News & Analysis
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Parakweet raises $2M
Parakweet, which offers Bookvibe, a service that recommends books based on natural language processing and social-media analytics, has raised $2 million in funding. [Source: VentureBeat] -
Independent browser Torch passes 10M monthly users
Today web browser Torch announced it surpassed 10 million monthly active users after over 10 years on the market. It also launched its new version with a new download accelerator and music service. [Source: TechCrunch] -
Quantum venture firm QWave announces its first round of investments
Scientists and futurists have been thrilled/terrified about the possibilities of quantum computers for decades. These insanely powerful machines can theoretically operate a million times faster than classical computers by transcending mere 0s and 1s to process computations in parallel (For more, read our interactive explainer or watch our video). Until recently, research into this technology has... -
Simple updates iPhone app with new “Goals” savings feature
Simple, an online banking startup with apps available for iOS and Android, has today announced an update to its iPhone app meant to make it easier to save money. The feature, dubbed “Goals,” allows users to input certain items they would like to purchase and have Simple automatically work the cost of the item into their budget. [Source: Simple] -
Amazon debuts “Amazon Birthday Gift” on Facebook
Do you want to send your friends a gift? Would you prefer to do it with minimal effort, or without doing so much as finding a gift card and throwing it into a small bag in between Walmart and Taco Bell? Amazon, like a dozen other startups over the last few years, has today announced Amazon Birthday Gifts to help... -
BookVibe: Find books through Twitter
GeekWire has reported on the debut of BookVibe, a book recommendations service that pores through your Twitter feed to help you find the next thing worth reading. (Or: It’s a totally Twitter-based company that tears through tweets to find tomes.) [Source: GeekWire] -
Microsoft updates Socl with GIFs, meme generator
Microsoft has updated Socl, its oft-forgotten take-a-wild-guess network for creatives, with animated GIFs and a new meme generator. Users will be able to create animated GIFs via Blink, a standalone application for Windows devices. [Source: PCWorld] -
Smalltime Crowdfunding Crooks: Tracing a Kickstarter fraudster to other crowdfunding scams
Last week three filmmakers producing a documentary on crowdfunding noticed something fishy. They had come across a project, called Kobe Red, promising to provide a line of flavored beef jerky made from organic, beer-massaged beef from Japan. After receiving complaints from current backers and doing some research themselves, they contacted Kickstarter, which pulled the plug on the page only minutes... -
iZettle expands European payments service to Mexico
European social payments company iZettle has entered the Mexico market through a partnership with Banco Santander. The company tapped former Visa exec Luis Arceo as the country managing director and will introduce a mini card reader for iOS and Android phones and tablets. [Source: iZettle] -
Filepicker.io becomes Ink File Picker, announces $1.8M Seed funding
YC filesystem as a service alumni Filepicker.io has rebranded as Ink File Picker, and announced a $1.8 million Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Highland Capital Partners, with participation from SV Angel and other angels. [Source: TechCrunch] -
Maker of “Candy Crush Saga” hires bankers ahead of IPO
Midasplayer International Holding Co., the company behind the hit mobile game “Candy Crush Saga” has hired bankers in preparation for an IPO, although the timing of such an offering has not been determined. It’s a risky move in the hits-driven gaming world, as illustrated by Zynga’s struggles as a public company. [Source: WSJ] -
Capitaine Train raises €2.5M ($3.25M) for European train marketplace
European online train booking platform Capitaine Train has raised €2.5 Million ($3.25M) from existing investors Index Ventures and CM-CIC Capital Privé. [Source: Capitaine] -
Verizon spat causes customers to poor Netflix streaming quality
Verizon broadband customers who try to stream Netflix are likely to receive a less than stelar experience thanks to a virtual pissing match between the telco and on of its infrastructure partners, cogent. According to reports, Verizon is deliberately allowing Cogent connections carrying Netflix content to become overwhelmed without adding additional capacity. The end result: choppy Arrested Development episodes. [Source: GigaOM] -
Huawei to invest heavily in building its brand in India
China’s Huawei plans to spend $30 million to build its mobile handset brand in India, with the goal of selling one million smartphones and tablets in the country in the next six months. The move is viewed as an insurance measure against lost business in America and the EU due to political pressure against its enterprise telecom business. [Source: TechInAsia] -
Lock ‘em down: Soluto expands to the iPhone to help small businesses become more secure
I don’t have a passcode on my iPhone. Anyone who finds the device can run their finger along the bottom of its screen and instantly access my personal and professional email accounts, Facebook and Twitter profiles, address book, and anything else I might consider important faster than you can say “slide to unlock.” And I’m not alone — according to... -
Reverb.com launches with $500,000 in seed funding
Reverb.com today launched its online marketplace for buyers and sellers of used, vintage and handmade guitars and gear. The company launches with $500,000 in seed funding from David Kalt, the owner of the vintage guitar dealer Chicago Music Exchange. [Source: Reverb.com] -
View Inc. raises $60 million
View Inc, a developer of energy-saving windows, has taken on a $60 million investment from Corning Inc., which makes glass for flat-panel televisions, phones and tablets. View has raised a total of $182.5 million since its start, from investors including Khosla Ventures, General Electric Co. Sigma Partners LP and NanoDimension Management Ltd. [Source: Bloomberg] -
CareCloud raises $20 million
CareCloud, a provider of electronic medical software and services, has raised $20 million in Series B financing led by Tenaya Capital with participation from existing investors Intel Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. CareCloud has raised a total of $44 million in VC funding. [Source: CareCloud] -
Medivo raises $15 million Series B
Medivo, a New York-based health monitoring platform which connects doctors, consumers and clinical labs, has raised $15 million in Series B financing, bringing the company’s total funds raised to $22 million. The round was led by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, with participation from existing investors Safeguard Scientifics and MentorTech Ventures. [Source: Medivo] -
Optimum Energy raises $12.2 million
Optimum Energy, which makes “enterprise optimization solutions” has raised $12.2 million in new financing led by Navitas Capital with participation from existing investor Columbia Pacific Advisors. [Source: Optimum Energy] -
Zetta.net raises $8 million Series B
Zetta.net, a provider of cloud backup and disaster recovery products for SMBs, raised a Series B round of funding worth $8 million led by Industry Ventures, with participation from existing investors Foundation Capital and Sigma. The company’s total funds raised is $39.5 million. [Source: Zetta.net] -
Parakweet raises $2 million
Parakweet, an artificial intelligence platform using unstructured social media conversations to derive sentiment and consumer intent, has raised $2 million in funding. from a long list of investors including Scott Banister, Alan Braverman and David Jeske. [Source: Parakweet] -
CloudByte raises $4 million
CloudByte, a software-defined storage company, has raised $4 million in a Series B round of funding led by Growth Partners India, the private equity arm of Fidelity Worldwide Investment, with participation from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Kae Capital. The company’s total funds raised is now $6.1 million. [Source: CloudByte] -
Vets First Choice raises $6.5 million
Vets First Choice, an online veterinary partner-pharmacy raised $6.5 million in outside funds led by HLM Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Polaris Partners, Borealis Ventures, Harbor Light Capital, and Black Point Group. Vets First Choice is based in Maine and has more than 500,000 subscribers. [Source: Vets First Choice] -
How your taste in music predicts your taste in movies
Music startup The Echo Nest has released a study of how musical preferences can be used to predict a user’s taste in other areas, including entertainment and politics. The results are here. -
Vitals.com raises $22 million
Vitals, a New York-based startup which helps consumers find the right doctors and understand options and costs of health care, raised $22 million in Series C funding from Piper Jaffray Merchant Banking, Cardinal Partners, Health Enterprise Partners, Milestone Ventures Partners and Greycroft. [Source: Vitals.com] -
Silvercar expands to Houston
Silvercar, the Texas-based “Uber for airport car rentals,” has expanded to Houston and the Austin Ventures-backed company plans to be in seven markets by the end of 2012. [Source: Silvercar] -
FiftyThree raises $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz to move beyond Paper
By now you’re probably familiar with Paper, a drawing application that has won an Apple Design Award and plenty of attention for its user interface, which has rethought the way basic interactions like pinch-to-zoom or color selection should work on a touchscreen. The app has been featured by Apple in the App Store, on its website,... -
With 8 million users, Rounds is the Google Hangouts you’ve never heard of. Today it adds co-browsing
Airtime, we all recall, was a spectacular failure. The company spent $33.5 million and two years building a video chat service for friends, strangers and friends-of-friends. Only around 400 people used it per day. At the time, we chalked it up to the fact Skype had simply won video chat. We didn’t need another social network layer on... -
Quarterly Co. is back from the brink thanks to its new CEO, Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe
When Quarterly Co. opened its (digital) doors in late 2011, the business model was simple: connect consumers with their favorite celebrities and influencers who will then deliver quarterly boxes of personal favorites to these fans based on their contributor’s tastes and interests. Early participants were author and life-hacker Tim Ferriss, Reddit co-founder Alexis, and Rhode Island School of Design... -
Matrix Partners’ Antonio Rodriguez on his investment in Oculus Rift
Fresh off a successful run of demos at gaming conference E3, Oculus VR, the maker of wearable virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, raised $16 million from Spark Capital and Matrix Partners (the firms confirmed the deal after we broke the story last night). I spoke with Antonio Rodriguez, who led the deal for Matrix.
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This video shows why Vine is going to be a huge deal
Hundreds of thousands of people are out on the streets in Brazil tonight protesting deteriorating economic conditions. The photos out of Rio De Janiero, São Paulo, and Brasilia have shown the jaw-dropping scale, and the news reports have captured the urgency of the situation. But one six-second video clip tonight gave the world one incredibly powerful hit of what the…
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Report: Yahoo offers to buy Xobni for $30-$40M
Sources tell AllThingsD that Yahoo has offered to pay between $30 and $40 million for Xobni, a San Francisco startup that makes address book apps and plugins. [Source: AllThingsD] -
Forget Google Glass: Corning is building bendable glass
The makers of ultra-tough Gorilla Glass are working on a bendable version of its product for touchscreen use. That’s what VP Dr. Waguih Ishak told a crowd at Bloomberg’s Next Big Thing Summit today. [Source: Business Insider] -
Fred Wilson: For Foursquare, it’s not about the check-in. It’s about “maps with people in them”
When most people think of Foursquare, they immediately think of the “check-in.” And yet observers have been predicting the check-in’s demise since at least 2011. Whether due to faded novelty or general anxiety over leaving a digital footprint wherever you go (are you listening, NSA?), Foursquare has fallen out of favor among many members... -
Vine and #music show that Twitterers would rather talk than listen
You don’t need to be told how popular Vine is. You’ve probably seen the reports about Vine surpassing Instagram on Twitter. The rumor that Instagram will be adding some video-sharing features later this week. The profile of Riff Raff, a dreadlocked white rapper who has quickly become one of the service’s most popular users. We’ve reached... -
Microsoft cuts Surface RT price by $200 for students
In a push to get its new tablet into the hands of students, Microsoft is offering its Surface RT to schools for as little as $299, as long as they pick them up before September. The tablet normally runs for $499. [Source: The Next Web] -
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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Virtual gaming headset Oculus Rift raises $16 million from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners
Fresh off the heels of a buzzy turn at gaming conference E3, Oculus Rift has raised its first round of funding, according to several people familiar with the situation. The Southern California company, which makes virtual reality headsets for gaming, raised $16 million in its first round of outside capital co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners co-led the deal. The... -
Samsung reportedly working on anti-theft “kill switch”
Smartphones are now scrambling to come up with new and improved anti-theft solutions. One that is being reported is a possible “kill switch” for Samsung phones that would be released in July. [Source: BGR] -
Squrl releases updated iOS app
Squrl, a video discover startup, has just updated its app for iPhone and iPad. The company claims this new version makes it easier for users to discover and share content. [Source: TechCrunch] -
Using stock images does not impact Google’s search rankings
Wonder if the images you use in your website affect its rankings on Google search? According to Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, whether your images are stock or not does not affect its ranking outcome. [Source: Search Engine Land] -
Fred Wilson on Twitter’s “huge, enormous” mistake
It’s hard to let go of the narrative surrounding Instagram’s billion-dollar sale to Facebook, which is said to have been orchestrated personally by Mark Zuckerberg and, according to the New York Times, might have come directly after the company turned down a competing offer from Twitter. The story is simply begging to be written like a Valley-centric thriller:... -
Kyocera announces deal to provide farmers with solar energy
Kyocera announced today that it is supplying agricultural facilities with over 30 megawatts of solar power. The deal is reportedly worth 8.5 billion yen ($89 million). [Source: VentureBeat] -
BlackBerry to release 3-4 new models in 2013
Reports are coming out that BlackBerry will be releasing three to four new models by the ends of 2013. This comes as the ailing smartphone company makes a major push to reclaim some marketshare. [Source: -
Fred Wilson: Venture capital as we know it will cease to exist
Over a year ago, Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson said something that sounded a bit odd: He didn’t believe the venture capitalist business was sustainable in its current iteration. At the time, it seemed like a reaction to then recent events. The Kaufman Foundation had just issued a report detailing the poor returns that the venture... -
Intel may have a smart-watch in the works
Intel’s CTO has been talking about the big things the chip-maker has been working on behind closed doors. One new idea he detailed was a smart-watch where users could do perform tasks like texting. [Source: VentureBeat] -
NetFlix announces new DreamWorks deal
NetFlix has announced a new content deal with DreamWorks. This will include as much as 300 hours of brand new exclusive content onto the video streaming service. [Source: BGR] -
Yabbly raises additional $500k
Yabbly, a startup that offers consumers advice on a wide range of products, has announced an additional $500,000 in angel financing. That brings its total amount of funding as of now at $1.3M. [Source: GeekWire] -
Digg Reader to be released next week
Digg has announced that its upcoming newsreader is slated to be released on June 26. This is just days before Google shuts down its Reader service permanently. [Source: BetaBeat] -
Proformative launches new social procurement platforms for CFOs
Proformative, a company that makes solutions for enterprise social procurement, has just launched a new service called Proformative Exchange. This new platform supports “the consideration and selection of high-value, complex products and services for senior corporate finance executives.” [Source: PR Newswire] -
Relationship Science raises $30M
Relationship Science, a startup offering an online database of the most influential “decision makers,” has just raised an additional $30 million. The company announced a $60 million round last February. [Source: Venture Beat] -
World’s worst GIF to be beamed to outerspace
Lone Signal, a project that will allow everyone to send messages into outer space and invite the wrath of our alien overlords hope that alien life will understand what the hell it is that they’re sending, will be used to send the world’s most boring GIF towards a solar system 17.6 light years away. [Source: The Verge] -
Need closes seed round
Need, a Dallas-based startup billed as a cross between a retailer and a men’s lifestyle magazine, has announced its closing of an undisclosed, “over-subscribed” seed funding round. The company will formally launch later this year on the Web and, later, iOS devices. [Source: Venista Ventures] -
Microsoft updates Bing for Windows Phone to be more accurate, twice as fast
Microsoft has updated Bing for Windows Phone’s voice search to make it more accurate and up to twice as fast at returning results, the company has announced. In other news, Siri is still a bit drunk and wondering why the two of you never talk anymore. [Source: Microsoft] -
Sprint expands LTE coverage to another 22 markets
Sprint has expanded its LTE network to another 22 markets — Miami, New Orleans, and Tampa among them — the company has announced today. The company plans to offer LTE coverage some 200 million people by the end of the year. [Source: Sprint] -
“Email lets us leave”
“As much as we all gripe about email, it is designed to be turned off. Email comes with the vacation-message feature that alerts senders to the fact that we are not available. We can set up forwarding rules that apply to different subsets of contacts. People trying to reach us aren’t left in the dark to assume we have met... -
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... -
Ostrovok lets go of one-third of its staff to break even
Ostrovok, a Russian startup that raised a $25 million Series B in March, has announced its plans to layoff one-third of its staff in order to break even. The company said in a statement to TechCrunch that it had simply “taken on too many people and projects simultaneously” and decided to re-focus after closing the Series B. [Source: TechCrunch] -
Samsung develops yet another Galaxy S4 variant
Samsung has developed yet another variation of the Galaxy S4, AllThingsD reports. This model includes support for LTE-Advanced, the next generation wireless standard that promises to offer faster data service. [Source: AllThingsD] -
Automatic acquires iOS WordPress client Poster
WordPress.com owner Automatic has acquired Poster, a popular WordPress client for iOS devices. The company’s lone developer, Tom Witkin, will join the Automatic team, but the product will be shut down and incorporated into future WordPress mobile products. [Source: TechCrunch] -
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... -
Netflix signs deal to license Dreamworks children’s programming
Netflix has entered a licensing agreement with Dreamworks Animation centered around children’s programming. The deal comes a month after the company walked away from its relationship with Nickelodeon. The companies had previously partnered to produce “Turbo F.A.S.T,” an original children’s program. [Source: Dreamworks] -
Skype releases asynchronous video messaging on all platforms
Skype video messaging, an asynchronous recorded video delivery platform, has exited beta today with applications widely available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry. [Source: Skype] -
Privacy company Disconnect raises $3.5 million
Disconnect, an online privacy and security software maker, raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital; the company’s total funds raised is $4.1 million. The company also announced it has become a B corporation. [Source: Disconnect] -
SiteWit raises $1.5 million
SiteWit, a Tampa, Florida-based provider of search engine marketing for small businesses, has raised more than $1,500,000 in outside investment from Stage 1 Investors. [Source: SiteWit] -
GutCheck raises $4 million
GutCheck, a Denver-based marketing data and research company, has raised $4 million in Series B financing from new investors Grotech Ventures and Crawley Ventures, with participation from existing investors Highway 12 Ventures and Village Ventures. [Source: GutCheck] -
Fullscreen raises a big Series A to prove that YouTube’s a viable platform
People can’t seem to make up their minds about the health of the YouTube ecosystem. Earlier this month, Jason Calacanis said very publicly and decisively what I’ve heard countless others say privately over the last year, questioning the sustainability of the current model for content creators and networks in his blog post, “I ain’t gonna work on YouTube’s... -
Whatever Facebook launches on Thursday, you’re going to hate it
Facebook has a press event scheduled for Thursday. The invitation says, “A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee to learn about a new product.” Josh Constine over at TechCrunch thinks it might be a news reader. Whatever it is, there’s a good chance it will: a) suck; and b) fail. Why the cynicism?…
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Meet Work–Bench: New York’s first “post-accelerator” program for enterprise startups
With its light-drenched, 32,000-square-foot office space a block from Union Square, accelerator program Work–Bench has an impressive office space. What’s more impressive is the long-term commitment: thanks to corporate backer RR Donnelley, the program has a seven-year lease. Now the program just needs an impressive first class of companies. Applications are currently open for that first class, although six... -
Never mind, the NSA never admitted to listening in on calls after all
Yesterday CNET reported (and I added to the PandoTicker) that the NSA had admitted to being able to listen in on phone calls without a warrant. Several reports — one of which is linked below — have debunked the claim, and state that the discussion was about metadata, not phone calls. [Source: Little Green Footballs] -
Edward Snowden’s Catch-22: a Pando meta media mashup
Lots, lots, has been written about Edward Snowden, who leaked information that had been classified “top secret” detailing US surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency. It’s been all over the news, on TV, radio, in newspapers, online and raining down on the blogosphere. So we sifted through all that opinion so you don’t have to, to bring you... -
NSA reportedly admits to listening in on phone calls
The NSA is said to have disclosed during a confidential meeting with the US Congress that it is capable of listening to US phone calls without warrants, so long as an analyst has decided that the call might be worth listening to. [Source: CNET] -
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... -
A case for saying yes to YouTube Funding
I’ve been thinking about a recent post from Jason Calacanis, which he titled “I ain’t gonna work on YouTube’s farm no more.” In it, he made a case for turning down channel funding from YouTube. He was referring to a program, put in place last year by YouTube, which has given over $200 million to “creators” in order to bring... -
What the data reveals about how to make SaaS secret sauce
Life would be much easier if a great product was the only requirement for a great business. Of course, talk to any vineyard owner or long-time New York Times shareholder and they can attest that this is not the case. Software as a service companies are no different. As challenging as it is to build great software someone is willing... -
The Supreme Court invalidated human gene patents. What does that mean for GMOs?
In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that naturally-occurring human DNA cannot be patented, invalidating patents awarded to Myriad Genetics for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These genes are used to help doctors assess breast cancer risk and were thrust into the public eye last month when Angelina Jolie underwent a double masectomy after testing positive... -
LuluLemon posts “CEO Wanted” banner on its site
LuluLemon just lost a CEO but is trying to stay casual about it. Today the company posted a giant “CEO Wanted” banner to its site. [Source: Ad Age] -
Report: CIA gave Amazon an advantage on cloud deal
According to a Government Accountability Office ruling, the CIA weakened its security requirements after awarding Amazon a $150 million contract for a massive intelligence computer cloud. IBM was also bidding for the contract and is now challenging the fairness of the decision because it did not know the security requirements would later be weakened. [Source: NextGov] -
USPTO: Apple rubber banding patent is valid
In a reversal of an April ruling, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has validated Apple’s “rubber-banding” patent. This is the effect that occurs on iOS when you scroll to the bottom of an element. [Source: AllThingsD] -
What Dell tells us about the entrepreneur’s endless fight
What is it about the barrier between public markets and private companies? Traversing it in either direction seems fraught with peril. Facebook, Zynga, Groupon, and others saw their fortunes take a turn for the worse once they became public. And Dell is now undergoing a battle to take the company private again. Entrepreneurs are used to fighting for the... -
Tickets for PandoMonthly with GitHub’s Tom Preston-Werner on sale now!
Certainly the Valley is built on household names. Apple. Netscape. Google. Facebook. Massive brands everyone knows that even become verbs after a point. But there are also plenty of great companies built here that certain communities rabidly know, love, and live in everyday that the rest of the broader world may no nothing of. GitHub is one of these. Last... -
TechLA: A startup internship program aimed at the exodus of LA’s engineering graduates
One of the greatest shortcomings of the Los Angeles tech ecosystem in recent years has been the inability to retain the engineering talent that graduates from its local universities. Believe it or not, it’s LA, not Boston or the Bay Area, that graduates the most engineers in the US each year – 2,900 in total. But, as much as 70 percent... -
Forget Home: The iPhone becomes more social without Facebook
Facebook has spent much of the last few months trying to convince you that the iPhone isn’t a truly “social” device, largely because its homescreen is dominated by applications instead of your friends’ status updates, photos, and disembodied heads… er, profile pictures. The iPhone is “an incredibly powerful and incredibly social device,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said at... -
On negotiating your first few partnerships
Dealing with partnership contracts as a new startup is hard. There’s very little in the way of “standard” terms and conditions when it comes to software (at least that I can find). Everything is specific to the kind of software you have and the kind of company you’re partnering with. When there’s no standard to work with, the first few... -
Return of the joystick: Apple’s decision to build controller support into iOS 7 could benefit indie game makers and consumers
Many of the most popular games on iOS, from “Angry Birds” to “Dots” and “Candy Crush,” are little nothings meant to occupy a few moments while you’re standing in line at the grocery store, waiting at the bus stop, or sitting atop your porcelain throne. Console games, on the other hand, are complex and take advantage of a variety of... -
Q10 may provide big boost for BlackBerry
According to BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, the company’s upcoming Q10 smartphone is going be seeing a lot sales. To add to that, Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um has said that Q10 sales may help BlackBerry beat sales expectations for its first fiscal year. [Source: AllThingsD] -
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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Facebook to launch something else on June 20
Fresh off the release of its new hashtag feature, Facebook today released a mysterious press-only invitation. According to the invite, people at the company have been working on “a big idea.” Hmm. [Source: ABCNews] -
Warren Buffett’s former pilot launches Visionary Airlines in Silicon Valley
When my mom was hospitalized in New Castle, Pennyslvania, diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clots in her lungs), I felt helpless. I didn’t know how to get her back to the San Francisco Bay Area without jeopardizing her health. The doctor told me it would be fatal to drive, take a train, or fly commercial. That’s when Michael Flint... -
AppFog now part of the Savis Cloud
CenturyLink has acquired AppFog to be part of its Savis Cloud lineup. So now AppFog’s platform-as-a-service will be available via CenturyLink’s savvisdirect online catalog. [Source: GigaOm] -
Icahn may drop Dell bid
Reports are now surfacing that Carl Icahn may drop his bid to buyout Dell. One reason being that he may be having trouble pulling together the $5.2 billion necessary to improve on Michael Dell’s buyout plan. [Source: AllThingsD] -
The cloud has removed all ownership
“Nowadays in the digital world you can hardly own anything anymore. It’s all these subscriptions… and you’ve already agreed that every right in the world belongs to them and you’ve got no rights. And if you’ve put it on the cloud, you don’t own it. You’ve signed away all the rights to it.” -
Google sees Fiber as making TV into a new web app
As news of Google’s Fiber technology being rolled out in more cities, it becomes more apparent what Google’s longterm plan with it is. According to an Evercore Partners analyst, one facet is to make television into a web-based experience the company provides. [Source: BGR] -
(Networking) knowledge is power: Bizzabo launches new iPhone app
You’re at a large conference, hoping to make some real business connections. You enter the cocktail party, a room filled with drab business attire, name tags, and endless chitchat about god knows what. How do you know who is worth talking to? If you’re me, you wait by a wall, drink in hand, hope someone walks up and starts the... -
Microsoft announces updates to its Azure Mobile Services
Microsoft today added some new additions to Azure Mobile Services. These include custom APIs, Git source control, and Android push notifications to its mobile backend service. [Source: TechCrunch] -
Tablets have not yet overshadowed the pen and pencil industry
German-based pencil maker Faber-Castell has responded to claims that tablet and pc technologies are crowding out analog instruments like pens and paper. According to the company, it is still doing just fine and is operating at top speed. [Source: Reuters] -
London-based Passion Capital hires ex-Facebooker
Former Facebook employee Melissa Trahan has been hired by early stage VC Passion Capital. Her new role will be ‘Head of Talent.’ [Source: TechCrunch] -
OED adds some fun, new words: ‘e-reader,’ ‘crowdsourcing,’ and ‘big data’
The Oxford English Dictionary has added some new tech-oriented words to its world-renowned dictionary. New additions include: ‘e-reader,’ ‘big data,’ ‘tweet,’ and ‘mouseover.’ [Source: GeekWire] -
Silicon Valley builds amazing spy tools, is horrified when they’re used for spying
Silicon Valley is shocked, shocked, shocked. It is shocked to discover that the National Security Agency has been systematically spying on the phone metadata of millions of Americans. It is shocked that the same NSA has also been demanding that tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Paltalk provide a secure drop box for handing over subpoenaed data. And most of…
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Monetizing content beyond eyeballs and clicks: Urtak rolls out ad products to cash in on online polling
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Why A16Z bet $11M to replace enterprise caller ID
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Journalist Michael Hastings has died at 33
Rolling Stone and Buzzfeed reporter Michael Hastings died early this morning in a car accident at the age of 33. Hastings’ uncompromising 2010 profile of General Stanley McChrystal led to the general being recalled to Washington by President Obama and resigning shortly thereafter. [Source: Buzzfeed / Rolling Stone]
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Dell strikes down Icahn's new proposal
The same day Carl Icahn proposed that Dell offer to buy back as many as 1.1 billion shares at $14 a share, Dell’s special committee struck down the proposal, saying it’s “not, in its present state, a transaction that the special committee could endorse or execute.” [Source: AllThingsD]
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The controversial Anu Shukla returns with RewardsPay
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US/Russia reopen hotline to help prevent cyberwar
According to a White House statement, the US and Russia have reopened a Cold War era hotline to help prevent cyberwar. The countries will use the hotline to share information about hacking attacks. [Source: Verge]
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DailyLook’s secret is selling looks not items
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Fred Wilson on why corporate VCs suck
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PandoHouse Rock: The evolution of synth
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Content marketing gets its magazine moment
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DuckDuckGo bypasees 3M searches in one day
Alternative search engines seem to be on the rise. Today, search engine DuckDuckGo tweeted that it received more than three million direct searches in a single day. [Source: Search Engine Land]
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Cloudera brings in new CEO
Cloudera has announced that its current CEO Mike Olson will become chief strategy officer and chairman of the board. In his place will be former Arcsight CEO Tom Reilly. [Source: GigaOm]
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Toshiba to cut costs by $104M
Toshiba has announced that it plans to cut about 10 billion yen ($104 million) in TV business costs by the end of this fiscal year. This comes after the company lost almost 50 billion yen in the last business year. [Source: Reuters]
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Online, unplanned, and unorganized
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FiftyThree raises $15M
FiftyThree, the company behind the iPad app Paper, has just closed a $15 million round of funding. This round was led by Chris Dixon at Andreessen Horowitz. [Source: VentureBeat]
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Blekko releases new version of Izik
Blekko has released a new iOS and Android version of its Izik search app. The Izik app makes use of Blekko’s “Dynamic Inference Graph.” [Source: TheNextWeb]
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“I feel we’re moving into a world that was described pretty accurately by one of the founders of Google… Some reporter asked Eric Schmidt if this was an invasion of privacy … and he said ‘If you’re doing anything that you don’t want to be on the internet, you shouldn’t be doing it.’”
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Dish blasts Sprint’s attempt to block Dish’s Clearwire bid
Dish today issued a response to Sprint’s lawsuit against Dish claiming its bid to buyout Clearwire is illegal. According to Dish, the lawsuit is a “transparent attempt to divert attention from its failure to deal fairly with Clearwire’s shareholders.” [Source: GigaOm]
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Amazon won’t release its shows all at once
It looks like Amazon will not be taking a cue from Netflix in terms of episode release. According to the Verge, when it released its new program “Alpha House,” it will not release every episode all at once. [Source: The Verge]
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BBC announces new startups for BBC Labs accelerator
Last night the BBC announced six London-based digital media startups that will join its BBC Labs accelerator program. This is the BBC Labs’ second class. [Source: GigaOm]
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GE announces internet focus, new platform of products
GE, in a presentation today, announced it will be building new Hadoop-based appliances and software. This is to go towards GE’s new goal of connecting devices to the “industrial internet.” [Source: GigaOm]
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Is Waze overvalued or is Foursquare undervalued?
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Google introduces carousel desktop Local Search feature
A few months back Google added a new visualization for its Local Searches on tablets: a top results carousel bar. Today, Google introduced this feature to the desktop Local Search as well. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Icahn claims bank will help fund his Dell bid
Today Carl Icahn published a letter to Dell shareholders stating that a bank has agreed to help fund his buyout offer of the computer company. According to the letter, a major investment bank is willing to make $1.6 billion available. [Source: Reuters]
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New York now offering solar-powered charging stations
Today marks the release of 25 solar-powered charging stations at various outdoor spaces in New York City. The initiative is a joint venture between the city and AT&T. [Source: BetaBeat]
