Hi there!
Here's the latest feed from TechCrunch.
Add feeds@feed2email.net to your contact list to make sure you receive all your emails
Make sure to visit feed2email.net to get more feeds sent to your inbox.
To find out which feeds you are subscribed to, or to get further help, just reply to this email.
Napster.fm Is An Open Source Social Music Player That Can Be Hosted By Anyone In Case Of Shutdown
Apr 14, 9:30PM
Anyone who has had a computer and a connection to the Internet in 1999 quickly knew what it felt like to find any song that you wanted, and then listen to it almost immediately. Well, the immediate part wasn’t true, since you had to download the MP3s, which usually took quite a bit of time on a dialup connection. Since Napster, and it getting sued into oblivion (and then acquired for bits and pieces by Best Buy), streaming music has become the technology du-jour. Napster co-founder Sean Parker is now heavily involved with Spotify, which realized the “any song, any time” dream that Napster introduced us to. Today, a service called Napster.fm popped up, and it’s a web-based music player that has some interesting social features. The best part about it is that it’s open source and can be set up by anyone, in case it ever gets shut down. Its creator, Ryan Lester, is a student at Carnegie Mellon who is “taking a few years off to work at SpaceX and do other stuff.” A part of the “other stuff” is clearly Napster.fm. How does it work? Well, after going through the quite FAQ (Lester obviously has a sense of humor), he explains that the service is dependent on “minor inefficiencies in YouTube’s piracy-detection system.” Regardless of where the tracks are coming from, the service actually works. As soon as you visit the site, the song that’s queued up for you is “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which is long-forgotten-once-hated “RickRoll.” The search interface is pretty basic, but once you start adding songs to your playlist, you can share them with friends who have also signed up for the service. Once you’ve done that, you can sync up and listen to exactly what they’re listening to. The “Discovery” tab shows you what everyone has listened to, if you’re in the mood to find something new. You can even create a group of friends that are using the service and someone can play DJ and decide on which tracks will come up next. Sure, these are some of the things that you can do on other services, like Turntable.fm, but the Napster.fm interface is stripped down and basic, not sucking up a lot of resources. The other nice part is that there isn’t a desktop client to worry about, as is the case with Spotify. What you’re listening to willJomi's Smart Water Bottle Sleeve-Plus-App Wants To Track & Chart Your Liquid Intake To Make You Drink More
Apr 14, 9:00PM
Move over HAPIfork. Estonian startup Jomi Interactive is cooking up a pair of smart devices that will remind people to drink more water. Or at least whatever liquid/poison of choice you put in your water bottle. The aim, says the startup, is to encourage healthy behaviour and counteract the mild dehydration we are all apparently afflicted with.CodeNow Brings Its Programming Class For Underrepresented Teens To NYC
Apr 14, 8:00PM
CodeNow, a nonprofit program that teaches coding basics to high schoolers (with an emphasis on reaching girls, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups), is in the middle of a significant expansion. After launching in Washington, DC in 2011, the program has now launched in New York City and is currently holding training sessions with its first NYC group. In a few months, it's going to select participants in its first fellowship program, which will take place over the summer. And later this year it plans to launch in San Francisco.Report: To Settle With EU Regulators, Google Proposes To Link To 3 Competitors Every Time It Links To Itself
Apr 14, 6:30PM
Google’s search results in Europe could soon look a bit different if a number of new reports about the company’s settlement with the European Union’s competition commission are correct. After a three-year investigation into its potentially anti-competitive practices, Google submitted its proposal for an agreement with the EU last week, but the details remained under wraps. According to reports from the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, however, Google’s proposal includes a number of changes to how it will do business (at least in the EU). According to these reports, Google has offered to “make users clearly aware” when it is linking to its own specialized services and vertical search engines. Every time Google promotes one of its own links, it will also show “at least three links to rival, non-Google sites that have information relevant to a user’s query,” the Wall Street Journal’s Amir Efrati reports. So whenever a search on Google would naturally highlight a result from Google+ Local, Google would also add links to sites like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, TripAdvisor or other relevant sites. This part of the agreement would at least cover Google’s search services for restaurants, finance and shopping. Results from Google News, the Financial Times says, would “merely need to be labelled and separated.” Under this proposed settlement, Google will also offer sites the ability to easily remove 10 percent of their content from its vertical search engines (though it’s not clear how this would actually work) and make it easier for advertisers to move their campaigns to other search engines (similar to what Google is doing in the U.S. after its settlement with the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year). Google’s search algorithm itself would remain untouched in this agreement. If the EU agrees to these terms, Google will avoid the large financial penalties that the EU could have levied against the search company. The proposal, if the reports are correct, would be binding for five years, and a neutral third party would ensure that Google doesn’t stray from the agreement. Google competitors, whose official complaint started this investigation, were probably hoping for larger changes, and fines will probably not be in favor of these relatively small changes Google is offering to make. Last week, FairSearch.org already filed another complaint against Google in the EU. This time, the organization, which is backed by Microsoft, Expedia, Oracle, TripAdvisor and 13 other search and technology companies,The VC World Returns to Its Operating Roots
Apr 14, 6:00PM
"You can't go into Compton to rehabilitate gang members if you haven't been a Crip." -- Ben Horowitz, co-founder of fast-rising venture outfit Andreessen Horowitz. Twenty years ago, the typical VC looked like a traditional banker, complete with an MBA and a background in finance. But a Wall Street background is becoming increasingly rare on Sand Hill Rd. The most coveted VCs are people who have built and scaled businesses, and who are deep in a particular domain. Why the shift?Iterations: How Five Real Economists Think About Bitcoin's Future
Apr 14, 5:00PM
There isn't just a bubble in the Bitcoin economy, there's a bubble in the number of posts about Bitcoin. I'll pile on, even after this week's mini-crash, but with a twist. A few weeks ago, I wrote some brief notes on what I thought about Bitcoin, but the over-arching feeling I had was that I couldn't put my finger on what could become of this currency in the future. Perhaps that's part of the reason this phenomenon is so fascinating to us all.Facebook Home And The Promise Of Android
Apr 14, 4:00PM
If you're an iPhone user, you might be feeling a little left behind, because Facebook launched an application called Facebook Home, touted by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the "next version of Facebook." In fact, you might be feeling this way if you're an Android user, too. For now, only a handful of select devices can even run Home (officially) -- notably missing from the lineup is Google's Nexus 4, the latest in the lineup of Nexus-branded flagship Android phones -- devices that users adopt in particular to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new app releases.As Berlin Awaits Its Big Tech Exit, Satirical Tumblr Blogs Spawn About The Hype
Apr 14, 2:25PM
The hype about the Berlin tech startup scene has continued this year, but as 2013 ebbs into spring, many are asking the same question: When will the hype turn into real results? As many of my contacts said to me on a recent visit: what we need in Berlin for all this hype to be real is a big exit. The most recent evidence that Berlin is capable of producing a decent startup exit is the sale of streaming music tech company Aupeo to Panasonic Automotive, although the financial terms remain a mystery.Exit Q&A - Demotix Founder Turi Munthe Gives His Advice On How To Build A Startup
Apr 14, 1:50PM
Back in November last year image giant Corbis acquired Demotix, the crowd-sourced breaking news picture and video agency which had launched in 2008. We present for you a lighting fast 'exit Q&A' with founder and former CEO Turi Munthe, who has since left to pursue new projects.Programmer Creates An AI To (Not Quite) Beat NES Games
Apr 14, 1:43PM
Programmer and CMU PhD Tom Murphy created a function to "beat" NES games by watching the score. When the computer did things that raised the score it would learn how to reproduce them again in again, resulting, ultimately, in what amounts to a Super Mario Brothers-playing robot. The program, called a "technique for automating NES games," can take on nearly every NES game but it doesn't always win.Songza Raised $3.8M According To SEC Filing, Amazon Still In The Frame As An Investor
Apr 14, 1:23PM
Songza, a free streaming music service that has expert-made playlists and runs on the web and various touch screen platforms, raised $3.8 million according to a SEC filing. While Amazon has long been an "unconfirmed" investor listed on AngelList, it parlayed its investment in the earlier Aime St vehicle into Songza. In late 2011 the startup closed what was reportedly a 'seven-figure' round of financing led by investors including Deep Fork Capital as well as an "undisclosed strategic investor". Also participating in the round was Geoff Judge, co-founder of 24/7 Real Media.Knights Of Glory Claims To Be The First Arabic MMO To Launch On The iPhone
Apr 14, 12:35PM
While world of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games has ballooned in the last few years, the content available to people who'd rather not play a character from Western-inspired troops beating the crap out of some vague Eastern enemy has been somewhat limited. Culture is important, right? Which is why 'Knights of Glory' - a sort of 'Arabian Knights' inspired MMO where warring Sultans of old wage war against each other with their medieval-era armies - has been gathering pace as the only fully Arabic browser-based MMO. Think in terms of a sort of World of Warcraft for the Arab-speaking world. Today sees the release the iPhone version of Knights of Glory, after its approval on Apple's App Store, and the company claims this is the first Arabic MMO on the App Store.Bringing Down The Mexican Tech Mafia: How Hackers Stopped A $9.3 Million Fraud
Apr 14, 10:00AM
Editor's note: Maria Rocio Paniagua currently works at Flit, a PR firm that helps products, projects and events launch in Mexico. "When the geeks go marching in, good stuff can happen, but if everyone joins in, real change can take place." That's what the hackers and team behind Codeando México, a civil innovation platform where government and organizations publish projects, thought when they launched the #app115 challenge, an app competition that aimed to prove that great code can be very inexpensive if motivated by the right reasons.Backed Or Whacked: Get Together With The Band
Apr 14, 4:00AM
Editor's note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Each column will look at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals. Last week, Backed or Whacked look at a trio of wristbands that can hold a buck, make a bun and prevent a burn all without any assistance from a successful mobile app platform. But as a host of digital fitness products has shown, the usually limited interfaces of fashion accessories can be boosted byNow That We Have All These Devices, It's Time For Them To Truly Work Together
Apr 14, 2:00AM
Cross-platform is the buzzword of all the big tech companies now. Every Google earnings call, like clockwork, CEO Larry Page lately dedicates considerable time upfront to talking about how the search giant is focusing on making sure users have a seamless experience and equal access to services as they switch between devices. In general, that's already a reality if you know where to look. But there's so much more potential.The eBay Class Of 2000-2005: Where They Are Now And Why We Should Care
Apr 14, 1:00AM
Editor's note: Sergio Monsalve is a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners where he is focused on early and growth investments in e-commerce, consumerized SaaS, consumer finance, and educational technologies. As a venture capital investor, I look for disruptive companies with breakthrough technologies, and -- most importantly -- I look for highly talented teams. In the e-commerce space, I keep coming back to the talent that came out of eBay during the 2000-2005 time period to find the best leaders that are now creating the next generation of successful companies (both early and late stage). I was a part of eBay's New Ventures and Category Management team during this time and worked closely with a stellar group of early e-commerce pioneers. This was a particularly important and successful time for eBay for a variety of reasons, especially when it comes to high-caliber talent acquisition.Bitcoin Miners Are Racking Up $150,000 A Day In Power Consumption Alone
Apr 14, 12:31AM
There's a gold rush going on these days, or a Bitcoin rush, at least. Driven by the recent swings in the value of a Bitcoin, more and more people are learning about and becoming interested in the currency. While they could just buy Bitcoins at the current market rate, others are looking to try their luck at mining Bitcoins. And like prospectors who traveled west during the Gold Rush of the 19th century, many Bitcoin miners will find that they spend more on chasing the Bitcoin dream than they'll ever hope to win back.What Games Are: The Shady Side Of Games
Apr 13, 9:00PM
A lot of recent moves in the gaming space to ban, investigate or curtail certain aspects of its output can seem egregious. However seen in the light of how shady game makers tend to behave, and the need to keep their sleazy tactics at bay, such moves are often understandable. Still, there are costs to games as a medium that this sort of thing keeps happening.CrunchWeek: Bitcoin Mania, Foursquare Gets A Cash Infusion, And VCs Rally Around Google Glass
Apr 13, 6:30PM
The weekend is finally here, and so is another episode of CrunchWeek, the TechCrunch TV show where a few of us writers sit down for some real talk about the stories that dominated the tech world over the past seven days.Warby Parker Opens Retail Store In NYC, With Boston Up Next, Beats Google & Amazon To The Offline Punch
Apr 13, 5:29PM
Hip online eyewear startup Warby Parker has, over the last two years, been partnering with boutiques to open "stores-within-stores," or small Warby Parker showrooms, where customers could try on their eyeglasses in 3-D. These showrooms popped up in L.A., Nashville, San Francisco and many others. Today Warby Parker officially announced its first, flagship retail store in SoHo in New York City.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.
To stop all future emails from feed2email.net you can reply to this email with STOP in the subject line. Thanks
