Recent Posts
Apple-exec-turned-VC sees big opportunity in mobile infrastructure
Bob Borchers, who led Apple’s marketing efforts for the iPod and then the iPhone over the past five years (and even appeared in iPhone videos), recently made the leap to venture capital, becoming a general partner at Opus Capital. Yesterday, I had a chance to… Continue Reading
Does Google Apps break Microsoft Outlook? Not anymore
Those of you who get uncomfortable around confrontations and arguments may be able to breathe a little easier now — it looks like Google has resolved a recent spat between the search giant and Microsoft peaceably, with a bug fix.
The trouble started when Google… Continue Reading
Firefox 3.5 takes you back to a time before browser add-ons
Updated
There’s been a lot of activity in the web browser market during the year since Mozilla released Firefox 3 — we’ve seen the release of Safari 4 and Internet Exporer 8, and Google has entered the competition with Chrome. Now Mozilla has a new… Continue Reading
Cardiac device maker VytronUS raises another $11M
VytronUS, a medical device startup that remains secretive about its product, has raised another $11 million in its first round of funding, according to VentureWire. That new money, from existing investors Delphi Ventures and New Enterprise Associates, brings the total amount raised to $17 million…. Continue Reading
New version of OffiSync brings more Google into Microsoft Office
OffiSync has already gotten positive press for its integration of online word processor Google Docs with Microsoft Word. The Seattle company is taking that integration further with the now-available version 2, by adding Google web search and image search.
VentureBeat writer Dean Takahashi said he… Continue Reading
Yahoo shelving Maven Networks’ video platform
Updated with comments from Yahoo
Yahoo reportedly plans to shut down the video platform built by Maven Networks, the video startup Yahoo acquired for $160 million at the beginning of 2008, according to TechCrunch.
Maven offers video hosting and ad insertion to large media companies…. Continue Reading
SpaceX raising another $60M for private space travel
Space travel company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, has raised $15 million of a new funding round, according to VentureWire. The round may eventually grow to $60 million. VentureWire first spotted the news in a regulatory filing and has confirmed the news… Continue Reading
Google aims for less developed nations with Google SMS
Updated
Google is launching a new service called Google SMS today, hoping to reach a less privileged audience than the one using its web services.
Those of us with smartphones probably access Google on our mobile devices already, but usually as a supplement to usage… Continue Reading
Apple kills Routesy app, my iPhone gets less useful
Updated
The fuss continues over Apple’s capricious acceptance policy for its iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, most recently with the rejection of an app called Hottest Girls. But for me and a few other San Franciscans, there’s a much bigger cause of outrage — the disappearance… Continue Reading
Video site Seesmic’s CEO: We built it, they didn’t come
In the past, Seesmic (sometimes known as “the Twitter of video“) had its share of detractors who wondered whether it could build a business around video conversations and comments. Now it looks like Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur has joined their ranks.
Le Meur’s remarks… Continue Reading
iPhone gives new life to old HP calculators
Hewlett Packard has just released iPhone versions of two of its classic calculators from the 1980s — the 12C financial calculator and the 15C scientific calculator — with a third, the 12C Platinum, planned for August.
These apps are pretty much identical replicas, according to… Continue Reading
Who uses cloud computing? Startups do, VCs don’t
Cloud computing is a trendy term right now, but how widely is it actually used? During the venture capital panel at today’s Structure 09 conference in San Francisco, VCs offered two pieces of anecdotal data that create a nice contrast between who is and isn’t… Continue Reading
Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff: The future of computing looks like Twitter
Marc Benioff, co-founder and chief executive of Salesforce.com, told attendees at today’s Structure 09 conference in San Francisco that the world of business software and infrastructure is starting to see the same craze for real-time results that’s taking over web search. And he extolled the… Continue Reading
Microsoft: We’re so excited about Windows 7 that we cut the price
Updated.
Microsoft just released its prices for Windows 7, the latest version of its operating system, and not surprisingly the software giant is dropping the cost for home users.
For example, an upgrade to the “home premium” version Windows 7 will cost $119.99, while a… Continue Reading
Twitter co-founder, others back Small Batch’s web typography
Small Batch Inc., which is developing a service for web designers called Typekit, said today it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from some big names in the tech world: Twitter chief executive and co-founder Evan Williams, Flickr and Hunch founder Caterina Fake, Automattic… Continue Reading
Reid Hoffman leaves LinkedIn’s CEO spot … again
Business social networking site LinkedIn has announced its third chief executive in less than a year — founder Reid Hoffman– is stepping down from the CEO role he assumed in December, and President Jeff Weiner is taking his place.
Not surprisingly, the Mountain View, Calif…. Continue Reading
Google and Virgin’s “Day in the Cloud” takes flight with a little turbulence
Google and Virgin America just started their joint “Day in the Cloud,” a daylong event to promote both Google Apps (the company’s suite of web services like Gmail and Google Docs) and Virgin’s fleetwide wireless Internet access. To that end, Virgin is offering passengers an… Continue Reading
PartnerUp lets big companies build social networks for small businesses
PartnerUp, which has built an online social network for entrepreneurs and small businesses, is now aiming for large, enterprise-sized companies with its Customer Community Solution, a platform for building customer social networks.
A social network builder for businesses? Be still my heart. But even though… Continue Reading
TripIt ready to charge for real-time flight data and alerts
TripIt, an online service that consolidates your travel info from various companies and web sites into a single itinerary, is ready to start charging its users for extra services and data. The pro service sounds like something that a big chunk of TripIt’s target audience… Continue Reading
Web tools leave the cloud: Zoho available for SharePoint
As online office software tries to move into big corporations, it’s starting to work more closely with entrenched solutions — which often means technology built by Microsoft. In the latest example, Zoho just announced plans to offer its collaboration services as an add-on for SharePoint,… Continue Reading