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Former Waywire CEO Nate Richardson Joins AOL As President Of AOL Live
Aug 30, 11:50PM
A few weeks ago we reported that Nate Richardson, the CEO and co-founder of Waywire, would be leaving the company as it makes a strategic shift from content creation to content curation. Well now we know where he's landed: Richardson has joined our parent company AOL as the President of AOL Live, TechCrunch has learned.Following Mobile Test, Facebook Tries Out A 'Trending' Section On Its Desktop News Feed
Aug 30, 10:30PM
Back in June, Facebook said it would be rolling out a number of features for following public conversations, and it looks like the company's holding true to that promise. Specifically, the company is testing a section highlighting "Trending" topics that appears alongside its desktop newsfeed. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the test, and it included a screenshot that looks pretty much as you'd expect — a box with a list of linked topics.Microsoft's Next CEO Will Not Spin Off Xbox, Unless They Abdicate The Company's Larger Strategic Direction
Aug 30, 10:18PM
A story published by Bloomberg floats the idea that Microsoft might spin off its Xbox business, which it calls "more likely [following current CEO Steve Ballmer's] exit." The publication values Xbox at around $17 billion, a figure based on a comparative revenue multiple with Nintendo. This is precisely the sort of bilge that cavorts and pretends to be serious analysis.Target Ticket, Target's Video Download & Rental Service, Nears Launch
Aug 30, 9:59PM
Target's answer to Walmart's Vudu, Netflix, and iTunes, is preparing to launch. Employees at the Minneapolis-headquartered retailer were told this week that Target Ticket, as the service is called, will soon be offered to consumers, allowing them to rent and purchase digital copies of movies and television shows like they do on Apple's iTunes, then play them back across all the devices they own, including smartphones, tablets, TVs, Blu-ray players, and game consoles.Ask A VC: Bessemer Venture Partners' Ethan Kurzweil On The Evolution Of Developer Platforms And More
Aug 30, 9:46PM
In this week’s episode of Ask A VC, Bessemer Venture Partners’ Ethan Kurzweil joined us in the studio. Kurzweil, who leads Bessemer’s roadmap on developer platforms and has led investments in Twilio and SendGrid, talked about the biggest changes he’s seen in developer platforms. One observation he made was that companies are tapping to separate developer platform for different functions. So startups are looking to Stripe for payments, Twilio for communications, SendGrid for email and so on. Check out what area Kurzweil predicts will be the next big service for developers and more.
TechCrunch Giveaway: Win Disrupt SF Tickets And Fitbits From New Relic
Aug 30, 9:42PM
You know what's cooler than reading TechCrunch every day? Diving into startup culture head first by attending TechCrunch Disrupt SF. We're excited to announce that New Relic is giving away eight coveted Disrupt SF tickets.As Ballmer Exits, Microsoft Inks Deal With ValueAct That May Lead To Board Seat
Aug 30, 9:05PM
Today Microsoft announced that it has reached a “cooperation agreement” with ValueAct Capital, an investment company that had been a thorn in its side. It was said that ValueAct wanted a seat on Microsoft’s board. Instead, Microsoft and ValueAct have come to a different agreement, in which the president of ValueAct – Mason Morfit – and Microsoft directors will meet to talk over issues relating to the company. Morfit will also be given a chance at joining the board, after the company’s annual shareholder meeting. ValueAct owns 0.8% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares. It’s a hefty investment, one that is large enough for the investor to command the attention of the company’s board. It was said following Microsoft CEO’s Steve Ballmer’s promise to step down within the next 12 months that ValueAct and its pressure on the company was key to his removal. It is not clear if that is the case, or pressure resulting from a massive $900 million Surface writedown, or the ensuing market shellacking of Microsoft’s stock were larger catalysts. That said, to have the news of the agreement come precisely one week following the Ballmer announcement, is more than slightly suspicious. ValueAct is a large firm, with assets under management of $12 billion. That’s enough money to cause havoc. Departing CEO Steve Ballmer had nice things to say about his tormentors: “Our board and management team are committed to enhancing growth and value for Microsoft shareholders, and we look forward to ValueAct Capital’s input.” Only, I don’t think that that is true. Nice boilerplate, but I can’t imagine that Ballmer is too enthused about ceding some of his authority in his final days atop the Microsoft org chart to money folks from San Francisco. Whatever the case, Microsoft appears to have cleaned the decks of its little investor problem. Top Image Credit: Robert ScobleGillmor Gang Live 08.30.13 (TCTV)
Aug 30, 8:09PM
Gillmor Gang - Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session for today has concludedThis Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Nintendo 2DS, Pebble, And Unikey
Aug 30, 7:00PM
The Nintendo 2DS is just like a 3DS, except for the fact that it's cheaper and has no 3D. Deal breaker or deal maker? Meanwhile, Matt still seems to fancy the Pebble smartwatch, while the rest of us are sick of hearing about it. And finally, the Unikey Kevo (currently available for pre-order) will make its way into homes in about a month with plenty of competition from Lockitron and others. But which is the better product?Strike Social Analyzes The Performance Of Your YouTube Videos For Free
Aug 30, 6:09PM
A new startup called Strike Social says its tools give YouTube publishers a way to track how their content is performing on the video site and on social networks, and at a pretty compelling price — free. The first big piece of the Strike Social product is a number, called the Strike Score, that reflects the overall performance of your YouTube content. CEO Patrick McKenna said the company looks at "more than 100 datasets" from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to calculate the score, and tracking that number over time should give you a sense of whether your performance is improving.Lockbox Raises $2.5 Million Seed Round To Help Encrypt Your Stuff
Aug 30, 6:02PM
It's hard to trust the cloud. With the NSA coming in one end and hackers coming in through the other, complete encryption is key. That's what Lockbox is for. The company, founded in 2008, has accepted $2.5 million in seed funding to further roll out their Client Portal and iPad app.As Uber Drives Into India, It's Shifting Its Emerging Market Strategy Up A Gear
Aug 30, 5:59PM
Transportation tech startup Uber is continuing its aggressive expansion across Asia. As of this week, it is now live in India, starting first with a luxury car service in its tech capital, Bangalore. The subcontinent may boast a potential market of over a billion, a rising middle class and 164,000 millionaires, but these are silver linings to some possibly darker storm clouds: low credit card and smartphone penetration, inadequate infrastructure, and low levels of disposable income. Uber will try to impose its premium and efficient model on the market, but entrenched indigenous operators, whose lo-fi solutions have thrived, won't give up their turf without a fight.Augment Makes Augmented Reality Useful For Salespeople With Its New 'Business Catalog'
Aug 30, 5:30PM
While augmented reality has been around for a while, Augment is trying to monetize it with its platform. The company just released its Business Catalog feature, targeted toward salespeople. For $30 per month and per user, you can carry around all your catalog on your iPad and show how it would look like to your client. It makes sense for furniture, merchandising displays or even art prints. “Our biggest competitor is choosing not to use augmented reality,” co-founder and CEO Jean-François Chianetta told me in a phone interview. “Thanks to our platform, you can upload and visualize your 3D models as augmented reality objects in minutes,” he continued. With the business catalog, everybody on the sales team has the same 3D portfolio on their tablets and phones. Everything is downloaded to the devices so that they don’t have to worry about connectivity. Comparatively, the free account is much more limited as you can only see a few test models and upload your own models to your own account for testing purposes — you cannot deliver your models to your team and you need to be always connected. The premium offering was already available in beta for a few months. More than 3,000 users tried it out. But, starting this week, they now have to pay the subscription fee. When asked who Augment’s potential clients were, the answer was very straightforward. “We work with companies who already use 3D models,” co-founder and CMO Mickaël Jordan said. “We support 3ds Max, Maya or even SketchUp files,” he continued. So far, 8,000 users have uploaded 3D models to the platform. Companies like Curioos use Augment for its digital art marketplace. Before buying an art print, you can figure out what print size you should order for your living room, and how it would look like over the fireplace. There’s another part to Augment’s business. The company also creates advertising campaigns using augmented reality. For example, clients can create a booth to promote DVD sales in a supermarket and let anyone take a picture of his or her friend with a famous movie character. The character will be in 3D thanks to the Augment app. In many cases, companies need to hire an agency to create a special app — when you work with Augment it’s easier as you can build your campaign on top of its existing platform. Back in April, the FrenchNokia Promises Its Amber Update Will Come To All Windows Phone 8 Lumia Devices By The End Of September
Aug 30, 5:28PM
Today Nokia promised owners of its Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices that its "Amber" update will reach all phones by the end of September. The Amber upgrade is a mix of feature improvements that will improve Nokia's handsets, further setting them apart from devices built by other smartphone OEMs. Amber contains a photo editing tool, improved image processing, the ability to snag motion in sequence with"Action Shot," the acceptance of double-tap input to wake the phone, and improved internal storage reporting.MoPub's Optimizer Lets Mobile Publishers Automatically Prioritize Their Most Lucrative Ad Networks
Aug 30, 5:19PM
MoPub is releasing a new tool called the Optimizer that should allow mobile publishers to take an entirely automated, hands-off approach to managing their ad networks — and increase revenue too. The team gave me a demo of the new feature, saying the technology uses a "waterfall" approach, moving down a list of possible networks from which to serve an ad, starting with the one that had the highest estimated CPM (price paid per thousand impressions). Normally, MoPub prioritizes those networks based on CPM estimates provided by the publisher. The problem: Those estimates are often wrong. (MoPub has been trying to address the lack of transparency and data about the performance of individual ad networks with its new dashboard.)Deeplink.me Launches A Retargeting Network For Mobile That Sends Users Back To The Apps They've Already Installed
Aug 30, 5:16PM
Deeplink.me, the new service from Cellogic making it possible for users to navigate through the apps on a smartphone the way you navigate the web, is today exiting from its beta period and launching an accompanying retargeting network. The network takes advantage of Deeplink.me's knowledge of deep linking into apps to identify users who have a particular app installed on their phone, in order to show them personalized ad units which redirect them to a specific page within an app.Microsoft Vows To Fight Government For Right To Disclose More Information About User Data Requests
Aug 30, 5:02PM
Microsoft today published a short blog post stating that it feels that recent government changes to how it reports surveillance activities are insufficient. Calling the decision by the federal government to publish more information on the quantity of consumer data requests relating to national security each year “a good start,” Microsoft claims the Constitution demands more progress. Microsoft cites the founding document several times in its post, also declaring that it believes that it has “a clear right under the U.S. Constitution to share more information with the public.” In a rare moment of solidarity, Microsoft name-checked Google, saying that the two companies agree that more must be made legally allowable to disclose. Both companies are in litigation with the government for the right to share more about what they are forced to hand to the government. Specifically, Microsoft wants to disclose how often user content such as the content of an email is demanded. Revelations from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to journalist Glenn Greenwald showed that through a program called PRISM, the United States government requested hefty amounts of user data from large Internet companies. There are gag rules around what can be said regarding government data requests. This stifles discussion, debate, and functional oversight of the government by its ultimate leaders, the citizenry. Microsoft and Google are also likely not particularly excited about sharing their private user data with intelligence agencies. Microsoft, citing a “failure of [its] recent negotiations” promises to press forward with its lawsuit “in the hope that the courts will uphold [its] right to speak more freely.” The company claims to have met with the government on six different occasions. Microsoft indicated that its suit was filed in June. You don’t often see a company worth hundreds of billions go full philosophy, but Microsoft went there (this appears to be a trend at the company – I’m looking at you, Frank): The United States has long been admired around the world for its leadership in promoting free speech and open discussion. We benefit from living in a country with a Constitution that guarantees the fundamental freedom to engage in free expression unless silence is required by a narrowly tailored, compelling Government interest. We believe there remains a path forward that will share more information with the public while protecting national security. Our hope is that the courts and Congress will ensure that ourTwitter To Appoint Vijaya Gadde as General Counsel as Alex Macgillivray Moves On
Aug 30, 5:01PM
Twitter is appointing Vijaya Gadde as its new General Counsel after current appointee Alex Macgillivray has announced his plans to move on. The news came as a post on Macgillivray’s personal site and was shortly thereafter reported on by Mike Isaac at All Things D. Techcrunch has confirmed both the departure of Macgillivray and the hire of Gadde with Twitter. Macgillivray says that he is planning on dialing back his involvement with Twitter over the next few months as the team transitions to new leadership. “I'll continue to support the company and its great people by staying on as an advisor for the legal, trust & safety, corporate development and public policy teams,” says Macgillivray. “I continue to care deeply about Twitter, the folks who work at Twitter and our tremendous users, so I'll remain close to all three.” Macgillivray was hired by Twitter in 2009 and previously served as DGC of Product at IP at Google. Gadde has been a director in Twitter’s legal department since July of 2011 and will now take on the GC role. Macgillivray’s former post at Google had him going to bat for the company over its efforts to scan books. His move there was seen as a key ‘first amendment’ hire as Twitter began to be considered a platform for expression and came under attack from government agencies of various countries looking to quash or investigate statements made by users. Gadde was formerly an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where Macgillivray was also formerly an attorney. Though Gadde doesn’t have the same bonafides as Macgillivray when it comes to first amendment stuff, she is apparently regarded well in the company and at her former firm. In addition, from what we’ve heard, Twitter will be doing some shuffling of the legal structure as well. Its director of public policy Colin Crowell will no longer report to the General Counsel, but will report directly to CEO Dick Costolo on matters affecting Twitter and Washington. All signs at the moment are pointing towards this being a voluntary exit for Macgillivray, who was well liked and respected. No one at Twitter is happy to see him go, as they might be with someone who wasn’t getting the job done. Macgillivray states in his post that he’s “looking forward to engaging my various internet passions from new and different perspectives, seeing friends and family without distraction, and justBitmonet Monetizes Your Blog Through The Power Of Bitcoin
Aug 30, 4:49PM
Bitmonet - think "Bitcoin Monetization" rather than "Bitcoin Impressionist Painter" - is a platform for creation microtransaction-based paywalls on your blog or content portal. While most people don't like paywalls, most people are also going to have to start expecting them and this open source service definitely makes a lot of sense.Flutter Is A Wireless Platform For Arduino-Based Projects To Network Over Wi-Fi-Busting Distances
Aug 30, 4:42PM
Getting Arduino-powered devices to talk to each other over long distances is going to get cheaper and easier if this Kickstarter project flies. Flutter is a wireless development platform for Arduino with over half a mile of usage range -- making it suitable for outdoor projects covering greater distances than Wi-Fi can comfortably manage.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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