Category: Tech news

When done right, brands can go way beyond a static marketing symbol — they take on a life of their own, and immerse themselves into customers’ psyches. Take the number of people who have had a Nike swoosh (or a BMW logo, or even a Facebook ‘Like’ button) tattooed onto their bodies. Many people out there see their favorite brands as extensions of their own personalities.

A startup called Plisten launched last week out of the NewMe Accelerator’s Fall 2012 class wants to let people bring together their favorite brands into one place — on to their mobile phones.

Plisten is creating apps for the iPhone and Android that will let users create “brand boards” of all the brands, products, and services that come into their lives. It’s got a Pinterest vibe, but mobile-centric and only with established corporate logos. There is also a rating function in there as well.

I could see this really appealing especially to a wide spectrum of teenagers and young adults — people in the younger set often start to find their places in life and build their identities through the brands they love, whether it’s Nine Inch Nails or Abercrombie & Fitch. It could also take off with people in certain international markets that are currently such a boon to luxury brands.

We sat down with Plisten’s founder Randy Mitchell to hear a bit more about the concept as well as the NewMe experience overall. You can watch that interview in the video embedded below. You can also see a longer pitch from Demo Day here.

Last week, seven startups launched out of the Fall 2012 class of the NewMe Accelerator, a startup incubator program for underrepresented minorities in the tech industry. NewMe is a residential program, meaning that the founders of the startups in each class all live together in the same house in San Francisco for 12 weeks, eating, sleeping, and breathing the tech startup lifestyle. Along the way they receive mentorship from some of Silicon Valley’s most respected people as they hone their company strategies.

We had six of the seven new NewMe companies stop by TechCrunch HQ to give us their quick pitches and talk a bit about NewMe and their plans going forward (one startup was tied up in investor meetings, so had to take a pass on the press — which is always a good thing!) In a series of posts going forward, we’ll give you a look at each one of these companies. You can find them all by going to TechCrunch.com/tag/NewMeFall2012.

In one of the oddest cases of an April Fool’s joke coming true, Digitimes is reporting that Foxconn is looking at opening LCD TV plants in LA or Detroit. These plants will focus on automated production lines and build mostly LCD TVs as too much hand-work is required to assemble more complex mobile electronics.

The company is also rumored to be working on a sort of engineer exchange program with MIT and will bring American engineers to China to train at Foxconn’s factories there.

We can obviously take Digitimes with a grain of salt here, but the prospect of having a plant in Detroit could revitalize old plants that are currently rusting away at the city’s core. Quality of life issues aside, this could bring manufacturing back to the rust belt in a way that few companies could.

Electronics manufacturing in America is hard because of the high cost of labor. By automating much of the process and hiring skilled workers, Foxconn could get around this problem and build an infrastructure and constellation of support services that few have seen since the heyday of the American car industry.

We’re heading into the last leg of our Northern Meetup series. Toronto and Detroit have come and gone, and we now find ourselves in the Windy City. And what a wonderfully windy city it is!

But even better than getting a good, close look at Chicago is the opportunity to meet the fine people who comprise this city’s tech scene.

Do you have tickets? If so, here’s your final reminder: Be there, or be bummed you missed it. Uber is also hooking us up with a special $10 discount on black cars for attendees that use the promotion code “TCNOVCHI12″.

There’s no strict agenda, no planned speeches or panels.

Instead, you’ll find myself, John Biggs, Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Romain Dillet, and Colleen Taylor ready and waiting to hear about your startup, venture fund, accelerator, or perhaps just your idea.

Along with our company, attendants will enjoy free beer and plenty of cool giveaways. The event starts at 6pm at Zhou B Art Center.

Apple is gearing up for the iPhone 5′s launch in China, tracking down all the necessary certifications it requires ahead of launch, and now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that China Telecom, the country’s third-largest operator, will offer it by early December, if not earlier, echoing statements made by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple’s iPhone launches in China have become nearly as important as the launch among the initial crop of countries thanks to that nation’s growing role in Apple’s revenue breakdown.

Apple reported China channel sales were up 26 percent year over year during its fiscal Q4 this year, with iPhone sales up 38 percent for the year with total revenues in the $23.8 billion range. 15 percent of Apple’s revenues came from the Greater China region, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

Cook said on last month’s earnings call that the iPhone 5 would launch in China in December, but today’s report adds more detail to that timeline, suggesting that China Telecom might have an exclusive on the device for at least some time. China Unicom told the WSJ that while they hope to offer it this year, he’s not sure that’s what will end up happening. Apple still has to achieve final regulatory approval to sell in the country, but China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu was confident that would happen sometime very soon.

China’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile, still doesn’t offer the iPhone on its network officially. Still, the carrier claims 15 million iPhone subscribers despite not being an official partners. It’ll be interesting to see how the market shakes out now that Apple’s offering LTE speeds on its iPhone, but using network technologies that are incompatible with China Mobile’s growing network.

Online designer shop Fab.com, which boasts some nine million users, is insourcing its Indian technology partner, True Sparrow Systems, by acquiring the company. The buy was reported in The Economic Times which described it as a cash and stock deal. The value of the deal was not disclosed. The paper notes it’s the first time a U.S. based ecommerce company has acquired an Indian technology startup.

True Sparrow Systems announced the acquisition on its website, with founders Deepa Shah & Nishith Shah posting the following message

We are proud to announce that Fab has acquired True Sparrow.

We had founded True Sparrow in 2007 in Pune, India. Guided with a unique culture around Make Mistakes, Get Shit Done, and Ship It, the company has worked on innovative technology products.

Along the way, we met Jason Goldberg. Together, we founded Socialmedian. And later, the three of us along with Bradford Shellhammer founded Fab. Fab is everyday design. Millions of people around the world use Fab to discover everyday design products at great prices, to connect with the world’s most exciting designers, and to share their favorite design inspirations.

True Sparrow and Fab have always been one team. And today, we are one company. Today is a new beginning. Today is a start of another remarkable journey with the Fab family.

Onwards and upwards!

True Sparrow, which has 85 staff and is based in Pune, was also a technology partner for Fabulis — the predecessor to Fab, before the company pivoted from being a social network for the gay community to an ecommerce hub for selling designer goods. True Sparrow carried on working exclusively for Fab after the pivot.

The paper quotes Fab’s cofounder and CEO Jason Goldberg commenting on the acquisition: “A large part of our success has been due to the technology team at True Sparrow. We wanted to make sure that as we make Fab into a long-term sustainable business, the technology team is a part of the company. Ours has been much more of a partnership and collaboration than outsourcing. Now, it is great to bring it together as one company.”

Nishith is also quoted as saying: “There might not be any example of an Indian technology partner as the cofounder of a US ecommerce company. It is exciting for the team to become Fab employees.”

This is tomorrow’s democracy. Barack Obama has just announced his win in the presidential election by sending a tweet and an email to supporters before going on stage in person to deliver his acceptance speech. With the subject line “How This Happened,” Obama’s email noted “I want you to know that this wasn’t fate, and it wasn’t an accident. You made this happen.”

Shortly before sending the email Obama tweeted a photo of him and his wife hugging with the description “Four more years.” It’s since become the most retweeted tweet of all time.

Four more years. http://t.co/bAJE6Vom—
Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 07, 2012

The 2012 election was a whole different ballgame thanks to technology. We gathered together on the second screen through the debates, polls, and the election itself today.

Social media isn’t just for campaigning or communicating with the tech-savvy audience anymore. It has become possibly the most vivid and persuasive way candidates interact with their supporters. And now email has become so ubiquitous that it can deliver messages of the greatest importance, like accepting the presidency of the United States of America.

Obama’s use of these digital channels to announce the news crystallizes how tech is removing the barriers between leaders and citizens. There’s no need to wait for television networks to interrupt broadcasts or get their cameras rolling. The audience doesn’t even need to tune in.

Platforms like Twitter and protocols like email give the power of distribution directly to politicians. Meanwhile the populace gains the power of redistribution. We can make our leaders’ messages go viral, and spread them to those who might not even want to listen.

The first voters in this country could only dream of how close we are now to those who are supposed to govern in our interests. Technology lets us know more about those we elect, so we can make better decisions about whether to re-elect them.

—

From: Barack Obama [email protected]

Date: Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 8:41 PM

Subject: How this happened

Friend –

I’m about to go speak to the crowd here in Chicago, but I wanted to thank you first.
I want you to know that this wasn’t fate, and it wasn’t an accident. You made this happen.
You organized yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn’t easy, you pressed forward.
I will spend the rest of my presidency honoring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started.
But I want you to take real pride, as I do, in how we got the chance in the first place.
Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests.
There’s a lot more work to do.
But for right now: Thank you.
Barack

Barack Obama has won the election! What does this mean to the future of innovation and the technology industry? Based on Obama’s record and statements released during the campaign, here’s what technologists can look forward to:

• Strong support for high-skilled immigration reform: The Startup 2.0 Act is most likely the first opportunity for reform, and probably won’t happen until next year. Specifically, the Startup 2.0 Act would increase work visa availability for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduates from American universities. Second, it would create an entrepreneurship visa for foreign workers who create jobs in the U.S. (right now, foreign workers have to be sponsored by another company, which makes it difficult to be a founder). Finally, it eliminates country-specific caps on visas. Pressure from Democrats to include immigration reforms for Mexico and other low-represented nations will be a challenge, however.

• Open Government Reform: Obama’s political appointees, Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, and Chief Information Officer, Steven VanRoekel, will continue to open the vaults of government data for use by the private sector (much like Reagan did for navigation consumer tech, when he released the Global Positioning System data)

• Continued support for government investment in clean technology, and the technology industry, through the Small Business Administration, which gives millions to investors for early stage companies and those outside the typical startup zones (i.e. California and New York).

• Strong support for STEM Education. Obama will continue to support the federal government as having an important role in preparing the next generation innovators.

The full statement of Obama’s plan can be read below, pasted form the NYTech Meetup website

Both letters are pasted below from the NYTechMeetup website:

OBAMA ========================================
Dear Members of NY Tech Meetup:
Thank you for carrying forward the entrepreneurial spirit that makes
us a nation of doers, dreamers and risk takers. You understand that
innovation and job creation occur when we make smart investments in
infrastructure and technology and build an environment that encourages
entrepreneurs to change the way we live and work.
Together we’ve used that bedrock American belief to recover and
rebuild from the worst economic crisis in a generation. Today,
entrepreneurship is at record levels and the number of business
startups is up almost 10 percent since my first year in office. And
this past Friday, we learned the unemployment rate has fallen to its
lowest level since I took office. As inventors, makers and thinkers
you’ve helped get us here, believing that if anyone has a solid plan
and is willing to work hard and play by the rules, we can turn any
idea into something.
I believe it, too. That’s why I’ve been laying the foundation for an
economy built to last through investments in infrastructure and
technology. We’re expanding broadband networks to connect businesses
large and small with markets around the World. The health care law
invests in our health IT infrastructure, improving the delivery and
management of care. Wall Street reform put a consumer protection cop
on the beat, using technology to help consumers understand their
rights when buying a home or using a credit card.
Across your government, we’ve used technology to bridge the offline
and online divide to empower citizens and build a more participatory
democracy. On my first day in office I created the position of U.S.
Chief Technology Officer so we can pursue new open data initiatives to
unleash unprecedented volumes of government data related to energy,
education, international development, public safety and other areas.
We’re unlocking our resources to fuel new products, companies and
industries and connect the next generation of entrepreneurs to freely
available government data, while rigorously protecting and respecting
privacy rights. And we recently announced the first class of
“Presidential Innovation Fellows,” talented private sector innovators
who will spend six months in Washington partnering up with the
govemment’s top innovators to meet straightforward goals: improve the
lives of the American people, save taxpayer dollars and fuel job
creation across the country.
This past April, I also signed a law to help high-growth entrepreneurs
and small businesses harness “crowdfunding” to raise capital
consistent with investor protections and make it easier for young,
high- growth firms to go public. I also launched the Startup America
Partnership to improve the environment for high-growth
entrepreneurship across the country. I encourage you to join, as we’re
focusing on unlocking access to capital to fuel startup growth,
connecting mentors and education to entrepreneurs, accelerating
innovation from “lab to market” for breakthrough technologies and
unleashing market opportunities in industries like health care, clean
energy and education.
I signed patent reform into law to help American entrepreneurs bring
inventions to market sooner, leading to new businesses, jobs and
industries. But that also depends on a regulatory system that supports
our homegrown innovations. That’s why I’ll continue to stand by you to
protect the openness of the Intemet while still enforcing intellectual
property rights.
But investments in human capital remain our strongest economic asset.
We have a start-up visa program that’s allowing foreign entrepreneurs
to establish businesses in America and create American jobs. And I
have set concrete goals to create an economy built to last, including
recruiting 100,000 math and science teachers over the next 10 years
and training 2 million workers at connnunity colleges for jobs in
fields like health care, advanced manufacturing clean energy and
information technology.
As a nation. we can’t simply cut our way to prosperity or fall back to
the top-down, trickle-down economics that benefits the few, but guts
investments in our country’s future that grow our economy — and your
startups. But that’s the choice in this election between two
fundamentally different paths for our country, between moving forward
and falling back.
As your president, I will continue to stand by you because if we
combine our creativity. our innovation and our optimism, we can
achieve anything. And the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about
the future is because of all of you. You’ll be the next entrepreneur
to turn a big idea into something — a new invention or an entire new
industry. That’s the promise of America; that’s what this country is
all about.
That is the legacy of Edison and Bell. That is the story of Google and
Twitter. That is what landed NASA’s Curiosity on Mars, reminding us
that our preeminence — not just in space. but here on Earth — depends
on investing wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research
that has always made the United States the envy of the world.
So keep doing and dreaming and moving our country forward.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama

Founded in 2007, Flat World Knowledge was one of the early pioneers in the move to bring free and open access to textbooks to students and educators. The independent publisher offered its learning content for free, giving students the access to texts in print, eBook form, eReaders, audiobooks and downloadable PDFs, etc. Produced by actual authors and reviewed by peers, Flat World allows teachers to modify and edit those texts to fit their particular class through its own simple editing tools, printing new copies on-demand.

With customizable, free texts on-demand, Flat World’s model won over many students, leading the company to claim that it had become one of the largest online publishers of free and open textbooks. Be that as it may, while many (aside from the big educational publishers) support the movement to make textbooks and educational content significantly more affordable — and even free — finding workable business models that support free and open access has proven challenging.

This week, Campus Marketplace reported that Flat World Knowledge has been forced to drop its free access to textbooks. The decision was made largely because of the cost of supporting free access. In other words it was a business decision that many have or will face as part of the shift to open learning.

Flat World offers its learning content for free, but charges for more convenient ways to access material for print or beefed-up versions and for study aids. By eliminating its free option, the company hopes to make its pricing more equitable for all of its institutional partners so that everyone is paying the same price.

The company will still offer bookstore partners to its so-called “All Access Pass” that includes a digital version of its textbooks, such as eBook files, PDFs, audio, HTML functionality and study aids for $28 and will sell the pass on its homepage for $35. Textbooks themselves will start at $19.95.

It’s not a huge change for students or partners, and nearly all of the company’s partners are on board with the move (as, obviously, are the teachers and experts producing the textbooks), according to The Chronicle of Higher Ed. Even if students end up paying $20 to $25 for their textbooks, it’s still a very attractive alternative to the cost of traditional textbooks.

Obviously, the company does not want to say that its free content is cannibalizing the revenue generated from charging students and institutions for premium features and content, but it’s clear that the company didn’t quite get the balance right.

The big textbook publishers, who have warned about jumping into the deep end and offering learning content for free — because they’re obviously worried about the de-valuation of educational content and the slimmer margins of the digital publishing world — are probably enjoying this announcement somewhat. Flat World was one of the first (though hardly alone, iTunes U, 11 Learning and Boundless have all been pushing forward in this space) to go head-to-head against traditional publishers and has made some progress, as its textbooks are now in 4,000 classrooms at 2,000 schools worldwide.

Many have followed and progress has been made in the quality of open content (and the quality of its curation), as well as the availability of digital options as the bigs (Amazon, Apple) and companies like Inkling and Kno try to reduce prices — or at the very least make digital textbooks more widely available. Unfortunately, although Flat World would never admit it, this announcement certainly serves as validation of the doubt over Open Educational Resources (OER) as a business concept.

Flat World has been a pioneer and some we’ve talked to assumed it might choose to go out of business before asking students to pay. But the world at large is coming back a bit from the overwhelming sense of entitlement to free content, and expectations are shifting. We’re moving to a time when publishers won’t be able to get away with charging $100 for a textbook, but there’s also mounting evidence that free isn’t exactly going to work either. Unless you’re a non-profit with significant financial backing, like CK12.

In its effort to challenge proposed regulations that would lead to the shutdown of its black car service in Chicago, Uber is trying to recruit supporters via an online petition at Change.org.

The petition, which you can read (and if you’re so inclined, sign) here, is titled: “Chicago BACP: Don’t Kill Uber! Remove the No Measured Rates Provision.” The problems, according to both the petition and earlier statements from the company, lie in sections that prohibit limo companies from using electronic measurement devices and the use of time- or distance-based charges. Uber’s argument: Limo companies in Chicago already charge this way, they’re just doing it with less precision. So the petition is asking for Chicago regulators to drop the rules.

Allen Penn, the general manager of Uber Chicago, told me that the petition launched yesterday, and thus far, the company has focused on promoting the petition to people in Chicago, rather than the full Uber user base — though it will be expanding its efforts throughout the week. The company is shooting for 5,000 signatures total, and as of 5:50 p.m. Pacific, the petition had around 1,900.

Penn said that Uber’s initial blog post saw support in other ways, with over 1,000 shares on Facebook and up to 1,000 tweets to the mayor’s office in the first day alone. However, politicians who aren’t forward-thinking about tech and social media will probably be more impressed by the petition than by Facebook sharing stats. It also illustrates that this isn’t just Uber fighting regulations, but also customers, drivers, and others interested in Chicago’s culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. And Penn noted that the petition is a gateway to further participation — for example, when you sign the petition, Change.org can also shoot off an email to the mayor and other politicians.

“We feel like we have an obligation to let our clients know that this is going on, and that you can have a voice in this,” he said.

Uber also found some success with this approach in Washington, D.C., where Uber has also run afoul of regulators, but also managed to muster some political support.

The comment period on the new regulations closes on Friday, November 9, with the outcome announced at an indeterminate point after that, Penn said.

Kiip, a company that allows app developers to embed both real-world and virtual rewards and achievements within their own app has announced version 2 of its API this evening, and it sets the company up to step outside of its gaming genre.

Basically, the company is surfacing a new system that records achievements within apps, which it calls “Moments.” Up until recently, Kiip was known for giving you say, a Starbucks gift card, for reaching a certain level in a game. That opened up doors to new types of advertising opportunities for its partners, and Brian Wong, Kiip’s CEO, tells me that it’s time to go to the next level.

It’s not about mobile-only moving forward, as I broke earlier this year. HTML5 support is indeed on the way, which will open up all types of opportunities for all involved: Kiip, developers and brands.

Here’s what Wong told me tonight:

This helps position Kiip much more diversified beyond the “game achievement” and into our internal initiative “Kiip everywhere”. This enables our concept of “spot-rewarding” – instant gratification rewards – to be so much more ubiquitous. A powerful API is the core to our product growth next year.

The company shared the details with developers on its blog as well:

Goodbye Achievements and Leaderboards

Kiip is introducing a completely new system for recording the moments of achievemnt in your application. Simply, “Moments”.

For existing applications, all existing achievements and leaderboards have been migrated to Moments. This should not effect your application in any way.

You’ll notice if you log-in to app.kiip.me that there is a tab named “Moments”. This shows you what moments have been sent to your application.

Creating New Moments

No more adding achievements and leaderboards manually – just simple save a moment and we’ll automatically show it to you on the dashboard.

Using our new SDK’s, it’s as simple as:

[[Kiip sharedInstance] saveMoment:@”Hello World” withCompletionHandler:nil];
You can download the SDK and follow a guide over at docs.kiip.me, our new documentation center.

What all of this means is that some things will change for developers over time, as far as how they integrate Kiip within their app. The language and framework changes are new opportunities to recognize moments that can generate more revenue for the small and large teams that use Kiip’s SDK.

Kiip has published a glossary that will help developers as the company deprecates some of its older functionality. The company has raised over $15M to date and is changing the way that brands and developers connect to provide rewards and opportunities for users.

Also, Kiip hired this guy. Remember him?

Just when you thought that the site Delicious was dead and gone, it’s back…again. Since being acquired by AVOS, headed up by YouTube co-founders, the site has had a few revamps. It was purchased from Yahoo! last year, and at the time, Yahoo! said this about that group: “As creators of the largest online video platform, they have firsthand experience enabling millions of users to share their experiences with the world. They are committed to running and improving Delicious going forward.”

The service was, and is, all about collecting and sharing links to things that you find interesting. Yes, this was also the premise of Digg, and kind of the premise of Reddit, but the Delicious team isn’t giving up. Digg didn’t either after it sold to Betaworks, so sure…why the hell not?

Today, the team has announced a brand new demo site to get a taste of the near-future for Delicious. It’s clean, fast and goes back to the Delicious roots in a way. The company says that it’s not complete, but wants your feedback. The site is definitely more user driven. When Yahoo! purchased it and half-announced its sunsetting, the community cried foul. AVOS saved the day.

With a focus on discovering things and not just saving links, you might actually find some interesting news on the new Delicious.

It kind of looks like the very early version of Digg, doesn’t it (circa February 2005):

Here’s what the team had to say:

We’re proud of what we built and we hope you’ll like it too! This is just the start of what’s to come. More will be revealed as new features get released, but for now, we wanted to share a few of our guiding principles:

Community Matters
The Delicious community is a passionate bunch – consuming millions of links every day while collecting the best content on the net. In the future, we’ll make it easier for users to not only save their own links, but to discover the most interesting bits and bytes on the web by leveraging the crowd-sourced wisdom of our community.

Need for Speed
We want Delicious to be fast. Really fast! To that end, we rewrote the codebase and streamlined the user interface. Content now renders instantly and can be consumed in a single pageview – making it even easier to navigate the site.

Mobile Friendly
With our new iOS app (currently in development) users will be able to access their links wherever they go, and we have a roadmap in place to improve the way Delicious is consumed across a multitude of devices. So whether you’re an Apple fan or an Android loyalist, don’t worry, we have you covered!

Take a look at this screenshot, which shows a full-blown profile:

It looks a little bit like a dashboard for you to run through all of the bits and pieces you’ve collected on the web. I’ve stopped using Delicious, but there really is a need for a good service like this. There are apps like Pocket that handle this quite well now, but the online component is still important as far as I’m concerned.

Personally, I like this better than the Pinterest crap they pulled earlier this year. I really really didn’t like it:

Will people bite? Will the original users love it? Time will tell.

Yesterday, Instagram launched web profiles. To some, they’re lovely. To others, they’re long overdue. And to a great many, they’re ho-hum — an obvious way to inject yet another zinger about Facebook buying the startup for a billion dollars (but actually *only* $700-something million — ZING!).

To me, these profiles are actually a very clear window into why Facebook would spend so much money to acquire Instagram. These profiles realize the unfulfilled vision of Facebook’s Timeline feature and perhaps take it a step further.

Right now, looking at my own Instagram profile is fun. It’s a nice way to revisit my recent pictures. With a simple tweak to better surface images from my history, it becomes pure, powerful nostalgia.

But looking at the profiles of other people is even more revealing. It’s a visual representation of someone to an extent that hasn’t been achieved before. And it’s created without the user having to do any work beyond what they’ve already done (taking the initial picture). These profiles say a lot about a person — all without saying a word.

Looking at the profiles of people I know is pretty potent. It’s unmistakably them, but in a way I hadn’t considered before. It’s a visual autobiography.

When you hear that Instagram’s user growth trajectory has them set to eclipse Twitter — perhaps even next year — and that their daily usage numbers may already have, it’s shocking at first. But it shouldn’t be shocking at all. Words are hard. Typing takes effort. People are worried they’re going to say something stupid. There are language barriers. A 140 character limit helps a bit, but it also hurts in other ways.

Pictures are universal. Smartphones have made them realtime, all the time. And apps like Instagram have turned them into a visual language. It was the perfect storm at the perfect time to create a new form of communication.

The single most important thing that Instagram has done is turn everyone into a picture-taker. You may be a great one. You may think you’re a great one. Or you may be a shitty one. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re taking pictures. You’re communicating and documenting your life in a way most people never would or will with text.

When you’re just taking one picture, you may not realize you’re recording a passage in the book of you, but you are. And the fact that these pictures are geotagged and timestamped is the binding of this book.

It’s the visual profile of you. And as 100 million Instagram users meld into 1 billion Facebook users, it’s the visual profile of everyone.

Facebook’s Timeline feature was and is genius. But it’s too complicated. Events, job milestones, travel, marriages, break-ups, text, photos, videos, etc. The fact that most of it has to be added manually in the present day is bad enough. But the true power of Timeline should be the entire timeline of your life — only no one is going to go back to add those elements from the past. And even if they wanted to, it’s hard to remember all the correct data.

I always thought it would be smart for Facebook to offer to scan collections of old pictures for free. Just have people send them in or work with Walmart to scan them in store and immediately put them into Timeline. If they have timestamps, it would be pretty simple. If not, create a tool to let users easily place bundles in the general date range of when they were taken and where. Boom. Instant actual Timeline — not just Timeline from 2008 (or whenever you signed up for Facebook).

This would be both an incredible powerful user lock-in agent for Facebook and, more importantly, a killer feature for users. I must have 10,000 photos under my old bed in Ohio. I’m not sure I’ll ever look at them again, which is both ridiculous and sad.

Instagram is the key to Timeline going forward — but indirectly. Photos have always been an important element of Facebook (and some would argue the most important element of Facebook). Before the prevalence of smartphones, getting them into Facebook was far too cumbersome. And even with smartphones, Facebook wasn’t best-suited for this because not everyone was a photo-taker all the time.

Facebook’s scale quickly made them the largest photo service, but it wasn’t because it was a great photo service by any means.

This is why Facebook developed and released their own Camera app. It was never going to be Instagram, but they wanted to try to capture the spirit of everyone taking pictures all the time. Along the way, they were able to capture Instagram itself. A truly brilliant move.

The other brilliant move: allowing Instagram to continue to exist as a stand-alone service. The many other elements of Facebook would clutter and distort the visual language Instagram has created. The idea should be to use these images to augment the more robust Facebook, but keep the picture network intact and seamless. Nothing can halt a great conversation in Japanese faster than someone yelling in French.

More so than ever before in our history, the picture is a form of expression and communication that can rival the written word. And in many ways, it’s better. We’re seeing this play out right now. It’s the actualization of “a picture is worth a thousand words” at scale.

That, in turn, is easily worth $1 billion. Give or take.

Earlier today, we noticed that Google was showing an increasing number of its users a new search results page with more whitespace and without a sidebar. At the time, we assumed this was an experiment, but Google has now made this new design official.

According to Google, the idea here is to provide users with a consistent search experience “across the side variety of devices and screen sizes people use today.” By doing away with the sidebar and moving the search options to a bar on top of the search results page, Google now has more room for its Knowledge Graph results.

Until now, Google showed its advanced search options in a sidebar on the left side of the screen, but these options have now moved to a bar at the top of the search results. Many of these options, it’s worth noting, are quite similar to those that appear in the black sandbar at the top of the page (think Images, Maps, Shopping etc.).

As Google notes that the advanced search tools themselves aren’t changing. A quick click on the “Search tools” options brings up virtually the same options as before.

For now, only users in the U.S. will see the new design. Google plans to bring it to users in other languages and regions soon.

Here is the full announcement:

You’ll notice a new simpler, cleaner design on the search results page — we’ve been working on ways to create a consistent search experience across the wide variety of devices and screen sizes people use today. We started with tablets last year, got it to mobile phones a few weeks ago, and are now rolling out to the desktop.

With the new design, there’s a bit more breathing room, and more focus on the answers you’re looking for, whether from web results or from a feature like the Knowledge Graph:

The same advanced tools you’re used to are still there when you need them. Just click on “Search tools” to filter or drill down on your results:

It’s going out to Google.com users in the U.S. to start, and we want to get it to users in other languages and regions as soon as we can. We hope you enjoy this design refresh — let us know what you think on our Google+ page.

iZettle, the European Square-a-like mobile payment dongle plus app service that’s raised €42.6 million($54.6 million) to-date, continues to bulk up its activity in Europe. Today it’s officially launching in the U.K. — having operated in beta since May. iZettle currently has 4,000 U.K. users — around 5 percent of its total user-base — and said interest in its system during the trial phase has been “enormous.”

iZettle has partnered exclusively with carrier EE for its formal U.K. service launch — iZettle CEO and co-founder, Jacob de Geer said the exclusivity with EE will “last for some time” but anticipates working with other U.K. carriers once it expires.

EE is the joint venture behind U.K. 3G carriers Orange and T-Mobile, and also operates the country’s first 4G mobile network, 4GEE, which launched at the end of last month. De Geer said the partnership covers all three of EE’s brands — not just its 4G network. Other partners on the U.K. launch are MasterCard and Amex, he said.

iZettle is currently used by more than 75,000 small businesses and individuals in six European countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the U.K. In the latter country, the iZettle/EE offering kicks off tomorrow when the startup’s mini chip-card readers will go on sale in 297 EE stores and via EE’s telesales channel (iZettle will also continue to sell the card readers direct via its website).

EE is not offering iZettle’s dongle in all its stores, but rather targeting stores in areas where the small business market is likely to shop, according to Gerry McQuade, Chief Marketing Officer at EE.

As with other mobile payment dongle services, such as the Rocket Internet-fuelled Payleven, iZettle’s service is being marketed to small businesses and tradespeople — such as electricians and plumbers — as an alternative to chasing cash payments. (It should be noted that Square has branched out from this market, adding support for its payment dongle from multinational juggernaut Starbucks.) EE has commissioned research to back the launch which claims small electrician, plumbing and building firms in the U.K. are currently owed up to £283m collectively as a result of late cash payments.

Of course, unlike cash payments, iZettle payments carry a fee — namely 2.75 percent of the transaction amount. iZettle does not charge a set-up fee (beyond the cost of the dongle) or a monthly fee on top of this. There’s no minimum spend limit either. Merchants using iZettle can accept customer payments by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club, so clearly iZettle has put its Visa acceptance issues behind it (de Geer confirmed to TechCrunch: “We now are able to offer Visa acceptance to all our merchants.”).

The dongle will cost £20 in EE stores, and includes a £20 voucher that can be put towards iZettle transaction fees. It’s compatible with iPhones, iPads, and more than a dozen Android 2.1 and higher smartphones and tablets.

iZettle’s system uses a chip and sign method for payments, rather than the magnetic swipe system used by Square. This was a factor for EE choosing iZettle over rivals, according to McQuade. He told TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher: “We did talk to people like Mastercard to get views on where this part of the industry is going so yeah [the chip system rather than magnetic strip] was a factor but there’s no doubt just the simplicity of [iZettle] is very, very strong.”

Customers paying via iZettle insert their cards into the dongle once the merchant has entered the amount and signs the transaction using their finger on the touchscreen. Payment receipts are sent digitally via email.

McQuade added that EE had been looking into the mobile payments market for more than a year, with help from Mastercard — and had looked at “just about everythng that was there” (presumably including Square) before finally settling on iZettle. “We do think this is better [than Square],” he told TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher. “We had looked at it and we’re much more comfortable with this.  I think it fits what we believe in in terms of simplicity.”

U.S. mobile payments company Square hasn’t launched in Europe yet — although CEO Jack Dorsey has signalled his intention to take the company beyond the U.S., and recently raised a $200 million Series D round to fuel geographical expansion. In the meantime, iZettle, Payleven and others are racing to acquire customers and build marketshare ahead of what must surely be some inevitable consolidation in the m-payments space.

Asked about the increasingly competitive landscape for mobile payments, iZettle’s de Geer told TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher: “It’s getting competitive but you haven’t seen much of Payleven, even though they said they’ve launched [in the U.K.] — so it’s going to be exciting to see what and if they actually launch and when.

“With regards to Square I think it makes sense for them not to focus too much on Europe — there’s already a battle over here.”

The gifting space has been very hot lately in the web world — Facebook is even seeing gift-giving as having major potential for boosting its revenue — and now another brand new startup is throwing its hat into the ring. Given.to made its official debut last week at NewMe Accelerator’s Fall 2012 Demo Day with the aim of making pitching in money with a group of people to buy a gift for someone “stress-free, and guess-free.”

Given’s founder Michael Washington tells us that his company has made a platform that lets people create wish lists of things that they actually want. Then, their friends and families can use Given to pitch in as little as $1 toward buying one of those items as a gift. These potential gifts go from physical items such as iPads, to digital items such as mobile apps, to actual experiences such as vacations. The entire thing is integrated with PayPal to ensure that the financial aspect is safe and secure. At the moment, Washington says, the company is testing its platform in beta mode, with a more widescale launch planned for the near future.

Given is not without competitors — recent Y Combinator grad CrowdTilt is one startup that does a similar thing — but that can just go to illustrate how much of an opportunity is here. The Given app looks slick and simple, which is what’s needed to appeal to a mass audience. It’ll be a good one to watch going forward.

Last week, seven startups launched out of the Fall 2012 class of the NewMe Accelerator, a startup incubator program for underrepresented minorities in the tech industry. NewMe is a residential program, meaning that the founders of the startups in each class all live together in the same house in San Francisco for 12 weeks, eating, sleeping, and breathing the tech startup lifestyle. Along the way they receive mentorship from some of Silicon Valley’s most respected people as they hone their company strategies.

We had six of the seven new NewMe companies stop by TechCrunch HQ to give us their quick pitches and talk a bit about NewMe and their plans going forward (one startup was tied up in investor meetings, so had to take a pass on the press — which is always a good thing!) In a series of posts going forward, we’ll give you a look at each one of these companies. You can find them all by going to TechCrunch.com/tag/NewMeFall2012.