By Ben Weitzenkorn 2/22/12 6:00am

Startupthe startup rundown

Betabeat: bringing you the finest in tech and startup news from these fine machines since before we were born. (BuzzFeed)

Startup News: Grokking Facebook Timeline for Fun and Profit

BLAST FROM THE PAST. Now, thanks to BuzzFeed, you can show all your friends how vintage chic your technology was—before it was cool. Prompted by the fairly recent Facebook timeline, BuzzFeed has introduced a Facebook app that lets users retroactively post images to their timeline. Checkout the “What Was Your First Computer?” question and reminisce about the nineteen eighties like it’s the 2020′s. The launch of this new app is probably just the beginning of a trend we’ll see as Facebook prepares to unveil its new timeline backdating ability.

CLICK CLICK FLASH. Pixable, the photo sharing complement for social networks is rolling out a couple big features. First, is a hashtag feature that allows users to tag their photos or their friends’ photos for an easier experience when recalling and organizing snapshots. #drunkenregrets?

At the same time Pixable is being integrated into the Facebook timeline technology. Users will be able to share their photo viewing and tagging activity in the Facebook ticker just like when listening to tunes on Spotify.

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By Jessica Roy 1/29/12 12:47pm

The Data Deluge

Mr. Borthwick. (betaworks.com)

Letter from Betaworks CEO: ‘Data is the New Plastic’

Our apologies to evangelists of gamification and QR codes, but 2012 is all about data—at least according to New York startup non-incubator Betaworks. “We know the importance of understanding big data,” Betaworks CEO John Borthwick wrote in a confidential letter leaked to PandoDaily on Saturday. “Data is the new plastic. The network is both the frame and the metaphor we are building towards and on. This network-centric model is core to betaworks, and a key competitive advantage.” Read More

By Ben Popper 11/03/11 5:21pm

Big Data

Urls come in all shapes and sizes

Bit.ly Partners With Verisign To Answer The Internet’s Big Questions

One of the most interesting companies in New York these days is bit.ly. The service seems simple at first: it a makes long URLs into shorter ones. But in doing that at scale, bit.ly channels massive amounts of data about what users are creating, reading and sharing.

Today the company announced a partnership with Verisign, which, per the release we saw, “operates two of the Internet’s root nameservers and much of the web’s DNS infrastructure. If there’s a single company that qualifies as the steward of the internet, it’s Verisign.”

Data scientists from both companies will work together to answer the sort of metaphysical puzzlers that were once the reserved for astrophysicists. “Scientists at both companies are already poring over volumes of DNS resolution data–data that will help us answer fundamental (and fundamentally awesome) questions like: “what actually are the most popular websites on the internet?” and “just how big is the internet, anyhow?” Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 5/16/11 1:36pm

Personnel Matters

tiny peter stern

Betaworks Boss John Borthwick Bequeaths Bitly Baton

“Bitly was started @betaworks almost three years ago, and in that time it has grown from a project into a business. The site is a big site, the A.P.I. is one of the largest on the web, there are thousands of white label partners using bitly, billions of links created, and billions of clicks on those links every month,” Betaworks CEO John Borthwick wrote today on the Bitly blog. “We are announcing Peter Stern’s arrival as CEO. As bitly is entering a new stage in its development I could not be more excited to pass the baton to Peter.” Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 3/22/11 10:53am

mobile

Source; http://blog.bit.ly

Touch Bit.ly Easier to Use than Regular Bit.ly

Bit.ly has finally launched a mobile version of its basic URL shortener last week. Other than the slight inconvenience of navigating to a website rather than opening an app, the process of shortening a link is painless–which should be refreshing for anyone who’s ever tried to clunkily use the full site from a mobile browser. It’s actually superior to using the site with a mouse and a desktop browser, we’d argue; The Next Web called it “app-like!” Read More