Yahoo
Gigya, which powers social functionality within brands’ apps and Web sites, has raised $25 million in new funding in a round led by Green Spring Associates. Existing investors including Benchmark Capital, Mayfield Fund, DAG Ventures and Advance Publications also participated. Gigya, which has raised a total of $70 million to date, said the fresh capital would go toward product development and expanding domestic and international sales and marketing teams.
Mashable
Android may have a bigger chuck of market share, but that doesn't worry Apple CEO Tim Cook, since people are using Apple devices more. Regarding Android's commanding share of the mobile phone market, Cook cited research during a BusinessWeek interview noting that 55% of all mobile Web activity comes from iOS devices. “Does a unit of market share matter if it’s not being used? For us, it matters that people use our products. We really want to enrich people’s lives, and you can’t enrich somebody’s life if the product is in the drawer," says Cook. He also points to the new fingerprint …
Gigaom
On its YouTube page, Virgin Mobile is testing new Webcam-reliant technology, which track users' eye movements, and the changes ads be served whenever they blink. Dubbed "BlinkWashing," the program requires a user's permission to turn on their webcam, and then needs to be properly calibrated. Despite these limitations, however, GigaOm's Alex Colon calls the technology "mesmerizing."
TechCrunch
Groupon has acquired SideTour, a marketplace for intimate events like wine tastings and cocktail-making tutorials hosted in private homes. The SideTour team will report to Greg Rudin, GM of GrouponLive. "This is the JV between Groupon and Live Nation, which ... appears to be diversifying into other kinds of events within Groupon's wider deals database, which stood at a whopping 54,000 events as of Q2," TechCrunch reports.
AllThingsD
Encouraging offline viewing, YouTube soon plans let users save video clips on their phones and other mobile devices for up to 48 hours. "The videos will still be free, and Google will run ads on the clips, which will be available via its mobile apps," AllThingsD reports. "That's a big change for the ... company, which has previously required a live Web connection to watch its videos."
Bloomberg
As part of a bold strategy to support its Xbox One console with original content, Microsoft recently announced plans to produce a "Halo" TV show with Steven Spielberg. Now, Microsoft says the live-action series is just the first of many it plans to produce. Phil Spencer, CVP at Microsoft Studios, tells Bloomberg that the company's L.A. production team is on top of it. "They have literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now ... We will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon."
Bloomberg
How big are China’s biggest tech companies? Well, approaching the market value of the top U.S. tech giants, the market value of Hong Kong’s Tencent just surpassed $100 billion, Bloomberg reports. “The company run by billionaire Pony Ma joins six other members of Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index in the $100 billion club, including PetroChina Co. and China Mobile Ltd.”
Gigaom
Chromecast is no long just for projecting YouTube streams onto a TV. Now, with Google’s TV dongle, select users can beam videos displayed on third-party Web sites from their browser to their TV. Regarding the tests, GigaOm writes: “Adding Chromecast support to videos embedded on third-party sites does make a lot of sense for YouTube, as it could get people to watch videos for longer periods of time and in turn, display more ads.”
The Verge
Following Yahoo’s inauspicious logo redesign, Microsoft just unveiled a new look for Bing. “A year in the making, Bing is dropping its curly blue logo for a modern design that closely matches the rest of Microsoft's recently redesigned product branding,” The Verge reports. Said Lawrence Ripsher, design lead for Bing’s User Experiences: “The logo, obviously, is a big deal for us, a lot more angular and fresh and sharper than we’ve used in the past.”
TechCrunch
Just as one stock buyback program is set to expire, Microsoft has initiated another $40 billion buyback program, along with a dividend increase. “In other words, today’s news is a confirmation of Microsoft’s commitment to invest its cash in its own stock,” TechCrunch writes. “The share buyback program could boost Microsoft shares as many investors were waiting for an announcement along these lines.”