Gadgets

With SXSW starting Friday in Austin, Texas, every location-based service out there is right now finalizing updates that they hope will be the one that gets them used more than all the others. Loopt, is betting on events integration. The latest version of the app, due to hit the App Store tomorrow will feature a new Pulse tab. Here you'll find events po […]

Business to business software can be a tough sell. Online B2B can be even a harder sell. While there is certainly money to be made, unless you're one of the big players, the likelihood you're going to succeed is pretty small. Starting today, Google is taking their roll as one of the big players and extending a platform to boost some smaller players […]

Spam and phishing have been ongoing problems at Twitter for some time, and tonight the company announced that it is stepping up its efforts to stop them with some new features, described as being able to “detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links.”In a blog post, Twitter writes that the protection works by “routing all links submitted to Twitter […]

Google’s call for medium-sized cities to pilot its high-speed broadband network has attracted the marketing wit of another locale: Greenville, South Carolina.Citizens of Greenville have launched the “We Are Feeling Lucky” campaign –- an obvious play on Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button — an effort that will culminate in citizens trying to form “the world’s […]

David Eaves, a public policy entrepreneur and a speaker at this week's Gov 2.0 International online conference, discusses the rise of open government in Canada's cities. He also looks at the country's federal inertia, and he explains how a beta mindset could benefit government projects. […]

I'm kicking myself. I have spent a non-trivial number of hours talking to government departments and scientists about open data, talking up an "open source approach" to data, pushing hard to get them to release datasets in machine readable formats with reuse-friendly licenses. I've had more successes than failures, met and helped some won […]

FirstRain, a service that scrapes the web to deliver relevant research to investors, has brought in $7.3 million of an anticipated $8.8 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company has raised $20.9 million to date and is backed by Oak Investment Partners, DiamondHead Ventures and Ampersand Venture […]

TellaPal, a new social network and recommendation engine in one, has raised $1.6 million of a targeted $5 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Francisco, the startup allows users to write recommendations for products or services, and then share their comments virally via instant message, e-mail, blogs and social net […]

Sales and marketing are not the same thing. It's true they both deal with relationship management and it's true that neither of these job descriptions require hardcore engineering, but just because they're both in the realm of words over code does not mean that they are the same. At the risk of muddling your mind with HR jargon, the core compe […]

Here is a new Funny or Die comedy video of reality show star Heidi Montag spoofing her plastic surgery-addled obsession with silicone. It is sort of funny and sort of creepy and even a little sad. Nonetheless, Montag and her even odder husband, Spencer Pratt, are certainly game to make themselves the subject of mockery. […]

In heated war with rival Gowalla for the geek seal of approval at the annual digital culture festival, Foursquare unveils new badges, new partners, and new promotions. Originally posted at The Social […]

A lot of developers just like to code. They aren’t promoters, they hate tracking down payment, and they don’t know the first thing… […]