HBO Testing Streaming Film, TV Service for Subscribers
New York
– Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) HBO is preparing to launch an online streaming service for cable,
satellite and telco TV service subscribers to its pay-TV channels, The New York
Times reported. The HBO GO service has launched in beta for Comcast and Verizon
FiOS TV subscribers; HBO counts about 35 million subscribers overall.
Time
Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes recently told analysts that HBO GO "will offer
three times the content of what’s on HBO On Demand today."
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uedu1
(N.Y. Times)
Wikimedia Foundation Receives $2 Million Grant From Google
San Francisco
– The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates the Wikipedia online
encyclopedia, announced on Wednesday that it has received a $2 million grant
from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation.
The grant —
Wikimedia’s first from Google — will support investments in technical
infrastructure, and efforts to make Wikipedia easier to use and more
accessible.
Google and Wikimedia recently partnered to translate Wikipedia
content into key languages, using Google’s Translation Toolkit on pilot
projects with speakers of Arabic, Hindi and Swahili.
"Wikipedia is one of
the greatest triumphs of the internet," said Google co-founder Sergey
Brin. "This vast repository of community-generated content is an
invaluable resource to anyone who is online."
The Wikimedia Foundation
said its 2009-10 fundraiser in January also raised more than $8 million, from
240,000 individuals.
Related Links:
http://wikimediafoundation.org
Video Ad Network YuMe Lands $25 Million
Redwood City,
Calif. – YuMe, the operator of a
video advertising network, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a new $25
million round of financing, led by Menlo Ventures.
Previous investors Accel
Partners, Khosla Ventures, BV Capital and DAG Ventures also participated.
Founded in 2004, Redwood City, Calif.-based YuMe
has now raised more than $45 million in venture capital, and is now profitable.
The company’s network includes publishers such as MSNBC, IDG Entertainment and
Glam Media.
Related Links:
http://www.yume.com/blog/2010/02/17/yume-raises-25-million/
http://snipurl.com/ueda0
(N.Y.Times)
Australia's Effective Measure Gets $4 Million for Web Metrics
Melbourne,
Australia – Effective
Measure, a developer of online audience measurement technology, announced on Wednesday
that it has raised $4 million in its first round of funding, from Rho Ventures.
Australia-based Effective Measure provides its online audience measurement
services in 16 countries, in mostly emerging markets.
The company will use the
funds to expand its direct-measurement audience service and related solutions.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uecus
Verizon to Permit Skype on 3G Smartphones
Barcelona
– Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and Skype announced on Tuesday that, beginning in March,
Skype will be available on Verizon 3G smartphones. Skype users will be able to
make unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls using Verizon’s 3G data network, as well as
call international numbers at Skype’s rates, and send and receive instant
messages from other Skype users.
Related Links:
http://about.skype.com/press/2010/02/verizon.html
MySpace Real-time Data Launches on Google Search
Los Angeles
– News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace announced on Tuesday that it has launched real-time
integration on Google (NASD: GOOG), meaning that users searching on Google will now see live
updates from MySpace users in their search results. The content will include
anything MySpace users have chosen to publicly publish, including news, photos
and blog posts.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ue1f2
EMI, Australian Telco AAPT Team on Music Service
Brisbane,
Australia –
Major record label EMI’s Australian unit has partnered with AAPT, the country’s
third-largest telco, on a new music subscription service, Billboard reports. The
AAPT Entertainment Bundle combines home phone, broadband and the music service
with a fee starting at about $89 per month. The fee includes unlimited
streaming and about 30 downloads per month. Existing customers can also add the
music element to their existing bill for an extra $16 per month.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ue236
(Billboard)
Report: Apple CEO Steve Jobs Authorizes Biography
San Francisco
– Apple (NASD: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs is collaborating with former Time managing editor Walter
Isaacson on his first authorized biography, The New York Times reported.
People
briefed on the project told The Times it is still in early planning stages, but
is expected to cover Jobs’ entire life.
Isaacson has previously penned
biographies of Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.
The Times noted that Jobs has
previously reacted "angrily" to the publication of a number of
unauthorized biographies, "and in some cases has directed Apple stores to
temporarily remove other books from the same publishers from their
shelves."
Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/technology/companies/16apple.html
FCC's Broadband Goal: 100 Million Households at 100 Mbps
Washington – Looking to
establish America as a world
leader in broadband Internet adoption, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on
Tuesday unveiled his agency’s goal of 100 million U.S. households connected at
ultra-high speeds of 100 megabytes per second.
Speaking at a conference in Washington, Genachowski said that the plan, dubbed the
"100 Squared" initiative, "will set goals for the U.S. to have
the world’s largest market of very high-speed broadband users."
Google
last week unveiled plans to test an ultra high-speed Internet service that the
company said is more than 100 times faster than most broadband connections
currently offered by cable and telecom providers.
Genachowski applauded the
move, while urging others to follow suit.
"We must have broadband networks
of such unsurpassed excellence that they will empower American entrepreneurs
and innovators to build and expand businesses here in the United States," said
Genachoswki.
Related Links:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296262A1.pdf
(PDF)
