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Wow. Just… Wow: Facebook Hits Record $75 Billion Valuation On SecondMarket
Mar 05, 2:53AM
Last week, in our weekly report on the insanely hot Facebook stock trading going on behind the scenes on SecondMarket, I wrote the following: "Do I hear $75 billion next week?" I was sort of kidding. But it looks like the joke is on me! Sure enough, Facebook did hit a $75 billion valuation on SecondMarket this week, a new record.
Judge Allows Sony's Request For Identifying Information For Anyone Who Visited Hacker's Sites
Mar 05, 1:34AM
This is a rather disturbing turn of events. Federal Magistrate Joseph Spero has approved a request by Sony to subpoena the hacker GeoHot's web host, as well as YouTube, Google, and Twitter, for identifying information on anyone who has accessed, commented, or viewed information relating to the hack. At best this is lazy on Sony's part and irresponsible on Magistrate Spero's, and at worst it is a deliberate and malicious wholesale violation of privacy. The pretense for this wildly overreaching action is that Sony needs this information to prove the case should be tried in San Francisco, in federal court and close to Sony's headquarters. Why? Because it's in Sony's terms of service. This after another judge noted previously that by Sony's standards, "the entire universe would be subject to [her] jurisdiction."
WordPress.com DDoS Attacks Primarily From China, Possibly Politically Motivated
Mar 05, 12:50AM
After recovering from the largest Distributed Denial of Service attack in the service's history ("multiple Gigabits per second and tens of millions of packets per second") yesterday morning, blog host Wordpress.com was attacked again very early this morning, finally stabilizing its service at 11:15 UTC (around 3:15 am PST). Wordpress.com serves 18 million publishers, many of them news sites like our own, which lead some to conjecture that the attacks had come from the Middle East, a region experiencing its own Internet issues at the moment. Not so says Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg, who tells me that 98% of the attacks over the past two days originated in China with a small percentage coming from Japan and Korea.
IntoNow Hits A Million Shows Tagged In A Month. Two And A Half Men One Of The Shows #Winning
Mar 05, 12:50AM
Just about a month ago, we wrote about IntoNow, a new service that allows you to tell your friends what television shows and movies you're watching in realtime. But unlike other media "check-in" services, you do this simply by hitting a button and letting your phone listen to what you're watching. It's awesome. Really, really awesome. Others seem to agree, as today IntoNow is announcing that they've already hit a million shows/movies tagged in a month. They're seeing an average of about a show tagged each second, with a peak of 17 tags a second during primetime hours, co-founder Adam Cahan says. But the most interesting thing so far about the service may be the data they're collecting about how people are consuming media.
A Day In The Life Of A Liveblogger
Mar 05, 12:21AM
I hate liveblogging major events. It's hard. It's painfully frustrating, and lifespan-limitingly stressful. I also absolutely love it, and it's one of my favorite parts of this job. It's something that, from a technical stand point, was next to impossible to accomplish just years ago. It lets us transport our readers from their offices and living rooms to a spot right beside us in the packed auditorium, an experience that post-event recaps and standard news posts just can't provide. Our liveblog of Apple's iPad 2 event on Wednesday went well; in fact, the response was probably the most unanimously positive one I've seen to anything I've ever done here. We've received thousands of e-mails, tweets, and comments about it, many of which asked how it all works and what it's like to do. Rather than respond to each one individually, I've put together this post. It is, as best as I can convey, a look at things from the other side.
Foursquare's SXSW: Version 3.0, Party, Concert, 18 New Badges, And A Genius Amex Deal
Mar 04, 11:49PM
Of all the startups launching things at SXSW this year, the most closely watched may be Foursquare, since they're a company that got their beginning at the conference two years ago. And it's looking like they're not going to disappoint. A couple weeks ago they gave a hint of what they had cooking: "NEW APP + NEW BADGES + PARTIES + CONCERT + MOAR". Now we know a little bit more. As you can see on this page, the plan is to launch the Foursquare 3.0 app, host a party on Saturday night, host a concert on Monday night, and launch 18 new badges to earn during the conference. But there really is more.
Google To Shut Down Gizmo5 On April 3
Mar 04, 11:03PM
Back in November 2009 Google acquired Gizmo5, a powerful VoIP telephony service that allows users to place and receive calls from their computer and mobile phone applications. Today, the company has started informing users that it will be shutting down Gizmo5 service on April 3, 2011. Since acquiring the startup, Google has integrated Gizmo5 technology into Gmail/Gtalk, which has allowed users to make phone calls directly from their Gmail inbox since August of last year. It's a great feature — particularly if you're using Google Voice — but we're hearing that it can't do everything that Gizmo5 can. For example, using a supported SIP application, Gizmo5 allows users to make/receive phone calls using their Wifi connections on their mobile phones. Google Voice still has yet to enable Wi-fi calls.
There Will Be Karaoke: SXSW RVIP Goes East Coast Vs. West Coast Vs. Press Vs. Investors
Mar 04, 10:26PM
If you've ever been to SXSW, you know what the RVIP Lounge is. It's the RV that drives around Austin at night luring the drunken masses onboard to belt out Ace of Base songs. Yes, it's the mobile karaoke extravaganza. And yes, it will be back this year. With a big time twist. This year's RVIP has attracted four big sponsors: Foursquare, Andreessen Horowitz, Get Satisfaction, and Wired. And each sponsor represents a faction at the conference that will be battling for respect, to the death... of their voices. East coast startups will be represented by Foursquare. West coast startups by Get Satisfaction. Investors by Andreessen Horowitz. And lastly, the press by Wired.
Instagrams Go Head-To-Head With Pic A Fight
Mar 04, 10:01PM
Notifo co-founders Paul Stamatiou and Chad Etzel have built Pic A Fight, a combination of Facemash and Instagram which allows you to vote on the aesthetic value of Instagram photos in a side to side comparison. The concept behind Pic A Fight is super simple, just click on the pic you think is better. If you'd like to add or battle your own photos you can log in with Instagram and Pic A Fight will upload your pics and give you a profile, like this. To battle your friends' photos just visit their profiles.
Twitter Will Shut Off GeoAPI To Developers
Mar 04, 9:43PM
When Twitter bought Mixer Labs in December, 2009, it inherited the startup's then-recently launched GeoAPI, which offered a platform for building geo apps. The GeoAPI combined a places database of 16 million businesses with a reverse-geo-coder and support for geo-coded Tweets, Flickr photos, and even an iPhone SDK. Twitter kept the GeoAPI going after the acquisition—but that ends at the end of March. According to a developer who used to build his product on the GeoAPI, Twitter is shutting it down for outside developers. It is too much of a hassle to maintain, apparently. Twitter will still use it internally for its own apps. (Note that this GeoAPI is not the same as Twitter's more limited Geotagging API, which is still fully functional). So far no announcement on this. It's going in the deadpool. I've reached out to Twitter for a comment.
Libya Finds New Way To Cut Off Internet
Mar 04, 8:23PM
Here we go again: After a six hour shutdown about two weeks ago, traffic monitors are once again reporting that Libya has lost internet connectivity, most notably that search queries to Google from Libya have flatlined starting around a day ago. Unlike the last time Libya went offline and the process used to shut down the connectivity in Egypt (where Internet service providers simply shut down their servers) someone has come up with a more technologically advanced way of taking the country offline this time. According to Rensys the routes in Libya are still up, but there is no data packet traffic on the still open routes as the traffic is "blackholed" right before it enters the Libyan netspace.
Android Market Malware Has Users Begging Google To Remotely Disable Bad Apps
Mar 04, 6:35PM
These past few days haven't been Google's best. The company ran into a bit of a problem with its Gmail service late last week, with some users reporting that all of their e-mails had been deleted. Google says the problem only affected a fraction of its user-base, but seeing headlines along the lines of "USERS REPORT GMAIL DELETIONS" probably didn't go over too well in Mountain View. Then there was the Android Malware incident, which is technically still ongoing. A series of malicious apps had appeared in the Android Market, apps capable of stealing user data and "dialing out" without the express permission of the phone's owner. What to do?
TechCrunch Giveaway: Tickets to Sarah Lacy's SF Book Launch Party #TechCrunch
Mar 04, 6:01PM
We have released tickets to Sarah Lacy's San Francisco Book Launch Party twice. Each time, tickets to her party sold out incredibly fast. We received many emails, tweets, and Facebook messages of people asking for more tickets to be released. In light of the popularity of the party, we are giving away our last 5 tickets. Since Michael Arrington promised an awesome party, that is exactly what we are going to go. The party will start at 6:00pm PST on Wednesday, March 9th at SWIG in San Fransisco. If you are one of our 5 winners, your ticket will include an open bar, lots of free food, and a signed copy of Sarah's new book.
Keep Track Of All The Apps Launching At SXSW At AppShowcase
Mar 04, 5:45PM
South by Southwest is not only a launching platform for new startups, but has also become a destination for existing companies to show off new features and technologies. For example, we know Foursquare has some surprises for us in the next week or so, and I'm sure there will be a host of other companies launching SXSW dedicated apps or features as the conference approaches. Appstores.com is making it a whole lot more easy to find any apps that are SXSW related or that could be useful at the event. Called the Unofficial SXSW AppShowcase, the store aims to be the go-to destination for relevant SXSW apps. The dedicated SWSW app store is powered by AppBistro's AppStores.com, which launched as a a white label platform to create app stores on the fly. Appbistro launched at TechCrunch Disrupt last year, as a Facebook Page app marketplace.
My Ordeal—and the Firestorm—in Boston
Mar 04, 5:01PM
As TechCrunch readers know by now, I speak my mind and don't shy away from controversy. I am even more provocative when I talk to students. My goal is to make them think outside the box. I encourage students not only to challenge authority, but also to challenge me. I tell them that with my research on globalization, entrepreneurship, and U.S. competitiveness, I am learning as I go; no one has all the answers; I could be wrong. In some talks, I present the available data; in others I just discuss what I have learned. Over the last ten days, I have lectured at four universities: Columbia, Emory, MIT, and UC-Berkeley. The discussions were all lively, and I received very positive feedback from students. But my talk at MIT, last Monday, seems to have set off a firestorm.
HipChat Takes Enterprise Communications Platform Mobile With iPad And iPhone Apps
Mar 04, 5:00PM
HipChat, a private instant messaging service for companies, is releasing native iPhone and iPad apps. Similar to Campfire, HipChat provides a simple application for communication within businesses. The startup, which launched in private beta in 2009, offers both a web and desktop client based on Adobe AIR that lets you chat with your entire team at once, or hold more private discussions with select team members. The application includes support for quick attachment sharing, notifications when you receive a message, video chat, and a searchable web archive for past messages. It's incredibly easy to use and setup and doesn't require a company email address.
CBS Acquires TV Guide For Online Video Clicker, Jim Lanzone Named President Of CBS Interactive
Mar 04, 4:39PM
CBS has acquired Clicker, a TV Guide for internet programming, according to a release just issued by the companies. Clicker's CEO Jim Lanzone has been named President of CBS Interactive. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; Clicker raised a total of $19 million in funding. According to multiple sources, the deal was in the $50 million to $100 million range. Clicker is a comprehensive search engine for TV content on the web. The startup made its debut at TechCrunch50 in 2009, and currently indexes more than one million full length TV episodes on the web.
Geotrio Wants To Be The YouTube For Tours
Mar 04, 4:30PM
Startup Geotrio is launching today as a centralized platform for anyone to create, take and share tours. Tours range from historical and architectural tours for travelers, campus tours for prospective students, neighborhood tours, local shopping tours, and more. The startup is also unveiling an iPhone app that will detect tours in your geographic area and allow users to download audio tours created by professionals as well as by amateur guides. And users will be able to upload tours on the fly. Geotrio will also mark a professional-created tour with a recommendation (as opposed to user generated tours).
(Founder Stories) Foursquare's Crowley: "Now Is Our Best Shot To Invent The Future"
Mar 04, 3:38PM
Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley has been thinking about and building geo-social apps for ten years. In Part III of this episode of Founder Stories, he tells host Chris Dixon, "Now is our best shot to push that stuff out there . . . [and] invent the future." What motivates him and his team is "just to get the deas out of our heads and get it into the hands of people." Crowley has been waiting a long time just for GPS chips to find their way into every phone, and now that is becoming a reality. It opens up so many possibilities beyond just the check-in. It can remind you of things you want to to do and recommend activities based on where you are and what your friends have done in the same place in the past. "If you think of the phone as a bunch of sensors stuck in this device connected to the network, how can I walk around the city and have the phone come alive and remind me, 'Oh this is a place you should go to lunch" or "this is the place you read an article about 6 months ago.'"
Is This Uncanny Valley-Scaling Robot Proof Of Our Impending Demise?
Mar 04, 3:14PM
Sweet merciful fates: this is a robot. Called a Geminoid, these things came into fame with an early version in 2005 by Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of ATR. This new version seems completely revamped and updated and, more interesting, this is the first Geminoid from outside of Japan. This new Geminoid comes from Aalborg University in Denmark and is considerably less complex - but much more realistic - than Ishiguro's original model. This one, called Geminoid-F, appears to really breathe and perform involuntary muscular reactions. Click through for video.
Confirmed: AOL's Patch Buys Hyperlocal News Site Outside.In
Mar 04, 3:00PM
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at less than $10 million. Outside.In has raised $14.4 million in funding to date. Webster tells us that Outside.In, which has a previous relationship with AOL, will be integrated with Patch, the company's hyperlocal news platform. The New York-based Outside.In is a local news aggregator aimed at bringing together all the hyperlocal news around a given location. Via its search portal, you simply enter your zipcode, neighborhood or address and the site will surface the most relevant news in your particular area. Outside.In focuses on sourcing information and news from local bloggers as opposed to large publications.
The (Fake) Banned iPad 2 Promo: "Like The iPhone 4, Minus The Retina Display"
Mar 04, 2:09PM
You've seen the parodic banned white iPhone 4 promo video, so you know what to expect. Below is the transcript of "Johnny Five"'s introduction, just in case you hadn't seen the previous fake Apple promo video, so you too will know what to expect. Or you can just watch it, of course. 
Blekko Now Offers 'Blekkogear' Publisher Tools: Badges, Widgets, And Toolbars, Oh My!
Mar 04, 2:00PM
Search engine Blekko is taking its initiative to insert itself into the news as much as possible one step further today, and is launching a Blekkogear hub for its publishing tools, presenting a suite of search-related iframe embeds (sorry Wordpress users!) for publishers as well as its already existing toolbar and other goodies. Instead of coming up with its own version of Google Analytics or Adsense, Blekko has gone the widget route, riding the wave of publicity surrounding the JC Penney paid links controversy . Perhaps the most useful tool in the suite, Blekko is emphasizing search transparency for websites by offering publishers a Link Roll Widget, an easily embeddable way to "show off" the organic links to their sites much like they show off retweets or Facebook "Likes," among other things.
MyBuys Raises $20 Million To Help Online Retailers Cater To Individual Visitors
Mar 04, 1:16PM
MyBuys, provider of multi-channel personalization solutions for online retailers and brands, has secured a third round of funding to the tune of $20 million. The round was led by Rho Ventures with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Ventures and Palomar Ventures. MyBuys builds profiles based on individual shoppers' behavior, and then uses a patented portfolio of algorithms and real-time optimization to deliver the most relevant recommendations to them.
Conan Roasts iPad 2: You'll Buy It No Matter What We Say [Video]
Mar 04, 7:46AM
With every new Apple product launch, there's now an expectation that we're going to get a video made by Apple to help explain the product. You know the ones. They feature Apple executives (though, oddly, never CEO Steve Jobs) set against a white background telling us how great and revolutionary the product is. They're brilliant and effective. But they definitely also take themselves way too seriously. And that's why they're the perfect target for parody. We've seen dozens of people/groups mock these on the web. And now the professionals are getting involved. During his TBS show tonight, Conan O'Brien decided to take his shot. Like Jobs, O'Brien isn't in the actual video. Instead he sets it up and lets his minions do the work. "I personally think that the people at Apple are starting to get a little bit cocky," O'Brien says to set it up. Enjoy below. I personally enjoy the Vice President of "Dream-Telligence".
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