Pink Eye – Conjunctivitis

Google Chromebook works great as long as you’re on the web.Late last year, Google gave laptop prototypes to a few thousand chosen customers. Google was soliciting feedback for your Chromebook, a “cloud,” or Internet-based, machine meant to buck the status quo of personal computing long propagated by Microsoft and Apple. The Chromebook’s underpinning is Google’s Chrome operating system software that resembles and behaves a lot like the Chrome Web browser. The pitch: Your apps, documents, settings and other information might be securely stored in cyberspace and accessible from any Chrome computer.Google warned testers at the time that the pilot notebook was “not for your faint of heart.” So true.The very first Chromebook models, from Acer and Samsung, went on sale Wednesday at Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. Acer’s Chromia-branded Chromebook models include a Wi-Fi-only version for $349.99 and a Wi-Fi-plus-3G version for $429.99. Samsung’s versions are the Series five Wi-Fi model for $429.99 and the $499.99 Series five with 3G ?a the model I’ve put by the paces.Google-backed Xunlei postpones Nasdaq.Shenzen, China-based Xunlei had planned to start meetings with investors to gauge demand for its IPO on June 17, stated IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.

Facebook Losing Divvyshot Founder, Photo Lead Just after Just A Year.In April 2010, Facebook quickly swooped in and bought the Y Combinator-backed Divvyshot when they were inside the midst of raising an angel round of funding. The reason why was clear: the small team had produced a cool site for sharing photos with groups, something Facebook was going to be focusing on. But it was a pure talent acqusition, Facebook’s speciality. And it was founder Sam Odio in particular that they have been interested in.That’s why it’s surprising that now, just above a year later, he’s leaving Facebook.We heard the news today and reached out to Facebook to confirm. But I think they’re mad at us for some reason. No matter, Odio’s own going-away party page on Facebook confirms the move. (We’ve also reached out to Odio about why he’s leaving and what he’s up to subsequent, but have yet to hear back.)

PopBooth: A *Real* Photo Booth For iPhone/iPad From The Postagram Guys.When it comes to photo apps, some with the first to hit involved recreating old school photo booths. It was (and remains) an awesome, if not obvious, idea. The proliferation of front-facing cameras on smartphones only accelerated this trend. But those apps tend to come up short in one very important way: you don’t get the actual print-outs in the pictures you take! With PopBooth, that’s exactly what you’ll get.PopBooth could be the second app the Sincerely team are going to be releasing soon (in a couple of weeks). You may recall Sincerely as the team behind Postagram, the brilliant app that turns your most effective Instagram images into postcards on the go. PopBooth takes what they’ve already learned about printing out pictures and transfers it to this new concept.

Investors Flock To Boston To See TechStars’ 12 Cool New Startups (Here’s A Peek)Today, seed fund and accelerator, TechStars, put on its Demo Day in Boston to debut 12 new companies towards the planet. Investors came in from far and wide to vet these young startups and to potentially take out their checkbooks. TechStars estimates that more than 350 VC and angel traders were on hand for what General Partner at Spark Capital Bijan Sabet called the most effective class of Boston startups yet.In just five years, TechStars has grown significantly in both size and reputation, and though every startup accelerator will tell you that it offers valuable assistance for the startups it takes under its wing, TechStars now has some interesting information to back that up. Based on the accelerator’s results, seven in the 1st twenty companies to go via its program have been acquired by larger companies, and about 70 percent of its companies have raised follow-on funding or have since grow to be profitable.

Yahoo Tries Its Hand At Mobile App Search.If apps replace the mobile web, and along with it, traditional search, then the search engines need to figure out how to adapt. Yahoo is taking a tiny step towards embracing mobile apps with a few new products for searching apps. It is launching both iPhone and Android apps for app discovery, as well as desktop app search experience.The iPhone app is called Yahoo! AppSpot, and I’ve been trying it out a little. AppSpot is about app discovery, much like Chomp, Appsfire, or Disrupt startup Do@. It scans your apps so that it won;t show you apps you already have in results, and also takes into account what you own to show related apps. AppSpot gives you daily recommendations in various categories (music, games, news, social networking, travel, utilities) with the now-familiar slot-machine rolling UI. It also lets you search for apps by keyword, and returns results based on title, description, popularity, and other factors.

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FunChat Combines Text, Chat, Pranks, Virtual Goods, And Social Gaming All In One Free App.FunMobility, the makers of FunMail, a picture-messaging app that organically pairs your texts with appropriate (and fun) images, FunTones, a large collection of funny ringtones, and FunMe, a suite of tools for consumers to create, share, and post their own user-generated content, is clearly striving for a particular brand message. I think it has something to do with fun. Today, FunMobility introduces a new app to its menagerie of fun, called FunChat, which blends chat, multiplayer HTML5 games, virtual currency, rewards and achievements into a realtime user experience for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android.

WAYN’s Pivot Pays Off As Traffic Triples – Can Euro Networks Thrive Against Facebook?Will be the recession over? Are people really really hitting the globe-trotting trails again? Looks like it if news out of WAYN, the travel and lifestyle portal-turned-social-network which has pivoted several times since its launch in 2003 (making it one of your worlds oldest networks).Back in 2009 they hit 15 million members and introduced a new feature allowing member sot share their long term plans – intention broadcasting as it’s known inside the trade. It’s likely this was the most beneficial pivot of all to date.In those two years they’ve now grown towards a total of 17 million members. But more significantly they’ve been iterating the site to the point where now, they say, the site is generating a new traffic high of more than 12.5 million monthly visits, putting it above TripIt and Tripwolf, and neck and neck with Lonely Planet (according to Alexa figures). That’s a tripling of development since their 3.7 million figure in December 2010.

The Panasonic Toughbook Android Tablet Can Handle Job Sites, War Zones, And Daycares.Tablets tend to become delicate devices, most comfortable being used on a cushy couch or over the safety of a study table. But not the just-announced Panasonic Toughbook Android tablet. It’s a Toughbook product and brings along years of design innovations that allows it to live inside the real world. It is, perhaps, the world’s first blue-collar Android tablet.Nothing is missing. The Toughbook tablet has everything you’d expect in a modern tablet: GPS, full-shift battery life, 3G/4G options, but also a bright, daylight viewable 10.1-inch XGA matte screen compatible with an included active stylus. Since it’s a Toughbook product, not obtaining a protective, glossy shield over the screen probably won’t be an issue. This isn’t Panasonic’s first go at a rugged tablet.

WAR! Zynga Sues The Hell Out Of Brazilian Clone Vostu.Let’s be clear – it is one thing to become inspired by Zynga games, but it is entirely different to copy all of our crucial product features, product strategy, branding, mission statement and employee benefits lock, stock and barrel. We welcome Vostu into the arena of social games, but blatant infringement of our creative works is not an acceptable business enterprise strategy?ait is actually a violation with the law. -Reggie Davis, General Counsel.That’s Zynga’s statement about a lawsuit they just filed against a well funded Brazilian startup – Vostu – for copyright infringement. Vostu has raised $45.9 million from Intel Capital, General Catalyst, Accel and others.What did Vostu do? According to the lawsuit, they exist nearly solely to copy Zynga games. Not just the idea, but nearly every game mechanic, virtual item, and storyline. From the complaint filed today within the Northern District of California federal court: Vostu has brazenly appropriated the copyright-protected aspects of Zynga’s games(as well as just about every other aspect of Zynga’s enterprise) – with scant effort to mask their strategy- and then offered games virtually identical to Zynga’s games to prospective players within the United States and elsewhere.