Worlize expands team for social gaming platform
Worlize has created a social gaming and chat platform that users can modify to create their own custom two-dimensional games, and now it is expanding its team to pull together its formal launch.
A couple of weeks ago, the Los Angeles-based company announced its private beta launch for the platform on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Open Social. It also announced an angel funding round.
Today, it is announcing it has added a new chief technology … Continue Reading
Supreme Court decisions: Interesting, but no change to business plans
Two decisions published in PDF format today by the United States Supreme Court are carefully written to make clear that neither of the two will change the way business is done in America.
In the more strategic case, the Court declared that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in 2002, violates the U.S. Constitution in the rules it defines for how a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board may be removed from office. The board, … Continue Reading
Kleiner-backed Bloom Energy looking for $50M more before its IPO?
Bloom Energy shook the cleantech sector earlier this year when it unveiled its unique Bloom Box, a fuel cell capable of powering 100 homes while producing close to zero greenhouse-gas emissions. Now, despite the company’s assurances that it is closing in on an IPO next year, it looks like it might be raising $50 million more to get it there.
The company has declined to comment on the story. Private Equity Hub caught wind of … Continue Reading
Facebook grabs Chrome OS engineering director, VMWare VP
Facebook continues to be a Hoover for talent. The social network hired Matt Papakipos, a Google engineering director who oversaw development of Chrome OS, and Jocelyn Goldfein, a seven-year VMWare veteran and vice president, it said today.
“We’ve landed two accomplished, senior people to join the Facebook engineering team — Matthew Papakipos and Jocelyn Goldfein,” the company said. “Both are about as accomplished as they come and we can’t wait for them to hit the … Continue Reading
With one day to go, Tesla bumps IPO from $178M to $244M
There’s a certain amount of festivity surrounding Tesla Motors‘ IPO, scheduled for tomorrow. We just heard that the electric-vehicle company has sent out care packages to people who placed reservations for its all-electric sedan, the Model S. Now it’s raising the bar on the sale itself, putting up 13.3 million shares, instead of the original 11.1 million.
This 20 percent increase could mean the difference between a $178 million and $244 million IPO, depending on … Continue Reading
FavRav lets Facebook users refer local businesses to friends
Facebook can be a daunting place for many small businesses. While they dream of reaching some of the social network’s more than 450 million users, they don’t always have the time or money. Enter a new Facebook application, FavRav, that aims to help local businesses tap current customers to create positive recommendations for their Facebook friends and drive business.
The company’s service sounds pretty simple. A business can create a FavRav profile, send an email … Continue Reading
iPhone 4 parts cost around $188
The components in Apple’s iPhone 4 costs about $187.51, according to an estimate by market researcher iSuppli.
The estimate applies to the $199 model that ships with 16 gigabytes of memory. That gives Apple little breathing room to reap profits, considering the costs of research and development, Apple’s retail stores which sell the device, and its omnipresent marketing campaigns.
But in addition to the retail price the consumer pays, Apple is also believed to get … Continue Reading
How mobile platforms are innovating beyond smartphones
Over the past few years, the growth of mobile platforms has emerged as the most innovative and exciting technology trend in some time. Before the launch of the iPhone, Microsoft was suffering through the tepid launch of Windows Vista, and Apple had released its fifth iteration of Mac OS X since 2001. To put it simply: Desktop operating systems had gotten boring. There was little in the way of innovation on top of them. And … Continue Reading
Report: Facebook to add 500 employees in new India office
Facebook is set to launch its first large Asian office in Indian tech hub Hyderabad within two months, and plans to add 500 employees in the region, according to the Economic Times, an Indian newspaper.
[Update: The social network said the 500-employee number was "speculation."
"We have announced we will open an office in Hyderabad (online sales and user support) and will grow this office in line with the business needs," said spokesperson Debbie … Continue Reading
Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang
W3i, a desktop and mobile application distribution network, announced today the launch of W3i Mobile Solutions — its new service which offers ad campaigns for iOS apps (which run on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) on a pay-per-install basis. Consumers will be able to take advantage of the service and get paid for installing mobile apps via Apperang.com, which also launched today.
After signing up at Apperang’s website, consumers are presented with a list … Continue Reading
Red Dead Redemption frees Take-Two from the Grand Theft Auto curse (interview)
For many years, Grand Theft Auto has been a huge boon for Take-Two Interactive, selling tens of millions of copies and generating billions in revenue. But the company has always struggled to make itself profitable in the off years when it wasn’t shipping a new GTA game. It’s been a bit like a curse, although other game companies would love to have this problem. But with the successful launch of the Wild West open world … Continue Reading
Apple says sorry for selling out a record 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices
Steve Jobs apologized for selling a record 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices in three days this morning, despite reception issues and problems with “holding” the phone properly.
Analysts had told Bloomberg that the company would sell 2 million phones by the end of the company’s fiscal quarter on Saturday and 1 million phones on the launch day alone.
“This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, … Continue Reading
Should you pay to trademark your product or service?
(Editor’s note: Curtis Smolar is a partner at Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)
A reader asks: I started a small business and have come up with a brand that is getting a lot of traction. Should apply for a federal trademark to protect it?
Answer: Filing for a federal trademark can be an expensive endeavor, costing thousands of dollars. So unless you have the resources, it might be … Continue Reading
How Groupon's rivals are trying to catch up on social buying
The tide of group buying sites, which mix discounting with viral marketing to make marketing offers more effective, isn’t abating anytime soon. Yipit, a New York-based startup that aggregates deals from about 90 different social buying companies, says four newbies are starting to see some traction behind the two giants in the field, Groupon and LivingSocial.
The company said DealOn, KGB Deals, HomeRun and Tippr are starting to break out from the pack, according to … Continue Reading
Obopay teams with Societe Generale to provide mobile money in Africa
Obopay has teamed up with French bank Societe Generale to bring its mobile payment services to customers in Africa starting with a new service launching today in Senegal.
The service offered through Societe Generale de Banques au Senegal is called Yoban’tel by Obopay. It allows cell phone users to pay bills or receive money via text messages on their cell phones. The service is designed to help grease the flow of money for people who … Continue Reading
Elevation Partners invests $120M in Facebook shares
Elevation Partners has purchased $120 million worth of Facebook shares, according to a letter to its limited partners. The deal doesn’t mean more money in the bank for Facebook, since Elevation purchased the shares from other shareholders.
TechCrunch reported that the purchase of 5 million additional Facebook shares is on top of Elevation’s $90 million purchase of 2.5 million shares in November. At the new price, Facebook’s value has increased 2.5 times in value in … Continue Reading
iPhone 4 jailbroken, but the exploit may not last
A hacker claims to have “jailbroken” the new iPhone 4, just a few days after the launch of Apple’s hot new device. This exploit repeats a pattern that has happened with all past iPhones and the iPad.
PlanetBeing posted pictures of a jailbroken iPhone this weekend via a Twitter update. The hacker used a version of the Spirit jailbreaking tool created by another hacker named comex, who jailbroke the previous iPhone.
Another hacker named MuscleNerd … Continue Reading
Week in review: Flash on Android, iPhone 4 in stores
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories published in the last seven days:
Adobe Flash gets its full launch on Android — After months of back-and-forth debate about whether Adobe’s Flash technology is a good fit for smartphones, Adobe launched a full version of Flash for mobile devices, starting with Google’s Android operating system.
Blocked: How Yahoo shut us down and why it could happen to you — … Continue Reading
The most popular video games of E3
There’s always a fight about who “won” E3, the video game trade show that took place in Los Angeles last week. But Electronic Entertainment Design and Research came up with a way to measure the impact of the announcements at E3, based on page views of game sites that covered the conference.
The stats below show which game companies saw the most page views on IGN.com. The most popular titles and “purchase intent” were also … Continue Reading
EC Roundup: Negotiation tips and 7 must-read books
Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner.
Five negotiating tips for startups – Negotiating is never an easy process. Attorney Scott Edward Walker offers five ways to make it a little less difficult and come out of the conversations on top.
The rise of the company analyst – Analysts may not have been essential personnel 10 years ago, but with the flood of real-time competitive information startups face today, they’re quickly becoming an important part … Continue Reading
