Author: Josh Wolford

At what we can imagine is only the beginning of the Michael Arrington abuse allegation saga, former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde has publicly backed Arrington in a lengthy Facebook post.

“I simply do not believe any of the allegations to be true,” says Harde.

If you haven’t been following the new about Arrington, here’s a brief rundown:

Last week, Arrington’s former girlfriend Jenn Allen posted to Facebook, claiming that Arrington has physically abused her and threatened to kill her if she every went public with it. Gawker first spotted the post, and covered it. Allen then commented on the Gawker article, making additional allegations that Arrington was guilty of rape.

Later, a couple of “former friends” of Arrington’s also spoke out on the claims, stating that it fit a pattern and Arrington had physically abused another one of his former girlfriends. One accuser called it “the worst kept rumor in the valley for years.”

Today, Arrington posted a brief response, saying that “all of the allegations are completely untrue, and I’ve hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.”

Now, Harde has taken to Facebook to defend Arrington. Here’s her post in full:

As to recent allegations that have been leveled at my former business partner, Michael Arrington:

Michael recruited me to be his CEO. TechCrunch was a calling for him, not just a business venture. That he trusted me to grow it from his bedroom-based hobby to a leading media outlet speaks most authentically of his regard for women. In the five years that I worked with Michael, I can say he treated me as tough and true a business partner as one would hope to example for the field of gender studies. If anything, on more than one occasion I secretly wished that Michael trusted me less completely with tough calls for the business!

We operated TechCrunch out of Michael’s house for the first two years, so to say that I’ve seen the inner workings of Michael Arrington’s personal life is a gross understatement. As any startup, we worked long hours, and I overlapped significant blocks of time with Michael’s roommates, friends and girlfriends. I would have detected patterns of abusive physical behavior if they had been present.

During my five years at TechCrunch, there were no complaints or cases of sexual harassment or misconduct against Michael Arrington. If there had been any rumors of misconduct from staff or other third parties, I would have taken the matters seriously and investigated them. Many people, including Michael’s friends and girlfriends, sought me out as a confidante for disagreements or challenges they faced with Michael, so I would have been aware of rumored bad behavior.

I simply do not believe any of the allegations to be true.

“Former Friends” Jason Calacanis and Loren Feldman have been estranged from Michael Arrington longer than they ever were friends, and they are not reliable character witnesses on this matter. Jason should limit his bluffing to poker. Usurping a woman’s emotional breakdown for purposes of pursuing a personal agenda to disparage a former business partner is wrong.

I write in full support of Michael Arrington. He has done much to advance women in tech leadership, and I hope others who have similar feelings will share their direct experiences with the community. It’s important we set the record straight.

[Photo via Heather Harde, Facebook]

The rumors are true. Residents of Austin, Texas can celebrate the imminent arrival of Google Fiber.

The news doesn’t come from Google of the city of Austin (yet), but rather a press release by Gig.U, a coalition of 30+ universities that promote ultra-high-speed brandband in the U.S.

“Gig.U congratulates Google and the City of Austin for their initiative to bring a world-leading network to one of the world’s great research university communities. This effort will pay enormous dividends for the country, as it will help develop the human capital America needs to lead a global economy that increasingly creates value with big data and big bandwidth,” says Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin.

Earlier we told you that Google had inadvertently published a blog post stating that Google Fiber was in fact on its way to Austin. The post was quickly removed. Reports also indicated that Google was readying a launch event, and had sent out some invitations.

Austin will become the third location to get Google’s high-speed service – as right now it’s only available in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. There’s no word yet on exactly when and how fast Google will be deploying the network in the city.

We’ll update with more information as we hear it.

[via Engadget]

Google, who is no stranger to international dustups over its maps and street view service, has run afoul of India’s federal mapping agency over a recent project to improve upon the country’s maps.

Google first announced the Mapathon back in February, saying that they were trying to create better maps for India, “a country where even paper maps have historically lacked in details.” Google offered prizes to participants – including Android tablets, phones, and various bits of Google swag. All Google asked people to do was add location details via Google Map Maker.

The Mapathon officially began on February 12th and was over by March 25th.

According to Google India, the Mapathon was a huge success. They reported new information on 32,000 emergency locations like hospitals, 82,000 food updates, and 42,000 map updates on places of worship. None of the information collected via Map Maker had anything to do with “sensitive places,” according to Google.

But the Indian Survey agency wasn’t too happy about it, and they asked Google to cease the promotion as it was “likely to jeopardize national security interest and violates National Map Policy.”

The Indian federal survey and mapping agency has filed an official complaint, and the head of the agency says that they plan to take the issue to Parliament later this month. Apparently, local law says that companies must obtain expressed permission from the proper authorities in order to operate a map project like the one Google sponsored. Failure to do so opens up such companies to local prosecution.

But Google India spokesperson Roy Chowdhury says that Google did in fact informed local officials of its mapping project, and that it complied with all local regulations.

“We take security and national regulations very seriously, and we’re open to discussing specific concerns with public authorities and officials,” said Chowdhury.

[Wall Street Journal (paywall) via Search Engine Land]

Google has just announced that they are making Google Calendar much more friendly to Latin American Spanish speakers.

Starting today, Google Calendar has a new Español (Latinoamérica) option. Spanish is spoken is much of the world, but the Spanish isn’t the same in every location. Google knows this, and has made a Spanish variant that better suits their Latin American users.

Of course, it isn’t easy to find a variation of Spanish that works for someone living in say, South America, but also feels natural to a Spanish speaker in the United States or Caribbean for example. The Spanish spoken in these regions differs greatly from one country to the next due to geography, separate cultures, customs, and histories. To give all of our Latin American Spanish speakers an option that looks, feels, and sounds right, Google Localization constructed a Spanish variant that combines the most common elements from the different dialects. So whether you speak Spanish or any one of Calendar’s 42 languages, it’s now even easier to keep up with your busy schedule!” says Google.

Google has already offered Gmail in Latin American Spanish since last year, and if you’re new to Calendar but have been using this option inside Gmail, you should be ready to go in Español (Latinoamérica) automatically. Otherwise, simply go to your Calendar settings and click the gear icon and change languages.

Mildly funny conspiracy theory alert: This is not confirmed. I haven’t talked to anyone inside Facebook with knowledge on this topic. This is simply something that I observed, and I’m pretty sure I’m on to something.

OK, so you probably heard about Facebook’s big event last Thursday where they unveiled Facebook Home, their Android takeover “app family” that basically turns any phone that installs it into a Facebook Phone. So, during that event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced an ad for the feature called “Airplane.” In that ad, we noticed that the background music sounded quite similar to an Eminem song. Specifically, “Under the Influence” off of The Marshall Mathers LP.

Coincidence? Probably.

But the plot thickens.

A few days after the event, Facebook finally released the “Airplane” ad on their official YouTube channel. It’s the same ad that we saw during the event – expect for one small detail. The background song has, without a doubt, been altered. The melody is similar, but not the same.

So…did Facebook have to change up their ad because it reminded people of a decade-old catchy but obscene Eminem song?

Here are exhibits A,B, and C.

The original ad starts at about 28:05 in the video below:

And here’s the Eminem song that the first version of the ad sounds like. NSFW lyrics, obviously:

And finally, here’s the version of the ad that Facebook released this weekend. The song in the background sounds similar, but has been changed around significantly.

Remember the lyrics to that Eminem song:

“You can suck my dick if you don’t like my shit. ‘Cause I was high when I wrote this so suck my dick.”

Maybe that was Facebook’s subtle way of letting us all know that they welcomed the criticism.

Joking aside, it’s not impossible that someone made the last-minute song change because the original song sounded exactly like that Eminem song. Whether it was intentionally designed to mimic that song, or it was just an odd coincidence, someone could have pointed out the resemblance and that prompted the change.

Maybe my brain is just spinning uncontrollably. It’s a Monday afternoon and I didn’t get a lot of sleep over the weekend. But damn if it’s not funny to think about. Especially considering Mark Zuckerberg’s recently unearthed penchant for Eminem jokes.

Last week, Facebook unveiled Facebook Home, the company’s Android takeover “app family” that basically turns any phone that installs it into a Facebook Phone. Home turns your Android homescreen into a Facebook experience, with a scrolling news feed, integrated Facebook messaging, and more.

Shortly after the big reveal, Facebook released an ad for Home. Now, they’ve finally released the other ad – the one that Zuckerberg introduced during the event. The ad, called “Airplane,” attempts to impart the message that having Facebook Home integrates the experience of Facebook into every little aspect of your life. But it’s a little strange. Check it out:

Kind of odd, huh?

Facebook Home will become available on April 12th.

Just a few days after his death at the age of 70, the Chicago Sun Times has posted legendary film critic Roger Ebert’s final review. It’s now online and available at rogerebert.com.

Ebert’s final review turns of to be To the Wonder, the latest feature from director Terrence Malick. To the Wonder stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem, and is slated for an April 12th release.

Ebert enjoyed the film, giving it a positive review and 3 and 1/2 stars.

Here’s a snippet of the review, which is classic Ebert through and through:

A more conventional film would have assigned a plot to these characters and made their motivations more clear. Malick, who is surely one of the most romantic and spiritual of filmmakers, appears almost naked here before his audience, a man not able to conceal the depth of his vision.

“Well,” I asked myself, “why not?” Why must a film explain everything? Why must every motivation be spelled out? Aren’t many films fundamentally the same film, with only the specifics changed? Aren’t many of them telling the same story? Seeking perfection, we see what our dreams and hopes might look like. We realize they come as a gift through no power of our own, and if we lose them, isn’t that almost worse than never having had them in the first place?

There will be many who find “To the Wonder” elusive and too effervescent. They’ll be dissatisfied by a film that would rather evoke than supply. I understand that, and I think Terrence Malick does, too. But here he has attempted to reach more deeply than that: to reach beneath the surface, and find the soul in need.

Ebert has been kind to Malick’s films in the past. He loved his last film, The Tree of Life, awarding it four stars. He also enjoyed 2005′s The New World and 1999′s The Thin Red Line, giving those films four and three stars, respectively.

For another great Ebert review, check out his “Great Movies” essay on Malick’s 1978 classic Days of Heaven.

Over on rogerebert.com, you can also find some select remembrances of Ebert, along with a statement from his wife Chaz. Plus, an archive of all of his reviews – most of which (especially the Great Movies essays) are essential reading for anyone who’s serious about the movies.

It appears that Facebook’s paid messaging test has crossed the pond, as users in the U.K. are reporting that they are being given the opportunity to pay upwards of £10 to send messages to some users’ inboxes.

“The system of paying to message non-friends in their inbox is designed to prevent spam while acknowledging that sometimes you might want to hear from people outside your immediate social circle,” said Facebook in a statement.

This is an expansion on a months-old test that first originated in the U.S. back in December of 2012. Facebook began to test the “paid messages,” which allow users to pay a small fee to ensure that the messages they send reach the intended recipient’s inbox.

Note it’s their inbox that we’re shooting for – not the “other” folder. That’s Facebook’s version of a spam folder, and it houses messages deemed spammy or unimportant, based on a sorting algorithm.

The Telegraph reports that U.K. users are seeing a sliding pay scale for celebrities that quotes a message price based on their number of followers and message competition.

“We are testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance. Part of that test involves charging higher amounts for public figures, based on the number of followers they have. This is still a test and these prices are not set in stone,” said Facebook.

It’s likely that any message a random Facebook user sends to a celebrity with millions of followers or even someone that they simply don’t know and is way outside their network will be relegated to the “other” messages folder. With this test, Facebook is giving users a way to make sure that these messages reach the main inbox.

Although it could be seen as Facebook giving people a way to pay to spam you, Facebook has always said that it’s about reducing spam.

“Several commentators and researchers have noted that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful,” said Facebook when they first launched the test.

Recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation posted a $100,000 grant offering to anyone who can help build a better condom. Why do we need a better condom? Well, increasing condom use around the world is key in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

Gates acknowledges that the condom is the “most ubiquitous” but “potentially underutilized” products on the planet. And condom technology has been pretty stagnant for nearly five decades.

Who’s going to step up and make a better condom? Or a better condom packaging? Or a better condom delivery system?

Enter Joerg Sprave of the Slingshot Channel who today brings to you the contest’s first submission. Yes, it’s a condom slingshot. Yes, it technically improves upon the delivery of the condom. But…yikes?

“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Gates,” says Sprave, “nothing fascinates male human begins more than guns and sex. So when we combine both, you must see the huge potential this has. So come on, pass over the 100 grand.”

I know it’s not serious, but let me reiterate.

Yikes.

[JoergSprave via reddit]

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has finally responded to recent accusations from a former girlfriend and former friends and acquaintances he was physically abusive on numerous occasions.

Last week, former girlfriend Jenn Allen made the claims on her Facebook page, alleging the Arrington physically and emotionally abused her and even threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She later left additional comment on a Gawker article, reiterating the allegations and also accusing Arrington of rape.

Later, one of Arrington’s former friends and tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis came out and said that he’d heard of these sorts of stories for a while. Other people from Arrington’s life surfaced, one claiming that it was the “worst kept rumor in the valley for years,” and that the abuse extended to multiple women.

Now, Arrington has posted a brief response to the accusations. In it, he calls the allegations “completely untrue,” and says that he has instructed his lawyers to contact the proper authorities.

Here’s the full response:

There have been some extremely serious and criminal allegations against me over the last week. All of the allegations are completely untrue, and I’ve hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.

I know this isn’t, for now, much information. I will have a full and complete response to these allegations sometime later this week. My goal will be to direct as much sunlight as possible on the issues so that the absolute truth can be known and I can begin to put my life back together.

I’ve also asked my attorneys to contact appropriate law enforcement agencies about these false allegations. Given the gravity of the claims, I think it’s important that the police be involved in this now.

You may remember Boston Dynamic’s Petman anthropomorphic robot, with his terrifying human-like movements, testing various types of military protective gear. In order to properly test such gear, the robot needs to act as human as possible in its movements. Petman does just that. He even sweats.

Good lord, I’m calling it a “he.” It’s begun.

Well, now they’ve put him it in a chemical protection suit. Watch this video and tell me you could know, for a fact, that it’s a robot under there and not a human in a hazmat suit.

[Boston Dynamics via Engadget]

Twitter’s six-second video service Vine has just announced a new way to find content in its “explore” tab. Starting today, Vine will now display trending hashtags.

The “explore” tab lets you surface content via Editor’s Picks, “Popular Now,” and now trending hashtags.

The “Popular Now” section also features hashtags, but they are picked using a different metric. The new trending hashtags show those that are the fastest-rising, but not necessarily those containing the most posts.

“We launched Vine with an Explore section to make it easier for you to find great content, like popular posts and hashtags, from accounts you may not follow. Since launch, there have been a ton of awesome, creative posts that don’t always make it to the popular sections. In many cases, these posts include a hashtag that the community is using,” says Vine.

Hopefully, this will help Vine users get into the action.

Last week, Vine finally made videos embeddable via web and mobile. You can can embed your own Vines anywhere on the web, as well as other users’ Vines – as long as they’ve already shared them on Twitter first.

The White House has just announced its second National Day of Civic Hacking, to take place at the White House. It will take place on June 1st.

“For the National Day of Civic Hacking, participants will focus on producing full, production ready apps and visualization tools that will be featured on the We the People website and made available under an open source license.”

The first hack day took place in February, and out of it came various uses of the We The People API including “Where the People,” a visualization of zip codes where petitions are being signed, weighted for signatures by percentage of population, and “Widget the People,” which gives petition creators an embeddable gauge of how many signatures the petition needs before it reaches the response threshold.

“This API is part of an effort, not only to broaden the conversation taking place via We the People, but to make the medium of that conversation as flexible, open, and transparent as possible. By building and releasing applications that leverage the API, and by making it possible for other platforms to connect with We the People, you’ll be making it easier for others to take part in that conversation,” says Peter Welsch on the White House blog.

The White House launched the We The People online petition site back in 2011. Since then, the site has seen nearly 10 million signatures on close to 150,000 thousand individual petitions. It hasn’t been without its criticisms, and its share of ridiculous petitions – but recently, since upping the signature threshold, the White House has responded on a couple of important tech issues like CISPA and cellphone unlocking.

If you’re interested, you can apply here. The deadline for applications is 5:00 pm on Friday, April 19th.

Since 9/11 and the implementation of the Patriot Act, the FBI’s use of National Security Letters to obtain info has skyrocketed.

National Security Letters (NSL) are a form of a demand letter that are used by the U.S. Government (mostly the FBI) to extract information from an organization in the name of national security. The kind of info requested in NSLs includes stuff like transactions, phone numbers, and email addresses.

And it shouldn’t surprise you that a company like Google finds itself at the receiving end of many of these letters.

But according to a report, Google is fighting back against them in court.

Last week, Google filed papers in the case In Re Google Inc. Petition to set aside Legal Process. Although most of the documents are sealed, Bloomberg reports that Google is in fact challenging Section 2709 of Titles 18, which deals with National Security Letters. Section 2079 gives the FBI the ability to issue NSLs that force services like Google to give up user info that “relevant to an investigation” into national security issues.

The law also allows NSLs to come complete with gag orders, barring the recipients from even discussing them with their users.

The case is in front of US District Judge Susan Illston, who just a couple of weeks ago ruled NSLs unconstitutional.

Last month, Google began to include National Security Letter requests (demands?) in its Transparency Report, which also discloses users data requests made by governments using search warrants and subpoenas, as well as content removal requests. The NSL info is vague – Google reported somewhere between 0 and 999 NSLs affecting between 1000 and 1999 users last year. This info is vague because of the laws concerning NSLs and their inherent secrecy.

Google said that they worked with the FBI to lossen this secrecy ever so slightly to allow for their inclusion in the Transparency Report.

“You’ll notice that we’re reporting numerical ranges rather than exact numbers. This is to address concerns raised by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies that releasing exact numbers might reveal information about investigations,” said Google.

But it appears that Google is now actually fighting the NSLs in court.

“The people who are in the best position to challenge the practice are people like Google,” said EFF attorney Matt Zimmerman. “So far no one has really stood up for their users.”

Google has declined to comment.

There are plenty of circumstances in which you may find yourself perturbed with Netflix. Maybe one of their apps is screwing up, or maybe the stream quality on Breaking Bad won’t regulate to full HD and you’re 100% sure that it’s not just your internet connection. Maybe Netflix just removed a movie that you wanted to watch, but put off just a bit too long.

Curse you, Netflix.

But when you take your complaints to Twitter, just know that Netflix also has a Twitter account. And they’re listening. And they might just hit you with this burn. Need some aloe for that?

Did we mention BULLY is now streaming? RT @fouch12: Fuck you Netflix twitter.com/netflix/status…

— Netflix US (@netflix) April 5, 2013

Now this is an April Fool’s Day prank on the boss.

Apparently, some Google execs decided to mess with co-founder Sergey Brin’s car earlier this week. They proceeded to transform his Tesla Model S into a pink batmobile, complete with headlight eyelashes, batwings, and a giant batman logo.

Awesome.

Google search quality analyst Nathan Johns posted a photo of the reconfigured Tesla Model S. Barry Schwartz over at Search Engine Roundtable tracked down a thread on the Tesla Motors Club forums that confirms that the pink batmobile Tesla is most likely Brin’s ride.

This is funny, and it’s made even funnier when you remember all of that “Sergey Brin is Batman” stuff that started flying around Google HQ a couple of years ago surrounding developments in Google X.

Just under two weeks ago, T-Mobile announced at long last, they were finally going to carry the iPhone 5. At the time, interested customers to pre-register for their device.

Today, official pre-orders begin. You can access all the iPhones that T-Mobile offers here.

The 16GB iPhone 5 starts at $99.99, with a monthly payment of $20 per month got 24 months. Without the plan, it’ll cost $579.99 up front. The 32GB iPhone with with run $199.99 with a 2-year plan, $679.99 without. And the 64GB device will cost $299.99 with the plan and $779.99 without.

The phone will ship on April 12th.

Also, if you want a cheaper option, T-Mobile is offering the iPhone 4S for $69.99 down and $20 per month for 24 months and the iPhone 4 for $14.99 down and $15 per month for 24 months.

“This is an important day for people who love their iPhone but can’t stand the pain other carriers put them through to own one,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile USA when he announced the addition. “We feel their pain. I’ve felt the pain. So we’re rewriting the rules of wireless to provide a radically simple, affordable iPhone 5 experience — on an extremely powerful network.”

Speaking of pain, plenty of T-Mobile customers painfully waited for the company to offer the iPhone 5. As you probably know, T-Mobile was the last of the major U.S. carriers to offer the device, trailing AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

Apple’s App Store went down early this morning, but it wasn’t because of the T-Mobile addition. When buying an iPhone via the Apple online Store, T-Mobile has yet to be included as an option.

Today, legendary film critic and icon Roger Ebert died at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer. On a personal level, this is deeply depressing. I may have read more total words written by Roger Ebert than any other writer in history. The man’s writings on movies, film theory, politics, religion, and more are some fo the most insightful and most beautifully articulated pieces I’ve ever read.

And for the world of film, the loss needs no further explanation.

Check out this TED talk from 2011, in which Ebert discusses the loss of his voice. It’s incredible stuff.

Ebert’s last written words were these, published in an earlier essay about taking a “leave of presence” due to returning health problems.

“So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”

Can’t do much better than that.

If you’re a local business and are thinking about celebrating the upcoming 4sqDay 2013 with a special, Foursquare is giving you another little incentive to make that decision easier.

Foursquare has just announced that they will be automatically featuring any business that offers a Foursquare special in the search results on foursquare.com.

“It’s a great way to get even more eyes on your business!” says the company.

And if you plan to run a special, Foursquare says that you should print out this sign and plant it on your window, counter, or wherever.

Foursquare is pretty flexible on what kinds of specials you can run through their service. It can be monetary – like 10% off upon check-in. Or it can be a reward for a frequent customer or for the mayor. Foursquare makes an example of one local business who offered an express check-out line for those who checked-in on Foursquare.

4sqDay (Foursquare Day) is going on its 4th year this year. It’s alway celebrated on April 16th (4/16…4×4=16, get it?). The first 4sqDay was celebrated in 2010 in Tampa Bay. It was originally begun by Foursquare users but in 2011, after the success of the new holiday in an unofficial capacity, some cities hopped on the bandwagon. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg actually issued an official proclamation declaring 4/16 4sqDay in the city.

Today, Facebook announced Home, a deep integration of Facebook into Android that basically turns any phone that installs it into a Facebook Phone. Home, which will launch on April 12th, is a family of apps that when installed, turns your entire homescreen into one big Facebook experience.

And the main aspect of that experience is the Cover Feed. It features all the fresh content from your Facebook news feed, basically turning your Android device into a photo-oriented, swipeable Facebook hub. You can like, comment, and view notifications directly from your Facebook Home screen – with no need to launch any sort of app. It’s without question the deepest Facebook integration any mobile OS has ever seen.

And you can bet that Facebook it going to try to monetize it.

After the event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that ads will be coming to your Facebook Home Cover Feed.

“There are no ads in this yet, I’m sure that one day there will be,” he said. He then repeated his answer when asked again about whether or not ads would be coming to the Cover Feed. According to Zuckerberg, ads are just another kind of content.

C’mon. Don’t look so sour. You didn’t think that Facebook would build a grand new Android-based user experience and leave out the ads, did you?

When Facebook Home launches, it will be downloadable on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II – and eventually the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

And on that same day, the HTC First will launch as the first phone the comes with Facebook Home pre-installed.