The latest from TechCrunch
- Hybrid Cloud Hosting Startup Voxel Raises $5.5 Million
- Encoding.com Opens Vid.ly – A Single URL For Videos You Can Watch Anywhere
- Nuclear WatchDawg App Reveals Nuclear Plants, Safety Issues Within Fifty Mile Radius
- Sorry Mike, No Sonos Controller For Android Until Next Month
- Is Apple Too Quick To Shut Down Potentially Hacked Accounts?
- Spotify Turns Off Third-Party Display Ads Following Malware Attacks
| Hybrid Cloud Hosting Startup Voxel Raises $5.5 Million | Top |
| Cloud and managed hosting startup Voxel has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding led by Seaport Capital. As part of the transaction, Jim Collis of Seaport Capital will join Voxel's Board of Directors Voxel delivers high-performance on-demand managed hosting infrastructure services over its own global IP network and content delivery network. The startup’s services include on-demand physical and virtual cloud servers, content delivery networks, and application hosting. Founded in 1999, Voxel currently has over 1,000 clients. The new funding round will used to support increased sales activities and accelerate the deployment of services both in the U.S. and in international markets. CrunchBase Information Voxel Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Encoding.com Opens Vid.ly – A Single URL For Videos You Can Watch Anywhere | Top |
| Video encoding service provider Encoding.com this morning announced that it is opening the beta version of its Vid.ly video URL service to the public . In a world littered with an enormous variety of smartphones, tablet computers and browsers, it’s not easy for publishers to put up a video online that can be watched by anyone, anywhere. After all, different devices and web browsers require different video codecs and screen sizes, which means videos need to be converted into many different formats and sizes as well. With vid.ly, Encoding.com aims to alleviate that problem by enabling publishers to create what it refers to as a ‘universal video URL’, designed to play videos everywhere. If you want to try it out, check out the company’s own demo video . Since it was released in private beta at the end of January 2011, the company says several thousand beta users generated over 10,000 Vid.ly URLs by uploading their source videos via the dedicated website, where anyone can now sign up. Watch Erick Schonfeld’s earlier interview with Encoding.com president Jeff Malkin here: CrunchBase Information Encoding.com Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Nuclear WatchDawg App Reveals Nuclear Plants, Safety Issues Within Fifty Mile Radius | Top |
| A newly released Android app, Nuclear WatchDawg , reveals where nuclear power plants and associated safety and environmental concerns are within a fifty mile radius anywhere in the U.S. NuclearWatchDawg aggregates data from some 30 sources, mostly government and academic research labs whose research is in the public domain. Lee Guthman, who develops new apps and ventures for the GVW Group in Highland Park, Illinois noted: “We developed this app because there is heightened interest in nuclear power following the earthquake in Japan, and damages to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant there. In the U.S., people want to know what they're living or working nearby, how big these nuclear facilities are, and what are the known issues around them, if any.” According to a report today by Steve Herman for VOA News : “Since the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami, high radiation levels, fires and explosions at some of [Japan's] six [effected nuclear] reactors have slowed efforts to make critical repairs to stabilize the situation. Japanese government agencies say they are considering raising the assessment of the nuclear crisis to a level six or ‘serious accident’ on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Currently, the Fukushima accident is rated a level five, which is considered to ‘have wider consequences.’” Emission of radioactive vapor from one complex led to warnings about Japan’s water supply, and raised safety concerns and international scrutiny of Japanese vegetables, milk and seafood, and possibly other exports. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is blocking imports from the region in Japan where the nuclear accident occurred, for example. The crisis has forced farmers to destroy crops there, NPR reported. [Ed's note: TechCrunch's Jon Evans published a story suggesting mainstream media's coverage of the nuclear situation in Japan is tantamount to "hysteria," but offered a guide to sites he trusted instead. It's worth checking out the links he's provided to independent media sources that he trusts for technically accurate perspectives .] The Nuclear Watchdawg app is meant for those who are curious about the impacts of nuclear power near where they live and work in the U.S., or who might be buying or selling a home, or moving a business nearby. Like GVW’s other sites and apps, Nuclear Watchdawg is ad-supported ( via AdMob ) but free to get and use. Guthman said his firm will likely develop other, GPS-enabled Watchdawg apps based on consumers’ major environmental and safety concerns. For the next release of Nuclear Watchdawg app (due out before the end of May) his team plans to include alert features to let users know when there is a new development, or problem at a nuclear facility in their area, and direct them as to recommended safety measures. On a much lighter note, the firm previously developed the virtual vuvuzela app , released during the last World Cup Soccer tournament, attaining 1 million downloads within thirty days, with 29 percent of the downloads from the U.S. and 14 percent in Japan. GVW Group in Highland Park, Illinois is a non-traditional investment group (or diversified holding company) that develops apps and websites, then spins out and funds new startups around those that have made a strong impact within a niche, or proven very popular. The company also makes clean tech and energy investments, and is a primary stakeholder of Autocar, LLC a maker of garbage trucks that run on natural gas, and iClunkIt the company behind GreenOhm.com , a site and service matching consumers to rebates and incentives for energy-efficient appliances, and home energy systems. | |
| Sorry Mike, No Sonos Controller For Android Until Next Month | Top |
| Finally! Sonos To Release Android Controller App In March, exclaimed an understandably excited Michael Arrington back in February. Alas, bad news has just come in for my boss and many other Android handset owning Sonos users. According to the company, testing of the Sonos Controller for Android is taking a bit longer than they’d anticipated, which means they will not make that March deadline after all. The latest addition to its free controller line-up won't arrive until April. The horror. “But when it does, it is going to rock", said Andrew Schulert, VP of Quality at Sonos. CrunchBase Information Sonos Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Is Apple Too Quick To Shut Down Potentially Hacked Accounts? | Top |
| A reader, Mike, sent in a tale of woe so odd and draconian that I’m not even sure what to think of it. On one hand, Apple is protecting its interests when it comes to fake gift cards and other potentially costly hacks and, on the other hand, their reaction is far out of proportion to the actual situation. Mike’s account was hacked in January of this year and $80 worth of iTunes cash drained from his account. This is similar to the hack that occurred over the summer resulting in “about 400″ hacked accounts and continues even to this month as evidenced by this thread in Apple Support . Mike writes: A few weeks after Christmas my iTunes account was hacked and the $80 in gift cards I was given for Christmas were drained by the hacker. I contacted Apple, was treated well and had the fraudulent purchases restored. After securing my account, things were back to normal until a week ago. Read more… | |
| Spotify Turns Off Third-Party Display Ads Following Malware Attacks | Top |
| Some users of the free, ad-supported version of digital music service Spotify are getting hit by malware-based attacks, reported The Register earlier today, echoing a report from Netcraft . Netcraft explains that at least one attack used a Java exploit to drop malicious executable code on a victim’s computer, with security software identifying one of the malicious payloads as Trojan horse Generic_r.FZ . According to Spotify’s Twitter feed , an investigation is underway – the startup just told users it turned off all third-party display ads until it finds which ad triggered the attacks. As always, make sure the security software you run locally to protect your from viruses and malware is completely up-to-date. CrunchBase Information Spotify Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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