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Marc Andreessen: Beijing Should Be Another Silicon Valley, But….
Jun 28, 2:41AM
Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder and namesake behind venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said that he’s skeptical that efforts globally to recreate the Silicon Valley ecosystem will succeed. Even the most promising city and rival to the U.S.’s Silicon Valley, Beijing, faces lots of potential complications because laws around contracts aren’t as straightforward as they could be, he said. Outside of the U.S., Beijing is one of the cities that is able to consistently produce tech giants like Baidu (although Alibaba’s headquarters are in Hangzhou and Tencent is based in Shenzhen). “China should be another United States from an economic standpoint. Beijing should be another Silicon Valley,” he said in an interview at 500 Startup’s Pre-Money conference today in San Francisco. “I think the early indicators have been promising. There are some amazing stories like Alibaba and Tencent.” Bet he went on, expressing some doubt in the country’s ability to set up a transparent system of contracts and law that make it easy for entrepreneurs to protect their work. “I worry about the system — the ability to sustain the process and have a system. A lot of it has to do with the same frustrations we’re hearing from Chinese entrepreneurs. There are still issues with the rule of law and basic contract law. There are still issues with IP integrity,” he said. “They have the idea that there can be a free economy without free speech, which I think is not true.” It’s a common complaint I’ve heard in the Beijing-based community myself. There isn’t the same practice or habit of ‘acq-hires’ in China. Instead, the major powers like Tencent may go in and directly copy small startups instead of trying to acquire or lure them in first. As controversial as the process of ‘talent acquisitions’ may be in the West, they also form a safety net for talent product managers or engineers to try new ideas. At the same time, the Chinese government has erected a massive ‘Great Firewall’ of surveillance and censorship over online discourse in the country. While Andreessen says this might not be sustainable over the long-term, the effort has actually helped domestic companies so far, with protections enabling products like Baidu’s search engine to succeed at Google’s loss or market share or monitored social networking platforms like Tencent’s WeChat or Sina Weibo to grow while U.S. products like Facebook and Twitter are unable toAs Snapchat Grows Up, It Must Retain Its Youth
Jun 28, 12:46AM
It has been quite a week for Snapchat. Now, the founders will try to keep their heads down and out of the spotlight as they work to grow the product and company. Snapchat is all about discovery and quickly and intimately sharing brief moments with friends. Everything the company does moving forward will have to hold true to its mission. But this could evolve from simply one-on-one sharing.Mark Suster On Being "Upfront," Plans For His New $200M Fund, And High Expectations For The LA Startup Ecosystem
Jun 28, 12:30AM
Mark Suster's venture firm just wrapped up a new $200 million fund, and it also has a brand new name: Upfront Ventures. Today, I got a chance to sit down with him to talk about the firm's new branding, as well as his plans for the new fund and continued support for the L.A. startup ecosystem.Facebook Launches Related Hashtags And #Mobile Site Support
Jun 28, 12:06AM
Facebook's on a quest to get you involved in real-time global conversations. Today it takes the next step towards challenging Twitter by adding hashtag support to its mobile site and launching related hashtags. Starting this evening, when you click or search for a hashtag, the results will page show other hashtags often posted at the same time. Search #equality and you'll see #lgbt and #pride.Propeller Gets $1.25M From A16z, ffAngel, Everyone Good Basically
Jun 27, 11:25PM
The app that allows you to create your own native apps, Propeller, has raised $1.25 million from Andreessen Horowitz, ffAngel, Menlo Ventures, Foundation Capital, Max Levchin, Ashton Kutcher, Keith Rabois, Scott Banister, Jason Portnoy, Lee Linden, Rothenberg Ventures and Alfred Mandel.Vine For Android Gets Updated With Front-Facing Camera Support
Jun 27, 10:56PM
When Vine started shipping for Android, there was one, big, near-universal complaint amongst its users: It didn't support front-facing cameras. While the existing iOS port had been supporting front cameras for months, Android users looking to take Vine-selfies (Velfies?) were stuck contorting their wrists like some sort of chump. In an update pushed to the Google Play store just a few minutes ago, Vine for Android finally picked up compatibility that front lens.Unity Game Engine Announces Xbox One Support, Goes Free For Windows Phone 8 Developers
Jun 27, 10:02PM
Unity, the cross-platform 3D engine and game development tool that's been on something of a roll lately, has a few more bits of good news today. At Microsoft's Build 2013 conference this morning, Unity announced two new tricks: Xbox One (and Kinect!) support, and completely free support for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 games.Case Study Shows Google+ Sign-Ins Are Working, Increased Snapette Sign-Ups By 16%
Jun 27, 9:28PM
One developer feature Google is really stressing these days is Google+ Sign-in, the company’s recently launched authentication tool for third-party sites and mobile apps. While the company will continue to support its standard Google Sign-in tool as well, it’s pushing hard to get users to switch to its new system. The Google+ version has the advantage (or not, depending on your perspective) of being linked directly to Google’s social network and profiles and can therefore provide sites with easier registration system and more information about their users. A number of large companies have now integrated Google+ Sign-ins, and we are starting to get some data about how things are going. Mind you, these are somewhat self-selected Google partners, but the results are still pretty interesting. Most companies don’t want to go on the record with their numbers, but Google just published a case study with Snapette that’s pretty much in line what we’ve been hearing, too. Snapette Case Study: 44.2% Use Google+ Sign-ins, Registrations Up 16% The latest numbers come from mobile shopping app Snapette, which launched in 2011, and this marks the first time we’re seeing some of these stats for a service that uses Google+ Sign-in. Just over 44 percent of the service’s users now use Google+ to sign in to their accounts. That’s a bit higher than the 40 percent acceptance rate Google itself cited earlier this year. Snapette also says it’s been seeing an uptick in user registrations since integrating this feature. The company says it saw “an increase in registered users of 16% above average growth” since it started using this tool.Incubator AngelPad Plans To Launch A New York Office, Says Its Startups Have Raised $100M Total
Jun 27, 8:59PM
Startup incubator AngelPad is looking beyond its current base in San Francisco — founder Thomas Korte just announced that he plans to hold one of his two annual sessions in New York City. That doesn't mean AngelPad is going to be working with more companies or hiring more staff. Instead, the New York class is taking the place of one of the two San Francisco sessions, and Korte said that he and partner Carine Magescas will be running both of them.Immigration Reform Passes Senate, House Leadership Calls Bill A "Pipe Dream"
Jun 27, 8:54PM
Immigration reform is half-way to its goal: The Senate passed a comprehensive bill this afternoon 68 to 32. The bill is loaded with tech-industry goodies, including more foreign visas, a special visa for startup entrepreneurs, and unlimited space for brainiac inventors and scientists. However, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have unspecified issues with the bill and say the Senate version is a "pipe dream."Adobe Acquires Conversational Marketing Platform Neolane For $600M In Cash To Bolster Its Marketing Cloud
Jun 27, 8:44PM
Adobe today announced that it has acquired Neolane, a conversational marketing company with an annual revenue of just under $60 million, in a transaction that’s worth $600 million in cash. Neolane was founded in 2001 and is currently headquartered in Paris, France, with offices around Europe, North America and Asia. The company’s customers include the likes of Accor Hotels, Alcatel-Lucent, IKEA, Samsung, Sony and Dior. For Adobe, which is putting quite a few resources into its Marketing Cloud, this acquisition adds a new piece to its feature lineup. Adobe does offer Adobe Social, which provides a number of social media-tracking and analysis tools. Neolane’s feature lineup, however, is far larger and includes tools like handling leads, marketing resource management, high-volume email marketing campaigns and a real-time offer recommendation engine for personalized, one-to-one messages. Neolane, Adobe says, will become the sixth solution in the Marketing Cloud, joining its existing Analytics, Target, Social, Experience Manager and Media Optimizer offerings. Last year, Neolane raised a $27 million funding round led by Battery Ventures with participation by Auriga Partners and XAnge Private Equity. "The acquisition of Neolane brings critical cross-channel campaign managementcapabilities to the Adobe Marketing Cloud," said Brad Rencher, senior vice presidentand general manager of Adobe's Digital Marketing business in a canned statement today. "Adobe has long been the trusted partner to creative professionals and we are now extending our lead in the digital marketing space with the addition of Neolane. From campaign creation through planning, execution and optimization, Adobe technology is driving the entire marketing process."Google Looking For Groups To Provide The Next Hikers To Don Trekker Street View Backpack
Jun 27, 8:44PM
Google is trying hard to build out its Street View-style imagery of locales off the beaten path with its Trekker program. The Trekker, a roughly 40-pound backpack that has a camera-ridden sphere poking out over its wearer's head, captures 360-degree fields of view which are then used to build interactive, first-person views of remote places like the Grand Canyon. Google is now looking for applicants to help it continue to expand its Trekker efforts.New Relic Teams With Microsoft To Offer Performance Monitoring On Windows Azure
Jun 27, 8:34PM
New Relic and Microsoft will offer performance anaytics to gain insight into the performance of native apps and websites running on Windows Azure. The company already provides app performance for the Windows Azure services and solutions. These include Windows Azure Virtual Machines, Windows Azure Cloud Services, Web and Worker Role Instances. They also offer integration with Windows Azure SQL Database, which is available as a plugin to send data to the New Relic Platform.Rolocule's Motion Tennis App Turns The Apple TV And iPhone Into A Legitimate Gaming System
Jun 27, 8:17PM
Just in time for Wimbledon, Rolocule Games is releasing a new tennis game today. It’s not Rolocule’s first foray into virtual racquet sports, but it is the first that turns your iPhone into the controller and Apple TV into a gaming console. The Motion Tennis app, which costs $7.99, uses the iPhone’s gyroscope, magnetometer, and accelerometer to track the phone’s motion, so players can slice and slam shots across the court. All you need is an Apple TV and an iPhone: hook the two up, open the app, and you’re playing tennis. Rolocule is selling rolomotion — its name for the technology that powers Motion Tennis — on a few points, one being that it eliminates the necessity for a console system and lets people play on any Apple TV, anywhere. Rolocule will eventually be releasing Motion Badminton and Squash as well, and they’re working on a shooting game unofficially called “Die Zombies Die!” While Rolocule has only stepped into immediate competition with games like Wii Tennis today, it’s easy to see the implications of developing good console-free gaming. It’s a huge market to cut into, and rolomotion games are light, portable, and relatively cheap, excluding the $99 Apple TV. Rolocule raised an angel round in India last year with Mumbai Angels and Blume Ventures, though Gupta would not disclose how much they raised. He said that they might be looking to raise again, especially if they want to become leaders in this technology. I wouldn’t put it past them. It’s also a look into iPhone games that don’t involve tilting or swiping across the screen, which founder Rohit Gupta said has limited the creative breadth of games. That may be true, but it would seem that the first move for rolomotion would be to replicate every console game possible. Creativity can come after total game domination. Oh, and you might want to invest in one of those iPhone cases with an elastic strap on the back. You know, so you don’t end up ruining your TV and your phone. [Image from Rolocule]AdTech Star Nanigans Scoops Up Facebook's Retargeted Ads Director Antonio Garcia-Martinez
Jun 27, 8:10PM
Facebook's just lost some critical business talent. Today, ads product director Gokul Rajaram was poached by Square, and now Facebook Exchange director Antonio Garcia-Martinez, who left in April, has signed on with one of Facebook's top ad partners, Nanigans. Garcia-Martinez's formal title is "Advisor" and he could help Nanigans keep adapting to Facebook's ever-changing ad platform.DigitalOcean Wants To Challenge Amazon, Linode And Co. With Better Prices, Marketing And Focus On Simplicity
Jun 27, 8:00PM
DigitalOcean is quickly becoming a household name in the web-hosting world. For $5 a month, the company lets you rent a basic virtual private server (or "droplets," as the company calls them) with 512MB of RAM and a 20GB of SSD-powered hard disk space in one of its three locations (two in the U.S. and one in Amsterdam). The company, as its co-founder and CEO Ben Uretsky told me, believes that its focus on simplicity, speed and keeping prices low will allow it to effectively challenge the incumbents in this space.Boombot Rex Makes Good On Kickstarter Promises With Durable, Siri-Friendly Bluetooth Speaker
Jun 27, 7:42PM
Sometimes I refer to Kickstarter as the "land of broken dreams," especially when I'm looking through my backer history and noting how few projects actually delivered, and how disappointing were most of the ones that did. The Boombot Rex does not fall into either of those categories, thanks to an experienced team that sent me a review unit of the shipping product a couple of weeks ago.Ex-Groupon CEO Andrew Mason's Album Of Motivational Music Is Coming Out Next Week
Jun 27, 7:37PM
We already told you that Andrew Mason, the Groupon founder who was ousted from the CEO role there earlier this year, was dead serious when he said last month that he was planning to release a motivational album about career success called "Hardly Workin'" (Mason is known pretty well for his sense of humor, so many people thought he had to be joking about his foray into music.) Well, for those of us who have been very curious to hear Mason dropping workplace knowledge in musical format, the wait is almost over.Applifier's FaceCam, Which Records Mobile Gamers' Reactions While They Play, Comes Out Of Beta
Jun 27, 7:00PM
Applifier, which runs a mobile-social gaming network where players can share video playbacks of their virtual feats, is pulling FaceCam, a product using the front-facing camera, out of beta. FaceCam records a person’s gameplay and their facial expressions while they’re playing from the front-facing camera. It sometimes can look a bit awkward (see here) or hilarious, but for some gamers, it’s the most vivid way to share how twitchy a game can be. The Helsinki and San Francisco-based startup incorporated FaceCam into games like NimbleBit’s Nimble Quest and Angry Birds-maker Rovio’s Bad Piggies in the beta. The company says it’s seeing about two minutes of gameplay video shared every minute, with the volume of time growing 750 percent compared to the first quarter of this year. Month-over-month, the company says, the number of minutes shared has grown by more than 25 percent. They didn’t disclose the raw number of videos shared, however. With improvement in data connections, we’re seeing mobile app makers — both in the general consumer space and in gaming — adopt more video features. On the general consumer side, Twitter’s Vine took off on the free charts and accumulated 13 million users as of a few weeks ago, while Instagram launched video last week. In gaming, both the major consoles, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, announced built-in video sharing while Twitch, which stream live match-ups for video gamers, reports 35 million unique viewers a month who watch about 1.5 hours of video play each day on average. Applifier, with its network Everyplay, is looking to replicate that video-sharing experience on mobile platforms. The company has a longstanding network for cross-promoting social games on Facebook, and pivoted (like much of the rest of the industry) to mobile platforms over the last year. Last year, they launched a beta for sharing mobile gaming replays. Then they added front-facing camera options after closing a $4 million second venture round led by Finland’s Lifeline Ventures. They are also backed by MHS Capital, PROfounders Capital, Tekes and Webb Investment Network.Facebook Opens Signups To Android Beta Program So You Can Help Test And Improve Its Apps
Jun 27, 6:37PM
Today Facebook announced it will soon begin taking signups for its new Facebook For Android Beta Program that uses Google Play's new beta system to push pre-release versions of its apps to users so they can help it catch bugs and offer feedback.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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