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Confirmed: Facebook Acquires Snaptu (For An Estimated $60 – $70 Million)
Mar 20, 10:44AM
According to several Israeli business newspapers (TheMarker, Calcalist) Facebook has acquired Snaptu for an estimated $60 - $70 million, although some reports peg the price lower, at around $40 million. Update: a Snaptu executive has confirmed the acquisition to our friend Orli Yakuel, but declined to discuss the purchase price or other terms of the deal. Update 2: and the confirmation is up on Snaptu's blog. The acquisition is apparently expected to close within a few weeks.
Gillmor Gang 3.19.11 (TCTV)
Mar 20, 1:38AM
The Gillmor Gang — John Taschek, Danny Sullivan, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — or at lest 4/5ths of them were decked out with iPad 2s. That didn't prevent the usual argument from breaking out about the New York Times' pay wall. The Grey Lady announced a social plus subscription model, and @dannysullivan was having none of it. It's 2011 but the battle lines continue to be drawn over publishing v. the Web. Many believe the subscription wall will destroy what's left of the print business model without replacing it with an iPad alternative. Others (me) think the Times has got it just about right, leaving a gaping hole through social media (Facebook and Twitter) to consume the newspaper as before while creating a pool of found money around the iPad version. As social @mentioners create an authoritative stream of Times citations that do not trigger a sub request, the resulting high-value audience will migrate to a reasonable iPad based environment where those social signals can be harnessed through realtime chat, video, and other engaged value adds and attendant revenue opportunities. Whether it will take 15 years or is already a formidable tipping point will be left to the viewer to decide.
Wanita Power: What Women in the US Could Learn from Indonesians
Mar 20, 1:00AM
JAKARTA-- I'm mid-way through a trip to Indonesia at the request of the State Department, and I'm finding a hard time putting the experience into words. You'd think after two years of writing about other countries it'd be easy. I can't remember if it was always this hard, or there's just something different about this trip. Maybe it's the added surreal layer that this time, I'm flying around between seven far-flung cities in the world's largest Muslim country talking about the importance of more Indonesian women starting companies. 
OMG/JK: Storming The Paywall
Mar 19, 10:54PM
It's time for a new episode of OMG/JK, the weekly show where my colleague MG Siegler and I talk about the latest news in tech. We both just got back from South By Southwest, and we have plenty to say about the promotions, product launches, and other news (or lack thereof) that came out of one of year's biggest tech events. We also take a look at the new paywall that will soon be implemented by The New York Times — a move that many other publishers are watching closely as they look for new revenue streams. Finally, we talk about Twitter's move to discourage the development of more third-party Twitter clients, which has led to significant backlash from the developer community. Here are some recent stories relevant to this week's episode:
Another Netflix Content Idea: Saving Cancelled Cult Hits
Mar 19, 9:48PM
Yesterday, I laid out why the new Netflix original content plan could be a game-changer in terms of television content and the ultimate disruption of cable. But it still all depends on if the show(s) they pick end up being hits. It appears that Netflix's first bet, House of Cards, is just about as good of a bet as you could make — but it's still no guarantee. Here's an idea that could be much more of a guarantee: saving cult hits. Each year, dozens of shows on network and cable television get cancelled. Most of these cancellations are for good reason. But every once in a while the hammer comes down on a show that's considered to be a cult hit — or one that could turn out to be a real hit, if given more time. The problem, of course, is that these shows often don't have the massive viewership numbers to sell a large amount of advertising against. But that model doesn't apply to Netflix. 
Fly or Die: The Nintendo 3DS, Rockmelt, And Mobile Wallets
Mar 19, 7:30PM
s the new Nintendo 3DS all that? Does Rockmelt have a chance? Will mobile wallets ever be adopted by real people in real stores? CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I tackle these questions in this week's edition of Fly or Die. Watch the video to find out who our surprise guest is this time after we give our verdicts on his company's product. The Nintendo 3DS uses simple stereoscopic 3D graphics that really pop out and combined with a gyroscope effect creates an incredibly immersive experience. You might look like an idiot playing it because you move your whole body around unnecessarily, but it is very addictive. Biggs wrote up his initial impressions here. Remember Rockmelt, the Chromium-based browser startup backed by Marc Andreessen? 
Yearly Leaf: "It's A Coffee Table Book Meets A Moleskine For The Facebook Set!"
Mar 19, 6:20PM
I swear I'm not just being a lazy blogger because it's Saturday and it's a beautiful, sunny day here in Belgium (okay, maybe a little). I mostly just dig the way Mark here explained his new project in a recent email to me. Here it is, in all its unedited glory (with added links): Hi Robin My name is Mark Michael and I am the co-founder of YearlyLeaf.com. Here is my story pitch ...
RIP Digg.
Mar 19, 4:30PM
Startups in Silicon Valley are like old generals. They don't die anymore, buoyed on life-rafts of lingering venture capital and modest revenues. They just fade away, eventually purchased for assets that are a shadow of their former promise. It's pretty clear that Digg is on that path. The company isn't dead, but it's been fading away for a while, and its soul is all but gone. The company can spin it however it wants-- the final nail in the coffin is news that founder Kevin Rose-- long Digg's greatest asset-- is leaving.
PayPal And eBay Users Raise $1M Towards Japan Earthquake And Tsunami Relief
Mar 19, 4:00PM
Similar to the relief efforts surrounding the Haiti earthquake last year, technology companies are actively encouraging their users to donate to campaigns coordinating relief efforts in Japan, which suffered a massive earthquake and tsunami a little over a week ago. As we learned this past week, Zynga's gamers have raised over $1 million, and Facebook app Causes has raised $700,000 from tens of thousands of donors to the Japan relief effort. And today, PayPal and parent company eBay are announcing $1 million raised by users towards the the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief campaigns. PayPal users have donated $793,000 via the payments giant's web campaign, here. Users can donate funds towards the American Red Cross, GlobalGiving, HandsOn Tokyo and a number of other organizations helping with the relief efforts in the country. 
Listen Closely: Broadcastr Brings You An Audio Guide To The Whole Wide World
Mar 19, 3:31PM
I'm a huge William Gibson fan, not least for the ideas with which his books overflow. One such in Spook Country was location-based virtual art: VR images that can only be seen at specific real-world places. As is often the case with Gibson, I read that and wondered, "How long?" Well, today we're halfway there. I give you Broadcastr, a new platform that allows anyone to record or upload audio, and "pin" it to physical locations. Broadcastr then indexes that audio for playback via Web or smartphone, and it can be filtered and shared in the usual ways. Think of it as a crowdsourced audioguide to anywhere and everywhere, as if the whole world was a museum: restaurant reviews straight from diners' mouths, mix tapes for memorial sites, citizen journalism, etc. It also provides the infrastructure for a whole new era of collective oral history; if Broadcastr takes off, its big data will be fascinating. 
(Founder Stories) Foodspotting's Soraya Darabi On Women In Tech
Mar 19, 2:00PM
Let's face it, the tech industry is dominated by male geeks and alpha dog VCs. It's not easy being a female founder in that environment. But as Foodspotting co-founder Soraya Darabi tells Chris Dixon in Part II of her Founder Stories interview, "If you are smart and articulate and know your product, nobody can argue with that." And, she adds in the video above, "It's probably a lot easier . . . now than it was ten years ago." Dixon thinks the problem is that VCs keep looking for the same patterns, They think the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg will be a young, male, alpha geek. He also notes that pitching your startup idea in the country-club atmosphere of many VC firms can be both intimidating and counterproductive. "I am not sure presenting well to 40 grumpy people correlates to building a great product," he quips.
'Beatbox' Bill Gates Takes On 'Sinista' Steve Jobs In A Rap Battle (Video)
Mar 19, 1:33PM
You can debate if there is still that much of an epic battle between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - or Microsoft and Apple in other words - at all these days. As much as pundits like to keep drawing comparisons to their financials, the tech world is far more interesting that the competition between those industry giants, who are destined to remain giants for a long time. Before I start rambling further thoughts about this, here's a cool animation made by the folks at Albinal. Enjoy the rap battle between Beatbox Bill and Sinista Steve, and tell us who you think laid down the better verses.
Don't Bet Big. Little Bets Are The Ones That Turn Into Billion-Dollar Ideas
Mar 19, 1:00PM
When I was in business school, one of the most common things I would hear people say was that they wanted to do something new—like start a company or take an unconventional career path—but that they needed "a great idea" first. That always surprised me a bit, especially at an entrepreneurial hub like Stanford, since most successful entrepreneurs don't begin with brilliant ideas—they discover them. Ironically, this would include the biggest business idea to come out of Stanford in decades. Google didn't begin as a brilliant vision, but as a project to improve library searches, followed by a series of small discoveries that unlocked a revolutionary business model.
Reddit, Social News Frontrunner, Is Down To One Developer
Mar 19, 2:41AM
Two out of the three remaining Reddit programmers quietly left the social news community last week, Mike Schiraldi going to Google and David King going to Hipmunk where he joins Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. This means that the over one billion page view a month site is currently running with only one developer (Neil Williams, hired in November) and two sysadmins until it can hire new engineering staff. Reddit, which experiences about 75 million monthly visits and is one of the top 100 most visited sites on the Internet, had six hours worth of downtime yesterday which it chalked up to an Amazon Web Services failure. 
The Pedants' Revolt: Does The AP's Killing Of E-Mail Mark A Worrying Escalation?
Mar 19, 2:28AM
PHOENIX (TC) -- Solemnly they filed into the briefing room at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism: the journalists, the bloggers and those who tweet on behalf of celebrities. Only the scratching of nib against paper and the clicking of keys broke the unpropitious hush, as those in attendance prepared to record the announcement. And then, at the stroke of 2pm, the representatives of the Associated Press took to the stage. Total silence now. The calm before the bombshell: no less impactful for being anticipated. "Daddy," generations of children as yet unborn will ask, "where were you when the Associated Press removed the hyphen from the word 'e-mail'?"
$700,000 Donated To Japan Relief Efforts Via Causes, Salesforce Pledges $25K Matching Grant
Mar 19, 2:06AM
As Japan works to recover from the horrendous earthquake and tsunami that struck last week, many companies and citizens are donating what they can to help. One of the easiest ways to help is to send a text message to the Red Cross (text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation), but there are plenty of other options, particularly if you're looking to support a certain charity or organization. Today, Causes founder Joe Green told me that tens of thousands of donors have given some $700,000 to Japan relief efforts thus far via the online platform. As for the photo above — right now Green is appearing on a local Bay Area NBC special, where a phone bank sits ready to receive calls for donations to the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California. Salesforce has just agreed to match up to $25,000 in donations to the effort — which comes in addition to the $100,000 they already matched for donations to the Red Cross. You can find the JCCCNC's Cause right here.
Google Ventures Launches $10,000 Startup Referral Program For Employees
Mar 19, 1:24AM
If you're a Google employee and you know about a stealth startup that wants funding, you can pocket a cool $10,000. The Google Ventures team announced the new program at Google's weekly all-hands "TGIF" meeting, earlier this afternoon. It's pretty straightforward. If a Google employee knows about a startup that Google Ventures might be interested in, they fill out a form on an internal website. They state why they like the startup, and they need to be prepared to give a "warm introduction" to a key employee at the startup. If Google Ventures invests, the employee that referred the startup gets the $10,000 in cash. It's modeled on Google's in house employee referral program, Google Ventures partners Bill Maris and David Krane tell me, although the payout is much higher for startup referrals.
Wow, Google Has Ported My Ten Thousand Button Nightmare To The iPhone!
Mar 19, 12:26AM
Back in October of last year, I got my first glance at the Sony Google TV remote. I immediately broke out into a cold sweat and hives. I mean, just look at the thing. Our collective living rooms are already a nightmare of boxes and cords — Sony and Google managed to translate that nightmare into remote control form as well. And now that nightmare is going virtual. Earlier today, Google announced the Google TV Remote app for the iPhone. On one hand, it's great that they're willing to release this on a rival platform. On the other, ahhhhhhhhh!
CrunchBoard Jobs: We're Hiring
Mar 18, 11:17PM
TechCrunch is hiring. Come work with us! The positions we have available right now are: Executive Support: Executive Assistant - San Francisco, CA Product and Engineering: Web Developer - Ruby on Rails - San Francisco, CA CrunchBase Manager - San Francisco, CA
Netflix Original Content Is Much More Than A Strategy Shift — It Could Shift An Industry
Mar 18, 10:14PM
Three years ago, if you had asked people to choose between cable television and Netflix, the vast majority would have laughed at you. A DVD-by-mail service versus thousands of pieces of content always at your fingertips? No one is laughing anymore. Netflix has confirmed that they intend to pay for House of Cards a new show being produced by David Fincher (yes, he of Fight Club, The Social Network, etc) and starring Kevin Spacey (yes, he of The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, etc). Netflix is not paying for the full production of it, but instead they're paying for the first-rights access to air it. In other words, they get the first "window" to show it to viewers.
Q: What Does It Say About The Wisdom Of The Crowd That "White People Stink" Has Been Trending On Twitter For Almost 24 Hours?
Mar 18, 10:05PM
A: Everything.
Kevin Rose Resigns From Digg, Closing Round On New Startup
Mar 18, 9:49PM
Wow, when I wrote last night that Kevin Rose doesn't really use Digg anymore, I had no idea how perfect the timing was. It turns out Rose really has tuned out. Because, say multiple sources, he's already resigned from the company and is closing a $1+ million financing round for a new startup he's founded. Rose first launched Digg in December 2004. The service was an instant hit, and for a long while just all the big players thought about acquiring the company. Things never got so close as they did in mid-2008, when Google took Digg all the way to the altar before walking away at the last minute. Digg would have been sold for some $200 million. Every employee knew about the deal because Google had interviewed them all individually. Credit to then-CEO Jay Adelson for getting everyone back on track after the deal fell apart. But those were the glory days for Digg. The site faded as newer services like Twitter and Facebook became ubiquitous. Rose and Adelson had a falling out, Rose stopped coming by the office much for months, and one of them had to go. It was Adelson. Rose took over as CEO until they hired Matt Williams last Fall.
With A New Name In Tow, MyPad's 'Facebook For iPad' App Hits 3 Million Downloads
Mar 18, 9:43PM
Back in January I wrote about an iPad application called Facepad, which drew heavy inspiration from Twitter's iPad application to create a similar 'swipable' experience for Facebook that lets you jump between open pages by swiping left and right (it's pretty slick). The application has hit a couple of speed bumps — Facebook asked it to change its name, so it's now called MyPad — but it's still drawing plenty of users, many of whom are spending a lot of time in the app every day. You can download MyPad on the App Store right here. Cofounder Cole Ratias says that the application has now surpassed 3 million downloads since it launched in January, and that on average users are spending nearly 3.5 million minutes inside the application per day. They're also uploading around 4,000 photos each day through the app.
Right Media Founder Michael Walrath Becomes Chairman of Yext
Mar 18, 9:24PM
Local advertising startup Yext has a new chairman, Michael Walrath. Walrath was the founder and CEO of Right Media, an online advertising exchange which he sold to Yahoo for $850 million in 2007. Since then he's been investing and starting other projects. One of his biggest investments is Yext, where he is the largest individual shareholder outside the company. Walrath became a board member of Yext about a year and a half ago when he first invested in the company's $25 million series B. Now that he is taking chairman role, he will be at Yext's New York City offices once a week plotting the overthrow of the online local advertising world with CEO Howard Lerman. (The two are pictured here enjoying some green St. Patrick's Day champagne yesterday when they told me the news). 
The Sun Will Set For Yahoo's AlltheWeb On April 4
Mar 18, 9:16PM
As we heard in late December, Yahoo was planning to "sunset" a number of its products, including Delicious, AltaVista, MyBlogLog, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Yahoo! Picks, and AlltheWeb. While we all assumed sunsetting meant shutting the product down, Yahoo said it was actually looking to find a better home for Delicious. But Yahoo recently notified users that it would be shutting down MyBlogLog in May. And it appears that in the case of AlltheWeb, sunsetting is also leading to the search engine's demise. As stated on AllTheWeb's front page: Yahoo! will be closing AlltheWeb on April 4, 2011, as we focus on other features to improve your search experience. Starting on April 4, 2011, http://www.alltheweb.com will redirect to Yahoo! Search at http://search.yahoo.com. Thanks for your understanding.
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