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Suitey Is A Software Powered Real Estate Brokerage For New York City Apartments And Homes
Apr 26, 10:03PM
At first sight, Suitey looks like nothing more than a run-of-the-mill real estate website. But while sites like Trulia and Zillow merely provide a listing of available properties from a large assortment of brokerages and owners, all the properties on Suitey are being directly offered by Suitey itself. That's because Suitey is a fully fledged real estate brokerage, and they believe they're the first software-powered brokerage that offers a better, more transparent home buying experience. At their core, Trulia and Zillow are really nothing more than virtualized billboards. They provide a centralized location for brokers and owners to advertise their for-sale properties. Let's say you're looking for a new apartment, and you've narrowed down your list to five places. That means you'll probably have to deal with five different real estate brokers, which from experience can be a total nightmare. With Suitey, everything is simplified. Once again, let's say you're looking for an apartment in Manhattan (for now, Suitey only offers listings in New York City). Once you narrow things down to five options on their website, you can contact a Suitey agent who will set a time to view all the properties with you. In the future, you'll be able to video chat with the agent directly from the website. This face-to-face experience with Suitey's agents is key to the company’s ethos. "We want to ensure that our agents are people you'd feel comfortable buying a home from," says David Walker, CEO of Suitey. He tells me that Suitey's agents are heavily vetted by the company before they are hired in a process that ensures their competence and general likability. Once you've agreed to buy the home, Suitey gives you a one percent discount to sweeten the deal. That may not seem like much, but if you're buying property for several million dollars, that rebate ends up being a couple thousand dollars you can put towards your deposit. "I've never heard of anything quite like it, and it would interesting to see what happens," says Laura Goldstein, Managing Editor of AOL Real Estate. "People have such a bad association with real estate agents, and the customer service approach feels very appealing." Suitey was one of the ten companies featured at the Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator's Demo Day today. You can check out a roundup of startups from our coverage of the event here.Samsung May Launch A Rugged Galaxy S4 This Summer, Could Counter New Moto Phones
Apr 26, 9:53PM
Samsung is working on a dust-proof and water-proof Galaxy S4, which will essentially resemble the S4 but with environmental superpowers, says the Wall Street Journal. The paper also reported that Samsung is launching its next-generation Galaxy tablet in June, as well as a compact S4 at "just" 4.3-inches in size (this still seems large to me, but maybe I'm just old). Samsung has always been keen on capitalizing on flagship branding by diversifying its line with a variety of offshoot devices, so the news should come as no surprise.Ask A VC: NEA's Pete Sonsini On The Next Disruptive Startup In The Enterprise
Apr 26, 9:45PM
This week, NEA's Pete Sonsini joined us in the studio for Ask A VC. Sonsini joined NEA in 2005 and is the co-head of the firm's enterprise software practice group, focusing on early-stage investments in the space. His investments include Xensource (acquired by Citrix Systems) and Teracent (acquired by Google). He is currently on the board of Engine Yard, Eucalyptus Systems and a number of others.More Google Glass Specs Revealed As Android Tinkerers Look For Ways To Root It
Apr 26, 9:31PM
Google felt it appropriate to highlight some of Glass' specs earlier this week, but there's much more to the company's wearable display than just the 5 megapixel camera and its 16GB of internal storage. In case you were hankering for a taste of what else makes Google Glass tick, Android developer (and Glass Explorer) Jay Lee spent some time tinkering with his preview unit and managed to figure out what kind of hardware it has under the proverbial hood.After Eight Years On Facebook's Board, Jim Breyer Exits To Focus On His New Harvard Board Seat
Apr 26, 9:22PM
Venture capitalist Jim Breyer is giving up his seat on Facebook's board in June, which he's held since April 2005. The split is amicable, and stems from his desire to concentrate on his new board seat with the Harvard University Corporation Board. Breyer joined the Facebook board after his venture firm Accel became one of Facebook's earliest investors, leading its $12.7 million Series A.Monaeo Tracks Company Employees For Location Based Tax Information To Prevent Needless Auditing
Apr 26, 9:17PM
According to Anupam Singhal, cofounder of Monaeo, two out of three Fortune 500 companies get audited every year. And although there are surely several companies that get audited simply because they were unable to pay their taxes, most of the time it's simply due an unfortunate case of miscalculation.This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: The Q10 Vs. The One And The Fitbit Flex
Apr 26, 8:30PM
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about the Blackberry Q10, The HTC One, and the Fitbit Flex. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Chris Velazco, and a tiny thinger that won't fit into the bracelet. Enjoy!Swifto Raises $2.5M From Benchmark To Be The Uber For Dog Walking
Apr 26, 8:02PM
Swifto, a startup that wants to be the Uber for dog walking, has raised $2.5 million from Benchmark Capital. We're told that the funding round previously closed but the startup didn't want to announce to the public for fear of attracting competitors.The Tesla Model S' Battery Is Now Covered By A Nearly Unconditional Warranty
Apr 26, 7:30PM
Without proper care batteries can wither and die like a delicate tulip roasting in the bright sun from an unseasonably warm spring day -- a fact made exponentially worse when the battery in your $60k vehicle no longer functions properly. With that in mind, Tesla just unveiled an impressive new warranty for the Model S battery pack. With the notable exception of a vehicle accident or a curious owner opening the battery pack, under this new plan, Tesla will replace the battery pack for any reason including user error and improper maintenance.AOL Is Shutting Down AOL Music And Firing Staff Who Are Live-Tweeting The Bloodbath
Apr 26, 7:21PM
While there's still few details and no official announcement, AOL is shutting down its AOL Music news properties and is firing their employees, according to tweets from the official AOL Music site Spinner's account and some staff. Poor performance due to competition from independent bloggers may be to blame. However, reports indicate Winamp, Shoutcast, and flagship music blog Spinner may survive.GateGuru Relaunches With New Ways To Streamline Your Travel Experience
Apr 26, 7:00PM
Founded by Dan Gellert and Jeff Arena, Time Warner Ventures and Yahoo! alums respectively, GateGuru is second behind TripIt in terms of users and downloads. The app helps you build itineraries with simple input methods including selecting flights by number or even emailing itineraries into the program. Once you've set up your itinerary, the company makes money by pitching last minute car and hotel rentals on the fly - and unobtrusively - while you slog through the supreme indignity of modern travel.A User's Guide To Disrupt NY 2013
Apr 26, 6:23PM
Disrupt is two days away... and we've put together an array of awesomeness with our partners to make your event experience better.Google's Neal Mohan On The Keys To Bringing Brand Advertisers Online
Apr 26, 6:20PM
Neal Mohan, Google's vice president of display advertising, said that his "top priority" for 2013 is to bring brand advertising online in a big way. I interviewed Mohan as part of the preparation for our panel at Disrupt NY next week, where we'll discuss the ad landscape with Gokul Rajaram, Facebook's product director for ads, and Kevin Weil, Twitter's senior director of revenue products. During our Q&A covered Google's relationship with brand marketers, mobile and multi-screen advertising, and today's announcement that Google's Active View metric, which measures whether an ad was actually viewed (not just served) has been accredited by the Media Rating Council.Even After Hacks And Bombings, Privacy Advocates Have Big Week In Congress
Apr 26, 6:04PM
In light of the AP’s high-profile Twitter hacking and a vicious domestic bombing, Americans have not let fear derail privacy legislation. Just this week, the Senate advanced an anti-email snooping law and the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is reportedly on its way to the grave. It appears that the burden of proof has shifted to proponents of government surveillance, and they’ve been conspicuously silent about how spying will keep Americans safe. Two Bills CISPA, which gives immunity to Internet companies for sharing sensitive data with law enforcement, will reportedly not be taken up for a vote in the Senate. “We’re not taking [CISPA] up,” a representative from the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation told US News, “Staff and senators are divvying up the issues and the key provisions everyone agrees would need to be handled if we’re going to strengthen cybersecurity. They’ll be drafting separate bills.” After wavering support from Facebook and other high-profile Internet companies, the White House threatened to veto the bill over privacy concerns, most likely related to ambiguous definitions of what constitutes a cyber “threat” and how agencies would be kept honest. ECPA Reform – The 1970′s law that permits security agencies to access emails opened or older than 180 days, is on its way to a privacy upgrade. Designed before users kept their email indefinitely in the cloud (i.e. Gmail), a few high-level privacy breaches, including the unearthing of General David Petraeus’s romantic affair, have created overwhelming demand to overhaul the antiquated law. Today, an amendment to require a warrant before reading emails was voted on by voice, which means there wasn’t even enough opposition among the Judiciary committee members for a debate. Staff members inside the House of Representatives, where the bill will go if it passes the senate, tell me that there also isn’t much opposition to the reforms on their side of Congress, and that a bill by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CrunchGov Grade: A) could very well be combined with the Senate’s version for a streamlined change (yes, occasionally things are efficient in Congress). Why Not? Even after the AP’s Twitter account was hacked to spread a rumor about an explosion at the White House and two American men successfully detonated bombs at the Boston Marathon, there’s no reason to believe that either CISPA or ECPA would have kept Americans safer. Even President Obama’s freak-everyone-out op-ed last yearThese Guys Are Selling Their Private Photo-Sharing App Divvy From The Back Of A VW Bus
Apr 26, 6:03PM
Bootstrapping founders, Jeremy Greenfield and Kayvon Olomi, have taken a non-traditional route to marketing their new photo aggregation and sharing application, Divvy. They’ve hopped into a 1973 VW camper bus and are on a cross-country road trip to tour colleges around the U.S., in an attempt to get the word out about the privacy options their app allows. They left April 1st from Tulsa, and are now in the New York tri-state area, with plans to hit up Boston, MIT, Harvard, and more, before heading to Denver in three weeks. Olomi, who’s also the founder of app development marketplace AppTank, says he built Divvy to scratch a few of his own itches: the hassles of moving between Facebook and Instagram to follow his friends’ photos, the inability to zoom in on Instagram photos, and the inability to save those photos. But he also thinks that more private photo sharing is something today’s younger users want. A desire for more private socializing has of course fueled the rise of messaging apps and new twists on photo-sharing, as with the “disposable” photo and video sharing on Shapchat, for example. But penetrating the space as a newcomer is always tough. That’s why Divvy starts off by selling itself as a photo aggregator first and foremost. Today, the app pulls in the feeds from Facebook and Instagram, with plans to support Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and Dropbox in the future. You can not only view your friends photos, but also like and comment on them using Divvy. This isn’t an entirely novel concept, since many apps and services have offered the combined albums experience, including Dropbox acquisition Snapjoy, Shutterfly acquisition ThisLife, Picturelife, Woven, Everpix, and even those not focused only on photos, like Flipboard, for example. What Divvy does differently is add its own photo-sharing features to the mix. Like a mini-social network of its own, friends can share photos to all their followers on Divvy, share selectively with individuals or groups, or share with nearby Divvy users – even if they don’t have their contact information. The nearby photo thing has been tried before too – with Color, most notably – but also with more under the radar options like Evertale’s Wink. It’s a use case that doesn’t quite seem capable of supporting a standalone application of its own, so it makes sense for Divvy to sideline this as an option, not as the key feature. Divvy’sDesigner Builds 3D-Printed Headphones That Use No Manufactured Parts
Apr 26, 6:00PM
If the whole of human knowledge were to be wiped out tomorrow, how would you recreate the consumer electronics industry so you can jam out to some rockin' tunes? Why you'd build these unique 3D-printed headphones. Except for some twists of wire, these cans consist of thin pieces of printed plastic and the speakers are actually plastic with a coil of copper wire embedded, by hand, into a set of tiny traces. Even the audio plug which consists of wire wrapped around a small plastic spindle.Tumblr's David Karp Gets Down To Business At TechCrunch Disrupt NY
Apr 26, 5:26PM
Ch - ch - ch- changes! The six-year-old media startup Tumblr is going through quite a few right now, namely focusing on profitability versus growth in its product efforts -- enabling a promoted post feature in addition to just recently launching mobile ads. The company is looking for a "Sheryl Sandberg-type" COO, amidst a series of executive departures and layoffs.Travel Startup AnyRoad Tries To Provide Anything But Your Typical Travel Tour
Apr 26, 5:00PM
Two years ago, I had a terrible experience at the Great Wall when I visited its most popular corridor in Badaling. Trapped between tens of thousands of local tourists for miles upon miles one scorchingly humid August day, I eventually managed to get off by riding a roller coaster down the Great Wall that ended up in a bear park. Really! I’m not alone. AnyRoad co-founders Daniel and Jonathan Yaffe almost ended up doing the same thing, but they were smarter. They asked around and found out about remote parts of the wall where you could walk for miles without seeing another soul. It took hours to get there, but they got lucky and met a courteous taxi driver who showed them exactly what they wanted — that endless, breathtaking view of the crumbling Wall stretching for hundreds of miles into the distance. With that as inspiration, they decided to do a startup together that would offer custom tours to people in cities like Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Jerusalem, San Francisco and more. The Yaffe brothers have a colorful background. The older one, Jonathan, founded and was a principal of a charter school named KAIS International in Tokyo for several years, while the younger one, Daniel, ran and sold a drinking magazine called Drink Me and is releasing a book on whiskey later this year. Their technical co-founder Michalis Polakis is a former Soundcloud engineer. They say they’re not quite like YC-backed Vayable, or other marketplaces for experiences, because they’re partnering with established tour guides and small companies instead of regular, everyday locals that want to give people experiences in their spare time. AnyRoad has 200 tours available through 150 guides so far in five countries. The average ticket price being about $180. These include experiences like a Candomble tour in Rio de Janeiro, which teaches people about the history of the dance and music or a visit to a whiskey distillery in Brooklyn. About 80 percent of the company’s booking are from outside the U.S. In their two month beta, they said that bookings are tripling each month and more than 1 percent of visitors to the site book a tour. AnyRoad takes a 14 percent commission off each one. They had to meet with more than 3,000 tour guides throughout different countries over 18 months to figure out different pain points in the booking process. The challenges are,Eric Schmidt Is Right, Using Google Glass Is Weird - Here's My Experience
Apr 26, 4:15PM
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said he finds having to talk to Google Glass out loud to control the interface "the weirdest thing" and that there are going to be "places where Google Glass are inappropriate." My own experience of trying out the device, even briefly, confirmed to me that this product simply will not become a mass-market device any time soon. Indeed, if it has any future at all it will be either in disappearing inside normal glasses, or solely used by industry. I can't see it becoming as ubiquitous as the smartphone in any way, and here's why.Amazon Led LivingSocial's Last Round With A $56M Investment; Daily Deals Site Had A Net Loss Of $50M This Past Quarter
Apr 26, 4:07PM
Daily deals company LivingSocial continues to face challenges in the market. In the last quarter it posted sales of $135 million, up 23% on a year ago, but it also swung to a net loss of $50 million, from net income of $156 million in Q1 2012. The numbers were revealed in a 10-Q filing from one of its key investors, Amazon, in line with its Q1 earnings reported on Thursday.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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