Turkey is right: Minecraft can be extremely violent March 11, 2015 4:46 AM | Chris O'Brien If you really believe in the innocence of Minecraft, that tells me one of two things. One, you don’t play. Or two, you haven’t really been paying attention when your kids has been playing for the past couple of years.
Google Street View captures reconstruction efforts of Japan earthquake, 4 years after March 11, 2015 4:35 AM | Paul Sawers On the four-year anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread havoc across Japan, Google has revealed a partnership with Japan’s Urban Renaissance Agency (URA) to capture some of the reconstruction work that’s been going on in the affected areas.
Business-intelligence startup Looker picks up $30M March 11, 2015 4:30 AM | Jordan Novet The new money comes amid a storm of funding deals, acqusitions, and product releases.
Zuora lands a massive $115M as the world goes “-as-a-service” March 11, 2015 4:00 AM | Barry Levine “What’s interesting about the new funding is that Wall Street [now] sees the future is in the subscription economy,” CEO and cofounder Tien Tzuo told VentureBeat.
SpareFoot raises $33M to increase the reach of its storage unit network March 11, 2015 4:00 AM | Dylan Tweney SpareFoot, an Austin-based marketplace for self-storage units, has raised a pile of cash — $33 million to be exact.
Amazon Exclusives launches to help you find weird, new stuff March 11, 2015 3:42 AM | Chris O'Brien Need a creepy set of shoes with a paisley zombie girl and skulls? How about a bike glove that has its own LED blinkers?
CustomerMatrix launches ‘cognitive’ platform to make your CRM think March 11, 2015 3:00 AM | Barry Levine The new platform uses cognitive computing, the kind of artificial intelligence employed by IBM’s Watson that is designed to understand contexts and not simply follow rules, as predictive analytics-based systems do.
Google’s first fully branded physical store showcases hardware and apps, open in London now March 11, 2015 2:50 AM | Paul Sawers Google has long been rumored to be entering the physical retail space, emulating a number of other online companies’ efforts to bridge the physical and digital divide, and now it’s finally happening with the launch of the first Google-branded store in London.
Dysonics’ Rappr turns ordinary headphones into 3D audio experiences March 11, 2015 2:00 AM | Dean Takahashi Rappr takes flat stereo audio and brings it to life.
You can get the dual-motor Tesla P85D by the end of this month March 10, 2015 9:30 PM | Dylan Tweney Tesla is ramping up production for its newest model, the dual-motor Model S P85D sedan.
Why Apple Watch’s health apps could be too late to the game March 10, 2015 7:00 PM | Tom Greene, Alliant GuestOne of Watch’s killer apps is expected to be a comprehensive set of health-tracking sensors. But there are other platforms — like Withings — that already far outweigh the functionality of the Apple HealthKit.
What happens to your Apple Watch when your iPhone runs out of juice March 10, 2015 6:30 PM | Mark Sullivan It may sound like an odd question, but a lot of Watch owners are going to find themselves in that spot at least once or twice.
The top 8 enterprise apps from Mobile World Congress March 10, 2015 6:00 PM | Dippak Khurana, Vserv GuestThis year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona saw its usual share of product innovations, and the App Planet exhibit featured more than 200 app developers showing off their latest, including some great tools for helping businesses streamline their operations.
Massachusetts congresswoman urges FBI to take Gamergate seriously March 10, 2015 4:45 PM | Jeff Grubb The FBI hasn’t stepped up to fully take on Gamergate. Now, a congresswoman is urging it to make it a priority.
Peter Thiel becomes a part-time partner at Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator March 10, 2015 3:22 PM | Jordan Novet Peter Thiel, a cofounder of PayPal and Palantir and a prominent investor who built up hedge fund Clarium Capital Management and the venture capital firm Founders Fund, has joined prominent Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator as a part-time partner.
Netflix finally comes to … the Nintendo Entertainment System March 10, 2015 3:15 PM | Jeff Grubb The wizards at Netflix somehow enabled Netflix streaming on a 30-year-old gaming console.
Sony whips up a box to store 1.5 petabytes of data on 10,000 Blu-ray discs March 10, 2015 2:33 PM | Jordan Novet The move shows that Blu-ray discs could be a great medium for long-term, “cold” storage.
Google CFO Patrick Pichette to retire after 6 years March 10, 2015 1:52 PM | Harrison Weber This announcement follows a rather rough earnings period for Pichette and Google.
Turkey’s ‘family’ ministry wants to ban Minecraft — just like it did with 4Chan March 10, 2015 1:30 PM | Jeff Grubb Minecraft is one of the world’s most successful games, but a Turkish family agency isn’t happy about that.
Adobe updates Photoshop Mix with stylus support and new photo editing features March 10, 2015 1:22 PM | Harrison Weber The iOS version added stylus support, support for merging images, and the ability to paste graphics from the cloud.
Bring in the (mobile) clones March 10, 2015 1:15 PM | Oscar Clark, Unity Technologies GuestThere is a point where small differences in a game design becomes meaningfully different to at least some of its audience — and it’s not always obvious.
Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee just did a Reddit AMA. Here’s what we learned March 10, 2015 1:07 PM | Ruth Reader A year after his last Reddit AMA, web creator Tim Berners-Lee rejoins the forum to answer more questions.
Tomorrow is today: Adobe integrates Vibes’ digital wallet tech into marketing cloud March 10, 2015 12:21 PM | John Koetsier If you’ve been thinking that digital wallets are still, as they have been for years, tomorrow’s tech … you’re not alone. And until recently, Adobe VP for mobile Matt Asay agreed.
Update — Marketing Tech: Which tools provide the biggest return — and which are a waste of money? (webinar) March 10, 2015 12:16 PM | VB Staff VB WebinarGet the lowdown on the total cost of ownership across 13 major martech categories — and the ROI that can be attributed to each.
iPhones will ship with Intel LTE chips inside in 2016 March 10, 2015 12:06 PM | Mark Sullivan The company’s 7360 LTE modem chip will show up in a special version of the iPhone that will be marketed to emerging markets like Latin America, the sources say.
Microsoft shares more data center hardware specs with the Open Compute Project March 10, 2015 11:34 AM | Jordan Novet Cool — Microsoft put lithium-ion batteries inside server chassis.
A company fighting the meaningless cycle of clicks and likes March 10, 2015 11:10 AM | Dylan Tweney A new startup, Kifi is using the techniques of viral marketing and engaging app design, not to make you click on the latest memes, but to help you find more useful knowledge.
Motorola brings multiple new watch colors, band styles to Moto 360 smartwatch March 10, 2015 11:09 AM | Mark Sullivan Motorola is bringing customization to its popular Moto 360 smartwatch, giving would-be owners more style choices.
More speakers will share bold ideas at the GamesBeat Summit (May 5-May 6) March 10, 2015 11:00 AM | Dean Takahashi Our GamesBeat Summit conference will be small, intimate, and peer-to-peer.
OwnLocal buys site builder Sidengo to help turn local print ads into digital marketing campaigns March 10, 2015 11:00 AM | Barry Levine OwnLocal automatically extracts data to turn an ad into a digital marketing campaign that can include search engine optimization, search engine marketing, creation/hosting of an ad landing page or website, and more.
Pager dials up $10.4M for mobile telemedicine service March 10, 2015 10:47 AM | Mark Sullivan Telemedicine apps that bridge the gap between caregivers and people who need care continue to attract funding.
Facebook builds new servers to outperform competitors on performance, cost per watt March 10, 2015 10:45 AM | Jordan Novet These new units, codenamed Yosemite, could beat out hardware vendors’ competing products in a number of ways.
New Facebook data analysis tool shows marketers what their customers are talking about March 10, 2015 10:18 AM | Daniel Terdiman Called Topic Data, the tool could let advertisers make better decisions based on what their customers are saying on Facebook.
Xbox Live down for many on Xbox 360 March 10, 2015 10:15 AM | Jeff Grubb Microsoft says it’s aware of the problem, and it is working on a fix.
These are the 10 most engaged retailers on Twitter March 10, 2015 9:58 AM | Ruth Reader SocialRank is providing more detailed data to feed your need to measure your social media success against your peers’.
You can now use Apple Pay to buy a Pebble on Kickstarter (or a game at GameStop) March 10, 2015 9:53 AM | Mark Sullivan The move comes one day after Apple’s big event hyping Apple Pay on the phone and on the Watch, and a week after Pebble became the most funded Kickstarter project of all time.
500 Startups Fund democratizes the equity crowdfunding market March 10, 2015 9:10 AM | VB Staff SponsoredReward-based crowdfunding platforms fall short on returns but equity crowdfunding platforms can provide a fair financial middle ground with a minimium investment starting at only $10,000.
HBO will air Game of Thrones season 5 in over 170 countries simultaneously on April 12 March 10, 2015 8:25 AM | Emil Protalinski Winter is coming worldwide.
BioWare cofounder Greg Zeschuk returns to games to get kids off the couch March 10, 2015 8:01 AM | Dean Takahashi Biba and PlayPower marry digital apps and real-world playgrounds, Zeschuk tells GamesBeat in an interview.