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Samsung Clones Its Own: Galaxy S II Plus Aims To Extend Run Of Galaxy S II Cash-Cow Phone
Jan 10, 12:38PM
The electronics behemoth that is Samsung sometimes works in mysterious ways -- penning axiomatic smartphone slogans such as 'designed for humans', for instance -- but there's very little mystery about the latest smartphone addition to its vast, sprawling Galaxy of devices. The Galaxy S II Plus is all about milking the 3G cash-cow of the range: aka the Galaxy S II.In Our Inbox: A Memo That Says Nuance Has Bought Virtual Assistant Specialist VirtuOz To Ramp Up Its Enterprise Services
Jan 10, 12:05PM
TechCrunch has received a copy of a memo indicating that Nuance, the speech and natural language technology giant that also powers Apple's Siri voice assistant, has made another acquisition: VirtuOz, a developer of intelligent virtual assistant services for online sales, marketing and support -- dubbed "Siri for the enterprise" -- that was founded in France and is now co-headquartered in the Bay Area's Emeryville.Telecommunications Data Analytics Company Guavus Raises $30M From IGC, Intel Capital And Others
Jan 10, 12:00PM
Guavus, an enterprise data analytics company, has raised $30 million in new funding from Investor Growth Capital (IGC) with participation from QuestMark Partners and previous investors Artiman Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures and Intel Capital. This brings the company's total funding to $78 million.Nokia Launches WP8 Flagships In India: Lumia 920, 820 On Sale From Tomorrow; Lumia 620 Coming In Early February
Jan 10, 10:21AM
We still don't know how many Windows Phone 8 smartphones Nokia has sold since it started selling WP8-powered Lumias in the U.S. and Europe, back in November, but it's continuing to expand availability of the range -- announcing that its flagship Lumia 920 and the slightly more mid-range Lumia 820 will go on sale in India, tomorrow in "select retail stores across major cities".Birchbox Rebrands In The UK, Hopes To Take A Little Shine Off Glossybox And Other Beauty Box Rivals
Jan 10, 9:45AM
If you're familiar with Birchbox -- the subscription service that delivers boxes of cosmetics and beauty products to your doorstep -- you know that the New York City-based startup has taken off in the U.S. since launching in September 2010. The service, which was initially targeted only at women and beauty product-centric, has begun to expand its scope into new verticals, launching a subscription service for men (grooming kits) and moving into entertaining and design.Help Is At Hand As Telefonica Makes Its First Wayra-Incubated Investment: Taskhub, A TaskRabbit For Volunteers (And Making Money)
Jan 10, 9:00AM
Telefonica has been operating a series of Wayra Academies to seed fund and mentor startups in Latin America and Europe since April 2011; and, in a signal of how Telefonica hopes to tap into that talent in the future, today the carrier has made its first-ever follow on investment on one of those business. Taskhub, a job/errand outsourcing service similar to TaskRabbit, but different in that it lets people volunteer for free as well as take paid jobs, has taken a six-figure sum from Telefonica Digital, along with a commitment to integrate Taskhub into its own location-based mobile business later this year, giving Taskhub a window to 22 million users in the UK alone, and over 300 million worldwide.Alibaba CEO Jack Ma Announces Restructuring As The Chinese E-Commerce Giant Moves Farther Away From Yahoo
Jan 10, 8:23AM
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is embarking on a major reorganization of its business structure that will divide the company into 25 different units, each led by a general manager, said CEO Jack Ma in a company-wide email published by Sina News (link via Google Translate, h/t 36Kr). The move is the latest in several the company has made to grab greater control over its future after an often tense partnership with Yahoo. Back in July Ma announced a prior restructuring that split the company into seven groups, amid concerns that Alibaba had prioritized growth over scrutinizing the quality of its online vendors and suffered from poor communication between its divisions.Paragraph Shorts Helps Readers Discover Great Short Stories Enriched With iPad-Friendly Media
Jan 10, 8:00AM
Most of you probably have lots of distractions and relatively little free time, so short stories could be a great way to get some fiction into your life — they're more manageable, anyway, than a big doorstopper novel. That's an idea that I see again and again when people talk about the current state of short fiction. And yet ... when was the last time you actually read a short story? We certainly haven't seen anything like a big resurgence of interest in the form. Ziv Navoth, founder and CEO of a startup called Paragraph, is hoping to change that with a new iPad magazine called Paragraph Shorts, which aggregates short stories from publications like The Paris Review, The New Yorker, The Moth, and The Guardian. The stories are hand-picked by the Paragraph team, with added images, audio, and video, as well as social networking features.Three Major U.S. Carriers Will Support BlackBerry 10 Devices, Which Will Be Made Available At Multiple Price Points
Jan 10, 6:26AM
Research In Motion has said that it plans to release a wide range of BlackBerry 10 devices that will hit low, middle and high price points in order to capture more of the smartphone market. In addition, three major U.S. mobile carriers -- Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile -- say they will support BlackBerry 10 products.Foxconn Confirms Bribery Investigation After Chinese Authorities Detain Employee
Jan 10, 5:26AM
Foxconn, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing giant that works with companies like Apple, Samsung, and Sony, has confirmed that it is being investigated on charges of bribery by Chinese authorities. At least one of the Foxconn's employees has been detained after being accused of accepting bribes from suppliers.Apple Locks App Screenshots To Ward Off Scammers
Jan 10, 4:59AM
Apple has announced that app screenshots will be locked in iTunes Connect once an app is approved. New screenshots can only be added when developers submit a binary for an updated to an existing or new app.It's Official: The Final Countdown To Arrested Development's Netflix Premiere Has Started
Jan 10, 4:27AM
Glory be! After seven long and miserable years without a new Arrested Development episode, Netflix has confirmed on Twitter that the cult comedy series will be back for 14 episodes on the video-streaming platform in May.Qualcomm Totally Gets Mobile
Jan 10, 2:14AM
It is sad that no one who reports on technology has the balls to straight up pull a Hunter S. Thompson at CES. I mean peel away from the PR stunts and parties and just do mushrooms and walk around the iLounge or that crazy room with the 4K HDTV screens, or that weird fluorescent light tunnel with all the cars.Median Angel Deal Size Rises As Startups Look For More Runway Amid A Series A Bottleneck
Jan 10, 2:13AM
The median size of angel deals rose to $640,000 in the third quarter of last year — a five-quarter high — as startups looked for more runway amid a bottleneck for Series A rounds. Silicon Valley Bank partnered with data company CB Insights and the Angel Resource Institute to survey different angel groups about activity in the fall of last year. The report didn’t provide any data on the overall volume on angel investments, but it did have information on average round sizes and valuations. Early-stage valuations remained stable with the average at around a $2.6 million pre-money valuation (or before investors put in capital). There are a couple reasons that angel round sizes got bumped up late last year, said Carrie Merritt, who heads public relations for Silicon Valley Bank. One is that there are more health care and enterprise deals, which are more capital intensive. Another reason is that founders and angels are realizing that they need more financial runway if there is a bottleneck at the Series A level. (An earlier report based on CB Insights data showed that while the number of seed and angel deals has exploded, the number of Series A deals has remained consistent.) If early-stage companies get a bit more breathing room, they can also hit certain distribution and sales milestones (on top of product ones), which could make Series A terms more favorable to the founders and early backers. At the same time, Merritt said that super angel or seed venture funds are “encroaching” on traditional angel territory. Another trend Silicon Valley Bank pointed out was that syndications declined in the third quarter. They don’t really know why this is happening, however. Unsurprisingly, investments in mobile-related startups jumped up. They also said that 10 percent of angel group deals are structured with convertible debt. One reason founders and early angels might favor convertible debt is that it puts off actually pricing a round until later when a more experienced VC firm might come in. Since Silicon Valley Bank hasn’t tracked this trend longer-term; they don’t quite know how it’s developing over the long-term.Marvell Co-Founder Weilli Dai On The Chip Tech That Powers The New Gadget Hotness
Jan 10, 2:09AM
The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is where companies show off the latest and greatest in gadgets -- but with all the sleek exteriors and specs it can be easy to forget about the tiny bits and pieces of technology that really make the magic happen. So it was nice to talk to Weilli Dai, a co-founder of Marvell Technology...Everything You Wish You Could See At Samsung's Massive CES Booth
Jan 10, 12:54AM
Samsung is known around these here parts as the Fifth Horseman. The company has risen from a boring mega-conglomerate to Apple's biggest competitor, the world leader in TVs, and one of the most crucial manufacturers in the world. The proof of this is in the pudding, or rather the $1 million booth the company has set up to dominate CES. This booth is rivaled only by Sony's, and I'd venture to say that of the 1.9 million square feet that makes up CES, Samsung has the largest individual share. And if that weren't enough, the Korean company's name is on the lips of every analyst, buyer, vendor, exhibitor, and reporter across the entire Las Vegas Convention Center.Facebook Obscures User Counts Of Apps On Its Platform But Starts Reporting App Rankings
Jan 09, 11:47PM
To prevent people thinking Facebook apps are losing users when there are bugs in the user count data it reports to services like AppData, starting January 16th Facebook will only report user counts in much broader bands instead of to the nearest 100,000. However, it will start reporting App Center rankings. The change follows a disastrous misinterpretation of Instagram data over the holidays.Boxee Is The Poster Child Of A Lean Startup: They Just Happen To Ship Hardware
Jan 09, 11:27PM
Boxee launched the Boxee TV shortly before Christmas. At 3,000 Walmart stores. And a major feature is still in beta. Boxee is the poster child of a lean startup -- they just happen to ship hardware.Hands-On With Sifteo Cubes: High-Tech Games Built Into Classic Building Block Shapes
Jan 09, 10:59PM
Kids these days have it so much better than we all did, am I right? Better clothes, funner food, cooler hair, and amazing tech-enabled games. Reinforcing that last example is Sifteo, a San Francisco startup that has built an especially unique interactive gaming platform aimed at age 7 and upFCC Announces Plan To Help Conference Wi-Fi Actually Work
Jan 09, 10:06PM
The government wants to help ensure that conference Internet Wi-Fi actually works. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced a new plan to open up a portion of the wireless spectrum for faster and more reliable Wi-Fi devices. Specifically, the FCC will work to open up the unlicensed slice of 5 Mhz spectrum to make way for gigabit Internet devices, "to relieve Wi-Fi congestion at conferences, at airports, and in people's homes," said Genachowski on stage at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).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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