I’ve been thinking for a while now that there will not be one social graph to rule them all (Facebook) but that we will eventually have a multitude of web/mobile services in our lives, each with a social graph we curate specifically for that service. That’s been my gut instinct as I do not believe the Facebook social graph is the right graph for Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Etsy, Svpply, Boxee, etc, etc, etc.

But what has been less clear to me is how we will make it easy for people to do this curation. I posted some thoughts on this subject last week. And I’ve continued to puzzle on this topic since.

Yesterday, in a series of chats with my colleagues at USV, it started to become clear to me that the mobile phone address book may well be the answer.

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Gary Halliwell was joined in constructing this piece by MIT associate professor of comparative media studies Ian Condry.

The proposed “do not track” bill being considered by the Washington lawmakers marks what could be a dramatic turning point in the legislation of the internet. High-profile privacy issues with Google and Facebook in the past year have continued to draw users’ attention.

Privacy concerns will escalate in the coming months and years, leaving millions of internet users to wonder how best to approach the issue. With “do not track” the FTC has fixed on a concept similar to the “do not call” list which was effective in deterring intrusive phone solicitation. But is “do not track” really analogous to “do not call”? No, not at all.

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Healthcare has always been an area of focus in venture capital. In particular, over the last several years, healthcare IT has received a lot of public attention. The recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco – focusing on public companies – offers a timely snapshot to compare the healthcare interests of public markets versus venture capitalists.

Interest level in device and equipment companies is significantly higher from VCs than from public markets, and the interest level in healthcare IT companies is significantly lower by VCs than the public markets. Negative sentiment has recently surrounded the device industry and new regulations and backlash on costs have dampened enthusiasm around the business models and efficacy (perceived long-term financial and c...

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Despite the sheer size of the transportation and logistics market, there has been limited technology innovation to streamline the process of moving goods from point A to point B. Given that the industry generates $1.3 trillion in business, representing 11% of GDP, companies looking to improve efficiency and reduce cost will continue to drive development of the web-based aspects of the business. Recently, M&A in the sector has been on a run-up and thousands of businesses in the sector will continue to depend on providers of enhanced solutions and services.

The logistics market has historically been controlled by internal shipping departments or asset-based carriers – companies that own fleets of trucks, ships, airplanes, etc. Maximizing asset utilization is obviously crucia...

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Apple has again turned iPhone buzz into gold. Despite all the talk of possible bells and whistles, Verizon Wireless looks to be offering the iconic smartphone on roughly the same terms as AT&T. The only clear winners will be Apple’s masters of hype.

Sure, some AT&T customers would be delighted to say goodbye to the carrier’s patchy network. But the costs of switching to Verizon Wireless could be high. Only a third of AT&T’s iPhone customers have contracts that expire this year, according to UBS. Others would have to pay up to $325 in termination fees and least $199 for a new iPhone from Verizon Wireless, because the two networks run on different standards.

As for Verizon Wireless’s customers, they will now get a chance to carry an App...

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For its next issue, Buyouts took a look at 10 of the worst-performing buyout funds of all time.

The story is based on a database on returns of more than 400 funds from 10 public pension funds going back to 1981. Of course, our database isn’t comprehensive—certainly there could be worse funds out there that didn’t have the support of pensions that publish investment returns. But it’s an interesting look at how strategy changes, federal investigations and economic catastrophes, among other factors, can demolish a fund.<...

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The Twitterverse was humming on Wednesday with a report from Kara Swisher that venture firm Andreessen Horowitz had bought $80 million worth of privately held Twitter’s stock on the secondary market. (No valuation was disclosed.)

Then came a report in the Wall Street Journal that Twitter was in “low level” acquisition talks with Facebook and Google. Sourcing “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported that Twitter believes it is valued “in the neighborhood of $8 billion to $10 billion.” That is substantially more than the $3.7 billion valuation it commanded less than three months ago, when it raised $200 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and existing investors.



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The Department of Energy plans another big year of guaranteeing loans for renewable energy projects.

In the past 14 months, the DOE’s largest loan guarantee program (called Section 1705) awarded almost $26 billion to 23 renewable energy projects being run by companies such as BrightSource Energy and Abound Solar. The program has the financial assets to do a similar volume this year, before a September deadline brings it to a close, Jonathan Silver, executive director of the loan program office, told peHUB in an exclusive interview.
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