Greystripe founders join YesVideo, with plans to turn VHS video conversion into a billion dollar business

July 12, 2012 9:42 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Mobile ad network Greystripe’s founders are taking the reigns on video startup YesVideo, the company announced today.

The move comes after Greystripe co-founders Michael Chang and Andy Choi sold the mobile ad company to ValueClick for $70 million last year, …

Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn expected to stick around indefinitely

July 12, 2012 7:31 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

The board of iconic tech company Yahoo is meeting today to discuss keeping interim chief executive Ross Levinsohn in the position permanently, according to an LA Times report that cites an unnamed source familiar with the matter.

Over the last …

The Echo Nest rocks out to $17.3M from NVP to make music apps smarter

July 12, 2012 6:45 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Music-focused startup The Echo Nest has raised $17.3 million in its fourth round of funding, a move that will help it improve its music platform, which powers many popular music apps around the web and on mobile devices.

Some of …

Google’s Jason Spero: Tablets will lead to more innovative and valuable ads

July 11, 2012 11:51 AM Devindra Hardawar
Devindra Hardawar

For advertisers, tablets may beget some of the most creative and innovative digital ads, which could also be more valuable than comparable desktop ads, according to Google’s head of mobile sales and strategy Jason Spero.

“From a creativity standpoint and …

Amazon actually testing smartphone in Asia now: Platform wars heat up

July 11, 2012 8:05 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Everyone who’s serious about owning the customer needs their own smartphone platform. Or at least that’s what it’s starting to look like given the recent Amazon smartphone development rumors.

Today the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon is actually …

Updated: Regardless of who wins the Viacom vs. DirecTV pissing match, consumers lose

July 11, 2012 5:00 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Subscribers of DirecTV’s satellite television service are most definitely not getting their money’s worth as of today — that is, unless you just enjoy watching ultra dramatic fights between companies.

As of midnight, 26 Viacom channels went dark on DirecTV, …

AdRoll nabs $15M from Foundation, Accel, & Merus to get you clicking more ads

July 11, 2012 4:30 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Online ad retargeting startup AdRoll has raised $15 million in its second-round of funding. It plans to expand the company and improving its technology, which allows companies to serve more relevant display ads.

AdRoll has somewhat cracked the code in …

Early investors acquire Nerdist Industries on the cusp of Comic-Con (update)

July 11, 2012 4:20 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Updated with commentary about the acquisition from Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick. (Scroll to the bottom of the post)

Up-and-coming digital media company Nerdist Industry is now in the hands of early investor Legendary Entertainment, Nerdist announced today. Financial terms of …

Facebook, please don’t become MySpace (and put too many ads on each page)

July 11, 2012 4:00 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Remember when Facebook only showed three ads on each page? And when the company moved to four in 2010? More recently, the company has been at six, and I’m currently seeing seven, but Facebook is now testing up to 10 …

Glam Media is now bigger than fading web portal AOL (scoop)

July 11, 2012 3:42 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Editor's Pick

It may have taken a while, but the age of web portal dominance is finally starting to show visible signs of erosion.

For the first time, media and advertising startup Glam Media now has a higher global audience reach than …

Next Issue, a Netflix for magazines, lands on the iPad

July 10, 2012 12:34 PM Ricardo Bilton
Ricardo Bilton

The Netflix model of unlimited content works well for movies and television shows, but can it work for magazines?

That’s the question being answered by Next Issue, a subscription-based all-you-can-read tablet app that’s hitting the iPad today after an extended …

News360 iPad app update offers a prettier way to read the news

July 10, 2012 10:20 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Digital magazine service News360 launched a revamped version of its iPad app that offers a sleeker design, some refreshing user interface tweaks, and the possibility of stealing eyeballs away from its competitors.

News360 lets its users chose from a vast …

Limited to limitless? Nexus Q hack adds support for Netflix and other apps

July 10, 2012 8:29 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Thanks to the hacker community, Google’s new media streamer, the Nexus Q, isn’t just an expensive Tron bowling ball with limited functionality.

In a developer forum, hacker kornyone revealed today that he was able to unlock the Nexus Q, install …

Kim Dotcom lives another day: extradition hearing pushed back to March 2013

July 10, 2012 7:41 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

A New Zealand judge has pushed back the extradition of Megaupload kingpin Kim Dotcom to March 2013, a move that will give him more time to prepare for an eventual trial in the U.S.

Dotcom’s contentious extradition hearing was scheduled …

Got a smartphone? You must be planning to vote for Obama

July 10, 2012 6:00 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

Maybe you didn’t see Romney’s iAd. Or perhaps you’re just not impressed with the Republican candidate’s perfectly coiffed hair. Either way, if you own a smartphone, you’re close to twice as likely to support Obama as you are to support …

Reddit lifts its ban on The Atlantic, science sites still blacklisted

July 10, 2012 4:15 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Reddit has lifted its ban on popular news publication The Atlantic, thus allowing its users to submit links to the community news sharing site once again.

The news publication  — along with BusinessWeek, Phys.org, GlobalPost, Discovery News, ScienceDaily, and …

Earth to Eric Schmidt: China is NOT the only country that censors the internet

July 10, 2012 3:30 AM John Koetsier
John Koetsier

If you haven’t yet read Foreign Policy’s post in which Josh Rogin interviews Google chairman Eric Schmidt on the great firewall of China, go read it already. It’s a smart post about a smart business leader, and I agree with …

Hulu original series ‘Spoilers with Kevin Smith’ heads to cable TV… in Canada

July 9, 2012 2:36 PM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

When it comes to the revolution of producing original television-style content for the web, Hulu may be the best suited to actually make money.

The company announced today that it has reached an agreement to put one of its new …

Number-two video site teams with number-three website, in Dailymotion-Yahoo deal

July 9, 2012 9:46 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Dailymotion, the largest streaming video site behind YouTube, has forged a syndication deal with web portal/media company Yahoo, Dailymotion International Content VP Daniel Adams said today at the Beet.tv Global Video Summit.

We’re unsure when this deal went into effect, …