(Photo: Blogspot)

Looks like hardware may finally be getting its chance in the sun at SXSW. [New York Times]

TechCrunch spoke to sources who were in the same fraternity with Reggie Brown and Evan Spiegel at Stanford and they corroborated the notion that Mr. Brown came up with the original idea for Snapchat. Winklevii'd. [TechCrunch]

Hey FYI, all those "free gift cards!" texts you were getting were actually spam (just in case you've never used a cell phone before). Luckily, the FTC is cracking down on 29 scam artists sending them out. [The Next Web]

Anita Sarkeesian, who became the target of trolls after daring to speak about women in video games, debuted her first episode of "Tropes vs. Women." [The Daily Dot]

Pandora's fourth quarter results were better than expected, but its CEO is still stepping down. [AllThingsD]

Ms. Peyton (Photo: @msg via AmandaPeyton.com)

All that hardware-is-the-new-software talk you've been hearing will soon get an equally avant-garde means of distribution, courtesy of a new venture called Grand St. "We are re-thinking online electronics retail for this new era in hardware," Grand St. cofounder Amanda Peyton, a Y Combinator alum, told Betabeat.

Between the financial model for hardware shifting--with pre-sales on Kickstarter and IndieGoGo or product development through Quirky--not to mention 3D printing and rise of the maker, "The experience of finding and buying new personal technology needs to adapt as well," Ms. Peyton wrote on her blog yesterday, in an introduction to Grand St.

"The biggest players are the same--Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon," Ms. Peyton added. "Given all the above changes, surely this segment would have to shift." As one of her commenters noted, working capital requirements for retail deals is a big drag on getting new hardware to the masses. Presumably Grand St.--a reference to Williamsburg, natch--wants to fix that.

Ms. Peyton, an MBA from MIT, cofounded MessageParty, a since-shuttered location app. Her two cofounders at Grand St. are Betabeat poachable Joe Lallouz and his partner-in-crime Aaron Henshaw, both developers from the dearly departed Hashable.

What exactly does the trio mean by "personal technology"? A Nike Fuelband, a Makerbot, your very own hipster cooking device? "Personal technology is anything in your life with an on button," Ms. Peyton explained by email. "We would definitely be open to selling all three, though we are planning to focus on more independent producers in the beginning."

Ironically, a big part of this emerging push towards hardware has been facilitated by software, Ms. Peyton explained on her blog. She elaborated on that in an email to Betabeat, pointing to, "software/hardware combos like the Jambox, which can be customized from the web, or the Lark which tracks your sleep and gives you insight via iPhone app."

Customizing those iPhones and Android devices you can't seem to put down will play a big role in this sector, Ms. Peyton predicted. "This creates a huge demand for the right kind of customer service that can educate consumers on these new devices."

While the "gadget-obsessed web nerds," go about building out Grand St., early adopters can visit the placeholder site for a chance to win cash, credit, or a donation to charity playing a game called Snake. We're pretty sure you can beat Betabeat's score, a big, fat "0."

Ms. Hu (lark.com)

Imagine that you invented this really cool wristband alarm clock, and you think it could be a real 'disruptive' technology. You spend months mocking up a presentation to give to investors at TechCrunch Disrupt, but on the morning of your demo, rich assholes incapable of summoning empathy shit all over your startup, simply because it's a hardware idea.

That's pretty much exactly what happened to Julia Hu, the cofounder of Lark, according to CNN. Napster bad boy Sean Parker literally laughed her off the stage:

"That was a charmingly quirky presentation, but I'm not sure," said Sean Parker, a serial entrepreneur and partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund. "I mean, is this a company?"

Hu's pitch, made at TechCrunch Disrupt 2010, didn't dazzle any of the investors on the panel. Almost laughing, Parker added: "I just have a hard time believing you're serious."

Ms. Hu picked herself back up and took her project to Kickstarter, where she raised all the necessary funds and even gained the attention of Apple, which now sells her product in its stores.

CNN reports that hardware startups--like the infamous Pebble--are swarming Kickstarter in impressive droves, due in part to the risk factors associated with hardware that tend to keep VCs at bay. As CNN writes, "SV Angel partner David Lee puts it bluntly: Venture capitalists are 'allergic to hardware.'"

We reported on this phenomenon last month, when we noticed that spots for Disrupt's Hardware Alley filled up much faster than usual. CNN puts it more succinctly: "We're becoming our own venture capitalists."

Of course, not everyone can be as successful as Ms. Hu or the Pebble crew, but sometimes it's worth a shot. After all, we're getting so sick of apps.

Screenshot of Boxee 1.5

Yesterday Boxee announced that version 1.5 of it's Boxee Box is currently being tested by a select group of users and will roll out to everyone in January. The update also went out to Boxee users who access the service through their PC. But in the same post Andrew Kippen, Boxee's VP of marketing, also announced that this would be the last time Boxee would offer updates or support for their PC users. In a section entitled "Growing Past the PC" he wrote:

We believe the future of TV will be driven by devices such as the Boxee Box, Connected TVs / Blu-Rays and 2nd screen devices such as tablets and phones. While there are still many users who have computers connected to their TVs, we believe this use case is likely to decline as users find better alternatives. People will continue to watch a lot of video on their computer, but it is more likely to be a laptop than a home-theater PC and probably through a browser rather than downloaded software.

To our computer users… to those who have come out to our NYC and SF meetups, talked with us at Engadget, GDGT, and Giz Gallery events, or enjoyed Austin BBQ with us during SxSW, or simply messaged with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our forums… thank you for all your support – we would not be where we are today without you. But we can’t stay here.

Hundreds of users replied in the comments. "Yeah, Merry Christmas from Boxee… Leaving all your PC users out in the cold," wrote Matthew Hall. "Seriously, you should just charge for a premium PC app, I would gladly pay for this. Definitely want be getting a Boxee box. Very disappointed."

For some long time users, the end of the PC was a slap in the face. "So to sum up the article: If you helped spread awareness of Boxee and tested it and provided feedback years before there was a Boxee Box product and helped make the service and software a success, you're being shown the door. In exchange for our time working through a products bugs and helping to get it ready for prime-time (which it still isn't) you get nothing," wrote R. Reed.

It might make sense for Boxee to focus on its hardware product, where it generates real revenue. It also allows them to stay closer to the integrated experience of Apple, and avoid the fragmentation plaguing Google's Android operating system. But it has clearly cost them a lot of passionate users who contributed to improving the product.