Category Archive

 Spot, a startup that says it can help you find “the best places in the world,” is launching to the public. The company emerged from “startup studio” Expa. It’s also announcing today that it has raised $2 million in seed funding from Expa, SV Angel, Ram Shriram, Tim Ferriss, Fenwick & West and others. When I spoke to founder Luke Groesbeck last summer, he said… Read More

 Spot, a startup that says it can help you find “the best places in the world,” is launching to the public. The company emerged from “startup studio” Expa. It’s also announcing today that it has raised $2 million in seed funding from Expa, SV Angel, Ram Shriram, Tim Ferriss, Fenwick & West and others. When I spoke to founder Luke Groesbeck last summer, he… Read More

 Peeple, the controversial people-rating application that lets its users rate and review anyone, is not a hoax or vaporware, as many suspected following the media backlash surrounding the unveiling of the company’s intentions last fall. The Washington Post even called the app “terrifying,” given that the app didn’t plan to allow users to opt out of being reviewed… Read More

 Don’t just drunkenly wander around SXSW. Meet amazing people and catch an unforgettable concert at TechCrunch’s SXSW party. Between 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday March 12, join us at Deloitte Digital’s Interplay Lab at The Palm Door at 508 E. 6th St. Only 2 blocks from the convention center! Register here or below to attend for free. Read More

 No one else ever sees most of your camera roll. But if you’re brave enough, your close friends might enjoy peeking at every photo, video, and screenshot, not just the best ones. So call it creepy or the next frontier in social media, but that’s what Shorts does. It’s the new iOS app from the makers of Highlight, the hyped location app startup of 2012 that fizzled out and is… Read More

 Tired of watching (relatively) lengthy online videos when there’s only 10, 30 or 60 seconds that you really care about? Well, viral publisher and publishing toolmaker Playbuzz has a solution called Video Snaps. Basically, the Snaps product makes it easy for a publisher or anyone else to take an existing video and divide it into different segments, so viewers can go directly to the… Read More

 Crimson Hexagon is announcing that it has raised $20 million in additional equity funding. Founded in 2007, the Boston-headquartered company helps brands and ad agencies track conversations across social media. It says its customer base has grown by more than 65 percent in the last 12 months and now has 10,000 active users. Customers include Starbucks, Walmart and NBC. Crimson Hexagon… Read More

 Google never “got” social. For all the resources thrown at it, Google+ just never quite felt human. But luckily Google just hired the guy behind 4chan — a site that epitomized the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity on the Internet.
Chris Poole (screen name: MOOT) started 4chan in his bedroom at age 15. In the 12 years since, he built it into a 20 million active user… Read More

 Ryan Leslie gave every fan his phone number. It’s (646) 887-6978. But instead of a million unwanted phone calls, it’s making him money and giving him deeper intelligence about his listeners than anyone in the music business.
That’s why A16z’s Ben Horowitz, Betaworks, and more investors just put a $1.5 million seed round into Leslie’s startup Disruptive Multimedia. Read More

 A new app from David Barnard, the developer behind the popular Launch Center Pro, promises to be the cure for boredom. Rando, as the app is called, offers a crazy twist on our carefully curated online personas — instead of allowing you to choose a photo or GIF to share with friends, Rando will randomly pick one for you. You can also share random text quotes, then post them to Facebook… Read More