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Personalized Magazine App Zite Refines Its New Design, Backtracks From Some Recent Changes
Feb 07, 7:25PM
Zite, the CNN-owned iPhone and and iPad app offering aggregated content that's personalized to your interests, launched a big revamp back in December. In some ways, Zite 2.0 was a success — for one thing, article views per user per day went up 11 percent. On the other hand, co-founder/CTO Mike Klaas and Senior Software Architect Emuye Reynolds told me that there was definitely some pushback from the app's fans, and in fact Zite's star rating in the Apple App Store has dropped. "Anytime you change anything, people are going to be upset," Klaas said. "But I think we underestimated the amount of people who would feel that way."Gabe Newell Describes A Gaming Future Where Your Virtual Investment Follows You Everywhere And Plugs Into A Broad Economy
Feb 07, 7:24PM
Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve, took the stage today at the DICE gaming conference to deliver a keynote, and while he said upfront he wasn't going to be announcing any products, he did give some hints about Valve's future. In his keynote, he outlined in a fair amount of detail how he envisions the future of PC gaming and what it might bring to the living room that traditional consoles can't offer.Olympic Hopefuls On Social Media, The Quantified Self, And Rule 40
Feb 07, 6:40PM
The Winter Olympics are exactly one year away, which is why a team of Winter Olympians (past, present, and future) gathered together in NYC yesterday to ring the closing bell at the Nasdaq. We jumped at the opportunity to speak with a few of them about how technology merges with the athletic realm, specifically the Olympic Games. Keri Herman, a four-time Winter X Games medalist, and Tom Wallisch, gold medalist at the Winter X Games, are both hopeful free skiers looking to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Email Management App Mailbox Goes Live In The App Store, Begins Filling Reservations
Feb 07, 6:00PM
If you're one of those who have been waiting to try Mailbox, your wait could soon be over, as the app is going live in the Apple App Store. While users will be able to download the app, they might not be able to use it right away. In order to scale up gracefully, Mailbox implemented a reservation system, and will be inviting users on a first-come, first-served basis to begin using it.Tapping Into Shifting Buying Habits, ModCloth Launches An iPad App
Feb 07, 5:46PM
Over Christmas, employees at ModCloth, the indie and vintage fashion site founded by a husband and wife team, noticed that about 30 percent of the site’s visits were coming from mobile devices. The staggering shift in consumer habits from desktop devices to smartphones and tablets that caught companies like Facebook off-guard was starting to affect smaller online retailers, too. So ModCloth is coming out with an iPad app today. Now the thing is they don’t think about the iPad or the phone as just another channel for buying clothes that exist in isolation. They think about how all three devices — the PC, the tablet and the smartphone — work together in concert to help customers decide what to buy and when to buy it. So for example, they send out push notifications on new items or ones that are just about to run out of stock. Modcloth customers won’t necessarily buy right away, but they’ll save the items from these push notifications for browsing later. The iPhone is for quickly collecting potentially interesting items to check out later. In contrast, the iPad turns out to be a great device for leisurely browsing. “With retina images, the iPad is just a fantastic and superior way to shop, so we wanted to focus on it first and foremost,” said Sarah Rose, the company’s vice president of product. In it, Modcloth users can zoom in on fabrics and clothing details. “On the phone, our customer doesn’t have much time. She’ll look at the feed of arrivals and put favorites on the wishlist,” Rose said. “On the iPad, she’ll look at the reviews and take a closer look at styling.” The iPad app has some basic sharing features and processes transactions through Braintree and PayPal. Rose didn’t have a breakdown of how many transactions actually came in from the iPad. Before, they just had a mobile-optimized website. Other larger e-commerce companies like Groupon have said that 30 percent of their transactions in North America come from mobile devices. Modcloth has raised about $50 million in venture funding from firms including Norwest Venture Partners, Accel Partners, First Round Capital and Harrison Metal Capital. The company has posted 50 percent year-over-year growth, although they didn’t provide any figures to give sizing on how many transactions or customers they’re seeing per year. They now have about 350 employees.NBC Shutters Hyper-Local News And Information Site EveryBlock After Failing To Find The Right Business Model
Feb 07, 5:43PM
It's not easy trying to make money as a hyper-local network these days (just ask AOL's Patch), but in a surprising move, NBC just announced that it is shutting down EveryBlock, the Knight Foundation-backed news and information site MSNBC acquired in 2009. In an email to Poynter.org, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of NBC News Vivian Schiller wrote that the service "wasn't a strategic fit with our growth strategy and — like most hyperlocal businesses — was struggling with the business model."Happier Launches To Help You Share Your Daily Happy Moments
Feb 07, 5:30PM
iOS app Happier is launching its iPhone app today with the ambitions of, well, making you a happier person. The app is inspired by research that shows that focusing on the positive and sharing good things that happen to you with the people you care about makes you happier. Happier is debuting its iPhone app, which allows you to do this. You can download the app here.Redfin Launches Offer Insights To Show You Real Time Data On Real Estate Bidding Wars
Feb 07, 5:15PM
Online real estate broker Redfin just launched a new feature called Offer Insights, which not only tells you what houses are on the market, but also what the actual purchase process was like for homes its agents sold in a given neighborhood. Because Redfin employs local agents - unlike companies like Zillow, which focus more on lead generation for other brokerages - it has access to a lot more data than some of its competitors, including information about how many deals actually played out. This, argues Redfin, will "help guide buyers and sellers in many different aspects of a real estate transaction, including how to structure a compelling offer, negotiate a deal or price a home."Redbeacon Founder Launches MyTime, A Booking And Ecommerce Platform For Local Services And Open Appointments
Feb 07, 5:00PM
Ethan Anderson, the co-founder of TechCrunch50 winner Redbeacon (which was acquired by Home Depot last year), is debuting his newest venture in Los Angeles today — MyTime. In short, the startup wants to be the go-to destination for appointments for local services.After Doubling Its User Base Over The Last 7 Months, Video Discovery Startup Telly Improves Recommendations With Social Data
Feb 07, 5:00PM
Telly has come a long way since being rebranded. In the seven months since adopting its new moniker, the company formerly known as Twitvid has doubled its user base to 7 million and continues to iterate on its video discovery app. Today it's announcing a new web interface to provide a more lean-back experience, as well as what it hopes will be a better recommendations system.Real-Time Yammer Competitor Hall Launches New Apps For iOS And Mac; Hits 10K Businesses, Double-Digit Growth
Feb 07, 4:33PM
Hall, an AngelPad-backed business communications app which is taking on the likes of Yammer, Jive and Salesforce.com's Chatter, is out now with new native applications for iOS and Mac. The company is also announcing some decent traction, with over 10,000 businesses signed up for the recently revamped service.Backed By Science Inc., Suicide Girls Co-Founder Sean Suhl Goes National With Mobile App Let's Date
Feb 07, 4:25PM
Sean Suhl, the co-creator of the site Suicide Girls (an "alternative community" that's known for its nude photos of tattoed and otherwise alternative women), has a new startup that's launching nationally today — Let's Date. Suhl said the idea came out of his examination of other dating sites. Most of them have mobile apps, but he argued, "You could never create a truly great mobile product that was tied to a legacy computer property." And while there are other mobile-focused companies (most famously Grindr), they're focused more so on hookups rather than dating and relationships. So with Let's Date, Suhl wanted to create "the absolute best iPhone dating experience."Seriously, This Again? New, Aggressive Marketing From Microsoft Warns Gmail Users That Google Reads Their Email
Feb 07, 4:13PM
Hey Microsoft, 2004 called. It wants its privacy outrage debate back. Microsoft is on the rampage lately, aggressively attacking Google on search, shopping, and email, the latter which is now featured on Microsoft's infamous "Scroogled" site where - get this! - Microsoft goes after Gmail because Google reads your email to target you with ads! Seriously.Wikipad Keeps The Dream Alive With A 7-inch, $249 Gaming Tablet
Feb 07, 4:04PM
The Wikipad lives! After several delays, the company is ready to bring its gaming contraption to the market. The final model is different from the concepts, but it's more portable, cheaper and much more slick. I want it. The production Wikipad is slightly different from the early models but the messages is the same. With controls wrapping around a 7-inch screen, the Wikipad attempts to be Android's Game Boy -- it looks more like a Sega Game Gear. The company hasn't announced an exact ship date but it's coming this Spring.T-Mobile Aiming To Be First With BlackBerry Z10 Launch In The U.S. With Mid-March Release
Feb 07, 3:54PM
T-Mobile says that Blackberry's new Z10 smartphone is "more stable than ... anticipated," and could potentially get a faster-than-expected launch on the network. As it stands, the new BB10-based smartphone looks to be on track for a mid-March release, according to statements made by T-Mobile USA Head of Business Sales Frank Sickinger speaking to Bloomberg today. The carrier anticipates it could be the first U.S. carrier "out of the gate" with BB10 as a result, according to the report.Reminder: The New York Disrupt Pitch-Off Is Next Week And We Need You (And Sponsors)
Feb 07, 3:46PM
It's been a few months since our last NYC meet-up and, in an effort to find some of the best startups in New York for Disrupt this year, we're planning a 60-second pitch-off competition. The winner will get free tickets and a spot in Startup Alley at the event. One runner-up gets two free tickets to the event. Disrupt NY is being held on April 27 - May 1, 2013 in Manhattan at Santos Party House.LibreOffice 4.0 Released Just In Time For Office 365 Refugees
Feb 07, 3:33PM
Microsoft Office has long been the dominant office suite. Through the years there have been many contenders rise and fall: WordPerfect, Corel, StarOffice, and too many more to count. Sun Microsystem's StarOffice eventually mutated into OpenOffice, which for a long time was the best alternative to Microsoft's dominance. But when Oracle bought Sun, legions of developers abandoned OpenOffice, and instead threw in with a forked version called LibreOffice. The Document Foundation was established in late 2010 to provide stewardship of the project.Trademarkia Rebrands As LegalForce To Offer Online Legal Services, Opens Retail Location For In-Person Consultations
Feb 07, 3:00PM
Search engine Trademarkia, which launched at TechCrunch50 in 2009, is rebranding as LegalForce to offer a comprehensive legal services platform. The new company is also opening of LegalForce BookFlip, a brick-and-mortar retail store in downtown Palo Alto to provide retail access to licensed U.S. attorneys on a walk-in basis without appointments.Next Xbox Will Reportedly Have Siri-Style Natural Language Input
Feb 07, 2:57PM
One of the most-rumored features of the mythical Apple television set is Siri integration that would allow you to naturally ask questions and issue commands to your TV, but Microsoft may beat Apple to the punch, if a new report from The Verge is accurate. Microsoft already has some voice features built into the current generation Xbox, but the next-gen console will get much-improved abilities including natural language processing powers, the report claims.Diapers.com Is First Amazon-Owned Quidsi Site To Arrive On iPad
Feb 07, 2:45PM
Diapers.com, the Amazon-owned e-commerce site targeting parents with new babies, is today launching a native app on the iPad, after seeing its mobile traffic increase more than 100 percent year-over-year. In December 2012, the company found that 40 percent of the website's visitors came to shop via a smartphone or tablet.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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