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Famo.us Finally Rolls Into (Very) Private Beta, Hires A Founder Of Facebook's Dev Platform As VP Of Engineering
Sep 16, 2:55AM
Back at TC Disrupt SF 2012, Famo.us announced a Javascript framework for building super complex yet still super-smooth HTML5 apps. They promised rich, 3D, Iron-Man-esque interfaces running in the browser at 40 frames per second, no plug-ins required. Almost exactly a year later, Famo.us is finally ready to let in a few of the 57,000 developers that signed up for beta access. Emphasis on "few".Google's Bet On Native Client Brings Chrome And Google+ Photos Closer Together
Sep 16, 1:00AM
Google is betting big on photos on Google+. Indeed, most of the innovation on the company’s social network so far has been around photos, including the #AutoAwesome launch at I/O. Last week, Google stepped up its efforts and launched a set of new photo-editing tools, including the ability to fine-tune Google+’s Auto Enhance feature, apply new filters and selectively adjust parts of an image. Just like the rest of the Google+ photo tools, these new features are a step ahead of the competition, but there’s also an issue: they only work in Chrome (and in the native iOS and Android Google+ apps). The reason for that is simple: the new tools use Google’s own Native Client technology that no other browser vendor has adopted. The tools themselves are based on the technology the company acquired from Nik Software, the makers of the popular photo-manipulation app Snapseed. Snapseed never existed on the web, so the easiest way to port these features to the web, Google’s engineers must have decided, was to go the Native Client route. As you’ve probably heard a thousand times now, it’s virtually impossible to build great photo apps that can rival the likes of Photoshop in HTML5. That’s where Native Client comes it. This technology allows developers to execute native code in a sandbox in the browser. It can execute C and C++ code at native speeds and with the ability to, for example, render 2D and 3D graphics, run on multiple threads and access your computer’s memory directly. All of that gives it a massive speed bump over more traditional HTML5 apps (Native Client apps basically run at the same speed as they would in a desktop app, after all) and makes tools like the new Google+ photos editing features as fast as they are. Native Client works in Chrome on Windows, Linux, Mac and Chrome OS, but other browser vendors are not supporting it. Mozilla, for example, is trying to get JavaScript to the point where it runs almost as fast as a native app (something they are getting very close to thanks to the asm.js project). Microsoft, on the other hand, is betting on hardware acceleration (and WebGL) in IE11 to make web apps run faster in its browser. As Google’s own documentation for Native Client notes, this technology offers an easy migration path to bring existing desktop applications to the web. Until now,Dubb Wants To Expand Your Address Book By Connecting You With Friends Of Friends
Sep 16, 12:20AM
For anyone who's had to text a friend for another friend's phone number — so, all of us — Dubb is an app that lets users request contact information from those in their extended friend network, who can in turn choose to accept, deny, or only allow certain addresses and numbers through. Dubb will be available in beta October 1, and founder Neven Zeremski said he aims to raise a seed round of $500k by the end of that month.How Bluetooth LE And Crowdfunding Are Accelerating The Connected Hardware Boom
Sep 16, 12:00AM
It's one trend that's been hard to miss, being mostly clipped and/or strapped in plain sight. To spell it out, hardware startups – and the devices they're making -- are having a moment, thanks in major part to crowdfunding websites providing the funding bridge between a promising prototype and the cost of manufacturing a shipping product.What Games Are: The Marketing Squeeze
Sep 15, 9:00PM
In case you didn't know, marketing games on mobile has become a big of a nightmare. In this article I talk about how this is part of a wider trend, a squeezing phase affecting many game makers in the middle. Is there any hope for them?Pebble's Eric Migicovsky Is Uninterested In A Potential Acquisition
Sep 15, 6:00PM
When it comes to competition, Pebble has plenty to be concerned about. In an interview on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013, founder Eric Migicovsky seemed unconcerned about questions on competition from Apple and Samsung, claiming that Motorola and Sony have offered smart watch products for quite some time. However, speaking backstage, Migicovsky went a bit more in-depth with the latest products from Samsung and the idea of a forthcoming Apple iWatch, and stating that Pebble would be pretty uninterested in the idea of an acquisition by the competition, should it be offered.
For Mobile Developers, iOS 7 Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts
Sep 15, 5:00PM
Leading up to last week's Apple event and the unveiling of the iPhone 5s, the Internet may have led you to believe that "Android is better." The reality for startups, however, is more nuanced. When it comes to the first choice developers have for starting in mobile, Apple still leads the competition, as mobile expert Steve Cheney asserts these advancements place iOS roughly 18-24 months ahead of Android. (If you haven't read this post from early August 2012 by Cheney, please do - he called much of this months ago.) And, while the runaway growth of Android has compressed the time by which hot iOS apps release on Android -- for instance, Instagram released Android right before their Series B, but more recently SnapChat already had an Android client by the time of their Series A -- for small technology startups, Android may be the platform for growth, but iOS remains the platform of choice upon which to build new mobile experiences.
TechCrunch Droidcast Episode 6: Nokia's Experimentation, Sony's Kitchen Lunacy, And Android At Disrupt
Sep 15, 4:00PM
Darrell and I pride ourselves on making the TechCrunch Droidcast a Wednesday staple, but alas, we just couldn't find the time at Disrupt to record the show. I know, I'm sorry. To make up for it, we roused ourselves early this morning to record a slightly special weekend edition of the show. Topics on the agenda? Darrell and I weigh in on Nokia's experimentation phase with Android, Sony's bizarre desire break into the culinary tablet space, and the newly acquired HTC One that Darrell has been fawning over for the past few days.Apple's M7 Motion Sensing Coprocessor Is The Wizard Behind The Curtain For The iPhone 5s
Sep 15, 3:00PM
Apple has a new trick up its sleeve with the iPhone 5s that was talked about on stage during its recent reveal event, but the impact of which won't be felt until much later when it gets fully taken advantage of by third-party developers. Specifically, I'm talking about the M7 motion coprocessor that now takes the load of tracking motion and distance covered, requiring much less battery draw and enabling some neat new tricks with tremendous felt impact.NSA Allegedly Spies On International Credit Card Transactions
Sep 15, 10:53AM
Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper - increasingly joining the NSA revelations train - reports today that the intelligence agency is interested in international credit card transactions and may have found a way to monitor payments processed by companies including Visa. Spiegel alleges it has even set up its own financial database to track money flows.Expedia And Zillow Founder Rich Barton Wants To Fund 'Power To The People' Startups
Sep 15, 12:00AM
Rich Barton may still be best known for his role as a founder at pioneering web properties such as Expedia and Zillow, but in recent years he has emerged as an investor in some really interesting startups, from mobile-only hotel booking app HotelTonight to neighborhood-focused social network Nextdoor to workforce review site Glassdoor.Silicon Valley Luminaries Got Grilled On The NSA At Disrupt, Here's How They Responded
Sep 14, 10:44PM
Over the course of the three day Disrupt conference, Michael Arrington interviewed 13 of the most influential people in the tech industry, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. He questioned them all on their involvement and opinions on the NSA spying scandal. Let's take a look at what they said.CrunchWeek: The New iPhones, Twitter Preps For An IPO, And Tech Execs Talk NSA
Sep 14, 10:00PM
What a busy week it's been for the tech industry -- and what better way to cap it off than by First-Time Chilean Entrepreneur Raises $16M To Disrupt Latin America's Insurance Market
Sep 14, 8:00PM
Think about that pure, unbridled feeling when you knew you wanted to be an entrepreneur. Now think about the unsexiest business you could possibly start. Did you think of an insurance product and financial services aggregator? Did that get you excited? It got one 29-year-old Chilean civil engineer excited enough to start Latin America's first insurance product comparison site, ComparaOnline.Naval Ravikant On How AngelList Syndicates Can Shake Up The World Of Venture Capital 'Scouts'
Sep 14, 6:56PM
Since its inception in 2010, AngelList has steadily transformed the way people think about gathering funding for their technology startups. But so far, nothing AngelList has done has garnered as quick and strong of a reaction from the venture capital sphere as the debut this past summer of a feature called "Syndicates." A number of Silicon Valley investors seem to think that AngelList Syndicates could be one of the most disruptive developments that startup funding has seen in years.Gillmor Gang: Inch by Inch
Sep 14, 5:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Dan Farber, John Taschek, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor — added up the Apple announcements, the Twitter IPO, and why Chromecast's Cloud-to-Device model will stick. No consensus on this last point, but since AirPlay does a little of both strategies, we'll know soon enough. The biometric capabilities and low-power bluetooth chip of the new iPhones may not seem a breakthrough, based as the tech is on well-trod ground. But mobile is about the signature of its omnipresence, and the thumbprint will save bucketloads of time that will endow the new habits with strategic signatures and business models they suggest. Meanwhile, I'm off to AutoRip me a new one.He's Electric - Will A Revolutionary Black Box Turn Dale Vince Into Europe's Elon Musk?
Sep 14, 4:46PM
Dale Vince sits in a spartan office in the corner of Ecotricity, one of the UK's few green energy electricity networks, and taps away on an Apple Mac at his standing desk. The office is bare, other than a normal desk, a couple of chairs and a Union Jack flag hung on the wall. But the Union Jack is not sporting its normal Red White and Blue. This is a Union Jack fashioned in various shades of green. For Vince is a died-in-the-wool ecologist. While running his company, he blogs from a site called "Zero Carbonista" which has an image of him looking like Che Guevara. He considers the drive towards an electric future as important as Elon Musk, founder of the Tesla electric car company. Vince is deadly serious about being "green" and now his plans extend beyond wind turbines into a radical new technology he hopes to roll out across the UK and which he is only now talking about for the first time.Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams Lays Out His Plan For The Future Of Media
Sep 14, 2:42PM
Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams has an ambitious new plan: to shift our daily reading habits away from consuming incremental news bites and towards engaging with enlightened ideas curated by an intelligent algorithm. Ordinarily, such a goal would seem utopian, were it not for the fact that Williams is among a handful of Internet pioneers who have disrupted the media industry multiple times. Before Twitter terraformed the landscape of news distribution, Williams's first smash hit, Blogger, became the branded namesake for an upstart generation of amateur writers to challenge the established players Most importantly, Medium, his new platform for publishing mostly long-form content, has quickly garnered popularity — and infamy. In only a few months, its most popular contributions are making front-page headlines and snagging millions of views. In our Silicon Valley bubble, its contributors semi-regularly spark industry wide-conversations among the Internet elite. “The site from Twitter’s co-founders is one year old, and still mysterious,” wrote The Atlantic‘s Alexis Madrigal recently, in one of many stories attempting to understand the Internet multi-millionaire’s enigmatic new project. Now, for the first time since Williams launched the beta of Medium last year at our own TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Williams is ready to talk. News “Crap” Vs. A Book Williams is taking aim squarely at the news industry’s most embarrassing vulnerability: the incessant need to trump up mundane happenings in order to habituate readers into needing news like a daily drug fix. “News in general doesn't matter most of the time, and most people would be far better off if they spent their time consuming less news and more ideas that have more lasting import,” he tells me during our interview inside a temporary Market Street office space that’s housing Medium, until the top two floors are ready for his growing team. “Even if it’s fiction, it’s probably better most of the time.” It’s true. The daily news cycle doesn’t always do its job at enlightening American democracy. In the aptly titled research paper, “Does the Media Matter”, a team of economists found that getting a randomized group of citizens to read the Washington Post did nothing for “political knowledge, stated opinions, or turnout in post-election survey and voter data.” News, alone, is evidently insufficient to make us a more informed society. Instead, Williams argues, citizens should re-calibrate their ravenous appetite for information towards more awe-inspiring content. “Published written ideas and stories are life-changing,” heWait, When Did Software Become So Boring?
Sep 14, 1:00PM
Maybe I'm just jaded and cranky. But as I wandered through Startup Alley at Disrupt this week, and even as I watched many of the Battlefield contestants, I found myself fighting eye-glazing ennui. Apps and services that help you connect and collaborate with others. Tools which help you build or use apps and services that help you connect and collaborate with others. Sigh. Been there. Done that.The "Zizz" Is An Intelligent Sleep Mask That Helps You Get Better Zzz's
Sep 14, 12:47PM
At TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 this past week, a Warsaw-based startup called IQ Intelclinic was showing off an intelligent sleeping mask which uses sensors to monitor the wearers' sleep cycles, including REM and non-REM sleep, in order to determine if you're getting quality Zzz's at night. The mask uses small electrodes pressed to your head surrounded by cushy material called viscoelastic foam for comfort, and then pairs with an accompanying mobile application so you can view data regarding your sleeping and waking behaviors, and identify possible problems like sleep apnea, for example.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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