:: LNR Journalism ::

Mobile reporting: Boingo’s adds VPN and crowdsource Hotspot Data to its Wi-Fi Software

Might be helpful for all those of you reporting on-the-ground or for those forced to work out of their office for most of the time of the day.

AllThingsD :: Boingo’s free Wi-Finder software for iOS is gaining two useful new tricks. First of all, it ads technology that can help people when logging into unprotected hotspots. Traditionally, so-called virtual private networking (VPN) software was used to log into a corporate firewall. But VPNs also serve another important purpose, they help secure the data that is being sent.

A review of the service - Continue to read Ina Fried, allthingsd.com

Audiodraft's marketplace: Crowdsourced unique music for your productions

The Next Web :: Audiodraft, a Finnish startup we’ve previously profiled for its composer crowdsourcing service, has now launched a marketplace that offers high-quality pieces of music on exclusive licenses. Once you’ve bought some music, it’s removed from the site so no-one else will use it until your license expires.

Clipped from: www.audiodraft.com (share this clip)

Continue to read Martin Bryant, thenextweb.com

Kickstarter gives birth to a market: Crowdfunding turns Pebble into a platform

GigaOM :: By now, you’ve probably seen the soaring funding numbers put up by Pebble, the e-paper smartwatch that has broken records as the biggest Kickstarter project to date with $4.7 million raised. It is even more interesting to see how the Kickstarter campaign is helping create an instant ecosystem around Pebble’s app platform, giving it the kind of scale that is very hard to conjure up so quickly in the software world.

Continue to read Ryan Kim, gigaom.com

Kickstarter 28 days to go - 'Tube': the open-source 3D animation experiment

The Tube | Kickstarter :: Animation with substance. The crowd funds it, the crowd owns it. Tube is the experimental production of a 3D animated short about the dream and failure and achievement of immortality. It's also a love letter to free software and open culture that marks their convergence with independent filmmaking.

Continue to read Bassam Kurdali, www.kickstarter.com

Crowdfunded - Pepple: $2,965,439 pledged of a $100,000 goal for an 'E-Paper Watch'

The facts: Pepple's "E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android" in numbers (Apr 16, 07:47 CET): Backers: 20,914 - $2,965,439 pledged of $100,000 goal and still 32 days to go.

AmandaPeyton.com :: Back to the Pebble watch. Consumer electronics are among the most well-funded projects on Kickstarter despite the fact that it’s dubious whether they should even be included in the scope of fundable projects. Which is really fascinating because that to me means that consumer electronics as a market has been ripe for disruption all along. That said, it’s ridiculously not obvious that disruption would come from the same place that allows an artist with a sharpie, a hotel room and a webcam a way to make the art she wants.

Continue to read Amanda Peyton, amandapeyton.com

In case of emergency: Twitcident crowdsources tweets to help out in crises

The Verge :: Researchers from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have created Twitcident, a framework for filtering and analyzing tweets to crowdsource information about crises. For the past ten months the system has been in testing as a support program for the Dutch police and fire department.

Continue to read www.theverge.com

Visit the service site twitcident.com

Behind closed doors: Broadcasters battle online disclosure of political ad buys

ProPublica :: The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote April 27 on whether to require TV stations to post online public information about political ad buys. Some form of the rule seems likely to pass, but the industry and others are lobbying the FCC to alter the nature of the final rule.

Crowdsourced: ProPublic is collecting stations' public paper files with the help of readers:

[ProPublica:] With the help of readers around the country, ProPublica is collecting stations’ public paper files containing data on political ads and posting them online because the information is generally unavailable elsewhere. See “Free the Files.”

Continue to read Justin Elliott, www.propublica.org

Crowdsourced video production: Poptent launches premium video production unit

The Next Web :: Poptent, a US-based crowdsourced video production and media company, has launched Poptent Productions, a premium video production business unit for big brands and agencies. Founded in 2007, Poptent lets creatives sign up for free and offer their services.

Continue to read thenextweb.com

South Africa: Crowdinvest launches, a ‘crowd sourced investment platform’

memeburn :: Any new startup, scratch that, any business should be solving the universal issue of “what problem can my company solve?” Crowdinvest, South Africa, a venture by three ambitious Cape Town locals aims to address the need of the burgeoning startup in a distinctly un-Kickstarter like way. How so? By crowdfunding projects through social networks, word of mouth and whatever else fits the bill.

Continue to read Steven Norris, memeburn.com

Can Drifter turn a crowd-funded pilot into a television deal?

GigaOM :: The word that describes the in-development independent series Drifter, on pretty much every level, is ambitious — ambitious in scope and ambitious in approach. Set to begin production in mid-July, the sci-fi/comedy/drama project is crowdfunding its pilot online — but setting its sights on television.

Continue to read Liz Shannon Miller, gigaom.com