Treyarch’s Mark Lamia explains taking risks with the design of Call of Duty: Black Ops II (interview)

May 1, 2012 9:01 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi


Activision Blizzard is announcing today that Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be the newest installment of the fastest-selling video game franchise of all time. Once again, studio Treyarch will make this game, which has more than 250 developers …

Russian classifieds startup Avito.ru grabs $75M

May 1, 2012 9:00 PM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Avito.ru, the biggest site for online classified ads in Russia, has closed a new $75 million round of funding, the startup announced today.

It’s easy to write off classifieds as something people used to pay for before the advent of …

Why Yelp is the Digg of local

May 1, 2012 8:26 PM Rakesh Agrawal
Rakesh Agrawal

The other day, I tweeted “I should be able to ban anyone who rates Applebee’s 4* from ever influencing a Yelp result for me.” That sentiment touched a nerve among my followers. Shervin Pishevar of Menlo Ventures coined it “ …

OpenFeint founder Jason Citron unveils new post-PC social game company

May 1, 2012 6:26 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Jason Citron scored big when he sold OpenFeint to Japan’s Gree for $104 million. Now the entrepreneur is back again with a new company called Phoenix Guild.

For now, it’s a one-man shop. Citron plans to make social games for …

Hackers behind Mac Flashback Trojan may have made $10K a day

May 1, 2012 5:51 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

We’ve heard so much about the Mac Flashback Trojan in the last month, but what is its goal? Turns out it’s financial gain (who knew) in the form of ad revenue.

Security researchers at Symantec have found that the Flashback …

Funding Daily: ATMs that give you money for old broken phones

May 1, 2012 5:51 PM Sarah Mitroff
Sarah Mitroff

At VentureBeat, we come across a lot of funding news every day. In order to bring you the most information possible, we’re rounding up the quick-and-dirty details about the funding deals of the day and serving them up here in …

Gree acquires mobile game maker Funzio for $210M

May 1, 2012 5:20 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Japanese mobile social network Gree has acquired Funzio, a fast-growing maker of hardcore mobile and social games, for $210 million.

Funzio has the rare distinction of having three games that have all garnered big audiences. Over the weekend, as we …

First trailer released for Call of Duty: Black Ops II

May 1, 2012 5:00 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Publisher Activision Blizzard just released this trailer for the newest Call of Duty title, Black Ops II, which will debut this fall.

Droid doesn’t (again): Motorola sees $86M Q1 loss, ships 8.9M phones

May 1, 2012 4:14 PM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

Motorola Mobility posted another not-so-hot earnings report for the first quarter today, with a net loss of $86 million on revenues of $3.1 billion. Considering Motorola lost $80 million in the fourth quarter last year, the company clearly needs to …

Facebook could IPO May 18, roadshow starting Monday

May 1, 2012 3:34 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Social network Facebook is poised to start its IPO roadshow as soon as Monday, according to sources of the Wall Street Journal. If the meetings with bankers go as planned, the company could IPO as soon as May 18.

Facebook …

Local advertising startup Signpost grabs funding and a former AOL Patch employee

May 1, 2012 3:08 PM Sarah Mitroff
Sarah Mitroff

Local advertising startup Signpost grew its business a little bit Tuesday with a $3.75 million investment and a new employee. Christopher DePatria, former head of sales at AOL Patch, joined the team as the vice president of revenue.

Signpost tackles …

Foursquare starts charging merchants for instant verification

May 1, 2012 2:56 PM Jennifer Van Grove
Jennifer Van Grove

Merchants looking to skip the line and get instant access to Foursquare’s business tools need only grease the wheels with a sawbuck.

The location-based discovery service, which offers merchants free access to analytics and admin tools, is now enabling businesses …

Beyond textbooks, Inkling aims to revolutionize travel with Frommer’s digital guides

May 1, 2012 2:32 PM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

Inkling’s digital publication platform helped textbook makers move to the iPad. Now, the company is setting its sights on travel with the launch of Frommer’s Day by Day travel guides for the iPad and iPhone.

Travel has traditionally been one …

RIM guarantees $10,000 to BlackBerry 10 app developers, or your money back

May 1, 2012 2:09 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

If you’ve got a great idea for a BlackBerry app, you might as well go ahead and develop it. If you don’t make at least $10,000 in the first year, RIM will write you a check for the difference.

At …

Zynga starts promoting third-party partner social games

May 1, 2012 2:04 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

As it seeks to diversify its game portfolio and revenues, Zynga announced today it has begun promoting the games of third-party platform partners.

Zynga announced in March that it would start publishing games made by outside developers. The first game …

Oprah wants you to say thank you by playing her game

May 1, 2012 1:43 PM Jasmine Maleficent Rea
Jasmine Maleficent Rea

Oprah wants to spread kindness around the globe via her latest venture, Oprah's Thank You Game for Facebook.

Is there a tech bubble? Don’t count on VCs for a straight answer

May 1, 2012 12:45 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

“I don’t think we are in a bubble,” said mega-VC Marc Andreessen onstage today during a Wired conference on business.

Well, no duh — of course a venture capitalist whose livelihood depends on perpetuating tech froth is going to say …

C’est magnifique! Gmail now translates e-mails, other Labs products say au revoir

May 1, 2012 12:25 PM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Google has graduated its message translation feature from Gmail Labs to all inboxes, as well as cutting some cool, helpful Labs features like Old Snakey and Mail Goggles, the company announced today.

During the past year, Google has been refining …

Apple still misleading consumers in the UK with “4G” iPads

May 1, 2012 12:03 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Apple may be further investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK for promoting 4G iPads when the UK does not yet have 4G capabilities.

The third generation iPad launched in early March this year with a brand new …