Editor’s note: Scott Weiss is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and the former co-founder and CEO of IronPort Systems, which was acquired by Cisco in 2007. He blogs at http://scott.a16z.com. One of the most frustrating things I’ve experienced as a leader is putting months into recruiting an amazing VP or engineer, only to have them...
So here’s a story that hopefully will be an eye-opener for entrepreneurs and startups, while providing a painful peek into trademark harassment and the importance of due diligence. It goes a little something like this: About two years ago, software engineer Brian Hamachek decided to build an app first on Windows Mobile (how some...
Affectiva, a startup that tries to measure the emotional response people have to ads and brands, just announced that it has a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The company spun out of MIT’s Media Lab. This is its second NSF grant — in January 2011, it won another grant to help launch its...
Ever wondered how you rack up that huge data bill every month? Well, it is probably because of the high speed Internet access we now have at our fingertips, but it also might be because you aren’t paying attention to your data usage and its limits. Here’s how you can: Produced by Daniel Goodman...
Twitter is set to reach $1 billion in sales by 2014, significantly outpacing analyst predictions and demonstrating the company’s advertising viability, sources tell Bloomberg. The company earned $139.5 million in 2011, analysts say, which means if Bloomberg’s sources are correct, demand for advertising is taking off among companies looking to grow their presence on the platform. Bloomberg’s...
We told you about a new campaign involving check-in service foursquare, where Starbucks would donate $1 for each check-in to its stores to help (RED) beat AIDS. Today’s the first day for the campaign and according to foursquare, its been working like a charm. There have already been over 35k check-ins, which equals a...
If any of the awards shows was going to do it, you know that MTV was going to be one. This year its Best Hero category is going to be decided completely via Twitter. Not Facebook, not Google+ and not text. Twitter. Users can cast their votes via a tool Twitter has set up...
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The Problem Pariser coined the phrase filter bubble in his 2011 book of the same name. As Pariser sees it, the online world is increasingly controlled by behemoths like Facebook and Google. Because they want to sell us ads, they present to us a version of the Internet that suits our tastes and exposes...
Last summer, after graduating from AngelPad, San Francisco-based Crittercism announced that it had raised $1.2 million in seed funding from the likes of Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Opus Capital, Shasta Ventures, and AOL Ventures. Today, the startup has received further validation for its diagnostic and management tools for mobile developers, as Opus Capital, Shasta...
Oprah’s Book Club, which turned featured books into major bestsellers, is back after two years — with some improvements for the digital age: “This time it’s an interactive online book club for our digital world,” Oprah Winfrey said Friday. Oprah’s first new selection is Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild,” published by Random House’s Knopf. Starting Monday at...