University of Pennsylvania

When Autonomous Flying Robots Fail (Video)

Liz Gannes in News on March 2 at 11:05 am PT

Heard of the amazing flying-robot TED talk? Here’s the flying robot blooper reel.

News Byte

Academic Social Network Raises Cash From Former Facebook Exec and Others

Tricia Duryee in Social on January 2 at 10:57 am PT

New York-based Coursekit, a social network for instructors to manage courses and interact with students, has raised $5 million in a first round. The round was led by Social+Capital Partnership, a firm started by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya. Existing investor IA Ventures and new angel investors also participated. Coursekit, which became available in November, was founded by Joseph Cohen, 20, and two other undergraduate students at University of Pennsylvania.

Voices

For the Person Who Has It All, Skyara Sells New Stuff to Experience (Video)

Drake Martinet, Associate Editor, All Things Digital in News on December 10, 2010 at 10:10 am PT

What do you get for the person with everything this holiday season? Start-up Skyara lets users offer unique experiences for sale in their local area and share what they do best with those who want something new in their lives.

With AdMob Out of the Way, Is Google Set to Buy Invite Media?

Peter Kafka in Media on May 23, 2010 at 1:05 pm PT

Now that Google has wrapped up its AdMob deal, what’s next on its shopping list? One good bet: Ad tech start-up Invite Media. Industry sources believe Google is close to a deal for Invite, a three-year-old “demand-side platform” designed to help buyers navigate ad exchanges–like the one Google launched last year.

Google Co-Founder Larry Page’s Advice to the Class of 2009: “Be More Lazy!”

Peter Kafka in Media on May 19, 2009 at 8:39 am PT

It’s back-to-school time for Google’s executive team, which is fanning out across college campuses to impart words of wisdom to the classes of 2009. Via Google’s YouTube, here are clips of co-founder Larry Page, CEO Eric Schmidt (twice!) and search boss Marissa Mayer. And some bonus advice, circa 1967.