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Square Partners With Starbucks, Raises $25M For Series D; Howard Schultz Joins The Board
Aug 08, 4:01AM
It might not be the funding announcement we've been hearing rumors about but today Square announced that they've partnered with Starbucks. Square will begin processing all US credit and debit card transactions for Starbucks across their 7,000 locations this fall. Pay with Square users will be able to find a nearby Starbucks in the Square Directory from their iPhone or Android smartphone. Additionally, Starbucks will be investing $25 million in Square for the company's Series D financing round, which clocks in at a $3.25 billion valuation. (Just shy of the $4 billion valuation we'd been hearing about.) Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, will also be joining Square's Board of Directors.PLUMgrid Raises $10.7 Million With Goal To Become The New Platform For Networking
Aug 08, 4:00AM
PLUMgrid has raised $10.7 million in Series A funding from Hummer Winblad and US Venture Partners to build an operating system that serves the network as much as the modern x86 processor is the foundation for the compute power we use every day to run our applications. The network is becoming a sort of holy grail. We've figured out the compute. You can buy a cheap box and with an x86 processor turn it into a database or web server. It's with these cheap boxes that Google built its empire. The entire infrastructure relies on these commodity servers that run with its own software, a secret sauce of software that Google will never reveal. It's their example that has led to a new breed of customers such as Facebook that decided to build the infrastructure themselves.Need A Funny Video For Your Startup? The Experts At Vooza Just Might Be Able To Help
Aug 08, 1:54AM
The name "Vooza" has emerged on the tech scene in recent weeks with some pretty entertaining videos that do straight-faced impressions of the worst of today's buzzy startup culture (check out their latest one, which is embedded above.) While Vooza itself probably isn't for real as a company -- as Wired UK has pointed out, its supposed CEO Matt Stillman is a dead ringer for NYC stand-up comic Matt Ruby -- its knack for making hilariously catchy videos is, having caught the attention of the likes of Dennis Crowley and David Karp. So it's interesting to see Vooza teaming up with Switch Video, the totally legit company that makes animated product pitch videos for startups.Facebook VP Of Engineering Mike Schroepfer On Moving From Coding To Management [TCTV]
Aug 07, 11:06PM
As they get older, lots of software engineers dread the seemingly inevitable move from being a programmer to being a manager. After all, if your true passion is writing code, taking on the responsibilities of managing other people may be a bit more lucrative, but it will obviously take away the time you can spend doing what you love the most. That's ultimately why Steve Wozniak decided to make the move from Hewlett-Packard to Apple full-time, back in the company's earliest days, according to Walter Isaacson's autobiography of Steve Jobs, which read:The Real Genius: Apple Ads Are Being Distributed By The Media
Aug 07, 10:51PM
During the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, Apple aired three ads for its Genius Bar. Over the ensuing weekend, a number of widely-read blogs posted mostly negative pieces about the ads. Today, Apple's ad agency told Mashable that the ads are no longer running and they were only intended to run the first weekend of the Games. Again, several posts were written on widely-read sites. And therein lies the real "Genius" of the ads: we're still talking about them.iOS 6 Simulator Test Lends Credence To iPhone 5 Resolution Rumors
Aug 07, 10:26PM
Well damn. If there wasn't already enough fuel on the "new iPhone will have a taller screen" fire, 9to5Mac happened to discover something terribly interesting after playing with the iOS 6 simulator. The full explanation can be found here, but in short they found when setting a simulated device's screen resolution to 1136 x 640, iOS 6 would neatly arrange apps on the homescreen into five rows -- a homescreen layout that the iPhone rumor mill has pointed to for the past few months.Report: Pinterest's Growth Slows, But Still On Track To Pass Yahoo Referrals In August
Aug 07, 10:19PM
After months of hype, it's been pretty quiet around Pinterest for the last few weeks. According to the latest data we just received from Shareaholic, however, the social photo sharing site is still growing quickly, though judging from the company's referral data, Pinterest's growth has slowed down a bit since June. From May to June Pinterest's referral traffic to Shareaholic's network of about 200,000 sites grew by 43.7%. From June to July, it "only" increased by 15.97%. Even at this slower growth rate, Pinterest is still on track to surpass referral traffic from Yahoo in August. This, says Shareaholic, means Pinterest will soon be the fourth largest traffic source in the world.VMWare Buys Log Insight From Pattern Insight, Moves Further Into Cloud Infrastructure Management
Aug 07, 9:42PM
In the space of a little over a month, VMWare is making yet another acquisition to strengthen its position in cloud management: it is buying cloud log analytics platform Log Insight from its current owner Pattern Insight, the data management and search platform company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the deal, the team working on Log Insight will transfer to VMWare, as will the technology underlying the product, Pattern Insight said in a statement.Judge: Hey Oracle and Google – Turn Over The Names Of Your Paid Bloggers
Aug 07, 9:33PM
Oh, this is going to get juicy real quick. Judge William Alsup is demanding the names of any writers who have a paid relationship with Oracle or Google. The demand came today in the ongoing lawsuit between the two companies in their dispute over the Android OS.Box CEO And Tech Comedian/Magician Aaron Levie Joins Us At Disrupt
Aug 07, 9:19PM
Because at this point everybody's doing it, Box CEO Aaron Levie is going to be at Disrupt SF this September. Levie will be joining the other esteemed and as of yet unannounced speakers on our Enterprise panel. Seeing as Enterprise is going through a revolution, a "consumerization" if you will, it promises to be a juicy discussion -- sexy even.Meet Easel, A YC-Backed Web App For Making Web Design Simpler
Aug 07, 8:41PM
In-browser web design app, Easel, has just launched. The WYSIWYG web design tool aims to make web design and development easier for teams who want to quickly get their ideas online without having to hire a designer. Easel founders Ben Ogle and Matt Colyer first met while working as engineers at Adroll, and have been working on the Y-Combinator-backed design tool for about four months.Facebook Unveils First Non-Social Mobile Ad Unit, Allowing Developers To Buy Clicks To App Stores
Aug 07, 8:33PM
Until now, every Facebook mobile ad had to be triggered by you or a friend's activity, but today Facebook begins testing a new non-social ad unit that lets developers buy mobile news feed ads that open Android and iOS App Store purchase pages when clicked. They're designed to help developers grow their business. The ads are cost per click, not cost per install-based, however Facebook tells me it hopes to let devs measure installs driven by their app ads in the future, and is now taking developer signups for the currently small private beta. By opening up the mobile news feed to traditional, non-social ads, Facebook may please its investors but will have to be very careful about how often these promotions appear to make sure they don't drown out organic content and cause us to stick our phones right back in our pockets.Zillow Q2 Earnings Beat Analyst Estimates (Slightly) With $27.8M In Revenue, $1.3M Net Income
Aug 07, 8:22PM
Online real estate site Zillow came out slightly ahead of analyst predictions in its second quarter earnings results, reporting $27.8 million in revenue and earnings of 5 cents per share. Wall Street estimates had put revenue at $27.1 million and earnings at 4 cents per share. Net income was $1.3 million, down from $1.6 million during the same period last year.Back To School 2012: Five Gadgets To Keep You Sane In Your New Dorm Room
Aug 07, 8:01PM
What? It's August already? That means (for better or worse) that hordes of freshly-minted college students will soon be starting the next chapter of their lives and moving into dull, cramped dorm rooms in the process. Oh, that description applies to you? Well, congratulations -- you're in for a treat! Before you go too nuts trying to decide which of your possessions will make that trip with you though, take a gander at this short list of gadgets that should help make the time spent cooped up in your new room just a little more pleasant.Google Maps Now Features Real-Time Traffic Info For 130 Additional U.S. Cities
Aug 07, 7:52PM
Google just launched live traffic info for Bogota (Colombia), San Jose (Costa Rica) and Panama City (Panama). In addition, Google is also bringing its real-time traffic data to 130 smaller cities in the U.S., including Kalamazoo (Michigan), Portland (Maine) and Tuscaloosa (Alabama). For the most part, this feature relies on data Google gets from Google Maps and Google Navigation users who share location data with the company. As Android becomes more popular and as more users use their phones for directions as they are driving, Google obviously gets more data. Thanks to this, it can now show live traffic for side roads and arterial roads that don't typically see as much traffic as a highway or major urban area, for example.Google's Self-Driving Cars Complete 300K Miles Without Accident, Deemed Ready For Commuting
Aug 07, 6:43PM
Google's self-driving car project is probably one of the most audacious experiments the company has embarked upon. Today, Google announced another milestone for this project: its fleet of about a dozen autonomous cars has now driving 300,000 miles without a single accident under computer control. While this is obviously very positive news for the project, Google warns that "there's still a long road ahead." The cars still need to learn how to handle snow-covered roads, for example, and how to interpret temporary construction signs and other situations that could throw its systems for a loop.MTV Launches Beta For Fantasy Election Game [10 Invites Available]
Aug 07, 6:15PM
MTV has launched a Fantasy Football-style election game aimed at baiting young citizens into becoming civically active. In "Fantasy Election", users compete for glory and prizes over who can predict which politicians will be the uber-public servant: popular in the polls, honest with constituents, engaging in social media, and choosing to communicate substance over style. "This can be can be a crash course in what people should demand from those pursuing the privilege of elected office," said Jason Rzepka, MTV's Vice President in Public affairs, who hopes to inspire a new generation of citizens who demand the best in politicians. We snagged 10 invite codes to the beta for our readers (instructions below). The public release will take place at the Republican National Convention at the end of August.Y Combinator-Backed Canopy Labs Unveils A Self-Serve Approach To Customer Modeling
Aug 07, 5:53PM
Canopy Labs, a company in the current class of startups incubated by Y Combinator, aims to help mid-sized businesses prioritize their sales leads and identify high-value customers. Co-founder and CEO Wojciech Gryc says that large enterprises usually hire outside consultants to build these kinds of lead optimization tools and customer models. Slightly smaller companies (namely, those that still have more than 10,000 customers) could still benefit, but they probably aren't going to spend the money.Less Than A Month After Its Mini-Pivot, Tripl Pushes Its New iOS App Out The Door
Aug 07, 5:47PM
After the team at social travel startup Tripl had a change of heart last month, they eventually came to a weighty conclusion -- now that their focus had shifted away from connecting travelers with friends that happened to be nearby, they had to redo the iOS app they had been working on for months. Now, just a few weeks later, Tripl has pushed that new (and free) iOS app out into the wild for users to muck around with. In case you aren't yet familiar with the new Tripl, the service is all about giving users a glimpse into where their friends are at any given moment by pulling in photos and check-ins from Facebook and other social networks -- quite a treat when you're usually cooped up indoors for most of the day like me.Joel Klein, Sal Khan And Sebastian Thrun On Inventing The Future Of Education, At Disrupt SF
Aug 07, 5:33PM
Three trailblazing figures in educational technology are showcasing the future of learning at our upcoming annual conference, Disrupt San Francisco. Bill Gates' "favorite teacher", Sal Khan, who founded the wildly popular Youtube-based Khan Academy, will speak about his pioneering work in the "flipped classroom" and launch a new feature to his site. Perhaps even more exciting, Former New York education Chancellor, Joel Klein, will reveal new details about Amplify, News Corp's ambitious venture to create tailored, digital learning for the American education system. Last but certainly not least, Google Vice President and CEO of Udacity, Sebastian Thrun, will discuss how he opened up the walled garden of American higher education to the world.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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