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Meet Some Hackers And Their Promising Projects At The Disrupt NY Hackathon
Apr 27, 11:26PM
It's only been about six hours since our Disrupt NY Hackathon officially began, and we're starting to see our intrepid hackers hit their stride. Granted, some of them are a little farther along than others -- Darrell found one guy who made an Arduino-powered robot for physically testing apps and devices -- but there's still plenty of time to bring some of these wild-eyed designs to fruition. Let's take a peek at what everyone else is working on, shall we?Skip Google+ Sharing And Tweet Photos Directly From Google Glass With GlassTweet
Apr 27, 11:04PM
We’re on the ground in New York City at the Disrupt Hackathon and there are a lot of interesting thing being created. Since I’m walking around wearing Google Glass, I’ve obviously been looking for teams building apps for it. I met up with Jonathan Gottfried, Twilio’s Developer Evangelist, and he built a quick and dirty app called GlassTweet, which lets you share photos to Twitter, rather than the out-of-the-box experience of sending shots to Google+. Once you’ve installed the app and connected it to Glass and your Twitter account, a new contact comes up that you can share to, called “Tweet”: The excitement about developing for Glass reminds me of the early days on Apple’s App Store. Gottfried explained: “It’s a great platform and being able to create all of the fundamental apps for people is a tremendous opportunity.” There’s only a few people testing GlassTweet out right now, but I imagine that small apps like this will be installed by most of the community who are looking for inspiration. It would be interesting to see a photo gallery of those who are using the app as well, perhaps with some geographic location attached to the photo. You can’t tweet videos yet, but Gottfried tells me that the feature is coming soon. During the Glass Collective announcement this month, Kleiner Perkins parter John Doerr mentioned that Twitter was thinking about working on its own app, and it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt their service for the small screen. Surely you don’t want every mention or reply lighting up in front of your face. At least, I don’t. Gottfried has built a few Glass apps so far, including one that lets you purchase a dedicated number through Twilio for texting. Let the Glass games begin. [Photo credit: Flickr]The Best Eyeglasses At The Hackathon
Apr 27, 11:00PM
We decided to feature nerd fashion at this year's hackathon at Disrupt NY, and what better statement is there these days than eyeglasses? Obligatory Google Glass sighting aside, these hackers definitely had noteworthy eyewear. We've showcased some of our favorites below.Facebook Sees Increase In Parse Signups, Tells Developers "No Plans To Change How App Data Is Used"
Apr 27, 10:44PM
Despite developers grumbling that they would ditch Parse's mobile app backend service now that it's been bought by Facebook, Parse CEO Illya Suhkar tells me signups spiked 9.4x and fewer clients are leaving than before. Meanwhile, to calm fears about Facebook spying on Parse app data, the company issued the statement "We currently have no plans to make any changes to how Parse app data is used.">From Idea To Development, A Few Hours In At The TechCrunch Disrupt NY Hackathon
Apr 27, 10:39PM
The hacking has begun. As I write this, participants of the Disrupt NY Hackathon have been working for about six hours on what they are going to show us onstage tomorrow. We talked with a few of them to see how motivated they are. Full of energy, most of them are still enthusiastic about the long and (mostly) sleepless night ahead of them. It takes dedication to build something awesome in fewer than 24 hours, but our fearless hackers seem up to the task. Teams are now working hard to turn their ideas into a working demo. Everybody knows what he or she has to do for his or her team. In other words, the technical and hard part now begins. They will develop, iterate, make compromises and deliver. But after a few minutes talking to us, developers want to get back to what they were doing. Even after only a few hours in, there is not much time left, given the ambitious ideas of some of those teams. Enthusiasm is contagious, so we can’t wait to talk to them again in the coming hours. Video production by Steve Long.CrunchWeek: Galaxy S4′s Mixed Reviews, Betaworks Buys Instapaper, Valleywag's Comeback
Apr 27, 10:00PM
Live from New York it’s CrunchWeek, the weekly show where a few of us writers gather ’round the TechCrunch TV cameras and chitchat about a few of the most interesting stories from the past seven days in the world of tech. At the moment we’re in New York City for Disrupt NY next week, and the weather here is pretty amazing — so Jordan Crook, Ryan Lawler and I decided to film this episode in Manhattan’s High Line Park. Watch the video embedded above to hear us discuss the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Betaworks’ surprise acquisition of social reading app Instapaper, and how we all feel about the resurrection of Valleywag.Draw Something With Strangers On A Train: Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon Duo Building Visual Ice-Breaker App For Galaxy Note
Apr 27, 8:36PM
The Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon has kicked off and here's one of the new hack team pairings hoping to claim tomorrow's prize after a long night of coding. Michal Shaffer, left, from New York and Peter Ma, right from San Francisco -- met at the event and are now collaborating on a proximity art app that will be using Samsung's API and the Galaxy Note plus S Pen to power random collaborative doodling.NY Disrupt Hackathon Hardware Find: Robots!
Apr 27, 7:55PM
The floor at Disrupt's NY Hackathon is filled mostly with people working on software projects, but there were also some interesting hardware endeavors underway. One in particular caught my eye: a robot built from open-source components build to help anyone subject their app or device to strenuous, physical testing in a non-simulated environment.The TechCrunch Disrupt NY Hackathon Is On And Poppin'
Apr 27, 7:01PM
And so it begins. Another season has come and gone, and with it comes yet another TechCrunch Disrupt NY, complete with Hackathon. Sure, Disrupt doesn't technically start until Monday, but the Hackathon is the fuel on the fire of the Disruptive flame, and it starts right now.Gillmor Gang: Watertown
Apr 27, 5:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Danny Sullivan, Dan Farber, Kevin Marks, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor — note the intersection of social and mainstream medias as the events in Boston unfolded in real time. What has been framed as a competition became something more, as Twitter streams, scanner apps, and local news streams meshed with CNN et al. Inspired curation by @dannysullivan produced an authoritative feed of credible crowdsourced updates. Tweeters at the scene produced wry commentary on reporter exaggeration, eventually encouraging a hybrid blend of real time speed and news judgement. Our thoughts remain with the brave and resilient people of Watertown, Cambridge, and Boston.Synergist Founder Hopes To Raise $25K Using The Company's Own Crowdfunding Platform
Apr 27, 4:00PM
Sites like Kickstarter have been used to crowdfund a wide range of projects, but I don't think they've ever done what Synergist is attempting today — they've never crowdfunded themselves. The site was founded by 17-year-old Jared Kleinert, who described Synergist as a mix of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for social enterprises (i.e., organizations that aim to do good, rather than make money, but apply commercial strategies to achieve those aims). The funding mechanism is pretty similar to Kickstarter — projects need to reach their funding target in order to receive any money, and the money is given for rewards, not equity. But Kleinert emphasized that the fundraising is really only a small part of the process.Economies Of Scale As A Service
Apr 27, 3:00PM
Credit where it's definitely due: this post was inspired by a Twitter conversation with Box CEO Aaron Levie. Don't look now, but something remarkable is happening. Instagram had twelve employees when it was purchased for $700 million; all of its actual computing power was outsourced to Amazon Web Services. Mighty ARM has only 2300 employees, but there are more than 35 billion ARM-based chips out there. They do no manufacturing; instead they license their designs to companies like Apple, who in turn contract with companies like TSMC for the actual fabrication. Nest Labs and Ubiquiti are both 200-employee hardware companies worth circa $1 billion...who subcontract their actual manufacturing out to China.Building A Culture That Works: The CEO As The Cultural Epicenter
Apr 27, 1:00PM
Editor's note: Peter Levine is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. As a former CEO and senior executive, there was a time when I did not quite understand the profound impact a CEO has on the culture of a company, even though I always knew culture was important. The organization reflects the behavior and characteristics of the CEO, and that establishes the culture. Foster an environment of open communication and the organization inherits a culture of open communication. Operationally detailed? The organization becomes operationally detailed. Political? The organization becomes political. Curse a lot? The organization curses. Angry? The organization gets angry. Have a big office? Everyone wants a big office. It doesn't matter what's written on a coffee mug or on a "culture" slide, what you do as a CEO, day in and day out, and how you behave will define your company's culture.StackMob Builds Parse App Importer For Refugee Developers Fleeing Facebook's New Acquisition
Apr 27, 1:37AM
Some developers got very angry and threatened to leave mobile app backend platform Parse when it was bought by Facebook yesterday. Hoping to capitalize, competitor StackMob has since released a Parse migration tool that makes it easy for devs to import their Parse apps. It’s a cutthroat game, this game of tech. When the Parse acquisition was announced, disgruntled developers flocked to Twitter, Hacker News, and our comments reel. Facebook pledged not to screw up the beloved development platform. While it won’t operate independently like Instagram, Facebook’s hands-off approach to the photo sharing app it bought a year ago should instill some confidence. Facebook’s director of product management Doug Purdy said in his statement about the acquisition that “We've worked closely with the Parse team and have seen first-hand how important their solutions and platform are to developers. We don't intend to change this.” On the phone with me he reiterated that Facebook doesn’t intend to mess with a good thing. Still, developers’ complaints I read centered on two fears: 1. That Facebook would degrade the Parse service, potentially by promoting its own social integrations and app install ads too hard, and 2. That Facebook would spy on data coming into Parse, including what types of content people chose not to post to the social network. Wasting little time, StackMob launched an auto-importer for developers looking to move their apps elsewhere and published a blog post touting its advantages over Parse. StackMob CEO Ty Amell tells me the company had already been tinkering with a Parse importer, but when the acquisition was announced, it finished it up and made it accessible yesterday alongside a step-by-step guide. Then today the company began offering a Python script that turns the multi-step process into a single step. Amell explained to me, “Over the last few months we’ve seen an increase in people coming over from Parse. Once we heard they’d been acquired, we knew there was going to be a lot of backlash and uncertainty from mobile developers. Facebook has a history of monetizing other people’s users, and charging through ads and other ways to access users. Parse not being independent any more is a pretty large concern for developers.” He says developers had two main questions about the acquisition. 1. Do developers still own their data? 2. What rights to privacy do developers have, and how will Facebook use their data? Amell says “Facebook has some prettySuitey 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. (Disclosure: AOL is the parent company ofSamsung 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.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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