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GM And Powermat Find Love In Vegas, Announces A $5 Million Deal That Puts Powermats In Cars
Jan 06, 5:33AM
GM and Powermat took the CES platform to announce a major partnership. Starting with several GM 2012 vehicles, Powermat's inductive charging pads will be integrated directly into the vehicles, allowing for a quick and seamless charging solution. The auto maker is investing $5 million into Powermat to accelerate the development cycle. The exact details aren't addressed in the press release so it's not exactly clear how or where the Powermat will work. Hopefully somewhere in this massive CES 2011 mess, we can find a demo or an executive to shed a bit more light on the plans. Most of the deets should be worked out. The first car to get this charging solution will be the 2012 Chevy Volt later this year. 
Netflix Streaming Is The Gateway Drug To Internet TV
Jan 06, 5:09AM
Nobody likes cable TV, although we all pay exorbitant sums for it to be piped into our homes. That is why the idea of being able to cut that cord (and related bill) and replace it with a variety of streaming video services from the Internet is so appealing. So far, however, you can't quite yet replace what you watch on cable with Internet TV. But that day will one day come, and the gateway drug to cord cutting and embracing Internet TV is Netflix streaming. In a presentation put together by J.P. Morgan's Internet analyst Imran Khan (which also goes into ecommerce and ebook trends) is the slide above, which shows the results of a consumer survey titled "Netflix Watch Instantly subscribers are more likely to consider dropping their cabe packages." Of those surveyed who stream one to two movies and TV shows a month from Netflix, 47 percent would "consider dropping pay TV," compared to only 33 percent of non-Netflix subscribers.
Microsoft Extends 360 With Avatar Kinect, Netflix Streaming And Hulu Plus With Kinect
Jan 06, 3:55AM
The 360 is turning into more of an all-purpose living room machine, and the Kinect is blowing up. That's the takeaway from the Ballmer keynote here at CES. They've sold a huge amount of Kinect — 8 million, far more than the 5 million they predicted, and which we were all skeptical of. But it's a surprise hit and I think that's indicative of both its unique appeal (even the haters have to admit it's unique) and the growing importance of a powerful box in the living room. Avatar Kinect? I'm not buying it. But I'm not the target audience. I'd rather have it for the hands-free media control. Either way, though, it's more stuff the 360 can do, and the central hub for media, games, and communication is obviously becoming a popular and contentious product category.
Hands-On With Olympus' Brand New E-PL2 Camera, 2011 Line-Up
Jan 06, 3:06AM
We had an inkling that the Olympus E-PL2 would launch this week and we weren't disappointed. The new model is a little light on spec changes but under the hood you have a larger, brighter screen, improved ISO up to 6400, and new layered effects for adding multiple effects at the same time. The new kit, priced at about $600, comes with a m14-42mm. The new camera supports the new PenPal Bluetooth, a $60 device that allows you to send HD images from your camera to any mobile device (except the iPhone, at least for now). The new lenses are movie/still compatible, a feature that considerably reduces lens noise when recording video. Read more... 
Quora Signups Exploded In Late December — Then Doubled From That This Week
Jan 06, 2:57AM
So this service Quora, it's getting pretty hot. But up until now, we've only be able to guestimate how hot it actually is. But today they've finally shared some actual information — on Quora, naturally. Specifically, Quora engineer Albert Sheu has put up a long answer to the question: Why did the Quora website get so slow at the end of December 2010? The reason Sheu gives includes a brief explanation of how the service works. When someone adds an answer or updates one, everyone else on that page sees the new information in realtime. That's obviously not easy to scale, and Sheu says they've never tested it beyond 2 to 3 times their normal load. That was an issue at the end of December because they started seeing spikes of 5 to 10 times their normal activity.
Things about the Endless Facebook Speculation that Have to Be Said
Jan 06, 2:03AM
I've avoided writing something about the Goldman Sachs- Facebook deal, because God knows the rest of the blogosphere has been doing enough speculation for the entire world. But four things I've read in the last 24-hours need a serious rebuttal. 
Report: Facebook Revenue Was $777 Million In 2009, Net Income $200 Million
Jan 06, 1:56AM
DST and Goldman Sachs' $500 million investment in Facebook has obviously stirred up the tech and financial journalism pot and all sorts of amazing information is now coming to light regarding the company's financials. On this note the WSJ is reporting that Goldman is offering investors a Facebook "snapshot" which outlines site traffic, ad statistics and other analytics. Additional details about 2009 revenue were also revealed during the Goldman solicitation process. From the WSJ: "According to people familiar with the document, Facebook had net income of $200 million in 2009 on revenue of $777 million. Figures for 2010 weren't disclosed, but analysts have said the company's revenue last year could be as much as $2 billion, fueled by advertising growth."
CES Unveiled: In Videos
Jan 06, 1:51AM
Last night we were streaming live from the CES Unveiled press pre-show event, but of course, not everyone can be watching a live stream during the rush hour on a workday, so we've collected a bunch of the videos we took there and put them in one big post for you — to whet your appetite for our live coverage tonight of Pepcom, another big press event, starting at 7. There was some interesting tech at Unveiled, but it's really about experiencing the lunacy that is every CES press event. Tortellini, drinks, booth jostling, and crowd noise are all I remember. Caution: lots of video windows inside. RAM use may skyrocket.
Zynga To Acquire Flock, The Social Browser That You Never Used
Jan 06, 1:29AM
Zynga is acquiring Flock, a beleaguered startup founded in 2005 by Bart Decrem and Geoffrey Arone, we've confirmed. The deal should be announced shortly. The company has raised nearly $30 million in venture capital, although the last round was closed in 2008. We do not know the terms of the acquisition. Both Google and Twitter were also bidding for Flock, we've heard from one source - perhaps to get Flock's engineering talent, which is very highly regarded. Flock first launched it's social browser in 2005, and we wrote about it in August of that year. At the time, prior to Twitter and the rise of Facebook, "social" meant writing blogs and social bookmarking, and not much else. Flock was not a hit. 
Confirmed: Tweetie 2 (Twitter) for Mac Is Coming!
Jan 06, 1:28AM
About an hour ago, we wrote up the hot rumor that Tweetie 2 for Mac would be launching alongside the Mac App Store tomorrow morning. The source of that information was a site called Razorianfly which posted an image they received of the product, which is being renamed "Twitter for Mac". We can now confirm that the screenshot is very real, we've heard from a reliable source. Further, we noted that Twitter was being unusually quiet about the image/news — they won't respond to any inquiries about it! Well, there's a good reason for that too. We've heard that the shot was actually leaked by someone within Apple and there's currently a hunt underway to figure out who it was. That means Apple likely has both companies on lockdown. They are not happy.
Google Officially Posts Android 3.0 Sneak Peak, Touts "Holographic" UI
Jan 06, 1:07AM
If you were on the Internet today, you undoubtedly saw that Google accidentally posted an overview video of Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" on YouTube earlier — then quickly pulled it. Before they did, we were able to record it and grab all the key screenshot of the Tron-like overview. Now Google has officially reposted the video, as well as a brief overview of Android 3.0 on their mobile blog. Google was clearly waiting for the OS to be previewed at CES in Las Vegas. Now that it has, here's what they have to say:
Yammer Proclaims The Death Of Old Media Through Old Media
Jan 06, 12:41AM
You know how obsessed we are with billboards here at TechCrunch Aol, so imagine my joy this morning when I drove into work this morning (at 8am as always) and saw this awesome piece of artillery right in front of my office. Yeah, our officemate Yammer has decided to wedge a billboard-sized nail in the coffin of old media (i.e. "one-way communication") which conspicuously includes print magazines, newspapers and eh hem, billboards. Says Yammer marketing designer Aria Shen, "Simply put, we wanted to make a statement about the new paradigm of how people and organizations communicate, and figured what better way to do that than to use the oldest mode of paid media."
Tweetie 2 Coming With The Mac App Store Tomorrow? Mum's The Word From Twitter
Jan 06, 12:28AM
This afternoon, a site called Razorianfly posted a very interesting tidbit of information along with a purported screenshot to back it up. According to the site, Tweetie 2.0 for Mac is launching tomorrow alongside the Mac App Store. If true, this is big news for Mac users who have long feared that the beloved app had been left for dead since Twitter acquired Tweetie and its developer, Loren Brichter, back in April of last year. That acquisition included both the iPhone and Mac versions of the software. But while Tweetie for iPhone was relatively quickly turned into Twitter for iPhone, Tweetie for Mac has only seen minimal bug fixes. Meanwhile, Brichter was hard at work on Twitter for iPad.
Zynga Hires Fourth Ex-MySpace Exec
Jan 05, 10:40PM
The MySpace talent exodus continues, and Zynga seems to be taking more than its share. In 2010 they hired Dani Dudeck, formerly a MySpace VP, to run the communications team. Soon after former MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta joined Zynga as an EVP. Now, we've learned from multiple sources, they're hired two more. Katie Geminder, a level 51 Cityville player and formerly head of product at Facebook and SVP of User Experience and Design at MySpace, joined Zynga late last year. And Christina Wodtke, GM of social at MySpace, has resigned and will start at Zynga in the next week or so.
Official Google Video Preview Of Android 3.0 Spied Briefly
Jan 05, 10:32PM
An official video promoting Android 3.0 Honeycomb has just appeared on YouTube, apparently without any accompanying fanfare from Google. It's on the Android Developers channel, but one would expect at least a blog post to show off the various nuances of the new interface. Actually, as I was writing this very paragraph, the video was taken down, so I'm guessing this was unintentional. Good thing I downloaded the 720p version and got screenshots of all the interesting bits! We'll have video for you momentarily, but for now, enjoy these screengrabs of Android 3.0.
Google Responds To Android SMS Bug: Fixes Are On The Way
Jan 05, 9:51PM
Last week there was a flurry of reports about a serious bug affecting Android users: it seemed that some people who used the default SMS application were sometimes having their messages sent to the wrong person. Obviously that's pretty alarming — especially since reports of this bug had apparently been around for months, but Google had yet to fix or even acknowledge it. After the press storm Google upgraded the status of the bug report to 'Critical', and now an Android team member has just posted an update on what's going on. The bottom line: Google identified not one but two bugs that are causing unintended behavior, but says that both are rare. One issue leads the wrong message to be displayed when you tap on it, the other actually sends the message to the wrong person. Fortunately fixes for both of these problems are on the way. 
Movie And TV Show Recommendation Engine Jinni Raises $5 Million
Jan 05, 9:46PM
Israeli startup Jinni has just announced it has raised $5 million in Series B for its personalized TV and movie recommendation service. The AT&T of Belgium, Belgacom has led the round along with a Tier-1 CE Manufacturer and the VC firm DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures. Quite a novel product, Jinni allows you to search for movies and TV shows according to mood, plot, genres, time/period, place, audience and praise. Wish I had known about this last night during #lessambitiousmovies.
U.S.D.A. Giving INEOS Bio $75 Million Loan To Make Ethanol From Waste
Jan 05, 9:45PM
INEOS New Planet BioEnergy — a joint venture between the biofuels division of the chemicals company INEOS, and waste management and biofuel facility consultants New Planet Energy — secured a $75 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Biorefinery Assistance Program, the government agency confirmed today. The company plans to use the money to construct and begin running a facility near Vero Beach, Florida that primarily turns waste into ethanol. According to a company statement, the BioEnergy Center should begin commercial biofuel production in 2012, providing 175 temporary construction jobs, and 50 additional full-time jobs once the facility is completed...
Cloud Security Heats up as Sourcefire Pays $21M for Immunet
Jan 05, 9:37PM
Sourcefire, a publicly-traded network security company famous for its open source network intrusion detection system called Snort, has acquired cloud-based security startup Immunet for $21 million in cash. It's an impressive win for Immunet's CEO Oliver Friedrichs, a serial entrepreneur who helped found several old-world security companies like SecurityFocus, which was bought by Symantec in 2002, and Secure Networks, which was acquired by McAfee. Immunet only raised one round, a series A of about $2 million, led by Altos Ventures. Clearly, the company was onto something.
How Spotify's Failure to Launch in the US Could Save the Company
Jan 05, 9:10PM
Even the long fawning UK press is now saying what any startup who has tangled with the music industry has said all along: Spotify will not be able to launch its free any-song-you-want-to-hear-the-second-you-want-to-hear-it service in the US. The Telegraph is reporting that at the last minute the labels demanded too much upfront cash, killing a hard negotiated potential deal. This is sad, but not a surprise. Despite all the reasons consumers would love it and labels should be empowering a rival for iTunes, the labels are in defensive mode and have never been rational when it comes to these things. My issues with how Spotify has handled this aside, I actually didn't want to be right on this one. It's a sad day for users. But this will be the interesting thing to watch: Does Spotify just roll these we're-definitely-launching-in-the-US assurances forward to 2011, the way the company has the last two years or does it pivot, and focus on building a profitable site for Europe and other less guarded pockets of the emerging world? 
Mac App Store Awakens Tomorrow Morning, Phase 3 Of Operation: Compact Disc Dirt Nap
Jan 05, 8:39PM
We've known for a few weeks that Apple would launch their new Mac App Store on January 6, hitting their goal of launching it within 90 days of its formal unveiling at an event in October. And now we appear to know what time it will hit tomorrow: 12 PM ET, 9 AM PT, according to The Loop, whose sources are usually spot-on on such things. In other words, tomorrow morning, Apple kicks off phase 3 of their quest to kill the compact disc. Phase 1 of this quest began in 2003 when Apple first launched the iTunes Music Store. At launch, the store only had some 200,000 pieces of music to download, so it hardly threatened the booming music CD sales of the time. But that quickly changed, and now iTunes is the biggest music retailer, with downloads far outpacing CD sales.
Keen On… Alexia Tsotsis: Do We Really Have the Minds of Fish? (TCTV)
Jan 05, 8:26PM
2011 is only five days old, but already we've got some pretty scary predictions for our infant new year. According to Techcrunch technology reporter, Alexia Tsotsis, several things about 2011 keep her up at night including: - The US selling off Groupon to pay the national debt. - A huge government leak of information. - Facebook to IPO and thus change the world. In fairness to Tsotsis, the first two predictions were made half-jokingly and the third was made before this week's Goldman Sachs announcement that it was investing $450 million at a $50 billion valuation. But, as always with the surrealistically oracular Tsotsis, there is more than a glimmer of sanity behind her madness. Her analysis of the "relationship" driven Facebook versus the "words" driven Google is particularly insightful - particularly given the fact that Facebook's $50 billion valuation is, presumably, based on the assumption that the Internet will shift from a network based on words to one based on relationships. Video ahead.
Jeff Clavier's SoftTech VC Raises $15 Million For New Fund; Adds New Partners
Jan 05, 7:24PM
It looks like Jeff Clavier's venture fund SoftTech VC has just raised $15 million out of $35 million for a new fund, SoftTech VC III according to an SEC filing. In addition, it appears that Charles Hudson has joined as a partner in the fund. Update:Clavier has officially announced that Hudson has joined SoftTech as a venture partner. In terms of history, "Super Angel" Clavier launched Fund II, a $15 million seed fund focusing on the consumer Internet space in 2007, aimed at investing in 50+ companies over 3 years. Fund II has invested in 60+ early stage startups, with 29 companies raising over $170 million in additional financing to date.
What's Next, People Start Making Hats Out Of Quora Questions?
Jan 05, 7:23PM
Wow this happened almost as fast as last night's #lessambitiousmovies hashtagasm crept up on us -- This morning we woke up to find out that some pretty ambitious person had created a Cafepress t-shirt business from the collective Twitter experience. Now for just 19.99 you can own the magic of A Clockwork Clementine, The Average Lebowski, 299, Full Metal Sweater Vest, Napolean Bottlerocket, Scratchface, The Godmother, Edward Fingerhands, Permanent Resident Kane, and Permanent Resident Kane in sartorial form.
Twitter's Golden Egg: Location
Jan 05, 6:45PM
Twitter's core strength—limiting posts to 140 characters—has created opportunities for other websites and apps to siphon off and capture users around activity that originated on Twitter. These new sites and services leverage Twitter's distribution pipes, free of charge, offering little or nothing in return. In 2010, these common tweeting behaviors created opportunities for new entrepreneurs to leverage. In pictures, Instagram became a hit with its range of filters and sharing features while users could also choose to have their in-app photos hosted by external blogging sites such as Posterous. For introductions, Hashable provided a service whereby users could easily exchange contact information and keep track of what introductions they were a part of. The act of posing questions in tweets has been captured by Quora. Twitter users' fascination with entertainment and sports has prompted Twitter hiring its own employee (@omid) in the Los Angeles area (and dedicating separate servers for Justin Bieber). On the political side, Twitter has made key hires from the DC beltway, and its possible a startup like Votizen could leverage the platform to help organize political interests online. Sports fans have sites like Fanvibe. For current events and information, Twitter helps drive traffic to a host of tech blogs, news blogs, and financial blogs, which themselves can be real lifestyle businesses. I'm sure there's a business opportunity somewhere to collect and interact with Twitter users based on their expression of mood and emotion, though there could be some health and privacy concerns there. But, what about location? Is there a real, sustainable, long-term business model in location for Twitter?
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