Business

Ryan has spent more than five years covering business, technology, and telecom-related subjects for a variety of publications based in New York and San Francisco. Ryan currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. ? Learn More There are a few different music festivals in San Francisco and nearby — like the annual (FREE) Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival and Treasure Island. But my favorite has to be Outside Lands, which just happens to be taking place this weekend. In part, that’s because beyond just having a great lineup, Outside Lands wins at providing an all-around great experience on the web, through various social networks, and on mobile devices. The best part of Outside Lands might be its mobile apps, which are designed to help users get around. If you’re going to Outside Lands and you somehow haven’t downloaded the official iPhone or Android app, correct that now. It’s pretty invaluable. It’ll provide you with maps of the different stages, as well as various food, beer, and win...

Anthony Ha is a writer at TechCrunch, where he covers media, advertising, and startups. Previously, he was a staff technology writer at Adweek, worked as a senior editor at the tech blog VentureBeat, and was also a reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing.... ? Learn More Real-money gaming (i.e., online gambling) could provide a big boost to Zynga’s faltering bottom line, and the company has talked about making a move into that market in the past. Today CEO Mark Pincus offered a timetable, of sorts — subject to licensing approvals, he said we should see Zynga’s first products in this field in the first half of 2013. “What we’ve said, and what we have to announce today, is that we have our first products in development and that we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing,” said Pincus, who was speaking on the analyst confer...

Ingrid is a reporter for TechCrunch, joining February 2012, based out of London. She comes from paidContent.org, where she was a staff writer, and has in the past also written freelance regularly for other publications such as the Financial Times. Ingrid covers mobile, digital media, advertising and the spaces where these intersect. When it comes to work, she feels most... ? Learn More In today’s Q3 earnings, Apple noted some strong increases in its retail operations, amid some other pressures in overall sales and numbers. Retail sales were up three percent in terms of Mac units, to 791,000 units, and $4.084 billion in revenue. That was a rise of three percent in terms of units, and 17 percent in revenue compared to the same quarter a year ago. In the conference call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted that half of the sales in retail were to people who had never owned a mac before. Apple now has 372 stores, 123 outside the U.S., Oppenheimer said. Those stores saw foot traffic of 813 millio...