Earlier this month, reports came out suggesting that Microsoft was under acquisition negotiations with the enterprise social network, Yammer. Well, it’s now official, but it took $1.2 billion in cash to make it happen. David Sacks the former COO of PayPal (until it was acquired by eBay) is the Founder and CEO of Yammer, Inc. … Read more
The social web plus big data plus psychographics – that’s BrandMixer’s formula for helping consumer packaged goods companies understand their brands and consumers. BrandMixer, LLC takes what people are saying about brands on the web, or “the world’s largest focus group,” analyzes it to determine market trends and consumer personalities, and reports it to CPG … Read more
Phoenix-based Dru Mundorff (aka CodeCompiler) owner of Mundorff & Co. has written a new code called ‘LilyJade’ which is classified as a botnet killer. Using the free service of Crossrider, Mundorff managed to develop a cross-browser extension through javascript which has reached over 30 million users in the first month. Spread on Facebook through an … Read more
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s what small business owners Jake Gottlieb and Jason Hung decided to do when they launched Levion, a QuickBooks add-on that brings small business accounting to the cloud. As small business owners, they believed that the problem with the QuickBooks accounting software was that they couldn’t use it … Read more
Microsoft fans have a lot to be excited about. By this year’s holiday season, Microsoft will unveil a flurry of exciting new products which will include Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and an unexpected new surprise: Microsoft’s own tablet dubbed the Surface. Taking its queue from Apple’s incredible success with the iPad, Microsoft has decided … Read more
Developers Mike Montalvo and Balaji Raghavan have set out to improve the user experience of the Apple Bluetooth Magic Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard. Their invention: Switch the power source for both these accessories from battery powered to USB plug-in. This way, dead batteries will be kept from filling landfills, and users will never have to … Read more
Ruby On Rails is the dominant framework in use by web developers today. The open-source solution is incredibly popular because it aims to meet all the needs of overworked developers trying to build amazing projects–it’s simple, easy to understand, flexible, and has an active development community. Rails is used to power a lot of the … Read more
Phoenix resident Gelie Akhenblit was looking for her next career move. While networking in the local business community, she saw a need for a calendar that would list networking events around the Valley. She thought it would be fun to create the calendar and enlisted the help of her husband Erin-Michael Johnson, a software engineer, to create the … Read more
If last night was any indication, Arizona’s tech scene is about to bubble over with young entrepreneurs, new startups and the watchful eyes of big investors. As we mentioned earlier this week, Techiepalooza is a networking event that brings the Phoenix entrepreneurial and tech community together. The event ran from 4pm-11pm last night, and upon arriving, I … Read more
While you [probably] won’t see Perry Farrell or the Red Hot Chili Peppers there, this week’s Techiepalooza is definitely still worth a visit. Join ASU Venture Catalyst and a sizable group of partners/sponsors (see below) for a networking event that brings the Phoenix entrepreneurial and tech community together. The event will showcase some of the hottest … Read more