Guidewire Software seeks $115M IPO, debuts tomorrow

Insurance software company Guidewire will begin trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) tomorrow. It has raised $115 million in the initial public offering by selling 8.85 million shares at $13 apiece. That’s well above the 7.5 million shares at $10 to $12 that the company had planned.

Guidewire provides software targeted at insurance companies that provides property, workers’ compensation and casualty insurance to its customers. Its software product includes a web-based claims … Continue Reading

Sorry Galaxy S owners, no Ice Cream Sandwich for you (blame TouchWiz)

Owners of Samsung’s first lineup of Galaxy S phones are in for some bitter news this morning, as the company has confirmed that the phones won’t be receiving an update to Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.”

Samsung pointed to its TouchWiz interface on the phones as the main reason for the snub, saying that there isn’t enough RAM and storage to run both Android 4.0 and TouchWiz, the Verge reports.

The company recently announced that … Continue Reading

HP open sources webOS, plans for tablets in 2013 (updated)

After shopping webOS around to major companies like Amazon and Qualcomm, HP has decided to make the platform available to the open source community, the company announced today.

The move allows third-party companies to use webOS, but HP will still be able to guide development of the platform. HP says it will be an “active participant and investor in the project.”

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected … Continue Reading

GainSpan nabs $18M from Intel, NVP, Sigma, Opus to develop next-gen Wi-Fi chips

Chip developer GainSpan has raised a new $18 million round of funding to help the company create the next generation of ultra-low-power Wi-Fi chips.

GainSpan’s goal is to create incredibly low-power Wi-Fi modules and drivers that are suitable for all kinds of devices, including household appliances. On top of creating hardware, the company also develops embedded Wi-Fi software. The five markets the company said it focuses on are: healthcare and fitness, smart energy, industrial control, … Continue Reading

Dylan’s Desk: Software is not eating the world

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, I’m writing a column on business and technology called Dylan’s Desk, while Dean Takahashi is writing a column on video games called The DeanBeat. They are available to newsletter subscribers a whole day before they appear on the VentureBeat website.

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Software is eating the world, storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently wrote — and from his perspective, it certainly looks like it. But that’s only part of the picture.

It’s … Continue Reading

Intel positions itself as a software leader

While Intel is known as the world’s biggest chip maker, but it also wants to be known as a leader in software.

The Santa Clara-based company made that clear today at an event in San Francisco. Intel representatives highlighted the company’s efforts in software, stating that Intel won’t sell as many chips if there isn’t an adequate software ecosystem across multiple platforms in support of Intel’s chip designs.

Doug Fisher, Intel’s vice president in charge … Continue Reading

Samsung, Microsoft to show off Windows 8 tablet next week

Now that Samsung has become well-known for its slick Android tablets, the company may be setting its sights on a tablet running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8.

Next week at Microsoft’s BUILD developers conference, the two companies will show off a new Windows 8-powered Samsung tablet,  AFP reports. If true, it will mark the first time that Samsung has collaborated with Microsoft on a new hardware devices, a source points out.

It certainly makes sense for … Continue Reading

Desperate? Dell strikes a deal with China’s Baidu for tablets, smartphones

Dell has been struggling for years to get a toehold in China. Now it has help: China’s leading search engine, Baidu, has teamed up with Dell to develop tablets and smartphones, according to Reuters.

The partnership adds a dose of legitimacy to Baidu’s newly announced Baidu Yi mobile OS, which aims to tap into China’s massive mobile user base of over 900 million. It could also serve as a major gateway into the Chinese market … Continue Reading

Samsung CEO: We would “never” buy WebOS

Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung has quashed rumors that the company is interested in HP’s webOS software, saying that it would “never” pursue such a deal, Bloomberg reports.

Samsung seemed like one of the better fits for webOS, and we reported last week that it was possibly interested in snapping up the software. But now it seems HP will be stuck with webOS for some time, unless another brave company steps up to buy it.… Continue Reading

HTC launching two Windows Phone Mango devices Sept. 1

Mobile manufacturer HTC will reportedly launch two new Windows Phone devices equipped with Mango, the first huge update to the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, at an event on Sept. 1.

HTC declined to comment for this story, saying it does “not speak to rumors or speculation about unannounced products.”

A massive Mango update was already rumored for Sept. 1, so the event date makes sense. Mango will offer more than 500 new features, … Continue Reading

Hands on with Office 365: a smart option for small businesses

If you’re a small business or startup, Microsoft Office 365 should be on your technology shortlist. It’s a cloud-based suite based on the world’s most popular office software that launched in late June. It will likely get small businesses and enterprises to start considering cloud software solutions if they haven’t already. Microsoft also hopes this offering can edge into the space Google Apps has had to itself for several years.

After testing the suite’s small … Continue Reading

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Microsoft to open 75 retail stores in the next 3 years

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it will open 75 physical retail stores in the next two to three years. COO Kevin Turner made the announcement at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference.

The big M is clearly taking notes from Apple, which has more than 230 retail locations in the U.S. In the first quarter of 2011, Apple had an eye-popping $3.2 billion in retail sales, and most of that came from the U.S., according a report … Continue Reading

Apple delaying MacBook Air refresh to wait for Lion OS?

Apple plans to wait until its new Lion operating system is out in July before releasing new MacBook Air models loaded with refreshed hardware, according to a report by AppleInsider. Just a week ago, reports were circulating that Apple would likely release refreshed Airs in June.

If the report is true, Apple must feel pretty strongly that Lion is an important, necessary upgrade for customers. The new MacBook Airs are reportedly ready to ship but … Continue Reading

Evernote reaches more than 10M users

Multi-platform note-taking program Evernote on Monday announced it had reached more than 10 million registered users.

The 10 million mark is a significant bump from the company’s reported 6 million users in January. It also reported that more than 400,000 of its customers pay $5 a month for a premium plan that enables bigger uploads and better collaborative tools.

“Ten million users seemed like an inconceivable number when we were getting ready to launch the … Continue Reading

Apple: Mac App Store beats out Best Buy as top PC software vendor

It looks like Apple’s Mac App Store is a smashing success. The company announced today during its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote that the App Store is now the number one channel for PC software sales, beating out big retailers like Best Buy, Walmart and Office Depot.

The Mac App Store allows users to instantly purchase software for their Macs from a single location. It was an attempt by Apple to bring the app purchasing mentality … Continue Reading

Microsoft to show off Windows tablet software next week

Microsoft plans to preview new Windows-based tablet software at next week’s All Things Digital D9 conference, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Windows President Steven Sinofsky is scheduled to speak at the D9 conference and let loose all the details. The software will work for touch-screen devices running hardware with Nvidia’s Tegra chip that is intended for tablets. The dual-core chips are a smart choice for mobile devices because they offer a good mix of … Continue Reading

Skype's newest feature: ugly ads

As if Skype’s interface needed more clutter, the Internet voice and video chat company announced today that it’s bringing advertising to its service.

The ads will take the form of large banners that will appear on top of Skype’s Home tab. The company says it’s working with big advertisers like Groupon, Universal Pictures and Visa. The ads will initially appear in, and be focused on, the US, UK and German markets. Skype says it currently … Continue Reading

Deals & More: Storenvy snags $1.5M for indie e-commerce marketplace, Cohuman raises $600K to organize your to-do list

Today’s funding announcements include online networks for shopping and task management:

Storenvy brings in $1.5M for online shopping community: The creator of a social shopping network has raised a seed funding round led by Spark Capital and First Round Capital with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Charles River Ventures and a group of angels. The San Francisco-based company, whose best-selling products include t-shirts and sunglasses, lets users create an online store for free, … Continue Reading

Google's Chrome OS netbook coming Dec. 7th

It’s been a long stretch, but Google is nearing the finish line with its Chrome OS netbook operating system. The company sent out invitations today to a Chrome event on Tuesday, December 7th, where it will launch the netbook, sources tell Engadget.

But don’t expect to get your hands on one anytime soon. Apparently, there will only be around 65,000 units produced, and those will go to Google’s closest “friends and family.” It’s a testing … Continue Reading

Are enterprise sales headed for a free-fall this holiday season?

Somewhere in the stock market’s noise today, there’s a very clear signal: enterprise hardware sales are in trouble. Despite upbeat forecasts from Intel and Nvidia for the fourth quarter this year, a forecast from enterprise giant Cisco for this holiday season paints a terrifying picture that could signal the end of the business-tech comeback.

Cisco announced yesterday that it was lowering its outlook for the fourth quarter this year as sales of computer networking and … Continue Reading