Amazon beats Apple and Google to cloud music

Trying to beat rivals Apple and Google to market, Amazon.com announced tonight that it is launching a cloud-based music service. The service is an important one because it raises the possibility of creating a viable challenger to Apple’s current download-based iTunes music empire.

The Seattle-based online retailer said it will offer music playback on its web site as well as from any Android device. The advantage is that you don’t have to tie your music … Continue Reading

Why a fall iPhone 5 release could be brilliant for Apple

You won’t see the iPhone 5 until this fall, according to the The Loop and several other sites with insider Apple sources.

If true, the news would be a pretty major change for Apple, which has traditionally announced new iPhone models early in the summer. But I don’t think a fall delay would be the end of the world for Apple — in fact, it could end up being one of the wisest decisions Apple … Continue Reading

New York Times launches digital subscriptions: Are e-readers an afterthought?

After announcing its new digital subscription plan a couple of weeks ago and launching the plan in Canada, The New York Times is now expanding its paywall to readers everywhere. The strategy is very device focused (you have to purchase a mobile or tablet app; you can’t buy website access on its own), but there’s one class of device that’s curiously absent — e-readers like Amazon.com’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

The only mention … Continue Reading

Causes.com introduces a new kind of do-gooder advertising

Causes.com, the startup that helps nonrpofits find support on Facebook, is announcing a new feature called Give a Minute. This is a new way for users to get behind their favorite causes — and for Causes to make money.

One of the most direct methods to support a nonprofit on Causes is by donating money, but people don’t always have the financial resources to give as much as they want. With this new program, they … Continue Reading

RealNetworks CEO resigns after little more than a year

RealNetworks chief executive Bob Kimball has resigned from the company after a little more than a year.

The resignation isn’t a good omen for RealNetworks, which has been struggling to remain profitable and find a reason for being amid a sea of competitors. The Seattle company makes technology for delivering internet media such as video to consumers. Real Networks’ technology has been important as a counterbalance against technologies supported by Apple or Microsoft, but it … Continue Reading

Got memes? Cheezburger Network buys Rocketboom's Know Your Meme

The Cheezburger Network, an online entertainment site featuring pictures of funny animals and other Internet memes, has purchased online meme encyclopedia Know Your Meme from video blog Rocketboom as part of a seven-figure deal.

The Cheezburger Network is known for bringing pictures of “LOLcats,” an Internet meme involving ridiculous captions for various cat photos, into mainstream popularity. The captions are usually intentionally misspelled and come across as some kind of rudimentary pidgin. The meme was … Continue Reading

The U.K. gets a $60 million early stage fund

U.K. early stage investment firm Passion Capital just raised its first investment fund of $60 million. The fund is a private-public hybrid, with the U.K. government contributing $40 million of the total.

Partners Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero were among Europe’s most prolific angel investors, in companies such as social micropayments startup Flattr and courier-bidding service Shutl, before they started investing together informally and decided to launch their own fund. They will invest … Continue Reading

Nook Color takes on iPad with possibly 3M units shipped

Even though Barnes & Noble hasn’t been pushing the Nook Color as an iPad competitor, its low price and slick hardware seem to have made it one.

Barnes & Noble shipped close to 3 million units of the $250 Nook Color since it launched in November, Digitimes reports, based on estimates from suppliers of the device’s components. Its success led the suppliers to calculate that the Nook Color currently accounts for over 50 percent of … Continue Reading

Google hires Java founder James Gosling

James Gosling, father of the Java programming language at Sun Microsystems, has announced that he will be taking up a new, undisclosed position at Google.

The news comes at an time when Oracle is suing Google for copyright and patent infringement concerning Google’s use of Java in its mobile operating system, Android.

Perhaps the most qualified person to speak on the infringement, Gosling has been critical of Oracle’s decision to go after Google, stating that … Continue Reading

Mobile giant Orange takes the plunge into the water business

Veolia Water and European mobile giant Orange just launched m2o city, the first mobile carrier specializing in water metering.

Water metering measures water usage just as smart metering measures electricity usage. Nearly two-thirds of OECD countries meter more than 90 percent of households and these measurements can be used to bill for water services. Mobile networks can be used to communicate the meter data to municipal authorities.

While smart electricity metering may have grabbed all … Continue Reading

Square: We’re still Jack Dorsey’s top priority

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how Jack Dorsey will balance his role as chief executive of his new mobile payment startup Square with his just-announced job leading product at Twitter, the microblogging service that he created five years ago.

I don’t have many details, but I did get some comments from both companies. Square’s spokesperson Kay Luo told me, “Jack will continue in his role as CEO of Square. Square remains his … Continue Reading

GroupMe to make money from brand-sponsored group messaging

One of the leaders in a brat-pack of group messaging startups, New York-based GroupMe, has just launched its first attempt to monetize its service. It is adding “Featured Groups” to the service to draw in advertising dollars.

Somewhat reminiscent of Twitter’s “promoted trends”, the startup will now enable brands to show up in a “Featured” tab on its iPhone and Android applications, where fans will be able to create groups under those featured brands and … Continue Reading

eBay will buy e-commerce firm GSI for up to $2.4 billion

In a bid to draw more people into its online markets, eBay said it is buying GSI Commerce for cash and loans totaling $2.4 billion.

The deal will help eBay grow up into a broader e-commerce company, setting the stage for a brawl with rivals such as Amazon.com.

eBay said it offered GSI shareholders $1.96 billion in cash, or $29.25 a share. That’s 51 percent higher than GSI’s closing share price on Friday. After the … Continue Reading

Jack Dorsey goes "back to work" at Twitter

Twitter creator and chairman Jack Dorsey confirmed today that he is returning to an active role at the company.

The announcement came, of course, via Dorsey’s Twitter account, where he said:

Today I’m thrilled to get back to work at @Twitter leading product as Executive Chairman. And yes: leading @Square forevermore as CEO. #200%

Dorsey served as the company’s CEO in its early years, but was reportedly pushed out by cofounder Ev Williams in 2008 … Continue Reading

Lady Gaga donates $1.5M to Zynga's Japan quake relief campaign

Lady Gaga made news in Silicon Valley last week by visiting Google and Twitter’s headquarters. Now she’s donating $1.5 million to Japan earthquake relief via Zynga’s funding campaign in its various social games. Part of that money is also separately going to the American Red Cross.

In doing so, the pop star is further identifying her brand with hot tech companies — this time, the uber-popular social game maker, Zynga.

This is a laudable act … Continue Reading

Firefox 4 soars past IE9's usage in half the time

Mozilla’s Firefox 4 browser trounced Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 in first day downloads when it launched last week, but now it’s further walloping Microsoft’s browser by snagging twice as much usage in half the time, according to data from NetApplications.

As of March 26, Firefox 4 was seeing a 3.64 percent share of browser usage after only being available for 5 days. IE9, which launched just a week earlier had 1.78 percent after 12 days. … Continue Reading

CertiVox raises $1.46M to make the cloud more secure

CertiVox, an information security startup, announced this morning that it has raised $1.46 million in funding.

CertiVox provides application and content security, as well as on-demand encryption key generation services. The company’s cloud-based infrastructure aims to satisfy the need for privacy, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation. Businesses can use the service to reduce identity theft and data loss, secure emails, and to implement digital rights management.

Say Brian Spector, CEO at CertiVox, “Our breakthrough security technology … Continue Reading

Google to tap LG for Nexus tablet?

Following in the footsteps of Google’s Nexus One and Nexus S flagship smartphones, it appears that the company may also be planning for a Nexus tablet device — and this time around, it may be tapping LG to be its manufacturing partner, CrunchGear reports.

While still a rumor, a Nexus tablet would make sense for Google. Both Nexus phones served to dictate features that Google wanted other Android manufacturers to follow, and they also offered … Continue Reading

Apple to "unveil future of iOS and Mac OS" at WWDC June 6

Apple announced this morning that it will be holding its next annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 6 – 10 in San Francisco, teasing that it will reveal the future of iOS and Mac OS at the event.

While primarily an event for developers, Apple has also made major announcements at past WWDCs. Last year, Apple officially unveiled the iPhone 4 at the event, so many are expecting that we’ll catch a glimpse of the … Continue Reading