Archive for startup

Tech Company Extends Job Offer to Recent Grad Via Instagram

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It's a common practice for job applicants to use social media to stand out to employers. We've seen the Vine resume, the Kickstarter one and enough infographics to make you cry. But how often do you see a company get creative when making an offer?

Tech marketing firm ePrize posted a picture to Instagram this week asking its former marketing intern Samantha Bankey, who graduated from Ferris State University in Michigan last weekend, to join the company

"We used Instagram because Samantha is highly engaged on this platform, and we've watched her work progress over her senior year in college through her photos," said Janice Pollard, digital marketing and public relations leader for ePrize."She follows ePrize on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, as well as some of our personal accounts. We cross-pollinated the job proposal photo across all of our social channels as well." Read more...

More about Startup, Instagram, Business, Marketing, and Startups

This Brainy Desk Lamp Has a Personality

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These days, even lamps in your house can be programmed via Arduino.

A Canadian design company called Fabule has developed Clyde, an LED desk lamp that can be programmed with personality modules in its "brain." It's compatible with Arduino, an open-source electronics program.

For example, when Clyde is in "afraid of the dark" mode, he can light up depending on how dark a room is. In "touchy feely" mode, Clyde cycles through different light colors when you touch his jellyfish-like legs. Inside his head, there are sensors that make it all work.

The personified LED lamp emits soft, ambient lighting, and you turn it on and off by touching Clyde's squishy silicone "eye." Read more...

More about Startup, Lights, Arduino, Kickstarter, and Led Light

Turn Your Knowledge of Startups Into a Columnist Gig at Inc.com

Just like its print counterpart, the Web incarnation of Inc hopes to provide the startup world with useful advice. “It’s a resource for business owners, fast-growing companies, entrepreneurs and people with an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Nicole Richardson, the site’s executive editor of special projects. Despite their similar missions, however, Inc.com’s content is decidedly more Web-friendly with short, service pieces.

Anyone with expertise related to entrepreneurism or business management may be able to land a gig as an Inc.com columnist.  Get more details, plus contact info for editors accepting pitches in How To Pitch: Inc.com.

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The Marketing Toolkit for Startups On a Budget

Running marketing for a startup comes with its own unique challenges, not the least of which is maintaining a tight budget while attempting to drive a daily influx of new leads. Even fully-funded startups would be wise not to invest too much in an expensive, agency-designed website or a powerful marketing automation solution.

Google Opens New Start-up Community Center in Israel

Google has opened a new community center in Israel where entrepreneurs and developers can meet to work on new projects. The Campus is located in the heart of the entrepreneurial community in downtown Tel Aviv.

Here’s a summary of what’s inside:

We offer a space for developers and entrepreneurs to attend and organize events with speakers, mentors and other entrepreneurs; a “hack space” and device library to develop and test new ideas; and “launchpad”, a two-week boot camp for early stage start-ups helping with subjects including user interface, product strategy & technology, marketing, business development and more.

Tel Aviv is the largest center of tech start-ups outside of Silicon Valley. The internet makes of 6.4 percent of Israel’s gross domestic product, which has earned the country the moniker “startup-nation.”

Notable companies that have come out of the greater Tel Aviv area include Wibiya, which was acquired by Conduit in 2011; and Kenshoo, which provides marketing software for Facebook and recently raised $12 million in funding.

Wrote Google’s Amir Shevat in a blog post, “In 1998, when Larry and Sergey founded Google, we were a start-up in a garage. In many ways, we remain a start-up at heart, and we’re committed to helping new entrepreneurs and developers around the world succeed. We hope that Campus Tel Aviv will contribute to future Israeli tech innovation and, in doing so, make the web and the mobile space better.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Discover The Best Local News Videos From Your Hometown With Glocal

Today a new online video startup, Glocal, has come out of beta with a mission to become the go-to site for local video online.  Glocal aims to make it easy for you to “find, watch, and share what’s important in your community.”
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Elevator Pitch: TwoChop Makes Web Content Into a Game

In this episode of Elevator Pitch, host Alan Meckler meets with TwoChop founder Mo Lam and AppAddictive CEO Mike Onghai about their gamification venture, Two Chop. If you run a blog or other content-oriented website containing text, music or images, TwoChop can take that content and turn it into a game.

For more videos, check out Mediabistro.tv, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Kukoo Seeks to Make Email Less Distracting

Super Mega Hyper, a Belgian startup, is trying to save email from the encroachment of instant messaging. On Wednesday, it launched Kukoo temporary inbox — basically a holding pen where email that users designate as non-urgent waits before being delivered on a schedule that users also determine. The idea is that the user can then continue to watch his or her email account vigilantly throughout the day without being distracted by non-essential matters, such as newsletters.

Many workplaces are moving basic work communications onto instant messaging clients, making email redundant. Kukoo lets users keep the priority delivery system IM offers without leaving email. The service offers free and premium plans.

Users can also set the inbox to send an auto-reply messaging informing the sender when his or her message will be read. Wouldn’t you love to try that one out on your mom or your boss?

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Video-Sharing Startup Vine Acquired By Twitter

Twitter appears to be gearing up for its video-hosting service with the acquisition of a New York-based video-sharing site called Vine, according to a report by AllThingsD.

The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

According to the site’s homepage, “Vine is the best way to capture and share video on your iPhone. No editing. No rendering. No post-production. Video has never been this fun.”

The company’s founders include Jetsetter alumni Dominik Hofmann and Colin Kroll. The Next Web speculates that Twitter is more interested in the talent than the product, as the site is still in private beta.

Hofmann has posted a sample video shot with Vine on his Twitter feed. It looks nothing like a YouTube video. The link leads to a brief clip with no controls that replays on a loop, like an animated GIF. Aside from retweeting the link, there are no options to download, embed or share the video on other sites.

This would, at least, provide another media option that’s native to Twitter, which is something that the company has been doing a lot of lately.  In June, Twitter rolled out expanded tweets that show images, headlines, and summaries of news stories without leaving Twitter’s homepage. In August, Twitter removed the “via” stamp that shows which services people use to send their tweets.

AllThingsD’s sources say that Twitter wants to be rid of third-party hosting sites like Twitpic, Twitvid, and yFrog that cause “logistical headaches” and focus instead on “enhancing the company’s existing advertising products, namely the promoted suite.”

 

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Pitch Yourself as an Expert on Startups for VentureBeat

Are you tech-startup-savvy? Well, if you can also crank out breaking news about the biz quickly, VentureBeat might like to assign you stories. And, lucky for you, many freelancers become regular contributors after showing their skills.

“We don’t want to keep people in freelancer limbo for too long,” said national editor Devindra Hardawar. “We like to take care of our writers.”

The site currently syndicates content to Reuters, The Christian Science Monitor and Business Insider, among others. It also gives some pretty generous traffic bonuses. So, if you’re interested in seeing your byline land on the site, check out some more tips from Mediabistro’s How To Pitch: VentureBeat. [AvantGuild subscription required]

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.