Collecta says it's the fastest contender in the real-time search race

There have been a number of services popping up recently to tackle real-time search, trying to bring you information as soon as it appears on the web, rather than waiting for Google to crawl it. The latest contender is Collecta, a startup that describes itself as “the real real-time search company.”

Collecta bests competition like OneRiot and Scoopler on both the immediacy and breadth of its results, says chief executive Gerry Campbell. (Campbell has served … Continue Reading

Sega appoints new execs, aligns Western markets

Sonic the Hedgehog has a new boss.

Sega said today it has made a couple of executive appointments to fill the gap after the departure of Simon Jeffery, the Sega of America president who resigned to join iPhone game maker Ngmoco.

First, Naoya Tsurumi will assume worldwide responsibility for Sega’s consumer business, which includes Sega of Japan, Sega of America and Sega of Europe.

Meanwhile, Mike Hayes, who is president of the European operation, will … Continue Reading

Conformia sells intellectual property to Oracle, disbands

Conformia Software, maker of software used to manage software cycles end-to-end, has sold its intellectual property assets to Oracle for an undisclosed amount. The company, which specialized in drug development processes, appears to now be defunct. Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle, on the other hand, plans to merge this technology with its existing Oracle Agile Product Lifecycle Management product, which also assists and monitors drug development from beginning to commercialization.

Conformia previously raised $34 million in … Continue Reading

Gydget buy pays off for Adgregate in new product rollout

Adgregate Markets, a firm that allows shoppers to make full transactions within banner ads, bought widget-maker Gydget back in January but is just now releasing its first product that integrates the two companies’ technology, reports VentureWire.

Gydget, based in San Francisco, still operates as a standalone entity, building widgets to deliver marketing messages on social networks. But now Adgregate has combined these capabilities with its ShopAds platform, so users can carry out transactions directly within … Continue Reading

ForSight subsidiary spies $12M for more advanced eye care

ForSight Labs, an incubator for opthalmic and eye care startups, has taken in $12 million for its third company, ForSight Vision3, a stealthy developer of technology for eye care, reports VentureWire. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., the company didn’t even list investors in the round on its filing — although Morgenthaler Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Versant Ventures are all represented on its board of directors. Last year, these firms provided a $6 million first … Continue Reading

InSync finds $4.7M for asset-tracking software

InSync Software, provider of software that tracks companies’ assets — using radio-frequency identification, GPS and advanced sensor systems — has brought in most of an anticipated $4.7 million second round of funding, according to VentureWire. This might not sound like much, but it already works with some formidable companies, including Motorola, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard and SAP.

Based in San Jose, Calif., InSync last raised money in 2006, closing a $7.5 million first round from Intel Capital … Continue Reading

Armorize captures funds for application security

Armorize, maker of software that defends web applications from external malware attacks, has raised an undisclosed second round of funding from Ambient Sound Investments (run by the founders of Skype Technologies), Birch Venture Capital and several previous investors, reports VentureWire.

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company’s product continually scans systems and source code looking for disruptions. In particular, it is on the lookout for code insertions that snag private information. No further funding history … Continue Reading

Lucid Imagination scares up funds for open-source search software

Lucid Imagination, maker of open-source search software tailored to enterprise applications, has added undisclosed funds from In-Q-Tel to its first round of capital. It had previously raised $6 million in the round from Granite Ventures and Walden International, according to VentureWire.

Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company will use its new money to grow its customer support headcount. In-Q-Tel says it was especially interested in Lucid’s products that could appeal to U.S. intelligence agency … Continue Reading

Sirius XM iPhone app offers free 7-day trial

Satellite radio seems to be something people either fall in love with, or can’t understand why anyone would. I’ve been a loyal XM listener for years. To my surprise, XM’s merger with Sirius didn’t wipe out my favorite channels.

Now, I’ve got the music device I wished for in 2004: An iPod that tunes into XM.

148apps editor Jeff Scott has been jonesing for this app for a while, to the point of hounding the … Continue Reading

Has the chip market turned the corner to recovery?

Some people are desperate to be the first to predict a recovery in key technology markets. We’ve said many times that the semiconductor market, which sells chips into all things electronic, is a bellwether. Mark Anderson, a pundit and head of Strategic News Service, has analyzed the tea leaves, and he’s predicting a recovery is in the offing. There’s scant real evidence for it, as you can see from the chip sales chart from the … Continue Reading

iPhone tethering instructions are easy

Apple’s new iPhone 3G S is a huge hit, but it has one frustrating restriction: AT&T doesn’t support “tethering” the phone to a laptop for use as a cellular modem. But Cleve Nettles at 9 to 5 Mac has solved the dilemma. He’s posted a tethering tutorial for connecting an iPhone to an Apple laptop for use as a cellular modem.

It’s comically easy. But I don’t have a laptop to test it with. Have … Continue Reading

Slideshow creator Animoto syncs business model and traffic, raises $4.4M

Animoto is one of those companies that makes my job fun. It’s a web-based slide show company that has figured out what looks to be a sustainable business model — and it has just closed a $4.4 million round of funding.

I first covered the company in August of 2007, when it launched its patented slide show-video technology. The product, a tool for creating your own multimedia slide show, stood out from other slide show … Continue Reading

Rivals team up so you can see more TV ads at gas stations

Videos ads are multiplying at the nation’s gas stations. You can expect to see a lot more of them thanks to a joint venture being announced today by the two largest companies in the business.

Outcast is teaming up with AdtekMedia, owner of PumpTop TV, to create a network of gas pump video displays. The two companies will have a combined monthly audience of 20 million viewers a month. That’s roughly equal to a top … Continue Reading

Apple's new iPhones: 5 tips for business buyers

You’re a busy dealmaker. You don’t have time to figure out Apple’s product naming. iPhone 3G? iPhone 3.0? iPhone 3G S-in-a-little-square? Too many 3′s and not enough visible differences make the new lineup of iPhones confusing. Here’s the executive summary:

1. Splurge on the S model. S is for Speed. The extra $100 over the base iPhone 3G model is easily worth it. It’s addictively faster, Gizmodo reports, “the single biggest reason you would upgrade” … Continue Reading

Microsoft says Google tool breaks Outlook

Silicon Valley rivalries between tech firms are serious. But they rarely break out into fistfights. Those of us who long for a rumble are forced to settle for cranky late-night blog spats.

At 1:56 am this morning, we got one.  Outlook product manager Dev Balasubramanian posted a  bold-font-laden  bug report about Google’s Apps Sync plugin for Outlook, which allows Outlook to interoperate with Google’s email and other hosted services. He writes up the problem dryly, … Continue Reading

Data: Online, Iranians turning to Facebook during crisis

All the recent media coverage about Twitter’s central role in covering Iranian political news got me wondering — on Twitter, of course — how many people are actually using the service inside of Iran. I got a couple responses, in the form of anecdotal statistics from web companies. It seems that Iranians are mostly using Facebook.

Here’s the first piece of information: Widget-maker Clearspring offers a sharing widget called AddThis for sites, where users can … Continue Reading

Gov't still looking to tighten rules on venture capital

Despite complaints from venture capitalists, it looks like president Barack Obama’s administration is still pushing forward with a plan to increase regulation on the venture capital industry by requiring VC fund advisers to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner (pictured) first suggested in March that this would be part of the Obama’s plan to overhaul the United States’ financial regulatory system, and the language in the administration’s new proposal (below) … Continue Reading

Certify secures $1.6M to transmit health care data

Certify Data Systems, maker of software used to safely transmit health information online, has raised $1.6 million in second-round funding and is already casting an eye toward a third round, reports VentureWire. Ziegler HealthVest Partners led the recent investment, which Certify will use to build its brand among hospitals and physicians.

Based in San Jose, Calif., the company currently serves four hospitals located in Florida, Illinois, Texas and the Pacific Northwest, making it possible for … Continue Reading

Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick talks about games beyond Grand Theft Auto

Strauss Zelnick is chairman of Take-Two Interactive. He has an enviable place in the industry, as head of a company that, through its RockStar Games division, has a lock on Grand Theft Auto, the most valuable franchise in the video game industry. GTA IV sold more than $500 million in its first week upon release in April 2008 and went on to sell a total of more than 13 million units. But although Take-Two owns … Continue Reading

Apple stores to open at 7 am Friday for new iPhone

Eight o’clock isn’t soon enough. Apple retail outlets will be open at the bleary hour of 7 o’clock to begin processing the lines of iPhone buyers who just can”t wait. Hopefully, Apple has the phone activation process ironed out by now, so edgy buyers won’t have to squirm for 45 minutes at the counter like they did when the iPhone 3G launched last year.

AT&T stores will also open at 7 o’clock but will only … Continue Reading