Related Posts Blog Plugin Maker Zemanta Gets $3 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

London – Zemanta, the developer of a related posts plugin
for bloggers, announced on Thursday that it has raised $3 million in new
financing from Union Square Ventures and Eden Ventures.

London-based Zemanta
was the winner of the Seedcamp start-up contest in 2007.

Its product is
available on Blogger and WordPress, and is serving one million recommendations
monthly, the company told TechCrunch.

The company, which has now raised a total of $6
million to date, will use the new funds to finance sales expansion and further
product innovation.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/24cjxvp

Stipple Lands $2 Million for Photo Tagging, Monetization

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

San Francisco – Stipple, the developer of a photo-tagging
service, said on Thursday that it has raised $2 million in seed financing,
co-led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Floodgate.

Other investors
included Naval Ravikant, Eghosa Omoigui, Global Brain Corporation, Quest
Venture Partners, Parkview Ventures, John Ferber, Justin Timberlake and Rick
Marini.

Launched in August, San Francisco-based Stipple’s service lets users
label, share and monetize photos on the Web.

The company has established
partnerships with Six Apart, JIVE Label Group, Atlantic Records and E.W. Scripps.

*Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the company launched in April.  

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25yvzu6

http://stippleit.com

Google's Boutiques.com Offers Fashion Shopping Suggestions

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Mountain View, Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) on Wednesday debuted
Boutiques.com, a new personalized fashion shopping site based on technology the
company acquired from Like.com. The site uses computer vision and machine
learning to analyze a user’s taste and suggest "soft goods" like
clothing and accessories. It also offers the ability for to browse online
boutiques curated by celebrities, stylists and fashion bloggers.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2uhw8bp
(Google blog)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20023034-36.html

http://www.boutiques.com

Twitter Taps Gnip as First Reseller of 'Firehose' Data

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

San Francisco – Twitter has signed a deal to make Gnip the
first authorized re-seller of its data feed. Gnip’s Social Media API will offer
a "Halfhose" feed, comprised of 50% of the full Twitter
"firehose" of real-time data; a "Mentionhose," that
includes all mentions of a particular user, including replies and retweets; and
a "Decahose," comprising 10% of the full firehose.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.gnip.com/gnip-twitter-partnership/

Apple Adds Former Northrop Grumman CEO Sugar to Board

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Cupertino, Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Wednesday named Ronald Sugar,
the former chairman and CEO of defense technology giant Northrop Grumman, to
its board of directors. Sugar, who led Northrop Grumman from 2003 until his retirement
earlier this year, will serve as chair of the audit and finance committee.

 

Related Links:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/11/17bod.html

Sony Adds Wal-Mart's VUDU Movie Service to PlayStation Network

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Angeles – Sony (NYSE: SNE) has added Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) VUDU HD movie
streaming service to the video offering available to PlayStation 3 owners via
the PlayStation Network. The service recently added Hulu Plus and said the NHL
will begin streaming live games to the PlayStation 3.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2cpvs8j
(PlayStation blog)

Report: U.S. Online Ad Revenues Up 17% to Record $6.4B in Q3

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York – U.S. third quarter Internet ad revenues rose 17%
from a year ago, to $6.4 billion, according to a report from the Internet
Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC.

"Advertisers are shifting more of their
brand messaging online, accounting for this welcome surge in a difficult
economy," said PwC partner David Silverman.

"This trend reflects the
accelerating shift in consumer behavior towards the internet and away from
traditional media."

Spending for the first half of the year was up 11.3%
to $12.1 billion, the IAB reported last month.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2dfcmhc
(IAB)

Warner Music Q4 Loss Widens; Annual Digital Revenue Up 8%

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York – Major record label Warner Music Group (WMG) (NYSE: WMG)
reported a net loss of $46 million during its fiscal fourth quarter, as overall
revenue fell 13% despite a 7.1% uptick from digital revenue sources.

As the
only standalone, publicly-traded major record label, Warner Music’s detailed results
of its operations and finances are closely scrutinized, while those of the
other majors are less forthcoming and nested within results of their parent
companies.

The company noted that an increase in digital sales during the quarter “was more
than offset by contracting demand for physical product.”

Warner reported
digital revenue growth of 8% for its full fiscal year, and digital now accounts
for 40% of its U.S. recorded music revenues — but annual revenues overall fell
7% from the prior year.

 

Related Links:
http://www.wmg.com/newsdetails/id/8a0af8122c353d41012c56ba06bf0f65

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20023042-261.html

http://tinyurl.com/29nacv6
(Billboard)

Google, French Publisher Reach Deal on Book-Scanning Project

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Paris – Google (NASD: GOOG) has struck an agreement with French publisher
Hachette Livre, ending a dispute over the rights to scan out-of-print titles
for inclusion in its digital library project, The New York Times reported.

Unlike the lawsuit settlement hammered out between Google and U.S. publishers
last year, Hachette’s agreement with Google permits the publisher to control
which books Google may scan.

Any books scanned by Google will be made available
for sale as e-books by Google, or by Hachette to third-party retailers — as well
as to France’s own national book-scanning project.

French courts have sided
with publishers claiming Google’s book-scanning project violates their copyrights,
and other litigation is still pending.

But Google hopes the deal with Hachette will
"serve as a framework for other French publishers and maybe other
publishers around the world," Dan Clancy, director of Google Books, told
The Times.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/business/global/18book.html

 

Hulu Plus Officially Debuts; Price Cut From $10 to $8

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Angeles – Hulu Plus on Wednesday officially launched to
the public, opting to discount the price of the subscription TV episode
streaming service from $9.99 to $7.99 per month.

The joint venture between NBC
Universal (NYSE: GE), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) said that any users who subscribed at $9.99 during
the preview period will receive a credit for the difference in price, applied
to their next billing cycle.

Hulu Plus offers full current and back seasons of
both current and classic TV shows.

The company said it has attracted
advertisers including Bud Light, McDonald’s, Nissan and Microsoft for the
launch of Hulu Plus.

Beyond the PC, Hulu Plus is available on connected TVs and
Blu-ray players from Samsung, Sony, and soon LG, Panasonic and Vizio; set-tops
from Roku, Sony, and soon TiVo and Western Digital; the PlayStation 3 and soon
Xbox 360; and mobile devices including Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25lr7zd

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