Roundup: Microsoft’s team-up with Verizon, Wolfram/Alpha’s demo, and more

Roundup: Microsoft’s team-up with Verizon, Wolfram/Alpha’s demo, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Are Microsoft and Verizon teaming up on an iPhone rival? — That partnership may be the real source of rumors about negotiations between Verizon and Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Stephen Wolfram demos Wolfram/Alpha search engine — Larry Dignan of ZDNet says the “computational knowledge engine” (a search engine that understands your questions and computes the correct answer, rather than just digging up relevant web pages based on keywords) probably isn’t a Google… Continue Reading

DRM close to extinction on iTunes?

DRM close to extinction on iTunes?

One of my key predictions for 2009 was that Apple’s iTunes store would go DRM-free. There are always a lot of Apple rumors out there, but I was so confident in this one that I actually made the prediction twice. It turns out that may have been a good call, as Apple and the major music labels have come to terms on a deal, reports CNET’s Greg Sandoval.

Sandoval’s source is very specific on the details… Continue Reading

SanDisk and record companies launch slotMusic, or albums on flash cards

SanDisk and record companies launch slotMusic, or albums on flash cards

SanDisk and the record companies are launching a new music format today dubbed slotMusic. The company hopes music companies will publish entire albums on SanDisk flash memory cards that are smaller than a postage stamp and are expected to replace the music CD.

In an age of downloadable music, the new  slotMusic format for distributing MP3 songs is a long shot. But it has heavy-duty support. SanDisk has been trying out the idea for a number… Continue Reading

Roundup: Tidbits on Jangl’s demise, Virgin considers Helio hookup, VCs looking overseas, and more

Roundup: Tidbits on Jangl’s demise, Virgin considers Helio hookup, VCs looking overseas, and more

updated

The back-story on Jangl’s slow death — Yesterday, we reported on Jangl’s asset sale process. A tipster tells us that Seattle-based WhitePages had offered to buy Internet phone company Jangl for $20 million, but then kept the company in diligence for more than a month and walked away at the last minute — giving Jangl no choice to but throw in the towel when it ran out of time and options. Whitepages flew down from Seattle… Continue Reading

MySpace Music days away from an assault on iTunes

MySpace Music days away from an assault on iTunes

Social networking site MySpace and music have worked well together in the past. New bands got recognition, popular bands gained new fans. Now MySpace is looking to extend that relationship by launching a full-scale music store. This launch will be happening sometime within the next 5 days, according to Reuters.

The service will be appropriately titled “MySpace Music”, and is said to have the support of at least 3 of the major labels. Sony BMG Music… Continue Reading

Roundup: Warner CEO changes online music stance, engineers become scarcer, and more

Roundup: Warner CEO changes online music stance, engineers become scarcer, and more

Here’s the latest action:
1) Warner CEO praises Apple, DRM-free music
2) VMWare is after your engineer blood
3) Berners-Lee warns of walled gardens
4) Microsoft completes $47M acquisition
5) Another VC speaks in favor of taxing himself
6) Joost rolls out new ads
7) Billeo raises $7M for easy payment

Warner Music CEO now supporting DRM-free music, iTunes – “We used to think our music was perfect just the way it was … of course, we were wrong,” said Warner Music CEO Edgar… Continue Reading

Roundup: CNET sells Webshots, Comcast not alone, fundings and more

Roundup: CNET sells Webshots, Comcast not alone, fundings and more

Here’s the day’s action:
1) CNET sells its photo-sharing site Webshots at loss, may be ready to try again
2) Comcast isn’t the only ISP manipulating traffic
3) Apple may lose Warner Music, too
4) Yahoo’s Cammie Dunaway goes to Nintendo
5) Trusted Opinion, social recommendations, raises $1.3 million
6) JackBe, enterprise mashup software, raises $9.5 million
7) EchoSign, electronic signatures, takes $6 million

CNET sells Webshots to American Greeting for $45M – CNET bought Webshots, a photo-sharing site, for $70M in 2004, so the… Continue Reading

Sony and Warner take mobile music to Asia

Sony BMG and Warner Music are working with Seattle-based Melodeo to take mobile music downloads to cell phones in Asia.

Here is the full statement. John Cook has more here.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are tossing their weight behind Access China Media Solutions, a joint venture formed last year by Melodeo and Tokyo-based Access Co. As part of the deal, the joint venture will receive an undisclosed investment from Sony BMG and… Continue Reading

Video is hot — YouTube vs. Soapbox and Everyone else

Video is hot — YouTube vs. Soapbox and Everyone else

YouTube, the two-year-old San Mateo start-up that raced ahead to become the leader of online video sharing, is facing the fight of its life.

Microsoft’s launch of its YouTube clone, called the Soapbox, made official today — see announcement with an offering of a way to sign up for a beta account, is only the latest challenge. (The dancing man with MSN colors strikes us as somewhat unhip, but then what can we expect a… Continue Reading

YouTube’s big break? Warner Music signs deal

YouTube’s big break? Warner Music signs deal

Warner Music has agreed to make its library of music videos available to YouTube, and to license its songs to the millions of users who upload their videos to the site.

This could be a huge deal for the San Mateo video sharing start-up. It is the first time that an established record company has agreed to such a deal. YouTube has been shunned in part by fears that YouTube videos have been infringing on copyrights…. Continue Reading