Beverly Hills, Calif. – News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Thursday
launched "Hijacks," a new promotion where celebrities will curate
entertainment areas on the site for three full days. Participants including The
Black Eyed Peas and Jack Black are also expected to premiere exclusive content
during their Hijack stints.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25unyzs
Washington – A recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet
& American Life Project indicates that 8% of online Americans now use
Twitter. The survey found that young adults ages 18-29 are significantly more
likely to use Twitter (14%) than older adults.
Likewise, African-Americans (13%)
and Hispanics (18%) are more likely than whites (5%) to use Twitter.
Urban area
dwellers (11%) are also more likely to use Twitter than those living in the
suburbs (8%).
Pew said women and the college-educated are slightly more likely than
average to use the service.
Related Links:
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Twitter-Update-2010.aspx
Seattle – Seventeen billionaires, including AOL co-founder
Steve Case, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and financier Carl Icahn, have
agreed to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes, either
during their lifetime or after their death.
They join 40 others who already had
signed The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic effort organized by Microsoft mogul
Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett.
"We do not believe our assets are
‘ours,’ but rather we try to be the responsible stewards of these resources —
and we recognize we have an obligation to reinvest them in a positive,
constructive and flexible manner," wrote Steve and Jean Case in an open
letter.
Those who sign the pledge can donate their fortunes to the
organizations of their choice. A full list of those making the pledge is
available at the link below.
Related Links:
http://givingpledge.org/Content/media/PressRelease_12_8.pdf
(PDF)
Boston – Fluent Mobile, a developer of mobile marketing
software, has raised $5.5 million in a round of venture capital, according to a
new filing by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Details
on investors were not disclosed.
Founded in 2008, Boston-based Fluent’s news
application delivers stories to mobile devices from various news sources,
including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington
Post, CNN, FOX News, BBC, ESPN, TMZ, and others.
Related Links:
http://www.fluentmobile.com
Cupertino, Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Thursday released lists of the
most-popular content of 2010 at its iTunes Store, across music, TV, movies,
audiobooks, podcasts and applications. The best-selling songs on iTunes in 2010
were "Hey, Soul Sister" (Train); "California Gurls" (Katy
Perry); "Love the Way You Lie" (Eminem); "Airplanes"
(B.O.B.); and "Dynamite" (Taio Cruz).
The top-selling albums were
Eminem’s "Recovery"; Kesha’s "Animal"’ and Lady Gaga’s
"The Fame."
In TV, the "Power of Madonna" episode of Fox’s
"Glee" beat out the finale of ABC’s "Lost" as the
most-downloaded TV episode; the most popular full season downloads were season
four of "Mad Men," season two of "Glee" and season five of
"Doctor Who."
The movies that registered the most sales and rentals
on iTunes this year were "The Hurt Locker," "Twilight: New
Moon" and "Hot Tub Time Machine."
The top-selling iPhone
application of 2010 was the game "Angry Birds," while the most-downloaded
free apps included Facebook, Words With Friends, Skype and Tap Tap Revenge.
Apple’s complete "Review" of 2010 iTunes Store content can be accessed via iTunes at the link below.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2cvkz2m
(iTunes Store link)
Cupertino, Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) is lengthening the streaming song
samples available at its iTunes Store from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.
The U.S.
store began featuring 90-second samples on some songs on Wednesday.
Apple
announced the move last month, stating at the time that it believed allowing
consumers to listen to longer samples "will lead to more purchases."
It’s unclear whether Apple was compelled to secure additional licenses from the
National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which had protested that Apple
did not have the necessary permissions to offer longer samples.
Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20025106-37.html
http://tinyurl.com/2al56q5
(DMW previous coverage)
New York – Sirius XM Radio (NASD: SIRI) announced on Thursday that key
on-air personality Howard Stern has signed a new five-year contract, which
includes exclusive mobile device rights. “On my first day in satellite
radio Sirius had approximately 600,000 subscribers. Today, the two companies
have 20 million; and, in my view, we have just scratched the surface of how
many people will get on board,” said Stern.
Financial terms of the deal —
which replaces Stern’s previous five-year, $500 million contract — were not
disclosed.
Stern had publicly grumbled about the prospects of taking a pay cut,
and rumors had floated that he was considering bringing his show to Apple’s
iTunes Store for distribution.
Related Links:
http://investor.sirius.com/releases.cfm/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=535956
Hamburg, Germany – Xing, a European social network for
business professionals, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Amiando, a
provider of online event management and ticketing services in Europe.
Terms of
the deal include an upfront payment of $6.74 million, plus another $6.94
million if certain targets are achieved by 2013.
Munich-based Amiando handled
100,000 events in 2009; Xing says its members organized more than 150,000
events via its service last year.
Hamburg-based Xing currently counts more than
10 million members.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2653pek
