Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Latest from TechCrunch

The Latest from TechCrunch

Link to TechCrunch

What Comes After The Kindle Fire? The Amazon Smartphone

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 09:09 AM PST

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Amazon just entered the tablet market this week with its Kindle Fire. But this time next year, it could be introducing its own smartphone. A research report put out this morning by Citi analysts Mark Mahaney and Kevin Chang states that an “Amazon smartphone may be coming next year.”

Based on supply-chain checks with hardware manufacturers in China, Citi believes that Amazon is jointly developing the smartphone with Foxconn, but that the phone itself will be manufactured by TMS (which produces the Kindle line).

The chips that will power the phone are at this point believed to be a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor and a Qualcomm “dual mode 6-series standalone baseband” (HSPA+ / CDMA EVDO).

Given the estimated hardware costs of $150 to $170, this will turn out to be a mid-end smartphone which could retail for $300 or less. But Amazon is likely to subsidize much of the costs to make it even more competitive just as it did with the $200 Kindle Fire. “What is important to note is that Amazon does not need to make money on hardware,” writes Mahaney and Chang.

Amazon views mobile devices as the front-end for its digital media. It is a delivery mechanism for ongoing subscription services, so it doesn’t care about making money on the hardware. It is betting it will make much more money on digital books, movies, games, and ecommerce over time.

Tampa’s New TechStars Network Incubator, Gazelle Lab, Launches 6 Companies

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 09:06 AM PST

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It’s Demo Day for Gazelle Lab, the new Tampa Bay-based TechStars Network member, which is seeing its first class of startups launch this morning in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The accelerator, based on the successful TechStars model, was founded in early 2011 with three goals: build an entrepreneurship community in the Tampa Bay area, create a seed stage pipeline (something notoriously lacking in Florida today) and create more jobs.

Despite its struggle to register as a tech hotspot, there’s actually a fairly sizable tech community in the Tampa Bay region – it just doesn’t always involve early stage startups like the ones you would see featured on sites like TechCrunch. Developers here often seem content to work at larger firms, like in banking, healthcare, and of course, given MacDill’s presence, for the military.

With Gazelle Lab, that may soon start to change.

The Lab was founded by Brent Britton, Bill Jackson, John Morrow, Marvin Scaff and Daniel James Scott, all of whom bring considerable knowledge and experience to the startups who participate in this 3-month program. Britton has been helping companies for more than 20 years in Boston, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, New York, and Florida. Bill Jackson is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Director of the Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance at USF St. Petersburg's College of Business. John Morrow is the Entrepreneur-In-Residence with the Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance at USF. The experienced software entrepreneur and technology innovator Marvin Scaff and entrepreneur and author Daniel James Scott round out the group.

Ideally, the startups that launch here will remain here, bringing much-needed jobs to the Tampa Bay area. That may prove to be a challenge – after all, as many VC’s will still tell you that your startup’s location still matters. A lot. But in reality, kick-ass companies can be built anywhere, so it may as well be Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay: where the housing is affordable, the white sand beaches can be enjoyed year-round and where others’ tourist attractions are just our weekend activities. (Yes, Tampa resident here. I like it, too).

Tampa Bay has another benefit which Gazelle Lab happily taps into: the University of South Florida. The accelerator is a part of the Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance at USF St. Petersburg's College of Business, which means it’s in a unique position to leverage the expertise of the student and faculty’s expertise. As a part of the Gazelle Lab program, the startups are asked tough questions by USF entrepreneurship majors who help the companies with their due diligence.

And, as a TechStars Network member, Gazelle Lab has access to other TechStar resources, including mentorship and hosting deals and discounts. It also offers the usual benefits of an incubator, like free office space, local mentors, legal assistance and, of course, seed stage funding. Each of the companies gets up to $18,000 ($6,000 per founder) in exchange for Gazelle’s 6% stake. The group is now looking to raise a $3 million dollar fund which will keep the program going for another five years.

Based on this first round of startups (below), that investment may be worth it.

And now, the new launches:

AutoIQ.co is built around solving very common points of pain for drivers like, "what does my check engine light mean?" and "who do I trust to get it fixed?" The service combines automotive diagnostics, mobile technologies and data analytics to create a “health record” for cars. Drivers use an easy-to-install hardware device ($29.99) to get access to engine diagnostics while an accompanying mobile app provides additional service record scanning, plus trusted referrals from your social networks and AutoIQ’s network. Consumers dump their service record receipts in a pre-paid envelope, which AutoIQ digitizes and inputs in the app. The apps and service record scanning are free, but when a provider match is found, they pay a modest messaging fee to contact the consumer in need. Started in August, AutoIQ's Android app and service are in private testing now. More mobile platforms and broader beta testing is scheduled later this fall. Although there are many competitors (CarMD, AuotMD, etc.), AutoIQ sees them as potential partners for programmatic access to the historical car “health” data it collects from customers.

Dropost.it wants to change the way you share gifts by allowing users to drop gifts for friends at a given location. These gifts are somewhat like virtual gift cards that show up when you visit a particular venue. The service uses the geolocation capabilities in modern smartphones to know when you’ve arrived, and will then ping you about the money your friend left for you. For example, you show up for dinner at a favorite restaurant and get a message that says, “happy anniversary, this meal is on us…love mom and dad.” This message can be written out or recorded as a video. The service works on top of PayPal for now, but plans for mobile wallet integration are on the company’s roadmap. The potentially interesting part to Dropost.it’s offering is how it recommends which gifts you should buy. The service accesses social networking data from Facebook and soon, Foursquare and Twitter, to make suggestions as to the venues and merchants your friends favorite.

Kngroo wants to help you discover your city by way of an urban scavenger hunt application that uses game mechanics. Players receive trophies and gold, redeemable for deals and gifts, for their interactions with locally owned and operated businesses. In addition to being a fun game, Kngroo is also a powerful marketing platform for local businesses. Merchants can sign up for a premium account to access the demographic data Kngroo collects on their customers and can customize the experience of their location using the company’s “Tools For Engagement.” While not entirely novel, the new app presents an interesting mix of local discovery (e.g., Foursquare Radar, Gowalla) with check-in deals and scavenger hunts (SCVNGR, Shopkick, etc.).

Teburu is a complete online platform for small-to-medium sized restaurants that allows them to better serve and connect with their online and mobile customers. Customers can order from any of the restaurants’ locations over the Web or from their smartphone, as well as place reservations, receive coupons and newsletters and more. Restaurants using the service can then increase revenues (in testing, Teburu saw increases of 25%) by making pickup and delivery orders easier and more accurate. All this is run through inexpensive Android-based tablets or through the restaurants’ existing POS, if the restaurant desires. The tablet can either print out a ticket or can be used alongside the POS system for manual entry. The system is currently in a closed, live beta with five chains and is raising capital for expansion and scale. Although other solutions exist for facilitating the online/mobile ordering process, they are typically expensive or are managed by third-parties who handle orders by sending them to the restaurant’s fax or email.

Red Hawk Interactive Inc. has created an e-commerce, white-label platform that allows content creators (home fitness, education, college sports, independent Web series, kids content and more) who normally distribute content over DVD to make it available through streaming media platforms via a subscription service. Content creators can upload their video to one platform (Red Hawk) for distribution to other devices like Boxee, Roku and Apple TV. By creating these micro-channels, Red Hawk Interactive Inc., wants to enable companies to monetize their content while also giving consumers instant access to the content across a wide array of mobile, tablet and other devices. The company is currently working with sports training video producers and creators of other unique content to secure distribution rights.

PropertyManagementdirect.com is a new service offered by Leads Direct Inc, a pay-for-performance Internet lead provider for niche service-based verticals. PropertyManagementDirect.com connects property owners with property managers in a new way, simplifying the entire process. Property owners use the site to learn about property management, learn how to hire a property manager, interact with other property owners, get advice and find the right property management company for their needs. Property management companies receive high quality leads and only pay for the leads they receive. PropertyManagementDirect.com will launch December 1st 2011, with a soft launch November 15th. The formula will then be replicated across other verticals.



Google Shares Galaxy Nexus Specs, Tutorials, And The New Commercial

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 09:01 AM PST

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The wait for the Galaxy Nexus is finally over in some parts of the world, but those of us in the States are still waiting for our turn with our noses pressed up against the glass. As if to torture us further, Google has not only released the domestic variant’s full spec sheet, but they have also uploaded a full series of Galaxy Nexus walkthrough videos.

As far as the spec sheet goes, there isn’t too much that we didn’t already know. It does however confirm that the US-spec Galaxy Nexus has a slightly beefier battery than its international counterpart (1850mAh vs. 1750mAh). That extra juice comes at a price, and in this case it means Verizon’s Nexus is just a little chubbier than the one teased in Hong Kong. Luckily, the difference is a just over half a millimeter so only wearers of the tightest skinny jeans have cause to complain.

So, with that spec sheet out in the wild, we know almost everything about the Galaxy Nexus except for its actual release date. In the meantime, feel free to make the wait even more excruciating by watching Google’s walkthrough videos. There are quite a few out there, with topics ranging from “using Beam” to “how not to break the battery plate.”

Interestingly, some of Droid-Life’s readers point out that Verizon’s Backup Assistant and My Verizon Mobile apps seem to be preloaded on the device. It’s frankly a bit of a shock considering the Nexus’s status as a pure Google phone, but I’m guessing that little bit of promotion had Verizon putting their corporate checkbook through the wringer.

Lastly, Google’s thrown up what seems to be a new commercial for the Galaxy Nexus, entitled “Calling All.” Rather than dissecting the ad and debating its merits and shortcomings, I’ll just leave it here for you to peek at. Personally, I think it’s a welcome change from the overbearing pomposity of Motorola’s recent Droid RAZR ads, but we’ll soon see if the softer approach works out.

Cloud Storage Platform Box Debuts Developer Platform /Bin; $2M Fund To Invest In The Enterprise

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 08:45 AM PST

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After raising a whopping $81 million in funding from a group of all-star investors, including Salesforce, SAP Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, NEA, Andreessen Horowitz and Draper Fisher Jurvetson; cloud storage platform Box.net is setting its sights on the next stage—supporting its developer community. The company is launching the a new platform for developer building off of the Box platform, called the Box Innovation Network (/bin). Additionally, Box is unveiling a $2 million fund (of its own money) to invest in enterprise applications built on the Box platform.

Box, which has 8 million users and stores over 300 million documents, is a cloud storage platform for the enterprise that comes with collaboration, social and mobile functionality. Box has evolved into more than just a file storage platform, and has become a full-fledged collaborative application where businesses can actually communicate about document updates, sync files remotely, and even add features from Salesforce, Google Apps, NetSuite, Yammer and others.

Currently, company provides storage solutions for 77% of the Fortune 500 with 100,000 businesses using Box’s service (250,000 new users are joining each month).

Of course, a central part of this growth, says CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie has been the company’s developer community and ecosystem. Currently, Box has 4,500 API partners and is seeing 200 million API calls per month. In fact, there are four times the number of developers creating applications currently from a year ago, says Levie. Specifically, mobile has seen massive growth with a 30 times increase in the volume of mobile enterprise deployments at the close of Q3 2011 compared to the close of Q3 2010.

The company has seen a number of successful API deployments this year at a large-scale at a number of businesses, including Pabst Brewing Company, DOW Chemical, and National Equity Fund.

A big part of Box’s next step as a more mature company is bringing developers together into the Box community and help API developers create better applications. "Slow-moving enterprise software giants have produced very little innovation in recent years, and their closed ecosystems have made it all but impossible for outside players to create compelling experiences for customers on legacy systems," Levie says.

The launch of /bin creates a community that supports developers as they work to build enterprise-grade apps off of Box’s platform that will meet business demands and help transform cloud storage.

At its core, /bin is structured around its direct partner and member connections. Box is partnering with Appcelerator, VMWare’s Cloud Foundry, Heroku, Rackspace, SnapLogic, and Twilio to offer special services relating to hosting, mobile and more to developers building off the Box platform. The vision for these partners, says Levie, is that they will provide /bin members with the tools and services they will need to build robust applications using the Box APIs.

/bin will also offer resources, new features and functionality on the Box platform. In addition to working with platform partners, Box is also investing up to two million dollars in fund money for /bin members chosen to support the growth and development of future enterprise applications built on the Box platform. The funding will go towards equity investments, intellectual property acquisitions, and co-development of enterprise products.

As Levie tells me, “the general idea behind /bin and the investment fund is to cultivate a strong community and network for developers to get right resources and support to build enterprise applications.”

2011 has proven to be a big year for Box. Prior to announcing the major raise a few weeks ago, Box was a $500 million acquisition target (in the last funding round, Box was valued at $600 million). And the company has debuted a number of new product innovations including debuting integrations with Salesforce’s social network for the enterprise Chatter, and a new syncing feature.

As for what’s next, Levie tells us that we can expect a major product update in Box’s enterprise edition for businesses soon. We’ll also see a number of exciting partnerships in mobility space and future product development in mobile. Box is also using its new funding towards international expansion and will be opening a third data center in 2012.

Of course, part of Box’s future could include a public offering. One of the company’s first investors, DFJ’s managing director Josh Stein told us recently that “Box absolutely should be a public company” and said that an offering is in the company’s future plans.

As for how that fits in to today’s news, creating a vibrant developer ecosystem is an important port of Box’s maturation from a startup to a billion dollar (and potentially public) company. And engaging developers will certainly help Box continue to grow the reach of its cloud storage platform.

FanBridge’s New Facebook Brand Page Omni-App Combines Functionality From 12 Partners

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 08:44 AM PST

FanBridge Partner Ecosystem

Facebook Pages can host as many applications as they want, but unfortunately, most visitors never click away from the single default landing tab. To let its brand and band clients offer ecommerce, crowdfunding, music, video, and ticketing all within their default tab, marketing platform FanBridge today launches partnerships with 12 developers. Clients can simultaneously integrate functionality from Topspin, IndieGoGo, SoundCloud, Stickam, and Songkick, and other partners into the free FanBridge Fan Page Creator app. By creating a partner ecosystem, FanBridge can become the hub which aggregates other apps rather than having to build them on its own. The omni-app’s flexibility and name-brand partners could help FanBridge pull clients away from Facebook Page management titans such as Buddy Media and Vitrue that force brands to choose a single feature app as their default landing tab.

At its core, FanBridge Fan Page Creator is about reducing friction inherent in the Facebook Page tab application system. Page visitors land at one app, but have to use the small navigation menu on the side of the screen to visit others. They rarely go to the trouble, so brands are typically left to either define their identity with one app that doesn’t tell the whole story, or go to the trouble of frequently rotating the default app. Fanzila tried to solve this through a creating multi-feature app, but it’s building all the modules on its own rather than picking the best providers of commonly requested  functionality.

FanBridge presents an easier cross-app experience for users that could translate into more engagement, conversions, donations, and more actions that benefit brands. FanBridge’s VP of Product AJ Magnuson explains that its partners have all developed high quality standalone apps, but that “some have had trouble gaining traction or just want to focus on core functionality” rather than building out other features or a full content management system. Integrations with FanBridge give them added distribution without much additional development work.

Clients of FanBridge can add their content and determine which partner functionality to show through a CMS dashboard. Soon, FanBridge will be aggregating data about partner feature usage from across the Pages it powers to give clients recommendations about which functionality will work best for them. It hopes to pull in clients with the free app, then upsell them on subscriptions to its social marketing suite and other services.

Facebook has classically done a poor job with app discovery, for both users and Page admins. Through its ecosystem FanBridge can act as a curator, giving brands access to only the highest quality apps, and relieving them from having to choose whether visitors will first see their ecommerce storefront, video channel or another app.

I’ve listed the 12 partners and their functionalities below, and developers can now apply to join the FanBridge ecosystem.

  • Bandsintown – Concert promotion, Facebook Events integration, and ticket sales
  • Crowdsurge – Merchandise, music, and ticket sales
  • Dympol - Charity donation solicitation
  • IndieGoGo – Crowdfunding
  • Moontoast – Ecommerce with exclusive offers for fans
  • Nimbit – Music and merchandise ecommerce
  • Owjo – Digital media and physical merchandise ecommerce
  • PledgeMusic – Real-time fund raising and charity donation solicitation
  • Songkick - Concert promotion, ticket sales
  • SoundCloud – Music streaming
  • Stickam – Live video streaming
  • Topspin – Marketing and ecommerce suite

Sibblingz Debuts New Version Of Game Creation Platform, Spaceport

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 08:30 AM PST

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Multi-device social gaming platform Sibblingz is debuting a new version of its game creation platform Spaceport.

For background, Spaceport, allows game developers to build a game once, using Javascript, and have it play across all smartphone operating systems, with a native app-like experience and fast performance. The web-based games run as a hybrid HTML5 – native app, and the code for the game is written once, in a simple scripting language, so that they can then run on any device. And developers can also create native iOS apps as well using Spaceport.

Because Adobe announced that it would ve ceasing further development of its mobile Flash plug-in, Sibbling wants to fill the gap for Flash game developers.
The company says Spaceport 3.0 is the most advanced iteration of Sibblingz's mobile game development and rendering platform yet.

Spaceport 3.0 allows developers to continue writing games with Adobe's Flash desktop-based authoring and content creation tools while making the games instantly usable on iOS, Android and HTML5. The platform automatically converts Flash animations created in Adobe tools as “SWF” files into Spaceport vector graphics. These are then rendered on iOS and Android devices by the high performance GPU-based rendering engine in Spaceport as opposed to the much slower and battery-hogging Flash plug-in which utilizes the CPU.

As Siblingz’ Peter Relan explains: Flash developers are very good at understanding how to build Flash games using Adobe tools and scripting languages like ActionScript. In moving to mobile they have to abandon these tools, languages and APIs and learn new tools, APIs and hard core languages like Objective C and Java which they have no clue about. Spaceport allows them to develop their games in a scripting language (Javascript, using APIs that are very similar Adobe’s Flash APIs) and the exact same Adobe toolset…With Spaceport they get the best of both worlds: the comfort of Adobe tools and API’s, AND being able to deploy on all mobile devices.

Spaceport 3.0 uses JavaScript instead of ActionScript to support high performance HTML5 games on Android and iOS, and has improved performance overall. The platform is free for developers.

Sibblingz, which is profitable, already makes ‘millions of dollars a year’ in revenue from share fees from games using its technology. The company just raised $1 million in new funding from YouWeb.



Microsoft And Samsung’s Surface 2 Now Up For Pre-Order

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 08:06 AM PST

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Fond as we are of Microsoft’s touchscreen Surface table and all of the kooky things people have made it do, its replacement has come one step closer to seeing the light of day. Samsung and Microsoft have just announced that the next-generation Surface table, the SUR40, is now available for preorder in over 23 countries.

One of the first things you notice about the SUR40 is how much slimmer it is than the Microsoft’s original Surface. Gone is the massive pedestal that housed the Surface’s internals — the SUR40 manages to squeeze an Athlon X2 processor and the rest of its components flush against the 40-inch multi-touch display.

Samsung was able to trim so much cruft from the Surface’s body because the inclusion of Microsoft’s PixelSense technology allowed them to axe the 5-camera array that powered the original. PixelSense allows the SUR40′s LCD panel to essentially “see” objects, movements, and touch gestures — check the video below to see it in action. On top of that, the SUR40 is also capable of tracking up to 50 touch points simultaneously, which sounds like a good time in my book.

Businesses found the original Surface a novel way to have their customers interact with rich content, leading to early partnerships with companies like Harrah’s, T-Mobile, and Starwood Hotels. Samsung and Microsoft seem to be targetting new models to the same sort of audience, but there’s nothing that says you can’t for your own little commercial enterprise.

If the thought of living without one of these things in your life is just too much to bear, you can reserve one for around $8,400. Samsung and Microsoft still haven’t pinned down a release date though, so just be careful — you may be waiting left waiting for a little while yet.

Angie’s List Shares Pop Over 30 Percent To Open $18 Per Share, Valued At Nearly $900M

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 08:01 AM PST

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Angie's List, which offers consumers a way to review and rate doctors, contractors and service companies on the Web, priced its IPO at the high end of the range, at $13 per share last night, and today is starting to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ANGI." This morning Angie’s List opened at $18 per share, a nearly 40 percent increase from its pricing last night.

At $18 per share, Angie’s List would be valued at a nearly $900 million market cap. Angie’s List raised $114 million in the offering.

Angie's List launched in 1995 with a focus on local home, yard and car services, sits at the intersection of local search, user-generated content and subscription-based services. To date, Angie's List has raised nearly $100 million from Battery Ventures, T. Rowe Price, City Investment Group, Cardinal Ventures and others.

As of September 30, 2011, the company offered its service to paying members in 175 local markets in the United States (compared to 170 as of August). Angie's List now has more than 1 million (up from 820,000) paid memberships.

Angie's List incurred marketing expenses of $30.2 million and $48 million in 2010 and the nine months ended September 30, 2011, respectively. In 2010 and the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the company's revenue was $59.0 million and $62.6 million, respectively. In the same periods, Angie's net loss was $27.2 million and $43.2 million. Angie's List has incurred net losses its start and had an accumulated deficit of $160.6 million as of September 30, 2011.

50 Cent’s Headphones By SMS Audio Get Priced Starting At $129, Available For Pre-Order Now

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 07:37 AM PST

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The nation’s long nightmare is almost over. 50 Cent’s headphones are finally fully detailed and SMS Audio is taking pre-orders for the over-the-ear models. The in-ears will be available later. Thank goodness. This was turning into the NeverEnding Story Part IV.

The story goes that 50 Cent & Co. enlisted the help of Sleek Audio to build a wireless headset presumable to compete with Beats. The resulting product was the star of Sleek Audio’s CES 2011 booth but the deal went south last May. Then, over the summer, 50 Cent’s SMS Audio acquired KonoAudio for its executive leadership and likely manufacturing know-how. So here we are today. The entire line is finally revealed after several weeks of teaser pics.

The prices are right in line with current market trends. The wireless over-the-ear cans cost $399 while the wired versions cost just $299. Both are availble for pre-order starting today with an expected ship date of December 5th. The earbuds start at $129 but aren’t available for order just yet. Look for a hands-on post in the coming weeks.

Social Ad Tech Provider BLiNQ Media Acqhires Looxii Analytics Founders

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 07:30 AM PST

BLiNQ Looxii

Poaching talent through the “acqhire” model isn’t just for giant consumer-facing web services. BLiNQ Media, provider of social ads tech to agencies including Havas and Starcom, tells us that yesterday it acqhired the founders of social media data and analytics firm Looxii. Daniel Upton and Adam Rice’s company provided search, monitoring, and sentiment analysis of big social media data sources, while BLiNQ licenses white-labeled tools to ad agencies for buying ads through the Facebook Ads API and other social services. As advertising on social services incorporates more social context and brand mentions, the ability to pick out and amplify positive mentions will become crucial to BLiNQ, and Upton and Rice will help. Looxi will continue to operate.

A few years ago, successful social advertising meant developing high quality targeting and creative combinations, then A/B testing them. But Facebook is now moving more towards Sponsored Stories that amplify word of mouth, and Twitter’s ad products are centering around trending topics. Knowing what ad targets are saying is becoming just as important as who they are. BLiNQ needs talent that can make sense of the conversational firehoses, and these new hires have a background that will allow them to deliver.

On the specific role of the new hires, BLiNQ Media co-founder and CEO Dave Williams says Daniel and Adam will be “developing simple-to-use user interfaces and rich data visualizations that filter social media KPI’s (key performance indicators), such as demographic information, interests information, online influence, and sentiment. These measurements will help the brands we work with gain better intelligence, so they can more effectively measure what is working in their social campaigns — and what needs adjusting.”

[Image Credit: Samdobrow Photography via Examiner]

Y Combinator-Backed Vimessa Launches To Bring Free Video Voicemail To Every Device

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 07:30 AM PST

Screen shot 2011-11-17 at 5.21.38 AM

Back in August, Y Combinator debuted its largest (and I’d say most stellar) class of startups to date. One of those companies is now ready to fully peel back the curtain and launch its app into the public fray. Vimessa is a free video voicemail app for the iPhone that allows consumers to send high-definition video messages to any mobile phone number or email address. And, unlike FaceTime, iMessage, MMS, and other video messaging services, the app works on all mobile devices and desktops, including feature phones, smartphones, and tablets.

What’s more, users don’t need to have Vimessa installed or even own an iPhone to receive these free high res messages, they can access them through a simple link. However, because it’s faster to send, receive, and view messages for those who have the app installed on their phones, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone apps are on their way.

Vimessa CEO and Co-founder Peter Clark said that he thinks the value proposition of his startup is that it offers a fast and convenient user experience — one that’s similar to texting — but holds more visual and emotional power thanks to video. Vimessa users can share an experience, show a place, invite others to join them at an event, or just talk about what they’re doing over cellular or WiFi connections. Vimessa also shows which users have Vimessa installed and stores videos securely in the cloud and synchronizes them with users’ mobile devices.

Of course, thanks to MMS, sending video messages via mobile devices doesn’t seem like a new idea, but current solutions have been predominantly focused on video calling. Vimessa thinks that in spite of apps like FaceTime, this live video functionality isn’t really what customers want. Instead, users want to replay and reply to video messages at their own pace. Going slightly against the grain, Vimessa believes, for most synchronous conversations, audio will do quite nicely, thank you.

What’s more, Clark said that coordinating Skype video calls is difficult for people trying to reach international recipients (something that many heavy Skype users know all too well) and traditional voicemails aren’t personal enough. Vimessa takes advantage of the ubiquity of front-facing cameras on smartphones, which has made it exceedingly easy to for anyone to create insta-videos from any location, and hurdles this pain point.

Thus, Vimessa’s ability to send a video message to anyone, regardless of whether or not they have the app installed, solves a major mobile communication headache and gives the app a big leg-up on MMS. It’s also a nice bonus that there is no limit to the amount of video messages one can send through the app. Though it’s important to point out that video messages will “self destruct” after two months; however, users can choose to store their videos “forever” for an affordable $19 per year.

But for Vimessa to really kick ass, it will need to add some key features, like sharing conversation threads on Facebook and Twitter, send pre-recorded video stored on smartphones, group messaging, and video transcriptions.

In the big picture, considering text messages look about the same today as they did ten years ago and the ease of video recording only continues to improve, these kinds of easy, device and platform agnostic video messaging solutions are sure to be a big part of the global communication infrastructure going forward.

For more on Vimessa, check ‘em out at home here.

Gametel Gaming Controller Turns Any Android Phone Into An Xperia Play (But Better)

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 07:28 AM PST

Gametel Gaming Controller

For many of us, the Xperia Play just wasn’t quite tempting enough to throw out your PSP or 3DS, but there’s no doubt that mobile gaming is on its way to the big leagues. The dedicated D-Pad was an excellent idea, but there simply weren’t enough games supported to make it a worthwhile investment. But what if you could slap a game controller onto your phone and play to your hearts’ desire, only to remove the controller when it’s time to make a call or head out of the house? That would be lovely wouldn’t it?

Meet Fluctel’s Gametel Gaming Controller — a bluetooth controller that latches on to any Android phone that runs Android 2.1 or higher. Oh, and did I mention that it’ll support over 50 games straight out of the box, including Cordy, Asphalt 5 HD, Reckless Getaway, Guns'n'Glory, MotoX Mayhem, Happy Vikings and Zenonia.

According to PocketGamer, the Gametel Gaming Controller offers about nine hours of battery life and automatically shuts down after six minutes of inactivity. The controller connects to the phone via Bluetooth, which means that you can also disconnect the controller and play from afar. A handful of powerful Android devices sport kickstands these days so that’s an option, but if your phone supports HDMI out then you’re in for a real treat. No console, no expensive games — just you, your phone, and the gaming controller duking it out on the big screen.

The controller sports spring-loaded clamps and rubberized grips to lock your phone into place, but that surely can’t protect against gamer rage, so no throwing this controller across the room, OK?

The truth is, no matter how excellent your phone’s graphics are or how fast your processor is, some games are just annoying using on-screen controls. That’s why the Xperia Play was such a brilliant idea, and why the Gametel Gaming Controller is an even better one.

The controller isn’t available yet, but the company has an email notification sign-up on its website. The controller will retail for around £49.95 (US $67), and should show its D-Padded face in December.



Capital One Co-Founder Invests In Online Payments Company Braintree

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 07:00 AM PST

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Braintree, an online payments provider, is announcing that Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris has joined the company's board of directors and invested in the company following a $34 million investment from Accel Partners earlier this year.

Braintree essentially powers and automates online payments for merchants and companies online. The company provides a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing, credit card storage, support for mobile and international payments, and PCI Compliance solutions.

Morris, who is currently the managing partner of QED Investors, is best known as the co-founder of Capital One Financial Services. The amount of his investment in BrainTree has not been disclosed.

BrainTree has become a one-stop-shop for all the services a business needs to receive payments from anywhere in the world. The company’s clients include Airbnb, LivingSocial, OpenTable, Animoto, Lookout, Shopify, Brightcove, Hotel Tonight, GoMobo, 37Signals, and GitHub. The company is now processing more than $4 billion in annual credit card volume. Braintree also recently brought on payments exec and former Accel EIR Bill Ready as CEO.



AdMob Dominates Android Ad Network Market Share

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:59 AM PST

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Mobile analytics firm Xyologic has released a market share breakdown that estimates the mobile ad and ad exchange network breakdowns on Android. According to its research, AdMob was found to be the dominant player on the Android platform, with an 89% market share, based on an analysis of all the downloaded ad-supported Android apps in the month of October.

Millennial Media, Inmobi, AdMob acquisition AdWhirl and Mobclix trailed further behind.

Although the IDC releases a report on the mobile advertising ecosystem each year, it is often disputed, explains Xyologic Co-founder Matthaus Krzykowski. In addition, the IDC research doesn’t drill down into either operating system or app level data.  Xyologic’s study does.

According to its findings, 50% of the top 1,000 downloaded apps on Android in October had at least one mobile ad network or mobile ad exchange SDK. And 22% of these had two or more mobile ad network SDKs.

In the group containing just the top 1,000 ad-supported apps, 89% used AdMob’s SDK, 34% used Millennial Media’s SDK, 22% used Inmobi, 19% used AdWhirl and 15% used Mobclix.

Out of all the ad-supported Android apps, 89% used AdMob, 48% used Millennial Media, 26% used Inmobi, 17% used AdWhirl and 17% used Mobclix.

To be clear, ad exchanges like AdWhirl maintain the inventory of other ad networks including AdMob, Millennial and Inmobi.

The remaining 15% of the top ad-supported apps is made up of other ad exchanges with much smaller traction. These include AdMarvel, Smaato, Burstly, Mopub, Nexage, Fiksu and Jumptap. Each of these individually accounts for less than 3% of the overall market share, but combined, they represent 26% of all ad-supported apps in October.

Xyologic collects its data uses proprietary technology in combination with reliable third-party sources, it says. The company also produces comprehensive reports on global app downloads, releasing 220 reports per month which cover the top 4 mobile platforms and 29 countries. Recently, Xyologic began releasing these reports for free.

Additional information about today’s research is available on Xyologic’s blog here.

PC Hardware Makers Pulling Back On Tablet Manufacturing

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:41 AM PST

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Digitimes, quoting “sources from upstream supply chains,” is stating that PC manufacturers like Dell, Acer, and HP are building fewer tablet products in direct reaction to devices like the iPad, Kindle Fire, and Nook Tablet. Citing an inability to gain traction against devices with rich content to back them up, the manufacturers are looking elsewhere to regain a foothold in the mobile market.

In truth, manufacturers know they won’t get far building vehicles for Android, Google Music notwithstanding. Building and marketing a tablet like the Xoom or the Asus Transformer is a perilous process and is buffeted by the whims of a price-conscious consumer. It doesn’t make economic sense to build and try to sell a few hundred thousand slates that will be considered obsolete in a few months.

It seems that only Samsung, with their Galaxy Tabs, has gained any brand recognition. The rest of the players are, at best, also-rans.

Amazon and, to an extent, Barnes & Noble, have the right idea: they sell the device to sell the content. There is no reason, for example, that the eink versions of the Kindle and Nook shouldn’t be free with Amazon Prime or content subscription services other than to prevent the perception that the devices are cheap. I can understand charging a bit for the color devices like the Tablet and the Fire, but if (to murder a metaphor) Amazon is selling the razor cheap and the blades at a premium, then it makes little sense for folks like HP to sell the arguably superior straight razors they’ve been trying to ship.

The pattern of boom and bust in tablets closely follows the rise and fall of the netbook. The netbook was supposed to save the PC industry – and it did – until people started competing on price. Now the concept of a netbook is laughable in the face of the ultrabook and the more popular tablets and it took far too long for PC manufacturers to realize this. By reacting swiftly to reduced interest in their wares and focusing on consumer experience in higher margin items – namely Windows 8 devices in a laptop form factor, it just makes sense for most of these guys to pull the plug on their misguided slate dreams.

Bag Week Review: Crumpler Pinnacle of Horror

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:35 AM PST

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This is my new go-to bag. That’s saying something, too. Despite reviewing dozens of computers bags during my tenure at TechCrunch, I’ve stuck with the Ogio HipHop for years. It’s made four CES trips, three to CEDIA, a few E3s and countless random flights around the country. I love it. But now it’s just hanging in my closest. The Crumpler Pinnacle of Horror now hangs on the hook by my door, always ready to hit the road.

The Crumpler Pinnacle of Horror

Type: Sleeve/Shoulder Bag

Dimensions: 15″ MacBook Pro, 13″ MacBook Pro, 11″ MacBook Air

Pockets: Padded main compartment, back sleeve, one small zippered pockets up front and a one on the inside

Features: Weather resistant nylon construction, roll-top main compartment, adjustable strap with removable pad, soft-to-touch lined interior

MSRP: $135

Product Page

Crumpler started transition from just a camera bag maker to a full fledge bag provider a few years ago and that transformation is seemingly complete. They now offer a large range of bags including their staple photography line. The Pinnacle of Horror is part of the Laptop Bags line that also includes sleeves, backpacks and laptop briefcases. At $135, this particular bag is a little on the pricey side but makes up for it with solid construction.

The Pinnacle of Horror is only currently available in gunmetal and red. The exterior is a brownish grey with a contrasting bold red interior. A single, small side pocket occupies the front while a document holder is around back. Just a single strap secures the top but the clever fold-over flap allows it to function, at least temporarily, without it. For added protection, a zipper spans the top flap but I never felt the need to use it. Inside is a padded notebook divider and a large pocket across the width of the bag. Normally I despise bags that lack internal organizational pockets but the overall simplicity of this bag won me over.

The bag’s opening is just wide enough for a 15-inch MacBook Pro while the roominess allows for all sorts of additional things. The surprisingly big bag can even hold a DLSR in a pinch but, since there isn’t a dedicated padded pocket, it might not be the best idea. Still, it lends to this bag’s versital nature.

Who is it for?

Just looking at the bag you wouldn’t think anything of it. It looks rather mundane but it’s the perfect size for a notebook, a tablet, and anything else you’ll need while out an about like a camera or text book. It lacks a water bottle holder, a multitude of pockets and silly things like a dedicated cell phone holder. But don’t let that turn you off. It’s not really meant for the traveling salesman that needs to have an array of items available at an instant. But for an around-the-town bag (or a basic flight bag), it’s nearly perfect.

Do I want it?

Yes, I really think you do.

But as previously mentioned, it’s not the biggest bag available. Don’t expect to tout a gaming notebook outside of the Alienware M11x. The bag is super easy on the shoulder and the fold-over design of the main compartment makes for an accessible, but still secure, top flap. The bag is handsome in a way. You wouldn’t see Alan Shore carrying it to court, but Jim Halpert would totally rock the Pinnacle of Horror to the office. The Crumpler Pinnacle of Horror is an solid bag. A more appropriate name is Pinnacle of Awesomeness.

Product Page

Click to view slideshow.


Security Risk Intelligence Company Rapid7 Raises $50 Million

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:14 AM PST

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Rapid7, a company that develops security risk intelligence products, has raised $50 million in a series C funding from Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV). This brings the company’s total funding to $60 million.

Rapid7 provides the enterprise with an offering that identifies any security risks in a company’s IT infrastructure, and prioritize their remediation based on the probability of an attack. Nexpose, the company’s flagship product, scans for security risks across entire IT environments, including Web, network, applications and databases.

The company, which has 1,700 customers, says that revenue has increased more than 900% over the past four years and reported its tenth quarter of record revenue in Q3 2011.

The new funding will be used towards hiring, product development, strategic acquisitions and international expansion.

WildChords Arrives On The iPad With Fun Guitar Lessons In Tow

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:08 AM PST

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As a long-time rhythm game junkie, Ovelin’s new WildChords app strikes very close to home for me. Part Guitar Hero and part instructional aid, WildChords aims to take players though the basics of playing guitar without all the theory that often scares beginners away.

The story — to the extent that it matters — puts you in the shoes of an afro’d guitar player who needs to tame a city full of ornery animals with the power of music. Players progress through the game by doing two things: learning to play chords, and learning to play note patterns on the fretboard.

Gameplay is conceptually similar to Guitar Hero, with players strumming chords and hitting notes as they scroll horizontally across the screen. WildChords starts off deceptively easy (you begin by just strumming your guitar), but it isn’t long before the difficulty starts to ramp up at a steady pace. After a few levels, players will be stringing chords together while accompanied by some vaguely familiar sounding background music.

Playing WildChords is meant to be a learning experience, and one of it’s biggest draws is its ability to gauge how well you’re playing a chord or note. It’s easy to be skeptical, but the app’s sound recognition is surprisingly accurate. Early stages have players strumming E minor, and while the game wouldn’t protest when I played an E major, it was savvy enough to reject the C chord I’d occasionally try and sneak past it. If you’re already an iPad-toting guitarist, you’ll also be glad to know that the tuner works very well — I couldn’t figure out why I would completely bomb a note-playing level until I discovered how out of tune my guitar was.

As impressive as WildChords can be, it’s not without a few sore spots. Every once in a while, the game will suddenly lock up after completing a level, which can be a bit jarring after a hard-earned victory. It’s fairly rare, and I haven’t been able to consistently reproduce it, but be on the look-out regardless.

The thing to remember about WildChords is that it’s not meant to be a comprehensive guitar teacher — people looking for music theory lessons should look elsewhere. By sidestepping the instrument’s more classical trappings, WildChords gets new players up and running with the basics and (more importantly) makes practicing fun.

After beating a few levels for example, players will have a better feel for moving around the fretboard and jumping between chords, both things that tend to elude guitar novices like myself. While the kid-friendly graphics will probably make WildChords a must-have for the tiny musician in your life, the app’s great tuner alone should net it a place in a guitarist’s toolkit.

WildChords is available now in the iOS App Store for free.

Paperlinks Makes Takeout Menus More Interactive With QR Codes

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST

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Y Combinator-backed Paperlinks, which creates QR codes for businesses and brands with an emphasis on the design of the code itself, is hoping to reinvent takeout menus with its technology.

The beauty of Paperlinks is that instead of leading people to a web page (as most QR codes do), Paperlinks app and codes open up a landing page with the company’s logo and other modules, which can include Tweets, calendars, video, contact info, photos and more.

Through its Order Takeout functionality, diners can scan Paperlinks-enabled takeout menus and order their food by tapping on their phones. Once you scan a code on a menu via the Paperlinks app or any QR code reader, you get instant access to the restaurant's mobile-friendly, interactive menu.

From this page, you can select dishes to order, specify delivery instructions, add on a service tip and pay via Paperlinks' Checkout Cart.Orders are sent directly to the participating restaurant in their format of choice (via email or fax) to be filled and delivered to the customer.

Paperlinks says it takes restaurants minutes to create a mobile landing site and QR code. The startup faces competition from Seamless, GrubHub and others in the online food ordering space.

To date, Paperlinks has signed up more than 12,000 customers – from small, local establishments to brands such as Nestlé and Live Nation's House of Blues.



VigLink Debuts LinkWeaver To Help Publishers Monetize Outbound Clicks

Posted: 17 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST

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VigLink, a startup that helps publishers and bloggers monetize their outbound traffic, is debuting LinkWeaver, a new technology which detects product and merchant references within content on web pages and allows website publishers to embed affiliate links automatically to create additional revenue.

LinkWeaver, which powers VigLink's link insertion solution, detects product and merchant references within content in web pages and automatically creates a custom set of links embedded uniquely within each page. LinkWeaver technology allows readers to instantly click to learn more about a particular product or service, or even make a purchase, without leaving the website to search elsewhere.

Viglink says that the end result is a service that is tightly integrated with content, giving readers a more seamless experience. One publisher says that LinkWeaver causes its VigLink revenue to increase by nearly 40%.

VigLink recently raised $5.4 million in Series B funding from Emergence Capital, Google Ventures and First Round Capital.



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