Moscow – Metabar, a free platform that automates the process
of creating browser-based applications, has received a $1 million seed
investment from Russia’s Runa Capital.
Launched in beta in late 2010, Metabar has
been adopted by Russian sites such as Vedomosti.ru, KP.ru and Kupivip.ru.
The company
generates revenue from advertising searches in the applications created using
its platform.
Related Links:
http://www.metabar.ru
Reston, Va. – Google led the U.S. search market with a 65.7%
share during the month of March, gaining 0.3% from the previous month,
according to a report from market research firm comScore.
Yahoo, whose search
results are powered by Microsoft’s Bing, fell 0.4% to 15.7% of the market,
while Bing itself gained 0.3% market share, garnering 13.9% of the search
market last month.
IAC’s Ask.com took 3.1% of the search market, while AOL had
1.7%.
In total, U.S. users made 16.9 billion search engine queries during the
month of March.
Google sites accounted for 11.1 billion searches, followed by
Yahoo (2.7 billion), Microsoft (2.4 billion), Ask (520 million) and AOL (272
million).
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3phlsf5
Cupertino, Calif. – After a ten-month delay, Apple plans to begin
selling a white iPhone 4 via both AT&T and Verizon in the coming weeks,
Bloomberg reported, citing three sources. The device’s release was reportedly
delayed by manufacturing problems that included "paint that peeled under
heat," a source told Bloomberg.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3j5mucn
(Bloomberg)
Los Angeles – PaidContent on Thursday published a round-up
of early reviews of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer,
which taken collectively praised elements of the device’s hardware and
software, but were critical of the number of available apps, battery life, and
lack of cellular connection or email services. The PlayBook is slated to go on
sale April 19 priced at between $500 and $700.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3edvf8u
(PaidContent)
New York – Electronics and media retail store chain Best Buy
plans to increase the number of smaller Best Buy Mobile retail locations in the
U.S. over the next five years, Reuters reported. The company now expects to
count 600-800 of the standalone stores by 2016.
Related Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110414/tc_nm/us_bestbuy
New York – The Associated Press has named former ABC News
president David Westin as CEO of its online news clearinghouse. The News
Licensing Group aims to increase revenues for publishers by ensuring they are
paid when AP content appears on various digital platforms.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/44qpzcp
(AP)
Los Angeles – Apple (NASD: AAPL) could enter the television market by the
end of this year with its own Internet-connected HDTV, Apple Insider reported,
citing a note from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White.
"Our
research suggests this Smart TV would go well beyond the miniature $99
second-generation Apple TV that the company released last fall and provide a
full-blown TV product for consumers," White wrote.
"The combination
of Apple’s powerful ecosystem, industrial design savvy, powerful brand and
ability to reinvent product categories could make Apple a powerful force in the
TV world over the next few years."
Previously, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster also speculated that Apple will release its own HDTV, but did not
expect such a device to launch until the end of 2012 at the earliest.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/6jlz4kq
(Apple Insider)
Los Angeles – File-sharing service LimeWire paid $11 million
to settle copyright infringement litigation brought by music publishers last
month, Digital Music News reported, citing sources.
That figure is much less
than the multi-billion dollar damages award that members of the National Music
Publishers Association (NMPA) had initially sought with the lawsuit.
A source
speculated for Digital Music News that the settlement could have been reached
after LimeWire demanded documentation from the labels as to their ownership of
copyrights, and for evidence backing their claims of monetary damages.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/66qp7sg
(Digital Music News)
http://tinyurl.com/466kw8x
(DMW previous coverage)
Arlington, Va. – PBS, the developer of television and online
content for nearly 360 member stations, said it plans to soon begin testing a
multimedia emergency alert system, which will send video, audio, text and
graphics to cellphones, tablets, laptops and netbooks, as well as in-car
navigation systems.
The pilot project could lead to the first major overhaul of
the nation’s aging Emergency Alert System (EAS) since the Cold War.
"Now
that the transition to digital is complete and mobile DTV is rolling out, PBS
will harness mobile DTV’s powerful distribution system to provide new means of
alerting Americans in the event of an emergency," said John McCoskey, the
CTO of PBS.
The new system will eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks that would
overload a cellular system, and allow for the transmission of many types of
media, such as evacuation routes.
Key partners in the project will include LG
Electronics and its U.S. research and development unit, Zenith, which will
develop handheld mobile DTV devices to receive the new alerts, as well as
provide funding.
Related Links:
http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2011/mobile-dtv-eas
Washington –
The District of Columbia is preparing to move forward with a plan to legalize
online gambling, following the expiration of a 30-day waiting period when
Congress could have blocked the measure.
Mayor Vincent Gray signed the plan
into law in January as part of the city’s 2011 budget.
The Washington Post
reported that city officials are now planning to set up as many as 30 online
gambling "hot spots" in locations like hotels and bars across D.C. by
Sept. 1, making the city the first U.S. jurisdiction to allow Internet
gambling.
Congress, however, may still intervene on the project, which is seen
as a way to generated much-needed revenue for the District.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3wkeph3
(Washington Post)
http://dcist.com/2011/04/dc_online_gambling_law_passes_congr.php
