Spotify: U.S. Launch Within 60 Days; Music Discovery Upgraded

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

London – Spotify, the ad-supported
European streaming music service, is set to launch in the U.S. in one or two month’s time, CEO Daniel Ek
said at a music conference in Los
Angeles, Billboard reported. Ek also said that the
company is adding "a few thousand" paying subscribers a day in Europe to the premium, ad-free version of its service.
The company said separately in a press release on Wednesday that it has updated
its artist discovery feature, and now includes its own "cross-referencing
data collected over millions of users listening hours to power
recommendations." Spotify’s recommendations were previously created using
tagging data provided by AllMusic.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9khg
(Billboard)

http://www.spotify.com

Sony PSP App to Stream Live Football to Arsenal Fans

By
Mark Hefflinger
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1

London
– Sony (NYSE: SNE) Computer Entertainment has released a new application that will provide
live streaming video of English Premier League football team Arsenal to PSP
handheld game devices, The Register reported. The Arsenal TV Matchday
application, set to become available for download in coming weeks, will let
fans attending games at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium watch goal replays during
matches. Video will be delivered over a secure Wi-Fi network within the
stadium.


 

Related Links:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/02/02/psp_arsenal_app/

http://www.arsenal.com

Thumbplay Signs 20 New Partners for Music Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York – Mobile entertainment distributor Thumbplay said on Wednesday
that it has signed deals with 20 new content partners that will expand the catalog
of music available on its new Thumbplay Music application. The deals with
labels and distributors including Beggars Group, Merge Records, Redeye
Distribution and Tunecore will grow the service’s catalog to more than 8
million tracks. Thumbplay already licensed the four major labels for the $9.99
per month service, which is currently still in an invitation-only beta.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9kkq

http://music.thumbplay.com

File-Sharing Raids in Sweden Net Alleged Site Owner

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Los Angeles
– Swedish authorities have conducted new raids and arrested the alleged
operator of a file-sharing hub under its new IPRED law, which authorized
greater resources to go after file-swappers, TorrentFreak reported.

Following
investigations by the local arm of record label trade group IFPI, Swedish
police raided five locations where they believed file-swappers using the Direct
Connect network resided.

IFPI Sweden said the file-swappers were each making
available between 9,000 and 17,000 music tracks.

One 28-year-old man, alleged to be the owner of the
file-sharing hub, was arrested, while others admitted to copyright infringement
offenses and saw their computer equipment confiscated.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9k98
(TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/u9kdp
(DMW previous coverage)

http://snipurl.com/u9kdh
(DMW previous coverage)

Fusion Garage Seeks Dismissal of CrunchPad Lawsuit

By
Mark Hefflinger
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1

Los Angeles
– Fusion Garage, the Singapore-based development partner of TechCrunch blogger
Michael Arrington in his "CrunchPad" tablet PC venture, has filed a
motion to dismiss Arrington’s lawsuit over the severing of their business relationship,
according to published reports.

When Fusion Garage told Arrington it planned to
release the CrunchPad itself under the name JooJoo, and sever their relationship,
Arrington responded by filing a lawsuit that alleged fraud and deceit,
misappropriation of business ideas, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair
competition.

Last week, Fusion Garage filed a motion to dismiss Arrington’s
lawsuit.

Fusion Garage CEO Chandrasekar "Chandra" Rathakrishnan told
VentureBeat that the JooJoo will be released by the end of February, adding
that "pre-orders have exceeded our expectations."

Chandra also told
VentureBeat that Fusion Garage has raised $3 million so far, but plans to
announce a new round of funding shortly.

He added that the company is currently awaiting
final approval of a deal with a manufacturer in Southeast
Asia, which will produce the devices with Fusion Garage receiving
a royalty on every JooJoo sold.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9k3p
(The Register)

http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/01/joojoo-crunchpad-tablet/

http://snipurl.com/u9k3v
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.techcrunch.com

http://www.fusiongarage.com

https://thejoojoo.com

AOL Posts $1.4M Profit in First Earnings Report Since Spin-off

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York
– In its first quarterly filing since splitting with former parent Time Warner (NYSE: TWX),
AOL (NYSE: AOL) on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 million.

That’s up from
a loss of $1.96 billion in the same quarter a year ago, when the company took a
$2.2 billion charge, and also took into account $107 million in restructuring
costs.

The news, however, wasn’t all good for the company, which continued to
hemorrhage dial-up Internet subscribers and also saw its ad revenue slip 8%.

All told, revenue fell 17% to $809.7 million.

"We have made significant
progress in support of the long-term vision we see in the future of AOL, but
today’s results continue to reflect the need for our focus and execution on the
work required in the turnaround of the company," said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s
chairman and CEO.

AOL officially spun off from Time Warner on Dec. 10.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9k0q

http://www.aol.com

College Lecture Podcast Firm Echo360 Raises Funds

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Dulles, Va. – Echo360, a provider of Internet audio and
video technology used by universities, has raised $6.8 million in an extension
of its second round of funding, which initially closed in Oct. 2008, according
to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Court Square
Ventures led the round, with SCP Partners and SoftBank Capital also
participating.

The company raised a total of $21.8 million in the round,
announcing the first $15 million in late 2008.

Echo360’s main offering helps
universities record and replay lectures from professors through podcasts, video
and rich media.

The technology was developed in partnership with the University of Western Australia.

The company initially
was born as a subsidiary of Anystream, and in 2007 acquired Lectopia, a company
providing lecture capture services in Australia
and New Zealand.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9jzv

http://www.echo360.com

Report: Global Video Game Sales Down 8% in 2009

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York – Sales of video
game software were down 8% in 2009 across the key U.S.,
U.K.
and Japanese markets, according to combined data from market research firms NPD
Group, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain. Video game software unit sales fell 2%
in Japan in 2009, 7% in the U.S. and 14% in the U.K. The firms cited the recession,
and the shrinking PlayStation 2 game software market, which declined by 57%
across the top global markets in 2009.

"While year-over-year comparisons
show declines, the industry is still boasting significant volumes that were
unseen before 2008," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier.

"The
year-end data from 2009 shows us that the number of titles entering the market
is still growing with 778 new titles released in 2009, up from the 764 in 2008."

Activision’s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was the top-selling
game of 2009 across the three territories, with 11.86 million in unit sales.

Nintendo
claimed all four of the remaining spots in the top five, with its "Wii
Sports Resort" (7.57 million); "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" (7.41
million); "Wii Fit Plus" (5.8 million); and "Wii Fit" (5.44
million).

 

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

http://www.chart-track.co.uk

http://www.enterbrain.co.jp

Twitter Scam Sought User Passwords via Torrent Sites

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

New York
– Twitter has disclosed a plot to gain access to some of its users’ passwords
and accounts, using fake BitTorrent file-sharing sites and forums, The Wall
Street Journal reported.

An unidentified person has reportedly been using the
scam for "a number of years," according to Twitter, which maintained
that the number of people affected is "very small."

This person
"waited for the forums and sites to get popular and then used those
exploits to get access to the username, email address, and password of every
person who had signed up," the company said in a note to developers, which
also included a recommendation that users change their passwords.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9jhr
(WSJ)

http://status.twitter.com/post/367671822/reason-4132-for-changing-your-password

Movie Gallery

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0
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