Upstart Start Up Dropbox raises $250 Million in second round financing. Venture capitalists are willing to bet a quarter-billion dollars that the four-year-old upstart can take on tech heavyweights like Amazon, Apple and Google in online digital file storage world knows at The Cloud.

Founded in 2007 by two MIT grad students, Arash Ferdowsi and Drew Houston Dropbox has scored the backing of seven of the leading VC firms including, Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greylock Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, RIT Capital Partners and Valiant Capital Partners. Early investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, and angels Hadi and Ali Partovi also participated in the funding round.

Co-founders Houston and Ferdowsi turned down a “prospective nine-digit” buyout offer by “The Man” himself, Steve Jobs, of Apple back  in 2009. Houston said in an interview, that he want’s to build an independent company. He believes they can build the only application a person needs to effortlessly store and share all their digital files among multiple devices, from PCs, laptops and cell phones, to potentially televisions and electronics in cars.  The “Untold Story” of “The One That Got Away”, Steve Jobs play for the company is the cover story of Forbes November 2011 issue, by Victoria Barret.

The demand is so great that Dropbox now has surged to over 50 million members,l with a new one joining every second, who save one billion files every three days. The company expects to triple that user base in 2011. Comparatively, the company had about 4 million users this time last year.

“We’re dedicating our lives to solve this problem at scale,” Houston said. “Our biggest asset isn’t our servers or money in the bank, it’s the trust of tens of millions of people.”

Amen Brother!

We have learned that Google is planning to re-brand (change the name) of its popular Picasa photo management service to Google Photos, and its Blogger blog platform to Google Blogs.  This is not a big surprise, as Google is not the best at coming up with cool names for it’s services anyway.

Google acquired Picasa in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Its technology, which can be downloaded or used online, helps users edit and manage photos. In 2003, Google acquired Blogger owner Pyra Labs, who’s founder Evan Williams along with Biz Stone, went on to develop Twitter.

There’s no doubt that Google’s decision to rebrand Picasa and Blogger is the result of its desire to “unify its brand.” Along with the new social project, Google+  the search company already has several services that use its Google branding, including Google Docs and Google Apps.

Google plans to rebrand Picasa and Blogger in the next four to six weeks. We hear they have no plans to rename YouTube, which already has strong brand recognition. The search company previously offered a Google Video service but shut that down earlier this year.

Alibaba Buys Yahoo… well wouldn’t this be interesting. I’m sure Jack Ma would love to get his mitts on Yahoo, a bell-weather US company. Sure profits are down a bit and Yahoo is essentially on the way down. I wouldn’t count them out. They still have tons of subscribers, traffic, and revenue, which is what all Internet companies are looking for.

Yahaba – Alihoo…  Yahoo already owns 40% of Alibaba, a merger may not be a bad idea!

The Trevis Team has reported that:

With the Alibaba Group touted as one of the leading contenders to buy Yahoo,  who were recently entertaining the idea of a Merger with AOL, the China-based e-commerce giant could gain back control of its 43% stake held by Yahoo and make its splash in the U.S. market in one fell swoop.

As an online advertising giant, Yahoo is still an industry leader, despite the dismissal of its former CEO Carol Bartz’s ouster and intense competition from Google and Facebook.

Since Jack Ma said he is “interested” in buying Yahoo Inc. he has been approached by private-equity firms and others about a potential deal.

Ma let the “Cat Out Of The Bag” Friday to an audience at a “China 2.0″ event at Stanford University. After Mr. Ma’s comments, made Friday to an audience at a “China 2.0″ event at Stanford University, it wasn’t clear over the weekend whether Alibaba had taken formal steps toward a purchase of Yahoo.

Ma’s spokesman said about Mr Ma’s remarks,  “they speak for themselves.”

Of course, the Yahoo spokesperson has declined to comment.

Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos  unveiled their new tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, yesterday at a presentation in New York.

An impressive showing for the newest Kindle product that is a serious rival to the Apple iPad.

With great features, and a low price point, one of the most impressive things about this new Tablet  is the digital content that is immediately available with the Kindle Fire.

Thousands of Movies, Music, eBooks, all available through the Amazon Cloud, gives the Kindle Fire a marked advantage over the competition.

Video by The Guardian

The new Fire could quickly become the worlds virtual news stand. Another very exciting feature is content from Magazines. Within hours of the  official unveiling of the Kindle Fire tablet, Amazon revealed it has closed a series of deals with top publishers to bring magazines like Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire,  Glamour, GQ, Martha Stewart Living , People, and Sports Illustrated.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, “Negotiations between Amazon and publishers including Condé Nast, Hearst Corp. and Meredith Corp. went far more smoothly than earlier discussions with Apple  in part because Amazon has agreed to share more customer data, including subscribers’ names and addresses. The negotiations were “a very smooth process,” said Hearst Magazines general manager and executive vice president. “I think that Amazon had the benefit of listening to the broader market discussion during the last 18 months and came to publishers with a compelling story.”

Tech Specs:

• Display: 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.
• Size (in inches) 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm)
• Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams).

• System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer.
• On-device Storage 8GB internal. That’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.

• Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content

• Battery Life Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content.

• Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB.

• Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

• USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)

• Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers.

• Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.

• Documentation Quick Start Guide(included in box); Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device)

• Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the terms found here.

• Included in the Box Kindle Fire device, U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V), and Quick Start Guide.

Overall the Kindle Fire looks like a winner!

In a rare public speaking appearance, Google CEO Larry Page addressed the search engine king’s business partners at the annual Zeitgeist conference in Paradise Valley, Arizona, along with Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Page, obviously not the most comfortable public speaker, shared his enthusiasm for Google’s plans for the future in the key araes of:

• Search
• Social
• Mobile
• and even Driver-Less Cars.

Page says why Google is so successful comes down to two main points:

1. Having a User-Focus
2. The ability to quickly determine which ventures are successful

Page recalled his original idea to launch a search engine describing an experience from his college days at Stanford, where he pioneered research into the ranking of web pages. He said search engines at the time were lacking relevance, returning random pages based on search queries.

It’s All About The Users

“We went to the people who made these search engines and said, ‘Why are you doing that?’ And they said, ‘Well, this is user error. You shouldn’t have typed university.’ We’re like, ‘but I can’t possibly be wrong… I’m just a user, right?’ And they didn’t quite understand that, and that’s how we went on to build a search engine, because we realized nobody was focused on that.” Page goes on to say, “That’s true still for very many areas in the world. I still see a lot of areas where people don’t have that user focus and I think that’s true for most of computing right now.”

It’s all about the users, and providing a quality user experience. With this User-Focus philosophy, Google enjoys a search engine market share of around 65 percent, even some 13 years later.

On Google+, Sharing and Personalization

Now with a reported 50 Million Users and growing daily, Google+ is another major success.

Page said, “Understanding people better, understanding what you want, and personalizing that is very, very important. We want to build a closer relationship with all of our users. We want to integrate all our products so they’re easier to use, more intuitive, and we want to make sharing on the web happen like real-life.”

Is this for real, Mark Zuckerberg on Google+  I suppose it pays to keep tabs on the competition. I wonder if Larry and Sergey are on Facebook?

It’s been reported that then new  social network has grown30 percent between September 20 and 22. Since Google has invited everyone to join. With a big blue arrow on their home page, Google has racked up an impressive number of new sign ups.

Paul Allen, from Ancestry.com reported  his latest user count estimates, in a post on Google+

• On September 9, Google+ had 28.7 million users.
• By September 22, this had risen to 37.8 million, with most of the growth in the previous two days.
• Allen adds a “fudge factor” to account for private profiles and non-Roman surnames and finalizes his estimation at 43.4 million Google+ Users.

On the first day Google+ opened to the public they saw 3.58 million visitors from the U.S. alone, according to Experian Hitwise. While it’s a huge increase from their previous daily high of 321,000 U.S. Web visits, Facebook had over 50 times more visits that day. The Zuck shouldn’t be too worried yet.

They still have a way to go to catch Facebook, with an estimated 800,000 users. In the meantime Zuckerberg Google + Circle is growing (currently over 500,000).

Accounting Irregularities, or Creative Accounting may be the way to best describe what Groupon had originally highlighted in regulatory filings something it calls “adjusted consolidated segment operating income,” or adjusted CSOI. This Creative Accounting strategy may have been used to intentionally draw Investors and analysts attention away from the fact that the company is hemorrhaging money.

Then in a sudden turn around Friday, Groupon said, after discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it would change what it books as revenue, and will now only count as revenue its commission on sales, rather than the total value of an online coupon.

Up to now, when it sold a gift certificate for a business for $50, for example, it would book the full amount as revenue, without an offsetting entry for the percentage that went to the business owner. Oops, they forgot to track their expenses. Surely it must be merely an oversight?

This changes Groupon’s stated revenue for 2010 to a more realistic $312.9 million, down from the $713.4 million, as they previously reported. This is a major drop ( roughly 50%) in revenue, and will effect the overall value of the company.

Download A Copy of the latest Groupon SEC filing here > >
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

In the meantime, amidst this accounting debacle, chief operating officer Margo Georgiadis, is returning to Google where she served as vice president of global sales operations, after just 5 months on the job.  Groupon said on its official blog on Friday that Ms. Georgiadis was leaving the company to take a job as president of Google’s Americas business. Groupon Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason wrote in the blog posting, “This change won’t have an impact on operations.”

Georgiadis will assume the job which is currently held by Dennis Woodside at Google,to oversee the integration of Motorola Mobility Holdings, which Google is in the process of acquiring for $12.5 billion, and awaiting regulatory approval.

It’s been a revolving door for COO at Groupon, back in March, former Yahoo executive, President and COO Rob Solomon left suddenly for mysterious reasons.

So, what does this all mean for the future of Groupon. Well, as hungry investors are salivating for this IPO, it shouldn’t make a lot of difference in the scheme of things (in our humble opinion). Groupon is still the king of the Daily Deal sites, and the business model, which they pioneered, has proven to be a winner.

There’s no doubt that a Groupon IPO will Rock the Market much like LinkedIn, and probably surpass it. Go figure…

Download A Copy of the latest Groupon SEC filing here > >
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

iNetGlobal, Internet Service company, and a powerful force in Online Advertising comes roaring back. What’s the old expression, ” In like a Lion out like a Lamb?”  Well iNetGlobal has come Roaring back in like a Lion.

After a brief “Hiatus” iNetGlobal is back. Their new Acesse Search Engine is now consistently ranking in the top 500 web sites in the world, according to Alexa. Their iRewards program is really catching on as more people from around the world are discovering the advantages of searching with Acesse.Com.

iNetGlobal markets Online Services mainly to the (SMB) small and home based business market,  through independent sales consultants in a Direct Sales, or Network Marketing type structure, similar to Amway or Herbalife.

iNetGlobal, not unlike both Amway and Herbalife, who have gone through a reorganization, and have come back to become 2 of the biggest companies in the history of the Direct Sales industry, is on track to join the ranks of these top sales companies in the world.

While other “Me Too” competitors have popped up, no one can compare to iNetGlobal, who is in a class by itself. Now iNetGlobal is back and better than ever. Their proprietary AdView platform now hosts over 50,000 advertisers, from around the world, racking up millions of impressions.

The business is expanding Internationally with the bulk of new users in Asian, and Russian markets. As their revenues are steadily increasing this is a company to watch. The parent company Inter-Mark Corporation is starting to get the attention of Venture Capital groups, and has it’s sights set on a possible IPO in the next 2 years.

This is definitely a company to watch!

iNetGlobal is Back!

An investment group led by Yunfeng Capital, Silver Lake and Digital Sky Technologies Global, and Singaporean investment fund Temasek Holdings has agreed to invest $1.6 billion in China-based Alibaba Group Holding, China’s largest e-commerce group.

Yunfeng Capital, includes Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma as one of its founders.  Hangzhou-based Alibaba operates China’s largest e-commerce website.

The investment would give Alibaba an enterprise valuation of around $32 billion. “They (Alibaba employees) are anxious for some sort of IPO, so it’s wise of Jack Ma to give these guys some liquidity,” said Michael Clendenin, managing director of Shanghai-based technology consultancy RedTech Advisors.

“This doesn’t add investment to Alibaba because Alibaba doesn’t need it. It’s just a swap that certainly takes pressure off IPO in the near term.”

Reuters Melanie Lee has reported: “The move may also help Ma in his quest to buy back a portion of all of Yahoo Inc’s stake in his company as Silver Lake was reportedly considering a bid for Yahoo.”

“Silver Lake is looking at Yahoo as a buyout target so to be closer to Jack and really see what he’s thinking makes a lot of sense. They may want to know what Jack be willing to pay for a part of Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba,” Clendenin said.

It was reported earlier this month that Silver Lake may be considering a bid for Yahoo. The Yahoo’s Asian assets, which includes it’s 40 percent stake in Alibaba, would make it an easier acquisition target. Yahoo is currently worth about $17 billion, has had a tumultuous relationship with Ma under its former chief executive Carol Bartz. Japanese technology company Softbank Corp also owns about 30 percent of Alibaba Group.

This latest move seems to be aimed at increasing liquidity options for employees.

“This liquidity program will allow our people to focus on growing our business and continuing to create value,” Ma said in a statement. “We believe the high-quality investors making commitments to this important program share our mission and philosophy, and we welcome them as shareholders of the company.”

Investors in Yunfeng Capital include, Chinese sportswear maker Dongxiang Group, with $100 million, and Chinese online game developer Giant Interactive will also invested $50 million.

Alibaba Group also operates Taobao and Taobao Mall.  Alibaba.com shares rose as much as nearly 7 percent on the news before closing up 2.8 percent.

The Stingray Mobile Tracking device by Florida-based defense contractor Harris Corp is causing a lot of controversy, raising questions about whether this type of device violates Constitutional rights.

Recently in the news, a Stingray was used to track a wanted fugitive, known as “The Hacker“to his home.

The Scary thing is that this devise is designed to locate a mobile phone even when it’s not being used to make a call.

Law enforcement, in particular the (FBI) Federal Bureau of Investigation considers these type of high tech devices to be a critical weapon in its investigative arsenal.

The Stingray’s role in nabbing the alleged “Hacker” could be a test of the legal standards for using these devices in investigations. The FBI claims it obtains appropriate court approval to use the device.

Stingrays are just one of several new technologies used by law enforcement to track a person’s location, are often used without a search warrant. These questionable techniques are driving a constitutional debate about the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, but which was written long before the digital age, is keeping pace with the current technology.

“The Hacker” aka Daniel David Rigmaiden, will be in U.S. District Court of Arizona. Judge David G. Campbell will hear a request by Mr. Rigmaiden’s defense team to have information about the government’s secret techniques disclosed to him so he can use it in his defense. Mr. Rigmaiden, who maintains his innocence, says that using stingrays to locate devices in homes without a valid warrant “disregards the United States Constitution” and is illegal.

Click To Enlarge

The Stingray works by mimicking a cellphone tower, getting a phone to connect to it and measuring signals from the phone.

It lets the stingray operator “ping,” or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on. The device has various uses in addition to helping law enforcement locate suspects, including aiding search-and-rescue teams in finding people lost in remote areas or buried in rubble after an accident. Scary Stuff Indeed!