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Amazon Web Services Wins Again In Battle To Build The CIA And NSA Cloud
Oct 08, 5:28AM
Amazon Web Services has won a major battle against IBM in the pursuit to build a cloud infrastructure for the intelligence community. In a ruling published today, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler wrote that AWS legitimately won a $600 million contract with the CIA that IBM had contested. IBM plans to appeal the ruling. In a statement, the company said what the company offers is more cost-effective and that they have decades of experience working with the U.S. government.What Do You Love About Writing Code? We Ask, Software Engineers Answer
Oct 08, 3:09AM
The annual Grace Hopper event for women in computing is billed not as a conference, but as a "celebration." So when TechCrunch TV headed to Minneapolis this past week to cover Hopper 2013, we thought we'd take advantage of having so many software engineers in one place to ask about what exactly they were "celebrating" the most: What is it that they love about the act of building things through code? The answers were all unique, and all pretty inspiring -- we compiled a number of them in the video embedded above.Behind South Korea's Big $65M Mobile Gaming Merger
Oct 08, 2:12AM
They’ve been rivals for more than 10 years. Both Com2uS and Gamevil have battled for the local South Korean gaming market through the era of candy-bar phones until today. But in a new twist this month, they’re actually joining forces with Gamevil’s deal to spend roughly $65 million for a 21 percent stake in its longtime competitor. The reason? Android and iOS have fundamentally changed the global mobile gaming market. They’ve flattened it and games arguably can now cross cultural boundaries more fluidly than they ever have before. Games from European developers like King’s Candy Crush Saga and Supercell’s Clash of Clans can be distributed seamlessly in Asian markets. At the same time, new powerful chat apps like Kakao Talk are wedging themselves between Google’s Android platform and domestic game developers, lessening the power of local studios. So there’s more competition from abroad and weaker leverage for domestic developers. The deal, which values Com2uS at roughly $304 million, gives Gamevil a majority stake in the company. We hear that more serious talks started several months ago between James Song and Jiyoung Park, the heads of both companies. Only a handful of employees knew about the deal before it closed. Both companies have seen their stock prices decline over the last year (see below) as both public market investors and venture capitalists have soured on mobile gaming companies. It’s been difficult to see any of the developers break out from the hits-driven nature of the business after some early hope that a hugely dominant studio would emerge. While Gamevil’s revenues have steadily increased year-over-year to $19.1 million in the second quarter of this year, their profits have declined 32.3 percent in the same time because they’ve had to pay more royalties to studios they publish games on behalf of. At the same time, Com2uS said its revenues were down 8 percent year-over-year to roughly $19 million in the second quarter because of poor performance of new games. Gamevil’s Revenues Com2Us Shows Declining Revenues So you can see the argument that both companies might be able to do better together in the face of broad industry shifts. Gamevil’s shares rose 2.2 percent on the news, while Com2uS’ declined slightly. Also, because Gamevil tends to be more focused on publishing while Com2uS does first-party games, there’s an argument that both companies’ businesses are complementary. Furthermore, the larger network of players will also helpBranchOut Launches Talk.co To Expand From Networking Into A WhatsApp For The Workplace
Oct 08, 1:09AM
BranchOut's professional network cratered when Facebook muted its virality. Today the $49 million-funded startup is hedging its bets with the launch of Talk.co, a mobile-first web, iOS, and Android messaging app for coworkers that looks like Yammer and WhatsApp's white-collar love child. Talk.co ditches Yammer's passive feed for a list of message threads that get your colleagues to respond faster.Microsoft Announces Azure For US Government, Satya Nadella Dodges The CEO Question
Oct 08, 12:08AM
At the San Francisco offices of Yammer, Microsoft's Satya Nadella today announced a new instance of its Azure cloud product built for U.S. government customers. The product, formally called "Windows Azure US Government Cloud," is a separate service, hosted inside the U.S. that will only be managed by U.S. citizens. The announcement follows recent news that Microsoft earned a special form of authorization to sell its products to the government.Airbnb's Brian Chesky And Sequoia's Alfred Lin On The Importance Of Culture And Core Values To A Business
Oct 07, 10:30PM
Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and Sequoia Capital partner, Airbnb board member, and former Zappos COO Alfred Lin joined us in the TechCrunch TV studio for a special three-part series on how Chesky and Lin work together on retaining culture, expanding internationally, and maintaining customer service. In this episode, we focus on how Lin and Chesky first met, and what Chesky has learned from the Zappos model in creating a culture at Airbnb.
DG Acquires Republic Project, A Google Ventures-Backed Ad Startup, For $1.4M
Oct 07, 10:30PM
Publicly traded ad management and distribution company Digital Generation, better known as DG, is announcing that it has acquired ad startup Republic Project for $1.4 million in cash, with additional earn outs based on revenue and profitability.Those Giant Fox News Touchscreens Are Microsoft Perceptive Pixel Displays Running Windows 8
Oct 07, 10:14PM
Huge iPads or tiny journalists? That’s the question that many are asking after Fox News released a video detailing a new set that includes a number of analysts sat before massive touch interfaces. The screens measure 55 inches, run Windows 8 (soon: Windows 8.1, presumably) and look damned futuristic. Secret Fox News hardware? Something that Samsung kicked together for the company? Nope, just Microsoft’s PPI display technology deployed in the wild, the company confirmed with TechCrunch. Microsoft’s PPI business comes from its acquisition of Perceptive Pixel in July 2012. Microsoft, through that acquisition, is now an OEM of some of the largest touchscreens in the world; PPI displays also come in an 80-inch variant. For fun, here’s a shot of long-time Microsoft denizen Craig Mundie poking a PPI display at TechForum on Microsoft’s campus this March: And here we have Shep Smith’s crew using their own PPIs: According to Smith, Fox News can toss the images of any of the displays on air when they wish. The skinning you see above (from black to white) appears to be in place to let the displays match the color scheme of the new studio. Aside from it being simply neat of Fox News to use the displays, it’s a nice moment for Microsoft: The company has found an early commercial use for the technology. Inside of Microsoft you can better tell the pecking order by who has a PPI display in their office, compared to a whiteboard, if you were curious. I spoke with Microsoft’s Eric Rudder in March, who told me that the multitouch slate screens cost around $7,000 for the 55-inch model. Once that goes through a few product cycles, PPI displays could become affordable enough for the rest of us. For now, I’m jealous of Fox News for the first time in a long time. Top Image Credit: Screenshot via Seth FiegermanForkly, The Foodspotting Competitor From Brightkite Founders, Is Looking For A New Home
Oct 07, 7:35PM
Forkly, a Foodspotting competitor launched back 2010, is shutting down. Well, sort of – it will remain open for six to eight months, and maybe more, while looking for a new home, we’re told. It looked like bad news for the company when one of its co-founders, Martin May, left the startup to join as CTO at Push.io, and now we’ve confirmed why: Forkly is “in transition.” The company, for those unfamiliar, was notable mainly for its creators: Brightkite founders May and Brady Becker. With Brightkite, the team was well ahead of the check-in trend that later led to companies like Foursquare, with the launch of one of the first apps to combine social, mobile and local to form a new kind of network. But Forkly was not quite as groundbreaking. Its emphasis was more on rating individual food items and dishes in order to discover what’s good where, not just sharing pictures of your meal. The idea was to help users build their own “taste graph,” meaning a personalized profile of what you like to eat. In February, the company launched a revamped app they called “Forkly 2.0,” which was designed to make that taste graph more useful through personalized recommendations. Unfortunately, Forkly wasn’t very differentiated from Foodspotting – at least in the eyes of consumers. In addition, it and other food-focused social networks and review platforms have also had to contend with the rise of other companies, like Yelp for reviews, Instagram, where users like to post their meal photos, and, ironically Foursquare, which also lets you find what’s good to eat nearby. Forkly took in $200,000 in seed funding back in May 2011, followed by $700,000 in March 2012, according to its AngelList profile, which hasn’t posted an update for seven months, as of the time of writing. Investors included Jeff Miller (founder of Punchfork), David Cohen, Jim Deters (CEO at Galvanize), and others. The profile also notes that the app had roughly 300,000 users on iOS, and an Android version was due out in March 2013. However, that Android app never launched – the site still lists the app as “coming soon.” Meanwhile, the iOS app has not been updated since this July, and May left for Push.io in September, according to his LinkedIn profile. The company currently has 2.1 million dishes, 360,000 downloads, 500,000 dish ratings, and 93,000 restaurants with ratings. Though the Forkly app is still liveGoogle Glass Gets Transit Directions So You Can Get Your $1,500 Head Computer Stolen On The Bus
Oct 07, 7:31PM
Today, Google Glass gets transit directions via the new XE10 update, as long as you’ve paired it with an Android phone. Previously, the head computer would give you directions to nearby locations but only via your feet or personal vehicle. This latest update adds buses, streetcars and more into the mix, letting you specify a location and allowing Glass to pin down the exact routes and timing for you. This utilizes the navigation system of your connected Android phone, meaning that you’re not going to be able to do this with Glass alone, or with it connected to an iOS device. Currently only the MyGlass app on Android can pass along the location information needed to get these directions. The Glass team explains how you use the new transit directions: “From the Home screen, get directions by saying “ok glass, get directions to…” Glass will pull up directions by whatever method you used last. To switch the manner of transportation, tap the directions card and swipe until you see Transit.” This all sounds great and lovely, but my worry is that Glass isn’t exactly ubiquitous enough — even in San Francisco, home of all things new and gadgety — to feel comfortable trucking along on most public transportation while wearing it. I’ve worn it out and about both in suburban and urban areas and felt very uncomfortable riding trains or buses with it on. The devices are still $1,500 and there is a certain theft risk here. Not that this is a reason for the Glass team to stop adding features, though, and they continue to do so at the ‘one update a month’ clip promised at Google I/O. This update also brings two additional features, including the ability to tap on a card to visit links sent to you in tweets, texts, emails and other messages. You can now also see a profile picture of the person you’re talking to while sending a message. The text is overlaid on top of it. Still not to be found? The full GDK (Glass Developer Kit) will allow people to build official ‘native’ Glass apps instead of the current crop of what are basically web-based apps.After Buying Wibiya For $45M, Conduit Is Discontinuing The Website Social Toolbar Service
Oct 07, 7:19PM
Less than a month after browser-toolbar and mobile startup Conduit's Conduit Connect division merged with Perion to take its place on Nasdaq, the company is making another change to its business. Today Conduit announced that it will be discontinuing Wibiya, the social browser toolbar service that it acquired in 2011 for $45 million, as it shifts further away from its toolbar business.Mobile Engagement Platform Appoxee Grabs $1.8 Million As It Heads To The U.S.
Oct 07, 7:02PM
With mobile publishers moving away from paid apps and toward in-app purchases in order to monetize on mobile, there's an increased need to generate more revenue out of existing install bases. That's an area which mobile app engagement platform Appoxee has been focused on since its founding in early 2011, and today it's announcing an additional $1.8 million in seed funding to help it continue its growth.Tablo BookMaker Takes The Complexity Out Of EBook Publishing
Oct 07, 7:00PM
Getting a book published used to require something called "an agent" who talked to a "publishing house" who, in turn, hired a "printer" to make a "hardback" or "paperback" version of your words. Tablo.io is just another in the long line of start-ups aimed at relegating those things to the deep, dark past.Netflix iOS Bug That Breaks Output Via Apple HDMI AV Adapters Will Be Fixed
Oct 07, 6:46PM
The latest Neftlix update for iOS 7 finally added full AirPlay support to the app, something that many probably assumed it already had. But it also appears to have broken the feature, which allowed it to connect directly to TVs with Apple’s HDMI AV adapter. Some users have been crying foul about the error, claiming that Apple and Netflix were trying to force people to buy Apple TVs in order to use AirPlay. We reached out to Netflix about the error and they ensured us that this is just a bug that is affecting a ‘small percentage’ of customers, and that they’re working on fixing it. A search of Twitter shows that there are quite a few users running up against the issue over the past couple of days. Here’s the error that one user, Kari Knudson, had been seeing: So, if you’re seeing a similar error, just know that it’s not a grand conspiracy of some sort, just an unfortunate bug. Hopefully Netflix will get the update rolled out soon. In the meantime, an Apple support thread on the matter suggests that turning AirPlay off completely will force video to output to the HDMI adapter, letting you watch video the way you want while Netflix rolls out a fix.Sparkcentral Picks Up $4.5 Million To Build Its Vision Of Social Customer Service
Oct 07, 6:44PM
TwitSpark announced today that it has raised a $4.5 million Series A round of funding and changed its name to Sparkcentral. The company's vision is the integration of social customer service into the mass-scale call centers that large corporations staff with phones, people who answer phones, and angry calls.FiLIP, A Smartwatch For Kids, Will Be Home For The Holidays
Oct 07, 6:30PM
Just in time for frenzied family trips to the mall — i.e. the holiday season — wearable tech maker Filip Technologies is preparing to take its first product to market, a GPS and mobile-enabled watch that keeps children and their parents in communication. After three years in product development, AT&T has partnered with Filip Technologies as the device’s network provider, distributor, and billing service. Exact pricing and service plans will be announced in the coming weeks, Filip Technologies CEO Jonathan Peachey said. Although the final retail price on the FiLIP watch has not been set, it will not exceed $200. The monthly voice and data plan will be less than that, Peachey added, the aim being to not burden the average family’s monthly mobile budget. The colorful two-button watch, worn by the child and hooked up to an app on a parent’s phone, can make and receive calls to the parent. It also uses a combination of GPS, cell tower location, and WiFi triangulation to act as a locator, and there’s an emergency button that begins ambient sound recording and connects the child with emergency services. And although smartwatches are so hot right now, it’s wearable primarily because kids are prone to losing things not attached to their bodies. The FiLIP watch is aimed at children 11 and younger, given that many parents don’t want to buy their kids a cell phone until they’re a bit older. Although there are GPS devices and phones with limited calling capabilities targeted at children on the market, it’s a diversity of features that Filip Technologies is hoping will set its product apart. “You need a combination of location and voice,” Peachey said. “I can’t point to a product that does the features we do in a wearable product.” This summer has marked a few milestones in the development of the product. FiLIP passed its FCC certification in late July, making it the first wearable mobile device with full two-way voice capability to do so. Earlier that month, Peachey joined the Filip team from Virgin Group, where he was the CEO of Virgin Management USA and later an advisor to Sir Richard Branson. It took about two years of engineering effort to get the product to a place where it could enter FCC testing, Peachey said. During that time the engineering team built a large scale prototype and then spent nine months shrinking itVerbase Is A Search Startup Using 'No Ads' To Lure Users To Fire Its Crowdsourced Engines
Oct 07, 5:47PM
Hong Kong based startup Verbase -- currently billing itself as "a search engine with clean and pure results" -- reckons it has a chance to inch into the search market by offering something different to category leader Google. Namely: no ads, no spam and, down the line, crowdsourced content to augment its core search results.The Internet Costs 30% Of Monthly Wages In Some Nations. Google Wants To Help.
Oct 07, 5:39PM
Internet access is astonishingly expensive in some parts of the world. The International Telecommunications Union estimates that fixed broadband costs 30 percent of the average monthly wage within the developing world [PDF]. To address this, Google, Facebook, USAID and a host of top-tier tech companies have teamed up to make the Internet universally affordable. The newly launched Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) aims to achieve the UN development goals of keeping Internet access costs below 5 percent of monthly income worldwide.Fox News And Its Big-Ass Touchscreens
Oct 07, 5:29PM
And in this week's episode of absolutely bizarre behavior from Fox News, we bring you BATS, officially known as big area touchscreens. The media outlet responsible for bringing fair and balanced news into our lives has today released a video that shows off the network's brand-new Fox News Deck studio, a room filled with video walls and giant 55-inch touchscreens that will henceforth deliver the news to Fox News viewers, along with Shepard Smith.The NSA Oversight Farce
Oct 07, 5:18PM
This weekend we learned that President Barack Obama's NSA surveillance panel, built at least in theory to vet our intelligence activities and weigh their performance against the right of privacy, went on hiatus after the government shutdown froze its funds. It was an emblematic moment. As a nation we couldn't even keep the farce of oversight in play long enough to have it ultimately disappoint us.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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