Lionside scores $1.6M to make Facebook games for sports fans

Lionside, a developer of social sports games, has raised $1.6 million in a first round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC.

Founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based startup launched its first Facebook game, called Lionside Football, in September. The game allows soccer fans to compete on behalf of their favorite team.

Lionside, formerly called Popside, is backed by Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures and angel investor Ron Conway.… Continue Reading

Confirmed: Accel sold Facebook shares at $34B valuation

Looks like it isn’t just employees who are cashing out on their Facebook shares. TechCrunch reported earlier today that Accel Partners sold “very significant chunks” of its stake in the company (while also holding on to the vast majority of its shares), and I’ve confirmed the news with a source.

My source said that Accel sold its shares at a $34 billion valuation and that those shares added up to less than 20 percent of … Continue Reading

Seattle companies: Join us November 30 for a pitch at Madrona, and then cocktails

If you’re a entrepreneur in the Seattle region and are considering launching an amazing tech product over the next year or so, you should join us for a meetup at one of Seattle’s most respected venture capital firms, Madrona Venture Group.

We’re inviting up to 10 companies that are contemplating launching products at DEMO (either at the upcoming DEMO event February 27 – March 1 in Palm Desert, or DEMO Fall 2011) to present their … Continue Reading

Unsealed lawsuit reveals Dell lied about millions of faulty computers

The past has come back to haunt Dell. Documents unsealed yesterday regarding a three-year-old lawsuit against the company have revealed that Dell knowingly downplayed hardware defects for millions of computers it sold between 2003 and 2005, the New York Times reports.

The lawsuit, originally filed by Advanced Internet Technologies, accused Dell of hiding the extent of its computer’s hardware issues from customers. Dell settled the suit in September without disclosing terms.

To get a sense … Continue Reading

A tour inside Silicon Valley's newest (freezing cold) secret data center

If you pulled the plug on Silicon Valley’s data centers, innovation would grind to a halt. Web services companies, from social game makers to cloud computing startups, depend on computing power leased from independent data centers to host their applications on the internet. So it’s good to know that Equinix, one of the biggest data center hosting companies, just spent $103 million on the first phase of a brand new data center inside a vast … Continue Reading

Scvngr won't be outdone, gets its own major drink distributor

Scvngr, the check-in application that asks users to complete activity challenges, just announced a strategic partnership with major drink distributor Coca Cola. The two have joined forces to give users who check-in to certain Simon Malls across United States the opportunity to earn points and rewards like gift cards and other Coke-branded merchandise.

Starting Friday, November 26, Scvngr users who check-in at one of the malls will be prompted to complete the new Coke Secret … Continue Reading

Dell: The public cloud doesn't scare us!

Dell makes a good chunk of change off selling servers. The Texas-based company raked in $1.8 billion off server sales in the last quarter alone — which was up 20 percent from $1.5 billion the same quarter a year earlier.

But with the emergence of companies like Rackspace and Amazon’s EC2 cloud services, there’s a diminishing need for companies to purchase servers to perform all the data crunching they need. They can offload it to … Continue Reading

Sony Ericsson says no to Windows Phone 7 and tablets

Don’t expect Sony Ericsson to roll out any tablets or Windows Phone 7 devices anytime soon, according to Sony Ericsson France CEO Pierre Perron, who recently spoke to the French newspaper Les Echos.

The news is a snub against Microsoft by the world’s fourth-largest phone manufacturer, and a potential sign that tablets are becoming overplayed.

Perron confirmed that the company is in talks with Microsoft about creating Windows Phone 7 devices in the future, but … Continue Reading

Why Texas may be a better electric car state than California

When power plant heavyweight NRG Energy announced yesterday that it would invest $10 million in the rollout of the nation’s first privately-financed electric vehicle charging network it also revealed that the city it would debut in would be … Houston, Texas.

Um, what?

Houston (pictured) is known as the nation’s oil capital, and as a resident, I can’t say I disagree with that assessment. It’s also in a state where oil is still cheap compared … Continue Reading

Angel investors to Fashism: You look fabulous

Social shopping startup Fashism just announced that it has raised an angel round of funding led by A Grade Investments, the fund created by actor/entrepreneur/professional oversharer Ashton Kutcher.

The New York startup offers a way to get fashion feedback before making a purchase. For example, if you’re not sure whether a jacket is a good buy, you can try it on, take a photo, ask how it looks on how, then read comments from other … Continue Reading

Salesforce's micro-blogging app Chatter jumps on the freemium bandwagon

Not even the enterprise application ecosystem is safe from the invasion of freemium services.

Salesforce announced today that it is releasing a free, stripped down version of its twitter-like micro-blogging application Chatter to compete with other free-to-use collaboration services like Huddle and Yammer at the company’s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco this December.

Chatter’s pitched as a collaboration tool for businesses with multiple employees strewn across the country. It’s also good for large businesses … Continue Reading

Groupon needs the human touch, not Google's robots

The next wave of e-commerce is clearly going to be social — and there are a raft of players looking for an angle on the business.

Google is thinking about buying Groupon for $3 billion or more, the Chicago-based daily-deals site whose rocket-ship growth has captivated Internet investors, according to Kara Swisher of AllThingsD.

Business Insider’s Henry Blodget thinks it’s a great idea — for Google.

I think it’s a terrible idea — for Groupon.… Continue Reading

Amazon now lets you gift Kindle ebooks to anyone

I’m not sure what took so long, but Amazon today finally announced the ability to gift Kindle ebooks to anyone — just as you would any other product or service from Amazon’s online store.

The company says that the Kindle is “the most gifted item in the history of Amazon.com” but is still mum on specific sales numbers. While this announcement may help Amazon sell even more Kindles, the company stresses that no Kindle is … Continue Reading

Cox launches mobile phone service to combat AT&T, Verizon

Cox Communications, the third-largest cable provider in the US, announced today that it’s launching a mobile phone service that it will bundle with its cable and internet service, Bloomberg reports.

The cellular service is launching today in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. The company is hoping to take on phone companies like AT&T and Verizon who have been steadily encroaching on Cox’s TV market share.

Cox says the service will be … Continue Reading

OpenFeint finds a way to co-exist with Apple's Game Center for the iPhone

When Apple launched its Game Center social platform for iPhone games, it looked like a supporting tool such as the OpenFeint platform was doomed. That’s because OpenFeint, a social game platform built by the startup formerly known as Aurora Feint and now called OpenFeint, did much of the same thing as Game Center, socializing games so that users would make friends and play more.

But it turns out that iPhone game developers have not only … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Suntech buying $127 million of capacity in China, Infigen weighs $492 million wind investment

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

Solar panel maker Suntech is buying more wafer-slicing capacity in China for $127 million, the Associated Press reports.

Federal regulators have proposed easing grid restrictions on renewable energies that will allow solar and wind producers to deliver energy faster and lower rates for consumers purchasing that electricity, Reuters reports.

More and more utility-scale solar projects are coming online, Greentech Media … Continue Reading

MooBella scores $9M to make ice cream on demand in New England

MooBella, the developer of a technology that can make hard-scoop ice cream in just 40 seconds, has raised $9 million from Inventages Venture Capital.

MooBella does far more than the average vending machine. Consumers can make up to 96 varieties of ice cream in just three steps. Using a touch screen, customers first choose between premium and low-fat ice cream, followed by a choice of 12 flavors like coffee and cake batter and three mix-ins … Continue Reading

Foursquare kicks off new brand loyalty program with Safeway and PepsiCo

Popular mobile check in application Foursquare today launched a new pilot program with Pepsi and Safeway that integrates check ins with loyalty rewards, reports business magazine Fast Company.

The pilot could mark a new way for Foursquare to monetize using not just brands with physical locations, but now product brands.

The pilot will be tested at some 200 Vons grocery stores (owned by Safeway) in Southern California. Grocery goers will be able to link their … Continue Reading

NimbleCommerce lets newspapers build their own Groupon

Startup NimbleCommerce is officially launching today, but founder and chief executive Prashant Nedungadi said the company, which has been working in stealth mode for the past year and half, has already signed up more than 25 large newspapers and business directories for its group-buying service.

NimbleCommerce helps those publications tap into the excitement around group buying, where discounts are only available for a limited time and only take effect if enough people sign up. The … Continue Reading