U.S. Supreme Court set to hear video game violence case
The country has long been divided about whether violent video games should be formally regulated. Now the U.S. Supreme Court is planning to weigh in on the matter with oral arguments to be held on Tuesday, on election day.
The video game industry has argued that regulating video games unfairly singles out the medium of video games in contrast to other media such as movies, music or books. They say their works are just as … Continue Reading
How Apple could become the world's biggest tech company (reader poll)
Not many companies get a second chance. In that respect, Apple has led a charmed life. The company led the first boom in personal computers but fell behind the PC juggernaut as Microsoft, the PC clone makers, and a broad array of PC industry supporters soared past Apple, leaving it with about 2 percent of the personal computer market.
Steve Jobs was booted from the company and he came back. He shut down Apple’s clone-licensing … Continue Reading
Meet 26 experts charging the super grid: GreenBeat 2010's latest speakers
We’ve written a lot about what it will take to transform today’s energy infrastructure into the super grid of tomorrow, from cleaner, cheaper energy sources to smarter networks and support for fleets of electric vehicles. But the ultimate requirement is people. We’ll have to tap our collective brainpower like never before. That’s why VentureBeat is assembling a superstar cast of speakers for our GreenBeat 2010 conference, at the academic powerhouse of Stanford University on November … Continue Reading
32 companies charging the Super Grid now
The super grid, the theme of VentureBeat’s next GreenBeat conference, involves a bewildering array of technologies and companies from industry behemoths like GE and Cisco to disruptive young startups. Together, they’re taking existing efforts to build a smart power grid to the next level. With billions of dollars of untapped potential in the profitable collision of information technology, energy, and cleantech, it’s no wonder so many pioneers are staking out territory.
In this article, we … Continue Reading
Week in review: Did Amazon just kill the Nook?
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
End of the Nook? Amazon announces 14-day Kindle ebook lending — Amazon announced that it will be introducing a 14-day lending feature for Kindle ebooks later this year. The move brings the Kindle up to date with Barnes and Noble’s rival Nook e-reader, which has touted 14-day book lending as a key feature.
Digg’s … Continue Reading
Entrepreneur Corner: Raising seed capital and standing out from the crowd
Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner.
3 ways to raise seed capital if you don’t know any investors — It’s unquestionably hard to convince investors of the value of your venture, but sometimes it’s nearly as hard to find potential investors in the first place. Attorney Scott Edward Walker runs down three ways to get in front of the angels.
Put up or shut up: The corporate guarantee – When a young employee at … Continue Reading
Are Q&A startups a threat to Google?
The classic movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail includes a scene in which King Arthur and his men ignore warnings about a killer rabbit with huge fangs. Only after one of the knights is ferociously attacked do they finally believe that such cuddly-looking creature could be the “most foul, cruel and bad-tempered thing you ever set eyes on.”
The same can be said about the numerous Question & Answer players that people unwisely dismiss … Continue Reading
Are there any developers left who care about Digg's new 'Streaming API?'
News aggregator site Digg has announced it unveiled a new “streaming API” (Application Programming Interface) that the company hopes will save it from declining traffic and community involvement.
“Today we’re releasing a new API feature which we hope will ease the process of using Digg’s data, and also freeing developers to model and store the data however they want,” said Digg software developer Will Larson.
Larson invited outside developers to create their own applications that … Continue Reading
Google Ventures funds vacation rental player HomeAway
Vacation home rental matchmaker HomeAway just received a reported $25 million investment from Google Ventures, as corporate venture arms increasingly look for ways to invest in high-revenue, pre-IPO companies.
The New York Times first broke the story. Neither Google Ventures nor HomeAway could be reached for confirmation of the monetary amount of the deal.
Though the amount of the investment was not disclosed, TechCrunch quoted an unnamed source today as saying Google’s year-old venture arm … Continue Reading
AdMob's Omar Hamoui leaves Google for "personal reasons"
Updated
Omar Hamoui, founder and chief executive of Google-acquired mobile ad startup AdMob, is leaving the search giant for what the company says are personal reasons.
Only five months have passed since the acquisition finally closed, which means Hamoui spent more time (about six months) waiting for the government to approve the deal than he did at Google. Following the acquisition, Hamoui was named Google’s vice president of mobile ads.
We’ve heard that Hamoui was … Continue Reading
Smart or not? Nintendo not interested in making smartphones (reader poll)
Sony is reportedly making a PlayStation Phone in an attempt to do battle for the hearts of gamers against Apple’s iPhone. But Nintendo isn’t doing so.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told Forbes that his company isn’t likely to follow suit.
“Certainly we are adding more and more elements to fill out the experience and take away more and more time from competing devices. But our handhelds will always lead with games,” Fils-Aime … Continue Reading
Facebook hires Drop.io's Sam Lessin, calls it an acquisition
Updated
File-sharing service Drop.io announced today that it has been acquired by Facebook.
The New York startup’s blog post said that the social networking company has bought “most of Drop.io’s technology and assets” and that chief executive Sam Lessin (pictured) will be joining Facebook. It sounds like Facebook won’t be hiring the rest of the Drop.io team, though when I asked Facebook directly, it only said: “We can confirm that we recently completed a small … Continue Reading
Microsoft says more than one billion hours spent on Xbox Live content every month
Microsoft said today that fans spend more than 1 billion hours on Xbox Live content every month.
The 25 million Xbox Live members spend an average of more than 40 hours a month viewing Xbox Live content, including playing online games, communicating with friends, watching videos and TV shows, or listening to music.
Xbox Live is reportedly generating $1 billion in revenues a year for Microsoft. The online gaming service launched in 2002 but has … Continue Reading
Use less power at peak, and pay less? Everyone's jumping in
For the past century, buying electricity from your utility hasn’t changed much. If you pay a monthly bill, and you really don’t care what time of day you use your power. Whether it’s night or day, who cares? It costs about the same.
But thanks to something called “demand response,” that’s changing.
Power utilities are now increasingly charging less or offering cash to customers who agree to cut energy use during peak hours — typically … Continue Reading
Updated: Microsoft buys gesture-recognition firm Canesta
[Update: Microsoft and Canesta have confirmed the deal.]
Microsoft is expected to announce it has agreed to buy Canesta, a maker of chips that allow game systems and other electronic devices to recognize gesture controls, the New York Times reported. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Canesta’s technology is very similar to that used in Kinect, Microsoft’s motion-control system for the Xbox 360. Debuting on Nov. 4, Kinect lets you use your body … Continue Reading
How Verizon landed Apple's iPhone
Verizon is definitely getting the iPhone next year, according to a Fortune profile of the company and its chief executive Ivan Seidenberg.
But perhaps more interesting than the apparent confirmation that the Verizon iPhone is real — both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times said as much earlier this month, we’re still awaiting a statement from Apple and Verizon — is the story of how Verizon landed the coveted apple device. Ultimately, … Continue Reading
Business data company SnapLogic raises $10M more
Online data integration startup SnapLogic has raised another $10 million in funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
I’ve emailed SnapLogic’s public relations team for confirmation and details and will update if I hear back. The company previously raised $4.8 million in funding from a number of high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (run by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz), “super angel” firm Floodgate (previously known as Maples Investments), and … Continue Reading
The super grid. Coming soon to a power outlet near you
If there is one technology which is truly essential and ubiquitous in our world, it’s electricity. Yet few of us have any idea how the power grid works. That’s going to have to change. Understanding the grid of today is the key to building the grid of tomorrow, a theme which VentureBeat will explore next week at its GreenBeat 2010 conference at Stanford University. The theme: “Charging the Super Grid.”
So what is the super
Sony makes a profit on games but PlayStation Portable is weak link
Sony made a slight profit in video games for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, but its weakness in handheld gaming is dragging the overall business down.
The Networked Products and Services division (including games and PCs) posted sales of 369.1 billion yen, or $4.4 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago. It reported an operating profit of $84 million, compared with an operating loss of $732,000 a year ago. The division’s improving … Continue Reading
How to make your startup succeed where others have failed
Gene Yoon has been a founder, startup executive, venture capitalist and lawyer over the last decade in Silicon Valley. His current startup, Bynamite, is attempting an idea that many have failed at before. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.
Thirty seconds into my pitch for a system that lets users control the ads they see, I can tell that my audience gets it. The problem is clearly understood, the solution is simple, the use cases … Continue Reading
