Earlier this year Huddle, a UK-based company that offers collaborative workspaces as a service, closed a $10.2 million funding round. And it’s putting that money to work: it’s tripled its engineering staff over the last few months, and its overall headcount has jumped from 25 to 60 spread between London and a new San Francisco office. Today, we’re going to see the first fruits of this growth.

Unfortunately it’s not a feature that sounds especially sexy — Huddle is launching a totally reworked task manager. But while it may lack a ‘Wow’ factor, Huddle says that the new functionality is a big step forward for the company (and that it’s only the first of several upcoming product relaunches).

So what exactly does the new task manager bring to the table? Cofounder Andy McLoughlin says that up until now, Huddle’s task manager has left a lot to be desired — it was really basic, without any way to associate content with a task (for example, you couldn’t associate a Word doc with a task called “Read This”). Likewise, there wasn’t a way to filter tasks, nor could you export, or assign them.

The new version fixes all of these issues.  McLoughlin says that the company is aiming to offer more functionality then you’ll find in 37Signal’s Basecamp, but with less complexity than Microsoft’s SharePoint and Project, and he thinks that this Task relaunch is in line with that mission. In addition to new features, Huddle is using an overhauled UI, which McLoughlin says should make managing tasks easier.

This is the first of several major launches that Huddle has on the drawing board. Over the last several months it has been investing heavily in its product, rewriting the core platform and building out its APIs. In the coming months  it says we’ll be seeing a series of relaunches of its core features.

Huddle was founded in 2006 and has since landed some big deals, including one that has it bundled with millions of new HP Business PCs. More recently, Huddle was integrated into Xobni, the Microsoft Outlook plugin.

Group video calling on Skype is now available in the new Skype 5.0 Beta for Macs, which just rolled out this morning. Skype 5.0 for Windows came out only a couple weeks ago, and it is already here for Mac.

The overall interface is much cleaner. Although, it does take some getting used to: the buttons and fonts are bigger, like a kid’s version of Skype. Also, you can’t make the window smaller beyond a certain point.

Conversations get pushed up to the top of the sidebar based on most recent chats. I’m not sure if this is new or not, but in the version of Skype I just upgraded from, conversations stayed where they were, and I always had to scroll up and down among more than 100 open conversations to find the person talking to me (I use Skype mostly as an IM client).

When you are making acall or video conference, a new mini control bar pops up with a hang-up button, mute, and other shortcuts. The group calling takes some getting used to. Everyone you call must have the latest 5.0 version of Skype. But you create a group video call with people on both Windows and Macs. You can even swap your video feed for a screenshare. This feature is kind of hidden, however. You have to click on the “Send files/Contacts” button, which then gives you the option to share your screen in a drop-down menu.

The new version contains other improvements as well, including offline IM, the ability to reconnect a call if your Internet connection drops off, and a floating contacts monitor.

Batten down the hatches, netizens! At a streaming media conference yesterday, Dish Network Vice-President of Online Content Development and Strategy, Bruce Eisen, said that sites like Hulu, which allow Internet users to watch certain television programming (and sometimes for free), may well destroy the television industry as we know it. That’s a bad thing if you’re Dish Network, but what if you’re the average person?

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Go Try It On, a startup that allows users to share photos of themselves and get opinions on their looks, has raised and undisclosed round of funding from Index Venture's seed fund and angel investors, including Alex Zubillaga. In conjunction with the announcement, the startup is also releasing its first mobile product, a free iPhone app.

On Go Try It On, you can upload a photo of yourself, add descriptions of the brands you are wearing and include context around the choice of the oufit (i.e. concert, holiday party). The site's community can then comment on the site and provide feedback on fellow members' outfits. Users can choose to ask the greater Go Try It On community, just share with their friends on Facebook, or ask a brand for advice.

The iPhone app allows you to access your looks and reviews from the app, as well as upload and share looks directly from app. You can also highlight your location, and share your look with your contact book.

For Go Try It On, which centers around sharing looks on the go, an iPhone app makes sense and should be complimentary to the startup’s web platform. While CEO and founder Marissa Evans declined to share the number of users the site has, she said that since launch in March, users have share 1 million opinions. And 80 percent of users are female, with 40 percent of traffic coming from outside the U.S. So far, Zara is the most popular clothing brand that is shared on the site.

Go Try It On faces competition from Weardrobe, Polyvore, and Fashism (which also just launched an iPhone app).

All over Europe, localized Apple’s online retail stores have recently gone down, which is almost always a sign of impending changes. Obviously, there are no new products bound for the stores, so this means that there are likely pricing changes ahead, possibly in tandem with holiday offers and other promotions.

The Apple Store in the US and other parts of the world functions as normal, but key stores in Europe, including UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy are currently unavailable.

We’ll update this post when the stores come back up, so stay tuned for now.

(Thanks for the tip, Laurence)

In an effort to promote its sustainability efforts, Facebook has officially launched the company’s “Green” page. The page, represented by what appears to be the merger of a restart button and an abstract pine tree, will showcase the company’s latest green achievements, pertinent articles and a bevy of fun facts.

Under the “programs” tab there’s an official list of Facebook’s recent achievements, highlights include the company’s construction of Haystack to more efficiently store photos (which led to energy savings of 20%), its green transportation system and yes, those AUTO/Dual flush toilets at its headquarters.

The Green page is just part of Facebook’s increasingly aggressive campaign to ratchet up its sustainability efforts— or at least broadcast its green agenda to the public. This Thursday morning, Facebook also announced that it has joined the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC), a consortium of NGOs, regulators and consumers that promotes energy efficiency in the information and communications technology sector. DESC will be the first co-administrator for Facebook’s Green page, which will eventually feature other environmental experts as co-administrators.

"Our on-going philosophy has been to improve the efficiency of our infrastructure and we continue to invest tremendous resources to improve our own operations,”Jonathan Heiliger, VP of Technical Operations at Facebook said in a statement. “By creating and sharing innovative technology solutions, we hope to help raise the visibility of the importance of environmental sustainability across all industries.”

Today’s two-for-one announcement also comes in the wake of Facebook’s recent partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy, a large coalition of environmental leaders and major corporations like Dell and AT&T. Last week, Facebook agreed to give the Alliance $500,000 in free advertising on its site, to promote the campaign and its new consumer-facing website, LivingEfficiently.org.

The initiatives come amid growing criticism from certain environmental groups, like Greenpeace, which have complained that Facebook has not done enough to promote sustainability and energy efficiency. This year, Greenpeace has pressed Facebook to make its data centers greener by using more renewable energy. The group took particular offense to Facebook’s new data center in Prineville, Oregon, which is powered by  Pacific Power, a utility firm that draws significant energy from coal plants.

The months-old saga hasn’t died down yet, on Wednesday, the NYTimes ran an article titled, “Facebook Under Pressure to Be Greener,” which detailed the tension between Greenpeace and Facebook and the social network’s ongoing challenge to be energy efficient as it scales up.

Seems like the perfect time to publicly launch a Green page.

SGN’s newest social game for the iPhone, MiniTycoon Casino, is now available worldwide. Launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in September, the game was initially rolled out in Canada, Australia and New Zealand but today is available around the world. You can download the free social gaming app in the App Store here.

The game is similar in some ways to Zynga’s Farmville, except instead of building your own farm the game allows you to build and run a 5-star casino. You can decorate your casino, buy machines (slots, poker tables and more) and hire dealers. And you can visit your friends' casinos to earn energy, send gifts, send messages, and more.

As the social game scales worldwide, SGN is prepared for supporting a high number of concurrent users (think Farmville-like numbers of users). Mini Tycoon Casino is the first game in this series and SGN plans build similar games with different themes. The gaming company has big ambitions for the the app—MiniTycoon Casion is expected to bring in $1 million in revenue per month.

Jawbone Jambox. Jawbone Jambox. Jawbone Jambox. Try saying it 10 times fast — if you get anywhere close, you’re doing better than me.

Aliph (known for their high-end Jawbone Bluetooth headsets) just announced their newest product venture: high-end Bluetooth Speakers. They were nice enough to swing me a review unit a few hours early. The downside: I’ve been saying and writing “Jawbone Jambox” over and over all evening, so my brain can no longer parse either “Jawbone” or “Jambox” as real, properly spelled words. The upside: I’ve got a nice unboxing video, along with my impressions thus far, ready for your perusal. Join me after the jump?

When it comes to Bluetooth headsets, Aliph’s Jawbone line is right up on the top of the crop. At anywhere from $70 to $100, they’re not cheap — but they sound great, offer up killer noise reduction, and are some of the only headsets that I’d ever consider calling “comfortable”.

This morning, Aliph is mixing up their product line a bit, without straying too far from what they know. After 4 years of developing Bluetooth Headsets and nothing but, they’re entering a new market: Bluetooth Speakers. Their first entry is called the Jawbone Jambox.
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

UpTake Networks announced today that it acquired RealTravel.com, a social hotel recommendation site. With the purchase, terms of which were not disclosed, UpTake aims to “accelerate their investment in the online travel research experience and drive more free, qualified leads back to travel sites”.

UpTake already operates UpTake.com, a semantic search engine designed to help travelers research and decide where to go, stay and what to do.

Yen Lee, co-founder of UpTake, explains the decision to buy Real Travel thusly:

"We acquired Real Travel because their product vision and approach are similar to UpTake.com, they have a highly talented team and they have a global footprint covering more than 200 countries.”

UpTake, which was formerly known as Kango and changed its name to UpTake Networks in March 2008, says it intends to continue to operate RealTravel.com as an independent site.

UpTake was initially founded in 2006 and is based in Palo Alto, California. The company has raised $14 million to date.

According to its CrunchBase profile, Real Travel has raised $1.8 million (from Mike Maples and Reid Hoffman, among others), although it appears some funding rounds are missing in the database. The fact that the latest press release to be published on Real Travel’s site dates back to July 2007 doesn’t help, of course.

In a city like New York, there are two main options to get floral bouquets in your home on a regular basis. You can make arrangements with your neighborhood’s floral shop, which can easily run north of $125 per pop. Or, if price is a factor, you can drop by the local bodega or deli shop to pick up a few bunches. The prices can be as little as $10 for a dozen roses— but as they say, you often get what you pay for.

H.Bloom is an online floral delivery service hoping to solve this pain point by offering floral subscription plans at affordable rates. Their basic package is $35 per floral bundle (including shipping) and can be delivered on a weekly, monthly or bi-monthly basis.

Since the company’s launch earlier this year in New York, H.Bloom has attracted a respectable sum of investment dollars, raising $1.1 million in its angel round. This morning, the startup announced that it has just raised a $2.1 million Series A round of funding, led by Battery Ventures. Unnamed investors from the previous round also participated.

The new round will help H.Bloom (which only serves the NY market today) expand its team and break into the Washington DC market.

The real value of H. Bloom is in the cost and convenience. According to the startup, the company is able to offer competitive pricing by working directly with the growers, cutting out several traditional overhead expenses and relying on the subscription plan model, which requires 7-day notice for cancellations.

"The flower industry is saddled with unnecessary cost," CEO Bryan Burkhart said in a statement. "Retailers have to pay for expensive store-fronts and an overwhelming percentage of flowers that spoil before a customer can purchase them. With no retail footprint and the predictability of subscriptions, we know exactly what flowers to order and can pass on the savings to our customers."

Although the company prides itself on its hyper-local approach, the real challenge for an outfit like H.Bloom will be achieving efficient scalability and adjusting to each, unique market. H.Bloom has wiped out many of the floral industry’s overhead costs but it’s a capital intensive business (purchasing, arranging and shipping flowers) with several moving parts. H.Bloom will need more than NY and even DC to truly upend the floral distribution chain in metropolitan areas.

AeroScout announced today that it has secured another $16 million in venture financing for its "Real-Time Location System" (RTLS) and to grow the adoption of its Wi-Fi RFID solutions. New investor Evergreen Venture Partners led the round, and all of AeroScout's existing investors, namely Cisco, Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, Menlo Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital and Star Ventures, participated in the round.

Groups that sought to postpone air pollution controls in California lost at the polls on Tuesday. An estimated 61 percent of California’s voters said no to proposition 23, and yes to keeping the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32) on schedule. The laws aim to cut the state’s industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions back down to 1990 levels by the year 2020 and are slated to take effect in early 2012.

What does AB32 mean for businesses in California and the U.S.?

A principal with the global, economic research firm The Brattle Group, Jurgen Weiss said that AB32 and the changes it brings to the Golden State’s economy would not be problematic for a majority of traditional small businesses (and early stage startups) there.

The Brattle Group researchers project that by 2020 a restaurant in California will probably have to increase its prices from $50 to $50.07 due to AB32 effects on the cost of energy and goods, locally. Weiss explained, “The levels of impact will be minor for small businesses and early stage startups, generally. That’s because [most of these] aren’t energy intensive. The price increases likely to result from AB32 are actually smaller than increases that result from other things that change for small businesses year to year anyway, like the price of gasoline and natural gas for heating. Both of those fluctuate by a much higher percentage, regularly.”

On the other hand, price sensitive businesses and companies in energy intensive industries could feel a pinch, The Brattle Group projected. Opponents to AB32, and those who supported proposition 23 in California continuously express concerns that if the costs of energy and goods in California go up, but they do not go up at the same rates elsewhere, that will drive some companies to take their jobs and dollars out-of-state.

Weiss, based on his firm’s extensive research believes, “The types of companies that would be tempted to [move] are incredibly energy intensive, or price sensitive. If electricity prices going up even a few points would be a major increase in costs to them, they might want to move… Energy intensive industries include things like aluminum smelters, and pulp and paper companies.” A lot of these would not be found in California now, Weiss pointed out, because energy prices have been high historically compared to other parts of the country there.

Forbes reported that the defeat of proposition 23 comprised a win for the solar industry and that the state could expect to see more solar manufacturing jobs, soon. The Houston Chronicle reported that fuel prices in California could rise ahead of the Jan. 1, 2012, when oil refineries and power plants there will have to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

Given California’s history of spurring new industry and innovation, AB32 proponents hope that the environmentally progressive law will not just abate pollution, but actually create demand for a new set of goods and services, and along with it plenty of local cleantech jobs and new businesses.

Image via: Mike Miley

Do you remember when cheesy foreign music videos used to take place in dance clubs? Now they take place on Facebook. Case in point: The above video features Bulgarian singer Gergana as she spends a hot Friday night surfing Facebook, no joke.

Sample lyrics, in English:

“You're looking for me (all) night and day on Facebook.”

“You look cute on your picture, do you look the same in reality?”

“You like my (Facebook) profile – yes, but I lied there.”

And while it doesn’t reference the “Poke” feature in creative ways like some other videos we’ve covered, the song is actually called “Facebook” and un-ironically revolves around a flirtatious work romance taking place on the social network.

If I were Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg I’d totally take tomorrow off, to revel in my accomplishments.

Thanks: Europopped

Consumer electronics maker Panasonic is cozying up to Tesla with a $30 million investment, in exchange for a 2% stake.

Although Panasonic and Tesla have worked together in the past, under the new partnership, the duo will closely collaborate on the development and marketing of new Tesla battery packs that feature Panasonic lithium-ion cells.

"Panasonic offers the highest energy-density cells and industry-leading performance with cutting edge Nickel-type cathode technology.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a statement late Wednesday, “We believe our partnership with them will enable us to further improve our battery pack while reducing cost.”

Under the terms of the deal, Panasonic purchased Tesla’s stock in a private placement for a price of $21.15 a share.

The structure of this alliance is not out of the ordinary for the electric car maker, which has been richly funded but deficient in profits. Over the past two years, Tesla has strengthened strategic relationships with investment deals.

Notably, in May, Tesla and Japanese automaker Toyota announced a major partnership to cooperate on the development of new electric vehicles. As part of the deal, Toyota agreed to plunk down $50 million for Tesla’s common stock. And Toyota was not the first major corporation to bet on Elon Musk’s roadster. In 2009, Daimler invested an equivalent sum in exchange for a 10% stake and technology, according to reports.

Although Tesla is moving forward with plans to ramp up vehicle production over the next few years, the company has also placed a greater emphasis on its powertrain business, which services other car manufacturers. Last month, Tesla disclosed it had a $60 million contract to supply parts to Toyota for the production of the upcoming electric RAV4.

Clunky battery parts may seem relatively boring when compared to Tesla’s sleek roadsters, but it may be the key to finding their (so far elusive) path to stable profitability.

Today at their mobile event in Palo Alto, CA, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed something interesting and rather humorous. It’s no secret that Facebook’s Android app has long been sort of a lame little cousin to their excellent iPhone app. But do you know why? Well it’s mostly Google’s fault. You see, they acquired the developer Facebook had hired to make the app.

“Yeah, I thought that was obnoxious,” Zuckerberg said today when we asked him about it following the event. Everyone in the room burst out in laughter at that.

Zuckerberg said it was a really small shop that Facebook had contracted to make the app — he was quickly corrected that it was actually more like one developer. “But it was the main thing they were working on. It wasn’t like it was some shop and that’s why Google had to buy them,” Zuckerberg continued, clearly still holding a bit of a grudge about it.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a huge deal. But it definitely set us back for a while,” he noted. Zuckerberg said that they worked out an arrangement to use the code the developer had written for the app up until then, but that he obviously couldn’t work on it anymore. ”It was kind of frustrating.”

Previously, it was thought that Google was actually helping Facebook to build their Android app — after the social network indicated it wasn’t a priority. But this makes more sense as to why it was so bad for so long — Google screwed over Facebook on it.

Robert Scoble recorded the entire conversation, so you can hear it in Zuckerberg’s own words here (it’s about 32:20 in).

Facebook is finally building the Android app in house now. And they actually updated it today which a range of new features to match the other versions available.

This made us smile. Star mobile developer Joe Hewitt just tweeted out the following missive roping Twitter, email and yes employer Facebook into a triumvirate of distraction, calling them “non-work related bookmarks.”

When asked to clarify what he meant in >140, Hewitt responded, “I just mean social media in general. Obviously I keep parts of Facebook open for work purposes, but I was referring to my recreational use of Facebook.”

Hewitt proposes relegating all recreational social media use to the “iPad/iPhone” realm, which is an interesting grouping in light of his boss Mark Zuckerberg’s statement today that "the iPad isn't mobile" and the fact that Facebook does not yet have an iPad app.

So is he really going to quit social media?

Says Hewitt, “No of course not. Is that even possible these days? :) I was just thinking about restricting email and social media use to my iPad.”

Maybe we’ll be seeing that Facebook iPad app sooner than we think?

Teaser image: el frijole

The British Prime Minister is expected to announce today that the East of London, which in the last three years has seen a 700% growth in tech companies starting up there, is to become an officially sanctioned startup 'hub' for the UK. Although he will make a speech saying that London will be transformed into a "world-leading technology city to rival Silicon Valley" - a worthy but rather over-optimistic claim - there is some meat here. The government appears to have secured several commitments from companies including Google, Facebook, Intel and McKinsey & Co to invest in the long-term future of the area. As is the way with PMs' speeches, the media has been circulated an advanced copy. So among other things he is expected to say:

Jeez. I use my cell phone without a headset like one time and a Google employee gets so mad he stands in front of my car (see A Googler Has his Tiananmen Square Moment). I’ve got nothing on this guy, who’s reading a book, using a Kindle and finally a cell phone all at once, while driving. Amazing.

 

 

TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon alumnus GroupMe has come out with an Android app today to supplement its iPhone offering, which like social texting apps TextPlus and Fast Society allows you to text within groups through private SMS.

Founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht explain on the company blog that Android users were already using the text version of the service “in droves” and tell TechCrunch that the Android app has been their most requested feature.

The app will now make group texting on an Android phone even easier, and already loads your number and pre-existing text groups. It also introduces a one button step for creating a group — Hit the “+” and you’re able to add friends from your contacts as well create a unique mobile number for your group.

GroupMe currently has $850k in funding in a round led by SV Angel. You can find the app by searching for "GroupMe" in the Android Market.

As the big carriers continue to upgrade their network infrastructure, we’re being subjected to a torrent of confusing new terms, some of them misleading, some of them only a letter or number off from another, and so on. What’s a consumer to do when confronted with such a frightening array of acronyms and jargon?

A little straight talk seems to be in order. Let’s get some basic facts down first, then we’ll talk about what matters.

Continue reading…

TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Shwowp announces today that it is opening up its social purchase sharing platform to its 2000-strong waiting list plus extending an invite to the first 500 TechCrunch readers to sign up here.

Founded by Whuffie Factor author Tara Hunt, Cassandra Girard and Jerome Paradis, the Montreal-based Shwowp organizes consumer data in order to help vendors better target discounts and promotions and help consumers control their purchase information, which up to this point has only existed in silos.

Beta users can now forward all receipts and order confirmations to wow@shwowp.com as well as directly upload them. Shwowp will then aggregate the information, allowing you to add photos, comments, track trends and share your shopping history with friends through Twitter, Facebook and email.

Hunt says Shwowp’s future plans include adding about 50 stores per week to its database and opening the service up to all users in November. Shwowp is bootstrapped and angel funded and is currently looking for seed investment.

What happens when you add a chat room to Foursquare or Facebook Places? You get ChatSquare, of course. ChatSquare is a mobile app developed by ISraeli entrepreneur Nir Ofir. It works in the browser on iPhones and Android phones. You connect to your Foursquare or Facebook accounts and the app lets you check into places in their geo-directories and chat with anyone else there.

There are three kinds of chat rooms in ChatSquare: a chat room in a specific place, a local lobby and a global lobby. The local lobby lets you chat with anyone within a few miles. But the place chat is the most interesting. You could use it as a back channel at a conference, or to flirt with someone at a bar. Or, you know, if you are in the same place, you could just go up and talk to them.

Creating virtual chat rooms in real places just means that more people will have their heads down in their smartphones, but in large group situations I can see this taking off. It reminds me a little bit of GroupMe, a private group SMS service which launched at Disrupt’s NYC Hackathon. GroupMe is not tied to places specifically, but that seems to be one of the popular use cases.

MobileCrunch got a sneak peak at ChatSquare in September. The video is below.

Well this is interesting. And smart.

Obviously, commercials that call-out rivals are nothing new. But a new commercial from T-Mobile that the company put on YouTube yesterday does it in an unconventional way.

Specifically, the commercial is for T-Mobile’s new myTouch 4G device. It’s an Android device that is an iPhone competitor. But rather than rip the iPhone directly, they instead rip the fact that the iPhone 4 is only available on AT&T’s sub-par network. And they do so by making a parody of Apple’s famous “I’m A Mac” commercials.

“Who’s your friend?,” the female myTouch 4G asks. “Oh, it’s the old AT&T network,” the iPhone 4 man replies. The iPhone 4 man is sharply dressed young guy — who happens to have an overweight, bald, lame businessman on his back. He sort of seems like he’s drunk too. Yeah, that would be AT&T.

In other words, T-Mobile is conceding that the iPhone 4 is an attractive device that is sexy to a lot of users. But they’re saying that you shouldn’t buy one because it comes handcuffed to a crappy network.

Of course, it’s looking like this ad will only be applicable for another few weeks. But, we’re now in the all-important holiday buying season. So the ad is a very smart play, even short term.

Or, to think of it another way, “T-Mobile is practically begging to carry the iPhone,” Daring Fireball’s John Gruber writes.

Earlier today, Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra gave his annual State of The Blogosphere presentation at the ad:tech conference. Technorati will be blogging about the findings over the next few days, which is based on a survey of 7,200 bloggers. But we have the full slide presentation below.

Some key takeaways:

• Self-employed bloggers now account for 21% of those surveyed, compared to 9% last year.
• But only 11% say their primary income comes from blogging.
• Hobbyists still make up the bulk of bloggers at 65%, but that is down from 72% last year
• Corporate bloggers now make up 4% of the total, up from 1% last year.
• Two thirds are male
• They use many types of social media (LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg), but when it comes to driving traffic back to their blogs only two social media services really count: Facebook and Twitter
• Tablets and smartphones are impacting impacting blogging styles for 39% of bloggers
• Of those, 70% are writing shorter posts, 50% are posting photos from their smartphones, and 15% are using less Flash
• When writing about brands or products, 71% will only write about brands they approve of.
• One third boycott products, but only one fifth write about their boycotts

You can see last year’s presentation here