Category: News

MANILA, Philippines–Constellation Energy Corp. is considering financing and developing seven “potential” renewable energy projects in the country, according to its top official. Jose P. Leviste Jr., president and chair of Constellation Energy …

I was disappointed to learn that Choco’s beloved Pet Promise cat food is no more. According to a letter on the Pet Promise’s website, they are discontinuing production of their dog and cat food effective January 2010.

The decision to stop making the natural dog and cat food was an economic one. However, they are continuing their Pet Promise shampoos. I liked Pet Promise because they were dedicated to sourcing from America’s family farms and helping to protect our planet. Most of all, I liked it because my cat loves it so. And now, as many of you, I must switch.

I know all the brands that made Choco vomit, but what I don’t know is what brand will be his next favorite. Since I tend to be a fan of organic products, I may go with Castor and Pollux. They have a certified organic food named Organix which is supposed to be suitable for any age kitty. If that doesn’t work, there are plenty more to try.

Are you currently feeding Pet Promise cat or dog food? If so, what will you replace it with?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Saying Farewell to Pet Promise Food

Alternative Energy

• Copenhagen’s Famous Tivoli Amusement Park Will Be Wind-Powered

Baby

• Organic Crib Mattresses and Bedding by Natural Mat
• BPA-Free Silicone “Skinned” Glass Makes Little Kids Feel Big

Beauty

• 100% Natural and Organic Soap From the Rainforest
• Natural Deodorant Uses Crystals to Keep You Fresh

Business

• Cadbury Workers Unite Against Kraft’s Hostile Takeover

Fair Trade

• Cadbury Workers Unite Against Kraft’s Hostile Takeover

Fashion

• Eco-Friendly Bamboo Scarf Packaged in Earth Friendly Reusable Bag by Wish Wrap

Food

• 100% Natural, Gluten-Free Freeze Dried Fruit Snacks in New Flavors
• iPhone App Helps You Choose Sustainable Seafood
• Cadbury Workers Unite Against Kraft’s Hostile Takeover
• Naturally “Healthy” Frozen Sorbet by Jolly Llama
• Gluten Free Cooking: Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix

Gifts

• Eco-Friendly Bamboo Scarf Packaged in Earth Friendly Reusable Bag by Wish Wrap
• Heifer International: Meaningful Gifts That Change the World

Green Homes

• DIY Eco-Friendly Dual Flush Toilet Retrofit Kit
• Natural Laundry Detergent Vaska Uses Herbs to Clean
• Fight and Prevent Mold Without Bleach, Ammonia, or VOCs

Health

• Natural Hand Sanitizer Protects Hands for 2.5 Hours Using Silver

Holiday

• Christmas Tree Recycling, Chipping and Composting
• Happy Winter Solstice!
• Heifer International: Meaningful Gifts That Change the World

Kids

• 100% Natural, Gluten-Free Freeze Dried Fruit Snacks in New Flavors
• BPA-Free Silicone “Skinned” Glass Makes Little Kids Feel Big
• Ikea Holiday Soft Toy Gifts Support UNICEF and Save the Children

Product review

• Organic Crib Mattresses and Bedding by Natural Mat
• 100% Natural, Gluten-Free Freeze Dried Fruit Snacks in New Flavors
• Natural Laundry Detergent Vaska Uses Herbs to Clean
• Natural Deodorant Uses Crystals to Keep You Fresh
• BPA-Free Silicone “Skinned” Glass Makes Little Kids Feel Big
• Natural Hand Sanitizer Protects Hands for 2.5 Hours Using Silver
• Eco-Friendly Bamboo Scarf Packaged in Earth Friendly Reusable Bag by Wish Wrap
• Naturally “Healthy” Frozen Sorbet by Jolly Llama
• Fight and Prevent Mold Without Bleach, Ammonia, or VOCs
• Gluten Free Cooking: Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix
• Ikea Holiday Soft Toy Gifts Support UNICEF and Save the Children

Recycling

• Christmas Tree Recycling, Chipping and Composting

Shopping

• Shopping Online Uses 40% Less Fuel than Going to the Mall

Wildlife

• Largest Copper and Gold Mine Would Destroy Bristol Bay, Alaska

environment

• Extinct Manzanita Bush Found in San Francisco Presidio
• Largest Copper and Gold Mine Would Destroy Bristol Bay, Alaska
• Jet Trails Reduce Sunshine by Up to 10 Percent

Braun's Rams influenced Apple's Ive. Photo courtesy of Gizmodo

A few months ago, my friend Christian Lindholm, partner at Fjord, a convergence design agency, and father of the Series 60 interface (at Nokia) stopped by for one of our quarterly idea sessions. Our conversation eventually veered towards a topic that’s near and dear to both of us: design. I spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating design and its eventual impact on products and companies. Lindholm’s visit coincidentally was a few days before we launched the redesigned GigaOM. I wanted his opinion. Instead he offered great insight. Most companies (including web startups), he said, are looking to “wow” with their products, when in reality what they should be looking for is an “’of course’ reaction from their users.”

Puzzled, I looked at him. And then it hit me: Great design means that one look and the end user reacts by knowing what to do with a knob or a button, without as much as even thinking about it. Of course this knob is what turns the volume up, or brings up the home screen, or in case of our own site design, a hypertext link that brings up posts by Stacey or Liz or me.

This of course factor is at the heart of every great design — from the iPhone to the Braun alarm radio. And it’s an important lesson that every startup and entrepreneur should remember. Whether your company is making a physical product or a web service or mobile application, it’s essential for you to think about design.

This was brought home to me earlier today when I was watching “Objectified,” a documentary film by director Gary Hustwit, who’s well-known for his last film, “Helvetica.” (Both are available for download on the iTunes Store.) Hustwit explores objects around us, how they’re designed, and what they do. It was the best 75 minutes I’ve spent watching a movie, for it not only educated me about design, but it also helped me understand how great designers such as Marc Newson; Dieter Rams, Braun’s former design chief; and Apple’s Jonathan Ive think of and design products.

“In my experience users react positively when things are clear and understandable,” Rams told the Filmmaker. Rams, a veteran designer, is well-known for designing iconic products for Braun. He’s said to have been a major influence on Ive, Apple’s senior VP of Industrial Design.

When talking about the iPhone, Ive told the filmmaker:

When we are designing a product, we look at the various attributes of a product. Some of those attributes are the materials it is made from and the form that is connected to that material. Other issues is physically how do you connect to the product. For example in iPhone, everything defers to the display.

A lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is getting design out of the way. With that sort of reason, it feels almost inevitable, almost undesigned and it feels almost, like of course it is that way. Why would it be any other way?

I think this is what Apple’s competitors fail to understand. Many confuse features — aka feeds and speeds — with what really connects with customers: user experiences. (That’s a primary reason why I’m not a fan of Droid, the much ballyhooed Android device. And it’s also the reason why I have growing respect for HTC and what it’s doing with its Sense technology.)

Explaining Apple’s design philosophy behind MacBook Air, Ive told the filmmaker:

We push ourselves to ask, can we do the job of those six parts with just one? One part that provides so much functionality that it enables one product. It wasn’t design of the physical thing, but it was figuring out the process. It is about what’s important and what’s not important.

It is important to remember things that are important and not important and then removing things that are vying for your attention.

Similarly, all features have to have a reason, Ive explained. He gave the example of the indicator light on a MacBook which simply goes away when the laptop is in use.

Indicator has a value when it is indicating. So you spend a lot of time making things less obvious, less conspicuous. When indicator comes on, it is not a feature. It is a calm and considered solution and focus on how you are going to use it.

10 Rules of Good Design by Dieter Rams

1. Good design should be innovative

2. Good design should make a product useful

3. Good design is aesthetic design

4. Good design will make a product understandable

5. Good design is honest

6. Good design is unobtrusive

7. Good design is long lived

8. Good design is consistent in every details

9. Good design should be environmentally friendly

10. Good design is as little design as possible

But not everyone thinks like that. “What bothers me today is the arbitrariness and thoughtlessness with which many things are produced and brought to market, not only in the sector of consumer goods, but also in architecture and advertising,” Rams said in the film. “We have too many unnecessary things everywhere.” I completely agree. And when the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off later this week in Las Vegas, we’re going to see a gaudy display of these excesses. The good news is that many of these will never see the light of the day.

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Video encoding technology firm Envivio has raised $1 million in funding, per an SEC filing. This brings the company’s total funding to over $30 million, including a $25 million round in 2008. Envivio’s tech enables high-quality video delivery for mobile TV, IPTV and broadcast platforms; Apple demoed its iLiveTV platform for the iPhone during last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Envivio has gained most of its traction overseas. Customers include GlobeCast and Orange (for mobile), Shanghai Media Group (for IPTV) and Televisa (for broadcast), among others. Founded in 2000, Envivio is based in S.F., with offices in London, France, Beijing and Tokyo.

Related

• Digital Broadcast Fundings: Envivo Gets $25 Million; Verimatrix Gets More Funding

Christmas may be over but that doesn’t mean you still can’t get a reindeer iPhone case. Power Support has joined forces with several high-end designers and artists to bring about creative cases that will not only protect but look good too. There is the Charlotte Ronson Reindeer, Michael 69 Skull, Shikika Tokyo Butterfly, and several others. Each one retails for $39.95 and each Power Support Jacket comes paired with screen protector films.

The following news release is directly from the Oregon State Archives website.

As a legacy to the sesquicentennial of Oregon’s statehood, the Oregon State Archives presents the Early Oregonians Database. The information that can be found in the database is from census, death, probate, and other records to help researchers find relevant information and documents about people who lived in Oregon prior to statehood.

Archives staff and volunteers began collecting information for this project from the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses for Oregon, in 2004. Volunteers and student interns reviewed the extracted information and combined entries that appeared on both censuses. As later census information became available online, staff searched for individuals who met the Early Oregonian criteria and added additional information and individuals. Various records from the Oregon State Archives such as probate records, death certificates and marriage records were also searched to identify individuals who appeared to meet the criteria. Additional information in the profiles was derived from numerous sources including secondary sources and publications. Family tree data from various websites is also noted.

Currently there are over 105,500 entries representing these ‘Early Oregonians.’ Because of limits on available records and documentation, the project can only realistically be defined to include people living in Oregon from 1800 to 1860, despite the fact that large populations of Native Americans lived in the Oregon Country prior to 1840. Documentation of our earliest Natives is scant and not readily available. It wasn’t until the first federal decennial census in 1860, that any Native Americans were identified. However, instructions to the census enumerators limited how Natives were to be counted:

“Indians not taxed are not to be enumerated. The families of Indians who have renounced tribal rule, and who under state or territory laws exercise the rights of citizens, are to be enumerated.”

The first use of the term “Indian” doesn’t appear until the 1870 census when it became a choice in the column heading for “color.” Neither the 1850 or 1860 census for Oregon included significant numbers of Native Americans. In compiling profiles for this project, staff encountered many mixed race individuals identified as “mulatto.” In most instances these designations were changed to “Indian” unless evidence clearly indicates the individual was of mixed African American descent. Another designation that appears with some frequency is “HB” apparently indicating “half-breed.” There are many inconsistencies in the censuses over time for individuals of mixed Native American descent. Staff relied on the preponderance of evidence to determine race in these cases.

Project volunteers are beginning to work on the Indian censuses compiled for the various reservations between 1885 and 1940 with the goal of incorporating more information and individuals in the project over time. Published Catholic Church records were used in the project and provide some of the information on Native Americans included in the database. This often included what appeared to be tribal designations, which are included when appropriate and consistent with the available evidence. Standardized names for these tribal designations were used whenever possible, because tribal names were not reported or spelled consistently.

Volunteers and student interns have done the bulk of the data entry and research for this project. We especially want to recognize the volunteers who have spent more than five years working on this effort. They are Margaret Hoffman, Harriett Miller, Mimi Stang, Daraleen Wade and Betty Winn. Archives Manager Layne Sawyer oversaw this project from concept to publication on the Web. Other members of the Archives staff making significant contributions include Linda Bjornstad, Rhonda Lester and Austin Schulz. Archivist Andrew Needham helped to develop and implement the database on the Web. Archivists Todd Shaffer, Dave Wendell and Gary Halvorson also contributed to the project.

Because this is a living database, in that it is our goal to add and refine information on individuals as it becomes available, we welcome you to contact us at [email protected] if you have documentation that you would like to make available to us.

Go to the Early Oregonians Database.

I did a search on the Lane surname. I got many hits. Clicking on one for Charlotte Lane, I got the following screen. Click on the screen shot to go to the site – and then click on the tabs along the top. Pretty cool info…

Search the Early Oregonians Database.

Apparently a new reality TV season is about to begin. 

family tv time image: sxc.hu

Families seem to become glued to their television screens during these shows, bemoaning the fact if something takes them away that evening and they can’t watch the moment the show becomes live, even though they can tape for later use.

What do these shows teach our kids?  Are they displaying back biting, meanness, competition without ethics?  Even when there is team effort, we’re often shown name calling and ugliness, instead of friends and family helping one another.  The nastier the relationships between the contestants, even within families, the higher the ratings. 

So do you want your children to hold up the participants in these shows as role models?  Do you want them treating siblings, friends and strangers the same way?

Perhaps  there are some reality shows that point out the goodness in people.  However, in general, it would appear that the current batch of these shows bring out the worst in people and judges.

What’s your opinion?

Post from: Blisstree

Is Reality TV Good for Your Kids?

The DECE, or Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, is made up of movie studios and tech companies, and is trying to create a way to effectively charge for digital movies. They revealed some future plans today, and they’re, um, interesting.

The idea is that when you buy a movie, your rights are digitally stored in a “rights locker,” which should theoretically allow you to play your purchased movie on any hardware that supports the DECE standard. Considering that Sony, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Best Buy, Nokia, Toshiba, HP and Motorola—but not Disney or Apple—are all on board (and today they added several new members), that could mean a wide range of devices, from set-top boxes to TVs to mobiles—but not iPhones.

There are a bunch of issues with that idea. First, if given the choice, far more people are going to rent a movie than buy one. Movies are different than music, you guys; you rarely re-watch movies, and the DECE proposal has no room for renting. Second, they’re trying to make our lives easier, but since this standard is unlikely to be adopted in full force immediately, that means lots more problems: Where do you get these particular movies, without one retailer like Amazon or iTunes? On which devices can you play them? Do you have to pick a hotel based on whether it supports DECE, so you can watch Fantastic Mr. Fox again? Do you have to replace all your current equipment?

And, of course, any solution that’s harder to use than what’s freely available is not likely to stick around. Ripping a DVD (or Blu-ray) is easy, and you can use the file anywhere—why go to this complicated, proprietary version?

We’ll reserve full judgment until we see exactly what DECE has planned (possibly at CES this week). But for now—just rip your own Blu-rays. Here’s how. [NYTimes]

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Announces Key Milestones

21 New Members Join Cross-Industry Coalition to Make “Buy Once, Play Anywhere” a Reality for Consumers

LOS ANGELES —(Business Wire)— Jan 04, 2010 Today the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC (DECE LLC), www.decellc.com, a coalition with support from every industry involved in digital entertainment, announced it has reached key milestones toward establishing the first open market for digital content distribution. In addition, DECE announced that 21 companies have joined the group which now includes 48 members across entertainment, software, hardware, retail, infrastructure and delivery.

The milestones announced today include:

Agreement on a Common File Format, an open specification for digital entertainment, that will be used by all participating content providers, services and device manufacturers
Vendor selection for and role of the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment
Approval of five Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions that will be DECE-compatible
Full technical specifications will be available in the first half of 2010.

Common File Format

DECE has agreed on a Common File Format, an industry first in digital distribution. An open specification for digital entertainment, like DVD or Blu-ray, the Common File Format may be licensed by any company to create a DECE consumer offering. Since this format will play on any service or device built to DECE specifications – whether via Internet, Mobile, Cable or IPTV, etc. – it will make “Buy Once, Play Anywhere” a reality.

The Common File Format optimizes the digital entertainment supply chain, benefiting content providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and retailers. Content providers only need to encode and encrypt one file type in portable, standard definition and high definition for multiple vendors. CDNs will not have to store different file types to accommodate retailers’ varying needs. Retailers can efficiently deliver content to devices from different manufacturers.

Digital Rights Locker

DECE has selected Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR) as the vendor for the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment. It will authenticate rights to view content from multiple services, with multiple devices as well as manage content and registration of devices in consumer accounts. DECE will provide an open Application Programming Interface (API) that allows any Web-enabled storefront, service or device to integrate access to the Digital Rights Locker into its own consumer offering.

Approved DRMs

DECE has approved five DRMs that will be compatible with the Common File Format – Adobe® Flash® Access, CMLA-OMA V2, The Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady® and Widevine®. Compatibility with multiple DRMs will ensure that content can be played back via streaming or download on a wide variety of services and devices.

New Members

In 2009, 21 companies joined DECE, including: Adobe, Ascent Media Group, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cox Communications, DivX, DTS, Extend Media, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Motorola, Nagravision, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Rovi, Secure Path, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson and Zoran. These companies join DECE’s original members which include world leaders across a wide range of industries.

“The digital entertainment marketplace is on the cusp of a new era of rapid growth,” said Mitch Singer, President of DECE. “The key to unlocking this potential is giving consumers the ‘Buy Once, Play Anywhere’ experience they want. That’s the goal of DECE and one we’re making rapid progress toward today.”

About Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC is a cross-industry initiative developing the next generation digital media experience based on open, licensable specifications and designed to create a viable, global digital marketplace. The DECE is currently made up of Adobe, Alcatel-Lucent, Ascent Media Group, Best Buy, Blueprint Digital, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cisco, Comcast, Cox Communications, Deluxe Digital, DivX, Dolby Laboratorie, DTS, Extend Media, Fox Entertainment Group, HP, Intel, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Lionsgate, Microsoft, MOD Systems, Motorola, Movie Labs, Nagravision, NBC Universal, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Panasonic, Paramount Pictures, Philips, RIAA, Rovi, Roxio CinemaNow, Samsung Electronics, Secure Path, Sony, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson, Toshiba, Verimatrix, VeriSign, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Widevine Technologies Inc. and Zoran. This new digital media specification and logo program will enable consumers to purchase digital video content from a choice of online retailers and play it on a variety of devices and platforms from different manufacturers.

The Throwbacks were with us for an 8 week run… and then disappeared, much to our dismay. Based on all the comments posted here on BevReview, as well as on Twitter and Facebook, we weren’t alone in that thought! Even the folks at National Public Radio were interested; they interviewed us on the air!

Thus when Pepsi announced in August that we’d see another limited return of the Throwbacks starting in December, there was much rejoicing! Things got more exciting when we started to see the improved designs that both products featured, making up for the poorly-executed visual design we saw in April. With these new looks, the “new” Throwbacks should stand out in the marketplace more effectively.

That said, the rereleased Pepsi Throwback is finally here!

Let’s start by taking a look at the new label design. In Pepsi’s original announcements in August, they mentioned that we’d see the “Same formula, but cooler vintage look!” (Facebook) and “With the same formula, but new awesome vintage look!” (Twitter).
Long gone is the blue label color that was used in the April release. Instead, we’ve actually gone retro, somewhat in the spirit of the prototype Pepsi Throwback design. The Pepsi logo in the December 2009 version of Throwback seems to be a callback to the 1971 vs. the 1987 version seen on the prototype bottle (note the differences in the “PEPSI” font, especially the way the “E” is crafted).
Pepsi Throwback Comparison: Prototype, April 2009, & December 2009 Designs
Pepsi Throwback Comparison: Prototype, April 2009, & December 2009 Designs

The logo and branding is now set horizontally instead of vertical and sideways, more in line with standard can design, which was more popular back then vs. the 20 oz. bottles which dominate sales today.

Careful observers will also note a change in the way sugar is described. You’ll recall the April 2009 version of Pepsi Throwback referred to the product as “made with natural sugar”, however now we have a callout to being “made with real sugar” (just likethe prototype originally noted). Of course, the use of this language seems a lot clearer vs. the question of “just what is natural sugar?” If the formula stays the same as has been previously shared, it should still be a combination of cane and beet sugar. Ironically, the use of the “real sugar” line may also prompt potential customers to ask, “so, if this is real sugar, what was the stuff in Pepsi before?” I’m sure the folks over at the Corn Refiners Association would love to answer that question.

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With the year—and decade—coming to a close, the business press has been awash with stories about just how lousy the ‘00s were. As Paul Krugman details in the New York Times, it was a decade with a tiny amount of job creation, and the first decade on record where private-sector jobs shrunk. The typical family got no economic boost at all. And when the volatility rollercoaster ended there was also no appreciation in home prices and zero gains on stocks.

That pain was felt by venture capitalists as well. I’ve argued for a while now that once the gains from 1999 and 2000 fall off the ten-year index of VC returns, we’re going to be looking at an industry that has returns at or below the S&P 500. Given we’re coming out of a “decade of zero,” that’s a pretty bad thing. Especially for an asset class that is (supposed to) take huge risks in the name of potentially outsized returns.

Dow Jones VentureSource is releasing its year-end liquidity numbers for 1999 this morning and no surprise—it’s just another data point nail in the coffin.

At a high level you can put a good spin on the facts: In the fourth quarter acquisitions rebounded mightily. Public companies snapped up some 86 venture-backed companies for a total of $7.3 billion and three IPOs raised a—let’s be honest—paltry $220 million. And the median amount paid for a company in the fourth quarter was more than $100 million for the first time since 2000.

But as frequently happens in quarter-to-quarter surveys, that $100 million number was skewed greatly by a few large deals, most notably, Zappos’s $1.2 billion purchase by Amazon. Overall, for the year the median acquisition price was just $27 million.

And the overall rebound in fourth quarter liquidity is only impressive compared to the nine months prior. For the year, the industry produced just $17.1 billion in returns, 34% less than the $26.1 billion generated in 2008. And that wasn’t a particularly good year.

The surge in M&A and talk of some promising companies waiting in the wings to go public aside, this industry is in as much trouble as ever for three simple reasons. If these reasons don’t get addressed the 2010s may be worse than the ‘00s for the asset class.

1. The Math Doesn’t Work. An industry that invests roughly $20 billion a year (or even more), can’t survive on returns of roughly $20 billion a year. The basis of a portfolio investing business is that the hits have to make up for the losses—not just pay for themselves. It doesn’t matter how much you believe in innovation, how much you believe in the Valley and how much you believe in venture capital itself—the numbers are now and have for the last decade been hopelessly out of whack. Unless investors can discover an area that can produce many billion-dollar homeruns like the ecommerce, enterprise software and telecom did in decades past, there needs to be dramatically less money investing in early stage firms, period.

As we speak, many once proud venture firms are having a hard time raising their next funds, and many are turning towards less-desirable limited partners out of necessity. A host of funds were supposed to close in 2009 and haven’t yet. Watch the news in 2010 closely: If firms are taking money from state pension funds, raise an eyebrow. Back in the early 2000s state funds came under pressure from Freedom of Information Act requests to divulge information about underlying portfolio investments and privacy-conscious VCs turned their backs on those pension funds as a result. Anyone going back to them now was likely told no by nearly everyone else. Of course, those firms will still be in business. But not all firms will once their current funds are depleted, and ultimately, that’s a good thing for the industry.

2. M&As Alone Will Not Sustain VCs. While it’s true that the bulk of exits VCs get are from acquisitions, this is not where the bulk of returns come from. The economics of venture capital are based on homeruns. That’s why some 5% of the industry makes some 95% of the money. And those big hits come from IPOs or in some cases the threat of an IPO that makes a publicly-held competitor pay a huge premium for a startup. This is why M&A values surged so high in the late 1990s. Companies like Cisco had to shell out hundreds of millions or even billions to buy a company because it was so easy for them to go public. That’s not the case today and when you only have a handful of companies out buying, even a Google or Cisco shopping spree can only net so much in returns.

3. The Perilous Ripple Effect. There is a way that venture capital can adjust to a new normal of smaller exits with smaller multiples: Taking less risk and selling early. That means a switch of focus from building companies to building products. This is how much of the world outside Silicon Valley invests now. The benefit is it requires less capital and less risk. If you build something of value, there’s a likelihood you can get $5 million or even $20 million for it. But that’s the cap of what you’re going to get without a business to back that product up. But that’s OK economically, because you have fewer failures since you’re taking less risk.

Indeed in 2009, Dow Jones found that companies raised a median of just $18 million in venture capital before getting acquired. That’s 18% less than in 2008. And the companies sold faster. It took a median of five years to get an exit, versus six years in 2008.

A lot of entrepreneurs and angel investors argue there’s nothing wrong with this. With far less capital needed to start a company these days, what’s wrong with a smaller exit? You’re still making money, right? Not every idea has to be a $1 billion one to be worth starting.

That’s true for a bootstrapped or angel-funded startup, but not for venture backed deals and the Valley at large. That kind of thinking will eventually destroy an ecosystem that is built on a foundation of homeruns paying for all mistakes. Put another way, the reason we are so famously free to fail in the Valley is that a big homerun can economically make up for those failures. That is what has set Silicon Valley apart for decades. If that changes, the output of the Valley will change too.

And don’t forget: The companies providing these modest exits are the homeruns from previous decades. Without the past big hits of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco, who’d be paying $20 million for your Web 2.0 app today? Consider that Facebook—a company that was ridiculed by the press and analysts for not selling for $1 billion or less back in 2006 —has already bid $500 million for Twitter and acquired FriendFeed. Good thing for the Valley Facebook didn’t listen to critics.

You don’t have to look too far to see what a world where VCs only build-to-flip would look like. It’s largely happened already in lifesciences. The industry that gave birth to Genentech, Amgen and a lot of promise for returns, job creation and cures, has now turned into big pharma’s outsourced R&D lab.

I’m not blaming investors. Because of the high costs of clinical trials, biotech companies used to go public to fund clinical trials. But in the post-2000, SarbOx chill it became all-but impossible for pre-clinical trial, pre-revenue companies to go public. That meant the work had to get financed another way, and that other way was licensing deals with big pharma. Unfortunately, that means a lot of the value from those breakthroughs goes to big pharma, all but ensuring the next Genentech or Amgen may never be created.

But tech doesn’t have those costly restrictions. Do we really want to embrace and celebrate an M&A only world of returns anyway?

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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Every once in a while, a startup comes around with a product that we not only cover, but actually want to use ourselves. PointAbout, a Washington, DC-based self-funded startup, has done just that. AppMakr is absolutely ridonkculous. Basically, AppMakr allows you to create your own iPhone app – for $199. You can include feeds from any RSS-enabled website, and the apps are completely native. Your app is published by PointAbout, AppMakr’s parent company, straight to Apple. If you want it published under your own name or Apple’s publishers license, spend $499. It is an extremely simple product and doesn’t help anyone create complex non-RSS-enabled apps, but it seems that PointAbout has democratized app development in a way that hasn’t been done before.

For any MobileCrunch reader (and readers of our sister and parent blogs), AppMakr is offering 1,000 coupons. Use the code “TECHCRUNCH” to get $150 off the cost of making an app (bringing the price to $49). Visit www.AppMakr.com and use the coupon at checkout.

I was skeptical when I first tried AppMakr: it’s common for products like this to be clunky, and to provide the user with too many options. Surprisingly, AppMakr was extremely well done and easy to use. The downside, of course, is that you don’t have that many options for what goes into your application, and it really does serve a limited purpose. For a blogger like me, it’s great, but you can’t use it to create even the simplest of games or anything like that.

To build your own app, you go on AppMakr.com and register for an account. Then you title your app (we titled it “MobileCrunch”). It automatically populates a list of suggested RSS feeds for you. It correctly found MobileCrunch’s RSS feed, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Vimeo channel. You can select whichever ones you want to be in your app. Then, you can custom-make icons, splash-screens and headers. AppMakr searches Google image search to find suggested images for you – or you can upload your own. Finally, you have options for generating revenue (such as advertising via AdMob) through your app.

It took me just 10 minutes to create my own app, which is impressive. The app is native, too, and doesn’t use Webkit, which is great for user experience because the app stores content on your iPhone for offline reading.

While you are crafting an application via AppMakr, you can also test it on the fly. Every time you make a change, AppMakr.com’s engine shows the change on a mock iPhone on the righthand side of your browser. This lets you test your app and check whether it actually does what you want it to. Furthermore, you can download the app to your iPhone and test it there as well.

All of the apps are packaged the same way and there is no WYSIWYG interface to move buttons around or change the user experience. This also means all AppMakr-made apps will look the same, which is a bit of a problem if a large number of people start using it.

AppMakr has been in beta for quite some time, and during their beta, they’ve managed to attract some tech heavyweights as users. Guy Kawasaki has 12 apps on the store via AppMakr [iTunes link], and Seth Godin has made his own app as well [iTunes link].

AppMakr’s parent company, PointAbout, has been creating custom iPhone apps for companies for 1.5 years, says co-Founder Daniel Odio. They’ve got 15+ employees and are profitable, but felt like there was a huge opportunity to enable anyone to create their own app. As such, they’ve worked hard on developing AppMakr, and even use it for their own custom internal projects. Daniel says that a custom iPhone app can cost anywhere from $50,000-100,000, so they feel that $199 for an iPhone app is a major upgrade.

PointAbout is based in Washington, DC, and has just opened a new office. They are providing office space for free for entrepreneurs in the DC metro area, so feel free to visit their website to find out more.

One significant problem with AppMakr is that it only exacerbates the iTunes App overload, and encourages people (notice I no longer have to say “developers”) to flood the App Store. It seems like someone could easily create hundreds of garbage apps and generate a cash cow business on the App Store. Of course, that is again up to the users – the same thing could be said of Blogger enabling anyone to create a garbage website or YouTube letting anyone put up crappy videos.

The bottom line is: it no longer costs $50,000+ to create an iPhone app, and you don’t need to be a developer to create one. For $199, AppMakr can do it for you. Oh, and if you’re a TechCrunch fan, don’t forget: use the code “TECHCRUNCH” at checkout and the first 1,000 users will spend just $49 creating their own iPhone app.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Lenovo is kicking off the new year with a series of new ThinkPad laptops for small businesses, including a number of low-cost options that include chips from Advanced Micro Devices. Lenovo is also offering a first for its business users: the choice of color in a laptop.

The ThinkPad Edge, debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show, has a new industrial design that brings some of the sexy look of  consumer laptops to small business machines. The Windows 7 machine comes in black and “heat wave red.

This color option is a big step, since Lenovo has been identified with conservative business designs forever (including the days when ThinkPad belonged to IBM). The company says the machines are still built for performance, productivity, reliability and security.

But the marketing folks have noticed that people tend to take pride in having cool-looking laptops, whether they’re business people or not, said Charles Sune, worldwide segment manager at Lenovo, in an interview. The whole goal is to re-energize the ThinkPad brand, which some view as strait-laced.

The choice of AMD Turion X2 and Athlon X2 processors in some of the machines is an important victory for AMD, which needs all of the design wins it can get in its battle with Intel. Lenovo has a lot of market share and it has been an Intel shop on its ThinkPad business line, although it has used AMD chips in consumer models. It shows that Lenovo is paying attention to the price-consciousness of recession-battered small businesses.

It’s clear why the AMD machines are cheaper. With a four-cell battery, the Edge gets 3.7 hours of battery life with an AMD chip and 5.9 hours with a six-cell battery. With an Intel processor, it gets 5.9 hours with a four-cell and 8.9 hours with a six-cell.

Lenovo is participating in the AMD Vision Pro branding campaign, which seeks to simplify the selling process for small business owners by classifying the computers into simple usage categories. Prices start at $549.

The Edge machines also have a choice of high resolution cameras, optional 3G and 4G wireless, Skype for Internet calling and other features. There are four models in the Edge series, including models with 13 inch, 14 inch, and 15 inch screens. The laptops are smaller since Lenovo removed the numbered keypads on the keyboard. The 14-inch and 15-inch models (both available in the second quarter) will come with illuminated keyboards so you can see the keys on a darkened airplane. The 14-inch version will be available at Best Buy, a new channel for Lenovo.

Lenovo is also launching its first entry in the “ultraportable” laptop market, the ThinkPad X100e (right). The company bills the laptop as the first professional-grade ultraportable laptop below $500. It also uses an AMD processor and the AMD Vision Pro branding. Options include AMD Athlon Neo single-core or dual-core processors (cores refer to how many processing brains are on each chip). The laptop is available now and sells for as little as $449.

The machine can run corporate operating systems such as Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, and it comes with Lenovo’s corporate-focused manageability features. It has an 11.6-inch display, a full-sized keyboard, and a choice of black or heatwave red colors. While it’s small, Lenovo is not calling it a “netbook” because it can run most applications, and it isn’t using Intel’s Atom processors.

But for those who want the tried and true “classic” ThinkPad, Lenovo is offering four new models. These are the T410s, T410, T510, and the W510 (a mobile workstation). They will use Intel’s newest dual-core microprocessors and are built for performance. The machines weigh under three pounds and have 802.11n Wi-Fi, and optional Bluetooth and 3G.

The battery life is as high as 22 hours, and the screens include options for multitouch. The 410s is aimed at extremely mobile users; the T410 and T510 are aimed at mainstream business users who want full performance; and the W510 is aimed at professionals in graphics-demanding fields like oil and gas, computer-aided design, and photography.

It’s worth noting how much thought Lenovo puts into these machines. The company’s research found that average users hit the delete and escape keys up to 700 times a week on average. So the sizes of these keys have been increased on the T410s and T410 models. The models are available on Jan. 7 and are priced as follows: $1,399 for T410s, $999 for T410 and the T510, and $1,599 for the W510.

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After the successful launch of a consumer branding campaign for its chips, Advanced Micro Devices is announcing today that it will take its AMD Vision campaign into the commercial PC market.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker will target small and medium businesses wit its AMD Vision Pro campaign, which simplifies the messaging behind its processor and graphics chips to focus on how they let users do different kinds of applications.

Leslie Sobon, vice president of worldwide product marketing at AMD, said in an interview that the consumer campaign launched in September exceeded expectations. The campaign takes what used to be 22 marketing categories for PCs and reduces them to just three: Vision Basic, Vision Premium, and Vision Ultimate.

“Now we are working to launch Vision in a way that makes sense for the SMB market,” she said.

The extension makes sense because a lot of small business owners use their computers for both home and personal use. They could benefit from a simplification of the selling process, just as consumers do.

Vision Basic machines get the job done; Vision Premium machines are used to consume digital media; and Vision Ultimate machines are used to create content. Sobon said that the company expected 75 percent of notebook computers using AMD chips to use the new branding; but 95 percent of AMD’s customers used it and that more than 150 different computers using it have either shipped or are planned. Customers worldwide are using the branding, including Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer, MSI, and others.

AMD has developed retail marketing materials and is training retailers to be knowledgeable about the campaign. The Vision Pro branding will be used by partners such as Lenovo, which is using AMD chips in its computers for the first time. Lenovo is the lead partner, but other companies such HP will use the branding as well. The Vision Pro brand will launch in notebook computers first and then expand into desktops in the first half of the year.

The Vision Pro brand is different from Intel’s own Vpro brand for businesses as it doesn’t focus on large enterprises, Sobon (pictured) said. And while Intel’s campaigns often focus on its processors, AMD touts both its processors and graphics chips in its Vision brand.

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The latest Dow Jones VentureSource liquidity report, released today at the company’s website, forecasts an exciting return to mergers and acquisitions after a year of mostly nothing.

This isn’t armchair prognostication, it’s an undeniable, measurable trend. For M&A, the fourth quarter of 2009 made up for the three lousy periods that preceded it. Forty-four percent of the year’s total liquidity was generated in the last three months of the year. And the coming first quarter of 2010 should beat the pants off of last year’s Q1.

Here’s what VentureSource’s analysts forecast for 2010:

IPOs, scarce in 2009, will return in modest numbers. Only eight companies completed IPOs, raising a total of $904 million. The biggest was the $371 million offering by lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems of Watertown, Mass.

(At VentureBeat, we’ve dubbed the high sale prices for companies that make technologically very sophisticated non-Web-2.0 products like batteries and IT tools “Revenge of the South Bay.”)

2010 should be a busier year, if not a blockbuster year for IPOs. VentureSource director of global research Jessica Canning wrote in a prepared statement, “With 25 venture-backed companies currently in IPO registration,” she wrote, “it is clear that many entrepreneurs and their investors expect the market to improve in the coming year.”

Acquisitions will rise sharply in 2010 over 2009. Eighty-six mergers and acquisitions raised $7.3 billion dollars in Q4, a 50 percent boost over the end of 2008.

The total volume of M&A most recently peaked in the fourth quarter of 2007, when 133 deals totaled $17 billion in sales. After that, the market nose-dived into 2008, bottoming out in last year’s third quarter, when 84 deals netted only $2.6 billion. In the fourth quarter, a similar number of deals racked up three times as much liquidity.

VCs will continue to see lower returns from most acquisitions. The average price paid shot from $19 million in Q4 of 2008 to $145 million, an eightfold increase. Canning says that figure was skewed by a handful of large acquisitions topped by Amazon.com’s $847 million purchase of Zappos.com, a single deal that accounted for more than 10 percent of the quarter’s total.

But the median amount paid throughout 2009 was still below the levels seen in 2007, she concludes, “a positive sign for acquirers looking to purchase companies at reasonable prices.”

[Images: Dow Jones VentureSource]

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RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK) has made a small acquisition, buying up mobile phone startup Varia Mobile, we have confirmed with the company; TechFlash broke the news earlier today. Varia says its technology “provides immediate publishing, integration and deployment of Web 2.0 desktop services directly to mobile devices.” As an example, it says it can be used to wirelessly sync content, like music, with a media service or storefront so that a user does not have to sync their phone directly with their PC.

RealNetworks isn’t saying exactly how it plans to incorporate Varia. However, Varia president John McQueen will report to Hank Skorny, who RealNetworks hired earlier this year as part of an effort to create products and services that “leverage cloud computing to make digital media available to consumers whenever and wherever they want.” Varia’s technology was also behind the ibiza Rhapsody MP3 player, which was made by Haier and integrated RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service. That product was pulled from the market this summer.

No financial terms are being disclosed. Varia was spun off from Tegic Communications in September 2007 after that firm was sold by AOL (NYSE: AOL) to Nuance Communications.

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