Random Post

Sunday, January 12, 2014
no image
Wandoujia screenshot

Wandoujia, one of China’s largest mobile app distribution platforms with 300 million users, announced today that it has raised $120 million in funding led by SoftBank Corp. Other investors participating in this round include existing Wandoujia investors DCM and Innovation Works Development Fund (IWDF). In a statement, Wandoujia CEO Junyu Wang said that the funding will be used “to accelerate our growth and more openly serve developers and the entire ecosystem by developing technology and innovation in mobile search.”


The size of Wandoujia’s latest round makes it the latest piece of high-profile news to emerge from China’s increasingly lucrative app ecosystem, which was worth $1.2 billion last year according to an estimate by CocoaChina, a Beijing-based mobile game developer and publisher. In July, Android app marketplace 91 Wireless was purchased for $1.9 billion by Baidu, the largest acquisition by a Chinese Internet company so far.


There are more than 200 app stores in China because Google Play isn’t widely available there. Wandoujia has taken several steps to differentiate from its many competitors. For example, the company started with a desktop manager for Android, not a mobile app, and it focused on building an app search engine instead of an app store. Wandoujia says it is “the first mobile gateway in China to integrate content across multiple verticals: apps, games, videos, music, and more.”


Top Internet companies that have distributed apps and other content through Wandoujia include Flipboard, Path, Evernote and Line. Wandoujia, which was founded in 2009 by ex-Googler Wang, launched its first international product, desktop Android manager SnapPea, in 2012, and also publishes the monthly China App Index.


In a statement, DCM general partner Hurst Lin said: “When DCM first came into contact with Wandoujia in 2011, it stood out from the mass of app stores because of its unique app search model. Since last year, Wandoujia has entered into additional mobile content verticals with its search product. We believe that Wandoujia, with its record of achievements and persistent strength in products and technology, has an opportunity to become the leader of the mobile internet industry.”







11:40 PM

Wandoujia , one of China’s largest mobile app distribution platforms with 300 million users, announced today that it has raised $120 million...

Read more »
Posted by at 11:40 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
Michael Bay

As consumer electronics become easier to sell, there’s a lot of discussion about how important CES still is to the tech industry, even for top hardware makers. As TechCrunch’s John Biggs wrote just before last week’s event “It’s as if the big guys are now just going through the motions. And they are.”


But it appears that companies may have inadvertently stumbled upon the secret of keeping the yearly event relevant: celebrity meltdowns. It’s been a week since Michael Bay fled the stage after a teleprompter malfunction during Samsung’s presentation–an eternity in Internet time, even for viral content–but people are still talking about the incident. Videos of Bay’s mishap made the social media rounds again after Tina Fey mocked it during the Golden Globes tonight.


Fey’s parody was only a few seconds long and she didn’t actually run off the stage, but viewers immediately got the joke.


Michael Bay deserves some sympathy. Just because you are a world-famous director doesn’t mean you good at public speaking, but at least Bay has Optimus Prime to console him. Although most of the biggest WTF moments in CES history (like 2013′s Qualcomm freakshow) probably had PR people screaming afterward, they keep the event from becoming predictable and boring–which is important for all the smaller hardware companies that debut really amazing, creative and innovative products at Las Vegas every year.







9:54 PM

As consumer electronics become easier to sell, there’s a lot of discussion about how important CES still is to the tech industry, even for t...

Read more »
Posted by at 9:54 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
Rumors of a super-duper, amped-up, big-screen "iPad Pro" have been floating around at least as early as this summer, and that's before Apple surprised the tech community with its 64-bit A7 processors in September. Overall, most of the rumors seem to surround speculative predictions, where a financial analyst predicts a class of new product in an attempt to lend insight into how the market might shift. Of the dozens upon dozens of iPad Pro rumor articles I've been following, however, none of them seem to have a real, direct connection to a source that would truly know.


9:23 PM

Rumors of a super-duper, amped-up, big-screen "iPad Pro" have been floating around at least as early as this summer, and that...

Read more »
Posted by at 9:23 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
Aereo

Aereo, the streaming TV startup backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has apologized for a brief service outage tonight. The outage only lasted about an hour, but was especially unfortunate because it coincided with the Golden Globes.


“Aereo experienced a partial outage in New York City tonight, which impacted a small group of users who were unable to access their accounts. Our engineers have worked to resolve the issue. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience and encourage any Aereo members impacted by the outage to reach out to support@aereo.com,” Virginia Lam, Aereo’s VP of communications and government relations, told us.


The outage struck Aereo’s largest market, New York City, where it launched in 2012.


Though brief, the outage was another challenge in a busy week for the startup. Two days ago the Supreme Court decided to hear the ongoing legal battle between Aereo and broadcast networks. At the center of the dispute is the fact that Aereo takes OTA signals out of the air through miniature antennas and streams content over the Internet to any device for a low monthly fee. If successful, Aereo could potentially upend the current TV/cable subscription model even more than on-demand streaming video platforms like Netflix.


So far, Aereo has won appellate cases in Boston and New York, but networks have refused to give up. The Supreme Court’s ruling will not only decide once and for all if Aereo’s operations are legal, but have potentially far-reaching ramifications for the future of the online media industry.







7:39 PM

Aereo, the streaming TV startup backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has apologized for a brief service outage tonight. The outage only laste...

Read more »
Posted by at 7:39 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
ces2

Another CES has come and gone and, after every CES, there is the inevitable reckoning. We went into this whole thing expecting very little in the way of amazing new products and we were pleasantly surprised. In fact, there was so much cool stuff on and off the show floor that we should have been embarrassed for doubting the creativity and skill of the makers, manufacturers, and builders who flock to Vegas every year. The big guys might be boring but it’s the little guys – like early mammals scuttling under the dinosaurs – that make the biggest impact.


Here are our personal picks for Best of CES 2014 and, knowing the industry, we’ll be revisiting these amazing products this year as things slowly reach the market. Thanks to all those who took part in our Hardware Battlefield and please keep in touch if you’ve created something cool and we didn’t spot you at CES. We’re always looking for a few good hardware startups. See you next year!



The coolest thing I saw at CES was the Onewheel — a self-balancing, one-wheeled, motorized skateboard.


Made by a mechanical engineer who had previously worked at IDEO, the Onewheel was developed over the last couple of years to give a hoverboard-like feel to personal transportation. It works kind of like a Segway, in that you lean forward to move and lean backward to slow down, and steer with your body weight. With speed up to 12 miles an hour and a battery that lasts up to 6 miles on a single charge, Onewheel is built mostly for getting around urban areas. But hey, it beats walking.


-Ryan Lawler



My favorite gadget at CES was the Urb-E electric scooter. The company promises that Urb-E is the most compact electronic vehicle in the world, as it folds up to the size of a small roller-board suitcase. The idea behind the scooter, which can run for 20 miles on one charge at around 15mph, is to get commuters through the last leg of their trip. But setting aside utility, the Urb-E is simply fun to ride around on. I can still feel the wind in my hair.


-Jordan Crook



My favorite things at CES were mostly under-the-hood improvements, or around tech that pushes the boundaries on stuff I already use regularly. That’s why Qualcomm’s mobile processor improvements, which make smartphone-based photography even more convenient and effective, take the cake. Another favorite was Sigma, which continues to put out amazing new lenses, and which is also making the concept of a DSLR lens which is fully customizable to an end user via software an accessible reality.


-Darrell Etherington



For me, the definite highlight of CES was a demonstration of the new Oculus VR prototype. When I tried Oculus out a year ago, my excitement came from the product’s potential, not the experience itself. Now, with the addition of new technology, as well as game demos that take advantage of that technology, it really did feel like I suddenly found myself inside the game world. I had so much fun that I didn’t care how goofy I looked leaning forward and backward in those big goggles.


-Anthony Ha




My favorite part of CES wasn’t part of CES. It was our own Hardware Battlefield, a three day competition that pitted 14 amazing companies against each other on our own stage. We brought in some great judges, offered a $50,000 prize, and generally blew everyone away with the quality of our entrants. Want a better wearable? Try Atlas. How about an amazing bike light? Blaze has got you covered. How about a drone that fits in your pocket? Bingo. In short, we made our own mini-CES inside CES.



Could we have done this outside of CES and outside of Vegas? Absolutely. However, CES for all its faults brings out just about everyone in the hardware industry. It’s worth it if only as a magnet for talent and amazing products. That’s why I came to Vegas and that’s why I’ll keep coming back.


-John Biggs







7:11 PM

Another CES has come and gone and, after every CES, there is the inevitable reckoning. We went into this whole thing expecting very little...

Read more »
Posted by at 7:11 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
Home_-_NowThis_News

NBCUniversal News Group is announcing a minority investment in NowThisNews, a New York-based startup that’s looking to reinvent video journalism for the Facebook and smartphone era. As part of the investment, the two companies will co-produce original short-form news videos to be distributed across mobile and social platforms.


The brainchild of Huffington Post co-founder Kenneth Lerer (who also serves as Chairman of Buzzfeed), former Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau, and Bedrocket founder and CEO Brian Bedol, NowThis News is reinventing video news for the social and mobile worlds.


Part of this is making news accessible to newer platforms like Facebook, Vine, YouTube, Snapchat and others. Specifically, the teams will co-produce content for TODAY, MSNBC, NBC News and CNBC on topics relating to pop culture, political, and business news. These videos are posted on social platforms as well as on NowThis News’ mobile app.


The startup has a team of journalists who have held senior positions at ABC News, CNN, Washington Post and The Huffington Post and previously raised $10 million in funding from Lerer Ventures, SoftBank and others. The New York Times reports that NBC took a 10 percent stake in NowThis News.


“We know that news consumption among younger audiences continues to grow, but in order to reach that audience, we need to continue to create video for the platforms they use most. NowThis News does exactly that — delivering relevant news stories for the mobile and social platforms that resonate with this audience,” said Patricia Fili-Krushel, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, in a release. “We’re excited to incorporate this relationship into our overall strategy — to innovate inside and outside the company — positioning the News Group for future success.”


Kenneth Lerer, NowThis News’s Co-Founder and Manager Director of Lerer Ventures said, “By working together, the NBCUniversal News Group and NowThis News can learn from each other and build a great digital news experience that’s a win-win for the new news consumer who wants all video, all the time, built for social and mobile. This partnership allows us to showcase our shared vision of combining the world’s strongest news brands with NowThis News to super serve consumers.”


For NBC, this is the second investment in a non-traditional news platform this year. NBC Universal just backed Re/code, the technology news site recently founded by former AllThingsD founders Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.







6:39 PM

NBCUniversal News Group is announcing a minority investment in NowThisNews , a New York-based startup that’s looking to reinvent video journ...

Read more »
Posted by at 6:39 PM 0 comments
Labels:
no image
e7b439e8a164fee92510c6d71f76d951_large

As a kid who grew up on Lazer Tag and the Killer, the idea of a compact, always-on live action RPG is very compelling. Dustcloud fits that bill.


Created by a designer named Howard Hunt, the game uses small, gun-shaped “Dusters” that have LEDs that register hits and damage taken. You can use your Duster in street to secretly hit other players and because it uses RF signals there you simply need to be in line of sight rather than aim directly at a small target. The guns use Bluetooth LE to communicate with your phone and notify you of hit statistics and the whereabouts of other players. You can play offline with friends or join in on a massive, world-wide networked game.


We tried the game at CES and found it to be quite fun. While it takes some set-up – Hunt himself initialized the guns up for us – he expects things to get easier with time.


The team, which includes Ota Fejfar and Hunt, is looking for $100,000. They’ve raised $17,000 on Kickstarter so far and offer a number of packages including a single gun kit for $55 or a dual gun kit for $90. The “aftermarket” proposition is actually kind of interesting: if you want to play online with players around the world (a prospect that would assume massive market saturation), you can buy bullets (called speks) for 5 cents each. You store your speks on your smartphone and when someone shoots you they gather up your speks. This would presumably encourage you not to die so much.


When we played the game in a dark parking lot at CES we had an absolute blast. Once you understand how the guns operate and how to hit other players it becomes easier to have a bit of fun. It also makes you a bit winded, which is always a good thing. Dustcloud sits firmly in the tradition of laser games of yore and that, I think, is a good thing.








5:09 PM

As a kid who grew up on Lazer Tag and the Killer , the idea of a compact, always-on live action RPG is very compelling. Dustcloud fits tha...

Read more »
Posted by at 5:09 PM 0 comments
Labels:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)
 
Google Analytics Alternative