—TechStars has upped its game in the incubator wars by adding a $24 million fund that will help it offer startups in the competitive program another $100,000 in financing, on top of the small stipends that founders get for the 12-week entrepreneurship bootcamp. The new money, which won’t take effect until next year’s classes, signals that the Y Combinator approach of offering significant seed-stage money may become a competitive need for top-tier incubators.
—Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint explained how being obsessed with the smallest details in TV gossip content can help build a more meaningful distribution system for online media—and might even have some benefits for more hard-core journalism down the road. After being featured as our Xconomist of the Week, Elowitz also saw his startup featured as one of the media partners in Facebook‘s new “open graph” initiative.
—Intel continued fulfilling its pledge to invest more in research initiatives after shutting down its previous standalone labs earlier this year. This time, it was the unveiling of a new research center focusing on “pervasive computing,” the idea that devices and areas of the home and other buildings will be connected, backed by powerful computing, and able to learn by observing human interactions with the environment.
—Startup Weekend is announcing a new board of directors, bringing in notable names from entrepreneurship around the country to help build the nonprofit’s international education mission. The board will now be made up of Kauffman Foundation president Carl Schramm, entrepreneur and educator Steve Blank, venture capitalist Greg Gottesman, investor Brad Feld, Great Kansas City Community Foundation head Laura McKnight, and Kauffman entrepreneurship manager Nick Seguin.
—Speaking of Startup Weekend, community-education startup TeachStreet is hosting an education-focused version this weekend at the UW. The event features some big names, like keynote speakers Vinod Khosla and Mitch Kapor.
—A new art-buying startup called MyArtMatch is officially taking the covers off its website today, offering users a way to curate virtual art collections and even make real-life purchases of prints. The startup is led by founder and CEO Bruce Worrall, who previously worked at digital-art startup Gallery Player.
