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Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Xobot
May 05, 1:00PM
Poor old Android is having a bad year. (Especially compared to last year.) Apple's iPhone is soaring in China, and apparently overtaking Android in the crucial American market. Oracle's lawsuit against Google has led to several rather awkward claims, eg that the word 'license' in the phrase "we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need" referred to "not a license from anybody", a kind of license with which I was previously entirely unfamiliar. CEO Larry Page's own testimony was labelled as evasive: "His denial of knowledge and recollection contrasts with evidence," wrote Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. What a headache. Way back in 2005, Android head honcho Andy Rubin wrote in a prescient email: "If Sun doesn't want to work with us, we have two options: 1) Abandon our work and adopt MSFT CLR VM and C# language – or – 2) Do Java anyway and defend our decision, perhaps making enemies along the way."Just imagine if they'd taken the first road. It's not widely understood in the industry that Microsoft's .NET infrastructure is more open than Java in many ways; it and its flagship language C# are ISO and ECMA standards, available to anyone and everyone, legally bulletproofed by the Microsoft Community Promise. Imagine if the Android OS ran on an entirely different technical architecture. Wait, no. Don't imagine it: examine it. Like a vision from a parallel universe, it now exists.
Wappwolf's Automator Now Connects/Syncs Google Drive, Dropbox And Others
May 05, 11:32AM
Previously we've covered Dropbox Automator, a sort of IFTTT for Dropbox. (IFTTT, if you haven't heard, automates tasks to trigger when a particular action has occurred, e.g. if a Facebook profile picture changes, then update a Twitter profile, etc). Like IFTTT, Dropbox Automator is capable of triggering a similar series of actions, based on what kind of files have been added to your Dropbox folders. Now, the startup that makes Dropbox Automator, Wappwolf, has produced Google Drive Automator.New Orleans' First Tech Incubator, Launch Pad Ignition, Debuts Its Second Batch Of Startups
May 05, 6:22AM
Launch Pad Ignition, the first tech incubator to make its home in the Big Easy, today officially unveiled the seven companies that participated in its second annual session. The accelerator's 12-week program began the second week of February and culminated yesterday with its own New Orleans rendition of the patented "Demo Day," appropriately called "Launch Fest," which we've been told is "Jazz Fest plus startups, on steroids." Launch Pad's model is a bit different than that of the traditional accelerator, in that Co-founder Chris Schultz tells us it's geared towards building traction, not offering big early funding.New Start Up CodeNow.Com Lets You Build And Test Code In Real Time, In Your Browser
May 05, 6:21AM
Trying new APIs is tricky. You can spend hours setting things up, gaining permissions, and learning syntax before you even get to write one line of code. That's why CodeNow.com is cool. In short, it allows you to try APIs before you invest too much time into them and, as an added bonus, it acts as a code repository. The site is currently in private beta but it's accepting users tonight.The Rise of Big Data Apps And The Fall of SaaS
May 05, 5:00AM
With the influx of information flooding the web – 90% of the web having been created in the last two years alone – web businesses are looking for ways to understand and use big data to drive their business. Just as SaaS and the cloud completely revolutionized the way businesses operate, so will Big Data applications (BDAs). BDAs are web-based applications that interpret and use massive amounts of enterprise and web-scale data to deliver more intelligent results for their subscribers. BDAs leverage the best of the cloud; they're web-hosted, multi-tenant and use Hadoop, noSQL and a range of recommendation and machine learning technologies. But the real question is – so what? So what if the underlying data structures use Hadoop or noSQL? No CEO of a major business gets excited about a value proposition around more scalable data structures. That's where BDAs come in. BDAs don't just repackage your data in a cool interface or offer productivity improvements in data scalability, they harness the world's data to deliver you a better outcome – like more revenue.Facebook Likes Just Got Cray Cray
May 05, 4:02AM
In light of its impending multi-billion-dollar IPO, its user base of 900 million and its increasingly sprawling design and user experience, some people have come to believe that Facebook has gone crazy. Excuse me, "cray cray." What's more, even though it's only two-odd years old, Facebook's "Like" button is now ubiquitous on the Webs. But with how quickly these young people are picking up new technology these days, let's be honest, "Liking" things is for old people. Everyone else has moved on. That's why Ben Schaechter, Sam Grossberg, and Paul Kompfner have coded up a new Chrome extension, which went live this evening, called CrayBook. (Check it out in the Chrome Web Store here.)Facebook Buys Location-Based Discovery App Glancee
May 05, 1:27AM
A little under one month after its acquisition of Instagram, Facebook has acquired Highlight competitor and ambient location app Glancee.
The company has already shut down the developer's passive location app. All three co-founders, Glancee's only full-time employees, will join Facebook, which now owns its technology. Our editor Eric Eldon called Glancee, "A nice-guy ambient social location app for normal people", so it's ideas and founders should fit in well building for Facebook's mainstream user base.
Want A Free Desk In SF? i/o Ventures Is Offering Space For Three Startups
May 04, 10:57PM
I don't want to become the publicity arm for every tech organization throwing contest or giveaway, but once in a while, something comes along that seems like a perfect fit for a big chunk of TechCrunch readers. For example: i/o Ventures, the co-working space and startup incubator based in the Mission District (that's San Francisco's best neighborhood, for those of you not in the know), is offering free desk space to three startups. If you're interested, it's pretty easy to apply.ChoicePass Launches Android App: Think Yelp App For Corporate Perks
May 04, 10:21PM
ChoicePass is bringing its corporate perk management platform to smartphones starting today, with the launch of its Android app. Co-founder Kyle Hui says his goal is to "make HR sexy again." Specifically that means helping small companies participate in perks programs that they couldn't afford on their own, while moving larger companies' perks into the cloud, freeing them from corporate intranet pages that no one knows about or uses. It's a similar in a lot of ways to what BetterWorks is trying to accomplish, but Hui says that since BetterWorks doesn't have mobile apps (yet), this is a big differentiator.Meet Our TC NYC Meet-Up Volunteers
May 04, 9:40PM
This is important, so listen up. The people I'm about to describe are the most awesome of all the awesome people as they have volunteered to help out (free of charge) with our massive meet-up here in NYC next week. It'll be amazing. Let me paint you a little word picture:Gillmor Gang Live 05.04.12
May 04, 8:09PM
Gillmor Gang - Doc Searls, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, Robert Scoble, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording has concluded.Skullcandy Supreme Sound Hesh Headphone Review: Like Vs. Love
May 04, 8:08PM
There's a huge difference between like and love. I like cheese, but I love Gruyere. I like beef, but I love filet mignon. I like phones, but I love my iPhone. You get the gist. Long story short, I really like Skullcandy's latest pair of over-ear mid-range headphones, the Hesh 2.0. But do I love them?Facebook Messenger Apps Get More Life-Like, Now Show If Someone's Read Your Message
May 04, 8:01PM
Facebook thinks mobile messaging should feel like you're having a face-to-face conversation, so today it updates its Messenger for iOS and Android apps with the ability to see if someone's read your message, and easier ways to tell if someone's typing and where they're messaging from. Facebook Messenger "read receipts" are even easier to understand than those long-found on BlackBerry Messenger, and they work for group messaging too. The apps now display "Seen by Peter, Josh, Justin" right under a sent message. Director of Product Peter Deng tells "SMS has been around for 20 years, built it was for these T9 phones. We're focused on leveraging all the capabilities of today's devices to create a new messaging experience." He also says these are just the start of app updates designed to make mobile conversations feel more real, as if you had body language cues and more to go by. The read receipts definitely accomplish this, as you won't have to send any "did you get that?" messages or wonder if someone missed you message, or read it but just didn't respond.Some Guys Have All The Luck: HTC One X Hitting Doorsteps Ahead Of Schedule
May 04, 7:58PM
Sure, AT&T's One X will officially hit store shelves this Sunday, but you may be in for an early weekend treat if you've taken it upon yourself to pre-order the thing. According to a handful of reports from AndroidCentral's and Phandroid's forums, some lucky HTC fans have already received their new Android handsets well in advance of the device's official launch.Techlandia: Portland 100 Wants To Help Local Startups Grow To $100 Million
May 04, 7:45PM
Portland, OR isn't just a place where young people go to retire and hang out at urban wineries. The city also plays host to a fair number of prominent startups, including companies like Urban Airship, JanRain, Simple and Puppet Labs, as well as outposts of established players like Intel, Microsoft, IBM and eBay. To keep this momentum going, the Software Association of Oregon (SAO) launched two new initiatives this week: Portland 100 - a pilot program that will help select tech startups with finding mentors, talent and resources - and Techlandia.org. The idea behind this program is to help the region's most promising startups to scale their businesses and attract talent.YC Price Guide Startup Priceonomics Raises $1.5M Seed From Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel
May 04, 7:23PM
How much should you pay for a used iPhone, TV, or bicycle? Spark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel and more think you need to know, so they've invested $1.5 million into Priceonomics, a Y Combinator winter 2012 startup. The seed round that shall be announced later today will go towards hiring front-end developers and back-end engineers to make the site beautiful but simple and beef up its machine learning technology. The site saw 250,000 page views in March and is still growing traffic by a brisk 65% every month. Investors see gold in possible business models built around the data Priceonomics crawls and ads shown to people about to make a purchase. Co-founder Rohin Dhar says the startup aims to beat general search engines by immediately knowing you're looking to buy when you type in the name or maker of a laptop, appliance, camera, or stereo.Twitter Says Farewell To Adam "MCA" Yauch
May 04, 7:15PM
Earlier today, GlobalGrind broke the news that Adam "MCA" Yauch, a founding member of New York's pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, had died of cancer at the age of 47. While the loss of Yauch will be felt for decades to come, it's no more evident just how big an impact the Beastie Boys and Yauch have had over their 25+ year career than by checking Twitter's local and global trends. He is survived by his wife and daughter.Spotify Crop Circle Appears Near Stonehenge
May 04, 6:08PM
Aliens are streaming our music! A crop circle bearing a striking resemblance to the Spotify logo has appeared in Wiltshire, England near Stonehenge. The Swedish startup denies having anything to do with the formation pressed into a canola seed field. Sirius XM satellite radio must feel a little jealous, as it's been beaming music into space for years. Hopefully the extraterrestrials like to party, as Fun.'s drunken anthem "We Are Young" has been topping the Spotify charts for weeks. Otherwise, we may need to assemble Will Smith and others with experience fighting aliens.MTV Will Try To Break Guinness Record For Most Live Concerts With O Music Awards
May 04, 6:06PM
You've probably heard the complaint that MTV has forgotten its music video roots and spends too much time on reality television. Heck, you may have said something similar yourself. Well, for its third O Music Awards (an "event that celebrates and honors the artists, fans and innovators impacting digital music culture"), MTV combining elements of both — it's an awards show, a concert (actually multiple concerts), and a reality TV show about a band hitting the road. The previous O Music Awards were held Las Vegas West Hollywood, but this time the show is actually going to be on the road. A yet-to-be-named band will be touring the Mississippi Delta, birthplace of rock, and stop in eight different cities, with the award presentations interspersed. One of the goals is to set a new Guinness World Record for Most Live Concerts in 24 Hours (Multiple Cities) — apparently setting new records is something MTV tries with every show, but this time it's really baked into the basic concept. And naturally, all of this will be livestreamed.Lost In The Supermarket? A New Sensor Will Navigate For You Indoors
May 04, 6:05PM
Sure, GPS helps us get from Point A to Point B, but what if you're just trying to find the Cinnabon? A new system from Fraunhofer allows for in-store (or in-mall) navigation and uses very simple sensors to asses where you are in the building at any time. The system works when you enter the edifice and scan a QR code. This identifies your current position. A built-in pedometer and compass assess the speed and direction you're going and, rather than relying on GPS signals, the system can tell where you are simply based on stride length.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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