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Why British Geeks Can't Bear To Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth
Apr 09, 9:26AM
Last week the UK's Technology Strategy Board, run by the government as a booster of the tech business world, unveiled a new £1m fund to support "digital businesses" in the small area around Old Street and Shoreditch in East London (known as 'Silicon Roundabout'). The announcement was badly handled as it lacked detail. But instead of asking for more detail (and getting it), the tech community has let loose with both barrels. Why, asks Daniel Tenner, the founder of GrantTree and Woobius (a collaboration hub for architects), is this? He also blogs on swombat.com. You can follow him on Twitter here. The questioner, looking nonchalant but determined, was in his thirties, held a small black dog in his lap and wore thin spectacles. "I have a question. What's in it for the taxpayers? Who's going to be assessing entries and how are they qualified to do that?" There was a chuckle from the audience, at the obviously antagonistic question. I muttered to the person next to me, "Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!" 
Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups
Apr 09, 4:53AM
Google has announced that it will be launching a startup incubator in Cape Town, South Africa, called Umbono. The incubator aims to support the local tech ecosystem in South Africa by offering local startups access to seed capital, Google mentorship, and angel investors. Umbono will focus on web and mobile-based startups building solutions to local problems, which also have regional appeal, in an effort to help them "transform their ideas into companies", according to Google SA country manager Luke Mckend. Fittingly, "umbono" happens to be the very Zulu word for "vision" or "idea".
House Of Representatives Is Among Top 10 ISPs Visiting Isthegovernmentshutdown.com
Apr 09, 2:06AM
We're five hours away from what might be the first government shutdown since 1995. Therefore it comes as no surprise that people are checking Isthegovernmentshutdown.com and that the site, created by WSJ editor Zach Seward to keep us posted on the furlough's status, would experience a spike in traffic. What does come as a surprise is that a good number of the visits came in through the House of Representatives ISP, pushing the congressional body, which also happens to be the battleground that might instigate the shutdown, into the top ten service providers on Google Analytics. Other government agencies like the Senate, the Navy, Homeland Security, the Justice Department and Health and Human Services were also in the top 50 in terms of referral traffic.
Clearer Shot Of The Alleged Buttonless iPod Touch Looks Nice, Is Fake
Apr 09, 1:00AM
Our anonymous tipster who sent that buttonless iPod touch the other day, or at least someone claiming to be him, sent this new, clear pic over. Now, we don't just publish things like this willy-nilly. Our highly-paid team of trained image experts has to vet them first. In this case, there were a couple red flags. See if you can spot them before scrolling down.
Google Buys Mobile Music And Entertainment Platform PushLife
Apr 08, 11:48PM
Google has acquired Canadian mobile entertainment startup Pushlife for close to $25 million dollars, Startup North is reporting. And indeed by the looks of its homepage, it seems like the startup, which enabled you to port iTunes, etc to a non-Apple phones has been gobbled up by the search engine in its attempts to move beyond search. 
House Votes Against FCC Net Neutrality Regulation (But It's Probably Safe For Now)
Apr 08, 11:24PM
Last December the FCC approved its "Preserving the Open Internet" regulation to ban blocking of websites or web services by broadband providers, while being equally vague about what the new restrictions held for mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T. As we said in December, Republicans had vowed to give the loophole-filled rules hell when the Congress turned more Republican in January. Today we see the fruits of their efforts, namely the voting through of House Joint Resolution 37, a regulation that would prohibit the FCC from having any authority over ISPs and broadband, thus overturning December's regulations. 
A New Design For InternMatch Humanizes Internship Search
Apr 08, 10:32PM
There are a number of websites out there that allow you to search for and discover internships. Internships.com, which Charlie Sheen recently used to hire a social media intern, is probably the biggest and most well known of the bunch. But, as anyone who's used these sites knows, the experience is far from perfect. And the same can be said of job search sites like Indeed. InternMatch is entering the internship search and discovery market by focusing on small-to-medium-sized businesses and by building a tool that's easy to use with an eye-catching design. And I think it's fair to say that a big part of making user experience enjoyable (and simple) is derived not only from the smooth application of the technology that underlies a particular service, but perhaps more importantly, from how its designed. 
WITN: Abbasso Las Vegas! [TCTV]
Apr 08, 10:30PM
As regular readers might already know, Paul is in Las Vegas for a month, 
Frame Wars
Apr 08, 10:02PM
Recent reports that have both Peter Jackson and James Cameron shooting films at 48 frames per second (fps) have attracted a lot of commentary, and as this is a blog that covers trends and bleeding-edge tech, it seems like a synthesis of this discussion is warranted. Framerate standards sound like a rather dry topic to begin with, but it's amazing what difference is created by even a minor shift on such supposedly technical grounds. Understanding why framerates are the way they are, and how they are changing, is fundamental to modern media production, and really is a major part of a number of multi-billion-dollar businesses. It's powerful information, and more importantly, it's interesting. Let's take a look at the psychology and history that have created a worldwide standard for moving images, and examine why this standard is under revision.
What, Zuck Worry? Mad Magazine "Honors" Mark Zuckerberg With His Own Cover
Apr 08, 8:57PM
Mark Zuckerberg has finally joined the ranks of Richard Nixon, Bart Simpson, Barack Obama, and Thom Yorke, all folks who have been honored as some of the few celebrities to grace the cover of everyone's favorite portzebie title, Mad Magazine. The cover [Click to embiggen] will complement what will probably be a horribly unfunny piece on the inside of the magazine entitled "The 50 Worst Things About Facebook" and will grace newsstands in about a week. 
The Seven Most Interesting Startups At 500 Startups Demo Day (TCTV)
Apr 08, 8:24PM
500 Startups first Demo Day sprint is over and people are trickling out their rankings lists of the 23 startups, or "little monsters" as co-founder Dave McClure calls them. McClure, with a background in marketing, has a unique curator's eye, and his first batch of companies are an interesting brood, to say the least. Companies that are part of the 500 Startups accelerator program get a 50K investment from the fund at a $1 million valuation and can stay in the 500 Startups offices for 3-6 months. Companies that are part of McClure's seed program receive up to $250K in seed funding, and McClure has the option of following on in later rounds. All in all the 500 Startups investment stable includes 110 startups, including Twilio, inDinero and Foodspotting.
Weekend Giveaway: A Blackberry Playbook
Apr 08, 8:13PM
I was originally going to write something like "Weekend Giveaway: An iPod Classic Case Plus Something Else" and then make you guys read the whole post to find out that I was going to include a Blackberry Playbook in the prize and then you'd be angry and come to my house and stuff and nobody wanted that. So here goes: we're going to give you one lucky reader a Blackberry Playbook. It won't ship until the official release date - April 19 - but it will be one of the first Playbooks to roll off the assembly lines. Entering, as you probably know by now, is simple.
Google Places Swallows The Awkwardly Named "Hotpot"
Apr 08, 6:52PM
I can't recall Google pushing a product as hard as they've pushed Hotpot on their blogs in recent months. I swear that on a daily basis there's some sort of update about "what's new with Hotpot". The only problem? I have basically no idea what Hotpot is. I mean, I sort of do, but it's such a bad name and it's a product that seems to overlap with other Google products, so I just don't get it. And now I don't have to. Google is killing off the Hotpot name, as they're announcing in about five blog posts today. But they're not killing the product itself — instead, it will now reside as a part of Google Places. They're calling it a "graduation". I'm calling it a "gorging". And it's definitely the right move.
Sequoia Invests $8 Million In Messaging App Maker WhatsApp: Sources
Apr 08, 6:04PM
Messaging apps that let you use your smartphone to text or chat with your friends or even large groups of people, often free of charge, are red hot. We've heard from a reliable source that one of the companies making waves in the space, WhatsApp, has just secured $8 million in financing from Sequoia Capital, and possibly other investors. WhatsApp enables users of iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Nokia Symbian60 devices to exchange text messages, images, audio and even video messages with one another.
I Won't Use Flickr Until They Release My Photo Hostages
Apr 08, 5:23PM
Freemium business models are always hard. You have to give users enough for free that they try your service out and get hooked. Then you hit them with fees for upgraded features that make it even better. With a perfect product people don't mind paying because they feel like it's good value. Flickr is a freemium service. But they have more of a hostage taking business model. It may make people cough up the money, but they sure aren't happy about it. I, for one, have been staring them down for years now. It's not a fight I think I'll win, but it's one that I'm willing to whine loudly about. On the surface Flickr's pro service, currently $25/year, seems fair. The free service lets you upload a certain amount of photos, up to a certain maximum size per photo. The pro version allows unlimited uploading and a bigger maximum size per photo.
Keen On… Steven Levy: Google's Social Strategy – "A Comedy of Errors" (TCTV)
Apr 08, 5:20PM
Wired senior writer Steven Levy has spent the last three years researching In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives, his major new book about the impact of Google on the world. While Levy is generally sympathetic to what he calls the company's "big hairy audacious goals," his analysis certainly isn't uncritical. For example, as he told me earlier this week when he came into our San Francisco studio to talk about In The Plex, Google's social media strategy has been a "comedy of errors." And then there's the looming possibility of a US anti-trust investigation of Google, a scenario that Levy acknowledges isn't impossible. That said, In The Plex remains generally bullish - sometimes, perhaps, a little too bullish - on Google's prospects. And, like the company itself, this is an audaciously bold narrative that goes where no other book about Google has been before. Levy's new book immediately jumps to the top of the pile in the Google literature. It is essential reading for anyone with any interest in the Mountain View search leviathan. 
TechCrunch Giveaway: Free Ticket To Disrupt NYC #TechCrunch
Apr 08, 5:01PM
Our first stop for Disrupt is in New York City on May 23rd through May 25th. We will have special speakers and guests, amazing new startups, fun after parties, and much more we will reveal shortly. Want to come with us? Here is another chance to win a free ticket. Congratulations to Eddie Sosa who won last week's ticket! If you want a chance at winning this week's ticket to Disrupt NYC, just follow these steps to enter: 
DOJ Willing To Approve Google's $700M ITA Deal, With Conditions
Apr 08, 4:30PM
Google has just come close to winning approval from the U.S. Justice Department of its $700 million acquisition of travel software company ITA. Google has been embroiled in an investigation by the Justice Department over the search giant's acquisition of the travel software company, which provides a management system for airfare pricing and shopping services. Despite intense scrutiny and opposition from competitors, the deal appears to be on its way to being approved, if Google complies with the DOJ's proposed settlement. Read our coverage here for background on the investigation. This settlement requires that Google develop and license travel software, to establish internal firewall procedures and to continue to fund software research and development in the industry. Interestingly, The DOJ also filed an antitrust lawsuit at the same time they filed a proposed settlement, in case Google doesn't agree to the settlement terms. But according to this Google blog post, the search giant seems to be ready for the acquisition to close. The key takeaway is that if Google doesn't settle, the DOJ says that the acquisition, as originally proposed, is anti-competitive. ed, is anti-competitive. 
YouTube Gets Into The Live Streaming Game, Albeit Carefully
Apr 08, 4:23PM
Google's online video giant YouTube this morning announced that it is getting into the live streaming business, a move that has long been rumored but hasn't become a reality up until today. In a blog post, the company says it is currently registering 2 billion views on a daily basis, and that they're looking to complement their offering with live videos.
Kno Bails On Hardware, Takes Another $30 Million. Is An Android App Next?
Apr 08, 4:00PM
Take a good look at the Kno textbook tablet at left because you might not ever see it again. Kno is getting out of the hardware business and, as reported earlier, taking another $30 million from Intel Capital, Advance Publications (owner of Conde Nast), and its previous investors (Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, First Round, and SV Angel). The company is now confirming the reports. CEO Osman Rashid puts it to me this way: "We have accelerated our 2012 strategy to 2011. Our long-term plan was always to support multiple platforms." Kno started selling its textbook tablets last year, with a $599 single-screen version and an $899 dual-screen. But, as I've noted before, competing against the iPad and Android tablets makes absolutely no sense. If a student is going to buy a tablet, they will buy one of those first. Nobody is going to carry around two tablets. Plus, you can't play Angry Birds on a Kno.
Finally! Twitter-Tax Story Explained in Cartoon Form
Apr 08, 3:32PM
Just the antidote for a restless Friday morning: A cartoon rendering of the Twitter-tax controversy complete with a groggy Biz Stone masquerading as Twitter's CEO, the role of Zynga played by a frontiersman, and a cartoony but pretty realistic view of the Tenderloin. Video on the jump.
Jetsetter's New iPad App Is Even Dreamier
Apr 08, 2:57PM
Fair warning: This is where I get all MG on you guys. As someone who just spent forty weeks traveling around the world, there is no category of consumer Web sites that makes me angrier than online travel sites. More than any other category on the Web, the early incumbents-- online travel agents like Expedia and Travelocity-- rafted on an early tidal wave of massive convenience and cost savings only to get lazy and never innovate again. They equated more inventory with innovation and treated every category of travel like the perishable commodity of booking a flight or a rental car. So when I have a good experience it delights me that much more.
To Figure Out Google's Priorities, Just Look At Team Larry
Apr 08, 2:33PM
When Larry Page accepted the resignation of senior VP of product Jonathan Rosenberg on Monday, that was just beginning of a shakeup in the top ranks of Google. Page is ending his first week back as CEO by naming the senior team who each will run a different part of Google and report directly to him. If you want to know what Page's priorities will be for Google, just look at this team and the products they run: search, ads, YouTube, mobile, Chrome, and social. Team Larry consists of six key people at Google: Andy Rubin (Senior Vice President of Mobile), Salar Kamangar (Senior Vice President of YouTube and Video), Vic Gundotra (Senior Vice President of Social), Sundar Pichai (Senior Vice President of Chrome) Alan Eustace (Senior Vice President of Search), and Susan Wojcicki (Senior Vice President of Ads). Each will run their respective parts of Google independently, with a direct line to Page. After all, extra layers of management just get in the way. 
Benioff-Backed Cloudwords Helps Content Owners Manage Mass Translations
Apr 08, 2:20PM
Finding the right vendor for mass scale language translations can be confusing for content owners. Clearly, in the matters of translation, quality is key. Cloudwords, startup founded by ex-Salesforce.com employees, has quietly launched a cloud-based application that helps companies improve their translation process and find the right translation vendor. The startup, which launched in mid-February, allows customers to find vendors that will translate any type of content, including marketing, website, documentation and product, from any language to any language. Cloudwords goes beyond just connecting customers and vendors. 
Group Buying Site Groupalia Raises $15M, Expects A Turnover Of $150M In 2011
Apr 08, 2:17PM
More investors pouring more money into Spanish group buying site Groupalia as the company just announced that it has landed $15 million from current shareholders and new backers like General Atlantic, Insight Venture Partners and Index Ventures. The round follows a 5 million euros investment secured back in October 2010 and a 2.5 million euros round secured back in May 2010. Groupalia is a site that features a daily deal, in the form of a discount coupon, on the best things to do, see, eat and buy in the cities where it is present. The company expects a turnover of $150 million in 2011, which would be 16 times the turnover booked last year.
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