Janta Foundation launches p2p micro-loan site for child education

More than 300 million children worldwide lack access to education, and about 500 million adults are illiterate, according to UNESCO. To bring these numbers down, the San Francisco-based Janta Foundation launched today to broker peer-to-peer microloans targeted at educating young people.

Microloans are small amounts of money provided by individuals rather than banks or investors, and are generally used to jumpstart entrepreneurs in developing nations. The Janta Foundation argues the model is ideal for improving … Continue Reading

Carbon permits take a dive post-Copenhagen — could drag solar, wind down too

After months of work and speculation, the climate talks in Copenhagen have faded into dull disappointment. With world leaders promising only to revisit the issue of global warming before the end of 2010, real carbon reductions seem further away than ever — a sentiment reflected in a steep drop in demand for carbon permits around the globe, with prices plummeting nearly 15 percent.

This could be a major disaster for any future carbon cap-and-trade proposals. … Continue Reading

Azuro takes $1M for lower chip power use

Azuro, maker of software that designs semiconductor chips to require less energy, has brought in $1 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company is backed by Benchmark Capital, Miramar Venture Partners and TTP Ventures.… Continue Reading

Globalstar buys up Axonn assets to add satellite tracking technology

Globalstar, a satellite communications provider, has gobbled up the assets of Axonn, maker of the tracking devices used by Globalstar. By buying its supplier for a reported $1.5 million in cash, $5.5 million in stock and $11 million in earn-outs, it will be bringing this manufacturing business in-house.

Based in Milpitas, Calif., Axonn had previously raised $20 million from Chevron Technology Ventures, Cordova Ventures, Hibernia Capital Partners, HSB Engineering Finance, Industrial Technology Investment, Koerner Capital, … Continue Reading

Here are the Crunchies finalists; vote for your favorites

We’ve reached the exciting part of the Crunchies, the awards celebrating the year’s best achievements in technology — the part where you get to choose the winners.

Readers already sent in tons of nominations, and a committee from the three co-hosting sites (that’s TechCrunch, GigaOm, and VentureBeat) narrowed those down to six finalists in each of the 18 categories. Check out the finalists below, then click here to vote. Please remember that these awards are … Continue Reading

App store directory tracks 28 sites for developers, downloaders

Did you know there are more than 25 mobile app stores in operation? That means app developers have to stay on top of at least 25 different sales models. The analysts at Distimo, a small, privately-funded app store analytics firm launched in May 2009 in the Netherlands, found themselves as overwhelmed as everyone else trying to keep up.

Their solution: Appstores.info, an app store portal that serves as a bookmarkable front door to every app … Continue Reading

envIO reveals "most-recommended" iPhone apps

Chorus is an iPhone application that uses social data to help you find other iPhone applications — the idea is that you can find apps that you’d like by seeing the ones that your friends download and recommend. Now envIO, the company that created the app, has released some lists of Chorus’ top apps for November.

These lists obviously don’t reflect the entire audience of Apple’s App Store, nor are they meant to. Instead, they … Continue Reading

How Blippy's founders dreamed up a Twitter for your credit card (invites)

There’s a new site called Blippy based on a pretty provocative idea — it allows users to share all the purchase information from one of their credit cards.

Once you buy a movie ticket from Fandango or a cup of coffee from Starbucks, Blippy automatically publishes those purchases in a stream of updates that other users can follow, Twitter-style. The idea is to share this information with your friends and maybe start conversations about what … Continue Reading

The top 10 video game stories of the year

Here’s a look back at our 10 biggest stories covering the video game market this year.

1. Video games aren’t recession proof.

At the beginning of 2009, it looked like the console video game industry was defying gravity. Sales in the first two months were up, according to market researcher NPD. Analysts believed that a “cocooning” effect would protect sales, as consumers would stay indoors more and not spend as much money going out. But … Continue Reading

Language learning site Livemocha keeps growing — gets $8M boost

Livemocha, the fast-growing site that lets people learn other languages for free — by matching them up with other native speakers online — has raised $8 million more in a second round of funding.

The Bellevue, Washington company is shaking up what its investors say is a $83 billion market worldwide. It’s the first of a bunch of new companies that have emerged recently to teach people foreign languages online, including Myngle, Italki and Yappr. … Continue Reading

The best original video games of 2009

Franchises. Sequels. Big summer movie games. Despite the glut of those familiar games that crowd retail shelves each year, gamers witnessed a respectable outpouring of original titles in 2009. Developers know that making a new intellectual property isn’t easy, and most publishers won’t take risks on them often. But creators, executives, and gamers all know the reward of making a successful original game is worth the most satisfying endeavor. After all, Call of Duty Modern … Continue Reading

gWallet's analytics help game publishers rate special offers

gWallet, a startup that handles offers for social apps, is announcing today a new platform that makes it easier to measure how offers impact how apps are spread and monetized.

The San Francisco company has been testing the gLTV platform for a month with its customers. The goal is to create something that other offer providers don’t, said Gurbaksh Chahal, chief executive and founder of gWallet.

Offers are ads that give social app users an … Continue Reading

Flurry and Pinch Media to create mobile analytics powerhouse

Two analytics startups, Flurry and Pinch Media, are announcing a merger today as they try to create a mobile data analytics leader. While Flurry has been focused on e-commerce, Pinch Media was focused on ad optimization. Together the companies intend to go beyond just providing data and become a media company that offers services to developers, such as ways to mine data from users and target them with recommendations for mobile apps.

The merger will … Continue Reading

Obama to name cybersecurity chief to combat online attacks

President Obama is expected to name Howard A. Schmidt as the nation’s cybersecurity chief on Tuesday, according to published reports.

Schmidt’s job will be to coordinate the nation’s so-far woefully inadequate security in both military and civilian circles. This year has been another banner year for cybercriminals, who have been looting online banks and stealing identities through a variety of tactics.

Schmidt’s position is a new one that was called for after the Obama administration … Continue Reading

Avantis takes $1.4M to diagnose colon cancer

Avantis Medical Systems, a biotech company that makes a device used to detect colon cancer, has brought in $1.4 million of an anticipated $4 million round of debt, rights and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Sunnyvale Calif., it is backed by BioStar Private Equity Fund, MedFocus Fund, Mitsubishi and Montreux Equity Partners.… Continue Reading

Stealth-mode health care co. Zipline runs up $1M

Zipline Medical, a health care startup that has yet to reveal any products or services, has brought in $1 million in a round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Los Altos, Calif., it is reportedly backed by X/Seed Capital Management. It is too small at this time to have a web site.… Continue Reading

Tioga Energy catches $20M for solar plant construction

Tioga Energy, a company that develops solar arrays for larger power plants, has raised $20 million in a second round of venture funding from MEMC Electronic Materials, NGEN Partners, Nth Power and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company previously raised $14 million two years ago.… Continue Reading

5 o'clock roundup: HP gets called racist, the Nexus One pops up on Twitter and more

Here’s the latest action:

Hewlett-Packard has a case of the Mondays — The company, which just released a web camera that supposedly track people’s faces (always keeping them centered on screen), got slammed today when a buyer posted a video claiming that the product doesn’t recognize African American faces. HP says it is reviewing the complaint, but has only offered the explanation that “insufficient foreground lighting” is to blame. Here’s the video:

Yelp smacks down … Continue Reading

Google acquisitions may signal big push against Microsoft Office

I use Google Docs for almost all of my writing, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s pretty bare-bones compared to Microsoft Office. But that may change next year.

For one thing, Google has been making a number of acquisitions that are clearly Docs-related. Over the weekend, TechCrunch reported that the search giant is in the final stages of talks to acquire DocVerse, a startup that lets users collaborate around Office documents, for … Continue Reading