New Technology News

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Mobile analytics company Mixpanel is unveiling a feature today that co-founder Suhail Doshi said will give developers a new way to communicate with their users.

Mixpanel customers will now be able to deliver “in-app notifications” to their users — Doshi compared them to push notifications (an area where other startups offer support), except delivered when a user is actually looking at the app, not just browsing their homescreen.

For example, a game developer could use the notifications to promote new levels or offer hints, or an e-commerce app could promote specific deals or products. Basically, it’s the same kinds of things you might use push notifications for, but hopefully less annoying and in a context where a user is more likely to be amenable to your message.

Why can’t developers just build that kind of functionality into their app? Doshi suggested that a well-funded company with a large mobile team can do it, but it’s tougher for a smaller organization or an independent developer. He also said that building it on top of Mixpanel’s analytics tools allows for very targeted messages, say if you wanted to reach users with a specific app version or based in a specific city. In fact, Doshi said developers can go “infinitely deep” with their targeting thanks to the profiles that Mixpanel has built of individual users — it has 160 million profiles so far and is adding 20 million more each month.

Mixpanel’s analytics will also allow developers to see whether their notifications are effective, and in the future, Doshi suggested they’ll also be able to A/B test different notifications and then switch out the variations that aren’t working.

I keep saying that this will be used by developers, but Doshi noted that this could be used to “non-technical” people too. He gave a demo of the notification editor, which allows customers to adjust the visual design and wording of the notifications without any programming — indeed, the smaller changes that Doshi demonstrated took only a few clicks.

This isn’t the first time Mixpanel has launched a non-analytics products. Last fall, it launched mobile surveys. The broader goal, Doshi said, is to build on top of the company’s data and existing technology and to create a broader suite of developer tools like the ones offered by “Marketo and Eloqua and Salesforce” on the web: “These things don’t exist in the ecosystem in mobile.”

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Mixpanel Aims To Help Developers Deliver Targeted Messages Through New In-App Notifications

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Mobile analytics company Mixpanel is unveiling a feature today that co-founder Suhail Doshi said will give developers a new way to communic...

In the letter to shareholders that accompanied today’s earnings report, Netflix addresses the recent circuit court decision that was seen as a threat to net neutrality.

That decision could potentially be a problem for Netflix, because it could provide legal justification for Internet providers to reduce the speed at which Netflix video content is delivered unless the company pays the providers. As the letter (which specifically calls out Verizon for challenging net neutrality in court) puts it, “In principle, a domestic ISP now can legally impede the video streams that members request from Netflix, degrading the experience we jointly provide. The motivation could be to get Netflix to pay fees to stop this degradation.”

If that happens, Netflix says it would “vigorously protest,” but the company suggests that things probably won’t go that far. The letter, which is signed by CEO Reed Hastings (pictured) and CFO David Wells, argues it’s more likely that “ISPs will avoid this consumer-unfriendly path of discrimination”:

ISPs are generally aware of the broad public support for net neutrality and don’t want to galvanize government action.

Moreover, ISPs have very profitable broadband businesses they want to expand. Consumers purchase higher bandwidth packages mostly for one reason: high-quality streaming video. ISPs appear to recognize this and many of them are working closely with us and other streaming video services to enable the ISPs subscribers to more consistently get the high-quality streaming video consumers desire.

Again, this is a letter to shareholders, and in that context, it’s not surprising that Netflix wants to downplay worries that might lower the stock price. But there’s been other coverage suggesting that this isn’t as big a threat to Netflix as we might think. The Atlantic, for example, ran an article titled “No, Netflix Is Not Doomed By the Net Neutrality Decision“.

As for whether more laws are required to protect net neutrality, the letter argues that “less regulation is warranted” if Internet providers “adhere to a meaningful voluntary code of conduct,” while more regulation would be needed if they actually start “impeding specific data flows.”

[image via flickr/James Davidson]

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Netflix Downplays Court’s Net Neutrality Decision, Says Internet Providers Unlikely To Act

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In the letter to shareholders that accompanied today’s earnings report , Netflix addresses the recent circuit court decision that was seen...

I’ve been lucky to host many great founders here on “Founder Stories” to date, but this particular video discussion with Andrew Feldman, a cofounder and CEO of SeaMicro (which was eventually acquired by AMD) struck a different tone than those past.

Feldman, who attended university here in the Valley, has quietly developed a remarkable career working on complex businesses. As he began to noodle on the initial idea for SeaMicro, he noticed that many large companies were growing concerned about power management in their data centers, how to keep those systems both efficient and cool. This is the “thread” he references, and he kept “pulling” the thread to unravel more and more of what struck him as a business opportunity. One connection led to another, and despite raising financing before and after the 2008 financial crisis, Feldman guided his team to an acquisition by AMD.

In this short discussion, Felman sits down with me to discuss the entrepreneurial arc in his career, the loneliness of being a CEO, how much time it takes to build enterprise-grade products from scratch, and how it’s not just founders and CEOs who take risk, but all early-stage employees who believe in creating something new which does not exist. Feldman’s steely resolve is subtly infectious, and showcases the quiet intensity he brings to his work and companies, where he helps everyone pull on the thread of entrepreneurship.

Editor’s Note: Michael Abbott is a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, previously Twitter’s VP of Engineering, and a founder himself. Mike also writes a blog called uncapitalized. You can follow him on Twitter @mabb0tt.

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SeaMicro’s Andrew Feldman On Pulling The Thread In Entrepreneurship

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I’ve been lucky to host many great founders here on “ Founder Stories ” to date, but this particular video discussion with Andrew Feldman ,...

It may seem like small potatoes, but Polish 3D printer manufacturer Zortrax has chalked a 5,000 unit order from Dell. This is the first I’ve heard of a mass order of home 3D-printing equipment and it means a real boon for the budding Olsztyn-based company.

“Dell kept in touch with us when we were still in the middle of our Kickstarter campaign. We weren’t in a position to make them a reasonable business offer at that time, since our production volume was very limited,” said Rafał Tomasiak, Zortrax CEO. “At that point in time the production was very tedious, every single printer was quality checked and tested by us. Business negotiations with Dell were stalled at some point and we focused on shipping the printers to our Kickstarter backers. Now the situation is much different, we are prepared for large quantity orders.”

Zortrax launched last May and is now shipping to happy Kickstarter backers. I’ve used the printer multiple times and was very impressed by the print quality and build. The company is poised to be a major player in the European market and, with this investment by Dell, potentially globally.

“Frankly speaking, we were surprised that any company, even a company like Dell, wants to place such an order! But after a while we realized how many printers we use in our own office… For a designer who prints a large number of prototypes it is much more useful to use 10 smaller printers on one desk, which operate simultaneously, rather than one with a larger build volume,” said Tomasiak.

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Polish 3D Printer Zortrax Sells 5,000 Units To Dell

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It may seem like small potatoes, but Polish 3D printer manufacturer Zortrax has chalked a 5,000 unit order from Dell. This is the first I’v...

eBay reported its fourth-quarter earnings today, including revenue of $4.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.81. The company’s revenue was up 13 percent from the same quarter last year, while its earnings per share rose 16 percent.

It’s a fairly temperate showing from eBay, as analysts have been expecting eBay to report a 16 percent profit increase on revenue of $4.5 billion and $0.80 EPS (non-GAAP). The main drivers of eBay’s fourth quarter results have expected to be a decline in its marketplaces and auctions segment, with a boost from PayPal.

In its most recent sequential quarter, eBay reported revenue of $3.9 billion, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.64. While the consensus estimates for the fourth quarter were around $0.80, many expected the reality to be slightly lower thanks to a relatively tepid following eBay’s somewhat tepid sales during the holiday season.

eBay’s global payments unit, PayPal, saw revenue increase 19 percent again this quarter, as well as the full year, resulting in what the company says is a $6.6 billion in revenue in 2013. In turn, PayPal gained 5.2 million active registered accounts in the quarter and ended the year with 143 million — a 16 percent increase.

“We feel good about our performance and strong finish in the fourth quarter, with the holiday shopping season clearly showing how online, mobile and other omni-channel commerce capabilities are changing how consumers shop and pay,” said eBay CEO and President John Donahoe in today’s statement.

“Mobile exceeded expectations for the year. Our total mobile commerce volume grew 88 percent, with eBay reaching $22 billion and PayPal hitting $27 billion in 2013. And mobile added more than 14 million customers. PayPal and eBay together create an incredibly strong global commerce ecosystem for consumers and merchants, and we continue to see tremendous growth opportunities ahead,” he continued.

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eBay Squeaks Out A Win In Q4, With Revenue Of $4.5B And $0.81 EPS

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eBay reported its fourth-quarter earnings today , including revenue of $4.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.81. The company’s ...

Netflix just announced its fourth-quarter financial results, with the company beating/missing analyst expectations. For the last three months, Netflix reported earnings of 79 cents per share on revenues of $1.175 billion. Earnings were well above analyst expectations of 65 cents a share, while revenues were slightly above the $1.16 billion Wall Street forecast for the quarter. During the year-ago quarter, Netflix earned 13 cents a share on $945 million in revenue.

But the most-watched number every quarter is Netflix’s domestic subscriber growth. On that front, the company added 2.3 million domestic subscribers in the quarter. Netflix’s own forecast add between 1.6 million and 2.4 million domestic subscribers, bringing its total in the U.S. to between 32.7 million and 33.5 million.

The fourth quarter is frequently one of Netflix’s strongest every year, with growth driven in part by new subscribers coming on board thanks to new devices that they receive during the holidays. The holidays are also a pretty good time for streaming video, as people have a lot of spare time and a dearth of great programming on traditional TV.

While much of Netflix’s domestic user growth over the past year has been attributed to quality original programming — including the addition of new shows House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black, as well as the revival of cult favorite Arrested Development — the company has been working to improve the customer experience as well.

In November, the company launched a new, universal user interface across a large number of connected devices, including the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Roku 3, as well as newer Smart TVs and recent Blu-ray players. That experience was designed to improve the way users browsed, discovered, and searched for content by providing large, visual guide to movies and TV series available on the service.

Earlier in the year, it launched individual user profiles to provide a more personalized, differentiated experience for households with shared accounts.

Netflix hopes to continue its momentum into the new year, as the first quarter will bring along more original programming. The second season of House of Cards debuts February 14, and the streaming service provider will be adding more series to its slate over time.

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Netflix Beats Analyst Expectations With 2.3M New Domestic Subscribers And Earnings Of 79 Cents Per Share

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Netflix just announced its fourth-quarter financial results , with the company beating/missing analyst expectations. For the last three mont...

The 7th Annual Crunchies Awards is almost here and some tickets are still available. They start at $80 which grants the holder to a night of laughs, drinks and nerds as far as the eye can see. This is the biggest night of the year for the technology scene. Get dressed up and come party with us.

Like in years past, TechCrunch, Gigaom and VentureBeat have teamed up to celebrate the achievements of the previous year. We award 20 Crunchies in total ranging from Best Technology Achievement to Best Mobile Application to Founder of the Year.

Best of all, you, as an ever-active participant in the tech scene, get to choose the winners. Vote here. You have until Sunday, January 26, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

The ceremony is to be held on Monday February 10, 2014 at 7:30 pm at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Tickets to the night’s festivities start at $80. Don’t forget Jon Oliver is hosting again this year. That alone is worth the price of admission.