Cutting Edge

PARIS -- In an attempt to bridge from individual users to corporate accounts, Evernote has launched version of its cloud-based document repository for business customers.

Evernote Business costs $10 per employee per month, CEO Phil Libin said at the LeWeb show here. It combines features of Evernote's premium personal accounts with central services business customers might need, such as the ability to share documents with all employees.

Evernote lets people store and edit documents with a wide range of media types -- audio, Web pages, photos, and of course text -- and synchronize it with the cloud, personal computers, … Read more

PARIS -- The developers of the tremendously successful game Cut the Rope announced a new game today called Pudding Monsters.

In the game, the player must stick together wobbly single-eyed blobs of pudding into larger puddings, said Chief Executive Misha Lyalin. "They want to find the evil, bad man who steals their friends," plucking puddings out of the refrigerator as he walks by, he said.

He didn't announce a launch date for the game or even show how it works. But he promised that it will be slicker than Cut the Rope.

"Pudding Monsters is more … Read more

Qualcomm today announced that it has expanded an agreement between a subsidiary and Sharp and taken an equity stake in the ailing electronics maker.

Sharp and Qualcomm subsidiary Pixtronix already have a display technology agreement between them, according to Qualcomm. This new deal extends that partnership. The agreement centers on displays using Sharp's IGZO technology, which is widely considered one of the best options for visual quality in the industry.

As part of the agreement, Qualcomm has dropped some cash in Sharp, earning it a minority stake in the company.

Sharp saw its sales drop 16 percent year-over-year to … Read more

PARIS -- SmartThings, a startup that wants to bring remote control to everything from lights to liquor cabinets via the Internet, announced it's raised $3 million in first-round funding.

At the LeWeb conference here, SmartThings founder and Chief Technology Officer Jeff Hagins said investors included First Round Capital, which led the round, along with SVangel, Lerer Ventures, A-Grade Investments, CrunchFund, Start Fund, Max Levchin, David Tisch, and LeWeb founder Loic Le Meur. The company already raised pledges of $1.2 million through its Kickstarter project.

"The entire world is becoming programmable," Hagins said, and consequently, events in … Read more

Software startup Entangled Media today released a new app, Younity, that lets iPhone users access all their files from any device without storing files in the cloud. It's like iCloud, which syncs all your Apple devices so you can access the files from any device, but without the syncing or the cloud.

Younity allows devices to communicate with other devices -- both desktop and mobile -- to access files and stream music or videos.

"What we provide is glue," said Entangle Media CEO Erick Caso.

That would be the virtual glue that sticks all your devices together. … Read more

PARIS -- SoundCloud, a site for sharing songs and audio clips online, launched a redesign that lets people discover new audio, spotlights what's going on with an "activity" stream, and links users' activity with social networks.

The new SoundCloud version has been in closed testing but now is available for all users, said company founder and Chief Executive Alexander Ljung in a speech here at the LeWeb conference.

A new discovery section will help people find new material, he said. It's one reason users of the new site are 30 percent more active on the site … Read more

PARIS -- Startup Interaxon today announced it'll ship a $199 headset called the Muse next spring that will let people use their brainwaves to directly control videogames and other computing operations.

Interaxon Chief Executive Ariel Garten announced the Muse at the LeWeb conference here, and she showed off one application she thinks direct brainwave input will help people: infusing e-mails with emotion.

"This is the first though-controlled device that's stylish and easy to wear," Garten said of the Muse.

Using LeWeb founder Loic Le Meur as a guinea pig, she showed an application she called Emotype … Read more

PARIS -- It will take 10 years before the "Internet of things" catches on widely, said Nest Labs Chief Executive Tony Fadell, whose smart-thermostat startup embodies the technology.

"People think there's this Internet of all kinds of crazy devices that are going to talk to each other. It's going to take some time," Fadell said at the LeWeb show here. "Give it five or eight years and then you'll see machines talking to machines. Then it'll be commonplace in 10 years or so."

The Internet of things is the idea … Read more

An environmental science Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto is using the same transfer paper currently affixing temporary tattoos to kids -- in conjunction with a common screen-printing technique -- to develop a medical sensor that keeps tabs on a person's exertion by monitoring the skin's pH levels.

Similar devices, which are called ion-selective electrodes (ISEs), are already common among athletic trainers and medical researchers to help spot fatigue, dehydration, or even metabolic diseases. But they tend to be bulky and don't stick well to sweaty skin.

The new sensor stays put and doesn't … Read more