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<title>Haaze.com / Kandifhhb / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Best Buy strikes with HTC Thunderbolt]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-strikes-with-htc-thunderbolt</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-strikes-with-htc-thunderbolt</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-strikes-with-htc-thunderbolt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What might be on Google's holiday shopping list]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-might-be-on-googles-holiday-shopping-list</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-might-be-on-googles-holiday-shopping-list</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-might-be-on-googles-holiday-shopping-list</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At this point, it's almost embarrassing to be a Web company that hasn't been courted by Google. Not a week goes by when news doesn't surface regarding Google's trolling the waters of Silicon Valley for a new acquisition' Friday's discussion surrounded daily-deals site Groupon. And for every big fish contemplating the Google bait, there are tons of smaller ones that don't get as much attention but are potentially just as important to Google's overall strategy. At this point in its history, it's simply easier for Google to let outside firms nurture promising ideas and markets in order to snap them up before they become a threat. So where might it look next Here's a sampling of some likely bets.  &amp;149' Foursquare: Although it would be somewhat embarrassing to buy essentially the same company twice, Google has renewed its commitment to building out its location-aware services by appointing Marissa Mayer to a new position overseeing that activity. Google has Latitude, but Foursquare has more buzz among the public and is striking deals with merchants. With Facebook Places looming as the ultimate threat, Foursquare would allow Google to add recognizable check-in features to Google Maps and make its local search and local advertising that much more compelling. It's just going to cost more than it would have to simply have built out Dodgeball years ago. &amp;149' Qwiki: Winner of the start-up contest at the last TechCrunch Disrupt, Qwiki blends searches for information with entertainment, presenting curated answers to queries with a series of pictures, videos, maps, and other content: 10 blue links need not apply. Google's generally not a fan of curated search results, but it could probably find ways to use the methods Qwiki employs to return visual search results which Google has shown more interest in producing of late. Qwiki would fall into the cheap category as well: with about 10 employees and seed investors that have also either put money into or worked at Google and YouTube, according to a company press release. &amp;149' Quora: Are question-and-answer sites the next frontier in search That's far from clear, but there's definitely momentum behind the concept, as Ask.com has decided to give up on algorithmic search to focus on linking questions and answers. Google has taken tentative steps in this direction but Quora would jump-start those efforts. The site has drawn interest from social-network early adopters intrigued by the quality of the questions and answers contributed to the site, and its founders--ex-Facebook employees--would allow Google to pull a reverse by bringing those with Facebook ties over to Google, as opposed to the usual story. &amp;149' Jive Software: Google has said its evolving social-media strategy is to add layers of social technologies to its existing products, rather than build out the next Facebook. Jive, which makes Web tools for businesses to add social-media services both internally among employees and externally with customers, might be a good fit for Google Apps. Famed Valley investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers has taken a stake in Jive, and the company currently has 3,000 customers, according to a KPCB release announcing its investment in Jive in October. As Google tries to build enterprise support for Google Apps, giving its customers a social hook might help close a few deals.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Convore gives online chatting a needed upgrade]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=convore-gives-online-chatting-a-needed-upgrade</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=convore-gives-online-chatting-a-needed-upgrade</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=convore-gives-online-chatting-a-needed-upgrade</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Do you really need another way to chat with your friends The founders of a new startup called Convore think so &amp;8212' and after poking around the site this morning, Ia4a4m starting to agree.The company is being incubated by Y Combinator, and it was co-founded by Leah Culver (formerly a co-founder of simple blogging service Pownce), Eric Florenzano (a developer at games company Mochi Media), and Eric Maguire (also from Mochi Media). Culver said shea4a4d been thinking it was time for a more contemporary, a4Aless nerdya4 version of traditional Internet chat room technology when she connected with Florenzano, who had similar thoughts about modernizing Internet forums.The companya4a4s main emphasis is on real-time, group chatting &amp;8212' to quote todaya4a4s blog post announcing the launch, a4AThe best part of Convore is that you can chat with others in real-time. Ita4a4s just like instant messaging in your browser.a4When I saw that, I initially thought about Meebo, the company that started out as an instant messaging and chat room service and has since refocused on providing social networking tools to publishers. But I was impressed with the Convore experience, particularly because it&amp;'s so easy to find interesting conversations or start new ones.You can create private groups to talk with your friends, or join public discussion groups. For each group, you can see whoa4a4s online. If you keep Convore open as a tab in your Web browser, youa4a4ll hear a cowbell whenever one of your groups is updated. For example, it only took me a few seconds to create a private group that I invited Convore&amp;'s co-founders to join, so I could interview them. Then I watched as they joined the room, I posted some questions, and I heard the cowbell when the team posted its answers.Within a group, conversations are organized into topics. In the public a4Atecha4 discussion group, recent topics include Mozillaa4a4s development plans for Firefox, the new collaboration service Asana, and similar conversations. (It&amp;'s not all tech-focused.) There are already some long conversations &amp;8212' the Asana topic, for example, has 110 comments. It can be hard to catch up on a conversation of that length if youa4a4re joining mid-way (by the end the Asana topic goes off on a tangent about the perks offered at different companies)' Culver said shea4a4s not sure whether most conversations will have a limited shelf-life, or if wea4a4ll see more evergreen topics that just keep going.The service is free. Culver said the San Francisco-based team has some ideas about a business model but nothing concrete yet. In addition to Y Combinator, Convore is also funded by the Start Fund, created by investors Yuri Milner and Ron Conway specifically for Y Combinator startups.Next Story: HPa4a4s WebOS TouchPad reveals iPada4a4s multitasking weaknesses Previous Story: Live from HP&amp;'s WebOS event: HP Veer, Pre 3 phones and HP TouchPad tablet revealedPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: chat rooms, instant messagingCompanies: Convore, Start Fund, Y CombinatorPeople: Eric Florenzano, Eric Maguire, Leah Culver          Tags: chat rooms, instant messagingCompanies: Convore, Start Fund, Y CombinatorPeople: Eric Florenzano, Eric Maguire, Leah CulverAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter. 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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<title><![CDATA[Facebook phone from HTC rumored to debut next month]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-phone-from-htc-rumored-to-debut-next-month</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-phone-from-htc-rumored-to-debut-next-month</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-phone-from-htc-rumored-to-debut-next-month</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Here we go again: Rumors of a potential Facebook phone have emerged once more, this time from the London business site City A.M.According  to the site, which makes no mention of its sources, Taiwanese  manufacturer HTC will unveil two Facebook phones next month at the  Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. They will supposedly be  high-end Android phones customized to display Facebook messages and  news feeds on their home screens. The phones will also sport Facebook  branding and colors.HTC  is responsible for making high-end Android phones like the Nexus One,  Droid Incredible, and MyTouch 4G, so it would make sense for Facebook to  approach the company to develop its own phone. The news comes after  reports from September that the company was planning on a phone. In an interview with TechCrunch, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was vague on the companya4a4s mobile plans:At  the end of the day, when people say a4Abuilding a phonea4 they actually  can mean very different things. Internally, the way we talk about our  strategy, ita4a4s like the opposite of that. Our whole strategy is not to  build any specific device or integration or anything like that. Because  wea4a4re not trying to compete with Apple or the Droid or any other  hardware manufacturer for that matter.The  company is clearly pursuing some sort of mobile strategy, but the  notion of a dedicated Facebook phone remains difficult to swallow. One  other possibility, especially since the current rumor centers around  HTCa4a4s involvement, is that wea4a4ll see a new version of HTC&amp;'s Sense user  interface for Android with heavy Facebook integration. The company announced its latest Sense revision last year at the Mobile World Congress, so it&amp;'s certainly due for an upgrade.In the long run,  that makes more sense for Facebook, since it could get prime real estate  on many of HTCa4a4s upcoming and current Android phones without worrying about building a device of its own.Calling all developers: We want to write up your app for VentureBeata4a4s Mobile AppSpotlight! If you have an innovative mobile app that hasna4a4t been featured on VentureBeat yet, submit it for consideration right away. The Mobile App Spotlight is sponsored by The Intel AppUp developer program.Previous Story: Amazon launches Kindle Singles: for when a full ebook is just too muchPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, HTC Sense, Sense, smartphonesCompanies: Facebook, Google, HTCPeople: Mark Zuckerberg          Tags: Android, HTC Sense, Sense, smartphonesCompanies: Facebook, Google, HTCPeople: Mark ZuckerbergDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra. 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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<title><![CDATA[Bigpoint saves Planet Moon game studio with hiring binge]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigpoint-saves-planet-moon-game-studio-with-hiring-binge</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigpoint-saves-planet-moon-game-studio-with-hiring-binge</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigpoint-saves-planet-moon-game-studio-with-hiring-binge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Back in December, the Planet Moon Studios game studio was busy on a big project. During the holidays, the project went kaput, as promised funding fell apart. Planet Moon sued to get its money, but it had to lay off a bunch of workers.Luckily, an ambitious German game publisher scooped up all of the employees. Bigpoint said today it hired 37 former Planet Moon developers, doubling the size of Bigpoint&amp;'s San Francisco game studio in one fell swoop. This kind of deal isn&amp;'t unusual. As traditional game makers find the post-recession environment to be a tough one, online game companies are often coming to the rescue with deals that will keep the developers pumping out online games.A year ago, Bigpoint opened its San Francisco office as part of a plan to get big in the U.S. Bigpoint has lots of consumers playing its online free-to-play games in Europe and Asia. But it&amp;'s trying to crack the North American game market, said Heiko Hubertz, chief executive and founder of Bigpoint, which is based in Hamburg, Germany.Planet Moon was founded in 1997 by the Shiny Entertainment team that created MDK. It also created critically acclaimed games such as Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Armed &amp;amp' Dangerous, Infected, Smarty Pants, and Drawn to Life: the Next Chapter. It most recently created the Tangled game for Disney. Aaron Loeb, chief executive of Planet Moon, said his company is planning litigation against its former partner, but he is happy so many of Planet Moon&amp;'s colleagues found jobs.Worldwide, Bigpoint has more than 165 million registered users for its games and it has 700 employees in Germany. Among its hits is Ruined, pictured at top.Previous Story: Facebook investor Accel looks east with New York officePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Armed &amp;amp' Dangerous, Giants Citizen Kabuto, MDK, TangledCompanies: Bigpoint, Disney, Planet Moon StudiosPeople: Aaron Loeb, Heiko Hubertz          Tags: Armed &amp;amp' Dangerous, Giants Citizen Kabuto, MDK, TangledCompanies: Bigpoint, Disney, Planet Moon StudiosPeople: Aaron Loeb, Heiko HubertzDean 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[The 5 Myths Of Building A Great Mobile&nbsp'Team]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-5-myths-of-building-a-great-mobilenbspteam</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-5-myths-of-building-a-great-mobilenbspteam</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-5-myths-of-building-a-great-mobilenbspteam</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Editor&amp;'s note: As the Web goes mobile, every Web company needs to build mobile products. Author Elad Gil, director of Geo at Twitter, has a lot of experience in that area.  Way before selling his company Mixer Labs to Twitter last year, he kickstarted Google&amp;'s mobile efforts back in 2004, when Google&amp;'s mobile team &amp;''consisted of 1/4 of an engineer dedicated to maintaining an old WAP search server on the brink of collapse.&amp;''  Gil pulled Google&amp;'s first mobile team together, recruited the first engineers, started discussions with carriers, and was involved in Google&amp;'s early mobile acquisitions which set the stage for Google Mobile Maps and Android.  In this guest post, he shares what he learned. Note that Elad works at Twitter but the following piece reflects his view only and does not represent Twitter&amp;'s thoughts or strategy.In the early days of Google&amp;'s mobile team, we needed to navigate a series of misunderstandings most people have about consumer mobile app development, and how to build a great consumer mobile team and product.  Given the ridiculous growth of mobile today, many companies I know are trying to start their mobile divisions and they are making the same mistakes over and over.  Similarly, many mobile consumer startups are making a series of common mistakes.  This post draws on my experience building Google&amp;'s early mobile team to point out how to overcome the myths people still believe about making super successful mobile applications.Myth 1: You need to hire mobile experts.Reality: Hire great athletes' mobile &amp;''experts&amp;'' will be useless in 6 monthsThe natural impulse of someone doing mobile development for the first time is to assume that mobile is somehow different from other software development.  This leads to the hiring of mobile &amp;''experts&amp;'', many of whom lack solid consumer product experience.  They may have worked on handset design, SMS based services, or for a large carrier.  While mobile client development obviously differs from web development (since you can&amp;'t just push a bug fix to all devices), it is very similar to any other form of consumer client development.This means that while people with deep mobile experience may bring knowledge about a specific technology or the limitations of mobile clients, they often lack the deep consumer experience that is actually much more important for the success of your consumer app.Additionally, any specialist knowledge the expert may have had will be learned organically by your team within 6 months.  This means the value of a &amp;''mobile&amp;'' person will diminish dramatically over time.  As with all roles, I would advocate hiring great consumer generalists to fill the spot, as they will have a much larger positive impact over time.a. Dona4a4t hire &amp;''mobile engineers&amp;''The first thing people want to do is hire an &amp;''iPhone engineer&amp;'' or &amp;''Android developer&amp;''.  The best mobile engineers I have ever worked with were great generalist engineers who picked up iPhone (variant of C) or Android (Java) development.  By focusing on hiring great engineers and having them pick up the programming language and platform (including learning its limitations) you will:Expand the pool of potential people you can hire. Grow the team faster!Avoid a &amp;''specialist&amp;'' culture at your company.  In general, I think it is good to build a culture of great generalists/athletes rather then specialists for your company.  You want people who are hungry, brilliant, and adaptable, and who can move between teams and contribute to the next big thing for the company once they jumpstart your mobile efforts.Ensure the quality of your team stays high.  Your existing engineers should interview the potential mobile hires and test them on general computer science skills.For example, on the early Google mobile team we had a PhD student from Yale with no industry experience, an expert on enterprise Java from BEA, and a research scientist at Google.  These people helped form a formidable core for mobile engineering at Google.b. Dona4a4t hire &amp;''mobile&amp;'' Product Managers (PMs)Just as you should hire generalist engineers for your mobile team, you should similarly find a great consumer product manager to run it.  The worst hiring mistakes I have seen people make is to hire PMs with telecom or handset backgrounds to run their consumer products.  You need people who understand that the phone is primarily a social devicea4&quot;for example, people love to take photos and share them with their friends (see Instagr.am, PicPlz, and PicBounce)a4&quot;and that the screens are still small, so focusing on a few key features or interactions is key.Myth 2: Your mobile codebase is different from regular code.Reality:  Its just code.  You should treat it as such.  Obviously, developing for a client app that can&amp;'t be fixed via a push to AWS has its own challenges.  But the mobile codebase should be something any engineer can contribute to at any timea4&quot;even if it is just to run internal test apps to try out new features.Similarly, don&amp;'t let your team use mobile as an excuse to avoid following good software engineering practice.  A good release process can apply anywhere.Myth 3: You need carrier or handset deals to distribute a mobile product.Reality: Focus on standard consumer distribution first, not carriers or handset manufacturers.When launching a mobile consumer product, many companies make the mistake of focusing on carrier or handset partners for distribution rather then just putting it out there for users to try.a. Focusing on carriers means you will build the wrong product.When dealing with a new consumer app, carriers and handset manufacturers will have all sorts of ideas, some of which may be bad, about how you should change the product before they agree to distribute it.  This will likely ruin the consumer experience.  They may also ask you to support a wider variety of handsets than makes sense for you to build for.  Further, all the time spent negotiating with carriers will also distract you from spending your time building things that will delight users.b. People naturally spread great consumer products.Think of all the consumer apps that have widespread use and adoption from scratch (Angry Birds, Foursquare, Gowalla, Bump).  None of these launched with any traditional teleco deals.c.  If your app is a big success, carriers will come to you for deals.If your mobile app is being used (or your desktop app has wide enough distribution), carriers will approach you to add your app to their phones.  Think Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc&amp;8230', as well as, back in the day, IM clients.Don&amp;'t get me wronga4&quot;carriers and handset pre-installs can widen your distribution dramatically.  However, as a startup or new mobile effort, you should focus on direct-to-consumer distribution first. Only deal with these intensive partnerships once you have proven traction with your core app experience and want to reach out beyond the relatively large population that discovers apps via the app store and friend recommendations.Myth 4.  You must build for all platforms from Day One.Reality: Start with iPhone or Android only first.One of the big fears when building a mobile property is that only a subset of the market can be addressed via each platform (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, XHTML, SMS).  These days, the best consumer apps are launching on iPhone or Android only first.  This provides enough distribution/addressable devices to see if the app can gain traction.  Once it gets traction, other platforms can be supported.  A great example of this is Foursquare, which launched exclusively on iOS and grew from there.In part you should choose your platform based on your market and distribution approach.  iPhone or Android (as well as increasingly HTML5) are good bets  for the US, and increasingly, the rest of the world.  You should only build XHTML or SMS based apps if you are focused on the low- to mid-range of developing markets.Myth 5.  (Once the app launches) We are mobile geniuses!Reality: Stay hungry and keep questioning your mobile directions.Congratulations!  You got your mobile app out the door and it is growing 50% month over month.   There is an old saying that a rising tide floats all boats.  The rapid growth in the overall smartphone market may make your mobile efforts look brilliant due to this ongoing, massive market shift.  Make sure to challenge your team&amp;'s thinking on their mobile choices, and don&amp;'t believe the mantra that &amp;''mobile is just different&amp;''.  Focus on building an awesome consumer experience and you really will end up looking like a genius.Mobile is a huge opportunity and will be the primary way many services are accessed in the future.  Hopefully as you start a new mobile consumer startup, or build a mobile team for your existing web property, with the tips above you can avoid the mistakes people frequently make for mobile app development.Photo credit: Flickr/JD HancockCrunchBase InformationElad GilGoogleTwitterInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[For $27 This Kid Will Do Whatever You Want in Antarctica on&nbsp'Tuesday]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-27-this-kid-will-do-whatever-you-want-in-antarctica-onnbsptuesday</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-27-this-kid-will-do-whatever-you-want-in-antarctica-onnbsptuesday</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-27-this-kid-will-do-whatever-you-want-in-antarctica-onnbsptuesday</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you want to feel lazy, spend about ten minutes with Travis Kiefer.He&amp;'ll start out by telling you how he spent every waking moment of his teenage years in low-income South Dakota, studying and scheming over how he could be the first one in his family to go to college, and the first kid in his highschool&amp;'s history to go to an Ivy League school. His dream school: Stanford. As a kid from a low-income family, he knew the biggest way to change his family&amp;'s economic reality was a Silicon Valley startup.Ok, so he&amp;'s an impressive kid. But that sounds like a lot of Silicon Valley rags-to-riches stories, rightThen, he&amp;'ll tell you about how he spent much of his first year building a non-profit called Gumball Capital. It aims to spread entrepreneurship and philanthropy to college kids by challenging them to take $27, 27 gumballs and one week, and turn it into a project that raises money. Schemes range from midnight Pizza sales to tinya4scarnivala4sgames substituting the gumballs for regular balls. (You can see videos of what they&amp;'ve done here. Most people, he admits, just eat the gumballs.) Last year 12 schools had 47 teams competing and raised just under $2,000, which was donated to micro-lending organizations like Kiva with the goal of eradicating hunger in the world.Ok, so he&amp;'s spending what should be his most selfish years trying to help others. He&amp;'s just young and idealistic. Then, he&amp;'ll tell you that he took a year off at Stanford to run the organization fulltime, taking no salary, sleeping on his friend&amp;'s dorm floor and borrowing other student&amp;'s guest-meal passes to eat.Wait. This kid killed himself to get into Stanford, find a way to afford it&amp;8230'and then he just took a year off for this cause Ok, that&amp;'s a little impressive. He wants to expand Gumball Capital to fifty schools this year all over the world. Next week, one in India has organized 100 teams of three-to-five students to raise money for the poor.Well, that&amp;'s ambitious&amp;8230'But the organization needs money for the materials, shipping and the administrative stuff entailed with organizing all of these teams. So he&amp;'s trying to raise $125,000 this year that will fund the program for a while, given the $27 given to each team is always paid back out of the proceeds. He&amp;'s already raised $75,000 and has pulled in some well-known Valley people like venture capitalist David Hornik as advisors and mentors.Wow. This kid is actually building a pretty impressive little company&amp;8230'How&amp;'d he raise all that money By pledging to run a marathon on every continent. He&amp;'s done one in Ireland, Argentina, San Francisco, Zimbabwe, Australia and Japan. In a few days, he&amp;'s headed to Antarctica. He&amp;'s been jogging for three hours at a time in the cafeteria meat locker at Stanford to train. Oh, and he just started running last March.a4s&amp;''My biggest fear was getting injured before this marathon, because I didn&amp;'t have a contingency plan. So now I can relax a little,&amp;'' he says, grinning and looking as wholesome and idealistic as Kenneth from 30Rock. &amp;''I mean, even if i get injured during it, I can at least walk the rest of it.&amp;''I just look at him.&amp;''Yeah, I&amp;'m a little crazy,&amp;'' he says with his Kenneth-like-toothy grin.So, I&amp;'ve met a lot of impressive people in fifteen years in the Valley, but talking to this kid for an hour yesterday just blew me away. He is everything the best entrepreneurs are: He&amp;'s smart. Hardworking. Has insanely huge visions and goals that only get more outsized the more he achieves. He&amp;'s a tenacious networker and pitchman&amp;8211' by the time he left my office, I&amp;'da4scommitteda4sto writing this and doing a follow-up video once he gets back and, of course, donate to the cause myself. I even sent him home with a few Diet Cokes since he was planning to stay up all night building this site. And yes, he&amp;'s a little bit crazy. This won&amp;'t be last we&amp;'ve heard of Travis Kiefer.But back to the cause: Kiefer is hoping this final marathon will put them over the top for their fundraising goals and support the organization through the spring semester. He has a ten day trip to get $27 out of 2,000 people. So, if you go here (NOW!) and donate $27, in exchange Kiefer will do something for you in Antarctica. He&amp;'s open to suggestion, but you only have two days to do it. He&amp;'ll claim a plot of land in your name with a little flag. He&amp;'ll sing a song for your girlfriend via YouTube. He&amp;'ll call and wish your mom happy birthday. He&amp;'d probably even take your garden gnome and take a picture of it in Antarctica.His dream is to be on the Colbert Report&amp;8211' so he&amp;'s starting a Twitter campaign to get Colbert&amp;'s attention. If you are too stingy to give $27 to Gumball Capital, at least RT this. He&amp;'s running seven marathons to help end poverty when he should be doing keg stands. The least you could do is hit the RT button, right&amp;nbsp'<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bionic Legs For Paraplegics Want To Try It Out&nbsp'Yourself]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bionic-legs-for-paraplegics-want-to-try-it-outnbspyourself</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bionic-legs-for-paraplegics-want-to-try-it-outnbspyourself</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bionic-legs-for-paraplegics-want-to-try-it-outnbspyourself</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We see cool gadgets all the time here at TechCrunch. But not many of them can help paraplegics walk again. This one does.Berkeley Bionics has created an exoskeleton product called eLegs that literally gets these people up and walking. Arm swings on crutches control the legs and tell them when to walk. Time Magazine calls it one 50 best inventions of 2010, and they are clearly right. Technology like this may eliminate the concept of a wheelchair for millions of people with spinal cord injuries, stroke, MS, etc.. Here&amp;'s it in action: Trials will begin next year. And the first trials will be held in Silicon Valley, at the Valley Medical Center in San Jose:Valley Medical Center is the public hospital of Santa Clara County, and provides care to more children and adults than any other hospital in Silicon Valley.   Our mission is unique a4&quot; to treat everyone regardless of ability to pay.  What you might not know is that we are the de facto childrena4a4s hospital of the South Bay.  We maintain San Josea4a4s only Pediatric ICU and Trauma Unit, care for 145,000 kids annually at our 5 community clinics and deliver more babies than all by 7 other California hospitals.   We do all this during times when patient demand is up (60% since 2000) and public dollars for health care is down ($200 million in budget cuts in the last 3 years).The hospital, though, needs $130,000 to bridge a funding gap for the trial and to ensure it will begin in January 2011. I know we&amp;'ve already asked a lot from our readers with the UCSF Children&amp;'s Hospital, but we&amp;'re asking again. Please consider donating even a small amount to this cause. You can donate here.Here&amp;'s what I&amp;'ll offer you in exchange &amp;8211' We&amp;'ve asked Berkeley Bionics to bring eLegs into our office so that I can try it out and post a video. If they agree we&amp;'ll bring in the top five donors as well and let you try it out. just as long as you&amp;'re ok with us posting the video on TechCrunch!Donate now!CrunchBase InformationBerkeley BionicsInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the GreenBeat: Honda looks to Google for electric car pilot, DOE awards $19 million in smart grid grants]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-honda-looks-to-google-for-electric-car-pilot-doe-awards-19-million-in-smart-grid-grants</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-honda-looks-to-google-for-electric-car-pilot-doe-awards-19-million-in-smart-grid-grants</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-honda-looks-to-google-for-electric-car-pilot-doe-awards-19-million-in-smart-grid-grants</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Here are the top stories we&amp;'re following today in cleantech:Carbon emissions are on track to reach a record high in 2010, largely due to the growing demands for energy and coal-burning power plants in India and China, Reuters reports.The Department of Energy has handed out $19 million in grants this week to five smart grid research projects, which include energy storage circuits and wireless connectivity for assets located deep underground, Earth2Tech writes.Former secretary of state Colin Powell gave the wind energy industry its &amp;''battle plan&amp;'' at the American Wind Energy Association&amp;'s symposium last week, Greentech Media writes. The industry has suffered setbacks in the midterm election, losing governors who supported wind and facing a potentially tough battle to convince Republicans on the merits of wind energy.Honda will pilot its all-electric Fit via Google&amp;'s car-share program, GFleet, a fleet of 30 hybrids and all-electric cars made available to the company&amp;'s employees and managed by Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Google is looking to expand that fleet, Earth2Tech reports.NRG Energy CEO David Crane wants the company&amp;'s recently announced privately-financed eVgo charging network in Houston to define the car-charging space, in the way that Whole Foods is ubiquitous with organic food sales, according to the WSJ. Crane plans to expand the charging network by focusing on 13 states with deregulated electricity markets. The company may build a national sales force through its recently acquired renewable energy retailer Green Mountain Energy.Ford and Smith Electric are competing to win a deal from the U.S. General Services Administration&amp;'s planned fleet of all-electric trucks. The agency plans to add 100 electric vehicles to its fleet (overall, it procures around 70,000 vehicles a year), according to Bloomberg.Nlyte Software raised $12 million in third-round funding for its data center efficiency and energy savings tools.[Image via Flickr/Senor Codo]Next Story: Broadcom to buy home networking firm Gigle Networks for more than $75M Previous Story: Dating service SmartDate raises $5M from major French angels and firmsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: carbon, carbon emissions, charging infrastructure, electric car charging, electric cars, electric vehicles, eVgo, green data centers, Smart Grid, wind, wind energyCompanies: Department of Energy, DOE, Google, Green Mountain Energy, Honda, nlyte Software, NRG EnergyPeople: Colin Powell          Tags: carbon, carbon emissions, charging infrastructure, electric car charging, electric cars, electric vehicles, eVgo, green data centers, Smart Grid, wind, wind energyCompanies: Department of Energy, DOE, Google, Green Mountain Energy, Honda, nlyte Software, NRG EnergyPeople: Colin PowellIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name).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[Directory of dog-friendly restaurants - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directory-of-dog-friendly-restaurants---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directory-of-dog-friendly-restaurants---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Style &amp; Leisure</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directory-of-dog-friendly-restaurants---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Given the USD 47.7 billion US consumers alone are expected to spend on their pets this year, it''s not entirely surprising to see the likes of the Sniff Dog Hotel and the many other pet-focused innovations we''ve seen emerge in recent months. Along the lines of Fido Factor, in fact, one more we recently spotted gives consumers a new way to discover the dog-friendly restaurants in their neighborhood.California-based Dining with Dogs is a free site that lets dog owners find restaurants in their area that allow dogs in their outdoor seating areas. Currently focusing on New York, Chicago, California, Arizona and Florida, the ad-supported site lets users submit and review restaurants as well as interact with other dog lovers online. Reviews can also be posted directly to Facebook and other popular social networks.Guides to pet-friendly hotels have been around for some time, but this new focus on restaurants adds a new point of differentiation for restaurateurs worldwide. Eateries around the globe: time to develop a dog-friendly policy, if you don''t already have one. Everyone else: how else can you help guide pet lovers to local establishments that will treat them a4&quot; and their pets a4&quot; right... (Related: Peer-to-peer petsitting service a4&quot; Social networking for dogs a4&quot; RFID collar tag helps dog owners meet new friends.)Website: www.diningwithdogs.comContact: diningwithdogs@gmail.comSpotted by: May Lam<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Stik Leverages Facebook To Help You Find Lawyers, Realtors And&nbsp'More]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stik-leverages-facebook-to-help-you-find-lawyers-realtors-andnbspmore</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stik-leverages-facebook-to-help-you-find-lawyers-realtors-andnbspmore</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stik-leverages-facebook-to-help-you-find-lawyers-realtors-andnbspmore</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With over 500 million users, Facebook can provide a wealth of professional information. BranchOut, for example, is using Facebook to find jobs through your real friends as opposed to LinkedIn contacts. Startup Stik is launching as a way to find recommendations of service professionals through your Facebook friends.The web service essentially connects you with professionals who are already friends of your friends on Facebook. So through Stik you can search for a mortgage broker through your friends of friends' Stik will show results of brokers connected to your friends by one degree. For example, I found 45 mortgage brokers connected to my social graph on Facebook.You can then filter results by location, keyword and direct connections and you&amp;'ll be able to see any friends in common. If you find a professional that you&amp;'d like to connect with, you can send them a message, and recommend the individual. For now, Stik allows you to search for professionals in the mortgage, insurance, real estate, financial planning and legal fields. Stik&amp;'s founders Jay Gierak and Nathan Labenz say that Stik is essentially replicated the act of asking a friend if they know a great lawyer, real estate agent etc. The benefit of finding a service professional through Facebook is two-folda4&quot;you can find trusted professional help through your friends and possibly access recommendations of the provider as well.  For now, Stik is free. The company plans to make money by including sponsored results from financial institutions, real estate professionals and more in searches. Another way the site could monetize is to charge companies through lead gen as well. And eventually Stik hopes to integrate LinkedIn as well. Finding professionals through Facebook is certainly an interesting concept and has potential' the ability to &amp;''trust&amp;'' professionals in your Facebook social graph will be subjective. Just because I&amp;'m friends with someone on Facebook, doesn&amp;'t mean that I would trust their recommendation or their friends. If I see that there is a real estate agent in my area that is connected through a friend' I would email our mutual connection to see if the agent is legitimate. CrunchBase InformationStikInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sweet revenge Sean Parker may be bidding for Warner Music Group]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sweet-revenge-sean-parker-may-be-bidding-for-warner-music-group</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sweet-revenge-sean-parker-may-be-bidding-for-warner-music-group</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kandifhhb</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sweet-revenge-sean-parker-may-be-bidding-for-warner-music-group</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sean Parker might be part of a consortium bidding to purchase Warner Music Group. If he wins, the founder of Napster might get some sweet revenge on the fools (at least from his perspective) who sued music-sharing pioneer Napster and put it out of business, at least in its original form.Parker is a dynamic character in Silicon Valley, so much so that he was played by Justin Timberlake in the Oscar-winning The Social Network film, based on the Ben Mezrich book &amp;''The Accidental Billionaires.&amp;''AllThingsDigital is reporting that Parker is considering putting his money into a consortium to buy Warner Music Group. He is not yet part of the formal bid, but is aligned with a group led by investors Ron Burkle and Doug Teitelbaum. Warner&amp;'s owners are expecting to get $2.5 billion or more for the company.Parker disrupted the music industry while at Napster, which was a free music-sharing site that helped destroy the CD business. Parker co-founded Napster in 1999, went on to address book startup Plaxo, and guided Facebook in its early days. That latter job gave him a stake in Facebook that is now worth a ton of money. Forbes estimates his net worth is $1.6 billion.Parker is an advisor and investor in Spotify, the streaming music service which has 7 million active users in Europe. But it hasn&amp;'t launched in the U.S. yet because it hasn&amp;'t cut deals with two big music labels, Universal Music Group and Warner. By buying Warner, Parker could solve one of his problems.Next Story: iPad 2 teardown shows the winners and losers among Apple&amp;'s suppliers Previous Story: Tech companies line up quickly with ways to help JapanPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Facebook, Napster, Plaxo, spotify, Universal Music Group, warner music groupPeople: Sean parker          Companies: Facebook, Napster, Plaxo, spotify, Universal Music Group, warner music groupPeople: Sean parkerDean 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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