Mac App Store

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Apple Debuts Mac App Store With 1,000 Free, Paid Applications

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Cupertino, Calif. – Apple (NASD:  AAPL) on Thursday officially opened its
Mac App Store, featuring more than 1,000 free and paid apps specifically
designed for the Mac. The site lets visitors search for apps in categories such
as Education, Games, Productivity and Utilities, then purchase them through an
iTunes account.

The launch comes after the wild success seen with Apple’s App
Store for the iPhone, and later iPad.

Wired notes the store does not provide
any free trials of the software, but is offering savings on a number of
applications at launch.

For instance, the Aperture photo-editing application is
selling for $80 from the Mac App Store, instead of with the $200 price tag
found at Apple Stores.

 

 

Related Links:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/06macappstore.html

http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store

U.K. Media Retailer HMV to Shutter 60 Stores

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London – After holiday sales fell 10%, U.K.-based media
retail store chain HMV said it will shutter 60 of its stores over the next
year, the BBC reports.

The cuts represent about 10% of the company’s total
number of HMV and Waterstone’s locations.

The company will also institute
cost-cutting measures intended to save $15 million annually.

HMV in part blamed
the poor U.K. weather for its lackluster holiday sales, and said its recent
woes were making it difficult to keep to terms of a loan.

"The pace of
change in the markets in which we operate underlines the urgency with which we
must continue to transform this business," said HMV chief executive Simon
Fox.

 

Related Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12117510

http://www.hmv.com  

Qik

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Report: Skype to Acquire Video Service Qik for $150 Million

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Las Vegas – Internet telephone service Skype has acquired
live streaming video service Qik, in a deal thought to be valued at $150
million, Business Insider reported, citing sources. Founded in 2006, Redwood
City, Calif.-based Qik counts 5 million users of its service, which lets Web
and smartphone users stream live video.

Qik has raised around $8.5 million in
funding to date, from investors including Quest Venture Partners, CampVentures,
Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Marc Benioff, Arjun Gupta and George Garrick.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2g3252y

(Business Insider)

http://www.skype.com

http://www.qik.com

Report: Tata Communications to Acquire BitGravity

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Burlingame, Calif. – BitGravity, a provider of content
delivery network (CDN) services, is set to be acquired by Tata Communications,
which already owns some 15% of the company, StreamingMedia.com reported.

Tata
invested $11.5 million in Burlingame, Calif.-based BitGravity in 2008, and is a
customer of the company’s CDN services.

The report indicated that terms have
been agreed upon, but the deal is not yet official.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/29ovyvt

(StreamingMedia.com)

http://www.tatacommunications.com

http://www.bitgravity.com

Zynga Acquires Social Web Browser Developer Flock

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San Francisco – Social games publisher Zynga ("Mafia
Wars," "FarmVille") has acquired Flock, the developer of a
social Web browser.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Six-year-old Flock has attracted over 10 million users of its social Web
browser.

"Our team will help Zynga in achieving their goal of building the
most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime — on any platform,"
Flock CEO Shawn Hardin wrote on the company’s blog.

Hardin did not say whether development
would continue on the company’s flagship browser.

Flock has raised around $30
million in venture capital, from backers including Fidelity Ventures, Bessemer
Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures and Shasta Ventures.

 

Related Links:
http://www.flock.com/node/162703

http://www.zynga.com

ViewCast Raises $745,000 for Digital Media Delivery

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Plano, Texas – ViewCast, a provider of digital media
delivery services over enterprise, broadband and mobile networks, announced on
Thursday that it has raised $745,000 in a private placement of its shares.

The
six private investors included one ViewCast board member.

Texas-based ViewCast
says that to date more than 350,000 of its video capture cards have been
deployed globally.

"Having jumpstarted revenue growth at the end of 2009
and returned to profitability in the 2010 third quarter, we feel that it is time
to accelerate some of the commercial programs we feel will have the biggest
impact on sales and shareholder value in 2011," said ViewCast president
and CEO Dave Stoner.

"Though this financing is small in size, our goal was
to raise enough to kickoff these programs without significant impact to the
balance sheet or dilution to shareholders."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/27yvecs

http://www.viewcast.com

Swedish Digital-only Record Label X5 Music Gets $9.1 Million

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Stockholm, Sweden – X5 Music, a digital-only record label
based in Sweden, has received a $9.1 million investment from Northzone
Ventures, TechCrunch reported.

X5’s catalog includes some 120,000 products across various
genres, including many older albums from popular U.S. artists like Ray Charles,
John Coltrane and Elvis Presley, and hundreds of compilation albums.

The company
will use the funds to expand into the U.S. market and sign American artists,
via a new office in New York.

Northzone has also invested in European streaming
music service Spotify.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/362fd2m

(TechCrunch)

http://www.x5musicgroup.com

KnowledgeVision Nets $2 Million for Multimedia Presentations

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Concord, Mass. – KnowledgeVision Systems, a developer of
tools and services for creating online, on-demand and live multimedia
presentations, has raised $2 million in its first round of venture capital,
which was led by GrandBanks Capital.

Founded last year, Concord, Mass.-based KnowledgeVision
offers subscription-based software for synchronizing video or audio, PowerPoint
and other images, "just-in-time" footnotes, and virtual handouts into
interactive presentations, which can be viewed from any web browser.

The
service is already in use in many technology, healthcare, financial services,
retail, professional services, and not-for-profit organizations, according to
the company.

 

Related Links:
http://www.GrandBanksCapital.com

http://www.knowledgevision.com