Category: Microsoft BizSpark Embraces Startups With Free Software, Services

Microsoft is launching a new program called BizSpark to encourage startups to build on their stack this morning.
Virtually everything a startup needs to build a web service (many of the tools and software compete with open source alternatives, such as MySQL) is being offered to startups for free for three years. The program, run by […]

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted July 30, 2002, was a classic case of a knee-jerk government action that did lots of harm and very little good. The goal was to reform public company accounting rules to avoid future scandals like those that played out at Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. But the practical effect […]

Rumor has it that Finnish social e-commerce startup Fruugo is burning through a heap of cash, both hiring and firing employees at a rapid pace and dealing with some disappointed potential customers. Caveat: the service hasn’t even been launched yet.
Actually, Fruugo seems to have delayed its launch date a number of times already, although at […]

a study by Anderson Analytics confirms what everyone already suspects: LinkedIn users are rich.
Nearly 60% of users have incomes of $93,000 or more. Executives with an average income of $104,000 make up 28% of the 2,000 random users polled for the study. Another 30% are self-identified “consultants” with an average income of $93,000.
People […]

CNN emails to tell us they brought in 27 million unique visitors to their site on election day yesterday, a record. Comscore says they averaged just 5 million unique daily visitors in September, so this is more than 5x normal traffic.
The site also generated an astounding 276 million page views. An average day on […]

Mobuzz, one of the more popular online shows to come out of Europe, has run out of money. But instead of bowing out, the site is turning to its users and asking for a €5 donation (or the equivalent in your local currency). The goal? 120,000 Euros by next week, which Mobuzz […]

Everything awesome always happens in Japan first. Even, it seems, when it involves an American startup. Digital Garage, Twitter’s partner with Twitter Japan, launched Twicco, a site that lets Twitter users create groups and then subscribe to them.
Loic Le Meur got a demo, and the video is below. Twicco is available now in Japanese […]

Okay, now he won. CNN is projecting 306 338 349 electoral votes for Obama. McCain just gave his concession speech. We’ll all be eating Obama O’s for breakfast tomorrow.
Obama O’s

 
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Here is Obama’s victory speech, which we streamed live over UStreamTV:
Crunch Network: […]

CNN is cool. In addition to the huge touchscreen “Magic Wall” (which was originally military technology), CNN’s Wolf Blitzer gets to play with Holograms today during their coverage of the presidential elections.
CNN’s Jessica Yellin is the guinea pig, appearing virtually with Blitzer.
I have no idea why Yellin doesn’t just go to the studio instead […]

If you are going to use someone else’s artwork for your avatar, stay clear of Takashi Murakami’s stuff or you may be receiving a shakedown letter asking you for $500.
A member of a poker site called twoplustwo named Mephisto uses one of Murakami’s images (And Then, And Then And Then And Then And Then Blue […]