Category: Tech news

Child safety on the web is a significant concern for parents worldwide as kids flock to the internet for social networking, media consumption and more. SocialShield is one security option parents can turn on to protect children from predators online. The startup aims to give parents a web application to show a 360 degree view into what their kids are doing online as well as who their friends are on the main social networks.

SocialShield offers a number of features that target various security risks on social networks. “CyberBullying Promise” helps assist parents in identifying a cyberbully on a social network, and documenting the harassment.

“Friend verification technology” investigates a child’s friends on Facebook or MySpace and checks them against more than 50 Internet databases to see if parents should be concerned. Parents are also notified of any risky behaviors that could cause lasting damage to their child, such as posting inappropriate photos or content.

An Alerts Engine will find all accounts a child owns, including ones that parents may not know about, and examines all information and posts. Activity and Photo Engines documents every single posting their children make on all of the main social networks.

SocialShield’s technology, which costs $96 per year, is undoubtedly comprehensive. And the startup is backed by an impressive group of investors including Playdom founder Rick Thompson,comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni Offerpal CEO George Garrick, and Adify CEO Russell Fradin.

There’s no doubt that as the web becomes an integral part of children’s social interactions and even education, services like SocialShield and competitor SafetyWeb will become necessary for parents across the world.

The HP webOS Slate is one-step closer to the market now that HP officially owns Palm. It has a real chance to be the iPad-alternative of choice when it launches later this year. Hopefully HP engineers and designers have been taking notes about the iPad from the beginning because even though the iPad is selling like Girl Scout cookies, it’s far from perfect.

The Apple branding alone is part of the successful launch, but HP is, well, HP and a major player in the consumer market with deeper distribution channels than even Apple. If any one company can stand up to Apple in the tablet space, it’s HP — but only if they take advantage of learning from Apple’s mistakes and success.

On the face of it a good idea: four days in the beautiful Tuscany shooting the breeze about tech and entrepreneurship between European and US delegates.

However, try organising that from the U.S., not locking down the sponsors so they couldn’t pull out at the last minute and then telling the delegates the event is officially cancelled, but so late that some of them have already arrived in Italy.

Update: Tickets are sold out (it took only 30 minutes!). Tune in next week for our next batch.

The first batch of 100 tickets to our TechCrunch summer outing at August Capital are on sale now through ticketing partner Eventbrite. They’ll go fast, so get them now.

The party is July 30 from 5:30 – 10 pm on the beautiful back deck of August Capital.

Additional tickets will be released weekly, so stay tuned. Contact Heather or Jeanne for creative sponsorships and demo tables.

Of course, we’d rather spend the whole day with you, so consider attending the Social Currency CrunchUp being hosted nearby on Stanford’s Campus. We will explore the intersection of social commerce, geo-marketing, virtual currencies, and game mechanics. Tickets to the CrunchUp include attendance to the summer outing too, with expedited door entry.

About the Social Currency CrunchUp:
July 30, 2010
9 am – 4:00 pm
Arrillaga Alumni Center, Stanford University
326 Galvez Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305
Get CrunchUp-Party Combo Tickets Now @ Eventbrite: $295 INCLUDES admission for one (1) to the August Capital party and expedited fast-pass door entry. You DO NOT need to purchase a separate August Capital Party ticket if you purchase a CrunchUp ticket. Tickets are non-transferrable, based on availability. Capacity limited to 500 attendees.
All details here.

As early adopters of technology, we all know that at our opinions and product picks are not necessarily indicative of what might appeal to the average consumer. So what happens when we hit an inflection point and the masses matter?

Do we really know what local merchants and smaller enterprises need to support their businesses? What do we need to know about consumer psychology so our digitally delivered discounts resonate with consumers? What retail rules of the road do we need to honor to close a sale? How do we blend the best of virtual and real currencies to entertain and engage consumers?

That’s what we’re going to explore at the Social Currency CrunchUp. We’re going to mix up real-world consumers and traditional retailers and marketers alongside the hottest new startups to debate the future.

Photo credit: SiliconValleyBlog.

I trust by now you’ve read Apple’s letter claiming that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the antennae on the iPhone 4, and that any real reception issues are inexistent and merely a result of faulty displaying on Apple’s part, which it intends to fix in the coming weeks.

Unimpressed by that statement? You’re not alone.

Mason LLP, one of the multiple firms that have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of customers who recently purchased the iPhone 4 alleging that the antenna on the phone is in fact defective by design, isn’t terribly impressed either.

The firm, which filed the lawsuit seeking an order requiring Apple to ship a protective case for the iPhone 4 to all consumers who purchased one as well as monetary damages, provides us with the following statement after reading and analyzing Apple’s letter:

Our investigation revealed that users lost reception when gripping the phone in a conventional manner. We believe that the problem is not merely how the signal strength is displayed but involves a physical blocking of the antennae which cuts off calls.

In other words, don’t expect those lawsuits to go away now that you’ve written up your version of the truth, Apple.

Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. The iPhone gaming startup with several hits on its hands was founded by Bart Decrem, who will join Disney as a VP. Disney is very interested in social and mobile gaming, having recently invested in Playdom’s $33 million round.

Tapulous is a hot iPhone gaming startup. Its flagship game, Tap Tap Revenge, has numerous versions which have been downloaded millions of times. The basic game, which lets players tap to the rhythm of songs with their fingers is free, but players must pay for new songs. Its latest game is Tap Tap Radiation for the iPad.

Tapulous’ music-oriented games appeal to the tween crowd in particular. The company puts out versions of Tap Tap Revenge featuring the songs of specific artists such as Justin Bieber Revenge, Lady Gaga Revenge, Nickelback Revenge, and Nine Inch Nails Revenge. Its other mobile music, Riddim Ribbon is also a hit.

(More details coming)

Is the world ready for a 3TB hard drive? Seagate thinks so and announced the 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive a few days back. The FedEx man just dropped one off on my doorstep so let’s see what this thing is all about. 3TB, wow.

Clean technology remains one of the hottest areas of venture funding. In the second quarter, cleantech venture investments worldwide totaled $2.02 billion across 140 companies, according to market research firm Cleantech Group and Deloitte. The numbers are in line with last quarter’s $2.04 billion, but 43% higher than one year ago.

Exits for the quarter totaled more than $8 billion globally, with $6 billion in cleantech M&A and $2.3 billion in cleantech IPOs. Tesla‘s $202 million IPO has been in the spotlight recently, but globally, the cleantech IPO market is concentrated in China, which grabbed $1.7 billion, 75 percent of the $2.3 billion raised worldwide in the past three months, and 12 of the 19 IPOs, though not all of those are venture backed. The biggest IPO of the quarter was China’s Origin Water on the Shenzen Stock Exchange, which raised $330 million. As a point of comparison, in the U.S. alone, IPOs across all sectors totaled $900 million in the second quarter.

On the M&A front, there were 160 cleantech deals worldwide, including Switzerland’s ABB buying utility enterprise software maker Ventyx for more than $1 billion, and chip company Maxim buying smart-meter chip maker Teridian Semiconductor for $315 million.

In terms of venture funding, the most active cleantech investors in the quarter were Carbon Trust Investment Partners (6 deals), Kleiner Perkins (4 deals), Angeleno Group (3 deals), Draper Fisher Jurvetson (3 deals), and Khosla Ventures (3 deals). Mega-deals of $100 million or more are on the rise, with four such deals in the quarter, including $350 million for Better Place, $189 million for Fisker Automotive, and $115 million for BrightSource Energy.

The industry sectors drawing the most dollars were solar, biofuels, and smart grid. Solar is one of the industry’s brightest shining stars, grabbing $811 million to mark its third highest quarter in history.

Investment in biofuels was also strong, soaring to $302 million since the the first quarter.

Spurred by the recession, investors are spending money on companies that can save money. Energy efficiency boasted 31 rounds of funding, trumping solar’s 26 and biofuels’ 13 deals.

Smart grid investments in particular experienced their highest quarter ever.

Hello and welcome. There’s coffee and cake over by the door there, help yourself. It’s here to be eaten. Bathrooms are down the hall a bit, next to where you came in. Today we’re probably going to get a full house so file on in up front here. That’s right. Everyone’s friends.

Welcome to the CrunchGear Death Grip Support Group. We are going to be telling each other stories about how horrible our iPhone 4 reception has been. We’re going to clear the air, really dig deep, and really vent. A lot of you may not even have iPhone 4s, but don’t worry. I have something for you, as well. How – and what – can you win?

Read more…

If you want to know why you can never trust a survey commissioned by a company trying to bolster its market position, just look at the slide above. Placecast, which is a text-messaging advertising service. Placecast commissioned a survey by Harris Interactive to measure consumer’s attitudes towards, and acceptance of, text-message marketing on their mobile phones.

The survey (embedded below) has some useful data for location-based marketers. But it reads more like pitch deck for Placecast. Guess what it finds to be the most valued activity on mobile phones?  Yup, text messaging.  And what do consumers think about location-based social networks like Foursquare?  Those are the least valued, according to the sample of consumers asked, with only 5 percent of respondents rating it as the most valued activity (and skewed more towards men than women).  In other words, Foursquare is a geek activity.  Geo-marketers should really focus on text messaging, which just so happens to be the business Placecast is in, not those geo social apps where Placecast doesn’t play.

The problem with these findings, beyond the fact that they are completely self-serving, is that there aren’t that many people using geo-social networks yet so most people you ask on the street won’t even know what you are talking about, much less rank it as the top activity. Foursquare barely has 2 million registered users.   Everybody with a phone is familiar with text messaging, which is a key feature of the phone. Sometimes people don’t know what they want until you give it to them and they try it. Surveys won’t tell you that.

Just because consumers love text messaging does not mean they love to be bombarded by SMS ads.  But the survey tries to paint a picture of growing acceptance.  According to the survey, 28 percent of adults, and 42 percent of those 18 to 34 years old are at least somewhat interested in receiving text-message alerts from marketers.  Now, the key here is that 98 percent of those surveyed say they do not currently get promotional alerts via text message.

In other words, it sounds like a good idea because they love text messages, but they haven’t actually been subjected to the constant pestering of an SMS marketing campaign. I’d love to see the number of people who are still open to text-message marketing after they’ve had to endure a few weeks of an overly-aggressive bar owner or club trying to get them to come back in every night.

Checking into a place via a geo app like Foursquare or Gowalla or Booyah or Loopt, and getting a promotion from that venue as a reward, or an offer from nearby merchants, is a much more powerful marketing mechanism.  First of all, it is not random and interrupting your daily life.  You get the promotion when you are most likely to be receptive to it at a location that is relevant.  Getting a text message come-on when I walk by a Starbucks is not a good brand experience.  Getting $1 off when I check-in is a good experience. Check-in promotions could become intrusive as well if overused, but so far that is not the case.

Obviously, there is a role for text-message marketing. And the survey does shed some light on areas that might be fruitful.  For instance, it is a good idea to send different SMS promotions to men and women.  Women are more receptive to grocery coupons and fashion deals, while men like offers for electronics and sporting goods.

Are you ready to pay $9.95 a month for more TV? Hulu Plus, Hulu’s subscription offering, essentially offers more TV for $10 including full seasons of many shows including Glee and everything else on TV that isn’t Glee.

The program is available for iPad and iPhone and will soon be available for PS3 (with a $9.95/month PSN subscription) and Xbox 360.

Read more…

eBay has made it fairly clear that mobile is the future for e-commerce. And the numbers only reinforce this strategy- mobile payments are poised to reach $200 billion by 2012, according to Juniper Research. So, of course, eBay is wants to make its crown jewel, PayPal, the leader in the mobile payments space. In fact, PayPal’s mobile transactions have grown as smartphone usage has increased, from $25 million in 2008 to $141 million in 2009. In 2010, PayPal expects more than half a billion dollars in mobile payment volume with more than 5 million members regularly using PayPal from their mobile devices. Today, PayPal is making it easier for merchants and consumers to pay for goods on their smartphones with the launch of Mobile Express Checkout.

Mobile Express Checkout is the mobile version of PayPal’s Express Checkout service, which is a one-stop payment option streamlines the checkout process for consumers. A buyer will not have to reenter shipping, billing, or payment information for a PayPal payment, expediting the checkout process. All they need to do is enter their PayPal account login. It’s similar in theory to Amazon’s one click ordering option.

Merchant Express Checkout has been optimized for smartphone screens and also features strong fraud detection, says PayPal. Mobile Express Checkout is initially being rolled out on the iPhone and Android 2.0 (and higher) devices by a few retailers, including Nike and Buy.com, over the next few weeks. The technology will eventually become available to all retailers in the next few months.

PayPal sees this new mobile technology has an opportunity to allow the company’s 85 million members to easily buy goods on their phones using PayPal’s technology versus inputing a credit card. The company is sure to be on to something with this strategy-inputing your credit card, shipping and billing info on a phone is an arduous and time consuming task.

Automating this process is surely the future of mobile payments and shopping. Of course, it’s safe to assume the credit card companies, like Mastercard and Visa, will also be heading down this road soon.

The iPhone 4 antenna issue is real. The leaked Apple troubleshooting documents and job posting confirms what a lot of iPhone 4 owners are stating. Worse yet, a lot of owners are finding that bumpers — DIY or official ones — don’t totally solve the problem. The world is quickly crashing down around Apple fans everywhere. But Steve Jobs has some advice, “Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it.”

That’s what he supposedly emailed to one very irate iPhone 4 owner who, along with a few friends, are finding the iPhone 4 has major problems. Steve first tells the owner to calm down, then blames his problems on signal strength, and then finally states “[Apple] is working on it.”

The beloved, endangered IPO is showing signs of revival, or at least survival. In the second quarter of 2010, there were 15 venture-backed IPOs in the U.S., which raised a total of $899 million, according to data released today by Dow Jones VentureSource. The amount raised is nearly four times as much as the same, admittedly moribund, period a year ago, when there were only 3 IPOs and $232 million in exits. So far this year, the total number of IPOs (23) and exit dollars ($1.6 billion) already surpasses the totals for each of the last two years.

Of course, the IPO markets are coming back from a near-death experience so the comparisons look great. The numbers got a big boost from the Tesla IPO on Tuesday, which raised $202 million. (The shares are trading at $24 this morning, 41 percent above the IPO price).

But the IPO market still has along way to go.  The total number of IPOs and money raised is still a fraction of what it was even in 2007, when there were nearly 80 IPOs and more than $7 billion raised.  It’s also never taken longer for a company to go public (at least over the past 18 years since VentureSource has been keeping track).  The median time between founding and IPO for the 15 exits last quarter was 9.4 years.

Meanwhile, in M&A land the number of venture-backed deals in the quarter were down slightly to 79 from 82 a year ago.  But the amount raised through acquisitions was up 48 percent to $4.3 billion.  However, the number of acquisitions and amount raised was lower than in each of the two previous quarters.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/01/venture-backed-exit-activity-is-picking-up-again/

As widely expected following the approval by Palm shareholders, the acquisition of the company by Hewlett-Packard for roughly $1.2 billion has today been announced closed.

The price, as previously announced, is $5.70 per share of Palm common stock, paid in cash.

Once again, HP repeats that it intends to double down on the innovative webOS platform and Palm’s line of smartphone. The company neatly points out that it has also just bought itself a bag of intellectual property.

Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm chairman and CEO, the Palm global business unit will report to Todd Bradley, EVP of the Personal Systems Group at HP.

The Palm division will be responsible for, and I quote from the press release, webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.

I, for one, look very much forward to what comes out of the merger.