We're going to scale things back a little bit on this edition of "Crowdfunding 201" and do kind of a remedial refresher course on how not to run a crowdfunding campaign, or how to avoid basic issues on your crowdfunding campaign.
Square, the mobile payment system created by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is taking another step forward in their quest to own the small business point-of-sale space.
They're launching an iPad holder.
Alright, that's too cynical. This is actually an integrated cash register stand–the Square Stand– that lets business owners connect the essentials to a iPad running Square's register app. iPad not included.
The thing is, they're going to need a major push if they want to make headway in the small business space. At least if the temperature of my own neighborhood' businesses are any indication.
Some anecdotal evidence after the jump.
Mother Jones has this awesome story about a young coder who created a solution to one of social media's most persistent annoyances:
Imagine you forget to watch a new episode of Game of Thrones the night it airs. Even if coworkers stay mum about important plot points, Twitter is abuzz with spoilers. Fortunately, there's Twivo, a new program that allows Twitter users to censor their feeds from mentioning a certain TV show (and its characters) for a set time period. Jennie Lamere, a 17-year-old girl, invented the software last month—and won the grand prize at a national coding competition where Lamere was the only female who presented a project, and the only developer to work alone. Internet: Meet the reason we need more women in tech.
There are two big elements to this story, and the bigger one isn't even about the product. It's that fact that Lemere was the only woman who managed to finish a product at the hack.
As for Twivo, it's a Google Chrome browser extension that's not quite ready for primetime… but only by a few weeks. This was a hackathon, after all, where the standards for "best in show" are a minimal viable product. That Lemere has attracted a potential distributor and could have her product out in a matter of weeks makes this more than a victory, it's a triumph.
Via: IndieWire
Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)
You may have read something online that didn’t quite make sense, or are hearing information that conflicts with earlier reports regarding the identities of the Boston bombers.
Here are some essential links which will help explain what the misinformation is and how it spread:
The Atlantic– It Wasn’t Sunil Tripathi: The Anatomy of a Misinformation Disaster
SF Gate– How two innocent men were tried on Twitter
The Daily Dot– Sunil Tripathi is innocent, still missing
And just for “fun” here’s how this could lead to more restricted access to information on the Internet:
Salon– Bush aide leverages Boston explosion to boost Big Brother
I’m no Ryan Seacrest, so like the rest of us mere mortals I had to wait until Twitter’s new music app–dubbed Twitter #music–was released onto the iOS App Store to get a chance to play with it.
The wifi here at the office is notoriously spotty so I took my iPhone4, which hates just about every app built since 2011, out into the streets of Culver City to give the new app a shakedown cruise.
First impressions, after the jump.
They’ve made the Jedi-like pledge to use patents only for defense.
Read more at The Verge.
A version of this story aired on APM’s Marketplace.
Silicon Valley may be the financial center of the tech industry, but lately San Francisco is earning a reputation as the heart and soul of it. Tech workers who don’t want to live in the Valley’s sprawling suburbs have migrated northward. And hundreds of tech-related businesses have set up shop in San Francisco too. But the culture of tech that’s taking hold in the city hasn’t come without controversy. (more…)
Rockets that launch commercial satellites and robots that manipulate cell phones are the sort of big, bold ideas that excite some of the Silicon Valley investors who addressed the opening of the sixth annual Launch Festival on Monday in San Francisco.
“In the (pitch) meeting, I want to feel inspired,” said Charles River Ventures partner George Zachary, one of five VCs on the first plenary panel at the conference, which showcases promising startups and gives them an audience with high-profile investors. “If I don’t have that feeling, I’ll drop out even if I think it’s a good business.”
If you haven’t heard of Pheed yet, it’s probably because you’re not around my age (21) or younger.
After creating an account I realized Pheed was “thee” social network of social networks, possessing the qualities I love about Twitter, Tumblr, Soundcloud, and Instagram all in one. It even allows users to create a pay-per-view-type show that they can charge audiences to watch. While scanning Twitter yesterday, I saw that The Game tweeted a link to his Pheed channel. My jaw hit the ground when I found out that Pheed was at the top of the Apple charts for social networking apps, even beating out Facebook and Twitter.
Although it’s been out for half a year, Pheed just spiked about a week ago thanks to help from popular teens like Acacia Brinley (who?!?!) whose tweet “@Pheed sickest app,” sent thousands of teens to create their own channels. I have been ranting for quite some time now about how Facebook is becoming the preferred social media platform of my parents’ generation. With Pheed’s emergence, we finally have another one to claim as our own.
via LinkedIn
Time for the latest buzz about Twitter, the company.
Let’s start with Mathew Ingram over at GigaOM:
According to a number of anonymous reports, Twitter is in the process of buying Bluefin Labs, an analytics company that specializes in broadcast media — an acquisition that would be its largest ever. Although the news hasn’t been confirmed by either party, a Bluefin deal fits the trajectory that Twitter has been on for some time now: namely, a focus on television as a key partner for the real-time information network.
Now Bluefin’s whole bag is being slicing and dicing the big data generated by social media in order to give brands a sense of how they’re being talked about online. Think real-time Nielsen ratings, only with a self-selecting data set. (more…)
