Google, the worldwide leader in mobile advertising, today made another move that could help consolidate its position a little bit further. The company today announced to developers that it would be shutting down AdWhirl, a platform that let app developers switch between different ad networks on the fly. AdWhirl was a part of AdMob, acquired by the mobile ad network after a flurry of competition… → Read More
GoodData has raised $22 million in a Series D round, with funding led by Sao-Paulo-based TOTVS Ventures, the investment arm of TOTVS S.A., the largest enterprise software company in Latin America. Also participating were Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Next World Capital and Tenaya Capital, who also participated in the latest round. This is TOTVS’ first investment outside… → Read More
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg aren’t so bullish on the future of the film industry. At a talk at USC, the pair agreed that it’s on track to have a “massive implosion”. At the core of their argument: there just isn’t enough time in the day for consumers to support all the films released in theaters. Films are competing with all the content and options that the Internet provides. → Read More
Today was the Extreme Startups Spring 2013 Demo Day in Toronto, and the cohort of five startups all delivered. The list this time included Brika, Instaradio, Koge, Polychart and Sciencescape. It was an incredibly diverse group, targeting verticals ranging from ecommerce to media to business intelligence, but it’s rare to se a group so focused and prepared on the day. That’s a credit to the Extreme… → Read More
You know those people who put tape over their laptop’s webcam to keep digital peeping toms at bay? They’re not crazy.
A new proof of concept is making the rounds today that demonstrates how a hacker can snap pics off your webcam, right through the browser, with no consent required. → Read More
An EU Commission has named Trustev as the EU’s Top Startup, a prestigious honor that places the company head and shoulders above thousands of applicants. They announced the win at the Finder’s Forum in London. → Read More
This summer the veteran Symbian platform, which started life back when handhelds weren’t phones but PDAs, will quietly pass into development history. Or at least its primary supporter over the years — Nokia — will cease producing any new handsets running the OS. So what better time to take a look back at the platform that powered so many devices and dominated the mobile landscape for so long. → Read More
When digital publishing platform Glossi launched its public beta last December, it hadn’t quite addressed one of the big questions that revolves around any “future of media”-type platform — how publishers are going to make money. Now the company has made its first move towards publisher monetization through a partnership with affiliate network RewardStyle.
Through the integration, RewardStyle… → Read More
When Dropbox bought Audiogalaxy late last year, industry observers wondered if the cloud music player startup could turn into a new audio streaming product. But Audiogalaxy was promptly shut down, and the team is rumored to be working on other Dropbox projects. → Read More
I just got flashbacks of seeing congressmen debate on C-SPAN whether there were, in fact, any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Only a decade ago, Members of select intelligence committees saw identical pieces of evidence and came to vastly different conclusions. Now, it’s happening again with the National Security Agency: Senator Mark Udall has written, “We have not yet seen any evidence… → Read More
VigLink is announcing an update to its VigLink Convert product that should help affiliate links stay up-to-date.
The company promises to make publishers more money through affiliate links, i.e. links to online merchants that can earn a commission if they lead to a purchase. With Convert, VigLink turns standard, existing links into affiliate links. (And it works with 30,000 online retailers.) → Read More
Google just announced that it is retiring Chrome Frame, its open source plug-in for bringing Google Chrome’s JavaScript and rendering engine to legacy versions of Internet Explorer. The company cites the fact that legacy browsers like Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are now finally on the decline and that most people are now using modern browsers as the reason for this decision. → Read More
Last week, Facebook announced that it will be streamlining the ad-buying process by eliminating more than half of its 27 ad units. Today it’s taking one step towards that goal by announcing that it will be eliminating the Sponsored Results unit starting in July.
The unit officially launched in August 2012, allowing businesses to run ads in the “typeahead” results that show up when users enter a… → Read More
Move over Reeder, Feedly, Digg, NewsBlur, Feedbin and the rest of the RSS players who hope to pick up some new users with the impending demise of Google Reader. Facebook may also be looking to wade into the game. → Read More
Thumbtack, a marketplace for local service providers, has raised a $12.5 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital.
When co-founder and CEO Marco Zappacosta told me about the funding, he said he’s excited because Sequoia is “focused on building enduring, meaningful brands,” and it’s “making us their bet” in the local services market. Sequoia’s Bryan Schreier is joining Thumbtack’s board of… → Read More
Google today launched a large update to Google Maps that adds more than 1,000 new locations from around the world to the service’s Street View feature. These include numerous locations that can’t be reached by car, including the cathedral of Seville, the canals of Copenhagen and the Singapore Zoo. Overall, it seems, this update focuses on locations from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the… → Read More
Today Boatbound, the Airbnb for boats, launches its service to help boat owners offset the cost of ownership and let more people experience the joys of the water. With over $1 million in funding led by Benjamin Ling and 500 Startups, Boatbound’s listings website lets pre-screened captains rent fully insured vessels across the country ranging from basic motorboats to sailboats to yachts. → Read More
RingCentral has hired David Berman, a former high-ranking executive from WebEx, a move that shows the market significance of a cloud-based approach to routing calls to different mobile devices similarly if they were extensions on a phone tree. RingCentral is one of those companies that fits into new world of the work place by automating the phone tree. It abstracts the PBX just as software and… → Read More
Back during the heady days of 2012, before the Pebble raised a crazy amount of money on Kickstarter, Sony quietly released an Android-compatible smartwatch of its own. By most accounts it wasn’t very good, but that doesn’t mean that Sony has relegated it to the trash pile.
No, with hindsight being what it is, Sony is looking to breathe some new life into that curious little gadget with some… → Read More
Foursquare this morning has launched a pretty new visualization feature called Foursquare Time Machine, which offers a new way to view a history of your check-ins on an interactive map. And oh, it’s also an advertisement for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone. Hey, look, Foursquare is trying to make some money by using your data! How clever! → Read More
An 11-hour flight, 150 techies, and one problem: How do we educate more engineers? This was the premise for the British Airways UnGrounded “Innovation Lab In The Sky.” While heavy on ideas with few to execute them, the flight forced Silicon Valley elite to stop and think about education. How? It took away their Wi-Fi. Something crazy happens when you cram brainy people in a flying… → Read More
Microsoft today announced that it is partnering with Best Buy to set up its own store-within-a-store in 500 Best Buy locations in the U.S. and 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada. These stores, which will be up to 2,200 square feet in size, will go head-to-head with Apple’s mini-stores in many of these Best Buy locations. Microsoft hopes they will become the “premier destination for… → Read More
At the SourceDigital13 conference this morning, Flurry CEO Simon Khalaf offered a look into how mobile users on iOS are spending their time in apps, as well as the differences between men and women’s app usage, and trends particular to advertisers’ favorite demographic (those aged 25 to 34), the latter which led to some surprises. → Read More
The days of a standard phone size are gone. 3.5-inch? 4.3-inch? 5-inch? Phone makers are less concerned with which size is right, and clearly becoming more concerned with offering as many sizes as possible.
Case in point: Engadget has surfaced a leaked photo of what appears to be a smaller version of the HTC One, or the One Mini. Obviously, the photo itself isn’t confirmed, nor is the phone… → Read More
Fancy, the one-time Pinterest competitor which has long since set its sights on social e-commerce, is expanding its reach today with the launch of its internationalization efforts. The company is now making its service available in 30 languages and is shipping its products worldwide. → Read More
When it comes to online video networks, Google’s YouTube is the oversized and undisputed king of the hill with 1 billion monthly unique visitors. Yet that domination sometimes obscures some of the interesting developments that are afoot among the smaller startups also working in the same space. Vuclip, the California-based mobile video streaming network that focuses its efforts mainly in emerging… → Read More
Twitter now provides you with pretty extensive metrics and analytics for the performance of your tweets via its Ads dashboard (via TNW), in a move that looks designed to get more people (including individuals) aware of and using the Twitter Ads platform. The new free analytics dashboard access allows anyone to see the performance of their tweets, including how many Faves, Retweets and Replies each… → Read More
One of the areas of the tech scene in the UK which has received a lot of enthusiasm in the UK has been social entrepreneurship, especially in tech. But until now, not a great deal of money has gone into the area. That changes today with a new initiative from Founders Forum for Good, the entrepreneur organisation, and the Nominet Trust non-profit. Launched today by Annika Small, CEO of Nominet… → Read More
Codecademy has been a huge story in the last couple of years. Now a new player is emerging with a complimentary real-world model. Code Club, a UK network of volunteer led after school coding clubs, is launching a new open source Code Club World framework to give every child in the world the chance to learn to code. This will provide project materials and a volunteering framework to support the… → Read More
If you thought you and your RepRap were safe from posers, you’re sunk: Amazon has just opened a store for 3D printers and printer accessories that seems to, at the very least, allow smaller manufacturers to get a foothold in an increasingly tight market. → Read More
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