Tuesday, April 3, 2012

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AmazonWireless Exits Beta, Now Offers Price-Matching Guarantee, $25 Worth Of Free Mobile Apps Top
AmazonWirelessAmazonWireless.com, Amazon's dedicated shopping site for cell phone and tablet buyers, is finally exiting beta today, following its launch in July of 2009. The change in status may mean nothing to regular mobile shoppers, who have long known of and used the service to compare devices, or who were attracted there when Amazon ran crazy sales - like when it listed all its Verizon phones for just a penny, for example. It has also be known to offer some impressive discounts on flagship phones, such as the $199 Galaxy Nexus and the $111.11 Droid RAZR. But Amazon hopes to get on the radar of all mainstream users as it goes public, which has led it to launch two new benefits for customers: a price-matching guarantee and $25 worth of free mobile apps with purchase.
 
Shazam Can Now Identify Your Content In As Little As A Second Top
tagShazam has long been described as magic. You hear a song — perhaps a brand new one or maybe one that you've heard a million times but never knew the name of — and all you do is simply tap one button and information on that song is delivered directly to you. Magic. But even magicians improve their act, which is why Shazam has today released an update that makes its content recognition even faster than it already is, with some tags appearing in as little as a second. The update will make all of Shazam's iOS apps, including its Encore and (RED) apps, speedier in terms of content recognition, but there are a few other tweaks coming with the update.
 
1000Memories Introduces "Shoeboxes" For More Private Photo Sharing Top
shoebox_icon1000Memories, the startup behind the ShoeBox iPhone application, which lets you "scan" old photographs and post them online using your mobile phone's camera, is now introducing a new feature to help you better organize your digital collections. The feature is called, not surprisingly, "Shoeboxes," and it's meant to become the digital equivalent of the actual shoeboxes you have stuffed with photos sitting in your closets. But scanning in a shoebox's worth of photographs using an iPhone's camera would be highly inefficient, of course. To help speed things up, 1000Memories is also announcing a partnership with ScanCafe, allowing you to ship off your photos for offsite digitization.
 
Please Don't Let This Be What The EVO One Looks Like Top
evooneWell, I suppose it was bound to happen. Just one day before HTC and Sprint kick off their so-called collaboration event in New York City, the team at PocketNow has gotten their hands on what they claim is the first press shot of the device to be unveiled: the EVO One. The device's supposed internals sure seem to be a treat, at least according to a tip that Android Central received a few days ago. The ICS-powered EVO One is expected to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED display (which The Verge rightly notes is a slight letdown compared to the One X's Super LCD 2 panel), an LTE radio, 16GB of onboard storage, and Beats Audio support.
 
Facebook 'Missed Irish Data Protection Deadline', Says Consumer Group. Facebook Objects Top
facebookAs Facebook has continued its rapid rise, one thing it has not been able to shake off are questions over how it deals with user data and privacy. That issue is getting revisited again today in Europe, where a consumer rights group says that Facebook has missed a deadline, set by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, to make a number of changes to comply with European data protection laws. That group is now encouraging consumers to take the fight to the next level and make formal complaints to the European Commission over the issue. But TechCrunch understands that Facebook, whose international headquarters are located in Ireland, is working on changes that will be implemented in time for a later deadline of July 2012.
 
Help Recreate Leisure Suit Larry For The 21st Century Top
LarryWalkBack in the olden days of gaming, it was either feast or famine. You had simple, kiddie stuff like Super Mario Brothers or you had Flight Simulator, a game that included a manual thicker than the Chicago phone book. But what about the casual, adult gamer who wanted a fun adventure involving a little risque ribaldry? Bupkus. Until Leisure Suit Larry from Sierra came along. And Leisure Suit Larry is coming along again.
 
Gamification Platform BigDoor Raises $5 Million From Foundry Group Top
screen-shot-2010-10-14-at-3-15-35-amWhite label gamification platform BigDoor has raised $5 million in new funding led by existing investor Foundry Group, bringing BigDoor's total funding to $13 million. BigDoor's gamification platform essentially allows online publishers to add game mechanics to web interactions and engagements. BigDoor helps companies build game-like mechanics and loyalty programs into their sites or apps by enabling points, badges, levels, leaderboards, virtual currency and virtual goods.
 
YouTube Marketing Gets Serious: Buddy Media Lets Brands Customize Channels With Apps Top
Buddy Media Customized YouTube ChannelOne-hundred million views, 100 thousand subscribers, and brands still don't have special tools for still customizing their YouTube channels. That changes today as social marketing platform Buddy Media begins letting its big brand clients deck out their YouTube channels with stylized video players and interactive apps. Twitter feeds, e-commerce storefronts, quizzes, linked banners, photo galleries and more can all be hosted on a channel. The same way brands doubled down on Facebook Page marketing once they could host apps, I think we're about to see a major uptick in the time and money they spend manicuring their YouTube channels. Too many captive eyeballs are going to waste.
 
Goodsie Lets Small Retailers Set Up Sleek E-Commerce Storefronts Top
goodsieGoodsie, a startup founded by the parent company of Flavors.me, wants to provide a simple, and relatively inexpensive way for any merchant to set up an e-commerce storefront. The platform, which launched last year, is getting an upgrade today with the release of a number of new tools that help retailers increase customer engagement and cross-platform engagement. A new email marketing system allows retailers to send targeted campaigns to customers based on order history, purchase amount and geography. The feature gives retailers the ability to add personalization to the mix, but without having to spend massive amounts of money on data analysis. Via a drag-and-drop interface, merchants can create these email campaigns that integrate with Goodsie's backend. Goodsie also provides a simple form for customers to sign-up for emails.
 
RR Donnelly Invests $2.5M In CoffeeTable To Bring Retail Catalogs Into The Tablet Age Top
Screen shot 2012-04-03 at 4.27.26 AMRR Donnelly isn't a name you see very often in TechCrunch, but companies don't survive for nearly 150 years without having one eye trained on the future. With 2011 revenues at an estimated $10.6 billion, the company is one of the world's largest commercial printers. The printing giant has been stepping up its digital investments of late, and today announced that it has invested $2.5 million in Real Value Corporation, the makers of iPad shopping app, CoffeeTable.
 
Join Wil Wheaton And Friends In A Rousing Tabletop Gaming Session Top
If you're a fan of Grant Imahara, Will Wheaton, Jenna Busch, or Sean Plott, this may be just the trick. Wheaton and Felicia Day have created a new series called Tabletop which consists of a series of gamers playing tabletop games. Is it boring, you ask? Absolutely not.
 
Phonedeck Lets You Control Your Cellphone Via The Cloud Top
phonedeck_insightsAn interesting new startup bubbling since it exhibited at TechCrunch 50 in the startup battlefield last year is Phonedeck. Effectively, it's created the cloud-based desktop for the mobile phone. That means it can track your outgoing SMS content, but also log calls (though not content). The result? A sudden realisation of you who call, how long for and a lot of other data that was previously invisible. I recall MG Seigler writing that the phone book remained the last mile into social networking. Well Phonedeck might be the bridge across that last mille and it launches into public beta today from Google Play for Android handsets.
 
Foxconn Recruiter: We're 'Hiring' For A June iPhone 5 Launch Top
originalCome one, come all! Come build the iPhone 5! In a conversation with TV Tokyo, a Foxconn recruiter mentions that the company is hiring more workers right now to prep for the iPhone 5 launch. "It seems like it will go on sale around June," he said. The manufacturing giant is apparently looking to add 18,000 souls to its assembly lines to build something.
 
Self-Hosted File Sync Solution ownCloud Goes Commercial Top
owncloud01People love Dropbox and similar services, but companies -- especially large enterprises in regulated industries -- have an understandable aversion to file sync services: they allow company data on servers "out there" in the cloud, no longer under company control. ownCloud, essentially an open source, self-hosted Dropbox, has a unique advantage here as it's strictly a software solution, not a storage provider. I mentioned ownCloud in passing when I wrote about OpenSUSE 12.1, but I've been keeping an eye on the project since. To make ownCloud even more attractive to businesses, a commercially supported version is being launched today at owncloud.com. The ownCloud server does a bit more than just file storage and synchronization. It offers CalDAV and CardDAV services to synchronize calendars and address books with your mobile device. Work is also underway to make it aware of the file types being stored within it, and to provide meaningful actions based on those types: photo galleries, music playlists, and more. There's a growing ownCloud app store to extend what the server can do. This is the power of open source: rather than relying on something like ifttt, you can have intelligent actions built right into the server you're running.
 
Berlin Is Still Sexy But No Longer Poor – Earlybird Raises $100M For A $200M Fund Top
berlinhotelsIt looks like Berlin, famously described by the city's mayor as "poor but sexy", is now quite a bit less poor in the realm of early stage tech startup financing. Earlybird Venture Capital has announced the $100m first close of its fourth venture fund. The target fund size is $200m. The new fund will be dedicated to early-stage investments in "disruptive global consumer and enterprise Internet and technology businesses originating from Europe, with an emphasis on German-speaking countries." Much of that innovation is coming out of Berlin right now, which has become a hotbed for startups and a talent pool for locals, internationals and the highly-prized engineering talent close by in Eastern and Central Europe.
 
Eventbrite: Facebook Drives More Ticket Sales Than Twitter And LinkedIn Across US And UK Top
ticketsSocial media sites like Twitter and Facebook are becoming increasingly strong marketing platforms, and, eventually, we should start to see more metrics that show how effective all those likes, shares and RT's really are for businesses. (There are still precious few.) One company that's gotten an early start on that is Eventbrite, the online ticketing site, which today publishes some numbers that point to which social networks are giving it the best returns across its operations in the U.S. and UK.
 
Quepasa And MyYearbook Rebrand As MeetMe Top
LOGO.finalWhen social networking companies myYearbook and Quepasa merged last year, myYearbook CEO Geoff Cook told employees that his goal was to "build an enduring, global brand for meeting new people." That's still the plan, but the company is announcing that it will build that brand under a new name — MeetMe. Cook (who's now COO) says both the myYearbook and Quepasa names don't quite capture the current vision. myYearbook started out as a social working site for high schoolers, and even though it evolved into more of a social discovery service — one that's increasingly mobile — the name still reflected its early roots. Meanwhile, Quepasa, which tries to do something similar for a Latin American audience, has a name suggesting a regional social network.
 
YouDazzle Launches As A Simple File Sharing And Web Meeting Platform For SMBs Top
youA new startup, YouDazzle, is taking on the file sharing space today with the launch of its cloud-based collaboration, storage and online meeting platform. The company has also announced a round of seed funding from Chamath Palihapitiya's Social+Capital Partnership, and other undisclosed angels. The cloud based SaaS allows businesses to organize project or deal related files in a central online repository that customers or colleagues can access from anywhere and from any device; share large files that are too large to send via email; and conduct screen sharing and web meetings via YouDazzle.
 
The Story of Skout: From Deadpool's Door to $22M Led By Andreessen Horowitz Top
niklas-christianEighteen months ago, it looked like the location wars were over. Foursquare had just closed a $20 million Series B round and rivals like Gowalla, Loopt and Brightkite weren't having the same buzz or traction. Meanwhile, Christian Wiklund's company Skout was down to a skeleton crew of three people after burning much of the $4.6 million it had raised since being founded in 2007. "We were close to going under. We had no traction," Wiklund said. "But we were really stubborn and there was no way we were going to let that happen." A first-time entrepreneur, Wiklund and his co-founder Niklas Lindstrom put their heads down. In 2009, they changed the app to focus on a new demographic: young people who wanted to meet strangers and singles who wanted to flirt.
 
The Limits Of Social Influence? Big Ben Is Influential On… Drugs Top
Screen Shot 2012-04-03 at 11.36.46This is a guest post by Monty Munford. Last week I found myself in a sports bar in London's West End. I was standing next to a couple being interviewed by Middle Eastern TV news channel Al-Jazeera who were giving their (inane, alas) views on a football match between two teams from Liverpool. This experience was far removed from the one I'd had two hours previously when in the neighbouring cinema I had attended the UK première of "The Price of Kings: Yasser Arafat", a film about the life of the Palestinian leader. This juxtaposition is typical of a 'proper' night out in London, the new melting pot of Europe, but it had happened not because of any random connection or because I liked football. The invitation for the première was down to my alleged influence on social media and had come from PeerIndex and its new PeerPerks marketing service.
 

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