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Dear Eric Schmidt, It's Been 6 Months — Where Are Those iOS-Slaying Android Exclusive Apps?
Jun 07, 1:24AM
Flashback to December 6, 2011: Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is on stage at LeWeb in Paris and is asked by an audience member why most application developers still choose to develop for iOS first rather than Android? Schmidt's response: "Six months from now you'll say the opposite. Because ultimately applications vendors are driven by volume. And the volume is favored by the open approach that Google is taking."Well, Mr. Schmidt, it's been six months. And? Nope.
Rewards To The Beat Of A Different Drum: Tango Card Gets $1.8M From Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, WTI
Jun 07, 12:57AM
Tango Card, the Seattle startup looking to disrupt the burgeoning loyalty/gift card space by acting as a low-cost aggregator and innovator on delivery formats, has picked up a couple of new dancing partners. Innovation Endeavors, Eric Schmidt's early-stage investment firm; and Maurice Werdegar, CEO of WTI, the venture debt firm that has counted companies like Google and Facebook among its portfolio, are investing $1.8 million in the company. The investment comes on the back of a strong period for three year-old Tango Card. The company is on track to reach 600,000 users by the end of this year, with key clients like FedEx, ShutterFly and Microsoft (more on that below) among those behind the growth in an overall industry projected to be worth $20 billion this year. David Leeds, the founder and CEO, says that the new funds -- part of a Series A expansion -- will be used to continue to build out Tango's business, with specific focus on mobile technology and "the use of digital goods in retail." It's also, apparently, staffing up: it has just hired Randy Fennel, previously GM of technology for Westpac and Boeing Joint Strike Fighter IT director, as its new CTO.People Are Facebook'ing-and-Buying More Than Ever, Even If They Don't Realize It
Jun 07, 12:31AM
A thin Reuters survey says 34% of people THINK they're using Facebook less than six months ago, but Nielsen DATA shows usage is up 18 minutes to seven hours nine minutes per month per user in that time span. Meanwhile, Reuters says four out of five people THINK they've never bought something based on social network ads or friend recommendations, but that means a full 20% believe they have, and the rest were likely subtly influenced to prefer one brand over another. In the end, deducing facts about 900 million people based on the self-reported survey results of 800 people is shortsighted, and Reuters' framing to signal Facebook's demise is sensational. There are plenty of questions for Facebook's business model, especially how it will make more money on smaller mobile screens. But people are not abandoning Facebook, and it has 16 billion IPO dollars-worth of runway to make itself more useful for marketers.The Tabula Project Aims To Turn Tablets Into Teaching Tools
Jun 07, 12:06AM
A crowdfunded project by tech blogger Noah Kravitz is going to try to turn around the sclerotic business of education software. Dubbed the Tabula Project, the crowdfunded system will allow teachers to create their own lesson plans on almost any tablet without fuss or training. In short, it aims to make educational software far easier and, more important, far cheaper than it has been in the past. "I've wanted to take what I've learned, and who I've met, in my life as a tech blogger and apply it somehow to the educational space. TechnoBuffalo, where I'm still blogging, gave me the chance to explore some ideas and brainstorm with my education world friends," he said.With Its Launch Looming, Apple Seeks Injunction To Stop Galaxy S III Sales
Jun 06, 11:37PM
Eager Samsung fans have been waiting patiently for their chance to purchase the long-awaited Galaxy S III on June 21 (for some carriers, anyway), but that wait could turn out to be longer than expected if Apple has their way. Apple got their hands on an international version of the Galaxy S III not long ago, and came away none too pleased after they spent some time inspecting it. Now, the Cupertino company is trying to bar Samsung from selling their highly-hyped handset in the United States because it allegedly infringes two of Apple's software patents.Facepalm: The Wii U Games We're Seeing This Week Are Stuck At 720p
Jun 06, 9:37PM
According to WiiUDaily (and we're confirming), the games shown at E3 are native at 720p resolution, a considerable step down from the 1080p, 3D-pumping action coming out of the 360 and the PS3 in many cases. Although there is no absolute proof that the Wii U launch titles will all be 720p, the site noted that "the representative couldn't confirm whether the games can be upscaled to 1080p, only that the 'native resolution is 720p for all titles showcased.'"Goodbye, Ray Bradbury
Jun 06, 8:53PM
Author Ray Bradbury died today in Los Angeles. He was 91. As a child of the pre-Internet, Bradbury's writing was just on the apex between a grave, plastic future foreseen by Star Wars and the brushwork and filigree of the dreams and hopes of a previous century. Reading him was like reading a story written on a cave wall - true, indelible, and exceedingly strange. He wrote horror without being bloody, he wrote sci-fi without being fussy, and he wrote of lives that went on long before mine. He wrote about what had happened in the basements of our childhood homes fifty, seventy five years before. He explained the fear hidden in the root cellar and the spice of old bottles of homemade catsup kept in the garage. He explained why grandpa had a jar of mismatched screws (he was probably building something wonderful, long ago) and told us about fire balloons and martians and murderers. He told us what to expect at the end of the world and he told us to watch out for our kids. He told us books were important and he told us that old people were once children.YC-Funded Project Management Tool Interstate Goes 2.0, Adds Paid Accounts, Chat & Embeds
Jun 06, 8:00PM
Interstate is a project management application for small teams that focuses on providing businesses and developers with easily sharable roadmaps for their projects. The Y Combinator-funded startup which launched out of the incubator's summer 2011 class is launching version 2 of its service today. This update marks the launch of Interstate's freemium model (the service was only available for free until now). Users can now get free accounts for up to two users and will have to pay $9 per extra user after that. In addition, Interstate is launching two major new features: reatime chat and the ability to easily embed roadmaps on a website. The company tells us that it currently has about 200 users, which doesn't sound like much, but among the companies that are using it are Cisco and hosting service MediaTemple (here is MediaTemple's public roadmap, for example). The difference between Interstate and other project management tools is the application's focus on open project management. As Y Combinator partner and Posterous founder Garry Tan told us earlier this week, the company's "customers love Interstate because it turns tire-kicking potential customers into users, since people can see exactly what is coming next."LinkedIn Confirms Hack And Leak Of "Some" User Passwords
Jun 06, 7:42PM
Shortly after it was reported that nearly 6.5 million LinkedIn account passwords were leaked onto the net, LinkedIn leapt into action and mounted their own investigation. Though most of the morning was spent claiming that they could not confirm a security breach, a new announcement on their blog reveals that at least some of those leaked passwords correspond to LinkedIn accounts.True Ventures Raises $205M Third Fund
Jun 06, 7:37PM
Early-stage investment firm True Ventures has raised a $205 million third fund. True says it now has $600 million management, and that it has funded more than 100 companies. It calls out some of those investments in its blog post announcing the fund. From the first fund, there's WordPress-creator Automattic and ad company BrightRoll. From the second fund, there's Salesforce.com-acquired Assistly, Adobe-acquired Typekit, and VMWare-acquired Socialcast. (On the media side, True is also an investor in GigaOm, former employer of TechCrunch writers Ryan Lawler and Colleen Taylor, and the site's founder Om Malik is a True partner.)Quirky Unveils The App-Enabled Milk Jug Of The Future: The Milkmaid
Jun 06, 7:27PM
Back in early May, Quirky and GE announced a contest that had users pitching ideas for everyday objects that could be improved by adding software to the mix. The eventual winner was — surprisingly enough — a smart milk jug that could tell users when their milk was going bad as well as when to buy some more. It may not have been the sort of project that most of us had expected, but Quirky has given TechCrunch the first glimpse at what they managed to come up with: the Milkmaid. And here's the kicker -- it's gorgeous.Mobile Ad Exchange Nexage Raises $10M Led By SingTel Innov8
Jun 06, 6:50PM
Nexage, a mobile ad exchange using real-time bidding, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. The round was led by SingTel Innov8, the venture arm of Asian telecom company SingTel. Nexage CEO Ernie Cormier says Singtel is approaching this like any other venture investment, and that "there's no requirement int the funding that we do X, Y, and Z for SingTel." At the same time, there are likely to be some partnership opportunities, especially given Cormier's stated "desire to expand our footprint into Asia."Lending Club Lands $17.5 Million from Kleiner Perkins and Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack
Jun 06, 6:03PM
Lending Club, the peer-to-peer lending platform, has received $15 million in new funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In addition, John Mack, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley who still serves as the investment bank's chairman emeritus, has invested $2.5 million of his own money into the San Francisco-based company.HBO Go App Lands On The Kindle Fire
Jun 06, 5:41PM
Ok, so HBO won't sell its streaming, on-demand video service HBO GO as a standalone service to cord cutters and other folks who don't want to pay a premium for it. We've established that. But for those of you who do subscribe to HBO through the typical cable channels, the cable network continues to add new devices and platforms that support it. The latest device to get the app is Amazon's Kindle Fire. HBO announced Wednesday morning that subscribers will now be able to access all its original programming, as well as movies that the network has licensed. In total, that's more than 1,400 titles, including every episode of popular series, past and present, like Game of Thrones and The Sopranos.Google Announces Massively Improved 3D Views For Google Earth, StreetView Backpacks & Offline Maps For Mobile
Jun 06, 5:02PM
At a press event in San Francisco this morning, Google announced that it will soon feature far better 3D maps in Google Earth. The company also announced that Google Maps for mobile will soon feature offline caching. This feature will come to Google Maps to Android soon. Google says it wants to bring this feature to all platforms in the long run. Users will be able to download parts of a map to their devices and then use them when they are offline.Twitter Makes Its Bird Logo More Optimistic As Its Business Model Takes Flight
Jun 06, 4:54PM
While it used to fly straight ahead, Twitter's new bird logo has its beak held high, representing a company ready to take off, not just cruise on. Bloomberg's sources close to Twitter said the company expects to generate $1 billion in sales in 2014, almost double eMarketer's prediction, so it's fitting that the Twitter bird is looking skyward and has a new professional haircut. The redesigned bird replaces both the old bird as well any "T" or bubbled typeface "Twitter" logos. It will automatically be pushed to all official Twitter buttons, but sites may want to update any static Twitter logos they display. And if you wanted to read entirely too much into the redesign, you could say the sharper, aerodynamic 3-feather design represents Twitter's improved speed and reliability. No bloated fail whale here.Mobile Crash Reporting Solution Crashlytics Acquires FireTower.app To Expand Into Mobile Web
Jun 06, 4:38PM
Crashlytics, a Cambridge-based startup that helps developers understand why their mobile apps are crashing, has just beat out an unnamed competitor to acquire the bootstrapped startup called FireTower.app. The FireTower solution was focused not on mobile apps, but on web applications, allowing developers to find javascript errors in their websites. Now, Crashlytics will be repurposing that technology for use by mobile web developers. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Crashlytics co-founder Wayne Chang says the other side is "very happy."Freebie Marketplace Listia Wants To Take On Craigslist In Local Swaps
Jun 06, 4:34PM
Listia, the Y Combinator- and Andreessen Horowitz-backed site where people can exchange free goods, is unveiling a new feature called Listia Local in four cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. In a lot of ways, this seems like a natural extension of Listia's basic concept, where people can earn points by giving away items or participating on the site, then use those points to claim free goods. (You can also pay for points, which is Listia's business model.) Co-founder Gee Chuang says that the team initially thought of Listia as more of a local marketplace, but right now, "almost every single transaction occurs via shipping."After A Month Of Stealthy Testing, Uber Officially Launches In Philadelphia
Jun 06, 4:31PM
It's been just over a month since team on-demand car service Uber announced that they had soft launched in Philadelphia, and as usual that time has been spent in quiet contemplation while they worked out the specifics like pricing and local fleet operations. Today, Uber officially exits their stealthy "research phase" in Philadelphia, so users in need of a classy way to cruise from Fishtown to Fairmount Park need look no further than their mobile devices.The Southeast TC Meetup Tour Is On Like Donkey Kong (But With Comfort Food Instead Of Bananas)
Jun 06, 4:24PM
And we're off. The Southeast meetup tour is officially a go. We'll be hitting up Savannah, Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte and Greenville on a quest to uncover hidden technological gems that may or may not get pitched with a southern drawl. I'm from Texas, which is a different kind of "south" but I'm jazzed all the same. If you plan on attending, you should expect lots of beer, lots of geeks, lots of pitches, and a helluva good time. That's the only way we know how to do things here.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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