4info acquires mobile advertising startup Butter
4info, a company that offers mobile search and text message alerts, just announced that it has agreed to acquire a mobile advertising company called Butter.
4info provides its services for free and makes money by including text and display ads. Butter, meanwhile, works with advertisers like Coca-Cola and Energizer to build customized applications for iPhone and Android devices.
“The combination of our expertise in SMS and display advertising with their application ad products and tracking … Continue Reading
Last day for submissions for the MobileBeat 2010 Startup Competition
Today, June 21, we will be closing nominations and voting for the MobileBeat 2010 Startup Competition, at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Are you a startup with a new mobile product that will shake up the industry? If so, submit your company here and you may get the opportunity to pitch your product onstage to over 500 mobile industry leaders.
We have an awesome group of startup submissions so far, but are glad to add more. … Continue Reading
Opscode cooks up $11M for server management tool Chef
It’s a big day for a Seattle startup called Opscode. Not only is the company announcing its second funding round of $11 million, it’s also ready to start charging for Chef, its system for automatically managing server infrastructure.
Even before the commercial launch, Opscode said there are plenty of companies with popular websites using Chef, including 37signals, Etsy, and Scribd. And a number of other web application management and hosting companies have contributed to the … Continue Reading
SunRun scores $100M deal with PG&E to take 3,500 homes solar
SunRun, a company working to make rooftop solar panels more affordable for average households, just took a big leap forward today, announcing a $100 million joint program with major utility Pacific Gas & Electric. Together, the companies say they will help the utility’s customers finance more than 3,500 rooftop solar systems across five states.
This is a huge win for SunRun, which has been locked in a dead heat with rival SolarCity — a firm … Continue Reading
D.light lands $5.5 million to light up developing world with solar lanterns
Most people don’t know that much of the developing world is still relying on kerosene lamps for light. Kerosene is very expensive and emits toxic fumes, causing millions of deaths every year (1.6 million women and children die every year of resulting respiratory diseases, according to one source). Now one company, a small spinout from Stanford University called D.light Design, is combating the problem with solar-powered, light-emitting diode lanterns — and it just raised $5.5 … Continue Reading
Adknowledge buys Hydra to serve pricier ads
“Most ad networks know that direct response is still where the money is when it comes to display,” writes PaidContent’s David Kaplan. What he means is that advertisers will pay more for ads that cause customers to click, rather than those they only blink at.
Adknowledge, a privately-held company founded in 2004, has snapped up several other firms already. The latest, Hydra, specializes in “acquiring quality customers,” meaning the ones who’ll buy something. The Kansas … Continue Reading
Dell confirms Chrome OS discussions with Google
After last week’s sighting of a Dell configuration for Google’s Chrome OS, we expected some word from Dell on where it stands with netbook or tablet devices running the Web-centric operating system. Now it seems that the company is indeed in talks with Google to use the OS, according to a Reuters interview with Amit Madha, Dell’s president for Greater China and South Asia.
“”There are going to be unique innovations coming up in the … Continue Reading
In-the-background location comes to iPhone through Loopt
Loopt, an early player in location-based social networking, has become one of the first apps to take advantage of iOS’s new multitasking ability.
It’s adding a feature that has long remained elusive for location apps on the device — in the background location. Loopt users can now continuously share where they are with specific friends so they don’t have to constantly “check-in” to places. If a friend happens to be nearby, the app will send … Continue Reading
Andreessen Horowitz adds smart grid exec as a partner
Sand Hill Road firm Andreessen Horowitz, founded a year ago by dotcom-era poster child Marc Andreessen and his former Netscape coworker Ben Horowitz, seems to be staffing up for Web 3.0. They’ve recently hired executive search expert Jeffrey Stump to help portfolio companies build out their management teams, and lured PR pro Margit Wennmachers away from OutCast Communications to handle marketing.
Now, Andreessen Horowitz has announced a new general partner. John O’Farrell, who handled acquisitions … Continue Reading
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook will soon know where you are
Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook’s offering in geo-location is being finalized and is on its way soon at a developer meetup in London.
“We are finishing designing our application soon and hope to offer it soon,” he said, according to attendees. (The Ustream recording of his talk is embedded below. It seems to skip the part about location, but several attendees including The Financial Times’ correspondent Tim Bradshaw retweeted Zuckerberg’s comments.)
The company has said that … Continue Reading
Green steel: LanzaTech to turn Chinese mill's emissions into energy
Five years after its founding, LanzaTech, a company that transforms waste gases released by steel mills into fuel ethanol, is finally commercializing its technology through a new partnership with China’s major iron and steel maker Baosteel.
There’s a pattern emerging in the biofuel industry. Startups generate good ideas for producing car and jet fuels from a variety of feedstocks, ranging from corn to carbon emissions, from algae to municipal waste. They take in a moderate … Continue Reading
Startup founder pledges to sleep in his customers' beds
Brian Chesky is the chief executive of Airbnb, a marketplace where people with spare rooms to rent meet travelers looking for a cheap place to stay. Chesky started Airbnb in 2007, running the business from a three-bedroom apartment in San Francisco.
“Airbnb” is an insidery name: Air, as in air guitar where you pretend to play an instrument you don’t have in your hands. BNB as in bed and breakfast, a homey hotel run by … Continue Reading
Apple: FaceTime video chat won't eat up iPhone minutes
When Steve Jobs showed off FaceTime — its iPhone 4 video chat feature — at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, it wasn’t exactly clear how it affected your cellular minutes. Since FaceTime video calls can be initiated right from a standard voice call, some speculated that it would continue to use up your cellular minutes — despite video calls being limited only to Wi-Fi.
Now with only a few days to go before iPhone 4 launches, … Continue Reading
Small Japanese firm beats bigger rivals to supply graphics chip for Nintendo's 3DS
Japanese technology firm Digital Media Professionals said today that it is the designer of the graphics chip for Nintendo‘s 3DS, which stole the show last week when it was unveiled at the E3 video game conference.
The 3DS can display stereoscopic 3D images without requiring users to wear glasses. As such, it’s a technical marvel that could set Nintendo apart from the competition.
DMP’s design is called the PICA200. Founded in 2002, DMP creates graphics … Continue Reading
Barnes & Noble unveils $149 Nook Wi-Fi, Nook 3G now $199 (Updated)
Update: It looks like Amazon has drastically lowered the price of the Kindle to $189 in response to this news. Now there’s little reason to consider the $199 Nook — unless you really want that color touchscreen.
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Book retailer Barnes & Noble hasn’t forgotten about its Nook e-book reader. The company announced today a cheaper, Wi-Fi only, version of the device for $149. The previous model, which includes both 3G mobile Internet and … Continue Reading
Five negotiating tips for startups
(Editor’s note: Scott Edward Walker is the founder and CEO of Walker Corporate Law Group, PLLC, a law firm specializing in the representation of entrepreneurs. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)
A reader asks: We’re a bootstrapped startup in the Valley, and we’re getting some serious traction. Now we’re seeing interest from potential investors and we’re also trying to negotiate a couple of partnering agreements. Unfortunately, nobody on our team has any experience negotiating … Continue Reading
Facebook's latest iPhone app offers video viewing, higher-resolution photos
Facebook brought a few modest upgrades to its latest iPhone app over the weekend including the ability to watch videos, read and write comments about events, and post higher-resolution photos.
The app has an astounding 54.8 million monthly active users, which probably makes it the strongest source of mobile use for the social network. In February, Facebook said it had 100 million monthly active users through mobile phones.
Facebook’s iPhone app has had the ability … Continue Reading
Toshiba offers dual-screen tablet computer to celebrate 25 years of portables
Twenty-five years ago, Toshiba shipped its first laptop computers. And the Japanese company is still unveiling some radical new designs in personal computing. Today, the company is unveiling its Libretto W100 ultra-mobile laptop with dual touchscreens and no physical keyboard.
Pictured at the top left, the Libretto opens like a clam shell and has two touchscreens that can respond to multiple finger touches at the same time. It’s a concept design that for now will … Continue Reading
Valve reveals details to sequel for its beloved Portal game (video)
Portal was one of the most popular video games of 2007. Part of the allure was its humble roots as a title developed by independent game creators. At the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, game publisher Valve announced that it will launch Portal 2 in 2011 and revealed details of the game.
Portal was a single-player first-person shooter game conceived by students from the DigiPen Institute of Technology; they were hired by Valve, the … Continue Reading
Roundup: Pakistani lawyer calls for Zuckerberg's death, Jon Stewart pooh-poohs U.S. presidents' poor energy policies, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Pakistani lawyer calls for Zuckerberg’s death — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is being investigated by police in Pakistan for technically providing an arena for blasphemy against Muhammad — namely, the site’s “Draw Mohammed” contest — a crime punishable by death.
Quora shuts gates to Facebookers — GigaOm reports that Facebook employees have had trouble signing onto question-answer site Quora while they are on the company’s network. Could it be a strategy … Continue Reading
