News Corp. selling Myspace to Specific Media?

The deal is said to be worth $35 Million, which works out to be $1 per monthly visitor. Rupert paid $580 million for MySpace.

Amplify’d from www.bloomberg.com

News Corp. (NWSA) is closing in on a sale of its Myspace social-networking website to Specific Media, the owner of an online advertising network, for about $35 million in cash and stock, said a person with knowledge of the process.

A sale would rid Rupert Murdoch of a money-losing Web service that lost its lead in social networking to Facebook Inc. after being purchased in 2005 in a $580 million deal. News Corp. had sought about $100 million for Myspace after Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said in February that he wanted a sale completed by the June 30 end of the company’s fiscal year. Read more at www.bloomberg.com

 

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$100 Tablet for Kids

In a little over a year, Apple's iPad has transformed mobile computing. Today it seems like every electronics company has released a tablet. Now this includes Leapfrog, who launched a tablet for kids. In my opinion, its a little expensive,a better price point would in the $50-$60 range. Especially, considering that you can buy an Android-based tablet for $170 on Amazon.

Amplify’d from blogs.ft.com

The big tablet event of the week is Friday’s launch of the HP TouchPad, while the little tablet event is represented by today’s unveiling of the LeapPad, a $100 device for kids aged four to nine

It goes on sale in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland on August 15 and in other countries later this year. Read more at blogs.ft.com

 

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Wyoming Goes Google

As local governments make the move to the cloud to save a few dollars this will most likely become a trend.

Amplify’d from redmondmag.com

The state governor's office announced this week that Wyoming is the first state to "go Google."

Governor Matt Mead indicated in a released statement that the state of Wyoming will save "over a million dollars per year" in moving to Google Apps for Government, while also adding better storage and security capabilities. Read more at redmondmag.com

 

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Google Over 1 Billion Served

Yet another milestone.

Amplify’d from mashable.com

Google has become the first company ever to hit the 1 billion uniques landmark, according to comScore.

Despite the latest ranking on uniques, Yahoo still has more monthly visitors in the U.S. than Google. In May, an estimated 188.8 million people visited Yahoo’s sites vs. 180 million for Google and 179.8 million for Microsoft. Read more at mashable.com

 

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Android US smartphone share drop to continue

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. It's not clear what caused the sudden drop for Android phones in the US. Who knows, maybe consumers are pairing the OS's of their smartphones and tablets - And Apple has the advantage on the tablet side.

Amplify’d from www.appleinsider.com

After Google's Android experienced its first loss of market share in a region since 2009 during the March quarter, one analyst believes Apple's iPhone will continue to win back share in the U.S. smartphone market.

See more at www.appleinsider.com

 

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British Library hands 200 years of history to Google

Google will continue to sign with Museums and Libraries to scan their historic books and documents. Having personally managed a number of book scanning projects - it's expensive to digitally preserve the written past.

Amplify’d from www.theregister.co.uk

The British Library is handing 250,000 books to Google for scanning into the Google Books projec

The Google slurp will see 40 million pages scanned and made available on Google's site and through the British Library. All the works are out of copyright - Google's scanning of in-copyright books has caused trouble in the past. The search giant pays the cost of scanning. Read more at www.theregister.co.uk

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Why copy pasting is a brilliant business strategy? Ask Google!

I'm adding this book to reading list. The act of stealing someones intellectual property is a crime that should be punished. But its worth noting that a great business plan in the wrong hands is a useless stack of paper.

Amplify’d from economictimes.indiatimes.com

Google makes more money than any other website in the world. But at the heart of the search engine's success is a business model that was copied. The interesting story is recounted by John Mummins and Randy Komisar in their book Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through To a Better Business Model

The business model, which led to the success of Google, was copied from a company called Overture, a paid search specialist company, based in South California. As Mummins puts it, "They actually stole from a company called Overture, based in South California."

imitation or copy-pasting what others are doing is a prevalent and successful business strategy. Read more at economictimes.indiatimes.com

 

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The Facebook Pump And Dump

Buyer Beware!

Amplify’d from www.defamer.com.au

Someone is aggressively hyping Facebook to the financial community. Investors are being told the social network’s value will double in 12 months – and quadruple over 18 months – to $US100 billion. It sounds like someone has shares to unload. Read more at www.defamer.com.au

 

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Google Buys AdMeld for $400M

Google continues to build its AD-arsenal with another purchase focused on publishers. As they continue to grow their display ad business -fewer choices will exist for publishers.

Amplify’d from searchenginewatch.com

Google is continuing its investments in the display advertising arena with its purchase of AdMeld, a publisher utility targeted at optimizing ROI for digital advertising. The $400 million purchase signals Google's continued intellectual weapons stockpiling as we approach new eras for display ads.

AdMeld's sales pitch is that the world of publisher advertising used to be a direct "people business," but has since been so infused with technology that publishers don't know their audiences – and that the technology often prevents publishers from making the deals that are best for themselves.

Other major purchases have included the $750 million buyout of AdMob, the buyout of Teracent for an undisclosed amount, and the buyout of Invite Media for $81 million in 2009. Total Google investments in ad-company acquisition have surpassed $4 billion over the last eight years. Read more at searchenginewatch.com

 

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Is HTML5 Killing Adobe's Creative Suite, Flash?

It seems like every aspect of the media industry is facing tough times, including the tools of the trade. Adobe will have to make critical decisions about their tools and technologies in order to satisfy its customers.

Amplify’d from www.ibtimes.com

The rising popularity of HTML5 and the declining dominance of Flash will spell tougher times ahead for Creative Suite (CS) Adobe Systems Inc.

"We believe the company's flagship offering, Creative Suite, is losing its ability to drive Adobe's business and we don't see much to materially offset this," FBR Capital Markets analyst David Hilal wrote in a note to clients.

Apart from emergence of HTML5, CS is suffering from the law of diminishing returns, whereby there is less reason to upgrade with each successive release. Read more at www.ibtimes.com

 

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Android vs. iPhone and iPad by the numbers

Apple's dominance of the tablet market should continue through the next few years. But given the rapid takeover of the iPhone by Android-based smartphones, future tablet shoppers may opt to purchase tablets that match their phones OS. Even with Apple has an impressive lead in the tablet market - smartphones may cause that lead to shrink more rapidly than expected.

Amplify’d from www.computerworld.com

It looks increasingly like Android will be the major challenger to both Apple's iPhone and iPad

The iPad held a commanding 83.9% of the worldwide tablet market last year, with Android tablets far behind at 14.2%, according to Gartner.

However, Gartner expects the market-share difference to narrow considerably over the next few years, with iOS holding 47.1% by 2015 and Android growing to 38.6%.

See more at www.computerworld.com

 

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The Ultimate "Mancation"... Monaco GP

Nearly a week after my trip, its finally settling in that I attended the most spectacular sporting event in the world, The Monaco Gran Prix for my 40th birthday.

I was a bit skeptical about all of the hype surrounding the event. I can now unequivocally tell you that IT IS the most spectacular sporting event in the world. And it needs to be added to everyone's bucket List.

I'm not sure that I can ever top this trip.

But I do know that I have the best friends in the world.

Amplify’d from www.thenational.ae

Only in Monaco would a track so narrow, so winding and ultimately so dangerous remain on the Formula One calendar for 69 years. Only in Monaco would access to that same street circuit be open to the public for 12 hours each day.

"It's the one weekend of the year when everybody - teams, media, everyone - stay out until 6am and go to work … at 9am."

By 9.45am, a fleet of Porsches contested the Porsche Supercup Series. Eighty-five minutes later the World Series by Renault took place and by 1.30pm Prince Albert and his fiancee were completing a lap of honour before the main event, waving to the wealthy figures sunning themselves on the nearby yachts. Only in Monaco. Read more at www.thenational.ae

 

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