Category: News

Microsoft has plans to announce an advertising campaign with JiWire that will focus on enticing users to try out its search engine Bing in exchange for free WiFi where available.

The campaign is being supported by JiWire’s mobile advertising network, which reaches about 20 million unique users monthly. The Bing campaign will run across WiFi hotpsots in airports and hotels nationwide.

"We’re all creatures of habit, so giving away free Internet access in exchange for one search on Bing is a great way to change user behavior," David Blumenfeld, senior vice president of strategy and business development at JiWire told MediaPost.

The campaign launched in September at thousands of locations, has attracted between 30 percent and 40 percent of users to Bing, according to Blumenfeld.

So far the campaign has been a success for Microsoft.  "The typical online engagement rates for ads range between .1% and .2%, so when you think of what we’re seeing, it’s off the charts," he says.

"Let’s just say the campaign has performed well above average and Microsoft plans to continue the promotion."

JiWire runs an opt-in program called Ads for Access, which allows advertisers to offer users something in exchange for their time, such as watching a video or taking a survey.
 

Related Articles:

>"Time Spent Online" Report Puts Microsoft Way Ahead

>New Bing Commercial Inspired By The Shining

>Bing Gains Ground In August

News outlets report on health issues at the state level including a health insurance program in Washington State and a bill to increase coverage for autism services in Massachusetts.

NPR reports: “Now, while members of Congress are trying to figure out how to help the so-called working poor afford health insurance, one state has a plan that’s been doing just that. For two decades, Washington State has negotiated lower rates with insurance companies for those who can’t afford the full premiums. And the U.S. Senate is now considering allowing all states to do the same. … Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, is pushing for the final health care bill to include an option like her state’s insurance program. She sees it as an alternative to the much debated public option” (Seinfeld, 11/7).

The Cape Cod Times reports on a Massachusetts bill that seeks coverage for autism services: “In Massachusetts, children under the age of 3 with autism receive therapy through the Department of Public Health’s early intervention services. After age 3 those children depend on services provided by their school districts. … But some children with autism need more than a school district can provide. … State Rep. Barbara L’Italien, D-Andover, whose 19-year-old son is autistic, introduced the bill, which is part of a nationwide push by the advocacy group Autism Speaks” (Connors, 11/9).

“For people lacking health insurance in the Washington [D.C.] region, where they live can make all the difference in getting affordable health care,” The Washington Post reports. In the District of Columbia, the city provides tax-payer funded health insurance to many; though 10 percent of eligible adults remain uninsured, the city is actively seeking them out. But, in suburban Prince George’s County, Md., one-fifth of adults are uninsured and while five community clinics treated about 6,000 patients last year, many others did not get care.

“A lack of health insurance is not the only factor determining whether people have access to care. But many clinics that provide free or low-cost health care to low-income residents say they are flooded with people who have let their health slide, often for years, because they have no insurance” (Morello, 11/9).

Believe it or not, the Kohl’s Black Friday ad actually features a decent amount of electronics deals. Stores open at 4AM on Black Friday.

Here’s a list of all the electronics deals. Doorbusters (available from 4AM to 1PM on Black Friday) are marked with an asterisk.

Digital Cameras

Vivitar 10.1MP HD Digital Camera 2.4″ LCD 8X Digital Zoom – $59.99 *

Electronics

10-50% Off Entire Stock Of The Sharper Image Products – 10-50% Off

2XL In-Ear Headphones iPod Compatible – $9.99

5-Day Wireless Weather Forecaster – $59.99

BYO 10″ Lunch Bag – $9.99

BYO By Built 10″ Netbook Sleeve – $9.99

Charging Station Complete With Power Strip – $18.99

Digital Photo Viewer 3.2″ LCD, 500 Pictures, Rechargeable Internal Battery – $24.99

Discovery Expedition Entertainment Projector – $79.99 *

Entire Stock of Portable Karaoke Systems – $59.99 *

HMDX Speaker-On-The-Go – $9.99

iHome Clock Radio – $49.99

iHome Clock Radio And Audio System – $89.99

iHome Portable Speaker System – $29.99 *

iLive Home Music System – $79.99

Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Speakers – $79.99 *

Negative Scanner – $59.99 *

Panimage 7″ Digital Photo Frame 512MB Internal Memory AR – $29.99 *

Robot Bank – $29.99

USB Video Camera – $39.99 *

Wooden Music Center w/Recordable CD Player – $179.99 *

GPS Systems

3.5″ GPS Navigation System – $69.99 *

GPS Dashboard Grip Mat – $9.99 *

MP3 Players

2GB MP3 Player w/Video – $24.99 *

Televisions

19″ LCD HDTV w/Built-in DVD Player – $199.99 *

Digital Labs 7 Inch Portable LCD TV – $69.99 *

Video Games

Entire Stock of Nintendo DS Video Games – 20%-30% Off *

Entire Stock of Nintendo Wii Video Games – 20%-30% Off *

Entire Stock of Video Game Accessories – 20%-50% Off *

Kohls Black Friday Ad [BlackFriday.info]

More Black Friday deals…

The New York Times reports that a “restriction on abortion coverage, added late Saturday to the health care bill passed by the House, has energized abortion opponents with their biggest victory in years — emboldening them for a pitched battle in the Senate.” The Times notes that “the provision would block the use of federal subsidies for insurance that covers elective abortions” and is a major win — “the biggest turning point in the battle over the procedure since the ban on so-called partial birth abortions six years ago.”

“Both sides credited a forceful lobbying effort by Roman Catholic bishops with the success of the provision, inserted in the bill under pressure from conservative Democrats. The provision would apply only to insurance policies purchased with the federal subsidies that the health legislation would create to help low- and middle-income people, and to policies sold by a government-run insurance plan that would be created by the legislation” (Kirkpatrick and Pear, 11/8).

The Wall Street Journal: “Abortion-rights supporters say the change would likely prevent any insurer who sells policies on the new government insurance exchanges from covering abortions, regardless of whether the purchaser is using a tax credit.” Most private insurers offer packages that cover abortion but not all employers provide it. Abortions typically cost between $350 and $900. (Adamy, 11/9).

NPR reports that the amendment in addition to banning direct federal funding for abortion also disallows any federal funding for insurance companies that offer abortion services (Rovner and Inskeep, 11/9).

Politico reports that wrangling, and in some cases shouting matches, ensued among Democrats after the deal was struck. “(House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi wasn’t the only one getting pressure on the amendment. As rumors spread that Republicans might vote ‘present’ in order to scuttle the entire bill, even Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Republican leader John Boehner to make sure the GOP didn’t play any games with the Stupak (abortion) amendment, sources said” (O’Connor and Bresnahan, 11/8).

The Washington Post reports that even as Democrats seek to use their Saturday victory to generate health reform momentum, they will now face a new challenge: “profound dismay among abortion-rights supporters over antiabortion provisions inserted into the House bill. … But abortion-rights supporters are vowing to strip the amendment out, as the focus turns to the Senate and the conference committee that would resolve differences between the two bills.” House Majority Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette, D-Colo., says she has enough votes against the amendment to block final passage of the post-conference bill in the lower chamber (MacGillis, 11/9).

 

The 220-215 pencil-thin margin of victory for the House Democrats’ health reform bill foreshadows a potentially tougher fight in the Senate, The Wall Street Journal reports. “Senate Democrats are struggling to agree on how to pay for the overhaul and whether to create a new public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, as the House did. Friction over how the bill treats abortion, which almost derailed the House vote, is likely to divide the Senate too.” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said it is “almost always easier to pass a bill in the House than in the Senate” (Adamy and Bendavid, 11/9).

Kaiser Health News: “Despite months of debate, disputes remain between liberal and moderate Democrats and between the House and the Senate on a raft of core issues. They include how much to spend on an overhaul; how to pay for it; how to deal with a government-run insurance option, and the scope of coverage and subsidies for the uninsured.” One thing is clear, KHN reports, the bill passed in the House is “almost certainly the high-water mark of liberal aspirations. On most issues, Democrats will likely have to tack to the right to win the support of Senate moderates” (Pianin and Carey, 11/9).

Politico: “Even before Saturday’s House vote, senators had begun to question why Reid suddenly shifted course two weeks ago and threw his weight behind a public option plan, laying bare the deep divisions in his caucus between liberals and moderates.” Those divisions are stalling Reid’s timeline, possibly delaying debate until after Thanksgiving; Reid has implied that the Senate may not pass a bill until next year (Brown and Raju, 11/8).

Reuters: In the Senate, “Democrats have no margin for error — they control exactly 60 seats in the 100-member Senate” the number needed to pass legislation, because less than that can lead to a filibuster by opponents. “Some moderate Democrats have rebelled at Reid’s plan to include a new government-run insurance program, known as the ‘public option,’ in the bill” (Whitesides, 11/9).

Associated Press: “A government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate. They’re locked in a battle with liberals, with the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature issue at stake” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/9).

Roll Call: On one hand, llinois Sen. Roland “Burris is hardly the lone Senate Democrat who supports a public insurance option, but unlike other backers, … [he] has made headlines recently for what appears to be an uncompromising stance on the bill: He will oppose it — and may even support a filibuster — if the measure does not include a robust public option (Pierce, 11/9).

Boston Globe: On the other, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., has vowed “to support a Republican filibuster of health care legislation if it contains a public health insurance option” (Issenberg, 9/11).

Employees are facing rising health care costs during this open enrollment season.

The Virginian-Pilot reports: “This is the season when employees learn how much their health care costs will change next year. Hewitt Associates LLC, a human-resources research firm outside Chicago, estimated in a recent survey that workers would see an average 10 percent increase.”

In the Hampton Roads area of Virginia “the numbers, percentages and repercussions vary markedly, depending on the extent of the coverage, the employer’s willingness to share the cost and the employee’s circumstances. … The premium outlook swings a wide pendulum in Hampton Roads.” For instance, the Virginian-Pilots notes: “The same coverage will cost subscribers 8 to 12 percent more next year at Anthem and about 12 percent more at Optima. To minimize the impact, some employers are opting for ‘benefit buy-downs,’ such as higher deductibles and decreased emergency-room coverage, that lower cost increases for employees, both insurers said.” And at the Norfolk Southern Corp., “insurance premiums will rise 18 percent for union members and 12 percent for non-union employees” (Walzer, 11/9).

WTHR, an NBC affiliate in Indiana, reports: “While the healthcare reform bill passed the House on Capitol Hill, here in the State Capitol, employees are wondering how they’ll pay for the rising cost of health insurance. A letter went out this week reminding state workers it’s time to choose their health plan for the coming year. … State workers, who for the second year in a row, won’t receive a pay increase, will on average pay more for health coverage in the coming year.” In addition, “a new study shows that health insurance premiums have increased almost eight percent faster than wages in Indiana” (Kirschner, 11/9).

Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-La., was the only Republican to support the health reform bill, just a year after becoming a minor GOP celebrity for capturing a reliably Democratic congressional district in New Orleans, Politico reports. His defection – not his first since joining the House this year – has now made him “a bit of a cult hero on the left” and a sought-after media star.

However, “Republicans and Democrats who have worked closely with Cao in Louisiana and Washington say they weren’t a bit surprised — even if much of the political world did a double-take — when Cao registered a green light on the scoreboard in the House chamber.” He had been looking for reasons to back the legislation, his spokesman said, and after an amendment Friday restricted the use of taxpayers’ dollars for abortions, the former Jesuit-in-training, who is anti-abortion, had an opening (Allen, 11/8).

“Cao had for months considered bucking the party that embraced him, while the White House wooed his vote,” The Washington Post reports. “Cao arrived in Congress focused on getting more money for hospitals and other things in his district. While he generally has voted with the GOP, Cao, 42, has occasionally bucked his party, such as his backing of a Democratic-pushed resolution to condemn Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for shouting ‘You lie’ during Obama’s speech on health care in September.”

Cao won his surprise election victory last year with help from unusual circumstances. According to the Post, “Hurricane Gustav pushed back the election cycle last year, resulting in an early December contest that pitted Cao against Rep. William J. Jefferson, a nine-term incumbent who won reelection in 2006 despite widespread publicity about the FBI finding $90,000 in his freezer in 2005. With turnout much lower than in the presidential race a month earlier, Cao won in an upset” (Bacon, 11/9). 

The New York Times reports that Cao explained his vote during a Sunday CNN interview.”I have a constitutional duty to make the right decision for my district whether or not the decision was popular. … I had to make a decision of conscience based on the needs of the people of my district. … A lot of my constituents are uninsured, a lot of them are poor.”  The Times also reports that, “Another reason Mr. Cao may have felt pressure to support the health care bill is that most of his constituents are Democrats” (Herszenhorn, 11/8).

Health care companies stand to gain from legislation that would expand their market to millions of new consumers, but many are also complaining about specific provisions of the House health care overhaul bill, the New York Times reports. “Insurers do not like the provision to create a new government-run insurance program. Drug makers oppose billions of dollars in rebates they would have to give to the government over 10 years. Makers of artificial hips, heart defibrillators and other medical devices are not particularly happy about the proposed 2.5 percent tax on their products” (Wilson and Abelson, 11/8).

(Related KHN story: Proposed Tax Rattles Orthopedic Device Makers – Appleby, 10/14)

In addition, the House bill would permit Medicare to negotiate drug prices, a provision that has irked pharmaceutical companies, Bloomberg reports. Industry spokesman Ken Johnson said, “We remain convinced that the approach taken by the Senate Finance Committee provides the best blue print for comprehensive reform.” That version would not allow Medicare to negotiate; Finance Committee senators also rejected the public option, which sits well with insurers (Dodge and Jensen, 11/9).

The House bill also would strip insurers of a federal anti-trust exemption that has allowed insurers to privately share information since 1945, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s unclear whether that change would result in more competition. “That is because of a widespread belief that the law is toothless and outdated, which might be another reason to get rid of it … so many insurance companies are big national players, crossing state lines, and are easily able to look within their own experience for risk data. The more significant shift for the insurance industry could be stepped-up enforcement. Taking antitrust authority out of the hands of state agencies, which are often underfunded and understaffed, could result in more enforcement actions” (Johnson, 11/9).

And small business owners are finding faults in the bill, though it may be helpful to some, the Wall Street Journal reports in a separate story. The House’s measure would require companies with payrolls higher than $500,000 to contribute much of the costs of health insurance premiums for their works. If they don’t, they could face taxes between 2 percent and 8 percent depending on their payroll size. A spokesperson for a small business lobbying group called these provisions “the punitive employer mandates and atrocious new taxes.” By contrast, the Senate Finance plan would not include a mandate, but would reward employers who provide coverage with tax credits (Maltby and Flandez, 11/9).

Business Insurance reports that some larger employers may worry the legislation would “Remove employers’ longstanding ability to design health care plans. … Prohibit employers offering health care plans to retirees from reducing benefits. … Require employers to extend COBRA health care…” and more. “What’s in reform for large employers? There is a lot of downside and not much upside,” one business consultant said (Geisel, 11/9).

The events at Fort Hood highlight the military’s struggle to provide mental health care for soldiers, veterans and the therapists who treat them.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the mass killing at a Texas base: “In the early years of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the various branches had been roundly criticized for failing to adequately address post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and other psychiatric problems. Responding to that criticism, leaders made progress in diagnosing and treating such illnesses among service members. But Thursday’s attack at Ft. Hood — as well as two other recent incidents in which military personnel allegedly turned guns on their own — indicates an intractable problem not easily overcome.”

The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have lead to a wide array of mental and behavioral issues, including violence within the military. The recent shootings by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was an Army psychiatrist, raises red flags and serious questions. “Those questions include whether, even today, military personnel can easily obtain mental health services. The factors that may have led to Hasan’s alleged actions are not yet clear. What is clear is that no one is immune to mental health problems: Doctors have slightly higher suicide rates than does the general population. Military leaders acknowledge rampant psychiatric problems in their midst. According to the Army, the suicide rate among soldiers in Iraq is five times that seen in the Persian Gulf War and 11% higher than during Vietnam. The Army reported 133 suicides in 2008, the most ever. In January of this year, the 24 suicides reported by the Army outnumbered U.S. combat-related deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Roan, 11/9). 

USA Today reports that Hasan “had been chosen to be part of an ambitious plan to treat U.S. troops here in Afghanistan who need psychological counseling where counselors are often not available. As a result, the Pentagon is flying record numbers of therapists and other mental health workers into combat areas. But Thursday’s rampage … has thrown those efforts into some disarray. At least three of those killed were therapists slotted for Afghanistan. And six who were wounded are part of the 1493rd Combat Stress Control team to which Hasan was assigned and which was heading to Afghanistan, the Army says. Army spokesman George Wright said Sunday that commanders are wrestling with whether to cancel deployment of the team because it was so decimated by the shootings” (Zoraya, 11/8).

Meanwhile, NPR reports on the challenges that military families with special needs children face when spouses are deployed. “As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rage on, repeated deployments are taking a toll on military families. Service members are prepared for the dangers that lie ahead, but spouses and children are often left to navigate the emotional and physical challenges that come with separation alone. Those challenges are compounded when a parent has a child with special needs.” NPR reports on the struggles that one Texas military family – the Griffitts – face on a daily basis as Andrew Griffitts serves a long deployment in Afghanistan (Gildea, 11/7).

The Des Moines Register reports on a lawsuit put forth by a veteran’s widow in Iowa: “Roberta Minard goes to court today in an unusual wrongful-death lawsuit against the U.S. government. Minard says the government delayed critical medical services for her husband, a Vietnam veteran, in his time of need. According to the lawsuit, J.R. Minard of Unionville, Ia., died in 2004 after the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center canceled a medical helicopter flight on its way to pick him up, delaying critical surgery to remove a blood clot in his leg by four hours. … The four-hour delay consumed precious time that doctors will testify was critical to his survival, court documents show. Minard died three days later. His family believes he would have survived had he received an operation sooner” (Clayworth, 11/9).

KCRG, an NBC affiliate in Iowa, reports on the large numbers of veterans in the state who don’t sign up for health care: “Tens of thousands of veterans in Iowa served their country with honor. But many are unaware of one major benefit they earned through their service: Health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. … About 6 million veterans are enrolled for VA health care — not even one-fourth of the estimated 26 million veterans across the country. … VA officials acknowledge that some veterans may have been discouraged from applying. Six years ago the government tightened eligibility requirements. Many vets who applied then were not accepted, probably because their incomes were too high” (Aune and Hepker, 11/9).

While GameStop and Activision are busy with the whole broken street date issue in the United States, Sainsbury’s apparently decided that breaking th…

Come back with me to the turn of the century, circa 1996. Your humble narrator was working for campus police at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, creating FileMaker databases for their police reports. It wasn’t uncommon then to see DOS machines sitting beside Windows 95 machines and the web was a primitive and strange thing. There were only two browsers of note, Netscape and Internet Explorer, and firing either up was neither particularly comfortable or interesting. But, hidden deep behind Netscape’s bland carapace, was Mozilla. When you typed “about:mozilla” in the Netscape address bar, for example, you got:

Pretty badass stuff, especially when most websites were dedicated to kittens and burgeoning corporate identity. I was hooked instantly. This was the browser for me and it slowly became the browser for everyone with self-respect and a brain.

Fast forward to 2004: Mozilla and Netscape were on the rocks and it looked like the browser wars had been won. IE was the victor. In order to combat bloat and “feature creep,” however, a ragtag team of coders led by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross built something they called “Phoenix,” then “Firebird,” then, on November 9, 2004, Firefox 1.0 was born. This turned into the Mozilla suite – Firefox and Thunderbird – were born.

On this, the fifth anniversary of that momentous occasion, let’s all tip out a little Jolt for Netscape and toast to the future of Firefox, the best browser in the world. Best of all, the book of Mozilla is still being written and any time you type ‘about:mozilla’ into Firefox you get a red screen and a potent reminder of the early days of the Internet.

Happy birthday, Firefox.

The New York Times reports on federal legislation that could limit needle exchanges. “A bill working its way through Congress would lift a ban of more than 20 years on using federal money for needle exchange programs. But the bill would also ban federally financed exchanges from being within 1,000 feet of a school, park, library, college, video arcade or any place children might gather — a provision that would apply to a majority of the country’s approximately 200 exchanges.” A separate bill would ban exchanges within the 1,000-foot perimeter from receiving city money as well.

“Both bills have passed the House and a Senate subcommittee and await Senate action. Advocates and organizations including the N.A.A.C.P. are lobbying Congress to kill the 1,000-foot provisions. The promise of federal money could not come at a better time, these officials say, as states are cutting their health and human services budgets and private donations are dropping precipitously. At least four needle exchanges have closed this year because of a lack of financing.” A 2004 report by the World Health Organization found that exchanges reduce H.I.V. transmission and “cited studies showing that the rate of infection dropped up to 18 percent in cities with an exchange.” But, “Officials at exchanges in cities like Chicago, New York and Washington say there are few, if any, places that could house a needle exchange under the rule” (Zezima, 11/8).

President Obama is pressing the Senate to pass health care legislation as soon as possible. “The White House, growing concerned that the Congressional timetable for passing a health care overhaul could slip into next year, is stepping up pressure on the Senate for quick action, with President Obama appearing Sunday in the Rose Garden to call on senators to ‘take up the baton and bring this effort to the finish line,’” The New York Times reports. “Mr. Obama has staked his domestic agenda on passing comprehensive health legislation, a goal that has eluded presidents for decades.” The timing of the legislative agenda on health care is “crucial. Administration officials say Mr. Obama wants to wrap up work on health care so that he can turn his attention to other legislative priorities, including passing an energy bill and revamping financial regulations. But White House officials also know that the closer the final vote comes to the November 2010 midterm Congressional elections, the more difficult it will be to pass legislation” (Stolberg, 11/8).

The Hill: “On Sunday, Obama acknowledged the political difficulty that some lawmakers in the House had in coming to vote for the healthcare bill. ‘Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric, I know this was a courageous vote for many members of Congress,’ he said. ‘And I’m grateful to them and for the rest of their colleagues for taking us this far’” (Yager, 11/8).

The Washington Post: “A year after his election, the health-care vote in the House was a reminder of the power that he still wields to shape the country’s future, cajoling change that he promised as a candidate over the objections of a nearly unified GOP and a sharply divided party of his own. But the victory came on the heels of sobering evidence that even a president as popular as he remains is subject to the shifting public mood, an economy struggling to recover and events that are beyond his direct control” (Shear, 11/9).

Meanwhile, Obama “used Saturday night’s House vote in favor of health care reform to raise money for the grass-roots group Organizing for America, telling its 13 million members that the victory heralds a tough fight in the Senate and that OFA needs their financial support,” Roll Call reports. “‘OFA has built a massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood operation to bring people’s voices to Congress, and tonight we saw the result,’ the president wrote. ‘But the coming days will put our efforts to the ultimate test. Winning will require each of us to give everything we can, starting right now. Can you donate $25 or whatever you can afford so we can finish this fight?’” (Koffler, 11/8).

It’s not fun being the coolest kid in town as Barnes & Noble just found out. Its hot dual-screen Nook ebook reader was supposed to ship on November 30th, but that’s not going to happen. Sorry. The good news is that buyers should still get it before Christmas though.

B&N is saying that the delay was caused by higher than expected sales numbers and the new ship date is December 11. The Nook is just more popular that B&N had thought it would be and you can totally understand why. It comes sporting a 3G wireless connection like the Kindle, the same price as the Kindle, but also the two screens and an equally vast eBook store. The Nook is where it’s at, kids.

Apprenda, an Albany, N.Y.-based developer of an SaaS application server, has raised $5 million in new VC funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round, and was joined by return backer High Peaks Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

Apprenda, the creator of SaaSGrid, the world’s first SaaS application server, announced today that the company has closed a $5 million investment round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm with a 30-year track record of successful investing in companies including Salesforce.com, WebEx, Juniper Networks and XenSource. Existing investor High Peaks Venture Partners also participated in the round of funding.

With SaaSGrid, Apprenda has changed the way that software is built and delivered, providing a solution to the architecture and management complexities of delivering software across distributed web scale environments. Cloud computing is driving software companies toward on-demand delivery models and enterprises toward aggregating internal and external compute resources into cohesive delivery networks for their internal software. SaaSGrid, a distributed application execution layer, mitigates the traditional burdens associated with tackling these trends. As a result, SaaS companies and enterprises alike can dramatically reduce time to market and service delivery costs.

“In the current economic climate, far fewer venture investments are being made, so we view this funding as a strong vote of confidence in our product, technology and team,” said Sinclair Schuller, CEO and co-founder of Apprenda. “Our investors recognize that SaaSGrid’s technology will play a key role in the transformation of software architecture and delivery. We’re already seeing our SaaSGrid customers achieving 30-60 percent reductions in software development and deployment costs, and taking their on-demand solutions to market at a much faster rate.”

With this new investment, Peter Sonsini, Partner at NEA, and Tom Grossi, Principal at NEA, will join Apprenda’s board of directors. Current board members include: Sinclair Schuller, CEO of Apprenda, Jonathan Stillman, of High Peaks Venture Partners and Michael Seckler, co-Founder of Employease (acquired by ADP).

“As an investor in some of the world’s most successful SaaS and infrastructure software companies, NEA has witnessed first-hand the challenges of deploying applications at massive scale,” said Tom Grossi, Principal at NEA. “We believe SaaSGrid addresses a tremendous need in the market, enabling the efficient deployment of SaaS offerings and private software delivery clouds.”

About Apprenda

Apprenda is the creator of SaaSGrid, a powerful SaaS Application Server that eliminates the difficulties of building and delivering Software as a Service. SaaSGrid greatly reduces the barrier to entry for SaaS by overcoming significant technical hurdles like multi-tenancy and grid scalability, while at the same time providing “out of the box” application services like metering and monetization, billing and subscriber management, and much more. This leaves developers with one job: to build on-demand software that meets customers’ needs without worrying about the difficulties of on-demand software architecture.

For more information visit Apprenda’s website at: http://www.apprenda.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital and growth equity firm focused on helping entrepreneurs create and build major new enterprises that use technology to improve the way we live, work and play. Since its founding in 1978, the firm has followed the same core principles: supporting its entrepreneurs, providing an excellent return to its limited partners, and practicing its profession with the highest standards and respect. Through its affiliated funds, NEA focuses on investments at all stages of a company’s development, from seed stage through IPO. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA’s experienced management team has invested in over 650 companies, of which more than 165 have gone public and more than 255 have been acquired.

For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

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The Washington Post: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team won a hard-fought victory on Obama’s most critical domestic policy agenda item by neutralizing the most potentially toxic political issue well in advance of the final vote, siding with centrists on their preferred version of the public option. She then publicly dared the progressive wing, with its strong commitment to establishing national health insurance, to take down the entire package because one piece was not to their liking.” Only two of 60 progressives who vowed to vote against a bill without a public option to their liking did so (Reps. Kucinich and Massa) and Pelosi spent the last days winning moderates instead (Kane and Bacon, 11/9).

The Los Angeles Times: “In the fight to get the legislation through the House, Pelosi’s impulse to tilt at windmills disappeared and her pragmatic heritage came to the fore. That’s what enabled Pelosi to build a majority, one compromise at a time, including the pivotal deal with antiabortion Democrats.” Democrats hold 258 seats in the House, but 49 are in districts where Republican John McCain won in 2008, setting the stage for vote shifting (Fiore and Simon, 11/9).

The Wall Street Journal reports on what the House Democratic leadership promised individual members in exchange for their votes: “For Rep. Dennis Cardoza, it was an assurance from (Pelosi) that the drought afflicting California’s Central Valley would get high-level attention. For Rep. Michael Michaud, a liberal from Maine, it was personal coaxing from President Barack Obama Saturday morning. For Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, the lone Republican vote, it was multiple conversations with Obama administration officials, topped with new promises of support for his Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.” Others were personally courted by President Obama but still voted no on the bill over several concerns (Weisman and Bendavid, 11/9).

In a separate story, the Los Angeles Times reports that though Pelosi may have won the House for now, the fight that looms with other lawmakers could still hold up health care reform. “What is more, the political climate has become more challenging for progressivism than it was when Obama’s agenda for change was launched in his 2008 presidential campaign and ratified with his resounding election one year ago” (Hook, 11/9).

Roll Call: “For the moment, ebullient House Democrats savored a victory decades in the making.” Still, tense moments were common Saturday on immigration, abortion and whipping for votes. In the end, the immigration issue didn’t come up, the abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak won support and the House gathered the votes (Dennis and Newmyer, 11/9).

But Republicans in the House are pledging to use the House vote as a political tool to change the balance of power. Politico reports that Republicans are readying their stab to take the seats of vulnerable Democrats. “The GOP, which voted nearly in lock step against the measure, began crowing about the demise of various other vulnerable members and seized on the moment as a milestone in the path back to a House majority” (Isenstadt, 11/9).

Kaiser Health News also tracked developments over the weekend, with summaries on Saturday’s house vote, abortion compromise, key abortion vote and the President’s visit to Capitol Hill as well as Sunday’s coverage of the landmark vote and the Sunday talk shows.

Eventbrite, a San Francisco-based operator of an online events marketplace, has raised around $6 million in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

Eventbrite announced that it has closed a Series C round of funding from Sequoia Capital, with partner Roelof Botha (previous backer of YouTube) joining as director. This brings the company’s total funding to over $8 million. Previous investors include Bebo co-founders Michael & Xochi Birch, Jeff Clavier, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, former PayPal founding executives, David Sacks and Keith Rabois, prolific Silicon Valley angel, Ron Conway, and Flixster co-founders Saran Chari and Joe Greenstein.

“Eventbrite exhibits many of the same traits that were present in many of the wonderful companies Sequoia Capital has been in business with: passionate and driven entrepreneurs, addressing a large underserved market, and organic growth driven by a laser-like focus on the customer experience,” said Roelof Botha, partner, Sequoia Capital. “Events are an enormous market where organizers are relegated to using mostly manual tools to promote and monitize their offerings. By providing them with a simpler, more economical model, Eventbrite makes the event experience more successful for planners and rewarding for attendees. This is an exciting time for the company and we’re thrilled to be involved in the growth of what we see as an industry-disrupting offering.”

Evenbrite is an event planning marketplace that optimizes the planning and hosting of events, giving organizers a simple, automated way to sell tickets, organize events and promote these gatherings through social media platforms.

“With Eventbrite, we’ve branched out from the ‘old world’ model of ticket registration and democratized it, empowering anyone with the ability to sell a ticket to an event and bring people together,” said Kevin Hartz, CEO and co-founder of Evenbrite. “We see a massive opportunity here in terms of the socialization and optimization of events and are excited to play an enabling role in making this happen.”

The company was founded in 2006 by Kevin, along with his wife Julia Hartz and Renaud Visage. Kevin was previously co-founder and CEO of Xoom Corporation, an international money transfer company that provides services to over 40 countries worldwide. He has also been an active early stage investor and advisor to startups including PayPal, Flexilis, Boku, Milo, Yammer, AdNectar, Flixster, Trulia, Tokbox, Geni, Tripit, iControl, Three Rings, and Friendster.

This round of funding validates significant company success to-date, highlighted by consistent triple-digit year over year growth, 3 million monthly uniques, and projected ticket sales of over $100 million in 2009. A vast number of different event types can leverage Eventbrite, from fairs and festivals, to fundraisers, workshops, reunions, conferences or special holiday events. Customers to date have included notable names such as TechCrunch, Craigslist Foundation, Kiva, PayPal, and LA Times.

About Eventbrite

Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell out their events. With over five million registrations to date and over ten thousand new events published every month, Eventbrite is bringing explosive growth to the events industry by making it easy for anyone to host a successful event. With a suite of free and easy-to-use online tools, Eventbrite empowers event organizers with everything they need to create a professional online presence and to effectively promote their events on the Web. Eventbrite collects a fee only if you sell tickets, and free events are totally free. As the World’s Marketplace for Events, Eventbrite proudly serves event organizers from almost every industry, as well as thousands of non-profits, universities, libraries and faith-based organizations from all over the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and additional information is available at www.eventbrite.com.

About Sequoia Capital

Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into enduring companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs,” Sequoia Capital’s Partners have worked with innovators such as Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of NVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube, Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks, Jonathan Kaplan of Pure Digital and Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin of Zappos. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.

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Milestone Partners has completed a refinancing of portfolio company Good Health Natural Products, a Greensboro, N.C.-based maker of branded reduced-fat salty snack foods. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which included participation by Salem Halifax Capital Partners and the Morgan Keegan Strategic Fund.

PRESS RELEASE

Milestone Partners is pleased to announce that it recently completed a refinancing of Good Health Natural Products with Salem Halifax Capital Partners and the Morgan Keegan Strategic Fund.

Milestone acquired a controlling interest in Good Health Natural Products in 2004 and was approaching the maturity date for its acquisition debt. Fortunately, during its holding period the Company continued to diversify its product portfolio and distribution channels and is well-positioned to capitalize on the current
industry dynamics. The refinancing was supported by strong performance and growth in Good Health’s
branded product lines, particularly its Veggie Stix®, Avocado Oil Potato Chips®, HUMBLES® (hummus)
chips and South of France® soaps.

“Given the current state of the economy and credit markets we are very proud to have been able to repay all
of Good Health’s initial lenders in full and to have found high quality partners to replace them,” said Adam
Curtin of Milestone Partners.

“We are thrilled to have Salem Halifax and Morgan Keegan as our new lending partners. Their long term capital strengthens our balance sheet and helps reposition the Company for its next phase of growth,” commented Mark Gillis, CEO of Good Health.

Good Health Natural Products (www.goodhealthnaturalfoods.com) is a leading producer of branded
natural and organic consumer products with a focus on reduced-fat salty snack foods. Good Health’s
products include Olive Oil Potato Chips®, Veggie Stix® and Avocado Oil Potato Chips®. In addition to
natural and organic foods, Good Health produces the South of France® line of specialty hand and body soaps
and lotions. The Company is based in Greensboro, North Carolina and distributes its products nationally
through natural food distributors, grocery stores, mass market retailers and other specialty food channels.

Milestone Partners (www.milestonepartners.com) is a private equity firm that partners with management to
invest in leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations of lower middle market businesses. Milestone pursues
successful niche-market leaders that provide high-margin products or services. Milestone’s transactions
typically provide liquidity to shareholders of privately-owned businesses, facilitate the transition of
ownership to key managers, and allow management to capitalize on growth opportunities, while maintaining
the legacy of the founders. Milestone is currently making follow-on and add-on investments through
Milestone Partners II, L.P., a $120 million fund, and is making new platform investments through Milestone
Partners III, L.P., a $240 million fund.

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