OiNK File-Sharing Network Admin Found Not Guilty

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London – A U.K. court jury has voted
unanimously to acquit the administrator of music file-sharing network OiNK on
charges of "conspiracy to defraud" the recording industry, according
to published reports. U.K.
authorities raided the operation two years ago and made several arrests,
including 26-year-old computer engineer Alan Ellis.

At trial, it was alleged
that Ellis was taking in $18,000 a month in donations to OiNK, and he was found
with $300,000 in personal accounts.

Ellis maintained that he was using the
funds to rent server space, and to eventually purchase his own server.

Ellis
also said that he originally built OiNK — which allegedly facilitated over 21
million downloads of 600,000 albums, most of which were pre-release — to
further his programming skills.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u3jrt
(Billboard)

http://snipurl.com/u3js8
(TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/u3jv3
(DMW previous coverage)

New Super Mario Bros Wii

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Report: U.S. Game Sales Up 4% in December, Down 8% for '09

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Port Washington, N.Y. – U.S. video game sales saw their
biggest month ever in December 2009, reaching $5.53 billion, but the
outstanding month was not enough to counter a downward trend this year that saw
total sales come in 8% lower that the record-setting figure reported in 2008,
according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. December sales
increased 4% from a year ago, bolstered by record sales months for the Nintendo
Wii (3.81 million units), DS (3.31 million units) and Sony (NYSE:  SNE) PlayStation 3 (1.36
million units) — which just edged out Microsoft’s (NASD:  MSFT) Xbox 360 (1.31 million
units).

Game hardware sales were up 16% overall from December 2008, to $2.19
billion.

Nintendo also dominated game software sales during December — which
were actually down 7% from 2008, to $2.58 billion — claiming six of the top
ten sales slots, led by its "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" (2.82 million
units).

Activision Blizzard’s (NASD:  ATVI) "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," also
in the top ten, is now the fourth best-selling game of all time.

Despite the
strong December, overall U.S.
video game sales for 2009 came in at $19.66 billion, 8% below 2008’s record $21.4 billion.

"December
marks just the fourth month of the year where the industry saw an increase over
last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"January and February
were both up, and since the decline that began in March, only September
experienced growth. The big sales this month, particularly on the hardware
front, is a positive move for the industry headed into what will hopefully be a
recovery year in 2010."

 

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

Editor & Publisher Acquired, Will Resume Operations

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Editor & Publisher, the 126-year-old trade magazine covering the
newspaper business that was recently shuttered by Nielsen, announced that it
will resume publication in print and online following its acquisition by Duncan
McIntosh Co. Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based publisher and events firm.

Financial
terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Such a critical information
source for a newspaper industry so desperately in need of help should not go
away," said McIntosh. "I’ve been a reader of E&P over the course
of 30 years and know its incredible value to readers and advertisers."

PaidContent
reports that new editor Mark Fitzgerald says that "most" of the
publication’s staff will be back, and that Nielsen is allowing them to operate
from its offices for the next three months during the transition.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u3ii6
(Editor & Publisher)

http://snipurl.com/u3iid
(PaidContent)

Avnera Raises $10 Million for Advanced Audio Chips

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Beaverton,
Ore. – Avnera, a developer of
high-fidelity audio chips for consumer electronics, said on Friday that it has
closed a new $10 million, fourth round of financing.

The company said new
investor Onkyo Corporation joined existing backers, who include Altien
Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Best Buy Capital, DAG Ventures, Intel
Capital, JAFCO Ventures, Panasonic Venture Group, Polycom Corporation and
Redpoint Ventures.

Founded in 2004, Oregon-based Avnera counts over 15
customers for its AudioMagic and VoiceMagic chips, including Best Buy, which
uses them in its Rocketfish line of wireless stereo speakers.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u3i8f

http://snipurl.com/u3i6r
(VentureBeat)

Impact Radius Gets $6 Million for Multi-Channel Ad Platform

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Santa Barbara,
Calif. – Impact Radius, the
provider of a multi-channel ad platform that encompasses TV, radio, print and
online media, said that it has raised $6 million in financing, led by Redpoint
Ventures.

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based launched a
public beta of its platform earlier this week, which aims to provide
advertisers and agencies to manage ad campaigns across all media channels in a
single place.

The company used some of the funds for the development of its
platform, as well as for its launch in the U.S.
and U.K.,
and plans to also use them to expand its marketing efforts.

 

Related Links:
http://www.impactradius.com/press/release-15.php

Transpera Lands $2 Million for Mobile Video Delivery

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Transpera, a provider of mobile video delivery and a mobile ad network, has
raised $2 million of an expected $5 million, third round of funding,
PaidContent reported, citing a regulatory filing.

While details on investors in
the round were not provided, previous backers of the company include Flybridge
Capital Partners, Intel Capital and First Round Capital.

Founded in 2007, San
Francisco-based Transpera counts CBS News, FedEx, Disney and MTV Networks among
its customers.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u3hzo
(PaidContent)

http://www.transpera.com/

Vevo Overtakes MySpace Music in U.S. Web Traffic

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Reston, Va. – Vevo, the new music video portal joint
venture between Universal Music, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music and Abu Dhabi Media Company,
surpassed MySpace Music in Web traffic during December, TechCrunch reported,
citing comScore data. Vevo saw 35.4 million unique visitors in December,
compared with 33.1 million for MySpace Music. TechCrunch noted that 92% of
Vevo’s traffic came from YouTube, which is a technology partner in the venture
and hosts a Vevo channel on its site.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u32z8

http://www.vevo.com

Epix Pay-TV Channel Signs Carriage Deal with Mediacom

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Epix, the pay-TV
channel joint venture between Viacom (NYSE: VIA), its Paramount
unit, MGM and Lionsgate, announced on Thursday that it has signed a new
carriage agreement with Mediacom Communications, the nation’s seventh-largest
cable TV provider. To date, Epix is only available on Verizon’s FiOS TV
service, but the venture recently signed another carriage deal with cable TV
provider Cox.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u32wv

http://mediacomcable.com/index.php

http://www.EpixHD.com

Ad-Supported Download Site FreeAllMusic Licenses EMI

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Major record label has joined Universal Music in licensing its tracks to Free
All Music, a new ad-supported music site, Billboard reported. The service,
which is currently in private beta, provides free song downloads to users who
agree to view video ads on the site.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u32uw
(Billboard)

http://snipurl.com/u32vz
(DMW previous coverage)

http://freeallmusic.com/beta/welcome

1...1,5551,5561,557...1,573Page 1,556 of 1,573