Roundup: Checking out of Google Checkout, Surface 2.0 and more
Here’s the latest action:
Google Checkout raises transaction fees — It seems like a weird time to do so, as merchants are already poorer from the recession. They seem to be leaving in droves. Hello, PayPal!
There’s a second-generation of Microsoft’s Surface table computing systems coming — The BBC has more.
Blogger Robert Scoble joins Rackspace — His thoughts, here.
IBM sinks into water management business — The Wall Street Journal has more.
Sequoia loses Michael Beckwith, only a year after he launched a public equities program — peHUB has some details.
Will Detroit’s problems kill the electric car (again)? — Former Tesla marketing head Darryl Siry has this to say: “What is becoming clear is that these two ecosystems are more linked that many realize, and that the pressures on the traditional automakers and suppliers threaten the viability of the startups as well. Ironically, if GM fails or causes their suppliers to fail, they may inadvertently kill the electric car again.”
Facebook announces third round of fbFund — The seed-stage grant program is aiming to fund companies that use Facebook Connect, its new service for accessing Facebook user data on other sites. Details here.
IrishCentral: A social network for people of Irish descent — It’s launching in time for St. Patrick’s Day, with funding from Allen & Co. and angel investors.
Could marijuana legalization save the California economy? — More here.
Blellow: An online Twitter-like collaboration thing — TechCrunch has a look; watch the video below.
Next Story: 33Across nabs $750K to identify influential online users
Previous Story: Real Time Genomics launches with $3M for data analysis software
About the Author, Eric Eldon
Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.