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16M Users Strong, TwitchTV Takes Live-Streamed Gaming Portal Mobile With iPad And Android Apps
Apr 05, 12:00PM
TwitchTV, a live-streamed video game portal and community for gamers that was spawned last June from live video platform Justin.tv, has been booming in terms of growth and revenue. But the platform didn't yet offer native mobile apps for the iPad or Android, which was a main requests from users. Today, TwitchTV is debuting an Android application and a universal iOS app for the iPad and the iPhone (we're told the iOS app has not yet gone live in the App Store but should be available soon). Piggybacking on the massive success of Machinima, TwitchTV features live video competitions of a variety of games and platforms with top gamers, tournaments and commentary. The platform aims to be a one-stop-shop for live video for 'eSports,' which the company says is synonymous with competitive video gaming. TwitchTV features live video game battles and commentary from titles like Halo:Reach, Starcraft II, World Of Warcraft, Call Of Duty: Black Ops and others.With JOBS Act Becoming Law, Crowdfunding Platforms Look To Create Self-Regulatory Body
Apr 05, 10:30AM
Today, President Obama signs the JOBS Act into law, legalizing crowdfunding in startups by non-accredited investors, so that anyone and their mother can invest. The new law stipulates that entrepreneurs can now raise money from any and all, however, startups are limited to $1 million per year, and must stick to portals approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. What's more, the legislation dispenses with the 500-shareholder rule, which put a limit on the number of shareholders a company was allowed before registering with the SEC (and going public). The new law gives high-growth companies a longer grace period, or on-ramp, leading up to IPOs, and lifts some of the one-size-fits all regulation that likely has been hampering the IPO market. While this is a big win for startups, it puts significant pressure on the crowdfunding market to self-regulate -- which is risky. That's why 13 equity and debt crowdfunding platforms and insiders have come together to form a leadership group to bring attention to the need -- really, requirement -- for the industry to develop effective self-regulation, best practices, and investor protection.Yandex.Disk Wants To Give iCloud, Skydrive and Dropbox A Run For Their Money In Russia
Apr 05, 9:06AM
Yandex may be in line to become the default search engine on devices that Apple sells in Russia. But for now it's engaging in a little competition with Cupertino, and others. Today the Russian search giant is launching its own answer to iCloud: a free web-based storage product it's calling Yandex.Disk. Users of Yandex.Disk get up to 10 gigabytes of space that they can use for personal documents, photos, music and videos, and like iCloud and Microsoft's Skydrive the service is aimed specifically at offering storage services that help keep users tied in to the rest of Yandex's portfolio of products. The files can subsequently be accessed from any internet-enabled device.Help Wanted: Songkick Founders Bring Back Silicon Milkroundabout Networking Event
Apr 05, 7:59AM
Attention young engineers and budding product geniuses! If you're thinking about moving jobs, or if you'd like to work for one of the UK's hawt startups, mark out May 26/27 in your calendars for the third edition of the Silicon Milkroundabout. Nature abhors a vacuum and so it goes that because there are actually very few hiring events for startups in London, past Milkroundabouts have been massively oversubscribed. "We had to turn a bunch of people away on the day," Pete Smith, co-founder of Milkroundabout (and co-founder and COO of one of the UK's startup success stories, the live music alert service Songkick) said of the debut event. "The bar ran dry and every company there hired at least one person and some hired four or five people."Silicon Valley Entitlement Gets Political
Apr 05, 5:23AM
Taxes are for old businesses. That seems to be the sentiment coming from the oft-offended Silicon Valley sycophants. I'm not talking about the measured approach of Mayor Ed Lee and Ron Conway who are doing what every major city in America is doing, luring businesses to their neighborhoods by issuing tax breaks for highly attractive growth industries. That has always been good civic policy, and it still is today. I'm talking about the entitled indignation of bloggers who believe that all businesses touched by technology deserve tax exemptions and that calling something "ridiculous" is the only evidence needed to support such a thesis.Twitter Nabs Googler Gabriel Stricker As Comms VP
Apr 05, 3:27AM
Back in November, we reported that Sean Garrett, Twitter's Head of Comms, would be stepping down from his post. As he tweeted at the time, for the first time in his career, he would be taking more than a two week break between jobs. Since Garrett stepped down, Karen Wickre, who was hired shortly before Garrett's departure, has been filling in an interim role. Today, Twitter moved to more officially fill the vacancy, as Gabriel Stricker, the Director of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google, will become the new Head of Comms. Stricker tweeted the news on a seemingly brand new Twitter page. His official title will be VP of Communications.Apple and Facebook Should Be Terrified Of Google-Tinted Glasses
Apr 05, 1:38AM
Google's augmented reality eyewear is coming to disrupt your face and your business model. If you don't even have to pull your phone out to take a photo, get directions, or message with friends, why would you need to buy the latest iPhone or spend so much time on Facebook? It could be a year before Google eyewear reaches stores, but that's why these and other tech companies need to strategize now. If they wait to see if the device is a hit, the world could be seeing through Google-tinted glasses by the time they adapt. Apple and Facebook's best bet might be to team up...Ready, Set, Crowdfund: President Obama To Sign JOBS Act Tomorrow
Apr 05, 1:32AM
On March 22nd, a slightly modified "Jumpstart Our Business Startups (or JOBS) Act" was approved by the Senate in a 73-26 vote. Last week, the House of Representatives, too, showed its support for the bill, giving it the green light in its own 380 to 41 vote. Tomorrow, President Obama is expected to officially sign the bill into law (from what we're hearing, that could be as early as 11am PT), representing the final step for legislation that will, among other things, legalize crowdfunding in startups by non-accredited investors. In other words, now even your mom can invest in your startup.MindMixer Raises $1.9M For Virtual Town Halls, Launches ImproveSF Website
Apr 05, 1:28AM
If you live in San Francisco, you probably spend a lot of time complaining about the lackluster public transportation. I'm no exception — so today, I was really excited to see a new government website called ImproveSF, where residents can submit and vote on suggestions about how to make Muni better, faster, and more reliable. Not surprisingly, there's a cool startup behind the effort. It's called MindMixer, and it just announced that it raised a $1.9 million seed round from Dundee Venture Capital.Richard Clarke, US Security Wonk, Suggests Customs Should Check All International Net Traffic
Apr 05, 1:10AM
Richard Clarke was a major feature in US security for a decade, serving as a member of the National Security Council and special adviser for cybersecurity to President George W. Bush. He has written a column for the New York Times that details just how serious the threat of cyber attacks is for this country, something increasingly evident in light of things like the creaking infrastructure of things like NASA and general cluelessness in legislature. But Mr Clark gives the world a lesson in cluelessness with the conclusion of his column, where he suggests that the United States should, under provisions made to regulate the movement of goods to and from this country, inspect international internet traffic. The suggestion is nothing short of idiotic. Believe it or not, the following was written by someone who worked in national security — specializing in cybersecurity, no less — for years and years.Rumor: Zillow In To Buy RentJuice For $45 Million
Apr 05, 12:42AM
Between gossip and rumors and gossip and more rumors, the Silicon Valley day-to-day is so dramatic Bravo is turning it into not one but two TV shows. No joke. That doesn't convince you? Well, how about this? Anyways, I'm in the middle of tracking down a huge funding story but want to get a (separate) rumor du jour out there to you guys, because I'm experimenting with this whole "process journalism" format and have asked several people at both parties involved for more info, to no avail.Box CEO Aaron Levie: Why We're Not Afraid Of Google Drive
Apr 05, 12:15AM
Box has become a major player in the tech world since its launch some six years ago. The company, which provides cloud data storage and enterprise collaboration tools, has more than doubled its headcount in the past year alone to a staff of more than 400, attracted more than $150 million in venture capital, and currently counts more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers. But it's not time for Box to rest easy just yet: Google is widely understood to finally be on the brink of launching its own long-rumored file storage service, Google Drive. But according to Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie, he is just fine with the impending arrival of a new big-name competitor. In an interview held this week at Box's Silicon Valley headquarters (which you can watch in the video embedded above), Levie said that Google will no doubt make a splash with the launch of GDrive. But he's confident that Box's singular focus on cloud storage will keep many users, and particularly paying customers such as companies, choosing it over its larger competitors.Hands-On With The HTC Evo 4G LTE
Apr 04, 11:39PM
HTC and Sprint have just pulled back the curtains on the new Evo 4G LTE here in New York, and putting the peculiar name aside, the device seems like a real contender. The question then is how does the Evo's strong spec sheet translate into a real-world experience? I got the chance to play with the $199-on-contract device for a few moments, and while it's not quite as handsome as the One X, it's still probably Sprint's best phone in quite a while.Keen On… Carl Bass: Why Autodesk Remains "Incredibly Relevant" [TCTV]
Apr 04, 11:05PM
It's not just start-ups that radically innovate. Take, for example, Autodesk, the 3D design, engineering and entertainment software giant that, according to its President and CEO Carl Bass, continues to be "incredibly relevant" in the innovation economy. "The most creative people use our tools," Bass told me about popular Autodesk software like Sketchbook, Pixlr and Instructables, when I talked to him at The Economist's Innovation event in Berkeley last week. And Bass' optimism extends to the future where, he told me, all of Autodesk's products will have migrated online and the cloud, mobile and social will have radically transformed its business. Indeed, in 5 years time, he predicts, computing will become an "abundant resource" thereby providing Autodesk with even richer opportunities to create innovative design, engineering and entertainment software.Uber Simplifies Sign Up Process: Just Hold Up Your Credit Card & You're In!
Apr 04, 10:24PM
On-demand black car service Uber is making it easier for new users to sign up for rides, thanks to its newly-announced Card.io integration. For those unfamiliar with the mobile payments startup Card.io (a competitor with Jumio), it's a mobile toolkit that allows app publishers to speed up the process of collecting users' credit card information. Instead of requesting users to fill out forms by typing in their credit card details on their phone's tiny keyboards, Card.io allows you to simply hold up your credit card in front of the phone's camera. The app then "sees" the card, reads the numbers and enters the information for you.HTC And Sprint Officially Unveil The New EVO 4G LTE
Apr 04, 9:57PM
It's hardly a surprise anymore (as is usually the case) but here it is anyway -- Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and HTC President Jason Mackenzie have just taken the stage at their collaboration event in New York, and just officially unveiled the new EVO 4G LTE. For all my moaning about design (more on that later), my mother always taught me that it's what's on the inside that counts, and that's where the EVO shines.Royal Canadian Mint's "MintChip" Looks To Officially Digitize Cash
Apr 04, 9:33PM
Moving everyday transactions into the digital realm seems an inevitability, but as yet there have been no breakout successes. Sure, there are fringe efforts like Square (which relies on existing card and bank infrastructure) and Google Wallet (which is a bit early to the NFC party), but there's nothing that the average consumer would see and think "yes, that is as simple as handing the merchant a five-dollar bill." The Royal Canadian Mint is hoping to create such a system: a multi-platform, simple, and secure alternative to cash. Others around the net have likened it to Bitcoin, but that's really an inapt comparison. MintChip isn't a virtual currency, it's a virtual wallet, something which has been tried before. But, naturally enough, they hope to succeed where others have failed. But are they writing a check they can't cash?Ex-Stanford Teacher's New Startup Brings University-Level Education To All [TCTV]
Apr 04, 8:44PM
Using Khan Academy as inspiration, Sebastian Thrun decided to bring his Stanford class on artificial intelligence online. Anyone could sign up for free. And 160,000 people from around the world did. He saw the power of creating interactive lectures and distributing them for free. He left Stanford and launched Udacity, a company focused on bringing free university-level education to the world. In the interview above, Sebastian Thrun, Co-Founder of Udacity, talks about how he will help students improve their careers, whether or not the goal is to replace traditional universities, how the classes are different from iTunes U style taped lectures, and why some of his Stanford students preferred to watch him online.BodeTree Is A Financial Tool For People Who Hate Finance
Apr 04, 8:19PM
Today, a company called BodeTree is launching a new web-based solution to help small business owners make better sense of their financial data. Like another new startup in the SMB realm (that being InvoiceASAP), BodeTree is also leveraging QuickBooks to help import data into its service, but instead of focusing on online invoicing and payments, BodeTree wants to provide business owners with a real-time dashboard view of their financials, plus access to detailed reporting and analysis. But wait! Don't fall asleep yet! BodeTree is actually kind of interesting, despite existing in the relatively boring financial software space. Even CEO Christopher Myers agrees. "It's a big challenge to make something that's really boring and unsexy to be fun," he says. For what's it worth, with BodeTree, he may have just accomplished that.India's Low-Cost Tablet To Get Test Market In Philadelphia Schools?
Apr 04, 8:00PM
The saga of India's "$35 tablet" is long and slightly disappointing. While the idea of low-cost, standard hardware to be distributed in needful communities is a great one, the fact is that the device itself is more or less junk. Poorly built, with a small battery, outdated OS, and low-quality touchscreen, the Aakash has not had a good reception among people who care about such things. But it's only the beginning of the road for this type of device, and DataWind, the company that made the Aakash, has already announced the follow-up — and now they're considering expanding the market to the US. A pilot study may be in the works for under-served schools in Philadelphia.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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