In This Update:
• Microsoft Revs Up Talks with AOL
• Tivo Launches YouTube Partnership
• Amazon Opens Streaming Movie Service
• thePlatform Buys Social Media Apps Firm Chirp Interactive
• Meebo Announces Cross-Site, Integrated IM for Online Communities
• In-Game Commerce Firm PlaySpan Acquires PayByCash
• Heavily-Backed Financial Intelligence Firm Monitor110 Shutters
• Videogames Getting More Social
• Social Bookmarker Snipitron Acquires Bookmarking Tool OnlyWire
• Verizon Wins Competitive New York TV License for FiOS
• BlackBerry PDF Flaw Exposes Corporate Networks
• Lionsgate to Allow More of Its Clips on YouTube
• Google Sued for Selling Ads on Parked Domains
• McCain Attacks Obama with Tracking Tool Versionista
• Blog AlleyInsider Raises Funding at $6 Million Valuation
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Microsoft Revs Up Talks with AOL
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Microsoft Corp., under pressure to find an alternative to buying part or all of Yahoo Inc., is pushing forward discussions over a deal with Time Warner Inc.’s AOL. Executives from Microsoft and AOL were scheduled to meet in Seattle Wednesday in the latest round of exploratory talks over how to combine AOL and Microsoft’s online group, according to people familiar with the situation.
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Tivo Launches YouTube Partnership
REUTERS
TiVo’s video streaming partnership with YouTube has gone live, four months after the deal was first announced. Through the partnership, TiVo subscribers with high-definition DVRs will be able to stream YouTube videos live through their TV sets. While TiVo has signed a number of online agreements with ventures such as Amazon’s Unbox download service, the deal marks TiVo’s first live streaming venture.
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Amazon Opens Streaming Movie Service
ELECTRONISTA
Amazon is revealing Video on Demand, its second approach to online video. Unlike the company’s own Unbox service, which requires that users download the entire video, the new feature will depend on streaming alone; while it depends on an active Internet connection, the feature will allow devices with little to no hard drive space to buy TV shows, and buy or rent movies, with the same access as full computer users.
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thePlatform Buys Social Media Apps Firm Chirp Interactive
PAIDCONTENT
thePlatform, the broadband and mobile video services provider that is now part of Comcast, has acquired assets from San Francisco-based Chirp Interactive, a provider of social media applications…some of Chirp’s employees are transitioning into the bigger company. Chirp’s standalone service will not continue, but its community and content discovery features will be integrated within thePlatform’s media publishing system.
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Meebo Announces Cross-Site, Integrated IM for Online Communities
TECHCRUNCH
Instant messaging service Meebo announced a new product called community Instant Messaging that will effectively provide “instant messaging in a box” to any site with a community. It will be a federated system, which means users can access friends on other meebo powered social networks, too. DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group’s AddictingGames, Piczo, SparkArt, Sugar Publishing and Tagged were also announced as launch partners.
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In-Game Commerce Firm PlaySpan Acquires PayByCash
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
PlaySpan, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of in-game search, commerce and micropayment technologies, said on Wednesday that it has acquired PayByCash, a Virginia-based developer of an alternative payment system for online games, virtual worlds and social networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. PayByCash provides clients with 70 different payment options, including a pre-paid card.
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Heavily-Backed Financial Intelligence Firm Monitor110 Shutters
PAIDCONTENT
Monitor110, a NYC startup that analyzed raw, unstructured internet content to help hedge funds make decisions, is shuttering. The company had raised over $20 million from DFJ, DFJ Gotham and Acadia, having last raised $11 million in late 2006. The service tracked information from over 50 million sources (message boards and the like), with the aim of distilling news and measuring sentiment in a manner useful to traders.
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Videogames Getting More Social
PHYSORG
Videogame makers are riding the social-networking wave with a flood of soon-to-be-released titles that let friends play online as teams and even create their own characters. The world’s big three console makers — Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony — are providing frameworks for players to connect with hardware and software on which online communities of gamers can have fun and flourish. “Gamers aren’t just in it for the high scores anymore,” Sony Computer Entertainment of North America president Jack Tretton said, as videogame industry giants unveiled new offerings at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. “Gamers are in it for the social experience.”
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Social Bookmarker Snipitron Acquires Bookmarking Tool OnlyWire
PAIDCONTENT
Snipitron, a content sharing service geared towards researchers, is acquiring OnlyWire, a bookmarklet service that works across a number of sites (del.icio.us, Blue Dot, et. al). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Rather than being a destination, Snipitron is positioning itself as a professional platform, with both free and paid, feature-rich versions.
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Verizon Wins Competitive New York TV License for FiOS
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER
Verizon has been granted permission to provide its fiber optic TV services in New York, in competition with established cable operators Time Warner Cable and Cablevision. The decision by New York State’s Public Service Commission marks the last regulatory barrier and confirms an earlier agreement between Verizon and the City of New York. Under the agreement, Verizon will offer TV to all five New York City boroughs as part of its fiber optic service (FiOS).
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BlackBerry PDF Flaw Exposes Corporate Networks
ZDNET
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is warning businesses to disable the function which allows a BlackBerry to read PDF files until it can issue an update, after a security flaw was found in the company’s software. A “high” severity flaw affecting how BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) opens PDF attachments could be used to compromise a corporate network. Research in Motion quietly disclosed the flaw last week but is yet to issue a patch.
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Lionsgate to Allow More of Its Clips on YouTube
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Lionsgate said Wednesday that it would allow YouTube users to watch more of its movies and television shows, marking the top video site’s most far-reaching deal with a mainstream Hollywood studio. The studio said YouTube users would be able to see long stretches of movies and TV shows, share them with other users and possibly edit the material or add their own content. Lionsgate will take a share of revenue from advertising viewed with the clips.
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Google Sued for Selling Ads on Parked Domains
INFORMATIONWEEK
Google on Friday was sued for fraud, business code violations, and unjust enrichment, claims arising from the company’s alleged sale of low-quality ads. According to the complaint, the “Levitte International” online ad campaign ran from June 1, 2007, through August 18, 2007, and received 202,528 impressions from parked domain pages — placeholder Web pages with auto-generated links related to a pre-determined search keyword or the hosting domain name.
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McCain Attacks Obama with Tracking Tool Versionista
ARS TECHNICA
The latest addition to the Internet campaigning toolbox is Versionista, a web-based diff utility that tracks changes in web sites on an hourly basis and automatically generates full reports with side-by-side comparisons of specified versions The McCain campaign web site recently published a link to a Versionista comparison that shows changes to Obama’s web page about the Iraq war.
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Blog AlleyInsider Raises Funding at $6 Million Valuation
PAIDCONTENT
AlleyInsider, the year-old media/tech news site founded by Kevin Ryan, Dwight Merriman, and Henry Blodget, has received less than $1 million in funding at $6 million post-money valuation.The investor group includes Allen Morgan, former partner at Mayfield.
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