Regina Hope Sinsky is VentureBeat\’s anything-but-games (unless it\’s Tetris) writer. She studied journalism at the College of Charleston and spent several years in television writing & production. She finds the egos in print/online much more agreeable.

Regina specializes in interviews with interesting people doing nonobvious things with technology. Is that you? Then please ping her at regina@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), or on Twitter @Hopeful_Regina.

stories by Regina Sinsky

Flickr launches its first official Android app, plus iPhone “Photo Sessions”

Popular photo-sharing site Flickr is stepping up its mobile efforts with new Android and iOS features.

The site launched its first Android app today, and also introduced a new feature for iPhone and iPad customers called Photo Session.

Photo Session …

VentureBeat takes a “leisure dive” into San Francisco Bay (video)

You’ve heard of planking. You might have heard about owling or hockern (aka extreme sitting). Now get ready for the next weird internet photography craze: leisure diving.

Leisure diving is like planking, only instead of lying face down on random …

Wrapp your head around this: Gift giving is now fun … if you’re Swedish

This just might be the first social gifting service that doesn’t suck. In fact, it’s downright cool. Wrapp is turning Facebook into a frictionless gift giving environment. The company and concept will be put to the test as it prepares …

Kobo Pulse gives ereaders a powerful shot of social

Imagine turning the page of the latest best-selling novel and receiving a notification that, right at that very moment, President Barack Obama is reading the same book and is on the very same page. You have the option of talking …

Reppler has a new way to rate your social network image

More than 90 percent of hiring managers and recruiters use social network sites to screen candidates, according to a survey released today by Reppler, a Palo Alto-based social network monitoring company.

The company’s monitoring service now includes a Reppler Image …

CareCloud raises $20M+ to help doctors run their business in the cloud

CareCloud, a Miami-based company that provides cloud-based practice management tools for healthcare providers, just raised $20.1 million from Silicon Valley-based Intel Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.

“They must believe in us if they’re willing to spend money on frequent cross-country …

Founder of WebMD’s consumer health branch hopes WellnessFX is the next game changer

WellnessFX, an online concierge service for improving personal health, launched out of stealth today. Behind the startup is Jim Kean, founder of Sapient Health Network, which became the foundation of WebMD‘s consumer health business in 1995.

“After I sold in …

HealthTap’s social network of 5,000 doctors is ready to give free advice

It’s fair to raise an eyebrow when a social network for healthcare comes along, but this network just might make you raise both eyebrows in surprise: HealthTap has created a healthcare social network with more than 5,000 real-live doctors to …

How online freelancing is changing the bootstrap ethos

Fire extinguisher inspector David Kneer bought an iPad so he could generate paperless inspections in the field. Then he hit a snag: The PDF inspection reports were unnecessarily lengthy and Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, prevented him from deleting individual …

Strange new retail creature Wayfair emerges from 200 domains

You may not have heard of it, but this year a company called Wayfair surpassed Crate & Barrel to become the No. 2 online retailer of home furnishings and housewares in the U.S., based on annual sales. Wayfair carries more …

These teenagers are trying to take my job (video)

While attending the 2011 Fall Demo conference in Santa Clara, I was startled by the sight of a young man helping himself to coffee in between interviews with startup founders and venture capitalists in the conference Green Room. It’s my

Your company is not the next TV Guide, says TV Guide Digital

TV Guide Digital has a message for online entertainment guides calling themselves the next TV Guide:

“There is only one TV Guide, and that’s TV Guide,” says Christy Tanner, the executive vice president and general manager of TV Guide …

Shhh… stealthy Dashlane raises $5 million to solve “a really big problem”

What do you do after the company you founded sells for almost $7 billion?

Raise another $5 million to start a new company that does something. It almost doesn’t matter what. With a track record like that, you can write …

With $100k bonus funding, TechStars startups get Christmas in September

Startup incubator TechStars announced today it has raised a new $24 million fund, providing an additional $100,000 for each of the companies under its wing.

“This additional funding will allow TechStars companies to stay focused on making progress during the …

Android developers can finally use Card.io’s optical credit card reader

The last time we checked in with Card.io there was a major hole in the company’s software-based credit card payment solution for smartphones: There wasn’t an SDK for Android.

Today Card.io is changing that by making its optical character recognition …

Amex plays virtual-currency-catchup by acquiring Sometrics

American Express (Amex) announced today it has acquired virtual currency company Sometrics, for $30 million, according to Tech Crunch.

Sometrics, with 450 games and an audience of 225 million gamers in 200 countries, is a smart acquisition for Amex. Sometrics …

Identified mines Facebook professional data to beat LinkedIn

Identified launched a search engine for professionals today, in a move that makes the founders either a) crazy  b) smart or c) both. The startup will be competing with giant social network LinkedIn for the attention, and participation, of people …

Flix Futures: Media Predict pays people to bet on Netflix growth

Media Predict is a marketplace where people get paid to place bets on which media will fly and which will flop.

As we publish this story, Media Predict is launching a real-money Netflix futures market (image below). It lets people …

It’s illegal to watch the Emmys live online. Here are some alternatives.

The Emmys are tonight on Fox (8ET/ 5PT). Jane Lynch of Fox’s Glee and, more importantly, mocumentary Best in Show, is hosting. Unfortunately you can’t legally watch the awards ceremony live online. LAME.

You can, however, watch live red …

Five cities (finally) get access to AT&T’s new 4G LTE network

AT&T is officially launching its 4G LTE network in five cities today, according to the carrier. That means if you’re an AT&T subscriber living in San Antonio, Chicago, Dallas, Houston or Atlanta your mobile Internet access should be faster today. …