Hi there!
Here's the latest feed from TechCrunch.
Add feeds@feed2email.net to your contact list to make sure you receive all your emails
Make sure to visit feed2email.net to get more feeds sent to your inbox.
To find out which feeds you are subscribed to, or to get further help, just reply to this email.
Twitter Testing A New "People" Tab: All Your Social Graph Steroids In One Place
Nov 19, 4:43AM
Since the launch of New Twitter in September, things have been pretty quiet on the new feature front. Yes, they're testing out a new analytics product, but in terms of features that the majority of end users will use, Twitter has mainly been letting people get used to the new layout of things. But now they've started testing something new. A new top nav tab called "People". The area, which Twitter has confirmed their testing among a limited number of users, is basically a way to pull together all of the work they've done with features like "Who to follow" and "Similar to". This new area, which resides to the right of the Messages tab, is all about finding new users to follow.
YC-Funded Fabricly Is A Threadless For High Fashion, And It Just Raised $400K
Nov 19, 3:56AM
I can't say I know a whole lot about fashion. But, having accidentally walked into a few boutiques over the years, I've gathered one thing: it's expensive. And I'm told it's also a very competitive market — designers vie to have their products manufactured by clothiers, who in turn have the question of whether consumers will actually buy their products looming large. These clothing companies do have outlets like Gilt Groupe in case they wind up with excess inventory, but there's always significant risk involved whenever a new item is produced. Now Y Combinator-funded startup Fabricly wants to reverse and improve the model, by crowdsourcing designs and using a voting process to only manufacture pieces that people actually want, all while saving customers a bundle. The company also has some funding news to announce: it's recently raised a seed round of $400,000 from Atomico Ventures. 
Sarah Palin's Kids: The Complete Lack of Online Self-Control Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree
Nov 19, 2:51AM
Oh, the crazy Palins. If it isn't crazy Sarah, it's crazy Todd. And if it isn't crazy Todd, it's their crazy, dysfunctional kids. And so it was this week when Willow and Bristol Palin took to a teenager's Facebook wall to protest his review of their mom's TV show, "At Home With The Palins". Of course, it's only right and proper that kids want to defend their mother even if, as is frequently the case with Palin, her words are generally indefensible (hell even Elizabeth Báthory probably got a mothers' day card). But unfortunately, the language used in the Palin kids' rebuke to the claim that "Sarah Palin's Alaska, is failing so hard right now" was somewhat - shall we say - unfortunate. "Haha your so gay," posted Willow in response to the kid (identified only as 'Tre') "I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting ... My sister had a kid and is still hot." For clarification, she added... "Tre stfu. Your such a faggot."
Scribd Stats: A 'Google Analytics For Documents'
Nov 19, 1:06AM
Document sharing hub Scribd has just announced a new feature that will allow publishers on the site to more accurately measure how their content is performing. Dubbed Scribd Stats, they're likening it to a 'Google Analytics for Documents', and it's an apt description — the product looks quite similar to Google's popular web analytics product, but it's obviously been tweaked to suit the documents, presentations, and other files that have been uploaded to Scribd. CEO Trip Adler says that until now, publishers haven't really taken advantage of the features that the web affords — they might know how many hits a given document has received, but there's much more data waiting to be unlocked. That's where Scribd Stats comes in. After logging in, you'll see an overview charting your overall document popularity (your aggregate read count, the number of times embedded versions of your docs have been read, etc.). You can also see this broken down on a per-document basis. Graphs look similar to Google Analytics, allowing you to quickly adjust the date range.
Photo Sharing Is The Next Evolution Of Social (TCTV)
Nov 19, 12:14AM
While photo sharing has always existed as a function on social networks, it seems like we've seen a huge explosion in the past couple of months with apps like Instagram, Picplz, Path and DailyBooth all making huge debut splashes and/or scaling fast. DailyBooth CEO Brian Pokorny holds that the sudden focus on photo sharing can be traced to three things 1) An increase in quality of cameras on mobile devices. 2) Ease of in-app photo consumption. 3) A 3G Internet Broadband connection that allows for photo uploading. 
Wanna Watch TV? Don't Cut The Cord, Get Cable
Nov 18, 10:52PM
Google TV is a mess. Apple TV is a joke. Using a Roku is about as exciting as cleaning my gutters. I like the Boxee Box, but my wife doesn't understand why; she doesn't get it and that says something. Downloading torrents or NZBs is time consuming and only a small portion of the population actually has the know-how and hardware to do it. Sorry. Cord cutting is a lost cause. Listen, I'm all for canceling Comcast and joining the ranks of the cord cutters. I hate Comcast so much. If Comcast had a large, fluffy mascot, I would punch it in the face. That's saying something if you know me. But the fact remains that there is simply no way to replicate Comcast's or any other cable provider's service right now. If you want to watch TV, you have to pay for it — but you can still complain along the way. Cable is damn expensive and so through various media streamers, game systems, and services, I've tried just about everything to replace it, but nothing gives you the same experience and service as *shock* cable -- or satellite -- TV.
Interview With Matt Galligan: What Does SimpleGeo Do? (TCTV)
Nov 18, 9:55PM
We cornered SimpleGeo founder Matt Galligan yesterday and talked to him about SimpleGeo's newest hire, Mike's infamous "What Is It You Do? The Need For Simplicity" post (which focused on the fact that it's difficult to pinpoint what SimpleGeo actually does) and the difference between a location-based service vs. a location-aware service. At the center of the geo-locational explosion, SimpleGeo provides infrastructure tools (like a Software Developer Kit) to developers who want to add location services to their apps. 
Wilson Vs. Doerr. Bubble Vs. Boom. East Vs. West. Android Vs. iPhone. Facebook Vs. The Web (VIDEO)
Nov 18, 9:51PM
With Web 2.0 Summit now over, looking back, in my mind, easily the best panel was the one entitled Point of Control: Finance. It featured venture capitalists John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins) and Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures) talking with New York Magazine's John Heilemann about the state of both investing and the state of the web ecosystem at large. What made it so interesting is that Wilson and Doerr clearly don't agree on many of the big issues. This was best exemplified during the portion of the talk when the two give their views on where we are now. While Wilson worries that we may be in the midst of the next "bubble", Doerr thinks of it as a "boom". They're both talking about the same thing, they just view it completely different ways.
Meebo's Sternberg: The "Widget Economy" Was a Big, Fat Lie (TCTV)
Nov 18, 9:23PM
"Meebo did widgets super early. Guess what we learned? Don't build stuff that sits in a box." Better than a box? A bar. No, not one with hotties and booze-- a toolbar. In part two of our interview with Meebo's co-founder and CEO Seth Sternberg, we talk about the value of reach online-- given the gargantuan reach companies can get on platforms like Facebook in no time. Like a diamond, if everyone can get it, it's no longer as valuable. Sternberg pokes a big hole into one of the hottest storylines of the early Web 2.0 days-- that you could build a big business off of widgets.
Yahoo Connected TV Expands Platform To Paid Apps; Will Launch Store In 2011
Nov 18, 9:00PM
The Yahoo Connected TV service, which provides widgets and apps on TVs, is expanding its developer program today. Originally launched earlier this year, Yahoo's API that allows developers to build app for connected TVs is now providing developers the opportunity to create Paid TV Widgets to be featured in the Yahoo Connected TV Store expected to launch in the Spring of 2011. The Yahoo Connected TV service allows users to access more than 80 Yahoo TV Widgets, including those for Twitter, Pandora, eBay, CBS, and USA Today, and thousands of content sources. 
Interview With Mark Zuckerberg At Web 2.0 Summit (VIDEO)
Nov 18, 8:35PM
This is seriously the best Mark Zuckerberg interview I've ever seen. Fresh off of the announcement of Facebook Messages (yes, that's what the product is called) Zuckerberg took the stage at Web 2.0 Summit to talk about the state of Facebook. Zuckerberg went into the recent scuffles with Google, how soon every major product will be rethought to be social, why Facebook's been on a recent acquisition tear and more. 
Mozilla: $104 Million In Revenues, 400 Million Users, Google Deal Running Through 2011
Nov 18, 7:53PM
Mozilla has just published their annual "The State of Mozilla" report. They do this once they've filed their audited financial statements for the previous year, so these numbers are for 2009. Still, they're impressive numbers given how much competition their is in the market — particularly from their biggest benefactor: Google. For 2009, Mozilla reported revenues of $104 million. That was up 34 percent from 2008 when revenues were $78 million. Notably, that revenue number includes a $104,000 loss from long-term investments, but that's a huge improvement from 2008 when the same loss was $7.8 million. So where does Mozilla make most of this money from? Firefox, of course, thanks largely to their search deal with Google. In the FAQ section of the report, Mozilla addresses this:
Interview With Twitter's Evan Williams At Web 2.0 Summit (VIDEO)
Nov 18, 7:32PM
In case you missed it, here's the video of yesterday's Web 2.0 Summit interview with Evan Williams on Twitter's relationship with Facebook, developers and the Twitter firehose, #newtwitter, the million ways Twitter will make eventually make money and Williams' recently stepping down as a CEO. "It's kind of a sucky job," he said. 
Yet Another Hot Startup Leaves A Gaping Security Hole In Its iPhone App
Nov 18, 7:24PM
It's no secret that most people are remarkably lax when it comes to online security. They'll reuse the same password everywhere, and will connect to open Wi-Fi hotspots without a second thought as to who might be sniffing their traffic (Firesheep, anyone?). Which makes it all the more frustrating when startups launch their products without industry-standard security features that help keep consumers a little safer. The most recent offender is Instagram, the hot photo sharing app that managed to get hundreds of thousands of users in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately the app sends its passwords in plaintext, and it's doubly bad because it also asks for your Tumblr and Foursquare credentials, which are also sent in the clear.
Jimmy Wales: "If I Had Some Information, The Last Thing I Would Do Is Send It To Wikileaks"
Nov 18, 7:14PM
There is definitely some bad blood between Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Wikileaks, the controversial organization which posted thousands of pages of classified Iraqi War documents. On the Charlie Rose Show last night, towards the end of his interview, Wales says, "If I had some information, the last thing I would ever do with it is send it to Wiikileaks." He prefaced that remark by noting that he has "mixed feelings about Wikileaks." People with information about wrongdoing in open societies should have the opportunity to make that information public. " I think they should be slower in releasing things," he says. His concern is the way that Wikileaks chose to do that without regard for the safety of people "who are not the wrongdoers." 
Google's Nifty Guide To Web Technology; It's iBooks-Like But Built With HTML5
Nov 18, 7:11PM
In what they're calling a throwback to the original comic book they released to announce the launch of Chrome, Google has today unveiled a new site meant to educate users about browsers and the web. 20 Things I Learned About Browsers & The Web is actually an interactive web app meant to look like a children's book. And while the book's content is all about web technology, the interactive book itself shows off some of that technology as it's built entirely in HTML5. And it's very slick. In fact, it looks a lot like an Apple iBook — the book platform that Apple created for the iPad. It has a nice and clickable table of contents, a quick-jump area along the bottom, and if you hover over the corner of a page, it will even curl (clicking on the curl will turn the page). But again, all of this is done with HTML5.
Plastic Jungle Raises $10 million For Gift Card Marketplace
Nov 18, 7:06PM
Plastic Jungle, a marketplace for gift cards, has just raised $10 million in new funding led by Jafco Ventures with Redpoint Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Bay Partners, and First Round Capital participating. This brings the startup's total funding to over $23 million. Plastic Jungle lets you buy, sell and exchange gift cards online. Instead of receiving cash for your gift card, Plastic Jungle also lets you trade the value in for an Amazon gift card or give your money to charity. Users can receive cash for unwanted gift cards for up to 92% of the unused balance and buy gift cards at up to a 30% discount.
Hell Freezes Over As MySpace Fully Surrenders To Facebook
Nov 18, 6:47PM
t was just a couple of years ago that MySpace wasn't all that concerned about the fast growing Facebook. Fast forward two years and a handful of CEO changes, and everything has changed. Last summer MySpace found a way to get MySpace status updates into Facebook. And today at noon at a special press event that everyone was invited to except us, they'll announce more integrations. And it's ok that we weren't invited, because we now know exactly what they're announcing. The event is less of a partnership announcement and more of a formal surrender ceremony.
Expedia Acquires FlightTrack App Developer Mobiata
Nov 18, 6:37PM
Expedia has just announced that it has acquired developer Mobiata, the creator of popular mobile travel application FlightTrack. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mobiata creates a number of travel mobile applications including FlightTrack, TripDeck, HotelPal FlightBoard and FareCompare. FlightTrack is the developer's most popular app and lets you check flight status, access information about delays or reschedules, locate your flight's gates, and see real-time tracking maps of flights. FlightTrack is currently a best selling iPhone travel app in the App Store. A Pro Version of FlightTrack is also integrated into TripIt Pro. We're not sure if that relationship will continue post-acquisition.
Expensify Debuts New Version Of Hassle-Free Expense Report System
Nov 18, 5:23PM
Expensify, the startup helps take the endless headaches out of expense reports, is launching a new version of its platform today. What makes Expensify so easy is that it can pull in your transaction records and automatically categorize them. All you need to do is register your credit cards with the platform, and the site will automatically import E-receipts. You can also take a photo of paper receipts and import it. Once your transactions are in the system, you can tag expenses and then submit the expense report to your business's bookkeeper for reimbursement.
Yakaz launches real-time social classified ads in 50 languages
Nov 18, 5:19PM
Pretty much everything is going social these days and getting a kick of real-time - whether it's for discovering music via Playlistnow or following stocks via StockTwits, etc. Everyone's adding a social layer to their existing platforms and integrating some forms of real-time services- and one of the latest to go this route is Yakaz, who has just announced that its launching real-time social classified ads. The new platform of the Paris-based company is in many ways not that different from Facebook's MarketPlace - even visually, the interface looks a bit like a Craigslist-meets-your-Facebook homepage, chat included. The minute you see an ad for something you're interested in, you can immediately contact the seller online and proceed with the purchase.
Keeping The Lovefest Going, Verizon Agrees To Put Google TV Ads On FIOS
Nov 18, 5:14PM
Google and Verizon are best buds. Verizon Wireless is the largest Android carrier, and the two companies even joined forces to come up with joint government policy proposals in the Net Neutrality Wars. Today, Verizon is giving Google a boost by signing up its 3.3 million Verizon FIOS TV subscribers for Google TV Ads. The Google ads will appear on live TV across 50 channels, including AMC, ESPN, and Fox News. 
Google Turns Dozens Of Its Consumer Products Into Enterprise Apps
Nov 18, 4:59PM
Earlier this year, Google announced that it would be rolling out Apps interactivity with iGoogle, YouTube, Blogger, Picasa, and other products in the Google family. Today the search giant is making over 60 of its homegrown products available for a deep integration for all types of Google Apps accounts. Services like Google Voice, Reader, Analytics and AdWords will now be available on Google Apps accounts. The apps can be accessed through a new interface in administrative control panel for new customers. Existing customers can transition to the new interface at their own pace but Google says it will automatically shift all App customers over to the new control panel early next year.
A Random Assortment Of Kinect Injury Fail Videos
Nov 18, 4:47PM
You knew these were coming, right? You knew that people were going to hurt themselves playing the Kinect and then instantly upload a video of it to YouTube. It's the way of the world, really. Compensation for embarrassment through social means. Ah, well. Got to love the Internet. Click through for a collection of the best Kinect injury fail videos so far. The first one made the rounds last week and turned into an instant classic, but the rest are fresh. The tubes aren't filled with these just yet, but that will likely change post-Christmas morning with videos of Grandpa breaking his hip and little Suzy face planting into the fireplace. At least that's what I hope to see.
Wikinvest Brings $16 Billion In Portfolio-Tracking To Android And Blackberry
Nov 18, 4:23PM
Charles Schwab doesn't have an Android app, a Blackberry app, or even an iPhone app. Many brokerages are in the same boat, or if they do have a mobile app it is only on the iPhone. Starting later today, brokerage customers of Schwab, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and more than 60 other brokerages will be able to track their portfolios on new mobile Android and Blackberry apps from Wikinvest. Directions for downloading the mobile apps can be found here. While about half of the brokerages Wikinvest suports have iPhone apps, only about 20 percent have Android or Blackberry apps. There are so many mobile app platforms that it is difficult for the brokerages to support them all. Wikinvest hopes to fill that gap with these apps.
If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
To stop all future emails from feed2email.net you can reply to this email with STOP in the subject line. Thanks
