Rivet Games raises second round for web, social and mobile games (exclusive)

Rivet Games said today it has raised a second round of funding for its as yet-undisclosed web, social and mobile games.

The San Francisco company didn’t disclose the size of the round, but it said that it has now raised a total of $15 million. The funding shows that venture capitalists have indeed fallen in love with game developers, as the fundings continue unabated. It also means that focusing on social, mobile and web games … Continue Reading

LOLapps launches Ravenstone Mine expansion for Facebook game

In February, LOLapps announced an expansion of its hit Facebook game Ravenwood Fair, called Ravenstone Mine. But just before the launch date, the company decided to delay the release. Now Ravenstone Mine is launching today, for real.

The first game, designed by Doom co-creator John Romero, was a huge hit for LOLapps, putting it on the map of serious games on the social network. Today, Ravenwood Fair still ranks as the fifteenth most popular game … Continue Reading

Argentina's MetroGames targets hardcore gamers on Facebook

One of these days, hardcore games are going to find a big audience on Facebook. That’s the hope of MetroGames, an Argentine social game company that is launching its Auto Hustle game today.

Your goal in the game is to become a world-class criminal, sort of like in Grand Theft Auto on the consoles. You can buy virtual goods such as weapons, cars, bribes and more. That’s a far cry from breeding sheep in FarmVille, … Continue Reading

Smartphone "spam blocker" Mr. Number hits 2 millionth user and debuts new apps

Mr. Number, an all-in-one mobile phone productivity service, announced today that it has reached its 2 millionth user and released a completely revamped version of  it application for iPhone and Android smartphones.

A version for BlackBerry smartphones will be available within two weeks, said the company.

Its new apps intend to bring the concept of status from instant messaging to mobile voice and text, thus allowing a user to let their friends know when they … Continue Reading

Samsung on Apple's patent suit: lies damn lies

Samsung, the latest company to enter into a legal slap fight with Apple over patent and trademark violations, fired back with a promise of counter-action against its rival’s recent accusations.

The South Korean company denies any legal claim by Apple that its smartphones and tablets too closely resemble Apple products.

Apple recently filed a lawsuit claiming that many Samsung mobile phones as well as its Galaxy Tab, violated various patents and trademarks by copying the … Continue Reading

Deals & More: Decide lands $6M for electronics shopping service

Today’s funding announcements include new solutions for shopping, reading and computing:

Decide gets $6M for eCommerce company: The Seattle-based company has raised a second round of funding led by Maveron with participation from Madrona Venture Group and angel investors. The site, still in stealth mode but expected to go live this spring, was co-founded by Oren Etzioni, founder of airfare prediction service Farecast, and is “bringing unprecedented transparency to electronics shopping.”

Byliner raises $935K for … Continue Reading

World Golf Tour expands strategically with TruGolf partnership

World Golf Tour, the maker of a realistic social golf game on the web, is announcing today that it has partnered with golf simulator company TruGolf to dramatically expand the number of virtual courses for its users.

The expansion will help World Golf Tour more deeply engage its 4 million-strong players on the web. While those aren’t huge numbers for a game, they’re pretty big for golf, and the thing about golf players is they … Continue Reading

Sony's new version of PlayStation Home virtual world goes live Wednesday

Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual world for PlayStation 3 gamers will get a makeover tonight and re-open Wednesday morning.

Version 1.5 of PlayStation Home will introduce new technologies that third-party game developers can exploit. Sony promises the world will be “bigger and better” than ever. Home is a virtual world like Second Life where users can create their own avatars, or virtual characters, and wander around virtual spaces. One of the things that Sony is doing … Continue Reading

RockMelt aims to reinvent the mobile browser, too

Updated

RockMelt launched last November with the promise of a new browser that’s better-suited to the way people use the Web today. Now it’s announcing an iPhone application that takes a similarly fresh approach to the mobile Web.

Most mobile browsers provide a similar experience to PC browsing, just with a touch interface and smaller screen. But RockMelt co-founder and chief executive Eric Vishria pointed out that when you’re waiting in line for a cup … Continue Reading

Why Tagged snapped up social networking application Digsby

Social networking connector Tagged has acquired instant messaging and social aggregator Digsby as it attempts to give users more tools to manage their instant messaging, emails, tweets and social networks all in one place.

Terms, including the acquisition price, were not disclosed. The deal is the first acquisition for Tagged.

“The Digsby team shares our strong passion and creative vision for helping people connect online and that was a key component of this acquisition” said Tagged’s CEO … Continue Reading

HBO's Go streaming service coming to iPad, iPhone and Android

Current subscribers of HBO will soon be getting more for their monthly fees tacked on to cable bills. The premium cable company’s programming will soon be available to stream on tablets and mobile devices beginning May 2.

The company teased versions of a streaming media app HBO Go on the iPad and android-based mobile devices in a Youtube video (below) released earlier today.

The service will enable subscribers the ability to view the entire library … Continue Reading

"Portal Kombat" shows the duality of gamers (poll)

Today saw the launch of two major video games, and they make up a tale of two gamers. Portal 2 is a thinking person’s shooting game, meant for people who like to solve puzzles and outsmart rivals in an action game. Mortal Kombat, on the other extreme, is a twitch game, where you have to mash buttons as fast as you can to defeat your enemy.

The two game launches show how very different game … Continue Reading

Investors wager $50M on Kobo’s e-reading platform

It looks like investors think there’s real money in e-reading — at least, judging from the $50 million round just raised by e-reading startup Kobo.

The company offers its own e-reading devices (the Kobo eReader and the Kobo Wireless eReader), as well as apps for a wide range of other platforms, including the iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, and Android. It has also partnered with Samsung, Research in Motion, and HTC to supply the e-reading application for … Continue Reading

How GroupMe and SMS saved 14 lost souls at Coachella

There’s simple elegance in a text message: Maybe you send an emoticon or an “I love you,” but more often than not it’s just a quick update. It’s like a Tweet, except more ubiquitous. You can’t count on people reading Twitter. With text, you most always can.

That’s why text messaging will never die. It’s short and elegant, and you can send a text to anyone. That’s a lesson I learned this weekend while stranded … Continue Reading

Intel CEO says PC growth in 2011 won't be as weak as analysts predict

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said on an earnings call today that he took issue with the weak forecasts for PC sales growth in 2011 by the major market researchers.

Intel had record double digit earnings and revenue in the first quarter, despite lots of worries about how growth could have stalled due to a bug in a key Intel chip, uncertain economies worldwide, growing tablet sales, high gas prices and the Japan quake. Many … Continue Reading

Yahoo's Bartz: Turnaround is on-schedule

Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said today that the company’s “turnaround is proceeding on-schedule” and that she’s “very confident” in where Yahoo is headed.

Bartz was speaking on the analyst conference call for Yahoo’s first-quarter earnings. Yahoo may have performed on the high side of its past guidance for the quarter, but the numbers weren’t stellar — revenue fell 6 percent from a year ago, to $1.06 billion, while earnings per share declined 23 percent … Continue Reading

Motorola delays 4G Droid Bionic for Verizon until summer

Motorola’s Droid Bionic — its first 4G phone on Verizon — has been delayed until the summer so that the company can make “several enhancements,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Bionic was originally scheduled to launch in the second quarter, so the delay is a significant one for Motorola. According to the WSJ, the phone may not actually ship until the third quarter, or the very late summer.

The delay means that Motorola won’t … Continue Reading

PCs aren't dead yet — Intel blows past earnings estimates

Intel said its net income for the first quarter was $3.3 billion, up 34 percent from $2.4 billion a year ago. Revenue was $12.9 billion, up 25 percent.

The record results show that a full-blown tech recovery is in high gear despite worries about the state of various regional economies. They also show that smartphones and tablets — two markets in which Intel doesn’t have huge business — aren’t taking away sales from the core … Continue Reading

Diesel founder invests in startup incubator H-farm

Renzo Rosso, the founder of clothing company Diesel, has just taken a 20 percent stake in the startup incubator H-farm.

We’ve seen plenty of high-tech investors taking stakes in online fashion businesses, such as Atomico Ventures, the investment fund of  Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, investing in Fashiolista, an online fashion community. But a fashion magnate investing in startups is much more unusual.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

H-Farm was founded in 2005 … Continue Reading