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30 Days In, Bitcoin Angel Group BitAngels Doubles Network To 120, Puts First $100K Into Seasteading Venture, Blueseed
Jun 19, 11:23PM
As has been written ad nauseam, we've seen a lot of activity in the wild and wacky world of cryptocurrency of late, thanks primarily to the tech industry's new obsession with Bitcoin. Depending on whom you ask, digital currency like Bitcoin will either be worth nothing in 10 years, or its value will make Warren Buffet weep. It's a polarizing topic at its very essence, but one thing is for sure: So far, venture capitalists are loving this emerging market, and startups are beginning to follow suit.EMC Acquires Israeli Storage Startup ScaleIO For $200M-$300M To Compete Better With The Cloud Kings
Jun 19, 10:58PM
Palo Alto-based ScaleIO is one of a new generation of startup storage providers that's using intelligent software to help big companies streamline and converge their data storage operations at scale, across thousands of servers. On a mission to re-imagine the very operations of enterprise data centers, the startup's tech takes aim at the core business of storage giants like EMC and IBM. In fact, ScaleIO claims that its block storage technology offers 80 to 90 percent savings compared to the bigs.Why MakerBot Is Like Apple
Jun 19, 10:41PM
When we first discovered that Makerbot was looking to partner with Stratasys I was a bit non-plussed. Makerbot, as I've noted before, has a certain indie cred that makes this move a bit unpalatable.Well Done, Microsoft
Jun 19, 10:39PM
The reveal of the Xbox One didn't go as Microsoft hoped. Gamers loved the system, but hated the absurd restrictions placed on the games. But Microsoft listened and just today reversed its stance on some of the more ridiculous policies. Good for them. Good for us. I mean, the outcry was hard to ignore. The memes, the tweets, the visceral anger was everywhere. Even the talking heads on nationwide morning talk shows were debating the curious DRM restrictions.Microsoft Heeds Gamer Feedback, Dumps Xbox One DRM Restrictions
Jun 19, 9:52PM
Attention gamers: you win. The folks at Redmond infuriated many when it revealed that the Xbox One would come with a long list of potential caveats -- there was the automated 24 hour check-in to keep the console in playable condition, and the restrictions on who you could share disc-based games with, not to mention the fact that it would shipped region-locked. Unsurprisingly, the gaming community lashed out in a big way, and Microsoft is finally doing something about it. According to a recent mea culpa from Microsoft Interactive Entertainment President Don Mattrick, the company has suddenly decided to drop all that nonsense due to an outpouring of (largely negative) feedback.Twitter Acquires Local Discovery Startup Spindle, Will End Spindle Service
Jun 19, 9:37PM
Twitter today acquired Spindle, an app that uses mobile devices and social networks to make a smarter localized search engine. The Spindle team will move to San Francisco and shutter the Spindle app. Using social networks, the time of day, and your location, Spindle would show you places you may want to visit, like restaurants or stores or other points of interest.Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot In $403M Deal, Combined Company Will Likely Dominate 3D Printing Industry
Jun 19, 8:32PM
Today Stratasys announced that it has acquired MakerBot, as we reported, in a stock deal worth $403 million based on the current share value of Stratasys. The combination of the companies brings together a leader in 3D industrial printing and manufacturing, with the emerging leader in desktop 3D printing, which the companies said in a press release should help drive "faster adoption of 3D printing" across all categories.Microsoft Was Close To A Nokia Acquisition Before Talks Broke Down Recently, WSJ Reports
Jun 19, 8:28PM
Microsoft and Nokia have gotten pretty cosy over the past few years, and at the time of the announcement of the Finnish company's decision to use Windows Phone OS to power its smartphones, many speculated it was the first overture for a coming acquisition. And that is apparently where things were headed, according to the Wall Street Journal, but the proposed deal has since fallen apart.Google's Dart SDK and Editor Hit Beta With Improved Performance, Smarter Code Completion And More
Jun 19, 8:25PM
Google today launched the first beta version of its Dart SDK and Editor. With this update, Google says, the SDK can now produce significantly smaller and faster JavaScript code and make it easier for Dart developers to deploy their code. The Dart Editor now features an analysis engine that's 20 percent faster at parsing and analyzing code as you type it, making it a bit less likely that your code won't run because of a typo.Zynga Acquires Spooky Cool Labs To Boost Its Social Casino Push
Jun 19, 8:05PM
In spite of the recent layoffs, Zynga is still picking up talent in strategic areas like social casino gaming. The company bought a roughly 40-person team called Spooky Cool Labs full of real-money gaming talent. Based in Chicago, the Spooky Cool Labs team is made up of social and real money gaming veterans from companies such as Aristocrat, and slot machine makers like IGT (International Game Technology) and WMS Gaming. The company’s founder, Joe Kaminkow, was ranked as one of the 10 most influential people in the history of slots by Strictly Slots Magazine. But from Spooky Cool’s website, the company looks like it had been working on non-casino titles like a Wizard of Oz city-building social game. Zynga says that access to this Wizard of Oz brand is part of the deal. The team will stay in Chicago and work with Zynga’s San Francisco-based social casino gaming team. In another interesting twist to this deal, Kaminkow will apparently also still lead game design at Aristocrat Leisure Limited, an Australian company that’s one of the biggest slots makers in the world. He told VentureBeat back in March that he had taken a job as a senior vice president of game development at Aristocrat Leisure. Spooky Cool also had backing from the Hearst Corporation, but they didn’t disclose the amount of funding. As Zynga grapples with how to approach mobile platforms, it has relied on one of its old standbys: Zynga Poker. At the same time, the company has made steps toward exploring how to incorporate real money into its betting games. The company made its first real-money games live in the U.K. in April, just after the first-quarter closed. But it has yet to bring these real-money efforts to the Facebook platform or mobile in that market. In December, the company also applied for a "preliminary finding of suitability" from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, starting a process that could take more than a year.Cortica Raises $6.4M To Improve Visual Search And In-Image Ads
Jun 19, 8:03PM
Cortica, a startup developing technology for analyzing in-image content, is announcing that it has raised $6.4 million in Series B funding. The round was led by previous investors Horizons Ventures (the firm which manages investments for Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing), with participation from Russian firm Mail.ru Group and other angel investors. Cortica has now raised a total of $18 million.Wired Editor Michael Copeland Joins Andreessen Horowitz To Lead New 'Content Strategy'
Jun 19, 7:20PM
Wired Senior Editor Michael Copeland is joining venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. We've confirmed with the VC firm that Copeland will be leading Andreessen's new 'content strategy.'Twitter Adds Easier Column Navigation To Tweetdeck For Power Users
Jun 19, 7:02PM
Twitter added new features to Tweetdeck today that makes it easier to arrange and consume various feeds. Column headers now have "grab handles" in the top-left corner so they can quickly and easily be rearranged. If you are looking at fewer than four feeds, the selected column will now snap its left edge to the sidebar; if four or more columns are visible, the selected column will still be in the center of the screen, like before.Founder Stories: Airbnb's Nate Blecharczyk On Being The Only Engineer For The First Year
Jun 19, 7:00PM
This week on Founder Stories, I sat down with Airbnb co-founder Nate Blecharczyk. One of the things that strikes me as original to Airbnb's founding team is that, unlike most startups I can think of, two of the co-founders are designers, and Blecharczyk, who's a co-founder and CTO, is an engineer. "It's pretty unusual, and I actually attribute a lot of our success to that combination," says Blecharczyk.Backed By First Round's Dorm Room Fund, Pagevamp Turns Facebook Pages Into Websites
Jun 19, 6:59PM
It feels like startups are taking more and more steps to make the website creation process as easy as possible. There are companies like Weebly, which offer drag-and-drop interfaces for building websites. There's Barley, which doesn't require any layout work at all. And now there's Pagevamp, which allows you to turn a Facebook Page into a website.Lytro Enables Its Camera's Hidden WiFi Chip, Launches A Companion iOS App (With Animated GIFs!)
Jun 19, 6:56PM
It sure doesn't seem like many people have bought Lytro's crazy light-field camera (the one that lets you focus your photos after you take them) — but if you're one of those who did: go plug it in. Lytro has just released an update that enables the camera's dormant WiFi chip, along with an iOS app that lets you wirelessly access and share your photos. Oh, and it makes super trippy animated GIFs!The Case For And Against Candy Crush-Maker King's Possible IPO
Jun 19, 6:28PM
Zynga cast a long shadow when its stock tanked by about 75 percent in the first year after going public. But that apparently isn’t scaring off other contenders in the gaming industry from an IPO. Over the past two weeks, I had heard from several sources in the industry that King — the maker of mega-hit Candy Crush Saga — had changed its internal thinking around an IPO. The astounding success of Candy Crush blew through all of the company’s 2013 financial targets in a single month, the company’s CEO Riccardo Zacconi told me back in March at the Game Developers Conference back in San Francisco. Candy Crush has done so well on virtual currency transactions that they’ve even stopped doing advertising. Then The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the company had hired J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG, and Bank of America Corp. to handle an IPO. It definitely isn’t the first time they’ve thought seriously about this. In early 2012, the company had restructured for a possible IPO, hunted for a Silicon Valley-based board member, and put its financial reporting more in line with generally accepted accounting principles. But they pulled back. Publicly, the company hasn’t changed its tune about keeping its options open. King’s chief marketing officer Alex Dale told me a few days ago before the Journal story ran: “There are no current plans for that. What we did do is organize the company in such a way that were we to decide to do that, we were set up to do it. We would keep the option open, if you like.” The company says it has nothing extra to add today. Still, honestly I’m a bit surprised. As I wrote last week, I’m skeptical that the venture model works for many (but not all) gaming companies. And I’m even more skeptical that public investors, ruled by “animal spirits,” are equipped to value gaming companies. They’ll bid up a stock when there’s a hit: just look at Gung-Ho’s ridiculous 6,700 percent one-year return to a $14.6 billion market cap because of Puzzle & Dragons. Then they’ll oversell on misses. (See Zynga.) Companies that have hits on generally don’t need the cash. The success of comparable companies like Finland’s Supercell on iOS would suggest that King is probably pulling in around $2 to 3 million per day from its Match-3 game. ThatMicrosoft Launches Security Bounty Program, Will Pay Up To $100K For Exploits
Jun 19, 6:12PM
Microsoft has long resisted this move, but starting June 26 — the date the Windows 8.1 preview will ship — it will finally launch its own security bounty program. The company will offer bounties up to $100,000 for “truly novel exploitation techniques” that expose security issues in Windows 8.1 Preview. It will also pay up to $11,000 for Internet Explorer 11 vulnerabilities and up to $50,000 for “defensive ideas that accompany a qualifying Mitigation Bypass submission.” Microsoft says it made this shift to bounty programs “in order to learn about these issues earlier and to increase the win-win between Microsoft's customers and the security researcher community.” It’s worth noting that the IE 11 Preview program will only be open for 30 days after the launch of Windows 8.1 Preview. This makes sense, though. The IE 11 bounty, Microsoft says, is mostly meant to “fill a gap in the vulnerability marketplace to the benefit of researchers, Microsoft engineers and our customers.” Most existing bounty programs and white market vulnerability brokers like HP's Tipping Point Zero Day Initiative and iDEFENSE's Vulnerability Contributor Program also don’t offer bounties for beta software. The company acknowledges that it isn’t exactly the first vendor to offer this kind of program, though Katie Moussouris, the senior security strategist lead, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, argues that the company has long sponsored hacker conferences and awarded cash and prizes through other programs in the past. She also notes that Microsoft will likely announce a number of other ways to work with users and industry partners to discover security issues. Here is a full description of the three programs: Mitigation Bypass Bounty – Microsoft will pay up to $100,000 USD for truly novel exploitation techniques against protections built into the latest version of our operating system (Windows 8.1 Preview). Learning about new exploitation techniques earlier helps Microsoft improve security by leaps, instead of one vulnerability at a time. This is an ongoing program and not tied to any event or contest. BlueHat Bonus for Defense – Microsoft will pay up to $50,000 USD for defensive ideas that accompany a qualifying Mitigation Bypass Bounty submission. Doing so highlights our continued support of defense and provides a way for the research community to help protect over a billion computer systems worldwide from vulnerabilities that may not have even been discovered. IE11 Preview Bug Bounty – Microsoft will pay up to $11,000 USD for criticalSurprise! You Still Get Six More Days To Apply To Disrupt SF Battlefield
Jun 19, 6:11PM
Procrastination is a bitch. We get it. That’s why the new deadline to apply to TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield San Francisco, our preeminent startup competition, is this coming Monday, June 24. In case you miss the thousands of posts we do about these things: Applications to the 2013 TechCrunch SF Disrupt Startup Battlefield are now open and will close at midnight on Monday. We want to break the all-time application record of 1043 from this past Spring in NY, so muster up the courage Tributes! We review applications on a rolling basis, so it's to your advantage to submit as soon as you can. Due to strong demand, we are unable to review applications more than once, so please don’t submit a draft application before you are ready. All submissions are confidential unless otherwise permitted by applicants on the application form. More boilerplate notes: PowerPoint slides and video demos are optional but highly encouraged — Show don’t tell. We reserve the right not to review applications without video demos based on application volume. We look forward to reviewing your application. And may the odds be ever in your favor.Facebook Redesigns Page Insights To Give Businesses Clearer, More Actionable Data
Jun 19, 6:01PM
Facebook is announcing some changes to Page Insights, the analytics tool for monitoring the performance of your Facebook Pages. Product Marketing Manager Galyn Burke told me that this is the first time the Page Insights interface has been updated since October 2011. Now, the specific changes may sound a little arcane to folks who don't actually use Page Insights, but Burke said the update is, in large part, a response to something that Facebook has been hearing from Page owners: "Don't just tell me how my Page is doing. Tell me how I can do better next time." Ultimately, if the update works as expected, businesses will have a better sense of what is and isn't working on their Pages, so they can create better, more engaging content — and perhaps spend more on advertising with Facebook in order to promote that content.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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