Bare bones $25 ‘Raspberry’ computer available in January
You might want to hold back on that $600 Mac Mini purchase for just a little bit longer. The Raspberry Pi, the little $25 computer that can run Quake 3 Arena and play HD videos, is scheduled to go into volume production in January. If you want to splurge, you can also pay a $10 premium for the fancy Model B that comes with an ethernet port and 256 – instead of 128 – MByte … Continue Reading
2011 was a great year for gamers
Gamers had plenty of great titles to play this year. As a quick look at Metacritic’s 2011 results will show. The website collects review scores from across the internet and averages out a total score, making for a good way to see what the general consensus is on any given title. In other words, a game needs to receive consistently high scores to maintain a top spot.
This year’s top game? Batman: Arkham City, which … Continue Reading
Why women have a hard time raising money for startups, part 2 (video)
Every now and then, we hear from a female startup founder who says she’s having a hard time raising money. She can’t quite figure out if it’s her idea or her slide deck or — and no one wants to think this — if it’s simply the fact that she’s a woman pitching an idea to a roomful of male investors.
We recently invited Comcast Ventures‘ Amy Banse into the VentureBeat studio to discuss the … Continue Reading
Skyrim web app knows all 21,000 cocktail recipes
A new web app has been released containing approximately 21,000 alchemy recipes in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Speaking exclusively to GamesBeat, co-creator Jason Bradicich of Adena Studios shared some details of the app’s creation and functionality.
“My friend and I created a web app for Skyrim to show us which potions we can create based off the ingredients in our inventory,” says Bradicich. “We thought the idea was pretty cool and figured we would … Continue Reading
2012 mobile predictions: Microsoft purchases Spotify, Google spins off Motorola, and more
Fueled by disruption on several fronts, 2012 will see some major mobile industry consolidation, as well as mobile VoIP services’ lasting impact on carriers and more options on data pricing plans for consumers.
Over the course of 2011, the mobile industry has been a year of mixed emotions. It has witnessed dynamic changes and suffered tragic losses, such as the launch of the iPhone 4S and death of Steve Jobs. We’ve also seen the emergence … Continue Reading
The best indie games of 2011
Indie games are officially in style. Amidst all the bundles that have been offered for so very little money all year, it can sometimes be hard to take a step back and gather one’s thoughts about which of the indie games released in 2011 really stood out among the crowd. We have taken the time to rifle through dozens of these games to find the very best, and the following list, presented in no particular … Continue Reading
Eight great gadgets from startups that build hardware
When you think Silicon Valley startups, you think applications, locational data, cloud storage and social gaming. We dug around to find some companies that still innovating on the physical plane and making actual, tangible products.
Dropcam
This is a gizmo for those days when you’re at work and all you want to do is see your puppy who’s stuck back at home. Or the weekends away from your startup office when you’re worried about burglars. … Continue Reading
Microsoft to remove all “gun-like” Avatar items from Xbox Live
According to Epic Games Community Manager Will Kinsler, Microsoft will be removing all gun-like Avatar items from the Xbox Live Marketplace on January 1, 2012:
Heads up! Starting on Jan. 1, 2012, the Lancer and Hammerburst avatar items will no longer be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. If you’ve purchased the items prior to Jan. 1, you will be able to keep them. A new policy goes into effect for all gun-like avatar items on … Continue Reading
Star Wars: The Old Republic reaches 1M registered users in less than a week
Over one million people have registered to play Star Wars: The Old Republic less than one week into the game’s launch, making it the fastest-growing subscription MMO (massively multiplayer online) game in history, according to developer BioWare.
“We likely had the largest one-day subscription account registration process in MMO history — over one million people are now registered players of the game, and the number is growing rapidly,” say BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and … Continue Reading
Where in the world is the next booming smartphone and tablet market?
The U.S. and China currently have the world’s largest potential smartphone and tablet markets, but many other countries are ripe for wider smart-device adoption in 2012.
Flurry, a mobile analytics company, has crunched numbers from the past month to paint a picture of what the global smart-device market looks like now, and where it’s headed next. It identified what smart-device markets have the most potential for future revenue, making them fertile ground for everyone from … Continue Reading
Out of Asia: Yahoo may let go of its Alibaba & SoftBank shares
Oh, how the mighty have fallen: Yahoo is selling back most of its shares in Asian powerhouses Alibaba and SoftBank. It’s even losing Yahoo Japan.
According to reports various publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Yahoo board has decided to sell back the majority of its assets in the China- and Japan-based Internet companies and to focus on its struggling operations in the United States instead.
Currently, Yahoo holds a massive 40 percent stake … Continue Reading
Why women have a hard time raising money for startups, part 1 (video)
Every now and then, we hear from a female startup-founder who says she’s having a hard time raising money. She can’t quite figure out if it’s her idea or her slide deck or — and no one wants to think this — if it’s simply the fact that she’s a woman pitching an idea to a roomful of male investors.
Women 2.0 CEO and co-founder Shaherose Charania came into VentureBeat’s studio to chat about a … Continue Reading
VentureBeat Holiday Contest: Win a Galaxy Nexus and Beats Studio headphones!
Tired of just pining after Google’s latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus? Now you’ll have a chance to get your paws on one.
VentureBeat is giving away a Galaxy Nexus, as well as a pair of Beats Studio headphones, as part of our holiday contest (sponsored by the app store Appitalism). What better way to forget the holiday doldrums and ring in a New Year?
To refresh, the Galaxy Nexus is Google’s new 4.65-inch behemoth … Continue Reading
2011 holidays: Shopping-by-tablet was popular, but retailers weren’t ready
This was a groundbreaking holiday season for e-commerce. Cyber Monday lived up to its hype – the biggest ever – and online sales held strong throughout the season. While sales figures took the majority of the headlines, this season gave birth to a new trend: “couch commerce” — people using tablets as their preferred device for shopping.
My team at Compuware measured 2011 holiday site performance, and we found that the volume of consumer traffic … Continue Reading
The most popular StumbleUpon links of 2011 (infographic)
What do Japan’s earthquakes and tsunami, the royal wedding, and the passing of Steve Jobs have in common? They were all hugely popular topics on StumbleUpon in 2011. The link discovery website had quite a year — in October it reached 20 million users, December brought a complete site redesign, and it now averages 1.2 billion “stumbles” per month.
In the above infographic, you can see how much the popular events of 2011 influenced StumbleUpon’s … Continue Reading
How to make a millionaire (video)
Recently, VentureBeat’s Chikodi Chima sat down with Michael Ellsberg, author of The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late, to talk about what it really takes to be successful.
Most of us were told by our parents that if we worked hard, went to college, got good grades and treated people fairly, we’d succeed in life. However, many of us have not found this to be the case … Continue Reading
Go Daddy gives into pressure, comes out against SOPA
Domain and hosting site Go Daddy just announced that it no longer supports the recently proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
The statement (pasted below) comes after the intense backlash Go Daddy received yesterday from customers and Internet critics after it appeared on an official list of companies supporting SOPA. Not only did Go Daddy issue a statement on its new stance, but it’s also compulsively responding to any comments on Twitter referencing a Go … Continue Reading
You better watch out: Google is tracking (and calling) Santa
Google has once again set up its Santa-centric goodies for the young and the young at heart.
Beginning tomorrow, you can start stalking the jolly old elf on your computer or even on your phone. And if you need to get Santa on the horn, you can leave messages or schedule a call from him to a loved one or friend using Google tools.
Googlers teamed up with NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, … Continue Reading
Judge kills lawsuit against Hurt Locker pirates, matey
Voltage Pirates has officially failed in its quest to sue 24,583 people who illegally downloaded the movie The Hurt Locker.
Judge Beryl Howell killed the case, refusing to grant an extension to the trial when the studio asked for more time to track down specific defendants from Internet service providers.
Back in October, around 20,000 defendants were dismissed from the case when Voltage Pictures was having trouble tracking them down.
Eventually, the lawsuit was … Continue Reading
Buddy can you spare a dollar? Indie game developer makes you think about being homeless
This week I played a game called Homeless on my Xbox 360 game console. The game involved bumming quarters from passers by, trying to scratch enough money together to get through another day. It was pretty simple to play, and I didn’t place on any high score table, but the game told a story, and it made me think. I was left wondering if that was enough to expect from a game, or whether it … Continue Reading
