Not a lot is known about Amen, a stealth-mode startup out of Berlin.
What we do know is that it’s pretty hot and the talk of Berlin. A slect few have been been given access to its Beta and are coming up with statements like “strangely addictive”, at least according to the startups itself.
Whatever it is, sources tell us it’s caught the eye of investors in the shape of celebrity tech investor Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, who just happens to be Madonna’s manager. This is quite some quota of fame right there, so clearly Amen is onto something that could be pretty mainstream.
And the amount? → Read More
Yes, Apple had a massive quarter. But just how masive? This chart from Asymco puts Apple’s incredible revenue growth in perspective. Apple grew revenues by 82 percent last quarter, which is unprecedented growth for a company of its size with $28.6 billion in quarterly revenues.
As you can see from the chart, nearly all the growth in sales is coming from the iPhone (gray) and the iPad (blue). In fact, 71 percent of Apple’s sales and 78 percent of its profits now come from iOS devices. And the iPad alone is cannibalizing Mac sales. → Read More
Earlier today, Google started banning brands who had signed up for Google+ profiles when they weren’t supposed to. Some were outraged by this, but the truth is that Google has said from the beginning that Google+ was meant for real people only for now, and that brand/company support would be coming. This is why TechCrunch hasn’t set up a Google+ account. Google asked us to wait. So, we waited.
Like total schmucks.
Turns out, Google is actually just fine with letting those brands/companies keep the accounts they set up, as long as a person is assigned to the account. Or something. Further, they’re now re-thinking the whole brand thing in general. → Read More
After warning people about it for weeks, Google began enforcing its ban on all Google business profiles this morning, to much consternation from, well, businesses. Yes Google did warn people at the launch of Google+ that any non-human pages would be killed and that people shouldn’t be surprised that the pages were killed…
But of course, like when anything is axed on the Internet, people were up in arms. Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan wrote an “Open Letter To Google+ On The Subject Of Brand Pages” and, emboldened, my colleague MG Siegler wrote the elegantly titled “Fucktard+.” → Read More
Nearbuy Systems, the maker of indoor positioning solutions, announced today that it has raised $1 million in seed funding. The seed round was led by Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, Innovation Endeavors, and Metamorphic Ventures. The funding will be used to bring Nearbuy’s technology to retail stores across the U.S.
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A few minutes ago, the Instagram team noticed their servers blowing up. What happened? Were they under attack? DDoS? No.
Bieber happened.
Yes, Justin Bieber just signed up for Instagram. And he tweeted out his first picture to his 11 million+ followers. The result? Boom.
After I saw the tweet, I reached out to Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, and he confirmed the massive influx as a result of Bieber. He us Bieber is gaining about 50 followers a minute at this point. All thanks to one picture. Of traffic. It has 234 likes already. And that number is also rapidly growing. Systrom says he’s also getting one comment every 10 seconds or so. These numbers are unprecedented for the already popular photo-sharing service. → Read More
Google Places looks different. It is cleaner, and there is a much bigger emphasis on user reviews and photos. And not just any reviews from all over the Web, but reviews written by Google users themselves. This should be a welcome change to third-party sources of reviews like Yelp and TripAdviser who have long complained that Google was building Google Places on the backs of their content while at the same time trying to replace them.
Now Google Places no longer shows those reviews on Places pages for a specific venue, nor does it count them in the total number of reviews which it shows for each place. Instead, it links to the reviews from sites like Yelp, Zagat, and Citysearch separately and breaks out total review counts for each site. → Read More
Earlier today, Microsoft reported their Q4 numbers. They were good — a record for the quarter, even. And because it was the end of their fiscal year, Microsoft also stated their yearly numbers. Those were even better. The big number: $69.94 billion in revenue for the year. A new record for the company. Yes, for all the talk of Microsoft being in decline, they made more money than ever before.
But if those numbers are a “wow!”, then what do we call rival Apple’s numbers? I think we have to call them “holy shit!” → Read More
That Nikon and Canon both have mirrorless cameras solutions in the labs seems like a foregone conclusion. It would be silly for them not to at the very least be looking into it. But this is one of the first glances we’ve had at something other than patent illustrations and spec rumors: a picture that is claimed to be of Nikon’s new compact interchangeable lens camera system. The mount and sensor, specifically &mdsah; no body or anything, though the black finish does suggest it’s more than a lab prototype. Right now it’s known as X810.
The dedicated Nikon fans at Nikon Rumors have done a little extrapolating based on the only element that seems reasonable to estimate: the screws. Does anyone here not like counting pixels? → Read More
When asked yesterday at the Fortune Brainstorm tech conference whether the infamous scene in ‘The Social Network’ where he dismisses the Winklevoss twins’ claim that Mark Zuckerberg broke the Harvard Code of Conduct, former Harvard president Larry Summers responded,glibly ”One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole. This was the latter case.” → Read More
Today Google announced that it’s pushing a significant update to the developer-facing side of Android Market, and it’s one that consumers will benefit from too: Android Market will now allow developers to distribute multiple APKs (the filetype Android uses for applications) that will all be considered the same app, at least as the marketplace is concerned.
Yes, that sounds mundane, but it’s important. Consider this: right now, if you ran a query for “Fruit Ninja” from an Android tablet, you’d have the option to download either the ‘regular’ Fruit Ninja or Fruit Ninja THD, a version that’s been optimized for the Tegra processor found in most Android tablets to date. Obviously you’d want the latter — but then if you went to play the same game on your phone, you’d have to purchase the regular version. → Read More
As ebook sales continue to trounce those of print books, and now with the demise of Borders, surely it’s only a matter of days until someone — probably a guest poster on this very blog — declares the death of the physical book.
(They’d be wrong, of course — moronically so — to the point where you might ask who on earth is responsible for approving guest posters on TechCrunch, and whether they have so much as a microgram of shame or professional pride. But it’d certainly make for a pseudo-controversial, traffic-grabbing post.)
Still, the fact remains that there are certain aspects of physical books that ebooks will struggle to replicate. The buzz of starting a conversation with an attractive stranger who’s reading your favourite book. The joy of a beautifully designed cover. The voyeuristic thrill of examining a friend’s bookshelves. Paper cuts.
For authors — and for readers, too, I suspect — another significant pleasure afforded by physical books is the book signing; an opportunity for writers to meet (and thank) the people who let them keep doing the job they love, and for readers to interact with their favourite authors, and complain about the unsatisfactory endings of their best-known books. Yes, Charlotte Brontë, I’m talking to you. → Read More
The traditional “splaying of the device” has been performed successfully on the new MacBook Air by the teardown experts and hand models at iFixit. The most user-relevant finding appears to be that the SSD module is user-replaceable — i.e. Apple hasn’t seen fit to physically bond it to the motherboard. Yet.
Apart from that and some minor layout changes to accommodate the larger processor die and Thunderbolt controller (and of course the LED lighting for the keyboard), there isn’t much to write home about. The new Air is a lot like the old Air — just faster. The big design tricks took place a long time ago, when they were first making the design choices that made this form factor possible. Check out the whole teardown here. → Read More
It’s time for TechCrunched, where we take some of the most popular stories running on TechCrunch and put them together for you in a quick video package. This week was a big one for Apple, with stellar earnings and new products. Google+ took the iTunes App sStore by storm. And Zillow had a big IPO. If something grabs your attention, make sure to click on the links below to get more information.
Also, we’ve created a TechCrunched podcast so you can download episodes and subscribe on iTunes. → Read More
What is RIM’s greatest obstacle? Honestly, it’s a tough question to answer seeing that the Waterloo-based company hasn’t had the best few months — but if I had to pick just one issue, it’d be lack of apps.
Not having enough apps on a given platform is akin to sitting down to a perfectly set dinner table and getting no food. Luckily, that Android App player that RIM promised for the BlackBerry PlayBook seems to be nearing launch. → Read More
Lion is here — and as MG summed up in just 3,000 words, it’s great.
No operating system is perfect, though. At least, not for everyone, and especially not right out of the (non-existent) box. Looking to make your Lion experience that much better, we’ve bundled together a bevy of tips and tricks that you really ought to have ready on your first trip into the new OS. → Read More
Bow down to the power of the XDA Developers! It’s now possible to get Netflix streaming on seemingly all Android devices without any hacking, rooting or general nonsense. This is counter to Netflix’s official stance to only allow the app on specific tablets that conform to certain DRM requirements at the hardware level. It’s just-announced Lenovo IdeaPad’s biggest selling point, one that’s now moot.
All that’s required is a specific APK file and you’re off and running. I didn’t have any issue installing or running the app on the Motorola Xoom or Toshiba Thrive and even outputing the video over HDMI. It even runs albeit slowly on the Nook Color says The eBook Reader. I’ve yet to find a report of the app not work on a Honeycomb tablet or Android 2.x phone. Click through for the 4 easy steps. → Read More
Remember that one time that you bought the T-Mobile G2x and it randomly restarted? And you were like, “Whoa, that’s weird,” and then it did it again! And again. And again. For three months. Yeah, we’re done with that. → Read More
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