Each year, I go to a lot of conferences. For each and every one I fumble around at the last minute to figure out the schedule, who’s going to be there, etc. When I get there, I trade business cards that I’ll probably never look at again just because there are hundreds of them and no good way to order that information. The logistics surrounding just attending are a pain. And it’s a much bigger pain… → Read More
The mobile gaming space is exploding and everyone from Zynga to smaller-scale developers are flocking to iOS, Android and other smartphone platforms to capitalize on the growth in mobile gaming. Today, a new company, Lunch Money, is throwing its hat in the ring with a set of monetization and distribution tools for mobile game developers. In conjunction with Lunch Money’s debut, the startup is… → Read More
A photographer, John Heller, had $9,000 worth of gear stolen at a shoot in Hollywood. After giving up all hope of ever getting his Nikon D3 back, he checked with a site called GadgetTrak that scans Flickr and other image upload sites for photos matching the serial number of his DSLR.
In a few seconds he had found shots with serial numbers matching his D3 belonging to a professional… → Read More
Hulu Plus has found its way to a handful of Android devices these past few months, but today it makes its first official appearance on an Android tablet — just maybe not the one you were expecting. → Read More
Pixable, a startup that develops sleek social photo creation and categorization tools, is integrating images from Twitter into its intelligent social photo and video aggregation service today.
Pixable’s Photofeed a Facebook app and companion mobile apps intelligently sorts and categorize your friends’ Facebook, Instagram and Flickr photos as well as Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube videos. → Read More
Enterprise social networking platform Yammer is expanding the reach of its network today, launching Yammer Connect. The new plug-ins allows users to bring their Yammer identity to other business applications and an Embed feature enables companies to embed Yammer feeds into their intranet or other apps.
Using a JavaScript API, developers can add the Yammer Login Button to their applications via… → Read More
E-commerce platform Tinypay.me, which emerged from 2010′s Le Web conference as a sort of Twitter for e-commerce, has just raised $1 million from Aksoy Internet Ventures. The money will be used, in part, to relocate company headquarters from the Netherlands to the heart of the action: San Francisco. → Read More
A pretty sizable chunk of Europe was dealt a rather massive blow this morning in the form of a preliminary injunction on some Galaxy smartphones. Of course, this was at the behest of Apple. The tablets — the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7 — made it out of the court room alive, which is a pretty big deal for Samsung who just a few weeks ago had to deal with an EU-wide preliminary… → Read More
A few weeks ago I asked if Google+ was putting Facebook on the defensive. After yesterday’s Facebook announcement, I don’t think there’s any question. Many journalists have described the promised changes as giving users “new control over privacy” and suggested that Facebook is just giving us a chance to be more private like G+. Some have even suggested that this new focus on privacy is an… → Read More
This is what I like to see: people Kickstarting some really amazing stuff. How amazing? Try a handmade pen made of multiple pieces of wood spliced together and top-of-the-line clips and gel-inks. The pen, called the Exemplar, is half-length and costs a mere $100 (relatively cheap for a handmade pen, but still). However, it’s made by two North Carolinian lads, Cass Baltz and Bart Creasman, which… → Read More
We’ve written about StackMob twice, both times calling it the “Heroku For Mobile” in the title. Yeah, “X For Y” titles are pretty lame. But I mean, that’s pretty much exactly what StackMob is — and they embrace it. In fact, they embrace it so much that today they’re announcing a key partnership with… wait for it… Heroku!
StackMob is integrating with Heroku as an add-on that extends the… → Read More
There’s a fine line between a bold advertising campaign and playing fast and loose with the truth, and it looks like Motorola may have just tip-toed over it. According to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority, Motorola has been banned from calling their Atrix handset “the most powerful smartphone in the world.”
While the Atrix launched domestically back in February, it made its U.K. debut… → Read More
Today, regulators will announce a $500 million settlement with Google over charges related to advertisements for illegal online pharmacies. The pharmacies appearing in Google ads were operating outside the law, leading to a Department of Justice investigation into Google’s advertising practices – an investigation which decreased Google’s profits by 22%, reports the The New York Times. → Read More
Online and mobile payment platform Dwolla just launched a new feature called “Proxi” which allows users to send and receive cash-based mobile payments based on their current proximity to another connected device. The technology bypasses the need for special hardware, like Square’s plastic dongles or NFC chips built into a phone, in order to make mobile payments.
Instead, the interface provides… → Read More
The era of Googorola is nearly upon us, and the implications of such a deal are still greatly unknown to most of us. We could see some pretty amazing (and odd) gizmos and gadgets spawn from this little get together, and we can definitely expect a stronger Android platform than ever before. Other Android OEMs have remained relatively at bay thus far, but that could change in an instant when they… → Read More
A new startup called Booktrack launched this morning (actually, the NYT launched it yesterday), in an effort to create a whole new genre of e-books.
Booktrack creates synchronized soundtracks for e-books that aim to “dramatically boost the reader’s imagination and engagement”.
The startup’s technology combines music and sound effects with text, automatically paced to one’s reading speed. → Read More
Social networks like Facebook and Twitter act as truly effective channels by which companies can interact with their customers and receive near-instantaneous feedback on their products and brands. Of course, the information obtained by way of social networks can still be somewhat of a fire hose.
While social networks provide surfeit casual feedback for brands to take advantage of, they often… → Read More
We’ve long wanted to put together a videocast for TCTV focusing on gadgets but, because we were too lazy, it never happened… until now. Please excuse the quality as we’re working out the bugs but we wanted to get something up this week, thereby ensuring we actually do this on a regular basis.
This episode is all about tablets. First we talk about Samsung’s belief that 2001 is prior art in the… → Read More
Taptera, which builds enterprise iPhone and iPad applications, has landed $2 million in Series A financing in a round led by well-known Silicon Valley investor (and former Oracle exec) Terence Garnett, who will also be joining the startup’s board.
Other participants in the round include Salesforce.com and a slew of company CEOs and professional investors, including M.R. Rangaswami and former… → Read More
Today, PapayaMobile, the social gaming network for Android, is announcing a new milestone: it has topped 25 million users, which represents over 940% growth since the beginning of last year. The company attributes the increase to both the growing demand for mobile social games as well as the rapidly expanding Android install base worldwide. → Read More
ePals, developer of a social learning network, this morning announced that it has acquired Newstogram, maker of a media personalization and content recommendation platform. Also included in the deal was news site DailyMe – both are businesses owned by a company called Nexify.
The transaction was in ePals stock and amounted to about $3 million. → Read More
Sequoia-backed Inkling, a startup that develops an innovative digital textbook platform, is is releasing version 2.0 of its technology, which comes with increased collaboration and sharing features.
As we’ve written in the past, Inkling’s technology delivers interactive textbooks that include the ability to collaborate, add multimedia and communicate within content. The startup adds another… → Read More
Evernote rival Springpad is releasing a nifty new feature today, allowing users to discover the likes, check-ins and recommendations of all of your Facebook friends. So you’ll be able to see the movies, television shows, books, music and places your friends recommend in one place.
For background, Springpad’s multi-platform digital notebook allows you to jot down notes, save websites, images and… → Read More
Druva, the creator of data protection solutions for SMEs, announced this morning that it has raised $12 million in series B funding. The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor, Sequoia Capital. Jishnu Bhattacharjee of Nexus Venture Partners will be joining Druva’s board of directors as a result of this investment, joining Sequoia Capital Managing… → Read More
Online video platform company Brightcove this morning announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC in connection with a proposed IPO of its common stock. The company is looking to raise up to $50 million through the offering.
Brightcove offers cloud-based solutions for publishing and distributing video and other digital media. → Read More
Twitter co-founders Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and longtime sidekick Jason Goldman, recently shifted their focus away from the micro-sharing service provider to reboot Obvious, the company that originally incubated Twitter.
Yesterday, Stone announced Obvious’ first project: incubating an app development company called Lift, created by Tony Stubblebine and Jon Crosby. Obvious says it will assist… → Read More
I was impressed by Facebook’s updated privacy announcements today. Finally, after years of menus – and menus filled with menus – and menus filled with menus filled with drop-downs — we’re getting simple, direct privacy options right on the page. I’m sure some people will still bitch and moan because well, it’s Facebook. But at least on the surface, these changes look good.
The changes also… → Read More
The Roomba just got new competition from Japan: Toshiba has announced [JP] a new cleaning robot today, the so-called Smarbo (which is probably short for “Smart Robot”). Just like its US counterpart, the Toshiba robot is primarily intended for use in households.
Toshiba built quite a few features into the robot, for example two CPUs (details unknown), a camera, and a set of 38 sensors (gyro… → Read More
It’s no secret that Android is growing at a fast clip, especially over the past year. As Millennial Media, one of the largest mobile ad networks in the U.S., reported recently Android’s mobile ad impression share went up from 6 percent in March to 2010 to 54 percent of ad impression share in June 2011, eclipsing iOS. July’s report shows similar growth patterns, with In July, Android showed… → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
