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18 Jun ' 14:10
GameStick Android Console Ship Date Delayed Until August To Refine UI
Android home gaming consoles are nearly arriving for the consumer market, but one at least needs a little more time in the oven to bake. It’s the GameStick, the super portable USB-stick style device that plugs into an open HDMI port on your TV to turn it into an Android-powered gaming machine, and its release schedule is being pushed back another month until August, with a retail launch to follow…
posted 52 mins agoThe Offline Glass Ensures You Talk, Not Text, At The Bar
Tired of your friends texting on their phones while they should be getting schnockered? This clever hack is called the Offline Glass and it’s designed to ensure that you and your friends don’t sit at the bar checking Wikipedia for who starred in The Greatest American Hero and whether Tabitha will totally come out tonight oh my god she won’t she and Christian just broke up oh god she’s with Raul…
posted 58 mins agoAdobe’s Q2 Earnings Beat Street With $1.011B In Revenue, $0.36 EPS, 700K Paying Creative Cloud Subscribers
Adobe just reported earnings for its second financial quarter of 2013. The company reported revenue of $1.011 billion and non-GAAP operating income of $247.3 for an earnings per share of $0.36 (though diluted GAAP earnings were only $0.15). That’s a little bit better than most analysts expected, especially with respect to the company’s earnings per share.
Please Join Us For The 8th Annual August Capital Party: July 26 In Silicon Valley
It’s that time of the year again for us nerds to infiltrate Sand Hill Road, let loose, and enjoy some good food and libations. We’ve been hosting the TechCrunch summer party with VC firm August Capital since 2006. This year, as in years past, we’ll be partying on August Capital’s beautiful, sunny Sand Hill balcony on Friday, July 26. The party starts at 5:30 p.m. and goes til 9:00 p.m.
Kazam Is Another European Startup Hoping Against Hope To Inch In To The Smartphone Hardware Market
Hardware is so hot right now. So hot, in fact, that another European hardware startup is formulating an attack on the smartphone hardware space — joining the likes of Finland’s Jolla and Spain’s Geeksphone to have a go at handset making. The newest comer stepping in with a plan to shake up the “status quo” is called Kazam: a startup co-founded by a pair of former U.K. HTC execs.
Weather Could Be Next On The Auction Block For Crowdsourced Data
Waze’s big exit to Google proved one thing: if companies can harness the power of the crowd to deliver real-time, granular data, big tech corporations will be watching them closely as potential acquisition targets. There’s another category ripe for the picking, even if the problem being solved isn’t as apparent or immediately useful as traffic and navigation data: weather. A few apps are trying to…
posted 3 hours agoGoogle Updates Local Search Results On Desktop With Carousel Design
At the end of last year, Google introduced a new design for some local search results on tablets that put a carousel with the top results at the top of the page. Today, it’s bringing this design to the desktop, too. This new feature can be triggered by searches for restaurants, bars and other local places, Google says, and it’s currently rolling out in English in the U.S. and should roll out for…
Amazon’s New Social Gifting Service “Amazon Birthday Gift” Leverages Facebook, Competes With Facebook’s Own Gifts
Stealing a page right out of a startup called Aggregift’s playbook, Amazon today launched a new feature called “Amazon Birthday Gift,” which allows a group of Facebook friends to go in on an Amazon.com Gift Card together. That gift isn’t posted to the recipients’ Facebook Timeline until their big day arrives.
posted 4 hours agoTorch Browser Passes 10 Million Monthly Active Users, Adds Download Accelerator, Updates Torch Music Service
The world of alternative browsers is littered with also-rans like Rockmelt, but there are also companies that have managed to make a name for themselves in the shadow of Microsoft, Mozilla and Google. One example of this is Maxthon, but another browser that’s quietly gaining a following is Torch, which the company tells us just passed 10 million monthly active users on Mac and Windows after about…
posted 4 hours agoRounds Brings Co-browsing To Mobile To Let Friends Surf The Web Together During Live Video Chats
Rounds, the video chat app and Israeli startup backed by $5.5 million in funding from Verizon Investments, Rhodium and DFJ’s Tim Draper among others, has been slowly expanding across platforms. Originally built as a Facebook-centric experience, Rounds expanded to the desktop last summer, launched Mac and Windows apps to allow its users to send and receive video calls without using their browser…
posted 4 hours agoHomejoy Announces A Perks Program, So Companies Can Pay To Clean Their Employees’ Homes
As startups compete for the best talent, Homejoy is announcing a way for companies to offer employees an additional perk — a clean home.
Home cleanings may not be a standard perk yet, but they’re not an entirely new idea, either. Last fall, The New York Times wrote that in Silicon Valley, “the employee perk is moving from the office to the home,” with both Evernote and the Stanford School of…
TheLadders Debuts Its First-Ever iOS App, As It Aims To Make Being ‘Mobile Last’ Also Mobile Best
The mobile wave has been cresting for several years now, so when a decade-old web company is only now debuting its first ever native mobile app, it’s a little late to the game. The folks at TheLadders, which is launching its first iOS app this morning, understand that — but they are angling to make their “mobile last” strategy work in their favor in the long run.
It is indeed a beautiful app…
Developers Can Now Ship Hard Drives To Google To Import Large Amounts Of Data To Cloud Storage
Google just added a new service to Google Cloud Storage that will allow developers to send their hard drives to Google to import very large data sets that would otherwise be too expensive and time-consuming to import. For a flat fee of $80 per hard drive, Google will take the drive and upload the data into a Cloud Storage bucket. This, Google says, can be “faster or less expensive than…
posted 5 hours agoGetGlue Hires Digital Media Veteran Evan Krauss As President To Boost Monetization Of Its Second-Screen Apps
Second screen startup GetGlue just keeps on trucking. Originally launched as an app for checking in to your favorite TV shows and collecting stickers, the company has been steadily expanding its business to include content discovery for shows on the iPad or on your TV. Now it’s hired longtime digital media exec Evan Krauss as President to help with that.
posted 5 hours agoYC-Backed Filepicker.io Rebrands As Ink, Raises $1.8M From Andreessen Horowitz, Highland Capital & Others
Filepicker.io, the Y Combinator-backed “filesystem as a service,” is today rebranding itself as “Ink File Picker,” a name which, explains CEO Brett van Zuiden, stands for something much larger than the former, more product-focused title. In addition, the company is announcing a $1.8 million seed round of funding, led by Andreessen HorowitzHighland Capital Partners
posted 6 hours agoiZettle Takes Its Mobile Payment Service To Mexico, Its First Market Outside Of Europe, And One Step Closer To Square
iZettle, the mobile payments company that has been described as a European version of Square, is today making a move that places it one national boundary away from the U.S. mobile payment company’s own backyard: iZettle is launching its iOS and Android service in Mexico. This is the Swedish company’s first move outside of Europe, and comes in the wake of a $6.6 million funding round from the…
posted 6 hours agoMinuum, The Super Simple Software Keyboard, Launches Android Beta Today
Toronto-based Whirlscape attracted plenty of attention when it first debuted its innovative Minuum software keyboard, and sought funding for the project on Indiegogo. Now, the project is moving forward with the launch of the Minuum keyboard beta app for Android, which will give Indiegogo supporters their first chance to actually play with the tech and see what it is they’ve helped pay for.
posted 7 hours agoposted 7 hours ago, which is essentially just a destination website designed to tout Netflix’s family fare. The site includes rows of Netflix recommendations for parents and kids, as well as tips on how to stream and other promotional content.
posted 7 hours agoposted 7 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 11 hours ago
Darby Smart — Received $1M in Seed funding from Novel TMT VenturesMaveronVivi Nevo, Dave GilboaForerunner VenturesDarby Smart — Received $1M in Seed funding from Novel TMT Ventures, Maveron, Vivi Nevo, Dave GilboaForerunner VenturesInk File Picker — Received $1.8M in Seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Highland Capital PartnersView Inc. , , and GE CapitalEndeavor Energy — Received $100M in Unattributed funding from Denham Capital -
18 Jun ' 07:20
posted 18 mins agoObvious-Backed Lift Brings Its Smart Goal-Tracking And Self Improvement App To The Browser And Mobile Web
Back in August, Lift launched the first rendition of its snappy-looking iPhone app that aims to help people build healthy habits and achieve their goals. Initially incubated and seed funded by Obvious Corp., the hybrid accelerator and seed vehicle created by Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone and early Twitter VP Jason Goldman, the startup added $2.5 million from Spark Capital, SV Angel…
posted 19 mins agoMaveron-Backed DarbySmart Launches DIY Crafting Marketplace For Fashion Accessories And More
While Pinterest has become a go-to destination for crafting ideas for accessories, parties, home design and more; the pinning giant (and Pinners) doesn’t provide the instructions on how to actually make these creations. Enter DarbySmart, a do-it-yourself crafting startup that is working with top Pinterest designers of DIY accessories, fashion and home items to Kit, market and sell their projects…
posted 29 mins agoReminder: TechCrunch Is Hitting The Balkans In Less Than A Month
Dobro utro, zdravo, and pozdravi, friends! In an effort to spread the good word about TC to the rest of Europe, I will be rolling through Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb, and Ljubljana at the beginning of July for a series of informal meet-ups. If you’re in those cities, I want you to attend!
posted 31 mins agoBattle For Family’s Streaming Dollars Heats Up Between Netflix & Amazon, With Netflix Families Debut & Kindle FreeTime Expansion
Following a bit of backlash arising from the loss of popular Viacom-owned children’s TV shows, Netflix today launched Netflix Families, which is essentially just a destination website designed to promote Netflix’s family fare. The site includes rows of Netflix recommendations for parents and kids, as well as tips on how to stream and other promotional content.
posted 41 mins agoThe Mini HTC One Will Be Called The HTC One Mini
There’s plenty of information swirling about the HTC One Mini thus far, especially considering it’s not an officially announced handset by any means. Still, we’ve seen pictures, learned about rumored specs, and today it would appear that we’re one step closer to confirmation.
The folks at TNW spotted a User Agent Profile that was published to a website owned by HTC, the Taiwanese
posted 42 mins agoGoji Is A Smart Lock For Your Home That Has Nothing To Do With Berries
Welcome to the era of the round, shiny in-home automation system. While Nest led the charge early on, a new device, called Goji, is taking up the mantle. The Goji is an automatic deadbolt that looks like HAL 2000′s eye and can take pictures of folks who come to your door and allows you to lock – and unlock – your door anywhere in the world.
posted 45 mins agoSunnyBot Is A Solar-Powered Robot That Tracks The Sun To Reflect Sunlight Wherever You Want It
Here’s a neat greentech idea currently seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter. SunnyBot is a microcomputer-powered robot that continually tracks the position of the sun, angling its on-board mirror so that it keeps reflecting the sun’s rays onto a fixed point of your choice. The basic idea being to harness solar energy for use as an indoor light-source when rooms might otherwise be in shade.
posted 53 mins agoZuckerberg And Samsung Meet, Raising Questions About Facebook’s Future Mobile Plans
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Samsung President Shin Jong Kyun this week to discuss how the two companies might work together to help Facebook reap more revenue from advertising sales targeted at mobile devices, according to Bloomberg. Kyun and Zuckerberg talked about possible partnerships between the two companies at a meeting at Samsung’s Seoul headquarters, which is especially…
FiftyThree, Maker Of Drawing App Paper, Raises $15 Million From Andreessen Horowitz And Others
FiftyThree, the startup behind the wildly popular drawing app Paper, has closed a Series A round of financing from Andreessen Horowitz, we’ve learned. The investment was led by Chris Dixon, and could help the company to expand with new products for its iPad fan base.
posted 1 hour agoNic Brisbourne Leaves DFJ Esprit To Help Forward Investment Partners “Double-Down” On VC Activity
There’s some interesting news coming out of London today in the form of VC musical chairs. DFJ Esprit, the European VC firm that is also part of Silicon Valley’s DFJ Global Network, has announced that Associate Scott Sage has been promoted to full VC Partner. However, that isn’t the big story. In events that seem somewhat related, TechCrunch has learned that long-standing DFJ Esprit Partner Nic…
posted 2 hours agoYandex Takes Another Swipe At Google In Russia, Launches Yandex.Browser On iOS And Android
Yandex, referred to as the “Google of Russia” for its dominance in search and subsequent extension into cloud-based services like maps, online storage and apps, today is unveiling another service that will give it a stronger foothold in the fast-growing mobile market: it is debuting a dedicated mobile browser, which will feature a single box for URLs and searches, voice recognition features and…
posted 3 hours agoTesla Battery Swapping Tech For Long Trips Without Charging Stops To Be Demoed June 20
Elon Musk took to Twitter early this morning (via Verge) to promote an event coming this Thursday that promises to show off new tech that allows quick swapping of Tesla battery packs for extended trips, without requiring a Supercharger stop. The move would make a Tesla Model S roadster as easy to fuel up as a gas-powered car, if not easier, getting rid of the need for extended period charging…
posted 4 hours agoFilipino Gift-remittance Startup Ayannah Gets $1M Angel Round
Ayannah, a gift-remittance startup in the Philippines, just received $1 million in its first angel round. The company’s service is called Sendah, and allows Filipinos working overseas to pay for products and services back home for their families through Sendah’s site. Sendah has a number of benefits over plain cash remittance. The company has worked out a number of discount deals with…
posted 5 hours agoWorried Who’s Watching Your Web Browsing? Adafruit’s Onion Pi Tor Proxy Project Creates A Private, Portable Wi-Fi Access Point
Adafruit Industries has put together a weekend project for people worried the NSA is watching how many reruns of Seinfeld they watch on their tablet. The Onion Pi Tor Proxy is a weekend project that uses the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, along with a USB WiFi adapter and Ethernet cable to create “a small, low-power and portable privacy Pi”.
posted 5 hours agoAd Giant WPP Leads $4.4M Round In Muzy, A Mobile Microblogging Startup With 20M Users
Advertising giant WPP is taking another step into the world of startup investments, this time specifically in mobile and social media. WPP Ventures, a new investment arm of WPP Digital, today announced a stake in Muzy, a social media platform that presents its content arranged in a Pinterest-style grid layout. The site, in some regards, has flown under the radar, but it has some 20 million users…
posted 7 hours agoFear And Loathing Of Silicon Valley
Welcome to the Summer of 2013. Welcome to the summer when you’re not quite sure which of your Internet activities are being tracked. When you want to start Snapchatting everyone because at least then data “disappears.” Except when it doesn’t
posted 7 hours agoIf there’s one striking thing about those PRISM slides, other than their hideous aesthetics, it’s that Apple’s allocated yellow oval, instead of a date, has the words “(added Oct 2012)” underneath it. That difference is most striking when you consider the fact that Apple competitor Microsoft cooperated with the government a full five years earlier.
San Francisco
Rockwell Medical — Received $20M in Debt funding from Hercules Technology Growth Capital6.18.2013Rockwell Medical — Received $20M in Debt funding from Hercules Technology Growth Capital6.18.20136.18.20136.18.2013Vitals (vitals.com) — Received $22M in Series C funding6.18.20136.18.20136.18.20136.18.20136.18.20136.18.2013— Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:ONTX.- Goji Is A Smart Lock For Your Home That Has Nothing To Do With Berries
- SunnyBot Is A Solar-Powered Robot That Tracks The Sun To Reflect Sunlight Wherever You Want It
- Zuckerberg And Samsung Meet, Raising Questions About Facebook’s Future Mobile Plans
- Worried Who’s Watching Your Web Browsing? Adafruit’s Onion Pi Tor Proxy Project Creates A Private, Portable Wi-Fi Access Point
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18 Jun ' 01:18
posted 47 mins agoFear And Loathing OF Silicon Valley
Welcome to the Summer of 2013. Welcome to the summer when you’re not quite sure which of your Internet activities are being tracked. When you want to start Snapchatting everyone because at least then data “disappears.” Except when it doesn’t. This is the summer when, despite the machinations being clearly reported last year and even over a decade ago, revelations of the…
MyFitnessPal Makes International Push With Versions In French, German, Spanish, And Portuguese
Popular exercise- and nutrition-tracking service MyFitnessPal is making its first significant effort to reach an international audience.
Co-founder Mike Lee said that MyFitnessPal now has “well north of” 40 million registered users. That already includes users in other countries: “In absolute numbers it’s large, but … it’s just a small percentage of our total userbase.” So Lee argued that…
posted yesterdayYahoo! Discloses Number Of Data Requests From U.S. Law Agencies, Says It Will Issue “Transparency Report” Soon
Yahoo! is now the latest tech company to disclose the number of government requests for data it has received over the past 18 months, prompted by the fallout from the NSA spying scandal.
In a statement co-signed by CEO Marissa Mayer and Yahoo! general counsel Ron Bell, the company said that Yahoo! received 12,000 to 13,000 requests from FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and U.S. law…
posted yesterdayAccel Closes $100M For Big Data Fund 2 To Invest In The ‘Second Wave’ Of Big Data Startups
The tech industry has been buzzing about “big data” for years now. And according to venture capital firm Accel Partners, the excitement around the big data space is not set to die down any time soon — it’s just about to enter into a new phase.
Accel is announcing tonight that it has closed on $100 million for a new investment fund called Big Data Fund 2. The fund is the same size as Accel’s…
posted yesterdayYahoo! Reportedly Offers $30M to $40M For Social Email Startup Xobni
Yahoo is offering to purchase social email startup Xobni for $30 million to $40 million, according to AllThingsD’s sources. If the deal goes through, Xobni would be the latest acquisition by Yahoo as CEO Marissa Meyer seeks to boost the company’s talent roster and product offerings.
posted yesterdayYahoo! Becomes Exclusive Partner Of 49ers Online Content
I get as excited as anyone thinking about the upcoming 49ers season. Quite a bit has happened since we were 5 years from winning the Super Bowl. The stadium was branded with the Levi’s logo, we got Anquan Boldin from the Ravens for pretty much nothing, and Michael Crabtree suffered a hefty injury. Yahoo!, while on a purchasing spree of startups, decided to align themselves with SF’s most…
posted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayThe most famous man on the lam, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, has answered reader questions in a live Q&A on the Guardian’s blog. Snowden skyrocketed to international fame/infamy after leaking a top-secret program about monitoring Americans’ online behavior. After disappearing from his Hong Kong hideaway, Snowden resurfaced for the online Q&A. You can read the full…
posted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdayposted yesterdaySan Francisco, CA
Need — Received Seed fundingHeron Group Parexel International for $38M.6.1.2013Sinosoft Technology — Went public with stock symbol LSE:SFT.Heron Group Parexel International for $38M.6.1.2013Fera PharmaceuticalsPerrigo for $93M.Centerbeam, Inc.EarthLink for $22M.Orchard Supply HardwareLowe’s for $205M.Need — Received Seed fundingYabbly — Received $500k in Angel fundingVets First Choice — Received $6.5M in Unattributed funding from HLM Venture PartnersCasa Grande — Received $9.5M in Unattributed funding from Avenue VentureForSight VISION5 — Received $9.3M in Series B funding from Delphi VenturesSinosoft Technology — Went public with stock symbol LSE:SFT.International Automotive Components Group — Went public with stock symbol NYSE:IACG.World Point Terminals — Went public with stock symbol NYSE:WPT.Onconova Therapeutics — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:ONCOTHP.6.17.2013Noodles & Company — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:NDLS.6.17.2013- Incredipede's Linux version goes free
- Adobe releases latest Creative Cloud apps, surveys disgruntled customers about pricing
- AT&T's Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 arrives June 21st for $399, $199 with phone
- Banks brace for cyberwarfare drill Quantum Dawn 2
- Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z trailers won't cost you an arm and a leg
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17 Jun ' 19:35
posted 53 mins agoIf You Watch One Daft Punk Remix Performed By Robots (And Jack Conte) Today, Make It This One
Jack Conte, musician and founder of Patreon, has been on a tear lately with a set of unique music remixes performed by him and a group of pneumatic robots that fire off audio sequences to create some amazing music.
Why Was Apple Late To The PRISM Party?
If there’s one striking thing about those PRISM slides, other than their hideous aesthetics, it’s that Apple’s allocated yellow oval, instead of a date, has the words “(added Oct 2012)” underneath it. That difference is most striking when you consider the fact that Apple competitor Microsoft cooperated with the government a full five years earlier. The company, which…
Big Brands Are Growing More Quickly On Twitter Than Facebook (According To Optimal)
Here’s a fun comparison from Optimal, a social advertising and analytics startup: If you look at big brands on social networks, their following seems to be growing more quickly on Twitter than on Facebook.
Optimal says it looked at the data from 4,330 brands, representing a total of 3.49 billion Facebook Likes and 595 million Twitter followers. Last week, those brands added 18.5 million new…
Oculus VR Raises $16M To Build Their Crazy Virtual Reality Gaming Goggles
Following up on their massively successful $2.4M Kickstarter campagin, Oculus VR has just locked down a gigantic $16M Series A to help them build their truly amazing virtual reality goggles, the Oculus Rift.
PalTalk: It Was “Flattering” To Be Included In The PRISM Slidedeck
The eyesore of a PowerPoint deck that contractor Edward Snowden had leaked had globally recognized names: Microsoft. Google. Yahoo. Facebook. Apple. AOL. Skype. YouTube. The NSA had allegedly collaborated with all of these Internet giants to request and access data on foreign users. But then there was also PalTalk. WTF? Even Stephen Colbert ribbed them last week. “You heard right.
With $1.9M From Venrock And Others, Trumaker Wants To Bring Made-To-Measure To The Masses
When most men go out to buy a casual shirt, they think of sizing in terms of small, medium, or large. But a new startup called Trumaker wants men to start expecting more from the fit of their day to day shirts, by bringing personalized made-to-measure fitting to the world of casual men’s shirts — all at a price point that’s in line with the current offerings from mainstream men’s clothing…
In First NSA Interview, Obama Can’t Confirm If Courts Ever Rejected Spying Requests
President Obama finally took a sit-down interview on the National Security Agency scandal and we’ve pasted a partial transcript below. Disappointingly, most of it is (very) generic and defensive. But, there is one important takeaway: President Obama couldn’t answer whether oversight courts (FISA) have ever rejected a single NSA spying request. PBS’s Charlie Rose asked, pointedly…
posted 4 hours agoOnline Coupon Giant RetailMeNot (Formerly WhaleShark Media) Files For $230M IPO
Online coupon giant RetailMeNot has just filed for $230 million IPO, according to an S-1 released today.
Living In The Future With The Form Labs Form 1
“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed,” wrote William Gibson. He’s right. Luckily, the future is mostly in my attic workshop.
I’ve been lucky enough to have access to a Form 1 3D printer for the past week and have come away with a better sense of the platform, the way forward of 3D printing in general and Form 1 in particular. In short, the Form 1 is one of the…
Kristian Segerstrale, ContributorWhy Gaming Is Still A Great Bet For Investors
TechCrunch writer Kim-Mai Cutler and Benchmark Capital general partner Mitch Lasky recently wrote two insightful pieces on venture investment in games (here and here) – both expressing some degree of skepticism of venture capital models for funding game startups. I agree venture funding is not for every game startup, and certainly not every game startup makes for a great venture investment.
Win Admission To creativeLIVE’s “Secrets From Silicon Valley” Workshop
We tend to do a fair number of giveaways here on TechCrunch, but today we’re giving away something extra special: power. Well, no — it’s more like we’re giving away knowledge, but knowledge is power. So we’re giving away power. The world’s largest video education platform creativeLIVE is hosting a “Secrets from Silicon Valley” workshop later this week…
posted 7 hours agoposted 7 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 12 hours agoin how the government requests and uses information about what we do on the web and on our mobile devices, an ex-Googler and a consumer rights attorney, who have dedicated themselves to helping users remain private, have raised some funding to do this better and in more places.
San Francisco
RetailMeNot, Inc. — Went public with stock symbol SALE.6.17.20136.17.2013RetailMeNot, Inc. — Went public with stock symbol SALE.6.17.2013- Alan Wake's American Nightmare drops price to $10 on XBLA
- Panzer Dragoon creator wants to make Crimson Dragon RPG
- Crytek dips its beautiful toes into iOS waters with 'The Collectibles'
- GEAK unveils Eye and Mars smartphones with 13MP cameras, budget prices
- Oculus Rift secures $16 million in first round of investor funding
-
17 Jun ' 19:34
posted 53 mins agoIf You Watch One Daft Punk Remix Performed By Robots (And Jack Conte) Today, Make It This One
Jack Conte, musician and founder of Patreon, has been on a tear lately with a set of unique music remixes performed by him and a group of pneumatic robots that fire off audio sequences to create some amazing music.
Why Was Apple Late To The PRISM Party?
If there’s one striking thing about those PRISM slides, other than their hideous aesthetics, it’s that Apple’s allocated yellow oval, instead of a date, has the words “(added Oct 2012)” underneath it. That difference is most striking when you consider the fact that Apple competitor Microsoft cooperated with the government a full five years earlier. The company, which…
Big Brands Are Growing More Quickly On Twitter Than Facebook (According To Optimal)
Here’s a fun comparison from Optimal, a social advertising and analytics startup: If you look at big brands on social networks, their following seems to be growing more quickly on Twitter than on Facebook.
Optimal says it looked at the data from 4,330 brands, representing a total of 3.49 billion Facebook Likes and 595 million Twitter followers. Last week, those brands added 18.5 million new…
Oculus VR Raises $16M To Build Their Crazy Virtual Reality Gaming Goggles
Following up on their massively successful $2.4M Kickstarter campagin, Oculus VR has just locked down a gigantic $16M Series A to help them build their truly amazing virtual reality goggles, the Oculus Rift.
PalTalk: It Was “Flattering” To Be Included In The PRISM Slidedeck
The eyesore of a PowerPoint deck that contractor Edward Snowden had leaked had globally recognized names: Microsoft. Google. Yahoo. Facebook. Apple. AOL. Skype. YouTube. The NSA had allegedly collaborated with all of these Internet giants to request and access data on foreign users. But then there was also PalTalk. WTF? Even Stephen Colbert ribbed them last week. “You heard right.
With $1.9M From Venrock And Others, Trumaker Wants To Bring Made-To-Measure To The Masses
When most men go out to buy a casual shirt, they think of sizing in terms of small, medium, or large. But a new startup called Trumaker wants men to start expecting more from the fit of their day to day shirts, by bringing personalized made-to-measure fitting to the world of casual men’s shirts — all at a price point that’s in line with the current offerings from mainstream men’s clothing…
In First NSA Interview, Obama Can’t Confirm If Courts Ever Rejected Spying Requests
President Obama finally took a sit-down interview on the National Security Agency scandal and we’ve pasted a partial transcript below. Disappointingly, most of it is (very) generic and defensive. But, there is one important takeaway: President Obama couldn’t answer whether oversight courts (FISA) have ever rejected a single NSA spying request. PBS’s Charlie Rose asked, pointedly…
posted 4 hours agoOnline Coupon Giant RetailMeNot (Formerly WhaleShark Media) Files For $230M IPO
Online coupon giant RetailMeNot has just filed for $230 million IPO, according to an S-1 released today.
Living In The Future With The Form Labs Form 1
“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed,” wrote William Gibson. He’s right. Luckily, the future is mostly in my attic workshop.
I’ve been lucky enough to have access to a Form 1 3D printer for the past week and have come away with a better sense of the platform, the way forward of 3D printing in general and Form 1 in particular. In short, the Form 1 is one of the…
Kristian Segerstrale, ContributorWhy Gaming Is Still A Great Bet For Investors
TechCrunch writer Kim-Mai Cutler and Benchmark Capital general partner Mitch Lasky recently wrote two insightful pieces on venture investment in games (here and here) – both expressing some degree of skepticism of venture capital models for funding game startups. I agree venture funding is not for every game startup, and certainly not every game startup makes for a great venture investment.
Win Admission To creativeLIVE’s “Secrets From Silicon Valley” Workshop
We tend to do a fair number of giveaways here on TechCrunch, but today we’re giving away something extra special: power. Well, no — it’s more like we’re giving away knowledge, but knowledge is power. So we’re giving away power. The world’s largest video education platform creativeLIVE is hosting a “Secrets from Silicon Valley” workshop later this week…
posted 7 hours agoposted 7 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 12 hours agoin how the government requests and uses information about what we do on the web and on our mobile devices, an ex-Googler and a consumer rights attorney, who have dedicated themselves to helping users remain private, have raised some funding to do this better and in more places.
San Francisco
RetailMeNot, Inc. — Went public with stock symbol SALE.6.17.20136.17.2013RetailMeNot, Inc. — Went public with stock symbol SALE.6.17.2013- Alan Wake's American Nightmare drops price to $10 on XBLA
- Panzer Dragoon creator wants to make Crimson Dragon RPG
- Crytek dips its beautiful toes into iOS waters with 'The Collectibles'
- GEAK unveils Eye and Mars smartphones with 13MP cameras, budget prices
- Oculus Rift secures $16 million in first round of investor funding
-
17 Jun ' 13:05
posted 5 mins agoIndonesian Instagram-clone PicMix Gets Monetization Right From The Start
At first glance, the similarities between PicMix and Instagram are obvious. Both apps are photo sharing platforms with simple, square Polaroid-esque aesthetics, and display photos from friends in streaming feed. But while Instagram is figuring out how to monetize, Indonesian startup, PicMix seems to have nailed it from the get-go. PicMix makes it part of the core photo posting process for users to…
posted 40 mins agoGoogle Will Soon Start Selling Chromebooks At Walmart And Staples, Other Retailers Coming Soon
Google sure isn’t giving up on its Chromebook initiative, even though it’s not clear that the company’s Chrome OS-based laptops are selling all that well. Today, Google announced that it’s expanding its brick-and-mortar retail efforts for Chromebooks through partnerships with Walmart and Staples.
posted 51 mins agoApple’s201313-InchMacBookAirSweetensTheDealForOneOfTheBestAvailableComputers
The MacBook Air was the only new Apple hardware to be announced and launched at WWDC this year (besides the new AirPort Extreme), and while it isn’t a big change from the previous version, it packs some crucial improvements that really cater to the Air’s existing strengths. The 2013 Air is really Apple pushing the envelope with its ultraportable, and that has helped make one of the best computers…
CrunchBase Daily, Everything You’ll Need To Start The Day!
You know who you are. You check into CrunchBase every day, maybe a few times, just to make sure your competition has not closed that new round. If you are that guy, CrunchBase is about to make your life a little easier. Today we are launching the CrunchBase Daily, an email roundup of the latest funding data from CrunchBase. You can sign up for the CrunchBase Daily by joining our mailing list…
Squrl Updates iOS Apps To Simplify Video Discovery With Better Recommendations And Social Features
There is no shortage of apps on the market to help users find new, interesting videos to watch and enjoy. But video discovery startup Squrl still thinks there’s work to be done. The company just released a new version of its iPhone and iPad app that provides new ways to share with friends and find content that is more personally relevant to them.
posted 2 hours agoGitHub Rolling Out Major Redesign, Emphasis On Speed, Content And Interactivity
GitHub is rolling out a major redesign over the next few days with the intent of putting more emphasis on content, speed and interactivity.
A year in the making, the new redesign is meant to be optimized for how people interact with GitHub on a daily basis.
posted 2 hours agoSorry, Fashion Apps, Here Are 7 Apps Fashionistas Would Actually Use
This started out as a list titled Fashion Apps Actual Fashionistas Would Use, but in sifting through numerous style-centric apps, I realized that girls like Alexa Chung aren’t going to be using any of them. Outfit selfie services like Pose and Cloth are awesome if you’re an everyday clotheshorse looking to share your new haul — and, seriously, I’m all about the democratization of fashion…
posted 2 hours ago“Truth Is Coming, And It Cannot Be Stopped”: The Best Of Edward Snowden’s Q&A
The most famous man on the lam, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, has answered reader questions in a live Q&A on the Guardian’s blog. Snowden skyrocketed to international fame/infamy after leaking a top-secret court order about the National Security Agency’s collection of all U.S. Verizon phone records. After disappearing from his Hong Kong hideaway, Snowden resurfaced for the…
posted 2 hours agoEncrypting Your Email Works, Says NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden
In the “ask me anything” format made famous by Reddit, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden returned to the Guardian’s website this morning to answer questions from the general public as part of a live event known as “AskSnowden.”
It was a fascinating exchange, and you can see the whole thing here — and we’ll have a rundown of the full event here soon. But there was one standout bit of good news…
posted 2 hours agoNorway Cloud Service Touts NSA-Free Storage As Alternative To Dropbox, SkyDrive And Other U.S. Services
Jottacloud, a cloud storage service based in Norway, is promoting itself as a safe and secure haven, free of the NSA’s long reach that it has with services such as SkyDrive, Dropbox and iCloud.
posted 3 hours agoDigg’s Google Reader Replacement To Launch Next Week, Available To All By June 26
Digg today announced that the first public beta of its Google Reader replacement Digg Reader will launch next week and will be available to everybody by June 26th. Judging from the early screenshots the team just posted, we’re looking at a straight-up feed reader with a clean design and – at least for the time being – without any of the social media integrations the company hinted at earlier this…
This Is The Best Ad Campaign In App History
What better way for an anti-social app to get noticed than by insulting its target audience? London-based app design studio ustwo has just put up a pair of billboards in the hipster heartland of Shoreditch, East London, a stone’s throw from where its own studio is based, which brazenly proclaim: You have no friends and No one likes you.
posted 4 hours agoMicrosoft Improves Windows Phone Voice Recognition: 2X Faster, 15% More Accurate
Google may have acquired Geoffrey Hinton’s DNNresearch and is now using his technologies to power its Google+ photo search features, but the academic work Hinton did on deep neural networks (DNN) is now also helping Microsoft to improve its speech recognition systems. Microsoft today announced that it is using DNNs to double the speed of its speech recognition engine for Windows Phone while…
posted 4 hours agoPost $25M Funding, Russian Startup Ostrovok Slashes Staff To Aim For Break-Even
It was only in March that one of Russia’s hottest startups — hotels booking service Ostrovok.ru – raised $25 million in a Series B round led by billionaire investor Yuri Milner. We said at the time that this market is very capital-intensive, especially in a market like Russia. But today we learn just how difficult this might be in the mid-term. Today the company has announced on their blog…
posted 4 hours agoAutomattic Acquires iOS WordPress Client Poster To Improve Its Own Mobile Apps
Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, has acquired Poster, the popular iOS WordPress client. Its sole developer, Tom Witkin, will join the WordPress mobile team. Poster, which launched its 2.0 version in January, has already been removed from the App Store, but users who previously bought it will always be able to re-download it. Witkin also promises to continue to support it.
posted 5 hours agoSunrise Update Brings Foursquare, CrunchBase, And Google Maps Integration To The Already-Smart Calendar
Sunrise, the Google-friendly calendar app that focuses on design, may have some competition coming from iOS 7, but even with the added pressure, the Sunrise team is clearly making strides.
Today, Sunrise was updated in the App Store to add support for foursquare check-ins, CrunchBase and Google Maps, along with some design tweaks.
posted 5 hours agoMeet DotEEBubble, The Mysterious Estonian Startup Critic Who Throws Cold Water On Government-Backed Ventures
DotEEBubble is one of the most controversial startup blogs in the world and you’ve probably never heard of it. In the rah-rah world of entrepreneurs, accelerators, and incubators, it’s rare to see much talk about the problems with the government funded VC model and how the biggest players look more like scamsters than bootstrapping entrepreneurs. That’s just what this blog is – a cold, hard look…
posted 5 hours agoLumu Launches Kickstarter To Fund Its Digital Light Meter For iPhone-Owning Photographers
Last we saw Lumu Labs it was in Hardware Alley at Disrupt New York where the Slovenian startup was showing off a prototype of its digital light meter plus iPhone app — aiming to convince photographers to replace “bulky” traditional light meters with a pocketable gizmo that plugs into their iPhone. Now, Lumu Labs has just kicked off its Kickstarter campaign, aiming to raise $20,000.
posted 5 hours agoDisconnect, An Ex-Googler’s Social Enterprise/Privacy Startup, Raises $3.5M, Extends To More Browsers
As we continue to see more details brought to light in how the government requests and uses information about what we do on the web and on our mobile devices, an ex-Googler and a consumer rights attorney who have dedicated themselves to helping users remain private have raised some funding to do this better and in more places.
posted 5 hours agoiOS Platform Of Choice For Shoppers, All But Biggest Companies Focus On iOS And Android
Apple retains the top spot when it comes for uses making actual purchases on their mobile devices, according to a new Forrester report. iOS shoppers are around 30 percent more likely to make a purchase on their device, and about 15 percent more likely to do product research on their smartphones and tablets than Android users, the survey of 58,000 U.S. respondents found.
Skype Brings Free Video Messaging Out Of Preview, Redefines ‘Visual Voicemail’
Skype has just announced that the previously beta video messaging feature it’s been testing is now a proper release feature of its Skype applications for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry. Video messaging on Skype simply allows users to record a message for a contact to be viewed later, sort of like a video voicemail, instead of requiring that any real-time communication…
posted 6 hours agoSignUpNowForTheSeattleTCMeetup+Pitch-Off
In little more than a month from now, TechCrunch will host its first-ever meetup + pitch-off in Seattle. We’re stoked. Coffee, rain, more coffee, followed by more rain. It’s going to be epic.
General admission tickets are just $5. We’re also looking for title sponsors and companies who want to exhibit at a demo table. Both options are available now here
posted 6 hours agoPIP Is A Bluetooth Biosensor That Aims To Use Your Phone To Gamify Beating Stress
Irish startup Galvanic has just launched a Kickstarter to crowdsource funding a wireless stress biosensor it’s calling PIP. PIP is a Bluetooth biosensor that monitors its user’s stress levels by measuring their galvanic skin response (GSR) as they hold the PIP pinched between thumb and forefinger. GSR means skin conductance — so basically how sweaty you’re getting.
posted 8 hours agoposted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 12 hours agoBoston’s LearnLaunch Unveils First Batch, As EdTech Accelerators Continue To Proliferate
Startup accelerators have gone “niche” over the last year. Instead of simply copy and pasting the Y Combinator model ad nauseam, incubators have started to seep into verticals, tailoring their programs to particular industries. Education technology has been enjoying more attention from entrepreneurs and investors of late, and following suit, a new generation of EdTech accelerators have begun to…
posted 13 hours agoposted 13 hours agoBerlin, Germany
6.4.2013Nunebu.comSiriusTraffic.com for $17k.Disconnect — Received $3.5M in Series A funding from FirstMark Capital6.4.20136.17.20136.17.20136.17.2013 -
17 Jun ' 06:37
posted 30 mins agoWith More Than 2.5B Monthly Video Views, Fullscreen Closes Funding From Chernin Group, Comcast, And WPP
Online multichannel network Fullscreen has become the latest in a series of YouTube partners to raise funding. The company has officially closed a funding round led by The Chernin Group, which also included investment from Comcast Ventures and WPP’s investment arm, WPP Digital.
posted 1 hour agoAmazon’s Grocery Business Learns From Webvan That Rapid Growth Is The Enemy Of Fresh
Amazon is moving deeper into at-home grocery delivery with AmazonFresh, which is expanding to L.A. as of last week, and which is set to continue to roll out to further markets over the course of this year and beyond. But it learned to take things slow from Webvan, the famous home grocery delivery flare-out of the 90s, and also to limit delivery areas to only high density urban areas, and to pursue…
posted 2 hours agoSource:InstagramWillGetVideoOnJune20
We’ve been working on getting more details on a press event that Facebook is having this week. Earlier, we wrote it could launch a news-reading app, but we have since heard more details that point to something else entirely. On June 20, a source says Facebook will unveil that Instagram, its popular photo-sharing app, will begin to let people also take and share short videos. Call it the Vine…
posted 3 hours agoNetflix Keeps Driving For Original Content, Inks Largest Deal Yet For DreamWorks’ Characters
Netflix has been using original programming to power its Internet-TV business, luring viewers to flagship programming such as House of Cards. Today another development showing no let up in its strategy to use exclusive content to put clear blue water between its streaming service and rivals’: it has inked its largest original content deal yet, with DreamWorks Animation.
posted 6 hours agoposted 7 hours agoMirabilis Medica — Received $4M in Series A funding from GSR Ventures ManagementMirabilis Medica — Received $4M in Series A funding from GSR Ventures ManagementAmagi Media Labs — Received $5.5M in Series A funding from Mayfield Fund, Nadathur Investments, and Ojas Venture Partners6.17.2013Jumia — Received $35M in Series B funding from Millicom International Cellular6.17.2013Conatus Pharmaceuticals — Received $1M in fundingAcesion Pharma — Received Unattributed funding6.17.20136.17.20136.17.20136.17.20136.17.2013 -
17 Jun ' 00:55
posted 35 mins agoApple Reveals Number of Customer Data Requests From U.S. Law Agencies, Repeats Denial Of PRISM Involvement
Apple posted a press release on its site reaffirming its “commitment to customer privacy” and stating that it first heard of the Prism program when questioned by news organizations on June 6. The company also said that it received between 4,000 to 5,000 requests from U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement for customer data between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013.
posted 53 mins agoSupreme Court Ruling On Gene Patenting May Be A Boon For Biotech Startups
Buried in the ongoing PRISM debacle, there was actually some hopeful news out of Washington D.C. for startups this week. The Supreme Court ruled this week that naturally occurring genes can’t be patented, which should be a boon for the host of emerging gene testing and patenting companies that are coming out of the Valley. Silicon Valley VCs like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Felicis…
Social Web Privacy Wonk Andrew Keen Weighs In On PRISM — With More Than Just ‘I Told Ya So’ [TCTV]
Earlier this month many people were surprised to hear the revelation that a number of major web companies may have granted user data access to the U.S. government through a secret program called PRISM. But it’s fair to say that Andrew Keen was likely not exactly dying of shock as these allegations surfaced — he’s been arguing for years that the social web is not nearly as safe as…
Samsung Galaxy Owners Will Get Jay-Z’s New Album For Free 72 Hours Before Its Official Release
If you own a Samsung Galaxy and are a Jay-Z fan, then you will probably be thrilled to hear that Samsung is giving away one million copies of “Magna Carta Holy Grail” to owners of its flagship smartphone 72 hours before the album’s official debut on July 4.
Unofficial Vine App 6Sec Finally Lets Windows Phone Users Upload Their Own Micro Movies
A few people have taken up the challenge of bringing some kind of Vine support to Windows Phone, but so far all the ersatz Vine apps in the Windows Marketplace do is let people view those 6 second clips. According to WPCentral’s Daniel Rubino, developer Rudy Huyn’s 6Sec is different — the third-party Vine app crossed a major milestone with a recent update so Windows Phone 8 users (well, ones…
As Hardware Startups Take Off, Materials And Technology Marketplace Inventables Raises $3M
Chicago-based Inventables, a marketplace for technology and materials for developers and designers, has raised $3 million in new funding led by Tim Draper (via Draper Associates) with Dundee Venture Capital, Richard Yoo (founder of Rackspace), Georges Harik, and True Ventures participating. This brings Inventables’ total funding to $5 million.
Agent Smartwatch Banks On Design, Developers, Distribution To Survive Battle
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A guy walks into a watch store and… a smartwatch business partnership is formed. OK, it’s not a funny joke; in fact, it’s not a joke at all. When Secret Labs’ founder and CTO Chris Walker walked into the House of Horology store on Prince Street owned by…
Yesterday, a CNET story that alleged that the NSA disclosed during a secret Capitol Hill briefing that its analysts can listen to domestic phone calls “simply based on an analyst deciding that,” got a lot of play in the tech and political blogosphere. Today, however, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a statement that denounces this story as “incorrect.”
posted yesterdayposted yesterdayJune 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013June 15th, 2013DataRobot — Received $2.6M in funding6.17.2013Conatus Pharmaceuticals — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ :CNAT.DataRobot — Received $2.6M in fundingSalesforce — Received $78.9M in funding6.12.2013XO1 — Received $11M in Series A funding from Index Ventures6.17.20136.16.2013Ulaola — Received funding from Digital Magics6.17.20136.16.20136.16.2013Conatus Pharmaceuticals — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ :CNAT.CDW Corporation — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:CDW. -
16 Jun ' 20:02
posted 38 mins agoThanks, Dads
My father put together a Heathkit shortwave radio in his youth. The radio is still there in my childhood home. He’s still alive so this isn’t saccharine reminisces of a man who passed. Dad still sits in that room with the radio, the radio still works, his hands pound away at the Internet all day now, the radio forgotten but still as vital as the day he built it. My Dad is a little less vital, but…
posted 58 mins agoThe YouTube Paradox And The Off-YouTube Solution
A growing number of YouTube creators and multichannel networks are beginning to grumble about the revenue share that the site has with its partners and their inability to monetize their huge audience of viewers on the site. And, increasingly, they’re looking for off-YouTube solutions to better distribute and monetize their videos.
Apple Is Building A Beautiful New Store To Overshadow Microsoft In Palo Alto [Images]
Apple is building a big, visually stunning store in the Stanford shopping center. A few hundred yards from the construction site sits a small, modest Apple location. Last spring, Microsoft opened a flagship spot right next to the small Apple store with a free Maroon 5 concert.
This new flagship location offers enormous space for testing new retail products.
posted 3 hours agoU.S. Government Denies Reports That NSA Listens To Domestic Calls Without Legal Authorization
Yesterday, a CNET story that alleged that the NSA disclosed during a secret Capital Hill briefing that its analysts can listen to domestic phone calls “simply based on an analyst deciding that,” got a lot of play in the tech and political blogosphere. Today, however, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a statement that denounces this story as “incorrect.”
posted 8 hours agoposted 9 hours agoposted 10 hours agoposted 11 hours agoposted 11 hours ago -
16 Jun ' 15:18
What Games Are: E3 Was Wild, But AAA Games Are Still A Mess
E3 was wild and loud, and Sony seemed to rise while Microsoft fell low. Yet it doesn’t really change anything as regards the long-term future of big budget consoe games. With costs continuing to escalate and the break-even point passing 5,6 or 10 million copies, the next generation will be the last for some.
Speed And Automating The Connections Between Humans And Machines In The API Economy
This coming Friday night, I’ll be at the API Days conference in San Francisco to talk for a few minutes about my perspectives of the API economy. I am not a developer — just an observer — so my views are not deeply technical. That just means I have to ask more questions and talk to more people about APIs and what they represent.
But then I have to simmer it down, collect my thoughts, and…posted 4 hours agoMayor Bloomberg Tells Stanford Graduates To Go To NYC For Tech
No other university in the world has so profoundly shaped our modern age,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today in his commencement speech at Stanford University. Bloomberg’s speech was relevant to both the tech and Stanford communities, and often self serving, as he touched on entrepreneurship, immigration reform, and marriage equality.
posted 4 hours agoGoogle Pledges $5M To Fight Online Child Exploitation
The Internet has plenty of dark corners, but one of the darkest is surely the growing number of sites that traffic in child pornography. Google, which has no interest in surfacing any of these sites and images, has long worked with numerous non-profit organizations and law enforcement agencies to help protect children online and keep these sites out of its index. The company has, however, recently…
posted 5 hours agoposted 6 hours agoposted 7 hours ago
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