Bloglovin, a site where readers can follow blogs about fashion and other lifestyle topics, is getting what CEO and co-founder Mattias Swenson said is its first major redesign.

Until now, Swenson said Bloglovin has been adding new features in a more incremental way. This time it’s getting a new look and new social capabilities that the Bloglovin team hopes will please both the hardcore users and more casual visitors.

Bloglovin raised a Series A from New York City-based incubator betaworks and others last summer, and at the time, Swenson emphasized the devotion of the Bloglovin community. For example, he said that the average Bloglovin user follows 37 blogs. He told me yesterday, however, that the team has become aware of a more casual audience, one that doesn’t follow any particular blog or author, but instead is looking for the latest content on topics that interest them.

To improve the experience for those users, Bloglovin has redesigned the page featuring “popular” posts on a given subject. Looking at the old and new pages, I wouldn’t say that it’s a dramatic change, but it allows Bloglovin to pack more stories onto the page without making things feel crowded — I’d say it looks more magazine-y. (It will probably remind some people of Pinterest, and while I think that description gets a little overused nowadays, Swenson doesn’t back away from the comparison.)

Each post on those redesigned pages also displays how many Bloglovin users have “liked” it. Visitors can expand that number into a full list of users. For bloggers, that can provide a much better sense of who likes their content, and for readers, it’s an opportunity to identify users with similar tastes, who they can then follow to find more interesting content: “So we’re turning our users into curators.”

Swenson also compared Bloglovin to Tumblr, where many users don’t produce original content but simply re-post photos that were taken and shared by others. That kind of sharing becomes a way to “express yourself,” he said, and “Bloglovin is going to be the ultimate platform for doing that,” in part because users aren’t limited to following publications on a specific platform (like they are on Tumblr).

“In the beginning, some of our investors were skeptics [about the redesign], but then they showed it to their wives and daughters, and they said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this tomorrow,” he said. I asked why they were skeptical, and he replied, “I think it was more in connection with Google Reader shutting down. … But they realized now is the right time to do these big changes.”

Swenson added that after Google Reader’s demise, the other RSS reading apps are going to be stuck in a “feature war” as they go after the tech-centric audience, whereas Bloglovin could eventually encompass everything and everyone else. For one thing, even though Bloglovin allows users to follow the RSS feeds of their favorite blogs, it doesn’t really market itself as an RSS reader. And the increased emphasis on “discovering the best content” should push the site further in this direction, Swenson said.

Ultimately, he predicted that Bloglovin’s audience, which has grown to 4.7 million monthly active users, will consist of 10 percent “heavy-duty users” and 90 percent visitors “who just have interests that they’re passionate about, like fashion, and they just want to know what’s popular.”

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Windows Blue will be called Windows 8.1 and will launch as a public preview on June 26, Microsoft revealed today. While the company remains mum about what exactly we can expect from Windows 8.1 (boot to desktop? the return of the Start menu?), Microsoft says that Windows 8.1 “will help [it] to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners and to deliver the experiences customers— both consumers and businesses alike —need and will just expect moving forward.” The update will be available for Windows 8 and the ARM-based Windows RT.

June 26 marks the start of Microsoft’s Build developer conference in San Francisco, so the date is obviously not all that much of a surprise, given that Microsoft will want to get its developer ecosystem to start working with Windows 8.1 as soon as possible. The update, Microsoft says, will be delivered through the Windows Store.

Microsoft, the company’s CFO Tami Reller said at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston today, wants to continually update Windows to create “a richer experience” for its customers.

Today’s announcement comes after a few days of build-up, including pieces by Microsoft’s corporate VP of communications Frank X. Shaw about how Windows 8 has been doing far better than the pundits make it seem. This also caps off months of speculation around when we would see the first preview of Windows, though the first day of Build always seemed like a reasonable date.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

If you’re an old-school gaming nerd, then you might remember a little game released by Atari called Breakout. The idea was simple: just hit a ball around and break things. Don’t let the ball get past you, or you lose. It was heavily influenced by Pong.

The game’s introduction was 37 years ago, in 1976. Whether it was in April or May of that year, Google has decided to commemorate the occasion with a little easter egg in image search that will suck all of your free time from you. It’s good to see Google doing these kinds of things away from their normal doodle, especially since a lot of their users might not remember Breakout.

Go to Google image search and type in “atari breakout.” You won’t get to click through images though…instead the experience gets turned into a fully interactive and playable Breakout game, using the search results as blocks:

Kick some butt and then share your score on Google+:

Of course, if you’re really looking for images of Atari’s Breakout game, then you can simply click on “return to image search.” But that’s no fun. Happy Breakoutting.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Peer-to-peer housing startup Airbnb has spent the last several years mostly as a platform for listing and booking short-term accommodations through a web browser. But users are getting increasingly comfortable with the idea of booking and even listing spaces through their mobile phones. The company has tried to reach that demand through on mobile devices with frequently updated iOS and Android apps. Today, the Android app gets an update aimed at making the experience for hosts better than ever.

Airbnb has seen a lot more of its traffic coming from mobile users, and a lot more of its bookings happening on mobile phones as well. As of last September, about a quarter of all traffic came from mobile users, and you can bet that’s increased over the last six months.

With its iOS app, Airbnb has seen users are more responsive than on the Airbnb website. They answer emails more quickly, which leads to more bookings; and are generally more engaged than Web-only users. That said, the number of hosts who use its Android apps to manage their properties hasn’t grown in proportion with overall mobile increases. Only 5 percent of active hosts use the Android app.

As a result, Airbnb is updating its Android app to provide a better experience for hosts on that platform and to make managing their properties even easier. The two areas where it’s looking to improve are in providing pre-approval options for hosts, and better calendar management for its properties.

The first of the two new features will allow hosts to pre-approve, deny, or request more information from guest inquiries within the app. That’ll increase the speed with which bookings can happen. The second new feature will improve the ability to update calendar listings, without having to jump on the web to do so. That’ll ensure that the most current inventory is able to be seen by users.

The Android update comes not long after Airbnb updated its iOS app in December, adding new languages and features to that platform. For Airbnb, it’s all about increasing the usability of its platform on all the different devices that users wish to reach them. Doing so means more bookings, and that means happier hosts and guests and ultimately more money.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

App beta testing service TestFlight launched its closed Android beta back in February this year, and now the company is making those tools available to any and all. The private beta has included some 5,000 developers, who have incorporated TestFlight services into 4,500 apps, which have been downloaded over 50,000 times by eager Android beta testers.

TestFlight has frequently been asked when and why it would come to Android, so news of the beta earlier this year was understandably exciting for developers. Finding alternatives to TestFlight for the Android platform hasn’t been easy, even with TestFlight keeping away from the platform for a considerable amount of time. TestFlight CEO and founder Ben Satterfield explained in an interview that his company doesn’t seem to have ceded much opportunity with the wait, judging by the initial metrics of this expansion project.

“Our goal is not to be on every platform but to help developers better than other services on the platforms we do support,” he said. “Earlier this year we announced more than 300,000 apps uploaded on iOS alone. Given our base and the strong response to the private Android beta, we think developers will find it much easier to continue using our solution for managing beta-testing on both iOS and Android. “

As for making sure that the experience translated to the Android platform, Satterfield says that feedback so far indicates they’ve done a decent job, and notes that in fact, the differences between how testing works on iOS vs. Android actually aren’t all that great, at least based on initial impressions.

“The iOS and Android workflows are proving to be similar,” he said. “We actually were counting on this and created the Android workflow to have minimal changes in the UI so developers could onboard effortlessly.  It seems to have worked as within the first 24 hours of the private beta we had roughly the same percentage of developers connect their build systems and automatically start uploading their APKs.”

With this release, all developers get access to app management tools, including distribution and feedback reporting, and soon the Android SDK release will allow them to add in crash reporting and more. The SDK launches soon, possibly even as early as next week, TestFlight says, with a closed beta first. Satterfield also says that expanding mobile analytics tool FlightPath to Android is also on their roadmap, but has nothing concrete to share about release timelines as of yet.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

New York City-based startup Cover wants to make paying for your meal at a restaurant ultra-easy — like so easy that you don’t even have to look at the check. So the company has raised $1.5 million from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures to make that happen.

Here’s the idea: Ever been out to a restaurant with a large group of, say, 10 or so? You’ve just had a nice meal, great conversation, lots of wine and then the check comes and panic ensues. You could do that thing where 10 people all throw their credit cards in to split the check 10 ways. But then there’s always that one guy who has cash, or the person who just ordered an appetizer or doesn’t drink, and probably shouldn’t pay the same amount as everyone else.

Settling up is a pain in the ass, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s the premise behind Cover, which seeks to simplify the process through the magic of mobile payments.

Cover founders Mark Egerman and Andrew Cove decided that a solution was needed to make the experience of paying a check as seamless as paying for a ride on Uber. Egerman, who describes himself as a “recovering attorney” who had previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told me that, despite the growing number of mobile wallet solutions out there, few consumers were taking advantage of them. Mostly, the two believe, that’s because the user experience just wasn’t that good.

“We wanted a service that lets you dine out and pay without waiting for the check,” Cove said. “Dining out should be about the people at the table around you. We wanted to make it about that experience.”

What they set out to build, then, was a payments platform and mobile application that would reduce all the fuss and calculations that happen when the check comes. It was important to them that the platform would be able to gracefully handle large groups, and also that it would work with restaurants’ existing point-of-sale systems so that they wouldn’t have to install a whole new order, ticket, or payments system.

For users, Cover is designed to allow one-click, instant payments without them even having to get the check. Users simply check in to a restaurant at the start of their meal, and when it’s time for them to pay the final bill, it’s immediately charged to their credit card. They modelled the experience on Uber, which Egerman called “one of the best payment methods” out there.

For groups, the app allows users to check in and choose which members of the party they’ll be paying for. If all diners have the Cover app, it’ll be taken care of with no fuss. For those who don’t have it, they’ll still be able to pay for their share with cash or credit card.

Cover isn’t the only startup trying to tackle mobile payments at restaurants — there’s also TabbedOut, and, of course, Square. But those have some limitations. For TabbedOut, the check-out flow isn’t as simplified as what Cover is aiming for. And Square requires businesses to use its own POS system.

The app is still in private beta, but the startup has raised $1.5 million in seed funding to get it off the ground. The round was led by OATV, with participation from Lerer Ventures and angels, such as Josh Spear, Dave Eisenberg, Ben Leventhal, Naval Ravikant, Andrew Kortina, James Altucher, Mike Greenfield, John McDonald, Chris Muscarella, Ed Zimmerman and Scott Belsky.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Before he co-founded last-minute hotel booking startup HotelTonight, one of CEO Sam Shank’s previous companies was the hotel review site TravelPost. And today, he’s launching what he said is a reinvention of the hotel review, optimized for mobile phones.

“What makes mobile different is, mobile’s with you all the time,” Shank said. “With hotel reviews, you’re sort of summarizing your stay. It’s text-oriented. But on mobile, the primary input device is the camera. It’s more photo-based.”

The new feature is called Snap Your Stay, and it asks HotelTonight users to take six different photos during their stay — one each of the bed, bathroom, view, lobby, and exterior, plus a “cool find” of their choice. You can adjust the lighting in a photo, but there are new filters per se.

The photos can be shared on Facebook or Twitter, and they’ll also show up on a hotel’s profile page in the app, sorted by things like the type of image (so that you don’t end up with six pictures in a row of beds) and whether other users liked the photo. And the app will also start featuring a page with recent popular photos.

Shank argued that Share Your Stay allows users to capture their experience during their stay (as opposed to trying to remember it afterwards), and to do it in a quick, convenient fashion — he noted that you can take and upload all six photos with just 20 taps, whereas writing a review would take “thousands.” (Put another way: Typing out an in-depth review on your phone would be a pain.)

Now you might be thinking, “Hold on, that doesn’t really sound like a review. How do I explain that the staff was mean? Or that there were a lot of weird noises at night?” And for now, at least, you can’t. HotelTonight already asks users whether they would recommend the hotel — Shank described that as a quality control mechanism (a few hotels have been removed from the app for low ratings) and a way to make users feel more comfortable about their bookings. Meanwhile, he described Share Your Stay as a way to capture the experience, which will help other HotelTonight users decide whether a hotel is right for them.

When I asked whether he’d consider adding a text review feature in the future, Shank answered that the team was trying to make things as simple as possible to start, and that HotelTonight will enhance Share Your Stay based on what users want.

As for what you get for taking those photos, Shank said that HotelTonight is currently offering a $5 credit for completed photo set. He added, “What I’ve learned with reviews in general is, the reason people give reviews is to give back to the community.”

The Snap Your Stay feature is available today in HotelTonight’s iPhone/iPod Touch app. The company plans to introduce it to the iPad and Android apps too.

HotelTonight is also announcing something called the “HT Price Guarantee.” If you can find a lower price for the same room on the same night on another site, then HotelTonight says it will make up the difference in credits.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

So far, the Pebble smart watch has done little besides offer up watch faces for users to tinker with, but the apps are starting to come in, and today marks the much-anticipated debut of early marquee partner RunKeeper. RunKeeper was an early player in the smartphone-based activity tracker market, and continues to be an industry leader. It was a natural partnership for both Pebble and RunKeeper, and now consumers get to see what the two can do together.

The new Pebble RunKeeper integration works with both Android and iOS apps, and provides the same functionality for both. RunKeeper CEO Jason Jacobs says that his company is very interested in the wearable tech market, and he believes that the key to cracking open a much broader audience for fitness and health tracking tech could be gadgets like the Pebble, which make it even easier to access and use information gathered by tools like RunKeeper.

“What’s really exciting for me is that what people were expecting was that it just makes it easier to have a RunKeeper controller on your wrist,” he said, describing the experience of the Pebble integration’s early beta testers. “But what they’re finding is not only can it do that, but it’s actually more powerful than an app because it’s starting to change the way they’re interacting with the data, it’s more seamless to their experience, it’s not disrupting their flow.”

Jacobs says RunKeeper’s thesis as a company is that that’s exactly what needs to happen in order to help this kind of activity tracker technology find wider purchase among a mainstream audience. “The data needs to be more actionable, and it needs to be proactively given to you so that you don’t need to hunt and look for it,” he said. The Pebble is a good way to achieve that, since it can surface any data that a smartphone, either Android or iPhone, can gather on its wrist-mounted display.

On the Pebble, RunKeeper will display pace, speed, and distance travelled and offer workout start and stop features. It can work with runs, and also bike rides and walks, and does everything most will need to get a lot more out of their smartphone supported workouts right away. It offers RunKeeper a way to compete with wearables like the Nike+ GPS sport watch, all the while allowing them to focus on the tech they do best, leaving hardware to more specialized partners.

“The software is really hard, and we think it’s a really big opportunity, and we want to be the best at the software piece,” Jacobs explained. “Part of that is pushing the phone’s capabilities so that you don’t need hardware, but part of that is also playing nice with all the best of breed hardware that comes out. In terms of being that best of breed hardware ourselves, it’s not in our roadmap or aspirations. It is in our road or aspirations to be a good neighbour.”

This version of RunKeeper for Pebble is just a start, Jacobs says, noting that during the development process they realized they could add in much more, like setting pace on the smart watch, setting distance targets and more. RunKeeper also worked closely with Pebble to get this particular integration developed, and says we’ll see similar UI elements used as other fitness tracking apps come on board. Future work could go into helping RunKeeper differentiate its experience further as the development ecosystem for Pebble progresses.

Jacobs leads me to believe that RunKeeper will be opportunistic about partnerships with hardware companies and other software efforts operating in the same general space, and this Pebble partnership is just one part of a larger strategy to try to find the key to cracking the mainstream market with a product that, while successful, has had more niche appeal up until now. The Pebble is also arguably a niche product, but taken together, it’s possible two things aimed at a very specific audience could combine in just the right way to attract a much broader following.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Adobe surprised everyone by showing off a new hardware effort today at its annual MAX conference, including Project Mighty and Napoleon. Mighty is a pressure-sensitive digital pen that works with tablets and stores a wide variety of settings and preferences in the cloud. Adobe showed it off working on an iPad, and it looked similar to what we’ve seen from existing pressure-sensitive input devices from other companies, but with tighter integration into Adobe products.

It can pull in stored Kuler color palette themes from Creative Cloud, for instance, as well as brush settings and a cloud clipboard that stores assets you’ve created previously for use in new drawings. Moving from tablet to tablet preserves the settings associated with your pen, which makes it possible to take everything from tablet to tablet.

Napoleon looks a little like a modern Apple remote, but allows you to easily draw straight lines and arcs via snap tools combined with digital pens like Mighty. It’s almost like having traditional drafting tools including squares and triangles, but better suited to digital media. For precise drafting and more serious, demanding graphics work, these two tools in tandem should help push creativity on mobile devices quite a bit further than what we have available today.

The Mighty pen itself looks similar to something like the Jot Touch 4 pressure sensitive pen, but with full access to Adobe’s Creative Cloud services behind it. It’s a little like an entire artist’s box in a single device, judging by what Adobe has shown us on stage today. It also takes advantage of non-stylus touch, too, in a way that looks novel, allowing users to do things like erase with their free hand. But when paired with Napoleon, it becomes much more powerful than what we’ve already seen, which should really push the envelope on mobile creativity.

This is still essentially a project in the R&D phase, Adobe noted, but we will definitely see it materialize down the road as a real product, they said. The real question will be how this can compare to for-purpose devices like the Wacom series of tablets, which are much better than anything else out there in terms of pressure sensitivity, latency and overall ability to mimic the experience of working with traditional artists’ materials.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Songza, the app that matches expert-created music playlists to your mood or activity, has just released a huge update to its iOS app, streamlining the experience quite a bit and cleaning up the UI to ensure that users are getting the best music to match their mood and activity in the fastest time possible.

To start, you’ll notice straight off the bat that the Concierge screen has changed dramatically, with new colors in the background and the removal of the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. But it’s not just about looks. Songza’s smarter now, too.

The Songza team has always prided itself on finding you an amazing playlist to match your mood and settings in just three clicks. Today, they brought that down to one long-press click on any Concierge situation (like Driving or Sweaty Dance Party) to get music playing quickly.

Songza 3.0 also includes a faster way to find music for the situation you’re in, even if Concierge hasn’t predicted it for you. Simply shake the app while on the Concierge screen and you’ll be asked what you’re up to, leading you to the right playlist for the right moment.

One of the biggest pain points with Songza is that it’s difficult to find the right music based on artists. Sure, you can hunt for mixes by genre, mood, activity and artists, but even then you have to sit through most of the playlist before your fave comes on.

Songza 3.0 solves this problem by letting you hunt out all the playlists that include your queried artist, with the mixes that are most relevant to your preferences coming up first. And if that weren’t enough, the app automatically moves songs by your favorite artist to the top of the playlist.

Last, but certainly not least, the new and improved Songza made a few tweaks to its Audio HQ feature, which was debuted in collaboration with Audyssey Laboratories back in December.

Record Store Clerk, a feature that tries to match you with new music based on what you already like, has been baked into the experience on the back-end, rather than remaining as a front-end feature.

Clearly, things have changed a lot in the land of Songza, but the new version comes with in-app tips to help you find your way. Songza has picked up tons of traction since it launched, now boasting 4.7 million monthly active users who spend more than 65 million minutes with Songza on a daily basis.

The update is available now on the App Store.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch