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Apr 10, 4:36AM
Earlier this week
500 Startups announced the creation of
The d.fund, a designer-centric fund with the aim of increasing the number of startups co-founded by people who have design experience. As quite a few startups like Tumblr, YouTube, Android and Flickr have achieved success because of their designer founders, d.fund founder and 500 Startups designer Enrique Allen wants to foster a community that replicates their success.
Apr 10, 2:36AM
Think about the best parties you've ever been to. They're probably not thrown by some random promoter that you found via a flyer on the street. They're probably thrown by your friends, or a friend of a friend. And they probably came together organically. Or at least more organically than a party you pay for. I've been thinking about this a lot this week following the news that Google is tying all employee bonuses this year
to their social strategy. At first I thought this was a joke.
It is not. They dance around the word "social" in the wording in the memo, but make no mistake: that's exactly what this is all about. "
[Your bonus] can range from 0.75 to 1.25 depending on how well we perform against our strategy to integrate relationships, sharing and identity across our products." Social.
Apr 09, 11:31PM
Earlier this week we heard whispers that Facebook was clamping down on
Ad.ly and
Crowdrally — two services that let users post sponsored updates to their Facebook Pages. This is important, because the companies are monetizing Facebook Page feeds, which is something that Facebook presumably would prefer to do itself. Inquiries to speak to both companies went unanswered. Then, this morning, Ad.ly posted an update to its blog stating that it has "complied with Facebook's request to no longer offer celebrity endorsements on Facebook." A
report on MediaMemo expanded on the news, and we've spoken to both Facebook and Ad.ly founder Sean Rad to get to the bottom of what's going on. The only problem: both sides are directly contradicting each other.
Apr 09, 7:34PM
Mike Walrath "was supposed to write novels." Instead, he got int digital ad sales, started Right Media, which became an online ad exchange that he
sold to Yahoo in 2007 for $850 million. In this
Founder Stories video, he answers some rapid fire questions from host Chris Dixon about startup advice, hiring, and investing. "Don't try to solve a problem that you don't fully understand," he warns would-be entrepreneurs. He speaks from experience, having dabbled in the broken independent film industry after he left Yahoo. Now, the startup world is pulling him back in. He recently became the
chairman of Yext, and is involved with some smaller projects as well. Walrath admits, "I was never qualified for any job I got in my life." But the most important thing is to keep on learning. His No. 1 piece of hiring advice for startup CEOs is to figure put how fast a candidate can learn new things.
Apr 09, 7:13PM
This week's episode of OMG/JK is all-Google, all the time. Given the big shakeup at the top of the search giant (with co-founder Larry Page taking over the CEO role this week), it should be no surprise that a lot of interesting things are happening. But even more interesting is how things are shaking out. The "open" debate has been kicked up a notch, there's been a huge re-organization, and the big push towards a more social Google is finally beginning.
Apr 09, 5:59PM
Foursquare CEO
Dennis Crowley says he wants to do his part in helping Google employees get their
FUM Counteroffers from Google, too (that's what we're calling them now, FUM Counteroffers, you can figure it out). He writes:
>> "If you're a Google employee and you aren't out interviewing at Facebook, Twitter or Zynga you are a moron." what about foursquare, brother?!
Apr 09, 4:00PM
2011 is going to be a big year for payments, with more startups and mature companies getting funded in the space than almost ever before. It's important to make the distinction between the headline chasers, the slow moving giants struggling for a piece of the pie and the companies that have a chance at real disruption. For my money Facebook and Square are both very interesting companies to follow in this space. In my last post on TechCrunch I discussed Google and Apple and their efforts around payments, and explained why I don't yet think they are serious players for the whole payments pie. The post ended with some ideas around what serious contenders could look like, and who are other potential large companies that could step into user-to-user payments. I'd like to expand on that, looking at how the companies above might take advantage of chinks in Paypal's armor (disclosure: my consulting company, Analyzd, has done a project with Square in the past).
Apr 09, 2:00PM
Editor's note: Jordan Kretchmer is the founder of Livefyre, a realtime commenting and conversation platform for publishers and online communities. He doesn't think much of Facebook comments. In this guest post, he explains why. I'm not gonna lie, I hate Facebook Comments. It's not just because it competes with my company's product (though I'm sure that has something to do with it). It goes much deeper than that. And I am not alone. I'm a bit biased, I admit, but I think we have to look beyond the feature-set of Facebook to grasp the impact that one line of javascript could have on a site's community, and more importantly the entire web. This post tries to unpack the many places where Facebook fails those who adopt the commenting platform as a cure-all to bring community back to their content.
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!" 
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".
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.
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.
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. 
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. 
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. 
Apr 08, 10:30PM
As regular readers might already know, Paul is in Las Vegas for a month, hanging out with strippers reaffirming his belief in the American dream. As a result, this week's Why Is This News is even less tech-focused than usual. Still, no matter whether you subscribe to Sarah's view that 33 days in Vegas is 33 wasted days or Paul's insistence that there are still stories to be found on and around the strip, you can watch the whole debate unfold below. (You can also read Paul's daily Vegas diary on the Huffington Post, and follow his (temporary) Twitter account at @paulgoestovegas.) And, for those of you who don't care about Vegas either way: here's a video of a dog mowing the lawn.
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 
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: 
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