Gawker: valleywag, qik

Marc Andreessen invests in Qik

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Along with former Opsware CEO and Netscape exec Ben Horowitz, Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen invested in live-streaming-over-cell-phones site Qik, joining the company's board of advisors. Until now Qik was best known for its footage of Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis versus Tesla founder Elon Musk in a street race and Digg cofounder Kevin Rose's dodgeball triumphs. Andreessen's Qik stream, embedded below, is much less entertaining. Nobody's saying how much Horowitz and Andreessen invested in the startup — VentureBeat calls it "significant." If you've heard, let us know.

China deports Twitter user for livestreaming Olympics protest

Melissa Gira Grant — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:20:00 EDT

Activist Twitterer noneck (aka Noel Hidalgo) was in Tiananmen Square on Saturday for a free-Tibet protest. After he Twittered the event and broadcast it live over Qik, Chinese authorities deported him. He's one of 28 activists bounced from China during the Olympics, but the only one who documented his actions live, with over 30,000 views. Rather foolish of the Chinese government: Had they not deported Hidalgo, it's unlikely so many people would have paid attention to his lifecast. His video of the pro-Tibet die-in runs below:

Kevin Rose in fender bender

Jackson West — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:12:33 EDT

Don't worry, everyone, Digg founder Kevin Rose will be just fine. Multiple tipsters sent messages to let us know that Rose ended up entangled in some unwanted Audi-on-Audi action. Ever the early adopter, Rose even uploaded video showing the damage to both vehicles. Smart move — now the owner of the other car can't get away with trying to convince Rose's insurer that the damage was anything more than a cosmetic scratch. Best excuse we've seen for having an account on mobile video publishing service Qik so far after the jump.

Despite recession talk, VCs find cash to fund Qik, Ustream.tv

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:40:00 EDT

Having turned down Microsoft's $50 million offer, live video site Ustream.tv today announced $11.1 million in venture capital. Yesterday, mobile video startup Qik announced it raised another $3 million from Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff, VC Arjun Gupta and entrepreneur George Garrick. If a recession is going to take your jobs, close the doors to rich payoffs, and kill your deals, the least it could do is knock live Robert Scoble andLoren Feldman broadcasts off the Internet.