The latest from TechCrunch
- Pulse Updates iPhone And Android Apps With Social Feeds, Improved Sharing, More Sources
- #REDALLOVER: Nike Leans On Twitter To Design New USA Men's Soccer Kit
- Now You Can Shop For Shoes From Anywhere With The Zappos Android App
- Search Is Google's Castle, Everything Else Is A Moat
- Twimal: Super-Cute Twitter Toy Pet Reads Tweets For You
- Flurry Launches Support Program For Game Developers, Nabs Director From Playfish
- Nuclear WatchDawg App Reveals Nuclear Plants, Safety Issues Within Fifty Mile Radius
| Pulse Updates iPhone And Android Apps With Social Feeds, Improved Sharing, More Sources | Top |
| Pulse, an innovative news reading app for mobile devices, has updated its iPhone and Android apps with a number of new features including new content sources and improved sharing with social feeds and news discovery features. Pulse, which is developed by Alphonso Labs, launched last year via an iPad app as a more seamless (and visually appealing) way to read your RSS feeds. But recently, Pulse ditched RSS in favor of hooking up with APIs to access content. Pulse's home screen renders stories from your feeds on a dynamic mosaic interface and via a touch interface, allows you to swipe up and down to see headlines from various sources, and right and left to browse stories from a particular source. Pulse users can now bring in their news from 60 sources as opposed to 20 sources previously. And the developer has improved the speed and performance of the app with faster image loading, three times the load speed, and more. While you could previously share content on Facebook and Twitter, you can now pull in content from your social networks and platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Digg, Reddit and Hacker News (it doesn’t appear to integrate with Twitter yet). The app specifically has an in depth integration with Facebook, allowing you to like and comment on news that is posted within the Facebook feed. This was previously added to the iPad app. Users can auto-populate an entire page of news within the apps with multiple sources for politics, finance, sports, or other subjects. With this update, Pulse is playing catch up to Flipboard, which populates articles and images your social streams like Twitter and Facebook, and presents them in a visually appealing, magazine-like format. But Pulse says that smartphone users now account for nearly 70 percent of Pulse's total installs and is actively going after the mobile market as well as tablets. CrunchBase Information Alphonso Labs Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| #REDALLOVER: Nike Leans On Twitter To Design New USA Men's Soccer Kit | Top |
| Team USA play Argentina tomorrow at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, and while we’re all excited to see Messi & Co. pretty much run circles around the team, at least our boys will look good in the process. Nike continues to supply the United States Men’s National Team with its official kit, and once again there are a few improvements worth highlighting. So let’s do just that now. First off, it’s red ! Yes, Nike has finally produced a red kit, to go along its usual white (home) and blue (away) designs. That’s not really tech-y, no, but it’s probably the first thing you’ll notice. Nike says it created the red kit in response to fan demand: USA, home of the red, white, and blue, so where’s the red? Along those lines. Read More | |
| Now You Can Shop For Shoes From Anywhere With The Zappos Android App | Top |
| There is no doubt that mobile commerce is heating up. The market is expected to be a multi-billion dollar sector in 2011 and eBay, Amazon and many other online retailers are launching designated apps for smartphone platforms. Zappos has furthered its footprint in m-commerce with the launch of an Android app. Similar to the online retailer’s iPhone and iPad apps, you can search, browse, read reviews, share, and buy shoes, handbags, clothing, jewelry and more via the app. Purchasers get the same benefits of shopping on Zappos.com, including a 365-day return policy and 24-7 customer support. Of course, Zappos is known for its customer service and has a dedicated team covering support for mobile sales. Zappos is owned by e-commerce giant Amazon, who bought the retail site for for $1.2 billion in 2009. It’s no secret that parent company Amazon is bullish on mobile commerce, and has launched a number of mobile apps that enable a more seamless shopping experience on the go. Zappos only launched its iPhone and iPad apps in late 2010, so the retailer is still relatively new to the mobile market. But considering the rise of m-commerce and the popularity of Zappos’ shopping portal, I’m going to guess that its mobile apps will be a hit. CrunchBase Information Amazon Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Search Is Google's Castle, Everything Else Is A Moat | Top |
| Google is moving in many directions—mobile, browsers, productivity apps, operating systems, social. At first glance, it may seem like it is trying ever so hard to move beyond its giant one-trick pony : search. What people keep forgetting is that it is a pretty good trick . Benchmark Capital VC Bill Gurley reminds us how good this trick is in an excellent post that looks at Google’s market expansion strategy not as one of a series of aggressive offensives, but rather a highly defensive strategy. Warren Buffet famously describes the best businesses as “economic castles protected by unbreachable 'moats.'” Search is Google’s economic castle (perhaps with other forms of online advertising such as display thrown in there), and everything else is a moat trying to protect that castle. Android is a moat. The Chrome browser is a moat. The Chrome OS is a moat. Google Apps is a moat. These are all free products, subsidized by search profits, that are intended to protect the economic castle that is search. Gurley goes further and says not only does Google build moats around itself, but then it scorches the earth surrounding the moat: So here is the kicker. Android, as well as Chrome and Chrome OS for that matter, are not "products" in the classic business sense. They have no plan to become their own "economic castles." Rather they are very expensive and very aggressive "moats," funded by the height and magnitude of Google's castle. Google's aim is defensive not offensive. They are not trying to make a profit on Android or Chrome. They want to take any layer that lives between themselves and the consumer and make it free (or even less than free). Because these layers are basically software products with no variable costs, this is a very viable defensive strategy. In essence, they are not just building a moat; Google is also scorching the earth for 250 miles around the outside of the castle to ensure no one can approach it. And best I can tell, they are doing a damn good job of it. Remember, what is the default search engine of Android and Chrome? It’s Google. Android and Chrome are merely distribution nodes feeding into search. Without Android, Google would be more vulnerable to becoming displaced as the default search engine on mobile phones. The Chrome browser similarly keeps Google search front and center, just in case Firefox ever decides to go with Bing. But the way that Google creates its moats, ravages the industries it enters because it offers it products for free or less than free. Carriers and cell phone manufacturers actually have an economic incentive to use Android. Google is essentially paying them to adopt it. So don’t measure the success of Google’s new businesses by how much revenue or profit they generate directly. Measure it by how much they shore up Google’s core search business. CrunchBase Information Google Android Google Chrome Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Twimal: Super-Cute Twitter Toy Pet Reads Tweets For You | Top |
| Japan is crazy about Twitter, and today local toy maker Takara Tomy has announced Twimal (short for “Twitter Animal”) [JP], a super-cute toy “pet” that can reads out tweets loud for you. The white version does this with a female voice, while the blue Twimal uses a male voice. Read more… | |
| Flurry Launches Support Program For Game Developers, Nabs Director From Playfish | Top |
| It appears there’s an arms race taking place in the mobile gaming world, and as is often the case in Silicon Valley, it starts with engineering and development talent. Google, for one, took some serious measures at the end of last year to stem the flow of its engineering talent to Facebook. Many companies go out of the way to court and retain top developers, but it’s traditionally been the deep pockets and reputations of big players like Apple, Google, and Facebook that win out. However, it seems digital gaming companies didn’t receive that particular memo. Following on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that monetization and distribution platform Tapjoy will be launching a publishing platform to support game developers, while investing significant capital in early-stage game development, Flurry declared that it will be following suit. The mobile analytics firm subsequently unveiled its Game Acceleration Program for iOS and Android platforms, which will provide participating partners with a full suite of development and marketing support, including analytics, game design and development assistance, financing, distribution, and marketing. The difference between Flurry’s approach and traditional publishing models, however, is that the firm will not solicit ownership of an app’s IP or the intellectual property of a title. Instead, in exchange for the program’s development and launch support, app makers will be asked to use Flurry AppCircle , the company’s app recommendation engine, until agreed upon costs are recouped. "Flurry reaches over 40 million active consumers each day through Flurry AppCircle, and we want to help companies of all sizes better reach and monetize that audience" , said CEO Simon Khalaf. In the context of the arms race in mobile gaming and app development, Flurry’s program isn’t markedly different from that of Tapjoy or other competitors like OpenFeint and Scoreloop . Each platform offers app developers some kind of compensation or incentive up front to stoke the flames of their hearts. Under Flurry’s program, if gamers download the app recommended by AppCircle, the firm makes money from the transaction. Of course, according to VP of Marketing Peter Farago, the amount of loot that ultimately ends up in developers’ pockets will likely be fairly small. For those very reasons, the firm clearly felt it needed to distinguish its program from that of the competition and give developers a reason to sign on. So, with a wink to the geeks, Flurry revealed what it hopes will be its ace in the hole. Accompanying the debut of its Game Acceleration Program, the company announced the hiring of decorated game developer, Jeferson Valadares , who will become GM of games and will work with indie developers and big brands alike to develop their games. Valadares must be an important piece of the puzzle, considering Flurry nabbed him from social game maker Playfish , where he was working as the startup’s studio director. The fact that Flurry pulled in $15 million in VC funding back in December likely didn’t hurt its cause. The Brazilian game developer has an impressive resume, having been involved in the making of award-winning games like Tornado Mania, Nightclub Empire, Crazy Penguin Catapult, Brickbreaker Revolution, Kamikaze Robots, and Tower Bloxx. Before Playfish, Valadares was at both Electronic Arts and Digital Chocolate and worked on brands such as FIFA, Harry Potter, and Need for Speed. His teams have shipped a combined total of more than 40 titles, won multiple developer of the year awards and 14 game of the year awards. He’s clearly terrible at what he does, and there’s no way developers will be eager to work with him. All in all, these announcements seem to be great plays for Flurry, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the firm produces under Valadares’ leadership. I bet there will be a few gems. Of course, I’m not a betting man. CrunchBase Information Flurry Jeferson Valadares Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Nuclear WatchDawg App Reveals Nuclear Plants, Safety Issues Within Fifty Mile Radius | Top |
| A newly released Android app, Nuclear WatchDawg , reveals where nuclear power plants and associated safety and environmental concerns are within a fifty mile radius anywhere in the U.S. NuclearWatchDawg aggregates data from some 30 sources, mostly government and academic research labs whose research is in the public domain. Lee Guthman, who develops new apps and ventures for the GVW Group in Highland Park, Illinois noted: “We developed this app because there is heightened interest in nuclear power following the earthquake in Japan, and damages to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant there. In the U.S., people want to know what they're living or working nearby, how big these nuclear facilities are, and what are the known issues around them, if any.” According to a report today by Steve Herman for VOA News : “Since the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami, high radiation levels, fires and explosions at some of [Japan's] six [effected nuclear] reactors have slowed efforts to make critical repairs to stabilize the situation. Japanese government agencies say they are considering raising the assessment of the nuclear crisis to a level six or ‘serious accident’ on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Currently, the Fukushima accident is rated a level five, which is considered to ‘have wider consequences.’” Emission of radioactive vapor from one complex led to warnings about Japan’s water supply, and raised safety concerns and international scrutiny of Japanese vegetables, milk and seafood, and possibly other exports. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is blocking imports from the region in Japan where the nuclear accident occurred, for example. The crisis has forced farmers to destroy crops there, NPR reported. [Ed's note: TechCrunch's Jon Evans published a story suggesting mainstream media's coverage of the nuclear situation in Japan is tantamount to "hysteria," but offered a guide to sites he trusted instead. It's worth checking out the links he's provided to independent media sources that he trusts for technically accurate perspectives .] The Nuclear Watchdawg app is meant for those who are curious about the impacts of nuclear power near where they live and work in the U.S., or who might be buying or selling a home, or moving a business nearby. Like GVW’s other sites and apps, Nuclear Watchdawg is ad-supported ( via AdMob ) but free to get and use. Guthman said his firm will likely develop other, GPS-enabled Watchdawg apps based on consumers’ major environmental and safety concerns. For the next release of Nuclear Watchdawg app (due out before the end of May) his team plans to include alert features to let users know when there is a new development, or problem at a nuclear facility in their area, and direct them as to recommended safety measures. On a much lighter note, the firm previously developed the virtual vuvuzela app , released during the last World Cup Soccer tournament, attaining 1 million downloads within thirty days, with 29 percent of the downloads from the U.S. and 14 percent in Japan. GVW Group in Highland Park, Illinois is a non-traditional investment group (or diversified holding company) that develops apps and websites, then spins out and funds new startups around those that have made a strong impact within a niche, or proven very popular. The company also makes clean tech and energy investments, and is a primary stakeholder of Autocar, LLC a maker of garbage trucks that run on natural gas, and iClunkIt the company behind GreenOhm.com , a site and service matching consumers to rebates and incentives for energy-efficient appliances, and home energy systems. | |
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