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California Starts Sending Big Bills To Startup Investors For $120 Million In New Retroactive Taxes
Jan 30, 7:02PM
Many entrepreneurs, investors, and early employees in startups in the state of California are now starting to receive big bills in the mail for back taxes that they never expected to owe. That's because in late December, when many of us were heading out for the holiday break, the state's Franchise Tax Board eliminated a deduction that had been available since 1993 to people who made money from selling stock in California-based small businesses, as long as they reinvested their gains in other small businesses in the state.Google Forms Gets A Refresh, Adds Collaboration And Smarter Editing Features
Jan 30, 6:43PM
Google Forms just got a nice little refresh and now allows you to build questionnaires and collect the data in a Google Drive spreadsheet a bit easier. The new version of Forms now allows you to collaborate with others while building your questionnaires and surveys, a feature that has long been standard across the rest of the Google Docs/Drive suite. In addition, Google also added a few new editing features to the service.Dropbox Launches Instant File Previews And Virtual Photo Album Sharing
Jan 30, 6:29PM
Today Dropbox launched the ability to instantly preview any file you've saved so you don't have to download it to know what it is. It also launched a photos tab for the web to make it easy to view and share photos you've uploaded. Product Manager Chris Beckmann explained "Both are related to a shift that we're seeing thats underway at Dropbox from thinking about things as files to thinking about things as users' content."Nokia Starts Rolling Out Windows Phone 7.8 To Lumia Owners, Will Continue Over The Coming Weeks
Jan 30, 6:24PM
Nokia has announced via its Conversations blog that the long-awaited Windows Phone 7.8 update, which brings a few of the features from Windows Phone 8 to older hardware, has begun rolling out to owners of Nokia 510, 610, 710, 800 and 900 owners and will continue to do so over the next few weeks through February, pending operator approval.Yesterday Alicia Keys Was An iPhone Addict, Today She's BlackBerry's Global Creative Director
Jan 30, 6:08PM
It wouldn't be a BlackBerry press event without something totally unexpected and semi-weird thrown in the mix. Today, at BlackBerry's media conference revealing BlackBerry 10, the company appointed Alicia Keys as the new Global Creative Director. Her first act as GCD was to talk about how much she loves BlackBerry 10 at today's media conference. Her other responsibilities are somewhat unclear -- just like will.i.am's role at Intel.Uber Comes To Asia, Starts Trials In Singapore
Jan 30, 6:05PM
Uber has brought its premium taxi calling app to Singapore—the first country in Asia to get it. The company has been trialing its service here for the past week. According to users who have tried it out here, it runs Mercedes Benz S-Class sedans, setting it above the usual smaller Toyota cabs that the dominant service, ComfortDelGro runs. Of course, it charges a premium for the luxury, and fares are about 50 percent more costly than the regular cab, going for about $5 as a base charge and costing $10 as a minimum fare on top of that. Here’s the price list for Singapore. The company is planning its official launch in the island state around late February, and has started hiring a small base of local staff. It was speculated that Uber would choose Tokyo for its Asian debut, since its founder, Travis Kalanick, had visited the land of the rising sun to explore the option. Hong Kong may also be next; Uber has hired someone on the ground there. Uber has had its fair share of run-ins with the law in the US. Since its launch in 2010, Kalanick has been served with cease-and-desist letters from the California Public Utility Commission and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. He got one in Boston as well, got sued in Chicago, and faced blocks in Washington D.C.. In Singapore, taxi drivers are regulated by the government, so an individual cab driver that isn't tied to any of the cab companies still needs a taxi license. Uber might circumvent this rule and not have to register itself as a taxi company here by claiming its cabs can't be flagged on the road, and are private to those hailing them via their smartphones. But since Kalanick isn't new to lawsuits, the company looks like it's taking its typical "launch first, ask questions later" approach to the market. He plans to be in Singapore late February to launch the service officially.The BlackBerry Q10 Is A Curious Blend Of Old And New
Jan 30, 6:01PM
You know, for a company that made its mark thanks to devices with physical QWERTY keyboards, BlackBerry really didn't spend much time chatting about the Q10. It's going to hit the street well after the all-touch Z10 does so it's an understandable move, but I've heard many a person begrudgingly stick with an ailing BlackBerry because of its top-notch keyboard. Thankfully, I managed to corner a Q10 for a little hands-on time, and its keyboard is just as good as ever -- the big question is, how's the rest of it?Lyft Strikes Deal With California Regulator To Remove Fines, Expands Its Ride-Sharing Service To LA
Jan 30, 6:00PM
There's a ton of good news today for Lyft. The company has struck a deal with the California Public Utilities Commission that will remove fines and allow it to continue operating in the state. It also announced plans this morning to expand its service to Los Angeles. The move into L.A. marks the first expansion market for Lyft, which became available to riders in San Francisco last summer.As It Moves Beyond Rentals To Become An Academic Hub, Chegg Brings 2.5M Textbook Solutions To iOS
Jan 30, 5:53PM
Chegg has long been known as a textbook company, becoming one of the first companies to bring textbook rental online and reach widespread adoption. But with Amazon, Apple and others moving aggressively into the textbook market -- and the market and textbooks themselves increasingly going digital -- Chegg has been re-positioning. Today, the textbook company is eying EdTech's Holy Grail of becoming the OS for students (or in their words, the student's academic hub), a big change for a company that launched behind the Textbookflix.com URL back in 2005.Microsoft Announces Git Support For Visual Studio, Team Foundation Server And Service
Jan 30, 5:30PM
Microsoft just made a major announcement that will likely take many developers by surprise. At the ALM Summit in Redmond, WA this morning, Microsoft Brian Harry just announced that its Team Foundation Server and hosted Team Foundation Service (TFS), as well as the complete Visual Studio 2012 suite (through a plugin the company is releasing today) will offer support for Git, the increasingly popular distributed revision control and source code management system invented by Linux founder Linus Torvalds.BlackBerry Bluetooth Mini Stereo Speaker Gives You A Speakerphone That Goes Anywhere For $79.99
Jan 30, 4:28PM
RIM's accessories are almost as interesting as its first BB10 shipping hardware, and in addition to an external battery charger, they've also got a Bluetooth Speaker/speakerphone that's extremely portable, delivers decent sound and won't cost you an arm and a leg. Plus, the unique design means it clips onto your sun visor in the car for hands-free communication.BlackBerry External Battery Charger Bundle Means The Z10 Can Live Longer Away From Outlets For $49.99
Jan 30, 4:27PM
BlackBerry didn't only unveil the Z10 today, it also introduced a couple of accessories, including the external battery charger for the LS1, the Z10's 1800 mAh battery. The external charger is extremely slim and portable, and houses a covered slot for a spare battery, as well an integrated micro USB cable that slides nicely into the case when not in use.The First BlackBerry 10 Device To Make U.S. Debut In March, Coming To All Four Major Carriers
Jan 30, 4:20PM
We're right in the thick of RIM's big BlackBerry 10 announcement in New York, and it's been nothing if not eventful so far. CEO Thorsten Heins just recently unveiled the new BlackBerry Z10 (full review here) a little while ago, and now the topic of conversation has turned to something else: availability. RIM's first BlackBerry 10-powered device will first appear in the UK and Canada, with sales beginning tomorrow across the pond and Feb. 5 in the Great White North for $149.99 on a 3-year contract.PlayHaven Grabs Google Admob's Mobile Cowboy Yim As COO
Jan 30, 4:06PM
PlayHaven, the gaming service provider that helps studios monetize their players better, just grabbed Google Admob’s Charles Yim as COO. He’ll oversee the company’s international expansion, developer relations and business development. He had a similar role at Google where he managed the ad network’s key relationships with the biggest game developers like Rovio. He joined AdMob on the business development team before the company was acquired for $750 million by Google in 2010. (“Mobile cowboy” is a nickname he got at SXSW a few years ago for wearing cowboy hats and boots all the time.) PlayHaven is a company that’s had nine lives, I mean, pivots. It started as a gamer’s social network that transitioned into making communities for mobile games. Now it focuses on maximizing lifetime revenue from players for developers. It launched a product last year, that implemented an HTML5 layer inside games so developers could automatically swap in and out promotions based on a player’s history or demographics. A “whale” that spends a lot would be shown different adverts than a player who advances in a game without spending anything. That helped the company rack up 4,000 developers on its platform, close an $8 million round of funding in November and grow to about 60 employees. Yim had advised the company through this evolution. “I’ve known the CEO Andy Yang personally and watched the development of the company,” said Yim. “They’ve identified product-market fit, they’re ready to scale and I’ve to come help them out.” PlayHaven’s business has two prongs — an in-app advertising network that reaches about 100 million monthly uniques and a platform of revenue maximization tools. Those tools segment out users based on their spending habits, and help developers understand which ads or promotions to show them. “If you look at the tools in this industry today, it reflects the maturity of this ecosystem,” he said. “We no longer just slapping ads on top of games without much thought about what’s the best point in the game to show an ad, who are the appropriate users to show an ad to or not show an ad to.” They face dozens of competitors that overlap slightly (though not totally) with their mission. Big service providers like Flurry and Tapjoy help developers acquire users, but they’re not necessarily primarily focused on maximizing engagement or retention. Chartboost is another competitor that recently raised $19 million from SequoiaThe Blackberry Z10 Is A Solid First Offering For BB10 Hardware, But The App Gap Looms Large
Jan 30, 3:57PM
BlackBerry''s big day is here, and so is the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone. A company's hopes are resting on this bold (no pun intended) new device, and to some extent, a nation's as well. I've been using the BlackBerry Z10, the flagship BB10 handset, for the past week now, and in that time I've been putting this new smartphone through everything I could think of to throw at it to see if BlackBerry is finally fielding a device that can roll with the big boys.The Keyboard Lives On As BlackBerry Unboxes BB10-Based Touch-Qwerty Hybrid Q10
Jan 30, 3:35PM
The BlackBerry keyboard is dead, long live the BlackBerry keyboard. Despite the full throttle touchscreen focus of its new mobile platform, BlackBerry 10, RIM has not forgotten its most fervent fans' adoration of those little black keys and has thrown them a bone -- or rather a handset. Meet the hybrid BlackBerry Q10.RIM Drops Research In Motion And Rebrands As BlackBerry, Trading As BBRY
Jan 30, 3:32PM
No more RIM-shots allowed if you are among those who like to joke about the trials and tribulations of the Canadian handset manufacturer. Today the company said that it was dropping its Research In Motion name and would from today be known as BlackBerry only. It finally aligns its branding with company name.Google Puts The Nexus 4 Back On Sale In UK, France And Spain
Jan 30, 3:03PM
Google yesterday started to offer the Nexus 4 once again in the Google Play stores in the U.S., Canada and Germany, and today it's started to roll it out to the rest of the markets where it quickly went out of stock last year. Users can now order the devices in the UK, France, SpainLive From RIM's BB10/Z10 Media Event In NYC
Jan 30, 2:35PM
After what feels like years of decline, CEO shakeups, and launch after launch of the same old stuff, RIM is turning a new maple leaf. The Canada-based firm is today unveiling its BB10 operating system, which will determine the future of the company in many ways.Twitch Gets Embedded In Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, Providing Instant Broadcasting Of User Gameplay
Jan 30, 2:00PM
E-sports streaming provider Twitch is getting a huge validation of its platform from one of the biggest video game franchises out there. Today the company is announcing that gamers playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 will soon be able to instantly stream their game sessions online with a single click.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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