Auteur: Rip Empson

Partner, Investor: Japan’s Top Social Network Mixi Backs Video Startup ShortForm

Fundings & Exits, mixi, shortform, social, Social Networking, Startups, TC, Video

Screen shot 2012-01-16 at 7.07.43 PMBack in March of last year, we wrote about how video curation seemed to be growing up, or at least taking some strides forward. Its progress being evidenced in part by a young startup called ShortForm, a social network for video jockeys. Or, better said, ShortForm is attempting to let all those video enthusiasts out there create and curate their own personalized channels of web video, pulling that content from YouTube and Vimeo, among others.

It’s been a tricky road, but some big media companies have taken note, as today ShortForm announced that it has entered into a partnership with Japan’s leading social networking service, mixi, which will introduce ShortForm (and video curation) into Japan. In fact, mixi was intrigued enough by ShortForm’s service that it has also made an equity investment in the startup

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Hate When Companies Don’t Provide Feedback On Job Applications? StartWire Is For You.

job search, jobs, social, Startups, StartWire, TC

Screen shot 2012-01-12 at 9.45.04 PMIf you’ve ever been on the job search, you know how frustrating and time consuming it is to manage the process. (If not, just ask one of the more than 13 million people in the U.S. currently there.) You spend untold hours filling out the right forms and fields, adding more action verbs to your resume, etc., and you fire off the application. Then comes the infuriation: Your prospective employer doesn’t respond, so you send a follow-up. Nothing. And another follow-up. Still nothing.

This is the primary pain point a young startup called StartWire is trying to solve — with a little bit of automation, and a little bit of organization.

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Pitch Now: Intel Awarding Young Entrepreneurs With $100K For Whizbang Business Ideas

entrepreneurs, Fundings & Exits, intel, Intel Innovators, social, Startups, TC

Screen shot 2012-01-12 at 7.16.35 PMIntel knows a thing or two about technology and innovation. Hey, that’s why they hired Will.i.am as “director of creative innovation”. (Wink.) Really, in the same way that it’s catalyzed change in the computing industry (and helped bring modern microprocessing to life), in December Intel launched a platform designed to give young entrepreneurs the opportunity to bring their own innovative ideas to life.

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If Twitter Had Its Own Primary, Ron Paul Would Be Winning

Republican Primaries, social, TC, Twitter

twitter_newbird_boxed_whiteonblueThe Republican Primaries are underway, with two states already in the rearview mirror. The second primary, New Hampshire, wrapped up last night. Mitt Romney took home the most votes from New Hampshire voters, winning just about every county and beating out Ron Paul, who came in second, followed by Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum, rounding out the pack.

With social media playing an increasingly important role in spreading political messages and news, Crimson Hexagon, a company that specializes in social media analytics, delved into the Twittersphere to find out which of the candidates is being discussed most positively online.

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Formspring Hits 4 Billion Answers; Transforms Into Content Curator With “Smile Sort”

formspring, social, Startups, TC

formspring-logoAs Sarah wrote in November, social Q&A service Formspring has been making an effort to slowly build out the connections between its users by offering “who made you smile” and “who you responded to” categories to user profiles, but it is also going up against Facebook by becoming a “network built around users’ interests.” Of course, the site has to contend with the billions of “Likes” accumulated on Facebook, which compose its own interest graph, and it has done so with “Smiles,” Formspring’s equivalent of “Likes.”

Today, the service is adding another feature to its functionality, a tool called “Smile Sort” that aims to transform the service into a content curator.

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OfficeDrop Now Lets You Scan Documents To Social Networks — And The Cloud

apps, officedrop, ScanDrop, scanning, social, Startups, TC

Screen shot 2012-01-09 at 2.37.46 PMLast April, OfficeDrop raised $1 million in angel funding for its online solution that allows people to take all the paper documents cluttering their offices, scan them, then manage, organize, and store them in the cloud. With its round of angel funding, OfficeDrop set out to work on the development of mobile apps, and has since launched both iPhone and iPad apps that turns your Apple and Android devices into a scanner.

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The Echo Nest To Power New Spotify Radio (Which Begins Rolling Out Today)

apps, mobile, social, spotify, Spotify Radio, Startups, TC, The Echo Nest

SpotifyFor a long time now, Spotify has had its own Radio experience, but, to be honest, it hasn’t been very good. Then, last week, the Swedish-turned-America music service announced that it was redesigning its radio experience from the ground up, offering unlimited stations and unlimited “skips”. And it’s no mistake that, during his presentation of the new Spotify Radio, CEO Daniel Ek happened to compare his app to Pandora.

Since its IPO, Pandora has been on a kick, but Spotify is doing everything it can to continue nipping at its heels and has added 7 million new users since integrating with Facebook at f8. Enter: The Echo Nest, a music intelligence startup whose technology powers many music apps from media companies and independent developers

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New Data From Pando Offers A Glimpse Into The Massive Global Growth Of Freemium Gaming

free-to-play gaming, Gaming, pando-networks, social, Startups, TC

freeWell, it looks like hardcore gamers would like to have a word with you, social and casual gamers. Yes, the stories in the media of late have been all about Rovio’s Angry Birds skyrocketing past half a billion downloads, or Zynga and its ilk overtaking social games. Both casual and social games have been growing like gangbusters, but the latest data from Pando Networks reveals some fairly serious growth in the free-to-play gaming industry across the globe.

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With Watch It Button, Plexus Creates A ‘Super Netflix Queue’ For Movies Across The Web

apps, ecommerce, GoWatchIt, Plexus Entertainment, social, Startups, TC, WatchIt

WatchIt_Logo_LargeDespite its struggles of late, Netflix is still one of the most popular sources when it comes to online streaming of movies and TV shows. (Although things may change if it’s acquired by Verizon.) For many of us, the Netflix queue is our go-to source for bookmarking films that we’d like to watch at a later date.

One new startup, called Plexus Entertainment, wants to take the Netflix formula and apply it to a broader scale. In the big picture, Plexus’ goal is to connect films and filmmakers with their audiences, so to do that, they’ve launched “Watch It” in public beta to allow users to keep track of movies they’re interested in, where those movies are playing, and to be proactively notified of all the different ways to view those films. Huzzah!

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