The latest from TechCrunch
- YC-Backed Tutorspree Is An Airbnb For Tutoring
- Google Begins Soft Censorship Of Arbitrary Piracy-Related Queries
| YC-Backed Tutorspree Is An Airbnb For Tutoring | Top |
| Launching today from the YCombinator Class of 2011, Tutorspree is a online marketplace for K-12 tutors along the lines of accommodations network Airbnb , but specific to tutoring (yes I’ve made this comparison before). Founded by Aaron Harris , Josh Abrams and Ryan Bednar , the startup is disruptive in the sense that the tutoring space up until now has been monopolized by agencies like Sylvan and Huntington Learning Center or risky alternative Craigslist. Tutoring is a business that is aching for change: Agency strongholds make tutor comparison difficult and Craigslist is a whole ‘nother can of worms trustwise. So Tutorspree tries to combine the easy accessibility of the Internet with the quality vetting of an agency, at reduced cost. All you need to do as a parent to find a tutor is type in your location into the Tutorspree search box, and you’ll get a listing replete with photos, credentials and price. Prospective tutors can sign up with the “sign up as a tutor” link at the top of the site. Harris tells us that the quality control at an affordable price is Tutorspree’s competitive advantage, and the screening process favors people who have experience teaching kids in front of a classroom. Currently there are about 160 tutors signed up, with another 100 or so that haven’t yet passed muster. Tutorspree also takes less of a cut from each lesson (50% initially and then less at each subsequent lesson) than traditional tutoring operations, so it is able to retain top talent. “We’re hoping to make a system where everybody wins,” Harris says. Currently you can find Tutorspree in four cities, San Francisco, Washington, New York and Los Angeles and integrated with one highschool, (Harris wouldn’t tell us which one). Harris says the company is planning on expanding to more cities, ramping up the tutorbase and integrating with more schools in the near future. The first hundred of you interested in trying it out can get a 25% discount on your first lesson by signing up through this link. CrunchBase Information tutorspree Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Google Begins Soft Censorship Of Arbitrary Piracy-Related Queries | Top |
| The efforts of media companies to quash online piracy are a bit like someone trying to put out a forest fire with a wet noodle. The latest pathetic flail comes in the form of coercing Google into censoring its results for some search terms. A number of words will no longer be autocompleted or trigger an instant search, among them the interesting and perfectly legal “bittorrent.” It’s a new high for antipiracy theater, because you can of course still search for the terms by hitting enter, and get the same results as before, including direct links to torrent files hosted on well-known indexers. The move will accomplish two things, though: first, it will damage consumer trust of a company whose services are ostensibly objective, and second, it confirms for the hundredth time how quixotic and misguided the efforts of the MPAA et al. are in every action they take. The actual censorship (I use the word lightly) is a joke. A leakier sieve than this was never wrought. While “Bittorrent” is blocked, “torrent” is not, and while some popular cyber lockers are on the blacklist (Rapidshare, Megaupload), others aren’t (Drop.io, Hotfile). As far as preventing piracy, the policy is worthless — incompetent. I have no doubt that this list was put together by the media companies, because Google would have done a far better job of doing it. The team responsible for executing this probably lost more time to derisive laughter than long lunches. As for the damage it does to Google’s reputation, it’s really nothing that wary web users weren’t already aware of. The algorithm and Google’s results have always been at best pseudo-objective, and Google has made these kinds of gun-jumping censorship mistakes before. But when word gets out to the millions of people who don’t care about DMCA requests and cyber lockers that Google is allowing music industry officials in between them and their search results, there may be… well, let’s be honest, there will be a small ripple of outrage, then people will forget. But a reputation as a search-broker for big business isn’t what Google wants. Blocking a few dirty (yet very common) words is tolerated as it protects our sensitive children, who know nothing of such things, but this? Not so much. Of course, the practical effects of this move will be utterly nil. The companies and websites being soft-blocked are livid, but the media industry wants nothing to do with them anyway, and Google holds all the cards, so there’s not much the offended parties can do. Will Google expand the blacklist? Will the terms ever be hard-blocked? I’m guessing that the media companies expended a lot of time and capital just getting this non-result, so I doubt future changes will be soon or serious. Google can plausibly demur on broader censorship, calling this little blacklist a gesture of good will and referring the MPAA and RIAA to the allegedly infringing sites themselves. More analysis and comments from the affected companies can be found at TorrentFreak . | |
CREATE MORE ALERTS:
Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted
Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope
Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more
News - Only the news you want, delivered!
Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more
Weather - Get today's weather conditions
| You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. |
No comments:
Post a Comment