“Chatbots are still missing one important ingredient” plus 29 more VentureBeat |
- Chatbots are still missing one important ingredient
- MMOne unveils commercial version of insane giant simulator arm for wild VR rides
- Chelsea Manning to leave prison in May as Obama commutes sentence
- Google Assistant actions can now talk about religion, eldercare, and city services
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise buys converged infrastructure startup SimpliVity for $650 million
- Did Nintendo’s Switch reveal set the new console up for success? GamesBeat decides
- Why has PR avoided the chatbot craze?
- Decluttr: Pokémon Go makes $2,412.19 in a minute
- Google is killing the classic Google+ on January 24
- GAConf event to tackle how to make games more accessible to everyone
- How iPhone owners can plan a night out without leaving iMessage
- Telegram CEO says messaging app will add voice calling
- First Android Wear 2.0 devices revealed: Google and LG’s Watch Sport and Watch Style
- Nintendo’s next Direct presentation focuses on Fire Emblem
- Microsoft acquires 3D data optimization company Simplygon
- Austria’s Ams creates spectral sensors on a chip for chemical identification
- Evernote for iOS gets a refresh with quicker note taking and colorful text
- Katia Beauchamp, AI everywhere, and signing 1 million subscribers – VB Engage
- LGBTQ-friendly dating game Kitty Powers’ Matchmaker is coming to PS4 and Xbox One
- Exosite Kicks Off 2017 with Record Growth and Expansion
- Measure raises $15 million to help companies use drones to capture and analyze data
- Kubo robot teaches your kids to code, launches Indiegogo campaign
- 19-year-old raises $1 million for TeamDom to monetize influencers
- Trinity Capital Investment Publishes “Smart Financing: The Value of Venture Debt Explained”
- Trinity Capital Investment Sets Company Records with 2016 Commitments and Fundings
- Survios to launch Raw Data game in virtual reality arcades
- OrderGroove raises $20 million to help brands build subscription services
- Vava starts Kickstarter campaign for modern dashboard camera
- Burner shuns telemarketers and robocalls with Nomorobo partnership
- Trinity Capital Investment Expands Equipment Leasing Business
| Chatbots are still missing one important ingredient Posted: 17 Jan 2017 02:10 PM PST  GUEST: 2016 may not have been the year of the bot, as some anticipated, but early use cases for bots did emerge, as did valuable lessons for those of us who believe the future of B2C communication will be a human-automation hybrid. When Facebook Messenger first proclaimed the future of commerce was messaging in April 2016, it provided companies with a viable distribution mechanism (to over 1 billion monthly active users and growing) but excluded an important element in the equation — a discovery mechanism. Developers and brands who chose Kik as their distribution platform fared a bit better, as Kik’s official Bot Shop launch allowed discoverability and curation within multiple categories, modeled after Apple’s App Store. By August over 20,000 bots had been created on Kik’s Bot Shop. At the time Facebook Messenger announced it was supporting payments in September, over 30,000 bots had been built on Messenger. Although that’s a far cry from the 2 million-plus apps in both Apple and and Google’s app stores, discoverability remained a hurdle for bot creators. This hurdle was somewhat easier for consumer-facing companies with significant social media followings, which were able to leverage a pre-existing audience in the messaging apps that consumers were already using for personal conversations. Now that brands don’t have to settle for push communication to a mass audience, they can leverage chatbots to execute digital marketing campaigns specific to the company’s unique promotions and product releases.  Above: Kik’s Bot Shop Notable examples can be found across multiple verticals:
 Above: TIFFBOT Messaging platforms lend themselves particularly well to marketing campaigns — chatbots enable businesses to combine scale with personalization, two goals that can often be mutually exclusive. Think billboards and TV commercials versus Tupperware and jewelry parties. The former offers significant scale (millions of eyeballs), but no personalization (and minimal targeting based on broad geographic and/or demographic limitations). The latter is hyper-personalized, but one-on-one conversations don’t scale. In contrast, chatbots enable brands to simultaneously reach millions of users, while letting users choose inputs and engage in a personalized conversation relevant to their specific interests and demographics. In other words, it’s no surprise companies are turning to chat to connect with their consumers. Yet for all the benefits messaging platforms provide — namely bidirectional, continuous interactions between businesses and consumers — they also require a major shift change in how brands approach marketing campaigns. At a technical level, when marketing campaigns migrate to chatbots rather than in-app notifications or websites, messaging platforms take the role that apps and browsers once held. In the old model, when a marketing campaign ends, so too does the link to the campaign in that app or browser. After the holidays, there are no more push notifications to an in-app gift guide or holiday-themed graphics and pages on the website. Not so on messaging platforms. Unlike traditional marketing campaigns, when the experience ends, the bot still remains accessible to consumers and the conversation history lives on. As individuals, we navigate back to an old chat with a friend to restart the conversation, or share a memorable message or funny GIF with a different friend. This opportunity now exists for brands. Put yourself in the shoes of your consumer. Spotted a cute sweater in a holiday gift guide that you can finally afford with the cash given to you over the holidays? Can't remember the name of that award-winning documentary you didn’t have time to see during the film festival? Just want to resend that hilarious GIF a chatbot sent you? Now past conversations with brands live in your messaging app’s inbox. Consumers aren’t going to revisit conversations with chatbots en masse, but the door to doing so has been opened, and brands need to plan how they’ll interact with users during the hiatus between campaigns. This is a major shift change for marketers — messaging platforms as a home for marketing campaigns create opportunities for deeper engagement, but they also increase the burden on companies. Most brands I’ve tested are falling short in their approach to filling the hiatus between promotions (or, more accurately, not filling it). After a marketing campaign ends, most brands are shutting down the chatbot and leaving their inbox unmanned once again.  Above: American Eagle bot This is a huge lost opportunity for a company that just made a meaningful connection with its user base. To fully realize the potential of bots, at the very least companies need to be creating landing page-style messages to redirect users to a website during the hiatus between campaigns. Better yet, avoid that hiatus by setting up continuous campaigns that inform consumers about ongoing promotions and product releases. A digital marketer would never dream of letting customers open a blank app or 404 page — it’s time to adopt that thinking for chatbots. |
| MMOne unveils commercial version of insane giant simulator arm for wild VR rides Posted: 17 Jan 2017 02:01 PM PST  MMOne announced that the commercial version of its insane gaming chair mimics the motions that happen in a virtual reality game and makes you feel every twist and turn in a physical way. The Paris-based company wants to turn your VR world upside-down with a giant simulator arm that spins you around 360 degrees to match what happens in VR. It represents the high end of what is possible in the virtual reality business, which is could hit $30 billion by 2020, according to tech adviser Digi-Capital. The company has created its TUV-certified (based on a European safety certification group) commercial version, as shown in the video below. The simulator arm is meant to be part of a VR location-based entertainment attraction. The arm is now compatible with a number of games, including the racing sim Project Cars from Slightly Mad Studios, DCS World (flight simulator) from Eagle Dynamics, Red Bull Air Race from Slight Mad Studios and Wingracers, and Trackmania Turbo from Ubisoft. I tried it out about a year ago. You can really feel it when you do things like fall off a cliff, drive along a side wall, and do a barrel roll in an aircraft. MMOne hasn’t set a price for the commercial version yet. MMOne Company cofounder Alex Ryzhkin said last year in an interview with GamesBeat that the company wants to deliver the ultimate immersive and interactive experience to accompany VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. I played Ubisoft's Trackmania racing game as well as an aerial stunt flying game with the MMOne. It was an adrenaline rush, and it left me a little woozy when I was spinning upside down. The MMOne Company, based in Odessa, Ukraine, created last year’s prototype with about $50,000 worth of parts. It included a three-axis "gaming chair" that matches your movements you make in a game while wearing a VR headset. The chair can rotate on three axes, going 45 degrees to the left and right, raising 45 degrees, and revolving 360 degrees. Darina Markova (its president), Andrew Borisov, and Ryzhkin started the company in 2012. Ryzhkin has been showing a lot of demos of the technology. I could see it being popular in theme parks and other entertainment venues. Perhaps the closest competition is an actual maker of amusement park rides, the Kuka Coaster from Kuka Robot Group Competitors include makers of aircraft simulators, but those can cost in the millions of dollars, and they aren't necessarily as visceral as the VR experience with the MMOne, Ryzhkin said. The company plans to operate units that it can lease to various customers, who can operate it as a kind of entertainment ride. "We want to put this in shopping malls all over the place," Ryzhkin said. "It's a new form of out-of-home entertainment." For the sake of comparison, here’s a video of my demo of the prototype a year ago.
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| Chelsea Manning to leave prison in May as Obama commutes sentence Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:55 PM PST  Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army soldier who was convicted under the Espionage Act for her Wikileaks disclosures, will be released from prison on May 17 this year, the New York Times and AP reports. Manning’s sentence otherwise stretched to 2045, had Obama not commuted the majority of it in his final days as President. The White House boasted today that “Obama has now granted more commutations than any president in this nation’s history.” The Obama administration, however, has also set records for its use of the Espionage Act. Obama has not offered clemency to Edward Snowden, who was also convicted under the Espionage Act, despite a 1 million-person petition delivered to the White House last week by human rights groups. |
| Google Assistant actions can now talk about religion, eldercare, and city services Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:52 PM PST  A new batch of third-party Google Assistant actions are now available to chat with on a Google Home. New ways to speak with Google’s AI assistant focus on eldercare, prayer, and city services. One new action points you toward bus times in Singapore, another toward pool times in Seattle, and another garbage pick-up times in Auburn, Alabama. Los Angeles recently became one of the first major cities to launch an Alexa skill. CareGeneral is designed to help groups track and improve the consistency of family caregiving. My Buddy is one of the most popular Alexa skills; on Google it gives people the ability to alert family or friends if you fall and can’t get up or are other debilitated. Finally, Faithlife gives access to prayer lists and Bible verses, and Pray Together lets you send and receive prayers. Google Assistant product lead Jason Douglas told VentureBeat in a phone interview that actions will be rolled out based on partners’ schedules; however, actions thus far appear to have been released in batches. More than 30 actions were released by Food Network, WebMD, and other early partners in the days following the launch of the Actions on Google platform for the creation of Google Assistant actions last month. Some weeks later, BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal, and a series of math-related actions were released. Google Assistant can be found in Google Home, Pixel smartphones, Chromecast, and soon Android TVs, Hyundai cars, and other devices. |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise buys converged infrastructure startup SimpliVity for $650 million Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:30 PM PST  Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which split off from HP in 2015, today announced its latest acquisition, SimpliVity, a company that sells data center hardware that unites computing power and storage, which traditionally have been sold separately. HPE paid $650 million in cash for SimpliVity, and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of HPE’s 2017 fiscal year, which ends on June 30, according to a statement. SimpliVity had been in a position to go public, but competitor Nutanix did that first. “More and more customers are looking for solutions that bring them secure, highly resilient, on-premises infrastructure at cloud economics. That’s exactly where we’re focused,” HPE chief executive Meg Whitman is quoted as saying in the statement. HPE will continue to sell its converged infrastructure products like the HC 250 and HC 380, and by the end of this year HPE will offer “integrated” HPE SimpliVity systems atop HPE ProLiant servers, according to the statement. This infrastructure has become popular as companies seek to streamline their existing data center footprints and also find alternatives to expensive storage from top providers like EMC and NetApp. SimpliVity had raised more than $276 million in funding and its valuation at one point exceeded $1 billion. Investors include Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures, DFJ Growth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Meritech Capital Partners, and Waypoint Capital. Founded in 2009 and based in Westborough, Massachusetts, SimpliVity has around 1,300 customers — such as MLB Network and T Systems — and has shipped 6,000 systems, according to a presentation on the acquisition. Last year HPE bought SGI. |
| Did Nintendo’s Switch reveal set the new console up for success? GamesBeat decides Posted: 17 Jan 2017 01:18 PM PST  Nintendo has finally given us the Switch details we craved, including a March 3 launch date, a $300 price, and new games like Super Mario Odyssey. But are we impressed? On this week's episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast, host Jeffery Grubb and co-hosts Dean Takahashi and Mike Minotti talk about their reactions to Nintendo’s Switch presentations. We debate whether Nintendo has set up their home console/portable to succeed … or if it has another Wii U on its hands. Take a listen below! Other ways to listen:
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Why has PR avoided the chatbot craze? Posted: 17 Jan 2017 12:10 PM PST  GUEST: If you want an influencer to have conversations about your products with her followers, you can pony up some big bucks and hope she has the time to engage with each and every fan who reaches out to her. Or you can do what CoverGirl did. After getting 16-year-old dancer, model, and TV personality Kalani Hilliker onboard, they studied her conversational style across her various social media accounts, then unveiled a chatbot on the Kik mobile messaging platform that simulates conversation with her. Hilliker has 3.3 million followers on Instagram alone. A lot of her fans flocked to the clearly labeled chatbot, generating 14 times more conversations than with a typical post by the real Ms. Hilliker. The conversations were 91 percent positive. Each conversation produced an average of 17 messages. Nearly half led to the delivery of a CoverGirl coupon. More than half the coupons delivered were clicked on. Welcome to the conversation frontier. Chatbots — programs that simulate human conversation — are nothing new. They were first proposed in a 1950 paper by British computer scientist Alan Turing. When I first wrote about chatbots, a colleague noted wryly that he had written code for chatbots in the 1990s. Those automated customer support avatars on websites? Chatbots. What has changed to suddenly make chatbots the hot new marketing platform?
Whether we access them by talking into our phones, home voice-tech appliances, or AR headsets, we will use bots to accomplish almost everything that requires more laborious inputs today. We won’t type searches into a text query box. We will say, “Alexa (or OK Google, or whatever), where is the closest dry cleaner open until 8 p.m.?” And Alexa (or whatever) will answer, then ask if you want her to call or send driving directions to your phone. Let me be clear: Bot-enabled conversation will quickly become the new digital interface. Not the browser. Not smartphone apps. Bots. And voice will become the dominant input method. Given that the spoken word is already our most common mode of communication, this makes perfect sense. Gene Roddenberry foresaw it half a century ago: (If you have an Echo and haven’t asked Alexa to initiate the self-destruct sequence, what are you waiting for?) Voice input is going mainstreamSome analysts doubt that voice interfaces will become commonplace because of the social implications of talking to yourself in public, but talking into a Bluetooth headset or earbud when you’re in a crowd is already a common behavior; we’re just talking to another person and not our digital assistants. More evidence of voice tech’s rise came at CES, where Amazon announced that a broad range of device manufacturers, including Whirlpool, are building Alexa voice control into their products. It will undoubtedly be built into automotive entertainment systems so you can query Alexa while driving. It will also be built into Bluetooth headsets so you can get the information you need without reaching for your phone. Marketers are already immersing themselves in bot technology. Adelyn Zhou and Marlene Jia are releasing a book next month featuring 100 successful business and brand bots across a number of chat and voice platforms. Another book due for a February launch, Mariya Yao’s Conversational Interfaces, is a guide to creating bots, and it’s not the first. Both the Echo and Google Home make tools available for third parties to build skills (on the Echo) or actions (on Home). Marketers are piling on, sensing the opportunity to enable one-to-one conversations with customers. Laundry detergent Tide, for example, built an Echo skill that lets you ask how to remove a particular kind of stain; you get step-by-step instructions for more than 200 types of stains and a link to buy the detergent from Amazon. Tide’s is just one of hundreds of brand-created Echo skills. Media is getting in on the action, too. Hearst has assembled a team to develop skills centered around its publications. Two of its daily newspapers offer daily news briefings. A Good Housekeeping skill offers the same stain-removal assistance as Tide, but plays music between steps. Where is PR?While marketers are fully aware of the shift to voice tech and “conversation marketing,” the PR industry is, for all practical purposes, nowhere to be found. In my conversations with PR practitioners and corporate communicators, I find that bots and voice tech are not on their radars at all. Edelman Digital has listed “conversational experiences” as one of its key 2017 trends, focused more on chatbots for messaging apps than voice tech. Edelman’s Adam Hirsch and Andrew Ryder advise companies get started with a test to learn how the technology works and to inform future strategies, including where conversation fits in larger communication plans. Nevertheless, when I bring up conversational marketing and chatbots with PR pros, the most common response I get is, “I haven’t heard of that.” A couple years ago, my colleagues Richard Binhammer, Mark Dollins, and I developed a matrix identifying more than 30 digital and social competencies that could be required by a 21st-century communicator. Chatbots and voice tech absolutely need to be added to that list. PR and corporate comms, after all, have always been about dialogue. Marketing and advertising — the functions that have embraced bots and voice tech — are historically one-way. Who is best equipped to craft the conversations the bots that power voice tech will engage in? Startups are hiring screenwriters and poets to write these scripts based on their ear for dialogue. What they don’t bring to the table is an understanding of how to influence via conversation, a skill at PR’s very core. The PR/corporate comms potential for conversation tech is unlimited. Just off the top of my head, I can imagine talking to Alexa about a political issue on which a company is lobbying (“Alexa, should I support the plan to limit production of the F-35 military jet engine to one company instead of two?”), dig into a corporate decision (“Alexa, why did Snap buy Cimagine Media?”), research a company where I might want to apply for a job (“Alexa, what’s it like to work for Marriott?”), or get details on a crisis (“What’s going on with Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder problem?”). The more we can figure out how to deliver the content people will hear and respond to when making these queries, the better off we and our clients will be. Or we can leave it to marketers and advertisers to hire poets and screenwriters while we crank out press releases and tweet our hearts out. Spoken conversation — along with conversational marketing and conversational experiences — will be our standard interface to information, knowledge, services, and more. We are standing on the edge of the conversation frontier. How long will it take for PR and corporate comms to cross the threshold? This article appeared originally at blog.chatbot.com |
| Decluttr: Pokémon Go makes $2,412.19 in a minute Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:50 AM PST  Pokémon Go makes $2,412 in a minute. In an hour, the popular mobile game from Niantic Labs makes $144,700. And during that time, 252 people download it. That’s the real-time calculation from Declutter.com, which repurposed data from market researcher Think Gaming for its motion graphic. But while Pokémon Go earned more in a minute, others made more money during the full year, according to data from App Annie. Overall, the mobile game market generated an estimated $36 billion in revenue in 2016, and Pokémon Go broke records as the fastest-growing mobile game of all time. On a per minute basis, Game of War is not far behind, at $2,167.83 per minute. And although the 2013 game did not build its revenue at the same rate as Pokémon Go, MZ’s strategy flagship shows the longevity of its popularity by standing in the No. 2 spot. Not far behind is Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga, in third and fourth spots respectively. Clash of Clans, released in 2012, earns $1,847.31 per minute compared to Candy Crush Saga, also released in 2012, which earns $1,847.01 a minute. |
| Google is killing the classic Google+ on January 24 Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:28 AM PST  Google today announced that it will be getting rid of the “classic” user interface for its Google+ social network. Google redesigned the service in 2015 with the launch of Communities and Collections, but since then there has always been a way to go back to the “classic” mode: a link in the bottom left corner that says “Back to classic Google+.” Starting on January 24, though, people won’t be able to go back anymore. Now when you click the link to go back, Google shows a pop-up saying, “Heads up! Classic Google+ is going away soon, but you’ll still find all of your stuff on the shiny new Google+.” And when you log on to the old Google+, a pop-up says, “The version you’re using will be replaced soon. Click here to switch to the new Google+.” After you say OK to that, you see a similar message in a banner at the top of the feed. In announcing the news in a blog post today, Google+ product manager Danielle Buckley put it in the context of new features appearing on the social network, like hiding less important comments and letting users zoom in on images on the web version of Google+. “With this latest round of updates, we believe the new Google+ is really your Google+ — designed around your suggestions, requests and needs,” Buckley wrote. Also, the Events feature from the old Google+ will appear in the new version starting on January 24. As a whole, though, Google has been de-emphasizing Google+. Facebook, meanwhile, said in November that it had 1.79 billion monthly active users in the third quarter of 2016. |
| GAConf event to tackle how to make games more accessible to everyone Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:20 AM PST  The GAConf is a new one-day conference that will take on the subject of making games more accessible to gamers with disabilities. The event takes place on February 27 in San Francisco at the Mission Bay Conference Center. The host is the Game Accessibility Special Interest Group of the International Game Developers Association. It features a dozen sessions with speakers from companies such as Microsoft’s Xbox, Naughty Dog, and Global Game Jam. The rare event could generate a lot more attention for the challenge of making games that are accessible to everyone. Topics include the best accessibility design practices for augmented reality and virtual reality, whether you’re at a big company or at an indie studio. "We're at a tipping point right now where developers want to make games more accessible, so we're holding an event to give them the resources to do so,” said Tara Voelker, an event co-director who works at Sony’s Gaikai game-streaming division. “They'll have everything they need and access to like-minded individuals and industry experts." Accessibility specialist Ian Hamilton is assisting in organizing the event. He most recently moderated a panel at PlayStation Experience 2016, which you can watch here. Attendees can expect a wide range of topics from all sectors of the industry — indie, triple-A (the blockbuster segment of gaming), academia, and accessibility specialists — and leave with inspiration, new contacts, and practical tips to ensure any game can reach as many people as possible, so no player is unnecessarily excluded from everything that games have to offer. "Video games are becoming more complex all the time,” said Brandon Cole, a blind gamer and advocate, in a statement. “Their stories are richer, their worlds more vivid and full of life. Truly, they are incredible. Nobody should be excluded from experiencing the things only video games can provide, and they want those chances. That is why game accessibility means so much." |
| How iPhone owners can plan a night out without leaving iMessage Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:03 AM PST  Watch the rollout of enough bots or virtual assistants and you’ll see it: the night-out use case. You want to go to a movie or restaurant or concert with friends, and OpenTable, SeatGeek, StubHub, and Fandango are happy to help. That’s how Google pitched its assistant in October, and you’ll find the same capabilities in the iMessage App Store for iPhone users. OpenTable for iMessage lets members of a group vote for where they want to eat. Yelp helps you quickly locate and share the highest-rated nearby bars and restaurants. But Voo pulls together disparate services for a night out into a single place. Bots like Voo are designed to do away with a common modern experience: Plan events with friends and the experience is scattered between screenshots, Facebook Messenger, emails, your calendar, and a variety of apps and services. Voo lets you bring all the elements into your iMessage conversation. Thus far, Voo incorporates OpenTable, Groupon, Uber, and coupon app Mogl. Integrations with apps like Eventbrite are also on the way to add concert and event ticketing to the bars, restaurants, and rides home the Voo iOS app, iMessage app extension, and Kik bot currently facilitate. Voo makes recommendations based on your favorite places and the favorite places of your friends. The app calls on the Google Places API for relevant information such as reviews, maps, hours, and phone numbers. “We are focused on recommendations, but that’s kind of like the icing part. What we’re focused on is can we actually save you time,” founder and CEO Christian Turlica said. I’m In, Kukutana, and TimeTree in the iMessage App Store also help share available spaces in calendars in order for groups to plan events. In the future, Voo wants businesses to be able to reach customers who frequent their business and notify them of special events or offers. “The end goal for us is we actually have a business portal where the businesses can recommend time-based information to people, so for example from 5-7 there might be a band playing or there could be a special discount for the people that are the regulars there,” Turlica said. Voo operates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. |
| Telegram CEO says messaging app will add voice calling Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:48 AM PST  Telegram Messenger will be able to make audio calls and change themes in the future, CEO Pavel Durov recently said on Twitter. Customizable themes were made for Telegram on desktop last week. VentureBeat reached out to the messaging app on Monday to ask when audio calls will be available, but a Telegram spokesperson declined to comment beyond Pavel’s tweet.
Telegram said in April 2015 that it had developed “encrypted voice calling technology some time ago,” but never prioritized the technology. It’s not yet clear if Telegram’s future audio calls will be encrypted, but security is a hallmark feature of the chat app. Telegram’s encryption was called into question last week when the messaging app appeared in unverified accounts that the Russian government has been “cultivating, supporting, and assisting” President-Elect Donald Trump for years. According to the dossier published by BuzzFeed and compiled by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, the Russian FSB security agency has infiltrated Telegram and “successfully cracked the communications software and therefore it was no longer secure to use.” Telegram told The Verge that Steele’s report is likely fake, and that the dossier may have referenced a vulnerability in SMS login requests discovered last spring. Members of the intelligence community have verified Steele to be a reputable spy, but at least one claim of contact between Russian officials and a member of a Trump campaign has been proven false. Bots and artificial intelligence have seen a surge in interest lately, but so has calling on some of the largest chat platforms on the planet. Since last November, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, WeChat, and Kik added audio or video call capabilities. |
| First Android Wear 2.0 devices revealed: Google and LG’s Watch Sport and Watch Style Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:24 AM PST  EXCLUSIVE: Google has teamed up with LG in a Nexus-style partnership to produce the first devices powered by Android Wear 2.0: the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style. The two companies will unveil these smartwatches on February 9 — at an event for the platform’s official launch — and begin selling them in the U.S. the next day, according to marketing material shared with VentureBeat. The rollout will continue to other regions through February and March, with the watches given prominent placement at LG’s booth at Mobile World Congress, which starts on February 27 in Barcelona. This project was first reported by Android Police way back in early July of last year, and the mockups published shortly afterwards closely resemble the shipping products. The 14.2-millimeters thick Watch Sport will come in titanium and dark blue, while the 10.8-millimeter thick Watch Style — with its swappable straps — will be available in titanium, silver, and rose gold. Of the two models, which both feature circular, plastic OLED displays, Watch Sport is clearly the flagship device. Besides its larger, higher-resolution screen (1.38 inches and 480 x 480, versus Style’s 1.2-inch, 360 x 360 face), the Sport also contains more RAM (768MB versus 512MB, although internal storage is 4GB across the board), and a larger battery (430mAh versus 240mAh). Both timepieces feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and the Sport model throws in cellular connectivity (with both 3G and LTE data) as well as GPS and NFC radios. This latter component allows the watch to take advantage of Android Wear 2.0’s Android Pay capability. Along with iOS compatibility, the two watches also share another commonality with the Apple Watch: a digital crown button that serves to facilitate navigation. The displays are touch sensitive as well, and boast handwriting recognition. Other notable features include Google Assistant integration and water and dust resistance (IP68 and IP67 certifications for the Sport and Style, respectively). Furthermore, the Sport contains a heart rate sensor and, thanks to its cellular components, is capable of untethered telephony with the same phone number as a user’s primary handset. In addition to being preloaded on these and other upcoming smartwatches, Android Wear 2.0 will also be pushed out as an upgrade to select legacy watches already on the wrists of consumers. |
| Nintendo’s next Direct presentation focuses on Fire Emblem Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:21 AM PST  It might not be quite as exciting as the Switch reveal, but Nintendo’s next streaming event has news about one of the most cherished gaming franchises. The next Nintendo Direct will take place at 2 p.m. Pacific on January 18. The event will focus on the Fire Emblem series, which features turn-based strategy gaming. Nintendo uses these Direct streams to educate its consumers on upcoming products, and fans have learned to look forward to them since they often bring announcements of new games. The last entry in the Fire Emblem series, 2016’s Fire Emblem: Fates for the 3DS, sold more than 1.84 million copies worldwide. We know about two future Fire Emblem games. Nintendo is working on an entry in the series for mobile, which it announced last April. In December, Nintendo released Super Mario Run for iOS, which was downloaded more than 50 million times in its first week. Fire Emblem isn’t as well-known a franchise as Mario, but it could still find success in the $36 billion mobile industry. Nintendo also announced Fire Emblem Warriors during its Switch presentation last week. It will be a crossover of Fire Emblem and the Dynasty Warriors franchise, similar to how Hyrule Warriors used Zelda characters with the Dynasty Warriors’ real-time combat against massive waves of enemies. We’re likely to learn more about both games during the event. Fire Emblem used to be a Japan-only series for Nintendo, but interest grew in the franchise in the U.S. after its characters Marth and Roy appeared in the roster for the fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee in 2001. The seventh entry in the series, simply called Fire Emblem in the U.S., was the first to come out here when it released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The franchise hit a new high with 2013’s Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS, which found extra acclaim for its character-focused story and innovative systems (including one that allowed the children of married army members join your fight). |
| Microsoft acquires 3D data optimization company Simplygon Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:03 AM PST  Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Simplygon, a company that provides software that game studios can use to improve 3D content. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The announcement comes three months after Microsoft introduced Paint 3D, a major expansion of the longstanding Microsoft Paint application that makes it easy for people to build, edit, and share 3D digital properties. That software will become available to everyone in the Windows 10 Creators Update. “Simplygon’s technology and talent will strengthen our position in 3D creation, making it easier to capture, create and share in 3D,” Kudo Tsunoda, corporate vice president for next-gen experiences in Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote in a blog post. In 2015 Microsoft acquired 3D physics company Havok from Intel. But other than that, 3D software hasn’t been an area where Microsoft has made many acquisitions. Simplygon was developed by Donya Labs, which was founded in 2006 and is based in the Swedish city of Linköping. Investors include SEB Venture Capital. The Simplygon software has been used for games such as Metal Gear Solid V, Robo Recall, and Star Fox Zero. “From our early days delivering advanced level-of-detail solutions, to the adoption of Simplygon SDK by most leading AAA game development studios, and our more recent expansion into enterprise AR/VR, Simplygon has made automatic 3D data-optimization increasingly more accessible to developers,” Simplygon CEO Matt Connors, founder and chief technology officer Ulrik Lindahl, and cofounder Koshi Hamedi wrote in a blog post. “Our next challenge is 3D For Everyone, the ultimate accessibility!” |
| Austria’s Ams creates spectral sensors on a chip for chemical identification Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:30 AM PST  Ams, a big maker of analog semiconductors, said it has created a digital multispectral sensor on a chip in a move that could pave the way for new kinds of devices across a number of industries. The Premstaetten, Austria-based company said that the sensors could enable devices that keep track of your health, such as heart rate, hydration level, glucose measurements, and wound monitoring. The sensors could also be used in industrial and environmental systems that replace bulky lab analysis tools with handheld devices to test samples in a production line. The AS7262 and AS7263 six-channel digital multispectral sensor chips could also be used for chemical detection such as identifying narcotics, explosives, food, and other objects. The sensors could be used for tasks such as authenticating users and detecting counterfeits. The technology competes with a similar molecular sensor developed by Consumer Physics and Analog Devices to distinguish real and fake objects, such as counterfeit Viagra. By putting the technology in a single package, Ams hopes to pave the way for a new generation of spectral analyzers for consumer and industrial applications. “In much the same way that intense sensor integration into our smartphones and tablets has created a tidal wave of new mobile applications, the launch of the [sensors] heralds a similar revolution that will open the door wide for spectral sensing innovation for both industrial and consumer applications,” said Jean-Francois Durix, a marketing director at Ams, in a statement. “The dramatic reduction in the size and cost of spectral analysis enabled by our new spectral sensing solutions brings the lab to the sample for an incredible variety of applications from food safety and product authentication, to routine testing that can better protect both our health and our environment.” The multispectral sensors employ a new fabrication technique that deposits nano-optical interference filters directly on the CMOS silicon die with precision. The interference filter technology used for the sensors offers extremely precise and reproducible filter characteristics that are stable over both time and temperature and are much smaller and more cost-effective than the components typically used in today’s spectral analysis instruments. The AS7262 and AS7263 are in volume production now. Unit pricing is $4 in order quantities of 1,000. Ams was founded in 1981 and it has 2,100 people. It is listed on the Swiss stock exchange under the symbol AMS. The company started as a joint venture between AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) and Voestalpine. It was previously known as Austriamicrosystems. |
| Evernote for iOS gets a refresh with quicker note taking and colorful text Posted: 17 Jan 2017 09:00 AM PST  Evernote is sprucing things up a bit. The note-taking company announced a redesign for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch this morning, introducing a series of changes that amount to a refreshed design, colorful text, quicker ways to view notes, and slightly speedier note-taking features.
At nine years old, Evernote is — taking an optimistic view — in the midst of a turnaround. The company’s app store rankings peaked around 2014, and then the IPO-bound company lost its CEO, shuttered international offices, raised prices, and, most recently, put out the fires from a short-lived privacy debacle. Meanwhile, competitors large and small, like Microsoft OneNote and Bear, are circling the company, hoping to capture its users. But all Evernote needs to do is keep its apps from going stale. Otherwise, feature by feature, most of Evernote’s competitors offer the same functionality. |
| Katia Beauchamp, AI everywhere, and signing 1 million subscribers – VB Engage Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:35 AM PST  This week, Travis and Stewart continue their Web Summit series of interviews with the fascinating Katia Beauchamp of Birchbox, the original box subscription service. We find out how the company has signed more than one million subscribers, and four million customers, in such a short time. We also hear how mobile has changed everything, and why it is so important now. In the news segment, we reveal a new breed of marketing tool powered by AI and machine learning and find out why that technology is going to be transformative in 2017. If that wasn’t enough, we attempt some really bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions.
By listening to this episode of the VB Engage podcast, you will hear:
This episode was fascinating — how do we know that? Because Travis said “fascinating” at least 12 times in this episode. That's what happens when we record this podcast at 2 a.m. CST. Thanks again for tuning in this week. We are just getting started with this year’s content! Season 2, Episode 2. S02E02, which is better known as episode 35. Next week, we talk with Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork, which is the result of the Odesk and Elance acquisition. We chat about working in the 21st century and how Upwork uses mobile to engage its over 12 million freelancers. That's a great interview from our continuing Web Summit Series. You'll want to join us for that one!
And to start 2017 off right, you should subscribe to VB Engage below and give our podcast a big five-star rating like you give out tips at a five-star restaurant. Boom!
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| LGBTQ-friendly dating game Kitty Powers’ Matchmaker is coming to PS4 and Xbox One Posted: 17 Jan 2017 08:09 AM PST  One of the most inclusive games is about to reach a larger audience. Developer Magic Notion announced today that its dating sim Kitty Powers’ Matchmaker is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 7. Kitty Powers' Matchmaker features LGBTQ-friendly characters. Most other games of this type focus on straight relationships. Kitty Powers' Matchmaker originally came out for mobile in 2014, with a PC release following in 2015. These console ports will expose the game to a wider audience. "Kitty Powers' Matchmaker isn't just a fun dating sim, it's also really about love being for everyone, regardless of gender, sexuality, hair color, or penchants for giant robot anime (Miaow!),” game director Richard Franke said in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “We were overwhelmed and humbled by the positive response of Kitty Powers' Matchmaker on the smaller screen and are so excited to bring it to a wider audience on PS4 and Xbox One." The console versions will add new features, including an updated avatar system and new, dynamic dialogue. These additions could give those who tried the game on mobile or PC a reason to check out the console versions. |
| Exosite Kicks Off 2017 with Record Growth and Expansion Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:36 AM PST  PRESS RELEASE: Annual revenue and number of customer devices on software platform more than doubled in 2016; number of ecosystem partners nearly tripled MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 17, 2017– Exosite, LLC, a leading provider in the Internet of Things (IoT) platform market, today announced that it kicked off 2017 after a year of impressive growth and expansion. In 2016, Exosite launched Murano, its enterprise IoT software platform, and several key digital transformation services that played a significant role in driving the company’s success. 2016 highlights include:
“Exosite is in an aggressive growth mode-2016 was an exciting year of record-breaking numbers for us,” said Hans Rempel, founder and CEO, Exosite. “The success we’ve seen over the last year is a direct result of our technology-driven strategy to ensure the success of our customers’ IoT-led digital transformation efforts. Murano provides the basis for their success, and our deep experience with IoT deployments for multi-divisional, multi-national organizations has provided repeated opportunities for us to act as a trusted advisor on customers’ IoT deployment and implementation strategies.” About Exosite Founded in 2009, Exosite, LLC, is an IoT software platform company that allows businesses to strategically leverage the revolutionary world of connected devices. Exosite’s cloud-based services enable the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in consumer, commercial and industrial markets to quickly build and deploy solutions that accelerate the IoT generation of their business. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with additional offices in North America, Asia and Europe. For more information, visit www.exosite.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170117005602/en/ Moxie + Mettle |
| Measure raises $15 million to help companies use drones to capture and analyze data Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:02 AM PST  “We don’t make drones. We make drones work,” proclaims Washington, DC-based Measure, a startup that’s setting out to help enterprises set up their own drone programs. Founded in 2014, Measure is a “drone-as-a-service” startup that works with companies in specific sectors to figure out how they can best use data acquired by drones. These sectors include oil and gas, agriculture, insurance, government, and other industries where aerial photography is desired. Measure’s service is designed to help businesses leverage the power of drones without committing to the capital expenses and risks involved with setting up their own drone programs. Today, Measure has announced a $15 million funding round from Cognizant Technology Solutions, with participation from existing investors. This is added to the $5 million it raised back in September 2015. The fresh cash injection will be used to expand the company’s services and target new customers. “This is a tremendous moment for Measure and for the drone industry, and we believe 2017 is when everyone pivots toward services,” said Brandon Torres Declet, CEO of Measure. “Not only will this investment make it possible to expand to new customers, but the addition of Cognizant can help us offer new, innovative services around data analysis not currently available in the market.” Commercial drones typically garner headlines for their ability to deliver items. For example, Amazon recently delivered its first package by air drone, while 7-Eleven partnered with drone delivery service Flirtey to complete what it called “the first fully autonomous drone delivery to a customer's residence,” in July last year. And a few months back, drone startup Zipline raised $25 million to deliver blood, vaccines, and other medical goods to hard-to-reach locales. But deliveries are only one facet of the emerging drone industry — drones’ ability to capture data is also emerging as a key use-case. California-based Prenav raised $6.5 million back in August to develop a commercial drone system that enables companies to inspect and maintain their physical infrastructure, including buildings, roofs, cell phone towers, and other hard-to-access places. But it’s not just about aerial drones — fellow California startup Saildrone raised $14 million to expand its fleet of wind-powered autonomous seafaring drones that collect data from the world's oceans. Elsewhere, San Francisco-based DroneDeploy recently nabbed $20 million for its software-as-a-service platform that helps businesses analyze and make sense of their aerial drone data. And Santa Monica’s DroneBase raised around $7 million last year to grow its platform that lets drone owners sell footage they capture to businesses. The surge in drone-focused funding is at least partly attributable to a ruling by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which recently introduced new regulations designed to bring clarity, simplicity, and safety to the growing drone industry. The new rules are aimed at “non-hobbyist” unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds, which basically covers the drones used by many businesses offering drone services. Some estimates have pegged this opening of U.S. airspace to unmanned aircraft as potentially being able to generate more than $82 billion for the U.S. economy over the next 10 years. In 2016 alone, Measure says that its drone pilots flew more than 1,100 flights for “some of the largest and most innovative Fortune 1000 companies,” covering construction development, live media coverage, disaster response, and cell tower inspections. "Drone services is one of the fastest-growing technology segments, with many [services] promising immense value to industries such as insurance, manufacturing, logistics, oil and gas, retail, government, and media and communications,” said Sean Middleton, president of the Cognizant Accelerator, of which Cognizant Ventures is a division. “Cognizant is excited to partner with Measure to bring our world-class digital capabilities, such as advanced data analytics and software development, to enterprise customers looking to create value from data collected via drones.” Sign up for Funding Daily: Get the latest news in your inbox every weekday. |
| Kubo robot teaches your kids to code, launches Indiegogo campaign Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:01 AM PST  Kubo Robot wants to teach your kids to code. And to get started on that goal, the Danish company is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The Copenhagen, Denmark-based company wants to raise $30,000 on Indiegogo to get feedback on its design for Kubo, a robot that teaches kids to code. The idea is that if a child can complete a jigsaw puzzle, then they can learn to code. I saw the company demo the tech at CES 2017, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas last week. Kubo will ship in the spring of 2017. The company has created a TagTile programming language, which enables children as young as three to explore and understand programming concepts in a screenless, tangible environment. You can connect tiles together on a table and create the basic instructions for the robot to move around. The TagTile programming language consists of colored puzzle pieces that give Kubo instructions. Preschool and elementary school children connect the tiles in the order they want Kubo to perform each action. Kubo wheels along the tiles and reads the directions, and when placed on a “play” tile, acts out the sequence. Through this process, children learn programming concepts like loops, functions, routines, subroutines, and more.  Above: Kubo is designed to help kids learn how to code. Image Credit: Kubo Robot Kubo expansion packs will teach other lessons. Using different sets of TagTiles, children can learn to spell, add and subtract, or even string together a melody. With sets of TagTiles for language, mathematics, and music, in addition to coding, Kubo hones children’s critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, while teaching them technology without screen time. “Kids are surrounded by technology, but most are simply consuming video or text through a screen. We want to make them creators, not consumers,” said Tommy Otzen, CEO and cofounder of Kubo Robot, in a statement. “By 2034, 47 percent of jobs will be automated. Our children will be living and working alongside robots and technology. They need to learn from an early age how to interact with that technology, and coding gives them the skills to do so.” Each Kubo robot comes with a set of TagTiles and is easily upgradable. You can swap out Kubo’s head and add new functionality. The only assembly Kubo requires is to connect the robot’s head to its body and lay out the tiles. It’s quick to set up, giving teachers more time for lessons, and intuitive enough that any parent or teacher can impart the principles of coding without any technical knowledge of their own.  Above: Kubo helps kids get started on coding early. Image Credit: Kubo Robot “Most teachers and parents aren’t engineers, but most engineers aren’t educators either,” said Daniel Lindegaard, chief technology officer and cofounder of Kubo Robot, in a statement. “Unlike most educational technology, Kubo is designed around pedagogical principles instead of engineering principles, and gives every classroom and household the tools that will prepare children to lead in the 21st century.” Early backers of KUBO’s Indiegogo campaign can preorder Kubo for their children or classrooms starting at $170. Rivals include Lego’s Boost robots.  |
| 19-year-old raises $1 million for TeamDom to monetize influencers Posted: 17 Jan 2017 07:00 AM PST  Jake Paul is a 19-year-old Disney star who started a new media company, TeamDom, to help influencers build their brands and make money. TeamDom is announcing today that it has raised $1 million in a funding round led by China’s Danhua Capital. The Los Angeles company will use the money to hire people, develop and monetize influencer products, create a TV show, and produce more viral content for brands. TeamDom is a social-first media company with a talent label called Team 10. Other investors include Edward Lando (Horizons Alpha), Gary Vaynerchuk (Vayner Capital), Abe Burns (Sound Ventures & A-Grade Investments), and Adam Zeplain. TeamDom wants to make Team 10 home to the most powerful group of social media stars and is focused on monetizing their status. The label’s members already have tens of millions of followers. Paul, a star on the Disney Channel sitcom Bizaardvark, has 17 million followers across the various social networks. Many Team 10 figures came from the company’s boot camp and talent incubator, Team Fuze. Team Fuze identifies potential talent and provides them with the knowledge and resources to learn what it takes to be a social media influencer. Another division, Team X, is an agency built to bridge the gap between American influencers and China’s closed-off social media. “Social media isn’t just an alternative to traditional media; it’s turning the traditional model on its head and totally shaking up how consumers make decisions. Yet major media companies are struggling to keep up with this shift. That’s where TeamDom comes in,” said Paul, TeamDom CEO and founder, in a statement. “We know the world of social inside and out, and we offer unprecedented expertise, scale and process for this lucrative new frontier.” Paul said TeamDom has influencers with 40 million followers and 7 billion views. While social media influencer deals do exist, individuals have dominated the nascent industry, leading to over-representation, inconsistent pricing, and other problems. TeamDom gets influencers to work together as one unit, since influencers working on campaigns by themselves aren’t as successful. “There’s a huge gap between the teenage entertainment content being provided and that being demanded,” Paul said. “Consumers want advertisements to feel natural and friendly, which is why social media is such an important venue. TeamDom, with the help of our investors and latest funding round, is here to fill that gap.” Dovey Wan, managing director at Danhua Capital, said in a statement, “Over 70 percent of brands are increasing their social media spend trying to reach Gen Z nowadays. Yet there is a huge vacuum to fill for grass-root influencer. TeamDom is the only player in the marketing space that has this new paradigm baked into its original source — not only a vast network of young influencers but a mighty facilitator to help more young talent rise up.” Team 10 has worked with brands like Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Pandora. TeamDom has 10 employees. |
| Trinity Capital Investment Publishes “Smart Financing: The Value of Venture Debt Explained” Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:37 AM PST PRESS RELEASE: White paper reveals the inherent value of venture debt for startups and VC’s CHANDLER, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 17, 2017– Leading venture debt provider Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) today published the white paper, “Smart Financing: The Value of Venture Debt Explained.” The paper articulates the value of venture debt to startup companies and their venture capital investors in a unique way. “It is important for startup companies to understand all of the financial solutions available to them. When properly structured, venture debt is an incredibly effective source of financing that complements venture capital and provides significant value to both common and preferred shareholders,” said David Erhart, a partner at Trinity Capital Investment. “We hope this paper educates entrepreneurs and their advisors and revolutionizes their view of debt capital as a meaningful part of their overall capitalization plans.” Co-authored by Trinity associates Alex Erhart, David Erhart, and Vibhor Garg, the paper utilizes complex mathematical models to create a series of examples that clearly demonstrate the ideal situations and timing for debt financing. The paper concludes with quantifying venture debt’s most compelling benefit by calculating the percentage of ownership saved for both entrepreneurs and investors by combining venture debt with venture capital. The paper is available on Trinity’s website at www.trincapinvestment.com. Trinity recently published a brief video that complements the white paper. About Trinity Capital Investment Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) is a venture lender and valued partner to fast-growing companies across multiple stages and sectors. Since 2008, Trinity has worked closely with leading venture capital firms and their respective portfolio companies to offer valuable support, enhanced flexibility and competitive venture debt financing solutions to customers with distinctive needs. Providing senior and subordinated venture loans and equipment lease financing solutions, Trinity Capital Investment is the partner of choice for venture-backed entrepreneurial companies wanting an experienced financial partner to strengthen their financial position while preserving equity. For more information, please visit www.trincapinvestment.com or www.youtube.com/c/trinitycapitalinvestment. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170117005839/en/ Trinity Capital Investment |
| Trinity Capital Investment Sets Company Records with 2016 Commitments and Fundings Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:36 AM PST PRESS RELEASE: Company Committed $134 Million and Funded $119 Million to 21 Portfolio Companies CHANDLER, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 17, 2017– Leading venture debt provider Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) today announced results for the year ended December 31, 2016. The company committed $134 million and funded $119 million to 21 portfolio companies in 2016, setting company records for originations and capital deployed in a year. The 2016 funding includes senior and subordinated ventures loans and equipment lease financing to the portfolio companies of top-tier venture capital firms in the United States. “2016 was a landmark year for Trinity,” said Steve Brown, Trinity’s Founder and Managing Partner. “We funded nearly $120 million to growing businesses in the U.S. We added some incredibly talented new hires in business development, finance, and operations. And we launched our newest SBIC fund, which is expected to provide an estimated $600 million of additional capital for deployment over the next few years.” 2016 Summary:
About Trinity Capital Investment Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) is a venture lender and valued partner to fast-growing companies across multiple stages and sectors. Since 2008, Trinity has worked closely with leading venture capital firms and their respective portfolio companies to offer valuable support, enhanced flexibility and competitive venture debt financing solutions to customers with distinctive needs. Providing senior and subordinated venture loans and equipment lease financing solutions, Trinity Capital Investment is the partner of choice for venture-backed entrepreneurial companies wanting an experienced financial partner to strengthen their financial position while preserving equity. For more information, please visit www.trincapinvestment.com or www.youtube.com/c/trinitycapitalinvestment. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170117005840/en/ Trinity Capital Investment |
| Survios to launch Raw Data game in virtual reality arcades Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:01 AM PST  Virtual reality game creator Survios said today that its action VR game Raw Data will debut in VR arcades around the world in 2017. "The resurgence of arcades is a welcome development in the virtual reality arena," said Survios vice president of business development Ben Kim, in a statement. "VR arcades provide an easy entry point for consumers curious about premium VR technology. We are thrilled to announce Raw Data Arcade as we continue our mission to build a worldwide arcade distribution network for Survios and other developers." An exclusive version of Raw Data — created specifically for arcades — will give VR gamers a uniquely streamlined experience. Raw Data Arcade will feature simplified in-game menus, match-based progression, improved loading times, faster multiplayer matchmaking, and a robust admin panel for arcade operators. Players will have access to multiple game modes, including match-based hero progression and fully unlocked quickplay, ensuring an engaging experience for casual and hardcore gamers alike. Additionally, customizable gameplay timers make Raw Data Arcade easily adaptable to both short and long arcade play sessions.  Above: A new screenshot from Raw Data. Image Credit: Survios Survios CEO Nathan Burba added, “The impact of virtual reality on society became incredibly clear in 2016. From Asia to Europe to North America, we expect VR arcades to be part of that next step in innovation as its presents an amazing opportunity for the public to get a taste of the technology before it becomes common-place in homes everywhere. We’ve been beta-testing this arcade initiative in nearly 30 countries across the globe and plan to take those learnings and expand the concept’s footprint.” On top of the actual game, arcade operators will also receive marketing support from Survios and its partners to promote their business and drive in-store traffic. As Survios’ roster of games continues to grow, including through its publishing initiative, Survios will not only add new games to their arcade partners’ slates, but also offer arcade distribution support to other VR developers looking to enter the arcade market. “With respect to the VR community, Survios is the most sophisticated VR developer today,” said McKay Christensen, cofounder and CEO of VR Junkies, a network of arcades with multiple locations in North America, in a statement. “Raw Data is a fantastic title and to have that game combined with the company’s marketing support and customer service has been immensely valuable as we build our worldwide network of arcades.” Interested arcade partners can sign up at this site. Los Angeles-based Survios was founded in 2013, and it recently announced a $50 million funding round. Investors include MGM, Lux Capital, Shasta Ventures, Danhua Capital, Shanda Holdings, Felicis Ventures and Dentsu Ventures. |
| OrderGroove raises $20 million to help brands build subscription services Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:00 AM PST  OrderGroove, which assists brands and retailers with their subscription models and retention rates, announced today a funding round of $20 million. The New York-based startup provides a software as a service (SaaS) that works on both standalone platforms and platforms that are integrated within an existing ecosystem. “We work with Salesforce, IBM, and all the major ecommerce platforms to amplify the technology our customers already have,” founder and CEO Greg Alvo told VentureBeat in an interview. The startup has more than 100 customers, including GNC, L’Oréal, Nestlé, PetSmart, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart, that subscribe to the service on an annual basis. OrderGroove provides data and analytics to determine “frequency ambiguity” (or how often a consumer needs a product delivered), and profitability, by monitoring shipping costs for example. It is also working on integrating the software into multiple channels. On top of its technology, OrderGroove has a team of data analysts and marketers that are testing different consumer experiences. “In many cases, our customers need to be handheld through the transformation of how to talk to a consumer in a more ongoing relationship versus a purely transactional one,” said Alvo. “Amazon figured this out, Dollar Shave Club figured this out, and we help all of our companies figure this out.” The startup has spent a little over 500,000 hours in research and development so far and is planning on using this new round of funding to further refine its product. “We want to invest within subscription, but also beyond subscription,” said Alvo. “In the same way the future of driving is driverless cars, we think the future of shopping is frictionless forms of commerce.” What Alvo means by “frictionless forms of commerce” is finding a new and more exact way of anticipating what the consumer wants and needs. This sounds a bit creepy — I mean, how could a software know what I need before I myself know that I need it? The founder did not want to elaborate on what this new form of commerce is, as his team is still carrying out R&D. It will however target offline retail stores, which according to Alvo represents about 90 percent of commerce. With regards to competitors, Alvo underlined that they are the first of their kind in this sector, praising Amazon along the way. “Amazon is helping drive our business,” he said. “They’re doing some very exciting innovations that create opportunities for us to test and release to our clients.” This new round of funding was led by National Securities, whose portfolio includes Lyft, Palantir, and Coursera. Lerer Hippeau Ventures, SWaN & Legend Ventures, Western Technology Investment, Silicon Valley Bank, FYRFLY Ventures, and Scott Booth (the founder of Lead Edge Capital) also joined. Founded in 2010, OrderGroove has raised a total of $37 million to date. It will use the new money for product development and hiring in product innovation, data science, sales, and marketing. Approximately 70 employees work there today. |
| Vava starts Kickstarter campaign for modern dashboard camera Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:00 AM PST  Dashboard cameras have become a popular way around the world to record emergencies, from car crashes to police stops. Vava is announcing a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for its new Vava Dash camera. The camera will be available for $99 to the earliest backers, and it has interesting features like automatic recording during collisions or other jarring incidents. The San Francisco company has designed the camera for usability, making capturing videos and photos easier and safer.  Above: The Vava Dash can swivel 360 degrees. Image Credit: Vava “We wanted to design a dash camera for the everyday driver on the road,” said Jeh Lin, director of Vava. “Through ongoing conversations with hundreds of drivers, we discovered the biggest issues drivers face with their car dash cams — resulting in the Vava Dash, a car dash camera that captures all the key features in a complete, simple-to- use package.” The windshield-mounted camera captures clear high-definition videos during the night or day. It uses a Sony IMX 291 image sensor paired with six glass lenses and an infrared lens for sharper images, even in low-light settings. The result is highly detailed, 1080p, full HD videos at 60 frames per second both night and day. It has a 360-degree swivel that allows you to capture footage in front, around, and inside the car. It has a 140-degree wide-angle lens and a built-in microphone to record in-car conversations — or carpool karaoke singing moments. You can use a companion mobile app to wirelessly transfer pictures and videos to any iPhone or Android smartphone. Other app features include live-GPS tracking and direct sharing to social media. A remote button mounted on the steering wheel lets you capture moments at short notice. It has a 3-axis G-sensor that can detect unexpected motion and collisions. That sensor can trigger an automatic video recording that starts five seconds before the event occurred. Paired with VAVA’s proprietary 2300mAh power bank, the Dash can stay on standby for over 30 days with G-sensor-activated recordings continuing to take place. “The Dash was designed based on community feedback and we’ve included what hundreds of drivers actually want,” said Lin. “That’s why we also want it to be community who pushes us forward.” The company will compete against a lot of large companies, particularly those that are based in Taiwan, China, and South Korea. |
| Burner shuns telemarketers and robocalls with Nomorobo partnership Posted: 17 Jan 2017 06:00 AM PST  Burner has formed a partnership with Nomorobo in a move that aims to clean up calls and texts received through its disposable phone numbers. Starting today, most, if not all, robocalls and telemarketers will be prevented from being routed through, ensuring that those that call are relevant to your needs. This feature is available for those with a Burner premium subscription and will be enabled by default. It’s the most recent connection that has been added to the platform since third-party support was introduced in 2015. People are already using Burner phone numbers for various reasons: to ward off weird people they met at bars, to send files and images to services like Dropbox, Slack, or SoundCloud, or anything else a 10-digit number can be used for. But given the tenacity of telemarketers, it’s only a matter of time before a Burner-enabled number winds up on a call sheet. Since some numbers are used for a long period of time, ensuring that the quality of calls received are good is important — hence the integration with Nomorobo. Available for those that subscribe to Burner’s $4.99 per month premium phone line service, when a robocall or telemarketer tries to make contact, Nomorobo screens and filters them out automatically. The latest connection leverages Nomorobo’s extensive database of “known, illegal robocallers…compiled with the help of the [Federal Trade Commission], user reports, and [Nomorobo’s] own honey traps.” Not every program will be flawless, which is why you can whitelist numbers you believe are not spam. Burner places all blocked calls into a “filtered” section of your call history. Find the number you wish to protect, tap and select “move to inbox” to whitelist it so that future calls from that number get sent through and not blocked again. As a standalone product, Nomorobo costs $1.99 per month per individual if you’re on a mobile device. There is a free plan, but only for landlines. But through the Burner integration, the spam call blocking service is available free of charge — if you’re a Burner premium customer. |
| Trinity Capital Investment Expands Equipment Leasing Business Posted: 17 Jan 2017 05:36 AM PST PRESS RELEASE: Company Reserves $200 Million for Leasing Transactions Over Next Few Years CHANDLER, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 17, 2017– Leading venture debt provider Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) today announced the expansion of its equipment lease financing operations. The company is reserving approximately $200 million for the purpose of leasing equipment to early stage, venture capital-backed companies. “Trinity has a long history providing equipment leasing,” said Kyle Brown, a partner at Trinity Capital Investment. “In recent years, the majority of our growth has been with our venture term loan facilities. As we continue to grow our business, we want to dedicate a portion of our funding to help early stage, venture capital-backed companies finance their equipment.” “Many early stage companies do not have the cash flow or collateral to access traditional bank financing,” commented Brown. “We give venture-backed companies the ability to purchase the mission-critical equipment they need, exactly when they need it, allowing equity financing to be used for working capital while minimizing equity dilution for all shareholders.” Trinity Capital Investment’s equipment leasing solutions range from $2-$15 million per transaction and finance venture capital-backed companies across multiple stages and sectors. About Trinity Capital Investment Trinity Capital Investment (Trinity) is a venture lender and valued partner to fast-growing companies across multiple stages and sectors. Since 2008, Trinity has worked closely with leading venture capital firms and their respective portfolio companies to offer valuable support, enhanced flexibility and competitive venture debt financing solutions to customers with distinctive needs. Providing senior and subordinated venture loans and equipment lease financing solutions, Trinity Capital Investment is the partner of choice for venture-backed entrepreneurial companies wanting an experienced financial partner to strengthen their financial position while preserving equity. For more information, please visit www.trincapinvestment.com or www.youtube.com/c/trinitycapitalinvestment. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170117005845/en/ Trinity Capital Investment |
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