News & Analysis
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Nextdoor: “We stopped everything we were doing and trained every engineer on mobile”
Mobile first? How about mobile finally. Nextdoor has finally released its long-awaited iPhone app– long the most requested feature by users. Considering the trove of venture cash raised and how long Nextdoor has been in business, you can understand users’ impatience. But Nextdoor’s cofounder and CEO Nirav Tolia is hoping that taking the time to build it in-house and build... -
Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito’s H2 comes out of stealth
There are certainly many reflective points we can take from Facebook’s one-year anniversary as a public company this past weekend. But one of the chief among them is the reminder that today Web 2.0 companies are large, global companies. Trying to take a company from promising startup to large-scale international operation is one of the core goals of H2,... -
Forty more tickets on sale for our John Doerr PandoMonthly! (And a new venue…)
The fun thing about doing events every month across three cities is there’s a high probability something, somewhere will go wrong. Introduce a bold idea to switch up the look and feel of the marquee event, and well, you’re sort of asking for it… We’ve been doomed when it comes to venues this month. Our regular LA one was gone,... -
Too small to fail: The partnership-driven nature of fintech startups
In the last quarter-century or so that has made up the digital revolution, one universal axiom has held true: evolve or die. Record labels were too busy suing pirates in the 1990s to adapt their business model to the digital world, newspapers were consigned to the recycle bin of history after failing to convert the economics of print to the... -
Jaron Lanier: Information doesn’t want to be free, and ads are screwed
Computer scientist and author Jaron Lanier has turned his back on the “information wants to free” meme to which he once subscribed, and he thinks advertising as a business model for media is doomed. It’s not just that Craigslist and other Internet businesses have snatched ads away from traditional media, he reckons; it’s that in this digital era, when Google…
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Data, heart, virality, and leadership: Five tips for today’s entrepreneurial journey
Digital communications and social media have empowered consumers, whose voices can be heard loud and clear. As has always been the case, the fate of a business is often determined by how well it generates consumer delight. However, these new platforms have provided consumers a bully pulpit like never before. Early stage companies able to react quickly to customer feedback... -
YouTube network Fullscreen adds NBCUniversal and HBO veteran Tim Mohn as new SVP of Engineering
As much as an idea, timing, and luck all play into the success of startups, any experienced investor or entrepreneur will confirm that it is first and foremost about the team. That’s why it’s a fairly big deal that YouTube content network Fullscreen has added former NBCUniversal/Comcast VP of Technology and HBO GO app co-creator Tim Mohn... -
Totsy burns through $34 million, lays off its 83 employees, selling assets
New York-based flash sales site Totsy is laying off its staff of 83 employees. The company, which had 110 employees last year and 4 million email subscribers, has entered liquidation, hiring the investment bank Consensus Advisors to sell off its assets, which includes the member list and $2 million worth of inventory. According to sale documents obtained by PandoDaily,... -
Why people are ignoring Windows 8′s new interface and using the “traditional” desktop instead
Windows 8 is all about touch. It’s a noted departure from past versions of Windows, all of which featured the all-too-familiar Start button, an interface dominated by multiple application windows against a static background, and a simple point-and-click interaction scheme. That’s what Windows used to be. Now it’s a multi-colored grid filled with Live Tiles, Charms, and... -
Eat Club hits the road to feed hungry office workers
There’s a new technology-driven (and actually driven) food service coming to San Francisco. It’s the Eat Bus, the newest launch from the Palo Alto-based food delivery startup Eat Club. The company announced the new service today, wherein the bus parks at a different San Francisco location every day, filled with food from a different restaurant handpicked daily, like Bar... -
A new iOS game looks to kickstart neuroscience education
No one’s even surprised anymore when you mention that US students are behind other countries in math and science. Is this the new normal? Sure, there are promising signs: President Obama’s 2014 budget does increase STEM education funding by 6.4% to $3.1 billion. And last month, the National Research Council and the National Science Teachers Association teamed... -
Bill Gross’ UberMedia launches UberAds, using social and location data to better target on mobile
Bill Gross is one of the forefathers of intent-based digital advertising, having pioneered paid search advertising as the founder Overture (which sold to Yahoo in 2003 for $1.63 billion). A decade later, Gross, now the CEO of UberMedia, is looking to create the same kind of disruption with a new mobile advertising platform called UberAds that utilizes social signals... -
Skyhigh Networks raises $20M to control unauthorized cloud programs used in the enterprise
It’s hard to ignore the promise of the cloud. But it’s still tough to get adoption from many large enterprises because of security concerns that have to do with unprotected company data on offsite storage centers. On top of that, it’s hard to keep track of just what cloud-based programs employees are using on their devices, from Salesforce to Dropbox... -
“If you’re building specifically for mobile, you’re in the past”
While most commentators are now boldly declaring we’re in a post-Web 2.0 era, those operating at the bleeding edge of technology have already moved past that. Two years ago it was “The Stream,” according to Adweek. Last year it was The Age of Mobile, according to us. This year, it’s a goddamn free-for-all. Neal Mohan, dubbed “Google’s... -
Scanadu asks Indiegogo users to test its “tricorder,” but don’t call it a pre-order
Scanadu, the healthcare company trying to build a real-world version of “Star Trek’s” tricorder, is looking to raise $100,000 on Indiegogo, but it would prefer that you don’t refer to its campaign as crowd-funding or pre-ordering its Scout device. It’s using Indiegogo to crowd-source the hunt for willing participants in a usability trial required by FDA...
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How Qualaroo hacks the marketing conversion funnel
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Nextdoor: “We stopped everything we were doing and trained every engineer on mobile”
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As WeChat grows, Tencent opens office in Malaysia
Chinese Internet giant Tencent is opening an office in Malaysia, in part to consolidate its gains in the country with popular messaging app WeChat. The app has more than 1 million users in the country, representing 70 percent market penetration among Malaysian smartphone users. The app has about 400 million users worldwide, Tencent claims. [Source: The Next Web]
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Low-fee investment platform Loyal3 raises $18M Series C round
Loyal3, a startup that lets people invest in companies without having to pay transaction or management fees, has raised $18 million in Series C funding, led by DNS-L3, with participation from former Facebook privacy officer Chris Kelly, and Loyal3 Chairman and CEO Barry Schneider. The company has raised a total of $45 million. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Facebook’s Home phones delayed in Europe
Facebook Home, the social network’s new launcher for Android phones, has been trashed in the US and is now striking trouble in Europe. HTC First, the phone that comes with Home pre-installed, won’t be launching on time in the UK or France, because Facebook has decided to instead improve the software before rolling out to international markets. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Messaging service imo.im raises $13M, adds Broadcasts
Uber-messaging app imo.im, which is reminiscent of the old Meebo, has raised $13 million led by its co-founder Georges Harik, an early Googler. The universal messaging dashboard has also unveiled a new “Broadcasts” feature for its Android and iOS apps that connects users with similar interests. [Source: The Next Web]
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Mailbox releases its email app for iPad
Mailbox, the stupidly popular email app for iPhone that recently sold to Dropbox, is now available on the iPad. Looks pretty much the same, but bigger. Apparently a version of the app is coming to Android soon. [Source: Mailbox]
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Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito’s H2 comes out of stealth
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Forty more tickets on sale for our John Doerr PandoMonthly! (And a new venue…)
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Report: Square drops two execs
Two execs, Alyssa Cutright and Alex Petrov (who hadn’t even started at the company yet!), have been dropped by Square, according to AllThingsD. Cutright was Square’s vice president of international, while Petrov was going to be the new vice president of partnerships. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Are "quantum dots" the future of displays?
Today, 3M and Nanosys announced that “quantum dot technology” (tiny nanoparticles that emit light) are almost ready to be built into smartphones, tablets, and TVs. [Source: 3M via Mashable]
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HP's PC sales are down 20%
Although HP’s stock was up 13% in after-hours trading, the company’s PC sales keep plummeting, down 20% for the year. Meanwhile, although CEO Meg Whitman was once a fan of Windows 8, today she namedropped the company’s non-Windows products at every opportunity. [Source: Business Insider]
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Yelp says it does not play favorites
Yelp has dealt with claims for a long time that say the company benefits businesses that advertise with it by featuring those reviews more prominently. Today, Yelp’s VP of Communications and Public Affairs fired back at these claims, saying, “The sensational allegation that Yelp manipulates reviews and ratings to reward advertisers or punish non-advertisers… is not — and has never been — true.” [Source: Yelp via The Next Web]
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Too small to fail: The partnership-driven nature of fintech startups
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Jaron Lanier: Information doesn't want to be free
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Google releases new Trends product
Google Trends now has charts updated monthly that list the top searches in over 40 categories. A smattering of top searches — actor: Salena Gomez; athlete: Michael Jordan; authors: William Shakespeare. [Source: Google Trends]
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Paul Allen is putting out a blues/rock album
The microsoft cofounder announced via Twitter that his band the Underthinkers will be putting out its debut album, “Everywhere at Once.” Amazon describes it as full of “blues-based rock guitar nuggets.” [Source: BetaBeat]
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Data, heart, virality, and leadership: Five tips for today’s entrepreneurial journey
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Hewlett Packard beats earnings expectations, sales fall short
HP reported earnings per share of $.87, while analysts predicted $.81. Revenue was weaker at $27.58 billion, while the street had predicted $28 billion. [Source: Hewlett Packard]
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GiftCards.com to buy Giftly
Pittsburgh-based GiftCards.com will buy San Francisco-based startup Giftly to grow its mobile platform. Giftly has raised about $2.8 million in venture capital. It will remain in San Francisco but rolled into GiftCards.com. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. [Source: TechCrunch]
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YouTube titan Fullscreen adds new SVP Engineering
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Twitter rolls out two-step authentication
Twitter is rolling out two-step authentication for user accounts. Coming in the wake of a series of a account hacks, the feature asks users to enter a six-digit code from their mobile phones after they have signed in via username and password. The feature can be enabled in Twitter’s settings menu, although it doesn’t yet seem available to everyone. [Source: The Verge]
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Cookening launches, offering homecooked meals for tourists in France
French startup Cookening has launched today, targeting tourists who want to eat homecooked meals. Cookening lets people invite travelers into their homes, Airbnb style, for paid meals. Cookening takes a 20 percent cut of the price as commission. [Source: The Next Web]
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Google revamps Drive app for Android, now has grid view
Google has revamped its Drive app for Android, adding a grid view for documents and files, and adding a new scanning feature. The update also offers offline support, letting you download copies of your files to your devices. [Source: Google]
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Adobe acquires Thumb Labs team
Adobe has acquired Thumb Labs, the New York-based company that developed Behance’s mobile apps. The deal is effectively an acqui-hire, meaning the entire team – consisting of fewer than 10 people – will move in SoHo offices of Behance, which is owned by Adobe. [Source: The Next Web]
