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Facebook Faces Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Sharing Of User Data With Advertisers
May 13, 2:35PM
A judge yesterday threw out most of the claims made in a lawsuit against Facebook, in which two California individuals, David Gould and Mike Robertson, accused the social networking giant of sharing their names and other private information with some advertisers in direct violation of its own privacy policy. That said, the judge also ruled the lawsuit will not be dismissed in its entirety either, as Facebook had pleaded. In October last year, The Wall Street Journal 'uncovered' that some of the most popular apps on the platform had been sharing certain information, including real names, age, hometown, gender or other details with advertising and Internet tracking companies.
LIVE At the TimeCrafter's Show In New York
May 13, 2:23PM
I'm broadcasting life from the Timecrafter's watch show in New York with Hugh Dougherty, the Mart & Highlights Editor for the National Association of Watch And Clock Collector's own watch blog, WatchDig. We'll be looking at some higher end watches (and some affordable ones as well) and talk about the recent watch show in Basel, Switzerland. 
OpenTable Founder Launches OhSoWe, A Network For Neighborhoods
May 13, 1:50PM
OpenTable's co-founder Chuck Templeton is launching his latest venture today—OhSoWe. The site essentially aims to bring together neighborhoods. It's sort of like an online version of a block association. On the site, users can create a "neighborstead," to form a block club, neighborhood association or a neighbor-based organization. People have to create profiles and join the site (there's no Facebook integration). To join the site, you enter your address, and OhSoWe will automatically show you neighborhood activity near your home. People can message each other, post notices, organize meetings, and more. 
Google Bullies OEMs Over What Can And Can't Appear On Android Devices
May 13, 12:37PM
Based on a batch of documents released in the Skyhook/Google lawsuit, it seems that Google's Andy Rubin is not only the boss of Android, but the boss of just about everyone in the Android ecosystem. Freshly unsealed court docs reveal that Google is using Android's compatibility standards to bully OEMs into choosing Google products for their smartphones. Basically, anytime a manufacturer wants Android — or at least, Android with all of its best perks, like the Android Market or Google's ultra slick Gmail client — on its smartphone, the device must adhere to a compatibility standard, which is determined solely by Google. In an email dated August 6, 2010, Dan Morrill, a manager in the Android group, mentioned that it's pretty obvious to phone manufacturers that "we are using compatibility as a club to make them do things we want." 
The Wild Tale Of A Stolen Laptop In Brooklyn
May 13, 12:04PM
Analytics ninja Sean Power lost his laptop in Brooklyn - it was stolen, although it may not have been stolen by the man who had it - and using Prey he was able to track it to a particular bar near City Hall in downtown Brooklyn. Sean got some snaps of the guy and his browsing habits and asked that some of his Twitter followers visit the bar to wait for the police. When the police refused to come because Powers had not filed a report the Twooters took the matter into their own hands. Again, to be clear, the man in the photo probably just paid the thief for the laptop in what we can only assume is good faith. 
How One Swedish Startup Was Almost Acquired By Skype, Pre-Microsoft Deal
May 13, 11:45AM
Exclusive - Earlier this week, Microsoft dropped a bombshell on pretty much the entire technology industry, acquiring VoIP juggernaut Skype for a baffling $8.5 billion in cash. One side-effect unrevealed up until today: TechCrunch has learned that Skype came extremely close to buying Swedish startup MyWidz right before negotiations with Microsoft were kicked into high gear, freezing said acquisition plans.
Walmart Invests In Yihaodian, A Massive Chinese E-Commerce Company
May 13, 9:29AM
Wal-Mart this morning announced that it intends to acquire a minority stake in the holding company of Yihaodian, a massive B2C ecommerce company based in China. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days, the retail giant says. Launched in July 2008, Yihaodian offers more than 75,000 products ranging from clothing to grocery to consumer electronics. Less than 3 years after launch, the company boasts a whopping 2,000 employees and logistics operations in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. 
NTT Docomo Partners With Twitter For New Location-Based Service In Japan
May 13, 8:35AM
Japan's biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo today announced it will develop with Twitter a set of new mobile services for its domestic customer base of 58 million. Under the deal, Docomo plans to integrate a "touch and follow" app into NFC-equipped feature phones, allowing two users to start following each other just by placing their handsets together.
Online Gaming Startup We R Interactive Raises $5 Million From Private Backers
May 13, 7:28AM
Online games publisher We R Interactive this morning announced that it has raised $5 million in second round funding from a slew of private investors, including Elio Leoni-Sceti, former CEO of EMI Music and Paul Fitzsimons, ex-media sector partner at Apax Partners. The company secured initial funding upon launch back in July 2010, although it's unclear how much they raised then. The proceeds of the financing round will be used to support the ongoing development and international roll-out of the startup's first social game, I AM PLAYR, a point-of-view game that allow players to experience the life of football players through their eyes.
Nearing 100 Million Views, Decorah Eagles Become The Most-Watched Live Stream Ever
May 13, 4:16AM
It seems that the "Decorah Eagles" have officially become America's biggest reality-TV stars. For those who haven't yet heard, the Decorah Eagles are a family of Bald Eagles nesting in Decorah, Iowa. The Raptor Resource Project, a non-profit organization that specializes in the preservation of falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks, and owls, established a Ustream channel, consisting of live, round-the-clock footage of a pair of Bald Eagles and their 3 eaglets. In the last month, the Decorah Eagles have become a full-blown national phenomenon. The stream has been live since February of 2010, but the majority of traffic has arrived since the pair's eggs began hatching on February 23rd of this year. The Huffington Post wrote a story on the Decorah Eagles in April and, at the time, the channel had attracted 25.6 million views. Today, less than a month later, that number has passed 95 million (currently at nearly 95.9 million). Thus, in 29 days, the stream has tallied over 70 million views, which breaks down to roughly 2.4 million views-per-day over that time. 
Facebook, You're Going To Need A Better Answer For Your Slimeball Stunt
May 13, 3:31AM
At this point, I think it's pretty clear what Facebook's strategy for this whole Burson-Marsteller caught-with-their-pants-down situation is going to be: say as little as possible and move on. And it will work. Like it or not, Facebook is too integrated into the fabric of the web now for everyone to just walk away. As has been proven time and time again, people will get really angry with them for some misstep, and then totally forget about it a week later. So this is the smart play by Facebook. But it doesn't mean it's the right one.
Foursquare SF Hires HR Manager Morgan Missen, Is Closing In On A New SOMA Office
May 13, 1:28AM
Former Twitter recruiter Morgan Missen is joining Foursquare today as Head of Talent for Foursquare West. Missen (née Missentzis) was the first Technical Recruiter at Twitter responsible for all backend engineering hires. Prior to that position she was Technical Recruiter at Google for three years. Missen's Foursquare hire is important because it solidifies the check-in service's ongoing San Francisco expansion; Foursquare is also closing in on an office in SOMA, and is planning on leasing space for between 30-50 additional engineers.
Mike McCue: FlipBoard Is Seeing More Than 10 Million Flips Per Day (Video)
May 13, 12:04AM
When it comes to publishing apps on the iPad, there are two models: 1) social readers that bring all your realtime news feeds together like Flipboard; or 2) single-title apps from major publishers like the New Yorker, The Daily or the New York Times. Those two models are also dividing along the lines of subscriptions versus ad-supported/free. In the video above, Flipboard CEO Mike McCue makes the case that in tablet publishing, "the bulk of the revenue will come from advertising." To make his point, he shares some recent numbers from Flipboard, which is seeing more than 10 million "flips per day", up from 3 million two months ago. A "flip" in the app is like a pageview (in the video, he says 10 million flips per day, but later he checked the number and it is actually 11.4 million). Of the 2 million people who have downloaded the Flipboard app to their iPads, I've heard from other sources that about half are active, which would mean that on average each user flips through 10 pages a day.
With Dominate, IGN Looks To Own Cross-Platform Video Game Check-Ins
May 12, 11:21PM
While the check-in started with social apps tied to location in the real world, it quickly spread to the virtual side of things, giving users the ability to check-in to watching tv/movies, listening to music, browsing websites, etc. But one area that remained largely untapped was gaming, which is surprising because it makes a lot of sense. IGN clearly agrees. The gaming network has just entered the space with their first app, subtly titled: Dominate. The iOS app has just hit the App Store today. 
Bezos On An Amazon Tablet: "Stay Tuned"
May 12, 9:49PM
Amazon has always been frustratingly close-lipped about its hardware business, opting not to divulge sales numbers or upcoming hardware changes for more or less the entire life of the Kindle. And incredibly, such information rarely leaks out (though we managed to catch the graphite Kindle 3 ahead of its debut). But today just two words are sending the tech blogs into confusion, as Jeff Bezos coyly tells an interviewer to "stay tuned" in relation to a new Amazon tablet.
Netflix For Android Released For Select Samsung, HTC Handsets
May 12, 7:46PM
Whoa! Talk about a welcome surprise. After many long months in the works, Netflix has just pushed the first release of their Android application to the Android Market. Alas, there's a catch: it's only working on a handful of Android devices right now. With this first release, the only supported devices are the HTC Incredible, HTC Nexus One, HTC Evo 4G, HTC G2, and Samsung Nexus S. We're checking to see if it can be finagled onto other devices as we type — but given how carefully Netflix is treading with regards to DRM on Android, we're not expecting much.
Claritics Raises $1.5 Million For Cloud-Based Analytics Apps
May 12, 7:34PM
Businesses today have the benefit of access to tons of data on their customers, what they're buying, what their social behavior looks like, and more. The problem, though, is how best to funnel the fire hose of social data. Companies can now collect so much social data on their customers, it can be difficult to narrow it down to the most applicable, and useful, information that will allow them to optimize their social campaigns. This is where Claritics comes in. The Mountain View-based startup provides a suite of social analytics applications that enables businesses to get a better idea of where their customers are coming from, what they're doing within applications, and what hooks them into a purchase. Claritics analyzes the data and provide insights in realtime so that businesses can get a better sense of what works and what doesn't. 
Docstoc Goes Mobile; Brings Premium Document Sharing To The iPad
May 12, 6:57PM
Docstoc, an online document sharing site that caters primarily to small businesses and professionals, is unveiling its first mobile app today with the launch of its iPad app today—Docstoc Premium. The iPad App, which is free, includes access to documents that are shared on the platform, including both premium and free content. Users have access to over 10,000 business and professional documents, and can also search and download over 20 million library documents. Content includes company business plans, proposal letters, real estate purchase forms, LLC operating agreements, marketing plans,and more. You can also integrate your saved, bookmarked and uploaded documents from the web on the app through your account. 
YouWeb Incubated Pluto Plays Music Combines Gaming With Helping Kids Learn Music
May 12, 6:50PM
Social and mobile incubator YouWeb, who has helped create OpenFeint, CrowdStar, iSwifter and Sibblingz, is announcing its latest venture—mobile 'edutainment' startup Pluto Plays Music. Pluto Plays Music is an educational game and iPad app that combines scrolling gameplay dynamics with musical notes to get the kiddies interested in learning music. The game follows the main character, Pluto, a penguin on a quest to master a variety of songs on different instruments. Children can learn basic songs like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as well as more classical pieces like The Magic Flute by Mozart, Ode to Joy by Beethoven, Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.
The Mobile Privacy Hearings: Senators Prod, Apple And Google Defend
May 12, 6:36PM
When researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden announced at the Where 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara a few weeks ago that iPhones and 3G iPads are storing records of where their users are and where they've been, the news created quite a stir. Google also stores a similar list on Android devices, so naturally questions have swirled in the last few weeks around how both Apple and Google are collecting and using this location data and to what extent it encroaches on user privacy. Yesterday, representatives from both companies were called before a senatorial subcommittee to answer questions from the likes of Senators Al Franken (Minn.) and Patrick Leahy (Vt.) on whether or not our mobile devices are becoming Big Brother 2.0. 
Pacific Crest Securities Buys Shanghai-Based Bank to Help Navigate the China Web Chaos
May 12, 6:29PM
Boutique tech investment bank Pacific Crest Securities has purchased Pacific Epoch, a Shanghai-based investment research firm specializing in technology. This gives Pacific Crest fifty more bodies on the ground in China to deliver investors better investment research than "This is the (fill-in-the-blank-Western-Internet-company) of China." That lazy marketing strategy has helped companies like YouKu (aka THE YOUTUBE OF CHINA!....nevermind it doesn't really do user generated content) or RenRen (aka THE FACEBOOK OF CHINA!) to get heady IPO pops, but it doesn't help investors have a clue what they are really buying or the context of those companies on the ground. Historically boutique banks are better at doing this than the bulge bracket firms. (See the "four horsemen" who helped build Silicon Valley.)
Sleazy PR Firm Throws Scummy Facebook Under The Sordid Bus
May 12, 5:56PM
It's pretty rare for a story to be one part sad, one part fascinating, and twenty parts sleazy. Luckily, Facebook and Burson-Marsteller have just handed exactly that to us on a silver platter. As you've undoubtedly seen by now, last night The Daily Beast's Dan Lyons' broke the story wide open about how the social network hired the PR firm to plant negative stories about rival Google in the press. As Mike wrote last night, it's "not just offensive, dishonest and cowardly. It's also really, really dumb." And it keeps getting better. 
Facebook Partners Up With Web Of Trust To Warn Users About Malicious Links
May 12, 5:10PM
Because Facebook is clearly concerned with user privacy, it's partnered up with crowdsourced reputation management service Web Of Trust today in order give its population of almost 700 million users protection from links deemed "risky" by the Web Of Trust community. As of today, if a user clicks on a link with a poor Web of Trust reputation rating, they will see the above warning telling them that the link has been classified as abusive. And then they can either circumvent the link, learn more about the Web of Trust rating or continue browsing.
Apple, Google Grilled By Senate Over DUI Checkpoint Apps
May 12, 5:02PM
Both Google and Apple got an earful from Congress this week concerning a few different DUI checkpoint apps that were floating around in the App Store and Android Market. Senator Charles Schumer, who was one of four senators to spearhead resolving this issue through a letter to the companies in March, grilled both of the tech giants during the inaugural hearing of the Privacy and Technology Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary this week. "Apple and Google shouldn't be in the business of selling apps that help drunk drivers evade the police, and they shouldn't be selling apps that they themselves admit are 'terrible'," said Schumer. Back in late March, Sen. Schumer joined Sens. Harry Reid, Frank Lautenberg, and Mark Udall in scribing a letter asking Google, Apple, and RIM to remove any DUI checkpoint apps from their app stores. RIM was the only company to comply. 
Shopkick 2.0 Puts Your Favorite Stores (And The Best Deals) On Display To Their 1.5 Million Users
May 12, 5:00PM
Let's say you go to a store and check-in. Then what? Maybe there's a deal. Maybe. But for many location-based services, the check-in is the end of the equation. Shopkick is pretty much the opposite. From the beginning, they've shied away from the check-in. Why? Because most of them are pure BS. Either they mean nothing, or they're fake. Retailers don't yet get this — but then again, most of them still have no idea what a check-in is. Shopkick has been aiming to educate retailers on how to best utilize mobile devices to incentivize customers to come into their stores — and more importantly, shop in their store. And today, Shopkick is launching version 2 of their popular application.
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