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Homebrew self-driving tech gets millions in backing
George "Geohot" Hotz's attempt to put cheap, self-driving tech into any existing car raised eyebrows (and Tesla's ire) when it was revealed late last year. Now, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital funds is throwing its wallet behind Hotz's grand idea. Andreessen Horowitz has written a check for $3.1 million to help Hotz hire engineers and turn his jury-rigged system into a working product. He's joining some illustrious company, since the fund has previously handed cash to outfits like Oculus VR, Zynga, Instagram, Groupon, Jawbone and something called Twitter.
Facebook roasts board member's attack on 'anti-colonialism'
Venture capitalist (and Facebook board member) Marc Andreessen is known for being outspoken on tech issues, but he's learning the hard way that he went one step too far. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has chastised Andreessen for claiming that India's valuation of net neutrality (such as the rejection of Facebook's Free Basics service) was part of an "anti-colonialism" mindset that had hindered the country "for decades" after it declared independence in 1947. Yes, the implication was that the country should harken back to the days of British colonial rule and accept outside influence. Not surprisingly, Zuck finds this idea "deeply unsettling" -- whatever Facebook wants, it has to respect India's culture, history and values.
Google forms the Glass Collective to invest in eye technology entrepreneurs
Google believes that it's naive to build a wearable technology like Google Glass and expect successful businesses to simply materialize from thin air; those firms will need a financial nudge, too. Accordingly, Google is forming the Glass Collective to invest in projects centering on its eyewear. The partnership will see Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers unite on seed funding for those US-based startups which show promise in areas like communication and navigation. The group hasn't named any targets for its cash, but it's obviously very early days for both Glass and the Collective -- Google needs more developers in the field before it can shower companies with support. Update: According to TechCrunch, Google mentioned during the event that it hopes to get Glass hardware into developers hands "in the next month." Since it started preregistering folks at last year's I/O event, we'd also hope they will arrive in time for this year's Google I/O and inevitable skydive-to-stage live stream.
