TechCrunch Disrupt SF is back! We’re very excited to announce tickets are on sale and stealth companies can now apply for Startup Battlefield.

This September 7-11, we’re bringing Disrupt back to San Francisco to welcome an all new slate of outstanding startups, influential speakers, guests and more to the stage. It marks the seventh time we’ve set up shop here in SF and once again all the action — starting with our 24 hour Hackathon — happens at The Concourse at San Francisco Design Center.

Last month, at Disrupt NY 2013, Enigma bested a very impressive batch of startups including HAN:DLE, SupplyShift, and Zenefits. The very best startups showed up in New York this year, and we’re stoked to keep the magic alive in San Francisco once September rolls around.

So are you ready to launch your company on the biggest startup launch stage? Tell us about it.

As in years past we’re looking for the very best startups to compete in the Startup Battlefield and walk away with the Disrupt Cup, $50,000 cash, and gobs of attention. For the first two days, 30 companies will present their product to a panel of judges.

But first you have to apply. Applications are due June 17. Click here for the application and full list of rules.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis — and the last two Disrupts had record numbers of applicants — so it’s to your advantage to submit as soon as you are ready. Due to strong demand, we are unable to review applications more than once, so please do not submit a draft application before you are ready for final consideration.

PowerPoint slides and video demos are optional but highly encouraged. We reserve the right not to review applications without video demos based on application volume. We look forward to reviewing your application.

All submissions are confidential unless otherwise permitted by applicants on the application form.

More Disrupt SF 2013 details will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets are currently on sale at a significant discount. We have a stellar line up of speakers and panels on the docket. But we need your help. Apply for Startup Battlefield and help us make Disrupt SF 2013 the best yet.

Our sponsors help make events happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team at sponsors@techcrunch.com.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The Startup Battlefield competition at our Disrupt events is like a mini startup school. The dozens of chosen startups that go through the Battlefield training process end up with solid presentation skills, hard-earned pitching prowess and newfound courage.

And also, lots of public visibility, which is great for getting users, hiring top employees and luring clients and investors.

The Battlefield has gone so well that our current staff has been getting overwhelmed by the record number of applications. We need help, so we’re creating a new position called the Battlefield Editor.

We’re looking for a bright, talented person to help manage the entire process, from bringing in applicants to picking the 30 finalists and getting them ready for the Disrupt stages in San Francisco, New York and, this year’s addition, Berlin. In this position, you’ll also get to give out a huge trophy and a big cardboard check for $50,000 to one lucky startup, as they debut to the media and the investor world. Battlefield winners and finalists have included huge success stories like Mint and Yammer among others.

Are you already in the Startup Whisperer role at a popular accelerator and think you can take your show on the road? Read TC every day, just finished your MBA and want a more meaningful job than McKinsey? Can you find the Next Big Thing? Send your resume and a letter explaining your interest here.

Job Description

TechCrunch is looking for someone to oversee the Startup Battlefield process in all its phases — including applicant recruitment, applicant review and final selection (working under the direction of TC’s co-editors), finalist training and rehearsals, and finally stage management at Disrupt. The role’s title is Battlefield Editor. In addition to those responsibilities, the role will focus on expanding our network of angels, incubators, VCs and accelerators to recruit a stronger pool of Battlefield applicants, strengthening our rehearsal program, and developing the Battlefield franchise, both online and offline, for applicants and alums.

The role requires a strong writer who can post on TechCrunch about Battlefield matters, as well as manage many threads of communication with the many parties who make up the Battlefield. The core of the job is a strong ability to work with relatively green, unlaunched startups and prepare them to present brilliantly on the TC Disrupt stage before a group of highly distinguished judges. That preparation process takes enormous focus and commitment. Beyond that core requirement, the role will also work to help expand the Battlefield franchise in a variety of ways, including improved ties with Battlefield alums.

Candidates should have deep experience in the Silicon Valley startup world and direct experience working with startups and investors to help shape new ideas and prepare them to pitch investors. They should possess very strong personal and written communication skills, outstanding organizational skills, a high capacity for detail work, and a very patient and winning attitude.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

10 days, people! TechCrunch invades Austin in just ten days from now, with our legendary Meetup + Pitch-off series.

The magic started in New York this year, with a hugely successful pitch-off, an amazing turn-out and lots of fun memories. So we’re heading out on the open road with the event, which includes a networking meetup as well as a 60-second pitch-off competition with awesome prizes. Over the course of the year, we’ll be hitting up Boston, San Diego, and Seattle, but the first stop on our journey is in the great state of Texas.

Austin, are you ready?

The Austin Meetup + Pitch-Off will be held at The Stage On Sixth promptly at 6pm on May 30, and will come to a close around 10pm.

Tickets include booze (21 and older please), live entertainment in the form of that 60-second pitch-off contest, and there will even be some prizes and a fireside chat with a local Austin luminary, Bijoy Goswami. Tickets to the event are selling out quickly, so if you’d like to come hang out with myself, John Biggs, Matt Burns, and your local tech community, click here and grab a ticket.

Speaking of time running out… Entrepreneurs, this is your last call for applications to the 60-second pitch-off. First place in the pitch-off will receive a table in Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013. Second Place will receive two tickets to the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt, and Third Place will receive one ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt SF.

Companies selected to participate in the pitch-off will also meet with TC staffers for one-on-one office hours sessions to discuss the product and pitch.

Up to the challenge? Apply to be in the pitch-off here.

Our NY Meetup + Pitch-Off was quite the success. PaddleYou was spotted in Hardware Alley after coming in third at the Pitch-Off, while runners up Talkz and winner 3DLT both made it into the Disrupt Battlefield.

C’mon! How can it not be a great time?

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Our sponsors help make events happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Austin, I wish I knew how to quit you. It’s only been a few months since TC ventured down south to check out SXSW, but it wasn’t enough. We’re returning on May 30 with the legendary TC Meetup + Pitch-off, and tickets are selling out fast so pay attention and get ‘er done.

The TechCrunch Meetup + Pitch-Off is an event wherein tech fanboys, entrepreneurs, readers, and even a few chicks can join us for some booze, conversation, and a generally merry time. Plus, entrepreneurs looking to show off their stuff can apply to be in the 60-second pitch-off competition. The startups will have one minute to wow a panel of judges, including TC staffers and local VCs, using only their words. No demos. No PowerPoint presentations. Just pure entrepreneurial energy.

The Austin Meetup + Pitch-Off will be held atThe Stage On Sixth promptly at 6pm on May 30, and will come to a close around 10pm. We’ll have plenty of booze, live entertainment in the form of that 60-second pitch-off contest and there will even be some prizes and a fireside chat with a local Austin luminary, Bijoy Goswami.

First place in the pitch-off will receive a table in Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013. Second Place will receive two tickets to the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt, and Third Place will receive one ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt SF. And that’s just the start of it.

Our NY Meetup + Pitch-Off yielded some excellent Disrupt companies. PaddleYou was spotted in Hardware Alley after coming in third at the Pitch-Off, while runners up Talkz and winner 3DLT both made it into the Disrupt Battlefield.

The only condition is that these products must currently be in  beta. Go ahead and apply here. Hurry up because we’re in the process of selecting companies and will announce the finalists next Wednesday.

Of course, what’s a stage without an audience? And how will the judges know how to feel but if not for the difference between a dead-eyed mass of heads bowed to smartphones and a group of people excitedly tweeting their favorite picks and pics about the badass event. Cause let’s face it, ya’ll are going to be on your phones the whole time. (So will I.)

This is why you should head on over here and buy tickets. The ticket is only $5 and includes drinks. 21 and older only, please.

We want to see you in Austin and we want you in our pitch-off. Let’s make this happen.

Our sponsors help make events happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

SideCar co-founder and CEO Sunil Paul was part of what may have been the most spirited and feisty panel at our Disrupt NY conference earlier this month. Sharing the stage with Hailo CEO Jay Bregman (I’ll be posting an interview with Bregman later) and NY TLC Deputy Commissioner Ashwini Chhabra, Paul positioned his ridesharing startup as an organization standing up for innovation and choice in the face of regulation.

I interviewed Paul backstage, where I asked if he’d be able to find common ground with the regulators.

“I think, actually, many of the public servants that work in those organizations, they do want to serve the public,” he said. “I think the system sometimes keeps them from being able to do that, but their personal desire is to do a good job and serve the public. The public is definitley served when we’ve got more choice, when systems are safe, and they’re fair.”

Naturally, Paul argued that SideCar’s system is both safe and fair, thanks to the safeguards enabled by smartphones and social media. He added that SideCar itself shouldn’t be regulated on a local level, because it’s just an information provider and matching service — it doesn’t actually dispatch drivers:

That might sound like a subtle difference [but] that’s the difference between a Match.com and arranged marriage. So I think in a dispatching system, regulators … should have more control simply because the driver doesn’t know where you’re going, the passenger has no choice, prices are set. In a matching system like ours, there’s complete freedom, the destination’s required, drivers and passengers have a choice over who to give a ride to, and there’s no set price.

We also talked about SideCar’s difficulties in New York, where two of its cars were impounded. In response, SideCar is asking supporters to send messages to politicians via social media. (More details here.) That might not seem like a particularly effective strategy, but Paul seemed confident that things will change if politicians believe that’s what people want.

“If people take action, politicians will listen,” he said. “Regulators may not listen, but politicians will listen, and ultimately politicans are the ones that will make the rules.”

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Buy it in a store, laser-scan it at home, upload it to the web, print it anywhere. 3D printing is poised for the mainstream, but what happens when one person’s finely hand-crafted designs can be pirated and reproduced by anyone? Will 3D-printing-piracy social networks arise? And how will manufacturers lobby to stop them?

The ideas came out of my conversation at TechCrunch Disrupt NY with Alex Winter, director of the new documentary about Napster called “Downloaded”. While The Economist pondered these questions last year, and The Pirate Bay has coined the term “physibles” for 3D-printed objects, Winter takes the next step. He suggests a Napster for 3D printing models is inevitable.

I believe it. The way the music industry was unprepared for the mp3 revolution, the manufacturing industry seems similarly behind the curve. It might even be worse off. At least the record companies had the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to fall back on. As of now, physible designs could be interpreted as falling into a gray area between art and media protected by the DMCA, and what can be patented. 3D printing template marketplaces like 3DLT could also get sideswiped by piracy.

I imagine this situation will lead to the rise of a Napster for 3D printing models along with websites like The Pirate Bay’s physibles section. People will build up curated collections of designs, pass them back and forth, and you’ll be able to print cheap versions of expensive objects from tools to jewelry, furniture to toys, and even guns. The idea of people being able to download an array of weapon designs could be terrifying or liberating depending on your perspective.

Eventually, the old manufacturing industry will wise up, and independent designers will band together to try to thwart physible piracy. They might aim for changes to the laws to make this kind of piracy more clearly illegal with stiff penalties. They might also aim for some sort of digital rights management standard. Imagine if pirated designs could be added to a blacklist and the most popular 3D printers like Makerbots, Printrbots, and Cubes wouldn’t allow you to print them.

However it all plays out, it’s sure to be exciting. It’d be a shame to see piracy erode the livelihood of craftsmen and women the way some believe it does for musicians and game designers. As amateur 3D printing turns from science fiction to destiny to reality, a new set of challenges will emerge for meatspace artists whose work can be boiled down to ones and zeros.

[Image Credit: The 7 Stars]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Acer (WTF, Acer?), Disrupt, and Bitponics . This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Michael Seo as the Beaver. Enjoy!

We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific.

Click here to download an MP3 of this show.
You can subscribe to the show via RSS.
Subscribe in iTunes

Intro Music by Rick Barr.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Chef Sleeve has been selling its iPad-protecting plastic sleeves since 2011 to keep kitchen gunk off the iPad you’re using while you cook. They also make a dishwasher-safe, non-porous chopping board with a built in iPad stand (below right), and a smaller stand in the same recycled paper composite finish. But Chef Sleeve’s grand plan is to create a range of connected devices for the kitchen that link up with an iPad app to let people track their nutrition in a highly granular, yet low hassle, way.

To that end it’s just kicked off a Kickstarter campaign for its next product: a smart Bluetooth scale, which it’s calling Smart Food Scales, that will enable people to weigh ingredients and snacks and then determine the exact amount of fat, salt, sugar, vitamins and so on in the ingredients they’re using in recipes or the snacks they’re eating at home.

“This is our first smart product. We now want to activate these pieces of hardware and take the iPad even further and enhance the experience in the kitchen,” says Chef Sleeve’s Michael Tankenoff. “The Bluetooth scale will sync up with our iOS app on iPad or iPhone. Say you’re weighing strawberries. We house the USDA database of food information, so you select strawberries. Not only will it tell you the weight, but it tells you all the nutritional information.

“For example, you’re preparing a salad — you put your bowl on the scale, add your lettuce, select lettuce, reset to zero, add your tomatoes, select tomatoes, reset to zero, keep going, build this recipe and when you’re done, now you know exactly the nutritional value of that salad that you have every day.”

As well as the health conscious and people watching their weight, Chef Sleeve envisages the scales being useful for individuals with conditions such as diabetes to help them track their sugar intake, or people with specific nutritional deficiencies who need to make sure they’re getting enough of certain vitamins in their diet.

The company is looking to raise $30,000 via its Kickstarter campaign, which runs until the end of the month. It’s showing the following prototype screenshots (below) of the planned iPad software. It also intends to open up its API at some point in the future, so that third-party developers can build apps for the smart scales — although it’s going to be careful about how it does this, as it wants to keep any other apps wholesome (scales can, after all, be used to weigh non-foodstuffs too).

After the scales, Chef Sleeve says it will look to launch other connected devices that tie back in to its iOS app to keep adding to a range of smart kitchen devices. A thermometer could be next, says CEO Santiago Merea. A chopping board with an integrated scale could also be on the cards “at some point” — but he says the company is being mindful about its mainstream consumer buyer. “We need to be careful about our demographic. We’re not going to throw rockets at them,” he told TechCrunch. “We want the design to be very homey, very crafty.”

If the uptake of the scales is strong, it could end up generating some fascinating data for Chef Sleeve — such as what, when and how people eat — which it said it will look to feed back into its product development.

“Our pledge is going to be to not store any personal information at all — because we don’t need to but we also don’t want the risk of being hacked,” said Merea. ”Food is personal… So we’re not storing any personal information but we don’t need to. With that data we can also even help our customers. It’s going to be really cool what we can do with this.”

Chef Sleeve already has stores interested in carrying the smart scales, according to Merea. It’s hoping to get into speciality kitchenware stores with the smart scales, a shift of its retail strategy which, to date, has been mostly focused on selling via Amazon (and its own website).

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Meet Lumu: a digital light meter for photographers that plugs into the iPhone’s headphone jack as a smaller and smarter replacement for traditional analogue light meters. It’s used in conjunction with Lumu’s app — being demoed in prototype here at hardware alley at Disrupt NY – to help photographers figure out the best camera settings for their current location.

Lumu is not going to help you take better photos on your iPhone — it’s a tool for standalone cameras that have ISO, aperture and shutter speed parameters that can be manually set. The startup, which hails from Slovenia in Europe, plans to kick off a Kickstarter funding campaign in about a month. The Lumu device will cost $99.

“It’s the world’s smartest light meter,” says co-founder Benjamin Polovic. “The existing light meters are large, bulky and very expensive. With Lumu, the main processing is done on the iPhone, so we use the iPhone’s power. It also doesn’t use any batteries, it’s powered from the iPhone.

“You take your iPhone or your iPod and plug it in and it’s going to recognise it, and it sets all of the parameters for your unique environment. So you put in your ISO that you use in your film or your digital camera, the aperture you want to use and then it calculates the time.”

The photographer then needs to manually input the suggested settings into their camera but Polovic says the group is thinking about making a Bluetooth dongle so settings can be wirelessly sent to a digital camera. “We’re excited to get some ideas from Kickstarter when the campaign launches,” he added.

As well as showing the light level and exposure value for the current lighting conditions, the app lets users store pre-sets for individual geotagged locations so they can easily revisit them later. It will also include an auto mode, and a filter-style feature that will tell users how to achieve effects such as bokeh (background blur). 

Polovic said Lumu’s hope is to inspire more people to start digging down into their camera settings. ”We love photography, we want to make it better, we want to introduce it to people who don’t necessarily know how to use cameras because they are quite complex. We want to make it simple,” he says.

The startup has been developing Lumu for about four to five months, according to Polovic. Down the line, it plans to launch an SDK so developers can create other apps using the light sensor — giving the example of an app that wakes the iPhone’s owner when it starts getting light, for instance.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Vox Media has very quickly become a huge force in online media. The owner of websites like SB Nation and the Verge is seeking to create a whole new generation of premium properties online as a way to attract big advertisers. One way it’s doing that is by extending its home-grown technology to brand marketers.

“We know that globally there’s a $250 billion global advertising opportunity, of which 70 percent is built on brand building and purchase intent — the top of the funnel, to use the marketing jargon,” Bankoff said. “But you look at the web, which is a $25 billion slice of that pie, and 80 percent of that is direct-response. It’s search, which is great, but it’s bottom-of-the-funnel stuff.”

Bankoff sees a big market opportunity there that hasn’t been captured, which is to go after high-value brand advertising on the web. That’s because it’s not clear where ad dollars will go as consumer attention moves from traditional publishing and TV to digital media. At least, how those dollars will be translated online.

“We believe there’s a big opportunity there, but someone has to go after it,” Bankoff told me.

That someone could be Vox Media, which is a bit of a media and technology company. Vox has built its own technology — its own CMS, its own live blogging platform, etc. And now, in its effort to attract brand advertisers, it’s making some of that technology available to others. Vox Creative is a platform that allows brand advertisers to build campaigns natively on the company’s technology.

Check out the video above to see how Bankoff thinks Vox Creative and the rest of its product initiatives will help to make Vox an attractive space for brand advertisers.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch