JackThreads Gets an iPads App

SoundCloud Drifts to NY The orange-and-white audio platform announced the opening of offices in New York this week, declaring that they find the city "similar to Berlin" in that it’s "not trying to replicate what’s going on in The Valley." SoundCloud has also taken on Dan Gerber, the former National Director of Strategic Partnerships at Pandora, in order to look after brand revenues following his work at The Grammys. No word if he’ll organize Taylor Swift-style digs at rivals Spotify and Songza.

Aereo Reveals New Pricing Structure Controversial live TV streaming company Aereo unveiled a new payment plan for customers that allows access to most features for as little as $8 an hour. The purveyors of tiny antennas said the pricing plan "requires no long-term commitment and eliminates the previous annual and day plans," referring to it as "streamlined." The move is accompanied by a commitment to offer full service amenities free for the first month commencing May 15. Aereo's CEO stated that, "We looked at our data and it was clear, consumers want a more simple approach to pricing," mentioning nothing about undercutting the network giants they’ve so angered.

SideTour Adds BlackJack Wiz Experience maestros SideTour let slip that one of their own employees, a veteran card counter and Blackjack player, has started offering tours of his own. The staff member, Brian Cotlove, "spent six years making a career playing blackjack in casinos around the world." Perhaps a trip to Atlantic City is in order for the SideTour team?

BitPay Expands The BitCoin world’s PayPal has grown with the inclusion of Bitcoin core-developer Jeff Garzik and CFO Bryan Krohn. As BitCoin prepares to be used in up to 50,000 stores, the payment site says that Mr. Garzik’s new position will "allow him to work full-time on Bitcoin, BitPay, and related open-source projects to benefit the Bitcoin community."

Fiverr Hires Former Cuban Council Co-Founder Following the buzz around Google’s acquisition of legendary design firm Cuban Council, it can now be revealed that co-founder Michael Schmidt has made the move to Fiverr, the online services marketplace. Schmidt, who was responsible for Evernote, Bad Religion and the Rdio app, amongst other things, will now be their new front end architect, building and managing the Fiverr design team.

Pheed Launches Android App Feisty young social media upstart Pheed, used by the likes of Miley Cyrus, continues to vie for the big leagues with the launch of an Android app. The site, which is essentially a mashup of every other social media, believes it will "double in size over the next couple of months due to the new Android market," according to CEO O.D. Kobo.

Mr. Matzner (Photo: Twitter)

Too afraid to talk to the girl you like? New York-based mobile marketing startup founder Eric Matzner has a brilliant solution: Pay a stranger $5 on Fiverr to film himself shouting a compliment about your crush on a public bus. Swoon.

Back in May, Mr. Matzner published a post to his blog about how he'd decided to outsource typical human displays of affection--like telling someone you like them, or wishing a parent a happy birthday--to random Internet strangers using crowdsourcing platforms like Fiverr and oDesk.

Mr. Matzner paid someone in London $5, for example, to shout, "Hailey MacArthur is the most beautiful girl in the world and men would do much more than yell loudly on a bus to even have a slight chance at getting with her," which is actually pretty creepy. It apparently worked, though, so there's really no accounting for taste. (UPDATE: Mr. Matzner called Betabeat to clarify that he had been friends with Ms. MacArthur for some time, and the video was actually a gift to her during the "courting process," which does make it less creepy.)

Of the experience, Mr. Matzner concluded, "If I can outsource something as intangible as courage and seduction, then there is little else that can’t be outsourced."

In related news: romance is dead, probably.