Yahoo Tightens Facebook Integration; Debuts Yahoo Pulse

June 7, 2010

Sunnyvale,
Calif. – Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) announced on
Monday that it has further integrated Facebook across its global network of
websites, and rebranded its Yahoo Profiles service as "Yahoo Pulse."
Users will be able to view their Facebook news feed from Yahoo Mail and via
Yahoo.com, while actions taken on Yahoo-owned services like Flickr will be
easier to automatically share on Facebook. The new Yahoo Pulse will provide
"a central dashboard to manage what users share on Yahoo from the external
social accounts and apps that they have linked to Yahoo, starting with Facebook
and with others to come later this year."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/x726d

http://pulse.yahoo.com

Sports Blog Network SBNation Launching 20 New Regional Sites

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Washington – SBNation, a
network of sports-related blogs, said on Monday that it plans to launch 20 new
regional sports sites in the coming weeks, starting with new sites for New York, Chicago, Boston, Detroit,
Arizona and D.C. The company told
PaidContent it currently is paying over 300 writers who operates 255 sites, so
launching another 20 sites did not require additional hires, but instead
expanded roles and increased compensation.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/x73v9
(PaidContent)

http://www.sbnation.com

Aspiro Music Service Launches on iPhone in Norway

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Stockholm, Sweden – Aspiro Music said on Monday that Apple
has approved its WiMP streaming music service application for distribution from
the App Store in Norway. Also available for PC and Android, the Aspiro service
features offline music caching and costs about $14.75 per month.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/x74fg

http://www.aspiro.com

Former Veoh CEO Shapiro Named CTO at MySpace Music

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Los Angeles
– Dmitry Shapiro, the former CEO of now-defunct video-hosting service Veoh, has
been named chief technology officer at MySpace Music, the joint venture between
the News Corp.-owned (NYSE: NWS) social network and the major record labels.

The Veoh video-sharing
service, which had raised nearly $70 million in venture capital, filed for
bankruptcy in February and sold off its remaining assets in April to a firm
called Qlipso.

Shapiro will be responsible for "the next iteration of
artist profiles and tools as well as the overall music experience on MySpace,"
and will report directly to MySpace Music president Courtney Holt.

Related Links:
http://www.myspace.com/music

Report: 23% of U.S. Mobile Users Own a Smartphone

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

New York – Some 23% of U.S.
mobile consumers owned a smartphone in the first quarter of 2010, up from 16%
in the second quarter of 2009, according to a report from Nielsen.

Research in
Motion’s (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry leads with a 35% market share, followed by Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPhone
(28%); Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) Windows Mobile (19%); Google (NASD: GOOG) Android (9%); Palm (4%); Linux
(3%); and Symbian (2%).

Nielsen notes that iPhone and Android market share each
grew by 2% in the first quarter of 2010, while BlackBerry and Windows Mobile
each lost 2%.

Among users, Nielsen found that 80% of iPhone owners said they
want their next device to run the iPhone OS, compared with 70% of Android users
who want another Android phone.

This compares to just 47% of BlackBerry owners who
said they wanted another BlackBerry, and 34% of Windows Mobile users who
planned to stick with the platform.

Sprint: HTC EVO 4G Smartphone Breaks Single-Day Sales Record

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Overland Park, Kan. – Sprint (NYSE: S) announced on Monday that the HTC EVO, the
first U.S. handset to support faster 4G networking, broke its sales record for
a single phone sold in one day on Friday.

The company did not break out actual
sales figures, but noted that strong sales led to temporary shortages of the
device at retailers including Sprint stores, RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart.

In addition to support for Sprint’s nascent 4G network — currently available
in 33 markets — the HTC EVO sports a 4.3-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera and support
for HD video recording.

The HTC EVO retails for $299 with a two-year contract
with Sprint, and requires a $10-per-month data fee for 4G access.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/x6xj2

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0720202720100607

http://www.sprint.com/EVO

iPhone 4

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Apple Unveils iPhone 4 With Video Calling, iOS Software Update

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

San Francisco – Apple (NASD: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs on Monday introduced a
new iPhone model with support for video calls, and a corresponding iOS software
update at the company’s annual WWDC developer’s conference in San Francisco. Jobs
made reference to the fact that many had already seen the new iPhone — a
prototype was reportedly left in a bar and sold to a technology blogger —
which sports a glass and stainless steel casing, and is one-quarter thinner
than the current 3GS model.

Among the new features are a 5-megapixel camera
with LED flash, front-facing camera and support for HD video recording in 720p
at 30 frames per second.

The dual cameras will support a new feature, FaceTime,
which enables real-time video calls over a Wi-Fi connection.

The new
"retina display" on the iPhone offers 4x the resolution of previous
models, and a contrast radio of 800:1.

A gyro has been added, which when paired
with the existing accelerometer, provides 6-axis motion sensing — now a
standard feature on next-generation video game controllers.

Apple also unveiled
the new iPhone OS — now called "iOS" 4, as it ships with the iPad
and iPod touch as well as the iPhone, which brings the long-awaited ability to
multi-task with applications.

Apple will now offer users a choice between
Google, Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) or Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) Bing as their preferred search engine.

The iBookstore is now
available for the iPhone and iPod touch, after launching previously for the
iPad, and titles will automatically sync across all devices.

New applications
announced included a $4.99 version of Apple’s iMovie video-editing software for
the iPhone; Netflix (NASD: NFLX) instant streaming of TV shows and movies to the iPhone and
iPad; and mobile versions of Zynga’s "FarmVille" and Activision’s
"Guitar Hero."

Jobs relayed that the new iAd mobile advertising platform
has already received commitments of $60 million, from advertisers including
Nissan, Unilever, GE, Best Buy and Disney. The format is slate to launch on July 1.

The new iPhone 4 will be priced at
$199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model.

Pre-orders begin on June
15 and the device ships in the U.S.
and four other countries on June 24, expanding to 88 countries by September.

Additionally, the current iPhone 3GS model will be discounted to $99.

Poll: Will You Buy the New iPhone 4?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20006866-260.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=65182

RIAA Asks Court to Shutter LimeWire File-Sharing Service

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

Update: The judge provided LimeWire with two weeks to respond to the RIAA’s motion for a permanent injunction shuttering the file-sharing service.

New York
– The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Friday asked a
federal judge for a permanent injunction that would shut down the LimeWire
file-sharing service, and a court hearing scheduled for Monday could decide the
service’s fate, according to published reports. A federal court last month
granted summary judgment in the labels’ copyright infringement lawsuit against
LimeWire and its founder, Mark Groton.

"Every day that Lime Wire’s conduct
continues unabated guarantees harm to plaintiffs that money damages cannot and
will not compensate," RIAA lawyers wrote to U.S. District Judge Kimba
Wood. "The scope of the infringements that Lime Wire induced…boggles the
mind."

The RIAA also fears that Gorton is shifting his assets in a bid to
make it harder for the group to recover damages.

"Lime Wire has attempted
to secrete assets into Mark Gorton-controlled ‘family partnerships’ with the
intention of shielding those assets from a judgment award in this case,"
the group wrote, to Judge Wood.

"We are looking forward to an opportunity
to address the Court for the first time in two years and show that as a matter
of fact and law there is no support for this motion," a LimeWire
spokesperson told CNET News.com.

LimeWire has in recent weeks been working to
apply a filter that would block copyrighted works, as well as talk to labels on
potential licensing deals, in a bid to continue operating the service despite
the court’s ruling.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20006879-261.html

http://snipurl.com/x6xbq
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.limewire.com

Six Apart Acquires Green Ad Network NaturalPath Media

Mark Hefflinger

June 7, 2010

San Francisco
– Six Apart, the provider of a blogging software platform and complementary
services, announced on Monday that it has acquired NaturalPath Media, an online
ad network for sustainable, healthy and conscious lifestyles.

Financial terms
of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to comScore, NaturalPath
reaches up to 18.4 million unique visitors per month across 200 publisher
sites, which include DrGreene.com and ScientificAmerican.com.

Six Apart said it
plans to launch "conversational marketing" programs for NaturalPath
publishers, "a unique conversational marketing solution enabling brands to
inspire and sponsor authentic conversations, as an integral part of an upcoming
online advertising campaign."

Six Apart’s TypePad, Movable Type and Vox
services reach nearly 90 million monthly unique users in the U.S.

http://www.naturalpathmedia.com