Monday, April 30, 2012

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Per Vices, The Rare YC Hardware Startup, Sets Out To Disrupt Wireless Communications Top
Screen Shot 2012-04-30 at 7.59.44 AMY Combinator might be best known for software plays like Dropbox and Airbnb. But it's also harbored a few hardware companies, notably the one that blew out Kickstarter funding records with Pebble Watch this month. There's actually one more waiting in the wings. Per Vices is a startup from the latest class that's looking to disrupt how wireless communications are sent. They've built a device called Phi that can interact with any wireless or radio signal. It's a transceiver that can demodulate and process signal data up to 4 Gigahertz. In plain English, that means one of Per Vices' devices can re-route your cell phone calls through your landline connection, if for example you have bad 3G service in your house.
 
Rumor: Hulu Will Soon Require Viewers To Have A Cable Subscription [Updated] Top
huluIf you love watching TV shows on Hulu but don't have a cable subscription, things could get a bit more complicated in the near future. According to the New York Post, Hulu could soon start requiring its users to prove that they also have a cable or satellite subscription. This would obviously turn Hulu's current business model on its head. It's not clear how many of the service's 31 million users currently don't have a cable or satellite subscription, but chances are that the service's audience would shrink after this move.
 
UK High Court: ISPs Must Block Access To The Pirate Bay Top
pirate_bay_logoThe British Phonographic Industry (BPI) finally got its will today. According to a ruling by Britain's High Court, UK Internet providers must now block access to Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. The BBC reports that the BPI had asked British ISPs to voluntarily block access to the site in November 2011. At that time, though, the ISPs said they wouldn't do so unless ordered by a court. That court order has now arrived. Five UK ISPs (Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media) have already announced that they will comply with this order. BT asked the court for more time to consider its position.
 
Google / PayPal Sales Exec Tyler Hoffman Joins Virtual Currency Rewards Startup ifeelgoods Top
Ifeelgoods tylerifeelgoods has a brilliant idea -- letting you earn Facebook Credits for ecommerce purchases or following a brand on Twitter -- but now it has to convince big companies and shopping sites to adopt its tech. That's why it's hired former Google Managing Director of Commerce Sales and leader of PayPal's enterprise sales team Tyler Hoffman to be its new Senior Vice President of Sales. ifeelgoods is starting to snowball, as CEO Michael Amar says 92% of customers returning to ifeelgoods and increasing their budget by 250%. Of my years in tech, this is one of the most promising startups I've seen. Because virtual currency is so cheap to distribute and is highly valued by some consumers, ifeelgoods could become a big disruptive force in how businesses acquire customers.
 
Kiip Extends Developer Fund Deadline, Sweetens Pot With Services And Advisors Top
kiip logoFor game developers who thought about applying for the $100,000 Build Fund from rewards network Kiip but didn't get around to it yet — good news! The deadline has been extended from today until May 30. And for those of you who weren't planning to apply, well, the company is adding some features to the fund that may entice you. The goal is to encourage the creation of games that incorporate Kiip's reward programs in their initial designs (rather than adding them later). Twenty developers are supposed to receive $5,000 in cash (adding up to $100,000 in all) — it's not a huge amount of funding, but CEO Brian Wong says it could make a real difference to an independent developer.
 
Socialcam Nabs Angel Funding From The A-List: Yuri Milner, Tim Draper, Laurene Powell Jobs, And More Top
socialcamlogoappSocialcam is hustling to be the "Instagram for video" app of choice, battling neck-and-neck for the top spot in the iTunes app store with its main rival, Viddy. It turns out that Socialcam now has a number of very powerful people rooting for it to win: An angel investor list that reads like a "who's who" of tech and entertainment industry heavyweights. I've been hearing whispers about Socialcam's crazy angel round for weeks now, and I've finally verified the full list of the startup's seed backers. I've pasted the entire list at the bottom of this post, but the names include Tim Draper, Yuri Milner, Ari Emmanuel, Laurene Powell Jobs, Ashton Kutcher, Brian Chesky, Paul Buchheit, Alexis Ohanian, and many more.
 
Square Competitor SalesVu Ups Its Game With New Features For Restaurants, Retailers & More Top
salesvu-dongleSalesVu, the maker of a mobile payments service designed for business customers, is launching a major update with SalesVu 2.0, live now in the iTunes App Store. The company is somewhat similar to Square, in that it also includes a dongle that plugs into an iPhone or iPad and works alongside an accompanying mobile application. However, the company is focused on providing tools that address more complex business needs than simply taking credit cards via a mobile device. For example, SalesVu currently offers real-time analytics reporting and the ability for businesses to post offers directly to Facebook through social sharing mechanisms. With the release of SalesVu 2.0, a number of improvements have been added for business users, including things like receipt printing, barcode scanning, employee timekeeping, and online order processing, to name a just few.
 
Google Improves App Advertising With New Mobile App Extension Top
mobile app extension approvedGoogle is announcing some new search advertising features designed to help advertisers drive more app downloads, and to track those downloads. The first feature, an Ad Extension, seems aimed at companies who have both a standard Web presence and an app to promote. Should a company like GrubHub (which was part of the beta test) advertise for its website or its app? Hard to say, since people might be looking for either. So with the new Mobile App extension, advertisers can do both, adding a link to the iPhone or Android app below the regular search ad. Apparently, campaigns with the ad extension saw 6 percent higher clickthrough rates than those without it during the beta.
 
Akamai: Global Average Connection Speed Dropped 14% In Q4 2011, Down 5.3% in U.S. Top
state_of_the_internetAccording to Akamai's latest State of the Internet report, the average Internet connection speed around the world was 2.3 Mbps by the end of 2011. That's down about 14% from the previous quarter. In the U.S., which ranks thirteenth in this report, the average connection speed in the last quarter of 2011 dropped 5.3% to 5.8 Mbps. In total, eight out of the top 10 countries in Akamai's report saw their average connection speed decline compared to Q3 2011. Worldwide, speeds declined in 93 of the countries included in this report and only increased in 41 countries.
 
B&N 8-K: Microsoft Paying $180M Advance On Nook For Windows 8, $125M For Content, Tech Acquisition Top
microsoft logoMicrosoft really wants to make sure it can compete against Amazon and Apple in the e-books space -- and it's putting its money where its mouth is. In addition to the $300 million Microsoft is investing for a 17.6 percent stake in Newco, the un-named subsidiary that will now house B&N's Nook and other digital businesses, it looks like it is putting other money towards the venture, according to the 8-K form filed by Barnes & Noble earlier today. A section called "Commercial Agreement" notes that Microsoft will be paying the Barnes & Noble subsidiary $180 million in connection with revenue sharing on the Nook app that B&N will make for the Windows 8 platform. This is nonrefundable, the filing notes. Microsoft is also paying $125 million (equal to $25 million over five years) "for purposes of assisting NewCo in acquiring local digital reading content and technology development." This, too, looks to be nonrefundable.
 
Australian Price Gouging Inquiry Targets Apple, Microsoft And Others Top
Apple Retail Store - SydneyGetting a new laptop or buying a new license for an operating system is often cheaper in the U.S. than in most other countries. Europeans, for example, are used to paying a hefty premium for Apple products and the situation is similar in Australia, where the cheapest MacBook Air currently costs about 15% more than in the United States. Now, however, the Australian government is starting a parliamentary inquiry into these pricing schemes. According to Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, the politicians behind this inquiry hope that calling these companies out publicly will result in prices dropping.
 
Marketplace For Customized Goods CustomMade Raises $4M From Google Ventures And Others Top
screen-shot-2011-11-17-at-6-56-28-pm1CustomMade , an online marketplace that connects shoppers with artisans to make customized goods, has raised $4 million in funding co-led by Google Ventures and Schooner Capital. Existing investors Launch Capital, Nextview Ventures, Andrew McCollum and First Round Capital all participated in the round. This brings CustomMade's total funding to $8 million. CustomMade allows customers who want to make custom products like jewelry and furniture post project proposals. The startup has built a community of makers that can browse through customer project requests and assign themselves to ones they are suited to. Makers can sign up for and build profiles on the site, which allows customers to browse through their portfolios.
 
Brit Morin Engages $1.25M From Marissa Mayer, Aileen Lee, Founders Fund And More To Launch Her First App, Weduary Top
Screen Shot 2012-04-30 at 7.08.05 AMBrit Morin, the Martha Stewart of tech, is today announcing a $1.25 million seed round for her technology and content company Brit. The list of investors is actually pretty sympatico with "the next generation of lifestyle" branding of Brit & Co, with fashion-heavy Index Ventures, tech fashionista Marissa Mayer, KCPB's Aileen Lee, Tina Sharkey and Seth Goldstein, Kevin Colleran, Annabel Teal, General Catalyst Partners, Founders Fund Angel and DMGT all going in. In addition to the funding the company is also launching its first app, Weduary, which lets tech-savvy couples build their own attractive and dynamic wedding websites. The Facebook app, which users can try for free, lets prospective brides and grooms build a custom wedding website in four steps, leveraging the Facebook social graph to make it easy to import photos from Facebook, invite guests, coordinate registry details and other event RSVPs.
 
EA's PopCap Heads Into Merchandise With Plants Vs. Zombies Toys, Underwear (!) & More Top
popcap-toysWant a zombie on your underwear? Good, because soon, you will have that opportunity. Today, there comes more proof that mobile gaming is the entertainment franchise opp of the future as EA-owned PopCap, makers of Plants vs. Zombies and the "Bejeweled" series of games, announced a number of new partnership deals that will see its game brands turned into merchandise - much like Rovio's Angry Birds has already done to great success. The company has six new partnerships on tap which will see its properties featured as everything from plush toys to branded headphones. And yeah, boxers, too.
 
Internet Identity System MiiCard Raises $2.5M To Help You Prove You Are Who You Say You Are Online Top
miicard_logoWith the rise of startups building on top of the collaborative consumption model - that is, where users are buying from and selling directly to other users - there's a growing need for some sort of system to help verify user identities. Although there are others quietly working in this space, today the U.K.-based startup MiiCard, which is building an identity verification service, has moved a step ahead. The company has just completed its second seed funding round, raising $2.5 million from New Wave Ventures, IQ Capital and Par Equity. MiiCard had previously raised $750,000 back in September, also from IQ and Par Equity. The company says it aims to use the additional funding to move into the U.S. market.
 
Rovio: Angry Birds Space Downloaded 50 Million Times In 35 Days Top
screen-shot-2012-02-17-at-1-36-16-pmRovio to Houston. The Mighty Eagle as landed. Big time. Rovio just took to Twitter to announce that its latest Angry Birds installment, Angry Birds Space, was downloaded 50 million times in 35 days. As the company brags, that makes Angry Birds Space the fastest growing mobile game in history. People clearly cannot get enough of flinging upset birds at moderately evil (or perhaps, misunderstood) pigs.
 
Research: $1.5 Trillion In Mobile Revenues In 2012, U.S. Accounting For 40% Of All Smartphone Sales Top
mobile pileThe mobile industry will reel in more than $1.5 trillion in revenues in 2012, with 28 percent of that, $400 billion, attributable to mobile data, according to new research out from analyst Chetan Sharma. He notes that within the revenues expected for mobile data, non-messaging revenues led by apps, mobile web browsing and streaming media have finally overtaken those of traditional messaging like SMS as smartphone usage continues to grow. Non-messaging, he says, will account for 53 percent of the total: in other words, some $212 billion will come from apps, music and video streaming, games and mobile web browsing.
 
Ski Lift Retailer Liftopia Goes White Label, Lets Resorts Add E-Commerce To Their Own Sites Top
mobile_cloud_MRG[1]Liftopia, the startup offering consumers discounts on ski tickets and other snow-related activities, is today launching a new e-commerce platform for the ticket sellers themselves called "Cloud Store by Liftopia." The service will be offered for free to any mountain resort for use on their own websites (including mobile), starting first in North America, then followed by resorts in Europe. Once up-and-running, Cloud Store allows the resort to sell tickets using variable pricing - similar to how airline tickets, hotel stays and car rentals are sold today.
 
I, For One, Welcome Our Remote-Controlled Robotic Fire-Breathing Dragon Overlords Top
A bit of silly for your Monday morning: this is a flying, RC-controlled robotic dragon that actually breathes fire and sounds like a monstrous squeal demon as it takes off. The Dragon took a year to build and won Best In Show at the Toledo RC event, Weak Signals.
 
Nokia Considering Selling Fancy-Pants Vertu Line Top
Vertu-Constellation-Quest-FCCReuters is reporting that Nokia is exploring selling the Vertu phone line to holding company Permira for $264.26 million, freeing itself from the difficult process of selling phones no one wants to people who should know better. Nokia called Vertu a "non-core asset."
 

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