Never has a internet company had so much information about its users. Facebook knows your friends. They know where you go in real life and online. They know who you hang out with, who you talk to, what interests you, and they have a database of pictures of you that the FBI would die to get a hold of (and probably have already). Companies are built around the data that Facebook shares about you, but that is changing. Facebook is building a moat around their data and only lowering the drawbridge to those who are not a threat and who contribute to the “Facebook cause” by giving back some love through sharing….

Do you remember who won CNET’s “Best of CES” award last year? Probably not. What you likely will remember is who should have but didn’t win it this year, thanks to a boneheaded PR move by CBS. The parent company of CNET is in heated litigation with Hopper, the Dish Network service that allows users to skip past commercials. It has been deemed dangerous and potentially illegal by just about every major television network as it promotes an technology that cuts off their revenue stream. When CNET’s editorial team voted that Hopper would get the top prize, CBS brass reacted swiftly, saying that the litigation…

Rumors are rumors and Techcrunch has been known to push them forward without base or backing. With that said, the latest Reddit rumor that they are raising money would make sense. But we’re hearing now from a source that, a little over a year later, Reddit is raising money. And the company’s valuation has jumped to $400 million. If it’s true, this could mark the beginning of the end for the “front page of the internet”. The site is the most powerful private site in the world that really doesn’t make any money (and don’t point to Wikipedia as that would be ignorant to think they’re not making money)….

When a company so new and so fresh off of a cash infusion from going public starts to make cost-cutting decisions surrounding their primary product, it doesn’t bode well for the future of the company. That seems to be the direction that Zynga may be heading after shutting down 11 of their titles. According to Techcrunch: The San Francisco-based company had overextended itself. During its heyday on Facebook it built dozens of games, then aggressively launched mobile games as smartphones gained popularity. It didn’t seem like a problem when the company was preparing for a big IPO. The “big IPO”…

We reported earlier that the NY Times is finding success with its paywall model for generating revenues and increasing profits. On the other side of the fence is News Corp, which has walked along similar paths over the past couple of years but can’t seem to find the right mix and is now showing a loss of $2.1 billion in its recent SEC filing. According to Techcrunch: The non-cash loss is attributed to the closing of the News of the World as well as “a write-down of New News Corporation’s goodwill of approximately $1.3 billion and a write-down of the indefinite-lived intangible assets (primarily…

There was a time not too long ago when billion dollar purchases of tech companies didn’t happen all the time. There was a time not too long ago when billion dollar purchases were never done completely with cash. Those days are behind us with the latest billion dollar acquisition being happening with Cisco buying Meraki, an enterprise wifi startup. The company started as a research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. They now supply larger organizations the infrastructure, hardware, software, and support to operate secure wifi networks on premises. Instead of having…

It was probably pretty cool to you the first time you ever tried it on a smartphone or tablet, but the days of being impressed with such things are behind us. Today, if a phone doesn’t automatically adjust orientation when we turn it, the thing has to be broken, right? Remember back, for a moment, to the first few times you saw your iPhone or other device do it. Remember wondering how it worked? The technology behind it is extremely impressive and a lot more complex than we probably know. The technique required to mold the silicon combined with the precision it takes to work with something so small is mind-blowing….

Very few people are able to post 3 words on a new website and get articles written about it, hundreds of comments, and RSS feed subscribers before the fourth word of a blog post is published. One such person is TechCrunch founder and former editor Michael Arrington. The humor cannot be missed in the naming of his new site, Uncrunched. As we mentioned, TechCrunch lost a little credibility when Arrington created CrunchFund, then regained credibility but lost overall power when they ousted him. Very little is known about what Arrington will use the site for, but since he’s a blogger and the site is built…

It was big news two weeks ago. Somehow, Michael Arrington’s CrunchFund jump and the subsequent drama that has unfolded since has stayed at the top of tech news for longer than Steve Jobs resigning as CEO of Apple. Accusations are flying. People are quitting publicly. Resignations are being accepted publicly. Analysis of the resignations and the acceptance of the resignations are being posted publicly. This has gotten out of hand. Techcrunch is not the only publication that allows editorial freedom. My editor supports Michael Arrington, Erick Schonfeld, and just about everyone involved…

According to Bloomberg, AOL and Yahoo are reportedly in talks regarding a possible merger. The report comes just three days after the dismissal of Yahoo’s CEO, Carol Bartz. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong says talks have started to gauge interest in a possible merger to strengthen both companies. Armstrong previously expressed interest in a merger with Yahoo, but then CEO Bartz quickly rejected the idea last year. Both AOL and Yahoo were once Internet pioneers, but they have been struggling to compete against the likes of Google, Facebook, and others. These struggles will make a deal unlikely, especially…