CampusBookRentals.com, a company that lets customers from nearly 5,600 college campuses rent textbooks online, this morning announced a round of growth financing with total equity and credit facilities raised of over $20 million. The company, which competes with venture-backed Chegg and BookRenter.com, among others, says it is growing like gangbusters, having recently moved into a new 57,000… → Read More
Remember film? Remember when “cut and paste” actually involved scissors and glue? Remember when typewriters didn’t have a 1 key? Probably not, right? I’m old and I barely even remember that stuff.
Well a group of students at Florida Atlantic University had to learn the old ways again in an end-of-school-year experiment. They used 35mm film, actual typewriters, and an old-style paste-up to put… → Read More
Have you heard about ZocDoc? The company launched at TechCrunch in 2007. Their goal – to let people find and book appointments with doctors, dentists and other health professionals online.
The company has raised $50 million in a new round with DST. The company was valued at $700 million or more in this round, we’ve heard from various sources. ZocDoc won’t comment, though, on valuation.
They… → Read More
Customer support startup Zendesk going after enterprise clients with the launch of a new solution that is tailored to large organizations. Launched in 2008, Zendesk offers a web-based, SaaS-delivered help desk/support ticketing application that gives companies a simple way to manage incoming support requests from end customers.
Zendesk’s new enterprise grade features include unlimited internal… → Read More
If you’re a fan of the third dimension, otherwise known as depth, then this new premium 3D TV set from LG may be of interest. The LW980S is a passive glasses set that taps LG’s Cinema 3D technology, equipped with a NANO Full LED backlit screen. For those who aren’t well versed in 3D jargon, passive glasses means that they don’t have to be charged, and are thus, less expensive. → Read More
New York City-based file-sharing startup, Minus, announced today that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from IDG Capital Partners, which the startup plans to use to expand its team and to invest in technology and infrastructure with the goal of creating a simple and universal sharing experience for its users.
There are a plethora of tools out there one can use to share files, from Skype… → Read More
Samsung and Apple are at each other’s corporate throats lately. The latest jab was when the two reached an agreement that barred Samsung from advertising and selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia. But Sammy, like a boss, is planning on selling a slightly different GalTab 10.1 down under as, per a statement released to Ausdroid.net, the GalTab model headed for Australia is slightly… → Read More
According to a study conducted by Minnesota-based research firm Vocal Laboratories (aka Vocalabs), Apple’s lead in tech support quality is slipping, while consumer satisfaction scores for HP are improving.
Vocalabs interviews people by telephone right after a customer service experience, and for this study completed 4,161 surveys between May 2008 and June 2011. → Read More
Move over American Idol, and move over Survivor? There’s a new reality show (okay, documentary-reality series) in town, but luckily no one’s getting voted off the island. In this tech TV version, it’s startups and their founders iterating, scrambling through feature sets, and competing for the affections of investors.
It’s a great premise, as the reality surrounding an early-stage startup can… → Read More
This fairly simple Android app adds a layer of safety for folks who often misplace their Android cellphone while it’s in silent mode. Called RemoteRinger, you assign a special code to the phone as well as a designated caller number. You can then send an SMS from the designated phone number. Bang: your ringer is back on. → Read More
I was approached by a startup that is today launching Drippler, a service that lets people get custom updates (think news, tips, support and more) about the gadgets they own and love, or want to own and love.
I liked the idea at first, even if it sounded a whole lot like the original premise of gdgt (our launch coverage) before they – wait for it – pivoted.
Drippler is basically a free… → Read More
HP has just released a new over-the-air update to the TouchPad, WebOS 3.0.2, that improves the OS slightly including improved auto-correction, the inclusion of wallpaper support, and improved photo handling.
The update will appear automatically for TouchPad owners and most devices should receive the update in the next few hours. → Read More
If you needed more proof that the venture capital industry here in Europe is struggling to keep up, here are some new facts and figures from Dow Jones VentureSource to prove there’s most certainly no bubble in these parts.
According to DJV, European venture-backed companies have raised 2.2 billion euros through 447 deals in the first half of this year, a 28 percent decline in deal activity from… → Read More
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it.”
Peter Gibbons line from Office Space also served as the slug for my post from early July explaining why I was quitting email for the rest of the month. I was pretty sure I knew how I would feel once the month was up. And now that it is, guess what? That line describes exactly how I feel. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever missed anything less than… → Read More
GTVHackers has released an Android 3.1 beta built specifically for the Logitech Revue Google TV device. The hitch? It’s not quite ready for public consumption, it could destroy your user experience, and you could end up with a GTV that can’t be restored to its original OS or that is completely bricked.
You can download the update here and instructions are here. → Read More
The NuForce’s uDAC-2 Signature Gold Edition 24bit/96kHz USB digital audio converter is basically worth $5 (even with the gold plating and glass crystals) but the company, whose experience in audio is precedented only by every other manufacturer in the world, is selling it for $400 – a noble price aimed at pulling the last ounce of disposable income from the pockets of fools. → Read More
Earlier this evening Airbnb offered an unconditional apology to the victim of #Ransackgate. CEO Brian Chesky wrote a blog post saying company was offering all users “a blanked $50,000 guarantee against damages to hosts.”
Well, the response is coming in from one European company that has adapted and built on the Airbnb model. Germany based 9flats has now decided to offer an insurance option as… → Read More
Generally speaking, video producers have a much easier time producing content than monetizing it. This is because the monetization side of the equation has two x-factors that are hard to get right. The first being the ‘with what to monetize’ factor–that is, the mechanism that facilitates the billing aspect of the user-flow. The second, being the ‘how to monetize’ factor– this being the model(s)… → Read More
I’m in the middle of reading Michael Slater’s biography of Charles Dickens, and it’s excellent (if a little fawning).
Given that I grew up just a few miles from the Medway town where Dickens spent his childhood, it’s pretty embarrassing how little I knew about the 19th century’s greatest British author. And given my obsession with copyright law, it’s equally shameful that, until reading… → Read More
You know what really grinds my gears? Having 15 browser tabs open and one playing music and not knowing which one is playing music and having to scroll through all the tabs in order to find the one that’s playing music in order to kill it because it’s making you crazy and by the time you’ve killed it you’ve lost track of what you were working on in the first place so you have to thumb through all… → Read More
The US has yet to join the rest of the world in the large-scale deployment of powered bikes, and I doubt this particular item will change that, but it’s always worth noting when a nice, practical vehicle like this shows up. This one is called the Vienna Bike, and it’s designed by Valentin Vodev of Pixstudio, a design studio (naturally) based (naturally) in Vienna. → Read More
A month just ended, which means new stats. In the world of web browsers, there are two particularly interesting ones of significance. One points to “open” web browsers now in the majority amongst those that surf the web. Another points to WebKit browsers passing Firefox, to claim the number two position amongst web surfers.
As first noticed by Google’s Peter Beverloo this morning… → Read More
I think it’s safe to say that Facebook is the leader when it comes to collegiate and high school social networking. I expect that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings. When it comes to meeting people at college, beer is always a good choice, or there’s Facebook, or some may now prefer LikeALittle.
While social networking is essential on any campus, there are also a few tools social networks can… → Read More
If you read the comments on any our recent stories about the Airbnb controversies, you’ll see plenty of people saying that Airbnb needs to take a page out of the Zappos playbook. It turns out, they tried. → Read More
Whaleshark Media had already raised $120 million in capital to roll up the online coupon space. Now they’ve raised $10 million more in a round led by Google Ventures, with some participation from previous investors. They’ve also added Homeaway CEO Brian Sharples to the board of directors.
Sharples will be useful. He grew HomeAway into a monster. He raised half a billion dollars from Austin… → Read More
London is sunny for a change and the river is the beautiful so let’s take advantage of it. We’re having a totally impromptu, ‘organised at the last minute’ CrunchUp/Meetup/WhateverUp meetup this Wednesday, 3rd August. The last time we did this was 2008. We’re a bit over-due for another!
So we want you to come along in your startup garb, bring t-shirts, schwag to hand out and even a flag if you’re… → Read More
Perhaps you recall that back in June, there was some confusion as to whether or not there would be web apps for Apple’s upcoming iCloud suite of products. While we maintained from the beginning that we had heard that there would be, some were certain there wouldn’t be — something which we again refuted. Anyway, this eventually led Apple to clarify that yes, there would be web apps for iCloud. → Read More
If you attended (or watched) our Mobile-First CrunchUp last week, you’ll remember that a lot of the discussion revolved around the pros and cons of using the iOS and Android platforms. The debate was particularly interesting because it featured Matias Duarte, Android’s Director of User Experience, and it touched on everything from designing apps to the data each platform gives developers access… → Read More
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