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<title>Haaze.com / Collinsmith / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Who can afford the carbon-friendly skies]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=who-can-afford-the-carbon-friendly-skies</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=who-can-afford-the-carbon-friendly-skies</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=who-can-afford-the-carbon-friendly-skies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Screenshot of Directflight.com&amp;39's new tool for finding carbon-friendly flights shows the &amp;39'greenest&amp;39' and &amp;39'cheapest&amp;39' options from its selection of airlines.(Credit:Directflights.com)Directflights.com is now offering a search engine for finding the cheapest carbon-friendly flights between two destinations, the company announced today.The tool was developed in conjunction with The Carbon Consultancy, a British company that offers reports on emissions data and offset procurement information for travel industry companies.It offers to show international flights, as well as those contained within the U.K. and Europe, or contained within the U.S., among other places. Flights can be viewed by cheapest only, or by most carbon-friendly with a choice to see flights in different currency options.The tool ranks flights on a carbon-friendly scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the most carbon-friendly. The carbon ratings are not the exact data for a given flight, but based on the carbon footprint of the plane model used by a particular airline for that particular route, using official EU aircraft fuel consumption data, and UK government fuel to emissions conversion values, according to Directflights.com.The poster-flight for the site is a Virgin Atlantic flight between London and New York that costs 376 pounds ($597), only 41 pounds ($65) more than the least carbon-friendly option, according to a Directflights.com press release.The tool is limited to certain airlines, and testing of several flights found that applying the carbon-friendly option is usually a lot more than the 41-pound difference example given by Directflights.com.The Web site may serve more to show to people just how expensive it is to fly mixed-fuel flights compared to conventional jet fuel flights.Looking at U.S. flights with the tool, one could choose the cheap roundtrip New York City (JFK) to San Francisco (SFO) AirTran option for $257, or a carbon-friendly Delta flight for $624. The Delta link led to a Virgin America flight priced at $625 before taxes.Virgin America, as well as Virgin Atlantic, have both been adding biofuels to its fleet fuel mix, as well as offering consumer carbon offsets.The most egregious difference was in a search for a roundtrip flight from Bristol airport in England (BRS) to Berlin Schoenfield airport in Germany (SXF). It rendered only one option, a KLM flight for a whopping 1,369 pounds ($2,174). Since it was the only flight the tool found, it was also labeled greenest. That's an insane price to pay for conscientious flying compared to EasyJet's 111-pound ($176) budget option for the same dates. As the site only includes certain airlines, the EasyJet flight was obviously not even included in its grid. One would have to know of the famous European budget airline's common routes.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Alert sounds for EVs are one step closer to becoming a requirement]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alert-sounds-for-evs-are-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-requirement</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alert-sounds-for-evs-are-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-requirement</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alert-sounds-for-evs-are-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-requirement</guid>
<description><![CDATA[2011 Chevrolet Volt includes a pedestrian horn to let folks know an electric vehicle is there.(Credit:GM)The U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 841, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to set standards for alert sounds in electric or hybrid vehicles. The bill also creates a deadline for the safety protocols to be met by 2013.&quot;The passage of this legislation is momentous and marks over two years of vigorous advocacy by ACB membership that has resulted in consensus by the blind community, auto industry, and Congress,&quot; said Mitch Pomerantz, president of the American Council of the Blind, in a news release.The National Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers are working with the blind community to ensure that the legislation will offset any safety problems that hybrid and electric vehicles could create while traveling at low speeds.The U.S. Senate last week unanimously passed the bill. It will now go the White House for approval from President Obama.&quot;The silent nature of hybrid and electric vehicles, coupled with their growing popularity, presents a dilemma. How do we protect individuals dependent on sound for their safety, such as unsuspecting pedestrians and the blind&quot; said Representative Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, who spent several years teaching travel with a white cane to the blind. &quot;The solution lies in the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. I am proud to have supported this important piece of legislation.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Man bites dog Google sues the government]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-bites-dog-google-sues-the-government</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-bites-dog-google-sues-the-government</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-bites-dog-google-sues-the-government</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google and the U.S. government are headed for a legal showdown, but on different sides of the courtroom than one might expect. Eric Goldman, a law professor with Santa Clara University who closely follows the tech industry, spotted a lawsuit filed by Google against the federal government claiming that the U.S. Department of the Interior did not properly evaluate Google Apps when choosing a new Web-based document system. Google alleges that because the Interior Department specified that the system needed to be part of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite, Google Apps never had a chance despite repeated attempts by Google to explain the product. &quot;Significantly, the SOW (statement of work) and even certain terminology were closely aligned with Microsoft's product literature for its Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Office Communications Online applications. This was because the DOI had defined its needs and requirements around the Microsoft products,&quot; Google wrote in its complaint. Government agencies generally have to follow a complicated process to purchase products or services from technology companies, and Google has increasingly sought to position itself as an alternative to Microsoft's office software in companies and governments. And, of course, the federal government and Google are no strangers when it comes to legal maneuverings. The most current dispute involves Google's proposed acquisition of ITA Software, but the list stretches back several years.Updated 4:25 p.m. PDT: Google issued the following statement on its lawsuit: &quot;Google is a proponent of open competition on the Internet and in the technology sector in general. Here, a fair and open process could save US taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and result in better services. We're asking the Department of Interior to allow for a true competition when selecting its technology providers.&quot; A copy of the complaint follows below:Google v US Complaint        Tom Krazit   Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[IBM partners to produce thin-film solar cells]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-partners-to-produce-thin-film-solar-cells</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-partners-to-produce-thin-film-solar-cells</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:25:50 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-partners-to-produce-thin-film-solar-cells</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Materials technology developed at IBM's research labs is inching closer to commercial solar panels. Japanese manufacturer Solar Frontier said yesterday it has signed a deal to develop thin-film solar cells originally designed by IBM.IBM researchers improved the efficiency of thin-film solar cells made from relatively abundant materials--copper, tin, zinc, and sulfur.(Credit:IBM)IBM researchers last year showed they were able to improve the efficiency of solar cells made from a combination of copper, zinc, tin, sulfur and selenium (CZTS), hitting an efficiency mark of 9.6 percent in the lab. Although they are generally less efficient than silicon, thin-film solar cells promise to be cheaper because less material is needed.Solar cells made from other thin-film materials have shown better efficiency in labs. But making cells from CZTS would have an advantage over other materials in that they are made from relatively abundant elements. There is growing discussion about the availability of different materials for solar cells and other green-technology products. A number of companies are making cells with a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS), but some people have raised concern over the supply and cost of indium, for example. Solar Frontier already manufactures thin-film cells from copper, indium, selenium, gallium, and sulfur. With this partnership, Solar Frontier will seek to expand on the research already done by IBM on CZTS.&quot;We are interested in exploring CZTS for its evolutionary compatibility with our CIS thin film technology. The goals of the project correspond with Solar Frontier's mission to combine both economical and ecological solar energy solutions,&quot; Satoru Kuriyagawa, Solar Frontier's chief technology officer, said in a statement.With a long history in semiconductor research, IBM has worked on a few solar-related projects, including those on thin-film materials and solar concentrators. So far, its approach has to been to seek licensing deals rather than build its own solar products.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Zynga launches FarmVille in Japan: will the Japanese like purple cows]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-farmville-in-japan-will-the-japanese-like-purple-cows</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-farmville-in-japan-will-the-japanese-like-purple-cows</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-farmville-in-japan-will-the-japanese-like-purple-cows</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In a bid to find new markets for its blockbuster social game, Zynga is announcing a localized version of its FarmVille game in Japan today.Called Farm Village, the Japanese version of the world&amp;'s largest game &amp;8212' which has 53.7 million monthly active users on Facebook &amp;8212' will be available in early December on Mixi, Japan&amp;'s largest social network which runs on feature phones.Zynga has made global expansion a big priority as it searches for ways to become less dependent on Facebook. The company has to diversify its risks and expand to new markets. Last week, the company announced that it would launch its newest game, CityVille, in five different languages.Zynga is a privately held San Francisco company with more than 1,300 employees. It has seen extremely fast growth in nearly four years, with more than 215 million monthly active users playing its games. The company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from major investors such as DST, SoftBank, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers. Secondary trading on SharesPost (where employees sell their stock to cash out early) pegs Zynga&amp;'s value at $5.6 billion. Revenue for 2010 is expected to surpass $500 million, according to Inside Network. Roughly 10 million Americans play FarmVille every day.But the dependency on Facebook is a big risk for Zynga. In any given week, Zynga can lose 10 million users or gain that many (based on what I&amp;'ve seen eyeballing the numbers over time) That&amp;'s why the Japanese launch is so important.Launched in June, 2009, FarmVille itself is a casual game that users play for minutes a day. The players have been fickle' FarmVille&amp;'s audience has shrunk from 83 million monthly unique visitors earlier this year to 53.7 million. Along the way, Zynga markets its other games to FarmVille players. So even if those players stop playing FarmVille, they may move on to other Zynga games. The game is available for free, but users pay real money for virtual goods such as tractor fuel.Victory in Japan isn&amp;'t guaranteed. There are a lot of big Japanese mobile social game companies, such as DeNA, which have entrenched positions. U.S. rivals such as CrowdStar are also moving into the Japanese market. To ensure success, Zynga raised money from SoftBank and created a joint venture, Zynga Japan, to accelerate its entry into the market.Robert Goldberg, chief executive of Zynga Japan (and a VentureBeat veteran), said that Farm Village will focus on social play where users will play with their real friends, not just virtual friends.Previous Story: FitnessKeeper scoops up $1.1M to build out fitness appPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Farm Village, FarmvilleCompanies: DeNA, DST, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Softbank, ZyngaPeople: Robert Goldberg          Tags: Farm Village, FarmvilleCompanies: DeNA, DST, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Softbank, ZyngaPeople: Robert GoldbergDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New updates hint at the future of Foursquare&'s website]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-updates-hint-at-the-future-of-foursquarersquos-website</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-updates-hint-at-the-future-of-foursquarersquos-website</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-updates-hint-at-the-future-of-foursquarersquos-website</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Popular mobile check-in application Foursquare today announced on&amp;nbsp'its blog&amp;nbsp'that it has made a few updates to its main website. I couldn&amp;'t help but wonder if the updates are in preparation&amp;nbsp'for the site&amp;nbsp'to allow&amp;nbsp'users to check-in from their desktops.The company pointed out two prominent changes that might support the idea. First, Foursquare cleaned up the main page for logged in users. The page now spotlights&amp;nbsp'a friend&amp;'s activity stream, along with a section for newly crowned mayors and, or&amp;nbsp'course, a section for downloading the mobile apps.&amp;nbsp'Second, the website now&amp;nbsp'offers an easy-to-use &amp;''Find New Friends&amp;'' tool, which also helps with managing friends. The process lets users connect through Twitter and Facebook to find friends who are using Foursquare, but might not be Foursquare friends yet. Users can also search through Gmail or send general email invites. As someone who accesses Foursquare.com almost daily (don&amp;'t ask), I found that the website had more than just a few changes, though most people probably wouldn&amp;'t notice since the mobile apps are currently the only way for users to check-in to a location.Several changes that I quickly noticed include the disappearance of the &amp;''friend request&amp;'' section, which allowed you to see friend requests that had been sent out but were still not accepted yet. Also there appears to be more viewable friend data, such as &amp;''last seen&amp;'' check-in location and timestamp.&amp;nbsp'Also, the top of the page lists the user&amp;'s location&amp;nbsp'with a descriptive roll-over explaining this is the last town and state you checked into and is only viewable by you.All in all,&amp;nbsp'I think the updates to Foursquare.com mainly focus on giving users the ability to quickly login and see what friends are up to, but don&amp;'t necessarily prep the site to be able to check-in from the desktop. Though it would be nice for those of us who work remotely and wouldn&amp;'t mind checking in to Starbucks from our laptops.Next Story: Tesla shows open road to more losses in Q3 Previous Story: YouTube Remote: Control YouTube on your TV from your (Android) phonePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: activity stream, check-in, checking-in, find new friends, location, location based services, location-basedCompanies: Foursquare          Tags: activity stream, check-in, checking-in, find new friends, location, location based services, location-basedCompanies: FoursquareCody Barbierri is a social and digital media consultant. He works for Piehead and blogs about social media at Social Tab. (None of his posts are about clients or their competitors.) Reach him at Cody@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Cody on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Blue Mars Looks To OTOY&'s Clouds To Take 3D Worlds&nbsp'Mainstream]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blue-mars-looks-to-otoyrsquos-clouds-to-take-3d-worldsnbspmainstream</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blue-mars-looks-to-otoyrsquos-clouds-to-take-3d-worldsnbspmainstream</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blue-mars-looks-to-otoyrsquos-clouds-to-take-3d-worldsnbspmainstream</guid>
<description><![CDATA[3D online virtual worlds are nothing new.  From World of Warcraft to Second Life, people have been wandering across polygonal terrain for years, chatting with other users, selling their virtual wares, and making their avatars wave at each other for no apparent reason. But Avatar Reality, the startup behind a 3D platform called Blue Mars, thinks that there&amp;'s still a lot of untapped potential from 3D. And now it may have a way to turn their dream into something a lot of people are actually using.Blue Mars is a platform for building 3D worlds, but it isn&amp;'t a game or a single online world. Rather, each 3D realm is separated and built by other companies and individuals a4&quot;a4sfor example, a baseball team could recreate their stadium in 3D and let players and fans interact in a virtual world. Blue Mars manages the heavy lifting on the backend, including support for many simultaneous users and the purchase and exchange of virtual currencies. But up until this point, actually getting people into these worlds has been a challenge. Now Blue Mars is turning to OTOY&amp;'s powerful streaming technology to help, and it will be launching support for streaming gameplay in Q1 2011.The problem so far: in order for someone to wander around a Blue Mars world, a user typically needs to download a hefty native client. That&amp;'s fine for big games that people want to play, but nobody is going to take the time to download and install this client for, say, a 3D world that&amp;'s been created as part of a marketing campaign. But soon Blue Mars and the companies using its platform will be able to embed these virtual worlds as part of a normal webpage, with no download needed. That&amp;'s where OTOY comes in. We&amp;'ve been tracking OTOY for years now: the company has built technology that can offload CPU-intensive tasks like 3D rendering to extremely powerful clusters of servers, then stream the result back to the user&amp;'s computer or mobile device. In other words, your CPU and GPU are up in the cloud, and instead of needing a powerful gaming rig to run a hit game like Crysis, you can run it on a much less powerful device, like the iPad (if this sounds familiar, it&amp;'s because OnLive is a gaming service with similar technology).More important to Blue Mars is the fact that there&amp;'s no plugin required to use OTOY. You hit a webpage, and you&amp;'re in the 3D world, with no download.a4sAnd there&amp;'s support for nearly any device with a modern web browser a4&quot; you can wander a Blue Mars world using OTOY on an iPhone if you want to.  This solves a big part of Blue Mars&amp;' distribution issues. Of course, it isn&amp;'t a given that Blue Mars will be a success a4&quot;a4sit still needs to get companies and websites to build out these 3D worlds (and then they need to get people to actually use them). But this is an important hurdle for them to clear. CrunchBase InformationAvatar RealityOTOYInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Local Hero: Dennis Crowley, Foursquare]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=local-hero-dennis-crowley-foursquare</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=local-hero-dennis-crowley-foursquare</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=local-hero-dennis-crowley-foursquare</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Company: FoursquareLocation: New York CityFounded: January 2009Founders: Dennis Crowley, Naveen SelvaduraiFunding: $21.35 millionEmployees: 35Roaming the streets of New York City, Foursquare chief executive and founder Dennis Crowley actively checks in and shares his location from a number of venues, including restaurants, bars and business meetings, using his own creation. We caught up with Crowley to talk more about the app, now available for most major mobile devices and platforms, and ita4a4s growing popularity with over 4 million users.Why did you start the companyTo build something that makes cities easier to use and help and encourage people to go out and explore the real world.Whata4a4s the coolest place you checked into recentlyThe Waverly Inn in New York City, while eating the truffle mac and cheese.When did you realize Foursquare was workingBefore we launched, I went to a birthday party at a bar. I checked in and a tip popped up about where to get after-hours snacks.  I was like, &amp;''Holy crap, this is going to be huge.&amp;''What&amp;'s next for the location-based industry and servicesThe key is building on top of the check-in and recycling the data that check-ins provide to help people discover interesting things nearby.Where are you checking in nextI plan on checking in to my apartment tonight with my brother and some friends to nerd out and play FIFA for PS3!VentureBeat&amp;'s Local Heroes series is sponsored by Adobe and is also available as an Adobe Acrobat X Pro portfolio. Check out the portfolio to read the entire series and get additional content.Next Story: VentureBeat&amp;'s local heroes: The new superstars of location Previous Story: Are venture capitalists sheep Why cleantech investing is downPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Local Heroes, location based servicesCompanies: FoursquarePeople: Dennis Crowley          Tags: Local Heroes, location based servicesCompanies: FoursquarePeople: Dennis CrowleyCody Barbierri is a social and digital media consultant. He works for Piehead and blogs about social media at Social Tab. (None of his posts are about clients or their competitors.) Reach him at Cody@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Cody on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[We're sorry, but the page you requested could not be found.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=were-sorry-but-the-page-you-requested-could-not-be-found-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=were-sorry-but-the-page-you-requested-could-not-be-found-</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=were-sorry-but-the-page-you-requested-could-not-be-found-</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Singapore: Why Innovate in&nbsp'Utopia]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=singapore-why-innovate-innbsputopia</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=singapore-why-innovate-innbsputopia</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=singapore-why-innovate-innbsputopia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[SINGAPORE&amp;8211' On the eve of my trip to Indonesia last May, I was having dinner in Cape Town with someone from an investment firm that has been killing it in Asia. When I told him Indonesia was my first trip to Southeast Asia he almost spit out his Springbok, saying &amp;''My God! You are starting with the hardest one first!&amp;''On the eve of this trip to Singapore, I was having coffee in San Francisco with a venture capitalist who has been killing it in the Valley, after four years of living in Southeast Asia. He gave the same observation a decidedly Valley twist: &amp;''You are going to be bored to death in Singapore.&amp;''Bored is hardly the word I&amp;'d use&amp;8211' it&amp;'s hard to be bored when you are running from meeting to meeting, not to mention eating some of the most awesome food known to man. But Singapore is most definitely an Asia with training wheels. And that&amp;'s the Singapore blessing when it comes to globalization, but it may be its curse when it comes to entrepreneurship.Singapore is easy, clean and staunchly non-corrupt at a country level. The trees are immaculately groomed. Any 7/11 can give you a week of Blackberry service for less than $20 and double as full-on tech support if something goes wrong. You think of a cab, and it&amp;'s there, clean and cheap. When I landed in Singapore on Sunday, there was a white haze over the sky&amp;8211' that looked almost like a dome. Combine that with the clean streets and lush foliage and my jetlag-hazed drive from the airport to the hotel looked like I was in the episode of Battestar Gallactica where Starbuck and Apollo grab some faux rays on Cloud 9. People here call it &amp;''an experiment&amp;'' and a &amp;''startup country.&amp;'' a4sBut James Chan, of the incubator/ venture fund Neotany Labs co-founded by Joi Ito and Reid Hoffman, says what they really mean: &amp;''It&amp;'s utopia.&amp;'' (More from Chan in Friday&amp;'s Ask a VC.)Of course there&amp;'s a reason few people call it utopia. You don&amp;'t have to be a science fiction junkie to know utopia always has a catch, and obnoxious American reporter that I am, I&amp;'ve been looking for it since I arrived. So far&amp;8211' from what I can gather&amp;8211' people aren&amp;'t murdered when they reach the age of 30, homeless people aren&amp;'t repurposed into crackers, or encouraged to have meaningless sex as long as they don&amp;'t procreate and stay drugged up on Soma. But Singapore has one big challenge: How to create a country of entrepreneurial problem solvers and hackers when there&amp;'s no chaos, total practicality and a culture ofa4sobedientlya4sgoing-with-the-flow.People call Singapore a police state because of its heavy authoritarian reach, punishment by caning, one of the highest rates of capital punishment in the world, and&amp;8211' you know&amp;8211' the whole ban on gum, to which people here get defensive and say &amp;''That&amp;'s totally overstated! You can chew gum, it&amp;'s just that no one is allowed to sell it.&amp;'' (So, you get it froma4.)But that&amp;'s not really apt. Unlike a lot of authoritarian regimes, Singapore is ruled by practicality not some force-fed morality. When the population was growing too fast it instituted a &amp;''two is enough&amp;'' campaign. When people reacted by having fewer than two children per household the government mandated that local TV stations devote their final hour of programming to romantic soaps to get people in the mood. I&amp;'m not sure if that story is really true or apocryphal, but its certainly believed by a wide swath of people here I&amp;'ve asked.An even better example, which may also be apocryphal: The government wanted to encourage the development of a more vibrant artistic culture, and a study revealed that societies with more open gay and lesbian populations had more artistic achievements. So Singapore&amp;'s Prime Minister went on TV and expressed support for &amp;''our gay brothers&amp;''&amp;8211' nevermind homosexuality had been illegal before. Locals have told me Singapore has one of the more accepting cultures of homosexuality in Asia today.For the last few years, the government is trying mightily to spur high-growth entrepreneurship. Unlike, the US, which is punishing immigrants and proposing laws to restrict angel investing, Singapore is doing all the sensible, practical things. The red carpet is rolled out for skilled immigrants, who now make up some 40% of the population. After years of investing hundreds of millions directly in entrepreneurs, Singapore is now taking a lead from how Israel created its venture capital ecosystem. It partners with venture firms, allowing them to make the best investment decisions and given them up to 6-to-1 matching funds. In other words, a firm invests $15 million and the government will invest $85 million for a convertible note. Under other programs the government will pay 50% of small companies R&amp;amp'D costs, ensuring they are focused on building something differentiated.Billions are spent in government-run R&amp;amp'D labs that produce crazily disruptive innovations and &amp;''science fair projects&amp;'' that capitalist, short-term thinking VCs in the US would never fund. Government programs send kids to the United States where they can work with startups, see behind the glamor, and hopefully catch the entrepreneur bug. They&amp;'re trying to augment an already rigorous education program that focuses on math and science to include morea4sexercisesa4son reasoning and problem-solving. Looking at the highly-practical policy free of moralistic, protectionist grandstanding, you can see why Singapore&amp;8211' a tiny nation of just five million people with comparatively few natural resources relative to its neighbors&amp;8211' has so outperformed on a per capital economic basis, with a stunning 18% growth rate.Practical as ever, most Singaporeans I&amp;'ve met with this week have told me up until now, it&amp;'s excelled at being a global hub, but it hasn&amp;'t excelled when it comes to local high-growth entrepreneurship. Can it legislate its way there It&amp;'s unclear. If any place can it&amp;'s likely Singapore. I mean, if local stories are true it helped legislate who people have sex with and how frequently they do it.But my gut says that chaos and problem solving go hand-in-hand. When things are too comfortable, why take riskDisproportionately immigrants make better entrepreneurs than trust fund kids. Small companies are the ones who actually innovate more than large, publicly-held market incumbents, who like to buy innovators or just throw the word around. (OK, Google, you and your flying cars get a pass&amp;8230'for now.) Countries in chaos tend to have greater needs&amp;8211' and great market holes to exploit.It&amp;'s hard to find any corner of chaos in Singapore. The system is engineered with one outcome, Chan says: &amp;''Making people good economic units fora4ssociety.&amp;'' Is there room for a high-beta version of good economic units of society&amp;8211' one that could succeed disproportionately or fail disproportionately in a culture so tied to obediance The big &amp;''what&amp;'s-wrong-with-youth-today&amp;'' scandal of late has been kids getting out of school and taking all the tables up at Starbucks with their endless studying. Lily Chan, CEO of the Nationala4sUniversitya4sof Singapore&amp;'s Enterprise program, thinks it&amp;'ll take generations for Singapore to truly develop a culture of entrepreneurship&amp;8211' and she blames the parents. In a place replete with accountant and banker jobs, where buying a house is more expensive than most places in the United States the pressure not to waste your time building something speculative is high. There&amp;'s also another problem: One employer hasa4soptimizeda4sthe system to find and make lucrative offers to the smartest kids in the system&amp;8211' that&amp;'s right, the Government. People who could have made the country&amp;'s top entrepreneurs instead make comfortable salaries trying to craft policy to encourage people to be entrepreneurs.But just because an ecosystem isn&amp;'t poised to give rise to a disruptive potentially $1 billion dollar company doesn&amp;'t mean it&amp;'s not innovating and doesn&amp;'t mean the Valley doesn&amp;'t need to pay attention. I&amp;'ll detail how Singapore is accomplishing both of those in future posts.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[SF Giants Fans Spread Fear And Beards On&nbsp'Facebook]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-giants-fans-spread-fear-and-beards-onnbspfacebook</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-giants-fans-spread-fear-and-beards-onnbspfacebook</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-giants-fans-spread-fear-and-beards-onnbspfacebook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Since the Yankees are not in the World Series this year, my allegiance shifts to the San Francisco Giants.  And, yes, while I may be a fair-weather baseball friend, I am willing to go to bat for my new favorite team, at least through this series.  What better way to show my support than to &amp;''beardify&amp;'' my Facebook photo with the Brian Wilson Beardifier app  (You can become a fan of his beard on Facebook too).Brian Wilson is the Giants relief pitcher with the 95 mph fastball and pitch-black beard.  He intimidates his opponents, who have learned to &amp;''fear the beard.&amp;''And now you can intimidate all your friends by spreading the fear and Brian Wilson&amp;'s beard on Facebook.  Unfortunately, it doesn&amp;'t take over your profile pic for every status update, unless you upload it as your new pic.  It&amp;'s not quite the same as turning your Twitter avatar green last year to support democracy in Iran, but it is probably just as effective.CrunchBase InformationFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBaseCrunchBase InformationBrian Wilson&amp;039's BeardInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mobile game maker TinyCo scores $18M from Andreessen Horowitz]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mobile-game-maker-tinyco-scores-18m-from-andreessen-horowitz</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mobile-game-maker-tinyco-scores-18m-from-andreessen-horowitz</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Collinsmith</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mobile-game-maker-tinyco-scores-18m-from-andreessen-horowitz</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When uber-investor Marc Andreessen moves into a market, you have to figure it&amp;'s hot. Today, his firm Andreessen Horowitz is investing $18 million in TinyCo, an iPhone-game publisher.Andreessen, you may recall, cofounded Netscape, the creator of the first commercially successful Web browser. So take his word for it: Mobile gaming is hot, thanks to the popularity of smartphones such as the iPhone and tablet computers such as the iPad. While social games on Facebook have become a huge market in just a few years, many observers think that mobile gaming will be even bigger. That&amp;'s why there&amp;'s a gold rush on now by investors.The $18 million figure is a pretty big amount for a young company such as TinyCo. TinyCo was founded by Ian Spivey and Suleman Ali, two serial entrepreneurs in their late 20s who met while they were students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Digital Chocolate, an established maker of cell phone and social games, raised $12 million earlier this week. Pocket Games raised $5 million from Sequoia Capital in December. And everyone is bullish on the mobile game market ever since Japan&amp;'s DeNA bought iPhone game maker Ngmoco for up to $403 million last year. Overall, game companies raised $1.05 billion in 2010, up 58 percent from a year earlier.&amp;''We think that a billion-dollar company will be created in this market in the next 12 to 24 months,&amp;'' Spivey said.That&amp;'s not an insane statement. People were stunned early on when Zynga&amp;'s Mafia Wars started making $1 million in revenues a month. Now CityVille, which has 93 million monthly active users, is making far more than Mafia Wars ever did. This year, Spivey is expecting Apple to sell 50 million iPhones and iPads, while Android device sales may top 100 million. That will create a bigger and bigger market for TinyCo&amp;'s games.One measure of how important the game market has become is that Andreessen himself, who serves on the boards of Hewlett-Packard, eBay, and Facebook, is joining TinyCo&amp;'s board.TinyCo started as a Facebook-app company a couple of years ago. But the founders decided to switch to mobile games about seven months ago with the arrival of the iPad and the wave of growth in Android smartphones, Spivey said in an interview.At that time, they had around six people' they have now grown to 40. TinyCo has been hiring veterans from companies such as Playdom, EA, Microsoft, Amazon, PlayFirst, Digital Chocolate and others.The change in direction turned out to be a good move. Both Spivey and Ali studied the market and figured out that two categories that were hits on other platforms &amp;8212' simulations and management games &amp;8212' were underrepresented on smartphones. So they set about building them and two of the company&amp;'s three games have been huge hits. Together, Tap Resort Party (above, a resort simulation game) and Tiny Chef (top, a restaurant management game) have more than 10 million downloads between them. Those games were successful enough to make the company profitable. Now it is undergoing an expansion and hopes to launch 10 games this year.That&amp;'s the great thing about the App Store, which has 50,884 games. Titles from small concerns such as TinyCo can sit alongside games from Electronic Arts on the list of top sellers. On the Internet, no one knows you&amp;'re tiny.Next Story: Making Fun debuts as the video-game arm of Rupert Murdoch&amp;'s empire Previous Story: OpenFeint and Adknowledge open up a new way to make money from mobile gamesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Tap Resort Party, Tiny ChefCompanies: Amazon, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Playfirst, Pocket Gems, TinyCoPeople: Ian Spivey, Suleman Ali          Tags: Tap Resort Party, Tiny ChefCompanies: Amazon, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Playfirst, Pocket Gems, TinyCoPeople: Ian Spivey, Suleman AliDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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