Kleiner backs server management company Puppet Labs

Prominent venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced that it’s backing Puppet Labs, the company behind an open source data center management tool called Puppet, by leading a new $5 million round of funding.

The Portland, Ore. company (formerly known as Reductive Labs) says a number of important organizations already use Puppet, including Digg, Twitter, Genentech, Oracle/Sun, and Stanford University. It’s supposed to be a simplified tool for systems administrators that “takes the pain … Continue Reading

Livescribe's Echo is a creative new take on the smartpen

Livescribe has popularized the art of putting a computer in a pen, and today it’s launching its new “smartpen,” the Echo. The pen is targeted at serious note takers, business professionals and students.

This device has a number of improvements over the company’s previous Pulse smartpen, which sold more than 400,000 units and introduced the idea of packing lots of cool technology and uses into what would otherwise be an ordinary ballpoint pen.

Byron Connell, … Continue Reading

Weekend roundup: Apple already testing Verizon on campus, Paul Allen gives his money away and more

Here’s the latest action:

Apple testing Verizon on campus — Amid the Antenna-gate media firestorm, CEO Steve Jobs let slip that there are Verizon cell sites on Apple’s campus. Since Apple employees overwhelmingly use Apple products, and Apple currently has exclusive deals with AT&T, their presence is being interpreted by some as a sign that a deal with Verizon may even closer than previously thought.

Paul Allen gives his money away – Microsoft co-founder Paul … Continue Reading

Steve Jobs' "antennagate" event widens into a battle with smartphone makers

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs may have expected the “antennagate” controversy over the iPhone 4′s reception problems to die down after Friday’s event where he offered free rubber cases for customers who suffered from dropped calls. But by saying that all smartphones have antenna problems, Jobs stirred the pot.

Nokia fought back yesterday, saying that it does not put form over function in its designs and it prioritizes antenna performance over physical design if they … Continue Reading

EC Roundup: UGC ownership and figuring out what to ask for in your seed round

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner.

Who owns user-generated content? – When you put an idea on a public forum or post an original video on YouTube, does it remain your property? The answer depends greatly on what you agree to before you post, says attorney Curtis Smolar.

In a “flash crash” world, is your site ready? – The stock market’s “flash crash” in May might seem like a one-time event, but Imad Mouline, … Continue Reading

Boxee shows off final version of its video streaming Boxee Box (video)

In a video released today, video streaming startup Boxee showed off the final version of its set-top “Boxee Box,” which is being produced by hardware manufacturer D-Link.

Boxee debuted the set-top box last year, and it instantly became hotly anticipated among media addicts. The company has been working on software that lets users bring Web video content to their televisions for the past few years, but thus far it has required extensive set up on … Continue Reading

iKoa gets $7.8M more for low power semiconductors

iKoa, maker of semiconductor products with low power consumption, has raised $7.8 million of an expected $12.6 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Menlo Park, Calif. with an engineering office in Hyderabad, India, the startup makes products for consumer devices including mobile phones and personal computers. iKoa is backed by Khosla Ventures and Catalyst Partners and previously raised more than $11 million in funding.… Continue Reading

Calithera Biosciences brings in $10M for cancer therapeutics

Calithera Biosciences, a developer of small molecules that cause apoptosis, or death, of cancer cells, has secured $10 million of an expected $40 million in a first round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Morgenthaler Venture Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Mission Bay Capital participated. Founded in 2010, Calithera Biosciences is located in South San Francisco.… Continue Reading

Facebook co-founder Moskovitz says movie overplays sex, booze

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz seems to remember that the company’s beginnings had a lot more work and a lot less sex than the recently released trailer for David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Network” depicts.

Moskovitz, who is now building Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz-backed productivity startup Asana, gave his take on the upcoming film on Quora, a question-and-answer site from other Facebook alums.

He surprisingly thought that the trailer ended up portraying Mark Zuckerberg … Continue Reading

Nokia kicks Apple while it's down, says it prioritizes antenna performance over looks

Nokia didn’t waste any time after Apple’s big press event this afternoon to throw in some comments of its own. The Finnish phone maker sent out a statement to the press pointing out its longstanding dedication to antenna design — to the point where it would “prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.”

Apple has caught heat for its iPhone 4 external antenna design — wherein touching the lower-left portion … Continue Reading

Apple does have a sense of humor with "antennagate" (video)

Apple showed this funny music video about the iPhone 4′s reception problems at its press event today. Steve Jobs said he saw the video this morning and had to show it to the press as well.

It helped set a lighter tone to the beginning of what could have been a fairly tense meeting between Jobs and the press. At multiple times, Jobs expressed his disdain for the press that tears companies down in the … Continue Reading

More excerpts from Steve Jobs' "antennagate" press event (video)

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs spent a lot of time answering questions about the iPhone 4′s reception problems today at an “antennagate” press conference at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. We shot the videos below on the scene.

In the first video, Jobs explains to a Consumer Reports writer why Apple will give free rubber bumpers to iPhone 4 customers who request it, but not to those who bought third-party cases. Consumer Reports says Apple’s … Continue Reading

Even during iPhone 4 damage control, Steve Jobs is a skillful onstage presenter (video)

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs started out by saying Apple wasn’t perfect and that it has slowly pieced together what works and what doesn’t with respect to the iPhone “antennagate” problem over the past 22 days.

He did so with the classic presentation skills of a master, unaided by notes and making all of his key points using slides and what seemed like well-rehearsed comments. He started out with an adroit jab at rivals such … Continue Reading

Intel snags former Palm and Apple VP Mike Bell for smartphone plans

Palm’s brain drain continues as it loses another executive to a major competitor. Mike Bell, most recently senior vice president for Product Development at Palm, has moved on to a similar role at Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group as Director of Smartphone Product Development, Engadget reports.

In an internal email, Intel said that Bell “will help build and lead a team to build breakthrough smartphone reference designs to accelerate Intel Architecture into the market.”

Bell was … Continue Reading

Google acquires MetaWeb, says Freebase will become "more open"

Google has acquired Benchmark-backed Metaweb to improve the structure in its search results.

Over the past few years, Google has evolved beyond the “10 blue links” paradigm (where search results delivered only simple links) and begun breaking out specialty news, video or data snippets atop search results. Metaweb’s Freebase database catalogues more than 12 million objects like movies, books, TV shows and locations.

“The web isn’t merely words—it’s information about things in the real world, … Continue Reading

Will Apple's iPhone 4 rubber bumper strategy work? (reader poll)

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs apologized to users for the iPhone 4′s reception problems and said the company would offer free rubber bumpers, or cases, to help users deal with the problem of dropped calls.

Will that strategy be enough to mollify critics and keep customer demand for the iPhone 4 — which has sold 3 million units in 22 days and is Apple’s best-selling phone ever — strong in all parts of the world?… Continue Reading

DEMO deadline today: Will you be part of Silicon Valley "craziness"?

If you’re a company about to launch a product that will change the world, remember today is the deadline to apply to DEMO.

This fall’s DEMO is shaping up to be a hot event. It’s taking place in Silicon Valley for the first time ever, on Sept. 13-15. Throughout its 20 year history, DEMO has been held in remote places like Palm Springs, Calif.. But after consistent feedback from people who wanted to make it … Continue Reading

New report: VC investing bouncing back in Q2

Venture capital funds may be struggling to raise money lately, but their investments in other companies actually increased during the second quarter — a positive sign after one of the bleakest periods for the venture capital industry in years.

VC funds invested $6.5 billion across 906 deals during Q2, and $11.4 billion across 1,646 deals in the first half of 2010, according to the MoneyTree Report released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital … Continue Reading

Apple's Jobs says "we aren't perfect," will give away free iPhone 4 cases

Apple’s Steve Jobs said “We aren’t perfect” as he opened a press conference today at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

He acknowledged “antennagate,” or the fact that Apple’s iPhone 4 has exhibited dropped calls when held in what has been nicknamed the “death grip.” He also apologized to users and promised to “work our butts off” to get their confidence back.

The special press conference is unique in Apple’s history, and the antenna problem is … Continue Reading