Airborne Mobile raises $500,000 for mobile media apps
Airborne Technology Ventures has raised $500,000 in funding from mobile entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen for the company’s mobile media business.
The company, which is the parent of Airborne Mobile, takes content from major media brands, such as Fox’s Family Guy and the Food Network, and makes it available on mobile platforms. The funding is an add-on investment to the $2 million recently invested by iNovia Capital.
Mogensen will join the Montreal-based company’s board. The company was … Continue Reading
Amazon gobbles up Stanza — now enjoys complete dominance of iPhone ebooks
Online retailer Amazon has just acquired the company that makes Stanza, the popular eBook reader for the iPhone.
Stanza is the perfect complement for Amazon’s Kindle, the eBook reading device. The Kindle itself has been released as an application for the iPhone. That application, called Kindle for the iPhone, is now the No. 1 ebook application for the iPhone. But here’s why it doesn’t overlap with Stanza. First, to really appreciate the Kindle app, you … Continue Reading
Xobni brings Facebook streams into Outlook
More and more communication is moving to social networking services like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. The migration is so pronounced that Facebook Era author Clara Shih and many others argue these sites are becoming our new email inboxes. But startup Xobni has been trying to move things in the other direction by using social data to improve email, and now it’s taking a new step in that direction with the incorporation of Facebook “streams” (previously … Continue Reading
Two serial entrepreneurs become MySpace executives
MySpace‘s plan for rejuvenation is starting to come together. Today, it’s bringing on serial entrepreneurs from the tech industry, who can potentially figure out how to improve its product. Mike Jones is its new chief operating officer and Jason Hirschhorn is its new chief product officer. They’ll be reporting to former Facebook executive and Project Playlist chief executive Owen Van Natta, who became MySpace’s chief executive in a quick management change-up last week. All of … Continue Reading
Brazilian startup Hoplon Infotainment goes global with Taikodom online game
FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL — Hot Brazilian startup Hoplon Infotainment is gearing up to go global late this year or early 2010 with Taikodom, the first multiplayer online video game developed in Brazil. Founder and CEO Tarquinio Teles (pictured) said that Hoplon will team with undisclosed global corporate partners and publishers to launch the online game and related products, including science-fiction books, graphic novels and perhaps a TV series in the U.S. and Europe, then Asia.
Little … Continue Reading
StumbleUpon adds Facebook, comments to its web-based recommendations
StumbleUpon, an application for discovering and rating web content, is fine tuning its web experience. As part of the app’s growth outside of its proprietary toolbar, StumbleUpon is announcing updates to its web-based interface, like Facebook compatibility and new content sharing tools.
In general, StumbleUpon works as a recommendation engine for web pages. Previously, users had to install a toolbar to rate sites (either with a thumbs up or down), or recommend them to other … Continue Reading
Google's Schmidt and Microsoft's Mundie join Obama advisory council
President Barack Obama just brought leaders of two tech giants on-board as advisers to his administration: Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie have both been appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Bringing on executives from both the king of traditional software and the company that’s been at the forefront of of web-based innovation seems like a no-brainer for any group that has … Continue Reading
Lights going out at faltering SV Solar?
Sunnyvale, Calif. solar company SV Solar is soon to be history after several executive departures and no new funding in two years, reports Greentech Media. While the company faced heavy odds — not helped by claiming to have special “prism” technology — it’s demise is probably going to become a more common story among venture-backed solar firms going forward.
SV has long been held back by its inexperienced staff and uninspiring technology, and it depended … Continue Reading
Don't stop believing: Venture performance didn't dip that badly
The National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters have finally released data on the performance of venture capital after the downturn, and while returns certainly fell dramatically, they continued to beat the public markets and to remain positive in the long-term.
To be clear, these performance numbers continue to lag behind some of the other reports that the NVCA publishes — most notably, the organization has already released venture investing and venture fundraising numbers for … Continue Reading
Introducing VentureBeat's Entrepreneur Corner
We’ve just created a special section of VentureBeat to provide resources to entrepreneurs. It’s called the Entrepreneur Corner. Please check it out.
Starting a company is one of the most rewarding endeavors you can ever undertake. I’d recommend it to anyone. I speak from experience: Launching VentureBeat has been an amazing experience I’ll never regret. I’ve grown as an individual in innumerable ways. Building something goes to the core of what we as humans are … Continue Reading
Welcome to Entrepreneur Corner
Welcome to the Entrepreneur Corner!
This is a special section we’ve created here at VentureBeat to help entrepreneurs seeking advice about how to launch and run their companies.
Starting a company is one of the most rewarding endeavors you can ever undertake. I’d recommend it to anyone. I speak from experience: Launching VentureBeat has been an amazing experience I’ll never regret. I’ve grown as an individual in innumerable ways. Building something goes to the core … Continue Reading
How to manage your Internet company in the downturn? Ask Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a good chance you’re hurting from the economic downturn.
More crucial than ever is the ability for companies to scrape in enough revenue — through aggressive and innovative sales and operations efforts — to keep you going through the lean times.
We’ve invited Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, a CEO-in-residence at Accel Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms, to take questions about how to handle operations during the downturn. … Continue Reading
Spanish Abengoa fires up world's largest solar tower
Abengoa Solar has brought its massive PS20 solar tower in Seville, Spain online. The 20-megawatt plant is the largest of its kind in the world, delivering electricity to 10,000 homes. The development is yet another example of Spain’s growing influence in the solar sector — which now extends as far as the American southwest.
The tower architecture that defines the PS20 plant is still fairly unique. This particular plant is 541 feet tall (about 54 … Continue Reading
Konami cancels realistic Six Days in Fallujah video game
After an outcry in the U.S., Japanese video game maker Konami has decided to cancel its Six Days in Fallujah video game.
The game (which we covered a couple of weeks ago) aimed to reproduce the bloody street battles between U.S. soldiers and insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. Thousands of people, including many Iraqi citizens, and 38 U.S. soldiers were killed in the fighting. The outrage over the game showed that even video games … Continue Reading
Forget that redesign, you can get Facebook's "stream" anywhere
Facebook is trying to get third-party developers to integrate users’ home page “streams” (formerly “news feeds”) by adopting a new open standard. Now these streams can be accessed from any site.
Developers still must ask a Facebook user’s permission to access data in their “stream” — their shared items, status updates, etc. — before displaying it in a separate web site, mobile or desktop application.
This means that another company could theoretically build their own … Continue Reading
Jodange nabs $1.2M for product opinion analysis
Jodange, provider of applications that break down and analyze opinions on products and companies, has raised $1.2 million in early stage funding to expand its presence in the media, legal, energy and technology sectors.
With this technology, businesses can better understand who is saying what about their offerings and why — and whether their opinions are influential, or impact their success. Jodange’s flagship product, Top of Mind, digs into data to separate out the opinions … Continue Reading
Exelon seeks funds for largest urban solar plant in the U.S.
Exelon, owner of utility Commonwealth Edison, announced that it has applied for federal loan guarantees to build what it says will be the largest urban solar plant in the U.S. Located on the south side of Chicago, the project is expected to cost more than $60 million and require 32,800 solar panels to deliver energy to as many as 1,500 homes a year.
Exelon will not only build, but also own and operate the 10-megawatt … Continue Reading
Plas2Fuel captures $4.3M for waste-to-fuel technology
Plas2Fuel, maker of equipment that produces synthetic crude oil, has raised $4.25 million in a first round of funding for the commercial rollout of its products. Based in Kelso, Wash., the company sells vessels for converting plastic waste into fuel and manages the sale of what is produced to oil refineries.
Provided by Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Saffron Hill Ventures and Reference Capital Management, the funding round fell a little short of the company’s $5 … Continue Reading
Posit Science raises $5.6M for brain fitness software
Posit Science, one of several companies offering software to strengthen cognitive function and prevent brain deterioration, has raised $5.6 million in a third round of funding to continue product development and ramp up marketing efforts, reports VentureWire (subscription). The San Francisco-based company is coming off its strongest sales quarter yet, but faces a surprisingly crowded field of competition.
Companies like Dakim, Vivity Labs, Lumos Labs and Cognifit have all raised substantial capital in the last … Continue Reading
TivaMed culls $6M more for stealthy gynecology device
TivaMed, a medical device maker working on radio-frequency-based technology for the gynecology field, has raised another $6 million in a first round of funding — bringing the total of the round to $10 million. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company says this financing will help it finish product development in preparation for a commercial launch next year, reports VentureWire.
Based on a 2007 patent filing, TivaMed’s technology will be used to retighten women’s skin … Continue Reading
