In SF, the city this launched in, the parking ticket itself is typically $60-80 for something like running out of time on the meter. If you get towed because the time expired right before rush hour or someone thinks you're blocking their driveway, there's an additional towing fee of ~$500 on top of the ticket.
It depends. In my city (a mid-sized city in the Midwest), being over the meter is a $25 ticket and that's the cheapest I've seen. Parking for too long in a 3-hr spot is $75. And if your car is towed it will be at least $125 to get it back (in addition to the parking ticket).
And I didn't read the article because I don't click on links to techcrunch.