Pixazza, a Google Ventures-backed photo tagging service that has been compared to an “AdSense for Images,” has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Shasta Ventures, with Series A investors August Capital, CMEA Capital and Google Ventures also participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to nearly $20 million.
Pixazza allows publishers to identify, tag and… → Read More
“Location Check in is so 2010,” Mark Cuban writes today on his blog. His thought is that facial recognition hardware/software installed in public venues is going to replace the need for users to actually check-in to a place.
I absolutely agree. But I think we’re ten years away from that happening. And maybe more.
If you’ve seen the Steven Spielberg movie Minority Report, it has a similar… → Read More
During Q&A session after Apple’s press conference on Friday, one of the more interesting things CEO Steve Jobs said was about AT&T. He said that it takes the carrier three years to get approval for a new cell tower in San Francisco. Yes, three years. “That’s the single biggest problem they’re having,” Jobs said.
What’s interesting is that neither Apple nor AT&T have brought this up… → Read More
Back in January Conan O’Brien was supposed to come to San Francisco for a SF Sketchfest Tribute and Q&A about his career. And then, he lost his dream job as he said, “shit really hit the fan” and he had to cancel. He finally made good on that gig last night at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, and it was far more revealing than his 60 Minutes interview. I’d gone expecting to hear an… → Read More
Despite Android’s growth since 2007, many refuse to declare a winner in the battle between Apple and Google for supremacy in the West. However, Android seems ready to leapfrog competitors to grab dominance in China, the world’s largest mobile market.
A combination of drastic price drops on Android phones and custom Chinese mobile applications supported by the massive domestic market will push… → Read More
WeShop is hoping to shake up the online shopping space with its platform that allows consumers to share purchase information on a free and anonymous basis.
In private beta, WeShop allows consumers to pool their purchasing information which is available to other WeShop members. WeShop then analyzes and sells this data for vendors. Here’s the catch-consumers have to give WeShop access to your… → Read More
Sixty-three percent of the Fortune 500, and more than half of all American businesses, are incorporated in Delaware. The state’s laws protect corporate directors and enable them to focus on the bottom line. Traditionally, that has meant maximizing profits and shareholder value.
But a new trend is emerging to counter Delaware’s influence on American corporate policy, and it’s pretty thrilling for… → Read More
Do you love the look and feel of cappuccino leather? Do you have digitized media that needs to be stored? Do you have $70 burning a hole in your pocket? Then today is your lucky day, friend. Amazon’s got a nice deal on this decadent-looking Iomega (that looks like it should be full of whiskey) right now. $70 for 500GB ain’t the best deal in the entire world, but sometimes you need a… → Read More
If Apple really wanted to silence critics, they have a place to do so. I’ve now seen it with my own eyes.
Inside Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, there are a collection of rooms that house 17 giant anechoic chambers. Basically, they’re rooms where no waves (sound or electromagnetic) can reflect off of anything, so there is absolutely no interference when it comes to wireless testing. Apple… → Read More
You see a lot of Steadicam work in movies today, and while the best of it goes unnoticed (as good technical work should), it’s fun to know that behind every smooth shot is a skilled and often immensely strong camera operator with some serious apparatus to make things as steady as possible. But this application of a Segway to the noble art of Steadicamming might just save some camera… → Read More
The “compact enthusiast” category of camera, which I have just now made up, includes such devices as the Canon G11, Sigma DP2, and some of the more consumer-oriented M4/3 cameras. It’s for the photographer who wants more control, slightly better glass, and doesn’t care about the creature comforts of touchscreens and in-camera sepia tones.
Panasonic’s entry in this class (among others) was the… → Read More
Email overload is a problem that’s as common as it is difficult to solve. Fortunately, everyone know it’s a problem, and there are plenty of startups (and webmail providers themselves) looking to fix it. One recent entry to the space is AwayFind. The service, which opened to the public earlier this year, allows you to set up filters identifying the most important messages that hit your… → Read More
Okay, admittedly, this doesn’t have a lot to do with tech other than the fact that it’s on YouTube. But it’s awesome. And happens to mashup two of our favorite memes in recently memory: Double Rainbow and Hitler Is Upset.
Mike loves the Double Rainbow thing so much that he made a mashup with me, the iPhone, and the two glorious rainbows. Meanwhile, the Hitler thing never gets old. It would just… → Read More
I wrote about ShirtsMyWay, the design-your-own dress shirt service, last month. I’ve since learned about a variety of other sites providing customized products, and I’ll be writing a wrap-up post about the trend toward custominzation in general some time soon. But for now, please enjoy this brief review of the shirts created by ShirtsMyWay, and learn how one lucky reader can get a chance to win… → Read More
RIM has issued a statement regarding Apple’s explanation of the antenna issue from Friday, which of course used a Blackberry as well as other phones to demonstrate signal loss. I’ll let it speak for itself: Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the… → Read More
http://revision3.com/player-v6419 The first wrap-around battery pack for the iPhone 4 hits the market, researchers are closing in on a cure for Alzheimer’s, Sony has the world’s first HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses, and a cute turtle robot to steal your geeky heart. Cali Lewis brings you all the news in GeekBeat.TV #10. → Read More
Businesses both big and small are flocking to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Foursquare. The fact is that a presence on these platforms not only allows companies to engage in conversations with consumers, but also serves as an outlet to drive sales through deals and coupons.
And while major brands like Starbucks, Virgin, and Levi’s have been participating in the… → Read More
You never know where you are going to see something innovative—even right here the heart of the “Sili-corn Valley” that is Central Ohio. This week, I met a gentleman by the name of Dan Rockwell at the local Mobile Monday gathering, and we had a short conversation about his company’s latest mobile app called Chump Dump. The somewhat irreverent concept is both funny and serious… → Read More
Editor’s note: The following guest post is by author and former venture capitalist Peter Sims.
In late April, JP Morgan invited me to a “thought leaders dinner” to discuss the latest goings on in Silicon Valley and digital media. In a private room at the swanky San Francisco restaurant Kokkari, there were about 20 of us seated around a long rectangular table, including venture capitalists… → Read More
While it has nothing to do with the actual theme of the watch, when I first laid eyes on this new limited edition Porsche Design P’6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 timepiece, I thought of something a bit kinky. You know, those lace-up on the sides leather pants, corsets, and other lingerie/bondage outfits? You know, because of that cross-stitching in red thread on the black leather strap. Then I toned… → Read More
You can definitely call me an Apple fanboy: I’ve bought practically every device that Steve Jobs has made since 1985—when I got my first Macintosh. I own an Apple TV, several iPods, a Macbook Pro, a Macbook Air, an iMac, two iPhones, and two iPads (one was a gift). For various reasons, I need to use Microsoft Outlook and Windows, so I run these in a virtual machine on my Mac. But this fanboy… → Read More
So you look at whatever this abortion is an say to yourself “Wow! They connected an iPad to a Kindle or whatever and some kind of phone! These guys are geniuses!” Then you realize it’s just a charger and then you’re kind of annoyed. → Read More
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of stuff, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my… → Read More
One hundred million dollars. That’s quite a lot of money. If you factor in advertising, you’re looking at what is perhaps the most expensive game ever made. It’s not a chump bet, though: the insane popularity of StarCraft means that they can expect a huge return on their investment, to be paid back over what will certainly be a long, long shelf life for this game. Activision may… → Read More
Remember that cool-looking Spyder III Pro Arctic laser from WickedLasers? Remember how LucasFilm thought it looked a little too much like a lightsaber? Remember how they then served WickedLasers a Cease and Desist? And then, remember how WickedLasers put that Cease and Desist up on eBay? You probably don’t remember that last part, because I’m just telling you now. It’s up on… → Read More
There is no Antennagate. Well, that’s not true. But what Jobs called Antennagate at today’s press conference is more than just the design flaw in the iPhone 4 they insisted was a non-issue. It’s a design flaw with the entire way the issue was handled — by them and by us. The feeding frenzy around the iPhone 4 has been a months-long affair, for a combination of two reasons… → Read More
By now everyone has seen the first official trailer for the Facebook movie. While there’s no question that there’s a lot of talent behind it, I’m actually quite surprised that it looks good. But that’s just my opinion. What does someone portrayed in the movie actually think of it? Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has weighed in on Quora.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Moskovitz takes some… → Read More
So Hulu Plus preview users on the PS3 and iPad have run into some strange licensing issues. The details on the iPad situation are a bit unclear, but the PS3 users get to pay lots of extra fees for the privilege of watching content they could see for free on the web. → Read More
I had a theory about today’s Apple iPhone 4 Press Extravaganza. Apple was just too eager to get all the press that cares about Apple stuff into one room at the same time on one day’s notice. They were either going to (1) get Steve Jobs to hypnotize everyone with a reality distortion field “there is no problem” and have them walk out dazed and confused but with vague warm feelings towards Apple. Or… → Read More
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