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Backed Or Whacked: Kids Projects Put The 'Fun' In Crowdfunding
Dec 23, 5:00AM
Editor's note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. 'Tis the season when our thoughts often turn to the wee ones in our lives, and that has certainly been on the minds of some crowdfunding project owners and backers.Native Video Ads: Silicon Valley's Shiny New Thing Or Industry Savior?
Dec 23, 2:00AM
Editor's note: Charles Gabriel is vice president of sales for the AOL On Network. For anyone who's attended a conference on online media or advertising, or read any of the industry trades over the last six months, the phrase "native advertising" is all but inescapable. Originally coined by Fred Wilson, it's been evangelized into 2012's biggest buzzword. Its advocates point to Facebook's Sponsored Stories and Twitter's Promoted Tweets as well as experiments from the likes of Forbes and The Atlantic as evidence of the category's growing prominence.YC Grad & Esther Dyson-Backed Eligible Wants To Be The Stripe For Healthcare Transactions
Dec 23, 1:00AM
While there is a long list of startups that are using modern technology to improve healthcare and education -- to make us healthier and more effective teachers and learners -- many are still shying away from some of the most challenging technical problems. Not that this comes as a surprise, as both industries suffer from some intractable legacy infrastructure. Modernizing the infrastructures themselves, along with the way health companies integrate and exchange data is a difficult task. Eligible, a San Francisco-based startup and member of Y Combinator's most recent batch, is meeting this challenge head on. Big data is transforming healthcare (and education), and Eligible has set out to build a modern, standardized set of protocols to make it more accessible. A member of the same YC class as Clever, Eligible is applying the very same philosophy of its classmate to healthcare -- to pulling down the barriers that restrict its interoperability, making it easier to manage and integrate.All Games Are (In A Sense) Violent
Dec 22, 10:00PM
In the wake of a mass shooting or terrorist attack the question of video game violence is raised. Games are often portrayed as little more than drug-addiction meets murder-simulator, and we game makers apologise endlessly. But we are not really being true to ourselves by adopting these apologist positions. In a sense all games are inherently violent. And this is a good thing.Your Facebook Pokes Are Stored For Two Days, Then Their Encryption Keys Are Deleted
Dec 22, 9:33PM
Facebook Poke messages self-destruct after a few seconds, but is Facebook saving these potentially embarrassing photos and videos? No. It's deleting them. Pokes are encrypted, and Facebook deletes the encryption keys two days after they're read so they're unreadable. Key backups are destroyed within 90 days, making a poke completely inaccessible. So send those silly, racy messages with confidence.Facebook Makes Big Last-Minute Holiday Drive To Sell Gifts With Banners Atop The Web And Mobile Feeds
Dec 22, 8:34PM
Touting its ability to notify someone immediately that you bought them a present, Facebook is showing large banners atop the web and mobile news feed telling people to buy Gifts. Facebook hopes tardy shoppers will purchase through its e-commerce arm because presents bought elsewhere wouldn't arrive before Christmas. Facebook's won't either, but at least friends would know they have a gift on the way.Gillmor Gang: The Revolution Will Be Notified
Dec 22, 8:21PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — fight a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way. The Gang feels blessed to have survived the Mayanocalypse, the Fiscal Cliff, and the complete inability of Microsoft to reverse its tailspin into massive mediocrity. You can verify that last comment by the fact that we don't mention Microsoft once in the show. We do talk at endless length (@scobleizer) about Google Glasses, which I suggest should be replaced with Google Underpants. Also Apple's opportunity to extend AirPlay into a rewrite of the media industry formerly known as television. Facebook Gifts. Open standards and a Scoble end of year barnstorm on all the tech shows. Happy Holidays to Leo, Jason, and all the folks in the chat room.Tired Of Mean And Nasty YouTube Comments? The YuleTube Browser Extension Will Fix That
Dec 22, 8:10PM
If you’ve ever gone “deep” into the nastiness that the YouTube commenting section can be, then you know that it’s not a pretty place. Depending on the type of content you’re visiting, fights will break out, mothers will be dragged into the conversation and it’s just not fun to be around. Who are we kidding? No matter what type of content it is, a YouTube commenter troll or 10 will say something nasty to start a feud. Today, a tipster sent us a browser extension called YuleTube and it works on Safari, Chrome and Firefox. What it does is turn naughty comments into nice ones. With precision and hilarity. Sorry, Internet Explorer users, you’re fucked not included. Once you install the extension, all of the filthy words that appear in comments will be replaced with Holiday-themed ones that are much nicer, and thus funnier. I implore you to install this extension if you use YouTube. Happy Holidays.What's Next For Social Mobile Games?
Dec 22, 8:00PM
Editor's note: Julien Codorniou is the head of EMEA Game Partnerships at Facebook where he works with the growing social games industry in Europe. New social gaming companies are emerging around the world, and in my role I get to speak with developers every day. Regardless of the size of the company, their locale, or the platform on which they're building, I typically hear the same questions.Fly Or Die: Snapchat
Dec 22, 6:20PM
As an old man, I find Snapchat to be baffling at best but Jordan and I duke it out in the Thunderdome that is Fly or Die and come, in the end, to a conclusion.
It's A Facebook And Google World On Apple's App Store, Poke Hits #1 A Day After Its Release
Dec 22, 5:45PM
Remember all of this hoopla over Facebook's latest standalone app, Poke, yesterday? You aren't the only one that is interested, apparently. As The Next Web reports, Poke by Facebook has hit the No. 1 free app spot on Apple's App Store, just a day after being released.Guidebox Launches To Become Your On-Demand TV Guide And DVR For The Web (And The iPad)
Dec 22, 5:00PM
San Francisco-based Guidebox brings together full show and episode data from all the various websites and apps that have TV programs, ranging from aggregators like Hulu and Hulu Plus to branded network websites like CNN.com and CBS.com. As a result, it has what the most definitive collection of full episodes available all in one place.A Whisper Is A Stronger Social Signal Than A Public Shout
Dec 22, 4:07PM
Yesterday was a surprisingly interesting news day, given how close we are to celebrating the holidays. Facebook struck while the iron was hot and released a brand new standalone iOS app called “Poke”, leveraging a feature that has been around since the early days of the product, as well as a shot across the bow of Snapchat, who it reportedly attempted to acquire. At first glance, it’s a competitive move, and also a whimsical one. The idea of sending someone a message that self-destructs is kind of “cute”, in the way that passing notes in class was when you were younger. But make no mistake about it, Facebook’s Poke is meant as a means to strengthen its social graph, as well as to crib signals from your daily lives and activities to make itself a better company. I’m not saying that anything is wrong with that, but these are the obvious facts. Let’s discuss the idea of a social signal first, though. When you tweet something, and someone responds, that’s a signal that the person is interested in what you have to say. One could also infer that this person “likes” you, or has an affinity for you or what you just said. This could all be torn down as bullshit though, since we all know that sometimes we respond to people to simply get their attention. The Facebook Poke is an interesting historical feature, one that hasn’t really been documented. It was Mark Zuckerberg’s baby, as Facebook was and is, but not much is known about it, only assumed. During yesterday’s ferver about this new Poke app, a phrase was repeated by outlets over and over again, here’s one from CNN: The poke, which is still around but rarely used, is a minimalistic form of communication — the digital equivalent of a head nod or wink. I take issue with the notion that it’s “rarely used”, because we simply do not have data to back that statement or sentiment up, Facebook has never made it public. I would challenge that it’s not public data because it’s quite important. Whispering to someone is way more interesting than speaking to ten people in a crowd. Your closest friends When you’re at a bar and you look around at the people there, are you interested in what a group of fifteen people are talking about, or what the two folks in theNow On Kickstarter: A Thin, Solar-Powered, Bluetooth 4.0 Game Controller Built Directly Into An iPhone Case
Dec 22, 3:00PM
Game controllers for iPhone are no longer all that rare, even though once upon a time Apple didn't even allow them to connect to its smartphone. Still, there's plenty of room for innovation in this space, and Justice Frangipane's new design is a perfect example of how things can still get better in this market. The project is an iPhone case that while only 3mm thick, holds a Bluetooth 4.0 video game controller that recharges via solar power.Single-Click Double-Tap Murder
Dec 22, 2:00PM
Gun control is on many minds this week, but let's not talk about guns. Let's talk about drones. (With a reported 300 million guns in private hands in America already, it's probably too late for gun control anyhow.) Drones are to nation-states what assault rifles are to psychotic mass murderers. Worse yet, the way things are going, it's only a matter of time until alpha insurgencies like Hezbollah and the Zetas have their own fleets of armed or kamikaze drones.Airbnb Gets More International And Interactive: Adds 18 Languages, Reviews And Calendar Access In New App Update
Dec 22, 11:56AM
Taking advantage of the fact that a lot of people will be travelling during the next week and a half -- and assuming that at least some of them are not organized enough to have booked their accommodation yet -- Airbnb today released a new version of its iOS mobile app with some significant updates. To better target weary travellers and innkeepers this holiday season and beyond, Airbnb is adding support for 18 more languages; the ability to add reviews; and calendar access.>From Silicon Valley To Europe: Is The U.S. Series A Crunch Affecting European Startups?
Dec 22, 11:00AM
Q: Is Silicon Valley’s Series A crunch causing a chill in Europe? A: Yes and no. A lot has been written about the Series A crunch/palpable chill in Silicon Valley that’s making founders pull their cardigans a little closer. Most recently a report by a venture capital analysis firm CB Insights suggests there hasn’t actually been a reduction in the amount of money available, but rather too much seed funding causing too much demand for the same amount of cash at the Series A level. Whichever way you cut it, a lot of U.S. seed-funded startups looking to upgrade their backing to Series A level are going to be going away with an empty begging bowl in the future. But what about beyond the Valley? Does the funding situation in the U.S. have an impact on startup funding in Europe? As the old adage goes, if the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. So if Silicon Valley has a Series A chill, does that make the funding situation a little less forgiving for Europe’s seed-funded startups too? I asked several European VCs and investors for their views on whether the Series A situation in the U.S. is making life more difficult for startups in Europe. I’m not making any claims that this is a scientific poll — it’s a very small sample — but, nonetheless, it’s an interesting snapshot of opinion in the European investor community as 2012 draws to a close. My takeaway from the poll is that while this group of European investors hold slightly differing views on how much influence the Valley has on the funding situation in Europe, they tend to fall into two camps on the Series A crunch: those that say there’s no change in Europe because it’s always been tough raising a Series A round here; and those that say Europe is having its own mini seed-funding boom — which means that getting a Series A is probably going to be even tougher in the future thanks to increased competition. Sucks to be a European startup then — but if you do manage to get Series A, rest assured you worked your ass off to get it (and probably deserve it). Angel investor Jeremie Berrebi, who co-founded KimaVentures, says the U.S. Series A situation makes no difference to startup life in Europe. “The answer is simple: It was always difficult to raise Series A money in Europe…and it’sIn Latin America, Women Are Breaking Barriers To Entrepreneurship
Dec 22, 10:00AM
Editor's note: Maria Rocio Paniagua currently works as a project manager at Innku, one of the top mobile and web workshops in Mexico. The lack of women in technology in Latin America and the Caribbean is an issue whose cause has deep roots. Still, despite the barriers, there are examples of women disrupting not only businesses, but entire societies all over the continent. Entrepreneurship has proven to be an area where the few that excel really go the distance, particularly where technology is concerned.Mark Zuckerberg Is The Voice Behind The "Poke" Notification Sound And Wrote Code For The App
Dec 22, 7:14AM
Mark Zuckerberg invented Poking, one of Facebook's earliest features, so it's fitting he was part of the small team that built the new Poke app over the last 12 days. Sources say Zuckerberg actually wrote code for Poke despite saying he rarely programs for Facebook anymore. And that voice that blurts out "Poke" when you get a push notification about a new Poke message? That's Zuck, too.Paying For Downloads Is Lame, And We Had No Idea We Were Doing It
Dec 22, 5:38AM
You know that annoying kid in junior high that used to give you his lunch money to hang out? That's what incentivized mobile app downloads are like. Or rather, it's that kid's mom or older brother paying you to hang out with them. So when we 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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