startups

Twitter will now comply with international governments to remove Tweets, some cry censorship The good people at Twitter made a significant announcement on their blog recently, which figures for the alteration of two aspects of their widely popular micro-blogging service. First, they announced a new policy of compliance with countries wishing to censor content on Twitter, "for historical or cultural reasons." The culturally defined reasons cited by Twitter were how the federal governments ... [Read more]

Nintendo has officially unveiled its new Nintendo Network, a collection of services that will include personal user accounts on the Wii U, downloadable content on both the Wii U and the 3DS, and digital distribution of retail products.

Although we have known about Nintendo Network ever since the logo appeared on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy’s box art, there was no clear indication of exactly what the service would offer. During Nintendo’s third quarter financial results briefing, it was specifically outlined how Nintendo Network is going to be integrated into the two big Nintendo consoles: the 3DS and the Wii U.

Unlike the current, archaic Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo Network will be a more integral part of how the systems function, much like PSN and Xbox Live for their respective consoles. There were mentions of DLC earlier in the month regarding the new Fire Emblem, and Nintendo of America chief executive Reggie Fils-Aime discussed the paid add-on content that would be coming to the 3DS late last year. Now it appears all of these plans are linked to Nintendo Network.

Paid DLC is not the only thing Nintendo will be adding with its new network. Wii U owners will be able to create a personal account system, a step Nintendo hopes will alleviate the frustration of countless families who share a Wii, but do not have dedicated profiles. Competitions and online communication will also be handled by Nintendo Network, a feature that has already been implemented in Mario Kart 7 as “Communities.”

Nintendo cautiously discussed the idea of offering digital distribution of full retail games, something the company says both the 3DS and Wii U are already capable of. There was no detail in terms of Nintendo’s long term plans regarding digital distribution, but the company is exploring the option. The huge losses and falling stocks have set a fire under Nintendo, one that will hopefully catch them up with the rest of the video game world.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is expected to be the first North American release that will include paid downloadable songs. We can expect to see a lot more of Nintendo Network in the near future leading into a very important showing at E3, and the launch of the Wii U this fall.

Filed under: games

Google rolled out a new version of its Google Earth software that replaces the patchy, quilt-like mapping graphics with a smoother, more cohesive update.

“The Google Earth globe is made from a mosaic of satellite and aerial photographs taken on different dates and under different lighting and weather conditions. Because of this variance, views of the Earth from high altitude can sometimes appear patchy,” wrote Google Earth Project Manager Peter Birch in a blog post yesterday.

The new way of rendering makes the mapping graphics look far more like a single image, complete with textures and shading. It really looks like something that came out of a movie — so much so that when I typed in and address I checked my audio setting to find out why the music wasn’t playing. (And then I realized this wasn’t an episode of Planet Earth.)

The update also includes sharing integration with Google’s social network Google+. You can now easily share a screenshot of any Google Earth view by clicking a button in the upper right hand corner of the window. This could be pretty useful when giving directions since it’s a little more dynamic than the standard Google Maps street view feature.

The new update is available now on both the mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth, which you can download on the official app page.

Filed under: social, VentureBeat

Study shows only 1% of Facebook fans of a given brand engage with that brand in the real world You often hear companies bragging over how many "likes" on Facebook they've managed to rack up, as if operating under the assumption that social network popularity translates to brand monetization. However, an AdWeek report citing new research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute calls foul on this thinking, claiming that only 1% of Facebook fans of a given brand actually engage with ... [Read more]

Foursquare is attempting to make the unfamiliar more familiar with the addition of nearby places to hundreds of business pages Friday.

Foursquare, the New York startup attempting to use check-in and tips data to make the real world easier to navigate, gives merchants the ability to operate their own business and brand pages to share tips and connect with customers.

Now, the company is gifting its businesses with a nearby map that collects all of their venues and helps all of you would-be patrons find the closest locations near you. And should you be on a specific venue page, say Starbucks for instance, you can also view your other close by Starbucks options. The feature is unfortunately web-only for the time being, we’re told.

The update may seem minor, but Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley told VentureBeat that this improvement once again points back to the significance of the startup’s growing data pool. Foursquare’s data structure now knows the difference between big chains, small franchises, and mom-and-pop shops, he said, which gives the company the ability to group venues and surface them for members with the appropriate context.

How might something like this come in handy? You could quickly find the nearest Starbucks locale for your coffee fix, visit the closest 24 Hour Fitness on your business trip, or discover that your favorite restaurant has more locations than you realized.

The addition also comes as Foursquare continues to make both incremental and major improvements, including Explore recommendations and menu items, to the overall web experience. Foursquare’s website sees roughly 1 million visitors each day. As such, the property represents an important channel for the startup as it strives to be the go-to source for location-based content.

Filed under: social, VentureBeat

After halting secondary trading, Facebook IPO paperwork expected Wednesday The world may soon get a peek at all the nitty gritty financials of Facebook -- perhaps even by Friday. Facebook may be filing for IPO as soon as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sources close to Facebook are looking at a valuation between $75 billion and $100 billion as it raises up to $10 billion for a ... [Read more]

Are you excited for The Crunchies Awards? The final line-up of notable guests has been released, making us all the more excited to host this star-studded event.

Harris Wittels, Parks and Recreation writer and all-around funny guy, will take the stage as the host of the 2011 Crunchies Awards next Tuesday night, January 31. VentureBeat, GigaOm, and TechCrunch are hosting the event, awarding the best tech innovation of 2011.

The even is chock-full of tech celebrities, including Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Kevin Rose (Digg), Marissa Mayer (Google), Kevin Systrom (Instagram), venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, and angel investor Ron Conway, many of whom will be presenting awards.

Tickets for the event are still available, but are going fast. There is also still time to vote for who you think should win best startup, app, or device of the year. Are you an Evernote fan? Want to see the Kindle Fire win for best new device? Or maybe you have a soft spot for the new startup Pinterest? You have until midnight on Sunday January 29 to cast your vote for your favorite.

Following the ceremony, winners and guests will celebrate at the afterparty. Get ready for a fully hosted bar, hors d’oeuvres, a casino game room, and so much more fun.

Wittels is well known for his Twitter handle @Humblebrag, where he retweets boastful  and humble tweets. As apart of his hosting performance for the Crunchies, he plans to read out a few tweets he finds. Want to get a shout out? Tweet your best humblebrags between now and the start of the show with the #crunchies and #humblebrag hashtags. Who knows, your 140 character message might get chosen.

Filed under: VentureBeat

Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who spearheaded engineering for the iPod, and then proceeded to revitalize Palm, has officially left Hewlett-Packard, the company confirmed today.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected. Rubinstein was reportedly a no-show at HP since former CEO Leo Apotheker killed off the company’s WebOS devices, and even before that his role at HP was reduced with a change to a vague “SVP of innovation” title.

An HP spokesperson told All Things Digital, which first reported the news about Rubinstein’s departure, that “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well.” Rubinstein confirmed that he only agreed to stick around HP for 12 to 24 months after it acquired Palm, in an interview with The Verge.

Speaking to the Verge’s Joshua Topolsky, Rubinstein deftly avoided chatting about where Palm went wrong or complaining about Apotheker’s treatment of webOS:

We built an amazing OS in webOS. It’s very advanced, it’s where things are going. But we ran out of runway, and we ended up at HP and HP wasn’t in good enough shape on its own to be able to support the effort. I had four CEOs! Mark acquired us, Les Jackson took over as the interim CEO, then Leo, and now Meg.

Now Rubinstein, seemingly going full circle, is taking a much-deserved break in Mexico, where the Palm folks initially tapped him to help save the company in 2007. He admitted that he’s still carrying a tiny webOS-powered Veer, and that he hopes to get back into the mobile world in some fashion.

“I think the future is mobile,” Rubinstein told the Verge. “Obviously there’s going to be stuff that comes post mobile, there’ll be a next wave. It could very well be home integration, but mobile’s going to continue to be really important. But I have no idea what I’m going to do next. I haven’t spent a minute thinking about it.”

VentureBeat is holding its second annual Mobile Summit this April 2-3 in Sausalito, Calif. The invitation-only event will debate the five key business and technology challenges facing the mobile industry today, and participants — 180 mobile executives, investors, and policymakers — will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. You can find out more at our Mobile Summit site.

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

Providing customers with satisfactory 24/7 support is difficult when you're starting out, mainly because of the costs and expenses that go with hiring call centers and support staff. And the ones that are cheap very often provide substandard services. But Talkdesk is here to change all that for good. Read more Learn more about TalkdeskApp.com in Dataopedia.com Find out how much TalkdeskApp.com is worth with Stimator.com Have a business question? Ask Startups.com

Google spent double the amount in acquisitions in 2011 as in 2010, and that's not counting Motorola With 79 company acquisitions during 2011, Google could be considered the most acquisitive company last year. And that pace isn't expected to let up.   The company filed its annual10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, showing that the company spent $1.9 billion in cash and stock acquiring 79 different companies during the course of 2011.  While this amount is ... [Read more]

As soon as Feb. 1, we could see more brand pages, gaming, shopping on Twitter site No one can claim that Twitter is resting on its laurels when it comes to getting brands to work with them. Reports are coming out that next week Twitter will expand who, what and how brands advertise on the popular microblogging platform. While Twitter introduced a limited selection of brand pages in December, which 20+ companies got invitations to start, ... [Read more]

Just a reminder to Silicon Valley- and Colorado-based companies: VentureBeat is joining up with two great venture capital firms to offer feedback on your product.

Yes, there’s something in it for VentureBeat. We’re on the prowl to find the most exciting products to write about (eventually, when your product is ready), and also to invite to launch our upcoming DEMO conference. The next DEMO takes place April 17-19 in Silicon Valley.

And yes, there’s something in it for the venture capital firms: They get to establish relationships with smart, ambitious entrepreneurs early on in the history of your company, without the pressure involved of this being a full-on money pitch.

And there’s something certainly in it for you: If you’re an entrepreneur based in the Boulder area and think you are building the next big disruptive tech company, or you’re here in Silicon Valley trying to do the same, we’re going to be brutally honest with you about what we think. We want to give you quick, helpful advice on your your technology, your business model and your go-to-market strategy, so that you can get to the next step. In many sessions, to be honest, we encourage companies to pivot completely, to find a better way.

COLORADO: Feb 8

So if you’re based in Colorado, join us on February 8 for a private feedback session in Boulder, with Foundry Group, one of the best venture capital  firms in town. As previously reported, we’re inviting ten companies who plan to launch products soon to pitch their ideas to key partners at Foundry as well as to me (as DEMO Executive Producer, I select the companies to present at DEMO).

If you’re interested in this, please fill out this form. We’ll also be co-hosting a party with AARP at the T-Zero Lounge from 6-8pm that evening, and the drinks will be on us (for that, register to attend here). Indeed, AARP is also sponsoring full scholarships for three companies focused on products which also serve the 50+ year-old market, to launch DEMO Spring in April. If interested in that opportunity, apply here)

SF BAY AREA: Feb 9

Or if you’re based in the SF Bay Area, join us and one of the city’s most respected venture capital groups, Kleiner Perkins on February 9  (please fill out this form). We’ll also be throwing a party sponsored by AARP that night from 6 to 8 at the Dutch Goose for entrepreneurs interested in coming (register to attend here).

Looking forward to seeing you!

Filed under: DEMO, VentureBeat

The Facebook IPO cometh.

The social network could file papers for its initial public offering as soon as Wednesday, according to sources.

The burgeoning business is exploring a valuation between $75 and $100 billion — numbers that match a smattering of previous reports — and will likely select Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter for the IPO, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

A VentureBeat source said that the filing is imminent, but did not know the exact date.

The timing makes sense and aligns with a recent report that suggested that Facebook would like to make its stock market debut in May. In order to meet the May deadline and comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidelines, Facebook would need to file its papers any day now.

Exactly where Facebook will be traded is still up in the air, according to the New York Post. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are said to be aggressively battling for the listing. Facebook remains undecided, but it has reserved the ticker symbol “$FB” and can use it on either exchange, according to sources.

When Facebook does become a public company, it will be the biggest IPO of the year. The 800 million-member social network is anticipated to raise more than $10 billion, a feat that only three companies — AT&T, General Motors and Visa — have ever achieved.

[Image via vaguelyartistic/Flickr]

Filed under: deals, social, VentureBeat

You might think you need to hire a designer just to have a mobile app to go with your newly-launched site, but you're wrong. There are services that let you create a mobile app yourself, and with results that are more than acceptable. Appatista is one of these, and you can use it absolutely for free. Read more Learn more about Appatista.com in Dataopedia.com Find out how much Appatista.com is worth with Stimator.com Have a business question? Ask Startups.com

So, you've finally created an online resume using the many intelligent resume creation tools we've reviewed such as JobSpice and Read more Learn more about JobKaster.com in Dataopedia.com Find out how much JobKaster.com is worth with Stimator.com Have a business question? Ask Startups.com

One of the only disadvantages of using Google’s new Google Music service was that your music was essentially locked within the cloud — with the exception of the purchases you made through the Android market.

Today, however, Google rolled out a new version of its Google Music Manager that gives its U.S. users the ability to download a backup of all the songs stored within the service. The feature addition will probably be most useful for people who experience a computer crash or external physical storage drive failure , which virtually eliminates all the personal files they may have saved. Basically, using Google Music now means you never have to worry about losing your entire collection.

The music collection backup doesn’t solve some of the other problems some people have with using a cloud-based service to manage their music. If you’ve always got reliable internet connection and primarily use mobile devices that run Google’s Android operating system, then Google Music doesn’t have many set backs. But if you’re an iPhone/iPod owner that primarily likes to listen to your music collection in a gym that gets a really bad cell phone reception, then cloud-based music services aren’t very appealing.

Google also added a feature that lets you more easily share YouTube music videos of the songs in your library. Google Music already lets people share tracks with their friends via Google+, but this new feature is a nice addition for people who primarily use YouTube for their streaming media consumption.

Filed under: media, VentureBeat

When you look at products online at Amazon or another site, it’s instinctual to take a glance at the star rating by your peers. But with a new expose just posted by the New York Times about user review bribery, this might be a good time as any to remind yourself not to trust these reviews.

While savvy online shoppers have known for years to take user reviews with a grain of salt and know to look out for company-written reviews, there may not be as blatant of a case as the Times has documented. The article shows how the small company VIP Deals (which has no website) offered a full refund on a product in exchange for a user review.

On Amazon.com, VIP Deals was selling a Vipertek-made leather case for the Kindle Fire for only $10. After a user purchased the case, VIP Deals would send a letter to the user offering a refund in exchange for a review.

“In return for writing the review, we will refund your order so you will have received the product for free for a review,” the letter said. “Please also rate your five-star experience. We strive to earn 100 percent perfect ‘FIVE-STAR’ scores from you!”

Amazon told the New York Times that VIP Deals had violated its guidelines that prohibit compensation for user reviews. The VIP Deals company page and its products are no longer listed on Amazon.com.

What the story amounts to is another lesson on what sources you can trust online. This doesn’t mean that all user reviews are fakes, obviously, but it means you should scrutinize and do more research before you buy. Or hell, maybe we should all just go back to “word of mouth” as our primary trust mechanism.

Computer user image: Ivan Nakonechnyy/Shutterstock

Filed under: VentureBeat

Watch out! There are a couple adults-only vocabulary choices in Startup Land.

For this week’s video show installment, we decided to deliver a very special VBWeekly addressing the dangers of myopia and jargon.

Also, we decided to slay what’s left of the “Sh*t People Say” meme.

Since we get a lot of press releases, talk to a lot of VCs and entrepreneurs, and live the dream ourselves as startup employees, who better to skewer the startup community than VentureBeat, we figured.

We took a liberal amount of this script from real life (the number of times we’ve heard “We don’t have any competitors” is astronomical), but some of it is fictional.

Generous thanks goes out to @MochaSips, @CynthiaSchames, @dabent, and @matthewcyan for their Twitter suggestions.

And to the many, many hard-working developers, founders, VCs, angels, bloggers, and PR folks whose work we quote directly, please know that we’re laughing with you, and we know very well that VentureBeat wouldn’t have anything to write about without you. We mock only with the greatest love.

We’re checking out; if you need us, we’ll be in the foosball room.

Special thanks to “the talent” and “the crew”: Sarah Mitroff, Meghan Kelly, Garrett McCullum, Amanda Lopez, Matt Marshall, Jason Spengenthal, and Jolie O’Dell.

Filed under: Entrepreneur Corner, video

The Internet economy among G-20 nations is expected to nearly double by 2016, reaching $4.2 trillion (up from $2.3 trillion in 2010), according to a projection released today by the Boston Consulting Group.

The big drive in the web economy over the next few years will be a massive influx of new users — with 3 billion users in 2016, up from 1.9 billion in 2010 — the consulting group reports.

“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital,” Boston Consulting partner David Dean said in a statement today. “The ‘new’ Internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous, and participatory.”

While the group’s projections sound like a major shift, they’re actually slightly more conservative than other estimates we’ve seen recently. A report from Ericsson, for example, estimates that we’ll see 5 billion mobile data subscribers by 2016.

Come 2016, almost 70 percent of Internet users in G-20 nations will be from emerging markets, Boston Consulting projects, whereas it was just 56 percent in 2010. The group also estimates that China will have 800 million Internet users by then — “about the same number as France, Germany, India, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. combined,” it wrote in a news release today.

The big takeaway for business owners is that they’ll have to pay even more attention to the Internet over the next few years if they want to survive. Boston Consulting notes that businesses that make extensive use of social media and the Internet grow faster, according to a survey of over 15,000 businesses. U.S. companies with high and medium web presences are expected to grow 17 percent in the next year, compared with just 12 percent growth for those not online.

[Laptop being used outdoors via Shutterstock]

Filed under: VentureBeat

Google is defending its new privacy policy, stressing that the company isn’t collecting more data, just collecting it in a new way.

“We’re making things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it. Period,” said Google’s policy manager Betsy Masiello in a blog post Thursday evening.

The company recently announced big changes to its privacy policy, posting notifications throughout its products that read, “We’re changing our privacy policy and terms. Not the usual yada yada,” and, “This stuff matters.”

Where Google was, in essence, a patchwork of products governed by individual privacy policies, it is consolidating itself into one big product suite under one big privacy policy. But, as with any announcement around privacy, users become scared and unsure of where their data is going.

In Google’s case, the data is now being used to “improve” other products. Take Search Plus Your World for example. The company’s flagship product, search, now shows “personal” results from its social network Google+. Personal results include photos, posts, and people’s accounts that are relevant to your search term. Your data is shared between the two different services, and more of this personal integration can occur under the new privacy policy.

“We’re not collecting more data about you. Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google — whichever products or services you use,” said Masiello. “This is something we have already been doing for a long time.”

Another issue is the inability to “opt-out” of your data being used in different products. If you don’t want your data collected, your only option is simply not use the service in question. A slightly less extreme measure is to use different accounts for different services, so that data is not shared between them. For example, use one Google account for your mail, another for YouTube and one more for Google+. Additionally, there are always the granular privacy changes you can make within some of the products.

“You can use as much or as little of Google as you want,” said Masiello. “You still have choice and control.”

Filed under: VentureBeat