Earlier this year, mobile social gaming platform OpenFeint teamed up with one of its investors, Chinese gaming company The9 to bring game developers to the Android platform. OpenFeint and The9 announced that it will be using te $100 million Fund9, a Chinese-based mobile internet development fund, to fund game developers using OpenFeint platform for Chinese games.
In just three months of… → Read More
While Windows Phone junkies are still waiting on their Mango fix to arrive, details about Redmond’s next update are already starting to emerge. Tentatively dubbed “Tango”, the update will likely be wedged between its fruity predecessor and the forthcoming Windows Phone 8. Details are still scarce, but ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has a few ideas about where Tango will take us that Mango won’t. → Read More
Times, they are a changin’. Magazines are falling at the feet of their digital replacements, while the printed book feels the burn of affordable, portable reading devices. And yet, we still seem to cling to one category of the binded book (if only for nostalgia’s sake): the children’s book. But for how long?
iStoryTime, a publisher who releases “books” (in interactive app form) exclusively for… → Read More
There are two kinds of bubbles. There are actual economic ones that artificially drive up valuations across broad categories in an unsustainable way, impacting markets on a mass scale. And there are psychological ones, where the real economic fall-out is limited to a small pool of insiders, but there’s a broad societal lack of trust; a disillusionment that results from everyone buying into a grand… → Read More
Etherpad fans, get excited — a new Y Combinator-backed startup called Stypi has built a nearly identical product, and it’s launching today.
First, a little history: back in 2008 we first covered a nifty, real-time document editor from YC alum AppJet called Etherpad. The text editor allowed multiple people to edit the same document simultaneously, with all edits appearing in real-time for… → Read More
Just this morning we reported on the creation of a Google Group whose members are discussing how to use facial recognition technology to identify looters from London’s riots in online photos. Now, a second site has come to our attention which makes the process of identifying rioters even easier, no special technologies needed.
The site, called Zavilia.com, is simply posting all the photos of… → Read More
DJ Patil, the former LinkedIn Chief scientist who recently left Color Labs, now has a new job. He’s the “Data Scientist in Residence” at Greylock Partners, working alongside his old colleague, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
This title’s a new one for me. Venture firms regularly hire experts in particular areas who can help their portfolio companies, like Bessemer’s “Designer in Residence.” And… → Read More
Well, I didn’t expect it to happen until the fall — but I also didn’t anticipate the stock market collapse. And yet, here we are. After yesterday’s plunge, and today’s rally, Apple has just overtaken Exxon as the most valuable public company in the world.
The feat happened briefly this morning, before Exxon surged a bit ahead once again (update below). As of right now, the two are separated… → Read More
I’d been hoping I wouldn’t have to say this a second time, but here we go again: WebOS is reaching a critical failure point and I doubt the technology will make it through the next two years. Why? Because WebOS just can’t grab the mindshare it needs to flourish.
According to Woot, the deal site sold 612 TouchPads during its impressive $100-off sale. During a similar sale in July, the Motorola … → Read More
We already know there’s more than one version of the Galaxy S II floating around out there. We have the original, 4.3-inch tri-buttoned version that launched in Korea. Then we have the Infuse-esque 4.5-inch version we saw just a few days ago that’s headed to T-Mobile, dubbed the Hercules.
And now, a third Galaxy S II version has emerged. Meet Celox, a 4G LTE monster. → Read More
Time for a thought experiment: let’s say you’re in charge of one of the largest newspaper publishers in the country. Readership is down, cheap content is replacing real journalism, and the day-to-day news cycle you’re used to doesn’t exist anymore.
What’s your next step? Expand your online presence? Fire your most expensive staff? → Read More
Apple makes a lot of things remarkably well. Cables… are not one of those things. Up until Apple overhauled their laptop chargers to this latest revision, I was inadvertently destroying one every 3-4 months — but that’s nothing compared to how many iPhone cables I’ve chewed through. Really: I could probably use my pile of retired iPhone cables to knit you a very stiff, uncomfortable hat.
I… → Read More
We’re big fans of online movie clips site Movieclips.com, which launched in 2009 as a search engine with over 20,000 different clips from thousands of titles from the libraries of 20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. Today, the company is announcing that it has raised $7 million in funding led by MK Capital (a founding investor in… → Read More
General Electric Co. (GE) bought a minority stake in the California-based solar company eSolar this week. As a result of the deal, Paul Browning, President and CEO of Thermal Products for GE Energy, will join eSolar’s Board of Directors.
ESolar already had a licensing agreement with GE Energy, which granted it exclusive worldwide rights to eSolar’s modular technology for its Integrated Solar… → Read More
Seagate has just announced that they’ve sold their 1 millionth Momentus XT hybrid solid-state/mechanical hard drive, an interesting development for the hard drive manufacturer especially considering the rise of expensive SSD drives. These hybrid drives run at 7,200 RPM, nearly twice as fast as standard mechanical drives. The drives contain some solid-state memory as well as a full mechanical drive… → Read More
Social groupware platform GROU.PS just introduced several new features, the most notable of which is a Facebook template called “theBook” that lets you create your own private network with the same look and feel as Facebook.
According to GROU.PS founder Emre Sokullu, the use of the template has already increased the engagement rates within groups by over 50%. → Read More
The FCC has just informed good ol’ big blue that its proposed acquisitions of T-Mobile and Qualcomm’s 700MHz spectrum will be informally reviewed together, rather than as separate transactions.
This wouldn’t really be a big deal except for the fact that AT&T may be biting off more than it can chew. By reviewing the two proposed acquisitions together, the FCC is forcing AT&T to… → Read More
Today, Nielsen announced it’s acquiring Marketing Analytics, Inc., a leader in analytics and advanced planning software. The company currently has 52 employees, all of whom will join the Nielsen team. The deal also involves the acquisition of other assets, including software and ongoing client projects.
The acquisition’s goal is to enable Nielsen to better provide marketers of consumer goods… → Read More
The Qosmio F755 3D laptop is now available for those who wish to live in the 2D world but – and only occasionally – may also want to view things in 3D. The laptop uses a “15.6-inch diagonal full HD TruBrite® display with Active Lens” to display both 2D and 3D images (sample shown here may not represent actual display, your results may vary, consult a doctor before playing 3D games, 3D gaming… → Read More
A new Google Group called “London Riots Facial Recognition” has appeared online, in the wake of the riots that rocked the U.K. capital over the weekend. The group’s goal is to use facial recognition technologies to identify the looters who appear in online photos.
The group appears to be thoughtfully considering its actions, in threads titled “ethical issues,” and “keeping things legal,” for… → Read More
SinglePlatform, a startup that helps local businesses create websites in minutes, has raised $3.25 million funding led by DFJ Gotham Ventures with participation from New World Ventures, First Round Capital and RRE Ventures. This investment brings the company’s total funding to $4.45 million.
SinglePlatform operates as a ‘one-stop’ platform for local businesses to manage their web presence… → Read More
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by (@msuster) Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at GRP Partners. Read more about Suster at Bothsidesofthetable
Venture Capitalists typically have partners’ meetings on Mondays. Yesterday was a Monday. And not a pleasant one.
The stock market is off 15.1% over the past 2 weeks. Nobody knows where it’s headed next. But as VC partners sat in their… → Read More
Online group buying startup Groupalia has secured another $26 million in financing, bringing total capital raised to roughly $63 million, after landing a $15 million capital injection earlier this year.
The company, which has growing operations all over Latin America as well as in Spain and Italy, has raised the fresh capital from all its existing shareholders: Nauta Capital, Caixa Capital… → Read More
You’ve heard of the CSI effect, right? It’s this wacky “syndrome” whereby we’ve watched so much CSI Miami and Law and Order that we can’t fully put our weight behind a verdict without some solid DNA evidence. I guess it’s easy to forget that we had an entire legal system sans DNA for quite a while. In any case, we’ve apparently got an itch to be a bunch of white-coated forensic… → Read More
DudaMobile just launched a new, self-serve platform that lets existing website owners create a mobile version of their site just by typing in the website’s URL. The service, targeted towards small business owners and other professionals, includes one-click website conversion, auto sync between the main site and the mobile site, plus mobile-friendly features like a click-to-call widget, a maps and… → Read More
GameFly just made the first step towards a future void of physical media with the pre-announcement of an upcoming digital gaming distribution platform. The announcement is missing any real details, including the service’s name, but it’s said to launch this coming Holiday season.
This service will allow GameFly subscribers to buy Windows/Mac games rather than just renting as usually done through… → Read More
A new startup called Pago is launching today, and if you live in Mountain View your life may have just gotten a lot easier. You can now go to more than 50 local merchants– coffee shops, dry cleaners, bars and the like– and order what you want from your smartphone, pay for it, and then skip the regular line to get it. It aims to bring Web-efficient check outs to the real world. Clearly anyone who… → Read More
We know Visa is getting serious about mobile and digital payments. Part of this plan involves adopting NFC and other chip technologies that will enable mobile transactions. Today, the company is announcing that it will accelerate the migration to EMV contact (those chips that are sometimes found in your credit cards) and contactless chip technology in the United States.
Visa says that the… → Read More
I’ve always heard that stores and retailers are willing to barter with customers on pricing, including many chains, but I never have the courage to actually haggle with salespeople. To be honest, I love the discounts but am really bad at haggling for a price. Now, with the launch of oBaz, I can simple get the new service to do all my haggling for me. Chicago-based oBaz is announcing that… → Read More
Camber Tech, an advertising and social media startup founded in 2008, is officially revealing today that it has raised $1.5 million in seed capital from a host of international angel investors. The startup plans to use its recent infusion of capital to ramp up marketing efforts and continue cross-platform development of its mobile apps.
With this new funding and a partnership with the Clinton… → Read More
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