Inside Silicon Valley - Powered by PodTech.net

Trutap, a new mobile social networking tool

editor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:02:20 +0000

Trutap is a new mobile social networking application whose aim is let people stay connected with friends. Company CEO Doug Richard demonstrated the tool for the Mercury News at the recent TechCrunch40 conference.

Tags: Trutap, social networking, Doug Richard, TechCrunch40

Behind the scenes at the Computer History Museum

editor — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:58:30 +0000

The Computer History Museum is a fascinating visit for anyone interested in the history of computing and Silicon Valley. But there’s more there than meets the eye. Literally. Hidden from public view is a huge back storeroom with hundreds of artifacts, including a prototype tablet computer called the Apple “Cadillac,” an AT&T picture phone, Apple Lisas and the Altair 8800, a popular kit computer, which a young company called Micro-Soft wrote programming tools for. Also get a peek at a rare Canon Cat PC, designed by Jef Raskin of Apple fame, as well as wooden wheels from the famous Wagon Wheel bar, a Silicon Valley institution.

Tags: Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley, Apple Lisas, Altair 8800

Metaplace and Musicshake demo at TechCrunch40

editor — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:17:02 +0000

We have quick profiles of two companies that launched at the TechCrunch40 conference last week. Metaplace lets users build their own virtual worlds and put them on their Websites. Founder Raph Koster takes us through a demo. And Musicshake is a Korea-based service that lets users create their own music. Kihong Bae and Blue Yun do the demo, starting at about 6:00.

Tags: TechCrunch40, Metaplace, virtual worlds, Raph Koster, Musicshake, Kihong Bae, Blue Yun

Managing your money at Mint.com

editor — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:42:44 +0000

So you didn’t make it to the TechCrunch 40 conference, where Mint.com won the honors as the top start-up? Fear not, the Mercury News sat down with Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint, for a quick demo of how the online money management tool works.

Tags: TechCrunch 40, Mint.com, Mercury News, Aaron Patzer, online money management

WooMe and Orgoo launch at TechCrunch40

editor — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:08:22 +0000

Online speed dating? Indeed. And WooMe, a San Francisco start-up, is hoping it’s big business. The company launched at the TechCrunch40 conference this week, along with Orgoo, a service that lets users merge all their email and IM accounts into one dashboard. In this video, WooMe’s Stephen Stokols explains to the San Jose Mercury News how WooMe will “revolutionize the way that people will meet.” And Orgoo CEO Michael Kantor explains how Orgoo’s “communications cockpit” is a must-have for communication junkies and multitaskers. We start with WooMe and then jump to Orgoo at about the 9:30 mark. To see more TechCrunch40 videos, visit http://video.mercurynews.com.

Tags: Online speed dating, WooMe, TechCrunch40, Orgoo, Stephen Stokols, Michael Kantor

Flock CEO Shawn Hardin demos the social browser

editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:50:34 +0000

The San Jose Mercury News spent a day at the TechCrunch40 conference talking to companies and getting demos of new products. This interview, with Flock CEO Shawn Hardin, is one of several videos we’re publishing from the conference. Tech-watchers will remember two years ago when Flock was being hailed as the next great Web browser, built on the Mozilla core and able to let users integrate publishing tools such as WordPress and Flickr from one place. The company released an early test version of the browser in the fall of 2005. Now the browser is nearly ready for its official full public release. Hardin, formerly head of Yahoo’s Youth, Health & Games, gave us a look at the newest version of what he calls the world’s only “social browser,” which now integrates Facebook and other services. To see the rest of our TechCrunch40 videos, go to http://video.mercurynews.com or browse this site.

Tags: San Jose Mercury News, TechCrunch40, Flock, Shawn Hardin, publishing tools, social browser

Roger McNamee and Moonalice rockin’ at Union Square

editor — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 07:01:44 +0000

It’s no secret in the valley that venture capitalist Roger McNamee is a rocker at heart. By day, he does deals from his Elevation Partners office on Sand Hill Road. But in his spare time, he writes songs and plays guitar for Moonalice (his “old” band was called The Flying Other Brothers). We caught up with him last week at a midday gig in Union Square in San Francisco, where he and his bandmates entertained a lunch-time crowd for more than hour. The band is packed with noteworthy musicians, including G.E. Smith, Barry Sless, Pete Sears, Jimmy Sanchez, as well as McNamee’s wife, Ann McNamee. This isn’t just a hobby for McNamee. The band will play about 60 gigs this year; it just got back from several shows and radio appearances in Alaska and has been playing around the Bay Area the past week. “We’ve been able play well enough over the years that we can make it work as a business,” he said. McNamee didn’t utter his own name once while on stage at Union Square, and it’s a safe bet that few in the audience recognzied the long-time investor. And that suits McNamee fine. McNamee says he wants to succeed as a musician in his own right. Watch the video for musical clips and an interview.

Tags: Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners, Moonalice

BzzyBee lets students collaborate online

editor — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:01:07 +0000

Last week, we talked with Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen and Mike Minardi about the cookbook they’ve written that is aimed at start-ups. This week, we learn about their San Jose start-up, called BzzyBee. It’s an online collaborative writing tool for classrooms that lets teachers see how much students have contributed to particular projects. The trio talk about the product itself and the challenges of penetrating the budget-conscious and not always tech-savvy education market.

Tags: Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen, Mike Minardi, start-up, BzzyBee

Eating well, but cheaply as a start-up

editor — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:43:53 +0000

Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen and Mike Minardi are trying to launch a start-up into a tough market with just modest funding. Which means they’re cutting costs at every turn. But they’ve found that a low-budget lifestyle doesn’t mean eating ramen every day. The San Jose trio have discovered how to eat well inexpensively, and they’re sharing their discoveries in a new cookbook called Eat, Drink, Breath Like a Start-up. From Rubba Dub Rubs to Boostrappin’ Beans and Rice, this is food that won’t tip the balance sheet in the wrong direction. The Mercury News talked with the three about the book and their soon-to-launch web site aimed at entrepreneurs called Start-up Living. Also, tune in to next week’s episode of Inside Silicon Valley, where we chat with the team about their new start-up.

Tags: Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen, Mike Minardi, Mercury News, entrepreneurs

Innovative tech design at Yahoo Design Expo

editor — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:10:35 +0000

A handheld cube that lets you browse your Flickr photos. A headset that uses brainwaves to control how fast a bicyclist pedals. And Megaphone, a game that lets users play against each in public spaces with their mobile phones. Those were some of the concepts on display at the recent Yahoo Design Expo. Originally conceived by Joy Mountford when she was at Apple, the event brings together out-of-the-box design ideas by students from around the world. In this video, the Mercury News speaks with Mountford, now vice president of User Experience Design at Yahoo, and demos some of the projects.

Tags: Flickr, mobile phones, Yahoo Design Expo, Joy Mountford, Apple, Mercury News

Inside ooma’s new phone service with CEO Andrew Frame

editor — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 07:01:56 +0000

The tech media and blogs buzzed recently over the launch of ooma, a Palo Alto start-up that’s promising free long distance calls for life. CEO Andrew Frame explains how ooma works (you need to buy a $400 box, first). And he answers questions about the cost of the box (they could have charged more, he says), the state of the Internet calling industry, ooma’s security and whether now is the right time to be launching a landline phone service. Frame also takes us on a tour of the start-up’s Palo Alto offices, where engineers work on the company’s devices.

Tags: ooma, long distance calls, Andrew Frame

Start-up advice from STIRR’s Founder Hacks mixer

editor — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 07:01:12 +0000

There’s no one right or wrong way to launch a start-up. But there are smart moves an entrepreneur can make - and mistakes to avoid - that can boost the odds of success. STIRR, the valley entrepreneur network, reinvented its monthly mixer this month to showcase something called Founder Hacks, where several local entrepreneurs shared stories from their start-up expriences. The Mercury News talked with STIRR founder Sanford Barr, and spotlighted some of the stories from Riya founder Munjal Shah and Loomia founder David Marks.

Tags: start-up, entrepreneur, STIRR, Founder Hacks, Mercury News, Sanford Barr, Riya, Munjal Shah, Loomia, David Marks

Inside the Googleplex

editor — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:01:36 +0000

Mercury News columnist Dean Takahashi takes us on a quick tour inside Google’s Mountain View headquarters.

Tags: Mercury News, Dean Takahashi, Google, Mountain View

On location at iPhone DevCamp

editor — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:52:00 +0000

Just a week after the debut of the iPhone, about 300 developers gathered at the Adobe offices in San Francisco this weekend for a three-day developers camp/hackathon. The goal was to hack together applications for the iPhone. Apple doesn’t allow developers to write applications for the phone itself, so developers created Web-based applications that iPhone users will experience by visting Web sites in Safari. The applications spanned the spectrum, from games to apps that help you find nearby gas prices, shop on Amazon and iTunes, create word processing documents or use IM. We talked with event organizers Raven Zachary and Chris Messina and got a peek at some of the applications, including TeleMoose, gOffice, and AppMarks.

Tags: iPhone, developers, Adobe, Raven Zachary, Chris Messina, TeleMoose, gOffice, AppMarks

People search on the Web with Spock

editor — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:01:19 +0000

One of the more talked about valley start-ups in recent months is Spock. Founded in 2006 by Jay Bhatti and Jaideep Singh, Spock is a people search Web site that aims to be the most comprehensive source of information about just about anyone. Spock crawls the Web looking for information about people famous and non-famous. And in wiki-like fashion, it lets users add tags and relevant links to its search results pages. The company demonstrated its product at the recent Web 2.0 Expo, and has been chatted up in numerous blogs and tech sites. Spock is still in private beta, but Singh gave the Mercury News a demo in this video.

Tags: Spock, Jay Bhatti, Jaideep Singh, search, Mercury News

Battling botnets, phishing scams and trojans

editor — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:01:52 +0000

Botnets, phishing scams, password-stealing trojans — they’re all part of an increasingly professionalized world of online crime that’s costing Americans billions every year. Oliver Friedrichs, director of emerging technologies at Symantec Security Response, tells Mercury News software reporter Ryan Blitstein what the company is doing to protect its customers from Web-based threats. He also provides an exclusive look at Dark Vision, an experimental Symantec project designed to track and catch cyber criminals in the act.

Tags: Botnets, phishing, trojans, Oliver Friedrichs, Symantec, Mercury News, Ryan Blitstein, Dark Vision

Google’s deputy general counsel Nicole Wong talks about privacy

editor — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:01:22 +0000

Nicole Wong, Google’s deputy general counsel in charge of compliance, is the point person for growing criticism of Google’s privacy practices. More than two dozen European privacy regulators have launched an inquiry into Google’s data protection practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is probing Google’s pending $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, an online advertising company. Last week, Privacy International, a London group, ranked Google’s practices the worst among 23 top Internet services, including Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL. Wong spoke with the Mercury News about her job and Google’s approach to privacy.

Tags: Nicole Wong, Google, compliance, privacy, DoubleClick, Mercury News

Entrepreneurs vs. VCs in epic dodgeball showdown

editor — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:00:08 +0000

The valley venture capitalists thought they brought their A-game in this historic 1st Annual Labor vs. Capital Dodgeball Tournament. But the tournament ended up being hard-fought, as the laborers from Google, Ustream, jaxtr, BitTorrent and elsewhere showed up ready to do battle.

Tags: Google, Ustream, jaxtr, BitTorrent

Catching up with LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman

editor — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:01:52 +0000

LinkedIn founder and angel investor Reid Hoffman talks with Mercury News venture capital reporter Connie Loizos about where he sees the social networking space headed, as well as his investment strategy these days.

Tags: LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, Mercury News, Connie Loizos, social networking

The state of Technorati according to Dave Sifry

editor — Mon, 28 May 2007 07:01:36 +0000

Why is the CEO of blog search engine Technorati stepping aside? Is the San Francisco company really not for sale? And what are its plans for growing into a new media powerhouse? In this interview with the Mercury News, company CEO Dave Sifry answers those and other questions. Sifry defends arguments by some that Technorati has stagnated and says the company can grow to ten times its current size with the right leadership. “I’m not a consumer Internet guy. I’m not a guy who’s built a Yahoo or a Google,” he says.

Tags: Technorati, Mercury News, Dave Sifry

Start-up Satisfaction aims for “people-powered” customer service

editor — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:02:33 +0000

Who hasn’t wished that customer service could be better online? A San Francisco start-up called Satisfaction will launch in the next month or so with the aim of improving online customer service by tapping the collective knowledge of users. The Web application is akin to message boards and will allow users of certain products to help each other solve customer service issues. Companies can partner with Satisfaction and launch the discussion and help areas themselves, or users can start their own communities independent of companies. Satisfaction calls it “people-powered customer service for absolutely everything.” Among the company’s founders are Thor Muller and Jonathan Grubb, who until now ran the S.F. Web design shop Rubyred Labs. Lane Becker, founding partner of well-known design and consulting firm Adaptive Path, is another Satisfaction founder. We spoke with the three of them recently about their new venture.

Tags: customer service, Satisfaction, people-powered, Thor Muller, Jonathan Grubb, Lane Becker, Adaptive Path

Inside Yahoo’s Brickhouse with Bradley Horowitz

editor — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:02:31 +0000

Continued innovation is key to the success of most companies, and Yahoo is no different. The Internet giant recently opened an “idea incubator” called “Brickhouse” in the trendy South Park area of San Francisco. Select Yahoo employees will take turns working out of the office - intended to evoke the vibe of a start-up company - to nurture ideas into viable products or services. In this inaugural Inside Silicon Valley podcast, the Mercury News sat down with Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo’s vice president of advanced development, at the Brickhouse open house to discuss the incubator concept and how it will work.

Tags: Yahoo, idea incubator, Brickhouse, Inside Silicon Valley, Mercury News, Bradley Horowitz