Why using data on your phone abroad is so expensive, and how to save money

As everyday mobile data use increasingly becomes the norm, it can be a real wrench to go abroad and suddenly find yourself without access to email, apps and the Web.

Yes, roaming charges for mobile data are so expensive that generally, the only thing to do is to switch off your phone?s Internet connection completely. Your smartphone becomes a dumbphone from the second you touch down in a foreign land to the moment you arrive on home soil.

As an example of the stifling level of cost, just look at US network Sprint. Visit the UK from the USA and you?ll be paying $0.019 per kilobyte, which doesn?t sound much until you work out that it?s $19.46 per megabyte! Meanwhile, the UK?s Orange network will charge you £8 ($13) per megabyte if you visit the USA. These are just two examples of prices so high that they make using mobile data abroad impractical for all but the richest people, but the situation is practically universal.

Why mobile data is so expensive abroad

So, why do we end up paying so much? ?Because historically it?s been an absolute arse to manage,? explains plain-speaking mobile industry expert Ewan MacLeod, who runs the website Mobile Industry Review. ?If you remember back to a few years ago, it was virtually impossible to get a real-time update on your data usage whilst roaming because, put simply, your operator had no idea. They had to wait until they ? I kid you not ? got a spreadsheet each week/month from their roaming partner to then parse the amount of data you used.?

?So this was a total nightmare to manage, logistically. It was also heavily risky ? because there was no control at all. If you activated a user?s right to roam then you were basically taking a huge bet that they?d be able/willing to pay at the end of the month. So the networks could, in some cases, be left out of pocket.?

Since those days, communications between networks have improved, but it?s still complicated. Jo Gilfoy, Senior Product Manager at Vodafone UK explained to me this week how the company has deals in place with around 200 networks around the world, and terms of these deals vary. As a result, pricing isn?t a straightforward affair. Still, Gilfoy says that roaming data is a big growth area for the company, as people increasingly want to use their smartphones to stay in touch while abroad.

Despite this growth, prices have stayed high. The networks themselves are quite cagey on the subject of data roaming costs. When approaching them for comment for this article, most replied with simple, canned PR statements along the lines of this one from Sprint: ?Sprint international data roaming rates vary by country. We are constantly negotiating the rates with service providers to offer our customers the best possible rate when they travel.  Sprint?s current international data roaming rates are very competitive.?

What the networks are doing to make data cheaper

Vodafone UK launched a new data roaming package this week which is noticeably more generous than its previous offering, with a 25MB daily allowance, up from 5MB. The company has also put in place a notification system that tells users when they have used 80% and 100% of their roaming allowance, and capping roaming spending at £38 within Europe and £100 for the rest of the world. Once the limit is reached, the customer must send a text message to confirm that they wish to continue using data.

Vodafone UK?s Richard Mabey, who is responsible for the company?s roaming offering in the enterprise market, says that the cap is ?there for reassurance. There?s still fear around roaming charges. We want to give customers the assurance that they won?t run up massive bills. While everyone can count the minutes they talk for, no-one knows when they?ve used a megabyte. These products make sure there?s no billshock.?

Other operators, such as Japan?s Softbank offer a daily price cap, but it?s still not particularly cheap

So, some networks are getting better, but roaming still remains expensive if you want to really use the Internet, rather than just quickly check your email. However, Ewan MacLeod says that the main thing holding back cheaper roaming prices is actually us ? the customers. ?We?re all stupid enough to continue paying. If I (as a French operator) can buy wholesale, let?s say, a gigabyte of data for ? charitably ? £0.30 in the United Kingdom from 3UK, then I could re-sell that capacity at double the cost to my customers (£0.60) and make 100% return. Genius. Well, no. Because there?s a precedent established, the consumer is duped into assuming ?roaming? costs a lot, lot more. So instead of 60p for a Gigabyte of roaming data, I might charge the consumer £60? or more likely, £600.?

We were unable to get any mobile networks to talk to us about MacLeod?s allegation. ?Most networks are doing everything they can to avoid addressing the issue of cost,? he argues. ?Speak to their PR and they?ll tell you it?s ?really difficult? routing calls internationally. And that it?s ?hugely expensive?. It?s not. Or, to put it another way, if it?s expensive, you?re doing it wrong. It?s simply a cash cow and they?re working really hard to keep milking it. The writing is on the wall though. They?re eventually going to have to give it up.?

In the meantime, though, a range of third parties are stepping in to offer solutions for mobile data fiends abroad, helping them avoid large bills.

Companies making roaming data cheaper

Onavo is an iPhone app that, once activated, routes all your mobile data through its own servers, compressing it heavily before passing it on to you. The result is up to 80% saving on the amount of data you use, and thus the amount that you spend. The app even gives you a breakdown of data use per app.

Launched at this year?s The Next Web Conference to an overwhelmingly positive response, the Israeli startup promises that more platforms will be supported in the near future. While the data compression service is currently free, a paid subscription model is set to launch in the coming months, although the company says that savings for users will remain ?significant?.

Droam gets around the ?expensive data? problem by giving you a completely different connection to the Internet, accessed via a mobile wireless router (sometimes known as a mi-fi) which you can rent from the company for the duration of your trip abroad. The benefit of this is that you?re not restricted to just using your smartphone ? you can connect via any wi-fi enabled device, and up to five of them at once.

Rental prices are based on the country you?re visiting and how long you need the device, and you?ll need to pay a returnable ?150 deposit, but the company promises roaming savings of up to 90%. On a basic package you get an allowance of 50MB per day or you can upgrade for additional data as required.

Abroadband?s approach is to offer a SIM card, MicroSIM (for recent devices such as the iPad) or USB modem and then charge a flat rate of ?0.59 per Megabyte. In order to help you control your costs, you?ll be warned once you?ve spent ?60. Abroadband, which is run by A1 Telekom, an Austria-based telecoms brand, can be used in 55 countries around the world.

Looking to the future

?If Abroadband, from a comparatively small operator ? can deliver service to the market (profitably) at ?0.59/mb, then you know ? damn well ? that your own operator can do the same. They just choose not to,? says Ewan MacLeod.

So, is there any hope of a rosy future where we can roam abroad genuinely cheaply without having to sign up for additional services first? In Europe, the European Commission has moved to cap costs, although it currently only regulates the wholesale price ? i.e., what networks charge each other. What we the customers pay is still entirely up to the networks.

Ewan MacLeod sees the current situation as a mess, but he?s cautiously optimistic for the future. ?I can definitely see a time when the cost will come down to 10 pence per MB and below. As always when it comes to mobile operators, I think the big groups will make the move too little, too late. They?ve already trained generations of customers to switch off their handsets or switch off data roaming when they?re abroad.?

?There will be a day ? at some point ? when data roaming will be a fixed-price add-on, or perhaps integrated into a higher level price plan by default, but when the operators can?t get their sodding billing policies working properly for their domestic operations (?does unlimited mean 250MB? 500MB? 1GB??) don?t hold your breath.?

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/06/04/why-using-data-on-your-phone-abroad-is-so-expensive-and-how-to-save-money/

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Weekend Open Forum: Finding a use for old hardware

Being tech enthusiasts, we've committed ourselves to an everlasting pursuit of owning the latest and greatest hardware. Many of you probably upgrade your graphics card more often than you get an oil change, and we wouldn't be shocked to learn that your computer costs more than your car.

Considering that, we'd love to hear about what you do with your "old" components and systems. Do you resell them to fund your habit? Donate them to friends, family or charity? Demote them to server duty? Hoard them for a rainy day project? Condemn them to a silicon tomb in your basement?

**Image courtesy of our staffer, Shawn.

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House Rebukes Obama for Continuing Libyan Mission Without Its Consent

The resolution, which passed 268 to 145, was offered by Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, to siphon off swelling Republican support for a measure sponsored by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, which calls for a withdrawal of the United States military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya.

The resolution criticizing the president passed with the support of 45 Democrats and all but 10 of the Republicans who were present. The measure from Mr. Kucinich, one of the most liberal members of the House, later failed by 148 to 265, with 87 Republicans voting in favor.

As a legislative matter, Mr. Boehner?s resolution has no practical effect, and is little more than an expression of opinion. A decision by the Supreme Court more than two decades ago suggested that Congress is not empowered to enforce a resolution or other directive that, unlike a bill, the president has no chance to veto.

But as a political matter, the resolution is an unusually blunt confrontation with an American president during a military conflict, and it underscores a bipartisan distaste among members of Congress for attempts to bypass their authority when waging war. Over all, roughly two-thirds of the House members who voted Friday backed one or two measures disapproving of the president?s actions. (Mr. Kucinich voted for both.)

Mr. Boehner?s resolution demands that the administration provide, within 14 days, detailed information about the nature, cost and objectives of the American contribution to the NATO operation, as well as an explanation of why the White House did not come to Congress for permission to continue to take part in the mission. The language suggests that the House may consider funding requests for the Libya operation in a harsh light if not satisfied with the response to its requests for information.

The issue is unlikely to be taken up by the Senate, which seems to be taking the opposite tack. Last month, Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, both military veterans, introduced a resolution to express support for the Libyan mission.

The roughly two-hour debate on Friday concerning both resolutions provided some interesting alliances among far-left and hard-right lawmakers, and a bit of a role reversal in the discussion of executive power and the relevance of Libya to America?s vital interests.

?It seems the running shoe is on the other foot,? said Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, noting that Republicans had accused Democrats of ?cutting and running? on military operations in the past. Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, chided Republicans, saying ?to tie the president?s hands is inconsistent with the legacy of this body, which is to do what is necessary to protect American interests.?

In contrast, Representative Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who voted for both measures, said: ?We?re not going to go to war without the people of this country supporting it. The Boehner resolution I?m going to support, but it doesn?t go far enough.?

The United States is providing NATO with intelligence, logistical support and armed drones in what is largely a bombing campaign against Libyan government forces. The administration has contended that it is within Mr. Obama?s power to initiate American participation in the hostilities without Congress because the combat is limited to an air offensive.

Last month, Mr. Obama sent a letter to Congress emphasizing that the United States had turned control of the operation over to NATO and that it was primarily providing support to allies.

?It is the view of this administration that we?ve acted in accordance with the War Powers Act,? said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman. ?We?ve been engaged in that consultation all along ? as I mentioned, three separate briefings have been held just this week for members of Congress. We?re committed to that moving forward.? Mr. Earnest characterized the resolutions as ?unnecessary and unhelpful.?

The War Powers Resolution says that presidents must terminate hostilities after 60 days if they have not been authorized by Congress; that deadline passed on May 20 without an explanation to Congress from the administration of why it thought it was lawful for the operation to continue.

The failure to provide an explanation, after Mr. Obama?s failure to obtain Congressional authorization for the engagement at the outset, upset antiwar factions of his own party in Congress as well as conservative Republicans seeking to rein in both executive power and federal spending.

The debate on Friday involved questions about the nature of the conflict in Libya, the country?s importance to American security interests and the role of Congress in authorizing military campaigns.

?The American people and the members of this House have questions and concerns that have gone unanswered,? Mr. Boehner said on the floor of the House. ?The president of the United States is our commander in chief, and I?ve always believed that combat decisions should be left to the commander in chief and the generals on the ground. But the House also has an obligation to heed the concerns of our constituents and to carry out our constitutional responsibilities.?

Members of both parties complained of war fatigue in their districts, and the reluctance of constituents to support another front, although some members emphasized the importance of supporting a continuing operation, even if they did not agree with the way it began.

?It is not surprising that there is a desire to simply say, ?Enough,? ? said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Florida Republican who is chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She voted for Mr. Boehner?s resolution, but against the one brought by Mr. Kucinich.

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Blog - Suns 'n Stars

UN: disconnecting file sharers violates human rights

The UN believes anti-filesharing provisions such as those outlined in France and the UK are disproportionate and should be repealed. In fact, disconnecting Internet users for sharing content from the music and movie industries is a violation of human rights, according to a report published in May 2011 and to be adopted this month by the UN's Human Rights Council.

The Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression is concerned about measures being put in place by various governments to punish online copyright infringement, such as denying citizens' Internet access. The author of the report, Frank La Rue, is "alarmed" by proposals to severely punish Internet users if they violate intellectual property rights, according to TorrentFreak.

"While blocking and filtering measures deny users access to specific content on the Internet, States have also taken measures to cut off access to the Internet entirely," the reports says. "The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from Internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This also includes legislation based on the concept of 'graduated response', which imposes a series of penalties on copyright infringers that could lead to suspension of Internet service, such as the so-called 'three-strikes-law' in France and the Digital Economy Act 2010 of the United Kingdom"

It's not clear whether this report will be able to influence governments to change their practices, but it's certainly a start. I doubt the French or British governments will decide to completely change their laws in response to this report, but at least the UN is trying to bring attention the issue. I would love to hear their official responses to the 22-page report, which by the way you can read in full below:

This is not the first time we've heard that Internet access should be considered a human right. In fact, just two months ago, we heard it from someone who really does matter. Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the World Wide Web, declared that humans have become so reliant on the Internet, that access to it should now be considered a basic right.

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McDonald?s Brilliant Interactive Billboard Campaign

House Rebukes Obama for Continuing Libyan Mission Without Its Consent

The resolution, which passed 268 to 145, was offered by Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, to siphon off swelling Republican support for a measure sponsored by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, which calls for a withdrawal of the United States military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya.

The resolution criticizing the president passed with the support of 45 Democrats and all but 10 of the Republicans who were present. The measure from Mr. Kucinich, one of the most liberal members of the House, later failed by 148 to 265, with 87 Republicans voting in favor.

As a legislative matter, Mr. Boehner?s resolution has no practical effect, and is little more than an expression of opinion. A decision by the Supreme Court more than two decades ago suggested that Congress is not empowered to enforce a resolution or other directive that, unlike a bill, the president has no chance to veto.

But as a political matter, the resolution is an unusually blunt confrontation with an American president during a military conflict, and it underscores a bipartisan distaste among members of Congress for attempts to bypass their authority when waging war. Over all, roughly two-thirds of the House members who voted Friday backed one or two measures disapproving of the president?s actions. (Mr. Kucinich voted for both.)

Mr. Boehner?s resolution demands that the administration provide, within 14 days, detailed information about the nature, cost and objectives of the American contribution to the NATO operation, as well as an explanation of why the White House did not come to Congress for permission to continue to take part in the mission. The language suggests that the House may consider funding requests for the Libya operation in a harsh light if not satisfied with the response to its requests for information.

The issue is unlikely to be taken up by the Senate, which seems to be taking the opposite tack. Last month, Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, both military veterans, introduced a resolution to express support for the Libyan mission.

The roughly two-hour debate on Friday concerning both resolutions provided some interesting alliances among far-left and hard-right lawmakers, and a bit of a role reversal in the discussion of executive power and the relevance of Libya to America?s vital interests.

?It seems the running shoe is on the other foot,? said Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, noting that Republicans had accused Democrats of ?cutting and running? on military operations in the past. Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, chided Republicans, saying ?to tie the president?s hands is inconsistent with the legacy of this body, which is to do what is necessary to protect American interests.?

In contrast, Representative Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who voted for both measures, said: ?We?re not going to go to war without the people of this country supporting it. The Boehner resolution I?m going to support, but it doesn?t go far enough.?

The United States is providing NATO with intelligence, logistical support and armed drones in what is largely a bombing campaign against Libyan government forces. The administration has contended that it is within Mr. Obama?s power to initiate American participation in the hostilities without Congress because the combat is limited to an air offensive.

Last month, Mr. Obama sent a letter to Congress emphasizing that the United States had turned control of the operation over to NATO and that it was primarily providing support to allies.

?It is the view of this administration that we?ve acted in accordance with the War Powers Act,? said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman. ?We?ve been engaged in that consultation all along ? as I mentioned, three separate briefings have been held just this week for members of Congress. We?re committed to that moving forward.? Mr. Earnest characterized the resolutions as ?unnecessary and unhelpful.?

The War Powers Resolution says that presidents must terminate hostilities after 60 days if they have not been authorized by Congress; that deadline passed on May 20 without an explanation to Congress from the administration of why it thought it was lawful for the operation to continue.

The failure to provide an explanation, after Mr. Obama?s failure to obtain Congressional authorization for the engagement at the outset, upset antiwar factions of his own party in Congress as well as conservative Republicans seeking to rein in both executive power and federal spending.

The debate on Friday involved questions about the nature of the conflict in Libya, the country?s importance to American security interests and the role of Congress in authorizing military campaigns.

?The American people and the members of this House have questions and concerns that have gone unanswered,? Mr. Boehner said on the floor of the House. ?The president of the United States is our commander in chief, and I?ve always believed that combat decisions should be left to the commander in chief and the generals on the ground. But the House also has an obligation to heed the concerns of our constituents and to carry out our constitutional responsibilities.?

Members of both parties complained of war fatigue in their districts, and the reluctance of constituents to support another front, although some members emphasized the importance of supporting a continuing operation, even if they did not agree with the way it began.

?It is not surprising that there is a desire to simply say, ?Enough,? ? said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Florida Republican who is chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She voted for Mr. Boehner?s resolution, but against the one brought by Mr. Kucinich.

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Computex 2011 Predictions

Computex is one of the most important times of the year for PC hardware ? whether you?re a manufacturer or enthusiastic follower, the Taiwanese tech show is the place to be to see the best and brightest.

After all, Computex is where the netbook craze took off after Asus showed its EeePC 701 back in 2007, and it?s typically where we first see all the tech that?ll we be buying in the September rush and that?ll appear in our Christmas stockings.

We?ve already seen some news from Taiwan, but we thought we?d put together a few predictions before the show starts in earnest and see how they come out. We?ve only listed the companies that we?re fairly sure will announce something note-worthy or interesting here, but feel free to add your own predictions about your favourite (or least favourite) manufacturers in the comments thread.

AMD
All the major motherboard manufacturers will have Socket AM3+ boards, whether they?re based around the new 990FX chipset or the older 890FX one. Socket AM3+ boards are compatible with Socket AM3 CPUs and the forthcoming Socket AM3+ CPUs, but not any new APUs from AMD ? the integrated graphics unit of an APU will require a completely new type of socket.

We expect the graphics front to be calm from both sides, as TSMC is still working on the desired 28nm manufacturing process. As the Radeon HD 7000-series is rumoured for production in May we might see something GPU-shaped, but we doubt we?ll be able to share that if we do.

Intel
There?s a slight chance we might see some more of LGA2011, the successor to LGA1366. Intel has form in this area, with the Intel booth at previous Computex shows featuring a wall?o?motherboards with a few next-gen examples. Typically we?ll ask a booth attendant what these previously unseen boards, only to be told that he or she didn?t know and couldn?t possibly say, but that we?re welcome to take pictures and speculate. The teases.

Nvidia
With the all-quiet on the graphics front, we expect Nvidia to be pushing Tegra 2. We saw the First Tegra 2 smartphone at CES earlier this year, and we might see a Tegra 3 quad-core device, but it?ll be a demo unit or a concept.

Asus
We?re expecting a pretty strong show from Asus, who is holding an entire press conference for its Republic of Gamer sub-brand. Stay tuned for revelations from that one. Asus typically has some mental-looking motherboards and graphics cards at tech shows, plus some funky concept designs for devices ? most of which wouldn?t look out of place in a high-budget sci-fi film ? and some sleek laptops and netbooks.

What won't happen
We don't expect to see any news on GDDR6 - next-gen graphics cards will have a similar amount of memory bandwidth to this generation. We also don't expect to hear anything about DDR4 (or another new type of desktop memory), though Intel might surprise us on that front with LGA2011.

We also don't expect to see much news from Indilinx, despite OCZ buying it - the next round of the SSD fight will be between Marvell and SandForce.

While Intel might well show LGA2011, we doubt Ivy Bridge will present - those looking for a 3D Tri-gate transistor teaser will have to be patient.

Do you think we've called it right? Let us know in the forum!

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New York City?s Gramercy Labs Collective: A more intimate kind of startup incubation

Today, growing a company is much like raising a family. Your first-born, your first angel round; your first failure, your second child; your first pivot, your first move to a new home; who to play the disciplinarian? Who to be soothing calm when the weather gets rough? Building something meaningful from the ground up is a great balancing act, and just like there?s no one right way to raise a family, there are an innumerable amount of ways to raise a company.

In the past few years, startling, industry-shifting success has come out of Paul Graham?s Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley. Since then, we?ve witnessed a number of innovative incubators such as Tech Stars, which was founded in Boulder by David Cohen and now has programs in Seattle, Boston and New York. David McClure?s 500 Start-Ups takes a similar YC approach to incubation, focusing on mentorship and early seed funding in exchange for a small equity stake. Prehype, an incubator that helps corporations create like startups, launched late last year with perhaps the most innovative approach yet: take Google?s 20% time and apply it to big companies. And this spring The Entrepreneur?s Round Table launched its own accelerator program, and it?s just announced its first 10 startups for its inaugural class in NYC.

In a time when New York City?s tech scene is thriving, enter Gramercy Labs, which launched officially in May 2011. One might call them an incubator, but that wouldn?t be providing due justice to the high level of involvement each of the founders takes in the startups. It?s best to call Gramercy Labs, founded by serial entrepreneurs Kevin Fortuna and Philip James, a startup collective. At its roots, Gramercy Labs aims to build disruptive media and e-commerce businesses around exceptional founding teams with a particular winning advantage in a proven market.

At the helm of GCL is Kevin Fortuna, who was formerly the CEO of Quigo, an advertising technology company that was sold to AOL Time Warner for $360 million in November 2007 and Philip James (pictured below), who prior to founding Snooth Media ?the IMBD for wine? in 2007, had sailed across the Atlantic, climbed Mt. Everest and graduated from Columbia?s Business School. James and Fortuna first crossed paths halfway through 2008. Fortuna was an early investor in Snooth and now sits on its Board of Directors. In late 2009, both men found themselves handing out the many different business cards for companies they sat on the boards of, founded or were advisors for. They realized they needed a unifying platform to bring together these companies and future companies. At this time, Fortuna wanted to begin a portfolio and James wanted to start a new wine related company, so soon enough, the idea behind The Gramercy Labs Collective was born.

They began working on the new wine related company, which became Lot 18, in February 2010 with 4 people and half a million in seed funding. Lot18 (which made our list of NYC?s Top 20 Start-Ups You Need to Know About) is a ?membership by invitation only website? that sells fine wines and specialty foods at discounted prices. The ?Gilt Groupe of wine? officially launched in November 2010 with a $2.8 million Series A round led by NYC-based VC firm FirstMark Capital. Recently, the company raised an additional $10 Million in Series B Funding, and in just six months since launch, Lot18 has grown from six to more than 70 employees with well over 200,000 subscribers. In the coming months, the team plans to expand into other epicurean pursuits such as food, wine accessories and vineyard destinations.

In early 2011, Fortuna and James launched their most recent company with serial entrepreneur David Wade and Editor Craig Marks of Billboard, Spin and Blender fame. Popdust is a site dedicated to becoming the premiere pop music online destination, much like Pitchfork and Stereogum are for the indie music scene. [See our full story on Popdust here.] Each Gramercy Labs startup is built on Popdust?s formula for success: essentially take a viable, profitable concept + hire a general manager with incredible business savvy (Wade) + pair with a creative, celebrity force (Marks) to establish a brand + build scalability through software.

GCL portfolio companies currently include: Snooth MediaLot18Popdust, and Fameball, a social gaming site dedicated to celebrity news and gossip that uses enviable proprietary technology to rank celebrity status. Each of the four current portfolio companies, deeply rooted in New York?s tech community, received early stage financing before being injected with Gramercy?s hypergrowth startup culture. Together, Fortuna and James leverage their expertise in creating scalable, data-driven organizations by integrating elements of distributed content, game theory, e-commerce, media and advertising. Fortuna leads the collective from the strategy, business development and fundraising side, while James, who has a masters from Oxford in Computational Chemistry leads the product and engineering side.

?What makes Gramercy different is that we try really hard to make sure every single person at our company feels more like an owner than an employee. Everyone at Gramercy has tons of autonomy, no set office hours, unlimited vacation and lots of resources. We believe that working for a Gramercy company should feel more like a mission or creating a work of art than a clock-punching job. If we do this right, excellence, efficiency and innovation will follow.?

-Kevin Fortuna

?People often talk about building nice places to work, here it?s part of our mission. We?re building companies of lasting value, and to do that we need to be able to hire and retain the smartest, most passionate people around,? says James. ?If that takes SF2 arcade consoles and day trips to Long Island wineries, then all the better.? The Gramercy Labs Collective isn?t something you apply to. (After all, you don?t apply to be a part of a family.) But if you think you?re a great fit for their family, and have a deep appreciation for wine, then both Fortuna and James want to hear from you.

Fortuna says the company must be a consumer-facing web technology that hits a ?passion point? in a rich market and has the potential to be #1 or #2 in that market. It?s also advantageous that the company be based in New York City.

?Most importantly,? says James, ?We want to be sure that we [himself and Fortuna] can give the company a unique advantage leveraging our skills and experience.?

While Fortuna and James sit on numerous boards and act as advisors to all their GLC companies, they only maintain ?day jobs? at Lot18 at the moment; Fortuna as CEO and James as its President. The two are investors and equity holders in all of the GLC companies. When asked where they see GCL in 5 years time, Fortuna responded:

?I hope Gramercy Labs will be known as a great place to start and develop a career as an entrepreneur. As much as anything, I hope we are known for measuring success the right way ? not just in terms of dollars and cents, but also by the personal connections we make and keep, by our reputation as a workplace, by building cool and useful products and services, and by doing the right thing by our investors and co-workers.?

-Kevin Fortuna

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2011/06/04/new-york-citys-gramercy-labs-collective-a-more-intimate-kind-of-startup-incubation/

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New York City?s Gramercy Labs Collective: A more intimate kind of startup incubation

Today, growing a company is much like raising a family. Your first-born, your first angel round; your first failure, your second child; your first pivot, your first move to a new home; who to play the disciplinarian? Who to be soothing calm when the weather gets rough? Building something meaningful from the ground up is a great balancing act, and just like there?s no one right way to raise a family, there are an innumerable amount of ways to raise a company.

In the past few years, startling, industry-shifting success has come out of Paul Graham?s Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley. Since then, we?ve witnessed a number of innovative incubators such as Tech Stars, which was founded in Boulder by David Cohen and now has programs in Seattle, Boston and New York. David McClure?s 500 Start-Ups takes a similar YC approach to incubation, focusing on mentorship and early seed funding in exchange for a small equity stake. Prehype, an incubator that helps corporations create like startups, launched late last year with perhaps the most innovative approach yet: take Google?s 20% time and apply it to big companies. And this spring The Entrepreneur?s Round Table launched its own accelerator program, and it?s just announced its first 10 startups for its inaugural class in NYC.

In a time when New York City?s tech scene is thriving, enter Gramercy Labs, which launched officially in May 2011. One might call them an incubator, but that wouldn?t be providing due justice to the high level of involvement each of the founders takes in the startups. It?s best to call Gramercy Labs, founded by serial entrepreneurs Kevin Fortuna and Philip James, a startup collective. At its roots, Gramercy Labs aims to build disruptive media and e-commerce businesses around exceptional founding teams with a particular winning advantage in a proven market.

At the helm of GCL is Kevin Fortuna, who was formerly the CEO of Quigo, an advertising technology company that was sold to AOL Time Warner for $360 million in November 2007 and Philip James (pictured below), who prior to founding Snooth Media ?the IMBD for wine? in 2007, had sailed across the Atlantic, climbed Mt. Everest and graduated from Columbia?s Business School. James and Fortuna first crossed paths halfway through 2008. Fortuna was an early investor in Snooth and now sits on its Board of Directors. In late 2009, both men found themselves handing out the many different business cards for companies they sat on the boards of, founded or were advisors for. They realized they needed a unifying platform to bring together these companies and future companies. At this time, Fortuna wanted to begin a portfolio and James wanted to start a new wine related company, so soon enough, the idea behind The Gramercy Labs Collective was born.

They began working on the new wine related company, which became Lot 18, in February 2010 with 4 people and half a million in seed funding. Lot18 (which made our list of NYC?s Top 20 Start-Ups You Need to Know About) is a ?membership by invitation only website? that sells fine wines and specialty foods at discounted prices. The ?Gilt Groupe of wine? officially launched in November 2010 with a $2.8 million Series A round led by NYC-based VC firm FirstMark Capital. Recently, the company raised an additional $10 Million in Series B Funding, and in just six months since launch, Lot18 has grown from six to more than 70 employees with well over 200,000 subscribers. In the coming months, the team plans to expand into other epicurean pursuits such as food, wine accessories and vineyard destinations.

In early 2011, Fortuna and James launched their most recent company with serial entrepreneur David Wade and Editor Craig Marks of Billboard, Spin and Blender fame. Popdust is a site dedicated to becoming the premiere pop music online destination, much like Pitchfork and Stereogum are for the indie music scene. [See our full story on Popdust here.] Each Gramercy Labs startup is built on Popdust?s formula for success: essentially take a viable, profitable concept + hire a general manager with incredible business savvy (Wade) + pair with a creative, celebrity force (Marks) to establish a brand + build scalability through software.

GCL portfolio companies currently include: Snooth MediaLot18Popdust, and Fameball, a social gaming site dedicated to celebrity news and gossip that uses enviable proprietary technology to rank celebrity status. Each of the four current portfolio companies, deeply rooted in New York?s tech community, received early stage financing before being injected with Gramercy?s hypergrowth startup culture. Together, Fortuna and James leverage their expertise in creating scalable, data-driven organizations by integrating elements of distributed content, game theory, e-commerce, media and advertising. Fortuna leads the collective from the strategy, business development and fundraising side, while James, who has a masters from Oxford in Computational Chemistry leads the product and engineering side.

?What makes Gramercy different is that we try really hard to make sure every single person at our company feels more like an owner than an employee. Everyone at Gramercy has tons of autonomy, no set office hours, unlimited vacation and lots of resources. We believe that working for a Gramercy company should feel more like a mission or creating a work of art than a clock-punching job. If we do this right, excellence, efficiency and innovation will follow.?

-Kevin Fortuna

?People often talk about building nice places to work, here it?s part of our mission. We?re building companies of lasting value, and to do that we need to be able to hire and retain the smartest, most passionate people around,? says James. ?If that takes SF2 arcade consoles and day trips to Long Island wineries, then all the better.? The Gramercy Labs Collective isn?t something you apply to. (After all, you don?t apply to be a part of a family.) But if you think you?re a great fit for their family, and have a deep appreciation for wine, then both Fortuna and James want to hear from you.

Fortuna says the company must be a consumer-facing web technology that hits a ?passion point? in a rich market and has the potential to be #1 or #2 in that market. It?s also advantageous that the company be based in New York City.

?Most importantly,? says James, ?We want to be sure that we [himself and Fortuna] can give the company a unique advantage leveraging our skills and experience.?

While Fortuna and James sit on numerous boards and act as advisors to all their GLC companies, they only maintain ?day jobs? at Lot18 at the moment; Fortuna as CEO and James as its President. The two are investors and equity holders in all of the GLC companies. When asked where they see GCL in 5 years time, Fortuna responded:

?I hope Gramercy Labs will be known as a great place to start and develop a career as an entrepreneur. As much as anything, I hope we are known for measuring success the right way ? not just in terms of dollars and cents, but also by the personal connections we make and keep, by our reputation as a workplace, by building cool and useful products and services, and by doing the right thing by our investors and co-workers.?

-Kevin Fortuna

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2011/06/04/new-york-citys-gramercy-labs-collective-a-more-intimate-kind-of-startup-incubation/

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