inkDot - your daily news aggregator

Provided by: techcrunch.com12010-09-09 08:26:51web and programming / techcrunch.com /: ...give Jack Bauer the movie he deserves! by J.A. Hamilton We all have our favorite shows, but to be honest I didnTechCrunch is a group-edited blog that profiles the companies, products and events defining and transforming the new web. This past weekend, I wrote a post wondering if Android was surging in the U.S. market because Apple was letting it? The main thought was that by remaining exclusively tied to AT&T, Apple was driving some users to choose Android, which is available on all the U.S. carriers. In the post, I posed a question: if it's not the iPhone/AT&T deal, why do you choose Android? Nearly 1,000 people responded, and a large percentage focused on the same idea: the idea of "openness." You'll forgive me, but I have to say it: what a load of crap. In theory, I'm right there with you. The thought of a truly open mobile operating system is very appealing. The problem is that in practice, that's just simply not the reality of the situation. Maybe if Google had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don't. Sadly, they have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers.

Provided by: techcrunch.com22010-09-09 08:26:51web and programming / techcrunch.com /: This past weekend, I wrote a post wondering if Android was surging in the U.S. market because Apple was letting it? The main thought was that by remaining exclusively tied to AT&T, Apple was driving some users to choose Android, which is available on all the U.S. carriers. In the post, I posed a question: if it's not the iPhone/AT&T deal, why do you choose Android? Nearly 1,000 people responded, and a large percentage focused on the same idea: the idea of "openness." You'll forgive me, but I have to say it: what a load of crap. In theory, I'm right there with you. The thought of a truly open mobile operating system is very appealing. The problem is that in practice, that's just simply not the reality of the situation. Maybe if Google had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don't. Sadly, they have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers.

Provided by: techcrunch.com32010-09-09 08:13:24web and programming / techcrunch.com /: The market for web-based translations is estimated to be worth around $3 billion currently, and big markets tend to attract investors. One of the newer companies in that area, Tokyo-based myGengo (which we previously profiled as "Mechanical Turk for translation"), just raised a $750,000 seed round from some high-profile backers.

Provided by: techcrunch.com42010-09-09 07:58:02web and programming / techcrunch.com /: I typically hear from VCs these days when they are either doing a big, growth capital round, a follow-on funding, an investment in concert with a syndicate or.... bleeeeeeeeep (as in not at all). The rise of the "Super Angels", a trend TechCrunch Europe was first to call in 2008, seems to be putting paid to VC's involvement in early stage. Or perhaps not. Venture capital house Eden Ventures appears to be on something of a roll and has taken to co-investing with angels like a duck to water. Today it announces five (count'em) new investments, which range in size from £100,000 to £1 million.

Provided by: techcrunch.com52010-09-09 07:12:25web and programming / techcrunch.com /: Ok, so not only is Google Instant rejiggering how we think about search, but it is also a clever way to create instant music videos. We saw this with the official Google Instant version of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (where the lyrics on the flash cards get typed into Google and create a stream of related results). But now the same thing has been done with the "Instant Elements" song in the video above. The lyrics to Tom Lehrer's song, "The Elements," are typed into Google Instant, and it creates a visual accompaniment to the song, showing search results and images for each element like magnesium, silicon, and gadolinium. I think we have a meme here. You can do this for any song, and now people will.

Provided by: techcrunch.com62010-09-09 00:09:53web and programming / techcrunch.com /: John Seely Brown and John Hagel are two of the most respected technology and business thinkers in Silicon Valley. Seely Brown is best known as the long time Chief Scientist at Xerox Parc, while Hagel is the author of a number of influential business articles and books including Net Worth. The great change in contemporary economic life - what Seely Brown and Hagel call the “big shift” – is between the old centralized command-and-control industrial economy and today’s democratized edge economy. Sometimes sounding more like Marxist revolutionaries than Deloitte consultants, Seely Brown and Hagel see the pull economy as fundamentally changing every aspect of 21st century life – from business to education to politics to social activity.

Provided by: techcrunch.com72010-09-09 04:19:47web and programming / techcrunch.com /: ...give Jack Bauer the movie he deserves! by J.A. Hamilton We all have our favorite shows, but to be honest I didnTechCrunch is a group-edited blog that profiles the companies, products and events defining and transforming the new web. Zynga has been taking it on the chin from the SF Weekly the last few weeks. First there was a four part series about some stickers that Zynga's ad agency put on the streets of San Francisco - lame but not exactly Third Reicht territory. But the last two days the newspaper has focused on Zynga's penchant for stealing game ideas from other companies. FarmVille, FishVille, PetVille, Café World, and Mafia Wars were all copies of other company's games. That warranted a cover story. The SFWeekly even gave this copying thing a name - Farmvillians. Which is kinda catchy, although it's no Scamville if you ask me. Scamville was major league evil. Copying business ideas is just being part of Silicon Valley. All this got me thinking about the quote "Behind every great fortune there is a crime" and the tendency of some people to go legit just as soon as they've won the game. Then they hope that they can wipe the slate clean and be accepted in the better parts of society.

Provided by: techcrunch.com82010-09-09 04:00:10web and programming / techcrunch.com /: TechCrunch-reading football fans may remember a nifty, free online game we wrote about last year called Quick Hit that puts you at the helm of a virtual football team. The game doesn't involve the twitchy gameplay of gaming goliath Madden, but is instead built around strategy and play calling (though it does feature rich, 3D graphics to keep things interesting). You may also notice that the game's logo looks a little different from last year's: it now sports the official emblem of the NFL. And that's a big deal. You see, when Quick Hit launched last year it didn't have the NFL license. That meant it didn't have any of the official NFL teams, so you'd have to coach generic squads that don't actually exist. Which, to put it lightly, is a big buzzkill when you're trying to pretend you're Bill Walsh and are reigning over the fictitious San Francisco Tigers. But now Quick Hit has forged a deal with the NFL that gives it rights to all of the real teams, uniforms, and stadiums.

Provided by: techcrunch.com92010-09-09 04:19:47web and programming / techcrunch.com /: Zynga has been taking it on the chin from the SF Weekly the last few weeks. First there was a four part series about some stickers that Zynga's ad agency put on the streets of San Francisco - lame but not exactly Third Reicht territory. But the last two days the newspaper has focused on Zynga's penchant for stealing game ideas from other companies. FarmVille, FishVille, PetVille, Café World, and Mafia Wars were all copies of other company's games. That warranted a cover story. The SFWeekly even gave this copying thing a name - Farmvillians. Which is kinda catchy, although it's no Scamville if you ask me. Scamville was major league evil. Copying business ideas is just being part of Silicon Valley. All this got me thinking about the quote "Behind every great fortune there is a crime" and the tendency of some people to go legit just as soon as they've won the game. Then they hope that they can wipe the slate clean and be accepted in the better parts of society.

Provided by: techcrunch.com102010-09-09 03:31:04web and programming / techcrunch.com /: I don't know why but I just can't stop re-reading this exchange. Poor AT&T shoots itself in the head today by emailing customers and asking them to provide feedback in one centralized place. Customers promptly complied, and the tower of hate is almost overwhelming. Someone at AT&T will likely be cleaning out their desk tomorrow over this, and frankly I can't believe they didn't see it coming. It'll be hard for AT&T to argue that the vast majority of its customers are happy when nearly all the comments are hugely negative, some violently so. Some commenters were particularly incensed that they had to "like" the page before commenting.

Provided by: techcrunch.com112010-09-09 02:22:47web and programming / techcrunch.com /: Google made it clear at its press event today that Google Instant will not change way that company will rank adds or show ads. From the Google blog:
"We recommend monitoring your ads' performance the same way you usually do. Google Instant might increase or decrease your overall impression levels. However, Google Instant can improve the quality of your clicks since it helps people search using terms that more directly connect them with the answers they need. Therefore, your overall campaign performance could improve."
At the event, Google Ad Evangelist Frederick Vallaeys went into detail with us why the new feature might in fact improve Adwords campaign performance, and debunked some of the easily made assumptions, which he outlined.

Provided by: techcrunch.com122010-09-09 01:42:26web and programming / techcrunch.com /: In this video we find AT&T's rep, Seth Bloom, reaching out to New Yorkers in particular and explaining, as simply as possible, while their calls suck and how AT&T is trying to fix the problem. Wow.In this video we find AT&T's rep, Seth Bloom, reaching out to New Yorkers in particular and explaining, as simply as possible, while their calls suck and how AT&T is trying to fix the problem. Essentially AT&T is starting to move some calls to the the 850 MHz band for more in-building coverage. The best thing about this video is that Seth the AT&T Blogger Guy looks like someone you'd want to give a noogie to (that's a good thing) and they show you whats inside those crazy switch boxes on top of buildings. Double rainbow.

Provided by: techcrunch.com132010-09-09 01:20:13web and programming / techcrunch.com /: After Google's search event this morning, TechCrunch TV got a chance to catch up with Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of Search Products and User Experience, in the demo pit. In our brief video interview, an enthusiastic Mayer touts Google Instant as a "whole new way to search,"a game changer akin to the introduction of power steering in the automotive industry. It's certainly a neat feature that optimizes the search experience, but the real question remains: how does Google Instant fundamentally change consumer behavior, and in turn SEO and Google's ad sales. Mayer was more tentative on this front. See video ahead.

Provided by: techcrunch.com142010-09-09 00:09:53web and programming / techcrunch.com /: John Seely Brown and John Hagel are two of the most respected technology and business thinkers in Silicon Valley. Seely Brown is best known as the long time Chief Scientist at Xerox Parc, while Hagel is the author of a number of influential business articles and books including Net Worth. The great change in contemporary economic life - what Seely Brown and Hagel call the “big shift” – is between the old centralized command-and-control industrial economy and today’s democratized edge economy. Sometimes sounding more like Marxist revolutionaries than Deloitte consultants, Seely Brown and Hagel see the pull economy as fundamentally changing every aspect of 21st century life – from business to education to politics to social activity.

Provided by: techcrunch.com152010-09-08 23:00:55web and programming / techcrunch.com /: Earlier this year we wrote about TechCrunch 50 company Localbacon's relaunch as Jibe, a next-generation job board that leverages Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to help job seekers find the best positions in the job market. Today, Jibe, which has been in private beta since March, is launching to the public, with job listings from Conde Nast, MTV Networks, Amazon, Equinox, and Church & Dwight. On Jibe, job seekers sign in with Facebook Connect. The platform will pull in their work and education history from their Facebook profile and from LinkedIn and Twitter to pre-populate their Jibe profile. Then for every job posting, they can see if they are connected to anyone at that company. Jibe allows members to message those people directly to ask for a recommendation or job advice.

▼ next page

▲ prev page