Entrepreneurs still have 3 weeks left to apply for the TechStars-powered Kinect Accelerator, which will incubate startups built off the Kinect’s motion and voice control. The program takes place in Seattle from March to May. In exchange for 6% common equity, startups receive $20,000 in equity investment. Plus, Microsoft will provide Kinect hardware, the SDK…
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Microsoft is taking control. Just as Apple stores showcase Apple products better than any other retail outlet, Microsoft is betting that their shiny new storefronts will better engage customers, create fans and move more Microsoft product. Within the past few weeks, the technology giant has had ribbon cutting ceremonies at many locations from California to…
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If you’re tired of sifting and searching through stores on and offline for your next prized possession, post an ad on reverse classified site Pikaba (no, it’s not a Pokémon). Pikaba, demoing at Tech Cocktail’s inaugural Seattle event is a marketplace where consumers create requests to buy products or services. Think of it as a…
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During my years as a turn-around guy, I’ve boarded many an un-seaworthy, leaky vessel. This has afforded me the opportunity to be responsible for more sunken ships than the entire WWII German u-boat fleet. You see, sometimes the boat comes about when you push the tiller, and other times it continues full speed ahead into…
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There are so many reasons why America needs to break the shackles of big oil interests and move to renewable green energy. It isn’t just about saving the environment, and it’s not about wordsmithing and morphing global warming to the more energy company-friendly term climate change. It’s about retooling an economy and starting the next…
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Entrepreneur William Liang jokes that Hong Kong is like the dystopian city in the movie Metropolis: businessmen in finance and real estate live in the glitzy limelight, while most of the city is toiling underground to support them. And tech startups are down there, too, not part of the public face of Hong Kong. “Tech…
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As the world becomes increasingly complex and information-intensive, organizations need a way to make sense of data and harness it to solve the problems of the future. Predictive analysis startup Quid is helping organizations do just that. Quid creates analytical software for companies, NGOs, banks and funds. Using open source intelligence, Quid captures data, structures it,…
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Time flies when you are having fun! That’s exactly what it feels like as we approach Tech Cocktail’s 5 year birthday in just a few short weeks on Thursday, July 21st. It seems like just yesterday that we put out a simple blog post and the community rallied around it to attend and show off…
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Culture is becoming more and more a part of the everyday conversation when it comes to starting and running a business. Culture – we’re not talking about what’s hot in pop culture or which celebrities are getting married to whom, but more the large cultural shifts that are happening within organizations. Mark Drapeau of Microsoft…
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With the news this week of Microsoft’s purchase of Skype, the conversation around video conferencing and its business applications is now focused on what’s next. How is the space evolving and changing to meet an increasing demand of online collaboration? How are companies maximizing opportunities to further their enterprise objectives? How far is the socialization…
Read MoreAt our Tech Cocktail SXSW event, aside from showcasing 30 startups which were finalist of the SXSW Accelerator program (see the winners) Microsoft’s mobile development team put three mobile developers to the test as part of a Mobile App Smackdown (think Iron Chef for mobile application development). Working in partnership with Cooliris’s LiveShare photo sharing…
Read MoreYesterday, there was a report from AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher that Google may be taking a close look at acquiring Chicago-based social shopping startup Groupon. This is not the first time there have been reports on a Groupon acquisition, as there were similar reports of a Yahoo offer of $3 to $4 billion this past summer….
Read MoreFor those who weren’t able to attend the Tech Cocktail Startup Mixology Conference, here’s what you missed: a lot. The great news is that I’ve written a detailed play-by-play of the entire day, we’ve got plenty of photos and there are videos coming as well. After a brief introduction from conference co-host, Frank Gruber, Doejo…
Read MoreLast Thursday night we followed up the Startup Mixology Conference with a classic Tech Cocktail mixer featuring 15 startups. The room was filled with daily deals, advertising platforms, social networks, several hundred people as well as a few ghosts and goblins. Sprint, our fall tour sponsor, was also on hand, giving out 4G Hot Spot…
Read MoreMicrosoft made waves as CEO Steve Ballmer spoke at CES 2010 about the Windows Phone 7 and we caught our first glimpse of it at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this past February. We then went on to work with Microsoft to host a couple of Tech Cocktail mobile events in DC and Chicago which…
Read MoreMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked with the WSJ recently and shared his thoughts on the upcoming release of the Windows 7 Phone in a Q&A interview. From wallstreetjournal.com On Oct. 11, Microsoft and its partners plan to announce the initial wave of handsets that will use Windows Phone 7, a thoroughly overhauled version of the…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More