Ciara Byrne is based in Amsterdam, and her interests include clean tech, mhealth, emerging markets, European startups and cycling in high heels. She has worked as a product strategist, software team lead and engineering manager. Follow her on Twitter at @deciara.

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Disclosures: Sadly, the entire world seems to have already read VentureBeat’s ethics statement since nobody ever offers to sponsor my working wardrobe or send me free stuff.

I occasionally accept travel expenses in order to speak at or attend tech events and meet startups in the far corners of Europe. In such cases, no coverage is ever guaranteed and we always disclose who paid for travel in any related coverage.

stories by Ciara Byrne

Measure your brainwaves and modify your mind

December 6, 2012 10:02 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Can a sleek headband which reads your brainwaves help you to achieve inner peace? Interaxon's CEO, Ariel Garten certainly thinks so. Her company's first product, Muse, is an EEG (Electroencephalography) headband which determines what kind of brain waves you are producing and a Brain Health package which tells you how to change them.

SoundCloud: Why sound will be bigger than video online

December 4, 2012 5:42 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

The audio-sharing network SoundCloud, which allows users to share not just music but any audio recording -- from company earnings calls to cat impersonations -- has just launched a new version, "Next SoundCloud," at LeWeb in Paris.

Robots won’t take your job, but automation might

November 29, 2012 9:08 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

“Many of us will live to see the day where we have physical, non-human colleagues,” says Matt Beane, a researcher at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and he doesn’t mean the office dog. Beane’s research addresses what he calls “The Avatar Economy”, where remote workers operate robots.

Now you can get college credit with Coursera

October 30, 2012 11:56 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

For the first time a brick and mortar educational institution, Antioch University, will offer Coursera MOOCs (massive open online courses) for credit as part of a bachelor's degree program. This announcement could be one of the first tremors in a seismic shift in higher education.

How three Dubliners created F.ounders, a ‘Davos for geeks’

October 25, 2012 8:00 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Editor's Pick How did F.ounder's organizers -- a self-described failed entrepreneur, freelance journalist and unemployed asset manager -- with no background in technology, convince some of the world's top entrepreneurs to come to an unknown event at the far edge of Europe?

The data diet: Factual now feeds you nutrition data (Exclusive)

October 24, 2012 9:30 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Editor's Pick Want to cut out sugar or add super-foods to your diet? Now app developers can help. Data curators Factual just added ingredient lists for over 350,000 of the most popular consumer packaged goods (CPGs) and nutrition parameters for over 150,000 of them to its Global Products API.

Dutch bio-hackers mobilize malaria testing

September 20, 2012 9:22 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Amplino may be the ultimate garage project. Three DIY bio-hackers have created a malaria testing kit that can identify different strains of malaria with 95 percent accuracy in under 40 minutes. The testing device is connected via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, making it possible to track malaria outbreaks and the spread of particular strains.

Analyze this: Talent Analytics quantifies you

August 21, 2012 8:06 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Talent Analytics measures people, weighing their preferences and motivations and how those characteristics predict job performance. "Our niche is companies who have employees," jokes founder Greta Roberts.

Spotted by Locals bets on offline travel guides for your phone

August 3, 2012 9:15 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Spotted By Locals offers a website and mobile apps listing travel tips from the local residents of 42 European cities. Dutch husband and wife team Bart and Sanne van Poll have created a network of local "spotters" in each city, all of whom they meet and vet in person.

Carpooling targets the U.S. market with investment from Daimler

July 26, 2012 2:13 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Being a backseat driver may no longer be a bad thing. Luxury car brand Daimler AG just invested an undisclosed amount in ride-sharing startup Carpooling.

Although Munich, Germany-based Carpooling declined to specify the size of the investment, other sources indicate …

Can this app cure depression?

May 30, 2012 8:59 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Editor's Pick

It may be time to sack your therapist. The researchers conducting the world’s first clinical study on the use of smartphone apps to treat depression have given VentureBeat a preview of the results. 73.5 percent of depressed participants who used …

LinkedIn Co-founder joins Berlin-based EarlyBird Ventures

May 15, 2012 9:00 PM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Have cash? Looking for tech talent? Go to Europe. So says Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn and newly minted venture partner in Berlin’s EarlyBird Ventures. EarlyBird recently raised $100 million for its fourth fund, focusing on European, and in particular …

Transferwise undercuts the banks with crowdsourced currency exchange

April 18, 2012 2:40 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

Do you live outside your native country? Need to transfer money home? Most banks will charge you not only for the currency exchange but also for the transfer itself.

TransferWise today announced funding of $1.3m for its scheme to sidestep …

Notion Capital raises $100 million for Euro cloud companies

April 17, 2012 7:14 AM Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne

London’s Notion Capital  just raised a $100m new fund focused on cloud computing and SaaS (software as a service) startups in Europe. The fund is expected to reach $150 million by the time it closes in the next few months.…