Software quality assurance testing on Android devices is far easier than it was just a year ago, at least according to one of Asia’s largest mobile app developers, Animoca.

The Hong Kong company has produced over 300 apps since it started two years ago, and just shot past 150 million downloads collectively. It produces mainly Android apps.

Last year, Animoca’s testing process for its apps covered a whopping 400 Android devices. Today, this number has been slashed to just a quarter of that, largely because of standardization in the Android handset industry.

According to Yat Siu, CEO of Animoca’s parent company Outblaze, most phones have become standardized on Samsung’s base hardware, thanks to the Korean manufacturer’s cornering of the component market.

Besides making its own branded devices, Samsung provides parts for a huge array of other devices. In 2012, Samsung was the world’s biggest manufacturer of NAND Flash (31 percent), DRAM (38 percent), and display components (25 percent).

The evolution of Android’s platform over the years has also made it a lot more flexible for app developers on the software side of things, with fewer variants of Jelly Bean than Gingerbread, he added. Together with hardware standardization, this has really eased the amount of testing that Animoca has to do today.

“Japan is the outlier in all of this—they have the strangest phones, and each one is a little different from the other. The rest of the world is mainly quite similar, based on Samsung hardware,” said Yat.

Phones are also getting better. He said that the 400 testing devices from 2012 were mainly made up of low-end handsets. “You have to cater to low-end devices because otherwise, you cancel out your biggest audience. But all the new hardware is pretty kickass, and more and more devices are getting very capable,” he said.

Animoca employs about 100 people working just on its apps, and has operations in Korea, the Philippines, the US and China. Its strategy is to flood the market with apps hitting different niche markets, rather than try to create a “Supercell-style or Angry Birds blockbuster” hit, said Yat.

Some of its titles, Star Girl and Pretty Pet Salon have pretty much reached hit status, but the company is focused on churning out a higher volume of app varieties, in the hopes of casting a wider net for loyal fans. “Those become paying audiences,” he said.

While Star Girl is enjoying millions of downloads, it’s still a niche app. “It targets girls, you share clothes and virtually flirt with guys. It’s not a Candy Crush,” said Yat.

The company has grown about four times in the past 12 months, although he wouldn’t say how much revenue it brings in now. “Frankly, we grew because Android grew as well,” he said, referring to Android’s growing market share. “That’s why Korea and Japan are big markets for us, because they are strong Android bases,” he said.

Animoca produces iOS versions of some of its games, but remains focused on Android, where ARPU is “very comparable” to iOS. Users in Japan and Korea tend to spend most on apps, said Yat.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Way back in January 2012, a service called Burn Note launched, aiming to protect your private messages by destroying them after a certain period of time. Right around the same time, the concept of ephemeral messaging caught on with mainstream users with the launch, and mini-controversy, of Snapchat. While Snapchat allows you to send photos and videos that self-destruct, something that was copied executed quickly by Facebook, Burn Note is back and it’s still focused on the straight-up messaging aspect of communication.

Today, Burn Note is launching new iOS and Android apps that have some really interesting features that limit the viewing area of messages to further protect them from getting screenshotted by the recipient. While this might sound overly paranoid, there is absolutely a useful place in the world for technology like this that has nothing to do with sexting.

I spoke with Burn Note’s creator, Jacob Robbins, and he explained the new “Spotlight” approach to viewing a message, and it’s really cool. Not only that, but it uses patent-pending technology, as Robbins has clearly spent time on the service since it launched early last year. What Spotlight does is force you to use your finger, or mouse on the desktop, to hover a spotlight over the message, exposing only bits of it at a time. This is great to stop people from screenshotting or copying your messages, as well as discouraging those pesky people that like to read over your shoulder.

Here’s a quick look at how it works:

The messages in Burn Note self-destruct using a timer that starts once the message is opened by the recipient. The service will take a guess at how long the reader will need to read it, or you can set the time yourself. Once the timer expires, your message is destroyed forever. By destroyed, Robbins says that all message data are securely deleted from the Burn Note services and both participants’ devices. This is a key component for a service like Burn Note: If that trust is lost, then so is Burn Note’s chance of success. You can send messages to other Burn Note users, email addresses or send a link to anyone on any platform.

Robbins says the goal of Burn Note is to: “allow online communication at the same level of intimacy as in-person conversation; more personal than sharing on a social site, sending email or using SMS.”

I asked Robbins about some of the potential applications for a service, and messaging platform, like Burn Note and the anti-spy Spotlight technology that he has created:

TC: Can you talk about your experiences with launching the first version of the app?

Jacob Robbins: Launching the first version of the app was surprising. I had not done much research into what people’s first reaction would be when hearing about the concept of ephemeral messaging. I was very surprised to find out that people very frequently connected this technology with a means to complain about their boss or other coworker who was a source of workplace stress. I had not appreciated that this kind of workplace stress is nearly universal, perhaps I’ve spent too much time in the startup echo chamber. But people did not quite understand how the system worked since the first version was very one-directional. They would hear about the initial product and think “Can I tell off so-and-so and have them never realize it was me?” Fortunately they didn’t do that because Burn Note isn’t anonymous but clearly that’s not a good initial reaction and I realized I needed to repackage it to be more similar to an IM client or SMS app — both of which are very familiar conversation tools.

TC: What have you added that you learned from your users along the way?

Robbins: When I was first building Burn Note I was very focused on technology that would let users trust that their messages were not retained on the server. The feedback from users ignored this nearly entirely and instead focused on how they could trust their messages were not retained on the recipient’s side.

Preventing recipients from retaining copies of the message you send them is a cat-and-mouse game where there is no perfect solution since the point of communication is for the recipient to retain a copy of the information in some way (e.g. in their brain). But the larger issue is that the sender often cares about the security of their message more than the recipient and they want tools to help them out. This is why we feel the Spotlight is a good match for the situation. It provides a couple of different benefits in this vein including resisting copy and paste, resisting screenshots and also limiting surreptitious viewing of messages by people nearby to the recipient.

One of the more interesting responses we had was from a hairdresser who, on using the Spotlight for the first time said, “this could be really useful for me when I’m reading messages at the salon so that people can’t walk up behind me and see my conversation”. We hadn’t ever considered the kind of privacy concerns that users deal with when having personal text conversations in a workplace where everybody is on their feet all day and moving around. Breaking the desk/cubicle mindset is important to understanding the real use situations for a mobile app.

TC: Talk about Spotlight. Is this something you’ve been working on for a while?

Robbins: We experimented with a lot of different methods for displaying message contents before settling on Spotlight. In one we would break the message into short phrases and display them one after the other as if they were on flashcards. We even tried making a video out of the message which showed a random part of the message in each frame but when viewed continuously you could see the whole message as a sort of jerky static image. In the end the Spotlight method was the one that got an immediate emotional reaction from people when they first used it and that was what sold us on it.

TC: What do you think about other apps, specifically Snapchat, that get a bad rap for the type of messaging you offer?

Robbins: It was interesting to see how Snapchat was covered in the press because a lot of journalists and bloggers clearly did not know what to make of it. The story that was most frequently written was that teens were primarily using Snapchat for sexting but that was pretty transparently not true unless sexting was a daily activity primarily done during school hours in which case school administrators could be expected to weigh in loudly. On the one hand you had very high volumes of usage that were clearly noteworthy, and on the other hand you had journalists pushing out stories saying “the kids are all sexting!” It very much reminded me of Tom Wolfe’s description of the mainstream press grumbling about Beatlemania in the early 60s, complaining about the crowds of screaming teens, calling “I want to hold your hand” “I want to hold my nose” etc.

TC: Talk about some of the usages of the app that you never thought you’d see. Any enterprise usage?

Robbins: We haven’t had any enterprise usage yet that I’m aware of. Part of the challenge of operating Burn Note is that ensuring message contents remain private is the highest priority of what we do and analyzing usage patterns has to take a back seat to that. As a result we get very little insight into what people are using it for. We’re pretty much reliant on anecdotal feedback from customer service and surveys to get use case details, though we do have aggregate totals to measure volume. Earlier this year we had a customer service interaction with a British private investigation firm which is an interesting professional use case but most of the feedback has been from people using it to have conversations with friends and family.

———

This is clearly not an app that’s going to take a chunk of SMS usage away from carriers, but it’s definitely an interesting proposition for those who might be shy to say certain things or just want to bitch about their coworkers without fear of social repercussion. Sure, you could conjure up a slew of uses for an app like Burn Note that are unsavory, but at the end of the day, you could do that for any service.

To appreciate the service for what it is, trying it out is a must. There are situations where I could see myself sending a message over Burn Note instead of SMS or an email, which open themselves up to making their way to the Internet or someone else’s inbox. Sure, we should be able to trust our friends to not do this, but it happens. I’ve gotten things in my personal inbox that were way too personal for my eyes, and I usually say something about it, where most people might not do the same.

If you want to send someone a really private message, maybe something as innocent as how much you like them, a service like this might give you the courage to do so. If your affection for someone isn’t reciprocated, then there’s no harm or foul. Sure, the other person could say to their friends “hey, they sent me a message asking me out on a date,” but without seeing the message, the social fears are limited.

Burn Note’s updated web, mobile, iOS and Android apps are available today.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Well, that’s embarrassing.

Earlier this afternoon, as covered by AllThingsD and a number of sites, a Facebook Connect glitch caused serious problems on websites including the Huffington Post, Salon, MSNBC.com, CNN, Yelp, and others.

Apparently, if you were logged into Facebook, when you visited one of those sites, you’d get redirected to Facebook.com, where you’d then get an error message. Users could resolve the issue by logging out.

The problem was fixed pretty quickly, and a Facebook spokesperson sent me the following statement: “For a short period of time, there was a bug that redirected people logging in with Facebook from third party sites to Facebook.com. The issue was quickly resolved, and Login with Facebook is now working as usual.”

Even though the situation appears to be resolved, I’m guessing that a bunch of publishers are all feeling a little more uneasy about their Facebook Connect integration. And if we don’t see a more in-depth explanation/apology from Facebook in the next day or so, I’d be pretty surprised.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Grab on to your filters Insta-kooks, because you’re going to go all double-tap for Firegram.

The free iOS app, available here is designed to help users promote their Instagram snaps. It delivers as advertised. How the heck it works though has left me scratching my head.

Let’s back-up for a moment… Besides the personal gratification (greater sense of self-worth) some folks get from Likes to their Instragram photos, there is a much more interesting commercial angle. While I don’t have numbers to substantiate this, if you are an Instragram user, there is no way you haven’t noticed a clear uptick of businesses posting photos with the intent to increase clientele. Personally, I see this best exemplified by some of the top restaurants in Tel-Aviv. Here is Asaf Hadar, a chef at The Salon’s feed, and here is Jonathan Roshfeld’s, of Alma.

Easily arguable that Likes equal customers, it’s no surprise then to see a tool like Firegram nest itself in the ‘promotion’ nook. Here’s how it works:

When you first launch Firegram you’ll be prompted to log-in with your Instagram username and password. This allows the app to gain access to your photos.

Then, you need to select the photo you want to promote, read as, ‘get a crap-ton of Likes for.’

You’ll be asked to add a single word (but can add as many as you want it seems) that is then added as a hashtag to the photo in the form of a comment.

Now all you have to do is sit back for a few minutes while Firegram does its thing, and… Presto! Your photo now has significantly more Likes.

Check out the image to the left of a photo I promoted. It received a 1500% bump, from 4 to 60 Likes. A few my other pics enjoyed a halo effect and I even got a few more followers.

You’re probably saying to yourself ‘duh, it’s the hashtag that caused the Likes!’ Well, no. See, I re-uploaded the same pic with the same hashtag I added via Firegram, and it received all of three Likes, all of which came from people I know personally.

If Firegram is gaming Instagram (how do you even game Instagram?!), I can’t figure out how. Total black box, but the proof is in the Like-pudding.

Founder of Firegram, Itay Adam, says the development was self-funded and that the aim is for the tool to be a must-have for companies.

As stated above, the app is currently free for every type of use, so whether important to you for personal or commercial reasons, if Instagram Likes are what you’re seeking, you should probably fire-up Firegram.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

A voting fraud case looms in the crucial swing state of Ohio, as election watchdogs demand answers about new “experimental” software discreetly installed on election machines at the direction of Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Husted argues that the vote tabulation software couldn’t be used to influence the outcome of the election and was just a simple patch to facilitate vote counting. But the suit asserts that the untested software was installed suspiciously close to Election Day and that it could be used as a back door to partisan tampering. “A case of deliberate tampering of that data using uncertified, untested software would be child’s play,” explains a court Affidavit by election integrity expert, Jim March.

The entire case is a partisan free-for-all. The suit is brought by Bob Fitrakis, editor of FreePress.org and Co-chairman of the Ohio Green Party. Fitrakis alleges that the Secretary of State rammed through unvetted software based on a legal provision that allows so-called “experimental” software to be installed without testing by government agencies. “Our position is we don’t know what’s in [the software], but it seems to violate state law and federal law,” argued Fitrakis. “Under Ohio law, it’s supposed to be tested by the Ohio board of voting machine standards.”

Husted explained to CNN’s Don Lemon, “The reporting system and the counting system are not connected in any actual way. And the results that anybody can get at home on their computer are — they’re going to get them at the same time that I do on election night. So we have a very transparent system.”

Yet, according to the affidavit, the software has access to critical parts of the vote-counting process. “Their custom application…would have full contact with the central tabulator database on both a read and write basis, while running on the same computer as where the ‘master vote records’ (the central tabulator database — the ‘crown jewels’ of the whole process) are stored.”

The court has heard oral arguments and will be issuing a decision on the case during voting hours today. More technical details (and some hacking hyperbole) on the case are provided in a Salon article here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

StyleSeat, the “OpenTable for hair stylists” backed by Founders Fund, 500 Startups, Ashton Kutcher, and others (including a who’s who of angel investors), is today launching a service called “New Client Offers.” The platform allows salons to reach out to potential new clients by offering discounts or extra services redeemable upon their first visit. The offers will be available in the company’s online marketplace where customers can also browse area salons, search for professionals based on location, speciality or price, read reviews, view photos of the stylist’s work, and then book their appointments directly.

“We did a lot of thinking and research to understand what’s the best way to help grow the businesses of these salons,” says co-founder and CEO Meloday McCloskey of the new platform. “We found that the only way a lot of the industry gets the customer in the door is through the daily deal model,” she says, “and there’s a lot of flaws in that model.”

The offers platform is a twist on daily deals, which McCloskey believes is not sustainable for salons, or good for salon customers, either. With daily deals, salons are giving up around 75% of their service price, she says. Plus, they get overwhelmed by a large number of clients, and generally only see a 20% return rate on the clients who came in because of a daily deal. Customers, meanwhile, only get access to the salons offering the “cheap” deals, which doesn’t always mean the better salons. And, she adds, StyleSeat also offers a “more authentic experience” because stylists write about their services in their own words and post photos of their actual work.

With StyleSeat’s new platform, however, professionals will be able to book as many or few deals as they like and they also have the option to offer free services instead of a price cut – something which doesn’t affect their bottom line quite as much. On the backend, StyleSeat’s platform lets salons track statistics surrounding their revenue and the ROI on the deals themselves. They also get access to the customer’s name, email and phone number (for reminders), which is all stored in StyleSeat. The offers will appear like ads on the search results pages and on the profile pages. (See screenshots, above and below).

StyleSeat has marketed itself as a freemium service in the past, but it has actually been 100% free until today. This is the first time it’s monetizing – by taking a 30% cut on the new client offers, which less than the typical daily deal site would take. “We want to be generous about the feature set we have on our platform,” says McCloskey. “Our philosophy is that we want to give you a platform to run your business for free, but when you want to grow you’re business, we’ll take a cut of that.”

She also says that new client offers are the “first of a lot of products” that are in the pipeline. Other products launching soon will focus more on developing a more robust CRM system, with respect to bringing existing clients back to the salon, for example.

Launched in May 2011, StyleSeat has over 55,000 salons and spas onboard, which is up from the 40,000 it reported back in March. Stylists can sign up here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

It was 40 years ago yesterday that Atari’s Nolan Bushnell taught the world to play. Bushnell, an engineer and game programmer, built and sold Atari in the late 1970s, ushering in the era of the video game and changing the way kids spent nice summer days. Atari is 40 years old this month and there have been a number of interviews and encomiums with Bushnell.

Bushnell installed his first game, Pong, at Andy Capp’s bar in Silicon Valley where drinkers lined up to drop quarters into the first bit of video entertainment. The company roared through the 1970s and then petered out in the early 80s as competitors created more interesting and visually complex systems and games.

The coolest thing? As Harry McCracken writes, Atari almost invented Internet gaming:

Atari is little more than a nostalgic note played by some games makers these days but Bushnell’s company essentially defined an era between high-powered home computing and low-end home entertainment. We owe Bushnell a debt of gratitude and, more important, you can play Adventure in browsers now so you can finally find the secret room.

There’s a bit more on Bushnell on Salon.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Bloomspot, a local offers company launched back in 2010, is pulling back the proverbial kimono on its numbers in an effort to prove its business model works. Although sometimes lumped in with group deal providers like Groupon or Living Social, Bloomspot operates quite differently. Instead of group deals targeted at the masses, it offers exclusive deals targeted specifically at a merchant’s best customers.

Through Bloomspot’s rewards program, customers provide the company with permission to analyze their credit card data at places where the offer is being run, allowing the deal provider to track whether or not it was redeemed, and how much else the customer may have spent there. The traditional thinking is that deals and discounts are meant to be “loss leaders” for businesses – get customers in the door, then upsell them. However, the Groupon (et al.) backlash has merchants claiming that these types of deals are simply “losses,” not loss leaders. People come in for the bargain, but don’t buy more or become loyal customers after the transaction takes place. This forces the merchant to again advertise again with Groupon to get their next “hit” – another influx of customers a Groupon deal brings.

Bloomspot says that’s not the case with its customers, however, and wants to prove it.

The startup has been consistently forthcoming with its internal data, and has raised over $46 million in venture funding from investors who believe, too, including  InterWest Partners, Columbia Capital, Menlo Ventures,True Ventures, QED Investors, Harrison Metal, Western Technology Investment and individuals such as Erik Blachford (former CEO of Expedia) and Gary Parsons (former Chairman of Sirius XM Radio).

72% Of Customers Repeat, $140 Average Overspend

Using its anonymized data, the company now says that 72% of its customers who purchase offers from its partners become repeat customers of that business and spend an average of nearly $140 above the price of the offer they purchase. Across several verticals, this is the case (see charts below). For example, in fine dining, customers spend more than 3x the original price of the certificate. In beauty and spa, they spend on average $174 above the offer.

The data was sourced through Bloomspot Encore (Bloomspot’s opt-in rewards program which tracks credit card data), and it reflects actual consumer interactions from approximately 150,000 members and approximately 2,000 merchants in Bloomspot’s core markets. The company delved into average repeat rates, overspend, averages by vertical and anonymized data by merchant.

In its analysis of repeat customers, Bloomspot tracked visits over 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Over the 12-month period, it found that  72% of customers returned local merchants on average, as you can see below. But even after one month, 13% customers had returned.

The company also found that the average overspend per customer is approximately $140 over the year, and that customers spend above the price of the certificate by on average $60 in the first month.

As noted above, in the Restaurant, Spa and Salon categories, overspend tracks even higher. Below, some specific examples highlighting a fine dining merchant, a yoga studio, and retail outlet. Granted these are likely cherry-picked top examples, but they’re worth a review nonetheless as proof that some merchants have managed to make the local offers model work for them.

The bigger takeaway from Bloomspot’s data is there’s room for a different approach in the customer loyalty space than the group-buying one employed by Groupon and others. Targeting a narrower niche of those likely to frequent a particular business then incentivizing them with an offer to do so is another angle loyalty programs can take. It’s the quality over quantity argument. And at the end of the day, Bloomspot and Groupon may both be operating in the “offers” space, but they’re approaching two very different market segments. That’s not to say that a merchant has to choose one or the other model exclusively, however.

Bloomspot CMO Lily Shen, points out that it’s the only company offering this level of insight. “We’re really offering and delivering loyal patrons,” she says. “Other companies sell merchants on large subscriber numbers and sell consumers on discount prices,” but that doesn’t really benefit the merchant in the long run.”

Repeat Merchants?

We asked, then, how many of Bloomspot’s merchants are repeat “customers” themselves per se, given that loyalty like this would likely be rewarded. Shen said that number wasn’t readily available, but noted a few companies that have worked with the company multiple times, including The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, Jardiniere (S.F.), and Nobu (L.A.). She says this speaks to the types of businesses and clientele that Bloomspot is able to attract.

Why reveal these numbers now, though? Well, local deals is a tough market, and Bloomspot has not been immune to the crunch. Reports of layoffs trickled in last winter, with some serious cuts reported here (and through anon tipsters emailing us angry about the unforseen cuts).

Bloomspot is available in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, Houston, Seattle, Denver, and San Diego. While the company doesn’t have any immediate plans to extend beyond these markets right now, it does have a new program in the works called the Encore Network. Similar to edo or Cartera, the network would offer card-linked rewards, not specific deals you would have to buy. The program is being piloted in select markets now with a wider rollout planned for later this year.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Tandem Entrepreneurs, for those unfamiliar, is a Silicon Valley-based accelerator and capital fund that focuses exclusively on early-stage mobile businesses. Like other accelerators, Tandem works hand-in-hand with its founders on everything from strategy and product design to user acquisition and employee recruiting. However, unlike others, it seeds each startup with a $200K convertible note in exchange for 10 percent equity, and keeps the size of its batches small (two to four teams) in the belief that smaller size equates to higher returns and higher success rates.

Each team spends six months in Tandem’s acceleration program, with new batches beginning each season. There’s no demo day, or set graduation date, as Tandem likes to avoid making its founders feel like they’re about to get kicked out. While Tandem has been operating as a capital fund since 2007 — having funded and worked closely with startups like Play In The City, Playhaven, and Zumodrive — its mobile accelerator only launched in July. And, today, Tandem is officially unveiling its inaugural batch of four startups, as well as giving us a sneak peek at the two startups chosen to participate in its winter program.

Below you’ll find a description of each of the four companies, as well as the accompanying teaser. For those interested in applying, the accelerator is also accepting applications for its spring batch, with a deadline of April 3rd at midnight. Those interested can apply here.

BitRhymes is a social game development company, which is focusing on building social casino games for women that can be played across online and mobile platforms. Its first game, Bingo Bash, was released in December, and has already attracted 1.8 million monthly active users on Facebook. BitRhymes’ first social game combines the basic tenets of Bingo with some creative collection and rewards mechanics, adding the ability to collect treasures (gems) and power-ups to make a game that’s traditionally reserved for older folks into a far more exciting, addicting, and social experience. Heck, there are even synchronous chat features and sometimes crowds of more than 100 playing at any given time.

BitRhymes will soon be bringing Bingo Bash to iOS and Android, and is currently in the process of releasing several new titles. The startup’s team counts members who have previously built titles like Vegas, Salon Street, The Warlords, and Tagme, which have collectively seen over 25 million installs.

Flit is an online shopping tool that allows people to enter a search just once, and use that term to search for products or merchandise across their favorite stores. Using this patent-pending Go Search tool, users can initiate a single-click search across 275 retail sites, from fashion and home goods to electronics and sports products.

The startup has been beta testing its service, and is looking to focus more specifically going forward on making shopping on the tablet fun — for women. It is developing an app that builds on its previous online experience, allowing women to find items they like from hundreds of online stores, while saving products for later, and sharing their favorites with their friends. Flit plans to launch its tablet app this month, so stay tuned.

UpOut is an online event discovery service that is targeted and busy people who may not have had a lot of time to plan, but suddenly decide, say, after leaving work that they want a fun, local event to check out. Thus, UpOut provides a realtime listing of local events that are accessible on the go, and currently offers over 2,000 events in San Francisco. The startup plans to officially roll out of beta early this month, and bring its service to a host of new cities over the course of the year. You can read more about the startup’s beta launch at TechCrunch here.

Gimmie is developing a real-world reward program that lives within mobile apps that aims to boost in-app purchase revenue for mobile developers, while connecting consumer brands to mobile app users. As Kim-Mai wrote at Inside Mobile Apps, Gimmie is a hybrid between the install networks that give gamers virtual rewards for watching ads or downloading apps with services like Kiip, which turns in-game achievements into coupons. Gimmie was co-founded by a long-time Popcap Games engineer, Roy Liu, who just so happened to be the lead developer for Plants V. Zombies. Liu left when Popcap was acquired by EA last year.

Gimmie is now working with over 50 developers (which, combined, have millions of active users), and beta launch titles include Peter Pog, Art Jam Trance, and Ziggurat, among others.

As mentioned above, Tandem is also officially announcing the two startups that were chosen to participate in its winter program, which is still ongoing. Both startups’ products are currently in stealth, so they’re not saying much about them. But, what we have been able to gather is this: The first, called Sift, is an intelligent shopping service, which was co-founded by former executives from Digital Chocolate and VMware. The founders have dubbed their product “a Flipboard for brand promotions.”

The second, Tydy, is an interest-based content discovery service. Tydy was founded by former Opera executives, and plans to offer a better way to filter the droves of content we share on a daily basis, based on customized, personal filtering mechanisms. According to the team, it has struck distribution partnerships to have Tydy be “included on tens of millions of mobile devices for its initial launch.” Obviously, we’re looking forward to learning more, and will share when they’re ready.

Again, applications for Tandem’s spring class are due by April 3rd at midnight. Apply here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

OpenTable for hair stylists and other salon professionals StyleSeat is announcing a raise of $775K this morning, from enviable angel investors Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s A-Grade, Founders Fund (!) and actress Sophia Bush.

The round will be added on to the company’s previous $700K from another Valley “Who’s Who?” list of  investors including Jeff Clavier, Chris Sacca, Dave Morin, Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp, Paige Craig, Alfred Lin, Christoph Janz, Joe Stump and 500 Startups.

The company, which offers beauty and haircare professionals free tools to build and manage their online businesses, has booked over $17 million in salon appointments since its launch last spring, and now serves over 40,000 users. It monetizes through a freemium model, charging users a $25 fee for expanded booking, CRM and marketing features.

The online reservations platform is yet another outgrowth of the “OpenTable for X” trend, which encompasses everything from “OpenTable for Doctors” ZocDoc to StyleSeat competitor Pencil You In.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch