Vimeo turns its video site into a film school

Vimeo pitches itself as a YouTube alternative that features more original, high-quality content. Today the company is unveiling a new initiative that could make Vimeo’s videos even better, as well as attract a new audience of aspiring filmmakers.

Titled “Vimeo Video School”, the project involves more than 800 video lessons and tutorials covering different aspects of filmmaking. There’s a Video 101 series created by the Vimeo team, which covers the basic steps of creating a … Continue Reading

Microsoft jams JavaScript from partners in its Hotmail messages

Microsoft, looking for a way to differentiate itself from other Web email services, has allowed a select group of companies to include JavaScript code in email messages that will introduce new functions, potentially opening up a fertile new canvas for marketers.

That can involve bringing in Orbitz flight and hotel search functions directly into the email message, or Monster’s job search engine. Microsoft also plans to partner up with Netflix and LinkedIn, giving Hotmail users … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Court delays Tessera solar plant, Chinese solar panel maker to grab 10% of global market

Here’s some of the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Trina Solar shoots for 10 percent market share – The Chinese company is the world’s No. 2 solar panel maker and plans to invest $400 million to ramp up production in an effort to take at least 10 percent of the global market, Reuters reports. Its current global market share is about 8 percent and plans to double shipments to the U.S. next … Continue Reading

Google Maps 5.0 for Android now available with 3D buildings, offline support

The latest version of Google Maps for Android is now available, and as we’ve reported previously, it brings some amazing features with it like 3D building support, dynamic map drawing and access to maps offline.

Google Maps 5.0 relies on vector graphics, instead of flat 2D maps, to load its map data. Vector files are smaller and more flexible than typical graphics files, both of which make a huge difference on mobile devices. Thanks to … Continue Reading

Ticket upstart Ticketfly accelerates with the Baltimore Grand Prix

Ticketfly, a startup hoping to challenge Ticketmaster with its social media savvy, said it has had a good year — and it’s capping the year off with a new partner, the Baltimore Grand Prix.

The grand prix is a big IndyCar race, and it’s projected to draw more than 150,000 visitors over the 2011 Labor Day weekend. Beyond the pure numbers, the deal is significant for Ticketfly because it marks the company’s first big partner … Continue Reading

Rackspace picks up cloud performance monitoring startup Cloudkick

Cloudkick, a developer of web applications that help manage cloud computing environments, announced today that it has agreed to be bought out by cloud computing provider Rackspace for an undisclosed sum.

Rackspace is one of several companies that run public cloud servers. That means application developers and companies can offload programs that require a lot of heavy-duty computing firepower onto remote servers like the ones Rackspace provides. It’s an increasingly popular trend as it lets … Continue Reading

RockStar Games reveals secret to its stunningly realistic human faces in L.A. Noire (video)

RockStar Games, the maker of the smash hits Red Dead Redemption (my favorite game of 2010) and Grand Theft Auto, is working on a cool “film noir” style detective game called L.A. Noire. The game comes out next year, but it’s already getting accolades for the high quality of the human faces on its 3D animated characters. The video below shows how RockStar has created the facial animations in the game. The commentary is from … Continue Reading

SkyFire web browser brings Flash video and social features to iPad

After finding success on the iPhone with its Flash video-capable mobile browser, SkyFire is now gearing up to launch a version of its mobile browser for the iPad. In addition to Flash video, SkyFire’s iPad app also comes with social features for Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader.

The company says it is waiting for approval for its iPad app, but after Apple approved its iPhone app, I don’t suspect that there’s any reason its iPad … Continue Reading

Google's do-it-yourself Android App Inventor opens up to all

Google is opening up App Inventor, its web software for easily creating Android apps, to everyone, the company announced yesterday in a blog post.

App Inventor launched in July, and users previously had to request an invitation to gain access to it. Now the software will drop the need for invites and move to beta status, like many Google services. By doing so, Google has enabled anyone — from novice users, to more experienced programmers … Continue Reading

TextPlus brings social features to group texting app

TextPlus, an application that lets groups easily text each other for free, today announced it has submitted its 4.4 version to Apple. The new version will allow users not only to text for free but also to search for people (see image),  bringing a new social aspect to group texting. We’ll be sure to let you know when the new version gets approved.

When I last spoke with TextPlus about its new photo feature back … Continue Reading

Viximo's game service reaches 100M users on dozens of small social networks

Facebook may dominate the social game market, but it isn’t the only show in town. Viximo has made a good business out of providing games to dozens of smaller social networks. The company is announcing today that it reaches more than 100 million users.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Viximo is a kind of middleman that takes games from promising developers and makes them available for social networks to embed on their own sites. Its success so far … Continue Reading

How Bonobos got venture capitalists panting for menswear

When I last checked in with Andy Dunn, the CEO of online menswear retailer Bonobos, he was in the middle of raising $2 million from angel investors.

Make that $18.5 million instead, in a venture-capital round led by two of Silicon Valley’s top venture-capital firms, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel Partners. That’s a huge vote of confidence for a business that Dunn told me was on track to do $10 million a year in sales, … Continue Reading

Apps for the desktop: Mac App Store opens January 6

Apple is opening the Mac App Store, the online download store that will provide apps for personal computers that use Mac OS X, on January 6, 2011, as expected. The Mac App Store will be much like the company’s current mobile App Store, which offers free and paid apps for mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPad.

What will be different, though, is that popular social gaming network Game Center will not be … Continue Reading

Walmart, Amazon.com lead push toward greener packaging

This post is sponsored by Dell. As always, VentureBeat is adamant about maintaining editorial objectivity. Dell had no involvement in the content of this or other posts.

For this gift-giving season, get ready to look beyond foam peanuts and bubble wrap. Major players in e-commerce are looking to green their products’ packaging, from the box your gift comes in to the packing materials that keep it safe during shipping.

Giant merchants and shippers like Amazon.com, … Continue Reading

Deals & More: Envia drives away with $17M for lithium-ion batteries, Wortal lands $500K to plan your social calendar

Today’s funding announcements include innovation in car batteries, social planning and nuclear power plants:

Envia pulls in $17M for lithium-ion batteries: The Newark, Calif.-based startup has raised a third round of equity funding to develop automotive batteries for hybrid and all electric cars, according to a filing with the SEC. The company, backed by Bay Partners and Redpoint Ventures, is primarily focused on batteries for vehicles, although consumer electronics, military devices and satellites may lie … Continue Reading

Nvidia claims your computer will be brain-dead if it doesn't use graphics chips

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are talking like the best days of the stand-alone graphics chip are over. Both have combo chips coming early next year that pack a microprocessor and graphics processor in the same chip. That’s supposed to be bad news for Nvidia, but the feisty graphics chip maker — the last company left standing after more than a decade of Darwinian competition — says that its demise is being exaggerated once again.… Continue Reading

Tango brings its cross-platform video chat app to the iPod Touch

Mobile video chat company Tango announced today that it has updated its iPhone OS app to support the fourth-generation iPod Touch, which features front and rear-facing cameras like the iPhone 4.

With this update, Tango is now a bigger threat to Apple’s own FaceTime video chat, which is built in to the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod Touch. The big difference with Tango is that users can also video chat over 3G (FaceTime is restricted … Continue Reading

Chumby Industries launches a web discovery app on Android devices

Chumby Industries is launching its mobile browsing and discovery app on Android devices today. The app is a portal to a bunch of apps that you can view on web-connected picture frames or clock radios. The aim is to get the app on all of the newfangled gadgets such as tablets, car entertainment systems, TVs, and other household gadgets.

That means more and more ordinary household gadgets will be connected to the web and will … Continue Reading

LG launches Optimux 2X with Android, world's first dual-core smartphone

If you had asked me earlier this year which company would introduce a dual-core phone first, I certainly wouldn’t have guessed LG. But now that is indeed what we’re getting: The Korean company today launched the Android-powered Optimus 2X, the first phone ever to sport a dual-core processor.

The phone is a follow-up to LG’s successful low-end Optimus One phones. The 2X features Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor running at 1 gigahertz, which promises to … Continue Reading