The 20 biggest private exits of 2012 (for the top 20 VC firms of the year)

February 19, 2013 11:18 PM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Private company research firm Privco has ranked the top 20 merger and acquisitions of the top 20 technology VC firms of 2012, including Ancestry.com's $1.6 billion sale to private equity firm Permira and other top tech acquisitions such as Yammer, Meebo, Instagram, and NextG networks.

Etsy in 2012: Sales up 70%, new buyers increase 83%,10M new members

January 28, 2013 9:49 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Popular handmade-goods marketplace Etsy has shared some eye-popping stats about its performance in 2012, with CEO Chad Dickerson calling it a "breakthough year."

The most popular GamesBeat stories of 2012

January 3, 2013 7:47 PM Mike Minotti
Mike Minotti

Our 10 most read stories on GamesBeat during last year include the Ocean Marketing scandal, an educational outreach program, and Google's Zerg Rush.

Record-breaking Christmas week: 50M iOS and Android devices activated, 1.76B apps downloaded

January 2, 2013 8:54 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

After a record-breaking 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, the following week saw record-breaking activity as well: over 50 million iOS and Android-powered smartphones and tablets, and a staggering 1.76 billion mobile app downloads.

‘Scott Forstall got what he deserved’ and 10 other great quotes from 2012

December 30, 2012 8:30 AM Ricardo Bilton
Ricardo Bilton

A lot of things were said in 2012, but few of them were as funny, interesting, or profound as the quotes from these tech luminaries.

2012 was a year of expansion (and scary new uses) for 3D printing

December 26, 2012 8:15 AM Ricardo Bilton
Ricardo Bilton

Editor's Pick 3D printing exploded into the mainstream this year with a bunch of company news and unlikely new applications, from sex toys to guns.

Facebook’s ‘Year in Review’ shows the biggest moments of your life, top trends of 2012

December 12, 2012 6:40 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Facebook has released a 2012 Year in Review that shows off notable trends of the year and, in a nice twist, the 20 biggest stories from your Timeline.

What did *you* tweet about in 2012? Twitter releases end-of-year data

December 11, 2012 6:24 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Twitter just released new data about its user interactions from 2012 -- all on a brand new website.

Nielsen’s state of social 2012 report: more social, more mobile, more minutes, more TV, and more ads

December 3, 2012 3:24 PM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

There's more of just about everything in Nielsens' 2012 state of the social union report ... all except the poor old PC.

Ask.com reveals the most popular questions of 2012

November 28, 2012 4:01 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

The result is a fascinating insight into not just what people are searching for, but why. And what, specifically, they want to know about a person, event, or concept.

Kardashians, iDevices, and Facebook: Bing unveils its most-search terms of 2012

November 27, 2012 12:13 PM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Last I checked 2013 was still 34 days away. But Bing is obviously an impressive piece of technology: it already knows the most-searched terms of 2012.

Talk to NASA about fictional planets, the end of the world, and maybe what they found on Mars

November 26, 2012 11:21 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

The top of discussion is the 2012 rumors that are proliferating across the internet. According to the organizers, however, December 21 will not, in fact, mark the end of the world.

Eight technologies for a healthier 2012

January 5, 2012 12:15 PM Vivek Wadhwa, WashingtonPost.com

Welcome to 2012 and a new list of New Year’s resolutions — a list that likely includes some variation on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Thanks to the acceleration of technology, fulfilling your resolutions this time around may be easier than …

Our favorite tech long reads of 2011

January 1, 2012 7:00 AM Heather Kelly
Heather Kelly

The Internet is flooded with thousands of tech articles every day. Buried among all of the breaking news, reblogs, how-tos and product reviews are some great long-form journalism gems. Instead of falling out of favor with today’s short-attention-span-having readers, solid …

Five tech industry predictions for 2012

December 31, 2011 12:37 PM Vivek Wadhwa, WashingtonPost.com

The past year in technology was pretty wild.

The really big Internet IPO returned and the massive venture capital funding bubble inflated, which seems difficult considering that the venture capital industry is far smaller than it was three years ago. …

Twitter starts running political ads for 2012 campaigns

September 21, 2011 12:45 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Starting today, politicians of all stripes are able to buy advertisements on Twitter. Politically flavored Promoted Tweets will be designated by a purple icon in the bottom left corner of the tweet.

“We’re piloting the program with a small group …