GumGum automates "in-image" ads for web photos

GumGum started out a few years ago with a technology for tracking photos published on the web so that content owners could generate revenues from those who published the photos. But the company found its calling with the creation of “in-image” ads for web photos. Today, it is announcing it can automate that process.

By overlaying ads on top of celebrity photos and other published web photos, GumGum enables web publishers to make money from … Continue Reading

Roundup: Elevation Partners cuts back, Cisco invests $1B in Russia, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Elevation Partners retrenches — The private equity firm co-founded by Bono is cutting a significant amount of its administrative staff, raising doubts over how much longer it might last. Palm’s sale to HP could give the firm a boost, but it’s unclear whether it will be enough.

eBay snaps up RedLaser — Redlaser, the mobile application that allows users to scan barcodes and check prices for competing deals, has been purchased … Continue Reading

GetJar raises $11M to expand its app store to a global scale

GetJar is raising $11 million in a second round of funding from Accel Partners as it continues to expand its mobile app store.

The company doesn’t have a lot of brand recognition. But it operates the second-largest mobile app store, behind Apple’s App Store. It has surpassed 1 billion in downloads. For perspective, Apple has had more than 5 billion downloads. But GetJar’s app store works across hundreds of cell phones.

GetJar was founded in … Continue Reading

Offerpop launches community marketing apps for Twitter and Facebook

Offerpop, a software development company for social media applications, has launched a new marketing app that lets retailers and brands bolster their Twitter and Facebook profiles for maximum impact. Only the Twitter application is currently available to the public, but the company is accepting beta testers for its Facebook version.

Offerpop has developed three Twitter tools intended to better engage with followers. The New Follower tool can be used to automatically welcome your new followers. … Continue Reading

MocoSpace launches mobile social games platform

Joining a parade of startups, MocoSpace launched a mobile, browser-based social games platform today.

While many platforms have been launched for social games recently, the Boston-based company is bucking a trend with its approach: Rather than helping build native apps specific to a smartphone operating system, MocoSpace lets developers build Web-based apps.

MocoSpace has been in operation for several years and has 12 million users for its mobile social network. Now, like social networks such … Continue Reading

Castlight Health raises $60M to make healthcare costs transparent

Castlight Health, a search engine for medical care, has closed a $60 million third round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. The Cleveland Clinic is an investor in the San Francisco based company. Morgan Stanley Investment Management, The Wellcome Trust, U.S. Venture Partners, Maverick Capital, Oak Investment Partners and Venrock also invested in the round.

According to the New York Times, Castlight recently signed the grocery chain Safeway as its first customer. … Continue Reading

Extreme Reach secures $9M for streamlined video ad management

Extreme Reach, a video advertising platform, has closed a $9 million second round of funding. The round, which was led by Village Ventures, included $7 million in equity and $2 million in debt financing. Greycroft Partners and Long River Ventures also participated.

Based in Needham, Mass., Extreme Reach provides ad agencies, brand advertisers and media companies with a system for managing, delivering and tracking video ads. The company counts more than 12,500 media properties in … Continue Reading

Apple iPhone 4 problems crop up: screen discoloration, reception issues

All is not well for lucky iPhone 4 owners who received the device early. Some are reporting that the device’s high-resolution Retina display is showing yellowish discoloration in the form of spots and banding. Others have noticed that if they hold the device’s antenna band (the metallic band connecting the front and rear of the phone) in a certain way, they can force the phone to lose reception (see video below).

The gadget blog Gizmodo … Continue Reading

FarmVille makes its way to the App Store for iPhone 4 debut

FarmVille, the obsession of millions of Facebook users, has finally made its way to Apple’s App Store, just in time for the Thursday debut of the iPhone 4. The biggest game in the world is now available for purchase and can be used with Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.

It’s a big move for social game publisher Zynga, which, until now, focused mostly on making Facebook games. FarmVille, free to play, dominates the social … Continue Reading

Google, Spectrum Bridge sending smart grid data over TV waves

The smart grid just entered brand new territory: television airwaves. Today, service provider Spectrum Bridge announced that it is working with Google, of all companies, to start channeling data collected by smart meters over “white space,” the term for unused television channels.

Smart grid data communication is a hot-button issue in the burgeoning industry. Several camps have emerged, supporting much different modes for sending energy consumption data from smart meters back to utilities or to … Continue Reading

Invest in Qunify and you can be immortalized in comics

Qunify is raising money for its social game business in a novel way. It is offering to immortalize investors in a comic book in exchange for a $100 investment.

The San Francisco company’s artists will create a custom comic book character in the likeness of the investor in exchange for cash. The strategy is aimed at getting investors who are passionate about the company’s products. Those who pledge $1,000 get not only a custom hero … Continue Reading

DC Comics flies into the digital world with ComiXology

Marvel Comics made a splashy entry into the digital comics industry in April when it launched a slick comics reader for the iPhone and iPad. Now its big competitor, DC, is following suit with its own iPad app and more.

Besides being good news for comics readers, this is a big win for New York startup ComiXology, which built the Marvel Comics app. Not only did ComiXology build the DC Comics app (iTunes link), it’s … Continue Reading

IQ Engines revs up with $1M for visual search apps

IQ Engines has created technology that can recognize images and objects in pictures and label them and has just raised $1 million in first-round funding to launch a visual search engine for the general public.

The company’s goal is to provide an application programming interface (API) that will allow all different types of businesses — from online retailers to mobile application makers to photo gallery sites — to provide visual search capabilities. IQ Engines says … Continue Reading

Brand.net raises $14 million for brand-only ad platform

Brand.net, an online display and video advertising platform, announced today that they raised $14 million in a series C financing round. Focus Ventures led the funding, with previous investors Interwest Partners and Norwest Venture Partners also participating.

Today’s announcement brings Brand.net’s total funding to $27 million. The funding will help the San Mateo, Calif.-based company expand its sales team and open new offices.

Brand.net is true to its name, providing tools to increase offline sales … Continue Reading

A Cold War that hasn't quite thawed: Facebook blocks Twitter's friend import

Twitter and Facebook aren’t about to make nice yet.

The microblogging network released an update that was supposed to let users import their Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections, but its much bigger rival appears to have shut down the feature.

“Facebook has notified us that they have blocked the update to our application, and we are working on a resolution with them,” said Carolyn Penner, a Twitter spokesperson.

Usually, when a larger company like Google, … Continue Reading

Droid X lands today, Google releases Android 2.2 "FroYo" source code

Motorola lifted the curtain on its new Android phone, the Droid X, today, during a joint press conference with Verizon. While the device will come with Android 2.1, the newest version, Android 2.2, codenamed “FroYo,” will be available for over-the-air updates by the end of the summer.

Google just published the source code for FroYo today via the public Android open source project. The search giant usually waits until its development partners have come out … Continue Reading

Overcoming information overload?

Editor’s note: This story is part of our Microsoft-sponsored series on cutting-edge innovation. Brett Brewer is general manager of Microsoft Live Labs, a group of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs working to rapidly generate new Web technologies.

The number of elements we all deal with onscreen every day is constantly growing. There’s content, ads, links, feeds, widgets, and on and on. The electronic world is creating a challenge that we all have to deal … Continue Reading

YouTube wins Viacom lawsuit

Google said today that it has won its court case against media conglomerate Viacom, which was suing Google for copyright infringement on its video supersite YouTube.

However, the legal battle is likely to continue as Viacom appeals the decision in higher courts.

The search giant’s attorneys asked a federal judge to make a “summary judgment” in the case without going to trial, arguing that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor provisions in the Digital … Continue Reading

Microsoft's next web browser will display rich graphics (demo videos)

Microsoft showed off the next version of its Internet Explorer browser today, proving that it can make a big technological leap by displaying web pages that use rich graphics or high-definition video.

The company isn’t yet saying when it will release IE version 9, but this is the third time Microsoft has released details of the new browser. And now some of the cool visuals are becoming more evident. The announcement today shows the next-generation … Continue Reading