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Intuit Acquires FullSlate, An Online Scheduler For Small Businesses
Oct 31, 1:03AM
Intuit is acquiring FullSlate, an online scheduling company that allows clients to offer their customers the ability to make appointments directly to web sites and Facebook pages. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The service will become part of Intuit demandforce, a marketing platform for small businesses. Demandforce has tools for communications, to help clients keep in touch with their customers through email and SMS messaging. It also has online reputation tools that help clients reach out to their customer base for reviews that then get distributed to top sites. The scheduler from FullSlate will become part of this portfolio, along with its e-commerce platform that allows for payments to be made that are tied to a particular appointment. The FullSlate service has a host of scheduling services. It allows for customers to use an embed code for the online appointment scheduler that they can place on their web site. The company also offers a Facebook app that allows for scheduling to a Facebook business page so clients and their friends can make appointments without leaving Facebook. Customers can also create a landing page for a business with a logo, business hours, map and online scheduling. The service works on iOS and Android devices, calendar syncing, a client database and email marketing capabilities. Intuit has made a number of acquisitions this year with a particular focus on the small business, their bread-and-butter market.
Highlights From The Disrupt Europe 2013 Hackathon
Oct 31, 12:21AM
This past weekend, we brought together 500 of Berlin's finest coders, designers, and builders for our first ever Disrupt Europe Hackathon. Teams had to slam together the best thing they could build from the ground up in just 24 hours, with $5,000, a chance to present your project in the main Disrupt Europe conference, and tons of other prizes up for grabs. Couldn't make it? It's okay — there will be another one. In the mean time, TCTV has put together a lil' video to show to give you a sense of the energy, exhaustion, and raw talent involved with an event like this. While the judges had to pick just three winners, we were absolutely blown away by all of the projects — so much so, in fact, that we ended up giving tickets to Disrupt Europe to every single team that presented (we originally planned on giving tickets to the Top 40 or 50 teams, but there were just too many projects that we all liked.) Want to peruse all of the awesome submissions? You can check out the full submission gallery here.
Facebook's Desktop Ad Revenues Fell $26M In Q3 As Its Mobile Ad Revenue Surged $226M
Oct 30, 11:27PM
As part of its third quarter financial performance, Facebook today reported that 49 percent of its advertising revenue in the period came from mobile usage. That figure is up 8 percent from the second quarter, in which Facebook reported 41 percent of its advertising revenue came from mobile usage. Facebook had third quarter advertising revenue of $1.8 billion. Forty-nine percent of that tally is $882 million, implying that Facebook's desktop advertising revenue for the quarter totaled $918 million.
After Nearly 5 Years And 5M Backers, Kickstarter Gets A New CEO As Two Founders Step Back
Oct 30, 11:08PM
Today, in a somewhat surprising turn after yesterday's milestones, it appears that an impromptu version of the "Management Shuffle" will be rolling into Kickstarter. In a blog post today, Kickstarter co-founder Perry Chen announced that he will be stepping down from his role as CEO and will instead assume the role of chairman beginning January 1st. 
This Week On The TechCrunch Droidcast: Google's Plan For Hangouts And Motorola's Modular Future
Oct 30, 10:30PM
To paraphrase the one and only Gloria Gaynor, Darrell and I are back from outer space for yet another edition of the TechCrunch Droidcast. Well maybe not outer space per se, but the two of us have had to spend some time far from home and we couldn't get together to record a show last week. For that you have our deepest apologies. But if it's any consolation, my trusty co-host and I had a real blast putting this week's episode together.
Cloud Management Platform ServiceMesh Acquired By CSC, A Consulting And IT Services Company
Oct 30, 9:44PM
Cloud management company ServiceMesh has been acquired by CSC, which has in recent years emerged as an IT management outfit that focuses on helping companies move their apps to service providers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ServiceMesh describes itself as an enterprise cloud management company that offers Global 2000 companies what it calls “IT as Service,” that charges on a pay as you go basis. It helps companies extend their data centers to public cloud services with all of the governance requirements that comes with managing an enterprise operation. The ServiceMesh Agility Platform helps enterprise customers with self-service provisioning and management of standardized and fully governed Infrastructure as a Service, platform as a service and software as a service offerings. The company allows business to go fast, build new applications and manage multiple providers, all in a way that's compliant. The company had $15 million in funding from Ignition Partners. Frank Artale, a partner at Ignition, was a member of the ServiceMesh board of directors. It was ServiceMesh’s only round of institutional funding. In a prepared release, CSC stated that the deal will enable the company to expand the reach of its BizCloud service, as well as allow it to present stronger competition against dominant cloud players like AWS.
Facebook Admits Some Decrease Of Usage Amongst Young Teens For The First Time
Oct 30, 9:40PM
Facebook may be feeling the pinch from teen-focused mobile-first social networks like Snapchat, as CFO David Ebersman said on today's earnings call that Facebook "did see a decrease in daily users specifically among younger teens," though he prefaced that saying "usage of Facebook among US teens overall was stable from Q2 to Q3." This is the first time Facebook has reported anything but increasing usage with teens.
Facebook's Mobile Tipping Point: 48% Of Daily Users Are Now Mobile-Only (But No Mention Of BlackBerry)
Oct 30, 9:32PM
The word "BlackBerry" did not come up during Facebooks Q3 earnings conference call yesterday, but you can see why such a crazy idea like the social network buying the beleaguered handset maker might have a sliver of plausibility to it. The company is moving closer to a tipping point where mobile usage and revenues will soon be outweighing that of desktop, and although Zuckerberg has ruled out the so-called "Facebook phone," you never know how the company may want to capitalize on its mobile muscle in the future. 
TechCrunch Disrupt Europe In 1,337 Photos
Oct 30, 9:16PM
TechCrunch Disrupt Europe was a hit. Thousands of attendees, founders, and venture capitalists from around the world filled Arena Berlin. Startups from more than 80 countries exhibited their wares. 15 startups launched in the first Startup Battlefield held in Europe and Lock8 won the $50,000 prize and Disrupt Cup. Disrupt Europe was something special. It was alive. It was vibrant, energetic, and rousing. Words cannot describe the electric pulse of this conference, parties and the hackathon. But perhaps the hundreds of photos and videos below can.
Facebook's Q3 '13 Beats With $2.02B Revenue, $0.25 EPS, With 49% Of Ad Revenue Now Via Mobile
Oct 30, 8:19PM
Facebook announced its Q3 2013 results today, posting $2.02 billion in revenue (making this the company’s first $2 billion quarter) with earnings of $0.25 a share. That blew away estimates of $0.19 EPS and $1.91 billion in revenue. Much of the growth can be attributed to exploding ad revenue on mobile, with 49 percent of its revenue in Q3 coming from outside of the desktop. Facebook’s $1.80 billion overall ad revenue was up 66 percent in Q3 compared to the year-ago quarter. In fact, Facebook grew in almost every important metric. Daily active users were up 25 percent to 728 million, and Facebook’s overall users went up 18 percent to 1.19 billion. Mobile MAUs were up 45 percent year over year to 874 million. Facebook’s monthly active users number jumped up by 40 million overall. Mobile daily active users were 507 million in September of 2013. Notably, much of Facebook’s overall growth was in the rest of the world, with only 1 million new users coming from the U.S. Create infographics The growth in mobile across Facebook’s revenue and user counts follows the industry trend as users continue to make their pocket computers their primary ones. Making mobile revenue work has been one of Facebook’s primary challenges, and one of the main reasons that so many have been skeptical about its future as a public company. The explosion in mobile revenue as a percentage of Facebook’s overall business serves as a sort of answer to those naysayers. “For nearly ten years, Facebook has been on a mission to connect the world,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a release today. “The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we’re prepared for the next phase of our company, as we work to bring the next five billion people online and into the knowledge economy.” At the moment, Facebook stock is up nearly 11 percent in after-hours trading to 54 percent. Create infographics Create infographics
No, Madam Secretary, Prices On Healthcare.gov Are Not A "Hypothetical Situation"
Oct 30, 8:14PM
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, wins the award today for most creative political spin. During a congressional grilling about the failings of the federal e-commerce website, Healthcare.gov, the secretary now claims that insurance prices are merely “hypothetical situations.” The claim was in response to recent reports that Healthcare.gov is low-balling insurance prices by 50 percent or more (or hundreds of dollars a month). The website fails to ask consumers their birthdates, only if they’re older than 49 years of age, and therefore lumps many older consumers in with some of their 20-something counterparts who are eligible for discounted rates. It’s the equivalent of Apple saying that when an iPhone is available for purchase, it’ll be half the cost of what consumers end up paying at the register. When Representative John Shimkus asked Secretary Sebelius for an explanation for the low-ball prices, she responded, “It is clearly a hypothetical situation…” While it’s true that the Healthcare.gov calculator does inform consumers of possible price changes upon final checkout, it really only emphasizes that prices will be lower “IMPORTANT NOTE: The prices here don't reflect the lower costs an applicant may qualify for based on household size and income. Many people who apply will qualify for reduced costs through tax credits that are automatically applied to monthly premiums. These credits will significantly lower the prices shown for a majority of those applying. Final price quotes are available only after someone has completed a Marketplace application.” As the secretary notes in her testimony, because many consumers cannot actually log in to the website, their true eligibility discounts (i.e. price) cannot be determined. But that’s no excuse for misleading consumers trying to financially plan for changes in their monthly expenses. No explanation was given for why the website does not include a simple form for asking consumers for their actual birthdates. The Secretary was willing to take responsibility for Healthcare.gov’s failures today; I’m not sure why she felt the need to spin the specifics.
ClearStory Data Designs An Analytics Platform That Is About The Experience As Much As The Technology
Oct 30, 6:34PM
ClearStory has launched a data analytics service that the company says is one of the first to offer a core back-end technology that includes rich visuals and sharing capabilities. On the back-end, ClearStory has a platform for integrating a company's internal and external data using an in-memory database technology, said CEO Sharmila Shahani-Mulligan in a phone interview this week. This can be relational or NoSQL data, point-of-sale information or demographic statistics from external sources. Its advantage is in the ability to process multiple types of data on the fly and then combine that with a modern user interface.
NSA Infiltrates Google And Yahoo Networks, Report Says
Oct 30, 5:41PM
The National Security Agency has secretly taped the networks of Google and Yahoo to monitor real-time communication, according to newly revealed documents from whistleblower, Edward Snowden [PDF]. “The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials,” according to The Washington Post, which obtained the hand-scribbled documents. Both Google and Yahoo maintain expensive fiber-optic data linkages in strategic data centers around the world to optimize the flow of information. This infiltration would allow the NSA to know “who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.” Upon learning about the NSA tapping into their networks, Google released a statement, saying the company is "troubled by allegations of the government intercepting traffic between our data centers, and we are not aware of this activity." Codenamed, MUSCULAR, the surveillance project is operated jointly with British Intelligence agency, GCHQ. While the NSA already had access to communication through court-sanctioned collection program PRISM, the agency may prefer international territory because it permits them to subvert American privacy law. The NSA is forbidden from spying on Americans without stringent court oversight; international law may be less restrictive. The Post reports that upon showing this information to two engineers familiar with Google’s system, they “exploded in profanity” and said "I hope you publish this.”
Tesla Officially Opens West Coast Supercharger Circuit, Covering San Diego To Vancouver
Oct 30, 5:31PM
Tesla's West Coast Supercharger Corridor opened today, making it possible for owners of the Model S to travel free between San Diego and Vancouver, using Highway 101 and Interstate 5. This makes a Supercharger reachable within 200 miles to over 99 percent of Californians and 87 percent of those in Oregon and Washington.
Lawdingo Raises $690K More To Help You Talk To Lawyers Instantly
Oct 30, 5:00PM
Y Combinator-incubated legal startup Lawdingo is announcing that it has raised another $690,000 in funding. The company's goal is to make it more convenient and affordable for users to connect with a lawyer (in contrast to a service like LegalZoom, which offers legal forms rather than actual consultation with an attorney). Users can search the site and browse profiles based on a lawyer's location and expertise, then schedule an appointment or talk to them right then.
Analytics Startup Mixpanel Expands Into Mobile Surveys
Oct 30, 5:00PM
Mobile-focused analytics company Mixpanel is growing its offerings today with the launch of Mixpanel Surveys, a product that allows developers to integrate user surveys into their mobile apps. Currently, co-founder Suhail Doshi said the options "kind of suck" for developers who want to find out more about what their users think. Usually, they end up emailing a giant list of user addresses, an approach that isn't particularly well-targeted and doesn't necessarily result in many responses.
Runnable Raises $2M Seed Round To Expand Its "YouTube Of Code"
Oct 30, 4:00PM
Runnable, a recently launched Palo Alto-based startup that aims to make it easy to discover and reuse code snippets, today announced that it has raised a $2 million seed round led by Sierra Ventures with additional investments from Resolute VC, AngelPad and 500 Startups. Hiten Shah, the founder of KISSmetrics and Isaac Roth, the founder of Makara, also participated in this round.
Scringo's Community-Builder SDK Now Lets Developers Add Stickers & Paid Sticker Packs To Any App
Oct 30, 4:00PM
Israel-based startup Scringo, which offers a cross-platform SDK to help developers add social elements such as messaging to their apps to increase user retention and boost in-app engagement, has added a new feature that taps into the consumer craze for stickers. 
Fantastical 2 Brings Deep Reminders Support, Revamped iOS 7 Look To The Best iPhone Calendar
Oct 30, 2:00PM
As my default Calendar replacement app, Fantastical has been on the home screen of my iPhone since its release nearly a year ago. As one of the few pieces of productivity software that I use regularly, I was extremely nervous about how the app was going to change with its iOS 7 update. I shouldn't have worried. Fantastical 2, out today, is one of the best examples of taking the opportunity presented by Apple's iOS 7 update and using it for more than just a visual 're-skin'. It's a fitting return for the only calendar app to have ever hit the #1 spot on Apple's paid charts. If you're unfamiliar with Fantastical, its strengths are a natural language parsing engine that lets you dash off regular phrases like 'meet with Joe at noon on Tuesday at The Crab Shack' and end up with a fully inputted calendar entry without ever typing in any numbers. It's clever and powerful and almost always works exactly how you want it to. This is coupled with a unique layout that places either a 'day ticker' of 1 week or a monthly calendar above a simple continuous agenda of appointments. For the second time in as many weeks, we've seen a very popular app with a distinctive feel re-imagined for iOS 7 with great results. While it could be argued that Tweetbot had an even more pronounced visual language, Fantastical hit some notes pretty hard that it couldn't have been easy to give up. Flexibits' Michael Simmons says that the decisions made in the re-working of the app went far beyond how to make the visual language of the app fit in with iOS 7. Yes, the staples along the top of the virtual 'calendar' are gone, but there are also deeper changes that make a real difference in how useful the app is. One of the biggest examples of this is the trademark 'lens' that sits in the center of the 'day ticker' in Fantastical. The old design was very heavily influenced by a 'real' magnifying glass, of the type that you'd slide over a desk calendar or log book to read a certain entry. The new design retains some of the magnification aspects, but gets winnowed down visually so it doesn't punch you in the eyeballs with its cleverness as much any more. But the design changes didn't stop there. "We moved it
Amazon Wants To Do Good With Its Goods, Launches 'AmazonSmile' Charity Donation Program
Oct 30, 1:00PM
At the beginning of the year, just after Amazon reported a big profit dip for Q4 2012, Slate business correspondent Matthew Yglesias posited (with tongue planted in cheek) that Amazon was "a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers." Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pointedly dismissed that observation in his following shareholder letter, but today one has to wonder if the charity implication didn't have some sort of lasting impact on the company. That's because Amazon has just rolled out a new initiative called AmazonSmile, which will see the e-commerce titan automatically donate 0.5 percent of all eligible purchases to a U.S. charity of the buyer's choosing. And to top it all off, there's no upper limit to the amount Amazon will give away.
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