TechCrunch

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--If there's one thing that late night TV hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno are said to hate, it's when a star books both their shows back to back.

The tech industry doesn't have its own Letterman and Leno rivalry, but one could say that this week's head-to-head TechCrunch Disrupt and Demo Fall shows are a pretty good analogy.

So it was a bit strange to go to both shows this week and see the same high-profile kick-off speaker at each, LinkedIn founder and Graylock Partners principal Reid Hoffman. And both presentations … Read more

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Monday, September 12.

• AT&T-iPad site hacker goes to court. The hacker said in an e-mail: "I did not fold the two previous times when the FBI tried to frame me as a terrorist" for allegedly calling in a bomb threat to a synagogue (a charge he denies). "I will not fold now when they try to libel me as a thief. My indictment conveys a message that I am some sort of identity thief." … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Any fan of tomatoes knows that buying them at farmers' markets is expensive, yet the alternative of buying affordable, bland tomatoes at supermarkets is entirely unattractive.

The same dynamic, of course, goes for just about any type of fresh food, be it meat, fish, or other vegetables. And while there are a growing number of companies that deliver fresh produce to people's homes, consumers have very little control over what they get when they buy in to such systems.

Now, a Palo Alto, Calif., startup called Farmigo is throwing its hat into the ring, hoping to help consumers … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Ford wants developers to create a broad array of connectivity applications that can be used in conjunction with its cars, and it launched its OpenXC platform Monday to promote that effort.

In an announcement at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, Ford and its partner Bug Labs unveiled OpenXC, a platform designed to allow third-party developers to create any number of open-source hardware or software products that will interact with Ford's Sync system.

The idea, said K. Venkatesh Prasad, the senior technical leader of Infotronics at Ford Research and Innovation, is to make it possible for outside developers to … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The Web will soon look a lot like a traditional print experience, the founder of leading iPad news aggregator Flipboard said Monday.

Speaking on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, Mike McCue, whose Flipboard has attracted more than $60 million in funding, explained that in his view, tablets like the iPad are "creating a new kind of (content) consumption experience, (one which) people have been dreaming about."

McCue, who had previously created and sold Internet voice communications firm Tellme, said that iPads and other tablets offer users a "fundamental improvement to the (mobile) Web," … Read more

After a bloody public battle, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has officially severed ties with the startup blog he founded.

In a statement posted on TechCrunch's site today, AOL said that Arrington "has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund."

AOL acquired TechCrunch last year for an undisclosed sum. Following the acquisition, the companies agreed to allow TechCrunch to have editorial independence, and keep its staff. However, following Arrington's recent announcement of the establishment of a venture fund, called CrunchFund, the media world debated the ethics of the co-editor of … Read more

Ford inspired developers for its AppLink contest at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon last weekend by demonstrating Spotify integration. The demonstration showcased how easily Spotify developers were able to use Ford's Sync API to integrate the online music service into a Ford vehicle.

Developers modified the Spotify smartphone app, using Ford's Sync API, so that a driver could use the car's stereo controls and voice command to control the service. Information about the currently playing track appears on the car's stereo display.

Ford clarified that this demonstration was not meant to indicate a production version of Sync … Read more

AOL executives have decided to terminate embattled tech blogger Michael Arrington's employment with the company, according to a Fortune report.

Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, ignited a firestorm of debate during the past week after it was announced Thursday that he was forming a venture capital fund to invest in some of the startups he and his bloggers write about. The investors in Arrington's $20 million CrunchFund reportedly include AOL, which bought TechCrunch last year.

AOL and Arrington did not respond to requests for comment.

A journalist writing about companies he or she has a financial … Read more

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Thursday, September 1.

• In case you missed it yesterday, CNET reported on yet another lost iPhone. But CNET's Kent German writes that there's a reason why Apple has to test the unreleased iPhones in the field: "Even with the risks involved, Apple can't reliably test a new cell phone without a few devices leaving the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Keeping the handsets under lock and key may sound safer, and it no doubt would be, … Read more