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<title>Haaze.com / cailing / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 07:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Cadillac CTS-V Coupe: As nasty as it looks]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cadillac-cts-v-coupe-as-nasty-as-it-looks</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cadillac-cts-v-coupe-as-nasty-as-it-looks</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 07:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cadillac-cts-v-coupe-as-nasty-as-it-looks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)With a supercharged, 6.2-liter V-8 producing 556 horsepower, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe is one fast machine. Stomp on the gas in first gear and you are in for all sorts of fun, from thecar twisting and turning under tremendous torque to the surprised looks of Porsche and BMW owners as you fly past them. And the future car look of the Coupe body perfectly fits this outrageous performance.But the CTS-V Coupe is also significantly refined, a snarling tiger in a tuxedo. Magnetic ride suspension technology keeps its tires gripping pavement and maintains stability in fast cornering, making sure all that power doesn't go to waste. Cadillac luxury extends to the cabin, with fine materials throughout. The car's navigation screen motors up from the dashboard, showing good quality maps. Load the OnStar app, and you can do various tricks, such as lock the doors or start the car from continents away. The app also lets you look up and remotely load addresses to the navigation system.Check out our review of the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft announces plans for Kinect SDK]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-announces-plans-for-kinect-sdk</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-announces-plans-for-kinect-sdk</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-announces-plans-for-kinect-sdk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft&amp;39's Kinect(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Microsoft announced plans today to release a software development kit for its Kinect game motion controller later this spring.In a move that was widely rumored, Microsoft said the Kinect for Windows SDK will allow third-party developers to create software titles that use a Kinect motion sensor plugged directly into a Windows PC. This noncommercial &quot;starter version&quot; SDK will give users access to deep Kinect system information such as audio, system application-programming interfaces, and direct control of the Kinect sensor, Microsoft said. The company also plans to release a commercial version at a later date.&quot;Microsoft's investments in natural user interfaces are vital to our long-term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us,&quot; Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, said in the company's announcement. &quot;The fruits of these research investments are manifesting across many of our products, Kinect forXbox 360 among them.&quot;Since its official launch last November, hackers have found all sorts of creative ways to put the sensor bar's 3D imaging capabilities to good use. Among them: tweaks that turn the sensor bar into a 3D camera, allow for multitouch photo manipulation without the need for a touch screen, and make it possible to create midair 3D doodles.Microsoft initially reacted negatively to these &quot;hacks,&quot; but then it seemed to warm up to the idea, explaining that the Kinect was designed to be an open platform. In response to a $3,000 challenge last year by the open-source hardware outfit Adafruit Industries to come up with a hardware hack of the Kinect, Microsoft had said it did not &quot;condone&quot; such behavior. When asked at this year's Consumer Electronics Show whether Microsoft would allow the ability to plug a Kinect into a PC, CEO Steve Ballmer said the company would formally support it at the right time, although his timing was a little vague.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple's iOS market share tops Android, RIM]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-ios-market-share-tops-android-rim</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-ios-market-share-tops-android-rim</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-ios-market-share-tops-android-rim</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google's Android mobile operating system may be surging, but it hasn't overtaken Apple's iOS in the U.S., according to a Nielsen report released today.Using November data, market research firm Nielsen on Monday ranked Apple's iOS as the No. 1 mobile operating with 28.6 percent of the smartphone operating system market share in the U.S. Coming in at No. 3 is Google's Android with 25.8 percent share of the U.S. market.What's really interesting is that RIM's BlackBerry operating system, which is the No. 2 ranked mobile operating system in the U.S. by market share with 26.1 percent, is within the margin of error of both Apple iOS and Android.&quot;In other words, RIM remains statistically tied with both Apple for first and Android for third,&quot; writes Nielsen. &quot;Apple's clear lead over Android notwithstanding, this race might still be too close to call.&quot;(Credit:Nielsen)The popularity of Android is clear though. Among those consumers who purchased a smartphone in the last six months, 40 percent chose the Android OS. Overall, 45 percent of consumers in November chose a smartphone over a regular cell phone, according to Nielsen.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA['Dancing with the Stars' voting hacked for Palin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Will the overly computer literate stop at nothing until they have rent society's fabric asunder Will they spend their days and nights in constant digital subterfuge in order to paint society in their own imageThese vital questions need to be asked because there are serious accusations of voting irregularities that go far beyond any that have been leveled before.No, I'm not talking about some obscure election for governor or district attorney. I am talking of Bristol Palin's stunning ascendance into the final of ABC's &quot;Dancing with the Stars.&quot;According to MSNBC, there are aggressive, pasa doble-type suggestions that hackers in the thrall of the Tea Party and their fellow travelers have taken ABC's e-mail voting system and infiltrated it as if they were the knife and it was but a shabby wheel of brie.MSNBC quotes someone on the HillBuzz blog who claimed: &quot;Lord have mercy, I voted for 3 hours online! I got 300 in.&quot; You will note the curiously religious flavor of this post. It smacks of a possible crusade that seeks to waltz its way to power. And note that it says &quot;Lord, have mercy,&quot; rather than &quot;Lord, please forgive me.&quot; There seems to be no guilt here, only fatigue.Another poster offered in reply to the 3 hour voter: &quot;Wow. You put me to shame with my measly 32.&quot;Could these Tea Party supporters be hacking into the DWTS voting system(Credit:CC Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)You might believe there is nothing wrong with hackers offering instructions as to how to game an online voting system. If you can manage to register any number of e-mail addresses in order to vote multiple times, they argue, that is surely the essence of free party, Tea Party enterprise.The problem, for some objective viewers of this century's seminal show, is that Bristol Palin seems famous for, well, being the accidentally pregnant daughter of a politician and isn't so good at stepping quickly or making the sort of sultry moves that are consistent with a campaigner for sexual abstinence.Those who defend her progress offer that she is the least showbizzy contestant, has made the most progress, and symbolizes the future of an America in which the country will be taken back from, well, other people with whom these defenders disagree.Should you believe I am exaggerating, or even making some oblique political point, might I offer you two consecutive posts from the HillBuzz blog. The first reads: &quot;We're taking back America!&quot; The second adds: &quot;One dancer at a time.&quot;For its part, ABC claims that it protects against nefarious laptop behavior by using cookies to ensure that no single computer can offer more than one vote for freedom, justice, and the jittering bug. But readers of these pages know that such a system is filled with mere possibilities for anyone with a devious mind and a passionate heart. One wonders, too, just how well ABC's security systems work in rooting out those with forceful intentions.None other than Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak forcefully expressed his concerns about the voting when he graced &quot;Dancing with the Stars&quot; with moves such as his signature &quot;worm.&quot; Indeed, he called the show &quot;fake,&quot; although later retracted the accusation.NBC reports that ABC is considering changing the voting system in order to give viewers less of an opportunity to affect results, which have seen excellent dancers such as the singer Brandy and the all-around wonderment that is Sabrina Bryan exit far earlier than they might have.I know there will be some who will look at this confounding controversy and wonder whether, in some future time, it might have implications for political elections that might be held entirely online.You should be concerned. One day, in a nearer future than one might imagine, presidents will, indeed, be voted on for their dancing ability, rather than their talents in altering America's inexorable quickstep over quicksand.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[NOX's ridiculously good $79 in-ear headphone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=noxs-ridiculously-good-79-in-ear-headphone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=noxs-ridiculously-good-79-in-ear-headphone</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=noxs-ridiculously-good-79-in-ear-headphone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The NOX Scout headphones(Credit:NOX Audio)I think we're entering the golden age of headphone design. Over the last few years the competition's heated up and at nearly every price level, headphone performance standards are improving at a fast and furious rate. For example, the TDK EB900 in-ear headphone I heard at the CNET office a few weeks ago were pretty amazing for around $100, but the all-new NOX Audio Scout is better, a lot better. Headquartered in City of Industry, CA, NOX Audio was founded in 2009. The superlightweight design is extremely comfortable, and while my ears are sometimes very fussy about getting a tight seal for best bass response, I had no trouble with the Scout's silicone eartips. The design features &quot;balanced armature technology,&quot; which is rarely seen in headphones in the Scout's price class (I don't know of any others). The Scout's cable has an inline omnidirectional microphone, and according to the Scout press release, &quot;the world's smallest send/end button, making it an ideal device for cell phones, portable media players and gaming handhelds.&quot; Best of all, the Scout's flat cable was the least tangle-prone headphone wire I've ever used. Jumble it up any which way, shove it into your pocket, and it'll never tie itself into knots. That's a first!I compared the Scout with a set of $180 Monster Turbine in-ear headphones (the base model Turbine) which I've always really loved. The Turbine's big bass came booming through on Radiohead's &quot;Amnesiac&quot; album, but switching over to the Scout clarified not only the bass, but the midrange and treble were more transparent. The drums' cymbals shimmer and sparkle were much superior, each drum whack was more precisely rendered, and the bass pitches were easier to follow on the Scout. Detail of the tiny send/end button (middle) and inline microphone (right)(Credit:NOX Audio)I heard similar distinctions with Willie Nelson's recent &quot;Country Music&quot; album. The banjo on &quot;Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down&quot; was perfectly clear, and each note's attack and tone were pristine on the Scout' the Turbine softened the tonal balance somewhat. The Turbine's richer tone will no doubt appeal to some tastes, but I think the Scout is more accurate. The Scout had a deeper soundstage compared to the Turbine, which seemed to spatially flatten the sound of the Nelson album. The one decisive win for the Turbine was its noise isolating abilities on the NYC subway' the Scout wasn't as effective as the Turbine.The Scout's bass is really something special for an under $100 in-ear headphone. It's extremely well-defined, and when the recording has really deep, very low frequency bass, the Scout reproduces it. Brian Eno's new &quot;Small Craft on a Milk Sea&quot; CD has that kind of bass, and the Scout let me hear it. NOX is off to a grand start, I'm already a big fan. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[DIY HD kit gives old laptop drives new life]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=diy-hd-kit-gives-old-laptop-drives-new-life</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=diy-hd-kit-gives-old-laptop-drives-new-life</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=diy-hd-kit-gives-old-laptop-drives-new-life</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Two great tastes that taste great together!(Credit:OWC)Replacing hard drives in laptops isn't new, and neither is converting old drives into external backup drives. Yours Truly did both those things about a month ago, taking my MacBook's stock 80GB drive, replacing it with a 250GB drive, and then taking the old drive and adding it to a bus-powered 2.5-inch enclosure to make a portable 80GB HD I can take anywhere. Other World Computing has new kits that combine both a new drive and an external enclosure, as well as all the tools you'll need to do the upgrade and build the external.What's great is the kits don't just include HDD upgrades' OWC also gives the option of upgrading to a high-performance SSD drive. For those with an older MacBook (or, indeed, any 2.5-inch SATA-equipped laptop) who are looking for a speed boost, $275 gives you a 120GB SSD, an enclosure for your stock hard drive, the appropriate mini screwdrivers, a USB cable, and a stylish, sophisticated (we're assuming) sleeve.But that's not the only option' indeed the SSD kits go all the way up to 240GB (for $570), and the standard HDD kits top out with a 5,200rpm 1TB drive ($154), or a faster 7,200rpm 750GB drive ($130), any of which would make a 2-year-old laptop last a little longer.Those are all good prices for a kit, but I'd like to know this: Why didn't anyone think of this sooner (that we know of)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why Is mail.facebook.com Pointing To An Outlook Web App&nbsp'Login]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-is-mail-facebook-com-pointing-to-an-outlook-web-appnbsplogin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-is-mail-facebook-com-pointing-to-an-outlook-web-appnbsplogin</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-is-mail-facebook-com-pointing-to-an-outlook-web-appnbsplogin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This whole Facebook Mail thing is getting curiouser and curiouser.After our post on Facebook taking control of fb.com, a number of people have reached out to say that mail.fb.com actually resolved to mail.thefacebook.com (that doesn&amp;'t seem to be the case for all people). What&amp;'s interesting about that is that mail.thefacebook.com (and mail.facebook.com) is live for all to see. It&amp;'s an Outlook Web App with a nice big Facebook logo that asks you for a username and password.What&amp;'s really interesting about this is the reporta4sfrom All About Microsoft yesterday that Facebook&amp;'s new mail system may integrate with Office Web Apps. Obviously, Outlook is a part of those. Could this be the way that users are going to log in to check their new Facebook mailProbably not. Based on what we&amp;'ve heard,a4smail.thefacebook.com is actually the domain that Facebook employees use to remotely log in to check their work email. The fact that mail.fb.com is pointing to it, just seems to suggest that Facebook may be pointing all fb.com domains to their corresponding facebook.com domains (again, at least for some people).But here&amp;'s what everyone really wants to know: are we going to get @facebook.com or @fb.com email addresses Earlier today, Inside Facebook wondered if fb.com would be used for employees only, and facebook.com would be opened to the public. A report tonight in The New York Times cites two sources also saying that the public will be given facebook.com addresses (that&amp;'s what we initially heard as well).But there could be a third scenario. It could be that Facebook allows people to have pick between the two domains, or simply have both. For example, you could email someone on Facebook at vanityname@fb.com or vanityname@facebook.com.Or maybe Facebook isn&amp;'t planning on doing anything with the fb.com domain at this time other than redirect it to Facebook. But we&amp;'re heard one story of a Facebook employee boasting that starting next week their email address will be getting a lot shorter.Stay tuned for more on Monday.Update: Heard from a few more people in the know that mail.facebook.com is definitely Facebook&amp;'s employee mail access, like I said above. They&amp;'ve long used Exchange to handle their mail though it&amp;'s not clear if they&amp;'ll switch to use whatever this new mail service is yet (Google, for example, uses Gmail, obviously).Nor is it clear if they&amp;'ll make mail.facebook.com open to this new mail product. For example, mail.google.com is Gmail, not their internal email login.CrunchBase InformationFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[SoGeo unveils location-recommendation app Whatser]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sogeo-unveils-location-recommendation-app-whatser</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sogeo-unveils-location-recommendation-app-whatser</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sogeo-unveils-location-recommendation-app-whatser</guid>
<description><![CDATA[SoGeo, a service that collects and analyzes location data for users, today announced the launch of Whatser. It&amp;'s a free mobile application that suggests where to go based on places that you like and that your friends like.According to the company&amp;'s announcement, the iPhone app is available in the app store.Whatsers allows users to follow friends and other user&amp;'s collections, which are locations tagged as &amp;''favorites.&amp;'' Based on those collections, the app suggests locations that the user may like. Thesuggested locations are generatedbased on search topics, like pizza, tennis, burgers and Italian.SoGeo, which secureda first round of funding for about $1.2 million earlier this year, provides businesses with a way to create applications built on top of the companya4a4s a4Alocation-awarea4 information-sharing platform. The applications allow users to find stuff based on their location that is filtered by their likes, dislikes, or even the time of day.The app reminds me of a recent concept Foursquare co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley hinted at during Picnic, an annual three-day festivalfor sharing conceptsin Amsterdam. The feature, which is only an experiment at this point, takes the company&amp;'s large amount of data and determines which locations users have already visited, and it creates a final list based on where their friends have been and overall popularity. Bizzy is also experimenting with location suggestions based on user preferences.Amsterdam-based SoGeo was founded in 2008. Dutch digital media firm BlueBubbleLab l3d the funding.Next Story: Square PR on Jack Dorsey rumors: &amp;''Nothing has changed&amp;'' Previous Story: Event startup Punchbowl acquires rival SocializrPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: location, location-based, location-based service, mobile, mobile app, recommendationCompanies: Foursquare, SoGeo, WhatserPeople: Dennis Crowley          Tags: location, location-based, location-based service, mobile, mobile app, recommendationCompanies: Foursquare, SoGeo, WhatserPeople: 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[The Wikileaks wake-up call: Lost or stolen laptops cost corporations $2.1 billion per year]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wikileaks-wake-up-call-lost-or-stolen-laptops-cost-corporations-2-1-billion-per-year</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wikileaks-wake-up-call-lost-or-stolen-laptops-cost-corporations-2-1-billion-per-year</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wikileaks-wake-up-call-lost-or-stolen-laptops-cost-corporations-2-1-billion-per-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Lost or stolen laptops cost corporations $2.1 billion a year, according to a study of 329 companies. The loss per company is $6.4 million per year.Security experts say that represents a huge risk for corporations that their lost data will fall into the wrong hands. Wikileaks&amp;' publication of state secrets has demonstrated what can happen  when the government loses control of its data. That should be a wake-up  call for corporations, who are also extremely vulnerable given loss  rates.Collectively, the companies studied said their employees lost more than 86,000 laptops during one year alone. The study by Intel and the Ponemon Institute showed that the cost per laptop was $49,246, a number that includes the cost of replacements and investigations related to the loss. The losses also include costs related to lost intellectual property,  reduced productivity and legal and regulatory charges.In a three-year span, the chance that a laptop will be lost or stolen is 5 to 10 percent. About 25 percent of lost laptops are due to theft, and another 15 percent are likely lost to theft. Some 60 percent are simply missing.Those numbers are staggering. Intel clearly wants to do something about this, as it acquired security vendor McAfee for $7.68 billion earlier this year.While encryption of the laptop&amp;'s hard disk is an easy solution, many  employees avoid it because of perceived cost, which is fairly minimal,  and the belief that it would slow down the laptop. While it does slow  the computer&amp;'s boot time by seconds, the slowdown isn&amp;'t that noticeable  given the advanced state of encryption today, said Malcolm Harkins, Intel chief information security officer.&amp;''We have such an easy fix that can reduce a ton of risk,&amp;'' said Kevin Beaver, an independent security consultant and author of Hacking for Dummies, on a panel today held by Intel.The percentage of losses is highest in the education and research arena, where 10.8 percent of all laptops are lost or stolen during a three-year period. For health and pharmaceutical companies, the number is 10.1 percent. The public sector is 9.1 percent, while technology and software is 5.7 percent and financial services is 5.2 percent.&amp;''My advice is, be careful about your data and use technologies to protect  your data as well,&amp;'' said Anand Pashupathy, general manager of  anti-theft services at Intel. &amp;''You&amp;'d be amazed at how many companies do  not have encryption.&amp;''About 46 percent of lost laptops were reported to contain sensitive or confidential data. But only 30 percent were encrypted, 29 percent were backed up, and 10 percent had some kind of anti-theft feature such as Lojack, which can track a lost laptop and disable it remotely.About 33 percent of laptops are lost during travel. Some 43 percent are lost off-site. About 12 percent are lost at work, and 12 percent are lost in unknown locations. The largest number are lost in transit.The problem has been around for a while, but it&amp;'s a tough one to solve.&amp;''There&amp;'s a huge gap between security employees and senior leadership,&amp;'' said Larry Ponemon, co-author of the study.Employees are also pretty absent-minded. One employee lost 11 laptops in two years. In the case of Wikileaks, an Army private with computer skills is suspected of leaking critical documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as secret U.S. diplomatic cables. A video about the study is below.Next Story: Media mogul Barry Diller checks out of IAC (though he&amp;'s still on staff) Previous Story: On the GreenBeat: LEDs to become $1 billion market by 2014' one way to fight EV range anxietyPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: laptop theft, laptopsCompanies: Intel, Ponemon InstitutePeople: Kevin Beaver, Larry Ponemon, Malcolm Hawkins          Tags: laptop theft, laptopsCompanies: Intel, Ponemon InstitutePeople: Kevin Beaver, Larry Ponemon, Malcolm HawkinsDean 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[What to watch for in cleantech in 2011: companies, IPOs and trends]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-to-watch-for-in-cleantech-in-2011-companies-ipos-and-trends</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-to-watch-for-in-cleantech-in-2011-companies-ipos-and-trends</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-to-watch-for-in-cleantech-in-2011-companies-ipos-and-trends</guid>
<description><![CDATA[&amp;8216'Tis the season for next-year forecasts, so VentureBeat asked a few cleantech venture capitalists for their thoughts on clean energy trends to watch in 2011.Nat Goldhaber of Claremont Creek Ventures tells us that next year is The Year for some good old IPO action in green (we list a few of the companies he thinks are good candidates below) &amp;8212' as long as there&amp;'s not another global downturn. In that case, &amp;''all bets are off,&amp;'' he cautions.Peter Wagner of Accel says he sees next year as a year where success of startups will be determined by whether they can make a bottom-dollar appeal to enterprises and convince businesses to sign on to products on the basis of standalone return on investment (as opposed to, say, government incentives or subsidies). Smart buildings &amp;8212' startups that make building controls that save companies energy and money &amp;8212' are a prime area for mergers and acquisitions, Wagner predicts. It&amp;'s a trend VentureBeat has previously reported on.Wagner, however, thinksthis might not be the year for IPOs.&amp;''It&amp;'s early to expect a large number (of exits) because many of the really good investments are  just being made now,&amp;'' Wagner says. &amp;''What we are likely to experience is a reorientation of the venture market on opportunities that stand on their own two feet.&amp;''Dave Dreessen, partner at Battery Ventures, echoed that sentiment.&amp;''Ia4a4d guess that we see a modest 2011, with a strong 2012 to follow,&amp;'' Dreessen said. &amp;''Given that cleantech companies address huge markets and have strong growth prospects, public market investors are definitely looking to put capital to work in cleantech.&amp;''Wagner of Accel named a couple of hot trends to watch for in cleantech &amp;8212' energy efficiency (which was the top sector venture capitalists invested in last quarter), energy products tied to cloud computing (recently endorsed by Bill Clinton), building controls and consumer efficiency.Jason Matlof, partner at Battery Ventures also named energy efficiency and controls as a leading sector in cleantech next year. He added that scheduling technologies, power electronics and smart grid-oriented products would be hot to watch (VentureBeat made a similar prediction this fall when organizingour GreenBeat 2010: Charging the Super Grid).&amp;''Ia4a4d say that the companies most likely to get out are less exotic and less aggressively marketed than what wea4a4ve been seeing. They are less likely to require technical a4leaps of faitha4a4 and will have rapidly ramping revenue and gross profitability,&amp;'' said Matlof.All in all, it sounds like investors are fairly united in looking towards more proven and capital-efficient technologies, a trend that&amp;'s been showing in the markets as of late.&amp;''When the first round of cleantech investments were being made, it felt too frothy, too much like the old bubble days. We called it a &amp;8216'bub&amp;' a4&quot; an imcomplete bubble. There was all the enthusiasm and no exits,&amp;'' Goldhaber says. &amp;''I think the frothiness has come off of our industry &amp;8230' and now we can get down to the serious business of building sustainable long-term companies.&amp;''Another interesting trend to watch as pointed out by a few consulting companies as of late: natural gas is poised to rise as coal plants get retired, and could pose a threat to solar and wind because it&amp;'s cheaper and the infrastructure for it already exists.Here are some top cleantech IPO contenders for 2011, per Goldhaber: Opower &amp;8212' The consumer engagement and energy efficiency company is something of a energy tech darling andjust raised $50 million in a third round of financing. If there&amp;'s any company that could fit the mold of a cleantech poster child, Opower could be it, Goldhaber says. Wagner, whose firm backed Opower, said: &amp;''They&amp;'ve cracked the code on how to synchronize their business model without a utility customer. That&amp;'s a hard thing to do and they&amp;'ve done it extremely well.&amp;'' (Disclosure: MHS Capital, which backs Opower, has also invested in VentureBeat.)Serious Materials &amp;8212' A big winner in 2008 stimulus funding, Serious Materials quickly made a name for itself in green building materials and recently launched a software that manages and lowers building energy consumption, one of the hot new areas in energy tech.SolarCity or SunRun &amp;8212' These two startups have mastered the solar leasing model, which gets solar panels on roofs without forcing residents to pay for the entire system' rather, they lease the equipment (SolarCity and SunRun handle installation) and pay for the solar power generated, which is usually less than conventional electricity rates. SunRun pioneered the model and has rocketed in growth in three years since being founded. SolarCity is also expanding to offer energy audits, and recently won a big project with Wal-Mart. &amp;''One or both will go out (for IPO),&amp;'' Goldhaber said.Silver Spring Networks &amp;8212' Declared a superstar home run startup (video) at GreenBeat 2010, this smart grid communications company is consistently named a top cleantech player. It has also expanded to make demand response offerings as of late. Every once in awhile, rumors swirl about an IPO from Silver Spring, but perhaps this will be the year it finally happens.BrightSource Energy &amp;8212' Like Silver Spring, it&amp;'s a big company that does big projects, most recently breaking ground on the 392-megawatt Ivanpahconcentrated solar installation in the Mojave Desert of California. Dow Jones Venture Wire reported that the company is, in fact, quietly preparing to go public next year.Ice Energy &amp;8212' The company makes an energy storage unit that freezes ice overnight (when electricity is cheaper), then melts it during the day for air conditioner cooling units. It reportedly won a project with Target recently and raised $24 million in third-round funding.MiaSol or Solyndra &amp;8212' Both of these American solar startups have come under pressure lately from China, where solar manufacturers enjoy strong government support and have been able to undercut global competition in price. But MiaSolrecently beat its own record in solar panel efficiency. Solyndra has to prove some more traction given the November closure of its first factory and anixed IPO earlier this year, but it enjoys a $535 million conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. &amp;''It would surprise me if one of (them) does not figure out an exit,&amp;'' Goldhaber said.Other companies that have filed S-1s include Gevo, PetroAlgae and SemiLED.[Image via Flickr/meddygarnet]Next Story: Neal Stephensona4a4s digital novel The Mongoliad invades mobile Previous Story: Microsoft to appease developers with major Windows Phone 7 update in FebruaryPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: 2011, cleantech, cleantech investing, IPOs, TrendsCompanies: Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, BrightSource Energy, Claremont Creek Ventures, OPOWER, Serious Materials, Silver Spring NetworksPeople: Dave Dreessen, Jason Matlof, Nat Goldhaber, Peter Wagner          Tags: 2011, cleantech, cleantech investing, IPOs, TrendsCompanies: Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, BrightSource Energy, Claremont Creek Ventures, OPOWER, Serious Materials, Silver Spring NetworksPeople: Dave Dreessen, Jason Matlof, Nat Goldhaber, Peter WagnerIris 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[&''LinkedIn&'' of cleantech investing OnGreen raises $1.4 million]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=8220linkedin8221-of-cleantech-investing-ongreen-raises-1-4-million</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=8220linkedin8221-of-cleantech-investing-ongreen-raises-1-4-million</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=8220linkedin8221-of-cleantech-investing-ongreen-raises-1-4-million</guid>
<description><![CDATA[OnGreen, a social media platform for green entrepreneurs looking for investors, today announced a $1.4 million first round of financing by China Southern Hong Kong Investment, a cleantech investment fund in Shanghai.The company launched its OnGreen.com web site, in July, which has since been used by nearly 300 entrepreneurs in more than 35 countries. Startup hopefuls use the site to upload a business plan, and investors can contact entrepreneurs directly if they&amp;'re interested in investing in the idea.The company calls itself the &amp;''LinkedIn&amp;'' of cleantech investing. &amp;''We don&amp;'t just connect people with people, we connect ideas with money,&amp;'' said CEO Nikhil Jain.It&amp;'s an interesting concept, particularly at this point in time. Cleantech investing has been on the decline, and early-stage cleantech funding has taken the biggest hit. The site says that, according to a survey of users, about half of the startups who used the site were contacted by angel or venture capital investors as a result. About 40 percent of users are outside of the U.S.[Image via Flickr/lumaxart]Next Story: Samsung hearts Android: Ships 3M Galaxy S phones in US, announces dual-display Continuum Previous Story: Twezr launches one-stop iPhone app for email and social networkingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: China Southern Hong Kong Investment, OnGreenPeople: Nikhil Jain          Companies: China Southern Hong Kong Investment, OnGreenPeople: Nikhil JainIris 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[Savings tool involves friends and family to help reach goals - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=savings-tool-involves-friends-and-family-to-help-reach-goals---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=savings-tool-involves-friends-and-family-to-help-reach-goals---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=savings-tool-involves-friends-and-family-to-help-reach-goals---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Setting interim goals is an important part of achieving any long-term aspiration, and saving is no exception. Much the way SmartyPig makes saving social, so Piggymojo helps to reinforce saving with positive feedback from the user''s friends and family.While many savings sites show users what they''ve been spending, with a focus on budgeting, Piggymojo offers a concrete way to fight fleeting temptations and reinforces such resolve with numerous sources of positive feedback. Users begin by signing up with the service and declaring a goal, including how much they want to save and by when. They also pick an image to represent their savings goala4&quot;a beach sunrise, for example. Next, they can also designate a a4Acheering sectiona4 of supporters to be notified of their progress. Then, when they''re out and about on their daily routine and they resist the temptation to spend, they can take out their cell phone and text piggymojo the name and dollar amount of the thing they chose not to buy. That amount then gets counted toward their declared savings goal. Savings partners like spouses also get instantly notified of such triumphs over temptation for mutual inspiration. As Piggymojo notes, a4Aeach save creates momentum.a4 The site tracks savings and goals weekly, with opportunities for users to post stories and for members of their cheering section to post comments. The user''s chosen image, meanwhilea4&quot;which at first is shown overlaid by a black-and-white grida4&quot;gradually gets changed to a colour version to represent a goal becoming reality.Piggymojo is free to use, but currently only U.S. consumers can text their savings to the site' Canadian users must send savings through Twitter. Eventually, we''d expect to see the service hook up with banks to put more incontrovertible substance behind any reported savings. In the meantime, however, one to partner with or emulate for the rest of the savings-minded world... (Related: Site helps businesses reward consumers for positive actions a4&quot; Site matches motivation ''buddies'' with shared goals a4&quot; In online auction, banks bid on consumer savings a4&quot; Bank''s free tools help clients pay down their debt.) Website: www.piggymojo.comContact: www.piggymojo.com/index/contactSpotted by: Surrie Taylor<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How the Angry Birds deal could lead to mobile gaming nirvana]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-the-angry-birds-deal-could-lead-to-mobile-gaming-nirvana</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-the-angry-birds-deal-could-lead-to-mobile-gaming-nirvana</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-the-angry-birds-deal-could-lead-to-mobile-gaming-nirvana</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The $42 million investment in Angry Birds creator Rovio could be a watershed event for mobile games.The deal shows that at least one mobile game company is able to attract marquee investors and a valuation (as yet still unknown but undoubtedly big) that social game companies attracted in their run-up to the big time. At some point, the industry will flip, with Facebook becoming the smaller part and mobile becoming the bigger part, since the number of mobile phone users is something like five times the number of Facebook users.In mobile gaming, upstart companies are readying themselves to battle with established giants to become multibillion-dollar mobile game companies. This may sound like the bullish investors are smoking crack. But bullish observers believe the battle has begun and will play out over the next couple of years. Neil Young, chief executive of Ngmoco, said last week in an interview  that he believes multibillion-dollar companies will be created in  this market in the next couple of years. Rovio itself is perhaps the  most bullish of all, since it is closing in on 100 million users.Besides Rovio, the contenders include Electronic Arts, Zynga, and DeNa, which fired the first shot across the bow when it bought Ngmoco last summer for up to $403 million. Others are moving into the game. Marc Andreessen&amp;'s venture firm invested $18 million in mobile game publisher TinyCo just a week ago. 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. There are lots of chess pieces in motion.&amp;''We were approached by a lot of people and talked to a lot of investors,&amp;'' said Peter Vesterbacka (pictured top left), the Mighty Eagle at Rovio, responsible for business development. &amp;''We were in a good position because we didn&amp;'t need the money. The money was not the key thing here. It was more about getting the right people involved. We wanted people who bought into our bigger vision. A lot of people don&amp;'t see beyond an iPhone game. What we are trying to do is build an entertainment franchise. We believe we can build this into a multibillion-dollar ecosystem.&amp;''Rovio&amp;'s investors include Atomico Ventures, the venture fund created by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom' Accel Partners, the veteran VC firm that invested in Facebook' and super angel fund Felicis Ventures, headed by Aydin Senkut. They slowly came around to a meeting of the minds with Rovio.Rich Wong, a partner at Accel, said he had known Vesterbacka, who joined Rovio in the spring of 2010 and was a former HP manager, for a long time. Wong caught up with Vesterbacka, who formerly worked at Hewlett-Packard, at our MobileBeat conference last July, about the time when Rovio was starting to go public with all of its success with Angry Birds. Vesterbacka also met Senkut at MobileBeat.They started a conversation and began the slow process of earning trust, Wong said. Rovio was an eight-year-old company that had worked on 51 games before Angry Birds. That helped Wong and his partners get over any fear that investing in a game company could be a highly risky thing, since there were no guarantees that a game company could be more than a one-hit wonder. Such fears had stymied VC investments in games for many years until recently. Rovio had a team of veterans in place in Finland.Originally called Relude, Rovio began as a mobile game firm started in 2003 by three students from the Helsinki University of Technology: Niklas Hed, Jarno Vakevainen and Kim Dikert. They had participated in a mobile game competition sponsored by Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. Vesterbacka, then at HP, was one of the judges, and he suggested the trio start their own mobile game company. They did so and got Digital Chocolate to publish the game, King of the Cabbage World, on cell phones. They started doing work-for-hire games such as Need for Speed Carbon for Electronic Arts. Mikael Hed (pictured top right) joined them as CEO in early 2009 and steered them toward making internally produced games they could own. They hired subcontractors to do their work-for-hire jobs so they could free a team to focus on new iPhone games.They wanted to exploit the iPhone&amp;'s hardware, such as its touchscreen, and create memorable characters. They conceived Angry Birds &amp;8212' where the player would slingshot birds with bushy eyebrows at green pigs in fortresses &amp;8212' and targeted at everyone. They focused on every detail and wanted to get the slingshot game mechanic just right. They paid attention to details, such as the animations of the birds crashing into the pig fortresses and the laughter of the pigs whenever you failed to demolish them.They launched the game on the iPhone in December, 2009, via Chillingo, a mobile game publisher. It caught on in Finland first and then became a hit in Sweden. It hit No. 1 on the App Store in the United Kingdom and then made its way to the top of the charts in the U.S. The title spread through social media and Apple featured it in the App Store. People began tweeting about Angry Birds every minute.Vesterbacka talked to Mikael Hed about joining Rovio and said he would only do it if the company was committed to making Angry Birds into something huge. They all agreed on the larger vision. Jim Breyer, the Accel partner who helped land Facebook in the venture firm&amp;'s portfolio, knows a lot about betting big. He told the Rovio leaders about his experience on the Marvel board of directors. Marvel grew up as a comic book company, became huge with movies, and then took creative control of its own properties by bringing movie production in-house. It pretty much came to own everything.That&amp;'s what Breyer suggested for Rovio. Vesterbacka said that advice was useful and that the company is now thinking seriously about how to build itself up so that it can retain more creative control and not dilute the brand with small-time efforts.&amp;''Like the Marvel experience, you have to do a lot of stuff yourself,&amp;'' Vesterbacka said. &amp;''We realize we have to do that. There are a lot of things that we just can&amp;'t outsource to others. Niklas Zennstrom also immediately got the vision of what we wanted to do, as did Aydin.&amp;''The potential for Angry Birds reminded Wong of the star of his Santa Rosa, Calif. hometown, Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, which ran in newspapers from the 1950s to 2000. Wong went to an ice rink that Schulz owned and the museum in his honor as well (Schulz died in 2000). Peanuts became a multigenerational brand. Angry Birds has a way to go before that happens. But about 40 million Angry Birds fans play the game each month. And roughly 200 million hours are spent with the game each day.It became clear to everyone, including Accel, that Angry Birds was growing into a cultural phenomenon. As you can see from this Google Trends chart, the awareness of Angry Birds began to surpass Bejeweled in October, and by November it blew past FarmVille, which at the time was the most popular game on Facebook. Google Trends show how many people are searching for a term and is a good measure of the changing awareness of a subject.&amp;''Could Angry Birds become the Peanuts of this generation&amp;'' Wong said. &amp;''My mother-in-law plays it. It absolutely can. In the past decade, I can&amp;'t think of anything except Twitter that has become so popular so quickly.&amp;''Vesterbacka said in interviews that Rovio&amp;'s plan was to treat the game as a franchise, similar to the way that Nintendo treated Mario or the way that Disney handled Mickey Mouse. The company made plush toys with the Angry Birds characters and started talks about TV shows or a movie. Then it came up with Angry Birds Seasons, a free game that had constant updates based on seasons or holidays. And it announced that it would create Angry Birds Rio, a new game connected to the upcoming Rio animated film being released April 15. The relationship with Twentieth Century Fox enabled a cameo appearance by the Angry Birds characters in a Super Bowl commercial.&amp;''Our main goal is we want to make Angry Birds part of pop culture,&amp;'' Vesterbacka said. &amp;''We have come a long way toward that goal. Once we do that, the money and other opportunities will follow. We don&amp;'t optimize for short-term profits.&amp;''The more successful Angry Birds has become, the more it has generated solid revenues and profits for Rovio. And the less it has needed venture capital money.&amp;''Whether we should do the deal was no longer a question,&amp;'' Wong said. &amp;''Convincing them was the hard part.&amp;''Rovio also talked to the established game companies in the video game market. But Vesterbacka said, &amp;''We didn&amp;'t meet with any company that we felt could make us move faster toward our goal.&amp;''As Rovio moved to new platforms, it began dealing closely with the portfolio companies of Accel. On Android, Rovio launched an exclusive on GetJar, the independent app store and one of Accel&amp;'s investments. It also had to rely on advertising through Google&amp;'s AdMob division, which was also an Accel investment before Google acquired it. Accel was clearly in-the-know when it came to mobile investments and how to craft multi-platform strategies. After months of talks, everyone finally agreed to do the investment.&amp;''Every VC says they add value,&amp;'' Wong said. &amp;''But this was a good combination.&amp;''Rovio will use the money to grow to 100 or 200 people this year. The company will create a presence on Facebook, but that will be part of a larger web strategy that includes a stand-alone Angry Birds web site. Rovio may create games around spin-off characters, such as the green pigs or the Mighty Eagle. Rovio is going to milk it until Angry Birds are everywhere &amp;8212' or we all get sick of it and move on to something else.And at some point in the distant future, Rovio may get back to creating original titles beyond Angry Birds. That&amp;'s the only way to create something that could be bigger than Angry Birds.Disclosure: Felicis Ventures is an investor in VentureBeat.Next Story: One lone dude awaits iPad 2 at Apple&amp;'s SXSW store Previous Story: Weekend warriors discover the pivotPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Angry Birds, Farmville, Google TrendsCompanies: Accel, Atomico Ventures, RovioPeople: Jarno Vakevainen, Kim Dikert, Mikael Hed, Niklas Hed, Peter Vesterbacka, Rich Wong          Tags: Angry Birds, Farmville, Google TrendsCompanies: Accel, Atomico Ventures, RovioPeople: Jarno Vakevainen, Kim Dikert, Mikael Hed, Niklas Hed, Peter Vesterbacka, Rich WongDean 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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<title><![CDATA[Mary &''Queen-of-the-Net&'' Meeker joins Kleiner Perkins as partner]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mary-8220queen-of-the-net8221-meeker-joins-kleiner-perkins-as-partner</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mary-8220queen-of-the-net8221-meeker-joins-kleiner-perkins-as-partner</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mary-8220queen-of-the-net8221-meeker-joins-kleiner-perkins-as-partner</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Influential technology analyst Mary Meeker has joined one of Silicon Valley&amp;'s most respected venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers as a partner.The move marks the end of an era when investment banks employed high-powered analysts to bring insight to technology trends for their wealthy clients. Meeker, who leaves Morgan Stanley to join Kleiner, was one of a generation of bank analysts who emerged as an early champion of the Internet in the 1990s, and whose excitement about the potential of Internet stocks fueled exuberance that made her banking clients millions, if not billions of dollars &amp;8212' but which later backfired when the stock market crashed in 2000.Meeker was among the most respected of those star analysts.While Meeker was heavily criticized in the media, and was questioned in fraud investigations after the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2000, Morgan Stanley eventually settled with investigators and she was not charged with any wrongdoing. She kept at her game and generally won back her respect. Other famous analysts, like Henry Blodget, of Merrill Lynch, were forced to leave the industry under darker clouds.Barron&amp;'s Magazine called Meeker &amp;''Queen of the Internet&amp;'' in 1998, which is when her influence began to peak. &amp;''Everyone is connected and she is at the center,&amp;'' David Beirne, of Benchmark Capital, said of her in a 1999New Yorker profile titled &amp;''The Woman in the Bubble.&amp;''Kleiner said Meeker will help &amp;''guide and accelerate&amp;'' the social, mobile and new commerce Internet companies in its portfolio. It&amp;'s noteworthy, for Kleiner, because the firm made a huge bet on clean technology three years ago, and a dearth of hits around that time had some people starting to question whether Kleiner had lost its touch, especially on Interent startups for which it became famous (the firm, led by its partner John Doerr, has backed everyone from Google, to Netscape, Amazon and Sun). But with recent hires such as partner Bing Gordon, who invested in gaming companyZynga, which has since become one of Kleiner&amp;'s fastest-growing companies ever, Kleiner appears to be firmly back on the Internet horse. Kleiner has also done well with its iFund, designed to back mobile companies, and recently announced a $250 million sFund for social startups.Indeed, the Meeker appointment is different from some other previous high-profile hires Kleiner Perkins, including of Vice President Al Gore, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Those two were appointed as partners but didn&amp;'t really join the firm in anything close to full-time capacity.Notably, rumors started floating ten years ago that Meeker might leave Morgan Stanley to join a venture capital firm, and rumors even included that she might join Kleiner.In a statement about her move to Kleiner, Meeker said: a4AWea4a4re at the beginning of another great wave of tech innovation and I am incredibly excited by the opportunity to help the next generation of Internet technologies and leaders.a4 She was not immediately reachable for comment.Of course, this is good for Kleiner Perkins too, which is still in the midst of ensuring a smooth generational transition in its partnership. As a group of hungry super angels and other aggressive partnerships such as Andreessen Horowitz emerge, Kleiner needs a bullpen of heavy-hitters to remain competitive.At Morgan Stanley, she covered the stocks of Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Microsoft and many other web companies, and has consistently won attention for her insightful presentations, including as recently as this month at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, when she pointed out that online advertising must still catch up to the amount of time people are spending online, and that there&amp;'s a $50 billion opportunity awaiting.The firm said Meeker will be based in Silicon Valley and will travel often to New York and Asia.Finally, the move is notable because venture capital firms have generally been considered less attractive as places to join now that their financial returns have declined somewhat from the Internet heyday. Could such a move reflect a resurgence of the venture capital firm now that M&amp;amp'A appears to be on the comebackNext Story: Microsoft planning Xbox 360 TV service to compete with Google TV Previous Story: CloudBees&amp;' Java dream team lands $4M from Matrix PartnersPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Morgan StanleyPeople: Mary Meeker          Companies: Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Morgan StanleyPeople: Mary MeekerMatt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, 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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