Sprint turns up LTE in 21 new cities; preps for big 4G push this summer
Apart from Los Angeles, this week’s expansion mainly targets smaller cities and towns, but Sprint is going urban once again this summer with a big 120-city push. Read more »
Cabbies sue to drive car service Uber out of San Francisco
San Francisco cab drivers are bringing a class action suit against Uber, claiming that the car service should be regulated like other taxis. The suit is part of a nationwide dispute pitting upstarts against the incumbent taxi industry. Read more »
7 Stories to read this weekend
When it comes to tech, San Francisco is the company town, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Martin Amis things writing should be about longevity, something no one can accuse Malcolm Gadwell of writing. And an American made car! These are this week’s recommended reading. Read more »
Comcast binges on Wi-Fi hotspots in California
Comcast’s Wi-Fi network has pulled up stakes and is heading west to make its fortune in San Francisco and other California cities. The cable operators said it has deployed a “few thousand” hotspots around the state though the greatest concentration is in the Bay Area. Read more »
Vevo rolls out new video and artist pages, vows to take on connected TVs next
Music video platform Vevo will give itself a visual refresh Thursday, decluttering its video watch pages and adding a whole new artist page. Those changes were driven by the company’s new product team, which traded New York’s glitz for a low-key startup experience in San Francisco. Read more »
Parking Panda brings driveway sharing, parking space finder app to SF
The service expands from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore to let individuals and private garages rent out empty spaces. In San Francisco (and across the bay in neighboring Oakland), Parking Panda will have 5,000 to 10,000 parking spaces available for reservation via its new iPhone app. Read more »
Does Hailo have Uber on the run in New York’s taxi wars?
Two of the biggest taxi service startups are preparing to go head-to-head as San Francisco’s Uber and London’s Hailo gear up for launch in New York. Who will win? Evidence so far suggests it’s a tough game, but the British company may just have the edge. Read more »
City of SF won’t buy Macs without EPEAT certification
Just days after news hit that Apple no longer wants its computers and monitors evaluated for EPEAT certification, the first public agency has said it will no longer be allowed to buy Macs as a result. The City of San Francisco is (unsurprisingly) first up. Read more »
If Uber wants London, it faces the fight of its life
Private car hire service Uber is preparing to hit the British capital just in time for the Olympics, and the reality is that London, with its iconic black cab service, has the potential to make — or break — Silicon Valley’s latest transportation darling. Read more »
LeWeb London almost happened in San Francisco
One of the world’s premier startup conferences, Paris-based LeWeb, is heading to London this month. But organizer Loic Le Meur says he was thinking about heading to San Francisco, not the UK — until the British Prime Minister made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Read more »
Bay Area cities using coworking to cut carbon, boost growth
A newly announced partnership between mobile working app LiquidSpace and three Bay Area cities is another example of local communities leveraging the idea of coworking to keep commuters closer to home, boosting economic development in the area and cutting carbon emissions. Read more »
5 things I learned at AngelHack
If you’ve never been to a hackathon, give it a shot even if you can’t stick it out for the full ride. AngelHack Boston entrants started coding at noon on Saturday and finished 30 hours later. I was there for 10. Here’s what I learned. Read more »
Gidsy goes to Hollywood with its Airbnb for activities
Hot Berlin startup Gidsy, which lets people find and book tours, lessons and other offline experiences, is opening the doors on a service in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Read more »
It’s playtime: Toca Boca heads for America
Swedish iOS studio Toca Boca has become a hit with parents and kids around the world, thanks to its smart suite of simple, open games. Now it plans to open a U.S. office and target the American market in 2012. Read more »
Verizon, Comcast double team AT&T in Bay Area battle
The country’s largest mobile operator and largest cable provider bringing their “quadruple play” service to San Francisco and the Bay Area, jointly marketing Comcast residential TV and broadband and Verizon mobile service. In the process, they’re poking a needle in the eye of mutual enemy AT&T. Read more »
Macworld | iWorld Expo 2012 looks to the future with a shift in focus
Macworld | iWorld Expo officially kicked off Wednesday night with an energetic performance by Modest Mouse at The Warfield, a beautiful and historic theater in downtown San Francisco. The conference itself is a combo of rich history and modern tweaks, and that’s especially evident this time around. Read more »
With 5m total bookings, Airbnb plans aggressive international expansion
Airbnb has topped 4 million total bookings over the past year, showing huge growth for a startup that’s just about five years old. it also shows the idea of apartment sharing and collaborative consumption in general is catching on, as the company expands internationally. Read more »
Gadget warranty provider SquareTrade lands $238M from Bain Capital
SquareTrade, a San Francisco-based company that provides warranties for gadgets like the iPhone, landed a $238 million investment from Bain Capital. The new investment is being made jointly by Bain’s private equity and venture capital affiliates. Further financial details about the deal have not been disclosed. Read more »
Formspring doubles down on mobile to fight unique user dip
Social Q&A site Formspring has experienced a dip in monthly unique visitors, as the two-year-old startup transitions out of the role of hot newcomer. The company is looking to aggressive mobile web and app development and an updated design to get the growth back on track. Read more »
Hacking solutions to the world’s resource problem
This weekend in New York City, dozens of developers gathered for the second Cleanweb Hackathon, where programmers spent the weekend building mobile and web apps around new ways to manage energy. The event is the latest sign the ecosystem around clean technology is changing. Read more »
Why Ron Conway is fighting SOPA
More than perhaps anyone else in Silicon Valley, SV Angel’s Ron Conway knows how important free expression on the Internet can be for fledgling technology companies to grow and prosper. So it’s probably not a surprise he’s against the proposed PIPA and SOPA bills. Read more »
Live stream: The S.F. street protests against SOPA
Anti-SOPA protesters are taking their cause to the streets on Wednesday, with protests scheduled in New York and San Francisco. We will cover the event in San Francisco, which will feature Ron Conway as a headline speaker, with a live video stream. Read more »
4 startups that are taking the web from geek to chic
It’s been a long time coming, but the worlds of fashion and technology have finally begun to combine in a serious way. A new crop of companies is using the web to make the process more data-driven and social than ever before. Read more »
How does Apple fit into digital education?
Apple is holding an event in New York next week, in which the company is planning to make “an education announcement.” Many are connecting the event with comments Steve Jobs made to his biographer and expecting Apple to announce a digital textbook initiative through the iBookstore. Read more »
Affine Systems gets another $5M for semantic video ad software
Affine Systems, which makes software to scan and sort the content in online video, has raised nearly $5 million in a new funding round, according to a regulatory filing. Affine’s software gives advertisers the tools to analyze online video in a way that’s similar to television. Read more »
AT&T launches LTE service in San Francisco and New York City
AT&T has turned on its 4G LTE service in 11 new markets, but that expansion may not be quite so big as it appears. AT&T is only covering large cities like San Francisco and New York partially, explaining why it’s only reached 74 million in coverage. Read more »
Buffer gets $400K funding — and tells exactly how they did it
Every day, it seems like there’s another bland press release about startup seed funding. So when Buffer closed on $400,000, it wanted to announce it differently — by explaining exactly how the process happened. It’s a fun read, and a good lesson for other startup founders. Read more »
SF BART cut cell service to disrupt protests
The SF BART subway system admitted Friday it shut down cell phone service on several subway platforms during a planned protest Thursday. The subway operator said it was to guarantee passengers’ safety, but others are calling it “a chilling strike against free speech.” Read more »
Cord Cutters Day Was a Blast
What do Redmond, Royal Oaks and Lima, Peru have in common? It’s all cities where we had meetups for Cord Cutters Day yesterday, thanks in large part to a community that even braves tornado warnings. Check out some photos from a few of the gatherings. Read more »
Macworld Expo Tips: 12 iPhone Apps for Traveling to San Francisco
The time for Macworld Expo 2010 is upon us and the handiest tool you’ll bring to San Francisco with you is, of course, your iPhone. What apps should you install on your phone to enhance your Macworld experience? iMacworld (Free) The iMacworld is a handy guide for […] Read more »
