Hi there!
Here's the latest feed from TechCrunch.
Add feeds@feed2email.net to your contact list to make sure you receive all your emails
Make sure to visit feed2email.net to get more feeds sent to your inbox.
To find out which feeds you are subscribed to, or to get further help, just reply to this email.
Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks
Jul 13, 2:49AM
Sun Valley aside, the story of the day today is that social news site Digg has sold its remaining assets for $500K to the NYC-based tech firm Betaworks; While that number is indeed in the ballpark, we're hearing from multiple sources that the total price of the Digg acquisition was around $16 million, including the price paid for IP by a previously unreported acquirer, LinkedIn.Eric Schmidt: Google Self-Driving Cars Should Become The Predominant Mode Of Transport In Our Lifetime
Jul 12, 10:58PM
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt offered some new insight into Google's self-driving car today at his press talk at Allen and Co.'s Sun Valley conference. Schmidt revealed that Google had talked to "all" of the auto-manufacturers globally about the product, which he called "not yet ready for productization options" facing challenges including getting individual states to approve it.August Capital Summer Party Tickets Released
Jul 12, 10:21PM
As promised, we have released another batch of August Capital Summer Party tickets. Tickets sell out quickly and if your buyer bot is too slow to snag passes for you and 400 of your closest friends, you can always purchase a ticket to the Facebook EcoSystem CrunchUp here which includes a ticket to the Facebook Ecosystem Conference and a fast track ticket to enter the August Capital Summer party!E-Signature Company DocuSign Raises $47.5M Led By Kleiner Perkins, Mary Meeker Joins The Board
Jul 12, 10:12PM
DocuSign, which offers platform for providing electronic signatures, has raised $47.5 million in new funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing also says that Mary Meeker, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner (and former Morgan Stanley analyst) who's most famous for her reports on the mobile industry, is joining the DocuSign board. It seems likely that Kleiner led the new round, but neither DocuSign nor Kleiner has confirmed that. (I've reached out to both and will update if I hear back.)The Future Of Customer Experience – 3 Examples Of Virtual Assistants, Biometrics And Siri-Style Services
Jul 12, 9:53PM
The future of customer service is less about the people than it is the sound of a person or even the virtual image of an individual. Humans are just so inefficient. But they can be improved, too, through interfaces that provide them more automated capabilities. Salefsorce.com is on the edge of this trend. It continues to acquire companies that makes it easier for agents to become more efficient and customers to experience a less odious way of getting their issues answered. This week it acquired GoInstant, which makes it easier for anyone in a customer experience role to share a Web page. It requires no plug-in. It's simply a URL that connects the agent and the customer having problems or seeking answers to their questions.InMobi Acquires MMTG Labs, The Startup Behind AppBistro And AppGalleries
Jul 12, 9:50PM
We're hearing that mobile ad network InMobi has acquired MMTG Labs, a San Francisco startup that operates AppBistro, an application marketplace for Facebook pages, and AppGalleries, which is a white-label app store platform.Shareaholic Raises $3 Million Series A Led By Kepha Partners For Sharing And Analytics Platform
Jul 12, 9:13PM
Shareaholic, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup that makes browser extensions and other tools to facilitate the sharing and discovery of web content, tells TechCrunch that it has raised $3 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Kepha Partners, and included participation from existing backers General Catalyst Partners, NextView Ventures, 500 Startups and other angel investors, who all invested in Shareaholic's previous seed rounds.Updated: Betaworks Acquires Digg (For Significantly More Than $500K)
Jul 12, 8:35PM
Betaworks, the company behind bit.ly, news.me, Chartbeat and a number of other successful products, has acquired the social news site Digg.com for an undisclosed amount (rumor has it that the price was just $500k). Betaworks' founder John Borthwick will become the new CEO of Digg. The site's current CEO Matt Williams will join Andreessen Horowitz as Entrepreneur in Residence after the Betaworks transition is complete. Digg's founder Kevin Rose joined Google a few months ago after the search engine acquired his latest startup Milk.The Fancy's E-Commerce Expansion Continues With Launch Of "Buy" Button For Web Publishers
Jul 12, 8:18PM
This week, New York-based The Fancy, a Pinterest-like site with a focus on not just browsing, but buying from its collection of inspirational imagery, began encouraging users to share its content on social networks in exchange for cash rewards. But paid promotion via social sharing was only one part of the company's larger plan. Today, the company is rolling out another piece of the puzzle and its introducing "Buy" buttons to power purchasing behaviors on any website.Bing Fund: Microsoft Officially Launches Its New Angel Fund And Incubator Program
Jul 12, 8:12PM
This wasn't exactly a secret anymore, but today, Microsoft officially unveiled its Bing Fund, a new angel fund and incubator program sponsored by Bing and "backed by the experience, expertise, and resources of Microsoft." The idea here, says Microsoft, is to "partner with like-minded entrepreneurs—great talent that is innovating online to solve big problems and create amazing new experiences." The fund is looking for startups that focus on mobile and web experiences and which provide "both inspirational vision" and the "ability to execute."Android And iOS Still Lead In Smartphone Market Share, But The Race For Third Rages On
Jul 12, 8:03PM
Nielsen released another of their periodic looks at the U.S. smartphone market today, and aside from the revelation that two-thirds of U.S. phone purchasers went for smartphones in Q2 2012, the results are as you'd expect. Android still leads the pack in terms of pure penetration -- as of this past June, it accounts for 51.8% of smartphones in use (up from 50.4% in Q1 2012) with Apple's iOS right behind it at 34%. Don't feel too bad for Apple though, as they still have the highest manufacturer share by far (34% in Q2), with Samsung at a distant second.Twitter Launches "Age Screening" With Buddy Media, Preventing Underagers From Following Registered Adult Brands
Jul 12, 8:02PM
The next time you try to follow an alcohol company or other brand with age-restricted products who has opted in to Twitter's new "Age Screening" system, you'll be required to submit your age, and won't be allowed to follow if you're too young. Nothing will change about who you already follow, but you'll be sent a DM with a link to submit your age upon your first new follow of an adult brand, and your age will then gate your future follows of brands who've signed up for age screening. You can try it yourself by going to follow Coors Light, Jack Daniels Honey, or Jim Beam's Skinny Girl magarita. Buddy Media built the product in a partnership with Twitter after alcohol brands requested the microblogging service add the feature to protect them from legal scrutiny. Oddly though, adult brands can still advertise sweet, sweet booze, gambling, and pharmaceuticals to minors on Twitter.Facebook Releases "Weddings and Celebrations" Feature, Maturing With Executives
Jul 12, 8:00PM
Facebook released a new "Weddings and Celebrations" feature that will display special events, starting with engagements and weddings, along with friends' birthdays on the social network. The feature, which begins rolling out today, is automated based off the changing of a relationship status to "engaged" or "married." Appearing above birthdays on the homepage, users can click on the update and congratulate either member of the couple, as well as add one of the members as a friend, without leaving the page. Yesterday, Facebook redesigned its events page, adding list and calendar views. However, a Facebook spokesperson tells us that "Weddings and Celebrations" will not be added to the list or calendar views. It will only appear on the homepage.Carriers' Data Caps May Help Mobile Live TV Efforts Gain Interest
Jul 12, 7:59PM
Dyle Mobile TV - remember this? That's the consumer-facing brand for a new mobile TV service from Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a group of broadcasters that includes FOX, NBC, ION Television, Bahakel, Univision, Telemundo, and Pearl LLC (Pearl is: Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media). Earlier this year, the company promised the first Dyle Mobile TV handset would arrive on MetroPCS sometime in 2012. That's still in the works, if you're curious. Now the company is attempting to drum up consumer interest with the results of a new survey indicating consumer desire for such a service. In its "Dyle Mobile TV report" released this month, the company tapped a third party research firm to poll a representative sample of 510 U.S. consumers, ages 18-54 to find out how they watch TV and video, and more importantly, whether they would be interested in a live, mobile TV service on their handset. And surprise, surprise, survey says yes. But maybe for once, survey isn't lying?EduTech Team-Up: Course Hero Buys Cardinal Scholars In-Person Tutoring Business From InstaEDU
Jul 12, 7:16PM
InstaEDU wants to become a truly scalable on-demand video tutoring platform, and Course Hero needs a way to dogfood its online education tools. So InstaEDU has just sold its in-person in-home tutoring business Cardinal Scholars to Course Hero for an undisclosed sum. The deal will help both startups disrupt the outdated tutoring industry, undercutting the high overhead of Kaplan and Sylvan learning centers, and using live video to make education sites like Tutor.com seem cold by comparison."In the Studio," KISSmetrics' Hiten Shah Simply Tells It Like It Is
Jul 12, 7:00PM
"In the Studio" this week welcomes a guest who has started and built both bootstrapped and ventured-backed businesses, who has tirelessly helped and coached hundreds of founders and early-stage teams on everything from fundraising to marketing to customer acquisition (and more) all the while he builds his own business as a co-founder of a company many startups and web companies rely on for insights into their businesses.With Teeology, Jennifer Lopez Is The Newest Celebrity In The E-Commerce Startup Space
Jul 12, 6:56PM
Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Brian Lee is a whiz at teaming up with celebrities to put together smart e-commerce plays -- his hits include legal document site LegalZoom with famed lawyer Robert Shapiro, subscription women's shoe site ShoeDazzle with reality star Kim Kardashian, all-natural baby products site Honest Company with actress and mom Jessica Alba. But his newest endeavor, Teeology, may just boast his most A-list celebrity co-founder yet: Jennifer Lopez.AMC Giveth, While Viacom Taketh Away: Breaking Bad Season Premiere To Be Streamed Live Online
Jul 12, 6:23PM
So yesterday Viacom showed us one way of dealing with a carriage dispute, by taking down online versions of its programming when DirecTV pointed disgruntled viewers to the web as a way to get their Daily Show fix. But AMC Networks, which is in the midst of its own dispute with satellite provider Dish, has taken just the opposite approach: This Sunday, it will be streaming the season premiere of Breaking Bad for free online. At www.amctv.com/breakingbad4dish/, the cable network has set up a page that will let users register starting Friday, to watch a live stream of the Season Five season premiere at the same time that the show is broadcast on cable and satellite service. While there will be free registration involved to tune in, an AMC spokesperson confirmed that there's no real way for the network to verify that viewers are actually Dish subscribers. But the assumption is that if they don't pay for Dish, they'll probably be watching through a competing cable or satellite service.PapayaMobile Is Out To Disrupt App Cross Promotions With Cost-Free, Commission-Free Network
Jul 12, 6:00PM
Social gaming network PapayaMobile is introducing a new service today for Android developers - a cost-free and commission-free cross promotion network called AppFlood. The network had already been in testing with around 20 mobile developers in an earlier version, and today it's being opened to all. And yes, it's on Android where this sort of thing is allowed. The company says that the goal with AppFlood is to lower user acquisition costs for developers, who are now being priced out of the market as rates for acquisition soar.YC-Backed Filepicker.io Goes Mobile, Brings Cloud Service Integration To iOS And Android Apps
Jul 12, 6:00PM
Filepicker.io, a Y Combinator-backed company building tools that make it easier for developers to integrate access to cloud services within their applications, is now bringing its capabilities to mobile developers building apps on iOS and Android. With the new Filepicker.io Mobile Library, developers can quickly add integrations which let their apps connect to popular online services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Facebook, Flickr, Evernote and more. For developers, the result of using the drop-in SDK is a sped up time to market, as Filepicker eliminates the need to code these type of integrations themselves. For end users of the apps, it means an easier way to move data between their favorite cloud services, without having to first save a copy locally to their device.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.
To stop all future emails from feed2email.net you can reply to this email with STOP in the subject line. Thanks
