April Fools: Google Changes Name to "Topeka" for a Day

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Mountain View, Calif. – In an April Fool’s Day prank, Internet giant
Google (NASD:  GOOG) on Thursday changed its name to "Topeka"
for the day, paying homage to the Kansas
capital that changed its name to "Google" last month in a bid to lure
the company’s ultra-high-speed Internet project.

"We didn’t reach this
decision lightly… but the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s
municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of
the Great Plains," wrote Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who included a humorous
tutorial on proper Topeka
usage.

The company did, however, stress that the temporary move "will have
no bearing on which municipalities are chosen" for its broadband project.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v75z3
(Google blog)

First Product Reviews of Apple's iPad Roll In

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – With Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPad set for release on
Saturday, Wired.com posted a handy roundup of initial reviews of the device
from major publications, including The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, David
Pogue of The New York Times, and Ed Baig in USA Today. Mossberg called it
"an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple
touch interface," but noted "only time will tell if it’s a real
challenger to the laptop and netbook." Pogue said the iPad is
"infinitely more convenient for consuming [media]" than a laptop, but
"not nearly as good for creating stuff."


 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/roundup-ipad-reviews

Netflix, CBS, ABC to Offer iPad Streaming; Hulu Considering

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Netflix (NASD: NFLX) has developed an instant streaming application for Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPad,
while Hulu is considering an iPad application and networks including CBS and
ABC will stream TV shows to the device, Ars Technica reported, citing various
published reports. The Netflix app will launch on Saturday, while CBS will
offer streaming through the iPad’s Web browser and ABC is planning a dedicated
application.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76tr
(Ars Technica)

Facebook Hires Former Bebo CEO to Head European Sales

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto, Calif.
– Facebook has hired Joanna Shields, the former CEO of social network Bebo, to
run its sales and business development operations in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa. Blake Chandlee, who had previously
held that position at Facebook, will now instead oversee sales in emerging
markets in Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76rm
(PaidContent)

Guvera Launches Public Beta of U.S. Music Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Guvera on
Tuesday launched a public beta version of its ad-supported music download
service in the U.S.,
Billboard reported. The site, which launched in Australia last month, lets
consumers choose which brands to interact with in return for DRM-free
downloads, and also sells downloads for $1.59.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76x2
(Billboard)

http://www.guvera.com

Spanish P2P Developer Debuts Foofind Torrent Search Engine

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Madrid
– Pablo Soto, the developer of file-sharing applications including Blubster,
Piolet and Manolito, this week launched Foofind, a search engine that indexes
torrents and other links to media available online, TorrentFreak reported. Soto,
who is being sued by the major record labels over his peer-to-peer services,
told TorrentFreak that Foofind is legal because all it offers is a search
index, and does not host any media files itself.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v76bf
(TorrentFreak)

http://foofind.com/en

Survey: Online TV Viewers Willing to Watch More Ads

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Reston, Va. – Online TV viewers are willing to watch
between 6 and 7 minutes of ad content per hour, substantially higher than the
current 4 minutes served on average, according to a survey of 1,800 U.S. Web
users conducted by comScore.

The survey respondents were grouped into TV-only
viewers (65%), TV+online viewers (29%) and online-only viewers (6%) to analyze
viewing differences.

"While some analysts have suggested that the shift to
online video reflects a consumer desire to view fewer ads, our research
suggests that in many cases online TV viewers actually have a higher tolerance
for advertising messages than they are currently receiving," said Tania
Yuki, comScore’s director of online video and cross-platform products.

Among
those who watch TV episodes online, 71% said they do it because they missed an
episode, compared with 57% who cited convenience, and 38% who said it was
because they had to watch fewer ads.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said a
prime motivation for watching TV shows online is the ability to watch shows on
their own time.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v7617

http://www.comscore.com

Venture-Backed IPOs in First Quarter Match Total for 2009

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Eight
venture-backed U.S.
companies raised $711 million by going public during the first three months of
this year, matching the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) that occurred
in all of 2009, according to a new report by Dow Jones VentureSource.

It marked
the most active quarter for IPOs since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"After
two difficult, nearly dormant years for IPOs, venture-backed companies started
2010 with a strong showing in the public market," said Jessica Canning,
the global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

"With investors
looking to take advantage of the open IPO window and 44 U.S. venture-backed companies in
IPO registration, 2010 will be an active year as long as the public markets
continue showing interest in venture-backed offerings."

In addition, 77
companies either merged or were acquired during the period, equal to the first
quarter last year.

 

Related Links:
http://www.dowjones.com/pressroom/SMPRs/PM/1Q10USLiquidity.html

Yahoo Opens D.C. News Bureau, Hires Prominent Journalists

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– Looking to make a push into original news reporting, Internet giant Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) has
launched a news bureau in D.C., staffing it with several journalists from
prominent media outlets, The New York Times reported.

Among those hired are
Politico media writer Michael Calderone; Jane Sasseen, the former Washington
bureau chief of BusinessWeek; and Anna Robertson, an Emmy-winning news producer
from ABC’s "Good Morning America," in addition to journalists from
Washingtonpost.com and other publications.

The Times said that the original
articles and videos will complement other content that Yahoo News licenses for
the site.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/technology/31yahoo.html

http://news.yahoo.com

RealNetworks Lays Off 4% of Staff

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Seattle
– RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) this week laid off 60 employees, or about 4% of its total
workforce, as the company undergoes a restructuring and the spin-off of its
Rhapsody music service, TechFlash reported.

The layoffs came in the marketing,
human resources and finance departments associated with the Rhapsody joint
venture, as well as its video games and media software and services divisions.

RealNetworks
previously laid off 70 employees in November, and saw the departure of founder
and CEO Rob Glaser in January.

In February, it announced it would spin-off its
Rhapsody music service joint venture with Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks.  

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/v752j
(TechFlash)

http://www.realnetworks.com

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