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Monday, February 3, 2014
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lumini

A new Kickstarter project debuting today offers a lower barrier of entry to those interested in testing the smart lighting waters. At just $25 for an entry-level pre-order of a single unit, the LuMini is the cheapest way to get started with a smart home lighting system, albeit with some trade-offs compared to category leaders like the Philips Hue.


The LuMini comes from TABU Design, a Hong Kong shop that makes the Lumen Bluetooth smart bulb. The full-size Lumen is fairly large, though, and has a 40-watt equivalent output all for $69. The LuMini has the lower retail cost, but it’s also less powerful: TABU Design says it’s ideal for a “night lamp,” but doesn’t specify how many lumens it actually outputs. It uses 3 watts, compared to 7 watts for the standard-sized Lumen, so you can expect it to be probably around half as bright.


With a companion app, you can control the light color, brightness and scheduling, but the difference from most other connected lighting systems with the LuMini is the Bluetooth connectivity: It uses the low-power standard introduced in Bluetooth 4.0 to connect, which greatly simplifies the connection and setup process, but which also has some disadvantages in terms of range (20 ft. maximum) and the ability to remotely connect to your lighting system, which allows you to control bulbs like the Hue from anywhere with connectivity.


lumini


The BLE approach still allows for things like proximity activation, however, and it can even be set to trigger light-based notifications for incoming calls. The real innovation here is on price, however, since this is a long-lived LED bulb (rated at 30,000 hours) that will retail for around $30. Also, it’s a very small bulb, whereas others like the LIFX smartbulb have been criticized for their larger-than-normal size.


The TABU Design team hopes to ship the LuMini in April this year, which isn’t that much of a stretch when you consider that they’re already actively shipping the original Lumen, which is sold via its website and through Amazon. The project is seeking $50,000 in 30 days, and hopefully it gets there, because what this market really needs is more price pressure to drive mass market adoption.

7:53 AM

A new Kickstarter project debuting today offers a lower barrier of entry to those interested in testing the smart lighting waters. At just $...

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Just when you think you have found the sweet spot with an ideal Linux desktop distro, along comes yet another version to tug at your computing heart strings. In this case, it is LXLE. Lubuntu eXtra Life Extension, aka LXLE, is based on Lubuntu, a version of Ubuntu running LXDE. Trust me on this, you will not recognize many Ubuntu traces topside. If you have yet to experience the LXDE desktop, prepare yourself for a wonderfully smooth computing experience.


7:38 AM

Just when you think you have found the sweet spot with an ideal Linux desktop distro, along comes yet another version to tug at your compu...

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Screenshot 2014-02-03 09.37.23

When you’re at work, sitting in front of a computer screen, there’s really nothing better than the moment a friend sends you a YouTube video. For a few minutes, life is good again. Charlie’s biting fingers again. Double rainbows still exist. Harlem shakers are shaking.


But on a smartphone, when you’re on the go and perhaps on a less powerful network, the YouTube experience isn’t always so seamless. That’s why Bloop It has launched in the App Store.


Banking on growing interest in mobile video sharing and creation, Bloop It wants to tailor the YouTube video sharing experience for mobile devices, starting with the length of the video.


Rather than sharing full-length videos, Bloop It lets you cut your favorite twenty-second clip from videos to send to friends and followers.


When you first download the app, you have the option to sign in with Facebook or create a username. Then, you’re thrown directly into the main feed of public bloops. Once you’ve followed a few people, you have access to your own curated feed. There’s also a Newest tab, for recently posted bloops.


To create a Bloop, you simply search YouTube from within the app and designate the start and end time of the clip.


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To make money, Bloop It will eventually open up a sponsored bloops section, letting record labels and sports teams promote various bloops. But for now, the company has an affiliate program with Apple allowing users to “Buy It Now” from the iTunes store when they watch a clip from a movie or TV show.


The design and flow of the app could use a few improvements, but the core idea is strong. While Vine and Instagram have the mobile video creation space tackled, a quick and easy way to share our YouTube gems hasn’t conquered the market yet.


Perhaps Bloop It will be the app to do it.


Download the Bloop It app here.





7:23 AM

When you’re at work, sitting in front of a computer screen, there’s really nothing better than the moment a friend sends you a YouTube video...

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capital factory

Capital Factory, the startup incubator based in Austin, Texas, is announcing a new initiative in which companies can receive $25,000 each from venture firms Silverton Partners and Floodgate, bringing their initial funding to $150,000 total.


In some ways, the program sounds like it was inspired by YC VC fund (which replaced the earlier Start Fund) offering investment to all graduating Y Combinator startups. But although Capital Factory co-founder Joshua Baer acknowledged that in its early days, the Austin incubator looked at YC as a model, he said it has evolved in a different direction, and that includes differences in how its startups get funded.


On a broad level, Capital Factory is no longer a three-month program. Instead, startups participate for an extended period of time, perhaps years.


“The goal is not to get them funded, it’s to get them to a sustainable business,” Baer said.


More specifically, when it comes to funding, startups are supposed to convince at least two mentors to invest $25,000 each. Once they’ve crossed that threshold, Capital Factory’s partners will invest another $50,000 — and with the new program, Silverton and Floodgate will each put in $25,000 as well, bringing that initial funding, as I mentioned, to a total of $150,000. (These investments usually take the form of a convertible note.)


Baer acknowledged that many startups will need to raise more money than that to get to a “sustainable” point, but he noted that “almost inevitably,” companies that can get two mentors to invest will be able raise money from other mentors too. He also said that beyond the money, the main reason to get the VC firms involved is to give the startups a connection to Silicon Valley.


The program will be available to all of Capital Factory’s startups this year — it’s targeting about 20 to 30 companies. It doesn’t apply retroactively to companies that have already raised money from Capital Factory’s mentors and partners, though of course they can still pitch Silverton and Floodgate for backing.


One thing that Baer said hasn’t changed is Capital Factory’s focus on Austin startups specifically. No one’s contractually committed to stay in Austin, of course, but he added, “We only invest in Austin companies — we’re not a three-month program that people move for. … We have this unique advantage that Austin is on fire.”


You can read more details about the new initiative here.





7:23 AM

Capital Factory , the startup incubator based in Austin, Texas, is announcing a new initiative in which companies can receive $25,000 each f...

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charleston

While you’re welcome to head out to Atlanta and New Orleans in February for our official meetups, I’ll be in Charleston, SC the weekend before and would love to see some of you folks. I, personally, am looking for hardware startups but I’d love to hear from everyone and since I love the city I thought it would be a quick and easy way to enjoy the town while meeting with all you folks again.


Head over here and reserve your tickets.


Interested in paying for a round of drinks? Contact Jack Dietrich at Tagseats who is helping run the event. This is very informal, to be clear, and you’ll still find it valuable to go to the Atlanta or New Orleans events.


See you soon.





6:39 AM

While you’re welcome to head out to Atlanta and New Orleans in February for our official meetups, I’ll be in Charleston, SC the weekend be...

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iphone-video-hd

Apple didn’t do a Super Bowl ad, as some had suggested it might, but today it debuted a video designed to capture the spotlight all its own. The spot, which is a little over a minute long, is shot entirely on iPhone devices during just one 24 hour period, by 15 camera crews. It was then edited on Macs back in LA, paring down over 70 hours of video into the final spot you see above.


The point? To demonstrate that you can do in one day using Apple’s iPhone devices what it once took months and millions of dollars’ worth of equipment to create. It also captures tons of people doing lots of creative things with Apple products, including building fully articulate robotic prosthetics controlled by an iPod touch, to a symphonic performance analyzed and monitored using an iMac.


The spot was edited by Angus Wall, a Hollywood editor who worked on Fight Club, Zodiac, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network to name a few, and longtime Apple ad man Lee Clow served as creative director. Clow, who was behind the famous ’1984′ Super Bowl ad spot that borrowed themes from the dystopian sci-fi novel of the same name, tweeted this during last night’s game:



Apple may not have had a Super Bowl ad this year, but this post-game spot is arguably better, and definitely more in line with the company’s vision of itself as apart from the crowd.





6:39 AM

Apple didn’t do a Super Bowl ad, as some had suggested it might, but today it debuted a video designed to capture the spotlight all its own...

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gracenote-tv-ads

In late December, Tribune announced its plans to acquire Gracenote from Sony for $170 million in cash and to combine the company with its Tribune Media Services business. More specifically, Gracenote will be part of a recently formed business unit called Tribune Digital Ventures, which is headed up by president Shashi Seth. Now that the deal has closed, we spoke with Seth about what we can expect from Tribune and Gracenote as they begin working more closely together.


Seth has been leading the the Silicon Valley-based Digital Ventures unit since joining about nine months ago. Prior to that, he had held various roles at technology companies like Yahoo, AOL, Google, YouTube, and eBay. Most recently he had served as SVP of Yahoo’s Connections Business Unit, and had previously held the role of SVP of Search and Marketplaces.


But since joining Tribune, Seth and his team have been looking for ways that it can leverage the metadata and other information services it provides to traditional media companies, and to extend that out to a whole new world of digital content distributors.


Thanks to all the new connected devices out there, as well as the growing number of streaming media services that have popped up over recent years, Tribune is seeking to tackle a whole new customer base. At the same time, more of its traditional TV and movie customers are in need of digital help as well.


The acquisition of Gracenote is the first big move that Tribune Digital Ventures has made since being founded, and it’s designed to go a long way toward strengthening the unit’s ability to serve music, international, and other types of new clients.


“Tribune Media Services does great business in the TV and movie space,” Seth told me in a phone interview. “By adding music to it with Gracenote, we see great synergies between the two businesses.”


Music is the obvious big new category that the acquisition of Gracenote provides, thanks to a decade and a half of experience providing content recognition and metadata services to some of the biggest digital music storefronts and streaming media services. Gracenote powers information retrieval for services like iTunes, Rhapsody, Spotify, and Xbox Music, providing the technology for more than half a billion information lookups from end users every single day.


But Gracenote has also been expanding its footprint to serve other types of businesses. It’s been working with auto manufacturers, for instance, to power information retrieval for digital music services that are being sent via satellite or streamed into the car. And it recently has been showing off ways in which it can help brands provide targeted advertising to consumers.


One other interesting application could come from making personalized recommendations of movies and TV shows available to consumers. Earlier this year it launched Gracenote Rhythm, an API that could be used by partnering developers to build music recommendations into their apps.


Seth says the same type of technology could be applied in the TV space, where client guide are in vast need of an overhaul. Most cable providers have been operating with the same old “grid” system for navigating through channels and shows, and finding something to watch.


But the act of discovering new TV shows is pretty broken in that system, especially when you consider how easy services like Spotify or Pandora have made the act of learning about new musical artists or songs.


The challenge for many video distributors, Seth noted, is all about how they “get the right content in front of the right user at the right time.” With new devices like tablets and smartphones, as well as relatively new streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu, and others, it’s not that users are watching less content — it’s that they’re not just consuming it on the TV.


“It’s not that they’re not consuming content,” Seth said. “It’s that they’re consuming it at different times. They’re watching TV shows, but not necessarily on TV… More and more content is being consumed, but it’s happening in different places and at different times.”


Of course, a lot of that will depend on Tribune’s ability to execute on its plan and make these services attractive to its customers. But with Gracenote on board, Seth is fairly confident that Tribune will be able to continue to grow its digital business with online content providers as well as its existing customer base.


“This is a really important first step in a series of steps for Tribune and Tribune Digital Ventures for building a successful mobile and internet portfolio,” Seth said.





6:08 AM

In late December, Tribune announced its plans to acquire Gracenote from Sony for $170 million in cash and to combine the company with its T...

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