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eBay's Comparison Shopping Site Shopping.com Rebrands As Ad Platform eBay Commerce Network
Apr 01, 10:10PM
Comparison shopping network Shopping.com, which was purchased by eBay back in 2005 for $620 million in cash, is officially rebranding as the eBay Commerce Network.Game Of Thrones Season 3 Premieres To Record Ratings, Piracy
Apr 01, 9:48PM
Everyone, it seems, is a Game Of Thrones fan. The fantasy series, which was spawned out of a series of novels by George R. R. Martin and adapted for HBO, just aired its third season premiere last night and a whole bunch of people were watching. The show touted its largest ever live audience during the broadcast, which is good news. The bad news is that it also had more people pirating the show.TechCrunch Is Breaking Into Real-Money Gaming
Apr 01, 8:53PM
Even though the Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey state legislatures just passed laws that pave the way for online gambling in the U.S., Zynga is not going to be the first to get in on it. Given how terrible the economics of running a blog are, TechCrunch has been exploring new revenue streams. They may include, but are not limited to, premium Justin Timberlake-filters on blog posts, Path 3.0-like stickers for Livefyre comments and a new sponsored section about Scientology-related hardware startups. What has been most promising, however, are virtual currencies and real-money gaming. If the hope of real-money gaming has boosted Zynga’s shares by about 15 percent in the last six months, imagine what it can do for AOL’s stock. In that vein, we’re launching a new series of slots and social betting games that let you put real money on the startups you think will get ahead. Think of it as an even easier way to bypass SEC regulations around being an accredited investor. Why bother with the $1,000 minimums of Funders Club or deal with AngelList or SecondMarket, when you can just straight-up gamble your seed capital? Yes, the game on top of this post really works. Seriously, click the spin button. There are real prizes in this, including a ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco (which is worth $1,795). The Tesla Roadster, I’m afraid, is virtual though. But if you do get three Alexias in a row, she could write you a poem and if you get three Anthony Has in a row, he could sing you his infamous rendition of the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.” over Skype. For every three-in-a-row match that readers get, we’ll collect their contact information for a drawing. And one person randomly selected from each pool will win the prize. Special thanks to real-money gaming platform Betable and Murka, a social gaming studio for putting this working game together in literally a week.Biz Stone's New Startup Jelly Sounds Like A Home For Do-Gooders On The Go
Apr 01, 8:51PM
AllThingsD reported last week that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone was working on a new mobile startup called “Jelly.” Today, a company blog post has emerged that gives us a few more details as to what Jelly might focus on, but it’s still hazy on details. In the post, Biz Stone, who is co-founder and CEO of Jelly Industries, Inc., says it will be for “everybody,” and will be mobile focused. Yes, it doesn’t sound like much, but Stone also said that the company is named after the jellyfish, which sheds light on the type of application he might be working on: We are inspired by this particular animal because neurologically, its brain is more "we" than "me." Also, for the past 700 million years, this decentralized structure has been wildly successful. To us, it sounds like Jellyfish might have something to do with social good, or helping others out. By calling out the “we” vs. “me” aspect, it’s clear that Stone won’t be working on another social network that lets you express yourself in 140 characters, set up a bio or otherwise peacock about how amazing you are and why you’re interesting, all over the Internet. Doing “good” is another ballgame, though. You might be a generous person trying to change the world for the better, but can you prove it? Jelly sounds to us like a way to connect you to social causes and show off your contributions. The Twitter co-founder explained that “People are basically good—when provided a tool that helps them do good in the world, they prove it.” The service will be free, but won’t be available for “a while.” Additionally, Stone says that Jelly will be taking up a good part of his time, save for some of his advisory roles at companies like Branch and Fluther. Jelly is self-funded and based in San Francisco. Much like Ev Williams’ publishing service Medium, Stone is in no hurry to become a big company he says. There aren’t many central homes for philanthropy and volunteering on the web other than a site like Causes, which piggybacked Facebook’s success and open graph. The site never took off as a standalone service, lacking helpful discovery tools to connect you with causes that you might care about. For the most part, you donate here, sign a petition there, but there’s no scorecard. If you had a public-facing profile highlighting yourQueueing Theory Lets Any App Offer A Mailbox-Like Reservation System (Even If It's Just For Building Buzz)
Apr 01, 8:32PM
Ever since Google announced that access to its then new email application Gmail would be invite-only at first, startup founders have been angling to reproduce that same kind of fervor for their own services. But it wasn’t until the new iOS app Mailbox launched its innovative “reservation system” that we’ve seen anything come close to replicating the same level of demand that Gmail saw back in the day. And now, a new San Francisco-based company known as Queueing Theory wants to bring a Mailbox-like reservation system to any startup – especially those targeting mobile users. Mailbox, which was recently acquired by Dropbox, generated interest in its application by first collecting sign-ups at a dedicated URL. Users were given a reservation number via SMS, which marked their place in line, as well as a Private Code to unlock the app once it became available in the App Store. Though the company claimed that using reservations helped it with the strain on its servers, the system had another side effect as well – it made the buzzy new app feel like an exclusive club which only the coolest early adopters could access. Now other applications, like newly launched “smart calendar” Tempo, are utilizing similar systems – in Tempo’s case, it’s claiming that their efforts require “significant up-front email processing,” necessitating a reservation system of its own. But why limit this feature only to email or calendaring apps? As any startup founder can tell you, getting hit by a heavy load of users can tank your servers quickly, leading to a poor user experience. That’s where Queueing Theory comes in. It will introduce a Mailbox-like reservation system designed with the needs of mobile app developers in mind. Though the system has a web interface, it’s being targeted specifically at those who want to launch in the Apple App Store (and soon, on Android, too) before actually having the server capacity to support sign-ups from the general public. Instead, users can sign up for their spot directly from the app, or from the startup’s homepage. After providing their email address, users are given a spot in line, which is sent via SMS and appears upon subsequent app launches. Where the company’s system varies from what Mailbox introduced, however, is that it’s building out a whole social network just for signing up for new App Store apps which are live, but only for “special” users. Startups canFormer Wired Editor Thomas Goetz Takes EIR Role At Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Apr 01, 7:31PM
Thomas Goetz, the former executive editor at Wired Magazine who stepped down after more than a decade at the trailblazing tech publication late last year (weeks after the departure of longtime Wired chief editor Chris Anderson), will announce today that he has taken on two new roles -- keeping one foot in journalism, and one foot out the door. Goetz will assume an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) role at the health-focused philanthropic organization Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He'll also be joining the TheAtlantic.com as a blog correspondent focused on "big ideas in technology and healthcare." His first post for the Atlantic went up today.The GPS-Enabled DJI Phantom Quadcopter Makes The AR.Drone Look Like A Toy
Apr 01, 5:56PM
Back in 2010, our own John Biggs rightly described Parrot’s AR.Drone as ” the coolest thing [he had] seen in a long, long time.” Since then, Parrot has launched the AR.Drone 2.0 and while it’s still a very cool gadget, quadcopters have come a very long way since 2010. Last month, the folks at DJI, who mostly specialize in developing unmanned aerial systems for commercial use, sent me one of their consumer-oriented and GPS-enabled DJI Phantoms to review. Most quadcopters are aimed at hobbyists and take a good amount of assembly and at least some experience with flying remote-controlled aircraft. The Phantom, which has a list price of $849 but currently retails for about $680, comes mostly pre-assembled and is extremely easy to fly, thanks to its built-in compass and GPS module. Thanks to having GPS built-in, the drone always knows where it is in relation to you. So depending on the mode you are flying in, every input you give will always be interpreted in relation to you and not in relation to where the front of the aircraft is (here’s a video that explains how this works). The other cool thing about the GPS mode is that the drone can hover in position even if it’s windy. It’ll just auto-correct for the wind, thanks to its built-in autopilot (you probably want to turn this mode off when you are trying to take a video, however, as the constant corrections will show up in your videos). This autopilot also kicks in if the Phantom loses its connection with you remote control if it flies out of reach or your remote runs out of battery, the drone itself is very low on battery, or because you turn it off to see if the autopilot actually works. Once the failsafe mode kicks in, the drone will simply fly up to 60 feet, fly back to where it first took off and land. I actually tried this and it worked surprisingly well. The drone touched down just about 3 feet from where I launched it. When you spent $700 on the drone and another $300 or so on a GoPro 3 Silver, that’s a nice feature to have. The Phantom is a clear step up from something like the AR.Drone. Its communication distance is just under 1,000 feet and a maximum horizontal speed of about 32 feet per second and a descent speedFacebook Phone Leak Points To Budget HTC Device, Homescreen App For All Androids
Apr 01, 5:53PM
Facebook's new "Home" on Android will debut on a mediocre HTC handset codenamed "Myst" but will be available on standard Android phones, according to an autopsy of a leaked developer build of the Facebook "phone" software scored by Android Police. This aligns with our scoop and predictions from last week about what Facebook will launch at its big press event on Thursday.Drones Will Deliver The Morning Paper In France
Apr 01, 5:13PM
Pimply delivery boys will need to find a new way to make money in France: the province of Auvergne will pilot a drone newspaper delivery service in May. The official postal service, La Poste Group, has already been beta-testing the automated delivery service with 20 hornet-looking unmanned aerial vehicles. This is not an April Fool's joke.Flurry's Latest Calls Phablets A Fad – Devices Don't Show Disproportionally High Enough Usage To Justify Developer Support
Apr 01, 4:56PM
Flurry, an app analytics firm with a presence on some now 1 billion mobile devices, has taken another deep dive into its large data set to examine the increasingly fragmented selection of hardware form factors on the market today, in an effort to better understand consumer preferences. The report concludes that people most prefer and use apps on medium-sized smartphones, like those in the Samsung Galaxy line, and full-sized tablets like the iPad. "Phablets," meanwhile, Flurry dubs a "fad," saying that they don't show significant, or even disproportionally significant, app usage.Famo.us, The Framework For Fast And Beautiful HTML5 Apps, Will Be Free Thanks To "Huge Hardware Vendor Interest"
Apr 01, 4:03PM
Famo.us, the Javascript framework that's designed for building crazy rich (yet still fast) interfaces in pure HTML5, is making two announcements out of the HTML5 Developer Conference in San Francisco this morning: the framework will be free to developers thanks to a few "huge hardware vendors" taking interest, and it's getting a physics engine.Now With 3 Million New Users, Google Reader's Heir Apparent Feedly Relaunches On iOS & Android, Reveals How It Plans To Make Money
Apr 01, 4:00PM
Feedly, the RSS feed-reading client which is rapidly becoming the one to beat following the planned Google Reader shutdown, is today launching new versions of its Feedly Mobile client for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android phones and tablets. This update, built in response to user feedback, is focused on improving search, productivity, discovery, and sharing. But the feature which is likely to appeal to ex-Google Reader users the most is the new "title only" mode, designed to make headline scanning more efficient.500 Startups-Backed Food Delivery Startup Chewse Raises $1 Million From Chris Sacca And Others
Apr 01, 4:00PM
There are all sorts of startups looking to make life easier, including a whole bunch trying to make ordering lunch a no-brainer. Chewse is the newest entrant into the food delivery game, as it seeks to provide office admins a new, easy way to get lunch catered. To do so, the company has raised $1 million in seed funding from a group of investors that include Chris Sacca and 500 Startups.Percolate Partners With Getty Images And Aviary To Help Companies Create And Share Images
Apr 01, 3:42PM
Percolate, a startup that helps clients create and share content, is taking a big step in what co-founder James Gross calls the company's "visual strategy." Obviously, images are a big part of what businesses want to share on social media. And they could do that sharing through Percolate already, but the service didn't include many significant features to make the process easier. That's changing today, with the launch of integrations with Getty Images and Aviary.Aereo Scores A Big Victory In Court As TV Network Appeal Of Earlier Decision Rejected
Apr 01, 3:30PM
Aereo, the streaming TV startup based out of NYC, has just scored a significant win in its ongoing court battles thanks to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today. The Court rejected an appeal from a group of TV networks against an earlier decision claiming that Aereo did not in fact infringe upon broadcaster copyrights.Steam Gauge Gauges The Size/Price Of Your Steam
Apr 01, 3:17PM
The value of my Steam account is $492.65, and the sum of it requires 155.02 GB of space storage space. Awesome. And my Dad said I would never do anything worthwhile. Steam Gauge is the product of Hacker News user jprusik and is worth several minutes of your time. It pulls data from public steam accounts through the Steam Web API and aggregates everything into a sortable and exportable list. You can even share the data on Twitter and Google Plus. And since it pulls public accounts, you can check up on your buddies' obsession, too.Mailbird, A Sparrow-Like Client For Windows, Is Making Email A Platform, Not Just An Application
Apr 01, 2:39PM
Mailbird, a very Sparrow-like email client for Windows users, is launching into beta this week with plans to take its email desktop app beyond where Sparrow left off before being acquired by Google last July. The similarity between the two clients is striking, but co-founder and CEO Andrea Loubier insists that Mailbird isn't copying Sparrow - it's using that mail client's look-and-feel for inspirational purposes only. And those similarities are only skin deep.YouTube Co-Founder Teases Upcoming Video Site MixBit, A Destination For Collaborative Video Creation
Apr 01, 2:24PM
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley used an April Fools' joke to promote his upcoming new product, a video-focused site called MixBit that emphasizes collaborative video creation, rather than trying to compete with YouTube for a viewing audience. Very little has been revealed about MixBit as of yet, beyond the landing page which allows people to sign up for notifications about its upcoming launch, but in an SXSW Q&A Hurley revealed some information.Apple's iWatch Is Actually Just A Wrist Band That Attaches To Your iPhone, iPad
Apr 01, 2:20PM
The much-rumored Apple iWatch isn't as exciting as you might have thought. We've heard rumors of flexible displays and Siri integration, but it appears that Apple's iWatch is actually just a band meant to connect with the Apple device of your choice.April Fools 2013: The Ultimate Round-Up
Apr 01, 2:00PM
Happy April First, errybody! Yes, that's right, we've reached that special, inimitable time of year. April Fools Day 2013. At TechCrunch, we have a long history of taking April Fools seriously. Deadly, deadly seriously. So, we've taken it upon ourselves to create a master list (which will be updated throughout the day) with the best tomfoolery, pranks, WTFs and LOLs the Internet and the tech industry have to offer.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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