Amid Controversy, Google Delays Cell Phone Debuts in China

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Beijing – Google (NASD:  GOOG) has
postponed the planned launch of several new Android-based mobile phones in China, the
latest move in the aftermath of a China-based attack on its Gmail service,
according to published reports. Since the attack on the Gmail accounts of
Chinese human rights activists, and some journalists, Google has said it is
considering exiting China
completely.

The company has stopped censoring search results in China — which
it, along with Yahoo and other search engines, have done to satisfy demands from
the Chinese government.

Now, Google has delayed the release of two cell phones
from Motorola and Samsung — which utilize the company’s Android mobile
operating system — that were scheduled for deployment this week by China Unicom.

The Associated Press reports that Google is in talks with the Chinese
government, and that the outcome of those talks over the next few weeks could
determine whether the two cell phones are released in China.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4ovt
(AP)

Microsoft, ESPN in Talks on Live Sports Streaming to Xbox 360

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
3

New York
– Microsoft (NASD:  MSFT) has held "in-depth" talks with Disney-owned
(NYSE:  DIS)
ESPN on the
possibility of streaming live sporting events to its Xbox 360 video game
console, The New York Times reported.

The deal would reportedly see ESPN charge
Microsoft a per-subscriber fee for access to the live streams and other
content, which may include some interactive games, people close to the talks
told The Times.

To date, Microsoft has sold over 39 million Xbox 360 consoles,
around 20 million of whom also use the Xbox Live online service each month to
play games online, as well as watch a growing stable of movies, TV episodes and
Web videos.

The Times noted that Xbox Live’s average of more than 1 million
concurrent users, rising to as high as 2.2 million at peak periods — rivals
ratings on cable channels like Cartoon Network or TBS — but cautioned that
many on Xbox Live are playing games, not watching video.

One of The Times’
sources noted that a deal between Microsoft and Disney "was not
imminent."

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/business/media/19xbox.html

Report: 44% of Google News Users Don't Click to Full Stories

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Burlingame,
Calif. – Forty-four percent of
visitors to Google News are there simply to scan the headlines, and do not
click through to original stories on partner publishers’ websites, according to
a report from market research firm Outsell.

The firm surveyed 2,787 U.S. news
consumers, including "power news users" who consult news sources at
least twice a day.

It found that 57% of news users go to digital sources for
"news right now," up from 33% a few years ago.

They are likelier to
visit a news aggregation site (31%) than a newspaper site (8%) or other site
(18%).

PaidContent notes that Outsell also asserts that publishers
should be deriving greater payments from Google (NASD:  GOOG) for use of their news reporting
on Google News.

For its part, Google maintains that Google News generates
billions of hits monthly for newspaper websites.

"We show just enough for
users to identify the stories they’re interested in — a headline, a short snippet
and a link to the publisher’s site — and we direct users to those news sites
to read the stories," a Google spokesman told PaidContent.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4o7y

http://snipurl.com/u4odk
(PaidContent)

Apple Sets Jan. 27 Product Launch Event; Tablet Expected

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Cupertino,
Calif. – Apple (NASD:  AAPL) has invited the
media to a product release event on Jan. 27, which the media has been
speculating for months will see the unveiling of the company’s rumored tablet
PC. "Come see our latest creation," reads the invite from Apple to
the event, to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.

The
consensus seems to be that Apple will begin shipping the device in March.

Meanwhile,
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation,
that Apple is in talks with publisher HarperCollins to make e-books available
on a forthcoming tablet device.

CNET cited a new report from Deloitte that
predicts "tens of millions of people" will buy a tablet computer in
2010.

"While it is difficult to forecast sales of devices whose specifications
are unknown, some analysts estimate 12-month sales from launch of over one
billion dollars," Deloitte said. "This is larger than global sales of
personal navigation devices."

 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/apple-special-event

http://snipurl.com/u4nyv
(WSJ)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10436822-17.html

http://snipurl.com/u4o2d
(Deloitte)

Red Cross

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Text Messaging Provides Boon to Red Cross Haiti Relief

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Washington – Text-message
donations are playing a larger-than-expected role in the push for earthquake
relief in Haiti,
The New York Times Reported. As of late Sunday, the American Red Cross said
that it had collected pledges of about $103 million, including $22 million
through a program in which cell phone users can donate $10 by texting
"90999."

"I need a better word than ‘unprecedented’ or ‘amazing’
to describe what’s happened with the text-message program," Red Cross
spokesman Roger Lowe told the paper.

Lowe said that the National Football
League (NFL) greatly aided the effort over the weekend by promoting the texting
program during its playoff broadcasts.

Spearheaded by the State Department, in
conjunction with Colorado-based mobile technology firm mGive, the effort raised
$5 million in its first day, breaking the previous one-day record of about
$450,000, according to The Washington Post.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/us/19charity.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/01/a_record_22_million_has.html

http://www.redcross.org

Image Space Media Secures $2.9 Million for "In-Picture" Ads

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

New York – Image Space Media, a provider of
"in-picture" online advertising that displays an overlay ad when a
user mouses over an online image, has raised $2.9 million in first round
funding, PaidContent reported.

The round was led by New Atlantic Ventures.

Founded in 2008,
New York-based Image Space says it uses a keyword matching algorithm to help
ensure the ads are precisely targeted and relevant.

The company added that the service is
currently employed on over 7.5 million Web images.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4nt3

http://imagespacemedia.com

Time Inc. Buys StyleFeeder Shopping Engine for InStyle.com

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Time Warner’s (NYSE:  TWX) Time Inc. announced on Tuesday that it has acquired personal
shopping engine StyleFeeder, which will be incorporated into its InStyle family
of brands.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

StyleFeeder
"uses pattern recognition technology and its members’ style preferences to
make recommendations for clothing, shoes and accessories from thousands of online
retailers."

The service counts over 1 million registered members and more
than 600,000 monthly unique visitors.

The company’s funders included Highland
Capital Partners and Schooner Capital.

The StyleFeeder service will be added to
InStyle.com, which counts 1.5 million monthly visitors.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4nrp

http://www.instyle.com

http://www.stylefeeder.com

Sway Raises $1.2 Million for Shoutlet Social Media Platform

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Madison, Wisc. – Sway, the developer of a social media
content distribution and communications platform called Shoutlet, announced on
Tuesday that it has closed a $2 million first round of venture capital
financing.

The round was co-led by Origin Ventures and Leo Capital Holdings,
and follows a $1.2 million seed round the company raised in 2007.

Founded in
2004, Wisconsin-based Sway said that clients of its Shoutlet platform include
American Family Insurance, Solo and Cannondale.

The Shoutlet platform
encompasses social media tools including online video distribution; text
messaging; RSS feed and podcast creation; customized widget development;
branded social sharing; and Facebook and Twitter management.

The company will
use the funds to hire additional support staff, and for sales and marketing
efforts.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4nnu

http://www.shoutlet.com

Mobile Payments Firm Boku Lands $25 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Boku, a provider of mobile payments technology, announced on Tuesday that it
has raised $25 million in its third round of funding, led by DAG Ventures.

Previous
backers Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures and Khosla Venture also participated
in the round.

Launched in June 2009, San Francisco-based Boku has to date
developed mobile payment processing partnerships with over 1,000 game and
application developers, including many on Facebook.

The company’s Paymo service
is enabled across 190 wireless carriers in 58 countries.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u4nl1

http://www.boku.com

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