Barnes & Noble launches e-bookstore, partners with Plastic Logic on e-reader
Barnes & Noble, the supersize bookseller, launched the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, a buy-and-download site for digital versions of books that are meant to be read on smartphones and laptops.
The eBookstore’s titles are readable on a wide range of platforms, starting with Windows and Mac desktop and laptop computers. But the eBookstore goes beyond that, with support for iPhone and BlackBerry screens.
The store’s pricing is more aggressive than previous e-book ventures. B&N claims … Continue Reading
Drupal solutions provider Acquia closes $8M round B
Acquia, the commercial open-source software company that sells its own version of the popular Drupal content management system, has closed an $8M series B funding round led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners.
Dries Buytaert, Drupal’s creator who now serves as Acquia’s CTO, says the funding will be used to accelerate the company’s existing support business, which is its primary source of revenue. The company also plans new products. One is scalable cloud … Continue Reading
Panjiva: Using government data as a platform for international trade
The White House doesn’t yet have much to show yet for its efforts to make the government more transparent. But, unsurprisingly, the private sector is forging ahead where there are business opportunities. A fascinating example is Panjiva, a company that processes publicly-available trade data about any business that ships anything into the United States through any seaport in the country. And today, it is launching a new service that lets other companies with international trade … Continue Reading
Facebook co-founder's Asana raises funding — from Facebook angels?
We’re hearing that the business collaboration company co-founded by Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein (both formerly of Facebook) has raised funding from the same investors who backed the popular social networking site. When asked about this, Rosenstein acknowledged that the company has raised money (in the form of convertible notes) from angels, but declined to identify them.
Moskovitz (who co-founded Facebook) and Rosenstein left the Palo Alto, Calif., company back in October, saying they wanted … Continue Reading
Apple and RIM to share more than half of cellphone industry profits this year
Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry are on track to make up more than half of the mobile phone industry’s profits this year, according to Deutsche Bank.
The two companies may contribute 58 percent of the industry’s operating profits this year even though their handsets only account for 5 percent of the market, predicted Deutsche analyst Brian Modoff in The Wall Street Journal.
Last year the two companies captured 3 percent of the market, … Continue Reading
IntraOp raises $3.6M for cancer radiation therapy
IntraOp Medical, maker of a device that delivers safer and more targeted radiation to treat skin cancers in non-surgical environments, has brought in $3.6 million of an anticipated $5 million round of debt, warrants and rights, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company raised $1.2 million in venture capital at the start of 2007. It also brought in $2.4 million in February of 2008.… Continue Reading
SunLink captures $1.5M for solar integration equipment
SunLink, provider of technology used to integrate solar panels and equipment into existing buildings, has raised $1.1 million of a targeted $1.5 million in debt financing, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The San Rafael, Calif., company is known for its rooftop mounting equipment, which it says is compatible with solar products from Sharp, Sanyo, BP Solar, GE Energy, Suntech, Solarfun and more.… Continue Reading
Narus beefs up network security with $8.7M
Narus, provider of intelligence software to monitor network traffic and boost cyber security, has raised $8.7 million in a recapitalization round from American Capital, Mayfield Fund, NeoCarta Ventures, Panorama Capital and Walden International. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company has previously raised $90 million over five rounds of funding, reports VentureWire.
Narus says it will use the new financing to add to its sales headcount to keep up with steadily growing demand. With more enterprises relying on … Continue Reading
HP to absorb file-serving software co. Ibrix
Hewlett-Packard has announced its pending acquisition of Ibrix, a Billerica, Mass., company that helps companies like Pixar quickly access large amounts of stored data. While the financial terms of the deal have not been released, Ibrix had previously raised $49 million in capital from JT Venture Partners, Credit Suisse and others.
The company, which boasted 175 customers at the time of the deal (expected to close in the next 30 days), has offered its software … Continue Reading
Google Earth adds a detailed Moon map
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, Google today released a new version of its Google Earth exploratory software that includes a map of the Moon with enough goodies to tie you up for hours. Google’s clickable data not only includes photos and videos, but also short stories about the Apollo missions’ activities on the Moon and some of the more intriguing facets of the Moon’s surface.
To get the … Continue Reading
Data analytics provider Truviso takes $3M bridge, preps for third round of capital
Truviso, maker of data analytics software, has raised a $3 million bridge round of funding in hopes of getting itself in shape to raise a third round of capital next year. The financing came from Diamondhead Ventures, Onset Ventures and UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, the same firms that previously provided Truviso with $10 million.
The Foster City, Calif., company is different from similar analytics providers because its software can analyze high-volume data as it comes … Continue Reading
Oraya scores $42M for eye radiation treatments
Oraya Therapeutics, maker of radiosurgical tools used to treat eye diseases, has brought in $42 million in a third round of funding from Domain Associates, Scale Venture Partners, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures and Synergy Life Partners.
Based in Newark, Calif., the company says it will use its new financing to widen its overseas clinical trials. It hopes to earn international approval and clearance for commercialization. Called the IRay system, its lead treatment can deliver precise … Continue Reading
Apps or browser? GetJar vs. Google on the future of mobile services
The most over-the-top statements and biggest disagreements at our MobileBeat 2009 conference last week circled the same question: Will the future bring a jillion smartphone applications, or a jillion smartphone web sites?
The BBC even reported about how executives from GetJar, the largest independent mobile app store, and Google completely disagreed at MobileBeat on whether developers should focus on platform-specific phone apps or run-anywhere browser apps.
“Apps will be as big, if not bigger than … Continue Reading
Expanding abroad? Avoid translation travesties
Even big companies can get it wrong when they fail to do their homework before launching in new markets.
The examples have become the stuff of legend: In the mid-1960s, Pepsi’s slogan “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation” failed to energize Taiwan, as the translation read “Pepsi Brings Your Relatives Back From the Dead”.
Coors’ campaign “Turn it Loose” went flat in Spain, urging drinkers to “Get Diarrhoea”. Few had it worse than poultry … Continue Reading
MobileBeat: Audio recordings of "new devices" and "social media" panels
Stitcher has provided us with more links to audio recordings of MobileBeat 2009 panels. Here are links to the breakout sessions on New Devices: How Will the Rise of Netbooks and Other New Devices Affect Business? and Eric Eldon’s panel on Social Media, Mobile Content. Thanks for listening.… Continue Reading
Pro gamers' league signs big deal with Electronic Arts
Major League Gaming, the tournament league for professsional video game players, announced today it has cut a deal to use Electronic Arts‘ sports games in its major sponsored tournaments that are now drawing millions of viewers each month.
By hooking up with a huge game publisher like EA, MLG is broadening its audience and taking another step on the path toward proving that professional video game tournaments can be a money-generating spectator sport, even as … Continue Reading
Who will be the Walter Cronkite of the blogosphere?
Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchorman who was the “most trusted man in America,” passed away at age 92 yesterday.
There was an “authority to what Cronkite did every night that no network anchor before or since has ever been able to match,” according to Charlie McCollum at the San Jose Mercury News.
As I look out at the blogosphere, I don’t think we’ve got a match for Cronkite yet. We have plenty of people who … Continue Reading
Calling all entrepreneurs…
Thinking of starting a business or looking for ways to grow your recently launched firm? VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner is filled with expert advice on taking your company to the next level.
Here are a few of the most recent stories that you might have missed:
Do you need a loyalty program? – Loyalty problems tend not to be on the forefront of entrepreneurs’ minds. But an aggressive retention marketing program, even in early stages of … Continue Reading
Q2 venture investing looks like it's 2005 (and that's a good thing)
Hey, that wasn’t so bad. Dow Jones VentureSource has released its data on venture capital investments during the second quarter of 2009, and while the numbers might look bleak in most years, given the broader context, they look … okay.
In Q2 (from April to June), venture capitalists invested a total of $5.27 billion in 595 deals. That’s pretty meager compared to the $8.33 billion invested in 726 deals during the same period last year … Continue Reading
Roundup: Ad models, ad deals and Twittergate
Mobile broadband fails miserably to live up to consumer expectations — UK broadband review site Broadband Genie reports that only one in 10 mobile broadband users are satisfied with the speed of their mobile broadband. And that’s when it’s reachable.
Google Voice may get ringback ads — UnwiredView has the patent drawing for Google Voice’s advertising system. Google wants to play ads while you’re waiting for the other party to answer. No doubt there’ll be … Continue Reading
