KickApps

Daily Tidbits: Amazon, Overstock get knocked down by N.Y. court

A New York State court judge denied on Monday Amazon.com and Overstock.com's attempt to avoid lawmaker demands that the online retailers collect sales tax from New York state residents, even though the companies don't have a physical presence in the state. Neither company has commented on the decision, but there is a strong possibility that the case could move into the Court of Appeals as Amazon and Overstock continue their fight.

CollegeWikis, an online group for college students to send messages and create their own groups based on class year, dorm, or courses, has become Regroup.com. … Read more

KickApps raises $14 million for expansion

KickApps, a company that offers on-demand social networking and widget platforms, announced Tuesday that it raised $14 million in Series C funding. The round was led by North Atlantic Capital, Softbank, Spark Capital, and Prism Ventures.

The funding will be used for expansion into new markets, as well as product development, which the company believes, will help it spur growth in the market.

"KickApps is aggressively extending the scope of services we provide online publishers in a number of important ways," said Alex Blum, KickApps CEO in a statement. "As a next generation website operating system, our … Read more

KickApps gives us Version 3.0 with Open API's

The Web 2.0 development platform, KickApps, released Version 3.0 of their service today. For those who don't know, KickApps allows web site publishers to add a "social media" page to their site, which may include spaces for blog posts, pictures, videos, and a message board. The service also allows the user to embed widgets containing this media throughout their site. For a good example of what I am talking about, check out the newly launched Guinness World Records site.

The newest release will provide for more developer support through KickApps' new Open API's. Those … Read more

Vibe and MySpace team up for online rap battle

Can the combined power of Vibe magazine, MySpace, and KickApps' social multimedia platform uncover the next great MC? That's the plan, and they're all hoping three is the magic number.

Vibe Verses 3, an online rap battle that lets aspiring MCs upload videos of themselves spitting rhymes, launches today.

The viral contest, promoted on both Vibe.com and MySpace, is using KickApps video widgets to let rappers and their fans embed the clips in MySpace profiles and other Web pages.

Participants in the contest select from one of 23 beats, then make a video of themselves performing their … Read more