Thursday, January 5, 2012

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Gartner Lowers 2012 IT Spending Forecast To 3.7 Percent Growth Top
Worldwide IT spending growth is expected to grow 3.7 percent in 2012, a slowdown from the 6.9 percent growth in 2011, according to a new forecast from Gartner. The research firm lowered its 2012 forecast from its previous estimate of 4.6 percent due to global economic woes and theThailand floods which  hit the hard disc drive industry. The good news is that global IT spending is still enormous—an estimated 3.8 trillion dollars worldwide.
 
Lithium Raises $53.4M Fourth Round To Push For Lead in Social Brand Software Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-04 at 10.30.03 PMBig consumer brands generate all sorts of consumer interest and expertise, but they've generally struggled to capitalize on these relationships to improve themselves. Lithium has been building itself into a market leader at solving this problem over the last ten years, offering white-label community sites and related products that allow brands to let users share ideas with each other -- and tell the brands what they're doing well, or not. The company is now doubling down on its business, raising a $53.4 million fourth round of funding on top of the $39 million that it has previously brought in.
 
Facebook Turns Your Timeline Into Moo Business Cards, First 200,000 Are Free Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-05 at 11.54.27In a move which is likely to catapult UK startup Moo onto a new international stage, the company has become the only one to deeply integrate its 'social business cards' with the Facebook platform today. Taking pictures from users' Facebook Timeline information and photography, users will now be able to create 50 personalised business cards for £10/$15. But in a promotion from today Moo is giving away cards to the first 200,000 users, equivalent to 10 million cards.
 
For Rapid Wireless Data Exchange: Toshiba Starts Shipping TransferJet LSI Top
tc35420TransferJet is having a hard time going mainstream, but Toshiba hasn't given up on the close proximity wireless transfer technology yet: after taking the wraps off a small TransferJet LSI back in September last year, the company now announced it's ready to begin shipping the first samples to electronics manufacturers. Visitors of the CES 2012 (which kicks off on January 10 in Las Vegas) will be able to see the LSI in action at the Toshiba booth.
 
And The First $1 Million Domain Name Sale Of 2012 Is … dudu.com? Top
duduDomain name marketplace operator Sedo this morning announced that it has brokered a big domain name sale before the first week of the new year is over. The company has negotiated a sale of the domain dudu.com to a Dubai-based social networking service provider called - you guessed it - DUDU Communications. Amazingly, the domain name went for as much as $1 million, which is right up there with the sales of furniture.com, sky.com and domainname.com - heck, it even fetched double the purchase price of domains like 3D.com, logo.com and puzzle.com.
 
Financial Times Acquires London-Based Developer Of Its HTML5 Web App Top
assankaThe Financial Times has acquired London-based application development firm Assanka, which built a nifty HTML5 web app - and other applications - for the publisher. (Hat tip to Benedict Evans) FT staffers such as Katie Morley and Jonathan Wheatley started spreading the news on Twitter, garnering retweets from FT.com managing director Rob Grimshaw and PR rep Tom Glover, who confirmed the acquisition to me but declined to share more details. Read more at TechCrunch Europe.
 
Google Ventures And Foundry Group Put $9M In Crowdsourced Search Advertising Marketplace Trada Top
tradaCrowdsourced SEM management startup Trada has raised $9 million in Series D financing from existing investors Foundry Group and Google Ventures. This brings Trada's total funding to $17 million. Here's how Trada works. Agencies and advertisers can specify a budget they are willing to spend on ads, decide which advertising platforms they want their ads to appear on (the site currently supports Bing, Yahoo, and Google), and enter how much they willing to pay-per-click or per acquisition.
 
NumberFire Pockets $750K To Help You Rule Your Fantasy Sports Leagues Top
logo-1Back in September, we wrote about numberFire, a New York City-based startup that's attempting to bring a deep, scientific approach to your fantasy football picks. At the time, the startup was preparing to graduate (along with ten other stalwart companies) from the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, a seed-funding, mentor-providing NYC-based startup accelerator, and we also reported that NumberFire was also on the way to closing a solid round of seed funding. Last night, numberFire officially closed its first round of funding, nabbing a $750,000 seed investment, led by RRE Ventures, with contributions from private investment firm, Penny Black, and TechStars Managing Director David Tisch, among others. As a result of the funding, Eliot Durbin, the Managing Director of Penny Black, will be joining the startup's board of directors.
 
Apple Settles Patent Suit From Elan Out Of Court, Coughs Up $5 Million Top
elanElan Microelectronics, a Taiwanese chip and touch screen maker, says it has received $5 million from Apple in a patent infringement lawsuit settlement arranged out of court. This was first reported by Taiwanese media and later by Reuters. In addition, Apple and Elan agreed to "exchange authorizations" to use each other's patents, according to a statement from the Taiwanese chip designer.
 
The Not-So-Crazy Rumors About Microsoft Taking Over Nokia's Smartphone Division Resurface Top
nokiaMobile industry watcher Eldar Murtazin took to Twitter today, claiming that Microsoft and Nokia executives will be meeting each other shortly to discuss the possibility and terms of a deal involving the sale of the Finnish phone maker's smartphone division (including "one or two" manufacturing plants). Such an agreement between the two tech giants, which Murtazin says could be finalized in the second half of 2012, would leave Nokia with nothing but its 'dumbphone' or feature phone business, mapping services subsidiary Navteq and Nokia Siemens Networks, the flailing networking and telecom equipment company (a joint-venture with Siemens). Murtazin also asserts that current Nokia head honcho Stephen Elop will resign from his chief executive role in the course of this year (possibly to return to Microsoft, where he used to run the Business Division?). Furthermore, Windows smartphones would no longer be branded 'Nokia'.
 
The Logitech Cube Attempts To Redefine The Humble Mouse Top
logitech-cube2Somewhere deep in the bowels of Logitech, a committee, attempting to think outside of the box, created a box. It's called the Cube (even though it's clearly not a cube) and it's a mouse. And a presenter. I think.
 
Daily Crunch: Smarter Top
1513Here are some recent Gadgets stories: Mogees: Multitouch On Any Surface With A Contact Microphone Cubelets Promise Robotic Good Times Velocity Micro Shows Its New Tablets And Pico Projector Before CES Roku's Streaming Stick Makes Your Dumb TV Much Smarter Kodak Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy Auction Of Patents
 
Lenovo Debuts A Pair Of Ultrabooks, The $1599 ThinkPad X1 Hybrid And $849 ThinkPad T430u Top
thinkpad-x1-hybridLenovo is serious about ultrabooks. The company just introduced two new ultrabooks that will live alongside the company's existing model, the ThinkPad X1. These three models put Lenovo in a unique position in the ultrabook game. While other companies are releasing their first ultrabooks, here's Lenovo, with a relatively large product offering including a high-end model and an attractive entry-level model.
 
Fujifilm Reveals 19 New Cameras For CES – Here Are Some Of Them Top
headerThe compulsion in camera makers to release a dozen or more cameras at a time is understandable, I guess. Get 'em all out of the way so the PR company isn't always worrying about this or that release date, embargo time, or what have you. But for your humble blogger, it is something of a trial. In this case Fujifilm has revealed their CES lineup of point-and-shoots, and there are no less than 19 of them. And that's not counting the rumored X1 interchangeable-lens camera we are also expecting. Let's take a little sample of Fuji's offering. There's nothing groundbreaking, just so you know, but if you're in the market for a point and shoot, take a quick look. If you'd like more complete specs and the whole lineup, go to Fuji's CES page; these are just our highlights.
 
Apple Reportedly Butting Heads With Content Producers Over iTV Top
itvThere's a problem with the idea of an iTV, rumors of which have been sloshing about for a long time, but with greater intensity since Steve Jobs' biography hinted at one. Unlike an Apple TV, an iPhone, an iPad, or other devices, an Apple TV wouldn't be tied to a Mac, and it wouldn't take advantage of iTunes the way those devices do. It'll be related, of course, but it doesn't promote the "hub" idea that drives iPhone owners to buy Macs, Mac owners to buy iPhones, and all the other crossover purchases that interweave the Apple ecosystem. Instead, it would be an Apple-designed window into content that Apple has very little control over. And while you can bring a new idea to the TV space, as set-top boxes and Google TV have, you can't make the TV space play nice. Google learned that the hard way. And it looks like Apple may be facing a similar challenge.
 
Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 710 And The Meizu MX Top
scaledwm-img_4446I've been playing with the Lumia 710 for a week or so now and I'm pleased to report that Nokia may have a chance. The phone, while a bit chintzy, is inexpensive, fast, and feature-rich. I doubt you'd be able to find a device as easy to use and comfortable as the 710 at a $50 price with two year contract. We also tried the Meizu MX and came away, well, un-awed. It's a cool phone, it's only available in China right now, and there are a few bugs to work out before it could consider a second life on this side of the pond. I was more kind to it than Erick, but we're both equally trepidatious.
 
Google Ventures, Mark Cuban And Others Invest $1M In Social CRM Startup Nimble Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-04 at 8.23.35 PMCustomer relationship management startup Nimble has raised $1 million in funding from notable investors Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis, Don Dodge, Dharmesh Shah and more! Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara views Nimble as a combination Hootsuite, Yammer and Salesforce. Unlike CRM tools like Salesforce, which Ferrara equates to stagnant databases of customers, Nimble takes into account that today's salespeople are social.
 
Do Blogs Need Comment Reels? Yes, and Here's How Top
Gag The TrollsCommenting on blogs is broken. But what we need is a solution, not an abandonment of the concept. The question comes up every few months, but new social commenting technology means there are better answers now than ever before. Over the last day MG Siegler, MacStories, and mobile developer Mike Gemell have all written about choosing the nuclear option and turning off comments entirely on their sites. Their key reasons for doing so seem to be: 1. Comment reels are full of trolls, bile, and spam links 2. There's no way for popular sites to keep up with comments on old posts 3. Comment reels give random people too much visibility and distract from primary content Here are my proposed solutions to these problems.
 
Why Is Aol Still Charging People For "Email"? Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-04 at 7.19.39 PMNow this is just hilarious. Apparently this Arizona woman has been paying for "email" for almost a decade -- even though it's been available free for a while and free for Aol users since 2006.  According to a year-old "New Yorker" article by Ken Auletta, over 75% of the dial-up portion of Aol's 3.5 million subscribers are like Traci Casale. So why are these idiots people still paying for email? I mean you know things are bad when a publication called "Arizona Family" is making fun of you.
 
Why Don't Smartphones Have A "Guest Mode"? Top
Guest Home"Hey, can I see your phone real quick?" Oh, crap. What tabs did you leave open in Safari? Did you delete those photos (you know, those photos. The ones you promised her you'd delete?) That My Little Pony app that you totally-installed-just-to-test-your-download-speed-seriously-shut-up... is it still there? Quick, hand it over before you pique their curiosity! Or say "no" and be the weirdo who wouldn't hand their phone over to a friend for a second. If only there were some sort of on-the-fly middle ground — a "Guest Mode", if you will.
 

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