In This Update:
• Google Sells Performics SEM Unit to Publicis
• Jajah Launches Instant Chinese/English Voice Translation
• Warner Music Says Music Video Games Must Pay More
• Google to Add AdSense Features with DoubleClick Cookies Technology
• MySpace Gets Official Presidential Debate Deal
• Gartner Approves iPhone for Limited Enterprise Use
• Report: Russia’s Online Ad Sector Grew 73 Percent In Last Year
• CallWave Acquires WebMessenger for $9 Million in Cash
• Mobile Ad Firm Amobee Gets Investments from Motorola, Cisco
• Eye-Fi Raises $11 Million Second Round for Photo Memory Cards
• Video Chat Service TokBox Raises $10 Million Second Round from Bain
• News Filter and Feed SkyGrid Raises $11 Million Second Round
• Ultizen Gets $6 Million Second Round for Game Development
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Google Sells Performics SEM Unit to Publicis
PAIDCONTENT
Publicis is to acquire Performics, the search marketing arm of DoubleClick, Google as part of its push into digital advertising, the French advertising company said on Wednesday. The Paris-based ad holding company says it will combine the unit with its existing SEM practice and that it will strengthen its VivaKi Nerve Center. Performics has 200 employees around the globe who will report to Vivaki head Curt Hecht. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Jajah Launches Instant Chinese/English Voice Translation
TECHCRUNCH
a popular VoIP service provider, has released a new English/Chinese translation service called JAJAH.Babel just in time for the Olympic Games. The service, which was developed in conjunction with IBM, allows users to call a free number to get a near-instant translation of spoken sentences. The service isn’t meant for voice calls abroad – instead, it’s a handheld translator. After speaking your message into the phone, you hand it to the person you’re speaking with, and the phone spits out the translated message.
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Warner Music Says Music Video Games Must Pay More
REUTERS
Warner Music Group Corp, the world’s third-largest music company, said on Thursday that video game makers will need to pay more to license songs for music-based video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.” Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman drew comparisons between MTV’s launch 25 years ago or Apple Inc’s iPod launch five years ago, and today’s video game companies like Activision Blizzard Inc and Harmonix, a unit of Viacom Inc. “The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small”
Google to Add AdSense Features with DoubleClick Cookies Technology
SEARCH ENGINE LAND
The Google Blog announced that Google is improving the content network (aka AdSense) by leveraging the technology they have acquired with DoubleClick. Google will be placing an additional DoubleClick cookie on the browsers of everyone who visits a site that is part of Google’s current AdSense network. This will allow Google to serve up display ads across that network of sites. It will also allow it to introduce some basic improvements such as frequency capping (letting advertisers limit how many times the same person sees the same ad), and better reporting and conversion data. Google is also allowing users to opt-out of the new system.
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MySpace Gets Official Presidential Debate Deal
CNET
MySpace has been officially sanctioned by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) to launch MyDebates.org, which will debut Wednesday. The site offers a downloadable app that will stream the presidential debates live, archive them for on-demand viewing (searchable and tagged, naturally), participate in polls, and track the candidates’ stances on issues. The first presidential debate is September 26, followed by a vice presidential debate on October 2. This marks the first time that the CPD has officially partnered with a Web property for debate coverage.
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Gartner Approves iPhone for Limited Enterprise Use
APPLEINSIDER
Market research firm Gartner said this week that Apple’s iPhone Firmware 2.0 update meets its criteria for ‘appliance-level support status’ for big businesses, but warned enterprises to approach expanded use of the handset slowly and with close examination. Gartner’s approval of the iPhone in the enterprise is not without caveats. The report notes that Apple’s iTunes software is required to sync the iPhone, and that it provides IT administrators with registry-level controls to deny users from performing specific tasks, such as downloading iPhone firmware updates prior to their being approved by the company’s IT staff.
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Report: Russia’s Online Ad Sector Grew 73 Percent In Last Year
QUINTURA
The online advertising market in Russia was estimated at $260 million in 1H 2008, up 73% from 1H 2007, according to a report from MindShare Interaction. The contextual advertising accounted for $161 million or 62% of total online advertising spending, while display advertising accounted for $99 million (38%) of total online spending.
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CallWave Acquires WebMessenger for $9 Million in Cash
MOCONEWS
Online communications firm CallWave has acquired WebMessenger, a mobile messaging software provider focused on enterprise customers, for $9 million in cash today. WebMessenger says it provides secure messaging solutions for connecting desktop PCs with BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, S60, iPhone and Palm smartphone devices. In announcing the deal, Jeff Cavins, CEO of CallWave, said WebMessenger’s technology will be integrated into FUZE, a personalized communications service the company plans to launch soon.
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Mobile Ad Firm Amobee Gets Investments from Motorola, Cisco
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
Amobee Media Systems, a provider of mobile ad delivery technology, announced on Wednesday that it has raised an undisclosed sum of new funding, from investors including Motorola, Cisco Systems, Telefonica, Vodafone, Accel Partners, Globespan and Sequoia Capital. The company also said it hired Gary Schofield, former president at mobile content publisher Digital Chocolate, as its new president and chief operating officer. Redwood City, Calif.-based Amobee dynamically inserts relevant ads into all mobile entertainment and communication channels, including video, music, messaging, games and WAP.
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Eye-Fi Raises $11 Million Second Round for Photo Memory Cards
PAIDCONTENT
Eye-Fi, a company out of Mountain View, Calif. has raised $11 million in a second round of funding. Translink Capital and LMS Capital led the round with existing investors Opus Capital and Shasta Ventures participating. To date, the company has raised $17.5 million. The company makes memory cards with built-in Wi-Fi that automatically uploads photos to photo-sharing sites.
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Video Chat Service TokBox Raises $10 Million Second Round from Bain
TECHCRUNCH
TokBox, the Sequoia-backed video chat startup, has closed a $10 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with Sequoia also contributing. The round brings TokBox’s total funding to around $14 million. As part of the deal, Bain’s Scott Friend will join the company’s board. TokBox offers a Flash-based video chat service that requires no extra plugins.
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News Filter and Feed SkyGrid Raises $11 Million Second Round
PULSE2.0
SkyGrid is a news aggregation and filtering service that is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. SkyGrid has announced that they have raised $11 million as part of their Series B round of funding. The lead investor was RRE Ventures. Previous investor, BlackRock also participated. Other previous investors includes Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Esther Dyson. SkyGrid scans millions of news sources and then filters out the important information
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Ultizen Gets $6 Million Second Round for Game Development
PAIDCONTENT
Ultizen, a Shanghai and LA-based provider of videogame development outsourcing services, has raised a $6 million second round led by PAC-LINK (Taiwan), along with Japan Asia Investment and CyberAgent. The company raised a $1.5 million initial round last year, bringing its total raise to $7.5 million. Ultizen specializes in game art, and it describes its client base as “top-20″ firms, as well as small and mid-size studios. The company plans to use the money to fund acquisitions.
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Tags: Accel Partners, Activision, Amobee, Apple, Asia, Bain Capital, Blackberry, Boston, CallWave, Cisco, CNET, Doubleclick, Eye-Fi, Flash, Gartner, Google, IAC, IBM, Informa, iPhone, IPO, ISP, iTunes, Jajah, LTE, Memory, Motorola, MTV, Music, MySpace, NY Times, PRI, Publicis, SEC, Sequoia Capital, SkyGrid, Smartphone, TokBox, Ultizen, Venture Capital, Viacom, Video, VOD, VoIP, Warner Music, WebMessenger, Wi-Fi, Windows