Challenging top tablet-based news aggregators -- and the way they serve advertising -- a startup named Zite plans to shake up the field with its "intelligent" content personalization technology. "The technology behind Zite can learn your reading habits and personalize content based on your interests," explains Fast Company. More to the point, "Other popular readers--Flipboard, Pulse--require users to manually provide sources, whether media outlets or RSS feeds," Fast Company writes. "Zite automates that process and continuously refines content so it's fresher and dynamically tailored to one's interests." "The content personalization space is growing increasingly crowded, so while …

In a sobering look at the business of new news media, the Business Insider reports finally turning a profit last year -- of $2,127. "The sum total of our year's worth of effort would barely--just barely--buy us a MacBook Pro," notes BI's CEO and editor-in-chief Henry Blodget. The profit was on revenue of $4.8 million, that vast majority of which came from advertising, according to Blodget. Calling that revenue number "puny," Blodget says it's still a lot more than the $40,000 in revenue the company made three years ago. Also, if BI can maintain a similar growth trajectory, …

Challenging Foursquare and other location-based social services, a new app from Bizzy doesn't want restaurant-and-bar-goers to "check in," but rather "check out." Similar to a Foursquare "check in," the app asks users to share their sentiments about a particular establishment -- but not until they're really to leave, i.e., check out. "Its purpose is to let your friends know whether you liked a place or hated it, whereas the 'check in,' available from Foursquare, Gowala, Facebook Places and others, is used for broadcasting your location to let your friends know where you are," eMoney reports. A wholly-owned subsidiary …

Though it's yet to sign up a single U.S. consumer, Spotify says it has hit 1 million subscribers. The U.K.-based music-streaming service, which has had its sights on the U.S. market for years, also claims about 10 million registered users. "The discrepancy in users compared with subscribers is due to Spotify's business model," according to CNet. "The company offers a free, ad-supported version of its service, allowing people to stream music for a limited amount of time." Spotify is currently available in the U.K., Sweden, Spain, France and a few other European countries. As CNet points …

How badly does Microsoft want to jump-start its mobile business? In pure dollar terms, the software giant reportedly plans to pay Nokia over $1 billion to promote and develop its Windows-based handsets as part of their smartphone software agreement. "If it succeeds, the partnership may benefit both sides financially while helping stave off a smartphone threat from Apple Inc. and Google Inc.," reports Bloomberg-Businessweek, which broke the news. "That's how much ... Microsoft is paying Nokia to champion its ailing Windows Phone 7 OS for smartphones, in an attempt to revive both business's hopes in the smartphone game …

Publicly traded online forum owner CrowdGather said Friday that it raised $7.85 million. While the company already claims to own over 65,000 forums, chief executive Sanjay Sabnani said he plans to use the investment to buy even more. "He's open about the fact that his strategy isn't focused on technology but rather is a 'roll up' of existing sites," Venture Beat writes of Sabnani's strategy. Forums might not be the sexiest medium at the moment, but Sabnani believes their super-segmented communities make valuable to likeminded audiences and advertisers. "Everyone's trying to chip away at this -- Yelp with …

Rather that keeping us all honest, blogger and entrepreneur Steve Cheney argues that Facebook is encouraging inauthentic behavior among users -- both on Facebook and any site with which it's integrated -- because, well, too many people are listening. "The problem with tying Internet-wide identity to a broadcast network like Facebook is that people don't want one normalized identity, either in real life, or virtually," Cheney believes. For example, you wouldn't likely tell your co-workers or extended family -- by now all probably Facebook friends -- what you really think about your current profession. "People yearn to be …

Is every company on earth jumping onto the deal-a-day bandwagon? That scenario is looking more likely now that AT&T has hopped onboard. No, the carrier won't be offering daily deals on voice and data plans. Rather, its YP.com online directory -- previously known as YellowPages.com -- plans to offer daily discounts similar to those presently offered by Groupon and its many clones. "AT&T is hoping its large network of local salesmen [5,000 at last count], advertisers and users will give it an edge," Dow Jones reports. Indeed, "We think we can be a fast follower," AT&T Interactive CEO …

Is Twitter now worth $7.7 billion -- more than twice its valuation when it last received funding in December? It is, according to a recent auction of company shares on the secondary market, Reuters reports. Last week, investors agreed to pay $34.50 a share for the top microblogging platform in the auction conducted by Sharespost, an exchange for private company shares. Based on the 223.7 million estimated fully diluted shares of Twitter listed by Sharespost on its site, the deal would suggest a valuation of roughly $7.7 billion, Reuters estimates. Secondary markets, which let qualified investors trade shares …

Just like that, AOL on Monday officially closed its $315 acquisition of Huffington Post. "Well that was fast," notes TechCrunch. "The deal was originally announced on February 6, so it's taken a month for the acquisition to close."  AOL is also announcing the hiring of a half-dozen journalists to its new Huffington Post Media Group unit -- "a clear sign of the shift in its focus toward a more editorially driven direction under the now-official content head Arianna Huffington," writes Boomtown's Kara Swisher. Sure to ruffle Rupert Murdoch's feathers, Huffington's Media Group has reportedly poached …