Google Gears' days may be numbered
It looks like Google is scaling back its support for Gears, the browser extension it launched in 2007 to add capabilities to web applications such as offline access.
The company is being a little vague about its exact plans. The Los Angeles Times reported that Google is “letting the sun set on its Gears project” — not because it isn’t interested in web apps with additional capabilities, but because many of those features will be … Continue Reading
Yahoo's 2009 searches topped by Michael Jackson and Twilight, not Twitter
Barely more than a few hours after Microsoft revealed the year’s top queries on its new search engine Bing, Yahoo followed suit with its own top 10. Unsurprisingly, Michael Jackson topped both lists, but Twitter fans will be disappointed to learn the microblogging service not only failed to capture the number two spot (where it placed on Bing’s list), it didn’t even make the top 10.
Perhaps that’s not surprising — Bing is a much … Continue Reading
5 O'Clock Roundup: Crunchpad killed, Googlephone sighted, Kindles counted
Here’s the latest action:
The Googlephone, still unseen on the Internet, seems likely to ship — Gizmodo has no spy photos, but they claim a reliable insider has seen a Google-branded smartphone that the company seriously plans to sell in the near future. Google has been repeatedly tagged as one of the world’s best-known, most powerful brands, akin to Coke and McDonalds. So unlike the Crunchpad (see below), a Google-branded phone might in theory sell … Continue Reading
Broadcom buys Dune Networks for $178M to make insanely fast networking chips
Chip maker Broadcom said it has agreed to buy Dune Networks for $178 million in cash. The communications chip maker is pouncing on a startup that makes a scalable networking chip set for communications equipment that connects computers inside corporate data centers.
They may not be sexy, gut these are the chips that make the Internet go faster, as they can transfer data between corporate computers known as servers at high speeds.
Dune Networks has … Continue Reading
Obama says yes to Copenhagen just as China backs off
China isn’t going to be a proactive player at the climate talks in Copenhagen starting next week, according to a government representative. Because it won’t be seeking international funding, there’s no reason for China to enter into a binding global agreement to reduce carbon emissions — any changes it makes will be voluntary.
This news comes less than a week after Obama announced that he would be making the trip to Denmark to represent America’s … Continue Reading
Shoppers bought a lot of game consoles on Black Friday
Game consoles flew off the shelves during Thanksgiving week thanks to discounts and marketing promotions that finally brought gamers into stores.
Nintendo said it sold more than 1.5 million hardware units in the U.S. during the week of Thanksgiving. That equates to 2.5 systems sold every second. The number includes sales of the Wii console as well as the DS and DSi handheld units.
During the week, Nintendo said it sold more than 550,000 Wii … Continue Reading
Working Equity insures homeowners against weak markets
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare: being forced to sell for less than the purchasing price of their house. Still, whether it’s due to a career change, retirement or a growing family, many homeowners are facing this scenario every day.
Working Equity is here to help and it has just received $5 million in equity financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to do it. WE’s product, called Equity Protection, works like insurance that pays off when … Continue Reading
New DiscoveryBeat speakers: Zynga, Flurry, YouWeb, GetJar and more
We’re excited to announce new speakers and program content for DiscoveryBeat, VentureBeat’s event exploring how to get apps noticed in an age of noise. The event takes place Dec. 8 at the Automattic Lounge on Pier 38 in San Francisco. We’ve got a maximum capacity of 200 and we expect the event will be sold out. Our newest speakers will be discussing app discovery, analytics, and monetization. Here they are:
Bill Mooney, vice president and … Continue Reading
Why startup SimpleGeo abandoned game making to sell location tools instead
SimpleGeo is a Boulder-based startup now beta-testing its line of software development tools, cloud storage, and other must-haves for mobile application developers who want to easily build location-based services into their apps. The firm has gathered a $1.5 million first round of investment from familiar names in the Valley VC world.
Co-founder and CEO Matt Galligan confirmed that bicoastal firm First Round Capital led the round. A total of $1.3M in seed funding came from … Continue Reading
Twitter takes down Lists temporarily as site buckles
Twitter has suspended its Lists feature temporarily after the site experienced a flood of errors. $155 million in venture capital later, and the site still goes down? C’mon people!
The company posted this message this afternoon:
“Starting about 10 minutes ago, we began experiencing a very high rate of errors and we are working on the underlying problem.
Update (1:30p): We are now recovering from this unexpected downtime. The Lists feature is temporarily unavailable as … Continue Reading
Join VentureBeat & DEMO for holiday party in SF, this Wednesday
If you’re an entrepreneur, or even just a regular reader of VentureBeat considering launching your own company, you should join us at our DEMO/VentureBeat holiday party and jam session in San Francisco this Wednesday, Dec. 2.
We’re meeting at the new hip Mighty Bar (119 Utah Street @ 15th, San Francisco – Google Map) from 7pm to 11pm. If you play an instrument, bring it along, because we’ll let you jump on stage and jam … Continue Reading
hi5 recruits a beastly gaming veteran as its president
Social network hi5 has hired a pioneer in the video game industry to kick its social gaming strategy into high gear. It remains to be seen if hi5 truly realizes what it’s getting in the hiring of Alex St. John.
St. John, founder of online game firm Wild Tangent and a former Microsoft games evangelist, will serve as president and chief technology officer at hi5. He will be responsible for its product development, technology, network … Continue Reading
Warren Buffett: the next clean energy baron?
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens and master currency speculator George Soros have both gone green in the last several years. Now it could be Warren Buffett’s turn to crank up his participation in the cleantech sector. Already with four related investments in the space, he’s well positioned to lead private investors in a charge toward cleaner sources of energy.
In just the last two years, Buffett has thrown his weight behind Chinese electric vehicle maker … Continue Reading
PBworks takes in $650K to host wikis for consumers
Wiki hosting provider PBworks, formerly known as PBwiki, has raised $650,000 in rights and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company is backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures, Seraph Group, Ron Conway and Chris Yeh. It previously raised $2.45 million in venture funding.… Continue Reading
EoPlex bags $3.8M for miniature 3-D structures
EoPlex Technologies, maker of tools used to build miniature structures, like devices, sensors and circuits, has brought in $3.8 million of a targeted $6 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Redwood City, it is backed by ATA Ventures, Labrador Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and has raised $13.8 million to date.… Continue Reading
Crescendo tacks on $5M more for autoimmune disease testing
Crescendo Bioscience, developer of tests that take a closer look at autoimmune and inflammatory diseases affecting joints, has raised $5 million more in a second round of venture funding, bringing its total to $20 million, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Based in South San Francisco, the company is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Mohr Davidow Ventures.
It will use its new money to prep for the launch of its first product. The … Continue Reading
Augmented reality does make money — AcrossAir turns profitable, launches bar finder
Augmented reality startup AcrossAir, which makes apps that help you find nearby subway stops and restaurants, turned profitable last month and is launching a bar finder this week. Augmented reality is a new field that lets you overlay 3-D graphics and information over the space around you through your phone’s viewfinder.
AcrossAir’s new app is a partnership with beer maker Stella Artois that lets you hold up your phone, pan around and see info tags … Continue Reading
Car battery maker EnerDel nabs early toehold in grid storage
The success of a cleaner, more efficient super grid hinges on the development of large-capacity storage. That’s a message we heard repeatedly at our GreenBeat 2009 event earlier this month, from investors Vinod Khosla and Peter Wagner, as well as from Al Gore. Now EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1 known for making batteries for hybrid electric cars, says it will take a stab at the problem.
The U.S. Department of Energy and utility Portland General … Continue Reading
Coca Cola, Starbucks top list of best brands on Facebook
For companies to stay relevant these days, and to actually matter in a digital age, they increasingly have to be involved on social networks—Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Everyone’s trying to connect with their customers, to be human, and to make a whole lot of money. But who’s doing it well?
That’s the question that The Big Money, from Slate Magazine, went out and asked. Their answers are in a report published today, The Big … Continue Reading
Tweetdeck adds Twitter's new bells and whistles, goes both ways on retweets
Tweetdeck, the most popular external client for Twitter, underwent a major overhaul today. It’s adding in LinkedIn updates, along with all of Twitter’s new features, including geolocation, retweets and lists.
Like other clients, which help you read Twitter updates quickly, Tweetdeck is morphing into a social media dashboard by aggregating data from multiple social networks including Facebook, MySpace and now LinkedIn. This means you can read status updates from all four services in one space.… Continue Reading
