Culture
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WITN: “Can I go on record as saying this is a horrible idea?”
As you read first on the Wall Street Journal, Paul Carr’s NSFWCORP has raised more money. Hooray! Also: Thanks for the exclusive, jerk. At least we’ve got the backstory for you here during our latest installment of WITN. We shot this one during our most recent LEAN IN! trip to New York, so there’s a baby involved. But there’s also... -
Fred Wilson on why corporate VCs suck
Forgive us for dwelling on it, but there were just so many great moments in our fireside chat with Fred Wilson last week. It was really one of my favorites this year. And two of my favorite moments were about the venture capital business. Wilson — a man known for his strong opinions — was at his most rabid... -
Chris Hughes’ eventful first year at the New Republic
A year ago, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes bought the New Republic, a print magazine and Washington DC institution that, like its peers, was staring death in the face. Hughes came on as publisher and “Editor in Chief,” supposedly with the aim of making it like the New Yorker of the US capital. Today, Hughes marked his one-year anniversary at the…
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How Tennessee’s Southland Summit could topple SXSW
God damnit. I hate to do this. I really, really hate to do this. But I have to hand it to Nashville. The city is suddenly doing a great job of being nationally relevant. Evidence of this seems to be popping up all around me. Whether it’s the Forbes magazine I was reading on the plane this past weekend saying... -
PandoMonthly New York with Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, the full interview
If you have even a passing familiarity with the New York startup ecosystem you should know — or at least know of — Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures and the man behind the A VC blog. He joined us last week for our latest PandoMonthly New York event and discussed everything from his experience during the... -
Everyone is wrong: The surprising advantage to being a working mom
I’ve been leaning in so much lately I’m in danger of falling over. As regular readers know, my own biological clock and career trajectory have coincided with an interesting time in women’s employment rights. Just as the debate has raged over whether or not the paucity of women entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley is some deep, dark sexist plot, various women... -
The opportunity for Slow Media
In June 2010, sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling posted to Wired’s “Beyond the Beyond” blog a manifesto for “slow media.” The “Slow Media Manifesto” was written by Sabria David, Jörg Blumtritt, and Benedikt Köhler, and for anyone made weary by the incessant torrent of Twitterized information it makes for beautiful reading. “Slow media,” the men argued, is like “slow food.” It’s…
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Is the time finally right for electric bikes?
Last summer, my girlfriend and I spent a couple of months in Shanghai. There were many reasons it was a great experience – dumplings being chief among them – but there was one particular unexpected pleasure. Getting around Shanghai, a city of 23 million people, turned out to be pure joy. That’s because our chief form of transport was not…
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The first six startups out of Matter that hope to change media
In December, Matter launched in San Francisco with the intent of bringing a culture of disruption to public media. The accelerator said it would take five media-focused startups that had working prototypes and the drive to build businesses that align with the “for the public good” mission of public media. It ended up accepting six companies into its…
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Tech-friendly immigration bill approaches crunch time. Get up to speed here
Today, the US Senate is voting on whether or not to proceed with a debate about an immigration bill that would have significant ramifications for the tech industry, including raising the cap on the number of high-skilled immigrants allowed in the country and establishing a “startup visa” for foreign entrepreneurs. It would also provide a path to citizenship for illegal…
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Why are you in such a rush?
I see a consistent attitude among a lot of young entrepreneurs both technical and non-technical that I think leads to more harm than good: They’re always in a huge rush. They’re always in a huge rush to get the prototype out, to get it on TechCrunch, to get it to go viral, to raise money, to reach a million users... -
BuzzFeed continues evolution from cute, fluffy cub into worldly news bear
As it continues its quest to develop into a grown-up news organization, BuzzFeed, famous for its listicles and its Animals vertical, has made another milestone hire: a foreign editor. Miriam Elder, currently the Moscow bureau chief for The Guardian, will start work at BuzzFeed’s New York office on July 25. Her appointment is the first step in what will be…
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“Life on Bitcoin”: These newlyweds plan to live for 90 days entirely on bitcoin, and film the whole thing
Bitcoin has received heaps of attention recently from tech early adopters and the mainstream media alike. It’s been a wild last six months which has seen the value of the virtual currency grow more than tenfold and then fall half as much, as well as the government intervene in a series of suspected fraud and money-laundering cases. The cryptocurrency has... -
The Silicon Valley whipping boy
When I first read The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal’s ball-busting assault on the environmental ill-effects of Sean Parker’s forest wedding, I was appalled. I wanted to tweet the link to the story with the word “disgusting” or “Fuck you, Sean Parker,” just like some of my friends did. I mean, I like forests! People who hurt them are really shitty. So…
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NationBuilder raises $8M round to show community organizing can be big business
In the corridors of the Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in New York these last couple of days, it has been clear that Jim Gilliam, the founder and CEO of community organizing tools maker NationBuilder, is a man above others. That’s not just true because of his 6-foot-9 stature. Nor is it only because of his moving 2011 speech at this…
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Debunking the myth that LA doesn’t build hardcore technology
The last few years have been good to the Los Angeles tech scene, with more money, more talent, and more recognition coming to the community. Many outside observers have sought to handicap the market and its place in the broader startup ecosystem. I’ve had dozens upon dozens of conversations along these lines, with most visiting investors and entrepreneurs alike asking...
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Plug 'em in: Let's make electrical outlets smarter
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"Journalism's eyesight is based on movement"
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Kabam raising $50 million for employee liquidity amid IPO drought for game companies
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Megaupload servers reportedly wiped in “data massacre”
Data stored on Leaseweb’s servers, which housed “petabytes” of photos, music, files, and other documents for Megaupload, has been deleted in a “data massacre,” according to Kim Dotcom. Dotcom’s lawyers are said to have asked Leaseweb not to delete any Megaupload data while the company faced legal action in the US.
[Source: RT]
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News Flash: Rich people continue to like buying things
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Stratasys acquires MakerBot with $403M in stock
Stratasys, a 3-D-printing company, has acquired MakerBot, another 3-D-printing company, for $403 million in stock and $201 million in performance-based earn-outs, AllThingsD reports. The news comes after the unveiling of MakerBot’s new factory in Brooklyn.
[Source: AllThingsD]
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HDmessaging's search for the perfect mobile ad
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Aviary for Android releases 3.0
Photo editor on Android, Aviary, has released the latest version of its app. New features include a better “enhance” tool as well as added filters. [Source: CNET]
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Wired’s Michael Copeland joins Andreessen Horowitz
TechCrunch is reporting that Wired editor Michael Copeland will be leading Andreessen Horowitz’s ‘content strategy.’ Copeland has covered the VC world for a variety of outlets, including Wired, Fortune, and Business 2.0. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Analyst: iPad mini won’t have retina display
Despite reports claiming Apple’s upcoming iPad mini 2 housing a retina display, one analyst believes they won’t be ready for the upcoming shipment. According to an analyst from NPD DisplaySearch, the retina displays will ship sometime in 2014, whereas the latest upcoming batch will contain the iPad’s current display. [Source: BGR]
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Why you’re on a startup roller-coaster
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Facebook now has photo comments
Today Facebook unrolled a new feature for its commenting system. Now users are able to comment with more than just words, being able to attach photos as comments. [Source: CNET]
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Gnip announces new CEO
Gnip, a startup that resells social data from the likes of Twitter and other social giants, has announced a shuffling of the executive ranks. Now, it’s former COO and president will be CEO. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Facebook updates Page Insights
Facebook has redesigned its Page Insights, the tool that lets Pages user monitor their performance. This is the its first update to since October 2011. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Adobe says “Creative Cloud” is working
Despite some controversy with its transition to the Cloud, Adobe’s CEO says its Creative Cloud Suite is actually doing quite well. According to the company, it has 700,000 subscribers, up from 479,000 in the first quarter of 2013, which exceeded the company’s original expectations. [Source: GeekWire]
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Tech’s second boom: What’s different this time?
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Viacom latest media company to join Twitter Amplify
Viacom has joined Twitter’s Amplify program, a partnership for media companies to better implement second screen experiences. The first Viacom-Amplify will be the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25. [Source: VentureBeat]
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Dan Bricklin hired as Alpha Software’s CTO
Dan Bricklin, the co-creator of VisiCalc and “father of the electronic spreadsheet,” has been hired as the CTO for Alpha Software. In addition, the company announced the launch of Alpha Anywhere. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Videopixie launches connecting footage to editors
Videopixie launched today, providing a marketplace for people who have rough video footage and editors. The service works by users uploading their raw footage, and then vie bid for the job by making a quick teaser trailer with the footage. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Google introduces a new scorecard in AdSense
Google today launched a new AdSense scorecard aimed at telling site owners their performance. The scorecard is divided into three categories: revenue optimization, site health and Google+. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Grammy Award-winner's law of attraction in Tech
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Intercom raises $6M
Intercom, a startup that seeks to make it easier for businesses to interact with their customers, has announced a $6 million Series A led by The Social+Capital Partnership. The funding will be used to expand the company’s product, which is already used by companies like GitHub, Buffer, and Heroku, among others.
[Source: Intercom]
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Kiip opens self-serve rewards marketplace to brands in limited beta
Kiip, a rewards platform that allows app makers to reward users for “moments” — achievements in video games, completing a task list, and so forth — has announced that the opening of its self-serve marketplace to brands in a limited beta. Now, instead of being vetted by and working through Kiip, brands can offer rewards directly to the service’s users.
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LG to mass-produce flexible displays by the end of this year
LG will begin mass-producing flexible displays by the fourth quarter of this year, the Korea Times reports. The company also intends to produce the first smartphone equipped with such a display this year.
[Source: The Korea Times]
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Cisco to invest $15M in Israeli VC funds
Cisco plans to invest $15 million in Israeli VC funds, Reuters reports. The investment is part of a larger push to expand in the Middle East through acquisitions, the opening of a new development center, and other efforts.
[Source: Reuters]
