News Byte

TasteMakerX Raises $1.8M for Mobile Social App Platform

TastemakerX, a San Francisco start-up that is developing a social mobile platform focused on “targeted taste graphs,” said it had raised $1.8 million in funding from a variety of venture firms, including Guggenheim Partners, Baseline Ventures, True Ventures and Tekton Ventures, as well as angel investors. The company said it will release its TastemakerX Music mobile app as a private beta in early March 2012.

Here’s Gowalla CEO’s Non-Denial Denial Email to Investors About Facebook Acquisition

Let’s put this one in the “done” column, shall we?
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Marc Andreessen vs. Reid Hoffman in Yahoo Savior Face-Off? Not Yet. (But Delicious to Imagine.)

Whoa, Nelly! How fantastic would it be for Silicon Valley tech legends Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman to battle for control of Yahoo? Too fantastic to actually happen. But one can hope.
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Former Color Co-Founder Peter Pham Heads to Former Myspace CEO’s L.A. Tech Studio (Video)

The well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur joins Mike Jones at Science.
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Exclusive: Zynga’s Van Natta Moves to Strategic Adviser; Feld Off Board, Paul In

Big changes at the online social gaming phenom as it gets ready to go public.

First Class Ticket: Social Travel Start-Up Gogobot Raises $15M in Funding at $70M Valuation

Around the world in $15 million.
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Asana Launches to Public — Finally Moving Out of Private Beta

In Sanskrit, “asana” means “sitting down” and refers to strong but relaxed postures in yoga, presumably so frustrated workers can achieve a digital form of nirvana.
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Gogobot Goes Mobile With New iPhone App

The innovative social travel site Gogobot is unveiling its iPhone app today.
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CrunchFund? Unethical Ventures? Pig Pile Partners? No Matter What You Call It, It’s Business as Usual in Silicon Valley.

It’s a giant, filthy mud puddle of conflicts of interest in Silicon Valley, but everybody’s in the cesspool, it seems.
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Take the Money and Run? Twitter Shareholders Now Mulling Cash-Out Offer From DST.

To sell or not to sell any of their shares is the question facing Twitter stakeholders right now, as the second $400 million part of the company’s funding by Russia’s DST Global nears completion.
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