1. KnockaTV a big lesson for start-ups
2. Nokia unveils handset made entirely of recycled pieces
3. Magnify.net, the DIY video platform, growing
4. Novell buys Sitescape, open source collaboration tool
5. MySpace rips-off another Facebook idea: Slingshot Labs
6. GumGum helps photographers make money on the web
7. Hollywood’s writers have voted to end strike
8. Microsoft exec calls Vista-capable machines “junk”
9. Internet phone company Vonage in financial trouble
10. Intel puts $3.5 million into bizarre idea: Bragster
KnockaTV a big lesson for start-ups — KnockaTV, a video site we’d reviewed positively (see here and here ), is blowing up after founders began fighting each other over the company’s burn-rate. Reports about the Israeli company’s saga (the Globes has the fullest account; the English translation is here, though truncated) suggest the founders are driving the company into receivership on purpose. The team is made of the creators of ICQ, the successful early instant messenger service, which sold for $407 million a decade ago. The company was backed last year with $3.5 million, led by Evergreen Venture Partners. Lesson: No matter how successful or high-profile your founding members are, teamwork is more important.
Nokia unveils handset made entirely of recycled pieces — Details here. The phone, called the “Remade,” is part of Nokia’s effort to go green.
Magnify.net, the do-it-yourself community video platform, growing — Details here.
Novell buys SiteScape, an open source collaboration tool – Details here.
MySpace rips off another idea from Facebook: A program to fund third-party applications — Slingshot Labs is MySpace’s way to match the fund created by Facebook and its backers to invest in third-party application companies that use Facebook’s platform. Details here in Business Week. It’s an incubator for developing Internet ventures, and it plans to back four or five ideas per year.
GumGum, trying to help photographers make money on the web — Let’s say you’re a member of the paparazzi, and you have a thousand photos of Britney Spears. You upload those photos into GumGum, then a web publisher — let’s say gossip blogger Perez Hilton — goes to GumGum and finds a Britney photo he wants to use. Hilton would make money for you one of two ways. One, Hilton pays you for the Britney photo on a cost-per-impression basis. If lots of people see the image on the publishers’ site, Hilton pays you, based on the CPM amount you set. Two, you run VideoEgg ads on on your photo that appears in Hilton’s site. Los Angeles-based GumGum has raised $125,000 in angel funding. See video, below Techcrunch has more.
Hollywood’s writers have voted to end strike — They ended after 100 days, probably because there was nothing decent anymore to watch on TV (it all went to the Internet).
Microsoft exec calls Vista-capable machines “junk” — Ouch.
Internet phone company Vonage in financial trouble — Details here.
Intel puts $3.5 million into bizarre idea — The chip giant’s investment arm is backing “Bragster,” a site where people can show off. Details here.
