DoubleClick challenger OpenX raises $20M from SAP

OpenX, an online advertising company whose customers include deals service Groupon and news site Business Insider, just announced that it has raised $20 million in a fourth round of funding.

The Los Angeles-based company bills itself as an open source alternative to ad serving products like Google-owned DoubleClick. In February, it launched its latest product, OpenX Enterprise, which includes both an ad server and an ad exchange. At the time, chief revenue officer Jason Fairchild described OpenX Enterprise as the company’s first product to really beat the competition on technology, not just price, for example by giving advertisers a more holistic view of their ad inventory.

OpenX says that revenue has grown nearly 600 percent in the past year, and it notes that it’s growing internationally thanks to partnerships with Dentsu-cci in Japan and Orange-France Telecom in Europe.

The company has now raised more than $50 million. The new round was led by SAP Ventures. Other new investors include AOL Ventures, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment, and the Sumitomo Corporation’s investment vehicle Presidio Ventures. Past investors Accel Partners and Index Ventures also participated.

In a press release, chief executive Tim Cadogan said:

Having new investors representing one of the world?s largest enterprise companies (SAP), one of the world’s largest internet pure-plays (AOL) and two of the most important global Asian trading firms (Mitsui and Sumitomo) all coming together to invest in the global technology platform company we are creating is — we believe — a compelling and powerful mix.

Tags: ad exchanges, ad servers

Companies: Accel Partners, AOL Ventures, Index Ventures, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment, Openx, Presidio Ventures, SAP Ventures, Sumitomo Corporation

People: Tim Cadogan

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/yirBZJHVJeI/

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Photos Are Great, But Will They Help Twitter Make Money?

Twitter is expected to offer a photo-sharing feature soon, something that seems so obvious it should have been added a long time ago. While this will spark renewed concerns about Twitter bulldozing its ecosystem, the big question is whether it will help Twitter monetize its network.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/PGcTFp1bGCo/

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Serious Delinquency Rates decline

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CalculatedRisk/~3/VilnsFgIgYE/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-serious.html

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Just imagine how much you'd get done

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Paul Luna on the Appalling State of E-Book Typography

Source: http://www.lunascafe.org/2011/04/typography-is-about-reading-and-so-are.html

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Viral Videos vs. Super Bowl Commercials

For 45 years, big name brands have budgeted big bucks to run their ads during the Super Bowl. This costly campaign allows a brand to advertise their product to an extremely large audience during a time when consumers are just as interested in... Read more

Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/viral-videos-vs-super-bowl-commercials/

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All economics is local

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/7ORPjQB8uaE/all-economics-is-local.html

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The privilege of being wrong

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WebSockets Return to Firefox 6

The latest pre-release of Firefox 6, Aurora 6, brings back support for WebSockets. WebSockets is a protocol for providing two-way communications between the browser and the server. Mozilla dropped support for WebSockets last year due to security issues.

Other notable features in Aurora 6 include the progress element, window.matchMedia API, better APIs for binary data and Server-Sent Events. You can download it here.

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A look at the progress element element.

Here's a quick overview:

• Progress element: As seen above, this element can be used for displaying progress bars.
• matchMedia: The JavaScript equivalent of CSS Media Queries.
• Server Sent Events: A way for a server side script to generate client side events which include data.

There are several other changes. You can find more information about the new features on the Mozilla blog. Some information about user interface changes can be found here.

Instead of bringing WebSockets into the mainstream browser, Microsoft offers plugins for developers who want to test unfinished specs.

Discuss

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/ONgUdwvWiLQ/websockets-return-to-firefox-6.php

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Underextended

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Weekend Favs May Twenty One

Weekend Favs May Twenty One

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs May Twenty OneThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ducttapemarketing/nRUD/~3/Bmef1OI4Ghc/

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In Legal Battle With Google, PayPal Faces Uphill Battle in California

Here's a phrase PayPal might want to keep in mind as it wages a civil battle against two former executives who defected to Google. Location, location, location. When it comes to employment breach of contract and trade-secret cases, California is a hard state to win in.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/OLkybrMTQZI/

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Velocity grows with more tracks, more topics and ... bath products?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/oreilly/radar/atom/~3/CGQXc5rbkp4/velocity-2011-mobile-performance-bath-soap.html

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Amazon Tries Lady Gaga at $.99 Again

Source: http://www.9to5mac.com/69448/amazon-tries-lady-gaga-at-99-again/

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How else are you supposed to take it?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/SnfLFEC4HEo/how-else-are-you-supposed-to-take-it.html

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2011 College Graduates: Are you Ready for Life?

The 2011 graduates have just walked the stage and are preparing themselves for the great adventure to follow. Mixed emotions are flooding through them; "Am I ready? Will I find a job related to my degree?" There are many paths a graduate can... Read more

Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/2011-college-graduates-are-you-ready-for-life/

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Part book, part film, part website

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Twitter Buys TweetDeck

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20110525/exclusive-qa-tweetdeck-ceo-iain-dodsworth-on-his-sale-to-twitter/

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LPS: Mortgage Delinquency Rates increased slightly in April, Foreclosure pipeline "Bloated"

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CalculatedRisk/~3/ExUp7e2ovEs/lps-mortgage-delinquency-rates.html

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Hacker Poll: Do You Use Any of the APIs Google is Shutting Down?

As we reported earlier this week, several Google APIs are being deprecated or shut-down, including the Translate API, Code Search API, and Google Wave API.

Do you use any of these APIs? Have you found alternatives yet?

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Discuss

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/QMuccRa9rF8/hacker-poll-google-apis.php

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ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, May 28 2011

We're always on the lookout for upcoming Web tech events from around world. Know of something taking place that should appear here? Want to get your event included in the calendar? Let us know in the comments below or email us.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/ylrzyGmp3XU/readwriteweb_events_guide_may_28_2011.php

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Top 8 ways to annoy a tech blogger

You may think that a tech blogger’s life is a glamorous whirl of free lunches, great gadgets and being bought drinks at conferences. If so then you are probably following the wrong bloggers. In fact, it’s more like a long round of typing, getting annoyed with PRs and founders and then some more (louder) typing.

The methods of annoying a tech blogger are myriad.�So following the phenomenal success of “How to pitch to tech journalists“, we at VentureBeat have decided to enlighten the world on some of the most infuriating.

1. Having no respect for my time

One of the few sane things I have seen�Chris Sacca say (admittedly I only saw him speak once and that was in Amsterdam) is that email is a task list created for you by someone else. Of no one is this more true than the tech blogger. I am not an extension of �your marketing team so don’t treat me like I am.

When pitching, be succinct. Do not make me drag the story out of you, only to discover that there is no story. Do not corner me at an event and spend an hour trying to bludgeon me into writing about your company.

Be aware that a story on an established company is much more likely to get page views than one about an unknown startup. So it’s a bigger investment for a blogger to write about you at an early stage. Be gracious in return.

2. Taking constructive criticism as an insult

If I don’t write about your company but give some feedback on the product or pitch, don’t get angry. Tech bloggers can be shorted-sighted,�prejudiced�or just plain wrong, but we do hear a lot of pitches and may have something useful to tell you.

If I have replied to the pitch or given feedback on the demo without doing an article, that’s an investment of my time for which I have received nothing in return. I recently explained to one founder why I wasn’t going to write about his company and suggested some alternative outlets. Instead of getting offended he said “Thanks for the tips and for reminding me what being a real journalist means.” Now that’s stylish.

3. Claiming to “love my work”

This is often followed by a pitch for a story that is nowhere near the topics I normally cover. Don’t claim to know my work unless you do. You don’t have to be a fan to convince me to write about you (although obviously it helps). Bloggers want interesting stories. All you have to do is be interesting, and preferably nice too.

4. Lying, including lying by omission

Do not tell me that this is an exclusive when it isn’t or neglect to mention that three other rival publications have already covered the story. Don’t inflate the number of users, employees or customers. Don’t make claims that are just not true. If we publish these “facts” we end up looking stupid and will never write about your company again.

Similarly, do not send corrections to your basic PR info after the story has been published. You should get it right before you send it.

5. Pitching over the phone

Most bloggers have a preferred method of contact. Here at VentureBeat, it’s email to tips@venturebeat.com. Don’t over-rule that and contact us via phone, Skype or by throwing stones at our window. Pitching over the phone is particularly annoying because we then have to take notes and later turn them into something legible.

6. Mailing me the same story 5 times

It’s perfectly acceptable to resend a pitch email. It might have been a busy news day. We might have had a day off. But sending the same story more than twice, in the hope that we will miraculously see the light, is just plain annoying. Don’t do it.

7. Mis-managing embargos

Don’t set an embargo time and then change it. There is always some�idiot who won’t get the message and will publish at the original time. Pick a time and stick to it.

Also do not hold everyone to an embargo except for one publication. That’s like promising everyone a slice of cake and then giving the whole cake to someone else.

8. Sending out an unannounced news release on�Sunday night

Because we don’t spend all our time typing.

Tags: bloggers, pitch, tech press

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/f4k3fwVagfk/

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Hacking for Egypt

Egypt's January revolution was not caused by tech but tech played a role, as a cursory glance at ReadWriteWeb's stories on the country show. Internally and externally, geeks came to the fore. Now that the country has rid itself of its former rulers, there is still a lot of work to do.

On May 14, a group of 75 Silicon Valley technologists, computer science students and others met at Stanford for a Cloud to Street hackathon designed to create tools Egyptian activists have requested.

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According to the post on Stanford's d.school blog, participants "included computer programmers, web designers and social scientists both from Stanford and Silicon Valley, as well as a number of Egyptian activists that joined in via videoconference" and two who attended in person.

This hackathon resulted in three workable prototypes.

"In addition to the constitutional crowdsourcing platform, the Hackathon produced a web platform to allow interested citizens to train themselves to monitor the September 2011 Parliamentary elections. The third was an interactive tool to inform Egyptian citizens about candidates for that election, and once they are elected, to inform Parliamentarians of their concerns and rate them on their efforts to delivers."

One of the attending activists, Ahmed Salah, reminded participants that the two qualities any successful tool created for democracy activists in Egypt need to be have are, they must be "free (since most activists are unemployed) and they need to be secure (to prevent people like him from being thrown in prison)."

According to We are all Khaled Said, Cloud to Street hopes to organize a second hackathon in the coming month, this one to be held in Cairo.

Discuss

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/CJ6IZ1-mZow/hacking_for_egypt.php

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