Virgin Media to roll out 100Mbps fiber broadband to 12.6M UK homes

Virgin Media announced today that it would begin rolling out 100 megabit per second fiber broadband to 12.6 million homes in the United Kingdom. The news follows the UK government’s pledge to bring universal broadband to everyone in Britain by 2012, as well as plans from ISPs in the U.S. and elsewhere to push next-generation broadband speeds.

The 100Mbps connection would be 24 times faster than the average broadband connection in the UK, which sits … Continue Reading

Music Mastermind bags $4.9M for virtual music creation

Music Mastermind, a developer of music creation products and software, today announced it has secured a first round of funding for $4.9 million from undisclosed angel investors. The funding will be used to further product development and finalize release plans to the public.

Music Mastermind emerged this year at the Consumer Electronics Show and provided several sneak peaks of its music creation products. Combined with software, the company uses video game like musical tools to … Continue Reading

Cloudy skies ahead for Palm — warns of lower than expected revenue

It’s going to be a difficult year for Palm. The handset maker updated its guidance this morning to reflect lower than expected revenue for the third quarter and full fiscal year 2010. It expects third quarter revenue to be in the range of $285 and $310 million on a GAAP basis — about 30 percent less than $425.4 million analysts had been expecting (according to AllThingsDigital). Subsequently, Palm expects much lower fiscal year 2010 revenue … Continue Reading

Mobile browsing startup Skyfire says new hire signals business shift

Skyfire, which offers a browser for fast mobile navigation of media-rich web pages, just announced that it’s hiring Jason Guesman as its new senior vice president of sales and marketing.

We don’t cover a lot of hiring news, especially non-CEO hires, but a company spokesman tells me this is a significant move for Skyfire’s business model, because it marks a new focus on selling Skyfire to companies, not consumers. Until now, the Mountain View, Calif.-based … Continue Reading

New batch of GamesBeat@GDC speakers: Vanedge Capital, Raine Group, AdMob

Once again, we’d like to highlight more stellar speakers we lined up for our upcoming  GamesBeat@GDC executive game conference. The event is set for March 10 in San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference in the Moscone Convention Center. Today we’re announcing the following speakers have been added to our lineup:

Paul Lee, managing general partner at Vanedge Capital Partners. Lee will speak on our opening panel on The Best Disruptive Game Investment Opportunities for … Continue Reading

gWallet launches "brand bar" platform to monetize social games

gWallet, an offer startup in social media, is launching an extension to its platform that it believes will improve monetization in social games.

The company’s new Brand Bar is a way to stick monetization offers right in front of the user’s face in a social game. The bar appears at the top of a game screen on all pages and displays. It offers users the chance to earn virtual currency which they can spend in … Continue Reading

Epic Games' Mike Capps on how to build a blockbuster franchise (video)

Building a blockbuster franchise is one of the hardest things in the game industry. Epic Games has done so twice with its Unreal first-person shooter franchise and its Gears of War third-person shooter games. Not many companies can boast the same.

We’re going to zero in on this topic at our GamesBeat@GDC conference on March 10 at the Game Developers Conference. Meanwhile, check out the video below to see how Capps answers my questions about … Continue Reading

iPad purchase plans sluggish, AdMob survey finds

Only one in six iPhone owners surveyed by Google-owned mobile ad network AdMob said that they “intend to purchase” an Apple iPad tablet computer. Among Android phone owners, the ratio dropped to one in seventeen.

The results, from an opt-in survey of 960 respondents that AdMob ran in January, strongly suggest that the iPad lacks the iPhone’s gotta-have-it hotness.

If you factor in the inevitability that not everyone who intends to buy an iPad will … Continue Reading

Roundup: Conan takes over Twitter with one tweet, Bloom pulls back the curtain, and more

Here’s the latest action:

The future of music on the web — TechDirt takes a deep dive into possible future business models for the online music industry, highlighting the need for companies to connect with fans, while adding value they are willing to pay for.

Salesforce reports strong fourth quarter — The enterprise software company posted $20.4 million in profits, up 48 percent from the previous year. Revenue came in at $354 million, up 22 … Continue Reading

Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway shows off the large-screen DSi XL (video)

The new Nintendo DSi XL arrives in the U.S. on March 28. But Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president at Nintendo of America, showed me the product up close today during our interview in San Francisco.

She said that innovations such as a bigger screen — which can be viewed from the side by others who are watching you play — will keep Nintendo fans happy. To date, most innovations have been about making devices smaller. … Continue Reading

Will Nintendo's first-half game lineup satisfy gamers? Our hands-on impressions

The announcement of Nintendo’s DSi XL handheld got a lot of attention today. But the games that the Japanese company talked about are equally as important to its plan to continue its domination of the video game market in the first half of 2010. Here’s some hands-on impressions of the up-close-and-personal demonstrations I saw today of the upcoming games.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii

It’s been a long wait since Super Mario Galaxy … Continue Reading

Spark Radio launches for iPhone, brings radio and the Internet together at last

By now, most radio stations have started broadcasting online, meaning you can listen from anywhere you’ve got an Internet connection. For whatever reason, though, that fantastic feature hasn’t really found its way to where we normally listen to the radio — in the car or in our living room.

But now Spark Radio, a brand new $6 app in the iPhone App Store, is bringing the advantages of radio and the Internet together to make … Continue Reading

Minerva brings in $6M equity round to treat uterine bleeding

Minerva Surgical, developer of medical devices used to treat irregular uterine bleeding, has brought in $6 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Cupertino, Calif., the company has been making and marketing medical devices targeted at women for more than 30 years.… Continue Reading

WaferGen raises $5.1M to build chips for genetic applications

WaferGen Biosystems, builder of chips used in genotyping and stem-cell research, has brought in $5.1 million in options, warrants and equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Fremont, Calif., the company is public and trades under the symbol WGBS.… Continue Reading

KODA packs in $1.5M more to connect young professionals with jobs

KODA, a web-based network for young professionals looking for prestigious jobs, has brought in $1.5 million in an angel round of funding. Based in San Francisco, the company has not listed any backers, but has raised about $4.5 million to date.… Continue Reading

InMage looks for $172K for data recovery systems

InMage Systems, provider of software that can recover system data in case of an emergency, is looking for a $172,369 round of options, warrants and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company is backed by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Intel Capital.… Continue Reading

Capnia breathes in $3.1M to deliver carbon dioxide for medical treatments

Capnia, developer of a system used to deliver carbon dioxide to treat medical conditions, has brought in $3.1 million of a targeted $4.7 million round of rights, securities and debt financing, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company is backed by Asset Management, Teknoinvest, Vivo Ventures, Alliance Venture and Sagamore Bioventures.… Continue Reading

Enerkem takes $51 million for advanced biofuel projects

Enerkem, the Canadian bio fuels company, believes it can sell carbon-neutral fuels for cheap and do so while removing trash from landfills. The company has taken $51 million in funding including investment from Waste Management of Houston. Garbage and bio fuels go together like peas and carrots, with a waste-to-fuels facility in Mississippi set to help Enerkem spend its new money.

On the other hand, Advanced biofuels have been getting a bad name from ActionAid … Continue Reading