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The Rise Of The Health Startup? A Peek At The 13 Companies In Rock Health’s Inaugural Batch

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:41:06 +0000

There’s been a bit of a debate going on of late among venture capitalists and investors over whether or not web startups are currently experiencing a cash crunch when it comes to early-stage and series A financing. ( You can read Alexia’s recent breakdown here .) As per usual, the answer depends on whom you ask. This recent debate contrasts with the data seen in Column Five Media’s infographic from June , which showed venture funding and investment levels picking back up in the first half of 2011, poised to storm back to pre-2008-collapse levels. Of course, the data showed that not all tech sectors were experiencing the boom times: Health and medical-related investment, for example, was on the low end, receiving only 3 percent of venture funding over the last year. Yet, there may be some evidence that investment in the digital health space may in fact be heating up. Looking at this data compiled by new healthtech startup incubator Rock Health , we see a list of 41 healthtech startups have been funded in 2011. CrunchBase’s data, which uses slightly more generous paramaters for defining “health tech”, puts that number over 120 or so. Of those startups that were founded this year, Aza Raskin’s Massive Health raised $2.25 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, and more. (Well, Massive Health was actually founded in December 2010, but close enough.) And Azumio , which was founded this year, raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Founders Fund and Accel in July. What’s more, we just covered 100Plus’ $500K seed raise from Founders Fund earlier this week. The personalized health prediction startup was not mentioned in Rock Health’s list, I assume because it is still in private beta. But the point is, as we’ve seen in Dave Chase’s series of guest posts , the healthcare industry is ripe for disruption. Sure, the industry has a long way to go, but we’re seeing some great progress from startups like Practice Fusion, for example, which is busy becoming the largest provider of electronic medical records in the industry. There’s also plenty of room for help in the way of incubators. On Friday, Rock Health, the startup accelerator for health-focused startups, hosted its Demo Day at UCSF Mission Bay, where the 13 startups in its latest class introduced their businesses to 250 attendees, among them investors from Accel, NEA, Khosla Ventures, True Ventures, Benchmark, Kapor Capital, SV Angel, The Social+Capital Partnership, Founders Fund and more. For those unfamiliar, Rock Health provides seed funding ($20K grants, without taking equity), office space, and mentorship to entrepreneurs that want to break into healthcare. We covered their debut here . The thirteen startups that demo-ed range from BitGym , which makes motion-sensitive iOS video games for working out; to IDEO-spinoff Omada , an online support group to reverse diabetes; to CellScope , a smartphone plugin designed to remotely diagnose ear infections. It was also great to see that these teams included entrepreneurs that have previously worked in other areas of tech and media and are now bringing their talents to health: For example, Gabe Vanrenen, the former Founder and CTO of Flurry , Jackson Wilkinson, the former head of UX for Posterous and LinkedIn, to Jeff Lieberman, the host of Discovery Channel’s Time Warp. Again, we covered the initial eight Rock Health startups that were ready to introduce their wares back in June, and you can read about them here . However, five of the startups were not yet ready for the limelight, so we’re providing brief introductions to those below: Bigevidence provides clinicians focused access to the universe of medical evidence at the point of care and within electronic health records, improving quality of care, while reducing costs and risks. BitGym thinks you should be using video games to exercise. Their patent pending technology uses an iPad to turn any cardiovascular machine into an interactive gaming experience. Cake Health is the best free way to manage your healthcare expenses online. The startup was a finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco in September. You can read our initial profile here . Crohnology is a social health network for people with chronic medical conditions to share and learn what treatments work, meet others near them, and track and share their health. Heartbeat is a salesforce.com-like enterprise solution for wellness professionals that aims to empower people to be successful doing what they love. Applications for Rock Health’s next class beginning in January 2012 are open until Wednesday, November 16th.

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The Rise Of The Health Startup? A Peek At The 13 Companies In Rock Health’s Inaugural Batch

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE + Free Galaxy S2 Bundle

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:37:40 +0000

Samsung and AT&T have just announced that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 with LTE will be available from AT&T on November 20. The twist however, is that AT&T customer who purchase a Galaxy Tab 8.9 with LTE (and a 2-yr contract) will receive a Galaxy S 2 Skyrocket (LTE) or a Samsung Galaxy S2 at no extra cost. Now, if you’re thinking of jumping on-board , don’t forget that AT&T’s LTE is rolling out slowly, and that you area may not be covered yet. So far, here is what is covered for now and AT&T is adding new markets: Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you’re not familiar with The Galaxy Tab 8.9, I’ve added the official specifications on the full page, along with AT&T’s official pricing of the data plans. (more…) Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE + Free Galaxy S2 Bundle , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Galaxy S2 Review ,

People Now Watch Videos Nearly 30 Percent Longer On Tablets Than Desktops

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:29:39 +0000

It may come as no surprise, but Americans are watching more and more online video. In fact, they’re practically jonesin’ for it. According to comScore’s numbers , 182 million Americans watched online video content in September (for an average of 19.5 hours per viewer), while the U.S. video audience tallied a total of 39.8 billion video views. But what may be a bit more surprising is the extent to which people are now watching their video on tablets. Ooyala , the provider of online video technology and services just released its first quarterly review, which you can find here . While the data is skewed slightly as it only takes into account those who actually watch online video, as comScore’s numbers show, at least in the U.S., there are more than a few watching online video. And Ooyala’s data set, too, is considerable, as the platform handles more than 1 billion analytics pings per day — revealing the global viewing behavior of 100 million monthly unique users. From Ooyala’s study comes a number of interesting interesting conclusions. First and foremost, tablets are seeing a significantly higher level of engagement in online video viewing, as tablet viewers watch longer than viewers of desktops or mobile devices. For each minute watched on a desktop, tablets recorded “1:17 in played content”, which works out to 28 percent longer than the desktop average. What’s more, tablet viewers are more than twice as likely to finish a video than desktoppers, as the completion rate for tablet viewers was double what it was for desktop viewing in the third quarter of this year — and is 30 percent higher than that of mobile devices. Of course, the high level of video engagement compared to desktops isn’t just limited to tablets, it seems it’s true of all mobile devices, too: In Ooyala’s words, “viewer engagement was generally higher on mobile devices than on desktops — even for long term videos”. Yup, mobile viewers completed three-quarters of a long-form video at a rate of 20 percent, compared to 18 percent for desktops. In terms of long-form videos, the study found that desktops and laptops are more likely to be used for short video clips, whereas videos that are 10 minutes or longer make up 30 percent of the hours watched on mobile devices, 42 percent on tablets, and nearly 75 percent on connected TV devices and game consoles. While desktops still make up the bulk of total video displays, plays, and number of hours watched, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TV devices are increasingly shaping (and changing) viewer behavior. For non-desktop video media, mobile devices owned the biggest share of total hours played, with 48 percent, while plays on tablets accounted for 45 percent. While connected TV devices lagged behind in most categories, as the industry is still in its nascency, Ooyala believes that these devices are closing in on the tipping point, as video plays on connected TVs tripled in Q3 alone. Of course, when it comes to video being watched on mobile devices and tablets, it’s all iOS and Android. Combined, Android and iOS devices make up 90 percent of the video hours for tablets and mobile devices. For tablets, unsurprisingly, iPad is king. iPads were responsible for 99.4 percent of displays, 97.7 percent of total plays, and 95.7 percent of total hours streamed. However, thanks to its growing lead in marketshare among mobile devices, Android is seeing an average conversion rate of 45 percent — one that’s considerably higher than that of iPhones at 22 percent. For tablets, Android devices were also higher at 47 percent compared to iPads at 13 percent. In terms of viewer engagement for tablet viewers, the percentages were close, but iPads grabbed the higher percentage of completion rates (at 38 percent compared to Android’s 36 percent). Also of note: As Erick reported back in August, Facebook had jumped into third place among the biggest video platforms, with an estimated 51.6 million people watching videos on Facebook in July. Facebook’s numbers have since dropped slightly, but the point remains: When it comes to display advertising and now video, Facebook is growing at a scary rate. To this point, Ooyala found that Facebook is across the board a more popular means of sharing video than its social media rival, Twitter. In the U.S., for every one video shared on Twitter, over eight are shared on Facebook. As to how much more popular Facebook was than Twitter as a video sharing platform — that varies widely depending on the region. In Japan, there’s a 1:1 ratio, whereas in Italy Facebook is 17 times more popular. In the end, Ooyala’s study seems to prove how it is becoming of increasing importance for content publishers to develop strategies for tablets. With viewers watching 28 percent longer per play on tablets compared to desktops, the publishers are now beginning to be guaranteed to have access their viewers’ eyeballs for a longer period of time. No doubt advertisers will be taking note of this. For a full dive into Ooyala’s study, download it out here . Excerpt image from Brassmusician

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People Now Watch Videos Nearly 30 Percent Longer On Tablets Than Desktops

Android App ‘Currently’ Taps Twitter To Track Breaking Tech News

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:51:33 +0000

We got a pitch in our inbox from a company called Dujour Technology; they’ve developed an Android app dubbed ‘Currently Tech News’ (direct Android Market link ) that mines Twitter to aggregate breaking technology news from a select number of sources. The makers of the app acknowledge that the app looks pretty basic, but point out that there’s a sophisticated backend taking care of the data collection and analysis behind the scenes. From the email: The Currently server is constantly tracking Tweets mentioning certain tech news websites (of which TechCrunch is one of only a few). The Currently Tech News app then receives updates every 15 minutes and generates a pop-chart type list of news headlines. It’s like a Techmeme you can carry around in your pocket! Except, of course, you can carry around Techmeme in your pocket too (they have a decent mobile website). The benefit of the Currently app is that important headlines that are rising in the charts are delivered through notifications. You can turn off the alerts during your preferred ‘quiet time’ if you want, otherwise it’ll work 24/7. We heard about Currently from the founder of Scouta , a now defunct recommendation technology startup we’ve covered a lot in the past. Check it out if you’re a fellow tech news junkie. Here’s a screenshot (confusingly taken on an iPhone, it would seem):

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Android App ‘Currently’ Taps Twitter To Track Breaking Tech News

Dropbox Is Working On Ways To Move Beyond File Folders

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:45:03 +0000

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston talked to Gigaom’s Om Malik this evening at the GigaOm RoadMap conference and let slip some key insights about his company’s product roadmap, namely that he wants to get past the metaphor of a file folder as Dropbox’s sole organizing principle. Houston described the idea of a file folder that syncs as “Chapter 1″ for the company, “We think it’s just the first step …[In the beginning of Dropbox] we didn’t want to call Dropbox ‘back up’ or even use word like ‘sync’ … [Because] it’s not storage as much as it is an experience.” He revealed that the company was looking ways of going beyond files and folders, “‘What’s the point of Dropbox if it’s just a folder? …,’” he said, “We’re really building a lot of new ways to manage and view your important stuff.” Malik then asked if these new management and organizing principles revolved around time and space, “When you think about your [files[ you can break it down into those categories, and then not only can you have the photo itself but an index of all the data associated with photo e.g. not only where this picture was taken but what were all the other pictures taken within a ten mile radius.” Or which Facebook friends are tagged in the photo. And music is a whole new set of constructs. Etc, etc. While it’s not clear exactly what this new management system will look like once/if it sees the light of day, Houston certainly has the budget and usership leeway to experiment. And one day the file folder icon will be as much an anachronism as the old iTunes CD logo.

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Dropbox Is Working On Ways To Move Beyond File Folders

Iomega launches eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:36:27 +0000

Looking to buy a portable hard drive for your Mac computer? You might want to give the new eGo Mac Edition from Iomega a shot – especially if you’re known for having butterfingers. Iomega has just announced its latest Mac-oriented hard drive that is available in large capacities and touted to be extremely durable. The eGo Mac Edition features Drop Guard which is said to let the drive withstand drops from up to seven feet. Another feature of the eGo Mac Edition is its 256-bit AES encryption that comes with Iomega’s Protection Suite. Not only will your drive be protected on the outside, it looks like all your data stored on the inside can be well protected as well. The drive works with USB 2.0 of FireWire and doesn’t require an external power supply. The eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive is available now from the Apple Store in 500GB ($179.99) and 1TB ($229.99) capacities and come with a 3-year warranty. [ Product Page ] Iomega launches eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Epic 4G Touch Review , Galaxy S2 Review ,

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Iomega launches eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive

Verizon’s New LTE Promotion Meant To Benefit iPhone Users Too

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:47:31 +0000

Verizon’s new 4G data plan promotion sounds awfully generous, but CFO Fran Shammo said at an investors’ conference yesterday that it’s more than just a way to push 4G hardware during the holidays. The deal is also meant to reduce congestion on the company’s 3G EV-DO network, so iPhone users will be able to enjoy a more consistent network experience. “We want the iPhone user to experience what every other Verizon Wireless person experiences, which is the best, most reliable network in the United States,” Shammo said. “So, in order for them to keep that realization of that experience, we need to make sure that I don’t have to put in any more capacity to 3G.” Under the terms of the promotion, customers can pay the regular price for an LTE-friendly data plan and Verizon will give them double the data allotment at no extra charge. The standard smartphone data plan, for example, costs $30 and nets the user 2GB. For a limited time, that same user gets 4GB to use with their 4G device for the same price. The promotion is more-or-less brand new so there’s still no detail on how many customers have taken the bait, but Verizon is probably hoping for a mass exodus away from 3G. By providing an incentive for customers to ditch their old hardware, Verizon hopes to reduce the amount of money they need to spend in order to maintain their older, slower network. In fact, they’ve already begun to trim their 3G maintenance budget — the company reduced the amount of their wireless capital expenditures by $1 billion between Q2 and Q3 2011. Verizon has had their LTE network lit up for just under a year, but this upcoming holiday season signals a drastic shift in momentum for their 4G portfolio. Motorola , Samsung , and HTC have revealed a string of LTE-capable smartphones whose launches will coincide with the data promo period, and according to Frammo Verizon now has more 4G devices for sale than 3G devices.

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Verizon’s New LTE Promotion Meant To Benefit iPhone Users Too

With $3 Million Raised, Flow Aims To Connect The World’s Apps, Through Data

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:30:32 +0000

Eric Alterman is a quintessential serial tech entrepreneur. He’s founded a fairly diverse set of software, telecom, and semiconductor companies that include Kickapps, which was acquired by Kit digital in 2010 , MeshNetworks, which was acquired by Motorola in 2005 , Triton Network Systems (which IPO-ed in 2000), TeraNex, SkyCross, and more. In 1997, he co-founded an accelerator that funded and grew companies based on tech licensed from military contractors, like Lockheed, ITT and Raytheon. In 2004, Alterman founded a video sharing platform that he says was essentially YouTube before YouTube. Though the startup didn’t quite have the legs to achieve scale, the entrepreneur said that the company’s “failure” (coupled with YouTube’s emergence) gave him a valuable insight into how (and how not) to build a SaaS platform that can serve thousands of customers, scale, and become a turnkey solution for an entire space. With big data all the rage these days, last year, he turned his sights to the next big thing: App data and data interoperability, with the goal of allowing developers to share and exchange the massive amounts of data created daily by the world’s growing collection of web and mobile apps. Today, Alterman and co-founder Tom Luczak are announcing officially announcing their new venture, Flow Corporation , and the beta release of its eponymous Flow platform — a realtime data platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and content curation platform. The technology is, on the one hand, a data exchange for app developers, and on the other hand, an off-the-shelf dashboard for consumers and enterprises that allows them to create and curate information streams on any subject — like a suped-up RSS reader. In other words, the Flow platform enables developers to take advantage of a ready-to-use backend for app data (including stream processing and aggregation) in the hopes of increasing efficiency and lowering the cost of implementing realtime data systems for their apps. Using the Flow platform, developers can connect and share data from web, mobile, and enterprise apps with other developers on a permissioned, realtime basis. For example: A restaurant-focused mobile app may show people looking for good places to eat the best options nearby, but with Flow, the developers of that restaurant would be able to draw from (and present) complementary data from other apps on nearby stores, coupon deals, or local events. By building infrastructure that allows apps to intercommunicate and serve users with a host of contextual information, Alterman is hoping that Flow can begin to break up walled data silos and change the way developers make use of and serve realtime data. Connecting apps through social functionality was a significant first step for the future of data, the founder says, but connecting apps on a more fundamental and robust level is the next step. On the flip side, for consumers and enterprise customers, iFlow.com is the other piece of the puzzle, offering everyday web users the ability to discover, create, curate, and share realtime information on any subject — in a filtered and contextual way. Like next-gen RSS. (Example image of iFlow’s consumer UI below.) iFlow allows users to follow ideas instead of individuals, in contrast to Twitter and Facebook, for example, taking the next step beyond the kind of realtime info streams we see on social networks, to apply that to rich data from any and all sources. The consumer platform is built using Flow’s APIs and really functions as an example of the kind of realtime stream processing functionality developers can take advantage of when building their web and mobile apps. As to what’s next, Alterman says that he wants to offer developers (and consumers) the opportunity to buy and sell subscriptions for realtime data through a flow marketplace, which would give content owners the ability to control business rules and monetize data streams — from product reviews to proprietary research. The startup has also recently closed a two-part $3 million round of seed funding from Cloud Capital Partners, BH Ventures, Blantyre Partners, Kappa East, Redstonne LLC, and Venetia Kontogouris of Trident Capital , which the startup will use to continue rolling out new features and developing its data marketplace. For TechCrunch readers interested in getting an early look at the data platform in action, Flow is offering invites to its beta to the first 50 readers that send an email to “EarlyAccess@flow.net” with “TechCrunch invite” in the subject line.

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With $3 Million Raised, Flow Aims To Connect The World’s Apps, Through Data

Akitio MyCloud Duo storage device

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:35:26 +0000

Back in the days before there was this thing called computers, all “data”, or rather, information would be the better word to use, came in hardcopy formats. As in, you needed to file these away in their very own binders, and looking for a document could take you eons if you had a library to search simply because there is no real life F3 key apart from your memory. Well, glad to know that information storage has turned digital over the years, and we now have another problem on hand – how the heck are we supposed to be able to keep track of all the data we have accumulated over our lifetime? Akitio might have a slice of the answer in the form of the MyCloud Duo storage device, where this NAS gizmo will function in a rather similar manner to that of the Pogoplug. Akitio MyCloud Duo storage device , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : iPhone 4S Review , Galaxy S2 Review ,

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Akitio MyCloud Duo storage device

iOS 5 gets auto-correct keyboard bar as well

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:33:25 +0000

Remember our story about iOS 5 having a secret panorama mode for you to shoot your photos? Well, it seems that this is not the only Easter Egg in iOS 5 that is waiting to be discovered, as someone else also stumbled upon an auto-correct keyboard bar. First dibs go to Australian Sonny Dickson who managed to get it up and running on his spanking new iPhone 4S, where you can see on the right, in addition to his iPad 2. You will first need to download iBackupBot , perform a backup of your iPhone or iPod in iTunes, open up iBackupBot and find the backup, then load it. Do take your time to look for Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist and open the file, and assuming your software is not a registered copy, you will need to press cancel, where it will then open up. Once done, add in the following code:KeyboardAutocorrectionListsYES, save the changes made and perform a restore from backup from within iBackupbot. All of the above, if followed religiously, ought to get the job done. iOS 5 gets auto-correct keyboard bar as well , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Epic 4G Touch Review , Galaxy S2 Review ,

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iOS 5 gets auto-correct keyboard bar as well