5 O’Clock Roundup: Yahoo’s communication engine, Motorola’s idea factory, and more
Motorola turned to employees for new phone ideas — “Why should we trust you?” one employee blurted to co-CEO Sanjay Jha a few minutes into his first meeting with employees to gather new ideas for the company’s mobile phone handsets. Motorola corporate culture had stalled,… Continue Reading
Roundup: VC investments plunge in Q1, Cisco sees sales stabilize, Facebook on Digg and more
Here’s the latest action:
Slowdown hits venture industry worldwide in first quarter — The venture capital industry sank 50 percent in the U.S., but the drop was mirrored in places such as Europe, Israel, China and India. Overseas, venture-backed companies raised $1.87 billion in 250 deals,… Continue Reading
Disney CEO: Pulling online video is anti-tech, anti-consumer
Let’s be honest — Disney took its sweet time in partnering with Hulu and YouTube. But, chief executive Robert Iger says upping Disney’s online video reach was always part of the plan. During Iger’s keynote at the Cable Show conference in D.C., the Disney executive argued… Continue Reading
Graham Hopper expands Disney’s video game kingdom
Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios, gets to see a broad swatch of the video game business, since his video game titles range from hardcore titles such as the upcoming racing game Split/Second to the Toy Story game for… Continue Reading
Roundup: Spam bounces back, angel investors balk, Entellium bigwigs go to jail and more
Bebo caught in Irish conflict — The video sharing site has become an unexpected platform for both Irish Catholics and Protestants to hurl insults and violent threats at each other. The BBC has the story.
Downturn puts drag on angels — The Center for Venture Research reports that… Continue Reading
Disney on Hulu would leave CBS as the odd network out
The premium video streaming site Hulu works first and foremost because it has great content. And it looks to be on the verge of getting even better.
A deal to bring Disney’s content to Hulu is “basically done,” a source familiar with the negotiations tells Silicon… Continue Reading
Steve Jobs makes a brief appearance — on MarketWatch’s news ticker
Reports started popping up about an hour ago that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs made an appearance at Disney’s shareholder meeting today. There’s just one tiny problem: He didn’t.
In reality, the only appearance Jobs made was on MarketWatch’s Real Time Headline generator — a few… Continue Reading
Roundup: Yelp allegedly extorts, Twitter embraces its origins, Tesla CMO defects and more
Here’s the latest action:
The downturn finally hits HP — The company announced a 10 percent drop in earnings yesterday and plans to cut salaries. CNet has more.
Yelp accused of extortion, again — Local business owners report that the trendy review site offers to hide negative critiques in… Continue Reading
Emergent racks up $12.5M for game-development software
Emergent Game Technologies, a Calabasas, Calif.-based provider of applications used to develop video games more cost-efficiently, just raised $12.5 million in fifth-round funding to support the commercialization of a new product, slated to launch during the Game Developers Conference in late March. The company claims… Continue Reading
ABC dreams up the way to halt growth in online streaming: Double the ads
I was just as surprised as anyone to find that Hulu, the online video streaming site backed by NBC and Fox, is actually really good. It works because it lets you watch your favorite TV shows when you want to watch them, with commercials that… Continue Reading
The SEC won’t let Steve Jobs be, opens investigation on his health disclosures
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is sick, that’s been made abundantly clear over the past few weeks. But the Securities and Exchange Commission is now looking into whether or not Apple’s disclosure (or lack thereof) of Jobs’ illness misled investors, Bloomberg reports.
To be clear: This… Continue Reading
Did Apple approve an app that infringes on Pixar’s property?
Take a look at the picture on the right. Chances are it looks familiar to you. Maybe you think you know why; Oh, that’s a WALL-E game based on the hit movie of the same name, right? No, that’s a new iPhone game called iBot,… Continue Reading
Q&A with Graham Hopper, head of Disney’s game division, on going hardcore
The distinctions between hardcore games and casual games (the committed enthusiasts versus the broader market fans) are melting away. That’s evident in the strategy of Graham Hopper, president of Disney Interactive Studios. The company puts 70 percent of its investment into titles that support major… Continue Reading
E3 trendspotting: Game publishers turning more to girl gamers
LOS ANGELES—With the influx of fresh new gamers, thanks in large part to the popularity of mass-market game machines, the DS and the Wii, more game companies than ever are jumping on the girl gamer bandwagon. Practically every booth at this year’s E3 Media and… Continue Reading
Disney shows off E3 titles that will earn it some gamer cred
LOS ANGELES–Disney Interactive Studios previewed what it said was the best of its E3 video game trade show line-up last week, as part of a tour for game critics. After failing to garner critical praise for its re-launch of the dinosaur-shooting game “Turok” earlier this… Continue Reading
Disney finds Nemo, puts him online
While Hollywood in general still seems relatively uneasy about putting its feature films online, Disney has decided the time is right — in a limited way at least.
Disney’s popular show “The Wonderful World of Disney” showcases films from its catalog on prime time television once… Continue Reading
I’m (virtually) going to Disney World!
I can see it all too clearly. Next February, during the post Super Bowl XLIII celebrations, a reporter asks the MVP of the game what he’s going to do now: “I’m going to Disney World — on Google Earth!”
It’ll be the perfect blend of nostalgia… Continue Reading
Mickey Mouse punches Steve Jobs in the kidney with TiVo deal
As we’ve discussed recently, there are a growing number of players in the online movie distribution field. Eventually, one way the winners are going to set themselves apart is by promoting content that others don’t have. Apple had that for a while with Disney movies…. Continue Reading
Disney enters the programmable robot market
Robots aren’t just for hobbyists anymore. The programmable gadgets have taken off thanks to the efforts of tech-oriented companies such as WowWee, Sony, Ugobe and LEGO. But the market may be ready for a whole new level as Disney enters the market tomorrow.
Disney Consumer Products… Continue Reading
Disney buys Club Penguin in $700 million deal — virtual worlds have arrived?
Updated
Club Penguin, a virtual world for kids, has been bought by the Walt Disney Company. The deal is valued at $700 million: $350 million in cash now, and another $350 million if performance targets are met through 2009.
The company, based in remote British Columbia, has… Continue Reading