Next Jump CEO Charlie Kim wants you to earn and burn his company’s WOWPoints, a loyalty reward currency that can be used to pay for real merchandise. WOWPoints are redeemable for thousands of offers on Next Jump’s OO.com at a rate of one penny per point. Since it launched WOWPoints two years ago, more than 1.6 billion have been burned. Currently, people are burning WOWPoints at the rate of 100… → Read More
In 2006, Google was internally testing a project codenamed “Platypus”, an online storage service. When it was accidentally disclosed during an analyst meeting as “GDrive”, it quickly captured the web’s imagination. Google seemed on the verge of transforming their servers into our own personal hard drives in the cloud. Plenty of startups were working on this (and still are), but the presumption was… → Read More
In what marks its first expansion abroad, Hulu is now available in Japan. As expected, the video streaming service will offer both TV shows and movies across various devices for a subscription of about $20 a month (1,480 Yen).
Unlike in the U.S., where there are both free and premium versions, in Japan the service will be subscription-only. And it will cost more than twice as much as Hulu… → Read More
Kai-Fu Lee has a fairly unique perspective on the tech industry, having spent years in high roles at Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Lee spent six years as VP of Apple’s Interactive Media Group, before moving on to be chosen as the guy to forge first Microsoft’s and then Google’s inroads into China. Then, in mid-2009, Lee left Google (where the former professor and computer scientist had been… → Read More
Olympus is trying to do with their new E-PMT1 PEN Mini camera what other manufacturers already have: bring DSLR power to the masses. It’s their smallest Micro Four Thirds camera to date, and it’s definitely got its proverbial sights set on the mass market — and the fact that it comes in six colors certainly doesn’t hurt. Olympus was kind enough to let me play with an E-PM1 at the U.S. Open of all… → Read More
Assistly, the cloud-based customer support platform that’s backed by Bullpen Capital, Index Ventures, Salesforce, as well as several other angels and VCs, launched version 2.0 of its platform back in July, along with rolling out a new pricing model that includes a full-featured version of its service for free.
Today, the summer features keep on rolling out for Assistly, which today announced… → Read More
You may recall that back in May, we spotted something in Google’s “Dear Sophie” commercial: an unreleased +1 Chrome extension. This was pre-Google+, when the +1 button still didn’t do a whole lot, so even I forgot about the extension over the past few months. But very quietly, Google actually launched it yesterday.
There was no blog post, no featured placement in the Chrome Web Store — pretty… → Read More
I don’t always post about iPhone cases… but when I do, I prefer retro gaming ones. Sure, you could have a cool metallic case, or go all-leather, or make your phone look like R2-D2 — but when you can have a Dreamcast on the back, those other options seem to lose their luster. → Read More
Hey, what do you know! It’s been just shy of two weeks since Apple’s last Beta release of iOS 5, and just like clockwork, they’re back with another serving.
You guys all know the drill at this point: as usual, this Beta release is for developers (and “developers”) only — but on the upside, that Beta version number probably won’t climb too much higher before this thing gets released to… → Read More
Today won’t be remembered tomorrow. Nothing of consequence happened today. Steve Ballmer didn’t resign, Dell didn’t get out of the PC business and I didn’t stop procrastinating and actually go to the gym. Nope, like any other boring summer day, several products were announced, start-ups announced funding and another wireless carrier jacked up fees. Today is just another day.
But while we’re… → Read More
The ever-volatile issue of the costs surrounding globalized manufacturing looks to be looming again as a harshly critical report on Apple’s Chinese suppliers gains visibility. The report, by environmental NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), is the sequel to another they released in January entitled “The Other Side of Apple.” With the ominous title it’s clear what their… → Read More
On one hand, you have to give Windows chief Steven Sinofsky some credit, he’s being very open, proactive, and engaged leading up to Microsoft’s unveiling of Windows 8. And that’s great. But on the other hand, you have to wonder if he’s in the process of burying himself in a very big hole.
Over the past couple of days, the Internet has let out a collective “gasp” at the sight of the new Windows… → Read More
Mobile TV and video platform MobiTV has filed its S-1 with the SEC this afternoon. In the public offering, MobiTV plans to raise as much as $75 million.
For background, MobiTV was founded in 1999 and was one of the pioneers in bringing live and on-demand TV to mobile devices. The company boasts partnerships with a number of carriers and content providers such as NBC, ESPN, Disney, CBS, Warner… → Read More
We first covered Game Closure this spring when it opened its private beta to the world to test out its new cross-platform HTML5 game engine and SDK. The startup has since gone on to work with multiple private and public partners to bring cross-platform, multiplayer HTML5 games to the App Store, Android Marketplace, Facebook, and beyond. According to Game Closure Co-founder and CEO Michael Carter… → Read More
It’s iconic. That soft, pulsating light emanating from the button that controls life and death. Press it when it’s glowing and creativity flows. Turn it off and a little bit of your inner child dies. The iNecklace allows the wearer to capture that sense of control and wear it around the neck as a status of power. There’s nothing else like it. (this is where you, the commenter will jump to the… → Read More
In June, we covered the launch of Impermium, a young startup aimed at zapping the Internet’s social spam wherever it hides. Not only is the startup bringing the heat to user generated spam like spammy comments, hacked accounts, and fraudulent registrations, but the startup also happens to be founded by Mark Risher, Yahoo’s former “Spam Czar”, as well as former Yahoos Vish Ramarao and Naveen Jamal. → Read More
Y Combinator is about to wield its rapidly-growing influence in the tech community to help startups everywhere. And it’s taking on one of the hottest (and most fear-inspiring) issues around: patents.
Today YC cofounder Paul Graham has written a note called The Patent Pledge in which he proposes that tech companies should commit to a straightforward promise: “No first use of software patents… → Read More
Since HTC’s purchase of a majority stake in Beats Electronics, the big question was which of their snazzy new handsets would be the first to benefit from an audio overhaul. Rumor had it that the Vigor may be the first to get a taste of the Dr. Dre treatment, but according to a leaked spec sheet, it may be a refreshed version of HTC’s Sensation that nabs the distinction. → Read More
Update: The Gang is scheduled to start around 1:30pm.
From the inside out, salesforce.com is a rapidly growing cloud computing company at the head of the enterprise social wave. From the outside in, the company’s annual Dreamforce conference has landed in downtown San Francisco on the Moscone Center campus. Each year the conference grows in size, with more than 45,000 attendees streaming in… → Read More
Good news, HTC Thunderbolt/Droid Incredible owners! You’re gettin’ some Gingerbread!
It’s a bit late in the game (Gingerbread has been around for nearly 10 months, after all) but HTC has just announced that both the Incredible and the Thunderbolt should be updated to Android 2.3 sometime in September. As usual, there’s no mention of a specific date — but hey, at least it’s officially on the… → Read More
Index Ventures is on a roll. The company is leading Dropbox’s $4 billion valuation round, and today, we’ve heard that the fund is making a major investment in Europe’s Square competitor iZettle. We’ve confirmed the funding with a source close to the company. We’ve also heard from a source the round is 10 million Euros ($14 million) plus.
iZettle, which is based in Sweden, launched earlier this… → Read More
With more than 600,000 apps available for an estimated 350 million Apple and Android mobile devices, it’s not difficult to see how mobile app advertising could soon eclipse online display advertising. In fact, app analytics company Flurry put this chart together to show how mobile app inventory is growing so fast that it could absorb all of the money spent on online display ads by the end of the… → Read More
The Walkman brand has taken a beating over the last decade or so. The culprit, of course, is the iPod, and while other players do sell perfectly well all over the world (Apple’s reach isn’t always good enough), Sony, Creative, and iRiver just aren’t the powerhouses they used to be in the portable audio sector.
Sony’s looking to get back into the game, and is demoing a prototype Android-based… → Read More
There isn’t much about an iPad 2 that would lead you to hesitate before buying, except maybe a glance down at the price tag. Today, that’s slightly less of an issue. Apple has started to sell refurbished iPad 2s in its online store, although it looks as though the 16GB models aren’t currently available.
The refurbs are only discounted $50 from the original pricing, but a discount is a… → Read More
Today, at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference, founder and CEO Marc Benioff took the stage to adress the event’s 40,000 attendees. We know Salesforce is bullish on the social enterprise and Benioff kicked his keynote off with this statement about Salesforce: “We’re were born cloud, and now we’ve been reborn Social.”
Benioff also said that Salesforce has passed a $2 billion annual run rate in… → Read More
If you’ve visited TechCrunch on your mobile you know it’s been a generic experience…until now. With the introduction of our new look and snazzy/abominable logo it was time for something better: the all-new TechCrunch.com mobile site. The AOL Mobile web team have done a great job adapting our desktop experience for a plethora of small screens. And when I say a plethora I’m not kidding: iPhone… → Read More
Ah, your first days on Twitter. A time of innocence and serendipity.
Look, your friend just made a witty joke about their burnt toast! And there — Oprah’s tweeting about her new favorite book! It’s like your favorite people are in your pocket talking to you, all the time. The future is wonderful.
And then you notice that while there are a few choice nuggets of cleverness and utility, your… → Read More
Following today’s reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint opposing the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, the big blue carrier has issued a response stating plans to ask for an expedited hearing “so that the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed.”
The DOJ cites antitrust issues in its complaint, saying “AT&T’s elimination of… → Read More
As we reported at Google I/O in May, Google has been working on offline versions of their three most popular apps: Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. Google previously offered offline access for Gmail, Calendar, and Docs but leveraged Gears. But Gears is no longer being supported by Google as Chrome gains many of the same features via HTML5. And offline-acces functionality was limited. → Read More
It seems Sarah wasn’t kidding about working right up until she gives birth. In this week’s positively-last-before-the-birth episode of Why Is This News?, Sarah and Paul are prompted by the ongoing reports of Dropbox’s mega funding to talk about valuations.
The typical outrage is over whether a company like Dropbox is “worth” $4 billion, but as we argue, that’s misses the point. Venture… → Read More
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