Apple’s warranty plans have drawn the ire of a Belgian consumer watchdog agency, Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats. The group has filed a complaint against the company over how AppleCare is sold and marketed to customers, who in the EU by default are entitled to a free two-year warranty with any consumer electronics purchase. The complaint says Apple markets its warranties in a manner which doesn’t… → Read More
Hotelyo, a “Vente Privée” for exclusive and luxurious hotels, has raised close to €1 million in an angel round. That’s pretty impressive for Italy’s standards.
The company already has a turnover of around €500,000 and to-date provides offers for 14 heavily discounted luxury hotels every seven days with more expected to come on board in the next few months. Hotelyo has around 300,000 members… → Read More
Mopapp, a Software-as-a-Service that allows application developers to retrieve, analyze and chart the downloads, upgrades, sales, revenues and profit of their mobile applications, just launched its private beta. And we have invites.
The most interesting aspect of the product is that it’s cross-platform and cross-store, and it automatically integrates with most major stores (Apple iTunes App… → Read More
MusiXmatch, a “lyrics in the cloud” company, has announced €400k of new seed funding.
The Italian company is tackling the online music lyrics space, and whilst there are already tons of websites offering free lyrics, very few, if any, actually have the rights to do so. Additionally, Max Ciociola, MusiXmatch’s founder and CEO noticed that the word “lyrics” is one of the most searched for terms… → Read More
During the World Cup, particularly during the England-Germany and Mexico-Argentina games, there was a lot of debate over the role of video replay in the sport. FIFA responded, in typical fashion, by banning video replay inside stadia. Head in the sand, etc. Well now Italy broadcaster RAI has embraced that very same mentality. Starting with the upcoming Italian season it will not show… → Read More
Sometimes I despair of Europe, even though I’m proud of what can be achieved here. But really, guys, can we get it together?
At the same time the European Union is investigating a pretty flimsy anti-trust complaint against Google, it’s conspiciously ignoring a case in Italy where three Google executives have been found guilty on a ridiculous charge. Here is the bizarre story.
An Italian court… → Read More
[Italy] Rome-based iWikiPhone, a social network for iPhone users where they can discover, share and discuss the best apps, has closed a €250k round of funding. The money comes from a number of private investors and also from Egolab, a Rome based company specializing in online media. Egolab has provided 100k of funding by way of services and a cash investment in return for 20% equity in the… → Read More
Italy, like a few other European countries, is way behind in the construction and creation of a “tech startup scene”. That being said, as of last Saturday there was almost no scene in Italy. Not because we lack the actual people, but because we do lack the sense of community and cluster of a place like, for instance London or Berlin. There are different explanations for this. → Read More
The FIEG, an association of Italian editors, recently tried to sue Google’s News service. They claim: “Google is preventing editors from choosing freely which articles should be posted on the website”. The editors are also claiming that websites which don’t want to be published on Google News would also be automatically excluded from Google’s standard search results. → Read More
Italian startup incubator H-Farm Ventures is running a competition with $200,000 prize money to fund the the 10 most original and potentially successful ideas for web shows, interactive formats and what they call “trans-media narration”. Cirkus is a competition that ends on September 5th, 2009, and is open to anyone who can come up with a fresh and engaging web based program. The winners will… → Read More
Fact: cash is very hard to get for Italian startups. This has been the major problem of the Italian innovation ecosystem since the dawn of time, there simply isn’t money. Investors prefer to rely on non-risky businesses such as constructions, pharmaceutical and clothing. Web startups are facing a real hard time, but there might be hope. We already reported Google’s Italy country… → Read More
New season, new ball. The three big football leagues—England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and Italy’s Serie A—begin in just a few weeks, and Nike has developed a fancy, new ball that’s loaded with all types of hi-tech goodness that may pique your interest. It’s called the T90 Ascente. Goalkeepers will hate it; flashy forwards will love it. → Read More
Italian internet giant Dada.net has acquired 51% of the assets of online gaming startup Fueps in a deal worth €1.36 Millions. Fueps launched in 2008 and grossed over €600k while total ebitda was €750,000 in the red. Seems more of a rescue than an acquisition to me. Dada decided to take over the 51% stake of the company that belonged to RCS Digital. The other 49% is owned by Digital Bros… → Read More
An Italian boy has been diagnosed with “PlayStation addiction” following a marathon gaming session. The boy, 13, was rushed to a hospital where doctors thought he had suffered a stroke or some other serious condition. Nope, just played a little too much Mega Man! It gets better. After leaving the hospital, the boy told his father to throw away the PlayStation for fear of further complications. → Read More
The Pirate Bay is back online in Italy. I suggest grabbing Gary Unmarried, featuring the aggravatingly funny Jay Mohr. The Web site was blocked by Italian ISPs last month. In other Italy news, my money’s on Inter this weekend. Bwin, baby. → Read More
Bear with us, readers. We know you’re sick of iPhone news, but it’s almost over. This may or may not put your panties in a bunch, but the Italians supposedly have the pleasure of activating their iP3G from home because Vodafone and Telecom Italia are incapable of the task. However, Voda and TI customers will have to agree to a 2-year contract. Hutchison G3 Italy has also come out to tout… → Read More
The iPhone 3G will require a two part activation, conflicting with earlier reports. Well, rumors. And this is a rumor, too, and an Italian one at that, so don’t freak out when it, too, is refuted in 18 minutes. Such is life online. Anyhow, an Italian site claims that the iPhone 3G will be activated in two parts, once in the store and once at home. The in-store activation will tell the Apple… → Read More
I’m not going to watch this whole thing, but the N96 sure looks purdy. It better be since Cellulare-Magazine.it takes an entire 10 minutes to profess its love for the upcoming Nok. → Read More
Italians may end up paying more for the 3G iPhone, but that’s because they won’t be locked into any phone-subsidizing contract. That, according to reports in today’s Repubblica. It looks like Apple and TIM, the largest wireless provider in Italy, reached a deal last week that gives the provider an exclusive on the 3G iPhone, sorta. While TIM will be the exclusive carrier of the… → Read More
The Italians sure are fashionable. When I was there last year I saw some impeccably dressed individuals doing mundane, normal, every day tasks. So it’s no surprise that the Hi-Can canopy bed was designed by Italian, Edouardo Carlino. This bed does everything you’d want it to do and more. You could run your home from this thing as well as surf the Web, listen to music, watch TV and play… → Read More
A man in Italy bought the small Texas town of Albert on eBay for $3.8 million on Friday. That’s awesome. I wish I had my own town. Lucky jerk. Good for him, though. Nobody currently lives in the town, but there’s a bar that’s open on the weekends. Go figure. The town is about 13 acres large and includes "a pavilion, an 85-year-old dance hall, a tractor shed, a three-bedroom… → Read More
I hate Second Life yet I enjoy soccer, so this next story puts me in a weird spot. Inter Milan launched its new home kit (its uniform) today in the online world full of losers and zeros. I visited the area to see what the Inter faithful were up to. It turns out, not much. It’s Inter, though. Nobody likes them. → Read More
Chalk it up to the ‘talians for good pizza, pasta, and yours truly. They tend to make some good stuff everywhere from food to fashion. Now the latest, greatest invention to come out of Italy is the AnyFix, a universal phone charger that is designed to recharge more than 80% of cellphones on the European market. It comes from the genius mind of Prof. Luigi Colani who has quite the lengthy… → Read More
TeleNav has just announced that it has entered an agreement with Softec S.p.A. to deliver its TeleNav GPS Navigator to Italy. The service will be available immediately on a variety of BlackBerry smartphones. You’ll recall that a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the TeleNav service on a BlackBerry Pearl. The TeleNav GPS receiver and service can turn nearly any Bluetooth enabled phone into a… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
