While Sony hasn’t given a yea or nay on this rumor, industry people are making noise about a possible price cut coming this fall to the PS3. Developers and merchants say software sales are down and it’s up to one of the big guys to start the price wars up again. Will it be Sony? → Read More
After several years languishing in the backwoods of Google’s server farms, Google Health got its plug pulled today. Why did the ambitious project to record your health record online and help you research your every ailment fail? I asked this to Adam Bosworth, the former Googler who originally created Google Health, a few weeks ago when he was in the TCTV studio to talk about his new health startup Keas.
In a sentence, he said, “It’s not social.” In the video clip above, we talk about why Google Health never seemed to go anywhere. Bosworth says the problem was that “Google didn’t push to see what could they do that people would want. They basically offered a place to store date, but people don’t want a place to store data.” → Read More
Sometimes I miss old-school technology, but only on a surface level. I get all giddy every time I see an iPad stand that looks like a vintage TV set or an old-school Game Boy iPhone case.
Brand new technology hidden under old-fashioned designs truly pulls at my heart strings, which is why I was so excited to see Skullcandy’s new Vandal iPhone speaker dock. → Read More
It’s been an incredibly rough week for Dropbox. On Monday, news broke that a bug in the service’s authentication software effectively made passwords optional for around four hours over the weekend — meaning that you could log into anyone’s account simply by entering their user name.
Given what Dropbox is used for — namely, syncing your most important files between computers — that’s a huge deal. Especially since the service has promoted its security features as one of its selling points. At the time Dropbox said that “much less than 1 percent” of users could have potentially been affected. Now we’ve obtained an email that Dropbox sent out this afternoon to users who were affected by the breach and it’s much more specific.
First, the good news: the scale of the attack affected “fewer than a hundred accounts”. But according to the letter, those accounts were all accessed by a single individual. In other words, these weren’t accidental logins due to typos — someone discovered the hole and actively used it to access files that were not theirs. That’s obviously very alarming. → Read More
Foursquare has just closed one of the most secretive rounds of venture capital TechCrunch has seen.
The company is raising $50 million, and all of it will go towards building out the company, no secondary sales here. The valuation had been rumored to be as high as $1 billion, but our sources say it settled out at $550 million pre-money, $600 million post. → Read More
Alright, fair denizens of the Interwebs: put on your skeptics hat and polish up that ol’ grain-of-salt, because this one’s kinda shaky. Android fan site Droid Attic nabbed the above shot of what looks to be Best Buy’s internal inventory listing for the Motorola Droid 3. According to the listing, the in-stock date (which in many cases means the day the products arrive, generally one day before it’s put on the shelves) is set for July 13th. If everything comes together, that means the Droid 3 could very well be on sale by July 14th or 15th. So what’s shaky about this? First, this is the first we’re hearing of Droid Attic; we won’t hold that against’em, but we can’t vouch for their accuracy. Second, these inventory dates aren’t exactly set in stone — especially not 2+ weeks out. In many cases, the dates put in when the listing is created are placeholders, often only getting swapped out for the actual date a day or two before the products hit the delivery trucks. In the end, it’s entirely feasible that the Droid 3 will hit the shelves in Mid-July… just don’t get your heart set on it yet. → Read More
I’m a few days into my week with the Nissan Leaf. It’s a fun car; I can say that much so far. My plan later today is to test the range by driving in increasingly smaller circles around my house until the battery is nearly depleted. A full review is coming next week, but until then, here’s a quick look at the simple Leaf iOS owner’s app. Nissan launched the iOS app launched alongside the Leaf electric vehicle and features several critical functions and abilities to enhance the driver’s experience. This app allows the owner to schedule a charge, remotely turn on the heat or AC, and, most importantly, see the available range. It’s currently only available on iOS but I was told by a Nissan rep that an Android flavor is in the works and should be available soon. → Read More
Data hosting platform MongoHQ has raised $417K in financing in order to expand their hosting configuration service for developers who use MongoDB for data storage. Paul Graham’s Y Combinator, Start Fund, SV Angel and Lerer Ventures took part in the funding.
First on the MongoDB database hosting scene, MongoHQ is in the same space as MongoLab and differentiates itself by adding enterprise level functionalities, aiming to provide users with the maximum amount of uptime with its new replica set feature, which gives developers the option to create databases across three EC2 boxes in three different availability zones. → Read More
Google is shutting down Google Health, which enables you to store and manage all your health information in one place on the Web. Google says the platform simply wasn’t having the ‘broad impact’ necessary to sustain the product.
From Google’s blog post: There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people. That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the Google Health service. → Read More
We have just announced our Mobile First CrunchUp and 6th Annual Summer Party at August Capital! Tickets for both events are on sale now and are currently going very fast. For today, we are giving away 2 free tickets to our summer party at August Capital. We will have a great mix of startup demos, fun giveaways, drinks and more. The party will be in Menlo Park on the best deck in all of Sand Hill Road on July 29th. You can read more about the details and directions here. → Read More
In 2008 Google’s President of the Americas operation Tim Armstrong (now CEO of our parent company AOL) was pushing hard to get some two dozen advertising processes integrated into a single streamlined system. That project was called Project Spaghetti, and YouTube, which had been acquired in 2006, was a particular problem.
The YouTube sales team, led by head of advertising sales Suzie Reider, was apparently less than thrilled with all the pressure Armstrong and Google were putting on them to get advertising products streamlined. They created this video, says the person who gave it to us, to blow off steam internally.
The video is below. → Read More
Everyone likes to feel clever. Our brains do all sorts of fun stuff when we do things like complete puzzles or solve riddles; even if the task at hand is somewhat trivial, completing it gives us that shot of serotonin we’re constantly subconsciously striving for.
That’s really the driving idea behind the best-selling iOS/Android game, The Moron Test. Through a series of increasingly difficult but always conceptually simple challenges (like “Crack the egg!” or “Touch the button that isn’t blue!” or “Don’t do anything!”), The Moron Test draws people in — and because everyone always wants to know just how much more clever they are than their friends, the game spreads like wildfire.
After sitting in iOS’ Top 100 Paid apps list for 2 years and finding success on both Android and Windows Phone 7, The Moron Test is about to make the jump out of the mobile world and onto desktops. → Read More
Apple has just published a MobileMe to iCloud transition FAQ. Of note, there has been a lot of confusion as to whether or not iCloud apps would be accessible on the web. We had previously heard that yes, they would for sure be available via web apps on icloud.com (similar to the ones currently found on me.com) set to launch at an undisclosed date in the future. But plenty still refused to believe that. So today, Apple has answered the question once and for all. Sure enough: → Read More
“Mobile first.” It’s a mantra we’ve been hearing increasingly. For many developers and startup founders, they start with a mobile product first, and web second, if at all. We are seeing this across games, social, photo, payment, group messaging, media consumption, local deal apps and more. It’s just the way things are done.
On July 29, we’ll explore all of these issues and what it takes to go mobile first during a half-day CrunchUp in Palo Alto, preceding our 6th annual summer party at August Capital. We are selling tickets right now for $150. It will be an intimate affair with 250 people. A ticket gets you into the summer party at August Capital afterwards as well. We are also opening up 150 of those summer party tickets for $40 each. → Read More
Opera founder Jon S. von Tetzchner has resigned from the company.
In an email to Opera employees, von Tetzchner said that “It has become clear that The Board, Management and I do not share the same values and we do not have the same opinions on how to keep evolving Opera. As a result I have come to an agreement with the Board to end my time at Opera. I feel the Board and Management is more quarterly focused than me.” You can read the full email below. → Read More
Another day, another Kickstarter project. This time we have the Infinite Loop (lawsuit pending), a unique, looping tablet stand that allows you to stick your iPad, Kindle, or Xoom in almost any position – even over a car headrest.
We then set about working through many different concepts and through this process it was found that the more versatile the design became, the more simple the form ended up.
IT’S SIMPLE. IT’S VERSATILE.
It can be easily bent to any shape while having the strength and rigidity to hold up a heavy iPad using patented co molded metal and plastic.
Yesterday news broke that the FTC is preparing to launch a major investigation into Google’s “core search advertising business” and the way its search results are presented — an investigation that could have major ramifications for the search giant.
Google has faced plenty of scrutiny from the FTC before, including lengthy investigations during its acquisitions of AdMob and ITA. But now the government organization is examining Google’s business on the whole, which means the stakes are bigger. (Here’s a detailed guide by Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land that outlines all of the recent antitrust investigations Google is dealing with).
A few minutes ago, Google posted its initial response to the inquiry on its official blog. → Read More
Foodspotting, the food photo sharing app that has built a community around the sharing of specific dishes, is launching on Windows Phone 7 today. The Foodspotting Windows Phone app will retain all the functionality of the iPhone and Android apps, allowing users to view dishes nearby, look for a particular food, check out the various dishes at a restaurant and bookmark foods that they’re interested in trying.
The app also has a more streamlined interface and simplified feedback and language than existing iPhone and Android apps, features which Foodspotting says it will port over to other apps shortly. The company plans on letting users browse their “Wants” list from the app as well as follow people and guides in later Windows Phone 7 versions. → Read More
One of my favorite demos at Disrupt NYC was from an education startup called Desmos that is reinventing the whiteboard to make it browser-based and interactive (watch their Disrupt video below).
One of the killer features of the Desmos Whiteboard is an interactive calculator that graphs equations as you write them. (Founder Eli Luberoff was a double math and physics major at Yale). Desmos has now taken that and rewritten it as a standalone online graphing calculator. It instantly draws the equations as you update them, it’s free, browser-based, color-coded, and you can share any graph with a bitly link. → Read More
