Bebo Co-Founder Birch Rejoins as Investor, Advisor

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Online social network Bebo, which AOL acquired
for $850 million in 2008 but sold last year to Criterion Capital for less than
$10 million, has received an investment from co-founder Michael Birch.

Founded
in 2005, Bebo claimed over 34 million users by 2008, and is most popular in the
U.K. and New Zealand.

Birch, who All Things D reports may be looking to flip
the company, has signed on as an advisor to Bebo.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2g9cg3h
(All Things D)

http://www.bebo.com

Chegg Acquires Social Homework Platform Cramster

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Santa Clara, Calif. – Chegg, a provider of online textbook
rentals, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Cramster, a social
platform that provides students with help with their homework.

Financial terms
of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2002, Cramster now counts
more than 1 million members for its online study community, which includes
college and high school students, teachers and parents.

Santa Clara,
Calif.-based Chegg offers online textbook rentals on more than 6,400 campuses
nationwide.

 

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

http://www.chegg.com

Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy Steps Down After 11 Years

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Gatos, Calif. – Netflix (NASD: NFLX) said on Wednesday that chief
financial officer Barry McCarthy has stepped down to pursue executive
opportunities outside the company. The company said McCarthy, who served as
Netflix CFO for 11 years, will be replaced by David Wells, vice president of
financial planning and analysis.

 

Related Links:
http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=378

Report: Google Social Service to be Called "Google +1"

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View, Calif. – TechCrunch has posted a screenshot
of what it says is Google’s (NASD: GOOG) forthcoming social media service, dubbed
"Google +1." The service appears to reside on Google properties, and
includes a "share" button and "loops," which are thought to
be Google’s name for "groups." In a statement to TechCrunch, Google
did not deny the authenticity of the screenshot, but noted it has "already
confirmed that we are focused on incorporating social elements across
Google."

 

Related Links:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/07/google-plus-one-pic

Ubisoft Adds Anti-Piracy Vuvuzelas to Michael Jackson Game

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Angeles – Video game publisher Ubisoft has inserted a
novel anti-piracy scheme into its "Michael Jackson: The Experience"
game for the Nintendo DS, punishing gamers trying to play pirated copies of the
game with noise from vuvuzelas — the horn noisemakers made popular during the
World Cup. "The development team worked this feature in as a creative way
to discourage any tampering with the retail version of the game," Ubisoft
told Wired.

 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/12/michael-jackson-vuvuzela/

Twitter Adds Rdio, Others as Embedded Media Partners

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

San Francisco – Twitter has expanded its roster of partner
services hosting third-party content users can view when thy click on a tweet with
multimedia links on Twitter.com. Users could already view photos and video from
Flickr, YouTube and Brightcove, and will now additionally be able to view and
listen to content from Blip.tv, Instagram, Rdio, SlideShare and Dipdive. Rdio
members will be able to listen to full-length songs when Twitter users tweet a
song link.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.twitter.com/2010/12/now-playing-on-newtwitter-embedded.html

http://rdio.com

Report: CBS Interactive Head Neil Ashe Steps Down

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – CBS Interactive president Neil Ashe is stepping
down from his post, All Things D reported. Ashe was formerly CEO of CNET, which
was acquired by CBS (NYSE: CBS), and replaced Quincy Smith as head of the company’s
interactive division. No details were provided on Ashe’s next move or his
replacement at CBS Interactive.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/34edtko
(All Things D)

Blockbuster Kiosks Offering "Inception" for $3 Rental

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Angeles – Blockbuster on Wednesday began offering
rentals of two films — "Inception" and "Knight and Day" —
from its Blockbuster Express rental kiosks 28 days earlier than rivals Redbox
and Netflix, but with a premium first-night rental charge of $3. The films will
be available in some 900 Blockbuster Express kiosks owned and operated by NCR.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2b7nxs4

Foursquare Users Registering 2 Million Check-ins Daily

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

San Francisco – Location-based social network Foursquare is
now receiving 2 million "check-ins" and adding 25,000 new users
daily, CEO Dennis Crowley told the Le Web conference, TechCrunch reported. The
average user checks in 3-4 times per day. Crowley also revealed that Foursquare
turned down an acquisition offer in the ballpark of $140 million.

 
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2bc24cx
(TechCrunch)

http://www.foursquare.com

LyricFind Offers Publishers Free, Ad-Supported Song Lyrics

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Toronto – Licensed lyrics database LyricFind has launched a
new program that offers websites and apps the ability to offer licensed song
lyrics for free, but bundled with ads as a means to pay rightsholders. Once
certain traffic levels are met, the publisher shares in the ad revenues. Early
adopters of the service include Muziic and Lyrics.net.

 

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

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