Last October, Kleiner Perkins launched the sFund, a $250 million initiative designed to make strategic investments in entrepreneurs building social services and apps. The partners contributing to the fund include Facebook, Amazon, Zynga, Comcast, and more. The first startup to receive investment from the sFund was Cafebots, which received $5 million in series A from Kleiner shortly thereafter.
At the time of the announcement, Cafebots was in stealth mode and was tight-lipped about just what kind of social service it was building. My colleague MG Siegler did, however, learn that the startup was hoping to expose users to a new, yet referential acronym: “FRM”, or “friend relationship management”. Of course, not everyone is familiar with CRM (customer relationship management) and some might miss this tongue-in-cheek reference. Today, we’ve had the chance to learn a little more about the Kleiner-backed startup ahead of its impending launch in June, and how it’s moving past “FRM” to embrace a more all-compassing descriptor of its business: “personal crowd control”. Also part of the update? The company will no longer be known as Cafebots. From here on out, it’s Katango. → Read More
As originally promised last week, the Motorola Droid Pro will be receiving updates starting today to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. According to users, Android 2.3 Gingerbread comes in the form of an OTA update, where the Droid Pro will notify you once the update hits the device. → Read More
YouTube is now showing approximately 3 billion videos a day. A growing proportion of those are shown with ads—more than 2 billion a week—and YouTube as a business is expected to pass $1 billion in revenue next year.
But when it comes to making money, some videos do better than others. For YouTube, it is all about scale, and networks of loosely aligned online video producers scale better than individual shows and viral-video phenoms. In fact, there is a brand new department inside YouTube called Networks. The purpose of the department is encourage the formation of these outside networks which then use YouTube as their distribution channel. → Read More
According to Neilsen’s May survey, not much has changed by way of smartphone operating systems in the past month. Android, iOS and BlackBerry OS are at a standstill, posting the same market share numbers they did last month. Android still controls 36 percent of the market, with iOS trailing at 27 percent, and BlackBerry OS rounding out the top three with a 22 percent market share. Down at the bottom of the barrel, HP’s WebOS, Nokia’s Symbian, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone maintained their single-digit market shares from last month, with Windows Phone leading at 9 percent. → Read More
There’s a button war going on around us. Google, Digg, Yahoo, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn — they’ve all been angling to get their buttons in prime real estate on big websites. But two players loom larger in the space than anyone else: Facebook and Twitter. And Twitter just escalated the war a bit today.
Twitter has just unveiled the Follow Button. This follows their Tweet Button which is already in use on thousands of websites across the web. While the Tweet Button was great for sharing individual pieces of content, the Follow Button is meant to establish more social connections on the service. In this regard, it’s sort of like the Facebook Like Button, which people place on their websites to get other Facebook users to tie themselves to brands remotely. Of course, the Like Button also acts a bit like the Tweet Button as well (that is, you can share individual pieces of content from it too). → Read More
VMware has acquired social communications platform Socialcast. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Socialcast, which raised nearly $10 million in funding, combines a corporate activity stream that ties into CRM and ERP systems with social bookmarking, Outlook and SharePoint integrations, mobile (iPhone and Blackberry) and desktop (Air) apps, and analytics. Co-workers can share knowledge and updates in a semi-private setting. The company, which has over 7000 customers, offers both hosted and behind-the-firewall options. → Read More
As sad as it is to think about, cyberland gets more and more dangerous each year. Identity theft and random acts of hackery are now everyday concerns to most people, or at least a tiny fear that looms in the back of every head staring at a web page. Both the United States and United Kingdom armed forces are realizing the vulnerability within this particular patch of battlefield, and have finally declared that cyberwar is, in fact, an act of war. → Read More
Acetate is the high-gloss material used to make glasses and other wearables. Tokyoflash has taken the material to interesting new heights with the Kisai RPM, releasing multiple versions of their “handmade” watch for $159. The links, case, and buttons are all hand finished and assembled and the odd limited edition colors look pretty darn cool.
This watch is powered by a rechargeable batter so you’ll have to plug it in occasionally. Time telling is achieved by noting the large pips that signify hours, the smaller pips that show 5 minute intervals and then the smallest pips that show 1-4. If that’s hard to understand, this watch is probably not for you. → Read More
Fitim Blaku is a Software Engineer and Web Designer based in New York City. He specializes in creating immersive web designs and applications. His consulting group WebHD focuses on maximizing web revenue through increased user engagement.
Technology moves fast. Flat screen TV’s are everywhere, touch screen phones dominate mobile, and video games are pushing the graphical boundaries into reality. On the other hand, websites, which serve as the virtual representation of all commerce, look the same way they did two decades ago. Despite the fact that the web accounts for more revenue than all of the previous mentioned mediums combined, providing a truly engaging web experience remains a low priority for virtually all businesses.
An interface is what facilitates the dialogue between your user and your product. Everything your business represents is communicated through your website’s interface and the experience it provides. Key metrics like customer satisfaction, user retention and the amount of time people spend on your site are heavily influenced by the level of engagement you choose to provide. The more engaging your site, the longer people stick around. This generates activity, people consume more information and click more ads. Great design is a tremendously valuable asset that encourages high levels of engagement. → Read More
Oh, Google. Hate to do this again, but you really need to lock up these partners and get your PR in order.
A week after we got a pitch from a partner NFC company all-but-confirming that Google’s New York City event would be about their mobile payment system (Google Wallet), another partner has reached out ahead of another announcement. This time, an email seemingly confirms that Google is going to launch their +1 button for websites tomorrow. → Read More
Whoops! Looks like someone at Motorola didn’t cover up their breadcrumbs while working on the next version of their Mobility site.
Now, leaked site redesigns generally aren’t something we cover, because, well, no one cares. This one’s special, though. This one’s fun. This one’s jam-packed full of unannounced products. → Read More
If you bought a Macbook between October 2009 and today you may be facing dreaded “peel-butt” where the rubber flakes off of the bottom of the laptop. You can either bring your laptop into the Apple Store for free repair or they can send you a DIY kit. All you really have to do is unscrew a few screws and plop on the new one. → Read More
One of the most interesting panels at last week’s Disrupt featured a discussion about social music between Steve Jang the co-founder and CEO of Schematic Labs and Alexander Ljung the founder and CEO of SoundCloud.
Jang and Ljung are both developing apps and services that enable us to share music, sounds and our musical taste. Jang’s product is Soundtracking, an iPhone app that allows us to geo-tag music as we experience it. While Ljung’s Berlin based SoundCloud – which already has four and a half million users – is a platform for not only sharing music but also audio and sounds.
So what, exactly, is social music? I asked Jang and Ljung when I interviewed them backstage at Disrupt. And how are services like Jang’s Soundtracking and Ljung’s SoundCloud disrupting what was once formerly known as the “music industry”? → Read More
Just a quick update for those keeping tabs on the LG Genesis (which, up until Verizon decided not to offer it, was previously known as the “enV Pro”) for U.S. Cellular: look for it to hit the shelves on June 9th for $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. In other news: that $149.99-after-rebate pricetag is the same thing they’re asking for the HTC Merge, which hit their shelves as the sun came up this morning. (And for those paying extra close attention: yep, the very same HTC Merge that Verizon decided to delay forever until eventually deciding to not sell it in their own shops, but to allow third party retailers to sell it to those who requested it. It’s a very special week of hand-me-downs for U.S. Cellular, isn’t it?) → Read More
At TechCrunch Disrupt NYC last week, Google’s location boss Marissa Mayer pointed out that Google Maps for mobile traffic will surpass that of its desktop counterpart by June. Our dependence on mobile technology for where we are and where we’re going seems to be growing by the minute, so its not too surprising to see a number of enhanced Map apps hit various app stores. One in particular, Maps+, caught our eye. And Maps+ is exactly what its name describes: Google Maps… plus a lot of other cool features. → Read More
The Urwerk UR-202S, aka the Hammerhead, also bears the name “Full Metal Jacket.” The Stanley Kubrick movie reference points to the fact that this Urwerk watch is the first this brand has offered with a metal bracelet. According to Urwerk, bracelets have been part of their plans for a while but for various reasons was never fully realized until now. Components are limited by manufacturing realities which can hinder designs concepts tremendously. Having said that, the UR-202S watch that comes on a bracelet is limited to only 50 pieces. → Read More
Although this isn’t on the same level as Wooga’s $24m Series B round announced today, it’s more evidence that social gaming remains a hot space.
Pixonic, the social games publisher, has raised a $5 million round from VCs Ventech, Kite Ventures, and TA Ventures. This follows earlier funding of $1m secured last year. The new investment will be used to expand the Russian startup’s social game lineup through new titles published via its PixAPI platform on to various social networks, including Facebook. → Read More
It seems comments are a little borked today as the Disqus plug-in failed during our last update and problems just started showing up today. I’ve reimported all of the comments for the past few days so here’s hoping it fixes itself. → Read More
It’s hard out there for a Alien Abduction Believer. You’re busy wandering near the desert with a .22 and some binocs and you keep missing your favorite talk shows while keeping our nation safe from the teeming hordes/slavering alien brood mothers at the border. What to do? Why not pay $139 for a flashlight/MP3 player combo so you can get your news fix will keeping an eye out for aliens. Seriously. Alex Jones would totally recommend this if he knew about it. I bet its even better than his patented Commando Unit Food Grower which is actually a chia pet in a dome. → Read More
