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Thursday, February 20, 2014
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bitcoin

Payments platform Balanced has been gradually adding features to enable marketplaces to accept and make payments out to their users. Today the company is announcing that it’s integrated with Coinbase and will allow its customers to accept Bitcoin.


Now usually when we get pitches on new businesses “accepting Bitcoin” — like when a crappy NBA team or a space travel company does it — I’m inclined to pass on the news because it’s just a marketing gimmick and really, who cares? Bitcoin has hardly hit mainstream adoption and so as a practical matter, the number of users buying NBA seats or booking space travel via Bitcoin is pretty insignificant.


But Balanced’s integration with Coinbase and its support for Bitcoin is a bit different.


That’s because, for one thing, Balanced operates as an API platform for two-sided payments transactions. In that way, its support for Bitcoin is mainly to enable its clients — the companies accepting payments from one party and making payouts to another — to use the feature.


Currently Balanced has more than 450 marketplaces using its payment solutions, and now any of them can easily accept Bitcoin as a payment option. It does that by connecting with end users’ Coinbase digital wallets.


According to Balanced co-founder Matin Tamizi, Coinbase will be listed as an option right alongside options for accepting credit card payments. Users who wish to pay with the new digital currency will be prompted to login to their Coinbase digital wallet — sort of like logging into Facebook Connect — and then they’ll be able to instantly have money deducted from their account.


While the Bitcoin option is now there, it’s up to Balanced clients to implement if they want to start accepting the digital currency. Tamizi told me that it would only take about a day’s work for any of its partners to add Coinbase support to their usual payments flow.


The first few customer to do so will include crowdfunding platform Crowdtilt, crowdfunding patronage startup Gittip, and gift exchange site Reddit Gifts.


For Balanced, the addition of Bitcoin is just one more option that it’s providing to customers. That includes features like pushing payments directly to debit cards and ACH payments.


The company, which was founded in 2010, has raised a total of $3.4 million from investors that include Andreessen Horowitz, CollabFund, SV Angel, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, celebrity investor Ashton Kutcher, and Reddit CEO Yishan Wong, among others. Now with more than 20 employees, it is processing more than $1 million in payments a day.





9:24 AM

Payments platform Balanced has been gradually adding features to enable marketplaces to accept and make payments out to their users. Today ...

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boxing-kangaroo

Atlanta-based Kanga has raised $1 million to create a new local delivery service that uses a crowdsourced approach to getting items from point A to point B.


An Atlanta meet-up finalist, Kanga lets customers choose from a list of drivers who will bid for delivery jobs. “Kanga also benefits local or independent retailers seeking a competitive edge over Internet retail giants by offering affordable professional delivery services,” said Scott Miller, co-founder and lead angel investor of Kanga.


That’s right: Miller isn’t just a customer, he bought the company.


Kanga can be used to deliver any items “with the exception of people, perishables or illegal substances” and users have to send a picture of the item they’re delivering before a delivery person will pick it up. The company will launch in Atlanta on March 26.


The company plans on using the cash to build out their mobile app and expand into other markets.

9:24 AM

Atlanta-based Kanga has raised $1 million to create a new local delivery service that uses a crowdsourced approach to getting items from poi...

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pocket gems episode

Mobile gaming company Pocket Gems is taking a new approach to telling stories on smartphones with the launch of a new platform called Episode.


CEO Ben Liu hinted at this last month when he talked about the company’s growth, saying that this year would see a big launch focusing on what it means to “experience a story on mobile.” Apparently, Episode is what co-founder Daniel Terry has been working on since he stepped down as CEO and became the company’s chief creative officer at the end of 2012.


Terry told me that he saw a big opportunity in mobile storytelling. After all, stories drive many forms of entertainment media, and even at Pocket Gems, when the company added story elements to its games, he said, “Players just love it, and it really enhances engagement.” Yet stories are either minimal or nonexistent in mobile games.


With Episode, Terry and his team have taken an approach that’s really focused on stories, to the extent that some might not even consider the app to be a game at all. At points in our conversation, Terry compared the approach to an interactive, animated TV show and to a “modern, mobile-first Choose Your Own Adventure.”


The demo that he gave me was pretty simple. Two animated characters were having a conversation at a club, which the player mostly just watches, but at one point the other character offered to buy me a drink and I got to choose what kind.


More exciting than the individual story is the platform that Pocket Gems has built. Using Episode, story writers can choose their settings, customize their characters, then use a simple scripting language to determine what happens, what choices the players will face, and how those choices will affect the rest of the story. Each individual chapter should only take a few minutes to finish, but as the name implies, they’re usually just pieces of a larger narrative. Users can what chapters are available in the Episode smartphone app, which functions as a sort of library.


Pocket Gems has been testing out Episode on iOS, and the company says users have already played 10 million chapters. Today, however, marks the official launch, which includes the release of an Android app and the opening of the scripting platform to anyone who wants to use it. For now, Terry said user-generated chapters will only be shareable with friends, while the public content will still come from professional writers paid by Pocket Gems. But eventually, the company could create a tiered system and start recruiting paid writers from the broader user base.


Players can play a limited number of chapters every few hours, and will have to pay to consume more. However, Terry suggested that the business model is still very much in the experimental phase. He added that the Episode platform could potentially be used to create content for other Pocket Gems games, though there are no specific plans in that area.


You can download the iOS app here. I’ll add a link to the Android app once I have it.





9:09 AM

Mobile gaming company Pocket Gems is taking a new approach to telling stories on smartphones with the launch of a new platform called Episo...

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lizlemonperiod

News has leaked (not really, I just wanted to say “leaked”) that tampon delivery service HelloFlo is going B2B.


As it stands now, HelloFlo offers customers an opportunity to choose what feminine hygiene products they want delivered and when, so that they never have to run to the drug store on the first day of a visit from Aunt Flo. Instead, everything they need for that fateful week each month is already waiting for them.


Now, HelloFlo is offering the same subscription system on a larger scale for corporate work environments who want to have a fully stocked women’s room.


“I’ve always appreciated the places that took care of the little as well as the big things,” said founder Naama Bloom. “I remember the first time I walked into the bathroom while visiting Google how impressed I was that they were fully stocked. It sets the tone that women are welcome.”


Bloom explained that HelloFlo customers were actually ordering their subscriptions to the office to make sure they never ran into an embarrassing situation in the workplace. The expansion into B2B only made logical sense.


This will not interfere with HelloFlo’s usual consumer-facing business, but will simply add another revenue stream.


For the B2B version of the subscription service, customers will receive a pre-set amount of feminine hygiene products (tampons, pads, or both), as well as pain relievers. HelloFlo even throws in a fabric basket so the period-friendly spread looks nice in the ladies’ room.


Check it out here.





9:09 AM

News has leaked (not really, I just wanted to say “leaked”) that tampon delivery service HelloFlo is going B2B. As it stands now, HelloFlo ...

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John Legere

BlackBerry fanboys are… passionate. Obnoxious could be another word. At a moment’s notice, they assemble and attack anyone who wafts a whiff of negativity against their fallen hero.


T-Mobile’s CEO learned this the hard way… but that was probably T-Mobile’s plan from the start.


Earlier this week, T-Mobile sent out an email to its BlackBerry customers offering them an iPhone 5s for $0 down. It’s a good deal. At least it’s a good deal for those BlackBerry users looking to switch. But in traditional BlackBerry fanboy fashion, the dwindling fanbase attacked T-Mobile and its CEO.



BlackBerry’s CEO even penned a post thanking his troops for “expressing your outrage directly to T-Mobile ‎through tweets, calls and comments in the media and on blog posts.” John Chen went on to call to call T-Mobile’s promotion “inappropriate” and “ill-conceived marketing promotion”.


Chen was wrong. T-Mobile was just feeding the trolls for its own benefit.


T-Mobile is currently engaging in a rebranding. Billed as the uncarrier, T-Mobile is trying its hardest to separate itself from other US carriers with unconventional wireless plans, phone prices, and, yes, marketing schemes. Even if T-Mobile’s marketing department wasn’t fully aware of the rabid BlackBerry crowd, they certain knew that their promotion, called “A great deal for BlackBerry users,” would ruffle some feathers and get kicked around the Internet. It was clearly designed to be snarky.


BlackBerry fanboys have always been predictable. T-Mobile essentially released a promo that would spread like a wildfire among the demographic it was specifically targeting and you can be positive some of the former BB users are dumping their dogs as we speak.


Think T-Mo learned its lesson? Nope. The carrier also just rolled a new plan where it will give $250 to upgrading BlackBerry users. This, folks, is viral marketing at its best.





9:09 AM

BlackBerry fanboys are… passionate. Obnoxious could be another word. At a moment’s notice, they assemble and attack anyone who wafts a whiff...

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form6

Diamond Products, a pleasure product-centric holdings company, has announced the acquisition of Jimmyjane. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.


Jimmyjane sits right at the intersection of sex toys and technology, developing next-generation pleasure products like the Form 6 vibrator and the HelloTouch vibrating finger pads. Not only do these products integrate tech-inspired design practices, such as wireless charging and minimalism, but they get the job done.


Trust me.


Diamond Products, in conjunction with a NYC private equity firm Brookstone Partners, has also acquired Pipedream Products, another sex toy, lingerie, pleasure product comapny.


The two companies (Jimmyjane and Pipedream) will now work together to “bring pleasure to the people.”


Here’s the full press release:




Diamond Products, in conjunction with a New York private equity firm, has made its second acquisition in the adult pleasure products industry in less than a year. Diamond approached Jimmyjane, the award-winning lifestyle brand known for reimagining the industry through design and innovation, to capitalize on the growing premium Sexual Wellbeing market. Together as part of Diamond, Jimmyjane and Pipedream Products aim to shape the future of the category as the world’s leading manufacturer of pleasure products.


With knowledge and experience gained over the last decade, Jimmyjane creates exceptional products that wow and delight its customers around the world. More than just a coveted brand, Jimmyjane embodies the team’s passion for pushing the limits of design, quality and innovation. Award-winning designer Ethan Imboden founded the company in 2004 with the goal of bringing “Pleasure to the People” – and reshaping the sex products market along the way. He and his team leveraged unprecedented design, engineering and marketing to achieve their goal of making exceptional pleasure products broadly available – both in top “sex positive” retail environments, as well as through mainstream distribution. Today, Jimmyjane products are globally renowned for their exceptional performance, durability and design. The company is credited for its leading role in reorienting the global conversation around pleasure products, and has become known in the media as “the Apple of sex toys”.


Nick Orlandino, CEO of Diamond Products commented “Jimmyjane is an exceptionally rare brand. Rare in the unique quality and design of its products, but also in the vision that has been executed over the last decade. I am very pleased that Ethan and the Jimmyjane team believe that our group is best able to ensure the continuity of this vision and the ongoing growth of the brand. Together we share the same values of quality and intense customer focus. I am convinced that our group will prove a good home and can help realize the significant future potential of Jimmyjane.”


Ethan Imboden, Founder and Chairman of Jimmyjane commented “We’re excited about this next step for Jimmyjane. Both our company and industry have come a very long way in the past 10 years. With the strength of Diamond behind Jimmyjane, we’ll be able to take our mission of bringing “Pleasure to the People” to an entirely different scale. Nick and the Diamond team respect the customer- and design-centric values, approach and attention to detail that are the foundation of Jimmyjane, and will be great partners in growing the brand’s reach and amplifying its message.”


This acquisition is a key facet of Diamond Products’ long-term growth strategy and offers the group a leadership position in the premium pleasure products market with one of the world’s best known specialty brands. Jimmyjane will continue to operate separately, maintaining its product development, creative, online, sales and day-to-day operations teams at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco.







8:09 AM

Diamond Products , a pleasure product-centric holdings company, has announced the acquisition of Jimmyjane. The terms of the deal were not d...

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facebook-whatsapp

The dust has settled. The full weight of Facebook’s acquisition should be evident. $19 billion. It’s the modern age of HP buying Compaq, a move that many pundits at the time said signaled the end of the Valley’s then-standard bearer, HP.


Follow the link here for our complete coverage of the purchase. $19 billion. Damn.

7:39 AM

The dust has settled. The full weight of Facebook’s acquisition should be evident. $19 billion. It’s the modern age of HP buying Compaq, a m...

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