In This Update:
• Senate OKs DTV Delay and Offers $9B for Broadband
• Commerce Secretary May Hail from Silicon Valley
• Apple Awarded Multi-Touch Patent
• Mozilla to Fund Open-Source Web Video Tech Development
• Verizon Earnings Up 15 Percent, Boosted By Wireless And Broadband Units
• AdMob Circles Around Android Applications
• Netflix Has Stellar 4th Quarter Results
• Microsoft: The Zune is Here to Stay
• Connect3 Systems Acquired By DemandTec
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Senate OKs DTV Delay and Offers $9B for Broadband
GIGAOM
The Senate yesterday approved a bill to delay the transition to digital television signals until June 12, and the House is expected to approve similar legislation today. While Qualcomm may be gnashing its teeth over the passage of the delay, which the company says could cost it millions, the other players holding spectrum currently occupied by the analog television signals likely are focused on the Senate’s version of another bill – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.
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Commerce Secretary May Hail from Silicon Valley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
John W. Thompson, the outgoing chief executive of network security firm Symantec Corp., has emerged as a leading contender to be Commerce secretary, a move that would give the high-tech industry a major voice in the Obama administration. Over the last decade, Thompson led the Cupertino, Calif.-based company from a small software maker to the top provider of antivirus and security programs, known for its Norton brand of products. An African American, Thompson also has been active in trying to bring more people of color into the high-tech industry. In recent days, Thompson has spoken on the telephone and met with key senators, making a favorable impression, aides said.
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Apple Awarded Multi-Touch Patent
WORLD OF APPLE
According to the US Patent Office Apple was awarded patent number 7,479,949 on January 20, 2009. The patent which was filed on April 11, 2008 covers multi-touch and all associated gestures such as pinch, swipe and rotation. The patent is titled: Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics. The initial patent abstract is as follows: A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command.
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Mozilla to Fund Open-Source Web Video Tech Development
VENTURE BEAT
Firefox browser-maker Mozilla is pushing a new set of video technologies that won’t require users to install software plugins, while offering developers lower costs and greater flexibility. The nonprofit is pledging $100,000 in grant money for third-parties who are building for an open-source video encoding technology called Theora. Mozilla already supports Theora in the 3.1 version of Firefox it is working on in beta now, along with open-source multimedia container software Ogg and open-source audio software Vorbis.
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Verizon Earnings Up 15 Percent, Boosted By Wireless And Broadband Units
PAIDCONTENT
Fourth-quarter earnings rose 15 percent at Verizon Communications, the country’s largest wireless operator, boosted by growth in its wireless and broadband units. Verizon reported net income of $1.24 billion, or $0.43 per share (EPS) on $24.6 billion in revenue, just shy of analyst forecasts of $24.76 billion. On an adjusted basis, Verizon earned 61 cents a share compared to 62 cents a share a year ago. Total revenues for the wireless unit were up 12.3 percent year on year to $12.8 billion and data revenues surged 41.4 percent to $3 billion. Revenues at its wireline business shrank 2.7 percent year-on-year to $11.9 billion, hit by continued losses in its fixed-line access business, but broadband and video revenue increased 42 percent year-on-year to $1.2 billion.
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AdMob Circles Around Android Applications
CNET
AdMob put out a call Tuesday for Android developers, as it unveiled an ad unit specifically for applications running on Google’s smartphone. AdMob’s ad unit is designed to allow third-party developers to generate revenue from the applications they create for Google’s Android mobile phone. AccuWeather, Jirbo, and TapJoy developers have already put AdMob’s Android ad unit to work, the company said. “We are already seeing strong interest in developing applications for Android-based devices, similar to what we saw with the iPhone last summer,” Ali Diab, AdMob vice president of product management, said in a statement. AdMob, based in San Mateo, Calif., serves mobile banner and text ads. The company works with more than 6,000 mobile sites and 450 iPhone applications.
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Netflix Has Stellar 4th Quarter Results
GADGETS N’ GEAR
Netflix, Inc. has released the numbers for their 4th quarter and WOW, are they stellar! Netflix’s 4th quarter profit climbed 45%. Netflix’s growth was driven by low prices and streaming video services. Netflix’s customer base grew by 718,000 in the last three months of 2008. This is more than double the growth that management expected. Netflix has about 9.4 million customers now. Netflix launched about 10 years ago and charges about $5 to $17 per month to rent DVDs.
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Microsoft: The Zune is Here to Stay
NEOWIN
After a very dismal week at Microsoft, the company posted its Q-10 earnings late Friday afternoon. The Zune platform posted a revenue decrease of nearly $100 million, or 54%. Over the weekend critics all around the blogosphere have been calling for Microsoft to give up on the Zune. Adam Suhn, director of marketing for the Zune platform, told the Seattle Pi that several already known factors led up to the huge lose for the company. “Everyone knows that the economy is not what it was a year ago and that [it] is hurting some folks”, and later went on to say “So I think those are things that affected everybody’s sales, including Apple.” Apple’s iPod platform posted a 16% revenue decrease last quarter, along with various other MP3 device manufacturers.
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Connect3 Systems Acquired By DemandTec
SOCALTECH
Cerritos-based Connect3 Systems, a developer of advertising, merchandising, and promotions software, has been acquired by San Carlos-based DemandTec, DemandTec said Monday. According to DemandTec, it acquired Connect3 in an all-cash transaction, but did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Connect3’s software is being used by such companies as Best Buy, The Home Depot, ShopKo, Academy Sports + Outdoors, ACE Hardware, Office Depot, and others. The software helps those retailers manage merchandising and advertising efforts and cross-promotion
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