Miami – ROBA Interactive on Monday announced the launch of
its service that creates multimedia music apps for iPad and Android-based
tablet computers. Led by GRP Records co-founder Larry Rosen, AT&T a2b music
co-founder Larry Miller and Grammy-winning producer Phil Ramone, the firm will
create "iPad albums," featuring photos, videos, interviews and other
extras. The first ROBA title will be "An Evening with Dave Grusin,"
slated for release on April 26.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4oxokc8

http://www.robainteractive.com

Los Angeles – Group messaging platform GroupMe on Monday
announced the launch of Featured Groups, or brand-specific group messaging
clubs. Initial partners for the new feature include Bon Jovi, the Bonnaroo and
Coachella music festivals, MTV’s "Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best
Dance Crew," and Oxygen’s "Bad Girls Club." The groups will let
fans of the brands converse with one another, while the brands may send
messages to group members.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4fat42s

Waltham, Mass. – Emo Labs, a maker of audio speaker
technology, has raised $1.4 million in a venture capital deal, according to a
new filing by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded
in 2005, Waltham, Mass.-based Emo Labs has developed speaker technology
actuates a thin membrane, resulting in a thin and lightweight profile suitable
for flat panel displays.

The company indicated in its SEC filing that it plans
to raise a total of $2.5 million in the deal.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4b3leu9

http://www.emolabs.com

New York – American Express (NYSE: AXP) on Monday introduced Serve, a
new digital payment and commerce platform that consumers can use to spend, send
and receive money. The Serve platform works across online, mobile and at brick-and-mortar
merchants who accept American Express cards, and allows users to fund Serve
accounts via a bank account, debit, credit or via another Serve account.

Users
can also create sub-accounts and specify where funds may be spent, for such
instances as children or small businesses.

For the first six months, American
Express is waiving fees for Serve, after which time the company will collect 30
cents per load and a 2.9% fee for each transaction where a user deposits money
in a Serve account; ATM transactions will cost $2 each.

Launch partners for
Serve include Ticketmaster, Concur and Flipswap.

American Express acquired
Revolution Money, which is providing the technology that powers Serve, earlier
this year.

Rival Visa signaled its own intention to tap the online payments
market more aggressively when it acquired PlaySpan for $190 million in
February.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4mapxr4

http://tinyurl.com/4ke84wa
(VentureBeat)

San Jose, Calif. – Looking to strengthen its ties with
retailers and brands, online auction giant eBay (NASD: EBAY) said on Monday it will pay
approximately $2.4 billion to acquire GSI Commerce, a Pennsylvania-based
provider of e-commerce and interactive marketing services.

The deal, to be
financed with a combination of cash and debt, is expected to close after
midyear.

John Donahoe, the president and CEO of eBay, said the acquisition
"will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers
worldwide."

GSI currently boasts more than 180 customers across 14
merchandise categories, as well as long-term relationships with retailers and
brands such as Adidas, Calvin Klein, Dockers, Levi’s, Mattel, HP and
RadioShack.

As part of the acquisition, eBay will sell all of GSI’s licensed
sports merchandise business, as well as 70% of its ShopRunner and Rue La La
shopping sites.

Those properties will become part of a newly formed company led
by GSI founder and CEO Michael Rubin.

Related Links:
http://www.ebayinc.com/#20110328006021

http://www.gsicommerce.com

Baltimore – The state attorneys general from Maryland and
Delaware on Monday called on technology giants Google (NASD: GOOG) and Apple (NASD: AAPL) to ban
smartphone apps that help users avoid drunk-driving checkpoints.

The apps in
question, currently available for iPhone and Android devices, provide the
locations of police checkpoints and allow users to report checkpoints to
others.

"These smartphone applications give drunk drivers a ‘how-to’ guide
to evade DUI checkpoints and endanger the lives of innocent citizens on our
roads," said Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler.

Both Gansler and
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden have sent letters to Google CEO Eric
Schmidt and Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software,
encouraging the companies to "take the responsible step" of removing
the apps.

Related Links:
http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2011/032811.html

Burbank, Calif. – Following a trial with its film "The
Dark Knight," Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. is making five additional movies
available for streaming rental on Facebook.

"Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,"
"Inception," "Life as We Know It" and "Yogi Bear"
will be available for on the official Facebook movie pages for each film.

Rentals
cost between 30 credits (about $3) and 40 credits (about $4) each, and provide
streaming access for 48 hours.

Related Links:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110327005079/en

San Francisco – Apple (NASD: AAPL) will not introduce any major new
hardware, be it an iPhone, iPad or Mac, at its upcoming Worldwide Developers
Conference (WWDC) this summer, Loop Insight reported. Instead, the company is
expected to introduce new software, including iOS 5 for its mobile devices, and
Mac OS Lion.

Separately, TechCrunch reported that Apple will wait to release
iOS 5 until the fall, citing two sources.

Industry watchers had previously
speculated that Apple would maybe introduce the iPhone 5 this summer, following
its established pattern of new hardware releases.

"You get caught up in
patterns, and it holds true, until it doesn’t," Gartner analyst Michael
Gartenberg told The Loop.

"There is no reason for Apple to follow a
predictable yearly pattern, and it keeps their competition off guard a little
bit."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4w2febe
(Loop Insight)

http://tinyurl.com/4h5oajd
(TechCrunch)

Beverly Hills, Calif. – Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Monday that it
has signed a five-year licensing deal with Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures for the
territory of Canada.

The deal includes over 350 new movies for the company’s
instant streaming service in Canada.

Separately, The Wall Street Journal
reported over the weekend that film studio Miramax is finalizing a five-year
deal with Netflix that would provide over 700 movie titles to the company.

The
deal is estimated to be worth more than $100 million, people familiar with the
situation told The Journal.

Related Links:
http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=386

http://tinyurl.com/4p392kt
(WSJ)