Aussie Man to Pay Nintendo $1.3M for Pirating Wii Mario Game

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Sydney
– An Australian man has agreed to pay Nintendo $1.3 million in damages and
reimburse $87,000 in legal costs, as part of a settlement reached after he was
taken to court or allegedly uploading a copy of "New Super Mario Bros.
Wii" to the Internet, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The man uploaded
the game to the Internet before it became available for purchase in Australia, the
report said.

Nintendo sued 24-year-old James Burt for copyright infringement,
and was granted access to his computers, as well as emails and access to social
networking accounts.

"Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise
our industry by using all means available to it under the law," the
company said in a statement.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ubj4d
(Sydney Morning Herald)

TiVo: Super Bowl More Engaging than Ads; Doritos is Top Spot

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Alviso, Calif. – TiVo (NASD: TIVO) reports that the top five
moments during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast that users of its digital video
recorders rewound to watch again were all from the game itself, as opposed to
the commercials.

The fourth quarter interception returned for a touchdown by
the Saints was the most-rewound moment of the entire broadcast, according to
TiVo.

Among the ads, the user-generated Doritos "House Rules" spot
was the most-rewound, followed by "You’re Not You When You’re Hungry"
from Snickers, and the Tim Tebow Focus on the Family ad.

The company noted that
the bit with David Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey was not included in
its commercial category, but would have been the second most-rewound if it had
been.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ubj17

http://snipurl.com/ubj0s
(Hollywood Reporter)

Foreign Market Sales Boost Warner Music Group Results

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE:  WMG) reports that revenue from its fiscal
first quarter, ended in December, was up 3% to $918 million, although the
company posted a net loss for the quarter of $17 million. Foreign sales were up
12.7%, helping to defray sales that were down by 9.5% in the U.S., making
for an overall 3.4% increase in income.

International markets also helped boost
digital income for Warner, which was up 10.3% in the quarter; digital now makes
up 22% of global sales, and 34.7% of U.S. sales.

Revenue from digital
music sales was up 8% in the quarter, to $184 million, compared to a year ago
— although were flat compared to the previous quarter.

"U.S. results were tempered by
continued general economic pressures and the transition from physical sales to
digital sales in the recorded music industry," the company said.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ubiq2

http://snipurl.com/ubiq7
(PaidContent)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6182AN20100209

http://www.wmg.com

Yahoo Hires Universal Music's Bronikowski to Head Music Unit

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

New York
– Yahoo has hired senior Universal Music Group executive Jeff Bronikowski to
head Yahoo Music, Billboard reported.

Bronikowski was most recently senior
vice president of digital initiatives at Universal Music.

He will replace Michael
Spiegelman, who has headed Yahoo Music since early 2008, but will now head
product development for Yahoo’s (NASD: YHOO) entire entertainment unit.

"I feel like
Yahoo, while certainly it has declined a bit from its prominence as the No. 1
music destination, I think there are tremendous assets there and Yahoo is
committed to making it a premier music destination again," Bronikowski
told Billboard.

"Given the assets Yahoo has in terms of traffic,
advertising sales, scaleable product development resources, I was excited about
the opportunity."

 

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

http://new.music.yahoo.com

Business Publisher Penton Media Files for Bankruptcy

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Penton Media, a publisher of business magazines, announced on Tuesday that it
has filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protections, hoping to restructure its $270
million of debt.

Penton added that certain shareholders have agreed to make a
"significant new investment" in the company — which is expected to
continue normal print and digital publishing operations during the bankruptcy
proceedings.

Penton maintains that there will be no management changes or
change in control of the company, which publishes titles including Broadcast Engineering,
Remix, Modern Baking and Air Transport World.

"This restructuring will
allow us to achieve a debt level that is more sustainable in the current
economic environment," said Penton CEO Sharon Rowlands.

"With a
strengthened capital structure, we will be better positioned to fully leverage
our operations, which have been and continue to be profitable."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ubig1

http://www.penton.com/restructuring

Yale Gets $4 Million to Develop HIV Prevention Video Game

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New Haven, Conn.
– Yale University has received a $3.9 million
grant to develop a video game designed to teach young people how to avoid being
infected with HIV, GamePolitics reported.

The research grant was provided by
the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, and will be paid out over five years to fund work by Yale School
of Medicine assistant professor Dr. Lynn Fiellin.

The
"Retro-Warriors" game will be developed with input from adolescents
as well as experts in "positive youth development, social cognitive
therapy, artificial intelligence development and commercial game design."

The game’s efficacy will also be tested in an actual clinical trial.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ubic4
(GamePolitics)

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=6913

http://www.nichd.nih.gov

Fotomoto Raises Funding for Self-service Photo Monetization

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Fotomoto, a service that lets photographers monetize their photos through
contacts with Web publishers, has raised $623,000 in funding.

Investors in the company include Amidzad Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BookRenter CEO
Mehdi Maghsoodnia and SGN founder Shervin Pishevar, TechCrunch reported.

Launched
in May 2009, San Francisco-based Fotomoto now counts 2,800 website publishing
partners, including Mirror.co.uk, and features over 610,000 photos.

 

Related Links:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/09/fotomoto

http://www.fotomoto.com

iFollo.com Gets $1 Million for User-Submitted Celebrity Sightings

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Park City,
Utah – iFollo.com, a site that
lets users share stories of encounters with celebrities and public figures,
announced on Tuesday that it has raised $1 million from investor Robert S.
Trump.

Launched in late 2009, Park City, Utah-based iFollo.com relies on
user-generated content to populate its site.

Users can post photos of their
brushes with celebrity, as well as rate the subjects of their encounter on
qualities such as "friendly," "hot," "smart,"
"grounded," or "arrogant."

The site is somewhat similar in
scope to Gawker Media’s "Stalker" feature, though iFollo.com allows
users to elaborate more and create a narrative around their encounters.

Trump’s
other ventures include game development studio ZeniMax Media.

 

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

http://www.ifollo.com

MySpace Music Testing Audio Ads

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles
– MySpace Music, the joint venture between the News Corp.-owned (NYSE: NWS) social network
and the major record labels, is testing 30-second audio ads that users must
listen to before they can access free song streams, the Associated Press
reported. The ads "are timed so that a user can listen to up to 100 songs
on a playlist or to a full album with just a single interruption after the
first song," AP reports. The company is working with TargetSpot to sell
the audio ads.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ub4ht
(AP)

EA to Release Version of "Madden NFL" on Facebook

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Video game publisher Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) plans to bring a version of its popular
"Madden NFL" football game franchise to Facebook, Bloomberg reports.
"We have to make ‘Madden’ more accessible," EA Sports president Peter
Moore told Bloomberg. "You’ll see us on Facebook going forward." Moore called the Facebook
version of the game, which does not yet have a release date, a "simpler
experience" than playing on a console.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ub2yw
(Bloomberg)

http://maddennfl.easports.com

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