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Friday, December 27, 2013
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2:38 PM

In this week’s episode of Ask A VC, Accel Partners’ Partner Ping Li joined me in the studio to talk about big data companies, enterprise IP...

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Two Russian cosmonauts on Friday began a spacewalk outside the International Space Station to install camera equipment from UrtheCast, which soon could provide near real-time streaming images to viewers on Earth. Canada-based UrtheCast partnered with the Russian Federal Space Agency to launch two cameras, one high- and one medium-resolution, into space last month. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy will install the equipment in their spacewalk, which is expected to take about 7 hours.


1:39 PM

Two Russian cosmonauts on Friday began a spacewalk outside the International Space Station to install camera equipment from UrtheCast, whi...

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A U.S. District Judge ruled that the National Security Agency’s phone-record-collection program is constitutional [PDF]. “The right to be free from searches and seizures is fundamental, but not absolute,” New York’s Judge William Pauley wrote.


This stands in direct contrast to a decision earlier this month declaring the very same program is likely unconstitutional. “We are pleased with the decision,” said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr.


In essence, Pauley was convinced that countermeasures to investigate terror plots justified mass collection of data.



The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data.



He went a bit further, arguing that collection from private firms was likely more invasive, yet few consumers care. The government, moreover, has only had isolated instances of abuse.



Every day, people voluntarily surrender personal and seemingly-private information to trans-national corporations, which exploit that data for profit. Few think twice about it, even though it is far more intrusive than bulk telephony metadata collection. There is no evidence that the government has used any of bulk telephony metadata it collected for any purpose other than investigating and disrupting terrorist attacks. While there have been unintentional violations of guidelines, those appear to stem from human error and the incredibly complex computer programs that support this vital tool. And once detected, those violations were self-reported and stopped.



As I’ve noted before, ultimately, these decisions will likely have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Or Congress could decide to end bulk collection sooner.


The short of it is that, practically speaking, this decision won’t mean much, but could provide compelling arguments for the Supreme Court, should it decide on the controversial practice.


Until then, please have a wonderful holiday weekend and feel free to enjoy this joke.


[Image Credit]







1:39 PM

A U.S. District Judge ruled that the National Security Agency’s phone-record-collection program is constitutional [ PDF ]. “The right to be...

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vdio home scree

It’s only been six months since Rdio launched its video streaming platform Vdio to the world, but it appears that the company has already decided to give up on that experiment. In an email sent to customers today, the streaming media startup announced that it has decided to discontinue the service.


While Vdio was only just introduced over the summer, it followed nearly two years of speculation that Rdio would compete against Netflix and Amazon with a streaming video product. When it finally launched, Vdio was less of a Netflix clone, and more of a competitor against traditional on-demand video rental services like iTunes of Google Play.


The shutdown of the service follows a layoff that affected 35 people at the company. At the time, Rdio didn’t comment on how the layoff would affect the video service.


vdio shutdown


In an email sent out to customers, the Vdio team said it was not able to “deliver a differentiated customer experience,” and is offering users Amazon gift cards as reimbursement for purchases made on the platform.


According to several reports on Twitter, Vdio sent the following statement:



Hi [NAME],


We are writing to inform you that we have decided to discontinue the Vdio beta service.


Despite our efforts, we were not able to deliver the differentiated customer experience we had hoped for, and so Vdio is now closed. For more information, please read the Vdio FAQ.


As reimbursement for any content you purchased and any rental content that has yet to expire, we’d like to give you an Amazon gift card. To redeem your gift card, please visit Amazon.com/redeemgift and enter the following gift card claim code:


We want to thank you for trying Vdio, and we wish you a very happy New Year.


The Vdio Team



We’ve reached out to Rdio for comment and will follow up once we learn more.







10:38 AM

It’s only been six months since Rdio launched its video streaming platform Vdio to the world, but it appears that the company has already d...

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Jonathan Teo

Jonathan Teo‭, ‬a General Catalyst managing director whose most notable investments included Snapchat‭, ‬has left the venture capital firm‭. ‬The news is confirmed on‭ ‬Teo’s LinkedIn profile and his General Catalyst page‭, ‬where Teo is‭ ‬now listed as a venture advisor instead of a managing director‭.‬


It might seem surprising that Teo would leave General Catalyst when it’s just closed a massive‭ $‬675‭ ‬million venture capital fund‭. ‬During his two years there‭, ‬Teo was a personal investor and led the Series A round in Snapchat‭, ‬and his investments also included‭ ‬Chloe‭ + ‬Isabel‭, ‬Couchsurfing and HeyDay‭. ‬


When I contacted him‭, ‬Teo said he isn’t ready to comment on his future plans‭, ‬but I was told by a source close to him that he’s been planning to leave General Catalyst for a while and focus on Asia‭. I also learned he’s been approached by other Silicon Valley firms but hasn’t shown an interest.


Though Teo is still based in San Francisco‭, ‬Asia makes sense for him because he has strong personal and professional ties to the continent‭. ‬Teo was born and raised in Singapore and‭, ‬while working at Google‭, ‬he set up its research and development center in Shanghai‭. ‬After leaving Google‭, ‬Teo joined Benchmark Capital‭, ‬where he originated its investments in Instagram and Twitter‭. ‬His track record in consumer mobile means he’d be able to provide valuable guidance to startups in Asia’s emerging markets‭. ‬


In many of the continent’s‭ ‬fledging‭ ‬startup hubs‭, ‬including Seoul‭, ‬Taipei and Hong Kong‭, ‬there is plenty of talent but a lack of mentors who know how to help companies navigate the challenges of securing early funding and gaining traction‭. If Teo heads East he‭ ‬will probably be busy fielding calls from founders who hope to replicate the success of Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.


If he does focus on Asian startups‭, ‬Teo will likely work with his friend Robin Chan‭, ‬an early Xiaomi investor who‭ ‬helped convince Hugo Barra‭, ‬Google’s former head of Android‭, ‬to join the fast-growing Chinese smartphone maker‭. ‬


Chan told me that he’s excited about the potential of partnering up with Teo‭. “‬Jonathan is one of the most talented early stage‭ ‬investors that I know‭,” ‬Chan said‭. “‬He has great intuition about consumer mobile‭.” ‬







9:38 AM

Jonathan Teo‭, ‬a General Catalyst managing director whose most notable investments included Snapchat‭, ‬has left the venture capital firm‭....

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Alan Turing, a British man whose code-breaking prowess helped thwart Nazi Germany in World War II, was pardoned this week by Queen Elizabeth for his decades-old "crime." Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for "gross indecency" for having a sexual relationship with another man, a ruling that resulted in the loss of his security clearance and compulsory hormone treatment. Two years later, he died from cyanide poisoning in what was ruled a suicide. In 1936, Turing described the "Turing Machine" -- a strip of tape with characters written on it -- which was a theoretical ancestor to the computer.


9:23 AM

Alan Turing, a British man whose code-breaking prowess helped thwart Nazi Germany in World War II, was pardoned this week by Queen Elizabe...

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