Author: Serkadis

What would you do with a Wi-Fi connected Arduino board and a cloud service that lets you write code to control your new Wi-Fi enabled computer? Would you design a refrigerator magnet that tweets? Maybe set your lights to flicker when your high school crush changes his or her relationship status? Or, why not build a multimillion-dollar product line of connected devices supported by the Spark Core service?

Spark Devices, a startup that’s part of the HAXLR8TR incubator in China, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Spark Core hardware and cloud service that advertises the first two ideas, but CEO and Co-founder Zach Supalla hopes that the last example is where the market eventually ends up. The company’s Kickstarter is already funded after a mere 75 minutes (the goal was a relatively low $10,000), but the hardware isn’t the really exciting offering here.

Essentially the hardware is an Arduino with the nicest Texas Instruments Wi-Fi shield attached. A shield is what people add to their Arduino boards for extra functionality. They come in all kinds ranging from LCD screen to Wi-Fi. But the point is that anyone can make this: The real value is, as Supalla said, in the software.

In a chat this afternoon Supalla explained that the company’s four employees have been coming up with the Spark Core idea and platform since its first Kickstarter project (and business idea) failed. They had offered a connected light bulb called Spark Socket just a few weeks after the Philips Hue and the LIFX light bulb came out, and apparently the market for connected lightbulbs was subsequently saturated.

Supalla didn’t let that slow him down. Like several other companies he recognized that while there are hundreds of thousands of makers out there willing to play around with connected devices, there were literally millions of people who would love to have the same kind of toys that DIYers hack together in a more polished form.

But the price of delivering that polished form was too high for Spark Devices; plus, there’s more value in software as open hardware becomes more tenable for businesses building consumer-grade hardware outside of DIYers. So Spark really wants to make the same play that Electric Imp is attempting, offering connectivity in an easy-to-integrate package with the primary value being a cloud-based platform for hosting and writing the code to build services associated with those connected devices.

In short, it’s another platform as a service for the internet of things. Thus, with the hardware components it is most like Electric Imp, but on the software side it competes with a bunch of companies such as Carriots, ThingWorx and likely many more.

So for those of you excited about pulling together a Wi-Fi powered RC car or a connected web cam, this project and hardware is for you. But to build a big business Spark Devices is going to have to entice more than makers.

The good news is the team knows this, and has a small amount of seed funding to get it started. Let’s see what happens.

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LinkedIn just reported its earnings for Q1, with revenue of $324.7 million for the quarter, up 72% year-over-year. Net income was $22.6 million, up from $5 million in the year-ago quarter.

CEO Jeff Weiner said, “Q1 was a strong quarter for LinkedIn with member engagement and financial results reaching record levels. We remained focused on delivering great products that increasingly make LinkedIn the essential daily resource for global professionals.”

Despite the revenue and earnings, LinkedIn stock is plummeting due to the company’s forecast, which didn’t meet Wall Street expectations.

Here’s the release in its entirety:

LinkedIn reports financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K that was filed for the year ended December 31, 2012, and additional information will also be set forth in our Form 10-Q that will be filed for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, which should be read in conjunction with these financial results. These documents are or will be available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations page of the company’s website athttp://investors.linkedin.com/. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of May 2, 2013, and LinkedIn undertakes no duty to update this information.

Google announced today that it is making some changes to how reporting works in AdSense accounts. The company is updating the way certain data is shown.

AdSense product manager Matt Goodridge explains on the Inside AdSense blog:

As you may know, your earnings at the end of each month currently reflect the amount you’ve earned less any deductions for invalid activity. This is a step we’ve always taken to ensure advertisers are not charged for such activity. Until now, however, clicks and impressions associated with this activity still appeared in AdSense performance reports. Starting May 1st, we’ll remove those associated clicks and impressions to address this discrepancy and provide you with the most accurate reporting.

So what does this mean for your AdSense account? First and foremost, this change will not impact your earnings in any way. In most cases, removing the invalid activity from your reports means you can expect to see a slight decrease in clicks and impressions, causing a slight increase in CPC (cost-per-click) and RPM (revenue per thousand impressions). The clicks and impressions that we’ll no longer show in reports include activity like accidental clicks, so metrics like your CTR (clickthrough rate) will more accurately reflect your site’s performance. You might also see a more noticeable difference in your AdSense reporting when compared with your own account statistics measured through other tools. Please note that this change won’t affect the way we screen for invalid activity.

Reports for dates from before May 1st will not be affected by the changes.

A couple weeks ago, Google announced changes to the Terms and Conditions for Adsense. More on that here.

Deftones played a show at The Pageant in St. Louis last night, and after learning of Kris Kross rapper Chris Kelly’s death, paid a bit of a tribute, adding some lyrics from the smash hit “Jump” to their own song Engine No. 9.

Luckily, YouTube user OARDarby shared some video:

The sound quality isn’t great unfortunately, but you get the idea. The studio version isn’t hard to find.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Deftones suffered a death in their own group, as bassist Chi Cheng passed away after recovering from a coma.

Kelly died from an apparent drug overdose. You can pay your respects by checking out this awesome Sprite commercial Kris Kross did in the 90s.

[via MetalSucks]

When deciding on which Chromebook Pixel model to buy, I opted for the higher priced version with integrated LTE. I got double the flash storage over the Wi-Fi only model as well, but I would have paid the $150 premium just for the LTE feature. Generally, I have an abundant supply of Wi-Fi so the LTE radio — and free 100 MB of monthly data — is mainly for backup connectivity and for travel.

But there’s a big downside to the Pixel with regards to the LTE radio. Unlike most LTE devices, the Pixel can’t fall back to a slower network when an LTE signal can’t be found.

Basically, if you’re not in an LTE coverage area — on Verizon’s network, specifically — you’d better find a hotspot, use your phone’s internet connection or be prepared to work offline. Even though the last option is improving with improved support for Packaged Apps that work offline, it’s a shame the Pixel is so dependent on one carrier’s singular network option. Or is it?

Fellow Chromebook Pixel owner John Freml, from the Pocketables enthusiast site, noted a Google+ post from Ian Ray with interesting information. It turns out the mobile broadband radio used in the Pixel isn’t using its full capabilities; likely by design for now. Freml notes that the wireless card is a Novetel Expdite E362, which works with other broadband networks in some cases:

Powered by Qualcomm® MDM9600 chipset, the Expedite E362 offers high performance to the user on LTE 700 MHz with global fallback to CDMA and HSPA+/UMTS … the small Expedite E362 module leverages the LTE, CDMA, and HSPA+/UMTS networks. Switching between networks enables your customers to work, play, and stay connected anytime, anywhere worldwide.

The Qualcomm baseband chip Freml points out is similar to one used in the iPad with LTE, and that certainly supports fall-back to other 3G networks, so there’s hope.

Of course, without seeing the internals of a Pixel, it’s difficult to confirm. And the right antenna and amplifier support would be needed. But if all of the puzzle pieces are there, it’s possible that a software update could enable fall-back features or even add support for your choice of carrier on a Chromebook Pixel with LTE.

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Jeffrey Tambor, who plays twin brothers George and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development participated in a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) today, discussing the show, among other things.

Arrested Development, of course, is due to return as a Netflix-exclusive series later this month, and fans are champing at the bit to see what the long-anticipated fourth season has in store.

Tambor, of course, fielded many questions about the show. Following are some highlights. If you’re not familiar with the show, you might as well stop reading now, because much of the discussion requires you to be.

When asked about his favorite running theme/joke from the show, he responded, “There’s always money in the banana stand.”

One user asked how the famous chicken dance performed by numerous cast members on the show came about, to which he responded, “I never knew about it until I was asked to do it. And when I’m asked to do it, I do it very badly. I’m the worst chicken dancer of the cast.”

When asked whether he likes playing George or Oscar more, he said, “One side of my brain likes Oscar. One side of my brain likes George.”

When asked if Judy Greer (Kitty) ever flashed him in real life, he responded, “No. And that’s a problem.”

Tambor said it only took about five minutes for the cast to slip back into the AD roles once they started shooting again. “We’re all so used to each other. Our first scenes, we just slipped into it naturally,” he said. “They’re all very fine actors.”

In response to another question, he noted that very little of the dialogue on the show is ad-libbed, and that the writing is just that good.

Of course, he was asked about the long-rumored Arrested Development movie, to which he responded, “I think the new season will promote a great amount of popularity, which will help a movie come into existence.”

On his favorite AD guest star, Tambor said, “They were all great, but Henry Winkler is a close friend of mine, and I was so glad to have him aboard.”

On getting the news that the show would be canceled: “I was sad. I wasn’t surprised, I think we all saw it coming.”

On the most exciting thing about the upcoming season: “It’s new format. The fact that we’re doing 15 all at once, and each character gets to tell his story. We’re the little engine that could, and we came back.”

On his favorite episode: “Gosh, I would have to say that the entire fourth season. I’m just so happy to be back.”

Hopefully us fans will agree.

Tambor was joined by the co-creators of Onion News Empire, so if you’re interested in that too, check out the thread.

Now watch this recent interview with Lucille Bluth.

Just wanted to share some highlights from NTIA. The following webinars with shared with BTOP (ARRA-funding) recipients..

MAY 14, 2013
Broadband Adoption Toolkit Webinar
2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT
Click Here to Register
Conference No.: 1- 888-790-1746
Passcode: 9944288

MAY 16, 2013
Economic Development Webinar: Planning, Benefits and Impact
2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Click Here to Register
Conference No.: 1- 800-857-5054
Passcode: 4604398

MAY 22, 2013
Broadband Adoption Toolkit Webinar with Toolkit Creators
1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT

And they recently announced the Toolkits created based on many of the BTOP projects…

Today we are pleased to announce the release of the “NTIA Broadband Adoption Toolkit” based on the field-tested practices of recipients from the Sustainable Broadband Adoption and Public Computer Center grant categories.  The Toolkit is a guide to planning and carrying out effective adoption programs with a wide variety of audiences, including youth, low-income, and seniors.  It includes chapters on planning a new program, designing outreach and communications activities, setting up training classes, and choosing engaging curriculum. It also has links to detailed examples, tools, and videos that can save time and resources for program developers.

Publication was announced by Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling in a speech at the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition’s conference here in Washington.  He said, “We developed the toolkit in order to share the expert knowledge and experience of the broadband adoption and computer training projects with a broader base of anchor institutions, government agencies, non-profits and others engaged in this effort.”

BTOP (http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/awards) provided funding for 44 Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects and 66 Public Computer Center projects. Through these investments, more than 500,000 household broadband subscribers have been added, more than 41,000 new workstations have been installed, and 12.3 million hours of training have been provided to 4.2 million participants.

You can download a copy of the Toolkit from our web site at:

http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/BTOP-Reports

MapR Technologies has announced an update of its Big Data platform that provides performance improvements for NoSQL and Hadoop applications. With the MapR M7 Edition, MapR says it has removed the trade-offs organizations face when looking to deploy a NoSQL solution.

M7 delivers over one million operations per second with a 10-node cluster, and can support up to one trillion tables across thousands of nodes, according to MapR. It will perform automatic region splits and self-tuning with no downtime required for any operation, including schema changes. The MapR M7 edition is available immediately.

“The number of enterprise-level deployments of Hadoop MapReduce is rising quickly, driven by a need to understand and potentially adopt this new business analytics platform for business applications,” said John Webster, principal analyst, Evaluator Group. “Responding to this demand, MapR delivers a distribution of Apache Hadoop that addresses many of the enterprise quality issues currently limiting its adoption in production data centers. With M7, HBase applications can access data directly without the redundancy of extra layers of communication yielding a single, scalable and more reliable data store that offers high performance and is easier to develop to and administer.”

MapR LucidWorks Search

MapR also announced the distribution of LucidWorks Search with the MapR platform for Apache Hadoop. This single platform features predictive analytics, full search and discovery and the ability to do advanced database operations.

“Using search and Big Data isn’t just about analyzing social media content and Web traffic,” said Ted Dunning, chief application architect, MapR Technologies.  “There is a wide array of new applications for combining fast Hadoop with real-time, ad hoc data accessibility to mine raw data and find useful patterns of behavior. With the MapR/LucidWorks solution, users gain a compelling alternative that is less time consuming and more unified without the need to convert, transfer or move data as required with other approaches.”

This product integration and bundling lets customers benefit from the added value that LucidWorks Search delivers in the areas of security, connectivity and user management for Apache Lucene/Solrthat users would otherwise have to develop from scratch using Solr alone. “LucidWorks and MapR share a common vision for enterprise-grade enhancements users need on top of open source software for rapid development, deployment, ease of use and production quality,” said Grant Ingersoll, LucidWorks CTO.

One of the biggest hits on reddit today is titled “‘Before and after’ pic done right”.

It seems to be inspiring the community. The top comment from user euphwes says, “This is actually pretty clever. My daughter is on the bottle now, I’ll arrange another ‘on the bottle’ picture to happen 20 years from now too.”

At least the plan involves letting the kid grow up first.

Despite a continuing drop in the amount of funding that venture capitalists are willing to put into “cleantech” companies, a more rational style of VC investing in cleantech has emerged in 2013. A variety of investors are closing on modest funds that are investing small amounts into companies that have much shorter lifecycles and require smaller amounts of funding to scale. Many of these companies use software and IT at the core of their businesses.

SJF Ventures this week announced the close of its third fund which has $90 million under management. The firm has invested in a variety of sustainability-minded startups including innovative waste and recycling company CleanScapes, clean power services company Community Energy, e-waste recycling company eRecycling Corp, data center efficiency software company Fieldview Solutions, and Optoro, which uses software to sell and move undersold goods. The firm also invests in companies that aren’t focused on sustainability like MediaMath. SJF says its limited partners include banks, insurances and financial services firms, mutual and pension funds, family offices, among others.

SJF says in its announcement that its second fund “is performing in the top quartile all US venture capital funds of its vintage year.” Compare that to the pretty weak returns disclosed by cleantech limited partner heavyweight CalPERS, or the analysis provided by Venrock partner Matthew Nordan.

SJF Ventures partner David Kirkpatrick told me their cleantech investing thesis is focused on companies that are “capital efficient,” and have business models that deliver immediate value to customers, like asset recovery, reuse and efficiency. In addition, the company provides growth equity investments, meaning they back companies that are later stage and are already delivering revenues — grow something that’s already working.

This type of cleantech 2.0 investing thesis has been around for awhile. The “Cleanweb” folks call this trend cleanweb, because many times the underlying technologies are digital ones. Greg Neichin, Executive Vice President of Cleantech Group, described the trend last month as: “We are seeing the market moving beyond irrational exuberance and becoming more cautious and thoughtful in deploying capital.”

SJF isn’t the only one still optimistic about cleantech investing. Earlier this year The Westly Group closed on a $160 million fund that it will invest into cleantech companies. The Westly Group backed three companies that went public, including electric car company Tesla, biofuel company Amyris, and Chinese recycling company China Recycling Energy Corporation (CREG). The firm raised the funds from investors like Citi, E.ON and SK Group.

Other firms that are still strong in cleantech investing include Khosla Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Lux Capital, and Kleiner Perkins. A report from Cambridge Associates, and reported by Dan Primack, found that while cleantech investing has underperformed, it hasn’t been the blackhole that it appeared. Really large and bad bets like Solyndra and Fisker have skewed public perception around how much money the sector has lost.

The Cleantech Group reported last month that the first quarter of 2013 saw total venture dollars in cleantech down by 29 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, but that the number of deals was up for the quarter. Half of the number of deals were for Series B rounds or later, but almost all (90 percent) of the dollar amounts of the deals were for Series B rounds or later.

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Google recently launched Google Keep, a mobile to-do list app for Android, which lets you keep notes, lists, pictures and voice notes. Today, the company announced the launch of a new Chrome app.

“The Google Keep Chrome app launches in its own window, so you can create notes, cross out your to-do lists, and attach photos to tasks while you work on other things,” says Google software engineer Eddy Mead in a blog post. “And if you don’t have an internet connection, don’t fret: the Chrome app works offline because we all know that ideas (big and small) can be sparked at any time.”

You can find the app in the Chrome Web Store here.

In semi-related news, rival Yahoo just acquired Astrid, another to-do list app, so don’t be surprised to see Yahoo launch its own Google Keep competitor in the near future.

Director Eli Roth, whose Hemlock Grove was recently released as a Netflix original series, appeared on The Adam Carolla Show to discuss a variety of things. The topic of Kickstarter came up, and it sounds like this might be an avenue Roth could explore for getting films made in the future.

Thanksgiving anyone?

“This new Kickstarter thing is changing everything,” says Roth. “I’ve actually thought about funding movies this way, because you don’t have to pay back any investors, and then basically whatever the release plan is, like you own the movie one hundred percent, and you have nothing to lose. You don’t have to pay anybody back.”

Carolla also mentions that he’s shooting a Kickstarter video with Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, so we’ll be on the lookout for that.

Looking to add an intelligent scale to your home? You may already have one and not even know it.

Nintendo’s Wii Fit Balance Board can measure your weight, in addition to being used for sports games and exercise apps on the Wii console. The MoDaCo blog notes a free Android app called FitScales taps into Nintendo’s accessory without wires, enabling you to use the device as a smart scale.

After installing the app and providing it with your height, you can sync your Android with the Balance Board and then stand on it to have your weight captured. Thanks to the wireless connection, your weight will appear on your phone. Even better: FitScales uses the available APIs to send your weight data to either your FitBit (see disclosure) or RunKeeper account, just like a traditional web-connected scale would do.

Note that FitScales supports Android 2.1 to Android 4.1, so if you’re running Android 4.2, you’ll have to wait for an upgrade before your device is supported. And there’s one user experience challenge in the app: You have to sync the board and phone every time you use the app, which is a bit of a pain.

I don’t know how many Wii Fit Balance Boards have been sold by Nintendo, but I think this app is brilliant. It extends an older piece of hardware at a time where health gadgets are picking up steam. Effectively, we can repurpose our own Balance Board, which is collecting dust right now, saving the $100 or more it would cost to buy a dedicated Wi-Fi scale.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of GigaOM. Om Malik, founder of GigaOM, is also a venture partner at True.

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A look at the Brocade MLXe module. (Image: Brocade)

Network equipment vendor Brocade (BRCD) this week rolled out a broad strategy to boost its offerings for software defined networking (SDN). The initiative spans both software and hardware, with a central component being the Brocade VCS Fabric technology. Brocade describes its approach as “On Demand Data Center,” and said it is a logical step on the path toward mass customer adoption of SDN.

“While one of the more attractive benefits of virtualization is a reduction in capital expenses, we are starting to see the operational expenditures of highly virtualized environments increase because they lack proper orchestration, automation and management tools,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst with ZK Research. “Brocade’s On-Demand Data Center strategy provides a resilient and complete blueprint that unifies vital areas of the data center, from Fabrics to storage to physical and virtual infrastructure. Additionally, this strategy provides a pragmatic route for the adoption of emerging Software-Defined Networking technologies.”

Software solutions

For software networking solutions, Brocade announced release 6.6 for its vRouter family, which is based on technology acquired in its purchase of Vyatta, and will support Multicast routing and Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN), two technologies that are critical for large enterprises and cloud service providers. The Vyattta vRouter is platform and hypervisor-agnostic and deployed in environments ranging from virtual private data centers to public clouds.

As a part of its application delivery controller portfolio Brocade announced the Virtual ADX, which provides a virtual application delivery platform that increases the speed of application resource deployment and differentiated services for dynamic cloud environments. The company also enhanced its cloud provisioning capability with an update to Brocade Application Resource Broker and continued work on the OpenStack plugin for load balancing as a service.

Hardware solutions

Brocade announced a new four-port 40 GbE MLXe module for data-intensive services, that features wire-speed performance on the 40 GbE module. For smaller networks Brocade announced new versions of its compact NetIron CER routers, featuring up to four ports of 10 GbE. NetIron software updates were also introduced, which include enhancements for high-performance routing and SDN capabilities. he new release supports OpenFlow Hybrid Port Mode technology, to help customers simultaneously deploy OpenFlow and traditional routing on the same port for a seamless migration path to SDN.

Brocade was an integral vendor in the March 2013 launch of CyrusOne’s Texas Internet Exchange, an interconnection platform deployed across CyrusOne facilities in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. “Given the massive data we transport for some of the world’s largest companies, CyrusOne cannot solely rely on traditional networking practices to solve modern business challenges,” said Josh Snowhorn, vice president and general manager of InterConnection at CyrusOne. “The Brocade MLXe routers enable CyrusOne’s infrastructure to evolve with our customers’ needs, whether that requires scaling from 10 Gigabit to 100 Gigabit Ethernet or implementing new technologies that allow us to better serve them.”

Fabric Orchestration for OpenStack

Brocade announced its continued support for the OpenStack initiative and its ongoing commitment to bringing open network solutions to enterprise and service provider customers through the introduction of a new Brocade VCS fabric plugin that delivers powerful on-demand fabric provisioning capabilities in OpenStack-based cloud environments. The VCS plugin is available as a component of the OpenStack Grizzly release and is an essential part of the On-Demand Data Center strategy.

“The benefit of deploying a private or public cloud built on OpenStack is that it gives the customer the utmost level of flexibility and control when provisioning essential components within an open cloud architecture. The inclusion of Brocade as a part of the Rackspace Private Cloud reference architecture addresses the desire of our customers to have choice in their distributions,” said John Igoe, vice president of Rackspace Private Cloud. “Innovative companies like Brocade, who are committed to supporting open initiatives, enable customers to fully capitalize on their IT investments without risk of vendor or technology lock-in associated with proprietary platforms.”

Additionally the company is taking a leadership role in the OpenStack development community with the delivery of a Fibre Channel blueprint for storage networking. Brocade is also a founding board member and platinum sponsor of OpenDaylight, a common software-defined networking platform.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel recently gave an “At Google” talk discussing the film, “The Searchers”.

“Glenn Frankel, beginning in Hollywood and then returning to the origins of the story, creates a rich and nuanced anatomy of a timeless film and a quintessentially American myth,” Google explains. “The dominant story that has emerged departs dramatically from documented history: it is of the inevitable triumph of white civilization, underpinned by anxiety about the sullying of white women by “savages.” What makes John Ford’s film so powerful, and so important, Frankel argues, is that it both upholds that myth and undermines it, baring the ambiguities surrounding race, sexuality, and violence in the settling of the West and the making of America.”

More recent At Google talks here.

Drink TV host and Institute of Culinary Education Chef Instructor Anthony Caporale recently participated in an “At Google” talk, to discuss, “The Science of Whiskey”.

Google describes the talk as “a guided tour of the history, chemistry, and technology behind whiskey, Bourbon, and Scotch!”

“He’ll ferment beer, distill moonshine, and talk about how production techniques such as malting affect flavor,” goes the description. “Learn the science behind dark spirits as Anthony helps you master the major styles of whiskey!”

The talk took place on March 4th.

Continue reading…