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The Weekly Good: DonorsChoose And "Big Hairy Audacious" Goals To Help Teachers
Dec 29, 6:42AM
[Note: This is a weekly series. If your company is doing something amazing to help a charitable cause or doing some good in your community, please reach out.] Sometimes, the right people are in the right place at the right time. For DonorsChoose.org, all of this came true. In 2003, Oprah Winfrey mentioned the non-profit on her show, calling it a “revolutionary charity”, and her viewers donated $250k to benefit projects in classrooms around the world. Yes, DonorsChoose.org is all about helping people help teachers, who of course help teach our students. Being a teacher isn’t the easiest job in the world, and for many reasons, it’s difficult to perform all of the tasks that you want to do to teach our youth in the right way. I spoke to DonorsChoose founder, Charles Best, about where the idea came from, what they’ve accomplished thus far, and what we can expect in the future. How did you come up with the idea for DonorsChoose? In 2000, as a New York City public school teacher, I spent a lot of time in the teacher's lunchroom, talking with fellow teachers about the books they wanted their students to read, the art projects they wanted their classroom to do, and the field trips they wanted their students to take. They didn't have the funding to do these things, so I founded DonorsChoose.org out of my classroom. In 2007, DonorsChose.org expanded to serve every public school teacher in the U.S. How do you explain DonorsChoose to people, to grab their attention? With DonorsChoose.org, anyone can give as little as $1 and get the same level of choice, transparency, and feedback that is traditionally reserved for someone who gives millions. We call that citizen philanthropy. Can you provide us with some real stories and stats on what you’ve accomplished thus far? We strongly believe in transparency – that people should be able to see exactly how every dollar is spent. The impact page of our website provide information at the national and state levels about what types of projects are being funded, how many students have been impacted, dollars raised, projects funded and more. Check out the progress we’ve made in helping schools impacted by Hurricane Sandy. What have you done differently that helped your program get off of the ground? We believe teachers know best what their students really need, and we’ve dedicated a lotTigerLogic Acquires Storycode For Up To $7.25M To Bolster How Brands Reach Mobile Users
Dec 29, 5:07AM
TigerLogic, a company with a market cap of about $56 million that provides data management and app development solutions for enterprises, said it agreed to acquire Portland mobile developer Storycode for up to $7.25 million in cash and stock today. The Irvine-based company says it will integrate Storycode’s technology into its social visualization platform called Postano. Yes, “social visualization” platform is a little vague, but basically Postano lets brands embed widgets with content froms social networks on their sites. They also offer an internal dashboard that lets clients monitor what people are saying about them on Twitter or Facebook, and they can also help with creating custom Facebook tabs and apps. Storycode has a mobile app publishing platform that media companies like Thomson Reuters, USA Today, NBC and CBS use to create iPhone and iPad apps. The mobile publishing platform will plug right into TigerLogic’s Postano product. According to an SEC filing, each share of Storycode’s stock will be converted into $6.75 million worth of TigerLogic’s stock. On top of that, a single share of preferred stock in Storycode will get converted into the right to receive $250,000. TigerLogic is also giving Storycode $100,000 in bridge financing and is taking on up to $150,000 in the company’s liabilities. Storycode actually has been through one previous acquisition. It was previously called FreeRange Communications after it spun out of Handmark in 2011. The company changed its name to Storycode last May after acquiring a Portland-based mobile agency.Lawsuit Alleges That Early Pinterest Investor Stole The Idea, Pinterest Says Suit Is 'Baseless'
Dec 29, 1:57AM
A lawsuit filed yesterday by Theodore F. Schroeder claims that Pinterest investor Brian S. Cohen stole the idea for the social sharing service. The suit, which was first reported in AllThingsD, claims that Schroeder "originated the ideas that led to the popular, ever-growing Pinterest website." It presents a fairly detailed account of the development of a site called Redezvoo.com, and its spinoff, Skoopwire.com. The products were developed by Schroeder and two of his Columbia Law School classmates, who eventually brought on Cohen as the company's chairman and CEO, according to the suit.To Mitigate Any Surge Pricing Surprises, Uber Debuts Sobriety Tests And Fare Estimates For New Year's Eve
Dec 29, 1:07AM
After the communication breakdown over surge pricing last New Year’s Eve, Uber is taking precautions to make sure users are aware of fare increases next week. Surge pricing has become more common now among Uber users but when fares increase dramatically, it catches consumers off guard. So to prevent any surprises. Uber customers will be alerted to the surge pricing multiple which they have to confirm and accept before making any request for a ride. Uber says that when there are extreme spikes in demand on the evening, customers will also have to take Uber's "Surge Sobriety Test." And Uber's Fare Estimator will give all customers the ability to estimate their fare prior to any ride request. Uber warns in a blog post: It's going to be a crazy night and Ubers are going to be pricey, so here are a few pointers to keep in mind. The fare estimate feature will only be available for the iPhone app, unfortunately. And all riders will need to accept the fare multiplier before finalizing a booking. uber says the average surge multiple will be about 2 times normal prices, during the worst times (12:30 AM until 2:45 AM), but prices during extreme spikes could cost you $100 before time and mileage charge. Uber adds that the most expensive times to take an Uber are 8:30pm – 9:45pm and 12:30am – 2:45am. The best times to take an Uber on NYE are before 7pm, 10pm – 12:10am and 3am on. The company’s CEO and founder Travis Kalanick will also be holding a live chat for any one who has questions about surge pricing on New Year’s Eve. Uber clearly learned its lesson from last year, when users were caught off guard by steep prices caused by surge pricing. For example, one user was charged $75 for a two minute car ride. With the sobriety test, and fare estimator, the company is giving users all the information they need to decide if a pricey car ride is worth the splurge. The sobriety test is particularly interesting, and I wonder if this will become more widely used in the app. Ride-sharing app SideCar also warned users today of its surge pricing that will take place on New Year’s Eve.There's A Difference Between Private And Personal
Dec 29, 1:03AM
While most of us were enjoying the holidays with our families all over the world, someone who is related to the CEO of Facebook posted a photo of her family to friends, and then some journalist person downloaded it and tweeted it. There's a real difference between something being private and something being personal. And that, as the aforementioned incident highlights, is a notion that a lot of people — including Randi Zuckerberg — have forgotten, online and off. What I mean by this is that just because you post something online, doesn't mean it's meant for public consumption. Yes, this all sounds very conflated, and yes, Facebook privacy controls are about as easy to understand as left-handed scissors for a right-handed person. However, somewhere in this slow news big news cycle, publications started to tell the story that said Facebook CEO’s sister clearly didn’t understand Facebook’s privacy controls. This is simply not true, because the photo wasn’t private, it was personal. Allow me to explain the difference. Private As A Peacock Private: confined to or intended only for the persons immediately concerned; confidential: a private meeting If something is “private” in your mind, it’s probably not a good idea to share it on the Internet…anywhere. I don’t care what types of controls a social network gives you. There’s no such thing as full-on “privacy” on the Internet. Do you know what is private? A good-old-fashioned photo in a scrapbook, passed around one by one at the dinner table during the holidays. If you see someone try to pull out their phone to snap a photo for Instagram purposes, you can say “HEY! That’s private.” This can’t be done on the Internet. Once something is out there, it can be screen-shotted, captured and re-shared just as easily as it was uploaded in the first place. As we learned with Snapchat and Poke, those sexy private photos and videos aren’t really “private” either. I’m not even going to get into the difference between public and private, because I feel like that’s fairly obvious. Privacy is a lost art in humanity these days. We’re so used to sharing every darn thing that happens to us, myself included, that we have lost a sense of self, therefore leaving ourselves open to the shit show that ensued during the boringest news week of the century. No matter what Randi Zuckerberg said after the fact, peopleOneWed Brings Its Inspirational Wedding Imagery To iPad
Dec 28, 8:44PM
It's been days, possibly even weeks, since we've covered a wedding-focused startup. Let's change that, shall we? OneWed, the company formerly known as Nearlyweds, is now on iPad. The new app quietly arrived just before the holidays, offering a new way for brides-to-be to browse, be inspired by, save and share wedding imagery and ideas.Nook Media Takes $89.5M From Pearson, Says Holiday Sales Fell Below Expectations
Dec 28, 7:46PM
Nook Media, the Barnes & Noble subsidiary that handles Nook e-readers and digital content, announced today that education publisher Pearson has invested $89.5 million, giving it a 5 percent stake in the company. Nook Media spun out from Barnes & Noble earlier this. B&N owns 78.2 percent , while Microsoft (which made a big investment aimed at bringing Nook content to Windows 8 devices) owns 16.8 percent, according to the press release. The deal gives the company a post-money valuation of $1.789 billion."Bug" Lets People Save Snapchat And Poke Videos, But Why Would Anyone Want To Do That?
Dec 28, 7:31PM
Buzzfeed has found a "security hole" in an app that is totally not used for sexting, Snapchat, and an app that is also totally not used for sexting, Poke. The two apps totally not used for sexting were found to have been caching videos that have nothing to do with sex as temporary files on the iPhone and other iOS devices.Data Shows Online Buzz About Snapchat Is Skyrocketing After The Launch Of Facebook Poke
Dec 28, 7:22PM
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, which is nice and all -- but for businesses, flattery doesn't exactly pay the bills. However, when said flattery comes along with massive amounts of new attention from millions of potential new users, a high-profile copycat could actually help more than it hurts. Such may well be the case with ephemeral photo sharing app Snapchat and its newly-launched doppelgänger Facebook Poke.Flying Home? Airport Chatter Brings Airport Info To iPhone, Socializes Travel
Dec 28, 6:48PM
Airport Chatter, which debuted just in time to take advantage of the busy holiday travel season, is a new mobile application aiming to be the one-stop shop for everything related to air travel, from the time of departure to the time of arrival. The app includes venue profiles for the shops and services inside airports, allowing users to not only discover the hours of operations and other business info, but also post check-ins and reviews. That makes it something like a miniature version of Yelp, specifically designed for airports.I Can Has Funding: Cheezburger Raises $5M From Foundry, Madrona , Softbank For LOLcats, FAIL Blog And Other Memes
Dec 28, 6:44PM
Cheezburger, the internet publisher responsible for LOLcats, FAIL Blog, and other memes, has raised $5 million in funding, according to an SEC filing. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the funding, in which existing incestors Foundry Group with Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures, and SoftBank Capital all participated. No new board members were added.Study Claims Online Voter Registration Contributed 'Significantly' To Higher Youth Registration
Dec 28, 6:14PM
California's experiment in fully online voter registration appears to have been a success. "Online registration contributed significantly to an increase in 2012 youth registrants and modestly to overall increases in general registration rates," claims a University of California, Davis, study of the 2012 election, which finds that online voting boosted youth registration an entire percent (10.1 percent to 11.1 percent) in its short one-month existence prior to the election [PDF].Lyft Staffing Up In Seattle And Los Angeles As It Looks To Expand Its Ride-Sharing Service Beyond SF
Dec 28, 6:13PM
Lyft, the local on-demand ride-sharing service operated by the startup Zimride, is apparently not letting recent regulatory hurdles cramp its style too much. Lyft, which launched its service allowing individual car-owners to provide local transportation services to their peers in exchange for a suggested donation in San Francisco this past summer, is now actively recruiting staff in new cities including Seattle and Los Angeles as part of a planned geographic expansion in the new year.Touch Publishing Platform Onswipe Now Reaching 10M Monthly Active Users On iOS
Dec 28, 5:35PM
Onswipe, a startup that helps publishers build websites optimized for iPads and other touchscreen devices, is closing out what sounds like a big year. Content published through the Onswipe platform reached 44 million unique visitors over the course of the year, the company says, and it's now reaching 10 million active users per month on iOS. (Onswipe is also available on Android and Kindle Fire, but they make a very small contribution to the total.) To put that into perspective, CEO and co-founder Jason Baptiste calculates that Onswipe's traffic now exceeds the iPad traffic for WordPress and Tumblr combined. (He based that on Quantcast's mobile traffic data for WordPress.com and Tumblr — for example, WordPress has a reported 12.5 million mobile uniques in the US, then when you take into account that only 31 percent of that traffic comes from iOS, and only 37 percent of that comes from the iPad, you get 1.4 million uniques from the iPad.) It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, since we're looking at onSwipe's global iOS traffic, not just iPad traffic in one country, but it does suggest that Onswipe has a mobile audience that's comparable to the major web publishing platforms.A Few Actual Harms To Be Concerned About From Today's Government Spying Law
Dec 28, 5:35PM
"Other than the vague threat of an Orwellian dystopia, as a society we don't really know why surveillance is bad," writes Washington University Law Professor, Neil Richards [PDF]. Today, the United State Senate reauthorized a controversial Obama-supported surveillance law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 (FISA), which permits intelligence agencies to monitor international communications, sometimes without a warrant and little court oversight. Civil libertarians are up in arms, but in the face of deadly terrorist threats, does government monitoring actually harm people? Richards' attempts to argue that brazen government spying does, indeed, have real-world harms, including mass self-censorship and blackmail, and supplies moderately compelling evidence for those naturally scared of the government.Amazon Makes It Easier To Host Static Web Pages On S3
Dec 28, 5:26PM
S3 is Amazon's cloud storage service for developers, but you can also use it to host static web pages on the cheap. Amazon introduced this feature about a year ago and today, it is making it even easier to run basic sites on S3 with the addition of root domain hosting (using Amazon's Route 53 DNS service) so users can access your site without specifying the "www" in the address and enhanced redirection functionality.Rethinking The Mobile App "Walkthrough"
Dec 28, 5:00PM
Lately, it seems that many mobile apps, upon first launch, are stepping users through multi-screen "walkthroughs" where all the features of the app are demonstrated, painstakingly, one-by-one. Worse still, are those overlays of help screens that appear at start up, with the scrawled handwriting, circles and arrows best left on whiteboards - not in user education material.When Kickstarter Delivers: Thanks To Simple, Effective Design, Supr's Slim Wallet Exceeds Expectations
Dec 28, 4:33PM
I've backed an embarrassing number of Kickstarter projects, almost all of them in the hardware/gadget categories, and I've been disappointed more than I've been delighted. The Slim wallet by Supr however bucks the trend, delivering a front-pocket wallet that finally and truly deserves the honor of actually being carried in that place.Instagram Denies 25% Holiday User Drop From TOS Backlash, And Here Are Real Explanations For A Usage Dip
Dec 28, 3:47PM
Sure, it's not unlike the New York Post to be sensationalist. But in this case it misinterpreted data to suggest Instagram was hit harder by backlash to its terms of service changes than it actually was. Combined with it being a quiet-ish holiday news week, I am taking a story it published today on a 25 percent drop in Instagram users with a little more than a grain of salt.Roamz Prepares A "Street View For Social" Using New Google Maps iOS SDK
Dec 28, 3:23PM
Roamz, a local search startup for web and mobile, is today showing off one of the first implementations of the new Google Maps iOS SDK in its new iPad app, due out after the holidays. The Maps iOS SDK, which was released at the time of the Google Maps iOS app launch earlier this month, allows mobile developers who use maps inside their apps to use Google Maps instead of Apple's implementation.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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