What seed-stage star Christine Herron's move to Intel Capital means

Well-connected early-stage investor Christine Herron is leaving seed-stage venture-capital firm First Round Capital to join Intel Capital, the chipmaker’s corporate venture arm. The move adds another voice to the ongoing controversy over whether there is a bubble in early-stage investing that’s causing tension between angel investors and established venture capitalists.

Does Herron’s jump show that corporate venture-capital funds are no longer waiting on the sidelines when it comes to seed-stage funding?

Well, in Herron’s own … Continue Reading

Andrew Mason: Groupon is a "human-technology hybrid"

Groupon, the insanely fast-growing online-deals purveyor, has a thousand employees in its Chicago home base, half of them in sales, its founder and CEO Andrew Mason, said today.

Had the company started in Silicon Valley, he might have felt pressure to automate its sales, he noted in an interview at the Stanford Accel Symposium on the university’s campus. Instead, Groupon went with the “pragmatic” decision to hire people to call on the small businesses who … Continue Reading

Microsoft’s online chief fights back against stodgy reputation

Qi Lu, the president of Microsoft’s online services’ group, talked about some big, visionary ideas today at the Accel Stanford Symposium — but one of the audience members sounded a little skeptical. Given Microsoft’s corporate culture, will those cool ideas ever be realized?

Lu acknowledged that there’s a perception of Microsoft as stodgy and not particularly innovative, but he argued that this perception doesn’t necessarily reflect reality.

“There are plenty of challenges and hurdles, but … Continue Reading

Cleversafe scores $31.4M to pull governments securely into the cloud

Cloud storage platform provider Cleversafe said today it had closed an extended fourth round of funding to the tune of $31.4 million, as it further expands into target markets such as government and public safety where storing sensitive data is increasingly critical.

The Chicago-based startup’s technology breaks data apart and stores it in multiple locations.

That makes it cheaper and more secure than traditional data storage methods, Chris Gladwin, CEO and founder of Cleversafe, told … Continue Reading

Acer's $299 answer to the iPad coming Nov. 23

Acer’s long-teased tablet PCs will finally launch on November 23 in New York with a price range from $299 to $699, the company’s CEO Gianfranco Lanci told Dow Jones.

Unfortunately, there’s not much else to go on with the report — and little that counters widespread doubt that MIcrosoft can compete with Apple’s iPad.

Given the price range described, Acer’s Gianfranco could be referring to a series of tablets at 5-, 7-, and 10-inches that … Continue Reading

PayPal says its micropayment system isn't a threat to Facebook's Credits

Paypal announced earlier this week that it had partnered with Facebook and other websites to launch a new micropayment service for virtual goods. At the time of the announcement, it was unclear how the new offering would effect existing virtual goods payment systems such as Facebook Credits. Now PayPal’s vice president of global product strategy, Sam Shrauger, says the new micropayment offering won’t cause any significant changes to those existing systems; it will just provide … Continue Reading

Twitter’s ad efforts revving up … slowly

After years of speculation and jokes about Twitter’s lack of a business model, the microblogging service finally started rolling out advertising products earlier this year. Today, the company’s vice president of engineering Michael Abbott said that even as Twitter continues its ad efforts, it’s moving very carefully.

Abbott was speaking at the Stanford Accel Symposium held on the university’s campus and organized by venture-capital firm Accel Partners. He noted that Twitter has launched Promoted Tweets, … Continue Reading

Qualcomm CEO: We didn't buy Android because we'd be too powerful

Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, said that buying Android wouldn’t have been a good idea a few years ago because it would have made his company too powerful.

Already a powerhouse in chips and cell-phone radio technology, acquiring Android before Google did might seem like a great extension of Qualcomm’s business, which could produce everything from chips to software for mobile devices.

And in retrospect, it seems like a missed opportunity: Google executive David … Continue Reading

Meet cleantech's dreamers and doers at GreenBeat 2010

Why is VentureBeat putting on GreenBeat 2010? The energy revolution depends on two disparate groups. Call the first the pipe dreamers: entrepreneurs, politicians, and pundits. They have great ideas. Then there are the powermongers — the folks who quite literally have the juice, the utilities generating and distributing energy today and tomorrow, who have to worry about billions of dollar of infrastructure.

It’s time to bring the pipe dreamers and the powermongers together in the … Continue Reading

At $300 million, NRG Energy to become top investor in BrightSource's Ivanpah

In a move that could make solar a much bigger part of the grid, electricity wholesaler NRG Energy announced it will invest $300 million over the next three years in BrightSource’s Ivanpah project, a 392-megawatt solar thermal facility that will be the largest in the world.

NRG didn’t disclose the size of its stake, but said this investment will make it the lead investor in the project through its subsidiary NRG Solar.  The project is … Continue Reading

Google exec: Android was "best deal ever"

Buying Android Inc., the wireless-software startup founded by Andy Rubin, was Google’s “best deal ever,” said David Lawee, vice president of corporate development at the search giant.

Lawee made the remark at a panel at the 16th annual Stanford Accel Symposium, a conference organized by the university and venture-capital firm Accel Partners.

Lawee said that when Google buys a company, it’s up to the entrepreneurs behind that company to make it a success. Google quietly … Continue Reading

Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android tablet hitting T-Mobile, Sprint for $399 with contract

Official launch dates and prices for Samsung’s Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, have landed for T-Mobile and Sprint.

The Tab will be headed to T-Mobile on November 10 for $399.99 with a two-year contract (a day before it hits Verizon), and Sprint will get it on November 14 for the same price. T-Mobile will charge an additional $35 activation fee, plus a $200 early termination fee if you choose to jump ship from your contract. … Continue Reading

MySpace steps out of Facebook's shadow with "social entertainment" redesign

VentureBeat readers already saw screenshots of MySpace’s leaked redesign last week. But now the fading social network’s millions of U.S. users will be able to experience the site’s new beta version, unveiled today. It’s focused less on social networking — friend request denied! — and more on what it’s calling “social entertainment” to attract younger users.

So what does “social entertainment” mean exactly? Instead of trying to compete with Facebook as a social network — … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: NRG to invest $300 million in Ivanpah, EU takes stab at vampire energy

Here are the top cleantech stories we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

NRG Energy has announced it will invest $300 million over the next three years in BrightSource’s planned 392-megawatt Ivanpah solar thermal project (model rendering pictured). Brightsource also received a $1.4 billion loan guarantee from the government for the project and power purchase agreements from SoCal Edison and PG&E. Construction has started, and all three phases of the project are expected to be … Continue Reading

Zoodles launches video mail service for young kids

Zoodles is launching a video mail service for young kids as well as a visual storytelling app so parents and relatives can read stories to their kids from afar.

The new features are aimed at making video communication easier for young children or older family members who don’t know much about computers. The free features are aimed at closing the gap between family members, friends and young kids who would otherwise be far apart. Grandparents … Continue Reading

SunRun raises new round of solar project financing

Residential solar company SunRun has announced a new round of financing from U.S. Bancorp that will support 1,900 residential solar installations.

This is SunRun’s fourth transaction with U.S. Bancorp, which today committed tax equity to develop the installations. No dollar figure was disclosed, however SunRun has previously raised $300 million in project financing from U.S. Bancorp and PG&E. Financing for solar installations is key to the company’s business model.

“We have no business without raising … Continue Reading