Alibaba Rival JD.com Launches Crowdfunding Site For Startups

China’s largest e-commerce companies are eager to leverage their millions of users and hoards of data for new projects. For example, Alibaba’s other businesses include healthcare management, financial services, and cloud data. Now JD.com, its smaller but still formidable rival, is branching out into crowdfunding for startups.

JD.com, which filled 689 million orders last year, has launched JD Equity Crowdfunding platform to help startups secure capital. The project is an offshoot of Coufenzi, the crowdfunding site JD.com opened last July.

Like Kickstarter, Coufenzi allows users to contribute funds toward individual projects and products. So far, projects on Coufenzi have raised a total of RMB280 million (about $45 million).

JD Equity Crowdfunding, on the other hand, is designed for entrepreneurs who need to find early-stage investors. The site isn’t the first startup crowdfunding site in China, but with JD.com’s resources, it claims to already be the largest. Its competitors include CTQuan, which has raised $4 million in venture capital backing and uses a model similar to AngelList.

A JD.com spokesperson told TechCrunch that JD Equity Crowdfunding plans to differentiate from other platforms by “developing a complete ecosystem for startup companies.” In addition to the crowdfunding site itself, this includes resources such as JD Cloud, its cloud computing unit, financing tools, marketing support, and training from JD.com’s management, as well venture capital partners like Capital Today, ZhenFund, and Sequoia Capital. In exchange, JD.com will take a small equity stake in each successfully funded startup (though it isn’t disclosing how much).

“We believe that securing funding is only the first step in the success of a startup, and we want to ensure that companies on our platform have all the tools they need to reach their long-term goals. We are experienced in growing our own business rapidly, and helping our partners grow into success, and will draw upon this knowledge to help our partners succeed,” said the company.

The startups on JD Equity Crowdfunding will be pre-screened. The first batch includes gaming laptop builder Thundeobot, Fastwheel, which makes transportation devices; and social media company WeBuzz.

As Technode notes, however, equity crowdfunding sites in China face several challenges, including lack of understanding about how the model works by potential investors and the current lack of laws to regulate equity crowdfunding (though that may change soon thanks to recently drafted legislation).

Not only can launching projects that focus on entrepreneurs help e-commerce companies gain goodwill among startups that might use their sites or services, but it can also help them eventually diversify their revenue streams.

Like JD.com, Alibaba is also investing in entrepreneurs, but so far it has focused mainly on e-commerce sellers who rely on its various platforms, including Taobao and Tmall, to conduct business. These include funds aimed at vendors in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as one for female entrepreneurs in China. The company, however, is reportedly planning to found its own crowdfunding site for startups, according to TechNode.

Featured Image: Shutterstock



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Line’s COO Officially Takes Over As CEO To Turn The Messaging App Into A Mobile Services Platform

Three months after announcing the transition, Line has officially received shareholder approval to appoint Takeshi Idezawa, the messaging app’s former chief operating officer, as its chief executive officer. The company said that Idezawa will take over the reins from its previous CEO, Akira Morikawa, today.

Morikawa will move on to a position as an advisor.

It has been a busy year for Line as it seeks to transform itself from a messaging app into a platform that provides a wide array of services for users to access from their smartphones. According to Line, Idezawa’s accomplishments during his 12 months as COO include Line’s new “LIFE platform strategy,” which wants to turn the app into “an integral part of everyday life in an era where smartphones have evolved into an indispensable device for people all over the world.”

The “LIFE platform strategy” has included the creation of a $42 million fund to invest in companies that provide online-to-offline, e-commerce, payment, media, and entertainment services that can potentially be integrated into Line’s core app.

One of the main reasons Line is focusing on adding more services to its platform is to make sure that its earnings are no longer so closely tied to its main messaging app (which monetizes through branded accounts and the sale of stickers) or its connected games platform. Revenue from games have plateued for Line, as well as other messaging apps like WeChat.

The company is also key to grow outside of Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, its key markets in Asia. Last year, Line postponed its IPO to focus on its global business, with Idezawa saying that it would localize features for different markets, like voice services in Europe.

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Microsoft releases Music and Video Preview apps for Windows 10 -- drops Xbox branding

While I love Spotify, I recently invested in an Xbox Music Pass subscription. The reason why is quite simple -- cost. On March 14, which is Pi Day, Microsoft offered a steep discount on a year of the service. While the experience is sub-par on Android, it works brilliantly on Windows.

Today, Microsoft releases previews of both the Music and Videos apps for the Windows 10 Technical Preview. While there are many changes -- both visually and under the hood -- the most surprising is the apparent dropping of the Xbox branding. Is this the sign of a bigger change?

You can download the apps using the below links. Please note, you must be on Windows 10 Technical Preview 10049.

Download the Music Preview app (PC)

Download the Video Preview app (PC)

I eagerly downloaded both apps, but was far more excited for the Music Preview, as I actually use it. Typically, I will use VLC for watching locally stored video files and stream stuff from Netflix and Amazon Prime. Quite frankly, I have no use for Microsoft's Video app.

Microsoft shares the following about the Video app.

Features to try:

• Browse and play video files (including MKV!) on your device: Try out filtering and sorting your collection and adding a folder of videos to include in your collection.


• Browse and play movies & TV shows you’ve purchased from any Xbox Video device: Try starting a purchased video on one Xbox Video device and pick up playback right where you left off on another device.

What's coming next:

• Discover great new movies and TV shows in the Windows Store Beta – until then you can still get them in the existing Video App or the new web Store at here.


• Download movies and TV for offline play


• New device management so you can play your downloads offline more reliably on the devices you care about


• Improved search results


• Movie reviews and cast information


• Settings improvements


• And much more!

Here's what we know isn’t working quite right yet:

• Movies and TV shows downloaded in other versions of the app cannot be played in this preview app. They can only be streamed. This preview app only supports streaming at this time.


• Playback of purchased content may take several seconds to begin.


• Adding or removing folders from your video library can hang the app. Instead, use File Explorer to manage your video library.


• Playback of movies and TV may fail with error 0x8004c029. If it does, go here to learn more about how to fix it.


• Expired rentals incorrectly show a play button. Playing expired content will result in a playback error.

Microsoft shares the following about the Music Preview app.

Features to try:

• Browse and play your music collection: MP3s on your device, songs you’ve put in OneDrive, or music you’ve added to your collection with an Xbox Music Pass will all show up in the Music Preview App. Try out shuffling, filtering, and sorting your music collection. And try playing a Radio station based on one of your favorite artists or bands.


• Make playlists: Make playlists with all your music including music from OneDrive. Just create a new playlist and drag and drop the songs you want in that playlist. You can access all your playlists across your Windows devices, Xbox consoles and on the web at music.xbox.com.


• Xbox Music Pass: If you have an Xbox Music Pass, you can browse our full catalog and stream or download music for offline use and discover new music with artist radio stations.

What's coming next:

• Browse and buy music in the Windows Store Beta -- until then you can still buy music in the existing Music App


• Right-click context menus


• Better back button for easier app navigation


• Dark color theme


• Compact mode


• Settings improvements


• Improved support for accessibility


• And much more!

Here's what we know isn’t working quite right yet:

• After heavy use you may see galleries disappear and show a blank white page. Restarting the app will solve the issue.


• Playback of Music Pass content may fail with error 0x8004c029. If it does, go here to learn more about how to fix it.


• There are no playback controls on hover when the app appears in the taskbar.

So, is the Xbox Music brand going away? Time will tell, but I get a strong feeling that this may be the case. Gone is the "Xbox Music" logo in the music app and the iconic green and back colors in the app too. You can see side by side images above (click to enlarge). Hell, even the Xbox Music Pass is simply referred to as "Music Pass" in the settings.

Quite frankly, moving away from the Xbox Music branding is probably a smart idea, as some consumers could misunderstand it to only work on an Xbox console.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/KWtQErVcSYw/

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Don’t Read The Comments — Let Diffbot Analyze Them Instead

Diffbot‘s mission, according to CEO Mike Tung, involves “teaching a robot how to read and understand web pages.” Today it expanded that understanding to include forums, comments, reviews, and other online discussions.

When Tung talks about understanding webpages, he means turning the content into structured data — say, looking at an article and identifying the title, author, text, images, topics, and so on. That information, in turn, can help businesses find track the content that’s relevant to them. (Diffbot customers include Microsoft/Bing, Cisco, and eBay.)

Until today, however, Diffbot could perform its analysis on an article or a product page, but it couldn’t do the same for the comments under the article or the reviews under the product description.

Tung said there are couple of specific challenges when it comes to analyzing these kinds of discussions. For one thing, comments are often presented in a JavaScript widget, so it’s not as straightforward as pulling the text — it requires “a bunch of visual analysis,” he said. For another, discussions often use more casual, colloquial, and emoji-heavy English, so Diffbot needed to develop “a more specialized language model.”

You can try it out for yourself using Diffbot’s testdrive page, where you can see Diffbot’s analysis for any page. To try it out, I looked at the results for a post I wrote last week that got more comments than usual, and I could see the basic attributes of each comment — author, time, text, language, and author link.

This gets more interesting in aggregate, when you can start finding larger trends in the conversation — Tung noted that while there are a lot of social media monitoring tools, it’s harder to track conversations across the web, where you’ll find “detailed, well-thought-out discussions.” For example, he said a shoe company could identify which shoes customers identify as most comfortable in their online conversations.

Diffbot says its new Discussions API supports Facebook Comments, Disqus, Livefyre, WordPress, Blogger, Automattic’s Intense Debate, Kinja, Hacker News, Reddit, and more.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QzF4ERJS_EY/

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See You This Week In Montreal And Toronto

Here we go! TechCrunch is winging its way to Montreal and Toronto this week for some amazing meetups. We want to see you there so I hope you’ve purchased your ticket, eh.

All the pitch-off companies are picked and the judges are in line to offer pithy commentary. The pitch-offs will follow our tried and true formula. We’ll pick 6 to 8 startups per city and they will have 60 seconds to pitch. Unless you get an email from me specifically stating you are in the pitch-off then you are not in the pitch-off. Applying is not the same as making it. That said, we want to talk to as many of you as possible so be ready with your pitches as we make the rounds. It’s a great opportunity to show off your work, your ecosystem, and your city.

See you soon!

The meetup starts at 7pm and goes until 10:30pm. Tickets cost $10 and include drinks.

Place: Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT)

1201 Boul St-Laurent, Montréal

Montreal, QC H2X 2S6

Canada

Time: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM (EDT)

Buy tickets here.

TechCrunch Meetup Toronto

HIGHLINE

Thursday, April 2, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT)

Toronto, ON

Buy tickets here.

Pitch-Off Competition

Participants interested in competing in the pitch-off will have 60 seconds to explain why their startup is awesome. Companies will be chosen by TechCrunch.

Pitch-Off Winners

Pitches will be rated by 3-5 judges, including TechCrunch writers and local VCs. First Place will receive a table in Startup Alley at an upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt. Second Place will receive (2) tickets to an upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt. Third Place will receive (1) ticket to the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt.

And whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, dreamer or tech enthusiast, we want to see you at the event. Come one, come all. It’s sure to be a night to remember.

7:00pm Doors Open

8:00pm On stage interview with a VC

8:20pm Pitch-Off Competition

9:00pm Winners Announced

9:30pm Networking

Notes

This is a 18+ event.

All ticket sales are final and non-refundable

$1 from each ticket will go to the OSMO foundation, a Montreal-based grassroots non-profit supporting aspiring local entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Notman House.

For more information on sponsorship packages and to discuss becoming a sponsor, please contact partner@credoprod.com

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When April Fools’ Gets More Love Than Good Policy

Here is something to ponder about: Silicon Valley will have gotten more work done on its April Fools day jokes tomorrow than Washington has gotten done in the past several years. And that’s scary, for as much as playing PacMan on Google Maps is funny and maybe even endearing, driving on bridges ready to collapse is not.

Things are not looking good in our nation’s capital, and they haven’t in a long time. Gridlock in Congress has kept legislative action of almost any kind at a complete standstill, while the nation’s aging infrastructure continues to disintegrate. Just at a time when more attention has finally been garnered by these persistent problems, Indiana dropped gasoline on the smoldering fires of the culture wars, reigniting interest in such vital issues as who can eat at a Dairy Queen.

This weekend, I argued quite strongly that Silicon Valley is now at the zenith of its power, and wields it with a force almost unknown by any other industry today. Tech has become the most powerful force in the universe, which while perhaps a tad hyperbolic, seems so eminently true when we look at just how little actually gets done politically.

Even technology’s critics are calling it quits. Evgeny Morozov, perhaps one of the most consistently strident critics of Silicon Valley and its political and social culture, recently wrote that there was practically no radical undercurrent in technology criticism and that “While radical thought about technology is certainly possible, the true radicals are better off theorizing—and spearheading—other, more consequential struggles, and jotting down some reflections on technology along the way.”

For Morozov, trenchant criticism has declined due to a lack of a framework for analyzing the relationship between technology and society, which he pithily summarizes as “No vision, no critique.” He offered a mea culpa here as well about his own writing: “Thus, I must acknowledge defeat as well: contemporary technology criticism in America is an empty, vain, and inevitably conservative undertaking. At best, we are just making careers; at worst, we are just useful idiots.”

It’s not just technology’s critics though that lack imagination and vision, but its proponents as well. Silicon Valley’s leaders talk about the idyllic utopia that rests just on the other side of this funding round or new product release, and yet, when we look around our society at the number of challenges we face, the action seems completely absent.

Of course, there were visions in the past. The internet was supposed to bring the world together, if not fully for peace, then at least for understanding. The internet was then supposed to be a cyberlibertarian paradise, bereft of the complicated regulatory state that had supposedly brought the physical economy to its knees.

Just in the last few days, we have seen the darker side of this network, with the Chinese government likely behind massive attacks on GitHub, as well as with the continued growth of ISIS in the Middle East. The internet is increasingly dividing into independent and militant fiefdoms, almost the antithesis of what it was all supposed to be about.

Today, it was announced that Silicon Valley heavyweights Ron Conway and Sean Parker are launching a new think tank that will hopefully get more involved in at least some of our nation’s pressing issues, such as infrastructure and economic opportunity. We should definitely have a more steady voice in policy discussions and try to minimize the wide distance between government officials and the technology world.

Policy briefs are not a vision statement though, and that sort of leadership still seems really far off. Instead, we are too busy deploying the next feature to really see what effect all of our work is actually generating. We have barely scratched the surface on what our technologies and startups are doing for workers, such as immigrants and contract laborers. While we have started responding to the need for cybersecurity (a need we created!), we do so more out of avarice than service.

There are visionary statements galore in this industry, but so little real thought about what those statements mean outside of a couple of blocks in South of Market. Even worse, there is a persistent groupthink about technology and politics, despite the vast interest that most nerds have with engaging on these topics.

What does Silicon Valley stand for? Technology progress is too easy – those words have almost no meaning whatsoever. Do we represent every individual in the pursuit of their creativity and industry? Do we want the world to become more egalitarian? Do we want more of our personal property to be managed by others? There is a cacophony of views out there, but those views are expressed so limitedly that they are almost silent to hear.

That wider discussion might be ambitious, but we can always take a few early steps. Taking a cue from some of Apple’s recent software releases, maybe it is time that we actually spent some cycles figuring out how to clean up our existing products and services rather than purely push new features. Commentators always talk about our country’s financial debt, but what about the country’s technical debt in terms of lines of code? How can we rebuild reliability, safety, and security in terms of technology and economics into the products that consumers and enterprises use everyday?

Silicon Valley has had enviable success for some time now. There are moments in a country’s history when everything looks lost, only for success to be found right around the corner, and we have the ability to potentially offer the way forward. That requires a bit more time to think and to ponder, time for concentration that just isn’t available in these frenetic unicorn days. If we can look around though, we might not just find the next big product, but a more fulfilling purpose as well.

Featured Image: dannymac15_1999/Flickr UNDER A CC BY-ND 2.0 LICENSE



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Etsy IPO Price Expected At Between $14-$16 A Share, Starting Roadshow Tomorrow

Today, Etsy gave a few more key details about its upcoming initial public offering.

The company, which is known for its marketplace for handmade and vintage objects and plans to trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “ETSY,” said today that its expected IPO price will be between $14 to $16 a share. Etsy also said that its roadshow, which is the time that a company’s executives and bankers travel to potential stock buyers to gin up interest in the IPO and often secure early sales, is slated to begin tomorrow.

Etsy, which was founded in 2005, plans to raise up to $100 million in the IPO. The company officially signaled its intent to go public a few weeks back on March 4, when it filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You can read more in-depth analysis of Etsy’s planned IPO and its financials here.

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Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock Says AOL’s Connected Delivers On The Promise Of Reality TV

“Reality TV” is one of those phrases that inevitably begs for scare quotes — with its staged scenes and melodramatic confessions, a reality TV show’s relationship with reality can be … complicated. But Morgan Spurlock, director of documentaries like Super Size Me, suggested that the new online video series Connected might live up to “the promise of reality television.”

AOL (which owns TechCrunch) is launching the series today by posting the first four episodes. Connected is based on the Israeli show of the same name, with (in this case) six New Yorkers given handhold cameras to record their lives.

Each episode is a little under 30 minutes long, making this AOL’s first move into “longform” video. In the video above, Spurlock (who’s one of the executive producers on the show) and AOL’s video president Dermot McCormack talked about the big bet that the company is making on the program.

By using online distribution, Spurlock said, “the filter is pulled away,” because the show didn’t have to shy away from risqué content. The goal, he added, was “to create a show from a nonfiction standpoint that would rival something that you would see on subscription or late-night, basic cable.”

But does giving someone a camera really lead to more honesty? Sure, there’s not a big crew following the cast members around, but aren’t they still performing for camera? Spurlock said that’s true — but only at first.

“Once that period is gone and they become, like, human beings again, then that’s when the magic comes,” he said. “Because what starts to happen is, they do become normal, they do become real, it becomes cathartic as they start to share their lives and these intimate moments with us.”

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RSjK6eLhqOo/

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YC-Backed Neverfrost Wants To Kill Windshield Frost And Keep Rocks From Ruining Your Day

I’m a fan of all different sorts of rocks. Rock music. Rock gardens. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

But there’s one type of rock that I — and most other drivers, I imagine — hate with a deep, fiery passion: rocks that hit my car’s windshield at 70 mph.

Few things so small can wreck your day so suddenly. Everything is going great. The sun is shining. Hell, you probably even have time to grab some coffee before your meeting with — *BAM!* , you’ve got a 2-inch scar streaking across your once flawless glass.

Neverfrost, a YC-backed company that has been working away quietly up in Waterloo for the past few years, wants to beef up your windshield’s ability to handle the stray rocks that may come its way — and while they’re at it, they want to end windshield frosting and help drivers save fuel by keeping their car’s interior cooler.

Neverfrost began its life in the University of Waterloo’s Nanotechnology Engineering program, where it was initially a fourth year design project for the company’s founders, Khanjan Desai and Chong Shen.

Here’s what Neverfrost is claiming its film can do:

• Reduce frost forming on the windshield by about 95%. It’ll still form on reaaaally cold nights; but Khanjan tells me that even that frost should be considerably lighter than it otherwise might. It’ll also make snow considerably easier to scrape off, as it won’t be able to stick.


• Increase your windshield’s resistance to rocks by up to 6x. This is possible because the material is on the exterior of the glass (unlike most tints, which go on the inside), and is a bit softer than the glass itself. When a rock hits the film, the force is spread across a wider area.


• It’ll reject 90% of infrared heat from the sun, which Khanjan tells me is about 40% of the total solar energy that’ll enter and heat up your car. That means less A/C required to keep things cool, and thus less fuel burned powering your A/C.


• It does this with minimal impacts on optics; it’ll allow 88% of visible light through your windshield, which is only about 2% less than what most bare glass windshields allow and should be within legal limits in the US and Canada.

(Note that these stats are from the company’s tests, and are not something I was able to personally test. Once the film approaches commercial availability, I’ll happily fire some rocks at my car’s windshield in the name of science.).

So how does it work? While the company doesn’t reveal every ingredient in its secret sauce, they explain the product as “nano-composites sandwiched in a single 100 micrometer thick film”.

Wondering how can you get Neverfrost for your windshield?

For now at least, you can’t. It has to be professionally applied by an authorized dealer, and they’re primarily working with trucking fleets in California and Ontario for now — because no one knows the pain of a chipped/frosted windshield like the folks who drive across the country all-day-every-day for a living.

With that said, the company tells me that they hope to be available commercially to consumers by next fall. Interested parties can sign up for more details here.

One interesting thing to note about the company: unlike many (most?) YC-backed companies, Neverfrost isn’t planning to make Silicon Valley its home any time soon. They need to be somewhere cold to test and iterate on their product, and the Valley isn’t exactly known for its snow fall.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/I0htvNHDgnk/

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Facebook introduces scrapbooks for photos of your kids

Facebook is about more than being social; it's about presenting a version of yourself to other people. When you share a photo of your meal, you're making a statement: "look at this delicious expensive meal I can afford", "look at the fancy restaurant we're visiting", or "gosh, aren't I healthy for making this salad?". But of course Facebook is not just filled with photos of food -- there are also photos of kids, presenting an image of family life.

Starting today, Facebook is rolling out a new scrapbooking feature designed specifically for pulling together photos of your child. The idea is to make it easier to collect together photos into one place so you can view all of your memories without having to jump from place to place.

In a blog post (with the slightly uninspiring title of "An Optional Way to Organize Photos of Your Child on Facebook" -- sell this stuff! Be proud of it!), father and Facebook product manager Dan Barak introduces the new pilot, explaining that by using a special tag it is possible to add photographs to a customizable scrapbook. As it is likely that it will not just be you taking and managing photographs, you can share ownership of the scrapbook with your partner.

Facebook has created a video that shows off how the feature works:

To help keep the scrapbook truly personal, only you and your partner are able to add photos to it. Only your chosen tag automatically adds a photo to the scrapbook, so you don’t need to worry about friends adding other pictures unvetted.

The feature is rolling out to Facebook on the desktop, on Android and on iOS. To get started with your scrapbook, go to your profile and click About followed by Family and Relationships. You should see an invitation to start a scrapbook, so click Get Started and follow the instructions.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/alUvJE9JhO0/

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Facebook’s New Photo “Scrapbook” Lets Parents Give Kids An Official Presence

For the first time, children under 13 are allowed to have an official presence on Facebook. They still can’t have a profile, but their parents can now tag photos of them (or pet) to create a “Scrapbook”. This lets parents collect photos of their baby, toddler, or pre-teen in a centralized place they can share with friends or loved ones. Scrapbook will first roll out in the US on iOS, Android, and desktop.

Facebook’s tells me it’s looking into how it could let parents hand off control of the scrapbook to their kid when they turn 13 and can legally join Facebook. And if you hate seeing baby photos, giving parents a way to identify them could be the first step to Facebook hiding them from your feed.

Turning Emergent Behavior Into Product

Meet Ram. Ram is a bouncining baby boy launched by Facebook Scrapbook product manager Dan Barak and his co-founder (wife). Barak wanted a better way to compile all the photos of Ram he was uploading on Facebook, so he built one.

“Before Ram was even born, I started seeing friends who were parents adding photos of their kids and tagging their partners” Scrapbook product manager Dan Barak tells. This was a clever hack. By tagging their child in photos as their partner, a parent could instantly notify their significant other they had added photo of their kid, made it visible to their partner’s friends, and created a place to find those shots in the Photos Of Me section of their partner’s profile.

“We asked and interviewed a bunch of parents and found 65% of partners who share photos of their kids on Facebook [in the US] do this” say Barak.

So like Twitter turning “RT:” into the retweet button, Barak took all the benefits of the tagging hack and baked them into Facebook Scrapbook.

How To Scrapbook

To create a scrapbook, people can go to the About section of their profile, and then the Family And Relationships tab. There they’ll see options to start a scrapbook from scratch or make one for an existing child. This lets them establish themselves as a parent and create a phantom presence for their kid (which has ad targeting ramifications I’ll get into later).

Barak tells me an easter egg in the family member selector for starting a scrapbook lets you choose to make one for your pet.

First you’ll see a cute animated video about how Scrapbooks work, starring a baby elephant named Elly. You’ll then select whether to co-own the scrapbook with your partner, which means they’ll also be able to tag photos of your kid, get notified about those tags, have the photos default to being visible to their friends, and change the Scrapbook’s privacy settings.

Once the Scrapbook is created, parents will be shown photos tagged with them or their partner, and can click to identify which ones feature their little munchkin. The Scrapbook then becomes a special collection of photos of the kid from other albums. Parents can tag their kid in other people’s photos too, and give a notification if the privacy setting of those photos changes.

When You Know What’s A Baby Photo…

Barak says Facebook wanted to “ship [Scrapbook] early and get feedback” from parents, so there’ll be a prominent link in the product to send comments to the company. One feature Facebook plans to add is a subscribe button that will let loved ones like grandparents get a notification any time a photo is added to a kid’s scrapbook.

But shipping early has its risks too. Facebook hasn’t quite figured out an elegant way for Scrapbooks to work for mixed families with step-children and step-parents. A maximum of two people can be the owners of a Scrapbook, and those people have to be in a formal relationship on Facebook. Divorced parents could always start sepearate Scrapbooks, but there’s some potential for emotional stress.

Getting parents to out themselves could be good for Facebook’s business, though Barak says it wasn’t an incentive to build the feature. To use the Scrapbook, you have to list yourself as a parent, which signals to Facebook’s advertisers that they might want to target you with ads for toys or kid’s clothes.

On the brighter side, people who despise seeing baby photos on Facebook may be in luck. When I asked if Facebook could use the Scrapbook tags to identify which photos have kids in them so it could hide those photos from people who never look, like, or comment on them, he admitted “It’s something we’ve thought about.”

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xk5bF9tASyY/

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Microsoft Surface 3 vs Surface Pro 3: Which is best for you?

Before Microsoft announced Surface 3, choosing a Surface tablet was ultimately a matter of deciding which Surface Pro 3 model fits you best, depending on your budget and needs. But now that there's a new kid on the block, which is offered in four, very distinct trims, finding the right Surface just got trickier.

Just like its older brother, the new Surface 3 features a high-resolution display, promises great battery life, offers a decent amount of storage, packs an x86 processor and runs Windows 8.1. The optional Type Cover keyboard makes an appearance as well, and so does Surface Pen. But there are some differences, of course. So which one should you buy?

First, let's go through the specs.

Surface 3: 10.8-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,280 (3:2 aspect ratio); 1.6 GHz quad-core Intel Atom X7-Z8700 processor (Turbo Boost up to 2.4 GHz); 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM; 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage, respectively; battery life: up to 10 hours of video playback; Wi-Fi 802.11ac (4G LTE is optional); Bluetooth 4.0; full-size USB 3.0 port; mini DisplayPort; microSD card slot; 3.5 MP front camera; 8 MP rear camera; stereo speakers; Windows 8.1. There's also a typical suite of sensors. Physical dimensions: 267 x 187 x 8.7 mm and 622 grams (10.52 x 7.36 x 0.34 in and 1.37 lbs).

Surface Pro 3: 12-inch display with a resolution of 2,160 by 1,440 (3:2 aspect ratio); fourth-generation 1.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3, 1.9 GHz Core i5 or 1.7 GHz Core i7 processor; Intel HD Graphics 4200, HD Graphics 4400 or HD Graphics 5000, respectively; 64 GB (Core i3), 128 GB (Core i5), 256 GB (Core i5) or 512 GB (Core i5) of internal storage; 4 GB (64 GB and 128 GB) or 8 GB (256 GB and 512 GB) of RAM; battery life: up to 9 hour of web browsing; Wi-Fi 802.11n (Core i3) or 802.11ac (Core i5 and Core i7); Bluetooth 4.0; full-size USB 3.0 port; mini DisplayPort; microSD card slot; 5 MP front and rear cameras; stereo speakers; Surface Pen; Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit). It also packs the usual suite of sensors. Physical dimensions: 292.10 x 201.42 x 9.14 mm and 790 grams (11.50 x 7.93 x 0.36 in and 1.76 lbs).

Now that the specs are out of the way, let's compare the two and find one where they shine.

Power

Many users will be considering a Surface device for resource-intensive applications, and that requires plenty of processing power. Here, Surface Pro 3 wins, hands down.

Surface Pro 3 is equipped with high-end Core i processors, which are designed to offer a good balance between performance and battery life, while Surface 3 is equipped with an Atom processor that prioritizes battery life over outright speed. Not to mention that Surface Pro 3 can be had with a very powerful Core i7 processor, which furthers the performance gap.

Also, Surface Pro 3 can be had with 8 GB of RAM, twice as much than Surface 3 offers in its flagship model, which will make multitasking easier. Even the base Surface Pro 3 model comes with 4 GB of RAM, while the base Surface 3 only offers half as much.

That said, Surface 3 will be able to handle typical Windows software, like Google Chrome and Office. It just won't be able to handle all your virtual machine instances or development software as well as (or even remotely close to) Surface Pro 3.

Productivity

If you ignore the x86 processor found in Surface 3, the smaller Surface looks more like a typical tablet than a mobile device that might replace an ultrabook or smaller laptop.

It will run all the Windows programs that users want, naturally, however it is limited in the productivity department by its smaller 10.8-inch display. In practice, you'll be able to browse the web, write an Office document and handle all your email, but you may want to connect it to a bigger screen to increase productivity.

However, Microsoft is trying to make Surface 3 appeal to more consumers by bundling a one-year Office 365 subscription with each purchase. That's not the case with Surface Pro 3; you'll need to buy one separately. Having used Office 365 for a few good months now, it's hard not to see the value in it (hey, on top of Office, there's 1TB OneDrive storage thrown in for free), especially for folks with tight budgets (like students).

Meanwhile, Surface Pro 3 is designed as a "tablet that can replace your laptop". It's got a bigger display, akin to what you can find on a popular ultrabook like Apple's larger MacBook Air, it comes standard with a stylus (Surface Pen, optional on Surface 3), the kickstand can be angled in any number of ways (Surface 3's kickstand only has three positions), and the optional Type Cover keyboard is larger, and, most likely, more pleasant to type on, and also comes with a larger touchpad area.

Connectivity

Even though on the surface both Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 are capable of meeting the needs of a road warrior, only Surface 3 also gives the user the option to connect to a 4G LTE network. This can be a major advantage for those who don't want to use their smartphone to tether or are unable to do so.

Also, no matter which Surface 3 model you choose, you get Wi-Fi 802.11ac as standard. This isn't the case with the base Surface Pro 3 model, which gets the slower Wi-Fi 802.11n. The speed difference can be substantial, as long as you have a solid Wi-Fi 802.11ac router.

Both slates offer a full-size USB 3.0 port, and a mini DisplayPort to connect an external display. It's worth pointing out that Surface 3's connectivity can be enhanced using a Surface Pro 3 Docking Station (it goes for $199.99).

Mobile Credentials

Let's talk about portability and battery life.

Both Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 promise similar battery life, except that whereas Surface 3's battery life is quoted for video playback, Microsoft rates Surface Pro 3's battery life for Wi-Fi browsing. As such, we can't really compare the two directly, as it'd be an apples to oranges comparison. However, both devices should offer great battery life when used accordingly.

When it comes to portability, Surface 3 is the clear winner. It's both smaller and lighter, which means that it won't take as much room in a briefcase or backpack. Even with the optional keyboard on, it won't be much bigger or heavier than Surface Pro 3, sans its Type Cover keyboard.

That said Surface Pro 3 packs a bigger punch, which will make it easier to work with heavy software on the go, if you ever need or want to do so. It's something to keep in mind, as battery life is likely to be similar and the extra bulk isn't intimidating.

The Elephant in the Room

It's the cost. Surface 3 is priced like a high-end tablet. The base model kicks off at $499, and for the money you get the 64 GB version with 2 GB of RAM. Step up to the 128 GB version with 4 GB of RAM, and you'll have to shell out just $100 more ($599). The 4G LTE option adds $100 to the cost, for either model.

For a Type Cover keyboard, Microsoft will ask $129.99 (once it's available, of course). The stylus is a $49.99 option, which, depending on your needs, you may or may not want to get. Type Cover, however, is a must-have from my point of view.

Now let's look at Surface Pro 3. The base model, which offers 64 GB of internal storage, Core i3 processor and 4 GB of RAM, costs $799. There's no 4G LTE option, but Surface Pen is included. Type Cover also costs $129.99. You may be able to get Surface Pro 3 for less, seeing as it's quite old at this stage and there's plenty of stock.

Of course, there's nothing stopping you from spending upwards of $1,949 on Surface Pro 3 (without a keyboard, I should point out), to get the top-of-the-line model with 512 GB of internal storage, Core i7 processor and 8 GB of RAM.

So, if cost (and the added mobility) is a major concern, Surface 3 makes more sense. The $300 price difference, which isn't small, between the base models can go towards a Type Cover keyboard, extended warranty and other things.

Fundamental Differences

Going by the specs alone, Microsoft has introduced Surface 3 for people who want Surface Pro 3, but do not need the extra performance offered by the Core i processors nor the larger display.

Those can be folks who work more on the go (hence the 4G LTE option), don't run heavy software, and who, when they're at the office, connect their Surface to a proper monitor (which Surface 3 can handle, of course). If that's you, maybe Surface 3 should be your first option.

Surface 3 retains all the other benefits provided by Surface Pro 3, like the compatibility with the docking station, Surface Pen support, and more, but offers them in a much more portable package. What's not to like?

Meanwhile, Surface Pro 3 is aimed at folks who are looking for a tablet (let's say hybrid device) that they'll be using more at the office than on the go (or, if it's more on the go, they don't mind/they need the extra screen estate), which can run heavier software, and that they can store lots of data on. They also have to look past the higher asking price.

Basically, Surface Pro 3 is more like a Swiss Army Knife, while Surface 3 looks more like a camping knife, in comparison. Personally, I prefer the Swiss Army Knife, even though the camping knife looks quite good for considerably less money (metaphorically speaking, of course). How about you?

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Google Maps Easter Egg Sets Pac-Man Loose On City Streets

Google has created a new Easter Egg for Google Maps (pretty much just in time for actual Easter) which lets you play Pac-Man in real-world locales on the company’s Maps apps for desktop and mobie devices. It’s easy to play, by either navigating to the Google Maps website or opening the app on your Android or iOS device, and then just searching for a location where Pac-Man might show up.

Google is offering hints to help you find the iconic 1980s video game protagonist, but if you’re in a hurry just search for “times square” and you should see a pixelated map flag icon like the one pictured here. Click on that and you’ll launch into a game with simple controls, letting you control Pac-Man as he evades his ghostly enemies with either the arrow keys on a computer or by swiping up, down, left and right to change direction on mobile.

Rack up a decent high score with your five lives and then share it with others to see how well you can Pac in the streets.

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Amazon’s New Dash Button Hardware Offers Instant Orders For Staple Products

Amazon has new hardware called the Dash Button that allows one-press ordering of products you’re likely to want to replace on a regular basis. The Dash Button comes in a number of different branded versions based on what it’s coded to order, and includes an adhesive backing and hook holster to let you stick it where it’s most convenient.

The Dash Button is a natural extension of Amazon’s one-click ordering feature on the web, but turned into a hardware gadget that makes ordering laundry detergent, for instance, as easy as actually starting the wash cycle. Amazon clearly hopes that if you have a physical one-button device near the place where you actually consume these consumables, you’re more likely to have the presence of mind to order them via its service before you run out, when a trip to the corner store might prove more convenient even than home delivery.

You setup Amazon’s Dash Button using the Amazon mobile app, and then connecting to your Wi-Fi network to assign the product you want the Dash Button to order with a single press (limited by brands pictured on the hardware at launch, apparently). Once it’s configured, the button will automatically trigger an order to your default address using your default Amazon payment order, and you can cancel it via your phone should you have second thoughts. Amazon won’t trigger another order made via subsequent button presses until the first one is delivered, the company notes, unless you override that manually.

At launch, the eligible products for the Dash Button include things like toilet paper, cleaning products, juice, personal grooming products, dog food and much more.

The Dash Button is tied to Amazon’s Dash Replenishment service, which will offer direct integration for the same kind of service into devices themselves. Imagine, for instance, a coffee maker that has a button to automatically re-order coffee beans or filters, or a washing machine with a built-in button to order detergent. Amazon has already partnered with a number of companies to make this happen, and will ship the first-such devices this fall. Some products will even auto-detect when they need replacement supplies and order instantly if a consumer enables that feature.

For now, the Dash Button is the easiest way for consumers to get on board, but you’ll have to be a Prime Member and request an invite to get on board. The hardware itself is free, however, as Amazon clearly wants to make the purchasing process as easy as possible in the interest of selling more consumables down the road.

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Frame.io Is Cloud-Based Collaboration For Everything

Given the world’s shift toward video, both in terms of consumption and creation, it’s almost surprising how tedious and painstaking the process of post-production collaboration can be. Lots of services focus on pieces of the problem, like accelerated file sharing or review in-progress collaboration, but there isn’t really a service that covers everything, end-to-end.

Frame.io, launching today, wants to be that service.

Frame.io was designed to stand on its own and integrate with any type of files, from music to photos to video, without having to sit on top of an existing service like Vimeo or Dropbox. Users can share files up to 5x faster than Dropbox, according to cofounder Emery Wells, review clips frame-by-frame in a collaborative environment, and even draw on various frames to add more specificity to certain comments.

Frame.io handles version control so that nothing gets mixed up from one draft to the next, and makes sure that content shared through Frame.io is viewable on any device.

“Our key differentiator is we aren’t just solving work in progress review, or just large file sharing, or just web based media collaboration,” said Wells. “We aren’t just focusing on video or just focusing on photos because that’s not how people work. We’ve built something from the ground up that is optimized for all types of media and is only limited by our own ideas.”

Frame.io offers a free product that allows for 2GB of file storage, one project and five collaborators per month, with paid tiers starting at $15/month and going up to $150/month.

The service has been in beta for the past six months with more than 680 users and 150 companies already using the platform, with clients like BirchBox, Refinery 29, and Facebook, among others.

Frame.io – Crafted with Love in NYC from Frame.io on Vimeo.

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Alcatel OneTouch’s Cross-Platform Smartwatch Opens Pre-Orders For $150

The Alcatel OneTouch Watch, which got its debut at CES this year, is officially going on sale today with pre-orders starting at $149.99 directly from the company’s U.S. website. The smartwatch is unique among those from larger OEMs in that it works with both iOS and Android smartphones, packing in support for health monitoring features, phone notifications and music controls on both kinds of devices.

Alcatel’s device has a circular face, and at launch will ship with a black sport band (with more options set to be made available later on this year). It uses Bluetooth LE to connect to your device, and has a 42 mm watch face, with a 1.22-inch 240×204 display. The device uses touch-based input, but depends on a tapping interface using the home area that takes up a small chunk of the bottom of the round screen, similar to the Moto 360’s bottom black bar. A printed exterior bezel with number markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 helps hide the fact that it isn’t a full circle.

The watch has a hidden USB 2.0 port in the band that lets it charge to full capacity in just an hour, which is a nice change from the field of proprietary and induction chargers used by many manufacturers in terms of convenience. A full battery charge should provide between two and five days of use, according to the company, depending on your usage.

Alcatel’s device will have limitations in terms of function vs. the Apple Watch on iPhone, of course, as it’ll be limited to access privileges afforded accessories like the Pebble. That still means it’ll be able to control camera shutter functions, as well as music playback, however, and provide notifications. On Android, it should have more flexibility in terms of accessing system features. It also has a built-in heart rate sensor, electronic campus, gyroscope, altimeter and NFC tag, and is IP67 water- and dust-resistant.

The device works with smartphones running Android 4.3 or higher, and with iPhone 4S or newer with at least iOS 7 installed.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lgyTGLAm-sw/

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Service Marketplace StarOfService Takes On Thumbtack

French startup StarOfService plans to provide a solid Thumbtack alternative for the rest of the world. To achieve this goal, StarOfService is opening its marketplace in 80 countries and just raised $1.2 million (€1.1 million) from Point Nine Capital, Kima Ventures, Oleg Tscheltzoff and other business angels.

When I talked with co-founder and CEO Lucas Lambertini, he doesn’t even hide that StarOfService is a Thumbtack copycat. If you look at the two homepages, the layout is exactly the same. StarOfService’s only innovation is that it is targeting new markets — and it’s working for now.

“We aren’t going to wait for our American competitor to bring its great innovation to the rest of the world,” Lambertini wrote in an email.

Here’s how StarOfService and Thumbtack work. These marketplaces help you find handymen, photographers, yoga teachers, interior designers and more. Yet, unlike with TaskRabbit and other directories, customers don’t have to waste time searching for different options for a job. Instead, they tell the platform exactly what they are looking for, and service providers have 24 hours to bid on the job. The client then receives multiple quotes, compares reviews and picks the right person. It is much faster for the client and supposedly more efficient as well.

As with every marketplace, there is a potential bottleneck if professionals aren’t actively interested in bidding for jobs on StarOfService. The company told me that it now handles 60,000 jobs per month and works with 190,000 professionals. It has mostly been focused on its home market for now, but is opening in Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and more.

But StarOfService is still a tiny competitor for Thumbtack. In August of last year, the American company raised $100 million in a round led by Google Capital. In February, Thumbtack told TechCrunch’s Colleen Taylor that it was facilitating $2 billion annually in services through its platform.

Thumbtack is only available in the U.S. for now. In other words, I hope that Thumbtack doesn’t expand to Europe any time soon, as the company has enough funding to crush the local competition. But StarOfService could also represent an interesting acquisition target for Thumbtack to drive its international expansion plans.

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Securifi Adds Serious Home Automation To Its Almond Routers

Own an Almond router? It’s about to get a dose of home automation thanks to new firmware from Securifi. The company behind the clever (and attractive) routers just announced a new set of features that will better position its product in the marketplace.

These home automation features are a natural fit for Almond routers since Securifi designed the router to be showcased in a home rather than stuffed in a closet like most routers. The latest router can even be hung on a wall.

Securifi launched the original Almond router in 2012 and quickly followed it up with a new model in 2014. Then, earlier this year, the company pushed out another router that packs more of what made the first two special: It combines top-tier technical specs with a pretty face. And now it does home automation, too.

The new home automation features work in an “if that than this” scheme. However, unlike the online service of IFTTT or SmartThings, the platform is ran locally on the router and does not require a connect to the Internet. The latest Almond router, the Almond+, is compatible with ZigBee and Z-Wave devices, effectively giving the router the ability to talk to thousands of different home automation modules. This includes everything from smartlocks to connected thermostats and the like. Between ZigBee and Z-Wave, a home owner can make a home automation system that will rival the Jetson’s.

Securifi is releasing its own connected outlets. The outlet keeps with the nut theme and is called Peanut.

I found the system easy to configure through a smartphone app. The app’s flow is logical and the setup nominal, which is what made the original Almond popular.

This move into home automation is an ambitious plan for Securifi, but a smart move. So far no one from Nest to ADT to SmartThings have found the secret sauce. Securifi presents an interesting proposition by integrating the home automation hub directly into a router making it a powerful connection hub.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Wx8B2MC1PXs/

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MoPub Founder Jim Payne Joins Board Of Ad Analytics Company Metamarkets

Following last month’s announcement of $15 million in new funding, analytics company Metamarkets is bringing on someone new its board of directors — Jim Payne, founder and former CEO of MoPub, the mobile ad company acquired by Twitter.

Payne left his full-time role at Twitter last fall, and since then, it sounds like he’s been focused on making angel investments and advising startups.

Payne joins Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures, Jeff Epstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, and Mike Kourey of Khosla Ventures on the Metamarkets board. CEO Mike Driscoll explained that Payne will be filling the board’s independent seat: “We were looking to bring someone in with real operational expertise.”

Payne added, “I never had really had an independent board director when I was building MoPub. There were plenty of times when I would have appreciated having someone who’d been through it before.” He also said this is his first independent board seat.

Payne actually became familiar with Metamarkets back in 2011, when MoPub was “just five people” and started using Metamarkets’ analytics. It soon became “an indispensable tool,” allowing the MoPub team to track traffic and revenue, and even to make broader policy decisions, like how to work with different ad platforms.

Other clients include Vungle, Millennial Media, and the Financial Times. Payne suggested that the company’s technology could actually apply to areas beyond ad tech.

“It seems to me like it would be relevant to any marketplace, anything with that same real-time dynamic and a lot of events happening in a short amount of time,” he said.

Driscoll agreed that Metamarkets might be useful for analyzing things like user engagement and mobile payments, and he said the company is looking at “adjacencies to type of data we’ve built today.”

“But we also know the value of focus,” he said. “We will continue to build out the business in the space that we’re in.”

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Infinit’s New Mobile Apps Might Be The Best Way To Transfer Those Pesky HD Videos

French startup Infinit just released its mobile app for both iOS and Android. In addition to providing a simple way to send files to your friends and colleagues, it is now a full-fledged AirDrop replacement as well. As a reminder, Infinit is a file-sharing service that differs from WeTransfer or CloudApp as it uses peer-to-peer technology to boost file sharing between two users. And there isn’t any file size restriction.

Until now, many video game developers or postproduction specialists were using Infinit to send big files to their colleagues. For instance, Infinit can handle a huge uncompressed 100GB video file without breaking a sweat. You don’t need to leave your computer open as Infinit can pause and resume your uploads.

Behind the scene, when two persons are in the same office, Infinit uses the local network to send those files as quickly as possible. But if you are at home, Infinit seamlessly switches to a secure peer-to-peer connection. Finally, if your recipient is offline, Infinit also starts uploading right away by sending the file to its servers.

At first, the company didn’t see how a mobile app would be useful for these particular use cases. But chances are that your phone is now your primary camera. You might want to send a few HD videos from your last vacation. Right now, it is very complicated to send those files to your friends, or even to your computer. Infinit makes this a little easier.

When you open the app, you are presented with a big paper plane button at the bottom. If you press it, you can select a few photos and videos, and then send them. If your friend uses Infinit, they will receive a push notification to accept the transfer. Otherwise, they will get a link to download the files from Infinit’s servers.

The app doesn’t create a web gallery to showcase your photos, it sends your photos without compressing them or altering them in any way — this is where Infinit stands out from messaging apps that all compress your photos and videos. On mobile, the company uses the exact same technology as on desktop, meaning that you can send your files and forget about them. It takes advantage of your local Wi-Fi, creates a peer-to-peer connection if you are not on the same network or uploads to Infinit’s servers.

Finally, Infinit is a great way to share files between your own devices. Maybe you are using a Windows PC, an Android phone and an iPad — Infinit now runs on a all these platforms. And I find the user experience much more effective than using AirDrop, uploading a file to Dropbox or sending an email to myself.

Infinit raised $1.8 million from Alven Capital and 360 Capital Partners and is a Techstars NY alumnus. The company plans to roll out a premium offering soon.

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Featured Image: Bogdan Suditu/Flickr UNDER A CC BY 2.0 LICENSE



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Project Spartan: fat, chunky, and devoid of style and features

After all of the talk, some action. Microsoft has been gentling building the hype about Spartan for some time now, but it's only with the release of Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10049 that we get to, officially, go hands on. This is the web browser that's replacing Internet Explorer, the default web browser in Windows 10, so it has quite a role to perform.

It's a browser that's "built for the modern web" -- whatever that means -- and it sees Microsoft trying to shed the shackles of IE and move forward. Microsoft has been talking the talking for months, but does Spartan walk the walk? No. Spartan, at the moment, appears to be a joke. Let me elaborate.

Of course there are the usual caveats of "this is pre-release software", "it's an early build", and "it'll all change by the final release". As when I have looked at Windows 10 previews, there will undoubtedly be suggestions that any criticism I may level at Spartan should be delivered to Microsoft rather than aired in public. I'm doing both. Anything I say here is also fed back to Microsoft. This article is a platform for me to share my thoughts with you and to see what you think.

It has been suggested that Microsoft's Technical Preview software is not meant for review. This is not a review, it's a recounting of my experience. It may be the same as yours, it may differ; I'd like to compare notes. If I have problem with Spartan but you don’t, why is that? Is there a difference with our setups, or is it just a peculiarity?

You might think Spartan is brilliant. You're wrong, of course, but I'd still like to hear why.

So what issues do I have with Spartan as it stands? Where shall I begin?

I realize, as I hope I have made abundantly clear, that this is pre-release software. It's meant to be the merest taster of what's to come, and our opportunity to shape the direction in which things might travel. That said, I fail to see why MS bothered with releasing it in its current form; there's nothing to it.

I realize that there's something of a clue in the name Spartan (should we see it as a reference to sparseness, or the city of Sparta rather than yet another Halo link?) , but the interface is bare to the point of uselessness. It's like Microsoft just took the Windows Phone version of Internet Explorer and made it bigger. Windows 10 introduced the idea of (lots of) white space, and it's a theme that continues here. There's a place for white space, but here it seems to serve only to make interface elements huge.

Spartan's toolbar is decidedly overweight; let's compare it to Chrome. In the space Chrome houses tabs, the toolbar and the favorites bar, Spartan doesn’t even have room for the tabs and toolbar -- this duo is around 50 percent fatter than the three program elements in Chrome. A bold new design it may be, but it certainly could not be described as anorexic. Everything is so big and chunky. On the plus side, this makes it fat-finger friendly, but it's sure as heck not pretty or an efficient use of space. With everything being so stripped back, options are very few and far between making the browser very hard to personalize.

Apart from a horrible design, image rendering really isn't very good. A quick comparison between the Meet Project Spartan page in both Spartan and Chrome shows that Microsoft's new browser displays images in a fuzzy, smudgy way. It's almost as though really bad ant-aliasing has been enabled; things are so much clearer in Chrome.

Microsoft proclaims that Spartan lets you "do cool things like write or type on a webpage". What is this? A browser for 7 year-olds? Then there are compatibility issues. Google+, for instance, simply doesn’t work -- so much for Spartan switching engines as and when required.

I had been planning a week -- or at least a few days -- of using only Spartan, but at the moment, it's pretty much unusable. I can only hope that it comes on in leaps and bounds because at the moment, it's a joke.

This is meant to be about ditching Internet Explorer. I should be excited... but I need something to be excited about.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/ZsRodtIuA1E/

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Firefox 37 implements new HeartBeat ratings system

Mozilla has released Firefox 37.0 FINAL for desktop, with Firefox for Android 37.0 due to follow in the coming days.

The new release debuts the Heartbeat user rating system, plus a number of incremental improvements and tweaks. Version 38 has also been made available in Beta and includes some more radical changes, including a new tabbed-based preferences UI.

The new Heartbeat user system will appear on a random subset of users’ browsers each day, asking them to both rate and then help promote Firefox through other channels via a series of buttons, which comprise donating to Mozilla, liking or following Firefox on Facebook and Twitter, contributing to Mozilla and signing up for Firefox news via email.

Users unhappy at being interrupted in this way should browse to the about:config screen, then set the string value for browser.selfsupport.url to "".

Other new features include Bing search now performing secure searches using HTTPS, improved notification about user availability in Firefox's new Hello chat tool, and the opportunistic encryption of HTTP traffic where a server supports HTTP/2 AltSvc.

A number of changes see various TLS security improvements as well as improved performance of WebGL rendering on Windows through newly added support for Direct3D 11. The update also includes the now customary extending of support for various HTML5 and CSS controls.

Developers gain access to an experimental add-on -- Valence -- that extends Firefox’s debugging tools to other browsers, including Chrome and Safari. Within Firefox itself, there’s a new Inspector animations panel to control the animation of elements, plus a new Security Panel has been added to the Network Panel.

Firefox for Android 37.0 is also slated for release shortly -- this will add support for sending video to Matchstick devices, and promises an improved download performance alongside a new download manager back-end. Other notable changes include the URL bar now displaying the page address rather than its title.

Also available is Firefox 38.0 Beta 1, which sees tab-based preferences make an appearance alongside a new Reading List tool and the addition of Suggested tiles to the New Tab page. The Hello chat tool also gains an active tab and window sharing during conversations.

Firefox 37.0 FINAL and Firefox 38.0 Beta 1 are both available now for Windows, Mac and as free, open-source downloads. Firefox 37.0 FINAL for Android should be available shortly.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/XEDyIbYhRY8/

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50 shades of gray -- hands on with Windows 10 Build 10049, the dullest Windows ever

We might have waited ages for a new build of Windows 10, but a mere fortnight later and Microsoft has rolled out yet another update, again initially only to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring.

The star of this build is Project Spartan, Microsoft’s new web browser. It’s an early version, but it’s a good look at what the tech giant has been working on, and of course it comes with the new rendering engine. That’s not all that’s new in this latest OS build, however. Let’s take a more detailed look.

Since Spartan is the main (almost only) addition in Build 10049, let’s look at that first. The browser looks much as you might expect it to, with big square tabs at the top, and the address/search bar just underneath. To the right is a button for reading view (displays just the story, removing any distractions from around it) and a star so you can add a page to favorites or reading list. There’s a button for accessing favorites, reading list, history and downloads, one for making web notes, and another for providing feedback. As you use the browser, you’ll be asked questions, such as how easy it was to find certain features.

A More button gives you access to additional options, including Settings, which lets you customize the browser. Unlike Internet Explorer, Spartan is pretty basic which, it could be argued, is no bad thing in a browser. It does what you want it to, and it’s easy to use. Do I see myself using Spartan as the default browser? No, but it has potential and it’s not (in my opinion at least) awful like the Modern version of IE found stinking up Windows 8.x. That said, while the browser’s project name is quite exciting, Spartan looks as boring as hell.

So what else has changed in build 10049? Well some of the included apps have had a makeover and now appear in white and gray, rather than dark as they did previously. Calculator, Alarms & Clock, and Voice Recorder all sport the lighter look, and frankly it’s dull, dull, dull. Microsoft might be shooting for classy here, but the end result is just bland. A few color accents would make a massive difference. Would it hurt to make the record button in the Voice Recorder red, rather than gray?

Windows XP was, at launch, described as a Fisher Price operating system with its bright, colorful (and child-like) buttons. Windows 10 seems to be the flip side of that, with each new version becoming more boring, and depressing -- visuals wise -- than the last.

There’s no option to switch between the light and dark themes in the apps, but hopefully that will be introduced in a later build.

And the option to make everything look and feel a lot happier would be good too!

Have you tried Build 10049 yet? What’s your view of it, and Spartan? Do you think it’s classy, or 50 shades of bland? Comments below.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/qsFeFUcp5JM/

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British Airways frequent flyer Executive Club accounts compromised

Tens of thousands of British Airways frequent flyer accounts have been compromised in a cyberattack, forcing the company to freeze the accounts and issue an apology, the media have reported.

British Airways sporadically responded to tweets from concerned customers, The Register reports. In one such exchange it said:

"We’re sorry for any concern. We’ve become aware of some unauthorized activity in relation to your account and have frozen your Avios as a precaution. We’ll be sending you more details via an email".

The company said only a small portion of its millions of customers were affected, and that personal information, such as names, credit card information addresses was not stolen in the attack.

However they won’t be able to use their accumulated flight time for some time now.

The company, which has millions of customers, expects to resolve the problem in a few days.

"British Airways has become aware of some unauthorized activity in relation to a small number of frequent flyer Executive Club accounts", a company spokesman said in a statement sent to IB Times UK.

"We would like to reassure customers that, at this stage we are not aware of any access to any subsequent information pages within accounts, including travel histories or payment card details".

"We are sorry for the concern and inconvenience this matter has caused, and would like to reassure customers that we are taking this incident seriously and have taken a number of steps to lock down accounts so they can no longer be accessed", the spokesman added.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/W0ZmRRxMdFY/

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TechCrunch Disrupt Returns To London, From December 5th to 8th

Last year European startups raised more money in the first quarter than they had during the “dot-com boom”. Much of that money and startup activity was coming out of London. Why? It’s simple. European entrepreneurs are using this highly developed center as a bridge to global markets, and, often, to San Francisco and the Valley. At the same time, London remains the first beach-head for many U.S. startups looking to scale in Europe. So there are hard and fast reasons why TechCrunch today announces that it’s returning to London with the Disrupt conference.

Last year, TechCrunch Disrupt in London set off a “media atomic bomb”, with multiple media outlets covering the startups that launched on our stage. We aim to repeat, and better, that experience.

We’re coming back.

Unlike 99% of tech conferences, TechCrunch puts its journalists in front of every speaker and holds their feet to the fire. Incredibly, speakers love this and line-up for the battle that ensues. We love that process, and we know everyone else does too.

Certainly, the wider media also loves this approach. On the first day of Disrupt London last year, we saw around 100 media outlets attending, including The Financial Times, City AM, The Independent, Business Insider and CNBC; including the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight.

Disrupt it would seem, captured the imagination of the Western European press like few other tech events could.

So here is the detail.

TechCrunch Disrupt London 2015 will be held at the Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It will be open to any startup form anywhere in the world. But we are particularly encouraging startups to apply from Europe, the Middle East and Africa to join us.

The legendary Disrupt Hackathon will be held on December 5th to 6th, followed by the main conference on December 7th to 8th. Startup Alley tickets are immediately available for purchase.

You can apply for 2-for-1 tickets here. We will be releasing a limited number these in batches. So you need to apply for that access ASAP.

Best of luck and see you all there.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hXETMOKd61k/

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Alibaba Signs Distribution Deal With BMG, Its First Music Partner Outside Of Asia

In a bid to increase its online entertainment offerings, Alibaba has struck an agreement with music publisher BMG, which gives it access to over 2.5 million tracks. The partnership is notable because it represents the first time Alibaba’s digital entertainment unit has signed with a music partner outside of Asia.

The business already has agreements with Taiwanese music companies Rock Records and HIM International Music.

The deal gives Alibaba access to BMG’s catalog, which includes tracks from Bruno Mars, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and Kylie Minogue. Music will be made available to consumers through streaming apps Xiami and TTPod, both of which are operated by Alibaba’s digital entertainment business.

It’s important to remember that Alibaba is more than just an e-commerce company. It is also one of China’s biggest mobile Internet players, competing head-to-head with Tencent, which has already struck similar arrangements with Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

Alibaba’s growth plans include selling other online services to the huge user base it has grown by operating China’s top e-commerce platforms and online payment service Alipay.

In addition to online entertainment, the company and its subsidiaries also has aspirations in healthcare management, cloud computing, and financial services like a credit scoring system that uses data from Alibaba’s family of e-commerce platforms.

Streaming music is a potential growth market for Chinese Internet companies, but only if they succeed in dealing with piracy. According to the Financial Times, China accounted for less than one percent of the $15 billion in global revenues made in 2013 by record companies, in part because pirated tracks are easy to obtain.

The government, however, has begun to crackdown on copyright infringement, and deals like the ones Alibaba and Tencent have struck with BMG, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment give music publishers more power over their IP in China.

In a statement, Alibaba said “the agreement will not only significantly boost earnings by BMG artists and writers from the world’s most populous nation, but also give them a powerful ally in hleping grow the legitimate music market in China.”

This means that Alibaba will help BMG keep an eye on pirated music and work with them to take legal action against services that are using tracks that violate BMG’s copyright.

Featured Image: Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)



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Microsoft releases Windows 10 Technical Preview 10049 with Project Spartan

Microsoft has promised a summer release for the RTM build of Windows 10. For fans of the operating system, this is great news. Unfortunately, this means the company has its work cut out for it. Don't get me wrong, version 10 is shaping up nicely, but it is far from perfect in its current state. In order to make the summer deadline, much more testing will be needed; both internally and with the Windows Insider program.

Today, Microsoft releases a new build of Windows 10 Technical Preview, with the number designation of 10049. The highlight, however, is the inclusion of Project Spartan. Yes, the web browser of the future is included in a public build for the first time. This folks, is what we have been waiting for.

"This build is pretty much all about Project Spartan, so we hope you enjoy getting your hands on it for the first time. As with all other new features we’ve introduced, we have a ton of work left to do with Spartan so expect to see some bugs and rough edges in this first preview. As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback via the Windows Feedback App", says Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Marketing Communications Manager on the Marketing Group, Microsoft.

Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President, Operating Systems Group, Microsoft explains, "I'm excited to share more details about 'Project Spartan', the new browser we are introducing in Windows 10. Project Spartan will be available across the Windows 10 device family. It is fast, compatible, and built for the modern Web. Project Spartan is designed to work the way you do, with features enabling you to do cool things like write or type on a webpage. It’s a browser that is made for easy sharing, reading, discovery and getting things done online".

LeBlanc shares the following fixes and known issues in Windows 10 Technical Preview 10049.

Here are some issues we fixed in this build

• We've fixed the issue from Build 10041 for when the Photos app on your PC crashes when you tap on the circular icon (your camera roll -- thanks Rafael) at the top left to view the photo you just took.


• We've also fixed the issue from Build 10041 where you might end up in a state where windows open on your desktop are accidentally visible behind the Start Screen, Task View, Snap Assist, and when rearranging windows in Tablet Mode.


• You will no longer get stuck when you manually lock your PC (Windows Key + L) during the initial out-of-box experience.

Here are some known issues for this build

• After logging in, you may see a blue screen instead of your desktop. To work around this issue, lock your PC (with the hardware button or by pressing the Windows Key + L) and try logging in again. You can also try Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.


• Indexing of new email in Outlook is not working, so search results will be limited to when the last index was built.


• If you have Virtual Machines hosted on your PC running Windows 10, you will want to move to the Slow ring and wait for the next build as this build breaks the ability to run VMs.


• There are 2 issues using Visual Studio 2015 preview on this build:
  
  
  
  1. The emulators will not boot and you won’t be able to deploy a Windows Universal app to the Mobile emulator.
  
  
  2. The XAML designer in VS and Blend will crash when opened.
  
  
  
  


• If you are a developer using these tools today to develop Windows Universal apps and need this functionality to work – we recommend switching to the Slow ring until we release a patch to fix these issues.

Are you excited to finally try Project Spartan? Me too! Luckily, you can immediately download the new build which includes the web browser from Windows Update. Be sure you set the "Choose how preview builds are installed" drop-down to "fast", as seen above.

Unfortunately, the servers seem to be getting slammed right now, so the download may take longer than expected. Be patient, and don't give up. Once you have 10049 installed, tell me how you like Project Spartan in the comments.

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/lhJHCw_hnag/

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Syrian Electronic Army hacks Hostgator, FastDomain and more for hosting terrorist sites

It has been a little while since we heard anything from the Syrian Electronic Army, but now the group has made an appearance once again. SEA has hacked five big-name hosting companies -- Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator, Hostmonster and FastDomain -- all part of the Endurance International Group.

SEA launched the attacks on the five hosts for "hosting terrorists websites" (sic) adding to the list of high-profile names it has already targeted -- a list that includes names such as Skype, Facebook, PayPal, Twitter and Microsoft. No sites were mentioned by name for having gained SEA's attention.

At the moment, it is not clear whether any particular demands have been made of the websites in question. The group took to Twitter to boast of the attacks, posting screenshots of the sites it had managed to commandeer. Bluehost was singled out for particular attention, with a tweet warning: "Next time... we will change the DNS".

The Hacker News reports that SEA took control of Bluebox's Twitter account and used it to post tweets, but these have now been removed. The Syrian Electronic Army supports the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is well-known for attacking Western websites. For now, it appears that the attacks have come to an end, but there's nothing to say something similar won’t happen again soon.

Photo credit: Duncan Andison / Shutterstock

from BetaNews http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/ACT8pyvQgQ8/

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This Easy Cheese 3D Printer Offers Sweet, Golden Disruption

We toss the word “disruption” around far to frivolously here but I think we’ve finally found a product that deserves to be called amazing, magical, game-changing, and – dare I say it? – disruptive. It is an Easy Cheese 3D printer, four words that have never been brought together in the English language yet that are so important to the future of mankind.

What are you watching here? The future, mostly. It’s a way to dispense sweet Easy Cheese (a cheese product extruded from a can) onto a surface. The resulting slurry can be ejected in various shapes including, but not limited to, a square. The resulting Easy Cheese objects can be eaten or thrown away.

Created by Andrew Maxwell-Parish, the project is obviously not ready for primetime but it’s an important proof-of-concept for those ready to explore the brave new world of three-dimensional dairy manufacturing. Near the end of the video, for example, we see the cheese extruder popping off the head and we also see the dreaded “cheese foof” – a gaseous outburst associated with air bubbles in the medium. Some gave all and all gave some in the slow march to this moment.

In the end I doubt mankind is ready for true cheese extrusion but it’s an important signpost for whatever evolved species takes over after we are gone. Excelsior.

from TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cTpPOg74cTU/

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