LAUNCH Blog

LAUNCH Blog

Written by: Megan

Google+ Integrates Hangouts In-Stream, Opens 'On Air' to More Users

Google+ users can now hangout from any post and even better, broadcast and record their Hangout to watch later on YouTube.

As part of Google+'s effort to go "beyond the status update," the social network added a Hangout button underneath every post. When you click Hangout, Google+ will add an invitation to the comments stream.

Google+ is also opening the On Air feature to hundreds of more public figures, celebrities and other users with a large following on Google+. By integrating with YouTube, Google+...

Twilio Launches SMS API in Canada. Cool, Eh?

VoIP service Twilio just launched a Canadian SMS API to let developers build apps that send and receive text messages through Canada-based phone numbers.

SMS for existing Canadian Twilio users is effective immediately. Until now, only customers in the U.S. could use Twilio to send and receive text messages.

Twilio raised $17M in Series C funding from Bessemer and Union Square Ventures earlier this month to...

Watch TWiST Paris Meetup Episode #214 Today at 1pm PT

Tune in for a special episode of This Week in Startups to see pitches from the recent Paris Meetup. Host Jason Calacanis and co-host Tyler Crowley traveled to the City of Lights where organizer Kirsten Winkler brought three companies to share their visions.

Hear pitches from LifeShow, where anyone can publish photos to TV and tablets...

Sync Google Chrome Settings Across Multiple Devices with Latest Stable Release

Google has extended syncing functionality of Chrome to its latest stable release of the browser. Users with Chrome beta have been able to do this since November, but now all Chrome users can sync bookmarks, extensions and other settings across multiple devices.

For those who use Chrome on a shared computer, you can now create a separate profile to make Chrome personalized to you. When you sign in to Chrome on a different device, those settings, extensions, apps and bookmarks will be there waiting for you.

"Keep in mind that adding new users to Chrome isn’t...

Facebook Wants You to Enable Secure Browsing to Protect Account from Hackers

If you're worried that you'll see porn or violent images the next time you login to Facebook, or fear that someone will be able to access your private photos, you can now easily enable secure browsing right from the Facebook homepage.

"To always view Facebook over a secure connection and help prevent hackers from accessing your info over public networks, turn on Secure Browsing now," the box states.

If the box does not appear when you first login, you...

Experience Tsunami-Affected Areas of Japan with Google Street View

国道398号線, Onagawa, 牡鹿郡, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

Google just released a digital archive of the areas of Northeastern Japan affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami via Google Maps Street View and a special website entitled "Build the Memory."

"A virtual tour via Street View profoundly illustrates how much these natural disasters have transformed these communities," Street View Senior Product Manager Kei Kawai writes on the Google blog. "If you start inland and venture out toward the coast, you’ll see the idyllic countryside change dramatically, becoming cluttered with mountains of rubble and debris as you get closer to the ocean. In the cities, buildings that once stood proud are now empty spaces."

The "Build the Memory" site features before and after...

The Average Facebook User Knows 73.2% of Friends

Do you ever wonder how many of your Facebook friends you actually know? WhatsHerFace-book.com is a quick, personalized game that helps you figure that out and helps you to increase your privacy online.

"People are getting smarter about their privacy online," the game states. "By now we all know how to restrict our profiles so that only friends can see our personal information. But after 3,4,5+ years of social networking, do you still even know all your friends?"

To see how many of your friends you actually know, you must first connect the app to Facebook. When you hit "Go" you will have 90 seconds to...

Go H.A.M. in Google Street View Shooter Game

[UPDATE 12/13 4:44pm PT: The Business Insider reported today that Google pulled their right to use the Street View API due to a violation of the terms of service. ]

[UPDATE 2:29pm PT: The Google Shot View game is back online but still in violation of the Google Maps API terms of use.]

[UPDATE 1:04pm PT: The Google Shoot View game is no longer available on the Pool Worldwide server. Note that it violates the Google Maps API terms of use.]

First-person shooter game Google Shoot View, created by Dutch advertising agency Pool Worldwide, lets you take an M4A1 to the streets, walk around and unleash fire on anyone and anything. Or in the words of Kanye West and Jay-Z, you can go H.A.M.

With a rifle overlaid on top of Google Maps, you can shoot...

Zite CEO Expects More Social Readers to Emerge in 2012, Will Microsoft Be Next?

[ Image courtesy of Mark Johnson's Twitter account @philosophygeek. ]

Zite CEO Mark Johnson tells LAUNCH that he expects to see more personalized digital magazines and readers emerge in 2012 followed by consolidation in 2013. Earlier today, CNN-owned Zite launched its app for iPhone.

"My prediction is that there's going to be a lot more expansion before there's consolidation," Mark says. "I think we'll see a few smaller competitors come out but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something from Microsoft soon."

Microsoft has received a lot of attention lately since updating Xbox Live, launching Kinect and exploring ideas like using the Xbox 360 as a television connected PC, which would encroach on Apple and Google's existing products.

Google just released Currents yesterday but as Mark notes, even as the space gets more crowded...

Watch CNET Editor Rafe Needleman and Peter Horan on TWiST News Roundtable Live at 1pm PT

[Rafe Needleman and Peter Horan. ]

Tune in for a special news roundtable live from CNET's San Francisco studios with Peter Horan, executive chairman of Halogen Media Group, and CNET's own Rafe Needleman today on This Week in Startups at 1pm PT.

Peter is a media and marketing executive with experience in both startups and multi-billion dollar public companies. Peter has been part of four profitable exits in the last seven years totaling...

Zite Personalized News App Lands on iPhone to Rival Flipboard

Personalized news app Zite has just made its way to the iPhone -- the same week competitor Flipboard launched for iPhone.

Zite, powered by personalization technology, makes it easy for users to find interesting topics and stories to read based on their taste. Zite learns from both explicit -- thumbs-up and thumbs-down -- and implicit -- what stories you click on -- feedback to deliver more relevant news to you.

Current Zite for iPad users will be able to use their same profile on the iPhone thanks to Sybil, which allows multiple profiles.

While Flipboard's iPhone app...

What Will Amazon Do If Walmart Goes All White-Label?

[ Image courtesy of Walmart via creative commons license. ]

In the next couple of years, Walmart will start selling private-label products to replace every branded product they offer, a source familiar with Walmart practices told LAUNCH.

Walmart has 30+ private labels that cover essentially every category at Walmart from food to clothing to office supplies. Walmart competitor Amazon, which is apparently opening its own retail stores, also has white-label products but not nearly as many, with only three brands: AmazonBasics, Pinzon for kitchen products and Strathwood for homes.

If Amazon decides to create more private-label brands, it would...

Is Google+ Trying to Be Like Myspace Music?

Japanese pop group AKB48 is leveraging the social functions of Google+ to regularly host Hangouts with fans and broadcast concerts live through Hangouts on Air, Google+ VP of Product Bradley Horowitz recently announced.

When MySpace was still in its prime, it served as the go-to place for keeping track of what songs artists were creating. In 2007, it even launched Myspace Transmissions, a series of digital EPs featuring audio recordings, streaming video of music performances and video footage of artist interviews for fans to enjoy.

As interest in With Myspace irrelevant and Facebook tightly integrated with Spotify, Google keeps making an effort to expand its music content on the network, as it launched Google Music featuring tight integration with Google+ in November to challenge iTunes Match and Spotify. At that same time, Google introduced its Artist Hub, a DIY-like software that lets anyone sell and price their music on Google Music.

Horowitz describes AKB48 as...

Amazon Has a Ton of White Label Products and Is Hiding Them! (and Why Bezos Is the New Jobs)

By Jason Calacanis

Amazon has white-label products -- but it's hiding them.

Following up on my piece last night, Dan Gillmor [ @dangillmor ] told me that Amazon had started creating its own products under the "AmazonBasics" brand. I was shocked, as every week five Amazon boxes come to our house with everything from soy milk to batteries, and obviously tons of electronics.

It turns out that one item I just ordered, a slick car charger with two USB ports, is being offered by Amazon under its own name.

Why didn't I see that when I searched for it?

Email Client Sparrow 1.5 Launches with Dropbox, iPhone App Coming Early 2012

Mac email application Sparrow 1.5 launched today with Dropbox integration, smart search and more control over remote images.

Once you authorize Dropbox integration, you can attach and sync any file from your Dropbox by dragging and dropping it onto the compose window.

"Sending a mail with attachment has never been simpler," the blog states. "And without even noticing it, you are syncing your files in the cloud making sure you never lose them."

The new version also includes the ability to block remote images

Flipboard Service Still Down Due to High Demand for iPhone App

[UPDATE as of 1:15pm PT] All existing Flipboard iPad users and those who can now launch Flipboard for iPad and iPhone. Even if you aren't currently signed up for Flipboard on your iPad, you can still sign up right now to be able to launch the iPhone app. "For brand new Flipboard for iPhone users, we are still seeing server load issues that cause an error message when people try to set up. We are working on the server balancing and expect to have another update soon," the Flipboard blog states.]

After launching the highly anticipated Flipboard app for iPhone last night, the tablet magazine service went down this morning and has turned off account creation until it can fully restore the service, the Flipboard blog states.

"Due to high demand, our service is currently down, we...

Excelade Video Analysis App Helps You Master All Sports, USA Olympic Skeleton Coach Loves It

Sports video analysis app developer UberSense recently launched a new product into its family -- Excelade for iPad and iPhone, which provides video analysis for any sport, dance form, musical instruments or other types of activities where technique analysis could be beneficial.

With Excelade, athletes and dancers can easily analyze their performance and compare it against their own progress, progress of friends or against instructional videos, similar to the apps for Golf and Baseball. While SwingReader Golf and Baseball offered a library of pro videos, since there are numerous sports, they did not want to pre-populated the app with a ton of videos, UberSense co-founder Amit Jardosh tells LAUNCH via email.

"Features-wise, for now the app is almost on par with our other apps, but...

Watch Gowalla Investor Shervin Pishevar on TWiST Today at 1pm PT

Managing Director at Menlo Ventures Shervin Pishevar will be on This Week in Startups today at 1pm PT.

Menlo Ventures has invested in companies like Carbonite, Bloomspot and Roku. Shervin is also an active angel investor in companies including Kevin Rose's Milk, the recently-acquired-by-Facebook Gowalla and Rapportive.

Previously, Shervin served as the founding president and COO of Webs, one of the largest social publishing communities in the world with 30M+ members. Shervin, Jason and co-host Tyler Crowley will discuss...

Facebook Security Flaw Reveals Zuckerberg's Private Photos

[UPDATE 12/13/11 at 9:15am: Facebook is now suggesting that you enable secure browsing to help protect account from hackers. ]

[ UPDATE 11:52am PT: ] Facebook has ackowledged the bug that allowed users to access private photos and is currently fixing the bug. A Facebook spokesperson told ZDnet that the bug "was discovered in one of our reporting flows" that let users report several instances of inappropriate images or posts. Facebook also reaffirmed its commitment to data privacy, stating it as a "top priority" for the company. ]

A Facebook security hole that allows you to view, save and share private photos has enabled one hacker to expose those of Mark Zuckerberg.

The method requires you to first locate the person you want to view photos of, then report a photo as nudity or pornography. From there, check Report to Facebook and click continue. Facebook will then give you the option to help them take action by selecting additional photos to include in the report, which then gives you access to the user's private photos.

Facebook has received an enormous amount of criticism lately...

Zite Adds First Branded Section for Lululemon, But Still No Ads in App

Tablet magazine Zite has just launched its first branded section for athletic clothing line lululemon yet still refrains from placing ads -- which have become the norm on Flipboard, Editions by AOL and tablet content platform OnSwipe.

"We’ve been very vocal about not putting ads into Zite," the blog states. "Though you will find lululemon posts within the section, most of the content is simply what may inspire a lululemon guest," the Zite blog states. "From health articles to fitness tips, lululemon trained the channel to generate content that would appeal to health and fitness buffs. Of course, the lululemon channel will also personalize content for you based on your reading habits and specific interests."

To access the channel, click "Customize" and select lululemon.

Flipboard, which...