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The Illusion Of Social Networks
May 15, 2:21PM
The world is full of illusions. Magicians use a cascade of mirrors, smoke, and misdirection to trick their audiences into believing the unbelievable. In the process, they mystify them, capturing their attention. None of these magicians, however, hold a candle to the illusions provided by the characters who dance on television channels. For decades, the masses have been planted in front of the tube, waiting for packaged content to tickle their eyeballs and smooth the edges of modern life. And now we have the Internet, especially social networks, where the multiple forms of content shared by people and brands form signals that amplify in even greater ways. Today, those who participate in various social networks online also engage in a form of magic, using illusions to broadcast signals to their audiences. Instead of studios producing content on television, the willing participants play the part of studio and producer, using a variety of mechanisms to interact with audiences. We share check-ins from concerts and sporting events, and send Instagrams to make sure others know how yummy weekend brunch looks. We are in the age of the ubiquitous status updates, constantly sending ambient signals, where our audience has only two choices: to form some loosely-tiled mosaic of who we are—or to tune out entirely. 
Access To iPad App Flipboard Compromised In China
May 15, 9:30AM
As of today certain aspects of the Flipboard experience have been blocked for Chinese users, at the very least access to Facebook and Twitter according to Flipboard CEO Mike McCue. While direct access to Facebook and Twitter is routinely blocked in China, the Flipboard app talked to its own US-based servers, which in turn talked to Twitter and Facebook so this block is particularly interesting. "Lots of folks in China had been using us happily until now," McCue said, "Guess we had unwittingly poked a hole in their wall which has now been shut down... Presumably unless we block Facebook and Twitter ourselves in China." The iPad app is still available in the Chinese app store. 
Wait, You're Going to Pay Me to Watch Movies All Day? (TCTV)
May 15, 2:31AM
Earlier today, I wrote about our brush with machetes, the chaotic world of Nigerian filmmaking, and a company called Iroko Partners that's working on bringing order and YouTube distribution to the chaotic world of Nollywood. It's made stunning progress in the short four months it has been in business, and it's barely scratched the surface of Nollywood demand. Below is a video we shot with founder Jason Njoku. He describes the business in more detail, and the clip opens with some glimpses of the chaotic Alaba International Market where Nollywood movies are bought and sold. Video below. 
You Think Hollywood Is Rough? Welcome to the Chaos, Excitement and Danger of Nollywood
May 14, 10:14PM
It was when they pulled out the machetes that I started to worry. I'd seen men with machetes in Africa before, but they were rusty, practical tools used for clearing away brush by the side of the highway. These were long, shiny and housed in decorative sheaths, pulled out ostensibly so the men could sit down more comfortably, but done with a clear, understated flair. They were more like sultan swords than jungle tools. The kicking in my six-month pregnant belly had gone eerily silent since we entered the vigilante court at Alaba. 
Gary Vaynerchuk's Next Wine Business: "Reverse Deal Of The Day" (TCTV)
May 14, 7:30PM
In part III of Erick Schonfeld's interview with the man of many interests, Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary discusses his daily-deal wine venture, Cinderalla Wine and throws props to similar deal delivering sites like Lot18. Overall, he says, on the need of these sites to strategically position themselves. "I think the acquisition of consumers might be on the verge of being mapped" says Vaynercuck, "the battlefield is going to be retention and lifetime value." Vaynerchuk has been spending more time lately with Daily Grape, where he combines videos about wine with deals and reviews. He also owns the domain for Monthly Grape, which may become a future product. At about 5:30 into the interview, Gary dishes up another interesting bit of information. "I am thinking about launching a wine website where there is a deal and the crowd can dictate how cheap it can get." He calls it, "reverse deal of the day." The more people who sign up for the deal, the lower the price will get. Make sure to check it out.
When Dinosaurs Ruled The Books
May 14, 6:30PM
This is a really weird time to be a writer. Agents are becoming publishers; publishers have moved to "the agency model"; and some self-published authors are making millions—all because e-books are now outselling all other segments. Magazines and newspapers are dying, blogs and aggregators are thriving, and the line between them all is blurring. Last year Apple was their savior; now it's damned as a destroyer. So what's a writer to do? These days I'm mostly a developer, but I've had a clutch of novels (thrillers about globetrotting techies) published by traditional houses, and also experimented with just about every form of The New Publishing. My latest book (an epic urban fantasy about a squirrel) was Creative Commons-released and self-Kindle-published before I sold it to a publisher. I've scripted a Vertigo Comics graphic novel, and a free online comic for Engineering.com. Plus I write here, and for magazines. And the news I bring from all my literary peregrinations is this: ...in the immortal words of William Goldman, nobody knows anything. And that is awesome.
Gillmor Gang 5.14.11 (TCTV)
May 14, 4:42PM
The Gillmor Gang — Craig Burton, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — survived the week of Google AeeEeeI/OUuu, Facebook slimeware, and the embalmerization of Microsoft with nary a scratch. Robert Scoble briefly joined via the iPad and FaceTime from a layover at O'Hare, but he couldn't hear us and we could hear him say so, over and over. Kinda like Facebook, who somehow got its Dumb on with a PR campaign designed to dredge up all the privacy stumbling of yore. MG probably has it right that we will forget this by next week, but not if Google continues to wander around in the social desert. Larry Page doesn't seem to have made the case for a change in leadership, as Google extends its lead in automated cars to automated houses. Google TV and Music continue to languish without support from any real vendors, while the New Yorker, Fortune, and a stampede of streaming players rush into the AIrPlay cloud. With Skype the new dongle for Windows and only Dave Winer thinking Apple will give up on its Flash boycott, the move toward iOS took several giant steps for mankind. If only we could any of this over Craig's lawn doctors.
TechCrunch Teardown: Top Facebook Brand Page Growth and Key Trends
May 14, 4:00PM
Editor's note: Steven Carpenter is an entrepreneur that writes the TechCrunch Teardown series that looks at the business models of consumer Internet companies. My last TechCrunch Teardown outlined the multi-billion dollar online brand advertising opportunity. As part of that research, I looked at the top Facebook brand pages to see how some brands were successfully using social media to connect with their consumers. With soaring Facebook revenues, a significant share of which comes from brand advertising, I went back again to look at how the top 165 brand pages performed in Q1 2011 to get a sense for which firms continue to get the most out of Facebook. And to see if some brands are showing signs of slowing growth. For instance, here is how the 10 largest brands on Facebook are doing:
Competing In The Cloud—Let's Be Frenemies
May 14, 3:08PM
Editor's Note: This is a guest post written by Prasad Thammineni, the CEO and Co-Founder of OfficeDrop, a scanner software and digital filing system. You can follow him on Twitter @OfficeDrop_CEO. Competition between software companies used to mean safeguarding your code and suing anyone that came close to it. Today, many larger technology companies are adopting a different strategy of actually bringing new users to companies they would have tried to squash a decade ago. The cloud is changing the old-school software mentality that a customer's data needs to be locked down—giving rise to a new ecosystem where everything interoperates. So companies that in the past would have been bitter enemies are now working together as pseudo-friends—"frenemies," if you will. Software is absolutely nothing like it was even just a few years ago. App marketplaces have made it possible for buyers to select just the features they need, where in the past they were forced into "bloatware" that had a ton of features they didn't even touch. Packaged software is becoming more and more scarce as small businesses and consumers have this "a la carte menu" of options to choose from—with all of these options playing nicely together in the cloud.
One Day Will People Be Living In Shroom Houses?
May 14, 12:55PM
Construction material manufacturing often produces hazardous byproducts that are either toxic or difficult to recycle, as are many of the materials themselves. Brooklyn based Planetary ONE is experimenting with the idea of grow-your-own construction materials by making bricks from mushrooms. Their latest project, Mycoform, places mushroom roots known as mycelium spores into a mold and feeds them with agricultural byproducts like buckwheat husks. In just over a week at 80 degrees, the spores grow to fill the form, resulting in a light yet solid structure. The brick is heated to 100 degrees when complete to kill the spores, preventing further growth.
Lockitron Lets You Unlock Your Door With Your Phone
May 14, 12:31AM
Ever wish you could just call your keys? Well the Ycombinator-backed Lockitron aims to replace physical keys entirely by letting you control your door lock with your phone. The Lockitron web app and hardware package are as of today available for general users, for a one time fee of between $295 to $500. Instead of using relatively unreliable wifi, the service works by utilizing a plug server and ethernet cable tied to an electronic lock. Your smartphone talks to the server controlling the lock via the web which means that you can control the lock from wherever you are. Lockitron also has an NFC option if you've got a Nexus S or are planning on buying a iPhone 5 if/when NFC happens. The system works with both deadbolt and handle locks.
Weekend Giveaway: Something Called An iPad Two (??)
May 13, 9:51PM
A company called PunchTab wants to test their new contest entry system, appropriately-named the PunchTab widget. To that end, they've offered us the ability to give away a black 16GB Apple iPad Two (was there ever an iPad One?), some sort of new tablet computer for people who like that sort of thing. All the kids seem to want one, like the Teddy Ruxpin. So here's where it gets a little weird.
Uber Goes Breakers To Bay This Weekend With Unlimited Gatorade And Jack Daniels
May 13, 9:18PM
As everyone in the Bay Area will know, this Sunday is the annual Bay to Breakers run/boozefest. The 12k run normally goes from the bay (in the city) to the breakers (at the ocean), hence the name. But Uber is going to do the opposite. As they've just announced to customers via email, starting at 10AM and going through 4PM, they'll be going breakers to bay, picking up weary runners/pukers in their cars. If you happen to be in the Golden Gate Park area in that timeframe, there will be limos there waiting for those who use the app. And those limos will be "stocked with Gatorade, Granola Bars and 50ml bottles of Jack Daniels and Skyy Vodka so you can refuel/party."
Cake Health Wants To Be The 'Mint For Health Insurance' (Beta Invites)
May 13, 9:14PM
If you're like me, terms like "out of network" and "deductible" are cringe-inducing. Not just because they generally involve me forking over money for healthcare, but also because navigating the waters of health insurance — and figuring out exactly what I should be paying for — is a complete pain. Cake Health is a startup that's looking to help by becoming the 'Mint for health insurance', offering an attractive and easy-to-use interface for managing common tasks like choosing an insurance plan, monitoring your claims, and figuring out which health services you should be taking advantage of. Cake Health is still in private beta, but they've extended 500 invitations to TechCrunch readers. The first 500 people to click this link will be able to sign up. The company was founded by Rebecca Woodcock and former TechCrunch developer Andy Brett, who walked me through an early version of the service. During the initial signup process you'll be asked to connect with your healthcare provider's website.
Yes, There Are Tech Startups in Nigeria. Here Are My Favorites.
May 13, 8:16PM
Last week I wrote about Computer Village, where many of the gadget-hounds in Lagos go to get their gadgety fix. But what about new technology being developed in the country? The city's tech entrepreneur scene is small, but several people are working on changing that. Oo Nwoye-- or @oothenigerian as he's known on Twitter-- is one of the more enthusiastic champions of this nascent scene. (That's him on the left.) I met him two years ago in London, where he cornered me at an event and made a case for me going to Nigeria, so he was one of the first people I contacted when I finally did. Since then, he'd moved back home. He's working on a to-be-determined startup and spending the meantime trying to galvanize a startup community. He organized a fantastic demo day to give me a taste of what people are working on.
Keen On: Can The New Intimacy Economy Save The Music Industry? (TCTV)
May 13, 7:52PM
Should music artists be like the authoritarian Steve Jobs? Is it their responsibility to know what their fans want better than they do? Evan Lowenstein, the successful singer-songwriter and the current CEO of StageIT, certainly seems to think so. In a recent article tantalizingly entitled "The Artist to Fan Relationship: Dating, Love, Texting and Marriage", Lowenstein argues that "as an artist, it is our responsibility to know what our fans want better than they do." But, as I found out when I interviewed Lowenstein this week at the excellent SFMusicTech event this week, Lowenstein isn't quite as dismissive of his fans as he initially appears. 
Former Yahoo And Myspace Execs Raise $3M For Small Demons
May 13, 7:44PM
Small Demons, a stealth LA- based startup founded by former Yahoo Product VPs Valla Vakili and Tony Amidei has just raised $3 million in Series A funding, according to an SEC form filed today. While Vaklili and Amidei and the only people listed on the form, the company is rounded out by former Myspace Data Architect Christa Stelzmuller and former Myspace VP of Data Hala Al-Adwan. 
Disrupt NYC: The Full Agenda
May 13, 7:14PM
In about a week, Disrupt NYC will begin. We will launch over two dozen new startups in our Startup Battlefield and bring together the smartest people in tech to discuss how the Internet is disrupting industry after industry—from media (print, TV, music, gaming) and social commerce to payments and transportation. We've steered away from unwieldy panels, and instead tried to pair up interesting speakers to foster deeper conversations. Fred Wilson, Dennis Crowley, Arianna Huffington, and Ron Conway will kick things off in a series of talks on Monday morning. Gilt Groupe CEO Kevin Ryan and Kleiner Perkins VC Aileen Lee will delve into the shifting world of social commerce. Charlie Rose will interview Paul Graham on Tuesday. Betaworks CEO John Borthwick (who recently launched News.me) will talk tablet publishing. We've already announced many of the speakers, but the full agenda is below. You can still buy tickets, or try to win one.
Hipster Ventures? Lame Name For A Good Idea To Launch Euro Startups In The Valley
May 13, 7:08PM
There are rumours of a new European seed fund being built out of London right now, billing itself as a sort of "500 Startups of Europe". Admittedly Hipster Ventures is a Seppuku-inducing name, but stay with us... The idea is to whisk the best of European consumer web and mobile companies off to San Francisco to launch them on the West coast. The guy behind it is high profile freelance journalist and Telegraph columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, who appears to be dialling down on the journalism and dialling up a desire to become a VC of sorts. 
OpenFeint Expands Free-To-Play Mobile Gaming Platform OFX To Android
May 13, 7:00PM
Last year, OpenFeint launched the private beta of OpenFeint X (OFX), which offers indie developers the ability to create Zynga-like free-to-play games including microtransactions and virtual goods. Until now, the platform has only been available for iOS devices, but today, the company is expanding to Android phones with the private beta launch of OFX for Android. OFX allows developers can create social games with a chat wall where players can interact with each other, a newsfeed showing recent in-game activity, and game nudges. OFX also offers the ability to build and run a full virtual goods store, stocking and selling virtual currency and goods, access detailed analytics, and include a game-specific currency wallet. 
Google News Goes Local On Mobile: Introduces 'News Near You'
May 13, 6:23PM
The first thing many of us do in the morning is check for earth shattering news, and Google has just made the quest to find relevant news a little bit easier by introducing a geolocation-enabled "News Near You" feature in its U.S. Edition. While there are plenty of niche local news aggregators like Topix or Fwix available for local news junkies, Google News is the dominant player in the news aggregation landscape with 14.4 billion unique visitors in April according to Comscore. It has allowed users to view location based news by entering their zip codes on the web since 2008, but today's leap into mobile local-based news is significant; The battle to capture smartphone eyeballs has only just begun.
Mailgun Raises $1.1 Million For Its 'Twilio For Email'
May 13, 6:18PM
Last October I wrote about a small startup called Mailgun that was setting out on a bold mission: to provide developers a way to programmatically create and manage mailboxes and email messages using a straightforward API. Put another way, they want to abstract the complexities of email in the same way that Twilio has created an easy-to-use developer interface for telephony services. Today, the company is announcing that it's raised $1.1 million from some very well-known investors including SV Angel, Yuri Milner (individually, in addition to his previous investment as part of Start Fund), Maynard Webb, Paul Buchheit (who, among other things, created Gmail), and Geoff Ralston (who created Yahoo Mail back in 1997). Given the credentials of the investors, it looks like Mailgun may be onto something big.
Native Apps Or Web Apps? Particle Code Wants You To Do Both
May 13, 4:30PM
When it comes to app development for mobile devices, cross-platform implementation is the new hot thing. Developers have long struggled with fragmentation across operating systems, when they want to just be able to create one app and blast it out on every platform imaginable. Businesses like Heroku and Appcelerator, and gaming versions like Game Closure (and many others) collectively make creating, hosting, and deploying games a more manageable endeavor. But today, a startup is launching that hopes to make development of mobile apps even easier. Palo Alto-based Particle Code is building a platform that enables mobile developers to write mobile apps and games once, deploy both HTML5 and native apps across platforms and devices -- all from within a single codebase. Particle Code is built on the Eclipse IDE, an environment and suite of tools for Java developers, and supports development in a wide array of languages including Java, C# and ActionScript3. This means millions of additional programmers can now enter mobile app development in a way that is scalable to reach a whole bunch of devices. And, as a potentially interesting aside, here's TIOBE's ranking of the most popular programming languages this month. 
TechCrunch Giveaway: Last Free Ticket To Disrupt NYC, Plus Free iPod Touch #TechCrunch
May 13, 4:17PM
This is your last chance to win a free ticket to this year's Disrupt in New York City! The conference is from May 23rd to May 25th, a little over a week away, and has an incredible lineup of guest speakers and judges. You can read all about our speakers here, and you can take a peek at our three day agenda, as of now, here. We still have a couple other little surprises that we will be announcing. Some very special guests have confirmed and we will be revealing them shortly. Since this is your last chance to win a free ticket, we wanted to throw in something extra to make it special. A couple of weeks ago, Alexia wrote about a company named Talkatone. They were generous enough to give us a free iPod Touch with Talkatone already installed, so we thought it would be nice to give it away to one of our readers. So, the winner of this giveaway will win a free ticket to Disrupt, a ticket valued at around $3,000, and an iPod Touch, courtesy of Talkatone.
Gary Vaynerchuk: "99.5 Percent Of Social Media Experts Are Clowns" (TCTV)
May 13, 3:55PM
Wine enthusiast, author, founder, blogger, investor and serial entrepreneur (did I leave anything out?) Gary Vaynerchuk dropped by our TechCrunch TV studio in New York City with a bottle of red to discuss his new book, The Thank You Economy with TechCrunch Co-editor, Erick Schonfeld. "Context is the new battleground for business" says Vaynerchuk when asked to give the Twitter version summary of book. In essence, businesses need to better understand how to use social media and how to apply an authentic human touch while doing so. Vaynerchuk thinks current efforts are abysmal. ""99.5 percent of the people that walk around and say they are a social media expert or guru are clowns," he says, continuing with "we are going to live through a devastating social media bubble."
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