blogger better: 2016-11-27

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Former TechShop CEO Mark Hatch joins Network Society Ventures as General Partner

Early-stage venture firm Network Society Ventures has snagged TechShop’s former CEO and co-founder Mark Hatch as general partner. Hatch is recognized as a pioneer of the maker movement, is a current entrepreneur in residence at UC Berkeley, and is a former Green Beret. For those who don’t know it, TechShop bills itself as “a membership-based DIY… Read More

http://ift.tt/1DMSAqR Former TechShop CEO Mark Hatch joins Network Society Ventures as General Partner http://ift.tt/2gOhugi

The NFL will reportedly relax their social media rules so teams can post more GIFs and videos

OAKLAND, CA - NOVEMBER 27: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders celebrates after a touchdown by Latavius Murray #28 against the Carolina Panthers during their NFL game on November 27, 2016 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

About two months ago the NFL implemented a new social media policy that effectively banned teams from posting any video-based content during games. The backlash was tremendous, with fans and teams criticizing the NFL for negatively impacting fan’s social media experiences, especially during a TV ratings slump. But now it seems the NFL has decided to relax these restrictions. In a memo… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2gwJ6Je The NFL will reportedly relax their social media rules so teams can post more GIFs and videos Fitz Tepper http://ift.tt/2gQ93E9
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From woefully underpaid internships to legendary hiring bonuses at huge Silicon Valley companies, it’s hard for job seekers to know what they’re worth in tech. It’s even harder when they’re new to the rat race. One undergraduate computer science student at Purdue University, Jesse Collins, has taken it upon himself to gather up data from undergrads and recent grads… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2bx0vMA What interns and new grads really get paid at top tech companies Lora Kolodny http://ift.tt/2fQoD2S
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From woefully underpaid internships to legendary hiring bonuses at huge Silicon Valley companies, it’s hard for job seekers to know what they’re worth in tech. It’s even harder when they’re new to the rat race. One undergraduate computer science student at Purdue University, Jesse Collins, has taken it upon himself to gather up data from undergrads and recent grads… Read More

http://ift.tt/2bx0vMA What interns and new grads really get paid at top tech companies http://ift.tt/2fQoD2S

If you were to write a history of Silicon Valley, you could do it by looking at a series of major diaspora. Companies like Google, Yahoo, Oracle and PayPal attract top talent for years; when they reach maturity or a major liquidity event, their talent disperses and germinates into the next generation of companies. It’s quite possible that Snapchat could do the same for L.A. Read More

from Social – TechCrunch https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/snapchat-los-angeles.png?w=680 Snapchat will make Los Angeles a stronger tech hub Justin Choi http://ift.tt/2fUh7PX
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Copy and paste trick could unlock iOS 10 devices in Lost Mode

{rss:content:encoded} Copy and paste trick could unlock iOS 10 devices in Lost Mode http://ift.tt/2gW0DHC http://ift.tt/2h3hkFg December 02, 2016 at 09:38PM activ_lock_bypass

Lost and stolen iOS devices could be at risk if ne’er-do-wells learn of this blunt-force method of getting past Activation Lock. No special equipment or technical know-how is required, which means any geek off the streets can do it. Fortunately, it’s easily fixed — but until that happens, you might want to be a little extra careful about leaving your phone unattended. Read More

Beddit 3 knows if you’ve been sleeping. It knows if you’re awake.

{rss:content:encoded} Beddit 3 knows if you’ve been sleeping. It knows if you’re awake. http://ift.tt/2gP7ZR2 http://ift.tt/2fPui9H December 02, 2016 at 07:36PM beddit-ios-app

Jolted into existence with a $500,000 Indiegogo campaign back in 2013, followed by a version 2 that was sold in Apple Stores all over the world, Beddit is back with a third generation of its popular addition to the Quantified Self movement: sleep tracking. The product went on sale in September and immediately sold out, and the company is still selling Beddit 3 faster than it can make them. Read More

Not only is Facebook not providing little red warnings along with links to potentially specious news—it’s now blocking links to the plugin that did so. Over the past week, some Facebook users reported seeing content warnings next to links from established fake news domains, apparently without realizing a third party was responsible. We reported this phenomenon, later clarifying… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/1hpfmdN Facebook blocks links to B.S. Detector, fake news warning plugin Taylor Hatmaker http://ift.tt/2gITCKY
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Facebook quietly tests fake news flagging

Signs of Facebook’s much-anticipated war on fake news are bubbling up into the newsfeeds of some users. The fake news flag tests appear to have been around for over a week, though seem to be vanishing as quickly as they appear. That behavior is in line with the way Facebook regularly tests new product features through limited, live rollouts to small swaths of its massive user base.… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2a0rG5V Facebook quietly tests fake news flagging Taylor Hatmaker http://ift.tt/2gRXQiT
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One-hundred and forty-three. That’s not the new character limit or the number of heads of product Twitter has employed over the few years (though close). That, rather, is the amount of times the new fellow filling that role has tweeted over the course of the past nine years – a number that includes two recent updates from the past couple of hours acknowledging the gig, one of… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2gM3WoB Twitter buys startup Yes, Inc. and scores a new VP of product in the process Brian Heater http://ift.tt/2gRLQxB
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Bullpen Capital, a venture firm that specializes in post-seed stage deals, has closed its third fund at $75 million. The firm invests in companies that previously closed a seed round of investment, showed solid signs of traction, but have been dubbed too early for traditional VC’s anyway. Bullpen founder, Paul Martino, said “Our rounds get the CEOs real coverage. We put founders… Read More

http://ift.tt/1HSsyQo Bullpen closes its third fund at $75 million to back post-seed stage startups http://ift.tt/2gNX5s5

If Snap’s Spectacles are really about sharing your life with the world, we need a solution for capturing the majority of our lives that occur boxed inside buildings. This solution could come in the form of replacement lenses or in the form of an entirely new device. Niche lens manufacturer Rochester Optical gave us the first one today with replacement lenses for Spectacles that… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2grf1KY You can now wear Spectacles indoors with Rochester Optical’s lenses John Mannes http://ift.tt/2gddm93
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If Snap’s Spectacles are really about sharing your life with the world, we need a solution for capturing the majority of our lives that occur boxed inside buildings. This solution could come in the form of replacement lenses or in the form of an entirely new device. Niche lens manufacturer Rochester Optical gave us the first one today with replacement lenses for Spectacles that… Read More

http://ift.tt/2grf1KY You can now wear Spectacles indoors with Rochester Optical’s lenses http://ift.tt/2gddm93

Earthquake-sensing mobile app MyShake captures hundreds of temblors large and small

{rss:content:encoded} Earthquake-sensing mobile app MyShake captures hundreds of temblors large and small http://ift.tt/2gEcpXQ http://ift.tt/2gNlIVP December 01, 2016 at 09:13PM myshake-globalheatmap-20160929

Back in February, seismologists at UC Berkeley released MyShake, an app that passively monitors for seismic activity, both watching for earthquakes and warning users if one is underway. In the months since its introduction, the app has outperformed its creators’ expectations, detecting over 200 earthquakes in more than ten countries. Read More

Lines and dots interconnecting, conceptual illustration.

For the past few years, “Come for the tool, stay for the network” has been in vogue as a theory of consumer startup product development. Chris Dixon’s January 2015 post popularized the idea*, and it’s frequently cited in industry discussions and by investors. Why does this idea have so much appeal? There are several reasons: It’s much easier to build a good… Read More

http://ift.tt/2gd5Drr ‘Come for the tool, stay for the network’ reconsidered http://ift.tt/2gQKsLY

There I was on a comfy gray couch, surrounded by pillows and being handed an eye mask in a reserved office space in downtown San Francisco when, next thing I knew, Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm was tucking me in and spraying a relaxing mist over my body. “Sweet dreams,” said his comms person as the two shut the door. That’s when Tamara began to speak… Tamara,… Read More

http://ift.tt/2gLg2yf That one time I was tucked in by a startup http://ift.tt/2fWJmRd

The LogoJoy mockups are not that far removed from the mockups you get from "real" design agencies.

If you’ve ever had to have a logo designed, you probably know that a lot of love, care, taste, years of training, tons of experience and buckets of knowledge goes into the process. Logojoy pulls the plug on all of that and goes barreling down a different alleyway, unlocking the power of AI and machine learning to help you throw together logo concepts. The result is astonishingly good. Read More

http://ift.tt/2fKlRw6 Logojoy turns design into an AI-powered, iterative process http://ift.tt/2gcM8zl

YayPay is focusing on an interesting yet underserved niche — collecting payments from your customers. The startup is launching the second version of its platform today and now focuses on big companies with accounts receivable teams. The company first launched on stage at Disrupt London exactly one year ago. At the time, the company wanted to help small and medium companies get paid on time. Read More

http://ift.tt/2gqQlCB YayPay wants to help big companies deal with accounts receivable http://ift.tt/2fKbCrD

Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has ordered insurance startup Zenefits to stop distributing its software in the state. The Commissioner issued a release detailing the order on Thursday, and explaining that the block is a result of Zenefits violating the state’s inducement laws, which prevent any one provider from acts that significantly undermine the competitiveness… Read More

http://ift.tt/2fQ4sgV Zenefits ordered to stop offering free insurance software in Washington state http://ift.tt/2gKXM8g

A Redwood City, Calif. startup called Neurotrack Technologies Inc. has created a brain health app that is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of memory, and work to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Its simple browser-based app screens users for signs of cognitive decline based on their eye movement as they watch a few images presented on their screens. These tests used to take about… Read More

http://ift.tt/1FcExJz A new brain health app from Neurotrack warns users of memory decline http://ift.tt/2gcAVPl

Just a reminder that after Disrupt in London I’ll be heading over to Wroclaw, Poland for a double dose of meet-up fun. The meetups coincided with a few events in Wroclaw and you’re welcome to come to one or both. The first meetup is part of ImpactCEE and will be held on Wednesday, December 7. You can RSVP here. It’s primarily Fintech-related but, again, you’re… Read More

http://ift.tt/2gqz2RT Let’s meet in Wroclaw next week http://ift.tt/2gDDiLz

Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures moves into video game publishing

{rss:content:encoded} Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures moves into video game publishing http://ift.tt/2gq9VyN http://ift.tt/2gMF9hx December 01, 2016 at 05:29PM Edith Finch

Annapurna Pictures, the production company behind films including Zero Dark Thirty and Her, is launching a new division focused on video game development and publishing. Annapurna was founded by Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and has developed a reputation for writing relatively large checks for arty, director-driven films — though it’s also faced… Read More