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An iPad Lover's Take On The Nexus 7
Jul 16, 3:09AM
Trolls, feel free to skip to the bottom of this column and post your comments immediately without reading a word. Actually, who are we kidding — you didn't make it this far. Everyone else, brace yourselves. You may want small children to leave the room. I'm about to do something I don't do often — something I always said I'd do if the product deserved it. Something some people seem to think I'm incapable of: praise a Google product — an Android-based Google product, no less. Is that enough build up for you? Okay.Evernote Wants To Be The Automatic, Trusted Place To Store Your Life [Interview]
Jul 16, 2:30AM
Evernote, the multi-platform app that lets you capture notes, audio and images when you are on the go, and then access those mementos wherever you want to next, has carved out a position as one of the more consistently useful services out there for smartphone consumers. The growing number of users is a testament to that. In June, at the LeWeb conference in London, CEO Phil Libin noted that Evernote now has 34 million users, having reported 25 million as recently as May. And while paying users are a much smaller fraction, they are growing at a similarly strong rate: now they're at 1.4 million versus 1 million in May. When Libin was in London I sat down to talk to him about what we might see next from Evernote as the service continues to evolve. The topics ranged to new services in areas like photos and reading annotations; as well as the company's philosophy on how to finance its service (it's not about ads but about paying for things you love; a concept that's come up more recently again, in Dalton Caldwell's audacious proposal the other day). Evernote is currently at a $1 billion valuation and is one of the stronger candidates for a near-future IPO, and we're not the only ones who think it's one to watch.Kickstarter: Blink(1) Is A Teenie Weenie Thinger That Lights Up Because Something Happened
Jul 16, 1:26AM
Imagine this: you get an email message. Maybe it's from someone important, like the Dalai Lama or Lorenzo Lamas. But how do you know that it came? Easy. The Blink(1). The Blink(1) is a little LED that lights up when something happens on your computer. You can run as many of these things as you have USB ports and, with a little creativity, you can really start to see the value. For example, you can program the light with Applescript to blink in weird ways when a contact signs into Skype or when someone contacts you in chat. You can set it as a Linux command-line alert so it will turn red when your hard drive is on fire. You can make it turn green when you're done downloading Furry porn on your Windows machine. The possibilities, as they say, are endless.The Democratization Of Fashion Commerce: Big Niches Are Emerging For Startups
Jul 16, 12:24AM
Mark Suster's post on why "media is racing to the middle" got me thinking about how fashion is moving in the same direction. To summarize Mark's thesis: plummeting video productions costs and lower distribution barriers are allowing a new generation of content producers to compete against the big studios. The "race towards the middle (i.e. torso)" starts with YouTube leading the charge from the long-tail and big players like Hulu and Netflix investing in more niche content from the head end. In other words, there's a huge opportunity for high quality content produced for large niche markets.How Will The Web Monetize In 2020?
Jul 15, 10:40PM
Editor's Note: Murthy Nukala is the founder and CEO of Adchemy, a provider of advertising technology for large brands. On a whim, I recently purchased a Logitech Keyboard Case for my new iPad. Instead of being just a novelty accessory, the keyboard has fundamentally changed my device usage: I'm using my iPad-plus-keyboard in meetings; I use my laptop-plus-docking station at my desk; and I use my iPhone when I'm on the go. My online behavior, once centered on one device, has now been fragmented across at least three devices.What Google Is
Jul 15, 9:15PM
No, really, what is Google? TechCrunch co-editor Alexia Tsotsis recently posted an interesting piece about Google's focus, or rather the perceived lack of it. Google has its fingers in so many pies that there are quite a few angles from which to consider the above question. The title of Alexia's post says it all: "Remember When Google Was a Search Engine?" For consumers, Google is, or at least used to be, a search company. On the other hand, for investors, and cynics, Google is an ad network. That is, after all, where the money comes from.Four Trends In The Public Technology Market
Jul 15, 7:52PM
Over the past 30 years, technology companies have boomed, busted and boomed again. In 1980, the global market cap of technology companies totaled $50B, 1.7% of all global equities. Ten years later, tech market caps tripled to $176B. Then, technology companies entered hyper-growth, registering 140% annual growth rates for ten years surpassing $8T in global market cap in 2000. At its zenith, IT companies represented one-fourth of all equity value in the world - pure euphoria. At its post-2000 nadir three short years later, technology market caps deflated 63% to $3T. Today, the sector has settled: technology equity is worth $7T and represents 14.7% of the total global market cap.Two Victories in One Week, The Internet Flash Lobby Becomes A Political Force
Jul 15, 5:49PM
Last week, two Internet regulation bills on the fast track to becoming law were stopped in less than 24 hours after tech-savvy netizens erupted in protest through social media and tech blogs. The instant and overwhelming force of the same community that overturned the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is starting to gel into a recognizable political lobby. SOPA "was clearly a watershed moment," says Matt Lira, the digital director for House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, "Just as the people who comprised that community kind of awoke to new ways to engage with Congress, I think Congress, as a whole awoke to the fact this audience is out there." As a result of having its voice heard in government, this new digital, loosely organized lobby, which quickly bands together and dissipates like a flash mob around Internet-related policy issues, is becoming a political force.Roy Yamaguchi And Dave McClure Talk Food Tech At 500 Startups [TCTV]
Jul 15, 4:47PM
Last week, incubator and early-stage investment firm 500 Startups hosted an event it called "Aloha Friday", where food startups and other friends of the firm ate meals prepared by famous Hawaiian chef Roy Yamaguchi (founder of Roy's). 500 Startups founder Dave McClure admitted that the event was mostly an excuse to eat good food. But it was also an opportunity to talk about the intersection of food and tech. McClure actually spoke on the subject last year at the first Hawaii Food and Wine Festival (an event that Yamaguchi helps organize) and he plans to return this year with startups in tow to a fully-fledged tech track at the event.RIM CEO Thorsten Heins: "We Will Continue To Make The People That Use A BlackBerry Successful"
Jul 15, 3:33PM
Blackberry's future is the tech debate du jour, with pundits on either side promising either a BB10 renaissance or a slow-motion tailspin. While the jury was still out, we had a few moments to speak with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins about RIM's way forward and where BB10 was going to put the company when it launches. He was unsurprisingly forthright and more than accommodating even when we asked him the questions any BB fan would ask today: Why should I buy a new Blackberry device? TC: In this interview we wanted to see what was in store for the consumer, what RIM is doing to maintain the energy that a lot of the BlackBerry users currently have, especially at work or in academia. What do you see as the best way forward for those folks? Thorsten Heins: What we are doing right now is, if you look at the installed base, specifically in enterprise, corporate and consumers worldwide, there is still a lot of phones running BlackBerry 5, mainly in Asia-Pacific. So we are still working on a program to upgrade the installed base to BlackBerry 7, which from today's view and perspective still is competitive, and I think an exciting platform.CED Program Director Dhruv Patel On North Carolina's Startup Scene
Jul 15, 1:00PM
Over the past week, we took TechCrunch on the road for our Southeast Meetup tour. Of the five cities we visited in seven days, Durham had one of the hungriest entrepreneurial scenes. The majority of the city is relatively run-down, aside from the lovely American Tobacco Center facility you see in the background. But North Carolina's tech scene is on a mission, and it's not just about cleaning up the city, it's about branching out of the usual life science industry to have a varied portfolio of young companies in the Raleigh-Durham area. I pulled aside Dhruv Patel, who is the program director of CED (a non-profit organization that offers entrepreneurial resources, though no direct funding), and he said that about $7.7 billion has been invested in Raleigh-Durham startups in the past 12 years, most of it from a huge increase in activity out of angel investors (with a hat tip to the Triangle Startup Factory). He also said that in the past year the state has gotten a lot more interest from out-of-state investors who are willing to turn an ear to the south.DirecTV's Latest Message To Subscribers: A Plea For A La Carte Pricing?
Jul 15, 10:00AM
DirecTV and Viacom continue to be embroiled in a nasty fight over carriage fees, with consumers still unable to view networks like MTV, Nickelodeon, or Comedy Central after several days. Both sides have taken to the web -- and Twitter -- in recent days, as they attempt to win over public support. In Viacom's case, the cable programmer is trying to put pressure on DirecTV by urging customers to switch providers while its networks remain dark. But in the latest volley from DirecTV, CEO Mike White explains the satellite provider's side of things, with a video message that appears on YouTube.How To Prepare Your Startup To Raise An Angel Round
Jul 15, 8:00AM
A recent email from an entrepreneur and complete stranger read: "We need to raise money. Who can you introduce us to?" I quickly encouraged him to submit his startup to AngelList but a few days later he returned with, "I messaged the AngelList founder and he didn't respond. Can you give me some tips?" This post is for you buddy. Approaching a well known Silicon Valley angel investor cold with the expectation that they'll fund you, is like walking up to a beautiful stranger and expecting you'll be planning a wedding by the end of the conversation. For the masses, if you want top tier funding, there is a process or roadmap in most cases you can follow (ignore the geniuses and exceptions). Attempting to bypass it shows a lack of consideration and basic intelligence of how the funding process works.
Twilio Evangelist Builds Popular Phone-Powered Rolling Robot, Hints Flying Bot Is Next
Jul 15, 5:00AM
So here's something you may have seen floating around on Hacker News or elsewhere, but we thought it was cool enough to share in case you're looking for something to do with your weekend. After all, there are few of us who don't love stories that end with robots. Especially robots controlled by phones. Robots have indeed fascinated many of us since childhood, and thanks to modern technology, those imaginations and tinkerings of yore are now increasingly becoming reality. Thankfully, in the hands of those smarter (and less inclined to hatch plots to take over the world) than I.Blekko Launches ROCKZi, a Social News Site to Complement Its Search Engine
Jul 15, 3:00AM
Even though Digg was once known as the next big thing in social news site, it was torn down and sold in small pieces. Yet, part of the concept still lives on. The search engine Blekko just launched ROCKZi, a visually compelling way to consume and interact with the fresh content that users care about the most. After selecting the category that you want to read (Geekery, The BiZ, Glitterati…), you are presented with articles in a grid view reminiscent of Flipboard on the iPad. You can upvote the article with the "This RockZ" button and leave a comment. Users can submit new articles and share them on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. On top of that, you accumulate karma points with every action.
Dear Free Press, Stop The Facebook Gossip Profiteering
Jul 15, 2:00AM
The otherwise laudable Free Press book publisher has joined the ranks of media outlets that profiteer from cheap, gossipy, Facebook criticism. The Boy Kings is an autobiographical account from a Facebook customer service employee of the mildly frat boy behavior of Facebook's male engineers, disguised as a tell-all investigative forewarning of the social network's plans for the future. The Grand Canyon-size gap between author Katherine Losse's apocalyptic claims and the actual examples are extraordinary. In one anecdote, Losse's friend and fellow engineer, "Thrax," crashed on the floor asleep after working unusually hard. When Thrax's colleagues praised his work, this was Losse's explanation: "It was as if, in the process of building out his technology, he had reached the technologist's desired state in which he no longer had a human body...This, maybe, was Facebook's primal scene, the moment when technology consumed the body, reality, and what was left of the physical realm."MobiTV Pulls Its IPO: Unfavorable Market Conditions, Or Unfavorable Business Model?
Jul 15, 1:00AM
At the end of August, mobile TV and video platform MobiTV filed its S-1 and announced its plans for a $75 million initial public offering. Founded in 1999, the company had been one of the early movers in the movement to bring live and on-demand TV to mobile devices, which led to partnerships with NBC, ESPN, Disney, CBS, and a bunch of other sizable media companies. The company closed over $100 million in outside investment in their time, had partnered with the big four carriers, and revenue was on the rise, so it seemed like a company on the road to a successful IPO, right? Wrong.Ad Targeting Is Hard
Jul 15, 12:00AM
Microsoft recently announced that it's taking a huge $6.2 Billion writedown over the failed aQuantive acquisition. This news, and the scrutiny of Facebook's business model following their IPO drama, show that, in online advertising, it's all about the targeting.How Authoritarianism Will Lead To The Rise Of The Data Smuggler
Jul 14, 11:05PM
David McCrory has developed the concept of data gravity. It dictates that data has its own mass. When data gets stored it becomes harder to move. The more data stored, the greater the mass. The increasing efforts to control data provides a more dystopian vision about the future of transporting data. How does the data smuggler hide data of such weight when moving it from place to place?Social Network At The Pool Releases TechCrunch "Pool" In Advance of Monday's Launch
Jul 14, 9:57PM
Happy weekend, readers! Unless your boss is making you work this weekend, you've got two days of freedom ahead of you. If you want to spend that time making new friends or meeting people with similar interests, a new startup called At The Pool can help. The social network sends users a different match, based on their location, history, interests and intent (their pols) every day in an email. Users are encouraged to connect on- and offline. The site officially launches Monday—it's had beta launches already—with a "Silicon Beach Pool" aimed at the LA Tech scene. However, the At The Pool team has launched a "TechCrunch Pool" for readers that is live now.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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