Yobongo launches chat app — a tech fix for shy nerds?

A new startup called Yobongo is giving users their first chance today to get their hands on its mobile chat application, which helps you to find strangers nearby and start talking to them.

The company was created by two employees from livestreaming service Justin.tv — vice president of products Caleb Elston (pictured) and software engineer David Kasper — who left the company back in October to work on Yobongo full-time. Here’s how they describe the … Continue Reading

How to pitch to tech journalists

Here at VentureBeat we receive a considerable number of bad pitches, both from PR firms and from entrepreneurs themselves. To make life more tolerable for everyone, we have decided to provide some tips on how to ensure that your pitch is not one of them. Let’s start with some typical examples of the bad pitch.

The boring pitch

In most cases nobody cares that your company has a new CFO or has signed a partnership … Continue Reading

The great white iPhone 4 hunt to end soon?

For the dedicated (and crazy) few waiting for a white iPhone 4, relief may be on the way. The elusive device has found its way to AT&T’s online system, according to the mobile site Boy Genius Report, a sign that Apple may be gearing up to launch it within the next few months.

The news coincides with a report from last week about the white iPhone 4 appearing in Best Buy’s employee toolkit, which revealed … Continue Reading

Foursquare grew 3400% in 2010

Popular mobile check-in application Foursquare today announced that it grew 3400% in 2010. The company now stands at 6 million users.

Other interesting stats include more than 381 million total check-ins accounting for every country (including North Korea) as well as a check-in from space. California also appears to have the most fit Foursquare users, being the top state for gym check-ins.

Foursquare has shown no signs of slowing down. Reports surfacing today claim that … Continue Reading

Groupon and Foursquare founders: we didn't sell out because we're not done

The founders of Groupon and Foursquare took the stage at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich today and said they didn’t sell their companies when they had a chance to do so because they aren’t finished with what they want to do.

If you’re a founder of a hot Silicon Valley company these days, not selling out is becoming a much more popular idea than going public or selling to the highest bidder.

Location-based … Continue Reading

Nvidia's Tegra 3 is a quad-core powerhouse for smartphones and tablets

We’re going to be seeing Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 chip on a slew of devices this year, including Motorola’s Xoom tablet and LG’s Optimus 2X phone. Now it looks like Nvidia has quad-core ambitions for the chip’s next iteration, the Tegra 3, according to an internal slide revealed by Bright Side of News.

The news means we can expect even more powerful phones and tablets later this year and that the line between mobile devices … Continue Reading

FunGoPlay launches virtual-world sports, real-world sports gear for kids

FunGoPlay is announcing today it is creating a sports virtual world for kids — a tough bet because virtual words are on the wane. But it is also partnering with toy maker EB Brands to create related sports gear in the real world.

The hybrid plan that combines an online business with real-world toys shows how companies are betting bigger in order to get new game properties off the ground in a crowded market.

The … Continue Reading

SolarCity acquires solar installer, expands to East Coast

Home solar startup SolarCity is expanding its reach to the East Coast. To establish a toehold there, it has acquired solar installation expert Clean Currents Solar, formerly the solar installation division of a Mid-Atlantic green energy company.

The company will begin offering home solar leases and power purchase plans in Maryland and Washington, D.C. by mid-February. The company could consider more Atlantic acquisitions “if there’s a clear growth story,” CEO Lyndon Rive told Bloomberg this … Continue Reading

Outfit7's talking-animal apps hit 60M downloads on App Store

Angry Birds isn’t the only animal game selling like crazy on the App Store. Outfit7‘s Talking Tom Cat and other titles in the Talking Friends series have been downloaded more than 60 million times in the past six months.

Andrej Nabergoj (pictured right), chief executive of Outfit7, said on a panel I moderated today at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich that his iPhone apps have surpassed the 60 million milestone just weeks after … Continue Reading

Filmaster looks to be "Foursquare for films"

Filmaster, a recommendation engine for movies and shows, announced today that it’s launching an application programming interface, or API, for developers looking to use the service’s data and algorithms in their own applications or websites.

Through the API, the company gives developers access to users’ movie reviews and movie-search data. Users can use the service to learn about the tastes of other users in their area. Similar to Twitter, the service lets you follow or … Continue Reading

Vid.ly lets one video work on any device with a short link

Tired of the endless incompatibilities between video files and multimedia devices? Consider Vid.ly, a new service launching today in private beta testing that aims to make distributing your video to a wide variety of devices dead simple.

With Vid.ly, you only need to upload your video once (you can also provide a link to FTP, HTTP, Amazon S3 cloud storage, and Cloud Files). The service then transcodes it to 14 popular web and mobile formats, … Continue Reading

Facebook exec says we're moving from the "wisdom of crowds" to the "wisdom of friends"

Facebook’s explanation for the rapid growth of social networking and applications associated with it is pretty simple, according to longtime Facebook executive Dan Rose. “We’re moving from the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to the ‘wisdom of friends,’ he said.

His comment suggests that users are often ignoring the multitude of suggestions coming from the internet (often viewed as spam) and are turning to their friends for more weighty suggestions.

Rose’s remarks help explain how Facebook sees … Continue Reading

Co-working space General Assembly gives NYC startups a home

New York City’s tech ecosystem has been flourishing recently, with both rookies and alumni from local successes like Foursquare, Etsy and Gilt Groupe starting companies. Co-working space General Assembly (GA) is looking to become the central hub of New York’s early-stage startup scene.

Although GA is officially launching today, the offices have been open since the beginning of January. GA’s 20,000 square feet are near Union Square and several prominent venture capital firms. The space … Continue Reading

VCs poured $26B into business last year, up 11% from 2009

Venture capitalists came raging back in 2010, putting $26.2 billion into 2,799 venture deals, a spike of 11 percent from 2009 and a major sign that formerly wary VCs have begun to come off the sidelines, according to a study by Dow Jones VentureSource released today.

The data also showed that 2,636 deals took in $23.6 billion, with the fourth quarter alone raising $7.6 billion through 735 deals — a 6 percent increase in capital … Continue Reading

Sean Parker says he enjoyed Social Network film, but "it's complete fiction"

The Social Network was a beautiful and well-made film, said Sean Parker, who is depicted by Justin Timberlake in the movie about Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook.

The film won Best Picture in the Golden Globe awards and it may very well win an Oscar. But Parker (who founded companies such as Napster, Plaxo, and Causes) said he believes the depiction of his role in the founding of Facebook was a “complete work … Continue Reading

Motorola’s Xoom tablet said to land at Best Buy Feb. 17 for $700

Update: It now looks like the Xoom will launch on February 24 at Best Buy for $800.
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Looking to get your hands on the best-looking Android tablet from CES? You won’t have to wait much longer.

Motorola’s Xoom tablet will be available at Best Buy stores on February 17 for $699.99, according to internal documents sent to Engadget.

While the Xoom’s price may seem high compared to the iPad, which starts at $499 for … Continue Reading

NY Times will build its digital empire on (metered) quality journalism

The New York Times is moving forward this quarter with its plan to put paid metering on its stories on the internet. And it believes it can do so because of its emphasis on quality journalism, says the paper’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger.

Print media such as the New York Times are under increasing pressure to fend off free internet-based competition. But Sulzberger believes that it isn’t too late to start charging for content that users … Continue Reading

Apple's App Store crosses 10B downloads

Apple said today that its App Store has now crossed 10 billion downloads of both free and paid apps.

The 10 billionth app was Paper Glider, downloaded by Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, in the United Kingdom. She won a $10,000 iTunes gift card. We’ll see if she ever pays for another app.

It’s a pretty big milestone for Apple, and it shows that rivals such as Google Android and Palm have a long way … Continue Reading