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3 misconceptions entrepreneurs still have about crowdfunding

May22
by on May 22, 2014 at 3:06 pm
Posted In: Analysis and Opinion, Around the Web, Entrepreneur, How-To's

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Thijs Suijten and Menno Luiten are the co-founder and developer for Famatic. Every startup needs money. How to get that initial investment is where there is a choice: find a suitable investor, bootstrap, or use the power of the crowd to get that ball rolling. We loved the idea of the latter; not only would we get the investment to cover the costs of the initial production run, we could also gain incredible insight from our actual customers. We had to focus on the value we provide to our potential customers. It matched our mental model of “being lean” – we were not…

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Social curation service Pearltrees revamps Web and mobile apps with fresh look and new features

May22
by on May 22, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider, Product Updates

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Pearltrees, the service that allows you to arrange Web content, photos and more (‘pearls’) into mindmap-style ‘trees’, has updated its Web and mobile apps today in order to bring a more seamless user experience and new features to the platform. The company said the Web platform has been fully redesigned and rebuilt in HTML5, making it more easily accessible on a range of different devices, as well as introducing new features also now found in its iOS and Android apps. It seems it’s becoming a bit of a habit for Pearltrees to significantly revamp its website at about this time each…

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Facebook changes default privacy setting of new users’ posts from Public to Friends

May22
by on May 22, 2014 at 1:34 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Product Updates

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Facebook is changing the default privacy setting for new status updates from Public to Friends. Whereas before all status updates were publicly visible – unless you remembered to change the setting – new users will now see that their first post is set to the Friends option. In addition, first-time posters will be reminded that this feature exists at all. It’s a hidden nugget of Facebook that’s not widely publicized, so the company is increasing its exposure with a revamped on-boarding process. When the user begins writing their first status update, a small window will appear to explain the privacy…

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Djay 2 for iOS update adds access to Spotify’s 20 million tracks to your next dance party

May22
by on May 22, 2014 at 1:15 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Product Updates

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Algoriddim announced that its mobile DJing app, Djay 2 can now access Spotify’s 20 million tracks. Plus, its Auto Mix feature is now powered by Echo Nest’s music intelligence program. The Djay 2 app presents two digital turntables with on-screen representations of a DJing environment complete with faders, speed control and of course the ability to “scratch” vinyl. Today’s update adds the entire Spotify catalog to the app. Previous versions of the app only allowed access to music stored on the device. The Spotify tracks are available for instant access without having to be downloaded to the iOS device. “Downloading would…

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Codecademy translates its ‘learn to code’ site into three new languages and readies London office

May22
by on May 22, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Design & Dev, Latin America

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Codecademy is starting to think global. The New York-based startup has translated its popular learn-to-code platform into three new languages today and formalized partnerships in five countries. So if you speak French, Spanish or Portuguese, you can now access the Codecademy site and study all of its resources in your native language. Codecademy teamed up with Libraries Without Borders (Bibliotheques sans Frontieres) to tackle the French translation and is now working on pilot programs that should reduce unemployment and bring programming into schools. In addition, Codecademy will be weaving its platform into Ideas Box, a humanitarian project that helps people…

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