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Jennie White

Harmonix Games Nominated 7 Times After E3 2010

Jennie White | June 30th, 2010
Harmonix nominated for Game Critics Award

Harmonix is nominated 7 times for Games Critics Awards Best of E3 2010

You may not know this about me, but I like to dance and I can bust a move if I do say so myself.

Since dancing is one of my “secret” talents, I was stoked to find out that local video game development company, Harmonix, based in Cambridge, Mass., has been nominated seven times in the Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2010.

Harmonix, the makers behind video games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Game Critics favorite, Dance Central, have developed some noteworthy technology and the best part about it? It’s the kind of technology that gets you dancing.

Yesterday, the Game Critics Awards announced their nominations for the best games at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the trade show for the computer and video games industry. (more…)

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Jennie White

EXCLUSIVE: uTest Adds Board Member from Investor Longworth Venture Partners

Jennie White | June 29th, 2010
Partner at Longworth, Jim Savage joins uTest

Longworth Venture's Jim Savage joins uTest's Board of Directors

The general public calls them glitches, the tech community calls them bugs; either way, they’re the reason why websites and mobile apps don’t quite do what they’re supposed to do.

Somewhere between sleepless nights of coding and software product launch, bug’s appear from coding inconsistencies, and make website incompatible with a browser or mobile apps unable to run properly. Have no fear app developers, marketers, and executives — uTest, based in Southborough Mass., has 27,200 testers worldwide, on-hand to test your website, mobile app, game, or desktop software for any bugs.

Today, Jim Savage, a partner from uTest’s main investor, Longworth Venture Partners, will join uTest’s Board of Directors and bring 20 years of valuable experience to one of the hottest startups in the region.

Founded in early 2007 and headed by CEO, Doron Reuveni, uTest has worked with customers like Google, Microsoft, The BBC, MySpace, and locally-based MocoSpace to test everything under the sun and make sure it releases flaw-free. uTest’s testers are located in over a 150 countries and range in age, industry, and skill. When a new client signs up for the company’s crowd-sourced service, uTest assigns a project manager to the squash, who then chooses a team of global testers based on things like their location, operating system, browser, or wireless carrier. Immediately after the team is chosen, testers begin to search the product for bugs in realtime. After the uTest scour is complete, the client receives a full diagnostic report and uTest takes care of paying the testers.

Sounds like a lot, but if uTest is helping companies like Google get products to market faster, you know they’re onto something big. Savage recognizes this and couldn’t be happier about joining the board. (more…)

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Jennie White

Brightcove Releases Flash Supported Application for Android Developers

Jennie White | June 23rd, 2010
Brightcove launches Android app

Brightcove embraces Flash and launches an Android app designed for app developers

Yesterday, the mobile battle between Apple and Android got a little more interesting with the launch of the Adobe Flash application on Android. Is this going to be a game-changing move for Android? It’s too early to tell, but Brightcove, based in Cambridge Mass., is jumping into the Flash on Android world fast. On Tuesday, Brightcove released a Flash-based Android application that lets developers create apps enhanced with video.

Brightcove logoBrightcove helps clients like Showtime, The New York Times, and Sony with online video platforms — the company helps manage, monetize, and distribute online video while analyzing traffic, and customizing players for customers.

The release of Brightcove App SDK for Android will drastically improve the quality of online videos streaming to mobile devices. (more…)

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Jennie White

Verizon Finishes 4G Technical Testing in Boston and Begins User Testing

Jennie White | June 23rd, 2010
Verizon brings 4G to Boston

Verizon Technology Center in Waltham, Mass., will open in early 2011

Verizon is following the lead of Daft Punk and Kanye West — making their wireless network  harder, better, faster, stronger.

While Verizon’s new 4G LTE network might not seem as cool as Daft Punk and Kanye West’s chart topping songs, imagine being able to download songs, videos, and files faster than ever before on your laptops and smartphones. Yesterday, Verizon announced their completion of 4G technical testing in Boston and Seattle.

Verizon will now begin user trials in Boston, along with Seattle and three other cities that have yet to be disclosed.

For those of us who were lost back when they first read “4G LTE network” in this post, let’s break it down:

In the history of wireless technology there have been 1G, 2G, 2.5, 3G (the iPhone runs on 3G), and now 4G wireless networks, each with their own set of industry standards. The newest of the wireless networks, 4G will have the best multimedia, data rates, speed, and real-time technology yet.

LTE stands for “Long-Term Evolution” and is the technology the 4G network will use to bring unbelievable speed to mobile Internets.

Out of all the mobile phone carriers in the country, Verizon has become the leader in 4G network technology and installation.

“With LTE we’re experiencing a transition from connected people–the internet of connected people, to the internet of connected things,” says Praveen Atreya of Verizon’s LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass. (more…)

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Jennie White

Boston Startups Make Summer Vacation Cooler

Jennie White | June 21st, 2010

Boston knows how to travel better than any other city!

Boston, please put your tray tables in the upright and locked position, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Boston is filled with well-traveled citizens and a huge indicator of that can be found on the local startup scene. We’re bringing you 10 mobile applications and websites that all focus on travel — these locally grown apps and websites make it easier for you to get from Point A to Point B, find the best restaurants in town, and plan sweet itineraries.

Today is the first day of summer, so before you pack your bags for vacation, check out these websites and download these apps:

TripAdvisor - Headquartered in Newton, Mass., TripAdvisor’s website and multi-platform mobile application lets you find flights, hotels, cruises, and things to do during your trip in 70,000 cities around the world.

  • Get the most out of your trip: TripAdvisor recently launched their “Vacation Rentals” feature, connecting realtors with travelers who are so over hotels and want to stay in a furnished apartment or home. (more…)

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Jennie White

Top 8 Boston Angels on Twitter

Jennie White | June 20th, 2010
Boston angel investors

Talk to Boston's angels on Twitter

There’s been a lot of angel investment talk recently in the wake of Jon Pierce‘s Angel Bootcamp, the Open Angel Forum, and a ton of blog posts talking about what Boston can do to get angel money flowing. Thanks to Twitter we can have discussions about angel investing directly with angels themselves; Boston has a bunch of angels who are doing their thing on Twitter.

In true BostInnovation style we’re counting down the top 8 angel twitterers in Boston. This time we didn’t take follower numbers into account; we looked at what these angels are tweeting about, how often they’re tweeting, and how engaged they are in Boston’s startup scene. The best part is, we picked a “sweet tweet” from each angel to show off their personality.

Let the countdown begin. (more…)

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Jennie White

Never Miss A Flight Again With Flight Tracker

Jennie White | June 15th, 2010
Flight Tracker on the BlackBerry Storm

Flight Tracker finally available on the BlackBerry Storm

These days, delayed flights are a given. It doesn’t matter the airline, the pilot or the airport; chances of your flight leaving on time are low. So plan ahead right? Well now you can, thanks to some serious flight tracking technology, the Internet, and recently, our mobile phones, predicting flight delays even before they happen has become a reality.

Today, Allston Mass., company FlightView launched their brand new BlackBerry app tailored for the BlackBerry’s touchscreen phone, the Storm.

FlightView is the recognized provider of the most accurate, real-time flight information solutions for the aviation and travel industries. FlightView’s Flight Tracker is used by millions of travelers via their mobile phones or computers to track a flight’s status. The U.S. government, airlines, airports, ground transportation, and news outlets all use FlightView’s software and services to keep airline travel running smoothly and passengers informed.

FlightView’s Flight Tracker mobile app is also available for the iPhone and Palm as well as each one of the Blackberry models. “Since launching our first BlackBerry app in 2009, we have been inundated by requests from Storm users for a version that works on their device,” said Mike Benjamin, the CEO of FlightView. (more…)

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Jennie White

Crowd Favorite DoInk Takes Home WebInno Audience Choice Award

Jennie White | June 15th, 2010
WebInno 26 June 2010

WebInno 26 attendees gather for the "Main Dish" presentations

Last week, BostInnovation Editor Kyle Psaty predicted that this summer’s Web Innovators Group (WebInno) would the biggest yet and he may well have been right.

Last night, WebInno –the Boston startup scene’s biggest tech event — drew a hoard of attendees and nine hot startups to the Royal Sonnesta in Cambridge. New York City’s Milabra, Waltham’s DoInk, and Needham’s Chargify were Webinno’s three “Main Dishes” presenters, and each demoed in front of an audience comprised of angels, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, developers, and community leaders. DoInk took home Webinno’s “Audience Choice Award” as the favorite startup after a killer presentation.

WebInno was founded by Venrock VC David Beisel five years ago and last night was the 26th WebInno.

(more…)

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Jennie White

Boston Gets in on the 2010 World Cup

Jennie White | June 14th, 2010
World Cup 2010 in Boston

Soccer captures Bostonian's hearts along with the Celtics

While the Celtics (especially the Celtics), Red Sox, Bruins and Patriots consume most of Boston sports fans’ time, how can we forget the New England Revolution Major League Soccer team? In 2010, Boston is giving props to the game of soccer and the power the sport holds over the world with non-profit South Africa Partners‘ World Cup Boston 2010.

Seeing the power soccer has played in unifying South Africa, South Africa Partners have launched World Cup Boston 2010 to bring that unifying power of soccer home to Boston in hopes of forming relationships between neighborhoods and boosting participation from local kids. We figured since Mayor Thomas Menino and Adidas are getting behind World Cup Boston 2010, we’d get in on the action too and put our own tech spin on it.

Soccer fans, Internet geeks, and everyone who’s recently decided to become a soccer fan thanks to the World Cup, here’s what Boston has done online to show our love for soccer and the 2010World Cup.

1. The Boston Phoenix trashes Gwen Stefani’s husband Gavin Rosdale on Twitter.
After an embarrassing goal let in by England’s goalie, Robert Green and scored by United States player, Clint Dempsey, B-list celebrity Gavin Rosdale went on a Twitter rampage calling out the United States and his own England team for their lack of skills. Boston’s alternative newspaper, The Boston Phoenix quickly retaliated with a tweet saying: “Only thing better than a #WorldCup goal: wiping the smile off Mr. Stefani’s face RT @GavinRossdale: not again england! I got a frown going.” Rosdale was heated and replied to the Boston Phoenix with two tweets containing some harsh choice words and fueling the battle of Hollywood versus Boston versus England. (more…)

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Jennie White

Not Your Average Entrepreneur: 13 Year Old Mega-Blogger and Social Media Consultant

Jennie White | June 11th, 2010
Lane Sutton, Kid Critic USA

13 year old entrepreneur, Lane Sutton outruns your average teen

When most of us were thirteen, we were trying to figure out if the opposite sex had cooties or not. That mystical disease is Boston 13 year-old Lane Sutton‘s least concern, considering he has nationally recognized blog called KidCriticUSA and manages several small business’ social media campaigns. Also an avid saxophonist and actor, Sutton is not your average 13 year old – he’s an entrepreneur who manages to do all of his work before bedtime at 9:30.

KidCriticUsa, a blog written entirely by Sutton about activities, websites, and products that are kid- and family-friendly, was an idea formulated by Sutton and his father in December 2008 when Sutton expressed an interest in writing code. On January 1st, 2009, KidCritic went live and almost instantly became a hit with mommy bloggers, kids, and companies looking to market their products to kids and families. On April 12th, 2010 Sutton was featured in Forbes’ The Next Crop: Grade School Entrepreneurs. (more…)

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Jennie White

MeYou Health Launches “Community Clash,” Boston Currently Losing to New York

Jennie White | June 9th, 2010
MeYou Health's Community Clash Logo

Online card game developed in Boston launches new community competition

We give a lot of credit to those entrepreneurs who have energy to go to the gym after their 13 hour days of coding and business development. We know it can be tough to start a company and stay in shape, and sometimes a RedBull doesn’t cut it. Boston startup MeYou Health, which is being funded by Healthways, is helping entrepreneurs and everyone else maintain a healthy lifestyle with their line of “products” that give you simple exercises, tips and games to play, on your cellphones and online.

MeYou Health’s most recent project, Community Clash caught the attention of  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and was chosen along Google and Microsoft as one of the few projects to present at the HHS’ Community Health Data Forum: Harnessing the Power of Information to Improve Health in Washington D.C on June 2nd.

MeYou Health’s General Manager, Chris Cartter headed to the Community Health Data Forum to launch MeYou Health’s “Community Clash.” Community Class is an online card game that pins cities against each other to see who is the healthiest; based on statistics from categories like major depression, motor vehicle deaths, diabetes, and smoking provided by HHS’ Community Health Data Initiative. Users can see how their cities stack up to other American cities. (more…)

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Jennie White

Viximo Launches Social Gaming Platform, Expands Beyond Facebook

Jennie White | June 9th, 2010
Viximo launches social gaming platform

Viximo social gaming platform gives developers access to 60M users

Facebook is losing it’s cool — fast. Social game and app developers aren’t leaving Facebook, but they’re developing bigger and better things for the millions of other social networks out there where 3/4 of the social networking population spends time, according to Viximo VP of Product and Founder, Brian Balfour.

As Facebook becomes part of the average American social graph, users are becoming more comfortable with other social networking tools as well.

Today, Viximo  — which deals in virtual goods — shook things up by announcing the launch of their new social gaming platform. According to the company, it will allow social gaming developers to distribute their games through Viximo to 60 million users on social networks other than Facebook.

Located in Cambridge, Mass., Viximo helps clients promote their brands and increase user engagement by creating, selling, optimizing, and tracking virtual goods; icons like cows, candy, weapons, etc. Viximo’s virtual goods have been especially prominent in online social-gaming; games where users play with their friends on social networks for free, but can purchase virtual goods to boost their score, farm, mafia mob, wardrobe, or whatever. Viximo was founded in 2007 by Brian Balfour, and added Dale Strang as CEO in January, 2010.

What problem is Viximo’s social gaming platform solving for developers?
(more…)

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Jennie White

Boston’s YouCastr Shuts Down Gracefully

Jennie White | June 9th, 2010
YouCastr shuts down

Boston's YouCastr calls it quits, puts site up for sale

The story of YouCastr started three years ago on a road trip shared by two buddies, Ariel Diaz and Jeff Dwyer; the two bounced ideas off one another for companies and problems in the world they wanted solved. The conversation turned to Mystery Science Theater 3000 a comedy and sci-fi TV show and YouCastr was born. On June 3rd, CEO Ariel Diaz announced the end of the video marketplace and broadcasting website, YouCastr.

Ariel Diaz, is a well-known entrepreneur in Boston’s startup community; He is a force on the networking circuit, and a valued contributor in any conversation regarding the future of web video, the value of content and pretty much anything else that has to do with what’s the future will bring. He graduated from Dartmouth College and was a management consultant prior to starting YouCastr in 2007 with three other co-founders, Jeffrey Herbert, Matthew Hodgson, and Brad Johnson.

YouCastr LogoIn Diaz’s openly honest Posterous blog post titled, YouCastr – A Post-Mortem he outlines the reasons for starting YouCastr, and details what went right and what went wrong. YouCastr received $500K in angel funding in early 2008, but even after operating under the lean startup mentality and generating revenue, they ran out of funds. According Diaz, YouCastr also lacked market fit and felt they didn’t align with the trends they were seeing in the online video industry.

On a more personal note, Diaz admits to not loving the market or the idea of YouCastr in his blog post, and says that these facts made it harder to keep the passion and energy flowing when things got tough. Diaz also pointed to hiring mistakes and in retrospect believes he spent too much time looking for funding. YouCastr is now being sold on website marketplace, Flippa for a minimum bid of $25,000. (more…)

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Jennie White

Fantourage: Rewarding the Biggest Fans of Popular Celebrities Online

Jennie White | June 7th, 2010
Fantourage.com

Fantourage has fans prove their loyalty to their favorite celebrities

In the 1950s, fans showed their love for Elvis Presley by crying for him at concerts and plastering posters of him on their bedroom walls. Fans chased the Beetles around en masse like raving lunatics. Luckily for today’s young people, the fan-celebrity experience is more personal, even if we still treat our idols, American or otherwise, with iconic revelry. Posters have been replaced by tweets, blogs, live chats, and videos from celebrities — letting fans adore their favorite superstars on a deeper level. With Cambridge’s newly open beta startup, Fantourage you can prove to your celebrity crushes that you really are in love with them by earning points.

Fantourage was buzzing around Boston’s startup scene last month, so Pinyadda and BostInnovation staffer Greg Gomer and I decided to give it a try. (more…)

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Jennie White

Antler Gives a Buck: Not Your Average Startup Competition

Jennie White | June 3rd, 2010
Antler Agency's Antler Gives a Buck

Antler Gives a Buck; a competition for U.S. non-profit organizations.

Non-profit organizations and startups operate the same way — under a strict budget and with an unparalleled passion for something they believe in. Dozens of competitions in Boston have rewarded local startups with money, mentoring, and business development to make it easy for startups to market to the public, but have we forgotten about our non-profits? Boston-based digital marketing agency, Antler hasn’t forgotten — they just announced their Antler Gives a Buck competition and this time the prize isn’t going to a startup, it’s going to one lucky non-profit in the United States.

A local startup digital marketing agency, Antler knows what they’re talking about. Antler was founded in 2009 by Terry Lozoff and Luke Garro after working on cutting edge marketing campaigns for years. (Garro is also a professional musician and spent some time drumming with indy rock group Piebald.)  Along with their 15 employees, Lozoff and Garro have worked with clients like Boston’s GlobalPost and Magners Irish Cider, but it’s time for what Antler likes to call “phil-ANTLER-py.” (more…)

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