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Pluralsight turns philanthropic, launches free coding bootcamp in Utah public schools
Later today, hundreds of kids at six elementary, middle, and high schools in Utah will take a break from their normal classes and get three-hour crash course on coding. The praise-worthy experiment is part of an ongoing philanthropic effort by technology online education company Pluralsight aimed at giving kids early access to the worlds of Web and software development.... -
Who says education can’t be lucrative? The early days of Lynda.com
We certainly couldn’t spend a month focusing on online education and not include Lynda.com. The 17-year-old company grabbed the Valley’s attention when it raised a whopping $103 million series A deal lead by Accel Partners in January– a hefty series A by any standards and the most ever raised in a single round by an edtech company, according to... -
For university accelerators, good intentions aren’t good enough
Today’s announcement of a new university accelerator program at the University of Southern California (USC) should have elicited celebration. The appropriate feel good PR boxes were checked with the inclusion of tier one VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KCPB) and Hollywood mega-agency United Talent Agency (UTA), each announced as partners. But underneath the delicious frosting, this cake is the... -
The Valentine’s Day drinking game: Tech edition
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day. I don’t love chocolate, I don’t get flowers, and frankly, I think that if you can only muster the effort to romance your significant other on the day some guy died you might want to rethink your priorities. (It’s mostly about the chocolate.) Lately there’s been something else bothering me about... -
Seed investors are getting creative to survive the Series A crunch
There’s been plenty of talk about the Series A crunch and how it affects Seed stage companies looking to raise follow-on funding in 2013. Less talked about is how it affects companies trying to get out of the gates and raise their initial Seed round, as well as those investors considering backing them. To get an idea of how the... -
Deja vu: BeachMint loses two more C-level executives
BeachMint has lost more c-level executives in the last month, confirms COO Greg Steiner. The first to go in this latest shakeup was CTO Carl Trudel, who left shortly before the winter holiday season. CFO Jordan Posell will also be leaving, the company announced internally this week, but not until a replacement is identified. Trudel will not be replaced,... -
The startup community mourns the loss of ecomom founder Jody Sherman
It is with a heavy heart that I must report that ecomom founder and CEO Jody Sherman has passed away. Details are scarce at this time. The only information available comes via a Facebook post left on Jody’s profile by his wife. Sherman was a beloved member of the Los Angeles and Las Vegas startup communities and will be sorely…
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Best Buy is crazy, just not like a fox
The suits at Best Buy are at it again. In the latest installment of “crazy like a fox, or just plain crazy,” the electronics retailer has decided to discount the MacBook Air by an absurd $200 for the next two days. Why is this so ridiculous? Let me count the ways. First, the company has seen an alarming drop... -
Amplify’s LA Showcase is exactly what this town needs
We all go to events put on by well meaning accelerators pimping their best startups. But earlier this week at something called the LA Showcase, Amplify did something different. The private event was an afternoon of speed-dating between startups and investors – many of which flew in from the Bay Area specifically for the day – hosted by the accelerator, LA-based... -
The full story of Pushpins acquisition by Ebates parent Performance Marketing Brands
It was reported over the weekend that Lightspeed-backed mobile grocery shopping startup Pushpins was acquired by Ebates parent company Performance Marketing Brands (PMB). But there’s far more than initially meets the eye in this deal that closed shortly before the Christmas holiday. [Disclosure: PandoDaily Chairman Andrew Anker is also Chairman of PMB] First and foremost, Pushpins is more than... -
The VC’s paradox: We can’t all be black swans
In the past 30 days I’ve had sad and unfortunate conversations with around five entrepreneurs about the reality that their venture funded companies are headed toward their eventual end. Some are indignant. Some are accepting. Others are openly sad. All of them have lost the passion that they once carried in their voices that I had admired just a few... -
Pop-Up Pantry closes its doors amid greater than anticipated costs
More often than entrepreneurs would like to admit, a good idea is not enough to create a sustainable business. All the demand in the world is not always sufficient overcome the economics of acquiring customers and then delivering your product or service. Gourmet food delivery startup Pop-Up Pantry learned this lesson this the hard way. In the five... -
How two outsider entrepreneurs took on Washington to legalize crowdfunding
In early 2011, Los Angeles serial entrepreneurs Chance Barnett and DJ Paul were contemplating the state of startup fundraising. It’s long been a closed club with a privileged membership, which served to keep out regular Joes and Jills who might want to get in on the action – even if they didn’t have millions in the bank. But few industries... -
On the overzealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz
Many of us who view the Web as a second home have been in collective mourning over the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a 26-year-old Internet prodigy whose contributions include early standards for the RSS protocol, the website framework web.py, the architecture for the Open Library, and Reddit, through its merger with his startup Infogami. Swartz was a freedom of information... -
Why Target’s Amazon price match matters less to Target than to other retailers
Tell me the last time you did price comparison research across multiple retailers for a bottle of laundry detergent? How about for a package of socks? Halloween Candy? Greeting cards? Motor oil? The answer across the board is likely never. And that’s exactly why Target’s new policy of price-matching the online prices of Amazon, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com, Toysrus.com, and even itself... -
Engineers are from Mars, Designers are from Venus
Looking back, 2012 may have been the year that “designers became the new hackers.” It’s become cliche to say good design is the difference between good technology and great consumer products. Companies are climbing over one another to hire the best design rockstars around. And it’s suddenly cool to be Scandinavian. But, because this is a...
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PandoMonthly New York with Chris Dixon
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Yahoo Japan: 22M user IDs may have been leaked
Yahoo Japan suspects that some 22 million user IDs have been leaked, Reuters reports. The associated accounts have not been otherwise compromised — passwords and information that might be used to reset them are said to be safe — and Yahoo Japan is said to have prevented someone from accessing its administrative system.
[Source: Reuters]
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Autodesk acquires Tinkercad
Autodesk has acquired Tinkercad, a startup that makes CAD files editable and ready for 3D printing for an undisclosed sum. Tinkercad’s technology and website will transfer to Autodesk, and the service’s free option has been “supercharged” to offer more functionality.
[Source: Tinkercad]
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Valve engineers continue developing cancelled augmented reality project
Valve engineers fired from the company in February have continued work on “CastAR,” a wearable augmented reality device that was cancelled at the same time, the Verge reports. The device is currently at an early stage; it will likely seek funding on Kickstarter in the future, according to the report.
[Source: The Verge]
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“Does Yahoo make Tumblr into YouTube — a successful standalone network that can grow and prosper on its own — or does it become MySpace?”
— GigaOM's Mathew Ingram on the supposed Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition
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Stop bitching about Millennials
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Bitcoin is legal, but ignoring the laws is not
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Yahoo board to meet Sunday to discuss Tumblr deal
The company’s board will meet on Sunday night to decide whether or not to approve a $1.1 billion offer for the blogging site, sources told AllThingsD. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Yahoo will reportedly unveil updates to Flickr
The press received invites to a product-related press event in New York on May 20. A source told Bloomberg that it is regarding updates to the photo sharing site. [Source: Bloomberg]
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Redbox instant to launch on Google TV and Roku
The streaming version of the red, DVD-dispensing kiosks will launch on Google TV in the next few weeks. Soon after, the company, which is a joint venture between Redbox and Verizon, will look to add support to Roku. [Source: GigaOm]
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Mars rover Opportunity breaks NASA record
It may live in the shadow of Curiosity, but NASA’s older rover has driven further than any other object on the surface of another body in our solar system. It’s cruised 22.22 miles, but that’s still short of the 23 miles a Soviet Union rover drove on the moon in 1973. [Source: The Verge]
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For the Internet of things, will it be verticals or horizontals?
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A bitcoin bubble could be good for everyone
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Vend raises $8M without turning to the Valley
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"Bang With Friends" removed from App Store
Bang With Friends (hidden slightly by the name BWF Official) has been removed from the App Store by Apple. So for the time being, iPhone users who want to hook up on the go are out of luck. [Source: CNET]
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The geography of Twitter and mainstream news
A new study looked at “the geography of Twitter” finds that, “There is a strong difference in the geographic profiles of Twitter and mainstream media and that the intensity of discourse mentioning a country does not necessarily match the intensity of discourse emanating from that country in social media.” [Source: Poynter]
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Amit Kapur defends the MySpace mafia
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Sony appoints Osamu Nagayama as chairman
It’s being reported that Sony is going to appoint Chief Executive Osamu Nagayama as the new chairman of the company. The appointment will be finalized at the next board meeting on June 20. [Source: Reuters]
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Panasonic may kill off Sanyo
Panasonic has decided to cut 90% of Sanyo’s 2,500 workforce over the next three years. In addition, it may decide to absorb the company it acquired in 2010 entirely. [Source: Reuters]
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Yahoo to hold a “product-related” press conference Monday; what could it possibly be about?
Rumors have been circulating about Yahoo’s possible buyout of Tumblr. Now CNBC has tweeted that Yahoo will hold a “product-related” event where CEO Marissa Mayer will speak. [Source: @CNBC]
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Google Play in-app purchases up 700%
At Google’s I/O 2013 today Google gave some statistics about Google Play’s revenue. One standout is that in-app purchases are rising significantly, going up 7 times as much as there were this time last year. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Twitter and NBA team up for playoffs
The NBA and Twitter have partnered up to stream playoff game highlights for the rest of the post-season. The video clips will be posted on NBA Digital’s Twitter account. [Source: Bloomberg]
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Yahoo Japan believes 22M IDs were leaked
Yahoo Japan reportedly detected an unauthorized attempt to access its system, which led to 22 million Yahoo IDs being leaked. However, the company claims no passwords or identity data for password reset were part of the leak. [Source: Reuters]
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PandoHouse Rock: A history of 3D printing
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Yahoo’s mobile app push may be working
According to data from Onavo, Yahoo’s recent push in mobile apps may be bearing fruit for the company. Yahoo Weather now has a 3% marketshare for US iPhone users, and other Yahoo apps are also doing well. [Source: GigaOm]
