Sony to Discontinue Sales of Walkman Cassette Player in Japan

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Tokyo – Sony (NYSE: SNE) announced on Monday that it will discontinue
sales of its landmark Walkman cassette player in Japan — but continue to
manufacture the devices for sale in the U.S. and other overseas markets, the
Associated Press reported.

First launched in 1979, the Walkman was the first
device to make music — other than radio — truly portable.

Sony’s Walkman has
sold 220 million units worldwide, 186 million of which were sold before the
year 2000.

U.S. retailers including Best Buy still stock the Sony Walkman
cassette player; the Walkman brand will also still live on in Sony CD and MP3 players.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/39h8w2u

Sony Slashes Price on PSP Go Handheld to $199

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Tokyo – Sony (NYSE: SNE) has slashed the price of its PSP Go handheld
gaming system from $249 to $199, Reuters reports, citing new pricing listed on
top retail sites.

By comparison, Nintendo’s DSi sells for $150, and its DSi XL
sells for $169.

Reuters notes that poor sales likely accounted for Sony’s
decision to cut the price of the PSP Go, which sold 79,400 units in August,
compared to the 140,300 units it sold in the same month a year ago, according to NPD data.

Nintendo
sold 342,000 DS handheld systems in August.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2c9cm2a

(Reuters)

http://us.playstation.com/psp/systems/pspgo.html

Digg Lays Off 37% of Staff; Chief Revenue Officer Exits

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New York – Online news aggregation and ranking service Digg
announced on Monday that it will lay off 37% of its staff, and said chief
revenue officer and publisher Chas Edwards is leaving the company, TechCrunch
reported.

"The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high. We
must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011,"
Digg CEO Matt Williams wrote in a blog post.

"We’ve considered all of the
possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs. The result is
that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I’ve made the
decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people."

Edwards, who had
served as publisher and chief revenue officer at Digg for the past 18 months,
has taken a similar position at ad network Pixazza.

 

Related Links:
http://about.digg.com/blog/important-development-digg

http://tinyurl.com/2f5q2y6
(TechCrunch)

WSJ: MySpace, Apps Found to Leak User IDs to Advertisers

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Los Angeles – Following similar revelations about Facebook,
News Corp.’s (NYSE:  NWS) MySpace online social network has been found to have been
transmitting personally identifiable data on users to advertisers, The Wall
Street Journal reported. As with Facebook, the information is being transmitted
via MySpace user IDs, a unique number that associates a MySpace account with
its owner.

Recipients of the MySpace user ID data — including Google,
Quantcast and Rubicon Project — told The Journal they did not make use of the
information transmitted when users clicked on MySpace ads.

Along with MySpace
itself, MySpace applications including BitRhyme’s TagMe, WonderHill’s GreenSpot
and RockYou’s Pets were found to have transmitted MySpace user IDs to tracking
or ad firms including RapLeaf.

"It has recently come to our attention that
several third-party app developers may have violated these terms and we are
taking appropriate action against those developers," a MySpace spokesman
told The Journal.

Lawmakers have asked Facebook to address privacy questions
raised by the user ID issue, and the company also now faces a number of
lawsuits over the matter.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2v2acez

(WSJ)

http://tinyurl.com/22q77st
(DMW previous coverage)

Gemalto Sues Google, Others Over Android-related Patents

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Paris – Gemalto, a France-based computer security firm, on
Monday filed patent infringement claims in the U.S. against Google (NASD: GOOG), HTC,
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Samsung, alleging Google’s Android operating system violates
Gemalto patents, Agence France-Presse reported.

"This lawsuit is necessary
to protect our investment in innovation," a Gemalto spokesman said in a
statement. "The technologies we develop and associated intellectual
property rights are essential to Gemalto’s future."

The company filed its
complaint in federal court in Texas, where it says the patented technologies in
question were developed at its research facilities there during the 1990s.

A
number of patent infringement claims have been lobbied in recent months over
mobile operating systems, with Apple, Oracle and Microsoft filing suits against
Android phone makers, while Motorola and Nokia have sued Apple, and Microsoft
and Apple have sued Motorola.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2d6h3vh

(AFP)

http://www.gemalto.com

Google Debuts Bollywood Music Search Site in India

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Mountain View, Calif. – Google India has launched a new
Bollywood-focused music search service in beta, according to a post on the
company’s India blog.

The Google Music Search (India) Labs lets users search
across "thousands" of Hindi Bollywood songs by artist, date or movie.

Users may then stream songs they discover for free, thanks to licensing deals
Google (NASD: GOOG) signed with SaReGaMa, In.com and Saavn.com.

 

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

(Google India blog)

http://www.google.co.in/music

Facebook Backer Mail.ru to Raise Up to $876M in London IPO

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London – Russian media firm Mail.ru Group, whose investments
include Facebook and Zynga, has announced pricing for its forthcoming IPO on
the London Stock Exchange.

Formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies, Mail.ru
Group will sell 16% of its shares for between $23.70 and $27.70, in an offering
that hopes to raise up to $876 million and would give the company an equity
value of between $4.86 billion and $5.71 billion.

The company owns 2.38% of
Facebook, 1.47% of Zynga and 5.13% of Groupon.

Mail.ru Group said it will use some of the
proceeds from the share offering to acquire an additional 7.5% stake in Russian
social network Vkontakte.

 

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

(Reuters)

http://tinyurl.com/2es57u3
(WSJ)

Mobile App Development Platform PointAbout Gets $1 Million

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Washington – PointAbout, the creator of a platform allowing
clients to develop their own low-cost mobile apps, said on Monday it has raised
$1 million in a new round of funding from several prominent Silicon Valley
angel investors.

Investors included Mitch Kapor, Bill Lee, Charles River
Ventures, Rich Chen, Brian McClendon, Kima Ventures, Warren Hellman, Ben
Narasin, Pietro Dova, Sean Glass and Transmedia Capital.

The D.C.-based company,
which also operates an office in San Francisco, said it will use the proceeds
to launch several new features within its AppMakr platform by the end of this
year.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3xyg2kf

http://www.appmakr.com

Tudou

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Chinese Video Portal Tudou to Raise Up to $150M in IPO

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Beijing – Chinese video portal Tudou has hired Credit Suisse
and Deutsche Bank to manage an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in
the U.S., in which it hopes to raise up to $150 million, Reuters reported on
Monday, citing sources. The company is looking to list in the first quarter of
2011, and expects to raise between $100 million and $150 million in the
offering.

Launched in 2005, Tudou has to date raised more than $76 million in
venture capital financing, from backers including Singapore’s Temasek, IDG
China, GGV Capital and General Catalyst Partners.

The company accounted for 16%
of China’s online video market during the second quarter, compared to 20% for
rival Youku, according to Analysys International.

Youku is also said to be
pursing an IPO slated for early next year.

 

 

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

(Reuters)

http://www.tudou.com