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Brian Wong has joined CrossPacific Capital Partners (XPCP), a Vancouver, British Columbia-based venture capital firm, as an advisor. Wong, who founded and was CEO of the mobile game and ad network KIIP Inc., will be focused on internet, gaming, social media, and mobile opportunities for XPCP, which started operations in September, 2012. The firm’s founder and managing partner is Frank Christiaens.

PRESS RELEASE:

XPCP is proud to announce that KIIP Founder Brian Wong has joined CrossPacific Capital Partners (XPCP) as Advisor. Brian will focus on advising XPCP’s investments in the areas of internet, gaming, social media, and mobile. With the addition of Brian to the team XPCP will be better able to handle the massive deal flow that it has been confronted with since starting operations in Vancouver, BC in September 2012.

Brian Wong graduated from the University of British Columbia at the age of 18. In 2010 Brian Wong became the youngest entrepreneur to ever raise Venture Capital in North America. After initial seed contributions by a number of angel investors including XPCP Managing Partner Frank Christiaens, Brian closed a total of more than $4M for his A Round, and all this before he turned 20. Other investors in KIIP include Verizon, Hummer Winbladt, and Relay. In 2012 KIIP did a B Round of more than $11M on the strength of its rewards platform, which reached 1 billion moments at the end of 2012. In 2013 KIIP is seeing major revenue growth as its products continue to sell exponentially.

Brian Wong is an example for other gaming entrepreneurs in Vancouver, even though he had to leave the city to raise venture capital in Silicon Valley. By joining XPCP Brian hopes to give back to the country that gave him an education, but where he could not get sufficient funding to build out his business. With XPCP, Brian can now extend funding to gaming startups that are competitive at the global level, creating positive change in the Canadian environment.

XPCP Founder and Managing Partner Frank Christiaens said, “I invested in Brian in 2010 when I had barely arrived in Canada. Having met many entrepreneurs I immediately sensed that Brian had what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I offered to write him a cheque for C$100,000. When he subsequently decided to relocate to San Francisco I repeated my commitment, and offered US$100,000.”

KIIP Founder and CEO Brian Wong added, “My ride with KIIP has been wild. We are now recognized as the No.1 rewards platform across the industry. It is unfortunate that for Canada I was considered too young when I started out. Frank recognized my potential and I want to help him to do more good work with other young Canadian entrepreneurs.”

XPCP will be assisting KIIP with its imminent Asian expansion. In 2012 XPCP took Brian across China to meet with Chinese thought leaders at, among others, Tudou, Shanda and Microsoft.

KIIP’s Canadian operations will be co-located with XPCP’s operations, as KIIP and XPCP seek to achieve further synergies.

About XPCPWebsite http://xpcp.ca/Follow @CrossPacific

About KIIP and Brian WongWebsite http://www.kiip.me/Follow @KIIP

SOURCE CrossPacific Capital Partners

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Kiip Founder Brian Wong Joins CrossPacific Capital Partners appeared first on peHUB.

Dan Rosenberg’s bootloader unlocking tool for Motorola devices is a pretty fantastic hack. Unfortunately, it does a painful requirement that some Motorola devices can’t get; root access. Many Motorola devices upgraded to Android 4.1.2 simply can’t be rooted. Well, before today, anyway. Dan Rosenberg, once again, has released a little hack to get your Motorola device rooted and prepped for that unlocked bootloader. This method was designed with the Droid RAZR HD in mind, but it will work on many other Motorola devices running 4.1.2.

Like always, rooting your phone does come with upsides and downsides, so be sure to read up on it before you make any hasty decisions. When you’re ready, hit the break below to get the instructions.

You can download the files you’ll need here.

• Extract the entire contents of the zip file.
• If you are using Windows, ensure you have installed the latest Motorola USB drivers available for your phone.
• Ensure USB Debugging mode is enabled on your device.
• If you are using Windows, navigate to the extracted directory and execute “run.bat”. If you are using Linux or OS X, navigate to the extracted directory in a terminal and execute “./run.sh”.

source: DroidRZR

Come comment on this article: Root method for Motorola RAZR HD and other devices running 4.1.2 released

Yesterday, the bootloader was unlocked on some major Motorola phones by Dan Rosenberg; the RAZR (MAXX) HD, RAZR M, and the Atrix HD. Motorola devices are notoriously difficult to unlock, so that was a pretty big deal. Today, that unlock tool was released to users. As a warning, it does void your warranty, and the tool cannot relock the bootloader, only unlock it. Motorola also will probably fix the exploit used in a future software update, so if you want to unlock your device, it’s best to do it sooner rather than later.

To get started, you’ll simply have to have a rooted, supported device, then follow the instructions below, and remember that as of right now, this is irreversible.

Three final warnings before you make your decision:

• You understand that using this tool will permanently, irreversibly void your device’s warranty.
• You understand that it may not be possible to “relock” your device’s bootloader after unlocking using this tool. A side effect of this is that if you lose your device and you are not using disk encryption, a malicious party who acquires your phone may be able to extract all personal data from the device regardless of any lock screen.
• You agree that I am in no way responsible for any damage to your device as a result of using this tool.

Now, for the actual instructions. You’ll need to download the tool here before you get started.

1. Extract the entire contents of the zip file.
2. If you are using Windows, ensure you have installed the latest Motorola USB drivers available for your phone.
3. Ensure your device has been rooted and you have a working installation of “su”.
4. Ensure USB Debugging mode is enabled on your device.
5. If you are using Windows, navigate to the extracted directory and execute “run.bat”. If you are using Linux or OS X, navigate to the extracted directory in a terminal and execute “./run.sh”.

There’s also a disclaimer that this will not work on any OMAP Motorola phones, such as the Droid Bionic or original RAZR. So if you were thinking about being adventurous, it’s probably not a good idea this time.

source: Vulnfactory

Come comment on this article: Motorola unlock tool for RAZR HD, RAZR M and Atrix HD released

AOL announced the launch of a new sell-side platform called Marketplace by AdTech today.

With the offering, premium publishers can leverage AdTech’s technology and AOL Networks’ cross-platform ad serving platform, mange blocks and transparency settings at an inventory level, and get “high-touch client service from setup all the way through yield evaluation.”

“Our goal at AOL Networks is to simplify digital advertising at scale and now, with the addition of Marketplace, publishers have a one-stop solution to manage every piece of inventory they have,” said David Jacobs, Senior Vice President, AOL Networks. “If you don’t have both supply and demand solutions, you are disadvantaged in this increasingly complex digital advertising ecosystem. With Marketplace, we give publishers a connected programmatic platform that is transparent and efficient as well as pre-loaded with demand.”

“Marketplace was built with an in-depth understanding of publisher needs – after all, we based it off of the needs of one of the largest publishers in the world: AOL,” Jacobs added. “Having partnered with thousands of premium publishers for over a decade on the buy side, we have developed significant experience and insights into how to drive demand and yield for publisher partners who are seeking to increase their revenues. We are excited to offer our Marketplace solution to drive value for our partners on a global basis.”

The announcement was made at ad:tech San Francisco by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

It’s just a teeny, tiny question: How did the universe begin?

Today, TED-Ed has unveiled a new lesson that answers this in less than four minutes, “The beginning of the universe, for beginners.” This is the first of five animated lessons developed by CERN scientists and brought to life by TED-Ed’s talented animators. The other four animations – which tackle the topics of Dark Matter, Anti-Matter, Big Data and the Higgs Boson — will premiere at TEDxCERN on May 3rd and will be shared on TED-Ed that same day.

The lesson above, “The beginning of the universe, for beginners,” was conceived by CERN physicist Tom Whyntie. It explains how cosmologists and particle physicists explore questions like, “How is the universe expanding?” by replicating the heat, energy and activity of the first few seconds of our universe — immediately following the Big Bang.

To see the premiere of the next four lessons in real time, tune in to the TEDxCERN live webcast on May 3rd, from 14:00 to 20:00 (CEST). It will be available to the public here »

TEDxCERN will feature talks from scientists and big thinkers of all kinds. For more information on TEDxCERN, visit their website, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s a given that joining the military can mean putting one’s life in danger. However, that danger isn’t generally assumed to be great while training on home soil.

Two U.S. Navy divers recently proved that even training is dangerous, and even fatal, as they drowned while training in a Maryland test pond. According to a Baltimore Sun report, Diver 1st Class James Reyher and Diver 2nd Class Ryan Harris accidentally drowned at a test pond at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in February. Details of the incident have not been released.

Another soldier, an engineering technician, also died at the test pond in January while performing maintenance. The facility has now been closed indefinitely.

The pool where the soldiers drowned is, according to the Sun, also known as the “Super Pond.” The structure is 1,070 feet long and 150 feet deep. It is used by the U.S. Defense Department and researchers for training and to test the effects of explosives on marine vessels.

The investigations of the soldiers’ deaths are still ongoing, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has stated that more information about the incidents could be released in the future, when the office issues its final report.

Soon, AdWords advertisers will be able to set a mobile bid adjustment at the ad group level in enhanced campaigns. This functionality will become available sometime in the middle of next month.

“We think this may be useful if you’ve been operating large scale campaigns and found that your optimal bids for some keywords would require significantly different mobile bid adjustments within an enhanced campaign,” says Group Product Manager Bhanu Narasimhan.

“Example: A nationwide retail chain currently uses mobile-only campaigns to optimize bids for several hundred thousand keywords,” Narasimhan continues. “They’ve found that 95% of their keywords in mobile-only campaigns have bids that are 10% lower than in the equivalent desktop campaigns. The remaining 5% of their keywords have very different bid ratios (ranging from 40% lower to 100% higher) based on differences in performance and competition on mobile and desktop. By using the new ad group bid adjustments for mobile, this retailer can better maintain their desired bids and ROI on different devices as they upgrade to enhanced campaigns.”

Google says most advertisers will see the most value in using the existing campaign level bid adjustments.

API access for the new feature will be available first, in early May.

Enhanced campaign upgrades will start happening automatically on July 22.

What do you do when you see a male duck attempting to have sex with a dead male duck? Most would probably be a little weirded out and walk away. One biologist, however, saw a rare occurrence in nature, and decided to publish a study on it. That study earned him the prestigious Ig Nobel Prize, and a place in history.

The discovery of “gay dead duck sex” is the focal point of a recent TED talk that’s more fascinating than it sounds. In it, Dutch biologist Kees Moeliker, talks about his strange discovery, and how it has changed his life.

The moral of this story is that you might just win an award for writing studies about necrophilia in animals.

[h/t: LiveScience]

Late last week rumors surfaced that Google Play store would update, which according to the APK file is officially version 4.0.25, and sporting a whole new look. Today that news becomes official as Google confirmes that the latest version is beginning its slow, but steady, march to Android smartphones and tablets.

Michael Siliski, group product manager for Google Play, announces that “today we’ve started rolling out a redesigned Google Play store on Android phones and tablets that is simple, clean and, most importantly, helps you find great entertainment, fast”.

The complete redesign of the app is focused on content, with larger images, similarly themed content grouped together, new recommendations and simplified purchasing, according to the announcement. Also in my quick look at the the new version, the My Apps page has also changed, with a brand new look. All of these updates are coming to any device that is running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or newer, so almost nobody should be left out. But, remember, while Google Play runs on most devices, the store displays apps your Android version supports.

No need to go rushing to your device yet because Google claims that people around the world will get the latest Google Play over the next few weeks, meaning this is a gradual roll out, though an APK file has already made its way out onto the Internet. So, if you just can’t wait, and do not mind taking your chances, then very little snooping around is required to get the update today, as I have already done.

AT&T plans to build a gigabit network in Austin, Texas according to a company release Tuesday. On any day this would be big news, but Google just announced its own plans to build a fiber to the home, gigabit network in the Texas capital. Looks like Google’s plans to tweak the incumbent broadband players is working — at least at the press release level.

Google’s Kevin Lo said earlier today that the Google network won’t be available until mid-2014 and it’s unclear when AT&T’s network will be rolled out. I’ve contacted AT&T for more details and will update the story when I have them. Currently AT&T provides a fiber to the node product called U-verse that offers speeds of up to 24 Mbps down. However, as Google expanded in Kansas City, it received some concessions around permitting that the incumbents later complained about.

As a result, both Time Warner Cable and AT&T were granted similar benefits in Kansas City. However, in Austin, the agreements that Google has signed with the City of Austin are no different than the ones that AT&T and Time Warner have signed according to Laura Morrison, an austin city councilwoman. Yet, AT&T in it’s release of the gigabit network seems to imply otherwise. From the release:

Today, AT&T announced that in conjunction with its previously announced Project VIP expansion of broadband access, it is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, Texas, capable of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. AT&T’s expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives. This expanded investment is not expected to materially alter AT&T’s anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.

As an Austin resident and broadband lover, I’m ecstatic that I might soon have not one, but two gigabit capable networks. Of course, with so little known about the cost, timing or the locations of either Google’s or AT&T’s network, I’ll wait to get out my party hat.

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I haven’t yet bought a 3D printer although I plan to do so in the not-to-distant future. The main reasons I’ve held back are the printer costs and the fact that I have no experience with the design software needed to create objects. There are now several sub-$1,000 3D printer models available, with some even as low as $200 for printing small items. That reduces the cost issue, but I’m still not an expert in 3D design software.

Photon could be answer for me. This 3D scanner, currently a funded Indiegogo project, helps replicate physical objects so you can print a 3D copy of them. Essentially, it takes all of the design work out of play, provided you want to print a copy of something that already exists. I can live with that while I learn how to use the software to create my own designs, particularly when Photon costs CAD $449.00 (US $442.21), which isn’t too bad for this type of technology.

What I like best is that the Photon will scan hundreds of points on an object’s exterior surface and then convert the captured data into a wire-mesh design.

Other aspects that appeal to me: Although Photon can scan things up to 7.5 inches in diameter and 9.75 inches high, it actually folds up and looks quite portable. Average resolution scans can be completed in about 3 minutes. And a USB port makes it easy to get design files from the Photon to a computer, although I’d also like to see an integrated microSD card slot.

So am I backing this one? I’m going to have to think on it a little more, partly because I don’t yet have a 3D printer and partly because of the software support for Photon. According to the project page:

“We’re aiming to make the 3D files compatible with all major CAD packages, 3D modelling software and 3D printers. Currently, models produced from the Photon, can be saved as .STL, .OBJ, and point cloud .PLY formats. Making it easy to integrate scans within existing systems, such as 3DS max, Maya, solidworks, cinema 4d, google sketchup, rhino, True space, etc.”

Until I see that type of compatibility nailed down, I may hold off on the Photon. However, I like what I see and this device could push me over the edge to purchase a 3D printer sooner rather than later. I should also note that the first batch of Photon deliveries is slated for July and August. That’s an aggressive time-frame that puts the Photon on the market before the MakerBot Digitizer; another 3D scanner which has no price tag yet and is expected this fall.

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The description of last night’s episode of The Colbert Report reads: “At the Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting, President Bill Clinton discusses foreign aid, poverty, TED Talks, Twitter and the Colbert Galactic Initiative.”

Bill Clinton on rebuilding RwandaSo how did TED enter the conversation? Colbert suggested that Clinton, who accepted the TED Prize in 2007 with the talk “On rebuilding Rwanda,” team up with us for “Bill and TED’s Excellent Initiative.”

The moment came right after Colbert asked Clinton why he helps people.

“It’s totally selfish,” Clinton admitted. “I do it because I’m good at it and I’m not good enough to play golf on the senior tour, and I don’t play my saxophone as much as I used to … I [help people] because, I think after the life I’ve been given by the American people, I’d be kind of a slug if I didn’t do it.”

“Have you done TED Talks?” Colbert asked, trying to figure out the difference between TED, the Clinton Global Initiative and Burning Man.

“I have, and I like them,” Clinton said.

“Have you ever thought of having the Clinton Global Initiative and TED Talks team up to make Bill and Ted’s Excellent Initiative?” asked Colbert, to big applause.

“That’s a wonderful idea,” replied Clinton.

Special thanks to QuickMeme.com for capturing the moment:

And another TED-related Comedy Central bonus from yesterday’s The Daily Show: Kees Moeliker was a guest in a segment about pubic lice. Last week, we posted his talk “How a dead duck changed my life.”

While many current drone programs are extremely complex – and costly – cheap drones used for spying, mapping, and even attacks could turn the tables on world militaries by giving terrorists and less well-funded groups access to UAV technology.

A report by the Project 2049 Institute notes that China is hard at work on its own, less-expensive drone program that could end up being marketed to other players on the globe. Iran, for example, already sells simple drones to neighbors in the Middle East, including Syria. An advanced program coming out of China would, at the very least, allow for more powerful devices to percolate out to countries with less-developed UAV systems.

“In whatever future conflict scenario we’re in five or 10 years from now, the proliferation of UAVs is going to complicate things for the U.S. military,” said research fellow Ian Easton to TechNewsDaily. The market for unmanned drones could reach $89 billion over the next decade.

While they may not be as powerful as US, European, or Japanese robotic systems, these cheaper, Chinese drones could level the playing field just a bit when it comes to unmanned warfare in the future.

via HLS

Well that didn’t take long did it? Google officially announced the redesigned Google Play Store earlier, and the APK is already available to download for manual updating. All phones and tablets with Android 2.2 or higher will get the new update over-the-air, but unfortunately it will take roughly 3 weeks to hit every device. If you’re like me, you’re impatient and don’t feel like waiting around, so all you have to do is grab the APK from the download link below and install it just like any other APK. In case you’re not familiar, just make sure you have “unknown sources” checked under settings/security. Then from your phone/tablet, tap on the download link below, then tap Download (5.9MB) and it will save it to your phone/tablet. Tap on “com.android-vending-4.0.25.apk” in your notification panel, answer OK to replace system application, and tap Install. After it’s installed, just tap open to start enjoying the new card-themed Play Store. Enjoy!!

Download Link

Thanks to all that sent this in

Come comment on this article: New redesigned Google Play Store (version 4.0.25) now available to download