CardStar Lands $1 Million for Mobile Coupons, Loyalty Cards

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

McLean, Va. – CardStar, a developer of mobile apps
focused on loyalty cards and mobile coupons, has raised $1 million in new
funding, led by Amplifier Ventures.

Acta Wireless and LaunchCapital also
participated in the investment round.

Connecticut-based CardStar was launched
with seed funding from Amplifier Ventures’ Business Accelerator Program last
year.

The company currently offers an iPhone application that aggregates a
user’s various loyalty rewards points in a single location, and plans to use
the new funds to expand to the Android and BlackBerry platforms.

 

Related Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20100328/bs_prweb/prweb3797364_1

http://www.mycardstar.com

Research in Motion Acquires BlackBerry App Maker Viigo

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Toronto,
Canada –
BlackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM) (NASD: RIMM) has acquired Viigo, the
provider of a platform for developing BlackBerry applications, according to a
note on Viigo’s website.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2004, Toronto-based Viigo offers its own multi-faceted application
for the BlackBerry platform, in addition to tools that make it easier for
developers to create BlackBerry applications.

"Our team has joined RIM’s
global organization and will continue to bring our expertise in BlackBerry
application development and real-time content delivery to the BlackBerry
platform," CEO Mark Ruddock wrote on the company’s website.

 

Related Links:
http://bulletins.viigo.com/2010/03/26/breaking-news-viigo-joins-rim/

http://www.rim.net

Quora Raises $11 Million for Web Q&A Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto,
Calif. – Quora, the operator of a
Web question-and-answer service, has raised $11 million in its first round of
funding, led by Benchmark Capital, TechCrunch reported.

The round, which
additional investors may join, valued the company at $86 million, according to
TechCrunch’s sources.

Founded in 2008, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Quora launched
its service in private beta in January.

The service has since become "one
of the hottest private beta tickets in town," according to TechCrunch’s
Michael Arrington, who notes that the "signal to noise ratio is extremely
high" in terms of the discussions on Quora.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v5a3k
(TechCrunch)

http://www.quora.com

U.K. News Corp. Paper The Times Going Behind Paywall

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) News International U.K. unit announced on Friday that it plans in
June to place the websites of its The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers
behind a paywall, and charge £1 ($1.49) for a day’s access or £2 ($2.98) for a
week’s subscription. Visitors will get a free trial before being asked to pony
up, while print subscribers will gain access to the sites at no added charge.


 

Related Links:
http://www.newscorp.com/news/bunews_158.html

http://www.thetimes.co.uk

YouTube to Alter Comments System, Improve Video Ratings

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Bruno,
Calif. – Google’s (NASD: GOOG) YouTube this
week announced some changes to the commenting system on its site, which
NewTeeVee noted "trends toward attracting the lowest common
denominator" of public discourse. YouTube’s new "highlights view" o
comments focuses on top-rated comments, those submitted by the uploader of the
video, video responses and most-recent comments. The company will also begin informing
users how many people have "liked" or "disliked" a
particular video, and providing users with a list of "Videos I
Liked."


 
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v3781
(YouTube blog)

http://snipurl.com/v3775
(NewTeeVee)

Sony/ATV Taps Zazzle for 'Lyrical Inspirations' Merchandise

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Redwood City,
Calif. – Sony/ATV Music
Publishing has partnered with on-demand merchandise manufacturer and
distributor Zazzle to let artists and fans customize t-shirts and other
products with song lyrics. The Lyrical Inspirations Fan Merch initiative is
part of Zazzle’s Artistprojekt brand, and at launch designs featuring lyrics
from the Beatles, Madonna and Elvis are available from artists including Luca
Ionescu, Andy Howell and Ginger Che.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v37ha

http://www.sonyatv.com

http://www.zazzle.com/sonyatv

China Issues Strict Media Rules on Covering Google Story

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington – In the wake of
Google’s (NASD:  GOOG) decision this week to stop censoring search results in China, the
Chinese government has issued a draconian set of guidelines on how media
outlets in the country must cover the matter, which were first published by
China Digital Times and subsequently republished by The Washington Post. The
rules stipulate that media must use content and talking points about the
controversy from the central government’s media site, and may not "report
Google’s information/press releases." "Related reports need to put
[our story/perspective/information] in the center, do not provide materials for
Google to attack relevant policies of our country."

The rules also order
media sites not to produce topic pages, discussion sessions or engage in
investigative reporting into Google’s move.

Sites must also monitor their
comments sections, as well as "’clean up’ text, images and sound and
videos which support Google, dedicate flowers to Google, ask Google to stay,
cheer for Google and others have a different tune from government policy."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v3675
(Washington Post)

http://snipurl.com/v366c
(China Digital Times)

Report: RapidShare Seeking Legal Download Talks With Studios

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– RapidShare, the online file-hosting service that has come under fire from
copyright holders for hosting unauthorized content, has sought negotiations
with media company executives on distributing licensed content through the
service, TorrentFreak reported.

Communications obtained by TorrentFreak,
purportedly from RapidShare general manager Bobby Chang to unnamed parties, outline
the company’s recent efforts to terminate the accounts of people uploading
copyrighted content, and to focus on distributing authorized content.

One
tactic the company pitched was to direct users trying to download unauthorized
files to legal downloads of the content.

"If a user finds out that several
attempts to download an illegal copy of a DVD are in vain, and if his several
attempts to ‘steal’ this DVD have just brought him to an online-store, he may
finally be frustrated and willing to purchase a licensed version of this
movie," Chang wrote.

RapidShare partnered with Warner Bros. last year to
launch RapidMovies, a site that currently offers promotional content but is
envisioned as a legal content store.

"We are willing to invest
substantially into this online store and I would be glad to not just talk about
RapidShare as a threat for the entertainment industry, but also about
RapidShare as an interesting option to sell your products," Chang added.

"My company does have several million users per day. I am sure, that quite
a significant proportion of these users may be willing to buy your companies’
movies."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v35rw
(TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/v360o
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.rapidshare.com

Lionsgate Urges Shareholders to Adopt Poison Pill on Icahn Bid

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Vancouver,
Canada – In a
letter to shareholders sent on Friday, Canadian film studio Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) urged shareholders to adopt a "poison pill" as a means of deflecting activist investor Carl Icahn’s hostile takeover bid for the
company, to be voted on in a special shareholders’ meeting on May 4.

At the
meeting, shareholders will be asked by the company’s board to approve a
"poison pill" shareholder rights plan, meant to discourage takeover
bids like Icahn’s by potentially diluting the resulting ownership stake.

Lionsgate
reiterated that it believes Icahn’s offer of $6 per share offer is
"financially inadequate and coercive and is not in the best interests of
Lionsgate, its shareholders and other stakeholders."

The company also touted
its financial and market performance in recent years, and cautioned that Icahn’s
investor group "lacks industry experience and its ambition to run
operations could harm Lionsgate and the value of your investment."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v358z

http://snipurl.com/v358k
(AP)

http://www.lionsgate.com

Report: Project Playlist Seeking Funding, Spoke to AOL

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto,
Calif. – Project Playlist, a
social music site that lets users create and share song playlists, is in talks
with potential investors including AOL (NYSE: AOL) about providing additional backing to
the company, CNET reported, citing multiple sources.

The Palo
Alto, Calif.-based company has raised more than $23 million in
financing to date.

The company was sued by two of the four major record labels
for copyright infringement, while it has secured licensed from Sony Music and
EMI.

Former CEO Owen van Natta left Facebook to helm the company, but left
after only five months to take the job as CEO of MySpace.

"Unfortunately
we cannot offer any comments about any potential fund-raising. If we have any
news to announce in the near future I will let you know," Project Playlist
founder Jeremy Rimber told CNET.

 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20001262-261.html

http://www.playlist.com

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