Monday, January 9, 2012

Y! Alert: TechCrunch

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from TechCrunch

Ustream: Watch LG's CES 2012 Press Conference Live Top
lgLG is kicking off the CES 2012 Press Day festivities and you can watch it live starting at 8:00 am PST. The company is expected to release, I don't know, a slim Android tablet, several ultrabooks, and likely a Google TV. Because, you know, that's what every company seems to be releasing at this year's Consumer Electronic Show. The press conference is expected to start at 8:00 am PST and run approximately 45 minutes.
 
Challenging Amazon, Netflix Debuts £5.99 Video Streaming Service In UK, Ireland Top
netflixNetflix has made its debut in the UK and Ireland in early 2012, just like they promised, having worked out video content licensing deals with the likes of BBC Worldwide and MGM. Users in the UK and Ireland can now subscribe to Netflix to watch available content on their connected TVs, computers, tablets, game consoles and mobile devices. In the UK, Netflix will be bumping heads with Amazon-owned LOVEFiLM, the well-established movie and TV series streaming service. Read more at TechCrunch Europe.
 
Cloud-Based Video Editor WeVideo Launches To Public Top
wevideo-logoWeVideo, the cloud-based collaborative video editing platform which announced integration with YouTube in October, is today exiting its beta period and launching commercially. The service now has over 125,000 users creating more than 1,000 video projects per day using the online platform.
 
Tom Hanks Planning Yahoo-Only Web Series, "Electric City" Top
sign2Everyone's favorite puppet cowboy, Tom Hanks, is working with Playtone and Reliance Entertainment on a new web series called Electric City (logo not shown). According to the AP, the show is about a "seemingly peaceful city situated in a post-apocalyptic world" and each episode will be three or four minutes long. The shows will have a socially conscious message including conservation and energy issues. This is Yahoo's first scripted program and it will be available through multiple devices in multiple languages. Hanks will appear as a character.
 
Vizio Breaks Into PC Market With Five New Models Top
vizio-officially-introduces-pc-lineVizio, maker of cheap LCD TVs for most of this millennia, has just announced they're releasing five new PCs including ultralights and all-in-ones. These things are oddly well-designed and should come in at under competitor prices - a plus in the low-margin world of CE.
 
BlackBerry PlayBook's Next OS Plays To RIM's Strengths: Email, Calendar, Productivity Top
29-logo-rimCES generally isn't RIM's stomping ground, but the Canadian company is here in force. Chief among RIM's news is details about the upcoming PlayBook refresh. Available for download next month, PlayBook 2.0, as RIM is calling it, seems to right many of the PlayBook's wrongs. This is the feature set the tablet so badly needed at launch.
 
Elance To Give $1 Million To Startup America Partnership Top
startup-americaOnline job marketplace Elance has just announced it will give $1 million to The Startup America Partnership, the national campaign that aims to accelerate entrepreneurship, which is chaired by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL (disclosure: TechCrunch parent) and Chairman of the Case Foundation. The organization is live now in several regions across the U.S., including Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Connecticut, Florida and Texas. The $1 million is not actually a straight cash donation, but a donation of credits.
 
Dropcam Gets Classier With New HD Wireless Camera Top
Screen Shot 2012-01-09 at 7.05.39 AMI've been a pretty big fan of DropCam for a year or so now. This set-it-and-forget-it camera sets up in minutes - just point it to a wireless router when plugged in through USB and then connect it to the wall power. The camera automatically wends its way past your firewall and you can view and control the device from any phone or browser. It also sends notification messages (albeit a little effusively) so you know when people are entering and exiting the field of view. Whereas the original DropCam looked a bit cheap, this new model is, the Dropcam HD, is the height of elegance. Made of black plastic, the round camera fits perfectly into the metal stand and it includes a long USB cord to connect to your PC or a power outlet.
 
Exclusive: IEEE Forms Power Matters Alliance To Determine Wireless Power Standards Top
USA-Power-Socket-Board-StripStandards are important to the tech world. Without them, we'd all be running around to the nearest AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon store to buy replacement chargers instead of borrowing our buddies' microUSB chargers. iPhone owners know exactly how much this sucks, and so does the IEEE which is now forming another standards association called the Power Matters Alliance.
 
NetMediaEurope Buys CBS Interactive's German Sites, Including ZDNet.de And CNET.de Top
zdnetCBS Interactive is exiting the German IT publishing market, selling its stable of local sites - ZDNet.de, Silicon.de and CNET.de - to NetMediaEurope (which also owns Gizmodo.de, ITespresso.de and Channelbiz.de). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read more at TechCrunch Europe.
 
LogMeIn Acquires Web Chat Company Bold Software For $16.5 M Top
logmeinLogMeIn, the longtime maker of remote access tools, has acquired Bold Software, a provider of web chat and customer communications software. The company says it will use the technology to offer additional features and capabilities to its customers on LogMeIn Rescue, the company's support product. Under the terms of the deal, LogMeIn acquired all the net assets of Bold Software for approximately $16.5 million in cash.
 
I Want My Ubuntu TV! Top
Ubuntu TV 2 Channel GuideCES is upon us, and is no doubt chock full of the usual suspects of consumer electronics OEMs, ODMs, and more. One interesting new attendee this year is Canonical, the folks behind the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution. Canonical is making a big push to get Ubuntu onto more than just desktops and laptops, and have been busy building relationships with CE companies to get it onto tablets, phones, and automobile in-vehicle infotainment displays. We'll see Ubuntu make appearances at several booths to demo this work. Canonical will also be announcing Ubuntu TV. Tablets, phones, IVI systems and Ubuntu TV are a far cry from Ubuntu's humble beginnings as an easy to use Linux desktop. "Linux for human beings" has always been Ubuntu's tagline, not "Linux for human being's portable electronic devices." So one might be forgiven for asking "WTF, Canonical?" I posed a slightly more polite version of that question to Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical.
 
Former Intel Engineer, McKinsey Partner Rajan Naik Joins AMD Top
naikChip maker AMD this morning announced that it has recruited Rajan Naik to become part of its management team. Formerly a senior engineer at the company's main rival, Intel, Naik was most recently a partner in McKinsey & Company's Technology practice, where he worked for the past 11 years. Naik, 40, will become senior vice president and chief strategy officer of AMD, where he will be responsible for helping out with strategy development, partnerships, M&A and investment decisions. He'll report directly to AMD president and CEO Rory Read.
 
U.S. VC Firms Raised $5.6B In Q4 2011; Commitments Up 162 Percent But Number Of Funds Down Top
VAccording to a report released by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), thirty-eight U.S. venture capital funds raised $5.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. While this is a 162 percent increase by dollar commitments, the fourth quarter also saw a 41 percent decline in terms of number of funds compared to the third quarter of 2011, which saw 64 funds raise $2.1 billion during the period. In fact, the report shows that this quarter marks the lowest number of funds raising money since the third quarter of 2009. U.S. venture capital fundraising for all of 2011 totaled $18.17 billion from 169 funds, a 32 percent increase by dollars compared to 2010 and with the same number of funds.
 
Belkin Outs The Thunderbolt Express Dock, A Multi-Port Adapter For All Your Docking Needs Top
ThunderboltdockYou have a cable problem. Belkin has the docking solution. The Thunderbolt Express Dock aims to be a notebook (or iMac) owner's best friend. As the name suggests, the dock utilizes the speedy, multiplatform Thunderbolt interconnect to expand a computer's available ports. Simply plug in a single Thunderbolt cable to access three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port, one 3.5mm Audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port and two Thunderbolt ports. Extra ports FTW!
 
Hipmunk Checks In: Launches Hotel Search For iOS And Android Top
hipmunkiphoneGetting travel search right on a mobile phone is tough. Thankfully Hipmunk, for the most part, has nailed it. The service launched its iPhone application last February and an Android app in September, both of which serve Hipmunk's agony-reducing flight search in a smaller — and very polished — platter. Now Hipmunk is giving those mobile apps a big upgrade: they now both support hotel search (which the web version of the service launched back in March). You can download the new iOS app for iPhone and iPad right here, and the new Android app here.
 
Zeel Launches As A Booking Engine For Alternative Healthcare Providers Top
zeelZeel, a startup that offers consumers a way to find and book massage therapists, personal trainers, nutritionists, acupuncturists and other wellness practitioners, has raised $1.5 million in funding from Matt Ocko of Archimedes Capital, Esther Dyson, Ken Cron, Ravi Mhatre, Mark Oldman, Ken Fox, Patrick Spain, KIT Digital CEO Kaleil Isaza-Tuzman, Judson Traphagen and Tim Kendall. Similar to the way ZocDoc allows you to find doctors and book appointments online, Zeel offers a way for consumers to find alternative healthcare providers. With Zeel you can learn treatments for stress, pain, obesity, and other specific conditions; browse profiles of qualified and vetted Zeel Experts; see prices; check real-time appointment availability; and book online.
 
Barnes & Noble Discounts, Gives Away NOOKs With 1-Year Subscriptions To NYT, PEOPLE Top
nookBarnes & Noble is now heavily discounting (and even giving away free) NOOK devices with digital subscriptions to a magazine or newspaper, the first time a bookseller has ever done this type of promotion if I'm not mistaken. The company, which is considering spinning off its NOOK business into a separate unit, this morning said customers who purchase a one-year NOOK subscription to The New York Times will receive a NOOK Simple Touch e-reader at no cost (instead of $99). Alternatively, customers can also get a NOOK Color for $99 instead of $199 with their NYT subscription, which for the record is $19.99 per month for full digital access.
 
Digital Publisher Safari Books Online Acquires Threepress, Ibis Reader Top
ibisSafari Books Online, developer of an on-demand digital library for professional content, has acquired web developer and e-reading consultancy firm Threepress Consulting, makers of the Ibis Reader, an HTML5 ebook platform and EPUB reading system for iOS, Android and the Web. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 
InfoSpace Buys Online Tax Solutions Company TaxACT For $287.5M In Cash Top
taxactOnline search and SEO services company InfoSpace has acquired 2nd Story Software, the holding company for online tax solutions provider TaxACT for $287.5 million in cash, the company announced today. InfoSpace, which operates so-called 'metasearch' engines like Dogpile and metacrawler, says the acquisition is expected to close this quarter. Based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2nd Story Software / TaxACT is the second largest provider of online tax solutions for individuals and businesses (after Intuit's TurboTax), with approximately 70 full-time employees.
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)