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Kelly Faircloth

By Kelly Faircloth 6/19 4:41pm

3D printing

Cutting the Ribbon at MakerBot's new Sunset Park facility

Stratasys Is Acquiring MakerBot for $403M in Stock

First Tumblr, and now comes another sizable New York City exit. Turns out the whimsical MakerBot won’t be raising a round, after all, because the desktop 3D-printing startup is being acquired by publicly traded behemoth Stratasys, for $403 million in stock. (Of course, that’s just the initial value, based on today’s $84.60 closing price for shares of Stratasys stock.) Stakeholders qualify for additional performance-based earnouts, with an initial total value of $201 million. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/19 2:57pm

Nerd Alert

(Photo: Foursquare)

Hey History Nerds: Turn Foursquare Into an Orgy of Vintage Photos

Good news for history nerds/hipsters who really identify with Luc Sante’s Low Life: The New York Public Library has released a snazzy new app that’ll show you cool historical photos when you check in on Foursquare. Pack your bags, because we’re going on a nostalgia trip.

The app draws on the NYPL’s Photographic Views of New York City collection, a huge cache of photos from the 1870s to the 1970s meant to “document the changing face” of the city. During a recent hackathon, a team rigged them up to Foursquare and its geolocation data. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/19 11:00am

Meanwhile Back at the Valley

(Photo By Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Fitter, Happier, More Productive: Silicon Valley Just Can’t Get Enough Inner Peace

Do you ever look at a centuries-old spiritual practice and think, “Huh, how can I use this to make myself a better employee of Google?” Apparently someone does: Wired reports that meditation and mindfulness are the hottest thing going in Silicon Valley.

Googlers are signing up in droves for “Search Inside Yourself” training, and the company has instituted “mindfulness lunches.” Facebook and Twitter apparently have “regular in-office meditation sessions and arranging for work routines that maximize mindfulness.” Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/19 9:30am

Fresh Capital

International love.

Fab Just Raised $150M, But Their Series D Still Isn’t Done

Pivot-happy ecommerce startup Fab has raised yet another round of cash. CEO Jason Goldberg announced in a blog post that the company has just closed $150 million in new funding. Participants include Tencent, Atomico, Andreessen Horowitz, Itochu Technology Ventures, and existing investors.

What’s more, he adds, it’s “just the first part of a larger Series D round” they expect to complete over the coming weeks.

This brings two-year-old Fab’s total VC funds to $310 million. No word whether it’s all stuffed into Brillo Pad poufs and weird plant holders lying around the office. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/18 5:30pm

Political Animals

The candidates. (Jukay Hsu, via Instagram)

Mayoral Candidates Sound Pretty Skeptical of Regulation-Skirting ‘Disruptors’

As New York City considers its options for mayor, Silicon Alley is biting its nails at the prospect of a post-Bloomberg world. And last night, four candidates–former councilman Sal Albanese, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, comptroller John Liu and former Bronx president Adolfo Carrión–appeared at the Museum of the Moving Image to pitch themselves to the tech industry, in a forum organized by the Coalition for Queens. (Front-runner Christine Quinn declined to show.)

And, well, they gave it the old college try. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/18 1:30pm

Play Your Video Games

WHY WON'T THE CHOCOLATES STOP

I Can’t Stop Playing Candy Crush But That’s a Ridiculous Reason to IPO

Screw the tasteful minimalism of Dots: I am completely, hopelessly addicted to the gloriously tacky Candy Crush.

I play it on the subway, riding the elevator, in bed trying to fall asleep at night. It’s killing my battery. I’ve resorted to begging friends for additional moves, in hopes of escaping the replicating chocolate squares of level 65.

Nor am I alone in my addiction: According to App Data, it’s currently the most popular app on Facebook. It even makes real money off in-game purchases from desperate obsessives like yours truly.

That’s really not enough to justify an IPO, though. And yet the Wall Street Journal says that’s exactly what the makers of Candy Crush want. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/18 12:20pm

I'll Tumbl For You

Mr. Coatney (Photo: Twitter)

Another Early Tumblr Employee Departs: ‘Media Evangelist’ Mark Coatney Leaves

Tumblr “director/media evangelist” Mark Coatney, one of the company’s early employees and the man who built the site’s outreach team, just announced that he’s leaving the company. For those keeping score at home, that’s right on the heels of creative director Jacob Bijani’s departure.

Mr. Coatney didn’t detail his reasons for leaving in the announcement on his Tumblr, other than to say, “It’s a a good time, with Tumblr moving into a new and even better stage with Yahoo, and though I’m happy about the decision and excited about new opportunities, it’s still bittersweet.” Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/17 2:15pm

The Rich Are Different

Mr. Ellison. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Totally Modest Larry Ellison Wants to Turn Lanai Into an ‘Eden in the Pacific’

Let’s check in with Larry Ellison’s plans for his Hawaiian island of Lanai, shall we? The Wall Street Journal talked to the Oracle founder/overlord, who revealed a few of his schemes for his biggest, shiniest toy yet.

His ideas include an “ultraluxury hotel” (for when mere luxury won’t do), bringing commercial agriculture back to the island (think “the very best gourmet mangos,” “organic wineries,” and perfume made straight from flowers, “like they do in Grasse, France”), and a “sustainability laboratory.”

His first move, though, was to renovate the community pool, because the absolute last thing he needs is a bunch of pissed-off locals. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/17 12:00pm

Visiting Dignitaries

You think he ever worries about the symbolism? (Photo: Getty Images/D Dipasupil)

Startup Bros Quoting ‘Big Pimpin’ Reaches All-Time High as Jay-Z Cuts Deal With Samsung

Not to be outdone by Yeezus, Jay-Z announced last night–via a three-minute commercial midway through the NBA finals game–that he’s dropping his own new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, next month.

Midway through the rambling ad, Jay-Z waxes philosophical, all Paul Graham-like: “That’s why the Internet is like the wild west, the wild wild west. We need to write the new rules.” Apparently, that means cutting a hugely lucrative deal with Samsung to give away a million copies of the album.

Guess someone’s figured out the right way to run this “information wants to be free” racket. Read More