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Thursday 14 March 2013

Samsung Galaxy S 4 vs. Galaxy S III: what's changed?



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Samsung unveils the Galaxy S 4's software tricks: camera modes, Story Album, S Translate and more



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Samsung Galaxy S 4 preview: a flagship with some familiar roots



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Samsung Galaxy S 4 launching on 327 carriers in 155 countries, starting at the end of April



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Samsung Galaxy S 4 official: 5-inch 1080p display, Octa-core Exynos chip and 13MP camera



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Phrasebook for Google Translate lets you save important words for later reference



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Samsung Unpacked 2013 liveblog!



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Sony Xperia SP render possibly spied, puts the Xperia Z design in a smaller package



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SXSW 2013’s Best Hacks



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Live From the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Launch



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The Daily Roundup for 03.14.2013



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Mozilla unveils Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 with Push to Device, rotation simulation



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Google My Tracks update brings Drive integration and a lock screen widget



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Makerbot and Adafruit selling special edition 3D printer: Raspberry Pi, other kits included



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OS X 10.8.3 update arrives with official Boot Camp support for Windows 8



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How to Export Your RSS Feeds From Google Reader



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Hashtags May Be Coming to Facebook



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BBC toasts 90 years of innovation and posh accents, asks 'where next?'



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YouTube Capture Comes To iPad



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Netflix Cloud Prize offers over $100,000 in rewards to cloud computing gurus



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Fear Not, Digg Is Building a Google Reader Alternative



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Where They Make China’s Cheap Android Smartphones



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CBS brings full episode streaming in HD to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch



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Redbox Instant exits private beta and launches to the public



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The outrage and sadness of Google Reader's demise



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Hello World! Processing, un documental sobre un lenguaje de programación para no programadores


Probablemente con años de retraso, en mi trabajo del MundoReal™ estamos empezando a trastear con Processing, un lenguaje de programación basado en Java que tiene como objetivo enganchar a gente que no tiene ni idea de programar en esto de la programación.


Está pensado especialmente para gente creativa que quiera experimentar con nuevos medios, por lo que a nosotros nos resulta muy atractivo de cara al desarrollo de módulos para los museos.


Por eso me pareció especialmente interesante el documental dedicado a este lenguaje dentro del proyecto Hello World! , que tiene como objetivo realizar tres documentales sobre otros tantos lenguajes de programación de este tipo como son el ya citado Processing, OpenFrameworks y Pure data.


(Gracias por el aviso, Fred).


# Enlace Permanente







via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ordenadores/hello-world-processing-documental-sobre-lenguaje-programacion-para-no-programadores.html

Bebestore Lands $10.2M From W7, Atomico In The Race For Brazil's Kid-Focused eCommerce Market

Screen shot 2013-03-13 at 3.24.19 AM

After nearly being eradicated when the Dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the Brazilian startup community has been slow to come back. However, over the last two years, growth has been accelerating and Brazil’s startups seem poised to make a comeback. As Roi pointed out recently, the support ecosystem for young businesses in Brazil is still thin and plenty of friction remains (like high labor costs and inflexible legislation), but the potential is big and getting bigger — and venture capital is beginning to flow as a result.


The examples are becoming more numerous, as startups like the angel-backed Printi, which is trying to create a web-based Kinko’s for the local market, the Founders Fund and Social+Capital-backed online learning platform, Descomplica, Atomico-funded “Internet of Things” player Evrythng, the Redpoint-backed “TechCrunch of Brazil,” Startupi and Accel and Tiger Global-funded, baby-focused eCommerce startup Baby.com — to name a few.


As Internet-connectivity proliferates, along with its startup community, Brazil has seen an explosion in its eCommerce market. Forrester, for example, estimates that Brazilian eCommerce will increase 18 percent year-over-year, with total sales expected to hit $22 billion by 2016. While Baby.com.br has seen a lot of buzz since launching in 2011, it’s not the only startup looking to capitalize on Brazil’s exploding eCommerce market.


Founded in December 2009, Bebestore, one of the original baby and children-focused online marketplaces in Brazil, is today announcing a big raise of its own, having recently closed a $10.2 million round of series B financing, led by W7 Capital and Atomico. This adds to the $7.8 million Atomico invested in the startup’s series A round, bringing its total capital to $17.8 million.


Why the big interest from Atomico — the same firm that’s raising a $286 million fund and was just voted “The VC of the Year” at Europe’s tech startup awards?


Since receiving its first investment from Atomico in December 2011, the founders tell us, Bebestore has quadrupled its revenue and now offers over 45,000 items in its store. As of January, the company’s run rate was $21.4 million, with month-over-month revenue growth at 20 percent in January.


So, the business is continuing to grow, and it’s finding that Brazilian parents, especially among the younger generation are increasingly turning to the Web to find affordable products that can be shipped quickly, rather than the alternative. As one of the early movers, Bebestore opted for the broad approach, offering a range of parent-focused products — from strollers, shoes and diapers for toddlers to products for moms (beauty products, accessories, etc) and clothes, toys and games for kids.


Initially a port of the Diapers.com model, Bebestore has become more focused on value-add products like clothes, toys and accessories, the founders tell us, rather than lower-margin products like diapers. And, like Baby.com.br, the company has been determined to implement a social strategy by becoming a resource for parents on Facebook, beyond simply being an eCommerce marketplace.


But, with seemingly such similar models, how does Bebe Store see itself as different from Baby.com.br, its main competitor? The founders tell us that the company is more focused on higher-end products in major cities, particularly in the southeast part of Brazil, whereas it sees Baby.com using diapers as its anchor product, cross-selling other products, while focusing on the northern regions of Brazil, particularly more rural areas.


In turn, Baby.com.br also recently launched dinda.com.br, which is essentially a flash sales model for baby-related products, while the founders say that Bebe Store has no intention of pursuing the flash sales model.


While these are relatively small differences, Brazil is so big geographically with such a large (and increasingly connected) population, there’s plenty of room for more than kid-focused e-Commerce player. Who will own the most market share? That remains to be seen, but there’s definitely a land grab coming.


For more, find Bebe Store at home here.








via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/TV_xic47slI/

DeveloperAuction Raises $2.7M From NEA, Google Ventures To Change The Way Technical Talent Is Hired

Screen Shot 2013-03-14 at 10.11.45 AM


DeveloperAuction, a platform where engineers can put themselves out to dozens or hundreds of potential employers, raised $2.7 million from NEA, Sierra Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Google Ventures, Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC, and John Suliman’s Step Partners. Part of the idea behind this round is to tap the portfolio companies of each of these venture firms.


DeveloperAuction is trying to reverse the way that in-house recruiters attract top-flight engineers. Developers that are actively interested in leaving their current companies can apply to be part of a batch of 150 or so candidates. They put themselves and their resumes out there for venture-backed companies like Dropbox to bid on with salary and equity offers over a two-week period. If they’re interested, the engineers can follow up for interviews and go through the normal hiring process.


So far, that’s resulted in $225 million in job offers for developers on the site. The company used to run auctions about every six to eight weeks, but eventually we could see them stepping up to do auctions in different regions or for different skill levels (like for fresh college grads or engineering managers).


If the engineer follows through and ends up taking a job with the company, the employer pays DeveloperAuction 15 percent of their base salary. That fee ends up being a little bit less than what a standard recruiting agency might charge at 20 to 25 percent. DeveloperAuction also splits their bounty with the candidate, sending them 20 percent of the 15 percent commission on their first day of the job (plus some balloons and Dom Perignon). The platform also controls who sees which candidates to prevent the awkward situation where a current employer sees one of their engineers.


Matt Mickiewicz, one of the company’s co-founders, says that they’re seeing 80 to 90 percent of the employers coming back. He says the platform is also helping talent in other parts of the country compete on the same level as Silicon Valley developers.


“A big missed opportunity for startups is that they only want to hire from within 50 miles,” he said. “If they would just pay for a Southwest plane ticket, they might end up getting a much better price and not facing nearly as much competition.” He also says that engineers rarely choose the top-paying bidder and instead go for companies that are a better cultural fit for them.


The team behind DeveloperAuction is a veteran one: Mickiewicz previously founded 99designs, while another co-founder, Douglas Feirstein, was a founder of LiveOps. Allan Grant, who runs YC-backed CureBit, is another co-founder.


The company has 11 full-time employees and will probably grow to 15 within two months, Mickiewicz said.








via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/VNQiZYIFej4/

Paul Graham Proposes A ‘Handshake Deal Protocol,' Puts It Into Practice At Y Combinator

paul graham

Y Combinator founder Paul Graham just published a blog post suggesting a new way to handle handshake deals, i.e. verbal commitments for investments and other transactions.


That kind of commitment can be a necessary prelude to a more formal agreement. Graham writes: “Things can happen fast in the startup world … so both investors and founders need a way to reserve space in a transaction.” However, he notes that these deals also fall through:



Handshake deals are not unique to Silicon Valley of course. They tend to arise wherever trust is sufficiently high and speed is sufficiently important. Diamond dealers apparently use them a lot.


Unfortunately, things don’t work as smoothly in Silicon Valley as among diamond dealers. This is not a closed community of pros who deal with one another day after day. Many participants in the funding market are noobs, and some are dishonest.



To try to avoid confusion, or at least to clarify who is at fault when a deal falls through, Graham is proposing “the handshake deal protocol.” It starts with a concrete offer, with an amount to be invested, a valuation or valuation cap, and an optional discount, followed by these steps:



  1. The investor says “I’m in for .”

  2. The startup says “Ok, you’re in for .”

  3. The startup sends the investor an email or text message saying “This is to confirm you’re in for .”

  4. The investor replies “yes.”


Didn’t follow the steps? Then you don’t have a handshake deal. Graham said that the Y Combinator team is starting to implement this, and that he’s hoping it spreads throughout the Valley.


To me, it seems very Silicon Valley to try to standardize an informal process. It sounds like some investors benefit from that ambiguity, so individual entrepreneurs might not have the power to resist. YC, on the other hand, could make a difference. By creating a clear process and a (digital) paper trail, the incubator can now track whether investors are breaking their verbal agreements, and if they are, those investors might find that they’re no longer as welcome at Demo Day.


And some investors may just be glad that the protocol doesn’t involve any real handshakes.








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Google yanks ad-blocking apps from Play Store, points to developer agreement



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Mozilla launches Open Badges 1.0, delivers virtual kudos for real skills



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Humo, fuego, rayos y bombas volcánicas: espectaculares imágenes de un volcán en erupción



El volcán Sakurajima, en Japón, fotografiado por Martin Rietze . Vía Colossal.


# Enlace Permanente







via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/mundoreal/espectaculares-fotos-volcan-erupcion.html

Google Reader cierra pero hay vida más allá de Google

Algunas alternativas a Google Reader —y mi opinión sobre la puñalada de Google a sus «leales seguidores»—, en RTVE.es: Google Reader cierra, pero hay vida más allá de Google .


Afortunadamente, porque como se oye por ahí...


¿Cómo se puede confiar en alguien que cree que es más masculino ponerse un ordenador en la cabeza que utilizar un móvil?

# Enlace Permanente







via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/internet/google-reader-cierra-hay-vida-mas-alla-de-google.html