"If its a good biz, it will find funding. That said, you should do everything you can not to take anyone's money. Funding is not a positive, it makes you an indentured servant to someone like me."
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
Twitter has updated its Twitter for Mac today. One big improvement listed is Notification Center integration. [Source: 9to5Mac]
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]
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]
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]
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]
At the Future in Review conference today Collaborate.com launched its program today. The company aims to make an online mapping platform that goes above and beyond Google Earth. [Source: CNET]
LexisNexis has announced that it will be closing its Bellevue offices by the end of the year. According to GeekWire 80 jobs will be affected by this development. [Source: GeekWire]
Photo sharing app Piictu announced today that it is joining forces with betaworks company Kandu. While the Piictu app will be shutting down on May 31, the company claims the two will work to make new products in the future. [Source: TechCrunch]
A recent FCC filing has confirmed that the much-rumored Google X Phone will be coming to Sprint. The device will supposedly be available later this year. [Source: BGR]
Tipbit is a startup working to make “everyday business tasks faster and easier.” The company is backed by Ignition Partners and Andreessen Horowitz and according to an SEC filing has already raised $1.95 million in debt financing. [Source: GeekWire]
Twitter today unrolled a new feature for select advertisers called Lead Generation Card. This feature allows users to sign up for advertisers’ programs using expanded tweets. [Source: CNET]
Cardeas Pharma, a Seattle-based biotech startup led by Bruce Montgomery, has raised $34 million. Funding was led by H.I.G. BioVentures. [Source: GeekWire]
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]
Bitcoin is legal, but mainstream adoption will mandate playing by the rules
For the Internet of things, will it be verticals or horizontals?
A bitcoin bubble could be good for everyone
New Zealand-based Vend raises $8M without turning to the Valley
Hotseat: Gravity’s Amit Kapur defends the integrity of the MySpace mafia
PandoHouse Rock: A history of 3D printing, from prototypes to pistols
With the bleeding stopped, ShoeDazzle is in the market for a strategic acquisition or investment
Bitcoin’s consumerization continues with Perk, a rewards platform and Web browser for normal people
How to become a VC without leaving home
Gliph joins Boost.vc, launches bitcoin messaging and payments app
Zinio’s new subscription product only solves half a problem
Facebook ponders its place in the Internet of Things
The Apathy Epidemic: Why your startup will suck you dry
You are your data: The scary future of the quantified self movement
The new Flickr: Biggr, Spectaculr, Wherevr
Yahoo didn’t buy Tumblr. They bought Tumblr’s market position
Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants into Braintree’s arms
Pass the pipe: Gawker’s “Crackstarter” is skeezy but potentially significant
Sorry, NYC, Tumblr selling to Yahoo was not the “win” we needed
On the outskirts of the Maker Faire
Why Yahoo’s track record with acquisitions isn’t relevant to Tumblr
Writers should be paid
Don’t confuse Google’s ubiquity for openness
NextGuide Web launches. Can it possibly be a discovery powerhouse?
Minbox: The way file-sharing should work
Former MySpace and NASA security exec raises $700k, launches Prevoty to defend websites against malicious user code
Yahoo buys Tumblr and Mayer “promises not to screw it up” like past deals
Forget armchair activism, new app Buycott helps people shop with a conscience
PopExpert raises $2 million for its video teaching marketplace
The race to a “smart” television is over. Xbox won
In biggest pan-industry push since SOPA, tech leaders get set for March for Innovation
The importance of grit, rules, and discipline
In Oklahoma’s time of crisis, Sparkrelief is working to unify relief efforts
Memo to this year’s YC class: It’s damn hard to build an enterprise company
What are the effects of RelayRides’ New York cease and desist?
Finally, a Lumia-like device unbound by Windows Phone
How a Valley veteran found happiness and opportunity building tech in Mexico
Yes, the Valley can be vacuous – but it’s more complicated than the New Yorker would have us believe
The case against Shinichi Mochizuki as bitcoin’s “dance away genius”
Swipely raises another $12m from tiny Rhode Island
Is influencer marketing over? Here’s another pivot, this time from Wahooly
ServiceMax’s SaaS platform could make training technicians and replacing software a thing of the past
