HTC One review (2014): a great phone, but no longer a game-changer

The HTC One was one of our favorite smartphones of 2013. It featured a gorgeous industrial design, a fantastic display, great camera and top-of-the-line performance. HTC poured its heart into it, as evidenced by nearly every aspect of the device. The phone exceeded nearly all of our expectations, but that also left a big problem: We now expect history to repeat itself. After all, if the original One was such a great device, its successor should, in theory, be even better, right?

Of course it should be. But does this year's version of the One have what it takes? On paper, the answer is yes: It has a larger screen, offers two curious-looking rear camera sensors, boasts an improved version of HTC's Sense UI and features a chassis with even more metal. It appears, then, that there's a lot to love here, but it's difficult to take our breath away twice in a row. Here's what impressed -- and what didn't.

HTC One review (2014)

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Xbox One's Skype app gets first refresh: contact filtering, longer chat logs and more

Skype for Xbox One -- or as we like to call it, SuperSkype Extreme -- is getting its first update today. Tired of looking through offline contacts to find out if Larry's online? This update allows for filtration by availability! Tired of Larry lying about things he said last week? This update adds longer chat logs ("up to 1,000 messages, rather than just the past seven days")! Tired of Larry's constant use of smiley face emoticons? This update has "hidden" (totally not hidden) Captain America: The Winter Soldier emoticons! Tired of Larry's Skype always crashing? This update squashes a variety of launch bugs.

Really though, it sounds like you're just tired of Larry. Maybe it's time to finally move on.

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Source: Skype

Tags: hdpostcross, microsoft, skype, update, xboxone Next: WhatsApp's VoIP feature for iOS revealed in leaked screenshots
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To Counter Investor Signaling, YC Partners Can No Longer Be The First Money Into The Incubator’s Startups

Y Combinator has long allowed its partners to invest their own personal money in the incubator’s startups — often times partners put money into these startups before institutional investors and angels have a look. Unfortunately, whether a partner (or partners) put money into a YC company started to become a signal to outside investors of the good bets in the incubator.

It makes sense. These partners are often integrally involved in helping build these companies inside of Y Combinator. So they would know which startups have the legs to be successful, and potentially have insider knowledge into which startups have the potential for going the distance. To mitigate this signaling effect, Y Combinator is implementing a new policy whereby YC partners can’t be the first money into a startup from the incubator.

Specifically, YC partners can’t be in the first $500,000 a company raises unless it’s three weeks past Demo Day.

As YC co-founder Paul Graham explains to us, the danger of letting the partners at an incubator invest in the startups is that it makes it harder for the ones the partners don’t invest in to raise money. In the early years of YC, this wasn’t as much of an issue because Graham was the only one investing, and he wasn’t systematic about it. But in the last few batches, investors started treating the companies that had investments by YC partners as an indication of what YC thought of the startups.

Currently YC has about a dozen partners involved, including Paul Buchheit, Garry Tan, and Geoff Ralston. What’s also of interest is that any funds that YC partners operate will also fall into this rule as well. So the new fund started by Tan, now part-time partner Harj Taggar, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, will not be able to be the first money into a startup.

This is clearly a founder-friendly move, and evens the playing field in some ways for startups to raise money from outside investors. It’s no secret that Y Combinator’s class sizes have steadily risen, and in the effort to save time and optimize their money, investors look for signals on which startups to invest in. Of course, YC partners investing in a startup is just one of many signals investors are looking at when evaluating a startup at the seed stage.

YC also recently debuted a new, easier convertible equity model for founders.

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