Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has been known for their ability to disrupt the market despite their share of critics. Many were skeptical of the iPhone when it was first launched, and many rolled their eyes at the iPad when it was first announced as well. The MacBook Air was also met with a bit of hesitation but look where all of these products are today.

That being said does Apple have the Midas Touch when it comes to every product? Hardly, which is why we can’t say we’re too surprised that Mercedes-Benz’s CEO isn’t too worried about the Apple car rumors. Speaking to Motoring.com, Dieter Zetsche was quoted as saying, “If there were a rumor that Mercedes or Daimler planned to start building smartphones then [Apple] would not be sleepless at night. And the same applies to me, and this is full of respect for Apple. That is what I am saying.”

For those who might have missed the news, there were rumors last week that Apple was planning on making an electric car of their own. The project had reportedly been approved a year ago and there is a team of hundreds already in place. A recent report even revealed some of the alleged team members, most of whom have experience in the automotive industry.

Unsurprisingly Apple has had their share of critics with this rumor. GM’s former CEO had even warned Apple about entering the business, claiming that it is a lot harder than most people think it is. Of course whether or not such a product is being made by Apple remains to be seen, but do you think that car manufacturers need to be worried?

Mercedes-Benz CEO Not Worried About Apple’s Electric Car Rumors , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Yesterday following a leaked promotional image, a trio of promotional videos made their way online which basically showed off the upcoming HTC One M9 in all of its glory. The authenticity of those videos were questioned and if you were just as skeptical, it seems that you might not need to be as Leigh Momii, the former product manager for HTC, confirmed that those videos were real.

According to her tweet, Momii wrote, “the whole cat is out of the bag…no surprise there…i’ll probably get the gunmetal/black m9 :)” Given her former position, we can only imagine that Momii probably has some idea of what’s going on, or at least be experienced enough to make an educated deduction. However a tweet by HTC’s Jeff Gordon has us wondering if this could be part of HTC’s ongoing efforts to throw us off their scent.

According to Gordon, “The best parts of HTC’s March 1st launch event are the parts you have NO IDEA are coming.” Prior to this, there was a report in which it was suggested that HTC could have been putting out fake images in a bid to distract us from the actual product which is due for an announcement this coming Sunday.

While faking images is one thing, it is another to put together elaborate fake videos which we guess we would have to commend HTC on their efforts. That being said, the videos have since been taken down, but if you’re really curious about what HTC has to offer, remember to check back with us on the 1st of March for the details.

Leaked HTC One M9 Are Real, According To Former Product Manager , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Earlier this month, health insurer Anthem was hit by a massive hack . Now, it’s admitted that between 8.8 million and 18.8 million people who are not its customers could also be victims in the attack.

Read more…

While the sixth and final season of “Glee” is still in full swing for fans, it’s already over for the cast. Star Lea Michele said her final goodbyes and left McKinley High behind her on Sunday.

But she didn’t leave everything behind.

Successful startups can transform the way we look at the world and ourselves, as well as, create immense value and skyrocket to the top of the Fortune 500 list. Some of these startups were design driven, think: Apple, Nike, HP, Sony and Nokia. However few of these were actually founded by designers, other than, AirBnB, Dyson and Disney. So, why have so few of the best design driven startups of the last decade been founded by designers?

AirBnB is the recent poster child of the best design driven startup in the hospitality business. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, both graduates from Rhode Island School of Design, founded the firm in 2008 and by April 1014 it was valued at ten billion dollars. The firm quite simply connects people with beds to rent to travelers who need a place to sleep. AirBnB picked their business model wisely, since online connector startups have a distinct advantage since they do not require huge upfront capital investments in development and manufacturing.

On the other end of the spectrum are the automotive startups and there are few businesses that can be as challenging as these. Fisker Automotive (founded 2007) and Tesla Motor (founded 2003) are two of the latest arrivals on the automotive scene, which is known to be brutal to newcomers. Think: Vector Motors, DeLorean Motors and Tucker Car Corporation. Fisker and Tesla’s founders had very different backgrounds and destiny treated them accordingly.

Designer, Henrik Fisker and model maker Bernhard Koehler founded Fisker Automotive and the two long-term friends had all the prerequisites for a successful new venture, (decades of automotive experience from BMW and Ford) except for startup experience. We know that first time Venture Capital (VC) financed startups have an eighteen percent success rate.

Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel and Ian Wright and although none of these entrepreneurs had automotive experience (coming as they did from PayPal), their previous VC financed successful startup experience, increased their odds of success to thirty percent. Although, strictly speaking, Tesla was not founded within the last decade, it is included here as a comparison for Fisker Automotive.

With startup statistics stacked against Fisker Automotive from the beginning, they ran into challenges when entering the electric/hybrid car market segment, that included rushed development and battery problems. The only difference was, as a startup, they did not have the deep pockets necessary to weather the storms and Fisker Automotive ran out of cash before they reached the break-even point.

Tesla, with a more experienced startup team, managed their investors and cash flow more effectively, enabling them to obtain an IPO (Initial Public Offering) thereby securing an additional infusion of much needed cash. Whether this will be enough to take on the established players in the business, still remains to be seen. What would you rather drive, an electric, Maserati, Porsche, BMW or Tesla?

Nearly everyone tends to forget that startups are expected to fail and thus are susceptible to seduction from the excitement of novelty. Though studies show design to be vital to startups – it probably only changes the probabilities for success by a dozen percentage points and although AirBnB and Fisker Automotive both leverage design sublimely, it still takes startup experience to succeed.