Hullabalu Raises $2.5 Million For Its Interactive Storytelling App For Kids
The iPad helped introduce the concept of interactive books, where stories are accompanied by games and other tappable animations to complement their tales. But a company called Hullabalu offers a twist. Instead of digital stories with interactive bits, kids advance the story’s progress by interacting with the world and playing with the characters. Now the company has raised an… Read MoreDeliv Acquires Zipments To Grow Its Same-Day Delivery Service In NYC
Deliv is announcing the acquisition of another same-day delivery service, Zipments. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Deliv works with retailers like Best Buy and Macy’s, as well as startups like BloomThat and Laundry Locker, to offer delivery through a network of independent contractors. Founder and CEO Daphne Carmeli said this allows retailers to move into same-day delivery and… Read MoreWhatClinic Acquires Dental Booking Site Toothpick
Dublin-based WhatClinic — a healthcare comparison site for dental, plastic surgery and cosmetic treatments — has acquired the U.K. dental booking site Toothpick. Read MoreinMarket Says It Can Predict The Best Time To Show Someone An Ad
Beacon marketing company inMarket is unveiling a new technology that it calls Quantum Receptivity, which it says can help marketers figure out when they should show an ad to a shopper and have the biggest impact. “It’s really about cherry picking marketing times — not just things like days of week, but based on each individual’s unique… Read MoreMeet The LucidCam, The Future Of Consumer VR
Trying to wade through the noise and hype that surrounds VR can be overwhelming, but there are clear real-world uses that make the future of the technology exciting. Lucid flew through that noise for me. The thing that’s going to bring the “future” to the “now” is a killer app that consumers can understand and more importantly afford. That’s where Lucid… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Separating The Sizzle From The Steak
Seed rounds are all about the sizzle, the exciting promise of the future if things go as dreamed. Risk is high — but the reward, if it works, is far greater. Smart people with great ideas and strong skills can raise money based on their passion, vision and tenacity. But when it comes time to raise a Series A, it’s all about the steak — what you’ve accomplished. Read More uBeam Declassifies Secrets To Try To Prove Wireless Power Is Possible
It must violate the laws of physics. It must be dangerous. It must be impossible. This is what critics have concluded despite not actually knowing the details behind uBeam’s wireless power technology. So rather than let the rumors swirl, today uBeam revealed a bunch of details about how far, how fast, and just plain how it can charge a phone without wires. “People are saying… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
An Inconvenient Proof
An Inconvenient Proof refers to the fact that personalization algorithms proselytize via code. Designed to scrutinize our lives, they’re also programmed to influence our behavior. Created by humans, every algorithm is imbued with the biases, business goals and personal agendas of their manufacturers. This doesn’t make artificial intelligence malevolent. But unless individuals… Read More ProtonMail On Battling A Sustained DDoS Attack
Encrypted webmail provider, ProtonMail, has been fighting a wave of DDoS attacks since November 3 that, by last Friday, had taken its service offline for more than 24 hours. At the time of writing the attacks are still coming. Read More
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Innovating In A World Of Patent Lawsuits
Apple seems to get caught in lots of patent fights. Since 2009, Nokia has sued Apple (they settled), Apple has sued HTC (they settled), Kodak sued Apple (Kodak is appealing), Motorola Mobility sued Apple (Apple is appealing) and Apple and Samsung filed more than 40 lawsuits against each other (still fighting it out in the U.S.). The list goes on. With so much energy spent in patent… Read More Google Acquires Fly Labs To Join Its Google Photos Team
Today, Google acquired Fly Labs to join its Google Photos team. The company aimed to help people edit videos and photos and it sported 3 million downloads over the past 18 months. Their suite of apps (Tempo, Fly and Crop) will be made available for the next three months. You’ll still be able to use them, but there will be no more updates. We're excited to announce that we've… Read MoreDoodle Partners With Paperless Post To Bring Easy Scheduling To Your Event Invitations
Doodle makes it easy to schedule things with friends, coworkers, whoever — but scheduling isn’t the only thing that you need to organize an event. So the company has also connected its tools to the invitation process, by rolling out an integration with Paperless Post. Doodle CEO Michael Brecht said this is the Zurich-headquartered company’s first big US partnership, and… Read MorePeggy Johnson, Microsoft’s Deal Boss, On Reaching Silicon Valley
If you had a few dozen billion dollars, an appetite to cut deals and a desire to change your image a few states away, how would you go about it? That is a question Microsoft is trying to answer. Cash-rich, profitable and sporting new leadership, the company wants to change its image in Silicon Valley. Long ensconced in the Pacific Northwest, the company has boosted its focus on the Bay Area. Read MoreThis Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Chronos, comScore, And The Ario Smart Lamp
In case you want to opt out of the smart watch trend without having a dumb watch, Chronos is there for you. comScore made moves this week in the world of mergers and acquisitions, while the Ario smart lamp went live (and surpassed its goal) on Kickstarter. We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of the TC Gadgets Podcast, featuring John Biggs, Matt Burns, Romain Dillet… Read MorePerfecto Is A Marketplace For Bikes That Are Not Stolen
Launched last month, Perfecto is a bike marketplace that verifies buyers, sellers, and bicycles, essentially eradicates the potential of stolen bikes being sold as legit ones. As bicycle commutes becomes a larger trend in cities worldwide, the market for secondhand bikes is skyrocketing. Traditional marketplaces like Craigslist are exacerbating this problem, as there is no safeguards in place… Read More$30M Later, Struggling JavaScript Platform Famo.us Pivots
Famo.us’ 15 minutes of open source fame have come to an end. JavaScript rendering engine Famo.us has pivoted out of its hardcore open sourced engineering platform which had raised over $31 million. It’s now refocused on commercializing the idea of powerful mobile web apps with a content management system for branded marketing apps. Read MoreSweden’s Anoto Buys Digital Pen Maker Livescribe For $15M
The writing is on the wall for more consolidation in the world of startups… both literally and figuratively. Today Anoto, a digital writing company based out of Sweden, announced that it would acquire longtime partner Livescribe, another a smart pen maker, for $15 million in a deal that is expected to close this month. Specifically, Anoto says this is an all-cash deal and is based… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
A CEO’s Guide To Group Health 2.0
While many new healthcare technologies show great promise, few have been made widely available. CEOs have a population right in their backyard, the collective health of which they want to continually improve. What can you do to improve your employees’ well-being right now? Read More Layoffs Hit Gumroad As The E-Commerce Startup Restructures
San Francisco startup Gumroad, which lets people sell products directly to consumers by way of quick and simple links, has been in the process of laying off most of its staff as it looks to operate in a more capital-efficient manner. Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad’s CEO and founder, confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, and said the company would continue operating. Read MorePostmates Acquihires Activity Concierge Sosh
Sosh, the curated online marketplace that allows you to find things to do in your city, is shutting down, according to sources. Eighteen of Sosh’s 40 employees are headed to Postmates as part of an acquihire, TechCrunch has confirmed with Postmates. Fortune reported that the deal was a full acquisition, with IP exchanging hands, but we’ve confirmed with a Postmates spokesperson… Read More
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