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Memes Could Hit The Silver Screen In "The Chronicles of Rick Roll"
Feb 27, 4:38AM
Move over, Chronicles of Narnia, there's a new dreamworld of magic in town. That's right. Andrew Fischer, CEO of Colorado-based marketing company NURV, has recruited a stellar cast of Meme-lebrities, including Antoine Dodson of Hide Yo Wife, Hide Yo Kids fame, Double Rainbow videographer Paul Vasquez, Brian Collins (the "Boom goes the dynamite" kid), and "Numa Numa" vocalist Gary Brolsma, for a feature-length film entitled "The Chronicles of Rick Roll". The title, as you probably know, is derived from the meme to rule them all: the music video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", which became the source of a viral prank, called "Rick Rolling". Thanks to Rick Rolling, never again will you be able to say to your friend, "hey, you should check out this amazing video of Steve Jobs singing karaoke," without being suspected of collusion with Rick Astley.
The Separation of Church And Zynga: Wedding Chapels Stripped From CityVille
Feb 27, 12:40AM
Zynga made a small but fascinating change to its young-yet-ubiquitous game CityVille over the weekend. Players could previously buy "Wedding Chapels," which looked like small country churches but without a cross or other religious symbols, to add to their city. But the virtual item has been removed and replaced with the more secular and nondescript "Wedding Hall." With two gold ring things that somehow makes me think only of McDonalds. Err, ok. I asked Zynga if this was in response to complaints, or otherwise why they did this. No comment from them so far. They could, of course, simply add other icons for other religions, and let people choose. But perhaps even that would be too insensitive. Players who had previously purchased the Wedding Chapel still have it, but it's also been renamed to "Wedding Hall." Presumably friends visiting the city might get offended.
What's The Real Deal With AngelList?
Feb 26, 11:09PM
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Mark Suster (@msuster), a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at GRP Partners. Read more about Suster at Bothsidesofthetable There's lots of discussion out there about a new and much-loved service called AngelList that connects entrepreneurs to angel investors. I was reluctant to write about AngelList because the debate on pros / cons is pretty nuanced. But with some heat flying I felt it worthwhile to give anybody on the sidelines a better understanding of the issues.
Apple's iPad Still Has No Competition
Feb 26, 8:00PM
Editor's Note: Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple and on his Web site at The Loop. It's been almost a year since Apple released the iPad and we're less than a week away from the unveiling of the iPad 2, and still there's no competition. There are a few very good reasons for Apple's success and why its competitors are finding it difficult to gain any traction against the king of digital devices. There's the infrastructure, the combination of hardware and software, and the fact that its competitors are content to settle for second best. 
Fly Or Die (Tablet Edition): The Motorola Xoom And The Kno
Feb 26, 6:00PM
In this week's episode of Fly or Die, CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I do a special tablet edition where we take on the new Motorola Xoom and the Kno. (Watch the video above). The Xoom is the first tablet to come out with the Android Honeycomb operating system, which is optimized for tablets. So you can basically forget about all of those other Android tablets that came out in January at CES. Those run the Android OS built for phones. What you want is Honeycomb, and the Xoom is your first chance to get it. Still, with the iPad 2 set to be announced next week, you might want to wait to see if there is anything the Xoom will still have over the next-gen iPad. Check out John's in-depth review and the video below, which shows its speed and what it looks like in action.
Gillmor Gang 2.26.11 (TCTV)
Feb 26, 5:30PM
Every Gillmor Gang begins with a mysterious blend of serendipity and confusion. This episode is no exception, as Robert Scoble attempts to discuss the Motorola VaVaVoom or somesuch. The only problem with that (or any other Android tablet) is that Gillmor himself could care less about anything other than waiting for next Wednesday's rollout of the iPad II. John Taschek is an Android fanboy, and Kevin Marks used to work for Google and has not yet shaken the mindset off. I am trying to think of things to keep me occupied until Wednesday.
Let's Calm Down On The Google-ITA Deal
Feb 26, 4:30PM
This guest post is written by Daniel A. Crane, who is Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He is an expert in antitrust law. Google's proposed acquisition of ITA Software, which provides a management system for airfare pricing and shopping services, has become ground zero for the burgeoning coalition of interests intent on stopping Google's perceived dominance in Internet search. The Justice Department is reviewing the deal and is reportedly preparing to block it if Google does not agree to substantial concessions. Meanwhile, an anti-Google coalition has made stopping the acquisition its Maginot line. The "FairSearch" coalition, consisting of a host of anti-Google forces including Microsoft, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Kayak, and Hotwire, presents the ITA deal as Exhibit A on its website, warning that the deal will bring "consumers higher prices and less choice in travel." These claims are overblown. Google's competitors naturally fear Google's emergence as a formidable rival in travel search, but that is hardly a reason to block the transaction. Indeed, it's a reason to approve the deal. The most likely scenario is that Google's acquisition of ITA would allow Google a quick and efficient entry point into travel search that would expand consumer options and increase rather than decrease competition.
My Message To Google: Stop Cheating
Feb 26, 4:03PM
In mid February, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt expressed pride in Google employee Wael Ghonim's brave struggle against the autocratic Mubarak regime to establish political transparency in Egypt. "We are very, very proud of what Wael and that group was able to do in Egypt," Schmidt said in Barcelona. But what Schmidt needs to do now is apply Ghonim's views about political transparency to Google's own search business. With its 70% control of the global online search market, Google's power to make and break online businesses is unrivalled. So it's not surprising that website owners want more transparency over the reasons why the often autocratic Google sometimes impose penalties on their businesses. But a report issued last week by the newsnavigator OneNewsPage found a distinct lack of transparency in the search business with 88% of respondents saying that paid search advertising costs lacked transparency, while 24% said that they had experienced large, unexplained falls in site traffic as a consequence of changes in their search engine status. 
Weekend Giveaway: Rebtel Wants You To Have A Motorola Atrix
Feb 26, 2:13PM
Rebtel is offering us one hot little Motorola Atrix to give away this weekend to one lucky reader. How do you win? Well first you have to be very very nice to animals and the environment and then you need to click through to comment. 
Crush Notifier, From The Makers Of Breakup Notifier, Finds Mutual Crushes
Feb 26, 3:27AM
Breakup Notifier creator Dan Lowenhertz should just give up on Crate (his actual job) and just make a whole network of these types of things. After having his wildly popular app Breakup Notifier blocked by Facebook, Lowenhertz has dusted himself off and is back in the game, trying to "turn a negative to a positive" with Crush Notifier. >From his blog: "So what does the popularity of Breakup Notifier tell us? I believe it's that human beings, above all else, value relationships. I never knew how many people would end up using Breakup Notifier.
Facebook Valuation Back At A Cool $70 Billion On SecondMarket
Feb 26, 3:01AM
And we're back again with our now weekly update on the insanity surrounding Facebook's stock in the SecondMarket auctions. Last week, the stock saw the beginning of a rally back to $27 a share, good for a $67.5 billion valuation (based on roughly 2.5 billion shares outstanding). This week, the good times continued to roll. Facebook's stock hit $28 a share, to push the valuation of the company back to a cool $70 billion or so. This is still slightly off the record high of $28.26 a share (a $70.65 billion valuation) set in mid January, but it's clear that Facebook's stock is storming ahead once again, and quickly. This was the 11th auction SecondMarket has done on the stock.
Chrome Extension Fixes Twitter's Grammar, Tells Us "Whom" We Should Follow
Feb 26, 2:03AM
All is right with the world, as genius (and Googler!) Thomas Steiner has made this beautiful Chrome extension that corrects Twitter's subject/object discrepancy on its "Who to Follow" feature. Grammar snobs (I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU COMMENT), rejoice! In case anyone's still confused about "Who" vs. "Whom" usage, here's a quick tip to differentiate courtesy of Shit You Should Know: "To determine proper usage of who/whom, separate the who/whom clause and pose it as a question. If that question can be answered with "he", use "who"; if it can be answered with "him", use 'whom'."
Gosh! Even Napoleon Dynamite Is Now Using Kickstarter
Feb 26, 1:14AM
I love Kickstarter. It's maybe the best enabler site ever. In the short time it has been around, we've gotten everything from open source Facebook "killers" to iPod nano watches to RoboCop Statues. But one of the aspects of the service with the most potential is movie funding. A few of these projects have popped up already, and it apparently caught the eye of Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder. As NewTeeVee points out today, Heder has set up a project on the service to get funding for a movie he hopes to make. Alongside collaborator Nick Peterson (who would direct the film), he hopes to raise $27,000 over the next month or so. Given the fact that he's well, Napoleon Dynamite, he should blow past that in no time. I mean, the iPod nano watch got almost a million in funding.
Solo Drivers In Los Angeles Will Soon Be Allowed To Drive In Carpool Lanes For A Fee
Feb 26, 12:50AM
This week, Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) — which was acquired by Xerox (NYSE: XRX) in February 2010 — announced that it's building a new, electronic toll system on the two busiest highways in Los Angeles, to allow all single car drivers, even those in a diesel guzzling Hummer, to shift into carpool lanes for a fee. When average traffic levels in a carpool lane rise overall, so will the fee. The company and city plan to calibrate the systems to keep traffic at a steady 45 miles per hour in the carpool lane (at least). Once equipped with the new toll system, the carpool lanes along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110 will be called ExpressLanes, instead. Los Angeles and Xerox are building this project with the idea of reducing highway congestion overall...Is the death of the carpool lane as we know it environmentally sound, though?
Groupon Files SEC Form For Another $16.2 Million
Feb 26, 12:22AM
Wait wha? According to this SEC form, daily deals site Groupon has raised another $16.2 million. There's no word on whether this is an add-on to its recent $950 million round or just a smaller mini-round, in any case it seems unrelated to any M&A activity. Listed on the form is Blue Media's Eric Lefosky, Brad Keywell and Accel's Kevin Efrusy, among others. Groupon recently turned down an offer from Google, and has raised over $1.13 billion to date when you include the amount on this form. When asked whether this was part of a new round, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason said, "We typically don't comment on these things sorry. Ask me something else."
Kidlandia Raises $2.5 Million To Create Personalized Fantasy Maps For Kids
Feb 25, 11:47PM
Kidlandia, the awesome site that lets you create your own personalized fantasy maps for your kids, has raised $2.5 million led by Alsop Louie Partners with GRP, Net Discovery, Ivan Sutherland and Jim Sandler participating. This brings the startup's total funding to $3.5 million. As we've reported in the past, Kidlandia lets parents and kids create maps of a fantasy land, where the child is King or Queen of their own eponymous fantasy kingdom. You can insert family members or friends names into the map, so other areas of the land incorporate family members' names. The map also features whimsical characters from Kidlandia's brand Kreechurs.
2010 In Movies, As Seen On Foursquare [Graphic]
Feb 25, 9:51PM
It's Oscar weekend so of course every social media service, smart phone app and "tech" blog is going to find some movie angle to remind you that they exist. And because I tend to write the more
fluffycultural pieces, I will be stuck writing about them, even though I hate Hollywood and celebrities of the non-YouTube or TopCoder variety. But Foursquare's map of 2010 movie checkin frequency (above) is an exception to the "blatant attempt to glom publicity off of an 'important' event rule," and deserves reposting. And yes, the mention of Sex In the City 2 on the pink side of the Venn Diagram here makes me ashamed for my gender. Very ashamed.
The Future Solidifies: OS X Lion Really Will Maul The CD (And All Other Discs)
Feb 25, 9:34PM
It has now been at least a year since I last used the optical drive on any of my computers. And now I'm really starting to believe I never will again. Which I love. Last October, I noted that I was ready for the launch of the new MacBook Airs because I realized I had never once used the optical drive on my MacBook Pro. It was simply a huge waste of space. And since I've switched over to the Air — the best computer I've ever owned — I have zero doubt that this optical drive-free experience will soon be the reality for all Mac computing. And now it's clear that OS X Lion will be the final ingredient needed.
Fred Wilson: "Marketing Is For Companies Who Have Sucky Products"
Feb 25, 8:42PM
How much should a startup spend on marketing? The answer, according to VC Fred Wilson, is zero. The best marketing for a startup when it is just getting off the ground are kick-ass products. Great products market themselves. If you have a line item in your business plan for marketing, you are doing it wrong. That is not to say that startups don't need to do any marketing at all. And, let's be clear, Wilson is taking about consumer Web startups, not enterprise startups or those in other industries. But as he writes in a post today:
Bloomberg Launching Daily Live Tech TV Show Called Bloomberg West On Monday
Feb 25, 8:14PM
Bloomberg is launching a new daily hourly television show called Bloomberg West next week, we hear. It's on the air daily at 3 pm Pacific and then again at 8 pm. The show will focus on technology, innovation and business, says the promo clip that has been running regularly on Bloomberg. It's being recorded from their new San Francisco offices. The show is hosted by Emily Chang, formerly with CNN in Bejing, and Cory Johnson, who was most recently a hedge fund manager and is a long time journalist. It'll will be available to 250 million people worldwide who have Bloomberg TV. Promo clip is below.
Ask a VC: "Investing in Music Is a Little Like Vietnam" (TCTV)
Feb 25, 7:54PM
Ask a VC was on hiatus for a few weeks, but your Friday investor-talk fix is back. Our guest this week is Tony Conrad, partner at True Ventures and founder of About.Me, which recently sold to AOL along with TechCrunch. There was a pent-up flood of questions this week, and Conrad addressed many of them. In case you want to skip around here they are in order: -Why does True Ventures invest in more product and gadget companies than most VCs? What do they look for? -True's views on International investing. -Conrad's advice on getting into business in Southeast Asia and the moment he knew he'd "gone native." -Does Conrad have a secret "formula" for building companies to flip? And did he sell About.Me so early, because he didn't believe in the business? -Why True isn't betting big in the current game frenzy. -Why True doesn't bet on education or music companies. -And a general roundup of questions about how to pitch True.
Consumer Reports Confirms Death Grip In Verizon iPhone
Feb 25, 7:44PM
Apple just can't get a break. Consumer Reports is, well, reporting that in their testing scenarios the Verizon iPhone 4 has the same "death grip" attenuation issues as the AT&T/GSM model, which means dropped calls and signal degradation if you hold the phone wrong. Just as with the previous model, the Verizon iPhone 4 suffers from the same conductive gap issues and the problems manifest when you touch the small spot between the two pieces of metal cladding.
Facebook Nabs Founders Of Career Recruiting Service Pursuit
Feb 25, 6:56PM
It looks like recruiting service Pursuit has been gobbled up by Facebook, the latest in a string of acqui-hires, judging by the brief message on their homepage:
"Update: we've found a new home at Facebook! Although we'll be working on stuff unrelated to Pursuit, keep an eye out for great new features from us there and thanks to everyone who helped along the way."The San Francisco based Pursuit was just three extremely over-educated guys -- Louis Eisenberg, Russ Heddleston, Nicholas Letourneau -- who according to their digital "Gone Fishing" sign, will be dropping Pursuit in um, pursuit of other things at Facebook. This is not surprising, as Facebook acquisitions are almost always about engineering talent versus product.
TechCrunch Giveaway: Two Logitech Harmony One Remotes #TechCrunch
Feb 25, 6:10PM
If you're like us, you may have a hard time remembering where you placed one of those remotes of yours that keeps secretively slipping away. You may have even given up after searching for it for hours. As a surprise, for this week's giveaway, we were lucky enough to have Logitech offer to help us give away two, yes two, Harmony Ones. A Logitech Harmony One is basically the only remote you will ever need. Whether you want to watch a DVD, TV show, or listen to music, the Harmony One makes it incredibly simple to do so.
The Kids Are All Right. Formspring Pageviews Are Up 65 Percent Since September
Feb 25, 5:03PM
Over the past couple of years, we've seen a blooming of new Q&A sites which are both social and informative. While Quora gets a lot of our attention here at TechCrunch because of the quality of the answers it generates, it is still tiny compared Formspring, Stack Overflow, and most of its other competitors. Formspring, in particular, is killing it once again after a drop-off in activity in the middle of last year. According to comScore, Formspring had an estimated 1.1 billion pageviews in January, up 65 percent from September, and almost back up to its peak of 1.3 billion last May. Formspring also attracted an estimated 19 million unique visitors worldwide in January, compared to 3.1 million for Stack Overflow and only 496,000 for Quora. (Albeit, Quora's visitors grew nearly 90 percent from December to January alone, compared to 5 percent monthly growth for Formspring. However, Formspring is adding about one million new members a month).
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