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Ammado Raises $9m To Solve Global Giving Problem
Feb 20, 9:43AM
Following the trend towards global platforms for raising money, such as Kickstarter, Ammado, which connects charities with donors, has raised €7 million ($9m), and signed up several multinational partners. The investment round was led by Belgiun-based Saffelburg Investments, which put in €5.5m and John Ryan, founder of Rovi, who put in about €1.5m. Set up in 2005 by Anna Kupka and Peter Conlon, the latter has put in €8.7m to date. which means Ammado has raised a total of €15.7m so far.Report: Fujitsu To Launch Handsets In Europe. U.S. Next?
Feb 20, 8:55AM
Fujitsu once said that it didn’t have any plans to launch mobile handsets outside of Asia, but that strategy appears to be changing rapidly. Today comes a report that the Japanese handset maker — which makes both Android and Windows Phone-based devices — is planning to start selling its devices in Europe, with a debut to take place next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The news comes after Fujitsu said that it also planned to sell devices in the U.S. market either this year or 2013. It’s not clear whether Fujitsu will lead on an Android or Windows Phone line of devices — or whether it will opt to sell both. A story in the FT that reported the European launch did not specify which devices would lead the charge. There are pro’s and con’s to both: Android is by far and away the most popular smartphone OS at the moment — with more than 50 percent marketshare as of Q4, according to Gartner — but while that means good news in terms of apps and other services for users, it would also pose a challenge for Fujitsu to create something that stands apart from the pack. Microsoft’s Windows Phone, meanwhile, is a lot less common, leaving more room for Fujitsu to shine — but it’s also significantly less popular with developers and the consumer public. Gartner’s Q4 figures gave it a 1.9 percent share, while the Windows Phone app storefront currently only has around 50,000 apps, compared to the hundreds of thousands of Android. The issue of needing to be distinctive when entering new markets is not one that has gone unnoticed by Fujitsu itself: "We don't want to be just another mobile phone," senior EVP Hideyuki Saso told AllThingsD back in January. "We want to be special." Fujitsu was one of the first handset makers to sign on to Windows Phone “Mango”, and it was actually the first handset maker to ship a Mango device. It’s been a key partner for Microsoft in its bid to make more of an impact on consumers in the Asian market. Some of the more innovative “different” elements of its hardware, though, have come through on Android: waterproofing, very thin devices, and zany colors, like pink.Ad Agency BBH Moves Into Social Gaming, Seeks Developers Who Like Lollipops
Feb 20, 7:08AM
Bartle Bogle Hegarty today became the latest company to make the leap into social gaming, and it is on the lookout to give seed funding to social gaming developers who want to make the jump with them. The ad agency's Asian division, BBH Asia Pacific, has opened a new venture, Chuck Studios, which will be run in partnership with one of its longtime clients, the confectionery giant Perfetti Van Melle -- makers of Chupa Chups lollipops. Together, the two will invest in social games promoting the brand, in exchange for a share of whatever revenue is made from the content. The first product of the venture, Chupa Chucker, made in partnership with studio Atommica, goes live today on Facebook. Future games will also run on iOS, Android, and HTML5, BBH tells us. "The only requirement is that the numbers have to check out."Looks Like Freelance Marketplace Solvate is Shutting Down
Feb 20, 2:45AM
We've gotten a tip that Solvate, a venture-backed marketplace for hiring freelance work, is shutting down. Apparently, the freelancers who do work through Solvate have been told that the service will end effective March 1. I've emailed and called Solvate, and haven't gotten a response yet. (I will update this post if hear back.) I also tried to sign-up for a new client account on the Solvate website, where I was told that the company is no longer accepting new users. Comments on Twitter seem to confirm that Solvate is sending out emails about its shut down, and notifying users when they log in.Walmart Ups Its Investment In Chinese E-Commerce Giant Yihaodian
Feb 20, 2:22AM
Walmart is announcing this evening that it has upped its investment in Yihaodian, a massive B2C e-commerce company based in China. Walmart, which originally funded the retail giant last year, has made another undisclosed investment in Yihaodian to bring Walmart's total ownership stake to approximately 51 percent. Closing of the transaction is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval, according to the two companies. Launched in July 2008, Yihaodian offers more than 180,000 products ranging from clothing to grocery to consumer electronics. Less than 3 years after launch, the company boasts a whopping 5,400 employees and logistics operations in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, and delivery stations in 34 cities across China.Mexico City Boards The StartupBus — But It Still Needs Sponsors
Feb 20, 12:57AM
A combined hackathon and road trip to South by Southwest, the StartupBus is in its third year and becoming a bit of a tradition — and this time, it won't be limited to the United States. That's because, after doubling the number of buses, the organizers decided to choose participating cities a little differently this year. To make sure it wasn't overlooking any cities with passionate startup communities, StartupBus organizers allowed people to vote for their favorite regions. And it turns out that Mexico City was one of the top vote getters, behind only Cincinnati and Tampa Bay.The "Unhyped" New Areas in Internet and Mobile
Feb 19, 10:12PM
We are in a whole new world of platforms, a post-PC era, which I'd more aptly describe as the always/everywhere era, finally, and that means a whole new set of opportunities. Add to it the fact that because of a variety of factors too numerous to cover here, the cost of experimentation has gone down dramatically (one can start a web startup or write an Android app with no more than a student credit card!) and raw computing power is taken for granted. What you get as a result are the recent successes in the Internet/mobile space like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zynga, Groupon and others, all of which have reenergized both entrepreneurs and investors. Many of these new startups will be the usual poor clones or feature add-ons to Facebook and Twitter, or poor attempts at doing one feature or another better than Zynga, or applying LinkedIn to a small vertical.Great Acquisitions! Now Put a Fork in ERP
Feb 19, 7:26PM
Everyone is applauding Oracle and SAP's cloud acquisitions — RightNow, SuccessFactors, and now Taleo. But the biggest cheers are coming from SAP and Oracle's cloud competitors, salesforce.com and Workday. Because with these acquisitions, Oracle and SAP have effectively validated the cloud and sounded the death knell for ERP (enterprise resource planning). Why? Because SAP and Oracle are acquiescing to the cloud, yet they have no strategy to get their customers there. If SAP and Oracle were serious about the cloud, where are their big cloud solutions or visions for migrating customers?Why Your Next Board Member Should Be A Woman
Feb 19, 6:01PM
Good questions have been asked lately of tech companies without gender diversity on their boards of directors. While women comprise 51% of the population, they make up only 15.7% of Fortune 500 boards of directors, less than 10% of California tech company boards, and 9.1% of Silicon Valley boards. Why should we care? For one, women are the power users of many products and it's just smart business to have an understanding of key customers around the table. Could you imagine a game company without any gamers on the leadership team or board? If you're not aware, studies also show companies with gender diversity at the top drive better financial performance on multiple measures.Asana and Orchestra Help Me Slowly Regain Control of Email
Feb 19, 4:00PM
This is not a rant against email. There are plenty of those out there. This is a story of hope. It sounds nuts, but I really enjoy email, though I realize I'm in the tiny minority and that it's legitimately unmanageable for many, especially those that don't use interfaces that automatically thread messages by subject or label. The complaints against email are universal: Lines of lines of emails accumulate with the force of a snowball racing down the side of a mountain during an avalanche, and the business of crafting and answering emails only creates more email. It's a never-ending cycle, making any "Inbox 0" achievement ephemeral at best.GoodRx Grabs $1M+ From SV Angel, Founders Fund & More To Help You Find Cheap Prescription Drugs
Feb 19, 2:16AM
Like many other services, goods, and commodities, prescription drug prices can vary widely depending on location and what particular vendor is offering them. Launching last September at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco was GoodRx, a service that's aiming to bring some transparency back to prescription drug purchases by bringing some sophisticated price comparison technology to the everyday consumer. GoodRx was co-founded by Scott Marlette and Doug Hirsch, both early employees of Facebook. Hirsch was VP of Product at Facebook back in 2005, and Marlette, one of the company's first 20 employees, was an engineer who worked on, among other things, Facebook's photo application. The culture of transparency, openness, and focus on the big picture, Marlette says, had a lasting influence on him after Facebook, leading he and Hirsch to apply some of that psychology to building a better way to serve consumers with the latest pricing info from the prescription drug market.Beyond Facebook: The Rise Of Interest-Based Social Networks
Feb 18, 11:30PM
With the pending public offering of Facebook anticipated to be the largest tech IPO in history, it's an interesting time to think about where we go from here. Some say "social is done," Facebook is all the social media anyone would ever want or need. Unquestionably, as it nears one billion accounts, in the solar system of social media, Facebook is the Sun -- the gravitational center around which everything social revolves. But while some may pronounce that Facebook is all the social we'd ever need, users clearly haven't gotten the memo.Mobile Advertising Is The Baby Huey Of The Media World (And Apple Is Taking The Low Road)
Feb 18, 10:30PM
I had dinner last week with a senior exec from a global advertising holding company who asked what I often get asked these days, "What's going on with mobile advertising?" it's a timely question as last week Apple announced they were lowering the buy-in price for iAds from $500,000 to $100,000 and increasing the publisher revenue share from 60% to 70%. The move seems innocent enough, but with a little inspection is actually very worrying for a segment still struggling to shake off it's inferiority complex, and potentially chilling for many innovators and entrepreneurs.Seize Your Opportunities Like Jeremy Lin
Feb 18, 9:35PM
Last week, Forbes contributor Eric Jackson published a list on the 9 lessons that Jeremy Lin can teach you; number 2 on his list was "Seize the Opportunity". Lin's not the first, and he won't be the last, but his meteoric rise has reminded us once again that anything is possible if you seize the opportunity. In this article, we'll expand on that and discuss how you can seize your opportunities. It is, after all, easier said than done.The Forest, the Trees, and the Next Big Thing
Feb 18, 8:05PM
They say hindsight is 20/20. By now, everyone knows about the fastest-growing site on the web. Yet, for a period of time in 2011, despite all the signals pointing toward the phenomena, most in Silicon Valley weren't able to sniff out the trend even though, looking back, the clues were right under our noses. I wanted to write this post to offer a theory as to why the Valley, at large, missed this trend. Additionally, I want to underscore that this post is less about Pinterest, and more about how even the most focused, attentive audiences can miss the forest for the trees.>From College To Silicon Valley: Tips From A Veteran
Feb 18, 7:17PM
Looking for internships and jobs after college can be exhilarating, especially for people with engineering and other technical expertise. In an otherwise tough job market, demand for software engineers is higher than ever right now. You may find that companies are actually competing to pay you for the knowledge you worked so hard to acquire in school. But as pumped as I was when I started out, I also felt a lot of stress: the uncertainty of facing an interviewer; the big differences between companies; the difficulty of deciding which company would be best for me.I Have Seen The Future, And Its Sky Is Full Of Eyes
Feb 18, 6:11PM
Allow me just a little self-congratulatory chest-beating. Four years ago I started writing a near-fiction thriller about the risks of swarms of UAVs in the wrong hands. Everyone I talked to back then (including my agent, alas) thought the subject was implausible, even silly. Well, it's not like I'm the next Vernor Vinge -- it always seemed like a pretty blatantly obvious prediction to me -- but I am pleased to see that drones and drone swarms have finally become the flavor of the month. In the last month, the Stanford Law Review has wrung its hands about the "ethical argument pressed in favor of drone warfare," while anti-genocide activists have called for the use of "Drones for Human Rights" in Syria and other troubled nations; the UK and France declared a drone alliance; and a new US law compels the FAA to allow police and commercial drones in American airspace, which may lead to "routine aerial surveillance of American life."Gillmor Gang: Apple's High Definition Anxiety
Feb 18, 6:01PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor — inaugurated a new title format where the topic replaces the date of the show release (it's in the URL). Today's topic: what it always is, Apple's relentless march toward encircling Windows in a sea of HD-quality iOS devices. In the latest update to OS X, push notification, the Twitter social bus and AirPlay come to the TV by way of the full complement of iOSish devices, now including the Mac. With iPad 3 just weeks away, Apple has made it retinal clear that the company has no intention of allowing anybody to catch up to the economic juggernaut where premium products sell out at prices that can't be undercut. The realtime global social network fuels demand for the iOS pervasive screen architecture (and coopetive partners such as Android and Amazon) to such a viral extent that the resulting momentum keeps competitors from realizing Apple's supply chain economies of scale.New Hope For Open Source Textbooks
Feb 18, 5:36PM
A college textbook can cost a staggering $200. Over four years of study, students can easily spend thousands of dollars on books on top of a hefty tuition. The situation is not much better in public elementary, middle and high schools, where taxpayers pick up the bill. California spends around $100 on every math and science book for its 2 million high school students, for example. But textbooks don't have to be such a financial burden.Android Breathes New Life Into "Made in China"
Feb 18, 2:01PM
How do you end up with millions of new sales overnight with low development and implementation costs? In the case of Chinese electronics companies Rock Chips and Box Chips the answer has been simple – hitch a ride on Android. China's economy is booming thanks to low cost assembly, the country's key advantage when competing on the global playing field. Manufacturers deliver low cost laborers who are able to follow processes and procedures to a reasonable degree of accuracy at very reasonable rates, and thus gain an edge over Western manufacturers.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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