Facebook tightens developer rules for publishing into user streams

Social network Facebook tightened rules over the way apps can automatically publish updates or tag photos in a person’s news feed today. The company said developers were abusing privileges and spamming users by auto-tagging multiple friends in photos without consent or posting the same story over and over again to different friends’ Walls.

“In the past year, we’ve noticed that a number of applications aren’t using the permission in a way that is consistent with … Continue Reading

SmartSynch lands deal with Itron to provide public network access

There’s a battle being waged in the Smart Grid world. One camp is arguing that private networks are the best way to transmit data between smart meters and utilities, and the other endorses public networks. Today, SmartSynch scored a win for the latter, partnering up with major meter maker Itron to provide wireless communications on public networks.

SmartSynch, which struck a deal with AT&T last year to use its public networks for Smart Grid applications, … Continue Reading

CTIA wrap-up: Giant cellphone trade show bores outsiders

A day after the opening of the world’s largest wireless industry show, from the organization so big it runs CTIA ads on CNN, even the gadget blogs are calling the 2010 show so-so.

But be careful. Googling “Gizmodo CTIA” will get you links to awesome displays on the Las Vegas show floor that turn out to be from last year. Same for Engadget.

Here are the high points from this year’s CTIA.

(One more thing: … Continue Reading

Light bulbs are so over — Bridgelux brings LED lights down to $20

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) may be backlighting your television and mobile phone screens, but they have yet to come to lamps and lighting systems for homes and businesses. Now, new technology is whittling down costs, making them a more practical choice. The latest advancement comes from LED maker Bridgelux, offering a new LED light for just $20.

This is a big drop from the previous price point of about $50, according to Birdgelux CEO Bill Watkins. … Continue Reading

G-Recorder Pro brings Skype conversations to the cloud

IM-History, developer of G-Recorder, a tool that allows Skype users to record their chats and calls into email services like Gmail, today announced the launch of G-Recorder Pro. The upgraded tool will bring its features to a wider audience, including users of Google Apps, Yahoo Mail, AOL and other IMAP compatible hosted email servers (MS Exchange and Zimbra) — for a higher price.

G-Recorder  is a downloadable software that automatically records a users Skype calls … Continue Reading

Photoshop's new "Content-Aware Fill" feature gives you the power of the gods

Prepare to have your minds blown. Adobe has released a sneak peek at one of the upcoming features, Content-Aware Fill, in the new version of image-editing software Photoshop. The feature allows you to retouch images so easily that there just has to be sorcery involved.

In the video demonstration below, product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes starts off by demonstrating how the feature can easily eliminate trash and a few distant poles in a photo. Simple … Continue Reading

Gladinet revamps its 'cloud desktop' service

A startup called Gladinet is announcing version 2.0 of its Cloud Desktop, which lets users access online storage services like Google Docs and Box.net as if they were just another drive on their computer.

Co-founder Jerry Huang said version 2.0 brings the Cloud Desktop closer to his vision of making the online cloud and your personal computer function “as one piece.” For example, you could argue that the ability to upload any file turns Google … Continue Reading

Dell makes push into cloud services for big enterprises

Computer maker Dell said it is starting a big push to provide cloud services for medium and big enterprises, starting with the launch of a set of new servers for data centers and software to manage them.

Fresh from Dell’s $3.9 billion acquisition of service-focused Perot Systems, company executives said at a press conference in San Francisco today that Dell will create a foundation for cloud services targeted at businesses with up to 5,000 employees. … Continue Reading

Simple bookmarking site Instapaper unveils iPad version and release plans

Instapaper — a site that lets you quickly save what you’re reading to finish later — has unveiled its iPad version today, along with its plans for release.

The site is developed by Tumblr developer Marco Arment, and it’s one of those rare services that you will find yourself unable to live without once you get started. Instapaper lets you save articles via a bookmarklet (a bookmark shortcut), or a variety of other sharing extensions … Continue Reading

Knocking lets you share live video between iPhones and Android smartphones

Knocking Live Video, which lets you send live video footage from your phone’s camera to another phone, is one of the coolest iPhone apps I’ve seen recently. And today it’s launching for phones using Google’s Android operating system.

The neat thing about the Android version, according to Knocking-maker Pointy Heads Software, is that you can share video with users of the iPhone app, and vice versa. So if you’re an iPhone owner and you’re out … Continue Reading

Maples Investments becomes Floodgate, looks to fund 'Thunder Lizard' startups

Maples Investments, whose founder Mike Maples, Jr. has backed high-profile web startups like Twitter and Digg, announced today that it’s renaming itself Floodgate and transforming itself from an angel investment firm into a “Super Angel.”

That sounds cool, but what does it mean? Not necessarily a whole lot, at least initially. As Maples put it, “This probably means more in the long-term than in the short-term.” He said changing the name is a signal of … Continue Reading

Google faces early morning hack, sends users to Google China corporate site (Updated)

A Google spokesperson says that the issue was related to a bug in Google’s caching code, so it’s officially not a hack. Original story below.

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This morning, visitors to Google’s corporate site received a bit of a surprise. Instead of viewing the site in English, visitors were redirected to the Chinese version of the site, according to The Guardian.

The news follows Google’s recent, and very public, spat with China — which on Monday … Continue Reading

Timetric raises seed funding to help companies visualize, manage gobs of data

London-based Timetric has raised seed funding to build out its online data service, Timetric.com. The service, currently in beta, provides numerous data sets that users can search and analyze — everything from the price of a cheese sandwich (see below) to changes in foreign exchange rates. Users can also upload new data sets to the service, and it’s free to use for now.

In addition to its open data service, Timetric also offers Timetric Portfolios, … Continue Reading

Back on the beat: Owen Thomas joins VentureBeat

Editor’s note: VentureBeat is all about startups. And since we’re a startup ourselves, when we hit a milestone, it’s only right that we report on it. Today, we’re announcing a significant hire. Owen Thomas, a veteran of Time Inc., Wired, Red Herring, Gawker Media, and most recently NBC, is joining VentureBeat as executive editor. He joins April 1 — no fooling. I’ll let him tell you why he’s joining. — Matt Marshall

Oh, hi, Silicon … Continue Reading

The sights, scenes, schticks and stunts of DEMO Spring 2010 (photo gallery)

The DEMO Spring 2010 conference ended today after three balmy days in Palm Desert, Calif. A total of 65 companies competed for the $1 million prize that was awarded tonight to eXaudios, which created call center software that could detect the emotional state of a caller based on the sound of the caller’s voice. But the conference wasn’t just about a Darwinian contest. Here’s a photo gallery that shows off some of the best sights … Continue Reading

Yahoo releases iPhone apps for Search and Sketch-A-Search

Yesterday, Yahoo let loose with two new iPhone applications: A dedicated search app, and a refreshing take on location searching called “Sketch-A-Search.”

The new search app is a complete overhaul of Yahoo’s earlier iPhone application — which was released last year and consolidated the company’s web services in one spot (much like Google’s iPhone app). Instead of distracting you with all of Yahoo’s other offerings, the new app is purely dedicated to search.

It offers … Continue Reading

DEMO: Are there any home runs left for enterprise startups?

During the expert panel assembled to discuss enterprise startups launching at the DEMO conference in Palm Desert (co-produced by VentureBeat), an audience member asked a provocative question: Are there any big, “home run” opportunities still remaining for startups selling to businesses, rather than consumers? Or is a ho-hum acquisition the best you can hope for?

Emergence Capital‘s Gordon Ritter simply laughed and said, “Ouch,” when he heard the question, while MHS Capital’s Mark Sugarman responded, … Continue Reading

Wistia pulls in $775K for video sharing business

Wistia, a startup that helps businesses share video with customers, partners and others, as well as track who watches it, has secured $775,000 in new financing from its angel investors.

The Lexington, Mass. company offers “video sharing for the average business user, not someone in IT,” said Christopher Savage, co-founder and chief executive of the three-and-a-half-year-old company.

But Wistia’s business model is more than just uploading a video and sending someone a link to it, … Continue Reading

Commence drooling: Sprint's first 4G phone, HTC's Android-powered Evo 4G, dethrones the Nexus One

Sprint today unveiled its first 4G phone — the HTC Evo 4G — at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas.

In addition to blazing fast 4G connectivity — which reaches speeds up to 10 times as fast as typical 3G networks — the phone is also a powerhouse device that bests Google’s Nexus One “superphone” (also built by HTC) in practically every way. If there can be only one Android superphone, the Evo 4G … Continue Reading