Roundup: Google calls out quitters, Craigslist’s feelings are hurt and more
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Google knows you’re quitting before you do — In the wake of recent brain drain, the search giant has devised an algorithm that combines employee reviews, promotion histories, pay and other factors to predict which employees are most likely to leave. The WSJ has more.
Unity Semiconductor finds chip alternative – After seven years of research, the company will provide flash memory said to have four times the storage capacity and five to ten… Continue Reading
Electronics Arts reports loss, will lay off more than 500 workers
Electronic Arts reported a big loss today and said it would lay off 6 percent of its 9,000-person work force, or roughly 540 people.
The cutbacks come after a huge increase in the employment rolls thanks to acquisitions and EA’s focus on making original games built by its own internal studios.
The stock fell 14 percent in after-hours trading, down from $27.73 a share close to $23.75. EA will cut the jobs from its studio labels, its… Continue Reading
Content provider Booyah scores $4.5M from Kleiner Perkins
Mobile and web content producer Booyah announced today that it received $4.5 million from Kleiner Perkins. The two seem like a good match, considering the company’s job listings for iPhone engineers and the investor’s special iPhone developers fund.
The Silicon Valley-based startup remains in stealth mode, and KP is its only named backer so far. Still, there are reasons to believe they might come out with something special. Its founders — Sam Christiansen, Keith Lee and… Continue Reading
Roundup: More YouTube user data fallout, MacBook Air SSD prices fall and more
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More fallout from the YouTube/Viacom lawsuit — After a judge ruled that Google wouldn’t have to reveal YouTube’s source code but would have to open its user data for all to see, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote a post condemning the decision as a violation of privacy. Google lawyers are also on the case, according to The Wall Street Journal. The outcry in the blogosphere has been even bigger.
Chicken Little, the SSD-based… Continue Reading
Electronic Arts expands its casual game line-up
Electronic Arts is going after the casual consumer on multiple fronts. It offers Pogo.com online and EA Mobile for cell phone users (which will also expand to Apple’s iPod beginning July 7). Now EA Casual and Entertainment is unveiling the first offerings from the Hasbro licensing deal it negotiated last fall, and EA Sports is revamping its entire Wii lineup of games under the All-Play branding.
The publisher showcased many of its upcoming games at a… Continue Reading
Another day, another billion-dollar Blizzard franchise
Blizzard Entertainment had a lot of buzz about its newest game leading up to its European event at the Porte de Versailles event center in Paris. And fans weren’t disappointed with the announcement of its new Diablo III computer game.
That might make a lot of others snore. But with the pending merger of Activision and Vivendi Games (of which Blizzard is a division) about to close, the unveiling of another chapter in another huge franchise… Continue Reading
Don’t expect to see many PC games at upcoming E3 game show
As the video game industry gears up for its annual E3 conference in July, the reality is setting in that the one-time entertainment extravaganza has become narrowly focused on console games, with very little room for PC games.
Even Microsoft and Intel, the champions of the PC, have conceded that point. Intel isn’t holding any press conferences or functions at the show. And Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Windows gaming at Microsoft, said his team… Continue Reading
You say you want a revolution? How about The Beatles in video games?
When you think about the 21st century digital lifestyle, The Beatles aren’t exactly the name that first jumps out at you. After all, the group still doesn’t have its music catalog for sale in any digital format.
But now, the biggest rock band of all time is apparently ready to embrace technology as the parties in control of The Beatles’ master recordings are in talks with video game makers, according to The Financial Times.
When you think… Continue Reading
Roundup: Veoh to get ABC content, the shrinking venture capital industry and more
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Veoh to get ABC content, kind of — ABC, the television network that has been the slowest and stingiest in making its content available online, has struck a deal with video site Veoh that seems, well, behind-the-times and stingy. Veoh will index ABC’s online content, but since ABC doesn’t allow sites to embed its video player, it looks like you won’t actually watch ABC shows on Veoh; the site will just offer links… Continue Reading
Have Microsoft and Activision spilled their E3 secrets?
Out on the web, gamers are calling it the super leak . Now a bunch of rumors are circulating about what Microsoft and Activision plan to announce at the upcoming E3 conference in July. Over the weekend, a marketing research firm called Intellisponse allowed its site to be hacked, spilling the secrets of its clients. (The leak was first reported at a gamer site).
The big video game companies typically save their biggest announcements of the… Continue Reading
Roundup: Another Google exec leaves for Facebook, Mosso adds more storage to the cloud, and more
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Another Google exec heads to Facebook – Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president of global communications and public affairs will become the vice president of communications and public policy at Facebook, BoomTown’s Kara Swisher has learned. “This is a really important role for us and one that we’ve been trying to find the right person for a while. Elliot’s role will be critical to helping us scale based on our culture that values… Continue Reading