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Friday, 21 June 2013

Thankful Registry Is A Wedding Gift Registry For Thoughtful Couples

thankful_logo

Registries present an etiquette quandary for engaged couples. Open one at a major retailer, fill it with suggestions from a checklist and you end up looking greedy (how many newlywed couples really need a gravy boat?). Skip the registry, and you risk receiving multiple toasters. Thankful Registry tackles that problem by re-imagining registries as a way for couples to sign up for a thoughtful selection of items while connecting with their guests.


Bootstrapped by founder Kathy Cheng, Thankful Registry launched three months ago. Cheng worked with Web design studio Crush + Lovely to set the tone of the site. Each wedding registry features a full-bleed photo of the affianced pair and a personal message. Instead of the sterile lists seen in most wedding registries, photos of potential gifts are arranged like a catalog into categories such as “delicious,” “play” and “nest.” Items can be chosen from different vendors, separating the registry from big-box retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond that derive a large portion of their sales from the $10 billion wedding gift market. Once shoppers select an item, they are taken to the vendor’s order form pre-filled with the couple’s shipping information.



Though there are other sites, like NewlyWish and Registry Love, catering to couples who want to avoid retailer registries, Cheng says she drew on her design background to set Thankful Registry apart from its competitors by honing its elegant and simple user interface.


“I focused less on adding a bunch of features just for the sake of having features and more on the tone of the brand because I feel that in the wedding space, people are looking for something that draws them in emotionally,” says Cheng, a senior copywriter for consulting firm Smart Design. “Everyone else is about creating a wishlist and convenience.”


Cheng, who started brainstorming Thankful Registry three years ago, says she likes to take her time finding the perfect present and found shopping her friends’ wedding registries frustratingly impersonal.


“I consider myself a pretty okay gift-giver and it wasn’t cutting it. I was disappointed. I also felt that couples felt obligated to add things to their registries,” says Cheng. “Our site looks modern, it doesn’t look greedy. I thought, gifts are as much about the giver as they are the couple.”


“Couples put so much time into their weddings, but the true touchpoint that guests see outside of the actual wedding day are invitations and wedding registries,” she adds. “We don’t say things like ‘register for whatever you want’ because you don’t want guests to spend their time and heart picking out a gift that ends up just being returned for cash.”



With their gift registries independent from major retailers, Thankful Registry’s couples can add items from any site, allowing them to support smaller vendors. One couple, for example, registered for handcrafted Japanese cutlery.


“I am surprised at the retailers they pick sometimes. They are usually not retailers who are heavily represented in the wedding registry sector,” says Cheng.


Though Cheng expected almost all of the site’s users to come from the U.S., couples from different countries, including the U.K., Norway and Australia, have signed up, and she plans to make the site friendlier for international couples by making the content less U.S.-centric.


Thankful Registry is free for a one week trial, after which couples pay a $30 fee, and Cheng says it currently has a 24% conversion rate. The site also makes revenue by participating in Amazon’s affiliate program. Cheng’s next step is to create a baby gift registry with the same low-key approach as Thankful Registry, as well as versions of the site for other life milestones, including birthdays and graduations.








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This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Instagram Video, Samsung Stuff, And MakerBot

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Instagram now has video! It may or may not be better than Vines. Samsung showed off a bunch of computers and cameras and phones with strange names. That was fun. And of course, 3D printing sweetheart Makerbot sold for $400 million to Stratasys.


It’s been a long, crazy, eventful week, and we’re here to discuss it with you on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast, featuring John Biggs, Jordan Crook, Darrell Etherington, Chris Velazco, and a touch of Matt Burns.


Enjoy, folks!



We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific.


Click here to download an MP3 of this show.

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Subscribe in iTunes


Intro Music by Rick Barr.








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Life after Kinect: PrimeSense's plans for a post-Microsoft future



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Report: Twitter to launch location-based ads later this year



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Need An Artificially Intelligent Robotic System For Sorting Trash? ZenRobotics Has Them.

zen-robotics


When Jufo Peltomaa and Tuomas Lukka were figuring out what to do next after selling Hybrid Graphics to Nvidia seven years ago, they knew it had to involve one thing.


Robots.


“Our business plan was — let’s do something cool with robots!” Peltomaa said.


The pair, plus their third co-founder Harri Volpola, are one of the most interesting entrepreneurial teams out of Finland today. Lukka is the country’s youngest ever Ph.D. after getting his degree in quantum chemistry at the age of 20 and Peltomaa is an early 1990s pop star from one of the country’s first rap groups, a past career he kind of wants to leave behind.


They didn’t know exactly what these robots would do, so they did hours and hours of interviews with different potential customers.


“The question we asked was, ‘How can we help you? What are you losing money on right now?’” he said. They looked at a number of industries like warehouse logistics and food companies.


They stumbled on a problem which wasn’t only just lucrative, but also interesting from a technical perspective. There were problems with getting machines to pick up oddly-shaped objects. They decided to settle on robotic recycling, with the European Union alone seeing 3 billion tons of waste each year and the regional construction industry generating 900 million tons of demolition waste annually.


They would build a system that would sort through trash and pick out things that could be recycled for extra revenue like wood or metal.


Their solution, which can cost anywhere up from a starting price of a half-million dollars, uses off-the-shelf industrial robots that are enhanced by artificial intelligence to determine whether trash rolling through on a conveyor belt is recyclable.


ZenRobotics’ system is also bolstered with several load sensors which detect things like surface area and weight.


The robots weigh trash as they lift pieces and calculate the price a piece could be redeemed for. There are also infrared scanners and metal detectors built into the system as well.


“These are the same kinds of robots that are used in Volkswagen factories,” Peltomaa said. “They are standard industrial robots. They are honed to be really reliable. What we are developing behind them is artificial intelligence software.”


They can also maintain the systems remotely so they can monitor if any parts in the system are starting to wear down ahead of time.


Peltomaa says that a client might normally pay 100 euros to get rid of a ton of waste. But if they can pick out a ton of metal, then they can sell that for about 250 euros.


The company has sold five units so far since they only started about a year ago, and believe that the total market size globally for what they make is about 8,000 units. They put together the systems locally in Finland and then deliver them to the customer.


The company just closed 13 million euros in funding from Invus, a private equity firm that has about $4 billion under management. They also pulled in a CEO who can scale the company in Juho Malmberg, who used to run Accenture in Finland and grew their office from 10 to 800 people. They also brought in Jorma Eloranta as a chairman of the board. He used to run mining and construction giant Metso, which pulled in 7.5 billion euros in revenue last year.


“We want to bring multi-billion euro thinking to our company,” Peltomaa said. “It will be our own fault if we don’t make it.”








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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Has Already Met Kanye's Baby



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UK Ministry of Defence's UFO department was disbanded three years ago, had 'no defense purpose'



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Here's the First Ashton Kutcher-Loaded Trailer For jOBS

HTC Creative Director Daniel Hundt on the first-gen iPod, Leica M8 and the quandry of constant social connectivity



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PlayStation 3 firmware update fix coming June 27th, promises to fix bricked systems



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Kickstarter Says It Was Wrong About Sleazy ‘Above The Game' Campaign, Bans Future ‘Seduction Guides'

kickstarter logo

Kickstarter just published a blog post offering its take on a controversial campaign to fund a book called Above the Game: A Guide To Getting Awesome With Women.


The title of the post, “We were wrong,” makes the company’s position pretty clear. What was so bad about the campaign? Well, comedian Casey Malone had a pretty damning blog post about it — Malone basically quoted the parts of the guide that have already been published on Reddit, with tips like:



Decide that you’re going to sit in a position where you can rub her leg and back. Physically pick her up and sit her on your lap. Don’t ask for permission. Be dominant. Force her to rebuff your advances. …


Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.



(The author Ken Hoinsky has said the quotes were taken out of context, and that he was just saying, “Don’t wait for signs before you make your move,” not advocating for sexual assault.)


Kickstarter says it first saw Malone’s blog post, and the material that he was linking to, on Wednesday morning, and it found the content pretty offensive. But the company didn’t cancel the campaign, it says, because it only had two hours before it ended (“We’ve never acted to remove a project that quickly.”) and because Kickstarter has an obligation “to approach these investigations methodically as there is no margin for error in canceling a project.”


“These factors don’t excuse our decision but we hope they add clarity to how we arrived at it,” the post says. It goes on to say that material glorifying violence against women has always been prohibited, and that if Kickstarter had seen this material when the project was submitted (again, the offensive content was first posted on Reddit, not the actual Kickstarter page), it would never have been approved.


Despite the apology, Kickstarter says there’s no taking back the money after the campaign has been funded. However, it says it is banning any future “seduction guides” from the site, and it’s also donating $25,000 to the anti-sexual violence group RAINN.








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Kickstarter Apologizes for Not Yanking 'Seduction Guide'



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Hands On With Samsung's Ultra-Thin Windows Tablet



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Impossible Instant Lab mobile photo booth ships August 29th for $299



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Cross-Network Ad Startup AdStage Acquires Semply, Raises An Additional $100K

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AdStage, a startup promising to make it easy for small businesses and other advertisers to run campaigns across multiple ad networks, is announcing today that it has acquired Semply, an AdWords reporting app for the iPad.


The startup was one of the more popular presenters at the Launch conference earlier this year, where it demonstrated a dashboard from which advertisers can run campaigns on Google, Bing, Facebook and LinkedIn. The platform optimizes ad spending across networks and includes recommendations based on data from similar and competitive companies — in today’s press release, co-founder and CEO Sahil Jain said his goal is to “make online advertising easy and accessible to the masses.”


AdStage says it has raised an additional $100,000 from the Launch Fund, which was created by Yammer founder David Sacks and Launch founder Jason Calacanis to invest in the best startups at the conference. With the new funding, the company has raised a total of $1.53 million.


AdStage describes Semply as “the world’s first full-featured Google AdWords reporting application for iPad,” and it says that during the app’s first month, it was reporting on more than $110 million of ad spending for more than 1,500 advertisers. It was developed by a former member of Google’s AdWords team, Tom Chokel, who’s joining AdStage as a software engineer. (Sam Mazaheri, who’s also from the AdWords team, has joined as director of marketing and product.)


The financial terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, but the app itself has already been rebranded as “AdStage -Your Analytics Dashboard for Google AdWords,” and the company says it will continue to offer the app for free.


As for its main product, AdStage Express, the company continues to bring more businesses into the beta program.








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More 'iPhone 5S' Pictures Leak Online



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Nissan shows off 185 mph ZEOD RC electric prototype, plans to race it at Le Mans



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Google celebrates the Manchester Baby and the birth of computer memory (video)



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Google Doodle Has Fun With the Summer Solstice



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Nissan launching $100 per month Leaf battery replacement program in 2014



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University of Michigan Redesigns Solar Car for Australian Race



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iPhone 5 heading to Virgin Mobile on June 28th



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Sony teases new smartwatch announcement for next week



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Distro Issue 96: PrimeSense tackles life after Kinect on its quest to make technology disappear



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8 Cool Gadgets To Help You Survive the Summer Heat

Bing Boards introduce curated content, alliteration to search results



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Volvo demos smartphone-enabled self-parking car prototype (video)



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15 Kooky USB Hubs



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HTC reportedly enlists Robert Downey Jr. in $12 million marketing deal



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Luces de freno que se hacen ver a través de obstáculos

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Estas luces de frenado de Ford avisan a otros conductores de que un vehículo que les precede está frenando de forma algo más sofisticada que simplemente encendiendo las luces correspondientes.


Los ingenieros de Ford han añadido un emisor de radio que envía una señal de aviso de frenada. Esta señal inalámbrica activa un aviso en el salpicadero de los coches que van detrás, de modo que reciben la alerta de que delante de ellos hay un vehículo frenando, aunque no esté a la vista; por ejemplo por estar situado al otro lado de una curva, detrás de un cambio de rasante o porque vaya seguido por un vehículo de gran volumen.



El sistema utiliza otros datos como información GPS para conocer la posición, velocidad y el sentido de la marcha de los vehículos, de modo que se pueda determinar qué vehículos deben darse por aludidos y mostrar el aviso --los que van detrás del emisor de la señal-- y cuáles no --por ejemplo, los que están a los lados o circulan en sentido contrario.


# Enlace Permanente







via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/tecnologia/luces-freno-hacen-ver-a-traves-obstaculos.html

Lupeon: si todavía no tienes impresora 3-D aquí puedes imprimir tus diseños

Lupeon


Lupeon es a la impresión 3-D lo que los Workcenter son a la impresión en papel y las fotocopias: un sitio al que envías los modelos diseñados con tu ordenador y ellos se encargan de imprimirlos en material físico y hacértelos llegar como objetos físicos.


Entre otras cosas tienen un catálogo de modelos 3-D ya hechos donde puedes elegir el que te venga bien, un blog donde tratan temas relacionados con la impresión 3-D y también un servicio de reconstrucción de piezas encargándose de escanear, arreglar e imprimir lo que necesites.


La empresa tiene su sede en Santiago de Compostela y la han montado entre dos socios. Me pareció curioso también que hayan planteado que los diseñadores que ofrezcan sus modelos al resto de clientes puedan quedarse una comisión de las transacciones con terceros.


# Enlace Permanente







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Fujifilm's X-M1 interchangeable camera leaks out, doesn't mess with retro success



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Court documents reveal secret rules allowing NSA to use US data without a warrant



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Apple publicly charts iOS fragmentation to prove it barely exists



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WSJ: The FAA Is Ready to Ease Restrictions on In-Flight Electronics

Hack a day modder builds a custom controller for disabled gamers



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Babuino: una forma de interconexión sencilla entre dispositivos para hacerlos más inteligentes


Babuino es un curioso proyecto para mejorar la forma en que los teléfonos inteligentes se conectan con otros dispositivos. ¿No te has preguntado nunca por qué es absurdo no poder controlar el televisor con el móvil? ¿O el smartphone con el teclado del ordenador? ¿O transferir archivos del móvil al disco duro USB? (todo lo anterior: salvo excepciones o soluciones propietarias) Pues este pequeño chisme es la solución.


Consiste básicamente en un pequeño dispositivo USB que se enchufa a cualquier aparato; la clave es que el software de control hace fácil lo difícil, especialmente para no expertos, interconectando todos los aparatos entre sí, sin necesidad de configuración.


Por ejemplo puedes copiar textos en el ordenador y «pegarlos» en las aplicaciones del teléfono inteligente (útil para un chat u otras cosas), puedes navegar con la tele por Internet con tu teclado de forma más cómoda o controlar las películas desde el sofá. Hoy en día esto puede hacerse con algunas aplicaciones sí y con otras no; digamos que Babuino es una solución más «universal».


El proyecto es Open Source y Open Hardware, está creado con Arduino, utiliza Bluetooth y además lo ha creado un fiel lector de Microsiervos ;-) (¿Qué más se puede pedir?) Actualmente está buscando financiación colectiva en Indiegogo donde espera recaudar el dinero suficiente para producirlo y venderlo de aquí a dos meses.


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