Hi there!
Here's the latest feed from TechCrunch.
Add feeds@feed2email.net to your contact list to make sure you receive all your emails
Make sure to visit feed2email.net to get more feeds sent to your inbox.
To find out which feeds you are subscribed to, or to get further help, just reply to this email.
Bitcoin Ticker Available On Bloomberg Terminal For Employees
Aug 10, 12:48AM
Bitcoin is now officially mainstream. According to BTC Geek, Bloomberg terminal users can now look up Bitcoin’s pricing history. Data comes from ubiquitous Bitcoin exchange service Mt. Gox as well as Tradehill. For now, only Bloomberg employees can access the ticker. But the feature should make its way to regular Bloomberg terminal customers under the label XBT. The ticker probably shows what a bitcoin is worth in U.S. dollars over time. So far, trading Bitcoins have remained a hobby activity as volatility is very important. It’s hard to predict price changes due to the lack of tools and the relatively low number of Bitcoin traders compared to currency traders. One of the most efficient tickers is Bitcoinity, but Bloomberg terminals could become the de facto standard for traders. The feature proves that investment banks are interested by the cryptocurrency. With the Bloomberg terminal, traders could easily compare Bitcoins with other currencies in order to short them. When it comes to shorting currencies, traders do it by investing their portfolio in another currency. For example, they would sell USD to buy EUR, effectively creating a net short USD and a net long EUR position. Yet, traders still have to use Bitcoin exchange services like Mt. Gox or Tradehill for transactions. They won’t be able to execute buy or sell orders from their Bloomberg terminals. It could be the last technical difficulty before investing some time and money in Bitcoins. At first, the Bloomberg terminal remains a great tool to keep up with financial news. It even includes Twitter feeds now. Even if Bitcoin trading won’t become the main activity on Wall Street, the ticker creates another data point for information purposes. Just three days ago, a federal judge in Texas ruled that Bitcoin is a currency. Transactions and institutions should therefore be regulated just like other financial institutions that deal with dollars. Similarly, back in May, Mt. Gox had to state that it provides money services in order to continue to operate in the U.S. While the original purpose of Bitcoin was that there was no central bank and regulation, Bloomberg confirms yet again the legitimation of Bitcoins with the new ticker. Bitcoins and U.S. dollars will soon appear on the same screen, side by side. Traders, start trading.Why Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post For $250M
Aug 09, 11:44PM
Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test. Test, test, test, test.Skolkovo, Russia's Massive Project To Emulate Silicon Valley, Gets A $4B Commitment
Aug 09, 11:28PM
Skolkovo, the much debated public effort by the Russian government to kickstart a startup culture inside the country, said it secured another 135.6 billion ruble ($4 billion) commitment from the government through the next seven years. With additional private investor money projected on top of the government commitment, Skolkovo’s new funding should total about $15 billion through 2020, according to a report in The Moscow Times. Skolkovo is a massive government-led effort to diversify the Russian economy away from its dependency on natural resources and build an entrepreneurship culture inside the country. At its heart is a 1,000-acre site about an hour from central Moscow that is slated to become a hub for venture-backed startups, technical research and education. Right now, the site contains a lone Hypercube — a steel, glass and concrete structure housing conference rooms and co-working spaces. It is basically surrounded by vacant plains at this point. Mike Butcher took a look at the project earlier this year in this feature. Naturally, Skolkovo has also attracted its critics. Is the project too quixotic? Is it corrupt? These are issues that Russians in the startup community debate regularly. Earlier this year, the project became embroiled in a corruption scandal, resulting in the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov. Not only that, the project’s major backer has been former president Dmitry Medvedev, who took the role of prime minister after Vladimir Putin returned to power. There were questions about whether it would be as strongly supported under Putin’s regime, which may view Medvedev as a threat. But this new commitment will apparently keep the project moving forward. Companies like Nokia, Siemens, Samsung and Cisco Systems have pledged to move research and development resources to the hub and Skolkovo says it has ties to about 1,000 startups and currently supports 13,000 jobs. Skolkovo echoes the old secret technical cities of the Soviet era. It is a special economic zone that has unique tax breaks lasting five to seven years, its own border controls and legislative incentives for startups. It also has its own special version of the ‘Startup Visa’ with laws allowing foreign-born entrepreneurs to work there from other companies. The idea is to circumvent existing laws in Russia, which are especially complex for new businesses. Many Russian startups I’ve met have decided to incorporate in Luxembourg or Cyprus where they feel the intellectual property protections might be stronger. MinorityThe Lytics Facebook-Style Timeline For Customer Intelligence Helps Land $2.2M In Seed Funding
Aug 09, 11:16PM
Lytics has raised a $2.2 million seed round from Rembrandt Venture Partners with participation by Voyager Capital for its platform that provides a Facebook-style timeline for customer intelligence. The customer profile reflects the analysis that Lytics does behind the scenes, collecting data from customers as they interact with the company's brand. It's a database for marketers built on real-time data.Press Corps Fails To Ask Any NSA Questions At Obama's NSA Press Conference
Aug 09, 10:22PM
The White House Press Corps just completely botched the one opportunity we had to learn details about the National Security Agency’s spying program, and the rationale for sweeping government surveillance. During the hour-long press conference President Obama held specifically to answer questions about the NSA, not a single journalist asked him details about the NSA. As a result, we learned precisely zero information from something slated to be critically informative. What did they ask about ? Republicans trying to reverse Obamacare: CHECK! Speculation about presidential economic appointees: CHECK! Obama’s relationship with Putin: CHECK! (Full transcript from the Washington Post here) The Press Corps, dominated by TV broadcasters dependent on ratings from the gossipy machinations of politics, just ditched its obligation to inform the American people. Let’s review: Today, President Obama held a last-minute press conference to announce 4 vague reforms to the intelligence community. We have more details here, but essentially, it boils down to 1) a new independent NSA review board that will publish recommendations on protecting civil liberties 2) a new website detailing the surveillance activities 3) changes to the Patriot Act authorizing the spying, and 4) a new public advocate to argue cases in the secret court that grants the NSA spying requests. After the announcements, Obama opened himself up to questions. Because no one asked any details about the NSA, Here’s what we still don’t know: 1). Do foreign governments swap information with one another to skirt spying laws? British spy agencies reportedly tap the undersea cables used to carry Internet data and share it with the NSA. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) may forbid American agencies from collecting information on domestic targets, but we have no idea whether Britain’s equivalent, the GCHQ, is listening in on American phone calls abroad or watching their Internet behavior (then sharing it with US agents). 2). Have the NSA programs ever actually stopped an attack? A new NSA report [PDF] released today defending its practices notes that surveillance practices helped stop Najibullah Zazi from bombing the New York City Subway. But, as Ben Smith from BuzzFeed argues, it’s likely the first tip came from local police officers, who discovered evidence from a hard-drive of a co-conspirator, collected during the course of normal policy work. Will this new agency have to prove that the programs have ever been useful? Senator Ron Wyden, who has seen the intelligence reports, likewise does notITC Says Samsung Violated Apple Patents, Calls For Sales Ban On Older Samsung Devices
Aug 09, 10:11PM
Apple won a seemingly decisive victory against Samsung in its patent-centric court battle last year, but the legal back-and-forth is far from over. The Cupertino company asked the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. to allow a sales ban on certain Samsung devices earlier today, and now the International Trade Commission has ruled that some of Samsung's older devices violate two of Apple's patents.Betaworks Updates Instapaper's Web Reader, Browser Extensions And Mobile Updates To Come
Aug 09, 9:46PM
Since Betaworks acquired read later service Instapaper from its creator Marco Arment, the startup studio has been pretty quiet. But the first major update is now right around the corner. The web reader was updated and a beta version is available. According to the blog post, the iOS and Android versions will receive some love as well, and many long standing feature requests will eventually come to the service. Users will soon be able to sort and filter unread items in the mobile apps. Like competitor Pocket, Instapaper will have browser extensions to supplement the traditional bookmarklet on the desktop. RSS feeds will make a comeback as there used to be a way to subscribe to an RSS feed in Instapaper, but it was killed due to server charge and Arment’s design decision. Finally, Betaworks mentions new social integrations. For those last two features, Betaworks may integrate Instapaper with its other services, such as Digg. Maybe the RSS feature will be a way to import your feeds from Digg Reader. Maybe the new social integrations will be Digg buttons. Yet, Betaworks has been very careful with Instapaper. One of the reasons the company likes Instapaper is because the service is already profitable. There is no free version of Instapaper on iOS or Android — the app costs $3 on the App Store and Google Play. Moreover, there is an optional subscription fee of $1 a month to unlock a better search feature. That’s why Betaworks doesn’t want to alienate Instapaper’s existing users. The new development team is always asking for feedback on Twitter and on the blog. Similarly, the new web reader currently coexists with the existing Instapaper.com website. In today’s blog post, the Instapaper team mentions Arment’s ideas and to-dos for improving Instapaper. While it’s unclear whether he is still regularly giving advice for the product roadmap, Betaworks is taking into account the feedback he gave during the acquisition. The web reader isn’t the most used component of the service but was clearly neglected until now. This first update is a good sign for the overall product direction and gives us hope for future iOS and Android app updates. Love this. http://t.co/3nS1r0PnHa — Marco Arment (@marcoarment) August 9, 2013Meta, The Crazy AR Glasses That Aim To Do What Google Glass Can't, Go Up For Pre-Order
Aug 09, 9:40PM
Over a year after the announcement Of Google Glass, many folks I talk to still seem to be misunderstanding what Glass can actually do. “It’ll be great for Augmented Reality!” they say, assuming that Glass can render objects directly into your full view of the world (it can’t.) “Ooh! It’ll be like Minority Report!”, expecting Glass’ camera to pick up your every hand wave (it doesn’t.) Then they try on a pair and realize that… well, that’s not what Glass is. But it’s what Meta is aiming to be — and their first (read: still a bit rough) version is going on sale to the public starting today. To picture the Meta, picture a pair of glasses — or, more accurately in its current stage, a pair of safety goggles. Put a translucent, reflective surface in each eye piece, displaying images on top of your field of view as piped out of a tiny projector built into each arm of the frames. Take a couple tiny RGB/Infrared cameras — essentially a miniature Kinect — and strap them to the frame. That’s the Meta. The Meta then plugs into another device to help it with the data crunching; right now, that’s a laptop. Moving forward, it’ll be your phone. After flying under the radar for a bit over a year, Meta debuted itself to the world on Kickstarter back in May. By the end of their campaign, they’d nearly doubled their original goal of $100,000. They promised to ship those units to their backers by the end of this month, and they say they’re on track to meet that deadline — so now they’re opening up pre-sales of the next iteration to everyone. To be clear, the hardware they’re launching today is still quite early. It’s perhaps a bit past the “Developers Only” level, but it’s still mostly meant for the hardcore early-adopters and tinkerers. Hell, its early state is reflected in its very name; this model is called the META.01, suggesting many a revision to come. The META.01 units are going up for sale at $667, with plans to begin shipping in November. The company has pulled in a few hardware designers since their Kinect-taped-to-glasses days, allowing this iteration to be considerably more svelte than the Kickstarter variant that came before it. The Meta.01s will still be a bit more cumbersome than the final hardware they’re hoping to ship, butMIT Students Show How To 3D Print Your Own Non-Duplicatable Keys For Easy Breaking And Entering
Aug 09, 8:56PM
If there's one thing that sucks about breaking-and-entering it's that it's too difficult. Three enterprising young MIT students have figured out a way to make that easier, thanks to a 3D printing workaround to the sticky issue of making duplicates of so-called "non-duplicatable" keys. All you need is a flatbed scanner, an original Primus lock key made by Schlage (or just a picture of one) and some code the students revealed at last weekends DevCon hacking conference.Obama Says "No, I Don't Think Mr. Snowden Is A Patriot" As Leak Risked National Security
Aug 09, 8:18PM
President Obama said a review of the NSA could have come "without putting at risk our national security", and therefore, declared, "No, I don't think Mr. Snowden is a patriot" at a press conference today on spying transparency. Obama insisted he had ordered a review of surveillance programs before the "NSA leaker" kicked off a "not always fully informed" debate, but will implement spying reforms.Fail Week: Max Levchin's 'Doomed' College Startup That Maxed Out His Credit Cards (And Got Him Dumped)
Aug 09, 8:12PM
The road to big shiny success is often paved with quite a few failures. But for whatever reason, we in the tech press concentrate much more on stories about the big wins in the industry, and we tend to ignore the many losses incurred along the way. This is something that needs to change -- people going through tough times in building a business should know that they're not alone. So TechCrunch TV decided to declare this week "Fail Week," and run a five day long video series in which we talk to some of tech's most famously successful people about the darkest days in their careers when everything seemed to be going wrong.Gillmor Gang Live 08.09.13 (TCTV)
Aug 09, 8:11PM
Gillmor Gang - Robert Scoble, Doc Searls, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session for today has concluded. Like us at Facebook.com/GillmorGangSpikes Builds A Secure Browser For The Enterprise
Aug 09, 8:00PM
The vast majority of malware on corporate networks arrives through the browser. Branden Spikes, the CEO of Spikes, believes that by virtualizing the browser and having it run separate from the desktop, his company can prevent the vast majority of these attacks. The WebKit-based browser runs in a virtualized environment either on-premise or in the cloud and mostly resembles Google's Chrome (though with the URL bar on top of the tabs).Tablet Tribulations: Asus Dumps Windows RT While NVIDIA Hopes For The Best
Aug 09, 7:38PM
Asus may have a hand in producing Google's refreshed Nexus 10 Android tablet, but recent remarks from the company's chief executive reveal that the Taiwanese company is turning up its nose at the prospect of making another Windows RT-powered tablet entirely. "It's not only our opinion," CEO Jerry Shen remarked to the Wall Street Journal. "The industry sentiment is also that Windows RT has not been successful."Obama Announces Website For NSA Transparency, 3 More Reforms
Aug 09, 7:37PM
President Obama announced a series of new reforms to increase public confidence in the National Security Agency’s controversial Internet and telephone surveillance program. The press conference (live at whitehouse.gov/live) is still on-going. Here are the 4 reforms he’s proposed. All are quite vague: 1). “Pursue appropriate reforms” around section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the NSA to conduct surveillance. According to The Guardian, The NSA interprets section 215 to mean that it can broadly monitor Internet and phone communications. It is not clear whether the NSA has the ability to actually read any of the emails, social network communications, browsing behavior, or call records without a warrant. 2). Create a public advocate to argue in front of the secret court that grants the NSA authority to target suspects (both foreign and domestic). A number of critics have called the secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a “rubber stamp” because it’s only rejected 0.03 % of spy requests. A number of Congressman, including Steve Cohen, were considering legislation to create a public advocate who would argue for civil liberties within the Court. “One of the concerns that people raise is that a judge reviewing a request from the government to conduct programmatic surveillance only hears one side of the story, may tilt it too far in favor of security, may not pay enough attention to liberty,” admitted Obama. 3). Create a website detailing what the NSA does–and does not–collect on Americans and foreigners. “We can and must be more transparent. So I've directed the intelligence community to make public as much information about these programs as possible.” 4). Create an independent agency that reviews cybersecurity processes and produces timely reports. One is supposed to be out by the end of the year. “I’m tasking this independent group to step back and review our capabilities, particularly our surveillance technologies, and they'll consider how we can maintain the trust of the people, how we can make sure that there absolutely is no abuse in terms of how these surveillance technologies are used, ask how surveillance impacts our foreign policy, particularly in an age when more and more information is becoming public. And they will provide an interim report in 60 days and a final report by the end of this year, so that we can move forward with a better understanding of how these programs impact our security, our privacyAmazon Could Launch Qualcomm-Powered Games Console And Media Box By End Of Year
Aug 09, 7:35PM
Amazon is working on a games console, according to rumors from Game Informer and backed up by rumblings we've heard at TechCrunch as well. Game Informer says we'll see the device by end of year, possibly in time for holiday shopping season, and that it will have its own dedicated controller and offer access to digital games sold online by Amazon.com.YC-Backed LocalOn Works With Newspapers To Give Small Businesses A One-Stop Shop For Online Marketing
Aug 09, 7:19PM
In the past few years, it seems like there's been the explosion of startups trying to convince local businesses to sign up for their marketing or loyalty tools, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, LocalOn co-founder Shahbano Imran recalled going door-to-door trying to convince businesses to sign up and discovering that "small businesses are getting pitched by 20 startups a day." As a result, she said LocalOn's initial efforts were "a complete failure" because "nobody wanted to hear from us." Then she and her co-founder David Tolloupov came up with a better way to reach those businesses — working with local newspapers and merchant associations.This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Ubuntu Edge, Nexus Rumors, Beddit And Trace Tracker
Aug 09, 7:00PM
The Ubuntu Edge may be the future of the smartphone, but does it have a future? Nexus rumors abound for the next generation of Google's vanilla tablets and smartphones. Meanwhile, startups are hitting up Indiegogo with new quantified self devices, including sleep-tracking sheet Beddit and extreme sports tracker Trace.Siasto Raises $750,000 To Extend Task-Management Service Into Mobile Space
Aug 09, 6:17PM
Siasto has received some more support to build out its task management service with $750,000 from One Asia Investment Partners, Y Combinator, Start Fund and other angel investors. Siasto has developed a robust platform that TechCrunch's Eric Eldon wrote about in detail last year. Last November, the company added a news feed to the service. With the new funding, Siasto will now extend its development to focus more on its mobile collaboration service. The funding will also be used to expand its service into Asia.Obama Reportedly Holding Press Conference On Security Transparency Today At 3PM ET
Aug 09, 6:04PM
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama will be holding a press conference to "increase transparency and restore public trust" at 3 p.m. Eastern today. "The president is expected to disclose specifics," according to the Journal.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.
To stop all future emails from feed2email.net you can reply to this email with STOP in the subject line. Thanks
