Silicon Valley

Twilio, the maker of a platform for developing cloud-based communications apps, said today it has closed a $17 million C round of funding.

All told, Twilio has now raised $31.5 million. Its new round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures, both of which had participated in its B round. Union Square also invested in Twilio's A round.

Twilio's platform is a favorite of developers interested in building cloud-based VoIP, text messaging and phone functionality into their existing applications. In 2011, the company said, its customer base exploded, expanding by 400 percent. To date, … Read more

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--It's launch day for Sarah Stocker's new company, and though there's still a lot of work to take care of before going live, her iPhone is doing its best to challenge her. "Launch! In 9m," it taunts.

Stocker is co-founder of My Robot Nation, a startup that gives buyers a set of simple Web-based tools for designing their own small, collectible 3D-printed droid figures.

It's a recent Tuesday, and as part of my Day on the Job series, I've arrived at Stocker's hillside home about 30 minutes north of … Read more

The robots have arrived.

This morning, My Robot Nation officially launched, offering customers around the world the ability to design the droid of their dreams--and have it quickly 3D printed and sent to them.

Note: Please come back tomorrow for a behind-the-scenes story looking at how My Robot Nation's founders spent launch day.

A month ago, as reported first by CNET, the service launched into beta, and for the first time, people in the U.S., Canada, and Europe were able to use My Robot Nation's simple Web-based design tools to craft their own miniature robots. Since then, hundreds of people have done so, and within days, each got delivery of a package containing a ceramic-like figurine meant to be displayed wherever buyers like to show off their small collectibles. … Read more

day on the job MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--If you don't regularly hang out with coders at work, you may think it takes a long time to write a new feature. That's a quaint notion to Devon Rifkin.

Rifkin is a front-end engineer at RockMelt, the maker of a hot new browser that integrates many of the functions of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media directly into the browsing experience. I've come to RockMelt on a recent Tuesday to shadow Rifkin as part of my Day on the Job series, and now he's schooling me on just … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Four robots left the Golden Gate today on an across the globe mission to set a world distance record and demonstrate new data-gathering tools that could help save the planet.

The robots, known as Wave Gliders, were built by a Silicon Valley startup known as Liquid Robotics. And starting today, the four autonomous sea-faring craft are heading out on journeys to Australia and Japan with the intention of setting the Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled on the surface of the Earth by a robot.

The four Wave Gliders are thought to be capable of traveling across … Read more

It's hard to imagine anyone shedding tears over the loss of a billboard, but a lot of San Franciscans may find their eyes watering up if, as reported today, the much-loved Yahoo sign along Interstate 80 is taken down next month.

According to a report on The San Francisco Egoist, the Yahoo billboard will be no more as of next month. The report quoted Clear Channel Outdoor Vice President and General Sales Manager Jon Charles as confirming the sign's imminent removal.

A call by CNET today to Charles was not returned.

There are few signs in the United … Read more

Who needs to go to a restaurant to have a great meal when you could have one made for you at home?

That's the idea behind KitchIt, a Silicon Valley startup that is hoping to use technology, smart and easy design, and good culinary industry connections to offer everyday people custom restaurant-quality meals at home at affordable prices.

The concept is simple: To use KitchIt, you go to its Web site, enter your city, the date and type of the dinner you're planning, how many people are in your party, and the price range per diner.

Once you'… Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Bill Clerico may not be Steve Jobs, but he's doing something very Jobsian: "I'm pushing people to do things they don't think are possible."

Clerico is CEO of WePay, an online payments collection service that is taking on the likes of PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, and others, and which is growing--fast. Its 2012 revenues will likely be several times that of 2011, and that means a big expansion in users and employees. Plus long hours and hard work for those already on staff.

It's nearly 10 a.m. on a recent Monday, … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--eBay knows that half of all Christmas shoppers miss its December 16 shipping deadline for getting presents under the tree in time, and it wants to help the stragglers.

The e-commerce giant's idea is to make it easy for shoppers to find the item they're looking for--say, a Nintendo Wii--that's for sale and in stock at a store near them and to select and pay for it in advance through a mobile app.

The technology has been rolled into the latest version of eBay's RedLaser mobile app, which allows users to search for … Read more