Jordan Crook studied English Literature at New York University before entering the tech space. Prior to joining TechCrunch, Crook dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps as well as doing device reviews for MobileMarketer and MobileBurn. Crook is fascinated with alternative energy production and greentech.
She is now a writer for CrunchGear.
We first wrote about Balloonduck back in March. At the time, the social network was accepting invite requests prior to a full launch, so as to avoid empty room syndrome. But today is the big day: Balloonduck has hit 1,500 invite requests and is now officially live.
If you perchance haven’t heard about the service, it’s basically a Pinterest-style Twitter, but with questions being the main content. Users can post a question about anything really — it can extend as far as curiosity will allow — along with a picture, at which point other users can perhaps share their expertise with an answer. → Read More
By now, we’re pretty familiar with the term 4G LTE. But that in and of itself is somewhat surprising. It took 12 years for GSM wireless technology to reach one billion connections, and WCDMA took 11 years. But LTE will hit the same mark in just seven years of existence, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics.
If you’re not familiar with the term, a brief explanation would be that LTE (or Long Term Evolution) is a fourth-generation wireless standard that provides users with faster data speeds, all the while making more efficient use of a carrier’s wireless spectrum. → Read More
I’ve been on a journey through the past as Disrupt NYC (tickets here) draws closer, sifting through past Disrupt and TC50 startups with the hopes of getting a clear update on the accomplishments, the trials, and the milestones between then and now. The stories have been amazing, but one of the most incredible tales of growth and success I’ve yet to hear lies with Redbeacon.
The company first won top prize at TC50 in 2009, and has since gone on to raise a $7.4 million round led by Mayfield Fund and Venrock (purely bootstrapped up until then), and ultimately found themselves in the midst of an acquisition by Home Depot.
I spoke with co-founders Aaron Lee and Yaron Binur to hear the impressive tale straight from the horses’ mouths.
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In an effort to streamline its digital offerings, The Weather Channel has today announced that its popular iPhone app has undergone a major redesign. It started with the launch of the iPad app, and just a few weeks ago The Weather Channel followed suit on the web. But the iPhone marks a major portal between TWC and its consumers, in that mobile and weather undoubtedly go hand in hand.
The redesign reminds me a bit of HTC’s Sense 3, with the home screen offering up a weather-themed background based on the weather outside. The user interface seems much more navigable, but the features themselves are getting a bump as well. → Read More
Disrupt alumni never cease to impress. TC50 finalist Perpetually and its web archiving technology have been acquired by Portland, Ore.- based Smarsh.
Though the news hit the Web yesterday, we’re told the acquisition occurred earlier this year. Given Smarsh’s pedigree – which also specializes in archiving digital content, including IM conversations, social media interactions, and email – archiving sites as they change and update is only a natural step forward for the company. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. → Read More
The Galaxy S III is likely the most anticipated Android phone in existence. At least, today it is.
Samsung is the king of Android hardware, the Galaxy S II is its most successful phone to date, and a third iteration is only expected to follow in its predecessor’s footsteps.
Plus, we weren’t even comforted by the usual pre-announcement leakapalooza — Samsung reportedly kept early units locked in test boxes, which only made that glorious moment of unveiling all the more wonderful.
But we’re still waiting and wondering about a potential U.S. release date for what is sure to be Samsung’s most popular phone yet, meaning that getting a peek of the device in the wild is near to impossible until “later this summer”. But as is the case with almost any phone, someone has gotten their hands on a unit of the S III and set up the good ol’ handy cam for our viewing pleasure. → Read More
Imgur has a little piece of my heart.
On long days (or really any day), as news picks up and I’m writing like a work horse or when news screeches to a halt and I’m bored out of my mind, Imgur is there for me. Paired with the imaginations and (sometimes creepy) senses of humor of my dear colleagues, I get a fun little surprise every hour or so in the form of a hilarious photo or gif.
But I’m not the only one to enjoy the photo-sharing service. The company just announced that it’s reached 2 billion page views a month, up from 1 billion page views a month on February 1 of this year. Imgur has also surpassed 3 million daily uniques — a milestone in and of itself. → Read More
My first-ever Disrupt was a year ago, almost exactly. I had just started working for TechCrunch and Disrupt NYC 2011 was my initiation, of sorts. I had heard of Disrupt before — but witnessing the Battlefield first-hand, from the front row no less, is a totally different beast.
Every uncertain moment or slip-up during a presentation left me worried, and each triumphant joke or wondrous moment made me clap as loud as the folks in the back. Looking back on that time, a handful of startups are still locked safely away in my memory, the most prominent of all being Sonar.
That’s because the second I heard the concept, I knew it would be a big deal. Considering a host of new apps on the market that do similar things, like Highlight and Crowded Room, I was right. But as Disrupt NYC 2012 (tickets here) draws nigh, I couldn’t help but wonder what life has been like for Brett Martin and his social proximity company since launching on the main stage just a year ago.
I set out on a mission to find out the answer, and Brett Martin was kind enough to oblige. → Read More
This shouldn’t be the first time you’ve seen Skullcandy’s Hesh headphones appear on TechCrunch, but I’ll forgive you if it is. As a refresh, I reviewed the cans last week and found that it really came down to like vs. love. They’re fine, but I can’t necessarily justify a $60-$70 purchase.
John felt the same way when we sat down to chat about the Hesh headphones in this latest episode of Fly or Die. But it extends far beyond that. As John would say, “friends don’t let friends buy bad headphones.” → Read More
There are about a million case vendors out there ready to hook up your iThing with the utmost in protection and style, but very few differentiate in a cool way. This Kickstarter project, however, has really caught my eye with a minimalist design and smart functionality.
A company called FineGrain has recently posted their Bowden and Sheffield cases to Kickstarter with a goal of raising $20,000 by May 22. They’re nearly halfway there.
The Bowden and Sheffield solve the same problem that the Cygnett iPhone case solved for me. The iPad is beautiful, so putting a full-time case on it detracts from one of the tablet’s best qualities: its design. The Bowden and Sheffield keep your iPad safe in transit, and offer up a stand-type functionality so you can prop it up while you type or what have you, but they aren’t meant to stay on your iPad at all times. → Read More
Yext has been making waves of late, what with the spin-off of their original pay-per-call ad business which has been renamed Felix and the launch of their new business, PowerListings. But this is far from the beginning for Yext — the company first hit the scene way back in 2009 at our TC50 conference.
That means founder and CEO Howard Lerman is about as close to a Disrupt veteran as you can get, seeing as though he was launching at Disrupt before we even called it Disrupt (tickets here).
I asked him to come into the AOL headquarters to discuss what TC50 did for his brand and the company’s overall success, as a part of my “Disrupt Alumni: Where They Are Now” series. → Read More
Very rarely do we see gaming startups launch on the rather limited platform of SMS. Mobile games are all about the graphics, the functionality, and the ability to leverage the very best of technology through an app. But StrayBoots, a real-world scavenger hunt via text, has managed to generate $200,000 in revenue over the past 12 months, with nearly 50,000 paying customers.
Oh, and did I mention that it’s all through SMS? → Read More
They raised $11.45 million, acquired a company called Sensobi, and were themselves acquired by Skype for a price that was likely well north of $43 million.
There may not be a wilder tale of a Disrupt success (though plenty of startups would beg to differ), which is why we’ve chosen GroupMe to kick off a series I’m doing on “Disrupt Startups: Where They Are Now.” → Read More
A new app has just taken the App Store by storm — a colorful, rainbowful storm. It’s called Color Text Messages+ and the idea is relatively simple, but clearly appealing judging by the app’s popularity. The app is so popular, in fact, that Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter have all just dropped down a spot to make room for the new kid on the social block.
In essence, you can now send your friends customized color text messages, complete with backgrounds and various fonts. Yep, a huge chunk of Samsung’s Galaxy Note campaign around personalizing communication on smartphones just went down the drain courtesy of a free app. But that’s not the point — the point is that you can now send a Comic Sans text message inside a colored (or butterfly-themed) bubble.
It’s glorious.
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I’ve been spending some quality time with HTC’s Titan II, and I would never call it a bad phone. But that’s not the question — good, bad, fast, slow, ugly, beautiful… they don’t matter unless I feel that I’d put down money and live my life with this device. And even though I expected this to be one of my favorites, I walk away from my review certain that I wouldn’t exchange cash for this handset.
HTC is great at building quality hardware and Microsoft’s new mobile platform is fresh, different, and intuitive. But the way that the duo comes together leaves me unimpressed and disappointed, namely in the camera and the display. Past that, the thickness of the device paired with poor battery life does nothing to make up for these more minor disappointments. In essence, it’s simply not good enough.
Let’s talk about why. → Read More
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is arguably the best micro four-thirds camera Olympus has to offer. We’ve had issues with past m4/3 iterations like the EP1 and EP3, like awful color reproduction and slow auto-focus. The same problems don’t persist here, and anything that impresses John on the photography front is a rare gem certainly worth consideration. → Read More
This is clever.
A new Kickstarter project aims to disrupt the pill case market. True, it’s not the sexiest industry in the world, but it’s ripe for some disruption, since there just so happens to be a huge market for it and there’s very little, if any, differentiation between current competitors.
So what is it?
Well, in a few words, it’s a pill case that’s shaped like a pen, fittingly named the CapsulePen. → Read More
You’ve seen the ads. What once was Carly in a pink dress, talking about her myTouch 4G that let her Facebook her face off while making little “digs” at AT&T, has now become a biker chic badass whizzing by an iPhone biker with a wink and a hat tip. She’s now edgy, and has the leather to prove it.
But T-Mobile is getting punchier on its own. Even in its earnings call today, T-Mo’s CEO Phillip Hume said it himself, “the iPhone is slow, even on AT&T’s network.”
If you can’t join ‘em, might as well start punching, right? → Read More
When I think of product sampling, I remember the glorious days of wheeling around the grocery store with my mom and picking up every cheese and meat-laden toothpick in the building. My mom hated it. She was quite organized, and knew exactly what she wanted from the trip, while I was busy begging for the salami I just discovered or the special water crackers I sampled with a cube of Colby Jack.
She didn’t run off and buy the stuff I had sampled (probably because she never actually tried it), and I obviously wasn’t old enough to throw down cash for a box of crackers.
But clearly, product sampling can be big for a brand if it hits the right demographic in the right setting, which is exactly the business proposition of a new startup called LetsWombat. → Read More
There are quite a few Pinterest clones out there, and to be quite honest with you, there’s nothing wrong with a clone if it adds value in a fundamentally different way than the service it’s cloning. This is why I’m totally amped to tell you about RankBoards. Yes, I know, it does borrow a bit from Pinterest in terms of large-scale representative imagery, but it brings in a new layer of awesomeness in the form of ranking.
Ranking is something inherent in us, whether we talk about it or are conscious of it. When someone asks you about your favorite tech blogs, you may list off six or seven, but in your heart you know that TechCrunch sits right at the top of that list. (Wink.)
RankBoards takes our natural push to rank things and throws it up onto the internet. Basically, you create boards in the same way you would on Pinterest, but instead of a collage of categorized items, you’re asked to rank them from best to worst, favorite to least favorite, etc. → Read More
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