Products
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The biggest beneficiary of the HTC First’s imminent death? The HTC One
The HTC First may have drawn its last breath. AT&T has reportedly discontinued the product just weeks after its release due to lackluster sales and a poor reception from its salespeople, thus ending the life of the first — but certainly not the last — “Facebook phone.” (AT&T denies the report, though Business Insider corroborates that... -
Barracuda Networks gobbles up e-signature startup SignNow for unknown sum
Flush with $130 million in cash following an October 2012 financing, email and Web security provider Barracuda Networks has acquired mobile e-signature startup SignNow. Neither company announced the transaction publicly, but a trail of Internet breadcrumbs left over the last two weeks make such a disclosure unnecessary. First, the bottom of SignNow’s website reads “© 2013 Barracuda... -
The flattening of iOS 7 and the dilemma of Jony Ive
By now you’ve probably seen at least one mockup purporting to show what iOS 7 might look like. Maybe you liked it. Maybe you hated it. Maybe, like the hundreds of millions of people who own iPhones and iPads and iPod Touches, you don’t particularly care what a random designer thinks an unannounced operating system could look like. But... -
Condition One founder unexpectedly kills business model, lays off half of its staff
Things looked promising when immersive-video startup Condition One graduated from TechStars New York last year. The company had built a very cool immersive-video technology that allows video content to be swiped and viewed from multiple angles. The plan was to license it as an enterprise solution to sportscasters, news services, broadcasters, and advertisers. The company had raised a... -
Twitter: Enabling the Internet of Things-lite
It’s best not to think about what might happen if everyday objects could Tweet. The few examples that already exist — diapers that Tweet parents when their wearers need to be changed, toilets and toasters that broadcast their use — are horrifying enough without imagining how they might interact with other devices able to share anything at any... -
The future of Nokia is Asha, not Lumia
It’s one thing for a writer to claim that Nokia is “entering its death spiral.” It’s another for a shareholder to say “Are you aware that results are what matter?” But that’s just what someone said to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop during a shareholder’s meeting in Helsinki before adding ”The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Please switch... -
NowThis News is totally mobile – just not in the way it said it would be
Yesterday, video news startup NowThis News announced a $4.8 million round of funding, bringing its total raise to nearly $10 million. The company, started late last year by Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer and former Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau, also had some encouraging metrics to report, including 20 million videos streamed in April alone – more than the…
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Remember, the HTC First is a Facebook phone, not “the” Facebook phone
The Facebook phone is doomed yet again. AT&T has cut the price of the HTC First, the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home pre-installed to 99-cents with a two-year contract, leading CNET, ZDNET, and Slate, among others, to question the viability of Facebook’s entry into the smartphone market. Stop me if you’ve heard this... -
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.... -
CapLinked extends its Series A to $2.1M, adding more financial community advocates
Six months after announcing a $1.6 million Series A round, cloud-based Virtual Data Room startup CapLinked revealed today that it has since expanded that round to a total of $2.1 million. Newly added investors include Conversion Capital, Inflection Ventures, The Artesian Group, Google software engineering manager Chris Harris, and former AccessDNA founder Lee Essener. The group joins existing... -
Verizon doesn’t care about BlackBerry or Windows Phone — it just wants to beat the iPhone
It seems that Thorsten Heins and Steve Ballmer — the chief executives of BlackBerry and Microsoft, respectively — have a friend in Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead, who praised both companies‘ mobile efforts during an investor conference earlier today. Before Heins and Ballmer start struttin’ their stuff, however, they might want to consider why Mead is so excited about... -
Life after “Shark Tank” — The real story of how UniKey finally came to market
“Shark Tank”…? You have to be fucking kidding me. Even if he was too polite to say it, that’s what John Frankel was thinking five months ago when one of his limited partners called him to suggest he try to invest in UniKey – a company he’d just seen on the popular TV show. Frankel is a real VC after... -
Let geeks choose their own ice cream
You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’ve reached peak #firstworldproblems after reading just some of the back-and-forth on Web browsers, mobile operating systems, and the ability to designate default applications for certain tasks. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else, what with all my excitement about Google making it easier for iPhone users to stay within its... -
Klout Experts: Has Klout finally come up with something users will love?
Back in January I wrote about how LinkedIn was the patron saint of the also-ran social network with slower growth and fewer users, but hopefully a greater value proposition for each of them. I mentioned Path, Nextdoor, and Foursquare as examples, but I missed a big one: Klout. LinkedIn has always provided a clear monetizable utility, when it comes... -
Atlas launches into beta to take the juggling act out of scheduling meetings
Calendaring can be tough for all of us. Moms regularly juggle multiple kids worth of activities. Students must manage homework, exams, and those all important frat parties. But for sales professionals, VCs, and others (ahem, journalists) who fill their days with meetings involving other equally busy people, the challenge of coordinating this madness gets an order of magnitude more difficult.... -
The commoditization of operating systems continues with Windows Blue
Microsoft is finally talking about Windows Blue, the long-rumored (and previously-leaked) version of its desktop operating system meant to unify Windows on Intel and ARM-based processors, allow for smaller, 7-and 8-inch tablets, and address consumers’ concerns about the oft-maligned Windows 8. The update will be publicly available to developers in June, Microsoft announced today at the Wired...
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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]
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Totsy burns through $34 million, lays off its 83 employees, selling assets
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Twitter updates Twitter for Mac
Twitter has updated its Twitter for Mac today. One big improvement listed is Notification Center integration. [Source: 9to5Mac]
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Tech analyst Michael Gartenberg joins Apple
Michael Gartenberg has left his job as a tech analyst at Gartner Inc for a job at Apple. According to sources, Gartenberg will be working on Apple’s marketing team under global marketing chief Phil Schiller. [Source: Forbes]
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Amazon plans to build bio-dome-like building in Seattle
Amazon has submitted plans for a new headquarters in Seattle. The building is reportedly a mixture of a skyscraper, tri-sphere, and a bio-dome-like space. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Runscope raises $1.1M
Runscope, a startup that offers tools to monitor API traffic and address the problems with broken APIs, announced today that it has $1.1 million in seed funding. Funding came from True Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 11 teaser on Vine
Rumors have been circulating that Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer 11 will support WebGL. The latest hint of this came from a Vine teaser that stated ”what’s next? WebGL?”. [Source: The Verge]
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Why people are ignoring Windows 8's new interface
