VentureBeat |
- Room 77 helps you find the best hotel room
- Silver Lake launches new cleantech fund with George Soros’s firm
- Ask the accountant: How much time do I have left?
- Quest Venture Partners: Current VC investing not “irrational”
- Crikey! Cloud storage provider Box.net raises $48M
- Thunderbolt: Intel’s Light Peak high-speed interface gets a new name
- Latin American virtual goods business to hit $517M in 2012
- Apple debuts Developer Preview of Mac OS X Lion
- FaceTime for Mac hits the App Store for $0.99
- Media Chaperone raises $1M for app that manages kids’ online game usage
- Apple updates MacBook Pros with Sandy Bridge CPUs, Thunderbolt ports
- Opportunities at VentureBeat: Event content director for MobileBeat, tech developer, writers and more
- 10 ways to expedite contract negotiations
- Killzone 3 with Move controller: a novel but not brilliant gaming experience
- Blame the iPad: PC chip sales flattened in the fourth quarter
| Room 77 helps you find the best hotel room Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:07 AM PST There’s no shortage of ways to book hotel rooms online, but most services have only the most basic information about one of the most important factors in your choice — the quality of the room itself. A new Sunnyvale, Calif. startup called Room 77 says that it has built a database of more than 425,000 hotel rooms at 2,500 properties with information like room category, square footage, bed type, and and elevator proximity. It also uses taps into Google Earth to create a Room View, showing you a simulation of what you’d see if you looked out the room window. The results are personalized too. Room 77 says that it uses an algorithm to rank rooms based on how well they match the preferences you’ve entered. It sounds like that’s even more useful if you’ve got the Room 77 iPhone app — if you’re at the desk of a hotel and they say they want to place you in a certain room, you can check the app and it will recommend whether you should accept the room or ask for another. “All hotel rooms are not created equal and we've built Room 77 to open up room data and give travelers more control in getting a great room,” said founder and chairman Brad Gerstner in a press release. “Travelers have several options that rate and review hotels, but until now there's nothing that breaks down hotel rooms even though the room is a critical part of the experience.” Room 77 is demonstrating at the Launch conference in San Francisco this morning. The company has raised $3 million in funding from Gerstner, Rich Barton, Bob Pittman, Hugh Crean, Par Capital Management, Sutter Hill Ventures, Felicis Ventures (whose founder Aydin Senkut also invested in VentureBeat), and others.
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| Silver Lake launches new cleantech fund with George Soros’s firm Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:06 AM PST
The new fund is called Silver Lake Kraftwerk (the press release refers to it as “SLKW”) and will be led by Adam Grosser, who spent a decade as general partner at Foundation Capital, where he worked on major cleantech investments like Silver Spring Networks and Enernoc. He also previously worked at Apple, Sony and Lucasfilms. Cathy Zoi will also join the fund in April; she recently left her job as the Department of Energy’s undersecretary for energy and assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. “There are many parallels between the development of the technology sector and the innovation that is occurring in the energy and resource sectors today,” said Silver Lake managing director Greg Mondre in a statement. “We are excited to launch Silver Lake’s fourth investment strategy.” Mondre’s comment seems to reflect some convergence we’re seeing lately in traditional venture capital in Silicon Valley — which is strong on IT — and cleantech, which in the past has been less focused on that. But with energy efficiency and building controls shaping up to be a big trend this year, investors with IT experience may find their expertise translatable to startups doing things like home energy automation, programmable lighting systems and energy management software. The size of the fund wasn’t disclosed, but it’s certainly got some financial and professional heft behind it. This is a bit of bright news for cleantech investing, which had a record $7.8 billion of venture capital invested in the U.S. last year, but slowed down in the last two quarters. Investors seem to be trending towards capital efficiency as fundraising has slowed for venture capital funds, hitting a new low since 2003. Worldwide, investment jumped 30 percent over 2009’s numbers to reach $243 billion in 2010. George Soros (pictured) has previously pledged to invest $1 billion in cleantech. SLKW is “focused on providing growth capital to business innovators in the energy and resource sectors” and will operate in Silicon Valley and China. China, with a booming economy and population, has made ambitious pledges to grow the smart grid and renewables — it already heavily subsidizes the solar manufacturing industry, is competing in wind turbines and wants to speed up electric car adoption. Last year, venture capital firm VantagePoint opened a $100 million fund dedicated to renewables investing in China. The fund will target growth-stage companies with “proven technologies and business models.” [Image via Flickr/World Economic Forum] Companies: DOE, Foundation Capital, Silver Lake, Soros Fund People: Adam Grosser, Cathy Zoi, George Soros, Greg Mondre
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| Ask the accountant: How much time do I have left? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:00 AM PST This series is brought to you by TurboTax Home & Business Edition – Guides You to Your Biggest Tax Refund. As always, VentureBeat is adamant about maintaining editorial objectivity. TurboTax had no involvement in the content of this post.
We passed the question on to Betty Kayton, who assists startup firms and entrepreneurs with financial, human resources and tax matters until these firms are ready to hire a full-time chief financial officer. She submitted this answer to VentureBeat: The requirements vary by jurisdiction. The chart at the bottom of this posting was prepared for a startup corporation located in San Francisco. Depending upon where you are located (and if you are a corporation or a limited liability company), some of these items may or may not apply to you. And you may be subject to other local rules, such as city and county business licenses, which aren’t listed below. Before last payroll is run for the year You’ll note that some of these deadlines have already passed. What should you do? As I noted in my discussion of form 1099, do your best to catch up — but watch out for filing requirements that carry heavy fines if missed, like the foreign-activities forms. As with anything related to the government, the rules are constantly changing. And local laws only apply within a particular state or city, so you may have a different set of rules that apply to you. Disclaimer: This "Ask the accountant" article discusses general legal, tax and financial issues, but it does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice in any respect. No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information presented herein without seeking the advice of appropriate professionals in the relevant jurisdiction. VentureBeat, the author and the author's firm expressly disclaim all liability in respect of any actions taken or not taken based on any contents of this post. From now through April 15, VentureBeat will be taking your tax and accounting questions and getting you expert answers. You can send us a question by email, leave one in the comments below, or reach us by Twitter or on Facebook or Quora. Our sponsor encourages you to read these related links. VentureBeat had no input in the selection of these stories. Filing a business tax extension, Business use of vehicles, What tax forms to file as a first-time business owner, What does healthcare reform law mean for businesses?
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| Quest Venture Partners: Current VC investing not “irrational” Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:00 AM PST
“Is there more capital flowing into investments? Yes. Are valuations increasing as a consequence? Yes. Would I call it a ‘bubble’? Depends, but it certainly doesn’t feel irrational,” said Ogawa (pictured). “I feel what we are ultimately observing is a direct result of prolonged and depressed interest rates flooding the market with cheap capital,” he said. Quest, or QVP, typically aims to deliver the first round of institutional investment in early stage companies, investing $100,000 to $1.5 million, with a “sweet spot” around $500,000. Within three years of forming the fund in 2008, QVP has paid out in distributions to its partners nearly double its $10 million principal through exits like Qik and Tapulous. It says two-thirds of its investment capital remains outstanding in startups including CrowdFlower, Sociable Labs, Retailigence. Ogawa said that although the data is mixed over whether VC investing is declining or creating massive valuations of some marquee-name companies, investors hungry for new ways to make money are going to continue looking to tech startups. “A continued sense of instability in the public markets and a decline in the purchasing power of [the U.S. dollar] have led many wealthy individuals to seek alternative investment vehicles, and [they're] asking themselves, ‘If I’m going to take the risk anyhow, why not take it where the returns can yield exponential returns?’” he said. Ogawa said this increased interest has “reverberated up the chain,” causing prices across the board to increase. Whether that reverberation is unhealthy remains to be seen, he said. “I think it’s great for innovation, terrible for returns on investments,” said Ogawa. “Ultimately, I think many weekend warrior type angels will suffer, but I don’t think their behavior is irrational given the alternatives.” Companies: Crowdflower, Qik, Quest Venture Partners, Retailigence, sociable labs People: marcus ogawa
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| Crikey! Cloud storage provider Box.net raises $48M Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:52 AM PST
Talk about a huge vote of confidence for an enterprise-class version of online backup and file-sync service Dropbox. Box.net is one of a number of very bright stars in what could be called the “enterprise 2.0″ space that has attracted funding from venture capital titans like Andreessen-Horowitz — who joined Box.net’s most recent round of funding. It’s a group of companies that are basically pulling lessons from the consumer space — from companies like Twitter and Facebook — and applying them to the enterprise and IT space. Yammer, an enterprise-style social network inspired by Facebook, for example, raised $25 million from Emergence Capital and U.S. Venture Partners — another of Box.net’s existing investors. Help desk ticket provider Zendesk raised another $19 million in a third and possibly final round in December led by Matrix Partners and including Charles River Ventures — another investor in Yammer. Matrix partners also led collaboration startup Huddle’s $10.2 million funding round in May last year. Each startup has seen a ton of success. All of them are staunch supporters of the freemium business model, which entices users with a basic version of the service and then charges for premium features. Box.net and Zendesk have their applications on Yammer. Their executives have even hosted dinners from time to time. Oh, and Yammer and Zendesk are also right next to each other on the third floor at 410 Townsend. This is a class of startups that has basically grown up together and pioneered the enterprise 2.0 space together as they grew. And now they’re getting ready to break out. “The expectation is that this would take us to profitability or an event like an IPO,” said Box.net’s chief executive Aaron Levie. “We certainly will be investing this in growth, and that’ll produce some pretty good outcomes.” Box.net recently overhauled its software to make it a more user-friendly experience. The basic offering is an online service where users can store documents and files and share them with co-workers. They can view previews online, make comments and adjust the files as they see fit. Box.net also plants folders onto hard drives that automatically synchronize with its online service. The service has captured more than two-thirds of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 500 list. It launched a version for of its application for Apple devices that has been downloaded 400,000 times in its first year. It also launched an application for Google’s mobile operating system Android in the fourth quarter last year that has already seen 60,000 downloads. Box.net is even working to get its software pre-loaded on Samsung devices running Android. Box.net was able to attract funding from Emergence Capital despite its history of being an early-stage investment firm. The firm decided to invest in Box.net because the business model and team were just too enticing to pass up, said Emergence venture partner Matt Holleran. Emergence has also had some success with late-stage enterprise investments — it invested in Salesforce and SuccessFactors, which have both since gone public. “This is about as big of a market as it gets, and couple the service with people like Aaron, and that gets us really excited,” Holleran said. “He’s unencumbered by history and he’s passionate about both end users and IT executives — and that vision and drive and experience helps you most.” Box.net will use the funding to double its engineering and sales teams. The company also plans to move into another office in Palo Alto sometime over the next year or two, Levie said. And like the rest of the enterprise 2.0 class, the company was fortunate enough to be picky about who it took investments from. This is a company that is nowhere near finished growing — Levie just won’t have it that way. He has too much ambition to simply take it to profitability. He’s charmed the enterprise world, and it looks like he’s charmed some pretty powerful members of the venture capital community. It’ll be interesting to watch how far he can get. Companies: Box.net, Emergence Capital, U.s. Venture Partners, Yammer People: Aaron Levie, Matt Holleran
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| Thunderbolt: Intel’s Light Peak high-speed interface gets a new name Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:26 AM PST
News hit yesterday that Apple would likely be the first company to adopt the new I/O technology, which is capable of incredible speeds of 10 gigabits per second in both directions. Thunderbolt ports will look like the existing Mini DisplayPort connection on older generation MacBook Pros and will sport a lightning bolt icon. According to Intel, Thunderbolt’s speeds will allow users to transfer a full high-definition movie (between 10 gigabytes and 20 gigabytes in size) in less than 30 seconds. The technology allows external devices to tap directly into the PCI Express interface on computers, which allows for the incredibly fast transfer speeds. As with FireWire devices, it will be possible to daisy-chain multiple Thunderbolt devices together, which means computers won’t have a need for more than one Thunderbolt port. The interface also provides power, also like FireWire, so users don’t have to worry about connecting extra power adapters to external hard drives. Given its speed and bandwidth capabilities, Thunderbolt was meant to serve as a single interface to juggle multiple functions. The protocol is smart enough to know what you're intending to use it for — for example, it will function as a disk interface if you plug in a Thunderbolt-capable disk drive, but if you plug in a Thunderbolt monitor, it will instead function as a display interface. Other PC manufacturers, including Sony, are expected to adopt Thunderbolt later this year and into early 2012.
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| Latin American virtual goods business to hit $517M in 2012 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:00 AM PST
On Monday, Zynga launched its own prepaid social game cards in conjunction with Miami-based Mentez, which runs a cash-based payment network in Latin America. Virtual goods have taken off in Asian online games and on social games on Facebook. Users play these games for free under a free-to-play business model, but they pay small amounts of real money for virtual goods. The virtual goods market in Latin America is currently $336 million, with Brazil account for $165 million, or 49 percent, of the market in 2010. The market is expected to grow 50 percent to $517 million in 2012. That means it’s going to be attractive to lots of expanding social game companies.
The average revenue per user is highest in Brazil at 85 cents per capita spending per year, well above the region’s average of 60 cents. Brazil has high internet penetration, with 110 million users. The internet population has doubled every three years in Brazil since 2002. But in contrast to Western countries, credit cards are not common in Brazil. Based on PlaySpan’s data from its Ultimate Pay payments platform, bank transfers account for 45.7 percent of virtual goods purchases. Credit cards and debit cards are 26.7 percent; prepaid cards are 22.6 percent, PayPal is 4.4 percent and other is 0.6 percent.
The companies calculated the size of the market by getting data from the World Bank, the Brazilian census, and PlaySpan’s database of gamers who make payments for virtual goods. Companies: Mentez, PlaySpan, SuperData Research, Zynga People: Joost van Dreunen, Karl Mehta
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| Apple debuts Developer Preview of Mac OS X Lion Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:38 AM PST
The release includes a set of highly anticipated features such as Mission Control, a centralized dashboard to overview all of your activity, and Launchpad, an easy way to store and launch applications, in addition to new multitouch gestures, a new version of its e-mail client Mail, and other features such as AirDrop, Versions, Resume, and Auto Save. Also, more notably, the release is the first time Apple intends to port concepts such as full screen applications from iOS, its operating system for the iPad and iPhone, into its operating system for Mac. Back in October, the company held a press conference to announce the product and demo a set of its key features. The final consumer release is on track to ship this summer as previously announced. Companies: Apple
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| FaceTime for Mac hits the App Store for $0.99 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:13 AM PST
The Mac app has been available as a public beta since October, which is quite some time to wait for the official release, considering that FaceTime was originally announced in June for the iPhone 4 and was one of the device’s most touted apps. With the FaceTime for Mac app, any Mac user can video chat with other Mac or iOS users over an Internet connection. FaceTime for Mac is now in version 1.0, and the app can be set up using an existing Apple ID. Among the new features, FaceTime enables HD video calls up to 720p on supported Intel-based Macs. The app is now available as a download to existing Mac owners, but the software will come pre-installed with the new MacBook Pro line of laptops. So, people buying a new laptop will get to enjoy the FaceTime app free of charge (kind of—considering they just ponied up hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a computer), but running for under a buck, it’s hardly a massive investment for others. Then again, Skype is still free.
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| Media Chaperone raises $1M for app that manages kids’ online game usage Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:00 AM PST
If the company can provide useful information about kids’ activities to parents, those parents are probably willing to pay for it. And that could potentially open up a big market for startups such as Media Chaperone. The company has created a free Facebook app for parents called Piggyback. It supplies parents with intelligence about what their children are doing online, along with parental controls and protection. With Piggyback, parents can find out in real-time how their children are navigating the web from within online games, social networks, and virtual worlds.
Early stage investor Leo Capital led the financing. Randy Rissman, managing director of Leo Capital and founder of toy company Tiger Electronics, will join Media Chaperone’s board. The app is an acknowledgment that tweens, or kids from eight to 12, are spending more time online, Rissman said. Media Chaperone helps parents stay in touch with those kids online. Children under 14 are not allowed on Facebook. But they create their own accounts anyway or use their parents’ accounts to play games. Research shows that the 20 million tweens in the U.S. influence $150 billion in parental spending each year. But money spent online is often a mystery to parents. Parents can use the app on Facebook as a window into the various online games that the children play. Piggyback has already been integrated into several online games and virtual worlds, including Whyville.net, Planet Cazmo, Woozworld, Everloop and Webosaurs. The company was founded in 2009. To date, the company has raised $1.25 million. Hyde Park Angels, a Chicago-based angel investor network, also participated in the round. Media Chaperone has six employees. Rivals include Safety Web and Social Shield. But those aren’t exclusively focused on the tween market. Founders include chief executive Ed Lewis (pictured), a father of two. He’s a serial entrepreneur and a former executive at Motorola. Dave Shemenski is co-founder and chief technology officer and a former developer architect at Orbitz. Companies: Leo Capital, Media Chaperone, Tiger Electronics People: Dave Shemenski, Ed Lewis, Randy Rissman
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| Apple updates MacBook Pros with Sandy Bridge CPUs, Thunderbolt ports Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:00 AM PST
The updates once again cement the MacBook Pros as titans in the laptop arena. Unfortunately for those looking for a new look, there aren’t any major design changes to be seen. Instead, we get the same handsome all-metal unibody design that Apple has been relying on for the past few years. All of the Macbook Pros will also feature high-speed Thunderbolt ports, which is apparently Intel’s new moniker for its Light Peak technology. The technology will allow for speeds of 10 gigabits a second, and it will support devices like HDMI and DVI displays, as well as hard drive RAID arrays. It will compete with USB 3.0, and the technology is also technically capable of running USB and FireWire devices as well. The obvious benefit of Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs is that they’ll be more powerful than any previous chips. But Intel has also worked hard to make sure they draw less power than earlier chips, and they’re also intelligent about power management, which is why it’s now possible to put a quad-core CPU in a MacBook Pro without killing battery life. The FaceTime HD cameras will offer higher resolution video chat than ever possible on a Mac laptop. It will allow for video calls between Mac computers, the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch. Apple is finally bringing its FaceTime HD software out of beta testing today — it’s currently available on the Mac App Store for $0.99. This time around, Apple didn’t skimp on making the 13.3-inch MacBook Pros more powerful. They’re available with Core i5 and Core i7 processors, and will be priced at $1,199 (with a 2.4 gigahertz dual core Core i5 CPU and 320 gigabyte hard drive) and $1,499 (with a 2.7Ghz dual core Core i7 CPU and 500GB hard drive). Those are significant hardware bumps for the most portable entries in the Macbook Pro family. Unfortunately, the 13.3-inch models will still rely on slower integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics. The 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros are now packing quad-core Core i7 processors exclusively, and have also moved away from Nvidia graphics cards to dedicated cards from the AMD Radeon HD 6000M family. In plain English, the hardware updates mean that these laptops will be among the most powerful on the market. The 15-inch model starts at $1,799, and will come with a 2.0Ghz quad core CPU, 500GB hard drive and Radeon HD6490M graphics card. The $1,799 15-inch entry features a 2.2Ghz CPU, 750GB hard drive, and a Radeon 6750M graphics card. Apple’s lone 17-inch MacBook Pro sports the same hardware as the highest end 15-inch model, and will retail for $2,499. All of the new MacBook Pros are now available on Apple’s online store. Companies: Apple
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:00 AM PST
Consider working for one of the most influential business news sites — with syndication across outlets like the New York Times and Reuters — that also hosts exciting events to debate the most disruptive technologies of the day, including DEMO (the leading launchpad event for emerging technology products), MobileBeat, GreenBeat and more. We are looking for all kinds. First, we’re looking for a mobile expert with events programming experience to work on our important mobile events in 2011, building on MobileBeat, now in its fourth year. Second, we're looking for full-time writers and interns with a strong interest in reporting to cover the exploding number of startup launches and other news in the sectors we cover. Finally, we're hiring tech geniuses who can help build out our website and implement exciting new product ideas to serve our online audience. I. Event Content Director Specifically, we're looking for a professional planner who has experience in large-scale event production. This person will have a sense of the technology and business sectors that VentureBeat operates in, and would be able to help guide the development of the event's content, including speaker sourcing and speaker management. Ideally they’ll have a strong interest in the mobile industry, connections in the space, and will have worked on other similar events. Experience in sponsor management, marketing, and event logistics would be a big plus. The ideal candidate has five to ten years of experience. 2. Python Programmer 3. Tech Developer 4. Reporters For other positions, candidates should send a resume and cover letter to jobs@venturebeat.com.
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| 10 ways to expedite contract negotiations Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:00 AM PST (Editor’s note: Polly Dinkel is a partner at Sideman & Bancroft. She submitted this story to VentureBeat.) Big-ticket sales of products and/or services can be hard to pull off in a time- or cost-efficient manner – especially when the customer is large and sophisticated. It’s just as hard to control the business and legal risks. Large-volume customers usually have strict internal policies and procedures for purchasing that include "mandatory" terms and multiple levels of review and approval, by both legal and business teams. This means the negotiations can drag on, lengthening the sales cycle, burdening internal resources, increasing outside legal costs, and resulting in last-minute concessions to close the deal timely. There are ways to cut back on that though. Here are 10 tried and true tactics to expedite contract negotiations. Know your customer – It’s important to understand the customer's timetable for launch. If implementation is not imminent, conserve your resources by responding only as necessary to keep the deal alive until it makes sense to proceed. Repeated starts and stops and deal changes increase costs unnecessarily. Other important points include:
Set the customer’s expectations – Educate the customer at the outset of your contracting process, from both a business and legal perspective, and remind them as necessary during the negotiations. Set expectations early as to what is/is not possible/negotiable, from both a business and legal perspective. And at all times, make sure that front line sales is selling the terms as well as the product/service. The contract is key – Always present the customer with a pristine contract. While it is easy to push back on a lawyer who is "moving commas," you will quickly become bogged down in defending typos, grammatical errors and ambiguities. Also, move as many of the "negotiated" terms as possible to the exhibits. Not only will this take focus away from the provisions that you would rather not change, but it will facilitate identifying non-standard terms throughout the term of the customer relationship. Consider whether lower-value products or services can be separated from the bundle and sold or licensed on a PO or a click- or-shrink-wrap agreement. It might be worth moving an SLA or other highly technical terms to a webpage that can be cross-referenced in your customer contract. The idea is to remove as many terms as possible from the negotiation process. Also, maintain a compilation/database of acceptable compromises and educate negotiators about them. And avoid separately pricing consulting services and the resulting "if we pay for it, we own it" response. Control the paper - Don't expect that sending a document in a form that is not intended to be edited will discourage comments. Technology and custom have left those days behind. Do impress upon the customer that versions of your agreement will be controlled at your end and commit to turning revisions timely. It might be best to encourage your customer to discuss comments by phone rather than inputting changes (once made, the customer becomes wedded to the changes). And always provide a marked copy. Failure to do so promotes unnecessary suspicion. Control your counsel - Make sure your outside counsel is aware of company "hot buttons" and is clear on the chain of command. And if there are legal budget constraints on the deal, make sure your outside counsel is aware of these, as well. It’s smart to check your counsel's availability for conference calls and notify him/her in advance if "on call" availability is necessary. And make sure the business representatives are controlling the deal. Just say no – Disagreements are going to happen. When they do, the tone should always be respectful but firm. If antagonized, the customer's representatives are likely to dig in their heels. Make sure, also, that the team members are supporting, rather than undercutting, one another. "Good cop/bad cop" only works when everyone knows his/her role. Resist deal fatigue, threatened deadlines, and last minute nickel-and-diming; make concessions only if assuming additional risk makes sense in the context of the entire deal. Your contract negotiator should also not be someone who will own the ongoing customer relationship. Business versus legal – Separate the business issues from the legal ones and have the each party negotiate separately. Having attorneys present during business negotiations is usually not an effective use of legal resources. (On the other hand, astute business negotiators can contribute to negotiation of the "legal" issues by making decisions about the appropriate level of risk the company should assume.) Be sure also to have your counsel hold training sessions with contract negotiators to sensitize them to the importance of warranties, limitations of liability and indemnification provisions. Get on the same page – Internally, take 5 or 10 minutes before a scheduled call to bring the negotiating team up to date on interim developments.When you’re with the customer, insist on getting all requested changes before responding; don’t negotiate against yourself. Get momentum – Initiate calls yourself – and make them (rather than waiting for them) when they’re scheduled. And never end the call or leave the room without agreeing upon next steps and a timetable. Hold your team accountable to meet its commitments. Contract evolution - Constantly update contract templates in response to historical comments and convene periodic meetings with counsel to review and evaluate issues arising in contract negotiations. It’s better to err on the side of reducing the level of detail.
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| Killzone 3 with Move controller: a novel but not brilliant gaming experience Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:00 AM PST
The game is important because it is the first real hardcore game to exploit Sony’s Move controller, which has been outsold by Microsoft’s more casual Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360. There are dozens of game publishers and developers working on Move-related games, all of them hoping that they can create a Move game with mass appeal among hardcore and casual gamers alike. If they succeed, the PlayStation Move can become a critical part of the PlayStation economy. But if they fail, then the Move could suffer the same inevitable decline that many accessories do after their initial splash in the market. If that happens, both Nintendo and Microsoft would breathe a sigh of relief, as they’re targeting gamers who have more casual tastes. Playing with the wand-like Move and its companion left-hand navigation device is merely a good experience, not a fantastic one. And while the motion-sensing Move and the non-stop combat won’t make you sick, the story of the otherwise-epic sci-fi combat game is very hard to stomach. I suspect that the weak story is the reason Killzone 3 received a lukewarm rating of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic, a review score aggregator. By comparison, the ground-breaking Killzone 2 received an average review score of 91 out of 100 back in 2009. At the time, I considered Killzone 2 to be the best game on the PlayStation 3, before the even-better Uncharted 2: Among Thieves game came out. That’s why I’m disappointed to give Killzone 3 a score of 84 out of 100. It seems that developer Guerrilla Games, a subsidiary of Sony, tried to push Killzone 3 out too fast, just a year after the debut of the previous game, which took more than four years to develop. It has become fashionable for game publishers to take their biggest hits and churn out game after game, but in this case it seems to have hurt the brand. This could easily have been a 90-plus-rated game.
The problem is more with the storyline that leads you from one combat scene to another. It starts out good, but then gets a little ridiculous as characters get into a rut of stupid behavior, like an ISA commander who repeatedly refuses to commit his forces to a battle that is going to stop an invasion of Earth. I mean, what commander could be so dumb? The only thing dumber are the enemy Helghast generals, who engage in infighting to a ridiculous degree. They fight and they almost kill each other, only to drag out the uncivility to crazy levels even as the ISA becomes a mounting threat to the existence of the Helghast.
Fans who can stomach the violent first-person action and foul language of this mature-rated title shouldn't miss it. I didn’t play the game in stereoscopic 3D, largely because I don’t like that experience for games. But I played half the game chapters with a regular game controller and half with the Move, which is very much like playing a shooting game with the Wii but more accurate. I was skeptical that the Move would work well, with a movement control in my left hand and an aiming device and trigger in my right hand. But it does the job, allowing you to shoot very accurately. By itself, that’s a big technological victory. For years, game developers have been trying to deliver accessories, such as the Wii remote and the Wii Motion Plus, that allows you to shoot accurately in a game. Most of the time, the aiming doesn’t work. I’ve always been much better off using a game controller than a pointing device in shooting games. But after a short time of getting used to it, I stayed with the PlayStation Move and finished the game with it.
But the story is the hard thing to abide. Killzone 3 picks up where Killzone 2 left off, with the forces of the human Interstellar Alliance (ISA) forces stranded on the planet Helghan (homeworld of the Helghast race), where they have taken out the Helghast dictator, Visari. Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez (heroes from the last game) are back in the middle of the action. The Helghast have counter-attacked (setting off a nuclear bomb in their own capital) and driven most of the ISA off the planet, save for a small contingent that has to survive in the planet’s war-torn ruins. The dark atmosphere of planet is one of the star attractions.
I did enjoy playing with the jet pack, which added a third dimension to tactical combat in the freezing arctic installations on Helghast. And it was a lot of fun being inside a walking tank, known as a mech, with lots of cannon and machine gun firepower. Beyond city fighting, you now get to see more of the jungles of the planet Helghan and you have to face off against some very difficult and fast-moving enemies. A lot of the game has to be played in stealth mode, where you try to avoid other soldiers rather than fight them. But there just aren’t that many great places to hide in the terrain. Also, the frame rate, or speed of animations, gets unacceptabl slow at times. There’s an interesting battle that takes place in zero gravity. When you shoot the enemies, they start floating up into the air. But your grenades become virtually worthless in that environment, as they fly forever and you can’t really aim them. I also enjoyed the “brutal melee” system, where you can close ranks with an enemy and engage in a brutal scripted knife fight. The finishing kills are animated in a particularly gruesome way. Believe it or not. For gamers, that’s considered innovation. The game has also gotten kudos for its addictively fun multiplayer combat. Killzone 3 takes two steps forward with all of the innovative things it tries to do. But the story takes it one step back from being a great game. You have to admire the folks at Guerrilla Games for pushing the envelope. But it’s getting very expensive to swing and miss in the age of blockbuster video games. Fortunately, Sony has a very full slate this year, with big titles ranging from Uncharted 3 to The Last Guardian. Hopefully, one of those games will knock it out of the park. Companies: Microsoft, nintendo, Sony
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| Blame the iPad: PC chip sales flattened in the fourth quarter Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:01 PM PST
Market researcher IDC reported that PC microprocessors — the brains of computers — were down 0.04 percent from the third quarter and down 0.21 percent compared to a year ago. That shows the impact of non-PC microprocessors taking market share thanks to the popularity of Apple’s iPad, which sold more than 15 million units in 2010. (Pictured right, from Apple’s Mac vs. PC ads, are the boring PC guy on left and cool Apple Mac guy on the right). For the full year, microprocessor shipments grew 17.1 percent and revenues were up 26.7 percent to $36.3 billion. “The fourth quarter was weak and out of synch with normal seasonal patterns in terms of unit shipments,” said Shane Rau, an analyst at IDC. “The first half turned out to be the better half of the year. However, looking back at the whole year 2010, it’s clear that the ongoing shift to mobile processors, combined with a shift back towards high-performance mobile processors, drove a significant rise in overall processor average selling prices.” Overall, average selling prices for microprocessors rose 8 percent, with prices approaching levels last seen in 2008. Laptop processor sales grew 26.2 percent in the year, while Intel-based (x86) server unit shipments grew 28.1 percent. But desktop processor unit shipments grew only 6.2 percent. Overall, mobile PC processors were 54.1 percent of the market in 2010, compared to 50.2 percent in 2009. In the fourth quarter, Intel had 80.8 percent of PC microprocessor unit market share, up 0.4 percent, while Advanced Micro Devices had 18.9 percent, down 0.4 percent. Via Technologies had 0.3 percent market share. For the full year, Intel’s share was 80.7 percent, up 1.1 percent; AMD had 19 percent share, down 1.1 percent, and Via had 0.3 percent. Intel has the biggest share in the PC mobile processor market, with 86.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and in the server market, with 94.2 percent market share. In desktops, AMD is stronger with 27.3 percent of the market, compared to 72.5 percent for Intel. IDC expects overall PC microprocessor sales to grow 10.1 percent in 2011. That’s slower growth than in 2010 and is consistent with what Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest PC maker, said today in its earnings call. Rau said the economic concerns around the world and the impact of tablet computers is leading IDC to be more conservative in 2011. Companies: Amd, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Via Technologies People: Shane Rau
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Private equity firm Silver Lake is teaming up with billionaire George Soros’s fund to invest in “the energy and resource sectors.”
This week’s tax question:
Box.net, a provider of enterprise online storage, announced today that it has raised a whopping $48 million in its fourth — and potentially final — round of funding led by Meritech Capital.
With the announcement of 
Latin America’s virtual goods market is expected to grow to $517 million in revenues by 2012, according to a 
The fastest-growing market in the region is Brazil, which had $165 million in virtual goods revenues in 2010. That’s why the market has drawn the interest of social game companies such as Zynga and 
After Brazil, the next-largest virtual goods markets in the region are Colombia at $44 million, Mexico at $42 million, Argentina at $19 million, Peru at $15 million, and others at $49 million.
The preference for cash opens up major opportunities for developers and publishers to focus their promotions on gifting seasons and pay cycles, said Joost van Dreunen, president of SuperData Research. Karl Mehta, chief executive of PlaySpan, which was recently acquired by Visa, said that the data shows that the Latin American market presents developers with very different opportunities compared to the rest of the world. Over time, the region is likely to become easier and easier to monetize.
Following recent rumors, Apple has 
Along with 
Trust, but verify. That old Ronald Reagan policy toward Russian nuclear arms treaties is similar to the policy many parents would prefer when it comes to monitoring their kids’ use of online games. Chicago-based 
Here’s how it works. When a parent clicks on a Piggyback app, Media Chaperone creates a “family identity,” pairing the tween’s and parents’ online identities in a secure and anonymous way. Parents can visit Piggyback from their Facebook Profile to see any safety alerts and notifications of the child’s progress in games. If the child triggers an achievement or reward in a game, the parent will know about it. Parents can also reward the child with virtual goods.
Just as we expected, Apple this morning 
As 
Sony’s newly launched 
That’s a pity because Killzone 3 promised to be one of Sony’s great games for 2011, with enough potential to help swing the console war ever so slightly in Sony’s favor. And if the motion-sensing technology worked perfectly, Sony could have introduced hardcore gamers to a truly next-generation experience in first-person combat and thereby carved out an important technological leadership role for its console in the process.
I played the single-player campaign all the way through and was impressed with the outstanding core combat experience. Fighting in Killzone 2 is intense, with lots of enemies challenging you at the same time, both at close range and from far away. The enemy is smart enough to hide and shoot. If you stand out in the open, you’ll easily get taken out. This is a continuation of the high-quality experience that made me believe last year that 
Of course, with a video game, you can put up with the story if the game play itself is fun. In Killzone 3, you can play in much larger, sweeping levels. Bullets can pierce through then metal walls and it’s quite satisfying when you score a headshot on an enemy Helghast soldier, whose haunting orange-lit helmets are spellbinding to look at. You can fly over enemies with jet packs. The sound of the Helghast screaming through their muffled helmets is riveting. The combat is as close to realistic as this generation of consoles is going to get.
I had to dial down the sensitivity of the Move controller by a notch because I found that the cross hairs moved around too much. Once I changed the sensitivity to a notch below what was recommended, I was able to get a steady aim. This didn’t turn me from a couch potato into an active gamer. Rather, I just sat on the chair and moved my fingers a little. That’s important because it’s very easy to get tired playing a game where you have to hold your hands out from your body for a long time. I managed to play Killzone 3 for hours at a time with the Move controller. If you want an even more realistic experience, you can buy a PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter peripheral that turns the Move into something resembling an assault rifle.
The plot starts out good enough with Rico rebelling against his hesitant commander, Captain Narville, and the Helghast leaders jockeying for control of the remaining Helghast forces. But the infighting devolves into a ridiculous civil war that makes the job of the ISA easier. The problem with the civil war is that it moves the focus of the story to the Helghast leaders, which you can’t play. You can only play the ISA grunts, who seem to be treated like a sideshow in the story toward the end.
Worldwide personal computer microprocessor shipments were flat in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, due in part to the popularity of the Apple iPad.| You are subscribed to email updates from VentureBeat To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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