Roundup: Spam bounces back, angel investors balk, Entellium bigwigs go to jail and more
Bebo caught in Irish conflict — The video sharing site has become an unexpected platform for both Irish Catholics and Protestants to hurl insults and violent threats at each other. The BBC has the story.
Downturn puts drag on angels — The Center for Venture Research reports that angel investors put less money into each of their startups in 2008 than in years previous, noting a drop of 26 percent from 2007.
Encarta buckles under … Continue Reading
Yahoo Messenger comes to the iPhone just in time for Push Notification
One of the best things about the iPhone 3.0 software is it will finally make instant messaging viable on the platform. That’s because with Push Notifications finally working, you no longer will have to have an instant messaging app open all the time to receive messages from it.
Of the instant messaging platforms, Yahoo Messenger is one of the largest, with millions of users. So far, it hasn’t been represented at all on the iPhone, … Continue Reading
Is the big Facebook advertising experiment working?
Facebook sacked its chief financial officer today, as the company stares down rumors about difficulties getting financing and high growth-driven costs — now it is defending itself to the press by saying it is on track to beat revenue projections and make 70 percent more than in 2008. Facebook brought in revenues of nearly $300 million in 2008, I’ve previously confirmed, so could that mean around $500 million in 2009? This number is substantially higher … Continue Reading
Flash presentation maker Flypaper gets a simple web editor
Flypaper Studio, which offers an easy-to-use editor to create presentations in the Flash format, is adding to its options for salespeople with the release of a simple web editor.
At first, I thought this would be an online equivalent of Flypaper’s desktop application, but it turns out the web editor is much more limited, because it was built for a very specific purpose. Customers of the Phoenix, Ariz. startup will still use the standard Flypaper … Continue Reading
Gawkk relaunches as web video's Twitter
Twitter became famous by posing the question, “What are you doing?” Gawkk, a short-form video sharing site, mimics that meme with a similar query: “What are you watching?”
Although the New York-based site gave the world a peek back in December, the company has announced a site revamp and relaunch as part of this week’s Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.
Since Gawkk is a video sharing site (and not a hosting hub like YouTube), … Continue Reading
After a funding failure, hi5 "kind of died" today
When work began today, social network hi5 had over 100 employees. Right now, that’s closer to 50, a source tells me, confirming TechCrunch’s earlier story. But why did a site with 62 million unique monthly visitors have to lay off 50 percent of its employees today? Because a round of funding it was seeking recently collapsed, I’m told.
The blow is especially painful because the funding was nearing completion, with the investors doing due diligence, … Continue Reading
IBM makes big online collaboration move with LotusLive Engage
IBM is making a big move into the online collaboration market with a new product called LotusLive Engage, which it will be demonstrating tomorrow at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.
Engage appears to be the most comprehensive service yet offered under IBM’s LotusLive umbrella of web-based businesses services. The heart of the product appears to be a web meeting service, but just as Cisco says it wants to build a collaboration suite around … Continue Reading
Kinoma makes finding mobile content a snap on Windows, Nokia's Ovi
Mobile developer Kinoma announced that its Kinoma Play mobile media browser will be available in Nokia’s Ovi Store and the Windows Marketplace (which will be included on all phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5 this fall). Microsoft has signed Kinoma Play as an anchor application, meaning it will be among the first to offer its application through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
At the Mobile World Congress I attended several weeks ago, rumor had it … Continue Reading
The changing face of usability testing: Optimal Workshop releases free service called Treejack
With the downturn in the economy, companies are trying to do more with less. Some are outsourcing jobs, others are laying off contractors, and still others are firing all their consultants. Usability testing is no exception–especially since consultants usually charge between $5,000 and $20,000 per project.
A New Zealand company called Optimal Workshop is trying to disrupt the usability space by offering free software that replaces consultants. Instead of hiring someone, you can use Optimal’s … Continue Reading
Apple splitting the iPhone into high-end and low-end versions?
Rumors have been building over the past few months that Apple was not only working on a new iPhone, but that it could have more than one version of the device in the works. Third-party usage logs and code within the iPhone 3.0 software seem to show this. So why would there be two versions of the device, with more than capacity size as a differentiating factor? Well, it could be part of Apple’s play … Continue Reading
Poor economy killed Wikia Search
Wikipedia has been one of the biggest successes in the history of the Internet. So has Google. So on paper it makes some sense that combining the two would result in a service that would also be hugely popular. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well for Wikia Search.
The wiki-style search engine started by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, is closing down, Webware first reported earlier today. In confirming the news, Wales attempts to deflect … Continue Reading
Facebook CFO Gideon Yu out: Personality conflict, money issues, part of IPO plan, or what?
[Update: The company has confirmed Yu's departure. See its statement below the article. And AllThingsD reports that he's been replaced with interim CTO and Silicon Valley veteran Peter Currie.]
Facebook chief financial officer Gideon Yu is leaving the company, as first reported by AllThingsD and the Wall Street Journal. His departure follows a range of rumors questioning how the company is doing financially, but this news may not be related to them. Instead, … Continue Reading
Disney on Hulu would leave CBS as the odd network out
The premium video streaming site Hulu works first and foremost because it has great content. And it looks to be on the verge of getting even better.
A deal to bring Disney’s content to Hulu is “basically done,” a source familiar with the negotiations tells Silicon Alley Insider. This means we should see content from ESPN, ABC and probably some Disney movies on the service. It’s a huge win for Hulu and its fans.
With … Continue Reading
MySpace and Citysearch partner for MySpace Local
MySpace and Citysearch have partnered for the launch of a local business directory called MySpace Local. The new site lets MySpace users review, search, and share content about their favorite businesses, while leveraging Citysearch’s stockpile of local business directory info. Though MySpace Local is currently in private beta, users can expect an official launch in the coming weeks.
After getting a look behind the curtain, I can say that MySpace Local is fairly straightforward. Essentially, … Continue Reading
Ribbit announces winners of its "killer" mobile apps competition
Ribbit, the mobile development platform owned by BT, announced the winners of its $100,000 Killer App Challenge today, recognizing teams that most effectively integrated voice functionality into apps, web sites and mobile communities. Products created on the Ribbit system are unique in that they span carriers, devices and operating systems — giving the submissions a good amount of freedom, but also the challenge of working seamlessly across platforms.
The competition drew 150 applications from 500 … Continue Reading
SunRun teams with Virgance to finance solar for consumers
Hard economic times mean fewer consumers will shell out for expensive solar panels. Also hard hit are startups that offer no-money-down programs to lease panels or buy their power but can’t find banks to partner with. So, teaming with SunRun — one of the few outfits that still has a healthy line of financing — is a minor coup for Virgance, a company that plans to sign up thousands of new solar users.
I’ve written … Continue Reading
Sony cuts price of aging PlayStation 2 to $99
In a move that could spur demand at the low end of the video game market, Sony cut the price of its PlayStation 2 console from $129 to $99.
The decision comes as a bit of a surprise since Sony was widely rumored to be considering a price cut for the $399 PlayStation 3, which has been lagging in sales behind the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The PS 2 cut will take effect … Continue Reading
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime addresses OnLive, iPhone competition and used games
It’s been about six months since we last interviewed Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. in the meantime, Nintendo has lined up the launch of its new DSi handheld console and has made it much easier to buy downloadable WiiWare games. Despite the recession, the Japanese company continues to outsell its rivals two-to-one in both the home console and handheld game player markets. We spoke with Fils-Aime shortly after Satoru Iwata, chief executive of … Continue Reading
Tinker: sanitized Twitter for advertisers, money-maker for micro-bloggers
Popular microblogging services like Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed will let you find and follow friends, celebrities, and anyone else who interests you. But Glam Media wants to let you follow events, too. It’s just launched Tinker.com, a micro-blogging platform that collects real-time conversations from Twitter Facebook and Friendfeed and sorts them by subject. Tinker users can select events that interest them from a predefined list — including options for sports events, TV shows, and breaking … Continue Reading
AdMob launches iPhone Download Exchange to give and get free ads
Mobile ad network AdMob is launching a way for developers who don’t have the money for a big advertising campaign to get attention in Apple’s increasingly crowded iPhone App Store — an advertising exchange it calls the AdMob iPhone Download Exchange.
The concept is pretty simple: If you’ve got an application with ad space, you can serve ads that promote other applications from the Download Exchange, and in return, you’ll get free ads on other … Continue Reading
