Thursday, January 26, 2012

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Kaiser Permanente Takes Millions Of Medical Records Mobile With New Android App

Jan 26, 7:29AM

kaiser-EMR1Founded in 1945, California-based Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest not-for-profit managed care consortiums and health plan providers in the country, with 9 million members, nearly 170K employees, 15K physicians, 35 medical centers, and 430+ medical offices under its fold. Yesterday, the health care organization announced the release of a free Android app and mobile-optimized website through which its millions of members can access their own medical information on the go.


Can Kids Love Chores? 500 Startups Alum HighScore House Says Yes

Jan 26, 3:24AM

highscorehouseIf you're a parent, it can be a challenge to convince kids to do their chores. (Or so I'm told.) It's even harder to make them genuinely excited. But a startup called HighScore House says it has found a way. The company is part of the latest class of companies incubated by 500 Startups, and it made its pitch to investors this afternoon as part of 500 Startups Demo Day. Co-founder Kyle Seaman says the company has been operating on an invite-only basis, but it's starting to open up to a wider audiences, and it's already getting excited messages from parents whose children are actually asking to do more chores.


The Day Apple Left The Tech World's Collective Mouth Agape

Jan 26, 3:12AM

Screen Shot 2012-01-25 at 7.07.09 PM$46.33 billion in revenue. It's a number the biggest and best tech companies in the world can only dream to hit in a year. Apple hit it in one quarter. $13.06 billion in profit. It's a number no tech company would ever aspire to in one quarter because it's ridiculous. The only companies that have ever thought about such numbers are oil companies. And even then, only 3 of them have actually hit it. Ever. Until yesterday. I've already tried to give some context to the stunning Q1 2012 results that Apple posted. But the truth is that they're still unbelievable. Perhaps the next step should be to figure out how they could post such numbers.


Virtual Currency Rewards: Plink Pays You Facebook Credits To Eat Out

Jan 26, 2:46AM

PlinkBuy a hamburger and get rewarded with Facebook Credits to spend on a virtual cow. That's the mouth-watering promise of startup Plink, which is launching a virtual currency loyalty rewards system for restaurants. You register a credit card with Plink, and then when you make purchases at Taco Bell, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, or one of Plink's other clients you'll get Facebook Credits automatically deposited into your account. As demand for Facebook Credits to spend on social games and media increases, expect more virtual currency incentive companies like Plink to pop up.


Facebook Stumbles — Is Anonymous Responsible? (Oops: No.)

Jan 26, 1:56AM

anonymousIs Facebook the next target for activist hacker group Anonymous? Depends on who you ask. The group went on the warpath last week following the takedown of file-sharing site Megaupload, with attacks that targeted the Department of Justice website, the MPAA, the RIAA, and others. Then, a few days ago, the group seemed to post a video on YouTube, claiming that Facebook would be next, with an attack on Jan. 28.


Reed Hastings: "We Expect DVD Subscribers To Decline Every Quarter … Forever"

Jan 26, 1:55AM

Reed-Hastings-2After some fairly sizable blunders last summer, Netflix suffered for the remainder of 2011, losing money and subscribers. Perhaps surprising many, Netflix bounced back today in its fourth quarter earnings -- in spite of the fact that it will continue experiencing losses throughout 2012 thanks to the costs of rolling out its service internationally.


A Foothold For HealthTech: Ultra-Cheap Pacemakers

Jan 26, 12:45AM

Medtronic-InSync3I read with great interest Vinod Khosla's column two weeks ago that discussed the role of tech in healthcare. But as much as tech has to offer the healthcare institution, its effects are perhaps more reliably trackable in the actual medical devices field. A functioning "Dr. Algorithm" would be great - but a "tricorder" device, like that being chased by this X-Prize? That would be something else. Until these pie-in-the-sky projects come to fruition, though, more modest advances, but which nonetheless save lives, will be made. Medtronic, a major med-tech company, is hoping that the next big thing will actually be small and cheap: a pacemaker for developing countries.


Zynga's Stock Rating Gets A Boost, And So Does Its Traffic

Jan 26, 12:43AM

Screen Shot 2012-01-25 at 4.27.49 PMWall Street has had trouble knowing what to make of Zynga, considering it's the first Facebook-oriented virtual goods business to be publicly traded. The stock has been seesawing below its $10 initial share price since the company went public in the middle of December. Main concerns have been its heavy reliance on Facebook for traffic, and on a small number of paying users for most of its revenue, as well as its relatively flat traffic. But now, it's getting some more positive signs. First, five banks who underwrote its IPO provided their initial coverage today. They haven't been able to say anything up until this point due to the company's now-lifted quiet period. But two less conflicted analysts are also positive. And, traffic is going up.


TheFunded Calls Ben Horowitz The Most Disruptive VC

Jan 26, 12:31AM

ben horowitzTheFunded, the site where entrepreneurs can anonymously review venture capitalists, sometimes a reputation for being anti-VC (especially in its early days), but it's not above showing investors a little love. Today it's the announcing the winners of its awards for Top Investors 0f 2011. Adeo Ressi, founding member at TheFunded, says these awards were determined by user ratings, though a five-person committee, including Ressi, made the final choices. The site has given out these awards for the past four years, usually in private ceremonies (this year's ceremony happened last week), but Ressi says he's trying to make the awards "more public" this year because of "the massive amount of transformation going on in the investment industry."


Skyfire Raises $8 Million In A Round Funded By Verizon And Others

Jan 26, 12:05AM

SkyfireAfter raising just shy of $23 million over the past 5 years, Skyfire today announced that they've raised their second biggest round of funding to date. Coming in at $8 million dollars, this Series C round is being funded by Verizon Investments (as in Verizon Communications' venture arm) along with new investments from previous investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.


EU's Proposed Data Laws Can Only Produce One Thing: Outsourcing User Data

Jan 25, 11:24PM

OnesAndZerosIn 2011, Sony had several major security breaches: Sony Online Entertainment, Sony Pictures, and Playstation Network all were attacked and private data was successfully stolen. Their handling of the attacks, particularly the larger PSN one, was widely criticized. Many users are either unaware or acutely aware of how many sites and services have financially or personally sensitive information on record. Events like the Sony hacks do not reassure them, and actions like Google's yesterday (though arguably innocuous) may alarm them. Users want more control and more security. And the EU is looking to give it to them. But with the threat of enormous fines, many companies will find that the most logical thing to do is move away from the entire business of storing and serving user identities.


Netflix Streaming Margins Are 11 Percent, DVD Margins Are 52 Percent

Jan 25, 10:50PM

netflix2If you look closely at Netflix's fourth quarter earnings, it will become clear why the company wanted to split its DVD and streaming businesses. This is the first quarter that the company is splitting out each business and reporting revenues, profits, and margins separately. While the streaming business is growing (adding 220 subscribers domestically in the quarter), and the DVD business sis shrinking (it lost 2.76 million subscribers domestically), it's margins are much worse than the legacy DVD business. The streaming business has an 11 percent profit margin, compared to a very healthy 52 percent margin for the DVD business.


Someone Finally Makes "Shit Silicon Valley Says"

Jan 25, 10:25PM

Screen Shot 2012-01-25 at 3.21.43 PMAfter an onslaught of "Shit [blank] Says" videos in my Facebook Newsfeed, I appealed to Twitter yesterday, surprised that the industry that invented YouTube hadn't weighed in on the phenomenon. Little did I know that husband and wife team Tom Conrad and Kate Imbach were already on it, coming up with the idea on Monday morning and shooting yesterday, with no script (Imbach just said random techy things and Conrad spliced them together into this in edit).


Biz Stone, 500 Startups And Others Put $1M In CRM For Web Businesses Intercom

Jan 25, 10:00PM

interCRM and 500 Startups incubated company Intercom has raised a seed round of $1 million from angel investors including twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Huddle founder Andy McLoughlin, Dan Martell, 500 Startups and Digital Garage. Intercom's customer relationship management tool (CRM) is designed specifically for web businesses. The web-based SaaS features Google Analytics-like integration so that its database of customers is always automatically up-to-date, tracking every interaction. With its flexible filtering function, users can be segmented into groups for whom the business has different goals (i.e. converting free users into paying customers).


Netflix Q4 Earnings Beat The Street, But Next Quarter May Be A Different Story

Jan 25, 9:53PM

Netflix-LogoSaying 2011 was a rocky road for Netflix would be an understatement, as it split its DVD and streaming offerings into two businesses, then reneged. They also hiked their prices, only to experience a veritable customer revolt, and CEO Reed Hastings was forced to publicly say that they'd made a huge mistake. Today, Netflix has released its fourth quarter earnings from 2011, and it looks like there's at least a sliver of good news, as the company beat Wall Street's forecasts of $0.54 a share and $857 million in revenues, rising instead to $0.73 per share and $876 million in revenues.


Show Your Love With These New iPad/Kindle Fire Cases From DODOcase

Jan 25, 9:31PM

LoveMe_Both_DODOHQ_smJust in time for Valentine's Day, DODOcase released new special edition iPad and Kindle Fire cases. They cost slightly more than the standard versions with the Kindle Fire models costing $69 and then $79 for the iPad 2 versions. But nothing says love quite like a unique case.


HP Announces Open webOS 1.0, Outlines Release Schedule

Jan 25, 9:09PM

hp-web-osIt seems like ages ago that HP announced that webOS would continue to live on as an open source project, probably because they've been awfully quiet on the subject since the big reveal in December. Well, consider that silence officially broken. HP took to their webOS developer relations blog to tell what faithful users still remain all about how their open-source rollout is going to work, and the whole process has begun with the release of their Enyo application framework.


Nokia Announces 1.5 Billion S40 Phones Sold

Jan 25, 9:03PM

Screen shot 2012-01-25 at 4.07.17 PMDoes the term S40 mean anything to you? It's a mobile operating system built by Nokia for its feature phones back in 1999, and first appeared on the 7110. Well, apparently a lady over in São Paulo, Brazil has today purchased the 1.5 billionth phone running the operating system in the form of the Nokia Asha 303. Nokia is calling it "one of the most significant milestones" in company history.


Game Your Video Aims To Make Mobile Video Editing As Simple As Possible

Jan 25, 8:38PM

Photo Jan 25, 11 56 34 AMModern day video editors can be daunting. While it's better than the literal cut-and-paste practices of yesteryear, opening a new video editor can feel like stepping into the cockpit of a spaceship. Unless you're trained to fly spaceships, in which case this analogy is broken (and also, you're awesome.) Looking to distill video editing down to its simplest form — a game like experience, they say — is Game Your Video, a new iOS app from Global Delight.


Guidewire Hits The Public Market Running; Shares Jump 30% In Early Trading

Jan 25, 8:30PM

Guidewire_logo_smallWhile there were some big IPOs in 2011, Zynga and Groupon among them, overall it was a disappointing year for IPOs. Will 2012 be any different? As the first tech IPO of the new year, Guidewire Software certainly hopes so. Back in September, the insurance software company joined MobiTV, Angie's List, Brightcove, and Jive, filing its S-1, announcing plans to raise up to $100 million and to sell approximately 7.5 million shares at $10 to $12 per share, in advance of its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.



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