"It is a core Betaworks conviction that open systems will prove more compelling, more resilient and more valuable to users than closed. Or to say it perhaps a bit more precisely: In a multiplatform world where open and closed systems will always co-exist, the force and power of openness will ensure the existence of a viable ecosystem for application and service builders like betaworks."
Swivl, an iPhone accessory designed for teleconferencing amongst friends, family, and in the classroom, has raised $500,000 from Grishin Robotics, the company has announced. The funding will be put towards the development of Swivl’s second-generation product; the company is said to have shipped over 100,000 of the original device.
[Source: Swivl]
Boost (a prepaid carrier owned and operated by Sprint) recently announced its Mobile Wallet, a tool that allows customers to build a “virtual bank” of sorts, and GigaOM reports that the wallet may soon be coming to Virgin Mobile (another prepaid carrier) and Sprint’s own network in the future.
[Source: GigaOM]
Google has updated its Chrome browser for Android, bringing fullscreen browsing, better search, and (on tablets) the ability to view tab history with a long press of the “back” button to the mobile operating system.
[Source: Google Play]
Foursquare has updated its iOS and Android apps with what it is calling “super-specific searches” meant to allow users to search for places based on their cost, proximity, whether or not they or their friends have checked in there before, and more.
[Source: Foursquare]
Pearson-owned Penguin has agreed to a $75 million settlement with the US Department of Justice over its — and other companies, including Apple — involvement with an alleged attempt at ebook price-fixing, Reuters reports.
[Source: Reuters]
Music labels continue to block Apple’s iRadio steaming product in the hope of getting a better deal, the Verge reports. The labels are said to be fighting the shift towards streaming music products and the impact that’s having on their CD sales and music downloads.
[Source: The Verge]
Mac and iOS development studio the Omni Group has launched its OmniPresence syncing service meant to keep files and documents in sync across devices. The tool is based on open Web technologies and is available in the OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher, and OmniOutliner products.
[Source: MacStories]
Facebook Gifts, the e-commerce effort meant to reduce Facebook’s reliance on advertising, has introduced a new scheduling feature that will allow users to decide when gift recipients should be notified of their present, Inside Facebook reports.
[Source: Inside Facebook]
Samsung has purchased a 10 percent stake in Pantech, the third largest Korean handset maker, for $48 million (53 billion won). To offset any regulatory concerns, Samsung will a passive investor. [Source: TNW]
Google has added monthly Top Charts to its trends product to offer a visual representation of the things people are most interested in. Topics include actors, animals, Books, Cars, and TV shows among many others, with each including the ten most popular items within the category. [Source: Google]
OpenStack cloud company Cloudscaling has raised a $10 million Series B round from new investors Juniper Networks’ Junos Innovation Fund and Seagate, as well as early investor Trinity Ventures. The company’s customers, including Korea Telecom, turn to Cloudscaling to obtain an an on-premise private or public cloud comparable to Amazon Web Services. [Source: GigaOM]
Banking app Numbrs has raised 7.5 million Swiss francs ($7.7 million) from its parent company Centralway. The app is planning to launch in Germany, the UK and Switzerland. [Source: TechCrunch]
Blue Coat Systems, a company which sells network gear for security and WAN optimization, has acquired Solera Networks. Solera had raised $50 million in from Allegis Capital, Intel Capital, Signal Peak Ventures and Trident Capital. [Source: GigaOm]
Wanderful Media, which bills itself as an online local discovery shopping company, raised $9 million in additional funding to a round totaling $36 million from its existing investors. This addition brings the company’s total funding to $36 million. The company’s existing investors include Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., Cox Media Group, The E. W. Scripps Company, Gannett Co. Inc., GateHouse Media Inc., Hearst Corporation, Lee Enterprises, MediaNews Group, The McClatchy Company, and The Washington Post Co. [Source: Wanderful Media]
London-based Urturn, an “app for self expression,” has launched today with a $13.4 million investment from Balderton Capital. Urturn was originally called Webdoc. [Source: Guardian]
Zalora, a flash sales site in SouthEast Asia backed by Rocket Internet, has raised $100 million in new funding from Summit Partners, Investment AB Kinnevik, Verlinvest and the Tengelmann Group. The company recently raised $26 million from Tengelmann, a German retail company. [Source: VentureBurn]
During Tim Cook’s senate testimony yesterday, the CEO talked about Apple’s proposed Mac-in-USA computer line. According to Cook the products will be assembled in Texas and the company has already invested $100 million in the product line. [Source: AllThingsD]
After Sprint decided to revise its bid to acquire a 50% stake in Clearwire yesterday at the eleventh hour, Clearwire decided to recess until May 30 to mull it over. Now it’s being reported that Clearwire’s board of directors has approved it, and recommends that the stockholders follow suit. [Source: GlobalNewswire]
Seattle-based startup Nine by Blue, founded by well-known entrepreneur Vanessa Fox, has sold to Virginia-based search marketing firm RKG. All six Nine by Blue employees will join RKG, and Fox will serve as chief product office. [Source: GeekWire]
Content delivery startup EdgeCast launched a new program today called EdgeCast Transact. Transact claims to be a CDN with features tailored for e-commerce companies. [Source: TechCrunch]
In what one former employee is calling an “utter freefall”, HTC executives continue to publicly quit the company. After many examples of internal and external problems, including the failure of the HTC First handset, many see a pessimistic outlook for the company. [Source: CNET]
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