Romain Dillet is a writer at TechCrunch.
Originally from France, Romain attended EMLYON Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He covers many things from mobile apps with great designs to complex tech achievements. He is a pop culture devotee.
He now lives in Lyon and likes to cover New York startups as he used to live there.
The Kindle Paperwhite is Amazon’s latest ereader. After four generations of devices, Kindle users expected a slight incremental update from the previous Kindle Touch. But everything was improved in the Paperwhite, from the operating system to the display resolution. On top of that, Amazon added frontlighting. After two months of use, it remains the best reading device. → Read More
Curioos is a digital art startup focused on showcasing up-and-coming artists and selling their artwork in different formats. Each object has its own series of artworks specifically tailored for the product.
For example, the collection of watch bracelets is different from the collection of phone skins. Curioos offers an opportunity for artists to monetize their work as well. Originally from… → Read More
Today, Apple shares fell 6.43 percent to 538.79, which represents a $34.8 billion market cap write-off. Analysts have been looking for reasons for the drop all day long without finding a single one that stands out. They forgot about the long-term perspective.
During the past 12 months, Apple shares have been up 42.7 percent, mostly due to two new products, the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini. With a… → Read More
Amazon today launched FreeTime Unlimited, a subscription service that offers movies, games, and books for the kids. The launch follows the recent software update to Kindle Fire, which introduced FreeTime, a profile system designed to restrict access to certain content. → Read More
Internet radio service Pandora released its financial results for the Q3 2013, ending October 31 2012. Revenue is up 60 percent compared to Q3 2012 to $120 million. Pandora reported a non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.05. It represents a GAAP net income of $2.052 million. Advertising revenue was $106.3 million, a 61 percent year-over-year increase. Subscription and other revenue was $13.7 million… → Read More
The Doxie Go is a portable scanner with a built-in battery and 512 MB of internal memory. You can bring it anywhere with you and scan all your documents before throwing them away. But the best part is the application that comes with it. It integrates with cloud services, such as Dropbox, Evernote or CloudApp. You can open scanned documents with any local app, as well, or just save it as a PDF with… → Read More
Turntable today introduced Piki, a Pandora-like, human-powered radio app combined with powerful Twitter-inspired social features. With Piki, the most impressive part is that Turntable is one of the first music startups to get social right. The company has been working on the brand-new service for a year. → Read More
People on Twitter are complaining that Facebook has been down for about 10 minutes at the time of writing this article. Many TechCrunch writers could confirm the issue. The mobile app and website are still working though. → Read More
Apple just released long-awaited iTunes 11. After downloading, users should expect a totally redesigned version. In October, the company said that there would be a one-month delay. Little has changed over the years, but today’s new version represents a major milestone and a much needed simplification in some ways. → Read More
According to multiple Internet monitoring services, Syrian authorities have cut off access to the Internet. The news comes as an uprising has shaken the country for months, with an opposition trying to get together to face president and dictator Bashar al Assad. In the capital city Damascus, mobile services and land lines are affected as well. → Read More
Groupon shares (NASDAQ:GRPN) closed at 4.42, 11.62 percent above yesterday’s level. CEO Andrew Mason’s interview was highly anticipated today. Yesterday, AllThingsD reported that the board questioned Mason’s vision. → Read More
During Business Insider’s Ignition conference, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason commented yesterday’s stories about his role at the company. AllThingsD reported that the board was discussing whether the company needed a new CEO. Mason replied by stating that “it would be weird if the Board wasn’t discussing whether I’m the right guy for the job.” Groupon has gained… → Read More
Today at Business Insider’s Ignition conference in New York, David Lee, founder and managing partner at SV Angel commented on Foursquare. As SV Angel is an investor, he had good things to say. “Foursquare is one of the most misunderstood companies,” he said. At 43, Lee isn’t using Foursquare to check in. He uses it in a passive way to find new restaurants, and finds the app very powerful. It goes… → Read More
Two of the team of eight designers at Foursquare have recently left to focus on Sunrise, a calendar product to do more with your calendar, with data from Google Calendar, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. They currently offer a daily email and are actively working on the next version. According to them, the calendar can be a very powerful tool and nobody has figured it out yet. → Read More
The Pen Type-A is a pen milled from a block of type 304 stainless steel that should last at least 50 years. It looks and feels great, and it’s a good writing tool as it uses Pilot’s Hi-Tec C ink cartridges. The ruler acts as a sleeve. It is precisely manufactured so that the pen slowly slides in and out, like a pneumatic cylinder. It’s a pen for pen geeks. → Read More
It’s that time of the year again. Lucky applicants who got selected for an interview with three Y Combinator partners will pitch their startup starting tomorrow. Founders will have exactly 10 minutes, so they shouldn’t waste time with small talk. It might be a good idea to learn everything about the partners beforehand, and especially what they look like. A page made by designers Jeremy Le Van and… → Read More
Today, Facebook shares (NASDAQ:FB) have jumped 5.28 percent, closing at 24.32. In fact, it represents a four-month high for Facebook, as shares have not traded at this level since the first lockup expirations. Last Wednesday, Facebook experienced its biggest lockup expiration. To everyone’s surprise, shares popped more than 10 percent in a few minutes. Today confirms that the worst has passed. → Read More
3D systems has filed a lawsuit against both Formlabs and Kickstarter for patent infringement. Formlabs is the manufacturer of a low-cost 3D printer called the Form 1. Thanks to the stereolithography printing technique, the Form 1 can achieve professional grade 3D printing in a small hobbyist printer. It quickly became a Kickstarter success. Yet, in 1997 3D Systems patented stereolithography… → Read More
Today was the official grand opening of the MakerBot Store in New York. Head over to 298 Mulberry Street and you can buy MakerBot printers, filament, and pre-made items, such as bracelets, watches and toys. And that’s not all.
MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis unveiled a new 3D photo booth powered by ShapeShot. The photo takes a couple of minutes and costs $5 for three reusable shots. Then you can order… → Read More
At market opening today, HP took a big hit, with shares (NYSE:HPQ) trading at $11.65, 12.41 percent below yesterday’s level. The company announced disappointing earnings before market opening. As analysts expected a $2.2 billion of net profit, the $8.8 billion loss came as a very bad last minute surprise. HP blames accounting frauds preceding HP’s acquisition of Autonomy. → Read More
HP’s earnings for Q4 ending on October 31 show a gloomy quarter. Revenue is down 7 percent to $30 billion compared to Q4 2011. But the real problem comes from GAAP net income, with a net loss of $6.9 billion, or $3.49 per share, compared to a slim net profit of $0.2 billion for Q4 2011. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share is at $1.16 compared to $1.17 year-over-year. Most of the bad news comes… → Read More
Oprah hasn’t been shy about her love for the MS Surface. In early November, she claimed that it was one of her favorite things. This morning, she tweeted that she has bought 12 for Christmas gifts. She sent that using Twitter for iPad. → Read More
Meet Sharky the Beaver, Sphero‘s first augmented reality character for their little robotic spheres. Over the past few months, Orbotix has been developing many new ways to use the toy. With this new app, the company is making its first step into the world of augmented reality. As a reminder, Sphero is a ball with an internal motor. You can control it using a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or… → Read More
Tonight at the Facebook Gifts event at giant toy store FAO Schwarz in New York, the company announced that Facebook Gifts is available to tens of millions of users starting today. Many new partners are on board, as well: babyGap, Fab, Brookstone, Dean & Deluca, L’Occitane, Lindt, ProFlowers, Random House, Inc. and NARS Cosmetics, as well as subscription services Hulu Plus, Pandora and Rdio. → Read More
Facebook share prices are up today, with shares at 21.91, 10.32 percent above yesterday’s level. It represents a 4.6 billion market capitalization gain. Today the company is experiencing its biggest stock-lockup expiration, with 773 million Facebook shares (NASDAQ:FB) held by employees now eligible to be sold on the open market. Notably, 504 million shares held by Mark Zuckerberg are… → Read More
Tonight at the New York Tech Meetup, SpaceSplitter presented the latest feature of its web application which makes it easier to get money out of your roommates for their share of the household items.
OurList lets roommates set up subscriptions for household goods and split the cost easily. Users select the frequency and the share that each roommate should pay, and the service handles payments. → Read More
Another big Internet company is the target of Direction générale des finances – France’s equivalent of the IRS – due to tax noncompliance. The agency is asking Amazon to pay $252 million in non-reported tax and penalties. Most of Amazon’s revenue in Europe goes to Luxembourg where the corporate tax is much lower. While it’s legal, there are some subtleties in order to comply with the law. → Read More
When it comes to financing small businesses, loans remain an important option. Biz2Credit simplifies the process greatly by removing the need to contact different institutions and waste time. With the new iPad app, companies can even get a credit score from Dun & Bradstreet in minutes. By partnering with 1,100 lenders, companies can get a clear view of their options and secure capital easily. → Read More
AOL (owner of TechCrunch) reported earlier today its quarterly earnings for Q3 2012 ending September 30. The results beat expectations with a flat revenue of $531.7 million compared to Q3 2011. It’s the first time in over seven years that revenue isn’t declining. Net income was $20.8 million compared to a net loss of $2.6 million in the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share were… → Read More
Recovering from Hurricane Sandy is no small feat as most of Lower Manhattan is still in the dark without power. I talked with a couple of people working in startups who had to find a place to get back work. But the most difficult part was probably to set aside the devastation and get the businesses back on track. Those companies are fragile and can’t risk a companywide blackout for a week. → Read More
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