The Washington Blade to Return to Newsstands on Friday

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– Nearly half a year after its former parent company went bankrupt, local gay
and lesbian weekly newspaper The Washington Blade said that it will return to
newsstands on Friday.

The move comes after Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia — a new
company headed by former Blade publisher Lynne Brown, editor Kevin Naff and
sales executive Brian Pitts — acquired the paper’s assets at a bankruptcy
auction in Atlanta.

The purchase included the Blade name, all trademarks and
copyrights, as well as its entire 40-year archive.

Since the paper’s shuttering
in November, Brown Naff Pitts has been producing a new print and online
publication under the name DC Agenda.

The company said the decision to return
to the Washington Blade name followed a survey of readers.

"We now have
the opportunity to both restore and refresh a powerful, venerable news gathering
institution," said Brown.

 

Related Links:
http://www.dcagenda.com/2010/04/26/washington-blade-returns-this-week

Spotify Adds Social, Library Features to Music Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Stockholm, Sweden – Streaming music service Spotify on
Tuesday rolled out a feature upgrade that includes a number of social features,
as well as the ability to merge one’s own music library with their Spotify
playlists.

The service’s more than 7 million users can now create and edit a
Spotify music profile, where they can post their favorite artists and tracks,
and publish their playlists.

Spotify now also integrates more tightly with
Facebook, enabling friends to be connected between the two services.

The new
Library feature will allow the Spotify application to mix tracks from a user’s
hard drive and the Spotify library.

The company, which has said it intends to
launch its service in the U.S.
in the near future, called the release the largest feature upgrade since it
launched the platform in late 2008.

 

Related Links:
http://www.spotify.com/int/blog/archives/2010/04/27/the-next-generation/

http://snipurl.com/vtvbz
(PaidContent)

Mail.com Media Corp. Acquires Boy Genius Report Blog

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles
– Mail.com Media Corp., the Jay Penske-backed firm that publishes Deadline.com,
Movieline.com and a number of other sites, announced on Tuesday that it has
acquired Boy Genius Report, a blog covering mobile phones and other gadgets.

Financial
terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Boy Genius Report was launched in 2006 by
the heretofore anonymous Jonathan Geller, who began writing for tech blog
Engadget when he was 17.

The site now counts over 1 million unique monthly
visitors.

Geller will continue as president, editor-in-chief and general
manager of the site, whose name will be condensed to BGR.com.

"Very much
in the mold of Nikki Finke of Deadline.com, Jonathan has singlehandedly built
an influential site with original content that appeals to an extremely engaged
and loyal following in one of the largest and most exciting categories
online-and he’s done it all before his 23rd birthday" said Mail.com Media
Corp. founder, chairman and CEO Jay Penske.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vtufq
(Boy Genius Report)

http://corp.mail.com

Google Acquires Casual Games Developer LabPixies

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View,
Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) has acquired
LabPixies, a developer of casual games and applications for the iGoogle home
page service, as well as mobile platforms.

Financial terms of the transaction
were not disclosed.

Google said it has worked with LabPixies over the years on
a variety of projects, including the launch of a number of OpenSocial-based
gadgets.

The company’s casual game titles include "Flood-It," which
is available across iGoogle, iPhone and Android platforms.

The LabPixies team
will be based in Google’s office in Tel Aviv, Israel.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vtu8l
(Google blog)

http://www.labpixies.com

Mobile Payments Firm Zong Lands $15 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto,
Calif. – Zong, a provider of
mobile payment services used by online gaming and social networking sites,
announced on Tuesday the closing of a $15 million round of funding, led by
Matrix Partners.

Formerly a division of Echovox, Palo Alto, Calif.-based
Zong is the mobile payment provider for Facebook Credits, the site’s new
virtual currency.

The company said its service combines carrier billing with
credit, debit and prepaid cards.

Zong will use the investment to grow its
merchant network in U.S.
and international markets, and expand its mobile carrier network.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vttrb

http://www.zong.com

Ground Truth Secures $7 Million for Mobile Measurement

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Seattle
– Ground Truth, a provider of mobile audience measurement services, announced
on Tuesday that it has raised $7 million in its second round of funding.

New
investors Emergence Capital Partners and OpenAir Ventures were joined by return
backers Steamboat Ventures and Voyager Capital.

Seattle-based Ground Truth,
which launched publicly less than three months ago, provides mobile measurement
based on actual usage data aggregated from millions of subscribers.

The company
will use the funds to significantly expand its offerings to clients and data
partners.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vttiq

http://www.groundtruth.com

Massachusetts Start-up Acquires ThePirateBay.org for $10M

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Update: The operators of The Pirate Bay deny that an acquisition deal has been made.

Cambridge,
Mass. – Business Marketing
Services (BMSV), a Cambridge, Mass.-based company, announced on Tuesday that it will
acquire the domain name thepiratebay.org, and trademarks of The Pirate Bay from
Sweden-based Global Gaming Factory (GGF) in exchange for a $10 million
promissory note.

BMSV, which launched in January and counts five employees,
said it intends to use the acquired assets to launch a paid service with
licensed content that utilizes file-sharing technology.

The acquisition is
subject to GGF’s completion in turn of its acquisition of The Pirate Bay, which
is expected to occur on June 30.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vtt3c
(Mass High Tech)

http://thepiratebay.org

Israel Ends Two-Week-Old Ban on Apple's iPad

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Israel has
rescinded a two-week-old ban on Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPad, which it had instilled due to
concerns over wireless interference, and which had even led to the confiscation
of iPads from tourists entering the country. The country’s Communications
Ministry said it conducted "intensive technical scrutiny in a controlled
laboratory" before deciding to allow the iPad into Israel,
according to spokesman Yechiel Shabi.


 

Related Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100425/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_ipad

http://snipurl.com/vt1x4
(DMW previous coverage)

Rhapsody Adds Offline Music Caching to iPhone Application

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Seattle – Digital music
service Rhapsody announced on Monday that it has enabled offline music caching
for its iPhone application, becoming the first U.S. music service to allow the
downloading of subscription-licensed songs on the device. The new Rhapsody 2.0
application for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad — which costs $10 to $14.99 per
month — will let users download their Rhapsody playlists and listen to them
anywhere. The company added that its mobile application for BlackBerry will
launch this summer.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vszdh

http://www.rhapsody.com

Research in Motion Debuts New BlackBerry Smartphones

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Toronto, Canada – Research in Motion (NASD: RIMM) on Monday announced two new BlackBerry
smartphone models, the Pearl 3G and Bold 9650.
Sprint will be among the carriers offering the Bold 9650, which it will sell
from May 23 for $199 with a two-year contract. Also expected to launch in May,
the company’s new Pearl 3G will be available
in two models — one with a 20-key condensed QWERTY keyboard, and the other
with a 14-key traditional phone keyboard with SureType software.


 

Related Links:
http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=3886

http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=3906

http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20003366-85.html

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