A Tel Aviv startup, WalkMe, aims to do for your website what your UX team should have already done: make it easier for your users to understand. The service creates little pop-up bubbles over various points in order to lead your users through a typical interaction, be it a bank website or a complex social tool.
These aren’t videos that run in the corner. Instead, every time you complete an action the system pops up a new bubble for the next step. These interactive bubbles will also help correct mistakes in input. → Read More
Giving free devices away is something of a time-honored tradition when it comes to getting people interested into your platform. We’ve seen Google do it, we’ve seen Microsoft do it, and now at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., we’ve seen Mozilla do it. In an apparent effort to drive awareness and developer interest around their web-based mobile platform, Mozilla has been handing out Boot to Gecko-powered GSM Nexus Ss to lucky JSConf attendees. → Read More
A little bit of news from Nielsen that flew under the radar a few days ago hints at big things ahead for the measurement firm and its goals of understanding user behavior across all platforms. The company said it was teaming up with Disney/ABC Television Group to measure video consumption trends on the iPad.
In the study, participants will download a special “metering” app to their devices, which will analyze the reach, duration frequency and pageviews associated with both their apps and web usage in an effort to provide better insight into actual trends associated with user behavior, as opposed to self-reported data. → Read More
Here we go! After a bit of back and forth, I’ve decided to run the TCVA mini-meetups in DC-Norfolk-Richmond order. We have some sponsors on tap and hopefully we can have a good time and get the word out about the VA tech corridor. Virginia, after all, is for entrepreneurs (and lovers).
This isn’t a boring panel discussion or wonkathon – this is a networking event and I want you guys to let me know what you’re working on. I’ll be available to chat along with TC writer Jordan Crook for the entire evening so have your iPads loaded with a pitch deck and a small card containing your website and pertinent info. Don’t bring a packet of papers. I’ll just lose it.
Special thanks to folks in Richmond and Norfolk for donating their office spaces for our nefarious ends. Follow me @johnbiggs for updates during the evening.
So here’s how it’s going down: → Read More
In the annals of celebrities investing in tech startups, this one’s looking especially smart. Bono and The Edge, the singer and lead guitarist of Irish rock band U2, got into Dropbox’s $250 million second round last year, they said in a tweet today.
It’s the first individual, publicly announced startup investment for the vocalist, to our knowledge. And unlike grandly-conceived social media startups or late-stage investments that celebrities have gone after in recent years, Dropbox is still in its early days. I imagine some khakis-and-blue-shirt VCs are a little jealous of the multiples ahead. → Read More
Facebook rolled out an update this morning that adds support for the new iPad’s Retina display to its iPad application. According to the release notes in iTunes, users with the new iPad will now see “a crisp, high resolution interface.” The update (version 4.1.1) brings other bug fixes, too, as well as support for additional languages.
The Retina-ready version of the app was hinted at last week, when someone spotted a teaser for the upcoming app in the iTunes App Store’s “New and Noteworthy” section. The message displayed at the time read “Enhanced for the New iPad,” presumably meaning it would soon add support Retina graphics.
As sure enough, that’s just what it did. → Read More
Thanks to online pinboard Pinterest’s fast growth, many retail sites are placing “Pin It” buttons next to items for sale as a sharing mechanism. Flash sales giant Gilt is taking the whole Pinning trend to another level by allow users to access special deals on pinned items.
Called “Pin it to Unlock,” the new social commerce feature allows shoppers to unlock a special deal on a GILT Kids product by re-pinning. Here’s how it works. If a product’s image from Gilt’s site on Pinterest has been pinned 50 times the pin will link to a hidden sale on Gilt.com where shoppers will have the opportunity to purchase the special item. → Read More
Bizo, a company offering technology to help advertisers reach a business audience, has raised $10 million in a Series B round of funding.
The company has now raised a total of $20 million. Crosslink Capital led the round, and the firm’s newest partner David Silverman is joining Bizo’s board of directors. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Venrock also participated. → Read More
Have you ever wanted to take a picture of a purse and figure out where to buy it instantly? Probably not, but now you can.
Serge has built a mobile search engine that uses voice, music, vision, barcode, QR code, location, augmented reality and video recognition technology to connect users directly with brands. So, unlike a Google, you’d take a picture of a pair of Nike shoes with the Serge search, and the engine would instantly direct you to Nike.com.
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It looks like IPOs were up significantly in the first quarter of this year, while M&A dipped for venture-backed companies. Dow Jones VentureSource is releasing a new report this morning indicating that Q1 2012 was the most active quarter for IPOs since the fourth quarter of 2007 and the most active first quarter since 2000. Twenty companies went public in the first quarter, including Yelp, Millennial Media, Brightcove and others. Ninety-four companies were acquired during the same period, which marks the second-straight quarter of declining deal volume for M&A according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Twenty companies raised $1.4 billion through public offerings in the first quarter, which is up from the 11 IPOs that raised $768 million during the first quarter of last year. Currently, 50 U.S. venture-backed companies are in IPO registration. Thirteen of those companies filed during the first quarter.
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Consumer Reports, clearly moving on from whoring pageviews over heatgate, just planted the new iPad at the top of its recommended tablet chart. Citing the great screen, 5MP camera, and fast, dependable 4G Verizon data connectivity, the iPad is the best of the bunch, says Consumer Reports. But what about the new iPad’s excessive heat? Clearly people still need to, as a Consumer Reports’ spokesman said, “exercise caution”, right? Nope. → Read More
It’s hard being a hacker’s darling. Pastebin is a dox dumping site – as well as a useful tool for programmers and writers who want to share a piece of text or store it for later – and it is facing what could be a termed a problem of popularity. Because groups like Anonymous have used the service to dump sensitive information, the company has been banned in Turkey and Pakistan and, more important, has become the target of DDOS attacks by kiddies who want to test their exciting new scripts. The result? A company that is, by all metrics, growing, now needs to spend money and solicit volunteers to protect itself from its biggest fans.
After a BBC story noted Pastebin’s problems, the site’s owner, Jeroen Vader, received a number of offers to help police the site for free. The monitors will pull down questionable content when users report seeing it using the site’s interface. → Read More
Ever since I met the Songza guys at New York Tech Meetup, I’ve wanted to learn more about the app. It’s the first music service that I’ve been excited to use, mostly because it removes the work entirely. I’ve been curious about a few things, like how Songza plans to combat the big boys, namely Pandora, and how exactly these guys are making any money. Remember, Songza has no audio ads, no limits, and is free to download.
Co-founders Elias Roman and Eric Davich sat down with me to discuss this and more, saying that the only way to enter into a space as crowded as streaming music is to bring something totally different to the table. → Read More
Today’s PSA is brought to you by the letter L. What word starts with L? Linen! If you’ve ever used Google Docs, you’ll recall that the interface is wildly ugly. Well no longer. Using a plugin and a nice big Linen JPG, you can turn GDocs into a thing of beauty.
For whatever reason (probably for SEO), a Brisbane, Australia driving school is hosting this Linen background for GDocs and is offering a set of simple instructions to set it up. While I don’t want to ruin their Google juice, here’s how to do it:
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It’s on like Donkey Kong. Nokia is back and ready to take on the big dogs. Several Nokia TV adverts started airing last night that don’t dance around the prime targets. Nope, Nokia’s latest ad campaign, The Smartphone Beta Test, is a clever but very direct shot at Apple and Google.
The campaign uses three videos (one above, two after below) with so-called behind the scenes footage showing a nondescript work space where three random workers are vetting issues about their upcoming smartphone. “Don’t hold it like that!” “The screen is fine. People can just stay inside.” “I just think the phone is fragile.” → Read More
If you’re unfamiliar with 2tor, this may do the trick. Today, the education startup is announcing that it has closed a $26 million Series D round of financing, led by an affiliate of The Hillman Company, WestRiver Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank Capital, with participation from its existing investors, which include Bessemer Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, and City Light Capital. The startup’s significant new infusion of capital brings its total investment to just under $97 million, making it one of the highest-funded education startups in the country — if not the top dog. → Read More
Dell has just announced the acquisition of cloud client computing company Wyse Technology to expand its desktop virtualization offerings. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Wyse portfolio includes thin, zero and cloud PC client solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Wyse independently partners with datacenter, networking and collaboration providers within its global partner ecosystem to help businesses move to a secure cloud – in a private, public, government or, even in a personal cloud. → Read More
There may be millions of people or more following and commenting on a brand, but how can it find the ones worth reaching out to? That’s the question that Dachis Group is trying to answer with a new product called Advocate Insight.
Founder and CEO Jeffrey Dachis (previously the co-founder of interactive agency Razorfish) says the new product will help brands “engage at scale.” He contrasts that to tools that just help companies push their content to social networks. It’s not enough to broadcast your message to fans, he says — you also have to spread your message by reaching out to the most engaged and influential of those “brand advocates.” (Other companies, such as Zuberance, are also trying to help businesses target brand advocates specifically.) → Read More
Another consumer milestone of sorts for Apple, and one more sign of how competitors are going to have to raise the bar yet again: the new iPad is proving to be highest-rated yet of the three versions of the iPad tablet released so far by the company, according to the latest report from ChangeWave Research.
In a survey from the last week of March, more than four out of every five owners — 82 percent, to be exact — said they were “very satisfied” with the new device, with 16 percent saying they are “somewhat satisfied.” And while the high-resolution Retina display has proven to be the biggest hit with new owners, one of the more high profile drawbacks, claims that the device was getting too hot during prolonged use — turned out to be not such a hot issue after all.
The caveat in this research is that it only covers 200 people. 200! That’s nothing, and only a small portion of the 25,000 that ChangeWave says it has access to for surveys. On the more constructive side, this is one more indicator of how this newest tablet from Apple will progress in sales in the months ahead. → Read More
Maybe even dating sites deserve to find a special someone at one point in their lives… it looks like Badoo, the UK-based dating site, has joined forces with rival Hot or Not.
The two have yet to issue a formal release of any kind, but Hotornot now boasts the same amount of registered users as Badoo (146 million+), and Hotornot now directly refers users to Badoo’s terms and conditions (pictured below). There have been a few observed signs from users, too… → Read More
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