Giuseppe Taibi’s Techlog

I am delighted to report that yours truly has been included in the “Who’s Who: Boston’s Mobile Industry Heavy Hitters”. Congratulations to all the list members and special thanks to Jonathan Kardos of BostInnovation for compiling the list. OK, I have to admit that I am very proud of being the first face in the iPhone that contains all the mugshots for the  list members

Shopkick, a Silicon Valley startup that “bridges the mobile and retail worlds“, has been awarded $15M of the smartest money that entrepreneurs can ever dream to get (WSJ, TechCrunch, VentureBeat). It is practically a “Grand Slam” of fund raising, starting with angel money from visionary LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, followed by an A-series from the iFund, a joint effort by legendary VCs Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Apple, and culminated with a B-series round led by Greylock, another  rare “House of Home Runs” in the VC world.

Reid Hoffman explains the disruptive power of shopkick’s mission:

Location-based apps at the intersection of physical retail stores and smartphones are the next big opportunity in mobile. Shopkick will catapult location technology forward, turning offline stores into interactive worlds, and offering retailers and brands the first marketing vehicle that is entirely performance- and location-based.

Related link: shopkick’s first app – CauseWorld

www.venicesessions.it

From the Archive (Venice Sessions 4):
My Talk on Future of Media: iPhone Ecosystem Video (in Italian)
Venice Sessions 4: The Pictures are In
Venice Sessions IV – Giuseppe Taibi – iPhone Media Ecosystem (Slides)
Venice Sessions 4: The Future of Media in the Digital Age

I am thrilled to report that Total Immersion Swimming, the latest app that I built with the stellar team at Whagaa, has immediately ranked #4 paid Sports app on the very first day of its launch!

Official Press release

Total Immersion Website

Screenshoots

In order to keep my Apple fanboy status, I felt compelled to pay a visit to the iPad on its very first day on earth, at least “for the rest of us”.

The trip confirmed and reinforced my positive impressions on the iPad. It is a terrific new device that has lots to offer to everybody. The only soft spot is its weight. Despite being lighter than a laptop, it is still a bit heavy. I don’t know if this will really be an issue in the long term but I am confident that the weight will only be reduced over time.

Interestingly, the Apple Store in Burlington, MA that I went to, was sold out of the more expensive iPads, while still a few of the $499 models were available at 5:30pm. The same had happened with the launch of the iPhone 3GS, where the demand for the 32GB model was higher than the cheaper 16GB.

While I did buy the iPhone on the very first day of its launch, I did not walk out of the Apple Store with an iPad. Why? Because I am going to wait for the model that incorporates a video camera. That’s right, folks. Most likely, the next release of the iPad will have the camera. I cannot tell you why and when but I am absolutely certain that there will be a camera on the iPad.

This flickr photo and video set say all the rest. Enjoy!

The iPad version of the popular Twitter client TweetDeck is now available on the App Store.

You can see TweetDeck for iPad in action by watching this video.

Screenshots and commentary available at Mashable.com

Official TweetDeck website.