"Alley Cat" VC Joanna Rees may shun investing, run for SF mayor
Updated
What do you do when when you’re one of the only female leaders of a venture capital firm, when it implodes because of charges around your personal life, and when the future of investing just doesn’t look all that good?
Well, one answer is run for mayor of San Francisco.
I recently sat down to talk with Joanna Rees, now that it’s a year since the settlement of an ugly case surrounding the love … Continue Reading
Symantec snaps up Mi5 to grow its small business protections
Symantec announced that it has bought web security firm Mi5 Networks to expand its portfolio of security software tailored to small businesses. With the Sunnyvale, Calif. company’s technology, the corporation plans to strengthen its abilities to analyze all of the web traffic entering and exiting business web sites. No further details were disclosed about the all-cash deal.
In addition to the acquisition, Symantec also announced it will be rolling out a new suite of security … Continue Reading
Jawbone doubles its strengths with Prime headset
San Francisco-based Bluetooth headset maker Aliph has introduced its third generation headset, the Jawbone Prime. Along with offering four different colors, the company has also reworked its signature noise cancellation technology and fit options, which will make the device more adjustable for a wider range of consumers.
The Prime will have a talk time of about four and a half hours with a standby time of up to eight days. Aliph also says the device … Continue Reading
Roundup: Wright sticks with Spore, Zango folds, Texas gives solar a boost and more
Wright still on board with Spore — Despite his departure from Electronic Arts, the Sims creator says he will still pitch in on Spore’s sequels.
Game runs apocalypse drills — A report on crisis response has been released based on the game Superstruct, a program that crowdsources people’s reactions to disaster scenarios. CNet has more.
Cybersecurity no easy fix — A study conducted on cybersecurity for president Barack Obama suggests that U.S. networks are vulnerable … Continue Reading
VC crunch continues: BlueRun Ventures falls short of $300M target
BlueRun Ventures, a venture capital fund that focuses heavily on mobile, consumer and enterprise investments, is just the latest venture firm to fall short of its fund-raising goal. It has raised a little more than $240 million for its fourth fund, short of its original $300 million target.
The firm, whose partners have backed companies from PayPal, to Slide and Zivity, said the fund-raising experience last year coincided with a review of its priorities, and … Continue Reading
Chip wars: EU expected to levy antitrust fine against Intel
The computer industry’s chip giants keep fighting each other, and the latest blow appears to be coming soon in Europe.
The European Union is on the verge of fining Intel for anticompetitive behavior in competition with its chief rival Advanced Micro Devices. Action is imminent, although the companies haven’t said anything yet about a ruling, The Wall Street Journal reports.
If the fines are heavy and the legal findings tough, Intel could face a future … Continue Reading
Government shakedown for music-sharing service LimeWire?
Congress is winding up to give LimeWire hell again. The peer-to-peer file-sharing service apparently still poses a risk to users who store personal information on their computers, according to the House Committee on Government Reform.
As a free service that allows users to share locally stored files over the internet, LimeWire has been a lightning rod for controversy. Over the years, the service has been scorned as a method for trading copyrighted content like music … Continue Reading
Orange and Wikimedia join forces for mobile information portals
European telecom company Orange has struck a deal with the Wikimedia Foundation to expand mobile access to a broad range of information and content in the U.K., Spain, Poland and France. After a short pilot period, the plan is to roll out these services, and several new ones, to the rest of Orange’s European user base — covering up to 30 countries. No financial terms have been released.
Starting after the deal finalizes, Orange customers … Continue Reading
Free Online Term Sheet Generator
If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it, but Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati, one of Silicon Valley’s dominant law firms (as in Apple, HP, etc), has created a free, online term sheet generator. This is the site’s description of the tool:
This tool will generate a venture financing term sheet based on your responses to an online questionnaire. It also has an informational component, with basic tutorials and annotations … Continue Reading
Guest Post: Memo from Kafka's Castle and What Employers Want to See on Your Resume
Glenn Kelman is the CEO of Redfin, an online real estate brokerage firm. Prior to joining Redfin, he was a co-founder of Plumtree Software, a publicly traded company that created the enterprise portal software market. Prior to starting Plumtree, Mr. Kelman worked as one of the first employees at Stanford Technology Group, a startup that IBM acquired. Mr. Kelman is a member of the Board of Directors for Naviance, a hosted service for schools and … Continue Reading
DeWolfe officially out as MySpace CEO — what about Anderson?
MySpace has just confirmed earlier reports that co-founder and chief executive Chris DeWolfe is planning to step down in the “near future.” The News Corp.-owned social network says he’ll continue to advise it, as well as serve on the board of MySpace China, a small Chinese-language affiliate (where he’ll serve alongside Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng).
Other reports have already pinned former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta as DeWolfe’s likely successor but MySpace isn’t commenting … Continue Reading
YouTube goes real-time with new notification toolbar
It looks like YouTube has been bitten by the real-time bug too. After the recent real-time overhauls of sites like Facebook and FriendFeed, YouTube is now tinkering with a similar notification feature imaginatively called “YouTube RealTime,” reports TechCrunch.
Much like Facebook’s news feed, YouTube RealTime allows users to track the activities of friends within the site. The feature aggregates actions like comments, online status, and viewing habits, and then broadcasts them to a persistently updated … Continue Reading
Can Owen Van Natta make MySpace number one again?
After simmering rumors about the possible departure of MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe, the lid was blown off yesterday when a TechCrunch report suggested that the company was actively searching for a new CEO. Although a leadership change hadn’t been imminent, the report spurred DeWolfe to ask to his new boss, News Corp. digital media head Jonathan Miller, about his future — and yeah, now some sort of DeWolfe departure is happening, according to two … Continue Reading
Apple's Tim Cook: Why don't we make netbooks? Because they suck
Apple‘s chief operating officer Tim Cook, who’s leading the company in Steve Jobs’ absence, took some sharp jabs at netbooks (computers that are smaller and cheaper than laptops) this afternoon. His words might put a damper on rumors that Apple is developing a netbook, though more on that in a second.
“For us, it’s about doing great products,” Cook said during today’s call discussing Apple’s (surprisingly strong) second quarter earnings. “When I look at netbooks, … Continue Reading
eBay's Q1 earnings dip despite Skype, Paypal boost
eBay has just released its first quarter financials for 2009, beating analyst estimates. But, like many other tech companies, the online auctioneer wasn’t exactly immune to the lagging economy.
By the numbers, the San Jose, Calif.-based company cleared $2.02 billion in revenue for the quarter, representing a $171 million loss year-over-year. Though a sizable decline, these figures still beat analysts’ predictions which pegged the auction site around $1.94 billion.
On a per-share basis, eBay’s Q1 … Continue Reading
What recession? Apple sees best non-holiday quarter ever
Not even a crumbling economy and the absence of co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs can stop Apple. At least according to its second quarter earnings report, covering the period ending March 28, which beat analysts’ expectations — and then some.
Those analysts predicted that the Cupertino, Calif. company would report earnings of $1.08 per diluted share on $7.9 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Instead, Apple says it earned $1.33 per … Continue Reading
Quickoffice beats Microsoft to the punch with iPhone app for Office documents
Dallas-based Quickoffice has released the first iPhone application suite that lets you view and edit Microsoft Office documents. Available for $19.99 from the App Store, it includes its own versions of Word and Excel it calls Quickword and Quicksheets, as well as file-management services. It also offers a web-based interface so you can transfer documents to and from the device. The application is a renamed and upgraded version of what was previously called MobileFiles Pro … Continue Reading
AMD puts pressure on Intel with new generation of server chips
Advanced Micro Devices said today it has a new six-core server microprocessor debuting months ahead of schedule and it will have new server processors with as many as 16 cores coming in the next couple of years.
The product introductions show AMD is serious about keeping up with Intel and, if possible, leaping ahead of Intel in some ways. The company announced the moves on the sixth anniversary of its introduction of the Opteron microprocessor, … Continue Reading
WiMax chip provider Beceem raises $20M
Beceem Communications, one of the top providers of WiMax chipsets, announced that it’s brought in $20 million in a fifth round of funding to scale its manufacturing operations.
The round was led by Motorola and included Global Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, KTB Ventures, Walden International, Intel Capital, NEC, Mitsui and Samsung. Beceem, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has raised $110 million to date.… Continue Reading
Capital Factory incubator chooses five startups
Capital Factory, an early-stage incubator that provides its annual class of startups with up to $20,000 each, mentorship services, office space, legal counsel, public relations and accounting support, has announced its 2009 selections. Those chosen from 250 applicants are internet and mobile companies aimed at making consumers’ lives easier:
Cubit Planning: A web service that provides quick, clear environmental data to help construction developers, urban planners and engineering firms comply with the National Environmental Policy … Continue Reading
