GameStop dives into casual online games with Kongregate acquisition

Video game retail giant GameStop is opening 400 stores a year, but it knows that the shift to digital game distribution is coming. That’s why it bought the indie game portal Kongregate today.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The site will remain under the management of founders Jim and Emily Greer following the closing on Aug. 1.

GameStop chief executive J. Paul Raines said, “Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming … Continue Reading

Your mobile app is spying on you

The odds are pretty good that if you’re a big consumer of mobile apps, the private information on your phone has been collected and sent somewhere without your knowledge.

That’s the finding of the App Genome Project mammoth study by Lookout, a mobile security company that has scrutinized more than 300,000 apps on both the iPhone and Android mobile phone platforms.

San Francisco-based Lookout provides security such as anti-malware for mobile phones. It decided to … Continue Reading

LearnVest's founder: Is Alexa von Tobel Suze Orman 2.0?

LearnVest founder and CEO Alexa von Tobel turned down Harvard and a life on Wall Street to make personal finance education accessible to women, and she has no intention of failing.

She thinks learning how to manage your money should be simpler, a passionate belief which comes from her personal need for her New York-based company’s product, a series of online tutorials on personal finance which have led some to dub her “Suze Orman 2.0.” … Continue Reading

Dark Roast Media integrates Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes into its social game

Small social game company Dark Roast Media may not be the biggest on the block, but it’s doing something interesting with its Facebook game, Exorcists vs. Demons. The company has launched a new sweepstakes campaign to promote its game using Publishers Clearing House, the sweepstakes company that has made its own move into social media.

Metuchen, N.J.-based Dark Roast Media integrated PCH Boost, an applications programming interface (API) that lets consumers enter sweepstakes contests with … Continue Reading

Tapping Disney, Elemental raises $7.5M as it shoots for mastery of web video processing

Elemental Technologies has raised $7.5 million from Disney’s Steamboat Ventures as it expands in the market for web video processing hardware.

Portland, Ore.-based Elemental makes video processing servers with graphics chips that can handle non-graphics tasks; in that sense, its servers are different from those that use only Intel-based microprocessors. The hardware is specially suited for streaming live high-definition video over the web or improving video images so that they can be played in crystal … Continue Reading

Nvidia launches new Quadro workstation graphics hardware with 3D glasses

Making a move to seal its control of the high-end of the visual computing market, Nvidia is launching super-fast graphics chips and 3D glasses for visualization workstations today.

The new Quadro line of workstation products are based on the code-named Fermi graphics chips that the company launched in the spring. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia is spreading the Fermi graphics chips throughout its product line. It came out with a hot line of chips for gamer … Continue Reading

CardStar connects loyalty cards to Foursquare check-ins

The check-in game as popularized by location-based services Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and others, desperately needs something more tangible than just the mere exclamation of a user’s location. One way to bring more value – and thus more interest – to the check-in is tying it to a real-world deal, like getting a cheaper beverage at a coffee shop in return for frequent check-ins. Now, a company specializing in digitizing the loyalty cards people carry in … Continue Reading

12 years after original game, Blizzard's Starcraft II goes on sale

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty went on sale tonight, some 12 years after the original game debuted. The game is likely to be one of the biggest sellers of the year and the first shot in the arm for the PC gaming market (aside from Facebook, of course) in a long time.

The game, which debuted with special midnight openings nationwide like the one pictured above, is expected to be both a blessing and a … Continue Reading

Dating application Wings hooks featured Facebook spot and $750K

Triangulate, maker of Facebook dating application Wings, announced today that the application has been selected to appear on the Facebook Application Dashboard (one of only ten).  The company also officially announced that it has secured a seed round of $750,000, which appeared in a SEC filing back in March.

The company’s Facebook application is dubbed a “one-click dating service.” Once the application is downloaded, a profile is automatically created based on a user’s profile information, … Continue Reading

Coming soon: PlayStation underwear?

PlayStation underwear? The thought isn’t necessarily that crazy. It’s what popped into my head when I saw this announcement: Sony Computer Entertainment today announced the introduction of PlayStation Logo Licensing Program.

Sony will now license its PlayStation logo for use in a variety of lifestyle products, from apparel to everyday items. Licensees will be able to design their products using PlayStation logos or other iconic marks. The program can be applied to lifestyle products such … Continue Reading

Energy consultant Nexant brings in $32.5M

Nexant, a consultant to the energy industry, has brought in $32.5 million of an expected $50.4 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC. The San Francisco-based company provides consulting services and analysis software to clients like electric utilities and grid operators.

Nexant acquired energy software developer Excelergy in 2009. Excelergy’s software helps utilities with processes including streamlining complex billing, automating trading and settlement, and handling customer care and acquisition.… Continue Reading

Ask.com joins the Q&A party

Search site Ask.com launched a Q&A service today, making it the latest in a host of companies to do so, including Quora, Yahoo and Linkedin. The new version of the site will integrate the company’s search technology with a new feature that routes questions to appropriate members of the Ask.com community. Members are selected based on their interests and areas of knowledge.

Q&A services or “social search” has been a hot topic of late because … Continue Reading

Roundup: GM to price Chevy Volt tomorrow, Google Music nears launch, and more

Here’s the latest action:

GM to price Volt tomorrow – General Motors has suggested that it will use the stage at the Plug-in 2010 conference going on right now to announce the official price of the Chevrolet Volt, its plug-in hybrid slated to launch before the end of the year. There has been a lot of pressure on GM to lower the car’s price since Nissan pegged the all-electric Leaf’s price tag at $33,000 before … Continue Reading

Solera Networks raises $15M for real-time network security

Solera Networks has raised $15 million in a third round of funding for its real-time network forensics and monitoring business. It’s another sign that the security technology industry is going through a revival.

The funding comes on the eve of the Black Hat and Defcon security conferences this week in Las Vegas. There have been a number of fundings (Lookout raising $11 million) and acquisitions (McAfee buying Trust Digital) in the space as the evolving … Continue Reading

Austin Ventures backs 'business listening' startup Workstreamer

There’s no shortage of tools for monitoring news and social networking sites, but Austin Ventures is betting on a new one. It just invested $3.5 million in a startup called Workstreamer that offers “business listening” tools.

The most common social monitoring service is exemplified by companies like Radian6 — they promise to help businesses see what their customers are saying on sites like Twitter. Workstreamer is trying to do something a little different. It wants … Continue Reading

ePAC gets $6M to make printing easier for tech companies

ePAC Technologies, a company that manages digital printing for large technology companies, has raised $6 million in debt funding. Existing investors Investor Growth Capital, HarbourVest Partners and Menlo Ventures participated in the round. The San Leandro, Calif.-based company provides its corporate customers with real-time access to documents through a digital archive, along with low-cost print and delivery of company materials.

ePAC plans to use the funding for its new book printing facility in Fairfield, Ohio, … Continue Reading

Omniture CEO to leave Adobe

Adobe announced today that Josh James, chief executive of its acquisition Omniture, is leaving at the end of July.

It’s normal for CEOs to leave eventually when their companies are acquired, but the speed of the departure is a bit unusual — usually those CEOs are contracted to stay with the acquirer for a year or two as part of the deal. And Adobe only announced in September that it was acquiring the analytics company … Continue Reading

After checking in at retailers, Booyah zooms in on products

Booyah, the San Francisco-based company most famous for its location-based game MyTown, launched a new feature over the weekend for its service called the product check-in. In short, it means users can “check in” with a T-shirt, much like they check in at the actual store that sells such a garment.

The product check-in feature makes use of the iPhone’s camera. (Booyah’s game is exclusive to Apple’s platform, though the Android version is coming in … Continue Reading

Sailthru lands $1M for targeted company newsletters

Sailthru, a behavioral marketing email service, announced today that it has secured a seed round of $1 million, first reported by Business Insider. Founder and Chief Executive Neil Capel has since confirmed the funding, which will be used to expand its sales operations and new feature development.

Sailthru offers several email tools that can be used by companies to optimize outbound email marketing campaigns as well as manage service providers. The first tool, Triggermail, monitors … Continue Reading