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Ustream Apologizes For Shutting Down The Hugo Awards Livestream, Says It Will 'Recalibrate'
Sep 04, 2:16AM
Maybe you haven't heard of the Hugo Awards, but to science fiction geeks, especially print science fiction geeks, they're a big deal. They're given out at the World Science Fiction Convention, and as io9's Annalee Newitz writes, they're "kind of like the Academy Awards," where "careers are made; people get dressed up and give speeches; and celebrities rub shoulders with (admittedly geeky) paparazzi." Of course, not everyone can attend the convention, but for those of us who couldn't, we had a chance to follow along the ceremonies last night thanks to live video via Ustream (I probably would've been watching if I wasn't taking my mom out to dinner). Or at least, fans had a chance to watch the beginning of the ceremony, up until Neil Gaiman was accepting his ward in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category. That's when the broadcast shut off abruptly, and the account was supposedly "banned due to copyright infringement."MistoBox Wants To Boost Your Morning Cup Of Joe With The "BirchBox of Coffee"
Sep 04, 12:49AM
Have a good day off? Some of us will return to work Tuesday morning rested and ready to go. Others may have enjoyed the holiday a bit too much and will be paying the price for a long weekend of celebrating. The good news is that when you wake up Tuesday morning, you don't have to drink coffee that tastes like motor oil. Whether you're peppy and so happy to be alive at 6 AM (I hate those people) or feel like Derek Jeter lodged a bat in your head last night, you can start your morning with new coffee. A new monthly delivery service, MistoBox, describes itself as "the BirchBox of the micro roasted coffee industry."How The Telecom Company Free Disrupted The Mobile Landscape In France
Sep 03, 11:43PM
Imagine a mobile phone plan, such as the one from Free in France, with unlimited talk, unlimited SMS and MMS messages, tethering and, even more important, unlimited data with a speed reduction after 3 GB. Usually for that plan in the U.S., you would pay more than $100 for limited data with a two-year contract. In France, it costs $25 per month (€19.99, sales tax included) and there is no contract. Yet, it is something radically new for French consumers who used to pay between $57 and $82 per month (€45 and €65) for a smartphone plan with only a couple of hours of talk time. The French telecom company Free disrupted the mobile landscape by using very clever technology, marketing and financial tricks. As a company with a hacker culture, Free is a good example of how to execute against well-established competitors.>From A Disrupt Win To $13M In Funding, Getaround Tells All
Sep 03, 11:28PM
Peer-to-Peer car sharing service, Getaround, is making waves in the crowded sharing economy market, signing up over 10,000 cars in the last year. Before Getaround raised $13.9 million from VCs, such as Shervin Pishevar and Marissa Mayer, the startup was shot to Silicon Valley fame after winning TechCrunch Disrupt's battlefield competition in 2011.Too Tipsy (Or Too Lazy) For Metal Gear? Save Harry Is The Game For You
Sep 03, 10:57PM
Are you catching up on emails and the web after a couple blissful days (and a few beverages) during the Labor Day weekend? Has the extent of your keeping up on the news these past few days been reading tabloid dispatches of how the UK's Prince Harry was recently caught partying a bit too hard in Las Vegas? Do you want to get your fingers back in the mode of commandeering electronics instead of frisbees, but don't want to fire up the PlayStation just yet? Then Save Harry is just the game for you. Save Harry came to my attention through TechCrunch's tips line, and I have to say it's a pretty hilariously brilliant game when viewed in context.Twitter Is Looking For A Data Editor To, Um, Tell Compelling Stories Based On Its Data
Sep 03, 10:05PM
Twitter has a fair number of open jobs available, but this one caught our eye: The startup is looking for a data editor to make sense of and tell stories around its user data. According to the job listing, the ideal candidate will be able to create "clear and insightful data-driven case studies" using Twitter's data for the press, partners, and its own internal communications. Of course, Twitter isn't the only tech company to hire someone to write about the huge amounts of data that it collects. OkCupid has a pretty fantastic data blog, OkTrends -- although it hasn't been updated in more than a year. And Google last year hired away former CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy to work on its Trends & Insights team. And, of course, there's no shortage of third-party data analytics companies, like Visible Measures, which collect data and do their own analysis.Study: Dumb Robots Cause Students To Learn More Quickly
Sep 03, 7:45PM
Students learn faster when learning from robots that make mistakes. The counter-intuitive study finds that Japanese children learn English quicker when they correct the intentional translation errors of a toy robot--exploiting a well-known fact among educators that students learn best when they help teach others. Robots that appeared to "learn" from the instruction of their human instructors also inspired the students to continue teaching, "Anything that gets a person more actively engaged and motivated is going to be beneficial to the learning process," explains the director of the Socially Intelligent Machines lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Andrea Thomaz, "So needing to teach the robot is a great way of doing that.">From Disrupt Finalist To $8M In Funding And 2M Users, Voxy Tells All
Sep 03, 7:26PM
English learning app Voxy hit the scene nearly two years ago exactly, on our Disrupt SF stage. It was a great presentation, but perhaps more importantly it was a great business idea. Since then, Voxy is rated the number one education app in over 20 different countries, has raised a total of $8 million in funding, and now has over 2 million users. So I sat down with CEO and founder Paul Gollash to talk about the trip from then to now, and how Disrupt shaped the company.Digital Gifting Startup GiftRocket Hits Profitability, Announces API And Reduced Fees
Sep 03, 7:15PM
GiftRocket, a 2011 Y Combinator grad, is a simple P2P digital gifting service that lets users send and receive digital gift cards via email. Originally, the startup was focused around location-based gifting, allowing friends to send each other digital gift cards that could be accessed once they checked-in to a certain location. With some angel funding behind it, the startup pivoted to a more universal use case, becoming a way to easily gift cash within a digital eCard. Co-founder Kapil Kale tells us that, since that change, people have begun to use the service as a replacement for traditional gift cards and gift certificates and usage has increased as a result. Today, the startup is announcing that it's profitable thanks to a $2 million in sales in 2012 (and what he expects to be $5 million run rate by December). It's also making some additions and changes to its service, including an API, bulk orders and reduced fees.Y Kant Junior Fbricate Smiknduktrs: Tinkermite Tablet Teaches Kids The Basics Of Hardware Design
Sep 03, 7:10PM
Modern parents will recognize the dilemma: we want our children to learn about hardware engineering and design at birth but we don't want them using soldering irons until they can keep their heads upright and/or develop gross motor skills. What's a parent to do? Enter Tinkermite, a Kickstarter project aimed at offering the wee ones the opportunity to understand the rudiments of mobile phone design without an advanced degree in telecommunications technology. The toy consists of a small puzzle featuring phone parts like the battery, CPU, and memory chips as well as a front draw-and-wipe screen so the little ones can pretend they're using Dad's iPad.Watch Out, Big Dog: Swiss University Builds An Improved Quadrupedal Robot
Sep 03, 6:33PM
Big Dog is the huge quadrupedal robot that stomped its way into our hearts a few years ago with its wild gait and hydraulic whine. Now, however, there's a new Dog in the mix, the StarlETH, a smaller robot made at ETH Zurich. This guy may be tiny but he's uniquely suited to running through and over obstacles and in environments that Big Dog may not be able to tackle.Twitter Bets On Girls Who Code
Sep 03, 6:02PM
In 1967, 25-year-old Damyanti Gupta immigrated to Detroit with one goal—to be an Engineer at Ford Motor Company. Only there was one problem: there were no female engineers at the company. When a hiring executive flatly told her that "we don't have any women on staff", she mustered her confidence and replied "if you don't hire me, then you won't have that benefit." A few weeks later, Damyanti was hired as Ford's first-ever female engineer. Gupta (pictured) and her story are just one of many that inspired Reshma Saujani to found Girls Who Code, a new, New York-based initiative designed to help teach girls how to code so that they can pursue careers in technology and engineering. And what's especially awesome about Saujani's organization is that it has the steadfast support of a number of companies, including Google, GE eBay and Twitter.Mexico Is Happening At TechCrunch Disrupt
Sep 03, 5:52PM
With the focus of many in the startup community shifting towards emerging markets, Mexico is a prime target for VCs looking to support a new group of entrepreneurs. Ideally situated a quick flight away from Silicon Valley lies a growing community of entrepreneurs eager to get involved. With the Mexican Pavilion set to storm TechCrunch Disrupt, here's what you need to know about the Mexican startup ecosystem. Mexico's economy is growing 40% faster than Brazil's, over twice as fast as the United States, and is already the world's 14th largest economy (on a GDP based scale). With an ever growing professional middle class, the market is well poised for innovative companies...Bruce Willis Isn't Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights
Sep 03, 5:26PM
Earlier today, there was a rumor that Bruce Willis was considering to sue Apple to clarify who owns content downloaded from iTunes. The U.K.'s Daily Mail reported - and as with all things involving British tabloids, you should take this with a grain of salt - that Willis "is said to be considering legal action against technology giant Apple over his desire to leave his digital music collection to his daughters." While contemplating his death, Willis apparently noticed something most iTunes users also conveniently ignore: even though Apple now provides you with DRM-free files, all you own is a license to play your music on up to five devices under your control and you can't legally pass them on to others.The Touchfire Chronicles, Continued: Born In The USA
Sep 03, 5:24PM
Last winter we ran a series of articles called the Touchfire Chronicles about a cool little on-screen keyboard add-on for the iPad called the Touchfire. The creators, Steve Isaac and Brad Melmon, sent us an update on their project and offer a bit of advice from the other side. December, 2011. Our Kickstarter project ended with a bang. Touchfire raised more money than any tablet-related Kickstarter project ever had. We now had to make lots of Touchfires! We wanted to make Touchfire in the U.S., but every domestic manufacturer we asked turned us down due to technical challenges and the price point we wanted to hit. Brad had lots of experience working with Chinese manufacturers, and we had two of the best in hot competition.Runa Capital Puts $5 million Into Education Platform With Expansion Plans
Sep 03, 5:06PM
Russia's Runa Capital has announced a $5 million investment into Dnevnik.ru, an educational platform in Russia. Dnevnik wants to expand the platform into the EU, China, Israel, the US and develop a system of cataloging and distributing educational content under its more recognisable brand of ClassedIn. Aimed at teachers, school students and their parents, Dnevnik.ru was launched in 2009 and after three years has become one of the more widely used educational platform in Russia and the Ukraine. It's now used by over 21,000 schools and four million users have joined the site, with almost 10 thousand schools and one million users in the Ukraine.>From Disrupt Runner-Up To $22 Million In Funding, CloudFlare Tells All
Sep 03, 4:30PM
According to Matthew Prince, CEO of CloudFlare, the service that makes websites faster and more secure, he and co-founder Michelle Zatlyn, had their heart set on launching at TechCrunch Disrupt ever since it was called TechCrunch50. They eventually got their chance - though not at TC50. Instead, CloudFlare ended up as runner-up to Qwiki at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2010. But their story is a good one to tell, because it demonstrates that you don't have to take home the trophy to win.Boxee, Anobit, DudaMobile Backer Pitango Closes $150M In Newest $250M Fund
Sep 03, 3:19PM
Israel's Pitango -- backers of Boxee, Anobit (now part of Apple), fring, mySupermarket, and many other startups -- is gearing up for a new round of investment activity: the venture capital firm has announced a $150 million first closing on its latest fund. The firm is aiming for Pitango VI, as the fund is called, to eventually total $250 million. As with previous investments, Pitango says that it will be using this fund for seed, pre-seed and growth-stage investments in older companies. All investments from now will come out of this fund, it says.Europe Lays Out Proposals For Wireless Spectrum Sharing Amongst Fiercely Competitive Carriers
Sep 03, 2:48PM
Carriers are fiercely competitive, but swallowing their territorial tendencies, several around Europe have started teaming up to share mobile spectrum and other resources in the ongoing race to serve hungry mobile consumers with data for their apps, video chats and film streams -- expected soon to top 1 trillion megabytes of data per month. Today the EU took a step towards formalizing that, with the introduction of a proposal for spectrum sharing. Announced by Neelie Kroes, VP for the European Commission, the proposal "is an essential part of the solution to dealing with the wireless crunch... by using new technical possibilities to create a secondary market for spectrum rights."How Obama Stole Romney's RNC Thunder With Clever Social Media
Sep 03, 2:45PM
President Barack Obama managed to steal an impressive amount of Gov. Mitt Romney's press coverage with a few, cheap social media tricks, including the most retweeted post of the convention. In comparison to the Republican National Convention's all-out multi-million dollar conservative carnival, Obama made front page Google News with dramatically less effort and at no cost with three clever social media projects: answering questions from Reddit users for 30 minutes, tweeting "This seat's taken" in response to Clint Eastwoods silly stand-up routine (51K retweets), and releasing the White House beer recipe. Sure, Obama has the spotlight advantage because he's the President, but it goes to show that all the money and staging in the world can't compete with cleverness.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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