Among Gen Y, some are abandoning Facebook for Google+
People who have grown up online might be more eager than most to make the switch from Facebook to Google.
The search giant’s social network — which delivers data in bite-sized chunks thanks to the use of Circles — is built for early adopters somewhere between 21 and 27. Facebook has become a glorified phone book, while Google+ is the place where we go to communicate with friends. I can’t speak for everyone else, but … Continue Reading
How Google+ ranks in traffic compared to other social sites
Google+ is moving rapidly out of the starting gate, but it hasn’t yet caught up to MySpace — or even Classmates.com.
When it comes to just social networking sites, Google+, which launched just three weeks ago, is already in nineteenth place, according to data from Experian Hitwise.
In the broader category of social sites and forums, which includes sites such as YouTube, Yahoo Answers and Yelp, Google+ comes in forty-second.
These rankings are based on … Continue Reading
Google drops hint about games coming for Google+
Google accidentally confirmed that you’ll soon be able to play games on Google+.
The company temporarily posted help pages confirming the existence of an upcoming Games Stream. The mention, and the page it linked to, have since been removed.
The Games Stream is apparently a social-style news stream that contains messages related to games that you play on Google’s social network. Google+ has gained more than 10 million users and 20 million visitors in the … Continue Reading
Blinkx partners with NewsLook to deliver more news video content
This article is part of a series of posts about DEMO alumni and news of their progress. Primadesk launched at Demo in 2007. Check out more at DEMO.
Video discovery website, Blinkx announced Wednesday that it joined up with NewsLook, an aggregator of online news content.
The partnership expands Blinkx’s sources of viral news and adds to its deep roster of news partnerships.
“News is incredibly popular on Blinkx,” chief marketing office Julia Blystone … Continue Reading
Bootstrapping builds strength, Cvent founder says
After the dot com bubble burst, Cvent, an online events management company, had to scrimp. The company barely survived.
Twelve years later, founder Reggie Aggarwal, pictured left, had the pleasure of announcing a $136 million round of funding earlier this week — its second round ever — from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Insight Venture Partners and Greenspring Associates.
This is the biggest software funding deal since 2007, according to Dow Jones.
Events coordinators use Cvent … Continue Reading
Google+ hits 20 million visitors after just 3 weeks
Google’s social network Google+ has accumulated a grand total of 20 million unique visitors since its launch three weeks ago.
According to data from comScore, the U.S. audience for Google+ has just topped 5 million unique visitors. Globally, these numbers represent an 82% increase from last week and a 561% jump from just two weeks ago.
These numbers aren’t a solid count of Google+ users; rather the 20 million figure only represents individuals who … Continue Reading
Verizon adds 1.3M subscribers thanks to iPhone 4 and 4G Android phones
Verizon on Friday reported that it netted a tremendous 1.3 million subscribers in the second quarter, bolstered by the sales of the iPhone 4 and 4G Android devices. The company also announced that COO Lowell McAdam would move into the CEO position, while current head Ivan Seidenberg will stay on as chairman.
The introduction of Apple’s iPhone 4 in January and several 4G Google Android phones since that time appears to have paid off handsomely … Continue Reading
Sodium-ion cell maker Aquion Energy raises $20M
Aquion Energy, a maker of sodium-ion batteries that can store large amounts of electricity, has raised $20 million of a roughly $30 million round that includes Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Foundation Capital as investors, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company is finalizing its term sheets for the remaining $10 million of the round, which should be closed sometime later this week, Aquion Energy’s vice president of … Continue Reading
NaturalMotion shows off a cool horse game for the iPad (video)
Game developer NaturalMotion showed off a cool, super-realistic horse simulation game on the iPad this week that wowed attendees at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle.
The demo proves it’s is one of the most technologically adept developers in the video game business.
While it took really spectacular technology to create the realistic horse simulation, the game itself was really simple. And that showed that NaturalMotion has learned from some of the mistakes of … Continue Reading
Reid Hoffman’s entrepreneurial rules of thumb
As the co-founder of popular business social network LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman knows a thing or two about successfully launching a startup. In this Entrepreneur Thought Leader Lecture given at Stanford University, he details the rules he has historically used when creating a venture: Look for disruptive change, aim high, build a network around your company, plan for good and bad luck and maintain flexible persistence. Most importantly, he says, remember these rules are just rules … Continue Reading
Software & web apps boom in VC deals for Q2 2011
As overall VC numbers leveled off in the second quarter, web apps and software continued to be sweet spots for investment through the first half of 2011.
According to data from Dow Jones, even as other sectors slumped, software, including downloadable and boxed applications as well as web-based apps, showed strong signs of recovery from the late-2008/2009 investment nosedive. And the consumer information services sector, which includes all consumer-facing websites, apps and services, had a … Continue Reading
Warning: Spotify may not remember your starred songs
Some Spotify listeners are finding that the application has a short memory when it comes to remembering their favorite songs.
“I just signed up yesturday, starred 1700 tracks and now they are gone,” wrote one user a week ago. “Logging out and back in didn’t help. Fix ASAP.”
I’ve run into the issue as well. When much-hyped music service Spotify launched in the U.S. last week, I was excited to try it out. Using the … Continue Reading
Google may settle in Android lawsuit with Oracle
In Oracle’s patent lawsuit against Google, the latter company has made a surprising concession: It might be willing to settle.
If Oracle’s claims (that Android violates patents in Oracle’s Java programming language) are found to be valid in a trial, Google could end up paying between $1.4 and $6.1 billion, depending on whether the alleged infringement was willful or unintentional.
Google’s most recent statement hinting at the possibility of an out-of-court settlement, which was tellingly … Continue Reading
VentureBeat welcomes tech reporter Jolie O’Dell
VentureBeat continues to grow and add editorial talent. We’re very excited to announce our latest addition: Technology and business writer Jolie O’Dell.
O’Dell (@jolieodell on Twitter) has eleven years of experience in journalism. She joins VentureBeat after a stint at Mashable, where she helped that site through a year of impressive growth, breaking news and filing a series of insightful stories on Facebook, Google, Twitter and FourSquare. Before that she was a reporter and community … Continue Reading
Facebook and Google+ photos play together in Primadesk’s photo managment
This article is part of a series of posts about DEMO alumni and news of their progress. Primadesk launched at Demo in Spring 2011. Check out more at DEMO.
You have photos on Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly, and now Google+. Personal content manager Primadesk ends this photo-diaspora by aggregating all your pictures in one dashboard.
Primadesk’s original claim is to bring calm to the chaos of managing all types of personal content on the internet. The … Continue Reading
Apple sells 1 million copies of OS X Lion in one day
Apple announced Thursday that its latest operating system — OS X 10.7, codenamed Lion — has sold more than 1 million copies since it made its debut on the Mac App Store just one day earlier.
The new operating system costs $29.99 on the App Store. That means that Apple has raked in a little less than $30 million. That amounts to around 0.1 percent of the company’s quarterly revenue, according to the company’s most … Continue Reading
Microsoft’s game business grows 30 percent as Xbox 360 gains share
Microsoft’s video game revenues grew 30 percent for the fourth fiscal quarter and generated a small profit for the period.
The growth was propelled by the growing dominance of its Xbox 360 console, the Kinect motion-sensing system, and its online game service Xbox Live.
Microsoft’s overall revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30 grew 45 percent.
Revenues in the Entertainment & Devices business — which includes Xbox games, consumer software, Zune and Windows Mobile … Continue Reading
Electronics recycler Gazelle raises $22M
Gazelle, an online site that lets individuals trade in electronics for cash and then re-sells them or recycles them, announced today that it has raised $22 million in its fourth round of funding.
Gazelle simplifies electronics recycling by inviting people mail in their old electronics. Gazelle appraises the devices and pays a fee to the sender, then sells the used products on eCommerce sites like eBay, NewEgg and Amazon.
It’s a pretty efficient business with … Continue Reading
More music: Turntable.fm lands big licensing agreement with BMI
Music licensing company BMI on Thursday announced it had reached an agreement with social music service Turntable.fm, which will make it possible for Turntable to get access to BMI’s more than 6.5 million creative works.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that guarantees the more than 475,000 songwriters, composers and copyright owners BMI represents receive fair compensation for their creative efforts,” said Richard Conlon, BMI Senior Vice President, in a statement. “This agreement … Continue Reading
Hands-on with OS X Lion: iPad-like upgrade, but what’s the point?
Apple’s latest Mac operating system — OS X 10.7, codenamed Lion — has finally come out. It’s designed to invoke the same kind of lightweight hands-on feel the iPhone operating system, iOS, has made popular. With just about every computer carrying a multi-touch trackpad, that should be pretty straightforward.
Right?
Well, not quite. After spending some time with OS X Lion, I get the impression that Apple made a lot of unnecessary changes to add … Continue Reading
