Mobile Q&A service Opinionaided has raised $4.3 million in funding led by SoftBank Capital and BlueRun Ventures with General Catalyst, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mark Wachen, Jonah Goodhart, Karl Jacob, ENIAC Ventures and Vince Monical participating. This brings the company’s total funding to $5.3 million.
Opinionaided’s free iOS app allows users to get advice and opinions on the fly. Within… → Read More
If recent reports hold true, Microsoft may be preparing to release their long-awaited Windows Phone Mango update sooner than expected. Based on information from “trusted sources,” Pocket-lint reports that Mango’s official rollout will begin on September 1, ahead of the generic “Fall” launch window Microsoft had previously announced. → Read More
Zynga just filed another version of its S-1 for the company’s $1 billion public offering and here’s what’s new. First, Zynga says in the filing that in March of this year, the company had an internal valuation at around $11.5 billion. From page 70 of the filing: our board of directors determined that the fair value of our common stock and Series Z preferred stock remained $13.96 per share.
That… → Read More
It’s now possible to export your Facebook social graph. Your real social graph, complete with your friends’ emails, which means you can leave Facebook and import your social network into a rival site.
But only if your friends opt into it. And they won’t.
Facebook has quietly added a new feature to its Account Settings page, giving users the option to “Allow friends to include my email… → Read More
Ready to get “back to cool”? Apparently $250 will get you a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9930 from Sprint, according to a leaked flyer obtained by BGR. Although, as per usual, a two-year agreement is required. Along with Bold 9930 pricing, the flyer also points to pricing details for the upcoming BlackBerry Torch 9850. → Read More
With riots and looting breaking out all over London earlier this week, media outlets have been poring over how the violence spread. We were amongst the first to identify the BlackBerry mobile handset and its unique, private Blackberry Messaging service (BBM) as a method whereby rioters and looters, many of them teenagers, broadcast and swapped information in a way that effectively crowd-sourced… → Read More
Nintendo investors have been grumbling about Nintendo’s tendency to release flagship games only for their own platforms for years. Mario and Zelda have, in general, spent their entire lives on some sort of Nintendo hardware, barring a few odd versions released years ago. Why? Because Nintendo has long tried to control everything about their part of the gaming ecosphere, from developer licensing to… → Read More
A survey of over 100 developers, previously posted here on Hacker News, aimed to determine which external APIs were the most difficult to integrate into developers’ projects. The winner…or rather, the loser? Facebook. Developers mentioned the Facebook API the most in terms having bugs, poor documentation, never-ending API changes, slow response times, and other headaches.
The Google APIs were… → Read More
No doubt you’ve heard about Google’s ever-increasing struggle with patents, namely that it can’t protect Android. If it’s not Apple going after Samsung and HTC directly, it’s Oracle, Microsoft and Apple stealing away Nortel/Novell patents. It’s gotten so bad that Microsoft and Google entered into a rather public spat over Twitter and Google’s own blog, where Google finally fought… → Read More
Box.net’s CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie has been open about his belief that mobile is a key pillar to the cloud storage company’s future. The company already offers native apps for a number of platforms, including Android, iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry, but the company’s mobile site was lacking in functionality. Which is why Box has completely re-developed its mobile site, and is launching HTML5… → Read More
Foodspotting has emerged as a popular way to to share photos of your favorite foods and dishes with your friends. Today, Snapette is trying to take Foodspotting’s model and apply this to fashion. The startup, which is part of the 500 Startups accelerator program, is launching is a free iOS app that allows women to discover and share photos in-store products by location and recommendations.
You… → Read More
Yelp provides a compelling platform for small businesses to connect with consumers via deals, reviews, reservations, information and more.
But independent service professionals like hair stylists, bartenders, and DJs have a problem: if they jump from one establishment to another (which is quite common), they have a hard time taking their clientele with them. Enter Y Combinator-backed Opez, a… → Read More
In June Justin.tv launched TwitchTV, a live-streamed video game portal and community for gamers. It was an interesting move considering the video streaming company hadn’t really explored any verticals until then. But it looks like the startup’s move paid off. Twitch.TV is growing like gangbusters, and posted 8 million unique viewers worldwide in July.
Twitch.TV saw 1 billion minutes viewed in… → Read More
According to a patent filing unearthed by AppleInsider, Apple may be looking to give their customers with a new kind of control: control over their current carrier. Titled “Method and Apparatus for Using a Wireless Communication Device with Multiple Service Providers”, it (longwindedly) describes how a phone could locally store several different carrier configurations profiles and allow users to… → Read More
Late last night, HTC announced that they had a “Major News Announcement” to share this morning.
With HTC having made some of the finest smartphones we’ve ever seen (like the Thunderbolt, the 7 Pro, and the world’s original Android device, the G1), anything they consider “major news” is probably worth tuning in to.
So, what might they announce? Thanks to some late night leaks, we’ve got a… → Read More
Gartner just released its new mobile device sales for Q2 2011, and reports that Google and Apple are the “obvious winners” in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android doubled nearly 62% in the second quarter of this year, up from just over 31% in same quarter last year. → Read More
Two ex-Virgin Digital executives, namely its former CTO Brendon Cassidy and former president Zack Zalon, have teamed up to start a Los Angeles-based digital business incubator called Elevator Labs.
The venture, which is both labeled an ‘invention company’ and an ‘innovation factory’, this morning announced that it has secured $20 million in initial funding from KGC Capital. → Read More
Are you not sticking out at your LAN parties? Does your mouse look like all rest? Are you feeling the need for something new, fresh, and, dare I say, innovative? Well, fellow gaming friend, Mad Catz has something for you!
The company just announced a new version of its rather strange Cyborg R.A.T. 7 gaming mouse. This new version, dubbed the Albino thanks to its matte white paint scheme… → Read More
Facebook made changes to the Facebook Chat sidebar feature, several users are reporting. Now, your favorite online friends appear in the top section of Chat, with a separate list titled “More Online Friends” underneath. This makes it easier to find the Facebook friends you chat with often.
However, we’ve also seen reports where select users are getting a mini News Feed in their Chat sidebar… → Read More
Airband, a provider of fixed wireless voice and data services to businesses, this morning announced that it has secured $20 million in financing from Boston-based ABRY Partners, which also got a seat on Airband’s board of directors.
Airband, which offers Internet access, data services, VoIP, security and other solutions, says it plans to expand network coverage and capacity in existing… → Read More
Grooveshark is now singing and swaying with Boxee as the music streaming service just hit the platform. The somewhat-underground music service streams lands on Boxee in a slightly different form than its online counterpart. The service not only looks different, but costs $9 a month after a free trial. Ouch. Grooveshark likely wants a slice of that sweet revunue pie Spotify is currently enjoying. → Read More
Vuzix is now shipping their Wrap 1200 3Ds, a pair of $500 glasses (a headtracking model called the 1200VR is coming later this month) that displays a 75-inch virtual screen in front of your face and supports 3D content. You have separate focus settings for each each eye and these are as light and small as a standard pair of sunglasses.
The Vuzix 1200s also allow you to wear your own… → Read More
I reviewed the SteelSeries Xai early last year, pronouncing it elegant and effective. I’d still recommend it today, except for the fact that a new and improved version has just been announced: the Sensei. The simple and comfortable design of the Xai is intact, but there’s a new metal surface (which has yet to prove itself; the old surface was great), customizable lighting, and some changes under… → Read More
Never mind the marketplace is having a hard time selling the first TouchPad. Never mind that it has a fraction of the apps found on competing platforms. Never mind that it works best when paired with the least popular smartphone. HP is prepping a new TouchPad for an US launch. The TouchPad Go is a 7-inch tablet from the same strain the produced the original. Oh goodie. → Read More
While we were fairly certain that Moto was going to go all KORE on its tablet line last week, it looks like KORE is just a trademark for a heart rate monitor and headphones combo that works with Motorola phones. Bums-ville. → Read More
You’re all aware of the increase in “hacktivism” and malware we’ve been seeing over the past few months, and as it turns out, the carriers are aware of it, too. Just yesterday, Sprint announced the availability of its McAfee security apps for Android, and today AT&T is looping in Juniper Networks for its new mobile security platform. → Read More
NuCaptcha, a startup that develops video captcha technology, is hoping to disrupt the captcha industry today with the launch of its dynamic captchas that promise security to website owners.
Captchas are security questions you find on Web sites that require you to decipher and type words or numbers and detects whether the user is a human or a spambot. Most Captchas you see are transcription… → Read More
Jeremy Verba, a GM at social gaming company Zynga, has been appointed CEO and board member of online dating juggernaut eHarmony. At Zynga, Verba served as founding general manager of Treasure Isle, one of its top Facebook games. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was a member of Zynga’s executive staff since joining the company in December 2009.
Prior to Zynga, Verba served as president and… → Read More
Cloudera, the startup that commercially distributes and services Apache Hadoop based data management software and services, is announcing a comprehensive partner program today for the companies that use its services.
Hadoop is a Java software framework born out of an open-source implementation of Google’s published computing infrastructure which is fostered within the Apache Software… → Read More
More big money for online legal services. After LegalZoom raised $66 million from Kleiner Perkins And IVP, competitor Rocket Lawyer is also announcing a new round of funding. The startup has raised $18.5 million in funding led by August Capital with Google Ventures and Investor Growth Capital(IGC) participating in the round. This brings Rocket Lawyer’s total funding to $30 million.
Founded by… → Read More
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