Why Can’t This Breathtaking Game Get Funded on Kickstarter? (Update: Funded!)

Throw Trucks With Your Mind promises to turn gamers into Jedi … if it can raise enough dough, and fast.

News Byte

Tablet Reading Apps Zite, Pulse Strike Publisher Deals

More tablet experimentation from publishers, this time via reading apps Pulse and Zite. Pulse, which already offered readers excerpts from Bonnier’s Popular Science magazine, will now be doing that with 20 other Bonnier titles. And Zite will be bringing content from eight publishers — including VentureBeat, CNN and AOL’s Huffington Post — to its apps.

Following Path Address Book Uproar, Many Apps Clean Up Their Acts

App makers, including giants like Twitter and Yelp, say they are updating the way they ask for users’ permission to share their contacts.

News Byte

Update: Peek Kills Off Devices, but Nabs $15 Million in Funding

Just yesterday, it was reported that Peek Inc. was killing its email-and-Twitter-friendly handset devices. Today, VentureBeat says that Peek has raised $15 million, confirmed by CEO Amol Sarva, to help fund an aggressive expansion of its cloud platform for low-end feature phones in Asia.

Talking Mobile With Google’s Jason Spero and AOL’s David Temkin

In two recent onstage interviews, AllThingsD‘s Ina Fried had a chance to put top mobile executives from AOL and Google in the hotseat. And just like the NFL, we have video replay.

PayPal Enables Peer-to-Peer Payments on Android With NFC

According to Laura Chambers, the senior director of PayPal Mobile who appeared at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference in San Francisco today, the company has doubled its mobile payments projections to $3 billion this year, and is investing heavily in new ways to make it easy to pay with the phone.

ATT Technology Chief Insists T-Mobile Deal Won’t Stifle Innovation

AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan said the $39 billion deal offers one of the few short-term ways to improve use of limited spectrum, a key driver for innovation.

Verizon: We Haven’t Hit Many Speed Bumps With LTE Launch

The early speed bumps have been few and far between, Verizon Wireless VP Nicola Palmer said, speaking on Monday at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit.

TapJoy CEO: Apple App Store Changes Won’t Shut Us Down

The changes that Cupertino has made to its App Store rankings have thrown it for a loop, but CEO Mihir Shah said he is convinced his company will find a way for its promotion mechanisms to peacefully co-exist with Apple’s desires to keep people from gaming its system. “I think we are very early in the market,” Shah said. “We are going to have to tack a few ways.”

Twitter Looks to Rebuild its Mobile Experience, Hints at New Developer Opportunities

Speaking at a conference on Monday, Twitter engineering VP Michael Abbott says that after spending last year trying to improve overall reliability, one of this year’s main thrusts will be improving its various mobile applications. Abbott also hinted that the company plans to offer third parties new ways to work within Twitter and not just by developing on top of the microblogging service.

Kara Visits Demo09!