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Report: Path nets $40 million in funding, $250 million valuation

Path, the popular photo-sharing social network, is about to announce it has closed a $40 million round of funding that values the San Francisco startup at $250 million, according to sources who spoke to All Things D. Update 5:24 p.m.: Path said it has raised $30 million in a funding round.

The report, which came out late last night, said that the new round was led by Redpoint Ventures and could be announced as early as today.

The company, which was founded by Dave Morin, who co-created the Facebook Platform, and Shawn Fanning, the co-founder of Napster, has … Read more

Instagram adds 10 million users in 10 days

Not long after Instagram became available for Android after a long wait, I finally joined the photo-filtering and super-sharing social network last week. Yesterday, while snapping, cropping, and filtering away photos of our kids playing in a Brooklyn, N.Y., park, and at least partly because his curiosity had been piqued by the company's billion-dollar price tag, my brother-in-law finally downloaded Instagram to his iPhone.

It turns out that he and I were just two of 10 million. … Read more

Facebook's acquisition spree continues with TagTile

Facebook is amping up its mobile efforts, this time around commerce.

Facebook today bought a San Francisco-based startup called TagTile, a mobile-based customer loyalty business. Like Square, TagTile provides merchants with a free hardware device (see the white cube in the photo) for customers to tap on with their phone when they checkout. That, combined with the app, lets stores run coupon programs and offer loyalty rewards.

In a post on its site, TagTile said that Facebook is "acquiring substantially all of our assets." How much is that worth? Facebook isn't saying. But this acquisition clearly isn'… Read more

Instagram's instant billion-dollar payday

week in review Just weeks away from what's expected to be a historic Internet IPO, Facebook announced it had agreed to acquire the hugely popular photo-sharing smartphone app Instagram in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1 billion.

Facebook has made a slew of acquisitions to date, but nothing of this scale. Instagram is a 2-year-old startup that comes with some 33 million users and a growth rate that's the envy of Silicon Valley.

The key win for Facebook here is mobile engagement. The social network has had a mobile app for years, but it doesn'… Read more

Dropping Instagram already? Try these Android alternatives

It seems like almost immediately after news broke of Instagram's updated terms of use policy, the hip photo-based social app became a lot less cool. Droves of Instagram users have been crying bloody murder, and many are already committing themselves to jumping ship.

Dramatics aside, the reality is that Instagram is not irreplaceable. We Android users should know, since until earlier this year, we were perfectly fine without it. As I said in my review, Instagram is fantastic for its bustling network of users, but it is certainly not a powerhouse shooter, and its filters are even getting a … Read more

The 404 1,030: Where bubble is a bad word (podcast)

Aunt Jill Schlesinger of CBS Moneywatch and Jill on Money is back in the studio today answering all your financial questions and helping us make sense of Facebook's $1 billion purchase of Instagram.

She also gets heated with another social network -- LinkedIn. We'll collectively discover the perils of stalking your ex-coworkers on the site and why an active profile on LinkedIn is kind of like cheating on your current employer.… Read more

Jon Stewart on Google's glasses: Like people peeing in your eye

"In New York City, that mother****** is going to get hit by a car."

Such was Jon Stewart's exasperated verdict yesterday on anyone wearing Google's new augmented-reality glasses. This was not the only concern shared by "The Daily Show" host.

Google is, after all, the "world's biggest database of people whizzing in public." With these glasses, it will be as if these people "are peeing right in your eye."

In this busy and slightly insane week for tech, Stewart didn't stop his piss-take with Google. For there was … Read more

Place your bets on who Zuckerberg buys after Instagram

If Facebook is going to gamble its money, why shouldn't you?

Though we could have a lengthy mathematical discussion here about the varying merits of the exacta versus the trifecta, perhaps a quicker and more clinical bet would be on which company Facebook might buy, now that it has swallowed Instagram.

I have always found bookmakers to be helpful and imaginative. So I am grateful to the New York Times for revealing that Paddy Power, the strong and forceful Irish bookmaker, has a new addition to its novelty betting section: yes, you can toss your money toward your view … Read more

Instagram takes the title of No. 1 free app on iTunes

Instagram has terminated Draw Something's long-time reign over the No. 1 free app spot on iTunes' download charts.

"Instagram is #1 in the @AppStore for the first time ever! Thanks everyone!," Instagram announced on Twitter today.

Most likely this has something to do with Facebook's acquisition of the photo sharing app yesterday. With widespread news that the social networking behemoth laid down $1 billion for Instagram, people who weren't familiar with the app must have gotten curious.

It's been a big last few days for the 2-year-old startup. Not only did it cash in … Read more