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Particls posts

Filed under: News, Web services, web 2.0

JS-Kit raises $3.6M in series B funding

A few weeks ago, Mahalo's Jason Calacanis (who founded Weblogs Inc. and Download Squad) issued an e-mail missive (now posted here) predicting that 80% of all web 2.0 start-ups would fail to reach the next round of funding or profitability. The man makes some good points, and the tenuous economic climate is already leading to start-up layoffs and reduced expansion. Fortunately for the web industry, there are still some silver linings. Social widget provider JS-Kit just closed a Series B funding round for $3.6M.

JS-Kit offers compact JavaScript snippets that you can add to your webpage or blog to add dynamic rating, review, poll and comment functionality. We've discussed JS-Kit before and it really is one of the easiest ways to add threaded and dynamic commenting or Digg-like rating systems to a blog or website.

In addition to closing a second round of funding, JS-Kit has also hired on Chris Saad, co-founder of the DataPortability Project as a strategic advisor. Chris is an incredibly, incredibly smart guy -- he is also responsible for APML and Particls -- and he is sure to be a huge assett to the JS-Kit team.


Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Web services, web 2.0

SXSWi Day Three


Oh day three, where the point values are doubled and the hangover is permanent. If you decided to skip SXSWi this year, joining the hip kids who claimed it was "too commercial" and "too over-hyped", shame on you. The only thing too commercial were the panels and, frankly, no one goes to those anyway.

So far today we've caught up with the guys from Bloxes, which although not a tech product is remarkably cool in its simplicity. They're also the same guys behind the uber-cool Songza, which embodies the exact same dead-simple "Why didn't I think of that?" logic. Interlocking cardboard forms may not be terribly sexy from a software perspective but, who can argue with the ability to build 3d forms out of recycled content. Bloxes are the things you use to build cheap structures in the ultra-hip loft office space where you create the future of the web.

During the day we also had a great interview with Mindbites, which we'll have encoded and uploaded for your vicarious viewing pleasure, soon. Christina talked with Chris Saad, the founder of Dataportability.org, who is also working on a new version of his other great idea, Particls. I caught up with Saul Colt from Freshbooks, the web app that finally brought the sexyback to invoicing all your freelance clients.

We'd also like to take a minute to address a pressing social issue, Public Relations consultants. These hardworking mavens of the tech universe are largely underpaid, over worked, and almost never get glamorous perks like party invites, expensive bottles of wine and the adoration of beautiful women. You've probably asked yourself, as you lay awake at night, unable to sleep for worry over their living conditions and the status of their multi-million dollar contracts, "What can I do to help?" Fear not, there is a solution. For only hundreds of dollars a day, you can fill the tanks of their luxury cars with precious gasoline, and make the difference between the regular coffee Seattle's Best and a latte at Starbuck's.

The numbers
:
  • Tweets about the Zuckerberg disaster: immeasurable given available tools
  • Sandwiches consumed in Bloghaus: 134
  • Times the guy in the press room breaks your concentration to ask, "Can I get you anything?": 17
  • Shirts we've acquired to give to our readers: 2
  • Approximate number of man-minutes Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Lacy wasted with a useless interview: 112,500
  • Newly coined words overheard : 1 ("Radool", Gary Vaynerchuk)
  • Parties we skipped to bring you this content: 3 (well, 2.. we couldn't resist making an appearance at Gawker)
  • Times we've left messages for Mullenweg about an interview: 3
  • Times Mullenweg has left return messages with no schedule detail: 1

(Matt, we love you and we're only concerned that you're ok. Please, we're worried sick. We've called all the hospitals, homeless shelters and even the morgue. Where are you?)

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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