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QFPay, The Square of China, Is Processing Close To $400M Per Year
May 11, 12:05AM
QFPay's card reader admittedly looks a bit clunkier than its U.S. or European equivalents Square or iZettle. It looks like a wonky, old calculator. But that's because Chinese consumers don't trust merchants easily and a basic phonejack reader without a keypad makes them nervous, says COO Tim Lee. He says consumers are worried that their PINs will get stolen by unscrupulous merchants.Norway's Crown Prince And Princess Talk Startups And Try Out The Oculus Rift
May 10, 11:47PM
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Princess Mette-Marit were in Silicon Valley this week, and I asked them about their hopes to bring more startups and innovation to their home country. I interviewed Haakon and Mette-Marit at Norway's Innovation House Silicon Valley, a co-working space in Palo Alto for Norwegian startups looking to enter the US market. The couple saw demos from several startups — the prince even tried on some Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles — it was part of Making View's demo of its technology for capturing and exploring 360-degree video footage. (He said it was "pretty awesome.")Mark Zuckerberg's Lobby Unraveling As Musk And Sacks Leave
May 10, 11:37PM
The technology industry’s newest high-powered political lobby, FWD.us, is unraveling just a month after it launched, as two of its biggest partners, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Yammer’s David Sacks, leave the organization. Begun with a reported $20 million of Mark Zuckerberg’s own money, and rare op-ed by the politically shy Facebook founder, FWD.us has faced a torrent of criticism over funding advertisements that praise Republicans who support the controversial Keystone pipeline (below). Environmental groups were up in arms and circulated a boycott of FWD.us that had, ironically, had more supporters than FWD.us’s call to action. The Sierra Club, Progressives United and MoveOn.org were among a littany of progressive groups that are now boycotting Facebook avertisements. "Immigration reform – fine. Oil expansion and pipelines? NOT fine. Where's the transparency here, rich dudes? Or does FWD actually stand for Fine With Drilling?," wrote one angry commenter on the FWD.us Facebook page. Elon Musk, as founder of Tesla Motors, prides himself on a sterling environmental record, so it’s easy to see why he couldn’t tolerate being associated with a group indirectly funding pro-Keystone pipeline ads. But, David Sacks doesn’t have as much to lose publically as Musk, which means that Musk is likely hooking more high-level partners with his departure. Nor is this the group’s first PR disaster. Even before the group began, FWD.us director and Zuckerberg’s old Harvard roommate, Joe Green, had to issue a statement of regret for a leaked perspectus. “Given the status of our funders and quality of our team, we will drive national and local narratives to properly frame our agenda,” read the brash strategy note. As we’ve written about before, FWD.us has kept a tight lid on their funding and tactics. We do know that FWD.us splits its organization into Democratic and Republican teams, offering quid pro quo cash in exchange for support of its key initiative — immigration. This kind of back-door compromising may work in D.C., but it’s evidently not as well tolerated in the Valley. In my own off-the-record conversations with supporters, no one is happy with FWD.us right now. It’s going to become a political landmine to stay on board, let alone join the group. FWD.us is unraveling, and we predict it won’t be around much longer unless it becomes a lot more transparent and ditches the D.C. tactics. Stay tuned for more.Sina Weibo Will Monetize Through E-Commerce, Not Ads, Alibaba CTO Jian Says
May 10, 10:44PM
One interesting thing to watch is how social networking platforms mature divergently as businesses around the world. Sina Weibo, the public microblogging platform that has had a huge impact on online discourse in China, is veering down a path toward e-commerce and transactions after Alibaba took a stake worth $586 million in it last month. The platform is one of the two more influential social networks in China today, with the other being Tencent's messaging app WeChat.Through The Looking Glass: What You'll See Through Google's Lens
May 10, 10:00PM
I've spent a little over three weeks with Google Glass, and I've noted that the utility aspect of the device is strong, but the fun isn't there yet. It feels a lot like the original iPhone did, before it had the App Store.Formlabs Prepares To Ship The Super Sexy Form One 3D Printer
May 10, 9:07PM
The boy geniuses of Formlabs, David Cranor, Maxim Lobovsky, and Natan Linder have posted a video detailing their Form One 3D printer, one of the most well-put-together 3D printing devices we've seen in a while. The Form One uses a form of stereolithography that prints the objects "upside down" by activating polymers with laser light. The resulting objects come out of a bath of plastic looking like Neo tumbling out of his oozing cocoon in The Matrix.Yahoo's Acqui-Hire Spree Continues With Mobile Gaming Startup Loki Studios
May 10, 9:02PM
Yahoo has been gobbling up startups. In the last week or so, it has announced the acquisition of Astrid, GoPollGo, and Milewise. In fact, in a tweet today, Yahoo said that it has "added 22 entrepreneurs to our growing mobile team," thanks to the three aforementioned companies — plus a mobile gaming startup called Loki Studios. I've reached out to both Yahoo and Loki Studios for details about the deal, but the news seems to be confirmed on the Loki website, where the front page currently announces that the team is joining Yahoo:Twilio Is Raising A Series D Of Around $50M
May 10, 8:00PM
I'd been hearing whispers as of late that Twilio is meeting with VCs to raise another round, and I just got the good word from a very, very solid source. Twilio is in the process of raising a Series D, with a goal of raising around $50 million.Microsoft: Google Docs Is Not Worth The Gamble, Makes You Less Productive
May 10, 7:54PM
After Bing and its Scroogled campaign, Microsoft is now taking aim at Google Docs. Jake Zborowski, Microsoft's senior product manager for Office, actually published two anti-Docs blog posts today: one hones in on document fidelity, the other - which includes a number of user testimonials - argues that Google Docs isn't quite ready for primetime.Highland Capital, Andreessen Horowitz & Others Put $1.8M Into Aviate, An Intelligent Homescreen For Android
May 10, 7:48PM
Facebook is not the only company to invest in development of products that take better advantage of the Android homescreen. South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk also recently announced its intentions to release a rival Android launcher. And now, Highland Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and others have invested $1.8 million into Aviate, an ex-Googler backed intelligent homescreen for Android devices. The round also included participation from Freestyle Capital, Draper Associates, and other angels, most notably Dan Rose, Facebook VP of Business Development and Monetization, and Keval Desai. The company actually closed on the funding in December, but is only announcing now. The funds will be used to grow the team quickly, and further develop the product. The company behind Aviate, Palo Alto-based ThumbsUp Labs, was founded in November 2011 by a team with backgrounds in computer science, search and OS development. Co-founder Mark Daiss majored in Cognitive Science at the University of California, and previously founded Pupil, an image based Q&A app, where he also focused on the problem of bringing relevant information to smartphone users when it was most useful. Meanwhile, Stanford grad Will Choi worked for Google on its front-end search team; and Paul Montoy-Wilson, also a Stanford grad, worked as a Product Manager for the Android Marketplace (now Google Play), and had previously co-founded customer feedback app HaveASec. Each founder had his own take on how to make mobile phones more effective – Daiss having seen the app discovery and engagement challenges firsthand; Montoy-Wilson with insight into the Android ecosystem itself; and Choi coming at the problem from the search perspective – he wanted to rebuild mobile search from the ground up. What Aviate Does With the Aviate, the goal is to help mobile users de-clutter their Android homescreens, and instead view relevant information adapted to their surroundings, rather than a grid of apps. Where Facebook Home has taken over the Android environment as something of an “apperating system,” to use the term coined by Wired (referring to something in between an app and operating system), the team at Aviate believes there’s more that can be done with such technology, beyond simply optimizing your social networking experiences. Users today have a number of mobile applications on their devices which they access regularly, and that serve a wide variety of functions. It may not make much sense to give over complete control to just one, such as is the case with Facebook Home. (Early adopters of Facebook HomeFacebook Is Getting Serious About Original Programming With "Facebook Live"
May 10, 7:27PM
"House Of Cards" proved that great, exclusive content can create loyal customers. While Facebook isn't about to produce TV shows, it tells me that it plans to ramp up production of its Facebook Live original programming starting with a talk with Star Trek celebrities today at 5:15 p.m. PST. Comedian Andy Samberg will interview film director JJ Abrams and classic cast member and social media maven George Takei.This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: DAS KEYBOARD! DAS AMAZON PHONE! DAS SNAPCHAT!
May 10, 7:00PM
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Snapchat, DAS Keyboard, and the wild Amazon phone. This time we're joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Jordan Crook as Michelle Tanner. Enjoy!Mobile Gaming Backend OpenKit Now Available To All Developers
May 10, 6:59PM
OpenKit, an open-source social platform for mobile games, is now open to all developers, according to co-founder Peter Relan. The service, first announced in December, has been in private beta since earlier this year. There are apparently 1,500 developers already testing the service. Relan previously told me that he started OpenKit in response to the shutdown of OpenFeint, the GREE-acquired social platform for mobile games that he co-founded. Developers still need something like this, Relan said, and he wants to build it in a way that's both "good business and developer friendly."Google Brings Its Cloud Messaging Push Notification Service To Chrome
May 10, 5:22PM
At last year's I/O, Google launched its Cloud Messaging push notification service for Android. This week, it extended this service to Chrome and Chrome OS, which, Google says, allows Chrome apps and extension developers to wake up their apps remotely and/or send alerts to users.Bing Now Allows Users To Like And Comment On Facebook Entries Right From Its Social Sidebar
May 10, 4:56PM
Bing‘s social sidebar, which shows relevant entries from your Facebook friends, Twitter, Klout, Quora and other services, just got a lot more interactive. You can now like Facebook posts in the social sidebar and add their own comments. In addition you can now also see all of the existing comments on a post right in the sidebar, too. This, Microsoft believes, will make the social search experience on Bing even more interactive, engaging and helpful than before. It also means users don’t have to leave Bing to engage with these posts. Chances are, after all, that they will get distracted by all of the other goodies Facebook has to offer once they leave Bing and won’t return anytime soon. Personally, I’ve never found these social search results all that useful. Microsoft, however, clearly believes that this, in combination with what they are doing around semantic search, will allow it to continue to compete with Google, which seems to have de-emphasized social search over the last few months. With its Scroogled campaign and “Bing It On” challenge, Microsoft has obviously been taking a far more aggressive stance against Google in recent months and it’s slowly adding new users. Currently, Google has a market share of about 67 percent in the U.S., and Bing is close to reaching 17 percent. There have been some recent rumors, however, that Yahoo is looking to drop Bing as its search provider (Yahoo currently commands just under 12 percent of the U.S. search market with its Bing-powered search), but given the long-term deal between the two companies, that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.3 Graphs Explain Why There Is A Tech-Talent Shortage And Immigrants Are Needed
May 10, 4:29PM
Yes, we do need high-skilled immigrants because we don't have enough qualified workers. Contrary to a widely publicized report claiming that a tech-talent shortage is a myth, A new Brookings Institute study confirms our argument that there is a shortage and businesses need immigrants to fill the innovation vacuum.Elevatr Is A Mobile-First Tool For Startup Business Plan Creation
May 10, 4:04PM
Serial entrepreneur with too many ideas rattling around in your head? Then you're going to like this one: a new mobile app called Elevatr will help you keep track of your inspirations, as well as develop a business model, in order to turn your passing thoughts into plans actually worth pursuing some day. The beautifully designed app was dreamt up by New York-based David Spiro, a recent college of engineering and business school grad from the University of Michigan. He had spent time working with the standard tools for business model development, including the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas, while in school.Falling iPad Mini Demand Claims Show Why Watching Suppliers For Apple Success Misses The Point
May 10, 4:02PM
This week, Bloomberg sparked a number of headlines with reports that iPad mini demand was failing based on supplier Pegatron's earnings numbers as revealed at an investor conference. Those claims were later refuted by Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng, who argued that Bloomberg's Tim Culpan had misquoted him to reach his conclusion about iPad mini numbers.Video Discovery Startup Boxfish Launches Android App, Opens Up API For Third-Party Developers
May 10, 4:00PM
Video discovery startup Boxfish wants to help people find out what's new and trending on TV, by scouring broadcast and cable networks to find out what people are talking about. After making its second-screen discovery application available for iOS, the startup has just released an Android version.Boobs? Brayola Wants You To Snap A Pic Of Your Bra For The World's Viewing And Judging Enjoyment
May 10, 2:57PM
Who wants to see some boobs? Thanks to a new feature from Brayola, the startup looking to pair your boobs with the right bra, you can not only check out an endless stream of breasts but perhaps you can even find a bra that fits correctly. According to the company, 80 percent of women are wearing the wrong size bra. Shocking, no? But the new Fit or Not feature from Brayola aims to change all that, and not in the most traditional way you might imagine.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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