Kongregate grows virtual goods revenue 30 percent per month

In case you haven’t noticed, virtual goods is rapidly becoming the business model of choice for online games. A proof point for that is the latest report from Kongregate, an aggregator of independently developed online games.

Kongregate is announcing today that its virtual goods micro-transaction revenue is growing by 30 percent each month. It would be nice if it said what its revenue was, but the private San Francisco company doesn’t release that data. At … Continue Reading

Justin.tv unveils non-broadcasting iPhone application

Popular live video streaming site Justin.tv today unveiled its much-anticipated new iPhone application, which is available in the app store now.

Upon launching the iPhone app, the user is taken to a featured list, an aggregated collection of the most popular broadcasting channels. The company notes that watching video and chatting are the app’s main functions. When watching a video, the lower right of the screen has a chat bubble which lets users chat with … Continue Reading

A bittersweet day for Googlers as search giant turns back on China

It’s a surreal idea — the world’s best-known Internet company facing off with the government of the world’s most populous nation. It’s a company versus an entire state.

Google may have lost the battle today by ceasing censorship of its Chinese search engine. It’s now redirecting traffic to its unfiltered Hong Kong counterpart, an approach that’s technically legal because the region doesn’t face censorship laws. However, the move all but guarantees that the Chinese government … Continue Reading

Roundup: DropBox comes to Android, @ declared art and more

Here’s the latest action:

Nanosolar CEO coup — The high-efficiency, thin-film solar panel maker has swapped out its co-founder and CEO Martin Roscheisen in favor of Geoff Tate, former chief executive of chip design firm Rambus. As the New York Times points out, the company is one of several in the green space that have shaken up their executive ranks recently.

DropBox comes to Android — The company is developing a version of its application … Continue Reading

DEMO: FriendFeed started out as a personal cloud company

In today’s DEMO conference panel discussing cloud computing startups, Benchmark Capital partner Peter Fenton revealed some of the history behind FriendFeed, the social aggregation and conversation startup acquired by Facebook.

Fenton brought up the story when looking at Airset, a company offering cloud computing environments for individuals and groups. FriendFeed sounds like something completely different, bringing together all your social services and conversations in a single news feed, but Fenton said the founders first approached … Continue Reading

Mining giant Peabody jumps into carbon capture, buys $15M stake in Calera

Peabody Energy, the major coal mining company, has just bought a $15 million equity stake in Calera,  a developer of technology that converts carbon dioxide released from power plants into sustainable building materials. The deal is yet another sign that fossil-fuel corporations are scrambling to fit themselves into greener supply chains.

Calera’s technology can capture carbon dioxide gas released from all kind of industrial facilities — from coal-fired power plants to cement manufacturers — and, … Continue Reading

DEMO: How to aim social startups at the next big thing

Sixteen social media startups presented at the DEMO conference in Palm Desert today. Do any of them stand a chance at becoming the next Facebook or Twitter? And if you get the idea for the next big thing, how will you beat out the ten other people who got the idea at the exact same time that you did?

Matt Marshall, editor-in-chief of VentureBeat and host of DEMO, peppered a panel of experts with questions … Continue Reading

Chevron launches Project Brightfield to put new solar tech to the test

Chevron is testing several bold new solar technologies under the banner of Project Brightfield. Drawn from 19 companies, these photovoltaic systems, if proven effective, could soon be backed and proliferated by the oil and gas giant.

The project is based on an old Chevron oil refinery site in Bakersfield, Calif., where the company has installed 7,700 solar panels across 18 acres. All told, this facility will generate 740 kilowatts of electricity — some used to … Continue Reading

DEMO TV – Spring 2010, Behind the Scenes Videos and Photos

Welcome to the new DEMO TV, a new channel created by DEMO to provide you with a “behind the scenes” look at the launch pad for emerging technology. The approach for DEMO TV is to provide an raw and un-edited look from the views of our delegates. We hand the mic to our guests and let them tell you their stories and share their experiences from their point of view.

Follow the action via our … Continue Reading

Tendril unveils device to make saving energy run like clockwork

A horde of companies is taking on home energy management — and each is working to present consumers with energy consumption information in a way that will actually make them change their behavior and conserve resources. One of the frontrunners, Tendril, is launching its solution, called the Vision, this week at DistributTECH — and it looks a lot different from what you might think.

I first heard about the Vision back in November, when I … Continue Reading

DEMO: Fliptop to rock the RSS world and streamline it, too

Fliptop is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

Fliptop aims to solve the subscription problem for both websites and their audiences.

RSS feeds, Google Alerts and the like are tools with two edges. The first cuts out the mindless web browsing, letting you scan headlines without visiting … Continue Reading

DEMO: FathomDB launches a database that scales in the cloud

FathomDB is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

A startup called FathomDB is launching a new product today that represents the next step in its efforts to run your company’s database on cloud computing infrastructure.

San Francisco-based FathomDB already allows companies to store their database on Amazon’s … Continue Reading

Google officially ends censorship in China

Google has finally pulled the plug, ceasing censorship on Google.cn by redirecting users to its unfiltered Hong Kong property, Google.com.hk.

Relations between Google and China have been strained since the start of the year, exacerbated by attacks from hackers on the search engine. While Google never explicitly said the attacks were directly connected to the Chinese government, it was all but implied in the search giant’s language and supported by later research from independent security … Continue Reading

DEMO: PayPal launches an accelerator program for startups

PayPal has been making a big deal about its platform strategy, where developers can build cool applications around its payments platform. Today at the DEMO conference in Palm Desert (co-produced by VentureBeat), PayPal Vice President of Platform and Emerging Technology Osama Bedier announced that he wants to provide more than just technology to startups, through the PayPal X Startup Accelerator Program.

Like Microsoft’s BizSpark accelerator program (which includes free Microsoft software), there’s an emphasis on … Continue Reading

Avvo raises $9.9M to help you choose a lawyer

Avvo, a web site that lists and ranks lawyers to make it easy for people to find the right one, has raised $9.9 million of a targeted $10 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Seattle, Wash., the company is backed by Benchmark Capital, Ignition Partners, and DAG Ventures.… Continue Reading

Control4 building its own app store for energy management tools

Control4, the home energy management company known for its compact display that resembles the iPhone, rolled out several big announcements today: first and foremost, the development of a Flash-based software developers kit for the ADVANTAGE software that runs on its EMS 100 home energy management displays. The upshot: the development kit will enable utilities and others to come out with their own energy apps, giving consumers more options.

Allowing third-parties to innovate for the 5-inch … Continue Reading

DEMO: MiniMash makes video creation easy and viral

MiniMash is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

ComScore reports that online video revenue was a record $1.3 billion in 2009 and is projected to reach $15.6 billion by 2012. 178 million Internet users watched 33 billion online videos in December 2009. The market is ripe for … Continue Reading

DEMO: ViaClix to combine broadcast TV with internet content (video)

ViaClix is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

ViaClix aims to solve the problem of getting web content to your television. With its unique set-top boxes, the company promises to deliver the best of the web to your TV — including online video, chat, e-mail, and web … Continue Reading

DEMO: SocialWish combines social networks and e-commerce to make wishes come true (video)

SocialWish is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

SocialWish, a web service that combines social networking with e-commerce so that people can come together to make others’ wishes come true, launched today at the DEMO conference in Palm Desert, Calif.

Initially inspired by wedding registries, the concept … Continue Reading