Monday, May 2, 2011

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Bin Laden Announcement Has Highest Sustained Tweet Rate Ever, Spikes Higher Than The Super Bowl Top
Twitter has just revised its preliminary measurements of 4,000 tweets per second from last night’s announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death , tweeting out the new measurements below. At the event’s peak (11pm EST) there were 5,106 TPS, beating out Super Bowl 2011 (with 4,064 TPS) but not NYE 2010 (with 6,939 TPS). The event also had the highest sustained rate of tweets ever according to Twitter, reaching 3,000 tweets per second in the 3 hours and 35 minutes between 10:45 and 2:20am, and averaging 3440 TPS from 10:45 to 12:30pm EST last night. For comparison, this year’s Super Bowl had sustained 20 minutes at 3,000 TPS. From Twitter PR : “Last night saw the highest sustained rate of Tweets ever. From 10:45 – 2:20am ET, there was an average of 3,000 Tweets per second. At 11p.m. ET, there were 5,106 Tweets per second. At 11:45p.m. ET, when Pres. Obama finished his remarks, there were 5,008 TPS. Note: The TPS numbers we reported last night were incomplete” The timeline of the event on Twitter was as follows: At 1:00pm EST last night, Sohaib Athar (@reallyvirtual) unknowingly  liveblogged the helicopter raids that eventually killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. At around 9:45pm EST White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer notified the press corps that Obama would make an impromptu announcement at 10:30 EST, then tweeted out the same information to his followers. At 10:25pm former Donald Rumsfeld Chief Of Staff Keith Urbahn tweeted,  "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn."  ABC, NBC and CBS then followed suit, announcing the death of Bin Laden on television at 10:45pm EST. Obama’s speech began at 11:30pm EST and by 11:35 EST the President had confirmed Osama’s death. At 11:45pm EST the announcement was over. For perspective, here is a list of other notable TPS event records: * The all-time record is still NYE 2010 in Japan, with 6,939 TPS at its peak * On the day of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami (On March 11th) Twitter usage reached 5,530 TPS. (Passing the 5,000 TPS mark five times that day). * The 2011 Super Bowl reached 4,064 TPS * Japan’s victory over Denmark in the World Cup reached 3,283 TPS * Final game of the 2010 NBA finals peaked at 3,085 TPS * Last Friday's Royal Wedding reached a peak of 3,966 TPS at 4pm London time @twitterglobalpr Twitter Comms Last night saw the highest sustained rate of Tweets ever. From 10:45 – 2:20am ET, there was an average of 3,000 Tweets per second [1/3] about 1 hour ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite @twitterglobalpr Twitter Comms At 11p.m. ET, there were 5,106 Tweets per second. At 11:45p.m. ET, when Pres. Obama finished his remarks, there were 5,008 TPS [2/3] about 1 hour ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite @twitterglobalpr Twitter Comms Note: The TPS numbers we reported last night were incomplete [3/3] about 1 hour ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite Graph: @miguelrios CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Google Chrome Canary About To Hit OS X — Chrome 16 Due Before End Of Year Top
Users of Google Chrome are probably aware of the three channels you can use depending on how cutting edge you want to be (and how much you mind bugs): Dev, Beta, Stable. But ever since last year, there’s actually been a fourth channel as well that’s less publicized: Canary. Sadly, it has been a Windows-only build until now. But it looks like that’s about to change. Given the talk in the Chromium development forums, it looks as if Google is just about ready to push out a Canary build of Chrome for OS X as well. In fact, it looks to already be working, they just need to add a download link somewhere so that people can actually get it. And that seems likely to happen soon. Peter Beverloo, a developer who tracks Chrome and Chromium closely (and appropriately will soon be working at Google on the Chrome team) pointed out this morning that Chrome version 13 should be the first one to gain Canary status on OS X. As Beverloo notes: While it has not been released yet, Google does seem to be ready to release Google Chrome Canary for Mac OS X systems. The browser cannot be made the default browser through the preferences and the release monitor says that the latest version was released today, using the same revision as Windows' Canary. Sure enough, looking over the “ OmahaProxy ” numbers that Google uses to keep track of Chrome progress across all platforms, there is now a “mac canary” build. And yes, it’s 13.0752.0 — just like the Windows branch. Both were updated today. We’ve reached out to Google about the possibility of Canary finally coming to OS X, but have yet to hear back. But there are even more clues that this in the case tucked away inside threads on the development forums. For example, here you can see a screenshot of the Canary welcome screen on OS X — you’ll note the all-yellow icon, the key visual cue to let users know which build they’re using. Why care about Canary? Well, if you want to absolutely be on the bleeding edge of Chrome, it’s the place to be. Technically, Canary is a pre-Dev build of the software that gets automatically updated daily (or so) with the best stuff from Chromium. Sure, you could just download Chromium itself, but that is far less stable as it’s updated many times a day. And you have to manually upgrade it. And plug-in and codec support can often be lacking. Plus, the entire point of Canary is that you can install it and run it alongside another version of Chrome. This means that you could keep the stable version on your system for your real work, and load up Canary when you want to play with the new Chrome features that won’t be released for weeks or months. For example, Google has just released Chrome 11, but Canary is already on Chrome 13. Of course, Google has been trying to downplay the version numbers now that they’re upgrading the browser every six weeks or so . But this hasn’t stopped them from touting new releases every so often. And one more thing: looking over the Chromium development calendar , it looks as if the plan right now is to at least get to Chromium version 16 before the end of this year. That’s set to branch in October, which should give Google plenty of time to get Chrome 16 out the door before the new year. For some context, last May, Google unveiled Chrome 5. CrunchBase Information Google Chrome Information provided by CrunchBase
 
The Full, Very Impressive List Of LikeALittle Investors Top
Last week we broke the news that LikeALittle , an addictive college-focused site that lets students flirt with each other, had raised $1 million from Andreessen Horowitz and others earlier this year. The company won’t confirm the amount (though we’ve heard it is a bit higher) but it has just revealed the full list on Quora. And it’s quite impressive, featuring some of the most well-known names in Silicon Valley: Marc Andreessen Paul Buchheit Ron Conway Scott Cook CRV/Saar Gur Matrix/Josh Hannah David King Ashton Kutcher & Guy Oseary Yuri Milner Shervin Pishevar Brian Pokorny Keith Rabois Naval Ravikant David Sacks For those that haven’t tried it (again, it’s just for college students for now), LikeALittle is sort of like Craigslist’s ‘Missed Connections’, but with more structure. A typical message might read something like: “Brunette Haired Girl At UCLA: You were the handsome guy with glasses who killed it at karaoke last night”. Messages are initially anonymous, but the site includes a messaging platform so students can privately share more information. You can also use the service to share non-flirty messages with people nearby (like, “Hey, anyone in the library want to study for the LS2 exam?”) LikeALittle is now going by LAL (which is what students are already calling it, anyway). Stay tuned — we’ll have more about them in the very near future. CrunchBase Information Likealittle Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Peel Raises $16.7M To Turn Your Smartphone Into Your Television's Best Friend Top
Peel , a startup that’s looking to turn your iOS device into a super-powered universal remote (among other things), has some big news: it’s just closed a $16.7 million Series B funding round led by Ravi Mhatre of Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Redpoint Ventures and several seed investors. Last month we took a thorough look at how Peel is setting out to become to the bridge between your iPhone (or iPad) and your home theatre system — both in terms of actually controlling your myriad devices, and in presenting you with content you’ll want to watch. First, you purchase Peel’s special hardware ‘fruit’, which looks like a plastic pear and is available from Apple retail for $100. This device sits in front of your home entertainment system (it actually looks like a nice ornament on a coffee table). Next, you install Peel’s application from the App Store. Connect the Peel device and your phone to the same Wifi network and you’re off to the races. The app walks you though a setup process (you have to ‘teach’ it what kind of television, surround sound receiver, and other components you’re using). After around ten minutes you should be all set: you can now control your entire home entertainment system from your phone, and as the Peel device receives each command over Wifi it will ‘blast’ the appropriate infrared signal to each component. But Peel isn’t just a remote control — the startup also wants its mobile application to be a content discovery engine. Instead of showing you a basic TV Guide-style grid of upcoming shows, the app presents thumbnails of shows that it thinks you’ll be interested in. The more shows you watch, the better the system should get at recommending more content. The company also plans to integrate deeper social features. Peel says that it will be using the money in part to bring the mobile app to more platforms (like Android) and to sell the Peel ‘fruit’ in more retail outlets. Here’s a video interview I did with the founders in March. CrunchBase Information Peel Information provided by CrunchBase
 
AutoTech: Hands-on With The Mini Connected Infotainment System Top
Mini’s rolling out a slick new in-vehicle system and we recently got a hands-on demo. Mini Connected features much of what you’d expect for a modern infotainment system including a tight integration with iOS devices but there are some nifty new tricks. Everyone wants RSS feeds in their car, right? The fun parts starts when the car uses the phone’s data connection to search Google Local and then feeds the info to the car’s navigation. No longer are owners stuck with potentially outdated navigation data as the results are pulled directly from Google. Mini also developed a fun social app called MINIMALISM Analyser that collects and presents all sorts of fun driving data. It records everything from driving distance to gas millage with the goal of increasing fuel efficiency. Read More
 
Uber To Expand Private Car Service To Chicago, Seattle, Boston And D.C. Top
It looks like Uber is on the move again. According to a Tweet from the private car service, the company is planning to expand to Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and D.C. Uber just advertised a number of job postings for general managers in these cities. As we reported a few months ago, Uber recently started testing the service, which allows you order a private car from an iPhone app at discounted rates; in New York, after being available in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Uber, which just raised $11 million in funding, allows you to order a black car to come to your location on the mobile app, and then watch it come to you as the app tracks the car via GPS. Payments are handled automatically by charging the card you have on file, and it costs at least 50% more than a taxi. The service has a loyal following in San Francisco, and it’s not surprising that Uber is looking to expand the service to other cities. According to the job posting for positions, the GM will be responsible for the development and growth of the business in the new city and will have oversight of everything going on in the city, essentially starting and growing the business in the area. CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick tells us “the Tweet speaks for itself” and declines to comment further. The official launch of Uber in New York is coming soon (hopefully in time for TechCrunch Disrupt ).
 
More Funding, Fewer Deals For Cleantech In Q1 2011, Solar Dominates And Storage Rises Top
According to a report out today from Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureSource , American venture capitalists invested 54 percent more, by dollar amount, in cleantech companies for the first quarter in 2011 versus the same period last year. The sector attracted $1.14 billion for the quarter up from $743.3 million in Q1 2010. The number of deals attracting venture capital in the sector declined, however, by 13 percent from 79 to 69. Energy or electricity generation, especially solar businesses, and later stage rounds dominated. The energy and electricity generation segment raised $450.3 million through 16 deals or about 39.5 percent of total dollars raised for the quarter. Solar ventures attracted $362.7 million, or about 32 percent of total dollars raised for the quarter, a 162 percent increase for the segment over the same period last year. MiaSole , makers of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, was the largest deal of the quarter. The company raised $106 million in a series F round led by Voyageur Mutual Funds III; its earlier backers included Kleiner Perkins, Firelake Capital and VantagePoint Venture Partners. Another CIGS manufacturer, Solopower, raised about $52 million from Crosslink Capital, Hudson Clean Energy Partners, and Norwegian firm Convexa. Alta Devices , raised $72 million to improve the efficiency of solar photovoltaics, and deliver them at very low costs, using gallium arsenide. Investors in that round included their earlier backers: August Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Crosslink Capital, DAG Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Presidio Ventures, Technology Partners, Dow Chemical, and newer investors Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), Good Energies, Energy Technology Ventures (the joint venture involving GE, ConocoPhilips and NRG Energy), and Constellation Energy. All three of the above-mentioned solar companies are based in California. The state drew 56 percent of total dollars funded, about $637.2 million, an increase of 41 percent year over year for the California cleantech sector. Cleantech companies in the southeastern U.S. raised $150.2 million, a huge leap for the region, and New England cleantech businesses drew $174.23 million. The energy storage segment also saw larger investments. Energy storage deals rose 671 percent (by dollars invested) versus the first quarter of 2010, reaching a total of $262.4 million through 14 deals. Battery companies attracted $121 million of that, having raised only $8 million from January through March 2010. Fuel cell businesses attracted $106 million for the quarter. Two deals accounted for 64 percent of dollars raised for the whole energy storage segment— Bloom Energy, whose technology has been both ballyhooed and scrutinized , raised the lion’s share with a $100 million round. Alternative fuels, a category that includes both natural gas and biofuels, raised $160 million, or 14 percent of the total dollars raised in the quarter with the majority of those dollars going to biofuels businesses. One subsegment of cleantech, energy efficiency, dipped by 49 percent. These companies raised $95 million in the first quarter, versus $187 million for the same period in 2010 according to the report. CrunchBase Information Bloom Energy Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Send The Trend Raises $3M To Personalize Shopping For Fashion Accessories Top
Send the Trend , a recently launched e-commerce site that brings personalization to the world of fashion accessories, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Battery Ventures with a number of angels participating in the round, including Founder Collective. Send the Trend is also launching an updated site, featuring a new UI and more social experience, including voting, social sharing, one screen checkout and more. Send the Trend offers its customers personalized, affordable accessories such as fashion jewelry, sunglasses, scarves and more. The site takes you through a very short survey of what kind of accessories you may want, and it then provides stylist-curated customized recommendations for five different accessories for you. You can then buy any of the items for $30, with free shipping included for U.S. customers. Following the customer's first purchase, she will receive new, personalized product recommendations on the first of every month based on the indicated style preferences. The site basically helps women solve the problem of having to visit a number of different stores, or websites to figure out what accessories suit their style. By curating accessories that are affordable and trendy, Send The Trend makes shopper’s lives easier. The company was founded by Divya Gugnani , Mariah Chase and Christian Siriano , who you may remember as the youngest winner of the reality TV fashion design hit Project Runway. Siriano actually works directly with well known brands to create unique exclusive accessories for the site that cannot be found anywhere else. Gugnani is a well known media personality who previously founded Behind The Burner , a site that showcases culinary experts. Gugnani says the funding will be used to expanding into new categories of accessories, to build out the platform’s technology and for hiring. CrunchBase Information Send the Trend Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Twitter Does Not Supplant Other Media, It Amplifies It Top
Last night, many of us learned about Osama Bin Laden’s death on Twitter . And in fact, the first credible report from Keith Urbahn, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s chief of staff, was also on Twitter. And while the White House kept pushing off the official announcement for an hour to inform different parties, the news was already being analyzed and spread on Twitter. So did Twitter supplant mainstream media as the best source of news about Bin Laden’s death? Yes and no. Yes, many people first heard about the news on Twitter, but more often than not the original source of that news could be traced back to mainstream media. Although some unwitting on-the-ground reporting occurred on Twitter as well, Bin Laden’s death was confirmed by mainstream media (CNN, NYT, etc). Even Keith Urbahn notes that his source was not someone in the military or government, but a “connected TV news producer:” @keithurbahn Keith Urbahn My source was a connected network TV news producer. Stories about "the death of MSM" because of my "first" tweet are greatly exaggerated. about 10 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite Urbahn doesn’t believe his Tweet is evidence of citizen journalism “supplanting traditional media.” @keithurbahn Keith Urbahn As much as I believe in rise of "citizen journalism," blogs, twitter etc supplanting traditional media, my tweet isn't great evidence of it. about 9 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite And yet, he was able to break the news before the TV producer who told him could air it on traditional media. Twitter is not in and of itself a news source. Whoever is Tweeting is the source. But all it takes is one person to Tweet out news for it to spread faster than through any other medium. The person doesn’t have to be a journalist. Urbahn scooped everyone. Twitter does not supplant other media, it amplifies it. During the President’s announcement, people were Tweeting at a rate of 4,000 Tweets per second , not an all-time-high, but a close second or third—about the same level of Tweets as during the last Super Bowl . Twitter also drives people to traditional media. Last night, news that the President was going to make a surprise announcement certainly drove people to TV. For instance, I first heard about the news conference on Twitter, and then I turned on CNN. Much of what people were Tweeting was what they were hearing on TV, thus passing the news instantly to people who may not have been in front of a TV at the time. But what that means in practice is that if you are following the right people, you don’t have to actually turn on your TV. You can learn most of the salient facts from watching your Twitter stream. It can be such an efficient way to get information that people mistake it for the source of the news itself. For an increasing number of people, it is becoming the first place they turn to find out what is going on. However, it also points to other media (much like a news search does) and people click on those links to find out more. We certainly saw a huge spike from Twitter traffic here on TechCrunch last night, and we are just a technology blog. Related TC posts : First Credible Reports Of Bin Laden's Death Spread Like Wildfire On Twitter Here's the guy who unwittingly live-tweeted the raid on Bin Laden Bin Laden's Compound Gets A Bum Review On Google Maps CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase
 
BIA/Kelsey: Social Media Advertising Topped $2 Billion In 2010 Top
Further evidence that advertising on social networks (a.k.a. Facebook) is a booming business. BIA/Kelsey reports today that social media advertising revenues will grow from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion in 2015. BIA/Kelsey defines social media advertising as money spent on advertising formats across social networks. The research company says that the currently, the predominant ad format on social networks is display, spending on which the firm expects will increase from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $7.7 billion in 2015. While revenues from non-display ad formats (i.e. Twitter’s “promoted products”) are currently minimal, BIA/Kelsey expects that in the coming years non-display formats will continue to grow as an ad genre on social networks, and expects the social non-display segment to grow from zero in 2010 to $600 million in 2015. Of course, Facebook currently dominates most of the revenues generated from social media advertising. eMarketer reported in January that Facebook’s ad revenues came in $1.86 billion in 2010, while MySpace ad spend plummets. BIA/Kelsey says that its version of social media advertising does not include virtual goods and rewards, social gaming, social commerce or social marketing, all of which are booming areas in advertising as well. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase
 
RIM Acquires Smartphone Security Software Developer Ubitexx Top
BlackBerry developer Research In Motion is definitely on a shopping spree. A week after announcing the acquisition of social calendering application Tungle.me, the company is buying smartphone software security developer Ubitexx. Terms of the acquisition, which was announced on Ubitexx’s home page, were not disclosed. Ubitexx, which raised over $4 million in funding, develops and distributes management and security software for smartphones and mobile devices. The company also provides strategic mobile management consulting, training and installation, and technical support services. In a press release , RIM says that Ubitexx’s software, ubi-Suite, will be used to power device management, security and controls for BlackBerry’s Enterprise Server as well as for Android and iOS based devices and tablets, all managed from a single web-based console. The single web-based console is being designed to provide IT administrators with a comprehensive platform distribute software and manage policies, inventory, security and services for BlackBerry devices, as well as other mobile devices Smartphone security is a hot space. Mobile security company Trust Digital was acquired by McAfee last year and Lookout just raised $20 million for its smartphone security platform. Other recent RIM acquisitions in the past few months include HTML5 mobile developer TinyHippos, professional contact manager Gist, and UI development team The Astonishing Tribe. CrunchBase Information Research In Motion Information provided by CrunchBase
 
RIM Announces Video Chat And Facebook Apps For Playbook Top
An app that probably should have appeared on the Playbook at launch, video chat, is coming to tablet owners tomorrow morning in an OTA update. In addition to front and back camera support, the chat app allows you to make VOIP and video calls as well as connectivity based on the user’s BBID. The app features “powerful in-call functions” like – and I’m not making this up – “mute/unmute.” Read more…
 
RIM Announces BlackBerry Bold 9900 And 9930 With BBOS 7 And NFC Top
The brand new BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 is a 1.2GHz smartphone (RIM’s “thinnest yet”) that runs Blackberry OS 7 and includes NFC connectivity and a touchscreen interface. Read more…
 
SSD Storage Company Kaminario Raises $15 Million Top
Kaminario , a provider of SSD storage products, this morning announced that it has secured $15 million in Series C financing. Existing backers Sequoia and Pitango were joined this time by new investor Globespan Capital Partners , whose managing director Venky Ganesan will take a seat on Kaminario's board. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with an Israel-based R&D division, this latest round brings Kaminario's total funding to $34 million.
 
Brightcove Streaming 700 Million Videos A Month; Granted Broad Patent For Online Video Top
Brightcove was issued a broad patent for the “Distribution of content,” which covers the basic features of a professional online video platform. Patent No. 7,925,973 , which was applied for on August 12, 2005 by CEO Jeremy Allaire and CTO Bob Mason, describes some of the basic features of all professional online video players such as customizable players, digital rights management, and syndication. In other words, how video is experienced, and how it is controlled—essential aspects for professional video publishers. Of course, Brightcove has done just fine so far without that patent. Brightcove is now streaming 700 million videos a month, I have learned, which it believes would place it among the top five online video platforms on the web. That number is up from 400 million videos streams per month in March, 2010. Of course, those videos are spread out among Brightcove’s 3,000 paying customers—mostly professionals publishers, media sites, and brands—instead from coming from one destination like YouTube. By comparison, YouTube does billions of video streams per day , but it is also an order of magnitude bigger than everyone else. But if Brightcove represents the long tail of professional video, there is a lot of it and it is growing fast. In the past 6 months, Brightcove publishers uploaded as much video to it servers as they did during the entire first five years of Brightcove’s existence. Every minute, Brightcove encodes 5 hours worth of new video content. It was about an hour’s worth every minute 18 months ago. Correction : The original post cited growth from 400,000 video streams a day to 700 million. The first number has been corrected to 400 million. CrunchBase Information Brightcove Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Local.com Buys Local Search Company Krillion For $3.5M, Debuts Daily Deal Service Top
Online local media and search company Local.com has acquired location-based shopping data aggegator Krillion for $3.5 million in cash . The company provides local shopping information on over 70,000 consumer products from over 50,000 retailers, including in-store availability, comparison pricing, current discounts and images. With a separate news announcement, NASDAQ-listed Local.com has launched yet another daily deal site, dubbed Spreebird . The newly acquired company, Krillion, aggregates and matches consumer product information from multiple retailer websites and data feeds to create a structured index of over 70,000 products across consumer categories including appliances, baby gear, consumer electronics, computers and video games. Said index includes over 1,200 brands from over 50,000 retail locations across the United States and incorporates product images, current pricing, manufacturer or retailer discounts and real-time in-stock information. Founded in 2006 and based in Mountain View, California, Krillion will be integrated with Local.com’s Owned & Operated business unit and across various Local.com offerings. Krillion CEO Sherry Thomas-Zon will become Local.com's new VP of local shopping. With the launch of Spreebird, Local.com is throwing its hat into the daily deals ring. The service is the direct result of the company’s recent acquisition of the iTwango deal platform . The site will aggregate deals from across the country, from different service providers, and allow consumers to find and buy the deals that are most relevant to their specific interests. Spreebird expects to launch iPhone and Android apps during Q3 2011. CrunchBase Information Krillion Local.com Information provided by CrunchBase
 
DISH And EchoStar Settle Patent Litigation With TiVo, Agree To Pay $500 Million Top
DISH Network and EchoStar this morning announced that they’ve agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to settle all of their ongoing patent litigation with the digital video recorder company. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, DISH and EchoStar will initially cough up $300 million, with the remaining $200 million distributed in six equal annual payments between 2012 and 2017. The companies have agreed to dismiss all pending litigation with prejudice, and to dissolve all injunctions against DISH and EchoStar. In addition, TiVo granted DISH a license under its Time Warp patent and certain related patents, for their remaining lives. Time Warp is technology that essentially allows users to record one TV program while watching another. TiVo says it will also play a role in helping DISH Network promote the Blockbuster digital video service (DISH just acquired substantially all of the assets of Blockbuster, which went belly up in September 2010, for roughly $228 million in cash). TiVo also granted EchoStar a life-long license under the same patents, to design and make certain DVR-enabled products solely for DISH Network and two international customers. EchoStar, in turn, granted TiVo a license under certain DVR-related patents for TiVo-branded products. TiVo originally sued DISH and EchoStar back in 2004 over its patented DVR technology back when the two were still a single company. They won the suit , but the court decided in May 2010 to reconsider its verdict . Two weeks ago, a federal appeals court then moved to uphold the ruling that EchoStar infringed TiVo patents, which ultimately led to today’s announcement. TiVo will hold a conference call at 9:00 AM ET today to discuss the agreement. In related news, DISH Network this morning reported its first quarter 2011 financial results (net income of $549 million on revenues of $3.22 billion) and announced that Michael Kelly has been named president of its new subsidiary Blockbuster. EchoStar also announced quarterly earnings this morning: net income of $17 million on revenues of $480 million. CrunchBase Information TiVo EchoStar Dish Network Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Bin Laden's Compound Gets A Bum Review On Google Maps Top
Google Maps users have been busy as the news of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s mansion was breaking. A pretty large compound listed on Google Maps in the city of Abbottābad, northern Pakistan has been picked out by users as being the genuine article – and with huge walls around it, it does indeed look quite suspect. Whether or not it is the genuine article is unknown, but that is not stopping people leaving a slew of comments on the “venue’s” Google Maps page . Some choicer reviews include: “Great hideout would use again.”
 
Here's The Guy Who Unwittingly Live-Tweeted The Raid On Bin Laden Top
Yesterday Sohaib Athar ( @ReallyVirtual on Twitter) was just “an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains”, specifically Abbottabad , northern Pakistan. The IT contractor and graduate of Preston University also says he’s a ‘startup specialist’ on his LinkedIn profile . But today he will become known as the guy who, while live-tweeting a series of helicopter flypasts and explosion, unwittingly covered the US forces helicopter raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound. And he knows it . Here’s a selection of his Tweets: [Update: it looks like @m0hcin was there too, read on for more]
 
First Credible Reports Of Bin Laden's Death Spread Like Wildfire On Twitter Top
@keithurbahn Keith Urbahn So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn. about 17 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite If the Twitterverse is to be believed, President Obama is about to announce the death of terrorist and 9-11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, in an impromptu announcement broadcast on  Whitehouse.gov  and TV this Sunday night at 10:45 EST. The news actually hit Twitter before the President’s broadcast; CNN’s Steve Brusk first  tweeted that the briefing was National Security-related at around 7:25pm PST. The first credible sign of the imminent announcement of Bin Ladin’s death came from Keith Urbahn, the Chief of Staff for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who  tweeted   “I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden .” CBS news producer Jill Scott then confirmed the rumor shortly afterward  with “House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body.” Both Urbahn and Scott’s tweets were re-tweeted hundreds of times and Twitter itself experienced traffic spikes of 4,000 tweets per second (The NYT’s  Brian Stelter has a more detailed account of how the news broke here ). The President’s monumental news comes poignantly enough on the 8th anniversary of George Bush’s “Mission Accomplished”  ceremony. Well it looks like the mission was finally accomplished. Unsurprisingly, “Osama Bin Laden” is now a Twitter trending topic. What’s amazing is that the news is already out before the President has even spoken. Update: The White House keeps pushing back the announcement, but CNN and the New York Times have just confirmed that Bin Laden was killed, with CNN adding the detail that the event took place in a mansion outside of Islamabad, Pakistan. Update 2: The President has confirmed that Bin Laden was killed in an operation today in the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan (not Islamabad), after a firefight executed by a small team of US Human Ops troops. Update 3: Apparently, Twitter user @ Sohaib Athar  ( @ReallyVirtual)  accidentally  live tweeted the actual Abbottabad raid. These cryptic pre-announcement tweets from wrestler/movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson are also interesting to note. Hmm … So what happened here? @stevebruskCNN Steve Brusk Breaking – We are told it is a national security related announcement by the President about 17 hours ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite @brianstelter Brian Stelter CBS News producer reports: RT @ jacksonjk : House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body. about 17 hours ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite @jacksonjk Jill Jackson House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body. about 17 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite @andylevy Andy Levy Fox News confirms bin Laden is dead. about 17 hours ago via web Reply Retweet Favorite @k_mancklp Kent Matheson Cnn says bin laden is dead about 17 hours ago via Twitter for
 
The P2P Evolution Top
Editor's note : Guest author  Semil Shah  is an entrepreneur interested in digital media, consumer Internet, and social networks.  He is based in Palo Alto and you can follow him on twitter  @semilshah . Many years ago, after graduating college, I came home before moving to NYC, wondering how I would scrounge together the money for the first month's rent and security deposit so my friends and I could all live together in the Big Apple. I had one month to get the cash, and instead of going out for traditional, hourly-wage work, I decided to go through all of my old stuff and throw it on eBay . In those days, I got online through dial-up, would have to mail a hard copy of the pictures to interested buyers, and would ship items to auction winners only when their check arrived by mail and cleared into my bank account. In one month, I got rid of winter jackets, sports equipment, and baseball cards to the tune of $7,000, tax free, enough to buffer the move to NYC. A few years later, when I moved to San Francisco, it was Craigslist to the rescue, helping with initial sublets, furniture, stereo equipment, and the odd jobs I did to soften the transition. Without knowing it, I was stumbling through life fueled mainly by a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and economy that helped me connect supply and demand, as well as time and money. Instead of using consignment shops or hosting a garage sale, or instead of buying new items in a traditional store, I buffered my moves to NYC and SF primarily fueled by P2P networks. That was P2P 1.0, anchored by eBay and Craigslist, networks that have connected billions. And, while these companies continue their march, we are already into the next peer-to-peer evolution: P2P 2.0.  Unknowingly at the time, I was exposed to the thought a few years ago in graduate school, when my classmate, James Reinhart , came up with the idea for a "Netflix for used clothes," which has morphed into venture-backed thredUP , a P2P network connecting parents to trade gently-worn baby and kid clothes, goods that are very expensive to buy new. Another success is Lending Club , a peer lending site connecting lenders with borrowers primarily for refinancing credit card debt or small business loans. Today, P2P 2.0 is in full-swing, and that's putting things lightly. Y Combinator breakout Airbnb began as an ad-hoc solution for the founders to earn a little extra scratch during a convention when tight hotel supply provided an opportunity to rent out air mattresses in their apartment, with the added touch of breakfast. The result today is a rapidly growing company and brand that aims to connect those who seek space with those who need it—you can rent boats, treehouses, and even castles. Airbnb has been so successful that it's spawned a handful of international copycats and motivated the likes of GetAround , a P2P car-sharing network. The newest entrant into the P2P space is the concept I'm most excited about: Zaarly . The founder, being taller than average, realized prior to boarding a flight in economy class that he would be willing to pay someone on the same flight to swap for an exit row seat. That moment gave birth to Zaarly, a new service that will leverage a mobile device's location to connect those who demand something to those who can provide it. Imagine busy New Yorkers with disposable cash demanding something immediately, delivered right now: "Zaarly it." The Zaarly concept connects time and money in the P2P vector, just like eBay connects sellers and buyers. All of this activity in P2P 2.0 is now possible because of advancements in location sensors in mobile devices and social network platforms. The time is ripe for even much more advancement in P2P ideas, leveraging today's technologies in new ways. Even as consumer-focused entrepreneurs work to build the next solutions, they are raising money on P2P services like Angel List , which connects fundraising entrepreneurs with seed stage capital and has shaken up the early stage investing game. Task Rabbit connects individuals and businesses with "task runners" that provide an outsourced task service, and Listia is an eBay for trading free stuff, where site users earn and spend credits. (Many others are also emerging, please add them here .) During all these P2P transactions, companies like Square , Roam , and Bump leverage mobile phones to help drive payments. For instance, buyers and sellers can trade data by bumping their phones together, where Bump technology measures the movement from the accelerometer and pairs two users together. Square connect buyers and sellers using a credit card and mobile device. A merchant can charge a customer for goods or services by using the Square reader attached through a device's audio jack to read a buyer's credit card (like a cassette tape) and transmit the signal to help complete the transaction. (Surprisingly, not many others have yet fully leveraged the phone's audio jack or accelerometer, making Square, Roam, and Bump standout.) The driving force behind all of this P2P activity is the fact that today's technologies make many more types of transaction possible between average consumers by finding an equilibrium between time and money, supply and demand. Transactions once locked up and never realized now create entirely new economies, free of established brands and fat middle-men. In a world where everyone is rushing to drive all commerce online, some P2P solutions sprinkle a dose of humanity into the transaction. Will P2P services keep bringing more of this human element, personalization, and discovery into the foreground? Will services like Housefed , which provides a personal meal service, create a welcome alternative to nuking frozen food for dinner? It will be fascinating to see what new types of businesses are built on top of these P2P engines, and what traditional businesses they will disrupt. The U.S. economy, struggling its way slowly out of a major recession, will only benefit from a continuous flow of new ideas to help connect people and keep things going. And, the potential for these services overseas is just staggering, especially within cultures that already have strong informal economies baked into their DNA. So big, in fact, that the simple desire to swap airline seats or find a reasonably-priced place to crash during a convention could create, accelerate, and fortify new informal micro-economies in the far corners of earth. Photo credit: Flickr/ NASA Robonaut CrunchBase Information Airbnb Square Zaarly Information provided by CrunchBase
 

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