In This Update:
• UK Retailer Woolworths to be Reborn Online
• Content Syndicator Mochila Raises C Round
• Korea to Get 1Gbps Wired Internet by 2012
• TVtrip Raises €7 Million More For Hotel Video Reviews
• Vizio Joins Up With the Big Boys
• Samsung to Present the World’s First 12MP Phone at MWC 2009
• LinkedIn Launches Set of HR Tools
• Analyst Now Says iMacs Likely in Both Dual- and Quad-Core
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UK Retailer Woolworths to be Reborn Online
REUTERS
Woolworths, the 100-year-old sweets-to-DVD retailer that collapsed last month, will be reborn as an online store after its brand name was bought by Shop Direct, Britain’s biggest home shopping retailer. Shop Direct, which operates under brands such as Littlewoods and Kays and is owned by entrepreneurial brothers David and Frederick Barclay, said on Monday it had also bought Woolworths’ Ladybird childrenswear brand. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Woolworths is a much-loved brand that engenders huge affection among British consumers and is an important part of the country’s retail heritage,” said Shop Direct Chief Executive Mark Newton-Jones.
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Content Syndicator Mochila Raises C Round
SILCON ALLEY INSIDER
NYC-based content syndication marketplace Mochila has raised a Series C round of financing. The company isn’t disclosing the size of the round, but it’s raised some $30 million to date, including an $8 million Series B in 2007. What’s Mochila? A marketplace where companies can get widgets and content from sources like news organizations — such as IDG, which announced it’s joining the service today — and marketers. Mochila’s investors include media investment firm Greenspun Corporation, which now owns a majority stake in the company; Belo; Charles River Ventures; and Mission Ventures. In addition to the new financing and partnership with IDG, Mochila announced that former AOL CEO Jon Miller has joined its advisory board.
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Korea to Get 1Gbps Wired Internet by 2012
ELECTRONISTA
Korea will have infrastructure in place and offer wired Internet services with speeds reaching 1Gbps by 2012, the country’s communications commission said in a statement over the weekend, according to a Monday report. This, along with wireless broadband jumping to 10Mbps (or 4G speeds), will be a 10-fold increase on the respective services’ current speeds. The project will involve an investment of the equivalent of $24.6 billion over the next five years, with the government chipping in $935 million and the remainder coming from private telecommunications operators. The undertaking will create 120,000 jobs.
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TVtrip Raises €7 Million More For Hotel Video Reviews
TECHCRUNCH
Paris-based TVtrip has scored €7 million (nearly $9 million) in venture capital funding on top of its previous $4.8 million Series A round, bringing the total of capital invested in the company up to a healthy $13.8 million (excluding the undisclosed angel funding the company raised to get started). Previous investors Balderton Capital and Partech International participated in the second round and were joined by AGF Private Equity this time. TVtrip is essentially a guide for hotels from around the globe, but centered around video reviews and enhanced with third-party reviews from sites like HotelClub and Venere. Visitors are offered unbiased, professionally produced video reviews for hotels and get to book straight away through affiliate partnerships with booking sites.
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Vizio Joins Up With the Big Boys
NEW YORK TIMES
Vizio made a name for itself by selling plasma and LCD TVs at bargain basement prices in big box stores like Costco. So why is this third-tier brand advertising on this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIII, associating with the likes of Anheuser-Busch, Audi, Kellogg’s and Mars and their extravagantly-produced ads celebrating the good life? The answer, according to Jim Noyd, a Vizio spokesman, is that in their first foray into Super Bowl advertising, the company got a deal they couldn’t refuse. “We got a good deal on price and an incredible package,” Mr. Noyd said. He would not state what the TV manufacturer paid, but said that it was considerably less than the oft-quoted rate of up to $3 million per 30-second spot.
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Samsung to Present the World’s First 12MP Phone at MWC 2009
UNWIREDVIEW.COM
Samsung was the first manufacturer to release an 8MP camera phone (the Innov8, outed one month before Sony Ericsson’s C905), and it looks like it will also be the first to announce and launch a 12MP handset. Telecoms Korea says that, according to another Korean publication, the world’s first 12 Megapixel camera phone will be unveiled by Samsung at MWC 2009, thus in about two weeks from now. Details about the phone are basically inexistent, but it’s said that Samsung plans to begin mass production before the end of February, with the intention of releasing it in Europe first.
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LinkedIn Launches Set of HR Tools
WEBPRONEWS
LinkedIn has introduced a new set of tools for HR professionals called LinkedIn Talent Advantage. The release reflects LinkedIn’s mentality that the best job candidates aren’t always actively seeking new jobs, although job posting responses on LinkedIn have doubled over the last six months. Included in the suite, are: LinkedIn Recruiter, which helps corporate recruiters source top passive talent, with extended search, full profile viewing, direct messaging and team collaboration tools. LinkedIn Jobs Network, which consists of job postings on LinkedIn that deliver precise targeting, candidate match recommendations and viral distribution of job postings throughout the network. LinkedIn Talent Direct, which consists of “InMail” campaigns to reach more potential candidates faster and more precisely.
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Analyst Now Says iMacs Likely in Both Dual- and Quad-Core
APPLE INSIDER
Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told clients on Monday that AppleInsider’s latest report on iMac shortages is “consistent” with comments from his supply chain sources that the iMac is due for a refresh in the March or June quarters. “In our experience, when Apple sends an advisory to its channel partners of limited availability and inventory of existing models are drawn down, it is highly likely that a product refresh is within a few weeks,” he said. Wu generate some headlines exactly one week ago when he reported that new iMacs were almost ready for prime time but were being held up for “business reasons and a potential small technical hurdle.” Specifically, he said Apple was in the “midst of figuring out whether to power the new iMac with Intel quad-core processors or more high-powered dual-core processors with larger caches.”
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