Tech | The New York Observer

Text Uber, Get a Cab

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:45:05 -0500

The San Francisco startup formerly known as UberCab has its eye on New York. Uber is looking for an Operations & Logistics Manager as well as a Community Support Manager in the city.

UberCab -- now called Uber for legal reasons -- contracts with car services to deliver on-demand transport via a mobile app. Users can order a cab with one click using the app, which directs the car to you by GPS. Then you...

Can Larry Page Help Google Lift Off Again?

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:41:53 -0500

Yesterday brought bombshell news from Google: Eric Schmidt will step down as CEO, and co-founder Larry Page will step up to replace him. Schmidt, well known for his public gaffes, tweeted out, "Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" following the announcement, in apparent reference to his position as overseer of co-founders Page and Sergey Brin.

Now Page will presumably be free to think about the future of his company. What might a Larry Page-run Google...

Area Code Is Now Zynga New York

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:48:10 -0500

Zynga, one of the fastest growing businesses on the web, now has a New York arm.

Game developer Area Code announced today that they will be known as Zynga New York.

There are no details at the moment on what Zynga paid to acquire Area Code or if this was more of a strategic merger.

Whatever the case, its a significant development for the Silicon Alley ecosystem, putting our top talent to work on the world's biggest...

With Demand Media IPO Nearing, Google Calls Out Content Farms

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:49:10 -0500

Demand Media is set to IPO next week, but in a blog post today, Google anti-spamster Matt Cutts wrote that the search giant is looking to refine its algorithms in a way that could undermine Demand's content farming strategy.

"As 'pure webspam' has decreased over time, attention has shifted instead to 'content farms,' which are sites with shallow or low-quality content," wrote Cutts.

Cutts points readers to a video he recorded back in May of 2010...

BNTER Of The Week: Match.com Copies HowAboutWe

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:35:30 -0500

New York-based BNTER.com is a Twitter-esque site for posting clips of conversations that take place via text message, instant message or with voices in actual real life. Some of New York's techsters have really taken to BNTRing their witticisms, puns and moments of zen. Occasionally we reproduce those here.

New York's HowAboutWe has a simple concept.

Set up a dating site that revolves around date ideas so users get out and meet each other, instead of...

Verizon Reminds Us Any Regulation Is Too Much Regulation

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:20:16 -0500

In a completely expected move, Verizon has decided to sue the F.C.C., challenging the agency's newly adopted rules on net neutrality.

When the new rules were passed, The Observer noted that they were laying the groundwork for future legal challenges.

F.C.C. chairman Julius Genachowski was hoping his compromise package would placate business interests.

But as Aparna Sridhar, policy counsel for Free Press, told The New York Times, this lawsuit “demonstrates that even the most weak and watered-down...

Is Facebook a Ponzi Scheme? One Blogger Says Yes

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:36:35 -0500

Ponzi schemes, and calling things Ponzi schemes, is majorly in fashion these days, thanks in part to the conviction of actual Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, but also because "Ponzi scheme" is just a fun thing to say. And so in that spirit we get analyses like "Yahoo! was a Ponzi scheme" and "Social Security is a Ponzi scheme." Groupon has lately fallen into the Ponzi hunters' crosshairs, but one target eluded them until this...

Chart Breakdown: SecondMarket's Fourth-Quarter Report

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:43:39 -0500

Along with its fourth-quarter earnings report, tough-to-find securities trading platform SecondMarket provided some handy charts that provide additional insight into the hot new trading space for private stock. For The Observer's view on SecondMarket's buy- vs. sell-sided demand, the kind of companies that are trading on SecondMarket, and the ramp in investor participation, check out Chart Breakdown: SecondMarket's Fourth-Quarter...

The Long and Curious History of Meetup.com

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:35:55 -0500

Meetup.com is announcing something big next week.

They're calling it "New Meetup," and more than 1,000 people have RSVP'ed to a secretive event at Irving Plaza.

The coming of "New Meetup" means the site you see today could soon be referred to as "Old Meetup."

And Meetup is old--about nine years old in fact. Meetup is like the grandfather of the New York tech scene, and that's how cofounder Matt Meeker talks.

Back in Mr. Meeker's day...

Trades on SecondMarket Double in Fourth Quarter

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:16:54 -0500

Fourth-quarter earnings for SecondMarket, the place investors go to trade in hot nonpublic tech companies like Facebook, show the company has come a long way from the days in 2005 when a small team of employees was ringing a bell every time it landed a customer.

Trading activity more than doubled from the third quarter, reaching $157.8 million. Red-hot Facebook shares, which are hard to come by outside SecondMarket or a private offering to high...

The First Verizon iPhone Commercial [WATCH]

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:28:05 -0500

No more "Droid Does."

Verizon has uploaded its first self-congratulatory iPhone commercial to YouTube, and it's just about the opposite of the ridiculous robot-themed campaigns it's been running to promote Android phones.

The Android ads were dark and scary, with evil-looking machines poking at touchscreens with their creepy metallic fingers.

By contrast, the iPhone ad shows people! Smiling!

The spot opens with a montage of ticking clocks, tapping feet, wringing hands, doodles in a notebook, as Verizon's customers...

Eric Schmidt Steps Down As CEO, Google Founder Larry Page In

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:19:31 -0500

In a surprise announcement during today's earnings report, Google announced that CEO Eric Schmidt is stepping down, to be replaced by founder Larry Page.

Mr. Schmidt will become executive chairman and will focus externally on deals, partnerships, customers, broader business relationships and government outreach.

Mr. Page will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of our day-to-day operations as Google’s Chief Executive Officer.

Sergey...

The New York-Boston Tech Rivalry: It's Like Sports!

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:03:21 -0500

Boston and New York are not all that fond of one another, be it in the realm of sports, clam chowder or technology startup scenes. Today, Boston technology blogger Gregory Huang takes his fear and loathing of the Empire City to another level, owing in part to the booming New York technology environment and the lackluster Boston scene. Mr. Huang writes:

So my take is that Boston entrepreneurs need to raise their game and put...

The Tech Bubble Is On Twitter

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:20:56 -0500

The runaway success of Twitter might seem to some deep thinkers like a sign of the coming Apocalypse, or at least the end of long form journalism.

But for those keeping an eye on the some-might-say bubble in the tech industry right now, or just looking for a little levity, it's good to know that The Tech Bubble has its own Twitter account.

Tech Bubble started in late November and has collected 3,299 followers so far. A...

Apple's Hollow Core

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:48:58 -0500

Apple Computer is fresh off a blockbuster fiscal first-quarter earnings report, and the company commands more than $300 billion in market capitalization. Still, one Columbia Business School professor sees a big chink in the armor of this nigh-unassailable firm.

Bruce Greenwald, who in addition to his academic duties runs $51.9 billion for First Eagle Financial, tells The Wall Street Journal that Apple's status as king of consumer electronics cannot last forever, as Google continues to...