Latest VatorNews stories

• Why you should be angry with Apple's tax shenanigans

  by Faith Merino, May 21, 2013

  Tim Cook's corporate tax proposal: "Not zero."

  Tim Cook took to Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend Apple’s complex matrix of tax dodging trickery. Several times throughout the hearing, he was asked what kind of corporate tax rate we should have in the U.S. to keep large, multi-billion dollar companies like Apple from shunting their money overseas. Each time the question came up, Cook artfully avoided giving a concrete number (which I would imagine

  Read more »

  

• Postmaster raises $600K to simplify eCommerce shipping

  by Faith Merino, May 21, 2013

  The TechStars Cloud graduate gets support from Capital Factory, Cloud Power, and Zelkova Ventures

  E-commerce growth continues to dominate brick-and-mortar retail growth. While online retail still only accounts for less than 10% of all retail dollars spent in the U.S., it’s gobbling up more and more of those retail dollars every year. Last quarter, e-commerce sales grew 13% year-over-year to $50.2 billion, making it the second consecutive quarter to pass the $50 billion mark, according to

  Read more »

  

• Pandora debuts new station to preview upcoming albums

  by Steven Loeb, May 21, 2013

  Albums will be available on Pandora Premieres for up to a week before their official U.S. release

  "Our partnership with Pandora is yet another example of how we are always looking to offer consumers something different. Together we have introduced a very unique service, a different way for consumers to experience music. By bringing this custom Pandora radio station, Pandora Premieres, to life, we are offering consumers access to pre-release materials before their U.S. on-sale dates," Peter DeLuca

  Read more »

  

• Knewton partners with Macmillan to help ELL students

  by Faith Merino, May 21, 2013

  Knewton and Macmillan target English Language Learners, who have the highest dropout rates

  One of the more interesting startups, Knewton, is attempting to change this with its unique adaptive learning platform, which teaches to the individual student with its Adaptive Learning Platform. And these days, Knewton is counting some of the largest educational publishers among its friends. Knewton announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Macmillan to build next-generation teaching materials

  Read more »

  

• Yahoo completely overhauls Flickr to "make it awesome"

  by Steven Loeb, May 21, 2013

  Yahoo launched an Android app, redesigned the homepage and gave each user a 1 terabyte of space

  When it became clear that Yahoo was interested in buying Tumblr, the Internet seemed to have one collective thought: please do not let this become another Flickr. Flickr, you see, was a hip image hosting and video hosting website that was bought by Yahoo in 2005. It was then abandonded, and largely forgotten by the Internet community. And it has since become a lesson for what can happen when a coo

  Read more »

  

• Wanderful Media gets $9M to expand local ad service

  12 powerful media publishers re-invest to get circular dollars online

  Wandeful Media, which is helping newspapers make next-generation circulars, announced Tuesday morning that it's raised $9 million in a new round of financing from its existing newspaper publisher backers. ...
  By Bambi Francisco Roizen
  

• Google shutting down Checkout in favor of Google Wallet

  Google Checkout will be gone in the next six months

  "Today, we’re letting web merchants know that in six months, Google Checkout will be retired as we transition to Google Wallet — a platform that enables merchants to meet the demands of a multi-screen ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Some startups to watch after Tumblr acquisition

  Other blogging startups could see a renewed interest, or may find it hard to compete against Yahoo

  As you have probably seen all over the Internet, you television and just about anywhere else your eyeballs might have landed today, Yahoo announced that it has reached a deal to buy microblogging and social ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• GrubHub and Seamless combine to create super company

  The companies join forces to create one large food ordering service

  Lazy bums everywhere: rejoice, for your days of strife are over. No more will you have to suffer through the irritation of not being able to find your fave Chinese place on GrubHub, thereby forcing you ...
  By Faith Merino
  

• It's official: Yahoo is buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion

  Tumblr to remain independent, Yahoo promises "not to screw it up"

  Well, that was fast! After it was first reported at the end of last week that Yahoo was interested in buying up microblogging and social media platform Tumblr for around a billion dollars, the company ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Five tips to drive R&D culture in a fast-moving startup

  Sharing events bring research to the forefront and spawn all kinds of creativity

  Research and development (R&D) efforts in a small company can be challenging because resources are often scarce, particularly when you are moving at lightning speed to get a product or service out ...
  By Matt Curcio
  

• Pinterest adds more info into pins, puts them on mobile

  Users to get more info on products, recipes and movie pins, partners include Netflix, eBay and Etsy

  Pinterest, like all social networks needs to to make itself attractive to advertisers and brands. Earlier this year, the site added a new social analytics tool for businesses. And now Pinterest has launched ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• 3 Unbreakable rules of recruiting

  Josh Stein spills his recruiting secrets to Reena Jadhav at Splash

  Recruiting right is clearly one of the top three priorities of any startup executive. In the first few years it can be the difference between survival and death of a venture. So how do you ensure you have ...
  By Reena A Jadhav
  

• Google accused of breaking antitrust law in Canada

  Google has also been investigated by the EU, the United States and South Korea before

  The exact nature of what the Canadian Competition Bureau will be investing is also unknown, but the agency calls itself "an independent law enforcement agency, ensures that Canadian businesses and consumers ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Yahoo to hold special event in NYC on Monday

  Details are sketchy, but could the company be announcing the acquisition of either Hulu or Tumblr?

  News of Yahoo's interest was first reported just a day or two ago, but the company is already set to hold a meeting on Sunday to approve the $1.1 billion all-cash deal, according to a report from AllThingsD. ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Andrew Mason is dropping an album. No srsly.

  It's not a joke. Mason has recorded a 7-song album of "motivational business music"

  So…wow. I really can’t find my way out of this lede. Mason posted the news via his blog Friday morning, which was intended more or less to update everyone on his goings-on. After his ouster ...
  By Faith Merino
  

• Funding roundup - week ending 05/17/13

  Skift, Marqeta, Jelly, CrowdOptic, Luvocracy, EdgeSpring, Pebble, BitPay, BonitaSoft, AirWatch

  Travel news startup Skift raised an additional $1.1 million seed round. The new funding was led by Lerer Ventures and included Ironfire Angel, MESA+, Advancit Capital, Growlab/LX Ventures, who invested ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Yahoo is buying all the things! Maybe even Tumblr...

  Rumors abound, but can Yahoo afford the hefty price tag?

  Just days after Yahoo was said to be considering a bid at the hot Internet TV service Hulu, rumor now has it that Yahoo is actually/also in “serious” take-over talks with the top execs of none ...
  By Faith Merino
  

• A list of top LA accelerators and incubators

  Amplify, Launchpad, MuckerLab, Idealab and Science among those churning out new startups

  Part of that has to do with the categories that L.A. specializes in gaining traction, including digital media, gaming and e-commerce. There is also L.A.'s university scene, including UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Government wants Google to answer Glass privacy issues

  Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus sends a letter to Larry Page demanding clarification

  Whenever new technology comes out, there is always a familiar chorus of people shouting about their privacy being invaded. And, most of the time, I kind of ignore it. For the most part, people can avoid ...
  By Steven Loeb
  
• Loading...
• Load more articles