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Former Microsoft Engineers Launch Pixotale, A Social Networking App For Visual Storytelling
A pair of ex-Microsoft engineers, Robert Mao and Haitao Li, have launched what they describe as a new social network based around photos and videos with Pixotale, an app that aims to re-imagine long-form storytelling for the mobile era. Mao, previously having spent five years with Microsoft Research, says that to create Pixotale, the two had to basically “unlearn everything”… Read More
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Facebook Acquires LiveRail For $400M To $500M To Serve Video Ads Everywhere, Improve Its Own
Facebook has just bought video ad tech startup LiveRail, which connects marketers to publishers on web and mobile to target 7 billion video ads to visitors per month. A source tells us Facebook paid between $400 million and $500 million for LiveRail, but Facebook refused to comment on the terms. [Update 3:30pm PST: Another source now tells us LiveRail sold for $500 million, matching the… Read More
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New Picture-Based Messaging App Hipe Gives Friends Just 99 Seconds To Respond After Reading Your Text
A new mobile messaging app called Hipe, which lets users share GIFs, videos, or image overlays and a short amount of text, has introduced a twist on ephemeral messaging which turns replying to conversations into something of a game. In Hipe, friends only have 99 seconds to respond to a message after reading it, or otherwise the content disappears and the conversation is gone. The company says… Read More
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Tinder CEO’s Internal Memo Claims Harrassment Complaint Is Inaccurate
TechCrunch has obtained an internal memo sent from Tinder CEO Sean Rad to employees in the wake of a new lawsuit waged against the company. The lawsuit focuses on the relationship between Whitney Wolfe and Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, accusing him and the company of sexual harassment and sexism. Former VP of Marketing Whitney Wolfe has alleged that Justin Mateen, her ex boyfriend,… Read More
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Tinder CEO’s Internal Memo Claims Harrassment Complaint Is Innacurate
TechCrunch has obtained an internal memo sent from Tinder CEO Sean Rad to employees in the wake of a new lawsuit waged against the company. The lawsuit focuses on the relationship between Whitney Wolfe and Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, accusing him and the company of sexual harassment and sexism. Former VP of Marketing Whitney Wolfe has alleged that Justin Mateen, her ex boyfriend,… Read More
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MakersKit Raises $1.5 Million In Seed Funding To Launch A DIY Empire
Looking to build a 21st century DIY media empire? The rags-to-not-yet-riches story of Jawn McQuade and Mike Stone, the co-founders of MakersKit may have written the instruction manual.
Launched in February last year, the company has already raised $1.5 million in seed financing, inked distribution agreements with Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters, and published a book through Amazon. Read More
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iCloak Stik Aims To Put Robust Online Privacy In The Hands Of The Many, Not The Few
Meet iCloak Stik: a plug and play device that’s being designed to make robust online privacy accessible to the many not the few — by enabling an average computer user to route their browsing via the Tor or I2P anonymizing networks so it can’t be tracked. Google Buys Songza
Google has acquired music streaming service Songza after weeks of speculation around a potential buyout.
Songza uses information about the user and context to determine the best playlists for you at any given time, all of which are curated by music experts (DJs, Rolling Stones writers, etc.). Read More
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5-Tiles, The Software Keyboard Targeting Wearables, Picks Up Nokia’s ‘Nav Key’ Inventor As Investor
5-Tiles, another contender taking aim at disrupting the QWERTY with its five key software keyboard, which it hopes will find a home on wearable devices, has picked up ex-Nokia veteran Christian Lindholm as an investor and advisor. Databricks Snags $33M In Series B And Debuts Cloud Platform For Processing Big Data
Databricks, the commercial entity created by the developers of the open source Apache Spark project, announced $33M in Series B funding today and the launch of a new cloud product, their first one as a company. There is little doubt that big data is a big deal these days and companies are popping up to help customers process the data. Databricks hopes to simplify the entire matter by moving it… Read More
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