The Latest from TechCrunch |  |
- Bag Week Review: The Chrome Krakow Laptop Bag
- TC Cribs: Hunting “Evil” at Baidu (TCTV)
- LivingSocial Now Testing Food Delivery & “Room Service”
- Keen On… Tyler Cowen: Why The Internet Isn’t As Innovative As a Flushing Toilet (TCTV)
- OnSwipe Competitor Pressly Launches, Aims For 1 Billion Flips Per Month
- Steve Case: It’s Crazy You Have To Be An Accredited Investor, But Don’t Have To Be An “Accredited Gambler”
- Phosphor Releases The World Time Sport
- Surprise: HP Is Squeezing Every Possible Penny From The Canceled TouchPad
- Aerial 3D: Amazing System Shows 3D Objects In Mid-Air, With No Screen (Video)
- Better Late Than Never: Wine.com Gets A Mobile Website
- Bag Week Review: The Targus Spruce EcoSmart
- Mobile Games Publisher Animoca Raises Funding From Intel, IDG-Accel
- Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick Thinks Most Leaders Still Don’t Get Technology
- Sony Ericsson Clarifies Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich Plans
- Bag Week 2011: The First Giveaway
- Enjoy Music While You Read: Rdio To Come Pre-Loaded On Kobo Vox eReader
- Amazon Brings Comparison Shopping App Price Check To Android Phones
- Benchmark, Marissa Mayer Put $5.5M In Stationery Design And Retail Site Minted
- Disrupt Alum Trippy Raises $1.75 Million Thanks to Ribs and Fried Chicken
- With Revenues Doubling, Video Ad Network BrightRoll Raises $30 Million
| Bag Week Review: The Chrome Krakow Laptop Bag Posted: 15 Nov 2011 09:16 AM PST  What is it? The bag sports industrial metal strap adjusters, along with two metal hooks on the straps themselves. Just from looking at it you can tell the bag is made for some heavy wear and tear, made obvious by the nylon construction with polyurethane coating. But what isn’t so obvious is the weatherproof military-grade truck tarpaulin liner on the inside. To put it plainly, you’d have trouble getting your laptop wet in this bag. The Chrome Krakow Laptop Bag Type: Backpack The Krakow is actually a bit of a trickster. When you first catch a peek, it seems as though the entire front of the backpack is the opening flap. Really, it’s just the top third or so that latches closed with Velcro but that illusion gives it a sort of military feel, which I enjoyed. In fact, the Krakow is a pretty good-looking bag all around, with an unobtrusive design and a nice touch of metal to prove its ruggedness. But it’s not for everyone. The Krakow offers plenty of space, but the majority of pockets more closely resemble sleeves. As I mentioned, you could fit a 17-inch MacBook in the main compartment’s laptop sleeve, and you could probably toss in quite a few other flat things, but nothing that taps too much into the third dimension is going to work. A camera, for example, was tough for me to fit in there along with my laptop, a tablet, a journal, and some other papers. Who is this for? I’d venture to say that the number one deal breaker with me and bags is accessibility. Can I take stuff out and put stuff in the bag easily, while I’m walking, without having to take off the bag. In this category, the Krakow wins. You can get into the front zippered pouch with one strap over your shoulder, but that’s child’s play. You can also get into the main compartment with the bag looped over one shoulder because the zipper runs along the top and down one side of the bag. Do I want it? I do, in fact, want the Krakow. It looks pretty damn slick (especially in all black) and suits my needs pretty well. I wouldn’t use this for work, since I always have to have a camera/lenses/random gadgets with me, but I’d certainly use it as my primary around-the-town bag in a heartbeat. It’s comfortable, durable, and easy to get into on-the-go. The only drawback is its price tag. Click to view slideshow.
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| TC Cribs: Hunting “Evil” at Baidu (TCTV) Posted: 15 Nov 2011 09:00 AM PST Baidu is one of the most known of the Chinese Internet giants. Some of the buzz is admiration for Robin Li, one of the pioneers of the Chinese Web scene who built a global giant that succeeded in a political environment where Google cried “uncle.” Others have painted Baidu as the mirror image of Google’s lofty “do no evil” credo. So on our recent trip to Beijing, we decided to take our cameras to the search giant’s massive headquarters– which spans more than one million square feet– to see if we could find any torture chambers. Big thanks to our gracious host and good sport, Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo.
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| LivingSocial Now Testing Food Delivery & “Room Service” Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:58 AM PST  LivingSocial is now testing a new food ordering and delivery service as a part of LivingSocial Instant, the company announced this morning. At launch, members in the Washington D.C. area can order food from select area restaurants and have the meals delivered to their home or workplace. In conjunction with the restaurant delivery service, the company is also launching something called “LivingSocial Room Service,” which will offer “white glove delivery” from top restaurants, with special amenities and personal touches, like those you would find at a nice hotel. The standard food delivery option offers the ability to order from over 70 D.C. area restaurants, including Wisey’s, Chix, Sala Thai and Shawafel. The restaurants will be able to utilize LivingSocial’s marketing tools in order to link their Daily Deals to LivingSocial Instant, the company explains. For example, a restaurant whose daily deal voucher was offered on a Wednesday can become immediately redeemable on Thursday via the new delivery service. The company also hopes it will entice new customers to join LivingSocial for the food delivery option, and then return for the daily deals. As for the fancier LivingSocial Room Service, this option will include “high-quality tableware, dining accessories, top-shelf presentation of food and a special after-dinner treat.” (Let’s hope they mean dessert.) Unlike Instant Ordering, Room Service will only be available downtown on Thursday and Friday nights and will feature one restaurant per week. The prix fixe menu will change based upon each chef’s expertise and specialities, as it would if you were dining out at the restaurant that night. Both services are online now for D.C. residents at livingsocial.com/instant. To order, just input your current location and preference (pickup, delivery or dine in).
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| Keen On… Tyler Cowen: Why The Internet Isn’t As Innovative As a Flushing Toilet (TCTV) Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:39 AM PST We are not nearly as innovative as we think we are. That, at least, is the view of Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason university and the author of The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better, a book which argues that we are failing to invent technology (like flushing toilets) that radically changes the world.
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| OnSwipe Competitor Pressly Launches, Aims For 1 Billion Flips Per Month Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:26 AM PST  OnSwipe competitor and TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Pressly is launching today with its first major publisher, Canada’s largest newspaper The Toronto Star. Like OnSwipe or even iPad mag Flipboard, Pressly’s service is designed to give traditional Web content a makeover by making it more tablet-friendly. But in Pressly’s case, it’s not about re-packaging content as a native app – instead, it uses a combination of HTML5 and customizable templates to allow publishers more control over the tablet browsing experience. At first glance, Pressly, the first real alternative to OnSwipe, looks a lot like its competition. Both services let publishers make their content more digestible for tablet reading. However, according to Pressly CTO Peter Kieltyka, the key difference between the two is what’s under the hood. “OnSwipe started as a way to optimize a WordPress blog,” he says. “But Pressly is more of an engine…it’s like Sencha for tablets.” What he means is that Pressly was built from the get-go to be a framework for building next-generation HTML5 websites, as opposed to a tool where you pump in an RSS feed and it spits out a tablet-optimized site. (Although that’s coming, too – Pressly is launching its own self-serve platform in Q1 2012 that will do exactly that.) At launch, there are currently five templates available to get publishers started with Pressly, but really, anything goes. Publishers who want to maintain their brand can create their own templates, explains Kieltyka, “there’s no limitation over what you see on a page.” In other words, if you can imagine it, Pressly can help you build it. Meanwhile, OnSwipe sites tend to look a little more uniform. (Kieltyka says they look exactly the same. Ooh, burn – let the battles begin!) “It’s like the difference between a BlackBerry and an iPhone,” Kieltyka says. Yes, they’re both smartphones, they run apps, they let you browse the Web, etc. “But at the end of the day, it comes down to execution.” Pressly is also now offering something else that makes it different from OnSwipe – a consumption model for monetization. Before, like OnSwipe, Pressly would take a cut of the ad revenue. Now, publishers have a choice between that and something like $1 per every 1,000 swipes. This figure is not yet in stone, it should be noted. As for its launch on The Toronto Star, things are going fairly well. Since its debut at 6:30 PM EST last night, Pressly has seen 180,000 flips at an average of 22.6 flips per person. The company says its goal is to reach 1 billion flips per month over the next twelve months. It may get there, too, thanks to a couple of other publisher partners whose launches are just ahead: The Economist Media Group is debuting a Pressly-built site in a couple of weeks and soon after a news-focused NBC property will follow. Tablet readers who want to see Pressly in action from their iPad or Android tablet can do so now by visiting read.thestar.com.
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| Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:49 AM PST AOL founder Steve Case has a three-point plan to get job growth back on track in America, and it all revolves around ways the government can spur more entrepreneurship. Over the past three decades, high-growth companies created 40 million jobs. “It accounts for all the net job creation,” Case tells me in the video interview above. I sat down with Case yesterday at the Techonomy conference. Case is the chairman of the Startup America Partnership and sits on the White House Jobs Council. He thinks the U.S. should: 1. Reform its immigration policy to make it easier for skilled workers and entrepreneurs to come to this country. “We are losing the global battle for talent,” he says. His crowdfunding proposal would require the government to relax the rules around accredited investors (i.e., wealthy individuals) being the only ones allowed to invest in private companies. Some crowdfunding proposals out there would allow anyone to invest up to $10,000 in a private company without being an accredited investor. “It seemed crazy to me that you have to be an accredited investor to invest in a company,” says Case, “but you can go to Las Vegas and lose $10,000 at the table in an hour but you don't have to be an accredited gambler to do that.” More startups will create more jobs. Case also thinks the threshold for Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements for public companies should be raised from today’s $75 million market cap to only kicking in for companies with $1 billion or more of market value. When he took AOL public the first time twenty years ago, “80 percent of offerings were under $50 million.” Now it’s the reverse. Smaller companies simply aren’t going public, they are being sold instead. And that actually hurts jobs, because “job growth decelerates” after most acquisitions, says Case. He adds that “90% of job growth is after a company goes public.” In the video clip below, Case talks about the “Second Internet Revolution” and the sharing economy that he is personally investing in with LivingSocial And Zipcar. (He talks more about LivingSocial and Groupon in this third outtake here). We also discuss why Internet startups haven’t yet had a big impact on sectors like education and healthcare. (TechCrunch is owned by AOL, although Case is no longer involved with the company).
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| Phosphor Releases The World Time Sport Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:30 AM PST  Phosphor has just announced a new world time/dual timezone model, the World Time Sport. The company is well-known for their e-ink watches (we reviewed a few here) and this one uses a touch interface to scroll through multiple timezones as well as various screens including a dual-time screen for travelers. The limitations of e-ink make it hard to add features like stopwatches and timers, which can get frustrating for sports fans, but this watch is a bit more rugged than the current e-ink line up and comes in three colors, orange, black, and white. It’s available for pre-order now for $80 and will ship in December.
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| Surprise: HP Is Squeezing Every Possible Penny From The Canceled TouchPad Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:12 AM PST  The $99 TouchPad fire sale was the best way to close the book on webOS and the TouchPad itself. It got the TouchPad into the hands of the fans. Only those that cared about the product lined up outside of Best Buy to grab one of the cheap notebooks. It’s also probably safe to say that most of these people do not have any interest in HP’s crapware notebooks. These people just wanted a solid tablet for a great price. HP, you should have taken your win and walked home. But you didn’t. You’ve screwed up. Again. The TouchPad’s story is a sad one. A product born out of Palm’s inspiring vision for the future of mobile and HP’s expertise at killing innovation. Despite featuring a solid operating system, the product landed with a thud and only webOS die-hards opted for the $499 TouchPad. HP announced just 7 weeks after it launched that it was killing all webOS hardware development and would clear out the remaining supply for just $99, which sold out nearly overnight. The story all along was that another batch of TouchPads was coming. Retailers and even the HP website had sign-up pages to notify potential buyers of available TouchPads. But here we are, a couple months later, and the $99 TouchPad hasn’t resurfaced. However, the TouchPad has randomly popped up at different retailers, but there is often a major caveat. Best Buy got a round of 32GB $150 TouchPads late last month but they were only available for purchase with an HP notebook. Then Tiger Direct (and sister site, Circuit City) started selling the TouchPads but only with an expensive accessory pack, bringing the price up to $279. Then, just today, Office Depot’s Black Friday ad leaked showing a TouchPad deal similar to that found at Best Buy; buy any HP PC and get a 32GB TouchPad for $150. You just know somewhere deep in the corporate machine that is HP, an overpaid executive and his team of cronies thought up this scheme. “People want the TouchPad, right? Alright, then let’s make a quick buck off these people. If they want one, we’re going to force people to buy one of our cheap, adware-filled notebooks. Oh, and we’ll pull support for the TouchPad or, maybe, half-heartedly support it for the stragglers.” This isn’t about capitalism or free trade. HP had a chance to make some friends and earn some good will. The TouchPad is clearly not worth anything to HP. The first fire sale demonstrated that. Now they’re using it as a bait, waving it in front of potential buyers, just hoping to trick someone into buying one of their crappy notebooks. HP has every right to make a buck but sometimes it’s worth foregoing a tiny bit of additional revenue to earn some respect. After years of self-destructive behavior, HP needs respect more than anything else.
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| Aerial 3D: Amazing System Shows 3D Objects In Mid-Air, With No Screen (Video) Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:09 AM PST  Since 2006, Tokyo-based Burton has been working on Aerial 3D, a technology that makes it possible to produce pictures in 3D in mid-air or underwater – without using a screen (that’s what I call “True 3D Technology” indeed). Burton says their laser-based system is the only one of its kind. The current system projects 3D objects at 50,000 dots per second (up from around 1,000 in 2006) and with a frame rate of 10-15. The Aerial 3D works by focusing laser light, producing “plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air”. As you can see in the video below, the technology still leaves some room for improvement regarding picture quality (Burton currently tries to boost the frame rate), but the 3D objects can be seen floating in mid-air clearly: Video courtesy of Diginfo TV
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| Better Late Than Never: Wine.com Gets A Mobile Website Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:03 AM PST  Today, the online retailer for wine enthusiasts (with the killer domain name) Wine.com is finally launching a mobile site at m.wine.com. Like its desktop-sized counterpart, the new site allows customers full access to Wine.com’s inventory of wine, gifts and accessories, site search with filtering, product details, account management, and of course, the ability to make purchases from your mobile device. The mobile site is also able to identify your location automatically so it knows which wines are available for shipping to your region. And after you’ve placed an order, you can track your packages via the new site, too. Alongside the launch, the retailer also announced several milestones, including the fact that it now has over 1 million registered users. Wine.com says it ships over 2 million bottles of win per year, representing 35% growth over last year. As for the size of its inventory, there are over 13,000 different bottles which can be shipped to 90% of the U.S. population, despite the complicated laws around shipping alcohol. The need to go mobile was pressing, as Wine.com reported that over 7% of its unique traffic came from iPhones alone (out of 8% smartphone traffic). And this is despite the fact that Wine.com has both iPhone and iPad apps available in iTunes. That’s something other online retailers should take note of: apps are not enough. If your customers are used to visiting your website on the Web, many continue to do so, even if your cool iOS app offers added functionality (as Wine.com’s does, what with the geo wineries feature and wine cave, etc.). Also interesting: 6% of Wine.com’s overall traffic came from the iPad, but 8% of its revenue came from the iPad. That means either iPad owners buy more wine or the iPad experience is just really great and conductive to shopping. Meanwhile, only 1% of the revenue came from the iPhone, and the iPad average order value is 50% higher than on the website. The company says that should change now that there’s a new mobile website. One would hope. It’s somewhat remarkable to see major retailers that have built mobile applications in advance of a functional mobile website, as Wine.com has. Look, I love a good app as much as the next guy, but really, the app everyone uses the most is still the browser. Thank goodness Wine.com finally figured that out.
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| Bag Week Review: The Targus Spruce EcoSmart Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:02 AM PST  When I joined TechCrunch (and AOL, by association), I found myself swimming in company-issued bags. The standard-issue MacBook Pro came with a hefty Targus beater of a shoulder bag, and AOL saw fit to send me a Ogio backpack emblazoned with a giant purple AOL logo. I shoved them both in a closet after a few days. Instead, I lug around the Targus Spruce EcoSmart on a daily basis. It’s not the most expensive, nor the most fashion-forward bag you’re likely to see during Bag Week, but it’s a robust, comfortable day bag that can carry most of your daily necessaries without making you regret it. The Targus Spruce EcoSmart Type: Backpack If you couldn’t tell by the name, the Spruce EcoSmart was designed with the environment in mind. No, it won’t biodegrade if you hurl it in a landfill — rather, the bag’s polyester body is made out of recycled plastic bottles. Speaking of the Spruce’s body, it’s pretty nondescript at first glance, but a closer look reveals some fun little flourishes, like a series of hard rubber bumps along the front. While they actually add a bit of character to the bag’s front, they’re also meant to take the hits that come when you carry the bag around. All of the bag’s stitching is green, as are the little plant logos on each zipper. What will really catch your eye though (for better or worse) is the bag’s forest green lining. It seems like a silly way to advertise the bag’s eco-friendly schtick, but it becomes surprisingly useful when trying to dig a hard-to-see doodad out of the bottom of the bag. The bag’s straps are reassuringly thick, but are made of a lightweight mesh that keep the load from digging into your shoulders too much. The right strap also features a little plastic knob that the truly finicky can wrap their headphone cable around. That same foamy mesh is strategically placed near your lower back and shoulders, which makes the whole thing feel very cushy. At over 8 inches thick, it doesn’t seem like the Spruce would have much trouble fitting your things, but it’s a tighter squeeze than you think. That’s because Targus felt the need to compartmentalize things a bit too much — the laptop goes in a sleeve that takes up most of one compartment, while the compartment in front of that is where most of your stuff will go. Another smaller compartment sits in front of that, with pockets for pens, ID, and other miscellaneous bits you may want to throw in. My usual loadout consists of the aforementioned 15-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad, a few notebooks, my Panasonic GF2, and a few extra lenses, all of which fit perfectly inside. The bag’s a great fit for a day trip (even the ones that involve lots of running around), but the Spruce definitely won’t be your bag of choice when it comes to going away for the weekend. Who is this for? Do I want it? That depends — the price is certainly right (especially if you do a little poking around), but you’ll have to make do with some strangely-sized compartments. Still, it’s a mighty comfortable backpack for those who don’t feel an unwavering need to carry their whole lives around with them. Click to view slideshow.
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| Mobile Games Publisher Animoca Raises Funding From Intel, IDG-Accel Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:44 AM PST  Smartphone games developer and publisher Outblaze Ventures, better known as Animoca, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round led by Intel Capital and IDG-Accel (which tapped its China Growth Fund III). Since its debut in January 2011, Animoca says it has released more than 150 games and education apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The company also operates a number of mobile games brands, including Dream Cortex. In just 10 months, Animoca says its apps have been downloaded 40 million+ times worldwide.
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| Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick Thinks Most Leaders Still Don’t Get Technology Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:35 AM PST I am in Tucson, Arizona this week at the Techonomy conference, where I caught up with host and journalist David Kirkpatrick who thinks that technology and the empowerment of the individual is the biggest transformational force in the economy. But outside the tech bubble we live in, many of the world’s business and political leaders truly are “almost completely unaware” of what’s happening. In the video above, we talk about some the technology trends sweeping through politics and business. Kirkpatrick and I used to work together at Fortune magazine years ago, and we tend to agree on things. At the end of the video clip, we talk about Jack Dorsey, who Kirkpatrick had just interviewed onstage earlier on Sunday evening. I ask Kirkpatrick which of Jack’s companies, Square or Twitter, will end up being bigger. I won’t tell you what his answer was, but we both agree on that one as well. (More video interviews from speakers at the conference coming up).
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| Sony Ericsson Clarifies Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich Plans Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:32 AM PST  In addition to outlining its plans in Dutch on Facebook, Sony Ericsson has clarified its stance on bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to the Xperia-toting masses on its blog today. As if you haven’t been obsessively reading up on the update already, I’ll go ahead and mention a few new features including flexible widgets, Roboto font, the ability to take screen shots, revamped notifications and facial unlock. Luckily, if your phone came out in 2011 and it has “Xperia” in the name, Ice Cream Sandwich is headed your way. Here’s the official statement:
SE had originally posted vague upgrade plans through its Dutch Facebook page, but failed to clarify what it meant by “2011 Xperia portfolio” like it did this time. Unfortunately, the phone maker offered no timeline for update availability. As soon as we know, so will you.
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| Bag Week 2011: The First Giveaway Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:29 AM PST  First, if you find the concept of Bag Week appalling (looking at you, achshar), read no further. We want no truck with you. Second, here’s a free bag. eBags is offering a free Mother Lode TLS Weekender Convertible backpack to one lucky reader. We haven’t had a hands on with this model, so we expect a full report from you once it arrives. However, that said, it looks pretty fancy and comes in multiple colors. How do you win? Comment below excoriating us for running Bag Week and how horrible it makes you feel. Tell us what terrible people we are and extra points will be given for ad hominem attacks. Examples could include “I hate my current bag and find bag reviews useful, but John Biggs is an eggsucking dog” or “TechCrunch is really going downhill with all this talk of bags. I use the bag I got at Office Depot four years ago and, although it has caused a hernia and lumbar problems, I intend to use it until it falls apart. I don’t need to learn new information about bags! A pox on you and yours!” I’ll pick a winner tomorrow at noon. Look for more great BW giveaways to come.
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| Enjoy Music While You Read: Rdio To Come Pre-Loaded On Kobo Vox eReader Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:25 AM PST  Kobo has partnered with social music discovery and streaming service Rdio to let users of its just-released Android-powered Vox eReader access more than 12 million tracks while they’re reading. Kobo, which was just acquired by Rakuten for $315 million in cash, says it boasts over five million users worldwide. Rdio is currently available in the US, Canada, and Brazil. In the United States, the Kobo Vox eReader is available in Fry’s stores, and available online from U.S. retailers including Best Buy, Fry’s and Kobo.com for $199.99.
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| Amazon Brings Comparison Shopping App Price Check To Android Phones Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:20 AM PST  During last year’s holiday shopping season, Amazon released Price Check for the iPhone, a comparison shopping app which allows users can scan the barcode of a product, take a picture of an item or say the product's name to access product listings on Amazon.com's marketplace. Today, the e-commerce giant is launching the app on Android phones. Shoppers use the Price Check app to scan a barcode, snap a picture, or say or type a product name to see prices from Amazon.com’s marketplace and its 2 million online merchants. One exclusive feature to the Android app is the ability to scan in either portrait or landscape mode. The app will display prices sorted from lowest to highest and will also show if the item is available for free shipping. Users can read product reviews, add the item to a wishlist, share the item and decide whether the Amazon offering is a better deal than the store offering. Shoppers can then purchase the item with 1-Click shopping. Amazon says Price Check includes prices on ‘millions of products’, from books to HDTVs to blenders to baby strollers. Amazon says that so far this year, shoppers with iPhones choose Price Check's barcode scanner to check prices more than any other search method available with the Price Check app and use Price Check ‘millions of times’, most frequently on weekends. The app is similar to eBay’s RedLaser scanning app, which includes similar functionality and the ability to buy items directly from eBay. Amazon also recently released Flow, which uses augmented reality to help users explore and discover tens of millions of products in a real world setting, including books, DVDs, packaged electronics and toys.
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| Benchmark, Marissa Mayer Put $5.5M In Stationery Design And Retail Site Minted Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST  Minted, design community and e-commerce site for stationery and cards, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding led Benchmark Capital, with IDG Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Marissa Mayer and Jeremy Stoppelman participating. Minted is a global community of independent graphic designers and an e-commerce site that prints and sells the best of their designs in the form of paper goods such as holiday cards, wedding invitations, notebooks, and calendars. The community curates Minted's assortment by voting to tell the company what to sell. The best designs are printed and sold, with percentage of the retail price going to the designer. Designers also receive helpful design critiques from the Minted community. The site features holiday cards, wedding invitations, save the dates, birth announcements, business cards, and other personal stationery. There are other sites that offer design-quality stationery and cards, such as Tiny Prints, but Minted has built a model around crowd-sourcing designs from graphic designers. The company also holds contests, such as the Art Print Challenge, to help give designers more exposure. With this challenge, the winner will sell his or her prints on flash sales site One Kings Lane. Minted’s price points are actually very wallet friendly, and come in less than competitors in the stationery space. And CEO and founder Mariam Naficy says revenue has been growing several hundred precent per year since 2008. "Minted immediately grabbed our attention as a business that could scale – they combine two powerful forces, the creative power of an online design community and the aesthetic needs of mass affluent females," said Peter Fenton, General Partner at Benchmark Capital. The new funding will be used towards recruiting efforts and to support growth opportunities, starting with new product lines.
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| Disrupt Alum Trippy Raises $1.75 Million Thanks to Ribs and Fried Chicken Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST  Let this post be a lesson to would-be entrepreneurs: Don’t turn down any party invitations. This advice is obvious if we’re talking about fancy dinners as the homes of moguls. But apparently the Valley is so rich with venture capital, it even applies to backyard BBQs at the homes of bloggers. My husband and I have an annual August BBQ, and two years ago we found a term sheet sketched on a paper tablecloth. We never found out who that belonged to. But I just found out another deal happened at this past year’s party when LA entrepreneur JR Johnson met Tony Conrad of True Ventures. Johnson’s company, Trippy, will announce the funding today. The $1.75 million round was co-led by Sequoia Capital and included SV Angel and individual investors Rob Solomon, Tim Ferriss, Brian Lee, Gil Ebaz, Brandee Barker, Chase Jarvis, Randi Zuckerberg, Jason Mraz, and Rachel Zoe. Trippy is a social travel site that gives people a painless way to help plan friends’ trips. Trippy debuted at Disrupt in San Francisco and is Johnson’s second company in the travel space. His first, VirtualTourist, was a pioneer in the social travel space. It was acquired by Expedia in 2008. Johnson started working on Trippy the moment his non-compete elapsed, and his expertise in the space shows. For instance, unlike competitors it only allows people in your social graph to make recommendations, which cuts down on the rampant spam problem of sites like TripAdvisor. Trippy’s UI is also one of the best I’ve seen at taking away all of the hurdles to sitting down and emailing a friend a list of suggested hotels, bars and restaurants. It cleverly leverages Facebook’s APIs to make it drop-dead easy to make recommendations– or even just echo ones made by other friends.
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| With Revenues Doubling, Video Ad Network BrightRoll Raises $30 Million Posted: 15 Nov 2011 05:55 AM PST  One of the fastest growing segments of online advertising is video ads (it was up 42 percent in the first half of the year, and expected to continue strong growth into 2012). One beneficiary of this growth is BrightRoll, a video ad network with revenues doubling every year for the past three years and expected to do more than $50 million in revenues this year. The company, based in San Francisco, employs 150 people,up from 30 at the beginning of the year. It hired a CFO last April. BrightRoll just closed a $30 million Series C financing, led by Trident Capital. True Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Adam Street Partners, and Comerica Bank also participated in the round. The company plans to use the money to expand its newer businesses, which include a video ad exchange, mobile video ads, and internationally. The bulk of BrightRoll’s revenues still comes from pre-roll video ads. But not all of these video ads run in front of videos. A third of the video ad inventory on BrightRoll’s exchange are for video ads on gaming sites in between levels. If Zynga served a video ad every time it could, its video ads would reach more people than Hulu. “One of the most interesting things we have seen is publishers serving video ads on sites without video content,” says CEO Tod Sacerdoti. The video ad inventory in its exchange, which is a new part of its business, is up eightfold this quarter over last year. BrightRoll competes with larger video ad networks such as Tremor Media, but its biggest opportunity is to keep taking share away from publisher sites, which don’t have enough video inventory to satisfy advertisers. Ad networks like BrightRoll provide the scale that advertisers crave, and its ad rates are a half to a third lower than what advertisers pay for video ads on premium video sites such as Hulu or ABC.com
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