Android Co-Founder Andy Rubin Is Now A Partner At Redpoint Ventures, Raises $48M For His Own Hardware Incubator

The Future Of Messenger

Back in October of 2014, Android co-founder Andy Rubin parted ways with Google after nine years with the company.
At the time of his departure, word trickled out that he was building a hardware-focused incubator called Playground — and sure enough, that incubator just disclosed this morning that they’ve raised $48M .
Turns out, that’s not all he’s got on his plate: he’s also now a venture partner at Redpoint Ventures.
Prior to selling Android to Google in 2005, Andy was the co-founder of Danger — a company best known for creating the Sidekick/Hiptop.
Redpoint was founded in 1999, and has over 300 investments in its portfolio — including names like Nextdoor, Path, Sonos, Stripe, Twilio, and even Android-based Android competitor Cyanogen. It’s also an investor in Rubin’s Playground incubator, according to Redpoint’s Jeff Brody.
Rubin confirmed the new role with a tweet this afternoon.
"@rsarver: Couldn't be more excited for @ARubin to join @redpointvc http://t.co/6tpL9pUPVF" ;; I'm psyched too!!!
— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) April 6, 2015

By: Unknown On 02:29

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Freestyle Capital Locks Down $60M For Its Third Fund, Adds Jenny Lefcourt As Its Third Partner

Microsoft Brings Collaboration To New Office Tool SwayFreestyle Capital, a venture shop based in California, has locked down a $60 million third fund. The new infusion brings the firm’s total capital raised to $126 million. In addition to its new traunch, Freestyle has brought Jenny Lefcourt into its ranks as its third partner.

By: Unknown On 23:24

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Alibaba Signs Distribution Deal With BMG, Its First Music Partner Outside Of Asia

Welcome Matthew Lynley, Nicole Wilke, Andrew Sweeney And New TCTV Director Sarah LaneIn a bid to increase its online entertainment offerings, Alibaba has struck an agreement with music publisher BMG, which gives it access to over 2.5 million tracks. The partnership is notable because it represents the first time Alibaba’s digital entertainment unit has signed with a music partner outside of Asia.
The business already has agreements with Taiwanese music companies Rock Records and HIM International Music.
The deal gives Alibaba access to BMG’s catalog, which includes tracks from Bruno Mars, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and Kylie Minogue. Music will be made available to consumers through streaming apps Xiami and TTPod, both of which are operated by Alibaba’s digital entertainment business.
It’s important to remember that Alibaba is more than just an e-commerce company. It is also one of China’s biggest mobile Internet players, competing head-to-head with Tencent, which has already struck similar arrangements with Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
Alibaba’s growth plans include selling other online services to the huge user base it has grown by operating China’s top e-commerce platforms and online payment service Alipay.
In addition to online entertainment, the company and its subsidiaries also has aspirations in healthcare management, cloud computing, and financial services like a credit scoring system that uses data from Alibaba’s family of e-commerce platforms.
Streaming music is a potential growth market for Chinese Internet companies, but only if they succeed in dealing with piracy. According to the Financial Times, China accounted for less than one percent of the $15 billion in global revenues made in 2013 by record companies, in part because pirated tracks are easy to obtain.
The government, however, has begun to crackdown on copyright infringement, and deals like the ones Alibaba and Tencent have struck with BMG, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment give music publishers more power over their IP in China.
In a statement, Alibaba said “the agreement will not only significantly boost earnings by BMG artists and writers from the world’s most populous nation, but also give them a powerful ally in hleping grow the legitimate music market in China.”
This means that Alibaba will help BMG keep an eye on pirated music and work with them to take legal action against services that are using tracks that violate BMG’s copyright.

By: Unknown On 04:20

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HTC And Valve Partner To Make A VR Gaming Headset Called Vive

The Huawei Watch Brings Serious Style To Android WearHTC has just dropped another tidbit of news here in Barcelona, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress trade show. Namely that it’s gearing up to compete in the gaming wearable space, announcing a partnership with games publisher Valve to bring a virtual reality headset to market, called the HTC Vive — to compete with the likes of the Oculus Rift.
HTC said a consumer version of the Vive will be coming before the end of this year, with a dev edition landing this spring.
“In recent years we have seen the first forays into creating [virtual reality] experience. But no one has defined the ideal experience. Today we are ready to take you into that world — fully immersed. We will bring you a virtual reality experience no one has seen before, with a ground breaking partner – Valve,” said HTC CEO Peter Chou announcing the Vive on stage.
“We believe virtual reality will totally transform the way we interact with the world. It will become a mainstream experience for general consumers. The possibilities are limitless.”
The Vive will offer a “room-scale” VR experience, delivered via “over 70 sensors to provide full 360 room-scale tracking”. The refresh rate will be 90 Hertz — for what HTC said will be a “new benchmark for performance and comfort.” A.k.a. it won’t make you feel nauseous.
Wearers of the headset will be able to “explore objects from all angles looking up and down,” according to HTC — and “won’t just be able to look around but move around and interact much as you do in the real world,” using it in conjunction with a series of wireless controllers. The headset itself is described as lightweight to aid comfort.
Chou suggested the Vive will enable multiple types of VR experiences — such as viewing scenery, attending real-time concerts, watching films, 3D chat and even shopping.
Valve is a high-profile partnership win for HTC, given the brand’s cachet in the gaming space. The former had already been sniffing around VR, showing off a proof of concept headset last summer. It’s also been working on making a touchpad controller for its Steam platform — albeit that’s been long-delayed. Valve’s original announcement for the Steam controller was in fall 2013 but in May last year it said the release was delayed till 2015. Those delays may explain why it’s keen to partner with a seasoned hardware maker for a VR headset.
As well as working with Valve and its Steam platform, HTC also name-checked some initial content partners for the Vive — including HBO, Lionsgate Entertainment, Google and Taiwan’s National Palace Museum
“Working with these partners to deliver the world’s greatest VR experiences,” it said.
HTC will also be building tools to lets consumers create their own VR experiences using its forthcoming headset. It’s launched a website, HTCVR.com, where it said it will be sharing more details about the Vive.

Does the world need another face computer? HTC and Valve reckon so, albeit one that’s specifically targeted at gamers instead of — as in the spectacularly unfocused (puns intended) case of Google Glass — attempting to persuade general consumers that a pair of weird looking glasses with a camera on will bring benefits to their lives.
Where Glass’ hybrid hardware just makes normal people uneasy, the HTC-Valve love-in is taking inspiration from the (now Facebook-owned) Oculus Rift playbook of virtual reality headset reboots. Microsoft also recently outed an augmented reality headset it’s developing, called HoloLens — also intended for indoor and (mostly) gaming/entertainment-based usage.
Bottom line: alienating your immediate family with a weird looking face computer is borderline acceptable, especially if you’re doing it in your bedroom where your nearest and dearest are used to seeing you noodle around with gadgets.
Sony also recently tipped its hand on a pair of smart spec it’s building. Those SmartEyeGlass specs are closer in design to Google Glass than the gaming VR headsets we’re seeing line up elsewhere, although they do superimpose information right over the user’s entire field of vision.

By: Unknown On 14:09

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