YouTube calls 2011 “the year of the unexpected performer”

In its annual roundup of the most-watched videos of the year, YouTube paid homage to its greatest success stories: the out-of-the-blue surprise performers.

In 2011, YouTube “was once again doing what YouTube does best: giving people a global stage,” said a company spokesperson in an email to VentureBeat.

From Karmin’s cover of Chris Brown’s Look at Me Now (a wild success receiving rave reviews — err, comments) to Rebecca Black’s disastrous troll of a music … Continue Reading

Razer raises $50M for gaming peripherals

Gaming peripheral maker Razer has raised $50 million in a financing round to expand its business of offering “no compromise” gaming products.

IDG-Accel China Capital Fund led the round, the first venture-financed investment for the company beyond previous angel investments.

After years of making only peripherals, Razer recently entered the gaming PC hardware market with the announcement of its new $2,800 Blade gaming laptop, which recently began shipping pre-ordered units in time for the holiday … Continue Reading

Older gamers buy virtual goods more often younger gamers

The older you are, the more likely you are to buy virtual goods in mobile social games. That’s the conclusion of a survey by mobile gaming community MocoSpace.

The report found that gamers aged 25 to 35 spend the most time playing social games on mobile devices, but gamers over 45 spend exponentially more on virtual goods than their younger counterparts. The three-month survey polled nearly 500,000 gamers on Boston-based MocoSpace’s network of 22 million … Continue Reading

Intuit releases debit card to be used with its mobile GoPayment system

Mobile payments are on the rise, but what about when a small merchant needs to make a payment? Intuit is releasing its own debit card, tethered to its mobile payments service GoPayment to help business owners keep the cash organized.

“In addition to helping them get paid, we’re helping them make payments,” said vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Payment Solutions division Chris Hylen in a statement. “This is just the beginning. Intuit will … Continue Reading

Scalado’s innovative mobile photo tech powers 1 billion devices

After secretly making phone cameras better for the last decade, Swedish software company Scalado announced today that its mobile photo technology is now featured in over 1 billion devices.

Scalado provides advanced solutions for taking, viewing, and editing pictures on your phone. You probably own a Scalado-powered phone right now without knowing it (it’s found in many Android phones, though not in iPhones).

The company is likely counting old and obsolete devices in its figures, … Continue Reading

Amazon attracts last-min shoppers with free 2-day shipping on all Kindles

In a push for last-minute and impulse buys, Amazon is offering its customers free two-day shipping on the four most-recent Kindle models before the end of the day on Dec. 21.

Amazon has been making an aggressive push for its new Kindle line up, especially with the Fire, which it hopes will be a vehicle for media content sales. Last week, the company said it had already sold “millions” of the Fire, and it was … Continue Reading

Man who pirated Fox’s Wolverine film sentenced to a year in prison

If you’re going to spend a year in prison for an extreme act of piracy, you may want to at least make sure the movie you’re uploading to the internet illegally is worthy of the crime.

A big-budget, cheesy super-hero isn’t worth a year in jail in my opinion, but federal courts disagree. The 49-year-old New York man who uploaded Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine to MegaUpload in March 2009 — a full month … Continue Reading

A sunny day for Google, invests $94M in solar power projects

While the implosion of solar power company Solyndra has seemingly cast a shadow on the viability of the solar industry, that hasn’t stopped Google from investing $94 million in photovoltaic (generating power through solar radiation) projects in California.

Google says it’s investing the funds in four photovoltaic projects near Sacramento, Calif. which are being built by Recurrent Energy. The investment brings Google’s total clean tech portfolio to over $915 million. At this rate, Google’s clean … Continue Reading

You could own every Steam game – if you’re the Grand Prize winner of the holiday sale

That’s right, as if you needed another incentive to make a few purchases during Steam’s infamous holiday sale, you now have the chance to win every Steam game ever. You read that right – every game that is on Steam will be free to download for one lucky gamer who wins the sweepstakes at the end of the holiday.

Here’s how it works. Every day from December 19th to January 2nd, there will be a … Continue Reading

Sony PlayStation Vita sells over 321,000 units since Japan debut

The Sony PlayStation Vita has sold 321,407 units in the first two days of sales in Japan, according to market researcher Famitsu.

Sony has pinned a lot of hopes on the Vita, which is the company’s answer not only to the Nintendo 3DS gaming handheld but popular gaming apps on smartphones and tablets as well. Enterbrain, which is the parent of Famitsu, estimates Sony Vita sales will reach 1.4 million in its first week on … Continue Reading

LightSquared’s latest problem? It may run out of money

Wholesale wireless network startup LightSquared is in danger of running out of money by the second quarter of 2012.

The information comes from the company’s latest financial statement reviewed by Reuters. The statement indicated that LightSquared might not be able to continue operating unless it can raise additional capital and financing.

LightSquared’s business strategy involves building out a high-speed 4G long-term evolution (LTE) wireless network and leasing it to outside companies. Those companies would then … Continue Reading

BestVendor grabs $3M to help professionals find great apps

Consumer-facing applications get all the love, but professionals need apps too, right? Yes, says BestVendor, a startup that aims to help business folks find the best web, mobile and desktop applications. Now, the company has $3 million in fresh funding to complete that mission.

The just-hatched company focuses its attention on the lesser-loved class of applications — you know, the super important category of apps that help us perform better at work — and operates … Continue Reading

Veteran Wall Street analyst rates Zynga an “outperform”

Zynga has taken a beating in its first two days of trading as a public company, with the stock closing at $9.05 a share today, down almost 10 percent from its initial public offering price of $10 a share on Friday.

But a well-known video game analyst came out with a report today that says Zynga will “outperform” the stock market and hit a price of about $12.50 a share within a year. Michael Pachter, … Continue Reading

Kinetic energy may power our home and gadgets starting in 5 years

In the next five years your shoe may be what powers the battery in your cell phone. Engineers are harnessing the power of kinetic energy and one IBM employee thinks widespread usage of the technology isn’t far off.

Harry Kolar, an engineer with IBM, described harvesting energy from human movements as bodies becoming “an energy-generating machine,” in a blog post about what energy changes may occur in the next five years. In essence, we create … Continue Reading

Apple knocks HTC (and Android) on its side with patent victory

Come April 19, 2012, Android-powered HTC smartphones may be a bit harder to find on store shelves in the U.S.

In its final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled that HTC violated two claims of an Apple patent — the patent deals with software that turns phone numbers and addresses into actionable links — and has ordered a ban on the import and sale of infringing HTC devices. The ruling goes into effect … Continue Reading

Google launches Person Finder to help Philippines typhoon victims

Google has created a Person Finder tool to help people in the Philippines locate missing persons after tropical storm “Sendong” devastated parts of the country late last week.

The death toll from Sendong has been reported to be over 900 and that number is expected to rise further as more floating bodies are discovered, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The storm did not feature especially heavy winds, but the torrential rains created mudslides and … Continue Reading

A look at 2011 through Flickr’s eyes

Photo website Flickr found the best photos representing 2011, and compiled them in a visual representation of what this year meant to people all over the world.

Over 70 million people use the Flickr to upload their photos, organize them and share them with friends and family. Nearly 3.5 million photos are uploaded a day. Because of the constant stream of activity, Flickr has a comprehensive view of current events from all different user perspectives. … Continue Reading

Minecraft developer makes new ‘Minicraft’ game in just two days

The developer of Minecraft, Markus Persson (aka Notch), has created a new game called ‘Minicraft’, in just two days. The game is entered in the Ludum Dare  indie game development competition, which invites single handed developers to create and submit a working game in under 48 hours.

It’s a small thing, but Persson’s Minecraft, which we reviewed today, turned into a rare runaway commercial hit for an indie game and it will be interesting to … Continue Reading

Here’s what Hollywood and Silicon Valley are spending on SOPA

Whether you support or oppose it, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is costing a fortune — more than $2.5 million so far.

Reported contributions to the congressional sponsors of SOPA have been pouring into Washington from the West Coast.

Entertainment organizations in Southern California and Silicon Valley elites have donated $2,508,573 to date. Only about a fifth of that amount has come from organizations that want to stop or drastically change SOPA. The rest … Continue Reading

AT&T gives up on T-Mobile merger, will be charged $4B

AT&T has abandoned its plans to take over T-Mobile due to too much opposition from the FCC and the Department of Justice, the company announced this afternoon.

AT&T sought to buy T-Mobile from its parent, Deutsche Telekom, for $39 billion, but lawsuits and vocal opposition from the U.S. government have been piling up. On top of an lawsuit issued by the DOJ in August, the FCC went on the record in late November by saying … Continue Reading