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I typically hear from VCs these days when they are either doing a big, growth capital round, a follow-on funding, an investment in concert with a syndicate or.... bleeeeeeeeep (as in not at all). The rise of the "Super Angels", a trend TechCrunch Europe was first to call in 2008, seems to be putting paid to VC's involvement in early stage.
Or perhaps not.
Venture capital house Eden Ventures appears to be on something of a roll and has taken to co-investing with angels like a duck to water. Today it announces five (count'em) new investments, which range in size from £100,000 to £1 million.
Sep 9, 2010 7:58:02 AM (7 hours from now)
Ok, so not only is Google Instant rejiggering how we think about search, but it is also a clever way to create instant music videos. We saw this with the official Google Instant version of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (where the lyrics on the flash cards get typed into Google and create a stream of related results).
But now the same thing has been done with the "Instant Elements" song in the video above. The lyrics to Tom Lehrer's song, "The Elements," are typed into Google Instant, and it creates a visual accompaniment to the song, showing search results and images for each element like magnesium, silicon, and gadolinium. I think we have a meme here. You can do this for any song, and now people will.
Sep 9, 2010 7:12:25 AM (6 hours from now)
Zynga has been taking it on the chin from the SF Weekly the last few weeks. First there was a four part series about some stickers that Zynga's ad agency put on the streets of San Francisco - lame but not exactly Third Reicht territory. But the last two days the newspaper has focused on Zynga's penchant for stealing game ideas from other companies. FarmVille, FishVille, PetVille, Café World, and Mafia Wars were all copies of other company's games. That warranted a cover story.
The SFWeekly even gave this copying thing a name - Farmvillians. Which is kinda catchy, although it's no Scamville if you ask me. Scamville was major league evil. Copying business ideas is just being part of Silicon Valley.
All this got me thinking about the quote "Behind every great fortune there is a crime" and the tendency of some people to go legit just as soon as they've won the game. Then they hope that they can wipe the slate clean and be accepted in the better parts of society.
Sep 9, 2010 4:19:47 AM (3 hours from now)
TechCrunch-reading football fans may remember a nifty, free online game we wrote about last year called Quick Hit that puts you at the helm of a virtual football team. The game doesn't involve the twitchy gameplay of gaming goliath Madden, but is instead built around strategy and play calling (though it does feature rich, 3D graphics to keep things interesting). You may also notice that the game's logo looks a little different from last year's: it now sports the official emblem of the NFL. And that's a big deal.
You see, when Quick Hit launched last year it didn't have the NFL license. That meant it didn't have any of the official NFL teams, so you'd have to coach generic squads that don't actually exist. Which, to put it lightly, is a big buzzkill when you're trying to pretend you're Bill Walsh and are reigning over the fictitious San Francisco Tigers. But now Quick Hit has forged a deal with the NFL that gives it rights to all of the real teams, uniforms, and stadiums. 
Sep 9, 2010 4:00:10 AM (3 hours from now)
I don't know why but I just can't stop re-reading this exchange. Poor AT&T shoots itself in the head today by emailing customers and asking them to provide feedback in one centralized place. Customers promptly complied, and the tower of hate is almost overwhelming. Someone at AT&T will likely be cleaning out their desk tomorrow over this, and frankly I can't believe they didn't see it coming. It'll be hard for AT&T to argue that the vast majority of its customers are happy when nearly all the comments are hugely negative, some violently so.
Some commenters were particularly incensed that they had to "like" the page before commenting.
Sep 9, 2010 3:31:04 AM (2 hours from now)
Google made it clear at its press event today that Google Instant will not change way that company will rank ads or show ads. From the Google blog:
"We recommend monitoring your ads' performance the same way you usually do. Google Instant might increase or decrease your overall impression levels. However, Google Instant can improve the quality of your clicks since it helps people search using terms that more directly connect them with the answers they need. Therefore, your overall campaign performance could improve."
At the event, Google Ad Evangelist Frederick Vallaeys went into detail with us why the new feature might in fact improve Adwords campaign performance, and debunked some of the easily made assumptions, which he outlined.
Sep 9, 2010 2:22:47 AM (1 hour from now)
In this video we find AT&T's rep, Seth Bloom, reaching out to New Yorkers in particular and explaining, as simply as possible, why their calls suck and how AT&T is trying to fix the problem. Wow.
Essentially AT&T is starting to move some calls to the the 850 MHz band for more in-building coverage. The best thing about this video is that Seth the AT&T Blogger Guy looks like someone you'd want to give a noogie to (that's a good thing) and they show you what's inside those crazy switch boxes on top of buildings. Double rainbow.
Sep 9, 2010 1:42:26 AM (33 minutes from now)
After Google's search event this morning, TechCrunch TV got a chance to catch up with Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of Search Products and User Experience, in the demo pit.
In our brief video interview, an enthusiastic Mayer touts Google Instant as a "whole new way to search,"a game changer akin to the introduction of power steering in the automotive industry. It's certainly a neat feature that optimizes the search experience, but the real question remains: how does Google Instant fundamentally change consumer behavior, and in turn SEO and Google's ad sales.
Mayer was more tentative on this front. See video ahead.
Bonus footage: After Mayer's interview, we also got a chance to talk to Steve Cheng, a product manager on Google's Mobile team, who gave us a quick demo on mobile Instant and discussed their upcoming rollout strategy.
Sep 9, 2010 1:20:13 AM (11 minutes from now)
John Seely Brown and John Hagel are two of the most respected technology and business thinkers in Silicon Valley. Seely Brown is best known as the long time Chief Scientist at Xerox Parc, while Hagel is the author of a number of influential business articles and books including Net Worth.
The great change in contemporary economic life - what Seely Brown and Hagel call the “big shift” – is between the old centralized command-and-control industrial economy and today’s democratized edge economy. Sometimes sounding more like Marxist revolutionaries than Deloitte consultants, Seely Brown and Hagel see the pull economy as fundamentally changing every aspect of 21st century life – from business to education to politics to social activity. 
Sep 9, 2010 12:09:53 AM (60 minutes ago)
Earlier today, Google launched a new feature that could fundamentally change the way people go about searching the web: Google Instant. The feature, which is rolling out now, shows results for your search queries as soon as you begin typing them — oftentimes you'll have the information you were looking for before you're even finished typing your query. You can see our full coverage on the launch here.
Such a major change will impact the way people conduct their searches, and that will lead to repercussions for the search ecosystem. Steve Rubel says that it will make Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — the dark magic that helps websites appear higher in search results — totally irrelevant.
Sep 8, 2010 11:07:48 PM (2 hours ago)
Earlier this year we wrote about TechCrunch 50 company Localbacon's relaunch as Jibe, a next-generation job board that leverages Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to help job seekers find the best positions in the job market. Today, Jibe, which has been in private beta since March, is launching to the public, with job listings from Conde Nast, MTV Networks, Amazon, Equinox, and Church & Dwight.
On Jibe, job seekers sign in with Facebook Connect. The platform will pull in their work and education history from their Facebook profile and from LinkedIn and Twitter to pre-populate their Jibe profile. Then for every job posting, they can see if they are connected to anyone at that company. Jibe allows members to message those people directly to ask for a recommendation or job advice.
Sep 8, 2010 11:00:55 PM (2 hours ago)
Earlier today AT&T sent out a "Special Message From AT&T" email highlighting a 18-19 billion dollar investment in their network as well as plans for other improvements. The email provides a link to their Facebook page an avalanche of comments like this cropped up:
""Im only sticking out my contract because I dont have the money to pay a termination fee at the moment. "
"I switched to AT&T solely for the iPhone. I have such terrible reception in my neighborhood that I can't actually use it as a phone. My coworker received a FREE microcell for this very reason, apparently he is a "valued AT&T customer" whereas I am not. I spoke with several people at AT&T on multiple calls trying to receive one also, but they all insisted "no one" has ever gotten it free. I know this is untrue because I saw the letter from granting him a free microcell at any AT&T store and was there as he received his complimentary device, "as a valued customer." Sad that your company had to develop an VoIP device so people could use their phone for it's intended purpose, especially in a major city like San Francisco. Perhaps spending 10s of billions of dollars on your network is not such sound footing, for when the iPhone goes to different carriers, surely so will your entire iPhone customer base. Let me know when you're ready to send me my free microcell."
Sep 8, 2010 10:30:10 PM (3 hours ago)
Over time, we've scooped things ranging from Facebook Places to various Chrome OS features simply by digging through code put out there in public. What's great about doing this is that it negates the inevitable non-denial denials from companies when you ask about these features. Code doesn't lie. Neither do images. And the latter may reveal two upcoming features destined for Google Search.
Check out this image. It's a file Google uses in conjunction with CSS to style their web results pages. On it, you'll notice all the major navigational elements currently found on google.com are there -- but there are also two extra ones: the question mark and the people icon.
Sep 8, 2010 10:21:36 PM (3 hours ago)
As location-based services have emerged as a compelling place for businesses to interact with potential customers, there have been a flux of marketing and social media platforms that help set up campaigns. Context Optional, SnackSquare, Geotoko, Sprout Social and a number of other platforms are helping brands run campaigns on services like Foursquare, Twitter, Gowalla and now Facebook Places. PlacePunch is launching its platform in the space, and has already enlisted a well-known brand as a client.
PlacePunch, which received seed funding from Shotput Ventures, allows businesses both big and small to run their own location-based marketing campaigns that integrate with Foursquare, Facebook Places, Twitter, Gowalla and other location-based social networks. 
Sep 8, 2010 10:15:30 PM (3 hours ago)
I noticed something interesting while watching the Bob Dylan Google Instant video during Google's search event today: some new text next to the drop down search suggestions. Guess what it is? The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.
So, no, Google didn't kill the feature as Business Insider stated today. Well, technically they did kill the button -- but the feature remains intact. To use it now, you simply hover over one of the search suggestions in the drop box and move to the right and click on the link.
Sep 8, 2010 9:01:14 PM (4 hours ago)
During their Search event today, Google's Marissa Mayer highlighted the fact that the search giant ran their first real commercial this year during the Super Bowl. If they choose to run a second, I think they have it.
Later in the event, Mayer introduced a clip they put together using Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video. It's a smart idea because in the video Dylan uses flash cards to show what he's saying as he sings it -- sorta like how you now see results as you type with Google Instant.
Sep 8, 2010 8:52:02 PM (4 hours ago)
As we wrote yesterday, it appeared that Chris Sacca's newly launched fund, Lowercase Capital, has raised over $20 million in funding over the course of the summer. But today, it looks like Sacca has filed another Form D under the name Lowercase RT, LP for another $20 million. Similar to the filings from yesterday, it's unclear who the investors are from the SEC filing.
This brings the total amount raised over the past 6 months to nearly $50 million. It's important to note that Sacca operates a number of other funds, so this recent $20 million and the previous raises could be used in his other investment vehicles. As Lowercase's account cryptically Tweeted yesterday, #4: closed.
Sep 8, 2010 8:03:58 PM (5 hours ago)
Google really did just change the game in search today with the introduction of Google Instant. While Google execs at today's event emphasized how much faster it makes search, Google Instant is really about showing you more search results. And this will have very interesting implications for consumers expectations of what they want from search, search market share, and how sites try to game search through SEO tactics.
Google Instant turns search into a realtime stream of results which flow onto your screen as you type your query. With each letter you type, a whole new set of results flash by. This is important for several reasons. First and foremost, you will now see many more search results than you would have otherwise. Most people never click through to the second page of search results. If it is not in the first ten blue links (or really the first five or six), it might as well not exist for most people. With Google Instant search, instead of people seeing only ten results, they may now see 50 or 100 (depending on how many letters they type and how far they get through each search query).
Sep 8, 2010 6:45:03 PM (6 hours ago)
When the World Economic Forum reaches out to the world and asks people to talk about resource sustainability, energy efficiency and carbon emissions, they expect serious, thoughtful answer. And for the most part they get them.
Americans, of course, have to add a little flair. And so I'm not surprised to see a whole series of super hero interviews where they talk about these important issues, filmed in Venice Beach. The funny thing is that the answers are pretty good if you don't watch the actual video and just listen to the audio. Boba Fett and Iron Man really nailed it with thoughtful answers in my opinion.
And it's nice to see the very conservative WEF take a lighthearted approach to this. They even featured the video on their blog and will show it at next week's summit in China. Our own Sarah Lacy will be there covering the event.
Sep 8, 2010 6:02:17 PM (7 hours ago)
In part three of our Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN Dave McClure says "I am all about the flip. GREED IS GOOD. I am Gordon Gekko in Silicon Valley." But is he? Wouldn't greed be going after the big win not the tiny flip?
In this clip we come to one of the core distinctions between Super Angels and VCs: Are sub-$50 million exits the desired goal in Silicon Valley or are small acquisitions what you settle for when your company doesn't hit it big?
McClure argues that small flips are more sustainable for the Valley, despite the fact that small flips don't create the next Googles and Facebooks to acquire future generations of Super Angels' companies. McClure says he's counting on non-technology companies to start buying hundreds of technology companies, but do entrepreneurs want to sell to someone even stodgier than a Microsoft or a Yahoo?
David Hornik counters that Sand Hill Road is about changing the world and that's the business he wants to be in. (For the record, that's the business I moved to Silicon Valley ten years ago to cover.)
Sep 8, 2010 5:52:01 PM (7 hours ago)
Today at the Google Search event in San Francisco, the search giant unveiled Instant, a huge new feature that allows users to search in real time (without hitting the search button). It looks to be an awesome product that will save users a lot of aggregate time. But that's on Google.com. I rarely use Google.com anymore. I want it in the Chrome Omnibox.
That's coming soon, Google's Marissa Mayer promised. "Sometime in the next few months this is something that will be activated in the browsers," she said. She didn't elaborate, but obviously, you can imagine this coming to builds of Chrome (which Google makes) first. And it wouldn't be surprising to see this in Chromium (the open source version of Chrome) pretty soon.
Sep 8, 2010 5:45:42 PM (7 hours ago)
Here at the Google Search Event in San Francisco, Google engineer Ben Gomes brought up the fact that the search engine serves up billions of queries every day, the average query length being 20 characters and the average time for a user to pick a result being 15 seconds.
"There are billions of queries and tens of billions of documents, getting people from the right query to the right document is fun," said engineer Othar Hansson.
Google's latest feature launch is all about speeding up this process. Says Google's Marissa Mayer,
"Google Instant will save 350 million hours of user time, over a year," basing her rough estimate on a figure of each instant search saving two to five seconds of user time, in places where Google Instant is rolled out.
Sep 8, 2010 5:35:04 PM (8 hours ago)
MySpace is adding a new feature today that allows users to embed video streams within their activity streams. Powered by Redux, videos are seen directly within an activity stream and instantly plays video that you or a friend has shared, selected as a favorite, uploaded, and rated from your Stream.
The actual player will show a real-time stream of MySpace videos based on what their friends are sharing and what’s trending on MySpace. The player will also include comments from friends that scroll/change. And users can also see which friend posted the content.
Sep 8, 2010 5:21:06 PM (8 hours ago)
Today at their Search event, Google showed of a huge update: Google Instant. As you can probably guess, this is a way to search in realtime simply by typing. While this new feature is rolling out on Google for users in the U.S. today (and the world shortly), that's only on google.com. But Google gave a sneak preview of what's coming next: Google Instant for Mobile, coming "later this Fall."
While Google Instant is awesome on a desktop or laptop, it will arguably be even more useful on mobile. "Typing on a phone is just slower, so the feedback is even more useful," Google engineer Othar Hansson noted.
Sep 8, 2010 5:17:05 PM (8 hours ago)
In May Zynga and Facebook ended their months long fight and entered into a five year deal to use Facebook Credits as the primary monetization engine for Zynga games on the Facebook platform.
Zynga began rolling out Facebook Credits on some of its games months ago. But now they've made Facebook Credits the primary payment solution on all of their games across the Facebook platform other than Poker and a few other smaller games. Users can wire transfer cash, or use Facebook Credits, but that's it. Other third party payment providers have been removed.
The migration has clearly had bumps - a slew of Zynga users are screaming murder in the forums over various payments failures. Which makes sense since Zynga is almost certainly accounting for the lion's share of the Facebook Credits business.
Sep 8, 2010 5:15:19 PM (8 hours ago)
Zynga has been taking it on the chin from the SF Weekly the last few weeks. First there was a four part 