ZocDoc, a medical appointment scheduling startup that launched at TechCrunch 40, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Founders Fund with existing investor Khosla Ventures participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to nearly $20 million. Marc Benioff and Jeff Bezos have previously invested in ZocDoc.
ZocDoc automates a task that can be incredibly frustrating… → Read More
Meet Kame Robotto, the world’s first turtle robot (video) Light Pool: Japan gets a new designer cell phone Curbside car chargers should start showing up next year GE introduces their own home energy management system Would the gentleman care for a $22 iPhone stylus? → Read More
These past few days, I’ve sat here and watched as the iPhone 4 antenna hoopla has swept the nation (and I assume the world, though I’m not hearing much from abroad). Don’t get me wrong, the issue is very real. And undoubtedly for some, it’s a problem. But talk of the $1.5 billion dollar recall that is never going to happen is quickly spiraling out of control. And it has reminded me of… → Read More
Those damn Russian spies are everywhere. Another sleeper agent was discovered yesterday, this time at Microsoft (I knew they were a bunch of Commies). The alleged spy, Alexey Karetnikov, was a software tester in his 20s at Microsoft, according to the Washington Post (Technically he wasn’t coding, just testing code, but don’t blame me if your Windows computer starts sending secret messages back… → Read More
Earlier today, we first spotted Twitter’s new name search results feature on twitter.com. At first glance, it looks to be a brilliant tool for new user discovery — especially among celebrities whose names will be searched for often. But is it more?
Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb wondered that this evening, asking “Is This How Twitter Will Offer Friends For Sale?” The answer is no — not… → Read More
These days, just about everything makes its public debut in Beta form. Google launched Gmail into an immediate state of notability with its Beta strategy, and chose to hang on to the tag for years for good measure. Online games have more players in their Beta period than the games of yesteryear ever had. There’s a joke to be made here about Apple managing to sell a few million iPhone 4s before it… → Read More
If you don’t want to spend the bills on a high-quality negative scanner, but do want to get some of those old black and white 35mm rolls backed up digitally, this one’s for you. Basically, all you need to do is get yourself a toilet paper roll or two, stick them together, mount the film at the other end in an old slide mount, and stick the whole thing on the front of your camera. → Read More
Colorware announced their latest modification to the iPhone 4, which will not just protect your precious new phone, it might even help you with your reception issues. Of course, painting your iPhone isn’t cheap, but it can certainly make your phone look more individual then the rest of the iPhone users out there. → Read More
Given the limited range in fully electric cars, charging points are going to be an important part of the infrastructure in the future. GE has hired a designer to create the “WattStation”, a charger designed to top up your new electric car in four to eight hours. → Read More
This is pretty great. Resetting your car’s keychain fob is something that has to happen from time to time — when a fob’s battery runs out, for instance, or you pick up an extra one. The process of pairing it is one of these rituals that I have always loved, like the special way you had to blow on your NES cartridges to get them to play. The process is different on all the… → Read More
When founder Anthony Casalena first started Squarespace in 2003, he had one investment: $20,000 from his dad. At the time, it was just enough money to get a few servers for his web publishing startup.
Fast forward to 2010, Squarespace has just raised $38.5 million— representing its first round of outside capital. The round, which was announced late Tuesday, is led by Index Ventures and Accel… → Read More
Deloitte and the National Venture Capital Association have released a report today indicating that U.S. venture capitalists expect their market to contract but anticipate growth in emerging markets, including China, India and Brazil, over the next five years. The 2010 global venture report surveyed over 500 VCs worldwide.
According to the survey results, more than 90 percent of U.S. survey… → Read More
Call me crazy, but this seems like it would get old real fast. And by “get old” I mean “actually wear out.” There’s a reason we don’t append tools to thin sheets of cotton. But hey, if you want to be the life of the party (in the “that guy” sense, anyway), this BeerBot shirt may just help you out. Be prepared to fend off angry Futurama fans, though. → Read More
Earlier today in San Francisco, General Electric announced the launch of its Ecomagination Challenge — a $200 million investment created in partnership with VC funds Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and RockPort Capital. The money will be used to invest in green grid technologies (applicants are invited to submit ideas over the next ten… → Read More
While home energy management options have been around for a while, this is the first time someone like GE has come out with a product to help you manage your home energy usage. → Read More
Everyone knows that Apple is an extremely secretive company. Some would say to a fault. But it seems to have served them well over the years. That’s why it’s not surprising at all to see that none of Apple’s key executives use public social networking services. And that’s why it’s a bit interesting that Apple Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, Scott Forstall, just signed up for Twitter.
While I wasn’t particularly impressed by the responsiveness or precision of Microsoft’s Kinect controller for the 360, it does have its charms. It knowing where you are at all times and having a microphone built in are great features, and may produce some interesting games yet. But I’m despairing of Milo and Kate, the uncanny valley playground created by renowned gamesmith Peter Molyneux.
You… → Read More
What if commercials really did talk to you? What if a familiar spokesperson addressed you by name and responded to your thoughts and feelings. In what is definitely one of the more creative social media ad campaigns in a while, Old Spice is doing just that. Its shirtless, muscled spokesman, the Old Spice Man, is shooting YouTube videos in response to people’s Tweets. Many of these are… → Read More
http://adland.tv/sites/default/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player.swf Intel has released its financial report for Q2 2010, and things are lookin’ good. I know finances aren’t really the focus of CG, so let’s stick to the interesting bits: Atom sales are up 16% to $413 million (they’re appearing in more than just netbooks) $2.9 billion in net income, i.e. → Read More
Scytl, the Internet voting company, has closed a $9.2 million round of funding led by European VC firm Balderton Capital, and supported by Nauta Capital, a previous investor. The new funds will enable Scytl to “consolidate its leading position in the electronic voting market and support its international expansion”, says the company, with a primary focus on the U.S.
Scytl’s secure technology… → Read More
Given the amount of coverage about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, you’d think it was the first sign of the apocalypse or something. It’s one thing for tech blogs to talk ourselves in circles about an issue, it’s another when the mainstream media starts leaning on the story in a major way. I mean, this was Keith Olbermann’s number one item on Countdown last night. And local broadcasts across the… → Read More
When it comes to buying music online, there’s iTunes, which is ahead by a mile, and then there’s everyone else. According to a recent report published by Billboard, iTunes accounts for 26.7% of US music sales, making it the top ranked music vendor in the United States, including physical retailers like Walmart and Best Buy. Amazon accounts for a respectable 7.1% of the market, but its digital… → Read More
What’s with the ominous names for these things? You’ve got the Predator, the Taranis, the EATR, and now the Phantom Eye? I guess there’s a bit of psychological warfare going on there. You don’t want the enemy to look up and say “Maybe we shouldn’t… what if there’s a Model BAE-2455G up there somewhere?”
So when Boeing unveiled their new unmanned high-altitude aircraft, they had to go with… → Read More
When I say “new,” I mean “not new at all.” These Canvio drives have been around for a while in their original forms, but this Mac-themed refresh gives them grey and white colors and OS X backup software. They come in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities for $100, $120, and $140 respectively. → Read More
Greetings from Japan. I’m here looking at some gadgets and would love to see some of our Tokyo readers. We’ve planned a very small meet-up tonight at 7pm JST at Akasaka Joe [Plancast link] but here’s the kicker: the place is only big enough for about 40 people. You must RSVP via Plancast or email. → Read More
Four months ago, T-Mobile released the Windows Mobile 6.5-powered HTC HD2 in the US — and four months ago, the battle to jam Android onto the HD2 began. The endeavour has sort of chugged along so far — but it just took a massive leap forward.
In the past few nights alone, the never-sleeping hacking community over at XDA-Dev managed to get not one, but two builds of Android working on the… → Read More
Prepare yourself people, the tablet/e-reader wars are about to heat up. Virginia based Velocity Micro announced their new “Cruz” line today, consisting of the 7″ color Cruz Reader, the 16:9 Cruz Tablet, and the kid-friendly Cruz StoryPad. The most interesting part? The entire Cruz product line runs the Android OS. → Read More
It’s only been a couple of weeks since Rdio launched in the US and I started using it, and I’m already pretty sure I’ll be hooked for a long, long time – and I’ve tested a bunch of online music buying, sharing and streaming services in the past few years so that’s saying something. Check out Erick’s review if you’re interested in learning more about the service.
Anyway, if you’re a music fan and… → Read More
Ford‘s 2011 Focus Electric will run on Compact Power Inc.’s lithium-ion battery, the company announced today. The batteries will initially be made in South Korea at CPI’s parent company, LG Chem, with plans to start manufacturing at a new $300 million site in Holland, Mich. in 2012.
The Focus Electric will be a full battery electric passenger car made at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, which used… → Read More
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