Sarah currently works as a writer for TechCrunch, after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to becoming a professional blogger, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.
Is this the beginning of the end for PicPlum, the Y Combinator-backed photo-sharing and printing startup that debuted in summer 2010? Today, co-founder Paul Stamatiou announced via blog post that he has joined Twitter full-time, while PicPlum’s other co-founder Akshay Dodeja, Stamatiou noted, has since moved on to a job with new Live Nation Labs. PicPlum’s service will be actively… → Read More
Audiobooks.com, a one-year old subscription service that competes with Amazon’s Audible.com, is today dropping its prices. Previously, the company had charged users $24.95 per month for unlimited access to its catalog of some 25,000 titles. Now it’s offering two plans to cater to perhaps less voracious listeners, with plans starting at $14.95 per month instead. → Read More
Branch, a startup focused on enabling high quality public conversations on the web, is today launching to the public. The company is notably backed by the Obvious Corporation, the incubator from Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, and early Twitter employee Jason Goldman, which is also home to Medium, a blogging platform that sits somewhere between long-form blog posts and the… → Read More
AngelPad, the startup accelerator program founded back in 2010 by ex-Googler Thomas Korte, is today releasing new data about the progress its companies have made to date, as well as funding aggregates for those participating in its program. The announcement comes ahead of Thursday’s application deadline for the Spring session. → Read More
Carvoyant, a startup that’s been busy developing a platform that will tell you exactly what’s going on with your vehicle’s general health (and what that blasted “check engine” light means), is today ready to start shipping its devices to early adopters and developer testers. It has also signed a couple of agreements with auto dealer partners, who will be the first to distribute the system more… → Read More
Would you pay to get Mark Zuckerberg to read your email? If so, how much? That’s what Facebook wants to find out, apparently. Some Facebook users are able to send the CEO an email that reaches his main inbox within Facebook’s messaging system for a cool $100, Mashable has discovered, in a report that is now making its way to mainstream press including The Wall St. Journal and The… → Read More
Applicasa, a Tel Aviv-based company which got its start as a mobile backend service provider competing with Parse, Kinvey, StackMob and others before shifting into mobile game management, has raised a total of $1 million in seed funding, the company is announcing today. The funding comes from the Shaked family, the founders of real-time casino gaming company 888.com, and it was raised in smaller… → Read More
NFC-based mobile payments are getting another boost in the States: U.S. Bank, one of America’s largest, has announced that it will begin to trial a new mobile payments service called “U.S. Bank Go Mobile,” which allows iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S users to pay for purchases at point-of-sale by waving their smartphone. The initial tests will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Portland, Oregon. → Read More
Well that didn’t take long. Here’s Mac OS running (well, it’s emulated) on a Microsoft Surface. Blasphemy? Awesome? Hard to say. Now that a jailbreak tool for Microsoft’s Windows Surface RT is out in the wild, allowing users to install unsigned ARM desktop applications on these otherwise oddball devices, hackers are having a field day figuring out what apps they can get to work. The latest and… → Read More
Xerox announced today that Luca Maestri, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, is leaving the company as of February 28, in order to take the position of corporate controller at Apple. The company has already initiated a search for a replacement, and Maestri will stay on through the end of February to assist in the transition. → Read More
Have you ever been curious about what apps other people are running on their iPhones, and specifically those which they’ve deemed awesome enough to warrant a coveted spot on their homescreen? If so, then you’ll probably get a kick out of Appetite.io, a new project from the creators of the simple messaging app for iOS called Verbs.im. → Read More
Digg today took to its blog to share a bit of information about its user growth and monetization plans, now that it’s been at Betaworks for nearly six months. The company said that Digg’s user base has doubled since the Betaworks takeover in August, and it also confirmed that Digg’s “Apps We Like” section is one of the site’s first efforts to monetize the new property. → Read More
Amazon is today introducing a new service called “Amazon AutoRip,” which automatically gives customers free MP3 versions of any CDs they’ve purchased from Amazon since the launch of its Music Store back in 1998, as well as a growing number of new releases. The digital music is being placed in users’ Amazon Cloud Player account, the company’s answer to Google Music, iTunes Match, Rdio, and other… → Read More
Twitter today has upgraded its Tweetdeck for Mac app, which now offers the same features that Chrome users received in mid-December. This includes “typeahead” and PeopleSearch additions, as well as the “embed this tweet” function, and more. The company says there are over 90 fixes and tweaks with this version, making it the largest update Tweetdeck for Mac has seen since October’s overhaul of the… → Read More
Appboy, the maker of a suite of customer relationship management (CRM) tools for mobile app developers, is now offering a new customer segmentation product that lets developers slice their audience into groups based on who they are and how they behave. After doing so, developers can then use other Appboy tools to target those users in different ways using push notifications, emails, and in-app… → Read More
BlueKite, a Miami-based platform for cross-border bill payments, is today announcing $1.5 million in new funding, led by PeopleFund, which contributed $1.3 million of the total raise. The remaining amount was provided directly by BlueKite’s founders. → Read More
San Francisco-based kids’ app platform Fingerprint is teaming up with UK educational app maker Mindshapes. The two companies are collaborating on a series of new digital learning activities called “appisodes,” which combine both storytelling and games. It’s the first in what promises to be a busy year of Fingerprint announcements, partnerships, and app launches → Read More
Following a report by Digitimes this morning citing industry sources, The Wall St. Journal is today confirming that it, too, hears that Apple is working on a low-cost version of the iPhone, which could launch as early as this year. → Read More
Target today made a huge move to counteract the practice of “showrooming,” the term that refers to how consumers are using retail brick-and-mortar stores to go hands-on with items, which they then order online for less – often from competitors like Walmart and Amazon. The company announced that it is now extending its holiday price matching policy year-round, in order to match those prices offered… → Read More
Sometimes startups shut down fast, and in the case of new online scrapbooking maker Irrive, which only launched this past September, the company had barely even gotten started before closing up shop. According to CEO Steven Cohn, who sold his last startup to LivingSocial, he made the decision to quickly pivot (his word, not mine, by the way), because even though Irrive’s metrics were good, the… → Read More
Continuing its expansion into original content and exclusive third-party content, Hulu is today offering previews of its new programming for 2013, which includes its first animated Hulu Original Series, “The Awesomes,” co-created by Saturday Night Live’s head writer Seth Meyers alongside Emmy winning producer and SNL alum, Michael Shoemaker. → Read More
Amazon today announced that its membership program Amazon Prime is now available in Canada, offering customers free two-day shipping for an annual fee of CAD $79.00 and one-day shipping at $3.99 per item. Amazon Instant Video and Kindle ebook lending, which are both major benefits to the U.S. version of the service, are not being included with the deal, despite similar pricing. In the U.S., it’s… → Read More
San Francisco-based gaming and ad platform Chartboost has raised $19 million in new funding, in a round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investors TransLink Capital and SK Telecom Ventures. With the new funding, Sequoia’s Jim Goetz, who previously sat on Admob’s board, is joining Chartboot’s board. → Read More
Remember that FiOS home Media Server Verizon was talking about a year ago? Well, the company is finally starting to make things official, with an announcement and product details revealed today at CES. Launch date and pricing info still remain elusive, however. → Read More
Fetchnotes, the Twitter-like note-taking app that employs @ usernames and # hashtags to keep your to-do lists organized, is releasing an updated version today that now connects the items you mention in your notes with their real-world counterparts. For example, when you tag things like #movies, #songs, #books, #read, or other common terms, Fetchnotes will go out and find the product mentioned and… → Read More
Mobile payments platform Remitly (formerly BeamIt), which allows U.S. users to transfer money overseas, has raised an additional $2.6 million, bringing its total raise to date to $5.1 million. The new investment comes from Trilogy Equity Partnership, making this a strategic move from Remitly, as Trilogy is known for its mobile expertise, investing in mobile startups like the now Rapid7-owned… → Read More
It’s not too late for yet one more 2012 year-in-review report, and today’s latest addition comes from Nielsen, which examined how Americans have been consuming content over the course of the past year. The report found that of the 289 million U.S. TV owners, 119 million own four or more television sets, making TV still the device to beat when it comes to watching and recording programs, among… → Read More
A new report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association released today finds that U.S. VC firms raised $20.6 billion from 182 funds in 2012, representing a 10 percent increase in dollar commitments when compared with 2011, which saw 18.7 billion raised from 187 funds. This is the most capital that VC firms have raised since 2008, which saw $25.6 billion raised, but from a… → Read More
Confirming TechCrunch’s earlier report, photo and personal publishing company Shutterfly is announcing this morning that it is acquiring the cloud-based photo and video organization platform ThisLife. The company will integrate ThisLife’s technology into its own core products, allowing users to upload, organize, store, share and create physical and digital products using both web and mobile… → Read More
Austin-based Vobi.com, a cloud-based collaboration startup which will sell its services through mobile operators, has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding from Dallas VC firm Trailblazer Capital. The firm specializes in communications companies that have unique IP, explains Vobi CEO Mark Castleman, making it a good fit as Vobi’s lead investor. → Read More
The 6th Annual Crunchies Awards
San Francisco
New York City
