Want an ebook reader in the states? You have two choices: the Kindle or the Nook. That’s about it. Either other manufacturers are pulling out of the US market or they’re avoiding it altogether. Samsung introduced its ebook reader with much fanfare at CES 2010, but now it’s not going to be released here. This isn’t exactly a bad thing as both the Kindle and Nook are well-polished devices and are about as g...

Back in February 2009, we wrote about the relaunch of Virb, a social network owned by MediaTemple’s venture platform (mt) Ventures. Instead of trying to take on goliaths like Facebook, the site hoped to offer users a complimentary social network, with features like an activity aggregator (think FriendFeed), theming, and skinning. Unfortunately, it didn’t gain much traction, so today the site is morphing...

I had a theory about today’s Apple iPhone 4 Press Extravaganza. Apple was just too eager to get all the press that cares about Apple stuff into one room at the same time on one day’s notice. They were either going to (1) get Steve Jobs to hypnotize everyone with a reality distortion field “there is no problem” and have them walk out dazed and confused but with vague warm feelings towards...

Online grading platform LearnBoost has raised $975,000 in seed funding from an impressive roster of venture capital firms and angel investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, RRE Ventures, Atlas Ventures, Othman Laraki, Bill Lee, James Hong, Naval Ravikant and Karl Jacob. LearnBoost offers teachers an easy-to-use, web-based gradebook. The startup’s software allows for real time...

SecondMarket, a trading platform for private company stocks, has just released it’s Q2 2010 report. Overall transactions were down from Q1 – around $51 million in transactions were completed, less than the $70 million traded in March alone at the end of Q1. Volume may be down, but prices are still going up. Facebook is now being offered at $65/share, and there are bids as high as $60. In April the price...