Samsung Electronics is rumored to be working on a smart watch product known as the Galaxy Altius. The Altius would compete against the rumored Apple iWatch. It is unknown when the Altius would arrive. According to a Korean message board, the Altius is definitely coming though.
The “Scroogled” campaign continues as Microsoft has released an ad that shows Gmail reads your e-mail in order to generate contextual ads. The ad encourages viewers to switch from Gmail to Outlook.com.
Vimeo is a video sharing website that is known for hosting crisp HD video. The company has acquired Echograph, a popular iPhone and iPad app developed by Clear-Media. Echograph lets you build creative videos that look like animated GIFs. After the acquisition is completed, Vimeo will most likely make the $2.99 Echograph app free. The Echograph team will be reporting to Vimeo president Dae Mellencamp. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Kickstarter has launched a new iOS app that lets users follow projects as they get funded and search for new projects. “The app is a whole new way to experience Kickstarter. We took things we’ve learned from the past three years of building the site, and applied them to a total redesign for the iPhone,” stated Kickstarter CEO Yancey Stickler.
Method is a Toronto-based CRM company that has raised $3 million led by Klass Capital. The company plans to use the funding to redesign their platform and to make their service compatible with bookkeeping software like Wave, FreshBooks, Intaact, and Xero. Method currently works with Intuit QuickBooks.
Jim Balsillie is the former co-CEO of BlackBerry (formerly known as Research In Motion) that sold off all of his stake in the company according to a regulatory filing. About a year ago, Balsillie was the largest shareholder in the company with 26.8 million shares. Balsillie was the co-CEO of the company with Mike Lazaridis.
Mambu is a microfinance technology company that has raised $2 million in Series A funding from Runa Capital and Point Nine Capital. Kizoo Technology Ventures also participated in this round. Based in Berlin, Mambu said that this round of funding will be used to expand their team of microfinance experts. They will also use the funding to grow their global community and further develop their product. Mambu has offices in Germany, Spain, and Romania. Mambu operates as a software-as-a-service company for the global microfinance community.
Samsung Electronics has released a new series of feature phones called REX. The REX line of phones works with the company’s TouchWiz user interface, but they will not come bundled with Android. Almost every Samsung smartphone that has been released over the last several years works with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. The Samsung REX is based on Java and will compete against the Nokia Asha line of phones. Nokia launched 12 Asha phones in the past 12 months. Nokia has sold 16 million Asha phones in the second half of 2012.
