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Acer Brings Another Chromebook To The Party
Oct 10, 7:01AM
Acer was early to the Chromebook market, releasing the C7 for a mere $199 and the C710 for $299. These laptops - more tablets with keyboards than fully-featured machines - work well as "third screen" devices that you throw onto a coffee table or use for browsing and some mild document editing. Now Acer is back with the C720, a $249 with SD card reader, USB 3.0 port, and a front-facing HD webcam for video chats.Twitter Appears To Be Exploring Personalized Breaking News Notifications With @Eventparrot Experiment
Oct 10, 5:40AM
Twitter appears to be exploring introducing breaking news notifications tuned for you to its apps, if a new experimental account is any indication. An account called @eventparrot has garnered around 1,500 followers and promises to deliver ‘direct messages that help you keep up with what’s happening in the world’. I received my first message from the account this evening, a repackaged tweet from CNN breaking news about rebels kidnapping Libya’s prime minister: The account looks nearly identical in makeup to the @magicrecs account that spawned Twitter’s recent addition of push recommendations for follow suggestions and ‘interesting tweets’. That account also started out with the profile text ‘this is a Twitter experiment’, and was later folded into Twitter’s products after it garnered a lot of positive responses on Twitter at large. It’s impossible to tell whether the account is an ‘official Twitter experiment’ as the company does not comment on experiments it runs. But the account has all of the earmarks of an experiment in delivering a personalized set of breaking news alerts that are determined by an algorithm to be actually useful to you. All of the earliest followers are Twitter employees, which isn’t too surprising as they tend to dogfood new experiments in some cases. For now you’ll have to forgive me for hedging my bets on this being something Twitter is actually responsible for, but I believe that it is. All of the earmarks are there. I’m also jumping to conclusions a bit about where Twitter might take this as it is just an experiment. So, if it’s not successful or doesn’t meet with the acclaim of @magicrecs, it might go nowhere. But, if it’s successful, then twitter might roll out news notifications that have the same kind of personal ‘magical thrill’ that an account follow recommendation from @magicrecs has. In my piece on it last week I noted that Twitter appears to be working hard to create a reason for individuals to feel that the service is tailored to them specifically. This new @eventparrot experiment could be another step in that direction, which is a good thing. Twitter is still very much trying to figure out how to balance its need to make money with a need to both attract and retain new users. I personally feel that the tapering user growth numbers that we saw in Twitter’s S-1 are a direct result of it focusing too much onTwitter's Silent Chairman
Oct 10, 5:10AM
Last week, when Twitter’s S-1 filing dropped, the media pored over it with a fine-toothed comb, extracting every bit of juice possible from under the freshly peeled-back rind of the intensely secretive company. One very interesting tidbit was dug up by the Times’ Claire Cain Miller: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey had apparently given up the voting rights of his stock to fellow co-founder Ev Williams. Though the piece discussed the agreement, which assigned a proxy vote to Williams, the truth of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of this gifting was still a mystery. Until today, when another hot nugget dropped in the form of Nick Bilton’s piece in the Times that takes material from his upcoming book on the company. If we piece together Miller’s discovery, revelations from Bilton’s piece and some bits and pieces about the comings and goings of Twitter employees, a picture starts to emerge of exactly why and when those votes were removed, making Dorsey Twitter’s ‘silent Chairman’. The cogs of this particular bit of corporate machinery started turning in 2008, when Williams and board members Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson expressed concern in Dorsey’s ability to act as Twitter CEO. Push came to shove and, in October of 2008, Dorsey was informed by the pair of board members that he was out as CEO during a meeting at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. Octobers have actually shaped up to be no good very bad months for Twitter (and Odeo) founders in general, as October of 2006 is when Odeo co-founder Noah Glass was shown the door. Bilton’s piece points to Dorsey as the catalyst for Glass’ ouster. The offering from the board? A ‘silent’ Chairman position, which would have no voting shares. Williams would control those shares and take on the CEO role. A bitter pill, to be sure, but the ‘silent’ part of that position went beyond just voting shares. Dorsey didn’t have day-to-day involvement with the company and was expected to be as literally silenced as he was legally. Instead, according to Bilton, he started myth building. He began to build up his role as a creator of Twitter and started speaking for the company in interviews, ignoring the ‘silent’ part of his ‘silent’ position. You can see the tension exposed in this clip from an interview on The View. Barbara Walters had spoken to Dorsey the day before the May 6, 2009>From Sprint And TechStars To The FDA, A Look At The Changing Landscape Facing Health Startups
Oct 10, 4:30AM
The health-care industry in the U.S. is broken, and considering the industry itself represents some 18 percent of the U.S. economy, it's a sizable problem. While other sectors have begun to adapt, health care has managed to resist change -- particularly the technology-based variety. Meanwhile, 30 percent of total health-care spending in the U.S., or more than $750 billion per year, is wasted on "unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud and other problems."Crowdsourced Design Startup Dispop Gets Into the Ad-Buying Business
Oct 10, 12:45AM
Dispop, the startup that allows businesses to crowdsource the design of their ads, has relaunched its platform with a big addition — the ability to actually run ad campaigns. Through the service, advertisers could already solicit submissions from multiple designers, then A/B test them to see which ones are the most effective. However, after the platform launched in June, founder and CEO Ayal Ebert said he discovered that larger advertisers want to keep their design in-house, so the new platform is focused on small and medium businesses.Microsoft Rereleases Its YouTube App For Windows Phone
Oct 10, 12:26AM
Microsoft today re-released its old YouTube app for Windows Phone, two months after Google axed the prior version over a terms spat. In May, Google and Microsoft decided to work together to get a strong YouTube app into the Windows Phone marketplace. Microsoft had built something that broke Google's terms of service (the app was pretty rocking, though), and so the firms decided to work something out in harmony. Instead of a symphony, though, the relationship ended with a raspberry.T-Mobile Takes Aim At Rival Carriers With Free, Unlimited International Data
Oct 09, 11:55PM
T-Mobile USA just loves to crow about how different it is from the rest of its carrier rivals; it decided to show off the latest of its "Uncarrier" moves at a packed concert/press event in New York City's Bryant Park. Here's the gist of it: if you're a T-Mobile customer on one of their Simple Choice plans, you can now use unlimited data in 100+ countries totally free of charge. Better still, existing customers don't have to do anything -- the feature will kick in starting on October 31, so there's no need for last-minute phone prep before leaving on a jet plane.Former Mint And Intuit Exec Anton Commissaris Joins Vend To Run US Operations
Oct 09, 11:41PM
New Zealand-based point-of-sale startup Vend is looking to expand quickly in the U.S., and it's made a big hire to lead that charge. Anton Commissaris, who had served as an executive at Mint.com and later Intuit has joined the company as its President of U.S. operations.PC Market Beats Expectations, Slips 7.6% In Q3
Oct 09, 11:17PM
According to IDC, the PC market contracted 7.6 percent in the third quarter. The group had expected a 9.5 percent decline, so the quarter outperformed expectations. In the United States, the PC market was essentially flat during the quarter, with unit volume falling a mere 0.2 percent compared to the year prior. That fact, coupled with rising device volume for the three largest OEMs, provides a few rays of light in an otherwise crepuscular market.This Week On The TechCrunch Droidcast: More Leaks Than A Sinking Ship
Oct 09, 10:32PM
There’s nothing like a heaping helping of leaks to make it through hump day, and there are plenty of them to dissect on this week’s edition of the TechCrunch Droidcast. Some of them are more surprising than others — who didn’t know that HTC was working on a plus-size version of the One with a fingerprint scanner on its back — but co-host Darrell Etherington and I are always more than happy to get in there and start tearing things apart. Naturally, HTC isn’t alone in its inability to keep secrets. New details about LG’s new Nexus smartphone made the rounds thanks to a whopper of a service manual, and @evleaks blew Samsung’s Galaxy Round surprise just hours ahead of the official reveal. Throw in some ruminations about the Platonic ideal of an Android tablet and you’ve got the new Droidcast in a nutshell. Enjoy. P.S. Darrell and I have this nasty, nasty habit of running the show off the rails to talk about Pokemon. In fact, that’s exactly how we started the show today — jump a minute or so in to skip all that if you’d rather not deal with it. We invite you to enjoy weekly Android podcasts every Wednesday at roughly 5:30 p.m. Eastern and 2:30 p.m. Pacific, in addition to our weekly Gadgets podcast at 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific on Fridays. Subscribe to the TechCrunch Droidcast in iTunes, too, if that's your fancy. Intro music by Kris Keyser. Direct download available here.Brian Chesky And Sequoia's Alfred Lin On Adding The Wow Factor To Airbnb's Customer Service
Oct 09, 10:30PM
As we mentioned earlier this week, 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.
HP Admits What We Already Knew: Microsoft Is At War With Its OEM Partners
Oct 09, 10:29PM
HP stated the obvious today, clearing the air a bit in the world of personal computing, not to mention other areas of the technology industry. Microsoft, it said, is now a competitor to its business. Of course, we knew this. HP sells software, services, and devices. So does Microsoft. Here's the key quote: "Current [HP] partners like Intel and Microsoft are turning from partners to outright competitors." Microsoft is no longer content or able to mint money by selling software to partners, corporate clients, and the public. As it moves into services and devices, companies that were partners will retain that status, but also garner a new classification: adversary.Airbnb Files A Motion With The NY Supreme Court To Block Attorney General's Subpoena
Oct 09, 8:28PM
Airbnb's fight with local regulators in New York continues to heat up, as it was put under pressure to provide a large amount of user data to the Attorney General's office there. Today, the company fought back against those demands by filing a motion which it hopes will block that request.New Google Maps Regains Support For Multi-Destination Trips, Now Integrates Your Flights And Upcoming Events
Oct 09, 8:26PM
The Google Maps overhaul brought a bunch of new shiny stuff, from its fullscreen interface to much improved public transportation integration. It also lost some features, though - and when you take away things that people (like me!) have been using for years, those people (like me!) get sad. One of the features that got washed away: multi-destination trips. At long last, it returns.EXMO, A Mobile Events Platform Making Conferences More Social, Exits Beta
Oct 09, 8:25PM
Although there are a number of mobile applications working to replace the printed guidebook for conferences and events, there's no all-out market leader at this point. In addition, a number of the companies building conferencing apps are focused on larger events, with pricing plans to match. Today, a startup called EXMO is launching its own take on a mobile events platform, with a more social app initially targeting events with fewer than 1,000 attendees.Microsoft Promises Quick App Approvals Following Windows 8.1 Release
Oct 09, 6:51PM
After a public face plant regarding the release of its operating system update to developers, Microsoft today announced that applications built for Windows 8.1 will be approved no more than five days following their submission, once the new build of Windows becomes generally available. That means that come October 18, when Windows 8.1 becomes downloadable by all, apps submitted to take advantage of its improvements won't be tied up by a long line, harming developers who want to stay ahead of the curve.Themer App Grabs Half A Million To Bring Android Customization To Mainstream Users
Oct 09, 6:38PM
Android users are rolling their eyes over the newly introduced customization capabilities released in Apple’s iOS 7 like “dynamic” (live) wallpapers and backgrounds with the parallax effect. You can already do these things on Android and have been able to for some time. In fact, you can fully personalize your smartphone, from the homescreen widgets to the default apps, icon sets and more. A new company looking to build a business around smartphone personalization is MyColorScreen, which last week released its theming app, Themer, into private beta. Though not yet available to the public, already 250,000 users have signed up requesting an invite, and so far, around 140,000 have installed the app after being let in. Though to some extent the app is competing with the numerous other Android “launchers” on the market today, Themer is something of a different beast. Instead of either taking over every aspect of your phone, like Facebook Home did, or offering a launcher app as the base plus a suite of widgets you have to seek out and download separately, Themer is designed to allow for one-click installations, with backgrounds, icons, widgets and more all bundled together in each theme. To use the app, you simply browse for a theme you like, push a button, and your Android phone is customized. The themes are high-quality, too. They’re purchased from the designers who haunt the MyColorScreen website, a social service where users can share and comment on photos of Android customizations. You can think of it as something of a Dribbble.com for Android homescreen designers. MyColorScreen has an interesting history. The company co-founders, Ashvin Dhingra (CEO), Joshua Solan, and Brandon Miniman, didn’t create MyColorScreen.com themselves – they acquired it. Solan, who owns a popular mobile software development community called XDA Developers, and Dhingra have backgrounds in finance. After school, they worked on hedge funds in San Diego together before relocating to New York. But all the while, they had entrepreneurial side projects on the side. (Solan bought XDA Developers a while ago, but he’s now more involved with MyColorScreen today.) “We were always amazed at the large user base of XDA,” explains Dhingra. “We would look at it, and think ‘what are the big things people are talking about on XDA? What is it that people want to do with Android?’ And what we noticed is that a lot of people are talking about customization, andVEVO Launches Music Video App For Samsung Smart TVs & Blu-Ray Players
Oct 09, 6:26PM
VEVO announced that it is launching on yet another connected TV platform today, making its music videos now available on the latest Samsung Smart TV products. The launch will grow the number of viewers who will have access to the company's streaming service, while also improving monetization of its content.CoreOS Receives Investment From Andreessen Horowitz And Sequoia For New Cloud OS Built With Google In Mind
Oct 09, 6:23PM
CoreOS, a Y Combinator alum, has received investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital for its new Linux-based operating system designed to run like Google would run its own cloud infrastructure. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but CEO and Co-Founder Alex Polvi said the amount is in the $1 million to $5 million range.Just One Week Left To Register For Startup Alley At Disrupt Europe
Oct 09, 6:10PM
As we approach Disrupt Europe in Berlin we would like to extend the offer for you, some of the best startups in the world, to take part in Startup Alley, our special pavilion focused on bringing amazing startups together under one roof. This gets you a table at the event and the chance to show off your product to press, investors, and TC writers and editors. It's a great way to launch and we've had many successful companies come out of the Alley.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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