“WordPress for Crowdfunding,” Crowdhoster Makes Payments a Form of Communication

“Crowdfunding is too powerful to be for gadgets and celebrities raising money for passion projects.”
CrowdTilt CEO James Beshara

Viral Video: Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” Web-Only Commercial Sets Off Debate

Beauty is apparently still in the eye of the beholder.

News Byte

Belly Now Aims Its Loyalty Platform at National Enterprise Businesses

Chicago-based Belly said it was rolling out its customer loyalty and marketing platform to larger national enterprise clients. The startup has been aimed at the consumer market and smaller businesses since its launch in 2011, focused on increasing customer engagement, driving repeat business and helping attract new customers. Belly said it has been working with 40 national chains representing more than 500 current locations, using a system that includes a tech platform, an in-store tablet, analytics and marketing, as well as helping clients do email campaigns, social media integration and other mobile marketing.

Lerer Ventures Hires an Obama Electioneer to Run Its Incubator

Meet Ashley Arenson, Soho Tech Labs’ new general manager.

News Byte

Wikimedia Raised $25M So Far in Annual Wikipedia Fundraiser

The Wikimedia Foundation said it had raised $25 million “in record time” during its ninth annual yearly Wikipedia fundraiser, with 1.2 million users donating. The San Francisco non-profit operates Wikipedia online encyclopedia and uses the funds to keep it ad-free, as well as “maintain server infrastructure, support global projects to increase the number of editors, improve and simplify the software that supports our projects, and make Wikipedia accessible globally to billions of people who are just beginning to access the Internet. The campaign runs through the end of 2012.

Unpredictable, Agile, and Short

Campaigns are serious tests of your creativity and foresight. They are unpredictable, agile, and short — an 18 month, $1 billion, essentially disposable organization. Hackers can thrive in an environment like that, to a point where I’m not sure anyone else really can. Everything is over far too quickly to get boring.

Scott VanDenPlas, lead DevOps for Obama, in an email to Ars Technica about the relative IT efficiencies of the Obama and Romney campaigns

TrueCar CEO: Disrupting the Car-Buying Process Nearly Drove It Out of Business (Video)

It may sound impossible, but TrueCar’s founder and CEO, Scott Painter, says he knows what it’s like to drive prices too low.

How Many Techies Does It Take to Reelect a President? T4O Launches “Innovator Series” Videos for Obama.

Technology4Obama puts its mouth where its mouth is.

Viral Video: A Pit Bull Is Delicious!

Federated Media Buys Lijit Networks