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Exclusive: Social Music Startup Rdio Raises $17.5 Million, Adds Rob Cavallo To Board
Feb 03, 8:59AM
Rdio, the social music startup founded by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, isn't exactly waiting around for Spotify to make its way to the United States (or Google Music for that matter). TechCrunch has learned that the company has secured $17.5 million in funding from new investor Mangrove Capital Partners, along with earlier backers Skype, Atomico Ventures and Friis himself through some of his investment entities.
Geckoboard: "It's Chartbeat For Everything Else"
Feb 03, 8:01AM
Businesses live or die on their ability to react to the market in realtime. The faster you can get information, the faster you can make decisions. If you operate a Website, Chartbeat gives you a dashboard that shows you what is happening on your site right now. But what if you could add realtime data from all sorts of services into one place? Then you'd have Geckoboard, which launches publicly today. "It's Chartbeat for everything else," says founder Paul Joyce, "CRM, helpdesk, sales, brand awareness . . . " Geckoboard lets you add realtime widgets from about 20 different services, including Basecamp, Freshbooks, Get Satisfaction, GitHub, MailChimp, Googke Analytics, Highrise, Uservoice, Zendesk, and, yes, even Chartbeat. Companies can add their own data using Geckobaord's API. It also lets you bring in Twitter and RSs feeds, and Foursquare checkins (so bosses can see which employees are in the office without actually getting up and walking around). You can aso get put a calendar, clock, and email there.
Latest WikiLeak Reveals Google And The State Department Talked To Unblock Egyptian Videos
Feb 03, 6:08AM
In response to the escalating Mubarek protests, the latest release of WikiLeaks have been Egypt or MENA related. One cable from November 2008 is particularly interesting, revealing that the State Department spoke to YouTube in 2007 regarding the takedown of videos posted by Egyptian bloggers. The cable is an action request for the State Department to contact someone named Pablo at Google (their General Counsel perhaps?) in order to have Google reinstate access to an Egyptian blogger who had complained about removed videos and access when he reporting on police abuses.
First Impressions Using Android Honeycomb, Google's iPad Rival
Feb 03, 5:01AM
This morning Google held an event to showcase Android Honeycomb, the new version of the mobile OS that is focused on tablets. There wasn't much news around the OS — we've seen it previewed in a few demos — but the team did show off some of Honeycomb's slickest features, like widgets and an improved 3D rendering engine. But what about actually using the tablet OS? For all the whiz-bang previews we've seen, very few people have actually written about what it's like to use these tablets. Unfortunately today's event wasn't the ideal place to do a full hands-on, either — there were dozens of reporters and only four tablets (most people got to play with one for maybe five minutes). But I wanted my fill of Honeycomb, so I stuck around til the crowd finally died down, put on my blinders, and took the Motorola Xoom for a 20+ minute spin. Apologies to the guy waiting behind me — I honestly didn't realize you were there. Here are some of the features and apps that stood out — be sure to check out the video below for some of these in action.
The Evolution Of Support Banners: A Quick Reference Guide
Feb 03, 4:59AM
"Please support us" banners. Every wiki-related site worth their salt has one. Quick reference guide to their evolution, after the jump.
BranchOut Grew 2500% In January, Going From 10K To 250K Monthly Users (TCTV)
Feb 03, 3:47AM
If you're like me you've been seeing Newsfeed Facebook notifications from something called Branchout more frequently lately. The status updates don't lie Branchout, a LinkedIn for Facebook, has seen explosive growth in January growing from 10K to 250K monthly users, with a total usership now in the hundreds of thousands. We brought CEO Rick Marini into the TCTV studio to talk to him about why exactly the Facebook app was growing exponentially, namely because of the network effect after "super connectors" like Mike Arrington and LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman joined. 
WITN: Is Egypt A Twitter Revolution? No. But Is That Even The Point? [TCTV]
Feb 03, 2:49AM
After weeks of simmering tensions, finally the Egyptian situation has erupted into violence. Even the media has been caught up in vicious battles. No, we're not talking about Anderson Cooper being punched in the face, but rather this week's episode of Why Is This News in which our disagreement over social media's role in prompting or assisting revolution descends into a full-on fight. Video below. And in case you're wondering, yes, after the cameras stopped rolling, Sarah punched Paul in the face. Now he knows how Anderson Cooper feels. The difference is, Paul might have deserved it. 
TechCrunch Review: The Name's iPhone. Verizon iPhone.
Feb 03, 2:02AM
Yesterday, I made a 45-minute phone call from my office. This seemingly unremarkable statement is remarkable for two reasons. First, I was able to place a call from my office — something which was impossible for me to do a week prior. Second, I made it through the entire 45-minutes without the call being dropped once. Again, this was impossible a week prior. So what changed? Well, my iPhone changed.
Local Q&A Site Hipster In Acquisition Talks With Groupon
Feb 03, 1:32AM
You guys aren't going to believe this: We're hearing that daily deals site Groupon has been aggressively trying to acquire local Q&A site Hipster for a number below $10 million, and that's before Hipster has even formally launched! A slew of press coverage originating here has turned the site with a funny name into a media darling. One source is telling us that Hipster has been making the rounds of Silicon Valley VC firms as well as boardrooms and was talking with Google about a possible talent acquisition (who isn't?) before the talks turned into more of an investment prospect for Google Ventures than an acqui-hiring prospect for the mothership due to Hipster's desire for a better return.
The Daily Show And Colbert Report Return To Hulu Via New Viacom Content Partnership
Feb 03, 1:20AM
Hulu has just struck a content partnership with Viacom to return "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" to the content platform. The deal also includes other TV Shows from Viacom's media networks, including Comedy Central, MTV, BET, VH1, Spike TV, and TV Land to the Hulu Plus subscription service. Viacom had previously pulled the two Comedy Central shows from Hulu last March. Financial terms of the new agreement were not disclosed.
For InMobi, Apple And Android Are Eating Up Global Mobile Ad Share
Feb 03, 12:19AM
Global mobile ad network InMobi is making a big push to gain smartphone ad share. Back in June, it announced a $2 million promotion to get Apple and Android mobile app developers to serve up its mobile ads. By October, 2010, it was serving up 5.8 billion ad impressions on smartphones, according to a report it just put out (embedded below). That represents 24 percent of the global ad impressions InMobi serves overall. In 90 days it increased its overall global ad impressions by 3.7 billion, up 18 percent. The ad impressions were split 40 percent in the U.S. and 60 percent globally.
Reuters Knows A Guy Who Knows A Guy Who Totally Saw The iPad 2 Today
Feb 02, 11:52PM
Have you heard the news? Someone totally saw an iPad 2 at The Daily launch even in New York City this morning. Pinky swear. No pictures or anything like that. Just a description that matches every other rumored description that has been floating around for 6 months now. Only with even less detail. Totally happened. I'm poking fun at the Reuters report on the matter, of course. Do I know that it's inaccurate? No, it could be completely accurate for all I know. But I mean, come on.
(Founder Stories) Kevin Systrom On Instagram's Launch, "I Have Never Felt So Sick Ever"
Feb 02, 11:03PM
So far in it's brief existence, Instagram has had a wild ride. It started out as a location app called Burbn, then pivoted before it even launched to just photos. Within a week, the photo sharing app was up to 100,000 users, and then 1 million. Today, the company announced that it just raised $7 million from Benchmark and others. But what was it like that first day Instagram hit the app store? In this episode of Founder Stories, founder and CEO Kevin Systrom describes what it felt like to host Chris Dixon. People started downloading the app immediately from the other side of the world, then the server crumbled. "I have never felt so sick ever," says Systrom in the video clip above. He didn't get much sleep that day, but everything turned out all right.
Assange: It's Only Transparency When It Happens To Other People; Otherwise It's Malicious Libel
Feb 02, 10:46PM
When asked last year by a Swedish television journalist "why do journalists censor themselves?" Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange thought for a moment and replied: "I think there is a fear about the response from those people who are offended… and the journalists think that, incredibly, that it would not be in their career interests to pursue that material."In that same interview Assange said "The aim of Wikileaks is to achieve just reform around the world and do it through the mechanism of transparency". A year later, Julian Assange's Wikileaks organisation is threatening to sue the Guardian over "malicious libels". Now can we all accept that Julian Assange is a fame-hungry, media-manipulating hypocrite? Please?
Here's What Pulse Will Look Like On Android Honeycomb
Feb 02, 9:28PM
Today, during their Android Honeycomb unveiling event, Google took a little bit of time on stage to mention one app: Pulse. The social news reading app began as an iPad project, but has since found a comfortable home on a wider range of devices, including Android devices. And now they're ready to fully embrace Android tablets with Honeycomb. Co-founder Akshay Kothari notes that they've been working "very closely" with Google to build the latest version of their app optimized for Honeycomb. And while it won't be out until later this month (presumably when Honeycomb is also actually available on devices such as the Motorola Xoom), Kothari sent us some screenshots of how it will look. Find those below. For now, you can find Pulse for Android here in the new Market Webstore.
Turning One Company's Trash Into Another's Treasure, RecycleMatch Brings Site Out Of Beta, Hires New CEO
Feb 02, 9:15PM
Today, RecycleMatch — a Houston-based startup that helps businesses sell or give away stuff to recyclers and manufacturers so that they don't have to send it to a landfill — took its online marketplace out of beta, unveiling several new features and services. If the site performs as hoped, RecycleMatch could become the Alibaba, eBay or Amazon of waste-management and manufacturing, while helping just about any company improve its sustainability profile. Among the materials RecycleMatch helps businesses take out of the landfill-bound waste stream are: "commodity recyclables" including paper, steel, plastic and glass; wastewater; consumer electronics and business equipment (a.k.a. e-waste); and food waste...
InternMatch Raises $400K To Help Students Find The Perfect Internship
Feb 02, 9:00PM
Startup InternMatch has just raised $400,000 in angel funding from Dave McClure, Mitch Kapor, Kenny Van Zant, and Raj Agarwal. Part of the 500 Startups Accelerator Program, InternMatch wants to replace the career fair for college students who want internships at small and mid-size companies. On InternMatch's platform, both internship seekers and employers can search for a match, receive skill and location based matching recommendations, and access tools to manage the application process (i.e. tips for resume creation, internship preparation, and more).
Bubblegum Fills A Niche, Brings Instagram-esque Photo Sharing To Windows Phone 7
Feb 02, 8:02PM
iOS and Android users get to have all the fun. With just about any popular mobile application you could name, chances are pretty solid that it began its life on one of those two platforms. How many renowned applications can you name that debuted on webOS? How about Symbian^3? Months later — if they're lucky — users of these not-quite-as-popular platforms might get a port thrown their way... but it'll take a while. Take social photo sharing, for example; not a new concept at all, but look at the big players right now: Instagram? iOS. Path? iOS. PicPlz? iOS and Android. Minority platform users are often stuck waiting for a third-party to come along and conjure up a solution with whatever bits of the API they can uncover, or hoping that someone builds a clone. That last bit — the clone building bit — is exactly what a pair of Microsofties has done for Windows Phone 7. After growing tired of waiting for any of these picture sharing services to come to them, they built one of their own: bubblegum. And yes, it has the silly filters.
Google Tried To Buy Path For $100+ Million. Path Said No.
Feb 02, 7:31PM
Yesterday we reported on Path's new $8.5 million venture round, led by Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures. I was curious about the valuation and pulled on a couple of threads. What unraveled was a stunning story about a startup that almost ran out of cash, a rebuffed $100+ million buyout offer from Google, and, finally, a new round of financing. Path is still very small, with just "hundreds of thousands" of users, said the company yesterday. It's a private mobile network limited to just 50 friends, which makes viral spreading difficult. But we're also hearing that 20% of active users are using it daily - a Zynga-like engagement rate that is a sign that at least some people really connect with Path. In early December Path had a signed term sheet with Kleiner Perkins and Index. At that point Google made a move, eventually offering $100 million for the company plus an earnout of $25 million. Taking that Google offer would seem to most people like a no brainer. And for founders like Dustin Mierau, who haven't had liquidity events, a life changing experience. 
Zynga Brings Newtoy's Crossword Game 'Words With Friends' To Android Phones
Feb 02, 7:26PM
Zynga is continuing to roll out mobile versions of its games, announcing today that it will be bringing Words With Friends, a popular multiplayer crossword game for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, to Android phones later this month. Words With Friends, which was developed recently acquired mobile game studio Newtoy, had over 10 million users on iOS devices. For those of you who aren't familiar with Words With Friends, it's similar to playing a Scrabble-like word game against one of your friends. The free Android app will include the same features as its iOS cousin, including in-game chat, push notifications and the ability to play 20 games at the same time. 
BillGuard Raises $3M To Track Hidden Fees, Billing Errors On Credit Card Bills
Feb 02, 7:20PM
Personal finance startup BillGuard has raised $3 million in angel funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Chris Dixon, Ron Conway, IA Ventures, Howard Lindzon and Yaron Galai. BillGuard, which is still in private beta, aims to alert users of unwanted charges such as hidden fees, billing errors, scams and fraud on credit card bills. BillGuard essentially crowdsources scams by alerting you when a charge on your bill is flagged by anyone else using BillGuard. The startup will also take into account its own analysis and monitor the web for any complaints about credit card scams.
Honeycomb Is The First Shot Fired Along Apple's Bow
Feb 02, 7:06PM
Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb means Google is now officially at war with Apple. The lines are drawn. The sides chosen. This is going to get nasty, but there doesn't have to be a clear winner for consumers to win. The Apple iPad stood alone in 2010 while Google was finalizing Android for the slate form factor. If this were a race, the iPad would be miles ahead while Android was still packing carbs. But it's not a race. It's a fictional war, and while Google might be a bit behind in both market share and consumer awareness, it's never too late to introduce a new, major platform like Android 3.0. But how can the upcoming Honeycomb devices -- the Motorola Xoom and the LG G-Slate -- stand strong against not the current iPad, but the upcoming second generation?
In-App Purchasing Finally Coming To Android; Disney Brings Tap Tap Revenge To Take Advantage
Feb 02, 6:53PM
Today at their Honeycomb event at the Google HQ in Mountain View, Google had a lot of information to share. First, they gave a demo of the new Honeycomb features. Then they shared the new Android Market Webstore. And then they had an announcement to make that a lot of people have been waiting for: in-app purchases. Android engineering director Chris Yerga noted that developers that use their in-app purchasing SDK will be able to sell virtual goods and the like in their apps. And one of those developers who has been waiting for a while for this is Disney Mobile. Google has been working with them to get an important game of their's ready for such a launch: Tap Tap Revenge. Yes, the game that has had over 50 million downloads is finally coming to Android.
Google Unveils Android Market Webstore. It's Already Live!
Feb 02, 6:37PM
Today at their Mountain View headquarters, Google held an event to show off Honeycomb, the latest version of the Android operating system. After some demos of the OS itself, Android engineering director Chris Yerga took the stage to show off a big new feature: the Android Market Webstore. Yep, the Market just hit the web. Finally. And it's already live. Find it here. Yerga notes that up until know, the only way to find and install apps was via the Market on your phone. But now users can simply go to their browser. And it's more seamless than something like the iTunes native app because when you select an app, it can be set up to download automatically to your Android device. "There's no wires, no syncing with computers. None of that sort of nonsense. Everything is connected," Yerga says.
Hands-On With The Daily (Demo Video)
Feb 02, 6:33PM
After today's unveiling of The Daily at a press event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, we were handed iPads loaded with the news app. I shot the video above with my iPhone to give a quick sense of what it looks like and the navigation. It looks like a magazine more than a newspaper, with lush photography and the occasional interactive graphic or video in place of a photo. The first thing I noticed is that there are no links in any of the stories, although you can share stories via Facebook, Twitter, or email. But that is about the extent of the social features in the app. As I expected, it is does not (yet) offer any social reading features like Flipboard or the yet-to-launch News.me
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