Mike Isaac

News Byte

CashStar Raises $5 Million in Venture Funding

Mike Isaac in Commerce on July 11 at 6:00 am PT

Digital gifting platform CashStar announced Wednesday it raised $5 million in venture capital, the company’s fourth round of fundraising since its founding in 2007. The round includes investment from Intel Capital, FTV Capital, Passport Capital, as well as CashStar co-founder Steven Boal. Including Wednesday’s announcement, the company has raised upward of $26 million in funds to date.

News Byte

Google+ Debuts iPad App

Mike Isaac in Social on July 10 at 11:06 am PT

Google launched its iPad-optimized Google+ app in Apple’s App Store on Tuesday morning, joining the recently debuted Android app for tablets. Along with pinch-to-zoom and touch-enabled sharing, the most impressive feature includes the ability to host video chat Hangouts from your iPad, which you can then stream to your TV using Apple AirPlay. Also updated: iPhone users can now manage Google’s new Events feature from their iOS devices.

News Byte

Google Launches +1 Recommendations Web-Wide

Mike Isaac in Social on July 9 at 1:09 pm PT

Google on Monday launched a recommendations system for Web sites that have integrated the company’s +1 button, aiming to increase traffic through in-site recommendations, while giving third parties more incentive to install Google’s button. Now when users hover over a +1 button on a site, a drop-down menu will appear, suggesting other pages of interest on the same site.

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Twitter Updates Its Search Functions

Mike Isaac in Social on July 6 at 1:46 pm PT

Twitter introduced a host of minor improvements to the site’s search mechanism on Friday, including items such as autocomplete, suggested spelling recommendations and a third separate search results section based on tweets from “people you follow.” The updates will roll out to Twitter.com users over the coming weeks; Android and iOS devices will receive some — but not all — of these improvements as well.

News Byte

Facebook Invests in Asian Fiber-Optic Cable Network

Mike Isaac in Social on July 6 at 10:26 am PT

In an attempt to further support one of the company’s fastest growing overseas markets, Facebook has invested an undisclosed sum of money in Asia Pacific Gateway, an underwater cable network delivering Internet to many Southeast Asian countries. Facebook’s investment is part of a $450 million pooled investment among a consortium of firms, aimed at increasing Internet delivery speeds while taking some of the burden off Singapore, which now acts as the main hub of Web traffic.