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When we think of the national mobile operators we immediately recall the Big 4: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. But there’s really one more. TracFone Wireless may not own any networks of its own but it’s the fifth largest carrier in the U.S. with 22.4 million customers at the end of 2012.

The virtual operator, owned by Latin American multinational América Móvil, is only a third smaller than T-Mobile, and it’s growing a lot faster. TracFone had a bang-up year, growing its subscriber base by 13.3 percent in 2012. Over the holidays it added 753,000 subscribers alone, which beat out every other operator in the U.S. save AT&T and Verizon. Consumers appear to like the cheap no-contract services TracFone is selling.

TracFone managed to grow so big only by the grace of the large carriers. As a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), TracFone buys wholesale CDMA and GSM voice minutes and 3G data from all of the Big 4 and feeds them into its multiple brands: Straight Talk, Net 10, Simple Mobile, Telcel América and SafeLink Wireless. All of them target different types of consumers – Straight Talk goes after iPhone users on a budget while Telcel targets the Mexican community in the U.S. – but what they all have in common are inexpensive plans sold without contracts.

While there are dozens of new independent MVNOs in the U.S., most of them tend to be modest outfits. One of the most successful of the new breed, Solavei, has only 100,000 subscribers. On the other hand, while Solavei has been existence only a half a year, TracFone has had plenty of time to grow. It outdates most of the modern carriers, launching in 1996 long before the term MVNO came into existence. Back then it was simply a prepaid reseller.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock user Mopic

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
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• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro

Google announced today that it is launching a new Google Analytics feature to support multi-currency ecommerce. Apparently this has been a highly requested feature, and Google says it has heard the requests loud and clear.

The feature allows users to track transaction metrics like total revenue, tax, and shipping & handling in multiple local currencies within a single web property. Google Analytics will convert the currencies into the one based on your profile setting.

“This provides key benefits for e-commerce brands looking to conduct analysis across an international customer base and helps make some previously complex reporting easier,” says Wayne Xu from the Google Analytics team.

The feature is supported by the ga.js and analytics.js snippets. The currency code is a global setting, and can be set via tracker ‘_set()’. More info here.

The feature will be rolling out to all users over the coming weeks.

As a fan of monsters and 3D printing, in that order, I was intrigued by Autodesk’s new iOS app, 123D Creature. Aimed at beginning 3D modelers, the app allows you to build cute (or scary) monsters right on your screen by pinching, grabbing, and rotating a lump of virtual clay hanging on a skeleton.

The $7.99 app ($1.99 for a limited time) is the latest in Autodesk’s line of free 3D apps. The company sells much more expensive and complex 3D solutions like Maya and 3ds max but these 123D apps are designed to allow users with little experience to build objects, paint them virtually, and output mesh files that can be used on 3D printers. You can even order 3D prints of your creations right from the app.

Given the perceived difficulty of 3D modeling, these are an interesting way for Autodesk to sneak their tools into the hands of younger designers who could go on to use the company’s more lucrative tools.

How does it work? Fairly well, to be honest.

I tried the app briefly today and was able to design a pointy-headed little man and print him on my home Makerbot. Sadly his arms didn’t quite make it through the print process but his tiny legs and pin head look just fine. I’m no 3D artist, to be sure, so it was fun to be able to make a cute little being and then pump him out of my extruder in a few minutes. Not only does this give 3D novices the chance to experiment with 3D design, it makes folks with 3D printers happy because of the seamless system for making and outputting mesh files for quick prints.

HBO excited subscribers on Tuesday when it announced during the D: Dive Into Media conference that its HBO GO and MAX GO iOS apps were updated with AirPlay support. The news meant iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users could finally stream content from their devices to Apple TV boxes connected to a television set. Following the announcement, AllThingsD pressed further to determine if the news meant that we might soon see true Apple TV support, or even an a la carte programming option.

Continue reading…

iHave no idea about the iWatch. But iKnow intriguing innovation inspiration when iSee it. The rumored iWatch, much like Apple’s rumored TV, has been a source of frenzied speculation. How might the company that reinvented mobile music, cellular telephony, tablet computing, touchscreen interfaces and downloadable apps reimagine the wristwatch? Just how terrified should Piaget, Rolex and Patek Philippe be?

Very. After all, WWSJD? never really stood for “What Would Steve Jobs Do?”. The acronym really asked, “What would Steve Jobs Design?”. Between its market cap, profit margins and sales volumes, no company has ever done a better job of monetizing great design. Harley Earl and Raymond Loewy could only dream of enjoying the transformative global design influence — technical and experiential — that Apple has exercised this millennium.

Being haunted by the daunting specter of “Apple-ification” has forced many of the firms I know to become far more self-conscious about their design and UX vulnerabilities. “How might an Apple (re)design this?,” has emerged as a rhetorical question that product managers have learned to ask — or be forced to publicly answer.

Similarly, retail and sales organizations squeezed by “showrooming” increasingly wonder, “How would an Amazon (re)design what we’re doing?”. Knowledge-intensive and advice-driven enterprises ask, “What would Google do?”. They’re all smart enough to recognize that these design innovators are setting new standards and expectations for how customers and clients seek out and obtain value.

To my pleasantly provocative surprise, neither fear, loathing nor slavish copycatting dominates the competitive response. While imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, I’ve enjoyed facilitating wittier and more useful design reactions. Creatively caricaturing one’s competitors turns out to be an insightful, inciteful and empathic way to improve your own.

It began as a joke. At one consumer packaged goods company, the graphic design team humorously despaired that they could never afford to provide a comparable “out of the box” experience for their cheap and perishable product that Apple offered its iPad and Air customers. I agreed but couldn’t help wondering aloud what Apple-fying their package might be like. Two days later, a couple of the designers had mocked up — accent on “mock” — an iPhone/iPod packaging hybrid. It was a tongue-in-cheek caricature that a Sir Jony Ive might have enjoyed (just before calling Apple’s “intellectual property” lawyers.)

By no stretch of the imagination was this intended as a serious design prototype. But it commanded everyone’s attention. The truth was, its Apple-flavored “out of box” experience tasted tangibly different. After fifteen or so minutes of playing around, another designer remarked, “You know, we could….” and it was off to the races. The packaging innovation that ultimately emerged bore no physical resemblance to its parodic origins. However, the focus groups loved it. (The unhappy ending? A senior vice-president did not; he thought the design too much a stretch for the brand.)

With no apologies to Rube Goldberg or Heath Robinson, I quickly embraced the improvisational inspiration of design caricature. Here was a useful, accessible and non-threatening way to literally gain a competitive perspective on design and/or UX challenges. For a B2B web service, I asked the design team to pretend that the site would reside on Amazon. The result was amazing. The exercise completely changed how they thought of integrating recommendations and reviews into the service. Again, the finished product looked nothing like Amazon but the team agreed that the act of emulating the world’s biggest online retailer made them more sensitive to UX and information display trade-offs.

Design parody and caricature has a rich visual history. (I’d credit Giuseppe Arcimboldo as arguably the first and greatest of design caricaturists). Certainly, “starchitects” and uber-designers du jour invariably inspire imitators with either gleams in the eye or evil intent. But most of the (post)industrial design shops I know prefer to “draw inspiration from” rather than actually go through the serious motions of parodic exaggeration of rival designs. The value and cognitive impact comes not from paying attention to the details but from amplifying and exploiting them for effect. Exaggerating the essential design elements ends up revealing fundamental design truths. Making fun of a clever UX style turns out to say something serious about why it’s so appealing.

Professionally, it’s intriguing to observe how designers, who frequently feel challenged to better empathize and sympathize with users, have little trouble at all identifying precisely what features and functions of a rival design they’d most enjoy parodying. They’re relaxed and un-self-conscious. Because they’re actually (re)designing, they’re collaborating instead of just talking. Is design caricature a gimmick? Yes. Does it work? Well, take a good look at your watch and ask yourself: WWSJD?

InVisage Technologies, Inc. said it raised a Series D round led by GGV Capital and joined by Nokia Growth Partners along with existing investors RockPort Capital, InterWest Partners, Intel Capital and OnPoint Technologies. The company did not release the size of the round.

PRESS RELEASE

InVisage Secures Series D Venture Funding

Funding round moves breakthrough QuantumFilm imaging products from R&D to manufacturing; includes investment from GGV Capital and Nokia Growth Partners

MENLO PARK, Calif.– February 13, 2013 – InVisage Technologies, Inc. – a Silicon Valley-based start-up that is revolutionizing the image sensor market – today announced it has received its Series D round of venture funding, led by GGV Capital and including Nokia Growth Partners. The undisclosed amount will be used to begin manufacturing the company’s QuantumFilm image sensors, which are currently being evaluated by phone manufacturers. Devices incorporating the technology are expected to ship in Q2 2014. GGV and Nokia Growth Partners join InVisage’s existing investors RockPort Capital, InterWest Partners, Intel Capital and OnPoint Technologies.

“InVisage is poised to make a tremendous impact on consumer devices and end users with its QuantumFilm image sensors,” said Thomas Ng, founding partner, GGV Capital. “Our investment focus and expertise are helping companies during this crucial expansion stage, and we look forward to working with the InVisage team as they scale their technology for the demands of the global mobile-device market.”

InVisage QuantumFilm is the world’s most light-sensitive image sensor for smartphones, capable of producing  gorgeous, high-quality photos in virtually any lighting condition. InVisage has transformed the image sensor by adding a thin layer of quantum dot film to produce highly sensitive image sensors that can be mass-produced using standard CMOS processes. Compared to current camera technologies, the InVisage QuantumFilm sensor provides incredible performance in the smallest package, making picture-taking foolproof, even in dimly lit rooms.

“The innovative QuantumFilm technology from InVisage has the potential to disrupt the market for silicon-based image sensors,” said Bo Ilsoe, managing partner of Nokia Growth Partners. “Imaging remains a core investment area for NGP, and it is our belief that InVisage’s technology will change how video and images are captured in consumer devices.”

“The participation of new investors, including a major handset maker, in this round signals that imaging is a critical differentiator in mobile devices,” said Jess Lee, CEO, InVisage Technologies. “For too long, the image sensor industry has lacked innovation. We are excited to bring stunning image quality and advanced new features that will truly transform this industry.”

More information on QuantumFilm and InVisage Technologies is available at www.invisage.com.

About InVisage Technologies, Inc.
InVisage Technologies, Inc. is a venture-backed, fabless semiconductor company based in Menlo Park, Calif. that has developed QuantumFilm, a breakthrough imaging-sensing technology that will replace silicon. Its first product enables high-fidelity, high-resolution images from handheld devices like camera phones and digital cameras. Founded in 2006, InVisage Technologies is venture funded by GGV Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, RockPort Capital, InterWest Partners, Intel Capital, OnPoint Technologies and Charles River Ventures. More information is available at www.invisage.com.

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How, exactly, does online dating work? In this perfect-for-Valentine’s-Day TED-Ed lesson, OKCupid co-founder Christian Rudder walks you through how the dating website does its matching — by using a carefully-honed algorithm to create a compatability rating for two potential daters. In this fascinating video, Rudder shares how the site lets daters decide which factors are most important to them — and then crunches the numbers behind the scenes.

TED-Ed animator Franz Palomares jumped at the chance to animate this lesson — for a very specific reason. The TED-ED blog interviewed him to find out why.

We heard there was a special reason you wanted to work on this particular lesson. What was your inspiration?

The general inspiration was very personal. Seven years ago, I met my wife on a dating website! So I felt a great attachment to sharing this lesson.

Artistically, I had a lot of different inspirations. I knew immediately that I wanted to split it into two categories. One a very personal and human side, represented by hand-drawn characters — the match that is being made by the algorithm. And then a technical side, represented by the 3D words and the heart transitions. The hearts falling are based on the raining code from the Matrix. I thought it would be a fun way to indicate that the program was working.

That male character certainly looks familiar. How did you decide what the characters would look like in the animation?

Ha. The two characters that represent the users were easy. I knew from the moment I took on this lesson that I would work in some drawings of my wife and myself. From there, I decided I should include a character that looks like Christian to be the narrator.

Read the rest of the interview on the TED-Ed blog »

BB&T Capital Partners has sold Cline Acquisition Corp. to Rexnord Corp. Financial terms weren’t announced. Taylors, S.C.-based Cline provides aftermarket power transmission parts and services to the pulp and paper, steel and other end markets. Quarton Partners provided financial advice to Cline.

PRESS RELEASE

Quarton Partners is pleased to announce that BB&T Capital Partners has sold Cline Acquisition Corp. (“Cline”) to Rexnord Corporation (NYSE: RXN). Cline is a provider of aftermarket power transmission parts and services to the pulp and paper, steel and other end markets. Cline’s full service aftermarket capabilities include inspection and repair, rebuild, predictive and preventative maintenance and other on-site technical field services. Quarton Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Cline in this transaction.
Bob Buchanan , President and CEO of Cline, commented on the sale, “Quarton Partners ran a high quality process under a demanding timeline. With Quarton Partners’ knowledge of the power transmission sector they were able to deliver several strategic buyers to the table which ultimately allowed us to choose a strategic partner that shares our vision for growing the business and dedication to world-class customer service.”
Cline (www.theclineco.com) is a high quality provider of aftermarket power transmission services to the pulp and paper, steel and other end markets. Cline specializes in providing full-service power transmission solutions and has a high degree of technical expertise for mission critical industrial drive shafts, clutches and brakes that are used in production equipment. Cline is based in Taylors, South Carolina.
BB&T Capital Partners (www.bbtcp.com) is a private equity firm located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. BB&T is an investment arm of BB&T Corporation and principally targets companies in business, government, healthcare and industrial services, niche manufacturing, value-added distribution and education.
Rexnord (www.rexnord.com) is a global industrial manufacturer comprised of two strategic platforms, Process & Motion Control and Water Management, with approximately 7,300 employees worldwide. The Process & Motion Control platform designs, manufactures, markets and services specified, highly-engineered mechanical components used within complex systems. The Water Management platform designs, procures, manufactures and markets products that provide and enhance water quality, safety, flow control and conservation. Rexnord is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
ABOUT QUARTON PARTNERS
Quarton Partners (www.quartonpartners.com), headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan, is a premier middle market investment banking firm, serving privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as private equity firms. Quarton Partners assists its clients with mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising, restructurings, valuations and other financial advisory services. Its principals have successfully completed hundreds of engagements in a variety of industries across the U.S. and throughout the world. Quarton Partners is an affiliate of Spearhead Capital, LLC.

PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1zJAp)

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IER Director of Regulatory and State Affairs Daniel Simmons will testify on Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 1:00PM before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Healthcare, and Entitlements. The hearing is on “The Effects of Rising Energy Costs on American Families and Employers.” Simmons’s testimony will focus on the various components of gasoline prices and how regulations and supply issues affect these components. Highlights from the testimony include:

 “World crude oil and liquid fuels consumption grew to the highest level ever in 2012, with an estimated 89.2 million barrels per day (bpd) consumed in total… China is the second-largest consumer of oil behind the United States and as of 2009, China became the second-largest net importer of oil.”

“According to the EIA, the U.S. produced 6.4 million bpd of crude oil in 2012, up from 5.6 million bpd in 2011—the largest one-year increase ever…96 percent of the increase in domestic production since 2007 has come from non-government lands. This increase could be much larger, but for government policies.”

“The second main cost of the price of gasoline is federal and state taxes. In December 2012, federal, state and local taxes accounted for 13 percent of the price of gasoline. The federal tax on gasoline accounts for 18.4 cents per gallon, while the volume-weighted average state and local tax is 30.4 cents per gallon as of January 2013. This amounts to a 48.8-cent nationwide average tax on gasoline.”

“The third cost to factor into the price of gasoline is the refining process… It is becoming harder and harder to refine oil in the United States. Over the past 30 years, refineries have dealt with a huge number of ever-stricter regulations. Between 1981 and April 2012, the federal government has promulgated 65 major regulations and 755 non-major regulations that affect the subset of manufacturers that includes refineries.”

“Since 1990, refineries have spent $128 billion to comply with federal environmental regulation. To put that in context, that works out to over $850 million per operating refinery in 2011.”

“The last component of the price of gasoline is the retail dealer’s costs and profits, which constituted a combined 11 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline in December 2012. From the refinery, most gasoline is shipped first by pipeline to terminals near consuming areas and then loaded into trucks for delivery to individual stations. Ethanol must also be transported by truck or train because it cannot be mixed with gasoline prior to delivery.”

“The federal estate contains vast energy resources, but the federal government allows energy production on a very small percentage of taxpayer-owned federal lands. The Interior Department has leased just 2 percent of federal offshore areas and less than 6 percent of federal onshore lands for oil and gas development.”

“It takes 307 days for the federal government to process a permit to drill, but only 27 days for Colorado and 10 days in North Dakota. It should come as no surprise why North Dakota’s oil production is rapidly increasing while energy production on federal lands is stagnating.”

“The federal government’s land use policies have reduced oil and natural gas production on federal lands because federal regulations make it much more difficult to work on federal lands… These technically recoverable resources total 1,194 billion barrels of oil and 2,150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that is owned by the federal taxpayer… the value of the estimated oil resources is $119.4 trillion and the value of the estimated natural gas resources is $8.6 trillion for a grand total of $128 trillion.”

“IER commissioned a groundbreaking paper highlighting the larger economic effects, including economic growth, wages, jobs, and federal and state and local tax revenues, of opening Federal lands and waters to oil and gas leasing… The study finds that if the federal government opened up additional federal lands and waters to exploration and production, the increase to GDP would be $127 billion annually for the next seven years, and $450 billion annually in the long run. Most impressively, the opening of federal lands would have a cumulative increase in economic activity of up to $14.4 trillion over a period of 37 years.”

 

To read the full testimony, click here.

Tomorrow’s hearing can be seen live here.

Turner Broadcasting expanded its Media Camp startup accelerator program to Los Angeles. Already Turner, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, operates an accelerator in the Silicon Valley. Startups in the accelerator get 12 weeks of mentorship and access to executives, and financial incentives.

PRESS RELEASE

WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT EXPANDS 
TURNER BROADCASTING’S SUCCESSFUL MEDIA CAMP ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

PROVIDES FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO EARLY STAGE COMPANIES CREATING DISRUPTIVE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGIES AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH STUDIO EXECUTIVES

APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR INTERESTED COMPANIES

BURBANK, CALIF., February 13, 2013 – Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced the expansion of Turner Broadcasting’s successful Media Camp accelerator program. The new Media Camp Academy in Los Angeles will give early stage companies creating disruptive innovations an opportunity to work alongside Warner Bros. executives to gain valuable insight into the Studio’s business, and develop next-generation technologies and products for the entertainment industry. Companies worldwide who are selected to participate will receive 12 weeks of mentorship, guided insights and access to executives, and financial incentives.

Launched in 2012 by Turner Broadcasting’s Emerging Technology Group, Media Camp enabled six selected startups, Chute, Matcha, Showbucks, Socialize, SocialSamba and Switchcam, to work closely with executives across Turner brands including CNN, TNT, HLN, Cartoon Network and TBS.

Warner Bros. Entertainment will host their first Academy this spring with a series of networking events planned across Los Angeles. Turner will continue into its second year this summer in San Francisco. To be considered for either class, startups can apply at www.mediacamp.com/apply.

For more information, please visit www.mediacamp.com and follow @TheMediaCamp on Twitter.

About Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. A Time Warner Company, the fully integrated, broad-based Studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to Blu-ray and DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing and broadcasting.

About Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world. Turner brands and businesses include CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com and HLN; TBS, TNT, truTV and Turner Classic Movies; Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim; and Turner Sports.

About Media Camp
Media Camp, a Turner/Warner Bros. initiative, is a comprehensive accelerator program that educates entrepreneurs and enables them to build innovative media businesses. Key features of Media Camp include presentations and workshops focused on media technology, formal mentorship from media industry experts, community events and knowledge sharing, as well as direct investments including partnerships and vendor relationships. For more information, visit www.mediacamp.com and follow us atwww.twitter.com/themediacamp.

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SD Retail Consulting, a unit of Hilco Trading, said Wednesday that it named Farla Efros as EVP and COO. Efros will be responsible for the firm’s Merchandising and Strategy practice area. Most recently, she served as EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer of Office Depot.

PRESS RELEASE

SD Retail Consulting, a leading strategic retail advisory firm and unit of Hilco Trading, LLC., today announced that it has named Farla Efros as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer as part of its strategic efforts to expand the breadth and depth of its senior management team. In her new role, Ms. Efros will be responsible for the firm’s Merchandising and Strategy practice area.

Ms. Efros brings extensive expertise in merchandising strategy and category management, having worked globally with many of the world’s leading retailers and consumer packaged goods companies. Most recently, Ms. Efros served as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer of Office Depot where she was selected by the CEO to transform merchandising operations for 1,170 locations across the US. Ms. Efros worked to define Office Depot’s merchandising vision and clearly articulated its merchandising strategy in moving Office Depot from a product-centric company to a customer-centric one. To that end, she developed category management expertise, strengthened internal cross-functional capabilities and simplified work processes to create a fast, flexible and focused merchandising organization.

“Adding Farla to the leadership team to help expand and grow the SD Retail business is a significant statement about the caliber of talent we plan to offer our clients to help them succeed in today’s rapidly changing retail landscape,” said Antony Karabus, newly-appointed President of the firm. “Recognized as one of the brightest strategic leaders in the retail industry today, Farla’s unique insight and understanding of the challenges our customers face will enable us to deliver the most comprehensive assessment of their business and help them grow.”

Prior to her role as EVP at Office Depot, Ms. Efros held the position of SVP of Performance Improvement at a leading international consulting firm, where she was responsible for store operations, merchandising and marketing strategy, organization design, category management and assortment optimization. Previously, she spent 10 years at The Partnering Group, Inc., where she served as Partner responsible for the development of the best practices category, and customer management. Ms. Efros has worked domestically and internationally with companies across various retail sectors including grocery, mass merchandise/discount, drug, value, convenience, pet supplies, automotive, apparel, home furnishing and department store.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to continue developing and operationalizing the principles that will support SD Retail’s leadership and drive business results in the years ahead,” Efros commented. “Our innovative solutions will help retailers create tangible value while improving operating performance and accelerating growth strategies.”
ABOUT SD RETAIL CONSULTING

SD Retail Consulting is a leading strategic retail advisory firm that helps retailers unlock value across multiple operating segments; including merchandising, planning and allocation, the in-store customer experience, supply chain, inventory, real estate, the support infrastructure, technology effectiveness and the raising of capital required to support growth strategies. The company is a unit of The Hilco Organization and operates in New York as well as at Hilco’s headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. For more information on SD Retail Consulting visit http://www.sdretail.com.
ABOUT HILCO TRADING LLC.

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois (USA), Hilco is a privately-held, diversified financial and operational services firm whose principal competency is understanding and maximizing the value of business assets, including retail, consumer and industrial inventory; machinery and equipment; real estate; accounts receivable; intellectual property; and, going-concern enterprises.  Through 500 professionals operating on five continents, Hilco helps companies and their professional advisors assess asset value, maximize value for said assets through asset monetization solutions, and enhance value through advisory and consulting solutions.  Hilco serves retailers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers, directly and through their lenders, investors and advisors, which can include private equity firms, hedge funds, investment banks, law firms, turnaround professionals, accounting professionals, bankruptcy trustees and receivers.  For more information please visit our web site: www.hilcotrading.com.
 

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The Apple TV could finally be getting a developer SDK that would allow third-party apps to appear on the platform, according to an analyst note from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek today. The note cites channel checks as the source of the info that Apple will hold an Apple TV-related event in March, at which time it may introduce an SDK for “iTV” development.

Misek also predicts that there will be an actual hardware Apple television set launching later in the year, around September or October, meaning Gene Munster isn’t the only analyst singing that particular tune. But so-called iTV or no, the possibility that Apple will finally open up its set-top box to developers the way it has done with the iPhone and iPad is exciting.

But we’ve been here before. The Apple TV has always seemed ripe for a third-party developer SDK, ever since it originally launched back in 2007, and especially once the second generation model came out in 201o. It was even running a version of iOS when the little black model debuted, which seemed like a guaranteed sign that it was only a matter of time before we’d see Apple do the same thing they’d done with the iPhone: unlock the potential of the platform with an SDK and developer program.

Instead, what we actually saw was Apple roll out third-party apps with various updates, one or a few at a time, carefully gating access to the platform. As to why it would do that, there are a few reasons, but I’d guess that at least part of it has to do with Apple’s ongoing efforts to negotiate content deals with major providers including networks and film studios. Move too quickly to unlock the platform, and you risk incurring the enmity of content distributors who want to have a say in who has access to a channel. Those old media giants probably aren’t too comfortable with a Wild West App Store-type vibe making its way to the living room, especially when it has the popularity and install base of Apple’s iOS users.

In a roundabout way, there are already apps on the Apple TV, and not just the native ones Apple has given golden approval. AirPlay means most apps can mirror their content from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to the big screen, and do so with a high degree of fidelity, for the most part. But the difference is akin to when Apple originally said that third-party developers can build apps for iPhone, but they’d have to use the web browser to do it. There’s a lot you can accomplish, but it’s not the same as if the apps were operating natively on Apple TV itself.

So how likely is it that this time we’ll actually see Apple open things up? If it is planning a full television launch, an App Store ready to go and populated with content ahead of time would help it greatly, but that depends on Misek’s sources being right on both counts. Misek has been hit or miss when it comes to Apple rumors in the past, but he did get pretty close on iPhone 4S details ahead of its launch back in 2012.

On Deck said it raised $42 million in Series D financing in a deal led by Institutional Venture Partners and joined by existing investors RRE Ventures, SAP Ventures and First Round Capital. The round was oversubscribed.

PRESS RELEASE

ON DECK SECURES $42 MILLION SERIES D FINANCING LED BY INSTITUTIONAL VENTURE PARTNERS

Funding to Fuel Accelerated Growth, Technology Innovation and Marketing Initiatives Aimed at Delivering More Capital to Main Street

(New York, NY) February 13, 2013 – On Deck (www.ondeckcapital.com), the technology-powered Main Street lender, announced today that it has raised $42 million in Series D growth financing led by new investor, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). Existing On Deck investors RRE Ventures, SAP Ventures and First Round Capital also participated in the oversubscribed round. The financing will enable the company to further accelerate growth through: continued technology innovation; breakthrough new product development; increased marketing to reach more small business owners; and expanded access to wholesale funding sources. Collectively these efforts will bolster On Deck’s ability to connect Main Street businesses around the country with the capital they need.

On Deck’s innovative technology platform is a transformative solution to America’s small and medium sized business lending challenges. The company has successfully deployed $400 million directly to thousands of small and medium sized businesses that make up the growth engine of our economy. The latest funding round follows a year of record performance and the achievement of numerous milestones. In 2012, On Deck doubled its business, raised nearly $100 million in credit facility commitments jointly led by Goldman Sachs and Fortress Investment Group, tripled the number of distribution partners to 1,500 nationwide, expanded its bank partnerships and increased its industry coverage to over 700 vertical markets, serving essentially all types of Main Street businesses.

In conjunction with the financing, On Deck also announced that IVP General Partner, Sandy Miller, has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Sandy has an extensive investor track record across numerous industries, leading investments in AddThis, Care.com, Fleetmatics, ngmoco, One Kings Lane, Vonage and Zynga.

“On Deck will provide more capital to small businesses in 2013 than it did during the previous five years in total. This investment provides On Deck with greater capacity and resources to bring technology-enabled finance to the mainstream of the American small business market,” said Noah Breslow, chief executive officer, On Deck. “We were attracted to IVP’s 33-year track record of collaborating with pioneering technology companies, as well as Sandy’s personal involvement with over 100 technology IPOs. We are thrilled to have Sandy and the entire IVP team supporting our next phase of growth.”

IVP General Partner Sandy Miller commented, “Led by an experienced and cohesive management team, On Deck has developed a unique and differentiated technology platform to streamline the borrowing process so that small and medium sized business owners can get approved for the capital they need in a matter of minutes. We are very excited that our investment in On Deck is the first from our new fund, IVP XIV.”

“Small and medium sized businesses are the lifeblood of the US economy and we are in an environment where 84% of SMBs looking for financing report having unmet financing needs,” said Eric Liaw, principal at IVP. “IVP is excited to partner with On Deck to help provide thousands of small and medium sized business owners with the capital they need to invest in their operations, grow their businesses, and create new jobs.”

To continue to manage its explosive growth, On Deck recently opened regional offices in Atlanta, Sarasota, Chicago and Los Angeles. In 2013, the company will open a western region office in Denver, and move into larger office spaces for its New York City headquarters and Arlington, VA offices.

Victory Park Securities acted as financial advisor to On Deck.

To learn more about On Deck, please visit www.ondeckcapital.com or follow On Deck on Twitter: @OnDeckCapital. If you are interested in speaking with CEO Noah Breslow regarding small business in America, please contact [email protected].

About On Deck
Launched in 2007, On Deck uses data aggregation and electronic payment technology to evaluate the financial health of small and medium sized businesses and efficiently deliver capital to a market underserved by banks. Through the On Deck platform, millions of small businesses can obtain affordable loans with a fraction of the time and effort that it takes through traditional channels. The company’s proprietary credit models look deeper into the health of businesses, focusing on overall business performance, rather than the owner’s personal credit history. The On Deck system also provides a critically needed mechanism for financial institutions and other business service providers to efficiently reach the Main Street small business market.
On Deck is financed by some of the nation’s leading venture capital firms, including SAP Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Khosla Ventures, RRE Ventures, Village Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners. For more information, please visit: www.ondeckcapital.com.

About Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)
With $4 billion of committed capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is one of the premier later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms in the United States. Founded in 1980, IVP has invested in over 300 companies, 93 of which have gone public. IVP is one of the top performing firms in the industry and has a 32-year IRR of 43.2%. IVP specializes in venture growth investments, industry rollups, founder liquidity transactions and select public market investments. Since its inception, IVP investments include such notable companies as ArcSight (HPQ), Buddy Media (CRM), ComScore (SCOR), Concur Technologies (CNQR), Dropbox, Fleetmatics (FLTX), HomeAway (AWAY), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Kayak (KYAK), LegalZoom, LifeLock (LOCK), Marketo, MySQL (ORCL), Netflix (NFLX), Polycom (PLCM), Seagate (STX), Shazam, Synchronoss (SNCR), Tivo (TIVO), Twitter and Zynga (ZNGA). For more information, visit http://ivp.com or follow IVP on Twitter: @ivp

The post On Deck Raises $42M From IVP, RRE, SAP, First Round appeared first on peHUB.

American Express got the social media world talking this week when it announced a Tweet-to-Buy partnership with Twitter. The concept is simple: Users can sync their American Express cards to their twitter accounts, and then buy $25 gift cards for only $15 by tweeting the hashtag #BuyAmexGiftCard25. In essence American Express gives $10 free credit for a branded tweet.

In principle, $10 per tweet is worth giving away if American Express expects the tweet to result in at least $10 net profit in the future. But how does one formulate that?

When companies like American Express offer discounts, they often justify the spend by referring to the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). This is usually calculated as the expected net profit attributed to purchases during the entire relationship between a business and its customer. The company is better off offering a discount today, because that will likely increase the customer’s loyalty, and loyalty increases the CLV.

But American Express is now buying something different: they are not thinking CLV, they are buying Customer Network Value (CNV). CNV is the expected net profit from purchases by anyone in the customer’s network — their friends, family and online followers — that can be attributed to the customer promoting the brand.

Let me explain by example: If Justin Bieber decides to buy an American Express gift card by tweeting #BuyAmexGiftCard25 to his approximately 35 million followers, then the $10 discount probably was well worth giving to him. At least a few of those people will probably check out American Express’ offerings, and — as Justin Bieber’s fans are relatively young — quite a few may eventually consider applying for an American Express card as a result. So the CNV of Justin Bieber is huge, probably by orders of magnitude higher than $10.

Take the other extreme, when someone opens a new twitter account with 0 followers, links it to their card and tweets #BuyAmexGiftCard25. The network value of this customer on Twitter is likely to be very close to $0.

The really interesting segment lies somewhere between Justin Bieber and the new twitter user without followers. Bieber may have an outstanding CNV, but he is unlikely to voluntarily engage in an advocacy program like Tweet-to-Buy for a meager $10 incentive. There is however a substantial segment of social media users, often referred to as the “magic middle,” whose network value is relatively high, but who may be more willing to engage with the brand. This magic middle, about 9% of social media users, are trusted experts, bloggers and journalists who have built up influence and social capital in particular niche areas of interest.

What American Express stated by announcing this offer, is that they estimate the network value of their community as $10, on average. It is hard to say at this point whether this estimate is right or wrong. There is a weakness in American Express’ one-size-fits-all offering: The lack of segmentation. This strategy will probably earn back multiples of the $10 investment on high-influence Twitter users, but it will likely be loss-making on low-influence twitter accounts, which are the in the majority.

As social media analytics matures, the industry is moving towards influencer marketing: Selectively delivering offers to audiences based on their social influence in relevant subjects. Marketers already use demographic segmentation to create improved marketing strategies based on CLV. Influencer marketing now allows for further optimized strategies that are based on CNV.

In the case of American Express, you could predict the scale of cash back by looking at a person’s influence on Twitter. Or, a marketer could score inbound leads based on the predicted influence of people in important segments. Those with higher CNV would merit a higher customer acquisition cost, much as marketers spend more to acquire higher-spending customers.

The critical point is that the economic value of influence is now being assessed and characterized, allowing marketers to make sense of the billion-plus people now on social media.

Selerity said Wednesday that it raised $3 million of Series B equity financing. New shareholders include Mark Faulkner, Data Explorers’ founder; Tom Glocer, Thomson Reuters former CEO; Emanuel Mond, Cadis’ former chairman, Lee Olesky, Tradeweb’s CEO; and, Sharon Rowlands, CEO of Altegrity. A majority of Selerity’s series A shareholders and board of directors also reinvested. Selerity, of Jersey City, N.J., provides data solutions for the financial services industry.

PRESS RELEASE

Selerity, a provider of real-time event data solutions for the financial services industry, today announced that it successfully raised $3 million of equity financing to accelerate the development of Selerity Alerts, its new real-time intelligence platform. The Series B capital raise was oversubscribed by more than $1 million due to strong demand from investors, as well as the significant market opportunity that exists for real-time, user-driven intelligence for financial services professionals that Selerity offers.

The Selerity Alerts platform allows securities traders, analysts, portfolio managers and other professionals to receive breaking, real-time intelligence based on their specific investment thesis and interests. Selerity’s platform uses sophisticated real-time search and classification technology to deliver intelligence related to breaking events that impact the financial markets. Using proprietary algorithms, the service sifts through hundreds of thousands of events per day at sub-second speeds from sources including social media, local media, regulatory agencies, and authoritative blogs. The events are then analyzed by Selerity’s in-house event analysts, delivering only highly relevant information and analysis to clients. The Selerity Alerts product offering is currently in beta testing with a group of financial services firms.

As part of the capital raise, Emanuel Mond will be joining Selerity’s board of directors. Mond is a seasoned financial information services executive, entrepreneur, and investor. Most recently, he served as the Chairman of Cadis, a global enterprise data management specialist.  Prior to this, Mond has held various senior leadership and investor roles at multiple financial technology ventures including, Monis Software (acquired by SunGard), SunGard, and Whittaker Garnier (acquired by Insight).

“I’m excited to be joining Selerity at such an important point in the company’s growth trajectory because I believe in Selerity’s business proposition and the need for their product in the industry,” Mond commented. “I look forward to working with the Selerity team and my fellow board members to expand the company’s footprint in the fast-growing real-time intelligence market and to guide Selerity as it applies the additional capital to further develop its offerings.”

Selerity’s new shareholders are among the financial information industry’s top executives including, in alphabetical order:

· Mark Faulkner, Founder, Data Explorers; and Co-Founder, Credit Benchmark
· Tom Glocer, Former CEO, Thomson Reuters
· Emanuel Mond, Former Chairman, Cadis
· Lee Olesky, CEO, Tradeweb
· Sharon Rowlands, CEO, Altegrity

A majority of Selerity’s series A shareholders and board of directors also reinvested as part of the round, including industry leaders Donal Smith (Chairman, Selerity), Former CEO of Data Explorers and Co-Founder of Credit Benchmark; Doug Atkin, former President and CEO of Instinet; and Roger Ehrenberg, Wall Street veteran and former CEO of DB Advisors.

“I am honored that such an exceptional group of individuals supports Selerity’s vision to become the leading real-time event data and intelligence firm in the market,” said Ryan Terpstra, Founder and CEO, Selerity. “I know that with this support and our immensely dedicated team, we can continue to deliver market-leading solutions to our clients and the industry. There’s nothing we can’t achieve with such a talented group of people.”

Selerity has now raised a total of $8.1 million including its Series A round, completed in December 2008, and the Series B round. Equity financing has been primarily sourced from accredited investors with extensive experience in financial information and services.

The post Selerity Raises $3 Mln Financing appeared first on peHUB.

The thing about collaboration is that you can’t do it alone. That’s the rationale behind Do More, an enhanced version of Salesforce.com’s Do task and project management software that was designed to make it easy for small business staffs to work together and with partners and customers using popular tools. Do More claims easy integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, Harvest, Contactually and Wufoo.

Most small workgroups already have favorite consumer-oriented tools they use every day (hello Dropbox!), so it makes a lot of sense to make it drop-dead easy for them to keep using those tools instead of trying to lure them away.

Do morphs into Do More

The original Do app, viewed as a way for individuals to manage tasks, has evolved into a project tracking and management tool for workgroups. These new links to other collaboration products are a further push in that direction.

Do co-founder Amit Kulkarni claims more than 100,000 small companies use “Do” as their collaboration home base and hopes to capitalize on that.

“As they use this tool, they also use Dropbox or Google Drive [for file sharing], Harvest for time tracking and Wufoo forms for leads — we thought it would be cool if you’re using Do as your persistent browser tag for you to be able to see all that information from the other applications inside of Do,” Kulkarni said in an interview.

Do More makes it easy to attach a Dropbox file to a project, comment on that file and then, if necessary, share screenshots just by clicking on the Dropbox icon, Kulkarni said.

With Do More, users can now:

• talk to customers and prospects using Wufoo online forms
• use Contactually to create and manage email contact lists
• share pertinent files with Dropbox or Google Drive.
• use Do Chat for instant messaging and collaboration.
• automate time tracking with Harvest
• use Salesforce.com’s Desk.com for customer service

Collaboration battle gets intense

Do, and now Do More, come out of Salesforce.com’s acquisition of Manymoon and its social productivity application — then at the top of the Google Apps Marketplace charts — two years ago.

Easy collaboration continues to be a big selling point for vendors old and new — with IBM pushing Connections; Google touting Google Apps and Google Drive; and of course Microsoft beating the drum for Office plus Skydrive plus SharePoint. Consumer fan favorite Dropbox is adding more IT-friendly controls to attract more business customers. Younger, potentially more nimble startups like Asana are also in the mix, so the competition here will be fierce.

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The critical challenges society faces — such as water scarcity, access to education, and the rising cost of healthcare — increasingly require the business, government and nonprofit sectors to work together to create lasting solutions. But this is only possible if the senior executives of our leading institutions are what Dominic Barton, Worldwide Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, refers to as “tri-sector athletes” — leaders able to engage and collaborate across all three sectors.

Our research at Tri-Sector Forum shows that these leaders often have prior experiences in each sector and a unique ability to navigate different cultures, align incentives and draw on the particular strengths of a wide range of actors to solve large-scale problems.

Take water scarcity. A potential 40% gap between global freshwater demand and supply by 2030 puts billions of lives — and dollars — at stake. And all three sectors have skin in the game. For agri-food and beverage businesses, fresh water is an essential ingredient in their production process. Governments are often the stewards of water and regulate its use. Nonprofits work to ensure access to clean water and conservation of watersheds and the environment.

The Coca-Cola Company has a deep interest in creating sustainable sources of fresh water, as it takes over two liters of water to make one liter of product. Muhtar Kent, the company’s Chairman and CEO, recently wrote on the company’s blog: “It’s challenging for one business — even one industry — to make a material difference on its own. Instead, we must rely on partnerships that connect across what I call the ‘Golden Triangle’ of business, government and civil society. Water is [a] Golden Triangle focus for us, as we work with our partners to become water-neutral by 2020.”

Coca-Cola understands the tri-sector approach better than many. A decade ago, a lack of collaboration adversely affected its business in South India, when the Indian government and several NGOs protested the company’s level of water usage and banned production in the region. Senior management at Coca-Cola recognized the need for the company to create a strategy for sustainable water stewardship, and hired an outsider — Jeff Seabright — who could help them craft a practical response and engage with partners across sectors.

Seabright was a relative newcomer to the private sector, having had extensive experience in the U.S. Foreign Service, U.S. Senate, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the White House Task Force on Climate Change. “To help gain alignment of my new colleagues,” Seabright told us, “I combined skills I learned from my days at the U.S. Senate and USAID to collaborate when making a case for change.”

He started by translating a non-financial issue like water scarcity into the kind of business language his colleagues understood. By overlaying a water stress map with Coca-Cola’s operational plants, Seabright found that almost half of their global volume was in high stress and high growth areas. In other words, as Seabright told us, “margins are going to expand exactly where water pressures are going to be most intense. So we either act now, or limit our growth.” Coca-Cola’s leaders had not seen such a disciplined piece of work on non-financial aspects of the business — and gave him the budget to fund several water sustainability initiatives. Today Coca-Cola is 35% of the way to meeting its 2020 target for water neutrality and is regarded as an industry leader in this area.

Seabright also built highly effective partnerships with government and nonprofit organizations. He used his knowledge of USAID’s Global Development Alliance to create a $20 million partnership that addresses community water needs in developing countries, and he fostered trust with World Wildlife Foundation leaders by making a “consistent effort to sit down with country heads and compare notes, just to talk. No agenda.” Since joining Coca-Cola in 2003, Seabright has helped facilitate hundreds of community water projects across the world.

Jeff Seabright is a model tri-sector athlete but they come in many forms. Some start in business, others in government; some operate at the highest of global organizations, others in their local communities; and some are starting to build tri-sector careers at a much younger age than previous generations.

Regardless of their backgrounds, we have identified six characteristics these leaders have:

1. Balanced motivations. A desire to create public value no matter where they work, combining their motivations to wield influence (often in government), have social impact (often in nonprofits) and generate wealth (often in business)
2. Transferable skills. A set of distinctive skills valued across sectors, such as quantitative analytics, strategic planning and stakeholder management
3. Contextual intelligence. A deep empathy of the differences within and between sectors, especially those of language, culture and key performance indicators
4. Integrated networks. A set of relationships across sectors to draw on when advancing their careers, building top teams, or convening decision-makers on a particular issue
5. Prepared mind. A willingness to pursue an unconventional career that zigzags across sectors, and the financial readiness to take potential pay cuts from time to time
6. Intellectual thread. Holistic subject matter expertise on a particular tri-sector issue by understanding it from the perspective of each sector

So how can you become a tri-sector athlete? First identify a tri-sector issue of interest and cultivate a network across sectors to learn from and meet your counterparts. We’ve noticed there are no shortage of major conferences (e.g., Concordia Summit), hackathons (e.g., Random Hacks of Kindness) and city building organizations (e.g., Toronto’s CivicAction) where tri-sector issues are discussed — and acted on — by representatives from all three sectors.

Or consider joining a growing number of cross-sector fellowship programs — such as Fuse Corps, Code for America, White House Presidential Innovation Fellows, Coro Fellows, and Bloomberg Innovation Delivery Teams — that pair top innovators with mayors, governors and federal officials to address pressing public challenges.

But most importantly, follow your passions and seek to leave the world a better place than how you received it. Before you know it, you’ll be working with leaders and organizations across sectors to see your vision realized.

Follow the Scaling Social Impact insight center on Twitter @ScalingSocial and register to stay informed and give us feedback.

Today, Apple announced a number of changes in the pricing and hardware department for the company’s MacBook laptop lineup. The Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation lowered the price for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and for the top-of-the line 13-inch MacBook Air and beefed up the specs for the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

If you were holding off on buying an Apple MacBook now is a good time to reconsider. The fruit-logo company slashed $200 from the price of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which now starts at $1,499 and $1,699 for the base and top model, respectively. Apple applied a similar treatment to the 13-inch MacBook Air in 256GB trim, which now goes for $1,399, $100 less than before.

The base 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features a 13.3-inch LED-backlight IPS display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 and 227 ppi (pixel per inch) density; 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.1GHz clockspeed backed by an Intel HD Graphics 4000 video card; 8GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 128GB of flash storage and a built-in 74Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7 hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; two Thunderbolt ports; two USB3.0 ports; HDMI port as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity.

The top 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display adds a 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.2GHz clockspeed and 256GB of flash storage. Both models come in at 31.4 x 21.9 x 1.9 cm and 1.62kg.

The top 13-inch MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1440 by 900; 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 2.8GHz clockspeed backed by an Intel HD Graphics 4000 video card; 4GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 256GB of flash storage and built-in 50Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7 hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; Thunderbolt port; two USB3.0 ports as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity. It comes in at 30 x 19.2 x 1.7 cm and 1.08kg.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features higher-clocked processors, 100MHz faster than before. The base model sports a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, while its more powerful brother now comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor as well as 16GB of internal memory. Pricing remains the same at $2,199 and $2,799 for the 256GB and 512GB variants, respectively.

The base 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features a 15.4-inch LED-backlit IPS display with resolution of 2880 by 1800 and 220 ppi; 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.4GHz speeds backed by the Intel HD Graphics 4000 and nVidia GeForce GT650M in 1GB trim graphics cards; 8GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 256GB of flash storage and a built-in 95Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7-hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; two Thunderbolt ports; two USB3.0 ports; an HDMI port as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity.

The top 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display adds a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.7GHz clockspeed, 16GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz as well as 512GB of flash storage. Both models come in at 35.89 x 24.71 x 1.8 cm and 2.02kg.

Tem17, the developer behind the popular Worms series, today announced that it will be rebooting the Superfrog franchise.

A new title called Superfrog HD will be released sometime in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita consoles. The game will feature updated graphics, but no other details have been announced.

The original Superfrog was released for the Amiga in 1993. The platformer became a cult hit, but was overshadowed by the success of the Worms games.

“We’re extremely excited about bringing Superfrog HD to PS3 and PS Vita,” said Debbie Bestwick, managing director of Team17. “It’s the most requested game that our fans are always requesting to see make a return. Now, with the 20th anniversary of the original Superfrog and the recent re-release of our classic survival-horror Alien Breed, we feel the timing has never been better.”

Yesterday, Team 17 released an HD remake of its other classic Amiga title, Alien Breed, on the PlayStation Network, complete with online multiplayer. The original Alien Breed was released for the Amiga in 1991, and became a genuine hit for the system. The game spawned multiple sequels, including Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues, Alien Breed: Tower Assault, and Alien Breed: 3D.

CalCharge — a sort-of Y Combinator for battery startups — and San Jose State University are creating a “Battery University” program for the next-generation of earnest battery entrepreneurs and researchers. The university will offer classes on its Santa Clara, Calif. campus starting this summer on battery technology, business and innovation.

Much of the battery innovation that has occurred over the years has happened in Japan and Korea (via giants like Panasonic) and much of the battery manufacturing happens in China. But California now has some 40+ battery companies, spurred by the Silicon Valley venture and startup ecosystem, through strong university research and through federal funds from the Department of Energy. Of the 13 battery startups I recently profiled, almost half of them are based in California.

CalCharge, which is a partnership between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and CalCEF, was itself created with a $120 million grant from the DOE. The CalCharge accelerator launched last spring, and provides battery companies and entrepreneurs with a space to collaborate, share resources, find and recruit talent and coordinate on solving problems.

A battery entrepreneur that has utilized CalCharge told me earlier this year that one of the great things about the accelerator program is that companies can share battery lab equipment, which can cut down dramatically on their startup costs.

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