Document-sharing site DocStoc rebrands to keep up with rival Scribd
DocStoc , the site that lets you post, share and embed PDFs, documents and other files — much like its prime competitor Scribd — has emerged from beta with a new look and a new business model . While the site is growing rapidly — now with 4.8 million unique monthly visitors — it’s still running to catch up.
Changing the way it brings in revenue, the company has introduced DocCash, a program that will … Continue Reading
TechStars founder levels up with $2.5M fund
TechStars, a seed-stage fund and incubator, has already been showing some good results for founder and executive director David Cohen. Now the serial entrepreneur is becoming an angel investor, starting a fund of $2.5 million and aiming at early-stage web and software companies. Portfolio companies already include Devver, Eventvue, Filtrbox, Foodzie, Ignighter, Oblong, StockTwits and TechStars itself. Here’s more, from Cohen’s announcement today:
The new fund will invest in approximately 20 startups over a five … Continue Reading
GE juices green economy with $100M battery plant
Batteries are attracting a great deal of cleantech buzz these days — a trend that’s just spiked with General Electric’s announcement that it will build a $100 million plant to make sodium-based batteries for hybrid locomotives and other heavy equipment engines. With plans to create 350 new jobs, the Albany, N.Y., project seems be exactly what president Obama had in mind when he predicted a burgeoning green economy.
And government aid it will get, with … Continue Reading
Solving the problems of early stage me-too product startups
[Editor's note: A lot of web startups we talk to these days seem very similar to a lot of other web startups we talk to -- from social networks to Firefox plugins to micro-messaging services to a long list of others. We want to cover companies that are clearly doing something unique and interesting. So here's a great post that we're republishing with permission from investor David Shen, with his pointers on how to take … Continue Reading
Video of airline travelers' tweets
Jer Thorp, a self-described "artist and educator " in Vancouver, has created simple, yet eye-catching animations that show the flight paths of Twitter users. Thorp wrote a program that searched for the term "just landed in" in tweets. By presuming that the home location listed on the tweeters’ Twitter profiles was their home destination, Thorp created a first-pass chart of the migration patterns of Twitter-happy air travelers.
Thorp describes his work in detail on his … Continue Reading
Without Steve Jobs, should we expect an underwhelming Apple WWDC?
Apple has released some of the details about the keynote address for its Worldwide Developers Conference, which will be at 10am on Monday, June 8. The big news: Senior Vice President of Product Marketing Phil Schiller will give the keynote, not chief executive Steve Jobs.
Now, that’s not exactly a huge surprise — since Jobs wasn’t announced to return until late June from his health-related absence , a Job-less WWDC seemed like a possibility once … Continue Reading
Cloud Engines scores funds for easy file sharing
Cloud Engines , maker of a box-like device called Pogoplug that makes external hard drives accessible from any computer or iPhone, has raised an undisclosed amount of first-round funding to create user-friendly cloud environments. Its users are able to share their files, photos and more with anyone from anywhere.
The device’s most salient feature is its ease of installation. Setting up a household server is beyond the technical know-how of most casual consumers. But users … Continue Reading
Why did Twitter make some tweets invisible?
Twitter users, here’s the obscure but possibly important "small settings update" the company may have made to your account’s configuration: If, under the Notifications panel on the Settings page, you had changed the default setting to either "all @ replies" or "no @ replies," your setting has been reset back to the default: Replies sent from people you follow to people you don’t won’t appear in your public timeline.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says on … Continue Reading
Craigslist confirms: no more fancy hookers
In April, a medical student in Boston was charged with killing a "masseuse" he met through Craigslist’s Erotic Services classified ads. This morning, Illinois’ attorney general, who with her counterparts from Connecticut and Missouri had met with Craigslist execs last week, told the Associated Press that Craiglist will be shutting down the category, which largely serves as a clearinghouse for paid sex.
Craigslist publicist Susan MacTavish Best emailed us the statement below, in which she … Continue Reading
Come learn about DEMO tomorrow in SF: First 50 at door get free drink
Chris Shipley and myself are hosting some cocktails and conversation at Varnish Fine Art in SF tomorrow evening, from 5-7pm, and you’re invited.
As DEMO co-executive producers, we’re scouring the globe for the most compelling technology products/companies to showcase at the upcoming DEMOfall 09 in September. We’re inviting those of you — entrepreneurs and other interested professionals — who want to learn more about the DEMO format.
DEMO has long been the leading place for … Continue Reading
Babble raises $1.3M for online parenting advice
Babble Media , an online magazine and social network for hip, stylish parents, has added $1.25 million to a first round of funding , bringing its total to $3.25 million. The New York based company, a spin-off from digital lifestyle magazine Nerve, says it will use the money to build its community tools.
Aiming to appeal to what it calls "a new generation of parent," the site runs articles that you wouldn’t see on other … Continue Reading
Skydeck + Google Voice = free phone management
Do you live and die by your cellphone? Salespeople and plumbers are among the core demographic for Skydeck , a voice-to-text service that manages phone calls, text messages, voicemail and contacts. The company launched its product in January, at a $9.95 per month subscription rate.
Would free be better?
Skydeck launched a free version of its service today. Instead of using human transcribers to convert voicemails to text, it uses the automated Google Voice system … Continue Reading
Intel's chief executive speaks out against $1.45 billion fine for antitrust violations
In a sign that Intel’s regulatory troubles are just beginning, the European Commission slapped Intel with a record antitrust fine of $1.45 billion today for allegedly abusing its monopoly power in competition with Advanced Micro Devices .
The EU specifically said that Intel gave hidden rebates to computer makers on condition they bought only from Intel, that Intel made payments to major retailer Media Saturn on condition it was an Intel exclusive, and otherwise interfered … Continue Reading
Vodafone announces mobile app store — but will it be enough?
updated
Vodafone has announced its own mobile application store , in an effort to keep up with other competing stores such as the phenomenally successful Apple iPhone App Store.
Vodafone is the world’s largest operator by sales, with 289 million subscribers.
The biggest news is that it will offer billing so that it can charge its customers directly. This sort of service is surely to be loved by application developers, because until now the main … Continue Reading
BlogHer, the "community for women who blog," raises $7M more
BlogHer , a content network for "women who blog,” has raised $7 million more in a third round of financing, giving it a treasure chest to keep it through the downturn as it seeks to become profitable next year.
The Redwood City, Calif., company has now raised $15.5 million, according to AllThingsD, which reported on the funding . There are several other players gunning for the women’s content and ad market, including established companies like … Continue Reading
Streamezzo raises $5.1 million for cross-platform mobile apps technology
Streamezzo said it has raised $5.1 million in funding for its platform that allows mobile apps creators to publish media apps across many different mobile platforms.
The round was led by Innovacam , with participation from current investors Sofinnova Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, Qualcomm, NTEC and GET Valorisation.
Paris-based Streamezzo makes what it calls a "rich application software platform," a technology meant to make it much easier for a developer to take the code for an … Continue Reading
iLike now integrates with iPhone, social networks
Any rock star knows you’ve got to have an iPhone app, a Twitter account, a YouTube presence, MySpace, hi5, and Facebook pages, not to mention Bebo and Orkut. And to keep all your information across those sites in sync, apparently you now need music-discovery site iLike’s new iLike Artist Dashboard . It lets any of iLike’s 300,000 artists publish simultaneously to a global set of social networks, as well as to a custom iPhone app, … Continue Reading
Roundup: Big Intel fine coming, startups decide to cut or spend, first Tweet from space and more
Here’s the latest action:
Intel gets hit with big Europe antitrust penalty — The world’s biggest chip maker is expected to get hit with a $1.3 billion [updated actual $1.45 billion] fine because it allegedly engaged in sales practices that made it all but impossible for its rivals to win chip deals, Bloomberg reported. The fine is expected to be announced Wednesday by the European Union antitrust regulators.
How startups are deciding to spend or … Continue Reading
Mindopia asks movie star Mike Myers to find your new career
With unemployment on the rise, plus lots of uncertainty about the economy, people aren’t just looking for new jobs — many of them are wondering whether it’s time to find a new career. If that’s something you’re thinking about, a new site called Mindopia may be able to help.
Founder and chief executive Michael Davis says the company stems from his own frustration after wanting to move on from his career from as a Hollywood … Continue Reading
Microsoft's gesture-based game control to debut in 2010
Rumors are rife that Microsoft will introduce the gesture-based game control system we wrote about earlier this year at the E3 show in Los Angeles in June.
We hear the same thing, as far as the announcement goes. But we also believe that Microsoft will not actually introduce the system to Xbox 360 consumers until the fall of 2010. That’s a long way off, which means it may take Microsoft a sum total of four … Continue Reading
