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In honor of Independence Day, Tech Cocktail reached out to a group of successful entrepreneurs to share what independence means to them. Specifically, we wanted to know: “What is most liberating about being an entrepreneur?” Their responses are below. What is most liberating about being an entrepreneur? Brendon Kensel, Co-Founder at JockTalk The most liberating thing about being an entrepreneur is that I don’t work; rather, I relentlessly pursue a passion and a hobby 12 hours a day....

The initial purpose of The Rap Test was to find the biggest rap fans in the genre, scoring test takers on a leader board and rewarding them for their rap-dedication. Friday hasn’t steered away from that mission at all, and the biggest T.I. fans will have the chance with this new test to win an autographed copy of T.I.’s newest album Paperwork. This marks the fourth major rap superstar that Friday and his crew have been able to collaborate with and bring on board behind Kanye West, Drake, and Riff Raff....

You see, social media is far more than just a collection of a few popular apps and websites. But when someone says “social media,” the first image that pops into the majority of people’s minds is the Facebook homescreen. Maybe for some it’s Reddit, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. But what about Snapchat? MySpace? YouTube? Pinterest? Medium? Quora? What about the blog you’re reading this on? ESPN.com? The Washington Post?...

The Top 10 Stories of the Week What’s on Tap Remember, the hottest startup from each region will be invited to Tech Cocktail Celebrate, our grand national startup competition. Startups, apply to showcase at your local event today! 8.27 – Boston Mixer & Startup Showcase 9.04 – Phoenix Social 9.05 – Los Angeles Mixer & Startup Showcase

If your feet are still firmly planted on planet Earth, you likely haven’t heard any of the news stories surrounding these celestial journeys. Fortunately, Tech.Co is so enamored with the unknown that we’ve collected the top ten space stories of the year to keep you abreast of the advancements in the world of interstellar exploration. NASA’s Juno Spacecraft After five years of wandering through outer space, the Juno Spacecraft entered Jupiter’s orbit....

Here’s a look at what the startups do, and why MIT is taking the time to promote playing in an environment that so often promotes nothing but work. Virtual Pets and Nausea-Reducing VR Startups entered the accelerator in June, receiving an initial investment of $20,000 along with weekly mentorship. Post-graduation, they’re eligible for another $80,000. The Full List VRemedy Labs‘s VR nausea treatment helps users by allowing them to raise or lower settings for light, movement, speed, and acceleration....

We’ve seen too many cases of “laptop shoulder” and carpel tunnel to ignore the fact that our technology makes us adapt to it and not the other way around. For my friend, this transition to standing desks is amazing because he has scoliosis, and constant sitting is both painful and detrimental to his spine. According to Smithsonian, spending more time standing can also reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer – you also burn more calories at a standing desk versus a sitting one....

While it was Facebook that was found to contain the most lies, these didn’t spread as far as those on TikTok and Twitter, which, as sites based on virality, can see content spread far and wide in a small amount of time. Social media is one of the key ways that we receive information these days, meaning it’s more important than ever that what we see is true, and that when it isn’t, platforms are held accountable....

UPDATE, 11 July: Timehop has subsequently announced that additional information, including user dates of birth and gender, were taken in the hacking as well. Timehop, an app which searches back through your social media profiles to resurface nostalgic memories, suffered the data breach on July 4 and it affects some 21 million users from around the world. We explain what happened in the Timehop data hack, plus what you need to do if you’re a Timehop user....

Let us know if we’ve missed anything, and we’ll make sure to have it covered. Fundings Mallzee’s ‘Tinder for Fashion’ Raises $4M The Edinburgh, Scotland-based Mallzee, whose “Tinder for fashion” app displays an aggregate of online retailers’ inventories and lets users swipe to save their favorites, announced today that it has raised $4 million (£2.5 million). Prior to today’s new financing, the company had raised $1.5 million. Photo-Sharing Platform 500px Raises $13M Series B 500px, the Toronto, CAN-based photo sharing startup announced a Series B round of funding yesterday worth $13 million....

However, if there was ever a theme for today’s roundup it would be newly created venture funds. These venture funds will help ensure the survival of generations of startups to come, and they’re all pretty heavy hitting with regard to how much funding they’re willing to dole out. As always, if we missed something feel free to shoot us a note. Also, if you would like our daily roundup delivered to your email, just sign up here!...

Give a Tour Without Leaving the Office The clearest way 3D tech can benefit real estate companies is in the tours given to prospective renters or buyers. You’ll see a drastic decrease in the amount of trudging around town and county for your agents by offering 3D walkthroughs of a space online, which can help customers weed out places right from the start. Create a Living Record With the right planning and photos, a 3D model of a space can be a visual record of how a space looked at sale....

Maybe you’re a small business owner with a niche appeal, and there just happens to be a social media site that’s a perfect fit. Social media apps that tout responsive design can connect you to your consumers more easily than ever. Ready to make the leap? Here are six of the best apps for social networking, in no particular order. While you don’t want to overwhelm your smartphone with SM apps, adding a few key ones to the main screen can help you boost sales, make new friends, or break into a whole new community....

What’s the Difference? Periscope already lets users stream to their audiences. But now they can stream with any footage or camera, not just their phone. From Recode: Twitter’s Been Planning This for a While Twitter, Periscope’s parent company, has been seeing some devaluation while reportedly looking for a buyer this year. Periscope Producer looks like one of the ways they hope to show that their social network is still providing value....

The advice runs the gamut from the more obvious, such as avoiding suspicious links and having anti-virus software installed, to slightly more esoteric tips that you might not be aware of, such as regularly restarting your device. Having a device infected with spyware is a huge risk for anybody, opening up your phone or computer to constant surveillance, and meaning that all your data can be compromised. Protecting Yourself Against Spyware The advice comes as a collaboration between the US Counterintelligence agency and Security Centre, and the Department of State, published as a PDF....

This blazingly fast speed is sponsored by the Minnetonka-based company US Internet, led by CEO Joe Caldwell. And speeds like this mean that users can download movies in seconds. Let that sink in: seconds. But wait, what about that Google Fiber stuff? Haven’t we been hearing a ton about how fast and revolutionary they’ll be? Yes, you most likely have. But after all is said and done, Google Fiber will be clocking in at only 1 GBPS, US Internet’s current top speed....

VCs have their own harsh realities – for example, having to tell their partners that a portfolio company is shutting down and they just lost $10 million. But the harsh realities of entrepreneurs may be even more daunting. Part of that has to do with the difficulty of catching the wave and succeeding. But part of it also has to do with the fact that you have to convince other people – customers, employees, and investors – to be irrational with you....

During a phone call with investors on Wednesday, Eric Yuan, Zoom’s CEO said that the company won’t encrypt all calls in case the FBI or local law enforcement come looking for information. “Free users for sure we don’t want to give [end-to-end encryption] because we also want to work together with the FBI, with local law enforcement in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose,” Yuan said. Clearly, the timing is very poor, but this would have been a bad decision at any time....

This is the fourth in a five-part series by Jean Case on characteristics that every social entrepreneur needs to thrive. For the investors, these projections often result in a knowing glance around the table. While projections that demonstrate the size of the market opportunity and the path to growth are critical, those of us who have invested in and helped to launch companies also know all too well that business models evolve and often look different down the road than they did at the birth of a new enterprise....

Unfortunately, cross-device marketing is a new concept that many retailers struggle to master. Here are some common mistakes that hold them back: Neglecting to Customize Your Strategy Brick-and-mortar retailers face a unique challenge with multi-device marketing. They must communicate with customers in different settings, as well as on different devices. You may first engage with customers at home. You may have a great system for interacting with them on their home desktop device....