How DrChrono brings “hacker culture” to health care

DrChrono, part of the current class of startups incubated by Y Combinator, has already received some press for its iPad app, which moves many of a doctor’s basic bookkeeping tasks onto Apple’s device. But when I talked to co-founder and chief operating officer Daniel Kivatinos, I wanted to know how he plans to get the app into doctors’ hands.

The key step, Kivatinos said, came at the urging of the Y Combinator team. The DrChrono … Continue Reading

Nexon invests $5M in social game maker A Bit Lucky (exclusive)

Korean online gaming firm Nexon has invested $5 million in Silicon Valley social game developer A Bit Lucky, maker of the popular Facebook game Lucky Train. The move helps Nexon position itself in the Facebook social gaming market and gives a small game developer an important ally in the broader online game market.

The investment shows that there are still lots of alliances being formed among big game companies that want to break into Facebook … Continue Reading

Would you pay $845K for this hybrid Porsche?

It’s official: the plug-in hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder is available for order at $845,000, not including shipping and taxes. Deliveries begin November 2013, and Porsche only plans to build 918 of these supercars.

The 918 Spyder has 718 horsepower on tap and a fuel economy of more than 78 mpg based on the European combined driving cycle. The design is derived from the Carrera GT as well as the Porsche 917 and RS Spyder race … Continue Reading

Dolby finally delivers cheap 3D glasses that don't stink

Dolby Laboratories is betting consumers are sick of using the shoddily manufactured glasses distributed by theaters for 3D films, which look and feel like a pair of sunglasses you’d expect on a clearance rack at a highway convenience store. But until now, the only alternative has been to purchase a personal set compatible with that theater’s projector.

Dolby’s newly announced next generation 3D glasses feature 3M’s new multilayer optical film lenses and are designed to … Continue Reading

Andreessen-Horowitz brings enterprise pro Peter Levine on board

Enterprise pro Peter Levine, a former manager at Mayfield Fund that was a part of Citrix’s $500 million acquisition of XenSource, is joining the storied venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz to man its coverage of the enterprise sector.

Andreessen-Horowitz is well-established in the enterprise space — it has invested in cloud storage provider Box.net and Asana, a collaboration company started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Mokovitz and Justin Rosenstein. But managing a super-fund that’s worth nearly $1 … Continue Reading

Firefox 4 available now, a day before official release

Good news for the Mozilla faithful: The final version of Firefox 4 is now available for download, a full day ahead of its official March 22 release.

The Firefox update couldn’t come soon enough, as the browser has been getting trounced by Google Chrome for the past two years, both in terms of speed and features. Chrome is notorious for kick-starting the current speed obsession among browser makers. And as web applications have become more … Continue Reading

Intel's Atom chip and mobility chief resigns

Intel said that one of its most important executives of the past decade, Anand Chandrasekher, has resigned from the company. He led the company’s efforts in creating the low-cost Atom microprocessor and in creating the Centrino mobile chip platform for laptops.

It’s not clear exactly what the shuffling means. It could be that Intel didn’t make enough headway in getting its chips into smartphones and tablets. Intel has been losing ground to rivals who make … Continue Reading

Netflix confirms deal to launch Kevin Spacey series via video streaming

Netflix has confirmed a deal to air an original television series starring Kevin Spacey on its internet streaming service in a deal that changes the game for traditional TV programming.

Under the deal, Netflix will run the “House of Cards” political drama being directed by Oscar-nominated director David Fincher as an exclusive on its streaming video service late next year. This kind of deal could turn Netflix into a premiere network much like Time Warner’s … Continue Reading

Watch out, PayPal: Facebook gets serious about payments

How committed is Facebook to broadening its revenue streams beyond advertising?

So serious that it’s formed a subsidiary, Facebook Payments, Inc., and is registering it in a host of states.

The move could signal an intent by the world’s largest social network to get more broadly involved in the payments business while also making its business operations more efficient. Right now, it appears unlikely that Facebook will roll out any kind of consumer-facing payments service … Continue Reading

Japan quake endangers a quarter of world's chip production

The Japanese quake has suspended the production of silicon wafers in that country, potentially endangering the world’s supply of chips, which are used in everything electronic.

Japan’s silicon wafer manufacturers supply about 25 percent of the global capacity for the key ingredient in semiconductor chips, according to market researcher IHS iSuppli. If those producers don’t return to production soon, prices for the silicon wafers could rise and a global shortage could result.

Silicon wafers are … Continue Reading

Globecomm opens door to 4G for hosted wireless carriers

Globecomm, a provider of communications technology and services, announced today that it’s upgrading its wireless hosted platform to allow operators to easily migrate to 4G LTE service.

The company’s hosted platform currently allows wireless operators to deploy 2G and 3G networks without building network infrastructure of their own. With 4G being the hot mobile topic of 2011, Globecomm is anticipating future demand for 4G from its customers by gearing up its network for LTE.

Globecomm … Continue Reading

How to publicly embarrass yourself with the Nintendo 3DS (hands-on video demo)

I’ve never been shy about publicly embarrassing myself while playing video games. If you thought the Nintendo Wii was great for embarrassing yourself in front of your friends in your living room, the Nintendo 3DS will let you do that in public while on the go.

Emphasizing the silly side of the 3DS might actually be the right way to properly market the new handheld, which arrives on March 27. If Nintendo can show people … Continue Reading

Is a "huge wave" of M&As, financing deals about to hit Silicon Valley?

Investment banks are scrambling to open branches and make their presence known in the Silicon Valley area because they are expecting a “huge wave” of mergers and acquisitions and financing deals in tech and media over the next two years, Kevin Covert, president and co-founder of boutique I-bank Covert and Co., told VentureBeat today.

Covert launched his own new bank today after leaving investment bank Montgomery & Co., because he says the opportunities right now … Continue Reading

Broadcom offers cheap motion-based gaming for set-top boxes

Broadcom has teamed up with Chinese firm 3DiJoy to support its system for motion-sensing gaming on set-top boxes, enabling users to play games in their living room with little extra hardware costs.

The companies are billing the system as an inexpensive way to add gaming to an existing set-top box. Broadcom’s set-top box chips will integrate Bluetooth wireless network technology that can connect to a gesture-based remote control with Shanghai-based 3DiJoy’s motion-sensing technology.

The technology … Continue Reading

Facebook lets users check-in to events

Facebook may be looking to add its check-in feature to more than just Places today as some events appear to now have a check-in button, according to AllFacebook.com.

Currently, it’s unknown whether Facebook is rolling out this new feature to everyone or just testing it, but it may prove to be a good idea if it’s able to introduce more subscribers to the check-in feature. It could also give subscribers a way to share during … Continue Reading

Sony to offer digital downloads for all games on its new NGP handheld

Sony will release digital versions of all new games alongside physical copies so gamers can download and begin playing games immediately on its newest portable gaming device, the Sony Next Generation Portable (NGP).

Digital distribution has become pretty popular because it removes the traditional barrier to buying games — having to drive or walk to a brick-and-mortar retail store and purchase it. Stores like Steam, a digital distribution front run by Valve, capitalize on impulse … Continue Reading

Google's Nexus S 4G coming to Sprint this spring

Google’s latest flagship Android phone, the Nexus S, will be making its way to Sprint this spring with support for the carrier’s 4G WiMax network, the company announced this morning.

But while this is good news for Sprint fans, it’s a curious announcement from Google, which launched the Nexus S on T-Mobile in December. Now that we’re nearly four months away from the Nexus S’s launch, I expected that Google would be focusing on bringing … Continue Reading

Aussie gaming site to launch a marketplace for virtual swords (exclusive)

MMGN.com, a video gaming website in Australia, is launching an online marketplace where gamers can sell virtual goods across multiple video games, the site’s founder told VentureBeat.

The site already hosts a number of these kinds of deals in its discussion forums. But the latest move is a way to formalize those discussions into an actual marketplace. It will essentially become an eBay that specializes in gaming, said Roy Hui, the company’s founder. While eBay … Continue Reading

How AT&T's T-Mobile acquisition will improve its network

In a call with investors this morning, AT&T executives gathered together to discuss what exactly yesterday’s announced T-Mobile acquisition means for the company. It’s also the first time we’ve heard specific details on short and long-term network improvements as a result of the deal.

Most of the improvements don’t come as a surprise, but they drive home just how important wireless spectrum will be to AT&T for its LTE 4G network, as well as how … Continue Reading