Sony delays new motion controller for PS 3 until fall
Sony is eating crow tonight as it announced it has postponed its new Motion Controller from the spring until the fall of 2010.
The new controller is a step up from the motion-sensing controller currently selling with the PlayStation 3 game console. This new wand-like device, showcased at the E3 show last June and paraded in front of fans in September, is much more accurate in its detection of body movements. Combined with a PlayStation … Continue Reading
Roundup: Fisker banks $115M, Zune phone rumored, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Fisker motors on with $115M more — The maker of the luxury plug-in hybrid Karma vehicle, has raised $115 million in new funding, which will allow it to access the $529 million in low-interest loans it was guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy last fall. Raising more equity was mandatory in order for it to unlock this financing.
iPad? iTablet? What’s in a name? — Rumors are flying today about … Continue Reading
Voxeo's buying spree continues with web meeting startup ClackPoint
It looks like voice communications company Voxeo wants to expand its platform by buying up technology — the company says it has made eight acquisitions in the last two years. Tonight, it’s announcing the purchase of ClackUp, a web conferencing startup.
Voxeo offers what it calls “unlocked communications,” allowing businesses to use voice-over-Internet-protocol technology to automate customer and employee phone calls, text messages, and more. The Orland, Fla. company is now adding ClackPoint technology to … Continue Reading
Symbian handsets still second only to iPhone
A report from mobile analytics firm Motally finds that outside north America, the Symbian operating system used by Nokia still dominates Windows and Android phones.
Motally’s analysis says the future isn’t all about smartphones:
The most interesting trend in the data is the large amount of mobile website traffic that is done on feature phones, particularly in regions like South America, Asia and even Europe. These regions house the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and … Continue Reading
Project Frog leaps ahead with $5.2M for greener school buildings
Pre-fabricated buildings have come a long way. Far from shoddy double-wides delivered by flat-bed trucks, they have become the hallmark of the green building movement, tricked out with natural lighting, ventilation and organic materials. One company, Project Frog, is wagering that — in addition to being eco-friendly — these buildings can actually improve student performance in schools. And it just raised more money to prove its point.
According to a filing with the SEC, the … Continue Reading
Watch Sanyo's Eneloop hybrid bike in action (video)
We’ve written about how companies are using technology to upgrade the old-fashioned bicycle — now you can see what it’s like to actually ride one of those bikes.
Sanyo‘s Eneloop (short for energy loop) includes a battery-powered motor. Riders still pedal like they would on an normal bicycle, but they get a boost from the engine, adding to the ease and speed. I interviewed Sanyo’s Aaron Fowles at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show about the … Continue Reading
Jagex brings Asian game to Western gamers
Will Western gamers play Asian online games? That’s a big question in the video game market these days. Jagex will test the idea today as it launches War of Legends, an English language version of a Chinese online historical military conquest game.
Jagex, which is the largest independent game company in the United Kingdom, will publish War of Legends, which was developed by a Chinese developer and launched successfully as World of Feng Sheng in … Continue Reading
Pocket God sells 2M units on the iPhone, first paid app to do so
It looks like a lot of us enjoy torturing island natives during our spare time. Bolt Creative said today that its Pocket God game has sold more than two million copies on the iPhone.
The company contends that it is the first to create a paid app that has crossed the two-million sold mark. Other higher-priced apps have generated more revenue, but the 99 cent Pocket God app has had tremendous staying power since its … Continue Reading
Bill Gates joins Twitter, enjoys tweeting to Ryan Seacrest
Bill Gates jumped aboard the Twitter bandwagon a few hours ago, sending out an update on his upcoming annual foundation letter. (That’s on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.) His photo is pretty conventional though. He lacks the bad-ass bulletproof vest of Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
And who does Gates enjoy conversing with the most? Radio host Ryan Seacrest, of course.
The pair have been tweeting back and forth about raising funds for … Continue Reading
Sway bags $2M to track social marketing ad campaigns via Shoutlet
Developing a social marketing campaign can be a daunting task — especially determining how to reach specific demographics and niche audiences. On top of that, many companies lack the financial and human resources needed to deploy campaigns that tap into social networks. Sway, Inc., a Wisconsin-based social media marketing company, hopes to make it easier with its Shoutlet platform — and it just raised $2 million in a first round of funding to make it … Continue Reading
Ning now supports 2 million social networks, touches up branding
Ning, the company that lets you build your own social network, crossed the two-million network mark this month. Co-founded by Marc Andreessen, Ning helps people create niche social networks around special interests from social justice to late-night comedy shows. The Palo Alto-based company now has 41 million members across its networks, adding 1 million new communities since April of last year.
The company also retooled its Twitter integration today, letting people change the attribution on … Continue Reading
Rambus and Samsung bury the hatchet with $900M settlement
Rambus has closed on the chapter on one piece of a colossal litigation nightmare. Today, the technology-licensing firm is announcing today it has settled litigation with Samsung Electronics in a deal that is valued at about $900 million.
In exchange, Samsung is buying $200 million in Rambus stock (9.75 million shares), will pay another $200 million in cash to Rambus, and then make quarterly payments of $25 million for the next five years. The companies … Continue Reading
Pulmonx breathes in $11.5M to treat chronic respiratory disease
Pulmonx, maker of medical devices used to treat emphysema and other chronic respiratory disorders, has raised $11.5 million in options, warrants and debt financing, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Redwood City, Calif., the company is backed by De Novo Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, MedVenture Associates and Montreux Equity Partners. It previously raised $20 million in May 2007 and a $3 million bridge round in August 2008.… Continue Reading
Trident Capital eying new $400M fund
Trident Capital, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm known for backing travel planner site Kayak, thin-film solar maker Xunlight, and wireless provider AirTight Networks, has filed with the SEC to raise a $400 million venture capital fund, its seventh.
Trident has a very diverse portfolio, including startups in cleantech, enterprise software, health care software, consumer internet services, payment systems and wireless providers. The firm was a bigger deal during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, … Continue Reading
Scale mobile app monitors the intensity of your biz relationships
Scale is an application released today for Blackberry smartphones that takes the temperature of your relationships based on how often you interact with various contacts. A color-coded dashboard provides an automated “heat map” of your professional and personal networks, helping you to identify relationships that need attention.
The application comes from a bootstrapped New Jersey-based startup called Socialibrium.
In addition to monitoring the intensity of your relationships, Scale also consolidates your communications history with a … Continue Reading
Aviir diagnoses heart conditions with new $4.2M
Aviir, maker of diagnostic systems used to detect heart conditions, has raised $4.2 million in equity, debt, options, warrants and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company is backed by Bay City Capital, Aberdare Ventures and New Leaf Venture Partners. It previously raised $12.3 million.… Continue Reading
Mobile arcade Mplayit expands into Canada, Australia
Mplayit is known for its mobile app catalog that lives inside Facebook. There, you can shop for apps for your phone using a full-sized display instead of the one on your handset. Many of the popular titles like Sims 3 and ShopSavvy have playable previews. The arcade tracks the hottest apps and offers recommended titles.
The 9-person company already has deals in America with Sprint and AT&T, but most recently Mplayit has been chasing partnerships … Continue Reading
OpenFeint expands in Japan with Space Invaders' owner
Aurora Feint announced today that it continues to expand its OpenFeint iPhone social gaming platform in Japan, where it has picked up a major game publishing partner.
Today, Burlingame, Calif.-based Aurora Feint added its second major Japanese game publisher, Taito, to the OpenFeint platform. OpenFeint is a developer platform that makes it easy for iPhone game makers to add leaderboards, challenges, and other social elements to their iPhone games.
OpenFeint is akin to Microsoft’s Xbox … Continue Reading
Second Life's economy grows 65% to $567M
Virtual worlds no longer shine as they once did, but Linden Lab, the owner of the Second Life 3-D online virtual world, says that its virtual economy has never been bigger.
The company said today that the total size of the Second Life economy grew 65 percent in 2009 to $567 million. By the company’s own estimate, that amounts to about 25 percent of the entire U.S. virtual goods market.
Residents of Second Life cashed … Continue Reading
YuMe adds interactive features to video ads
Online video advertising is still taking its baby steps. Big display ad networks like Ask.com have added video support to their banner ad networks, while startups Tremor Media, VideoEgg and Brightroll launched as straight-up video networks. Company strategies stretch across a wide range. Freewheel is a technology platform, while Brightroll focuses on being an ad sales network.
YuMe, a well-funded company founded in 2004 in San Francisco, combines what co-founder Jayant Kadambi described on a … Continue Reading
