Are TV ads obsolete in the online world?
The topic that provoked the most heated argument at the Beet.TV’s online video roundtable in San Francisco today was the format of online advertising. Initially, everyone focused on the nitty grity of delivering “pre-roll” video ads that run before the content that you actually want to watch. Then Jim Louderback of Internet TV network Revision3 declared that approach is “cowpathing the old model” — it’s just trying to import TV ads into a new medium … Continue Reading
GM brain drain: Chevy Volt leader jumps to Calif. battery startup
General Motors is losing one of the key players on the team developing the Chevrolet Volt — the hotly-anticipated plug-in vehicle that is supposed to forever change the green vehicle market. And where is Denise Gray, director of global battery systems, going? Where else? A battery startup in California.
So far, the company that stole her away hasn’t been identified. Gray only says that she is stepping into a senior management post at a California … Continue Reading
Cisco adds to $5.5M bagged by Mashery to manage APIs
Mashery, a startup that helps software companies market, distribute and keep track of their application programming interfaces (APIs), has just raised $5.5 million in a third round of venture funding, according to a filing with the SEC.
With more web-based startups releasing APIs to extend their capabilities and engage users, this type of service seems to be in higher demand than ever — a fact that attracted attention and cash from Cisco Systems. The Silicon … Continue Reading
Google real-time search adds status updates from Facebook Pages
Facebook status updates from Pages will start showing up in Google’s real-time search results today.
It’s the first time the search giant has indexed content from the world’s largest social network in its real-time results. The company incorporated tweets last December, and then MySpace status updates earlier this month.
The key thing to remember, however, is that Google has much more limited access to Facebook’s real-time data than its competitor, Bing. Microsoft has deeper ties … Continue Reading
SproutBaby acquires blogging network EcoMom for online baby product empire
Online baby product retailer SproutBaby acquired blogging network EcoMom today in an all-equity transaction. The deal reflects a growing trend where editorial content and direct marketing are blended to drive sales in niche online communities.
SproutBaby sells “eco-conscious” infant products like organic baby food and skin care products that omit chemicals linked to cancer. EcoMom is a blogging network and online community of ecologically-conscious mothers.
“We realized we would have a much stronger offering together, … Continue Reading
Hi5 to announce new online games management team, acquisition of social game firm Big Six
In its ambition to be a player in the red hot category of social network games, Hi5 is expected to announce today that it has acquired a social gaming platform company and a new team of executives with years of experience in online games.
The San Francisco social networking company has acquired Big Six, an Austin, Texas-based social game developer that has its own battle-tested virtual currency platform. It has also hired Big Six co-founders … Continue Reading
Microsoft adds to Google antitrust complaints in Europe
European antitrust regulators are investigating complaints in France, Germany and Italy by competitors who claim Google is unfairly using its huge market advantage — sometimes an even greater percentage of local searchers than in America — to push them out of business. We initially reported this last night, but there is more detail now.
Most notably, Microsoft-owned Ciao, a comparison shopping site which Microsoft acquired in 2008 and has since integrated into its Bing search … Continue Reading
GamesBeat@GDC: Meet our expert judges for the Who's Got Game startup contest
It’s time to unveil our expert panel of judges for the second annual Who’s Got Game contest for the best game startup. We’ll hold the finalist competition for the contest on March 10 at our GamesBeat@GDC conference in San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center.
Moderating the panel and taking part in the judging will be the very judicious Jeremy Liew, managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Liew invests primarily in the Internet and … Continue Reading
Busuu.com pulls in angel funding for free online language courses
Busuu.com, an online community offering free language courses, today announced it has secured an undisclosed six figure angel round from an Austrian serial entrepreneur. The new funding will help the company strengthen the language platform and continue to expand internationally.
Busuu.com is a free online community offering interactive language courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian, English and Brazilian Portuguese (the latter was added today). Each course has 4 levels. Users can also look to other … Continue Reading
Empire Avenue creates a stock market to measure your social influence (50 beta passes)
Everyone wants to know who has the most social influence, but so far, there hasn’t been a good way to measure it. The number of friends you have on Facebook or Twitter is only a partial measure.
So a Canadian startup is launching the world’s first fantasy stock market that measures your social influence. Empire Avenue‘s The People’s Market will let users buy and sell shares in each other, allowing a person’s social influence to … Continue Reading
Startup Visa Act officially introduced in the Senate
It looks like the startup founder visa, a concept that has a lot of backing from the startup and venture community, might actually become a reality: Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar (a Democrat and a Republican, respectively) today introduced the Startup Visa Act, which reflects many of the ideas pushed by the movement’s advocates.
The idea is to create an alternative to existing visa programs like the H-1B, a temporary visa for immigrants working … Continue Reading
Cablevision to simplify outputting video from your PC to your TV
A number of cable companies are trying to bring their content to the web these days in an effort to stay relevant in a world where video-streaming services like Hulu and Netflix exist. There’s HBO’s newly launched Go service, which is part of Comcast and Time Warner’s “TV Everywhere” initiative, and we’ve also reported on Brightcove’s technology to help broadcasters bring their content online.
Now AllThingsDigital is reporting on Cablevision’s plans. Cablevision takes a different … Continue Reading
Smilebox adds $2M to expand creative photo sharing in Europe
Photo services company Smilebox today announced it has added $2 million in additional funding to its previously raised $7 million second round. The funds will help the company expand its services into Europe.
Smilebox offers a platform that takes sharing photos to another level. Users add designs, make scrapbooks or slideshows, and send e-cards using their favorite photos. The company calls these digital creations. The service utilizes any kind of media, including photos, videos or … Continue Reading
GamesBeat@GDC speakers: Norwest, Nexon, Morris
We’ve tapped some more smart people who know the gaming business as speakers for our upcoming GamesBeat@GDC executive game conference. The event is set for March 10 in San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference in the Moscone Convention Center. Today we’re announcing the following speakers have been added to our lineup:
Tim Chang, principal, Norwest Venture Partners. Chang will be part of our panel entitled The Best Disruptive Game Investment Opportunities for 2010 and … Continue Reading
Google execs found guilty in Italian court for posted video
Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond, global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, and former chief financial officer George Reyes — he retired in 2008 — were found guilty by a judge in Milan, Italy this morning of invasion of privacy for allowing a 2006 Google Video post that showed a young man with Down’s syndrome being bullied.
A fourth defendant, Google Video exec Arvind Desikan, was cleared of charges. The Italian woman who uploaded the video … Continue Reading
Nintendo to sell new DSi with 93 percent bigger screen starting March 28
Nintendo of America announced this morning that it will begin selling the Nintendo DSi XL starting March 28 in the U.S.
The new version of the portable game handheld will have a 93 percent bigger screen and sell for $189.99. The screen is viewable from the side and so it will create a more social experience, said Cammie Dunaway, head of marketing and sales at Nintendo of America, at the company’s media summit this morning.… Continue Reading
YouTube pulls original "Rickroll" video after 30 million views (Updated)
Update: According to NeoWin, YouTube says that the video removal was a mistake. The video is now back online, and another Internet pillar lives on. Find the original story below.
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Is nothing sacred?! On Wednesday night, YouTube finally pulled down the original “Rickroll” video, which featured ’80s pop icon Rick Astley singing the now infamous “Never Gonna Give You Up.” If you try to visit the video now, you’ll be confronted with a message … Continue Reading
Simple website builder Weebly goes international
Weebly, the most popular among a batch of startups offering easy-to-use website building tools, is settings its sights overseas with the launch of its first foreign-language services.
The San Francisco company already offered country-specific domains (such as .co.uk domains in the United Kingdom), but to reach a big international audience you need to speak their language. Weebly is making that happen starting today with the launch of sites in French, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese.
Co-founder … Continue Reading
Scribd aims to bring documents and e-books to every mobile device
Scribd, a popular site where people can share and sell written content, is unveiling its grand strategy for mobile devices today, one that definitely goes beyond just releasing an iPhone application.
“There’s a lot of great competition in the [e-reading] market,” said co-founder and chief executive Trip Adler. “But rather than try to build our own device, we’re just going to try to be on all devices.”
Adler told me that there are three main … Continue Reading
Korea's Danal to buy controlling stake in its mobile payment spin-off
Korea’s Danal Corp. has decided to buy back a controlling stake in its U.S. mobile payments subsidiary, BilltoMobile, in a transaction that closes this week, VentureBeat has learned.
The deal values San Jose, Calif.-based BilltoMobile at a little less than $100 million, according to a reliable source. Ownership of the subsidiary was roughly divided among founders-employees, the parent firm Danal Co., and Morgenthaler Ventures. So Danal, which has pioneered mobile payments in Korea, is likely … Continue Reading
