Archive for the ‘ Startup ’ Category

I Visited Alibaba, The $100 Billion Chinese Internet Company Where 24,000 People Are Making Marissa Mayer Look Good

Alibaba Tour 46

Marissa Mayer became the CEO of Yahoo on July 16, 2012.  Since then, the stock has exploded from ~$ 16 to over $ 35.

But while Mayer has done a remarkable job improving the working culture at Yahoo, hiring mobile developers, and redesigning the company’s wide array of products, she is not the only reason for Yahoo’s stock turnaround.

In fact, the main reason Yahoo stock is up so much is that, way back in 2005, Yahoo bought 40% of a tiny Chinese e-commerce company called Alibaba for $ 1 billion.

Then, over the next six years, Alibaba turned into a massive hit.

In the spring of 2012, Alibaba bought a portion of its stock back from Yahoo for $ 7.65 billion. When Mayer took over in the summer of 2012, she agreed to use some of that money to buy back Yahoo stock.

This financial engineering drove Yahoo’s stock price. So did Yahoo’s remaining stake in Alibaba, which continued to grow in value as the Chinese company’s market cap went from ~$ 50 billion in 2012 to a rumored $ 100 billion now. 

Soon, Yahoo will be able to realize that gain. Alibaba is expected to IPO in 2014. When it does, Yahoo will sell all but 10% of its stake in the company, adding another few billion dollars to its bank account – money that will almost certainly fuel more share buybacks.

Despite its prominent role in Yahoo’s turnaround, Alibaba remains a mysterious company in the US. To remedy that, I visited the company during my recent trip to China.

Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo in July 2012.




Since then, the stock has exploded. But, really, much of the credit goes to Alibaba – a Yahoo investment in China that has performed exceptionally well.




But what’s Alibaba?



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

    








This Company Will Let You Eat Your Instagram Photos

Bloomf

It used to be that incessantly adding filters to pics of whatever you were eating was the only way to combine Instagram and food. 

Not anymore. 

Mint Digital, a company that created Stickygram to turn your Instagram photos into fridge magnets and Projecteo to make mini projectors for your Instagrams, has launched Boomf to print your pics onto marshmallows. 

Yup, you can now eat your Instagrams. Mint Digital has offices in both London and New York City, but, unfortunately, it’s only shipping the printed treats to the UK for now. 

It costs £12 (about $ 19.50) to have nine Instagram photos delivered to you as sweet 4cm by 4cm edible squares.

Martin Bryant of TheNextWeb, where we found this story, insists that they taste just like regular marshmallows.

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Samsung Chief Innovator: The Future Of Smart TVs Goes Way Beyond The Set

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David Eun, EVP and head of the Open Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics, shares his visions about what smart TVs are going to look like in the future.

Produced by Kamelia Angelova, Alana Kakoyiannis and Justin Gmoser

SEE ALSO: David Eun Explains Why Half Of Samsung Is Rooting For Apple’s Continued Success

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23andMe CEO Says She Stands Behind The Company’s Data

Anne Wojcicki and sergey brin at fashion show

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki recently elaborated on the warning letter her company received from the FDA

Wojcicki stands behind the data 23andMe gives its customers, she wrote in a statement. She says she remains committed to working with the FDA to ensure 23andMe is a trusted consumer product. But she also admitted the company has fallen behind in its responses to the FDA’s requests.

To sum up the warning letter, the FDA has two big problems with 23andMe: 23andMe is selling a medical device that is intended to diagnose diseases without approval from the FDA; and it has failed to prove that it has clinically validated its personal genome service.

(For what it’s worth, anyone worried about losing their data can easily download their own raw data.)

Here’s the full statement from Wojcicki:

23andMe was started in 2007 with the belief that consumers have the right to get access to their genetic information and that information can help them live healthier lives.

It is absolutely critical that our consumers get high quality genetic data that they can trust. We have worked extensively with our lab partner to make sure that the results we return are accurate. We stand behind the data that we return to customers — but we recognize that the FDA needs to be convinced of the quality of our data as well.

In 2008 we began our dialogue with the FDA. The relationship with the FDA remains critically important to 23andMe.

In July 2012 23andMe submitted its first application for FDA clearance and followed on with another submission at the end of August. We received feedback on those submissions and acknowledge that we are behind schedule with our responses.

This is new territory for both for 23andMe and the FDA. This makes the regulatory process with the FDA important because the work we are doing with the agency will help lay the groundwork for what other companies in this new industry do in the future. It will also provide important reassurance to the public that the process and science behind the service meet the rigorous standards required by those entrusted with the public’s safety.

I am committed to making sure that 23andMe is a trusted consumer product. I believe that genetic information can lead to better decisions and healthier lives — a goal that all of us share.

We will provide updates as they become available.

SEE ALSO: I Just Found Out That I’m Not As ‘Black’ As I Thought

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The Sad Truth About ‘Pardoned’ Turkeys: They’re All Dead

popcorn caramel pardoned turkies

Every year, the president pardons one or two turkeys from being a family’s Thanksgiving feast. One turkey is actually pardoned, the other is runner-up.

While the birds may be pardoned, that doesn’t mean they get to enjoy a long life.

CNN looked into pardoned turkeys and where they go to die. Apparently they’re hauled off to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate, and given shelter in a small coop. But there, no other turkeys abound.

That’s because all the previous pardoned turkeys are now dead, even last year’s pardoned birds.

“All the turkeys ever pardoned at the White House are dead, including the six already given a pass from the roasting pan by President Barack Obama in previous years,” CNN writes.

Dean Norton, who is in charge of livestock at Mount Vernon, tells CNN why:

“The bird is bred for the table, not for longevity…Some of [the pardoned turkeys] have been pretty short lived.”

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10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning

google glass redesign with earbud

Only one more day until we gorge ourselves with turkey! Here’s some news to tide you over.

  1. The NSA spied on the porn-watching habits of six Muslim “radicalizers”  so it could potentially undermine their credibility, according to Snowden documents.
  2. Aaron Levie of Box has been named Inc’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
  3. Was the viral Goldieblox video, which re-wrote lyrics for The Beastie Boys’ song Girls, legal? That’s up for debate, but there’s a good explanation of fair use and what constitutes copyright infringement here.
  4. Apple has tweaked its App Store search engine to improve results for mis-typed words.
  5. Fab’s CEO has a track record of failing. Here’s how the company found itself in rough shape and what Jason Goldberg needs to do to turn it around.
  6. There may be no link between the alleged Silk Road founder and the founder of Bitcoin after all.
  7. Athos is a tiny new wearable sensor that’s built into Under Armour-like shirts and leggings. It tracks everything from repetitions, heart rate and muscle effort while you work out. 
  8. Google is inviting developers to buy Glass now. 
  9. MSNBC has fired Alec Baldwin over a “homophobic rant” at a New York Post photographer. His show, “Up Late With Alec Baldwin” has been cancelled. 

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Quiznos Has Found A Way To Target Your Car With Ads While You’re Driving

Harmon Aha Radio Quiznos

In a multi-screen world, there are countless places advertisers can are able to target and reach prospective customers. They can promote a tweet while you’re scrolling for news on your phone after you first wake up, or blast you with a pre-roll video ad when you’ve sat down to surf the web after work. 

But one time marketers have trouble reaching consumers, even today, is when they’re on the road. Billboards provide little in the way of consumer data to target ads, and the proliferation of mobile devices has caused people to spend less time listening to ad-heavy FM and AM radio. Meanwhile, a person already in transit is an ideal target for a marketer trying to lure customers to a given location.

But now, Harman’s Aha Radio, an app that works on the smart dashboards of more than 40 car models, has an advertising product that breaks through these barriers. By teaming with the location marketer Placecast, Aha will offer an advertising service that determines where people are when they’re driving and then sends relevant advertising offers to their dashboards. Drivers can then redeem the offers using their smartphones.

The Harman is testing the product with a campaign from Quiznos, whose chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith told the New York Times that she hopes the promotion will create a “radio on steroids” effect for her brand.

Geolocation ads have long been thought of as a holy grail for marketers, and Placecast is one of several companies hoping to figure it out, along with competitors Loopt, Shopcast, and Roximity, whose deal-finder app is installed in Ford vehicles  that carry the automaker’s Sync technology.

Here’s a video , starting at about the 50-second mark:

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On Black Friday 9 Out Of 10 Parents Will Use Their Smartphones To Shop

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Black Friday saleOver Black Friday weekend a whopping 90% of parents who own smartphones expect to use them for shopping assistance while looking for gifts for their children, according to a recent survey from IAB. 

Top activities include checking for item availability before hitting the stores (55%), finding items that are on sale (50%), and researching gift ideas (49%). 

Parents say they expect to use their phones for more than research. Forty-four percent said that they will likely purchase gifts for their children using their smartphones. 

This is a huge testament to how far mobile commerce has come and provides further support for our estimate that smartphone spending will reach $ 5.2 billion in the U.S. in the forth quarter of 2013. (IAB)

In other news…

Intel is asking $ 500 million for OnCue, the company’s pay-TV service. (Bloomberg)

On December 18th, China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network by subscribers, will be the first carrier in the country to offer 4G. (TechCrunch) 

The COO and CMO of BlackBerry are leaving the company. (BlackBerry)

Samsung just announced the release of a new phablet, the Galaxy Grand 2. (Samsung) 

In India, Samsung and Nokia face competition for the handset market from Micromax. (Forbes)

Boku, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed carrier billing company, makes a move into India with the acquisition of Qubecell, a mobile billing aggregator. (Boku)

94Fifty is offering a new Bluetooth-powered basketball if you’re interested in adding some data to your game. (AllThingsD)

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Coolpad is offering its first 3G smartphone for sale in North America. (Engadget)

Flipboard raised $ 50 million in a new round of funding, which values the social news app at approximately $ 800 million. (Fortune)

Spambots on Twitter are beginning to form a niche black market for marketers. The Wall Street Journal talked with some of these marketers who get hired to manage thousands of fake accounts that follow and retweet a client’s own account, so that that person appears more popular and influential. (The Wall Street Journal)  

Business Insider obtained more videos and evidence revealing just how pivotal Snapchat’s ousted co-founder, Bobby Murphy, was in launching the company. (Business Insider)

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CHART OF THE DAY: The Difference In Developer Revenue Between Android And iOS (AAPL, GOOG)

For a long time, Apple’s mobile platform, iOS, blew away Google’s Android in terms of developers generating revenue. Today, the gap between the two platforms is much more narrow. This chart from BI Intelligence shows where Android needs to catch up with iOS in terms of revenue. 

chart of the day ios android monetization gap

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Amazon Is Crushing IBM, Microsoft, And Google In Cloud Computing (IBM, AMZN)

Jeff Bezos

When it comes to raking in the money on cloud computing Amazon still “dwarfs all competition,” writes John Dinsdale, an analyst at market researcher Synergy in a new report.

The total cloud computing market hit $ 2.5 billion in revenue in Q3, up 46% the same quarter of 2012, Synergy found.

Not only did Amazon grab most of that, it grew its own cloud revenues by 55% and increased its overall market share.

As for exactly how much money that is, Amazon doesn’t directly report the revenue it makes on its cloud. It lumps it into the “other revenue” category. Some analysts estimate Amazon will generate at least $ 3 billion from its cloud this year, and that could be low. In 2013 so far, Amazon reported $ 2.7 billion in “other” revenue. Most of that is from its cloud. The rest comes from things like advertising and co-branded credit cards.

For the last quarter of this year, Synergy estimates that Amazon grew cloud revenues by over $ 700 million and that makes Amazon bigger than all the other major players combined including Microsoft, IBM, Google and Salesforce.com … by 15%, Synergy finds. 

That kind of puts a damper on IBM, which has been running an ad campaign claiming that IBM is now a bigger cloud player than Amazon, thanks to its purchase of website hosting company SoftLayer last summer.

UPDATE: We heard from an IBM spokesperson tells us, “IBM’s 3Q report, just last month, showed that IBM’s revenue from cloud products and services reached more than $ 1 billion last quarter” up 70% in its first three quarters over last year. He also pointed out that IBM has “1,400 cloud patents and 37,000 cloud experts worldwide.”

Here’s what Amazon’s dominance looks like according to the new Synergy report.

Amazon cloud market Q3 Synergy

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