BitInstant and MasterCard are either playing the world’s greatest game of he-said she-said in history, or the two companies are genuinely not on the same page. Bitinstant has now said that it will be releasing a BitCoin debit card, with MasterCard, in eight weeks. Let’s see if this one holds up and MasterCard corroborates BitInstant’s story.
[Source: BitInstant]
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]
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]
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]
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, 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]
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]
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]
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: - CGW
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 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, 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 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, 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, 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]
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, 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 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 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]
“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 our demise, entered witness protection, or placed them on a no-reply list of enemies. Email lets us leave.”
— Baratunde Thurston after an email-slash-Internet sabbatical
What Fred Wilson, the Godfather of New York tech, learned from the dotcom bubble
Fred Wilson still has confidence in Mark Pincus
For Fred Wilson, Twitter is the Beatles and Tumblr a solo act
The first six startups out of Matter that hope to change media
What, me worry? The NSA is working on powerful quantum computing technology
Embrace the incumbents: Zonoff wants to help large companies break into the Internet of Things
The three risks
What if things don’t work out for you?
Sequoia bets $12.5 million that Thumbtack will finally solve discovery for local services
Twitter’s new vanity video tool takes us back to MySpace ’05
Daily deals are dead, but flash sales live on: Yabblr launches DIY flash sale marketplace
Sources: DirecTV will acquire Hulu by month’s end, and why the deal makes sense
Investing marketplace Covestor raises $12.75 million Series B
The Supreme Court invalidated human gene patents. What does that mean for GMOs?
What Dell tells us about the entrepreneur’s endless fight
Tickets for PandoMonthly with GitHub’s Tom Preston-Werner on sale now!
TechLA: A startup internship program aimed at the exodus of LA’s engineering graduates
Forget Home: The iPhone becomes more social without Facebook
On negotiating your first few partnerships
Return of the joystick: Apple’s decision to build controller support into iOS 7 could benefit indie game makers and consumers
The opportunity for Slow Media
Warren Buffett’s former pilot launches Visionary Airlines in Silicon Valley
(Networking) knowledge is power: Bizzabo launches new iPhone app
Silicon Valley builds amazing spy tools, is horrified when they’re used for spying
That didn’t take long: recruiters already circling ex-Zynga employees
ZEFR’s BrandID should make YouTube a smarter bet for brands than TV
Neighborhood social network Nextdoor launches NYC partnership
Is the time finally right for electric bikes?
Everyone is wrong: The surprising advantage to being a working mom
A case for saying yes to YouTube Funding
What the data reveals about how to make SaaS secret sauce
Fred Wilson: For Foursquare, it’s not about the check-in. It’s about “maps with people in them”
Vine and #music show that Twitterers would rather talk than listen
Chris Hughes’ eventful first year at the New Republic
Virtual gaming headset Oculus Rift raises $16 million from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners
Fred Wilson on Twitter’s “huge, enormous” mistake
Fred Wilson: Venture capital as we know it will cease to exist
How Tennessee’s Southland Summit could topple SXSW
PandoMonthly New York with Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, the full interview
Fullscreen raises a big Series A to prove that YouTube’s a viable platform
Whatever Facebook launches on Thursday, you’re going to hate it
Meet Work–Bench: New York’s first “post-accelerator” program for enterprise startups
