5 o'clock round-up: Genachowski spams, Google blogs, Wikipedia rounds up donations
Here’s the last action of this decade:
The FCC chairman spams his Facebook friends. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, sent a cryptic Facebook message to all of his friends this morning, saying “Adam got me started making money with this.” It contained a broken link. Facebook suspended the account and said Genachowski will have to go through a “remediation process” and “learn security best practices” to reactivate his account.
MySpace replaces Imeem’s … Continue Reading
Peering into MySpace's collective consciousness with real-time search
One of the most provocative essays on Internet culture I’ve read in the last couple years is Danah Boyd’s take on viewing class divisions through social networks. She controversially argued that “white flight” was playing out on the Internet, with MySpace becoming a digital ghetto as wealthier, more educated users fled for Facebook. As an anthropologist, her work is more qualitative and based largely on interviews, experiences and anecdotes, paired with data from external research … Continue Reading
2009's top 9 forward-looking cleantech investments
It was a big year for cleantech. After a dismal start in the first quarter, things picked up, leaving it in prime position to be one of the largest areas of investment in 2010. Overall, 2009 saw 356 deals totaling $4.85 billion, according to a new report released by Greentech Media. That’s six more deals than in 2008, but almost $3 billion less. Last year was a banner year for the sector, but this is … Continue Reading
CNET co-founder's Whiskey Media raises $2.5M
Whiskey Media, a company that has built websites around topics like comic books and computer games, has raised $2.5 million in funding.
The Sausalito, Calif. company was created by Shelby Bonnie, who previously co-founded online news network CNET. Whiskey Media sites are a mix of directories and online communities, and include ComicVine, AnimeVice, and GiantBomb (the topics of the first two sites should be self-evident, the third focuses on computer games).
When Bonnie launched Whiskey … Continue Reading
Could Apple sell 10 million tablets in a year?
Another day, another Apple rumor. Today, we’re told that Apple expects to build 10 million of its as-yet-unannounced tablet computers in its first year of release.
But this one comes from Kai-fu Lee, the former Google executive, who made the prediction on his blog and said that a friend familiar with the project told him that.
Apple has reportedly scheduled an announcement about the device for Jan. 26. The device will sell for less than … Continue Reading
Mint's Aaron Patzer: Quicken's future is online
Three months after finance software maker Intuit bought online finance startup Mint.com, Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint and now Intuit’s general manager of personal finance, is still giving a lot of thought to how Mint and Intuit fit together.
Right after Intuit bought his startup, Patzer told me that the online version of Intuit’s personal finance software Quicken would eventually become “powered by Mint.” A couple of months later, he said Quicken Online would be … Continue Reading
Top 100 most blogged about iPhone apps of 2010
iPhone app-tracking blog AppStoreHQ has counted the posts on 68 blogs to determine not what apps we download, but what one hundred apps we talk about the most. You can skip to the list, or read the blog post describing their methodology.
No surprise that Facebook and Navigon’s MobileNavigator made the Top 10, but the list is also topped by a few quirky entries:… Continue Reading
The most anticipated video games of 2010
It’s that time of year again, when people look ahead to the new year and salivate over tomorrow’s videogames. 2010 is shaping up to be a stellar year for hardcore gamers. And with so many games coming out, narrowing down the list to just 10 wasn’t an easy task. But we’ve eliminated games that haven’t officially been announced yet and focused on big games for each console, as well as the PC. We’ve also arranged … Continue Reading
Could a Twitter-Amazon partnership be on the horizon?
A couple of days ago, Twitter announced some improvements to its API and Terms of Service (TOS). Effectively, it’s raising the limit on the number of calls per hour that each application can make and opening up its Firehose API (already available to Google and Microsoft) to other developers as a paid service.
This certainly opens the door to even more innovation within the Twitter ecosystem (currently 50,000 apps strong). Nevertheless, I can’t help wondering … Continue Reading
Proteus takes in $25.4M to holistically treat chronic disease
Proteus Biomedical, a company that brings together device, pharmaceutical and biotech companies to find answers for cardiac and heart failure patients, has brought in $25.4 million of an anticipated $35 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Redwood City, Calif., the company is backed the Carlyle Group and Essex Woodlands Venture Partners among others.… Continue Reading
Viralheat takes $75K for social media analytics
Viralheat, provider of software that records metrics for social media applications, has taken in $75,000 in debt financing, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Jose, Calif., the company hasn’t raised any money previous to this.
21 companies that will lead the green car charge
Last January, VentureBeat ran a story listing 30 electric car companies poised to make a splash over the next couple of years. That post went on to become one of the most popular in the history of this web site, racking up 189 comments.
Today, we bring you a redux of that article — but instead of a list of all of the companies with an EV in a works, here’s a rundown of 21 … Continue Reading
OpenFeint data shows heavy iPhone gaming during the holidays
Looks like mobile gamers were glued to their iPhones during the holidays. Aurora Feint shared data today that showed games with its OpenFeint social gaming network saw five times the normal user activity and three times the normal sales during the Dec. 24 to Dec. 26 holidays.
OpenFeint is Burlingame, Calif.-based Aurora Feint’s platform that developers use to add multiplayer challenges, leaderboards and other social features to iPhone games. That helps the games spread faster … Continue Reading
Confirmed: ChaCha now #1 in mobile search, ahead of Google
For most of 2009, SMS-based, human-powered question-and-answer service ChaCha has made surprising leaps up Nielsen Mobile’s rating of mobile search services.
ChaCha, which uses inexpensive freelancers to answer questions texted to it at 242242, has been the fastest-growing mobile search service all year, according to Nielsen. ChaCha shot from 7 percent market share to 28 percent in 90 days in the first half of 2009.
On Monday, the company will announce that Nielsen Mobile now … Continue Reading
VentureBeat's 10 most popular stories of 2009
Here are our biggest stories of the year, as determined by you, the VentureBeat readers, and where you clicked. The list covers some of 2009′s most important products, announcements, and ideas, but also includes posts that fell squarely into the “just for fun” column.
We’re counting down to the most popular stories of the year:
10. 10 lessons from a failed startup (April 10) — Entrepreneur Mark Goldenson shares what he learned from the failure … Continue Reading
Nexus One videos flood the web ahead of Google's announcement
Perhaps Google will still be able to surprise people with its news about the Android-based, Google-designed Nexus One cell phone that will be announced on Tuesday. But a considerable amount of information has already flooded the web, including videos of how the Nexus One operates.
One of the things you’ll immediately notice is this phone is fast. You click on something to make the screen change and it happens instantly. Whether it’s playing games or … Continue Reading
Envivio lands $1M for video compression technology
Envivio, provider of technology that compresses video so it can be displayed via televisions, computer screens or mobile phones, has raised $1 million in debt financing, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in South San Francisco, Calif., the company is backed by Atlantic Bridge, Credit Agricole Private Equity, Crescendo Ventures, The Solidarity Fund, Innovacom, Harbinger, HarbourVest, Intel Capital, NTT Finance, Saints Capital, Samsung Ventures America and Sigma Designs.… Continue Reading
Raydiance builds fast lasers with new $3.1M
Raydiance, which claims to be working on “ultrafast lasers” with applications in microelectronics, solar panel manufacturing, eye surgeries, dermatology and cancer treatments, has brought in $3.1 million of an expected $5 million round of funding. Based in Petaluma, Calif., the company is backed by Greenstreet Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. It raised $20 million in a fourth round of funding last year.… Continue Reading
Google's Nexus One toys with CBAK valuation
Google’s forthcoming smart phone, apparently, has the power to change fortunes. Following speculation that Chinese battery manufacturer BAK (CBAK) won the supply contract for Google’s phone, BAK stock rose 63 percent. After BAK’s chief financial officer Tony Shen denied these rumors, BAK stock dropped 24 percent and is at 2.79 at time of publishing (9:45 AM PST). The amazing thing here is that BAK hasn’t announced anything else of note. BAK’s valuation has been changing … Continue Reading
Lithium registers $18M to build customer relations channels
Lithium Technologies, builder of customer relations channels like customized forums, blogs and social networks for other companies, has brought in $18 million of an anticipated $23 millon round of venture funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Emeryville, Calif., the company is backed by Benchmark Capital, Emergence Capital Partners and Shasta Ventures. It has raised $39 million to date.… Continue Reading
