The latest from TechCrunch
- The Disrupt Hackathon Movie (And Slideshow) TCTV
- From Accelerate 2010 In Singapore: List Of "Asia's Top 50 Apps"
- Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
| The Disrupt Hackathon Movie (And Slideshow) TCTV | Top |
| Picture this: late night coding, new and tenuous liaisons, the driving desire to create something great and just a dash of booze. No, I’m not talking about that movie, I’m talking about the pressure cooker that is TechCrunch Disrupt’s Hackathon. With less than 4 hours until show time, the programmers, designers and entrepreneurs have been slaving away (or at least that’s the expectation) all night to make something stage-worthy and coherent. Starting at Sunday 11:00am EST, you can watch the frenzy as the teams deliver 60-second presentations in rapid-fire succession to our panel of expert judges. However, before we hurtle to the triumphant, disoriented end, let’s savor the blood, sweat and Redbull: please enjoy this trailer (sorry, I didn’t have time to find a creepy soundtrack). See video above. Still hungry for Disrupt Hackathon action? Check out TechCrunch reader Alexa Lee’s Flickr account for recent footage. Below are a few of my favorite shots: Thanks to TC TV’s John Murillo for his wonderful camera work here. | |
| From Accelerate 2010 In Singapore: List Of "Asia's Top 50 Apps" | Top |
| Earlier this week, I attended Accelerate 2010 in Singapore, a two-day tech and mobile industry event that attracted no less than 2,000 international attendees. Organizer and major telco SingTel (which boasts around 350 million customers worldwide) offered up a slew of presentations and panels . But giving in to my penchant for discovering Asian startups, I will just focus on Accelerate’s so-called “Asia’s Top 50 Apps” program in the following (head over to e27 for more coverage of the event). What’s Asia’s Top 50 Apps? SingTel, in cooperation with e27 and others, called out for users to nominate and vote for web and mobile applications that were either developed in Asia or mainly target Asian markets. A total of 50 apps from the region made it to that list (out of 200 nominations), and during Accelerate, a panel of judges selected “Asia’s Top 10 Apps” (which won a three months of rent-free stay at Plug and Play Center , among other things). But here are thumbnail sketches (of varying depth) of all 50 Asian mobile apps and web services, starting with the top 10 and in no particular order (luckily, almost all products listed up below are available in English). Asia’s Top 50 Apps at Accelerate 2010: The top 10 Flutterscape (Japan) Pitched as a real-time, cross-border social market place, Flutterscape lets users not only share cool product discoveries from Japan but also enables purchases from abroad. The way it works is that Japan-based users can sell an item discovered locally on Flutterscape by submitting pictures, the price, a description etc. People outside Japan can then buy it on the site (i.e. this karaoke machine ). The seller purchases the item for the buyer at the local store, sends it to the Flutterscape logistics center, which ships it to the customer and also takes care of the billing and payment. Zopim (Singapore) Zopim is a web-based live chat application for businesses that shows up as a customizable chat widget on your website (no pop-ups). The main selling point of the service is its simplicity, as copying and pasting a few lines of code into the website is enough. Zopim features multi-agent-chat, multi-language and multi-platform support (for all browsers, various IM clients and smartphones). A core element is the Zopim dashboard, from where you can chat with multiple customers, monitor them live as they surf (location, repeat visitors, history, etc.) and analyze browsing patterns. Gantibaju (Indonesia) CEO Aria Rajasa isn’t a big fan of the comparison, but I’ll make it anyway: Gantibaju is basically Indonesia’s hyper-localized answer to t-shirt design service Threadless . The main idea is to empower local designers to get in touch with Indonesian customers who can buy selected t-shirts directly through the site. Rajasa says Gantibaju currently receives close to 1,000 design ideas monthly. More info on this startup can be found here . Sekai Camera (Japan) TechCrunch50 superstar Tonchidot has made it to the Accelerate Top 10 with Sekai Camera, its free augmented reality application. Sekai Camera has gone a long way since 2008, and is now available for iPhone , Android , iPad , and on the web . Tonchidot also introduced an API (dubbed OpenAir ) and just launched its app platform that makes it possible to deploy augmented reality-powered social games and other apps within the Sekai Camera ecosystem. More info on Sekai Camera can be found in my previous blog post . buUuk (Singapore) buUuk is a location-based/augmented reality iPhone and Android app that helps users locate good restaurants and bars in a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia (even in North Korea). The free app gives you directions to locations near you, apart from letting you map, review and discuss them with other users. buUuk users can also search for restaurants by cuisine, location and rating, get discounts or share tips via Twitter and Facebook. mig33 (Singapore) With around 40 million users, mig33 is one of the biggest mobile social networks in Asia (even though it’s available globally, it’s particularly strong in India and Indonesia). The download Java app rolls VOIP features, instant messaging, texting, e-mailing, picture sharing, gaming, chatting, virtual gifting and other features into one. We last covered mig33 back in March . Creately (Australia and Sri Lanka) Creately is an online diagramming and design tool that was showcased at TechCrunch50′s Demopit in 2008. The entirely browser-based application lets multiple users create flow charts, wireframes, network diagrams, sitemaps, business process diagrams and other designs collaboratively. We last covered Creately in September last year. TwitCasting Live (Japan) If you ever wanted to stream live video and tweet about it at the same time, then TwitCasting is the right app for you. As its name suggests, the free iPhone app ( main app / Viewer ) is tightly integrated into Twitter. It splits the phone screen in half: on the top, you broadcast live video. On the bottom half, you can post updates to Twitter, view your timeline or access other websites. Every time you start a recording, you can send out an automatic tweet to your followers who just need to click on a link to start viewing the broadcast on their PC (TwitCasting’s website ), the iPhone or iPad. We covered TwitCasting in March . ShowNearby (Singapore) ShowNearby is a location-based listings app that runs on the iPhone , Blackberry , Android , and the web . Currently available for Singapore only, the app displays the nearest places of interest, for example ATMs, restaurants, convenience stores etc. Stictok (Korea) This Facebook app is currently not available – it’s unknown when or if it goes live again. Asia’s Top 50 Apps at Accelerate 2010: The best of the rest Here’s an overview of the 40 other apps and services that were shortlisted but didn’t make the cut. Almost all of these are available in English, so it’s easy to give them a spin. From Singapore: 123PassportPhoto (free passport photo generator) 8Squirrels (funding platform) FlickEvents (event management platform/ more info ) Foound (location-based iPhone app to organize "hangouts with friends"/ more info ) PassWindow (second-factor authentication system/ more info ) SG NextBus (iPhone app that displays estimated arrival times of public buses in Singapore) Singpath (platform for practicing software languages, for example Python and Java) TAPP (free, private (as in “not social”) and self-updating address book app for iPhone and Blackberry) WaveSecure (mobile security and anti-theft software whose maker tenCube was acquired by McAfee/ more info ) Wego (meta travel search engine) From India: ideaken (collaboration platform for innovation providers and seekers) Twt140 (site hosting 18 applications for Twitter beginners) Voicetap (phone/voice-based knowledge network to get in touch with experts in various fields/ more info ) From the Philippines: Insync (Dropbox for Google users/ more info ) PicLyf (location-based picture sharing platform pitched as “Flickr+Foursquare”) From Malaysia: Elevyn (fair trade-based marketplace for handmade items) secondCRM (CRM solution designed especially for SME) SocialWalk (event management platform) Suzerein KPI Matrix (workforce productivity analysis solution based on computer usage activity) From Indonesia: AdaDiskon (shopping community for deals, promotions and discounts in Indonesia) BukuQ (books community for readers, writers and publishers) Gamelan (“rich” music player running on Adobe AIR) Kaskus for iPhone (Indonesia’s largest bulletin board is now available as an iPhone app ) KayaKarya (portfolio data base and community for artists and designers) Yahoo Koprol (Indonesia’s Foursquare/ more info ) LewatMana (real-time traffic information for commuters in Indonesia) MainMusik (portal for Indonesian and international music) Movreak (mobile social network for movie fans/ iTunes ) Tokobagus (Indonesia’s Craigslist) Tokopedia (online marketplace) Tuitwit (mobile Twitter client) Urbanesia (location-based city directory for Indonesia’s capital Jakarta) From Japan: Cacoo (online diagramming and design tool/ more info ) | |
| Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School | Top |
| Instead of another boring lecture, last week my students at UC-Berkeley got quite a treat: a lively discussion with TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington. I once described Mike as a cross between Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern; so I was ready for a little controversy. But he ended up lighting such a big fire, that I've been bombarded with questions from students about their education and careers. The questions aren't just coming from Berkeley; after the discussion was posted on TechCrunch , students at Duke asked me to discuss this at a keynote I am giving at their entrepreneurship symposium on Wednesday; and students at other schools, from as far as India and Singapore, have asked for advice. So I'll just respond here in the hope of quenching this fire. At the UC-Berkeley Distinguished Innovator Lecture Series , last week, Mike and I discussed a variety of topics. We agreed on most subjects—except on the importance of education (and dearth of women in tech—which is a battle I'll fight another day). When I brought up my TechCrunch post on the importance of MBA degrees, Arrington questioned why students needed to get any degree or go to college at all. He talked up the success of tech CEOs who had dropped out of college—Zuckerberg, Gates, and "countless high-profile entrepreneurs including Larry and Sergey" (Mike: Larry and Sergey both have undergraduate degrees and were completing PhD's). Despite being interrupted by Berkeley professor Ikhlaq Sidhu (who I was afraid would come on stage and strangle Mike before he could finish his sentence), Arrington said that he didn't learn much from college; gaining admittance to a Berkeley or Harvard is the only certification a student needs; dropping out from college doesn't carry a stigma anymore; so "the best thing in the world is to go to Harvard for a year and drop out because everyone knows you were smart enough to get in". Arrington told students that the kind of person who wants to increase his chances of success by getting a masters degree isn't an entrepreneur; older entrepreneurs have no chance of raising money (so they're a lost cause); success means building a billion dollar business and making a lot of money—it's not good enough to build a good lifestyle business that pays the bills and brings you happiness. So they should "ready-fire-aim" and go for the big prize rather than thinking small. Here is the problem with Arrington's logic: students may come up with great ideas and start a company, but they aren't going to be able make it big unless they have the educational foundation. Maybe Zuckerberg lucked out by being at the right place at the right time, but he wasn't born with the knowledge of how to grow a business. To build a business, you need to understand subjects like finance, marketing, intellectual property and corporate law. Until you have been in the business world for a while, you don't know how to negotiate contracts, deal with people, manage and nurture employees , and sell to customers . Most importantly, if students don't learn the importance of finishing what they start, they will never achieve success—this requires perseverance and determination. And by dropping out of college, they won't have the alumni networks that they need to help them later in their careers and in business. The harsh reality is that for every Zuckerberg, there are a thousand who drop out of college and fail. Many get discouraged after their failures and move to other professions which require less skill and education. Some universities do readmit students who dropped out for a short period of time, but most students end up burning through their savings and loans from friends and relatives, and can no longer afford their education. Some give up and look for jobs in big companies, but big companies don't generally hire people without degrees—because they want employees who have the discipline to finish what they start; who won't jump ship and chase every rainbow. Plus, if you look at the backgrounds of the people who actually built Facebook—the executives and employees of the company—you'll find that they aren't college dropouts; they are highly educated . Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple—all started by college dropouts are the most selective in hiring; they are the most fussy about degrees. My advice to students is to get all the education they can, while they can. Complete at least a bachelors and get a masters degree if you can. The degree doesn't have to be from an elite college like Harvard or Stanford; any education will carry you far. As this chart shows ( based on an analysis of the backgrounds of the founders of 652 successful technology companies), there is a huge difference in the size and revenue of companies founded by people with college degrees. But there is only a small difference between those with ivy-league degrees and the average (which includes all startups). After you graduate, you should gain some practical work experience and learn the realities of the business world before making the plunge into entrepreneurship. Work for a big company for a few years; learn about how the corporate world works; get good at people management, project planning, and teamwork. Then join a startup—which will probably fail as most startups do. But you get to fail on someone else's dime and learn all the valuable lessons. In his talk, Mike Arrington said that he got little from his education. He also said that he wished he had gotten an MBA instead of a law degree. But what Mike didn't seem to acknowledge was that he needed the law degree to become a lawyer; when he was a lawyer, he gained an in-depth knowledge about the tech world and its problems —which led to his startups; and this education gave him the knowledge to take on unethical companies and question unethical practices —all of which have helped make TechCrunch the world's leading tech blog. Does anyone think that Mike would have been able to build TechCrunch if he was a college dropout? In our discussion, Mike joked that instead of doing the law degree, he wishes he had learned to play the guitar in junior high—"maybe he would have become a rock star". I have no idea if Mike has any musical talent, but a smaller proportion of guitarists become rock stars than techies who become CEOs. Editor's note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at the School of Information at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. You can follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa and find his research at www.wadhwa.com . | |
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