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Fifteen-Year Olds Create Reserverr, Hoping To Replace Your Calendar
Aug 21, 4:55AM
Fifteen-year olds Austin Schwab and Tyler Plack co-founded Reserverr, a website that automatically books reservations for free. "We like to think of Reserverr as a calendar on steroids," Schwab tells me.YC Startup Healthy Labs Wants To Be The Go-To Site For People Living With Chronic Illness
Aug 21, 4:10AM
In recent years, it's become so that people online can find reliable information from vetted individuals on well-designed websites that specialize in a lot of topics. Want to know what it's like to be an employee at Zynga during its recent stock price slide? Quora has your back. Want to know about the legal process for getting a green card? Check Avvo. Advice on how to launch a startup to the press? Take a look at Branch. But when it comes to advice and support for people who are diagnosed with chronic medical conditions, things aren't so easy. The main places where people share tips, treatment experiences, and support are relegated to the kinds of answers websites and web forums that seem stuck in the 1990s and early aughts. Healthy Labs, a new startup incubated in the current batch of Y Combinator startups, wants to fill that gap.Adobe's First Major Feature Update For Creative Cloud Focuses on Edge and Muse
Aug 21, 4:01AM
About 4 months ago, Adobe officially announced the launch of its new Creative Cloud subscription service, which gives the company's users the ability to pay one monthly fee for access to virtually all of the company's professional tools. Since then, Adobe launched two minor updates for Creative Cloud, including the addition of Lightroom 4 in June and an update to the Collage tool in July. Today, however, the company is launching its first major feature update to Creative Cloud and is also announcing a few updates that are coming in September. The focus of today's updates is on Edge, the company's HTML5 tool for creating animated web content and Muse, Adobe's website-building tool aimed at print designers.
Apple Is Not The Most Valuable Company In The History Of The World — IBM Won The Prize In 1967 With A Value of $1.3 Trillion
Aug 21, 3:52AM
Apple is not the most valuable company in the history of the world. It's not even Microsoft, which was reported to have been toppled by Apple today. It's IBM by a long shot. Apple's $661 billion market share does not account for inflation. With inflation in account, IBM remains the historic winner with a 1967 value of $1.3 trillion.Predictors of In-App Purchases? Not Having Paid Apps And Playing Lots of Games, Apsalar Finds
Aug 21, 2:01AM
In-app purchases have become the predominant way that mobile developers monetize their work, with the bulk of iOS's top 25 grossing apps being free-to-play. One company, the U.K.'s NaturalMotion, even made $12 million through in-app purchases on iOS in a single month for CSR Racing, so these microtransactions are starting to add up in a big way for venture-backed mobile startups. Analytics company Apsalar took a deeper look into factors that predict spending inside mobile apps and more specifically, how the quantity of apps a user has affects their spending habits. Somewhat counter-intuitively, users with a greater percentage of paid apps tend to spend less inside free ones. Apsalar speculates this is because consumers have a limited budget and paid apps serve as an economic substitute for in-app purchases.Apple And Samsung Bring Their Marketing Strategies To Court
Aug 21, 12:32AM
Apple and Samsung are presenting their closing arguments today in one of the biggest U.S. tech trials in history. As the ball heads over to the jury's court, it has become painfully obvious over this past month just how complex this case is. The case involves more than a dozen different patents, more than 30 allegedly infringing devices, claims of all shapes and sizes (utility, design, trade dress, and standards essentials), and that's just the beginning. Both sides are arguing their cases (and defending themselves) concurrently, and each have done their part to either submerge evidence or slip some to the press, all the while infuriating federal judge Lucy Koh.Google Analytics Could Be Banned In Norway
Aug 21, 12:07AM
The Norwegian Tax Administration and the State Educational Loan Fund have declared that Google Analytics is not in accordance with the law. They justify themselves by referring to a 2008 European Directive that demonstrates once again the ignorance of Eurocrats. Google will have to deeply alter its popular product in the coming weeks if it wants to keep its doors open to Norwegian developers. According to the European Parliament, IP addresses are personal data.Apple's Market Run: Amazing! Magical! Boom! Superlative!
Aug 20, 11:34PM
Joking aside, this is remarkable. Apple's market cap now stands at $623 billion. That's a new all-time high for a publicly-traded stock in the U.S. The previous record was $618.9 billion, which Microsoft hit on December 30, 1999. Yes, adjusted for inflation, Microsoft's tally is far higher (about $850 billion), but you should also consider another inflation: that was the height of the tech bubble. The real one, not the fake one that people keep saying we're in now.Study Finds Simple Way To Predict Behavior: Just Ask Users
Aug 20, 10:20PM
Scientists have discovered a deliciously simple way to improve the prediction of human behavior, the holy grail of social and consumer research: just ask users why they make certain decisions. Researchers from the University of Vermont found that the crowd offered better insight at predicting their own household energy consumption and Body Mass Index than the traditional way of using hard-to-gather data such as demographics, sleeping patterns, or house architecture. In other words, if you want to predict people's behavior, just ask them. The ironic simplicity of this approach cannot be overstated. Billion-dollar websites and major government initiatives battle legal hurdles to collect, buy, and sell the best user data, while this new research suggests there may be a much easier solution.Update: Peter Thiel Sold Majority Of His Facebook Shares On Thursday In Deal Planned Pre-IPO
Aug 20, 9:45PM
PayPal co-founder and famed investor Peter Thiel has sold the majority of his shares in Facebook, according to an SEC filing. Thiel has sold 20.6 million Class A shares, leaving him with only 5.6 million shares, all of which are Class A. A significant portion of the filing seems to be on behalf of the Founders Fund, in which Thiel is a partner. Other entities named in the filing include Lembas LLC and Rivendell One LLC, both of which are Thiel holding companies and Lord of the Rings references.Zeebox Preps For The US Launch Of Its Social TV App, With A Little Help From Comcast
Aug 20, 9:30PM
Uk-based social TV startup Zeebox is preparing for a U.S. launch, and when it does, it will be doing so with a big local partner. According to sources, the company is on the verge of announcing a partnership with cable stalwart Comcast, through which it will get a bit of help with a launch here. As with previous Zeebox partnerships, that will include a strategic investment in the company. Zeebox is finally on its way to U.S. homes, thanks to a partnership with Comcast. According to sources, Zeebox will soon announce a partnership similar to its deals with Sky in the U.K. and Network Ten in Australia, through which it will take an investment and also work to integrate its technology to existing apps from Comcast.In Desperate, Successful Ploy For Coverage, ShoutOut Radio Turns TechCrunch Against Itself
Aug 20, 9:01PM
Oh, this is shameless. Productivity at TechCrunch offices around the world have taken a blow over the past couple of hours, thanks to the Great TechCrunch Race, a website where TechCrunch staffers (or rather, uh, farm animals that share our names) race each other across the screen. It turns out that watching a turtle with my name on it going head-to-head with chickens, horses, and pigs named after my bosses and coworkers is weirdly addictive. (While on the Caltrain, I only barely restrained myself from shouting, "Die, Rip Empson, die!")LittleBits Is A Nearly Perfect Electronics Discovery Kit
Aug 20, 8:50PM
I've been hearing about LittleBits, an electronics kit for hobbyists and kids, for quite a while but I never got a chance to play with them until recently. The company recently announced a funding round with hardware manufacturer PCH and they launched their Extended Kit, a new box of bits. The kit allows you to build simple circuits using a power source, a connector, and an output. For example, you can connect an LED directly to the 9-volt power supply or you can add a potentiometer or switch to turn the LED on and off manually. There are other bits that allow you to pulse the output devices and add light and motion controls.Sounds Boring, Actually Awesome. Sherpaa Raises $1.8M To Find Your Business Cheap Health Insurance
Aug 20, 8:34PM
Health insurance is the second biggest cost for businesses behind payroll, but picking the best plan is a nightmare. That's why Sherpaa just raised $1.85 million to make the decision for you, cut your costs, and keep your employees healthy. With a yearly Sherpaa plan, your employees also get 24/7 telephone access to a group of doctors that can answer medical questions and prevent needless emergency room visits. Sherpaa is only in New York City right now, but the funding will allow it to expand to SF, DC, and Chicago, build out its product and three-person team, and save more companies up to $4,000 per employee on insurance. It's already helping Tumblr and 9 other teams be fitter, happier, more productive.The Zaphat Can Turn You Into A Zombie…Sorta
Aug 20, 7:50PM
Here's an interesting approach to Augmented Reality marketing: turn hats into Zombie heads. The Zaphat (pronounced like Zap Hat, not Zafat) is a new line of fashion apparel where the logo on the accoutrement acts as the target for an iOS/Android app that uses Augmented Reality to transform the wearer into an avatar of their choice. In other words, when you wear a special hat, people can look at you with an app and see a Zombie instead of your head and then take a picture of you.YC-Backed Survata Wants To Replace Paywalls With Research-Friendly 'Surveywalls'
Aug 20, 7:30PM
Tell me if this sounds familiar: you're checking out what's new on the Wall Street Journal's website, only to be stymied by a message saying the content you want to see is only available to paying subscribers. It seems like everyone has an opinion on paywalls, and even though there's evidence that paywalls aren't as bad as people think, not everyone has taken kindly to the concept. Well, if paywalls are so odious, what about surveywalls? Instead of erecting paywalls to stand been users and a content creator's premium offerings, Y Combinator-backed Survata wants those users to take a short (think 20 seconds or so), anonymous surveys in lieu of whipping out their credit cards.Ebay Bans The Sale Of Spells, Potions And Psychic Readings
Aug 20, 7:26PM
The days of the "Windfall Money Riches Fortune Gambling Good Luck Spell" ($8.99, returns accepted within 14 days) and "POWERFUL MAGIC SPELL OF WEREWOLF TRANSFORMATION lycan shapeshift vampire haunted" ($15.99, returns accepted) on eBay are coming to an end. You better get your orders for your psychic readings, authentic voodoo dolls, love potions and "powerful money and wealth" spells in now, because starting August 30, the sale of psychic readings, spells and potions will be banned from eBay. Finding a seller ready to give up three wishes from a 1000 year-old ancient genie for just $5.99 is surely going to get a bit harder after that (that seller of those three wishes, by the way, has 99.8% positive feedback).Y Combinator-Backed Mth Sense Aims To Improve Mobile Ad Targeting Based On Your App History
Aug 20, 7:08PM
As mobile publishers and advertisers struggle to know more about the users who are seeing their ads, a Y Combinator-backed startup called Mth Sense is offering a new approach to the problem — it looks at consumers' app usage data to create a profile of their demographics and interests. This is an area that's attracting investor dollars. Perhaps most notably, both Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested in a startup called Drawbridge, which connects user data on mobile and desktop devices. So what's Mth Sense doing differently? CEO and co-founder Mandar Agte says there are existing solutions to target mobile ads based on the app you're using when the ad is served, but that provides a pretty limited view of the user.Windows 8 Is "A Cognitive Burden"
Aug 20, 6:47PM
It's hard to blame Microsoft for making bold decisions with its upcoming desktop operating system. But the renamed Windows 8-style UI (or Modern UI) instead of Metro might be too great a departure from known and trusted interactions found in the previous versions of Windows. According to Raluca Budiu, User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group, who gave an interview to Laptop Magazine, some design decisions are confusing at best and, at worst, a cognitive burden that slows down the user.Sqrrl Raises $2 Million For Secure, Scalable Big Data Technology Originally Developed At NSA
Aug 20, 6:34PM
Sqrrl, a big data startup that came out of development at the National Security Agency (NSA), has raised $2 million in seed funding from Matrix Partners and Atlas Ventures. The Sqrrl technology is promised to provide a secure, scalable and easily adaptable way for companies to manage big data. Here's the problem with big data that Sqrrl hopes to solve: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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