Nick Tippmann - 5/9 - Serious Startups

Knowing There’s NO Interest In Window Phone 7, Nokia Willing To Bribe AT&T Employees

Window Phones 7 which never picked up any steam now may get a push due to some bribing by Nokia. The Verge and other outlets are reporting that due to no one in the public actually wanting a WP7, Nokia will be bribing AT&T and their employees with their latest one. The Lumia 900 will be free for all AT&T employees as part of their “Company Use” phones. While this isn’t a first for a manufacturer to offer a phone for free to employees as part of a program. This is the first time one paid a company over $25 million to bribe it’s employees to use it.

Startup Quick Byte: Share Magnet

For Startup Quick Byte we’ll take a look at Share Magnet, a company based out of Los Angeles, Ca. Share Magnet system enables users who register on the site to get paid for personally recommending relevant items to their friends, family and social connections. The revenue source comes from companies that wish to reward individuals who recommend their products, services, online links, and entertainment such as games, music, films, etc. In other words, you’ll be our advertising and we’ll pay you for sending links out to your friends.

Our mission is to bring consumers together through common interests, and reward them for sharing the things they like.

Beyond The Lens: Colby Brown

This is a repost of an article that was written on TheDroidGuy.

Over the last couple weeks I’ve been in talks with Colby about photography as he is the man behind the new viral group that has started on Google+ called Behind the Lens- Photo Critique. Which has in just a few short days amassed over 100′s of photographers and hopeful ones(like me). What the group does is let photographers post pictures on Google+ with the tag “Behind the lens- Photo Critique” and other photographers, give their honest opinions on the photo. Besides being a full time photographer and a new father, he is also an avid Android user who was the one who actually alerted me that the Droid3 was rooted via one of his post. Following that we talked about doing an interview with him and here it is…

Looking For A Date, Time To Play WoW Instead Of Match.com

Tired of dating the same losers, and plan on visiting sites like eHarmony and Match.com to fix that? You may want to hold that thought and start playing WoW(World of Warcraft) instead. A new infographic may change your mind on where you go first to find your ideal partner.

While they wouldn’t be the most desirable ones, you’ll have better luck it seems play hoping onto the MMORPG over any those dating sites.

What’s In Your Bag: Michael Neal

Michael Neal a photographer out of Maui, after seeing another What’s In Your Bag contacted us, and I’ve been in talks with him ever since and couldn’t wait for him to show us what was in his bag. After seeing some of the photos from his site I knew his gear was going to just be as crazy as his photos, and he didn’t disappoint.

I’m a freelance surf and nature photographer based on Maui,Hawaii. I have been shooting professionally for 7 years. My surf photos focus on the many talented surfer here on Maui, with an emphasize on the big waves of Peahi (Jaws). These images regularly appeared in magazines and websites in the USA, Europe, South Africa, and Brazil.

Maui is an awesome place and I love capturing the beauty of nature found here.

My print work in sold through many of the fine galleries on the island. Maui has some of the most endangered creatures on the planet, I work regularly with conservation groups here documenting their work.

These images are being used by the Nature Conservancy,Haleakala National Park, the Maui Ocean Center and others to promote the incredible work being done here.

Another Day, Another Possible Black Mark On Pinterest

Another day, another possible black mark on Pinterest. The site that has been marked in the past with Link Baiting, Spam issues, and copyright infringement maybe up to it one more time. Business Insider is reporting that “VC’s” are trying to get a new round of investment valued for the company at around $1 billion dollars. There is just one problem with that, everyone they’ve called to talk to has denied it with no known knowledge of a new round. Nor does Pinterest “want” to raise a new round of funding as of yet they claim. This is also a company that still has no business model for revenue yet as their past one with links didn’t work out.

What they are hearing is VC’s are trying to bribe and are showing up uninvited to Pinterest in hopes of starting those talks.

Could it be a rogue investor trying to drum up more interest as one of the original investors as either bringing more money in or a possible exit plan? Or could it just be that Pinterest is trying to drum up hopes of another round, so that hopefully someone buys them out instead.

Source: Business Insider

Startup Spotlight: Los Angeles Based Incubators

For years, Silicon Valley has been the first thought when someone says Startups and Incubators, however Los Angeles is trying to change that. In this Start-Up Spotlight, we’ll be featuring three LA Based Startup Incubators trying to change that. While Los Angeles may be famous for Hollywood, Crips and Scientology, companies such as MySpace, Helio, and Picasa have all started here as well.

Beyond The Lens: Alvin Toro

I first met Alvin while on the first PhotoWalk put on through Google+. It also happened to be my first ever experience around photographers and the art in which I’ve grown to love. Alone that one day I learned more in just those few hours than I’ve learned my whole life. Alvin was a big part in that as he helped me with random questions I had, even though I only had my HTC MyTouch4G(Taking photos with) and my Motorola Xoom(For all the notes.) Since than we’ve been on more PhotoWalks together and I knew I had to interview him not just for me, but for others to be enlightened by him as well. So we sat down for our Beyond The Lens feature and here it is.

New Super Car Goes 0-100 In Less Than 5 Seconds, But There Is A Catch

Power to weight ration Bugatti and Ducati could only dream about. A 4 wheel drive monster that goes 0-100 in less than 5 seconds and will cost you tens of thousands less than the new Ferrari 458. This isn’t the newest super car to come over from Europe or Japan, or one of those monsters that Hennessey Performance has created.

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, No, It’s Pirate Bay

Pirate Bay which recently due to legal litigation against another site, revamped how it would do business is doing so yet again. First they would no longer allow users to download Torrent files from them, but instead use a magnet to do so. Now is flying in the Drones to do its work.

Seeing how the US has no legal grounds over International waters, that’s where The Pirate Bay is heading, but not in ships. Using GPS-controlled drones, instead of data centers.

Everyone knows WHAT TPB is. Now they’re going to have to think about WHERE TPB is. We were further informed that the first drone will probably fly above international waters.We’re already the most resilient and the most down to earth. That’s why we need to lift off, being this connected to the ground doesn’t feel appropriate to us anymore,

Is the statement Pirate Bay told TorrentFreaks earlier today. Not sure how it’ll work, don’t worry, they’ve also even explained it as they are not shy that this’ll be their next move to combat what has been an offensive by the US against websites, the government doesn’t like, even if no legal grounds to stop it are there.

With the development of GPS controlled drones, far-reaching cheap radio equipment and tiny new computers like the Raspberry Pi, we’re going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air. This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war. We’re just starting so we haven’t figured everything out yet. But we can’t limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore. These Low Orbit Server Stations (LOSS) are just the first attempt. With modern radio transmitters we can get over 100Mbps per node up to 50km away. For the proxy system we’re building, that’s more than enough.

Lets just make sure those in control don’t accidentally fly over New York as they already have the ability to not only shot down planes, but Drones as well.

Scott Pelley: Are you satisfied that you’ve dealt with threats from aircraft, even light planes, model planes, that kind of thing?

Kelly: Well, it’s something that’s on our radar screen. I mean in an extreme situation, you would have some means to take down a plane.

Pelley: Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?

Kelly: Yes, I prefer not to get into the details but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation.

Pelley: You have the equipment and the training.

Kelly: Yes

As you can see again in an article we posted in September of last year. Here video included.

This’ll be a new challenge as we may see more Torrent sites trying to do the same. We’ll be keeping an eye on this as more news comes in.

Source: TorrentFreak

Return Voyage For LulzSec? Rumors Say Yes And No

The infamous collective of 6 people who became famous last year for websites in which they’ve hacked as well as companies may be back. Or may not be, matters whom you talk to. LulzSec because famous quickly via Twitter for hacking into the likes of Fox’s TV shows and reveling the contestants before the X-Factor even aired. Along with hacks like PBS and others. However, in the last couple of weeks everything seemed to have ended with their “leader” Sabu, who was outed as a FBI informant.

Now a YouTube video may contradict their demise…

Ultrabook Review: The Acer Aspire S3

For the past week, I’ve been using an Acer Aspire S3 that Acer sent me to review. I actually like it–mostly. Mind you, this isn’t a perfect laptop–well, Ultrabook–in any way, but it’s nice. The keys feel good while typing on them, and the boot up is fast thanks to the OS being on the SSD instead of the hard drive. The screen is bright and I haven’t had any issues with glare while using it outside. I also learned it could possibly pass the Brent Test after it accidentally fell out of my backpack. I wasn’t impressed with the battery life, the track pad, or the fact that you need a Louis and Clark expedition to find the arrows on the keyboard.

And Here Comes The Spam, Pinterest Style

With over 11 Million unique visitors in January alone, it’s no surprise that Spammers have hit Pinterest, our favorite new Social Network that can’t stay out of trouble. While this isn’t anything new that people will post Spam, it’s just another black eye in what has been an interesting 2012 for the newest flavor of the month.

With the growth of the site it was no shock that Spammers would be flocking to it seeing how it gives more hits to sites compared to Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn combined.

The questions is now, how can Pinterest fight this latest issue they are having. They’ve already successfully fought off the other ones so it’ll be interesting how they fair with this.

Source: GigaOm