VentureBeat |
- Foursquare’s claim to fame, the check-in, could become its downfall
- Meet 8 families who are making kid-friendly apps
- Alibaba preps for possible Yahoo takeover by hiring U.S. legal eagles
- Amazon: 4M Kindles sold in Dec., e-book sales up 175 percent
- The best GamesBeat stories of 2011
- iPad 3 rumor mill: two new iPads planned for January, says report
- Blizzard makes $26 million on World of Warcraft security authenticators
- Stratfor puts off website launch for a week after Anonymous attack
- Cool private companies: 3 business services for doing more with less
- Ocean Marketing fiasco addressed in official press release
- PlayStation Vita sales see 78% drop during Christmas week
- Google and Facebook reign as the most-visited sites of 2011
- McAfee says Anonymous will reorganize or disband in 2012
- Recipes become shopping lists with Say Mmm and Evernote
- Ridiculous: Verizon experiences third data outage this month
- Amazon acquires the talented team at shopping startup Quorus
- Apple’s iOS App Store had over 5M free app downloads per day in Nov.
- Influential or not, Klout now fields 7.5B API requests per month
- Call Genie acquires VoodooVox to create smarter mobile ads
- Groupon may have acquired stealth startup Campfire Labs
- Universal’s YouTube snafu still leaves questions unanswered for Megaupload
- UK Prime Minister is getting his own iPad app to help run the country
- Interview, photos and video reveal how an impressive Left 4 Dead fan film was made (exclusive)
- We’ve all got wireless devices, so why are tech conferences still drowning us in paper?
- Holiday shopping season: Kmart loses, Amazon wins (infographic)
- Apple’s iTV may feature channel customization, says Sterne Agee analyst
- 10 things you need to know about Anonymous’ Stratfor hack
- Facebook for iPad said to get Timeline update in January
- Tough negotiator: HP wanted $1.2B for webOS and Palm’s assets (exclusive)
- What recession? Holiday shopping online finishes at a record $35.3B
| Foursquare’s claim to fame, the check-in, could become its downfall Posted: 29 Dec 2011 09:21 AM PST What is Foursquare? The answer is far more complex than it should be. The startup’s purpose in life is so muddled that it now finds itself in the midst of a self-imposed identity crisis that could cause it to fall victim to Facebook. “The biggest misconception about Foursquare is that it is a check-in service,” founder Dennis Crowley told me in a recent in-depth interview. “We’re most interested in taking the data from check-ins to model what’s happening in the real world, and help people find new things … the data is more important than the check-in.” What does that mean? In Crowley’s mind it means that every check-in contributes to a growing pool of information that will make Foursquare a transformative way to experience the offline world. Crowley boils down Foursquare’s grand vision to this: “We’re making software that makes the real world easier to use.” Nonsense, you might say: Foursquare is a check-in service, something that primarily lets people “check in” to restaurants, bars and other venues that they frequent. You’d be right — to an extent. Foursquare popularized the act of checking into a venue (or an inanimate object) to share your location with friends. And in doing so, it’s become branded as nothing more than check-in service. It’s a label the startup scoffs at and loathes. Worse still, Foursquare’s claim to fame could wind up making the company itself check in to an early grave. Why? Because regular folks can’t relate to explicit location-sharing — only six percent of online adults are open to using geolocation apps — and points and badges aren’t compelling enough reasons to warrant a change in their behaviors. To moms, dads, uncles, aunts, kids, sisters, brothers, and you and me, location has meaning, but only in its ability to enhance a story, not to win some virtual badge. Last year’s family trip to Disneyland, for instance, is a special occasion that brings joy in its remembrance. The kids eating cotton candy by Cinderella’s castle (and getting sticky hands in the process), nearly losing your lunch on the Matterhorn, your husband getting drenched on Splash Mountain: These are all poignant memories that you can cherish for a lifetime. Location is a huge part of this story, not because you remembered to check in to the rides, but because your location is the fabric that weaves each moment into a cohesive tale. This is what makes Foursquare vulnerable to Facebook, even though Facebook got out of the check-in business months ago. Now that Facebook Timeline has finally rolled out to the social network’s more than 800 million members, the scrapbooking feature provides people with a rich lens for looking back at all the good times they’ve shared by way of Facebook. Tagging your location on a photo or status update becomes a way to add color to each and every experience. And because Facebook Timeline collects all of these tags and plots them on an interactive map, it’s offering you a way to go back in time and soak in the past. It’s this approach to location, as a behind-the-scenes memory assistant, that will resonate with mainstream social media audiences. And Facebook knows it. “[The check-in] is cool, but it’s only part of the equation,” Facebook Timeline product manager Sam Lessin told me. “I think that use case will certainly still power serendipity, but it’s only part of the story. We’re in the early stages of location being an awesome story-telling medium.” When you add a location to a status update or photo, you know that you’re adding something of substance to your Timeline and your map, Lessin said. He believes that this notion will compel users to go back and add locations to past moments in an effort to create a more complete storybook. Timeline lives up to its potential as the digital equivalent of the scrapbook, and it’s changed the way I use Facebook. Now, a moment worth remembering in real life is one that I also want chronicled on my Timeline, and so I make it a point to post a photo or status update, and add a location tag. If I’m already doing that on Facebook, why would I also want to check in on Foursquare? The answer is a lot less clear than used it to be, and that’s extremely problematic for Foursquare, because it’s pretty much the last man standing with skin in the check-in game. One-time challenger Gowalla did little for the location-sharing cause and needed to pivot to make sense of location, but that didn’t really work either. Bizzy busted out of the “check out” business a few months back. (“Who?” you say. Exactly.) Brightkite died long ago, Yelp seems to have lost interest in its copycat check-in feature, and even Facebook once tried and failed at check-ins. Full disclosure: I am the same reporter who predicted that Foursquare would be the next Twitter more than two years ago. I would still argue that I’m right in many ways, so I asked Crowley to explain what he means by “software that makes the real world easier to use.” He speaks of the company’s Explore feature, which makes use of check-in and tips data to help you find nearby venues that you should try. And then there’s Radar, Foursquare’s first attempt at predicting what you should be doing right now. Radar, which works on iOS 5 devices, is an opt-in, always-on feature that, when enabled, will automatically alert you when friends are checked in nearby or when you’re close to a venue on one of your to-do lists. Radar, Crowley insists, is by far the company’s most ambitious project and is still very early stage. He envisions it as a way for you discover something interesting nearby without ever needing to open the app. So, in theory, you will be able to walk around your town or a foreign city, just as you normally would, and get suggestions for new things to do. “[With Radar on], the app is waking up and saying, ‘Hey, Dennis, this is something you want to pay attention to,’” Crowley said. “We have enough data and users to make this stuff happen. We know which places are popular Thursday morning or Tuesday night, and we can help you out when you’re out of context.” Where does the check-in fit into all this? It’s an explicit action that powers these place recommendations, but it’s no longer the core of the Foursquare experience, Crowley said. Enough power users have contributed enough data — more than a billion check-ins to date — to create content and recommendations that are useful for more passive users: those who just want to consume information. In fact, he said, Foursquare is seeing a growing percentage of users open the app on a regular basis and not check in. They’re using the app to find stuff nearby, he added, and that’s perfectly okay with him. The startup’s “Oprah moment,” Crowley said, will be when people realize that they can rediscover their own neighborhoods. But it’s an epiphany that needs to happen sooner rather than later. “We have to go through this rite of passage,” Crowley said of the company’s perception problem. He likens the growing pains to Twitter’s similar battle a few years back, when it was then hazed by the press and considered just a purveyor of pointless babble. “We’re building stuff that no one has built before, and it’s going to be a big deal. This time next year, a lot of these issues will have gone away,” Crowley said. So what we have here are two fundamentally different approaches to location: Foursquare is taking the scientific route, while Facebook is traveling down the emotional path. Both takes are quite compelling, but now that Facebook Timeline is live for all, Foursquare’s clock is ticking. Image via giaomeng/Flickr Filed under: mobile, social, VentureBeat        
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| Meet 8 families who are making kid-friendly apps Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST Families are launching their own apps. With ideas that spark in living room labs, moms and dads are capturing great ideas and turning them into digital playgrounds. In this post you will meet several Bay Area developers who were inspired by the children in their lives to invent modern outlets for creative play. Their goal is to emphasize the conversational and educational potential of mobile technology. Everyone profiled is part of the Moms With Apps forum, which is a grassroots collective of family-friendly developers who share best practices on making and marketing apps. In December they met in person at the Moms With Apps Workshop to tackle key issues in the kids' mobile marketplace. What's the best way to launch an app? At what price? On which platform? These questions illustrate why networking is so valuable to the independent developer entering a marketplace flooded with apps. Some of these developers are moms who worked as software engineers and are now coding their own apps. There are husband and wife teams who create the concept and outsource the programming. There’s even a cousin who beta tested his apps with his little cousins, and a dad who bootstrapped a business with a friend. Regardless of the method, their products are defining how mobile content is created, and many families are benefiting from the results. This post originally appeared on the Moms With Apps blog. Nirupama Bala | Froylc | Murky Reef
In my app, Murky Reef, the theme is about a coral reef and its sea creatures. The app is like an interactive book explaining the coral reef ecosystem, the creatures that live in the reef, their inter-dependency, and their top predator in the reef: sharks! The games in the app are based on a fictional reef story, where a hungry shark is attacking the reef fish and the player must answer questions to save the reef. The questions cover math, language arts, and logic. Our team is three people strong, including a software engineer (me), a graphics artist and a usability expert. We discussed the concept, theme, game and activities. With this initial work, we started prototyping. We would go to local schools and have the kids play with the app as part of their choice-time activity. We received feedback by watching the kids play. Based on this, we would revise the app. When we were satisfied, we worked on polishing the app and releasing to the App Store. We designed Murky Reef with the following attributes in mind:
In summary, Murky Reef is unique in seamlessly blending reading, science, language arts, math and critical thinking skills with interactive and engaging game play, all in one app! Mike Doonan | Doonan Speech Therapy | Speech With Milo Apps
Then we got an iPad, and inspiration hit. She used it in therapy, and the children LOVED it. They responded to being able to touch and interact with the device. The only problem was that there was not a very good selection of apps for building language skills. So we decided that we would try to build an app that engaged children in building basic language skills. SLP's had forever worked with flashcards and pictures. We had an amazing opportunity to give children animation that they controlled at their fingertips. We figured, at worst, we would have a very expensive — but great — tool that just Poorani could use. We created Milo, and it caught on better than we ever expected. We will continue to produce apps as long as children need them. We receive emails daily from parents, teachers and SLP's. There is no greater reward than hearing about a child that we are directly helping speak. Poorani is fortunate enough to do help children daily in therapy, but now she can help children worldwide with Milo.  The Doonan Family, creators of Speech With Milo AppsWe developed the app as a husband/wife team. Poorani had the brains and creativity, and I (Mike) had the skills to manage the project and spec out the app. We outsourced the project using Elance and 99designs. We got a lot of help from Poorani's contacts in the SLP world and good information on the web (including Moms with Apps). Once we got a partial build, Poorani tested it in therapy and with our daughter and her friends. Several features make our app special: 1. We built it as a collaborative tool. Our apps are not meant to be handed to the child for them to learn. Milo needs to be used by the child and parent/teacher/SLP. The collaboration makes for a better experience for both. 2. We offer high quality at an affordable price. Many SLP apps are north of $20. We wanted everybody that needed Milo to be able to afford him, so we priced our apps very cheap relative to our competition. 3. We offer instructions on how to use the tool from a licensed SLP. This is great for parents who want to learn and work with their kids at home. We have also recently introduced 'Therapy Ideas' to some apps, which gives our users three therapy ideas per week from a professional. 4. We focus on one skill per app and do it very well. We keep things simple and focused. Anybody can understand how to use our tool very quickly. As they get more advanced, they can use our Settings to customize the tool for their needs. 5. Milo has friends. We now have six apps that focus around the same core characters (Milo, Melvin and Maggie). The familiarity brings helps children interact with the tool even better. Michelangelo Capraro | Kidoodle Apps | Pirate Scribblebeard's Treasure with Oscar & Josephine
 The family at Kidoodle AppsAfter stepping away from my design firm of 7 years, I committed several months to designing and building the app. Along the way I took on contract work to bootstrap the design and development. My wife, son, friends, and others helped with testing, voice-overs, and more. Pirate Scribblebeard's Treasure provides kids with a starting point for their fertile imaginations to blossom through drawing: no scary blank canvas to intimidate them. Fun characters narrate each page and encourage them to draw anything they want. Delightful surprises add to the fun. In a time where schools are cutting arts, addictive casual games are everywhere, and our culture is seeing a decline in creative thinking and problem solving, I wanted to give parents and children an experience that fosters creativity with fun artistic play and see these magical touchscreen devices as creative tools. Madhavi Sankholkar | MyVijan LLC | iLuv Drawing Animals
I spent time after my masters in the corporate workforce. After getting married and having my daughter, I wanted more freedom to develop personal interests. Once the finances allowed, I took the plunge into implementing my ideas. I began by creating a website for kids to learn Marathi (my native language). The idea was to create something like starfall.com but in Marathi and later in many other Indian languages. Later I realized making an app would be a great idea, so I created my first app: Marathi ABC, followed by ABC Hindi. I continued by creating iLuv Drawing Animals with the help of a very talented graphic designer and a team of developers. iLuv Drawing Animals is feature packed, and boosts confidence for kids by teaching drawing skills. The app offers a wide selection of animals, and features such as editing and saving to a book. The purpose of the app is to create love for drawing in kids of all ages. We worked meticulously to make sure each drawing is simplified so that the steps can be understood by everyone. Our goal is that with a few repetitions, kids should be able to remember those steps enough to replicate them on paper. It is encouraging to receive such positive feedback from all over the world. We continue to improve the feature set based on the customer recommendations, and are eager to help our users create art and learn drawing techniques. Bob Bruce and Emmy Chen | Abitalk | Phonics Silly Sentences
We decided to start making apps to help kids learn, with fun and engaging features to keep them interested. We always test our apps with real kids, and it is very rewarding when we see their faces light up as they "get it" with one of our apps. Developing the apps was easy for us, because we both have decades of experience in object oriented programming. Our first apps took a couple of months to develop. Now that we are familiar with the API, and have plenty of code to reuse, we can go from an idea to a finished app in several weeks. Our portfolio includes over thirty apps in the Apple App Store. Our challenge has been in marketing and promotion. Neither of us has a background in marketing, and we are not avid users of social media. We are just now starting to use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube to promote our products. Most of our apps concentrate on early education (preschool, kindergarten, and first grade), when kids are beginning to read and benefit the most from one-on-one interaction. Rather than a single app, we have a series of apps to help kids learn the alphabet, learn word beginning sounds, understand phonics, and create sentences. We have found that kids learn best when the app is simple and emphasizes one skill. Ours apps have entertaining animation and plenty of feedback so kids know if they are on the right track. We keep the learning fun by giving rewards such as stars, diamonds, and "bonus games." Ahmed Siddiqui | QwikMind, Inc. | Go Go Mongo!
 Ahmed's cousins, the inspiration behind the app.I released my first iOS game in March 2011, called Go Go Mongo! In this game, a cute and cuddly monster named Mongo runs around catching food falling from the sky. When it launched, it got into the top 25 for educational games, and started getting reviews from mom bloggers. They all kept saying, "thanks for making such a great healthy eating game!" This was a bit strange to me as I designed this game to teach English! A few weeks later, I received a tweet from a parent saying that his 3-year-old daughter wants to eat cauliflower after playing Go Go Mongo! This was the greatest accomplishment of the game because kids were having fun while also learning about fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meats. My key learning was that children just want to have fun. You have to sneak in educational messages into the games without making them seem like "homework." Although I was not able to teach English with this game, I did get the kids to learn more about eating better. Survi Gopal and Kunal Desai | Niyaa | The Monkey and the Crocodile
Another characteristic in our home is raising our kids bilingually. We would narrate these books to her in Hindi that were written in English. Inspired by our kids we wanted to share these timeless treasures with the rest of the world. We decided to create our first storybook app on the iPhone, "Monkey and the Crocodile – by Niyaa," which included both English and Hindi narration. As a wife who is a software engineer and husband who is a product manager we are an ideal team. We have both worked with various companies in the Bay Area including BabyCenter, Oracle, HP, Kana and others for more than a decade now. We have always wanted to do something on our own. After Survi left her job at BabyCenter to be with the kids, we decided to make our dream come to reality and put our technical expertise and experience as parent educators into building mobile apps for kids. After embarking on this journey we realized that creating a storybook app is like making a movie. It is lots of work but at the same time tons of fun. You need to have a great story, a beautiful design and an excellent voice-over. We had a great story concept. However, the first thing was to ensure that these stories are in public domain. We looked up old manuscripts and after lots of research we gathered the information we needed. Next we wrote a script and went through iterations of editing it with the help of professional children's book authors. Each character in the app was given a distinctive look and had specific characteristics. We worked diligently with our designer and voice artists to bring the characters to life. We put in a lot of effort and preserved the original integrity of the folktale but at the same time rendered it in a way that would make it enjoyable for young kids. At every step we tested the product with our kids and other parents and kids who volunteered to give us feedback. Finally in late July we launched our first storybook app Monkey and Crocodile – by Niyaa followed by Little Blue Jackal – by Niyaa in November. The apps are special because these moral-based stories are real gems that convey important messages in a fun and witty way. They are excellent bedtime apps and have a Sleep Mode feature that is popular with our users. In Sleep Mode, the kids can enjoy the story without any visuals. It is also a bilingual app with both English and Hindi narration. Our plan is to share these Panchatantra stories via today's medium of apps and ebooks. We have two storybook apps in the app store and plan to release few more over the next year. Ush Patel | Bright Start Apps | PreK Letters & Numbers
We asked ourselves, “If we were going to build the ideal kids app, what would be the key ingredients needed to keep the interest of the kids playing it? And just as important, how can we provide parents with the confidence that their children are receiving a quality learning experience at the same time?” We spent some time researching the apps that were already out there, and soon derived a simple, entry-level app for pre-schoolers, with reporting functionality for parents and educators as a brand differentiator. Des took on the job of building the back end reporting function, I took on the design and playability and we partnered with a contracted developer to build our core Apple iOS app. After many iterations, the first of a series of apps was taking shape: Pre-K Letters and Numbers, a tracing application aimed at kindergarten kids who are just setting out to build a foundation of language and numeracy, develop fine motor skills, understand phonics and build their vocabulary with the bonus of blending common letters and counting. The early-education specialists we worked with asked us to include phonics, letters, numbers and blending into the application to cover different methods of teaching and learning. We designed unique characters, music, sounds and simple yet bold illustrations, including fruits, vegetables, animals and items around the house to help with the learning experience. It took us nearly 6 months to complete our first app from initial discussion to iTunes store. I'm sure we could have done it faster, but the journey was one of learning for us and the output should be positive for the kids who engage with our app. I should mention the great people we have met along the way including Lorraine Akemann (Moms With Apps), Ahmed Siddiqui (Go Go Mongo) and Jennifer Bogart (Apps for Homeschooling) who have given a lending hand in shaping our products and company. Top photo: Devon Christopher Adams/Flickr Filed under: dev, mobile        
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| Alibaba preps for possible Yahoo takeover by hiring U.S. legal eagles Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:28 AM PST
The Chinese company has hired a Washington, DC-based lobby firm and a law firm specializing in cross-border mergers and acquisitions — likely a necessary step in the foreign, censorship-heavy entity’s plan to take over a major U.S. corporation. Alibaba has hired the Duberstein Group, an independent strategic political planning and consulting company headed by Kenneth Duberstein (pictured), Reuters reports. Duberstein is a longtime Washington insider who served as Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff in the late 1980s. The Chinese web company has also hired the acquisition-focused law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to act as an intermediary in the matter. The firm’s practice centers around international takeovers; it claims to have conducted the first cross-border Morris Trust transaction (meaning all the acquired company’s assets other than those being acquired were spun off into a new public company, with the remaining assets being merged with the buying company — all without any tax being incurred). Alibaba CEO Jack Ma publicly stated back in October that he wanted to buy Yahoo, lock, stock and barrel. "We are very interested in Yahoo,” Ma said at the time. “Our Alibaba group is important to Yahoo, and Yahoo is important to us … All the serious buyers interested in Yahoo have talked to us." The complicating factor is Yahoo’s ownership of a large stake in Alibaba — 40 percent, to be precise. However, Alibaba began raising the necessary $4 billion to buy back that stake. Yahoo seems to be acquiescing — and it might also be selling back its stock in Japan’s Softbank. If Yahoo released its hold on these Asian entities, it would stand to gain around $17 billion from the combined transactions. Just last month, Ma and several other Chinese web executives explicitly pledged to support government censorship of their properties and the Chinese Internet. In a three-day meeting with the State Internet Information Office in Beijing, the executives said they would "conscientiously safeguard the broadcasting of positive messages online" and "resolutely curb the spread of rumours online." Filed under: deals        
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| Amazon: 4M Kindles sold in Dec., e-book sales up 175 percent Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:05 AM PST
Amazon launched a new line of Kindle products in November, which included the Kindle, the Kindle Touch and a seven-inch Kindle Fire tablet computer. Amazon is making little or no money on the devices, but it’s using them as a means to sell more products through its online retail store. The three products also topped Amazon’s bestseller list for the month and were among the most popular items sold in the UK, France, Spain and Italy as well as the main Amazon.com store. The company also noted that its e-book sales rose significantly between Black Friday and Christmas Day — up 175 percent compared to the same period in 2010. Also, the first and fourth best-selling Kindle books released in 2011 were published independently by the books’ authors through Kindle Direct Publishing. Third-party merchants on Amazon also experienced strong sales this holiday season. On average, the number of merchants who exceeded $5,000 during the holiday season was up 44 percent compared to last year. Here are some other interesting details from Amazon’s 2011 holiday sales release:
Filed under: media, mobile, VentureBeat        
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| The best GamesBeat stories of 2011 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:00 AM PST
Here are 33 of our favorite, original GamesBeat stories that we toiled over during 2011. These aren’t necessarily the biggest stories of the year, which is a separate list for us. But we had the most fun writing these pieces and we think you’ll have fun reading them. We like to look back at these not because we’re the biggest navel gazers on Earth (well, we are a little narcissistic) but because we want to build a better GamesBeat. These are stories that we are proud of because we had a chance to step back, do some reporting, and present the information in a more analytical way. As we build out our team, we hope we will have many more stories like this to tout in 2012. 1. In its short, five-year history, Zynga turned the game industry upside down. As its $9 billion initial public offering approached, we published a 25,000-word history on how the company grew from gaming outcast to a social gaming giant. Heather Kelly turned it into an e-book on the Amazon Kindle. 2. Microsoft kept us busy as the 10th anniversary of the Xbox rolled around. We marked the occasion with a two-part story that chronicled the inside story of the making of the original Xbox game console. The second piece was about the making of the Xbox 360 and the aftermath of that. The story is now a 63-page eBook entitled Xbox: The making of a bad-ass machine (see cover art below). 3. Top 10 games of 2011. Our team of reviewers went through a democratic voting process to arrive at our favorite games of the year. 4. How HiveMind’s Will Wright plans to crowdsource your happiness. Will is always delving into terra incognita in games, and he floated this idea about “personal gaming” with us first. 5. Steve Perlman’s white paper explains “impossible” wireless tech. If it works, broadband wireless will be much, much faster than it is today. 6. Why game developers hate the Facebook-Zynga marriage, and how Google+ can benefit. We found that some of Facebook’s largest game makers didn’t like the sweet deal it cut with Zynga. 7. Game developers were hoping to launch Google+ games within weeks. We wrote this weeks before the actual launch. 8. Apple and Android are now dominating the mobile game market. The numbers presented by Flurry were stunning. 9. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception interview with game director Justin Richmond. He conveyed the intention behind the big movie-like “set piece” scenes. 10. What does Zynga’s big event unveiling new games mean for its IPO? We took a step back to see Zynga’s grand design. 11. The video game violence arguments that mattered to the Supreme Court. The tea leaves from the court came from looking at the oral transcripts. 12. Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword proves Nintendo hasn’t learned anything. A sharp and critical view, on the mark. 13. The DeanBeat column: Stopping to think about the culture of bloodlust. Another way of looking at video game violence. 14. After Steve, will Apple press its advantage in games? Speculating about how Apple could rule. 15. Skylanders is massive, innovative gamble for Activision Blizzard. A story about how a team aimed big. 16. The video game industry will be in a (happier) transition at E3. Our look ahead at the past year’s E3. 17. Review: Skyrim is far greater than the sum of its parts. This review was based on many, many hours of game playing.
19. How Microsoft engineered Kinect to withstand gamers and lightning strikes. An inside look at an engineering marvel. 20. Take that, Facebook! The commission Google+ charges on game transactions is 5 percent, not 30 percent. Business models matter, especially when you’re trying to attract game developers. 21. With EA’s The Sims Social, has Zynga met its match? This was a good window into EA’s bid to beat Zynga. 22. Ngmoco’s Neil Young foresees multibillion-dollar mobile game companies. Young did a good job explaining why billion-dollar companies would arise in mobile gaming. 23. How the Angry Birds deal could lead to mobile gaming nirvana. We explained how a big $42 million investment in Angry Birds maker Rovio would help boost mobile gaming to new heights. 24. Striiv to launch portable device to make fitness more fun. A look at the latest in gaming plus health. 25. Loot Drop banks on talented game designers as it takes on social gaming’s giants. The wheel turns again for John Romero and Brenda Brathwaite. 26. WTF: How long before Zynga becomes the most valuable video game company? We tried to be analytical in the midst of the social gaming Gold Rush.
28. Gamification gets popular, but it’s still finding its feet. After getting a good view at the first gamification conference, we helped explain what it meant. 29. With latest accolade, the future is Bing Gordon’s game. Bing did a good job articulating what he learned from a career at EA and his participation in the new Gold Rush. 30. Women who play online games have more sex. This story proved popular because of its title, no doubt. But it was nice to see the subject approached with a sense of humor. 31. DeanBeat: The iPhone fairy tale comes true for Russia's Cut the Rope developers (pictured above). This story was just the kind of thing we love to cover at VentureBeat, because it shows how a small but smart startup can shoot to the top. 32. Buddy can you spare a dollar? Indie game developer makes you think about being homeless. Dan Crawley stumbled on this Homeless game on Xbox Live and interviewed its creator. 33. Review: Dark Souls is the loneliest, most brutal game this year. And you'll love it. This game review found a sleeper hit and went deep into it. Filed under: games        
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| iPad 3 rumor mill: two new iPads planned for January, says report Posted: 29 Dec 2011 07:56 AM PST
The latest rumor: Apple is preparing two new iPad models for a January debut, sources tell the Taiwanese news site Digitimes (which has recently been off the mark quite a bit with Apple rumors). Previously, we expected Apple to announce the iPad 3 in February or March for an April release. The new iPads will fill in the mid-range and high-end tablet segment for Apple, with both sporting high-resolution displays and Apple’s new quad-core A6 processor, the sources say. The existing iPad 2 will remain unchanged and be positioned as a low-end entry to compete against the Kindle Fire (though I can’t imagine Apple would drop its price below $250). Uncharacteristically for Digitimes, its report is filled with plenty of interesting details. For example, the site reports that both new iPads will feature dual-LED light bars to increase brightness. The high-end iPad 3 will feature an 8-megapixel camera, while the mid-range is said to feature a 5-megapixel shooter. Contrary to previous reports, both new models will stick with 9.7-inch screens, rather than smaller displays. But while the added details lend some legitimacy to the report, Digitime also reports that Apple will unveil the new iPad models at the Macworld iWorld conference in late January, which rings false since the company hasn’t participated in the conference for years. Perhaps things could change next month, but right now there’s no reason to believe Apple would head back to Macworld when its own press events gather plenty of attention. Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat        
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| Blizzard makes $26 million on World of Warcraft security authenticators Posted: 29 Dec 2011 07:04 AM PST
The security authenticator for World of Warcraft is basically a keychain addition that allows for extra security for your account. Its success speaks to just how much players value their security, as well as how companies can innovate when typical account passwords aren’t enough to withstand hackers. Each time the player wants to log in, the security authenticator will send out a one-time six-digit numerical code that the player will have to type in along with their username and password to gain access to the game or account management. However, Blizzard doesn’t just give these little trinkets out for free. Players have to purchase them at $6.50 each. With around 40 percent of World of Warcraft players actually using the added security device, Blizzard has made about $26 million on them alone. Players have been plagued in recent years by a number of hacking problems. In particular, World of Warcraft was a haven for trojan attacks specifically aimed to gather login details early on, which prompted Blizzard to release the security authenticators helping players find extra comfort in the updated security. There aren’t any actual numbers on how much it costs to make the device or amount of customer service hours saved, but as an added “perk” for players, they receive a Core Hound Pup in-game pet for purchasing the device. Filed under: games        
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| Stratfor puts off website launch for a week after Anonymous attack Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:50 AM PST
Stratfor yesterday sent an e-mail to its free subscribers about the delay, Reuters reports. Its website has been offline since the attack on December 24. By not relaunching immediately, the firm, which provides "non-ideological, independent analysis of international affairs and security threats," will have more time to investigate the full extent of the attack. “As part of our ongoing investigation, we have also decided to delay the launching of our website until a thorough review and adjustment by outside experts can be completed,” the company said in an e-mail. Stratfor announced that it was hacked by Anonymous on December 24, which managed to steal 200 gigabytes worth of data, including private e-mails, more than 9,000 credit card numbers, passwords and phone numbers. You can catch up on the entire situation with our helpful 10-point breakdown. Filed under: VentureBeat        
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| Cool private companies: 3 business services for doing more with less Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:00 AM PST As a software securities analyst for investment banking firm Canaccord Genuity, Richard Davis spends 200 days a year on the road visiting companies. He goes to public companies such as Oracle and Salesforce.com, but he also visits up-and-coming software companies he thinks will go public in the near future. In his new column, Davis talks about some candidates he thinks may be ripe for the IPO class of 2012 or 2013.
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| Ocean Marketing fiasco addressed in official press release Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:10 AM PST In yesterday’s article, we recounted the instantaneous destruction of Ocean Marketing, a one-man PR firm led by Paul Christoforo. It’s hard to decide precisely where Christoforo’s career ended: Was it the heinously rude and offensive emails assaulting a polite customer? Was it the moment he told Mike Krahulik, the co-founder of the world famous Penny Arcade webcomic, Child’s Play charity, and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), that he could attend PAX East whenever he so pleased? Perhaps it was name-dropping everyone from Cliffy B to the Yellow Power Ranger and the mayor of Boston? Regardless, the world was watching, ready to serve up swift Internet justice, and that’s exactly what they did. In a matter of hours, Ocean Marketing was trending across the Web, with Christoforo’s Twitter account being assaulted by angry and disgusted tweets, even going so far as to grab the attention of famous actors and car insurance companies. Christoforo’s YouTube account was overrun with dislikes and hundreds of comments mocking him in his own unique version of the English language. A parody reenactment had already been filmed, edited, and posted. Kotaku, in a rare moment of actual journalism, had seemingly uncovered evidence of Christoforo using anabolic steroids. Internet sleuths were also quick to uncover a domestic violence case against Christoforo. And on and on it went. At this point, Ocean Marketing had now changed its Twitter handle multiple times in hopes of, one can only imagine, vanishing from the public eye. But the Internet never forgets, and they rarely forgive, especially when Christoforo seemed not to be sorry for what he had done, but more so that he was caught. Likewise, in an interview with MSNBC, it becomes clear that Christoforo is completely ignorant to the reaction caused by his actions, and instead plays the victim card. He also admits he doesn’t actually know the mayor of Boston… Yet Christoforo’s actions not only destroyed his reputation, but also irreparably damaged that of N-Control and the creator of the Avenger Controller, David Kotkin of Kotkin Enterprises. The Amazon listing for the controller accessory was besieged by hundreds of 1-star reviews, while the Gamespot page was seemingly “terminated.” Reports of previous poor customer service and both external and internal sources citing N-Control’s constantly delayed product shipments began to surface. Obviously, there was a lot to answer for, and having an underrage Twitter user (with grammar on par with Christoforo’s) scrambling to do damage control wasn’t helping. Finally, a surprisingly exhaustive official statement addressing many of the issues that had unfolded over the past two days has been released. It is included in its entirety below:
Points for an unusual amount of transparency, but this damage control doesn’t necessarily relinquish N-Control or Kotkin from any and all accountability. For someone as blatantly unprofessional as Christoforo to be retained over a lengthy duration (and not just during the busy holiday period, as originally suggested), even going so far as to being considered as a potential investor for future business endeavors, it’s hard to believe he was merely a rogue agent operating completely covertly. After all, the Avenger Controller had been covered by numerous media outlets, and had a presence at both E3 and PAX, so there had to be a certain level of awareness. This was not a tiny, independent operation. Perhaps Brandon Leidel, CEO and director of operations for The HAND Media, Inc., explained it best: ”…[Christoforo] came in and said ‘I know this guy at Gamestop. I know this guy at Best Buy.’ They saw dollar signs and decided to start working with him. We decided to walk away from this because it was a nightmare dealing with their [shipping problems] and this guy Paul.” Filed under: games, VentureBeat        
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| PlayStation Vita sales see 78% drop during Christmas week Posted: 28 Dec 2011 06:35 PM PST
The PS Vita sold an estimated 72,479 units Christmas week, compared to 324,859 units sold in the previous week. That’s a drop of nearly 78 percent. The Vita was outsold by older portable devices like its predecessor, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and the Nintendo 3DS, which has now sold over 4 million units since its debut last year. While these figures are certainly disappointing for Sony, they may also confirm what analysts have been predicting for some time – that the portable gaming market is shrinking thanks to the rise of tablets and smartphones. "There will always be a large and significant market for dedicated portable gaming, but we do believe it is a shrinking category that will eventually plateau to a sustainable market size for at least two competitors,” EEDAR Vice President of Capital Research and Communications Jesse Divnich recently told VentureBeat. The PS Vita’s lackluster second week sales could also possibly be attributed to its price. The Wi-Fi model costs 24,980 Yen ($320), while the 3G/Wi-Fi model costs 29,980 Yen ($385). When the Vita hits store shelves in the U.S. on February 22, it will cost $249 and $299 respectively. Sony has been under pressure to cut its price since rival Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS to as low as $169 back in August, though this too was due to an initial mediocre reception. Sony, however, is standing by its price point. "We have a very good product at a very affordable price," Sony President of Consumer & Products Services Kazuo Hirai told Bloomberg earlier this year. "There's no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game industry decided they were going to." Media Create’s hardware sales chart for Dec. 19 – Dec. 25 can be found below: System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 3DS | 482,200 | 367,691 | 0 | 4,084,190 | 0 | 4,084,191 | | PSP | 101,121 | 64,468 | 177,691 | 2,016,406 | 2,798,338 | 18,666,617 | | WII | 91,176 | 60,916 | 131,761 | 850,375 | 1,597,131 | 12,130,013 | | PS3 | 75,943 | 65,119 | 64,228 | 1,481,696 | 1,509,700 | 7,569,186 | | PSV | 72,479 | 324,859 | 0 | 397,338 | 0 | 397,338 | | NDS | 14,396 | 9,155 | 191,583 | 651,985 | 2,772,043 | 32,802,684 | | 360 | 4,245 | 3,584 | 5,298 | 113,095 | 207,118 | 1,533,592 | | PS2 | 1,582 | 1,400 | 2,604 | 76,355 | 83,439 | 21,772,448 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ALL | 843,142 | 897,192 | 573,165 | 9,671,440 | 8,967,769 | 98,956,069 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PSP | 101,121 | 64,468 | 177,691 | 2,000,866 | 2,722,751 | 18,490,652 | | DSiLL | 8,470 | 5,600 | 92,329 | 343,379 | 1,392,878 | 2,290,963 | | DSi | 5,894 | 3,523 | 93,464 | 287,911 | 1,156,743 | 5,831,632 | | DSL | 32 | 32 | 5,790 | 20,695 | 222,422 | 18,094,618 | Filed under: games, mobile, VentureBeat        
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| Google and Facebook reign as the most-visited sites of 2011 Posted: 28 Dec 2011 05:32 PM PST
In 2011, an average 153.4 million people in the U.S. visited Google sites each month, making the search giant the most-visited U.S. web brand of the year, according to Nielsen. Facebook was the second most-visited U.S. web brand and the top social network, averaging 137.6 million visitors per month, Nielsen found. In the social networking and blogs category, Facebook beat out Blogger, Twitter (and of course Google+) by massive margins. Nielsen looked at web traffic from home and work computers from January through October 2011 to determine the top web brands of year. The company’s data is limited to the desktop and does not include mobile visits, a category of growing importance as consumer browsing and social media behaviors switch over to mobile devices. For comparison, Experian Hitwise published its list of most-visited sites and most-searched terms of the year, and gave Facebook the grand prize in both categories. Why the discrepancy? Facebook had more U.S. visits than Google.com, but if you combine visits to all Google properties — not just Google.com — Google actually had the edge over Facebook in 2011, according to Experian Hitwise. The companies are also measuring different things; Nielsen focused on individual visitors per month while Experian Hitwise looked at total visits for the year. Nielsen’s numbers meanwhile paint a fairly consistent story. Even as far back as December 2009, Google ruled Nielsen’s U.S. web brand chart with 146.7 million unique visitors, and Yahoo ranked second with 129 million uniques. Somewhat surprisingly considering all its turmoil, Yahoo still maintains the third position as a top web brand and averages 130 million visitors per month. The only real dramatic change to the list over the past two years is the ascendance of Facebook, which saw nearly 110 million unique visitors in December 2009 but now sees 137.6 million folks visit its website, on average, each month. Facebook, however, blows away the competition in terms of time on site. In September, Nielsen found that the average Facebooker spent 7 hours, 24 minutes on the site, while the average Googler clocked in at just one hour, 43 minutes for the month. So while Google wins the web today, the numbers point to a looming regime change. [Image via maistora/Flickr] Filed under: social, VentureBeat        
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| McAfee says Anonymous will reorganize or disband in 2012 Posted: 28 Dec 2011 05:05 PM PST
When technology evolves, so do cyber criminals’ tactics for compromising new software, hardware, online accounts and more. Whole conferences, such as the Black Hat and Defcon conferences in Las Vegas, focus on how people are able to gain access to our machines without permission. But 2011 was filled with the beginnings of a new breed of vigilante hacker, as well as the new world of mobile devices to breach. McAfee predicts 2012 will boast Internet warfare, governmental displays of cyber strength, and breaches from hacktivists, but not from the same faces we’ve seen in 2011. Or, perhaps we should say, the same Guy Fawkes face. Anonymous, along with Lulzsec, spurred the hacktivist movement this year with high profile attacks on companies such as Sony, a number of law enforcement agencies, and government websites such as Syria’s Defense Ministry. Most recently the group attacked think tank Stratfor, obtaining and publishing thousands of credit cards. But Anonymous is a new type of cyber criminal “group,” one that may be hard to define. Really, Anonymous is just a collection of individuals who all use the same Anonymous title. Individuals decide on an attack they’d like to execute, and become their own leaders and organizers for the group that decides to help. There is no overarching leader, no head honcho. Indeed, one Anonymous member told VentureBeat that the group’s “leaders” are really just bullhorns. What projects are truly considered of “Anonymous” is even debated within the community, such as the declaration to take down Facebook on November 5th, which was never realized. Perhaps because of its lacking internal structure, McAfee believes that the community with either reorganize itself or disband completely, similar to Lulzsec. Soon after the Spring attacks on the Sony Playstation Network, this hacker collective bowed out of the game, some members probably joining the Anonymous ranks. McAfee believes we will see more Anonymous members come out of the digital shadows and join protests against politicians, law enforcement and other agencies. This was seen in August when the collective drew members of the Bay Area communities to protest the Bay Area Rapid Transit train system over BART police shootings earlier in the year. It’s probably more likely that the group will reorganize or see sects branch out, than die off all together in 2012. Anonymous isn’t made up of individuals who all want to “dox,” or reveal personally identifiable information on the Internet. Instead, many of these people prefer disrupting a website’s service or systems to prove a point. These may be the people who branch off, leaving those who wish to publish personal information to fly the Anonymous flag.
This was achieved through schemes such as RuFraud, which charges people for premium text messages using a bogus application posing as a real one for bait. Malicious advertisements may also play a roll in mobile scamming, as browsing and buying becomes more popular on the go. “Malvertisements” will be found outside of the browser as well. Some applications may sport the bad links right within its user interface. Lookout says applications most likely to be affected by this kind of scam are utility apps such as flashlights, gaming apps and porn apps. So, if you decide mobile is how you’d like to get your jollies in 2012, don’t be seduced by the advertisements. Anonymous photo/Meghan Kelly, Android image via Shutterstock Filed under: mobile, security, VentureBeat        
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| Recipes become shopping lists with Say Mmm and Evernote Posted: 28 Dec 2011 03:22 PM PST Recipes hoarders and cooking enthusiasts can now organize all of their recipes into grocery lists with Evernote and Say Mmm. These two web-based organization companies have come together to shopping for tonight’s dinner much easier. By adding the “Say Mmm” tag to any note in Evernote, a shopping list will be automatically generated with quantities for each ingredient and estimated nutritional information of the recipe. Say Mmm will even categorize each ingredient for you based on grocery store sections and remind you check if you need ingredients that most people keep stocked at all times, such as flour and sugar. Each recipe with the Say Mmm tag will have its own list created, but you can easily merge multiple lists together for one shopping trip. Say Mmm acknowledges that the list generation feature isn’t perfect and sometimes ingredients can get accidentally left out. To use the new features, all you have to do is sign into Say Mmm with your Evernote account and authorize access. Once you return to Evernote, you will see a new Say Mmm folder. One of Evernote’s competitors, Springpad, has a similar list making feature as well. You can add ingredients to a list you’ve already created or start a new shopping list from any saved recipe. However, Springpad doesn’t categorize ingredients; every item just shows up in a list in the order it was added. Filed under: media        
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| Ridiculous: Verizon experiences third data outage this month Posted: 28 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST
Verizon last had a major outage on Dec. 21, and like that time, customers are taking to Twitter and other social networks to vent their frustrations. Subscribers have been complaining about the outage for several hours and directing their anger at the Verizon Wireless support account. Some users are even suggesting that they plan to leave over the persistent outages. “I think I’m gonna leave @VerizonWireless … because all this data outage is just irritating and uncalled for,” Indianapolis, Ind.-based Verizon customer Quentin Dock said via Twitter. Verizon had another outage on Dec. 8, and another back in April. Network outages are a fact of life for every cell tower network, but Verizon is known for for its reliability when it comes to voice and data connections. Verizon’s official statement on the matter, issued to several outlets, says:
If you are experiencing a data outage today, let us know in the comments. Filed under: mobile        
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| Amazon acquires the talented team at shopping startup Quorus Posted: 28 Dec 2011 02:53 PM PST
The acquisition, which may be a talent grab, brings Quorus co-founders Michael Dougherty (pictured) and Sameer Rayachoti into the Amazon fold. Currently, all Quorus employees are now working at Amazon, we’ve learned from an anonymous source with close ties to the deal. While the team can’t comment on what they’re building for the e-commerce giant, they say they’re very excited about their new roles. Dougherty previously co-founded real estate-focused startup Redfin and worked on consumer services and ad products at Zillow, another real estate web search tool. Rayachoti is listed on LinkedIn as a Quorus co-founder. He also worked at Redfin and Zillow, but his Silicon Valley career started with a three-and-a-half-year tour at Amazon, where he was a software developer beginning in 2001. Another team member, Peter Abrahamsen, was a design and engineering grad student and a Quorus senior software engineer — at least until November 2011, when he changed his LinkedIn profile to reflect Amazon as his new employer.
Specifically, Quorus allowed shopping sites to add push-button IM features to their product pages, as seen in the image above. One client for the IM product was Zappos, itself an Amazon-owned property. All the Quorus team members we’ve researched are based in Seattle, Washington, which is also the location of Amazon’s headquarters. Filed under: deals        
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| Apple’s iOS App Store had over 5M free app downloads per day in Nov. Posted: 28 Dec 2011 01:53 PM PST
In retrospect, it’s not terribly surprising when you consider that the iPhone 4S had the most successful iPhone launch ever, with more than four million units sold in its first weekend in October. All those first-time iPhone owners, and repeat owners who upgraded to the 4S, decided to download a ton of free apps. Fiksu specifically said the App Store Top 200 had an average of 5.65 million free downloads per day in November, which is the first time they’ve seen that number go above 5 million. In October, the App Store Top 200 had 4.91 million free app downloads per day. Before the iPhone 4S launch, the app download count had actually been decreasing, most likely because there were fewer people buying new iPhones, and current iPhone owners had curated a well-rounded app collection. Another huge factor that contributed to the all-time high download count was the launch of the iOS 5 mobile operating system. With a lot of iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 owners upgrading to iOS 5, many apps needed to be upgraded or re-downloaded to function properly with the updated OS. Fiksu expects the App Store will continue to flourish because of strong iPhone 4S sales. Several analysts are predicting more than 30 million iPhone 4S units will be sold before the end of December. Those analysts predict that record number because of super-strong web buzz and earlier strong sales reports from carriers. A full look at the Fiksu’s app Top 200 download chart can be viewed below: Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat        
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| Influential or not, Klout now fields 7.5B API requests per month Posted: 28 Dec 2011 01:46 PM PST
Klout measures online influence by tracking a person’s reach across social sites and analyzing her Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ relationships to spit out a score between 1 and 100. Klout scores, said CEO Joe Fernandez in a 2011 year-in-review post, are now being used by more than 5,000 partners, up from 1,000 last January, to reward or quantify a social web user’s online standing. “The Klout score is being used for ways far beyond what you see on Klout.com,” Fernandez told VentureBeat. “This ranges from hotels using the Klout Score to upgrade rooms when you check-in to credit card companies using the score to reward bonus loyalty points … The significance here is that companies are making over 7.5 billion requests a month for consumers Klout scores.” But the biggest leap came in terms of monthly requests to the startup’s API. Klout was fielding 100 million API calls per month in January. Now, just 11 months later, the company is seeing 7.5 billion calls each month. The figure means that Klout offers the most definitive way to understand the world’s influence — at least in Fernandez’s mind. Of course, Klout’s 2011 comeuppance wasn’t without a few audible hiccups. The company dramatically altered its scoring algorithm — many users’ scores plummeted by 10 points or more — and experienced the wrath of ego-trackers everywhere. The new scoring methodology also buoyed critics’ ongoing decries that Klout’s metric is meaningless. A profile privacy kerfuffle only added to non-user discontent. Still, the 7.5 billion API calls per month figure is impressive for an up-and-coming, four year-old startup and proves that its reputation score has met with industry approbation for the most part. But Klout has got a ways to go before it joins the likes of the elite; Twitter, Google and Facebook all field billions of API requests per day. Image via billhd/Flickr Filed under: dev, social, VentureBeat        
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| Call Genie acquires VoodooVox to create smarter mobile ads Posted: 28 Dec 2011 01:43 PM PST
The deal, which Canadian Business reports is worth $2.8 million, will allow Call Genie to expand its mobile advertising services. Using information from VoodooVox’s Analytics product, Call Genie plans to pursue pay-per-call advertising. Pay-per-call advertising is similar to pay per click; a unique phone number is assigned to a mobile or web-based ad which will ring to a business’s main line when dialed. Every time a customer dials the number, the company pays a fee to the advertiser. Call Genie CEO Michael Durance said in a statement, ”The more pay per call advertisers know about their callers, the more success they’ll have with their campaigns. Our goal is to create a smarter mobile ad network, and VoodooVox gives us audience insights that benefit key stakeholders in the mobile advertising ecosystem.” The acquisition is expected to be finalized in January 2012 and will involve Call Genie issuing 11,250,000 common shares of its stock to VoodooVox shareholders. Call Genie will pay VoodooVox shareholders $1.8 million cash over an undisclosed period of time. Call Genie also recently acquired mobile advertising company UpSNAP in the fourth quarter of 2011. The company is based in Toronto, Canada and maintains offices around the world. Image via Shutterstock
Filed under: mobile        
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| Groupon may have acquired stealth startup Campfire Labs Posted: 28 Dec 2011 01:41 PM PST
The acquisition is thought to be a talent grab. The Campfire Labs team includes Sakina Arsiwala, Sebastian Heycke, Shruti Challa and Naveen Koorakula. TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters noticed that Groupon now controls the CampfireLabs.com web domain. Campfire co-founder and engineer Arsiwala was previously YouTube’s Head of International at Google. Before that, she was a product lead for Google search, and she kicked off her Silicon Valley career with a three-year run at Altavista followed by a two-year stint at Yahoo. Koorakula, also a co-founder, worked at Yahoo during the same time period as Arsiwala. His primary expertise was in search technology engineering. He was also on the founding team of Powerset, the super-hyped search startup that was acquired by Microsoft mere weeks after its launch. Both co-founders have master of science degrees in computer science. Heycke is a design guy, and Challa is the startup’s marketing and business development arm. So, what does a startup composed of search gurus have to do with Groupon? According to the company’s self-description, its team “wants to change the way people think of social interactions in the real world and online… “We are tackling very complex algorithmic, technology and product problems. We're building systems designed to scale. Some tools in our toolkit — JavaScript (Node.js, JavaScript MVC), Hypertable, Hadoop, C++ and Ruby. We like unit testing, continuous integration and contributing to open source.” One of the startup’s early products was released last fall at Kenyon College. Called Slice, it integrating with existing social networks and web-based tools, including Facebook and email, to help students organize their connections and interactions from a central location. Challa told the college’s newspaper that Slice’s features included a real-time IM client and event-planning and media-sharing tools. Slice also included a Turntable.fm-like music-playing and -sharing platform. It’s unknown how or whether Campfire Labs’ technology will be integrated into Groupon’s current or future offerings. Filed under: deals        
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| Universal’s YouTube snafu still leaves questions unanswered for Megaupload Posted: 28 Dec 2011 12:44 PM PST
Earlier this month, Universal Music Group pulled a wildly popular video by file-hosting service Megaupload off YouTube. While YouTube has reinstated the clip, UMG has not yet said why it requested the video be pulled in the first place. The video only contained original content, though it did feature some Universal artists including will.i.am and Macy Gray. Now, Megaupload is putting pressure on a northern California court — and on UMG — to get to the bottom of this troubling takedown. Megaupload’s video was uploaded to YouTube by the company on December 9. As it started to skyrocket through viral activity, Universal Music Group had the video unceremoniously yanked off YouTube — regardless of the fact that UMG had no copyright claim on any of the content in the video. All the music was original, and the video’s all-star cast of celebrity endorsers, from Drake and Kanye West to Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams, had signed agreements with Megaupload. Then, Universal stated the video wasn't pulled because of copyright issues. In a letter from UMG's attorneys to YouTube, the studio states, "UMG's rights in this regard are not limited to copyright infringement." In other words, the studio was trying to exert control over content it didn’t own — and therein lies the crux of the mystery: What terms of Universal’s contract with YouTube allow the record label to arbitrarily decide what videos can and cannot be posted to YouTube without any clear copyright claim? As pressure began to mount and questions began to dogpile on UMG, YouTube reinstated the video. In a statement to VentureBeat, a YouTube spokesperson said, “Our partners do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they own the rights to them or they are live performances controlled through exclusive agreements with their artists, which is why we have reinstated the video." However, Megaupload had already filed suit against UMG. In its response to this suit, UMG has submitted an 18-page response to the court to defend its actions. However, in none of these 18 pages does UMG state exactly why the video was taken down in the first place. “UMG did not even attempt to defend the legitimacy of its false claims to ownership of the Megaupload Video," stated Megaupload in its response. On its website, the company continued, “A powerful and popular viral campaign was stopped in its tracks by illegitimate censorship. It is unfair that we are facing baseless legal threats combined with propaganda depicting Megaupload as rogue and illegal.” To solve the mystery once and for all, Megaupload is asking the court for permission to do “essential written discovery” on Universal’s private conversations and contracts with YouTube regarding the video takedown. We’ll definitely be following this case closely and will report back when more information about this puzzling takedown is available. Filed under: VentureBeat        
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| UK Prime Minister is getting his own iPad app to help run the country Posted: 28 Dec 2011 12:13 PM PST
British Prime Minister David Cameron, a huge iPad fan, is having a special iPad app made for his particular country-running needs. According to a report in The Times, the Prime Minister (and someday soon, anyone else) will be able to use the app to get broad and detailed information about Great Britain’s vital signs. The Times’ sources say the app is currently under development and will be released to the public once it is completed. A report on GigaOm has sources saying the app has been in development for a couple months already. When completed, the app will likely act as a sort of dashboard to show at-a-glance information and news on economic and social health barometers. Data will come from the UK’s National Health Service, crime reports and unemployment agencies, as well as Google and Twitter. Advisers on the Prime Minister’s staff reportedly got the idea for the app during a recent trip to the United States. Cameron is no stranger to the world of Silicon Valley technology. He famously video-chatted with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last year about how the social network could help the UK solve its financial woes. However, the PM’s attitude toward social media hasn’t always been so friendly. During the London riots earlier this year, when Twitter and Facebook were used by rioters, Cameron publicly contemplated banning social media use for those who would use such networks to plot against the government or to break the law. At that point, Twitter execs were called in to meet with UK government officials about the service’s role in the riots. Filed under: VentureBeat        
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| Interview, photos and video reveal how an impressive Left 4 Dead fan film was made (exclusive) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 12:00 PM PST Northern Five Entertainment and Airsoft GI recently released their joint Left 4 Dead short film to the world. Sporting Hollywood-level production values but produced on a shoestring, the video quickly surpassed half a million views on YouTube, and the teaser trailer alone garnered over 400,000 views. GamesBeat sat down with Northern Five director and co-founder Adrian Picardi for an exclusive interview to discuss the film’s budget, concept, reception, and why Hollywood is so damn bad at making video game movies. We also have a gallery of 173 (count ‘em!) exclusive behind-the-scenes images and a Making Of video on the second page of this interview. GamesBeat: Can you detail Northern Five's relationship with Airsoft GI? Did they put up the funds for the production?
GB: What is the intent of the film? What are you or Airsoft GI hoping to accomplish with it? AP: For N5, absolutely nothing but hope that it could bring a smile to the gaming community. GB: Can you talk about the budget for the film, and break down how it was distributed? AP: We had just enough of a budget to feed the entire crew, ship out the costumes from across the country, and pay for a couple of the props and some of the crew's gas. Everything else was donated. The entire crew came out for two nights unpaid. I couldn't believe how passionate everyone was. It was a really fun experience. GB: I understand you had a crane? Is that a hard thing to acquire? AP: Yes! Very hard. Luckily we worked with an amazing gentleman on a couple older projects and were able to build a great relationship with him and his company. When we told him it was fan film he was instantly on board and came out for a couple hours with the crane on the second day of shooting. GB: How did you conceptualize the idea? AP: At first we were going to do a full on Battlefield 3 video but so many had been already created. The same went for many of Valve's other properties, so we felt it was time to try something different with one of our other favorite games. There are so many zombie fan films out there and since we wanted to make this for the gaming community we took it into a different and unique direction. GB: What sort of script was in place? AP: The script was worked on in a collaborative fashion. From there we had to accommodate what we could and couldn't achieve in two nights and with the prep time of only two weeks. We actually had the entire Left 4 Dead cast in the film but couldn't find an actor in the character's age range who was willing to stay up for two nights in a row for no pay. So we ended up tweaking the script. We actually tore out 4 pages of the script on the first night of shooting because initially we were suppose to shoot for three nights but it was due to rain on the third day. GB: How do you go about wrangling in all the necessary talent and crew? AP: We posted a casting call online. From there we had to sift through the talent to see who looked like the video game characters the most. Since we had a very tight pre-production schedule we hired them without having the proper casting session but I feel we were very fortunate that we had found a great team of people who actually looked the part. GB: What was it like working with cosplayers and models who don't typically "act" as is needed in a film like this? AP: I was actually extremely worried that they wouldn't understand the filming process and just become fed up with all the madness. But everyone who came out for this shoot was amazing and was a blast to work with. Meagan Marie, whom I was a fan of after seeing her GOW Cosplay article, came out and was completely thrown off guard since she had never acted before. But after a few takes she picked up on everything very quickly and did a kick-ass job. They all were really fun to work with. GB: I heard it was pretty cold during the shoot. Is weather something you planned for, and how did you deal with it? AP: We were hoping for three dry nights but it rained the last day so we changed the script. Since everyone came out for free we couldn't reschedule either. So we ended up not shooting the entire thing that was originally planned but it still worked out for the most part in the edit. GB: I think my favorite thing about fan films is that none of them are directed by Paul Anderson. Hollywood has become notorious for taking popular video games and making nightmarishly-bad adaptations. Why do you think that is? AP: Because I believe most of them never played the actual video game until they acquired the script! So far I can't say I've seen a hands down amazing Hollywood "game to movie" yet. GB: What is it about Hollywood filmmakers that makes them want to adapt something by stripping out pretty much everything that made the video game version popular in the first place? AP: Money? Making a movie for only the gaming demographic means less money made. At the end of the day it's still a business and risk-taking moves can be frowned upon at times, such as making a true-to-heart video game adaption. But I have no doubt in my mind after the comic book pool and 80's-90's remakes run dry the film industry will start diving into the video game arena even more so then now. I'm betting with the huge success of Call of Duty they are already planning on turning it into a movie… I mean they already made a Jeep based off the game why not a movie? I just hope they put the source material in the right hands. GB: Did you look at any other fan films before making yours? Did you learn any interesting dos or don'ts that you'd care to share? AP: We did. We realized we wanted to make something different, something they haven't seen before, and rather something for the entire rapidly growing gaming community at large. One thing I learned — and I'm actually slapping myself in the face for not thinking of this — but we should have called it something different other than Left 4 Dead since the twist came out of nowhere for most people. Filed under: games, VentureBeat, video        
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| We’ve all got wireless devices, so why are tech conferences still drowning us in paper? Posted: 28 Dec 2011 11:58 AM PST
Next month, the largest and most prominent of tech conferences will be occurring in Las Vegas – the Consumer Electronics Show – and you can be sure, even with new versions of smartphone and tablet apps exclusively for the 2012 event, that reams and reams of paper will be wasted. (Full disclosure: I run a mobile publishing company, GENWI.) I was struck by how much paper I saw at last year's CES: The conference distributed at least 25 different print versions of its magazine. CES 2011 had 140,000 attendees, and let’s assume 30% picked up a copy. There were close to a million copies of printed magazines distributed. This is discounting the 140,000 copies of the conference program guide and maps printed (or that other primitive corporate totem changing hands between individuals – the business card) . At least CES appears to be moving in something of a right direction: Attendees of CES 2011 were given the option of refusing the official CES booklet, and the show released a free iPhone application called "Follow Me," which included some material previously restricted to a paper pamphlet, such as floor maps and schedules. According to The Wall Street Journal, other tech conferences are adopting similar policies: The Web 2.0 Summit and Macworld Expo have been integrating smartphone functionality as well, with similar kinds of apps, as well as the use of Google Calendar. To quote Journal, though, the services offered so far are "not nearly enough." Even if you give attendees the option to use apps instead of paper, there is still the matter of all that paper continuing to be generated. And don't forget that there are lots of CES-type shows for different industries that aren't so tech-savvy. Let’s assume that there are 100 conferences of a similar size and composition (in various industries) in a given year. The total copies of magazines printed and distributed around these conferences would be approximately 100 million. Let’s also assume that each magazine contains, on average, 25 sheets. That gives you a total of 2.5 billion sheets of paper. One tree produces an estimated 8333.33 sheets of paper. So that's about 300,000 trees. If you're an environmentally conscious techie, what's the point of driving a Nissan Leaf, or using energy efficient appliances in your home, if you're contributing to the razing of potentially 300,000 trees when you unthinkingly pick up a guide or magazine at one of these conferences? Consumers and end users are beginning to embrace paperless magazines and other media. Why can't those of us participating in these B2B activities join them at the same rate of adoption? You don't have to be a treehugger to see the basic and simple sense behind all this. What I propose is making all show guides and magazines totally tablet compatible. Don't even offer the unnecessary and wasteful option of a paper guide or magazine. Conference organizers can very easily put all of the same information within a smartphone or tablet app that they can on bound pieces of paper. In addition, there are things you can do with a tablet app that you simply can't with old-fashioned paper such as:
The only good reason for an outdated reliance on printed hard copies is, well, the outdated reliance on printed hard copies itself. Take this example from a May 2011 New York Times article on paperless conferences: "Apps can also work for medical conferences, where delegates are given large amounts of information. Catherine Foss, executive director of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said she loaded the equivalent of 183 pages of medical paper abstracts and other research documents onto an app for her biannual conference last year. The society still spent roughly $27,000 to print hard copies because attendees are in the habit of taking the books back to the office for reference [emphasis my own], but Ms. Foss said she expected members to gradually make the transition to a digital format." 183 pages worth of medical abstracts and research documents! If the Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery can do it, and if our tablet-wielding parents and grandparents can do it, we certainly can. Here's my challenge to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA): Let's go as paperless as we can for the 2012 CES and maybe even go completely paperless in time for 2013!
[Rolls of paper image by Kenneth Sponsler/Shutterstock.] Filed under: cloud, green, mobile        
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| Holiday shopping season: Kmart loses, Amazon wins (infographic) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 11:53 AM PST This holiday shopping season produced winners and losers for retailers, the entertainment industry and restaurants. Some companies — including Amazon and Walmart — recorded high sales numbers and increased customer satisfaction. Others didn’t fare as well. With record-high Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales, online retailers came out as winners this year. The music industry, especially because of the sales of holiday music, had a strong season as well. Given that many people flock to the movies for Christmas, its no surprise that box office sales were up more than 60 percent for the Christmas weekend. And smartphones had a fabulous holiday season too because of a 140 percent increase in iPhone and Android activations. But not every company benefited from the holiday season. According to Reuters, Sears’ and Kmart’s sales are down 5 percent from this time last year. Sears Corporation owns both retailers and announced Wednesday that it will be closing many Kmart and Sears stores next year. Kmart was hit hardest in its electronics department, which faces stiff competition from Walmart and Target. Sears is suffering from empty stores and lower quality shopping experiences. For most businesses, this year’s sales figures for the holidays were strong. But for stores that entered the fourth quarter struggling to stay strong in the marketplace, this shopping season didn’t offer much help. For more stats on the holiday winners and losers, check out the infographic below. [Infographic via FastUpFront] Filed under: VentureBeat        
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| Apple’s iTV may feature channel customization, says Sterne Agee analyst Posted: 28 Dec 2011 11:19 AM PST A new report from analyst firm Sterne Agee agrees with recent speculation that Apple will eventually produce its own branded television set. Apple may soon start iTV production with 32- and 37-inch television sets planned for a summer 2012 launch, containing chips coming from Samsung and screens from Sharp, as VentureBeat reported yesterday. “Frankly, we are not surprised and believe Apple should enter the TV space as this is arguably the only major end market the company is not currently participating in a bigger way,” writes Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu in the report released today. “Moreover, we have picked up several data points indicating activity from component makers to manufacturing partners as well as Apple's own patent filings from at least 2005.” The success of an Apple-branded TV set would depend heavily on the selection of content available, as well as the configuration of devices, Wu indicates in the report. Content is a key factor in how people are adopting streaming set-top boxes, which is something Apple is keenly aware of. Various reports, including one citing comments from CBS’ chief executive, suggest that Apple is in talks with media companies about the creation of a new streaming platform for video channels. Such a platform would allow Apple to bypass the cable companies by offering channels through a high-speed Internet connection. It would also allow customers to pick and chose the exact lineup of channels. Wu also notes that Apple should continue producing an Apple TV streaming set-top box as well as a branded TV set. This could prove difficult at first, since the Apple TV solution is far less costly and allows you to convert your current HDTV set into an Internet-connected device. Yet, Apple could take advantage of this situation much in the same way it has with iPhone upgrades (e.g. iPhone 4S is the only official iPhone that can access Siri). Apple could simply make the more expensive iTV product the exclusive way for people to access an App Store or its streaming media channel platform, while the Apple TV would continue to compliment all of the other Apple services (such as iTunes and Airplay). Via Barron’s Filed under: cloud, media, VentureBeat        
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| 10 things you need to know about Anonymous’ Stratfor hack Posted: 28 Dec 2011 10:25 AM PST
We’ve put together a 10-point FAQ for better understanding the major hacking incident, which blew up in the news cycle on Christmas and continues to worry people as more details are released. 1. What is Stratfor? Stratfor Global Intelligence is an Austin, Tex.-based security “think tank” that releases a daily newsletter concerning security and intelligence matters all over the world. The company’s clients include the Defense Department, Lockheed Martin and Bank of America. Stratfor claims to provide “non-ideological, independent analysis of international affairs and security threats.” Many companies and U.S. government agencies have supposedly shared sensitive information with Stratfor to receive threat analyses and advice. So far, Anonymous has not released any data besides credit cards, but it could have WikiLeaks-caliber info that could disrupt companies’ operations and, potentially, national security. 2. What is Anonymous? Anonymous is sometimes described as a “hacker collective,” a group of individuals who hack for a similar purpose. But Anonymous is really a group only in the sense that multiple people use the name to headline their efforts. Anonymous is made up of individuals who hack into computer systems without permission and take data such as communications records, names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit cards. Anonymous members generally have a “greater good” purpose behind their attacks. For instance, in September, members attacked Texas police computer systems and published 3GB of law enforcement logs, which it justified by saying it would shine a light on police corruption. Anonymous has also hacked into the San Francisco BART public transit system and made broad threats against Facebook. Hacking attacks by Anonymous are generally organized by a small number of people and as word passes from member to member, others hop on board. Check out our interview with one Anonymous member who details the experience from the inside here. 3. What got hacked? Anonymous hackers broke into web servers of Stratfor and copied 200 gigabytes worth of data. Thus far, it appears that the hackers have details only about Stratfor customers who purchased Stratfor’s newsletter, but the hackers could easily have more than that. Several reports indicate Anonymous will next release more than 3.3 million client e-mails. An independent analysis by data loss and identity theft prevention service Identity Finder says that, so far, 9,651 active credit cards, 47,680 unique e-mail addresses, 25,680 unique phone numbers and 44,188 encrypted passwords were hacked from the A through M name list. More details will be released in the coming days as Anonymous publishes the N through Z list of names. Stratfor looks especially bad in this instance because the credit card data was not encrypted, which means it was much easier than usual for Anonymous to steal and crack open. It’s quite the amateur mistake for a so-called “intelligence” firm. 4. What information has Anonymous published? Using various Twitter accounts, including @AnonymousIRC and @YourAnonNews, and the site Pastebin, Anonymous has published names, credit card numbers, and encrypted password information. None of what has been posted so far jeopardizes companies or government agencies, but that doesn’t mean other types of sensitive data won’t be posted in the near future. 5. If I’m a Stratfor customer, am I at risk? What should I do? Todd Feinman, Identity Finder's CEO, said credit card fraud in this incident has already been "well documented." Back on Dec. 25, Anonymous posted five receipts of donations it had made to charities using stolen cards. If you are presently a Stratfor customer or have been one in the past, we’d strongly advise you to contact your credit card company and let them know. It’s possible you’ve already been hacked or will be when more data is released by Anonymous. Letting your credit card company know will ensure that it can watch for suspicious activity or change your account information to prevent fraud. 6. How does the U.S. government use Stratfor? The U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, uses Stratfor for impartial intelligence and analysis reports of incidents happening around the world. The government has likely shared sensitive data with Stratfor to gain a third-party perspective on its military and diplomatic engagements. It is unclear how much data the government has shared with Stratfor, but it is one of the firm’s many clients. 7. Does this put government data or military operations at risk? So far, nothing that has been released that will compromise military operations or national security. Stolen credit cards will cause headaches for a lot of people but not endanger them. However, if Anonymous releases the 3.3 million client e-mails it claims to have, there’s no telling the damage it could cause. When companies and governments provide off-the-record information to Stratfor, they could easily be issuing confidential data. Anonymous has said it is now in possession of a “smoking gun for a number of crimes,” but we will see in the next days if they are just spouting hot air or have something substantial. 8. What will happen to the charities that Anonymous “donated” money to using fraudulent credit card numbers? Anonymous claims to have donated $500,000 in stolen cash so far to charities. Unfortunately, because it’s stolen money, the credit card companies will take back the money and could make charities pay a small fee per unauthorized trasaction. (Hopefully they won’t.) Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, explains further:
9. Where can I follow up-to-the-minute updates about the Stratfor hack? Members of Anonymous continue to post Stratfor information via Anonymous’ Twitter accounts, including @AnonymousIRC and @YourAnonNews. At present, those accounts also are heavily attacking the SOPA legislation in the U.S. Congress. And of course, we will do our best to keep you up to date on the Stratfor incident as more information leaks to the web. 10. What can we expect to come next? Anonymous has thus far published the credit card numbers of Stratfor customers starting with the letter A an ending with M, and it still plans on publishing customers N through Z. It also plans to release the aforementioned client e-mails to shed “some light on just how clueless this company really is when it comes to database security.” These e-mail spools may have already hit the web, but preliminarily through the “darknet” or a network originally intended for those who want extra privacy. Those who want to read the exchanges through the “darknet” need special permissions to gain access. Meghan Kelly contributed to this article. Guy Fawkes photo via pittaya Filed under: security        
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| Facebook for iPad said to get Timeline update in January Posted: 28 Dec 2011 10:22 AM PST
The social network is planning to release a new version of Facebook for iPad with Timeline, optimized for the big screen, in early 2012, 9to5Mac reports. Facebook Timeline is the company’s radical reinterpretation of the Facebook profile. The feature replaces the profile with a two-column, expandable scrapbook where status updates, photos and life milestones tell the story of your life. Timeline was introduced in September, and then gifted to all members on the web, iPhone and Android app users and mobile web users in mid December. Timeline was also slated to appear inside the Facebook for iPad application in mid December, but the application was postponed due to bugs, a source told 9to5Mac. The app is now on a track for a mid-to-late January launch, but could be delayed further pending fixes and Apple approval. “The large, Multi-Touch version of Timeline is described as very smooth and intuitive and a fusion of the web and iPhone/iPod touch versions,” according to the report. Timeline on the iPad has the potential to drive home the significance of Facebook’s new feature to holdouts and naysayers. The form factor and touch-centric nature of the iPad more closely resembles that of a traditional scrapbook and would give members a way to tote around, flip through, view and showoff their most-prized memories in all their digital glory. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Filed under: social, VentureBeat        
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| Tough negotiator: HP wanted $1.2B for webOS and Palm’s assets (exclusive) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 10:20 AM PST
As baffling as it may seem, HP was trying to rid itself of Palm without taking a loss on its purchase, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told us. When asked for confirmation about the pricing, an HP representative declined to comment. The company seemingly ignored that Palm’s value had fallen significantly since HP purchased the smartphone pioneer in April 2010, thanks to the spectacular failure of the HP Touchpad tablet. And the fact that HP didn’t make any progress with its new webOS phones, the Pre 3 and Veer, didn’t help either. It’s no wonder then that HP failed to find a suitor for Palm, after having discussions with Amazon, Samsung, Intel, and many others. HP eventually decided to open source webOS, allowing it to take advantage of the platform in the future without the need to allocate resources to keep it alive. HP CEO Meg Whitman said the company still plans to develop new webOS tablets in 2012. It’s possible that HP eventually lowered its asking price for Palm, but it likely would have had to fall below $500 million for any company to consider snapping it up. We’ve also heard that HP was asking for continued access to webOS for use in its printers, something that would have only scared away potential suitors. The $1.2 billion asking price shines some light on a story we heard from another source: At one point, HP’s team tried to pitch the sale to Facebook but was practically laughed out of the room. At first, I attributed that story to Facebook’s side being a bit obnoxious, but I can’t blame them if HP was indeed asking $1.2 billion. And yes, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was present at the meeting, although he apparently didn’t say much (I’m sure whatever he was thinking at the time would have been gold). At this point, it seems that HP is either a terrible negotiator or never really wanted to let go of webOS in the first place. Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat        
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| What recession? Holiday shopping online finishes at a record $35.3B Posted: 28 Dec 2011 10:11 AM PST
According to comScore, which tracked online consumer spending between November 1 and the week beginning December 25, year-over-year sales figures for online retailers were higher for every single week for the final 56 holiday shopping days of 2011. “Holiday e-commerce spending has remained strong throughout the season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni in a statement. “We can now say with certainty that the $1.25 billion spent on Cyber Monday will rank it as the heaviest online spending day of the season for the second consecutive year, but we should also note that it was accompanied by nine other billion-dollar spending days this year.” One huge new trend was the purchase of digital goods and subscriptions, with many purchases being made as late in the game as Christmas Day. This e-commerce vertical includes digital downloads for media such as music, TV, movies, e-books and applications. To those of us tracking the popularity of gadgets, this trend isn’t too much of a shock. Given that tablets, smartphones and e-readers (as well as iTunes gift cards and similar gift certificates) have become popular gifts in recent years and months, it’s not too surprising that many recipients of such gifts spend the hours post-unboxing in a frenzy of app and media downloading. According to comScore’s data, on an average day during the 2011 holiday season, digital content and subscriptions accounted for around 3 percent of overall e-commerce sales. However, on December 25, the digital content and subscriptions category made up more than 20 percent of sales. comScore says the higher figure should be echoed on each of the days following Christmas Day for about a week. Here’s a snapshot of year-over-year sales increases between the holiday season in 2010 and this year’s holiday shopping online as well as the hard numbers for a few significant shopping days: The overall hike in online spending was apparent as early as November 23, when we saw a 14 percent year-over-year increase. And the week ending December 18 was the biggest week in online shopping in the history of e-commerce. Filed under: VentureBeat        
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Asian web powerhouse 
Online retail giant Amazon sold over 4 million Kindle devices this month — 
We’re not even in 2012 yet, but it seems that the iPad 3 rumor mill is in full swing.
Following a major attack by the hacker group Anonymous, the security research firm
Xactly Corporation: Compensation management
Facebook may be growing in popularity, but Google is still the web brand to beat.
Amazon has bought Quorus, a shopping startup focusing on bringing social interactions and conversations into e-commerce. The deal seems to have been completed in November 2011.
The Quorus product is one of several social-shopping products floating around the web these days. The basic idea is that you’d get advice and feedback from friends while considering various online purchases — not unlike the premise behind Tara Hunt’s 
The mine-is-bigger-than-yours need to measure our self-worth against others is alive and well on the web. For proof, look no further than controversial influence-scoring startup Klout, which is now processing 7.5 billion API calls per month.
Daily deals company Groupon has reportedly snatched up Campfire Labs, a still-in-stealth social-media startup based in San Francisco.
Are you in the mood for a mystery? Right now, a judge and a couple teams of lawyers are working on a great one — the case of the disappearing, reappearing YouTube video.
Leading a nation is a tough gig, but soon there may an app for that, too.
Adrian Picardi: A childhood friend, Tim Seargeant, who is now the online face for Airsoft GI, had wanted to make a fun video with us for awhile. It wasn't until when he convinced his boss to allow us to shoot at their property and store front that we were able to conceptualize the idea. This really wouldn't have happened if both N5 and A.GI weren't passionate on the idea. It's like the Avengers only with our favorite videogame characters.
The story of your life, as told through your Facebook updates and photos, will be showing on an iPad near you come late January, according to a source.
$1.2 billion. That’s how much HP paid for Palm last year, and it’s also how much the company was trying to sell its Palm assets for over the latter half of 2011, VentureBeat has learned.
Online holiday shopping for 2011 finished at an all-time high of $35.3 billion, up 15 percent from last year’s sales figures.
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