In This Update:
• NBC Launches On-Demand Olympic Coverage In HD
• Delicious 2 Cleans Up Social Bookmarking
• Mobile Browser Skyfire Comes to Symbian Devices
• Digital Ad Agency Reaches Out to Old Media
• Kleiner Perkins Invests in iPhone Game Publisher
• WPP’s Wunderman Takes Majority Stake In Russian Digital Shop Alite
• Monster Acquires Job Search Site Trovix For $72.5 Million
• Content Licensing Firm GumGum Officially Announces First Round
• Amazon to Acquire AbeBooks
Sponsored by:
McCarter & English, LLP
The law firm of new media. Major offices in New York, Boston, Newark, Stamford, and other cities. Advising new media companies from start-up to exit. Venture capital, IP protections and disputes, employment matters, outsourcing, joint ventures, acquisitions, to name just a few.
NBC Launches On-Demand Olympic Coverage In HD
TECHCRUNCH
NBC has launched its online video hub for the 2008 Olympics, which features free on-demand video for over 20 sports. In order to maximize quality, the videos are available as downloads (you can start watching before the download finishes) and will be in “up to HD” quality. Unfortunately, the video downloads will only be available on Windows machines running Windows Media Center – once again Mac users are left in the cold, likely because of DRM issues (and the fact that Lenovo and Microsoft are sponsors).
Source>
Delicious 2 Cleans Up Social Bookmarking
ARS TECHNICA
Popular social bookmarking service del.icio.us has finally unveiled one of its most significant and anticipated redesigns since launching in 2003. As a quick primer for those who haven’t hopped on the bandwagon yet: social bookmarking websites allow you to save URLs in “the cloud” instead of in a single browser. Bookmarks can be tagged with multiple keywords for easy categorization and recall, which offers a number of benefits.
Source>
Mobile Browser Skyfire Comes to Symbian Devices
VENTUREBEAT
The Safari web browser on the iPhone has ignited interest in browsing the “real web” on mobile devices, but it’s not the only browser out there that allows you to do that. Skyfire allows you to see the web just as you would on your home computer but on a number of Windows Mobile-based devices. Today, it is launching the beta version of its software for the Symbian platform as well. Specifically, this version is built for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform, which is used on a variety of Nokia phones. Nokia recently purchased Symbian and plans to open the platform to spur development.
Source>
Digital Ad Agency Reaches Out to Old Media
REUTERS
Avenue A/Razorfish, a digital advertising and services agency, is set to announce plans to launch a media and entertainment consulting practice, banking on business from traditional media companies that are trying to broaden their image. A unit of Microsoft Corp, Avenue A/Razorfish is one of the largest interactive advertising and marketing agencies, boasting a client list that includes Molson Coors Brewing Co, Kraft Foods Inc, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels.
Source>
Kleiner Perkins Invests in iPhone Game Publisher
REUTERS
Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has invested in a first round of financing for ngmoco, a publisher of games for Apple Inc’s iPhone. Ngmoco will use the funding to collaborate with game makers on creating and acquiring games for the media-playing iPhone, the company said on Thursday.
Source>
WPP’s Wunderman Takes Majority Stake In Russian Digital Shop Alite
PAIDCONTENT
WPP Group continues its steady pace of digital purchases in growing markets today by taking a majority stake in Russian interactive agency Alite Ltd. The company trades as Actis and will be folded into WPP’s Wunderman network. The 11-year-old Moscow-based shop employs around 120 staffers. Actis provides strategy, design, development and content management for clients in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Source>
Monster Acquires Job Search Site Trovix For $72.5 Million
PAIDCONTENT
Monster, the incumbent job site, has announced a couple of deals, as it looks to fight off upstart competitors, like LinkedIn, Craigslist, Indeed.com and TheLadders… first it has acquired Mountain View-based Trovix, a site that applies semantic search technology to job search. The acquisition price was $72.5 million in cash. Monster says it will integrate its technology, which can help scan resumes and job openings for better matching.
Source>
Content Licensing Firm GumGum Officially Announces First Round
PAIDCONTENT
GumGum has officially announced the news, sans-price, naming First Round Capital and Crosscut Ventures. In addition, the company says it’s no longer using Flash technology, promising greater flexibility (and SEO), and that it has signed up a few Gawker Media properties (Gawker, Jezebel, Io9, Defamer) as customers.
Source>
Amazon to Acquire AbeBooks
TECHADDRESS
Amazon has announced this morning their acquisition of AbeBooks. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. AbeBooks is a marketplace for used, rare and out-of-print books. AbeBooks reports over 110 million books listed for sale and “tens-of-thousands” of sales every day. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2008. Amazon and AbeBooks have worked together for years now. AbeBooks began online operations in 1996 and is based in Canada.
Source>
Tags: AbeBooks, Alite, Amazon, Apple, Avenue A, Boston, Craigslist, del.icio.us, DRM, Financing, Flash, GumGum, iPhone, ISP, Kleiner Perkins, LinkedIn, Mac, Media Center, Microsoft, Monster, NBC, Nokia, Olympics, RIM, Semantic Search, Skyfire, Symbian, Symbian Devices, Trovix, Venture Capital, Video, WPP, Wunderman