Friday, August 31, 2012

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The Weather Channel iPad App Tops 10 Million Downloads Top
mzl.lhpmxhpi.480x480-75We've followed The Weather Channel through its transition into the digital era. It started with a beautiful iPad app, and then the company revamped its iPhone app and website to match the new look and feel. And boy were there features! Social elements, notifications when it will rain, and personalized weather were all in the forecast. And today, the iPad app that started it all has surpassed 10 million downloads.
 
Hello Beautiful! Nokia's Windows Phone 8 820/920 PureView Smartphones Leak Top
920Another day, another leak -- this time, a set of new images that purportedly depict Nokia's next set of Lumia smartphones have begun to make the rounds. Coming from a random Twitter source (planned corporate or PR leaker?), these images are reportedly of the 4.3-inch Nokia 820 and the 920 PureView, the latter of which apparently packs Nokia's super imaging system. These phones were supposed to be revealed for the first time at a September 6th event. Whoops. Nokia knows how to make a good-looking phone. Starting with the N8 in 2010, Nokia has since outed several innovative and fresh smartphones. The latest seem more of the same. That's a good thing. Just like their predecessors, these are fantastic looking phones. Well done, Nokia.
 
Smart TVs Fail To Score With Consumers In U.S. And Other Western Markets: GfK Top
yellow_old_tvHere's one reason why Apple may not be producing a television with its name blazoned on it in the near term: it doesn't look like people have, so far, shown that much interested in them yet. According to a new report out from consumer researchers GfK, connected TV televisions are faring much better in markets like China, Brazil and India compared to the U.S., UK and other developed markets -- with China commanding the highest usage at 44% and the UK and U.S. leading more advanced markets with just 11% penetration. GfK puts it down to consumers in the latter category stuck in an "analog" mindset -- although consumers in the latter markets are also big users of other ways of getting the same experience without forking out for a pricey connected TV set.
 
Nokia + Microsoft Kick Off $23M AppCampus Incubator: Over $1M Going To 36 Startups Top
appcampusNext week Nokia and Microsoft are expected to unveil the first handset(s) running on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform, and today comes news about the apps they hope will lure in more users to buy them. AppCampus, an $23 million (€18 million) JV between Microsoft, Nokia and Aalto University in Finland, first announced in May, to foster more app development on the platform, said it has doled out the first $1 million-plus of their budget on 36 developers out of a total of 900 submissions, an average of $30,000 per app, although individual investments over the course of the JV will be between $25,000 and $88,000. Pekka Sivonen, Head of AppCampus, tells me the apps are expected to be coming out starting in October, and will run exclusively on Windows Phone and "other Nokia platforms" for their first six months -- potentially touching some 500 million devices out in the market today.
 
With $275M In Capital Deployed To Main Street Businesses, On Deck Raises $100M Of Its Own Top
56343v5-max-250x250We make a lot of noise about the venture capital and angel funding startups raise to help grow their businesses. But there are a lot of mom-and-pop shops out there -- businesses that are equally important to the success of the economy, whether they be restaurants or small brick-and-mortar retailers -- that don't qualify for funding from top firms. Instead, the country's small businesses have to turn to bank loans, which historically are tricky to secure. These SMBs don't have finance departments or the experience to nail the lengthy, 14-item loan packages that would make them attractive to lenders. On Deck Capital launched in 2006 to give those small businesses a capital lifeline. Using a blend of data aggregation and ePayment technology, the company aims to simplify the borrowing process for Main Street businesses.
 
Watsi Is Using Crowdfunding To Treat The 1B+ Worldwide Without Access To Medical Care Top
how-it-works-steps-d4d390091859bb475a60d4768832a789Entrepreneurs are inherently risk-takers. But, the tech industry today needs more of the type of risk-takers who go against the grain by actually tackling big, difficult problems. I mean the type of trenchant problems no one likes to talk about -- the ones that are solved over years (if at all) and can affect real change. Not better social shopping. How about this for a hard problem? Today, we live in a world where more than one billion people are unable to afford (or do not have access to) adequate medical services. The type of care most of us now take for granted. Viewed in juxtaposition with the intelligent device/computer you're reading this from, this fact is more than unsettling. So, Watsi, is trying to do something about it -- by tackling that outsized problem on a smaller and more approachable scale: The individual.
 
How Twitter Uses Open Source Top
linuxfoundation_logo_BOXTwitter's Chris Aniszcyk gave the keynote this morning at CloudOpen and talked about how Twitter uses open source. His talk provided insights into how open source technology can also be used in an enterprise environment for scaling infrastructure. That's an emerging topic of interest in the enterprise world.
 
Facebook To Roll Out Email- and Phone Number-Based Ad Targeting Next Week Top
Facebook-ads-megaphoneFacebook will be launching new features next week that allow advertisers to target their ads to customers based on contact information that the advertiser has already collected. It's a way for businesses to connect their Facebook ads with the customer lists they may have built up elsewhere. Inside Facebook first reported on the feature after tipsters saw it go live temporarily. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed this afternoon that it's a real product, and she walked me through how the program will work.
 
ShoutEm Launches Development Platform To Make HTML5 Mobile Apps Look Native Top
shoutem_logoWhen ShoutEm was first launched back in 2008, it was focused on helping users to build their own social networking platforms. Well, the world has changed, and since then, it's transitioned the business as a platform that can be used to build mobile applications. But not everyone needs (or wants) a native app -- so ShoutEm now has a way to easily create HTML5 apps that can be viewed in any mobile web browser. With the ShoutEm HTML5 development platform, developers can quickly and easily make mobile web apps that have a lot of the same functionality as native mobile apps. Many businesses are developing native apps already, but for those who don't have an iPhone or Android phone, using HTML5 will allow them to reach a large number of users on feature phones or other smartphone platforms.
 
Two Years Post-Acquisition, Ngmoco Axes Bulk Of Staff At iOS Game Studio Freeverse Top
Screen shot 2012-08-30 at 3.32.48 PMMobile gaming outfit Ngmoco has swung the ax on Freeverse, the Mac and iOS game development studio it acquired back in February 2010. Today Ngmoco, which is now owned by Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA, laid off the bulk of Freeverse's staff, possibly as part of a move to close the studio -- a move that one tipster tells us staffers at the 18-year-old Freeverse "did not see coming." The layoffs come just one week after the departures of Freeverse's co-founders, brothers Ian and Colin Lynch Smith. When contacted for comment, an Ngmoco rep sent the following statement attributed to VP of Studios Clive Downey:
 
Stanford Creates Vice Provost For Online Learning To "Fundamentally Reshape Education" Top
online_newsStanford University announced the creation of an Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning today, appointing computer science professor John Mitchell as the office's inaugural head. In the past 20 years, Stanford has only established two Vice Provost offices, for undergraduate and graduate education, both of which "fundamentally reshaped education at Stanford." University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin tells me the Vice Provost for Online Learning intends to do the same.
 
Happy Ending To The Joyent Lifetime Subscription Story Top
TextDriveEarlier this month Joyent announced that it would pull the plug on legacy "lifetime" hosting accounts. Now a long lost co-founder of the company is stepping up to honor the agreement.
 
HR Software Maker Workday Files For $400M IPO Top
workdayWorkday, a company offering online tools for enterprises to manage human resources, payroll, and finances, just filed an S-1 form declaring its intention to raise up to $400 million in an IPO. Reuters reported in July that the company had quietly filed for an IPO but was able to keep the documents secret for a while longer thanks to the JOBS Act. Now it's official — the S-1 is online, and the details are out.
 
SEC Watch: SV Angel Raising $40 Million Top
SV AngelAccording to an SEC filing, SV Angel may be raising another $40 million for a new fund. The filing shows that a fund, titled SV Angel IV, is in the process of raising $40 million, but the sale has not yet taken place. SV Angel, which was co-founded by angel investors David Lee and Ron Conway, has invested in companies such as Twitter, Zynga, Square, Hipmunk, Fab.com, Path, and Airbnb. The firm most recently raised $20 million in the Spring of 2011.
 
HireVue Lands $22 Million To Reinvent The Job Interview Top
hirevueToday HireVue, makers of a video based job interview and hiring management platform, announced that it raised a $17 million Series C round led by Investor Growth Capital along with an expansion of its debt facility for a total of $22 million in new funding. The company raised a total of $6 million during its B and C rounds, bringing its total raised to $28 million.
 
Titans Talking Turkey? Larry Page, Tim Cook Reportedly Discussing Patent Issues Top
Page / CookIt sounds like the setup to a weird, utterly geeky joke -- "So Apple's CEO calls up Google's CEO..." -- but according to a new report from Reuters, the situation is anything but. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Larry Page have recently spent time chatting with each other over the phone, and they plan to continue doing so at least for the time being. Exactly what the two titans of tech are talking about isn't totally clear yet, but it's probably safe to assume that they dispensed with the pleasantries pretty quickly. No, these supposed conversations were all about patents — how they could they not be, given Apple's recent legal triumph over Samsung — and Reuters' sources pointed to the possibility of an arrangement between the respective companies that could help ease some tension.
 
Microsoft Opens Registration For Imagine Cup 2013, Doubles Prize Money to $300K Top
Imagine Cup - CompeteMicrosoft has organized its Imagine Cup student technology competition for the last 10 years and today, the company opened registration for the 2013 edition of this event. Students ages 16 and older can now register for their national events and the winners of these local events will be flown to St. Petersburg, Russia, where the worldwide finals will take place from July 8 to 11. For this edition of Imagine Cup, Microsoft has doubled the prize money to $300,000. Microsoft also reorganized the competition around three new core areas: world citizenship, games and innovation. Previously, the flagship event was the software design competition, which a group of Ukrainian students won this year after developing gloves that can translate sign language into speech.
 
HBO Takes On Netflix In The Nordics, With Its Own Streaming Video Service Top
hboHBO is going to launch its first significant over-the-top offering, and it's going to do so in one of the same markets as Netflix. The service, called HBO Nordic, will be launched in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland in mid-October, and could provide some interesting competition to Netflix, which will also soon be entering that region. HBO Nordic is a joint venture between Home Box Office and Parsifal International, which will help bring the company's original programming to the region. Viewers in the Nordic states will have multiple ways of getting HBO Nordic: it will launch a premium, 24-hour live channel that will be distributed through local TV providers. But HBO Nordic will also be available direct to consumers as an on-demand, over-the-top video offering that will cost less than €10 per month.
 
Oracle Issues Security Alert For Severe Java Vulnerability That Gives Attackers Control And Access To Personal Data Top
Image1 for post Sun Preps RIA Resurgence With New Java ReleaseOracle has issued a security alert for a Java vulnerability that if exploited can give attackers access to a user's personal information. The vulnerability means that attackers can access a user's data without the need for a user name or password. To be successful, the user would have to fall victim to a malware attack. It would specifically hit people who who visit a malicious web site that is designed to attack those with the Java vulnerability. Successful exploits can impact the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the user's system.
 
Wolfram Alpha Launches Personal Analytics Reports For Facebook Top
wolfram_wa-logo-stacked1-medWolfram Alpha, the "computational knowledge engine" that quietly handles a large number of queries from Apple's Siri, launched a new feature today that allows you to quickly get an overview of all your data on Facebook. The new report, says Wolfram CEO Stephen Wolfram, expands Wolfram Alpha's "powers of analysis to give you all sorts of personal analytics." The company plans to expand these reports with new features over time, but they already give you a pretty deep look at your Facebook habits.
 

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