14 January, 2012

VentureBeat

VentureBeat

More than just hype, Ultrabooks are the future of laptop computing

Posted: 14 Jan 2012 08:15 AM PST

There’s a good chance that your next laptop will be thinner and lighter than you can possibly imagine.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel unveiled its grand plan to make Ultrabooks — its snazzy name for ultraportable MacBook Air-like laptops — the next big thing in computing. This year alone there will be more than 75 Ultrabook models on the market, and Intel has said that it’s gearing up its biggest marketing push since the Centrino lineup for the new machines.

Ultrabooks are poised to replace boring old Windows laptops for good in the next few years, and that’s a good thing.

While Apple’s MacBook Air is the obvious inspiration for Ultrabook PCs, the move towards impossibly thin laptops has been in progress for decades — from ultraportable IBM ThinkPads in the 90s, to netbooks, to the razor-thin Ultrabooks. Initial ultraportables were always too expensive, and netbooks generally weren’t powerful enough to serve as primary computers. It’s just now that the hardware to make Ultrabooks powerful and useful is actually affordable.

So what’s the big deal? Ultrabooks promise to be lighter than typical laptops, weighing in around 3 pounds for the most part, allowing them to practically disappear in your laptop bag. They’ll sport solid-state drives (SSDs), instead of traditional hard drives, which will make them extra-thin and fast. (Expect startup times under 10 seconds and practically instant resume from standby speeds.) And thanks to Intel’s next-generation Core processors, Ultrabooks will be peppy under the hood and even capable of decent 3D graphics performance.

You could get the same benefits from Apple’s most recent MacBook Air model, but as is typical of PCs versus Macs, Ultrabooks promise to be cheaper. (Technically, the MacBook Air is an Ultrabook, though it’s unlikely Apple will make any effort to get it labeled as such by Intel.) Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air starts at a reasonable $999, but the larger (and preferable for doing work, in this reporter’s opinion) 13-inch model will run you $1,299. Most 13-inch Ultrabooks, on the other hand, are aiming for a price well below $1,000.

Ultimately, the proliferation of cheap ultraportables means consumers will no longer have to decide between buying a boxy laptop and saving money, or aiming for something thin and light. With Ultrabooks, ultraportability will become the new standard consumers who want a new laptop. Boxy laptop designs will stick around on the very low-end, and desktops will become even more endangered among general consumers.

Ultrabooks will be particularly useful for students and professionals — basically, anyone who needs to carry their computer for most of the day. And given that they’re so light, Ultrabooks will completely erase the need for a tablet for many. Intel has also said that PC makers are working on bringing touchscreen capabilities to future models (in addition to voice and motion controls), blurring the line even further between Ultrabooks and tablets.

Having used a MacBook Air for almost a year now, there’s honestly no way I could go back to anything thicker, or anything not running a SSD.

Aside from the extreme portability, what I love most about the MacBook Air is the way it completely gets out of the way to let you be productive. I can turn it on and begin working from a cold boot within 15 seconds. Or, if it’s in standby mode, I can flip open the lid and begin working almost immediately. That’s mostly thanks to the fast SSD and graphics capabilities — and it’s something that Windows-based Ultrabooks will share.

Speed. Simplicity. Portability. I realized fairly quickly that this is how I’ve always wanted my computers to fit into my daily life. With Ultrabooks, soon everyone will learn this is the way computers were meant to be.


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Hands-on with the One Laptop per Child XO 3.0 tablet (video)

Posted: 14 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST

Of the major products unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, one of the most promising was the new  education tablet from One Laptop per Child. The nonprofit group, which has teamed up on the tablet design with Marvell, showed off its OLPC XO 3.0 tablet and said it was ready to start negotiations with governments or other bodies to purchase large numbers of the devices.

Is this the design that will finally get computing power in the hands of every child? So far, OLPC has shipped 2.4 million laptops to children in 42 countries and 25 languages, but its impact has been far short of its ambitions. Aimed at school children in developing countries, the tablet is the latest manifestation of former MIT Media Lab director Nicholas Negroponte’s dream of putting a $100 computer in the hands of every child on Earth. That idea has evolved from a laptop to a tablet, so it was good to see that the much-talked-about transition has finally taken shape. At CES, Marvell had working models of the design and showed us what the machine could do.

The obvious difference between this and the earlier laptop models is that this one is designed for touchscreen use. The Sugar desktop interface from earlier models has been adapted for touch operation. And the system can also run the Android operating system or Linux. The Sugar interface is somewhat slow when you fire something up with a touch on the screen.

This isn’t the prettiest tablet I’ve seen, but green and white look is one that kids might fancy. The screen is not particularly bright, but that’s intentional because the device is designed to operate on low power. The tablet’s cover has a 4-watt solar panel with an integrated battery. Since the tablet needs only two watts of power, the solar panel can produce twice as much power in an hour compared to what the tablet needs.

If you put the panel inside the green cover, it makes contact with four screws that act as contact power pins. You can use the hand crank to supply power as well. A minute’s worth of cranking can produce about 10 minutes worth of battery power. All of the power options recognize the fact that electricity sources aren’t always plentiful in developing nations.

The green cover forms a watertight connection so that it can withstand being dropped in water. After all, these are kids we’re talking about, and it would be quite sad if their prized possession failed to operate after it was accidentally dropped in water. The cover is also dust resistant.

The hardware specifications aren’t that impressive by modern computing standards. It has a 1-gigahertz Marvell Armada PXA618 central processing unit, 512 megabytes of main memory, an 8-inch liquid crystal display, and a green plastic case. The display has a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and uses the Pixel Qi technology that makes it readable even in direct sunlight.

The Marvell processor allows for a significant decrease in power consumption. Marvell also provides an Avastar WiFi system-on-a-chip that gives the device connectivity. The system also comes with a good set of ports that include mini universal serial bus,  full-size USB, and dual 3.5 millimeter analog jacks.  You can use the mini USB port to charge the device.

The Sugar user interface comes with a bunch of applications, which you can access from a spiral icon wheel. The apps include everything from an oscilloscope to games that explain physics concepts. It has a Wikipedia encyclopedia that is accessible offline with a number of embedded images.

All in all, the tablet isn’t for every child in countries where people can afford to buy iPads. But it is very functional, well designed, and could very well be the device that takes off in the rest of the world.

Check out our video of a hands-on demo of the OLPC XO 3.0 tablet.


Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat


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Ashton Kutcher invests in another Berlin startup, “Etsy for experiences” Gidsy

Posted: 14 Jan 2012 05:39 AM PST

Gidsy, a new company in Germany, could be a way for you to make a few bucks off your unusual talents.

Gidsy is a “marketplace for authentic experiences,” and it just landed a $1.2 million investment from a combination of Sunstone Capital, Index Ventures, Werner Vogels (CTO of Amazon), and the actor Ashton Kutcher.

Are you a dumpling expert, urban survivalist or DIY manufacturer? If so,  Gidsy may be for you.

Gidsy’s founders were running a design studio in Berlin when they came up with the idea. "We were looking for someone to go mushroom picking in Berlin because we wanted to make a mushroom risotto and we couldn't find anyone who could help us with that," says co-founder Edial Dekker. "That's when we came up with the idea of Gidsy. How great would it be if anyone could organize a robotics workshop, city walk or cooking class?"

Gidsy places great emphasis on naming the individual organizing the experience, although these organizers may sometimes be running small businesses. "Individuals run the Gidsy marketplace, so Gidsy activities end up being very much about the hosts' personalities and quirks," Dekker says. "The experiences are better because they're expressions of an individual's personality and passion. Instead of attending a yoga class at a gym, for example, you'll find an expert on Gidsy offering candle-lit yoga classes on a rooftop."

Gidsy launched in New York, Berlin and Amsterdam in November and will expand to London and San Francisco in the next two weeks.

It's free to create an experience listing. Gidsy takes care of money transaction fees, customer support, cancellations, refunds and marketing in return for a 10 percent service charge. If a cancellation occurs more than one week before an experience, organizers keep 50 percent of the charge; if it's less than two days, then the organizer is paid in full. To protect users, organizers do not receive payments (via Paypal) until at least 24 hours after the experience. The minimum charge for an experience is $5.

Gidsy is not alone in this space. 500 startups investment Vayable already operates in Berlin, New York and several other cities. It charges a 15 percent service fee while another rival Sidetour takes 20 percent. Gidsy's founders claim that their service offers superior tools for organizers and social utilities for users. "We are very much focused on group bookings and connecting people," explains Dekker. "If you have booked the same activity, there's a high chance these people have something in common. We try to spark that conversation."

The Dekker brothers (Edial's brother Floris is also a co-founder) are imports to startup hotspot Berlin, hailing originally from Amsterdam. "It's been said before, but the city of Berlin feels very much like a startup," Dekker told me. "It's changing all the time, it's chaotic, exciting and disruptive. Add a bunch of amazing startups such as Soundcloud, Amen, Readmill and 6wunderkinder to that and you have the most exciting startup city in Europe."

Gidsy was founded in 2011, is based in Berlin and has 6 employees.

Gidsy isn’t the first of Kutcher’s Berlin investments. He is also an investor in Soundcloud, which recently received $50 million from Kleiner Perkins and Amen. In fact, the actor has proved to be a surprising savvy tech investor although he has been criticized for promoting his own investments on his sitcom “Two and a half men” and as guest editor of Details magazine. His previous punts include AirBnB, Foursquare, Path and Flipboard. Kutcher has also been spotted out on the town in Berlin, so presumably he likes the place.


Filed under: deals, social


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WalkScore rates cities on walkability, gets $2M

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 06:27 PM PST

WalkScoreWalkScore, the company which ranks cities based on how easy it is to navigate them by foot, has raised $2 million in its first round of funding, according to Geekwire.

If you’ve ever moved to a new city and known you were going to spend some time (forever?) car-less, you know why WalkScore is important. WalkScore looks at most city addresses in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and gives each city a “walkability” score from 0-100. This score is based on a few metrics that the company believes makes a good neighborhood for walking. These include having a neighborhood center, high enough populations for businesses to crop up, mixed incomes, and more.

The company has city ranking on its website, as well as an option to explore cities on a map. It also has an Apartment Search feature for those who want a WalkScore for their search. Companies are integrating WalkScore into their offerings as well and they’re not all real estate-oriented. Hipmunk, a travel search website, allows you to see WalkScores on its hotels application, so you know whether or not your stay will be around accessible shops and restaurants.

According to GeekWire, the money will be used to build out its apartment search, as well as its technology on the “walkability” side. It will also look further into the commuting process and what can be done to save that broken part of people’s daily lives.

Investors include Rudy Gadre, previously Facebook’s general counsel, Shel Kaphan, former chief technology officer of Amazon, and a number of angels, as well as companies.


Filed under: deals


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Grubwithus debuts iPhone app to book meals on-the-go

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 05:31 PM PST

Grubwithus, the social-dining startup that helps people meet over meals in real-life, has launched an official iPhone app. The free mobile app is a promising step toward a future service that allows people to spontaneously book meals amongst themselves anytime, anywhere.

The service is already known for its "in-real-life" approach to social networking, bringing strangers together for prix fixe meals that are negotiated with partner restaurants beforehand. The social goals are very open-ended: people use the service to date, to professionally network, or to check out new eateries. It's all up to the user.

The new app extends all the functionality of the website to the iPhone. It lets you search for and reserve meals, which you can easily pay for with a secure mobile payments system. Before you even sit down for your meal the check is split, tipped and paid. The app also carries over some of the existing social features of the website, namely chatting with friends you've made over past meals and viewing their profiles and meal histories.

The app is beautifully designed, with a lot of attention to detail around its wood-based zen aesthetic. iPhone app aficionados may notice Grubwithus has forgone the Apple default iPhone user interface buttons and layouts that most developers work off. Instead, it has opted for a custom-crafted look that reflects the humble, counter-intuitive take on social networking the company is going for. The company will design apps for Android and tablet users next.

I've tested the app and it appears fairly stable and fluid, but I haven't had a chance to book a meal on it, though I have booked several meals through the website in the past, to great (delicious) success.

The app is sure to make the Grubwithus process smoother. In the service's earlier days, people had to print out "reservation cards" that had directions to their meal, a brief menu overview, and their name written in giant letters. The printouts were problematic: many people didn't print them out, and restaurants were unsure about using them to confirm guests. I personally ran into these issues at most of my meals. The app changes all that, since it handily includes all the same information.

But the app goes beyond just replicating the old reservation cards. It also adds a social layer that was lacking on the website. Under a tab called "People," you can scroll through a feed of your friends' activity, and will receive push notifications when those friends book meals. This solves the problem of meal discovery many people had previously reported.

Co-founder Daishin Sugano also hinted to me that the new app will feature a photo component, dipping in the waters of crowded food "sharing" and recommendation startups like Foodspotting, Nosh, Chewsy, and Forkly. The app is aware of when you're actually in a meal, and if you open it, there'll be a photo button allowing you to take a photo and upload it to the site. What will happen with these photos is currently unclear, but Sugano says they have plans for something "more sophisticated" than competitors.

Despite these new features, the app is really a baby step toward the larger goal of allowing people to spontaneously meet for meals anytime, anywhere. This future hyper-connected meal-matrix is foreshadowed by the company’s recently launched "Create-a-Meal" feature that lets users setup their own meals with partner restaurants (a feature that's soon to arrive on the iPhone). And as Grubwithus partners with more and more restaurants that see the value they're adding, users will be able to pick spots and times on-the-fly, use geo-location to find one another, pay through the already established mobile payment system, and meet for their meal.

Grubwithus has over 30,000 registered users and a growing base of restaurant partners that currently tops over 650 nationwide. It received $1.6 million in May 2011 for its first round of funding after successfully completing the Y Combinator program. The Grubwithus iPhone app is available for free at the Apple App Store here.


Filed under: mobile, social, VentureBeat


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New Chinese malware attacks Department of Defense

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 05:13 PM PST

Access Card

A new strain of malware called Sykipot is infecting US government access cards, and AlienVault has traced the virus back to China.

Access cards are often used in governmental departments for both physical access as well as access to protected information. As AlienVault explains in a blog post, cyber criminals will always try to be in step with our security measures, even if they are physical ones like a card. Kind of like, if we built it, they will hack. In this case, the Chinese cyber criminals have found a way to bypass a physical card, by attacking the Windows operating system in the card reader.

Sykipot (pronounced sick-ee-pot) was originally found in 2006 as a very simple form of malware, distributed through phishing e-mails. Now, Sykipot is a little more developed, but is still distributed in the same way. Jaime Blasco, a researcher for AlienVault, explained that cyber riminals are distributing e-mais about weapons, and warfare materials to the Department of Defense and other government contractors in an attempt to lure them to open infected PDFs. Once the malware is set loose within the system, it finds the card reader and extracts authentication credentials from a card, as long as the card is physically in the reader.

The information is then sent back to command and control servers. Tracing the malware’s communications, Blasco was able to determine that the US servers that seemed to receive the malware’s messages were really just a proxy for servers in China. Stemming out of one of these command and control centers was an error message coming from one of tools used to create the malware. This message was all in Chinese, which also tipped off the Asian origins.

Specifically, Sykipot is attacking the United States Department of Defense, along with other defense contractors. Though these cyber criminals are able to intercept authentication credentials, physically they cannot enter any of the compromised buildings, as it is not (yet) possible to replicate the physical card.

What has been compromised, if anything, has yet to be released.

Access card photo via Shutterstock

 


Filed under: security


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iPhone mainstay Camera+ continues to be profitable, makes $5.1M

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 04:55 PM PST

There’s no tap dancing around it, iPhone photo app Camera+ is a money-making machine.

The sophisticated photo capture and edit application, built by iOS development shop Tap Tap Tap, has been purchased more than 6 million times on the App Store. Camera+ has also made its makers $5.1 million in revenue to date, company principal John Casasanta revealed Friday.

Camera+, which currently retails for $0.99 and offers for-charge in-app upgrades, has been a consistently strong performer on the App Store, even as the free one-touch filter application Instagram has skyrocketed to Internet stardom.

The app appeals to a growing crop of iPhoneographers in search of robust mobile photo-editing tools, and sales have climbed as the iPhone’s camera quality has improved. The launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S device and the increased app interest during the recent holiday season have propelled sales to an all-time high.

“Both were increases that were expected but what's been surprising is how long each has lasted,” Casasanta said. “When the iPhone 4S came out, Camera+ sales have approximately doubled and have sustained that new level since then. And with Christmas, even though it occurred weeks ago, sales have increased by about 2/3 more than the level they were before the holiday.”

All signs are pointing to continued success: Camera+ had almost 1 million sales in the past 30 days alone, and it’s now selling at an average rate of one application every three seconds.

Camera+, which is heavy on effects and editing tools and light on social features, seems to have found a winning strategy for making money on the App Store. Instagram meanwhile, also a hit iPhone-only photo application, continues to sign up new members at an increasing rate (Instagram has about 10 million more users than Camera+), but has no real revenues to speak of. The applications are more complimentary than they are competitive, but it’s interesting to watch as two similarly-purposed applications take off and travel down distinct paths.

[Image via Tap Tap Tap]


Filed under: mobile, social, VentureBeat


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Playdom looks to boost Spry Fox’s Triple Town numbers on Facebook

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 04:24 PM PST

Triple TownPlaydom, Disney’s social games product group, has announced plans to team with developer Spry Fox to publish its latest social game, Triple Town, on Facebook.

Triple Town is a town-building puzzle game, functioning very similarly to a typical match-three in terms of gameplay, with a few clever twists. The small grid is slowly filled with grass, bushes, houses and churches that players set down, while trying to fend off or capture dangerous bears and ninjas. The game was released last October, and although it has received a fair amount of praise around the web, the numbers have not been entirely satisfactory for the developer.

David Edery, CEO of Spry Fox, outlined the reasons his company chose Playdom as the future publisher of Triple Town, in a recent blog post. Although the game has seen millions of users come and go, there have never been millions of simultaneous players, both for lack of widespread advertising and potential technical limitations. With Playdom’s advanced tools, marketing proficiency, and extensive reach on Facebook, Edery believes that the game will see a much larger and consistent user base after the partnership.

Edery also highlights the importance of keeping Spry Fox dedicated to creating games, rather than running a business. This will not be the first time Spry Fox has chosen to partner with a well known publisher for one of its games. Last year it teamed up with Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick to bring Steambirds: Survival to iOS and Android.

As for Playdom, developer of the most popular Facebook game of 2011 (Gardens of Time), it wants Spry Fox to maintain complete creative control over the game. Playdom has made it abundantly clear how much it likes the game, and it wants the opportunity to broaden its audience.

Spry Fox plans to expand the title even further, with iOS and Android editions on the way. Only time will tell if Triple Town can reach the lofty heights set by Playdom’s previous titles.


Filed under: games, VentureBeat


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The Pirate Bay shifts gears, will stop serving torrents

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 04:23 PM PST

PirateBay logoBeginning today, The Pirate Bay will gradually stop serving torrent files over the next month as it moves in a new direction.

But while the site will cease serving torrents, it’s likely it will retain its current role as the face of the illegal media piracy and a constant source of irritation for major media companies. The Pirate Bay plans to start replacing it’s torrent download links with “Magnet” links, which refer you to another location to download the actual file, reports TorrentFreak.

Ultimately, this means people will still be navigating to The Pirate Bay for pirated music, video, software and more. The only thing that’s changing is that lots of other hopeful pirates will start boosting their torrenting efforts — and making torrent sites in general more difficult for authorities to block and/or shut down.

The Pirate Bay team said the torrent technology is out of date and that resources could be better used doing other things, the report states. And recently, many of the site’s founders have been pursuing new ways to spend their time.

For example, Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde’s micro payment service called Flattr and the file-sharing service called BayFiles that launched in August.


Filed under: media, VentureBeat


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Grooveshark launches HTML5 mobile app to get around being banned in app stores

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:09 PM PST

grooveshark-html5-appStreaming music service Grooveshark has launched an HTML5 web application that can stream music through iOS and Android mobile web browsers, the company announced today.

Grooveshark has been in legal hot water with the major music labels because it doesn't have broad licensing agreements to play the majority of its music, unlike Spotify, MOG, Rdio and Rhapsody. Much like YouTube, Grooveshark depends on users to legally upload music that can be enjoyed by the community. If a user uploads a file that he or she doesn't own and it gets a DMCA complaint, Grooveshark takes the file down.

The company has been in enough trouble that Apple and Google banned the service’s native music apps from their respective app stores, but with the launch of an HTML5 app it can now work around it. The new HTML5 app is accessible through mobile browsers and it works for the iPhone, iPad, Android 2.3 or later devices, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the HP TouchPad. At present, you must go to the URL http://html5.grooveshark.com and not just http://grooveshark.com from the browser, in order for it to work.

Overall, the app is super simple in design, but it is functional. As you can see in an iPhone snapshot to the left, the app has three tabs — Search, Stations and Popular. The Search tab lets you look for artists, songs and albums. When you find a song you want to hear from your searches, tap the song and it will begin playing and show up in a black bar at the bottom of the screen.

The Stations tab shows all kinds of pre-made radio stations, such as 80s, 90s Alt Rock, Ambient, Indie and R&B. And the Popular tab shows several of the most-listened to songs playing on Grooveshark. We’d definitely like to see more additions, such as artwork on songs that are playing and social recommendations, but this is still beta so we expect more in the future.

Have you checked out Grooveshark’s HTML5 app? What do you think?


Filed under: media, mobile


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New 3DS accessory makes the handheld console less portable

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:03 PM PST

3DS StandYesterday, we heard news that upcoming Nintendo 3DS game Kid Icarus would be shipping with a free stand for the console.

Previously only announced for Japan through Uprising designer Masahiro Sakurai’s Twitter account, Nintendo has now confirmed that the stand will be available in all territories.

The stand is designed to hold up the handheld while the user plays the game. The Kid Icarus control scheme requires one hand to be on the Circle Pad and the other to use the stylus. Playing Kid Icarus requires fast movements and aim, and holding the 3DS with one hand can apparently become a bit uncomfortable for some users.

When we inquired about the accessory Nintendo issued the following statement:

Nintendo is including a free stand with all copies of the Kid Icarus: Uprising game for the Nintendo 3DS system. The stand holds the Nintendo 3DS at an angle above any flat surface and provides players with a comfortable option for playing. The game's control scheme was designed to fit the game's unique blend of flight, shooting and melee combat, and offers tremendous precision. Our product testing demonstrated that players found the stand to be comfortable and enjoyable.

While that is nice for sitting around at home, it’s probably not as convenient for use on the road. The 3DS is a handheld, and that usually involves being able to open it up and play a quick game, then drop it back into your bag or pocket.

Can you play without the stand? Of course you can, and this does feel a bit like a workaround for a control scheme that may not have been as simple as the designers had originally hoped. Add a second Circle Pad, and soon this little guy will become more like a Virtual Boy than a successor to the DS. Either way, like the additional Circle Pad, it does feel like a bit of an afterthought.

[Image via Masahiro Sakurai/Twitpic]


Filed under: games


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Lamar Smith to remove controversial DNS blocking stipulation from SOPA

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:53 PM PST

Author of the highly debated Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), has agreed to remove a controversial section in the bill that blocks foreign websites accused of infringing copyrights or committing acts of Piracy, the congressman said in a statement released today.

The proposed SOPA bill gives both the U.S. government and copyright holders the authority to seek court orders to block websites associated with infringing, pirating or counterfeiting intellectual property. One method of blocking a website under SOPA — which Smith intends to remove — includes getting Internet service providers (like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon FiOS) to block the site’s DNS record, which would prevent people from visiting those sites.

“After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision,” Smith said in the statement. “We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers.”

By instituting mandatory DNS blocking, ISPs would have to remove certain security protocols, like DNSSEC, which adds an extra layer of security to websites by checking for a special DNS signature to prove that the site is actually what it claims to be. Many ISPs, including Comcast, use this method to help keep its internet network more secure.

It’s unclear at this time whether SOPA will still seek to block access to sites accused of piracy by getting them de-indexed from popular search engines or preventing them from doing business with online transaction services like PayPal.

On a related note, the author of a Senate bill similar to SOPA, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) is also showing signs of backing down. Sen. Patrick Leahy said yesterday that more study was needed regarding DNS blocking before PIPA goes to a vote.

We’re pasting the full statement from Smith’s office below.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today said he plans to remove a provision in the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) that requires Internet Service Providers to block access to certain foreign websites.

Chairman Smith: "After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers.

"Current law protects the rights of American innovators by prohibiting the illegal sale and distribution of their products by domestic websites.  But there is no equivalent protection for American companies from foreign online criminals who steal and sell American goods to consumers around the world. Congress must address the widespread problem of online theft of America's technology and products from foreign thieves.

"The Stop Online Piracy Act cuts off the flow of revenue to these foreign illegal sites and makes it harder for online criminals to market and distribute illegal products to U.S. consumers. The bill maintains provisions that 'follow the money' and cut off the main sources of revenue to foreign illegal sites. It also continues to protect consumers from being directed to foreign illegal websites by search engines. And it provides innovators with a way to bring claims against foreign illegal sites that steal and sell their technology, products and intellectual property.

"American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60 percent of U.S. exports.  Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while some of America's most profitable and productive industries are under attack.  The Stop Online Piracy Act protects the products and jobs that rightly belong to American innovators."

The bill is supported by more than 120 businesses and associations from around the country including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Sheriffs' Association, International Union of Police Associations, the National Association of Manufacturers, the AFL-CIO, the National Songwriters Association and the National Center for Victims of Crime. More information about the Stop Online Piracy Act can be found at: http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issues_RogueWebsites.html

For more information about the proposed legislation, check out VentureBeat's ongoing SOPA coverage.


Filed under: media, VentureBeat


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Google accused of stealing info from rival Kenyan business database

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:39 PM PST

Mocality, a business database service in Kenya, is going after Google for using Mocality’s data to sell Google services, and for allegedly making false claims about Mocality’s business practices.

On Friday, Mocality posted a blog entry detailing how Google has been using data on Mocality to find local business information, and then calling those businesses to offer competing services. Mocality reported that Google Kenya representatives said in one phone call to a local business that Mocality works under and with Google. In a separate occurrence, a Google rep said Mocality uses bait-and-switch tactics to get companies to pay for their listings. Mocality makes it clear in the post that it does not charge businesses for listing services, nor is it affiliated with Google.

Starting in September 2011, Mocality began getting unusual correspondence from customers asking for help with website building, a service that Mocality does not offer. After some investigation, Mocality discovered that Google had been accessing Mocality’s public data and using it to contact businesses to sell website development and database services from Getting Kenyan Businesses Online (GKBO), a facet of Google’s global small business assistance service.

Google’s official statement comes from Nelson Mattos, the Vice-President for Product and Engineering, Europe and Emerging Markets:

“We were mortified to learn that a team of people working on a Google project improperly used Mocality's data and misrepresented our relationship with Mocality to encourage customers to create new websites. We've already unreservedly apologized to Mocality. We're still investigating exactly how this happened, and as soon as we have all the facts, we'll be taking the appropriate action with the people involved.”

Google is still looking into the matter. From our understanding, a team from Google Kenya improperly used data from Mocality to find new customers for GKBO, going against Google’s standards to use this type of data. While Mocality’s information was available to the public, Mocality’s terms and conditions forbid the use of its data for commercial purposes.<

While Mocality’s frustration is understandable, the Google Kenya’s employees were also just doing their jobs — finding new customers for their service. However, the way the Google employees presented themselves when trying to gain new customers — by allegedly telling lies and improperly obtaining business data — is just shady business.

Thumbnail image via Shutterstock


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Google may face new FTC probe inquiries due to social search features

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:22 PM PST

Google may be facing some antitrust inquiries from the Federal Trade Commission over its use of Google+ social results in its web search.

The company has been involved in an ongoing antitrust probe from the FTC since at least June 2011. This inquiry was intended to "examine fundamental issues relating to Google's core search advertising business."

Now, companies like Twitter have raised concerns that Google’s new search results, which integrate and highlight content from Google+, may give the company an unfair advantage that hurts consumers.

Twitter, which has its general counsel looking into the issue, says that Twitter-specific search terms are no longer giving users Twitter-specific search results because of the Google+ integration.

A Twitter representative wrote to VentureBeat in an email, “For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet… News breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

“We're concerned that as a result of Google's changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”

Bloomberg reports today that two anonymous sources confirm the FTC probe has broadened beyond search ads to include Google+.

Google is also under an ongoing antitrust investigation in Europe. Google chairman Eric Schmidt recently visited Brussels to meet with European Commissioner Joaquín Almunia about the inquiry.

"We frequently meet with policy makers and regulators around the world. We're always happy to discuss issues affecting our industry and explain how our business works," the company said in an official statement at that time.


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Just Dance video game franchise sells over 25 million units

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:51 PM PST

The Just Dance franchise has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, publisher Ubisoft announced today. That is a huge success for the dancing game series, and demonstrates the continuing demand for more casual games on home video game consoles.

The latest entry in the series of music rhythm games, Just Dance 3, has sold more than 7 million copies since its release in October and has consistently been in the top five on video game sales charts in both the U.S. and Europe, according to Ubisoft’s internal estimates. Two Just Dance titles finished in the overall U.S. top ten sales chart for 2011, with Just Dance 2 at number 9 and Just Dance 3 at number 2. The overall best selling game of the year was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. According to NPD, the dance genre, driven largely by Just Dance sales, grew 66% over the previous year.

The franchise is available on all three gaming consoles — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii — and Geoffroy Sardin, chief EMEA sales and marketing officer at Ubisoft, says this variety has helped lead to its success. "Our diverse dance game offerings ensure that everyone can find an accessible and enjoyable title regardless of platform, and that we have a broad base upon which to bring new ideas and titles in the years to come," he said.

Ubisoft says a collective 23 million minutes a day have been spent striking a pose in Just Dance 3. Many of those minutes have no doubt been contributed by 24-year-old Elizabeth “Kitty McScratch” Bolinger (pictured below), who recently made it into the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer’s Edition as the “Most Prolific Dancing Game High Scorer.” Bolinger has more than 85 number one high scores in the Just Dance and Dance Central franchises. She says her favorite songs to dance to include “Hot and Cold” by Katy Perry, where she’s scored over 16,000 points blindfolded, and “Bullet Proof” by La Roux.


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Why Google is ditching search

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:44 PM PST

This story originally appeared on CNET and is republished with permission.

There has been a huge maelstrom about Google integrating Google+ into its search links. And it all misses the point.

Twitter and others are complaining that Google is throwing its massive 65 percent-plus market share weight around and quashing smaller competitors. The reason Twitter and others are so threatened is that the pattern of shared links within Google+ provides a decent enough indicator as to what links are interesting. What’s important is what’s trending, and algorithms can get a sense of that with just a subset of everything that’s getting shared on the Web.

The most interesting aspect of Google’s move, however, is its tacit acknowledgement that its stalwart search links are largely irrelevant and might as well be replaced with social results. Google search results are essentially gamed results produced by search optimizers.

Google is ditching search graphicIn other words, the search results that we supposedly value so highly are themselves paid placements, just like Google’s keyword ads. It’s just that in the case of search results, link owners have paid for SEO (search-engine optimization) to get Google’s attention instead of paying for SEM (search engine marketing) to make Google give their links prominence. Either way, though, searches are mostly just producing ads by any other name.

In addition, Google’s famed PageRank algorithm carries less and less weight these days, since fresh news and results inherently don’t have as many inbound links as older content. (If it helps, you can think of PageRank as a kind of paleo-social search–just one that moves way too slowly for the modern Web.)

As I’ve written in the past, Google well knows that its search results suck, and over the past few years, it has started to short-circuit those results by putting more and more direct “answers” at the top search pages. That, of course, makes the search results themselves less and less important.

As the screenshot to the right (click for a larger version) shows, ads and answers have started to push Google’s quintessential search results below the fold into the netherworld of the Web. As it turns out, in many cases the actual “answers” to searches for airline flights or products are actually much more monetizable than ads.

At last year’s D conference, Google chairman Eric Schmidt presaged the shift from links to answers, stating that “we’re trying to move from answers that are link-based to answers that are algorithmically based, where we can actually compute the right answer.” More and more, Google is simply going to answer your questions. Last month, it acquired predictive search company Clever Sense to accelerate this transition. New mobile search engines such as Apple’s Siri also dispel with search links entirely and simply return a single answer.

So why not replace increasingly gamed and lame search links with socially curated links? The search results were increasingly irrelevant anyway.

Peter Yared is the CTO of CBS Interactive and has founded four e-commerce and marketing infrastructure companies that were acquired by Sun, VMware, Webtrends and TigerLogic. You can follow him at@peteryared.

Graphic credit: Peter Yared/CNET

Google photo via Shutterstock


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Flickr to dump Picnik photo-editing features

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:31 PM PST

Plan to skip the picnic, Flickr users, because rain is in the forecast.

The popular photo service will discontinue its Picnik photo-editing features in a few months, the team revealed today.

“We know that you love editing your photos on Flickr and this transition doesn't, in any way, mean that there will no longer be editing capabilities,” Flickr head of product Markus Spiering said in a blog post on 2012 changes to the Flickr experience. “It's actually quite the opposite: we are working on making the editing experience even better on the site.”

Flickr, one of Yahoo’s most-beloved products, has allowed its members one-click access to Picnik’s suite of simple, online photo-editing features for more than four years running.

The shift away from Picnik is likely motivated by either a desire to stop piggybacking off of a Google service — Google acquired Picnik in 2010 — or the result of a lapsed agreement between Yahoo and Google. Neither company is being forthcoming about the reasons behind the change.

Flickr members can expect several more changes to the service in the year head, Spiering said. The site will also turn off Flickr Clock and Photo Session, and stop supporting Windows Phone tablet apps as of March 20. Flickr also recommends that Firefox 3.6 and Internet Explorer 7 users update to newer browsers, as the service will no longer support the dated browsers moving forward.

Oddly enough, Photo Session, a browser and mobile app Flickr feature designed to let people digitally and remotely flip through photos together, was only just introduced to Flickr members in September of 2011. The feature was not seeing the traction the company had hoped for, Spiering said, but the technology will live on in other products.

Yahoo and Google both declined to comment on the relationship between Flickr and Picnik.

Image via fromfok/Flickr


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Asemble your own MLG Pro Circuit Controller from Mad Catz (video)

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:10 PM PST

Mad Catz Interactive has created a modular video game controller for professional gamers under the MLG Pro Circuit brand name. The cool thing about it is that you can mix and match different modules for the controller to match your own playing taste.

The new product shows it’s still possible to come up with a clever design for controllers in a five-year-old market, and it makes sense to cater to the tastes of the most hardcore fans in the video game industry.

The controller has different modules that you can snap into it, allowing you to change the configuration of the D Pad or thumb sticks to suit your style. You can make the controller resemble the PlayStation 3 controller’s set-up or the Xbox 360′s. The product uses the officially licensed Major League Gaming name to attract professional gamers.

The company showed off the new controller this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It began selling the controller for the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3 on Amazon.com and its own web site for $99.99. That’s definitely pricey, but professional game players are pretty picky. The controller allows you to speed up the turning control for the relatively slow Xbox 360. There is a weight system that allows you to adjust the weight of the controller. It’s a sturdy controller. You can throw it against a wall when you lose a game, and it won’t break.

Check out the video below.


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Apple audits unveil child labor, slave labor and more at supplier plants

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 01:06 PM PST

Apple has released a list of hardware component suppliers (and many of their human rights and environmental violations) as part of its 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report.

This list, the company says, accounts for more than 97 percent of Apple's procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of iPads, iPhones, iPods, MacBooks and various other personal computing products worldwide.

In this year’s report, Apple says it conducted more audits of manufacturers than ever — 229 audits altogether for various partners along Apple’s supply chain. The number of audits represents an 80 percent increase over audits conducted in 2010 and includes more than 100 first-time audits.

While the company says it has educated more than a million employees at Apple’s manufacturing partners around the world about worker’s rights, on-the-job safety and more, the audits unearthed some ugly facts about the companies making iDevice components.

In Chinese partners, Apple’s investigations found issues with payment of workers, benefits for workers and environmental practices. Some suppliers were found dumping waste-water at a farm near the plant, using unsafe machinery, forging payroll records and even administering pregnancy tests to some workers.

Perhaps most troubling of all from a human rights perspective is the continuing instances of child and involuntary labor in Apple’s supply chain. Although Apple says it maintains a a zero-tolerance policy for such labor and that the 2011 audits concluded instances of child labor “were down significantly,” the company can only verify that no underage workers were found at final assembly suppliers.

“I would like to totally eliminate every case of underage employment,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told reporters.

“As we go deeper into the supply chain, we found that age verification system isn’t sophisticated enough. This is something we feel very strongly about and we want to eliminate totally.”

In a email sent today to Apple staff, Cook wrote, “We are taking a big step today toward greater transparency and independent oversight of our supply chain by joining the Fair Labor Association.

“The FLA is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world, and we are the first technology company they’ve approved for membership. The FLA’s auditing team will have direct access to our supply chain and they will report their findings independently on their website.”

While it seems Apple is trying to tackle these overarching issues of international business and manufacturing, we are nevertheless disturbed by many of the things in this report. After all, 78 percent compliance with involuntary labor requirements still means 22 percent noncompliance, which translates to coercion and debt bondage being part of how your your iPhone was made.

Still, all our electronics come from plants such as these. At least Apple is making an effort to be transparent about the process, to find violations, to correct those violations, and in some cases, to stop doing businesses with companies that consistently ignore human rights and environmental regulations.

Here are other interesting parts of the report, as well as some graphs we created showing percentage of compliance, based on data from the report:

Overwork

93 facilities had records that indicated more than 50 percent of their workers exceeded weekly working hour limits of 60 in at least 1 week out of the 12 sample period. At 90 facilities, more than half of the records we reviewed indicated that workers had worked more than 6 consecutive days at least once per month, and 37 facilities lacked an adequate working day control system to ensure that workers took at least 1 day off in every 7 days.

Inadequate pay

42 facilities had payment practice violations, including delayed payment for employees' wages and no pay slips provided to employees. 67 facilities used deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure. 108 facilities did not pay proper overtime wages as required by laws and regulations.

Slave & child labor

Two facilities were repeat offenders in the category of involuntary labor. Apple’s report states, “We terminated business with one supplier and are correcting the practices of the other supplier.”

[In] 15 facilities… we discovered foreign contract workers who had paid excessive recruitment fees to labor agencies… Some of our suppliers work with third-party labor agencies to hire contract workers from countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. These agencies, in turn, may work through multiple subagencies in the hiring country, the workers' home country, and, in some cases, all the way back to the workers' home village. By the time the workers have paid all fees across these agencies, the total cost can equal many months' wages, forcing workers into debt…

We discovered a total of 6 active and 13 historical cases of underage labor at 5 facilities. In each case, the facility had insufficient controls to verify age or detect false documentation. We found no instances of intentional hiring of underage labor.

Health & safety

126 facilities did not have the appropriate administrative documentation or approval for at least one item in the health and safety protocol. Examples included workers who performed certain tasks without the legally required licenses, expired elevator permits, and lack of labeling of maximum load for shelving. 78 facilities had at least one instance where a workstation or a machine was missing the appropriate safety device such as a gear guard, pulley guard, or interlock. 58 facilities had workers who were not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), such as earplugs, safety glasses, and dust masks. In some instances, the facility had not provided the appropriate
safety equipment. In others, the workers neglected to use the equipment or were using it improperly. Also, 72 facilities lacked procedures for PPE management.


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Car and phone integration has a lot of road for improvement

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 12:43 PM PST

Car companies made a lot of noise at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show about what they’re doing to merge internet technologies with the car. But they still haven’t delivered the apps we’re all waiting for.

The current crop of in-car services show off fairly underwhelming advances. The Pandora app paired with Ford SYNC’s AppLink system will let you change stations while driving by using your voice and displays track information on the in-car display. An app by Roximity will let you find deals. Facebook announced a partnership with Mercedes that will allow drivers of 2013 SL-class cars to search for nearby friends and see restaurants that friends have Liked.

At the other extreme, Google is working on cars that can drive themselves.

But there’s a wide gulf between what’s being done today and Google’s vision. Although the National Transportation Safety Board recently called for a near-total ban on cell phone use while driving, there’s about as much a chance of that happening as McDonald’s going out of business because Americans refuse to eat fast food.

Here’s a list of the kind of smartphones apps I would have liked to have seen at CES — no-brainer apps that would make the driving experience safer and more convenient:

  • Automatic emergency dialing. Based on the sensors in a smartphone, the phone could detect when you’re in an accident and automatically summon help. After a 5 to 10 second timeout (to reduce the risk of an inadvertent trigger) it would call 911. It could also be programmed to send a text message to a loved one and provide vital medical and contact information to first responders. Dedicated systems like OnStar provide a variant of this today, but this is a feature that could work with any car and without additional hardware and steep service fees.
  • Voice-based speakerphone activation for incoming calls. When a call begins to ring, the microphone is automatically activated and the phone listens for a command like “Answer”. On an Android phone, the current process is that you have to find the answer button and then the speakerphone button. They are both soft buttons, which makes it impossible to do by feel.
  • Destination text messages. Although GPS-based navigation systems have eliminated the needs for paper maps or printed driving directions, there’s still the matter of entering destination information. A frequent occurrence is people sending you text messages while you’re driving. Instead of sending a text message that you have to read and then enter into a navigation system, text messages with location information would be recognized and the phone would ask you whether you wanted to route to that address.
  • “On my way” messages. This is the reverse of the above. It would allow you to easily send your location to someone else and allow them to track you until you reach your destination. This can eliminate a lot of worry and messages and calls back and forth.
  • Presence manager. As smartphones are increasingly connected all the time to instant messaging systems like Gmail Chat and Facebook Messenger, it’s become common to get messages while driving. There’s a natural temptation to answer them, even though we know that’s not the right thing to do. This feature would change your presence settings to indicate that you are driving, encouraging people to either hold off on requests or call instead. It could be tied in with cars that are equipped with Bluetooth to automatically change presence when you enter and leave the car.
  • Voice caller ID. When a new call comes in, the name of the caller is spoken. If you’re already on a call, instead of hearing a useless call-waiting tone, the name of the caller is spoken in your ear. This eliminates the need to look at the phone.
  • Car finder. When you leave your car, this would automatically record the location of your car. Finding your car would be as simple as pulling up a map and getting directions. This could be based on speed or Bluetooth connection.

All of the above is imminently doable today; there are no major leaps forward in technology required. Some apps already provide variants of some of these features. For example, Glympse lets you send a link that allows the recipient to track your location for a set period of time.

Ford is allowing developers to tie into a car’s voice recognition system, text-to-speech engine, steering wheel controls, radio controls and displays. That opens up even more possibilities. Because of driver distraction concerns, Ford must approve all apps.

But Ford doesn’t charge developers or consumers for apps. “We are a car company,” said Julius Marchwicki, SYNC product manager. ”We’d much rather sell you a vehicle than an app for 99 cents.”

Unfortunately for developers, each car maker has its own system. ”I don’t think we’ve quite gotten to a point where we seen an imminent change to a standard,” Marchwicki said.

That dramatically limits the opportunity. Ford, which is the #2 carmaker in the U.S. and has been the most aggressive, has shipped a total of 300,000 vehicles with the AppLink system, said a Ford spokesperson.

For more news out of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, be sure to check out VentureBeat’s live coverage from CES 2012.

Rocky Agrawal is an analyst focused on the intersection of local, social and mobile. He is a principal analyst at reDesign mobile. Previously, he launched local and mobile products for Microsoft and AOL. He blogs at http://blog.agrawals.org and tweets at @rakeshlobster.

[Top image credit:  Marquis/Shutterstock.]


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iPhone, iPad owners are optimists, BlackBerry buyers extreme pessimists

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:49 AM PST

The mobile devices and tablets we choose to tote around speak volumes about our attitudes and outlooks on life, should you believe the findings of a new study.

iPhone and iPad owners are the most optimistic group within the mobile device-carrying population — 29 percent of iPhone owners and 60 percent of iPad owners expect the best in uncertain times — and they’re also the least likely to get upset easily, according to a survey gadget recycling company Gazelle conducted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

On the flip side, zero percent of BlackBerry bearers expect the best on a normal basis, said Gazelle, which polled CES attendees to arrive at these conclusions. Android smartphone and tablet owners are a reasonably optimistic bunch — 28 percent of Android smartphone users and 36 percent of Android tablet users are always optimistic about their future.

The study, commissioned to understand the sociology behind types of smartphone buyers, had some other intriguing findings. The i-types are typically more social and tranquil beings, for instance. And a member of the Android pack is also likely the workaholics among us, as 48 percent of Android phone owners and 64 percent of Android tablet users indicated that they think it’s important to keep busy.

Should the findings cause shock, horror or bitterness — we’re talking to you, BlackBerry users — you can take solace in the fact that CES attendees may not be all that representative of the larger population. VentureBeat put in a call to Gazelle to find out more details about the methodology behind the study. We’ll update this post when we hear back.

More of Gazelle’s findings are below:

Image via sigalakos/Flickr


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SNL’s Stefon is on Yelp, and his reviews have everything…

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:31 AM PST

We like to have fun in the VentureBeat writers’ lounge, but we don’t think we’re having as much fun as whoever is behind Stefon’s Yelp account.

Stefon, the wildly popular Bill Hader character from Saturday Night Live, is a (likely drug-addled) club-hopping gay dream within a nightmare, and his “reviews” of fictional New York City nightclubs are a hilarious part of the show’s Weekend Update segments.

Although formulaic, the Stefon bits always surprise and entertain — in fact, it’s rare that Hader and Weekend Update host Seth Meyers can get through a Stefon sketch without breaking character and giggling behind their hands.

So when we saw “Stefon” on Yelp, we were delighted but apprehensive — could the writer of Stefon’s Yelp reviews keep up, comedically speaking, with the SNL writers?

This club has EVERYTHING. Jeffries, live-action Furbies, Jewish pole vaulters, closeted guidos and flaming straight guys making out with none other than THE Nelson Mandela!

And just when you think it’s all over, walk into the back room to be met by a gaggle of human donkeys.

What are human donkeys you ask? It’s like that thing, where you have a midget glue some big ears on, wear a Mexican blanket, and carry your stuff over their back in wicker baskets.

We think that’s a yes.

It’s Friday, and let’s be honest: you’re not going anywhere or getting anything done for the next few hours, anyhow. Might as well kill a couple minutes sniggering over Stefon… and messaging the owner of the account to write more reviews, already.

UPDATE: One of our younger reporters informs us that she has never heard of Stefon. We’re guessing SNL airs past her bedtime and are including this clip for her benefit.


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Enterprise software player Splunk files for $125M IPO

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:30 AM PST

splunk-ipoEnterprise data software company Splunk has filed for a $125 million initial public offering, according to its SEC S-1 form.

San Francisco-based Splunk offers businesses software to better analyze and interpret their data. The company’s mission is to “make machine data accessible, usable and valuable to everyone.” The company claims that more than 3,300 customers, including most of the Fortune 100 and various government agencies, use Splunk’s software. Companies such as Bank of America, Salesforce, Zynga, LinkedIn and T-Mobile USA are on that list.

Splunk offers free and enterprise-level products. Its free software is intended for individuals, while the enterprise offering is meant for multiple users. The software’s data analyses is intended to improve service levels, reduce IT operations costs and beef up security.

On the financial side, the company had revenues of $18.2 million, $35 million and $66.2 million in 2009, 2010 and 2011. During those years, the company’s net loss was $14.8 million, $7.5 million and $3.8 million. Essentially, the company keeps losing less money each year, but it’s still unprofitable overall.

Splunk intends to file under the symbol “SPLK.” If approved, it will most likely be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

A video outlining Splunk 4.3, the company’s latest comprehensive software offering, can be viewed below:


Filed under: cloud, deals, enterprise


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GamesBeat aspires to become bible of the games industry: acquires Bitmob

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:04 AM PST

Dan "Shoe" HsuDan "Shoe" Hsu

I’m delighted to confirm that VentureBeat has acquired Bitmob, the respected gaming news site known for its passionate community of users. Bitmob will be integrated with our GamesBeat channel.

The best part of the deal: Bitmob co-founder Dan “Shoe” Hsu, an industry veteran with significant street cred with gamers, will become the Editor-in-Chief of GamesBeat. He’ll join Dean Takahashi, our lead games writer, who has done an incredible job getting GamesBeat off the ground over the last couple of years.

Together, along with Sebastian Haley, who is GamesBeat’s review editor and will lead our video coverage, this is the perfect powerhouse trio to help GamesBeat become the bible of the games industry.

Shoe just posted about the merger.

The GamesBeat channel will expand significantly over the coming months, after Shoe starts with us Feb 1. This will include a “relaunch” of GamesBeat, which will essentially give GamesBeat its own identity separate from VentureBeat. It will also mean the integration of Bitmob’s community features. Most importantly, it will bolster GamesBeat’s mission to cover the most disruptive and interesting stories in the games industry — everything from the amazing saga around social gaming companies like Zynga and Crowdstar, to how giants like Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are responding. GameBeat will also expand its reviews of top games that define the industry.

Dean TakahashiDean Takahashi

To be clear, it was Dean who first approached me saying he wanted us to acquire Shoe and Bitmob, so that Shoe could run GamesBeat, while Dean focuses on writing. Shoe has a 16-year track record. He communicates well and has managed big teams, including at EGM, 1UP and Gamers.com. Dean has already attracted some promising new writers to GamesBeat, including Haley. It’s all a perfect fit. Though Shoe is justifiably “freaked out” at the thought of managing a veteran like Dean.

The merger continues the momentum we’re seeing at VentureBeat. Today we’re also announcing the hiring of Ben Popper, founding editor of Betabeat, the influential Silicon Alley blog from The New York Observer. He will be VentureBeat’s East Coast Editor. He’s done an excellent job covering the New York start-up and wider technology scene there and quickly caught our attention by the scoops he was getting about the New York scene. He’s got a “comer” reputation. We’re super excited about him joining us. Ben just blogged about the move here.

Ben PopperBenjamin Popper

Ben will join Devindra Hardawar and Sean Ludwig, our two other New York-based writers. Devindra becomes our national editor. While Ben will wake up early, and break East Coast news and focus on taking the New York scene by storm, Devindra will start shaping our national coverage for us early in the day. He’ll work closely with executive editor Dylan Tweney and senior editor Heather Kelly as they wake up on the West Coast, to guide coverage through the rest of the day.

VentureBeat plans to open an office in Manhattan next month. Ben will lead the local expansion there over the next two years. Expect more hires.

Previously, Ben has written about the culture and business of technology for The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate, and Fast Company. Prior to Betabeat and the Observer, he was a blogger at CBS Interactive.

We just can’t wait until both of them get started. While Shoe officially starts Feb 1, he’ll be working hard to get ready for the transition in the meantime. We’ll plan to syndicate the best of Bitmob’s content in the meantime, so readers can track all of the best stuff on GamesBeat beginning today.

Ben Popper starts Monday.


Filed under: cloud, deals, games, media, mobile, VentureBeat


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LG in talks to produce a “Nexus” Google TV set

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 10:43 AM PST

Electronics manufacturer LG may create a Google-branded television set that would run an unreleased, future version of the Android-based Google TV software.

The Google TV software — which currently runs on a variety of set-top boxes from Logitech, Sony and others — allows regular television sets to gain access to content on the Internet. It also helps organize that content so it can more easily be found and consumed, and adds support for developers to create TV-specific applications.

Both LG and Google are currently in talks about the deal, but no final decision has been made, according to a Bloomberg report that cites anonymous sources familiar with the LG and Google TV project.

The potential Google-branded LG TV set (not to be confused with the line of products LG debuted at CES 2012, which run the current version of Google TV) will mimic the partnership Google has previously forged with Samsung on the Nexus line of smartphones. This basically means that the Google-branded “Nexus TV” would run a pure version of Google TV software, without any bloat or add-ons from the manufacturer. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard news about Google working with a partner to produce a “pure” GTV set either. Back in November Google was rumored to be in talks with Samsung on a similar TV set agreement.

I have to admit, I really like the idea of a “pure” Google TV set and I’d probably end up spending a bit more money to buy one. Ultimately, my decision would come down to whether or not that television set would be able to upgrade to newer versions of Google TV, which would undoubtedly extend the life (and usefulness) of the TV. Yet, with people already replacing their TVs less frequently, I’m sure TV manufacturers are probably nervous about that prospect.


Filed under: media, VentureBeat


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Hello VentureBeat — I’m your new sleuth in Silicon Alley, serving up scoops with your morning coffee

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 10:40 AM PST

Benjamin PopperBenjamin Popper

Hi VentureBeat! I’ve just joined VentureBeat as East Coast editor, based in New York. I can’t wait to get started on Monday.

I didn't know much about the Silicon Alley scene until the day I stumbled into NYC Resistor, a hacker collective in Brooklyn. That was about three years ago. The air smelled like burning metal and people were talking about laser cutters and 3D printers and robots that dispensed drinks. It was a little slice of geek heaven, I thought, and maybe a good focus for my career as a journalist.

Fast forward a few years, and New York’s tech scene has exploded with activity. Makerbot, the company that sprang from this same group of hackers, has gotten $10 million in funding and won the best emerging tech award at CES – just another sign of New York’s momentum. The past three years have seen New York turn from a dot-com bust backwater into a legitimate contender to Silicon Valley in many areas.

We do things differently in New York. Our venture capitalists aren't afraid to strut the catwalk and declare their support for Occupy Wall Street. Our Mayor wouldn't miss a tech ribbon cutting if his life depended on it, that is if he's not too busy learning how to code. And our entrepreneurs aren't afraid to admit on their blog when they've failed. In fact it helps them lay the groundwork for their pivot into the next big thing.

I learned a ton working at the NY Observer, and building my own site, Betabeat. It was the guidance of editors like Aaron Gell and Elizabeth Spiers, who challenged me to skip the cheerleading and write the big features no one else would touch, that let Betabeat put the tech scene on notice in less than 9 months. And it was the hard work and sense of humor that my colleagues Adrianne Jeffries and Nitasha Tiku brought to our site every day that made it a must read for New York tech types, something that will continue as they build out the site.

Venturebeat is one of the top tech publications on the web with a killer national team. I'm excited to help them establish their first office here and blow up their coverage of the New York scene. Expect a few more puns in the headlines, snark in the posts and stories that make some of the people in power a little uncomfortable or downright furious. There will be scoops, not just funding stories every tech blog breaks at the same time. And there will be longer features profiling the companies and characters that are disrupting tech on the East Coast. If the Mayans were right about this whole 2012 thing, it's going to be a hell of a year.

Photo by Ben Duchac


Filed under: deals, dev, Entrepreneur Corner, media, mobile, VentureBeat


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Sneak peek at SteelSeries’ pocket-sized controller for tablet and smartphone gamers

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST

One of the most persistent problems with gaming on smartphones and tablets is the lack of physical controls. This has created an opportunity for developers to create unique game experiences, but more traditional-styled games that have found commercial and critical success, like EA’s Dead Space and Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. 2, mimic the control style found on traditional gamepads. Touch controls are good enough to play, but are still a far cry from the feel of a physical controller.

The SteelSeries Ion Bluetooth controller, revealed at CES, is the first product I’ve found that offers the gamepad experience without the bulk of a full-size controller. SteelSeries, a videogame hardware manufacturer that produces gaming keyboards, mice and headphones, developed the unique controller with an exceptional 20-hour rechargeable battery. What makes the Ion unique is its long battery life, incredibly small size, and its overall design and feel.

While SteelSeries did not have a working unit, I did have hands-on time with a model that the company stated was an accurate representation of the weight and final build of the controller. The Ion is roughly as tall and wide as a business card and about an inch thick. As you can see in the image below, the back is textured to mold to the hand, with space for fingers to rest properly. It feels very solid, and SteelSeries representatives tentatively said this is because the battery will be the majority of the weight and will fill most of the controller.

Like the Sony PS Vita, which recently released in Japan, the two thumbsticks are very low and very tight. They have a short field of movement but are very sturdy. The inspiration for the thumbsticks actually came from the PSP, according to SteelSeries. The D-Pad is similar to the original Nintendo Famicom controller, while the four face buttons are very close together. The buttons have deeply ingrained markings, so users will be able to tell which buttons they are pressing by touch alone. There are two bumpers and two additional buttons, which on larger controllers are typically the start and select/back buttons.

As games become more intensive and tablets and phones more powerful, better methods of control will be required to get the most out of these games. A controller that can easily slip in and out of the pocket, is comfortable to use, and has a long battery life, is an excellent solution, so long as game developers support it. For the Ion to work with mobile games, game developers must program commands for it instead of the touchscreen. A software development kit (SDK) isn’t available yet, though SteelSeries has worked with several developers and says that programming for the Ion requires little additional work.

Game controllers have been unsuccessful for smartphone and tablet use to date, either because they too big, or are built directly into bulky phone cases. The small size and long battery life are key differentiators for the Ion. SteelSeries’ history of creating high-end gaming and audio equipment can certainly bolster buyer confidence, although the Ion is the company’s first traditional-style gamepad.

The Ion is far from revolutionary, but it is a product that smartphone and tablet gamers have been requesting for years from manufacturers. The niche market interested in such a device is steadily growing, as both smartphone and tablet gaming becomes more prominent. Users may also be interested in the Ion as a portable controller to use with laptops or computers.

SteelSeries expects to release the Ion in Q2 or early Q3 2012. It hasn’t announced a price point for the controller yet.


Filed under: games, mobile


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