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Social Media Monitoring Company Visible Technologies Lands $6 Million
Mar 31, 12:43PM
A mere day after Salesforce announced that it was acquiring social media monitoring company Radian6 for $326 million in cash and stock, rival Visible Technologies this morning announced that it has secured an extra $6 million in financing. The round was led by the company's previous backers, which include Investor Growth Capital, Centurion Holdings, Ignition Partners, In-Q-Tel and WPP. Visible Technologies has raised a total of $45 million in funding to date.
myYearbook Bets Big On Android With Acquisitions Of Five Apps, FlockEngine
Mar 31, 12:11PM
Social networking company myYearbook this morning announced it has acquired five new Android apps to support its mobile strategy and grow its team. In addition, the company acquired FlockEngine, which powers multiplayer games on Android phones. The acquisitions include Toss It, Tic Tac Toe (both of which are among the top 30 most downloaded free Android games), Minesweeper, SpringDroid, and Line of 4. 
Facebook Games Developer MegaZebra Closes 'Multi-Million' Euro Funding Round
Mar 31, 11:35AM
Exclusive - Munich, Germany-based social games developer and publisher MegaZebra has secured 'multiple millions of euros' in its latest round of financing led by Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. Previous backer Kizoo Technology Ventures also participated, alongside private investor Markus Stolz. Founded in 2008 and originally supporting a variety of social networks, MegaZebra in the course of last year shifted its focus squarely on developing and publishing games for the Facebook platform only. 
Skype Challenger Releases Viber 2.0: Free Text Messages And More
Mar 31, 10:36AM
Exclusive - Viber Media, the Israeli startup behind the Viber service, which lets iPhone users make free calls to each other, has released version 2.0 of its application in the App Store. The company's still gearing up for the launch of their Android application, but in the meantime the update to the iPhone app brings a couple of goodies, in particular the ability to text message other Viber users free of charge.
Diagnosia Aims To Make Medicine Information Easier To Swallow
Mar 31, 10:00AM
There's a plethora of medical advice and information about drugs and treatment online. But separating the wheat from the chaff can be somewhat of a problem. Enter Diagnosia, a newly launched startup that is aiming to become "Europeʻs premier drug search engine" by providing a safe place for people looking up medicine information. Curiously, perhaps, it's aimed at both patients and physicians. In fact, the consumer angle plays a part in Diagosia's business model.
Attention Gold-Digging Women of Silicon Valley: I'm On To You
Mar 31, 5:13AM
So, there I was, sitting at TCHQ, discussing the recent Vanity Fair article about Jack Dorsey -- and the ridiculous bluebird-on-the-shoulder picture that accompanied it. Keen to track down the image itself, I typed Dorsey's name into Google's predictive image search box. Here's what came up...
Startup Visa D.O.A., and Startup America Just a Giant Press Release?
Mar 31, 4:48AM
President Obama seems to understand the role that startups play and the contribution that skilled immigrants make to U.S. economic growth. He has talked a lot about the importance of science and engineering, and expressed fears that, unless we improve our game, China and India will out-innovate us. He even visited Silicon Valley recently to talk to its elite. And he has had his Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, make several trips here to the Valley. I commend the President for putting a spotlight on entrepreneurship with his Startup America initiative; but I can't help wondering whether this is just a giant press release. It needs more substance: a way for foreign-born entrepreneurs to start companies here and a leveling of the playing field for entrepreneurs wanting to solve government problems. I debated this with Aneesh Chopra, at the Economist Innovation Summit in Berkeley, last week.
On Its First Birthday, WePay Celebrates As Engagement Quintuples In Last 90 Days
Mar 31, 2:20AM
Almost exactly one year ago (their birthday is tomorrow), WePay launched its group payment platform to the public. The goal was simple: give people an easy way to divvy up bills, member dues, and other common transactions with an integrated payment system and easy reminders to nudge those fraternity members who haven't paid their dues yet. The service is also handy for selling tickets and collecting donations. In light of the occasion, WePay is starting to talk about some of its numbers (albeit vaguely). WePay CEO Bill Clerico says that in the last three months, the service's engagement numbers have surged from around 5,000 users per week to 25,000 per week. These users aren't just visiting the site — they're actually taking substantive action, like sending bills. He attributes this growth to optimizations the site has recently made to its sharing flows on Twitter, Facebook and its emails. He also says that WePay has drawn a lot of new users from referrals. 
BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti On Why The "Facebook" Media World View Wins
Mar 31, 1:59AM
BuzzFeed and Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti talked at Web 2.0 Expo today about the much misunderstood subject of how to make something go viral (no it's not all about cats and bacon). Peretti began the talk running through his various early experiments in virality and what they taught him about why content spreads. As part of his theory as to why content that elicits a reaction from users has more of a penchant for going viral, Peretti contrasted Google and Facebook in terms of their approaches to information. 
As Gecko Scurries Away, Camino Looks To WebKit To Save Itself
Mar 31, 1:39AM
Long ago, before Chrome existed for OS X (so, 2009) my browser of choice was Camino. You'll be forgiven if you've never heard of it, it's an open-source project that zero people work on full-time. And it's only available on the Mac. In fact, if you have heard of it, it may be as the other browser Mozilla makes. And its future is now at a crossroads. As the team lays out in a post on their blog, a major change is needed to keep Camino going. Why? Because throughout its existence, the browser has been built using Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine — the one built for Firefox. But now that engine will no longer be embeddable in other browsers — even other Mozilla browsers, like Camino.
Google Payment VP/Former PayPal Exec Osama Bedier On eCommerce: Major Change Is Coming
Mar 31, 12:37AM
My old friend Osama Bedier now works for Google. This is especially interesting after reports that Google has partnered up with MasterCard and CitiGroup to test out an NFC payments system. It's also pretty interesting in light of the fact that Google recently filed for a patent for a "Distributed Electronic Commerce System With Centralized Point Of Purchase," or what sounds like a mobile shopping cart that wraps ups all elements of a transaction into a process, goes beyond PayPal and actually collects data about what users are buying.
Reid Hoffman: "Good Internet Companies Never Ambush Their Users"
Mar 31, 12:03AM
Today at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman took the stage for a chat with NetworkEffect's Liz Gannes. The main point of the discussion was Hoffman's belief that "Web 3.0" is data. More specifically, the platform part of data. But that's old news, Hoffman gave that talk at SXSW a few weeks ago. More interesting were his thoughts on what Internet companies should do with their data. Or rather, what they shouldn't do with their data.
TCTV Pilot Season: This Week In STFU
Mar 31, 12:01AM
Ever have one of those days where every news story bugs the living shit out of you? Where your faith in humanity ebbs further away with every click? We're having one of those days. *Click* "Have you seen this Tesla thing? What is wrong with them?" *Click* "I can't believe people are protesting outside Twitter over this tax cut..." *Click* "Seriously, PETA wants to rename the Tenderloin?" *Click* "Wait -- we have a video studio..." And so a show was born. Welcome to the very first episode of a new regular TCTV feature: "This week in STFU". Video below.
Ben Horowitz On Shifting Technologies: "Go Out And Build 'Question Mark' …"
Mar 30, 11:39PM
Andreessen Horowitz Founder/Partner Ben Horowitz took the stage today at Web 2.0 Expo SF to talk about what to invest in and what to build during a technological shift. Comparing our current technological shift to historical technological shifts like the platform shift from mainframe to client server, the database shift from hierarchical to relational databases and then the infectious domino effect of applications, operating systems, infrastructure, networks and eventually PCs afterward, "The results of the change are bigger than the change", Horowitz said.
Apple Posts A New OS X Lion Build — Developers You'll Want To Try This One Out
Mar 30, 10:55PM
Five days ago, we reported that Apple was gearing up to release a new build of the OS X Lion Developer Preview. Sure enough, that's exactly what they did today as build 11A419 has been seeded to developers. This matters for a couple of reasons. First, it's the first update to the OS X Lion preview which many developers complained was fairly buggy. Despite the bugs, the preview went a month without any updates. More importantly, this is the build that Apple is considering to be a "GM1" revision internally, we hear. And yes, it's said to be much more stable and complete than the previous build.
Live With Jack
Mar 30, 10:20PM
I'm at Columbia Business School tonight to talk with Jack Dorsey, a founder of both Twitter and Square. As I wrote earlier today: It's really more of an interview, with questions from the students and the audience at large. If you have a question for Dorsey, leave one in comments below or Tweet them at me during the event @erickschonfeld. I'll be asking Dorsey about his new role at Twitter, where the product needs to go from here, how he will balance that with his role at Square, and how he thinks about designing social products in general. The theme of the lecture is "Social Disruption." Both Twitter and Square are disruptive startups in the media/communications and payments industries, respectively. We'll get into how each company disrupts the current order of things and creates new value in the process. Square lets anyone accept credit cards, lowering the barriers to creating a business. Twitter lowers the barrier to communication, opening up a whole new way to consume information. I want to know what lessons he's learned from both experiences, and how the early rough days of Twitter helped him launch Square with so far hardly a hiccup. I also want to know what he thinks about larger players like Intuit rushing in after Square.
Twitter's Interactive 'Web Intents' Turn Your Site Into A Lightweight Twitter Client
Mar 30, 9:57PM
Twitter has just released a pretty snazzy API tool that allow site publishers to provide users with the functionality of Twitter follows, retweets, replies and favorites without forcing them to leave their own sites. Those interested can invoke an intent by embedding a line of Javascript and HTML, without having build an OAuth app in order to attach these functions. 
Wolfram Research Acquires Modeling And Simulation Software Developer MathCore
Mar 30, 7:35PM
Wolfram Research, the parent company behind computational search engine Wolfram Alpha, is acquiring MathCore Engineering AB, the developer of the MathModelica modeling and simulation software system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. MathModelica is a software system for multi-engineering modeling and simulation based on Modelica and Mathematica. MathModelica allows users to develop advanced multi-engineering models in a simple drag and drop interface and includes a large number of built-in base models for engineering domains, including electrical, mechanical, and thermal, as well as for areas like biochemical modeling. The resulting models can be directly simulated and visualized. MathCore's software is used by companies such as Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Scania.
Something Is Technically Wrong With Twitter
Mar 30, 7:28PM
Hey Erick, I have a question for Jack Dorsey. What's up with Twitter? As I'm sure you've noticed, Twitter is down (for some users), so in true TechCrunch tradition we need to celebrate the downtime with a post. Sorry, did we say downtime? 
White-Label App Marketplace Platform Appia Raises $10M At $100M Valuation
Mar 30, 7:01PM
White-label mobile app platform Appia (formerly PocketGear), is announcing that it has secured $10 million in new funding from Venrock. According to sources familiar with the matter, the startup was valued at $100 million in the round. This latest investment brings Appia's total funding to $30 million. Dev Khare, Vice President at Venrock, has joined the company's board of directors. Until February, PocketGear wss an independent marketplace that billed itself as the "World's Largest Mobile App Store which sold apps for Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, and Java phones. The company rebranded and shifted focus as Appia, powering a white-label content and commerce platform for everyone and anyone who needs an app store. The company now powers mobile app storefronts for more than 40 partners, including four of the world's top five handset manufacturers (Samsung, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless). 
Flickr Dips Its Toes Into Social With Twitter And Facebook 'Share This' Features
Mar 30, 6:30PM
Photo-sharing site Flickr, which has limitless potential in terms of the sheer number of photos stored on the service (over 5 billion at last count), has made it easier for users to share their photos today with new Twitter and Facebook "Share This" features. A share interface re-vamp comes along with the new features. While previously you could only share photostreams, groups, and sets from Flickr by sending an email, manually grabbing the link/code or on Blogger, users now have the option to post individual photos and everything else on Facebook and Twitter as well as on Tumblr via "Share This" drop down menu in the upper left.
Help Me Interview Jack Dorsey Tonight
Mar 30, 5:43PM
Jack Dorsey is in demand these days. The inventor of Twitter is now back as head of product, while still acting as CEO of his other startup, Square. Tonight, Dorsey and I will guest lecture together at Rachel Sterne's Columbia Business School course on Social Media And Entrepreneurship. Sterne is also New York City's chief digital officer, so it should be a social media extravaganza. We'll be streaming the talk right here on TechCrunch starting around 6PM ET tonight. It's really more of an interview, with questions from the students and the audience at large. If you have a question for Dorsey, leave one in comments below or Tweet them at me during the event @erickschonfeld. I'll be asking Dorsey about his new role at Twitter, where the product needs to go from here, how he will balance that with his role at Square, and how he thinks about designing social products in general. The theme of the lecture is "Social Disruption." Both Twitter and Square are disruptive startups in the media/communications and payments industries, respectively. We'll get into how each company disrupts the current order of things and creates new value in the process.
This Is What Skype 5 For Mac Should Look Like
Mar 30, 5:42PM
Skype users with any sense of aesthetic justice are pretty much in unanimous agreement that the user interface for Skype 5 for Mac is a disaster. Between the useless coverflow way of scrolling through Contacts, the using of "recently talked to" instead of "online" as a hierarchy for listing Contacts and the irrational hogging of onscreen real estate in the most recent update, I've now began to shudder every time I see the message "There is a new version of Skype available." I am not alone in thinking that the ability to video chat with multiple people isn't worth the rest of Skype 5 for Mac's UI hassles. Software Engineer Lucas Matis just wrote a nearly 2,000 word missive on how the new Skype is too confusing for the casual user, and not complex enough for someone more advanced (And why can you no longer send links while in video chat mode?).
With +1, Google Search Goes Truly Social — As Do Google Ads
Mar 30, 5:36PM
Back in early December of last year, we first reported that Google was toying around with the name "+1" for an upcoming social product. At the time, we were told it was sort of like Google's version of the "like" or "retweet" button. Today it officially launches as a way to share Google Search results that you like with your friends and the broader web in general. Oh, and also a way to inject social into Google Ads. To be clear, the version of +1 which is beginning to roll out today is not the toolbar version that we first got a glimpse of in December, that's apparently a different version that was being tested. This version of +1 actually launching is a small button that will reside next to each and every Google Search result. If you like the result, you click the +1 button and it gets shared with your social circle — and the public (more on that in a bit).
5 Reasons To Buy A Nintendo 3DS… And 5 Reasons Not To
Mar 30, 5:15PM
With the hoopla over the Nintendo 3DS dying down and the hard reality of the thing clear, it's time to take stock and assess if the 3DS is right for you and/or your family. First off, I'll say I'm a fan. It's a wildly fascinating device and the 3D effects are amazing - when done correctly. I believe the 3DS has legs and will maintain sales at a steady clip over the next few years and I also think Nintendo has set a new level of interactivity and creativity in the creation of this new handheld. This isn't just an upgraded DS, it's a new handheld console. Let's go through a few reasons why the 3DS is worth picking up - and a few caveats before you buy.
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