The latest from TechCrunch
- Crush Notifier, From The Makers Of Breakup Notifier, Finds Mutual Crushes
- Facebook Valuation Back At A Cool $70 Billion On SecondMarket
- Chrome Extension Fixes Twitter's Grammar, Tells Us "Whom" We Should Follow
- Gosh! Even Napoleon Dynamite Is Now Using Kickstarter
- Solo Drivers In Los Angeles Will Soon Be Allowed To Drive In Carpool Lanes For A Fee
- Groupon Files SEC Form For Another $16.2 Million
- Kidlandia Raises $2.5 Million To Create Personalized Fantasy Maps For Kids
- 2010 In Movies, As Seen On Foursquare [Graphic]
- The Future Solidifies: OS X Lion Really Will Maul The CD (And All Other Discs)
| Crush Notifier, From The Makers Of Breakup Notifier, Finds Mutual Crushes | Top |
| Breakup Notifier creator Dan Loewenherz should just give up on Crate (his actual job) and just make a whole network of these types of things. After having his wildly popular app Breakup Notifier blocked by Facebook, Loewenherz has dusted himself off and is back in the game, trying to “turn a negative to a positive” with Crush Notifier. From his blog : “So what does the popularity of Breakup Notifier tell us? I believe it's that human beings, above all else, value relationships. I never knew how many people would end up using Breakup Notifier. Soon after it a traffic peak, Facebook cut off our API access, and "permanently disabled" our application. This was a huge bummer for me. It was 4:30am for me, so I couldn't really do anything about it until I woke up a few hours later. Since that time, Facebook has only responded twice to us; even now, we still don't know why we were banned. Since we don't know the reason we were disabled, that means we don't know what we should do differently, and for that reason we can't turn back on Breakup Notifier. In light of the above, I wanted to release something new today that would be 100% positive. Something that helps create relationships.” Unlike Breakup Notifier, which sent you an email if selected friends had changed their relationship status, Crush Notifier (on a more positive note) allows you to choose people that you are crushing on (you can buy “Crushes” with Facebook Credits) and sends them the below anonymous notification email, replete with a cute love-related quote. If the feeling is mutual (i.e. if the person you’ve selected also selects you) you get a similar email notifying you of your match. “I’m a fan of creating relationships more than I am ending them,” says Loewenherz. Let’s hope Facebook can keep its hands off this one. Update: Loewenherz tells me that interested TechCrunch readers can sign up for a special “15 Crushes for 10 Facebook Credits” deal after creating an account, here. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Facebook Valuation Back At A Cool $70 Billion On SecondMarket | Top |
| And we’re back again with our now weekly update on the insanity surrounding Facebook’s stock in the SecondMarket auctions. Last week , the stock saw the beginning of a rally back to $27 a share, good for a $67.5 billion valuation (based on roughly 2.5 billion shares outstanding). This week, the good times continued to roll. Facebook’s stock hit $28 a share, to push the valuation of the company back to a cool $70 billion or so. This is still slightly off the record high of $28.26 a share (a $70.65 billion valuation ) set in mid January, but it’s clear that Facebook’s stock is storming ahead once again, and quickly. This was the 11th auction SecondMarket has done on the stock. Do I hear $75 billion next week? Below, find the full email sent out of the folks buying this stuff up: To Facebook market participants: This week's SecondMarket auction successfully cleared 225,000 shares at a per share price of $28.00. Read more details in the attached auction results report. Next week's auction will require a minimum sale and minimum purchase of 10,000 shares. If you are bidding for fewer than 100,000 shares, you are required to open a brokerage account with SecondMarket. Please email XXXX@SecondMarket.com to receive a Brokerage Account Opening Form and return the completed form by Monday, February 28, 2011 at 5:00 PM EST. Please email your completed Seller or Buyer Information Forms to XXXX@SecondMarket.com by Wednesday, March 2 at noon EST. To verify receipt of your order, you must receive a confirmation email from XXXX@SecondMarket.com. If you do not receive a confirmation email, your order has not been received by SecondMarket and may be excluded from the auction. Responses are typically sent within one hour. Next Week's Auction Timeline: • Friday, February 25 at 7:00 PM EST – SecondMarket will begin accepting Seller Information Forms, Buyer Information Forms and Brokerage Account Opening Forms • Monday, February 28 at 5:00 PM EST – Brokerage Account Opening Form due, if bidding for fewer than 100,000 shares • Wednesday, March 2 at 12:00 PM EST – Seller and Buyer Information Forms due • Wednesday, March 2 at 5:00 PM EST – Participants informed of auction results • Wednesday, March 2 at 8:00 PM EST – Transaction documentation distributed to buyers and sellers • Thursday, March 3 at 5:00 PM EST – Wire of 100% of gross purchase price to escrow account due, if allocated fewer than 100,000 shares • Friday, March 4 at 4:00 PM EST – Completed transaction documentation due from buyers and sellers • Friday, March 4 at 7:00 PM EST – Notice sent to Facebook, Inc. By reading this email, the recipient acknowledges and agrees that all of the information contained herein is confidential and that the recipient will keep this information confidential. The recipient further agrees that it will not copy, reproduce, or distribute this email in whole or in part. Please contact us at XXXX@SecondMarket.com or XXX.XXX.XXXX if you have any questions. Please note that the information in this email does not constitute an offer to sell to, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy from, nor shall any securities be offered or sold to, any person in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Regards, Terrence CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Chrome Extension Fixes Twitter's Grammar, Tells Us "Whom" We Should Follow | Top |
| All is right with the world, as genius (and Googler!) Thomas Steiner has made this beautiful Chrome extension that corrects Twitter’s subject/object discrepancy on its “Who to Follow” feature. Grammar snobs (I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU COMMENT), rejoice! In case anyone’s still confused about ”Who” vs. “Whom” usage, here’s a quick tip to differentiate courtesy of Shit You Should Know : “To determine proper usage of who/whom, separate the who/whom clause and pose it as a question. If that question can be answered with "he", use "who"; if it can be answered with "him", use ‘whom’.” You can change your entire life by downloading the extension here. Now if only Steiner would make one that eliminated all the typos on TechCrunch. CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Gosh! Even Napoleon Dynamite Is Now Using Kickstarter | Top |
| I love Kickstarter . It’s maybe the best enabler site ever. In the short time it has been around, we’ve gotten everything from open source Facebook “killers” to iPod nano watches to RoboCop Statues . But one of the aspects of the service with the most potential is movie funding. A few of these projects have popped up already, and it apparently caught the eye of Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder. As NewTeeVee points out today, Heder has set up a project on the service to get funding for a movie he hopes to make. Alongside collaborator Nick Peterson (who would direct the film), he hopes to raise $27,000 over the next month or so. Given the fact that he’s well, Napoleon Dynamite, he should blow past that in no time. I mean, the iPod nano watch got almost a million in funding . If you watch the video they put on their Kickstarter page, you’ll see that the duo hopes to make a half animated/half live-action short film about dripping filth, or something. And while you have to assume that Heder could easily just pay for this out of pocket, it’s interesting that he’s crowd-sourcing the funding. You can pledge as little as $1 to help out, but if you’re a high-roller and give them $10, you’ll get your name in the credits. Even better, if you pledge just $250, you’ll get an associate producer credit! As anyone in Hollywood would tell you, that’s a total BS credit, but still! The real killer option is for $5,000 or more, you get a full producer credit, a private screening of the film with Heder and Peterson in LA, and everything else they’re offering others (HD copies of the movie, etc). Wait for it…. lucky! CrunchBase Information Kickstarter Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Solo Drivers In Los Angeles Will Soon Be Allowed To Drive In Carpool Lanes For A Fee | Top |
| This week, Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) — which was acquired by Xerox (NYSE: XRX) in February 2010 — announced that it’s building a new, electronic toll system on the two busiest highways in Los Angeles, to allow all single car drivers, even those in a diesel guzzling Hummer, to shift into carpool lanes for a fee. When average traffic levels in a carpool lane rise overall, so will the fee. The company and city plan to calibrate the systems to keep traffic at a steady 45 miles per hour in the carpool lane (at least). Once equipped with the new toll system, the carpool lanes along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110 will be called ExpressLanes, instead. Los Angeles and Xerox are building this project with the idea of reducing highway congestion overall, according to a press statement from ACS and reports by Green.Autoblog.com . Is the death of the carpool lane as we know it environmentally sound, though? The faster, wide open appeal of a carpool lane is supposed to motivate Los Angelenos to roll with their homeys, instead of Swingers style; remember that distinctly not-green-scene where Vince Vaughn and his friends drive individually but together to party after party? At least, a carpool lane’s supposed to encourage drivers to buy clean vehicles. The Department of Motor Vehicles and state law in California allows vehicles with a qualifying “clean alternative fuel vehicle sticker” to drive in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. Ken Philmus, senior vice president and managing director of ACS Transportation Systems and Services, believes that a pay-to-switch-lanes system is a win for the environment, of course. Here’s why, he explained: “When people are stuck in traffic, watching the other lane, they might be encouraged to get into a carpool, later. Only 10 percent of vehicles [in Los Angeles] are multi-occupant, generally. So, there’s under-utilized capacity in [high occupancy vehicle, or HOV] lanes. With this system, as the HOV lane gets more congested, the toll to shift over goes up, which should result in fewer [single car drivers] going in, and a free flow that’s maintained. It should not damage the occupancy of the lane. But it should maintain or improve environmentally positive aspects of the lane, by getting people out of stop and go traffic. That’s where the air quality situation becomes worse, usuall.” ACS and Xerox are not charged with studying things like improvements in air quality, or reduction in diesel consumption in Los Angeles, resulting from this project in any official capacity, Philmus said. That job will be up to the likes of the Federal Highway Administration , local air quality management offices and departments of transportation instead. To participate, Los Angeles drivers will need to sign up for a FasTrak toll account, and install a small transponder in their vehicles. They will be asked to set a switch on the transponder to indicate whether they’re driving solo and the system should charge them; or if they’re part of a carpool and can drive for free in the ExpressLanes. Sensors installed along the interstate will calculate the dynamically priced tolls and deduct the proper amount from a driver's prepaid account, automatically. The ExpressLanes Project in Los Angeles is projected to open to traffic in late 2012. Similar systems have been installed in Miami, where they’re known as HOT lanes (high occupancy toll lanes) , and are averaging around $3.50 or $4.00 a toll during rush hour, and are about 16 miles per hour faster than regular, free lanes according to reports in the Miami Herald. Image: Traffic on Interstate 10, under creative commons license via Florian CrunchBase Information Affiliated Computer Services Xerox U.S. Department of Transportation Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Groupon Files SEC Form For Another $16.2 Million | Top |
| photo © 2007 Kevin Lawver | more info (via: Wylio ) Wait wha? According to this SEC form, daily deals site Groupon has raised another $16.2 million. There’s no word on whether this is an add-on to its recent $950 million round or just a smaller mini-round, in any case it seems unrelated to any M&A activity. Listed on the form are Groupon’s board members Eric Lefosky , Brad Keywell and Kevin Efrusy , among others. Groupon recently turned down an offer from Google, and has raised over $1.13 billion to date when you include the amount on this form. When asked whether this was part of a new round, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason said, “We typically don’t comment on these things, sorry. Ask me something else.” Groupon recently named Starbucks founder Howard Schultz to the board, who then made a undisclosed investment to the company. Perhaps that’s actually what we’re seeing here — The date of the asset sale is February 10th, the very day that Schultz’s board seat was announced. CrunchBase Information Groupon Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Kidlandia Raises $2.5 Million To Create Personalized Fantasy Maps For Kids | Top |
| Kidlandia, the awesome site that lets you create your own personalized fantasy maps for your kids, has raised $2.5 million led by Alsop Louie Partners with GRP , Net Discovery, Ivan Sutherland and Jim Sandler participating. This brings the startup’s total funding to $3.5 million. As we’ve reported in the past, Kidlandia lets parents and kids create maps of a fantasy land, where the child is King or Queen of their own eponymous fantasy kingdom. You can insert family members or friends names into the map, so other areas of the land incorporate family members' names. The map also features whimsical characters from Kidlandia’s brand Kreechurs. Shortly after launching in 2009, Kidlandia signed a deal with Pottery Barn to feature the maps in its catalog, its website, and its retail stores. Since that time, Kidlandia’s reach has grown to a number of other well-known retailers including Snapfish, FAO.com, DisneyStore.com, and NickShop. The startup will actually launch a mini-store at FAO Schwarz's flagship store in New York City in the next few weeks. And, Kidlandia has also started to create branded maps for kids toy and entertainment companies, and are currently producing products for Disney, Nickelodeon, Lego, and Marvel. CrunchBase Information Kidlandia Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| 2010 In Movies, As Seen On Foursquare [Graphic] | Top |
| It’s Oscar weekend so of course every social media service, smart phone app and “tech” blog is going to find some movie angle to remind you that they exist. And because I tend to write the more fluffy cultural pieces, I will be stuck writing about them, even though I hate Hollywood and celebrities of the non-YouTube or TopCoder variety. But Foursquare’s map of 2010 movie checkin frequency (above) is an exception to the “blatant attempt to glom publicity off of an ‘important’ event rule,” and deserves reposting. And yes, the mention of Sex In the City 2 on the pink side of the Venn Diagram here makes me ashamed for my gender. Very ashamed. Click to enlarge. CrunchBase Information Foursquare Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| The Future Solidifies: OS X Lion Really Will Maul The CD (And All Other Discs) | Top |
| It has now been at least a year since I last used the optical drive on any of my computers. And now I’m really starting to believe I never will again. Which I love. Last October, I noted that I was ready for the launch of the new MacBook Airs because I realized I had never once used the optical drive on my MacBook Pro. It was simply a huge waste of space. And since I’ve switched over to the Air — the best computer I’ve ever owned — I have zero doubt that this optical drive-free experience will soon be the reality for all Mac computing. And now it’s clear that OS X Lion will be the final ingredient needed. The last time I can remember using my optical drive was to install OS X Snow Leopard, which was released a year and a half ago. But it’s becoming very clear that Apple will use the new Mac App Store to distribute the follow-up, OS X Lion. And despite a rocky start yesterday with the beta release, it makes a lot of sense. But one thing I was worried about was system restores. It’s an issue that comes up again and again when I talk about the death of the optical disc. Apple deals with this on the MacBook Air by using a USB bootable restore drive. With the Mac App Store, I was thinking they may have to create a way to burn a backup CD or USB for Lion if you buy it over the web. But I was wrong. As Cult of Mac notes today , there’s a new feature of OS X Lion which brings support for a separate recovery partition of a hard drive. In other words, if you need to restore your system, you can do it from the other area of the drive, no disc or USB drive needed. Yep, Lion appears ready to maul the optical disc. And it’s unlikely to recover. Some may wonder about the scenarios when a hard drive is damaged and the other partition doesn’t work. But for most restores, that’s not the case. And if that is the case, it’s probably best to just go to the Apple Store anyway. In the newly upgraded MacBook Pros announced yesterday, Apple chose to keep the optical disc drive intact across the line. But rumors are already starting that the product may be totally redesigned next year. And I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that design more closely resembled the Air, with the removal of the optical drive (though perhaps the 17-inch model would keep it for those doing video work). Just like the floppy disk before it, the optical disc will fade into irrelevance. And now you see why Apple has never included a Blu-ray drive in any of their machines. Another interesting aspect of OS X Lion points to a future that eliminates hard drives with spinning discs as well. Lion brings TRIM support, which optimizes the clean up of data blocks on solid-state drives. Given the Air’s performance with these drives, there’s no question these will be the future of the Mac line as well. All of this should be fairly obvious when you think about the future: clearly optical discs and regular hard drives will die off eventually. But Apple appears to be moving aggressively to make it happen sooner rather than later. And it will make rival devices seem unnecessarily slow and bulky — perfect prey for a lion. [image: flickr/ fortherock ] CrunchBase Information Apple Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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