Open Garden teams with TextMe to connect the unconnected tablet
photo: Open Garden
Open Garden needs scale, TextMe needs a means for its customers to reach the Internet. These two might just be a match made in heaven. Read more »
“Skype of cloud storage” Symform nets $11M in funding
Symform, a company that brings peer-to-peer technology to bear on the cloud storage problem, netted $11 million in a new Series B investment round led by WestRiver Capital and including OVP and Longworth Venture Partners. Erik Anderson of WestRiver Capital joins the Symform Board of Directors. Read more »
Symform gets $2M for peer-to-peer “cloud” storage
Cloud storage vendor Symform netted $2 million in venture funding from new backer Westfield Capital, which joined existing investors OVP Venture Partners and Longworth Venture Partners to bring total funding for this Series A round to $7.5 million. Read more »
Follow the traffic: What MegaUpload’s downfall did to the web
MegaUpload, the file-sharing community, has had its physical offices raided by the FBI and its site shut down because the U.S. government says it has violated copyright. I asked a few companies that track web traffic to see how it affected the Internet. Read more »
Tim O’Reilly: Why I’m fighting SOPA
The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has drawn the ire of many tech industry leaders for its potential to squash innovation. GigaOM talked to O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly about why SOPA is wrong and what the tech industry can do to stop it. Read more »
How P2P could save the set-top box by improving VOD
Netflix dominates the business of streaming movies and television into consumers’ homes, but a new business model developed by big data firm Opera Solutions could help give cable companies the inside track. The model is combination of peer-to-peer networking via set-top boxes and big data algortihms. Read more »
Will Google buy T-Mobile? Not a chance
SNL reports that Google is bidding on T-Mobile. If the rumor were somehow true, then Google is suffering from hubris. Selling software, services and handsets is fundamentally a different business than selling connectivity. Google buying T-Mobile would be a bigger disaster than AOL-Time Warner. Read more »
Deloitte: 9% have cut cable, another 11% are considering it
While cable operators and networks continue to downplay the effect of cord cutting, in Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy survey, the firm reports that 9 percent of respondents have already canceled their cable subscriptions, with another 11 percent saying they are considering doing so. Read more »
How Transferwise turns currency exchange upside down
London startup Transferwise wants to be the Skype of currency exchange, disrupting existing services that charge customers heavily for moving their money. But can its low-cost, peer-to-peer approach really succeed? Read more »
TaskRabbit gets rocket fuel with $17.8M funding round
TaskRabbit has raised $17.8 million in a Series B funding round. It’s just been 7 months since the company announced its $5 million Series A, but growth has been fast and furious: TaskRabbit has tripled net revenue and seen a seven-fold increase in customers since May. Read more »
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What the share economy can learn from the cloud
In the past few years we have seen accommodation-sharing company Airbnb grab a valuation of over $1 billion and car-sharing leader Zipcar squeak into profitability sooner than expected. Those developments, among others, suggest the share economy is alive and well, but how can this space continue ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Zaarly goes big: $14.1M funding, Meg Whitman joins board
Peer-to-peer marketplace Zaarly has secured some major support — from some of the tech industry’s biggest names. Zaarly has closed on $14.1 million in a series A funding round. In addition, Hewlett-Packard CEO and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has joined Zaarly’s board of directors. Read more »
Vehicular network coming to a smart car near you?
Imagine if your car could know about a huge pothole just ahead. Or a traffic snarl. Or both. Would that be of interest to you? USC researcher Bhaskar Krishnamachari is working to enable a peer-to-peer network of “smart” cars that share information as they travel. Read more »
TaskRabbit nabs Hotwire co-founder as CEO
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 »
Yardsellr rebrands as YellowDog, launches Style.ly fashion site
Yardsellr, the online marketplace that plugs into Facebook, has launched a new clothing and accessories site called Style.ly, aimed at a younger, fashion-focused demographic. The company is rebranding as YellowDog Media, which will act as an umbrella company to Style.ly, Yardsellr, and other forthcoming specialized marketplaces. Read more »
Ride-sharing startup Zimride shifts into high gear
Zimride, the startup that allows people to arrange shared car rides together, has been doing quite well with semi-private, paid networks since its 2007 launch. Now, the company is set to reach a much bigger audience with its first public platform and an in-app payment system. Read more »
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Flash analysis: Collaborative consumption – a first look at the new web-sharing economy
Collaborative consumption refers to a class of new businesses that use the web to enable the sharing and bartering of goods and services — from cars to apartments to office space. The market evolved out of the first generation of general-purpose P2P marketplaces such as Craigslist and eBay and is now tied to the way we use the Internet and cell phones. GigaOM Pro conducted a survey of GigaOM readers to gauge the popularity of the collaborative consumption movement, which services readers are using and the impact certain security concerns will have on the growth of industry. This research note examines the survey’s results and provides analysis on the current state and future of the web-sharing market. Companies mentioned in this report include Zipcar, RelayRides, thredUP and Airbnb. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free GigaOM Pro trial subscription. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tripping keeps on truckin’ with Grateful Dead partnership
Since 1965, hard-core Grateful Dead fans have been camping out in America’s open fields and fairgrounds. Now, San Francisco startup Tripping is helping the band add community-service projects to the jam sessions as a way of expanding its peer-to-peer travel service. Read more »
How P2P Will Reshape the Enterprise
Gone are the days when P2P was more or less synonymous with file sharing. Now you can offer up just about anything you can think of for sale, rent or trade directly to interested individuals. But P2P will also reshape how business operates inside and out. Read more »
Are You Ready for the New Peer-to-Peer Economy?
It’s unlikely you missed the big brouhaha between San Francisco-based startup Square and VeriFone, a payment processing services provider. VeriFone accused Square of not being secure and being easily hackable. Dorsey denied. This week’s dust-up makes me wonder if VeriFone quite understands its own business. Read more »
Qualcomm’s FlashLinq, Wi-Fi Direct and the New Connectivity
Qualcomm introduced a new peer-to-peer communication technology today to allow devices to connect to one another to share broadband speeds. Dubbed, FlashLinq the technology is one of several attempt to change the way devices connect–creating a more distributed and more resilient network. Read more »
How Phone-Powered Mesh Networks Could Help in Egypt
With a complete shut-down of Internet access in Egypt, the next drastic step would be the closure of voice communication networks. But researchers in Australia have demonstrated the use of mesh networks on smartphones, which enable voice calls in areas without a working cellular infrastructure. Read more »
Video: Wi-Fi Direct, an Easier Way to Connect Wireless Devices
Directly connecting Wi-Fi devices to each other is now simple and configuration-free thanks to Wi-Fi Direct. Here at CES, I got a look at demo apps using this peer-to-peer technology, which I expect to see in many phones and consumer electronics devices in 2011. Read more »
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The Quest to Monetize File Sharing
The legal war against file sharing has failed, and more and more, entertainment industry insiders are seeking alternatives to lawsuits and legal threats, realizing it’s time to finally work with, instead of against, peer-to-peer (P2P) network operators and their users. A variety of tools — from ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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Report: Delivering Content in the Cloud
The growing ubiquity of the Internet is having a major influence on the video and software industries, which are using it to enable delivery of their products online.
Advanced infrastructures are required to deliver those contents efficiently. The Internet has been built on a best-effort model, but ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
