Amazon finalizes purchase of Zappos

Amazon confirmed this morning that it has finalized the purchase of Zappos.com, paying the popular online shoe and clothing retailer $1.2 billion.

The acquisition was originally announced in late July — Amazon agreed to pay 10 million shares of the company’s common stock and a remaining $40 million in cash and restricted stock. Thanks to a healthier stock market, the stock is now estimated at $1.2 billion, up from $807 million at the time of … Continue Reading

GeoCities shuttered today

After a long, slow death, GeoCities – the free (and once-popular) web-hosting service – will be shuttering for good as of today. The site-builder, which was purchased by Yahoo a decade ago, has long fallen from its hey-day, when every father, son and mother created their own page. But after today, millions of forgotten web pages will be taken offline forever. That means this is your last chance to revisit past humiliation by visiting your … Continue Reading

Sorry, Sidekick users: it's probably time to say a good-bye for good to all your contacts

After a serious server crash last week at Danger, the data services provider for the T-Mobile Sidekick smart phone, many users lost all their personal data. The Microsoft subsidiary announced Saturday it’s likely losses will not be recovered. So even if you don’t own a Sidekick yourself, don’t be surprised when multiple new groups asking for your contact information crop up on Facebook this week.

In a letter to it’s customers, T-Mobile wrote:

Based on … Continue Reading

Condé Nast announces closure of Gourmet, three others

After much speculation over which magazines would fall victim to the budget slashes at Condé Nast, the media giant announced this morning that it would be folding Gourmet, Cookie, and both Elegant Bride and Modern Bride.

The magazine shuttering seemed inevitable. Condé Nast underwent staffing cuts last year and saw huge decreases in ad revenue, with September’s ad pages down between 17 percent and 47 percent depending on the magazine. Still, Gourmet — a staple … Continue Reading

DEMO: Waze adds voice-driven turn-by-turn directions to its driving app

Waze, a mobile application that offers user-generated driving and traffic advice, is launching what it says is the first free, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation system. The Israel-based company also introduced availability on Windows Mobile and Symbian, adding to its previously existing availabilityon the iPhone and smart phones using the Android system (sorry, Blackberry users, looks like we’ll have to stick with BBMing friends ahead of us in the commute to find out about traffic: Waze is … Continue Reading

Rep. Joe Wilson's web site under Attack after Obama speech

If your reaction to Rep. Joe Wilson’s now-famed “You lie!” outburst during Obama’s health care reform speech was to reach for your wallet, you may have had some problems donating to the South Carolina republican congressman last week.

Nonpartisan startup Piryx, which hosted the fundraising campaign for Wilson, has reported attacks by hackers — effectively bringing down the site for over 10 hours on Friday. The Austin-based commerce platform was targeted in a Distributed Denial … Continue Reading

Fox will air Tweet-peats of Fringe and Glee

Could Twitter save the stale summer rerun? Television network Fox is hoping that the popular social media will bring new life (and additional viewers) to repeats of the shows Fringe and Glee.

During this week’s repeat episodes, Fox will broadcast live tweets from producers and actors, both on the shows’ respective Twitter accounts, and scrolling on the screen throughout the episodes. Think Pop-Up Video for the techno-savvy masses. Those who want to become even more … Continue Reading

Irex partners with Barnes & Noble to challenge Amazon's Kindle

Irex Technologies announced a partnership with Barnes & Noble today for its ebook reader, joining in the heavy competition to rival the popular Kindle. When the Dutch company releases its eReader in the fall, books provided by the popular bookseller will be available on the device.

Irex is the second electronic book company to pair with Barnes & Nobles eBookstore, following Plastic Logic in July. While both companies are working to provide competition with Amazon’s … Continue Reading

eBay introduces new third-party apps for sellers

eBay has launched a new suite of applications provided by third-party developers, which are now available to sellers on the popular auction site. These tools, embedded into users’ My eBay homepages, were introduced to increase efficiency for sellers and to ease the marketing, selling, and shipping process.

The applications are available for those who use the site’s Sell Manager and Sell Manager Pro — primarily small and medium-scale businesses. Available to browse and purchase directly … Continue Reading

Edo Interactive culls $8.5M for payment cards with digital rewards

Edo Interactive — a Nashville, Tenn.-based digital marketing company that provides payment cards with direct marketing opportunities — announced today that it has secured $8.5 million from investors Clayton Associates and First Avenue Partners. Edo previously raised $6.5 million in 2008 for a total of $15 million at the end of their first round of funding.

Edo’s lead product is the Facecard, a pre-paid MasterCard aimed at teens and young adults. In addition to providing … Continue Reading

Phanfare announces new iPhone application for sharing photos

Phanfare, an online photo- and video-sharing service, has announced a new iPhone application that allows users to upload and share their photos directly to the web.

Mobile integration is one way the Metuchen, NJ-based company is trying to make its product stand out from the many other photo sharing services available. That’s really important for a company trying to compete in the incredibly crowded photo-sharing market, and even more so for Phanfare, since its founders … Continue Reading