Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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Pandora Gets A Hole In The Head Top
“I need Android like I need a hole in the head.” – Tom Conrad , Pandora CTO Popular music service Pandora is a huge hit on the iPhone, and they were one of the first Palm Pre apps available as well. But when it comes to Android, the company has at best always been “meh.” In July 2008 Pandora CTO Tom Conrad said “I need Android like I need a hole in the head,” adding “the last thing from a technology standpoint that i need is another OS platform that sits on top of buggy firmware.” The relevant video clip is here (skip to the 55 second mark). “We’re going to put your face next to that quote when you launch an Android app,” I said at the time (check!). Conrad later clarified his position . Anyway, back to reality, Pandora has now launched an Android application, and it’s pretty darn cool. Unlike the new Facebook for Android , it doesn’t skimp on features. In fact, it’s the first mobile Pandora application that integrates with the built in music player so that you can create stations from the artists and songs in your local collection. It also integrates with the Android home screen widget system. So overall I give the product an A, and I give Tom Conrad an A+ for creating drama around an otherwise less interesting launch. Well done. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Oh Yeah. Remember the Palm Pixi? We Saw That, Too Top
You get the feeling that Palm had something to hide today. On the surface that makes no sense, considering it officially announced the Pixi, the company's second webOS-based phone, this morning. (The company's first webOS phone, the Pre, launched to much fanfare last May, owing to an almost Bill Goldberg winning streak-like level of hype.) But as you're already aware, Apple had an announcement or two of its own today, including the inclusion of a digital camera on the iPod nano. It's unfortunate, but Apple events are really the black holes of this industry: on Apple event days, no other tech news can escape out into the wild. That is to say, unless your company name is Apple, Inc., you'd be better served laying low for the day, and make any announcements later in the week. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Hands-on With iTunes 9.0: Bright and Roomy Top
Once upon a time you dressed so fine, went out to the record store, and bought your albums. Those days are no more, although iTunes wants you to think otherwise. That's why they added a few new features to add a little bit of that old record store attitude to the boring process of downloading tunes. Introducing iTunes 9.0 - it's bright, it's shiny, and it's kind-of-sort-of new. The first thing you'll notice about the new iTunes is the clarity of the new user interface. First, everything is white. The backgrounds are bright and clear and the new iTunes Store carries this UI aesthetic into the shopping experience. The icons are cheery and a little more "open" and friendly. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Google Rolls Out The Mother Of All Updates: A Larger Search Box Top
Google is continually updating its search experience via the algorithms and the way results are displayed. But when it comes to the search box itself, it has largely left it alone. Sure, it has added drop downs for suggested results, but the box itself has stayed a thin input field. But now it looks like Google may be thinking about a change. Today, while using the Safari browser, we noticed that the search box has been made bigger, and the buttons made square. We’re not the only ones who have noticed the change. It may seem like a trivial update, but remember, this is Google, millions of people use it every day to do searches, and a UI change, however small, is not trivial. Notice how big the input box now is compared to the Google logo (below). Also remember that Google goes over data for every little change it does to determine if the change is worth it. It would seem that this is what it’s doing now, as plenty of others are not seeing the change yet. Anyone else noticing this change in any browser besides Safari? Update : Additional reports say they are seeing it in some versions of Firefox too. Update 2 : No less than Google’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience, Marissa Mayer , has just posted on the matter. Says Mayer: Search, that is. For us, search has always been our focus. And, starting today, you’ll notice on our homepage and on our search results pages, our search box is growing in size. Although this is a very simple idea and an even simpler change, we’re excited about it — because it symbolizes our focus on search and because it makes our clean, minimalist homepage even easier and more fun to use. Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TechCrunch50: Dick Costolo, Satish Dharmaraj, Bradley Horowitz, George Zachary and Lior Zorea join Panel of Experts Top
TechCrunch50 is less than a week away, and we’re putting the final touches on what will be a jam-packed two days of startup launches, hallway pitches, and new ideas. We’re proud to announce new Twitter COO and FeedBurner founder Dick Costolo , RedPoint Ventures partner and Zimbra founder Satish Dharmaraj , Google’s social apps guru Bradley Horowitz , Charles River Ventures partner George Zachary and Perkins Cole attorney Lior Zorea will be rounding out our on-stage Panel of Experts at TechCrunch50. They'll judge the fifty startups that will launch in front of a crowd of 2,000 or so eager attendees. Each startup will present in front of a panel of successful entrepreneurs, VCs, and industry experts. In addition to these latest additions, we’ve already announced experts Marc Andreessen, Roelof Botha, Ron Conway, Don Dodge, Paul Graham, Jason Hirschhorn, Reid Hoffman, Tony Hsieh, Marissa Mayer, Tim O'Reilly, Sean Parker, Kevin Rose, Mike Schroepfer, Robert Scoble, and Yossi Vardi. Two days, 50 launches, I can’t wait. The startups are already being put through their paces in rehearsals at a secret location (okay, it’s Sequoia’s offices). Each one will be a surpirse, of course, but there will also be some special announcements scattered throughout the two days by AOL, Microsoft, and Google, as well as a Facebook Developer Garage. We just posted the official conference agenda, found here . The 50 presenting companies won't be released until the day of the conference, and there are other details we’re just not going to tell you quite yet, but the agenda should provide an idea of what we have in store. More conference info is available over on the TC50 conference website . The event will be held at the San Francisco Design Center, a huge and beautiful venue where nearly 2,000 participants roamed last year. There are still some tickets for the event, which can be purchased here courtesy of Eventbrite. And if you’re interested in demoing your product, we can even squeeze in a few more DemoPit and Exhibitor tables ( e-mail us for details). More on the TechCrunch50 blog . Dick Costolo Dick Costolo is the COO of Twitter . He has co-founded and sold 3 companies, the last of which was Feedburner (acquired by Google in 2007). Additionally, Dick has performed comedy routines in Chicago's Annoyance Theater and has been involved with various improv shows and festivals. Satish Dharmaraj Satish Dharmaraj is a Partner with Redpoint Ventures where he focuses on investments in SaaS, Software Infrastructure / Applications, Consumer and Mobile areas. He led Redpoint’s investments in VMOps and CloudStor and serves on the boards of those companies. Before Redpoint, Satish’s prior investments include Posterous, DimDim, Zelfy and Milo (sold to Voxeo) and is also an advisor to several early stage technology companies. He is also a founding board member of a Non-Profit Organization based in the bay area called HelpingHands and a charter member of TiE. Prior to Redpoint, Satish was the founder/CEO of Zimbra where he grew sales from inception to $20M in subscription sales in the first year of selling and nearly doubled sales the next year. He was responsible for the sale of Zimbra to Yahoo for $350M – a contract he negotiated directly, without using a banker, on behalf of the board. Satish has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Sciences and an executive management degree from the Harvard Business School. Bradley Horowitz Bradley Horowitz Bradley oversees product management for Google Apps , including Gmail, Calendar, Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Docs, Blogger and Picasa. Before joining Google, Bradley led Yahoo’s advanced development division, which developed new products such as Yahoo! Pipes, and drove the acquisition of products such as Flickr and MyBlogLog. Previously, he was Co-Founder and CTO of Virage, where he oversaw the technical direction of the company from its founding through its IPO and eventual acquisition by Autonomy. Bradley holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan, and a master’s degree from the MIT Media Lab and was pursuing his Ph.D. there when he co-founded Virage. George Zachary George Zachary is a Partner at Charles River Ventures . He provides more than 17 years of operating and investing experience in computing and consumer technology. George's focus is on building great services and software technology companies. George led CRV's investments in Areae, Geni.com, GoTV, Millennial Media, Skyrider, SocialMedia Networks and Twitter and is a board member at Twitter. Lior Zorea Lior Zorea is a Partner in the Perkins Coie Menlo Park office and a member of the firm’s Emerging Companies practice group. Lior has a corporate and securities law practice encompassing venture capital, debt and other private financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general business counseling. Lior focuses on representing emerging growth technology companies and their founders in the information technology space including the internet, software, digital media and semiconductor sectors. Great partners make great conferences We’re really lucky to have the corporate support of some of the best names in the business. Sequoia Capital , Charles River Ventures and Perkins Coie all returned quickly to support us for the third year in a row. Google , Founders Fund , Microsoft and MySpace are back for their second year of partnership, and this year Bing , Facebook and Redpoint Ventures stepped forward as first-time partners. Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Socialtext Launches Mobile Version Of Twitter-Like Collaboration Platform Top
Collaboration platform Socialtext is taking its package of enterprise 2.0 services to the smartphone. The startup has launched Socialtext Mobile, a web-based mobile version of the Socialtext collaboration platform. Socialtext’s President and co-founder, Ross Mayfield tells us that Socialtext’s mobile interface will offer much of the same functionality as Socialtext’s Adobe Air-powered desktop application, which launched earlier this year. Socialtext mobile will automatically detect when a user is logging in through a smartphone and provides access to the optimized Socialtext site. Via a Blackberry, iPhone or Android, users can see and post to their company’s Twitter-like message stream and access their company’s Socialtext Workspace, an enterprise-ready wiki. The platform’s SocialCalc collaborative spreadsheet offering is also accessible via the mobile interface. The message stream lets workers see the microblogging messages of the co-workers they are following. In addition, there is also an "activity" stream that generates a micro-message every time a person a user is following takes an action inside the Socialtext platform, such as creating a wiki page, writing a blog post, or making a comment. Socialtext’s collaboration tool has a newly launched freemium model and a paid service, but both platforms are available via mobile devices for free. There’s no doubt that being able to access enterprise applications from mobile devices is useful to companies and their employees. But for many big companies, security is a consideration when deploying enterprise apps in a mobile phone. Socialtext customers can leverage Motorola’s Good Mobile Connection to provide behind-the-firewall secure deployment of Socialtext’s information on mobile devices. Socialtext faces competition from Yammer, Jive and and WizeHive. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 

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