VentureBeat

Yodle launches Organic to optimize web traffic and leads for small businesses

Shortly after announcing a $10 million fourth round of financing and alluding to a new product launch, Yodle, a company that helps businesses advertise online, today launched Yodle Organic, a new product to help local businesses increase web traffic and search engine optimization (SEO).

Yodle specializes in helping local  businesses in several major cities, including Boston, New York and San Francisco to display local advertising on search pages. The company’s new product, Yodle Organic, looks to not... Continue Reading

Pursway grabs $6m to help find companies social influencers

Social networking is filled with people who like to talk. While a majority of the online chatter is simply noise, some individuals, for reasons that vary, have networks of friends, family and colleagues that listen, trust and act on their recommendations. These individuals are known as social influencers. Helping to locate and utilize these social influencers for marketing campaigns, Pursway(formerly Datanetis) announced today that it has secured $6 million in a first round of funding to expand its services... Continue Reading

X2 launches new tablet computer, dubs it the iTablet

Fresh off the heels of Apple’s iPad launch, UK manufacturer X2 today announced the launch of a new tablet computer that they have dubbed the iTablet, according to several UK sites. A slick marketing move, though Apple might not think so.

The iTablet comes in either 10.2-inch or 12.1-inch sizes and includes an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 250 GB hard drive, a 3G chip and runs Windows 7. Coming in at 35mm thick (Apple’s iPad is 13.4mm), the iTablet... Continue Reading

Paylogic lands 3m Euro to expand web ticketing platform in Europe

Dutch ticketing system Paylogic announced today that it secured round two funding of 3 million Euro ($4.2 million U.S.). The new funding will allow for expansion of the platform in Europe, beginning in Belgium and Germany, according to EU Ticket News.

Paylogic offers a hosted platform for event, venue, and promoter websites that allow fans to search and buy tickets.  A fan interested in an upcoming concert, for example, could visit the band’s website and buy tickets through the Paylogic hosted... Continue Reading

Monster.com aquires Yahoo! HotJobs for $225M

As the national unemployment rate continues to linger around 10%, there is no shortage of people looking for jobs. Popular employment website, Monster.com might be looking to snatch up some market share as today it announced the acquisition of Yahoo HotJobs for $225 million.

The two companies also signed a traffic agreement stating that Monster will supply all career and job content to the Yahoo homepage in the United States and Canada for a period of three years. Monster... Continue Reading

Revision3 attracts big numbers for web TV in 2009

Revision3, an Internet television network, today announced some impressive 2009 numbers, including 30% revenue growth and nearly 1.5 billion minutes of viewership engagement.

The network produces and broadcasts all of it’s own programs that run anywhere from 1 minute to an hour in length. Key show topics include technology, comedy, modern culture and music. In 2009 alone, Revision3 launched 10 new programs and has several shows reach a million plus views per month, including Tekzilla, Scam School... Continue Reading

Yodle bags another $10m for local online advertising

Yodle, a company that helps local businesses advertise online, today announced it has landed round four financing of $10 million, bringing its funding total to $38 million.

According to a company spokesperson, the new round will be used to double the company’s sales team and invest in several new products to increase internal efficiency and provide better marketing tools to clients. The new tools will apparently help to go beyond clickable ads but the company hasn’t... Continue Reading

Ustream launches desktop app for more professional live video

If you’re looking to take your live video broadcasts to the next level, Ustream announced today the launch of its Ustream Producer, giving users a way to create more professional looking high quality live video.

The Ustream Producer desktop application will work on both PC and Mac computers. A basic free package will let you stream from one camera, import movies and audio, execute three transitions, support picture in picture, screen capture feature and H262 video.

If... Continue Reading

Motally delivers mobile analytics to iPad apps

After the influx of news yesterday around Apple’s newly launched iPad, it’s not surprising that companies are beginning to announce their own iPad related news. Mobile analytics firm, Motally today announced that it will be expanding its current tracking services for mobile web and apps to include those running on the iPad.

Motally’s platform lets publishers collect data and create analytic reports on usage of their mobile websites or applications. The extension to Apple’s iPad... Continue Reading

Yelp snags $25M from Elevation Partners

The old saying “location is everything” has never been more true. Though these days, instead of referring to store fronts, it usually refers to location-based applications and review sites.  Elevation Partners is buying into the saying too, literally. The company has announced today a $25 million investment in location review service Yelp.

Elevation also said that it will be looking to “increase its total investment in Yelp to $100 million through a planned purchase of shares from vested employees... Continue Reading

SolarWinds dishes out $42M for Tek-Tools storage and virtualization products

Network software company SolarWinds today announced that it has acquired storage and virtualization management assets from Tek-Tools, a storage resource management provider, for $42 million in cash and stock.

The newly acquired assest is Tek-Tools’ Profiler series of products, which gives visibility into the performance of storage and virtualized server infrastructures. SolarWinds will be incorporating Tek-Tools Profiler to its current Orion network and applications management solutions. Over one million engineers currently use a SolarWind product, whether network monitoring, configuration management, network... Continue Reading

Justin.tv makes it easier to create and share live video

Popular video streaming site Justin.tv says it has made some successful enhancements to its video creating and sharing capabilities. As of two weeks ago, only 2 percent of of users who clicked on the button to “broadcast” a video actually ended up creating one. The biggest complaint? The process was too complicated.

San Francisco-based Justin.tv announced today that it has successfully made it easier to create and share live video on the site by by simplifying the... Continue Reading

Rumored Apple iPad advertisement surfaces

Update

Just days before Apple’s special event to launch what is said to be a tablet computer, a possible tablet advertisementhas surfaced according to French blog NoWhereElse.fr. The video, now posted on YouTube(and embedded below), looks genuine but many commenters, including myself, are a bit dubious.

The supposed ad is in English and has the look and feel of an Apple ad — cool graphics and a unique song overlay. However, the device in the ad looks very... Continue Reading

Apple tablet roundup: Who’s going to use the thing?

Apple’s tablet has provided no shortage of rumors. Everything from design specs to pricing have flooded the internet from various media outlets and sources. As the mysterious January 27 “special event” comes closer, many wonder if the rumors will finally be answered. To gain a better perspective on the scope of rumors, we’ve put together a snapshot below of the most recent speculations.

I can’t think of anything more that defines a product like its name.... Continue Reading

Rebtel acquires Talkster VoIP service to expand international mobile calling

Swedish based internet calling service Rebtel has announced today that it has acquired Free World Dialing, a mobile calling application, from Talkster for an undisclosed amount. The company notes that under the agreement, Rebtel will now carry all of Talkster’s international calls and Free World Dialing customers will now have access to unlimited free international mobile calls between 52 countries.

The joined services will now offer customers a quick and easy way to call internationally from your mobile phones. To... Continue Reading

Sway bags $2M to track social marketing ad campaigns via Shoutlet

Developing a social marketing campaign can be a daunting task — especially determining how to reach specific demographics and niche audiences. On top of that, many companies lack the financial and human resources needed to deploy campaigns that tap into social networks. Sway, Inc., a Wisconsin-based social media marketing company, hopes to make it easier with its Shoutlet platform — and it just raised $2 million in a first round of funding to make it... Continue Reading

Seesmic gives key upgrades to Blackberry application users

Popular social networking dashboard Seesmic has been busy lately. With the recent purchase of Ping.fm extending its updating capabilities, Seesmic today announced several key Twitter upgrades to its Blackberry application.

Recently making upgrades to its mobile Android version, Seesmic is now adding Blackberry features to make Twitter users’ experience easier, according to its blog.  Features include lists, retweets, searches, picture preview, geo-location through Google Maps, a connection with BlackBerry’s BIS-B Internet work, and the ability to delete... Continue Reading

Google files video overlay patent for YouTube advertising

Google may be helping advertisers more easily include overlays in YouTube videos. The company has apparently created a method to create video overlay advertisement for display with a digital video, according to a patent filed today with the US Patent and Trademark Office and spotted by GoRumors.

Google has allowed overlay advertising for some time now. While some advertisers have taken advantage, others lack the resources to overlay ads on video. Technologies like Adobe Flash are required that use various multimedia... Continue Reading

Visible Technologies secures $22M for social monitoring

Bellevue, Wash. startup Visible Technologies announced it has raised $22 million in a fourth round of funding. The investment surely shows significant growth potential for social and digital media monitoring companies. It also suggests that big companies and brands might be starting to take out their wallets.

The ability to provide companies and brands with a way to monitor and measure is the stepping stone for them to take the leap of faith into social and... Continue Reading

Trendrr and Klout partner for advanced social media monitoring

Being able to monitor and measure social and digital media in real time is a vital component for brands looking to interact and be apart of the online conversations taking place everyday.

Today, social and digital media tracking platform Trendrr and social influencer measurement platform Klout agreed to share social data. The deal, first announced at the PluggedIn conference, will integrate Klout’s influencer data into Trendrr’s intelligence platform. Klout’s data tracks Twitter users and their content, how... Continue Reading