Asus opts for Android instead of Windows CE in Eee Pad tablet
When Taiwanese computer maker Asus first announced its Eee Pad tablets, we were surprised that Google’s Android operating system was nowhere to be seen. Asus had previously announced it would be using Windows Embedded Compact 7 (an updated version of Windows CE) for its 10-inch EP101TC tablet. But now it appears to be switching to Android instead, according to Netbooknews.
Asus is apparently waiting for Android 3.0 (also known as “Gingerbread”) to land this fall. … Continue Reading
Big Fish Games partners with Woman's Day magazine
Jeremy Lewis, chief executive of Big Fish Games, is turning out to be quite the ladies’ man.
Lewis’ company continues to target its casual games at women as it announces today a partnership with Woman’s Day magazine. The Seattle casual game company has also locked in game-related partnerships with Harlequin Romance and People.com.
Under the deal, Big Fish Games will provide games for WomansDay.com web site visitors. Announced at the Casual Connect game conference in … Continue Reading
Oberon's Blaze platform to burn down walls between social and casual games
Oberon Media is launching its Blaze platform today to allow casual game publishers to spread their social games to any platform. The aim is to make it easy to publish a game anywhere and thereby dissolve the barrier between games on Facebook and games on casual web sites or phones.
Within a couple of days, developers will be able to adapt their games to the Blaze platform and then publish it on a variety of … Continue Reading
Microsoft to sell Kinect motion-sensing system for $149
Confirming earlier rumors, Microsoft said today it will start selling its Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360 on Nov. 4 for $149.
Kinect, revealed at the E3 trade show in June, lets you control a game with your body movements. It has a 3-D motion sensing camera that can capture your movements and translate them into controls for games, movies, and TV shows. The initial games coming for Kinect from Microsoft will be two-player … Continue Reading
Want to join this team? VentureBeat is hiring!
VentureBeat is on a roll. It’s been three months since I joined the team, and pageviews and audience have grown more than 18 percent. We just wrapped our third annual MobileBeat conference, where the year of the superphone kicked off with big attendance and big news. Now it’s time to make this place really rock.
We’re looking to expand our team with new writing talent. Already, we’ve added Devindra Hardawar, a frequent contributor who’s going … Continue Reading
Predilect lands $750k for stronger security questions
Predilect, a company working to strengthen online security, today announced it has secured a first round of funding for $750,000 from serial entrepreneur and investor Jon Fisher as well as several other angels.
If the name Jon Fisher sounds familiar, it’s may be because we interviewed him several months ago about his method for predicting the national unemployment rate. During the interview, he alluded to a new startup he was gearing up, which is most … Continue Reading
With more than 1M users, Raptr formally launches social network for gamers
Raptr has more than a million users of its gamer social network, which has been in testing for more than two years. So now is as good a time as any to formally launch the company’s platform.
Dennis Fong, chief executive of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, said in an interview that the platform is stable enough and growing fast enough to declare version 1.0 ready.
But he still doesn’t have a business model. That … Continue Reading
You drive traffic on your website – but what about the real world?
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
Most entrepreneurs know all about the “call to action”. It is, at its core, a big button on the landing page of a Website that achieves that page’s primary objective, whether that’s convincing a visitor to buy, contact sales, download software or something else. Basically, it tells visitors “click here dammit”. The call to action … Continue Reading
Offerpal launches SocialKast to recruit social game fans on any site
Offerpal Media got stung last week when it was told it wouldn’t be providing special ad offers for Facebook’s new Facebook Credits virtual currency platform. That threatened the startup’s business with Facebook app developers, who are widely expected to adopt Facebook’s in-house Credits, leading to layoffs at Offerpal.
But this week, the company is announcing a new customer program that enables game developers to sign up new users through social recommendations, regardless of what platform … Continue Reading
Scvngr gamers can check in by bumping phones together
Checking in can be pretty solitary. It’s what you do when you’re waiting for a friend at a coffee shop or killing time at an airport. Location-based game company Scvngr, however, wants to make the check-in process social by having people “bump” their phones together to declare their location.
Building on the idea of bumping, or tapping, phones together, which has been made popular by Bump Technologies, Scvngr is making checking in at places a … Continue Reading
Roundup: HP applies for “Palmpad” trademark, British Airways debus mobile boarding passes, and more
Here’s the latest action:
HP applies for “Palmpad” trademark — Another major sign that Hewlett-Packard will pursue a tablet computing strategy dropped today, with the company filing to trademark the word “Palmpad.” Crunchgear has more.
Texas Instruments sees profits soar — The major chip vendor has seen a dramatic incline in sales and profits during the second quarter of 2010, a 42 percent increase compared to Q2 of last year. Second quarter income amounted to … Continue Reading
Arkadium partners up with GSN as it pushes further into games on Facebook
There’s a big pot of gold awaiting casual game publishers who properly adapt their games to Facebook. Online casual game maker Arkadium is making a try at it. It’s been converting some of its games to Facebook games recently. And today it announced that it has teamed up with GSN to make sure the first of those converted games — its hit Mahjongg Dimensions game — makes money.
Arkadium was founded in 2001. It’s Mahjonngg … Continue Reading
PlayHaven gets $1M to help developers promote mobile games
Medium Entertainment, parent company for developer network PlayHaven, has raised $1 million in debt, according to a filing with the SEC. Tandem Entrepreneurs led the round.
Based in San Mateo, Calif., the startup provides developers with tools to foster mobile gaming communities. Using PlayHaven, developers can claim existing communities or create their own, either online or in-game for iPhone apps. One promotion method, the PlayHaven Exchange Network, allows developers to cross-promote their games in similar … Continue Reading
PlantSense digs up $2.5M to analyze your garden
PlantSense, maker of a flower shaped, web-enabled soil sensor, has raised $2.5 million of an expected $4 million in equity, options, warrants and other securities, according to a filing with the SEC. The San Francisco company’s product collects data from soil to help home gardeners determine what plants are most likely to succeed in their yards. After 24 hours in the soil, the sensor’s USB connector can be plugged into a computer, at which point … Continue Reading
uControl raises $3.9M for next-generation home security systems
uControl has raised $3.9 million of a $9 million round to expand development of its next-generation security system for the home.
The Austin, Texas-based company uses the internet and other technology to improve the monitoring, security, and automation of your home controls. You can control your home security using uControl’s “all-in-one” touchscreen system. The touchscreen remote control can be used to control an alarm system, communications in the home, and home automation of controls such … Continue Reading
Water gets smart: 31 million digital meters expected by 2016
With so much buzz surrounding the development of a cleaner and more efficient electrical grid, only a few analysts have questioned the need for similar smart infrastructure for water. But several companies, including IBM, are already leading a wave of innovation aimed at improving measurement and management tools for water.
Spotting this swelling interest, Pike Research released a report predicting that there will be 31.8 million smart meters worldwide by 2016, up from the 5.2 … Continue Reading
Perfect Market opens The Vault to help newspapers make money
It has become a cliche that newspapers are stumbling in their transition to the Web, largely because they just can’t make as much money from their websites as they can from print. A startup called Perfect Market is unveiling a tool today aimed at changing that.
Dubbed The Vault, the new service is basically the data and analytics side of Perfect Market’s services. The Altadena, Calif., company already works with newspapers like The Los Angeles … Continue Reading
Nokia looking for a new CEO (report)
Cellphone maker Nokia is on the hunt for a new chief executive, one who can help it compete against popular new devices from Apple and others, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal that cites “people familiar with the situation.”
Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong told the Journal (and VentureBeat) that the company doesn’t comment on speculation.
The Finnish company remains the largest cellphone maker in the world, but it has been struggling to … Continue Reading
Dell buys Ocarina Networks as it moves deeper into storage
Dell has agreed to buy storage technology company Ocarina Networks for an undisclosed price.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell plans to use Ocarina’s storage-optimization technology, which streamlines the storage of digital data from email to images. Dell is trying to compete head-on with rivals such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Cisco Systems. The purchase of San Jose, Calif.-based Ocarina will let Dell expand its portfolio of data management tools.
Dell said it plans to expand Ocarina’s engineering … Continue Reading
iBooks app gets a refresher to compete with other e-readers
iBooks, the Apple application for users to download and read books, today released several new features with version 1.1.1. These additions include the ability to tap images to view them in greater detail, embedded audio and video within books and enhanced PDF viewing.
iBooks is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and requires Apple’s operating system 3.2 or later. A good selection of various books, including the classics are available, including a complimentary … Continue Reading
