TC/Gadgets Webcast: Live From Disrupt NYC

This week we recorded live from the show floor at Disrupt NYC. We sat through 24 hours straight of hot-rod hacking at the Hackathon and now we're preparing for the main show and, most important, the brand new Hardware Alley where we'll have loads of great hardware start-ups for you guys to check out [more]

From A Disrupt Win To $18M In Funding And 4M+ Downloads, Soluto Tells All

Disrupt NYC 2012 begins in approximately 12 hours (tickets here). But it's been two years since Soluto, the software that will make your computer simply run better, took home the Disrupt Cup at the TC Disrupt NYC Battlefield in 2010. The company entered the competition with a total of $7.8 million [more]

How Android Developers Can Thrive With Google Play

Apple’s planned phase-out of the UDID has introduced considerable angst in the app marketing community. The UDID provides a standard, widely supported method for attributing performance of advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, there’s no single solution to replace the UDID and it appears the i [more]

Silicon Valley Can Do Better Than Facebook

Congratulations to Facebook for going public. Congratulations to the employees that are now millionaires. Congratulations to the founders who are now billionaires. Congratulations to the bankers, lawyers and investors who have added to their already considerable wealth. You’ve grasped the brass ri [more]

Introducing Our 2012 Disrupt NYC Hackathon Winners: Thingscription, PoachBase, And Practikhan!

After nearly 24 hours of fighting fatigue and crafting code, our Disrupt NY 2012 Hackathon is finally drawing to a close. Not a moment too soon -- I think some of our hackers are about ready to keel over at this point. Nevertheless, we just got an eyeful of 92 projects that our wonderful hackers ha [more]

Twitter Back Up In Pakistan After An Order From The Prime Minister

A temporary solution to the drama that unfolded this morning when Twitter was blocked in Pakistan -- some believe over representations of the Prophet Mohammed and Twitter's refusal to block these images; and some believe while it was testing an image filtering service. Whatever it was, the site is n [more]

New Project, Roominate, Offers A Fully-Wired Dollhouse For Kids

Teaching kids - especially little girls - about electronics is a hard job. First, there's the electricity. Then there's the sense that soldering, wiring, and lining up LEDs is considerably less fun than watching Tangled. This project, called Roominate, aims to change the way girls think about electr [more]

Watch The Hackathon Presentations Live! (Update)

A mere 24 hours ago, coders started hacking with hopes and dreams of building the next great app or program. Many participants stayed overnight, fueled on gumption and Red Bull. Others cut out early, apparently satisfied with their creation. But they're all back now, waiting to present on our massiv [more]

What’s Big, Blue, Hopes To Save Our Planet And Is Not Facebook?

There have been a lot of complaints voiced over the last couple of years from people who wish entrepreneurs would address the world's "real problems" or do "something bigger" rather than create "me too" applications and websites. I'm not a fan of that sentiment but that's really a whole other post I [more]

SpaceX To Attempt A Second Launch On Tuesday, May 22

SpaceX and Elon Musk will not be held from the history books. Last night the company announced that engineers were currently replacing a faulty valve on engine #5, and if successful pending a data review today, the company would attempt a second launch on Tuesday, May 22nd. This comes as SpaceX's ma [more]

In Which The Maker Faire Restores Your Humble Correspondent’s Faith In Humanity

A life-size fire-breathing dragon. A fully robotic calliope band. A full-scale flight simulator built by teenagers. An entire herd of homemade R2-D2s. Electric cars, steampunk fashion, a robot petting zoo, a piano made of bananas, and a cardboard Trojan Horse. Plus a zillion different interactive at [more]

From A TC40 Win To A $170M Intuit Acquisition, Mint.com Tells All

With Disrupt NYC 2012 literally a day away (tickets here), it's hard not to think about the past success of our former Battlefield startups. I've taken a close look at quite a few over the past couple weeks, and to be honest none have come as far as Mint.com. The company has rocketed to success sinc [more]

Morning, Hackers! The 24-Hour Disrupt NYC Hackathon: Coding Ends, Judging Starts Soon

It's been a long, caffeine-fueled ride for the hundreds of hackers who have set up at our big Disrupt NY 2012 Hackathon, but the furious process of taking a wild idea and turning it into something real is finally winding down. Projects were being finalized, UIs were being tweaked, last minute Red B [more]

Sure, Draw Something. Just Not The Prophet

Pictures of the Prophet Mohammad have always been a highly contentious issue -- they're not explicitly prohibited in the Qu'ran but many Sunni Muslims forbid the idea, while others do not seem to mind as much. Among the latter group are those who feel that banning such images is a restriction on fre [more]

Report: Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Blasphemous Content, Facebook Complies? [Update: Back Up]

Another day, another example of a country making it harder for its people to use the web and some of its most effective channels of communication? There are reports coming in from Pakistan that it has become the latest country to ban the use of Twitter. Update: it's now back up -- new post explainin [more]

This City Never Sleeps, And Neither Do The Hackers

It's midnight. The city is alive with Saturday night fever, and Pier 94 is just as awake, and perhaps a bit more drunk. Tequila shots (and plenty of beers) are flowing, along with Red Bull, Mountain Dew, and Energy Bites. In other words, this place is like one giant vat of FourLoko, topped with [more]

Meet The Disrupt NY 2012 Hackathon Hackers

It's been about eight hours since our big Disrupt Hackathon kicked off, and all of our intrepid hackers have been busy letting the code (and the caffeine) fly ever since. I managed to tear a few of them away from their work (these folks are pretty motivated, so it took a bit of doing) to tell us a [more]

Day After IPO, Mark Zuckerberg Marries Longtime Girlfriend Priscilla Chan

What a week. After eight years, Mark Zuckerberg takes Facebook public at a $104 billion valuation. His longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan gets her medical degree from the UC San Francisco. He has his 28th birthday. And to top it all off, they get married today! Mazel tov. [more]

The Disrupt NYC Hackathon: We’re 8 Hours In

There's a strong murmur in the room with random spurts of excitement. Hackers and coders have teamed up and mostly (hopefully) decided on a project. There are only 15 hours left. But night is approaching. That's when things tend to get loopy thanks to the sudden influx of food and beer. So far the [more]

The Art Of Expression: T-Shirts Of The Disrupt NYC 2012 Hackathon

Hackers aren't necessarily known for their fashion sense. Most of the time, a t-shirt and jeans is as far as it goes. But there are certain circumstances in which it's clear that hackers pay a little extra attention after rolling out of bed in the morning. The TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon is one of [more]