Category: News

3scale closed a $4.2 million funding round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital. 3scale, which has offices in San Francisco and Barcelona, is a API Management solutions provider.

PRESS RELEASE
3scale (http://www.3scale.net), the San Francisco and Barcelona-based API Management solutions provider, today announced $4.2 million of new funding in a round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital.
APIs are a key infrastructure component for online businesses – powering mobile applications, partnership programs and innovation. Increasingly, as many businesses become more software driven, having a well-managed API available to customers and partners is becoming key to success in the marketplace. The growth of the number of APIs is exponential and forecasted to reach into the millions over the next 5 years.
In order to meet this need, during the past two years 3scale has grown into one of the leading solution providers in the sector. The company’s API Management solution provides infrastructure to manage the technical and business operations required to run a successful API program simply and at scale.
In contrast to other solutions, 3scale’s flexible platform is immediate, self-service and no cost to adopt, enabling any size business to run an API program and scale from free entry-level services all the way to Enterprise grade APIs on a single platform. The solution platform lets businesses build a solid foundation for their API program and scale confidently to serving 10’s and 100’s of Millions of API transactions per day.
The 3scale API Management solution already powers APIs for over 200 customers serving over 85,000 Application Developers, with API traffic monitored and managed by 3scale more than doubling in the last 6 months. Customers range from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and technology start-ups, including: Skype, FlightStats, Wine.com, 1WorldSync, SITA, PagesJaunes.fr (French YellowPages), FullContact and Yummly.
“As products and services we rely on for our daily lives—from travel info to e-commerce, thermostats to elevators—increasingly connect to internet applications through machine-to-machine interfaces, the need for robustly managed API’s becomes critical,” noted Noah Doyle, Managing Director of Javelin Venture Partners. “We are proud to lead this new round of funding for 3scale because it will bring high grade solutions to a wide market, which no provider has done before.”
The new investment will help broaden 3scale’s set of services and bring it to a global audience, enabling even more valuable APIs and API delivery by its customers.
More information about 3scale can be found at http://www.3scale.net/. The company is also looking to fill new positions in both its San Francisco and Barcelona offices.
About 3scale:
Founded in 2007, 3scale provides a Plug & Play SaaS API Management platform and infrastructure enabling developers and companies to securely open, control, manage, operate and monetize their API to 3rd parties (e.g. developers, business partners, etc). 3scale’s API Management solution is flexible, secure and web scalable enabling the distribution of a company’s data, content or services to multiple devices or mobile/web applications as well as the productization of its APIs. For more information visit www.3scale.net

About Javelin Venture Partners
With $200 million under management, Javelin Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm specializing in technology-based start-ups that leverage key innovations to create scalable, high-growth companies. Javelin Venture Partners’ investment professionals are proven new-technology entrepreneurs who focus on identifying exceptional businesses and management teams, and helping them achieve great success. The firm operates with the culture of a start-up and with an emphasis on being a true partner to entrepreneurs. Javelin Ventures Partners is located in San Francisco, CA., but invests in start-ups throughout the world. For a list of active portfolio companies, or to submit a business plan, visit Javelin’s website: http://www.javelinvp.com.

About Costanoa Venture Capital

Costanoa Venture Capital is an early stage investor focused on cloud-based services solving real problems for businesses and consumers by leveraging data and analytics. The firm’s name originates from the first inhabitants of Silicon Valley, the Costanoans, and harkens back to the origins of entrepreneurship and venture capital in Silicon Valley. Costanoa provides early stage entrepreneurs with a combination of “right-sized” amounts of capital and value-added support from a high-quality institutional partner. Current investments include: Datalogix, DemandBase, Guardian Analytics, Inflection, Intacct, iSocket, Lex Machina, LinkSmart, Return Path, and Risk I/O. The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, Ca. For more information, visit http://costanoavc.com/
read our blog and follow us @costanoavc and @gsands.

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Boxee’s cloud DVR service is now available to San Francisco Bay Area residents, as the company turned on recording capability for its Cloud DVR set-top box for the area Wednesday. This marks the first expansion of the service since its launch in eight markets in November.

Boxee’s Cloud DVR service uses the company’s set-top box to upload live TV recordings to the cloud, which can then be streamed back to the Boxee device as well as to computers and mobile devices. The company offers its users unlimited storage for recorded shows, and is eventually going to charge $10 a month for that service once the company concludes its beta test later this year. A free limited tier will come with five hours of playback time per month.

The initial focus of Boxee’s cloud DVR is over-the-air TV, which can be received for free with an antenna — and that was apparently one of the reasons the rollout in the Bay Area took so long. Boxee VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen told me that the company already has a lot of users of its device in the Bay Area, but that it was cautious about rolling out the service because of the area’s unique geography. Via email, he told me:

“We were worried about San Francisco’s numerous hills to begin with, which is why it wasn’t one of our first 8 markets, but now feel like we have enough users there to know the product works well.”

Boxee’s expansion to the Bay Area means that the company’s DVR service is now available in a total of nine markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Kippen told me that the company wants to be in 26 U.S. markets by the end of the year.

Boxee first introduced its cloud DVR service and device in November, and at the time still called the set-top box “Boxee TV.” However, the device was rebranded earlier this month to Cloud DVR to put a bigger emphasis on its DVR capabilities. Renaming the device just a few months after launch could be seen as a sign that Boxee is struggling to explain the offering to consumers, many of which aren’t even aware that they can receive HD TV programming over the air.

But the rebranding also suggests that Boxee is looking to work more closely with operators. The company notably toned down its cord cutting rhetoric with the relaunch, and the Boxee Cloud DVR became the first device of its class to support Comcast’s encrypted basic cable feeds. The cable operator started encrypting basic cable in some markets this month, and reached an agreement with Boxee to give the Cloud DVR access to these feeds last year.

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CIT Group said Wednesday that it arranged a $220 million loan to help finance Elior SCA and Charterhouse Capital Partners‘ buy of TrustHouse Services Group. Charlotte, N.C.-based TrustHouse provides contract food services to the healthcare, education and corrections sectors.

PRESS RELEASE

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) cit.com, a leading provider of financing and advisory services to small businesses and middle market companies, today announced that it arranged a $220 million senior secured credit facility to help finance the acquisition of TrustHouse Services Group by Elior SCA and Charterhouse Capital Partners. TrustHouse Services is a national U.S. provider of contract food services to the Healthcare, Education and Corrections sectors. Based in Paris, France, Elior is a premier global provider of con! tract food services and food concessions. Charterhouse Capital Partners is a leading UK- based private equity firm.
CIT Corporate Finance served as Sole Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent for the transaction. Financing was provided by CIT Bank, the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This transaction demonstrates the commitment CIT has to providing comprehensive financial solutions to private equity firms as they complete acquisitions,” said Eric Toizer, Managing Director of CIT Sponsor Finance. “We are pleased to continue our relationship with Mike Bailey and his world class management team.”
Mike Bailey, CEO at TrustHouse Services, said, “Our long term relationship with CIT facilitated the smooth and efficient closing of this transaction.  CIT was able to arrange flexible financing that will allow us to partner with Elior, as it expands into the U.S. market.”
Gilles Cojan, Director at Elior, said, “TrustHouse provides a compelling value proposition and is well positioned to capitalize on market fragmentation. With its national scale, tailored solutions and first class customer service, we believe this acquisition will allow us to build market share and expand our global footprint in the food services sector.”
Jamie Arnell, Partner of Charterhouse, said, “We are pleased to continue our growth strategy for Elior as it partners with TrustHouse to create a world-class food services business. We selected CIT to lead the financing of this transaction because of their relationship with TrustHouse Services and their expertise in underwriting and syndicating senior loans in the U.S. market.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Watch the CIT corporate overview video (cit.com/corporatevideo) that showcases its support of the small business, middle market and transportation sectors.

Follow us on Twitter: @citgroup, on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/company/cit, on YouTube: YouTube.com/citgroupvideo, and on Facebook: facebook.com/citgroup. Individuals interested in receiv! ing corporate news releases can register at cit.com/newsalerts or subscribe to the RSS feed at cit.com/rss.
About TrustHouse Services
TrustHouse Services Group is a leader in the Healthcare, Education, and Corrections-focused food services space and manages over 675 client accounts across more than 45 states. TrustHouse is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and was founded by Michael J. Bailey. trusthouseservices.com
About Elior SCA
Founded in 1991, Elior is a market leading catering and facilities management group with operations throughout Western Europe, USA, Mexico and Latin America. Elior is the #4 contract caterer and the #3 concession caterer globally, with €4.48 billion revenue and €359 million EBITDA for its fiscal year ended 30 September 2012. Elior provides personalized catering and service solutions within the Education, Business & Industry and Healthcare & Seniors sectors as well in Leisure, Culture and Travel, as well as cleaning services and facilities management. Elior is owned  by Charterhouse Capital Partners and operates over 14,350 restaurants and outlets around the world, serving 3 million customers daily in 14 countries. elior.com
Charterhouse Capital Partners
Charterhouse is a leading private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts of established and substantial businesses. Charterhouse focuses on a variety of industrial and commercial sectors. With over 135 transactions, worth in excess of €50bn in transaction value, and with 86% of those investments realized, the firm’s track record and experience combine to make them one of the most successful private equity firms in Europe. charterhouse.co.uk
About CIT Corporate Finance
CIT Corporate Finance provides lending, leasing and other financial and advisory services to the small business and middle market sectors, with a focus on specific industries, including: Chemicals, Commercial Real Estate, Communications, Energy, Entertainment, Gaming, Healthcare, Industrials, Information Services & Technology, Restaurants, Retail, and Sports & Media.
cit.com/CorporateFinance
About CIT Bank
Founded in 2000, CIT Bank (Member FDIC) is the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT). It provides lending and leasing to the small business, middle market and rail sectors. Through its online bank, BankOnCIT.com, CIT Bank offers a suite of savings options designed to help customers achieve a range of financial goals. It is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. As of March 31, 2013, it had $10.6 billion of deposits and $13.3 billion of assets. CIT Bank makes loans without regard t! o race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap, or familial status. cit.com/CITBank

About CIT
Founded in 1908, CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a bank holding company with more than $35 billion in financing and leasing assets. A member of the Fortune 500, it provides financing and leasing capital and advisory services to its clients and their customers across more than 30 industries. CIT maintains leadership positions in small business and middle market lending, factoring, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and rail leasing, and vendor finance. CIT also operates CIT Bank (Member FDIC), its primary bank subsidiary, which, through its online bank BankOnCIT.com, offers a suite of savings options designed to help customers achieve a range of financial goals. cit.com

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Earlier this month, news came out that the European Union accepted a proposal from Google to settle a lengthy antitrust investigation. Google reportedly agreed to clearly lavel search results from its own properties, and show links from rival search engines. It would also provide sites a way to keep their content out of Google’s specialized search engines, while still leaving content in regular Google results.

The proposal, however, was said to be subject to a market test, so those complaining about Google (mainly its competitors) can provide feedback.

FairSearch, the group of Google competitors that regularly lobbies against Google’s practices, has issued a statement about this so-called “market test”.

“The most important remedy to Google’s abuse of dominance is to require the search monopoly, which controls 94 percent of the market in Europe, to subject its own products and services to the same policy it uses to rank and display all other Websites,” says FairSearch. “Since it has taken a year to extract a final proposal from Google, FairSearch believes the ‘market test’ should last three months to ensure that interested parties have enough time to carefully provide the European Commission with their expertise on the effectiveness of Google’s proposal. As we have said, we will comment on Google’s proposed remedies after the Commission shares them.”

The organization goes on to say:

European Commission Vice President Joaquin Almunia has set a high bar that any proposal from Google must meet to pre-empt formal proceedings against the company, including:

1) Will it end Google’s diversion of traffic away from other sites through preferential treatment for Google’s own properties?

2) Will it swiftly restore consumers’ access to a truly competitive marketplace for search and related online services?

3) Will an independent third party be able to verify that Google is not circumventing its own proposed commitments?

The coalition says its member intend to study the “effects” of Google’s proposal, and imply they”ll have more suggestions for the search giant. It will be interesting to see how long this drags on.

Pivotal boss Paul Maritz knows how to paint a pretty picture that enterprise customers want to hear — Pivotal will launch an infrastructure-independent “operating system” for the cloud. It will enable new applications to help companies make sense of the data explosion expected to come with the internet of things.

He pledged Wednesday that PivotalOne technology will run on Amazon Web Services, and on OpenStack and other infrastructures. And that this effort will be independent of its owners EMC and VMware (and now General Electric as well).

That is a very, very tall order, which I’ll get back to. But first, the actual news from the official Pivotal launch event:

• Maritz now has a title: he is Pivotal’s CEO. Up until now he was just sort of the “head” of Pivotal.
• The first deliverables of PivotalOne will be generally available in “less than 6 months,” according to Pivotal SVP Scott Yara. It was, however, unclear which parts he was referring to.
• We can now definitively drop the “Initiative” from the Pivotal Initiative name.

To be fair, Pivotal was just spun off four months ago, after six months of leaks. And in February it made its first move, launching Pivotal HD, a re-architected Hadoop implementation that is key to this whole effort.

How independent is independent?

Now, back to positioning.  Maritz, who spent 14 years at Microsoft, where he helped lead the Windows 95 and then Windows NT server charge, has huge credibility with developers and customers alike. If anyone knows from OSes — and what customers want from them — it’s him.

But the notion that Pivotal will be given free reign to cozy up to Amazon, or Microsoft, or other infrastructure providers as needed when it is still part-and-parcel of EMC and VMware — both of which have their own cloud agenda — strains belief. VMware is launching its own public cloud May 21.

Much of Pivotal’s promise — it will provide an abstraction layer atop third-party infrastructure so that applications will run anywhere — is what VMware promised with Cloud Foundry, the open-source PaaS that is now part of Pivotal. But there’s also the new Pivotal Data Fabric which builds on EMC’s GreenPlum technology and VMware’s Gemfire fast transaction processing capabilities. And then there will be Pivotal Expert Services, including Pivotal Labs’ rapid application deployment capabilities, which can be offered in conjunction with or atop the whole stack.

I don’t doubt the quality of the technologies here or even Pivotal’s ability to integrate them. But customers will wonder just how independent an entity that is 90 percent owned by two technology giants can really be to work with competitors in a scenario that will reassure corporate customers who don’t want lock-in.

The fact that GE is investing $105 million in this effort remains the headline. That news has got to have both Amazon and Microsoft sweating. Amazon is the world’s biggest public cloud provider and is adding more enterprise-class services by the day atop that cloud. Microsoft is pitching Azure now as an AWS infrastructure rival but has also tried to be the PaaS of choice for the millions of Windows businesses out there.

Both of those companies would have given a lot for an endorsement that GE gave Pivotal early today.

Check out Om Malik’s interview with Maritz earlier this year at our Structure:Data conference below:

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Google added a number of new software features in the developer build of Chrome OS this week, with at least one indicating the company could be looking at new form factors for the Chrome OS platform. Google had to pull the release due to an unrelated bug, but in the release notes, it said Chrome OS now supports screen rotation. That’s a feature typically reserved for devices that are used in both portrait and landscape, such as tablets.

Since Google pulled the release, I haven’t been able to install the software on my Chromebook Pixel for testing but I will as soon as I can to verify the function. Still, the wording seems pretty clear: the notes say you can “rotate the screen on all Chromebooks” with this software update.

I can’t really think of a reason I’d want to rotate the screen on my Pixel — or any of the other Chromebooks currently available — so I’m thinking either a Chrome OS tablet or a Chromebook with rotating touchscreen is the works. Perhaps we’ll hear more at Google I/O next month?

Although this might be a stretch on my part, I see another sign of new form factors or Chrome OS tablets. The updated Chrome OS build adds a “New Immersive browsing mode – browse the web with only 4px of Chrome.” While this will be handy on any Chromebook, it can help maximize the screen space of a smaller tablet. However, I may be reading into that function too much.

Still, I could see Google pushing the envelope when it comes to Chrome OS hardware. Heck, it just did that with the Chromebook Pixel, bringing a premium Chrome OS experience at a premium price. How could Google continue down this path? A Chrome OS tablet with docking keyboard, similar to Microsoft’s Surface hardware would be my best guess.

That design would bring the desktop browser experience to a more mobile device while still allowing users to work on a laptop-like computer with a dock or keyboard attachment. The touchscreen feature originally pioneered on the Pixel would come in handy for such a device although Chrome OS would need an on-screen keyboard. Guess what? A peek at the Chromium source code from two weeks ago shows that Google is working on just that: A software-based touch keyboard for Chrome OS.

Interestingly, past Chrome tablet rumors have turned out be to that: Simply rumors. In fact, Google’s vice president of engineering Linus Upson told TechRadar in May of 2012 “We are not working on a Chrome OS tablet.” But that was then and this is now. We’ve already seen a major shakeup at Google when Sundar Pichai, SVP of Google Chrome and Apps, took over Android from Andy Rubin last month. Perhaps this is all related to a new direction for Chrome OS?

It’s worth noting also in the new Chrome OS software are the improvements to the Files app that we discussed on our GigaOM Chrome Show podcast this morning. Users of Chromebooks and Chromeboxes can expect to see file options for recently viewed files, shared files and files that are marked for offline use.

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Silverpop said Wednesday it received $25 million in new funding from Escalate Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Silverpop, which provides digital marketing technology, has over $50 million in funding.

PRESS RELEASE
SilverpopTM, the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, today announces it has received $25 million in new funding.  With these additional funds, Silverpop will continue to accelerate its growth and customer success across the globe.

“The world of marketing is undergoing a fundamental shift with customers now more discerning, more educated and more selective than ever before and no longer willing to be part of an audience or locked into a single channel,” said Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop. “Our solution uniquely lets marketers engage each customer or prospect as an individual resulting in a customer experience that is unmatched in today’s world of audiences and segments. In 2012, we dramatically stepped up our investment in sales and marketing and drove record-setting growth. This new funding allows us to invest even more aggressively in 2013 and beyond, giving an ever wider set of marketers access to our game-changing solution.”

Silverpop finished 2012 with impressive new business growth of 40 percent as compared to 2011. Last year the company added 380 new customers, a third of which turned to the company for its marketing automation offerings and 60 percent of them specifically looking to drive revenue by focusing on buyer behavior.
Silverpop’s unique focus on behavioral marketing automation is best demonstrated by the company’s commitment to three key areas:
Being a Marketing Database of Record: Silverpop Engage can serve as the single source of data across a marketing department, helping to provide the most comprehensive profile of customers and prospects possible by capturing and storing demographic and psychographic data as well as online and offline behaviors.
Allowing for a Consistent Digital Identity: Engage uniquely collects valuable buyer information from all channels (Web, email, mobile and social) and across multiple devices and platforms, creating a single identity that leads to a consistent digital experience reflecting preferences declared and inferred based on behavior across channels.
Automating Interactions: To efficiently individualize digital interactions and deliver the optimal marketing experience, marketers must automate their interactions. Silverpop Engage allows customers to leverage massive amounts of collected data in order to deliver highly individualized interactions that deliver an unmatched customer experience that drives engagement, loyalty and revenue, one customer at a time.
The company, which launched in 1999, now employs more than 500 people in offices in the U.S., the UK and Germany and has a presence in Australia/APAC, Africa, South America (including Mexico and Brazil), and Eastern Europe (Turkey and Czech Republic) via  strategic reseller relationships. It supports more than 1,800 customers representing 5,000 brands worldwide.

About Silverpop
Silverpop is the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile, and social. Its customers achieve superior Return on Relationship by uniquely engaging each individual based on their behaviors and then automating personalized experiences that increase revenue, improve ROI, and deepen brand loyalty. Silverpop’s commitment is to offer a platform that is complete, not complex-so that marketers from any size organization can easily achieve digital marketing success. The company offers a world-class services team, 24/7 customer support and a network of partners to ensure that every client gets the right mix of solutions for their specific digital marketing needs. Silverpop is trusted by more than 5,000 brands around the globe.  Visit us at silverpop.com.

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Earlier this month, rumors sprang up that Microsoft would be revealing the next Xbox on May 21. It turns out that those rumors were right on the money.

Microsoft announced via its Facebook page and Major Nelson’s blog that the next Xbox will be unveiled on May 21 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST The event will take place at Microsoft’s Redmond Campus so this is decidedly a press only event. Those wanting to watch it from home will be able to do so on Spike TV, GameTrailers, Xbox.com and Xbox Live.

Major Nelson says the event will reveal Microsoft’s “vision for Xbox” and give gamers a “real taste of the future.” It looks like we won’t be seeing very many games, however, as Major Nelson says that Microsoft will be “showcasing [its] full lineup of blockbuster games” at E3 in June.

Based on this information, we can make some educated guesses as to how this is all going to go down. Microsoft will use the May 21 event to focus solely on the hardware, including the rumored Kinect 2.0.

What you probably won’t see is Microsoft addressing the rumors of an always online console, or rumors of the next Xbox blocking used games. Those are very touchy subjects and even mentioning them at a large event would generate a lot of negative publicity.

As for games, we’re probably not going to see very much at the unveiling. If anything, we’ll get what we got at Sony’s PS4 event – a lot of pretty tech demos and some vague announcements from third-party publishers. The real announcements will be saved for E3.

Still, it’s exciting to think that we’re only a month away from both next generation consoles finally being outed to the public. Microsoft sure has taken its sweet time so the wait had better be worth it.

According to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek, e-commerce behemoth Amazon is preparing to launch a set-top box this fall, in hopes that you’ll consume all of your content through its spin on the now-common device. The company is already working hard to push its Kindle line to consumers, and this box would be for people who don’t want to deal with the fanciness of Apple products, the gaming nature of Microsoft’s XBox, the half-baked Google TV or the little engine that could, Roku.

Yes, this is a crowded market, but Amazon has something that these other companies don’t have, which is warehouses full of things to sell to people while they watch TV. I imagine that you’ll be able to shop as you would online or on your mobile device, right on your TV set. That means that the temptation to pick up that new TV, while you’re watching your old crappy one, could overcome you during a show. One button click and a new TV could be on the way.

Think of it as Home Shopping 2.0. With some interesting programming to watch, of course.

Instead of acquiring a smaller company that already has its own product in the wild, Amazon has decided to build this in-house, under its Lab126 umbrella in Cupertino.

Amazon has been building up its content viewers by bundling it with Amazon Prime shipping for free, trying to entice anyone who is already spending regular money with them to try other things out. What shipping has to do with free movies and TV, I don’t know, but customers seem to be happy with it thus far.

Reasons for doing a set-top box are obvious, with its original content being the most popular on the platform since it launched. As Amazon finds its way to more niche shows that it can present exclusively, the reasons to grab an Amazon-branded device for your TV makes more sense. In the same way that Apple leverages each of its devices to sell new ones, Amazon is learning how it’s done. It also doesn’t help that it has millions of shoppers visiting its site daily looking for new things.

Some could say that Amazon is late to the game, but I see Jeff Bezos and company taking smart, calculated steps to capitalize on mistakes made by others, much like it did with the Kindle, staying close to a purer paperback-esque reading experience.

[Photo credit: Flickr]

Here’s something that should embarrass Microsoft’s OEM partners: The most reliable Windows PC in the world wasn’t even designed to run on Windows. ZDNet reports that a new study from PC efficiency software vendor Soluto has used “data from its massive online database of PC crashes, hangs, and performance metrics to identify the 10 most reliable Windows PCs you can buy today.” The study found that the 13-inch Retina-equipped MacBook Pro with Boot Camp installed is “at the top of the list.” Other reliable PCs include the Acer Aspire E1-571, the Dell XPS 13, the Dell Vostro 3560, the Acer Aspire V3-771 and Apple’s 15-inch Retina-equipped MacBook Pro. Taken all together, then, Apple computers account for 33% of the six most reliable Windows PCs in the world while no PCs produced by the world’s leading vendor HP even crack the top 10.

Yesterday I attended the Minnesota Broadband Task Force meeting. They heard from several folks who offer reduced rate packages (broadband, computers and training) in Minnesota. They also heard from two ARRA-funded broadband adoption programs.

There was some talk about policy. It boiled down to two issues that remain open. First the establishment of an Office of Broadband Deployment – the big question is where it will land and who will do the hiring. Second is the Dig Once issue.

Comcast Internet Essentials: Carlie 

According to FCC – 92% of households have access to broadband but 35% aren’t adopting. We realized that we could close the gap by targeting low income households.

People needed to understand how and why to use technology safely.

Comcast Internet Essentials

• Offer Internet access for $9.95 (3 Mbps)
• Computers for $150
• Offer online training and partner with local trainers
• No set up fee
• No credit check
• Will now include kids in private schools
• Opening online application process

Eligibility

• If you have a child that qualifies for National School lunch programs
• Started in 2011 – program ends at end of next year (original 3 year contract)
• Will serve that cohort until kids are through 12^th grade
• Live in Comcast Area
• Is your Comcast bill current

Results

• 150,000 low income families nationally (600,000 people)
• 2500 families in the Twin Cities

Lessons Learned

• Engagement drives participation – needed a local partner
• Relevance takes time
• Education is important (teaching people why/how to use technology)

CenturyLink Internet Basics: Joanna Hjelmeland

Comcast & CenturyLink have similar programs

Launched in 2011

Our goal was to reach underserved and get computers in the home

CenturyLink Internet Basics:

• Offer prices of $9.99
• Offer training
• Offer affordable Internet-ready tablet

Works with all ages, has had sessions in schools. We’ve had more targeted outreach. Have a new partnership with PCs for People. We work with outreach via phone customers. And that’s been successful. We work to refine local partners.

We’ve heard from people that the access to computer is still a big issue.

Eligibility

• Qualify for lifeline
• Qualify for free lunch

Lessons Learned

• We are working with multi-dwelling, low income housing partners.
• We’ve tried to make our collateral more community focused/looking than sales-focused.
• Having a dedicated retail person has been helpful
• A challenge can be finding the right demographic. A booth at the State Fair can be fun – but you can’t serve most of the people who stop by.
• It’s a high touch process – usually three contacts before someone becomes a customer

About 1700 families participating in Minnesota.

C2C : Dick Sjoberg

C2C and MIRC projects in Thief River Falls

Similar experience as Comcast & CenturyLink

Lessons Learned

• You have to be proactive. People won’t come to you; they don’t see the relevance. It’s a very hands-on process.

We did 2 projects in MIRC; we worked with community partner who knew low income community. A lot of work was done one-on-one.

Eligibility

• Free lunch with 6^th graders to seniors
• Had to sign up for 8 hours of training
• We didn’t worry about credit issues – we worked with customers with outstanding bills. This had been an issue.

MIRC Service

• 9.95/month
• Free cable modem
• Free computers from PCs for People

One year after the fact 11 of 13 customers continued with service even after having to pay for it.

More on C2C – Connect to Compete

• 9.95/month service
• $150 computer (through Redemptech
• Online training available

We also created a little Geek Squad with 9 kids at risk. Provided mentoring. Asked them to learn skills required. They would give quick training to each family that got a new computer. They got paid for their work. All kids graduated. (Spent less than $1000 over a couple of semesters.)

C2C is now working on EveryOneOn.

QUESTIONS

Are these programs sustainable financially?

They are social opportunities that get more people online. And people do better when they are online.

Broadband Access Project—James DeSota

• $3 million from ARRA funding and matching funds from the University.
• It was developed from community partners (Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium)

Results

• 3 new and 9 improved PCCs (public computer centers) – 143 workstations in Mpls/St Paul
• More than 15,000 of computer training provided (Internet safety was a popular topic – especially in Somali community)
• More than 90,000 Public Computer Center visits

Lessons Learned

• Relationships and Institutions are key
• Forced the University to make shared decisions, which was a good thing
• Outreach is key – got a guidebook from the feds but it wasn’t as helpful with our targeted population. Creating partnerships who did work with target population was helpful.

The apprentice program was successful but it was an interesting look at the importance of trust. When a new cohort of apprentices started there was an immediate drop off in response – which was fairly quickly regained when the new cohort became known to participants.

Here’s a video from the program:

And a video of James’ presentation:

QUESTIONS

Who provided the connectivity?

The grant paid for some Comcast connections – at a slightly reduced rate.

The Family Online Safety Institute might provide some help to promoting safe surfing support.

EMERGE—Mike Wynne, President and CEO

Creating a career technology center in Northeast Minneapolis.

• Will provide basic computer training to advanced topics.
• Will work on job readiness
• Will work on entrepreneurial training

Hmong American Partnership – Bruce

Provide a one-stop-shop for families and elders. Strive to bring broadband access to all ages.

Challenges:

• Cost & Accessibility
• Language Barriers
• Generational Divide
• Relevancy
• Confidentiality: Personal Security and Safety

Effective Strategies

• Community-based partnerships
• Intergenerational approach
• Culturally and linguistically appropriate training & outreach
• Sustainable, relevant programming

Legislative remarks from Margaret Anderson Kelliher

Future Appointees

• We should be getting 2 maybe 3 new members of the Task Force before the next meeting.

Two hot issues:

• Establishment of Office of Broadband is moving forward – about ready to go to conference committee.
  • There are outstanding issues – where will the office reside? Who will make staffing decisions
  • There are concerns with Dig Once. Laura Ziegler is here to speak more.
  • There is an issue with sales tax. We had proposed a reduction in sales tax for broadband deployment. The Governor had made a larger decision to expand business taxes.
  • Funding from e911 for broadband deployment is a dead issue with the Legislature.

12:05-12:30 Lunch/Closed small group legislative discussion

Subgroups “Broadband Adoption” – Shirley Walz

• Continuing work on Why Broadband site
• Targeting outreach
  • Are there demographics we should be hitting? Such as AARP?
  • We want to gather what’s happening.
  • Look at top 10 states and determine what they’re doing.
  • Look at Connect MN surveys.

Legislative and upcoming events update – MAK

Discussion on Office of Broadband Deployment

MNDot – they already have a database of construction. So adding that aspect didn’t make a lot of sense.

Location of Office – is being discussed at a high level. Departments are discussing it with Governors. Right now it really seems that it will land in Commerce. The question right now is who should appoint the staff.

DEED is Department of Employment – we think of this as Economic Development issue so Commerce has emerged as the place to fit the office of broadband.

House Bill does not require regular updates on fiber database.

Policymakers sometimes want to make policy – we just advise.

Discussion on Incentives:

Incentive issues will probably die in this session. The discussion on e911 became problematic.

Discussion on Taxes

Sales tax exemption – we wanted to expand the tax exemption. Unfortunately things are moving in a different direction. It might be helpful to voice an opinion once this goes to farther. Maybe we could give an example from Dick Sjoberg.

This would further delay Minnesota’s ability to reach the broadband goals.

Subgroups “Best Practices/Incentives” – Dick Sjoberg

1. What are the other states and countries doing to encourage private development and adoption?
2. We need to review Katz study for more ideas
3. We need to discuss how aggressive the Task Force should be about engaging the Governor’s Office and Legislature on our issues. If we don’t advocate, who?
4. What more can we do to help the schools libraries and minority community?
5. Prepare a list of three “top” choices for our advocacy
6. Facilitate a meeting with CEOs, CFOs, and VPs of Plant and Technology to discuss how providers can be motivated to build the un-served areas of the state
7. Learn what is in the Senate bill and react/act.
8. Work on an incentive plan for the Adoption group’s recommendations.

Question from Maureen

We heard from Personal Health Record of the Future – in Health Committee. It might be nice to get that here as well.

It might be nice to have a healthcare themed meeting. Maybe at North Memorial next month – May 14

2:00 Adjourn

Is Amazon about to jump into the set-top box game?

That’s the word from Bloomberg Businessweek, who quotes three sources familiar with the matter. According to the sources, the ‘Kindle TV’ (name uncertain) will be available this Fall.

Amazon’s new set-top box would work just like any internet-connected streaming device for your television – it would plug into your TV and let users stream internet content. Nothing revolutionary, of course, but Amazon has never offered a product like this before.

Naturally, sources say that the set-top box would let users stream Amazon Video on Demand, as well as Prime Instant Video offerings for Prime subscribers. The benefit for Amazon in manufacturing and operating its own set-top box is that the company would be able to point users in the right direction when it comes to content (watch it on Prime Instant, not Netflix!). Plus, it would give Amazon another way to showcase original content from Amazon Studios, which we saw get a huge kickstart earlier this week from a series of new pilots.

According to the report, the new set-top box is being developed by Amazon’s Lab126 division in Cupertino, and is being helmed by former VP of video products at Cisco Systems Malachy Moynihan.

Right out of the gate, Amazon would be competing with Apple TV, Roku, and consoles like the Xbox 360, which all offer the same deal – streaming internet content on your TV.

The first and most obvious question regarding an Amazon set-top box (other than price, of course), is which apps it would support. For instance, would it launch with a Netflix app, considering that they are a huge competitor in terms of battling for streaming eyes. You would have to imagine that it would, considering Amazon has been able to play nice with other video apps like Netflix on their other devices, like the Kindle Fire tablet.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may have found the next big trend in weight loss: deep brain stimulation (DBS).

A new study has found that DBS in a specific brain region in mice can activate a dopamine type-2 receptor. The process was shown to reduce both the caloric intake and weight of obese mice. The study has been published in in the Journal of Neuroscience.

“Based on this research, DBS may provide therapeutic relief to binge eating, a behavior commonly seen in obese humans, and frequently unresponsive to other approaches,” said Tracy Bale, a neuroscience professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “These results are our best evidence yet that targeting the nucleus accumbens with DBS may be able to modify specific feeding behaviors linked to body weight changes and obesity.”

According to the study’s authors, almost 50% of obese people binge eat. The researchers define binge eating as “uncontrollably” consuming high-calorie food within a short period of time. The mice that received DBS were shown to eat “significantly ” less high fat food. The long-term effects of DBS on obese mice also showed their glucose sensitivity improved.

DBS is currently used to reduce tremors in Parkinson’s disease patients.

“Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas,” said Casey Halpern, lead author of the study and a resident in the Perelman School’s Department of Neurosurgery.

During the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Microsoft set up a countdown clock to the E3 game show in Los Angeles. Major Nelson (aka Larry Hryb) posted the timer, and, being Mr. Xbox, led to lots of speculation that’s when the next-gen console would be announced. Apparently not.

Today, the software giant invites you, me and everyone else to a special shindig on May 21. Select press get invites (I’m not among them) for onsite, while the rest of us can watch online or, in the United States, Spike TV. “On that day, we’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future”, Hryb says.

“Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games”, he continues.

Microsoft promotes hashtag #XboxReveal, which already is busy churning Twitter tweats.

My question: What do you expect from the next Xbox, and what would you like from it?

On thousands of message boards, community forums and health sites across the web, patients and caregivers leave detailed descriptions of their battles with disease, their experiences with drugs and their paths to recovery. But those online notes don’t just provide catharsis and comfort. For big data startup Treato, they’re a rich source of data for uncovering health insights that could help patients, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies and other health organizations.

Plenty of other social media monitoring tools “listen” to digital chatter by keyword to help companies track the sentiment of online conversations about their brand.  But Treato CEO Ido Hadari said his company goes further. Over four years and with $7.5 million in venture funding, Treato developed technology that collects and processes billions of natural language patient conversation in real-time, as well as qualifies the sources of those conversations.

“What Treato is doing is the next-generation of patient intelligence,” he said. “It’s about an in-depth understanding of patients and caregivers and their real-life personal experiences.”

To start, it analyzes health-oriented web sites to make sure that they include quality health content and personal experiences. To date, Treato has qualified 2,000 sites, including Topix.com, Drugs.com and smaller condition-specific health sites. Interestingly, while it includes public posts from Facebook, Hadari said, Treato does not include comments on Twitter because they found that 90 percent of its data is spam.

Once the company aggregates the commentary, it runs an analysis with its own medical ontology that organizes the unstructured social data into knowledge about patients’ personal experiences. To date, Hadari said, it’s analyzed 1.3 billion conversations from millions of patients about 11,000 drugs and 13,000 conditions.

Since launching in 2011, the company has focused on patient comments related to drugs — on Treato.com, anyone can look up thousands of different medications to learn about side effects, effectiveness, whether patients switched to alternatives and more. And a service launched in October enables pharma companies to monitor patient responses to their products.

Treato declined to share the number of clients that had signed on to the service but said, anecdotally, that its service has helped customers uncover the reasons behind a product’s poor adoption, uncover new uses for a medication and reposition a drug’s marketing plan. Treato could also serve as an early warning system for a drug with harmful side effects to a large population.

With a new $14.5 million round of financing from OrbiMed Israel Partners, New Leaf Ventures and Reed Elsevier Ventures, announced this week  (see disclosure), Hadari said the company plans to build up a presence in the U.S. and expand its “Facebook meets WebMD” concept to unearth patient insights about broader medical conditions or clinical trials.

It also plans to roll out a set of features that would let patients view a more personalized set of data. For example, instead of just seeing how thousands of patients have responded to a drug, a user could create a profile of their medical history and then filter data to see the results most relevant to his condition.

As patients go online to seek out others experiencing similar conditions and symptoms, they’re leaving a valuable trail of data that could lead to advancements in care. Lucine Biotechnology, a Las Vegas-based startup, is attempting to improve women’s healthcare by drawing connections between social comments online and information gathered through salivary hormone monitoring. Alliance Health Networks uses algorithms to analyze conversations in its online communities to better understand how patients influence each other and enable pharma companies and clinicians understand how patients make medical decision.

Disclosure: Reed Elsevier, an investor in Treato, is also an investor in GigaOM through its Reed Ventures arm.

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Broadcasters have had it tough in business model terms. The rise of cable and the proliferation of content have shaken off their grip on consumers’ attention and schedules. The vastly expanding worlds of alternatives for entertainment and education have put them in a position of struggling to hang on to audiences. And all this has basically ended the dominance of “appointment TV,” when you would know that a certain show was on at a certain time and clear your calendar to watch it. With the exception of “big event TV,” which includes programs such as the Super Bowl or the American Idol finals, viewers can increasingly customize what they are watching to their own interests and on their own schedules. The future of broadcast is indeed unclear.

The recent National Association of Broadcaster’s annual meeting made at least that much clear. I typically don’t go to this meeting, but was asked to speak this year and decided to stick around afterwards to learn more about the strategies broadcasters are using to remain viable in the face of technological progress and competitive pressures. (Also among the highlights was hearing Dorie Clark talk about her new book on personal branding. Key takeaway: We all need to build a brand!) My key impressions from the conference are, that relative to the folks from the broadband/wireless world where I have a good deal of experience helping executive teams develop new strategies and business models, the broadcasters are a much more fragmented lot, and that the pressures of unbundling (the separate pricing of goods and services as opposed to purchasing them in a package) could conceivably wreak havoc on their business models.

The basic problem is that the constraints which broadcasters have historically used to protect their profits have now been relaxed — or have even disappeared. Indeed, the New York Times recently noted that the profit model for broadcasters is under assault, citing “cracks in the citadel of TV profits.” The issue is that when you sell things in bundles you can charge for a whole bunch of things nobody really wants — customers will pay for the entire bundle in order to get the one or two things they actually want. This worked for years in cable television — give customers hundreds of channels they won’t watch but will pay for anyway in order to obtain ESPN or HBO. It worked in music — make customers purchase an entire album when all they actually want is the hit song. It works in other industries as well, such as education. Think of it — we get charged for a degree, when perhaps all we want is a course or two.

This is exactly what’s happening in the broadcast industry right now. Upstart Aereo has a potentially devastating business model where, using teeny antennas, they snatch “free” content that broadcasters send over the airwaves, then charge customers subscription fees to have that content directed to their own TV sets. While the channels are a lot more limited, the fees are much less than a cable subscription. The broadcasters, obviously, have cried foul, arguing that they pay to create the high-quality content that is re-broadcast and should be compensated for it. Aereo’s argument, which the courts have so far supported, is that those signals are free for the taking and that all they are doing is offering a sort of souped up set of rabbit ears to their customers. To understand just how disruptive this is, consider one of the more dramatic moments of the conference when News Corp.’s president, Chase Carey, very calmly said that if the networks lose the right to charge re-transmission fees, they would consider abandoning the business model of sending content over the airwaves and instead adopt a pay-only model.

Once the bundled model begins to erode, consumers flee it to go to a model where they are buying only what they want. That’s what happened in music, fundamentally transforming the nature of the business. Increasingly, that’s what’s happening with movies, as video on demand and streaming fundamentally shift power to consumers. So, will broadcasters be able to throw up the barricades and keep the bundled model going strong? My guess is not. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens.

Samsung on Wednesday issued a statement suggesting the Galaxy S4 may be somewhat difficult to find following its launch later this week. “Due to overwhelming global demand of Galaxy S4, the initial supply may be limited,” Samsung said in a statement issued to the media. “We expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks.” Samsung’s hotly anticipated new flagship phone, which features a quad-core processor, a 5-inch HD display and a 13-megapixel camera, is set to launch on seven U.S. carriers by the end of May. BGR reviewed the Galaxy S4 on Wednesday and called it better than its predecessor in every possible way.

Twitter is partnering with the gum company Trident and the music television network Fuse to create Trending 10, an entertainment show about popular music that will air both on television and online, using Twitter’s data about music and social conversations about artists to power the content. The companies stated that it will be the first TV show “sourced and produced from real-time Twitter conversation spikes.”

The companies announced the collaboration on Wednesday, and it marks yet another example highlighting several trends we’ve seen from Twitter recently: a clear indication that the company is becoming a media entity, a strong interest in working with television companies, and a commitment to the strong interest in music that already exists on the platform.

“Through this partnership with Twitter, Fuse and Trident will enjoy elevated access to Twitter data surrounding the music conversation happening in real time,” Joel Lunenfeld, vice president of brand strategy at Twitter stated for the press release on the announcement.

Trending 10 will be a show that highlights the ten most popular music entertainment stories of the day, and it will air both live on television and in segments online that can be shared via social media.

Twitter has forged a number of television partnerships recently, including ones with the BBC, Comedy Central, and Turner Broadcast around March Madness. There were also reports that the company is looking to do deals with Viacom and NBC. As with this deal around the Trending 10 show, working with television networks could give advertisers the opportunity to cross-promote on both the live broadcast and corresponding social conversations.

And now that Twitter has rolled out its official #Music app, the Trending 10 show demonstrates how much money the company can make around music and entertainment. Twitter confirmed that the content on Trending 10 will come from the social conversations happening on the platform around music, which also power the content on the #Music app. Music artists are some of the most popular figures on Twitter, so building out advertising and promotion opportunities around those artists and Twitter makes sense.

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