The Latest from TechCrunch |  |
- Nyoombl Debuts Social Video Broadcasting Platform For Conversations
- KinderTown Launches Educational App Store For Parents
- Unlocked iPhone 4Ss Are Available Now, But They’ll Cost You
- Hulu Plus Will Compete With Amazon Instant Video On The Kindle Fire
- Forrester: U.S. Online Holiday Spending Will Grow 15 Percent To Nearly $60 Billion
- Amazon’s $111.11 Droid RAZR Deal Makes My Wallet Happy
- Microsoft’s Former Virtualization Director To Launch PaperShare, A ‘Social Content Network’
- Android App ‘Currently’ Taps Twitter To Track Breaking Tech News
- Review: The Speedmaster Moonwatch Co-Axial Chronograph Speeds Into My Heart
- BlackBerry PlayBook To Come Pre-Loaded With PressReader: Instant Access To 2,000+ Newspapers
- What’s Google Scheming Over At Schemer.com?
- It’s Bigger Than Ashton
- Video: Super-Realistic HRP-4C Humanoid Walks Like Human
- Sony Japan Announces UMD Passport Program for PS Vita Owners
- Daily Crunch: Supercomputer
- Clawbacks and Startups Don’t Mix
- The Real Pirates Of Silicon Valley?
- Arrived Has Arrived
- IBM Debuts Mobile Security Service For Smartphone And Tablet Use In The Enterprise
- Gilt Gets A Makeover
| Nyoombl Debuts Social Video Broadcasting Platform For Conversations Posted: 11 Nov 2011 09:00 AM PST  Nyoombl (pronounced ‘nimble’), a stealthy startup we wrote about earlier this year, is finally debuting its social broadcasting platform. While the site is still private, we have a number of details about how it works, and more. In fact, the first 100 readers that join the waiting list here will have their emails activated right away and can start using the service. Founded by Oladayo Olagunju, Nyoombl aims to make conversations public. It’s a mix between Skype and YouTube and allows people to broadcast and then archive live conversations for the entire world to listen in on, watch, and learn. Users simply log-on to the platform via their Facebook account, and they can then choose to converse with another specific user of their choice, or broadcast alone. All broadcasts are simultaneously live and archived. During debates or interviews, viewers can easily ask both broadcasters questions live and receive responses instantly via voice or IM. The archived version becomes ready and sharable 5 seconds after the conversation is over. All broadcast conversations have a duration of no more than 7 minutes. And the conversations that are most “liked” or Tweeted and the conversations about recent or trending global events of significance are automatically featured prominently on the homepage. Currently, Nyoombl is Flash-based plans to move to HTML5 as the site scales. And to prevent the Chatroulette problem, the site has implemented habit-premised algorithms to track and shut down inappropriate behavior. Olagunju says that most of the site’s early users and testers are from college campuses so universities are a focus initially, but eventually he has ambitions for the site to become a dedicated place to share and broadcast conversations. Olagunju explains: “We are democratizing conversations by letting everyday people to do what Larry King did and empowering the unsung Oprah Winfrey’s in our midst…We allow any two people in different locations to take their conversations public. We’re doing to conversations what LinkedIn did to resumes, what Facebook did to pictures, and what Twitter did to thoughts.” Nyoombl is seed-backed chiefly by Chris Kelly, former Chief Privacy of Facebook and counts entrepreneur Adam Rifkin, Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy, and venture capitalist Lara Druyan as advisors. Of course, Nyoombl already has a few competitors. In terms of individual broadcasting, YouTube, Justin.TV, Ustream and others play in this space. And for sharing conversations, Google Hangouts, and recently launched Spreecast are also providing a social broadcasting platform for conversations. Sean Parker’s Airtime may also combine social with video broadcasting.
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| KinderTown Launches Educational App Store For Parents Posted: 11 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST  KinderTown is a newly launched app store for parents which offers a curated collection of kid-friendly applications. What makes the store unique is that it only includes apps which have been deemed to have “substantial educational value” for kids three to six years old. In order to evaluate the apps’ quality, each app is first reviewed by early childhood educators, then tested by parents and kids before admission. At launch, KinderTown’s app store is available as a universal app that works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. When you launch KinderTown, you can filter the app selections by platform (iPhone, iPad or Universal), recommended ages, subject matter (e.g., math, language, art, science, etc.) and price (free or paid). Apps that match your search filters appear on screen, and you can tap on them to see descriptions, screenshots and pricing information. A tap on the “get the app” button will then pop you over to the iTunes App Store to start the download. The KinderTown staff includes two former teachers responsible for the app reviews. Kay Welch specializes in early childhood education and has more than 20 years of experience teaching and writing curriculums for school districts. Carolina Nugent spent five years as a kindergarten teacher and received recognition for her integration of technology and apps in the classroom. The concept for the KinderTown itself comes from serial entrepreneur and DreamIt Ventures co-founder Steve Welch. Steve previously founded Mitos, a global company in the biotech-manufacturing field, which was later sold to a Fortune 500 company. He says that the idea for KinderTown emerged from his own frustration in finding good educational apps for his own 4-year old daughter. As a geek parent myself, I know that feeling. Although my child is only now pushing two, she’s already madly addicted to the iPhone and iPad, shouting “monkey!” (thank you, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox) every time she sees either device. In a home filled with many beloved gadgets, it’s only a matter of time before she’s completely sucked into the iOS gaming world. But with an App Store that now boasts over half a million applications, it’s beyond challenging to find appropriate, functional, and hopefully not entirely brain-rotting apps these days. Although Apple could one day upgrade its own “Genius” offering to allow for more granular filtering and searching, that day hasn’t yet arrived, allowing KinderTown to step in and serve this need. For now, the app will support itself through the App Store affiliate program, but it may offer premium subscriptions for additional learning products in the future. Self-funded KinderTown is now available as a free download here on iTunes.
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| Unlocked iPhone 4Ss Are Available Now, But They’ll Cost You Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:47 AM PST  If winter’s approach finds you yearning for warmer climes, Apple’s got you covered no matter which tropical locale you’ve got your eye on. As promised way back when, Apple has begun to sell unlocked versions of all iPhone 4S models in their online store. Here’s hoping you managed to get a good deal on that plane ticket, because Apple’s globetrotting 4S comes with some hefty price tags. As expected, the base level 16GB iPhone 4S will run customers $649, while the 32 and 64GB variants will cost $749 and $849 respectively. The unlocked iPhone 4S will take a microSIM (even handmade ones) from any GSM provider the world over, but Apple makes it crystal clear that CDMA roaming is off-limits. It’s not a huge stumbling block considering most the of world runs on GSM, but it definitely puts a damper on anyone’s plans to try and use one of these things on Verizon or Sprint. Then again, if anyone wanted to do that, they would be better off buying from the carrier directly and politely asking them for an unlock after the initial 60 day period is up. Really, there’s very little reason for anyone to pick one of these things up, unless you’re a frequent flier or have an acute fear of signing contracts. In either case, I wish you godspeed and good luck with your new iPhone.
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| Hulu Plus Will Compete With Amazon Instant Video On The Kindle Fire Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:59 AM PST  The Kindle Fire is shipping next week, and Amazon wants to ship it with as many mainstream apps as possible. There will be thousands of apps which will work on the customized Android tablet, including Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Angry Birds, and Zynga games. You can now add Hulu Plus and ESPN ScoreCenter to that group. Fire owners will be able to watch thousands of TV shows on Hulu Plus for $7.99 a month. Or, they can watch shows from Amazon’s own Instant Video streaming video service, which is built right into the tablet. After all, the Kindle Fire was designed as a media tablet. Everyone who buys one will get a one-month free trial of Instant Video, which is bundled with Amazon Prime (the $79/year all-you-can-ship service from the e-tailer). So you can pay $79 a year and get all of Amazon’s Instant videos along with free shipping, or $96 a year for Hulu Plus for just the videos. Hulu Plus has a better selection of TV shows, and many people are already members. But for people considering paying for a video subscription on the Fire, Amazon’s bundled offering is going to be hard to beat, assuming Amazon can license a competitive library of TV shows and movies over time.
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| Forrester: U.S. Online Holiday Spending Will Grow 15 Percent To Nearly $60 Billion Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:31 AM PST  After Q3 2011 brought a 13 percent increase in e-commerce sales, Forrester is estimating that U.S. online holiday sales will grow 15 percent this year to nearly $60 billion. The study reports that this increase will take place because of the increase in consumer-use of tablet computers for shopping combined with a growth in online holiday deals. Of course, it’s surprising that there would be a significant growth in holiday retail spending considering the economy and market volatility. But Forrester says that retailers are taking advantage of the ‘price-savvy’ shopper and presenting more lucrative deals for online shopping and free shipping offers, especially on high-volume shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The report shows that 58 percent of Americans say they are more price-conscious today than they were a year ago and nearly half believe they find better values online. And 50 percent of Americans who own a tablet use the device to research products for purchase with 30 percent of smartphone owners using their mobile device to research products for purchase at least monthly (which is a 30 percent increase in just the past year). And more and more online retailers will be offering better shopping experiences on mobile and tablet devices t take advantage of these trends. Forrester also says that 12 percent of the total growth in sales will result from an increase in spending per buyer as opposed to more buyers entering the market. In January, comScore reported that 2010 online holiday spending reached a record $33 billion, which was up 12 percent from 2009. Forrester estimates last year’s spending at just over $50 billion. With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday only weeks away, we’ll see soon if shoppers flock online and to mobile platforms for deals and savings, as is predicted. While the current technology trends and proliferation of deals could boost e-spending, even weather could be a factor in pushing holiday sales to record levels.
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| Amazon’s $111.11 Droid RAZR Deal Makes My Wallet Happy Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:02 AM PST  Happy 11/11/11 boys and girls! Verizon is preparing to open the release their latest 4G smartphone into the world promptly at 11:11 this morning, but those of you whose wallets ache when they see that $299 price tag may want to check out Amazon Wireless’s launch day deal. Running with Verizon’s all-11s schtick, Amazon has the Droid RAZR for $111.11 with a two-year contract for today only. Hefty discount, no? Well, there always seems to be a catch when a deal this good appears, and Amazon is happy to oblige. Only brand new Verizon customers will be able to take advantage of that promo pricing, though existing customers looking to upgrade still get a teensy $50 discount. There’s also quite a wait involved — the RAZR is already backordered, so placing a new order now means it won’t mean ship for another 8 or 9 days. We felt that the Droid RAZR was a bit of a mixed bag, but such a steep discount makes it all the more palatable. Here’s a quick spec refresher for those of you teetering on the fence: the LTE device sports a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, a rather nice 8-megapixel camera, and squeezes it all into a 7.1mm thick body. Still can’t decide? Read our full review, and make it quick: who knows how much higher Amazon’s backorder window will creep.
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| Microsoft’s Former Virtualization Director To Launch PaperShare, A ‘Social Content Network’ Posted: 11 Nov 2011 05:35 AM PST  In about two weeks, we will see the formal launch of PaperShare, a social content and information network for technology professionals, although you can access the site now if you wish (word about the venture actually got out a few months ago). PaperShare was started by David Greschler (co-founder of Softricity App-V, and until recently, director of virtualization and cloud strategy at Microsoft) and Doug Brown (founder of popular virtualization site DABCC). The idea behind PaperShare is to promote the sharing of enterprise-focused content, including technical white papers, videos, case studies and whatnot. More than merely a marketing channel, PaperShare wants to be a place where industry professionals can connect through information. I’m told Citrix, Microsoft and VMware are among the first corporate members to sign up for the PaperShare community. Already, 26,600 items around the topics of cloud and virtualization have been published and share on the network, which will expand into security, database, finance and healthcare in the near future. More information about PaperShare can be found here.
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| Android App ‘Currently’ Taps Twitter To Track Breaking Tech News Posted: 11 Nov 2011 03:51 AM PST  We got a pitch in our inbox from a company called Dujour Technology; they’ve developed an Android app dubbed ‘Currently Tech News’ (direct Android Market link) that mines Twitter to aggregate breaking technology news from a select number of sources. The makers of the app acknowledge that the app looks pretty basic, but point out that there’s a sophisticated backend taking care of the data collection and analysis behind the scenes. From the email:
It’s like a Techmeme you can carry around in your pocket! Except, of course, you can carry around Techmeme in your pocket too (they have a decent mobile website). The benefit of the Currently app is that important headlines that are rising in the charts are delivered through notifications. You can turn off the alerts during your preferred ‘quiet time’ if you want, otherwise it’ll work 24/7. We heard about Currently from the founder of Scouta, a now defunct recommendation technology startup we’ve covered a lot in the past. Check it out if you’re a fellow tech news junkie. Here’s a screenshot (confusingly taken on an iPhone, it would seem):
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| Review: The Speedmaster Moonwatch Co-Axial Chronograph Speeds Into My Heart Posted: 11 Nov 2011 03:46 AM PST  In the pantheon of mechanical wristwatches, the Speedmaster holds a high place. Originally built in 1957 as a reaction to the first wrist-worn chronographs coming out of competing houses, the iconic design – white on black with bold, eminently readable chapter rings and pips – the Speedmaster cemented its place in history when Buzz Aldrin wore his on the moon in 1969. Omega has been flogging that relationship ever since, much to the brand’s benefit and Speedmaster fans rabidly hunt for new and old models like madmen intent on owning stars. Decades later the Speedmaster has maintained this original styling and functionality and, barring a few odd turns taken in the 1970s and 80s, hasn’t strayed far from the white on black design. This new model, the Moonwatch Co-Axial, pays homage first to the watch’s importance in the space race and, second, to the contributions of one of the greatest modern watchmakers, George Daniels. I wore this watch for a week in China, alternating it with another GMT watch I own, in order to assess the legibility and usability of the piece. I was initially taken aback for reasons that should be clear to any Speedmaster fan. The traditional Speedmaster, the Professional, has four registers – a running seconds hand at 9 o’clock, a minutes register at 3 o’clock, and an elapsed hours register, going up to 12, at six o’clock, as well as a main elapsed seconds hand. To be clear, the main, “long” seconds hand doesn’t register “running” seconds but is activated by the pushers on the right side of the watch. There is no date on the Professional and it has standard baton hands with lume running the length. The Professional looks like this: The model I’m reviewing today looks like this: To the average watch buyer, the difference is, at best, cosmetic. However, to the Speedmaster purist (and I hold myself in that esteemed aviary of nerds) the reaction is horror. “What wickedness is this?” you cry. “Where is the hours register?” Surprisingly, the hours and minutes register are on the same dial. The minutes turns quickly around the dial at 3 o’clock while the hours hand, slightly shorted than the minutes, turns a bit more slowly. You’ll also notice a date window at six o’clock that replaces the original hour register. This minor change introduces a great deal of skepticism in the average Speedmaster fan but I’m here to tell you not to fear: this Speedmaster is as good or better than any other Speedy you can own. The legibility is excellent and, once you get past the initial shock, the small register change is more than acceptable. I also loved the small date window, an addition that improves the Speedmaster immensely. Even the date font hearkens back to a simpler time, being in a sort of bold, Art Deco style that you rarely see on watches anymore. Why do I like this watch? First, the movement is accurate to a fault and the pushers are strikingly improved over the standard Speedmaster. The co-axial escapement by George Daniels reduces the necessity of maintenance considerably thanks to the reduction in lubricant necessary over the life of the piece. As the owner of a Speedmaster Automatic and a few Seamasters, Omega watches require regular maintenance to remain accurate. I expect this watch to offer years of excellent service, whether you’re travelling to space or not. The watch comes on a steel bracelet or leather strap and is about 44.25mm in diameter – a bold size to be sure. It is water resistant to 100m but it doesn’t have a screw-down crown so I’d be slightly concerned with giving it much of a bath. This is an automatic watch – meaning it is wound by a weight inside the watch – and it holds about 40 hours on a bad day and 60 hours as advertised. I saw an amazing 50+ hours in reserve in my testing, a welcome improvement. Now for the (relatively) bad news. This watch costs about 7,300 Swiss Francs or about $8,060 USD. You’ll notice that I rail against conspicuous consumption in other posts on this site, as is my prerogative, but I rail against consumption for consumption’s sake. This item is, in short, the epitome of modern horological engineering and mechanics, on par with a handmade Bugatti or, dare I say it, an artifact of equal importance to the lunar lander (at least in terms of horological manufacturing). Non-watch nuts can argue the negative, but the Speedy is a definitive timepiece and deserves at least some modicum of respect. Where does that leave the beginning collector or, barring that, the fellow who wants a nice watch? Well, I can whole-heartedly recommend this particular Speedmaster without reservation as it takes the best of Omega’s past and future and compresses them into a watch that almost anyone would agree is handsome, bold, and mechanically superior. Watch collectors are an odd bunch, however, so you may want to look at the traditional Professional before diving headfirst into this improvement on the original. Either way, Omega has, in this watch, remained true to the legacy of the Moonwatch and, more important, improved on their original design without alienating the purist. It’s a hard thing to do – and they haven’t always done it well (see their ridiculous Olympic collection) – and so this Speedmaster is definitely worth a second look. Click to view slideshow.
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| BlackBerry PlayBook To Come Pre-Loaded With PressReader: Instant Access To 2,000+ Newspapers Posted: 11 Nov 2011 03:01 AM PST  RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer will soon come pre-loaded with PressReader, a digital news app from a company called NewspaperDirect. The application offers one-click access to more than 2,000 ‘replica’, full-content newspapers from close to 100 countries. According to NewspaperDirect, news publications often hit PressReader before they hit the newsstands in their local markets. Some of the daily newspapers that will be available: Chicago Tribune, Daily Mail, International Herald, Irish Times, La Presse, La Tribune, Le Monde, The Australian, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and The Washington Post. Most individual newspapers and magazines available through PressReader can be purchased for $0.99 per issue, or downloaded in conjunction with a paid subscription on PressDisplay.com. PressReader is also available for iPhone/iPad, Android phones and tablets, and Windows 7 slates.
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| What’s Google Scheming Over At Schemer.com? Posted: 11 Nov 2011 02:25 AM PST  Fusible, always keeping a close eye on domain name registrations and ownership changes, has noticed that Google has taken over the domain name Schemer.com. Interestingly, that URL already leads to a Google service login page, although you’ll hit a dead end when you log on. There’s more to the story. According to Fusible, the former owner of the domain name was Meevine, a developer of mobile applications (which still owns getschemer.com by the way). Update: I’m not seeing this in the WHOIS history. Instead, it shows the previous owner of the domain name as E Bour from the company Marathon Oil for me. Either way, it was taken over by Google a few months ago. I hope they checked Urban Dictionary first. Meevine, based in Seattle, is the company behind Gatherball, an Android app that basically makes it easier for friends to plan activities (more info here). They own the U.S. trademark for ‘SCHEMER’. Meevine was co-founded by CEO Paul Watts (formerly at Microsoft, AOL, HTC and some other companies), Ben Demboski and Jonathan Nelson (bother formerly at AOL and RealNetworks). I’ve asked both Meevine and Google for comment but haven’t heard back yet. Update: Watts says: “I know about as much as you know at this point.”
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| Posted: 11 Nov 2011 02:02 AM PST  If you weren’t paying attention to anything but important news today you might not have noticed that Ashton Kutcher had turned over his tweeting privileges to the social media division of his company Katalyst Media. “But why?,” you ask, because it’s late and you’re wasting time on the Internet even though you’re super busy or should be sleeping. Well because Kutcher, who has about eight million more followers than you or I ever will, tweeted out something without thinking last night and, because they’re a bunch of maladjusted ugly troll people, the media pounced on him — because he’s pretty. And more importantly because what he said was really really stupid; he wondered why Penn State coach Joe Paterno was fired, when the reason he was fired was like, everywhere on Twitter. Dude, where’s my excuse? We’re all trigger happy when it comes to social media. I tweet and text the wrong people insane shit at all hours of the night just because I have the technology – true confession (IHTM). And herein lies the trouble with Twitter; You (and Rep. Anthony Weiner) think it’s like texting, not realizing that your intelligible only-in-context tweet/text/whatever is now broadcast to an audience of 40K or 8 million of your closest followers. This explains Ashton’s admittedly ignorant tweet, and this other tweet of his, and some of my tweets and some of your tweets if you’re being honest with yourself. We’re human! Pobody’s nerfect. Earlier today I asked our new fancy Facebook sociologist writer Josh Constine, who went to Stanford so you know he’s smart because I got rejected from there, “Like what’s up with that?” about this whole mess. He said, “It’s bigger than Ashton,” explaining that because the act of tweeting was so much like texting it was more prone to human error than let’s say the act of posting to Facebook or LinkedIn. For the record I’ve never booty LinkedIn-messaged anyone. But wait, before this gets out of hand, let’s all take a second to reflect on the Huffington Post’s seminal piece “Fired Over Twitter: 13 Tweets That Got People CANNED” or something. Bish please, that “canned” is in ALL CAPS so you know it’s IMPORTANT. Despite the clear risk of unfettered communication, by relinquishing editorial control over his feed to a collective process Ashton is playing it way safe. He basically ran back to the comfortable confines of old media, an act which was very “un-Internet” of him, I guess. “As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed,” he wrote, “I feel awful about this error. Won’t happen again.” His solution was to hand Katalyst Media the keys to his social media kingdom, so it can vet his tweets or something, which sounds so sad. I’d rather have someone mess up every three months than be boring. I’ve never particularly been a fan of Kutcher, but I’m a pretty big fan of self-expression, even if you screw up big time. The most brilliant people are totally hated yo. Ashton, it’s not your fault that Twitter, and society, wasn’t prepared for such a disparate “one to many” ratio. So even if you were stupid and pressed send too soon, there is no Facebook or Twitter post you can’t recover from. So do it, please. You owe all those people who pressed ‘Follow’ under a certain pretense at least that. Image: @Aplusk
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| Video: Super-Realistic HRP-4C Humanoid Walks Like Human Posted: 11 Nov 2011 01:46 AM PST  Most robots that are labeled “humanoids” still have a common problem: they can only walk in a slow, mechanical and chopping motion. Even HRP-4C, in my opinion the most realistic humanoid ever created, wasn’t an exception – until now. Even though she could sing and later even learned to dance, walking was never her strong suit (the first version couldn’t move her legs at all). But its maker, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), has been working on it: the newest HRP-4C has toes that support the legs during strides, for example. You can see the result in the video embedded below. HRP-4C isn’t exactly walking like a human yet, but it’s the most impressive result I (as a robot otaku) have seen so far:
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| Sony Japan Announces UMD Passport Program for PS Vita Owners Posted: 11 Nov 2011 01:05 AM PST  In case you are planning to buy Sony’s new handheld PlayStation Vita and were wondering what will happen to your UMDs, Sony finally made an announcement [JP] today, albeit for the Japanese market only at this point. The company says it will establish a so-called UMD Passport Program to make it possible to download versions of your personal UMD games. There is a bit of work involved, however: owners of UMD titles first have to download an app to their PSP, insert and register the disc with their PSN account, and then download the game onto their Vita. Another drawback is that initially, not all titles are supported: Sony published a list of 200 games [JP] that are compatible with the program, and each download will cost players between 500 and 2,400 Yen (US$6.50 to US$31, depending on the game). In other words, you have to repurchase every UMD game that you bought for your PSP if you want to play it on your Vita. The UMD Passport Program will start on December 6, ahead of the December 17 launch of the Vita in Japan.
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| Posted: 11 Nov 2011 01:00 AM PST  Here are some recent posts on TechCrunch Gadgets: Class-Action Lawsuit Forces Apple To Replace Frayed MagSafe Power Cords Sony Hopes To Debut "A New Form Of Television" PRIMEHPC FX10: Fujitsu To Market New Supercomputer To Companies Will An LTE-Friendly Lumia 800 Hit U.S. Shores Next Year?
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| Clawbacks and Startups Don’t Mix Posted: 10 Nov 2011 10:41 PM PST  The story emanating from the Zynga is a wake-up call for startups. Reports allege the company threatened to reclaim stock options originally granted to employees who, in the eyes of the company, were not performing to levels on par with their equity holdings. I don't know what's true and what's not about the Zynga news. Therefore, I'm not going to comment on the particulars of those specific allegations in this post. That said, however, something is clearly going on and spreading around the developer community, and if the Hacker News community is any indicator, this earthquake could have powerful, plate-shifting aftershocks. Last year, one of our family friends was let go from a job at a small but successful hedge fund in New York City. His path to the fund was not rosy. He struggled to get into and out of college. He scraped by to get his accounting license. He worked at a big accounting company for a decade and, it turns out, happened to be so good at his craft that he randomly caught the eye of one of New York's most powerful financiers. He was recruited, offered a plum gig (with grueling hours), jumped ship, let go of his consistent paychecks, and took on considerable risk with a small team to help build a new hedge fund in the middle of the 2008 collapse. Then, a few weeks before his carry in the fund was to be paid out, he was approached by Mr. Number Two, plainly told he'd be fired with a year's severance, and told to grab his belongings. "It's just business." He was crushed. The dollar amount aside, he couldn't understand why this would happen. He sought the advice of all of his mentors, most of whom shook their head in disbelief, dismay, and disgust, all saying some variation of, "it's just business." The opening scene in The Dark Knight depicts a bank robbery pulled off by a group of men, each of whom kill each other, one-by-one during the heist, until the only person standing is the Joker, the mastermind of the scheme. As one of the robbers says, "One less share." Startups are supposed to be different, right? Startups are when people get together to build something new, to form new cultures, to help define a new type of workplace while collectively trying to solve a problem. In the riskiest part of these ventures — company formation and the early stage — startups and their shareholders recruit extremely talented people, mostly technical and some non-technical, on the promise of a potential deferred payoff through realized equity in exchange for a lower monthly salary and oftentimes insane work hours and demands. Yet, so many extremely qualified, passionate people are willing to forgo the safety of a consistent paycheck and defined-contribution retirement program to get into the game. When you step back and think about the dynamics, it's pretty damn inspiring and what makes entrepreneurial ecosystems so exceptional. The reality, however, is that startups are not immune to the Joker's "one less share." In the world of non-unionized, at-will employment, shareholders and managers can terminate employment when they see fit, even at times when a significant payout looms. Sure, once a cliff is reached with respect to vesting of shares, an employee will accrue equity that is rightfully theirs. In some cases, there could be sensitive company intelligence that only the founders, executive management, and board members are aware of, such as a potential acquisition, merger, or details around a public offering. With that information, management could, hypothetically, have an incentive to look over the ledger and ponder a re-splitting the pie. If the story from Zynga is true, and if equity "clawbacks" and attempts to reclaim shares (against threats of termination) are used as tactics to manage option pools and optimize for a policy of "one less share," the repercussions from this could spread. It could be the line in the sand. Should any early-stage employee truly put their trust in an equity agreement or option grant issued by their new employer? Who will back them up when legal fees may be too daunting? Will management seek to retain talent with promises of equity instead of just hiring and firing the right people, in the best interest of the company? These ideas dominated Hacker News and one story posted today had, on its own, close to 300 comments. In my four separate interactions with engineers today, the topic came up, and their reactions were not muted. They are paying attention to every potential actor in this story and what it could mean for their future gigs or when they start their own companies. While clawbacks seem to be known dangers in the world of finance, I'd like to believe that this ethos won't creep into the startup world, an ecosystem that is certainly not perfect but is decidedly far too passionate to say "it's just business." Photo Credit, Flickr / notsogoodphotography
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| The Real Pirates Of Silicon Valley? Posted: 10 Nov 2011 10:32 PM PST  ArcticStartup recently broke the news about an ambitious seasteading endeavor called Blueseed started by Silicon Valley founders Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija. The post came shortly after Max pitched the idea (embedded below) at JumpStartDays on October 17th, in which he received a huge round of applause. Seasteading isn’t a new idea. Other than pirates, one of the first well known attempts at seasteading was the data haven called HavenCo that was located on a sea platform off the coast of England. The sea platform was its own country called Sealand, with its own passports, currency, etc. The project was a direct result of restrictive laws around online gambling. Similar concepts have been developed around floating hospitals called Mercy Ships, where medical treatments are performed on large ocean vessels. While these ships currently serve developing countries, one can imagine how similar ships could provide low cost healthcare all around the world by operating out in the open waters free from the various laws that restrict the ability for inexpensive medical treatments through competitive pricing. Back when I was a sysadmin, I became friends with one of the residents of Sealand and officers of HavenCo, Ryan Lackey and later a few of the founders of Havenco, Jo and Sean Hastings. I was such a huge fan of this endeavor, that I begged Ryan to let me come join him. At the time, I was pondering either working at HavenCo or on a project in Antarctica. I was very young, and this was some phase in my life where I wanted to push myself to extremes. I also loved the idea that there could be ways to make change in the world by applying pressure from outside of a system through creating market choices. This is what Blueseed is attempting to do, but instead of gambling, they are taking the issues around not being able to get H1B immigration visas head on:
Its no secret that I’m a libertarian and a lot of people disagree with my stances on limited government, but I do believe people from all political sides in Silicon Valley are with me when I say our country’s immigration policies are pretty fucked up. I agree with Greg Anderson from ArticStartup, who wrote, “As an American citizen, I don’t know if I should feel really impressed or disappointed about Blueseed’s plans.” I got a chance to interview Max about Blueseed and here’s a summary of our interview: Max became interested in seasteading and creating what he calls the “Googleplex of the sea” after he heard an online talk by Patri Friedman. Max sees seasteading as a response to the reality of the world in which he currently lives in and as a way to change the system from the outside, by simply offering people a better alternative. “If you are comfortable with what you’ve got, that’s fine, but if not, we may have something for you…”. Through complete chance, he eventually met Patri in person at a conference in San Jose and through that luck and serendipity, he ended up joining them at the Seasteading Institute. While director of the institute, Max met his partner Dario. Max had been searching for ways to apply something practical to the concept of seasteading and after looking at things like medical tourism, etc., he decided to become focused on solving a problem near and dear to him. Max is a first generation immigrant and his partner is an immigrant. While Max was in college in Florida, he made friends with amazing and talented people from around the world and after they graduated, they found it incredibly difficult to stay in the US. Most returned home where they started their professional careers, even though that wasn’t what they wanted. They wanted to stay and become part of what once made the US great by helping to create economic growth and prosperity. If you think about many of our entrepreneurial stars in Silicon Valley, you’ll come up with many names of amazing people who came to our country as immigrants. I can name a few off the top of my head such as Max Levchin, Luke Nosek and Alfred Lin, but just for fun and to add gravity to why immigration is so important, you should list as many as you can think of in the comments. Max Marty’s own family didn’t have to go through the pains of sponsorship and visas, because being from Cuba, they were considered political refugees, but he saw this problem all around him and considered it ridiculous that our country treated professionals and entrepreneurs in such a terrible way. Max stated, “Our political reality is that coming to work here is not actually possible.” “The idea came to me while I was on a Reason cruise. When you are on one of these ships, it feels like you are in a small city and part of a community.” Max and I discussed how his ship would need to be an extension of the Silicon Valley community in order to connect with the right talent and investors. Being so close, people would be able to come to shore on visitor visas and take meetings and have a social life. One of the reasons I didn’t go to Sealand was due to gender ratio. Even though I’m well accustomed at this point being surrounded by men, I can always go home and have my girly hideout, but on a platform and in an intimate setting like that, it just didn’t seem like a good idea. I brought this up with Max and he said that the organization will be actively looking for startups led by female entrepreneurs from around the world. The logistics of doing anything on the ocean are mind boggling. His team is currently raising a round of funding to help get to the next stage of making this dream a reality. With a few investors committed, they are one step closer to getting some of the logistical planning out of the way such as food provisioning, establishing relations with customs and border protection, dealing with Internet access, etc. Because this is such a huge endeavor, I asked Max what he most needed help with if I could get the word out there and he said, “Recently we were thinking about the environmental angle to it. Maybe people would be interested in showcasing or demoing their sustainability products on the ship. Come help us create a sustainable environment on the vessel, so that we’re not a blight on the ocean. It would be great to connect with individuals in this space.” I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that we can talk about being pirates all we want, but to truly be a pirate, you have to have a ship. This is a crazy idea, but one I would love to see succeed. Hats off to Max and Dario for dreaming big and trying to make a difference in the world.
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| Posted: 10 Nov 2011 09:23 PM PST  Want to tell your friends that you’ve arrived somewhere, but you’re too lazy to check into Foursquare, Twitter, Instagram, Batch, iMessage or text them? WELL YOU’RE In case you didn’t get the memo, Arrived is an iPhone app that notifies people when you get to a certain place, with, get this, no immediate effort from your lonesome. Yeah, I know. Crazy ass modern world right? Arrived co-founder Matthias Broecheler stands by the fact that a good number of people actually want to do this, “People love to set up arrivals around places like ‘San Francisco’ or ‘Manhattan’ or ‘Central Park’, so that they can be notified when friends arrive there. We spend a lot of time working on a geo-fencing solution that would allow people to arrive in geographic areas of various sizes automatically without draining a user’s battery. We are the first iPhone app we know that does this efficiently. Most apps only do geofencing around places, that is, a geographic point with a small radius around it.” To use Arrived, download the app and pick a place you want to notify people about. Then pick the people you want to notify about your arrival and voila it just works! I picked a random place (The Ramp, a bar down the street) and then a bunch of random people so my old co-workers are totally going to get a random message one of these days when I’ve forgotten all about this article and I’m walking by there on the way to work. HAH. TAKE THAT OLD COWORKERS. You can download this thing here.
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| IBM Debuts Mobile Security Service For Smartphone And Tablet Use In The Enterprise Posted: 10 Nov 2011 08:59 PM PST  As the usage of smartphones increases in business operations, IBM is debuting a new service to help businesses secure mobile devices with access to corporate data. Called the Hosted Mobile Device Security Management service, the new product includes a security application for smartphones and tablets, along with managed services including policy management and user compliance monitoring. IBM says the Device Security Management hosted service helps organizations protect against and monitor data loss and other risks caused by device theft, unauthorized access, malware, spyware, and inappropriate apps. The service allows businesses to configure and monitor employee smartphones and tablets to comply with security policies, secure data in the event that a device is lost or stolen, help to find a lost or stolen device, protect against spyware and viruses, detect and remove malicious and unapproved applications, track user activity, and maintain secure web connections. IBM says it is working with Juniper Networks to provide the protection and device management technology for the service, which will be available for Apple iOS, Google Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Microsoft Windows Mobile. As more and more businesses adopt smartphones and tablets for employee use, the need to secure these mobile devices both when it comes to business data and everyday security issues like malware. The product sounds very similar to the Lookout’s Mobile Security App, Zenprise and Enterproid. Of course, it’s a little surprising that IBM didn’t just acquire one of these companies considering its acquisitive nature.
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| Posted: 10 Nov 2011 08:45 PM PST  Flash-sale site Gilt is rolling out a slightly new look over the next few days. It features bigger pictures, better navigation to sister sites such as Gilt City, Gilt Taste, and Jetsetter, and new semi-permanent “Shops” where high-end brands can park their sales for longer than the typical 36-hour window. Most of the changes are subtle. The most noticeable one is a navigation bar across the top which makes it easy to switch between sales for Women, Men, Baby & Kids, Home, Taste, City, Jettsetter, and Park & Bond. In general, the number of clicks it takes to buy something is now less than it was before. You can “favorite” a brand or label to get more offers from that brand. And you can add upcoming sales to your calendar (so that you don’t forget to spend even more money at Gilt!). The shops are also somewhat of a departure from Gilt’s tradition of offering one item for a limited time. Brands such as Levi’s and Thomas Pink are offering a few select items on an ongoing basis. The inventory in each shop can change and “sell out,” but there is always a rotating collection of clothes and other goods. As the number of regular Gilt shoppers increases, the shops provide brands with better access to them beyond sporadic sales.
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