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Online Work Platform oDesk Raises $15M From T. Rowe Price, Benchmark
Mar 22, 11:29AM
Online work platform oDesk has raised $15 million in Series D funding from T. Rowe Price Associates with participation from Benchmark Capital, Globespan Capital Partners and Sigma Partners. This brings oDesk's total funding to $45 million. oDesk offers a "marketplace for talent" that makes it easy for companies to hire workers online for work that can be done remotely. This work ranges from writing to marketing to data analysis and more. oDesk contractors are currently earning more than $300 million on an annual basis, and contractors worked a record 2.1 million hours last October through the oDesk website. oDesk believes the market will grow to $1 billion by this year.Ni Hao Flipboard: Reading App Takes The Bilingual Approach In China To Attract Local Consumers
Mar 22, 11:11AM
Another step for Flipboard today as it continues to prove that it is the mobile reading app to beat: it has expanded its offerings for China, a fast-growing mobile market that this year is set to overtake the U.S. as the worldwide leader in smartphone sales. Flipboard is taking a double-approach to target Chinese users: there is now a native-language iPhone app (in addition to its existing Chinese iPad app). And Flipboard is also taking steps to make its main, English app more friendly to Chinese users by integrating two popular Chinese social networks into it. The big question now is whether Palo Alto-based Flipboard, equipped with all this local customization, will be able to succeed in a market where other U.S. Internet players like Twitter, Facebook, and Google have not managed to make a dent against very strong domestic rivals.Exclusive: Sony Mobile's First TV Spot For The Xperia, Directed By Wes Anderson
Mar 22, 10:19AM
Sony has been promising a big push to promote its new line of Xperia smartphones -- the first to come out since the company took full control over the Sony Ericsson JV -- and today we get to see the first fruit of that effort, a stop-motion animated TV commercial directed by the great Wes Anderson. Today, Sony Mobile has given TechCrunch the exclusive on this one -- meaning you can only view the video here, for now.Angry Birds Space Lands At Last
Mar 22, 8:28AM
Bird-lovers and pig-haters, today is your lucky day: Rovio has finally pushed the button on the launch of its newest installation of its hugely successful Angry Birds franchise: Angry Birds Space. The game -- which Mighty Eagle Peter Vesterbacka told us last week will be its biggest launch yet -- is marked by new characters, a new physics engine and a whole new setting that will take the familiar concept of catapulting birds to destroy pig houses to a whole new frontier.The Megabreach Is Back: Hacktivists To Blame For 58 Percent Of Stolen Data In 2011, Says Verizon Study
Mar 22, 7:22AM
Move over organized cybercriminals, the new gangs in town don't want our money, but they want to make a point, and they're going to do whatever it takes to make sure we listen. The annual Data Breach Investigations Report (embedded below this post) from Verizon and major security agencies has found that hacktivism from the likes of Anonymous accounted for 58 percent of all data stolen online in 2012 -- a contrast with years past, when organized crime groups were the main culprits. And, as is the way with hacktivists, they work on large volumes of records rather than multiple, targeted opportunities: "The megabreach is back," said Chris Porter, principal on the Risk team at Verizon. In an investigation that also involved United States Secret Service, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, the Australian Federal Police, the Irish Reporting & Information Security Service and the Police Central e-Crime Unit of the London Metropolitan Police, Verizon found that 2011 was the second-highest year for data loss that it has recorded, since it stated the annual investigation in 2004. In all, it analysed 855 data breaches covering 174 million stolen records.The JOBS Act: Support Growing Biotech Companies Developing Breakthrough Medicines
Mar 22, 4:50AM
Small biotechnology companies are leading innovation across the country. My company, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, is working at the cutting edge of oncology research, focusing on a specific set of cells within tumors that drives the growth of tumors. We have developed a portfolio of antibodies that target biologic pathways critical for survival of tumor-initiating cells, with the goal being to stop those cells from replicating. Entrepreneurs across the biotech industry are conducting groundbreaking science like ours, and are deeply invested in treating the severe illnesses that families across the nation face. At the same time, biotech leaders must deal with the day-to-day challenges of running a small business.The Inside Story of The OMGPOP-Zynga Deal From The CEO, Investors & More!
Mar 22, 3:02AM
We caught up with OMGPOP chief executive Dan Porter, Zynga's chief mobile officer David Ko and board member and Spark Capital partner Bijan Sabet to get the inside story of how OMGPOP's sale went down. It's been a whirlwind six weeks for OMGPOP, which transformed from an also-ran social gaming company into the maker of the most successful casual mobile game in the market right now. The company was picked up by Zynga today for what we heard was $210 million.Windows 8 Is Retina-Ready
Mar 22, 2:51AM
All the talk these days is of the new iPad and its magical screen. Apple isn't the only one who can do that, you know. In fact, most display makers are looking forward to post-HD resolutions as one of the big selling points of the next generation of displays. Other tablets are already approaching iPad levels of pixel density and it would be foolish of the likes of Google and Microsoft not to be planning for it. Fortunately, Microsoft is well aware of the trend and has plans in place for dealing with pixel-dense displays (or "Retina" to the vulgar).UpTo: An iPhone App That Unlocks Your Calendar's Social Potential (In The Right Way)
Mar 22, 2:18AM
Back in December, Robin wrote about a Detroit app development startup called Rock City Apps, which had just raised a seed round of funding for its stealth iPhone app, UpTo. At the time, Rock City Co-founder and CEO Greg Schwartz (also the former CEO/co-founder of Mobatech and a director of business development at Warner Music) said that the "platform focused on the future tense that makes sharing calendar events simple and social," but wasn't able to say more. We've since caught up with Schwartz to learn more about UpTo, which recently went live on the App Store, and it turns out there weren't any smoke and mirrors in that description.Ad Tech Startup Integrate Raises $11M, With Backing From Comcast
Mar 22, 1:09AM
Integrate, a startup that helps advertisers integrate (yes, I said it) their different ad channels and products, has raised an $11 million Series B round of funding. Co-founder Jeremy Bloom says the current ad landscape is "incredibly fragmented," with "a ton of point solutions." So Integrate offers one tool where advertisers can track and manage all of their advertising campaigns. The company claims that its data is real-time, meaning that advertisers can adjust how they spend their money on-the-fly, based on how a campaign is doing.Facebook's Paul Adams To Marketers: If You Want Bigger Ads, You're Doing It Wrong
Mar 22, 12:46AM
Paul Adams has given talks before about how Facebook is transforming traditional marketing — after all, he's the social network's global brand experience manager. However, he took a more provocative approach today at Federated Media's Signal conference, where he told the marketers in attendance that they don't understand Facebook. He admitted the feeling is mutual. Marketers complain that Facebook doesn't understand their needs, while Facebook complains that marketers don't understand what works. Luckily, Adams wasn't just complaining. He had specific thoughts on what marketers are getting wrong, and how they can do better. For one thing, he said that marketers who think Facebook needs to expand its offering to include things like larger units and pre-roll ads are "misunderstanding how our platform works."Warner Music, Def Jam Record Labels Among Spotify's 12 New Apps
Mar 21, 11:59PM
The record labels are in bed with Spotify, and now they'll be in its app tray too. Tomorrow morning Spotify launches its second round of apps -- 12 new ones from labels like Warner Music Group, Def Jam, and indie favorite Matador. There's also more ways to discover and rate songs with apps like TweetVine that charts popular songs from Twitter, and Filtr that generates playlists based on your Facebook Event guests. Since none of Spotify's competitors have gotten an app platform out the door, the discovery potential of the feature could differentiate the company and strengthen its domination of the streaming business.Days After Major Aol Layoffs, AIM Is Experiencing Suspicious Login Issues
Mar 21, 11:35PM
Aol proclaims AIM is OMG since 1997. But today its users are saying OMG for a different reason entirely. Just days after major Aol layoffs effectively gutted the AIM division, many users are unable to log into the service because their passwords were apparently reset. Worse yet, Aol support was reportedly somewhat clueless as well, asking users to verify accounts using the email originally used to set up AIM. Do you remember where you were 12 years ago?Google's Amazon Rainforest Street View Is Ready For You To Explore
Mar 21, 10:52PM
Back in August, Google announced that it was teaming up with nonprofit Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon to map a small section of the massive Rio Negro river (tributary of the Amazon) near Manaus. As expected, it took quite a while, but the results are now available for you to play with. The area they covered is a sort of inlet west of Manaus and the coastline northwards from there. The idea is apparently just to provide a way for people to see what it's like there without hopping on a plane and chartering a boat. The project resulted in 50,000 still pictures, which have been stitched into 50km of shore, forest, and village for your Street Viewing pleasure.Expanding Its Presence In Asia, Live Video Streaming Platform Ustream Launches In Korea
Mar 21, 10:00PM
Back in October, live video streaming platform Ustream announced a partnership with KT Corporation -- a leading telecommunications provider in South Korea. The joint venture also included an additional $10 million funding round, much of it led by the sizable Japanese telecom provider, Softbank (whose independent by closely-connected VC firm, Softbank Capital, operates in Boston, among other cities). The funding brought Ustream's total outside investment close to $60 million. Both the additional capital from Softbank and the partnership with KT Corporation came in the anticipation of Ustream's launch in Korea., and today the streaming video provider is finally ready to officially announce its new Korean language service and portal, Ustream Korea .Apple's iPhoto For iOS Tops 1 Million Users
Mar 21, 9:40PM
With a metric that's bound to make mobile app developers jealous, Apple has confirmed that its newly launched iOS-compatible version of iPhoto hit the 1 million user mark, only 10 days after its release. That's not app downloads, mind you, but unique users. Given the app's universal nature, it's likely that many are installing it at least twice - once on the iPhone, or possibly the iPod Touch, and then again on the iPad. But Apple is counting such an installation only once in this metric. The number of actual downloads may be much higher.RIM Officializes Stance Against Jailbreaking
Mar 21, 9:30PM
Jailbreaking, a term that has come to encompass several practices but generally refers to a user obtaining root access on their device, is controversial in a strange way. Companies like Apple and Nintendo hate it, and most users don't care about it. Yet it's constantly in the news because it is, in fact, a philosophical conflict. RIM has posted an official response to the habit of jailbreaking BlackBerry devices, particularly PlayBooks, though the post doesn't mention the product by name. Probably because it would be hard to argue against users creating functionality for the device that should have existed there in the first place.StartUp Health Co-Founders Want To Transform The Medical Industry
Mar 21, 9:25PM
The health sector has long been left out of the fun when it comes to innovation. Sure, we see cool health and med-tech stuff launch at Disrupt here and there, but for the most part, the entire industry is stuck in the paper age. That said, StartUp Health here in NYC is focused entirely on bringing the health care and wellness industry into the future. The accelerator has a rather unusual model, which I learned today after sitting down with founders Unity Stoakes and Steven Krein for an interview. Basically, the whole program is free to entrepreneurs, and runs for a much longer period than most accelerators since the healthcare industry is an entirely different environment for startups.Quiet Down Facebook Friends You Don't Care About With Acquaintance List Suggestions Box
Mar 21, 9:20PM
Facebook doesn't want noisy friends you never interact with cluttering your news feed. To help solve this, today it begins suggesting friends you don't enagage with to add to your Acquaintance List. Those added appear less frequently in your news feed. The term "Facebook friend" has swelled beyond your real-life friends to encompass judgmental professional contacts, creepy relatives, and people you met once. Acquaintance List suggestions mean you can friend whoever you want, and Facebook will make it easy to shut up whoever you don't stay in touch with and keep your feed relevant.OMGPOP's Sale to Zynga Is One Of Y Combinator's Biggest Exits To Date
Mar 21, 9:15PM
Little known fact: OMGPOP was actually an early company backed by Paul Graham's incubator Y Combinator. Originally named Iminlikewithyou, it was co-founded by Charles Forman and was part of YC's mid-2006 class. It then toiled for many years building games on its own teen-focused destination site and then on Facebook before taking its Pictionary-like game Draw Something to iOS and Android a little over a month ago. On mobile, the game took off like wildfire, accumulating 35 million downloads and 1 billion drawings in a matter of weeks. Zynga just scooped the company up today for what we're hearing is $180 million plus a $30 million earnout.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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