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Stealth Startup Fantex Wants To Make It Possible For Celebrities To IPO
Sep 01, 1:59AM
If corporations can be people, why can't people be corporations? A stealth startup called Fantex aims to allow celebrities and professional athletes to file for initial public offerings (IPOs). Fantex describes itself as "the world's first marketplace that lets consumers invest real money in stocks linked to the value and performance of the brands of the world's top athletes."Because Walking Saves Lives, Mobilizer Inc. Is A Startup That's Aiming To Get Hospital Patients Moving
Sep 01, 1:08AM
For sedentary medical patients, one of the easiest ways to reduce the time of hospital stays and decrease the risk of complications like blood clots and pressure ulcers is simply to get up and walk around. But with medical equipment like oxygens tank or IV drips in tow, it can take nurses up to 20 minutes to prepare a patient for ambulation, adding up to hundreds of hours of wasted time each week. This means that when patients are finally up and moving, some are only walked as far as their door before being sat back down.CrunchWeek: iPhone Trade-Ins, The New New Foursquare, And Twitter's Blue Lines Problem
Aug 31, 10:00PM
This weekend, summer is sadly coming to a close (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least.) But all is not lost! At least we still have CrunchWeek, the show that brings a few of us TechCrunch writers together to chat about the most interesting tech news stories from the past seven days.India's Visa Maze Ensnares Foreign Entrepreneurs
Aug 31, 7:00PM
Returning for his fourth and final visit to the Indian offices that would grant him a coveted five-year business visa, social entrepreneur Alex Stevens* was confident his wild goose chase was almost at an end. However, facing the elusive supervisor, he was greeted with an awkward smile, a head tilt from side-to-side, and, "sorry, you can't get your visa now, please come back in some time."How Amazon Is Tackling Personalization And Curation For Sellers On Its Marketplace
Aug 31, 6:00PM
When it comes to personalization, Amazon has been one of the pioneers in mining and using data to create a more curated e-commerce experience for consumers. But by now, nearly all e-commerce companies and marketplaces have caught on and are using more personalized recommendations to enhance the user experience when shopping and browsing. Amazon has been particularly focused over the past few years on extending its personalization features for its sellers on the marketplace, both on the front-end consumer experience and on the backend. We sat down with Peter Faricy, vice president and general manager of the Amazon Marketplace, to talk about how he and his team are approaching personalization for the company’s 2 million third-party sellers worldwide across 10 global marketplaces. Read our Q&A, which begins with Faricy providing some background information about Amazon Marketplace. Peter Faricy: We have over 2 million sellers around the world selling across Amazon Marketplaces in 10 different countries around the world, and serving more than 200 million customers all over the world. So it's that business that me and my team are responsible for. What we specifically do is we provide all of the technology and the products and services that sellers need around the world to run their business on Amazon. So we are sort of your e-commerce engine, if you will. And the technology we develop helps them run their business on the Amazon Marketplace and reach customers and grow their business very successfully. So that's kind of the quick background, if you will. Leena Rao: So, one of the things that Amazon has been known for is being the pioneer of personalization and data mining to make the consumer shopping experience a much more curated type of shopping experience. So I am curious, sort of your view on this, and then how has that personalization strategy changed over time? PF: Well, in the case of the Marketplace, we think about customers in two ways; we obviously think about the Amazon-buying customers and what they need and everything kind of starts with those customers in mind. But we also think of sellers on the Amazon Marketplace as our customers. And sellers years ago began asking us questions around, what are the things that they can do to improve their business? How can they manage inventory better? What products should they be adding? How do they serve customers better? So what IGillmor Gang: Contextual Adults
Aug 31, 5:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor — settle in for the Labor Day weekend with a tour of a busy news week. Stops along the way include iBeacon in iOS7, Twitter's thin blue line, the politics of twerking, and devices, devices, devices. Short takes on Bill Gates' unlikely return, Apple's iTrade-In offer, why Chromecast will change our habits, and Google's Chromebook move in classrooms round out a lively end to summer. It's a world where software is free and we spend our time saving up for the next shiny dongle.Coinchat Is A Chatroom Where Talking Sense Earns You Bitcoin
Aug 31, 3:32PM
Coinchat is a Bitcoin-incentivised browser-based chatroom where you can shoot the breeze with strangers online and earn Bitcoin in the process. Where's the catch? Well, there isn't really one. The Bitcoin you're earning through chatting with other users comes from the site's own revenue generation -- funded by ads and also a transfer fee it charges when users send Bitcoin tips.The Decline And Fall Of Flowtab, A Startup Story
Aug 31, 1:00PM
It started with an idea: How can we get our drinks more quickly at the bar? Dreamed up at 2 a.m. in Coloft, a Los Angeles coworking space, future founder Mike Townsend doodled up an iPad application mockup that he called Apptini to answer the question. The product, later known as Flowtab, had been born. Its life became a startup story that most don't tell: A company that didn't make it.Google Confirms It Has Acquired Android Smartwatch Maker WIMM Labs
Aug 31, 11:10AM
Google has confirmed it acquired WIMM Labs last year, a company that previously made an Android-powered smartwatch before shuttering operations in 2012. At the time a message on its website said it had entered into an exclusive partnership without releasing further details, but it's now clear that partner was Google, rather than Apple as some had initially speculated.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.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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