Yelp Hit With 3rd Class Action Over Alleged Extortion

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Yelp, the provider of local restaurant and business reviews, is now the
target of a third class action lawsuit related to charges it altered the reviews
of businesses who declined to purchase advertising on Yelp.com.

The new suit,
filed by the owner of Renaissance Furniture Restoration in San Francisco, charges
that Yelp’s reviews are not "unbiased" as the company claims, since several
positive reviews were allegedly removed after it declined an ad sales pitch from
Yelp.

The two previous class action suits filed against Yelp make largely
similar claims, and today nine small businesses joined the list of plaintiffs
in one of the other suits.

Yelp co-founder and CEO wrote on the company’s blog that the lawsuits "are
borne from a lack of understanding of how Yelp works to provide customers with
useful information about local businesses and protect users from fake, or
shill, reviews."

He adds that the company "will fight [the lawsuits]
aggressively and we believe we will win."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw82x
(TechCrunch)

http://snipurl.com/uw9vs
(Yelp blog)

http://yelpclassaction.wordpress.com

http://snipurl.com/uw7r7
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.yelp.com

Report: Mobile Apps to Outsell CDs by 2012

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Mateo, Calif.
– Mobile apps will outsell CDs by 2012, according to a new study conducted by
Chetan Sharma Consulting on behalf of mobile applications download service GetJar.

The study predicts that app downloads will increase from current annual levels
of more than 7 billion to nearly 50 billion by 2012, when their revenue of
$17.5 billion would eclipse that of CDs ($13.8 billion).

"With the
consumer appetite for mobile apps rocketing, the opportunities for developers
are huge," sad Ilja Laurs, the CEO of GetJar.

The number of app stores
also increased from eight to 38 last year — a trend Laurs believes soon will
be reversed.

"There is no way that this many app stores will survive in
the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be
astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this
revenue," he said.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw8pw

http://www.chetansharma.com

AOL Launches Cooking Site KitchenDaily

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Looking to further expand the reach of its lifestyle content, AOL (NYSE: AOL) on
Wednesday launched a new food web site called KitchenDaily.

The site, targeting
home cooks, features a database that includes thousands of recipes tested by
chefs, food magazines and cookbook publishers, as well as brands such as Campbell’s.

"KitchenDaily is designed to help busy home cooks, moms in particular,
make smart, informed decisions about food and cooking while also helping to
instill confidence in their abilities in the kitchen," said Stephanie
Dolgins, the senior vice president of AOL Women’s and Lifestyle Group.

Cheryl
Brown, formerly of Gourmet magazine and Wondertime magazine, will serve as
editor-in-chief, and Megan Steintrager, formerly of Epicurious.com, will be
senior editor.

The site also features more than 250 original videos from expert
chefs and the Culinary Institute of America.

 

Related Links:
http://corp.aol.com/press-releases/2010/03/aol-launches-kitchendailycom

http://www.kitchendaily.com

LucidLogix Raises $8 Million for Game Graphics Chips

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Santa Clara,
Calif. – LucidLogix Technologies,
an Israeli developer of processors designed to improve visual computing in
business and gaming applications, said on Wednesday that it has landed $8
million in new funding from previous backers Rho Ventures, Giza Venture Capital
and Genesis Partners.

The company now has raised $40 million since its
inception.

It plans to use the latest funds to enhance sales support,
accelerate market penetration of current products and expand research and
development activities.

Lucid targets its graphics technology to motherboards
and add-in boards for desktops and mobile platforms.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw8na
(PDF)

http://www.lucidlogix.com

Liberty Ends Talks on Possible Deal for WorldSpace

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Silver Spring,
Md. – Liberty Satellite Radio, a
unit of John Malone’s Liberty Media (NASD: LINTA), said on Wednesday that it has called off
talks regarding a possible "transaction" with
WorldSpace, leaving the international satellite radio provider in financial
limbo.

Liberty, which has been providing
WorldSpace with debtor-in-possession financing since the company filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2008, had been expected to combine the struggling
company with Sirius XM, in which Liberty
also holds a significant stake.

"WorldSpace is awaiting information from Liberty as to its expectations as WorldSpace’s secured
lender with respect to the handling of Liberty’s
collateral," the company said in a statement.

"In the interim,
WorldSpace is planning for a potential de-commissioning of its satellites and
reviewing its strategic alternatives in light of the termination of
negotiations."

WorldSpace counts the bulk of its subscribers in Asia and Africa.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw6rn

http://www.1worldspace.com

Movies On Demand

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Studios, Cable Co.'s Launch $30M Movies on Demand Promotion

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles – The major Hollywood studios and cable TV providers have partnered
on a $30 million national TV, print and online marketing campaign to promote
movies on demand services. The campaign, entitled "The Video Store Just
Moved In," will include a dedicated website at CableVideoStore.com.

Over
the next three months, the campaign intends to highlight a variety of recent
release titles available on demand on the same day as their DVD release dates.

The group notes that distributor In Demand has seen a seven-fold increase in
the number of available day-and-date titles over the past two years.

Members of the group include cable providers Armstrong, Bend
Broadband, Bright House Networks, iO TV, Comcast (NASD:  CMCSA), Cox, Insight and Time Warner
Cable (NYSE:  TWC).

Studio partners include 20th Century Fox (NYSE:  NWS), Focus Features, Lionsgate (NYSE:  LGF),
Rogue, Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE:  SNE), Summit Entertainment, Universal Pictures
and Warner Bros Entertainment (NYSE:  TWX).

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw74q

http://www.cablevideostore.com

Classmates.com to Pay $9.5 Million to Settle Class Action

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Diego
– Online social network Classmates.com has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to
settle a class action lawsuit over claims of false advertising related to its
upgrade pitch to users.

Anthony Michaels claimed in the suit that, when he paid
$15 to upgrade to a Gold Membership and find out which former classmates had
"tried to contact him" — as the Classmates ad in question stated —
"no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his
profile."

While denying any wrongdoing, Classmates.com agreed to pay up to
$9.5 million to the more than 3 million Classmates members who upgraded after
seeing the marketing pitch, in the form of $3 in cash each or a $2 discount on
membership.

The company also agreed to changed the way it describes its
Guestbook feature, to indicate that people viewing a user’s profile on
Classmates are not necessarily former classmates.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw6sv
(Wired.com)

http://snipurl.com/uw6ub
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.classmates.com

Blockbuster Signals Possible Bankruptcy; Shares Plummet

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Dallas
– Video rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) saw its shares plummet over 30% on Wednesday,
after the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it may have to file for
bankruptcy protections.

"The increasingly competitive industry conditions
under which we operate has negatively impacted our results of operations and
cash flows and may continue to in the future. These factors raise substantial
doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern," the company said.

Blockbuster has already shuttered some 1,300 stores, and is looking to close
additional locations, as well as sell off some of its international businesses
to help reduce its debt, the Associated Press noted.

 

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100316/bbi10-k.html

http://snipurl.com/uw64x
(AP)

http://www.blockbuster.com

Playdom Invests $5 Million in Argentina's MetroGames

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – Playdom, a
publisher of social games that recently raised $43 million in financing, has
invested $5 million in the first round of funding for MetroGames, a developer
of social games based in Argentina.

MetroGames counts more than 30 games across Facebook and its own website.

The
company will use the funds to expand its pipeline of game development, and to
further develop its Metrogames.com site.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uw5tb

http://www.playdom.com

http://www.metrogames.com

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