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Just-Eat Closes $48 million Funding To Scale Globally
Mar 16, 9:18AM
London based Just-Eat, an online take-out ordering service, has closed a financing round of $48m co-led by two leading VCs, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, with existing investor Index Ventures also participating. Just-Eat now plans an international roll-out. Right now it's in ten countries and three continents and working with 15,000 restaurants. The company claims to generate over $500m of revenue for local businesses in 2011, buy linking up normal restaurant POS and ordering systems with an aggregator site which takes orders for takeaway food. 
San Francisco Controller Publishes Candid Report On How Badly They Need Twitter
Mar 16, 7:55AM
San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos hates the idea of businesses not paying a 1.5% tax on payroll and employee stock option gains (see his brilliantly stupid quote here). The fact that San Francisco is the only city in California to charge a payroll tax at all doesn't seem to matter to him. Or that it's the only city in the world to charge a local tax on stock options. Or that Twitter and other startups will simply leave if the taxes stand. Or even, apparently, that the city's own economists disagree with him. A new report published by the city and county's Office of the Controller outlines the absolute absurdity of San Francisco's tax treatment of technology startups. The entire report is embedded below.
Actually, AOL Didn't Ask Us To 'Tone It Down' – Moviefone Did. And Their Editor-In-Chief Should Be Fired
Mar 16, 7:38AM
"AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down" screamed Alexia Tsotsis' headline on TechCrunch earlier today. And, as someone who has been just waiting for our new corporate paymasters to pull a stupid stunt like this, I really thought Christmas had come early. I knew it! All that talk of Aol respecting our editorial independence and now they're emailing Alexia and asking her to tone down the snark? J'accuse Tim Armstrong! J'afuckingccuse. But then I read the rest of the post and - you know what? - I kinda feel like we owe Aol an apology.
San Francisco Doing Everything It Can To Drive Zynga And Twitter Away
Mar 16, 5:23AM
San Francisco, unlike most other cities in Silicon Valley, has a 1.5% payroll tax. And even more stunning is that they consider gains on stock options part of payroll, meaning that any San Francisco based company going public or being acquired could get hit with a massive tax bill in the tens of millions of dollars. They've got Twitter jumping through hoops to avoid the tax. The company will be forced to move to a new location in order to get a six year payroll tax break. But only if the Board of Supervisors votes to approve the legislation on Wednesday. The upside is that Twitter employees will have immediate physical access to prostitutes, drugs and weapons - the qualifying area isn't exactly an up and coming neighborhood. The city isn't thanking Twitter for bringing all these high paying jobs to San Francisco, either. Rather, some supervisors don't want the tax break at all, and seem quite willing to see Twitter bail to tax-free Brisbane. Says Supervisor John Avalos: "Who are the [Twitter] investors? Probably some of the wealthiest people in this country. And we are giving them more wealth." The stupidity of that statement is self evident.
Netflix Gets Into The Original Content Game, Buys Upcoming Show For A Rumored $100m
Mar 16, 3:07AM
Netflix got its start as the red-envelope movie rental service, later turning into the video streaming authority (bankrupting Blockbuster in the process), and now may be making yet another major move: bankrolling original content. Deadline Hollywood reports that Netflix successfully outbid HBO and AMC for the rights to House Of Cards, an adaptation of the successful 1990 British miniseries. The show reportedly stars Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey, who we know isn't cheap, and David Fincher, who is hotter than ever following the success of The Social Network.
In Preparation For Its "Social Buying" Launch, 'Facebook Deals' Get A New Landing Page
Mar 16, 2:36AM
On the tail of the news that Facebook will be testing a new deals service, Facebook has removed its old Deals locator landing page and put up a new Facebook Deals subscription page which allows interested users to subscribe for its coupon-like checkin deals. Subscribers will eventually get updates via email. "We will test a new feature for our Deals product that allows people to buy deals on Facebook and share them with their friends. Local businesses will be able to sign up to use this feature soon and people will be able to find Deals in the coming weeks," Facebook told PC World in a statement. More details on the product have not yet been posted.
SoundTracking Sings The Praises Of "Mobile-First" And "From-The-Ground-Up Social"
Mar 15, 11:04PM
Late last week, we first wrote about SoundTracking, a new iPhone application from Schematic Labs that allows you to easily share not only the music you're listening to, but the music you're listening to in the context that you're listening to it in. Yesterday at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, I got a chance to sit down with co-founder Steve Jang for his thoughts on the app and the space. Jang talks about the rise of the "mobile-first" experience, noting that phones are good enough now to match the websites that have been built for years now. And in many ways, the experience is better because mobile is so personal. Jang talks about his inspiration for SoundTracking when he was traveling around Europe and wanting to share the music he was listening to on the go, but in a way beyond text.
Study: Mobile Ad-Tracking Systems Are "Blind" To 80 Percent Of Apple iOS Devices
Mar 15, 11:00PM
Apple mobile iOS devices (iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches) are used by 130 million people, but they present a huge blindspot to advertisers. All Apple mobile devices use the Safari browser, as do millions of Apple laptop and desktop computers. Safari blocks third-party cookies by default, which is good for privacy and good for consumers. But it is bad for advertisers who rely on browser cookie tracking to measure the effectiveness of their ads. Marin Software, which offers a way to manage paid search advertising, conducted a study it provided to TechCrunch which shows that 80 percent of the time iOS devices don't count paid-search conversions (i.e., clicks) because cookie-tracking is turned off. On the Mac, the undercounting occurs 50 percent of the time. All told, when you count all browsers, 38 percent of all paid-search clicks are not being counted. 
Google's Revamped iPhone App Now Worth Using; Could Be Better Still
Mar 15, 9:57PM
Google's flagship native app for the iPhone has always been a little odd. First of all, it was called "Google Mobile App", which seemed a bit redundant. More importantly, it just wasn't really worth using instead of google.com in the Safari web browser itself. But a big update today fixes both issues — and showcases how it could be ever better still. What was the "Google Mobile App" is now simply "Google Search". And as you can see, it looks completely different. The homescreen is now a nice big Google logo with the search box. It also allows you to easily sign in to your account. And when you do a search, this graphical interface rolls upward to reveal the results. And a swipe to the left reveals different categories to filter your search.
T-Mobile, Sprint Waive Japan Calling And Texting Fees
Mar 15, 9:49PM
As we reported yesterday, U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon both announced that they would be waiving calling and texting fees for their users who were calling Japan, in the wake of the devasting earthquake and tsunami in the region. Since then a number of other smaller carriers are joining the mix. T-Mobile USA is allowing postpaid customers to make calls to Japan without charges through March 31, 2011. Text messaging will also be free to and from Japan until the sale date and customers can make Wi-Fi calls to and from Japan free of charge as well. 
Twitter Enables "Always Use HTTPS" Setting
Mar 15, 9:28PM
So did Ashton Kutcher complain after he got Twitter hacked at TED? As of today, Firesheep weary Twitter users can check the "Always Use HTTPS" setting at the bottom of Settings on their profiles. HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure uses the SSL/TSL protocol in addition to HTTP to ensure encrypted communication over a secure channel. This protects users on insecure networks like coffee bar WiFi. While Twitter users could use HTTPS prior by visiting https://www.twitter.com, they now have the option to have it always on. In addition HTTPS will be used when you log into Twitter and on Twitter for iPhone and iPad. 
Mobile App Users Are Both Fickle And Loyal: Study
Mar 15, 9:16PM
A study released by Massachusetts-based application analytics firm Localytics today confirms my suspicion that we both love -- and are quickly bored by -- our mobile applications. And, perhaps, that studies will confirm just about anything. In part 1 of its study, Localytics analyzed thousands of Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 apps. Using its realtime app analytics service, they found that, while most smartphone users are willing to try new apps (as evidenced by the 10 billion downloads from the iTunes store), 26 percent of the time they download an app, use it once, never to use it again.
Apple Keeps Right On Approving Amazon And Netflix Updates Without In-App Purchases
Mar 15, 9:15PM
Remember when everyone was freaking out over the Apple in-app subscription changes? You should. It was just a month ago. And while some of the fears that arose do appear to be very real, the two things most people focused on were Amazon's Kindle app and the Netflix app. Well guess what? Both received updates today, and neither includes the supposedly mandatory changes. When Apple first announced the in-app subscription option, the wording seemed to indicate that any app that offered a subscription outside of the app would now have to offer it inside the app as well — which Apple would take a 30 percent cut of. The same was said to be true for in-app purchases. If you sold content outside of the app (on the web) to be used in that app, you were supposed to offer it in the app as well (and with a best-price match guarantee). But again, a month later, Netflix and Amazon keep getting app updates and neither includes these changes.
YouTube Continues To Amp Up Its Content Quality Efforts, Buys Green Parrot Pictures
Mar 15, 8:55PM
YouTube seems laser-focused on amping up its overall content quality as of late, with the acquisition of original video site Next New Networks just last week and today's news that it has acquired digital video technology company Green Parrot Pictures. Green Parrot's technology has been used in movies like The Lord Of The Rings and X-men, improving the quality of videos while decreasing bandwith hogging and improving speed. YouTube has hundreds of millions of users and sees 35 hours of video from all over the world uploaded to the site every minute, but the quality of the content is sometimes negligible. And the company needs to step it up if it wants to compete with cable. 
Adobe Just Made Medialets Its Mobile Ad Server
Mar 15, 7:25PM
For all the angst about the lack of Flash on Apple's iPads and iPhones, most of the discussion seems to center around video. But a bigger impact by far is on display advertising, which tends to be done mostly in Flash. Adobe needs non-Flash alternatives for tablets and smartphones, particularly for people who design display ads. Today, Adobe announced that it is integrating Medialets' mobile ad platform into its own creative suite. Designers will be able to insert Medialets ads into InDesign layouts and then serve them on mobile apps. The reason this is notable is that Medialets essentially will become the de facto plug-in mobile ad server for Adobe. Medialets' technology works with iOS devices and will also work with Flash in Adobe AIR apps. It powers the ads in The Daily iPad app, for example, a position it won over Apple's own iAds.
Facebook Bans Mark Zuckerberg Action Figure
Mar 15, 7:05PM
MIC Gadget can't get a break. After being C&Ded for selling Steve Jobs action figures, now they can't even sell these goofy little "Poke" figures of Mark Zuckerberg. The figures went for $69 bucks - a bit much for a statuette of some rich dude - but they were obviously all in fun and I doubt that Facebook is planning a huge executive action figure push this Christmas. However, MIC is now no longer allowed to sell the figures and even received a C&D from a Beijing law firm:
AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down
Mar 15, 6:21PM
Earlier this week interviewed Duncan Jones and Jake Gyllenhaal at SXSW, at the press junket for their movie The Source Code. While the film doesn't have a huge tech angle other than the title, I thought it might be good video content for TCTV—the intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley is fascinating, and the movie industry is one of the last to get disrupted. It's always interesting to see if the players are aware of the monumental shifts going on in media. In any case I thought that the way The Source Code and Summit Entertainment were trying to target the tech press, and through us, our more social media savvy readers was an intriguing marketing strategy—and an angle! I wrote my "Jake Gyllenhaal Movie 'The Source Code' Markets Itself To Techies" post about that instead of the twists of the thriller's plot or Gyllenhaal's abs. Apparently, the post was not fawning enough for Summit, and they let it be known to the Aol person at Moviefone who hooked us up with them in the first place. This morning I received this email from that Moviefone/Aol Television representative:
Google's AdMob Adds Windows Phone 7 SDK; HTML5 And Tablet Support For iOS And Android Ads
Mar 15, 6:00PM
Google-owned mobile ad network AdMob is announcing a number of new products and features today for developers and advertisers. This includes the launch of the beta SDK for Windows Phone 7, which will allows these platform developers to advertise via AdMob. Google director of engineering Mark Schaaf (who is a former AdMob Engineering Director and the network's third employee) says that the addition of Windows Phone 7 SDK aligns with Google's openness strategy, which in AdMob's case, allows developers and advertisers to users across multiple mobile platforms. He says that the AdMob network currently includes more than 50,000 mobile applications across iOS, Android, and webOS platforms. 
AutoTech Video Review: Infiniti QX56
Mar 15, 5:40PM
The Infiniti QX56 is the motoring equivalent of a scrumptious wedding cake: big and tall, classy, and oh so delicious. As the embedded video explores, the QX56 is a massive vehicle that knows how to handle itself while presenting the driver with a competent dash cluster and infotainment system The in-vehicle technology isn't over done. It's not loaded to the chassis with gadgets or crazy one-off functions. It's subtle technology done right. In this episode of AutoTech I take the $71,000 Infiniti QX56 through the empty streets of Flint, MI while waxing on about this and that. If nothing else, click through for the beats of Freeway by Spinnaface. It's really the best part of the video. Well, the truck is nice, too.
LinkedIn Teams Up With Snaptu To Launch Smartphone-Like App For Feature Phones
Mar 15, 4:00PM
Professional social network LinkedIn has a rapidly growing userbase outside of the U.S., and increasingly users want to access the network from their mobile phone. But until now, the company has only offered smartphone apps, as opposed to feature phone apps. Feature phones actually represent 80% of the devices sold worldwide. Today, LinkedIn is teaming up with mobile developer Snaptu to launch a rich application for feature phones. According to the announcement, the app will work across 2,500 device models, including those from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and LG. Snaptu focused on bringing the most commonly used LinkedIn features in the new app, allowing users to access their update stream, search professionals on the network, invite fellow users to join their network and accept invitations. Users can also access full users profiles of professionals on LinkedIn. 
Google Apps Users Can Now Choose If They Want Immediate or Scheduled New Feature Releases
Mar 15, 4:00PM
Google's development strategy is more agile, and products are consistently updated with new features and improvements. For example, in 2010, Google implemented 130 feature releases for its Google Apps Platform. For Google Apps users, new product additions can be overwhelming to keep track of, so today Google is making it easier for customers to access the latest Google Apps features in the timeframe that makes sense for them. Users can now choose between two feature tracks—rapid release and scheduled release. Rapid Release users will have access to new features as soon as the features have completed testing and quality assurance, and are ready to roll out. Scheduled Release users will access new features on a weekly schedule, with at least a one-week notice following the initial feature launch. These users can also preview feature releases on a test domain. 
Vidyo's HD Video Conferencing Platform Now Supports iPad 2, XOOM And Atrix
Mar 15, 3:48PM
Video conferencing technology company Vidyo is enhancing its platform with support for Apple's just released iPad 2, Motorola's XOOM tablet and Atrix smartphone. The platform utilizes the company's VidyoTechnology SDK, which is available to third parties, and enables 720p HD multipoint video conferencing that works on a range of mobile devices. With Vidyo's platform, customers can join video conferences from anywhere using a bunch of devices (see below for a list of previously supported hardware), from mobile phones to tablets or room systems, using client apps built by Vidyo or its partners.
2tor Raises $32.5 Million Series C To Make Online Education Great
Mar 15, 3:25PM
"One reason online education isn't that good is I don't think it is trying to be that good," says John Katzman, the CEO of 2tor, an online education startup that is trying to break that mold. The company, headquartered in New York City's Chelsea Piers, just raised a $32.5 million series C financing, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. All of its existing investors—Highland Capital, Redpoint, Novak Biddle, City Light—re-upped. Since it was founded in 2008, 2Tor has raised a total of $65 million. Instead of focussing on low-hanging fruit like test prep or actual tutoring, 2tor is going straight after the higher education market, partnering with graduate programs to provide the technology platform to extend their classes online. (Not that there is anything wrong with test prep—Katzman previously founded the Princeton Review). Its first partner school is USC, which uses 2tor for both its Masters in Teaching and Social Work programs. Next week, it launches a nursing program with Georgetown and in July an MBA program at UNC-Chapel Hill. The new capital will help 2tor expand to more programs faster.
eBay Kills Upfront Costs For Auctions Of Up To 50 Items Per Month
Mar 15, 3:13PM
Ecommerce juggernaut eBay this morning announced that it is making it free to list up to 50 items per month in auctions at any start price, and free to add the "Buy it Now" option to those listings. Effective April 19, 2011, the new pricing builds on free-listing promotions announced back in January 2010. In related news, eBay is reducing Final Value Fee rates for Store and Fixed Price sellers (on July 6, 2011), and will apply the Final Value Fee to the total amount of a sale to encourage sellers to give buyers more options for low-cost or even free shipping. 
Report: Use Of Third-Party Twitter Clients Dwindles To 42 Percent
Mar 15, 3:09PM
As we heard last week, Twitter made a bold move regarding its ecosystem, stating that third-party developers should no longer try to compete with Twitter on native clients; instead they should focus on things like data and specific verticals for Tweets. In the email sent to developers, Twitter said that some 90 percent of active Twitter users now use official Twitter apps on a monthly basis to access the service. Social media analytics company Sysomos decided to track Tweets on the day that Twitter made this announcement to determine if there was any truth to this assertion. Sysomos analyzed 25 million Tweets last Friday and found that 58 percent of Tweets were sent from official Twitter apps, and 42 percent of Tweets were sent from third-party clients (or non-official Twitter apps). The analytics company highlights the trend that third-party clients are losing marketshare to Twitter clients, as the communications platform expands its offerings, and acquires third-party clients. In June 2009, a Sysomos report showed that 55 percent of Tweets were made using non-official apps, and as we learned, that number has dropped to 42 percent. 
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