When’s the last time you really splurged on something for your bike? The old girl gets you around town, puts up with your ridiculous maintenance regimens, and shifts and rattles in just the right way to get you up and down the hills of your borough. Why not show her you love her and, thanks to Blinksteady, put a ring on it.

The Blinksteady is the world’s smartest bike light (citation needed). It turns on when its dark and turns itself off when your bike is stopped. You no longer have to reach back to turn on your light when dusk turns to night and, better still, you never have to risk being hit by a nightblind SUV driver in some deserted late-night cul-de-sac.

The biggest issue? Price. This honker is $95, which makes it worth more than my bike. However, it’s made of milled aluminum and it’s completely self-contained. Plus you never have to take it off because it’s secured to your seat post.

Don’t want to spend so much? Don’t you worry. $30 gets you:

Mmmm… bourbon drinks.

Anyway, they’re about $5,000 in on a $35,000 request, so get cracking.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

America’s favorite funnyboy [citation needed], Jim Gaffigan, has just released his new special, Mr. Universe, in download and streaming formats. For $5 you get three SD or HD downloads or three streaming sessions for your content consumption comfort. You can pay with PayPal or Amazon check-out.

Says Jim:

We talked with Jim a few weeks ago about his special and the problems facing modern comedians. His effort follows a similar move by Louis C.K. to release specials outside of the traditional studio system. Jim noted that doing it this way gave him much more creative freedom and netted him more cash than working with an established outlet.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

BlueCava, a startup that has developed technology that enables its customers to identify unique connected devices such as smartphones, TV set-top boxes, gaming consoles, computers and more, has raised $1.5 million in debt funding according to an SEC filing.

Late last year, the company had already raised $5 million from billionaire investors such as Mark Cuban and oilman Tim Headington.

BlueCava says its device identification technology is actually about 15 years old and dates back to Australian inventor Ric Richardson, who was also the road manager for the band INXS.

Years after cooking it up in the nineties, Richardson’s idea became U.S, patent #5,490,216, and he later sued Microsoft (and many others) for infringing on his patent.

In 2009, a jury awarded Uniloc USA (which BlueCava was spun out from) $388 million excluding damages or interest in the case against the Redmond software giant.

You can read more back story here and here if you’re interested.

BlueCava says the technology can theoretically identify the 10 billion (citation needed) internet-connected devices on the planet. The identification helps its customers target advertising and combat fraud, among other use cases.

It’s a most interesting startup to keep tabs on – to give you an idea, its advisory board members include Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer at Facebook and Ellen Moskowitz, VP of Fraud Management Solutions at MasterCard.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch