Online language learning community Livemocha has secured a healthy $8 million in Series B funding in a round led by August Capital, with participation from existing investor Maveron (a Seattle-based investment fund co-founded by Starbucks CEO and chairman Howard Schultz). Maveron invested $6 million in a previous round. → Read More
GrandCentral, which Google acquired in 2007, relaunched as Google Voice way back in March. It’s still technically in private beta, but invitations aren’t all that hard to find.
From what we’ve heard, Google is very seriously planning to add a version of the Google Voice product to its Apps/Office suite of applications for businesses. Currently, businesses are offered enterprise versions of Google Docs (online Office), Gmail, calendar and other applications. More than 2 million businesses and 20 million people use Google Apps. → Read More
Call us crazy, but we don’t think you’d host a “Mobile Launch Party” at CES unless you were planning.. you know, a mobile launch of some sort – and when it comes to mobile launches, companies generally don’t co-host parties unless they’re launching a phone together. So when we get a heads up letting us know that Sprint and LG will be throwing a party at CES, it’s a pretty clear sign that somethings up. While we can’t be 100% sure what they’re launching, we can make some pretty well educated guesses. → Read More
GrandCentral, which Google acquired in 2007, relaunched as Google Voice way back in March. It’s still technically in private beta, but invitations aren’t all that hard to find.
From what we’ve heard, Google is very seriously planning to add a version of the Google Voice product to its Apps/Office suite of applications for businesses. Currently, businesses are offered enterprise versions of Google Docs (online Office), Gmail, calendar and other applications. More than 2 million businesses and 20 million people use Google Apps.
Google Voice gives users a phone number that they can then redirect to any phone – mobile, landline, VoIP, etc. My Google Voice number rings my home Vonage line and multiple mobile phones simultaneously. And the Android Google Voice application effectively takes over the phone for all outbound calls and text messages, too.
The consumer service will supposedly launch publicly sometime early next year. But an enterprise version, which will act as a virtual phone system for small businesses, may come soon after. → Read More
When Facebook bought FriendFeed a few months ago, no one was really sure what would happen to the service. The acquisition was mainly for FriendFeed’s talent, so there was much concern that FriendFeed would wither. And to an extent it has. But, as it’s proving today, it still can serve some purpose for Facebook: A testing ground for new technology.
As Facebook’s David Recordon writes today on the Developer Blog, the development team has implemented a prototype version of the new OAuth WRAP specification on FriendFeed. One of FriendFeed’s co-founders, Bret Taylor, who is now Facebook’s Director of Product Management for Platform, also writes at length about it on his own blog. The basic gist is that Facebook decided to test out implementing it in FriendFeed so that they could get feedback from anyone in the developer community that wants to try it out. → Read More
Were you planning on getting the wife an iPod, but just now realized you’re not going to have time to drive downtown and get it? No worries. Just order it by tomorrow or the next day from Apple’s online store and they’ll next-day it to you for no charge. That’s pretty sweet. No customizing, though. → Read More
Last week we wrote about a friendly challenge between super-angel Ron Conway and entrepreneur/VC Sean Parker over who could raise more money for their favorite causes.
The results are in. Conway has raised $40,600 for the UCSF Foundation. He’s beaten Parker, who raised $32,130 for Malaria No More. TechCrunch readers donated to both causes generously, including by simply going to see Avatar with us last week.
Of course the real winners are the children, some 5,000 a year, who get treatment at the UCSF Children’s hospital. And 3,200 children will receive mosquito nets that will greatly reduce their chances of getting Malaria. → Read More
Monstrous Company is today announcing that it has raised a $400,000 round of angel funding to compete in the mobile gaming space. And alongside the announcement, the 2009 Founder Institute graduate is formally unveiling its first game, Entranced, an iPhone games that melds music and visuals into a compelling experience.
Fans of games like Tap Tap Revenge, Rez, and even Guitar Hero will probably most appreciate Entranced, as it’s a game that requires you to listen to music and play along on the screen by tapping different colored objects and they come along. It’s all about timing, as you must hit these objects at the right time for them to explode (or “bloom”) and keep you alive. Rather than having objects that you tab as they come down the screen at you, these objects in Entranced can be anywhere, which makes it a bit challenging at times. Each music track features its own custom visuals, the company notes. There are 5 worlds you can play in Entranced with the promise of more to come. → Read More
This just makes sense. Most flat screen’s speakers are the suck, but there are those that don’t want bulky speakers cluttering up their space. Enter the Q-TV 2.1 speaker system. → Read More
The cable companies suck. All of them. Some suck less than others. But they all suck. We need someone to whip them into shape. And that someone may be Apple.
Apple may be on the verge of gaining two key television network agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, CBS and Walt Disney (which runs ABC) are said to be considering a proposal by Apple to offer a subscription-based TV service over the Internet. Presumably, this would work through iTunes like all of Apple-based content, but also presumably it would work over Apple’s Apple TV device (though maybe a new version of it) to bring this content into the living room, where people are used to consuming it. Simply put: This could be huge. → Read More
This is cutting it close. Sony had previously promised to make the 3G-equipped Reader Daily Edition available before Christmas and the company just announced it’s shipping out pre-orders placed before December 20th. The rest? Well, you’re SOL like some folks that ordered the Nook. → Read More
NZXT announced the launch of their new chassis (don’t call it a case) today. The new chassis, named the Hades is aimed directly at the gamer enthusiast market. Out of the box it’s set up for air cooling, however it’s pre-drilled to make it easier to add a water cooling mod later. → Read More
This is the result of a lot of time, passion for electricity and some fancy camera tricks. We like it. Also, if you do try this at home, send us pics. [Thanks for the tip, Marie] → Read More
Looks like Google is really going full steam ahead with its shortened URLs. Only a week after the search giant launched its own Goo.gl short URLs, its subsidiary YouTube is launching its own short URL service: youtu.be.
In a blog post announcing the new feature, YouTube writes that the short URL will be used exclusively for YouTube videos (which means it isn’t as useful to spammers for misdirection). The post also notes that because all youtu.be shortlinks include the YouTube video ID, developers can use that information to surface thumbnails and track how a video is spreading. → Read More
PogoPlug has gotten a fair bit of coverage here at CrunchGear, including a full review of the original PogoPlug device. A new version was recently released, with quite a bit more to offer, so an updated review is in order. The second generation PogoPlug supports up to four USB drives, offers gigabit Ethernet, has mobile clients for the major smartphones, and has a burgeoning independent developer community. That’s a lot for a $129 gadget! → Read More
In the two weeks since it acquired imeem in a firesale, MySpace has been met with waves of frustration from outraged users who blame the company for shutting down the troubled music service. MySpace didn’t really have anything to do with imeem’s sudden shutdown (it would have closed shop anyway), but most users don’t care — they just want their imeem playlists and free streaming music back. Today, MySpace is reaching out to these disgruntled imeem users to let them know that their playlists will soon be restored, brought back to life with free streams from MySpace Music.
We’ve known this was happening for a while now (MySpace even tells users who visit imeem.com that their playlists are being migrated), but it now looks like the site is taking a more proactive approach to keeping its users informed. → Read More
If you have a dog and you’ve thrown a party, you know that dogs generally add a bit of fun to the mix at the beginning of the party but by the end, they’ve mostly eaten food off the coffee table, scared the bejesus out of the three guests who have an irrational fear of dogs, and had a few “accidents” in high-traffic areas like hallways and doorways. → Read More
Video language learning website EnglishCentral recently raised a total of $3.5 million, according to an SEC filing. Part of that funding was $1.38 million from a previous convertible debt round, making the amount raised in the current series A financing $2.1 million. EnglishCentral is backed by Google Ventures and Atlas Venture. The fact that Google Ventures was the lead investor in a seed round last October was reported, but the amount invested was never disclosed. Based on the information in the filing, it is possible that that the seed round was in the form of the $1.38 million convertible note and is now converting into equity with the additional $2.1 million investment.
The filing does not say who the invested in the new round, but Rich Miner of Google Ventures is listed as a director of the company. Google Ventures is Google’s venture arm which launched last April with an initial $100 million and can invest in pretty much anything, although mostly it’s been putting money into clean tech startups. → Read More
A number of pictures have hit the web now showing the Nexus One, aka the Google Phone, in the flesh. But there haven’t been too many showing its packaging, and it getting unboxed. Today, some Twitpics shared by one user show those. As a bonus, he also shows off a bit of its HTC-innards, and even shared a nice little video of the device in action.
The Nexus One is expected to be released early next year sold both unlocked from Google and in partnership with at least one major carrier. Plenty of Googlers already have the device and have been going around all over the country showing it off. There was previously a video of it booting up, but apparently Google made the YouTube user take it down. → Read More
