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The Weekend Watch: de Grisogono Meccanico dG Watch Hands-On
May 12, 2:11PM
In the watch world the Meccanico dG watch is a bit of a legend. Originally debuted back in 2008, it helped bridge the gap between modern tech toys and high-end mechanical watches. The all-mechanical design features dual time displays. One, a standard analog dial. Second, a digital display that uses countless small parts to indicate a second time zone like the piece's electronic cousins. Incredibly complicated, the Meccanico dG brought new people into the world of high-horology that previously would not pay attention to what they might have considered stuffy mechanical toys for traditionalists.No Shortcuts, No Mercy: The Bloodsport Of Recruitment
May 12, 2:00PM
One year ago I wrote an article called "Why The New Guy Can't Code," about how the industry-standard process for hiring software engineers is broken, shortsighted, and counterproductive. It remains my most-read TC post. Of course, I was far from the first to say so, and even farther from the last; every few weeks a similar rant bubbles onto the home page of Hacker News. And yet recruiting remains broken. When I wrote that post I imagined that in the subsequent year some sharp startup would come along and turn the game on its ear -- but no. A few have tried: Gitalytics, which tries to use Github data to identify good engineers; Gild, which acquired Coderloop last year and is still going strong; and especially StackOverflow Careers, which leverages the software world's most indispensable site to match employers and employees. But I think it's fair to say that all the contenders so far serve as adjuncts to the traditional recruiting process, rather than replacing it with something disruptively new. All of which adds up to today's very weird situation: there's a desperate talent shortage across the industry, but at the same time, employers are so terrified by the prospect of ever hiring a subpar engineer that the recruiting process has become increasingly gruelling and time-consuming, even though there's little evidence that the standard interview gauntlet identifies good engineers. Of late I'm getting more involved with recruiting myself. (My day job is at the software development shop HappyFunCorp; we're hiring.) And, pending the arrival of that hypothetical revolutionary recruiting startup, I have a modest proposal: stop worrying so much about hiring, and start putting your HR energies into firing.Warren Buffett Is A Punk
May 12, 11:00AM
Warren Buffett is like my ten year old. When she gives me some BS story about something she needs or something she is suggesting there's always a good reason for it. But whenever there's a good reason, there's always a real reason. And the two are starkly different. My job is to figure out the real reason while horse vomit is still spitting out of her ten year old mouth. With Buffett it's the same. He's like this saintly investor who can do no wrong in the public perception. He's America's grandpa investor, filled with sexual innuendos made honest and funny in that way that elderly people can transform ancient history into metaphor. And while he's talking and you're smiling, he very quietly tries to put his hand in your pants, on your wallet. It's all innocent. Until you realize he just got more rich and you got more broke. And then you're in handcuffs. And then you're dead.Americans Now Spend More Time On Facebook Mobile Than Its Website
May 12, 6:46AM
All those minutes reading your news feed in bed, messaging friends over lunch, and browsing photos on the bus really add up. Time spent on Facebook's mobile site and apps per month (441 minutes) has finally surpassed usage of its classic website (391 minutes) -- for Americans who do use Facebook on the go according to the latest report from comScore. And that's actually a big problem for the social network. Facebook usually shows four to seven ads per page on its website, but only a few ads per day in its mobile news feed. That means it makes a lot less money when you visit from your little devices. In fact, yesterday Facebook had to warn potential investors for upcoming initial public offering of stock that the more people who access it from mobile instead of the web, the worse its business is doing.The Importance Of Social Media In Elections: Mostly Hot Air
May 12, 3:14AM
If social media mattered in elections, Ron Paul would have a realistic shot at being the Republican nominee and Barack Obama would be on track to crush Mitt Romney in the biggest landslide in American history. Despite the hype over follower counts, a new study shows that there's no credible evidence that Twitter can be used to predict how elections will turn out. "It can be concluded that the predictive power of Twitter regarding elections has been greatly exaggerated," writes computer science professor, Daniel Gayo-Avello, in an unusually strident rant (for an academic). Gayo's conclusions are intuitive: social media users are an unrepresentative slice of voters, and tweets may not accurately reflect how voters behave.BetaTeamup: BetaBait Acquires BetaNoodle
May 12, 1:15AM
The names, at least, sound like a match made in heaven — BetaBait says it has acquired BetaNoodle. And actually, the products sound like a good fit, too. BetaBait connects startups with early users through its website and email newsletter. BetaNoodle hasn't launched yet, but it's supposed to be an app doing something similar, but for Android developers and users. The financial terms were not disclosed, but it sounds like BetaNoodle was a one-man shop — the man in question being founder Austin Westfall. BetaBait co-founder Cody Barbierri (who I used to work with at VentureBeat) says Westfall will be joining his team, and that his company will be launching the BetaNoodle app in the next few months as a natural way to expand into mobile.Thumbtack Revamp Makes It Even Easier To Find A Service Provider
May 11, 11:24PM
Thumbtack.com, a site that helps people find local service providers (from house cleaners to DJs to math tutors, to use the three examples on the company homepage), unveiled a big redesign earlier this week. Co-founder Sander Daniels says the original version of Thumbtack tried to make finding a service provider easier by avoiding the standard search interface — people posted what job they were looking for, then Thumbtack connected those posters with a professionals who were qualified to do the work. That's still the basic idea, but the new site is "significantly easier and more sophisticated," Daniels says. Now, when you type in the general category that you're looking for, Thumbtack helps you with the listing by asking questions about the basic information that you'll need to enter.>From Disrupt NY To A Multi-Million Skype Acquisition, GroupMe Tells All
May 11, 9:56PM
They raised $11.45 million, acquired a company called Sensobi, and were themselves acquired by Skype for a price that was likely well north of $43 million. There may not be a wilder tale of a Disrupt success (though plenty of startups would beg to differ), which is why we've chosen GroupMe to kick off a series I'm doing on "Disrupt Startups: Where They Are Now."iOS 6 "Sundance" And The Sunsetting Of Google Maps
May 11, 9:56PM
For Google Maps, winter is coming. Potentially. As you've undoubtedly seen by now, with the upcoming iOS 6 software, Apple intends to replace the Google Maps aspect of their default Maps application with their own, in-house version. Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac was the first to report this news, and dives into more of the detail behind it, including the 3D aspect. John Paczkowski of AllThingsD confirmed the change. And after talking to my own source, I can beat the dead horse in confirming the switch. I've also heard a little bit more. First of all, iOS 6, which is expected to be shown off in developer preview form at WWDC in June, is internally codenamed "Sundance". Second, while Paczkowski's source said the new maps functionality will "blow your head off", I've been told that's a bit of hyperbole (you think?). Specifically, while the 3D functionality is cool, it's also not something people are going to use regularly. Think of it like Google Street View — cool, but how often do you actually use it when compared to the regular Google Maps product? (Having said that, I still expect Apple's 3D maps to be cooler than Google Street View.)Gamification: Insights And Emerging Trends
May 11, 9:53PM
I have been active in the field of gamification for the past couple of years, working with companies like Badgeville, HealthTap, Gigya, Basis and others on leveraging game mechanics for end user behavior measurement, scoring and shaping. Last week, I participated on an investor panel of at VatorSplash's Gamification Summit and the group shared several noteworthy points:Video Collaboration Service TenHands Launches Free Browser-Based WebEx Competitor
May 11, 9:40PM
As the capabilities of modern browsers expand and developing standards like Google's WebRCT initiative for real-time communications slowly find their way into most popular browsers, we'll likely see more video collaboration software that's currently still client-based move to the browser as well. TenHands, which is launching its private beta today (you can request an invite here) wants to be the first out of the gate in this market and sees itself as a direct competitor to Cisco's WebEx, Microsoft Lync and other incumbents in this space. The service offers free video conference calls, screensharing, as well as built-in support for sharing documents from your desktop and Box.net.Circle: If Highlight And Path Had A Beautiful Ambient Location Child
May 11, 9:34PM
The people behind college flirting network Likealittle have launched a new app in the App Store, Circle, an app that attempts to be more granular and thoughtful about the burgeoning ambient location space, which includes startups like Highlight, Banjo, Meetup and recent Facebook acquisition Glancee. While Likealittle will continue to run its course, the company will be shifting most of its focus to Circle. Before Highlight launched at SXSW, I wrote that it needed to allow you to drill down into who could see you on the app, who could message you, and who you could see -- Because some people were cool with people being alerted to their whereabouts, but wanted control levels, like being able to limit the functionality to only their friends. While Highlight has yet to add these granular settings,Circle operates exactly on this premise, allowing you to see the people around you if you and they are part of limited shared networks.This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like
May 11, 9:17PM
You know how all Android developers complain about fragmentation? Yeah, this is what fragmentation looks like. Animoca, a Hong Kong mobile app developer that has seen more than 70 million downloads, says it does quality assurance testing with about 400 Android devices. Again, that's testing with four hundred different phones and tablets for every app they ship! The photo above is just a sampling of Animoca's fleet of Android test units.Text The Rainbow: Color Text Messages+ Nabs Top Social App Spot From Facebook, Twitter
May 11, 7:47PM
A new app has just taken the App Store by storm — a colorful, rainbowful storm. It's called Color Text Messages+ and the idea is relatively simple, but clearly appealing judging by the app's popularity. The app is so popular, in fact, that Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter have all just dropped down a spot to make room for the new kid on the social block. In essence, you can now send your friends customized color text messages, complete with backgrounds and various fonts. Yep, a huge chunk of Samsung's Galaxy Note campaign around personalizing communication on smartphones just went down the drain courtesy of a free app. But that's not the point — the point is that you can now send a Comic Sans text message inside a colored (or butterfly-themed) bubble. It's glorious.LegalZoom Files For $120M IPO, Saw $156M In Revenue Last Year
May 11, 7:38PM
Online legal services company LegalZoom filed an S-1 form this morning declaring its intention to raise up to $120 million in an IPO. LegalZoom offers documents and subscription services to make it easier for individuals and businesses to accomplish basic legal tasks. As evidence of the company's traction and impact, the S-1 says LegalZoom has served about 2 million customers in the past 10 years. It also says that in 2011, those customers placed 490,000 orders on the site, and during that period, more than 20 percent of limited liability companies formed in California did so through LegalZoom.Come iOS 6, Apple Will Reportedly Kiss Google Maps Goodbye
May 11, 7:37PM
Google's map data has been baked into the iOS Maps app since the days of the first, thick, aluminum-backed iPhone, but that may no longer be the case once iOS 6 hits the streets. Unnamed sources told 9to5Mac that the Cupertino company would instead take that opportunity to reveal their own Maps application, and those early reports paint a pretty impressive picture. Astute readers may recall that Apple has been on something of a mapping company shopping spree these past few years -- what began with the purchase of Placebase in 2009, continued with Poly9 in 2010, and culminated with Apple snapping up C3 Technologies late last year.GoGoFantasy Is A New Kinkstarter For Porn
May 11, 7:25PM
GoGoFantasy is a patent-pending system for crowdfunding porn. Folks with fetishes, grandmas with groin urgings, and couples into copulating can create projects and request cash in return for filming certain acts. For example, one young lady will mount two cameras in a small plane and film her activity in the cabin. And she won't be reading her Kindle and eating peanuts, if you catch my meaning.Hitwise: Bing Now Powers Over 30% Of U.S. Searches
May 11, 7:14PM
Just a day after it announced its well-received updates to its search result pages, here is some more good news for Bing: according to the latest data from Experian Hitwise, Bing-powered searches -- that is searches on Bing.com and search.yahoo.com -- now account for 30.01% of all U.S. searches. By itself, Bing grew 16% year-over-year and 5% month-over-month and now accounted for 14.32% of all U.S. searches in April 2012. Yahoo grew somewhat slower, but still at a respectable 5% month-over-month and 7% year-over-year.Louis CK Secretly Releases Another Online-Only Special
May 11, 6:25PM
Comedian Louis CK has just released a new comedy special, WORD: Live At Carnegie Hall as another download/streaming offering. The special costs $5 and follows on the heels of his previous special, Live At The Beacon Theatre. CK did no preliminary press for the release and this special contains content that fans might recognize from other live shows as well as his TV program, Louie.HTC Titan II Review: Sometimes A Win-Win Is A Lose
May 11, 6:09PM
I've been spending some quality time with HTC's Titan II, and I would never call it a bad phone. But that's not the question — good, bad, fast, slow, ugly, beautiful... they don't matter unless I feel that I'd put down money and live my life with this device. And even though I expected this to be one of my favorites, I walk away from my review certain that I wouldn't exchange cash for this handset. HTC is great at building quality hardware and Microsoft's new mobile platform is fresh, different, and intuitive. But the way that the duo comes together leaves me unimpressed and disappointed, namely in the camera and the display. Past that, the thickness of the device paired with poor battery life does nothing to make up for these more minor disappointments. In essence, it's simply not good enough. Let's talk about why.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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