Siri, watch out: Apple’s personal assistant is getting competition from a Russian startup, whose founder is currently touring the Valley as part of a roadshow for Russia’s Skolkovo IT park. I met with him and three other of the Skolkovo startups this week, and left impressed. Read More »
Archive for October 2011
As national brands direct more ad spend to online video, they’re looking to deliver significant relevance. While some elements of relevance are a matter of back-end technology, like delivering a consistent view across different platforms, most critical elements lie directly in the hands of publishers. Read More »
Apple’s iOS 5 and iCloud are set to arrive for the general public later Wednesday, but Find My Friends and AirPort Utility have arrived a little early. Both are live, but you can’t access or use them unless you have iOS 5. Read More »
Telecommuting offers well-publicized benefits, but Census Bureau figures show only four percent of workers actually work from home. What makes telecommuting so challenging? The Workforce Institute asked two veteran work-from-homers to discuss their on-the-ground experience with remote work in this interesting podcast. Read More »
Early iPhone 4S reviews are easy to sum up (people like it) but it’s worth zooming in on some of the individual takes from the better appraisals popping up around the web to get a sense of what exactly is and isn’t pleasing about Apple’s latest. Read More »
Are there still opportunities for tech innovation for solar cells, now that solar panels are rapidly becoming commoditized? California startup Silevo thinks it has a shot with a hybrid solar cell design and a plan to build its first factory in China. Read More »
Galvanizing technologies like high-definition conferencing systems enable people to feel like they’re literally in the same room working on the same problem or participating in the same presentation, no matter where they happen to be. Read More »
TaskRabbit, the website that allows people to outsource errands and other jobs, has appointed Eric Grosse as its new CEO, the company announced Wednesday. Grosse will bring some proverbial grey hair to the San Francisco startup, replacing TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque in the chief executive position.… Read More »
Cloud-based DNA-sequencing specialist DNAnexus has closed a $15 million second round led by Google Ventures and TPG Biotech. Elsewhere, we learned Wednesday that agribusiness giant Monsanto has deployed Cloudant’s NoSQL database as the underpinning of the company’s genomics system. Read More »
Looks like GM is planning to compete even more directly with Nissan’s all-electric LEAF. According to reports, GM is supposed to announce on Wednesday that it will start selling an all-electric city car, designed for urban markets in the U.S. and based on its minicar Spark. Read More »
What your mother told you still holds true, even online: First impressions matter. Zynga aspires to make all its games pass what the company calls the “three click” test with games that people can enjoy and get hooked on within the first three mouse clicks. Read More »
Intel won’t be making any chipsets for smart TVs in the foreseeable future: The company has shut down its Digital Home Group, which was behind the chip that powers the Boxee Box and Google TV devices. However, Boxee and Google aren’t too worried. Read More »
More Must Reads
