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iPhone 4 About To Be Flickr's Top Camera. Point & Shoots? Pretty Much The Opposite.
Apr 17, 7:44AM
What's the most popular camera used in terms of pictures taken that are uploaded to Flickr? Right now, it's the Nikon D90. But in about a month or so, it will be Apple's iPhone 4. What's amazing is that D90 is nearly three years old. The iPhone 4 is not even a year old. Just look at a the chart above. The rise has been spectacular. But it's hardly the first time an iPhone has risen this quickly. Back in 2009, the iPhone overtook the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi as the most popular camera on Flickr. The difference is that at the time, Flickr was counting all the iPhone models together. That meant the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3GS were all clumped together to overtake the Canon model. Now they're split up, and the iPhone 4 alone is still going to be the most popular camera on Flickr in under a year. It's pretty remarkable, really.
18 Hardcore Months In The Making, Glitch Is Ready To Roll
Apr 17, 2:27AM
Starting next week, there's a new massively multi-player online game launching in beta that you're going to want to play. It's called Glitch, and it's been in the making for well over a year. From what I've seen, it will be well worth the wait. Over a year ago, I sat down with Tiny Speck (the company behind Glitch) co-founder Stewart Butterfield to go over some of the aspects behind the game. A few days ago, we caught up again to go over how far they've come leading up to the beta. "We've been going hardcore for the last 18 months," Butterfield says of the Tiny Speck team. "But only in the last four months have things gotten much clearer," he continues. While they initially expected to launch in beta late last year, it has taken a bit longer than anticipated. But now he feels they're ready to roll, undoubtedly helped by a big new influx of funding and a lot of new employees (they're up to 22 now — minus former design lead Daniel Burka who moved on, but remains involved, Butterfield notes).
>From the Teclosion 2011 Spring Event In Tokyo: 15 Demos From Japanese Startups
Apr 17, 2:26AM
On Friday, I attended Teclosion Spring 2011 in Tokyo/Japan, a one-day web industry event (backed by TechCrunch Japan and Tokyo-based UI design company DESIGN IT!, amongst others) that was very much focused on the local startup scene. The largest chunk of the schedule was reserved for 15 Japanese start-ups, which presented their services onstage to a panel of judges and a crowd of around 300 people. Here are thumbnail sketches of all the services that were shown at the event's so-called "Startup Battle".
Jack Dorsey Is A Real Man, For A Good Cause
Apr 17, 12:31AM
DNA, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher's foundation for sex trafficking awareness, has launched its social media campaign this week, "Real Men Don't Buy Girls." If you get past the absurdity of their ads (and they are absurd on so many levels) and visit the DNA Facebook page you'll encounter some shocking statistics about the prostitution industry. For example, over 12 million people are currently sex slaves around the world and the average of entry into sex slavery is 13 years old. 
Voxy Now Uses Your Location To Help You Learn Language
Apr 16, 10:48PM
TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Voxy, a service that lets you learn a language "from life" has just updated its iPhone app in the App Store, with one pretty disruptive difference; Voxy's ESL app Aprende inglés now uses your location to help you learn a language, presenting you with the related vocabulary, as well things you hear and things you say if you're at a restaurant, for example. The app uses the SimpleGeo platform to bring users context-based lessons for about 150 points of interest including barbershops, dentist's offices, banks, grocery shopping and more. Each lesson is built so a user can complete it in three minutes, so as not to detract from the actual experience of being in a restuarant. 
Square's Disruptive Payment Service About To Get A Huge Retail Boost From Apple
Apr 16, 9:39PM
Mobile payments company Square has landed a big coup—sales placement on Apple's online store. And we've just confirmed with Square that the startup has a deal for in-store sales as well. Apple will start selling Square devices in all of its U.S. retail stores starting this week. Square offers both an iPhone/iPod Touch and an iPad app which allows merchants to process and manage credit card transactions with a handy little credit card swiping device that plugs into the headset/microphone jack. Apple has shown some love for Square lately, so it's not entirely surprising that the payments startup has forged a deeper relationship with the Cupertino-based company. Most recently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs showcased Square's technology at the debut of Apple's iPad 2. But to be featured on Apple's online store and in its brick and mortar operations is a big deal. 
Mobli Aims To Give Mobile Photo/Video Sharing A Little Celebrity Flair
Apr 16, 9:30PM
Given the rapid success that Instagram is seeing, it should be absolutely no surprise the startups are rushing to the mobile photo/video sharing space. But is there room for more than one player? Probably, but again, there are dozens of other players who have already been working on building their user bases for months now as well. The new guys coming late to the game need a hook. Mobli's hook is apparently going to be celebrity participation. Mobli is an Israeli startup that is preparing to enter the space in a few weeks with an iPhone app and website, followed shortly thereafter by Android and BlackBerry apps. "Smartphones are gradually replacing video and digital cameras," Gil Eyal, Mobli's VP of Strategy tells us. But we already knew that, a lot of people do. How can they differentiate themselves?
The Real Reason Mike McCue Needs $50 Million: Google Is Building A Flipboard Killer
Apr 16, 7:00PM
When news came out the other day that Flipboard just raised another $50 million at a $200 million valuation for its iPad news reading app, I gave CEO Mike McCue a hard time on Twitter and here on TechCrunch. Does an iPad app startup really need $50 million, or is this yet another sign of a bubble? McCue responded on Twitter, but yesterday we spoke by phone and he went into great detail about why exactly he thinks he needs $50 million. He came up with the number a few months ago. It's what he calculates he needs to get to cashflow positive, or at least pretty close (more on that below). Raising money is distraction, and his preference was to raise it all at once. But towards the end of our conversation, he also mentioned another concern which was a factor in taking as much money as he can right now. "I see a lot of competition down the pike," he says. Rumors have been reaching him that there is a team of engineers at Google who are "saying they are building a Flipboard killer." He adds quickly, " I have no idea what it is," but hearing about "this desire to kill us" is unsettling and it does add "a little concern about the unknown." 
TechCrunch Interview: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski
Apr 16, 5:56PM
Earlier this week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski took the stage at the Computer History Museum in San Jose, CA for a special Commonwealth Club event moderated by Adam Lashinsky, Senior Editor at Large of Fortune. Their conversation touched on a range of issues related to the FCC, including net neutrality and AT&T's pending acquisition of T-Mobile (which, unsurprisingly, Genachowski couldn't comment on). Immediately following the event Genachowski took some time to speak with us (he says he's a big fan of TechCrunch). Check out the video above for our interview with him, in which we discuss why the FCC's net neutrality rules are more lenient with regard to wireless than they are for wired Internet connections.
Gillmor Gang 4.16.11 (TCTV)
Apr 16, 5:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Dennis Crowley, JP Rangaswami, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — waxed prophetically in the social garden. Crowley has been the focus of some media attention about a slowdown in checkins, but he seemed more excited about his market position than worried. With good reason, as the Gang explained in a dissection of hyperlocal and personal data harvesting. Rangaswami sees the various outputs of these social tools as providing nuanced clues into the nature of what will get viral at Scoble scale, while Crowley demurred about the view of Foursquare as a media property only to describe just such a nextgen service. As we debated what media is becoming, the consensus emerged of a social landscape where each and varied signals provide a valuable composite sense of where we are and are going next.
What App Developers Want: Letters To Steve Jobs And Larry Page
Apr 16, 5:00PM
The next smartphone wave is about to hit. There are rumors that Android 3.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will drop in May, and iOS 5 in June. Greg already posted a pretty compelling user's wish list for the latter, but what developers want is at least as important—because, as the lukewarm-to-appalled recent PlayBook reviews show, it hardly matters how great your hardware is. Nowadays success is all about the apps. Most users probably don't appreciate that while both platforms have come a long way from their inglorious beginnings, both still have some painful, glaring flaws from a developer's perspective. I should know: within the last six months I've been paid to write Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad apps. I've also released my own pet-project travel app on both the App Store and Android Market, so I'm all too familiar with those headaches too. Why should you care? Because these are (often) the main reasons why your apps suck, or crash, or both.
Behind The Scenes At The New York Tech Meetup (TCTV)
Apr 16, 2:42PM
Since launching in 2004, the New York Tech Meetup has mushroomed to more than 17,000 members, making it the largest MeetUp in the world. Once a month the community pours into the Skirball Center on NYU's campus to network and watch nascent companies demo their products. Companies who've taken center stage in the past include Tumblr and Foursquare. Paid tickets are quickly snapped up and the organization recently hired its first Managing Director, Jessica Lawrence to handle growth. I attended the April 6th MeetUp with approximately 800 other spectators, one of which was Craigslist Founder, Craig Newmark. His presences was a highlight for one of the presenters of Lemonade Stand, a company that helps facilitate the online buying and selling of items in a community. (Video after jump).
Welcome To The U.S.! What Spotify Can Expect When It Arrives
Apr 16, 1:03PM
I just read that Spotify is coming to the U.S! Oh, wait. That was an article from 2009. I hope they really mean it this time. I love the product. To grease the skids for them a bit, I've put together a little travel guide for what they can expect in advertising and media circles when they do arrive. Lots of love in digital circles.
Being Swedish I'm guessing they're fantastic dressers and that their accents will make even the Brits envious. American agencies all have European envy, and Spotify is certifiably a big deal abroad. Agency status meetings will be preceded by Absolut and herring in honor of Spotify's arrival.
Google Video Prepares To Enter The Deadpool For Good
Apr 16, 3:43AM
Looks like Google Tags wasn't the only product on the chopping block today — now Google Video, the mostly-forgotten service that was once YouTube's rival, is getting the axe too. Google just sent out an email to users who have previously uploaded content to the service informing them that on April 29 2011, the site will no longer host any more videos. Users are being encouraged to download and reupload their files to YouTube. The news was first reported yesterday by CenterNetworks. Google actually stopped allowing uploads to Google Video back in May 2009, but existing videos have played fine until now.
Google Kills Tags In Favor Of Boost
Apr 16, 3:22AM
Google is killing Tags, an advertising product for local businesses which allowed them to enhance their Google Maps or Places listings. For a flat $25 monthly fee, local merchants could make their their natural listings stand out a bit with a yellow tag and a few words pointing to offers, photos, menus, or links back to their website. Tags were introduced with Google Places, the search engines local listings effort, about a year ago after being tested for a few months. Google sent an email today to merchants using the service notifying them that it will be shut down in two weeks on April 29. One tipster who sent us a copy of the email writes:
Twitter's Phantom Punch
Apr 16, 2:00AM
Yesterday, the story on everyone's mind in the tech world was the turmoil at Twitter. Led by the Fortune cover story written by Jessi Hempel, if you read it, you might think the sky is falling on Chicken Little. Not surprisingly, Twitter responded — sort of. Though it wasn't an "official" response, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone put up a post on his personal blog late last night directly addressing the Fortune article. He even invoked Rocky. Yes. Fight!
Chatroulette Posts Lawyer's Notes In Privacy Policy For Your Entertainment And Edification
Apr 16, 12:40AM
Note to startups: Don't publish your lawyer's notes about the various ways you may or may not profit off of user data. Video chat site Chatroulette seems to have just done just that with its privacy policy, publishing lawyer's notes like ... "[Andrey, does Chatroulette intend to share the personally identifiable information of users with third party companies for them to send direct marketing or promotional materials to your users e.g. name, email address, postal address etc.? If not, please delete this Section 5.]"
Forum Network CrowdGather Acquires Free Forum Host Forumer
Apr 16, 12:21AM
LA-based Internet forum community CrowdGather has acquired free forum hosting platform Forumer for $400K in cash. Forumer will be joining CrowdGather's other platforms Lefora and FreeForums.org as a hosting option for its 65,000 plus online forums. Forumer currently serves 35 million monthly pageviews for 200,000 forums. The purchase increases CrowdGather's network traffic by 50% from 90 million monthly pageviews at the beginning of this year to 135 million monthly pageviews and 13 million monthly unique visitors (CrowdGather was at 100 million monthly pageviews before the acquisition). 
E-Books See Enormous Growth As Paper Book Sales Dive
Apr 15, 11:19PM
A report from the Association of American Publishers reveals that e-books sales experienced "powerful continuing growth" as they colorfully put it, and paper books of all types dipped, compared to the same period (January-February) from last year. This isn't surprising news, mainly because it isn't news — and even if it were, it's just history repeating itself; we've seen the same thing happen to music. The parallels are clear, though the situations and reactions of the RIAA and AAP are somewhat different. Mostly in that the AAP and other booksellers aren't being dragged kicking, screaming, and suing into the future, but are embracing it despite its implications.
Weekend Giveaway: An Authentic Darth Vader Costume
Apr 15, 10:49PM
Spring is upon us and a young geek's mind turns to thoughts of love. And what better way to win the heart of the guy (or girl) of your dreams than to dress up like Darth Vader in a completely authentic Sith Lord costume (saber not included). People will be able to sense your confidence along with your off-the-charts midichlorian count as you stride up to the bar and, in your deepest, smokiest voice, say to the bartender "I find your lack of MGD 64 disturbing." You will be, as they say, unstoppable. 
The Betrayal of Bnter
Apr 15, 10:01PM
We filmed this week's Ask a VC on Tuesday, and I started out by asking Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital about the danger of venture capitalists investing in competitors. There was no ulterior motive on my part. It's just a question I've seen coming up increasingly as dealmaking heats up and VCs invest across a bigger variety of company stages than ever before. And, I'd recently seen that Sabet did write a blog post on the topic. Little did I know then the big drama that had been brewing between Spark and two competitive companies behind for months. Not investing in competitors of existing portfolio companies is great. Even better? Not offering one a term sheet after months of due diligence before you decide that they're competitive. TechCrunch has learned from three sources that Spark Capital reneged on a termsheet offered to a New York-based startup called Bnter, throwing the company into tumult and reportedly enraging its well-known angel investors who we've heard include Chris Dixon and Ron Conway.
LivingSocial Financials Exposed: $2.9 Billion Valuation, $50 Million In Revenue Per Month
Apr 15, 9:20PM
There's nothing like full disclosure during the negotiating process in an acquisition deal. LivingSocial acquired SocialMedia for just $3 million in stock, we reported earlier today. As part of the negotiating process they disclosed key financial information to SocialMedia to help that company understand the value of the stock they were receiving in the deal. That information is now in my inbox. SociaMedia is getting around 545,000 shares of common stock of LivingSocial, valued at $3 million. That implies that there are approximately 520 million shares outstanding. At the recent Series E preferred price of $5.65 per share (which is what most people would use for valuation purposes), LivingSocial is a $2.9 billion company. LivingSocial is no Groupon when it comes to revenue, but it's doing just fine. February revenue was $50 million, says our source, and projected revenue for 2011 (assumed calendar) is a cool $1 billion. Our best guess on Groupon revenue in February was a little under $100 million, so it's roughly twice the size of LivingSocial.
Purchase Sharing Site Shwowp Becomes Buyosphere, Opens To The Public
Apr 15, 8:48PM
Like a Tripit for shopping, TechCrunch Disrupt alumnus Shwowp is opening to the public today, under a new name and after a complete site redesign and rebranding. Shwowp co-founder Tara Hunt tells me that the post launch feedback for Shwop's original branding wasn't good, but the tipping point was when the site won a "Worst Brand Name of 2010" award from blog Eatmywords. Ouch. But instead of getting down in the dumps or being stubborn, Hunt did what any founder committed to growing their business should do, she wrote a blog post inviting people to come up with new suggestions. While the survey brought in over 3000 hits and over 1200 suggestions, none of them were quite the right fit. Thankfully the original Eatmywords blogger Alexandra Watkins stepped in, and came up with the name Buyosphere which is sort of perfect, in a punny sort of way.
Ask a VC: Bijan Sabet on Competition, MBAs, and What He'd Rather Be Doing (TCTV)
Apr 15, 8:45PM
It's time for Ask a VC, and this week Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital was back. We talked about whether it's worth it for startups to launch at a conference like DEMO or Disrupt, the decision to turn a profitable lifestyle business into a venture-backed, cash-burning startup, how entrepreneurs in other countries can find US mentors and the value of MBAs. In one of our more personal questions from a reader Daryn asks Sabet what he'd be doing now if he wasn't a VC. Tune in below for his answers.
LivingSocial Acquires SocialMedia For $3 Million
Apr 15, 8:44PM
Fast growing daily deal service LivingSocial, which just raised $400 million, has acquired long suffering social advertising network SocialMedia, we've confirmed. The price was just $3 million, all in LivingSocial stock. Unfortunately, the company had raised around $10 million from Charles River Ventures, Marc Andreessen, Naval Ravikant and Jeff Clavier. SocialMedia's biggest asset today is probably its domain name. But a couple of years ago the company was tearing it up. They were one of the first companies to create a Facebook ad network that used your friends' pictures in the ads. 2008 revenue was $15 million, and 2009 revenue was on pace to hit $25 million. Facebook tried to acquire the company, says one source. SocialMedia declined, and shortly afterwards Facebook threatened legal action against them for privacy policy violations. What's most fascinating about the acquisition isn't the soft landing that the company has pulled off. It's LivingSocial's financials and capitalization information, disclosed during the deal negotiations, that has now landed in my inbox. More on that in a follow up post.
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