Entertainment:
·
SyFy has greenlit a new, six-episode series that will follow
teams of startups through the accelerator process in the Valley - the show,
called The Bazillion Dollar Club*, is expected to focus on 12 companies (six
each) participating in the 500 Startups Accelerator and PCH International’s
Highway1 program
·
Video-focused startup Grabyo, which has a second-screen
offering and partners with TV broadcasters to allow TV viewers to legally share
real-time clips of its content, has landed $2MM in funding from a clutch of
globally recognized sports stars
·
Jukin Media, a digital media startup has made the leap to
prime time, after selling a TV show called the World's Funniest Fails to Fox
·
Netflix is suing its former vice president of IT operations
Mike Kail, who left the company in August to become chief information officer
at Yahoo!
·
Natalie Portman is in talks to join Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs
biopic
·
Fox News Channel was the most viewed cable news network when
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch revealed if Wilson would
be indicted for shooting Brown
·
Maker Studios plumped up its chest full of YouTube video
creators just ahead of the Christmas season, adding five big channels focused
on the fast-growing toy sector, including the No. 2 site, DisneyCarToys
·
The Motion Picture & Television Fund event “Night Before
the Oscars’ was held since 2003 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, but organizers
revealed earlier this year that the party would be moved to the Fox lot as part
of a boycott of the hotel over its owner the Sultan of Brunei's controversial
stance on gays
·
“Boyhood” writer-director Richard Linklater will receive the
Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film
Festival
·
Disney has cut a deal with Turner Classic Movies to get more
mileage out of its film vault and add the cabler's cinephile branding to its
Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida
·
U.K. streaming service Blinkbox, which is being offered for
sale by its owner Tesco, has inked a content deal with leading independent
movie distributor Entertainment Film Distributors
o
http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/u-k-streaming-service-blinkbox-inks-deal-with-efd-1201365366/
·
Prince said goodbye to his brief, awkward dalliance with
social media
·
Robin Williams, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jay-Z are among the
top celeb web-searches
·
Concert venues are capitalizing on the DIY model of concert
promotion
·
Sony Corp plans to slash its TV and mobile phone product
lineups to cut costs, counting on multi-billion-dollar revenue surges for its
buoyant PlayStation 4 and image sensor businesses over the next three years
·
The Wuaki.tv over-the-top streaming online video service is
to offer film content in 4K/UltraHD format
Tech:
·
GoPro is reportedly planning to launch consumer drones next
year for between $500-$1,000
·
Twitter announced that it is testing Twitter Offers, which
lets retailers tweet special cash-back deals that users can then claim in
brick-and-mortar stores
·
Sony’s Alpha A7 series of full-frame mirror less cameras has
evolved, and has higher-resolution and stabilization capabilities
·
Melbourne-based Tiger Pistol, a startup offering social
marketing tools for small businesses, has raised $3.1MM in Series A funding to
expand into the US
·
Canopy launched last year to bring a more curated and
community-driven experience to shopping Amazon products, with an organized
catalog of recommended items, and a number of tools for finding and saving
favorites
o
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/26/canopy-brings-a-curated-amazon-shopping-experience-to-the-iphone/
·
Line has revealed that it sold more than $300MM in
user-generated stickers from independent ‘creators’ during the first six months
of launching its Creators Marketplace service
·
US-Australian startup Canva is injecting a dose of social
into its easy-to-use graphic design platform after it rolled out public user
profiles, a Twitter-style following system, and a real-time content stream
·
Tumblr has overtaken Instagram as the fastest-growing social
platform, and Snapchat is the fastest-growing app
·
Amazon has dropped the price of its unlocked Fire Phone from
$250 to $199 for the holiday season and to move inventory of the product
·
Google announced that it will make Google Play and a free
version of Google Analytics available in Cuba
o
http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/26/google-play-and-analytics-comes-to-the-island-of-the-disconnected/
·
A fresh funding round for the fast-growing startup could give
Uber a valuation between $35B-$40B according to a report today from Bloomberg
o http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-26/uber-said-close-to-raising-funding-at-up-to-40b-value.html
·
Sqor, a social network focused
exclusively on sports, is now moving into athlete crowdfunding
Deals:
·
Twitter is allegedly in talks to acquire the Justin
Bieber-backed social app ‘Shots’
·
BT, Britain’s former telecom monopoly, said it was in talks
with investors in two of Britain’s cellphone carriers about a potential
takeover offer of EE
o
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-26/deutsche-telekom-orange-confirm-talks-to-sell-ee-to-bt.html
·
Vista Equity Partners has agreed to acquire the Advanced
Computer Software Group, a British health care and business software maker for
$1.14B
Business:
·
Samsung Electronics has announced that it will sell stakes
in Samsung Techwin and Samsung General Chemicals to Hanhwa Corp. in order to raise
money for new investments
·
Activist investor Carl Icahn raised his stake in U.S. car
rental company Hertz to 10.77% from 8.48%
·
Samsung Electronics announced a $2B share buyback plan
·
TiVo has reported a very strong third quarter of 2014 with
record net revenues and subscriptions soaring past the key five million
landmark
Exec Moves:
·
Ren Ng, founder and executive
chairman of light-field photography company Lytro, plans to exit his full-time
role next year as he assumes a post at the University of California, Berkeley
Retail:
·
At eight Patagonia retail locations throughout the country, customers
can bring in their lightly used Patagonia clothing and get other used items off
the rack
Startups:
·
Rocket Internet-backed online
retail Jumia is in the money today, after the Africa-based company announced
that it has raised $150MM in new funding
Government:
Other:
·
170 cities have been hit with
Ferguson protests
