12Society Grabs Michael...

Last month, having sold the assets of their latest startup, JungleCents , to its early investor, Mark Cuban, co-founders Sameer Mehta and Nadir Hyder took off to found a new venture. They brought with them what they said was one of the most important lessons they’d learned while building JungleCents — that the key to effective marketing, and those oft-elusive high conversion rates, is smart, editorial-driven content. And when you can get big-time influencers to help create that content, or at the very least, stamp it with their seal of approval? Serious engagement ensues … or so they believe. That’s why, when the team offered a sneak peek at its new venture, 12Society , there was a big name on the co-founder roster: Tim “The Freak” Lincecum. For those unfamiliar, Lincecum is a 27-year-old starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, as well as a two-time Cy Young Award winner and a major contributor to the Giants’ World Series victory in 2010. 12Society is still in stealth mode, which means the team still isn’t saying much about what they’re up to, though CEO Sameer Mehta has said that the startup will be a guy-focused lifestyle company built on “the intersection of culture, technology and commerce.” While this is purposefully vague, the co-founders said they want to create a better way for brands looking to target the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic and get them engaging, talking about, and sharing their products. So, what better way to do that then with editorial-driven content strategy led by big-name athletes — influencers that guys respect and look to for tips on gear, clothes, music, etc. ( More in our initial coverage here .) In March, the team said that they would be announcing further “big name” co-founders in the coming weeks, with more athletes in the mix. Today, 12Society unveiled its second co-founder (apparently there will be a total of six): long-time New York Giant, Super Bowl winner, and current media analyst on Fox NFL Sunday and others, Michael Strahan . While few celebrity-founded startups have stood the test of time, 12Society is beginning to taking steps to ensure its longevity, adding Anthony Saleh of Atom Factory, Founder of Young and Restless Dee Murthy, and Mike Walsh of Rockstar Group (who is also an investor in Uber) as advisors. And today, 12Society is announcing that it has raised a round of seed financing to help it accelerate towards its impending launch. The financial backing comes from Groupon co-founders (and Lightbank founding partners) Eric Lefkofsky, Paul Lee, and Brad Keywell, as well as Diego Berdakin, the co-founder of venture-backed social commerce startup, BeachMint . Michael Broukhim, the VP of Customer Acquisition at BeachMint (and co-founder of MeetCharlie.com) and former SVP of Excite, CEO of Work.com, and co-founder of Recurrent Energy Don Hutchison are also investors. The amount of funding is undisclosed, but we’re hearing from sources that it was just north of $1 million. 12Society will be announcing a few more names in the coming weeks, with its official launch slated for sometime in May. For more, and to sign up for beta access, check the startup out at home here , or on AngelList here .

Jobs’ Rejection Of TV D...

It’s a sin I know almost too well as a blogger. It’s slow going for news on a Friday night and the pageview gods send you a reprieve in the form of a tweet. A former Apple engineer is berating the company’s design ethic in the post-Jobs era in less than 140 characters? Score! Suddenly one story becomes another story then another story then another story then another story. Until it’s a crisis! ZOMG! Apple is over! The company is finished! Interested in the actual story, I talked with former Apple TV engineer Mike Margolis about the tweet that launched a thousand blog posts. So here’s what he said on Twitter. @ aral Fun fact – those new designs were tossed out 5 years ago because SJ didn’t like them. Now there is nobody to say “no” to bad design. — Michael Margolis ッ (@yipe) March 24, 2012 Here are his thoughts with far more context: I woke up this morning with hundreds of new followers on Twitter and two dozen text messages from friends – many of them Apple employees past and present. Turns out a few of my tweets were being blogged about. I wouldn’t mind, except many people were misquoting and painting doom and gloom scenarios for Apple and making false claims about the design teams at Apple. I have not been present for any of the Apple TV product discussions for more than four years, so I’m a bit surprised that everyone is all atwitter about what SJ rejected so long ago and what that means today. Specifically, I stated in a tweet that Steve did not like the grid design five years ago. That is absolutely 100% true. It’s also true that five years ago the iPad didn’t exist, Apple users weren’t in love with app-grid interfaces like they are now, a streaming-only iCloud connected device was a pipe dream, and AppleTV did not have great new third party content like YouTube, Netflix, Vimeo, NBA, NFL, and more. The UI didn’t make much sense back then but it makes much more sense now. If you compare Front Row to AppleTV 1.0,  ”AppleTV Take 2″, and the new AppleTV UI it is clear that the product is continually improving. The new UI is no doubt cleaner, simpler, easier to use, and more in line with the now-popular iPad UI and Lion’s Launchpad. Timing and context are crucial – both on Twitter and in product design. Steve rejecting a design five years ago isn’t a huge deal. Steve was well known for rejecting ideas, tweaking them, and turning them into something even better. And that’s a very good thing. One of my favorite parts of working at Apple was knowing that SJ said “no” to most everything initially, even if he later came to like it, advocate for it, and eventually proudly present it on stage. This helped the company stay focused and drove people to constantly improve, iterate, and turn the proverbial knob to 11 on everything. A quick clarification: many sites are now worried that there is only a single designer in the consumer apps team. That is absolutely not true. I simply stated (in 140 characters) that one designer from the consumer apps team was largely responsible for the Apple TV visual design, not Jonathan Ive. Margolis adds that he no longer owns any Apple stock and hasn’t been employed by the company since 2008.

StarStreet Launches A D...

You may remember StarStreet from last year’s launch – it’s the TechStars and SV Angel-backed sports investing game that turns fantasy sports into a stock market system where you build up portfolios of top players as if they were stocks. Today, the company is launching a new, more addictive game that lets you play head-to-head with other players on a daily basis, both for fantasy wins or for real cash. The new game will run alongside its older counterpart, offering a more casual gaming experience for those not interested in the commitment of building a season-long portfolio. In traditional fantasy sports gaming, setting up a team, adding and removing players, and continually tracking their performance often continues throughout the season, whether it’s for the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB or another sports market. StarStreet originally wanted to offer a twist on that type of gaming experience, by allowing users to make stock market-like portfolios, where gamers “invest” using real money, instead of playing in fantasy leagues. To date, that effort has only been moderately successful – the company says it has gained 1,000 registered users playing with real money on the site. But with the launch of the new daily gaming option, users can now play the same type of game for a day, betting on who will earn the most fantasy points by night.

Motorola Droid 4 Review...

Short Version The Droid 4 doesn’t look much like its other Droid siblings, but it does promise the same stellar keyboard and a solid construction. At $199 it won’t break your wallet, but it will offer most of the same specs we’re seeing go for $300, including a 4G LTE radio. If thin and light is important to you, the Droid 4 probably isn’t what you’re looking for, but keyboard purists should start getting excited… right… now. Features: 4-inch 540

Bleacher Report Announc...

Popular sports startup Bleacher Report was announced as of YouTube’s new content partners late last year. Now it’s actually ready to debut its new channel and announce the initial slate of shows. Bleacher Report allows regular sports fans to offer commentary on teams and games, an approach that leads to much more content than a traditional sports site — the company says it has 1,000 featured columnists and 6,000 contributors total. In some ways, it seems like a good match for YouTube, since it’s taking a similar approach to sports writing as the one YouTube took to video. Which isn’t to say that these are going to be purely crowdsourced shows. Instead, Bleacher Report’s shows will mostly be hosted by established names from the sports and entertainment world. Here’s the lineup: B/R5 — A rundown of the five biggest sports stories of the day, hosted by Desi Sanchez (of E! News Now and MTV). Broadcasts every Monday to Friday, starting today. NFL Draft 365 — A weekly discussion of the NFL draft, hosted by Alex Panos (HGTV’s Run My Money and SNY’s Beer Money), with a different current or former NFL player as guest analyst in each episode. Starts later this week. Why We Watch — A weekly show featuring short-form sports documentaries, supposedly highlighting a small story with big significance, or offering a new take on more well-known news. Starts later this week. Full Ride — A weekly look at college football recruiting, starting in March.