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February 23 2012
White House Unveils Plans For Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights
White House Landing
The Obama administration has announced that it will work with Congress on a new series of consumer protections dubbed a "Privacy Bill of Rights" that will detail how Internet companies can handle and use consumers' personal data. According to the statement from The White House, consumers should have a right to control how their personal information is handled so that business can maintain their trust and continue to grow.
White House Landing
The Obama administration has announced that it will work with Congress on a new series of consumer protections dubbed a "Privacy Bill of Rights" that will detail how Internet companies can handle and use consumers' personal data. According to the statement from The White House, consumers should have a right to control how their personal information is handled so that business can maintain their trust and continue to grow.
Box Updates Android App With New Collaboration Features, Commenting And More
android-
Cloud storage and collaboration platform Box is debuting a updated Android app today, which has been upgraded with a number of new collaboration features as well as support for several European languages. Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie tells us this is the biggest update to the company's Android app since launch in 2010. Besides a completely new UI, the app has been overhauled to support commenting on individual Box files from the app, and now includes the ability to invite others to view documents and files. The new app also supports multiple file downloads at once and features in-app progress notifications Box says they worked with Google directly to develop the new version of the Android app, which has now been localized in four new languages including Spanish, German, Italian and French.
android-
Cloud storage and collaboration platform Box is debuting a updated Android app today, which has been upgraded with a number of new collaboration features as well as support for several European languages. Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie tells us this is the biggest update to the company's Android app since launch in 2010. Besides a completely new UI, the app has been overhauled to support commenting on individual Box files from the app, and now includes the ability to invite others to view documents and files. The new app also supports multiple file downloads at once and features in-app progress notifications Box says they worked with Google directly to develop the new version of the Android app, which has now been localized in four new languages including Spanish, German, Italian and French.
Tags:
TC
Lookout Debuts Ad Network Detector For Mobile Apps on Android
lookout
Ever wonder what ad networks your mobile apps are running? Today, Lookout, a company that offers security services for a number of smartphone platforms, is releasing a new, free Android app that aims to provide transparency into ad networks to help you understand what’s happening on your phone – from knowing what networks are on your device to understanding their capabilities. As Lookout says, sometimes apps access info for reasons that are not so obvious. As a way to further ensure users privacy, Lookout's Ad Network Detector app will show you what information the ad networks within the apps on your phone can access. For example, some ad networks will collect information from your phone for use in more targeted advertising marketing campaigns. This app just gives you insight into what information is being used.
lookout
Ever wonder what ad networks your mobile apps are running? Today, Lookout, a company that offers security services for a number of smartphone platforms, is releasing a new, free Android app that aims to provide transparency into ad networks to help you understand what’s happening on your phone – from knowing what networks are on your device to understanding their capabilities. As Lookout says, sometimes apps access info for reasons that are not so obvious. As a way to further ensure users privacy, Lookout's Ad Network Detector app will show you what information the ad networks within the apps on your phone can access. For example, some ad networks will collect information from your phone for use in more targeted advertising marketing campaigns. This app just gives you insight into what information is being used.
Support Long-Form Journalism With This Online Kickstarter Project
simple logo.large
Most Kickstarter projects are some permutation of the words iPad,iPhone,case,stand,shell, and stylus. But this project is a permutation of the words long-form, journalism, and website. The project, called #MATTER, is the brainchild of Jim Giles and Bobbie Johnson and hopes to bring thoughtful, long-form journalism to the tabletweb.
simple logo.large
Most Kickstarter projects are some permutation of the words iPad,iPhone,case,stand,shell, and stylus. But this project is a permutation of the words long-form, journalism, and website. The project, called #MATTER, is the brainchild of Jim Giles and Bobbie Johnson and hopes to bring thoughtful, long-form journalism to the tabletweb.
QVC Acquires Personalized E-Commerce Site For Fashion Accessories, Send The Trend
send-the-trend
QVC, a home shopping network and e-commerce site, has acquired Send the Trend, a recently launched e-commerce site that brings personalization to the world of fashion accessories. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Send the Trend had previously raised $3 million from Battery Ventures and Founder Collective. Send the Trend offers its customers personalized, affordable accessories such as fashion jewelry, sunglasses, scarves and more. The site takes you through a very short survey of what kind of accessories you may want, and it then provides stylist-curated customized recommendations for five different accessories for you. You can then buy any of the items for $30, with free shipping included for U.S. customers.
send-the-trend
QVC, a home shopping network and e-commerce site, has acquired Send the Trend, a recently launched e-commerce site that brings personalization to the world of fashion accessories. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Send the Trend had previously raised $3 million from Battery Ventures and Founder Collective. Send the Trend offers its customers personalized, affordable accessories such as fashion jewelry, sunglasses, scarves and more. The site takes you through a very short survey of what kind of accessories you may want, and it then provides stylist-curated customized recommendations for five different accessories for you. You can then buy any of the items for $30, with free shipping included for U.S. customers.
Tags:
TC send-the-trend
With Many Eyeballs, All Bugs Are Shallow
source-code
In his seminal work The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond put forward the claim that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow." He dubbed this Linus' Law, in honor of Linux creator Linus Torvalds. It sounds like a fairly self-evident statement, but as the Wikipedia page points out the notion has its detractors. Michael Howard and David LeBlanc claim in their 2003 book Writing Secure Code "most people just don't know what to look for." A new report from the Coverity Scan project today indicates that a great many people do know what to look for, and open source software is at least on par -- if not better than! -- proprietary software with respect to software defects. The Coverity Scan project evaluated selected open source projects and a number of anonymous proprietary codebases to identify "hard-to-spot, yet potentially crash-causing defects." The results reinforce Linus' Law.
source-code
In his seminal work The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond put forward the claim that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow." He dubbed this Linus' Law, in honor of Linux creator Linus Torvalds. It sounds like a fairly self-evident statement, but as the Wikipedia page points out the notion has its detractors. Michael Howard and David LeBlanc claim in their 2003 book Writing Secure Code "most people just don't know what to look for." A new report from the Coverity Scan project today indicates that a great many people do know what to look for, and open source software is at least on par -- if not better than! -- proprietary software with respect to software defects. The Coverity Scan project evaluated selected open source projects and a number of anonymous proprietary codebases to identify "hard-to-spot, yet potentially crash-causing defects." The results reinforce Linus' Law.
These iOS vs. Android Flame Wars Have To Stop
flamewar
I just want to start this out by saying I love you guys. I really do. TechCrunch is lucky enough to have a really smart, well-informed readership which keeps us diligent in our reporting. You guys are also pretty hilarious, and who doesn't enjoy a good ROFL now and then. But if there's one thing I've learned through the comments section here at TechCrunch, it's that these Android vs. iOS fanboy flame wars need to stop.
flamewar
I just want to start this out by saying I love you guys. I really do. TechCrunch is lucky enough to have a really smart, well-informed readership which keeps us diligent in our reporting. You guys are also pretty hilarious, and who doesn't enjoy a good ROFL now and then. But if there's one thing I've learned through the comments section here at TechCrunch, it's that these Android vs. iOS fanboy flame wars need to stop.
Pseudonymous Mobile Messaging App Vibe Acquired By Betaworks
vibe
Back during the heyday of #OccupyWallStreet in New York City (before winter dispersed most of the protestors there), an iPhone app called Vibe became popular among that community. It allows people to post messages, photos, and videos within a geo-fenced radius—everything from a "whisper" (visible only to people within 165 feet) to a "bellow" (visible worldwide). The messages can be set to expire and users can post with a pseudonym or link the app to their Twitter account. Vibe is the creation of Hazem Sayed, and his two-person startup was acquired by betaworks last December. Betaworks never announced the deal, but I've been able to confirm it. Sayed and at least one other person who worked on Vibe now work at betaworks. The deal was likely in the low six figures, with betaworks now owning a majority of Vibe.
vibe
Back during the heyday of #OccupyWallStreet in New York City (before winter dispersed most of the protestors there), an iPhone app called Vibe became popular among that community. It allows people to post messages, photos, and videos within a geo-fenced radius—everything from a "whisper" (visible only to people within 165 feet) to a "bellow" (visible worldwide). The messages can be set to expire and users can post with a pseudonym or link the app to their Twitter account. Vibe is the creation of Hazem Sayed, and his two-person startup was acquired by betaworks last December. Betaworks never announced the deal, but I've been able to confirm it. Sayed and at least one other person who worked on Vibe now work at betaworks. The deal was likely in the low six figures, with betaworks now owning a majority of Vibe.
Apple Still Leads Tablet Shipments, But The Fight For Second Place Rages On
firevsipad
Another day, another take on Amazon and Apple duking it out in the tablet market. The data comes from NPD’s DisplaySearch wing, and the results don't come as much of a shock. By their count, Apple is still sitting at the top of the heap, accounting for 59.1% of the tablets shipped in Q4 2011 while Amazon is sitting pretty in second place with 16.7% of tablet shipments under their belt. At first glance, the results seem very similar to those announced by iSuppli this time last week — the only major shift is that iSuppli has book retailer Barnes & Noble slightly ahead of Asus.
firevsipad
Another day, another take on Amazon and Apple duking it out in the tablet market. The data comes from NPD’s DisplaySearch wing, and the results don't come as much of a shock. By their count, Apple is still sitting at the top of the heap, accounting for 59.1% of the tablets shipped in Q4 2011 while Amazon is sitting pretty in second place with 16.7% of tablet shipments under their belt. At first glance, the results seem very similar to those announced by iSuppli this time last week — the only major shift is that iSuppli has book retailer Barnes & Noble slightly ahead of Asus.
Deutsche Telekom’s VC Firm Makes Strategic Investment In Pinger
pingershot
For the last few years we've been tracking the growth of a service called Textfree, offered by San Jose-based startup Pinger. As the name implies, Textfree has a very attractive value proposition: you sign up, it gives you a free, real, telephone number, and you can send text messages and make phone calls with it free of charge — the service makes most of its money by displaying ads alongside the texts. It's also massively popular: last month alone, users sent and received a total of 2 billion text messages, and it's one of the most download iOS apps of all time. Even more impressive is the fact that the vast majority of their efforts have been concentrated in the US alone — Pinger is preparing to sweep across Europe this year. Pinger's service is potentially disruptive to the telecom world, which is why it's so notable that the company is now getting in bed with one of the biggest names in the business: it's raised a $7.5 million funding round led by T Venture, the VC arm of international carrier giant Deutsche Telekom.
pingershot
For the last few years we've been tracking the growth of a service called Textfree, offered by San Jose-based startup Pinger. As the name implies, Textfree has a very attractive value proposition: you sign up, it gives you a free, real, telephone number, and you can send text messages and make phone calls with it free of charge — the service makes most of its money by displaying ads alongside the texts. It's also massively popular: last month alone, users sent and received a total of 2 billion text messages, and it's one of the most download iOS apps of all time. Even more impressive is the fact that the vast majority of their efforts have been concentrated in the US alone — Pinger is preparing to sweep across Europe this year. Pinger's service is potentially disruptive to the telecom world, which is why it's so notable that the company is now getting in bed with one of the biggest names in the business: it's raised a $7.5 million funding round led by T Venture, the VC arm of international carrier giant Deutsche Telekom.
NVIDIA Rebrands The Tegra 3′s Architecture, Wants Everyone To Now Call It A 4-Plus-1 SoC
Tegra3_Chip-250x179
Nvidia unveiled the Tegra 3 platform last year at Mobile World Congress. Since then the chip has lived its short life mostly misunderstood. You see, it's a quad-core chip with another 500MHz companion core that handles low-power background tasks -- an architecture Nvidia previously called variable symmetric multiprocessing. But that's a mouthful and likely a bit hard to properly market to consumers. From here on out Nvidia wants the Tegra 3 to be called a 4-Plus-1 chip, m'kay? Nvidia even went as far as trademarking the new name.
Tegra3_Chip-250x179
Nvidia unveiled the Tegra 3 platform last year at Mobile World Congress. Since then the chip has lived its short life mostly misunderstood. You see, it's a quad-core chip with another 500MHz companion core that handles low-power background tasks -- an architecture Nvidia previously called variable symmetric multiprocessing. But that's a mouthful and likely a bit hard to properly market to consumers. From here on out Nvidia wants the Tegra 3 to be called a 4-Plus-1 chip, m'kay? Nvidia even went as far as trademarking the new name.
With New Facebook Integration, Prescreen Relaunches To Make Movie Discovery More Social
Screen shot 2012-02-23 at 6.42.15 AM
Independent filmmakers have a pretty tough when it comes to marketing and promoting their films; they really don't have the resources or tools required to expand their outreach, and get in front of new eyeballs. Only the big Hollywood studios have the resources to drive enough cross-platform advertising to stir up buzz over their upcoming blockbusters, six months in advance. And, it goes without saying that this isn't just limited to independent filmmakers, it's true for musicians, artists, and many more. That's why early ThePoint/Groupon employee Shawn Bercuson, Zoosk Co-founder John Smart, Dan Rummel, and Lee Wilson launched Prescreen last September -- to bring movie lovers an easy way to discover independent films they wouldn't otherwise and, in turn, give filmmakers, producers, and more a shot at drumming up interest in (and bringing eyeballs to) their work.
Screen shot 2012-02-23 at 6.42.15 AM
Independent filmmakers have a pretty tough when it comes to marketing and promoting their films; they really don't have the resources or tools required to expand their outreach, and get in front of new eyeballs. Only the big Hollywood studios have the resources to drive enough cross-platform advertising to stir up buzz over their upcoming blockbusters, six months in advance. And, it goes without saying that this isn't just limited to independent filmmakers, it's true for musicians, artists, and many more. That's why early ThePoint/Groupon employee Shawn Bercuson, Zoosk Co-founder John Smart, Dan Rummel, and Lee Wilson launched Prescreen last September -- to bring movie lovers an easy way to discover independent films they wouldn't otherwise and, in turn, give filmmakers, producers, and more a shot at drumming up interest in (and bringing eyeballs to) their work.
Geolocation’s Potential Heats Up With Geoloqi’s Battery-Saving Tech
geoloqi-dev-banner
Geoloqi, a name you may know because of the mobile app that provides automatic Foursquare check-ins and geofenced reminders, is today launching its next-generation location platform as an SDK. Although previously available in API format for developers' use, the new iOS and Android SDK makes it even easier for developers to drop in location services into their apps, whether those are consumer-facing apps, apps for government, carriers, or the enterprise.
geoloqi-dev-banner
Geoloqi, a name you may know because of the mobile app that provides automatic Foursquare check-ins and geofenced reminders, is today launching its next-generation location platform as an SDK. Although previously available in API format for developers' use, the new iOS and Android SDK makes it even easier for developers to drop in location services into their apps, whether those are consumer-facing apps, apps for government, carriers, or the enterprise.
Former McAfee CTO Debuts Stealthy Security Technology Startup CrowdStrike With $26M In Funding
CrowdStrike, Inc.
George Kurtz, who was formerly the CTO of McAfee, has launched a new security technology company called CrowdStrike. The company is still in stealth mode, but has revealed a $26 million series A investment from Warburg Pincus (Kurtz was previously an EIR at the private equity firm). Details are still minimal, but as Kurtz explains in a blog post announcing the launch, CrowdStrike is a security technology company focused on helping enterprises and governments protect their most sensitive intellectual property and national security information. CrowdStrike, which was co-founded with Dmitri Alperovitch and Gregg Marston, is trying to use big data mining to help companies and organizations battle cyber-security challenges.
CrowdStrike, Inc.
George Kurtz, who was formerly the CTO of McAfee, has launched a new security technology company called CrowdStrike. The company is still in stealth mode, but has revealed a $26 million series A investment from Warburg Pincus (Kurtz was previously an EIR at the private equity firm). Details are still minimal, but as Kurtz explains in a blog post announcing the launch, CrowdStrike is a security technology company focused on helping enterprises and governments protect their most sensitive intellectual property and national security information. CrowdStrike, which was co-founded with Dmitri Alperovitch and Gregg Marston, is trying to use big data mining to help companies and organizations battle cyber-security challenges.
Tags:
TC crowdstrike
Swoop Gives Food Websites An Injection Of Local Deals
swoop
Swoop, a startup that's launching today, says it's giving food websites a new way to convince readers to stick around, and to make some money in the process. CEO Ron Elwell says Swoop's technology can look at the text of a food website and automatically inject links to local deals when they're relevant. So, for example, if a site includes a recipe that calls for mayonnaise, Swoop can insert a link at the mention of mayonnaise, and if the reader clicks on it, a small window will open showing any nearby deals on mayonnaise. Users can specify their zip code and which stores they're interested in seeing deals from, and they can create shopping lists of the items they want. Elwell says Swoop will add more personalization options over time (the company tracks repeat users through cookies).
swoop
Swoop, a startup that's launching today, says it's giving food websites a new way to convince readers to stick around, and to make some money in the process. CEO Ron Elwell says Swoop's technology can look at the text of a food website and automatically inject links to local deals when they're relevant. So, for example, if a site includes a recipe that calls for mayonnaise, Swoop can insert a link at the mention of mayonnaise, and if the reader clicks on it, a small window will open showing any nearby deals on mayonnaise. Users can specify their zip code and which stores they're interested in seeing deals from, and they can create shopping lists of the items they want. Elwell says Swoop will add more personalization options over time (the company tracks repeat users through cookies).
NPD: Apple Still On Top In Mobile PC Shipments, But HP Takes The Cake In Notebooks
apple-logo0508-450x450
The PC industry is in decline, unless of course you count tablets. NPD is apparently doing just that, leaving Apple in the top spot among mobile PC vendors. According to the firm, Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011, which is 128 percent year-over-year growth. Cupertino sihpped over 62.8 million mobile PCs over the entirety of 2011, representing 132 percent year-over-year growth. Of course, these numbers include the iPad, which makes it easy to understand why the rest of the pack is so far behind. The company shipped more than 18.7 million iPads in Q4, which means that nearly 80 percent of its mobile PC shipments can be attributed to the tablet. Apple shipped 48.4 million units in 2011, up 183 percent year-over-year. This left Apple with a 26.6 percent share in the industry, and three times as many units shipped as the next mobile PC vendor in line: HP.
apple-logo0508-450x450
The PC industry is in decline, unless of course you count tablets. NPD is apparently doing just that, leaving Apple in the top spot among mobile PC vendors. According to the firm, Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011, which is 128 percent year-over-year growth. Cupertino sihpped over 62.8 million mobile PCs over the entirety of 2011, representing 132 percent year-over-year growth. Of course, these numbers include the iPad, which makes it easy to understand why the rest of the pack is so far behind. The company shipped more than 18.7 million iPads in Q4, which means that nearly 80 percent of its mobile PC shipments can be attributed to the tablet. Apple shipped 48.4 million units in 2011, up 183 percent year-over-year. This left Apple with a 26.6 percent share in the industry, and three times as many units shipped as the next mobile PC vendor in line: HP.
Android Overtakes iOS In App Downloads In UK, Germany, Russia. U.S. To Follow Next Month
androidmarketshot
With Android accounting for the majority of smartphones worldwide at the moment, it's finally also starting to become the most dominant player in apps, too. Figures out today from analytics firm Xyologic note that Android now accounts for the majority of downloads in the UK, Germany and Russia, and predicts that the U.S. will be the next to go Google in either March or April. This is a sea change from months past, when Apple -- the early mover in apps -- has always dominated in app download activity, despite the fact that it has been trailing other platforms in terms of users.
androidmarketshot
With Android accounting for the majority of smartphones worldwide at the moment, it's finally also starting to become the most dominant player in apps, too. Figures out today from analytics firm Xyologic note that Android now accounts for the majority of downloads in the UK, Germany and Russia, and predicts that the U.S. will be the next to go Google in either March or April. This is a sea change from months past, when Apple -- the early mover in apps -- has always dominated in app download activity, despite the fact that it has been trailing other platforms in terms of users.
Along With New Look, Apps, Astrid Now Lets You Outsource Tasks To TaskRabbit
Logo_Astrid+text
If you're an iPhone user, you may not be as familiar with Astrid, which has turned into one of the most popular "to-do," list-making apps for Android. We first wrote about Astrid when it joined thirteen other startups that composed AngelPad's second batch. Astrid's value proposition was simple: Offer users a clean, easy-to-use interface to enable sharing and collaboration around tasks. Other services have now come along to make this a familiar service, but the goal was for groups (businesses) to be able to assign tasks to each other, and broadcast to the group when those tasks are completed.
Logo_Astrid+text
If you're an iPhone user, you may not be as familiar with Astrid, which has turned into one of the most popular "to-do," list-making apps for Android. We first wrote about Astrid when it joined thirteen other startups that composed AngelPad's second batch. Astrid's value proposition was simple: Offer users a clean, easy-to-use interface to enable sharing and collaboration around tasks. Other services have now come along to make this a familiar service, but the goal was for groups (businesses) to be able to assign tasks to each other, and broadcast to the group when those tasks are completed.
Twilio Client iOS SDK Puts VoIP In Any App, Turning iPads Into Call Centers
Twilio iOS SDK iPad Logo
Cheap international calls, mobile gaming with simultaneous voice chat, distributed call centers. Developers can create these and more with Twilio's voice client iOS SDK that launches publicly today. The software development kit allows any iOS app to send and receive voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi for a fraction of the price of traditional calling. I was actually briefed by Twilio over an iOS conference call app powered by the SDK (very cool), but the real fun begins when developers start surprising us with VoIP apps too crazy or disruptive to predict.
Twilio iOS SDK iPad Logo
Cheap international calls, mobile gaming with simultaneous voice chat, distributed call centers. Developers can create these and more with Twilio's voice client iOS SDK that launches publicly today. The software development kit allows any iOS app to send and receive voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi for a fraction of the price of traditional calling. I was actually briefed by Twilio over an iOS conference call app powered by the SDK (very cool), but the real fun begins when developers start surprising us with VoIP apps too crazy or disruptive to predict.
Facebook Ad Partner Experian Launches New Platform For Timeline, Sponsored Stories
facebook-timeline-fb
As we approach the date for Facebook’s meet-up with brands and marketers in New York, another development in the world of Facebook that points to growing sophistication around social advertising. Techlightenment, a division of Experian and Facebook’s first partner when it launched APIs for ads in 2010, has now upgraded its Alchemy platform to work more closely with Facebook’s Timeline and Sponsored Stories features, a move that also puts the platform in position for any future advertising developments that Facebook has in store.
facebook-timeline-fb
As we approach the date for Facebook’s meet-up with brands and marketers in New York, another development in the world of Facebook that points to growing sophistication around social advertising. Techlightenment, a division of Experian and Facebook’s first partner when it launched APIs for ads in 2010, has now upgraded its Alchemy platform to work more closely with Facebook’s Timeline and Sponsored Stories features, a move that also puts the platform in position for any future advertising developments that Facebook has in store.
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