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Yale Adds Another Stop To The College Hacker Circuit
Nov 10, 3:46AM
The organizers of the hackathon at Yale this weekend aren't exactly sure how many students turned out for the sleepless grind. Gauging from the depletion of YHack t-shirts, they put it at about 950. 
These Hand-Made, Solar-Powered Nixie Watches Are Retro-Tastic
Nov 10, 1:00AM
Nixie watches are nothing new - Woz wears one sometimes - but these glowing tubes, originally designed in the 1970s for heavy-duty industrial displays, are hard to power and hard to maintain. However, it looks like a designer has finally hit on exactly the right mix of cool styling and power management. 
Prefundia, A Platform For Crowdfunding Projects To Gain Backers Ahead Of Launch, Exits Beta
Nov 10, 12:00AM
Prefundia wants to help crowdfunding projects get backers before they launch their campaign. The startup, for startup it is -- launching out of U.S. accelerator Boomstartup this summer -- has been operating in beta for the past three months, and has just released some early performance data as it opens its doors to the public.
Instagram Is Down For Some Users Due To 'System Issues'
Nov 09, 11:58PM
A number of Instagram users are currently reporting difficulty accessing the popular photo-sharing service both on the web and mobile versions of the app. At 3:37 pm Pacific Time this afternoon, Instagram confirmed the outage in a Tweet citing "system issues". As of 4:00pm PT, the system still appears to be having problems for many users. Indeed, trying to visit individual Instagram profiles on the web (such as TechCrunch's) is currently turning up a 504 gateway timeout for me. 
Year Up Helps Give Urban Youth The Training And Connections They Need To Land Hot Tech Jobs
Nov 09, 11:20PM
Here in the tech industry, it seems that people are always talking about "how hard it is to hire." That's something that can sound a little odd, given that there are still so many unemployed people here in the United States. But the reality is, there is often a gap in skills and connections between the many people who are looking for work, and the many hot job openings in tech and business. One organization called Year Up is dedicated to closing that gap, which it calls the "opportunity divide," by providing specialized one year of intensive training to young adults aged 18 to 24 with no more than a high school diploma. After training is completed, the program provides introductions to companies keen to hire skilled staff. It's working out quite well: 100 percent of Year Up graduates are placed into an internship. And earlier this fall, the White House recognized Year Up's founder and CEO Gerald Chertavian for the impact of the program.
Microsoft Starts Taking Office On The Web Seriously
Nov 09, 10:00PM
Earlier this week, Microsoft updated its Office 365 suite with a couple of new features and licensing terms. Overall, the update was very much in line with the other 100 changes Microsoft had made to its subscription-based Office version for consumers and businesses, but one feature stood out. Starting this week, all Office Web Apps will feature real-time collaborative editing – a feature previously only available to the Excel and OneNote web apps. This in itself is an interesting move, but while talking about the update, John Case, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of its Office division, told me that this also signals a new way of thinking about the Web Apps inside of Microsoft. Let’s take a step back first, though. If you are unfamiliar with the Office Web Apps, just take a look at SkyDrive and upload a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document. Once the file is online, you can view it in SkyDrive, but most importantly, you can also edit it in a light-weight version of Microsoft’s flagship productivity apps. The Office Web Apps launched three years ago, but have mostly flown under the radar, despite the fact that they are more fully featured than Google’s offerings. Given Microsoft’s control over the file formats, it’s also significantly better at displaying and saving files without mangling any of the formatting. They also use the same Ribbon menu as the regular desktop Office apps, so regular Office users should be productive in them right from the get-go. Until now, however, these Web Apps were basically companions to the clients, and Microsoft did virtually nothing to promote them. It looks like that’s changing now. As Case told me, Microsoft is now finally starting to view the Office Web Apps as standalone services. Case wouldn’t say whether Microsoft is considering a move to a freemium model and package paid services on top of the free offering. If Microsoft considers the Web Apps as a standalone version of Office, though — and in the (very) long run, they could become the only version, after all — I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s something the company is considering. Microsoft always focused heavily on the Office desktop clients. That’s where all the money was made, after all. Now that it has moved to a subscription model anyway, adding premium features to the Office Web Apps feels like a logical next step. Case told me Microsoft plans
To Save Itself, The DSLR Market Should Look To Smartphones And Revalue Each Press Of The Shutter
Nov 09, 8:00PM
There's mounting evidence that the tendency to favour smartphones over standalone cameras isn't just tanking compact camera sales – it's affecting DSLR and interchangeable lens cameras, too. A new WSJ report claims that DSLR camera shipments could fall 9.1 percent by the end of 2013, versus 2012, according to research firm IDC. It's a sign that going retro might not be the only thing required to save standalone cameras from going extinct.
Gillmor Gang: Hocus Pocus
Nov 09, 6:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Danny Sullivan, Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — find themselves in a quandary over Steven Elop's alleged exit strategy for Microsoft. Is he really serious, dumping XBox and casting aside Bing? Or is this just a magician's sleight of hand, misdirecting the attention from the more radical idea of abandoning Windows to save Office. The Gang is torn on whether Office can make the voyage to mobile or not, but with Bill Gates' so-rumored involvement in the Post-Ballmer strategy, it seems unlikely the next CEO will stop protecting Windows by making Office cross-platform. Head of MS PR Frank Shaw is openly dismissive of the Bloomberg story, and most pundits doubt Elop will get the job turning the aircraft carrier around. It may be fiction, but our bet is some version of this story will be the rabbit pulled out of this hat.
Moving Past Digital Schizophrenia
Nov 09, 4:00PM
Our identities are fragmented across dozens of websites, mobile applications and databases. It's not simply that we've lost control of our identities. It's that we have multiple identities based on whatever platform we happen to be on. And that is hindering our ability to accomplish even the most mundane tasks without friction.
Where I Went Wrong, Third Annual Edition
Nov 09, 2:00PM
Happy anniversary to me: I've now been writing this here weekly column for exactly three years. Over the last year I have opined, prescribed, and predicted many things. And now, like last year, and the year before, as part of my one-man crusade for greater opinion-journalism accountability, I'm going to take a moment to go back and look at what I got right... and where I went horribly, hilariously wrong. (cracks knuckles) OK, let's start with my primary theme this year: technology and jobs. I actually asked the key question in a post two years ago, entitled "What If Technology Is Destroying Jobs Faster Than It's Creating Them?"
The Rise Of The Mobile-Born
Nov 09, 5:00AM
Mobile is now the channel of choice for everyone, but even those of us who use technology with great alacrity are still digital immigrants. The Mobile Born is a generation of kids that have been raised while gnawing on the equivalent of a supercomputer -- otherwise known as mom's smartphone.
Yes, High-Skill Immigration Reform Is Still Dead This Calendar Year
Nov 09, 12:28AM
Breaking non-news out today: Immigration reform is dead in 2013, meaning that high-skill immigration reform is also kaput this year. We already mostly knew that, but the third-ranking Republican in the House confirmed the fact today.
"F*ck You, Google+", An Adorable Song About YouTube's New Comments
Nov 09, 12:23AM
YouTubers are not pleased about being forced onto Google+ for commenting, and one girl took a stand in the cutest, most profane way imaginable. "You ruined our site and called it integration, I'm writing this song just to vent our frustration. Fuck you Google Plusssssss!"
Intel Has Acquired Kno, Will Push Further Into The Education Content Market With Interactive Textbooks
Nov 09, 12:00AM
We had a tip about, and have now confirmed, Intel's latest acquisition: Kno, the education startup that started life as a hardware business and later pivoted into software -- specifically via apps that let students read interactive versions of digitized textbooks. 
Why Apple Bought $578M Worth Of Sapphire In Advance
Nov 08, 10:41PM
Apple is building a manufacturing plant in Arizona that will be used by GT Advanced Technologies to make sapphire crystals for use in its products. Apple currently uses sapphire in its home buttons and camera lens covers, but several details about the material itself and the nature of its deal with GT indicate that it could be expanding its interests in the hard crystalline substance over the next several years. Sapphire, specifically synthetic, manufactured sapphire, has several properties that make it of interest to Apple. First of all, sapphire is superior to glass, even Corning's Gorilla Glass material, in several ways. Synthetic sapphire has no color, as it's a single crystal grown to be optically transparent — making it look very similar to glass. But it's also extremely hard — 9 on the Mohs scale — which means better scratch resistance. "Chemically strengthened glass can be excellent, but sapphire is better in terms of hardness, strength, and toughness," says Matthew Hall, Director of the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology at the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University. "The fracture toughness of sapphire should be around 4 times greater than Gorilla Glass – about 3 MPa-m0.5 versus 0.7 MPa-m0.5, respectively." The hardness of sapphire will make it resistance to 'flaw initiation' (aka starting to scratch) and its 'toughness' is how it resists fracture once a flaw has begun (cracking altogether). This strength doesn't come without a bit of cost, Hall notes. "The density of Gorilla Glass is 2.54 g/cm3 while sapphire is 3.98 g/cm3. Given equal-sized pieces, Gorilla Glass will always be lighter." The counter-point to the greater weight is that Apple could use thinner pieces of sapphire due to its greater strength overall. This would result in weight and thickness reduction, which is something Apple is very conscious about. You may have noticed that the latest iPad Air was reduced in thickness in part due to its use of thinner glass and IGZO display panels. Sapphire has fairly good optical qualities, as well, says Hall. Both materials have roughly similar absorption properties, though sapphire's refractive index is a bit higher, which would mean a tradeoff in light transmission for durability. "Gorilla Glass is about 1.5 while sapphire is about 1.76 — the exact number is wavelength-dependent," Hall says. "The reflection that occurs at an interface is directly proportional to the refractive index difference between the two media creating that
Time Is Running Out To Enter Our Hardware Battlefield In Las Vegas
Nov 08, 10:32PM
Time is running out to apply to Hardware Battlefield. Have you submitted an application but didn't complete it? What the heck, man! Do it! Do it now! This is shaping up to be one of the coolest things we've ever done and it's all set on the amazing backdrop of CES in Vegas this January. We're going to have some amazing judges, some amazing entries, and some amazing times. We want you to apply. 
Today In Dystopian War Robots That Will Harvest Us For Our Organs
Nov 08, 10:22PM
'Ello ello! Welcome to another edition of TIDWRTWHUFOO. Today we're looking at flying drones, crabby bots that climb your body, and a robot that can roll, spin, and eventually decapitate you and/or your pets. Good times! 
Quick, Everyone IPO
Nov 08, 10:07PM
Facebook's share price tanked upon IPO, scaring plenty of private companies away from the public markets. But with its eventual recovery and now the stellar performance of Twitter's IPO out the gates, the Wall Street bell suddenly has a much nicer ring to it. Just in the last few days we've heard of Square, Box, and Seamless moving forward with IPO plans.
Twitter Drops 7.24% In Its Second Day Of Trading, Burning $2.3B In Market Cap
Nov 08, 10:00PM
Twitter priced its IPO at $26 per share. It opened yesterday at $45.10, closing the day at $44.90. Today it closed at $41.65, down 7.24%. Using a fully diluted share count (705,098,594), Twitter’s valuation fell $2.3 billion in regular trading. That’s more than half a Snapchat. The company’s massively successful IPO led some to claim that Twitter mispriced its offering. The company originally indicated that it would price the offering as low as $17 per share, a firm discount to its final $26 offer price. The markets and larger technology industry will closely watch Twitter in its first few quarters, given that the degree of its success – or weakness – as a public company will set the temperature for other companies’ IPO paths. Keep in mind that Twitter, even after this correction – call it what you will – is valued richly. As Peter Kafka of AllThingsD points out, “Twitter investors are valuing the company at the same level as LinkedIn, even though LinkedIn generates twice as much revenue. And they're valuing Twitter at about a fifth of Facebook, even though Facebook has more than ten times more revenue.” That implies that Twitter investors are expecting the company to outperform comparable, and rival firms. In other news, barometric pressure in San Francisco fell from 30.09 inches this morning, to 30.01 inches by the end of trading on the East Coast. Temperature moved in the opposite direction, rising from a chilly 52 degrees in the city this morning to a far warmer 63 degrees by the end of the regular trading. It isn’t clear that impact this will have on Twitter’s stock price tomorrow, but we’re digging into that now. Top Image Credit: Flickr
Gillmor Gang Live 11.08.13 (TCTV)
Nov 08, 9:11PM
Gillmor Gang - Danny Sullivan, Robert Scoble. Kevin Marks, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session today at 1pm Pacific time. Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/gillmorgang
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