BlackBerry app could help locate kidnapped executives

In a world gone mad, this new BlackBerry app makes perfect sense.

Now, if you’re a traveling executive and you happen to be kidnapped, you can set off the spy software on your global positioning system (GPS) enabled BlackBerry that will let your company know your exact location.

New York-based BrickHouse Security has launched this kidnapping safety app for travelers. Dubbed the Executrac mobile GPS tracking software, it’s an invisible application that turns any BlackBerry … Continue Reading

The iPhone's I am Ninja game asks where you learned to blow

Ninjas and iPhones are a good mix. That’s clear to Axo Studios, which is launching the deliberately ungrammatical game, I am Ninja, on the iPhone today.

The game is based on the Ask a Ninja brand, made famous through wacky video podcasts on the iPod. Those shows, where a ninja (speaking in what I consider to be offensive faux Japanese accents — call me a party pooper) answers questions in a comic and irreverent manner, … Continue Reading

Quicken Online strikes back at upstarts with iPhone app

There’s been a lot of buzz around personal finance websites like Mint and Wesabe, but finance software maker Intuit has joined the online fray too– and no, not just by sending threatening letters to Mint. It launched its Quicken Online service back in January 2008, and made it free in October. Now it’s rolling out an iPhone application, which may turn out to be just right for the “paycheck-to-paycheck” users that Intuit is targeting.

Jim … Continue Reading

Roundup: Windows 7 nearing launch, Facebook phished, Dean's upcoming Seattle speech

Here’s the latest action:

Windows 7 readying for birth — Microsoft’s new operating system is entering its final stages of testing and the company has a “release candidate” ready, possibly for launch on May 5. It will be interesting to see if it lifts computer sales in the midst of the recession.

Walt Disney takes nearly 30 percent stake in Hulu — News of the Disney relationship with the Web video aggregator is here.

Anyone … Continue Reading

N-Trig launching software to enable more versatile multi-touch displays

From the iPhone to Microsoft Surface, multi-touch displays are one of the most fashionable new user-interface technologies.

N-trig, an Israeli company, hopes to make displays even more versatile by allowing them to respond to input from both fingers and pens. Usually, it’s one or the other. Capacitive-touch screens work via small electrical fields that respond to human touch. They usually don’t work with a stylus or pen. And the screens that work with pens don’t … Continue Reading

Never leave Gmail again: Gmail Labs gets web search

Google has been busy using its Labs area (for experimental features) to integrate a bunch of its applications into Gmail. My favorite so far is probably the Google Calendar widget, which reminds me of upcoming meetings as long as I’m logged into my email. But there’s been one tool missing, one that Google is kind of well-known for: Google Search itself.

Now, Google just announced that you can add a web search bar in Gmail … Continue Reading

Intelius buys Spock, the people search engine

Intelius, a company that performs background checks on people, has acquired Spock, a people search engine, for an undisclosed amount.

The deal was signed today, VentureBeat just confirmed with Spock’s co-founder Jaideep Singh. Unconfirmed rumors of the deal first appeared yesterday on Techcrunch.

We wrote about Spock when it first launched in 2007, and became the first search engine to add a range of new social networking features, including letting users choose what sort of … Continue Reading

Failing to snag users, Lunarr decides to shut down

Lunarr made some innovative web applications, but it never took off as a business. The Portland, Ore.-based company has decided to shut its operations as of May 10.

The company came up with creative web applications such as Elements, which I saw as a kind of visual Twitter aimed at stoking the imagination. Elements launched in February and got a good crowd of beta users, but it wasn’t enough to justify further investments, said Hideshi … Continue Reading

WordPress's BuddyPress is the web's social network in a box

Blogging platform company Automattic already has millions of people using WordPress, its simple and effective blogging software (we’ve been pretty happy using it so far).

Now it has opened up BuddyPress, its long-awaited social network for blogs. It’s an easy way to add social networking features like profiles, a Facebook-like Wall and more to users profiles on to WordPress blog networks.

This way, bloggers can make a blog more social, bringing them and their readers … Continue Reading

Come work for VentureBeat — in advertising, marketing, tech or as a writer

With VentureBeat‘s growth and expanding conference program, we’re continuing to build our team.

Specifically, we’ve got openings for the following:

Manager, Advertising Ops/Marketing — If you’re an energetic and outgoing individual who thrives on multi-tasking, staying on top of details and gets excited about working with some of the coolest companies in the technology and media market…then this job is ideal for you.  VentureBeat needs an uber organizer to coordinate our online advertising operations, and … Continue Reading

Facebook's new Friends page wants you to make its homepage work better for you

Facebook‘s March redesign made it easy for you to filter your Facebook homepage — the one full of possibly annoying status updates from your friends — so you could just see what certain groups were sharing. But it didn’t make it easy enough, and some recent changes could help fix that.

Facebook is introducing a new version of its “Friends” page that includes simple instructions for setting up new lists of friends to make filtering … Continue Reading

SmartSynch ups utility control with smart grid box

Smart meter provider SmartSynch has announced it’s developed a new smart grid communication box that will transmit energy use data to and from utilities via public wireless networks. Called the Universal Communications Module (UCM), this new technology is intended to enhance smart meters, allowing utilities to wirelessly deploy smart grid programs like energy load control, real-time pricing applications, stand-by generator control and more detailed monitoring capabilities.

SmartSynch is one of the leading companies in the … Continue Reading

Freewheel nabs $12M for online video advertising

FreeWheel, an online video advertising platform that helps broker revenue-share deals between content providers, distributors and publishers, has closed $12 million in a third round of funding provided by Foundation Capital and Battery Ventures.

Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company counts Joost, Next New Networks and car ad network Jumpstart Automotive Media among its clients — which include 15 ad networks and distributon partners and 15 content providers. It also works with CBS and … Continue Reading

Travel site Ruba — perfect for the age of the Tweet

Ruba is (yet another) new travel web site. But it’s hoping to grow virally by encouraging users to send links to friends through the explosively popular sites Twitter and Facebook. Users can effectively notify their entire list of 400 Facebook friends about your travel experience with one mouse-click.

However, it’s true that most other sites are quickly catching on to this trick, so it’s unclear how much of an edge Ruba has with this feature … Continue Reading

Google and Mozilla team up to pinpoint your location

There’s been an explosion of iPhone applications that take advantage of a user’s location (for example, Urbanspoon, the restaurant recommendation app that was just acquired by IAC). But websites and web apps have been slower to incorporate location awareness, because it would mean having users download a plug-in or adjust their settings to share their location, and not every user will do that. Now, Mozilla and Google have taken a big step towards making geolocation … Continue Reading

Fring raises third round for cheap mobile phone calls

Fring, the maker of a free mobile application for activities like instant messaging and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone calls, has raised a third round of funding.

The most compelling part of the London startup’s offering is its VoIP support. Basically, it means you can make phone calls through your phone’s data plan rather than using cell phone minutes. That, combined with the fact that the Fring app is free, can lead to big … Continue Reading

UberVU's new tools pull conversations back to your blog

It’s becoming increasingly hard to keep track of discussions scattered across the web. That’s what a startup called uberVU hopes to change. It looks at sites like Twitter, Digg, FriendFeed, and many others, and aggregates the comments related to a single URL (for example, a blog post). That way, it’s possible to see the entire conversation about, say, one of my posts in a single thread, regardless of where the comments were made. And now, … Continue Reading

Booyah to launch cause-oriented iPhone entertainment apps

Booyah is nearing the completion of its first round of cause-oriented apps for the iPhone.

Keith Lee, (pictured below) chief executive of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, said the first app will be out this spring and that it will let people do good in the world while fulfilling their own personal dreams.

That may sound lofty, but the ambitions of this team of game industry veterans shouldn’t be taken lightly. This is one of … Continue Reading

KingsIsle's Wizard 101 hits 2 million users, sells gift cards

Apparently a lot of people want to learn how to be wizards. The Wizard101 virtual fantasy world has now passed two million unique registered users since its launch last year.

The family-oriented game lets you attend Ravenswood School (a kind of faux Hogwart’s school of Harry Potter fame), where you learn to be a wizard and level up by fighting duels or going on quests.

The game’s maker, Plano, Texas-based KingsIsle Entertainment, also said today … Continue Reading

Twitter is dominated by males. Quick: What does that mean?

The majority of people who send text messages on Twitter are male, according to a study released by Nielsen Mobile, a mobile market research company.

The study which studied usage of SMS during the fourth quarter of 2008, found that some 57 percent of Twitter users are men, while only 45 percent of users of Predicto, another texting community are male. The study was publicized by Predicto, which is a New York based private company … Continue Reading