Australian Ride-Sharing Marketplace Jayride.com Grabs $400K In Angel Funding

Australian-based travel marketplace Jayride.com has lined up $400,000 AUD in seed funding for its ride-sharing service, which also aggregates transportation data. The angel funding was led by Andrey Shirben, one of the first investors in Kenshoo, a digital marketing software company. In addition to helping in the financing, Shirben will also bring his digital marketing expertise to assist the company, as well as connect Jayride with other players in the global travel sector.

Compared with other current ride-sharing and carpooling startups, Jayride’s unique angle is to provide a single interface for finding all your transportation options, including commercial transport, and combining that data with the available ride-sharing options. This way, travelers will never be in a situation where they research a route and end up without options. Instead, when there are no ride-shares found on your planned route, Jayride will show you bus schedules, shuttles, relocation cars and other transportation options.

Shirben tells us that the angel round was supposed to be for $350,000 AUD, but after he put his money in, it became overbooked by 30-40%. Within a year, Jayride plans to raise another round led by a U.S. VC firm, as it prepares to expand its geographical transport data coverage.

“Jayride is the only land-transport marketplace attacking ride-sharing this way,” says Shirben of the startup’s transport data aggregation play. “There are many ride-sharing startups around the world, but almost every one fails this simple UX test: if you search from point A to point B outside a main thoroughfare, you find no search results. This is the main limitation of ride-sharing today.”

Shirben says that after meeting the Jayride founding team, and following up over the course of a few months, the decision to invest was an easy one. “Great team, disruptive idea, lots of business potential in a huge market,” he remarks.

Founded in 2008 by Rod Bishop and Ross Lin as a carpooling site, Jayride made the move to aggregate all travel data last fall. The service currently supports Australia, New Zealand, and is coming soon to the U.K. and Ireland.

Denise Richards Turns 41: Why She's a Great Single Mom

Denise Richards may be most recognized by her stunning baby blues, but one thing this former supermodel prides herself on is her life as a mother!

As mom to three daughters, Sam, 7, and Lola, 6 (with ex-husband Charlie Sheen) and Eloise Joni (who she adopted in July), 7 months, the star, who turns 41 Friday, knows that she has a long and obstacle-ridden road ahead of her as they grow up.

So when Sam and Lola”s dad made headlines about his series of public outbursts last year, Richards decided to educate their daughters about addiction rather than continue to hide it from them.

“I got a book to read to them,” Richards explained in a July interview on the Today Show. “I was just lying to them about so much, and covering up things and totally lying. It was just getting too confusing that I had to sit down with them. It”s too early [for them to understand], but I told them enough for them to make sense of things that were going on.”

Ad Startup Rocket Fuel Just Had Its First Profitable Quarter

Startup Rocket Fuel claims to use “rocket science” to ad campaigns, and it sounds like that science is turning into real revenue. The company says it made $44.5 million in revenue last year, compared to $16.6 million in 2010 and $2.4 million in 2009.

In fact, CEO George John tells me that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the company was profitable for the first time. Not that he plans to stay profitable — he says it would be “weird” for Rocket Fuel to be profitable all the time, since it’s trying to grow. Instead, he plans to be “slightly unprofitable” until Q4 2012, when it will probably be profitable again, thanks in part to seasonal cycles.

The company, John says, consists of “nerds trying to help the cool people in marketing do a good job.” Specifically, it works with ad agencies to ensure they’re reaching the audience they want — not just the audience that they think is desirable, but one that will actually click on an ad and buy a product (or convert in some other way). As a result, Rocket Fuel-optimized campaigns can perform twice as well as they did before, which could mean doubling the response rate or halving the cost per lead. John also claims that the software is genuinely fun to use, comparing the company to Mint in its efforts to create an engaging user interface.

Oh, and the “rocket science” thing isn’t a joke. John himself has worked as NASA, and (playing on the fact that he knows I’m a big science fiction fan), he says that he’s currently looking to hire “a couple of robot psychologists that can monitor the autonomous behavior of our adserver and bid-server and explain the macro and micro decisions being made and how this complex behavior emerges from simpler rules and goals that various AI agents have.”

As for his plans for 2012, John says the company plans to release a self-serve product in the second quarter, one that will focus on “self-service analytics, with direct visibility and transparency.” Over time, that self-serve product will include more controls to let the customer direct the ad placement process.

Rocket Fuel last raised a $6.6 million Series C from Northgate Capital and others.

[Via - TechCrunch]

Yandex, Google’s Russian Rival, Is Twitter’s New Real-Time Search Partner

A significant step for Twitter in its international growth: Yandex, Russia’s search giant, today announced that it will carry Twitter data in all of its search results.

The news also underscores one possible route to revenue generation for Twitter: Yandex describes this as a licensing deal. The terms of it were not disclosed but Microsoft reportedly paid Twitter $30 million for a similar search agreement.

The agreement with Yandex will see Twitter’s data firehose appear both in Yandex’s blog search, as well as through a dedicated URL, twitter.yandex.ru.

The Yandex agreement is similar to the real-time Twitter search that used to be offered by Google — a partnership that ended last year around the time that Google was launching its own Google+ service.

Yandex says it has licensed the “full feed of all public tweets,” covering all languages — but seems to highlight specifically those tweets that are in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian or Kazakh, covering tweets from more than two million users. People will be able to search by usernames and hashtags, too. In total, Twitter has around 100 million active users, covering some 250 million tweets per day.

This looks like Twitter’s first big deal with a Russian portal, and could point to more local partnerships of its kind — useful for Twitter extending its coverage and usefulness beyond its home market and English.

For Yandex, the Twitter deal gives the search giant — which currently has around 60 percent of the market in Russia — a leg up in its own strategy to do more in social networking: Yandex already offers people Google-like features to share news and other content and this will enhance that.

[Via - TechCrunch]

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Telenor Introduces Djuice 500MB Mobile Internet Bundle

Telenor has lately introduced 500MB GPRS bundle for those Djuice prepaid customers who want higher data transfers on their cell phones.

Price:

Telenor Djuice customers can avail this 500MB GPRS package for Rs 250 per month.

Just to mention, there’s no tax on any GPRS/EDGE package.

This GPRS bundle is not available for Telenor talkshawk prepaid customers.

Activation:

• Dial *345*904# from your Djuice to avail this offer
• To check your Telenor GPRS validity and usage detail dial *999# (10 paisas charges of *999#)
• GPRS charging pulse is 64KB
• To configure your mobile for Telenor internet settings click here

This 500MB is the largest GPRS bundle from Telenor for its prepaid customers. Compared to this, Zong is offering 2GB (2024MB) GPRS in Rs. 200

Tip:

If you have subscribed to this bundle never turn your charging pulse to per min basis your bundle remaining data will be confiscated.

Free SMS to Any Mobilink Number from Gmail Chat

Google has partnered with Mobilink to offer its Gmail users an ability to send free text messages to any Mobilink number from their Gmail accounts or through Google Chat.

Gmail offers this facility for limited operators throughout the world, and Mobilink is the first operator they have collaborated with in Pakistan.

With this service Mobilink subscribers can also reply back to SMS messages sent from Google chat, which will appear on Gmail user’s Gmail interface.

It merits mentioning here that first message has to be sent by a Gmail user via Gmail chat client. This means that Mobilink subscriber cannot initiate chat himself/herself with his Gmail contacts from mobile phone.

How to send SMS to Mobilink Numbers:

Gmail users will have to simply Log into their account. In the Send SMS box above Chat, enter the Mobilink phone number you want to send a SMS.

Next a window will appear (shown below) where you can check the country code and phone number of the SMS recipient to save this contact to build your address book. Next time you will be able to send SMS to same number by typing his/her name.

Next a chat-window will pop on right bottom, simply type the message and hit enter… that’s it.

Your message will be sent to the phone number you entered.

How Mobilink Subscribers  Respond to Gmail Chat SMS?

• To respond to the message received from Gmail user, simply reply from mobile. Reply will appear on Gmail interface of Gmail user.
• Mobilink subscriber can reply to the message received from Gmail user within 24 hours.

Commands for Mobilink Subscribers:

Mobilink subscriber can use below commands while chatting via Gmail SMS service through his/her mobile phone. Please note that these commands can be sent in response to SMS received from the Gmail user only.

• HELP: Command can be used to get list of useful commands.
• BLOCK: Command can be used to block messages from a specific Gmail user. This command should be sent in response to the SMS from that Gmail user whom you want to block.
• UNBLOCK: Command can be used to un-block Gmail user. After the execution of this command, mobile subscriber will be able to receive messages from the Gmail user he has previously blocked

Following commands can be sent at 2434000.

• STOP: To block all messages from all Gmail users.
• START: To enables receiving SMS messages from Gmail if you’re currently blocking these.

Service Charges

• SMS sent by Gmail users to Mobilink subscribers will be free of cost, but with limited daily credits. Read below to learn on how to receive more credits.
• SMS sent by Mobilink subscribers to Gmail users will be charged @ Rs. 1+Tax/SMS.
• No subscription is required to avail Gmail SMS service.

How to Get Google SMS Credits:

Gmail offers initial SMS credit for 50 SMS, which decreases each time you send an SMS from Gmail chat client.

• Every time you send a message, your credit decreases by one.
• Every time you receive an SMS message in Chat (for example when a phone user replies to one of your messages) your credit increases by five, up to a maximum of 50.
• you can also send an SMS to your own phone, and then reply to that message multiple times to get 5 credits for each reply. This is legal, as you’re buying credits by paying your phone company.
• If your SMS credit goes down to zero at any point, it will increase back up to one 24 hours later.

Credits Propakistani.pk

Kate Upton vs. Irina Shayk — Who’d You Rather? Kate Upton vs. Irina Shayk — Who’d You Rather?

This year”s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Kate Upton and last year”s cover girl Irina Shayk proved they looked hot in clothes too at an event in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Question is … Who’d you rather?

Telenor Gets Majority Stakes in VimpelCom, Drops Arbitration Claims

Telenor Group, in a latest development, has bought 234,000,000 VimpelCom preferred shares from Weather Investments for US$374,400,000, to increase its voting rights at VimpelCom from 25.01 percent to 36.36 percent and to become majority stake holder in VimpelCom, said a statement issued by the Telenor Group.

Just to recall, Mr. Naguib Sawiris and his family last year bought 29.63 percent stakes in VimpelCom through Weather Investments in exchange of Orascom Telecom.

Weather’s shares in VimpelCom, after this transaction, will come down to 18.28 percent.

In connection with this new buyout of shares, Telenor has withdrawn all its claims against Altimo Holdings & Investments Ltd., Altimo Cooperatief U.A. and VimpelCom in the pending arbitration proceeding, and will work to expand the VimpelCom Board to eleven members.

Check below the previous and present voting rights of various groups in VimpelCom:

It merits mentioning here that Mobilink is currently fully managed by VimpelCom, which is now majorly owned by Telenor Group, also the parent group of Telenor Pakistan, creating a potential situation for conflict of interest in Pakistan and Bangladeshi markets.

To put in simpler words, 5 out of 11 directors at VimpelCom board (who directly manages Mobilink) come from Telenor International, a group that also controls Telenor Pakistan.

This translates into a proposition according to which Mobilink and Telenor Pakistan will be owned by same group (Telenor International) at a parent group level.

The outcome can potentially form a cartel in Pakistan which may not be favorable for competitors such as Ufone, Warid Telecom and CMPak.

Though Competition commission of Pakistan had approved the deal, but this new transaction may arise new situation for the industry, especially when 3G auction is round the corner.

In a related news, Telenor wants to drop its Indian joint-venture partner Unitech after the Supreme Court revoked their mobile licences in the country and is seeking a new local partner. Telenor said it would seek indemnity and compensation from Unitech.

And Unitech has replied by threatening counter legal action.

[Via - Propakistani]

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Maxroam Launches An MVNO With Vodafone In The UK

While startups across the world are doing their best to disrupt mobile networks with clever voice call apps, like Viber, there remains the basic issues of actual voice and data access which still requires some chipping away at. It’s a particular in places like Europe where you can drive for only a couple of hours and cross two or even three borders and see your mobile roaming bill spin up or down like a yo-yo. For the past few years we’ve seen players like Truphone andMaxroam attempt to gnaw away at the telcos, but now Maxroam is going one further, launching a virtual network operator of its own.

Maxroam’s company, Cubic Telecom, has signed a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement which means Cubic’s global customers can use voice, text and data while in the UK using the Vodafone UK network. So, Cubic customers living in the UK get to use the Vodafone network and local rates plus Maxroam’s competitive roaming rates in 230 countries on one SIM Card on a prepaid account you can top up.

This enables Maxroam users to be treated as if they are using calls and data as locals, using Cubic Telecom’s IMSI technology.

Vodafone was the first mobile network in the UK many years ago, and Maxroam is only its tenth partnership.

And if you’re wondering if the SIMs fit into an iPad/iPhone/Android you’ll be glad to know they can, as they adaptable to as normal or micro SIMs (see image).

Does all that mean it’s competitive with Vodafone’s rates? Hard to say with the massive variety of packages they offer, but here’s Cubic’s:

Data:

250MB for £5.02

500MB for £8.36

1GB for £15.05

Calls:

13p locally per minute and 13p to other countries.

Founder Pat Phelan tells me “Lots more MVNO”s are coming. We are looking at the global picture.” He says The Olympics are a big marketing moment for Maxroam.

[Via - Techcrunch]

Google’s Cloud Storage Could Launch In the Coming Weeks

Google is closer than ever to launching the company's cloud-based storage service that will rival now established services like Dropbox and Apple's iCloud. In fact, it could be available in just a few weeks.

Like Dropbox, which offers various tiers of online storage for your files and documents, Google will offer a standard free account, though specifics on how many gigs of data you can upload without paying aren't known just yet. However, if the data cap on the free account isn't sufficient for your needs, a paid version will also be available, with Google aiming to undercut the cost of existing cloud based services.

And unlike Apple's iCloud which caters to the company's iOS devices, Google's cloud storage services will not be exclusive to the millions of Android devices on the market. Instead, like the company's other services, it will be easily accessible on a wide variety of devices, including the iPhone and iPad, Apple permitting of course. [WSJ]