Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Techcrunch- Latest News

Online Invitations Startup Paperless Post Raises $25M From August Capital

1 hour ago by Ryan Lawler, Jordan Crook

Online (and offline) invitations startup Paperless Post has become a modern-day greeting card company, enabling users to create custom cards to their events and send them to friends. Our sources tell us that it's raised another big round of funding to get more of its invitations out to more users. Read More
Mobile
Ellen Tries Out Google “Glasses”

1 hour ago by Jordan Crook

Today is Google Glass day. For the first time, the company is letting anybody and everybody order a pair with no application process needed. Because before, if you wanted to give Google $1,500 for a face computer, you had to qualify. Now that Google Glass is fair game, we're probably going to see it a lot more. Take, for example, this episode of The Ellen Show, where Ellen Degeneres tries on… Read More
Advertising Tech
Telefonica, Blackstone Launch Axonix, A Mobile Ad Exchange Built On Defunct MobClix Tech

1 hour ago by Ingrid Lunden

Telefonica, the Spanish carrier with operations 24 countries and 323 million customers, is making its latest bid to expand its business beyond basic mobile and telephone services, by moving into ad tech. It's teaming up with Blackstone to launch Axonix, a real-time bidding mobile ad exchange that has been built on technology from MobClix, whose assets were acquired by the private equity giant at… Read More
Apps
HP Finds Mobile Tax Apps Lacking On Security, Privacy

1 hour ago by Jonathan Shieber

As the clock ticks toward midnight, putting an end to tax day 2014, Hewlett-Packard is warning consumers of mobile tax and finance apps that they may want to audit their own usage. According to the HP Audit, more than 90 percent of the applications the company tested, including TurboTax, TaxACT and TaxSlayer, contained at least one potential privacy violation. Read More
Finance
Investors Send Twitter Up 11.4% Following Gnip News, Adding $2.7B To Its Market Cap

1 hour ago by Alex Wilhelm

Twitter had a massive day in the markets, soaring more than 11 percent following news this morning that it has acquired Gnip, a company that TechCrunch described as a longtime partner and customer. The acquisition could see it funnel its current customer base towards Gnip's popular tools, and also accrete to Twitter's top line Gnip's incomes. Twitter needs revenue growth, and more monetization… Read More
Advertising Tech
Pinterest Plans “Choose Your Own Adventure” Product Announcement For April 24

1 hour ago by Josh Constine

A more personalized way to pin may be on the way as Pinterest has announced a big press event in San Francisco on April 24th with the teaser image above. We've confirmed with the company that this will be a product announcement and CEO Ben Silbermann will speak. So what will Pinterest unveil? Read More
Gadgets
Google Actually Sells Out Of A Google Glass Model

2 hours ago by Matt Burns

Apparently some people still want Google Glass. The white model sold out several hours after Google allowed anyone to purchase the product. Models of the other colors are still available -- at least until Google stops selling the product tonight. For today only, Google made Glass available to anyone. This is the first time since the product's announcement that Google has allowed the general… Read More
Inside DODOcase, Where Modern Tech Accessories Are Made The Old Fashioned Way

2 hours ago by Colleen Taylor

Welcome to a new episode of TechCrunch Cribs, the video series that takes you inside where the offices where all the tech industry magic happens to see what it's really like for the people who work there. This time around, we headed to the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco to visit DODOcase, the startup that makes iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Android mobile accessories using traditional book… Read More
Yahoo’s Shopping Spree Is Slowing Down, It Used A Net $22M For Acquisitions In Q1

3 hours ago by Ingrid Lunden

Yahoo's spending spree on acquisitions looks like it may finally have slowed down, at least in terms of value if not numbers. Yahoo noted in its Q1 2014 earnings today that it used a net $22 million for acquisitions in the three months that ended March 31, covering eight companies. Sequentially, that $22 million is just over a third of the net amount it said it spent on acquisitions in the… Read More
Apps
Google Releases Helpouts App For iOS

3 hours ago by Darrell Etherington

Google introduced Helpouts last year to HELP PEOPLE OUT (yeah that's where they got the name). The system works through Hangouts, letting people connect with experts for paid or free video chats that are about solving a specific problem, rather than just shooting the breeze with pals as we all do on Hangouts all the time. Now Helpouts is available on iOS thanks to a new app. Read More