Stories for Jun. 19, 2013
Feedly hits 12 million users, launches web version and quits relying on Google’s backend
Feedly is no longer relying on Google Reader’s backend, and on Wednesday it announced a much-requested web-only version and a bunch of new apps. Read more at paidContent »
Rockmelt brings its social news app to Android
Rockmelt used to be a company that tried to build a social web browser. But since it turned its attention to social news, the focus has shifted. Now Rockmelt is launching an app for Android. Read more »
The Samsung Mega becomes the first officially certified 802.11ac Wi-Fi device
The Wi-Fi Alliance has kicked off its 802.11ac certification program. First in line to get the official Wi-Fi stamp of approval was the Samsung Mega 6.3, followed by two other Mega variants and the Galaxy Active. Read more »
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iPhone’s Wi-Fi hotspot passwords are vulnerable to attack, researchers say
Researchers demonstrate that the list passwords for protecting the iPhone’s mobile hotspot are drawn from is just too small. The “randomly generated” passwords are also not random enough. Read more »
IMF joins online learning venture edX as its first non-university partner
photo: mtkang
The International Monetary Fund will offer finance courses to government officials — and, eventually, the general public — through the Harvard- and MIT-backed online learning site edX. Read more »
Apple TV gets HBO Go and sports with WatchESPN
None of this makes Apple TV a viable cable replacement those who want premium content and live sports because it still requires that pesky cable subscription. But Apple is slowly broadening its living room play to compete with Xbox and Roku. Read more »
RightScale sizes up Google Compute Engine
photo: Tartos/Shutterstock
RightScale, which knows a little something about cloud infrastructure performance, put Google Compute Engine through its paces. Read more »
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Janus Friis’ video service Vdio opens up for everybody. Next up: subscriptions?
Users don’t need a Rdio subscription to access movies and TV shows on Vdio anymore – but the services are working on even closer ties. Read more »
The Chrome Show: In-store invasion, exploit controls your camera and VP9
What’s in store for Chromebooks? More in-stores for Chromebooks, that’s what. We talk about that, an unfortunate Chrome exploit and VP9. Read more »
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Why even the best iOS app developers struggle to set the right price
Small app studio Impending is struggling with one of the most essential questions about today’s App Store: what to charge for a new app in the age of free-to-play apps. Read more »
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Cumulus Networks shakes up networking with an open OS for switches
Switches are the last bastion of the vertically integrated box inside the data center. Many companies want to change that and Cumulus Networks hopes to help by offering a Linux-based OS for switches. Read more »
Pindrop Security gets $11M to keep businesses protected over the phone
photo: Flickr user dno1967b
Cyberattacks through websites and networks have gotten loads of attention lately, but telephone hacking is sleeping giant. Andreessen Horowitz and other funds are backing Pindrop Security to solve the problem. Read more »
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Structure 2013 live coverage
photo: Albert Chau
Here’s a roundup of all of our coverage from Structure 2013, the definitive state-of-the-cloud event. Read more »
Security fades as a hurdle to cloud adoption
Companies are less worried about security in cloud than they used to be but it remains an issue for nearly half the respondents of a new survey. Management complexity and fear of vendor lock-in are other big factors. Read more »
ThousandEyes sniffs out performance problems on-site, off-site wherever
Startup says it can keep an eye on both your internal IT and your SaaS providers to pinpoint problems fast. Read more »
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Hired by an algorithm: Entelo gets $3.5M to expand data-based recruiting
photo: Sarah Holmlund
Professionals are generating an ever-growing pool of public data that sends signals about their skills — and their availability. A start-up has made a business of parsing that data for tech firms, and now wants to expand to academe and other professions. Read more »
Will Fisker’s investors sue?
Reuter’s investigative piece about the failed electric car startup Fisker Automotive is more fodder if Fisker’s investors plan on taking their complaints to the courts. Read more »
Tesla recalls around 800 Model S cars with weak seat bracket
Tesla does a minor recall of several hundred of its Model S cars for a weak seat bracket. Read more »
Stories for Jun. 18, 2013
Subscriber Content
The internet of things: a market landscape
What can we expect the IoT landscape to look like, and how will its impact be felt? And is the attention being given by governments, manufacturers, and industry players merited, or is this just a fad? In this paper we look at the trends leading the growth of the internet of things, its components, and its characteristics. We examine the scale of the different opportunities and early examples of use cases. Finally, we look at potential inhibitors to adoption and potential challenges, notably around security, privacy, and system failure. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Fab nabs $150 million in new funding as part of Series D round
With grand ambitions to become the world’s design store, Fab has raised the first part of a Series D funding round that looks to add a large flow of cash to the company’s efforts. Read more »
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Netflix will launch in the Netherlands in late 2013, as its international expansion slows
Love Amsterdam? So does Netflix: The streaming service revealed that it’s going to launch in the Netherlands later this year. Read more at paidContent »
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The first 3D-printed battery is as tiny as a grain of sand
photo: Harvard
The tiny interlocking combs of specialized ink could power human implants, drones and cameras. Each microbattery is thinner than a human hair. Read more »
Apple amends Siri’s response to suicide with more direct approach
Apple’s made some changes to Siri’s programming if the mention of suicide comes up — she’s now much more proactive in getting the user help. Read more »
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When your mother-in-law is endorsing you on LinkedIn, it’s time to question endorsements
In September, LinkedIn launched a new feature called endorsements, that allows people to validate certain skills you have on your profile. But LinkedIn needs to figure out how to make these lightweight features more relevant. Read more »
SpaceCurve raises $10M to make sense of our streams of location data
photo: Shutterstock / twobee
SpaceCurve has raised another $10 million for its database technology designed to make sense of massive amounts of data from sensors, social media, mobile devices and other streaming sources. Read more »
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Google files free speech challenge to FISA gag orders, renews criticism of Guardian
photo: Google
Google has sued to shine more light on the secret court that approves controversial national security letters — the petition also represents part of the ongoing PR strategy of tech companies caught up in a surveillance scandal. Read more »
Researchers mimic bone to 3D print fracture-resistant material
photo: Form 1
Eventually, their technique could be applied to print bones for medical use, plane components and even buildings. Read more »
NASA vows to track every asteroid near Earth as soon as it figures out how
An ambitious new plan calls for the deflection of the most dangerous near-Earth objects and research into how to move an asteroid into the moon’s orbit. Read more »
Netflix and Amazon step up battle for kids’ eyeballs over summer vacation
photo: Shutterstock / James Blinn
Netflix and Amazon both want to be the company that captures your kid’s screen time this summer. Read more at paidContent »
It’s official: Everyone loves the CMO. But should they?
photo: Shutterstock / Inq
With IT giants including IBM now actively targeting CMOs as primary buyers of IT solutions, you have to wonder if this is really a great idea. Read more »
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Cloudera names new CEO; Mike Olson now chairman and chief strategy officer
Cloudera CEO Mike Olson is now chief strategy officer and chairman of the board, while former Arcsight CEO Tom Reilly will take over the Hadoop pioneer’s leadership role. Read more »
Why designers make awesome entrepreneurs [video]
The Designer Fund is looking for the next wave of talented designers to work with design-forward web companies, and we sat down with the directors and learned why they’re not looking for the next skinny jeans. Read more »
Dish to Sprint: Stop whining and get out of the way of our Clearwire deal
photo: Everett Collection
Dish maintains that it’s offer for Clearwire is fair and legal, and Sprint’s attempt to block it in the courts is just an attempt to divert attention away from its own failed bid. Read more »
Introducing the next 6 digital media startups from the BBC’s accelerator in London
The BBC’s young accelerator program, called BBC Labs, has launched its latest batch of London digital media startups. Read more »
GE’s industrial internet focus means it’s a big data company now
photo: Stacey Higginbotham
As it tries to make inroads into the internet of things GE has decided it will become a big data company, building Hadoop-based software to help its customers automate their industrial assets. Read more »
Netflix dives into AWS usage monitoring with Ice
Very few Amazon Web Services customers know that infrastructure better than Netflix. Now it’s open sourcing its tool for tracking AWS use and spending. Read more »
Investors lack quantum-computing startups to fund, so they’re turning to these guys
photo: Jordan Novet
Quantum computing is still far off, but investors at the QWave Fund aren’t waiting. They’re funding startups with innovations in materials science and physics. Read more »
Dead battery relief: New York gets solar phone charging stations
photo: Pensa
New Yorkers soon will start seeing strange kiosks popping up in parks and other public places. They should be welcome sights, though, since anyone can plug their phones into them for a quick battery refresh. Read more »
Vitals raises $22M in increasingly crowded market for services that help you find a doctor
As competition mounts among online doctor review services, Vitals raises $22 million in a Series C round of funding. Read more »
Taking the pulse of the planet: How Twitter erases geography
photo: Flickr / Dunechaser
A study that looked at more than a billion tweets and the geographic connections between 71 million users across the globe shows how Twitter has changed the way we communicate and helped erase geographical barriers. Read more »
