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Software is eating the world, storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently wrote — and from his perspective, it certainly looks like it. But that’s only part of the picture. It’s true that the fastest-growing companies in a variety of markets are driven by their deep understanding of software

Apple fans who expected an iPhone 5 today were disappointed. Instead, all Apple unveiled was a phone that’s 2 times faster, with 7 times faster graphics rendering. It’s got a battery that’s good for a full day of talking, almost, and more than 3 solid days of listening to music. The camera is substa

The arrival of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, a $199 tablet, in a market dominated by $500 models looks like an obvious case of price disruption. Not so fast, says Horace Dediu, an analyst at Asymco: Amazon’s margins are too thin to allow it to compete on the tablet’s core technology. It’s an interesting cou

A small Detroit-based company has plans to reinvent the way restaurants, cafes and stores take money from customers. Own is aiming to make a point-of-sale (POS) system that doesn’t just reinvent the cash register, it turns it into a node on a web-connected information system. Its solution combines t

Amazon’s announcement of the Kindle Fire today threw down the gauntlet for both tablets and e-book readers. At just $199, it’s not much more expensive than previous e-readers, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than competing tablets. In fact, you might be asking yourself: Why would I want a drab, mon

Each week, I’m writing a column on business and technology called Dylan’s Desk. Subscribe here, and you can read my columns a whole day before they appear on the VentureBeat website. —– Like a backroom brawler, Apple’s iPad has taken on one tablet challenger after another, and kicked the ass of ever

Entrepreneur and hacker Nik Cubrilovic reports that Facebook can track the web pages you visit even when you are logged out of Facebook. According to Cubrilovic’s tests, Facebook merely alters its tracking cookies when you log out, rather than deleting them. Your account information and other unique

With 750 million people using it, Facebook has become one of the most far-reaching computer platforms of all time. The company will have a billion users soon, most likely within the next few months. Zuckerberg has been promising to hit that milestone for awhile, and I see no reason that he’ll miss.

One week ago, AdGame didn’t exist. Today, the company has a customer, a little bit of funding, and the attention of a crowd full of potential investors and partners. The idea is to make web display ads into incentivized, educational quizzes that not only engage the viewer, but also teach them the ki

For business book author Geoffrey Moore, learning how to succeed in the increasingly fast-paced tech business is a competitive as well as a national imperative. “We don’t have as much competitive advantage as a nation as we used to, so we’ve got to keep our team on the field,” said Moore. Moore is t

This is a week of tech conferences. Demo, TechCrunch Disrupt, Microsoft Build, the SF MusicTech Summit and Intel Developer Forum are all happening more or less simultaneously over the next few days. Then the Tokyo Game Show starts later this week. In the coming weeks, Facebook F8, Adobe Max, Oracle

After you’re gone, how will people remember you? If you’re lucky, Facebook might keep your profile page around for awhile. But the company’s interest is decidedly among its living customers, who are easier to advertise to. That’s why Jacques Mechelany thinks there will be a market for his company, i