8th Annual LAUNCH Festival for Startups

Don't miss the upcoming 8th annual LAUNCH Festival at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California. The event will take place on March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Here are the details.

1. The Agenda
http://www.launchfestival.com/agenda

2. The Product Hunt AMA Stage
http://www.launchfestival.com/ama

3. The Speakers
http://www.launchfestival.com/speakers

4. The Parties & Dinners
http://www.launchfestival.com/parties 

See you there.

The Snoop Dogg Marijuana Startup Fund

A lot of astute and famous investors are jumping on the marijuana startup bandwagon, such as Peter Thiel, Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber. Now the famous blogger Snoop Dogg, who is now also going by the name Snoop Lion, is setting up a venture capital fund to invest in marijuana startups. Cannabis companies have been cropping up like weeds. Although many of these startups may go up in smoke, the ones state survive can pay off big time.

According to sources reported by TechCrunch, Snoop Dogg is raising $25 million to invest in startups related to the pot business, primarily in technology related companies in the weed industry.

Snoop Dogg isn't a novice in the investing field, as he has a;ready invested in Robinhood and Reddit. It will be interesting to see what companies he chooses to invest in. For a list of numerous marijuana stocks, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

If You Haven't Seen Betas, You Don't Know What You Are Missing

There is an Amazon Productions television series that came out a little over a year ago called Betas. It takes place in Sn Francisco and is about a group of guys and a girl working out of a shared workspace and  trying to develop a social networking app while getting and maintaining financing.

Much of the series is very real and realistic. It is filled with drugs, sex and nudity, and of course a lot of adult language. (I told you much of it is real.)

I found the show hilarious in many scenes. Some of the humor is extremely ancient, and some of the humor is extremely modern, but in all cases, extremely priceless.

The actors are non-famous, which makes it great. No preconceived expectations.

Apparently, there were a ton of screenwriters for the series, which works well.

Amazon Prime is pushing the show now as one of its recommended TV shows. In case you can't tell, I highly recommend you check it out. You can get it in the form of a Betas DVD or you can just start with the Betas Episode 1 Pilot, which you can watch for free on your laptop or iPad.

How to Launch your Startup at the LAUNCH Festival 2015

Are you involved in a startup and looking for investors? What better way to do so than presenting your company at the upcoming LAUNCH Festival 2015, which will be held in San Francisco March 2 through 4.

Launch is looking for 50 companies to appear on stage. The deadline to apply is 2/1/15 and you will ned to provide a screencast demo of you using your product as part of the application.

There are three categories. 1.0 is for companies that have had no publicity whatsoever. 2.0 is for companies that have already launched but have a significantly now product of feature. The Crowdfunding category is for companies that will have an active Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign running during the festival.

For more information, go HERE.

Beware of Computer Malware from E-Cigarettes

According to an article in IBTimes, a man's computer got infected with malware from an e-cigarette manufactured in China. The infection came through the USB cable used to recharge the e-cigarette.

The malware was actually coded into the charger of the e-cigarette, which was purchased through eBay for only five dollars.

The victim was an executive at a large corporation.

Your iPhone Could Be Hacked by a Simple Free App

I happened to come across the following video recently, which talked about have your iPhone could be hacked by a simple free app, like a flashlight app. Once the malware gets in, it can access everything you have on your phone.

First of all, is this real or BS? Any experts out there that know whether this is true or not? I've heard strong opinions on both sides.

The guy being interviewed talked about a quick and dirty way of checking to see if the app you installed could be a trojan. He said that if it takes up more than a megabyte, there could be a problem, because why would you need that much memory to just show a blank screen.

I actually have a free flashlight app on my iPhone, which only takes up around 80k. However, I noticed that there is an update for it that is 8 megs. What could a flashlight app possibly provide that would take up that much memory. I can already have my phone display different colors and flashing colors. So I think I will hold up on getting that update.

If what this guy is saying is true, is there a malware protection app that would stop any bad apps from even being downloaded? If so, can anyone recommend one?

Launch Your Startup in Less Than 100 Days

If you have a startup or are planning on creating a startup, you need to attend the LAUNCH Startup Festival 2015, to be held March 2 through March 4, from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm, at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California.

For more information on the event, you can go here, including the Launch Ticker and Events.

Also, check out the current video in This Week in Startups.