Friday, June 8, 2012

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Nextag CEO: Google Is A Monopoly; Google: You've Got Plenty Of Choice Top
nextag_logoComparison shopping engine Nextag and its CEO Jeffrey Katz have been at the forefront of accusing Google of being a monopoly and abusing its position to crush smaller competitors. Today, the Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece by Katz that accuses Google of not just promoting its own services and products on its search results pages, but also selling out its users because many of "the most prominent results are displayed because companies paid Google for that privilege." Google, in what's becoming an increasingly common tactic for the company, just published a detailed (and rather aggressive) response to Katz's accusations. In it, the company's senior vice president of engineering Amit Singhal argues that "there has never been as much choice online as there is today."
 
Microsoft Hotmail Is Going Metro (But Won't Be Called "Newmail") Top
newmailMicrosoft Hotmail is getting a makeover. At least, that's what some leaked screenshots are showing. The service, which today is still branded under the "Windows Live" umbrella, is going to be slimmed down and simplified, giving it a  Metro-style look and feel. The details were obtained yesterday via Microsoft enthusiast site LiveSide, and they've now amassed a whole collection of screenshots showing the new Hotmail in action. In the photos, the service is oddly branded "Newmail." ("Get a Newmail email address for your new inbox..." reads the welcome message, for example.)
 
Wanelo Raises $2M … But Is Distilling Pinterest To Products The Right Idea? Top
Screen Shot 2012-06-08 at 10.33.59 AMFrom Fab to Netflix to Amazon, the eCommerce world is starting to warm up to the future of online shopping: Social curation. Call it the "Pinterest-effect," people are embracing the idea that bookmarking and social sharing slowly are replacing search with regards to product discovery. And this is leaving many investors salivating at the prospect of Pinterest's eventual revenue model. Taking this idea one iteration further, Wanelo, like OpenSky and other Pinterest-offshoots, is a site that allows users to bookmark and share their favorite products via a grid layout and high-res imagery. Ostensibly the startup wants to find a quicker path to profitability by focusing only on the curation of things that bring in revenue. Makes sense.
 
OverBlog Gets Overhauled, Arrives In US: Turns Your Blog Into A Real-Time Social Media Hub Top
overblogOverBlog, a leading blog platform in Europe with 3 million registered users and over 34 million uniques (according to comScore), has just arrived in the U.S. And it's kind of awesome. The entire platform has been totally re-developed from scratch over the past 18 months, and, ironically, it's the U.S. audience who's the first to have access to the new platform. (Current European users will get the new version on Monday). So what makes OverBlog so interesting? In addition to serving as a traditional blog, it aggregates your content from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, etc. all in one place. Plus, you'll soon be able to livestream directly from your mobile phone to your blog. And all of this takes place in real-time.
 
Online Seniors: Tech-Savvier Than You Think Top
forrester_logoIt's not often that we come across startups that focus on seniors, but according to a new report by analyst firm Forrester Research, seniors ages 65 and up are probably more connected and tech-savvy than you think. Forrester found that about 60% of U.S. seniors are online. That's about 20 million people and while this obviously means that 40% don't care much about the Internet, those 60% who are online are tech-savvy and happily use technology to connect to their friends and family.
 
The Next Stop For Uber? A Launch In San Diego Top
uberSince raising $32 million last December, Uber has been on an expansion spree over the last several months, placing cars and dialing up service in cities all over the world. It was just a few days ago, after all, that Uber's on-demand car service launched in Philadelphia. But it's just added another U.S. launch city Friday: San Diego. With 1.3 million people in the city and 3.1 million in San Diego County, there's a pretty big population for Uber to go after. And the population there is pretty well off, with about 30 percent of households having an annual income of $30,000 or more. That means plenty of potential riders with cash to spend on a premium car service.
 
Dropbox For Android Update Packs Video Streaming For ICS Users, Korean Language Support Top
dropdroidHey, Ice Cream Sandwich users -- if you're a Dropbox user and somehow haven't gotten the latest (2.1.4) update, do yourself a favor and get on it. The update is sure to please those who find the Dropbox experience to be woefully light on Hangul, as it introduces Korean language support, but there's something even better to play with. This release sees the addition of a nifty, Ice Cream Sandwich-exclusive feature -- the ability to stream videos stored within in a Dropbox account.
 
TechCrunch Disrupt SF Is Back! Battlefield Applications Open And Tickets On Sale Now Top
Disrupt_SF_2012_logoTechCrunch Disrupt New York was a huge success this past May, but we're not resting on our laurels. We're planning a few great surprises for our San Francisco event in September -- but first, the Startup Battlefield applications are now open. You saw some of the finalists in action on stage last month. Gtar, the iPhone guitar, has become a cultural sensation and blown through its ambitious Kickstarter campaign. UberConference, which promises to change how conference calls are done, convinced the judges that it has the best shot at building a big, disruptive business. Meanwhile, some of the other members of the Battlefield found themselves the subject of mainstream print media and even Jay Leno's Tonight Show monologue.
 
With A Focus On Childcare Centers, Mom Trusted Raises $1M+ For Its Early Education Marketplace Top
MomTrusted_Logo-300x136Mom Trusted, a startup describing itself as a "social marketplace for early education and care" (which for parents means it's a killer place to find nannies, babysitters, daycare centers and preschools), has raised $1 million+ in funding. The round was led by Blumberg Capital, and saw participation from 500 Startups, Birchmere Labs, and other angels investors. The company is tackling a problem that every new parent has at some point faced - finding good childcare. It's also helping parents connect and communicate with each other, while providing childcare centers with tools manage their outreach efforts and communication efforts with their own community of parents.
 
Pixorial's Mobile Video-Sharing App Adds Real-Time Filters To Take On Socialcam And Viddy Top
pixorial logoIt wasn't too long ago that Pixorial made the jump from being an online video sharing service to rolling out its own social, mobile video applications. Now, in its race to take on the competition and try to become the "Instagram for video," Pixorial has added a few new feature to its app, including filters that let users spice up their videos in real-time. With the new Pixorial iPhone app, users can choose from up to 17 different real-time filters to augment their videos. They include filters like Sepia, Blur, Sketch, and Grayscale, which apply the effects while the user shoots the video. While the filters are a neat way for users to differentiate their videos, it's also a way for Pixorial to make money through in-app purchasing. The first five video filters are free, but additional filters available for purchase at the price of $1 for a pack of six.
 
Apple To Cough Up $2.2M Over Misleading Australian iPad 4G Ads Top
Screen shot 2012-06-08 at 10.41.24 AMHere in the States, we're usually fine with faux-G being called 4G. T-Mobile does it with its HSPA+ service, and AT&T called it's HSPA+ 4G for a long time too before it rolled out LTE. But I guess people are more picky down under, where the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had accused Apple of misleading the public with its iPad ads touting 4G service. According to The Australian, the company has now agreed to pay approximately $2.21 million to make amends, despite the fact that Apple had already agreed to refund customers who thought they would get 4G LTE service with the new iPad.
 
Bad Guys, Prepare Yourself For The ReconRobotics Throwbot XT Reconnaissance Robot Top
Throwbot-XT-and-OCU-II-midIf you're anything like me, a seasoned veteran of all things CSI, Dexter and GI Joe, you understand the value in a discreet robotic camera such as the ReconRobotics Throwbot XT Reconnaissance Robot. The presser describes the Throwbot XT as a throwable, mobile micro-robot -- I'll just say the robot is awesome. This little robot can pipe live audio and video to the good guys ready to save the day.
 
Phantom Fireworks Uses Nook Tablets To Help Customers Preview The Boom Top
Phantom_Tablets1Everyone's favorite roadside explosives purveyor, Phantom Fireworks, is now offering "firework previews" on a fleet of Nook Tablets that will be available in stores. The tablets will will allow customers to view photos and videos of the fireworks they're buying and will streamline retail operations, allowing customer service reps to place orders at the customer's side. The Youngstown, Ohio-based company is one of the first to use cheap, entry-level tablets on the show floor. Fans of snailnet will appreciate the method of video distribution: "All the demo videos are stored and uploaded onto a secure digital (SD) card at the Phantom Fireworks corporate office in Youngstown and shipped out to the different showrooms across the country." This presumably reduces the need for the local sites to have a fast Internet connection.
 
Eventster Brings Crowdsourced Event Discovery To iPhone & iPad Top
iphone2No plans yet for the weekend? Good! Here's something you should try then: Eventster is a new app for iPhone and iPad launching today which is tackling local event recommendations. The app pulls in 600,000 events per day across North America and Europe via the Zvents API (now a part of StubHub), offering activities like concerts, festivals, nightlife hotspots, theater showtimes, sports events, and more. As you flip through the events, you can upvote and downvote them, which, in turn, helps power the app's recommendations. Other locals in your area will see those votes and can then quickly tell which events are trending. Plus, like any good recommendations app, Eventster learns which events you'll like based on your previous activity.
 
Win 2 Free Tickets To Le Web London, Courtesy Of TechCrunch Top
Screen Shot 2012-06-08 at 13.33.16Well, over 1,000 tickets have been sold to Le Web London, the gigantic tech conference hitting the UK shores on June 19-20. You want to go right? Well, TechCrunch has two tickets to give away, as part of the "adopt an entrepreneur" programme backed by Silicon Valley Bank and LEPE Partners.
 
Panasonic CEO: We Have No Plans To Invest $630M Into Olympus Top
olympuslogoOn Wednesday, reports circulated that Panasonic was interested in injecting a $630 million capital investment into Olympus Corp, but Panasonic CEO Fumio Ohtsubo has stepped up to squash these rumors. According to Reuters, he said that "there isn't any" plan to invest in Olympus. This is unfortuante news for the beleaguered camera company, which is most definitely in trouble.
 
SocialFlow Lets Marketers Double-Down On Popular Tweets With Real-Time Analytics Top
SocialflowSocialFlow was founded to help brands manage their messaging on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. For $99 a month, it has a platform that provides a proprietary algorithms to determine when a company should send a particular message out, based on its content, and automatically Tweets it out or updates the company's Facebook page. For social marketers, this Optimized Publisher thing can be a godsend. But now SocialFlow is going a step further by helping brands determine which Tweets that have already been sent out would be good to spend money on to promote. It does so by measuring the engagement of the audience in real-time -- including the number of clicks a message is receiving, the number of RTs, and the number of new followers that it has gotten -- and letting the brand know if it's a good value to promote that Tweet. If it is, an icon will show up in the dashboard's published archive to signal they should buy, buy, buy.
 
Autodesk Acquires Vela Systems, Aims To Bring Construction Management Systems To Tablets Top
vela-system-autodeskAutodesk took to the wires this morning to announce its acquisition of a long-standing partner, Vela Systems, which is described in the announcement as "a provider of cloud and mobile field management software for the construction industry." It's Autodesk's hope that this move will better equip the company, and the whole construction industry for that matter, to better utilize cloud storage and mobile products. Terms of the transaction were not revealed. Vela Systems' products will eventually join Autodesk's growing collection of mobile products that focus on content creation. This builds upon Autodesk's current Building Information Modeling products.
 
Huawei Launches $149 Activa 4G For MetroPCS, Cleverly Avoids Competition With Its First U.S.-Bound 4G LTE Device Top
Screen shot 2012-06-08 at 8.37.48 AMHuawei has been relatively quiet of late. Aside from Ascend D Quad smartphone we saw announced back at MWC, the company hasn't been very present on U.S. shores. But with LTE hitting its stride, the company has today announced its very first 4G LTE handset: the Activa 4G. MetroPCS will carry the prepaid device, which is a Android 2.3 Gingerbread-powered handset. It sports a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen with a 5-megapixel rear camera (LED flash-enabled) and a VGA front-facing camera for video chat.
 
Thomson Reuters Acquires Mobile Startup Apsmart To Re-invigorate Its Mobile Products Top
68177v5-max-250x250Nice win for DN Capital today. Apsmart, a London-based mobile platform and product development firm that was majority owned by the VC has been acquired by Thomson Reuters. Terms were not disclosed. Thomson Reuters plans to use the startup to provide its customers with mobile solutions with expert-enriched content, news and other features those suited-up Reuters users like. Reuters has been somewhat left behind in the mobile apps stakes so this acquisition should power its new direction.
 

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