Many of the coolest VC initiatives of 2012 involve college students in some form. Michael Gaiss of Highland Capital Partners has listed the seven most interesting ones of the last year. Several are from First Round Capital, which launched its Dorm Room fund for college students, as well as its common application and Cyber Monday deals site. [Source: Michael Gaiss]
Earlier today, Crain’s cited a PrivCo report stating that Union Square Ventures got a 5000% return on its Tumblr investment. It also said that employees #31 through #178 received $371,000 apiece. But in a comment on a Hacker News post, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson calls the numbers “total garbage.” [Source: Hacker News via ShortFormBlog]
Earlier today, there were reports that Ferrero, the makers of the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella, sent a cease-and-desist order to one of its biggest fans because she had the audacity to throw a World Nutella Day event. The company, realizing it’s usually not a good idea to sue your biggest fans, has now worked out an arrangement where World Nutella Day can exist without threat of litigation. [Source: Techdirt]
A YouTube user named Nick Keck uploaded a video of himself locating supposedly “deleted” Snapchat photos sent to him. Did he need sophisticated software or hacking skills? Nope, just an app called iFile and a smartphone. [Source: Nick Keck via Motherboard]
Developer and Scrollkit founder Cody Brown created a “replica” of Snow Fall along with a video to show other news organizations how making something like it perhaps isn’t as difficult as it looks. The New York Times wasn’t pleased, sending a cease-and-desist letter followed by (and this is the ridiculous part) a second letter asking that Brown remove the following phrase from his website: “The NYT spent hundreads of hours hand-coding ‘Snow Fall.; We made a replica in an hour.” [Source: Cody Brown]
Shashi Seth, a former top product executive at Yahoo, has joined the Tribune Company as president of digital ventures. He will be based in Silicon Valley and report to CEO Peter Liguori. [Source: AllThingsD]
New York City officials originally asked Nigel Warren to pay $7,000 for violating a law that makes it illegal for New York residents to rent out their properties for less than 29 days. A judge dismissed building and zoning code violations, and so lowered the fine to $2,400. [Source: CNET]
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based social network specializes in photo sharing for wedding pictures. Participants in the funding round include former Redhat CEO Bob Young and Reverbnation co-founder Jed Carlson. [Source: The Next Web]
Weeks after a massively successful auction for a cup of coffee with Tim Cook, Charity Buzz is now aiming right at the heart of Silicon Valley. Up for auction is the chance for people to pitch their favorite VC, with a VC all-stars lineup including like Tim Draper. [Source: VentureBeat]
Venture-backed Amprius revealed today that it has developed a battery for smartphones and tablets that can hold a charge for 25% longer than any other battery out there. The company will be providing the new batteries to unnamed smartphone and tablet OEMs. [Source: GigaOm]
The Internet Archive is working on a project to collect and index all broadcasts since the beginning of television. To help with this, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation have donated $1 million. [Source: paidContent]
Today marks the reveal of Microsoft’s latest gaming console, the XBox One. At the unveiling, Microsoft disclosed that due to a different chip architecture the One won’t have native compatibility with XBox 360 games. [Source: CNET]
PayPal and Jamba Juice are expanding their partnership with a new mobile feature. Now customers can place orders on their phones and pay with PayPal ahead of pickup. [Source: AllThingsD]
France Telecom has disclosed its plans to invest up to 50 million euros in its video-sharing website Dailymotion. While rumors of Yahoo buying a stake in the company persist, France Tel claims “the door is not closed.” [Source: Reuters]
Best Buy has reported its quarterly earnings, showing another revenue loss. Online sales, however, have improved. [Source: AllThingsD]
After news that Intel is spearheading a new devices unit, word has come that the unit will be led by Mike Bell. Bell, who’s been working at Intel’s mobile chip business, has also worked at both Apple and Palm. [Source: AllThingsD]
“The U.S. court system is currently structured in such a way that it’s currently difficult to get the protections a technology company needs, because the cycle is very long.”
— Apple CEO Tim Cook, on the United States' intellectual property protection environment
Sprint has raised its bid for Clearwire 14% at the very last minute, in the hopes of getting the shareholders’ approval. After news of the upped bid, Clearwater decided to postpone the stockholder meeting until May 30. [Source: GigaOm]
Online petitioning platform Change.org has scored $15 million in new funding. This latest round was led by Omidyar Network. [Source: VentureBeat]
Despite its stocks taking a huge hit over the last few months, Apple’s brand value continues to dominate. According to an analysis by MarketingWeek, Apple is still the world’s number one brand, and its brand value has increased year-over-year. [Source: BGR]
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