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, and Jha wanted to jump-start it. He pressed forward, bringing employees not experienced at product design or product management into the brainstorming process for this year’s lineup of handsets.
Moto’s most… 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, compared with $3.65 billion in 430 deals a year ago, according to VentureSource. The first-quarter numbers also were down significantly from the fourth quarter of 2008, when investors committed $2.88… 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 that the industry’s survival hinges on embracing online video rather than yanking content.
To note, Disney already has a relatively solid track record in the online space. Disney-owned ABC eventually became… 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 the Wii that will accompany the release of Pixar’s next big film. Disney is in the midst of tripling its investments in video games and Hopper now oversees 1,200 employees… 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 angel investors put less money into each of their startups in 2008 than in years previous, noting a drop of 26 percent from 2007.
Encarta buckles under Wikipedia’s weight — Microsoft will… 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 Alley Insider. This means we should see content from ESPN, ABC and probably some Disney movies on the service. It’s a huge win for Hulu and its fans.
With ABC on… 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 false reports popped up claiming he was at the meeting. This led ZDNet and others (MacRumors said ZDNet confirmed the appearance with Disney, but that appears to be a misread)… 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 exchange for cash. And it’s not the first time Yelp has been called out for this.
TechCrunch reviews 2008 — Erick Schonfeld offers up insightful snapshots of last year’s startup, venture and… 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 its technology minimizes cost and development time by cutting down on the required back-end of game software. Right now, its Gamebryo platform is used by Disney, Electronic Arts, and others… 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 aren’t too intrusive — all for free. The other TV networks have their own systems for online streaming, which, while not as good as Hulu, also work to varying degrees…. 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 doesn’t mean that Jobs and Apple did anything wrong necessarily, just that the SEC is looking into it. This is predictable considering rampant talk of investor lawsuits following Jobs’ public… 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, but yes, its main character sure looks a lot like the character WALL-E’s love interest, EVE.
That’s interesting for a few reasons. First, iBot was made by some company called Alcomi… 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 Disney licenses, but the investment is growing so much that Disney is pouring a lot of money into original titles for hardcore gamers such as “Pure,” a critically-praised off-road ATV… 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 Business Summit this year had something to offer for female gamers of various demographics.
The breadth of games ranged from Nintendo DS titles like Namco Bandai’s “National Geographic Panda” and Legacy… 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 year, Disney is going after the hardcore racing gamer with the off-road ATV game “Pure” on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
This is the first title from Disney-owned, UK-based… 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 a week. Now those same films will be placed online; that means viewers don’t have to be in front of their TVs on Saturday nights to catch the show, according… 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 and marketing.
Yes, kids (and kids at heart), Google has today added detailed 3D imagery to make it possible to view Disney World, and more specifically, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center,… 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. Not anymore.
Today, the digitial video recorder TiVo announced a deal with Disney to place its films on the device for rental. This service will be provided via a deal with… 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 is announcing Wednesday that it will make programmable toy robots based on Disney characters, with the first robot debuting at Maker Faire, a geek fest at the San Mateo Fairgrounds… 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 more than twelve million total users — mostly kids 6-14 in North America — and including more than 700,000 paying subscribers. It says it is completely funded through subscriptions.
Founded in… Continue Reading