Unvarnished lowers the bar on reviewing your colleagues

Along the way to creating Silicon Valley’s definitive people reviews site, Unvarnished cofounder Peter Kazanjy ran into a problem: Some people struggle to find words to describe their work partners. “Writing is hard,” he explained.  So the site, currently in an invitation-only beta, is solving the problem by giving users the option to rate people on a five-star scale instead.

Users anonymously rate and comment on people they work with, populating reviewers’ lists with connections … Continue Reading

Realtime Worlds to launch Project MyWorld virtual world game platform

Realtime Worlds, the developers behind the recently released video games All Points Bulletin and Crackdown, are setting their sites on a new social experiment that will recreate the entire world into a full-on game space. The project, dubbed Project: MyWorld, will combine 3D gaming with social media to create a new type of experience. It is a platform upon which games can be built.

“Project: MyWorld turns the real world into a fun 3D social … Continue Reading

Angel investor Ron Conway: Every entrepreneur should get funded

Are there too many angel investors funding too many startups? That was the topic of some debate today at AngelConf, which was held at the Mountain View, Calif. campus of incubator Y Combinator.

The opening speaker was well-known and prolific angel Ron Conway (pictured), who argued that if anything, there should be more angel investing, not less. He said he hopes that any entrepreneur that has “the guts” to start a company gets funded.

“The … Continue Reading

HTC Droid Incredible teardown reveals around $163 worth of parts

The components that make up HTC’s Droid Incredible Android smartphone cost about $163.35, according to a teardown estimate by market research firm iSuppli.

Most touchscreen smartphones today can usually be broken down into $150-$190 worth of components, so the teardown number isn’t a huge surprise. The Droid Incredible retails for $199 with a two-year contract on Verizon.

The phone shares many components with Google’s Nexus One (also built by HTC), so it’s no surprise that … Continue Reading

Music video supersite Vevo: Traffic has grown 62 percent

Vevo, the music video site created as a partnership between the record industry and YouTube, just released impressive statistics showing its growth since launching in December 2009. The site says it attracted 62 percent more monthly viewers in the United States than it did at the start.

That statistic comes from the monthly numbers already released by comScore, but Vevo has repackaged the data to show the growth over time, and it fleshed out the … Continue Reading

How to hide yourself from Google and cell phone carriers

The problem with being private is that it increasingly means that you have to choose to drop out of society. You would never let the government put a tracking device on you, but you may be carrying a cell phone that tracks your location. You don’t want the government monitoring your internet usage, but Google collects data on you.

Since most people find they can’t live without a cell phone or Google, they grudgingly accept … Continue Reading

Cleantech IPOs still fail to impress as Molycorp misses its goal

With the exception of Tesla Motors’ blockbuster public sale last month, clean technology IPOs have been disappointing this year. And the trend continues today with Molycorp Minerals, miner of many of the rare metals used in green technologies, debuting at $13.25 a share — down from the anticipated range of $15 to $17.

All told, the Greenwood, Colo. company raised $394 million, pricing its shares at $14. The stock has performed weakly since this morning, … Continue Reading

IBM acquires real-time data compression company Storwize

Storwize, a company dedicated to real-time data compression (compressing data as it’s being accessed by users), announced today that it has been acquired by IBM.

The company’s “Random Access Compression Engine” (RACE) technology can help clients reduce storage requirements by up to 80 percent, and can compress a variety of files — including databases, virtualization images — that clients are using in real-time. Most other compression companies can’t touch data that’s in use, and are … Continue Reading

Privacy legislation looms as Facebook CEO heads to Washington

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and two other Facebook executives have gone to Washington D.C. this week to explain the company’s stance on privacy as momentum builds for online consumer privacy legislation.

Privacy is a particularly pressing issue for Facebook, whose 500-million-user community publishes a vast amount of personal information online. The company has updated its privacy policies several times, each time drawing waves of complaints, and it has been criticized by many in the technology … Continue Reading

YouTube upload limit jumps from 10 to 15 minutes

YouTube just increased its video upload limit for all users from 10 to 15 minutes — a 50 percent upgrade that heavy uploaders to the video site will surely appreciate.

Previously, only YouTube partners — content owners and some online video companies — could upload content longer than 10 minutes. To encourage users to take advantage of the new upload breathing room, YouTube announced a “15 minutes of fame”  contest: Users just need to create … Continue Reading

Roundup: Google, CIA invest in Web monitoring, RIM's touchscreen BlackBerry and more

Here’s the latest action:

Google, CIA invest in web monitoring — The venture branches of both Google and the CIA are pouring financing into a company called Recorded Future, which scans websites to determine the relationships between people, events and organizations.

Facebook claimant busted for mushrooms — Paul Ceglia, the man suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for a staggering 84 percent stake in the social networking website, was convicted over a decade ago for possession … Continue Reading

Nintendo reports a quarterly loss as Wii game sales tumble

Nintendo reported a loss for its first fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, as the Japanese company saw its Wii game sales wither.

Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo said it had a loss of 25.2 billion yen, or $287 million, compared to a profit of 42.3 billikon yen a year earlier. Revenues were 188.6 billion yen, down 25.6 percent from 253.5 billion yen a year earlier.

The company saw sales of Wii console sales increase, but it … Continue Reading

Zynga confirms $150M SoftBank investment and Japan expansion

Zynga confirmed tonight that SoftBank will invest $150 million in the social game company. Zynga will also open a joint venture withSoftBank in Japan to develop and distribute social games across Japan. We reported the long-awaited deal would happen earlier this week.

The new venture will be called Zynga Japan and it will focus on enabling social games anytime, anywhere. That means that Zynga’s games such as FarmVille are likely to make their way to … Continue Reading

Biometric startup Validity Sensors locks up $12.6M to keep PCs safe

Validity Sensors, a company that makes fingerprint scanners for PCs and mobile devices, has raised $12.6 million in a fourth round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. New investor Panorama Capital led the round. Validity’s sensor technology can be used for identity verification, password replacement and corporate network security in portable devices. Based in San Jose, the startup last raised $20 million in late 2007 from Crosslink Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and TeleSoft … Continue Reading

Amazon unveils new Kindle: $139 WiFi-only model, $189 with 3G, available August 27th

If you were hoping for a Kindle hardware refresh, today’s your lucky day. Earlier this evening, Amazon unveiled the latest generation Kindle e-book reader, which offers better contrast, improved speeds, lighter weight, and double the storage and battery life compared to the previous model.

This time around, Amazon is offering two Kindle models: A $189 version with 3G and WiFi to replace the Kindle 2, and a cheaper $139 version that only features WiFi. The … Continue Reading

Search-engine marketing tool Kenshoo raises new funds to fuel growth

Kenshoo, a company that provides software to help online marketers manage campaigns, has closed an undisclosed round of funding with Sequoia Capital. The company plans to use the funds to grow its client base, deepen profitability, broaden offerings (for example, into social media) and expand internationally.

Kathryn Barry, Kenshoo’s director of marketing, explained that, although the company has been growing exponentially and is already profitable, the added funding would help take the business to the … Continue Reading

Updated: Android wallpaper app that takes your data was downloaded by millions

[Update: Google has reviewed the wallpaper apps and lifted the ban on them.]

A questionable Android mobile wallpaper app that collects your personal data and sends it to a mysterious site in China, has been downloaded millions of times, according to data unearthed by mobile security firm Lookout.

That means that apps that seem good but are really stealing your personal information are a big risk at a time when mobile apps are exploding on … Continue Reading

Online payments startup eWise raises $12.1M

eWise, an online payments and financial management solutions company, has secured $12.1M in funding, it announced today.

The round was led by prominent European tech investor Balderton Capital, and included Total Technology Ventures, Patagorang, and Allen & Co.’s Roger Allen and Stanley S. Shuman.

Founded by Alexander Grinberg, who also heads the company, eWise is headquartered in the United Kingdom, and has expanded its market services to the United States, Australia, and China. Utilizing its … Continue Reading

Chevy Volt: No $5K rebate, carpool-lane access for CA buyers

Now we know: The first two plug-in cars from major manufacturers will go head-to-head on warranties and lease prices: $350 a month for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, $349 for the 2011 Nissan Leaf.

Now the choice shifts to other measures, including electric and overall range, as well as the plug-in perks that states like California offer to early adopters to encourage them to opt for electric cars.

This is where it gets interesting. While California … Continue Reading