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Thursday, February 6, 2014
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cooladata

Israeli startup CoolaData is taking its mobile and web analytics platform out of beta testing today and launching it in general availability.


CEO Tomer Ben Moshe pitched the service as a way “to answer complex business questions with the language that analysts can relate to” — in particular, to make it easy for e-commerce and gaming companies to get the very specific data that they might need.


“We believe that online businesses should change the way they analyze data,” Moshe said, “They need to move to a behavioral-based model … They will need both real-time and predictive capabilities, and not based on the regular [questions of] ‘What is your age? How much you spend?’ and so on.”


There are other analytics tools offering behavioral data, of course, but Moshe emphasized that behavior is really at the center of how CoolaData organizes its data, and that it allows customers to examine data in very granular ways. For example, he said the platform allows customers to find “the most popular session of a song streamed twice, leading to a purchase of more than $5,” or to “target users by city who purchased, then had another session but didn’t purchase again over time.”


CoolaData says it can bring together a customer’s data as well as external data sources. That data can then be queried using the CoolaSQL, the company’s extension of the SQL programming language — but you don’t actually need to know SQL to use the product. The company has built widgets on top of CoolaSQL for asking questions in regular English (you can see some sample widgets below), and it’s hoping other developers will build widgets too.


cooladata query


The final result of those queries is an analytical document, which can be stored, accessed, and embedded via Google Drive.


“CoolaData’s service helps us find answers to deep business questions, even questions which are clearly specific to our specialized service,” said mySupermarket CEo Allon Bloch in the launch release.


CoolaData raised a $7.4 million Series A last year.





6:40 AM

Israeli startup CoolaData is taking its mobile and web analytics platform out of beta testing today and launching it in general availabilit...

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crunchies

Tickets for this year’s Crunchies are almost gone. The show is next week. A few tickets can still be had, but sections are selling out quickly. This is the biggest night of the year for Silicon Valley. Get dressed up and come celebrate technology with us.


Next Monday, starting at 7:30, we’ll take over the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco to recognize the best startups, founders, engineers and venture capitalists from last year. Along with Gigaom and VentureBeat, we’ll award 20 Crunchies in total ranging from Best Technology Achievement to Best Mobile Application to Founder of the Year.


John Oliver is hosting again this year. That alone is worth the price of admission.


The after party begins immediately following the ceremony at 9:00 pm until 11:30 pm. Admission to the party is included with a purchase of an Awards Ceremony ticket. As always there will be a hosted bar, music, and other fun surprises.


See you next week!






6:40 AM

Tickets for this year’s Crunchies are almost gone. The show is next week. A few tickets can still be had, but sections are selling out quic...

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ios7-keyboard

Apple has patented a system that could greatly reduce the volume of material available for blogs like ‘Damn You Autocorrect,’ should it ever make its way to shipping software. AppleInsider spotted the filing with the USPTO today, which describes a way in which autocorrect changes are highlighted to a user once they press the send button, when they’re given a chance to review any changes made by autocorrect before actually moving the message along to its intended recipient.


The utility of this is probably instantly recognizable to anyone who’s had that stomach-dropping moment when they realized what they sent wasn’t what they intended to send, and there are no takebacks. The now-common use of an asterisk followed by the word you actually meant to send as an immediate (or somewhat delayed, if it takes you a while to realize) correction (*whatevs, not ‘wharves’) is a pretty good indicator we’ve got a serious and widespread problem.


The patent describes a system that would include a timer to countdown the time they have to make a correction before the message is sent anyway, and a menu bar that comes up with buttons to either “Fix Errors,” “Reject” the message entirely, or “Accept” it as-is and send it along. Other variants of the system include one where a user can type and queue up a variety of messages, and then review, approve and send them in sequence to save time.


It’s a hiccup in the normal process of sending a message via mobile device to be sure, adding a number of steps and time, but it’s also described as an option that can be enabled or disabled in Settings. And for people who really value clean copy and not looking like someone who ate too many paint chips when they were a kid, it could be a considerable selling point.


Another patent published today automatically changes language for input based on who a user is communicating with, or what specific piece of content they’re responding to. So if they receive a message in Spanish, the Spanish soft keyboard will automatically activate when they tap on the text field to reply. Also, when starting a new message with a contact in their address book, the system could use key identifiers to determine the recipient’s preferred language (including message history) and call up the relevant soft keyboard accordingly.


Apple looking at ways to innovate its mobile input methods is a good sign for users who complain that the company’s inflexibility around allowing third-party software keyboards to be used as the default option limits their ability to type and interact effectively. I’d be willing to bet that they’re still a long way away from sacrificing consistency of user experience in exchange for that degree of customizability, but if it’s endeavoring to improve its own software, that’s something at least, The most recent beta of iOS 7.1 includes ongoing modifications to how the shift key displays an active and inactive state, for instance, so it’s an area where Apple is indeed sweating the details.





5:53 AM

Apple has patented a system that could greatly reduce the volume of material available for blogs like ‘Damn You Autocorrect,’ should it ever...

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How does an iOS panoramic photo shooting app first introduced in 2012 rocket to the top of the Paid App list in Apple's App Store? Answer: The developer takes it to ABC's Shark Tank, an entrepreneurial investment TV show, where he demonstrates how his iPhone can spin around, taking photos all by itself. He then shakes off a $200,000 offer for 10 percent of his business and holds out for $500K of venture investment. Then the downloads come rolling in like thunder. I had to try it too.


5:09 AM

How does an iOS panoramic photo shooting app first introduced in 2012 rocket to the top of the Paid App list in Apple's App Store? Ans...

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ipad-air-display

Apple has filed for three new patents, according to applications published by the USPTO (via AppleInsider) today. The applications all relate to the use of quantum dot-enhanced displays, which provide a number of advantages to electronic device screens, including richer and more vibrant colors, better viewing angles and an overall better experience vs. standard LCD gadget screens.


Apple had filed for a patent on quantum dot-enhanced displays back in December 2013, when it detailed basic ways in which the tech might be applied to existing display technology to deliver color control improvements. Now, these three new patents handle additional applications of quantum dots in tandem with a MEMS (microelectromechancial systems) shutter control, a version that uses a mixture of prisms and other tricks for using a backlight stack to control light distributed through quantum dots, and a backlight dimming patent that refines how a quantum dot-enhanced backlight system would correct for color shift.


The fine details of the patent are very technical in nature, but the main takeaway from the patents is that Apple is working on this kind of technology in earnest, and eager to lock down intellectual property rights on techniques associated with its use in shipping devices. The company often goes to great lengths to cover its bets when it comes to new tech, whether or not it plans to use it (it holds a number of patents that deal with NFC, for instance). But in this case, the patents seem to indicate Apple is in the lab working through some practical issues that inhibit quantum dot-enhanced display use in shipping devices.


Devices using these kinds of displays are already being used by major TV manufacturers, including Sony, which led the charge back in January 2013 when it announced it would emit quantum dots in some of its upcoming flat-screen TVs. The main advantage of quantum dots used in this way is improved display quality, so it makes sense that Apple would chase this carrot, as it has in the past led the pack in terms of mobile device display quality (the Retina display stands out especially).





5:09 AM

Apple has filed for three new patents, according to applications published by the USPTO (via AppleInsider ) today. The applications all rela...

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tim armstrong

AOL came in ahead of analyst estimates on revenue but not earnings in its in its fourth quarter of 2013, reporting $679 million in revenue and diluted earnings per share of 43 cents.


Analysts had predicted EPS of 60 cents per share and revenue of $655.8 million.


“2013 was AOL’s most successful year in the last decade, and we accomplished our goal of industry level growth at scale for AOL,” said AOL CEO Tim Armstrong (pictured) in the earnings release. “AOL’s exceptionally talented team continues to execute against our strategy and our results show meaningful progress in the most important areas of media and technology. AOL plans to invest in our market leading strategies in 2014, while we continue to grow the company.”


Revenue is up 13 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, when the company (which owns TechCrunch) reported $599.5 million in revenue, as well as EPS of 41 cents per share. That’s apparently the most that AOL revenue has grown in a decade.


Advertising revenue grew 23 percent to $507 million, while subscription revenue (insert dial-up joke here) declined another 10 percent to $156.7 million. Operating income was up 5 percent, to $71.8 million, while net income was up 1 percent, to $36 million.


The last month has been an eventful one for AOL, with the company announcing plans to spin out its hyperlocal news effort Patch (it will still own a minority stake) and acquire personalization startup Gravity — but both announcements came after the close of the quarter on December 31.


Updating





4:23 AM

AOL came in ahead of analyst estimates on revenue but not earnings in its in its fourth quarter of 2013 , reporting $679 million in revenue ...

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vaio_logo

Sony will sell off its lackluster PC division and focus on spinning off its TV business into a standalone entity by June. The company’s announcement confirms a report yesterday that Japan Industrial Partners planned to purchase the VAIO brand. The amount of the deal was not disclosed, but Nikkei reported that it may be up to 50 billion yen ($490 million).


The deal will be finalized by the end of March. Sony said it will cut 5,000 jobs worldwide by the end of this fiscal year, but the new PC company plans to hire about 250 to 500 Sony employees and continue to fill aftercare warranties. Sony will initially invest 5% of the new company’s capital to support its launch.


The sale of VAIO isn’t a big surprise, as Sony’s PC business has long underperformed its other divisions. Indeed, when Kazuo Hirai took over as president and CEO of Sony in 2012, he didn’t even list PCs as one of the company’s cornerstones. Instead, he said Sony’s future rested on digital imaging, gaming, and mobile. But even though Sony has consistently released innovative products in all three categories, including its Xperia smartphone line, its performance still lags behind competitors like Samsung and Android.


Sony also said that it expects to spend 20 billion yen restructuring its PC and TV segments, with a focus on high-end sets and 4K screens. The company hopes these changes will allow its TV arm to become profitable again by the end of fiscal 2015.


Net profit at the company has been unstable, due to in large part to increased competition. In its Q3 2013 earnings release, Sony reported a year-on-year sales increase from its mobile business, but said it still expects an annual loss of 110 billion yen (or about $1.1 billion) for all of 2013, a turnaround from its previous prediction for a profit of 30 billion yen.


While the PlayStation 4 has done very well, selling 4 million units during the holidays, the consoles have very thin margins after launch and are not expected to generate significant profit until later in the product cycle.


Sony had reported that demand for PCs was slowing down in previous financial statements, but said just yesterday that it was still considering various options for VAIO.


But it was clear that Sony had to take action quickly. At the end of January, bond credit rating agency Moody’s cut Sony’s rating from Baa3 to Ba1, meaning that it now considers the company a speculative investment. This in turn makes it harder for Sony to borrow money.


Sony’s inability to turnaround VAIO’s performance is in-line with an overall downturn in the PC market. Last month, Gartner released a preliminary set of results for the global PC market in 4Q 2013, indicating the PC sales fell 6.9% to 82.6 million units. 2013 was a low-point for PCs and laptops, with the market shrinking 10% during the year, though it is expected to stabilize in 2014.





12:39 AM

Sony will sell off its lackluster PC division and focus on spinning off its TV business into a standalone entity by June. The company’s ann...

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