via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8R9Hdwsdx6U/
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Another One Bites The Dust: Boston Court Denies Preliminary Injunction Against Aereo
Refusing to pipe down today, Aereo has just confirmed that a federal judge has ruled in favor of Aereo in its legal battle with Hearst Stations in Boston, one of three ongoing lawsuits between the streaming TV startup and major network broadcasters, the other in New York and most recently Utah.
Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton issued a ruling that denies the plaintiff a motion for preliminary injunction, which would force Aereo to cease business in Boston while the case is being evaluated. This would be a terrible outcome for Aereo, which the company has already avoided in New York.
Hearst, then, could not prove likelihood of success based on merits or that irreparable harm would be done to the company without this “drastic remedy,” in legal speak. But this in no way means that the fight in Boston is over.
In fact, Aereo was denied the motion it filed to have the case against Hearst brought back to New York under Judge Nathan, who had ruled favorably for Aereo in the past.
Here’s what Aereo founder and CEO Chet Kanojia had to say about the win:
Today’s decision, coupled with the decisions in favor of Aereo in the Southern District of New York (July 11, 2013) and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (April 1, 2013 and July 16, 2013), shows that when you comply not only with the letter, but the spirit of the law, justice will prevail. Today’s victory belongs to the consumer and today’s decision, makes clear that that there is no reason that consumers should be limited to 1950s technology to access over-the-air broadcast television. Using Aereo, a consumer can simply and easily use an individual remote antenna and cloud DVR via the Internet to record and watch-over-the air programs.
This comes on the heels of an earlier report, which claims that major broadcasters plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings that have been in favor of Aereo, allowing the startup to continue offering access to those network’s free over the air signals.
So far, these same broadcasters have lost in the Second Circuit Appeals Court, where officials refused to reconsider a case after upholding a ruling by district Judge Allison Nathan, who previously denied a preliminary injunction in New York.
The petition may go through considering that an Aereo-like service, Film On X, is losing against broadcasters in Los Angeles. The Supreme Court may decide to step in if multiple district courts are issuing different opinions.
Here’s the ruling:
[IMG courtesy of TVGuide]
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/mI8eDqEi-Os/
This Week On The TC Europe Podcast: Raspberry Pi, Wayra, France And Esperanto
We’ve made it to episode 10! This week, we talk about Raspberry Pi racking up worldwide sales of 1.75 million, Partech Ventures investing $215 million in European startups the American way, and Wayra sharing numbers about its accelerators for the first time. This is the TechCrunch Europe Podcast, wherein we European writers discuss tech news, as well as what’s happening in our startup scene.
This episode was a great opportunity to talk about how venture capital is doing in Europe. Is there enough money allocated to young and energetic startups? We answer this question and talk about more pressing issues, such as how much tea is sold in the U.K., why French people are so negative about everything, and more.
Join Steve O’Hear, Natasha Lomas, Ingrid Lunden, Darrell Etherington, John Biggs, and Romain Dillet to hear what we think about those topics.
We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcast every Thursday.
Download an MP3 of this show
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe to the show via RSS
Intro music by Espanto.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/zlDCXiXaCeY/
Microsoft updates its Outlook.com Android app with server-side search, vacation replies
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/eW5KFByzL8w/
Pinterest launches an Android widget, but only for Telefonica customers
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8GqQKshpj-M/
Report: Best Buy Eyeing One-Week $100 iPhone Trade-In
via Tech http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/mashable/tech/~3/dfr1hSeATPU/
Valve hosting first Steam Dev Days game developer conference in January 2014
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/aLbeED4bhCc/
LG G Pro Lite Has 5.5-Inch Screen, So-So Specs
via Tech http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/mashable/tech/~3/PPMvqCeVa-o/
Pantech Vega Secret Note includes fingerprint reader, stylus and the kitchen sink
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/DJ9ZGX4Z-KU/
Twitter's Event Parrot and Other News You Need to Know
via Tech http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/mashable/tech/~3/Pcnb_0-VNz0/
LG unveils the G Pro Lite with 5.5-inch 960 x 540 display and mediocre specs
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/HuQtOOC23xw/
Just-Launched Mobile Ad Management Platform LiquidM Raises $5M
Startup LiquidM is launching a new platform today for ad networks, trading desks, and operators to manage their mobile ad campaigns. The company is also announcing that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding from Blumberg Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Asset Management Ventures.
CEO Cristof Wittig comes from a software background (rather than one in media), and he said that as he got more involved in the mobile industry, he said he was surprised to discover that mobile ads are “much less software-supported” than he expected. In other words, he found that mobile campaigns are usually managed through a time-consuming mix of in-house technology, “point solutions”, and products like AppNexus which aren’t built specifically for mobile.
LiquidM is offering what it says is a “full stack” platform that manages everything from premium to performance ads. Features highlighted by the company include drag-and-drop campaign setup, integration with third-party rich media providers, support for real-time bidding, and targeting based on geography, demographics, devices, and more. Wittig emphasized that LiquidM serves as an agnostic technology provider, and is not a media company itself.
He argued that having a platform that’s “built from the ground up for mobile” is crucial. For example, he said that when traditional ad management platforms move into mobile, they tend to focus on mobile websites while treating apps as a “black box.” Chief Product Officer Roi Chobadi added that focusing on mobile also allows advertisers to take advantage of unique targeting capabilities — for example, using LiquidM, they could combine their location data with US Census data to target their ads at specific demographic groups.
Asked about the role of multi-screen advertising, Wittig said he agrees in principle that advertisers are interested in reaching audiences regardless of what device they’re using — but that doesn’t mean a single ad management platform can handle everything.
“Bundling happens as it makes sense up the food chain, but the technology, what happens under the hood, is 100 percent different on mobile,” he said.
The technology was originally developed by European mobile ad network Madvertise to serve its own needs, Wittig said, then as LiquidM decided to tackle this problem, it acquired the product and the team, while Madvertises focuses on its network business. (LiquidM is headquartered in San Francisco but product and tech development continues in Berlin.) In fact, Madvertise Media is now one of LiquidM’s customers, as are M&C Saatchi, Orange, Fetch, and Mobilike.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/-WPwI9GmxDk/
YC-Backed Kippt Takes Its Enterprise Tool For Sharing Useful Content Out Of Beta
They’re a talented team of two from Finland that got Y Combinator’s stamp of approval and built a promising product for storing and sharing content from across the web.
But consumer-facing browser extensions can prove difficult for growing a large user base, so this startup, Kippt, did a little pivot.
After launching more than a year ago, they refocused on the enterprise market with a new version of their product called Inc.
While Kippt’s earlier product was like a latter-day version of the social bookmarking service Delicious, their new product Inc is more competitive with Yammer or Convo.
They found that many startups were using their consumer-facing product Kippt for sharing links. Co-founder Karri Saarinen says creating a separate brand would make the product easier to market.
“There were quite many companies or teams using it for sharing, organizing and discussing content,” Saarinen said.
So they created an entirely new version of Kippt. It has a few key differences with the original consumer-face Kippt. For one, users are always collecting content to share with a group instead of keeping personal and private records of things they find across the web.
Inc also lets companies have multiple teams internally for different streams of content. Teams of designers can share aesthetic content while engineers can share other kinds of links.
“Creative agencies want to follow ideas in the industry. They want to know about good concepts and designs,” Saarinen said, pointing to one client, teehan+lax, a design agency that has worked with Medium and Readability. Two other clients include BetterDoctor and Bugsnag.
Now they’re taking the product out of beta and opening enrollment to everyone. At this point, enough companies are using Inc that the company is financially self-sustaining, Saarinen said.
He there are “thousands” of companies that have tried it in the last few months.
They’ve introduced a four-tiered system for paid users. If you have less than 10 users, it’s free. But if you have over 10, then it’s $19 a month. For up to 25 people, it’s $49 a month, then it’s $99 for up to 50 people. After that, it’s $200 a month for up to 100 users. Then there are enterprise plans that are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
The company has also done a number of feature updates over the last few months including posting by e-mail, previewing links and auto-completing emojis and @usernames.
While there are products out there like Convo, Yammer and Evernote for Business, Saarinen said he views e-mail as the main competition.
“Mailing lists are still quite popular,” he said. “But these kinds of discussions are not best supported by long chains of e-mail.”
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/zZMg9-D3QH4/
Aereo For Android Launches On October 22
Android users, how would you like 30 live TV channels to be available on your phone or tablet at any given time or place? If that sounds like you, then happy Thursday.
Aereo, the company that streams live television and DVR service to iPhone, iPad and desktop users across the country, is today announcing that Android users will be able to join in on the fun starting on October 22.
Android users who are running Android 4.2 or higher on their phone, tablets, or “phablets” will soon be able to join the public beta, allowing them to surf between 30 channels and record the shows of their choosing from anywhere. And if that weren’t enough, Android users have the option to access Aereo through their Roku boxes to get a real life TV experience for a fraction of the cost of a cable bill.
See, Aereo works by streaming live OTA signals to your connected devices over the internet, using tiny antennas that function in the same manner as rabbit ears on a TV set. Since those signals are free (with a couple partnership exceptions), Aereo can charge a low rate of $8/month for 20 hours of DVR or $12/month for 60 hours of DVR storage to the end user.
Obviously, this displeases many broadcast networks, who are arguing that Aereo is illegally reproducing their content. However, Aereo argues that it’s using the same fundamental process of rabbit ears on a television, except users are individually renting them out from a remote location.
The legal battle has continued across the country, beginning in New York and most recently migrating to Utah. In each case, however, Aereo has been deemed legal and allowed to continue operating. So breathe easy, future Android Aereo users, your time will soon come.
Here’s what founder Chet Kanojia had to say in a prepared statement:
We know consumers have been waiting a long time for an Aereo Android app and today, we’re happy to announce its release later this month. At Aereo, we believe consumers should have more choice and control over how they watch television and a big part of that is expanding the universe of devices that they can use to access Aereo’s technology. This year, our focus has been on growing our footprint across the country. It’s been an exciting year for the Aereo team as we’ve expanded beyond the east coast and into the south and west. Our future is bright and we remain as committed and passionate as ever to creating innovative and simple to use technology for our consumers to access live TV online.
Aereo service is currently available in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Miami, Houston and Dallas, with expansion continuing on throughout the year.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/NanzVr87RnU/
La historia de Android (2003 ~ 2013) resumida en un gráfico
La historia de Android, el sistema operativo diseñado originalmente para cámaras digitales y que hoy es el más utilizado en los teléfonos móviles (que irónicamnete cada vez son más cámara de fotos que otea cosa) que compró Google en 2005, recogida en este gráfico de Startapp que recorre su desarrollo desde el año 2003 hasta principios de este año 2013.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/gadgets/historia-android-resumida-grafico.html
Dropcam's $199 Pro: Clearer, Richer, Faster, Wider
via Tech http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/mashable/tech/~3/BG4QGt1TfjE/
Fitbit Force Lights Up Your Wrist Like a Watch
via Tech http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/mashable/tech/~3/dqWuM0ZhtDU/
Aereo pushes back Android app launch to October 22nd
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/s9X8dZ0UjYE/
Dropcam Pro launched with better optics, dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth for $199 (hands-on)
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/GuiQ9rSt2jI/
Fitbit Force fitness and sleep tracking watch officially announced, launching soon for $130
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/b5LYz2wNxng/
Chinese students allegedly forced to build PS4s at Foxconn for school credit
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/GcMx7mOVeS4/
Level Helps You Mind Your Money With Apps, Nabs $5M Series A To Make It Happen
There’s no doubt about it: managing your personal finances is boring. Even though handwritten budgets and meticulously crafted spreadsheets are being joined by services like Mint and Simple that let more you easily dig into your spending, some folks just can’t be bothered to spend their free time mulling over that stuff.
And that’s where a startup called Level comes in. The nine-person San Francisco team has built an iOS app that it hopes will get a generation of young people thinking more about their financial fortitude, and it’s closed a $5 million Series A led by KPCB to help push that vision forward.
“For the vast majority of this group, personal finance is looking at an ATM receipt before throwing it away” CEO Jake Fuentes told me over the phone.
But let’s rewind for a moment first — how does the app actually work? Level’s onboarding process is mildly reminiscent of Mint’s in that it prompts users to connect their bank and credit card accounts (which isn’t much of a surprise since Level has inked a partnership with Mint owner Intuit). From there, it chews on all of that account data and figures in your recurring bill payments and savings deposits so it can spit out a few easily-digestible numbers.
At a glance you’ll be able to see how much money you can get away with spending during the rest of the day, the week, and the month, and new transactions are added to the mix in real time so you’ll always know where that limit lies.
The key to Level’s approach is simplicity. To better capture the attention of a generation of app-weary Millenials, Level designed the app to be as unobtrusive as possible without skimping on the functionality. If this all sounds a little quantified self-y, well, that was sort of the point. Every time you fire up the app you’re treated to that same view of those same three numbers, but peering beneath the surface reveals a transaction tracker and more granular controls for defining your savings goals. Even if you miss all those extra bits or go over your limit, Level still thinks you’re better off than before. It’s like wearing a Fitbit — you may not always hit your daily walking goal, but at least you have an understanding of what you were able to do in a day. A little information can go a long way.
To hear Fuentes tell it though, the Level Money app is only the tip of the iceberg. The app and the sort of in-the-moment financial thinking it’s supposed to inspire are meant to act as a foundation that can eventually be extended to build tools to help take on more pressing financial issues. Eventually the team hopes to help users tackle paying off student loans and buying cars, though at this point it’s still unclear if they’re going to roll out separate services for those use cases or just bake them all into that single app.
But for a startup with a goal to shine a light on its users’ finances, it’s still awfully cagey about the subject of how it’s going to make money for itself. Fuentes says Level is going “do what’s best” for that younger generation of consumer since they’re underserved by banks and other financial organizations, and that its monetization plans will have to reflect that creed.
“We don’t exactly know how monetization is going to evolve,” he said. “But there’s going to be a lot of ways to monetize and preserve that spirit.”
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/IF5G8zJECp8/
Nintendo's high-capacity Wii U GamePad battery lands in the UK and Germany
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ZN7sE_sxiXY/
BT taps EE for own-brand 4G network
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_cDqhLXv6dM/
CenturyLink heads to Las Vegas, brings gigabit internet to Sin City
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1e0xAmgG_-E/
Campeonato de España Rubik 2013: Madrid, 11 al 13 de octubre
Este fin de semana se celebra en el Pabellón de Cristal del Madrid Arena el X Campeonato de España Rubik 2013 , con las tradicionales pruebas de velocidad, variantes, competición entre colegios y demás. Este año el evento está encuadrado dentro del evento multideportivo Arnold Classic Europe 2013 y parece ser que el legendario Terminator en persona andará por allí.
Suerte a todos los participantes; igual nos vemos por allí.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/juegos-y-diversion/campeonato-espana-rubik-2013.html
Cambio climático: un mapa de cuándo afectarán las subidas de temperaturas a las diversas ciudades del mundo
Este mapa de ciudades afectadas por el cambio de temperaturas global indica la fecha aproximada en que diversos lugares del globo sufrirán las consecuencias del cambio climático sobre el que la comunidad científica lleva años avisando – en forma de subidas de temperaturas principalmente. Es similar a este otro sobre zonas chungas que sufrirán las peores consecuencias, pero concretando ciudades y fechas.
Roma y otras ciudades europeas vivirán más o menos tranquilas hasta 2044, fecha en la que comenzará a notarse el calorcillo y sus efectos colaterales. En cambio sitios un poco más especiales como Manokwari (Indonesia), Kingston (Caribe) o Lagos (África) lo tienen a la vuelta de la esquina, en 2020, 2023 o 2029 – en menos de una década incluso. Son zonas en las que el riesgo de inundaciones debido al cambio de temperaturas puede tener devastadores efectos.
Como alternativa a tan triste panorama hay dos versiones del mapa: la normal y la menos-mala que muestra cómo mitigando un poco los efectos del cambio reduciendo las emisiones de dióxido de carbono se podrían alargar los plazos. Esto situaría la fecha de los problemas serios en Europa hacia 2067.
Hay más detalles en este artículo del Washington Post que es donde lo vi pasar: These are the cities that climate change will hit first.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ciencia/ciudades-cambio-climatico-medio-plazo.html
Twitter's Event Parrot claims to be an experiment in breaking news alerts
via Engadget RSS Feed http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/IyYUFzuz7MQ/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)