Netflix Settles With FTC Over Privacy, Cancels Contest Sequel

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Gatos,
Calif. – Online DVD rental
service Netflix (NASD:  NFLX) has settled a lawsuit related to the disclosure of customer
data for its Netflix Prize contest for developers, and announced that it will
abandon plans to host a sequel to the contest. The first contest awarded $1
million to developers who were able to improve the accuracy of Netflix’s movie
recommendations feature by 10%.

At the time the award was presented, Netflix announced
a sequel contest that would see the company provide developers with what it
said was anonymous usage data from its subscribers.

After academic research found that the company may have unwittingly disclosed the renting preferences of its users, Netflix says the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) came asking questions about how the
disclosure might affect customers’ privacy, and a class action lawsuit was
filed against the company over the matter.

"We have reached an
understanding with the FTC and have settled the lawsuit with plaintiffs. The
resolution to both matters involves certain parameters for how we use Netflix
data in any future research programs," Netflix chief product officer Neil
Hunt wrote in a post on the company’s blog.

"In light of all this, we have
decided to not pursue the Netflix Prize sequel that we announced on August 6,
2009."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uvjjd
(Netflix blog)

http://snipurl.com/uvjj4
(Forbes)

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

CrowdGather Acquires FreeForums.org for $1 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Woodland Hills,
Calif. – CrowdGather, a provider
of special interest online forums and message board communities, announced on Tuesday
that it has acquired FreeForums, a provider of free forum community hosting,
for $1 million in cash and stock.

Woodland Hills,
Calif.-based CrowdGather said that with the purchase, its network of forums
will have approximately 80 million monthly page views and 4.5 million unique
visitors.

"FreeForums.org has built up an impressive network of forums and
we believe that CrowdGather will be able to successfully monetize these
properties by integrating them into verticals that will appeal to
advertisers," said CrowdGather chairman and CEO Sanjay Sabnani.

 

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

http://www.crowdgather.com

http://www.freeforums.org

Report: Facebook Tops Google As Most-visited U.S. Site

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto, Calif.
– Facebook topped Google (NASD:  GOOG) to become the most-visited website in the U.S. last week,
according to data from audience measurement firm Hitwise. Facebook claimed
7.07% of all U.S. Internet visits last week, to Google’s 7.03%.

Hitwise notes
that the market share of visits to Facebook increased 185% last week, when
compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google were up 9% in the
same period.

Facebook has also wrested the top U.S. site ranking from Google on a
number of prior occasions, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

 

Related Links:
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1428.1336314386

FCC Delivers National Broadband Plan to Congress

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington – The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday delivered its long-awaited National
Broadband Plan to Congress, with the goal of creating a nationwide
communications network connecting more than 90% of U.S. households. Among the
highlights, the plan aims to connect 100 million households with affordable
broadband at speeds of 100 megabits per second, with 1 gigabit connections at
anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and military installations, and
free up another 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum to meet the growing demand
for mobile services.

Another aspect aims to create a nationwide wireless public
safety network for first responders.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called the
plan "a 21st century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment,
create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens and engage in our
democracy."

Currently, nearly 100 million Americans lack broadband at
home, while 14 million desire broadband but don’t have access.

 

Related Links:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296858A1.pdf
(PDF)

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296859A1.pdf
(PDF)

Report: Google Nexus One Smartphone Sales Just 135K So Far

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

San Francisco
– Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Nexus One smartphone has sold just 135,000 units in its first 74
days on sale, a time period during which Apple (NASD: AAPL) sold 1 million of its
first-generation iPhone and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) 1.05 million of its Droid handsets,
according to a report from mobile analytics firm Flurry.

The disparity
indicates that Nexus One sales so far are about one-eighth those of initial iPhone
or Droid sales.

Flurry bases its calculations on Nexus One sales by tracking
the use of mobile applications on the device; the firm says applications it is
tracking have been downloaded to over 80% of all iPhone OS and Android devices.

The Nexus One launched on T-Mobile, but was expanded to AT&T on Tuesday and
is expected to launch for Verizon Wireless as well.

"As Google and Apple
continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as
a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something
that will prove important in years to come," noted Flurry’s Peter Farago.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uvhie
(Flurry blog)

http://snipurl.com/uvhio
(All Things D)

Spring Design Taking Pre-orders for $399 Alex eReader

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Fremont,
Calif. – Spring Design on Tuesday
announced the availability of pre-orders for its $399 Alex eReader e-book
reader device from its website.

The Google (NASD: GOOG) Android-based Alex sports a color
LCD screen and six-inch EPD screen; Wi-Fi connectivity; and the ability to
access online audio and video, as well as chat and a number of Google Android
applications.

The Alex will connect to Google’s online bookstore, which
includes over one million mainly out-of-copyright titles, as well as other
bookstores that support Adobe’s digital rights management (DRM) technology.

U.S. pre-orders
are expected to ship no later than mid-April, the company said.

 

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

http://www.springdesign.com

Twitter @anywhere to Expand Service to Third-party Websites

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Austin, Texas – Twitter has introduced a new set of
frameworks, called @anywhere, that will let third-party websites implement a
similar experience to what is available on Twitter.com.

The new feature will
allow Twitter users to sign-in to the service on third-party sites, where they
will be able to monitor the 50 million tweets a day now being sent by Twitter’s
more than 600 million members.

Initial launch partners for @anywhere will
include The New York Times, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, eBay, Amazon, Digg and The
Huffington Post.

"Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist
directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and
discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo home page — and that’s
just the beginning," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the company’s
blog.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.twitter.com/2010/03/anywhere.html

Dimensional to Take The Orchard Private in $13 Million Deal

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– The Orchard (NASD:  ORCD), a digital distributor of music and video, announced on Tuesday
that it has agreed to merge with parent company Dimensional Associates, in a
$13 million deal that will take the company private once again. Dimensional, a
unit of JDS Capital, was the primary owner of The Orchard between 2003 and
2007, when the company agreed to the reverse merger with Digital Music Group
Inc. (DMGI) that made it a publicly-traded company.

Dimensional currently holds
42% of The Orchard’s shares, and has bid $2.05 for the company’s outstanding
shares — representing a 21% premium over the company’s closing stock price on
Monday.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, The Orchard will now initiate
a 30-day period to determine if there are any other interested buyers.

Dimensional
also owns digital music subscription service eMusic.

 

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

http://www.theorchard.com

Mobile Broadcast Firm RoundBox Acquires Assets of Jacked

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Florham Park,
N.J. – RoundBox, a provider of
mobile broadcast software, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the
technology and intellectual property of Jacked, a provider of real-time,
broadcast-synchronized data services.

Financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Jacked had
raised around $8 million in venture capital, from backers including Core
Capital Partners, Gabriel Venture Partners and Provenance Ventures.

The
company’s platform has been used to deliver "second screen" content
for over 9,000 NFL, NBA, NLB, NHL and NCAA sporting events.

"By
complementing broadcast video with information-rich, tightly synchronized
interactive media, information, and applications, Jacked has revolutionized the
way people will experience TV," said RoundBox co-founder and CEO Dennis
Specht.

"This acquisition will take Roundbox to the next level as the
company develops new mobile broadcast offerings and drives the next generation
of mobile entertainment and communication experiences."

 

Related Links:
http://roundbox.com/pressdetails.php?id=183&type=Press

http://www.jacked.com

Gaikai Lands Investment for Cloud-based Game Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Aliso Viejo,
Calif. – Gaikai, the developer of
a cloud-based online games service, has raised new financing from Triplepoint
Capital to lease a network of servers for its offering, VentureBeat reported.

Founded
in 2008, Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Gaikai is developing a service that will
host server-based games, which gamers can then play on-demand from their
computers’ Web browsers.

The company’s first customer is IAC’s InstantAction.

Gaikai
previously raised $5 million from Benchmark Capital.

The new financing for servers
provided by Triplepoint is expected to be released in $5 million increments.

Founder
David Perry told VentureBeat the company will likely raise a second round of
venture capital as well.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uvgl8
(VentureBeat)

http://www.gaikai.com

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