San Francisco new hub for venture capital

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

San Francisco has surpassed Silicon Valley as the nation's top hub for venture capital. Greater San Francisco, including Oakland, attracted some $7 billion in VC money in 2012, compared to nearly $4 billion for the San Jose-Silicon Valley area. The Bay Area as a whole attracted over $10 billion in venture capital, about 40 percent of the nationwide total, reports The Atlantic Cities.

Designers in vogue in Silicon Valley

Pinterest and Flipboard, the two hottest startups in Silicon Valley, owe much of their success to sleek graphic design. They are dressed for success. The tech hub has taken notice. Designers are now in high demand.

Shannon Callahan, a partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's leading talent scouts, has taken heed, reports Advertising Age.

"It's important to realize that designers in general have elevated themselves to being equivalent to engineers," she said.

For Twitter, less is more

I have a short attention span. For me, less is more. That's what makes Twitter and Vine special.

"We're not trying to add new things into Twitter," explained Dick Costolo, CEO of the microblogging service, at the D11 All Things Digital conference. "My challenge is how do you pull things out of it."

Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily elaborates in the retweet below:

Do less: Dick Costolo's $10 billion Zen garden pandodaily.com/2013/05/29/do-… via @pandodaily
— Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda) May 30, 2013

A Silicon Valley fairy tale: Facebook, Twitter and the Instagram IPO

Instagram founder Kevin Systrom photographed at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

The sale of Instagram to Facebook for a cool billion dollars last spring was the ultimate Silicon Valley fairy tale: 18 months from launch to offer. But for co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom it was more of a roller-coaster ride, writes Kara Swisher in Vanity Fair. Read more

Twitter's video app attracts big brands

Twitter's video app Vine is attracting attention. The Brooklyn Nets recently tweeted the above clip, Warming up, the Brooklyn way.

Despite its novelty, Vine has attracted some big brands, including General Electric and Gap, who pay to have their six-second clips promoted, reports the Financial Times.

Astronaut demonstrates how to wash your hands in space

International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield recently demonstrated how to wash your hands in space. The Canadian astronaut has garnered over 300,000 followers on Twitter during his five-month journey aboard the space station. Hadfield has tweeted many photos from space. Click here to see a photo gallery selected by Time.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield tweets photos from space

(Photo: Paul Chiasson, The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield waves goodbye yesterday after a news conference from the International Space Station. Hadfield has been tweeting photos and observations since he arrived at the ISS in December. Some 180,000 people are following his voyage on Twitter.
Read more

Tweeting from new nest in San Francisco

Employees at work in open work area of Twitter's new headquarters in San Francisco.

Brain surgery tweeted, broadcast live on YouTube

Houston's Memorial Hermann hospital live-tweeted a brain surgery performed today by one of the country's leading surgeons.

Dr. Dong Kim, one of the surgeons that treated former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head last year, removed a tumor from a 21-year-old woman's brain. In March, the hospital tweeted in real time the open heart surgery on a 57-year-old, a first in the medical field.

Jon Stewart pokes fun at Twitter

Jon Stewart had some fun with Twitter on The Daily Show.

NASA launches new Twitter campaign

Twitter is playing a big part in NASA's efforts to keep the public up-to-date with the agency's upcoming space missions. The space shuttle Endeavor's launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 29 will be broadcast via Twitter by 150 people chosen by lottery to attend a two-day "Tweetup" event hosted by NASA.

"It's the opportunity of a lifetime," said Heather Good, the editor of a space news website who was one of those chosen to broadcast Endeavor's mission to the International Space Station. Good wants to streams some of the launch live on her Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Click on this NASA Tweetup link to find out more about the Endeavor flight.

Meanwhile, NASA has put together an animated video which simulates the flight and landing next year of its Mars rover Curiosity.

Twitter celebrates birthday with Conan O'Brien

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone made an appearance on the Conan O'Brien show last night as part of a celebration of the microblogging site's fifth birthday. O'Brien, who has a large Twitter following, noted Twitter "was huge for me a year ago when I found myself without a television show. It changed my life."

Celebrities help Twitter celebrate 5th birthday

Twitter celebrated its fifth birthday today by releasing a video with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner and a host of celebrities made promotional appearances on behalf of the microblogging service. The Twitter sites of Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart, Serena Williams and other stars are featured at discover.twitter.com.

Twitter updates iPhone, iPad apps

Twitter has updated its Apple iPhone and iPad apps. One of the noteworthy new iPhone apps prominently displays Twitter trends. Read more

Twitter co-founder dispels IPO rumors

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the microblogging site has no plans to go public in an exclusive interview with Reuters today. Read more

J.P. Morgan fund seeks stake in Twitter

A fund run by J.P. Morgan is in talks with Twitter to take a minority stake in the company. J.P. Morgan recently purchased shares of Twitter on private company exchanges.

Is Twitter censoring Wikileaks?

Speculation is rife as to whether or not Twitter is blocking Wikileaks from its trending topics list. This morning, Wikileaks asked, "Is Twitter censoring Wikileaks trend?" and linked to a blog called Safety First. Twitter has denied that it is censoring Wikileaks.

Related articles

• Wikileaks left off Twitter trends? (Washington Post)
• Wikileaks One True Home Is Twitter, But For How Long? (TechCrunch)

Twitter's Biz Stone hopes to create news network

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, wants to see the popular microblogging service create a comprehensive news service. "From the very beginning, this has seemed almost as if it's a news wire coming from everywhere around the world, Stone told Reuters on the sidelines of the Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford technology conference.

In a separate video interview with the Wall Street Journal, Stone talked about the startup's early days and its plans for the future.

Auto makers using Twitter, social media to sell cars

Onion's Baratunde drives a Lexus with Whitney Cummings

For its new compact Lexus, Toyota is enlisting people with a strong following on Twitter and other social media to create buzz around its products, reports Suzanne Vranica in the Wall Street Journal. Read more

Startups follow Twitter, become neighbors

795 Folsom Street in San Francisco, Twitter's coveted address

Although Twitter's beige-and-brown office building at 795 Folsom doesn't have a gym, a cafeteria, decent iPhone reception or a particularly attractive facade, tech startups are jostling to rent office there, writes Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times. Read more