Timeline Movie Maker takes about two minutes to check out and it gets you your movie right away. After clicking “Make Your Movie” and granting the app permission to access personal data, Timeline Movie Maker creates one-minute movies featuring highlights from your timelines.

Once you view your movie, you can edit and replace images, videos, and check-ins that appear, as well as select from various soundtrack options. And the completed movies can be shared via Facebook.

Every time you click a photo, a new one appears, and you may keep clicking until you get a photo that you like. Once done, click Remake, and a new movie with a collection of different pictures will instantly be created.

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1. Glooko, a developer of a mobile application and cables to pull and log information from glucose meters for the diabetic, has raised $3.5M in a Series A funding. The round came from The Social+Capital Partnership
2.  drchrono, a developer of mobile healthcare software, including electronic health records, prescription, medical billing, and patient management tools,  raised $2.8M in a funding round. The round was led by Yuri Milner.
3. Solera Network,s a developer of network forensics and capture devices  raised $20M in a funding round, led by Intel Capital.
4. Alsop Louie Partners is the lead investor in a developer of cyber security software, Lookingglass Cyber Solutions. Lookingglass  raised $5M in funding Monday, led by Alsop Louie Partners.
5. TrialPlay, which offers up incentives and payments to consumers to increase sales for online merchants, scored$40M in a funding round. The round came from Greylock Partners, Visa, T. Rowe Price, DAG Ventures, DFJ Growth, and QuestMark Partners.
6. Sumo Logic, which develops log management and analytics software for the enterprise IT market raised $15M in a Series B funding round. The firm said the funding was led by Sutter Hill Ventures.
7. UrbanSitter, which operates an online service to help connect parents to babysitters via people they know on Facebook, secured $1.75M in funding.. The round was led by First Round Capital.
8. AlienVault, a developer of security and event management products for the cyber security market, raised $8M in a Series B financing round. The round was led by Trident Capital.
9. CardSpring, a developer of application programming interfaces for credit and debit card payments, scored $10M in a Series A funding. The funding was led by Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.
10. GetHired.com, a new startup using video-based resumes to power a job and recruiting site,  raised $1.75M in a seed funding. Source of the funding was not announced by the company.
11. RiseSmart, a provider of cloud-based tools which helps in employee outplacement,  raised $2M in a financing round. The round came from Norwest Venture Partners.
12. Looking to track into the online, personal finance market,  JemStep secured $6M in a funding round. Name of the investors in the round were not disclosed.

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Startups come in all shapes and sizes. Aspiring founders will attempt just about any idea, product, or business model under the sun. If it can be conceived, some dreamer has probably tried it. And that’s not a bad thing. A lot of businesses and great companies were conceived, tried and tested and have survived over the years till now.

For all the challenges faced by new businesses, a lack of passion is not one of them. Entrepreneurs are true believers, famously inspired and optimistic. These qualities are critical, because getting a healthy venture off the ground can be extraordinarily difficult. Successful founders draw from deep wells of conviction and faith to sustain themselves through long days and unexpected challenges.

Drive, determination, belief, optimism, courage, confidence, commitment, certainty, and faith  are the forces that drive a new business to success. But you need more than that to grow a business.

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You cannot have culture without people, and that is where it all starts, right from your initial hiring decisions. To me, this comes down to an individual’s smarts, internal startup DNA and personality fit. It is critical you find the smartest people you can find, to help you build your business. I would rather have a smart person that is a quick study and no industry experience, than a marginal industry veteran. If you don’t have the fire power in the brain to think creatively out of the box, which is always required with a startup, then your business will never succeed. And, don’t be afraid to hire people that are smarter than yourself. Sometimes managers are worried about being made to look stupid by their subordinates. But, I say the smarter the better, to help raise everyone’s skills around the table.

But, it is more than just having smart people around you. They must also have the right startup DNA. Someone that is passionate about the product that is getting built and is excited to come into work each day, and put in the long hours required. Someone that is going to motivate the rest of the team to do the same. Someone that is an extrovert A-type personality that is going to cheerlead when necessary and lead by example. Someone that has a great personality fit with their peers, managers and subordinates. Someone that is not easily rejected, or bring a bad mood to the office. I always say, “we are all paddling together in a whitewater raft navigating the rushing rapids, and need all paddlers rowing in unison and as fast as humanly possible to survive.”

As for management styles, the less hierarchical the better. Sure there needs to be a clear chain of command, but it is critical an employee’s voice is always heard and that they feel their smart ideas are being listened to. There is no faster way to lose an employee than to constantly shoot down their ideas, or by making them feel stupid. And, when doing employee reviews, always do 360 degree reviews: manager reviews employee, employee reviews manager, peers review each other and employee reviews themselves. This way everybody participates in the process and both manager and staff problems can get addressed.

In terms of communication style, I always prefer open communications with the team. That means make sure the entire staff, from top to bottom, is always clear on the company’s goals, and has regular communications from management, on both the good news and the bad news. We are all in this together, so don’t try to hide anything. Employees are smart enough to know when things are going wrong, and would rather hear what the problems are, so they can help try to fix them. And, have the confidence in knowing management “has their back” and isn’t trying to hide anything from them.

Work-life balance can sometimes be hard to achieve in a startup environment, when everyone is putting in the required long hours. But, it is critical you take time every now and then to recharge the batteries. It is hard to do good work, when you can’t even stay awake, or if you are always upset you are not spending more time with your family. It is not all about working hard. It is about working smart, prioritizing your efforts and making time for yourself to maintain the proper work-life balance. This could also include things like flex time or working from home, letting staff members set their own schedules that work for them to meet their personal needs.

When Google was getting started, they even went as far as letting staff members take 20% of their time (one day a week) to work on any personal pet projects they wanted, many of which lead to amazing innovations and the next growth vehicles for the company. And, don’t get mad if staff wants to blow of steam with a mid day video game or trip to the gym. As long as they are doing the work, hitting their goals and putting in the effort, there is no need to micro manage their hourly schedules.

As for incentives, every employee beats to the tempo of a different drum. So, properly set incentives on a person by person basis, for what personally drives them. Some people are motivated by cash, others by equity or others by perks. Figure out what the magic incentive is for each, and put achievable performance thresholds in place to achieve such. It should not be a “one size fits all” discussion. And, targets reasonable need to be achievable. There is nothing more demotivating than working your ass off and not seeing any fruits from your labor. So, there needs to be both “company targets” and “individual targets”, so employees feel they have control over their own incentive destiny.

This is a high level snapshot of a complicated topic. But, hopefully it gives you a better sense on how to best set up your business culture right from the start. As, it is very difficult to change down the road.

Article written by George Deeb, a serial entrepreneur. George is a Managing Partner at Red Rocket Partners, a strategy and fund-raising consultant for start-ups.

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Profitero analyzes competitor pricing data, offering retailers new levels of insight to help them maximize profits by adjusting pricing and merchandising strategies. It currently monitoring 27.5 million products across 2,500 European retail web sites, with ambitious growth pans for 2012.

Profitero automatically monitors competitive information (price, shipping, web presence, customer feedback, etc.) on a daily basis, and benchmarks each product against the competition, suggesting priority products to work on, actions to take, and the monitoring of sales impact from actions already taken.

Profitero will have access to IBM’s network of world-class entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts which can lead to funding opportunities and future business success. Profitero also joins last year’s winner, Streetline, who received more than $15 million in venture backing after earning IBM’s Global Entrepreneur of the Year honors.

SmartCamp is an exclusive event aimed at identifying early stage entrepreneurs who are developing business ventures that align with our IBM Smarter Planet vision. Past participants from IBM SmartCamp competitions have captured the attention of the venture capital community with nearly $50 million in investments, and have expanded to new global markets.

“Profitero is a great example of the kind of startup company that IBM is partnering with around the world to build a smarter planet,” said Jim Corgel, general manager entrepreneur programs, IBM.

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In addition to social media, many believe that the evolution of mobile phones represents the next great marketing tool for small business owners. The ability for customers to connect and browse to the internet from anywhere in the world represents infinite possibilities for creative advertisers. Commonly referred to as mobile marketing, such strategies are currently being developed by both businesses small and large in order to gain an edge on their competitors.

Mobile phones have become an indispensable item for most individuals. They rely on them for planning, organization, socializing, finance, and keeping abreast of local and world news. According to statistics from the International Telecommunication Union, over 5 billion people across the world subscribe to a cell phone plan. In the United States, 90% of adults own a smartphone. Unlike traditional computers, cell phones are light and portable and always close by.

As a result, marketing to a potential customer directly through their cell phones is far more efficient than delivering an advertisement through radio, television, or internet ads. Currently, approximately one-tenth of all searches for online products is done through mobile phones. As mobile bandwidth improves and devices become more intuitive and web friendly, smartphones will represent a much larger share of the total web traffic. In fact, even today over 95% of new mobile phones are equipped with a capable web browser. Statistics indicate that over 70 million consumers use their phone to browse the web daily in the United States alone.

Experts believe that as mobile phones garner a larger share of internet web traffic, more and more purchasing decisions will be influenced by businesses who market to this demographic. The distinction is important given that mobile web browsing offers a vastly different experience than tradition internet usage. For example, a website that utilizes bandwidth intensive graphics and complex animations may work well with desktops or notebook computers, but is a poor design for a mobile phone with limited bandwidth and a smaller screen. Many websites must design specialized apps that condense content to cater to mobile users. Custom mobile apps with desirable features can even be sold to provide an additional income.

Mobile marketing also provides flexibility and instant gratification. A restaurant, for example, could provide the ability to make a reservation through a mobile app, or connect to users through popular review sites such as Yelp. Simply having a presence boosts the stature of your business, as consumers are more likely to patron companies that offer are accessible and offer discounts through mobile phone notifications. Text messaging a limited time promotion can deliver immediate response and urgency from your customers. Research from the group Mobile Marketing Watch estimates that 7 out of every 10 consumers respond to text messages, whereas only 3 out of 10 consumers were likely to patronize advertisements sent via email.

It is important for small businesses to recognize the current shift in technology and how it will influence the way consumers connect. Not only are mobile phones increasing in processing power, but wireless internet is getting faster and more comprehensive. This provides consumers with the freedom to stay connected the way they want regardless of their location, which will result in more individuals choosing to purchase tablets and smartphones in lieu of traditional computers. The businesses that market to these users will eventually be advertising to a much larger base, and do so more efficiently by utilizing social media. Unfortunately, less than 7% of small businesses have optimized their webpage for mobile users. A vast majority still believe that traditional online advertising reaches a broader base.

Internet commerce is at a critical juncture. The paradigm is quickly shifting from traditional online advertising to mobile marketing, social media, and text message promotions. In order to ensure your business isn’t left behind, it is essential that you optimize your websites for mobile browsing, and provide apps and features that make it easy for customers to make purchases, provide feedback and spread the word.

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Cell Phone Expert where you can
different types of cell phones by provider and/or brand.

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In October 2011, the company secured $27 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, which valued the company at USD $200 million. In October 2011, the site surpassed 421 million pageviews. In December 2011, the site entered the top 10 social networks according to Hitwise data with 11 million total visits per week. Pinterest now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study.

How Pinterest works:
As a user of the site, when you see an image that you want to “pin” to your “board,” you can capture it using a “pin it” plug-in and add it to your online profile. Everyone who follows you can view your pinboards, comment on them and add to them if they have permission. They can “repin” the images to their own boards and you can do the same with what you see and like on their boards. Clicking on the image usually takes users to the original source.

Pinterest founders shared these tips in various interviews with bloggers and journalists.

1. We didn’t spend a lot of time trying to get tech coverage.
2. We didn’t build this company to build a really hot tech startup; what we wanted to do was build a product — and also a company — that we wanted to work on for the next five or ten years.
3. Hiring the right people and building a really great team is important to achieving our vision.
4. We wanted to build a product that people actually use and that enhances their lives.
5. One of the most exciting things for me now that we have a product that people love, is building a team at a company that people want to work at.
6. Pinterest is growing for a variety of reasons. It enables users to clip things they like. It emphasize pictures over text, which are more visually appealing and easier to digest.
7. Pinterest has added to the lexicon of “like” or “retweeting” or “reblogging” or “upvoting” with the ability to “pin” content and then “repin” it across the site and other networks.
8. One of the reasons people love Pinterest is that it is like a “living, dynamic catalog,” created with people you know and people who share the same interests, says Sharp.
9. The common thread on our team is that all of them have real interests and passions outside of Pinterest.
10. We want to make Pinterest SO much better! We know there’s a lot we can do to make Pinterest faster, more useful and more fun-Sharp
11. The reasons behind this rise are no secret. In fact, Pinterest is following one of the oldest adages of sales and marketing-Sell to the woman. TNW
12. Pinterest is growing fast, and 80% of the site’s users are women ages 25-44.RWW
13. the true potential in Pinterest may be in its ability to impact purchases, which is why retailers like Etsy, Nordstrom, and Lands’ End have taken to developing a presence on, and strategy for, this new platform.-AdAge’s David Teicher

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Facebook has been valued between $75 and $100 Billion dollars in the largest Internet initial public offering on record. The facts of the social network’s user and revenue growth as recorded in the filing are as follows:

# In a letter from founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook’s purpose, he stated: “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected. We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us.”

# In addition to Morgan Stanley, Facebook hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc and Allen & Co. to manage the IPO.

# 24-fold increase in sales over the past four years to $3.71 billion in 2011.

# Facebook reported revenues of $3.7 billion in 2011, an 88 percent increase over the prior year, and earned a $1 billion profit.

# Revenues come primarily from advertising (85%), as well as payments for virtual goods (15%) and platform development fees (negligible). Payments alone was a $557 million business last year.

# The company ended the year with $3.9 billion in cash.

# Mark Zuckerberg, 27, is the company’s top holder with 28.4 percent of the shares. He also has proxy agreements with fellow stockholders that potentially give him voting control over more than half the shares.

# Accel (invested in 2005) and Accel Partner Jim Breyer  owns 11.4 percent of the company. Co-founder Dustin Moskovitz owns 7.6 percent of the company, followed by DST with 5.4 percent. Peter Thiel, Facebook’s first investor, owns 2.5 percent.

# Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg also enjoys the use of a private plane, the filing revealed, and earned a base salary of $500,000 last year, more than triple the salary of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when Google filed for its IPO.

# Zuckerberg requested that his base salary be reduced to $1 per year, effective January 1, 2013.

# Zuckerberg’s base salary, which amounted to $500,000 in 2011, was the highest of any employee at Facebook. By contrast, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin earned a salary of $150,000 each when Google filed for its IPO in 2004.

#  Facebook has a total of 845 million members, more than half of whom, or 483 million, return to the site daily.

# Facebook users have shared more than 100 petabytes (100 quadrillion bytes) of photos and videos with Facebook, and produced an average of 2.7 billion “likes” and comments a day in the final three months of 2011.

# Facebook has reached a 60 percent penetration in the U.S. and U.K.

# Mobile is also now half the user base, with 425 million monthly actives.

# User base of each continent: North America (US and Canada): 179 million, Europe: 229 million, Asia: 212 million, Rest of the world: 225 million.

# “There are more than two billion global Internet users,” its S-1 filing states, “…and we aim to connect all of them.”

# Facebook employs 3,200 as of December, up from 2,172 a year earlier.

# The real winners in Facebook’s  public offering.

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Based on this, the website is configured and modified so that it ranks high when an organic search is conducted via a search engine. On the other hand, SMO or Social Media Marketing considers the way people work – via friends and contacts! It focuses on creating content that attracts the attention of the readers and encourages them to share the same with all their friends and contacts. The corporate message in such marketing resonated better with the audience for it comes from a source it trusts – friends.

While SEO sites try to grab a greater market share via linguistics, grammar, syntax and vocabulary, SMO does the same via emotions, trust and recommendations. The social networking sites allow individuals to interact with each other and build many relationships in the process. It is complete freedom for the people as far as doing what they wish to goes. Thus, social marketing is bound to be a very profitable method for the long run as it works via the ‘pull’ mechanism of attracting people rather than the ‘push’ of forcing people.

Customers acquired via social marketing tend to be many times more loyal than normal customers. This is because they have arrived at the marketer of their own volition with faith and trust built through friends’ recommendations. Another reason for this loyalty is that social marketing helps to put a ‘human face’ of the company with which customers can interact, provide instant feedback and seek immediate redressal. Of course, SEO helps popularizing the site. However, a site that is popular in one region or society might not be so in others. But that is not the case with trust and friendships. People everywhere, in all societies listen to their friends and family. Social media marketing is sure to be a success anywhere.

SMO has succeeded in bringing about a dialogue between the company and customer. It also provides opportunities of having an ever-expanding customer base by exploring the friends and friend’s friends in the social network. It also gives the chance to be highly selective about the target audience. Since social networking sites have more or less all the demographic and geographic data about the customers concerned, SMO helps to get invaluable insights about the target market.

Before concluding that SMO is far superior to SEO, it would do well to examine a potential pitfall as well. What works for the good things also works for the bad! While depending on SMO, it becomes imperative for the company to serve well and incorporate the feedback received. Else, it can get bad-mouthed and even that travels fast on the social network. At times, the damage done through ‘bad word-of-mouth’ can be irreversible.

About the author: Alyssa Clarke is a blogger who also happens be a tech freak. She is always on a lookout for latest gadgets that includes cellphones, music players and tablets. She is a car lover too, especially Vintage cars and dreams of owing one soon.

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The New York Times and CNBC have reported their own sources in articles posted late Tuesday, saying that the filing will land Wednesday. Facebook is seeking to raise up to $5 billion in its offering, they added.

At a $100 billion valuation, Facebook would be worth about the same as McDonald’s Corp. and nearly half of Google.

“The minute the IPO is filed, there will be pandemonium,” said IPO Boutique’s Scott Sweet, who says he has never seen anything quite like the pent-up demand for Facebook shares.

Anticipation of the biggest IPO ever for an Internet company has real estate agents seeing a note of urgency in the local market, Wall Street money managers moving in for a piece of the action, and even state budget analysts factoring in a “Facebook effect” that could top $1 billion.

Top Historic Internet IPOs

On top of the list for historic IPOs is the San Francisco based credit card company, Visa, at $17.9 billion in March of 2008.

Social gaming company Zynga raised $1 billion in its IPO in December, 2011, the biggest web-related IPO since Google, according to the Associated Press.

LinkedIn went public in May of 2011 and raised $352.8 million. In 2004, Google raised $1.7 billion.

Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the US, went public with $3.7 billion IPO in 1999.

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