Buoyed by Double Fine Adventure, which earlier this year received $1 million in just one day, the games category went from the eighth most funded to the second most funded ($75 million) in less than a year.

But more launches doesn’t mean more successes—that rate has held at about 44 % for the site overall, according to Kickstarter spokesman Justin Kazmark. Film and video, the most common Kickstarter category, is the seventh most likely category to be successfully funded. (Note: Kickstarter only consider projects that are completely funded to be successes.)

And some categories fare better than others.

While dance has the fewest launches, it has the highest success rate at 70 percent.

Kickstarters range in price from under a thousand dollars to over a million dollars, with the median funding in the $1,000 to $9,999 range.

Kickstarter’s co-founder Perry Chen spoke at our Roadmap conference earlier this week — he answered questions about a possible IPO and other topics.

Here’s video of Kickstarter co-founder and CEO Perry Chen speaking at Roadmap 2012 last week.

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The study further breaks down funding by state and sector. California leads as a location for companies getting funded, while tech software is the sector most likely to get funded. Stanford and its Silicon Valley aren’t an island, however, and face competition from Harvard and  NYU, which have seen the most growth since the study began.

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Anyone expecting to see a radical change in listening habits may be disappointed.

The first ever weekly top 100 chart of streamed plays, released by the UK’s Official Charts Company on Monday, is broadly similar to the chart of downloads purchases and, therefore, the overall singles chart.

The big news is, the UK’s current number-one single, by Rita Ora featuring Tinie Tempah, is merely #44 in the streaming chart. Instead, top spot goes to Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, number four in the downloads counterpart.

But, despite only two tracks occupying the same position in both charts’ top 40, streaming appears to give more of a boost to current hits than to older songs.

• Seventeen hit songs present in the downloads top 40 place even higher in the streaming chart, suggesting some popular current songs spin even more online.
• Nine positions in the streaming top 40 are occupied by songs which don’t figure in the equivalent downloads chart at all. That means ongoing plays for Ed Sheeran (x3), Lana Del Rey (x3), Coldplay’s Paradise, Rihanna, Script and Usher tracks which are now selling less.
• Tulisa is amongst the eight artists to be less popular in streaming’s top 40 than via downloads – in streaming, she is 14 places below her #2 downloads chart spot.

The chart is compiled using data from both free and ad-funded services including Spotify, We7, Napster, Deezer, Zune and ChartsNow.

“It shows the true longevity of a track in the life of a music fan beyond a track purchase,” an Official Charts Company spokesperson told paidContent, discussing Carly Rae Jepsen’s streaming chart-topper, which has falling in the counterpart downloads chart after spending four weeks at the top.

“It will be interesting to track what happens to the Rita track over the coming weeks as different forces come in to play. Will the added exposure that Rita will get in the media off the back of her number one single, and additional TV and radio airplay, for example, prompt people to look this track up on Spotify, Deezer etc?”

The spokesperson also revealed: “This chart is purely audio streaming, we are in advanced talks with video streaming services to create a separate standalone video streaming chart.” YouTube is the most-consumed music service.

sss

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First of all, the iPhone is thinner, lighter, has a bigger screen, and is sexier than the Pre. And it comes in two colors. These are all things we know, though. AT&T. Some people will still opt for the Pre because they think it’s “different.” There must be other, more tangible, functional differences between the two phones.

Actually, pretty much every point beyond superficial concerns does seem to make a strong case in the iPhone’s favor. It is true, after all, that the App Store has already proven its value, while Pre’s offerings have yet to be tested. And apparently the Pre’s interface, while multitouch, is not nearly as intuitive as the iPhone’s. While I’m taking AT&T’s word for that, it is true that I couldn’t imagine a more intuitive interface than the one the iPhone currently boasts. Also listed on the iPhone’s side in the UI category is “fast and responsive navigation,” which would seem to infer that the Pre is slow and sluggish by comparison, though again, this is unsubstantiated.

Another very crucial difference has to do with the limits the Pre suffers from by not being a GSM phone. Obviously, this means it can’t be used anywhere in the world as easily as the iPhone can, which is a huge point of contention for business travelers and other globe-trotting individuals. Also, the lack of GSM means that the Pre can’t take advantage of location and GPS functions in most locations around the world. Apparently the iPhone’s GPS is just better thanks to aGPS, too. I will say that it’s worked flawlessly since updating to the 3.0 Beta.

Some of the other differences are more ridiculous, and clearly skewed by AT&T’s not-so-secret preference. The iPhone, for example, is touted for featuring a built-in iPod. C’mon Pre, where’s your built-in iPod? I’m sure if you just asked Apple nicely, they’d totally let you do that. Also “Limited free Wi-Fi access” for the Pre as opposed to what, unlimited free Wi-Fi access for the iPhone? Last time I checked, I couldn’t get a Wi-Fi connection wherever I wanted whenever I wanted, which, technically, means it has “limits.”

Whether or not you believe AT&T’s propaganda, we’ll find out how they really stack up soon enough, since this document all but confirms that the Pre’s release is imminent.

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The lists appear as part of the iTunes Store 2008 year-in-review mini-site, which also features the most popular movies, songs, TV shows, and podcasts. Of course, the items on each list differ according to which region you’re in. The list discussed here is that found in the U.S. version.

Topping the paid list is Koi Pond, which is no surprise, considering that it looked for a while as though it were going to claim a permanent place atop the popular paid apps chart. Also making the cut are launch racers and other games like Moto Chaser, Crash Bandicoot, Cro-Mag Rally, Enigmo and Super Monkey Ball. In fact, Recorder is the sole utility app on the list, suggesting that when it comes to the iPhone and iPod touch, amusement is the primary driving force behind purchases.

By contrast, the list of top free apps contains only two real games, and one game-like time waster (Lightsaber Unleashed). The ever popular Pandora tops the chart, and a number of useful, though very different apps also appear, like Facebook, Remote, and Shazam.

The difference between the two lists is telling. It suggests that people are much more likely to spend money on games than on apps with functional value, but that consumers are glad to grab more useful apps when they’re offered for free. Another possibility is that consumers attach more perceived value to paid games, since, thanks to the console market, a clear precedent of paying for quality development in that area is well established.

The list is well worth a look. Factors like time available in the App Store seem to have had an effect, but latecomers like Line Rider iRide prove that isn’t the only thing at play. Also, the success of some apps like MobileChat raise questions about hype vs. ratings as driving downloads. Check it out and see how your download history matches up.

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