The makers of Habbo Hotel, the wildly popular virtual world game aimed at teenagers, have quietly released a mobile version called Mini Friday that is seeing steady growth: It’s about to hit a million registered users. That’s a robust number, keeping in mind that the application requires downloading and registration, is restricted to users 18 or older, and runs only on select phones (Nokia S60 series). The company also hasn’t really talked about the product. Habbo Hotel’s co-founders Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrola revealed more about the overall company’s momentum yesterday, during the “Slush” event here in Helsinki on entrepreneurship,...
Social networking for women got a boost yesterday as media conglomerate Meredith Corp. acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Real Girls Media Network. The San Francisco-based network encompasses about 30 sites and portals for women — notably, DivineCaroline, a largely user-generated advice page. In addition to bringing Real Girls’ 3 million unique viewers to Meredith’s properties each month (upping its total to 15 million), the deal will combine the two companies’ advertising inventories and sales forces. This should jumpstart revenue on both sides. Also, Meredith will now have access to Real Girls technology that could update the look and feel...
GigaOM readers are well-versed in both the wireless broadband networks that carriers are building and the Wi-Fi gear that we use in our homes, but what about the wireless technology that is starting to manage energy for the power grid as well as energy use within our homes? Sensor technology and wireless networks can provide disruptive innovations and increased transparency for the energy industry, enabling utilities to make the grid smarter and help consumers slash energy use. Here’s our pick of five startups that are using wireless in innovative ways to change the energy landscape. Eka Wireless: Eka is an...
