In a year of layoffs, game employment rises slightly in North America
Although the game industry has had plenty of layoffs this year, a new survey shows that the employee count at video game companies in North America rose slightly this year.
The employee count rose to 44,806, up marginally from 44,400 a year ago, in the third annual survey by Game Developer Research. The job losses related to closures of studios in the traditional game industry were offset by a rise in hiring at social and … Continue Reading
2010's hottest contenders: 8 products to watch
Want to know which products are going to be making the biggest waves in 2010? Well, here are my picks for the hottest innovations to watch. A few of them such as Kayak have been playing in the small-time for a while but are expected to make a big push next year. Others such as iTunes TV are only rumors so far, but if true, will make big news. While Foursquare and Eventbrite are relatively … Continue Reading
Spotify biding time for the right contracts before U.S. debut
The most eagerly anticipated music service this side of the Atlantic Ocean didn’t cross the pond this year. What’s going on?
I sat down with Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s vice president of products, over the weekend. Spotify is a music service lets you stream more than 6.5 million tracks for free with advertising. The paid version, about 10 euros a month, gives you access on your phone and without ads.
Co-founder and chief executive 26-year-old Daniel … Continue Reading
80legs sets its web crawler free
When 80legs launched its web crawling service at DEMO (a conference co-produced by VentureBeat) last fall, chief executive Shion Deysarkar told me he wanted to place tools previously exclusive to web giants within the reach of smaller companies, so that someone could, for example, build their own “mini-Google.” Now he’s taking that philosophy a step further, by offering 80legs services for free.
Why the change? In an email announcing the free service, 80legs says it … Continue Reading
Metaplace to shut down its site for thousands of virtual worlds
On Jan. 1, some 70,000 virtual worlds will vanish from the Internet. That’s because Metaplace, the company that made the open platform for the virtual worlds, will be closing its site.
San Diego, Calif.-based Metaplce had created a site over the past few years that could host virtual worlds that users created by themselves. The quality of the worlds ranged from the simple to the elaborate. But it wasn’t working as a business.
The company … Continue Reading
Wowza wants to bring more video to the iPhone (and elsewhere)
If you’re a web video company, you’ve got to choose which video format or formats you’re willing to support. It’d be nice if your video could just work with whatever player the user has installed, but that can get pretty expensive. Enter Wowza Media Systems, a company that promises to make the process cheaper and easier.
With the latest version of its media server, which made it through testing last week, Wowza says its customers … Continue Reading
Speed test shocker: AT&T wins Gizmodo's 12-city wireless megatest
As the owner of both an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon BlackBerry in San Francisco, I long ago joined the horde of iPhone whiners who complain about AT&T’s lousy service to everyone we meet.
But while my BlackBerry definitely connects in many places where the iPhone shows zero bars, Gizmodo’s new speed tests of network downloads and uploads found AT&T’s network has a higher download speed than Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon in San Francisco, Atlanta, … Continue Reading
How to plan a mobile ad campaign for 2010
Our interviews with mobile advertising execs recently have unearthed a common theme: They fret that many media planners — the people who decide where to spend advertising budgets — still think of the mobile advertising market as a singular niche market.
That’s a mistake, they say. It’s time to start looking at mobile ads with the same level of detail and audience-centric thinking that has become second nature when buying banner ads and search ads … Continue Reading
Seesmic launches key upgrades to mobile Android version
There’s no shortage of Twitter clients available to users looking to stay away from Twitter.com– even though Twitter itself remains the most visited by users, according to TwitStat. One of those top clients is Seesmic, but until today it had a lackluster mobile versions on phones using Google’s Android operating system.
Now Seesmic has announced an upgraded Android version with features that could make it a go-to Twitter resource, including search, Twitter lists, a share … Continue Reading
Content service Limelight to roll out interactive ads after buying EyeWonder
Limelight Networks, a company that manages and delivers different kinds of content on the web, diversified its offerings today with the $110 million acquisition of EyeWonder, an advertising agency that specializes in interactive ads.
In addition to giving Limelight access to its rich media applications, the deal will lump together the two companies’ 2,500 business partners and 800 interactive agencies, according to paidContent. It’s also indicative of a trend toward content management companies fusing with … Continue Reading
First Solar laps competition with massive Calif. plant, new deals
With all the hubbub surrounding Solyndra’s IPO filing and SunRun’s new $90 million for residential solar panels, many haven’t been paying attention to the solar industry’s looming giant: First Solar, the largest solar power provider in the world, based in Tempe, Ariz. But today the company reasserted its dominance, opening the largest photovoltaic power plant in the state of California, while also announcing plans to assemble more solar panels in Europe.
First Solar (FSLR.O), one … Continue Reading
Random House launches iPhone apps for its authors, partners with Mobile Roadie
Although there’s raging debate over how to pull the publishing world into the digital age, there seems to be consensus that one important way to do so is via mobile applications. Today Random House announced its first initiative in that space, in a partnership with Mobile Roadie, a service that bands and artists use to create their own iPhone apps.
(Other recent moves to take publishing mobile include an iTunes for magazines from Conde Nast … Continue Reading
Game startups raised $600.5 million in 2009, down 36 percent
Game startups continued to score big investments in 2009, but the amount of money raised in the year fell considerably compared to 2008.
Our analysis shows that 97 game startups raised $600.5 million in 2009, down 36 percent from a year ago. Last year we tallied 112 companies that raised more than $936.8 million, not counting fundings with undisclosed amounts.
This year was looking pretty weak until Zynga scored $180 million in a deal with … Continue Reading
Does Avatar represent the future of movies? Maybe not
Like any good nerd, I saw Avatar, the latest science fiction blockbuster in 3D from director James Cameron, over the weekend. And yes, those comparisons to Star Wars are spot on — Avatar’s special effects represent a tremendous technological breakthrough, one that raises the bar for every other blockbuster film.
For starters, it’s a real demonstration of how movies can use 3D. In The New Yorker’s brilliant (and not entirely flattering) profile of Cameron, Real3D … Continue Reading
Ford to add in-car Wi-Fi option that lets drivers choose their carrier
In-car Wi-Fi hotspots aren’t new. Chrysler rolled out in-car service by Autonet in August 2008 without getting much attention; Cadillac followed, and Chevy will add it to some models. But at $500 for the router, and $30 per month for wireless data service capped at 1 gigabyte per month, Autonet seems likely to put off many potential buyers. (Gizmodo reviewed an Autonet unit and found it expensive and slow.)
Today, Ford announced that some of … Continue Reading
The year it exploded: 10 hottest Chinese social games of 2009
Lucas Englehardt is CEO of BloggerInsight and an editor of ChinaSocialGames.com who is working with social gaming companies on executing their China plans. Based in Shanghai, he consults and speaks on Chinese tech, internet and new media.
This has been a milestone year for social gaming in China. What started with Parking Wars grew expediently with Happy Farm – currently Happy Farm has 27 million daily active users (or DAU, meaning in any given day, … Continue Reading
Twitter is profitable, says BusinessWeek
Content deals with Google and Microsoft, plus renegotiated rates with the telecom companies that carry its members’ tweets, have combined to make Twitter profitable, BusinessWeek veteran reporter Spence E. Ante wrote in an article published today. That’s a big surprise for a company whose stated business model has basically been “we’ll figure it out.”
The Google deal and Microsoft deal, both announced in October, make Twitter members’ content available to Google’s search engine and to … Continue Reading
Wireless equipment co. Meru files for IPO
Meru Networks, maker of equipment for wireless networks, has filed for an initial public offering. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company had raised $180 million in capital over five rounds from Clearstone Venture Partners, Vision Opportunity Master Fund, NeoCarta Ventures, Bluestream Ventures, Monitor Ventures, D.E. Shaw, CID Group and Tenaya Capital.… Continue Reading
Deltagen buys Benten Bio to expand biopharmaceutical business
Deltagen, a San Mateo, Calif.-based drug distribution company, has acquired Benten BioServices, a privately-held firm that takes care of contracting for the pharmaceutical industry, according to VentureWire. Delaware-headquartered Benten previously raised funds from Life Sciences Greenhouse and Penn Venture Partners.… Continue Reading
Sequoia charges ahead on new $1B fund
Sequoia Capital, one of the most respected venture firms in the Silicon Valley, says it is looking to raise a new fund totaling $1 billion that will be geared toward investments in China. Based in Menlo Park, the firm says it will be primarily looking to back early-stage startups in the region, and hopes to close the new fund by March.… Continue Reading
