good for them! The fact is that while the 3DS is a compelling system, its cost and the lack of killer games for it mean that uptake is bound to be on the slow side — compared to the DS, which has a library of megahits stretching back years. That said, is actually quite a blockbuster despite the small user base: After less than two weeks on store shelves, The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D for the Nintendo 3DS™ portable entertainment system finished the month as the No. 2 best-selling video game on an individual platform, with more than 283,000 units sold, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. A slightly confusing way of saying that it’s the second-best selling game that’s only available on one system. #1? InFamous 2 for the PS3, believe it or not. |
Shelby.tv Raises $1.5 Million To Give You Personalized Channels Of Online Video | Jason Kincaid | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Just glancing at YouTube’s , it doesn’t take a genius like me to figure out that people are spending more time watching video on the web — and that online video is going to increasingly eat away at the amount of time they spend watching cable. But while the web has plenty of benefits (like on-demand content), good old-fashioned television has some nice perks too, like the fact that you can sit down and watch and endless stream of content with almost no effort involved. is a startup that thinks you can have the best of both worlds — it creates a no-hassle stream of video content based on the links your friends have shared on Facebook and Twitter, resulting in content that’s both effortless and (probably) relevant to what you’re interested in. The company was a member of the first class and has just raised a $1.5 million funding round led by Avalon Ventures, with Avalon’s Rich Levandov and Brady Bohrmann joining the board. In addition to Avalon, the round included the following angel investors: [DFJ], [Buddy Media], [Simulmedia/Tacoda], [formerly with Flatiron Partners], [Hashable/Quigo], [extension.fm], [Saba], [Manilla/Hearst], [formerly with Mayfield]. CEO Reece Pacheco says that the service is still in a private alpha so the company doesn’t have much product news at this point, but we’ll let you know once it does (he adds that the company is hiring with the new funding). Shelby.tv will have plenty of competition, as there are a number of startups looking to offer personalized streams of online video, including , , and . And YouTube itself also has products like YouTube LeanBack — and integration with Google TV — that aim to make the viewing experience more like television. But just as the audience for television is massive, the audience for web-based video services will eventually be very large as well, which means that’s room for multiple winners. |
Larry Page On Android Patent Problems: "There Hasn't Been Any Slow Down" | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | During the earnings call after Google announced today, a question was asked about the patent issues surrounding Google right now. Specifically, Android is under assault from Oracle as well as . This is happening because Google only has roughly 700 patents, and they recently to gain Nortel’s 6,000+ patents — with those going to, who else, Microsoft and Apple, among others. So what is Google going to do? “Obviously, we have a lot of IP in progress — not only what has been issued,” Google CEO Larry Page said, clearly trying to say that Google is pushing forward on patents by continuing to do their own innovation (as opposed to buying patents). “Android is on a tear,” Page continued. He reiterated many of he shared earlier in the call — , etc. He pointed to the 231 carrier partners and 78 open handset alliance partners that Google has — so far, they don’t appear to be scared of the patent issue. “Depsite the efforts of some of our competitors, there hasn’t been any slow down,” Page said. “We’re really committed to Android,” he continued before qualifying that: “We will support it in a cost-effective manner.” Reading into that, the statement seems to suggest that Google did not feel bidding over $4.5 billion on the Nortel patents . Some would disagree. “Sometimes coveted objects are worth what people are willing to pay for, not necessarily what the algorithm says they are worth,” paidContent’s Tom Krazit . But this is clearly Google’s strategy right now. They’ll push forward on their own IP and scoop up other patents when it’s cost-effective. But will that strategy be good enough? That remains the big question that simply remains unanswered. |
Sprint Slashes Nexus S 4G Price To $99.99 On-Contract | Jordan Crook | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Fast, good, or cheap. Most of the time products can only manage to nab two of those three qualities, but with the recent price cut from it looks like ’s Nexus S 4G is pulling a hat trick. Fast? 4G WiMAX speeds — ‘nuf said. Good? The specs (which I’ll delve into below) speak for themselves. And cheap? Well, it’s tough to call a Benjamin “cheap” but at $99 on-contract, it’s still half the price that the Nexus S 4G launched with. As for those promised specs: The Nexus S 4G’s most impressive feature would be its NFC chip, which puts the Google phone a step ahead of competitors as the shift to NFC ubiquity becomes more and more fast-paced. Other specs include a 1GHz processor under the hood, running the show, a 4-inch 480×800 Super AMOLED contoured display, and a 5-megapixel shooter. Of course, the only downside to this deal is that if you’re a true Nexus fan, you may want to hold out for the next model. Speculation suggests it’s already on its way, and may be called the Nexus Prime. Then again, speculation may be a bit flaky to pass up this deal. Your call. [via ] |
Google Android Now On 130M Total Devices, With 6B App Downloads | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Today during Google’s Second Quarter earnings call a lot of focus was put on the success of Google Android, which was put in Larry Page’s successful consumer products category. How successful is Android exactly? Well the operating system is now on 130 million total devices, with six billion app installs from the Android Market. The last time Google announced device stats for Android it was 100 million at i/o. Apple was at 200 million devices as of WWDC. Android is now seeing 550K activations a day, up from the 500K number Google mobile VP Andy Rubin 16 days ago, growing at 4.4% week over week according to Rubin. |
Sony NEX-7 Prototype Shown In Leaked Picture | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Sony’s NEX series of mirrorless cameras has gotten fairly positive reviews, and it appears Sony thinks there’s room at the top for a hotter model. The NEX-7 (big brother to the NEX-3 and NEX-5) , though it’s clearly not final hardware. Observe, for instance, the rather non-traditional “OFF-NO” switch. It’s not just a pretty picture that leaked, though: some specs are on the table as well. That’s not an optical viewfinder there, which would make this an electronic rangefinder like a Leica or X100; it’s a 3-million dot (slightly more than 720p) OLED electronic viewfinder. Could be hot! The sensor is supposed to be an APS-C-sized one with 24 megapixels. The cool bit, though, is those dual dials on the top right corner. Shutter and aperture control? I certainly hope so. ; feel free to keep an eye on the thread for more info. |
It's Plick: Somebody Call Mattel And Get This Guy An Interview (Video) | Jay Donovan | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | What is it you ask? (as in rogrammable by c ing your fingers) is a set of connectable, interactive components that can be attached to ordinary objects and transform them into interactive gadgets. The components include an engine, distance sensor, LED lamp, battery pack and microphone. Just as the name suggests, you can program or activate the individual component’s behaviors by clicking your fingers in certain patterns or by using by the included distance sensor. However, the core of the concept revolves around the conductive rubber bands that connect the components together and allow you to “Plick-i-tize” (you like that…I just made it up) any small household object. For example, the block above becomes a car. Neat! According to the literature at , the rubber bands are the key feature and were also the most challenging design obstacle to overcome in developing this project. And what a project it was. In fact, Plick was the culmination of Gabriel’s final assignment as an Industrial Design student in (in partnership with the miLab of the IDC Hertzlia). So if you were counting on ordering this bad boy for your desk or for your “40-Year-Old-Virgin” style toy lab/basement, you’ll either have to contact Gabriel directly, or help him get hired at a reputable toy maker soon. Oh, and I hope he got an A++++++ [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0h1oxoJ24Y&feature=player_embedded] |
Larry Page: "I Think About Our Products In Three Separate Categories" | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Google has just released its earnings statements for Larry Page’s first quarter as CEO, to positive results, namely that Google set a at $9.03 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2011. Page began the earnings call outlining the “substantially increased velocity” of his product-focused management team which has accomplished “a lot in 3 months” Page said. No kidding. He glowed over Google+’s with over one billion items shared a day, and over 10 million users. Perhaps to reassure shareholders on the viability of these new products and token experiments like self-driving cars, Page mused on the value of innovation, “When we started doing search people thought we were crazy,” he said. Page then essentially separated Google products into three categories: 1) Search ads and ad products. 2) Products with high consumer success like YouTube, Android, and Chrome. 3) New products like Google+ and Google’s local and Offers efforts. “We’re only at 1% of what is possible,” Page said. After asking rhetorically how these services will be monetized, Page explained that the toggling between the three is a precarious balance between short term and long term, with the eventual goal of creating services that people “use twice a day, like a toothbrush.” “We’re careful stewards of shareholder money,” he said. His notes, below: We have tremendous new businesses being viewed as “crazy.” Android: We actually have a new metric to report of 550,000 Android Devices activated a day! That’s a HUGE number even by Google’s standards. Chrome: It’s the fastest growing browser. With over 160 million users. People rightly ask how we will monetize these businesses? And of course I understand the need to balance the short term with the longer term needs because our revenues and growth serve as the engine that funds our innovation. But our emerging high usage products can generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search. And we have tons of experience monetizing successful products over time. Well run technology businesses with tremendous consumer usage make a lot of money over the long term. I think about our products in three separate categories … First, there is search and our ads products, the core driver of revenue for the company. Nikesh and Susan are going to talk more about ads later in the call. Next, we have products that are enjoying high consumer success–YouTube, Android and Chrome. We are investing in these in order to optimize their long-term success. Then we have our new products–Google+ and Commerce and Local. We are are investing in them to drive innovation and adoption. Overall, we are focused on long term absolute profit and growth, as we have always been–and I will continue the tight financial management we have had in the last two years, even as we are making significant investments in our future. |
Android Now Seeing 550,000 Activations Per Day | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Fresh off the Google Q2 2011 Earnings Call, Larry Page has just disclosed that Android is now seeing activations per day. That’s up from the 500,000 per day number Andy Rubin revealed in Rubin also disclosed that Android was growing by around 4.4% week-over-week, an estimate which works quite well with these new numbers. This is up from the 350,000 activations per day back in Q1, and 160,000 activations per day way back in Q2 of last year. That’s . |
Larry Page On Google+: Over 10 Million Users, 1 Billion Items Being Shared Per Day | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Google CEO Larry Page headlined Google’s today and of course revealed some interesting statistics on Google’s most recent product, . Page said the new management structure he implemented is “working together fabulously,” and helping complete Google’s goal of making “sharing on web like sharing in real life.” Page says that Google+ now has over 10 million users who have created profiles, and these users are sharing and receiving 1 billion items per day. Page explains that in particular, Circles, which allows users select and organize their Google+ contacts into groups, has been a popular feature of Google+ amongst users. Page shared these stats on . To put those figures in perspective, Google+ only launched two weeks ago. At 10 million users, the network has already accumulated 1.3 percent of Facebook’s 750 million users in two weeks. Google chairman Eric Schmidt had revealed last week that the network has , and also highlighted the traction of Circles. Google+ has been the search giant’s most aggressive social product yet, and clearly the network is seeing traction both in terms of engagement and users. |
Spotify partners with Klout to get the word out | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | There’s not much detail on this, but it appears Spotify is with , the social rankings startup, on pushing out its service to the US, . Spotify is going to have to do a hell of a lot of marketing over the next few months. Partnering with Klout is hardly a mainstream move, IMHO, however, via Klout Spotify has a shot at on board who might make it go viral. |
The Chrome Niko Is A Weather-Proof Camera Bag | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Well-known bag maker Chrome has put out a new camera bag, called (for whatever reason) the . It’s a slightly strange creature, somewhere between a shoulder bag and a backpack, but it looks pretty solid. The top section is your plain cargo compartment, for wipe cloths, snacks, and so on. Down below, you have a customizable compartment with a few organization pads that stick to one another with velcro. Looks like it might be a little packed in there if you like to keep the lens on your camera, but hey. It has waterproof truck tarp throughout an the nylon exterior is itself graded as weather-proof, so you can leave the umbrella at home. Costs $95, which seems pretty reasonable to me.
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Spotify reveals the detail behind its US launch | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | , the European music startup which has garnered 10 million users in the last two years, finally launches in the US today. The packages are: An invite-only free, ad-supported service, a $4.99-per-month ad-free package and a full “premium” experience costing $9.99 which also syncs with mobile. Unlike the European service it will not be integrated with Facebook initially. Via a combination of an odd approach to PR, off record briefings and a fairly chatty CEO in the shape of Daniel Ek, Spotify has been threatening to launch in the US since 2009. No matter. Not the rubber hits the road and Spotify will comete with Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio in the US. Spotify’s approach is to use a very nice desktop client, not unlike iTunes, but which contains much more information about the music – look out iTunes. Here’s their release, just out: ——————————————- Hello America. Spotify here. Spotify, the largest and fastest growing music service of its kind, is available from today in the US. We’re massively excited to be here. Spotify is a new way to manage your music, discover new tracks and share songs and playlists with your friends. Now you can enjoy music whenever and wherever you like. More than 10 million Europeans can’t be wrong, surely? OK, so they are wrong when it comes to spelling ‘favourite’ and ‘doughnut’. But they know a great music service when they see it. Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, out of a desire to develop a better, more convenient and legal alternative to music piracy. Spotify is now the second single largest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, April 2011), making sure that artists get a fair deal. Spotify has more than 10 million registered users and more than 1.6 million paying subscribers across 7 countries in Europe; the US marks the 8th territory. With a ratio of well over 15% paying subscribers to active free users, Spotify is the largest and fastest growing service of its kind.
One lean, green, music machine Spotify gives you on-demand access (with no buffering) to a library of more than 15 million songs. What’s more, you can import the MP3s you already own with just one click, to create a mighty music player. And with Spotify, there’s no need to skip tracks you don’t like. Why? Because you choose the music in the first place.
It’s super simple to create and manage all your playlists with Spotify – our users have made and shared over 250 million of them so far. You can also discover the most popular playlists on sites like www.sharemyplaylists.com and www.bbcify.com, or use clever sites like www.spotiseek.com to create playlists of new music based on your favorite artists. Music is made for sharing. Simply drag and drop music to your Spotify friends, or share with them via Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. See your friends’ top tracks, artists and playlists via their Spotify profiles, subscribe to their playlists and drop tracks into their Spotify inbox. How very sociable.
Take your music with you by installing Spotify on your cellphone or iPod Touch. Wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists to listen offline and subscribe to Spotify Premium to combine your own music with access to our catalogue of over 15 million tracks. It’s the perfect music player. The Land of the Free, the Unlimited and the Premium During our invite-only beta phase, Spotify offers three great services, from absolutely free to paid subscriptions. All of Spotify’s services include the features listed above. · Spotify Free – the unsurpassed free music service. With an invite, enjoy on-demand, buffer-free access to over 15 million songs on your computer, great social features, manage your own music files through Spotify, and sync with your cellphone or iPod. Features occasional advertising. · Spotify Unlimited – all the special features of our free service but with uninterrupted, ad-free access to Spotify on your computer. All for only $4.99 a month. · Spotify Premium – the all-singing, all-dancing, top-of-the-range Spotify experience. Premium gives you access to all the music, all the time. Listen online or offline, on your computer, your cellphone and a whole heap of other devices. Enjoy enhanced sound quality and access to exclusive content, competitions and special offers. Premium costs just $9.99 a month (that’s the equivalent of a few fancy coffees). Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify, said: “We believe that music is the most social thing there is and that’s why we’ve built the best social features into Spotify for easy sharing and the ultimate in music discovery. Even if you aren’t a total music freak, chances are you have a friend who is and whose taste you admire. I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you in Spotify and discovering some cool new tracks.” Spotify’s US launch is in partnership with some of the biggest and most pioneering brands in the world, who want to help us spread the word of Spotify in the USA. Our exclusive launch partners are Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok, Sonos and The Daily. These brands will all be launching innovative campaigns in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months. Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer and Managing Director of Spotify North America, said: “Spotify was founded as a better, simpler alternative to piracy. So making sure that the people who create the music prosper is hugely important to us. We have full catalogues from all the major labels and a raft of independent labels including those represented by Merlin, which means all of their artists are being fairly compensated for their creativity every time people enjoy music through Spotify.” -Ends- |
ShowWX Projector Gets HDMI Option | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | I the ShowWX+ pico projector a while back and pronounced it admirably tiny but problematic image-wise. Whatever the case, though, more input options certainly can’t hurt. They’ve so that you don’t have to worry about carrying around the VGA adapter or anything like that. The original had an adapter for super-easy use with Apple’s 30-pin connector that worked great… if you had an iPhone or iPad. But if you didn’t… ehh, not so much. At any rate you can pre-order one for $369. Yeah, it’s pretty expensive, but it’s also one of the smallest and lightest pico projectors out there. |
Google Back On Track In Q2, Beats The Street With Over $9 Billion In Revenue | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Google has just released their , and after a , it looks like Q2 is right back on track for the search giant. They beat the number the Street was expecting across the board. The key one being revenue: Google earned $9.03 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 (a new record for quarterly revenue). The street had been expecting about $8.6 billion. The revenue numbers were up 32 percent over the year-ago period. As the chart above shows, the Google.com numbers were the real strength here. Google-owned sites generated $6.23 billion in revenues, accounting for 69 percent of total revenues. That was a 39 percent increase over the year ago period. Non-GAAP earnings-per-share (EPS) were $8.74, well above the $7.86 the Street was hoping for. Non-GAAP net income was $2.85 billion. A year ago, net income was $2.08 billion, and last quarter it was $2.3 billion. But not everything was entirely rosy. Google says that while the all important paid click numbers were up 18 percent versus a year ago, they were 2 percent versus last quarter. Cost-per-click were up both on a yearly and quarterly basis. Meanwhile, Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC) were once again over $2 billion for the quarter, but they continue to go lower as a percentage of advertising revenues. As of June 30, Google says they have $39.1 billion in cash in the bank (cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities). Net cash flow in Q2 was $3.52 billion. Google now has 28.768 full-time employees. That up from 26,316 last quarter. While the net headcount growth was similar to Q1 2011, Google says it does not include the 450 employees that were hired as a part of the ITA deal. Google even used the earnings release to quickly mention the newly-unveiled Google+ at the top. “I’m super excited about the amazing response to Google+ which lets you share just like in real life,” CEO Larry Page said. Find the slides below. More to come — the earnings call begins at 1:30 PM PT. [scribd id=60045802 key=key-fpv7j4dmgfwmc84f9yh mode=slideshow] |
More Tickets To Our 6th Annual Summer Party At August Capital Are On Sale Now | Elin Blesener | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | Tickets are sold out. Stay tuned for our next set of tickets to be released next week. Our 6th annual summer party at August Capital is almost here! Today we are releasing our next set of 100 tickets. The party will be held on the beautiful and sunny Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park on July 29th from 5:30 – 10:00pm, following our . You will see an amazing mix of startup demos, giveaways, drinks and much more. Tickets are $40 and sell out very quickly. If you would like to come, please act fast. If you aren’t able to purchase tickets today, stay tuned as we will release more tickets next week. Tickets are . Unfortunately, our Mobile First CrunchUp is sold out. We still have a limited number of press passes available though. Contact to request press pass consideration. Here are the for the party.
July 29, 5:30 – 10:00 pm
2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park CA 94025,
@ Eventbrite: $40 based on availability. Tickets to be released weekly in batches. Stay tuned to TechCrunch for releases as they sell out quickly. #tcaugustcapital
The combined CrunchUp – Summer Party also gives us a great sponsorship platform for start-ups and brands to reach both conference and networking attendees. Please contact or to learn more about sponsorship packages and custom opportunities. |
Google Earnings Day! First, Enjoy The Full 2011 Stockholder's Meeting [Video] | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKSoGOMLWI4&feature=player_embedded&w=640] In just about a half hour, Google will announce their Q2 2011 results. After that, at 1:30 PM PT, they’ll do their usual Q&A. Thankfully this time, they’re going back to YouTube to stream the thing, instead of . You’ll be able to follow along , but we’ll also be listening and taking notes. For now, enjoy the entire video of the 2011 stockholder’s meeting that Google held in early June. The meeting features CEO Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin, Chairman Eric Schmidt, and others talking about all things Google for 90 minutes. This video was also made available on the YouTube Google investors site, but it doesn’t look like too many people have watched it yet. Enjoy. |
Lulz? The ‘Murdoch Leaks Project’ Gets A Landing Page | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Over the last week, there’s been quite a bit of news swirling around Rupert Murdoch’s empire, including, most recently, the now infamous LulzSec’s , News Corp’s daily tabloid newspaper. On Monday, the network of merry hacktivists hacked into The Sun, pinned a fake news story about Murdoch’s supposed death on the homepage, redirected the site to its Twitter page, and brought down a number of other News Corp and News International websites — all in one fell swoop. If that weren’t enough, on Thursday, the hacker known as “Sabu” (who is ) claimed to have , or “sun mails” that might “explode this entire case” that were lifted during the hacking. Sabu was, of course, referring to the ongoing News Corp/ , in which top executives have been accused, some arrested (and on trial) for illegal phone tapping of everyone from celebrities to murder victims. It has since been unclear whether or not LulzSec would be releasing some or any of those emails to the public, though AnonymousIRC, for one, they may not. While that assertion remains intact, we’ve just discovered this site: “ “, which appears to be the landing page where Lulzsec and/or Anonymous may dump none, some — or all — of its News International email loot. As of right now, the site is blank, with only a “Murdoch Leaks” heading, accompanied by the following text: . And, of course, a link to a , inscribed with: These hackers sure love Twitter. Again, to be clear, at this point it’s not evident who owns the site, but we’re looking into it. ( .) And, with “leaks” in the headline, all signs point toward this being a Lulzsec/Anon. production. Should go live, we will of course update with more. The page is now live. While we were correct in reporting that this is a site linked to the News Of The World scandal, it appears the Murdoch Leaks Project is simply looking to collect tips or “evidence of wrongdoing” in regard to the case — in an effort to enhance the fourth estate’s coverage (or lack thereof) of the case. A Wikileaks, specifically for News International. While it is still not clear who is behind this, and murdochleaks.org makes no mention of it, the domain is registered to Cinipac IBC, a German backup, hosting, and anonymous communication service. However, it is unlikely the anonymizing service is behind the site; instead, it is more likely that the service is simply being used as the tool to protect the anonymity of those making submissions (and those behind the site). So, it could very well be that we were incorrect in making a connection to LulzSec, and we’ll share when we know for sure. It could just be the project of some Julian Assange fans, or former journalists, or LulzSec-ers looking to find a way to share potentially incriminating information (procured in equally incriminating ways) in such means that would make the information viable in court. But that is just speculation, and they say that they will not publish anything themselves. More to come. |
Ouch: The Netflix Price Change Hangover | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | It’s been pretty fascinating to watch Netflix’s growth from a company that Blockbuster (when Founder and CEO Reed Hastings and former CFO Barry McCarthy proposed to Blockbuster management that they run its online brand) to the of web traffic in North America in 2011. There have been quite a few hiccups and ups and downs along the way, as the on-demand video provider has , succeeded as leadership has pushed its service onto TVs, game systems, and mobile devices — and more recently, re-focused on its streaming business. Last week, that tweak to the business model saw a very public revision of the service’s pricing structure, a result of Netflix eagerly dividing its DVD rental and streaming services into two distinct businesses. In addition, Netflix created a whole separate management team for its DVD business, along with announcing that it would be offering its streaming plan for $7.99 and its DVD plan at $7.99, so that customers that want both will now have to pay $16 a month — . (For those who choose both streaming and physical.) And, as you may have heard, customers were not happy. No, they were not happy at all. In fact, on the blog post in which Netflix , over 12,000 comments were posted (and that’s using Facebook’s commenting system, something TechCrunch readers are unhappily familiar with), most of them angry, and many in turn did their own announcing, saying they would be tendering their resignations, effective immediately. Of course, but, so what? Well, , in the ten days since Netflix made its price changes, the national perception of Netflix’s brand among adults dropped precipitously from a 39.1 on July 12th to -14.1 on July 18th, and currently sits at -6, putting Netflix in a virtual tie with Blockbuster. With a margin error of 5, that’s no tiny aberration. BrandIndex calculated it’s score by asking Netflix, Redbox, DirecTV and Blockbuster customers about their impressions of each brand, and what they’ve heard about the brand via word of mouth, advertising, etc. BrandIndex Global Managing Director Ted Marzili told me that the scores reflect a sample size of about 15,000 respondents. Look out, graph below. Of course, it wasn’t long before potential Netflix defectors with a 30-day free trial. And though it doesn’t seem that Blockbuster has been reaping rich rewards from Netflix’s change, the company’s stock, which has performed very well over the last two years (and was at a 6-month high before the announcement on July 13th) has since dropped over 20 points. Some of that is natural — the stock was due for a slow-down — and of course some of it’s not. , Morgan Stanley has also stepped in with its own Netflix survey, which found that, in fact, 26 percent of Netflix customers would be canceling their subscriptions altogether. These numbers have since been toned down, as the initial emotional angst wears off, but either way it seems likely that Netflix will be suffering in subscription revenue in the near future. Netflix has now forced many of its customers to make a choice between streaming and DVDs, because, after all, as Reed Hastings himself , the future is in streaming, not in them plastic discs. I mean who uses CDs anymore, ya know? There is always a backlash when a major service hikes prices, but it seems that Netflix might have employed a bit more market research beforehand, and perhaps if it had given current users some form of incentive over its new users, whether through discounts on a year long plan or not, might have been smart. (And in turn shown a little consideration for the loyal customers.) What about a discount on a 2-for-1-type deal? After all, we’re living in the age of the daily deal, when consumers seem to expect a discount. Not to mention the fact that many wallets have undergone a significant squeeze over the last two years. Money is tighter than it was during the company’s early days, and Netflix might benefit from acknowledging that. We’ll see how this all plays out. I expect Netflix’s brand perception and stock will be right back on track before long, but there’s always the chance that the hangover continues. And, perhaps more importantly — don’t laugh — will Blockbuster truly benefit as a result? How about Redbox? The local library? Your thoughts? |
VideoInbox, Another Google/Slide Production, Brings Viral Videos To Your Inbox | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | We’ve come across the latest in series of projects developed within Google, — a combination daily newsletter/Facebook app that basically centers around the viewing, sharing and cataloguing of viral videos (proof that it’s from Slide ). Sign up for VideoInbox with Facebook Connect and you’ll get a daily email with “hand selected” viral YouTube videos like “ or . Again exhibiting the autonomy we’ve now come to expect from the Google-owned Slide, the app uses, amazingly enough, the Facebook API to allow you to share videos with individual friends on Facebook or post them to your Facebook Wall. While the button there its Twitter OAuth aspect seems to be not yet implemented. The app also allows you to watch the top 5 viral videos from yesterday, as well as “Favorite” videos for watching later. While VideoInbox is still very “work in progress,” despite its rough design, it’s kind of delightful. I mean I am so lucky to have had the experience of added to my life, and yes, I just shared it with a Facebook friend that I thought might like it. Slide has been super productive since Google for $182 million back in August, coming out with a series of iOS apps including Photovine, Pool Party and group messaging app Disco in recent months. , a Slide-backed platform which allows you to create contests for money, like Video Inbox, heavily implements Facebook Connect. However it’s still unclear how Slide’s churn of products is contributing to Google’s overall ambitions and strategy. Also: Why aren’t they formally pitching the tech press with this stuff? Honestly, some of it is actually pretty cool. And it’s getting to the point where it hard to keep track of them all. |
Obvious Already Ramping Up With Two New Founding Team Hires | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Back in January of 2009, we noted that a “ ” was about to launch in the MMO space, with a startup called . A few weeks ago, Ohai was sold, . And at least two of those rockstars have now moved on. and are the newest members of , the idea incubator that was by the former Twitter guys, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Jason Goldman. Stone makes the in a post today on the Obvious blog. “The most important part of creating this work culture and building these meaningful products is people — but not just any people. People that are often smarter than us, different from us, passionate like us, and dedicated to the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” he writes, stating that Wu and Neufeld, employees number four and five at Obvious, are those kind of people. Like everything else with the re-launch of Obvious, this move also extends from the past. Stone writes: Many years ago, when Ev and I were working on Odeo, we met Susan as part of Charles River Ventures, and we knew then that we wanted to work with her. We know Susan to be incredibly smart, talented, thoughtful, and driven to make a lasting, positive impact on the world. Through Susan, we met Don and quickly realized he was a rare sort of affable technical genius—an obvious fit! They sure love those obvious plays on words. Stone goes on to note that while both most recently worked in the gaming space (with Ohai), Wu and Neufeld bring a range of knowledge. This seems to imply that whatever Obvious is building right now, it won’t be in the gaming space. The situation surrounding the Ohai exit is still a bit odd. While the company has been sold, at first the buyer was unknown. Then, in a separate story, that the buyer was EA. Then Ohai denied this. Then they said they were “in the process of completing a transaction”. Then Takahashi heard that EA had interviewed Ohai employees and did not make a purchase at that time. Okay, that was 11 days ago, and now most (if not all) of the founding team is gone. Something clearly happened. Regardless, Wu and Neufeld are now with Obvious. Meanwhile, while not much is known about what Obvious will actually work on, we do hear they already do have a first product in mind that they have started. More to come, I’m sure. : Wu posts a bit more , and notes that “We’re in the process of completing a transaction for ohai”. She later notes that Ohai will “evolve into something else”. |
More Americans Are On Facebook Than Have A Passport | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | To celebrate the fact that my vacation during the last two weeks of August has been officially confirmed (!), I am posting the most massive infographic I have ever seen: “The Social Travel Revolution” brought to you by the folks at still-in-beta travel startup . 50% of all Americans are on Facebook (155 million) while only 37% of Americans have a passport (115 million). To its credit, the Facebook onboarding process is a lot more streamlined.
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Doubts About Lytro’s “Focus Later” Camera | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | I’ve been meaning to address since it hit a few weeks ago. I wrote about omnifocus cameras as far back as , and more recently in , and while at the time I was more interested in the science behind the systems, though it appears that Lytro uses a different method than either of those. Lytro has been slightly close-lipped about their camera, to say the least, though that’s understandable when your entire business revolves around proprietary hardware and processes. Some of it can be derived from Lytro founder Ren Ng’s (which is both interesting and readable), but in the meantime it remains to be shown whether these “living pictures” are truly compelling or something which will be forgotten instantly by consumers. A recent with model Coco Rocha, the first in-vivo demonstration of the device, is dubious evidence at best. A prototype camera was loaned out for an afternoon with Lytro’s photographer Eric Cheng, and while the hardware itself has been carefully edited or blurred out of the , it’s clear that the device is no larger than a regular point-and-shoot, and it seems to function more or less normally, with an LCD of some sort on the back, and the usual framing techniques. No tripod required, etc. It’s worth noting that they did this in broad daylight with a gold reflector for lighting, so low light capability isn’t really addressed — but I’m getting ahead of myself. Speaking from the perspective of a tech writer and someone interested in cameras, optics, and this sort of thing in general, I have to say the technology is absolutely amazing. But from the perspective of a photographer, I’m troubled. To start with, a large portion of the photography process has been removed — and not simply a technical part, but a creative part. There’s a reason focus is called focus and not something like “optical optimum” or “sharpness.” Focus is about making a decision as a photographer about It’s clear that Ng is not of the same opinion: he describes focusing as “a chore,” and believes removing it simplifies the process. In a way, it does — the way hot dogs simplify meat. Without focus, it’s just the record of a bunch of photons. And saying it’s a revolution in photography is like saying dioramas are a revolution in sculpture. I’m also concerned about image quality. The camera seems to be fundamentally limited to a low resolution — . I say fundamentally because of the way the device works. Let me get technical here for a second, though there’s a good chance I’m wrong in the particulars. The way the device works is more or less the way I imagined it did before I read Ng’s dissertation. To be brief, the image from the main lens is broken up by a microlens array over the image sensor, and by analyzing (a complex and elegant process) how the light enters various pixel wells underneath the many microlenses (which each see a slightly different picture due to their different placements), a depth map is created along with the color and luminance maps that make up traditional digital images. Afterwards, an image can be rendered with only the objects at a selected depth level rendered in maximum clarity. The rest is shown with increasing blur, probably according to some standard curve governing depth of field falloff. Immediately it must be perceived that an enormous amount of detail is lost, not just because you are interposing an extra optical element between the light and the sensor (and one which simultaneously must be extremely low in faults and yet is very difficult to make so), but also because the system fundamentally relies on creating semi-redundant data to compare with one another, meaning pixels are yielding less data for a final image than they would be in a traditional system. They are of course providing information of a different kind, but as far as producing a sharp, accurate image, they are doing less. Ng acknowledges this in his paper, and the reduction of a 16-megapixel sensor to a 296×296 image (a reduction of some 95.5% of the pixel count) in the prototype is testament to this reducing factor. The process has no doubt been improved along the lines he suggests are possible: square pixels have likely been replaced with hexagonal, the lenses and pixel widths made complementary, and so on. But the limitation still means trouble, especially on the microscopic sensors being deployed to camera phones and compact point and shoots. I’ve complained before that these micro-cameras already have terrible image quality, smearing, noise, limited exposure options, and so on. The Lytro approach solves some of these problems and exacerbates others. On the whole downsampling might be an improvement, now that I think of it (the resolutions of cheap cameras exceed their resolving power immensely), but I’m worried that the cheap lenses and small size will limit Lytro’s ability to make that image as versatile as their samples — at least, for a decent price. There’s a whole chapter in Ng’s paper about correcting for micro-optical aberrations, though, so it’s not like they’re unaware of this issue. I’m also worried about the quality of the blur or bokeh, but that’s an artistic scruple unlikely to be shared by casual shooters. The limitation of the aperture to a single opening simplifies the mechanics but also leaves control of the image to ISO and exposure length. These are both especially limited in smaller sensors, since the tiny, densely-packed photosensors can’t be relied on for high ISOs, and consequently the exposure times tend to be longer than is practical for handheld shots. Can the Lytro camera possibly gain back in post-processing what it loses in initial definition? Lastly, and this is more of a question, I’m wondering whether these images can be made to be all the way in focus, the way a narrow aperture would show it. My guess is no; there’s a section in the paper on extending the depth of field, but I’m not sure the effect will stand scrutiny in normal-sized images. It seems to me (though I may be mistaken) that the optical inconsistencies (which, to be fair, generate parallax data and enable the 3D effect) between the different “exposures” mean that only slices can be shown at a time, or at the very least there are limitations to which slices can be selected. The fixed aperture may also put a floor on how narrow your depth of field can be. Could the effect achieved in be replicated, for instance? Or would I have been unable to isolate just that quarter-inch slice of the world? All right, I’m done being technical. My simplified objections are two in numer: first, is it really possible to reliably make decent photos with this kind of camera, as it’s intended to be implemented (i.e. as an affordable compact camera)? And second, is it really adding something that people will find worthwhile? As to the first: designing and launching a device is no joke, and I wonder whether Ng, coming from an academic background, is prepared for the harsh realities of product. Will the team be able to make the compromises necessary to bring it to shelves, and will those compromises harm the device? They’re a smart, driven group so I don’t want to underestimate them, but what they’re attempting really is a technical feat. Distribution and presentation of these photos will have to be streamlined as well. When you think about it, a ton of the “living photo” is junk data, with the “wrong” focus or none at all. Storage space isn’t so much a problem these days, but it’s still something that needs to be looked at. The second gives me more pause. As a photographer I’m strangely unexcited by the ostensibly revolutionary ability to change the focus. The fashion shoot, a professional production, leaves me cold. The “living photos” seem lifeless to me because they lack artistic direction. I’m afraid that people will find that most photos they want to take are in fact of the traditional type, because the opportunities presented by multiple focus points are simply few and far between. Ng thinks it simplifies the picture-taking process, but it really doesn’t. It removes the need to focus, but the problem is that we, as human beings, . Usually on either or . Lytro photos don’t seem to capture either of those things. They present the information from a visual experience in a way that is unfamiliar and unnatural except in very specific circumstances. A “focused” Lytro photo will never be as good as its equivalent from a traditional camera, and a “whole scene” view presents no more than you would see if the camera was stopped down. Like the compound insect eye it partially mimics, it’s amazing that it works in the first place, and its foreignness by its nature makes it intriguing, but I wouldn’t call it a step up. “Gimmick” is far too harsh a word to use on a truly innovative and exciting technology such as Lytro’s. But I fear that will be the perception when the tools they’ve created are finally put to use. It’s new, and it’s powerful, yes, but is it something people will actually want to use? I think that, like so many high-tech toys these days, it’s more fun in theory than it is in practice. That’s just my opinion, though. Whether I’m right or wrong will of course be determined later this year, when Lytro’s device is actually delivered, assuming they ship on time. We’ll be sure to update then (if not before; I have a feeling Ng may want to respond to this article) and get our own hands-on impressions of this interesting device. |
How MySpace Tom May Have Inadvertently Triggered The Google/Facebook War | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Gotta love . Newly reinvigorated by the launch of Google+, “MySpace Tom” has become (and regular TechCrunch !). As a man at the forefront of the early days of the social wars, he’s obviously full of information. And today he decided to share a bit more. This time, it’s a fascinating story about the time Microsoft, not Google, was about to land the MySpace ad deal. In a comment on (where else) , Anderson tells the story in response to about the Google/Facebook war before Google+. Based on a , I noted that the (Fox Interactive Media) may have been the true kick-off of hostilities between Google and Facebook. As a result, — which later led to the . But as Anderson tells it, it almost didn’t happen that way. In fact, it was that was just about to sign the MySpace search/ad deal. “The reason we ended up going with Google search is because I ran into and told him we were about to close with Microsoft. Within an hour, Google brass helicoptered out to a News Corp. shindig at Pebble Beach,” Anderson says, noting that he wasn’t allowed in the closed-door meeting where negotiations took place. This resulted in the billion-dollar deal. “The terms were so screwed up, that it had a big impact (a negative one) on MySpace’s future,” Anderson writes. “Things would have been quite different if that deal hadn’t happened,” he goes on to say. A few more awesome things about this info: 1) Again, Anderson is leaving this comment on Google+ — the new service by the company whose ad deal way back when helped seal the fate of his company. 2) Anderson says this was actually the first and only time he had ever met Doerr. 3) , now the man , was on the other side at the time, trying to get the ad deal done for Microsoft (Gundotra shortly before the MySpace deal was finalized). This is how Anderson Gundotra, in fact. 4) Anderson says he had forgotten all of this info until my post. Indulge me here for a second. Just think about what would have been had Anderson not run into Doerr? Microsoft would have likely closed the MySpace deal, perhaps with better terms for MySpace. Google, presumably, would have then gone after a similar deal with Facebook. This perhaps would have given them a leg up a year later to do a Facebook investment, instead of Microsoft. If my wild speculation holds, the Internet would have been a different place right now. It may have been a place for Google and Facebook to be friends. In a relationship, even. |
Spotify ecosystem grows as ShareMyPlaylists secures Angel funding | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Any new US Spotify users will be busy creating playlists and sharing them with their friends. This is an awesome part of the service which is really the central point of why Spotify can become so addictive compared to other services like Mog and Rdio. A while back a clever little startup realised there was gold in them there lists and created a site to allow users share their lists outside of Spotify more easily. has now secured £250,000 in angel funding, this time from Angel investor Mark Pearson, chairman of Markco Media Ltd / MyVoucherCodes. Pearson has also in UGC media site . Founder Kieron Donoghue the site is now on 2 million page impressions per month and 10,000 playlists are played on the site each day. Growth is up to 400 new members a day. The site’s 78,000 member have now shared over 47,000 playlists. The site means you can discover and rate playlists far more easily. Click on a playlist and it takes you direct into Spotify. It’s odd that Spotify hasn’t really cracked this issue as well as ShareMyPlaylists which, for my money at least makes the site a potential acquisition target at some point. |
Google Acquires Facial Recognition Software Company PittPatt | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Google has just acquired facial recognition software company (Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition), according to an announcement on the startup’s site. PittPatt, a project spawned from Carnegie Mellon University, develops a facial recognition technology that can match people across photos, videos, and more. The company has created a number of algorithms in face detection, face tracking and face recognition. PittPatt’s face detection and tracking SDK locates human faces in photographs and tracks the motion of human faces in video. Here’s the notice PittPatt has up on its site: Google has reportedly been adding facial recognition to its products (i.e. Google Goggles) more seriously but has held back because of privacy concerns. As the company But in May, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt “unlikely to employ facial recognition programs.” Google issued this statement confirming the acquisition: |
Long Before Google+, Google Declared War On Facebook With OpenSocial | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Google and Facebook are at war. We’ve known this for a while. Of course, neither side will admit to it, but they are. Winner takes the Internet. After months of Facebook owning Google in just about every way imaginable (well, except search, of course — but the rise of social is slowly making search less important), Google has finally been able to strike back with Google+. And now a full-on is getting underway. It may not be a winner-take-all race, but it will eventually be winner-take-most. We simply can’t share everything across 5 or even 3 networks. Google is fighting an uphill battle in this regard, but at least they finally have a weapon. But how did we get to this point where the two biggest names on the Internet are involved in a full-scale war? It all goes back to 2007, and perhaps even 2006. This question was recently posed on Quora: No less than Adam D’Angelo, the co-founder of Quora and very early Facebook employee, chimed in. “To me, the biggest increase in tension was Google’s launch of OpenSocial in 2007. After seeing the success of Facebook Platform, Google went and got all the other social networks committed to OpenSocial under NDA without telling Facebook, then broke the news to Facebook and tried to force them to participate,” , pointing to from the time. Facebook, as you might expect, to that action. “This was particularly offensive to Facebook because Google had no direct interest in social networking at the time and Facebook Platform had no direct impact on Google’s search or ads businesses. They didn’t care about Orkut and they didn’t build any applications,” D’Angelo notes. A few months later, (a part of OpenSocial), further escalating matters. Facebook then went on to dominate social (remember, MySpace was still technically the leader at that time). On top of Platform, we got Connect, Open Graph, the Like button, etc. Facebook , and we began to enter . We’ll see if Google+ can stop that. Certainly, no one talks about OpenSocial or Friend Connect any more. D’Angelo says that he can’t remember “any adversarial actions of that magnitude” before the OpenSocial announcement. And he says that before that, there was just the regular competition over engineering hires ( ). But there may have been something right before OpenSocial that triggered it. As another Facebook employee (though not at the time), Jinghao Yan, remembers, the Microsoft investment in Facebook may have also contributed heavily to the increase in tensions. While talks had been going on for weeks, if not months, on October 24, 2007 — just a week before the OpenSocial announcement — Facebook from Microsoft for less than 2 percent of the social network. Humorously, at the time, people were all up-in-arms over the $15 billion valuation this gave Facebook. Now it looks like one of the smarter investments Microsoft has made in recent years — though it was clearly always more about the strategic positioning. And that’s the key. Microsoft outbid Google for the right to secure this investment (and thus, strategic partnership) in the rising social network. “I feel that this event is what made Google so antagonistic against Facebook–because it actively rejected Google’s embrace for Microsoft’s purse. As a result, it labeled Facebook more as a threat to its online dominance than as a potential partner,” Yan writes. Below, that another Facebooker, Yishan Wong, points out that the instead of Google may have kicked all of this off. And why did Microsoft go so hard after Facebook for this deal? Because earlier that same month, with Fox Interactive Media to run the ads on MySpace. In other words, Google made a bet — a good one at the time, but one that was potentially very costly long-term. And now the two sides are giants. At war. : |
Enhanced eBooks: Valuable Sales Tool or Just a Gimmick? (TCTV) | Sarah Lacy | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | New technologies usually allow for . In the move from print media to the Web the “more” was comments, slideshows and of course rapid-fire content. In the move from VHS to DVDs the “more” was all sorts of behind the scenes footage and director commentaries. In the move from Blackberries to iPhones, the “more” was a wonderland of new apps and a browser experience that didn’t make your eyes bleed. In a world of eBook readers, more is starting to creep in, but it’s unclear whether this is a more that will actually sell books, or a more that only a handful of superfans care about. A lot people still attach a high-art aesthetic to books, and decry anything that makes its content more accessible for readers. Case in point: A gorgeous version of came out on the iPad and some parents were furious that the animated images took away from kids having to imagine, say, Alice growing and shrinking on their own. Novelist Kitty Pilgrim is betting that more is more with her new book . A long time broadcast journalist she’s included several highly-produced videos to show the real places that inspired her fictional thriller. But does that take something away from the magic of fiction? We caught up with Pilgrim over Skype to discuss. |
Festo’s SmartBird Robot Flies Through The Air At TED | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | You may recall the , a we saw back in March that mimics the flight of birds, flapping its wings like the real thing. The video we saw then was a bit too edited to get a feel for the bot, but luckily one of the inventors was invited to do a TED talk, and of course they had to set the thing free in the auditorium. Check out the video: [ted id=1195 width=640] Markus Fischer, the speaker, describes a few finer points and demonstrates the simplicity of their motor and wing system on a skeletal model. It’s really very cool. Unfortunately they are likely limited by the capacity of the batteries they can take on board, which, being heavy, increase the power required to stay aloft, which means more battery capacity is needed… and so on. The bird flies for around 50 seconds in the demonstration, but much longer in (outside, with curious real birds). I’m curious as to whether they’ve considered alternative energy sources; they seem to be well-provided with space inside the bird chassis, and a strong but lightweight coil or spring might provide a better power to weight ratio. Batteries are optimized for volume, not weight, so if there’s room to expand, they can take a hit on joules per cm3 but shave a few grams off the total. [via ] |
Leaked LG Roadmap Points To Five Android Smartphones And One Mango Fantasy | Jordan Crook | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | The only thing better than a leak is six leaks, which is exactly what we have for you today. Bundled nicely in the form of a 2011 Roadmap (discovered by ), five Android smartphones and one Mango-powered handset have found their way to the web. Along with the , LG has quite a bit more in store for the rest of the year. However, we don’t expect that this is the entirety of LG’s 2011 smartphone lineup, so if you can’t find something you like here, fret not, more are sure to follow. The second-half flagship has been dubbed the LG Prada K2. We’re not sure what “Prada-inspired texture on the casing” means, but other specs on this fashion-forward phone are pretty impressive: , dual-core processing, 4.3-inch Nova LCD display (the power-saving extra-bright screen seen on the ), 8-megapixel rear shooter, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and 16GB of internal storage all wrapped up in an 8.8mm thin handset. Other roadmap highlights include the LG Univa, successor to the Optimus One, and a mysterious Windows Phone 7 handset called the LG Fantasy. Little is known about either of these handsets, although it is expected that the Univa will launch alongside the Optimus Net. Despite the popularity of the Optimus One, I have a sneaking suspicion that the upgrade to an 800MHz processor, 3.5-inch HVGA display, and five-megapixel camera may put this phone ahead of big brother in initial sales. The Fantasy, on the other hand, should hit shelves in Q4, claims Pocket Now, with in tow. The leaked roadmap also points to another upper-midrange smartphone called the Victor and a low-end Android handset called the LG E2, which you can check out in PocketNow’s coverage. [via ] |
null | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 7 | 14 | null |
Apple’s iOS 5 Beta 4 Update Now Available, First To Be Released Over-The-Air | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | It’s been just 11 days since Apple released Beta 3 of iOS 5 to developers, but a new Beta is already up in the air — literally. iOS 5 Beta 4 has just gone live, and it appears to be the first update to support installation via iOS 5’s new over-the-air update system. We can’t actually get the update to over the air right now, but the patch notes specifically define it as an option. To quote: If you’re not already on the iOS 5 Developer Beta to give it a shot yourself, you’re not missing out on much: Fortunately, as shown in the image below, the update can still be downloaded manually and installed through iTunes. It’s not 100% clear whether or not Apple plans to release the OTA update (just a day after Lion, which is currently distributed exclusively through the App Store. Way to stress test that new cloud server, Apple!), but it certainly looks like it shouldn’t be long. Readers in comments and folks on Twitter are reporting that they got the OTA update to work. Here’s what it looks like when it actually, you know, (Thanks )! As any late-stage Beta should be, it’s bug fixes and little tweaks — but here’s some of the bigger stuff we’re hearing: This list will be updated as new reports come in. |
Porsche’s Sport And Rennsport Bikes, For The Car-Loving Cyclist | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | We’ve already seen bikes from both and in the last year, so I suppose it’s no surprise to see . The German sport car giant has actually had a bike for quite a while now, but I believe the new Sport and Rennsport are their first attempts at road-going bikes rather than the mountain variety. These “Driver’s Selection” bikes are of the refined and sexy type, taking more after Audi’s wood-framed models than McLaren’s highly-tuned racing bikes. The aluminum Sport or S has an 11-gear belt drive and weighs 12kg (~26 lbs), which is light but… not that light. The Rennsport (RS) is much lighter at 9kg, due no doubt to its carbon frame and forks. It’s got a 20-gear Shimano derailleur with a traditional chain, and comes with clip-in pedals. Both have Magura ceramic disc brakes. Nice bikes to be sure, but let’s talk turkey. What’s the damage on these things? The Sport costs a massive €3300 (~$4750) and will be available in September. The Rennsport… well. Got a spare €5900? That’s $8500 of your puny American dollars. What, you thought Porsche was going downmarket? I’ll tell you, though, if someone put ten grand in my pocket and a gun to my head and told me to buy one of these luxury bikes, I’d probably go with that McLaren. I’d be too afraid to ride it in the city, but I think I’d prefer it over these status symbols, though I have no doubt they’d be nice rides as well. [via ] |
Founder Office Hours With Chris Dixon And Josh Kopelman: Profitably | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Today, we are trying a special edition of ; that we are calling . Inspired by onstage at our last Techcrunch Disrupt, we brought together a group of startup founders in our NYC studio to get feedback and advice. Joining regular host is , managing partner of First Round Capital. In this first video above, , founder of , asks whether he should charge for a new product or go freemium. Profitably is a business dashboard for small businesses that pulls accounting data from QuickBooks and helps visualize it. The company is developing a new product around business planning and modeling that traditionally is only available to larger corporations. Should he charge a monthly fee for the new product, or go freemium—give it away for free and upsell to premium features? It depends on what his immediate goals are: getting big or getting profitable. “Customer acquisition for small- to mid-sized businesses is the hardest thing,” notes Kopelman. “You have to market to them as consumers.” If the product has broad appeal, you can consider giving it away for free as a way to subsidize the cost of acquiring new customers. But you need to have something to upsell. “You don’t want to have too much free and not enough -emium,” he says. What about building a white-label version for a large customers as a way to hit quarterly targets? Both Dixon and Kopelman agree that if Neary wants to raise more money down the line, investors are more likely to put a higher value the business if it has a direct relationship with the end customer. Watch previous . |
For The Geek Who Has Everything: A Gold-Plated Atari 2600 | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | One thing most 30-something people in tech have in common is video gaming nostalgia. Generation X (and ) can go on for hours discussing the merits of our favorite Nintendo games, our programming experience in school, and of course our beloved Ataris. Sure there were C64s and Amigas and such, but Atari’s 2600 and its successors were truly groundbreaking in the gaming world. You can still find a few here and there, working even, but to be honest the machine is a little more humble-looking than my memory has it. But Urchin Associates had the brilliant idea to preserve this piece of computing history forever… . Is it not beautiful? Now, whether it works or not, I’m not prepared to say. That gold-plated cartridge (I wonder what game it is?) looks removable, and I doubt they plated over the I/O ports, so unless the system they used was bricked to begin with, it probably works just fine. The controllers, however, may have lost a little functionality in the gilding process. The whereabouts of this art project are unknown, and no, I don’t think you can buy one. But it’s nice to know that it’s out there somewhere — like Eldorado, or Bigfoot. [via ] |
Keen On: Why Google Is Now A Social Company (TCTV) | Andrew Keen | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | So what is Google+? As Gundotra told me yesterday, it is an attempt to “understand people” and to make human relationships the heart of the Google experience. Both Horowitz and Gundotra acknowledge that this is a major project, something that may, in the future, redefine the company. This unGoogle-like goal to,as Horowitz said, put “people first”, may well, in the long run, transform Google from a algorithmic company to a social one. Gundotra and Horowitz believe that today’s social web has only scratched the service of how to make the Internet into a truly human experience. Google+ is their attempt to transform Google into the leading player of the social age. It’s a massively important project, one that will define the company’s significance in the Web 3.0 age. Thanks to our readers for sending in so many questions. Many questions came in asking when Google+ was going to add a certain feature. But, to each of these questions, the oracular Horowitz and Gundotra would only say “in the future.” That question and non-answer, therefore, was going to get old pretty quick and I thus mostly avoided this kind of (non)conversation. Many comments were also very specific questions about functionality which weren’t really appropriate for this kind of broad interview. That said, the Google team were happy to hear all the comments and are reviewing the feedback we generated. |
I Had Cancer, A Social Network For Fighters, Survivors And Supporters (Private Beta Invites) | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | Social networks for cancer patients and survivors are not new. There’s the and for younger survivors, for instance. Now there is , a new resource for cancer patients, survivors, and friends and family who are supporters. The site just launched in private beta. If you have cancer or know somebody who does, we have 250 invites that you can sign up for on the b using the code: C55484. (People can also sign up for the beta on the regular site and will be notified when that launches). I Had Cancer was founded by a team out of in New York City: Mailet Lopez, Robert Boyle (who also created local Q&A app ), and Anthony Del Monte (president and founder of Sqweaky Wheel). Lopez is a survivor of breast cancer, and she started out wanting to create a blog for other cancer survivors called I Had Cancer. But that evolved into a full-fledged community support site where survivors and family members can share their cancer stories and help others who are going through the same experience. The site allows members to create profiles, tell their stories, and identify what type of cancer they battled against. You can find other members by location, cancer type, year diagnosed, age, or gender. The site also features discussion boards with questions and answers. Those are the public-facing parts of the site. Once you find someone with a similar experience or type of cancer, you can connect invite them to your Circle, and if they agree, you both can share more private news and messages. It is a mutual follow like Facebook, not a one-way follow like Google+ (Although it otherwise shares a similar concept). The startup has raised $750,000 in an angel round. You can learn more by watching these videos and . |
Gary Vaynerchuk, ‘The Sommelier of Social Media’, Partners With Consmr | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | If you’re anything like me, this scenario may be somewhat familiar: You’re standing in the aisle of your local supermarket, or Walgreens, and you’re looking to buy a particular type of product, be it peanut butter or shaving cream or shampoo, yet you don’t have any particular allegiance to one brand over another. Confronted with the often overwhelming abundance of choice, you may hold the product up to the light or quickly read the back label, hoping some divine intervention will guide you to the right choice. In the end, you probably make a choice based on appearance, brand familiarity, or something you read somewhere once. (When, really, you have no idea what the difference is between Scope and Listerine, other than minty-ness.) Now, in spite of feeling fortunate to have surfeit options baked into my shopping experience, I often find myself asking, “do we really need 40 different brands of deodorant to choose from?” The market might respond by saying something annoying like, “competition is good, bro”, but I ask, if we’re going to have this level of choice, is there a better way to be making product decisions other than by oft-times arbitrary selection criteria? A young New York City-based startup is trying to answer that question in the affirmative. , besides not liking all of its vowels, is attempting to build the Yelp, or Rotten Tomatoes, of consumer packaged goods (CPGs). While at this point Consmr may not be able to offer you a thoroughly detailed treatise on the value of Scope over Listerine, that’s the bent of its long-term goal. Consmr Founder and CEO Ryan Charles left his full-time job at Zagat (where he was the head of mobile and was responsible for its partnerships and ) at the end of March to pursue his new startup. Why? The genesis dates back to the height of the recession, he says, when a lot of we consumers became more discerning (and price conscious) in regard to their daily product decisions. While there’s been tremendous growth in web research on CPGs, the sources for this information are fragmented. There’s no Yelp or LibraryThing, or sites taking advantage of crowdsourced data or social integration to help you choose which product is right for you. And he has a good point; all-in-one sources for movie, TV, book, and restaurant recommendations (to name a few) are alive and well, so why not for CPGs? While the idea is an appealing one, the question is, of course, why one should spend time writing reviews of toothpaste? What incentive is there? Consmr isn’t going to bribe you to write reviews, but it will give you badges. Whether an average day-to-day user is browsing for the answer to a question like “what’s the best green-friendly laundry detergent?” or a micro-expert (like an ice cream blogger) wants to share their particular experience, the initial incentive is a game-ified user experience: Anyone can compete to earn badges that Consmr calls “flair” (a la Office Space), or “level-up” in reputation, or become a category expert. The appeal of being a category expert, Charles says, is that category experts are featured prominently on the site, including being recommended as someone to “follow”. Thus, users are incentivized to write longer reviews, to take time with their descriptions, in the effort to become a product expert — a veritable lord or lady of the detergents. Consmr has been in the process, like every other data-based recommendation engine before it, of gathering user reviews and building a sizable dataset. In the next few weeks, it plans to add recommendations based on products a user has rated highly and trends it picks up in your Consmr activity. (Similar in conceit to Netflix’s recommendation engine.) Consmr is also hard at work on its mobile apps — an equally important piece of the in-store recommendations puzzle. And, today, the startup added to its feature set by forging a partnership with , the popular author, business guru, and “sommelier of social media”. Beginning today, all of Vaynerchuk’s and reviews will be added to the site, which those who follow the wine guy will be able to see daily in their personal feed. Vaynerchuk told TechCrunch. Consmr launched officially to the world back in June and is in the process of raising funding. The site still has some work to do on bits and pieces of its design and will require some serious adoption before product recommendations become flawless, but the idea could have legs. Rating different types of peanut butter is surprisingly addicting. Let us know what you think. |
After-Hours Blues: Netflix Stock Falls 10 Percent On Warnings Of Slower Growth | Rip Empson | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | On Friday, about how Netflix’s was having a noticeable (negative) effect on the perception of the company and its brand. An interesting conversation evolved in the comment section, with some explaining why they cancelled their Netflix subscriptions and why some even view it as a “PR nightmare”. During its Q2 earnings call this afternoon, Netflix Founder and CEO Reed Hastings said that the company was not naive in its decision to change its pricing, and indeed expected to be hit with a bit of a backlash. Of course, as Hastings said, . Regardless, it seems that investors are not so optimistic. At the time of this writing, Netflix stock has plummeted more than $28 per share in after hours trading, a 10 percent overall drop. While Netflix posted another strong quarter, with net income up to $68 million, a 55 percent year-over-year increase and $788.6 million in revenue, up 52 percent year-to-year, there were some caveats. earlier this afternoon, . And why is that? Netflix’s much-talked-about price change goes into effect in the third quarter, and should be fully rolled out, Netflix estimates, by September 15th. As a result, Netflix expects That means: Investors, temper your expectations for the next few months. (Or, as we’ve seen from this afternoon’s activity, “sell it like it’s stolen”.) Another few possible reasons for Netflix’s less-than-favorable forecast may lie in the fact that content costs are rising, which, coupled with lower revenues per subscription as Netflix transitions to more streaming-only content and the cost of ramping up its international presence (it plans to expand into Latin America later this year), might make some analysts nervous. It also doesn’t help that Netflix is lowering its EPS guidance for the next quarter’s to between $0.72 to $1.07, down from $1.26 for this quarter. On the earnings call today, Reed Hastings said that the “DVD will have a longer and bigger life than people think”. On the other hand, according to its letter to stockholders, In creating a separate management team and, really, business for DVDs, the company hopes that the life of those circular discs will continue, but really this seems to mark the beginning of the end. Because Netflix’s streaming business is finally established, the company is in a position to encourage its customers to switch to streaming, and the price change was as good as any other catalyst to accomplish this. And, in encouraging the transition, Netflix can take savings earned from not having to pay the same level of shipping costs for DVDs, and funnel it into its streaming. Of course, Netflix has had and all parties are aware that it just doesn’t have the same breadth of its streaming library in comparison to its DVDs. So, the need to begin allocating more funding to its infrastructure and developing its streaming content is paramount at this point. Expect major updates to Netflix’s streaming content over the next year, or watch as customers jump ship. And, speaking of that, Netflix also remained tight-lipped about a potential Dreamworks deal that is . While Hastings would not say if an agreement has been reached, he didn’t exactly deny that conversations were ongoing. As a result of all of these changes and its ongoing discussions with potential streaming content partners, it’s of no surprise that the company said that it is not “planning to bid on Hulu”. Ad-supported free content that focuses on the current TV season just isn’t part of the Netflix landscape at this point, though there’s no doubt that the company will be keeping its eye on Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus, especially as a potential future buyer of Hulu decides what to do with its subscription service. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all begun kicking the tires on Hulu, but its still uncertain where the company will end up. That being said, Netflix added 1.8 million subscribers in the U.S. during the second quarter, a 75 percent hike when compared to the second quarter of last year, bringing its total subscribers to 24.6 million, up 64 percent from Q2 2010. What’s more, 75 percent of those new subscribers signed up for Netflix’s streaming-only option. Clearly, Hastings and company are confident that its streaming business is in good enough standing that this is the best time to begin accelerating the transition from DVD to streaming. Hastings said that he expects Netflix to have 22 million streaming subscribers by the end of Q3, and 25 million total U.S. subscribers, meaning the company only expects to add another 400K or so subscribers over the next quarter. In the big picture, this may just be a blip on the radar, it all just depends on how unhappy customers really are, and the perceived viability of the competition. For more on Netflix’s financials, click here, and for a quick overview, check out the chart below: |
Zynga Partners With Tencent To Launch Localized Chinese Version Of CityVille | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | is furthering its presence in China with a new partnership with Chinese internet giant Tencent. As part of the deal, Zynga is launching a beta version of Zynga City, a new localized Chinese version of CityVille. The game will launch in the next few days and features brand-new content and game-play inspired by both traditional and pop culture in China. As this year, Zynga City beta will be operated by Tencent on its Pengyou platform and will soon launch on the company’s QZone platform. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either company. Zynga City beta will include brand-new decorations and architecture the Chinese audience can identify and connect with, in-game events and competitions linked to Chinese holidays and news, as well as culturally relevant game mechanics such as the chance for players to send street peddlers to their friend’s cities. Zynga City beta will also feature quest system, which Zynga says will “quench Chinese players’ thirst for rich storytelling within the games they love to play.” Zynga is actually building off of Tencent’s Open Platform, which is an Using this platform, Chinese players will be able to play Zynga City in their own language. As I mentioned above, it’s unclear what the terms of the revenue share are from the partnership. The game will first be operated by Tencent in a beta version on its , which is its and game platform, with a wider launch on several Tencent platforms including to follow. This isn’t Zynga’s first localized game in China. The gaming giant actually Chinese game developer XPD Media in May of 2010 and a Beijing office. And in August the company Zynga’s first internationally localized game, Zynga Texas Poker, in traditional Chinese. So why CityVille as the next localized game and the initial title in the partnership with Tencent? Andy Tian, General Manager of Zynga China, says that because CityVille is Zynga’s largest and most popular game, the localized version of Zynga City was the ideal choice. The Zynga China studio is actually leading the development of Zynga City including its new localized content and game features. Lin Songtao, General Manager of Tencent Open Platform, said in a release: For Zynga, a deal with Tencent is alluring for a number of reasons. First, Tencent has a massive reach in China, with the potential to reach . In fact, the Chinese company has just under 400 million active users. Second, the deal spreads Zynga’s dependence off of Facebook as a major platform. Of course, Zynga has major ambitions when it comes to international growth. In the past few game releases, Zynga has of its titles, hoping to appeal to broader audiences, especially on mobile platforms. If this partnership works out, this will be a huge gateway for Zynga into China. For Tencent, Zynga China is a strategic partnership that could help the Chinese internet giant expand to North America and Europe. Last year, Tencent of Digital Sky Technology, which in turn owns significant portions of of Zynga and Facebook. And as my colleague Sarah Lacy , Tencent has been quietly, in February and dozens of smaller, unreported acquisitions over the last year or so. As Zynga prepares for a later this year, the company could stand to from Tencent, which is one of the Internet companies on earth. |
Zaarly Security Glitch Exposes Private Messages, Phone Numbers | Jason Kincaid | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Another day, another startup security glitch. This time the startup affected is , the service that lets you buy or sell anything with people nearby. A bug in a recent code push created a security hole that revealed phone numbers and private messages between buyers and sellers. To exploit the bug, you’d need only access Zaarly’s file, specifying the lat and long coordinates for the area you wanted to view. The site would spit out its listings as usual (“Used iPhone 4”, “Mechanic to do a Saab engine swap”, and so on) along with relevant descriptions. But those listings would also include private variables, like user ID, phone number, and private messages. Someone who wanted to actively exploit the bug could plug in additional lat/long coordinates and view all Zaarly listings for any region. Zaarly CEO Bo Fishback says that the flaw was live for a week and was fixed within fifteen minutes after the company was alerted to the bug’s existence. He also emphasizes that while the bug exposed some user data, it did leak anything related to transactions — so credit card numbers and transaction details are all safe. And he believes that it’s highly unlikely that anyone would have stumbled across the bug accidentally. Will this evening’s glitch have severe repercussions for the startup? Unlikely. Most of the messages being exchanged through the service probably aren’t that sensitive, and while having phone numbers leak is certainly irritating (and unacceptable), it pales in comparison to the and breaches that are becoming the norm. It’s sad, but it’s almost like we’re getting used to this sort of thing. : Zaarly has written a blog post about the issue . : Fishback says he was originally mistaken and that the damage isn’t quite as bad as this post originally stated: email addresses were not exposed and while user ID numbers were, the names were not (in other words, you’d see a string of numbers as opposed to someone’s name). However, phone numbers and direct messages were available. |
Spotted! Secret Ubers On The Streets Of Seattle | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | It’s testament to the enthusiasm of the fan base that we’ve gotten multiple tips this afternoon about the service being live in Seattle. Via a quick phone call with Uber CEO , I’ve confirmed that Uber has indeed in the Pacific Northwest’s largest city, with an initial three black cars in its test fleet. Perhaps because of general cost of living is lower, Seattle Uber pricing is less than its counterpart in New York or San Francisco — At a $7.00 base fare with a $12 minimum versus a $8.00 base fare and a $15 minimum. Uber costs more than a cab obviously (the company is currently with pricing) but totally worth it if you need to get somewhere fast, safely or just want to impress someone with your uncanny ability to summon a black car at will. As having enough drivers to quell car requests is a key issue with Uber, Kalanick tells me that they’re positioning the initial Seattle Ubers as for “adventurous users only” even though the app is live and ostensibly anyone can use it. Kalanick hopes to have dozens of cars available upon full launch, which he jokingly says we should expect at some point in the next two weeks to three months. While Kalanick couldn’t give out any information about how successful the Uber launches were in San Francisco or New York, or which cities will come after Seattle, he did give me this one stat, “The best metric I can give you is that Uber is killing it in San Francisco and we’re crushing it in New York.” Sure enough, five minutes after stealth launch, photographer — the Seattle equivalent — scooped one up (image below). |
“Data Furnace” Would Heat Homes While Flipping Bits | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | One byproduct of computing almost everybody has had to deal with at some time or another is the heat. Whether it’s your Xbox 360 overheating due to poor ventilation, your MacBook’s fan roaring like a jet engine, or some other manifestation, the inescapable truth is that computers these days get . Whether it’s a processor, hard drive, or video card, it produces waste heat as its processors and moving parts do their thing. : if these things are so hot, why aren’t we heating our homes with them? The obvious answer is that while a laptop definitely produces enough heat to make things uncomfortable for your lap, it’s nowhere near the amount necessary to heat the room, much less a whole house. Same for even the most powerful gaming and design desktops. But server farms all over the world have to crank the A/C to keep their tightly-packed server racks from breaking down from the heat. Since space is at a premium, they put lots of processors and drives as close as possible (check out ) and the heat can get pretty serious. So what if people were to install a rack or two of servers in their home — the bigger the home, the more processors? The study suggests that there are some serious cost savings involved with selling these “data furnaces” to people, depending on the region, but I’m not convinced. First, the upfront cost to the consumer isn’t appealing: they’re calculating this based on consumers paying the same as they would for a purpose-built furnace. People won’t agree to this unless there’s something in it for them. Then, there is the factor of electricity costs, which is no rounding error: the paper’s estimate puts cost increases at several thousand dollars per furnace. And if the home doesn’t have a fat enough broadband? Cough up an extra couple thousand for a high-speed private line. Centralizing the power, maintenance, security, access, and administration of datacenters is still way more valuable than the potential gain from “piggybacking” on a low-priority switcheroo like this heating thing. The idea is to provide room for growth in data handling without the adverse consequences of plain linear scaling (i.e. doubling cloud storage capacity without doubling the size and emissions of the datacenters), but I don’t think this method is the way to go about it. There are too many factors that would make the servers’ owners uneasy, and there’s a good chance of upfront hassle for the “host” home. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think either infrastructure is ready for it. [via and ] |
New job site Qapa goes live with €1.7 million | roxannevarza | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | If you think European startups tend to lack the ambition of their US equivalents, guess again. Today, , a new Paris-based startup went live with €1.7 million in the bank and 1 not-so-simple goal: to decrease unemployment in France by 10% within the next year. Yes, sounds a little far-fetched. In France alone there are 4 million unemployed. Then again, each year some 900,000 jobs are not filled. And this is where Qapa is hoping to come in. CEO Stéphanie Delestre – who was the former COO of – believes that recruitment has not really changed over the last 10 years, with companies still turning to expensive job ads as the primary solution. Rather than charging to post an ad, Qapa is taking a different approach: posting ads and consulting profiles and CVs will be entirely free. Recruiters will only pay once they actually want to connect with the person. In a way, it isn’t too different from what we see on many of the dating sites out there. Qapa is planning to leverage the social web (in a type-of-way) and its algorithm that matches candidates to pertinent job openings in real-time. In fact, the name Qapa is actually an acronyme for “Qualification Application Proactive Algorithm.” When recruiters post an ad they will immediately see corresponding profiles and will only pay to contact the ones they are interested in. The company recently announced that it had closed a €1.7 million round with and . I guess we’ll just have to meet back here in 1 year to see if Qapa has achieved its goal or not. |
Google On The Nortel Loss, Patents As Government-Granted Monopolies, And Plates Of Spaghetti | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Back in early April, , Google’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel, wrote a post on the Google blog titled “ “. The reason behind the post was clear: Google was feeling the pressure in the patent space after multiple attacks against them and their partners. And now they were going to do something about it. In his post, Walker noted that Google had for over 6,000 patents that were up for sale due to the Nortel bankruptcy. “If successful, we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community—which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome—continue to innovate,” Walker wrote. The only problem was that Google . In fact, you could argue that the worst-case scenario happened to them. Instead of Google winning the patents, most of their chief rivals did, including Apple, Microsoft, RIM, and others. Ouch. The following day, Walker issued a formal statement on the matter, calling the outcome “ “. It obviously was, but as I noted in my post on the matter, I would have liked to hear more on the matter from Google. They wanted the press to know they were upset, but they didn’t want to speak on-the-record about it. Well, now they are. I spoke with Walker earlier today about the Nortel case, as well as the patent situation in general. Walker kicked things off by noting how vital it was that sites like ours cover the patent issues, because startups, entrepreneurs, and venture capitals all stand to lose if things don’t change. “We have the resources to fight,” Walker says of Google, but says that innovation itself is in danger. “It looks like plates of spaghetti,” Walker says of the current patent situation, noting the everyone is suing everyone else. “This is new in the Valley. This has happened in the past 15 years or so. Now it’s a mess,” he says. “A patent isn’t innovation. It’s the right to block someone else from innovating,” he continues. This is something Walker brings up again and again in our talk. Clearly, he thinks that patents, at least the way they’re being enforced right now, are a bit of a joke. Speaking of jokes, I asked Walker about the reports that Google had bid mathematical constants (like “Pi”, for example) during some of the earlier rounds of the Nortel bidding. This led some, , to wonder if Google was actually taking the auction seriously? “No one bids that kind of money without taking things seriously,” Walker says. “We think of this situation as a very serious one. There have been questions about our bidding strategy. We did have one,” he continues. “That said, the numbers being talked about were dwarfed by the amount finally bid. It’s all kind of moot,” he says. “Of all the prior Nortel auctions [there were a few before the patents Google bid on], never had any of those gone for more than twice the stalking-horse bid. This went for ,” Walker says. “It was the biggest patents sale in the history of the world.” Along those lines, I asked if Google made a strategic blunder when they put down the initial $900 million bid, since many assumed the entire portfolio wouldn’t garner more than $800 million when all was said and done?Perhaps this big bid emboldened Google’s rivals? “No, I don’t think so,” Walker responds, noting that the rivals likely had their strategies set as well. While he wouldn’t give specific numbers, he said Google had a number in their head for how high they were willing to go to get these patents. This is something that during their earnings call a couple weeks ago as well. “We buy companies all the time — for both people and interesting technologies. This would have been north of $4 billion for none of those things. We were bidding on the right to stop people from innovating,” Walker says. “You have to have the discipline not to overbid,” Walker continues. “Are there other opportunities out there? Of course,” he says, noting that Google is looking at all of them, but refusing to name specific opportunities. as the next Google/Apple patent fight. Or perhaps even Motorola patents will be on the table, as . Following the massive Nortel result, unsurprisingly, a lot of opportunities are being put on the market now, Walker notes. When I ask about the reports that in the Nortel auction, effectively staking them, and leading to the win, Walker declines to talk about specifics of the auction itself, citing the NDA all parties had to sign. But at a high level, he says that Google knew there would be opportunities and risks for partnerships as a part of this auction (it has also been reported that Google teamed up with Intel for the final run). I then ask Walker about the court situation. After the loss, Google seemed to imply that the courts may get involved to change the outcome by adding terms to it. Instead, the deal was approved by the Canadian and a joint U.S./Canadian court in just 10 days. Walker says that there’s an important difference between court approvals and something like the Department of Justice getting involved. The court approvals essentially just said that the terms were beneficial for Nortel — and at $4 billion+, how could they not rule that, Walker jokes. (The Canadian courts also did more generally approve the deal, saying that it wouldn’t stifle competition.) “The separate question is whether regulators from an antitrust perspective will engage,” Walker says. He declined to go any further than that, but it seems like a fair assumption that this is still very much a possibility. The deal is not fully closed yet. “The great news is that there’s lots of interesting options out there. Lots of people with lots of patents out there,” Walker says, moving the conversation beyond the Nortel situation, to the broader issue. Walker says that several times in history, even in the tech space, we’ve seen patent issues flare up and then settle down. In the microprocessor industry and the OEM industry, for example. “They settle into mutual assured destruction,” he says. “These fights are an arduous and expensive way to do it,” he says, implying that eventually, they’ll get there too. “Patents are government-granted monopolies,” Walker then says quite matter-of-factly. “We have them to reward innovation, but that’s not happening here,” he says. When I ask about to sign licensing agreements, and the notion that Android really isn’t free, you have to pay Microsoft to use their patents, Walker declines to talk about Microsoft specifically. But generally, he says that “it’s one thing to claim to have patents, it’s another for them to actually be valid patents.” “We have a number of partners. Samsung has 30,000 patents, I believe. Motorola has thousands more,” Walker notes, implying that they can fend for themselves even without Google having a ton of patents to help them. We then turn to Intellectual Ventures, which has a lot in recent days as perhaps the best example of patent “trolling”. Again, Walker doesn’t want to talk about them specifically, but says that generally, “it’s a sign of the challenges with the patent system.” “When you see a lot of VC money flowing into the acquisition and holding of patents, it’s a problem. These are not companies doing new things, they’re buying them. You see hundreds of millions and billions of dollars flowing in to exploit others,” he says. “An average patent examiner gets 15 to 20 hours per patent to see if it’s valid. It can take years to go back and correct mistakes,” Walker says more broadly. “It has become a kind of lottery.” All of the above situations show the problem with the entire system, in Walker’s view. At the highest level, “patents are not encouraging innovation,” he says. Still, Walker still realizes this is the battle Google must fight right now. So the hunt continues for some nuclear warheads to build towards mutual assured destruction, and eventually détente. |
Playstation Vita’s Social And Online Modes Officially Detailed | Devin Coldewey | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | We heard about the long before we even knew its name, but the official details are just now solidifying. We knew it would have a net-connected staging area for each game, and a proximity-based social tool (LiveArea and Near respectively), and although some of the functions there are intact, and the features have changed. “Near” is now a “gifting” system rather than a social discovery tool; it’s for leaving presents at certain locations, accessible to certain people or everyone and consisting of in-game items, challenges, and so on. “LiveArea” is an all-purpose update system that will show things like notifications from friends, new DLC and updates for games, and (I’m guessing) promotions like PSN game sales and what have you. There’s actually an actual part called Live, which I think Microsoft might actually take issue with. In this case Playstation Live and Xbox Live might actually create confusion. “Party” is a cross-game voice chat system, accessible throughout the system. You can override it for team-based games (dividing up into red and blue voice channels in-game, for instance) but otherwise it’s pretty much always there. It’s also a friends list thing, and you can build game-related groups for easy launching with your teammates or buddies. Hopefully they’ll add an exception for this so it doesn’t eat up your 3G bandwidth allowance. Sounds pretty solid to me, although I’m thinking they kind of gutted Near. There’s a lot to be done with proximity-based gaming, more than they can feasibly launch with perhaps. I’d expect multiple updates to these capabilities, though, and of course developers will find interesting ways to use them, so we’ll continue keep an eye on the Vita. |
Technology Is The New Smoking | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | We’ve all been there; You’re at an outing or a dinner table with friends but itching to check your email or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Google+ or Yammer or what ever digital hit of serotonin you prefer. Have you ever in order to check email or come up with a socially appropriate excuse to pull out your smartphone just so you can check your @ replies on Twitter? Remember when the critical mass of smokers used to leave the table or meeting in groups to go indulge their habit? I straight up open my laptop at bars and parties, and then feel more guilty about than drinking. A new British study released today backs up what we otherwise know intuitively, that Internet usage is increasingly becoming an addiction. Out of 1000 people after being cut off from the Internet for 24 hours, 53% reported feeling “upset” about being deprived of online access and 40% said that they felt lonely after not being able to connect to the Internet. Participants the digital detox akin to quitting drinking or smoking and one even said it was like having his hand chopped off (!). This British survey comes after a University of Maryland that came to pretty much the same conclusion — With one student saying that she was after abstaining from any form of media for 24 hours. Geez. Add this insight to the that smartphone usage leads to Cancer and the smoking analogy becomes more and more apt (see image left). But for the moment Googling the name of a movie you can’t remember is hands down healthier than smoking an actual cigarette, at least physically. For the moment. |
Social music games company MXP4 opens office in Los Angeles | roxannevarza | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | In April, Paris-based social music games company MXP4 a new app – – that could transform the tunes of singers like Lily Allen into gaming music. Now, the company is opening an office in Los Angeles, California to prepare for the commercial launch of the application. While the musical element definitely differentiates MXP4 from many other social gaming companies, MXP4 is getting closer to Zynga HQ. But the decision to go to LA was largely fueled by MXP4’s need to be in close proximity to the music industry – and the app has already attracted EMI Music and the likes. Still, R&D and technical activities will remain in France and CEO Albin Serviant and VP of Business Development and Content Acquisition will be between the 2 continents. Since the launch of Bopler Games in April, 120,000 game sessions have already been completed. The game currently has 6 available titles with another 6 planned to be released by the end of September. |
Netflix: 75 Percent Of New Customers Signing Up For Streaming-Only Plan | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | In its first quarterly since it announced for DVD subscribers who also stream videos, Netflix tried to put the best face on its new decision. In a shareholder letter ( ) accompanying earnings, CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells report that during “the quarter, the streaming only plan continued to gain in popularity, with nearly 75% of our new
subscribers signing up for it.” Nevertheless, net domestic subscribers increased by only 1.8 million versus 3.8 million new subscribers last quarter. (Netflix now has a total of 24.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and about another 1 million abroad). The big impact of the price change, of course, will come next quarter, when the company expects total subscribers to stay at around 25 million, with 22 million getting streaming video in some fashion, 15 million still getting DVDs, and a overlap of about 12 million getting both. Many customers are up in arms about the price change, but Netflix’s attitude seems to be love it or leave it. Again, from the letter: It is expected and unfortunate that our DVD subscribers who also use streaming don’t like our price change, which can be as much as a 60% increase for them from $9.99 to $15.98, when it goes into effect for each subscriber upon their renewal date in September . . . We hate making our subscribers upset with us, but we feel like we provide a fantastic service and we’re working hard to further improve the quality and range of our streaming content in Q4 and beyond. Netflix acknowledges that it still needs to improve the quality of its streaming selection, but it would rather encourage customers to abandon its DVD business and take those savings in shipping and other costs to pour into better streaming content. This transition will obviously take more than a couple of quarters, but Netflix’s policies seem to be designed to speed it along. In the letter, Reed and Wells also make a point to turn up their noses at Hulu, which they don’t want to buy: Hulu Plus added about 325,000 subs in Q2; we added close to 2 million. We invest much more than Hulu Plus in content, in marketing, and in R&D. Since Hulu is likely to be sold in the near term, it is unknown who will run it and how much they will invest in the subscription part of the Hulu service. We aren’t planning to bid on Hulu because most of its revenue is from providing free ad-supported streaming of current season TV shows, which is not our focus. Netflix ended the quarter with $788.6 million in revenue, up 52 percent. Net income was up 55 percent to $68.2 million. EPS came in at $1.26 (versus consensus estimates of $1.11, but Wall Street still isn’t happy with the slowdown in store for the third quarter). Total subscribers were up 70 percent from the year before. Full details in the letter and P&L below. [scribd id=60900752 key=key-2g0mn4yo8ouj69y0rw21 mode=list] |
With Monetization And The Mainstream In Mind, Twitter Adds To Senior Management Team | MG Siegler | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | While Twitter was busy last week in an attempt by to streamline the product side of things, this week they’re doing the opposite — at least on the sales and marketing side of things. Twitter has just announced that they’ve made two additions to their senior management team. is joining Twitter as director of Global Brand Strategy. And will be the company’s first vice president of Consumer Marketing. In the quote sent by Twitter PR, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says he’s “thrilled” by the new hires, and the effort to bolster Twitter’s senior management team. Kramer comes to Twitter from GreenRoad, a startup focused on “greener” driving. Before that, she worked at MarketTools and Lending Club. She was also a longtime executive at E-Trade. Over 9 years there, she served at Chief Product Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, in charge of the Super Bowl ads, among other things. That last role will be key for her new role at Twitter. Lunenfeld comes from Moxie Interactive, where he was CEO. Twitter touts his 12 years of experience as a digital ad man who has plenty of experience working with major clients. “Joel will guide our efforts to develop custom ad and partnership programs for Twitter’s most valuable advertisers,” Twitter notes. Clearly, both of these positions are being added to help Twitter in two areas of weakness right now: mainstream audience retention and monetization. While Twitter has been able to sign up north of 200 million users, it has been a bit tricky getting all of them to stick around and continue to use the service. Likewise, while they have a massive reach, convincing brands to advertise (and continue to advertise) with Twitter hasn’t been a walk in the park, by most accounts. |
Go FAQ Yourself With Philip Kaplan’s FaqMe | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | and FuckedCompany.com founder is at it again with his whimsical and sometimes useful experiments, this time launching , a FAQing free service that helps people build snazzier and Contact Us pages. “Many websites have sucky (or non-existent) help pages and customer service,” says Kaplan, who aim to make the whole FAQing experience more FAQing frictionless. Wanting to be the FAQing WordPress of FAQ forms, FaqMe allows admins to customize their pages, add, edit and delete FAQ entires as well as drag and drop re-order them. Like a lower key or , customers can contact users through FAQMe and their messages will appear in a FaqMe inbox, allowing them to respond privately to questions or publicly through FaqMe page. “Every customer service email becomes an opportunity to write a new FAQ entry,” Kaplan writes. FaqMe also provides users with FAQing statistics like unique visits, time spent on page, browser, phone and PC-type, so they can check out who is clicking on what FAQs and when. “Web developers might say it’s easy to make a FAQ and help page. It easy to make a bad one.,” says Kaplan referring to countless FAQ pages that have old information or don’t have a CRM functionality. “Almost no developer in their right mind would put so much work into a FAQ to make it do all the things a FaqMe page does.” Almost. Kaplan, who is currently angel investing and advising a series of companies including , and plans on offering FAQing premium features like custom FAQ designs, domain mapping (right now you have to link to your FaqMe page) and embeddable widgets in later versions of the FaqMe, and possibly charging for them. His own endeavor , which was the impetus for the creation of FaqMe, just hit 400K newsletter subscribers. Oh, and if you want in to FaqMe the password is “pancakes.” Any more FAQing questions?
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Boot To Gecko: Mozilla’s Open-Source, Mobile Answer To ChromeOS | Chris Velazco | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Straight from the heart of comes news of an ambitious new project: a standalone, web-based operating system. If that concept sounds familiar, I’ve also just described the core of Google’s Chrome OS which we’re beginning to see pop up on netbooks. The big twist? It’s currently being developed for mobile devices. And it’s partially Android-based. According to , researcher at Mozilla, the impetus behind the Boot to Gecko project is to “make open web technologies a better basis for future applications on mobile and desktop alike”. A lofty goal to be sure, as the core underpinnings would ultimately extend beyond just mobile devices. Should Gal and his colleagues (and really anyone who wants to help) succeed, Boot to Gecko would have the potential to change how we interact with the web, regardless of platform. Gal breaks the process down into actionable steps. First, the Boot to Gecko project aims to take the primary functions of a mobile device (i.e. “Telephony, SMS, Camera, USB, Bluetooth, NFC”) and create web APIs to handle them. From there, they intend to develop a way for web pages and applications to safely access those components as needed. They hope that by doing this, they (and other intrepid developers) will be able to create native-grade apps that run directly on the web instead of only being available on certain devices. As I’ve mentioned, the open-source project is based partially off of Android — nothing terribly high-level though, just the kernel and the drivers so as to ensure that whatever progress they make can actually boot. It also doesn’t hurt that Android works (and in many case, has been made to work) on plenty of different hardware configurations, which is exactly what they need to see if the concept pans out. As it stands, development is in such a nascent stage that we have no idea what to expect visually, so no images yet folks. Personally speaking, this idea has me on the edge of my seat. It will take a lot of work, and a of time, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll ever see a complete release. That’s the funny part though: I don’t think it really matters. If all they ever did was finish the API for telephony and SMS messaging, that would still signal a tremendous shift in how we use the web. Boot to Gecko will inevitably draw comparisons to ChromeOS (and I was guilty of this just a few paragraphs ago), but we stand to gain a much richer online experience if B2G comes to be. Only time will tell if these gentlemen succeed, but we’ll be certain to keep you up to date during the ride. |
Are M&A opportunities increasing for European startups? Interview with Frederic Court from Advent Venture Partners | roxannevarza | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | , a company originally from Switzerland specializing in mobile payments. For the London-based VC fund , this constitutes the third successful exit of the year. , who has been a General Partner at Advent Ventures for the last ten years, shares his opinion regarding the exit environment in Europe. Are M&A opportunities increasing for local startups? Yes, of course. First was , a British company sold to private equity fund (the firm could not disclose the exit valuation for The Foundry but it is believed to be in the £75-100m range) in March. Then, 49% of DailyMotion was by Orange for €60 million in April (and the acquisition of the rest will follow in the near future). And finally, the acquisition of Zong by Ebay for $240 million that we just 2 weeks ago. For us, it is particularly interesting to be able to demonstrate that our investment strategy does not rely solely on exits to strategic U.S. buyers. These are the deals most difficult to execute because they rely on the strategy of large players in the U.S. – which are very difficult to influence. Selling to another private equity fund is very interesting for two reasons: 1) once the transaction has started, the negotiations tend to focus on price and not on strategic considerations of the buyer, giving greater certainty to the achievement of a deal; and 2) management has the opportunity to continue building its business independently and achieve its vision rather than having to lose operational and strategic control. The other alternative is to sell a European player with the advantage of being closer geographically and culturally, which usually greatly facilitates communication. This year has been good in terms of M&A – but not exceptional for the time being. There are a few notable exceptions (Microsoft/Skype for example). In many respects the year is exceptional given the reopening of the tech IPO market (U.S. only) and the very rapid growth of valuations of private technology companies. This is especially the case for “star” companies or category-leaders – and more generally start-ups in Silicon Valley. If there is a bubble right now, it remains confined to fast-growing consumer web start-ups and to those started by well-known serial entrepreneurs, especially in the US. It is too early to talk of a bubble in public markets because the bar to move the stock market is still very high (few transactions, mainly profitable companies leaders in their fields, nothing to do with what we experienced in 99/2000). But there is clearly a gap between the appetite of funds – particularly large US venture and growth equity funds that are currently paying premiums well above the levels that strategic acquirers and investors are willing to pay. This gap will have to be reduced one way or another, and this may partly depends on macroeconomic conditions. The European market remains more disciplined in part because there are fewer global leaders (Skype, Spotify or Zong being notable exceptions). But also because there is less capital available and thus less competition between funds. We have a lower risk to see valuations reach “irrational exuberance” levels and that is good for everyone (entrepreneurs / investors / acquirers) because at one time or another reality reasserts itself – and that’s painful for both investors and entrepreneurs. In this environment, we believe that there are very good opportunities in Europe and we will continue to see funds show good performances (such as those Advent Ventures has announced At the moment, there are three key areas in tech that are driving change and opportunities faster than ever before – and they are key themes in Advent’s investment strategy: Social, Cloud and Mobile. We believe that we will see many transactions, big and small, that are related to these themes and players of all sizes (including the key players with market capitalisations of $2 billion to $200 billion) will have to position themselves aggressively on these fundamental technological areas. The other area where we expect to continue to see many transactions is e-commerce, where there will be both consolidation and strategic transactions. EBay has been particularly active in this area recently, making several smart moves with small, medium and large acquisitions in rapid succession. The opportunities for exits beyond €150m ($200-250m) in Europe remains limited, mainly due to the limited number of European players who have the means for such transactions or the market backing to execute them. This greatly impacts the types of investments that venture and growth equity investors can make in Europe as only exceptional companies get taken over at high strategic prices by US buyers (and increasingly Asian as was the case with ). The fact that there is over $200bn available to the top 10 US Tech companies may start to have an impact in Europe, especially as a lot of this cash is currently sitting outside the US and repatriating it will generate heavy taxes. We believe that could have an impact for European companies that have managed to establish a US presence succesfully (like Zong) or for companies with deep presence in their respective local markets (like PriceMinister in France or Brands4friends in Germany) and which can be run independently. Unfortunately, apart from rare exceptions such as Axel Springer (recent acquirer of Seloger.com), there are very few aggressive Tech and Media groups in Europe, with the ambition to expand through large acquisition across the continent. It is a shame that the new European leaders (Vente-Privee, Asos, Betfair, Iliad, etc..) are not more aggressive with an M&A strategy that includes small and large deals. They have the opportunity to do what Facebook, Google, Amazon or eBay do in the U.S., who buy and integrate young innovative start-ups, providing them with capital, an infrastructure and an ability to grow within a very entrepreneurial culture. These new “European champions” are typically companies run by exceptional entrepreneurs who have a strong culture of organic growth and expansion. I respect this strategy – which has been successful to date – but U.S. companies are much more aggressive: thus they reduce their risk of missing a fundamental technological shift (see what happened at Nokia, for example). So in summary, in Europe we suffer from a lack of large strategic deals and a lack of smaller deals – either opportunistic or strategic – but usually much earlier in the lifecycle of companies and in the investment cycle. Both are hugely important for early-stage investors; the former provide large “home-run” type returns (which are rare but can return a whole fund) and the latter provide decent but faster returns early on (which LPs love). < We adapted our investment strategy at Advent to this reality and have focused on small growth equity investments in tech, targeting companies that do not need a lot of capital (so capping ultimate post money) and have many possible buyers, whether local or US/Asian within a 3-5 years horizon. This enables us to produce much more “reliable returns” and to be much more aligned with the entrepreneurs. One element that really set Zong apart from the rest was an observation in 2008 – almost a year after our initial investment. We realized that there was a strong opportunity for Zong to expand into the U.S. market to offer a mobile payment solution based on “carrier-billing.” Therefore, Zong went ahead and set up an office in Palo Alto – a key for winning many local clients, such as Facebook, as well as numerous web and online gaming start-ups. The Zong and Paypal teams have got to know each other over the past year or so, and having a presence in both Silicon Valley and Europe was a key to the success of this investment. But central to this success was the fact that we had the chance to work with an exceptional Swiss entrepreneur, David Marcus, who settled in Silicon Valley amazingly well and built a very strong team locally, in addition to the great team he had built in Europe already. Other European companies such as Netsize or Allopass in France had identified the same business opportunity in the US but failed to execute well and eventually had to return to Europe. Thank you Frederic. |
null | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 7 | 22 | null |
Party Over: Facebook Blocks The Secret iPad App | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Well, it was fun while it lasted. Just last night, our own MG Siegler right within the publicly available iPhone app. All it took was a quick, mostly-pain-free modification or two, and you were knee deep in unexplored Beta territory. Alas, it looks like Facebook has found a way to close things back up. We’re hearing tons (as in hundreds) of reports that users who are just now getting around to checking out the trick are unable to do so. The iPad-friendly app still — you just can’t do much, as newcomers are being turned away at the login screen. Oddly, it seems that those who managed to sneak in to the party before Facebook started closing the gates are still on the guest list.. to some extent. MG is still able to click around the app, though certain things (like notifications) are acting strangely or not functioning at all. No word yet on whether they plan to give everyone outside of Facebook HQ the boot completely. Oh well. If all else fails, you can always load all the photos from into your iPad’s photo app and pretend. |
Hello! I’m Chris Velazco, and I’m TechCrunch’s New Mobile Writer | Chris Velazco | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Man, this place looks different. Before I get too lost poking around the new digs, I’d like to introduce myself — my name is Chris Velazco, and I’m joining the TechCrunch staff as your new mobile writer. Longtime readers may remember me as a hapless MobileCrunch intern from the days of yore, a position I only really landed because happened to right after he read my application. Alas, though I learned tons and met some truly great people, I had scholastic obligations to deal with and stepped away last year. I like to think my time away from the Crunch family was well spent: I picked up a few degrees in English and Marketing from Rutgers University, embarassed myself on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and popped up in a second Best Buy commercial. After all that, I was a bit … puzzled about what my next step would be, but when Greg offered me the chance to come back home I jumped at it. I have to say I’m truly very glad to be here doing what I love, and I’m looking forward to writing for (and learning from) all of you. Feel free to drop me a line! I’m always available at christopherv [at] techcrunch [dot] com, and as on Twitter. |
Social Music Games Company MXP4 Opens LA Office Ahead Of Rollout | Roxanne Varza | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | In April, Paris-based social music games company MXP4 a new app – – that could transform the tunes of singers like Lily Allen into gaming music. Now, the company is opening an office in Los Angeles, California to prepare for the commercial launch of the application. |
Apple Releases Another Security Update With iOS 4.3.5 | Greg Kumparak | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | Apple’s none too fond of nasty security flaws lurking about in iOS, and they’re not above cracking out rapid-fire updates to prove it. Just 10 days after (which existed almost solely to kill off a potentially nasty PDF exploit), they’re back with another one: iOS 4.3.5. The main fix in this minor patch? A fix for a security flaw which might allow “attacker with a privileged network position may capture or modify data in sessions protected by SSL/TLS”. In other words, hackers on the same network could store or change traffic that would otherwise be rather intensely encrypted. Unlike that last patch (which, due to the exploit patched, did away with the one-click-jailbreak site ), this one seems to have no affect on jailbreakers. According to , the only jailbreak method that still worked with 4.3.4 (tethered redsn0w) still seems to get the job done here. This one’s pretty hefty for a security patch, coming in at a whopping 666 megabytes. Once iOS 5 and its fancy over-the-air/delta updates (wherein only the stuff that has changed needs to be downloaded), these one-off security updates should be a whole lot less time consuming. Anyone spot any new gems sneakin’ around in iOS 4.3.5? Be sure to drop a comment and let us know. |
The Tragic Triumph Of The MBAs | Jon Evans | 2,011 | 9 | 3 | “We’ve seen Mubarak fall,” of the corporate need to focus on social networks at the recent Dreamforce conference. “We’ve seen Khadafy fall. When will the first CEO fall for the same reason?” What a fantastic comparison! Because, as we all know, dictators who brutalize, torture, and murder thousands of their own people over a period of decades are CEOs who miss quarterly profit targets. Benioff , it was just a dumb thing to say — but it’s stuck in my mind, because Salesforce, cloud-computing’s poster child, is the future, and his seems to be the voice of the zeitgeist. This feels a little like the end of an era. While I have issues with Apple’s hegemonic approach, during his career Steve Jobs repeatedly changed our sense of what was possible, and the world, by making genuinely revolutionary products. Now he’s gone. Meanwhile, Google has spent the summer laying waste to vast swathes of its product line. Google Labs, its experimental playground? . Slide, bought last year for $182 million? . Aardvark, bought last year for $50 million? . A whole grab bag of other products and services? . And it seems that whatever survives the ongoing Mountain View bloodbath will be thoroughly monetized. Massive are on the horizon for Google’s (terrific) App Engine platform. Russell Beattie of PlusFeed that he’s shutting down his service because otherwise his server costs would increase by a factor of thirty. I use App Engine for my own pet project, and my costs will apparently increase fold. (OK, that’s from a penny a day, but still.) The is a lot like that of Salesforce’s platform. Hmmm. Is this the right thing for Google to do? From a business perspective, hell yes. They need more focus, fewer projects, and less bureaucracy. But at the same time, they’re shutting down and/or discouraging independent and experimental projects to me-too projects like Google Plus and Google Offers. Isn’t Google supposed to be a company that innovates and changes the world with its superior algorithms and scalability, rather than one that plays catch-up for the sake of profits? Nope. That was then, this is now. With Jobs’s and Page’s , it seems that Apple and Google are no longer primarily in the business of changing people’s lives; instead, they’re in the business of business. Marc Benioff, the voice of the zeitgeist, doesn’t actually seem to see any difference between the two. I suspect this is pretty common among CEOs and MBAs — but most techies don’t agree at all. To us, successful businesses are a necessary means for the promulgation of revolutionary technology, not an end in and of themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge champion of free-market capitalism, and all great businesses do change the world; but there’s a big difference between doing so by intent and letting it happen as a side effect. A from the first dot-com bust refers to what it was like for a co-founder to watch venture capitalists and MBAs take over the management of his tech company: “ ” I think I speak for many techies when I say we found that soothing, as well as funny. It reassured us that tech was different, that the suits would never be able to take over what we did and why we did it. But I’m sorry to say, it seems to me now that we underestimated them. Paul G, . |
AdMob To Stop Serving Ads To Mobile Web, Google Pushes Developers To Use AdSense | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 9 | 3 | When Google bought mobile ad network AdMob for in 2009, the company was clearly trying to capitalize on the growing mobile advertising market. Mobile advertising, both on apps and the mobile web, is a natural extension of Google’s display and search ad business. Of course, as the integration has taken place over the last year, certain AdMob features have been axed because they didn’t fit with the overall strategy or for redundancy. For example, Google AdMob’s a few months ago. And now Google is that it will soon end AdMob’s mobile web serving capabilities. As Google aptly titled its blog post announcing the change; Even after over a year of integration, Google is still sorting out the overlap and has determined that mobile web publishers should head to AdSense to monetize their sites, and mobile app publishers should use AdMob. And for mobile apps advertising, all AdSense for Mobile Applications beta participants have been switched to AdMob, which Google says is now the primary ad solution for mobile app developers. Google says that AdMob support for older WAP mobile web sites will stop on September 30. For sites and ads that can be viewed on more advanced mobile devices like smartphones, the AdMob product will be around for a little longer but will also be phased out eventually. It makes sense that there would be some crossover between AdMob and AdSense’s mobile offerings, and that certain programs and features in both platforms will be cut and further integrations will be made. For example, Google last fall that iPhone and Android application developers in the AdMob network will be able to show Google AdSense ads when an AdMob ad is not available. And despite some that the AdMob integration hasn’t been going so well, the mobile ad network’s like gangbusters. It’s unclear how much hardship this move will cause developers (Google makes it sounds like a natural progression and integration), but it definitely doesn’t make sense for there to be competing ad serving technologies within the same organization. |
Review: Microsoft’s Touch Mouse And Explorer Touch Mouse | Jordan Crook | 2,011 | 9 | 3 | I got a chance to play with two of Microsoft’s three touch mouse offerings — the Explorer Touch Mouse and the flagship Touch Mouse — and as far as ideas go, they’re absolutely wonderful. But in terms of execution, the whole “touch” part didn’t exactly impress. When compared to your standard desktop mouse, these two offerings from Microsoft could easily go toe-to-toe. But once we start getting into the touch capabilities of each — especially the Touch Mouse — things start getting a little shaky. Let’s take a look. As I said earlier, Microsoft’s Touch Mouse is a wonderful idea. I happen to favor a touchpad over a mouse on whatever machine I’m using — most regularly my MacBook Pro — and the notion that those same gestures could be found on a much more comfortable mouse got me excited. Unfortunately, things weren’t as seamless as I’d expected. The Touch Mouse offers a number of different touch-based gestures: a single finger scrolls, pans, and tilts, while a thumb swipe will send you backwards or forwards. Obviously, backwards or forwards can mean different things during different activities, but it’s basically the ability to push the back button or the forward button in your browser, or quickly scroll through PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft also added a flick to its single-finger gestures to allow for super speedy scrolling. This is where the Touch Mouse lost me. It really doesn’t perceive the difference between a slow, smooth scroll and a flick. I got sent to the bottom of the page too many times to count, and even the slow scroll (when recognized) wasn’t all that smooth. Plus, the mouse is actually just one large button, with sensors to detect whether you’re inputting a right or left click. When I hold a mouse, my middle finger (right clicker) nudges right up against that line, but since the Touch Mouse’s line doesn’t actually separate different buttons, it’s easy to miss. But the Touch Mouse has its great moments, too. The thumb gesture especially wowed me. Even though it made me feel awful for being too lazy to mouse over to the back button, I still used that gesture as much as possible. Whoever said laziness was a sin? Not Microsoft, that’s for sure. When I met with Microsoft to talk about the Touch Mouse, they used the word “delight” like a zillion times, most often connecting it with the word “control.” At the time, I didn’t fully understand what they were talking about. But after getting hands-on with the Touch Mouse, it really is an entirely new sense of control over your machine that is, in short, delightful. Again, the idea is fantastic. But until they can make those controls more reliable, it’s hard to recommend it. The Explorer Touch Mouse is really more of a stripped down, less expensive version of the Touch Mouse. Instead of the whole front surface of the mouse being touch-capable, the Explorer features a touch strip right down the center, a bit like the . The strip lets you control vertical and horizontal scrolling, but as I mentioned before, it’s not the smoothest scrolling I’ve ever encountered. I can’t figure out whether or not it’s the actual mouse itself that isn’t providing a smooth scroll or if it’s the fact that my fingers always seem to stick on the touch strip. Just so we’re clear, I’ll go ahead and disclose that I don’t (repeat: ) have unusually clammy hands or fingers. Something about the material that this little guy is made of makes it difficult to slide your fingers across it without sticking a bit. That’s not the case with the Touch Mouse, and I really don’t understand why Microsoft didn’t just use the same material (although that was probably a cost-cutting measure to maintain the lower price-point). One cool little feature that I really enjoyed was the tactile feedback this mouse gives. Obviously, a Microsoft mouse will always have that crisp click feedback for pressing the buttons, but what impressed me was the feedback from the touch strip. When you flick to scroll — and even on slower scrolls — the touch strip imitates the feeling of a scroll wheel found on most basic, totally uncool non-touch mice. It almost feels like there’s a scroll wheel directly below the touch strip, and you’re just feeling the vibrations as it spins along. So maybe the actual touch portion of these two mice wasn’t as amazing as I had hoped. But as far as your standard mice are concerned, these two have ’em beat. When it comes to the every day, basic uses of a mouse, both the Microsoft Touch Mouse and The Explorer are excellent choices (aside from that whole right click vs. left click thing). I really meant it when I said they could perform on any surface. Trust me, I tried as many as I could find. |
Gillmor Gang 9.3.11 (TCTV) | Steve Gillmor | 2,011 | 9 | 3 | The Gillmor Gang -— Robert Scoble, Dan Farber, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — calmed down after a week of Dreamforce, the annual salesforce.com user conference. As the editorial independence of TechCrunch is questioned, let us be clear that Dan Farber is editor in chief of CBSNewsOnline, Robert Scoble is Chief Scobleizer Officer of Rackspace, and the rest of us are Salesforce.com employees. Let me be clear that I support and appreciate Michael Arrington and his evolution for a very simple reason, namely that the horse he rode in on is the very reason why TechCrunch exists and is so valued. The Gillmor Gang has always followed a similar set of principles, namely that integrity and authority will be conveyed by the audience, who are very good at making up their own minds in this age of transparency and velocity. Keep in mind our ties, relationships, biases, and every other metadata that enriches and informs our work, and then decide for yourself who and what you trust. Enjoy the show and holiday. @stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @dbfarber, @kevinmarks, @jtaschek |
Daily Crunch: Guard Tower | Bryce Durbin | 2,011 | 9 | 3 | Here are some of yesterday’s stories on TechCrunch Gadgets:
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Hot, Flat, And Widescreen: The Rise Of The Minitabs | John Biggs | 2,011 | 9 | 4 | The past three days have brought us a trio of interesting “tabs:” the Samsung Note, the 7.7 Gal Tab, and (bear with me) the new, flatter iPhone. Sadly, two of those may not make it to the (and one can’t even be ), but it’s clear that there’s a trend. Wait a few months and we’ll see more 5- to 7-inch tablets/phones on the market than, I’d wager, 10-inch tablets. But why the shrink? Who is clamoring for a flatter, bigger “minitab” about the size of a phone but just a hair bigger? First, this trend is not new. It began with the HTC HD2 (and, going back further, with a few recent Archos tablets) and many Android phones have gone the “flat and big” route, creating phones that are more in line with widescreen media players than what we currently call candybar style. Hardware designers run in packs. A few years ago, the hardware designers at LG, Samsung, and Apple all went for something they called piano black. Everything was piano black – phones, cameras, TVs, DVD players. You had some splashes of “color” in the trade dress, but glossy plastic a la iPhone 3G was all the rage. The same thing is happening here – the running of the herd – but for a few interesting reasons. First, the 10-inch tablet market is tapped. There is nowhere to go. To build another one is folly and to many consumers to buy anything other than an iPad is moral failure. Gadgets hold totemic significance and their shape is important to manufacturers. Shape allows for a level of differentiation that is immediately apparent to the consumer and allows the manufacturer to hide any number of sins. Chip speeds are stagnant and the physical limitations of a compact device are forcing manufacturers to rethink the size and shape of their devices. Consumers, too, are looking for something new. The 10-inch tablet is boring and, more important (at least according to ) a patent violation. What better way to keep tab-like gadgets in the pipeline than to smoosh them down? Additionally, big touchscreens are still hard to come by. With everyone focusing on glass that maxes at 10 inches and larger, manufacturers can reduce costs by hunting down smaller pieces. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfMmMrUwRnI] In the end, the next tablet is the next tablet. There is a certain fickleness to hardware size and it’s based on fashion, manufacturing ability, and some designer’s whim. Whether we buy these things as they get bigger (or smaller) is a matter of taste and quality. Manufacturers are trying to figure us out while reducing costs and, for a while, we’re going to be saddled with some truly pocket-straining devices until the next technology comes along to replace this one. |
What To Look For In A Company Board | Leena Rao | 2,011 | 9 | 4 | At any company level, the board of directors has a direct impact on the organization’s product strategy, hiring, fundraising and much more. And startups have to be very selective in choosing board members who will advise the company in the right direction. In the big company realm, both and the have questioned Yahoo’s board, which continues to employ as CEO and supports a bizarre product and business strategy. Then you look at Facebook, where founder Mark Zuckerberg has strategically assembled an all-star board to help the company grow as a public company and expand into new directions. Most recently, Facebook Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings to its board, joining Marc Andreessen, Jim Breyer, Donald E. Graham, Peter Thiel and Zuck himself. Hastings not only will add his experience in taking a web company public, but he will also help Facebook navigate potential movie and TV show streaming opportunities. Facebook has a rock solid board—almost every member has been a strong innovator in the past few decades. As we saw with HP, even huge, established companies need to make changes in board structure as a company’s strategy shifts. HP five new board members early this year as new CEO Leo Apotheker took the reins. Of course, fast forward seven months and HP has announced that it will be surrounding the TouchPad and all webOS phones, a major move for the company and certainly one that was influenced by the board. The fact is that the board plays an extremely important role in some of the major events for any company with shareholders. The board helps manage and make decisions about financing, acquisitions, product strategy and even an IPO. So it goes without saying that entrepreneurs are faced with challenging decisions assembling a board. For big public companies, this has always been the case, but the role of the board at startups is also changing. I interviewed a handful of early-stage investors (and former entrepreneurs)—Jeff Clavier, Keith Rabois, Dave McClure, and Paul Lee—to find out what startup founders should know about picking and managing a board. Lightbank partner Paul Lee echoes this thought, telling me that entrepreneurs have to be “very careful” about how they put their board together. “Each stage is different in terms of who you bring on,” he explains. “With an early startup in Series A funding, a smaller board is better because disparate voices make agility as a startup harder. When you get to five members, it is more difficult to come to a consensus.” Of course, there’s a balance between finding board members who both challenge the company as well as reason with the founders when necessary. Having both is crucial, says Lee. He also feels strongly that giving equity to board members without any investment is not the right formula for many early-stage startups. “Entrepreneurs want board members to be vested in the company, and the board members need to have some skin in the game to serve the company best.” In later stage companies, it makes sense to add seasoned execs who have run a successful companies in the role of the “CEO Coach.” In Facebook’s case, Hastings could fill that role. Another recent example of this was showcased by LinkedIn. In 2010, LinkedIn former Ask.com CEO George “Skip” Battle to its board, as well as pre-IPO. In the past, Lee says that the board used to be seen as a “collector item” of sorts, where it was an opportunity to add prestige to a company by adding well-known board members and CEOs. Board members basically sat there and looked pretty. Now, he explains, the board has become a more integrated part of a company where board members have actual responsibilities and are held accountable. Well known angel investor Jeff Clavier, who runs his fund , agrees with Lee that the role of the board has evolved in the past decade. As micro-venture funding started to come into play in funding startups, angel investors can’t sit on as many boards as they invest in. He says that in early rounds where there are 12 different investors (which happens pretty often these days), entrepreneurs have to make a strategic decision as to which investor or VC should take a board seat. With a group of rock-star investors, it can be difficult to choose who should join the board and who has the time for the role. Clavier says that board member roles have become more proactive. As opposed to just sitting on monthly calls, more entrepreneurs are giving board members tasks outside the meeting such as helping recruit talent. For example, Clavier tells me that Zynga’s CEO and founder Marc Pincus would allocate certain jobs to board members, who had to produce a report on the status of tasks at meetings. He says that a successful startup brings together strong investors and advisors and engages them both in and outside the boardroom. In fact, he compares early stage startups to houses with a bunch of holes in the foundations. One way to fill those holes is adding the right board members and advisors. As opposed to ten years ago, there are many more outside individuals involved in a startup’s progress from an idea to an actual company, and Clavier advises entrepreneurs to create a support network with a board. For example, many startups have created both boards of advisors as well as boards of directors. And he believes it is important for mid-stage, more mature companies to add experts from outside the investment community to a board. For example, the to online event tickets platform Eventbrite last year. Keith Rabois, who is currently the COO of Square and an angel investor, has a unique perspective on the changes in boards over time, having been on both sides of the equation. He relates the experience of selecting a board to getting married with no possibility of divorce. Jokes aside, similar to Zuckerberg, Rabois and Jack Dorsey have built an all-star board at Square. Kleiner Perkins Partner and former Morgan Stanley Internet analyst , , and former U.S. Treasury Secretary all joined the mobile payments company’s board this year. Sequoia partner Roelof Botha also sits on Square’s board. Rabois tells me point blank that very few investors are actually capable of adding a lot of value to company boards. But in Square’s case, all of the VCs on the board had prior careers that made their additions a natural fit for Square. He says that Boetha’s experience as CFO of PayPal made him an ideal addition. And Khosla’s insight as an entrepreneur and CEO of a multi-billion dollar company (Sun Microsystems) added a lot of value to Square. Meeker has made a career out of studying and analyzing what makes a successful technology company and this brought a new level of expertise to the payments company, says Rabois. Square’s board meets every two months, and Rabois says there is really no set agenda in the board meetings. The group starts by reviewing the financial and business performance of the company, and focuses on several long and short discussion items that arise. As for how boards have evolved over time, Rabois feels that today’s best entrepreneurs have moved away from a model where investors are supervising companies and are looking to bring more value-add to boards with seats. But how to extract value from a board can be a challenge for many young entrepreneurs. His advice to entrepreneurs is to recruit board members and advisors that you can learn the most from. And he says entrepreneurs should get into the discipline of having regular reviews with investors and board members. Another trend that is taking place in current board structures is that founders are retaining board control longer, even as the company matures. Q&A platform only has three board members, after taking an round of funding from Benchmark in 2010. Founders Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever both have seats as well as Benchmark’s Matt Cohler. Angel investor Dave McClure advises startups to keep control for as long as they can, and be judicious about selecting board members. In fact, McClure, who has invested in hundreds of companies, only sits on three boards himself. Of course, that doesn’t mean that founders should eliminate the board altogether, but McClure says it should be a gradual process. His belief is that if a startup has two founders, both should have seats, and it should add an investor in a Series A round, then perhaps another investor in a Series B round, as well as an independent “expert” of sorts. He also says that the more recent trend of 15 to 20 investors with no board seats can be problematic. “Everyone is along for the ride and no one is watching what is going on at the company,” he explains. And I’ve heard similar sentiment expressed from others in the investing community as well. There are so many stories in Silicon Valley of board members shirking their responsibilities to early-stage startups by making it only to one out of every three meetings and worse. And board members that has different goals from entrepreneurs could easily block a major exit for a startup, or even a new funding round. The general consensus from all the investors and entrepreneurs I spoke to is to choose your board very, very wisely, and don’t rush into any decisions about naming board members. Photo Credit/Flickr/ |
TV In The Cloud | Erick Schonfeld | 2,011 | 9 | 4 | TV is moving to the cloud. It is inevitable, just as other kinds of media from books to music are increasingly delivered over the Internet. Netflix, Hulu, and even Apple TV are making inroads when it comes to distributing traditional TV shows and movies to Internet-connected screens. YouTube keeps grabbing more of our attention, accounting for 7 percent of total time spent on the Internet in the U.S., according to comScore. And yet the TV (and movie) industry are proving more resistant to change than any other form of media. Change will come, but it won’t happen as quickly as it is with music, news, or books. The TV industry is digging in. Starz is from its content deal with Netflix. Hulu seems to be treading water while it . Even Apple is having a hard time changing the model. It recently from its attempts to offer TV show rentals (a move we a month ago) because the TV networks ever only participated half-heartedly. But does anyone really doubt that eventually the Internet will triumph here to smash the rigid program guide that cable and satellite companies shove down our throats? Most of us only watch a few dozen channels regularly, yet we pay for 500. If we could subscribe on a per channel or per show basis, many of us would. It’s just so obvious that the better experience starts with letting people watch what they want, when they want, on whatever device they want—whether that’s their TV, laptop, iPad, or mobile phone. But that is not enough. TV in the cloud isn’t just about shifting distribution. It is about making it easier to find and share new shows, and change the way we consume them. It is about making TV smarter (did I really just say that?) In a recent post on this topic, Asymco’s Horace Dediu recently : Unlike the Smartphone which could only have emerged to leverage the Internet, TV has no “smart content” to leverage. The “smartness” has to be not in the box but in the programming. Of course, I don’t mean there’s a lack of good programming. What I mean is that there is no innovation in what a program is–the job it’s hired to do. The way it and its distribution fits into a person’s life. TV programs have not changed for half a century. They feature the same genres, the same duration, the same business model, the same series, format and scheduling and the same value chains as when “I Love Lucy” premiered in 1951. They assume people watch TV during the same time each day (while doing nothing else.) They also assume people are equally influenced by brand advertising and that audiences are largely homogeneous. TiVo tried to make the TV smarter, but it too was outfoxed by the cable and satellite companies, who co-opted its DVR technology and stuck it in their own set-top boxes. Although TiVo is now forcing them to pay patent licensing fees, TiVo itself is in decline as a consumer brand. All you have to do is look at the chart below put together comparing searches for the term “Netflix” versus “TiVo” and “Media Center.” Bott concludes: You could not ask for a clearer trend line: The streaming media era began in 2008, and the DVR is an endangered species. But bolting a computer onto a TV was never really the answer. Once video content can be indexed and streamed at will, the whole experience could potentially change. You don’t wade through a program guide on YouTube, even though it does have channels. You find videos the same way you discover anything else on the Internet—either through search or social sharing. Traditional TV is still locked up in your set-top box because it remains the most lucrative place for content owners to show it. TV advertising still dwarfs all online advertising, not to mention what you pay for your monthly cable bill. Google wants to bring these two worlds of content together not just through YouTube, but also its Google TV project. The networks who control traditional TV content, however, don’t want to play along. Apple keeps trying to build bridges via its Apple TV and iTunes, but that too has been a long, hard slog. There are plenty of rumors that Apple wants to redouble its efforts in this arena, perhaps with its own actual TV with a screen and everything. Some observers think that Apple will never get into the commodity TV business because the margins are too low. But that misses the bigger picture. Apple doesn’t want to sell TVs. It wants to reimagine the whole TV watching experience, and if it has to build TVs to do so then so be it. The other thing they forget is that the TV is just a screen. All the value is in the cloud, because that is where the content is going to be stored, searched, streamed, and shared. The current Apple TV box is really just a media streamer with hardly any storage to speak of. Once launches, movies and TV shows will likely be a part of it. Apple’s current model is a la carte pricing. You pay for each show. While that is not ideal, if Apple can get the best shows and movies, it could still end up being cheaper than a monthly cable bill. And just like Netflix recommends shows and movies based on what you’ve already watched, Apple could do something similar to make it easier to find something good to watch. That would be a first step towards a smarter TV. The next step would be to create a social TV guide based on what your friends or people you admire are watching and recommending. The beginnings of this type of discovery is part and parcel of an increasing number of TV companion apps on the iPhone and iPad ( , , , but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be part of the core TV watching experience itself. Eventually TV won’t be the same unless it is online and connected to everything else. A show that can’t be shared or linked to will command less and less of our attention. Scheduled TV will go away for everything except live events like breaking news, sports, and award shows. The Internet will become our DVR, but one freed from the awful user interface of the current program guide. There is no grid large enough to contain all the video content you might want to watch, and why should your program grid be the same as mine? Trust me, it will be much better once it’s all in the cloud. |
null | Jason Kincaid | 2,011 | 7 | 25 | null |
The European Startup Summer Of Love – London, Berlin And Beyond | Mike Butcher | 2,011 | 9 | 4 | : When you can gather 1,500 startup people into a car park on a warm summer evening in London, you know something is going on. When you can tell 800 people at a joint startup party in Berlin that they will have to PAY if they LEAVE the party 8am, you know something is going on. And so it is in London and Berlin. Other European centres – Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Belgrade and beyond – are clearly generating their own startup clusters. But right now, it’s London and Berlin which are becoming the natural centres of gravity for the European Tech scene. When a VC says to you – as they said to me the other day “I am spending my days on planes between London and Berlin” – then you realise things really are happening. This is the European equivalent of the “NYC-SF red-eye” right now (without the red eye). It’s obvious to see why. London is hugely international, Europe’s largest financial centre and a natural landing point for visitors from the Valley. It also has its own natural startup cluster in East London, or (which we’ve been documenting in a series of ). Berlin, meanwhile, is cheap to live and work in, has a natural affinity for attracting talent from all over Europe (especially Central and East where there are rich engineering talent pools), and has an increasing international scene of technology founders. It’s also throwing off its shackles as a clone factory, something evidenced by the recent declaration of an “ “. Thus, last Thursday night this week the annual party – an annual fixture on the London scene – attracted 1,500 people into London, and it was only three weeks ago that and attracted 800 people to theirs. And let’s not forget our very own . This September will see new events like the and in Cologne, in Central Europe… Next week is Week in London, in Vienna, / F.ounders in the Autumn, in Paris… the list goes on. Innovative, European startups who want to take on the world are flowering like they have never flowered before, and they have the platforms to showcase themselves. If there was a in the history of European startups, then Summer 2011 was it. Were you there? Welcome to the revolution. |
Lost In Denmark: Hackers, Robots, Wacky Office Spaces And Sharks | Flemming | 2,011 | 9 | 4 | I spent the better part of last week hanging out with some fellow tech bloggers in Denmark – in and , to be more specific – and mingling with the people who organized and traveled to attend, speak or exhibit at the Next Aarhus conference and exhibition. The in itself was really fascinating, though not exactly TechCrunch post material even if people working at AT&T, and Katalabs were on the . Topics ranged from biotechnology, “green” productification, sustainability and the reinvention of architecture to social media marketing, context-aware computing and the future of advertising. I also :) Terribly interesting stuff, but not quite the type of event I’ve grown used to attending. No startups pitching, no interviewing of or keynotes given by top-level executives from tech companies, no product launches. Awesome, in other words. They even featured a working wind turbine next to the stage, and brew their own arctic herbs-flavored beer for the event (meet ). When I was picked up from the airport by someone who works at , the organization that put on the show, I asked him what the most exciting tech company or startup in Denmark was in his opinion. He had to think hard and ultimately couldn’t give me an answer aside from Navision (which is really a U.S. company since it was taken over by Microsoft) and Bang & Olufsen. Amazing, really. Also: get to work, Copenhagen! As a self-confessed geek, the accompanying was a real treat, though: hackers on the loose, a multitude of nifty robots, Lego bricks, an augmented reality-enhanced Sega OutRun arcade car capable of driving ( ), ancient technology artifacts – the works. Engadget’s managing editor, Darren Murph, posted of some really cool robots if you’re into that. London-based design artist also has a of the exhibition up on Facebook. These are some of the photos I shot:
And here’s a video featuring , a hacker from , showing neat stuff: Hackers, unite! As I mentioned, Next Aarhus is organized by , an international knowledge center for new technology. They have an übercool office space north of Aarhus – I just had to take some pics:
So what about the sharks you teased in the headline, you ask? Here you go:
Yes, there were batoids and other fishes too, but sharks sound cooler, right? The video above was shot in . Visiting that theme park was such an amazing experience, however, that I just had to do a separate post about it. Coming up. ( ). |
Disrupt Beijing: We’re Bringing Steve Chen, Peter Vesterbacka, Phil Libin and More | Sarah Lacy | 2,011 | 9 | 5 | As we last week, we’ve been busy securing some of the most exciting names in China for our conference this October including Tencent Founder and CEO and Chinese entrepreneur and angel investor . But it wouldn’t be a TechCrunch event without bringing a little of that Silicon Valley magic too. In selecting people to bring to China we wanted a mix of some people who are new to the country and others who have a long experience doing business there; people who are existing successes and those who have a fast-growing, tiger-by-the-tail right now. We also wanted a few people who could speak to the culture and whimsy that makes the Valley so unique. We’ll start things off with the mighty eagle of , maker of Angry Birds. Vesterbacka is no stranger to China, where he says Rovio is busy building a by the end of the year. That business spans everything from games to desserts to plush toys. I last saw Vesterbacka at the Next11 Conference in Berlin and the more he told me of his strategy for China, the more I insisted he be at Disrupt. He may even have some news to announce… , co-founder of , will also be joining us on stage. Chen is an expert in a good problem to have: A company growing so fast it could bankrupt you. YouTube is one of the biggest phenomena the Web 2.0 world has ever seen. It’s played a pivotal role in everything from US presidential races to the rise of Justin Bieber. And it was the first Web 2.0 to have a $1 billion-plus exit. The Valley isn’t all about fun ways to waste time. of calls his company “the anti-Zynga” because it seeks to make you smarter during the little holes in your day. Evernote has a rabid following among its users and is one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley right now, fresh off raising a recent funding round. Evernote rivals Foursquare in downloads, and unlike Foursquare it has no monetization problems, as Libin explains in . These are just a few of the Valley names joining us in Beijing this October. Stay tuned for more speaker announcements and remember to buy your and for the Startup Battlefield today. As a reminder, we’ll have translation headsets for all attendees so all speakers and startups competing can do so in their native language, and our global audience won’t miss a thing. Battlefield applications are available in and as well. |
Attn Entrepreneurs: How to Attend Disrupt Beijing for Less Cash | Sarah Lacy | 2,011 | 9 | 5 | Hopefully, anyone who has attended our Disrupt San Francisco and Disrupt New York conferences knows why we charge $2,995 for tickets: Between the Hackathon, Startup Alley, the big names on stage and the Startup Battlefield, we essentially cram four conferences into one. Our challenge in bringing was to find a way not to skimp on the conference, but produce an event that more than just expats with expense accounts could afford. As usual with our conferences, it’s all about the entrepreneurs and we want as many of them in attendance as possible. So we’re happy to announce a for Disrupt Beijing that brings the price down from the already discounted $1,995.00 to $997.50. You can find all the details . While less than some other international tech conferences in China, we realize that’s still a hefty sum for some startups. So we’re giving you more than just a conference ticket. You’ll have the option to display your company in Startup Alley and be invited to an exclusive VC and angel networking event. With any luck, you’ll leave Disrupt richer than you came. Of course, if you have a great startup about to launch, want to come to the conference for free, and get the chance to get money us, we encourage you to apply for the Startup Battlefield. There’s more information . Applications are available in and , and you can present in either language during the competition. Still not sure if you should attend? Check out the video below to see if the event is a fit for you or your company. Our most recent Disrupt winners Sam Zaid and Jessica Scorpio of GetAround tell you what to expect from the Startup Battlefield:
Lastly, Gang Lu, the editor of popular Chinese blog , came over to the Valley to grill our own CEO Heather Harde on TechCrunch’s China plans. Read his post in Chinese . (I’m hoping it says nice things…)
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Netrobe Is A Virtual Closet For Your iPhone | Alexia Tsotsis | 2,011 | 9 | 5 | One glance at my closet after coming back from vacation this morning and I realized that I owned A LOT of clothes, many of which I had forgotten about while purchasing presumably complimentary accessories like shoes and bracelets on my travels. If only there was a way to access my entire wardrobe via iPhone … Inspired by the now infamous , , an iPhone app out of Athens, Greece, attempts exactly this, helping you remember the individual items from your wardrobe by giving you a tool to catalog them. Netrobe allows iPhone users to mix and match individual items of clothing or accessories on a Styleboard, create outfits for events, pack entire suitcases or add inspirational images to a Lookbook. “You always forget what you own and you keep buying the same thing over and over again,” says founder Christina Plakopita, “[With Netrobe] women can utilize their wardrobes … Now you can log in to your closet any time or any where.” While the app already comes with some preloaded items from and , you can add your own personal items of clothing to Netrobe by selecting the hanger icon in the middle of the app and clicking on the Add An Item button (the plus sign). Plakopita tells me that what makes Netrobe different from similar apps like , is the fidelity of its image background removal tool, which she describes as “Photoshop level,” its streamlined design and its Suitcase feature which allows users to virtually pack for trips. Plakopita tells me that she plans to make Netrobe more social and interactive in the future as well as develop a web component which will include the same, but further fleshed out, features as the app — eventually allowing you to share your closet with friends or ask for opinions about what to wear. In addition to its $1.99 cost in the app store, the bootstrapped company intends to monetize through affiliate fees from suggested clothing items. Plakopita estimates that the web component should be ready in about a month’s time and that an Netrobe Android app should be available in about two to three months. [vimeo vimeo.com/27768397 width=”620″]
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