Offerpal Media buys Tapjoy to expand into mobile app monetizationTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Offerpal Media is expanding into mobile with its acquisition today of Tapjoy, a mobile app monetization company. Offerpal specializes in offers, which are used to get users to pay for virtual goods in free-to-play online apps such as Facebook games. Instead of buying for better weapons with a credit card or electronic payment, Offerpal lets users fulfill special offers from advertisers, such as signing up for a Netflix subscription. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tapjoy helps monetize apps on Android phones or the iPhone. [...] Read more |
5 ways startups can slay giantsTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology (Editor’s note: Dave Kellogg is CEO of Mark Logic, an information infrastructure software company. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.) I’ve spent my career competing against companies 10 to 1000 times bigger than mine, winning more than my fair share of skirmishes along the way. It’s definitely an uphill battle, but here are five rules I’ve developed that will maximize your odds of success when pitting your startup against the giants of your chosen industry. Split pins – Many technology strategists are familiar with Geoffrey Moore‘s “bowling alley” model, which says that startups should view markets as bowling pins, using one market to knock down the next. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Kylo browser is built just for big-screen TVsTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Fliptop is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. There are 8 to 10 million U.S. households with a computer connected to a TV, according to market data from CEA, Pew and others. Kylo is designed to serve them. Kylo is a browser designed to be built into television sets. Kylo is designed for viewing at a distance, allowing more screen space for content than a regular computer browser allows. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Phone Halo launches automated loss prevention system (video)Tuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Phone Halo is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Ever misplace your keys, wallet or cell phone? Chances are it’s happened a few times. Now a startup called Phone Halo has launched Protect, a solution that notifies you when your valuables are left behind or stolen. Phone Halo Protect is a special censor that will run you about $70 and lets users attach it to any item, such as keys. [...] Read more |
DEMO: The Panel adds screen real estate without monitor bulkTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology The Panel is a multipurpose LCD display that offers both consumer and business audiences a lightweight (2.2 lbs.), versatile and portable 13.3” display. It’s entering a burgeoning market. With the IT industry recovering, IDC/Goldman Sachs Research predicts corporate PC unit growth increasing by 12% in 2010 and 16% in 2011, with over 85 million and 98 million PCs to be sold, respectively. Each of those needs a display. Over 160 million LCD monitors were shipped in 2009. DisplaySearch forecasts growth to 197 million by 2012. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Solvate makes it easy for companies to connect with consultantsTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Solvate is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. New York-based Solvate initially started out as a site dedicated to helping you find online assistants to help with administrative tasks. The site has since evolved beyond mere administrative work: Its staffing engine now makes it easy for companies to find consultants for other tasks as well, including marketing, research, and creative services. [...] Read more |
DEMO: InOutCash.com wants to teach you to manage your moneyTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Value-Centered Solutions is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. InOutCash.com gives members real-time scores of their financial health, plus dashboard views that provide an easily-read snapshot of their financial condition. According to Comscore, there are 50 million online banking users. Of this market, InOutCash.com targets the 18-35 age range, focusing on those looking to learn how to manage their money better. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Nyoombl’s Greypfroot brings easy to use video conferencing to your televisionTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Nyoombl is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Nyoombl is aiming to be the first company to offer a dead-simple solution for video conferencing on your television. Its Greypfroot device is a small set-top box that connects to your TV, and enables you to video chat with other Greypfroot users, as well as Gmail users on PCs and Macs who have Google voice and video chat installed. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Design firm Zurb puts your web interfaces to the test with new Verify appTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Zurb is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Zurb, a long-standing design and consulting firm that has worked on interfaces for Facebook, Yahoo, eBay and more, is at the DEMO conference today launching a new application called Verify, allowing its clients to quickly gather feedback on their designs and overall user experience. The Verify platform offers six different tests that companies can administer to their users. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Rebtel makes Android calls cheaper than SkypeTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology By 2013, mobile VoIP applications will generate annual revenues of $32.2 billion, driven by more than 278 million registered users worldwide. (Sources: Gartner, Voipnews.com, In-stat and TCM.) The Rebtel VoIP app for the Android OS is optimized for the Google Nexus One device. It brings simple, seamless and free international calling to the Nexus One and is the first app of its kind for the Android platform. The app gives its users free international calling with crystal-clear voice quality and without the need for a WiFi connection. [...] Read more |
DEMO: CalendarFly targets schools with social calendarTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology CalendarFly is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Managing a busy schedule can be a difficult talk. Now a startup called CalendarFly is looking to provide a helping hand with its free calendar solution uniquely targeted at parents, teachers, coaches and organizational leaders. At DEMO, CalendarFly will show how its social calendar allows users to easily update their schedules and share it with chosen groups. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Vivox lets you drop voice chat into any social media appTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Vivox is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Vivox has made huge headway getting its Internet voice chat software into online games. It now handles 3 billion minutes of voice chat per month. Now the company is poised to expand even further with an announcement at the DEMO Spring 2010 conference today. Vivox is announcing the Social Voice Partner Program, which makes it easy for developers to integrate voice into any social media application with a small amount of effort, said Vivox chief executive Rob Seaver, in an interview. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Systems Thinking Institute takes risk out of innovation effortsTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Systems Thinking Institute is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. Systems thinking is a broad concept that concerns the process of understanding how things influence one another other within a whole, be it the ecosystem of a forest or the process of product innovation within a company. Systems Thinking Institute tackles the latter, delivering risk management solutions (RMS) to companies engaged in new product development. [...] Read more |
DEMO: Permission to Send uses PIN-based system to block spamTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Euros Evans, the founder of Permission to Send, believes he’s found a 100 percent accurate spam killer. Legitimate senders of e-mail are given a personal identification number (PIN) to add to an e-mail address so it goes through. PERMISSIONtosend sits between an e-mail service provider and an end user. The user gives his or her e-mail address, say, robert@venturebeat.com, to a legitimate contact, but also has them add a unique PIN so the sender actually enters robert-38256@venturebeat.com. The sender uses that PIN just once and, now that he or she has been authorized, they can send subsequent messages without the PIN. [...] Read more |
DEMO: KarmaKorn launches virtual currency for social changeTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology KarmaKorn is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. KarmaKorn, a startup launching at the DEMO conference in Palm Desert, is developing a Facebook application that harnesses market forces to let people support the causes they care most about. Its tagline: Disruptive philanthropy. The app, which will launch at the end of next month at the Social Enterprise Summit + World Forum in San Francisco, will allow people to do good deeds, even if they lack resources and social reach. [...] Read more |
DEMO: General Inspection unveils new part-indentification systemTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology General Inspection is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective. General Inspection, an established manufacturer of a variety of gauging, sorting and inspection products, today unveiled Li’l Magic, a part-identification system targeted at hardware stores, at the DEMO Spring 2010 conference in Palm Desert, Calif. Li’l Magic leverages patented laser and optics to provide pricing and inventory control over various loose hardware products that either require time-consuming chart look-ups or expensive barcodes. [...] Read more |
Symantec launches Web Security Monitoring to help companies deal with deluge of web threatsTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Helping enterprises deal with growing cyber threats, Symantec is launching its Web Security Monitoring service to give customers protection around the clock. The 24-hour-a-day service aims to protect a company’s users and web presence from all sorts of online threats. As an early warning system, the service will provide monitoring and analysis as well as rapid reaction to threats that arise from the use of web applications. But Symantec already offers various kinds of protection services. So why is this new service necessary? Symantec estimated that 63 percent of 12,885 site-specific vulnerabilities in 2009 involved web applications. [...] Read more |
Nintendo announces new 3DS handheld game player coming soonTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Nintendo announced today in Japan that it will launch a new 3DS handheld game player in the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2011. The move shows that Nintendo is serious about fending off challenges from Sony’s PSPgo as well as Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. Read more |
Kongregate grows virtual goods revenue 30 percent per monthTuesday, March 23, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology In case you haven’t noticed, virtual goods is rapidly becoming the business model of choice for online games. A proof point for that is the latest report from Kongregate, an aggregator of independently developed online games. Kongregate is announcing today that its virtual goods micro-transaction revenue is growing by 30 percent each month. It would be nice if it said what its revenue was, but the private San Francisco company doesn’t release that data. At least it tells us that virtual goods is working for Kongregate. [...] Read more |
Justin.tv unveils non-broadcasting iPhone applicationMonday, March 22, 2010Source: Venture Beat | Category: Technology Popular live video streaming site Justin.tv today unveiled its much-anticipated new iPhone application, which is available in the app store now. Upon launching the iPhone app, the user is taken to a featured list, an aggregated collection of the most popular broadcasting channels. The company notes that watching video and chatting are the app’s main functions. When watching a video, the lower right of the screen has a chat bubble which lets users chat with other users, both on the app and website. [...] Read more |
