The company announced the indefinite delay of the orb-shaped
media player device in an email on Tuesday to customers who had
pre-ordered the made-in-America gadget, saying it wanted to add
more features and functions. It offered a “preview version” of
the streaming device for free instead.

Unveiled alongside the better-reviewed Nexus 7 tablet at
Google’s I/O event in June, the Nexus Q received much less
fanfare than the Google-designed tablet.

Many reviews of the device focused on its lack of usability
and features. It was slated to go on sale this month.

As part of Google’s foray into consumer hardware, the Nexus
Q was touted as being made in the U.S.A. and reflected the
nascent trend of “reshoring” manufacturing operations.

The cross between a streaming video box and an audio
amplifier is Google’s first end-to-end hardware undertaking, a
facet of its broader push into a hardware arena dominated by
Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics. Apart
from the Nexus 7, Google is also promoting its “Google Glass”
augmented-reality eyeglasses.

The Internet search leader began selling the Nexus 7 this
month, to strong reviews.

While community-based social network Nextdoor didn’t set out to catch thieves, the 9-month old San Francisco startup is increasingly helping in the apprehension of criminals or in crime prevention, users say.

And Silicon Valley venture firms are beginning to notice. On Tuesday, Nextdoor said it raised $18.6 million from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners and Shasta Ventures, valuing the company at more than $100 million.

Nextdoor’s co-founder and Chief Executive Nirav Tolia told Reuters the company has signed up more than 3,700 neighborhoods nationwide, and is looking to expand its network.

The startup began as a way for locals to connect and the crime-fighting aspect evolved from that, according to Tolia.

“What happened when we connected neighbors is something that we couldn’t predict: neighbors looking out for each other,” Tolia said. “Connected neighbors equal safer neighborhoods.”

Residents of a neighborhood can sign up for free for the service, which allows the members to exchange information, recommendations and discuss topics of interest. Crime and safety make up a fifth of Nextdoor posts, according to the company.

“We wanted to return America to that place where we can rely on our neighbors,” Tolia said.

One feature that has taken off is “Urgent Alerts,” which Nextdoor members can use to send out alerts — distributed by text message — to neighbors on suspicious activity.

Becki, a mother and a member of an Oakland Nextdoor network who would not give her full name for security reasons, said she and her neighbors used the social network to warn each other of two suspicious teenagers who were going door to door, saying they were selling magazine subscriptions for charity.

Posts on Nextdoor about the two pointed out discrepancies in responses about what college they attended and what charity they were raising funds for. By the time the teens arrived at Becki’s doorstep — about three minutes after the first alert — she was prepared to collect descriptions for the police.

The teens were later arrested and tied to a robbery that had happened days earlier — also reported on Nextdoor.

“It allows us to give information to each other in real time,” she said. “It lets you act quickly … rather than after the fact when you can’t really do anything.”

FIGHTING CRIME

In areas experiencing rising criminal activity, Nextdoor has become a welcome tool. Bob Thornburg, a 63-year-old electrical contractor from Santa Fe, New Mexico, founded the Sol y Lomas neighborhood network on Nextdoor specifically to ward off crime.

“That’s actually what got us started here,” he said. Prior to Nextdoor, he had run an email group to “spread the word if something happened. The whole thing was about crime because we were having a bit of a crime wave.”

Kenneth Denson had used Yahoo Groups as a way to post about community issues until February, when he started a Nextdoor network in Dallas.

“This would be another really useful tool in Dallas’s toolbox,” said Denson, who is in early discussions with members of the Dallas City Council to expand the network citywide.

The City Program, which has existed since Nextdoor launched, works alongside city leaders to roll out networks across all neighborhoods. The city gets its own page, and a system for pushing out posts to neighborhoods in its jurisdiction.

More than 60 municipalities now work with Nextdoor, and 41 have the City Program in effect. Lafayette, Colorado, joined in May and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Kracha said the program could augment existing systems that haven’t adapted to new technology.

“The Reverse-911 system works fine if you’re in your house,” Kracha said. But with many neighbors ditching traditional landlines in favor of smartphones, a text or email alert can be more effective in disseminating information quickly, he said.

In Goleta, California, crime prevention makes up about 35 percent of the city’s official posts, said Valerie Kushnerov, Goleta’s public information officer.

“I often joke that soon we’ll have signs saying, ‘This neighborhood is protected by Nextdoor,’” she said.

(Reporting By Mauro Whiteman; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

The first Global Venture Capital Confidence Survey measured the input of more than 440 venture capital, private equity and growth equity investors from around the world, revealing that global VCs have higher confidence investing domestically versus abroad and in information technology sectors like cloud computing and social media.

Venture capitalists favored Brazil, China and the United States for investing, showing the least confidence in France, Japan and South Africa. Cloud computing, software and new media/social networking held the most confidence by industry, with the lowest confidence in semiconductors, telecommunications and clean technologies.

Respondents from Brazil, Canada, Israel and the Netherlands expressed the most confidence in their country’s ability to enact investment-friendly policies, while VCs from India, Australia, Japan and Taiwan had the least confidence.

A spokeswoman from the National Venture Capital Association said Deloitte and the NVCA hope to repeat the survey going forward to create a historical database of global venture capitalist confidence.

(Photo: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch)

In a report released Thursday, the environmental organization upgraded Apple in three of four categories reflecting the company’s commitment to clean energy in its cloud computing facilities. Even with its upgrades, Apple remains near the bottom of the pack, which includes Microsoft, Google, Facebook, IBM, Oracle and others.

In May, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer announced plans for implementing renewable energy at the company’s three current data centers by 2013, and Apple’s new data center in Reno, Nevada, will have access to many renewable energy options, according to the Greenpeace report.

However, the Cupertino-based maker of the iPhone and iPad has not instituted an infrastructure siting policy, like that of Facebook, that would express a commitment to building data centers in areas with an established clean energy grid, said David Pomerantz, a spokesman for Greenpeace International.

Pomerantz also said Apple struggles in the category of transparency because it is “famously tight-lipped” about information about its practices. Beyond the company’s goals, Apple releases little detail on the specifics of its renewable energy practices, he said.

Apple has a page on its website dedicated to explaining its renewable energy commitments, specifically for data centers. Its Maiden, North Carolina, data center is the only one of any company to use on-site renewable energy, an Apple spokeswoman said.

Apple improved its grades in both energy efficiency and advocacy to average, improving its infrastructure siting to below average and remaining below average in energy transparency, according to the Greenpeace updated company scorecard. Apple’s scores place it below Yahoo and Google, but above Twitter and Amazon.

“(Apple) actually led the way on making their products exceptionally environmentally friendly,” Pomerantz said. “Now they’ve made some really bold commitments on their cloud computing.”

Greenpeace will release another report later this year focusing on companies that serve the business market, such as Microsoft and Amazon, Pomerantz said. He added that a full update to the “How clean is your cloud?” scorecard may come as soon as 2013.

UPDATE: Apple said that it is very committed to its green agenda.

“We’re committed to building the world’s most environmentally responsible data centers and are leading the industry in the use of renewable energy, including the nation’s largest private solar arrays and non-utility fuel cell installation,” an Apple spokeswoman said.

In a report released Thursday by Domo and CEO.com, the online presence of Fortune 500 companies’ top executives was compared to that of the general public, revealing that less than 30 percent have at least one profile on social networks. The vast majority have none.

Some of these accounts sit inactive — five of the 19 CEOs on Twitter have never tweeted — while others seem underutilized — 25 of the 38 CEOs on Facebook have less than 100 friends. The only social network that these executives outdo the U.S. public on is LinkedIn, the “world’s largest professional network.”

Perhaps the loneliest social networks for these top executives are Google+ and Pinterest. The former has only four of the CEOs — including Google’s own Larry Page — and the latter has none, despite Pinterest’s growing base of approximately 12 million American users.

Although the percentage of the top executives on social networks sits at less than 30 percent, Wikipedia has profiles for more than 36 percent of them. Only one of the CEOs has and maintains his own blog: John Mackey of Whole Foods.

The Fortune 500 companies have other social networking stars as well. Michael Rapino of Live Nation has the most Facebook friends with more than 2,000, and Rupert Murdoch recently surpassed Meg Whitman as the most-followed CEO on Twitter with more than 280,000 (to Whitman’s 240,000).

Warren Buffett touts third place in Klout score, behind Murdoch and Michael Dell, even though he has only tweeted once from his official account, on Feb. 20, 2009, when he told his followers to “Stay tuned!” for the latest news and analysis from one of the world’s wealthiest investors.

LinkedIn is home to 129 of the top CEOs, above the one-fifth of Americans who use the site, but 36 of these executives have 1 or 0 connections. More than 30 of the executives’ profiles have not been updated with their current companies or titles.

But why does it matter?

“While the majority of Fortune 500 CEOs have yet to pick up the pace in their personal social media efforts, it seems those who do will be better equipped to successfully grow their companies,” the report concludes.

Shares in chipmaker AMD, a distant No. 2 to Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the PC market, slid 6 percent after the closing bell as it joined software firms Qlik Technologies (QLIK.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Informatica Corp (INFA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in issuing estimates far below market forecasts — likely harbingers of ugly numbers to come as the earnings season kicks into gear.

PC-related firms have been hit by a slump in demand as smartphones and tablets grow in popularity but AMD’s woes were also seen as at least partly company-specific.

AMD, which logged a first-quarter net loss of $590 million, said second-quarter revenue may plummet 11 percent from the $1.6 billion booked in the first three months of the year, worse than its previous forecast of flat sales to a 6 percent rise.

An 11-percent revenue decline would be the worst quarter-on-quarter fall for AMD since the fourth quarter of 2008, when revenue plunged 35 percent.

Alex Gauna of JMP Securities said AMD’s weakness in China reflects stronger chip updates by rivals Nvidia (NVDA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“Both Intel and Nvidia have out-executed AMD,” he said, adding that AMD was suffering more than most in Europe because it caters to the lower-end of the market.

Despite the cut in revenue outlook, AMD reiterated prior guidance for second-quarter gross margin to be flat to slightly up from the previous quarter, saying operating expenses will be about 8 percent less than its earlier forecast.

AMD’s shares have dropped nearly 20 percent in the past year on fears of competition from processors based on ARM Holdings’ (ARM.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which are widely used in the fast-growing mobile market where AMD has struggled to gain a toehold.

CLSA analyst Srini Pajjuri said the magnitude of AMD’s forecast revenue decline was a surprise but added that competition from power-efficient chip designs were not yet a large factor behind it.

AMD also faces growing competition from Intel’s newest PC chip, code-named Ivy Bridge. Intel is also starting to build sales of its recently launched Romley server platform.

Sunnyvale, California-based AMD has also been launching new processors of its own, and recently appointed CEO Rory Read has vowed to improve on long-standing execution troubles.

Its shares fell to $5.30 in after-hours trade, from a close of $5.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.

AMD is due to report financial results next Thursday.

(Editing by Leslie Adler and Edwina Gibbs)

The suit, brought by Ellen Pao in San Francisco state court,
has become the talk of Silicon Valley, where the digerati are
avidly debating its merits — along with broader questions about
sexism in the technology industry.

Pao’s lawsuit paints a picture of a firm where complaints
against harassment went ignored, where a senior partner
suggested that marrying the alleged harasser might be the
solution to Pao’s difficulties, and where women were labeled
“buzz” kills.

In response, Kleiner characterized Pao as an underperforming
partner who never told the firm she was unhappy with her
treatment by male colleagues.

The venture capital firm sought to move the case to
arbitration last month, but Judge Harold Kahn denied the request
in a brief order on Monday.

“There is no arbitration agreement between plaintiff and
defendant,” Kahn wrote in his preliminary ruling.

A Kleiner representative could not immediately be reached
for comment.

Kleiner Perkins, founded in 1972, has backed firms including
online retailer Amazon.com Inc, gaming company
Electronic Arts Inc, biotechnology company Genentech,
browser company Netscape, information-technology company Sun
Microsystems, and gaming company Zynga Inc.

A hearing on Kleiner’s arbitration request is scheduled for
Tuesday morning.

The company had previously forecast second-quarter revenue would increase 3 percent from the first quarter, plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Alex Gauna of JMP Securities said the weaker-than-expected sales in China reflect stronger chip updates by rivals NVIDIA (NVDA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“Both Intel and NVIDIA have out-executed AMD,” he said.

On the Europe side, Gauna said the decline is nothing unexpected considering the current economic situation, but he said AMD has been dealt an especially hard blow because it has always played in the lower end of the computer market.

The warning comes after AMD posted a first-quarter loss of $590 million.

AMD faces growing competition from Intel’s newest PC chip, code-named Ivy Bridge. Intel is also starting to build sales of its recently launched Romley server platform.

Sunnyvale, California-based AMD also has been launching new processors of its own, and recently appointed CEO Rory Read has vowed to improve on long-standing execution troubles.

AMD reiterated its prior guidance for its second quarter gross margin. It had said in April that gross margins would be flat to slightly up from the previous quarter.

Operating expenses for the second quarter will be about 8 percent less than prior guidance of $605 million, the company said.

Shares in AMD, a distant No. 2 to Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the PC market, declined almost 6 percent to $5.30 in after-hours trade, from a close of $5.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.

AMD is due to report financial results next Thursday. (Editing by Leslie Adler)

(Reuters) – News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch no longer plans to buy the rest of satellite broadcaster BSkyB and is setting his sights on investing in the United States rather than Britain.

In an interview with his company’s FOX Business Network, the octogenarian media mogul spoke about the BSkyB stake and said Britain had lost its appeal for him and he was now keener to invest in a U.S. economy on steadier footing.

A phone-hacking scandal at its British tabloids engulfed News Corp last year, forcing it to eventually withdraw a $12 billion (7.74 billion pounds) bid to buy the rest of the highly profitable satellite broadcaster that it did not already own.

“I think we have moved on in our own thinking from that,” Murdoch said, shortly after an announcement that his media empire will be split into two companies focusing on print publishing and broadcasting.

“There were billions and billions of dollars and if Britain didn’t want them, we have good places to put them here. I am much more bullish on America than I am about England.”

The scandal tainted News Corp’s British newspapers, which ranged from The Sun to the now-defunct News of the World. But Murdoch said his perspective had nothing to do with the scandal or its fallout.

“No, not at all. Just the English,” he said, rousing laughter in the studio.

Murdoch said his confidence in the United States has a lot to do with its leadership.

“Of course it has a lot to do with who is in the White House,” he said. “We will see if President Obama gets reelected – if he will turn left or be more pragmatic and come towards the centre.”

Murdoch also said he believes Europe is going to have a long “semi-recession, if not a real recession,” but he hopes that it doesn’t affect the United States with its “vast expansions of government expenditure.”

(Reporting By Mauro Whiteman; Editing by Bernard Orr)

(Reuters) – News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch no longer plans to buy the rest of satellite broadcaster BSkyB and is setting his sights on investing in the United States rather than Britain.

In an interview with his company’s FOX Business Network, the octogenarian media mogul spoke about the BSkyB stake and said Britain had lost its appeal for him and he was now keener to invest in a U.S. economy on steadier footing.

A phone-hacking scandal at its British tabloids engulfed News Corp last year, forcing it to eventually withdraw a $12 billion bid to buy the rest of the highly profitable satellite broadcaster that it did not already own.

“I think we have moved on in our own thinking from that,” Murdoch said, shortly after an announcement that his media empire will be split into two companies focusing on print publishing and broadcasting.

“There were billions and billions of dollars and if Britain didn’t want them, we have good places to put them here. I am much more bullish on America than I am about England.”

The scandal tainted News Corp’s British newspapers, which ranged from The Sun to the now-defunct News of the World. But Murdoch said his perspective had nothing to do with the scandal or its fallout.

“No, not at all. Just the English,” he said, rousing laughter in the studio.

Murdoch said his confidence in the United States has a lot to do with its leadership.

“Of course it has a lot to do with who is in the White House,” he said. “We will see if President Obama gets reelected – if he will turn left or be more pragmatic and come towards the center.”

Murdoch also said he believes Europe is going to have a long “semi-recession, if not a real recession,” but he hopes that it doesn’t affect the United States with its “vast expansions of government expenditure.”

(Reporting By Mauro Whiteman; Editing by Bernard Orr)