Tuesday, June 5, 2012

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Sony's Jack Tretton: PS Vita Will Get Hulu Plus And Crackle Apps "Soon"

Jun 05, 1:44AM

cracklevitaLike Microsoft did in their own press conference, Sony was quick to point out that their consoles aren't just gaming gadgets -- they're great for consuming media too. To further cement that point, Sony Computer Entertainment America chief Jack Tretton just revealed that Hulu Plus and Crackle will soon find their way to the PS Vita.


Ongage Wants to Help Marketing Emails Make It Into The Inbox

Jun 05, 1:35AM

ESPreportIf a company needs to send marketing emails, it choose from a range of email service providers, such as iContact and Exact Target. But a startup called Ongage says that if you want your emails to make it into everyone's inbox there's a better approach — instead of choosing one ESP, why not use different providers for different recipients?


Khosla Ventures Raising Money For New Seed Fund, SEC Filing Says

Jun 05, 12:26AM

Screen shot 2012-06-04 at 5.10.26 PMLooks like the seed funding wave continues to get stronger. The latest evidence: Khosla Ventures, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm headed up by tech industry veteran Vinod Khosla, appears to be raising a new seed fund, according to regulatory documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon.


CloudFlare Security Breach: The Result Of Smart Social Engineering, Flaw In Google's Account Recovery System

Jun 04, 10:58PM

cloudflare-logoCloudFlare, the increasingly popular security and CDN service, suffered a security breach last week that allowed hacktivist group UGNazi to hijack the company's CEO's Matthew Prince's Gmail account and gain access to the account of one of CloudFlare's customers. CloudFlare won't say who exactly the hacker targeted with this attack, but rumor has it that 4chan.org was likely on the hacker's hit list. Now, after investigating the problem over the weekend, CloudFlare is releasing more information about how this could have happened. As Prince told me earlier today, the attack was the result of flaws in AT&T's, Google's and CloudFlare's security protocols. The hacker smartly exploited all of these to gain access to the CloudFlare user's account.


Netflix Rolls Out Its Own CDN: Open Connect

Jun 04, 10:47PM

NetflixBuilding4Netflix announced today that it is rolling out a new CDN of its own, called Open Connect, which will reduce its costs of delivery and could improve delivery of its content. But Open Connect isn't just about reducing its reliance on third-party CDNs like Akamai, Limelight, and Level 3 -- by connecting directly with ISPs, Netflix could improve the relationships it has network operators. Through Open Connect, ISPs can choose to peer directly with Netflix at one of eight settlement-free peering exchanges. Or, if they want to, they can install one of Netflix's Open Connect appliances into their own network. That would allow them to cache the content locally so that it doesn't have to be transferred over the network whenever it's requested. Either way, doing so could reduce the strain of Netflix traffic going over their networks.


E-Publishing May Be Doing Everything Right, But We Can't Ignore The Spectre Of Piracy

Jun 04, 10:44PM

shutterstock_66140275I'm a full supporter of e-books, e-book devices, and agree (mostly) with this excellent WSJ assessment by Rob Reid of the the e-book business. In short, Reid points out that 10 years ago this month the music industry began prosecuting its users and implementing draconian DRM to stave off an impending piracy revolution. That was the year Napster closed shop and pirates, however briefly, lived in a hostile environment. Since then, the music industry has lost $7 billion in music sales. Their war is lost and that sum, however paltry it looks, is pretty much the new normal.


Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall(ed Garden)

Jun 04, 10:00PM

Reagan Berlin WallToday, I participated in a meeting at the White House described as an "expert roundtable on patient access to health data" hosted by Todd Park (Chief Technology Officer of the United States), Farzad Mostashari (the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology), Leon Rodriguez (Office of Civil Rights) and Peter Levin (CTO Veterans Administration). Being at the White House within a week of the 25th anniversary of President Reagan's famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speech at the Brandenburg Gate, it struck me that tearing down a wall was a good metaphor for what was the goal of today's meeting. In many respects, healthIT is similar to the "walled gardens" that persisted in mobile phones until they were torn down by the iPhone and Google's Android. Just as the wireless carriers had their own proprietary environments for apps, health systems (and their EHR vendors) severely limit what can tie in with their systems directly impeding patient access to their health data. The desired outcomes of the White House roundtable were:


AT&T Bucks The Chromatic Trend With An Exclusive Red Galaxy S III Coming This Summer

Jun 04, 9:36PM

gals3redNearly every U.S. wireless carrier that will stock Samsung's much-anticipated Galaxy S III laid out their intentions this morning, but some were more forthcoming than others. While Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular offered up expected launch windows and prices, AT&T spent the day keeping to themselves. Well, until now that is. The news AT&T released is very similar to everyone else's -- pre-orders will begin on June 6, the 16GB model will cost $199 -- except for one major difference. AT&T will be getting an exclusive red version of the Galaxy S III later this summer. Sadly, no images of the red Galaxy S III have trickled out yet, so you'll have to make do with this quick mock-up.


Facebook Bringing Its Mobile News Feed Redesign To the Web, With Larger Photos And Text

Jun 04, 9:36PM

facebook photo newsfeedIf you liked the larger photos that Facebook introduced to its mobile news feed last month, here's some good news: It's bringing a similar redesign to its Web interface. Specifically, Facebook says photos in the news feed will now be enlarged to up to 2x their previous size, and displayed in a new layout that can bring more photos from an album into the feed. Text in news feed posts is also going to be larger and wider spaced.


Meet The Next 10 Startups To Join NYC-Based Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator

Jun 04, 9:06PM

entrepreneurs roundtable acceleratorThe Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator is back, with 10 new startups just announced as part of its Summer 2012 class. From political fundraising to group travel to social business referrals, the incubator has a wide range of startups going through its latest three-month program. Like other incubators, the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator is aimed at helping early stage startups get off the ground. Since it was launched a year ago, the program has provided startups with working capital and mentorship in New York City. Participants receive a $25,000 investment, free co-working space, and access to a network of more than 200 mentors, including entrepreneurs and investors.


More On Meebo: Price Is Around $100M, Product Team To Work On Google+ Publisher Tools, Layoffs Hit Sales

Jun 04, 9:05PM

themeebobar.v3Meebo, the seven year-old chat service that morphed into a website toolbar and ad platform, is indeed selling to Google. The company confirmed the news a few minutes ago, and we've since dug up some more details. First, the amount. After raising some $70 million in four venture rounds, Meebo's acquisition was in fact for around the rumored $100 million, we've heard from a source close to the matter.


GTar Update: The Guitar Now Works As A MIDI Controller

Jun 04, 8:33PM

The GTar, everyone's favorite Disrupt near-winner, has just announced full MIDI compatibility for their guitar, allowing musicians to connect to popular software and "play" various sounds and triggers right on the guitar fretboard.


Amazon Adds KF8 Support, Parental Controls, And A High-Contrast Font To Their Cheapest Kindle

Jun 04, 8:10PM

kindle79Amazon's $79 Kindle may be the least flashy of the the bunch, but the Seattle company is starting to push out a new software update that adds some much-needed functionality to their cost-conscious e-reader. One of the biggest additions to the mix is support for Kindle Format 8, Amazon's relatively new ebook file format. The $79 Kindle seems to be bringing up the rear in that respect, as the Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, and most of the Kindle mobile apps have already been updated to play well with those newer KF8 files.


Confirmed: Google Is Buying Meebo, The Startup That Turned Chat Into A Business [Updated]

Jun 04, 8:06PM

Screen Shot 2012-06-04 at 1.19.02 PMMeebo has been around in Silicon Valley for seven years, starting off with a site that let users chat with each other across different instant message services -- then becoming a social toolbar, and ad platform and much more. Now it's joining its Mountain View neighbor to the east, Google. [Update: See our followup post for more info -- we've confirmed the amount, the focus of the product team within Google, and the sales and marketing layoffs.] The company confirmed the sale today in a post on the company blog, after we reached out due to a tip.


Movile Launches Zeewe TV, A New Social Video Service Aimed At The Latino Market

Jun 04, 8:00PM

zeewe tvMovile has spent the last decade providing content to Latin American audiences primarily on feature phones through partnerships with mobile carriers. Now Movile, which is based in Brazil, is looking to target Latino audiences globally, including in the U.S. and Europe. It's doing that with an office in Mountain View, Calif., which expands its presence in the U.S., as well as through the launch of an HTML5-based video service called ZeeWe TV. Zeewe TV is a Facebook application that will combine both short-form and long-form content aimed at the global Latino market. It already has rolled up content from a number of major content providers, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Azteca TV, Band, and Terra. That includes videos in Spanish, Portuguese, and English that highlights Latin American news and celebrities.


Google Analytics Now Lets You Conduct Browser-Size Analysis

Jun 04, 7:46PM

bsize-blog-basicGoogle just added a small but interesting new feature to its Google Analytics product. You can now see how much of your site your visitors are really seeing, based on the new browser-size analysis the company just added to Google Analytics. With Analytics, Google already knows what screen sizes your site's visitors are using, so it is now combining this information with its previously released browser size tool from Google Labs. Google is rolling this new tool out slowly, so chances are it will be a week or two before you see it in your Google Analytics account (it's already live in my personal accounts, but your mileage may vary).


Profitable San Francisco Financial Company Launches New Form Of Payment [TCTV]

Jun 04, 7:45PM

moneySan Francisco has had an awesome few weeks of 75th anniversary celebrations. The Golden Gate bridge celebration was pretty obvious, as there was a lot of fanfare with fireworks etc., but another celebration went on rather quietly and TechCrunch was fortunate enough to be part of it. The 75th anniversary of the Herman Street US San Francisco Mint. One of the most mysterious buildings in San Francisco, The Mint is located behind a Safeway on Market Street, nestled between the Mission, Castro and Lower Haight communities. I pass by the ominous building all the time and I see the guards, but I've never seen anyone go in and out. I guess I just haven't been there at the right time, because there are well over 300 employees that work there creating limited edition uncirculated collector sets, proof coins and will soon launch quarters you could (but shouldn't, they are valuable) circulate with the famous S stamp.


Custom Jewelry Startup Gemvara Raises $25M In Oversubscribed Series D Round

Jun 04, 6:40PM

gemvara_homepageGemvara, a Boston-based custom jewelry site we've written about in the past, just announced that it has closed a $25 million Series D funding round. This oversubscribed round was led by Norwest Venture Partners and also includes funds from all existing investors, including Highland Capital Partners, Canaan Partners and Balderton Capital. The company says that it plans to use this new influx of cash to "enhance all aspects of the customer shopping experience and continue to drive innovation that will bring the jewelry industry to the cutting edge of commerce." Gemvara previously raised a total of $20.2 million, including a large $15 million Series C round led by Balderton Capital.


The Xbox 360, Now A True Cable Box Killer

Jun 04, 6:07PM

microsoft_E3Microsoft just threw down at E3 2012. After exciting the crowd with Halo and Gears of War titles, the company unveiled new additions to the 360's vast media offering. Don't be distracted by the video game trailers: this is Redmond's biggest news of the show. In fact the new offering could lead to a rival of the cord cutting movement. The Xbox 360 has nearly always had an impressive suite of media streaming options with Netflix and others. For most households, though, the offering was never enough to replace cable. In fact, it was more of a supplement. But today's announcement brings a host of new options, stations, and apps to the Xbox 360. With these new features, the Xbox 360 has finally become Microsoft's Trojan Horse. The target? Cable companies.


Zynga Adds 50 People Through Talent Acquisition of Video Game Maker Buzz Monkey

Jun 04, 5:48PM

Screen Shot 2012-06-04 at 1.18.06 PMZynga just closed a talent acquisition of Oregon-based video game maker Buzz Monkey, which will add about 50 people to its arsenal of game developers, we've confirmed with sources who have knowledge of the deal. The price isn't being disclosed and the deal literally just closed at the end of May. It wasn't a "material" acquisition, meaning it was not financially large enough to break out in a release or an SEC filing. Buzz Monkey will become Zynga's Eugene, Oregon office.



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