Dennis Keohane
Dennis Keohane
Senior Staff Writer
dennis.keohane@globe.com
@DBKeohane
Google+
Dennis Keohane is a senior staff writer for BetaBoston. Before becoming the first full-time writer for VentureFizz, he taught at a local private school. During one summer break, he worked with RunKeeper's community management team. A native of Waltham, he currently resides in Natick.

Stories by Dennis Keohane

Relevant Briefings
Harvard-built news aggregation app BriefMe launches in App Store
The BriefMe Team - (Left to Right) Hari Ganesan, Max Campion, Rachel Moranis. (Photo via BriefMe)
@DBKeohane
One of the biggest draws of websites such as Reddit and Hacker News is the way in which news stories are compiled and organized based on popularity. On Hacker News, for instance, a story about the latest release of a free version of a popular gaming development software might be the top-ranked article of the moment based on other users "upvoting" it. Reddit is similar in that the most popular stories are ranked in order of how important, timely, or interesting Redditors find them. A group of entrepreneurs based out of the Harvard iLab -- Max Campion, Hari Ganesan, and Rachel Moranis -- have tried to bring the same type of feature to mobile devices with a service that organizes the top news of the moment based on its overall popularity on the web. Read More
PayPal strikes again
Newton-based Paydiant acquired by PayPal for $300 million
paydiant_hq
@DBKeohane
On its way to being spun out as a standalone company, PayPal made a big move locally Monday, acquiring Newton-based mobile payments software company Paydiant. The acquisition comes a few weeks after PayPal laid off workers at its Boston office and ended support for its local startup incubator Start Tank. Read More
Less Bzz, more Buzz
Dunnhumby's Boston office moving out from the shadow of BzzAgent with new marketing technology
Photo via dunnhumby.com
@DBKeohane
In 2011, dunnhumby, a global marketing and advertising company headquartered in London, acquired BzzAgent, Boston-based social marketing and brand advocacy company founded by Dave Balter in 2001. Since then, BzzAgent and its "word-of-mouth" brand of marketing has continued to thrive as a part of dunnhumby, which is itself a subsidiary of multinational grocery and merchandise retailer Tesco. Read More
Beta Testing
Confide: Keeping your messages truly secret
Photo "Discretion" via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-101127469/stock-photo-discretion.html?src=pp-same_artist-121080262-XJMxjV5JF9SNnTNcwQXlTw-5&ws=1">Shutterstock</a>
@DBKeohane
My mobile phone pinged me recently with an interesting, yet ominous alert: “Someone has sent you a confidential message on Confide.” To read it I had to download the app, which I'd never heard of. But I did it anyway and quickly realized I was wading into “Mission: Impossible’’-style technology territory. Read More
Zoom Zoom Zoom
Zoombinis’ relaunch will target the iOS and Android markets
Image via Zoombinis
@DBKeohane
About 20 years ago, an educational video game called “Zoombinis” was launched to help children improve problem-solving skills. The game, from Broderbund Software, which was later acquired by a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt subsidiary, The Learning Co., ended up selling more than 1 million copies. Now the original creator, Cambridge-based TERC (for Technical Education Resource Centers) has teamed up with a Boston children’s media company, FableVision, and the Learning Games Network to launch an updated version of the game for Android, iOS and, eventually, a wide array of other devices. Read More
Boston Crunch
This year's TechCrunch Boston Meetup and Pitchoff features a roster of cool startups
(image via Mike Schneider -@schneidermike)
@DBKeohane
On Thursday evening, 10 local startups will take the stage at the Boston TechCrunch Meetup + Pitchoff to compete for a spot at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City. TechCrunch's East Coast editor John Biggs and reporter Jordan Crook will be in town for the event, which is co-hosted by VentureFizz, NextView Ventures, and General Assembly, and will be held at The Estate. Read More
Bridj over the Potomac
Bridj planning to expand its data-driven bus service to Washington, D.C.
Photo via Bridj
@DBKeohane
This morning, Boston-based Bridj, a transportation startup that aims to bring better, user-informed bus services to metropolitan areas, announced that it plans to expand its operations to Washington, D.C., this spring. Bridj initially started testing potential bus routes in Boston last June, and released its long-awaited mobile application in January. This most recent step is helping the company to get closer to its original vision of a data-driven transit service that meets the demands of citizens in neighborhoods lacking reliable public transportation. The service saw an influx in popularity in the wake of the recent snowstorms, particularly during some of the worst MBTA and traffic woes. Read More