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Armstrong's Internal Memo To AOLers About The HuffPo Deal
Feb 07, 6:23AM
At midnight, AOL announced that it will buy the Huffington Post for $315 million. Below is the internal memo AOL CEO Tim Armstrong sent to all AOL employees (except us, they don't trust us with anything) about the transaction. In between the corporate speak, he points out that a combined AOL and Huffington Post will have 117 million unduplicated unique visitors per month in the U.S., and outlines the new organizational structure with Arianna Huffington as Editor In Chief of all of AOL's media properties, including TechCrunch. AOL exec Jon Brod will be overseeing the integration from an operational perspective on the AOL side. (Memo after the jump).
I, For One, Welcome Our New Huffington Overlord
Feb 07, 6:01AM
We really have to stop being scooped by rivals on news affecting our own company. Tonight, courtesy of a press release that our parent company sent to everyone but us, we learn that AOL has acquired the Huffington Post for $315 million. More interestingly, Arianna Huffington has been made Editor In Chief of all AOL content, including TechCrunch. Now, no-one here has been more skeptical than me of AOL's content strategy. I was reasonably scathing about that whole "tech town" bullshit and I was quick to opinion-smack Tim Armstrong in the face over his promise that "90% of AOL content will be SEO optimized" by March. Hell I've stood on stage - twice - on TC's dime and described our overlords as "the place where start-ups come to die". And yet and yet, for once I find myself applauding Armstrong - and AOL as a whole - for pulling off a double whammy: a brilliant strategic acquisition at a logical price. As AOL's resident inside-pissing-insider, I can't tell you how frustrating that is. I can't even bust out a Bebo joke. 
We Have A New Uber Boss, And She's Greek: Aol Buys HuffPo For $315 Million
Feb 07, 5:20AM
You know who won the Super Bowl? Arianna Huffington. Our parent company Aol just bought Huffington Post for $315 million this afternoon according to a release. The Huffington Post, with 26 million unique visitors monthly is huge, one of the most prominent media properties on the Internet because of its aggressive SEO stance, and has gone through the acquisition motions before, most notably Yahoo. Apparently this time it stuck. In this video, Armstrong and Huffington recall the acquisition process: The two met in November and Arianna was impressed with the "surprising merger" of their vision. And no doubt the sizable amount of the Aol offer, which at $65 million was 5x Huffington Post's revenue. The talks took three months.
Tech Returns To The Super Bowl Big Time, An Ad Roundup
Feb 07, 3:47AM
For those of us who know nothing about football, The Super Bowl is more about what the huge brands who buy ads chose to do with their $3 million in ad dollars and prime eyeball time, paying to play with a captive audience in the hundreds of millions. And the technology industry always steps up to the plate; Last year Google debuted its "Parisian Love" ad and we had quite a few tech firsts this year, including the first ever Twitter hashtag within an ad. 
Hey, Salesforce, Using Will.i.am In An Ad Doesn't Automatically Make You Cool
Feb 07, 2:04AM
Well, Salesforce just debuted its Super Bowl Chatter ads (we've embedded the ads below), which were a little disappointing. The ads featured Will.i.am and the rest of the Black Eyes Peas in a cartoon promoting the CRM giant's 'Facebook for the enterprise.' The ads, which aired during the halftime show, include what appears to be computer-generated cartoon versions of Will.i.am (he actually co-produced the ad) and his bandmates, zooming around, and talking about how Chatter helps them communicate more efficiently. To be honest, I find the commercials a little confusing and too quick. And it's hard to imagine that a technology company would spend millions for two ads that seemed to be average at best. 
OMG/JK: Apple Straight-Arms The Competition As Honeycomb Prepares For Kick-Off
Feb 06, 10:32PM
It's Super Bowl Sunday, which means there's a decent chance you're about to zone out in front of the television for the next several hours. But before you do that, why not tune in to the latest episode of OMG/JK — where my colleague MG Siegler and I discuss the surprise calls and bone-crushing, competitive maneuvers taking place on the gridiron of Silicon Valley. See, I know football lingo! Anyway, it's been a big week in mobile: MG is now able to make phone calls using his Verizon iPhone (which will be released to consumers this week). We also got our first chance to try out Android Honeycomb, as well as Google's web-based Android Market. And, finally, we discuss Apple's decision to block Sony's E-Reader application, and what the implications are for Amazon's Kindle platform.
How Does UFC's New & Improved Internet Pay-Per-View Stream Compare To The 'Real' Thing?
Feb 06, 10:05PM
NeuLion announced a deal a few days ago to bring "a brand new service for UFC offering the most interactive, far-reaching digital experience yet." Last night's UFC 126 was the first pay-per-view event to receive the NeuLion treatment, so I decided to check it out to see what all the fuss was about. Fair warning: There will be spoliers.
Egyptian PM Says Missing Google Marketing Executive Wael Ghonim To Be Released Tomorrow
Feb 06, 9:34PM
CNN's Hala Gorani is reporting that Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has announced that Google Middle East Marketing director Wael Ghonim will be released tomorrow Monday at 4pm. This is in line with Egyptian telcom mogul Naguib Sawiris' O TV statement that he would be freed on Monday as well. Missing since Thursday the 27th, Wael is thought to have hosted the first Facebook page that organized the January 25th protests. He disappeared shortly after the following disconcerting tweet, "Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die." 
The Super Bowl Apps/Websites So That You Can Pretend You're Into The Game While Looking At Your Phone
Feb 06, 8:31PM
It's Super Bowl Sunday. The game starts in a few hours. The pre-game has been going on for a few hours already (well, several days, actually). And if you're reading this post, the chances that you're a diehard football fan are probably fairly slim — because, let's be honest, if you were, you'd already be drunk in a bar somewhere. But everyone watches the Super Bowl; diehards and casual fans alike. And the latter might enjoy it more with some apps/websites to help them pass the time. So here are some of those (in no particular order):
To Cops At Least, Criminal Oversharing is Caring
Feb 06, 7:08PM
Sharing - any greetings card poet will tell you - is caring. Which is just one of the many reasons you shouldn't pay attention to greetings card poets. Thanks to social media - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instabloodygram - global sharing is at its highest level since records began. If there really were a direct correlation between sharing and caring, even the Care Bears would be lying comatose in the streets, choking on the saccharine benevolence of modern humanity. And yet, step outside your front door: did anyone hug you? No. Q.E.D. Which is not to say the recent addition of an "over-sharing needs" bar to Maslow's pyramid is without benefit to society. To police officers, for example, the irresistible urge felt by dumb criminals to boast of their crimes using social media is the gift that keeps on giving.
Save The Money: Groupon's Super Bowl Ads May Spark Faux Outrage
Feb 06, 6:30PM
Well, Groupon certainly isn't afraid of rustling a few feathers. The red-hot group buying site has just posted its celeb-laden Super Bowl ads, and they've taken to poking fun at global crises like dwindling whale populations and deforestation. They're a little weird, and likely to spark waves of debate and plenty of extra publicity. Groupon rival LivingSocial will be running a Super Bowl ad as well, that reportedly tells the story of a LivingSocial addict — Groupon poked fun at this with its own rejected" ad. Guess whose commercials people will be talking about at the water cooler tomorrow? And while some people won't like the joke, Groupon isn't being mean-spirited about it: its Save The Money site has offers for a variety of charity organizations. For example, making a $15 donation to GreenPeace will score you $15 in Groupon Credit (it's essentially a free donation on your part).
The Royal Me
Feb 06, 6:00PM
The King's Speech is worthy of the Best Actor award Colin Firth will likely garner at this year's Academy Awards as a proxy for Best Picture going elsewhere. The Oscar voters are younger these days and will overlook the story of Queen Elizabeth's stuttering father and how the reluctant prince reached the throne. They'll vote for King Mark of Facebook instead. But this isn't about the Oscars; it's about the remarkable scene late in the film when King George makes his way down rows of huge metal machines to a small shrouded room where he is to deliver a speech to the British Empire on its entry into war with Hitler and Germany. For those on Facebook, Twitter, or Quora, Hitler was a really bad man who looked a lot like Robert Downey in his Charlie Chaplin biopic. Charlie Chaplin was a .... Oh never mind. Anyway, the King marched past these machines marked Canada, Australia, and the other colonies. For the Facebook, Twitter, Quora crowd, we here in the United States used to be subjects of the King or Queen and therefore required to bow and curtsy as he or she passed by. Another synonym for curtsy is to scrape, as in grovel but not as in scrape Google search results.
Fly Or Die: Can The Daily Make It?
Feb 06, 5:00PM
The big product launch this week was Rupert Murdoch's new iPad publication, The Daily. On this episode of Fly or Die, CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I weigh in on its prospects for survival. We also discuss Clicker's iPhone app and the Dell Streak 7 tablet, and we are joined by a surprise guest from one of the companies whose products we evaluate. While The Daily not exactly the direction I would have taken, it's paywall is easily circumvented, and it does take forever to load, it is very well packaged and a truly immersive experience. When I read it, I spend a considerable amount of time in the app flipping through pages to see what else is in store. And I'm a former magazine guy who's given up on magazines, so that's saying a lot. Biggs also finds it intriguing. 
Skype's VP Of Consumer Products On Mobile Video; The Cloud And Monetization
Feb 06, 3:20PM
For Skype, 2011 is undoubtedly going to be a pivotal year. The VoIP giant is preparing to go public, and armed with a new CEO, Skype is looking to add new products for both its consumer and enterprise businesses and boost revenue. Already, Skype launched video chat capability to its iPhone app, acquired mobile streaming startup Qik, and launched paid group video functionality to its enterprise offerings. While we've heard about the company's enterprise strategy, we have not yet uncovered the details of Skype's long-term consumer strategy. Skype VP of Consumer Neil Stevens spoke to TechCrunch about the VoIP company's goals when it comes to expanding its consumer user base, product roadmap and revenue plans. When asked what the most important product strategy is for Skype in 2011, Stevens was quick to reply that video, especially on mobile devices, is going to be a significant area of development for the company. At any given time Skype now has 28 million simultaneous users (which is up from 27 million reported in early January), with 42 percent of these users engaging in video calls. While Skype has video functionality on its Windows, Mac and now iPhone clients, there is still much more to come in 2011 says Stevens.
Facebook Has Already Trademarked 'Face' In Europe – Is 'Book' Next?
Feb 06, 2:29PM
I was aware that Facebook is close to trademarking the term 'face', at least in relation to online social networking and related activities, in the United States. But as far as I know, nobody has yet pointed out that Facebook has already pulled that stunt in the EU, i.e. the union of 27 European member states (which include the UK, Germany, France and Spain). Mark Brooks, an authority in the online dating industry, was kind enough to point me to the filing (screenshot below), which - surprisingly - dates back to May 2004, when Facebook was still in its very early days.
Quora Details Their New Answer Ranking Scheme; Their "PageRank", Of Sorts
Feb 06, 3:26AM
As you may have seen, last weekend, Robert Scoble worked himself into a tizzy because an answer of his was moderated into a collapsed state on Quora. The whole bitchmeme surrounding the incident was rather humorous. But there was at least somewhat of a point behind all of it: people began asking more questions about the methods behind Quora's ranking system. Today, we have some of those answers. Truth be told, Quora co-founder Charlie Cheever previously stated that Quora was working on an algorithm to determine user quality well before Scoblegate happened. As he noted on January 21:
Readability Just Became Instapaper's Publisher Payment Layer
Feb 06, 2:36AM
Personally, I think the concept behind Readability is pretty awesome. It gives you a way to read all your favorite articles on the web without all of the clutter of the web — meaning, mainly, ads. And the recently-launched payment component is even more interesting because it gives you a way to pay back (in a very small way) your favorite writers/publications that you often read on the web. But as one such writer who works for one such publication, clearly I'm biased. I realize that this idea isn't for everyone. And it's going to be a fairly hard sell for some people. But that sell may have just gotten a little easier. When Readability re-launched last week, they noted a partnership with popular bookmarking service Instapaper. The main component of this integration was set to be a Readability mobile application that Instapaper's Marco Arment made (and will release soon) in Instapaper's image. This is great for Readability since Instapaper is already a hugely popular app on the iOS platform. But a small bit of news today is even better. As Arment announced today on the Instapaper blog, you can now send you Instapaper logs to Readability.
Everblue.edu Poised To Become The Kaplan Test Prep Of Sustainability
Feb 05, 10:29PM
Everblue Training (Everblue.edu) — an environmental education startup with offices in Berkeley, Calif. and Charlotte, N.C. — this week attained accreditation from the group that verifies the quality of non-collegiate, continuing education and professional training programs throughout the United States for the U.S. Department of Education, the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education. The chief executive and co-founder of Everblue, Jon Boggiano, says the endorsement allows his business to sell its services to: government veterans' education programs helping them adjust back to civilian life; large companies that seek to train and certify their employees in a variety of environmental topics; and professionals or students who use government grants and loans to afford their continuing education...
Please Read: A Personal Appeal TO Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales
Feb 05, 9:02PM
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Hunter Walk who spends way too much time researching 1980s hair metal bands on Wikipedia. His obsession with Wikipedia is unrelated to his day job leading the consumer product team at YouTube. Wikipedia is the world's 5th largest website, runs no ads and, depressingly, seems to be perpetually on the fringe of solvency. Google for "Jimmy Wales personal appeal" (Wales is Wikipedia's founder) and you'll see that there are 32,000+ results, which gives you a sense of the fundraising requirements for this user-generated encyclopedia. The question of whether they'll ever run ads in order to break this cycle is an ongoing debate. In fact there's a Wikipedia page devoted to this topic with discussion about ads, opt-in ads, search ads, etc. At 400+ million users worldwide, any of these options could certainly raise considerable funds used to support the technical and philosophical mission of this non-profit. But to date, Wales has been reluctant to introduce any advertising. So where do we end up? After hitting its 10 year anniversary this January, the question is: can Wikipedia sustain itself for another 10 years without a significant change to its business model?
Gillmor Gang 2.5.11 (TCTV)
Feb 05, 8:00PM
Egypt meets Google v. Bing on the Gillmor Gang, with Robert Scoble, Dan Farber, John Taschek, and Danny Sullivan. Sullivan broke the story of Google's sting operation on Bing scraping of search results, which struck some of us as saying more about Google being scared Schmidtless by Facebook. Egypt's second week without Twitter did nothing to slow down the realtime wave of governments resigning, news anchors hightailing it back to the ironic safety of New York, and iPadders trying to find something interesting in The Daily. Life in the Fast Lane. @scobleizer @dbfarber @dannysullivan @jtaschek @stevegillmor 
Weekend Giveaway: $200 Gift Card From JackThreads.com
Feb 05, 5:56PM
Jackthreads, a Thrillist company, is offering a sweet $200 so you can maybe get a nice pair of pants or a shirt to wear on Valentine's Day so you (and I mean this in the nicest way) won't look like huge slob. I mean really, whens the last time you bought a nice pair of pants? Maybe a shirt? Shorts and sandals might be fine for your Magic: The Gathering parties but not for going on. Ok. Ok. Don't get testy. Click through to see how to win.
In Praise Of Piracy
Feb 05, 5:29PM
I've had to think a lot about digital rights management lately. Not that I wanted to. But I recently did some eye-opening contract software development for a DRM-heavy media app, just as our government up here in the Great White North introduced a new and extremely DRM-friendly copyright law, and links to Don't Make Me Steal started popping up all over the Internet. You probably don't realize, unless you actually work on a software project laden with DRM, just how much Sisyphean effort goes into it. I estimate fully a quarter of the developer-hours that went into the app in question were devoted to building or dealing with the DRM, meaning a quarter of the total effort did not go into crafting a killer app. Similarly, the countless hours and dollars Sony spent on CD rootkits and impressively inept PS3 encryption did not go into building better products. All this effort lavished on restriction rather than creation reminds me of the great Ryszard Kapuściński's depiction of the Soviet economy:
Improving Sales: The Excuse Department Is Closed
Feb 05, 5:00PM
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Mark Suster, a two-time entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of venture capital at GRP Partners. Suster writes a blog at Bothsidesofthetable and can be found on Twitter at @msuster. Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. My first startup was no different. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. While we did fine learning on the fly, it turned out that a lot of what we did was wrong. I've started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. As we grew into several millions of dollars of sales per year it was no longer acceptable to "wing it." So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does—I hired a coach. We focused together on improving our sales methodology, our training and our comp plans. These days there are even startups to make this easier for all of us. Back then it was a larger than life ex-country manager from PTC named Kai Krickel. He taught me much‚most of it unconventional. Most of it worked and his philosophies have proved enduring to me. He called his business TEDIC. The Excuse Department is Closed. 
Social Commerce And The New Rules For Local Businesses
Feb 05, 2:08PM
Editor's note: Guest writer Craig Donato is the CEO of Oodle, a social maretplace that powers the Facebook Marketplace. Ecommerce today is imbued with the same DNA that runs through Google. It's automated. It's algorithmic. It's certainly not human. And the marketing campaigns that are built with this DNA are similarly data-driven. They employ number-crunchers to capture their leads and build their databases, all the while looking for incremental ROI and arbitrage opportunities. But a new marketing game has come to town—social commerce. And at its core is an entirely different bit of DNA: the DNA of Facebook. This new variety of social commerce is about conversations. It's about relationships. It's about re-humanizing online commerce. And for marketers to succeed with social commerce, they are going to have to rethink their game plan. Facebook has given us a brand new color palette. Now it's up to us to figure out how to use it. I like to call this learning process "de-ecommercification."
Ze Frank's Star.me Is Like Being In Kindergarten All Over Again
Feb 05, 6:43AM
Every once in awhile you come across people who are entirely original, and Ze Frank is one of those people. While many people as eccentric as Frank end up with a not so amazing lot in life, Frank, who originally studied Neuroscience at Brown, most recently received $500K from Andreesen Horowitz, Betaworks, Lerer Ventures, Founder Collective, Gary Vaynerchuk and Ron Conway to focus on creating novel social games. Now the world gets to see the fruits of his labor. 
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