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What's Augmented and Virtual Reality's Impact On Healthcare?

Orange Silicon Valley is proud to host another exciting event by HealthTech Women on Wednesday, January 14 on the subject of augmented and virtual reality and the technology's "mind-blowing" impact on healthcare.

Coinciding with the third annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, this event will explore the extensive product development and real business models that have emerged in augmented and virtual reality to enhance the quality of healthcare, including with surgeries, medical data visualization, education, training, rehabilitation, and therapy.

Along with exciting startup demos, HealthTech Women has two excellent speakers: noted augmented reality specialist Dr. Helen Papagiannis, Ph.D. and Leap Motion's principal UX designer Jody Medich.

If you're interested in attending, please email Darren Sabo for an invitation today.

Dr. Helen Papagiannis, Ph.D.- Augmented Reality Specialist

Dr. Helen Papagiannis is recognized as a world leading expert in the field of Augmented Reality (AR). She has been working with AR for a decade as a researcher, designer, and technology evangelist with a focus on storytelling and creating compelling experiences in AR.

Dr. Papagiannis was named among the NEXT 100 Top Influencers (#16) of the Digital Media Industry in 2013, and is featured as an innovator in the book, “Augmented Reality: An Emerging Technologies Guide to AR”, published in 2013. Her work and research in the field include her past roles as Chief Innovation Officer at Infinity Augmented Reality Inc. (New York City and Tel Aviv), and Senior Research Associate at York University’s Augmented Reality Lab in the Department of Film, Faculty of Fine Art (Toronto).

Dr. Papagiannis has presented her interactive work and Ph.D. research at global conferences and invited events including TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design), ISMAR (International Society for Mixed and Augmented Reality) and ISEA (International Symposium for Electronic Art). Her TEDx 2011 talk was featured among the Top 10 Talks on Augmented Reality and Gamified Life. Prior to her augmented life, Dr. Papagiannis was a member of the internationally renowned Bruce Mau Design studio where she was project lead on “Massive Change: The Future of Global Design”, an internationally touring exhibition and best-selling book examining the new inventions, technologies, and events changing the world.

Jody Medich-  Principal UX Designer, Leap Motion

In her 20-year design career, Jody has created everything from physical products to R&D. Prior to joining Leap Motion as Principal UX Designer, she was a Principal Experience Designer on the Analog Platform at Microsoft. Jody also co-founded Kicker Studio, a design consultancy specializing in NUI and R&D for companies including Intel, Samsung, and DARPA. She is a practicing artist and key collaborator with FiveTonCrane, while building robots and rockets in her spare time.

Jody has done work in healthcare, including: Wii-mote game for patients with Parkinsons/Stroke for the NIH and a touchscreen for the blind using haptics & sound.

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Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - Oct. 3, 2014

TGIF...and as we approach another weekend, we leave behind a week filled with tons of tech news. Of course this time it including things like EBay spinning off PayPal, Facebook getting ready to launch its own non-site ad network, Tibco going private (again), and Microsoft skips a number and introduces Windows 10.

Here's this week's tech round-up...

Headlines you might find interesting to read:

EBay Inc announced that PayPal would be spun out into its own public entity. CEO John Donahoe will step down once the move is done in 2015, giving way to new leadership at both eBay and PayPal. The new head of the payment company will be American Express executive Daniel Schulman.

Facebook has received approval from the European Union over its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. This comes on the same day as reports saying Google has plans to launch its own competing messaging app. Yahoo is also certainly interested in the space as it has acquired MessageMe.

Yahoo plans on investing some of its Alibaba stock earnings into Snapchat at a $10 billion valuation

Microsoft introduces Windows 10 to the world, skipping a number, and blending touch technology with its traditional mode

Google reveals "The Physical Web", a project to make Internet of Things interaction app-less

Twitter plans on wooing back developers with "Fabric", its new app development platform

Facebook has plans to expand its advertising network beyond the social network. A part of this involves the relaunch of Atlas, which it acquired from Microsoft.

More than $2 billion has been awarded to Facebook by a court against spammers as the social networking company touts its defense of "fake Likes"

And more Facebook news: Reuters says that the social networking company is plotting its first steps into healthcare

Deezer expands its U.S. presence with Bose partnership

Vista Equity buys Tibco for $4.3 billion to take the company private

Box has reportedly postponed further its IPO to 2015, citing market volatility

SoftBank was reportedly in talks to acquire Dreamworks Animation, but it seems talks have cooled off

Cloudflare introduces Universal SSL protection

Evernote announces a new Web client, unveils enterprise productivity platform "Work Chat".

Pebble lowers the price of its smartwatches and updates its software to provide more fitness tracking capabilities

Google beefs up its mobile ad offering for brands with new formats and tools

Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 adoption is accelerating, according to a report from Microsoft

Facebook officially launches its mobile Like button

Hollywood studio Weinstein Company has struck a deal with Netflix that will have its "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" sequel be released both in theaters and on the streaming service on the same day

Adobe brings its software to Google Chromebooks, starting with Photoshop

AT&T launches new promotion doubling some Mobile Share Value plans through October 31. Sprint and Verizon are also doing the same.

Verizon says it won't throttle its heaviest unlimited data users after all

Comcast launches cloud DVR in San Francisco, laying the foundation for a set-top box-free future

General Catalyst dedicates $10 million for startups built on Stripe's payment technology

Salesforce launches a program targeting startups, giving them free access to the cloud computing company's Salesforce1 platform

Personal finance service Credit Karma raises $75 million in funding, tops $1 billion valuation

Native advertising company Sharethrough has raised $10 million in funding, including $5 million as a strategic investment from BSkyB

Shyp expands its on-demand shipping service to New York City, plans for Miami next

Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom joins Wal-Mart's board of directors

Adaptive Path acquired by Capital One

Startups shutting down: Data startup Datapad is closing while Google ends Orkut.

Other useful and long-form readings you might be interested in:

New York Times: With perspective from both sides of his desk, FCC Chairman ponders Net Neutrality

The Economist: Decrypting Google: Don't be modest

Racked: The big money, high-stakes iPhone case race

Digital Trends: Manufacturing the future: How 3D printing went from pipe dream to your desktop

Re/code: Innovation Nation: Las Vegas

Steve Cheney: On the future of Apple and Google

Vogue: A rare look at design genius Jony Ive: The man behind the Apple Watch

Forbes: Finding Alibaba: How Jerry Yang made the most lucrative bet in Silicon Valley history

Have a great weekend!

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This week, Orange held its third Hello show. It's where we introduced the next generation of innovation designed to help you take full advantage of every instant of your connected life. Here's the keynote address by Orange CEO Stéphane Richard. 

More information about the Hello show can be found on the Orange website here.

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Just How Much Is Your Personal Data Worth? New Study Finds It's Around $215

Customers aren't entirely comfortable with allowing businesses to use their own data against them. In a new study just released by Orange as part of our Data Privacy Charter, it showed that consumers place an approximate value of $215 on their personal data to businesses.

Daniel Gurrola, Vice President of Orange's Business Vision group, said this:

"The research clearly demonstrates that consumers are acutely aware that the information a company holds about them has a value to that brand.

As the perceived value that consumers place on their data can change, depending on the relationship they hold with the organization, companies must consider not only how they convey what the customer gets in return for this data exchange, but precisely how the data is being used, and where in order to build that essential trust."

There are many services and offerings that use data for various reasons, whether it's for tracking or targeting purposes, so how do customers think their data should be used? When asked to place a value on it and weighing the protection of personal data and supplying services in return, respondents estimated that it would cost approximately $215. However, that amount might be lower when factoring in businesses that have established relationships with customers.

Other key findings in the study show that 80 percent of respondents knew that their data has a value. 67 percent believe organizations would benefit the most from a data sharing pact, while 6 percent think customers have the advantage. In a mobile age, 77 percent believe that it's "very important" for them to be notified by carriers and operators about how data is being used -- something that's equally as important as providing reliable service and value.

More information about Orange's Future of Digital Trust study can be found here. This is the second stage results of research our colleagues are conducting around consumer attitude and data privacy.

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If you're interested in the future of gigabit broadband here in the United States, you might find fascinating this 45 minute discussion featuring an excellent panel of industry experts.

Last week, our Orange GigaStudio team put on an amazing event on ultra-fast broadband Internet. The main event of the evening featured a discussion on the subject featuring Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford, Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper, Chattanooga Public Library assistant director Nate Hill, Doctor on Demand Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pat Basu, and our moderator: TechCrunch reporter Alex Wilhelm.

But that's not all!

Want to see the startup demos as well? Here you go:

BigBlueButton

bubl

Videopixie

MusicianLink

And we even have a video featuring our deputy CEO Pierre Louette too!

Here's the complete playlist.

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Last Thursday, Orange GigaStudio hosted an engaging spotlight event centered around the future of gigabit Internet. Held at the offices of Orange Silicon Valley, the topic was centered around "Gigabit communities: what services will drive demand for ultra-fast broadband."

To help answer this question, our Gigastudio team assembled a group of startups to showcase what they can do with ultra-fast broadband speeds. We're thankful to have had the participation of BigBlueButton, bubl, MusicianLink, NVIDIA, Videopixie (an Orange Fab startup), and Net Power & Light.

Capping off the evening was a rousing discussion with four outstanding industry experts who provided insights into dealing with municipalities, the future of Net Neutrality and the FCC, and how can we fully realize the potential of gigabit Internet speeds in today's society. We extend our warmest appreciation to Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford, Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper, Chattanooga Public Library assistant director Nate Hill, Doctor on Demand Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pat Basu, and our moderator: TechCrunch reporter Alex Wilhelm.

Some interesting thoughts from the panel:

Will Google Fiber has helped with innovation, it hasn't helped solve our national issue around fiber Internet, says Susan Crawford: "America hasn't had a visceral demonstration of fiber in their households yet, but eventually they will."

Dane Jasper: "The more badly incumbents [like Comcast] treat their customers, the more the customers will turn to alternative Internet services [like Sonic.net]."

Cable remains dominate in the marketplace and there is no incentive to install fiber. It will depend on the FCC removing state laws and other initiatives to help move the conversation forward.

Dr. Basu believes that the positive impact from ultra-fast broadband is infinite.

It would cost approximately $380 million to bring fiber to every household in San Francisco.

Of course, we must also thank our Deputy CEO Pierre Louette for speaking at the event and for sharing insights into the future of fiber. Please come and visit us again sometime soon!

This post features some photos from that evening, but more have been shared on our Facebook page.

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Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - Sept. 26, 2014

Thank goodness it's Friday! I don't know about you, but this week has been absolutely non-stop. At Orange Silicon Valley, we were honored to host a visit by our deputy CEO Pierre Louette who got to check out the Orange Fab Demo Day and the inaugural gigabit spotlight event put on by our Orange GigaStudio team.

Oh, and the icing on the proverbial cake is that we launched Fab Force, a new accelerator alliance with Visa, LG Electronics Hilton, Morpho, and Moët Hennessy. If you're interested in more, check out this post.

Besides Orange news, the talk is still around Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. But it's not all good -- there's reports that says the 6 Plus bends. Oh, and there's that iOS 8 bug, which appeared to be a patch, so Apple had to release a new patch...so upgrade to iOS 8.0.2. 

Here's just some of the interesting bits of news you may have missed this week:

Apple announces it has sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices in the first weekend of sales. iOS 8 adoption has reached 46%, but still lags behind its predecessors. And there's also #bendgate.

Speaking of iOS 8, Apple recently released an update that will let HealthKit tie into apps. The problem with iOS 8.0.1 was that it inadvertantly cut off cell service and Touch ID on devices. Apple apologized and eventually released a fix.

One more story about Apple: reports say that it has plans to shut down its Beats Music brand (not the service)

Confidential documents obtained by The Information show that Google is putting its foot down and taking more control in how customized its Android OS can be.

Activist shareholder wants Yahoo to consider merging with AOL

More Yahoo news: The company plans to shutter Yahoo Education, Qwiki, and Directory next quarter

Adobe has acquired photo-editing platform Aviary to "empower the future of mobile creativity"

HTC returns to tablets with Google Nexus partnership

AT&T makes a pitch to cord-cutters: Broadband, HBO, and Amazon for just $40 per month

AT&T and the Chernin Group have purchased YouTube video network Fullscreen for reportedly between $200 million and $300 million

The district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles want Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar to remove statements saying they do extensive background checks on drivers, claiming that they are patently untrue

You no longer need to set up a Google+ account if you use some Google services

Lyft acquires Hitch to boost Lyft Line, but shifts focus away from Lyft Plus, angering some drivers who spent $34,000 on their customized vehicles

Facebook is partnering with Stripe to power the buy buttons in its News Feed

Circa releases version 3.0 of its news reader app with a customizable news feed and also Daily Briefs

Two-factor authentication startup Duo Security raises $12 million from Benchmark

Kinvey raises $10.8 million to help it drive the mobile-cloud platform shift in enterprise IT

Hootsuite raises $60 million on a $1 billion valuation, acquires voice service Zettl

Robotic toy carmaker Anki raises $55 million

Eventbrite launches Neon, a mobile app that lets you manage events easier while on the go

Expa has hired AddThis founder Hooman Radfar as its San Francisco entrepreneur-in-residence

FWD.us president Joe Green has been ousted

Slack acquires a collaboration tool startup

ZEFR has acquired social advertising startup Engodo

HotelTonight pivots away from same-day booking to one where you can reserve a room seven-days in advance

DirecTV shareholders overwhelmingly approve of AT&T's $48.5 billion takeover

Other interesting reads that you should be aware of:

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen sounds warning on startups burning cash

Andreessen Horowitz has hired its first academic in residence -- here's why this firm needed one

FBI director James Comey is "very concerned" about the data privacy features being worked on by Google and Apple

What is Ello?

FierceTelecom has an interview with AT&T's vice president for small business project management Tom Hughes: "We're making steady progress" on fiber to the building

Wall Street Journal: BlackBerry's makeover is taking shape

Comcast: honestly, "it may take years" to improve our reputation

Vanity Fair: What you should know about Jeremy Stoppelman

That's it for this week. But don't forget that applications for season 4 of Orange Fab are now open. If you're interested, visit the program's website for more information.

Have a great weekend!

Photo credit: CC0 Public Domain/Pixabay

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Introducing Fab Force: A New Accelerator Alliance With Visa, LG Electronics, Hilton, Fnac, Morpho, and Moët Hennessy

Today, we're announcing the debut of a brand new program that's designed to enhance partnerships between startups and brands. Under the auspices of Orange Fab San Francisco, our very own accelerator, we're pleased to reveal something we call Fab Force. We've teamed up with Visa, LG Electronics, Hilton, Fnac, Morpho, and Moët Hennessy to not only improve the distribution channels made available to startups, but also to work with these brands to foster innovation in the ecosystem.

Our CEO Georges Nahon sees this as a great opportunity for not only finding the next big thing, but understanding the distortions taking place in the industry, along with the roles brands can play:

For the past 15 years, Orange has developed a unique and respected ecosystem in Silicon Valley, consisting of leading entrepreneurs, thought leaders, venture capitalists, and technology experts. Through Fab Force, we've now opened up the ecosystem to some of the world's largest and most respected brands who now have early access to some of Silicon Valley's most innovative startups.

Under Fab Force, Orange collaborates with its partners on the startups that will join its next season. All companies will evaluate each application and also have an opportunity to work directly with the final selections. Orange Fab will provide exclusive access to its group of mentors, thought leaders, investors, and industry experts to the partner companies.

All startups in the next season will continue to have the opportunity to access an investment of $20,000 from Orange Fab. Fab Force partners may also invest separately if they wish.

If you're a company that's looking to partner with Orange Fab and become a member of Fab Force, please reach out to us (pascale.diaine@orange.com).

In addition, we've also opened up applications for season 4 of Orange Fab. Interested? More information is on OrangeFab.com or you can follow the program on Twitter at @orangefab.

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Check out our renovated #gigabit studio in our office. If you're a developer & want to test your app on ultra-fast #broadband, check out @osvgigastudio.

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Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - Sept. 19, 2014

Happy Friday! We've reached the end of an incredibly packed work week and what a week it was! Of course the biggest news was Alibaba's IPO, the iPhone 6's release in stores (did you get one?), Microsoft buys Mojang...and unrelatedly lays off thousands, and we bid adieu to Larry Ellison who resigned as CEO.

*phew*

Okay, so now here's all the stuff you may have missed from this week in tech news:

Highlights of this week's tech news:

Alibaba initially prices its IPO at a high price of $66, then goes to $68, but ultimately begins trading at $92.70, a 38 percent increase, to raise $21.8 billion. It's has passed Facebook in market value with $213 billion, trailing only Google, Apple, and Microsoft.

Apple began selling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in stores on Friday, but announced that during pre-sales a week ago, it sold 4 million in the first 24 hours, a record. With the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, it only sold 2.2 million during that same time period.

SAP has acquired Concur for $8.3 billion

Microsoft has acquired Mojang AB, the creators of the popular Internet game "Minecraft". But the news wasn't all good, as all of the co-founders of Mojang soon announced their departure.

Oracle's founder and CEO Larry Ellison shocked the tech world this week when he announced his resignation. He'll be replaced by co-presidents Mark Hurd and Safra Catz. But Ellison isn't going far, as he's the new CTO and Chairman of the Board.

Windows 9 is reportedly coming: Microsoft has announced a special event in San Francisco on September 30

The FCC has received 3 million comments regarding its handling of net neutrality, an increase attributed to the Internet's slowdown protest

T-Mobile plans to upgrade its "Test Drive" phones to iOS 8 and eventually iPhone 6s

Google's Android One smartphones launched in India by three companies

Yo is still around and says more than 100 million "Yo's" sent, roughly 15 per second

ProductHunt has raised $6 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz

Airbnb will start collecting taxes from hosts in San Francisco next month

Sidecar has raised $15 million in funding, with Sir Richard Branson being added as new investor.

JibJab has acquired Make Believe Studios, makers of video calling app "Hello Santa"

What's happening with BranchOut? It's said to be looking to be acquired and has shuttered its Talk.co app

500px co-founder and former CEO has been ousted from the photography startup

Amazon tops the list of Google's 25 biggest search advertisers

Docker has received $40 million in new funding for its container technology

Uber is dealing with a temporary injunction in Germany

Fastly has raised $40 million in funding to build a big, cool content-distribution network

Hightail is chopping its workforce in half following the ousting of its CEO

Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar unite in information warfare against "Big Taxi" with new TaxiFacts website

Some great reads for the weekend:

Venture capitalist Bill Gurley sounds alarm on Silicon Valley investing

How Silicon Valley views Alibaba

Twitch CEO sounds off on Amazon Deal and Microsoft's play for "Minecraft"

The making of Tiiny, the new app by North

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: It's not about market share, it's about mobility and people

Stripe lands Apple in quest for $720 billion in payments

Tim Cook interview: The iPhone 6, the Apple Watch, and remaking a company's culture

Phew! That's what you missed this week. 

Have a great weekend!

Photo credit: CC0 Public Domain/Pixabay

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[Orange Spotlight] What Services Will Drive Demand For Ultra-Fast Broadband?

Much of the latest innovations in the technology space have some tie in with the Internet. And as speeds increase, better tools and services are created. There are many Internet providers in the U.S. that offer ultra-fast broadband speeds to help make this possible.

Join us on September 25, 2014 at our office as we take a look at the dynamics of fiber, not only on its impact on the industry, but also the startup ecosystem, innovators, ISPs, and municipalities.

Orange Silicon Valley's GigaStudio has organized this exclusive spotlight event that features demos from great startups working with high-speed Internet, and also an insightful and engaging panel with some of the industry's thought leaders:

Susan Crawford, Professor at Harvard Law School

Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic.net

Nate Hill, Assistant Director of Chattanooga Public Library

Dr. Pat Basu, Chief Medical Officer of Doctor on Demand

Alex Wilhelm, the evening's moderator and a reporter for TechCrunch

Just how will technology evolve with the proliferation of ultra-fast broadband? You'll have to come to our event to find out.

In addition to this great talk, there will be demos from six companies: BigBlueButton, Bubl, MusicianLink, NVIDIA, Videopixie, and Net Power & Light.

Oh, and one more thing: Susan Crawford will be signing copies of her book The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance.

If you're interested in attending, please send an email to David Martin (david1.martin@orange.com). Space is limited for this exclusive event so be sure to RSVP right away.

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Last week, San Francisco played host to the latest edition of TechCrunch Disrupt, a five-day hackathon and conference to find the best startup around. We're proud that three startups that have participated in our accelerator program, Orange Fab, were selected to either have an exhibition booth or present their products on stage.

Phone Halo (Orange Fab season 1) showed off its hit location device, the TrackR. The week also got better as it announced a partnership with Open Garden to help further the Internet of Things space.

RallyTeam (Orange Fab season 3) had the great opportunity to launch on stage as part of TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield. It has opened up its employee empowerment platform to more people. The success of its presentation earned it the respect of one of the conference sponsors and RallyTeam was awarded the Johnnie Walker award!

Lastly, Edyn (Orange Fab season 1) returned to the TechCrunch Disrupt stage. Formerly known as SoilIQ, it made it to the final six from the 2013 San Francisco edition. This year, it announced a distribution partnership with Home Depot for its smart garden sensor.

Congratulations to all of our awesome accelerator companies!

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Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - Sept. 12, 2014

Another weekend is upon us and it's time for the tech news wrap-up. And it's certainly been quite a busy week for the industry. Of course there's the Apple reveal of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, not to mention the Apple Watch. But beyond that, Yahoo gets redemption following disclosed court documents show it was bullied into participating in the NSA's PRISM program.

Much more happened in the news, so let's get right into it...

Highlights of this week's tech news:

The U.S. government threatened Yahoo with a $250,000 daily fine if it didn't cooperate and provide user information to the NSA

Amazon's inaugural smartphone, the Amazon Fire, has lost some steam now that it's priced at $0.99 with AT&T

T-Mobile introduces Uncarrier 7.0, adding Wi-Fi calling while partnering with in-flight Wi-Fi service Gogo for coverage

Twitter testing new ways for you to make purchases within your timeline, all while it seeks to raise $1.5 billion in new debt offering

Home Depot confirms that its payment system was hacked for months and the same malware that affected it, also affected Target

Square raises $100 million in new funding at a $6 billion valuation

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe donates $31 million to his alma mater University of Maryland to build a virtual reality lab

Flipboard buys photo and video app Ultravisual to better integrate photos and videos into magazines

PayPal-owned Braintree announces support for bitcoin and one-touch payments

Reddit raising a new round of funding with some Y Combinator involvement at a deal that could value it at north of $500 million

CenturyLink is reportedly looking to acquire Rackspace Hosting to expand further into the cloud-computing space

Jawbone opens up its API for Up health tracker while also looking to raise $100 million in new funding

Salesforce launches $100 million dedicated fund for the Internet of Things

Authy raises $3 million to help give developers the ability to integrate two-factor authentication in their apps and services

Rakuten has purchased ebates for $1 billion

Honda introduces a self-driving car

Facebook is testing a new feature that lets you schedule when posts are deleted

Windows is rebranding its Nokia and Windows Phone to Microsoft and Windows

Exitround partners with private equity firms in new program to help companies with $100 million in revenue

Google acquires Lift Labs, maker of a spoon for Parkinson's tremors

Some interesting long-form reads:

Path, the personal social network, battles to be popular too

With Ideamarket, Bill Gross will fund you to bring his ideas to life

Shopify: Mobile now accounts for 50.3% of all e-commerce traffic

This is how an ad gets placed in your Facebook News Feed

Uber's revenue is 12 times bigger than Lyft

Now just Uber and Airbnb: early-stage valuations are rising too

Twitch CEO: "Entire website" is a native advertising hub, not a store

Have a great weekend!

Photo credit: CC0 Public Domain Pictures/Pixabay

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Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - Sept. 5, 2014

There’s never a dull moment in the world of tech and the week after Labor Day in the US was no different ... well except for that bit about Alibaba going public.

We started off the week trying to figure out how hackers were able to steal revealing celebrity photos stored in Apple’s iCloud to Twitter rumors that say that a filtered news feed is coming, and the debut of new Motorola phones and even Android Wear.

Oh, and the United States has a new Chief Technology Officer and deputy.

So much to talk about, so let’s get right to it. Here’s this week’s tech recap:

Highlights of this week’s tech news:

Alibaba moves closer towards its IPO. Files its S-1 with the SEC to raise up to $24.1 billion in largest IPO in history.

Multiple banks say that there’s evidence that Home Depot may be the source of a massive new batch of stolen credit and debit cards

Is Android game console maker Ouya shopping itself around, potentially to be bought by one of the Chinese Internet giants?

It's official: the White House names Google[X] vice president Megan Smith and former Twitter general counsel Alex MacGillivary as the next CTO and deputy CTO of the US, respectively

Apple investigated the cause of the celebrity photo hack and it was revealed that iCloud was not hacked in the attack, highlighting that it might be due to a weak password. CEO Tim Cook announced that additional security measures will be rolling out soon.

Can’t make it to the Apple special event on Tuesday? The company is livestreaming the whole thing.

Apple may be introducing a smartwatch next Tuesday and it's reported that the device may cost $400

Photo-sharing service Twitpic announced it’s closing its doors on September 25 after being bullied by Twitter into abandoning its trademark application

Verizon agrees to pay $7.4 million fine for using customer data for marketing purposes without their consent

Google has settled with the FTC and will pay $19 million in fines over a lawsuit that alleged kids were able to make in-app purchases without their parent’s permission

Oops! His company might be a partner of Google’s, but Luxottica’s founder says he’s “embarrassed” by Google Glass

Comcast spinoff “GreatLand Connections” to be the 5th largest cable company in the US

White House nominates a new chief of IP enforcement

Google's Calico project forms partnership with biotech pharmaceutical company AbbVie to advance research and development of treatments for age-related diseases

Apple taps Nordstrom to be an early partner for its payments platform, reportedly strikes deals with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express

Facebook changes the only unique Slingshot feature: You can now send unlocked photos and videos

Hootsuite raises $35 million investment from Fidelity-led group

Some additional longer-form reading for the weekend:

TechCrunch: Elon Musk is right, Burning Man is Silicon Valley

AdWeek: YouTube may be worth $40 billion -- more than Twitter

The New Yorker: The Masked Avengers: How Anonymous incited online vigilantism from Tunisia to Ferguson

Mashable: How I hacked my own iCloud account, for just $200

The Globe and Mail: How Pebble is taking over Silicon Valley by slaying the giants

Have a great weekend!

Photo credit: Unsplash

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Orange Silicon Valley was in the news again. This time in a story by HPC wire covering our usage of Integrated Device Technology's (IDT) x86 cluster and interconnected switches. 

Why was this noteworthy? It's because our team used this technology as our processing platform to execute high-performance analytics on social media traffic during one of the biggest international sporting events: the 2014 World Cup. Our platform tested the viability of real-time analysis of consumer interests and sentiment during highly viewed matches during the tournament.

Jerome Laudouar, Orange's Infrastructure Technologies and Engineering Director had this to say:

Our mandate is to push the limits of existing technology and discover which potential breakthroughs in network deployment are feasible. By using IDT’s RapidIO network, we were able to prove the viability of deploying embedded interconnect technology for massive, real-time data analysis—not just in wireless-server co-location, but also in other high-performance computing and data analytics applications.

You can read more about this project here.

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Must Read: OSV's Weekly Tech Recap - August 29, 2014

We're just hours away from a three-day holiday weekend in the US. So after spending the past few days working on getting things done quickly before skipping town, you might have missed a few things that have happened in the tech world.

So what fascinating happened this week? The Google/Twitch acquisition falls apart and Amazon winds up the winner, Instagram launches new time-lapse application, Uber reportedly sabotaging Lyft, and here comes the iPhone 6 and ... iWatch?

Highlights of this week's tech news:

Amazon agrees to acquire game livestreaming service Twitch for $970 million in cash and here's why it could make sense

Apple news: Special event to be held on September 9 in Cupertino, CA. The iPhone 6 is expected to make its debut and could have NFC installed. The company's smartwatch is expected to also be introduced, but it may not be available until after Christmas. Apple is also reportedly to have told developers that it may not sell personal health data to advertisers.

Meet Google's latest moonshot: Project Wing

Yahoo debuts its native ad network with Vox Media, CBS Interactive Sites as launch partners

Time Warner Cable suffered a massive outage nationwide on Wednesday

Facebook improves its News Feed to "weed out" stories frequently marked as spammy and that users don't want to see

Instagram launches Hyperlapse, its time lapse iOS app

Alibaba's profit rises nearly threefold thanks to mobile sales

Marketing software company HubSpot files paperwork for its $100 million IPO

Jessica Alba's The Honest Co. raises $70 million at a valuation nearing $1 billion and prepares for its IPO

Square updates its Cash feature to include free money transfers by text messages and more and also is reportedly raising a new round at a $6 billion valuation

T-Mobile unveils new $45 monthly "Simple Starter" plan that gives customers 2GB of data

IFTTT lands $30 million for its Series B from Norwest Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz

Google acquires Zync to bring visual effects rendering to its cloud platform

California governor Jerry Brown signs smartphone "Kill Switch" bill into law

Speaking of politics, there are reports that state Google[X] VP Megan Smith is the top candidate to become the US's Chief Technology Officer

Snapchat steps on Twitter's toes, lets you follow remote events live

Agency holding company Publicis is reportedly near deal to buy ad retargeting service Criteo

TiVo introduces a $50 over-the-air DVR aimed at cord cutters

Motorola Skip is a full-blown key fob that keeps your phone unlocked when it's near you

Automattic acquires BruteProtect to help keep WordPress users safe

Uber begins testing lunch delivery service in Santa Monica, CA for a limited time

Google Drive apps get an update for iOS devices: Now you can view slides, spreadsheets, and documents from individual apps

GoPro has a new device that lets you see the world from your pet's perspective

Other fascinating things to read:

Tablet gaming revenue estimated to triple in five years to $13.3 billion

Q&A with Quora's Adam D'Angelo

Is Instagram the next great ad network?

The iPhone 6 will be one in a million ... and that's the problem

Seeing through the illusion: Understanding Apple's mastery of the media

Is Uber sabotaging Lyft?

Lyft-Off: Zimride's Long Road To Overnight Success

Have a great weekend!

Photo credit: inspirexpressmiami

[orangesiliconvalley]

Must Read: OSV’s Weekly Tech Recap - August 22, 2014

It's time for another edition of Orange Silicon Valley's weekly tech recap report. This week, Y Combinator held its seasonal demo day for its Summer 2014 batch, Sprint looks to keep up with T-Mobile, Microsoft prepping another version of its Windows operating system, Uber is on the move with new tools to expand its empire, and more.

Highlights of this week's tech news:

Sprint looks to fend off T-Mobile with its new $60 unlimited data plan

The Information says Verizon is getting ready to take another stab at an app store to rival Google Play. A Verizon spokewoman denies the claim, saying: "Been there. Done that."

Microsoft said to be getting ready to unveil its Windows 9 operating system in September

eBay reportedly considering spinning off PayPal, but while its fate is being mulled over, the payment company rolled out one-touch mobile checkout for apps

Uber opens up its developer API with 11 launch partners and hires former Obama adviser David Plouffe as its "campaign manager"

Square launches new free analytics tools for merchants, allowing them to get data summaries, while also expanding its Square Capital program

Verizon takes top honors as being the number one wireless network for reliability, speed, call and data performance, according to RootMetrics

ProductHunt raises $1 million in seed funding and launches an iOS app to help users find products while on the go

Twitter said to be working with payments startup Stripe on its commerce initiative

Ads are coming to SoundCloud

LinkedIn-owned SlideShare drops its premium plan and makes all of its popular premium features free to all

Service marketplace Thumbtack raises $100 million round led by Google Capital

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has resigned from the company's board

On-demand product deliveries have come to Washington, DC thanks to Uber's "Corner Store"

Vevo is no longer for sale

Wells Fargo opens up its own accelerator

AT&T is bringing its U-verse 1Gbps broadband Internet to Silicon Valley, starting in Cupertino

How is the Amazon Fire smartphone really doing?

Todd Park, the United States' Chief Technology Officer and the one behind Healthcare.gov, is leaving his White House post

Google acquires Gecko to help with Google[X] special projects

Airbnb to Expose 124 hosts to New York's Attorney General

Here's some more noteworthy pieces and long-form stories you might also be interested in:

Y Combinator president Sam Altman talks about the accelerator's inaugural class under his leadership

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pens editorial on net neutrality, saying that providers shouldn't give money to ISPs -- all while Netflix has given money to Time Warner Cable for direct access and faster streams

Google goes DARPA

Want to know who presented at Y Combinator's summer 2014 Demo Day?

TechCrunch has complete details about the event here, here, here, and here

OSV in the news:

FOX Business included OSV in a report on how corporations are looking to startups for innovation

The Wall Street Journal referenced the above article in its Friday daily roundup

Photo credit: Hans