Responding to the popularity of apps, Amazon announced today that developers will be able to make content for the Kindle eBook reader. The new development kit has everything that software developers need to self-publish their own “active content,” or apps, on Amazon’s Kindle Store. The apps will go live later this year. In the past two years, authors and publishers have been able to directly upload and sell content in the Kindle Store using the self-service platform. The kit has programming interfaces, tools and documentation to build apps on the Kindle, which has been a hit in [...]

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YouTube has a ton of music videos. But today, an alert reader, Ron Ilan, spotted something new: the YouTube Music Discovery Project. It was launched quietly today via TestTube, the test labs at Google’s YouTube division. You type in the name of an artist or group in a search box. Then you hit the “Disco” button to find music. A playlist will appear as the search result. I typed in “Plain White T’s” and the band’s hit song/video Hey There Delilah started playing. You can also see a description of the band. You can find artists who are related to the one [...]

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By the time you read this, over $24 million in donations will have been collected via premium text messaging for the Red Cross’ relief efforts to aid those impacted by the horrific tragedy of the earthquakes in Haiti. To be sure, this is a credit to the generosity of the American people and to the need, which remains great. It also marks a watershed moment for mobile giving. There were milestones, however, along the way. Crises drive inspiration, invention, and adoption. In December 2004, back when I was working for Verizon Wireless, a team of which I was a member determined donation via text [...]

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The Founder Institute, the entrepreneur training program that grew out from venture capitalist review site TheFunded, is taking its first steps outside the United States with the launch of four new locations. The institute started in Silicon Valley, and has since added classes in San Diego, Washington, DC, Seattle, and New York. And now it’s announcing classes in Singapore, Paris, Los Angeles, and Denver. That brings the total up to nine cities, and that’s less than a year after the institute started its first class in April 2009. Chief executive Adeo Ressi said that with the new [...]

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Since 1990, FloDesign has been making aerospace and jet propulsion equipment. It is now bringing this experience to the design and manufacture of wind turbines under the banner of FloDesign Wind Turbine, and has raised $34.5 million (PDF) to do make its novel idea a reality. The news is significant for two reasons. First, it has recruited a top-tier crop of investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (going in for a second round), Goldman Sachs and VantagePoint Venture Partners, as well as Technology Partners. These guys don’t invest in just anyone, and are making ever more [...]

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Companies like Google and Mozilla have been talking up HTML5, the latest version of basic markup language for websites, for a while now. HTML5 is supposed to enable more powerful web applications that don’t require users to download any software, but it’s still in the very early stages of adoption (in part because it’s still being finalized). Today, Google-owned YouTube made the first step in what could be a very significant move for HTML5, by announcing a test version of an HTML5 video player. Adobe’s Flash format is currently powering 75 percent of web video, Adobe says, [...]

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The Mobile Premier Awards, perhaps the most prestigious startup competition in the mobile business, has named 48 companies to participate in its semi-final round. They were each nominated by their local MobileMonday chapters (groups that meet on a monthly basis around the world to talk about the hottest topics and issues in the industry). An international jury will select 20 finalists from this list that will each get a chance to pitch their company at the Mobile Premier Awards ceremony on Feb. 15 in Barcelona. The event will take place during the Mobile World Congress. Here is the list of nominees: Austria [...]

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I don’t spend much time looking at the advertising in Gmail, but when I do, it’s usually for laughs. For example, I just sent myself a test email about my trip to New York City next month, which Google used as an excuse to show me ads about NYC cruises (no thanks, but I can see why I’m getting that ad), NYC restaurant week (now we’re talking), and … ROR/LAMP enthusiasts. Um,what? Now, I’m not going to pretend Gmail whiffs so hilariously all that often, but it’s not rare experience either. I see plenty of jokes over email and Twitter from friends who spot [...]

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The idea of orbiting solar arrays beaming power to Earth has been around since 1968. In 1971, Peter Glaser patented a microwave-based power transmission technology. Since then, most of the research has centered around that same problem of wireless transmission. Initial costs associated with launching solar arrays into orbit have also been problematic, to say the least. Now, in early 2010, the European space company Astrium is looking for a partner to get a demonstration project off the ground. The advantages of space-based solar over terrestrial solar are numerous and large. Earth based solar [...]

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Programming Luddites may have less to fear in the future. A new MIT project called Sikuli allows people to program using screenshots in lieu of written code. Basically, it lets you reference user interface elements like a Microsoft Word icon, Trash Can or search bar with pictures of the button or icon instead of script. (If you look at the picture to the right, you’ll see functions referencing icons and screenshots of buttons instead of text. It’s best explained in the video below.) The idea is to make it dead-simple for casual computer users to write their own programs without having [...]

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