via guestofaguest.com: If you've ever wanted to lay into any of today's biggest pop stars for whatever may irk you about them, don't waste your breath because rising pop star Kelly-Marie has done it for you. Her debut song “Steal Your Thunder” is a catchy four-and-a-half-minute diss of Ju[...]
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Today’s funding announcements include technology to run farms efficiently, monetize videos and monitor theft in stores:
Novariant gets $4.5M for GPS technology: The Fremont, Calif.-based company has raised funding as part of its fifth round, according to a filing with the SEC. The firm, a spinout from Stanford University in 1994, creates products for the agriculture, mining and aerospace industries that perform functions like automatically steering farm equipment and landing aircraft.
Auditude brings in $4M to bring ads to online videos: The Palo Alto-based company raised a third round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Big name clients including Comcast, Sony Music and Universal Music Group use Auditude’s ad platform to monetize online video content.
3VR gets $17M to watch over businesses with video surveillance: The company has raised a new round of funding led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures and Focus Ventures. The San Francisco-based company develops video search technology that helps retailers, banks and hotels fight theft and fraud.
Revolution Foods gets $20M to bring healthy lunches to schools: The Oakland-based company has raised a new round of equity funding to provide high-quality lunches to students in more than 100 schools, according to a filing with the SEC. The business, started by graduate students at the UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, works with partners like Whole Foods Market and Berkeley Farms to serve schools in California, Colorado and Washington, D.C.
Companies: 3VR, Auditude, Dag Ventures, Focus Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Ventures, Novariant, Revolution Foods
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
[Peter Yared is the vice president of apps at Webtrends, which acquired Transpond, a social-apps developer he founded.]
For all the money Google has thrown at MySpace over the years, the search giant of Mountain View might as well have bought the troubled social network. For years, News Corp. CEO liked to brag that Google paid him more in its landmark $900 million search deal than he paid to buy MySpace in the first place.
Oh, sure, no one’s bragging now. News Corp. executives are openly talking about dumping MySpace, and Google only recently renewed its advertising agreement with MySpace, after months of delay, in a deal that smacked of throwing good money after bad.
But that’s a sunk cost, as economists like to say, and chump change for Google’s multibillion-dollar money machine. What Google really needs is a convincing social strategy to get Wall Street and Silicon Valley’s collected punditocracy off its back. MySpace is for sale. And Google should jump at the chance to buy it.
The stratospheric success of Facebook in 2010 has put Google on edge. Five hundred million-plus users, $2 billion in advertising revenue forecast for next year, the gaming and e-commerce platform of the future, and one out of five pageviews. Can you blame Google for flailing at finding a strategy to compete with Mark Zuckerberg’s social juggernaut?
The reality is that Google will have as much success replicating Facebook as Microsoft has had replicating Google with Bing. Google’s engineers keep thinking it can use standards to win against a proprietary platform, a strategy that Sun Microsystems — remember them? — employed against then-nemesis Microsoft when Googel CEO Eric Schmidt worked there. Ranging from OpenSocial, a widget platform, to XAuth, a content-sharing protocol, all of these “standards” have failed to stop Facebook and its magnetic attraction for users, developers, and advertisers.
The dealmakers of Mountain View, meanwhile, have acquired a grab-bag of companies like Slide and Jambool with the hopes that their key talent somehow understands social Web apps better than Google’s famously cosseted and out-of-touch nerdocracy.
The apparent fruit of these efforts — a toolbar-like add-on to existing Google sites called either Emerald City or +1 — does not seem like a viable strategy either. There is no there there: a social network requires somewhere to be social.
The right strategy for competing with Facebook is not to take Facebook head-on. Facebook is great for sharing links, photos, and events with people you do know. With recent upgrades to photos and groups, it’s getting even better at that.
But there is still a huge opportunity for communicating with people you don’t know, something Facebook is weak at by design. It doesn’t take much observation to see that people love to gather together around common interests, particularly around media properties like bands, TV shows, and movies. It can’t hurt that those also happen to be major advertising categories.
During former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta’s painfully brief stint at MySpace, he actually put a viable strategy in place. His experience at Project Playlist, a music-sharing startup, showed that users were very interested in sharing their tastes with friends and strangers. At MySpace he soon put in place a playlist system using MySpace’s legal music content. Acquiring iLike’s recommendation system promised to accelerate that, and a redesign would make it all look great.
However, the corporate overlords at Fox were only interested in maximizing revenue rather than adjusting and growing the business, and Van Natta was out. Only after further revenue declines did his concept of “social entertainment” actually ship. At the time MySpace still had more revenue than Facebook; it still has roughly as many unique users as Twitter — a persistent object of Google’s acquisition interest, despite its unproven revenue strategy.
So what would Google do with MySpace? It already has some fantastic properties that it can tie into the site. Vevo, the music site spawned from YouTube, is fast becoming the premier destination for music videos on the Web, the MTV of the social generation. That and the rest of YouTube ties in perfectly with MySpace’s music core. Like MySpace Music, it’s also a joint venture with the music labels. YouTube videos, already ubiquitous in MySpace user profiles, could spread throughout the network.
Though Google’s Orkut social network, a Friendster clone, is fading, it still has pockets of strength like Brazil. Those users can be migrated into MySpace to create an international beachhead. Google News can feed into the MySpace homepage.
MySpace has a reputation for bad design, but its new design is remarkably good. Those cats in Hollywood actually know how to do mass-market fun, something Googlers just can’t grok.
Sure, there’s a downside — the institutional pain of integrating disparate cultures and creaky technology. But both Google and MySpace need a radical shakeup to succeed in social, and an acquisition could be the galvanizing event that forces change on ossified organizations. And fear is a powerful motivator. Google and MySpace can grow irrelevant separately, or challenge Facebook together. Eric, Rupert, there’s never a bad time to make new friends.
Tags: +1, acquisitions, Emerald City, Google +1, Mergers and Acquisitions, Social Media
Companies: Facebook, Google, MySpace, News Corp
People: Eric Schmidt, Owen Van Natta, Rupert Murdoch
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
Involver, a startup that helps brands manage their online presence, has raised $1.6 million in a second round of funding, according to filings with the SEC. Based in San Francisco, the company powers apps on social networks for more than 80,000 brands and media companies including Microsoft, Audi and the White House.
Users can take advantage of some apps for free. A news app, for example, allows users to syndicate an RSS feed on their Facebook page, and a photo app lets users automatically upload Flickr photos to Facebook. The company also offers two levels of paid services. Involver charges clients per app for the first level, called pro apps, which includes a customer feedback app and an app for online polls. Premium apps require an annual service and licensing fee. Involver recently launched a premium app called Music for Pages, and RCA Records is using the app to pre-launch Alicia Keys’ new album.
Involver claims it interacts with more than 200 million social network users, and the company recently launched the audience management platform, or AMP, a dashboard to help brands manage and analyze their many online communities from a single place. Founded in 2007 and formerly called RapOuts, the startup first raised $1.4 million in 2008.
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More
via guestofaguest.com: Since it's 1991 inception, Lollapalooza has seen some dramatic changes, as the 2010 lineup with show. For one thing, Lady Gaga is headlining. But striving music snobs shouldn't fret, as there are plenty of obscure indie bands in small print at the bottom of the flier they'll recognize to stroke their ego. MORE>>
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Sailthru, a behavioral marketing email service, announced today that it has secured a seed round of $1 million, first reported by Business Insider. Founder and Chief Executive Neil Capel has since confirmed the funding, which will be used to expand its sales operations and new feature development.
Sailthru offers several email tools that can be used by companies to optimize outbound email marketing campaigns as well as manage service providers. The first tool, Triggermail, monitors emails sent to customers and what happens once it reaches their inboxes. The second tool, Horizon, tracks customers browsing habits on their websites and helps to format and send customized newsletters based on the information collected. Lastly, GetConnect aggregates email services so that users can send email from one tool, rather than sending via a bunch of different tools separately.
The company claims it doesn’t have any direct competition, though there are others that do enable and track outbound email marketing such as Constant Contact and Exact Target. But Sailthru appears to be the only one optimizing company newsletters based on browsing habits.
The New York City-based company, founded in 2008, is working with a variety of companies, including Business Insider, Tumblr, Bit.ly, OMGPOP, WeGame.com and MusicNation.com.
Funding was led by DFJ Gotham and included Metamorphic, RRE, Pilot Group, Thrive and Lerer Media.
Tags: company newsletter, email marketing, email services, email tracking
Companies: Constant Contact, DFJ Gothic, Exact Target, Lerer Media, Metamorphic, Pilot Group, RRE, Sailthru, Thrive
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More
Go HERE for more photos by Jason Thompson and tag yourself and your friends!
On Friday night, fashion, music and art came together at The Music Box in Hollywood for Project ETHOS' 13th show, Love Sick. “Project Runway's” Nick Verreos hosted the night's attractions, including musical performances and DJ sets, art gallery, full fashion show and even a boutique of accessories.
While fall 2010 fashion shows for designers such as Katorey Swimwear, Akra, B. Vika, and Nicholas Tarr ruled the indoor runway, guests could also enjoy the art exhibition and music courtesy of the night's deck masters. In addition to the various forms of entertainment on hand, cocktails from the bar ensured there would not be dull moment the entire night. Project ETHOS will be back with more fashion and art in October for L.A. Fashion Week so be sure to snap up tickets when they go one sale.
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Go HERE for more photos by Sync Up Video and tag yourself and your friends!
Mos Def really needs no introduction, as he is one of hip-hop's most revered artists, and, without a doubt, a success in transcending definitions of underground and mainstream. The hip-hop hero gave an exclusive performance yesterday for a group of lucky Musicians Institute students who packed the on-compass venue and had no problem showing their appreciation for his words and beats.
As per usual, Mos put on an amazing show, and even held an informal Q&A session afterward. He shared stories of experiences, offered inspiring insight, and passed on his industry knowledge to the wide-eyed students. Entertainment followed by invaluable music wisdom? No wonder he's an icon.
If you're jealous that you weren't able to attend this very special afternoon with Mos, he'll be performing a show in Sacramento and another in Maui later this month if you happen to be in the area.
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Go HERE for more photos by Evan Dumouchel and tag yourself and your friends!
Last week, L.A. singer-songwriter, Nicole Simone, celebrated the debut of her self-titled EP at Hotel Cafe with a live performance of the new songs. Along with other sets by brit Sam Bradley and fellow Angelenos, Grouplove, Nicole wowed the crowd as she performed with a full band, including a cello and trumpet played by Stewart Cole of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
Guests soaked up the night's tunes and mellow vibes in the darkly lit venue as they sipped drinks and enoyed the fresh talents before them. Nicole's performances of “The Wedding Song” and “Melt” were among the highlights of the night.
If the audience's level of engagement is any indication, we believe Nicole will be a favorite amongst the L.A. music scene, which, as we all know, bodes well for a very warm reception as her music spreads east.
[All photos of Nicole Simone by Orlando Piña]
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Still looking for something to do for the 4th or unsure of your current plans for this weekend? Don't worry, we've put together our hot list of the best pool parties, BBQ's, beach extravaganzas and everything you else you can think of happening in L.A. and beyond to make sure this weekend is a success. And by success, we mean good music, perfect weather, great food, copious amounts of booze, bikinis and fireworks. So have a look and celebrate our independence this 4th of July with a party that would make our fore fathers proud!
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High's Rooftop Blowout At The Erwin
1697 Pacific Avenue,Venice, CA
Sunday, July 4th 11am-2am: If you’re braving the shoreline pandemonium for the holiday, it should probably be for a rooftop afternoon of endless burgers, hot dogs, watermelon and mac and cheese—and for dessert, a s’mores bar. The evening do-over includes all that, plus something about fireworks.
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4th of July WEEKEND At The Roosevelt: Poolside at the Tropicana Bar
7000 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
**3 Day Event** Saturday July 3rd, Sunday July 4th, Monday July 5th from 12PM-8PM: Party poolside with $1 beer, $10 BBQ favorites from 25 Degrees, and special live DJ sets.
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3rd Annual Cinefamily 4th of July BBQ Blowout
611 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Sunday July 4, 5pm-2am: The grill is fired up, so join the Cinefamily and Arthur Magazine to watch patriotic films such as “Willie Nelson's 4th of July Celebration” and enjoy some tasty grub. This is a ticketed events so make sure to buy your tickets.
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Marinapalooza Music Festival
1-100 Catamaran Ste., Marina Del Rey, CA
Sunday, July 4th 10am-10pm: Head down to Marinapalooza for a block party chock full of music and entertainment. The party spans from 1-100 block of Catamanran street, leaving lots of room for the musical act. Line up this year , Corey Phillips, The Divine Crime, MTHDS, Makepeace Brothers an many more.
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Sunday July 4th, ALL DAY: South Bay citizens know how to party it up, and make you feel like your reliving a day from college. Be sure to arrive early, as this epic block party starts to fill up with people pretty quickly. Head down towards Hermosa to watch fratty boys compete in the annual “Iron Man” competition, which consists of the oh-so athletic skills, surfing, running a mile, and chugging a six-pack of beer to seal the deal.
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Stars & Stripes 2010 Party
H.Wood 1738 N. Orange Dr., Los Angeles, CA
Friday June 2nd at 10PM: Hosted by NBA & NFL Players, with music by celebrity DJ SynCity-The Vinyl Vixen & Violator's Own DJ Jam X.
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ESCAPE FROM L.A.: YOUR BEST WEEKEND RETREATS
Generic & Surplus July 4th Weekend Getaway at the Ace Hotel
701 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA
**4 Day Event**: Friday, July 2nd-Monday, July 5th: Expect Summer beats, beverages & BBQ. Music brought to you by Nitedog (Blackdisco) and Eug (Public Release/Face, SF) and live performance by Adele Jaques & Disco Fromage. Special guest musical selectors to be announced.
SinCityInvasion's 4th of July Weekend In Vegas
Tao 3377 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV
**2 Day Event**: Saturday, July, 3rd-Sunday July 4th: By purchasing their wristband you gain exclusive access to jump the line and hit up three seperate party experience. Start off at Tao Beach on Saturday for your day drunk. Redfoo & SkY Blu of LMFAO will help you down shots. Then Saturday Night head to Tao (no beach) for Dj Paul Van Dyk. And finally, celebrate Sunday July 4th at LAVO with DJ Vice. For more info on vegas steals and deals check out the site.
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WHERE TO CATCH FIREWORKS
4th of July Spectacular The Hollywood Bowl's with Vince Gill: 2301 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, 7:30pm-11pm
Rose Bowl 4th of July Americafest:1001 Rose bowl Dr, Pasadena, 12PM-9PM, Fireworks at 9pm
Hansen Dam Park: 11770 Foothill Blvd, Symlar, 3pm-10pm
DisneyLand: 700 W. Ball Rd. Anaheim, if you don't make it 4th of July don't worry, there are fireworks every night!
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Are we missing something? Want your party on the list? If you know of a 4th of July event that should be on our guide, submit it to our Calendar!
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
