Ning CEO Bianchini Exits; Joins VC Firm Andreessen Horowitz

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Palo Alto,
Calif. – Ning, a niche social
network creation platform, announced on Monday that co-founder and CEO Gina
Bianchini has stepped down to become an executive in residence at venture
capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Fellow Ning co-founder Marc Andreessen made
the announcement on the company’s blog. Ning chief operating officer Jason
Rosenthal will become the company’s new CEO. Ning counts 45 million registered
users across its 2.3 million user-created social networks.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uuwt1
(Ning blog)

http://www.ning.com

Apple iPad Battery Replacement Includes Replacement iPad

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Cupertino,
Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) will charge
consumers about $100 to replace the battery in its forthcoming iPad tablet
computer, but instead of replacing the battery they will receive an entirely
new unit. The iPad is slated to begin selling on April 3.


 

Related Links:
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/service/battery/

Rhapsody to Add Mobile Song Caching to iPhone App

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Austin
– RealNetworks’ (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody music subscription service plans to add the ability
for iPhone users to cache songs to their phones for listening when a cellular
or Wi-Fi connection is not available. A demo video of the application indicates
that Rhapsody developers have already submitted an updated version of the app with
caching functionality to Apple for approval.


 

Related Links:
http://www.rhapsody.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-wva60DptI

USA Today to Be Sold at Starbucks Locations

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

McLean, Va. – Hoping to boost lagging circulation, Gannett’s (NYSE: GCI)
USA Today said on Monday that it has struck a deal to begin selling its daily
editions at approximately 6,500 company-owned Starbucks locations. The coffee
company now will sell USA Today, in addition to The New York Times and local
newspapers. The paper had an average daily circulation of about 1.9 million for
the six months ending Sept. 30, down 17% from the prior period.


 

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

Fandango Pilots Mobile Barcode Advance Movie Ticket Sales

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Las Vegas – Fandango, a
provider of online movie showtimes and advance ticket sales, on Monday launched
a new mobile ticket program in eight U.S. markets. The program will
allow moviegoers to purchase tickets from their phones, and present a mobile
barcode to theater ticket-takers to gain entry. Fandango said the program will
first be offered to more than 100 screens in the Reading Cinemas circuit.


 

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

http://www.fandango.com

Spanish Court Declares P2P Link Sites, File-sharing Legal

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Madrid
– A Spanish court has upheld its previous finding that a site aggregating links
to downloads on file-sharing networks does not infringe copyrights,
TorrentFreak reported.

The judge in the case previously rejected Spanish
copyright society SGAE’s petition to shutter ElRincondeJesus.com as an
injunction before the trial started.

Judge Raul N. García Orejudo ruled that
providing links is not the same as distribution of media, and noted that the
site does not derive direct or indirect profits — and is therefore not a
business.

However, the judge went even further, and commented directly on the
legality of file-sharing by individuals.

"P2P networks are mere conduits
for the transmission of data between Internet users, and on this basis they do
not infringe rights protected by Intellectual Property laws," Orejudo said
in the ruling.

"Therefore, if an individual uses P2P networks like eDonkey
or BitTorrent to obtain copyright material for non-profit reasons, the act is
completely legal."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uuwj6
(TorrentFreak)

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/03/13/navegante/1268472778.html

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

http://www.elrincondejesus.com

Survey: 19% of Online News Consumers Willing to Pay

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington – Of the
estimated six in ten Americans who read news online, only 19% said they would
be willing to pay for news online, while 82% said they would look elsewhere if
news sites they used asked for payment, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research
Center’s Project for Excellence
in Journalism.

Just 35% of those polled said they have a "favorite"
news site, and 7% of these news consumers indicated they would pay for news
online.

Currently, only a handful of mainstream news websites, including those
of The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, require users to pay
subscription fees to access all content.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uuvdq
(Pew report)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100315/ap_on_hi_te/us_state_of_news

China Tells Google Partners to Prepare for Search Engine Exit

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Beijing
– Chinese authorities have begun informing companies using Google’s (NASD:  GOOG) search
services in the country that, despite Google’s stated intention to stop
censoring its search results, they must still comply with the country’s
censorship laws, The New York Times reported. Since a hacker attack on Google’s
Gmail service that originated out of China, Google announced it would no
longer self-censor its search results for Chinese users — as mandated by the
Chinese government.

The company has also said it may choose to completely exit
the country — or at least the Chinese search market — of which it currently
controls nearly 30%.

Many Chinese websites currently rely on Google to provide
search functionality, including popular Web portals Sina.com and Ganji.com.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Google has "drawn up detailed
plans" to close its Chinese search engine and is now "99.9 per
cent" certain it will go ahead with them.

A source told FT that senior
Google executives are "adamant" about ending search censorship in China,
and that the company has ruled out handing over control, or the entire business,
to a local partner.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15google.html

http://snipurl.com/uuv3s
(Financial Times)

Sirius XM Raises $800M in Notes Offering; Will Pay Off Debt

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– Satellite radio firm Sirius XM (NASD: SIRI) said that it has raised $800 million though an
offering of senior notes, due in 2015.

The company said that it will use the
proceeds to redeem notes due in 2013, as well as prepay borrowings under its
term loan that matures in 2012.

Liberty Media (NASD: LINTA), which last year acquired a 40%
stake in Sirius XM, planned to purchase $150 million of the notes.

The company
raised the size of the offering, which originally was expected to net $550
million.

 

Related Links:
http://investor.sirius.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=451664

http://www.sirius.com

Report: KKR, Warner Music in Talks on Bid for EMI

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London – Private equity firm KKR is in discussions with major record
label Warner Music Group (NYSE:  WMG) on a bid to acquire struggling fellow major label EMI,
the Times Online reported. The Times noted that KKR is already a partner in a
music publishing joint venture with Bertelsmann, and is likely interested in
EMI Music Publishing, while Warner has its eyes on EMI’s recorded music
division.

EMI parent company Terra Firma is currently seeking another $180
million from investors to prevent lender Citigroup from taking over EMI —
which last week announced the departure of CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti.

Terra Firm
acquired EMI for about $4.8 billion in 2007, in a deal financed through loans
from Citigroup.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uuuo2
(Times Online)

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