Category: Tech news

Ellen Siminoff, President, and CEO of Shmoop University, an educational publishing company, and a founding executive at Yahoo, joined Zynga’s board of directors today. Siminoff joins DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, LinkedIn Founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman, Sidecar Rideshare CEO Sunil Paul,  Kleiner Perkins Partner Bing Gordon, LinkedIn board member Stanley J. Meresman, Zynga EVP of Business Owen Van Natta, Zynga COO John Schappert and Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus on the gaming giant’s board.

Siminoff’s background and comments about extending Zynga’s platform could signal a push towards the intersection of online education and gaming. But the board does have a very diverse set of backgrounds, and we’ve speculated about board members changing Zynga’s direction before, so take it with a grain of salt.

“Zynga is truly about deep connections between people and the company has built a significant, engaged player community around the benefits of play and social,” Siminoff said in a press release. “I admire this vision and I look forward to working with Mark and my fellow directors to leverage Zynga’s tremendous success and extend its consumer facing platform for play even further.”

The popular game maker, whose titles include FarmVille and Words With Friends, faces increasing competition and sliding stock performance. However, their significant cash reserves are a significant advantage over competitors.

Siminoff also serves on the boards of US Auto Parts, Solarwinds, Mozilla and Journal Communications.

Google SVP and chief business officer Nikesh Arora touted growth at YouTube on the company’s earnings call today, saying that the company had finally found a business model that works for the giant video site. Without giving firm numbers, Arora said the site had come a long way since 2007, when some of us in the press questioned YouTube’s ability to monetize what was then a largely user-generated content site. “We found our model,” he said.

“YouTube unites the world through video,” Arora continued. He noted several recent milestones to support that claim, including the site’s participation in this year’s Summer Olympics. YouTube will be the live streaming platform for NBC Universal in the U.S., and it will also be providing video coverage of the events for more than 60 other countries around the world.

Arora talked up growth in monetization for its content partners. He said that the site now had thousands of partners now making more than six figures a year. For those keeping track at home, that’s hundreds of millions of dollars going to content producers on the platform. YouTube also had a big digital upfront event for YouTube content, which was attended by more than 1,300 clients. At that event, it received significant commitments for ad buys from Unilever and American Express.

During the Q&A session, he said that Google had been doing work to show how effective video ads were on YouTube as compared to traditional TV advertising. While performance-based advertisers judge their ROI based on the number of clicks that YouTube viewers register, brand advertisers don’t have the same tools to measure the return they get. To measure that, YouTube’s been doing panels in certain areas. The result? Arora claims that YouTube ads show a higher ROI than TV ads for brand advertisers. Not just that, but given the number of views and viewers, as well as the comparative CPMs between online and TV, YouTube could provide greater reach than comparable TV adverts.

Google just announced its second quarter 2012 earnings this afternoon, reporting revenues of $12.21 billion, an increase of 35% from the first quarter ending March 31, which saw revenues of $10.65 billion. Minus traffic acquisition costs, Google pulled in $9.61 billion in revenue. Non-GAAP EPS in the quarter was $10.12. GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2012 was $2.79 billion, compared to $2.51 billion in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.35 billion, compared to $2.85 billion in the second quarter of 2011.

Google was expected to report double-digit gains in both revenue and earnings, along with its first period results from its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Consensus forecasts pegged Google to report adjusted earnings of $10.05 per share and revenues of $8.4 billion, excluding traffic costs.

Since the last earnings report, investors had been pressuring shares down 7% since mid-April, mainly due to concerns about trends in the company’s advertising business. As of this morning, shares had remained down 10% year-to-date.

Analysts were also looking to see more info regarding the Motorola acquisition. Google bought Motorola Mobility last year for $12.5 billion. The assets and liabilities of Motorola were included in Google Inc.’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2012, and the operating results of Motorola were included in Google Inc.’s Consolidated Statement of Income from the acquisition date through June 30, 2012. CFO Patrick Pichette noted, “We can expect Motorola to continue to show some accounting variability, as is typical with the closing of such large transactions.”

Motorola revenues were $1.25 billion ($843 million from the mobile segment and $407 million from the home segment), or 10% of consolidated revenues in the second quarter of 2012. $62 million of the $193 million in amortization expenses was as a result of the acquisition of Motorola, of which $32 million was allocated to Google and $30 million was allocated to Motorola.

The acquisition also added 20,293 employees, bringing Google’s total headcount to 54,604. As one TechCrunch reporter just noted, “OK, so Google is a small town.” Yep, basically.

Revenue from Google-owned sites was $7.54 billion, or 69% of Google revenues, in the second quarter of 2012. This represents a 21% increase over second quarter 2011 Google sites revenues of $6.23 billion.

“Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21% year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O – in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews,” said Larry Page, Google CEO. “This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.”

Details from the earnings call will follow. Larry Page is not expected to be on, because he “lost his voice,” (which is hopefully not a side effect of Google Glass).

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Below is the full release:

Q2 Financial Summary

Google Inc. completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (Motorola) on May 22, 2012 (the acquisition date). The assets and liabilities of Motorola were included in Google Inc.’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2012, and the operating results of Motorola were included in Google Inc.’s Consolidated Statement of Income from the acquisition date through June 30, 2012. CFO Patrick Pichette noted, “We can expect Motorola to continue to show some accounting variability, as is typical with the closing of such large transactions.”

Google Inc. reported consolidated revenues of $12.21 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, an increase of 35% compared to the second quarter of 2011. Google Inc. reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the second quarter of 2012, TAC totaled $2.60 billion, or 25% of advertising revenues.

Operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) are reported on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures at the end of this release.

GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.20 billion, or 26% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $2.88 billion, or 32% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.95 billion, or 32% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $3.32 billion, or 37% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2011.

GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2012 was $2.79 billion, compared to $2.51 billion in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.35 billion, compared to $2.85 billion in the second quarter of 2011.

GAAP EPS in the second quarter of 2012 was $8.42 on 331 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $7.68 in the second quarter of 2011 on 326 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the second quarter of 2012 was $10.12, compared to $8.74 in the second quarter of 2011.

Non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin exclude the expenses related to stock-based compensation (SBC) and severance and benefit arrangements in connection with the Motorola acquisition in the second quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS exclude the expenses noted above, net of the related tax benefit. In the second quarter of 2012, the expense related to SBC and the related tax benefits were $565 million and $135 million, compared to $435 million and $91 million in the second quarter of 2011. In the second quarter of 2012, the charge related to severance and benefit arrangements in connection with the Motorola acquisition was $182 million and the related tax benefit was $51 million.

Q2 Financial Highlights

Revenues and Other Information – On a consolidated basis, Google Inc. revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 was $12.21 billion, an increase of 35% compared to the second quarter of 2011.

Google Revenues (advertising and other) – Google revenues were $10.96 billion, or 90% of consolidated revenues, in the second quarter of 2012, representing a 21% increase over second quarter 2011 revenues of $9.03 billion.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $7.54 billion, or 69% of Google revenues, in the second quarter of 2012. This represents a 21% increase over second quarter 2011 Google sites revenues of $6.23 billion.

Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues of $2.98 billion, or 27% of Google revenues, in the second quarter of 2012. This represents a 20% increase from second quarter 2011 Google network revenues of $2.48 billion.

Google International Revenues – Google revenues from outside of the United States totaled $5.96 billion, representing 54% of Google revenues in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 54% in the first quarter of 2012 and 54% in the second quarter of 2011.

Foreign Exchange Impact on Google Revenues – Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2012 through the second quarter of 2012, our Google revenues in the second quarter of 2012 would have been $68 million higher. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2011 through the second quarter of 2012, our Google revenues in the second quarter of 2012 would have been $350 million higher.

Google revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $1.18 billion, representing 11% of Google revenues in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 11% in the second quarter of 2011.

In the second quarter of 2012, we recognized a benefit of $81 million to Google revenues through our foreign exchange risk management program, compared to $4 million in the second quarter of 2011.

Reconciliations of our consolidated non-GAAP international revenues and Google non-GAAP international revenues excluding the impact of foreign exchange and hedging to consolidated GAAP international revenues and Google GAAP international revenues are included at the end of this release.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, increased approximately 42% over the second quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 1% over the first quarter of 2012.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, decreased approximately 16% over the second quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 1% over the first quarter of 2012.

TAC – Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $2.60 billion in the second quarter of 2012, compared to $2.11 billion in the second quarter of 2011. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 25% in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 24% in the second quarter of 2011.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our Network members, which totaled $2.09 billion in the second quarter of 2012. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $507 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Motorola Revenues (hardware and other) – Motorola revenues were $1.25 billion ($843 million from the mobile segment and $407 million from the home segment), or 10% of consolidated revenues in the second quarter of 2012.

Other Cost of Revenues – Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, amortization of intangible assets, content acquisition costs, credit card processing charges, and manufacturing and inventory-related costs, increased to $2.41 billion, or 20% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2012, compared to $1.06 billion, or 12% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2011.

Operating Expenses – Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $4.0 billion in the second quarter of 2012, or 33% of revenues, compared to $2.97 billion in the second quarter of 2011, or 33% of revenues.

Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) – In the second quarter of 2012, the total charge related to SBC was $658 million, of which $93 million was related to severance and benefit arrangements in connection with the Motorola acquisition, compared to $435 million in the second quarter of 2011.

We currently estimate SBC charges for grants to employees prior to June 30, 2012 to be approximately $2.6 billion for 2012. This estimate does not include expenses to be recognized related to employee stock awards that are granted after June 30, 2012 or non-employee stock awards that have been or may be granted.

Amortization Expenses – Amortization expenses of acquisition-related intangible assets were $193 million in the second quarter of 2012, compared to $106 million in the second quarter of 2011. Of the $193 million, $62 million was as a result of the acquisition of Motorola, of which $32 million was allocated to Google and $30 million was allocated to Motorola.

Operating Income – On a consolidated basis, GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.20 billion, or 26% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $2.88 billion, or 32% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.95 billion, or 32% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $3.32 billion, or 37% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2011.

Google Operating Income – GAAP operating income for Google was $3.44 billion, or 31% of Google revenues, in the second quarter of 2012. This compares to GAAP operating income of $2.88 billion, or 32% of Google revenues, in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2012 was $3.99 billion, or 36% of Google revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $3.32 billion in the second quarter of 2011, or 37% of Google revenues.

Motorola Operating Loss – GAAP operating loss for Motorola was $233 million ($192 million for the mobile segment and $41 million for the home segment), or -19% of Motorola revenues in the second quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP operating loss for Motorola in the second quarter of 2012 was $38 million, or -3% of Motorola revenues.

Interest and Other Income, Net – Interest and other income, net increased to $254 million in the second quarter of 2012, compared to $204 million in the second quarter of 2011.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 19% for the second quarter of 2012.

Net Income – GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2012 was $2.79 billion, compared to $2.51 billion in the second quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP net income was $3.35 billion in the second quarter of 2012, compared to $2.85 billion in the second quarter of 2011. GAAP EPS in the second quarter of 2012 was $8.42 on 331 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $7.68 in the second quarter of 2011 on 326 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the second quarter of 2012 was $10.12, compared to $8.74 in the second quarter of 2011.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures – Net cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter of 2012 totaled $4.25 billion, compared to $3.52 billion in the second quarter of 2011. In the second quarter of 2012, capital expenditures were $774 million, the majority of which was related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the second quarter of 2012, free cash flow was $3.48 billion.

We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the GAAP measure of liquidity, is included at the end of this release.

Cash – As of June 30, 2012, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $43.1 billion.

Headcount – On a worldwide basis, we employed 54,604 full-time employees (34,311 in our Google business and 20,293 in our Motorola business) as of June 30, 2012, compared to 33,077 full-time employees as of March 31, 2012.

Microsoft just released its Q4 2012 earnings report, posting just $192M in operating income before taxes and its first ever loss ($492M) due to the writedown the company took because of its failed aQuantive acquisition. Revenue for this quarter was $18.06, up from $17.41 billion in the last quarter and $17.37 billion in Q4 2011. Loss per share – and this is the first time Microsoft reported a negative EPS in its history – was $0.06.

Analysts previously expected Microsoft to post around $18.13 billion in revenue and earnings per share were expected to be around $0.62 on earnings of around $5.3 billion. These numbers don’t reflect the aQuantive writedown, however. In the year-ago quarter, Microsoft reported a profit of $5.9 billion and $4.5 billion in Q4 2010.

For the full fiscal year, Microsoft reported revenue, operating income, and earnings per share of $73.72 billion, $21.76 billion, and $2.00 per share. Adjusting for the goodwill impairment charge (that is, the aQuantive writedown) and deferred revenue, Microsoft says non-GAAP fiscal year 2012 revenue, operating income, and earnings per share were $74.26 billion, $28.50 billion, and $2.78 per share, increases of 6%, 5%, and 5%, respectively, over adjusted non-GAAP fiscal year 2011 figures.

“We delivered record fourth quarter and annual revenue, and we’re fast approaching the most exciting launch season in Microsoft history,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft in a canned statement. “Over the coming year, we’ll release the next versions of Windows, Office, Windows Server, Windows Phone, and many other products and services that will drive our business forward and provide unprecedented opportunity to our customers and partners.”

Ahead of today’s announcement, some analysts already expected Microsoft to post its first loss in its 26-year history due to its flopped 2007 acquisition of digital advertising firm aQuantive. Because of this, the Q4 numbers include a $6.2 billion writedown to reflect the lower value of Microsoft’s Online Services Division. The Online Services Division, which is also the home of Bing, has increased its revenue of the last few years but still posted a loss of $479 million last quarter. This quarter, revenue for the Online Services Division grew another 8% and loss was down to $266 million.

Here are the numbers for all of Microsoft’s divisions:

• Windows and Windows Live: $4.15 billion revenue, 1% decrease because of Windows Upgrade Offer deferral (see below)
• Business Division: $6.29 billion revenue, up 7%
• Server & Tools: $5.09 billion revenue, 13% increase
• Online Services: $0.74 billion revenue, 8% increase
• Entertainment and Devices: $1.79 billion revenue, 20% increase

Last month, Microsoft also announced that it would defer between $450 million to $550 million it expects to make from its $14.99 Windows 8 upgrade offer.

Besides taking the writedown on the aQuantive acquisition, though, Microsoft, of course, had a very interesting last quarter. The company acquired Yammer for $1.2 billion and made a $300 million investment in Barnes & Noble. The company also acquired $1 billion worth of patents from TechCrunch parent company AOL and then sold 650 of these 925 patents to Facebook for $550 million in cash (and licensed the rest to Facebook as well). In addition, Microsoft also announced its Surface tablet computer which will go on sale after the release of Windows 8 in October.

With Windows 8 coming out soon, chances are that some PC buyers are postponing their purchases until the fall, which is partly responsible for the slowdown in PC sales. Microsoft’s Windows Division, which also includes Windows Live, posted some gains last quarter.

The first Firefox OS (formerly Boot to Gecko) devices aren’t slated to ship until the beginning of next year, but if some new screenshots are any indication, the project is coming along rather nicely.

TechWeekEurope managed to get their hands on a whole host of new images of the fledgling open web-friendly operating system, though the version depicted may not be the version that every carrier gets.

For an operating system that’s meant to be loaded on low-end, Qualcomm-powered, introductory smartphones (at first, anyway), Firefox OS has turned out to be quite the looker. That said, it’s hard not to look for similarities between these new images and other mobile operating systems on the market, and there are a fair number to be found. The black status bar that runs along the top of the screen for instance seems rather iOS-esque, some of the typography is reminiscent of that seen in Windows Phone 7, and as Business Insider points out some apps have Android-y feeling about them.

In any case, things aren’t ready for primetime yet, but the featured build sports far more polish than the versions Mozilla has trotted out in the past few months. Just for a bit of perspective, compare these very early peeks at the project…

…to their updated counterparts:

In case the temptation to play with Firefox OS is just too strong to bear, fear not — Mozilla has you covered. Earlier this month, Mozilla team members released desktop-friendly versions of the OS to install and play with. There are a few caveats though, prime among them being the fact that getting things set up in the first can be a mite tricky unless you’re handy with a command line and are familiar with GitHub. What’s more, those builds are meant for developers and can’t be loaded up onto compatible smartphones or tablets, though that’s probably less of a concern for most people.

One thing to note though is that what you get in those nightly builds is slightly different than the images seen above. Though Mozilla didn’t respond at time of writing, it may be because the images given to TechWeekEurope are of a build loaded up with carrier customizations (possibly courtesy of early partner Telefonica), something that Mozilla has been very supportive of. Mozilla announced recently that it has locked up support from a handful of new carrier partners including Smart, Sprint, Etisalat, Telenor, and more, so there may be plenty more versions of Firefox OS to ogle shortly.

Update: A Mozilla spokesperson responded to my questions with the following statement:

“Those screenshots are of Firefox OS, but are outdated. We’ll share new images soon. As an open source company developing products in the open, you can expect to see in-progress mock ups and screenshots of all of our projects as they evolve. These are not any indication of the final product.”

So, they’re new to us, but not new as far as Mozilla is concerned. Given the reactions that some of you have had to the images, maybe that’s for the best.

It’s that time of the week again! We’ve released another set of August Capital Summer Party tickets – and we expect them to sell out quickly. If you can’t click fast enough to purchase a ticket to the August Capital Summer Party, remember that Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp tickets give you fast track entry. You can purchase tickets here.

We have some amazing speakers joining us at the Fox Theater this August 3rd, including Doug Purdy, Mike Schroepfer, Peter Deng and Greg Badros. As a Director of Product Management at Facebook, Doug Purdy leads development of the Facebook Platform including Open Graph, Games & Payments, and overall developer experience.

Mike Schroepfer, Vice President of Engineering at Facebook, heads a group of engineers who write code serving hundreds of millions of people each day. Additionally, Peter Deng is Director of Product Management and Greg Badros is Vice President of Engineering & Products at the social network. We are incredibly excited to have them join us as we dive into the ecosystem of Facebook.

Below is the agenda thus far. Stay tuned for more announcements soon to come.

Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp

12:00 PM Registration and Lunch

1:00 PM Welcome

1:10 PM Fireside Chat with Mike Schroepfer – Vice President of Engineering – Facebook

1:40 PM Product Tour – Peter Deng – Director of Product Management – Facebook

1:55 PM Panel: Building and Growing A Modern Mobile App

2:20 PM Break

2:40 PM Product Tour – Doug Purdy – Director of Developer Products- Facebook

3:05 PM Panel: Where Facebook’s Developer Platform is Going Now

3:30 PM Panel: Social Ads: What’s Working and What’s Not?

4:00 PM Office Hours with Facebook

Additional information below.

Facebook Ecosystem Conference at the Fox Theater
August 3, 12:00 – 5:00 pm
Fox Theater
2215 Broadway Street, Redwood City CA 94063, Map
12:00 – 1:00 Registration and lunch
1:00 – 5:00 Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp
Get Tickets @ Eventbrite: $180 based on availability. Tickets INCLUDE admission for one (1) to the August Capital party and expedited fast-pass door entry. You DO NOT need to purchase a separate August Capital Party ticket if you purchase a CrunchUp ticket. Tickets are non-transferable, based on availability. Limited seating for the CrunchUp. #crunchup

7th Annual Summer Party at August Capital
August 3, 5:30 – 9:00 pm
2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park CA 94025, Map
Get Tickets @ Eventbrite: $50 based on availability. Tickets to be released weekly in batches. Stay tuned to TechCrunch for releases as they sell out quickly. #tcaugustcapital

If you would like to sponsor the CrunchUp and the party at August Capital contact Leslie Hitchcock at [email protected]

Everpix, the startup that organizes all your photos in the cloud (and a previous TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 finalist), has just closed a $1 million seed round led by Index Ventures. The round also saw participation from 500 Startups, Kii Capital, 2020 Ventures’ David Williams, and other angel investors. According to Everpix co-founder Pierre-Olivier Latour, the funding is helping the company, which has been flying under the radar for several months, to establish enough of a runway to get to its forthcoming 1.0 release, expected in just a couple of weeks from now.

For those unfamiliar with Everpix, the service includes an online interface as well as desktop and mobile software which pushes all the photos from your computer (iPhoto, Aperture, local folders, etc.) or from your phone’s storage into the cloud, and then aggregates those along with others from services like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, and more. But Everpix’s value isn’t just in aggregation, it also automatically de-duplicates photos, organizes them into smart albums it calls “Moments,” and even automatically hides those that are blurry, out of focus, or under or overexposed. Plus, Everpix pays careful attention to privacy – controls are simple and the default is private, not shared.

In anticipation of its public launch, Everpix has returned to a closed beta, after previously opening up its public beta in December, and then debuting its iPhone application in February. The iPhone app was designed to help users automatically upload the photos saved to their Camera Roll into the Everpix cloud, but “it always remained kind of utilitarian, unfortunately,” says Latour of the application. “It’s extremely crowded on the iPhone platform, and the form factor is very different from iPad in terms of looking at your photos,” he notes. “You can’t really make your photos shine because the screen is so small and you can’t really navigate your collection.”

As you can imagine, the company has much more in store for version 1.0, including, obviously, an iPad application. “If you look at the iPad space, it’s growing like crazy,” Latour says, “but there’s no really good photo app in terms of accessing all your photos and navigating them in a nice way. We can make a significant difference here.”

(Below, an iPad proof-of-concept app)

There’s also a new feature being introduced called “Photo Mail,” which will be a simple way to share photos, a streamlined user interface, improved navigation, enhanced image analysis capabilities, and more.

Although Latour isn’t ready to share Everpix user numbers, he did say that the company has seen some 55 million photos uploaded to the service between its alpha and beta period. Interestingly, over two-thirds of these come from offline storage (around 60% are in iPhoto, 27% in the Pictures folder on Mac. The Windows version has yet to launch, we should note). Another 15% come from Picasa, 8% from Flickr and even fewer from Facebook – but that’s because Everpix only uploads the photos you’re tagged in, not your albums. That wasn’t always the case, Latour explains, but they found that the majority of the photos you shared on Facebook were duplicates of what Everpix was already pulling in from other sources.

We’ll take a look at the new version of Everpix when it’s ready for its public debut, but in the meantime, you can sign up to be notified here.

San Francisco-based Everpix was founded by former Apple employees Pierre-Olivier Latour and Kevin Quennesson, as well as Wayne Fan, previously of frog design. With the new seed round, the company has raised $1.8 million in total funding to date.

Although I worry that these guys might get sideswiped by Apple when it comes to charging ports, here’s the Chargecard, a super slim battery charging cable for your iDevices that folds up into itself for maximum portability.

The project aims to sell these things for about $18 and they’re offering them in silver, black, and “bird.” Designed by Noah Dentzel and Adam Miller, the charger aims to replace cables you’re currently using.

They’re aiming to raise $50,000 and they’re at $13K right now, so it should fund.

UPDATE – Sadly, after further examination, I realized this is just a charging cable, not a backup battery.

Product Page

FitBit’s scale measures your weight and fat percentage, then logs it, graphs it and even tweets it if you want. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

A scale is a low-tech, low-maintenance gadget. You step on it once per day (or less, in my case), read your weight, and leave it to spend the majority of its time sitting idly on the bathroom floor.

But FitBit’s Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale isn’t content living a life of such blind, inert servitude.

It’s not just a scale. It records both your weight and body-fat percentage and, like the company’s FitBit Ultra body monitor, automatically sends your precious body data to the web or a mobile app. The apps graph your weight and chart your progress towards whatever goals you’ve set using visualizations that are pretty to look at and easy to understand.

The scale comes with Wi-Fi connectivity built in: Just go through an easy set-up process to connect the scale to your home’s network, and voilà, it’s online. The Aria comes in two basic colors — black and white — so it should fit in with most bathroom decor. The top of the scale, the part you stand on, is made entirely of glass. Etched into the platform are four squares with rounded edges that divide the plate of glass into four quadrants. This isn’t just an elegant design choice, it’s actually how the Aria measures your body-fat percentage.

Each quadrant of the scale’s glass top contains electrodes. When you stand on it, it sends a small electrical current through your feet and into your body to measure how much fat you’re carrying. It will record your weight if you’re wearing shoes, but you need to stand on the scale barefoot in order for the body-fat reading to work. (FitBit assures me this electrical data collection is totally safe for almost everyone — even for pregnant women, and for kids as long as they weigh more than 20 pounds — but people with a pacemaker should not use it).

I wasn’t totally sold on the accuracy of the Aria’s body-fat percentage readings, so I had my boyfriend, Jeff, use the scale as well. He recently attended a health seminar where nurses conducted a professional reading of body-fat percentage. We compared these numbers with the Aria’s measurements. The results: The FitBit Aria’s reading was within half a percent of Jeff’s professional work-up.

Using your body-fat percentage and weight readings, FitBit will calculate your BMI (body mass index). That number doesn’t appear on the scale while you’re weighing yourself; you’ll need to access FitBit’s web or mobile app to see it. On FitBit’s website, you can also track your calorie intake, hours of sleep, and activity level. If you already own a FitBit Ultra monitor, you’ll get a lot of activity and sleep data from there.

From the web app, you can also invite up to eight users to the Aria scale. Each user is recognized automatically when they step on the scale — in my week of testing, it had no problem discerning between me and my boyfriend, and it was speedy in sending the data over to our individual tracking apps. If you happen to share your FitBit Aria with someone who is in your same weight range, the scale will prompt you to select between the users after taking its readings.

I’m not one to share my weight publicly, but for those who are so inclined — either for support, or exhibitionism — FitBit does include a social feature that lets you connect with other FitBit users, share your weight, and even post your stats to Facebook and Twitter. And if you don’t have people rooting you on, FitBit’s award badges for reaching your weight goals should give you at least a little motivational boost.

At $130, it’s an expensive scale, and therefore it’s really only a smart purchase if you’re already a FitBit Ultra owner. When used in concert with the company’s little activity measurement widget, the Aria gives you a truly complete picture (literally, in two-tone graphs) of your body’s mass fluctuations over time, and the impact your activity level has on these changes.

But if you’re not a FitBit devotee and you just want to measure your weight or fat percentage, there are other, less-expensive scales that can give you similar readings. Also, with the rapid proliferation of connected devices, it won’t be long before every scale on the shelf can talk to your phone, tweet encouraging words and display the breakdown of fat and lean mass in your body on a colorful web chart. Consider that $130 your early-adopter premium.

WIRED Tracks weight as well as percentages of muscle mass and fat. Readings are accurate. Easy logging of body data in one location — just step on the glass, and it’s recorded. Data reports actually motivated me to step on the scale at least once a day. Backlit LCD display is helpful if you ever need to weigh yourself in total darkness.

TIRED Steep price of $130. Full potential of the device is only unleashed if you’ve already got a FitBit Ultra. Limited data displayed on the scale — you have to fire up the app to see the deeper stuff.

Dell’s refreshed Inspiron 14z laptop is barely thin and light enough to qualify as an ultrabook. But it performs well, making it a good buy at $900 for the 14-inch model. Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

Dell’s Inspiron gets a big makeover this year, evolving (at last) into a sleek and modern-looking laptop while maintaining a very low price.

Marketed as an ultrabook, the new Inspiron 14z may surprise you at first since it’s a 14-inch model instead of the usual 13.3. At 23 millimeters thick, it’s also technically a bit fat to meet Intel’s ultrabook rules (21mm is the limit for 14-inch systems), but Dell probably skirts this by not including the rubber feet in its measurements.

A curvy and handsome blend of plastic and brushed aluminum, the 14z, at 4.2 pounds, is the lightest 14-inch laptop I’ve tested literally in years. I can’t complain about the specs, either, which include a 1.7GHz third-generation Core i5 (Ivy Bridge), 500GB hard drive, 8GB of RAM, and switchable AMD Radeon HD 7570M graphics. Ports cover only the basics: one USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, full-size Ethernet, SD card reader, and HDMI out. However, there’s also an integrated optical drive, another ultrabook oddity.

It all sounds pretty good, but that excitement is tempered once the 14z is turned on. The sheer volume of preinstalled software is daunting, from a large Accuweather widget to a backup manager to the giant Dell Stage quick-launch toolbar that dominates the home screen. Navigating the many popups all these apps throw out isn’t easy, particularly because the trackpad is so incredibly sensitive, and clicks fail to register with a surprising regularity, an unusual problem on a laptop with discrete buttons.

The keyboard is also a curious letdown. The keys are extremely small, a problem that is compounded by their heavily rounded corners and mushy action. All in all, typing just isn’t a comfortable experience.

Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

On the performance front, the 14z comes through better than you’d expect at this price level. It’s nothing record-breaking, and while there were no problems with general apps, graphics performance was hit and miss. Mainly this was due to issues with the switchable GPU, which is configured via a control panel that lets you turn discrete graphics on or off on a by-application basis. This is an interesting approach, but it’s also an invasive one that creates even more pop-ups you have to deal with, and if you make a mistake, changing a selection you’ve already made once for an application is difficult.

I also encountered a bug where applications would report they were using integrated graphics whether or not I set them to use the discrete GPU. It’s a frustrating problem because there’s no easy way to tell which GPU is active. Either way, graphics performance is not terribly impressive, and even with the GPU active, I didn’t see framerates over 20fps on most modern game titles.

It’s important to keep in perspective, though, that this is an $900, 14-inch ultrabook that includes an optical drive and still weighs barely four pounds. Aside from its weight, little about the 14z is especially earth-shattering, but a proper ultrabook really shouldn’t be shattering anything, should it?

WIRED Great combination of portability, performance, and value. Decent battery life: About 4 hours with DVD playback.

TIRED Input problems all around, from tiny keyboard to jittery touchpad. Cheap port covers on left side just get in the way. Dim screen, with uninspiring 1366 x 768-pixel resolution. Could use another couple of USB ports. Difficulty with switchable graphics system.

We’re excited to announce that Facebook’s Peter Deng and Greg Bardos are joining Doug Purdy and Mike Schroepfer as speakers at this year’s Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp. Peter Deng is the Director of Product Management and Greg Badros is the Vice President of Engineering & Products at Facebook. Peter and Greg will participate in panels that will provide insight into the road ahead for advertising and mobile. If you would like the opportunity to interact directly with this team of Facebook engineers, designers and leaders you can purchase your tickets here.

We have commandeered the beautiful Fox Theater in Redwood City for this landmark event. Purchasing a ticket will not only get you into the show, but it will also get you into our ever-popular Annual Summer Party at August Capital where the margaritas will be flowing and the sun will be shining. Hope to see you there.

Facebook Ecosystem Conference at the Fox Theater
August 3, 12:00 – 5:00 pm
Fox Theater
2215 Broadway Street, Redwood City CA 94063, Map
12:00 – 1:00 Registration and lunch
1:00 – 5:00 Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp
Get Tickets @ Eventbrite: $180 based on availability. Tickets INCLUDE admission for one (1) to the August Capital party and expedited fast-pass door entry. You DO NOT need to purchase a separate August Capital Party ticket if you purchase a CrunchUp ticket. Tickets are non-transferable, based on availability. Limited seating for the CrunchUp. #crunchup

7th Annual Summer Party at August Capital
August 3, 5:30 – 9:00 pm
2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park CA 94025, Map
Get Tickets @ Eventbrite: $50 based on availability. Tickets to be released weekly in batches. Stay tuned to TechCrunch for releases as they sell out quickly. #tcaugustcapital

If you would like to sponsor the CrunchUp and the party at August Capital contact Leslie Hitchcock at [email protected]

Join us for a great mix of start-up demos, networking, giveaways, drinks and fun on the best deck on all of Sand Hill Road.

Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell just announced that the company will be launching a $60 million fund to invest in storage startups.

Dell, who was speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, noted that big data is a hot category right now, and he said and it’s been a “huge area” for his company too. At the same time, he said there’s an “enormous opportunity” for new companies — as he elaborated, he focused less on pure storage, and instead on helping companies (especially those with less than 10,000 people) accessing and using in real-time “the huge quantities of data” that they’re already storing.

“The storage world is really getting shaken up a tremendous amount,” Dell said, pointing to technologies like flash memory. He said the goal of the fund is to “get out in front” of these new technologies.

Dell has also been making acquisitions in this area, for example by purchasing EqualLogic and Compellent, and he said those acquisitions will continue.

Are you ready for your close-up? In early June, the dynamic, disrupting duo of Sean Parker and Sean Fanning launched their new video chat and sharing network, called Airtime. As a matter of course, the founders built Airtime on top of Facebook, with a cool $33.5 million in funding to get the operation off the ground — and more. A Chatroulette that you can bring home to mom, Airtime puts you on camera for impromptu conversations, matching you with friends and strangers alike for a little fun, one-on-one interaction.

Today, the startup released a polished new video that aims to demonstrate the power of the service and attract those elusive mainstream consumers. The entertaining spot naturally leverages a little star power to grab your attention, with cameos from the likes of MC Hammer, Kurt Russell, Ronnie Lott and Gary Vaynerchuk.

The narration and leading role come to you courtesy of Ian Pfaff, a resident, creative, “jack-of-all-trades” type at Portal A, the company behind the Airtime video as well as San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s 2 Legit 2 Quit campaign video. Pfaff plays a character that is reminiscent of the Old Spice Guy, describing Airtime as “The Best Internet You’ve Ever Had” and “Video Chat Revolutionized.”

The production company tells us that video was shot in a mansion in Malibu and all over the country, from New Jersey for Gary Vaynerchuk to Los Angeles in the home of Kurt Russell to Founders Den in San Francisco to capture MC Hammer at work. Portal A said they wanted to create a character who seems like he has it all, an impressive home, famous friends, but still lacks a great way to connect with others and meet people.

In an era in which video games, movies and TV shows are all advertising their stuff on the tube and all over the Web, Airtime is competing with big budgets and short attention spans. As a result, it’s as if the startup couldn’t just go with some run-of-the-mill demo video, they needed to go bigger. We’re entering a time when big, well-funded, consumer-facing startups will be pitched like any other consumer product or media, with polished videos and big names. Hey, even Ed Lee got on the train.

It’s great to see more startups (Dollar Shave Club, anyone?) using humor to break through to a big audience, rather than getting serious (and potentially boring) with technical details and features.

You can check out Josh’s coverage of Airtime’s launch here.

What do you think? Will you Airtime?

Indoor navigation startup aisle411 has just snagged its biggest retail partner yet. The company this week announced its first nationally scaled in-store search solution for Walgreens and its 7,900+ U.S. stores. Using the app, customers can view the maps of any Walgreens store to locate products by aisle and section. The app also supports other shopper-friendly functions like lists, voice-to-text, and barcode scanning.

However, aisle411′s barcode scanning feature is designed to help customers add products to shopping lists, not to comparison shop for better prices – like those they could find online (cough, Amazon, cough). The sneaky idea here is that armed with this app in hand, customers won’t bother to close it, re-open another app and then scan products in search of deals and discounts. They’ll just find the product they want in the store, navigate there, and buy it. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

While Walgreens is a big win for aisle411, this is the sort of functionality that would make more sense in – well, you know – the Walgreens app itself. The official Walgreens app is arguably not a bad one as far as retailers’ apps go, offering lists, pharmacy access, refills by scan, weekly ads, mobile coupons, pill reminders and more, in addition to the usual text-based product search and store locator functionalities. It seems that Walgreens’ most regular shoppers will launch the company’s app to check the ads, not aisle411′s. They also won’t necessarily need much help finding their way through a store, I’d wager. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten lost in a Walgreens? Exactly).

This isn’t the first retail partnership for aisle411, but it’s the first on a national scale. Other retail partners include grocers like Hy-Vee, Nob Hill, Safeway, Raley’s, WinCo, Albertsons, Ralphs, Vons, Foods Co, and home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Frankly, it’s the larger stores where indoor navigation makes more sense. Most of us know our way through our local grocery store and drug store. (My husband can blindly navigate through Home Depot as well, but that’s not the norm.)

Consumers may or may not think of aisle411 as a must-have, but retail partners get something important through their deals with the startup: access to data. Knowing which products are in demand, are hard to find, etc., can be helpful for inventory management, ordering, replenishment, and store layout decisions.

According to the latest data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than half of the adult cellphone owners in the U.S. now use their phones while watching TV. The main reason they do so isn’t to talk about a program they are watching on Twitter, though. Instead, the majority of cell owners (38%) used their phones to keep themselves occupied during commercials or breaks. Quite a few of these “connected viewers” also use their phones to fact check something they heard on TV (22%) and marketers will be happy to hear that 35% of smartphone owners use their phones to visit sites that were mentioned on TV.

Smartphone owners, unsurprisingly, are far more likely than feature phone users to use their phones while watching TV. While 58% of smartphone users said they use their phones to have something to do during commercials or breaks, for example, only 17% of other cell owners said so.

As for the demographics of these “connected viewers,” chances are you can already guess what these look like: younger viewers are far more likely to use their phones while watching to than older users (73% of those 18-24 do so vs. 9% of those 65 and older). The same goes for those living in households with incomes over $50,000. Education doesn’t seem to make a huge difference, though the report notes that 42% of those with at least some college experience use their phones for “distracted viewing,” while only 34% of those who didn’t attend college do so.

The Pew study did not find many meaningful differences between how man and women used their phones while watching TV, with the exception of texting (21% of men said they did so vs. 25% of women), posting online comments about a show (9% vs. 13%) and voting for reality show contestants (4% vs. 8%).

There are some social aspects to how people use their phones while watching TV, too. About a quarter of the respondents said they texted somebody who was watching the same program in the last 30 days, for example, and 11% of cell owners said they posted comments about a program online.

Image credit: Flickr user John Atherton.