• Bip.tv Raises Another $6M
    Blip.tv  has raised another $6 million in a Series D round of funding for the video blogging service, per an SEC filing. The Series D round could expand to as much as $11.1 million. This brings the total amount of funding for the six-year-old company to $24 million. Currently, Blip is being used by 2.1 million people globally each month and equates to 4.5 million visits monthly to the site, according to Quantcast. Blip has been working on becoming a destination site for video blogging and web series' but the big challenge is going head to head against YouTube.
  • Hackers, IT Focus On Smartphone Security
    Mobile phones, long seen as safe amid rising threats to computer security, have become a key target for hackers and a nightmare for corporate IT departments.  Most consumers have not protected their smartphones. Fewer than 5% of smartphones and tablets are installed with security software, according to Juniper Research. The research firm expects to see a rise in demand, with the total annual market for mobile security software growing to $3.6 billion by 2016. A study by consultancy Deloitte this week showed that companies in the technology, media and telecom sector expect data stored on staff mobile devices …
  • Will Facebook Save Netflix?
    After a disastrous Q3 2011, Netflix stands to replace some of the 800,000 subscribers it lost. It’s savior? The Facebook news feed. Earlier this month, Congress revised the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 to allow people to opt in to having their movie rental activity shared. This act had delayed the Netflix Facebook app‘s launch in the US. However, the Facebook news feed is beginning to show “Josh Constine watched The Walking Dead on Netflix” -- stories that point back to the Netflix site. Netflix is hoping Facebook users might sign up and pay on Netflix.com so they can …
  • Groupon Acquires Campfire Labs
    Groupon has acquired the pre-launch social communication start-up Campfire Labs, the companies confirmed. Word of the deal had first been reported on TechCrunch. Campfire CEO and co-founder Naveen Koorakula said his company’s full team an estimated seven people would join Groupon to head up its social efforts. No financial terms were disclosed. Groupon had been actively trying to buy other social start-ups such as Gowalla, sources had said in recent weeks. That particular deal went to Facebook.  Campfire, which had named its early product Slice, was kind of like a dynamic version of Beluga — the group messaging start-up Facebook …
  • Go Daddy Rivals Capitalize On SOPA Controversy
    Go Daddy rivals, including Hover, Name.com, and Namecheap, are looking to capitalize on the world's largest domain registrar's initial decision to support the Stop Online Piracy Act. All four firms offer discounted transfer costs and other enticements to convince site owners to transfer their business away from Go Daddy. A potential Go Daddy exodus could hit its climax Thursday, which has been proclaimed Move Your Domain Day by Namecheap. Recently, Go Daddy was roundly criticized for its public support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill currently making its way through Congress and widely derided by the tech …
  • Samsung May Give Galaxy Taste Of Ice Cream Sandwich
    Will they or won't they? That's the question Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab customers are asking with respect to whether Samsung will offer them the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. Samsung will likely not update those devices to ICS, but older Galaxy owners may not be entirely out of luck. There is a chance the company will offer a "value pack" with ICS features, just scaled for less robust hardware. Creating a "Value Pack" that includes multitasking, increased Web-surfing speeds, new widget sets and camera tweaks, could be a good middle ground for Samsung. So far, Samsung remained …
  • Occupy Wall Street Activists Developing Social Network
    Occupy Wall Street activists are developing a social network called The Global Square for the generation of protesters. The site is expected to launch in January. “We don’t want to trust Facebook with private messages among activists,” developer Ed Knutson noted Wired. Knutson is helping build the network, which will unite members of Occupy movements across the globe. As the physical camps suffer evictions across the U.S., digital meetings take on extra importance. explains a November RoarMag blog post. The Global Square will include an interactive map of uprisings around the world, an easy search option to …
  • 6 Game-Changing Digital Journalism Events of 2011
    The year 2011 brought extraordinary progress for online journalism. These trends are quickly shaping the web news industry. Here are six major moves that had the biggest impact on digital journalism this year: 1. Paywalls: 2011 was the year paywalls worked. The New York Times strategy was criticized initially, but it has turned a profit. 2. NPR's Andy Carvin -- His Twitter account became a one-man newswire dedicated to the culminating situation in the Middle East and the Arab Spring. His record is 1,200 tweets in 48 hours. 3. Journalists Utilize Google+ -- Many were quick to sign on and …
  • Amazon Tops Customer Satisfaction
    ForeSee's annual study says Amazon was a winner with customers this year. According to the report, Amazon scored 88 points — the highest score in the past 14 studies. (A score of 80 is considered excellent). It was followed by Avon, JC Penney, QVC and Apple. Netflix, meanwhile, lost seven points as the online video rental company dealt with angry customers who were upset over price increases and a failed plan to spin on the mail order DVD business. Scores dropped in every category that ForeSee measures, including site content, site functionality, merchandise, and prices. Overstock.com Inc came last …
  • Call Genie Acquires VoodooVox
    Call Genie has bought VoodooVox, a mobile analytics and advertising network company, which as raised moneis from Apax Partners, Softbank Capital, Steamboat Ventures (Disney), Berkshire Capital Investors and Village Ventures. VoodooVox provides demographic info on phone calls and mobile ad trafic in real-time. That gives other companies information on mobile app activity. Under the terms of the agreement, Call Genie will issue 11.25 million shares to VoodooVox shareholders, as well as pay an additional $1.8 million in cash over an unspecified period of time.
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