Tuesday, April 26, 2011

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Group Photo Sharing Site ZangZing Now In Private Beta Top
Group photo sharing site ZangZing , which Mike has written extensively about , has launched in private beta today and is giving out beta invites to 250 TechCrunch readers. Those clamoring for one can sign up for early access here. Unlike Flickr and Facebook, ZangZing is focused on sharing photos in groups, where “every album is a group album.”  "The state of photo sharing on the web feels like it's stuck in the dark ages," said co-founder Joseph Ansanelli. Indeed ZangZing is a cut above other offerings, users have a streamlined homepage where they can view all the photo albums they have either created or Liked, with the options to share albums on Facebook and Twitter. Users can create an album by clicking on “Create” in the bottom left and invite other people to become album Contributors. Contributors can  email photos to an album from their phone and computer, as well as use the photo uploader to add photos to ZangZing from their desktop or from their smartphone. The service also offers Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Picasa Web, Shutterfly, Photobucket and SmugMug integration. Each group on ZingZang has granular privacy settings where users can set their sharing preferences or allow individual password protection on each group. Each group is either Public, Hidden (accessible only through a link), or Password Protected. ZangZing is free of advertising and is extremely focused on the user browsing experience, beautifully displaying photos at high resolution in a large and fast loading slideshow format. The company, which is currently bootstrapped at $1.5 million in funding, plans on monetizing through a freemium model, offering extra storage and other features to power users. CrunchBase Information ZangZing Information provided by CrunchBase
 
PixelFish Finds A Local Deal In Backyard — Eric Schmidt's Second Venture Exit In As Many Weeks Top
It was only this past December that local business guide Backyard launched , backed by a few big-name early-stage investors. Now, less than five months later, they’re exiting and providing a nice, quick return for those investors. PixelFish , a creator of local video marketing solutions for businesses, has snapped up Backyard in a deal that is roughly half stock and half cash, we’ve learned. The deal is for between $3 to $5 million — and again, is a nice exit since the service had raised just $150,000 in seed money from 500 Startups , Jason Calacanis , and Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures . Notably, this marks the second exit for Schmidt’s venture wing in as many weeks (after MindJolt acquired SGN last week). So what does this deal mean for the young Backyard? Hopefully not much beyond helping PixelFish with their technology. The plan is to keep Backyard (and Citysquares , which Backyard acquired at launch in December) open, CEO Steve Espinosa says. “We are going to use our technology to bridge the gap between advertising on video sites like YouTube and the social graph utilizing our knowledge of what personalities and interests match up best to certain type of businesses,” he says. “Since we know what type of personalities are compatible with which businesses, we know which videos those potential customers are most likely on YouTube. Since most YouTube views are either TV shows, music videos, or movie trailers. we can pull out those interests which happen to be the most common things put into a Facebook profile and now all of sudden advertising on music videos on YouTube makes sense,” he continues. Espinosa will become PixelFish’s CTO as part of the deal. Backyard was actually part of the first startup hackathon at Facebook (500 Startups’ Dave McClure got them into that program). And it relies heavily on using Facebook data. “The majority of our technology was built to recommend places based on pricing (which we collect from venues via a call center) and your demographic data (which we got from Facebook Connect). We then would crawl fan pages of businesses that had pages, analyze the demographics of the fans of that page, then try to match you up with the best price and the one that closets matched your personality,” Espinosa explains. “To put it simply we gave businesses a personality based upon their fans on Facebook and then played the match.com game knowing the type of people that went to the business and how their prices compared to other businesses,” he notes. PixelFish raised a new Series B of funding just this past December. The entire Backyard team will be moving over with the deal. CrunchBase Information PixelFish Backyard Information provided by CrunchBase
 
YouTube To Partner With Fox In Movie Rental Expansion [Update: Not Yet] Top
As yesterday’s reports of YouTube’s expanded Hollywood partnerships are still making waves, we’re hearing that Twentieth Century Fox will also be making a deal with YouTube to license its movies for YouTube Movies. Fox will be joining Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal in the initiative, as well as independent studios Lionsgate and Kino Lorber. While there’s still no word on Paramount and Disney, the service will have enough critical mass to launch with Fox’s participation. Fox notably blocked Google TV back in November, so this deal would be a change of tune for the studio in its dealings with Google. Having as many major studios on board for this initiative is crucial, as it means the difference between having inventory that people want to watch and being stuck with  Ronald Reagan: An American Journey. Update: We’re hearing that the plan was to launch next week but there was a clause in the partnership deal that Google could not launch without Fox. According to one source, Google is sending out a release draft of the announcement that has no studio names in it. But if the service is going to launch, that means Fox is on board so it is a process of elimination. Update 2: According to another source familiar with the matter Fox has not yet signed a deal with YouTube. It’s possible that our original source was misinformed. There is a lot of spin going on around this and the leaks today may have been an effort by other studios to get them on board. The plan is still to officially announce next week. CrunchBase Information YouTube Google Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Qik's Android App Gets Updated With Live Video Chat, Social Feeds And More Top
Mobile video startup Qik, which was acquired by Skype earlier this year, has previously only offered a fully functional live streaming and chat app on Android via pre-loaded devices. Qik offered a simpler version of its mobile video service in the Android Market which allowed users to record video but this app lacked any chatting capabilities. Now, Qik is bringing the full featured Qik app to the Android Marketplace, the company tells us exclusively. The app, which you can download here, allows you to live stream video and now conduct live video chats with contacts over 3G, 4G or WiFi. And you can chat between Android 2.1-2.33 phones and any iOS4 devices, including the iPad 2 and iPhone 4. The Android app automatically integrates with your phone's contact list to show you who is available to chat live, and allows you to video chat using back camera (show what is happening around you) and/or front camera (show your face). If you cannot connect with your friends live, you can also send video mail via threaded video mail conversations and you can send video mails to anyone, including friends who don't have Qik, via email or SMS. The Android app has also added a few social features, and allows you to connect via Facebook and will notify you when your friends share video on the app. You can play these videos within the app and comment on content. Videos can also be shared through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other sites. The addition of a live video sharing and recording app in the Android Market is a big development for the company’s technology, says co-founder Bhaskar Roy. Previously, Qik optimized over all experience for specific devices and carriers, but now these capabilities are being brought to all Android handsets. While Roy declined to comment on how Qik would be integrating its technology with Skype, he did say that the companies are currently working with OEMs to figure out how to integrate the streaming video technologies with the hardware to consume less CPU and battery power. Qik is offering Video Connect Plus app for iPhone/iOS for free this week (It's normally $2.99). Other apps that allow for live streaming on Android phones include Justin.TV, Ustream and others. But Qik says that its apps have been updated with more social features, including the ability to conduct live video chats, and share live video with friends on social networks. CrunchBase Information Qik Information provided by CrunchBase .
 

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