One of the biggest gripes Android developers have about the ecosystem has been Android Market — it was slow to add support for paid apps internationally, and it’s taken ages for it to support in-app payments. Today, it’s finally fixing the latter issue: Android Market now supports in-app billing.
The news doesn’t come as a big surprise, as Google pre-announced the feature’s impending launch last week so that developers could prepare for it. But it’s still a big deal. In-app purchases have proven to be very lucrative for developers on Apple’s iOS (which launched in-app payments back in 2009). → Read More
Last August, we broke the news that a new startup incubator was about to launch that was run by seven ex-Googlers, AngelPad. By November, the initial class of eight startups were ready to launch. Today, barely four months later, class number two is ready to be unveiled. And this time there are thirteen of them. At this rate, to quote the best line in Jaws, they’re “gonna need a bigger boat”.
The fact that the class was whittled down to even thirteen is impressive, as the AngelPad team had several hundred applications to go through this time, co-founder Thomas Korte tells us. And while many in the initial class also featured fellow ex-Googlers, this group is more diversified (though the Google blood still runs deep with a number of them). → Read More
We’ve always been impressed with Element Case; the build quality on their products is always outstanding. Sure, they’re expensive, but you’ve heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for.” Element Case hasn’t abandoned this notion, even for their new $150 iPad stand.
Which we are giving away. Details after the break. → Read More
Google’s chief economist Hal Varian took the stage today to break down the value of Google to users. He spoke about two elements of value: The value of Google to users and the value of Google to advertisers.
In order to estimate the value of Google to advertisers, Varian used a model to estimate the value vx – c(x) (where v = value per click, x = number of clicks and c(x) = cost of clicks) and then did some “back-of-the-napkin” math. The bottom line? Google’s value to publishers and advertisers is $54 billion.
In order to calculate the value of Google to users, Varian cited a the “A Day Without A Search Engine” study, which plotted students searching for the answers to questions in a library, as opposed to those that used Google to get their information. Students who searched in the library ended up averaging 22 minutes where students using Google took an average of 7 minutes, saving 15 minutes. → Read More
As we confirmed yesterday, Evan WIlliams is taking a step back from his day to day duties at Twitter. Williams just published a post, titled ‘An Obvious Next Step’ on his personal blog explaining the reasoning behind his decision.
From his post: The reason I left Blogger/Google when I did is that I felt it had reached a place where it was on solid ground and in capable hands (at the time, Jason Goldman’s as product manager). Though still an independent company, I realized Twitter may be at a similar point today. So, as was reported in various places yesterday, I’ve decided to scale back my role at the company. (I’m still involved, but it’s no longer my full-time job.) → Read More
Today at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly gave the first keynote of the day. His topic? The six trends he believes are most important for the connected world we live in going forward. Specifically, he broke these down into six verbs.
“In general these are the long term trends as we look forward over the next twenty years,” Kelly says. So what are they? → Read More
No, we still have no idea what the Air Force is doing up there with the X-37B, but at least now we can track its movement. Amateur skywatchers—a delightful phrase&mdashl have discovered the whereabouts of the spacecraft. There’s even video of it in orbit. → Read More
Remember back in the early days on instant messaging when people figured out that they could set up chatbots that users would interact with? Yeah, they were fun for like 20 minutes. But don’t tell Google that — they’re bringing one back today!
Google Talk Guru is an “experimental” Google Labs service that allows you to chat with a bot to get information you’re looking for. What kind of information? Sports results, weather, definitions, translations, etc. → Read More
If you’re a MobileCrunch reader, it’s probably because you’re an early adopter. Or you’re just awesome. Well, we’ve got something new for you to be an early adopter of (or that’ll just make you more awesome): the brand spankin’ new MobileCrunch page on Facebook. Yeah, I know: we should have built a Facebook Page ages ago. To be honest, it’s been sitting on our to-do list since back around the time man discovered fire — we’ve just been busy. As an apology of sorts for our tardiness (but primarily because we like to give stuff away), we’re going to start things off with a giveaway tomorrow, exclusive to our Facebook fans. What’ll we be giving away? It’s a secret, for now — but unless you want to forget about the giveaway, you better hit that Like button. Oh, and don’t think that tomorrow’s giveaway is going to be the only one. If I have my way, we’ll be hookin’ our readers up on a regular basis. → Read More
Some people love the hot coffee. Love the hot. People order their americanos “extra hot” so the baristas will put out water at higher than the 180 degrees they aim at. Madness! Personally, I have to let it cool down a bit — but ideally, you want to drink the coffee as soon as possible to get the full flavor. Enter the Coffee Joulie. → Read More
Whenever some corporate entity releases their new piece of hardware into the wild, iSuppli outs their obligatory cost analysis. As novel as iSuppli’s research may seem, knowing the real costs of the gadgets we’re addicted to is more frustrating than newsworthy. And, thanks to iSuppli, we learn that the Nintendo 3DS enjoys almost 60% margins, similar to the DSi. → Read More
Gmail is in the process of rolling out a new ad system that could prove to be quite powerful: ads that learn what you’re interested in based on your email habits. The feature first showed up in my Gmail account earlier this afternoon (there’s a prompt informing users about the new ads), and a Google spokesperson has confirmed that they are indeed in the process of rolling this out worldwide. Here’s the full information page describing the feature, found by clicking the ‘Learn More’ button.
Google says that while this notification will be rolling out to users gradually over the coming days, the personalized ads won’t actually go live for around a month. In the mean time, users can opt-out of the new system through Gmail’s settings panel (the default is that you’re opted-in). → Read More
The beautiful and potentially functional X100 has had its US release delayed for some time, first because of enormous popularity and limited inventory, and then because of the natural disasters striking Japan. Other tech industries were hit hard as well, but they seem to be gradually picking up the pieces as relief and reconstruction begin. Fujifilm says that cameras should reach stores at the beginning of April. [via DPReview] → Read More
Protesters holding hash-tagged decorated signs like “Shame On Twitter” and “Respect Our Communities” gathered outside of Twitter headquarters this morning at 10am to protest what they see as an unfair tax cut and requests for other concessions made by Twitter to the city of San Francisco. The protests have since dissipated.
The demonstrations were called by an organization called the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) that aims to represent poor and underserved communities. SOMCAN also asked protestors to tweet “SHAME on YOU!” for being “socially irresponsible” at Twitter in addition to picketing in real life. Even though about 50 people showed up in person, thus far no tweets have been sent. → Read More
One of the great things about working for Aol is the company’s dedication to making its 5,860 5000 remaining employees happy and motivated.
Only this morning, for example, a package arrived at TCHQ packed full of materials promoting Aol’s “4th Canvas Collection Unveiling” — an initiative where upcoming artists are commissioned to produce art to promote the Aol “brand”. Sounds awesome, right? Right.
But it gets better: also included in the package were scratch cards, allowing we loyal Aol foot-soldiers the chance to (quote) “WIN A LIMITED EDITION SIGNED ARTIST PRINT FROM THE NEW COLLECTION!” Surely even a cynic like me could get on board with that, right?
RIGHT! I grabbed my Aol hat, raced to a browser window and… well… video below… → Read More
Sometimes things get complicated and your old 32-bit machine can no longer handle the new array of 3 TB hard drives. You see, 32-bit systems cannot easily run more than 2.19 TB of hard drive capacity. If this problem presents itself, you have two options: upgrade to a 64-bit system or unlock your Gigabyte motherboard with Gigabyte’s new unlock utility. This only works if you have a Gigabyte mobo, but doesn’t everyone? The utility is free and available here. [via xbitlabs] → Read More
In a recent post about Groupon’s multi-billion dollar valuation and revenue estimates, colleague Erick Schonfeld talked about how creating repeat, loyal customers (and not just deal-happy coupon clippers) is essential to the daily deal site’s long-term valuation — and success.
When Groupon offers 50 to 70 percent off a meal at a local pizza place, for example, the restaurant (and Groupon’s site) tend to get flooded with eager pizza lovers, but that traffic really just translates to lead-generation and marketing marketing for the business. Which is great, yes, but Groupon hasn’t yet figured out the key piece to the puzzle: creating a reliable way to measure how many of those customers end up returning to the pizzeria to pay full-price and offering the local business ways to keep ‘em coming back.
Florida-based mobile loyalty solution Sundrop Mobile is hoping to address this very problem. Sundrop’s mobile service enables daily deal merchants like Groupon to capture data about their deal-redeeming customers and provides them with a way to create repeat, loyal customers. → Read More
I’ve thrown big props towards the Boxee Box lately calling it the best media streamer for cutting the cord. It’s a solid device that provides a memorable user experience. That’s rare these days but the Boxee Box nails it, which is why I give it so much credit. But it’s not perfect. I seriously believe that the pros greatly outweigh the cons. Still, there’s room for improvement and I pray that Boxee addresses these four issues in the next update. → Read More
We are still hiring. You could be our next Sales Marketing Manager, or our new Conference Program Chair. We have a beautiful office in San Francisco, we are dog friendly, and are currently looking for qualified applicants. The positions we have open are:
Product and Engineering:
CrunchBase Manager
– San Francisco, CA
Sales & Operations:
Ad Operations Manager
– San Francisco, CA
Sales Marketing Manager
– San Francisco, CA → Read More
