Work4 Labs has raised $11 million in funding. The company focuses on helping you find a job through Facebook through Facebook Pages. The $11 million Series A funding was led by Matrix Partners. They are joined by DST’s Yuri Milner, former Monster.com president Steve Pogorzelski, and Hearsay Social co-founder and CEO Clara Shih.
Monster has developed an app called BeKnown that turns Facebook into a professional networking tool. The app is scheduled for release on Monday, and will bring Monster’s job search functions to Facebook’s social networking capabilities. The app is a challenge to other companies like LinkedIn, because BeKnown allows users to run their professional persona through Facebook, a website they already use. The app is also different because, as Mashable reports, users can follow companies and collect badges for goals like college graduations.
1. Twitter has announced a new feature called Hovercards. Hovercards appear when you put the mouse over a username or avatar and it displays additional details about that user. This will make it easy to follow, RT, and DM users. [Twitter Blog]
2. uTorrent 2.0 has been announced. The updated version is only applicable to Windows as of right now. The new version includes bug fixes, improved performance, bandwidth regulation, and UDP support. [Lifehacker]
3. SEGA has revealed that Project Needlemouse is Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Sonic 4 will be in 2D and will continue from the last Sonic and Knuckles game. The game will be available on PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, and WiiWare this summer. [Hellforge]
4. Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has sold off HotJobs to Monster.com for $225 million in cash. Monster will continue to power Yahoo job listings for 3 years as part of the deal. Yahoo! bought HotJobs for $436 million in 2001. [TechCrunch]
5. Wikileaks is a website that started in 2006 with the goal of hosting leaked government documents. Wikileaks gained a lot of attention when 9/11 pager messages and Guantanamo Bay manuals were leaked. Wikileaks raised about $200,000 as part of a fund-raising goal to stay operational, but the company is seeking an additional $400,000 to pay staff members. The funding was announced via Twitter: “Achieved min. funraising goal. ($200k/600k); we’re back fighting for another year, even if we have to eat rice to do it.” [Telegraph]
6. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) has acquired a New York based company called Touchco. Touchco develops touchscreen technology and will be merged with the hardware division for the Amazon.com Kindle. Touchco’s interpolating touch technology can be made transparent and work with color LCD screens. It can also detect an unlimited number of touch points. Touchco can achieve this at lower costs than the estimated iPad/iPhone screens (or $10 per square foot). [Engadget/NYT]
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNST) has fully acquired all of ChinaHR.com. Monster acquired the remaining 55% stake for $174 million. Monster believes that buying the rest of ChinaHR will give them a leg up on the job recruitment market in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Monster paid $95 million for 45% of the company in the past. This past year, Monster also acquired Trovix for $72.5 million.
“This is a significant day for Monster and ChinaHR and the customers we serve,” stated Sal Iannuzzi, Chairman, President, and CEO of Monster. “Independently, each company is a respected industry leader and together we will provide employers in China with increased recruitment productivity, by
delivering more qualified candidates to help fulfill their talent needs. This acquisition will create one of the most comprehensive portfolios of products and services that bridge the gulf between employers and people in search of the best career opportunities.”
ChinaHR has 12 offices across China. Edward Lo will become interim CEO of ChinaHR through the acquisition. Lo is the former EVP of Monster Greater China.
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNST) acquired Tickle.com for roughly $70 million. Tickle is a career social networking site packed full with quizzes and surveys revolving around career assessments. Tickle.com owns Ringo, a photo/video site that was created by the founder of Bebo and sold it in 2003. Tickle.com also owns LoveHappens, a dating website.Â
Ringo and LoveHappens were managed by Affinity Labs, a network of career sites that Monster bought in January 2008. But then Ringo and LoveHappens shut down in two months ago too.
Monster.com is laying off 30-35 employees by the end of June and is shutting down Tickle. This is an e-mail that was sent out to Tickle.com users:
Dear Tickle User,
We will be shutting down Tickle as of June 30th 2008. You will no longer be able to access your saved test results after that date. If you would like to keep your test results, please print them out before that date. Many thanks for your understanding!
This email is for informational purposes solely and will be sent only once. There is no action required from your side, you don’t have to delete your user account or cancel your subscription; Tickle will do this for you. You will no longer be invoiced beyond June 30th 2008 if you have a paid subscription for our PhD tests. This is an electronically generated email. Please do not reply to this email, as it will not be answered. If you have any further questions, please consult our support team at support@uk.tickle.com.” Copyright 2008 Tickle, inc. All rights reserved. 799 Market St, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103
Tickle.com was formerly known as Emode.com and was started in 1999 by James Currier.Â
From what I’ve read about LoveHappens, users are upset that it is shutting down because it was a paid site. TechCrunch wrote about the rumor of Tickle.com/LoveHappens/Ringo shutting down two months ago and one commenter stated:
What bastards, I’ve spent quite a bit of money, being a paid member, over the years on lovehappens, achieve their supposed member for life status, and now they shut down.
When I was in between jobs for the last few months, I found myself uploading my resume on Monster.com. Little did I know that it could potentially fall into the wrong hands: hackers, or in the context of computer networking, “crackers” and “phishers.” Researchers at Symantec Corporation plundered the user names and passwords from recruiters searching for job candidates.
“What phishers are trying to do these days is make them as realistic as possible, by adding specific information,” stated Patrick Martin, a product manager at Symantec Corp. “If they know you’ve submitted a resume to Monster, that makes it (seem) a little more legitimate.”
While this is a tremendous flaw in security, I could only imagine how much of a field day computer networking companies are having with this story. From Monster.com’s shoes, I could imagine them thinking that this is not the first time user data has been exposed[1].
However, Monster.com has just released a security notice on their website, so all users beware of fraudulent e-mails from recruiters. Below is a screen shot of Monster.com’s security notice:
[1] Totse.com: Bill Wall’s List of Computer Hacker Incidents
