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21 May ' 09:54
posted 3 mins agoHotspot Shield Crosses 10M Installations On Android And iOS, Showing Strong Appetite For Mobile VPN
Virtual private networking is a great way to accomplish a number of things, including making sure that your secrets stay your own, protecting against malware attacks, and getting around the geoblocking of audio and video content from networks, labels and basically anyone who wants to restrict your sweet, sweet access. It’s understandable, then, that as computing increasingly goes mobile, VPN would…
posted 13 mins agoLiveBlog:LiveFromTheRevealMicrosoft’sNext-GenerationXbox
It’s Xbox day! Almost exactly 8 years after the announcement of the Xbox 360, Microsoft is back with another one.
We’re live on the ground at Microsoft’s Xbox campus in Redmond, where the company is about to show its next-generation console for the very first time. We’ll be bringing you the news as it breaks with our up-to-the-second liveblog. Join us, won’t you?
posted 28 mins agoAfter Getting Booted From Apple’s App Store, Mobile Privacy App Clueful Returns On Android
Clueful, the mobile privacy app Apple booted from its App Store for being too revealing- or possibly because of its own behavior - is staging a comeback. This time around, Clueful’s maker Bitdefender is targeting Android users instead, with plans to reveal what the apps on your phone are doing, and how your privacy may be comprised in the process. Bitdefender, a company which makes a…
posted 41 mins agoTim Cook: “We Pay All Of The Taxes We Owe, Every Single Dollar”
We are updating this blog during the live congressional testimony of Apple CEO Tim Cook. More details will be added soon.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook came out firing during his Congressional grilling, declaring, “we pay all of the taxes we owe, every single dollar”. A blistering senate investigation accused Apple of shady tax dodging, helping it avoid $13.8 billion in taxes.
posted 46 mins agoTwitter’s Innovator’s Patent Agreement Goes Into Action For ‘Pull To Refresh,’ Jelly And Lift Will Adopt The Framework
Last year, Twitter announced something it called the Innovator’s Patent Agreement (IPA), which would keep patents in the hands of the designers and engineers that came up with the technology behind them. What this agreement serves as is a promise to only act on a patent for “defensive purposes.” Anything outside of that scope would need to be signed off on the creator of the patent itself.
posted 50 mins agoMeta, The World’s First Entry-Level AR Glasses, Hires The Father Of Wearable Computing As Chief Scientist
Meta1 is a pair of virtual reality goggles that perform some very unique and useful tricks. While they are still in beta stage, the glasses are coupled with a Kinect-like camera to sense objects in real space and allow users to interact with virtual worlds with the swipe of their hand.
posted 52 mins agoPersonal Profile Page Startup About.me Is Ready To Take Your Money With New Premium Service, Plans For Wefollow Integration
About.me, the online identity platform that spun out from Aol* at the beginning of the year before acquiring the one-time Digg spinout Wefollow, is now lifting the curtains on its plans to generate revenue, with today’s debut of About.me Premium. Via this new, paid tier to the service, the company is adding some of the more advanced features users have requested, including domain mapping…
posted 2 hours agoMeet Agent, A Smartwatch With A Second Processor For Minimizing Power Consumption And Wireless Charging
Smart watches are all the rage, and judging by the turnout and level of enthusiasm at the recently year one meetup for Pebble Kickstarter backers in San Francisco which I attended last week, there’s at least a passionate niche audience for the things. So it isn’t surprising to see them continue to pop up on Kickstarter. A new one called Agent has a few unique tricks, however, which its creators…
posted 2 hours agoHoping To Ride The Crowdfunding Wave, Celery Lets Sellers Accept Pre-Orders, Charge When Products Ready To Ship
Airbrite, a Y Combinator-backed e-commerce startup, is debuting its first product today called Celery (its name a play on the world “sell”). Celery is designed to be a “pre-commerce” store builder – or, in other words, it allows anyone to start selling ahead of having a product to ship. That means sellers can start taking credit cards now, then charge when their…
posted 2 hours agoBrow.si Is An Add-On And Platform That Wants To Put The Engagement Fight Back Into The Mobile Web
Brow.si, a new product from MySiteApp, is launching in open beta today as an add-on for mobile websites that promises to bring a number of features to rival the engagement of native apps. These include social sharing, a read it later button, subscriptions, and push notifications (sort of). Developers can also create additional extensions for the Brow.si platform to add further desktop web/app-like…
posted 3 hours agoTeamSnap Online Sports Management Platform Acquires Weplay For An Undisclosed Amount
posted 3 hours agoWith $15M From Omidyar And 35M+ Users, Change.org Wants To Prove Socially-Minded Startups Can Attract Big Numbers
Change.org got its start in 2007 as a social network for non-profits. For years, growth was slow for the fledgling social action platform, but, over the last year, that changed dramatically. Change.org has grown from six million users in early 2012 to more than 35 million users today, and, as a result, has become one of the largest and fastest growing of its kind.
posted 3 hours agoBurstly Debuts Its Testing-To-Revenue Restructure, Opens SkyRocket Monetization To All
Burstly’s grand vision coming out of its TestFlight acquisition is getting full reveal today with the announcement of the company’s new corporate structure, which rebrands Burstly’s monetization tools as SkyRocket, and opens them up to all mobile developers and publishers with a new self-serve option, whereas previously they’d been accessible only to the biggest fish in the app ecosystem pond.
posted 3 hours agoSprint Ups Its Offer For Outstanding Clearwire Shares To Around $2.5B
More developments in the Sprint acquisition food chain saga. As expected, Sprint is upping its offer for outstanding Clearwire shares to $3.40 per share, working out to an offer of about $2.5 billion. This comes after originally making an offer of $2.2 billion, based on $2.97 per share.
posted 4 hours ago3 Mindbending Ways Apple Dodged $13.8B In Taxes
Kudos to Apple’s finance lawyers, who are the Cirque Du Soleil of legal contortionism. On the eve of live testimony from CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer and Phillip Bullock, head of Apple’s tax operations, a scathing congressional investigation of Apple’s tax dodging strategy reveals how the computer giant avoided $13.8 billion in taxes through a clever labyrinth of offshore tax havens, shell…
posted 4 hours agoNew U.K. Edtech Entity To Spend Up To $77M Acquiring European E-Learning Firms Over Next 18 Months To Build Regional Giant
Expect a swathe of consolidation in the European e-learning sector in the coming months. Edxus Group, a new London-based corporate operating edtech company, is planning to plough in €50-60 million ($64-$77m) over the next 18 months to develop and acquire European e-learning businesses and build out a single regional player with the scale to compete against U.S. edtech giants, it said today.
posted 5 hours agoBrightpearl Raises $8 Million Series B For Its Cloud Software To Help Retailers Manage Sales Across Multiple Channels
In what is effectively a follow-on round, Brightpearl, the cloud software provider for multichannel retailers, has raised $8 million in Series B funding from previous backers Eden Ventures and Notion Capital. Both Eden and Notion seed-backed the UK company, before adding a further $5 million Series A in May 2011. This brings the total raised by Brightpearl to $14.5 million.
posted 5 hours agoUnity Game Engine Goes Free For iOS, Android And BlackBerry 10 Developers
The barrier to entry for the Unity game rendering engine for developers on iOS and Android has gotten lower, as use of Unity tech is now free on both mobile platforms. Unity CEO David Helgason announced the changed terms today during the Unite Nordic trade conference, according to Pocket Gamer’s Keith Andrew. The dropping of licensing fees for the engine’s basic tier means that features which once…
posted 5 hours agoWith A Media-Rich Platform To Stand Out From The Messaging Pack, MessageMe Hits 5M Users In 2.5 Months [Interview]
Last week we reported that MessageMe, one of the latest messaging apps to hit the smartphone market, had picked up a $10 million Series A round of funding, and today, the company is officially confirming the news, along with some more details on how it’s been doing in the 2.5 months since it launched. It now has 5 million users across both iOS and Android — a five-fold increase on the 1 million…
posted 6 hours agoConsultingMD Lands $10M From Venrock To Bring Speedy Referrals And Second Opinions Online
When it comes to diagnoses and the possibility of undergoing serious medical procedures, we want second opinions (and trustworthy referrals) whenever we can get them. With 30 to 40 million Americans slated to receive insurance for the first time next year thanks to Obamacare — and with millions expected to experience higher costs and reduced coverage as a result — the system is in for a shock.
posted 6 hours agoCan We Say Crowdfunding Bubble? U.K. Charity Launches Directory To Help Navigate Nation’s 30+ Local Platforms
How many crowdfunding platforms is evidence of a crowdfunding bubble? Well, when an organisation feels the need to launch a directory to list and detail all of the options in a single market it’s perhaps a sign that exuberance for crowdsourced financing is running a little high. Nesta, a U.K. innovation charity, has launched just such a directory, detailing 31 local crowdfunding platforms.
posted 6 hours agoScience-Backed Ecommerce Recommendation Startup Uncovet Raises $1.3M
Uncovet, a startup that wants to be the recommendation engine for indie designer clothing and accessories, has raised $1.3 million from Javelin Venture Partners, Siemer Ventures, and L.A. angel investor Paige Craig.
posted 7 hours agoNewspaper Companies Invest Another $9M In Local Deal Startup Wanderful Media
Wanderful Media has raised another $9 million from the long list of media companies that were already backing the startup and its local deal service Find&Save
The announcement comes after the relaunch of Find&Save last month. The service allows readers to browse deals aggregated from newspaper circulars, retailers, and other data sources. That was the first big redesign since Wanderful…
posted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours ago
MavenSay, a social recommendation app, just got a surge of unplanned downloads coming from Indonesia, and its founders are moving quickly to include Southeast Asia in its expansion plans as a result. The company’s Toronto-based co-founder, Jesse Dallal, said the two-month old app got 100,000 downloads over the past fortnight. It has a total of 130,000 downloads so far, and the sudden surge…
5.21.20135.21.20135.21.2013Hampton Creek Foods — Received $1M in Seed fundingAdaptive Planning — Received $45M in Series D funding from Bessemer Venture PartnersONSET Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, RBC Venture Partners, Cardinal Venture Capital, and Monitor Ventures5.21.20135.21.2013Uncovet — Received $1.3M in Seed funding from Javelin Venture Partners, Siemer Ventures, and Paige Craig5.21.2013Loco2 — Received £300k in Seed funding from Envestors Limited5.21.20135.21.20135.21.20135.21.2013 -
21 May ' 02:36
posted 44 mins agoOpera’s WebKit-Based Android Browser Exits Beta To Battle Apps For Users’ Attention
Browser maker Opera’s first WebKit browser has exited beta. The full launch for the browser previously code-named Ice adds a few additional minor updates to the meaty feature-set demoed at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow back in February. The Android browser represents a huge shift for Opera as it moves away from its own Presto framework to the de facto standard WebKit engine, plus Chromium.
Scopely Boosts New Zealand Studio Rocket Jump’s Mini Golf Matchup To Over 10M Downloads In A Month
Game developer Rocket Jump had already proved its mettle with the hit Major Mayhem. But the company’s location in Wellington, New Zealand meant its team often felt isolated from the resources they needed to build an even bigger hit. Enter Scopely, the Los Angeles-based mobile gaming platform founded by social gaming entrepreneur Walter Driver and AdSense co-creator Eytan Elbaz. The two companies’…
posted yesterdayMavenSay Enjoying Sudden Popularity In Social Media-Hungry Indonesia
MavenSay, a social recommendation app, just got a surge of unplanned downloads coming from Indonesia, and its founders are moving quickly to include Southeast Asia in its expansion plans, as a result. The company’s Toronto-based co-founder, Jesse Dallal, said the two-month old app got 100,000 downloads over the past fortnight. It has a total of 130,000 downloads so far, and the sudden surge…
posted yesterdayReal-Time Parking Startup ParkMe Launches An Android App
Real-time parking startup ParkMe wants to help find you parking — in real-time. The company, which originally started out on the Web, has been making a big push behind mobile apps, which is really smart, because most times when you’re looking for parking, you’re not on a PC, but you have a smartphone nearby. And it just launched on Android.
posted yesterdayAiming To Dominate Mobile Ad Attribution, HasOffers Raises $9.4M Round Led By Accel
HasOffers, a startup that helps mobile app developers see which ad efforts are actually paying off, is announcing that it has raised a $9.4 million round of funding led by Accel Partners
The company was founded in 2009 — the product that it initially built, and the one that’s still highlighted on the HasOffers website, is a system that helps ad networks and agencies manage their…
posted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdaySan Francisco, CA
iVengo — Received $250k in Seed funding from Moscow Seed FundRockwell Medical — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:RMTI.Warner ChilcottActavis for $8.5B.iVengo — Received $250k in Seed funding from Moscow Seed FundEntefy — Received $1M in Seed fundingCommunication Intelligence Corp. — Received $1.15M in Seed funding5.20.2013UpCounsel — Received $1.4M in Seed funding5.20.2013Graematter — Received $835k in Seed funding from BioGenerator5.20.20135.20.20135.20.20135.20.20135.20.20135.20.2013Rockwell Medical — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:RMTI.5.20.2013NanoString Technologies — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:NSTG.5.20.2013- Major League Soccer, Microsoft team up on Windows 8 app, in-game experiences
- BlazBlue Alter Memory transplants the game into anime
- Dish Anywhere on Android gets On Demand content streaming, tablet app
- Civilization 5's 'Brave New World' expansion adds Indonesia, Morocco
- Sennheiser's HDVD 800 digital headphone amp now available in the US for $2,000
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20 May ' 19:51
Google Checkout Nixed In Favor of Google Wallet
Google Checkout is being sunsetted as the company focuses on shaping Google Wallet into a viable PayPal rival. Google Commerce announced today that Google Checkouts will be retired on November 20.
Founders Fund Backs Its First Food Tech Startup, Hampton Creek Foods, With A $1M Investment
Founders Fund, the firm founded by Peter Thiel and other PayPal executives, famously declared that it wants to back companies with big, ambitious visions (not just dinky web startups). And that description certainly fits Hampton Creek Foods, a startup that wants to move the world from animal-based foods by creating alternatives that are genuinely tastier, healthier, and cheaper.
Founder and CEO…
BeatDeck’s Free Analytics Show Musicians Who Their Fans Are
Does my music do better on Facebook or Twitter? Where should my next tour be? Is my new song too repetitive? Musicians can get free answers to these questions and more from BeatDeck, a Y Combinator analytics company launching today. BeatDeck plans to license this data to labels and music stores to help them sign and recommend tomorrow’s superstars. Yep, BeatDeck is an enterprise music startup.
With Site Ai, Automated Insights Provides A Cliffs Notes Version Of Your Web Analytics
Automated Insights, a startup that translates raw data into plain English, is launching a new product that could make analytics data a lot more accessible.
The new product, called Site Ai, pulls data from existing systems (it started with Google Analytics and Clicky, and the company is currently taking votes on which service to integrate next), then it summarizes that data in normal sentences.
Yahoo Drops Flickr Pro To Compete With Facebook, Still Offers Two Paid Tiers For Ad Haters And Power Users
The bookend to Yahoo’s Big News Day — a major refresh of its photo sharing site Flickr — will see the company drop is Flickr Pro pricing tiers as part of a bid to compete better with Facebook/Instagram and the rest of the crowded market in the online photo space. But it is not getting rid of paid tiers altogether: it’s keeping an ad-free tier, called Ad Free, as well as a tier for power users…
Yahoo’s Unwatchable Live Stream Proves Its Next Acquisition Should Be A Proper Video Platform
It’s easy to forget that Yahoo has had a long on-again-off-again love affair with online video. Remember Broadcast.com, which kicked off the Mark Cuban Era? But you might not remember that, because other online video platforms long ago left Yahoo in the proverbial dust. Today, as Yahoo streamed its Flickr product and Tumblr acquisition announcements, we were given a demonstration of why Yahoo has…
Flickr Announces One Free Terabyte Of Storage Space Per User, Officially Beating Everyone
Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing service is now offering one full terabyte for users, enough storage space to hold whole swathes of the world’s photos. The service is offering this benefit in addition to its full resolution photo storage service. While the average user will probably not touch the outer limits of this storage space in a lifetime, this alone is probably enough to draw…
FlickrGetsAHugeRevampWithHi-ResImage-FilledUI,NewAndroidApp,And1TBOfFreeStorage
The new Flickr is live
Smack-dab in the middle of Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition day, Yahoo is holding a major press event here in NYC. But announcements coming out of this event aren’t related to Tumblr as much as Flickr, the photo-sharing database and social network acquired by Yahoo in March of 2005 for $35 million.
Today, Flickr gets a huge revamp including a totally new look and feel…
Dell Kills Project To Build Out Public Cloud, Sends Layoff Notices
Dell has decided not to build out its public cloud and will instead rely on partners such as Joyent to provide infrastructure services. A source close to the matter said layoff notices at the company went out on Friday. The group had more than 300 people in it. It is not known who was laid off or offered other jobs in the company. A spokesperson said Dell would not comment about personnel issues.
Yahoo Sets Up Shop In Times Square For Its 500 New York Employees (But Not The Tumblr Team)
Today has been quite a roller coaster ride for Yahoo — the company put days of reports and rumors to rest this morning when it confirmed that it would acquire the social blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion, and now CEO Marissa Mayer has confirmed that Yahoo’s New York employees will now be moving.
They’ll all soon be working right around the corner from Times Square in the same building…
Inside Microsoft’s ‘Geek 2 Chic’ Fashion Show, Where Tech Types Strike A Pose For Charity [TCTV]
The tech-dominated San Francisco Bay Area isn’t exactly known as a hub for high fashion — Facebook’s new James Perse staff hoodies are about as fancy as things get around here — and fashion shows aren’t typically in our purview here at TechCrunch TV. So when we were invited to attend the Geek 2 Chic fashion show, an event hosted by Microsoft benefiting the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship…
Send In Your Questions For Ask A VC With Mayfield Fund’s Navin Chaddha
This week on TechCrunch TV’s Ask A VC show, we have Mayfield Fund Managing Director Navin Chaddha in the studio. As you may remember, you can submit questions for our guests either in the comments or here and we’ll ask them during the show.
posted 7 hours agoleft his position to go full-time on his DIY drone company, having raised $5 million.
Later this week at the AngelPad demo day, another drone-centric company will make its debut: DroneDeploy.
posted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 12 hours agoProject Decor — Received $5M in Series B funding from LaunchCapital5.13.2013Tableau Software — Went public with stock symbol NYSE:DATA.5.13.2013ClipboardSalesforce for $12M.5.9.2013Project Decor — Received $5M in Series B funding from LaunchCapitalZola Books — Received $2.7M in Seed fundingNextMusic.TV — Received $70k in Seed funding5.20.20135.20.20135.6.2013- Nintendo launches 'Crowdfarter' for Game & Wario
- Steam weekly: Rochard, Strike Suit Zero, Sleeping Dogs, Unreal deals
- Sky Sports for iPad adds more live camera options ahead of Champions League final
- Free VIEW Magazine is filled with intriguing photography
- Sniper Elite V2 scopes out Wii U tomorrow
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20 May ' 12:47
posted 8 mins agoAngelPad-Backed DroneDeploy Wants To Help You Manage Your Legion Of Drones
The valley has a bit of a thing for drones lately — have you noticed? Airware, which builds brains for commercial unmanned aircrafts, just raised $10.7M. Longtime Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson left his position to go fulltime on his DIY drone company, having raised $5M.
Later this week at the AngelPad demo day, another drone-centric company will make its debut: DroneDeploy. Unlike the…
posted 31 mins agoSquare Cash Will Let You Send Money To Your Friends By Email
Square’s not just for businesses apparently, as an invite-only page for a product called “Square Cash” has popped up. Not many details are known about it, but we’ve reached out to the company for comment.
posted 47 mins agoLaptop Week Review: The Dell XPS 13 Developers Edition With Ubuntu
Dude, you got a Linux-powered Dell! In all the years I’ve reviewed laptops I’ve never been as pleasantly surprised by an Ultrabook as I was with the Dell XPS 13 Developers Edition. This ultrathin, ultralight SSD laptop originally came in Windows flavor but, much to my surprise, I far prefer the Ubuntu edition of this device. It is solidly built, acceptably priced given the solid state drive, and…
posted 48 mins agoWelcome To Laptop Week
Laptops are the new desktops. While you can buy a solid tower PC for about $500, this price represents how little manufacturers care about the desktop world. Barring a few huge gaming rigs, laptops are where it’s at.
We have been arguably remiss in avoiding formal laptop reviews and so we’re trying to remedy that with a series we’re calling Laptop Week. This week we will focus on some of the…
Last Call For Pitch Applications To The Austin Meetup + Pitch-Off. Also, Get Tickets Here!
10 days, people! TechCrunch invades Austin in just ten days from now, with our legendary Meetup + Pitch-off series.
The magic started in New York this year, with a hugely successful pitch-off, an amazing turn-out and lots of fun memories. So we’re heading out on the open road with the event, which includes a networking meetup as well as a 60-second pitch-off competition with awesome prizes.
AT&T Will Begin Enabling Pre-Loaded Video Chat Apps, Like Hangouts, For Those On Any Data Plan Later This Year
As AT&T comes under the gun for blocking Google’s new video chat app Hangouts on its cellular network, the company is today hoping to put a better spin on the news by offering a new statement detailing its changing position on support for pre-loaded video chat apps. During the second half of 2013, AT&T says it will begin to enable pre-loaded video chat applications over cellular for all…
Google+ Gets A Refresh For Android To Mirror Its 41 Update Extravaganza From I/O, Adds New Location Section
Today, Google updated its Google+ app for Android to get up to speed with all of the changes announced during last week’s I/O Developers conference. In all, there were 41 new updates, including a new stream, photos experience and Hangouts
The Android version has all of that, and one new feature — a new location section.
Keen On… Peter Hirshberg: Why Smart Entrepreneurs Should Care About Smart Cities
Last week, representatives of many of the world’s leading cities – including London, Boston, Mexico City, Barcelona and Christchurch – came to San Francisco to learn from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs about how to make their cities smarter. One of the people behind this LLGA Cities Summit was the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Hirshberg, formerly the chairman of Technorati and now one of the…
posted 2 hours agoTumblr Updates iOS App With New Path-Like Interface
Tumblr is still shipping. Despite all the noise surrounding the Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition, the company has just pushed out an update to its iOS application introducing a new user interface that now includes the almost Path-like post chooser, previously introduced in the Android version. This interface design is becoming more common today, but it’s most reminiscent of things like Mac’s…
Study: Free Computers Don’t Close The Rich-Poor Education Gap
According to a new study, we really don’t have to worry too much about the nearly 1 in 4 children without access to FarmVille at home.
“Our results indicate that computer ownership alone is unlikely to have much of an impact on short-term schooling outcomes for low-income children,” report Robert W. Fairlie and Jonathan Robinson in a new study of a large-scale randomized computer give-away…
Amazon Studios Picks Up “Alpha House” Comedy Series Starring John Goodman, Gives “Zombieland” The Axe
In the wake of releasing eight comedy series pilots into the wild last month, Amazon is starting to make decisions concerning which pilots will be purchased for development and which will get the axe.
According to Reuters, the company has chosen to build out Alpha House, a show featuring John Goodman about four Senators in DC who live in a house together, as well as Betas. Betas tells the…
posted 3 hours agoTumblr’s Adult Fare Accounts For 11.4% Of Site’s Top 200K Domains, Adult Sites Are Leading Category Of Referrals
How much of Tumblr is porn, and what is Yahoo going to do about it? On the latter, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer spoke to its plans for addressing content that is not “brand safe” earlier this morning on a call about its $1.1 billion acquisition of the site, saying that Yahoo will need to have “good tools for retargeting,” and will “monetize in a way that is…
posted 3 hours agoZappos Rolls Out iOS App Update As It Ponders The Future Of The Mobile Shopping Experience
Las Vegas-based apparel retailer Zappos rolled out an update to its iOS app today that saw the company fold some neat new features into the mix. Strictly speaking though , it’s no drastic overhaul — the Zappos mobile team instead focused largely on improving the fit and finish of their iOS-centric mobile experience.
There are a few new graphical flourishes here and there (users can now change…
Dijit Brings Its Personalized Social TV App To PCs With The Launch Of NextGuide Web
If the last few years have all been about building compelling mobile-first or mobile-only experiences, the latest trend seems to be bringing those experiences back to the web. (Just look at Instagram!) Anyway, with that in mind, social TV startup Dijit became the latest to follow this lead, with the launch of NextGuide Web
posted 4 hours agoE-Commerce Startup Monogram Launches A Publishing Platform For Shoppable Fashion Magazines
Last fall, fashion commerce startup Monogram launched an iPad app that was aiming to be kind of like a mobile, shoppable magazine for those hip to fashion. It had all the makings of a great mobile commerce app: It looked good, it was easy to use, and it allowed viewers to buy all the latest fashions really easily.
posted 4 hours agoSiri Competitor Maluuba Brings Sports Results And TV Schedules To Its Android And Windows Phone Apps
Maluuba, the Waterloo, Canada-based Siri competitor and TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 Battlefield finalist, today announced that it has added two new features to its voice-powered personal assistant app for Android and Windows Phone: sports and TV schedules. With this, Maluuba users in the U.S. and Canada can now ask it for near real-time sports results and query the service for TV listings in their…
posted 4 hours agoMinbox Is YouSendIt On Speed
Mac app Minbox launches to the public today, attempting to differentiate itself from competitors through speed and ease of use. The app allows Mac users to send files directly from their desktops — either through attaching the files or through a very simple drag-and-drop feature through the Minbox icon in the top-right corner.
As you can probably tell from the demo video above, Minbox hopes to…
posted 5 hours agoEmaze Raises $800K For The Presentation Sweet Spot Between PowerPoint And Prezi
Microsoft PowerPoint facilitates presentation design with zero constraints. And startups like Prezi provide well-designed templates and other features to help you communicate what matters. Now an Israeli startup called Emaze is trying a different take by offering a much simpler templating system for presentations that are intended to make you be concise.
posted 5 hours agoYahoo: Expect Ads On Tumblr To Ramp Up Significantly In 2014
After announcing its deal to acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion, mostly in cash, Yahoo today started to lay out some of the details for how it intends to make use of the property while trying to stick to its promise “not to screw it up.” Expect more advertising by next year as well as more Tumblr content on Yahoo properties, but more of a cautious step as to how Yahoo will deal with some of Tumblr’s…
posted 5 hours agoNeverware Raises $1M To Keep Schools’ Computers Quick Like Lightning
There is no sadder moment than the one where you realize it’s time to upgrade your computer. The load times are too slow, the battery no longer holds a charge, and it’s just too damn heavy. Now, imagine a school with dozens of outdated computers, and think just how bad that moment of realization can really be.
Neverware, a company based out of NY, is aiming to change all that with a turnkey…
posted 5 hours agoJolla’s Software Chief Says Co-Creation Is What Makes The MeeGo Startup’s Phone Hardware So Special
Jolla has finally taken the wraps off the smartphone hardware that will be paired with its “unlike” Sailfish UI. Being a startup is challenging enough in any business sector but Jolla is seeking to compete in the fiercely competitive smartphone space against Samsung and Apple. So it’s hard not to dismiss their efforts as too late. But it’s a lot harder to accuse them of doing too little.
posted 6 hours agoSeamless And GrubHub Confirm Merger, GrubHub Co-Founder Maloney To Be Combined Company’s CEO
Today is turning out to be quite a memorable Monday — hot on the heels of Yahoo’s Tumblr acquisition announcement, online food ordering services GrubHub and Seamless have that the two companies will merge into one as we previously reported
posted 6 hours agoSprint Acquires KC-Based Handmark For Its Mobile App Development And Advertising Shop, OneLouder
Sprint has decided to get deeper into the social and mobile space, announcing today that it has acquired Handmark and its subsidiary OneLouder. The acquisition is meant to beef up its Pinsight Media+ advertising group, specifically. Through Handmark, OneLouder has built social apps like Twitter clients Tweetcaster and Slices, and Friendcaster, a Facebook client. The acquisition price hasn’t…
posted 6 hours agoTumblr’s Loss Is WordPress’ Gain As Thousands Of Users Jump Ship Before Yahoo Takes Over
In what can only be called an exodus, WordPress’ co-founder Matt Mullenweg posted on his blog Sunday night that over 72,000 new blog posts were imported within a single hour. This is a massive spike considering that WordPress usually just sees 400 to 600 imported posts on most Sundays. It’s a tiny percentage of Tumblr’s 50.9B posts but it’s an important consideration that Tumblr – and now Yahoo…
posted 6 hours agoSensopia Raises $1.2 Million Series A For “Magical” Floor Plan Capturing Application, MagicPlan
Sensopia, a company which actually uncovered a practical application for augmented reality, has raised a $1.2 million Series A round for its floor plan capturing application called “MagicPlan.” The app allows users to hold up their phone and then scan the dimensions of the room around them in order to create an instant floor plan that can be exported to various formats, including DXF…
posted 7 hours agoofficially confirmed that it is buying blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion mostly in cash, after reports on an impending deal first surfaced last week. It says it will keep it as an independent company, with founder David Karp at the helm as CEO. “The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and…
posted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoA new report commissioned from research giant GfK claims that the growth of the high density cluster of technology companies in East London (dubbed Tech City by the UK government) is being “stunted” by a talent shortage and lack of access to capital. The ‘Tech Futures Report’ – commissioned by publishing company
posted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoSan Francisco, CA
Meta-View — Received Angel funding from Y Combinator5..20135..2013Meta-View — Received Angel funding from Y Combinator5..2013Zyme Solutions — Received $5M in funding5.20.2013Effector Therapeutics — Received $45M in Series A funding from SR One, Novartis Venture Fund, Astellas Venture Management, Abingworth, Osage University Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, and Mission Bay Capital5.20.20135..20135.20.20135.20.2013- FIFA 14 goes next-gen in tomorrow's Xbox reveal event
- Relocate your team in Madden 25's franchise owners mode
- Live video interview with Ghostcrawler and Brian Holinka
- Coming soon to XBLM: Gunslinger, CastleStorm, D3Publisher deals
- Yahoo's post-Tumblr purchase press event is live tonight, get your liveblog here!
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20 May ' 05:50
posted 28 mins agoIt’s Official: Yahoo Is Buying Tumblr For $1.1B, Vows To Keep It Independent
Yahoo has now officially confirmed that it is buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, confirming speculation that started last week. It says it will keep it as an independent company, with founder David Karp at the helm as CEO. “The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators,” it writes.
posted 52 mins agoMobile Payment Startup Payvia Buys Mogreet To Add Messaging-Based Marketing To Its Payment Platform
Some more consolidation afoot in the worlds of mobile marketing and mobile payments: Payvia, one of the many startups working in the area of carrier-based mobile billing, is buying Mogreet, a mobile marketing company that delivers campaigns via text, video and picture messaging services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed — although we have contacted the company to ask. Payvia says that the…
posted 57 mins agoYet Another TechCity Report Confuses Tech Companies With Web Agencies And Consultants
A new report commissioned by research giant GfK claims that the growth of the high density cluster of technology companies in East London (dubbed Tech City by the UK government) is being “stunted” by a talent shortage and lack of access to capital. The ‘Tech Futures Report’ – commissioned by publishing company TechCityInsider and sponsored by accountant Grant Thornton, recruitment firm Vitamin…
posted 1 hour agoAlteryx Raises $12M For Data Analytics Platform That Shapes Data Into Apps
Alteryx has raised $12 million for its business intelligence service designed for data analysts to build tools out of their own internal data and that from third parties.
The investment comes from SAP VenturesToba Capital, a new firm founded by former Quest Founder and CEO Vinny Smith.
posted 2 hours agoMobile Ad Startup Adelphic Hires WPP’s Michael Collins As CEO
Adelphic is announcing that Michael Collins (pictured), previously global CEO at WPP-owned mobile marketing agency Joule, has joined the mobile ad startup as its new chief executive. The current CEO Changfeng Wang will remain on-board as CTO.
Wang and his co-founder Jennifer Lum both worked at Apple-acquired mobile ad network Quattro, and they announced last year that they had launched a new…
posted 2 hours agoHeadcast, A Mobile Broadcast Platform For Celebrities’ & Brands’ Avatars To Talk To Fans, Launches On iOS, Backed By Stephen Fry
There’s no shortage of channels for brands and celebrities to stay in touch with their customers, followers and fans in these socially connected times. Today’s addition to the mix is the launch of broadcasting and animation platform Headcast, which lets brands and celebrities record and push out short voice messages to their audience — accompanied by an animated, virtual avatar.
Bloom.fm Is A Mobile-First Music Streaming Service That’s Playing To A Different Tune
It’s nice to see a startup trying something different and garnering some promising traction along the way. The UK’s Bloom.fm is a mobile-first music streaming service — it currently exists as an iOS app only — that launched four months ago out of the ashes of the deadpooled music social network mflow.
posted 3 hours agoFinnish MeeGo Startup Jolla Reveals First Phone: 4.5″ Display, Customisable Shells, $513 Price-Tag, Shipping At Year’s End
Jolla, the Finnish MeeGo startup composed of ex-Nokians building their own mobile hardware and Sailfish OS, has finally taken the wraps off its first handset, revealing what the hardware will look like on its website. The design is a clean-looking, elegant slab, with the most stand-out feature being the coloured shell on the back that wraps around half the sides of the phone to create a…
posted 4 hours agoYouLike Is A Dating Site That Thinks The Key To Finding Love Is Hate
YouLike describes itself as an interest-based social network and dating site that takes into account a user’s dislikes, as much as what they do like, when helping to find like-minded people to friend or date.
today that will help make the site more attractive to potential advertisers. The first is pins embedded with additional information about products, recipes and movies. The second is a Pin It button that is now available on nine mobile apps.
posted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayMay 18th, 2013LinguaSys — Received $1M in Seed funding from Mark Cuban5.8.20135.8.2013Yahoo! for $1.1B.5.20.2013LinguaSys — Received $1M in Seed funding from Mark Cuban5.8.2013Nexx Studio — Received $250k in Seed fundingCivicon — Received $12M in Series A funding from TransCenturyTienda Nube — Received $1M in Seed fundingReebonz — Received $40M in Series A funding from MediaCorp Singapore- The Last of Us dev diary covers survivalcraft
- Video Flashback: Steve Jobs explains why Macs don't sport "Intel Inside" stickers
- Breakfast Topic: Should alts remain secondary to a more developed main?
- Smash Bros, 3D Mario, Mario Kart in pre-E3 Nintendo Direct
- Metro: Last Light shines in this week's UK charts
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19 May ' 23:21
posted 4 mins agoSingapore’s MediaCorp Invests $40M In Luxury Online Retailer Reebonz
MediaCorp, one of Singapore’s two largest media companies, has poured $40 million into Reebonz in a deal that values the designer brand flash-sales site at about $200 million. This is the first time that MediaCorp has invested in an online retailer, according to a story on Channel News Asia (a site that is also owned by MediaCorp).
posted 51 mins agoPinterest Launches Pins With More Info And A New Button For Mobile Apps
Pinterest announced two new features today that will help make the Web site more attractive to potential advertisers. The first is pins embedded with additional information about products, recipes and movies. The second is a Pin It button that is now available on nine mobile apps.
The New “Handmade”
Amid grumblings of a “general fatigue” when it comes to software-based startups, a potentially transformative technology called 3D printing is poised to reach critical mass and mainstream awareness. Today’s news headlines about the technology tend to focus on the extreme possibilities in being able to print objects on demand – from the terrors of things like a homemade…
BrandYourself Upgrades Its Online Reputation Tools With A Full-Service Concierge Feature
BrandYourself is expanding its efforts to take on the big names in the online reputation market (particularly Reputation.com) with the launch of a new version of its service.
The company started out as a fairly simple self-service tool for trying to improve your presence online, for example by creating a website and other content to push down undesirable results when someone Googles your name.
posted 5 hours agoWhat Sets The Google Cloud Platform Apart From The Rest
There is a misperception about the new Google Cloud Platform that the company put into general availability last week at Google I/O. It’s not a brand new platform. It’s what Google has used for years. It is Google’s foundation. It is what makes Google, Google. And now it’s open for the first time to developers and businesses.
Google Platform is new in the sense that anyone can now use it. But…
posted 7 hours agoposted 7 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 12 hours agoposted 12 hours agoposted 13 hours agoposted 14 hours agoposted 15 hours agoposted 16 hours agoposted 16 hours agoposted 16 hours agoinformedika — Received $25k in Seed funding5.14.2013postify — Received €155k in Seed fundingBeibamboo — Received €4k in Seed funding5.19.2013Gliph — Received $18k in Seed funding5.19.20135.19.2013 -
19 May ' 17:35
posted 31 mins agoGoogle Glass Year In Review
It’s been a little over a year since Google started teasing something it called “Project Glass.” The futuristic, wearable computer that would change the way that you interact with the world was nothing more than a series of rumors for months before it was “formally introduced” in April 2012. Not known for hardware and not having a current bonafide physical device that…
posted 57 mins agoZiff Davis Is Buying NetShelter/InPowered’s Display Ad Business
Digital media company and ad sales platform Ziff Davis is expanding its network of properties even further with the purchase of NetShelter’s display advertising business, a well-placed source has informed us. The source couldn’t share exact terms of the deal, but did reveal that InPowered, the product which NetShelter focused on and eventually essentially rebranded to last November, will be split…
posted 1 hour agoHey, Hardware Hackers! There’s A WiFi-Enabled Arduino Now
Lets say you’ve come up with a brilliant idea for some shiny new piece of hardware. You brush up your coding chops, scratch out a design, and set out to build a prototype.
First, you’ll need a programmable chip to act as the brain. Because of the relatively gentle learning curve and friendly community, you go with the Arduino. The problem: your hardware idea requires WiFi.
Until now, that’s…
Google Believes Web Components Are The Future Of Web Development
While it was missing the skydiving antics of last year’s event, Google’s I/O keynote last week wasn’t short on product launches. In between the splashy updates to Google Maps, Search, Android and everything else Google announced, the company also briefly talked about Web Components for a few minutes. While Google’s Sundar Pichai noted that it’s still early days for…
An Interview With Dr. Joshua Pearce Of Printers For Peace
Joshua Pearce, PhD, is a researcher at Michigan Tech who rearches open source and low-impact solutions to engineering problems. He is also the founder of the Printers For Peace contest, an effort to bring together clever 3D-printed ideas that have loftier aims. You can win one of two 3D printers if you submit the winning project.
Acrobotics Wants To Kickstart Smarter Cities With Its Smart Citizen Environment Sensors
There’s plenty of buzz about the concept of making our cities “smarter” — that is, loading them up with sensors and data-driven services to improve efficiency and quality of life. Hell, even Google has taken to loading up its event venues with scores of sensors
Most of the discussion out there deals with how local governments are working toward this lofty, nebulous goal, but a team called…
Leaked Memo Shows Barnes & Noble Bringing Web Browser And Email To Simple Touch eReaders In June
An upcoming update will bring a web browser, email and update store app to Barnes & Noble’s super affordable Nook Simple Touch line of eReaders, which will begin rolling out June 1 according to a source close to the matter who wishes to remain anonymous. The 1.5.0 update was created in response to the positive critical and customer response to the recent Nook tablet update that brought Google…
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19 May ' 12:11
posted 39 mins agoHow Cheap Genetic Testing Complicates Cancer Screening For Us All
Sometimes, more medical information is a bad thing. The influential United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends against most women getting genetic screenings for their susceptibility to breast cancer. Why? Because the tests are imperfect: for every woman who gets tested for genes associated with onset breast cancer, even more will falsely test positive, leading spooked patients into…
posted 48 mins agoAndroid’s Design Principles And The Calculus Of The Human Pleasure Response
Android UX and interaction design leads Helena Roeber and Rachel Garb gave a talk at Google I/O this year about the Android Design Principles (ADP) they helped create and introduced back in 2012 with the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The ADP foll three simple principles, essentially “enchat, simplify and amaze,” but there’s much more to those principles that that relatively slippery…
posted 2 hours agoIterations: How Tech Hedge Funds And Investment Banks Make Sense Of Apple’s Share Buybacks
Apple has a good deal of cash. And, in the Valley, the startup ecosystem — for many reasons — wants to see Apple spend that cash. As their cash pile continued to grow as their stock price and market cap soared, Apple’s inability to provide robust software services combined with opportunities to expand their reach through acquisitions has become a fancy parlor game which includes every stripe of…
posted 3 hours agoYahooBoardHasApprovedA$1.1BillionCashDealForTumblr,WSJReports
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting via Twitter that the rumored $1.1 billion cash acquisition deal for social blogging site Tumblr has been approved by Yahoo’s board of directors. The Tumblr acquisition was rumored last week, with a price tag reportedly north of $1 billion, which appears to be accurate if the WSJ’s sources are correct.
Glenn Solomon, Contributorposted 4 hours agoFinding Patterns In The Tableau IPO
Editor’s note: Glenn Solomon is a partner with GGV Capital. Some of his recent investments include Pandora, Successfactors, Isilon, Domo, Square, Zendesk, Quinstreet, and Nimble Storage.
Stanford-born and Seattle-based Tableau Software (DATA) enjoyed a tremendous debut on the public markets on Friday, closing on its first day of trading at over $50/share, up over 60 percent from its $31/share…
posted 4 hours agoIllinois Library Embraces Crowdfunding To Bring Its Patrons A 3D Printer (And A Giant Hulk Statue)
Retooling the traditional public library for a more technically savvy populace is no small feat, especially when library budgets across the U.S. have been gutted these past few years.
That sad state of events has forced some libraries to take matters into their own hands. Consider the case of the Northlake Public Library in Northlake, Illinois — it wants to give its communinity (and…
posted 4 hours agoFormer Google Exec Turns Whistleblower On Company’s Tax Avoidance Machinations In The UK
Google is under fire in the UK for its tax practices in the country, and a new key witness (who spoke to The Sunday Times) might put them in deeper hot water when he hands over a reported 100,000 emails and documents to the British Revenue & Customs (HRMC) services. Barney Jones, a former Googler who was at the company between 2004 and 2006, says he has material proof that Google’s London…
posted 5 hours agoYouTube Turns Eight As Platform Surpasses More Than 100 Hours Of Video Uploaded Per Minute
YouTube turns eight years old today, reminding each of us in some odd way how young or old we really are. Remember, the company launched back in 2005, the same year that Michael Jackson was found not guilty of child molestation, and Lance Armstrong was winning his seventh Tours De France, and Arrested Development was still on the air.
A lot has changed since then, but YouTube’s growth remains…
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19 May ' 07:09
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19 May ' 02:00
David Karp’s Dilemma
As the Tumblr/Yahoo deal continues to be negotiated by press, and the world gears up for whatever is being announced Monday morning, Tumblr founder David Karp is probably having a very interesting weekend. It’s likely, in between multiple discussions with his board members and Marissa Mayer, that he’ll take a break, like a walk or something, to gather his thoughts.
Backed Or Whacked: Reading And Writing Through Crowdfunding
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
An ancient and once-sacred bond between author and audience, reading and writing have become but two more tasks along with a multitude of other things that we do on a host of digital devices — watcing videos, listening to music, playing games, and really anything except using Facebook Home. Still…
Mark Suster Talks Founder CEOs, The Acqui-Hire Frenzy, And Much More [TCTV]
Mark Suster of Los Angeles’ GRP Partners is known for his unique insights on the tech and digital media worlds, having famously had success on “both sides of the table” as a repeat entrepreneur turned investor over nearly two decades in the industry. And he hit headlines several times this week, with his viewpoints on acqui-hires (he says they’re often very bad) and founders stepping down from the…
Richard Bennett, ContributorConfronting The Reality Of US Broadband Performance
Editor’s note:Richard Bennett is a Senior Fellow with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and co-author of ITIF’s 2013 report, “The Whole Picture: Where America’s Broadband Networks Really Stand.”
We’ve all heard the story: America’s broadband networks are second-rate. We pay exorbitant prices for shoddy service because broadband providers print money and hold…
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