Weblogs [Computers]

• This Friday: Fred Wilson Answers Your Questions 32 minutes ago TechCrunch
  So far most of our shows on TechCrunchTV have been about bringing you news, analysis and interviews of some of Silicon Valley's most powerful and interesting personalities. But starting this Friday, we're going to get you, dear readers, into the mix-- or at least your questions. We're launching a new weekly show called "Ask a VC" until we think of something more clever or punny. (Paging, Dr. Carr to the newsroom...) Here's how it'll work: You email any question you want to askavc(at)techcrunch(dot)com. We cull through those questions and pick the most unique or most frequently asked or most interesting ones and Friday morning, we get a well-known VC on Skype and we ask away. Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures is going first this Friday. Wilson has some of the hottest companies in his portfolio including Twitter, Zynga and Etsy. Email any questions you have for him now! We'll try to get through as many as we can. The idea is that millions of entrepreneurs who read TechCrunch around the world don't always have access to pick these guys' brains, and we want to give you that chance. Ask questions about advice, the market, his portfolio, his blog-- anything you want. And watch Friday afternoon to see if we picked your question.
• Gift card marketplace Cardpool Introduces Instant Redemption, Attracts Super Angels 56 minutes ago TechCrunch
  There is no shortage of gift card marketplaces on the web, with startups like Cardpool, Gift Card Rescue, and Plastic Jungle all promising to rescue your unused credits or sell discounted cards. However, these sites typically require buyers to wait several days for the physical arrival of their gift cards, frustrating users who want to use credits immediately for online purchases. Cardpool, a Y-Combinator startup founded by Anson Tsai (formerly of Anywhere.FM) and Timothy Wong, is trying to change that. Starting this morning, Cardpool will give current members the option to purchase instant redemption gift cards. While the site will still send the physical card via snail mail, a user gets immediate access to the card's codes for online use.
• US To Get the Electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV In 2011 1 hour ago TechCrunch
  Will 2011 be the Year of the Electric Car? Mitsubishi just announced that they will sell an upgraded i-MiEV for less than $30,000 sans the $7,500 federal tax credit complete with improved standard features and better interior. Take that, Nissan Leaf. The tiny car - it looks like a Fiat Siecento - obviously is aimed at the Smart car set and folks who may not need to go far in their twee little car.
• Australian BMW M3 Pure Edition Luxury Car 1 hour ago bLavish
  We all love the BMW M3 with its super powerful V8 engine and sexy styling, but if you’re living in Australia, we’re all a little bit more jealous. BMW has just announced an Australia-only design for all you fast and furious car lovers, the M3 Pure Edition. Available in both coupe and sedan body-styles, the Pure Edition [...]
• Google Ready To Slurp Up More Yahoo Users With OpenID Sign-Ups 1 hour ago TechCrunch
  Google just made it easier for people with Yahoo accounts to sign up for a Google account. With one click, you can now use your Yahoo credentials to sign up for a Google account such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, or even AdWords. The one-click sign-up is done using OpenID, which both Google and Yahoo support. It also uses the OAuth authentication method quickly becoming the standard across the Web (it is the same one Twitter uses with third party apps and sites). The idea is that instead of signing in with your Yahoo ID, and then clicking off to your Yahoo mail to click on a verification link, a button just takes you to a sign-in page on Yahoo, which verifies your account to Google, and then sends you back. It is a much more civilized way to sign into a site using an existing ID. Google first combined OpenID and OAuth back in January, 2009 with Plaxo on a test basis.
• Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN Part 2: Are Super Angels Just a Phase? (TCTV) 2 hours ago TechCrunch
  So let me get this straight, you call yourself an angel, but you're investing limited partners' money...doesn't that just make you a small, early-stage VC? And if you're successful, don't you just raise a bigger fund and hire more partners, looking a lot more like an early stage VC? In day two of our David v. David/ Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN, even Dave McClure admits "Super Angel" is a flawed term. But he insists there's still a difference between what he does and what David Hornik does as a partner for August Capital. And, he insists it's a better way to make money and the future of investing in the consumer Internet. We also tackle the thorny topic of "value add." Can an investor who doesn't have operating experience really add value to a startup, and is "worked at Google" or "worked at PayPal" equal operating experience to starting, running and exiting a successful company? In old days, angels were known for deeply mentoring their portfolio companies, but how do you mentor when you're investing in 500 startups?
• The Most Expensive Haircut 2 hours ago bLavish
  The Sultan of Brunei is known for spending his fortune in extravagant ways, including spending millions of dollars on a badmiton coach and paying hundreds of thousands to the men who guard his pet birds. He is widely believed to own a fleet of more than 5,00o luxury cars. Now, one might find his impressive dedication to a [...]
• Online Workers Doing Fine, ODesk Passes One Million Hours A Month 3 hours ago TechCrunch
  While full-time tech jobs might not be making a roaring comeback, freelance and part-time work seems to be picking up the slack. One data point just came out today illustrating the shift to freelance and online work. Online outsourcer oDesk passed one million hours of work on its system for the first time in the month of August. A year ago, workers on oDesk were logging less than half of that, about 400,000 hours per month. Online hiring is up 129 percent since last year, compared to flat employment growth in the larger economy. The work on oDesk is spread across 215,000 employers and 720,000 contractors, whose desktops are monitored by oDesk's software. The top three job categories on oDesk are Web Programming, Web Design, and Blog & Article Writing. Cumulatively, employers have paid out more than $185 million to online workers through oDesk, up from the $100-million mark last October.
• TC Disrupt Graduate VideoGenie Is Seeing Early Success With Its Video Platform 3 hours ago TechCrunch
  Launched at TechCrunch Disrupt NY a couple of months ago, VideoGenie is on a roll, says founder and CEO Justin Nassiri. VideoGenie essentially aims to transform the way consumers and brands connect through video by making it super easy for marketers to collect, review and deploy unscripted video customer testimonials.
• Track Your Run Without the Sensor 3 hours ago Apple Gazette
  I’m not what people would call “active.” My wife on the other hand, she’s a little spitfire. She loves going out running, and can’t wait until we can get a new stroller for jogging with our little one. I’ve recently resolved to lose some extra weight though, and I’ve looked to my iPhone for help. [...]