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Favstar founder launches Respondly to help companies use Twitter as a service desk

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider, Product Launches

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Today, the founder of Favstar has taken the wraps off a new service: Respondly, a team support inbox for Twitter. Twitter has become one of the easiest ways to engage with and get support from many companies. The likes of Xbox and Target offer support on the service, alongside trying to engage with users on a more personal level. If you’ve ever been at the helm of a relatively large corporate Twitter account, you can likely relate to this problem. It can be hard to keep up with the amount of mentions you receive, especially considering just how quickly the stream can flow,…

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Neil Young’s PonoPlayer shatters $800,000 Kickstarter goal, raises $6.2m

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider, Product Updates

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Musician Neil Young has shattered his $800,000 Kickstarter goal set up to fund production of a new portable music player called the Pono. Running for the last month, the campaign has managed to raise many multiples of its goal and ended at an impressive at $6.22 million. The result is that the first units will start shipping out for delivery starting in October this year, depending on the level of pledge – some won’t be sent out until December. Young started the campaign to “revive the magic that has been squeezed out of digital music”, and it clearly resonated with the more than…

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12 gadgets we’d love to see a startup re-engineer

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Posted In: Analysis and Opinion, Around the Web, Design & Dev, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Roundups, startup, YEC, yec.co, Young Entrepreneur Council

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Smartphones? Can’t live without them. 3D printers? Why not. When it comes to bringing the extraordinary into homes and workplaces, ideas are never in short supply. Even still, it’s amazing how many devices we rely on daily that seem like they are stuck in decades past. With that in mind, I asked a panel of 12 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question: What is one everyday device or gadget you’d love to see totally re-engineered by a startup and why? Their top picks are below. 1. Sunglasses I’d love to find a startup that creates form-fitting glasses that are affordable…

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BitTorrent brings file synchronizing service Sync to NAS devices, starting with Netgear partnership

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 5:01 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider, Mobile

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BitTorrent today announced its Sync file synchronization tool has gained support for network-attached storage (NAS) devices. The company has partnered with Netgear, which will offer BitTorrent Sync in its storefront, and says additional partners “will be announced soon.” The move means users will be able to access and transfer their data from a NAS device to a desktop, mobile, or other NAS device, without limits or storage fees. As BitTorrent explains it, Sync eliminates the process of having to open ports on your router, set up a VPN, choose security settings, and create user names/passwords. The company promises that Sync…

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EU Commission VP Neelie Kroes is “outraged” by Uber ban in Belgium [Update]

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Posted In: Around the Web

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Neelie Kroes, vice-president for the European Commission, has struck out against a court order banning Uber’s ride-sharing service UberPOP  in Belgium. Update: Uber’s statement added below. The ruling means that Uber will be fined 10,000 euros for each violation. Kroes said she was “outraged” by the decision and said it was designed to protect a “taxi cartel”, rather than the best interests of passengers in the region. “Slamming the door in Uber’s face doesn’t solve anything,” she added. Up until now, Uber has been running a ride-sharing service under the brand name UberPOP. It debuted in Belgium only a couple of…

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