The latest from TechCrunch
- Chatroulette Calls The PoPo And Crosses Fingers In Hopes Of Investment
- Canada Sinks $5.5 Million Into River Turbine Technology
- By The Numbers: Chevy Volt vs Nissan Leaf
- Playdom Acquired By Disney For Up To $763.2 Million
- Collaborative Mapping Startup CloudMade Lands $12.3 Million From Greylock
| Chatroulette Calls The PoPo And Crosses Fingers In Hopes Of Investment | Top |
| Chatroulette founder Andrey Ternovskiy recently posted this strange missive detailing Chatroulette’s commitment to cleaning up its act. In battling the porn plague , Ternovskiy has resorted to tracking offending IP addresses and turning them into the police, among other things (I’m assuming the hilariously named “penis recognition software” wasn’t enough): “While many people understood the concept of roulette, where sometimes you can lose the game – due to randomness, over time it became a major bottleneck in further development of the service, because of a certain difficulties with raising venture capital, legally operating on the United States territory and having to deal with negative feedback.” “Luckily we all live in a real world, and we can easily apply the laws of a real world even on an internet application. With the help of a few good developers we’ve started collecting information, such as IP addresses, logs and screen captures of offenders who actually break US/UN laws by broadcasting inappropriate content in a specific situations. We’ve captured and saved thousands of IP addresses of alleged offenders, along with logs and screenshots which prove wrong behavior. We are initiating a conversation with enforcement agencies and we are willing to provide all the information we have. I hope that with help of a Criminal law we can finally get the problem out of our shoulders and get existing organizations which usually solve these kind of problems to help us.” While the odd tone of the post (titled “Utopian world and its dark side challenges”) can most likely be attributed to the fact that English is Ternovskiy’s second language, this is obviously intended to be a serious response to the lingering issues that have made potential investors wary. Last month, one insider told us : "If he doesn't make a dramatic move soon to clean up the service, the brand will be permanently tarnished.” Ternovskiy is clearly heeding that advice. Interest in Chatroulette has been high but investment has yet to come. However it’s not just the penises that marginalize the platform. Web video is a notoriously tough and unprofitable industry, and the actual tech behind Chatroulette is so simple to replicate that it’s hard to see any kind of exclusivity. Much like 4Chan, Chatroulette is considered part of the seamier side of the Internet, which tends to be a red flag for potential investors. Some hope lies in the fact that 4Chan founder Christopher Poole’s latest venture Canvas Networks just got $625k in seed funding and is currently hiring . “We’ve blocked thousands of IP addresses, reported offenders and service seems to be much cleaner than before. That is cool. Now give us some time to put new features in place (sic)” It is not clear exactly what these new features are as Ternovskiy has not yet gotten back to me. Founder of Rocketboom Andrew Baron has his own Digg-inspired ideas : “For example, what if users who received a thumbs-up, or a positive score of some sort, could rise-up, and thus based on merit within the community, work their way up to the top of the chatroulette charts where their broadcast could be watched by many. Thus, a user who entered into Chatroulette, could have the option to (A) dive in as a participant, as it is set up now, or (B) dive in as viewer only.” It’s certainly possible that Ternovskiy will eventually raise a modest amount of funding, given his sheer effort. However, unless something drastic happens, Chatroulette is doomed to the weird Internet curio cabinet , a fundamental part of its early appeal — like “Ah, remember Chatroulette!?” Perhaps instead of calling the police, Ternovskiy needs to take inspiration from Poole and abandon the “Chatroulette as a business idea” altogether, using his vision to come up with something entirely new, something more immediately “investment-ready”? CrunchBase Information Chatroulette! Andrey Ternovskiy Andrew Baron Canvas Networks Christopher Poole Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Canada Sinks $5.5 Million Into River Turbine Technology | Top |
| Canada is testing the water for modular river turbines. The project, led by Renewable Energy Research, received $5.5 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the government of Quebec. RER will install two turbines in the St. Lawrence River. RER, along with TREK technology, will develop the turbines to be covered, self-anchoring and rated at 250 kilowatts. They will be placed near the Old Port of Montreal before the end of the year. Some question river turbines’ environmental impact since they can pose hazards to plant and animal life in the river. Several turbines have regularly killed fish that got sucked in or caught up in the blades, and some have restricted the passage of silt and nutrients. Barnacles can also weigh down the blades over time, decreasing their efficiency. As far as hydropower solutions go however, turbines do less to disturb the environment than dams. CrunchBase Information Sustainable Development Technology Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| By The Numbers: Chevy Volt vs Nissan Leaf | Top |
| It’s hard to ignore the looming EV vehicle showdown between the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf even though the vehicles are totally different in nature and target market. While the Nissan Leaf is simply a beautifully-packaged electric vehicle with around a 100 mile range, the Chevy Volt takes a different approach by having a somewhat limited 40 mile EV range but an on-board gas-powered generator that will power the electric motor as long as there’s gas in the tank. GM is clearly targeting the a higher-end market with a $41,000 MSRP while the Nissan Leaf is a bit more down-market with a starting price of $32,000. That’s fine. There’s more than enough room in the world for both of the vehicles. There doesn’t really have to be a winner here. In terms of sales numbers, the Nissan Leaf will enter more markets than the Volt (or its Opel Ampera counterpart) initially anyway. GM only expects to sell about 10,000 Volts during the first year where Nissan already 17,000 Leaf pre-orders, 5,000 more than the first year estimate. Clearly both vehicles are highly anticipated, though, so comparisons will no doubt be made around workplace watercoolers from now on. Here’s what we know so far. | |
| Playdom Acquired By Disney For Up To $763.2 Million | Top |
| Disney has acquired social gaming startup Playdom , confirming our story from last week . The price – $563.2 million plus an earn-out of up to $200 million. Playdom’s last round of financing valued the company at $345 million, and the company has raised a total of around $76 million. Press release is below: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY TO ACQUIRE LEADING SOCIAL GAME DEVELOPER PLAYDOM Burbank, California – July 27, 2010—Advancing on its goal of bringing consumers its well-known stories, characters and brands in ever more engaging ways, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom Inc., one of the leading companies in the fast-growing business of online social gaming. Playdom shareholders will receive total consideration of $563.2 million, subject to certain conditions, and a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million. In just two and a half years of operation, Playdom has established itself as a pacesetter in building popular games for social networks enjoyed by consumers around the globe. Through well-known titles like Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola, Playdom engages an estimated 42 million active players each month. By acquiring Playdom, Disney will strengthen its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace. "We see strong growth potential in bringing together Playdom's talented team and capabilities with our great creative properties, people and world-renowned brands like Disney, ABC, ESPN and Marvel." said Robert A. Iger, President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company. "This acquisition furthers our strategy of allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can benefit from our many characters, stories and brands, delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer," Iger added. “We are at the start of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way people of all ages play games with their friends across devices, platforms and geographical boundaries,” said Playdom Chief Executive Officer John Pleasants. “Disney is an incredibly forward-thinking company that shares our vision and is the ideal partner to further our mission to bring great entertainment to people around the world.” Playdom, which has 15 game development studios, will remain headquartered in Mountain View, California. Pleasants will become an Executive Vice President of the Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG) and General Manager of Playdom, reporting to DIMG President Steve Wadsworth. Disney expects Playdom's expertise in social gaming software tools, business intelligence and rapid innovation to broadly benefit DIMG, which already has a substantial global presence in online, console and mobile gaming The transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and certain non-U.S. merger control regulations, is expected to close by the end of Disney's 2010 fiscal year. About The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of about $36 billion in its most recent fiscal year. Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements relate to a variety of matters, including but not limited to: the operations of the businesses of Disney and Playdom; the timing and consummation of the transaction; the expected benefits of the integration of the two companies; the market for online social gaming and other statements that are not historical fact. These statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Disney regarding future events and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty including uncertainties regarding the business of each company, the receipt or timing of regulatory approvals and continued consumer acceptance of online social gaming. Disney undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that may cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements are set forth in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Disney for the year ended October 3, 2009 and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Disney. CrunchBase Information Playdom The Walt Disney Company Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Collaborative Mapping Startup CloudMade Lands $12.3 Million From Greylock | Top |
| CloudMade, which provides collaborative data and tools to developers and OEMs for mapping and navigation applications, has raised $12.3 million in series B funding led by Greylock Partners with existing investor Sunstone Capital participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to $15.7 million. CloudMade's platform allows third parties to create applications with stylized and customized map tiles, fully featured turn-by-turn navigation, in-app advertising, local search and data sets relevant to thousands of consumer activities. CloudMade distributes its collaborative mapping, package maps, geo services and advertising to developers and businesses; its main customers are mobile developers, OEMs and network operators. Some of the 12,000-plus developers using CloudMade’s API include Skobbler, OffMaps, Geocaching, Trails, Ride the City, GayCities, and Dopplr. The startup uses data from partnership with OpenStreetMap (OSM), a wiki map of the world that has over 250,000 users worldwide (and is adding 3,500 new users per week), making over 7,000 edits per hour. CloudMade’s CEO Juha Christensen likens the relationship between his company and OSM to that of the Mozilla Corporation and the non-profit arm Mozilla Foundation. In fact, OpenStreetMap founder Steve Coast works at CloudMade. The company will use the funding to attempt to build the world's most comprehensive map and geo database, and serve this data to developers, device manufacturers and mobile operators. The investment will also be used to build out and add to CloudMade’s suite of consumer-focused mapping products, Mapzen. Christensen believes that collaborative mapping will do to the mapping industry what Wikipedia did to encyclopedias. Of course, the startup faces competition in space, including Google. But CloudMade has built a loyal base of developers and OpenStreetMap seems to have no lack of participation from the crowd, making its data incredibly valuable. CrunchBase Information CloudMade Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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