It’s been a whirlwind couple of days here in New York, as our expert judges watched earnest startups pitch their hearts out onstage at the third annual TechCrunch Disrupt NY. Thirty startups presented in the first two days, to be whittled down to six after much judge deliberation and founder bated breath: gTar, OpenGarden,, Ark, Babelverse and Sunglass. Those six had to come back today to present again, this time in front of super-hardcore finals judges Fred Wilson, Roelof Botha, Marissa Mayer, Mike Arrington, Chris Dixon, Eric Eldon and Chi-Hua Chien, who dug deep into everything from customer acquisition strategy and revenue models to actual acquisition strategy in the cases of both UberConference and Ark. Then the judges retired for an hour and a half ... Continue reading →
Espionage, fratricide, sword-slinging battles, smoke babies, assassins, dragons, prophetic dreams, torrid incestuous affairs, farcical incestuous misunderstandings — Game of Thrones covers a lot of ground. With the lush production values, epic set pieces, and plot points jetting off in every direction, it's easy to lose track of the actual actors who populate the show. Peel off those wigs and put on some regular clothing: This is (some of) the cast of Game of Thrones, in and out of character. Continue reading →
So A Guy Walks Into A Bar With A Zebra And A Macaw Stop me if you've heard this one before. Unfortunately it isn't a joke. posted about an hour ago Continue reading →
Martha Payne had some sad-ass lunches at her school in Scotland — unsatisfying food that sometimes had more hair than vegetables. So the 9-year-old decided to start a blog with photos and vital statistics about her meals. Almost immediately, the blog got international attention, including from prominent school lunch busybody Jamie Oliver. Result? Martha’s dad just met with the local council, and it announced that kids could have unlimited salad, fruit, and bread. For each of her lunches, Martha rated taste, healthiness, and pieces of hair (usually zero but not always). But she only managed five ratings before the media attention started making the school self-conscious: Today was very different at lunchtime. Dad had already told me beforehand that some people from the Council were ... Continue reading →
Late last December, I remember hearing about Pinterest for the first time, and my immediate reaction was something along the lines of, “Oh, great. I’ve finally mastered Twitter and Facebook, and now there’s a new kid in town?” Little did I know this mysterious world of pinning was already a massive craze, dominating the spare time of many savvy and engaged users. I took to Wikipedia, which informed me that 83% of Pinterest users in the U.S. are women. My next question: Who are these broads? Over the next few days I found myself cruising this terribly addictive site, constantly clicking on each users’ “pins” – which are personally selected images meant to inspire and connect with others on a global, digital scale. Still a ... Continue reading →
Facebook has a new road show now that it’s a public company, and it wants to find the best Open Graph hackers there are in the UK. During the Over the Air conference in Bletchley Park, the company will be holding an “Open Graph Challenge.” Members of the Facebook platform team will be there to help out developers who want to create the best mobile, social app that uses Open Graph. In true Facebook form, the challenge only lasts 24 hours. Winners will get a Samsung Galaxy SII, which is a pretty sweet treat since the whole conference is free. Here’s how Facebook describes the challenge and what the “best” Open Graph app would look like: The best Open Graph apps come from applying Facebook’s ... Continue reading →
TED started in 1984 to bring together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design when founder Richard Saul Wurman noticed a convergence between the two industries. It started organically and grew into the global, inspirational brand it is today with some of the world’s most influential leaders gracing the TED stage. Now there’s convergence between two more industries; technology and kiteboarding and there’s a movement emerging that is connecting the two worlds. ‘Maitai’ is a kiteboarding camp in Hawaii connecting mostly Silicon Valley based entrepreneurs with professional kite boarders. The event has been running annually for five years on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Founded by Venture Capitalist Bill Tai from Charles River Ventures and Susi Mai,a professional kiteboarder based in Dominican Republic the ... Continue reading →
