Friday, January 20, 2012

Y! Alert: TechCrunch

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from TechCrunch

Do Great Things Top
dogreatthings (1) FixedWe have a greater capacity to change the world today than the kings and presidents of just 50 years ago. Whether you're a programming prodigy or the office manager holding it all together, technology empowers small groups of passionate people with an astonishing degree of leverage to make the world a better place. Yet I fear that our industry is squandering its opportunity and its talent. In companies large and small, great minds are devoting their lives to endeavors that, even if wildly successful, fail to do great things.
 
iPhone 4S and iPad 2 Finally Get Proper, Untethered Jailbreaks Top
4SWhile the once long list of legitimate reasons to jailbreak your iPhone has taken a hit with each new iOS release, that burning desire to "Free your device" and/or "Fight the power" and/or "Just do crazy stuff that other people can't do" never really goes away. 3 months after the release of the iPhone 4S and 10 months after the release of the iPad 2, the ridiculously talented iOS hacking community has finally cracked the ultimate challenge for both devices: the untethered jailbreak.
 
First Look: Backplane, The Lady Gaga-Backed Community Platform With All-Star Investors (Invites) Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-20 at 11.00.54 AMEarly last summer we wrote about Backplane, a mysterious startup with impressive backers and some major star power behind it: one of its cofounders, Troy Carter, is Lady Gaga's manager. And Lady Gaga herself has a significant stake in the company, as well as hands-on involvement with its development. Details on the company's product have been scant until now. But we've got some exclusive details — and beta codes for TechCrunch readers who will be among the first to try out the product.
 
HumanBirdWings Guy Survives First Test Flight Top
Screen shot 2012-01-20 at 2.03.55 PMWe first reported on Jarnos Smeets when his HumanBirdWings project was still a baby. He had successfully paired the accelerometers of a WiiMote and an HTC Wildfire S to control the outrunners on his wings, but hadn't yet taken to the air. Today, that all changes.
 
Retroficiency Identifies Building Energy Inefficiencies Without Ever Stepping Inside Top
Analysis Details of Energy ConsumptionBuildings are blamed for as much as 40% of U.S. energy consumption, and while green construction is on the rise, identifying the best ways to make and older building more efficient can be a tedious manual endeavor. Retroficiency, whose aim is to disrupt the energy efficiency market, eases the process with the help of extensive data sets and predictive analytics.
 
Marketing Genius: Two Twins Giggling As They Sell You Designer 3D Glasses Top
If you thought Apple's marketing squad was genius, just wait until you watch this Kickstarter video from Ingri:Dahl. If you aren't already familiar with the "company," which you shouldn't be, it's basically two sisters named Kine and Einy, and they want to sell you a 3D clip-on for your glasses. It's actually rather clever. The girls market fashionable 3D eyewear, and this 3D clip-on is just the latest in their collection. But that isn't really the point. I'm more interested in how this set of twins is pitching their product. A glance at their website would lead you to believe that they've got a legit business (and I believe that's the case), but the way they market themselves and their products on Kickstarter begs to differ.
 
TechStars Grad Promoboxx Signs Deal With Chevy On Super Bowl Campaign Top
chevy-promoboxxPromoboxx, a TechStars Boston 2011 company focused on brand-to-retailer marketing, is going to the Super Bowl! (Well, kind of.) The startup has signed a deal with Chevy (via its client Big Fuel), which will allow 6,000 of its dealers to share Chevy's Super Bowl ads prior to the big game via social media, email and on their own websites.
 
Time Warner Cable's New iPhone App Brings Live TV To The Small Screen Top
twcTime Warner Cable is today launching a new iPhone application that allows customers to watch live television from their iPhone or iPod Touch device as well as control, manage and program their DVR. With the new app, users can browse the TV guide, favorite channels and search for programs by title or episode name. There is a small catch to all this live TV-viewing, of course: it only works within the home.
 
With MegaUpload Down, Who's Next? RapidShare? SoundCloud? DropBox? Top
careEvery digital locker service and file linking website is on notice now that MegaUpload and TVShack are down. The Feds have their banhammer out and aren't afraid to use it. Sites better check their zettabytes of data. A single 50 Cent song can cause the Feds to swarm the founder's house and seize their Predator statues. Forget SOPA and PIPA, apparently the US Federal Government doesn't need new legislation in place to shut down major file storage sites and lock millions of users out of their file lockers. The bigger question, then, is who's next? It's clear that the US Federal Government is ramping up its fight against illegal file sharing and hosting. It's the new war on drugs. The plan is to have taxpayers foot the bill and then attack websites rather than regulating or encouraging innovation. The only thing missing is a C.A.R.E. (Computer Abuse Reinforcement Education) presentation at your kids' grade school. Just say no to perfectly legal data sinks, everyone.
 
Love With Food Launches As A Monthly Subscription Service For Gourmet Bites Top
Love With FoodThe subscription commerce market is heating up with Birch Box, Kiwi Crate, and others all offering various takes on the monthly box model. Today, 500startups company Love With Food is launching its subscription model, which offers a monthly box to users with tasty, gourmet samples of food. Here's how it works. Through monthly sample boxes, which are $14 per month with free shipping, Love With Food includes 5 or more gourmet tasty bites. The model gives people a way to find and taste samples of new foods before they buy full-size orders. Along with each box, users will get deep discounts on the gourmet food, new recipes that include one or more of the samples, and the opportunity to earn points which can be used for free products.
 
Cool Trick: AntiCrop "Un-Crops" Your iPhone Photos Top
anticropA newly released iPhone app called AntiCrop proclaims to the be the first application that allows you to "un-crop" your photos. What that means is that the app is able to extend the edges of your photos by using an intelligent content filling tool that duplicates the background, making your picture bigger than it was before. You're not cropping the photo - you're "un-cropping" it. And it's a pretty amazing trick.
 
UpNext Releases Amazingly Fluid 3D Mapping App On iPad And Android Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-20 at 11.29.44 AMThe future was supposed to be all about swooping through pixellated cities, the crepuscular computer ghost-light arcing through the Aurignacian canyons of Neo Tokyo as we trailed our enemies into the dark. Instead we get some of the coolest map visualizations I've ever seen with a few social media tricks thrown in to make a very cool mapping platform called UpNext. You win some, you lose some.
 
Developer Is Building An App Store For Banned Android Apps Top
cyanogenmodAn Android developer by the name of Kousik Dutta is building an alternative Android app store which will house the apps that have been banned from Google's official Android Market. These will include the custom ROMs (customized versions of the Android OS), classic gaming emulators pulled due to copyright complaints, unofficial tethering apps removed at the behest of mobile operators, Visual Voicemail apps, one-click rooting apps, and more.
 
After Laying Off 60 People, RueLaLa Raises $22 Million Top
rueMembers-only shopping site RueLaLa, a former subsidiary of GSI Commerce (before the eBay acquisition) just cut roughly 60 positions from its workforce of 550 employees, but an SEC filing published yesterday afternoon reveals that the flash sales company also recently completed a $22 million financing round. UPDATE: The company has informed us that the funding is not new. The SEC filing shows the valuation of stock options already granted to parties. RueLaLa was previously part of Retail Convergence, Inc, a company that was acquired by GSI Commerce back in 2009. The Gilt Groupe rival, which is still 30 percent owned by eBay, is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
 
Senator Harry Reid Caves: PIPA Postponed Top
After a day of widespread online protests against a pair of bills in Congress, both bills have now been tabled. Hearings on the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) had already been cancelled, but the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA) was still scheduled for a vote. This morning the sponsor of teh bill, Senator Harry Reid tweeted: "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the PROTECT IP Act"
 
Bleacher Report Arrives On iPad With New Team Stream App Top
bleacherreportBleacher Report, the popular site for sports fans now boasting 22 million uniques per month, just released its Team Stream app for the iPad. Similar to Team Stream for iPhone and Android smartphones, the new Team Stream HD app features news and analysis and supports push notifications for breaking news. This is the first tablet-optimized experience from the company, but it's not the only one: the company is also pushing out an iPad-optimized HTML5 browsing experience, too.
 
Trion Grabs $85 Million To Bring New Life To The "Deep End" Of Online Gaming Top
Screen shot 2012-01-20 at 3.39.21 AMTrion Worlds, a lesser known game development company headquartered in Silicon Valley, yesterday gave even further evidence that the "deep end" of online gaming is alive and well, announcing that it has raised an $85 million round of strategic growth equity financing from Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. The round adds to the $100 million the startup has already raised from investors like Time Warner and Trinity Ventures.
 
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The MegaUpload Closure Leaves Users Unable To Access Their Files Top
shutterstock_79185400Alright, Feds. You've had your fun. You've arrested some people you deem bad and seized their Mercedes-Benz collection. Great. So how about turning MegaUpload back on for a quick minute? The United States Department of Justice seized and shut down MegaUpload yesterday in an impressive (and scary) show of force. The site is effectively nuked, which is bad news bears for its zillions of users. Sure, the site was infamous for hosting illegal files, but it was also one of the best ways to share large files online. The closure leaves users unable to access their files. Those using MegaUpload for legitimate reasons are the real victims.
 
Skyrim (Not Really) Ported To The TI-84 Calculator Top
Are you ready to destroy the Dragons of Skyrim with your trusty orcish arrows and shortsword? Do you wish to hop on your trusty horse and ride endlessly up steep slopes and through wooded glens? Do you have a TI-84 graphing calculator? Well you're kind of in luck.
 
Foxconn Responds To CEO's "Employees Are Animals" Comment Top
imgresFoxconn responded to yesterday's kerfuffle about the CEO of Foxconn, Terry Gou, commenting that he cared for "a million animals" - namely his employees. They said it was an off-the-cuff remark, similar to saying that managing is like "herding cats" as opposed to suggesting that Foxconn employees walk on all fours and root in the mud. Big difference, clearly. The statement is below. I love the line "Mr. Gou's comments were directed at all humans and not at any specific group."
 

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.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)