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Connected Kitchen Scale From Chef Sleeve Tracks Your Nutrition Bite-By-Bite
May 02, 11:00PM
Chef Sleeve has been selling its iPad-protecting plastic sleeves since 2011 to keep kitchen gunk off the iPad you're using while you cook. They also make a chopping board with a built in iPad stand. But Chef Sleeve's grand plan is to create a range of connected devices for the kitchen that link up with an iPad app to let people track their nutrition in a highly granular yet low hassle way.Who Is Tech's Most Inspiring New Founder? SV Angel's Ron Conway, David Lee, And Brian Pokorny Name Names [TCTV]
May 02, 10:51PM
Ron Conway, David Lee, and Brian Pokorny meet new startup founders practically every day as investors at renowned angel funding firm SV Angel. So when they came backstage at this week's Disrupt NYC event after their on-stage talk with Michael Arrington, I asked them to talk about the most inspiring up-and-coming founders they've met with lately -- people who may be flying a little more under the radar than the Jack Dorseys of the tech scene at the moment, but could very well be the next big thing.LinkedIn Stock Dips 10% On Slowing Growth, Even As It Beats Q1 Estimates On Sales of $324.7M; EPS $0.45
May 02, 8:54PM
LinkedIn has just reported Q1 earnings of $324.7 million, up 72% year-on-year, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.45, both soundly beating analysts' estimates (via First Call) of $317 million and EPS of $0.31; as well as LinkedIn's own guidance from last quarter, when it said it expected between $305 million and $310 million in revenues. Net income for Q1 was $22.6 million a big rise on the $5.0 million in earnings last year. Nevertheless, shares of the work-focused social network, however, are down nearly 11% in after-hours trading on news that next quarter won't be quite as rosy.Ironically, Smartphone Taxi Apps Blocked In NYC After Industry Groups Claim They Make It Easier To Discriminate
May 02, 8:47PM
Transit trade groups pulled out the race card and managed to block smartphone taxi “e-hailing” a day after they were cleared to pilot in New York City. Associate Justice Helen E. Freedman issued an emergency injunction against smartphone taxi app companies Hailo and Uber, after hearing arguments from the several car service groups alleging that smartphones permit drivers to discriminate against passengers based on race, name, age and location. “We’re disappointed that there is a further delay in implementing the e-hail pilot program. It’s unfortunate that taxi riders will not be able to continue to test this innovative tool for hailing taxis,” wrote Senior Counsel in NYC Law Department, Michelle Goldberg-Cahn, in a statement. On May 1st, hand waving-averse New Yorkers were supposed to be able to summon and track taxis from their mobile phones, though they weren’t allowed to pay through the application and the pilot was only available in certain parts of the city and call taxis within a certain radius of the passenger. This latest legal injunction is just the low point in a roller coaster between smartphone car service apps, who have been cleared and blocked over and over again, as taxi groups fight tech startups for control over the lucrative transportation industry. It is wholly ironic that taxi organizations allege that smartphone applications are a threat to equality. For years, news organizations have replicated the abject racism that occurs between people of color and drivers. “At night they will slow down to pick me up and realize that I’m a person of color then suddenly flip the switch; they’re out of service and will drive on. And I’ve seen it as far as they will go to the next block and pick someone else up within clear sight,” said Briscoe Savoy, a resident of Brooklyn who participated in an ABC experiment. Indeed, one black D.C. resident defended Uber against regulators back when the state had threatened to raise prices on the smartphone black car service. “That's why I'm dismayed by the proposed regulations that could potentially put Uber out of business,” wrote Clinton Yates, for the Washington Post. “It would be a step backward for those of us who are willing to pay more money for a respectable transaction rather than take our chances on the street and be degraded in the process.” The injunction is part of an ongoing court battle. We will update readers as theGarrett Camp Distills His Uber And StumbleUpon Expertise Into New Holding Company Expa
May 02, 8:38PM
The rise of the company builders is right. As Leena wrote in her spot-on post, "Operators are foregoing the traditional path of joining a traditional VC to instead create a studio-like holding operation." The latest in a series of accomplished entrepreneurs wanting to lend their expertise to a new generation of companies? Serial entrepreneur Garrett Camp, who has set up the holding company Expa to nurture his ideas for products. Camp tells me Expa will be very close in model to the holding companies started by entrepreneurs Max Levchin (HVF), Evan Williams (Obvious) or Michael Birch (Monkey Inferno), and be more focused than something like Science or Betaworks. "I've come up with 10 ideas over the past year that I'm interested in," he revealed, confirming that Expa will stay small. "But realistically only three or four will really come to fruiton."Songza Launches Version 3.0 With Improved Search, Quicker Navigation, And Revamped UI
May 02, 7:25PM
Songza, the app that matches expert-created music playlists to your mood or activity, has just released a huge update to its iOS app, streamlining the experience quite a bit and cleaning up the UI to ensure that users are getting the best music to match their mood and activity in the fastest time possible. To start, you’ll notice straight off the bat that the Concierge screen has changed dramatically, with new colors in the background and the removal of the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. But it’s not just about looks. Songza’s smarter now, too. The Songza team has always prided itself on finding you an amazing playlist to match your mood and settings in just three clicks. Today, they brought that down to one long-press click on any Concierge situation (like Driving or Sweaty Dance Party) to get music playing quickly. Songza 3.0 also includes a faster way to find music for the situation you’re in, even if Concierge hasn’t predicted it for you. Simply shake the app while on the Concierge screen and you’ll be asked what you’re up to, leading you to the right playlist for the right moment. One of the biggest pain points with Songza is that it’s difficult to find the right music based on artists. Sure, you can hunt for mixes by genre, mood, activity and artists, but even then you have to sit through most of the playlist before your fave comes on. Songza 3.0 solves this problem by letting you hunt out all the playlists that include your queried artist, with the mixes that are most relevant to your preferences coming up first. And if that weren’t enough, the app automatically moves songs by your favorite artist to the top of the playlist. Last, but certainly not least, the new and improved Songza made a few tweaks to its Audio HQ feature, which was debuted in collaboration with Audyssey Laboratories back in December. Record Store Clerk, a feature that tries to match you with new music based on what you already like, has been baked into the experience on the back-end, rather than remaining as a front-end feature. Clearly, things have changed a lot in the land of Songza, but the new version comes with in-app tips to help you find your way. Songza has picked up tons of traction since it launched, now boasting 4.7 million monthlyHeads Up! Game From Impending Shows How Branded Can Be Beautiful
May 02, 7:22PM
A new game today available for iOS devices called Heads Up! provides an entertaining experience you could only have with a smartphone, with a simple game mechanic and a video sharing feature that means the fun can last well beyond the initial play period. The game also features a big brand tie-in, as it was made by Clear app developer Impending for Ellen DeGeneres, and featured on her show. It's a content marketing play, but one that's extremely well-executed and features a light touch on the branding side of things."In The Studio," Sutter Hill's Sam Pullara Carves His Own Path From Technologist To Venture Capitalist
May 02, 7:00PM
Those who know in the Valley know the name Sam Pullara. Whether it was his time as a repeat entrepreneur and technical founder, or stints as an EIR at some of the Valley's most premier venture capital firms, or his time as a lead technologist at two of the largest tech companies in the Valley (most recently at Twitter), Pullara has occupied nearly every seat at the table throughout his career. Now, after leaving Twitter and after years of being an angel investor, Pullara has moved himself and his blog, Java Rants, over to the venture capital side as a Managing Director of Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, a firm which started back in the early 1960s and has focused on investing in SaaS, infrastructure, and other fundamental technologies.Lumu Is A Digital Light Meter For Photographers That Plugs Into Your iPhone & Tells You What Camera Settings To Use
May 02, 7:00PM
Meet Lumu: a digital light meter for photographers that plugs into the iPhone's headphone jack as a smaller and smarter replacement for traditional analogue light meters. It's used in conjunction with Lumu's app -- being demoed in prototype here at hardware alley at Disrupt NY -- to help photographers figure out the best camera settings for their current location.With A Widespread Launch Looming, Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox OS Simulator 3.0
May 02, 6:29PM
Mozilla was keen to talk up the 3.0 version of its Firefox OS simulator back in March, but didn't have much to share about when eager developers could start fiddling with it. Thankfully for HTML5 buffs, that six-week quiet period is over — the team just announced on the official Mozilla Hacks blog that the newly updated simulator is now available to download.Zoho Launches Card Scanner With Direct CRM Integration
May 02, 6:00PM
Zoho has a new Card Scanner app for iOS for its SaaS platform that allows a customer to take a photo of a business card and have that data stored in the Zoho CRM or as a new contact. The app scans business cards in English, French, German and Spanish. An Android app is coming soon. Zoho developed the app to help sales people save time on manual data entry. Cards get left on a desk, never to be looked at again. Automating the process gives the customer a simple way to add to a contact or lead list. Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegesna said in an email interview that the data is synced to the CRM back end. If a business card contains a Twitter handle, Zoho pulls the photo from the user’s Twitter account and syncs it with the CRM system. The data can not be exported from Card Scanner but it can be exported in different ways after getting added to the CRM database. Vegesna said they plan to eventually offer exporting directly from Card Scanner. Tight integration with the Zoho CRM system is what is unique about this app, said Vegesna. He said it’s true there are plenty of apps out there that do card scanning. But it’s not something that gets integrated into CRM platforms, such as Salesforce.com or Sugar CRM. There are plenty of mobile apps for card scanning. Evernote Hello offers card scanning and tightly integrates it with LinkedIn and the relevant associated services people use every day, including their email and calendar. CamCard is known for its ability to process lots of cards and export to Excel. It’s true that CRM vendors do not have card scanning integrations and so Zoho’s in-line capability to scan and store data is useful. But existing apps in the market like Evernote provide depth that Zoho will find hard to match. Is Google Getting Serious About Gaming? Noah Falstein Hired As Chief Game Designer
May 02, 5:48PM
Well, what do we have here? Somewhat under the radar, Google has hired the computer games veteran Noah Falstein to the position of Chief Game Designer. Yes, that's right, the search giant, not normally known for its games development, appears to have a major gaming project in circulation, at least something that requires someone as experienced as Falstein at its helm.Dextr, An Android Email Client For You And Your Friends
May 02, 5:43PM
I hate using email. I get an average of 60 to 70 emails every day, and only one percent of them are from people I actually care about. Using email today is all about sifting through the clutter. Dextr is an app that helps you accomplish that by filtering your inbox to only include emails from your friends and family.In the Wake Of Funding, Skimlinks Launches New Products To Face Off Opposition
May 02, 5:09PM
Last month Skimlinks, the platform that allows publishers full control over affiliate links and content monetization, completed a growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners and others, while expanding into Asia. This month it has new products to roll out, launching two major initiatives. The question is, how does it stand up to the competition?Redfin Takes On Zillow's Zestimates With New And Improved Home Value Tool
May 02, 5:00PM
Redfin is launching a new feature today that allows prospective home buyers and sellers to better estimate a home’s value. Anybody who has ever searched for a house or tried to sell one is probably aware of Zillow’s Zestimates – even though they are mostly automated and can’t quite take aspects like locations, view, noise, neighborhood and other details of a house into account. With its new “Home Value Tool,” Redfin aims to bring the human element back into the equation by allowing users to select a number of homes that they believe best compare with the home they are trying to get an estimate for. Redfin is mostly aiming this tool at home owners who are trying to sell their houses, but there is no reason why home buyers couldn’t also use it to get an estimate for the house they are trying to buy. As Redfin told me, the reason the company is mostly focusing its marketing efforts on sellers right now is due to the fact that, with the real estate market picking up again, so many people are thinking about selling their homes for the first time in years. Obviously, though, the Home Value Tool will also be very useful for buyers. Redfin notes that giving users more input into the evaluation process allows them to “select the homes that best compare to their own, which is important because a home's actual value is often affected by factors that are difficult for computers to capture, such as a certain view, traffic noise, or unique architectural features.” Users simply enter the address of the home and confirm a number of details about the house (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.). After that, Redfin will automatically show two comparable homes, but – most importantly – users will be able to select five comparable homes that have recently sold nearby. Redfin previously offered home estimates, too. The company, however, believes that this new tool is easier to use, and while the previous version asked users to remove homes from an original list of 10 homes, the new tool allows users to build up a list of comparables. The new tool also homes in on a single price estimate instead of giving the home owner just a range. The company stresses that this is obviously not an official appraisal, but rather meant to give its customers a starting point to understand their home’sInstagram Now Lets Anyone Tag You [Or Brands] In Photos, Adds Them To "Photos Of You" Profile Section
May 02, 5:00PM
Today Instagram launches photo tagging, the feature that fueled Facebook's early growth. New Instagram iOS and Android updates rolling out now let you tag any person or brand in your own photos, which then automatically show up in the "Photos Of Me" section of their profile. You get notified when you when you're tagged, can require approvals before photos hit your profile, or detag yourself.As Moshi Monsters Hits 5 Years, Can It Pull Off Three New Games?
May 02, 4:46PM
Five years after being started as a back-bedroom project by Michael Acton Smith, Mind Candy, the company that came up with the hugely successful Moshi Monsters kids game, has achieved a lot. Unusually for most UK consumer startups, it's reached across the globe to become a global brand attracting 80 million registered users, up from 50 million in 2011.Facebook Ad Startup SocialWire Raises Another $1M, Chief Revenue Officer Bob Buch Becomes CEO
May 02, 3:59PM
SocialWire, a startup building Facebook ads for retailers, has raised $1 million in "seed extension" funding. The company is also announcing that Chief Revenue Officer Bob Buch, a former exec at Aol and Digg, is taking on the role of CEO. When I talked to Buch this morning, he acknowledged that when he tells people that he works in the advertising business, they usually respond, "Oh, I hate advertising." But that, Buch said, is "why I'm doing this." The company's goal to is to create advertising that's a "win win win" — something that attracts customers for advertisers, makes money for publishers (for now that means Facebook), and actually exposes consumers to relevant products. He compared it to his work at Digg, where the ad formats pushed advertisers to communicate their message in "more newsworthy ways."Citrix Launches Podio Chat To Bring Instant Messages, Video And Audio Chat To Its Social Business Platform
May 02, 3:15PM
Citrix today added a new real-time chat feature to its Podio social business platform that allows users to discuss projects, tasks, documents and other items by using standard instant messages, as well as audio and video chats. Citrix argues that this makes Podio, which was already being used by over 200,000 companies at the end of last year, “the first collaboration service of its kind to provide IM and video chat "in context." While Podio, which Citrix acquired last year, is quite a fully featured business platform and already included a number of real-time features, including real-time comments, the new chat feature allows for one-on-one and group chats. It features all of the usual chat features you’ve likely seen on Yammer or tools like Convo, including the ability to like comments. Citrix notes that Podio Chat is unique in its ability to bring text, audio and video chat together in one platform. Because Podio also allows you to invite users from outside of the company (contractors, suppliers, partners, etc.), the new chat feature should also make it easier and faster to work with them. As for the video chat tool, Citrix says that it will allow for ad-hoc, face-to-face discussion, as well as allow you to set up recurring team video meetings using the company’s GoToMeeting service. This feature, Citrix says, will allow businesses to unify their communications on its Podio platform “by enabling teams to communicate in a variety of different ways to get work done, all without email or third-party communication tools.” The new chat features will be available on the desktop, where it will live in a new chat pane, as well as on Podio’s mobile apps for Android and iOS.MasterFX Photo App Claims To Make You A Michelangelo Not An Instagram Sheep
May 02, 2:13PM
Photo and video apps have rocketed up the app store charts driven by apps like Instagram and Vine, becoming the third largest category in iOS downloads. Most contain casual photo filters and simple editing tools. In contrast with this trend, others are feeding the desire for photo editing with more sophisticated apps. The latest entrant to this market is MasterFX which launches today for iPad and iPhone, offering the kinds of tools professional designers might recognise, without the user needing to learn complicated techniques. It also incorporates a gallery of a few million royalty free photos. Handy.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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