FCC to approve Comcast-NBC merger with some conditions

The Federal Communications Commission is set to approve the merger of cable TV company Comcast with NBC Universal, clearing the way for the mega-merger to become a reality.

Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, issued a draft order approving the merger on the condition that the combined company play fair with rivals. The approval is contingent on Comcast-NBC agreeing to share shows with competing cable and satellite TV providers. It would also ensure that competing … Continue Reading

iPad 2 to get new back, better speaker, smaller bezel (rumor)

The next-generation iPad 2 rumors are in full gear. Today, the Japanese Apple blog MacOtakara reported that the new device from Apple, rumored to be coming in February, will get a new flat back panel, a wide-range speaker (pictured at bottom) and a smaller bezel, or border.

Whatever Apple does with the next-generation iPad, you can expect it to be big. Apple is now selling millions of the devices and dominates the overall tablet market.… Continue Reading

Viacom won't get fooled again, drops Rock Band developer as music game sales falter

Music game developer Harmonix might have started the fire for the music game industry. But it’s stopped burning, leading Viacom to sell the critically acclaimed developer, the company announced today.

After taking off like a rocket in 2005 with the launch of Harmonix’s first title, Guitar Hero, music games have been disappointing lately. The games let players pick up plastic controllers that look and feel remotely like instruments and rock out to songs from the … Continue Reading

Skype CEO offers update on outage that affected tens of millions

Tony Bates, the chief executive of Skype, posted a YouTube video today explaining what the company is doing to fix the outage that brought down Skype communications for tens of millions of users.

He said the company has been working hard to restore communication for all of its users who were hit with the outage in the past 24 hours. Skype offers free internet calling between users and a paid service for those calling regular … Continue Reading

In danger of being an also-ran, Atari names a new CEO

Atari has named a new chief executive today, promoting Jim Wilson from within to the top job as part of a plan to resuscitate the company’s struggling video game business.

Atari is the oldest brand in video games, but it has not been the most successful. The company has changed hands a few times and is now based in Paris, France. Wilson, who was deputy CEO, replaces Jeff Lapin, who is leaving the company.

For … Continue Reading

Secret Santa success caps banner year for Reddit

As 2010 comes to a close, social news aggregator Reddit.com is celebrating another success in what has been a year full of them.

A “secret santa” program created by Reddit users expanded to more than four times the size of what it started at last year. More than 17,000 Reddit users from 90 countries are exchanging gifts. That’s an example of how Reddit is flexible enough to allow users to expand and engage the community … Continue Reading

Linden Lab gets second new CEO of the year for Second Life

Linden Lab, creator of the Second Life virtual world, has hired Rod Humble as its new chief executive.

Humble is a veteran of Electronic Arts, where he served as executive vice president for the EA Play label and ran The Sims business. He has an impressive background in games, but Second Life has a lot of problems to overcome.

The company is fighting to hang on to users for its deep and engaging virtual world, … Continue Reading

Google lets users bill Android app purchases to their AT&T accounts

Applications purchased on the Android Marketplace for phones running Google’s Android mobile operating system can now be charged to AT&T phone accounts and paid for whenever users pay their bill normally.

The change could help application developers by making it a little easier to pay for an app and get it as quickly as possible. iPhone users link credit cards to their iTunes accounts and are able to purchase an app by basically pressing their … Continue Reading

2011 Fisker Karma 'final pricing' goes up again, to $95,900

The 2011 Fisker Karma is still on track to reach U.S. dealers in March or April, according to the company.

But there’s one new piece of info: The price of the extended-range electric sports sedan has gone up. Again.

Originally announced in 2008 at a price of $80,000, the Karma fairly quickly went up to $87,900 and stayed there. Now, just before launch, ‘final pricing’ has risen another $8,000.

Based on an e-mail forwarded to … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Another BrightSource IPO rumor, Tessera scrambles for solar money

Here’s some of the latest action we’re following on the GreenBeat today:

Tessera scrambles to finance solar projects — Two of the company’s projects will cost a combined $4 billion, but it is struggling to get the financing, according to a Reuters analysis. The analysis cites unnamed sources that confirm buyers are asking about acquiring the land and licenses. But if Tessera agrees to sell, it could lose the opportunity to prove its Sun Catcher … Continue Reading

Questions over accounting delay Demand Media IPO

Content farm Demand Media has delayed its IPO because of questions about its accounting practices, according to All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher.

Demand amortizes the cost of its cheap, substandard content over five years, meaning that only a fifth of those costs are matched against the current year’s revenues, which boosts reported profits. That’s not necessarily illicit or even wrong, but according to Swisher’s sources, discussions between Demand and government regulators over how to explain … Continue Reading

Skype competitor magicTalk launching on Christmas

VocalTec already has a major hit with its magicJack internet phone device, but now the company is ready to step up and offer completely free calls to users with the launch of its magicTalk service on Christmas.

Given the recent downtime issues Skype has been seeing, many consumers may be looking for a similar internet calling service. By launching on Christmas Day, VocalTec may be able to take advantage of frustrated Skype users as well … Continue Reading

Taiwan's SemiLEDs IPOs — can U.S. cleantech manufacturers keep up?

Earlier this month, Taiwanese company SemiLEDs quietly IPO’d on the NASDAQ to some nice results, but its success begs the question: Can American cleantech manufacturing startups keep up with Asia?

The company makes components and chips for LEDs. Its debut offering price was $17 but rose to $24 on the first day of trading, and it’s now trading around $28. It is backed by one venture investor, WI Harper, a firm with a China focus.… Continue Reading

From Kinect to Angry Birds — the biggest video game stories of 2010

During 2010, we wrote about 1,100 stories on the video game industry — and the year isn’t over yet. But here’s a look back at what we thought were the biggest stories of the year. For fun, here’s a link to our story from a year ago, when we deemed that the biggest story of 2009 was that the industry discovered that video games weren’t recession proof.

The big deals of last year were also … Continue Reading

The network is the light bulb: Smart lighting set to surge in 2011

This post is brought to you by IBM. As always, VentureBeat is adamant about maintaining editorial objectivity. IBM had no involvement in the content of this or other posts. For more information on how IBM can help create a Smarter Planet, go here.

We’ve written before about how software that makes buildings more energy-efficient will become an appealing sector in smart buildings. Well, smart buildings will need smart lighting. And so 2011 will be … Continue Reading

Ciara's top posts of 2010

Tech journalism, and tech companies, for me have always been about ideas and their ability to change the world. What matters is not only the strength of the light you can shed on a subject but what you choose to illuminate. For me, technology should either be delightful or do something important or both. Here are the articles I loved writing in 2010:

Augmented Reality: The Next generation because Terminator‘s augmented reality vision was as … Continue Reading

In Fusion's iPhone games, the climate changes to match your real weather

Most iPhone games don’t require a lot of cool new technology. They just need to be fun. But Fusion Creative Studios has come up with a unique technology stunt that gamers may find amusing: real-time weather. The idea is to make the environment of the game world change to reflect the weather in the real world.

With its Foxie Hunny 2 game released this week, Fusion Studios offers what it claims no other game can … Continue Reading

Samsung edges close to 10M Galaxy S sales

Samsung said two months ago that it expects to sell 10 million Galaxy S Android phones in 2010, and now it looks like the company is set to reach that goal. The Korean phone manufacturer announced earlier this week that it has sold 9.3 million Galaxy S phones worldwide and that it will likely hit 10 million by the end of the month.

Hitting that key sales number would make the Galaxy S the first … Continue Reading

Rovi aims for consumer digital video with $720M Sonic Solutions buy

Seemingly out of nowhere, the content guide and copy protection specialist Rovi announced tonight that it intends to acquire digital media company Sonic Solutions, maker of the popular Roxio media creation software, for $720 million.

The deal lands Rovi, formerly known as Macrovision, with a slew of consumer-level products and technologies — something it’s traditionally avoided. Thus far, Rovi has been known for focusing on the business end of media with offerings like programming guides … Continue Reading