Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Y! Alert: TechCrunch

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from TechCrunch


Sprint Confirms It Will Still Serve Unlimited Data To The Next iPhone Top
Sprint_TVadSprint plans to offer unlimited data on the next iPhone even if it's LTE. This would make the carrier the only one in the U.S. with the pairing. Verizon and AT&T went away from unlimited plans before the iPhone 4S launched in 2011 leaving just Sprint with both unlimited data and the iPhone. Unlimited data plans used to be the norm. Now, in the age of the ubiquitous smartphone, most carriers have moved away from that model as their networks strain under the load of Netflix, Facebook and Spotify. But not Sprint. The third most popular carrier in the U.S. just confirmed that it will still offer unlimited data for the next iPhone.
 
Andreessen And Horowitz Explain Why The Firm's Partners Are Donating Half Their VC Income To Charity Top
0cHIaXQduQ9oE_1984In the grand tradition of industry barons -- but not so much venture capitalists -- the six general partners at Andreessen Horowitz are donating at least half of the income from their investing activities to philanthropy. The firm has already been turning heads up and down Sand Hill Road, but this move might cause some whiplash. Sure, American capitalists have been donating large portions of their wealth since the 19th century. And sure, the newest generation of tech titans, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, are following in their footsteps. But VCs have not traditionally done so, at least at the firm level; major philanthropy in the industry has mostly come from individuals, like John Doerr and Michael Moritz.
 
Dropbox's Drew Houston Weighs In (Briefly) On Google Drive Top
dropbox drewAt the end of Dropbox's "Hey, we have a huge new office!" event today in San Francisco, some reporters cornered CEO Drew Houston and asked him about the big cloud news of the week — the launch of Dropbox competitor Google Drive. Initially, Houston said he didn't have time to really comment, because he had to catch a flight (which almost sounds like an excuse to duck the question, but the Dropbox folks had actually mentioned the flight earlier). When pressed, he pointed out that there have been rumors about Google Drive since the beginning of time: "It's been on the horizon since we founded the company."
 
Ancestry.com Acquires Archives.com For $100 Million Top
Archives homepageUtah-based genealogy site Ancestry.com just announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Silicon Valley-based startup Inflection to acquire its competitor Archives.com for $100 million is cash and assumed liabilities. Inflection's other product, people search public records site PeopleSmart, is not part of this acquisition. A number of Archive.com's employees, including some of its key product and engineering executives, will join the Ancestry.com team after the acquisition closes.
 
Rosetta Stone Acquires Kid-Focused Language-Learning Startup GoGo Lingo Top
Screen shot 2012-04-25 at 11.57.22 AMRosetta Stone, for those unfamiliar, are the makers of the oft-advertised language learning software of the same name. The 20-year-old Virginia-based company went public in 2009, and today makes learning software for over 30 languages that is used in over 150 countries. Yet, in spite of its brand recognition, a number of translation and language-learning startups have begun to pop up with savvy online solutions, which has prompted Rosetta Stone to move to boost both its kid-friendly learning options and its digital distribution. In so doing, Rosetta Stone is today announcing that it has completed the acquisition of Los Angeles-based language learning startup, GoGo Lingo. Founded back in 2008 by Afsoun Yazdian, who developed GoGoLingo's proprietary "Playful Immersion" method while at Stanford, a language learning method designed to help kids ages 3 to 7 learn Spanish through implicit absorption.
 
Ark People Search Raised $4.2 Million Seed Round Instead of a Series A to "Keep Complete Control" Top
Ark Logo"The series A is essentially dying. If I can get an amazing valuation at a seed round, not give up a board seat, and keep complete control of the company, why not?" This is Ark co-founder Patrick Riley's reasoning for why instead of raising a Series A round, his people search engine just locked down a jaw-droppingly massive $4.2 million seed round. Ark will use the money from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel and more to build out its mobile and search teams, and do a big marketing push when it opens to the public. Riley believes more founders will try to avoid early Series A rounds that often come with an investor board member attached. This will help them stay more agile and avoid having to approve pivots or other big changes through outsiders. Riley tells me, "I think the future is larger seed rounds."
 
YouTube Is 27% Of Mobile Video Traffic In N. America, Netflix Just 2% Top
hdvideo_youtubeYouTube is the largest source of mobile video traffic, according to a new report from Sandvine, and now accounts for as much as 25% of network data, and no less than 12% at any given time. The report examined traffic across a selection of Sandvine's 200+ customers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific. Combined with other services like Pandora and Netflix, audio and video streaming make up more than half of mobile data traffic in North America, and it's on track to reach 60% by 2014, the company says.
 
Square Now Processing $5B In Payments Per Year; Volume Up 25 Percent Since March Top
square1Payments platform Square has released a number of new stats today, as well as good news for merchants using its mobile payments app to accept credit cards. According to a Bloomberg report, Square is now processing $5 billion in annual payments (or around $416 million in payments per month), which is up from $4 billion in annual payments in March. And payment volume is up 25 percent over the past month. Square also says that it will be making funds available in merchants' bank accounts the next business morning (for any sales made before 5 pm), while other merchant processors can take 2 to 5 business days to get merchants their money. This is a big win for merchants, who now have access to their sales revenue immediately.
 
Google's Latest TV Ad: How Chrome Can Help You Get Your Ex Back Top
Google Chrome CoffeeDo you hate how things ended between you and your ex and are you trying to get him/her back? Google apparently knows what that feels like and wants you to use Chrome to set things right. At least, that's what it looks like judging from Google's latest TV commercial for Chrome, which debuted last night. In this latest ad, Mark (markpotter7@gmail.com) is trying hard to get his ex Jen to go out for coffee with him because he still hates "how things ended" (why they broke up, the ad sadly never tells us). To woo his ex back (or at least convince her to go out for coffee with him), Mark then uses a steady stream of Google Docs spreadsheets, Picasa photos and YouTube videos to make his point.
 
With 7B Photos, Flickr Debuts New Speedy, HTML5 Image Uploader; Drag And Drop Interface, And More Top
Welcome to Flickr - Photo SharingYahoo's photos sharing site, Flickr, has been steadily redesigning a number of components of its platform over the past few months, including editing (courtesy of Aviary), photo views and more. And today, Flickr, which says it is home to more than 7 billion photos, is debuting a new, speedier, HTML5 photo uploader for images. With the HTML5 technology, Flickr's uploader has a more robust experience, including drag and drop functionality. So instead of only being able to upload manually, you can add photos by dragging them into the browser. Yahoo will also show your thumbnail previews of photos, so you can manage and reorder photos before they hit your photostream. And you can zoom, rotate or sort your photos by title within the uploader itself, as opposed to within the photostream.
 
Snapguide Becomes First iOS App With Pinterest Integration Top
Pinterest snapguideSnapguide today rolled out an update to its iPhone application that lets users share the "how-to" guides built on the app directly to Pinterest. App updates aren't always big deals, but this one is: It means that Snapguide is the first iOS app with Pinterest integration built-in. A Pinterest API has been highly anticipated for months, and this is the first real public glimpse of how iOS apps tied to Pinterest could look once the platform is made accessible on a wider scale (some Android apps have hacked out Pinterest integrations, such as the one made by Kodak, but the iOS market is a different beast.)
 
Up Close With Biodigital's 3D Human Simulator [TCTV] Top
If you missed the Bodies exhibition at your local science center, you may be in luck. Rather than see some hapless Chinese prisoners dissected and put on display, you can now view the human body in 3D using any browser. You can see almost all the systems, nerves, and organs as well as simulate the effects of various diseases including cancer and heart trouble. Ain't the future wonderful? The product, created by imaging company Biodigital, launched three weeks ago and we sat down with Frank Sculli and John Qualter to get a tour. You can check out the digital human here.
 
TubeMogul: We're Totally The Biggest In Real-Time Video Ads, Delivered 6.6B Streams In A Year Top
tubemogul logoTubeMogul is releasing some statistics today about the success of its video ad buying platform. The big message: That when real-time video ads, TubeMogul is the biggest buyer. The company initially offered tools to help publishers syndicate and analyze their videos, but it relaunched last year with its current focus on video ads. In the 12 months since, the company says it has delivered 6.6 billion video ad streams. (Or, more specifically, it served 6,591,981,439 streams from April 2011 to March 2012.)
 
Please Welcome TechCrunch's New COO, Veteran Exec And Entrepreneur Ned Desmond Top
ned4.25.12There's lots going on behind the scenes here at TechCrunch — not only are we hiring top writers and putting together a kick-ass lineup for Disrupt in New York next month, we're also getting a chief operating officer (among other moves soon to be announced). Ned Desmond, a veteran media executive from Time Inc and more recently an entrepreneur, will be joining us as COO on May 7th. He's going to be leading all of our non-editorial operations out of our San Francisco headquarters. He'll also serve as the general manager of the AOL Tech properties. which include Engadget, TUAW and Joystiq.
 
Google Releases A Playbook For "Winning With Mobile" Top
jason speroAs Google continues to push businesses to embrace mobile advertising, it's trying to make that process a little less intimidating with a new publication titled "The Mobile Playbook: The Busy Executive's Guide to Winning with Mobile." The playbook is co-written by Jason Spero, Google's head of mobile sales and strategy (he joined through the acquisition of AdMob), who predicated in February that one million small businesses globally will build a mobile website this year. I don't think any of the advice is particularly revelatory, but it's still a nice distillation of how Google thinks businesses should build their mobile strategies.
 
Klout Takes Social Influence Mobile With New iOS App Top
klout3Klout, the startup that measures influence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Google+ and other social apps, is debuting its first mobile presence today with the launch of an iOS app. While Klout had a mobile website, this is the startup's first native mobile app. Klout evaluates users' behavior with complex ranking algorithms and semantic analysis of content to measure the influence of individuals on social networks. The company is now topping 12 billion API calls, which is up from 100 million API calls in January 2011; and has more than 5,000 API partners, up from around 100 in early 2010. And it has indexed north of 100 million public profiles. Klout recently raised around $30 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins and others, with partner Chi-Hua Chien joining the startup's board.
 
Pegatron Corp. Signs Patent Agreement With Microsoft Over Android, Chrome OS Devices Top
ballmer-ap-photoMicrosoft snagged another one. Pegatron is the latest company to sign a patent agreement with Microsoft concerning Android and Chrome devices. The exact terms of this agreement were not disclosed, but according to a press release issued this morning, Microsoft will receive royalties from Pegatron under this agreement. Microsoft's aggressive strategy to license its patents for Android devices is a loaded subject. On the surface it looks like extortion. Google thinks so. But Google is also the company that built the Android platform, seemingly ignoring key patents held by Microsoft. Sure, Microsoft is trailing far behind in the mobile races, but by licensing patents it holds to competitors, the company is just utilizing its assets to make a few bucks. That's not cheating. That's playing smart.
 
Berlin's Startup Innovators Create A Factory To Call Their Own Top
Screen Shot 2012-04-04 at 12.07.07 PMThere is a chapter in the history of technology startups, or perhaps more a book, that will be dedicated to Berlin. As with other cities, but particularly those that, in 2012, are attracting what I like to call The International Brigade of startup entrepreneurs, Berlin is plowing its own path… its own, distinct, ecosystem. But there is something uniquely Berlin about how this history is playing out. For if this were the Middle Ages, we'd be talking that time when the villagers began demanding more rights from the feudal, Teutonic knights. Perhaps rising up to reclaim their destiny. Just as Berlin started out with a handful of entrepreneurs dominating the scene - sometimes unwilling to share the wealth with their serfs in the field - now a new wave is bringing a new, collaborative and organic approach. To that end, this new wave has already begin to manifest itself physically. Two years ago, on a winter's day in Berlin, I sat in a coffee shop with Alexander Ljung and David Noël of SoundCloud talking about this new breed of startups. "We're mentoring each other. It's starting to happen," said Ljung, excitedly. Then, earlier this year, I met a man sitting behind me at a dinner in Munich. He tapped me on the shoulder. "I have something to show you," he said. I turned around and he proceeded to show me pictures of a giant building that sat on the old border of East and West Berlin. "We're building a factory," he said, with a smile. This week, that 'factory' breaks cover.
 
Google Adds 3D Photo Tours To Google Maps Top
google-mapsGoogle just added a cool new feature to Google Maps that lets you see photo tours of 15,000 popular landmarks around the world. If these were just photo tours with a Ken Burns effect thrown in for good measure, of course, this wouldn't be very exciting news. What makes Google's photo tours stand out is that the company's engineers use computer vision techniques to create "a 3D experience from public, user-contributed Picasa and Panoramio photos."
 
Facebook Beefs Up Security With Antivirus Marketplace Full Of Free Software Top
facebook securityAs Facebook pushes ever closer to one billion users, one of the biggest issues it has faced has been backlash from consumers around the areas of privacy and security. Today, the social network is taking two steps in an effort to improve its image around that area, and potentially positioning itself as a software reseller in the process. It is partnering with Microsoft, McAfee, TrendMicro, Sophos, and Norton/Symantec to enhance its own URL blacklisting system; and it is launching a new service, the Antivirus Marketplace, with these five companies, to offer a selection of antivirus software to protect users even further. That software will be free of charge for the first six months of use.
 

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment