Mobile advertising is currently a billion dollar market and we’ve witnessed tech giants like Google and Apple move into the space with the acquisitions of mobile ad networks AdMob and Quattro Wireless, respectively. AdMob is now part of Google’s mobile advertising business and Apple is using Quattro to power its new ad format, iAds. But there is another player that has silently been growing its business under the radar to become a dominant network in mobile advertising: Millennial Media. Currently, Millenial has the largest U.S. reach out of all the networks in terms of audience size according to Nielsen; with ads reaching 63 million of a total of 77 million mobile web users in the U.S., or 81% of the U.S. mobile web.
Despite being one of the “big three” in the still-small mobile ad space, Millennial is relatively unknown, while its competitors have seen prominent coverage in the media. Besides its monthly reports on mobile ad traffic, Millennial has avoided some of the drama that has been taking place in the industry. I caught up with the company’s CEO and co-founder Paul Palmieri to talk about how Millennial catapulted from a bootstrapped Baltimore-based startup to the largest independent mobile advertising company. → Read More
GoodData is rapidly becoming a key example of the technology innovation emerging from Central Europe – and laying a bet on Europe seems to be paying off for Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, the venture and growth equity investor, which backs European entrepreneurs exclusively.
It’s invested $2 million in the startup, the second investment for the £100 million fund, leading an overall $6.5 million investment round. GoodData provides an on-demand business intelligence services. Other returning investors include General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and Windcrest Partners. → Read More
Vodafone has launched Mobile Clicks 2010, a competition to identify and reward innovative mobile Internet startups. Now in its third year, the competition will be open to any fledgling mobile Web startup – provided your market is The Netherlands, Portugal or the UK.
Vodafone has set aside a prize fund of €150,000 (2/3 of which will go to the overall winner, the remaining €50,000 to the runner-up), based on these five criteria: originality, creativity and innovation; technical and operational feasibility; economic and financial viability; value to end-users; and the quality of the management team.
Startups can apply here until midnight, August 22nd, 2010. → Read More
Is there any happier place on the internet than Make? Don’t answer that. Just watch this video.
What you’re looking at is a self-proclaimed “svelt and neatly pocketable” option for playing old-skool ROMs on-the-go (ah, I remember the days when these romz were nü skool, and were known as cartz, not romz. That’s right, I put 3 ‘z’s and an umlaut in that sentence) made from a bicycle handle holder for a Nexus One, a Nexus One, a Wiimote, and an elastic band. In my books, that’s makes baza210 a definite candidate for a gold star. → Read More
Details are pretty light on this one, but it looks like this may be the successor to the cheap-n-cheerful myTouch slide.
Android Central — who sourced the images — also say that there is a fair chance that this will be T-mobile’s first HSPA+ phone, bringing with it noticeably faster download speeds (in compatible areas). → Read More
In 1998 Lego introduced the MINDSTORMS product line. The NXT is a brick-shaped computer that can take in sensory input, control motors and most importantly in this case, play back sounds. The NXT-606 drum machine is based on this unit and I must say it sounds pretty good. You can even get a set yourself and build your own. And why shouldn’t you do that? Click for the video → Read More
Panasonic caused a splash in the blogosphere yesterday when it announced the world’s first consumer 3D camera, the HDC-SDT750, for the American market (release in October). The device was announced [JP] today in Japan as well, but Panasonic made some changes. And it showed another model, too, the HDC-TM650 (pictured), which hasn’t been announced for other markets thus far. → Read More
Just in case all you Droid Incredible owners were jealous of the Galaxy S Froyo leak I wrote about earlier, I thought I’d better let you know that you can has Froyo, too.
Those wonderful guys n gals over at XDA Forums have managed to source a ROM based on the upcoming OTA release for the Droid Incredible, and it’s a wee ripper, with a whole heap of new additions, outlined after the break. → Read More
Mobile Roadie, a startup that helps anyone develop and create iPhone and Android apps, has launched a more customizable version of their app builder today, called Mobile Roadie Pro.
The idea Mobile Roadie Pro is to offers clients more creative control over the development of their app, offering customization of menu layout, colors, buttons, and fonts. Pro also supports multiple categories of content, a global search for users, and newly designed landscape views. And the functionality that is included in Mobile Roadie’s basic app creator is also available. For example, the apps can feature integration with YouTube, Brightcove, Flickr, Twitpic, Ustream, Topspin, Google News, RSS, Twitter, and Facebook. → Read More
The future, as William Gibson once said, is already here. It is just unevenly distributed. You can find the future in new technologies and the people who wade into them early on—people like Nick Bilton, the chief blogger for the New York Times. (His official title is lead technology writer because the New York Times doesn’t like to admit it employs bloggers, I guess). Bilton, who previously worked in the R&D department of the New York Times, has a book coming out titled, appropriately enough, I Live In The Future & Here Is How It Works.
Apparently, that future does not include Apple’s iBooks, the digital books Apple sells on the iPad. The book will be available in September in print, digital editions for the Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s eBooks, but not for the iBook. Bilton’s publisher, as a division of Random House, does not make its titles available in Apple’s iBook store. But no matter. There will be an accompanying iPad app, iPhone app, and mobile website. I caught up with Bilton a couple weeks ago, and he showed me a preview of the mobile website, which he explains in the video after the jump. → Read More
Fresh off the heels of launching a slew of new products yesterday, Apple this morning debuted Safari 5.0.1, switching the flip on Safari Extensions and formally introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery, a directory of available extensions across categories.
The company had introduced extensions support in Safari 5 last June, giving developers the opportunity to start creating browser add-ons using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript standards. → Read More
Not so tiny after all: Tinychat, a simple text, video and audio communication platform, is growing by leaps and bounds.
First launched in February 2009 as a simple way to create Web-based chat rooms, Tinychat today is a full-blown chat system with lots of bells and whistles.
And the service is gaining traction, fast. → Read More
Online payments company eWise has raised $12.1 million in funding led by Balderton Capital with Total Technology Ventures, and Allen & Co. participating in the round.
eWise develops an technology, called Secure Vault Payment, to allow users to automatically deduct a payment from their bank account without disclosing their personal information to online businesses. Payments are processed via a login and password to the bank’s site. eWise expects that this payments technology could reach 400 million uses within 5 years. Clients include Citibank and First Direct (part of HSBC) in the UK, Ping An in China and Westpac in Australia. → Read More
Samsung’s Galaxy S isn’t due for an upgrade to Froyo until September, but the pre-release builds have already begun to leak onto the ‘net. Now, this isn’t the final build, so don’t expect this to be bug-free, but if you like to live dangerously, then you can get it here. Usual disclaimer applies: it aint my fault if you brick your device. Not much else to say, really. Wait! There is! Don’t, whatever you do, try and install this on a non-standard (eg any of the US variants) Galaxy S phone. The universe may explode. No joke reality. [via Samsung Hub] → Read More
European VC funding has bounced back. That’s according to Q2 figures produced by Dow Jones VentureSource which reports that investment is up by 50 percent compared to the record low of this time last year. €1.1 billion into 289 deals against 252 deals, which raised just €735 million.
But specifically, says Dow Jones, the Information Technology (IT) industry, which apparently accounted for much of the venture market’s losses during the economic downturn, was the “star performer” in the most recent quarter. IT saw a 69% increase in investment from the second quarter last year to €334 million, as well as a 13% increase in deal flow to 90 completed deals. For the first time in two years, the report notes, IT was Europe’s largest industry for venture investment, taking 31% of overall investment.
Here’s a few more interesting tidbits quoted from the report: → Read More
Search engine marketing startup KENSHOO has secured an undisclosed late-stage round of funding from Sequoia’s Growth Fund, the Israeli company announced this morning.
This marks the fourth time Sequoia Capital has injected capital into the company, which claims it is now profitable and has doubled in valuation since 2009. → Read More
Replica Nikon Lens Mug Now Available Playstation logo licenced for clothing, “lifestyle” products ChouChou: Amazing robot butterfly in a jar (videos) Voilà! Apple’s Magic Trackpad Appears. Multi-Touch On Any Mac For $69 Apparently, You Can Still Solder Together Your Own Computer If You Really Want To → Read More
PayPal, the eBay-owned electronic payments company, continues to run into operational issues in India. Earlier this year, the company had to suspend personal payment transactions from and to India, albeit temporarily, when the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) concluded that PayPal was not in compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements.
This morning, an email was sent to Indian users, notifying them that they would (very) soon be removing the ability to withdraw funds from accounts electronically. → Read More
Along with the other announcement Panasonic made today, they also told us about a new lens for their LUMIX G camera. You’ll remember that the LUMIX G is their micro 4/3 line, of which we reviewed the G10 back in May. The new lens is first to give the ability to take a 3D image using a camera with only one CCD, by using a stereo optical system in the barrel of the lens. Details are sparse, but keep in mind that splitting the image and using smaller lenses will really limit the amount of light coming in. We expect the lens to be available before the end of the year, but that’s about all we know. Also keep in mind that you’ll have to have a 3D display to view the images. You can read the full press release after the jump, if you are interested. → Read More
Adobe is strengthening its product portfolio with its intention to acquire Swiss firm Day Software, which makes Web content management systems aimed at marketers. Adobe announced an all-cash tender offer for Day’s shares. The purchase price is approximately $240 million.
Many of Adobe’s products, such as Illustrator and Photoshop, are used already to create marketing materials for companies. Moving into Web content management is a natural step since as many of these marketing materials are consumed and distributed online. Day allows marketers to manage digital assets for online marketing campaigns and set up marketing blogs and other social media outreach. → Read More
