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CakeStyle Raises $1M To Bring Handpicked Women's Fashion To Your Doorstep
Aug 14, 2:52AM
CakeStyle, a startup that delivers stylist-curated shipments of women's fashion, announced that it has raised $1 million in seed funding. Yes, CakeStyle is yet part of the growing wave of "subscribe to Box X" businesses, but with a personal touch. The company asks customers to provide "some basic information about what you currently wear, what you'd like to wear and your sizing" (either via email or phone). Then its stylists handpick a seasonal shipment of clothing and accessories from the company's inventory, and they also include a video explaining the choices. Once the selection has arrived at your door, you can send back anything you don't like, and you only pay for what you keep.CloudFlare Helps Save Wikileaks' Bacon
Aug 14, 1:35AM
Wikileaks' website is up again after over a week of denial of service attacks, though as of this writing I'm still seeing many errors on the site. On its Twitter account Wikileaks credited CloudFlare, a company that provides a web security service, for helping the organization get its site back online. Earlier this month Wikileaks resumed publishing e-mails acquired (yes, illegally) by the hacktivist group Anonymous from the private intelligence firm Stratfor Global Intelligence. The latest batch concern Trapwire, the sinister sounding surveillance product from private company called Abraxis. Trapwire collects video and other surveillance from multiple sources in a central location for analysis using facial recognition algorithms and other techniques (see here for more details).Groupon CEO Andrew Mason On Europe: We're Too Pricey, We're Missing Tech Mojo, And No One Knows Us
Aug 14, 12:23AM
There was once probably a good reason for why Groupon needed to expand aggressively internationally when it did, buying up other daily deal operations, for fast, inorganic growth. But on today's Q2 earnings call, those reasons didn't really come up, with CEO Andrew Mason instead providing a lengthy explanation for why international, led by Europe, hasn't been peforming very well for the company -- growing by 31% while North America grew at twice that rate to 66%. The reasons, Mason said, were threefold: in Europe (the bulk of Groupon's intl business) the Groupon offers were too expensive for consumers; merchants weren't as happy with the service; and because of integration issues, Groupon hasn't been able to implement some of the technology it has developed to lure in more users. But on a wider level, he also noted that people on the street in Europe still don't have much of a clue of what Groupon actually is.People Get Pissed Off About OpenStack And That's Why It Will Survive
Aug 14, 12:22AM
The ranters are out in force this afternoon about Red Hat announcing the preview of its OpenStack distribution. It's like OpenStack inserted a lightning rod into my TweeetDeck stream. OpenStack really pisses people off. You either despise it or love it. And that's why the open cloud effort will survive. Anything that polarizing is bound to make it in the end.Putting An End To The Biggest Lie On The Internet
Aug 13, 11:39PM
It's long been said that "I agree to the terms of service" is the biggest lie on the internet. And even if you do read them, many TOS are so ridden with legalese that you practically need to be a lawyer to understand them. Also, as I wrote in a gloomy post last weekend, users have no choice but either agree to the terms offered by a web app or simply not use the service at all. But a new project called TOS;DR wants to change that. The site aims to give more power to users by summarizing terms of service, flagging potential issues and rating apps on a scale from A (the best) to E (the worst).Boom Makes Your Mac Speakers Go Up To 11
Aug 13, 11:27PM
The sound booster Mac App called Boom will be releasing its Mountain Lion version on the Apple Store tomorrow. If you have ever wished you could raise the volume on your speakers higher than the maximum level that Apple allows (or to 11), you should check out the low-cost app Boom. The app boosts the volume of Skype chats, Netflix movies, badly recorded YouTube videos, music, or any sound that comes out of your Mac speakers. It's also useful in loud environments or when you want to just pump up the volume. Boom, made by India-based Global Delight, already has a 4 rating on the Apple's App Store for its earlier versions. The software was first released at Macworld 2011 and won a Best of Show Award. An earlier version of the software was Mountain Lion compatible, but some bugs have been fixed, and a notification feature added.Mo Content, Mo Problems: Google's Frommer's Acquisition Could Lead To Additional Antitrust Scrutiny
Aug 13, 11:12PM
With its recent purchase of Zagat and today's announcement that it is acquiring travel guide company Frommer's, there can be little doubt that Google is getting deeper into the content business. This move makes a lot of sense for Google, which is trying to add more content to its local reviews business and Knowledge Graph, but it could also put the company under additional scrutiny from antitrust investigators in the U.S. and elsewhere. Already, the consumer advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog is calling upon government regulators to block the acquisition.Obvious-Backed Branch Comes Out Of Public Beta To Foster Conversations Online
Aug 13, 10:20PM
Back in March, Obvious Corporation, the mini accelerator founded by Biz Stone, Ev Williams and early Twitter employee Jason Goldman, announced its second incubation in Branch, a stealth startup co-founded by developers Josh Miller, Cemre Güngöre, and Hursh Agrawal that was -- in their words -- on a mission "to turn the Internet's monologues into dialogues." The startup also grabbed $2 million from Obvious, Lerer Ventures and SV Angel and moved back to New York City, where it set up shop in Betaworks' offices, using the capital to put the finishing touches on their product. While the team shared some high level info at the time, it had been unclear just what Branch was cooking, but today the startup is officially emerging from private beta and sending invitations out to the public.Back To School: The Best Ultrathin Notebook
Aug 13, 8:53PM
Ultrabooks aren't a hard sell. They're super thin, really light, and powerful enough to handle everyday tasks (including a little gaming) with aplomb. That's why I'd recommend them to students looking for a thin, light, and cheap way to get some great computing power without weighing down your backpack. To that end, we gathered up four promising thin-and-light laptops (called Ultrabooks in the PC world) including a fairly fresh MacBook Air and a cute little blue number from Lenovo. In the end, many of these laptops are approximately the same but there are some rules of thumb when it comes to picking a laptop.Talkin' Bout A Revolution: The All-Star Enterprise Panel At Disrupt
Aug 13, 8:47PM
As we keep saying with these things, this year's Disrupt SF is going to be huge so get your tickets here. And if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, opportunities can be found here as always. With Yammer's $1.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft, Box's recent raise of $125 million (valuing the company at a whopping $1.2 billion), and Asana's cash infusion from Founders Fund, Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, and Mitch Kapor, enterprise these days is anything but boring. Which is why you should tune in to our all-star enterprise panel at TechCrunch Disrupt, which will feature Box CEO Aaron Levie, Asana co-founder Justin Rosenstein, Okta CEO Todd McKinnon and Cloudera's COO Kirk Dunn.QuicklyChat Brings "Push-To-Talk" Video To Small, Remote Teams
Aug 13, 8:17PM
QuicklyChat, a Y Combinator-backed startup participating in the Summer 2012 program, has an interesting take on video conferencing. With its newly launched solution designed for small teams working remotely, QuicklyChat is trying to bring back ad hoc conversations, which are still the most valuable aspect to the in-office work environment. With its "push-to-talk" video chat system, your co-workers can immediately reach you - but only when your status indicator says you're not busy. And here's the key selling point - that status indicator updates automatically based on what you're currently doing on your computer. In your IDE coding? It's red. Surfing Reddit? It's green. Reading email? It's probably yellow.Groupon Posts Stronger-Than-Expected Q2 Earnings, But A Top Line Miss: $568.3M Revenue, $28.4M Net Income
Aug 13, 8:12PM
Groupon today announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2012, its third quarterly earnings report since its initial public offering in November 2011. Groupon's revenue for the second quarter was $568.3 million, up 45 percent year-over-year. Revenue was up 1.6 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis, compared to the $559.3 million Groupon brought in during the first quarter of 2012. While at the top-line Groupon's results were lower than analysts expected -- the average of analyst expectations for Groupon's revenue was $574.8 million -- the company had a stronger-than-anticipated performance at the bottom line. Groupon's net income for the second quarter was $28.4 million, or $0.04 per share, which is a boost from the average of its Wall Street analysts' estimates for the quarter which was $0.03 per share.Social Publishing Startup Scribd Gets A Facelift: New Website, New Logo, New iPhone App
Aug 13, 8:08PM
Social publishing site Scribd has given itself a new look over the past month or so, with a new logo, a redesigned website, and an update to its iPhone app. CEO Trip Adler and his team gave me a quick tour of the new features last week. The website was previously dominated by your social feed, showing you the documents uploaded and read by other users that you're following. Now the social feed has been pushed off to the side, and in its place there's a feed of "featured" content, which has been hand-picked by Scribd.SlideKlowd Offers New Presentation Capabilities With Smart Phones and Tablets
Aug 13, 7:25PM
Power Point has spurred a refresh in innovation from companies that know there are better way to do presentations. You can see this innovation with new companies such as SlideKlowd.com, which shows the new capabilities that come with smart phones and tablets in presentation environments. SlideKlowd, developed by Klowd.com, offers a service that creates connections between the presenter and the audience on their mobile devices or through their browsers. SlideKlowd acts s a management platform that allows the presenter a wider range of uses such as employee training, sales presentations, surveying and executive presentations.Google+ Starts Rolling Out Vanity URLs For Some Accounts
Aug 13, 7:20PM
A few weeks ago, the Google+ team punked The Oatmeal by redirecting its Google+ profile URL to a slightly more interesting (and profanity-laden) URL. That, it turns out, what just a test for today's wider rollout of vanity URLs for a subset of verified business pages and profiles on Google+. Google has already enabled this feature for a number of big brands and celebrities like Toyota, Delta Airlines and Britney Spears, but don't get too excited yet: it's not clear when Google plans to roll out custom URLs to all of its users.The Microsoft Surface Is Safe From Apple's Zealous Patent Lawyers
Aug 13, 7:06PM
Compare the Microsoft Surface to the iPad: They are both thin slate devices with black bezels. Likewise, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is also a thin slate device with a black bezel. But Apple is only suing Samsung. It was revealed today in the Apple/Samsung court case that Microsoft is licensing several unnamed Apple design patents for the Surface. This deal reportedly stems from Microsoft and Apple's long-standing cross-licensing agreement. There are some caveats but it seems for the most part that Microsoft is safe from Apple's legal hounds -- and therefore the Surface has an edge on the tablet market.YogiPlay Debuts "YogiMeter," An Educator-Based Rating System For Children's Learning Apps
Aug 13, 6:28PM
YogiPlay, a Menlo Park-based company from husband-and-wife team Cedric and Michal Selling, is attempting to tackle the critical problem of surfacing appropriate, trusted, and carefully vetted educational apps for children. The company recently raised $1 million in VC funding from DN Capital and Richmond Park Partners, in order to develop a system for rating apps for kids, specifically targeting the ages 2 through 8. Today, YogiPlay is announcing the results of those efforts with YogiMeter, its new app rating system designed to help parents find learning apps for children that have been vetted by a team of educational experts.Facebook Lets You Announce That You're Expecting A Baby
Aug 13, 6:15PM
Facebook seems to be feelings its biological clock ticking, as today it launches a new Timeline event that lets you share that you're expecting a baby, the due date, and whether it's a boy or girl. Baby announcements appear in the Celebrations home page sidebar beside birthdays on the day the kid is expected to pop out, along with showing up in the news feed. Facebook tells me it's exploring whether the feature will power an existing advertising option to target "expecting parents" that could be very lucrative. This new life event for expecting a baby also opens up a new advertising is another sign that Facebook is maturing as its original user base of college kids from 2004 start hatching little ones who can join Facebook 13 years from now.Groovideo Launches Mobile App To Easily Create Awesome Group Videos
Aug 13, 5:57PM
The mobile video space is heating up, as a number of startups have launched to help users create and share interesting videos with one another. To date, most have been limited to individual users uploading videos and posting them to other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Maybe they can add filters, maybe automatically edit their videos and stitch them. But the idea of "social" video has been mostly limited to "Here, social friends and followers -- watch my video." Groovideo has a different idea for how to make videos social, by letting users create awesome content together through its mobile and web apps. Groovideo works like this: Users invite their friends to contribute to videos, each shoot their own short clips, which they upload to Groovideo's servers, and the startup automatically stitches them all together.India Launches Antitrust Investigation Against Google
Aug 13, 5:55PM
Google currently faces a number of antitrust investigations in the U.S. and Europe. To make matters worse, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) just announced that it is also launching an inquiry into Google's business practices. The announcement follows a complaint by Indian consumer advocacy group Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International. That, sadly, is also the extend of the information given by India's Competition Commission, but an August 2011 letter from CUTS to the Competition Commission (PDF) argues that "Google can potentially engage in anticompetitive activities to the possible detriment of these markets in India and that therefore such activities in this regard need to be thoroughly investigated by the CCI."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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