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in TechCrunch
by
Michael Arrington, 18 April 2008
German startup Popula sports a sparse sign-up page that suggests that it's an "events calendar" -- but there are already plenty of those, so why is it getting so much buzz? The answer lies in the viral videos on the Popula blog, funny songs about beta testers featuring prominent German entrepreneurs and bloggers. German bloggers keep posting about the company, laughing at the videos and speculating as to what it's all about. In a smart bit of commentary, Arrington posits that the viral-video angle wouldn't work in the US today, but that Germany's smaller tech community mirrors that of the United States in 2005.
Posted 10:31, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Justin Smith
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Erick Schonfeld, 17 April 2008
The Indian Premiere League, with its new and faster-paced version of cricket, is on track to bring in more than $2 billion this year alone. That certainly makes Live Current Media's $50 million exclusive deal for online content (including score reporting, game video, and fantasy leagues) look like a steal. Live Current, a relatively small domain name company from Canada that owns the rights to Cricket.com, seems to have big plans: they sound like they're ready to take on ESPN's cricinfo.com. Schonfeld, however, ignores the question of whether slim broadband penetration in India could impact the success of a broadband-based site.
Posted 4:29, 18 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Justin Smith
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Michael Arrington, 17 April 2008
According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo recently got "positive results" from a test of outsourcing Google ads to Yahoo search. According to Arrington, the testing indicates Yahoo is eyeing a deal with its rival search giant as its last "(barely) credible alternative to Microsoft." While such a partnership might bring in a 50 percent increase in cash flow, Arrington sees it as the beginning of the end for Yahoo, smartly noting that outsourcing to Google would almost certainly bring a decline in search volume, making current revenue estimates irrelevant. And with Yahoo resisting a deal with Microsoft in any way possible, the only clear winner is Google.
Posted 1:48, 18 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Brian Willett
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Michael Arrington, 16 April 2008
Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag has long been a hub of cutting remarks. But when Jordan Golson, a writer for the site, took a shot at the site itself over writers having their pay cut and not knowing how much they were making, he lost his job shortly thereafter, leading to speculation that he was fired over a single negative post. His boss, Owen Thomas, fired Golson over the phone and followed up via instant message, where he told Golson it was about something he wrote, when he wrote it, and how. But updates reveal that Golson does not believe it was the post that got him fired, leaving this report mired in speculation.
Posted 11:21, 17 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Francis Merlie
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Duncan Riley, 3 April 2008
Riley discusses application provider Slide, which created a tool called Funwall for Facebook to help users post content on their pages such as pictures and text. What's alarming is that employees of Slide, a company by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, chose to create fake accounts on Facebook, completely disregarding the latter's terms of service. While Riley's report on this subject is less than half a dozen paragraphs, an interesting discussion develops in the comments section, ranging from full support to those proposing legislation to ban fake reviews by insiders.
Posted 9:10, 4 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Sandeep Tripathy
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Mark Hendrickson, 27 March 2008
Apropos of the ten-year anniversary of Mozilla, John Lilly, CEO of the organization, invited a group of bloggers to the company's headquarters to discuss the history of the firm and their products. As Hendrickson ably reports, Mozilla, who now boast 160 million active users worldwide, plans to release the production version of Firefox 3 in June. Brimming with new capabilities, Firefox 3 promises to support 50 languages, be faster, and use less memory than its competitors. In this puffy piece, Hendrickson also lets the Firefox folks take a shot at Microsoft over their adoption of open standards (or lack thereof).
Posted 11:03, 28 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Gallaway
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Erick Schonfeld, 26 March 2008
A group of cable and tech companies plan to invest $3 billion in a "bailout-through-merger" of Sprint Nextel's WiMax business and Craig McCaw's Clearwire. Comcast and Time Warner might see WiMax, a promising technology meant to provide wireless data over long distances, as a way to counter phone companies who are now providing TV service to mobile phones. Schonfeld punches holes this view, writing that WiMax is more an alternative to broadband Internet than to wireless phone service, and that it would make more sense to let WiMax prove itself before buying in. He offers sound advice, though the piece assumes the reader already knows what WiMax is.
Posted 5:09, 26 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Francis Merlie
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Michael Arrington, 25 March 2008
Forty years ago, James R. Berry wrote an article about what the world would be like in 2008. Though he predicted robots would be doing housework, cities would be under climate-controlled domes, and medical care would be universal and competent, Berry came eerily close on many points, such as the importance of the computer and (though he doesn't name it) the Internet. He describes online banking and shopping, and suggested that the world's information would be available almost instantly. Arrington's analysis is a bit short, but the article itself is fascinating and worth a read.
Posted 3:41, 26 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Francis Merlie
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Erick Schonfeld, 18 March 2008
Schonfeld dissects the latest State of the Internet report, analyzing a variety of charts. The most notable trend is the growth of Internet users in China to 96 million per month, closing in on the 162 million per month in the US. China's own websites TenCent, Baidu and Sina have much more traffic than Microsoft, Yahoo or Google, as do homegrown sites in Russia and Japan. Google dominates in Europe and Latin America, however, where usage is above 90 percent in many countries. Schonfeld breaks down each chart into a sentence or two, expertly summarizing the report.
Posted 4:04, 20 March 2008
This abstract was written by
Francis Merlie
and edited by Brijit.
in TechCrunch
by
Erick Schonfeld, 17 March 2008
In response to protests and violence in Tibet, China has blocked local access to Internet sites such as CNN.com, YouTube, and Google News that are posting news coverage and images of the events. Schonfeld reports on the government intervention as well as similar censorship by government leaders in Pakistan and Myanmar; he also links to some of the graphic YouTube footage not available to Chinese citizens. The big question, Schonfeld rightly notes, is what will a company like Google, which has vowed not to engage in censorship, do to avoid a permanent ban in China and restore service in a market that its business relies on?
Posted 10:01, 18 March 2008
This abstract was written by
JL Roberts
and edited by Brijit.