Monday, February 7, 2011

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HP’s New Reclining PC Coulda, Shoulda, But Isn’t

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:38 AM PST

It’s nice to see HP be one of the first to launch a “reclining PC” that rotates up to 60 degrees from a standard 90 degree viewing angle.

I wrote about the need for this type of computer in 2009. The HP TouchSmart is a decent, if heavy-as-hell, touchscreen iMac clone. But reaching up to touch a desktop screen doesn’t really work ergonomically. Your hand is above your heart and it doesn’t feel comfortable for very long. You end up just using the physical keyboard and only touching the screen when friends are over to be impressed.

“The proper layout for a desktop touch screen machine is the architect's desk,” I wrote then, in a moment of glaringly obvious insight.

And now HP has done it. But they’ve flubbed it, Like many of their attempts at cutting edge stuff.

First, it’s too clunky. And the screen is too small at 23 inches. And are those speakers at the bottom, where you’ll be resting your hands as you type on the virtual keyboard?

I mean sure, HP will move some of these units because HP can sell millions of just about anything into their channel. But OH MY GOD they had such a big opportunity here.

There are a handful of simple things that HP could have done to make this a game changer, the type of device that everyone would have wanted in their home.

First, it needs a much, much bigger screen. 23 inches is tiny today.

Second, HP needs to evolve the touch mechanics for this to work. They use (or use to use, I haven’t held this new device) infrared across the top of the screen horizontally and vertically to know where you’re touching it. It works and it’s cheap, but it’s heavy, causes a lip between the case and the screen that’s annoying and isn’t anything close to the capacitive touch experience of modern mobile phones. Capacitive touch won’t work on a screen that big today, but that doesn’t mean HP shouldn’t be coming up with something that does work.

Third, the design is awful. Speakers on the bottom aside, this needs to be something beautiful that sits on a desk and makes people want to work on it all day. HP should have partnered with a couple of furniture producers to offer actual desks, at low and high end price points, that this fits into. And/or re-imagined the whole desktop experience in a way that makes people go “WOW.”

What I see instead is something uninspired, produced at a price point where some people will say “why not?”

Come on, HP. I know your printers aren’t what they used to be, but you guys have it in you. Be inspired. Create something amazing.

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Another AdMob Exec Leaves Google; Kevin Scott Joins LinkedIn As VP Of Engineering

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:00 AM PST

Back in 2007, we wrote about Google engineering manager Kevin Scott’s move to mobile ad network AdMob. Back then AdMob was just a fledgling startup. Of course, two years later AdMob was acquired by Google for $750 million and Scott joined his previous employer via the deal. Today, we’ve confirmed that Scott has joined professional social network LinkedIn as VP of engineering, and will be working on developing new products and services for the company.

This is a big talent win for LinkedIn. At AdMob, Scott ran the entire technology team and helped scale the mobile ad network by 30 times. At Google, Kevin built teams to increase relevance and ROI for ad serving. He also worked on improving search infrastructure and the search user interface. His technical expertise areas include machine learning, distributed algorithms, large-scale distributed systems, and information retrieval.

LinkedIn has been “beefing up” its own advertising technologies, so Scott could be helping develop innovations around an ad platform.

There have been reports floating around that AdMob was having a rough transition at parent company Google. CEO and AdMob founder Omar Hamoui left Google only five months after the mobile ad network was officially acquired by the search giant. And a number of other execs and employees have followed Hamoui’s lead to join startups in the mobile advertising space.

Beyond the report that the Google-AdMob integration isn’t going so hot, the talent exodus is also an indication of the challenge that the search giant faces when it comes to retaining key employees. Most recently, Google Scientist and Tech Lead Daniel Tunkelang and senior software engineer for the Android platform Cedric Beust both left the company to join LinkedIn.

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Qualcomm And CAA Back Creative Mobile Labs To Make Entertainment Apps

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 08:40 AM PST

Hollywood looks at mobile apps like Angry Birds and Pull The Rope, and sees franchises built around characters and a new form of story telling. It is a little bit threatening, but it is also a little bit exciting. Telling stories is what Hollywood does best. Those writers and computer graphics artists down in LA could really show mobile app developers a thing or two if only they knew how to develop mobile apps.

Enter Creative Mobile Labs, a new startup backed by talent agency CAA and Qualcomm. It will be based in LA. The company is being announced today, and a CEO, executives, and engineers are being hired. The concept is to bring together the Hollywood talent CAA represents (writers, directors, graphics artists) who are brimming with ideas for mobile apps but don’t know how to execute them with mobile app developers, and vice versa. Qualcomm will help on the engineering front. The investment is being made through its Qualcomm Services Labs which is creating a number of its own mobile apps. The funding amount is not being disclosed.

So will Creative Mobile Labs just put out the same kind of Hollywood apps that litter the App Store: rock band fan apps and movie character derivatives? Michael Yanover, who heads up business development for CAA, says that is not the plan: “We really want to dispel the notion that these apps are celebrity driven or simply meant as companions to existing proidcuts. We want to create new apps, new franchises.”

Thankfully, the startup’s strategy wil not be to license characters from movie studios and put them into mobile games and other apps. “I don't think licensing characters from studios is affordable or even necessarily successful,” says Yanover. However, he does think that mobile apps are a great low-cost way to try out characters and story ideas which can then jump to other media. Imagine the next SpongeBob SquarePants starting life in a mobile app instead of directly on TV.

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Detained Egyptian Google Marketing Exec Wael Ghonim Released

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 07:26 AM PST

New channel Al Arabiya has just reported that Google Middle East Marketing Director Wael Ghonim has finally been released. CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman also Tweeted that Ghonim has been released. We heard yesterday that Ghonim was expect to be released from captivity at 4 pm today.

Ghonim has been missing since Thursday, January 27th and was believed to have hosted the first Facebook page that organized the January 25th protests. According to reports, Ghonim disappeared shortly after he sent the following Tweet, "Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."

After his disappearance, Ghonim was chosen as symbolic spokesperson by an Egyptian opposition group as a tactic to speed up his release. A video of a man who may or may not have been Ghonim getting arrested by the police has also been making the rounds on the internet.

We’re awaiting for further confirmation from Ghonim himself, perhaps on his Twitter account.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal is reporting the State Department has confirmed that Ghonim has been released. But The New York Times reports that there are conflicting reports, and that the State Department has not confirmed Ghonim’s release.



ipadio Secures $1.6m To Take Phone-To-Web Audio Into Businesses

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 07:20 AM PST

While many ‘social audio’ startups like Audioboo, SoundCloud and Cinch continue to battle each other on the consumer field, there is one company that, while offering a consumer service, is starting to get a considerable amount of traction in the business and enterprise space – largely ignored by the consumer players.

ipadio, bills itslef as a live phone-casting company, and for a while it looked a lot like AudioBoo or Soundcloud. But today it’s secured a £1m ($1.6m) investment from the London Business Angels network, Nemisys (the company that founded ipadio) and backing from the UK government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. The company is initially taking just over £700k, with the remainder available later in 2011. The investment will be used to expand the business. It has a number of clever new products like 'Voice Forms' and is developing the high-definition live streaming of phone calls to the web.

Founded in 2009, ipadio live-links the telephony system to the Internet. That means consumer can just “call in” audio, instead of having to use data via the company’s iPhone or Android app and then cross post to social media platforms. Here are some examples from the recent turmoil in Egypt, where the calls were literally called-in, without the need for a smartphone app.

The Arianna And Tim Show: It’s About Women, Power, And Local

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 06:52 AM PST

Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington hosted a conference call with analysts this morning to discuss AOL’s announced $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post. The Huffington Post is expected to contribute $50 million in revenues this year, and quickly ramp up to a $100 million revenue run-rate. That still represents a tiny portion of AOL’s $2.4 billion in revenue, but it is Armstrong’s largest acquisition to date, and his team believes it will help put AOL over the top in terms of putting the company on a growth track again by 2013 in terms of adjusted EBITDA.

It is clear that the deal is as much about buying into the new publishing model that the Huffington Post represents (which is in keeping with AOL’s acquisition of TechCrunch and emphasis on blogs like Engadget on the tech side). And it is about buying talent, both at the top and throughout Huffington Post on the editorial and sales side. Asked how long she plans to stay, Huffington says, “I told Tim I want to stay forever. This is my last act.” She has a multi-year contract at the very least, and AOL typically likes to structure deals with financial incentives that keeps top talent on board for at least two to three years. “Our only thing when we do acquisitions,” says Armstrong, “the price has to be fair, it has to fit the strategy, and the entrepreneurs have to stay.”

Armstrong re-emphasized, as he did in an internal memo last night, that the driving factors behind the deal was how well the Huffington Post fit into the wheelhouse he is trying to build, particularly around women, influencers, and local (his 80-80-80 strategy). The Huffington Post was planning a massive expansion into both local and global coverage in 2011 as it was preparing for a possible IPO, and Huffington feels that the deal will help accelerate those plans. In particular she feels an affinity with Patch, AOL’s burgeoning local news properties. In terms of women’s content, specifically, Armstrong says it is “an area we feel the Web has been lacking, and Arianna is one of the world's experts.”

Both the Huffington Post and AOL have been called out in the past for pursuing SEO-optimized content strategies (known internally at AOL as “The AOL Way”). But one point Armstrong tried to make is that AOL is pursuing multiple content strategies at the same time and will continue to do so. “The AOL Way is just one of the ways we are working on content.” It’s obviously going to be a mix of high-brow and low-brow going forward. “Our strategy is premium content and magical experiences,” he says. “A lot of time that gets confused. Things like Seed and Studio Now are platforms to help you do whatever you want—high quality, low quality.”

I was able to speak with Armstrong and Huffington briefly after the conference call. Of course, my first question was, does she plan to leave Techcrunch and other strong brands alone or will all the properties now be subsumed under one brand. “At the Huffington Post our goal has been to turn our sections into destination sites. When you are given destination sites that is incredibly fortunate,” she assured me. “It is highly unlikely that TechCrunch, Engadget, or MovieFone will go away,” added Armstrong. In areas where AOL does not have distinct brands, however, those operations will be recast in ways that make the most sense.

One of the draws for Armstrong, beyond the media brand Huffington has built, is the technology underlying the site. The Huffington Post has done an incredible job engaging its readers to become contributors through comments, blog posts, and social features. Huffington will be looking to spread some of that social DNA throughout the rest of AOL. I also asked about the different content managent systems (CMS). AOL has been consolidating down from 24 to 2, and now HuffPo’s will be a third. That seems to be a TBD item, but it sounds like HuffPo will keep its CMS for a while, while the rest of AOL will keep consolidating.

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Google Ventures Invests In Web Security Company Dasient

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 06:23 AM PST

Dasient, a company that develops anti-malware solutions for websites and ad networks, has raised additional funding from Google Ventures. The amount raised was not disclosed, but the company has previously raised $4 million from Benhamou Global Ventures, Floodgate, Radar Partners and others.

Founded by former Googlers Neil Daswani and Shariq Rizvi and Ameet Ranadive (ex-McKinsey), Dasient protects websites from web-based malware attacks. The company’s proprietary technology monitors websites for malware infections and will alert the webmaster if an attack takes places, and quarantine the infection. In the company’s last quarter, Dasient reported malware on more than 1.2 million websites.

The new round of funding will be used to expand R&D efforts and sales and marketing initiatives. The company seems to be growing, despite facing competition from giants like McAfee and others. In 2010, Dasient says that it brought in record sales for its product in financial, media, and e-commerce verticals. Dasient also achieved triple-digit customer growth and doubled its team size.

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Antenna Acquires Mobile Internet Software Company Volantis

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 06:20 AM PST

Mobile applications developer Antenna Software this morning announced it has acquired mobile Internet software company Volantis. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The move allows Antenna to position itself as an end-to-end mobile solutions provider for enterprises and carriers, and also ensures geographic expansion (particularly in Europe and Asia).

Antenna earlier has done similar acquisitions in the past, most recently purchasing Vaultus Mobile Technologies, a provider of consumer-facing enterprise mobile applications.

The combined company, which will carry the Antenna name, says it will continue to provide support of Volantis’ products to its current customers, prospects and partners through its existing teams in the Volantis offices in Guildford, Seattle, Krakow, Pune and Hong Kong.

Volantis brings to Antenna carrier and enterprise customers such as T-Mobile, 3 and Telenor.

The company has raised a$7.5 million funding round, with Accel Partners and Kennet Venture Partners as principal investors, back in September 2005.

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HTC Invests In Multimedia Delivery Platform Company Saffron Digital

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 05:45 AM PST

Smartphone maker HTC this morning announced that it has made a ‘strategic investment’ of undisclosed size in London, UK-based Saffron Digital, which specializes in the delivery of digital multimedia. HTC is a Saffron customer, and is apparently impressed with its future business potential.

Current shareholders in Saffron Digital include Beringea, NewSmith Capital and Duet Asset Management.

Update: PaidContent reports that the investment size was £30 million (roughly $48 million).

HTC chief executive Peter Chou rationalizes the investment thusly:

"Saffron Digital has developed an incredible expertise in mobile multimedia delivery. This ability to deliver optimised content in the future will be a key asset as content becomes more and more complex and localised."

Saffron Digital ‘s multimedia delivery technology is integrated into products and services by HTC but also by many of its rivals, including LG, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia.

The company is operational in 26 countries and 14 languages, and boasts partnerships with companies like Microsoft and Widevine.

The company says it will continue to provide services to these and other third-party partners.

HTC’s investment will allow the company to expand globally, enter new markets like Asia and new sectors such as music and games delivery, says Shashi Fernando, CEO of Saffron Digital.

The company's headquarters will stay in London and Los Angeles, while its management team will remain intact going forward.

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Animoto Gets 10x Faster, Doubles Video Resolution, And Just Generally Rocks

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 05:14 AM PST

Longtime TechCrunch-favorite Animoto, which lets people easily create really impressive videos from photos and video clips, continues to improve. This is one of those “must use” apps for people who don’t have a ton of time but want to put together memorable videos of events and share with friends and family.

This video took me about ten minutes to create, for example.

Well, it actually took about thirty minutes, to be honest. Twenty minutes of that was processing time after I was done as Animoto churned out the final product. But starting today that wait time largely goes away.

Animoto has sped up processing times by 10x, they say, largely by upgrading from Amazon’s AWS to Amazon’s AWS GPU Instance. They’ve also increased maximum resolution from 480p to 720p. Base resolution increases from 240p to 360p.

Which is all super great. And the company has also been cash flow positive for some time, doubled revenue last year, expect to double it again this year, and are growing the team from 34 to 82 employees in New York City and San Francisco.

As I’ve said many times, Animoto has an Apple or Adobe acquisition written all over it. Beautiful design and very functional. So, Apple, probably.

Startups like Animoto make me remember why I love Silicon Valley.

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Audioboo Allows Any iPhone App To Add User Voices – Signs Big Media Partners

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 03:39 AM PST

AudioBoo, the social sound sharing startup, has developed an iPhone framework that gives drag and drop audio recording functionality to any iPhone app. That means any app developer can now add Audioboo recording functionality to their app, thus adding a new kind of social functionality. Apps developers can sign up for an API key, download a Zip file and easily incorporate Audioboo functions, allowing users to share audio from within a iPhone app containing, say, recipes.

But that’s probably not what will immediately kick off a new wave of users. Audioboo plans to officially launch this with a number of high profile media partners “in a couple of weeks” including the BBC, ABC Australia, Guardian, Aljazeera, Sky News and more all trialling the beta versions of the new platform that works with the plugin. A revamp of the Android version of the app will bring it up to par with the iPhone and have a similar plugin environment.

Audoboo CEO and founder Mark Rock believes this will “fundamentally change the nature of how audio is captured and then distributed on the Internet.”

Tech Super Bowl Ads Didn’t Hit Home – Salesforce And Go Daddy Most Disliked

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 03:31 AM PST

I’ve witnessed the media frenzy that comes with the Super Bowl – and the commercials that air on TV before, during and after the event – from a distance (from Belgium, to be more precise) several times now, and still can’t be anything but baffled by its sheer ferociousness. TechCrunch also did its part by listing all tech-related Super Bowl ads.

Question is: did people dig them? Not really, says Hulu, which had its users cast votes on their favorite commercials across all 69 Super Bowl ads on its AdZone site.

Ads from technology companies were nowhere to be seen, save from one category: ‘Overall Most Disliked Ads’. Salesforce makes up 2/3 of that particular top 3, which I guess is also an achievement. Go Daddy‘s “The Contract” rounded out the list of most disliked commercials.

The ‘most liked’ category was led by Volkswagen’s “The Force,” edging out Bridgestone’s “Carma.” Number 3 was Volkswagen’s “Black Beetle”.

We give you the top three most disliked Super Bowl ads on Hulu:

1) Salesforce: Chatter.com Launch: Still Doing Impossible Things

2) Salesforce: Chatter.com Launch: Do Impossible Things

3) Go Daddy: The Contract

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Please Update Your Bookmarks: TechCrunch.com is now HuffingtonCrunch.com

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 01:05 AM PST

Wow – things are sure moving fast tonight. Following this evening’s big news, we’re hearing from multiple sources that, effective tomorrow morning, TechCrunch.com will be renamed HuffingtonCrunch.com. Please update your bookmarks.

For those who missed it, the change is the result of AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington’s appointment as Editor In Chief of the entire Internet AOL.

According to the same sources, TechCrunch isn’t the only AOL property to be affected by the Huffington acquisition. We understand that, also from tomorrow, Popeater.com will be renamed “GOPeater.com”,  PoliticsDaily will become “PoliticsDailyKos” and Mapquest will be rebranded as “Keith Olbermann’s BEST MAPQUEST IN THE WORLD”

Oh, and “Huffington Post Comedy” will now be called “Engadget”.

Armstrong’s Internal Memo To AOLers About The HuffPo Deal

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 10:23 PM PST

At midnight, AOL announced that it will buy the Huffington Post for $315 million. Below is the internal memo AOL CEO Tim Armstrong sent to all AOL employees (except us, they don’t trust us with anything) about the transaction. In between the corporate speak, he points out that a combined AOL and Huffington Post will have 117 million unduplicated unique visitors per month in the U.S., and outlines the new organizational structure with Arianna Huffington as Editor In Chief of all of AOL’s media properties, including TechCrunch. AOL exec Jon Brod will be overseeing the integration from an operational perspective on the AOL side.

——————–
AOLers,

We are taking another major step in the comeback of AOL. Today we are announcing that we have agreed to acquire The Huffington Post, one of the most exciting, influential, and fastest growing properties on the Internet. We believe in brands, quality journalism, and the positive role of communities in the world—The Huffington Post shares our values and the combination of the two companies will create the premier global and local media company on the Internet.

Co-founded six years ago by Arianna Huffington and Ken Lerer, The Huffington Post has grown to become an industry leader—one of the Web's most popular and innovative sources of online news, commentary, and information. Arianna and team have created a brand and a destination that focuses on the consumer experience. By combining The Huffington Post with AOL's network of sites, thriving video offerings, local expertise and enormous reach, we will create a company that is laser-focused on serving our audiences across every platform imaginable – social, local, video, mobile and tablet.

The Huffington Post is core to our strategy and our 80:80:80 focus – 80% of domestic spending is done by women, 80% of commerce happens locally and 80% of considered purchases are driven by influencers. The influencer part of the strategy is important and will be potent.

The Huffington Post is a strong influencer brand and it attracts a valuable audience, including a great focus on women’s content. In addition, Arianna Huffington is a world-renowned expert on women's topics and issues, and has enabled The Huffington Post to grow rapidly by continually developing new audiences.

In the local area, the combination of the two companies will create a scaled connection between global and local communities on one platform. This will create a new way for people to get local and global information in a timely and entertaining way.

The Huffington Post will join the family of AOL Brands that are destinations for an influencer audience, brands like TechCrunch, Engadget, AutoBlog, and Moviefone. Uniquely, The Huffington Post is the platform for influential people — the people that drive trends, commerce, politics, entertainment, news, and information. Adding this strategic platform to our already strong network of sites, including the AOL homepage, has the potential to make AOL the most influential company in the content space.

Arianna Huffington is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Internet space and someone that is even more successful in building communities and relationships in every corner of the globe. The Huffington Post and Arianna have created a company that has partnered with the most successful and well-known leaders in all aspects of society that touch important topics to give consumers direct access to the most influential decision makers and community leaders.

This acquisition will create a high-quality and diverse digital ecosystem encompassing local, national and international news, politics, entertainment, technology, fashion, sports, health, personal finance, green, lifestyle, the arts and more. This deal will combine the amazing talent at AOL with the innovative and talented staff of The Huffington Post. Here are just a few high-level points around what this deal brings to market:

  • Together, AOL and The Huffington Post will have 117MM unduplicated domestic monthly UVs, and ~270MM monthly UVs worldwide (according to comScore Dec 2010).
  • The Huffington Post is one of the fastest growing web properties on the Internet. It grew 22% last year – that's faster than Twitter, which grew 18% – and 15x as quickly as the Internet grew last year (comScore Dec '09-'10).
  • Both AOL and The Huffington Post count powerful, affluent users among their top loyal visitors, significantly over-indexing in $100K+ income users.
  • AOL passed Hulu in unique viewers on video in the fourth quarter of 2010; video views on AOL are up 400 percent year-over-year.
  • Between AOL's innovative Project Devil ad unit, engaging users for 27 seconds longer than traditional display ads, and The Huffington Post's highly-vocal community, with 4MM+ comments per month, we will marry attention-grabbing content and brand experiences for both advertisers and consumers.

In the local area, the combination of the two companies will create a premier global/local syndication network at scale. This will create a new way for people to get local and global information in a timely, informative and entertaining way.

To maximize the strategic advantage of this great deal, we will be creating a new group at AOL called The Huffington Post Media Group. Within this group will be AOL Media, AOL Local & Mapping, AOL Search and our new friends at The Huffington Post. We will continue operating the towns structure, AOL.com and HuffingtonPost.com.

I'm thrilled to announce that Arianna Huffington will join AOL's executive team as President and Editor in Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. We have asked Jon Brod to lead the overall operational integration on the AOL side of the combined entities. Jon will lead the local group integration and work closely with David Eun and the teams in AOL Media. We will work quickly with The Huffington Post to create a combined organizational design to coincide with the deal closing. While we wait for the required regulatory reviews to be completed and the transaction to close before implementing the design, we will move very quickly to plan the details of the integration of the two companies. To this end, we will announce the new organizational structure as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we will continue creating great content and products for our consumers within the town structure and stay laser-focused on the aggressive goals we have set for our winter luge. We are on the right track and will continue our weekly operating cadence and town structure to drive successful results against our company goals.

Here’s a special message for all of you we taped to welcome The Huffington Post and Arianna to our AOL Family:

http://today.office.aol.com/company-news/2011/02/aol-agrees-buy-huffington-post

And of course we wanted to welcome Arianna to our “You’ve Got” video of the day—check her out on AOL.com.

We will be holding a company all hands meeting to address your questions related to today’s exciting news. We will video conference from our New York office on the 6th Floor at 9:30 AM ET and will be joined by Arianna Huffington and key executives from her organization. We will also be holding a call for our west coast offices at 2:00 PM ET and for our Patch offices at 2:45 PM ET. See below for meeting info (conference rooms will be sent out shortly).

AOL is playing to win…and The Huffington Post and AOL will occupy a unique place in the future of the Internet. Let's go get it done.

–TA

I, For One, Welcome Our New Huffington Overlord

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 10:01 PM PST

We really have to stop being scooped by rivals on news affecting our own company.

Tonight, courtesy of a press release that our parent company sent to everyone but us, we learn that AOL has acquired the Huffington Post for $315 million. More interestingly, Arianna Huffington has been made Editor In Chief of all AOL content, including TechCrunch.

Now, no-one here has been more skeptical than me of AOL’s content strategy. I was reasonably scathing about that whole “tech town” bullshit and I was quick to opinion-smack Tim Armstrong in the face over his promise that “90% of AOL content will be SEO optimized” by March. Hell I’ve stood on stage – twice – on TC’s dime and described our overlords as “the place where start-ups come to die”.

And yet and yet, for once I find myself applauding Armstrong – and AOL as a whole – for pulling off a double whammy: a brilliant strategic acquisition at a logical price. As AOL’s resident inside-pissing-insider, I can’t tell you how frustrating that is. I can’t even bust out a Bebo joke.

An important note before I go on: I have no idea how any of this will affect TechCrunch. So far AOL has kept true to its promise not to interfere with our editorial and there’s no reason to suppose that will change under Huffington. That said, it would be idiotic to think that our parents’ content strategy – particularly the SEO stuff – won’t have annoying trickle-down consequences for all of us in the long term.

As I wrote the other week, I hate SEO. It’s bad for journalism as it disincentivises reporters from breaking new stories, and rewards them for rehashing existing ones. And it’s bad for everything else because, well, it’s garbage. But when discussing the SEO phenomenon privately, I’ve always cited the Huffington Post as the exception that proves the rule.

Arianna Huffington’s genius is to churn out enough SEO crap to bring in the traffic and then to use the resulting advertising revenue – and her personal influence – to employ top class reporters and commentators to drag the quality average back up. And somehow it works. In the past six months journostars like Howard Fineman, Timothy L. O’Brien and Peter Goodman have all been added to the HuffPo’s swelling masthead, and rather than watering down the site’s political voice, it has stayed true to its core beliefs. Such is the benefit of being bank-rolled by a rich liberal who doesn’t give a shit.

It’s still far from certain that AOL’s lumbering corporate bureaucracy – and obsession with search terms – can ever be compatible with good, fresh journalism. But by putting Huffington in charge of content, Armstrong has given AOL the best possible chance of pulling it off. Acquiring the HuffPo’s huge reader-base – and a whole new world of cross-posting opportunities – won’t hurt either.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to revisit all my Sarah Palin posts, find the commenters who demanded to know “Is this TechCrunch or the Huffington Post?!” and reply “Yes.”

…

Update: From the memo Tim Armstrong has just sent to all AOL staffers: “The Huffington Post is core to our strategy and our 80:80:80 focus – 80% of domestic spending is done by women, 80% of commerce happens locally and 80% of considered purchases are driven by influencers. The influencer part of the strategy is important and will be potent.”

Or put another way, “we bought the Huffington Post because it’s full of important women who buy things”.

Oh, Tim. Promise me you won’t ever change.

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We Have A New Uber Boss, And She’s Greek: Aol Buys HuffPo For $315 Million

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 09:20 PM PST

You know who won the Super Bowl? Arianna Huffington.  This afternoon our parent company Aol bought Huffington Post for $315 million according to a press release. Gah.

The Huffington Post, with its 26 million monthly unique visitors is huge, one of the most prominent media properties on the Internet because of its aggressive SEO stance. And the company has gone through the acquisition motions before, most notably Yahoo. Apparently this time it stuck.

In this video, Armstrong and Huffington recall the acquisition process: The two met in November and Huffington was impressed with the “surprising merger” of their vision. And no doubt the sizable amount of the Aol offer, which at $315 million is just under 5x Huffington Post’s expected revenue for next year.  The talks took three months. “This is my last act,” Huffington said.

Back in June we pegged a possible Aol and Yahoo deal at around $360 million, Aol paid $45 million less than that at $315 million this time.

To all of you making HuffingtonCrunch and Crunchington Post jokes, Huffington’s official title will be Editor In Chief in charge of all Aol properties, including Engadget, Urlesque and yes us. Welcome to the family, Arianna.

You can read more about how we feel about this acquisition here and here.

This news was first reported by Kara Swisher at AllThingsD.

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Tech Returns To The Super Bowl Big Time, An Ad Roundup

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 07:47 PM PST

For those of us who know nothing about football, the Super Bowl is more about what the huge brands who buy ads chose to do with their millions of dollars worth of prime eyeball time, paying to play with a captive audience in the hundreds of millions. And the technology industry always steps up to the plate; Apple aired its famous 1984 ad during the Super Bowl and so did Web 1.0 symbol Pets.com. Last year Google debuted its “Parisian Love” ad. We had quite a few tech firsts this year, including the first ever Twitter hashtag within an ad.

The Doritos pant-sniffing guy won the minds and heards of Twitter, but nonetheless it seems like the tech sector had a strong showing. Between the daily deals site commercial wars and GoDaddy’s superbowl ad suicide and all the non-tech commercials that seemed to incorporate tech elements like a hashtag in the case of Audi #ProgressIs and The Chevy Cruise ad that inadvertently encouraged Facebook stalking, the message is clear: The Internet is here to stay.

And while the tech sector made multiple appearances tonight, the biggest play was made by Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Daily.’ Murdoch’s ad buy offered nothing distinctive branding-wise but cost $3 million dollars, which means that he could have offered a year subscription at $40 to 75K people instead of buying the ad. Something tells me that might have been a better strategy.

In the meantime, here’s a roundup of this year’s tech related ads in order of appearance (I’m including online-only properties like Cars.com), with some honorary mentions at the end. You can find my snarky commentary about each on Twitter, as always.

By the way, I have no idea which team actually won.

Groupon: Save The Money, Whales

LivingSocial: Changed My Life

AT&T: Don’t Be Left Behind

Go Daddy : Joan Rivers

Teleflora.com: Faith Hill, Rack

Motorola Xoom Tablet: Empower The People

Careerbuilder: Parking Lot

Carmax.com

Chatter: Will.i.am #1

Chatter: Will.i.am # 2

The Daily: America Meet The Daily

Cars.com: #1

E*Trade: #1

Best Buy: How Many Bloody Gs Are There Any ways?

Homeaway.com: #1

Groupon: Save The Money, Tibet

Carmax: #2

Go Daddy # 2: The Contract

Cellular South: Samsung Galaxy S

Verizon: Rule The Air

E*trade: #2

Honorary tech ads:

Chevy: Best First Date Ever

AT&T: #2

Bridgestone: Reply All

Audi: Release The Hounds #ProgressIs

Rio: Sans Angry Birds

Hey, Salesforce, Using Will.i.am In An Ad Doesn’t Automatically Make You Cool

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 06:04 PM PST

Well, Salesforce just debuted its Super Bowl Chatter ads (we’ve embedded the ads below), which were a little disappointing. The ads featured Will.i.am and the rest of the Black Eyes Peas in a cartoon promoting the CRM giant’s ‘Facebook for the enterprise.’

The ads, which aired during the halftime show, include what appears to be computer-generated cartoon versions of Will.i.am (he actually co-produced the ad) and his bandmates, zooming around, and talking about how Chatter helps them communicate more efficiently. To be honest, I find the commercials a little confusing and too quick. And it’s hard to imagine that a technology company would spend millions for two ads that seemed to be average at best.

And Will.i.am is sort of a stretch as an enterprise customer. But as Salesforce opens Chatter to the public, the company has ambitions of making the communications platform more of a mainstream tool.

How much do you want to bet that The Black Eyes Peas have never used Chatter? $3 million?

What do you think? Will these ads help Chatter become the ‘Facebook for the Enterprise’?

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OMG/JK: Apple Straight-Arms The Competition As Honeycomb Prepares For Kick-Off

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 02:32 PM PST


It’s Super Bowl Sunday, which means there’s a decent chance you’re about to zone out in front of the television for the next several hours. But before you do that, why not tune in to the latest episode of OMG/JK — where my colleague MG Siegler and I discuss the surprise calls and bone-crushing, competitive maneuvers taking place on the gridiron of Silicon Valley. See, I know football lingo!

Anyway, it’s been a big week in mobile: MG is now able to make phone calls using his Verizon iPhone (which will be released to consumers this week). We also got our first chance to try out Android Honeycomb, as well as Google’s web-based Android Market. And, finally, we discuss Apple’s decision to block Sony’s E-Reader application, and what the implications are for Amazon’s Kindle platform.

Subscribe to us on iTunes!

How Does UFC’s New & Improved Internet Pay-Per-View Stream Compare To The ‘Real’ Thing?

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 02:05 PM PST

NeuLion announced a deal a few days ago to bring "a brand new service for UFC offering the most interactive, far-reaching digital experience yet." Last night's UFC 126 was the first pay-per-view event to receive the NeuLion treatment, so I decided to check it out to see what all the fuss was about.

Fair warning: There will be spoliers.

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Egyptian PM Says Missing Google Marketing Executive Wael Ghonim To Be Released Tomorrow

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 01:34 PM PST

CNN’s Hala Gorani is reporting that Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has announced on Egyptian State TV that Google Middle East Marketing Director Wael Ghonim will be released tomorrow Monday at 4pm. This is in line with Egyptian telcom mogul Naguib Sawiris’ O TV statement that Ghonim would be freed on Monday as well.

Missing since Thursday the 27th, Ghonim is thought to have hosted the first Facebook page that organized the January 25th protests. He disappeared shortly after the following disconcerting tweet, “Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."

After his disappearance, Ghonim was chosen as symbolic spokesperson by an Egyptian opposition group as a tactic to speed up his release. A video of a man who may or may not have been Ghonim getting arrested by the police has also been making the rounds.

A source on the ground in Egypt tells me that the government has switched tactics as of late, instead of a complete information blackout it is using government controlled TV and press to influence popular opinion. Perhaps this is why Gorani hashtagged her above tweet with #Waitandsee?

Up until now, Google has confirmed that he is missing with the following statement:

“The safety of our employees is very important to Google, so if anyone has any information we’re asking that they please call the following U.K. number: +44 20 7031 3008. We are also using this email address (infoaboutwael@google.com) since the Internet is back on in Egypt.”

I’m still waiting to hear back from Google if there are any updates to this status after today’s news.

Wael Ghonim@Ghonim
Wael Ghonim
Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan25

January 27, 2011 2:07 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®RetweetReply

Image: Facebook

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The Super Bowl Apps/Websites So That You Can Pretend You’re Into The Game While Looking At Your Phone

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 12:31 PM PST

It’s Super Bowl Sunday. The game starts in a few hours. The pre-game has been going on for a few hours already (well, several days, actually). And if you’re reading this post, the chances that you’re a diehard football fan are probably fairly slim — because, let’s be honest, if you were, you’d already be drunk in a bar somewhere.

But everyone watches the Super Bowl; diehards and casual fans alike. And the latter might enjoy it more with some apps/websites to help them pass the time. So here are some of those (in no particular order):

  • Super Bowl XLV: This is the official app of the Super Bowl. With it, you can get a full 3D map of Cowboys Stadium on either the iPhone or iPad with tidbits of information. NYC startup UpNext powers the app and will aggregate some social media streams in it during the game. It’s also available for Android here.
  • Super Bowl XLV Program: If you have an iPad, you can also get the official NFL Super Bowl XLV game program to read for free.
  • Fanvibe: It’s an iPhone app and website that allows you to follow a game live by checking-in and talking about it with other users. There are also questions about the game generated in real time for you and your friends to answer. Find the iPhone app here.
  • Foursquare: The location startup is testing out a new promoted venue across their apps to allow everyone to “check-in” to the Super Bowl. And if you shout out who you’re rooting for, you’ll get a badge for that team.
  • Gowalla: Not to be left out of the fun, you can also check-in anywhere on Gowalla and mention “Super Bowl” to get a special pin for the game.
  • Hitpost: They’re still in beta testing (and sadly, the app isn’t quite ready yet), but if you are a part of the test, it’s a great way to visually follow the action and news of the game from the web.
  • BetNext: This service launching today allows you to bet on your favorite teams over Twitter. It’s all virtual money, but it can still be fun for bragging rights and playing a game.
  • Flipboard: The social magazine iPad app has made a special event package of content for the Super Bowl. This includes content from Fox Sports, CBS Sports, SB Nation, and even MC Hammer.
  • IntoNow: Something tells me this new media engagement and discovery service will be able to hear that you’re watching the Super Bowl in realtime.
  • Hulu: The online video hub has a special area to vote on your favorite ads that will play this year.
  • YouTube: Likewise, that other online video hub has a place that you’ll be able to watch all the commercials right after they air.
  • Facebook: The social network has also gotten into the act this year and will allow people to watch and vote on the Super Bowl ads here.
  • Twitter: They’ve teamed up with the NFL for a new site that will offer up cool ways to visualize the tweets about the game.
  • Are You Watching This?!: They have a range of apps across many platforms for talking about the sporting event you’re watching.

That should be enough to get your started. I’m sure there are dozens (if not hundreds) more. Enjoy the game.

To Cops At Least, Criminal Oversharing is Caring

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 11:08 AM PST

Sharing – any greetings card poet will tell you – is caring. Which is just one of the many reasons you shouldn’t pay attention to greetings card poets.

Thanks to social media – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instabloodygram – global sharing is at its highest level since records began. If there really were a direct correlation between sharing and caring, even the Care Bears would be lying comatose in the streets, choking on the saccharine benevolence of modern humanity.

And yet, step outside your front door: did anyone hug you? No. Q.E.D.

Which is not to say the recent addition of an "over-sharing needs" bar to Maslow's pyramid is without benefit to society. To police officers, for example, the irresistible urge felt by dumb criminals to boast of their crimes using social media is the gift that keeps on giving.

The most recent example is Anthony Carleo, the alleged perpetrator of the $1.5 million theft of gaming chips from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Sun, not satisfied with pulling off a successful heist, Carleo decided to share details of his accomplishment with members of the TwoPlusTwo.com poker strategy forum. Using the handle “Oceanspray25″ and signing himself the 'Biker Bandit", Carleo allegedly offered to sell member Matthew Brooks the chips for cents on the dollar. Brooks contacted the authorities who promptly raided Carleo's hotel room at…. the Bellagio. Yeah, Carleo was staying at the casino he’s accused of robbing. Brilliant.

Regular readers will remember that it was similar cyber-hubris that lead to the arrest of Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking military secrets to Wikileaks. Manning suffers from depression and found comfort sharing his problems and guilt with hacker Adrian Lamo on IRC. Next stop: Quantico.

Or how about Robert Powell, who posted condolences on the MySpace page of his friend Joseph Duprey, moments after the latter was brutally murdered. Literally moments after. Powell was quickly arrested and convicted for the murder.

And those are just the banner examples. There are hundreds more cases where cocky criminals have broadcast their misdeeds on YouTube, foolish fugitives have revealed their location on Facebook and moronic malefactors have brazenly taunted authorities online. Not to mention the thousands of witless workers who call in sick, only to boast of the fact on Twitter or Facebook.

Admittedly there's more to the alleged cases of Carleo and Manning than pathological over-sharing. For both men there’s also evidence that they actively wanted to be caught. But for Powell and many other younger criminals, the compulsion to share is apparently combined with a mistaken belief that what happens online somehow stays online. That admitting to a crime on a social network has no more consequences than shooting someone on Mafia Wars.

It's curious, really. It would be reasonable to expect that, as technology becomes more ingrained in our real lives, we'd all become more alert to its real-world consequences. In fact the opposite seems to be the case: in a world where everything is virtual, an increasing number of us seem to believe that consequences too are virtual.

That misapprehension is welcome news to tech-savvy cops and bosses, but something that Messrs. Powell, Carleo, Manning et al might find time to ruminate on, from the comfort of their prison cells.

Image credit: Uncare Bear by Chris Toumanian, used with permission.



Save The Money: Groupon’s Super Bowl Ads May Spark Faux Outrage

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 10:30 AM PST

Well, Groupon certainly isn’t afraid of rustling a few feathers. The red-hot group buying site has just posted its celeb-laden Super Bowl ads, and they’ve taken to poking fun at global crises like dwindling whale populations and deforestation. They’re a little weird, and likely to spark waves of debate and plenty of extra publicity.

Groupon rival LivingSocial will be running a Super Bowl ad as well, that reportedly tells the story of a LivingSocial addict — Groupon poked fun at this with its own rejected” ad. Guess whose commercials people will be talking about at the water cooler tomorrow?

And while some people won’t like the joke, Groupon isn’t being mean-spirited about it: its Save The Money site has offers for a variety of charity organizations. For example, making a $15 donation to GreenPeace will score you $15 in Groupon Credit (it’s essentially a free donation on your part).

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The Royal Me

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 10:00 AM PST

The King’s Speech is worthy of the Best Actor award Colin Firth will likely garner at this year’s Academy Awards as a proxy for Best Picture going elsewhere. The Oscar voters are younger these days and will overlook the story of Queen Elizabeth’s stuttering father and how the reluctant prince reached the throne. They’ll vote for King Mark of Facebook instead.

But this isn’t about the Oscars; it’s about the remarkable scene late in the film when King George makes his way down rows of huge metal machines to a small shrouded room where he is to deliver a speech to the British Empire on its entry into war with Hitler and Germany. For those on Facebook, Twitter, or Quora, Hitler was a really bad man who looked a lot like Robert Downey in his Charlie Chaplin biopic. Charlie Chaplin was a …. Oh never mind.

Anyway, the King marched past these machines marked Canada, Australia, and the other colonies. For the Facebook, Twitter, Quora crowd, we here in the United States used to be subjects of the King or Queen and therefore required to bow and curtsy as he or she passed by. Another synonym for curtsy is to scrape, as in grovel but not as in scrape Google search results. Anyway, these machines were all connected by huge cables to the main control console where the King’s microphone was turned into radio waves. In turn, each machine sent the signal to each country. sort of like Seesmic or Tweetdeck, where each stream has its own column.

The speech came at a point in England’s history where the monarchy was fading in relevance but not in its importance. As the King said in the film, he had none of the power to form a government or start a war but was expected to lead his subjects through the darkest of times. For Facebook, Twitter, and Quora subjects, it was like being Google with all the money in the world but no clue about how to get social.

Being a true story, the King’s speech was obviously destined to be a triumph over adversity. This being Hollywood or something akin to it, we weren’t about to see the King fail and quit in ignominy like Nixon or go on hiatus like Charlie Sheen. As the speech wound its way through strangled stutters and hilarious obscenity-laced silences, the filmmakers cut from scene to scene of ordinary people listening around the radio in living rooms and leaning on the bar in pubs. Like a series of paintings, the emotion of the common bond of king and subject resonated in the faces of the assembled. A nation clicking the Like button.

Today our royalty takes the form of Brangelina and Buzz Lightyear. Instead of giant machines paging down a long hallway, we carry our radios in our pockets and foment revolutions in an instant on Twitter. We are no longer subjects but followers, and our royalty are no longer born to the crown but IPOed. Pretenders to the throne are no longer upstarts but startups. Public flogging no longer takes place in the town square but on TechCrunch and Gawker.

Have you seen my favorite commercial, the one where Honest Abe Lincoln squirms as he attempts to wriggle out of his wife asking whether her new dress makes her backside look big? That’s the magic of The King’s Speech, an elaborate fiction designed to show us how common the royals are and how royal the rest of us are. For those of us on Facebook, Twitter, and Quora, it’s time to party like it’s 1939.
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