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.

To reach all VB writers send tips to news@venturebeat.com

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

Jinni’s “movie genome” may be headed for the Xbox

100 different channels and nothing on? Microsoft has just licensed semantic video discovery technology from Israeli startup Jinni to help you find the perfect movie.

At the heart of Jinni is a movie genome comparable to Pandora’s music genome, which …

Purple lights and math help PlantLab grow food more efficiently

We’ve had local food, organic food, slow food and even urban farming. Now get ready for disco farming.

The Dutch “plant control freaks” behind PlantLab want to farm indoors under purple light. It’s not just for the looks, though. PlantLab …

Fighting climate change, one barnacle at a time

The humble barnacle may seem an unlikely villain in the war on climate change, but those little crustaceans are not as innocent as they look. Ships encrusted with barnacles experience turbulence, which can increase the fuel they use by up …

GravityEight wants to measure your entire life

Ever wanted a dashboard for your life? GravityEight wants to become the “Mint.com of your entire life” by tracking everything from your health to your community contribution and displaying the results in a wellbeing wheel.

The company just signed a …

Vivino helps you find that wine with image recognition

“Wine is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey” said Thomas Jefferson. Copenhagen-based Vivino helps you identify and locate your favorite antidote for future consumption. The company just received an angel investment from Skype co-founder Janus Friis …

European Venture Capital: A Rembrandt in the attic?

Do European venture capital funds perform better than their U.S. rivals? German VC fund, Earlybird Venture Capital, just published an analysis that claims European venture capital has been producing higher exit multiples than U.S. venture capital in the last two …

Cloudbees lands $10.5M to move Java development into the cloud

CloudBees, which offers a Java platform as a service (PaaS) for developers, has raised $10.5 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

CloudBees was founded by Sacha Labourey, the former chief technology officer of JBoss. Its first …

Waste management goes Steampunk with Envac

Tired of overflowing bins and roads blocked by waste vans? Quebec’s new Cité Verte (green city) eco urban development will use a vacuum-powered (pneumatic) underground waste system from Swedish company Envac.

A system of underground pipes will connect directly to …

Appsterdam: A haven for indie app makers?

It’s hard to get the famously phlegmatic Dutch excited but Mike Lee had a room full of them (and other nationalities) clapping and whooping Saturday in the style of an old-school preacher. Why? Appsterdam, Lee’s attempt to create a new …

Usabilla raises $1 million to make user-feedback tools

Usabilla,  a Dutch startup producing web site usability tools, raised $1 million Wednesday in a round led by local venture fund Boralis and five undisclosed investors in Europe and the U.S.

Usabilla helps marketers, analysts and designers define usability tests …

Slimtrader lets Africans shop via text

This article is part of the series “Conversations on the Global App Economy” which is sponsored by Nokia.

In developing countries, where large numbers of people don’t even have access to electricity, much less the Internet, ecommerce is something of …

The “Cash-back car”: Danish EV owners to sell power back to the grid

US company Nuvve will use Denmark as the first test market for a new technology allowing electric vehicle (EV) owners to sell energy stored in their EV batteries back to the grid.

The first pilot will consist of 30 cars. …

Fits.me’s female robot helps you find the perfect fit online

Fits.me aims to increase clothing sales online and reduce returns by showing female shoppers clothing on a mannequin matching her exact dimensions. It does this by using robotic mannequins with artificial muscles that can simulate the shape and size of …

Top 8 ways to annoy a tech blogger

You may think that a tech blogger’s life is a glamorous whirl of free lunches, great gadgets and being bought drinks at conferences. If so then you are probably following the wrong bloggers. In fact, it’s more like a long …

Russians crack Apple's iOS encryption

As any security expert will tell you, all security systems can be cracked. The issue is more whether the value of the information revealed justifies the effort required to do so.

Russian security company Elcomsoft just demonstrated that it can …