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Netflix Scores Its First Emmy With House Of Cards Directing Win
Sep 23, 4:28AM
Netflix has won its first Emmy after House of Cards director David Fincher won the award for Best Director of a Drama Series, beating out directors from Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey and Homeland.VivaKi Partners With SparkReel To Help Marketers Manage Crowdsourced Videos
Sep 23, 4:00AM
As the amount of user-generated video continues to grow, a startup called SparkReel aims to help companies harness those videos for their own promotional efforts. Now the startup should get a big boost thanks to a new partnership with VivaKi, the digital innovation arm of advertising giant Publicis. VivaKi is making the deal through its ventures group, which is headed by Michael Wiley. Despite the name, Wiley said his group doesn't normally invest cash for equity - instead, it connects startups with the parts of Publicis where their technology and services might be useful, and it also works with startups to develop new products and features that might specifically address client needs. (Wiley said VivaKi has started to make traditional equity investments too, but that's a separate process.)Hackathons And How To Find A Parking Spot In Rio De Janeiro With Team Rua Aberta
Sep 23, 3:00AM
I'm sitting in an office on the thirteenth floor of the Mayor's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. I've come to speak with Pedro Paulo, the Staff Secretary who presided over Rio's first city-sponsored hackathon, an overnight Red Bull and hot dog infused tech fest that opened up a cache of city data to 75 Rio citizens eager to make their city better - with apps.Why Startups Fail: A Postmortem For Flud, The Social Newsreader
Sep 23, 2:54AM
In late July, news broke that Flud, the social news reader for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, was headed to the deadpool. Startup failure is an all-too familiar, even cliche, story in Silicon Valley. But when San Diegoan co-founders Bobby Ghoshal and Matthew Ausonio officially shuttered the Flud app and website in August, after three years of development, it was a disappointing final chapter for a product that had attracted more buzz in a year than the average startup sees in its entire lifecycle. It was also a surprising conclusion, considering that Flud had managed to raise $2.1 million in seed financing from investors Detroit Venture Partners, Ludlow Ventures, Behance co-founder and CEO Scott Belsky and JFJF Ventures, among others. Furthermore, reports circulated last year that FLUD was continuing to see interest from investors and was in the process of raising up to $8 million in new funding. But Flud never closed on the round and today, the startup is no more. In fact what eventually killed Flud, was that the company wasn’t able to raise this additional funding. Despite multiple approaches and incarnations — including a pivot toward enterprise — in pursuit of the ever elusive product-market fit (and monetization), Flud eventually ran out of money — and a runway. To date, the founders have yet to speak publicly in any detail about Flud’s closure and why the company wasn’t able to turn a promising start into fame and fortune. Last week we caught up with Ghoshal, who graciously agreed to peel back the curtain and offer a bit of a postmortem on Flud– for sake of clarification and, of course, edification. Startups are hard — don’t let anyone tell you differently — and everyone fails. Some just learn to fail better than others, and that’s what makes the difference. Flud’s story has much in common with another recent casualty in the mobile space: Sonar. In a recent post on Medium (which is a must-read for all entrepreneurs, investors and startup peeps), former Sonar co-founder and CEO, Brett Martin, offered insight into why his own mobile, location-based startup went bye-bye. Sonar and Flud were both downloaded by millions of people, were promoted by Apple and Google, raised multiple millions and received high praise from the media — and yet you know how both stories ended. Demand As Paul Graham has famously said, one of the keys to building aPoshmark, The Mobile Marketplace For Women To Sell And Swap Clothes, Crosses 1M Items Sold So Far This Year
Sep 23, 2:50AM
App downloads are key metrics for all mobile-focused startups, but not many early-stage companies in the space can cite revenue-generating figures alongside their user growth. But Poshmark, the mobile marketplace that lets women swap and sell items out of their own closets, says that over the past year it's enjoyed a strong showing at both levels. In an interview this past week, Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra told TechCrunch that his company's app, which is currently available only on iOS devices in the United States, now has 250,000 women with active personal "boutiques" to sell items out of their own closets.The Ambient Economy
Sep 23, 2:27AM
Access to information is addictive. The moment we have more of it - and more of it available at opportune times - the more we crave. I learned this first-hand when I began wearing a Pebble smartwatch in earnest. While I've long rejected the idea that a smartwatch is a valuable addition to the infonaut's arsenal, I now realize that being able to see, at a glance, who is calling, texting, or emailing is something that changes nearly everything. We are entering an era of ambient information, an era that engulfs us in snippets of data culled from the riot of information around us. And this era, as evidenced by the advent of Google Glass and "hands-free" user experiences on phones, is fast approaching the commonplace.Vonkil's Batthead Is A Rechargeable, Remote Controlled AA Battery
Sep 23, 12:29AM
I spent my formative years using up AA batteries at a frenzied pace, and I can't count the number of times my parents said they wished could zap my trusty Game Boy dead. While there's nothing they can do to salvage my childhood now, the folks at Vonkil Technologies have worked up something that should help a new generation of parents remotely kill toys at will.The NSA Review Panel Is An Even Bigger Joke Than We Previously Thought
Sep 22, 11:48PM
Today the AP reported that President Barack Obama's promised NSA review panel is channeling the entity that it is supposed to inspect, hiding behind layers of government bureaucracy and obfuscating its work. The AP states that the review panel is lodged in offices provided by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Even more, the DNI is running its media strategy, vetting requests through its own press office. Any whiff of independence that the group might have hoped to engender is now certainly gone.Into the Gloss, An Editorial Beauty Site, Raises $2M To Build Its Team
Sep 22, 10:00PM
Into The Gloss, an editorial beauty website based out of New York, has raised $2 million in venture capital funding led by Forerunner and Lerer Ventures, along with several angel investors. Since it was founded in September of 2010, the site has been making waves in the style space for its insider access-type interviews with editors, designers, writers, models, and other creatives about their beauty routines.What Games Are: The Perplexing OUYA Reflex
Sep 22, 9:00PM
With the extended overreaction to the Free The Games fund from the development community, the question to be asked is why do OUYA and the other microconsoles consistently draw a lot of negativity from the gaming community? Is it a sense of threat? Of missed expectations? Is it something else? Some thoughts on why, and what the solution to overcoming skepticism might be.Hackers Bypass Apple's Touch ID With Lifted Fingerprint
Sep 22, 8:32PM
Fingerprint scanners have always been vulnerable to hackers who are willing to go the extra mile to bypass them. Over the years, we've seen everything from people using Gummy Bears, Play-Doh and more sophisticated techniques to bypass these biometric scanners. It's not really a surprise then, that Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the new iPhone 5s is vulnerable to these kinds of hacks as well. As Germany's Chaos Computer Club (CCC) announced today, it has managed to bypass TouchID by creating a fake finger that uses lifted prints to fool the scanner into believing it's dealing with its rightful owner.Dattch, A Pinterest-Inspired Dating App For Gay Women, Closes $160K To Fuel Its UK Beta
Sep 22, 7:00PM
London-based startup Dattch is a dating app with a difference. I don't mean the fact it's exclusively for lesbians, bisexual and/or bi-curious women -- though that certainly makes it stand out from the ranks of straight dating apps. What really sets it apart is its mostly female team who set out to design a dating app specifically for gay women.Betabrand's New Think Tank Mashes Up Kickstarter-Style Fundraising With Cult Clothing Manufacturing
Sep 22, 7:00PM
San Francisco-based cult clothing retailer Betabrand is debuting a new way for customers to engage in developing new products—an online think tank.BBM's Android And iOS Launch Weekend Going About As Badly As Possible
Sep 22, 5:55PM
BlackBerry trumpeted its intention to deliver the long-awaited Android and iOS versions of its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service this weekend, and so fans around the world eagerly awaited the mobile software's debut. But debut the apps didn't, at least not as intended and not for the vast majority of expectant fans.Apple? They Make The Cheap Plastic Phones, Right?
Sep 22, 5:47PM
Apple could learn a lot from the fall of Burberry. The once-exclusive fashion brand became associated with trashy youth by greedily licensing out its signature tan chequered pattern for use on baseball caps and other cheap clothes. Suddenly, the rich clientele it had catered to for a century wanted nothing to do with Burberry. Could Apple's iPhone brand have the same trouble after selling the 5c?Apple TV 6.0 Update Pulled After Users Report Bricking, Other Issues
Sep 22, 5:34PM
On Friday, Apple launched its 6.0 software update for its Apple TV set-top box, but soon after, some users reported that the update bricked their devices while others were a bit luckier and just lost their connection to the Internet or had to restore their machines. Some users are also reporting extremely slow download speeds and many seem to have lost some or all of the movies and TV shows they downloaded from Apple’s servers. Now, it looks like Apple has pulled the update, which was the first to introduce its new iTunes Radio service to the set-top box. Apple’s own support forums are currently full of complaints about these issues. For some users with multiple Apple TVs at home, the update seems to work on some and fail on others. It’s unclear what exactly causes these issues, which seem to affect both the Apple TV 2 and 3. While the Apple TV is typically a standalone device, getting it back to work may mean that you have to connect it to your PC or Mac to restore it. To do so, you need a micro USB cable, connect the box to the PC, bring up iTunes, select the Apple TV in the Devices list and click ‘restore.’ That’s not very complicated (and easy for anybody who has ever tried an Apple TV jailbreak), but it’s also not something most users would even think about doing. For some, however, even this procedure doesn’t work. So far, we haven’t heard anything official from Apple, but it’s clear that the 6.0 update has been pulled for the time being (it’s currently not available for my personal Apple TV either). We will update this post once we hear more.Mobile Apps, Card Interfaces, And Our Opposable Thumbs
Sep 22, 5:00PM
This is a post about "cards" as an interface in mobile apps. I am not a designer. I am also unable to mention every single app that uses cards -- feel free to mention others in the comments. Additionally, I don't know which apps should be credited with popularizing cards, or when that happened. For this post, it doesn't matter. I'm also going to be talking about cards in the context of iOS, because that's what I know, though it applies to any mobile device.
Hands On With The Brooklyn-Made Makerbot Digitizer
Sep 22, 4:00PM
The Makerbot Digitizer looked too good to be true. It was a solid, compact 3D scanner that could replicate a solid object without much fuss and had a level of detail unparalleled in the home scanning market. Now it's clear that this is much more than a compelling idea.Introducing Apple's New "Kids" App Store
Sep 22, 3:59PM
Apple has finally take steps to better cater to the children who have adopted its devices, and especially family favorite the iPad, with the launch of a Kids App Store. Arriving this week alongside the launch of iOS 7, the Kids App Store store is not a separate mobile application, to be clear, but is rather a new section within the Apple App Store itself, which now features an added “Kids” category where apps are broken down by age range. This section of the store separates the apps into three age ranges, spanning those 5 and under, those between 6 and 8, and finally, those for kids between 9 and 11. The company first revealed this “Kids” section at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this summer when the revamped iOS 7 mobile operating system was first revealed. The updated mobile App Store app also saw a number of other changes, including the removal of “Genius” from the bottom menu in favor of apps “Near Me” for example, support for automatic app updates, and more. In addition to better organizing the mobile apps targeting children for ease-of-use, the Kids App Store also comes at a time when Apple has begun to allow children under 13 to sign up for and hold iTunes user accounts, as long as they’re funneled through an “approved educational institution.” As TechCrunch previously noted, Apple will face a lot more scrutiny now that it’s making mobile apps available directly to younger children. A SAFER HOME FOR KIDS APPS Apps aimed at the under-13 set, for example, will need to follow the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requirements. These state that developers can’t ask for personal info from kids, expect for “the purpose of complying with applicable children's privacy statues” – that is, not in order to gather information for targeting ads. The apps can’t transmit or share personal information without parental consent, either. And in addition to now being required to have clear privacy policies, apps in this section can’t use ads that ask kids to complete some sort of in-app activity and have to ask for parents’ permissions before they link outside the app to the web or other software, for the purpose of commerce. That’s right: no more spammy pop-ups, or tricks and nags to get kids to buy…at least not in this section. For many reputable kids’ app developers, compliance with the new policies wasYou Win, Republicans. My GIF Reaction To Their GIF OpED
Sep 22, 3:00PM
GIFs are the hot new thing. News organization BuzzFeed.com, which has staked its future on dozens of GIF and listicle posts a day, now has a staggering 85 million unique visitors a month. Attention-starved politicians want in on the action. So last week, Republicans published out a GIF-filled attack article against Democratic opposition to an oil pipeline. It was an instant success; the post snagged headlines from a dozen tech and mainstream outlets. The Internet went bananas: Here’s a sample of what the Energy and Commerce Committee put out (full post here): “On September 19, 2008, five years ago, when TransCanada first submitted its application to the U.S. State Department to build the Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion private infrastructure project that would create thousands of jobs and advance America's energy security:” “In April 2010, when the State Department issued its Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which said the pipeline "would result in limited adverse environmental impacts during both construction and operation” “Today, after five years, when the president has still not approved Keystone XL, keeping America waiting for thousands of jobs and greater energy security:” When I first saw mentions of the article fill up my Twitter feed, I couldn’t understand why everyone was drinking the Kool-Aid: I was all like, “No, I’m not going to click on this transparent click-bait piece of propaganda. Democracy deserves better.” Then, at some point in the day, I was burnt out from work. In a moment of weakness, I decided to see what all the fuss what about. I clicked and was instantly all like: It was addicting. Ordinarily I fill my downtime with a mix of New Girl episodes and cat videos. Instead, I was learning. Ten minutes later, I awoke from my daze with the full (if biased) history of the Keystone XL pipeline. Despite my knee-jerk belief that GIF posts were devolving news into an adolescent version of itself, I’m now convinced that these playful little guys deserve a seat at the big boys’ table. Let’s face it, we’re all on information overload, and we can’t read every piece of serious news out there. It’s okay to laugh and learn at the same time, especially when we would otherwise just choose to laugh. Ben Smith of BuzzFeed crafted an eloquent defense of this new type of journalism, arguing “Once you stop laughing and start thinking, the extreme virulence ofIf 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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