Thursday, January 26, 2012

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Tagged Begins Transformation Of Social Gaming Network hi5 Top
taggedTagged first announced its acquisition of struggling social network hi5 in December. Now, the company says it's ready to talk about what's going to happen to the property. Basically, Tagged will continue operating hi5 as a separate site, but one that starts to look more and more like Tagged — as vice president of sales and marketing Steve Sarner put it, it will become "a Tagged.com experience with a hi5 wrapper." Even though Sarner says hi5 won't actually change for another six to eight weeks, hi5 users should start getting emails later today notifying them about the plans.
 
Fanhattan Adds A Personalized News Feed To The Mix, Lets You Read While You Watch Top
AngelinaFanFeedWe've been following the Fanhattan iPhone/iPad app from the very beginning, when it was exclusively available for the iPad and only had a handful of content partners. But the app has come along way in a short time — migrating to the iPhone and adding new content — and is today announcing an update that offers up way more functionality and content, though it may not be the kind of content you'd expect.
 
What Happens When Apps Go On Sale?: Revenue Up 22% On iPhone, 29% On Android Top
DistimoCorporate300pxIn a new research report from Distimo, the app store analytics provider examined two different ways that allow mobile developers to get a bump in both their download numbers and revenue. One way, which is within the developers' control, is putting the app on sale. Within the first day, iPhone developers see an average increase of 41% in revenue using this method, and see revenue increases of 22% by the sale's end. Android apps, however, rose just 7% on day one, but closed out the sale with higher percentage gains than either iPhone or iPad. The second method Distimo looked into is getting the app featured in the app store. This is up to the app store's operator, like Google or Apple, of course. (We'll examine Distimo's findings on featured apps in a subsequent post). 
 
NewsFlash For iOS Proves That An Anti-UX Can Be A Great UX Top
NewsFlashOur industry lauds cutting-edge UX. Look no further than the exceptional work of Path. One either swoons over it, or one is blind. But what if that sends a wrong signal? Don't get me wrong, I feel very strongly about the importance of UX, but since I've played around with NewsFlash, a feature-stripped free news app for iOS (iTunes link), I've asked myself whether more often than not users work for the UX, instead of the other way around.
 
House Party Is A Serious Business, Scores $5.3 Million Top
houseHouseParty.com, a site that helps people throw brand-sponsored home parties, has raised $5.3 million in Series C funding in a round led by New York-based Acadia Woods Partners.
 
Mint Competitor And Personal Finance Platform HelloWallet Raises $12M From Morningstar Top
HelloWalletHelloWallet, a personal finance software, has raised $12 million in Series B funding from Morningstar and TD Fund. The startup previously raised $9 million in Series A funding, from Grotech Ventures and AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife Jean. HelloWallet, which launched last year, helps users track and proactively manage their personal finances from both the web and mobile. But HelloWallet aims to be a full-service financial advisor, and looks forward to proactively uncover savings opportunities and potential threats for its members.
 
BookPlace DB50: Toshiba Introduces Android-Based Color E-Book Reader Top
Picture 2Following Fujitsu, another Japanese electronics maker is ready to sell color e-book readers: Toshiba announced [JP] the so-called BookPlace DB50 today, a 7-Inch device that comes with direct access to big T's BookPlace store (which currently offers around 43,000 different Japanese e-books and magazines). Toshiba says they plan to expand the range of available titles to 100,000 by March this year, the largest in its home market. The store has been available in America since 2010.
 
SittingAround Launches Service To Help Parents Find & Schedule Trusted Sitters Top
singlelogoSittingAround, a new service that allows parents to quickly and more easily find and schedule a babysitter, is launching today. The business is the creation of CEO Erica Zidel, a former management consultant in the Boston area (and mom) and CTO Ted Tieken, who, like Zidel, is a Harvard grad.  What's unique about SittingAround is how it leverages users' social networking connections - like those on Facebook - in order to build trusted relationships between parents and sitters.
 
ShoeBox App Now Integrates With Facebook Timeline, Lets You Add Photos To Years Past Top
iPhone_0_3Phone_displayShoeBox, the mobile app that lets you scan old photos and post them online, is today announcing Facebook Timeline integration. Using the newly released version of the ShoeBox iOS application, users will be able to scan photographs of family and friends using their smartphone, tag users by name, and then share those photos to Facebook. But here's the really cool part: ShoeBox is one of the first Timeline-integrated apps that's letting you post photos into the past. By that, I mean you can edit the date on your photo, and it will post to the correct place on your Facebook Timeline. Nifty!
 
Sprint's Epic 4G Touch Gets Stripped Of Carrier IQ Top
Sprint Galaxy S II Epic 4G TouchSprint has been spending the past few weeks quietly pumping out software updates that remove Carrier IQ from affected devices, and now it looks like Sprint's flagship Android device (for now) will be able to run wild and free. Thanks to an update that started making the rounds yesterday, Samsung's Epic 4G Touch joins a handful of Sprint devices to get the Carrier IQ cleanup treatment.
 
It Only Makes Sense That Samsung Would Delay The Galaxy S III Launch Top
mobile-world-congress-fira-barcelonaEvery once in a while something comes along that's worth a wait, and I think the Samsung Galaxy S III will be one of those things. We've all been expecting Samsung's next flagship to show its face at MWC in February, but according to the Verge, Samsung may have other plans. Anonymous sources who spoke with the Verge claim that the SGSIII will still be available "before summer," but that Mobile World Congress in Barcelona may not be the most beneficial launch venue.
 
Nintendo Reports US$630 Million Net Loss Between April And December 2011, Announces Wii U For 2012 Top
link__s_crying_by_kaynil3DS sales have picked up lately, but Nintendo's financial numbers are still weak. Big N today released [PDF] another set of disappointing results for the first nine months of its fiscal year (April to December 2011). The company lost a whopping US$630 million, compared with a profit of US$635 million in the same time frame last fiscal. Sales were down 31.2% year-on-year to US$7.2 billion.
 
Google, Look Out Behind You! Top
Rhino chargingGoogle has been fighting the threat of Facebook for some time. It is now fighting for its life on two fronts! Facebook and now Apple loom large as it attempts to chart the future. Google missed the streets numbers for its Q1 earnings last week and has seen its stock decline from $670.25 to yesterday's close of $569.49. Apple, by comparison, has just beaten, no annihilated, the Street's predictions and its stock has gone from a low of $363 to yesterday's close of $446.66 in the same period. Google's reliance on search revenues derived from web searches in a browser, its former strength, is now not sufficient to guarantee growth.
 
Drchrono Raises $2.8M From Yuri Milner And Others To Help Bring Medical Records To The iPad Top
drchrono-pictureDrchrono, a startup that simplifies the professional lives of doctors by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad, has raised $2.8 million in funding led by Yuri Milner, with Google's Matt Cutts and other investors participating. The startup had previously raised $1.3 million in seed funding from Milner, General Catalyst, Charles River Ventures, 500 Startups, Gmail creator and FriendFeed cofounder Paul Buchheit, Cutts, and the Start Fund. Y Combinator-backed drchrono streamlines the professional lives of doctors and medical professionals by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad. The free iPad app allows doctors to schedule patient appointments, dictate notes via audio, take pictures, write prescriptions and send them to pharmacies, enable reminders, take clinical notes, access lab results, and input electronic health records.
 
Airbnb: 5 Million Nights Booked, Opening 6 New International Offices In Q1 2012 Top
airbnb_blueAirbnb is growing like a weed. The young company is today releasing a ton of statistics about its business to showcase its growth, accompanied (of course) by a fancy infographic.
 
Intel To Spend $120M On Patents, Video Codec Software From RealNetworks Top
realIntel is to buy "a significant number" of patents (approximately 190 patents and 170 patent applications) and video codec software from RealNetworks for a purchase price of $120 million. Under the terms of the deal, RealNetworks says it retains certain rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products.
 
Nokia Sold "Well Over" 1 Million Lumia Phones To Date, Posts €1 Billion Q4 Loss Top
lumiaNokia earnings are out, and the contrast with Apple's blow-out quarter results is astonishing. The Finnish phone maker, still the largest in the world by volume, reported a Q4 net loss of 1.07 billion euro, down from a 745 million euro profit in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company's smartphone sales decline paints an even bleaker picture: Nokia sold 19.6 million units in Q4 2011, down a whopping 31 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago (even though it's up 17 percent from Q3 2011 thanks to somewhat decent Lumia sales). Nokia says it sold "well over" 1 million Lumia devices to date (not just in Q4) and that it plans to bring the Lumia series to additional markets - including China and Latin America - in the first half of 2012.
 
AT&T Set Sales Records For Both iPhone And Android Devices In Q4 2011 Top
attAT&T this morning released its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011. Consolidated revenues clocked in at $32.5 billion, up 3.6 percent compared to the year-earlier quarter. They recorded a huge net loss for Q4 2011: $6.7 billion, or $1.12 per diluted share. Zooming in on smartphone sales, it's worth noting that AT&T delivered its best-ever quarter to date, hands down.
 
Android Reaches 39% Tablet OS Market Share (Standing On Amazon's Shoulders) Top
adroidApple's iPad reigns supreme from whatever angle you choose to look at the tablet market (profits, apps, quality, market share, mindshare, you name it), but research firm Strategy Analytics this morning said Android did manage to capture a record 39 percent tablet OS market share in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple maintains the lead with 58 percent market share in Q4 2011 (down from 68 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010). Peter King, a research director at Strategy Analytics, says global tablet shipments (the research firm explains that these refer to 'sell-in' and not over-the-counter sales) reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in Q4 2011, surging 150 percent from 10.7 million in Q4 2010.
 
955 Dreams Raises $3.25 Million Seed Round, Launches "Band Of The Day" On iPad Top
calendar955 Dreams, the startup behind Apple's iPhone App of the Year Runner Up "Band of the Day," is today releasing the new tablet-optimized version of the app for the iPad. In addition, the company announced it has closed on a $3.25 million round of seed funding. Investors participating in the round included 500 Startups, m8 Capital, Kapor Capital, Felicis Ventures and CrunchFund (Disclosure: TechCrunch Founder Michael Arrington is an investor in CrunchFund). As a part of the funding, Dave McClure of 500 Startups will join the company's board, filling the first seat held by an outside investor.
 

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