NearVerse Gets $1 Million for LoKast Mobile Sharing Platform

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Philadelphia
– NearVerse, a provider of mobile marketing services, said on Monday that it
secured $1 million in seed funding from Meakem Becker Venture Capital back in
the fourth quarter of 2009.

Founded last year, Philadelphia-based NearVerse
launched its LoKast application for the iPhone recently at the South by
Southwest conference.

The application lets users add music, photos, videos,
contacts and Web links to an online locker, and share their media with other
LoKast users within a 300 foot radius.

The company said it will use the funding
to further develop its software-based networking platform.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v9xg6

Buzz Watch: Black Eyed Peas' 3D Concert – The Future of the Concert Business?

1

Los Angeles – I had the
privilege to go and see the fantastic Black Eyed Peas concert live from the
Staples Center this week. Although I wasn’t in the Staples Center. I was next
door at Regal Cinemas watching a live 3D broadcast in one of their movie theaters.

 

The VIP event was supposedly
the first live concert broadcast of its kind in 3D and 2D at the same time
with partners 3ality Digital and AEG Network LIVE. In all, it was a great
experience that technically worked out almost without a glitch.

 

The following is a summary of
my feedback.

 

Positives:

 

+ The 3D concert experience provided by AEG Network LIVE and 3ality is truly
impressive and makes you feel immersed in the show

+ The cameras takes you up
and close to the stage, so you feel almost like you have the best tickets in
the house

+ The cinema sound-system
gives a good representation of what the actual concert sounds like

+ Watching the concert with a
room full of other people that clap their hands, whistle and sing along gives
you the right live concert feeling

+ The knowledge of that the
show is live and anything can happen makes it feel like a special experience

+ You don’t have to stand in
long lines to get in and out of the concert venue

+ Ticket prices of $15 is affordable,
compared to what tickets to the actual show cost

 

Negatives:

–            
The movie theatre is not
a place where you are accustomed to making noise, dancing in the aisles and clapping
your hands so it takes some time getting used to

–            
The band can’t see you
or hear you, so it naturally doesn’t feel at all as interactive as a being there for the concert

–            
The fancy light system at
the concert venue doesn’t really translate through the screen, even in 3D

–            
There is no alcohol served
in the theatre, for those of us who want to enjoy a beer, wine or cocktail as
we’re watching the show

In summary, I think that
watching a live 3D concert in a theatre is the next best thing to actually
being there. However, with today’s technology, I think that there is much more you can do much
more to make it feel truly interactive through two-way communication from the
theatres as well as adding décor and exclusive offers such as merchandising as well as, if possible, a bar…

Topeka

0

April Fools: Google Changes Name to "Topeka" for a Day

1

Mountain View, Calif. – In an April Fool’s Day prank, Internet giant
Google (NASD:  GOOG) on Thursday changed its name to "Topeka"
for the day, paying homage to the Kansas
capital that changed its name to "Google" last month in a bid to lure
the company’s ultra-high-speed Internet project.

"We didn’t reach this
decision lightly… but the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s
municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of
the Great Plains," wrote Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who included a humorous
tutorial on proper Topeka
usage.

The company did, however, stress that the temporary move "will have
no bearing on which municipalities are chosen" for its broadband project.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v75z3

(Google blog)

First Product Reviews of Apple's iPad Roll In

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San Francisco – With Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPad set for release on
Saturday, Wired.com posted a handy roundup of initial reviews of the device
from major publications, including The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, David
Pogue of The New York Times, and Ed Baig in USA Today. Mossberg called it
"an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple
touch interface," but noted "only time will tell if it’s a real
challenger to the laptop and netbook." Pogue said the iPad is
"infinitely more convenient for consuming [media]" than a laptop, but
"not nearly as good for creating stuff."


 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/roundup-ipad-reviews

Netflix, CBS, ABC to Offer iPad Streaming; Hulu Considering

0

Los Angeles
– Netflix (NASD: NFLX) has developed an instant streaming application for Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPad,
while Hulu is considering an iPad application and networks including CBS and
ABC will stream TV shows to the device, Ars Technica reported, citing various
published reports. The Netflix app will launch on Saturday, while CBS will
offer streaming through the iPad’s Web browser and ABC is planning a dedicated
application.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76tr

(Ars Technica)

Facebook Hires Former Bebo CEO to Head European Sales

0

Palo Alto, Calif.
Facebook has hired Joanna Shields, the former CEO of social network Bebo, to
run its sales and business development operations in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa. Blake Chandlee, who had previously
held that position at Facebook, will now instead oversee sales in emerging
markets in Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76rm

(PaidContent)

Guvera Launches Public Beta of U.S. Music Service

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Los Angeles – Guvera on
Tuesday launched a public beta version of its ad-supported music download
service in the U.S.,
Billboard reported. The site, which launched in Australia last month, lets
consumers choose which brands to interact with in return for DRM-free
downloads, and also sells downloads for $1.59.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76x2

(Billboard)

http://www.guvera.com

Spanish P2P Developer Debuts Foofind Torrent Search Engine

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Madrid
Pablo Soto, the developer of file-sharing applications including Blubster,
Piolet and Manolito, this week launched Foofind, a search engine that indexes
torrents and other links to media available online, TorrentFreak reported. Soto,
who is being sued by the major record labels over his peer-to-peer services,
told TorrentFreak that Foofind is legal because all it offers is a search
index, and does not host any media files itself.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76bf

(TorrentFreak)

http://foofind.com/en

Survey: Online TV Viewers Willing to Watch More Ads

0

Reston, Va. – Online TV viewers are willing to watch
between 6 and 7 minutes of ad content per hour, substantially higher than the
current 4 minutes served on average, according to a survey of 1,800 U.S. Web
users conducted by comScore.

The survey respondents were grouped into TV-only
viewers (65%), TV+online viewers (29%) and online-only viewers (6%) to analyze
viewing differences.

"While some analysts have suggested that the shift to
online video reflects a consumer desire to view fewer ads, our research
suggests that in many cases online TV viewers actually have a higher tolerance
for advertising messages than they are currently receiving," said Tania
Yuki, comScore’s director of online video and cross-platform products.

Among
those who watch TV episodes online, 71% said they do it because they missed an
episode, compared with 57% who cited convenience, and 38% who said it was
because they had to watch fewer ads.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said a
prime motivation for watching TV shows online is the ability to watch shows on
their own time.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v7617

http://www.comscore.com