Hooked Media turns in an entirely new take on app recommendation — one that Apple can’t kill

May 23, 2013 2:55 PM John Koetsier

App recommendation engines are getting booted from Apple's app store because they suck, according to a new player in the app-finding business. But Hooked Media has come up with an entirely new take on app recommendation that has two unique qualities.

Loyal3 raises $18M to make buying stock as easy as a Facebook ‘like’

May 23, 2013 1:07 PM Rebecca Grant

Rebecca Grant

Loyal3 has raised $18 million for its platform that makes it easy for consumers to buy stock in their favorite brands.

Submissions are open for the MobileBeat 2013 Innovation Showdown!

May 23, 2013 12:41 PM VentureBeat Staff

Mobile startups: This is your chance to showcase your company, product or solution to 700 mobile executives, leaders, IT decision makers, venture capitalists, and press.

SimpleRelevance raises $1M for tech that gives emails a personal touch

May 23, 2013 12:19 PM Rebecca Grant

Rebecca Grant

Impersonal, mass emails are easy to dislike and ignore, which is why SimpleRelevance has raised $1 million. SimpleRelevance's platform gathers customer data and then personalized emails to specifically target individuals.

WWDC press invites go out, Apple holding keynote on June 10

May 23, 2013 11:52 AM Meghan Kelly

Meghan Kelly

Apple's WWDC keynote will occur on June 10, where we will see announcements regarding its operating systems. VentureBeat will be reporting live from the event.

Box acquires Folders and its ‘elegant’ French spin on file storage

May 23, 2013 10:56 AM Rebecca Grant

Rebecca Grant

Box announced that it has acquired the technology behind a mobile app called Folders.

Samsung Galaxy S4 hits 10M sold in first month, selling ’4 units per second’

May 23, 2013 10:03 AM John Koetsier

John Koetsier

In other words, the giant that sold almost 400 million phones last year is getting bigger. And faster.

Activision’s Eric Hirshberg bets that 40M Call of Duty fans will follow him to Xbox One (interview)

May 23, 2013 10:00 AM Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi

The next Call of Duty game will have Kinect voice integration, so says the man at the top of Activision.

E-commerce biz ChannelAdvisor stock soars 40% in IPO debut

May 23, 2013 9:52 AM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Following the lead of other recent tech-focused IPOs, e-commerce software business ChannelAdvisor's shares popped almost 40 percent in its first day of trading as a public company.

Google reduces App Engine cloud costs by up to 25% (Amazon, next move is yours)

May 23, 2013 9:24 AM John Koetsier

John Koetsier

All that's missing are the streamers, balloons, and cheesy Best Price Ev-ah signs. Because the price competition between Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Rackspace is heating up so fast, the cloud market could be a massive virtual used car lot.

Wibidata raises $15M so small businesses can compete using big data

May 23, 2013 9:18 AM Rebecca Grant

Rebecca Grant

Big data is a big trend right now, and Wibidata has raised $15 million to help businesses take advantage of it. Wibidata builds and sells big data applications that companies can use to uncover consumer insights and react in real time.

Lyft team gets $60M more; now it must prove ride-sharing can go global

May 23, 2013 9:00 AM Christina Farr

Christina Farr

Ride-sharing startup Lyft has closed a $60 million funding round led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, the company announced on its blog. It also confirmed raising $15M in October of 2012.

Marissa Mayer and Yahoo are on fire, acquiring gaming company PlayerScale

May 23, 2013 8:31 AM John Koetsier

John Koetsier

If I can paraphrase a popular Alicia Keys song, this woman is on fire. Marissa Mayer is clearly moving Yahoo back into the center of the Silicon Valley tech conversation.