ReadWriteStart

Applications that looked amazing on larger multi-touch experiences like Microsoft Surface may have a more affordable consumer-facing counterpart. While the iPad has been widely criticized, many startups are thrilled by its possibilities. In mid-November we featured Paris-based Pearltrees as a new design interface for remapping Web information. We spoke to CEO Patrice Lamothe to hear his thoughts on the release of the iPad.

This week was a busy one as Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's iPad on the same day President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address - two events with significant impacts on startups and entrepreneurs. In this week's ReadWriteStart Weekly Wrapup, we discuss what the iPad could mean for startups, how mobile developers are excited about HTML 5, and how to find the perfect co-founder for your startup. We also check in with our semi-weekly series, Never Mind the Valley, in which we chronicle communities outside of Silicon Valley with booming startup scenes. This week we go international - hopping across the pond to London, and across the other pond to Beijing.

While many large communities continue to chase ad revenue and subscription models, I can't help thinking the real money is in virtual currency and goods. Yesterday we featured an article about Beijing and the fact that TenCent (one of the country's most successful social networks) makes 90% of its revenue from virtual goods. With China alone representing a $4 billion dollar market, many are looking to gaming and virtual goods as the next emerging space.

Quitting is one the easiest things there is to do. When we face a challenge that appears insurmountable, we would sooner give up and try something else rather than push through the pain of that challenge. But the truth is, trying something else is only going to lead towards another challenge, and becoming a serial quitter is most definitely not the right path to head down.

Seth Godin, author of the bestselling books Purple Cow and the more recent Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, is also the author of 2007's The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). According to Godin, while quitting is often a poor snap decision made under stress, under the right circumstances it is a smart choice for turning around a dead-end situation.

The iPad has been this week's media darling with active discussion about the device's merits, a look at how it fails to encourage AR innovation and of course, this morning's announcement of a developer fund. Although it's exciting from a consumer standpoint, between the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and now the iPad, application developers have their work cut out for them. While consumers may flock to the new tablet, the thought of locking more developers into the purgatory of the Apple approval process is one that few will celebrate.

With the end of the month rolling over this weekend it is the time when some begin preparing their monthly invoices to bill clients. Theses days there is no shortage of online tools to help with financing and invoices, so we thought we would take the opportunity to point out a few tools to help you get your weekend work done quickly and efficiently. With a plethora of services comes an equally cumbersome amount of features and options, from invoice limits, to pricing and to iPhone apps. Hopefully with this quick overview of four great services you'll be able to better choose the right one for you.

It's Data Privacy Day and when it comes to generating privacy-related buzz in the blogosphere, there are few governments as controversial as China. From Google's recent security issues, to blocked social media sites to the proposed Green Dan censorship program, Western netizens have always had a tenuous relationship with China. As part of our Never Mind the Valley series, ReadWriteWeb spoke to several investors and entrepreneurs to find out what it's like to run a startup beyond what many describe as the "Great Firewall".

Anyone who has been using Facebook for a few years knows that even minor changes to an interface design can cause a wide variety of reactions from a loyal user base. When the popular social network has made design tweaks in the past, there is always some portion of their users that are upset, if not enraged, by the changes made. A couple of weeks ago, we told you how your registration process could be driving potential users away, and a large part of that has to do with the design.

Just because your college roommate won the university's engineering award in 1996, does not mean he'll perform well in a VP role now. Early-stage startup teams come in many forms and while it's nice to showcase those founders who began with personal ties, more often than not, these teams fail. Speaking as a recent panel participant at the Girls in Tech Conference, Y Combinator cofounder Jessica Livingston revealed that early-stage companies tend to list recruitment as one of their toughest issues.

Earlier this week we told you how New York Times op-ed contributor and author Thomas Friedman urged President Obama to take steps to help foster a new age of innovation and entrepreneurship. Well it seems that Obama may have received that message, as Wednesday night during his State of the Union address to Congress the president proposed a bill to help small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Perhaps Obama listened to Friedman, or maybe he saw the frenzied excitement that grows around new innovations like the iPad - either way, the president seems to have taken the first baby steps toward a more entrepreneurial culture in America.